Chapter 9 - Training Time 2: This time it’s personal

After setting off towards the dungeon I finally had time to review those mysterious Perks I supposedly have been granted.

You have been granted the personal Perks [Internal Immunity] and [Aura of Decay].

[Internal Immunity]

Your insides are impervious to harm. Anything trying to affect you from the inside, like Toxins, Diseases, or shards of glass in your Food, will be broken down, before any harm can occur. This Perk can be turned off and on, it has to be turned off, to enjoy the benefits of things like potions.

[Aura of Decay]

You exude an Aura of degradation. Anything within close proximity of you that is not naturally occuring, and/or alive, will suffer from entropy at a vastly increased rate. This Perk grows more impactful, as you grow stronger.

That was quite the news to swallow. I explained that I had new perks to Val. She had questions: “So you met the administrator?”

I scratched my head(finally hair again): ”Puppet looking guy, real bad temper? Yeah I met him”

She nodded once. “Ah, that would explain it. You know funnily enough, a meeting with him is not that uncommon. Most people meet one of their ilk sooner or later. Granted, not quite as early as you, but still. What did he tell you? What’s the reason for your meeting?”

I shrugged. “Dunno. He said I was threatening his plans for this century and that I needed to be addressed since I made my oath.”

She looked into the middle distance for a while, then said: “How exactly did you accept his deal? I know you haven’t had any training with your soul yet.”

I remembered that particular exercise “Oh yeah, he said something about a quick and dirty solution, then he instructed me to form my internal mana into the letters of the word ‘yes’. Kinda weird to be honest.”

Val rolled on the floor laughing. For a good while I couldn’t get her to stop. Eventually she wiped away a tear and responded “I’m sorry, but that’s just perfect. The administrators are known to be inflexible hardasses and you managed to annoy one into a ‘quick and dirty solution’ I’ll have to remember that one.” She took a few more deep breaths to calm herself “the soul business is on my list actually, however the priority is rather low. You wouldn’t normally need it until well into level 50 at least. Also you have a rather unfortunate disadvantage in that particular discipline.”

I thought for a second then sarcastically responded: “Let me guess: It can’t be taught without external mana, right?”

She wiggled her hand. “Eh, kind of. Actually this is on me. I don’t know how to teach it without external mana. Celestians are taught to think of it as casting a spell inside ourselves, but you can’t really relate. Or rather you already do that, but that doesn’t help with discovering your soul.”

Something about that struck me. “Wait! Are all celestians mages? I thought you tried all professions throughout your lives.”

She was surprised by the question “Yeah, but we only go out into that career hoping thing when we have basic education. That for a celestian is almost a century of magical and mundane education. Also yes, we are all mages. We are an inherently magical race, it’s in our blood. Literally.”

I was starting to get frustrated. “So how is that in any way fair? At least vampires can’t go out into the sunlight.” The last part was murmured, however she still caught it.

“In your books maybe, also nothing about this is fair. Being a Celestian is way better than being a human. I can’t digest any of the food here, because I need magic in my diet and I have an extremely low fertility, but still these are small prices to pay. Anyway, let’s leave the ethnological discussions by the wayside and focus on the matter at hand. Tell me about your new perks!”

It was a blatant attempt to change the subject, however I let it slide, since I didn’t want to talk about this topic anymore. It’s just depressing.

Upon explaining what my perks did, Val agreed to test them with me. First she produced two brand new sets of clothing, from whatever magical Inventory she keeps pulling all her stuff from. We would both wear them for a day and compare the decay of both, obviously she would stay 2 metres away at all times.

For the [Internal Immunity] Perk I tried to swallow one of my detached claws. I could feel it go into my throat for a few centimetres, but soon the feeling was gone. Neither my mana, nor Val could find it. It had dissolved before the tip could scratch me. Afterwards Val gave me a few poisons to try out. None of them did anything but leave a spicy taste on my tongue. Even the truly dangerous poisons did little more than burn a bit on my tongue. I guess my mouth doesn’t count as ‘Internal’.

After a day Val checked on my shirt. It had become markedly lighter and had gotten a few holes. She concluded that the effect of my Aura is somewhere between 60 and 120 times the decay. As her shirts apparently lasted for at least 2 months before showing signs of wear and tear. Her shirt was still pristine, so 2 metres seemed to be where the effect ended. This would be annoying on the clothes front and I would probably never get to wield any magical gear, or proper armour, but I never really thought I would get to anyway. For a Boy from a forest-village, Flaming swords of Justice, or whatever, are just Fairytales.

Stolen novel; please report.

