The rest of the day proved to be much more enjoyable than the previous two. For one thing, no one tried to kill Brivaria. She never thought that would become a thing to be thankful for but here she was. For another, she, Nyx, and Trixie went fishing.
The cult, Brivaria decided to keep calling them that since the System endorsed it, took the two girls fishing. Kseniya decided to stay back on shore as she had no interest in fishing and she didn’t fancy squeezing her tail onto the small boat. It was better for all of them if she stayed behind.
The rest had a good time. Nyx gave the angel fishing lessons and the cultists were happy to share some bait and loan whatever equipment the duo was missing after learning where the gear came from. Brivaria met Zed, the man who named the beer goddess, and he poured her a beer because it was what the goddess would have wanted… according to him. Trixie padded around the boat, sniffing this or that, and periodically looking over the side at the clear water. Eventually the golden ended up laying on one of the wooden seats. It had been sufficiently warmed by the afternoon sun and soon the pooch was lightly dozing.
By the end of the afternoon, the adventurers sans Kseniya had spent a solid five hours out on the river fishing, drinking, and sharing stories of past shenanigans. After spending weeks on the move doing this or that, it was truly wonderful to put everything on hold for a few hours and unwind. The idle relaxation also gave the angel time to appreciate her friends. She was lucky that Kseniya and Nyx decided to come with her. She was especially lucky to have Trixie. The angel couldn’t imagine how very lonely her life on Zlithia would have been without the happy-go-lucky dog.
Said dog needed to be awakened when they returned to shore. The golden had fallen asleep under the sun upon the gently rocking boat. She woke up, looked for Brivaria, and immediately received pets for being a well-behaved dog on their fishing trip. Nyx, Brivaria, and Trixie met Kseniya when they got to the cabins. The snake woman was adjusting her attire as she emerged from one building but smiled as soon as she saw the group.
“Welcome back, did you catch anything?” the lamia asked.
“I caught four fish,” Nyx bragged happily.
“Just one for me but it was too small to keep. I gave it a little healing and released it,” Brivaria said with chagrin. She’d asked about using her light infusion on the hook to make it easier to catch fish but was told that skills were forbidden during recreational fishing. It was a matter of principles, they said, and Brivaria didn’t question it.
They cooked the caught fish for dinner and everyone ate well. Brivaria found out that there had been a low turnout for members with only six showing up instead of the usual dozen or so. Several of the normally occupied cabins were unused. The result was that the group was given one of those unused cabins for the night.
Nyx expressed concerns over how clean it would be and Carter, the last of the three men in the group, explained that he was a professional cleaner for businesses in Barton. Usually the staff at an inn or tavern would do the day to day cleaning then call him in for something more thorough monthly or sometimes weekly. He expected to be plenty busy in the next month and a half with the Hunt for the Golden Hind going on so this was his last bit of relaxation before things got crazy. He did all the cleaning himself with a variety of skills and dared Nyx to find a speck of dust. Nyx was suitably placated and the three adventurers plus one dog retired to their cabin.
Trixie was very energetic after her mid-afternoon nap so the three talked while playing with her. The dog zoomed around the cabin living room chasing a little, leather ball. It was something Rake had given Brivaria way back when she’d purchased the dog from the Second Sword adventuring team. Trixie’s tail rose to dangerous levels of WPM (wags per minute) as all three took turns playing with the golden.
“So I was thinking, that person who attacked Brivaria used an upgraded Firebolt spell. We should check with the adventurers guild to see if there are any adventurers in the city with pyromancy classes. We can say we’re looking for a new team member or something. I would like to track down our attacker,” Kseniya said while teasing Trixie with the ball.
“We should also go talk to the guard when we get back and see who that crazy guy who attacked us yesterday was or where those armored wolves came from. Those things were incredibly tough. Thankfully I had Trixie helping me,” Nyx took her turn playing with Trixie while speaking. She scritched the dog’s cheek and got a wuff when she mentioned Trixie’s name.
“Brivaria, you’re sure you haven’t taken any animal companion skills?” Kseniya asked abruptly.
