The immortal weave is a pseudo-wonder, not a true immortal relic of the past; it cannot fashion the laws of Heaven and Earth into garments, or imbue them with their effects. The hallmark of a true immortal wonder is its ability to play with the laws of Heaven in ways no human or entity can, weaving new ones from the existing fabric to enhance Heaven and Earth.

  --Excerpt from ‘Immortal Creations’ by Zhi Luping

  Harry wasn’t expecting the Ratkin’s current state. He’d almost completely forgotten about the other aspects of his venom, and his mind had subconsciously judged it as useless ever since it failed to have any effect on that bear-like rat.

  The effects of [Ultimate combo] were on full display now, though.

  It was clear the rat was suffering, and Harry did not enjoy others’ misery, so the rat dashed over to the immobilized and bleeding Ignor and pried upon the armored plates surrounding his eyes before thrusting his claws through the socket and into the back of the ratkin’s head, killing it instantly.

  Harry’s eyes went red with greed and otherworldly power as his predation authority flared up, threatening to manifest outwardly, but Harry couldn’t allow that to happen; he was already displaying abilities no single creature should have. If he showed more, he’d just bring unwanted trouble.

  [You….What are you, Strange Kin? What bloodline did you manage to awaken to make you so mighty and…..distinct? Who is your Broodmum?!]

  Harry became aware of the fact that he could answer with just a thought, but the rat remained silent. What exactly could he tell him? That he was just a rat, and not a kin at all? If they were operating under the assumption that his strange behavior was a result of a bloodline and not a strange otherworldly power, Harry wasn’t going to correct them.

  This made things significantly easier for him; he just had to hide most of his odd abilities and show things that were considered reasonable.

  As for the rest? Harry could just claim memory loss after clearing the colosseum, smoothly integrating himself into Ratkin society, assuming nothing unexpected happens.

  [Answer me, Strange Kin!]

  The words slammed into Harry’s mind with metaphysical might and the raw intentions of the owner, causing [Wall] to flare up and slap back the creeping tendrils of [Kin link], sending the trait back into where it belonged.

  Harry heard something akin to a gasp of shock echo from the skill as it faded, then the voice returned.

  [I see why Mother has taken an interest in you, Strange Kin; not only does your bloodline grant excellent combat prowess, but it also can defend against mental intrusions, even one from a Kin Royal such as I, which is fascinating. If we manage to seed baby kin with it….the potential is…..immense!]

  Harry could feel the greed laced within each word, one that grew stronger with each passing second. Though Harry couldn’t see the Ratkin, he could feel his intentions; the royal saw him as nothing more than cattle now, one that could elevate their species as a whole.

  Harry shuddered, wondering if he’d made a mistake by repelling the mental probe so strongly or by fighting so well.

  [Your limits, show me them! Show us what you can do, strange kin!]

  Harry cursed inwardly, suddenly feeling exhausted mentally as he contemplated his life decisions.

  The colosseum rumbled as the compact earth floor split open, swallowing Ignor’s corpse and blood in a deluge of black thorny roots that swam up to drag the corpse into the split. Harry lamented the loss of potentially useful traits but didn’t have the time to mourn the loss as the split sealed, and yet another gate manifested.

  This one was significantly smaller than the last and led to a well-lit tunnel where a dragon-like Ratkin slowly rose from its slumber.

  Harry could see it clearly this time, despite the decent amount of distance between them, because the tunnel was well lit and the fact that the kin was…glowing.

  Heat rippled underneath it, shining through the slight cracks in its scaled skin, shifting and pulsing with each slight movement and bellowing out of its mouth and snout like a furnace. It resembled a dragon, just one with glowing whiskers, a rat-like head, and a wooden exoskeleton mixed with chitin and metal.

  Smoke bellowed out of its nostrils, and a consuming flame burned within the Ratkin’s vertically slit eyes.

  The only thing it was missing to be a complete dragon were horns and wings, and perhaps a longer tail and some better claws; the current ones were too thin.

  Even so, Harry’s mind was in full combat analysis mode; how was he going to kill something like this? Would it even be possible to breach its defence?

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  Unlike last time, [Keen eyes] weren’t offering any insight, nor potential points of weakness. The Ratkin was like a blank canvas, devoid of any splashes of color Harry had come to associate with potential weaknesses.

  The only thing the rat saw was red, and an impending sense of doom.

