No Prey Points? Dominic wondered. Still, it lit a sudden fire of excitement within him. He quickly assented to the question. It had been an odd situation all round, but perhaps coming so close to death would attract some awesome rewards.

His thoughts were interrupted as he saw a new message appear before his eyes.

[Benefits calculating….]

[Chimera: Evolved, level 12, 24 EP]

[Enhancements available:

Long neck (3 EP)

Reptilian head (5 EP)

Feline paws (0 EP)

Extra-long claws (3 EP)

Ursine paws (5 EP)

Bat wings (7 EP)

Telepathy (8 EP)

Telepathic Paralysis (10 EP)

Enhanced Regeneration (8 EP)

Rending Bite (5 EP)

Rapid Attack (5 EP)]

Interesting…. Was this what the chimera had seen every time it engaged in battle? But no, surely not. The chimera had indicated that this was the first time it had seen another of its kind, so how would it have seen this screen? Dominic certainly hadn’t. Then again, how had it got its bat wings in the first place: they clearly weren’t part of either of the animals the creature had started as. Was Dominic missing something here?

Well, time to think about that later. For now, he had a choice to make. So, apparently he’d gained EP – Enhancement Points? – and had a list of enhancements to choose between. From the looks of it, the enhancements were things the chimera itself had gained, either from other creatures or during its original amalgamation with the other creature it had fused with.

It also seemed like a couple of the choices might have come from enhancements the chimera had applied on level ups – its extra-long claws and enhanced regeneration might easily have come from choosing those on level up. But then did it only choose those two options on every level-up or was there another reason only those two were showing?

The way ‘Rending Bite’ and ‘Rapid Attack’ were written suggested that they were Abilities, not enhancements. Actually, Dominic thought with interest, telepathic paralysis isn’t written like that. Does that mean it’s not an Ability but perhaps is another enhancement the chimera did to itself?

It was a good question. He was more than half tempted by the idea of being able to trap other creatures like he himself had been trapped. It would work particularly well if he had other team members taking advantage of his target’s paralysis.

The main drawback to that one, though, was its price. At 10 EP, it was the most expensive item on the list. However, if the chimera had got it by enhancing its eyes or its telepathy rather than as an ability, that suggested routes Dominic himself could take, even if he didn’t ‘buy’ it now.

He had had Stunning Roar on his Abilities list since the scrin but so far hadn’t found another creature with a Core that contained it. Its progress towards level 1 was therefore going nowhere. But, if he could enhance his roar enough to essentially do the same thing….

For now, though, he needed to choose his enhancements. Annoyingly, the physical enhancements which he wasn’t particularly interested in were the cheapest: he could ‘buy’ all of them if he wanted to. Not that he did: although he was interested in the possibility of flight, the poor showing the chimera had offered with his stunted pair of wings made him question whether he wanted to risk it. Besides, they were pretty expensive – if he chose them and they were useless, he would have passed up something much more immediately useful.

No, unfortunately wings needed to be on the back-burner for now. There was one very obvious choice on the list; Dominic didn’t even hesitate before picking it. He didn’t need to check with Leo either – he knew the lion would agree with him.

Selecting Enhanced Regeneration with the intention of spending EP on it, it disappeared from the list along with eight of his EP. To his delight, he saw it immediately start working on his health. No level up required? he wondered to himself. I’m not going to complain, though.

‘Maybe it’s considered differently when it is a prize from a dominance battle with another chimera,’ Leo suggested. Dominic mentally shrugged at him – he could be right, or there could be another explanation. It’s not like either of them actually knew.

‘What would you like to pick?’ Dominic asked his companion. He had a few ideas himself, but recent events had just reinforced the idea that he and Leo as a team worked well together. Leo had fought in the battle too and deserved a say in the rewards. Not to mention it was just as much his body as Dominics; more even.

‘We need to pick Telepathy,’ Leo said firmly.

‘OK,’ Dominic replied, a little surprised. ‘I mean, I wanted to get that one, but why do you?’ Dominic wanted it because it seemed likely to be the only way he could communicate with other humans – unless he got his human body back, of course.

‘I want to be able to communicate with my pride,’ Leo replied. Dominic was once more a little surprised.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

‘You think that would work? The chimera did say that we were the only creature it had managed to communicate with up until now.’

‘Up until now, agreed. Yet what about in the coming weeks? What about when other denizens of the savannah start Evolving? What if that’s the point when our females start being able to communicate with us?’ Dominic hadn’t thought about that.

‘Alright, so we both agree on Telepathy being a must-have.’ That would take his remaining sixteen points down to eight. Which meant that Telepathic paralysis was definitely off the possibility list. It also meant that he could only choose one of Rapid Attack and Rending Bite; not both. That was annoying. ‘Which do you think would be better?’ he asked his companion. Leo was silent for a few, thoughtful moments.

