Caspian ducked a set of antlers coming at him punching up into the elk's jaw when a chunk of force hit him in the skull. His punch still connected him giving him the much-desirable ding of a kill notification. But looking around for what hit him he could see another elk roughly 20 feet away but where was the thing that just punched him? Then he felt the same force slam into the back of his head spinning around. That elk was a little closer and with the slightest bit of attention.

Spirit Elk (Hard)

* Performs Force Magic

“Well that would make more sense”

Jumping to the side Caspian watched as a shimmer passed from the antlers of the elk towards where he’d stood. The grasses lightened his fall and helped him glide further than he should have been able to. But when the shimmer encountered a sunflower standing above the tallest grasses it was utterly obliterated by an almost invisible wave.

“Alright so don’t get hit that's the name of the game”

Initializing every skill he even thought possibly useful he felt an immediate noticeable depletion of what he had to assume was his internal energy reserve.

“Gotta make it count”

As another wave of force came flying towards him he felt his eyes focus in. He felt his legs tense and the grasses around him wrapped and secured him in place. He pushed energy out through his hand as the air around him became misty with a greenish tinge. The force hit his fist and was sucked in and from his fist extended a green afterimage that continued forward just far enough to hit the elk with a love tap of entropic goodness. The Elk reared up in pain as Caspian rejoiced and closed the distance. He had proven he could absorb this thing's attacks now it was time to show the thing how it felt to get the fist, not the mist.

Ducking low Caspian sidestepped the next ball of force as he rushed to close the distance. The elk reared up bending its head down as it released another shot down towards Caspian. As it brought its imbued antlers to bear as a follow up however the elk found a fist dripping with an almost solid amount of Chaos energy slamming into its face and flipping it back. The grin on Caspian's face as he watched the deer roll back was quickly overridden by the feeling of burning pain in his hand.

Ding

You have overpowered a skill causing damage to yourself

Flesh was automatically gifted as a tribute to The Primal Beast

You have gained favor with The Primal Beast

A new one but certainly welcome thought Caspian as he took up a defensive stance. The elk had stopped rolling and was making a comeback and it seemed likely he was a bit mad about that last hit. The elk barrelled towards him dipping its head making its antlers the only thing visible from the front.

“Can't go around it” Caspian drove his feet into the ground locking himself in place with his Stalwart Legs.

“Can’t go over it” Caspian readied both hands at his sides pouring his energy into them as he released his scent and Hands of Chaos as much as he could and felt energy flow in from the growing circle of death around him as his body was supercharged with what felt like a rebirth via energy. Every nerve tingled and he could feel both hands vibrate.

The elk arrived and passed through an invisible barrier that after it crossed things went quite poorly. It wasn’t till the elk’s antlers came in contact with Caspian's outstretched fists however that it realized the situation. The elk's antlers shattered like they were sand suddenly hit by a strong wind. Where Caspian’s Fists encountered antler there was now dust, where there should be flesh there were mummified remains, bone turned to shards.

As Caspaian’s vision went fuzzy he saw notifications appear rapid fire in his periphery. He collapsed to the ground focusing his last dregs of energy towards his Physician Meditation skill.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Sometime later it could have been minutes or hours Caspian wasn’t completely sure he was still in the grass the underbrush seeming to have absorbed him and sheltered him from and prying eyes. Sitting up Caspian decided to start from the beginning when it came to the notifications pinging the edge of his vision.

Ding

You have depleted your internal energy to below 10%

You have killed Spirit Elk!

You have gained xp

Bonus xp for fighting solo

Bonus xp for using a new combo attack

Bonus xp for Path

Some of Spirit Elk was automatically gifted as a tribute to Earth Mother

You have gained favor with Earth Mother

Physician Meditation Lvl 10

Body Art of Chaos Lvl 5

Stalwart Legs Lvl 5

Bestial Instincts Lvl 5

Basic Fighting Lvl 5

Hand of Chaos Lvl 5

Scent of Chaos Lvl 5

Caspian knew he couldn't keep fighting like this. The levels were great but he had ended up going unconscious and just laying there which wasn’t exactly a great way to fight. He needed to be efficient. He could absorb the energy of what he hit but if he kept just throwing it all back and not using any to reinforce his own reserves he was wasting the purpose of the skill.

