The First Enemy [II]
「 Stellar Form, Sky's View, has activated. 」
The friendly purple nebula greeted me before unshackling my sight from my body. The 'Thousand Dreams' eye mask I bought helped me fall asleep even though I woke up barely an hour ago and, apparently, had some healing properties.
I searched through the streets, alleys, rooftops and buildings. Unable to find the pair, I was beginning to give up till I heard their voices. Although this ability only separated my sight from my body I could still hear my surroundings, maybe the description wasn't as detailed as it could be.
"When can we finally attack them? Every participant is weak right now apart from us."
The blonde woman continued to complain to the man accompanying her, she was desperate for our blood. I immediately tried to use Aspect Insight and it worked.
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Arachne's Blessed Child (COMPREHENSIVE)
The weaver of life, the weaver of death, the string of time woven by her flows through space.
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Stellar Form 1 || A Master of Spinning (Weave)
You can quickly summon webs and strings of aether that bend and move to your will. They act as an extension of your body. You feel mental pain whenever they rip and their durability is similar to your body's. Be careful of summoning too many as it will tire you out. The core weakness of your strings is anything sharp, mostly objects that belong to the Stellar Games as anything 'human' cannot normally cut through aether unless boosted by a Stellar Form or an item purchased from the Stellar Shopping Array.
Stellar Form 2 || The Mother of Colonies (Spider Colony)
Summon a swarm of spiderlings that obey your command. Currently available commands: "Cocoon", "Attack", "Defend". The "Cocoon" command will cause all of your spiderlings to spin a thick web around a target. It will cause the target to fall asleep for 2 hours and which point they'll be able to break out of it. The "Attack" command will cause all of your spiderlings to run towards and bite a target. The "Defend" command will cause all of your spiderlings to gather around you or cover your entire body. The spiderlings are not organic creatures as they're made out of aether.
Stellar Form 3 || LOCKED
Stellar Form 4 || LOCKED
[MORE]
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Oh no, I hate spiders...
"I told you already, we're waiting."
"Oh come on boss! One was literally sleeping. It was a perfect chance to kill them and take their loot."
"And what if his power worked while sleeping? Or, better yet, what if the other guy was strong?"
"His body was practically 2D, what's the worst he could do?"
"Just because his body looks weak doesn't mean his physical strength stat is weak. Did you forget our biological attributes no longer matter?"
"Yeah but it's the beginning, his physical stat couldn't be high enough, especially considering the base stats."
I used Aspect Insight on the man after reading the entirety of the woman's Stellar Aspect and eavesdropping on their conversation. How could she be that rude?
「 Aspect Insight has been challenged by Mental Shield. 」
Huh? What is Mental Shield and how do they already have it?
A few seconds later another notification came up bearing good news.
「 ■■■■■ has suppressed Mental Shield. 」
「 Aspect Insight has fully analysed the target's Stellar Aspect. 」
Whatever ■■■■■ is, I got to thank it one day. Without it, I'd be dead. Funny how many times something unknown saved me so far.
「 Aspect Insight's analysis has been stored. 」
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Supreme Beast Commander (SEMI-COMPREHENSIVE)
No animal was able to resist his taming and most certainly no animal shall ever fight against his command.
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Stellar Form 1 || Interspecies Communication
You can understand the tongue of any animal by reading its mind and turning its thoughts into audible speech. The opposite also happens to the targetted animal. At a higher level, this ability will be able to affect other humans/animals in the area allowing group discussion.
Stellar Form 2 || Animal Control
Connect your mind with an animal, allowing you to control its movements. Your body falls limp whenever this ability is in use. While in this ability, you can also telepathically communicate with the animal as you're constantly fighting for dominion over the body. The animal's mind naturally attempts to force you out, and as it isn't your mind you are sure to lose - unless the animal is near-death or in another weakened state.
Stellar Form 3 || LOCKED
Stellar Form 4 || LOCKED
[MORE]
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Guess even while suppressed Mental Shield managed to hide some parts of his aspect.
But why were they both about animals? One was a spider-man knock-off and the other an advanced zookeeper.
Was there some sort of bond between similar aspects? After all, Khai and I both had an aspect that revealed the information of another person so that theory was probable.
「 Sky's View has ended. 」
Waking up from my slumber, I saw Khai looking out of the clinic's door window. It was the only window we left semi-uncovered so we could see the outside without me having to sleep. Knowing that we were being watched, it was better to block the rest of the windows, the big ones primarily.
「 Your body has experienced a higher quality of sleep in a short span as a result of 'Thousand Dreams.' 」
The mask gave us some sort of control over how much time I spend asleep after finishing the ability. The moment it is off, I wake up, unless my body is too tired. The effect was also useful as I felt more refreshed than I ever felt in my life directly after waking up so it'd be an advantage in emergency situations. Usually, I'd still be waking up for another hour.
"You're awake."
Khai turned out and saw me sitting up on the uncomfortable couch. The mask made it feel like a bed that'd belong to a monarch but that illusion disappeared after I woke up.
"I found out their aspects."
Going on to describe them, we polished our plan.
The main threat would be the woman - but with Khai's Hell-Bone Sword and Ichor Infusion, it wouldn't be too hard to fight off her webs and spiderlings. The man, unless he found some powerful animal, wouldn't pose much of a threat as well. Then again, we weren't aware of their stats which meant they could take us on physically. The man had defined muscles so our strength was surely lower than his. More specifically, mine was.
I only knew that Khai had 10 points in mental prowess and other than that we kept our stats hidden from each other. At any point, if he tried to reveal my stats to himself with Heaven's Seer, ■■■■■ would surely prevent it. Not knowing what ■■■■■ was kept bugging me as I didn't know how to use it. In any way, I had to remain hidden while we tried to figure out the man's general key attribute. For me, my key part was my mental prowess so as long as his wasn't physical strength, I'd be safe.
When it came to the woman, Khai would have to remain defensive so her webs wouldn't get him; otherwise, we'd both be tied up by her. If she were to summon her colony, she'd only be able to use either the attack command or the defend command. The cocoon command wouldn't be possible unless Khai was knocked out since he'd just cut through it before being put to sleep.
The attack command could potentially overwhelm him but he figured out how to make Ichor Infusion separate from the weapon and fly in a crescent wave. The defend command was very vague on how it is defensive so we didn't have an idea of what would happen if she used it.
For the man, it was my job to distract him while Khai incapacitated the woman. I wasn't planning on taking him head-on as there was no way my -3 physical strength could overpower him. The dental clinic didn't offer much hiding room so I'd have to make him follow me out onto the street. The core of our plan was that they were separated.
"How do we unlock other forms? I need something to fight with."
I was desperate in the case my third form was something made for combat. My current two were only useful for surveying but soon enough that'd be useless.
"Probably practicing with the aspect."
"Wouldn't it be our level?"
"Nah."
"Why?"
"Just a hunch, seems too easy."
"So if I keep using Aspect Insight or Sky's View I'll get my next form?"
"Hopefully."
Praying that it'd work, I put the mask back on and entered Sky's View. I explored a section of the city and managed to find a group of people. I used Aspect Insight on all of them and only a few of them didn't have a Stellar Aspect yet; none of them had anything overly powerful or frightening yet either.
After 30 minutes of exploring the ruined city, a notification came up.
「 Your Stellar Aspect wishes to talk to you. 」