Out in the woods, beyond the middle of nowhere, a deer tilted its head at a blue square only it could see. It had seen the thing a few times before, covered in black marks, normally it simply tossed its head in dismissal and the shape would vanish, but this time it stared at some of the black marks and something enormous changed.
15 Stat Points Spent
+15 Intellect
The deer’s head shook momentarily, twitching with almost violent intent. Then the beast sneezed, feeling its mind clear and sharpen. It didn’t even notice the blue square disappear during its spasm.
It was alive, it knew, staring down at its hooves, stubby and black and cloven, connected to long, elegant legs of short, umber fur. Turning over to look at its back, it noticed the white spots mottling its coat before it shoogled its head to clear its few thoughts. It felt the weight of its antlers swing its neck around a little.
The young buck kept walking like it would any other day, but it remembered little details, taking note of things like rocks and ferns as it passed between great firs and pines and larches. It picked up a pinecone between its teeth at the base of a pine, chewing.
It spat the pinecone out, deciding it didn’t like the taste.
While the little fella wasn’t sure what it was doing, it knew it was doing things, which most deer didn’t. It turned out that a deer with sixteen intelligence differed from one with an intelligence score of one.
In fact, it was trying to remember exactly what had happened. It had seen a blue square, one covered in black marks. It wondered what happened to the strange thing, wondering if it would return. It almost hoped it would, though it had no point of reference for such an abstract thought. The thought was closer to ‘It would be good if the blue square came back.’
And then the blue square returned, by its user’s will.
Name:
Age: 1
Race: Fallow Deer Buck
* Level: 2/10
Power: 6
Durability: 3
Swiftness: 5
Grace: 4
Intellect: 16
Insight: 1
Spirit: 1
Willpower: 1
Charisma: 1
Free Points: 0
Skills:
Detect Forage: 1/5
Reinforce Antler: 1/5
The buck looked at the square and its strange little squiggles. It looked across the different lines of squiggles, trying to make something - anything - happen like before. Nothing did until it reached Detect Forage.
Staring at the world caused the deer’s nose to tingle, and it felt something deep within itself, maybe its tummy, tighten as its senses expanded. It smelled food it hadn’t noticed, just some distance off in front of it, small, hard beads of flavour and calorie. It could smell nuts, not that he knew the name.
It stared on at the next set of words, to see if it would make anything happen. All that happened was a tingling sensation springing up across his half-grown antlers. They felt slightly heavier than before, though the feeling slowly faded.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The deer tossed its head at the menu, watching it vanish then reappear, then vanish as it messed around.
Eventually, after maybe a half hour of randomly ‘pressing buttons’ for lack of a better term, before getting distracted by the search for food.
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It wouldn’t be for a few months that the deer would have a new experience with the square while the young buck stood out in the hilly moors that he had found his way to. He was following his enhanced nose across the landscape, browsing away at a gorse bush.
Detect Forage has levelled up. Range and precision increased.
The deer recognised the first two sets of shapes, they were the set of shapes that let it smell so well. It focused and found its nose tingling once more, though it could feel more. It looked away from the menu, causing it to vanish as he lost interest.
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With the start of mating season, our deer friend found himself calling out, hearing a reply not too far off in the distance, a collection of other males inviting him to the annual lek to challenge one another over mating rights.
While most were driven purely by instinct, the strangely intelligent deer was far more interested in meeting and observing its fellows, as well as trying to use its antlers for the first time. Over the summer he had eaten well, courtesy of his ability to detect food and he’d even begun chewing on bones that he had come across, feeling the urge during the growth of his antlers.
And what a set of antlers they were. Unbeknownst to the little fella, his repeated use of Reinforce Antler had been supplementing their growth, and for his first set, they were rather impressive. The velvet had sloughed off some weeks ago, revealing strong, palmate structures of bone, branching off in five directions at the back and forming two distinct spikes at the front of each antler.
When his velvet had fallen off, another box had appeared in response, something he figured was good since it contained the words that made his antlers tingle.
Reinforce Antler has levelled up. Durability and duration increased.
It reminded him of the way his mother would lick at his ears when he was just a fawn after he grew big enough to find his own food. Like it was congratulating him, not that he knew what such a concept was. He only knew the feeling.
Strange as it was that he could remember such a thing - most deer didn't do sentimentality - he was finally putting together that whatever he did with the symbols those few moons past had changed his ability to think.
He shook his head to stop his head from feeling so full, thinking of other things that had happened since.
One time, he had grazed on a patch of wildflowers and had become sick as a result. When the illness had passed, he received another window, like the one before he had made his brain better.
Surviving a trial of endurance has caused you to level up.
+5 Durability
+5 Willpower
+5 Free Points
The deer flicked his tail as he wondered at the symbols. He had tired less since the incident and even been more focused, which was fun.
He focused, his eyes narrowing as the most important box appeared before him, still having options open to him.
Name:
Age: 2
Race: Fallow Deer Buck
* Level: 3/10
Power: 7
Durability: 9
Swiftness: 6
Grace: 5
Intellect: 16
Insight: 1
Spirit: 1
Willpower: 6
Charisma: 1
Free Points: 5
Skills:
Detect Forage: 2/5
Reinforce Antler: 2/5
Some symbols had changed without him being aware, numbers slowly creeping up, but he was still a growing buck, only just now seeing his first mating season as an adult.
He focused on the sets of symbols, deciding to try something. If ‘Willpower’ and ‘Durability’ had changed his focus and stamina, and ‘Intellect’ gave him more room to think, he would try changing other numbers.
He focused on the option below ‘Intellect’, deciding that keeping all the numbers the same was probably a bad idea, especially since the other numbers felt… bigger in his fledgeling mind's eye.
+5 Insight
And it was done, leaving his mind changed once more. Instead of adding space to think and remember more, this seemed to give him the clarity to think and remember better. It wasn't much, but the words started to make a little sense, his mind's eye-opening just a touch.
The deer's path to enlightenment as a guttural call bellowed out across the wooded valley, a large male, the one who began the lek calling.
The deer felt his very brain tingle like his antlers or nose would when he used the words, though this tingle was distinctly unpleasant as he fell prey to his elder's own skill; Challenge.
He continued his march, though his new Insight highlighted to him just how uneasy he felt.