Ben checked his biomass.
'25,884 biomass... not bad.
Now, how should I go about this?'
He looked up at the crystal formations on the ceiling and tapped his chin.
He had a few options.
He could stretch his arm and grab the stalagmites with his shapeshifted limb, but that would be hard to control.
The longer he extended his arm, the less precise it became.
He could also try to raise himself by forming platforms with his carapace armor.
But the ceiling was too high.
That method would cost too much time and biomass.
'I wonder... could I create wings?
Float up there instead?'
His thoughts went back to the last fight with the Hell Worm.
Without Elvira's help, he would have died.
The acidic digestive liquid inside that thing would have melted him down to nothing.
A disturbing thought passed through his mind.
'What if it had actually eaten us?
Would it have evolved again?'
He felt that was unlikely.
In such a long life, the worm must have eaten many creatures stronger than them already.
If not for the salt, they would have been finished.
He let out a small chuckle and shook his head.
'A creature of that caliber brought down by something as simple as salt.
And here I am, a Hive Sovereign and a twice-regressor, barely scraping by.'
He imagined how many powerful beings and rare materials the worm had devoured over time and sighed.
'Alright, focus.
Getting distracted again.
Flying is the real solution here.'
Ben reviewed the types of wings he knew.
'Insects have membrane wings that beat very fast.
Birds flap larger wings with bones and muscles.
The insect wings seem simpler.
Easier to copy.'
His knowledge was shallow.
He understood that wings moved up and down, and that insect wings beat at extreme speed, but he did not know the fine structure, like joints or muscles.
He took a deep breath and directed biomass to his back.
Energy surged through his body.
His carapace armor shifted and reshaped.
A pair of translucent insect wings slowly grew out from his back.
His back muscles twitched as the new wings responded.
He inhaled and tried to move them the way he imagined an insect would, with fast and steady beats.
Buzz.
The wings flapped and pushed a small burst of air under him.
Excitement rose in his chest, but before he could feel satisfied,
BAM.
His body tilted to the side and crashed onto the rocky floor.
Dust rose around him.
He groaned and pushed himself up.
'Okay... not as easy as I thought.'
He brushed off his armor and adjusted the angle of the wings.
This time he focused on each wing separately.
He hoped that would help him balance.
Buzz-buzz.
He tried again.
For a brief moment his body lifted a little off the ground.
Then his left wing beat harder than the right, and he spun to the side.
He hit the ground again, this time with more force.
"Damn it..." Ben muttered, rubbing his aching side.
He felt frustrated, but he did not plan to stop.
He paused and thought about the problem.
'If I cannot control the speed equally, maybe I should train my coordination first.'
He chose to break it into steps.
First, he slowed the wing beats to a pace he could track.
He flapped them in slow, clear motions, just enough to feel a bit of lift while staying in control.
He pushed off with his legs and let the wings only assist, instead of relying on them alone.
Buzz... buzz...
He felt his body hover, weak and shaky, but still a hover.
It was progress.
Encouraged, he widened his stance in the air and spread his arms to help with balance.
The lift was uneven, and his body swayed, but he managed to stay in the air for a few seconds before he wobbled and dropped again.
'Alright, better.
Now I need speed control.'
Next, he tried to adjust the angle of his wings.
He tilted them forward and backward, testing how it changed his direction and stability.
The first attempts ended with him turning in circles or shooting backward.
After several tries, and several more falls, he finally found a working angle.
His wings buzzed at a stable rhythm, and his feet slowly lifted from the ground without wild spinning.
He hovered a few feet over the rocky floor.
His body still swayed, but he held his position.
The buzzing sound filled the cavern and made his ears ring.
'Way too loud... but at least it works now.'
Buzz... buzz...
Ben started to ascend toward the glowing crystal stalactites.
It was slow work.
Every meter felt like it took a long time.
The effort and the noise wore on his patience.
'This is taking forever...
Fuck it!'
He let out an irritated grunt and pushed his wings harder.
He increased their speed to the limit he could handle.
BZZZZZZ!!
The sound exploded through the cavern, like a swarm of giant hornets.
The wide, empty tunnel walls bounced the noise back, making it even louder.
His ears hurt, and the air seemed to vibrate around him.
'If I had a normal glass here, it would probably shatter from the vibrations...'
Even with the deafening buzz, Elvira did not react.
She stayed in the air, completely focused on the Empyrean Crystal.
It was like she did not hear anything outside her own thoughts.
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
Ben reached the crystal and took out his pickaxe.
He started to swing.
Each strike broke off small pieces of the glowing material.
The crystal resisted, but it was nothing like Grimslate.
It felt much softer by comparison.
[Ding! You obtained 1x Eldergleam!]
***
[Eldergleam Block x1]
[Type: Block]
[Use: Crafting material, building, lighting]
[Understanding: 0.001%]
[Max Stack: 9999]
[Rarity: Uncommon]
A luminescent rock that emitted a soft blue glow, found in ancient caverns and sacred groves.
It stayed illuminated as long as it was infused with mana, which made it a good source of natural lighting for enchanted dwellings.
***
'Damn it, it is not a mana crystal... but it says it contains mana.
Can I absorb it?'
Ben frowned and held the Eldergleam shard in his hand.
He closed his eyes and focused on it.
He tried to pull the energy into himself.
He willed it to flow through his body like mana from a crystal.
Nothing happened.
He opened one eye and muttered, "Hey, system, can I absorb this or not?"
[…]
His eye twitched.
"Seriously?
You cannot just give me a simple yes or no?
How hard is that?"
The system stayed silent.
"..."
His irritation flared.
"Fine!
You want to act like you cannot answer?
Do whatever the hell you want!"
He huffed and put the crystal back into his inventory.
He shook his head and looked down at the rocky ground below.
"Guess I'll focus on the Grimslate for now."