I woke up groggily. Morning sunlight reached my eyes as I lifted my hair tentacle. I looked around, scanning for threats. But the only sign of movement was from the water flowing in the nearby river.

  I was back to having only one pair of eyes. Even though this was how it was for the first 20 years of my life. It felt wrong not to see what Samsara was seeing.

  Samsara was still asleep. I could still hear her snoring. I gently shook her shoulder to wake her. She ended up curling up and turning around.

  “Wakey wakey,” I told her telepathically.

  “Huh?” Samsara asked. I unwrapped my tentacles from her head and hair snake. She looked up at me, and I saw myself through her eyes. Meanwhile, her hair snake was staring at the trunk of a Collum tree.

  “It’s morning time sleepyheads,” I said, standing up.

  “Sleepyheads?” she asked. “Don’t you mean sleepyhead? Unless there is an invisible person you are talking to?”

  “You have two heads,” I said. First, I pointed at her head. Then, I pointed at her hair snake with my other hand. “See, two heads. So it’s sleepyheads and not sleepyhead.”

  “I’m not sure the snake counts,” she giggled.

  “Sure, it counts,” I said. “What do you say Ms. Snake? How do you feel about being left out? Isn’t this unbelievable?” The snake simply ignored me. How rude!

  “Did you actually try waking up the snake?” Samsara asked.

  “No,” I said. “I only shook you awake.”

  “See, then it's just sleepyhead,” Samsara said, holding up one finger. “You only know that I was a sleepyhead. Not the snake.”

  “But you are connected to the snake,” I countered, holding up two fingers. “Therefore, I am counting you as two heads.”

  “Aha!” She exclaimed. “You are also connected to me. In which case, that means you are also a sleepyhead!”

  “Fair point,” I conceded. We both giggled. Playing with words was so fun.

  We walked up to the river. It was free of my black ink, meaning we could clean our faces with it. A splash of fresh cold water met our faces as we rinsed. Thankfully, my ink repelled any dirt that got on me. So I didn’t need to wash myself. Samsara used her tail as a makeshift mattress, so her upper torso was fine, but the underside of her tail was dirty.

  Unless we somehow got wooden flooring, we would have to deal with it.

  “I don’t mind,” Samsara said. I gave her a smile.

  A red flash blinded our vision again. Devotio reappeared, somehow seeming more energetic. Their tentacles seemed to wiggle off into the distance instead of just being straight like last time. It was a bit distracting since Devotio was superimposed onto our vision.

  [Hello again, I hope you have rested well.]

  Yeah, I was surprised how well it went. Nothing attacked us in the night.

  [Indeed. Are you ready to begin learning my magic?]

  “Yep!” Samsara and I both thought at the same time.

  [Let’s get started then. I will teach you the basics of magic.]

  We both stared at Devotio’s eye as they began to explain.

  [Magic may only be performed with those who have a Core or have been blessed by a Demiurge. Unlike your physical and skill mutations, anyone is capable of casting any magic spell or ritual, assuming they have the prerequisite mana required.]

  “So any of our worshipers will be able to cast the same magic that we do?” Samsara asked.

  [Indeed. Now there are rituals and spells. The difference is the medium. Rituals are more powerful than spells, but need a physical catalyst to hold the mana. For my rituals, these will be blood. Then there are spells. Spells are weaker, but require no physical catalyst. Instead, you [Focus] the mana outside of your body to form the shape of the mana spell.]

  That made sense. Making someone a Demiurge definitely sounded extremely powerful. If people could just cast that with mana, then I imagine there would be a lot of Demiurges.

  [Agreed. For both spells and rituals, they are composed of two or more rings of mana. Then, in between each gap made by the rings are [Incantations]. These define what the spells or rituals can perform.]

  So with the Demiurge ritual we did, it was actually made of two [Incantations], right?

  [Yes. This allows spells and rituals to be extremely flexible. You may take any [Incantation] from a ritual and use it in any other ritual. The same goes for spells. However, you cannot use an [Incantation] from a ritual in a spell. The other way is allowed though. So [Apotheosis via Self-Sacrifice] is a ritual [Incantation] and can only be used in rituals. [Large Target Caster], on the other hand, is a spell [Incantation], and may be used in both spells and rituals.]

