After composing herself from the aftermath of her most recent tale of woe, Bathilda decided she wasn't going to go any further until she had a good handle on her new life.
Tired of losing and narrowly escaping death, Bathilda decided to perch herself on the roof. She needed safety to be able to read through all the notification and information screens she was able to access. Each one held different pieces of information and by the time she had finished them all, Bathilda was certain that her new life was extremely game-like.
Skills:
(Chomp+) Level 5
(Echolocation+) Level 5
(Fly) Level 4
(Poison Fang) Level 3
(Iron Body) Level 3
(Swift Wing) Level 2
(Identify) Level 2
(Wing Slash) Level 1
I've got eight skills? I completely forgot about (Wing Slash), I'll have to test that out on the dead brat in a minute. First, let's have another look at my status.
As soon as she thought of the word, the skill list dropped away and was replaced by a new display.
Name: Bathilda
Race: Poisonous Bat
Class: None
Title: None
Level: 7
XP needed for next Level: 228
HP: 58/58
MP: 58/58
My HP is looking a lot better than the 10 it started on and I've lost enough of it now to know how important it is. I'm assuming MP is for my magic. Not that I know how to use any spells yet or how I'd go about actually casting them. It's a strange sight to see the figures of my life displayed in numerical format, but at least I can gage at my health. 228 XP until my next level? No idea if that's good or bad, but I've been doing relatively well on the levelling up front so it can't be that much. It's the fighting side I'm struggling to grasp. If I was a little faster, I could have gotten away from that Brat and let the poison work its magic, but it wasn't meant to be. Anyway, time to test (Wing Slash) and see what it can do.
Wanting to know everything she possibly could about her new self, Bathilda turned to bisected corpse of the Brat and began to practice.
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With a single swing of her wing, a blade made of wind tore through the air. It cut straight into the dead monster's flesh, removing its arm in the process.
Whoa!
After a dozen more uses, and 2 extra levels, the remains of the monster once known as a Brat had been diced up into chunks of dirty meat.
Undeniably happy and overwhelmingly shocked at the same time, Bathilda's mouth curved into a big smile. The ridiculous power of (Wing Slash) would have helped her out tremendously in her last few battles. If only she had thought to test her capabilities back then. It would also have helped if she hadn't forgotten about the skill entirely until now, not that (Chomp) and (Poison Fang) hadn't being pulling their weight so far.
(Chomp) had become (Chomp+) at level 5, just like (Echolocation) had, proving its place in her skill list.
So far, the mouth she was unable to speak with was responsible for the death of three monsters. The first victim that felt her bite was literally on its deathbed, as was she at the time, but the other two were healthy monsters.
One had succumbed to a poison-infected (Chomp) that Bathilda had used unknowingly before fleeing and the second didn't manage to keep its head long enough for the poison to work it's magic. Either way she looked at it, her teeth delivered a justice of their own.
Now I've got a new skill, do I try my wing against the Brat horde? Or, do I keep on this path, which seems safer for now. I know, I'll fight the horde. Not!
Releasing herself form her perch, Bathilda explored the rest of the tunnel before she reached a larger section of cave. Her sight reached partially in to the room beyond, but not much could be seen with her limited range. Always a cautious cactuar, Bathilda cast (Echolocation+), coupled with the passive skill (Identify), to increase the range of her sight now that she had gotten closer.
At the opposite end of the room, two monsters were engaged in a death match of their own. After Identify earned itself a level up during her last battle, the skill now showed Bathilda slightly more information. Health bars were present below the names of the creatures.
Although helpful, (Identify)'s new feature caused Bathilda a shock. It turned out that Brats have around 300HP. Worse than that, the Alto it was fighting had just over 400HP.
Why the hell do they have so much health compared to me? Is it a species thing? Am I being discriminated against without even knowing it?
"Shut up, Bathilda! Concentrate. You don't want to squander this perfect opportunity that you've been handed, do you?"
I suppose not, but I swear this is getting weirder by the moment.
"Bathilda!"
Am I really shouting at myself? It doesn't matter. This time, I'll try using (Wing Slash) on the Brat. I just hope it's as effective on living monsters. The last one hadn't been deceased for too long before it was... carved up. At least, I don't think it was. I did zone out for a while back there when I was chowing down, so I may have lost track of time. That shouldn't matter though, it can't have been that long. Rigor mortis hadn't even kicked in yet. Either way, it's getting a slash. The Alto on the other hand... I haven't seen one those before.
The creature she was looking at resembled a rabbit in every way other than its size. It was taller than its rodent opponent and had the same monstrous expression as the Brat. Long claws extended from its fluffy paws and Bathilda wanted to be nowhere near those instruments of death.
The Alto kicked, bit and scratched it's enemy, never relenting and sending a shiver down Bathilda's back. The Brat didn't seem to be fairing well against a larger, more agile creature as it was caught in its onslaught. The Alto was clearly the dominant species in their fight as every attack the Brat threw was dodged or evaded with a nimble speed.
If I can, I'm just going to bite that thing in the ass and run away. It should die after a while due to my skill and I'll get to see how effective my (Poison Fang) (Chomp+) combo is now that I can see their HP.
Two enemies though. Am I ready for this? What if they team up on me when I join in? Or what if the Alto is faster?
"Oh shut up you gigantic pussy! The rat is nearly dead. Damn well get in there, right now!"
After a moment of stunned silence, Bathilda did as she was told and set off to join the fight, wondering all the while what was going on inside her head.