After five days we were close enough to the dungeon that Val claimed to be able to feel the change in ambient mana. Apparently she could track the exact location through that. However, that was not important for now. After we arrived and made camp I spent the next two days cutting up Thomas the [Ranger] and studying how a human worked from the inside. I started to find my own organs with internal mana and analyse them in tandem with Thomas’. I must say that Val was invaluable during this time. She kept me fed and Thomas alive and unconscious throughout the whole ordeal. Two days after we made camp I finally looked at my growth, since we set off.

[Athletics]+6=>

30

[Forest Movement]+3=>

9

[Gymnastics]+3=>

24

[Infectious Mana Manipulation]+6=>

21

[Internal Mana Manipulation]+2=>

57

[Human Anatomy]+27=>

31

[Perception]+1=>

17

[Shapeshifting]+15=>

23

[Unarmed Combat]+9=>

31

Congratulations! For pursuing your Prey through the Forest with your Pack you have gained a Level in [Wolfman](lvl 6). You have gained the Class Perk [Forest Hunter].

Strength+2=>

24

Agility+4=>

34

Constitution+5=>

45

Endurance+3=>

49

Intelligence+1=>

18

Willpower+2=>

32

Wisdom+2=>

24

Charisma+1=>

16

Free Points+6-6=>

0

[Forest Hunter]

When pursuing Prey through in the Forest, you gain a bonus to [Stealth], [Tracking], [Perception] and your senses become sharper.

With [Human Anatomy] in the Apprentice Rank I finally felt confident to try and change myself. I got Val to conjure a mirror and got to work. I tried all kinds of things. Taller, smaller. Thinner, fatter. More muscles, less buff. Hair Color, Nail-length, teeth shape. My body was like wet clay in my hands. I had to take breaks every few minutes, because of the raging headaches, but the proof was right there. With the help of my class I even tried out wolf- muzzle. After getting the silly things out of the way, I tried to go full wolf and surprisingly it was easy. I could walk, run, bite all the things that Skadi could do.

I purposefully didn’t use the [Prepared Form] Perk when changing back, but my class still helped so it too was very easy.

All in all I was confident in my Abilities to change my human Form. Therefore I didn’t need Thomas anymore. The [Ranger] died quietly. I simply had his heart stop pumping.

Next up: Kidnap a goblin and learn their Anatomy. I turned into a Wolf and started off into the direction of my Prey. The same direction as the dungeon.

It is really difficult to walk on four legs at first. However I could feel my class helping once again. After a few hours I had it mostly down pat. With Val giving some directions I quickly-ish found the dungeon. It was a hole in the ground in a clearing in the forest. Only remarkable because of the two goblins with spears, standing guard over it. And, after looking at it from the treetops, the fact that the hole has stairs. Definitely neither natural nor goblin made.

I was not confident I could simply take the goblins on. The two weren’t a threat, but I didn’t know how fast something could emerge from the dungeon.

I tried a few things to lure one away. Howling, growling, yelling with a human voice, throwing stones and a few other things, none worked. These goblins were very good guards. Or horrible ones. Depending on how much you think guards should investigate strange noises.

As a last resort I tried showing myself to entice them. Also nothing. Welp can’t be helped. I asked Valeria for some food and settled in for some long term surveillance.

One day later:

These goblins sure are boring to look at. They change shifts every six hours and that’s about it. No lunch-break, no one goes to the toilet, no nothing. I was just about to pack up and look for a different strategy, when a third goblin walked out of the dungeon carrying two buckets. I was intrigued. The goblin struggled with the, clearly heavy, buckets and went into the opposite direction from me. When he was at the end of the clearing he emptied them into the underbrush, and then took the buckets back into the dungeon.

I walked around the clearing to the spot the buckets were emptied at. It was waste. I will save you the details, but I was jubilant. Waste means this has to happen with some regularity, probably once a day. This was my chance. But I must not be overly brash. First things first. Go to camp, tell Val and Skadi what you found, get some rest.

I did as much. Val offered to protect Skadi and me from scrying. With that the Plan was set. Skadi and I would watch the dungeon together. The moment a third goblin emerges with buckets I would run into whatever direction the goblin is walking towards. When the goblin was at the edge of the clearing, I would bite it with stinger teeth and put it to sleep. At the same time Skadi would get close to the guards to draw their attention. Then we’d carry the unconscious goblin and run off.

The plan went off without a hitch… the second time we tried it. The first time I killed the goblin outright. Hey, I’ve never bitten anyone before, alright? Anyway we learned that a goblin dying in the forest is to be expected, because the next day the routine went off exactly the same. This time I controlled myself and we got a brand new goblin prisoner.

The next five days were spent cutting up and learning about goblins. We tried interrogating it, but these goblins are just barely below sentience so that was a dud.

[Goblin Anatomy]+35=>

35

With that I was probably ready to shift into a goblin, but I had a few other things to try. We had ten days left on the clock and I was going to use them.