“It’s…it’s an Achievement,” Grimfalk repeated, not noticing Longclaw’s outburst since his entire attention was on the message displayed in front of him. Having seen all of Charlemagne’s Achievements save for the hidden one, the theropod deity knew that, as Achievements went, the one he had just earned was not all that impressive. What was incredible was the fact that he had earned it at all. As he read it for the eighth time, he still couldn’t believe that it was real.

  “Well, what does it say?” Longclaw practically screeched as she stomped right up to Grimfalk and waved her talons in his face. “What did you get?”

  The other theropod was still too stunned for conversation. Wordlessly, he shared the contents of the System message with Longclaw. She staggered back and fell onto the sofa, nearly crushing her tail as she did so. At the last moment, however, the tail slotted into one of the specially designed holes in the piece of furniture, sparing Longclaw a great deal of embarrassment.

  “So…you can get stronger through the System,” she said at last. “That means…”

  “That means that if Charlemagne earns a lot more high-level Achievements, I can regain my old strength!” Grimfalk gleefully finished.

  “No, you’d need several hundred Achievements to get there at the very least. Probably more than that, since the ones we’ve seen only affect an attribute’s base number and aren’t multiplicative.”

  Grimfalk put his head down and pouted as his dreams of regaining his old rank were shattered.

  “What it means for us is something much greater, or worse, depending on how you look at it. It means that the System has started to affect us as well. What is that going to do to you as a deity? What is it going to do to me, since I’m not exactly a deity but not a mortal, either? And where will it end? Will we get classes too? Will deity on deity violence become normalized? Will you…will you be able to lose your life at the claws of another deity? What if this was all a terrible mistake!?” Longclaw moaned as she outlined the horrible possibilities that a System integration would entail.

  “Huh, when you put it like that, it kind of sounds exciting!” Grimfalk said with enthusiasm. Just you and me and our wits, pitting ourselves against other GOD members, working our way up the ranks one by one until we reach the final boss…”

  “This isn’t one of those games from Japan you were obsessed with a few years ago! This is real life, with real consequences. And besides, we don’t even know if that’s how it’s going to work. This is the only message you’ve gotten from the System, right? Maybe it’s a fluke, or some sort of bug, or maybe it’s just poor programming. But, whatever it is, we need to be careful with this information. We can’t let anyone else know that you got this achievement, okay? Can you keep it secret?”

  Grimfalk snorted.

  “Of course I can! Who am I going to tell anyways?

  Longclaw gave her companion a death glare. The deity withstood her gaze for a few moments, before shying away.

  “Grimfalk, I am serious here. We have to keep this a secret and figure out how we can exploit it to our advantage. But I’m going to need your help to test a few things if we’re going to take advantage of your new strength. Can you check a few things for me?”

  The larger theropod puffed himself back up, his pride returning at the thought of being useful.

  “Of course I can! What do you need?”

  In the Dungeon, Charlemagne was also engrossed in reading his latest messages from the System. There was a lot to go over.

  The increase to Charlemagne’s attributes were both immediate and greatly welcomed. His Ember Core was completely emptied from performing his last attack, and his bodily reserves depleted from all the damage that he had taken. Despite his fatigue, the rooster felt stronger, faster, tougher, and even smarter in the afterglow of the gaining two levels and two achievements at the same time. The extra kick helped the rooster focus, and he spent a long time going over the messages from the squiggles before the tempting aroma of roast beef got the better of him. Eventually, Charlemagne left his reward choices for later and raced to the burnt bull’s corpse on unsteady legs.

  When he arrived, he discovered a small complication. He couldn’t penetrate the Bald Bull’s hide, even in death. The only way that he was able to gain access to the inside of the bull was through its mouth, which had been so badly burnt that it was practically charcoal. Still, the rooster could smell and sense with his Special Ability that an amazing treasure lay hidden within the boss’ body. Bypassing the carbonized outer layer, he dug deep into the bull’s skull, nibbling at the remnants of the creature’s brain without much success. Disappointed, Charlemagne then turned his attention to the bull’s throat, burying his entire head and neck as far as he could into the steaming gullet.

  It was slow going, but he managed to dig through the Bald Bull’s neck, spitting out bone pieces and cartilage until he reached a nice pocket of warm beef. The rooster clucked with pleasure as he tore into the protein-rich meat. It was a bit tougher than he would have liked, but it was still bursting with flavor.

  “Boss, what about me!!!” Bridget whined from over his shoulder. “I want to try some too!”

  Charlemagne pulled his head out and swallowed the enormous bite of meat he had just torn away with his beak.

  “Bawwk,” he said.

