The Great Core's Paradox: A LitRPG Adventure by Zendran

Author:Zendran [Zendran]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aethon Books
Published: 2022-07-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 56

The First Glimpse

The Coreless jabbered at one another while I hissed at the fire-water. It bubbled back at me, little bits of itself popping upward from the depths, but I was no more able to understand what that meant than I could truly understand the noises of the Coreless. It could have meant many things. Perhaps the warning of an enemy, the pleas of a terrified foe—or, more likely, it could have been nothing.

Either way, I couldn’t help but stare into its depths, searching for an answer.

I flicked my tongue, catching the heavy scent-taste of the Lesser Core. It didn’t drive me in the way it had earlier. Without the blood loss and soon-death of my earlier life, I was able to resist the compulsion to throw myself forward heedlessly and ignore any potential danger in search for the Core.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t desperate to find it, however.

I turned and hissed at the Coreless as their noises distracted me again and again. Despite that, only the-female-who-was-not-Needle looked my way. She bared her teeth. I hissed again. She wiggled her fingers at me before turning back to the others and making more noises.

With nothing else for it, I slithered toward the gathered group of Coreless, hissing my displeasure at the situation. For a group of aspiring disciples—and even two that acted for the Great Core in ways I personally recognized—it was surprisingly difficult to get their attention when I wanted it.

That was the problem with gathering strong, idiot disciples.

I mourned for what had never been and what would never be—a group of Great Core disciples created by the Great Core itself, able to properly hiss and slither. Instead, I was stuck with… this.

The Great Core must have had faith in my patience. It was both pleasing and very, very annoying.

Still, their strength more than made up for their other flaws. Mostly, at least. For a couple of them.

I pulled myself up the female-who-was-not-Needle’s leg, winding around her torso before finding a perch on her shoulder. She voiced her garbled little hisses, and I valiantly ignored them.

“Hey, little cutie,” she said. “Am I your favorite now?” A moment later, she reached for my head-scales. I ignored that too, focusing instead on the image I was trying to create. I had already refilled my reservoirs of light. My heat stores, meanwhile, were as full as ever. Another gout of flame wicked away from my scale-flesh as if to emphasize that fact, the act almost unconscious at this point. I did make sure to direct it away from the Coreless, though, despite the brief urge to do otherwise in my frustrated state.

The way her fingers dug tiny lines into my head-scales actually felt rather nice after the stress of the battles and my repeated deaths. I leaned into it, closing my eyes as I imagined the image I wanted to create.

It was a little harder this time, despite being simpler. I didn’t have to find a way to show the Coreless the

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