Anna had gotten that information about her skills somewhere too, so you had to be able to ask the system. Kai had just thought she knew what skills were, but there was obviously going on a bit more with her system.
She opened her status and urged the system to explain how her skills worked.
Skills
Skills are abilities you acknowledge having subconsciously. Skills exist for the system to provide means to make life easier and to cut down the learning or practicing time needed for any abilities. This way you have more time to improve something.
You are only able to get skills related to your hive.
Kai glared at the last sentence. Wasn’t that unfair?
Everyone basically had a gigantic computer behind them to help them do things they already did once, but she didn’t?
Wait, that was not true. She did have something similar to a computer at her call. Maybe she wasn’t utilizing the mana brain right?
Kai opened her connection to it and tried to identify a bush using the mana brain.
Berry bush
Very helpful, Kai thought amused. She felt a lot better about her system now that she thought about it. Sure, she wouldn’t be able to get most skills for herself, but essentially she had access to every skill and knowledge of her people if she used the mana brain right.
She would have the training of a lot of people combined, but couldn’t train things herself. In her position it was a pretty good trade off.
Kai and Anna continued through the sparse undergrowth. As time passed it slowly became brighter. The process of dawn was a lot slower than anything Kai was used to from earth and she wouldn’t have even noticed it without Anna pointing it out.
After 3 hours they passed a small stream and decided to take a break there. Kai and Anna both rested and drank something. Anna still hadn’t any complaints because of the berries, so Kai decided that they were safe to eat with some reluctance. She still ate a few of them too, even though she wasn’t hungry.
After their break they continued and were now accompanied by the sounds of small animals and birds. For the forest the hunting time of the moths must be the same as night. It was the time of fearsome predators and nobody wanted to be found by them.
Kai decided to call them hell moths, because she thought they were scary and ugly as hell. A truly bad combination.
The nearer they got to the tree, the happier Kai became and at some point she started to hum to herself.
Suddenly Anna stopped and held Kai back too. “Stop my Lady and be silent please.”
Kai did as Anna said and shut her trap. She silently wondered why Anna still cared about her position even in danger, at least she assumed they were in danger.
Kai strained her senses for anything and didn’t notice anything for a few moments until something to the right of them moved.
A weird creature stood there and looked with its large eyes at them. It was a bit smaller than a horse and had four long thin legs. The creature had no fur and its hide had the same color as the ground, a mix of green, brown and a bit gray. If it hadn’t moved Kai would have never been able to spot it.
It didn’t look dangerous, but something about the way it looked at Kai and Anna was unfriendly.
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The animal opened its mouth, presenting a collection of very sharp teeth that definitely had nothing to do with eating plants and hissed at them like a cat. After another moment it started to sprint in their direction.
Kai looked around a bit frantically. She knew how to defend herself against unskilled humans, but that was something that killed for a living.
Anna let go of Kai’s tale and hurriedly positioned herself in front of Kai. “Run my Lady, I will buy you some time!”
Now that made Kai angry. Anna was neither stronger nor better protected than herself and she was willing to buy Kai time to run away. There was really only one thing that Anna hadn’t considered and that was that there was no way Kai would do such a thing.
The weird animal jumped at Anna and Kai, without thinking, lugged Anna to the side while lurching forwards. She held her arms protectively in front of her and collided with the thing.
Its teeth scraped along her chitin armor, something cracked and Kai and the animal were both thrown backwards. The thing made a whimpering sound and collapsed. Kai on the other hand landed painfully on her tail, throwing their harvest off of it. Her arms hurt like shit, but they weren’t broken and likely only bruised to oblivion. The teeth of the thing had left a deep gnash in her armor and nearly broken through.
She turned around and looked up at the sight of Anna running panickedly towards her. “My queen are you alright? I am so sorry!!”
Anna started to tear up and cry fully. She fell down in front of Kai “I couldn’t serve you well, please punish me, for I am not worthy of this life.”
The sight made Kai unbelievably sad and she gathered Anna in a tight hug. “Shhh, I am alright and I am not going to punish you. You did nothing wrong, my child.”
She caressed Anna’s back and smiled sadly. “It is a mother’s duty to ensure the safety of her children.” Saying that had just felt right.
Anna relaxed and calmed down a bit. Kai looked for the animal that had attacked them and discovered it whining on the ground. It was trying to stand up, but one of its forelegs was bleeding and it looked like it couldn’t really use it.
The thing managed to get on three of its feet and turned its head towards Kai. The two glared at each other hatefully for a few seconds. Then the animal turned away from her and started to limp away on three legs.
Kai looked down at herself and noticed that the spine on her left knee had broken off. It was likely the reason the thing was bleeding and Kai was relieved that she didn’t feel any pain in her chitin. The hit she had landed had been lucky, but it was all that had been needed.
Kai looked down at Anna who was still hugging her. That had been the first time the girl had shown this much emotion or really any emotions. Before it had always been like she was trying to copy something.
Kai loosened her embrace and tensed up at the pain. Anna looked up and their antenna touched. A jolt of pleasure went through Kai and she moaned together with Anna. The two blushed and looked away, but Anna found her courage again in a few seconds. “I am sorry for that, my lady. Are you sure you are alright?”
Anna seemed to try to forget her outburst and the weird reaction of their antenna touching and Kai too would rather not dwell on it too. “My arms are heavily bruised and hurt, but everything else is right.”
Kai added as if it wasn’t anything important. “Oh, and I lost my left leg spine, but it will grow again.”
Anna looked at Kai, who could see all the accusations the girl made to herself. Anna bowed again. “I am truly sorry for not being better!”
Kai sighed and waved it away. “I already told you not to be. I wanted to protect you so I did, if you want to be the one protecting me next time you will have to become stronger.”
Anna straightened and a fire of determination lit up in her eyes. Maybe Kai had just created a true monster.
Anna helped Kai get up and then slowly gathered what had survived of their harvest. Most of the berries had been squashed on the ground and didn’t have any worth to them anymore. Then the two continued towards the tree, but a lot more slowly and vary now.