My Parasite Skill System

My parasite form: how refreshing.

One oval sort of puffed balloon. Pitch dark. Very smooth. Super tiny. With crawling legs. Wandering around in the Rinceville Kingdom towards my goal.

I was being true to myself. And it was just like this: how refreshing.

So much so, that it got me thinking back on these times when I first discovered my true nature.

Everything was so blurry, and to me, as I first thought I'd been discovering myself; I was that human, lost in this big hall restaurant.

Only minutes after that, thankfully, I'd been awakened. Awakened in the sense I discovered the true me. And I knew the true me. That parasite kind of me. The real me.

How truly refreshing.

And so, I was out in the wild. Streets and pathways? There were only that, in a big city like this one. Naturally then, the streets and pathways so happened to find themselves on my way.

I was using them traveling, leaping, and jumping forward that I could be moving.

One was better off leaping and jumping than simply crawling.

This way of moving oneself (one-parasite-self, we have to specify) around was way, way more convenient.

Using relentlessly the crawling legs was too much of a hassle. And when I started down the track towards my objective, I rather rapidly and decisively thought to renounce on it after I saw how ineffective that was.

And the cobblestones of the ground supported my tiny insect-like body.

Getting myself going, what I'd also decided was: never ever let your leaping insect pet walk alongside humans.

The leaping insect pet was very tiny, you know.

And the walking humans were very FAT.

Yes, FAT.

FAT.

Fat and enormous. Compared to the real me, that is. So tall, so large, so quick … they were dangerous.

So I repeat: never let your insect pet go walking beside humans. That's too dangerous. I've already been stomped upon by one human inadvertently–but I'm too sturdy.

Still though, being stomped upon could be dangerous. It wasn't agreeable in any case.

Leaping on the sidewalk was out of the question.

Where else, then? Well, wasn't there the middle of the road?

That was that. And here I am, leaping my way forward, as we so casually and amusingly speak, on the middle of the many carriages' way.

The carriages were fat, too. Don't get me wrong. Although, them, they were way more spacious and easily avoidable.

Just gotta stay away from the wheels, and be still while it passes you up. In some ways, they're just like birds, carriages.

They fly by me.

And the road sure is long. There will be many birds. All of them flying above me. And I, still leaping on and on, would gradually come closer to that which I was after:

❮Main quest: 'What lies behind the story?' – Meet with the princess of Rinceville at her apartments and get all comfy with her.❯

The royalties' castle, I guess.

It can never be too soon. I want to go there, and so I will go there. And that's what's fun about adventuring, mostly. This is basically like adventuring, after all, right?

My voyage would be unfolding.

The voyage. It was long. But following the main path, that is to say, the guide, quest, system, or whatever … passing through plenty of streets and alleys, seeing folks going about life in their so many ways, still leaping throughout the horizon … I'd eventually arrived in front of this giant forest.

… but hold on a second. I had to come to a stop, right there, and settle my little legs on the cobblestone I was on at the moment.

A giant forest?

In an even more gigantic city?

I mean, sure, why not. I'm sure this could be a thing.

Though, now, I've been following the direction the noodle maker had indicated. The royalties' castle was supposed to be in my way.

And yet, what was I seeing, not with my eyes, but through mana only, right now?

Hmm … sure. I'm at the right place. There's no mistaking it. Though, it really is huge, this forest. Or maybe should I be referring to you as 'garden,' huh?

Sure, I'll call you this. I'll call you a garden.

A huge garden. A garden that I should qualify as royal, I guess. A royal garden.

It was huge. It was organized. It was luxurious.

The green of itself extended from one point to another opposite point in the distance.

And you can believe me when I say that. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. Along with [Mana Perception], upon concentrating the best I could, I could really sight the esthetic bushes from far away.

Spreading itself the way it did, I was yet thinking of it as a forest.

And the sun, still going down and down, as seconds, minutes, and soon hours passed by, was still much radiating of its light, hanging high yet falling down on the many terraces and gardens.

Which allowed the green of this place to shine even greener and stronger.

Of course, this wasn't a forest.

Or maybe it was. A forest with a beautiful white and beige castle in the middle of it.

Or maybe it wasn't in the middle of it, and a bit more forward, but hey, that wouldn't matter.

Fact was, there was a castle here.

I was headed the right way. Thank you again, Noodle Maker Sir.

In contrast with the gardens' green, the sun's yellow, this castle would add up to its beautiful white color.

With its beautifully shaped arched architectures and the way, it spread itself so evenly and harmoniously across the flat terraces, upon which it would widen present itself proudly … if not even with a touch of stubborn arrogance … it would see me as I saw it.

This is it, I thought. This is the royalties' domain. And that's where the guide is taking me.

Can't wait to see what's in there for me with the quest. Maybe I'll be the winner of some … well, I don't even know why I'm hyped, to be honest.

I guess I'm just looking forward for something to go down so as to create more depth and reason for my life. Maybe stability isn't for me. Maybe stability is for me.

–Oh, and never mind. That castle, the royalties' domain? Was it, or was it not?

Of course, it was. But was it all about it? About this royalties' domain?

Isn't the forest … or, ahem, gardens part of this, too.

Going along that long wall circling around the gardens, I stumbled upon a domed gate.

So there was a gate to that rampart. And I thought I'd only wait for it to be a bit lower so that I would jump it over in one go. Well, this isn't a bad surprise.

The rampart was circling the gardens and castle. And so obviously, it would indeed be acting as a fence.

A very long and kind of high fence.

But that fence has a rift.

And obviously, then again, with the two soldiers … or maybe these ones should be called not soldiers but guards … guarding the gate as they were, obviously, this whole collection of beautiful gardens, terraces, and royal apartments, was part of the royalties' domain.

Two guards were posted here by the gates.

Now that I had seen that gate, I leaped my way up to it.

Very soon, with approximatively fifty consecutive jumps, I was standing before it.

This gate was just some sort of crossing point. Because they were no gates to be seen hanged by the two extremities of the joining ramparts.

Yes. There were only guards. And standing up very formally the way they were, armored super heavily with a spear and shield in each's hands, their eyes eventually betrayed their sternness from time to time as they wandered here and there, towards the horizon, they were standing guards.

In their seriousness, they would suffice as to fulfill the duty of the reinforced sturdy gate that was absent. The royalties could certainly do without it, with these two guards of theirs.

That, and we weren't only in their kingdom … but in their very kingdom's capital.

Laying a gate?–nah, they ain't needing such a stupid thing.

That left a hole for me to go through, following still following the route like a good law-abiding citizen of theirs.

Naturally, I helped myself and went through it. Climbing up the ramparts would've been way too much of a hassle.

I happily leaped through the gate one jump after the other.

I can go in without even causing trouble again … that's very cool.

And one of the two guards noticed me before the other:

–"Oh. Look at that, coworker. Someone passing the gate illegally!.... just kiddin': hah, hah."