  “Yeah, I’ve already chosen my rewards! I combined Aerial Evasion and Wing Muffle and got this really good skill called Covert Maneuvers. Then I grabbed an Intermediate Elixir of Dexterity, which was a pretty decent boost. And, just for you, boss, I got the Party Upgrade Token, so you don’t have to worry about that one.”

  “Bawk,” Charlemagne responded, a bit let down.

  “I know, the Skill Combination Token really only works if you have two skills that will synergize together well. But don’t feel discouraged! Why not get two more skills and see if you can find a pair that you like? Then later you can combine them if you find a token.”

  The rooster considered the idea as he gorged himself on cow flesh, which had already gone from well done to medium in just a few minutes. Despite the bull’s massive size, Charlemagne had grown to the point where he could not easily squeeze himself through the hole that had once been the Bald Bull’s neck. And since he couldn’t just cut through the beast’s impervious hide, he was limited to that one entry and exit point. So, he slowly slithered his way in, eating as he went.

  Having been hatched from an egg, Charlemagne had never known the wonders of growing inside of a womb. He was getting that experience now. It was pitch black, warm, and very moist inside the Bald Bull’s stomach. The rooster wasn’t entirely sure he knew what he was eating, but it didn’t really matter. It all tasted good. There was only one problem: he was starting to get full.

  “Hey boss can I have a sip?” Bridget called from outside. Charlemagne bawked his agreement, and soon the mosquito had joined him inside the dead body, desiccating huge swaths of tissue as she expanded like a bloody balloon. A few minutes later the rooster threw in the towel.

  “Bawk,” he moaned.

  Bridget, who was still drinking but at a drastically reduced pace, was somehow able to talk while feeding.

  “You got that right, boss. I’m slowing down myself. I feel like I might explode here. Say, you think if I lay some eggs in here they would hatch? The larva could eat what’s left and then fly out the exit.”

  Charlemagne slowly turned his body around, not bothering to answer the question. Eggs and babies were still touchy subjects for the rooster, who had yet to get over his failure to find and hatch some of his pending offspring. The squiggles answered his unspoken question.

  Charlemagne clucked in annoyance as he asked the squiggles to take the message away. Largely out of reflex, he took a bite out of the bull’s seared flesh and swallowed it. Then the squiggles returned with a much better message.

  Despite the amazing bonus that Charlemagne had just received, he still couldn’t help but be upset that he was missing out on even more gains. If only that stupid hide wasn’t completely impervious to his claws, beak, and mana attacks, he could slowly slice it up and eat it.

  “Can I slide by real quick?” Bridget asked.

  The rooster shifted as much as he could, which wasn’t very much, to let the mosquito exit first. The baseball-sized Bridget buzzed passed Charlemagne, her wings humming so loudly he thought that they might break. After exiting the boss’ corpse, she turned around slowly to face the rooster.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here. I don’t want to be here when the kids hatch…it’s always awkward.”

  Charlemagne inched forward as best he could before realizing that, in his bloated state, there was no way that he was going to be able to squeeze himself back out of the bull’s body. He was stuck.

  This infuriated him.

  The rooster squawked in anger and thrashed about, extending his wings as much as they could go while kicking out with his claws one after the other. The bull’s insides were practically liquified as Charlemagne transformed into an avian blender.

  “Wow, thanks for making me a smoothie, but I couldn’t possibly drink anymore!” Bridget called. “Also, you’re totally crushing my eggs, so if you don’t mind…”

  Charlemagne didn’t even hear his mosquito companion, as he had managed to turn himself around once more, facing the rear of the cow and plugging the neck hole with his hindquarters. Rage and despair grappled for the upper hand inside his heart: despite all the fights that he had won, all the hens he had freed, and all the babies that he had hatched, his genetic line was still a dead end. Bridget’s fecundity was an obnoxious reminder that he could not create life on his own.

  Mana began to surge inside his body as he pulled power from his freshly charged Ember Core and directed it into his mouth, building up an attack that was born out of his frustration and powerlessness than a plan. The rational part of Charlemagne’s mind justified firing off his most powerful attack into an enclosed space by suggesting that the release of energy might help him slim down enough to squeeze out, or perhaps the force would be enough to push him through the opening in the bull’s neck. The vast majority just wanted to destroy something.

  But neither part was prepared for what happened next.

  “Bwwk-kwwk!” came the muffled cry from deep inside the Bald Bull’s body. The hide inflated almost instantly, filling to an incredible pressure like an unpoppable balloon. And then, because mana did not follow the laws of physics, Charlemagne and the corpse went streaking through the air…and right into the glowing, blue exit portal.