Slowly waking, Abe took stock of his surroundings, and promptly discovered that all forests look the same to introverts. There were trees, grass, shrubs, even birds! What a forest. Abe had an idea. Explaining his plan, Abe dismounted Wolfie and stored him in his tattoo, before attempting something new. After trying to talk to Fred telepathically for a few minutes, and getting nothing, Abe gave up and just summoned him, quickly ordering him to stay quiet.
After explaining the plan to Fred too, and telling him to be ready, Abe put him back in stasis and began.
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"Fuck, shit, fuck, shit, damn, cock, fuck, oh shit, oh god, oh no this was a horrible idea"
Abe was slightly distressed. Turns out that being chased by fucking dinosaurs is just a little bit stressful. The names above their heads told him they were [Pachy]s. They were creatures around 5.5-6 feet tall, bipedal and lizard-like, with hard spiky heads perfect for ramming other creatures, and they had a penchant for knocking their attackers out. Abe knew this because he saw them knock out one of the big fiends, and he did not escape their attention.
Reaching a clearing, Abe moved on with the plan. It wasn't a very complicated plan, as he just called Wolfie and Fred out to ambush the [Pachy]s. Hopping on Wolfie, Abe pulled out his hunting rifle and took aim while Fred moved to guard the front. Quickly realizing that he was stupid and his rifle would not pierce the [Pachy]s thickly armored skulls, Abe stuffed it back into Wolfie's [Saddlebags] to be used at a later time. Thinking quickly, Abe grabbed a sturdy looking branch off the ground and almost fell for his troubles.
While Abe was scavenging a weapon, Fred was already engaging the dinos. Once again showing startling martial prowess, Fred tossed the [Pachy]s around like toys, punching and kicking as he saw fit. He chose not to dodge, simply tanking any attacks that came for him, only bothering to redirect ones aimed at sensitive and vital parts of his body to his arms and legs. Fred had taken the job of weakening whatever enemies Abe brought to the ambush, while Wolfie would go for the throat on weakened and tired enemies. Abe was just kinda there. He had a tree branch.
Speaking of, Abe had an idea. He just had to hope he had enough strength to pull it off. Winding up the branch to swing, he had Wolfie run towards a [Pachy] that was just getting up after being tossed away by Fred, and at about ¾ of Wolfie's top speed, Abe swung the branch as hard as he could. With the added momentum from Wolfie's run, the branch broke against the [Pachy]'s neck, killing the beast. Wielding his newly sharp half-branch stick, Abe jumped off Wolfie's back and ordered him to start killing the downed ones, while Abe went to try to do the same.
Running up to the first downed dino he saw, Abe stabbed right between the scales of its throat, killing it instantly. Or at least, he tried to. Instead of a clean kill, Abe's makeshift spear got stuck inside the creature's neck, dealing damage but not fatal damage and losing his weapon. Dropping the spear and backing off immediately saved Abe from a rather violent headbutt, and he checked around himself for a replacement weapon. After dodging several more attacks from the severely weakened and injured [Pachy], Abe finally found a large rock and went to grab it.
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The only issue with this was that he stopped watching his enemy. As Abe grabbed the rock and brought it back up, he suffered a heavy headbutt in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and making him drop the rock. Abe fell to the ground and started trying to crawl away, towards Fred or Wolfie, but only managed a few feet before he found a large claw in his a leg. A large claw. In his leg. IN HIS FUCKING LEG! Abe screamed, a raw, guttural scream of a man wronged, of a man hurt, of a man angry.
Pulling on everything he had, Abe grabbed the creature's other leg and pulled it off balance, causing it to fall and rip its claw violently out of Abe's now very open wound. Grabbing the previously discarded rock, Abe crawled on top of the [Pachy] and starting bashing a whole right above its ribcage. Feeling a primal fury, and a lot of pain, Abe opened up the dinosaur's chest, swing by swing, until he could just about see its heart. And then, he grabbed it. Abe yanked, and pulled at its heart, but it was much heavier than it should've been. Exerting all of his strength, both physical and mental, Abe just barely managed to pull out the creature's heart, no, not heart, he realized, its core.
Abe wasnt sure how he knew what it was or how to use it, bu he did, and when he reached with his mind, the core dissolved in his hands. He then felt a rush of power like no other. He felt monstrous. He felt like he could kill the rest of the [Pachy]s with his bare hands. But he also knew that was stupid, and he would die if he tried, especially with his current injuries. But wait, where did his injuries go? He wasn't out of breath, and his leg was fine. Absorbing the core seemed to have healed him completely, hell he wasn't even tired anymore. Checking the state of the battle, Abe was glad to see Fred and Wolfie wrapping up. All that was left was to check his system notifications.
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Congratulations! You have completed your first core absorption! You have unlocked the secret class [Hunter of Beasts]!
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ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!
SECRET CLASS:[Hunter of Beasts] IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH CLASS:[Monster Trainer]
NORMAL CLASS COMBINATION IMPOSSIBLE!! SCANNING POTENTIAL…………….……….
LEGACY CLASS FOUND. MINIMUM LEVEL NOT MET. CONDITIONS NOT MET. SOLUTION: HEAVY RESTRICTION. MONITORING. EXPERIENCE REDUCTION. LEGACY BRAND:N/A
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The error message disappeared as quickly as it popped up, and Abe could not recall it. He did not like the sound of system error, let alone more than one, but he couldnt do shit about it except accept it. Moving onto more normal system notifications, Abe sighed.
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Forced Class Evolution-[Monster Trainer I]becomes[The Woodsman's Legacy]!
Congratulations! You are the first integrated to unlock a [Legacy Class]!
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"What."