Kane took one last look at the messages that scrolled up on the inside of his eyelids before they vanished into darkness.
What’s with all those congratulatory messages? Do I detect some condescension here? Didn’t anyone ever tell you that overpraising just makes you sound insincere?
Kane tsked when no new prompts appeared in response to his provocations.
Maybe there isn't a sentient controller after all. Or they just don't care enough to respond.
Whatever, moving on to what was actually important in all that nonsense.
Further upgrades delayed due to lack of density
So creepy. Those message prompts are like the little spots of color you see when you close your eyes too hard. Except they’re golden words floating upward like a movie intro. What kind of tosspot planet is this?
“Hey, Teepo. Is mana a chemical, a molecule, or a particle?”
“I don’t understand anything you just said,” Lance felt the impression of Teepo shaking his head.
“Great, okay, well color me not surprised. Why would a country that burns its children alive have any need for science?”
Kane warily scanned the forest’s edge, paranoid of another attack.
“People really eat raw animals here? You’re not joshing me?”
“It's true! Why don’t you believe anything I tell you? And they aren’t animals, they're beasts.” The child's hurt and petulant tone caused Kane to sigh.
“It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just want more information. This is all new to me, my world was very different.”
He knelt beside the corpse with the caved-in face and gingerly brought his injured scythe hand to its shoulder. The fur and skin parted easily, the sinewy muscle only offered the slightest resistance.
When Kane hit bone, he sawed his hand back and forth to the side. His injured joint raged in pain as he clenched his teeth and used his other hand to help. He sawed away at the meat until a chunk the size of his hand came free.
It’s heavy, solid, like a rock rather than a chunk of flesh.
Blood oozed down his fingers and dripped onto the moist rocks below. The smell of fresh meat mixed with red juices, made him feel a heady desire to bite into the morsel immediately. Breathing heavily, Kane cut free the last bits of fur and took a tentative bite.
A wave of euphoria crashed through his mouth and exploded into his brain. He moaned in pleasure as blood dripped down his chin.
“Oh great holy bananas in the sky this is good.
"Teepo, Why is it so good? Please tell me you can taste this.”
“No, I can't taste it,” He pouted.
“Sorry, little buddy. That sucks. Well, excuse me for not holding back!”
Kane ate, and ate, and ate. After finishing the first wolf, he realized something strange was happening. He paused to intensely concentrate on the sensations coming from his stomach.
It feels like everything I eat is evaporating.
“Teepo, you’re up. I’m not full at all after eating my weight in meat. How is that possible?”
The boy failed to answer. Kane had the impression he was sullenly sitting in his dark corner facing the black nothingness.
[https://i.imgur.com/w4PQk2U.jpg]
Kane closed his eyes, hoping the scrolling words would provide an answer.
Strength + .4
Endurance + .1
Durability + .5
Wisdom + .2
Intelligence + .1
Consumption trait acquired
NAME
Lance of Madra
RACE
Abomination
AGE
7
WEIGHT
20.64 kg > 21.77 kg
PHYSICAL STATUS
Mild brain damage
TIER
1
CORE
Insubstantial - Rank 0
GROWTH
01% > 5.17%
MANA
.27
CONCENTRATION
1
STRENGTH
10 > 10.4
AGILITY
10
ENDURANCE
10 > 10.1
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
DURABILITY
10 > 10.5
WISDOM
10 > 10.2
INTELLIGENCE
10 > 10.1
SKILLS
Molding lvl 0
TRAITS
Feral Instincts lvl 0
Consumption lvl 0
TECHNIQUES
Forcing lvl 0
OTHER
Unique - S*le(#i@# E&^l@t(!n
There goes my delayed upgrades. Lots of questions, very few answers, until Teepo feels like cooperating again.
10 to 10.4 strength, that’s a four percent upgrade. Do I feel four percent stronger?
Kane flexed his arms, showing off his guns to the nearby bushes who shook in terror at the sight of his magnificent gains. Or maybe it was just the wind.
A few percent isn’t nearly enough to feel the gains. I’m not even used to this body. Another thing to test. Why didn’t I get any agility? Probably because I was on my back the whole time like the town pump. That lends credence to the ‘have to use it to gain it’ thesis.
Why did I gain wisdom then? Probably from realizing that being oblivious to ambushes is bad. That's… disappointing if true.
Hey! All my injuries except the stupid brain damage are gone.
He immediately looked at his arm for the teeth punctures left by his devoured foe to find they were completely healed.
That’s awesome! Hold up, did I lose out on stats because I had to spend a portion of my meal to heal? Whatever, that feels like a small price to pay for super healing.
What about that weird Beast Core thing? I certainly don’t feel like I have some core inside me anywhere, unless it’s talking about my mana. My gut says it's something else though.
I have so many questions, I need to get Teepo talking again. But first.
With greed in his eyes, Kane approached the two remaining beasts and got to work.
He checked his status again and was happy to see his growth had increased by several percent.
Eating equals growth? It’s not like I’m getting fatter, everything I ate has already gone poof. I'm sure It will make sense eventually.
Kane considered his near future while washing the blood from himself in the cool river.
Usually, the order of survival is shelter, water, and then food. Things might not work that way here though. It’s warm out, almost tropical. I doubt I’ll freeze to death if I sleep out in the open. Being eaten by another wolf that wanders by while I’m snoozing is a much more pressing concern.
Shelter is still high on the list then. If I stay near the river, I’ll be good on water. So, a stable food source is my second biggest concern.
There doesn’t seem to be anything I can do about that brain damage, so I’ll just have to hope that it doesn't kill me randomly. It hurt like a chimp squeezing my balls when I tried to look at his memories. Definitely going to avoid that like the plague.