Caspian ducked to the side of another charge by a Spirit Elk by dodging then delivered a jab into the shoulder of the elk as it passed this had worked well on the last couple he fought. He would dodge back and forth to get close to them where the force bolts weren't effective then when they charged he would duck to the side of them punching their side to put them off balance. They were great at going straight but if you suddenly made them not go straight incredibly quickly and soaked up some of their energy each time you did it you could keep going forever. Or at least longer than 2 massive punches and an unknown power nap.

When sunset approached Caspian finally let himself check the notifications he had been trying to hold off and let the suspense build after all each elk was worth a lot especially some of them and it had taken him quite a while to whittle them down. Sometimes he wouldn't get a level in any skill after what felt like hours of getting hit and hitting back stronger and that was a quick way to spiral and not pay attention to your surroundings. On top of that it seemed like certain skills had some type of additional requirement, he wasnt yet aware of.

Ding

Ding

…

Ding

You have killed Spirit Elk (Medium)x4

You have killed Greater Spirit Elk (Hard)x2

You have gained xp

Bonus xp from various sources

Body Art of Chaos Lvl 7

Stalwart Legs Lvl 10

Bestial Instincts Lvl 7

Basic Fighting Lvl 10

Hand of Chaos Lvl 6

Scent of Chaos Lvl 8

You have reached level 15

You have unlocked additional functionalities

Caspian had found his Beastial instincts now seemed to alert him of things nearby more passively especially if he relaxed his sight a little and didn't focus on where he was looking but his sight of an area overall. It felt a little like relaxing a muscle you'd never known was being held so tight.

As he contemplated where he was going to be able to sleep tonight and practice what he could he was alerted to 3 creatures coming at him from elsewhere in the grass. 3 alabaster curved structures rose from the grass where Caspian had expected elk and he felt the ground beneath him rumble and shift. A cavernous hole formed beneath his feet and he began to slide into the shifting hole as the 3 what he now knew to be teeth closed above him locking him into this predicament.

Sinkhole Devouerer (Hard) is attempting to digest you

Ahh yes, nothing like a good devouring.

“You realize if I'm inside you I can touch you right?”

Caspian pushed Chaos energy into what he was expecting was an evolved earthworm as he pushed energy into his body art which in turn pulled more energy from the worm. He began firing his fists into the meaty wall rapid-fire. As he did he could feel the robe he was wearing as well as his nice shirt and pants very quickly melting away.

“Seriously dude”

Caspian could feel his healing increasing his health but his skin could feel quite the opposite happening as well. He could feel his skin and flesh burning away from him and he screamed. He flared all his energy pushing it out of every pore of his body and every inch of his skin. The pain slowed but he could tell it wasnt working he was losing too much. If he needed more power he was gonna get it. He would make a straight path just like the elk the energy would want to go straight. He focused on drawing energy in through his feet then up through his legs, up his spine, and finally curved it around through his shoulders and out his arms to his hands. Just like the elk, he drove his will like a fist splitting the energy just below his head to circulate through his shoulders. He could feel it. Pumping energy up through his soles that skyrocketed up his legs the flow so intense he had to solidify his legs to stay standing bleeding energy out of them but the most energy he pushed towards a spot in his spine he felt led to his Scent skill. The rest fired out his fists causing the air around them to roil with entropic energy. Barely visible armor formed around Caspian's legs. Around his fists formed a pair of spiked gauntlets. He continued his rapid punching the area around him rotting where his fists collided then being hit again and the rot replaced with bleached bone or simply a fist-sized hole of nothing but dust. As he stepped out of the steaming corpse he saw the sun hit the horizon as notifications flared in his vision.

Ding

Scholar of Entropy Lvl 5

You have gained a new understanding

You have been granted a Legacy skill option from Essence of Chaos

New understanding has improved your visual status window