Versatile: Alternate World

With the dining experience with the Insect Kingdom's royalty being an absolute disaster, we returned to the cottage house. Tina is looking too exhausted after the meetup with her parents but I cannot blame her for it. She is not to be blamed for it as her parents are pretty much an ass. Even I would not like it as well if they are that rude to me. They did it for themselves and it's not worth mulling over.

"Master, are you sure that we should just give up on participating in this war? I could have just swallowed my pride back there and allowed them to badmouth me as long as you get the best of the best offers."

I shook my head and tap her shoulders.

"Tina, the fact that they are still like that to you doesn't mean you can just keep on accepting that abuse to yourself. We all know that a bloodline and a status don't mean much aside from being known to the populace. This war is something that we can just remain on the sideline. We could join in the fight in the war later on but we will not be able to gain any kind of recognition or rewards as a result so that's just the problem. But I don't see it as a problem if we have shown your parents that you are not the same Tina that they can just easily harass and treat you like trash. Just forget about their offer and we should just wait until the war proceeds."

"Is it fine if we just jumped through the war without the permission of my parents?"

This time, Gobu entered the room after scanning the whole area for enemies and answered Tina's question.

"Tina-chan, the war doesn't choose who will participate in it. If they are involved in it, they will be involved no matter how much you try to escape from it. If we wanted to jump in and join the fray between the war of insects and parasites, there is not a big problem with that. We are the third party crashing into another party. Getting into war doesn't need permission to participate in it in my opinion," Gobu sat down on the sofa after answering Tina's question.

"Is that so?"

"Which is why we should remain here in the Aquagius region. Wait for the upcoming war to commence and observe whether we should join in or not. It's your choice, Tina. After all, this is your home, and it's up to you whether you still want to help them despite the things they have done to you. I am not going to say anything else about it."

After talking to Tina, I went outside to explore outside but before I could do so, Lina who was currently outside alongside Cotton suddenly went to me and she is currently looking worried.

"Master... I don't know what is going on but something is happening to Cotton. She is totally unresponsive and she is not breathing much. I am not sure what is happening anymore and I can't communicate with her unlike Lucia so it is making me panic more. What is going on, Master?!"

She handed me the motionless Cotton. She doesn't have any changes except that she is asleep, feels very hot to the touch, and does not wake up no matter how much movement you do. I tried to see whether Cotton is no longer breathing but she was wrong as Cotton is still breathing but she is breathing very slowly. It's easily missable due to how slow the breathing is. I don't blame Lina for missing it as Cotton's breathing is too far from each other that anyone who tried to feel her breathing won't feel it due to how minor her breathing that she is.

But despite the fact that Cotton is alive, her behavior is not something I have seen before and the menu for Cotton doesn't explain her current condition which made me a little bit worried that Cotton is experiencing something we don't know.

"Master, how about we ask Tina about this? Aside from Lucia, Tina can also communicate with Cotton quite well. And since they are both in the line of the Insect Species, perhaps she knows what is happening to Cotton?"

"You are right, perhaps Tina can help us with this."

We rushed inside the house and looked for Tina. Tina is still in her room and is currently mulling over the things that happened earlier. We knocked on the door that is open to let Tina know that we are currently at the doorway.

"Tina? Can you come here for a second?"

A little bit confused, Tina stood up and had a confused look on her face. "What is going on, Master? Lina-chan? You guys seemed to be troubled?"

"There is something happening on Cotton but we don't know what is going on. Lina even thought Cotton died but she is still alive. Can you see what is currently happening to her?"

Tina holds Cotton slowly and she jolted when she felt the hot body of Cotton. Thankfully, she didn't throw Cotton away but she was definitely not expecting the hotness that Cotton's body is releasing. She looked at her for a while, and inspected her body if there is anything wrong with her, she even inspected her breathing patterns and nodded but she didn't say much and continued to observe Cotton for a while without saying anything.

I can see the panicked look on Lina's since she is the last one who holds Cotton and if something happened to Cotton, she is going to take the blame as she is the last one who was with Cotton. Plus adding the pressure of the condition that Cotton is currently in, it is natural she is worried about her. Adding the fact that Tina is saying anything as she checks on Cotton adds more worry to her.

It took a few minutes before Tina sighed and handed back Cotton.

"Cotton is fine guys, don't worry about her. This is a natural response and you don't need to worry too much about her current condition. In fact, you guys should be happy for her."

"Be happy? What for? Isn't she suffering from some kind of disease we don't know?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down Lina-chan. Cotton is fine and she is not suffering from any kind of disease or any curses or whatever negative thing you might be thinking right now."

"Can you kindly explain?" I am still worried about Cotton.

"Cotton is undergoing a metamorphosis. You guys should have seen normal butterflies undergoing the metamorphosis process. Cotton is undergoing the same process and that is why she is like this. Oh yeah, you should put Cotton somewhere in a spacious area like a room. Perhaps the vacant room that no one uses? We could use that and put her there."

"You mean, this is just her body response due to her currently undergoing the Metamorphosis process?"I clarified.

"Indeed. I also have undergone this kind of thing before so there is no need for you guys to worry. For us who have the lineage of insects, we undergo metamorphosis depending on the situation. Once she starts to undergo these symptoms, we can already deduce that she will be going to the pupa form later on which is why we needed to put her in an empty place. That way, she will create her cocoon and safely undergo her changes."

Hearing that, Lina immediately went inside the vacant room and vacated most of the things stored there until only the bed is left behind inside. We put Cotton on the bed there and despite being motionless, Tina assured us that she is fine.

"We need to leave the room and let Cotton be alone while she is undergoing the metamorphosis. We can't do anything about it as that is the main rule. We cannot stay while someone is undergoing the metamorphosis process."

"Is that really how it is?" Lina is still worried.

"Yes. However, we will need to monitor her once 2 days have passed. Because that is the time that will become vital for Cotton to aid in her growth during the metamorphosis. Let's leave her alone for now and I will explain the next things we needed to do once she has formed her own cocoon."

Closing the door, Tina slowly explained to us everything that happens while we are outside and not looking at Cotton and why we cannot get inside for a few days.

"If you don't want to get caught up in being encased by her cocoon, then leaving her alone is the best action you can do. But then, the next thing we needed to do is the most vital piece, master."

"Vital piece?"

"You needed to get monster cores multiple times and put it on the room while she is currently in her cocoon form. This will allow her to get stronger once she goes to her next form. So Master, before she forms a core, we needed to gather lots of monster cores from the insect monsters and put it to Cotton's room, which will aid her to change."