I need to get the kid talking again. This world is way too different from mine, if I don’t have his help, I probably won’t last a week.
“You okay, kid? It’s been a rough day, hasn’t it? Woke up in a whole new world to some creepy monster trying to evict me from my new flat, only to be set upon by some oversized, mangy poodles. Monday’s, am I right?”
Kane waited with bated breath, but his attempts to lighten the mood appeared useless. With another sigh, he set off downstream, away from the town full of murderous psychopaths.
The repetitive nature of the scenery quickly became apparent as Kane progressed further from the town. He spotted only four kinds of trees and a few different flavors of underbrush. Insects buzzed about, but left him alone as if he wasn’t fit to be crawled upon.
A few brightly-colored birds hopped from branch to branch and flew through the skies. Small, furry animals occasionally sped away from him whenever he looked in their direction.
If I was out for a nice hike this would feel like being on a tropical island. It's beautiful here, especially with that crazy sky. Why are there three freaking suns? Maybe all those physics nerds missed something about how massive objects distort space and time and that’s why there's magic here.
Intelligence + .3
What?! Was that a hint? I didn’t get anything until I came to a conclusion, as stupid as it was, so maybe I get that attribute to increase by wondering about random things?
That’s… annoying.
“Teepo, my man! I have so many questions. I hope you feel like talking soon. We could do a trade, I’ll tell you about my world and you tell me about yours. We might as well work together and try to enjoy our situation as crazy as it is, you know?”
“You’re really not from Madra?” A tentative whisper echoed.
YES! Success. Curiosity for the win.
“Nope, first-time interdimensional flier, Kane Duke Delious at your service.”
“Interdiwhat? Wait, you’re royalty?!”
“Nope. Duke is my middle name. Interdimensional would mean different realities, I guess. Imagine looking into a mirror and everything you see inside is actually another real world. Similar to your own but it’s all backward and you aren't allowed to visit.
Yeah that made no sense, at least he’s talking again.
“Okay, it's your turn. Are there stronger beasts out here? Also, is there anything I should be wary of besides the beasts?”
“Yes, there are stronger beasts. There shouldn’t be anything above tier three though. The hunters wouldn’t let something that strong anywhere near town.”
“How strong is a tier three beast?”
“Your attributes double with each tier so it’s impossible to fight beasts higher tier than yourself. Even in a full group of five, nobody would live through a fight with a higher tier.”
“What?! How does anyone survive if a single, higher tier beast is so dangerous?”
That’s crazy, if the end of tier one is twenty in every attribute. Then tier two is forty. That would mean a tier three has eighty?! How fast and strong would something with eight times my speed and strength be?
Would I even be able to scratch it?
A shiver of trepidation ran up Lance’s spine as Teepo responded to his question.
“Beasts tend to stay in their territory unless it’s spawning season. If you pay attention, it’s easy to spot their markings.
“Besides, there are only towns in low tier areas. Nobody lives near the high tier beasts. Hunters only go to those places to tier up.
“I was always told to stay near the river since hunters patrol it often. But if you do that, they will definitely kill you.”
“Hunters, from your town?” Kane softened his voice as he looked over his shoulder with fresh paranoia sawing at his nerves.
“Yes, most of them are tier three. There are even two groups of tier fours. I always… wanted to join them when I grew up,” Teepo’s words became despondent as he trailed off into a whisper.
Tier three is the norm? I am so damn weak!
Ahh crap, I'm no good with kids.
“Cheer up, Teepo. You get to go on an awesome adventure now! We’re going to have a great time, you and me. You’ll see.”
So long as I don't get us killed.
If I’m this far behind, I’ll need to find every advantage I can. I’ve got all these skills, techniques, and traits but I have no idea how to use them. Then there’s mana and concentration, whatever those are.
“Any hints on how to use molding?” Kane asked hopefully.
“I’ve never had a skill before but everyone just says the name out loud while thinking about what they want it to do. At least that’s what I’ve been told.”
“Okaaaaay. How am I supposed to think about what I want it to do if I don’t know what it does?!
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot how stupid you are,” Teepo quipped.
“Hey! Ignorance is not the same thing as stupidity,” Kane grumbled.
“If you concentrate on the word in your status, the Voice will give you an explanation.”
“Seriously?
“Teepo, you’re amazing! That’s the kind of super useful information I knew you had tucked away in that big brain of yours.”
Praising kids works!
Kane closed his eyes and focused on the word in his status.
Molding - freely move mana to any part of the body.
That's it? What’s the point of that? Wait, is that how I crushed that wolf’s face in?
Kane stopped walking and held his fist out in front of his face. He focused on the skill with the intent for his mana to gather in his fist.
“Molding.”
Something clicked inside his skull like a light switch being flipped.
As soon as the skill activated, he felt a foreign pressure gathering in his brain. It crept down his spine and into his chest where the caged lion of his mana resided.
[https://i.imgur.com/0y0LW2T.png]
When the pressure and lion connected, he felt a chunk of his mana brutally ripped free from the cage. It felt like his heart had been squeezed in a cold fist, causing him to gasp in surprise.
The mana moved through his chest and arm like a child controlling a stringed puppet for the first time. Once it was finally spread out the way he had intended, it sat there, suspended, pleasantly suffusing his muscles.
After a few seconds, the mana gently moved back to the cage it had come from.
That sucked. It was like giving someone the keys to my car and watching them drive it off a cliff.
Molding + 1
Oh, a reward for an extremely unpleasant experience. How quaint.