Before he tried to activate the levelling-up process, Dominic checked himself. The lion in the back of his mind felt wary. Given that he’d just thought that maybe he should lean into the instincts of the lion a bit more, he tried to pay attention to what it was saying.
Danger, it seemed to tell him. Competition, was the next feeling. Ah. That’s right – there are loads of scavengers in the savannah, Dominic remembered. Hyenas, wild dogs...just making the kill didn’t guarantee he’d keep it and as a solitary lion without a pride, he had no one to watch his back.
I really want to level up, Dominic thought longingly, but I am hungry… Well, he’d be able to level up whenever, right? In no game he’d played or SysApoc book he’d read had the person lost the ability to level up once they’d gained it… OK, it might be an assumption – and everyone knows what those mean – to say that he was safe pushing the level-up to later, but he was willing to take the chance. As it was, the lion mind was fairly definite that he needed to eat quickly. No, not ‘the lion’ - Leo, he mused even as he moved towards the closest corpse.
Trying not to think too much, he leant down and bit into the body. Once more blood filled his mouth, cooler now. The taste was excellent, not dissimilar from the juiciness of a good rare steak, though its actual flavour was quite different. Very toothsome, though, and Dominic found himself ripping at the meat hungrily.
Instinct prompted him to place a paw on the body as he used his canines to dig into it and tear pieces off it. Chewing them with his back-teeth, he made quick work of the small corpse. Unlike his human taste-buds, his leonine ones loved the organs. He avoided the guts, not able to get past his human distaste at potentially eating faeces, but happily dug into the heart, liver, lungs, and kidneys. There were a couple of organs of which he had no idea of their function, and he tried not to speculate – he didn’t want to know if he was eating some creature’s dick.
Opening his jaws wide, he even managed to fit them around the trodil’s skull, cracking it with his powerful bite. Brain revealed, he munched at it. It was a bit watery, but tasty enough. He was surprised when he bit down on something hard within it. Surprised enough that he swallowed without thinking about it.
[You have obtained a Beast Core: Trodil Level 1
Ability: Quick Strike]
Interesting…Dominic thought. Pulling up his status again, he noted the changes.
Status of Dominic Martin Cole / Leo
Species: Lion (body) / human (mind), Two-Souled
Progress to Evolution: 108/100 PP Level up
Hunger level: 48%
Thirst level: 55%
Acquired Abilities:
Quick Strike level 1 (5%)
Defensive abilities:
- Fur level 1 (1-2 slicing/piercing damage reduction, 2-3 crushing damage reduction)
Offensive abilities:
- Claws level 1 (5-10 slicing damage, 4-7 tearing damage, 1-2 piercing damage)
- Bite level 1 (32-50 crushing damage, 27-50 tearing damage, 25-35 piercing damage)
General abilities:
- Muscular Body level 1 (max sprint speed 20mps; max sprint duration 10s) (27/45 SP)
- Carnivore Constitution level 1 (265/300 HP)
First he’d improved his hunger and thirst levels. Hunger, he understood. Thirst was a bit less obvious, but he supposed that he’d gained liquid through the blood and other fluids he’d consumed.
The most important factor was the addition of a new category: Acquired Abilities. As he focused his attention on Quick Strike, he realised that he couldn’t get any more information about it because he hadn’t ‘acquired’ the ability yet.
His impression was that the 5% was an indication of how close he was to acquiring the ability; presumably when it hit 100%, he would get it. If he gained 5% per trodil, it might take a while to gain the ability, though.
Another interesting thing to note was that, although his SP had increased a bit, his HP hadn’t. Hopefully that would change soon since, although he’d lost less than a sixth of his total, he was bound to be hurt again soon. If this was anything like the books he’d read or games he’d played, it was inevitable. I’ll find out, I guess, he thought as he dismissed the screen.
Continuing eating, he made his way through three of the five corpses – swallowing the beast core in each of their brains. By the end of it, his stomach was feeling a bit full and he eyed the final two corpses with a bit of apprehension. On the one hand, he didn’t want to eat so much he’d go into a stupor; on the other, he wasn’t keen on just leaving perfectly good resources sitting around.
Plus, this was taking too long – he wanted to level up already! There must be a better way, he said to himself. This time, when he touched the next corpse, something had changed.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
[Would you like to consume this body for resources?]
Let’s give it a try, shall we? Dominic decided. He was pretty full as it was , so if something weird happened, it was no biggie.
Yes, he answered. The body in front of him blurred briefly, then turned into particles which flew at him. Dominic flinched back instinctively, but couldn’t avoid the quick movement of the sparkling dust. It entered his mouth and he felt a brief spike in energy, like he’d just drunk a Red Bull or something.
Checking his status screen again, he saw a couple of differences. His progress in Quick Strike had increased a bit more – after eating the beast cores of the three previous trodils, he’d reached 15% in the Skill. Now, he was sitting at 17%.
He noted that his hunger was at now at 100% with thirst only at 88%, but wasn’t sure whether that was linked to the dust. However, more importantly he noticed that both his SP and HP had increased.