  That was something to keep in mind then. But doesn’t that mean we could theoretically create a spell or ritual that was comprised of dozens, if not hundreds, of [Incantations]?

  [Indeed, as long as you have the mana for it. However, it may be difficult to [Focus] that much mana for the entire spell or ritual. I would advise keeping it under ten [Incantations] for now. Plus, in a fight, it would be unwise to spend such a long time casting a ritual or spell. And that concludes your formal introduction to magic.]

  “Does this mean you are going to teach us a spell or ritual now?” I asked. I felt excitement in my bones at the thought of what we could do.

  [Yes, the first one I will grant you knowledge of is [Blood Spike].]

  [Blood Spike]: Create a spike of hardened blood from the caster that extends outward. This spell or ritual must be performed directly on the surface of the caster’s body. This costs 10 mana for each meter of blood extracted from the body.

  [This should be your first line of defense in addition to your physical mutations.]

  “We could become a blood porcupine,” I said. “Although, why does it specify 10 mana for each meter of blood extracted from the body? I don’t see a way to specify how much blood it takes from us.”

  [Good observation. Unlike the other [Incantations] that only took a single specific amount of mana, [Blood Spike] will continue to drain mana until you stop [Focusing] on it. It is called a [Persistent Incantation]. Feel free to try it out.]

  “Are you ready?” I asked Samsara. “I’ll go first.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  Cool. I [Focused] mana to exit my right palm. I traced two rings with the mana, followed by the [Incantation]. As soon as I finished the last symbol of [Blood Spike], a burst of pain hit my palm. Samsara and I winced as a hardened, blue crystalline spike emerged from my palm. It slowly grew meter by meter until it was as long as my forearm, at which point I stopped [Focusing] on my mana. [Tracking], I saw that my mana had decreased by 166. That made sense that it wasn’t a multiple of 10 because my body was using mana to heal itself.

  [Good job.]

  “Do you want to try?” I asked Samsara.

  “Sure,” she said. She [Focused] her mana on the spot on top of her hair snake’s head, which was resting on Samsara’s back. As the spell completed, we both winced again from the burst of pain as a blue spike grew on top of her pink snake. This caused the snake to jolt upwards. It looked around for a few seconds, but then went back to resting against Samsara’s back as it didn’t see any threats. Apparently, this costed 30 mana according to my mana [Tracking].

  “You gave it a cute horn,” I said, rubbing her hair snakes new [Blood Spike].

  “How do we get rid of the [Blood Spike] though?” Samsara asked. “Will it just fade away?”

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  [No, it will not just fade away. Instead, you will need to cast [Blood Spike Launch].]

  The symbols for the [Incantation] appeared in our heads as Devotio’s eye lit up.

  [Blood Spike Launch]: Launch the blood spike in the center of this spell or ritual forward at a high velocity. This costs 10 mana.

  Again, I focused my mana on my palm, facing it towards a trunk of a Collum tree. This time, there was no pain as I finished the spell, and the blood spike on my right palm detached. It soared through the air toward the tree, emitting a whistling sound as it flew. It impacted the tree, wooden shrapnel exploding from the trunk. The blood spike had completely entered the trunk. That was incredibly powerful.

  Samsara also tried out the spell. The blood spike went flying across the air from her hair snake’s head. Gravity eventually pulled it down, and it impacted the grass.

  “I think I like [Blood Spike Launch] better than [Blood Spike],” I said.

  “Same,” Samsara agreed. She let out a sigh. “At least we don’t feel any pain with [Blood Spike Launch].”

  [It seems you are both now acquainted with these two [Incantations]. Do you have any other questions for me?]

  One thing did come to mind. Previously, Devotio had said we would be the ones teaching their magic to our worshipers. But why was that? Couldn’t Devotio just teach Aisling and Nara now?