  Suddenly, the dragon-like kin leaped forward with a burst of heat and flames, moving with such great speed that Harry had no time to react; one moment it looked to be in the midst of waking up, and the next it was right before Harry with its jaws wide open.

  The only thing the rat could do was raise his hand to block the bite, hissing when he felt razor-sharp teeth dig into it with enough force to crush huge sections of it.

  Then, Harry felt something like a boulder slam into him, and suddenly the rat was airborne. Harry slammed into the walls, coughing up blood as he felt his exoskeleton break and fly apart as it dispersed what force it could.

  Still, it was far from enough; a huge section of his upper chest had caved in, and huge sections of the soft flesh underneath were visible. Harry also had trouble breathing; his left lung had popped open like a balloon, and his first heart had ruptured, too.

  The last thing Harry felt was heat, then he knew no more.

  ∞

  Harry leaned against the massive bronze fountain in Emperor’s Square, analyzing his system screen and the people around him.

  ‘That’s the usual method of integrating a promising realm into the system’s fold, but I want to try something else; something new.’

  ‘Can’t you see it, my dear child? Within this realm exists a new, unique law: the law of faith. This law is the reason why this realm has so many conceptual beings, and why every attempt at integration so far has failed. The people here have the power to reshape reality with thought, anything can be if they will it!’

  ‘Yes, and with that, we might be able to rise [Fantasy2.0] to [Fantasy 3.0] and finally take on those pesky [Redacted].’

  When the system didn’t reply, Harry turned his attention back to the real world, specifically the people who moved about in the square and around the massive bronze statue in the middle that doubled as monument and a water fountain.

  It depicted a man who looked to be in his 40s-50s wearing a scholar's robe with a stack of tomes in his left hand, and a sword in his right while he gazed upward, somehow managing to look both majestic and scholarly at once.

  Atop his head was a crown of book pages, one that pulsed with a certain indescribable aura that gave Harry chills, even as a Godly being.

  The entity depicted by the statue was undoubtedly a God, a very powerful one at that.

  Harry knew what he was feeling was raw faith; the power of thought given form, one that he wanted to size for himself.

  But first, he needed followers and a lot of miracles.

  ∞

  Harry woke up to a familiar darkness; unnatually thick and filled with refreshing fresh air; it was the room.

  The first thing he did was check his body, blinking in shock when he realized that he didn’t have a single wound on him; the only indication of battle was the fact that most of his exoskeleton had missing chunks and a certain heaviness in his chest.

  He felt weak, thirsty, and….out of place mentally, as if something had attempted to pry into his thoughts but only ended up shuffling them in the process.

  Beyond that, Harry felt a lot more solid spirituality, and [Wall] felt significantly stronger than the last time he checked.

  His entire situation felt odd; the last thing he could recall was getting brutalized by that dragon-like kin, then being engulfed in what Harry now recognized as his breath.

  Harry didn’t know how he survived such a potent blast of flames at almost point-blank range, but he suspected that it had something to do with the Ratkin who was talking to him earlier as well as the entity they called Mother.

  Harry hadn’t expected to be pitted against such a powerful foe in just his second match; he’d been caught completely off guard and nearly paid the price of not expecting the unexpected.

  Looking back, the rat found himself quite foolish; he could’ve easily worn down Ignor the Vile with minimal exposure of his abilities, all he had to do was keep his distance and analyze the attack patterns of the Ratkin.

  He certainly had the stamina and speed to do so; the only trait he would’ve needed was [Adrenal Burst], and that was only to boost his speed. At most, he’d only use a single boost and save the last one for when he was about to strike.

  His opponent would’ve assumed his current speed was his maximum and would be unprepared for a sudden surge of even greater speed and strength.

  The rat sighed, then paused as he smelled his own breath; that was odd, why was he suddenly aware of his own breath all of a sudden? The only time that happened was when Harry recently ate something.

  The rat’s suspicion grew as he looked around and inspected his body more thoroughly; there were hints of something being done to him, something to speed up his rate of healing.

  The rat looked around, pausing at the sight of a huge mound of thinly sliced meat to his right, floating in a thin, transparent, plant-like sack that rose from the ground slightly and looked to be on the verge of bursting.

  The rat felt his hunger explode at the sight, but controlled himself with some effort and summoned his status screen, he had to check how badly he’d been hurt before anything else.