“Uh, yes. That is, I haven’t taken any such skills. Why?” the angel looked from the happy golden to the lamia.
“I’ve seen your cute, cute doggy fight mana spawn, a demonic chimera, and now bone wolves or whatever those things were. The other night, she barked before we were attacked. More importantly, she barked before Nyx knew we were under attack. Even at her level, Nyx certainly has better awareness than both of us and that’s before her naturally excellent hearing is considered. Your dog is better than that,” Kseniya finished. All three turned their gazes to Trixie who had just picked up the red ball. Her tail stopped wagging briefly when she noticed everyone staring at her then restarted as she ran toward Brivaria to deliver the ball.
“Trixie, are you special?” Brivaria asked the dog very seriously while taking the ball only lightly covered with drool. Trixie wuffed happily.
“Trixie, is Brivaria a potato?” Nyx asked sweetly. Trixie wuffed again. Brivaria looked affronted and Nyx cackled. “She just barks when she hears her name.”
“Traitor,” Brivaria said with no heat whatsoever. She scritched her dog. She wondered if Trixie had her own skills. The members of the Second Sword seemed certain the dog wasn’t a Treasure Sniffer with a nose for treasure but that didn’t mean Trixie couldn’t have other talents.
“This is your punishment!” Brivaria declared ominously then booped Trixie on the nose. The dog was booped! She collapsed onto the floor to play dead. When she opened her eyes a moment later Brivaria was there to scritch her stomach. The games began anew. Skills or no skills, the angel reasoned that Trixie was still a good dog.
Everyone but Brivaria readied themselves for bed. Once the angel was alone, Akashic appeared. The six-armed demoness perpetually managed to look annoyed despite the lack of color in her features. Having two pairs of arms folded while the other two were on her hips also helped the angel read the mood.
“You’re upset that I didn’t spend my skill point last night,” Brivaria asked in a low voice so as not to wake the others.
“Yes. Had that woman been luring you into a trap then you would have been missing a tool that could have been the difference between life and death. Not to mention that leaving the human city doesn’t mean your foes will not follow you out of it.” It was a scolding, lecturing tone that somewhat hurt to hear but Brivaria accepted it.
“You’re right. I almost picked last night but I wanted your opinion on my selection first,” the angel admitted. She could see the surprise on the demon’s face. “Your advice the other night saved my life, our lives if that’s how it works. It’s my decision but you know more about these things than I do.”
“Heretical words. Your keeper would be quite displeased to hear you speak them if he was still talking to you.” Those words did cause Brivaria to grimace. The demoness noticed, paused, and changed the topic. “So what is your proposed selection?”
“Natural Weapons,” the angel stated. Akashic considered the choice before speaking.
“Not armor or Flesh Restoration? After your attack, I expected you to choose something defensive. The Natural Weapons skill would have done you no favors in surviving that rogue-assassin man so why pick it?” Brivaria was ready for the demon’s question but she wasn’t certain if her answer would be good enough. There was only one way to find out.
“Flesh Restoration is too slow to have helped there and scoundrel types usually have a sense for weaknesses. If he’d attacked the back of my head instead of my chest then I probably wouldn’t be here. Not having my armor equipped likely saved my life.” The demon nodded and gestured for Brivaria to continue. “I think I’d be better off working toward a racial trait that gives resistance to weapons. Natural Weapons will give me intrinsic knowledge to get me closer to that sooner while also letting me do something I can’t currently do—empower anything I make with magic.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“The rogue did not have that sense or he would have known where your heart was and aimed appropriately but that is otherwise true. What you truly need is Final Form however that requires level 50 and a shapeshifting class so you are far away from it. Natural Weapons is a decent choice for now,” the demoness explained.
“What is Final Form?” Brivaria asked, having never heard of the skill before.
