Hospitality (2)

"Hisss~" hissed Raas in delight, but got guilty after thinking about Sahra. How could he be merrily drinking some delicious herbal tea inside a cozy home with a wrinkly old man and a dozen of fluffy hummingbird-sized bees when Sahra is still out there searching for him or worse.

Feeling the mood drop the old man gave Raas a reassuring smile "worrying now will not change anything, little one. Have more faith in the person that named you and reserve as much energy as you can. If the one that named you is at least a tier 2 or 3 monsters then it should be fine, even with the rising mana."

Raas nodded, but what the old man just told him up till now only gave him more questions than answers, and he couldn´t even communicate with him.

Trying to piece all the information together he thought, 'First thing first, I am indeed inside a dungeon and currently on the third floor and somehow the mana inside the dungeon is rising, causing all kinds of problems... and I am currently a tier-one monster whereas Sahra is already at peak tier two or so I think at least.'

Glancing at his stats he frowned, 'I still need 6 levels till I can evolve again. I have to step up my game... It has already been 6 days since I reincarnated and I am only level 14! What a joke! I am far too weak, and I wouldn´t have survived this long without Sahra´s help. Okay, new objectives. First, find Sahra, and second grind as much exp as possible, third find out about this dungeon and what is outside it. I have to convince Sahra to stay here for a while till we are strong enough to go deeper. Shouldn´t be too hard to achieve all that right?'

...

'Wait, did I just jinx myself?! Pah, as if I believe in superstition!'

The old man saw the determination in Raas's eyes and smiled with clear amusement, 'It is always nice to see the youth burn so brightly. I hope he wound turn into a troublemaker like the last one... Hmm, his temper is already better than his.'

Raas continued to think about his next steps as he looked out the window. It is already pitch black out there and almost all the bees already went back into their nest. Only one of them stayed with Raas as it fell asleep on his head. Raas didn´t mind this little critter, as the bee is light and soft.

The old man giggled at the sight of the grey snake with a yellow bee on his head. He signed Raas to follow him as Raas carefully slithered after. The man leads him back into the room where he woke up.

"You can sleep there if you want or use the bed in the room, anyway make yourself at home. You can leave and search for the person as soon as the sun is out and you are always welcome to come back. The corebees already love you and are happy to have someone to play with." said the man and closed the door, but before he fully closed the door he stopped and turned back, "A small tip, watch out for twinkling stars."

'What does he mean by that?' thought Raas as he watched the old man close the door. 'Why do old people always speak in riddles?' *sigh* 'Whatever, I guess I have to look out for "twinkling stars" now...'

Curling into a ball I tried to get a few hours of sleep in before searching for Sahra.

...

Some time in the middle of the night the old man sat on his comfy chair while reading a book in front of the fireplace.

*Sigh* "The future will be exciting again, don´t you think so too Nira?" said the old man while closing his book.

"Yes, he will bring a lot of changes... Well only if he survives long enough, but I have high hopes for him. Even my daughters took a liking to him in such a short time..."

The old man just nodded.

"Have you already checked his status?"

"No, it will be more fun this way, but I can feel 'Her' blood circling inside him. I don´t want to interfere with his life too much as it could damage his potential, but a few pushes and tips here and there should be fine." said the old man with a wink.

"You are the same as always, old fart."

The old man just grinned at her remark, "You should enjoy the world more often little Nir, or you will turn old and wrinkly like me."

"Stop calling me like that, old fart, and I will never become like you," said Nira and disappeared out of the room.

"You have grown so much Nira..." smiled the old man with a grandfatherly smile.

...

Inside Raas room, a figure appeared and looked down on the sleeping snake with the fluffy bee on top. "What a troublemaker you are. Come, I will take you back to the nest." said the figure and picked up the hummingbird-sized bee. The bee woke up from the movements and looked at the figure with its black compound eyes. It buzzed slightly and tried to escape from her grasp. "Oh, feisty aren´t we~"

"Bzzzz!"

"No, you have to come back."

"Bzzzzzz!"

"No."

"Bzz."

*sigh* "Just for tonight."

"Bzzz~"

"Yes, yes I love you too, sweety." and let go of the little bee.

She then turned towards Raas and spoke menacingly, "If you do anything to her I will kill you!"

The 'sleeping' snake twitched at the threatening voice, 'How did she know that I am awake!' thought Raas as he panicked inside his mind.

The figure just gave him a long look before seemingly disappearing into thin air, while the little bee flew back on Raas head.

'What a weird day...' thought the light grey snake while trying to fall back asleep.

...

The morning soon came as Raas was being woken up by the rays of the "sun".

"Hissss~" letting out a giant yawn he stretched his body. The little bee on top of his head fell to the side and buzzed in annoyance, but continued to sleep. Raas saw the cute little creature and patted its head with his tail and got a small buzz in return. 'Never thought that a bee would be this cute' thought Raas as he exited the room. He managed to open the door and slithered straight towards the door.

Before he could leave a voice spoke behind him, "You want to leave without breakfast and saying goodbye?"

Raas stopped and looked back to see the old man in his brown robe and a staff in his hand. "Eat this before you leave, I hope we will meet again, little one." said the old man as he threw a purple marble towards him and left the entrance hall.

Raas looked at the small purple marble and swallowed it whole in one quick motion. His eyes widened at the strong taste. All the other purple crystals were a mild 'sweet release', but this one gave you the feeling of having all the pain, all the baggage lifted from your heart. '... wow, I really needed that.' thought Raas as he smiled.

*Ding*

[Venom Fang leveled up!]

*Ding*

[Poison affinity leveled up!]

*Ding*

[Poison affinity leveled up!]

*Ding*

[Poison whip leveled up!]

*Ding*

[Poison resistance leveled up!]

*Ding*

[Max mana capacity increased by 30!]

*Ding*

[Poison glance is able to evolve once you reach level 20!]

*Ding*

[You received 500 Exp for eating something that is at least one tier higher than you!]

*Ding*

[You leveled up!]

*Ding*

[You gained an exp boost for the next 24 hours!]

*Ding*

Stop stop stop stop, not everything at once system!' cried Raas as he was being flooded by all the notifications that popped up in front of him. It took him a few seconds to read through all the notifications, but as soon he finished reading a red panel popped up in front of him and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. 'Agh, am I getting a heart attack?!' thought Raas while clenching his chest with his tail.

[Danger!]

[Your core can´t handle all that mana!]

*Ding*

[Your core is damaged!]

*Ding*

[You will receive a 20% decrease in all stats for the next 24 hours!]

*Ding*

[You will lose 10 mana per hour till you reach your next evolution!]

'What, in the name of whoever isekaed me here, did the old man just gave me!' yelled Raas as he felt pain where his core is.

"Heeee!"

'Ugh, I think my core is cracked or something...'

Clenching his mouth, he slithered out of the house.