‘Can you access any information about Rapid Attack?’ he asked finally. Good thought. Dominic concentrated on the entry for Rapid Attack with ‘information’ in his mind.

[Rapid Attack (T0): Spend either stamina or mana to deal a number of attacks in a short amount of time. The number of attacks which may be dealt increases with your level in this Ability.]

‘Pretty vague,’ Dominic remarked to Leo.

‘That might be to our advantage,’ replied the lion. ‘Attacks could mean bite, or claw, or perhaps any other attacks we develop later. Being able to deal several strikes in a short amount of time could improve our damage capabilities.’

‘It could,’ Dominic agreed. ‘But is it more likely to be useful to us than Rending Bite? We worked out before that Rending Bite will stack well with our Crushing Bite.’

‘On the other hand, that’s another stamina-heavy Ability. We were struggling with stamina in that last fight already,’ Leo pointed out.

‘True, but Rapid Attack uses stamina too. Yes, OK, it can also use mana, but you know the state of our mana pool at the moment: you were the one who argued against increasing the amount of mana we have available to us,’ Dominic said with some exasperation.

‘That was before we had any useful Abilities which used it.’

‘We have Lightning Discharge!’ Dominic argued hotly. Leo just sent him a feeling of scepticism. ‘I know it’s weak, but that’s because, one, it’s low level and, two, we don’t have enough mana for it.’ They fell silent, both feeling that the conversation had got a bit too heated. WIth mutual unspoken agreement, they each took the time to breathe – or whatever Leo did while he wasn’t in the driving seat. Then they returned to the discussion.

‘I agree that Rapid Attack could be useful,’ Dominic said, his tone much quieter. ‘I’m just not sure if its use outweighs the guaranteed use of Rending Bite.’

‘We’ve already started earning Rending Bite, yet we haven’t encountered any creature with Rapid Attack,’ Leo argued. ‘In the dungeon you chose to forgo Charge in favour of Second Wind for just that reason.’

‘And look how well it’s worked out for us: we still haven’t earned Charge,’ Dominic pointed out. Then he sighed both mentally and physically. ‘Look, why do you want Rapid Attack so badly?’ There was a long moment of silence.

‘I…don’t, Leo replied, sounding ever-so-slightly embarrassed.

‘Don’t tell me you’re arguing for the sake of arguing?’ Dominic exclaimed, exasperated.

‘No,’ Leo replied defensively. ‘I just want us to make the right decision, after having considered all sides of the issue.’ Dominic got it. Leo had started off playing devil’s advocate and along the way had lost himself in the desire to win the discussion. Or something like that. So, as he’d said, arguing for the sake of arguing.

‘Right, so, to summarise, Rapid Attack could be useful in the situation where we need to inflict many wounds in a small amount of time. Given the speed the wounds would be applied, I don’t know if any of the other bonuses would stack with it. If the bonus from Strike, Crushing Bite or Powerful Swipe, Group Attack, and Pounce could apply to each attack, that would be pretty powerful. If they don’t, it would be rather weak.

‘On the other hand, we know what would happen with Rending Bite. By using a large amount of stamina, we could apply both Crushing Bite and Rending Bite at the same time, adding a significant increase to the damage of our bite. Strike would add its bonus, as would Group Attack and Pounce in the right contexts.’ This was where having a coin to toss might actually be useful – Dominic honestly couldn’t choose logically between the two abilities. ‘Thinking about it like that, do you have any preference?’ he asked Leo.

‘I think we should get Rapid Attack,’ Leo said finally. ‘And then hunt down more of those striped felines and get Rending Bite too.’ Dominic’s eyebrows would have shot up if he had any.

‘You’re advocating going hunting for Abilities now?’ The lion gave off another sense of embarrassment.

‘...Perhaps.’ Dominic sent him a wave of amusement.

‘Alright, we’ll fit that in around hunting buffalo, warthog, and whatever else for Charge. Rapid Attack it is.’

With that, he picked both Telepathy and Rapid Attack. His points dwindled down to three remaining. This time, there was no obvious change, but he did feel that there was something different. Like when he’d first become a lion and suddenly had a tail to control in addition to four limbs. Except that this wasn’t a limb, but more a mental…openness?

There was no point in leaving three points, Dominic decided. He didn’t know if the points would be saved for the next time he was in this sort of situation – he suspected that he might be again, considering how soon after the System’s arrival this one had been. It was fortunate that there was one physical enhancement he’d be happy to gain and – wonder of wonders – it cost exactly three points.

He did check quickly with Leo in case the lion had any better ideas, or some strange desire for a long neck or something. Fortunately, the lion was in full agreement with Dominic and his remaining EP dwindled to nothing as he selected his final enhancement.

The screen disappeared from in front of his eyes and Dominic flexed his claws to see the difference. Scythe-like blades slid out of his paws, at least three times the length they had been before. These are really going to come in handy, he said to himself happily.

Time to test out his new gains.