“Ah, you’ve seen it but you probably don’t know its name. Have you ever fought a demon who somehow grew larger, stronger, and more powerful mid-fight?” The angel nodded and Akashic went on. “That’s Final Form. It lets a demon create a superior battle form. When a demon is severely pressured or wounded, Final Form will activate changing their body and healing them. Forms that are easier to activate or last longer give fewer benefits. Forms that only activate when very specific things occur are allowed to be stronger by the System. There are whole classes dedicated to strengthening a final form which can be very, very effective given the right planning.”
“That sounds similar to Holy Resurgence or Grit,” the angel commented after listening to the long explanation.
“Yes, Grit is the human one. Most second chance skills are incredibly weak and you usually only get one since they’re usually racial in nature. A few races such as catfolk have truly decent ones. The cats have Nine Lives which functions as it sounds. Aside from skills like that, I consider most of them to be a waste of a skill selection. If a human hangs onto their feeble life with Grit then I simply stab them again. Final Form requires specific classes but it gives you the power to turn the situation around and potentially survive.” The demoness would have said more but the angel was looking at her strangely. “What?”
“You’re very talkative tonight. I’m just surprised. Will you tell me what the Infernal Seed was for or why you’re here?” If the demoness was in a tell-all mood then the angel would take advantage of it.
“No. I will tell you neither and knowing would do you no good,” the demon said firmly. It had been worth a shot.
“Is my life in danger?” the angel countered.
“I am aware of your intuition trait. I know you will get your answer whether I speak truths or lies.” Brivaria winced. Right, the demon could see her System messages and screen. “However it will do you no good because I do not know the answer. But know that I do not seek your death. Your death holds no benefit for me.”
“If I die then do you die?” Brivaria asked. Both angel and demon would normally return to their home planes upon death. Brivaria could not safely return to her own and wasn’t certain if the demon had a similar condition. The demon had deliberately done this to her in battle so she knew Akashic had some knowledge of what was happening yet the winged girl got the feeling the demoness was as in the dark as she was with some aspects of their situation.
“I will not say,” Akashic replied quickly. Darn. Brivaria expected that reply but hoped for better. “Enough questions. Select your skill and I will show you the claws you need to forge. The System will only provide a small, rudimentary amount of guidance and you will need to sculpt something far different than what it will give you.” Brivaria did so.
Natural Weapons (Passive)
Gain the ability to form strengthened claws, spikes, fangs, stingers, and other appendages. These appendages function as weapons for all relevant purposes. Strength and durability scale with arcane, transformation time and cost scale with presence.
The skill was selected and the two spent the next hour going through the designs the angel would have to mimic. To her surprise, Akashic shifted into a more humanoid shape with only two arms. The angel would also need claws for her feet and thus the demon needed feet to model those.
Unfortunately Brivaria was not a prodigy in the field of shapeshifting. Even with Akashic’s tutelage, the demonic claws proved extremely difficult to mimic. They were part racial trait and part skill acquisition, the demoness explained. Most demons took a strengthening skill to improve them. Akashic wanted Brivaria to mimic an improved version so it was far more challenging and not something she could get the hang of with a single night of practice.
The demoness didn’t remain for the entire night. She disappeared at some point leaving the angel alone. Sensing that her progress was insufficient and that continuing would be difficult without further instruction, the angel changed tack. She looked at the races on Zlithia she had met since acquiring her current class—human, catfolk, lamia, and lephori. She needed a disguise and one of those would be her best, easiest bet.
Lamia was out since Kseniya’s tail would take a lot of work to copy assuming Brivaria even had the mana for it. Lephori was out since the angel had the least experience with them. That left catfolk and human. Brivaria could already make the tail for catfolk but the ears would be more challenging. Challenging was probably not in the cards with the time she had left and especially not if she intended to have the alternate form ready tomorrow. Human it was.
For her human form, Brivaria first had to remove her wings and all of the muscles and bodily adjustments those wings required. Or maybe she could keep the added musculature. She worked on the latter, shrinking her wings to the point where they no longer grew from her back. She had enough interaction with humans that the System deigned to grant her its aid in replicating the form.
