As Martin loaded into the game he expected to see a city, just like Celeste and Jasper had described, however, instead he saw a massive beast pounce towards him. At first, he assumed that the beast was some kind of bear, however on closer inspection it was some bizarre amalgamation of creatures.
The head of the beast was definitely that of a shark, the razor-sharp teeth were dripping with saliva as it went to clamp down on Martin's arm. The main body of the creature was that of a bear, though the tail was long and had the fin of a shark. Martin lifted his arm and let the sharkbear chomp down on it. He barely felt a thing. His skin was green, but it was also made from living bark, allowing him to ignore that vicious teeth.
He looked down at the bearshark and shook his head before speaking in a soft but firm voice. "Please stop". His throat was rough and he had a lot more bass than what he usually had.
The bearshark looked up at him and let go. "Sorry," It said, and for a moment Martin was surprised that it spoke until he remembered that he had made a character for that exact purpose less than a second ago. There was nothing like a massive predator pouncing on you to bring you out of character-building mode.
The creature slowly let go of Martin's arm, long strands of spit still linking the vicious maw to Martin, before a long tongue slipped out and liked up the saliva, breaking the strings.
"Don't worry about it," Martin said, whipping his arm free of saliva. He assumed that the bearshark was weaker than him, based on the fact that it was obeying him so readily. He hadn't even defeated it in combat. "So what are you?" He asked the bearshark.
The massive creature sat down on its hindquarters, the long tail sprawling around it before it scratched itself right behind the gills. "I thought that would be obvious... I am a bearshark... or sharkbear... Nobody has really given me a proper name" It answered, which made Martin feel a little bit dumb.
"Not like that. I mean, as far as I can tell I am standing in a forest, and while I am sure that there might be bears around, I feel like sharks are much rarer, not to mention that the chances of a shark and a bear 'doing the do' is highly unlikely." He clarified.
The sharkbear nodded along, the human level of intelligence really shining through. "Oh, I get what you mean! No I am an absolute freak of nature. I grew up a good while east from here in a place saturated with magic. I used to be a bear, but after eating too many magic tainted fish I got some new chompers." It said showing off the multiple rows of teeth that had been trying to tear Martin apart just moments ago.
The god of dungeons nodded. "Those are very nice... Welp, it seems like I have found myself in the beginner zone, so I am guessing that I should take care of the magical wasteland that is located right next to the newbie area. I feel like it would be a major complaint if people kept dying to mutated bears." He said.
For a moment he considered making the bear into his linked creature. However, he needed a fast and agile creature, preferably something that he had to take down with some effort. He decided against it. However, making the bearshark into a dungeon boss might not be a bad idea. He decided to go for it, but as soon as he tried to create a dungeon he got a message from the AI.
Missing Worship [https://i.postimg.cc/MKXrcfw6/image.png]
He sighed, that made sense that he would have to earn his dungeons. It seemed like he would have to eat his veggies before he could have ice cream.
"I am going to go fix that nuclear hellscape. Wanna come?" He looked at the bear which got back up and nodded. With that out of the way, the massive orc and bearshark started to wander east.
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It had been less than an hour of walking before Martin was complaining. "I hate walking. This game needs fast travel. Celeste needs to implement some teleportation because my feet already hurt." He exclaimed making the bearshark look up at him.
"I mean... I have no idea what you are talking about, but even I know that Teleportation is forbidden. Teleportation and resurrection. Can't do those." It said, which made Martin blink.
"I am sorry... You cannot teleport... and wait wait wait, you can't resurrect people? How do you know this?" He asked, feeling like he was being taken for a ride.
"Oh, I have been breathing magic my whole life. These gills filter magic from the air to my body, which allows me to do cool stuff. It is only after I met you that I can think clearly though, so a lot of this is just instincts... the same instincts that are telling me that the tree coming up on your right will be the best scratching tree in the entire forest." It said and wandered over to a tree which did indeed look like it would be perfect for scratching those hard-to-reach spots.
Martin shrugged and joined the bearshark, and before long they were both scratching themselves against the tree. The orc had to continue thinking out loud though. "That is probably the two worst rules that could ever be implemented. That will mean that players can't resurrect their characters and they will have to spend days wandering from one place to the other. So not only will you be forced to play as cautiously as possible because you are on hardcore mode..." Martin paused a little as a branch on the tree found just the right spot between his shoulder blades. "But you will never want to leave any area because you are forced to wander through high-level areas... Wait, nobody is going to want to go into my dungeons." He said realization dawning on his face.
Martin finally pulled back from the tree before using a bit of Energy, a resource he had more than enough of, and gave the tree a boost to its growth as a thanks for scratching his back.
He smirked a little and looked at the visibly growing tree. "Keep the change... you know... I don't mind giving a little back, since you scratch my back I scratch yours." Martin said, and the bearshark groaned before trying to chew his leg off.
They were back to walking again, and Martin had decided that he would have to talk with his fellow primordial gods about these laws that were being implemented.
Before they had reached the border to the magical wasteland evening had started to slowly darken the forest. Martin decided that they might as well get some rest since he could see the bearshark getting more and more hangry, snapping at falling leaves and scarring squirrels, and Martin was getting tired too, even though he shouldn't have. He wondered where they could find something to eat, but as they sat down Martin's Wealth Domain kicked in.
Simply by sitting in a clearing Martin felt his Domain work on his surrounding. It had clearly harmonized with his other domains as a small bush started to grow in the middle. It instantly died and burst into flames, creating a warm bonfire for them to sit at. Martin would have expected the bush to burn out quickly, but the bush seemed to continue to grow while burning, providing continuous fuel for the fire.
Thick vines had sprouted from the ground in the meantime, giving a seat for Martin to sit in and a nice bed for the bearshark to settle on. However, it was the four chicken-like fowls that seemed to wander directly up to the bearshark, that truly surprised the god.
Martin assumed that was his Beast Domain doing a lot of work, calling some of the wildlife over so that his mutated companion could eat. The bearshark didn't seem to have a problem with an easy meal, gladly comping down on the fowls as they practically tried to throw themselves into the predator's maw.
Martin himself didn't really need to eat, as he had been wandering on soil his Plant Domain provided him with nutrients allowing him to stay refreshed, though for some reason he still felt tired. Based on the passive ability of the Plant Domain he shouldn't have to sleep. He blamed the fact that the game was a new experience and his mind was simply being overwhelmed.
It wasn't long before he was drifting off to sleep next to a new friend, while a burning bush kept away predators. While drifting up he looked over his stats just to get an idea of what his character had.
Resources Value Rank 6 Health 34 Energy 7 Impact 7 Worship 0 Wealth 0 (1) Available Domain Power Points 0
He smiled, enjoying the fact that he could take a nap while working without getting in trouble.