  [Unfortunately, I am only able to contact monster girls and Kaiju girls only in three scenarios. The first scenario is when a monster girl or a Kaiju girl is ready to mutate or evolve. The second scenario is when they eat enough souls to become a Kaiju. And the third scenario is when a monster girl or Kaiju girl gains a worshiper.]

  Huh. I never realized that. But that did seem right. I had only spoken to Devotio a handful of times as a monster girl. They had only spoken to me when I had enough excess mana to mutate.

  [To make matters worse, I am unable to contact any humans as they cannot mutate. However, since you are a Demiurge of Self-Sacrifice, I can converse with you at any time. So it will be up to you to [Enlighten] your worshipers with my magic. Simply touch their head and activate [Enlighten] to implant the [Incantations].]

  After that, Devotio’s eye flashed red again, and they vanished.

  “I can’t wait to teach this to them,” Samsara said. “I wonder how excited they would be.” Her enthusiasm radiated inside of my mind. I found it fascinating. Even though I didn’t really care for teaching these people, I felt Samsara’s desire to. Such an intriguing experience.

  “Well, at least you aren’t trying to eat them,” Samsara said. “I’ll take that as a win.” As she said that, our stomachs growled.

  “Speaking of eating, we should go get breakfast,” I said. Immediately, I heard loud splashes of water coming from the waterfall. What? I quickly activated [Color Camouflage II] and made us invisible.

  I turned around and saw a handful of fish girls dropping from the waterfall, each one having a loud impact with the lake. Their bodies were covered in gray scales, including their face. Instead of legs, their bodies each ended in a tail. I could spot a large fin on their backs.

  From what I could tell, they weren’t wearing any swimwear either. They must have been feral then.

  “Hey, maybe we could try out [Blood Spike] and [Blood Spike Launch] on them,” I said, pointing towards the fish girls. “Then, we can share them for breakfast.”

  “I count five of them,” Samsara nodded. Even though my arm was invisible, she knew what I was talking about.

  We each [Focused] our mana. Samsara pointed her clawed index finger at one of the fish girls. A blood spike began to form on the tip of her claw. I did the same with one of my hair tentacles, which was directed at another fish girl. We each let the blue blood spike grow to a meter. Best to keep the pain and mana draw minimal.

  “Wait, why is the [Blood Spike] not invisible?” Samsara panicked. I could feel her vision shift quickly from her [Blood Spike] to the fish girls. Luckily, the fish girls continued to swim obliviously. They seemed totally focused inside the lake.

  “That blood is no longer a part of me,” I said. “[Color Camouflage] only hides my body. That’s why we needed to wash the dried Kaiju blood off of us. I imagine [Color Camouflage II] works the same way.”

  This did limit us. We would not be able to be completely invisible and attack from afar.

  “Now!” I commanded through our mental link. We both [Focused] on making the [Blood Spike Launch] spell. The spikes launched and dashed through the air, each hitting our targets. The fish girls were impaled in the head and pinned against the lake’s floor. The other three fish girls soared towards them. They tried attacking the blood spike with their hands and mouth. After realizing their attacks were ineffective, the fish girls began eating their fallen sisters’ corpses.

  Hey! Our breakfast was eating our other breakfast. How rude. An idea popped into my mind. I began [Focusing] on three of my hair tentacles. A [Blood Spike] formed on each one of them. [Blood Spike Launch] sent the three spikes dashing toward the three remaining fish girls. I hit one of them, but missed the other two.

  “Aren’t we wasting mana doing this?” Samsara asked. “Especially if we miss. That’s 20 mana per shot, plus whatever mana it takes to heal.” She did bring up a good point. Fine then, I’ll do this the old-fashioned way.

  I jogged towards the lake and released [Color Camouflage II]. No need to hide myself with most of them dead. As the water approached my knees, I sent out my hair tentacles towards the fish girls. My tentacles quickly reeled them back in with no resistance.

  The two fish girls that were alive squirmed in my tentacles, trying to break free. Now that they were closer to us, the gills on their necks were noticeable. Their gray-scaled arms also had fins on their shoulders. I removed the blood spikes from the three impaled fish girls.