It was a pleasant surprise that the angelic naming conventions of races helped out with her shapeshifting. Arslans, or humans, were often seen as a blank slate or canvas with Celians as the paint upon that canvas. Most angels manifested as winged Celians not because that form was intrinsic to the angel the same way a catfolk’s ears and tails were to the catfolk but because it allowed them to be closer to the native population. Angels could manifest in many forms and some of them would be quite frightening to the local population however they all shared a single commonality—they were angels.
All of that was to say that Brivaria could retain her angelic nature to some extent regardless of her form. The System recognized that an angel sans wings was still an angel. For an angel to become something else there would need to be a rejection of that fact in a manner the System could act upon. Brivaria didn’t believe she was capable of that feat even with Lesser Shapeshifting and Flesh Sculpting. What she was capable of was willing the System to recognize her current, wing-less body as human. It did so.
Gained Traits (Human).
Traits (Human) includes Driven, Full Stomach, and Sense of Direction.
Driven (Passive)
You may ignore the penalties imposed from lack of sleep up to 12 hours or half your level, whichever is greater.
Full Stomach (Passive)
You may regain up to half your maximum stamina upon consuming sufficient food.
Sense of Direction (Passive)
You always know the direction of the nearest human settlement you have visited.
Brivaria smiled at the System messages despite the actual contents being underwhelming. She’d succeeded. Her System status now showed “Traits (Angel, Human)” as well. She wondered if these benefits were all humans received or just part of them.
Driven was useless to her since she lacked the Sleep recovery skill. She’d get neither the benefits from sleeping nor the penalties from lack of sleep. Full Stomach was potentially very useful and explained why humans enjoyed eating multiple meals throughout the day compared to her frequent choice of eating only one. Sense of Direction was whatever though very easy to use as Brivaria did feel a slight tug in the direction of Barton when she focused on the skill.
Most importantly, she now looked like a human. With black hair and no wings, she was fairly certain no one would mistake her for the famed zephyri mercenary. Anyone who knew her already would recognize her still as her voice hadn’t changed nor had her facial features. A better disguise would include changing all of those things and maybe even her figure. For now this should be good enough to avoid mistaken identities or so she hoped.
Brivaria set the human appearance as an alternate form and changed back to her full, angelic look. It cost 12 mana even with the skill helping her. 12 wasn’t a deal-breaker with a total of 136 mana at her disposal but it would be enough to keep her from casually shifting forms. That would change with time. Both Flesh Sculpting and Alternative Form scaled with presence which was Brivaria’s highest attribute. Meanwhile Lesser Shapeshifting scaled purely on level. She would be getting several reductions to the transformation’s cost with each level while her mana pool grew larger. Eventually it would be free or negligible in cost. For now this was good enough.
Her three forms were now angel with large wings, angel with small wings, and human. She went through and added the demonic tail to all three. It would cost mana to remove but the fact that it had helped save her life earned a lot of good will even if it still felt quite bizarre at times. She wasn’t entirely certain the tail was “correct” but it was functional. At her current level of skill, that was all she asked of it.
Finally she took a book out of her inventory and started reading. She’d spent most of her mana pool and many hours working with her shapeshifting skills. She hoped Rest would activate and get her mana to full before morning came but suspected she’d gotten carried away. It was wildly heretical and Brivaria was extremely certain her fellow angels would look down upon her new skills but she was having fun with them. After many cycles of using her old skills, it was genuinely nice to have something entirely new to her. As long as she didn’t think too hard about their origins, they were great skills.
Name: Brivaria
Race: Angel
Class: Apprentice Shaper of Flesh
Level: 34
Stats: Health 65/71, Mana 95/136, Stamina 77/93
Attributes: Physique 58, Endurance 36, Arcane 64, Spirit 68, Awareness 36, Presence 71
Active Skills: Current Control, Defensive Bulwark, Healing Touch, Wind Formation
Passive Skills: Alternative Form, Flesh Sculpting, Infernal Seed, Inventory, Lesser Flight, Lesser Shapeshifting, Lingering Decay, Natural Weapons, Rest, Traits (Angel)
Magic: Light of Decay
Affinity: Corruption, Decay