General abilities:
- Muscular Body level 1 (max sprint speed 20mps; max sprint duration 10s) (39/45 SP)
- Carnivore Constitution level 1 (276/300 HP)
Neither of them had reached the cap, but it was a relieving discovery to make. Of the corpse, there was nothing remaining. No, that wasn’t quite right. Dominic caught the glimpse of something glinting in the sun. A small, faceted marble. I wonder, he thought as he nosed at it. As soon as he touched the item, a message appeared.
[You have obtained a Beast Core: Trodil Level 1
Ability: Quick Strike]
Ah, he said to himself, pleased. Licking it up with his long tongue, he gulped it down like the three previous, before checking his status screen. Sure enough, Quick Strike had increased to 22%. So eating the body replenishes my hunger and thirst meters, and consuming it as dust replenishes my SP and HP as well as offering me benefits to the perks…Good to know. Actually, there was nothing saying reducing the body to dust didn’t affect his hunger and thirst as well – he hadn’t checked what it was before, after all.
Dominic decided to do the same with the final corpse. Nudging it with his nose, he got the same message and immediately consented to it. Once more, the corpse disintegrated into dust and flew towards him. This time, he didn’t flinch, instead welcoming the feeling. Checking his stamina and health, he was pleased to see that the former was back up to full, and the latter was well on its way to being so. Thirst had also been improved by 5% so it seemed likely that hunger would also be affected. Very good to know.
Lunch – or breakfast, or dinner or whatever – done, a nudge from Leo sent Dominic travelling away from the still bloody ground. Although the bodies which had disintegrated left no trace, the same couldn’t be said of the bodies he’d torn apart. Knowing that plenty of animals could be drawn by blood, and not wanting to be interrupted while he levelled up, Dominic gave into the impulse.
Walking away was good practice in moving in his new body, anyway. As he’d predicted, the less he thought, the better he did. At least this time he didn’t fall on his face again. Just almost. A few times.
In fact, he was starting to do so well, he decided to try moving a bit faster. A mistake, as it turned out: he tripped over one of his own paws and went tumbling tail over head.
Ow, Dominic thought grumpily. The message that flashed up just added insult to injury.
[You have taken 2 damage (Falling)]
Sighing, he pushed himself to his paws once again. He’d have to master his paws at some point, otherwise how would he deal with a threat that he couldn’t take head-on? But maybe this was a good place to stop: he’d already travelled far enough away from the kill site.
His fur itched, the remnants of blood and dust irritating him. Knowing that cats clean themselves with their tongues was a very different prospect from actually thinking about doing it himself. He found himself not quite able to overcome his human ick factor about licking himself, for all that Leo seemed to be scornful about his hesitation.
I need to level up, anyway, Dominic justified. With any luck, levelling offered him the effects of a shower, anyway. Did it make logical sense to do so? No. Did any of this make logical sense? Again, no. So, why not?
Level up, he thought. Fortunately, the System was intuitive enough to let it be so. A box appeared in his vision.
[Congratulations Dominic Martin Cole / Leo, you have taken the first step towards greatness! May you grow to become King of all you survey.]
[In achieving your first Evolution, you are offered a choice. Choose well, for this shall permanently determine your Path.
Please note that this choice must be made before you can complete your level-up and cannot be undone. You will not be offered this choice again.
Choose wisely. ]
Well that’s not ominous at all, Dominic commented to himself. Being told to take care over his choice twice seemed a fairly good indication that it was worthy of consideration. The message faded to be replaced by another.
[Path of Evolution.
Do you wish to Devolve, Transvolve, or Evolve?]
Considering that this choice is supposed to set the tone for the rest of my ‘path’, a bit more information would be useful, he commented. Upon completing the thought, more information appeared.
[Devolve: You look towards your ancestors and see that they were mighty Beasts indeed. They changed as the world became tamed, but perhaps their wildness is needed once more. Walking this path means choosing enhancements to yourself from your ancestors.]
So, does that mean I could get sabre-like teeth? Dominic wondered. Or were sabre-tooths not part of a lion’s ancestry? An interesting option. The message faded from view to be replaced by the next.
[Transvolve: You see others of your Family and notice that each has particular aspects that make them powerful. Perhaps if you add them all together, you will become an apex predator and rule this new world. Walking this path means choosing enhancements to yourself from current members of your Family: Felidae]
I think I understand, mused Dominic. For example, stripes of a tiger for camouflage, or the bite of a jaguar for strength. It was also interesting, but seemed a bit...limited. Out of the two so far, he’d prefer the Path of Devolution. However, there was one more.
[Evolve: You look at the past and it doesn’t interest you: the past is gone. You look at the present and it interests you even less: why settle for current mediocrity? Instead, you have confidence in your own body as it is, and feel that the path to power lies in enhancing what you already have. Walking this path means choosing enhancements to yourself based solely on your current attributes.]
Difficult choice, Dominic said to himself as he thoughtfully reviewed all three options. They all had their benefits and downsides, but which one should he choose?