  “How do you want to split them up between us?” I asked, tossing one of the still-alive fish girls in my mouth. Their scales were flaky, but their meat had a rich and buttery flavor. It mixed with the metallic taste of their blood.

  “You can have three,” Samsara said. “And I’ll have the other two.” She held up her right palm.

  “Sure thing,” I said telepathically as I swallowed. I dropped two of the dead fish girls in her hand, while tossing the last alive one in my mouth. Activating [Serrated Tentacles], I got ready to slice up the fish girls into chunks. And then I got hit with a flash of pain. What?

  Samsara’s hair snake was batted away by my tentacle. In its mouth was one of the fish girl corpses.

  Regret instantly filled my mind. “I’m so sorry!” I told Samsara, wrapping her in a hug. My free hair tentacles soothed and massaged her hair snake. “I didn’t mean to hit you.”

  “Ah, you don’t need to apologize,” she said, accepting my embrace. “I can’t really control that snake anyways. Besides, it has the same scales as me and it's not bleeding, so it’s no worry.”

  “Still, I hurt you,” I said. “I should have thought of that. I’ll give you the other fish girl.” I released her from her hug. Samsara was still holding onto one of the two fish girls I had given her. I brought up her hand and deposited the fish girl. With my tentacles still holding Samsara’s hair snake, my free tentacles cut up the fish girls into fish chunks.

  “Thanks,” Samsara said, pouring the fish chunks into her mouth. She hummed with pleasure as she tasted the buttery fish meat. She looked at me and gave me a thumbs-up. “That was pretty tasty.”

  I smiled as I was glad she wasn’t upset with me. “I guess we’ll have to find more fish girls then.”

  When I had been a monster girl, I had only encountered a river once. There weren’t any fish girls in it. So this was my first time encountering them. Perhaps we could go to the top of the waterfall and follow the river to find more fish girls to eat. Or maybe we could even go visit the ocean.

  “Do you think we could go back to our old home?” Samsara asked. “Not the apartment obviously, but your Mom’s place. I bet we visit there on our way to the ocean. I wonder if it’s still standing near the beach.”

  “Sure, we can definitely go there if we manage to find that ghost town,” I said. Although I had no idea where we were on Collum. Maybe our worshipers could tell us.

  “Should we wait for them?” Samsara asked.

  “Probably,” I said. “I kind of appreciate having them around for directions now.” They were like a handy-dandy map you could put in your pocket. Useful for telling you where to go when your phone’s connection dies out.

  “I’m not sure comparing them to an actual object is correct,” Samsara said, hesitation dripping in her thoughts. “Especially one you put in your pocket.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “The comparison seems correct to me.”

  “Not that kind of correct,” Samsara corrected me. “I mean the good kind of correct. Like they are people. Would you compare me to an object?”

  “Well, I don't use you as an object,” I explained. “I see you as a best friend.”

  “But it’s fine to use other people as objects?” She asked, tilting her head.

  “I didn’t say that,” I said. “But it is easy to compare them that way, yes. Also, is your snake still trying to swallow that fish girl?”

  “Uh… I think so,” Samsara said. The hair snake had swallowed the headless fish girl corpse whole. I could feel it move slowly down its undulating throat. Or was it its stomach? “It’s braver than me at least for trying to swallow that fish girl. I still need you to cut my food for me.”

  “Hey, I’m always glad to help you out,” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. I [Tracked] our souls and saw that they had increased from 1,340 to 1,348. That was two souls per fish girl. It was weird how the vulture girls gave us only one soul each, but the fish girls only gave us two. Maybe they were destroying the Cores when they ate their prey, that would explain the low amount of souls they gave us.

  As we waited for Samsara’s hair snake to digest, I spotted two small figures coming out of the forest. Aisling waved at us with her right hand, and she also raised Nara’s arm to wave. Samsara and I waved back.

  “Good morning, Aisling and Nara!” Samsara called out.

  “Good morning Ramona and Samsara,” Aisling responded. Unlike last time, her voice was no longer extremely high-pitched. Was it because we were Demiurges? “We were wondering if you would like to come by our village?”