Eight hours later, Connor woke. He ate some food, took a drink, and realized he didn’t need to use the bathroom. Before he could think about how long it had been since he had used the bathroom, he stopped that thought and concentrated on what he needed to do now. Connor activated Malleable Skills and stopped. Why hadn’t he increased the Rank of this Skill? With a thought, he tried and failed.
Warning!
The Skill Malleable Skills cannot modify itself, even for an unfettered.
Well, that did make a sort of sense. It was a good thing he had Rare Skill Upgraded Crystal, wasn’t it? Connor summoned the crystal into his hand and applied the upgrade to the skill Malleable Skills.
Congratulations! You have increased the Rank of skill Malleable Skills to the rank of Rare.
Malleable Skills
This is a skill
Skills, like Spells, are typically acquired through discovery or training.
Not for you.
An unfettered individual may focus their intent and modify their skills as needed. To acquire a new skill, you must rest and focus on the outcome you desire for one day. If the outcome you desire is possible, the SYSTEM will assign the appropriate skill to an empty skill slot. To increase the power of any skill you already possess, assign another skill slot to it. Skills may only be improved until their power is equal to your Core Rarity.
The Unfettered may learn any skills in this fashion, including those that utilize Mana or Psychic Energy.
At Uncommon Rank, you may increase the rank of any skill you have acquired up to your Core Rank, provided you have the Skill Slots available to do so. You may also reduce any skills you have down to Common Rank to recover Skill Slots at will. You may only reduce or increase a single skill’s rank during a single combat turn.
At Rare Rank, The amount of rest required before trying to create a class can be achieved through meditating for a time equal to eight hours, reduced by one hour per Willpower Attribute Modifier. Additionally, the amount of time it takes to create a skill after resting is reduced by one hour per point of the Intelligence and Wisdom attribute modifiers.
Note that once the time is reduced to one hour, the reduction converts to being reduced by one minute per attribute modifier.
NOTE: The time to meditate and create cannot be reduced to less than one minute.
Example: If you have an attribute modifier of +10 for willpower, the amount of time you must meditate before attempting to create a new skill will be reduced to 58 minutes.
Amount of rest required: 1 Minute
Amount of time to create a new skill: 1 Minute
While he didn’t need to rest for eight hours, his recent rest met the first requirement to use the skill. Before he started creating skills, though, he needed to check his notifications. He’d received the skill crystals for killing the hunters; had he received any XP?
Congratulations, You have killed an Uncommon Hunter Level 1, 10,100 XP Earned.
Congratulations, You have killed an Uncommon Hunter Level 1, 10,100 XP Earned.
Congratulations, You have killed an Uncommon Hunter Level 1, 10,100 XP Earned.
Congratulations, You have killed an Uncommon Hunter Level 9, 10,900 XP Earned.
Congratulations, You have killed an Uncommon Hunter Level 5, 10,500 XP Earned.
Congratulations, You have killed an Uncommon Hunter Level 5, 10,500 XP Earned.
Congratulations, You have killed an Uncommon Hunter Level 6, 10,600 XP Earned.
Congratulations you have killed and Rare Mage Level 15, 215,000 XP Earned.
Congratulations, You have killed a Rare Mage Level 18, 218,000 XP Earned.
Congratulations, You have Reached Level 54.
Congratulations, You have Reached Level 55
Connor looked over the Notifications and smiled. Those Rare mages had earned him a lot of XP. The Uncommon hunters weren’t bad, but one Rare kill was worth more than twenty Common ones. Also, he was starting to get a handle on how the XP awards worked. It looked like a level 100 Common monster would be worth 1,000 XP, but a level 1 Uncommon monster would be worth 10,100. It was like the 100 levels were added for each Rank before figuring out how much XP was earned.
The award appeared to be 10 XP per level at Common, 100 XP per level at Uncommon, and 1,000 per level at Rare. If he had thought of the Rare level 18 monster as level 218 before multiplying by 1,000, the math worked. He had earned 218,000 XP. Maybe he was missing something, but he was pretty sure he was right.
If the XP awards for Rare-ranked monsters were this good, he needed to come up with something that would allow him to take on the Rare and higher monsters more efficiently. That meant he needed to come up with skills that helped him do more damage, in addition to the other ideas for skills he wanted to create that he had.
Connor closed his eyes and focused on the first skill he wanted to make. Now that he could rest and create a skill in one minute and then create another skill every two minutes after that, he had a couple of different skills he wanted to make based on ideas from a tabletop game he’d played in high school. The first skill was, of course, something that would allow him to fly very fast without worrying about wind shear or friction damage, especially if he was entering an atmosphere. However, he was pretty sure that was going to require a skill that reduced fire and heat damage. Such a skill was not at the top of his list, but eventually, he might need something to reduce elemental damage. It was something to consider, at least.
Connor brought his racing thoughts under control and focused on just one skill: a skill that would allow him to cover himself entirely in force-based screens that he could control the shape of. As the idea for what he wanted to create solidified, his perception of the room fell away as he became one with the process.
***
Elizabeth Henley stealthily crept through the forest, away from the group of fighters, rogues, mages, and clerics who were trying to track her down. Why were they chasing her? What would they do when they caught her? Liza, the nickname her father had given her when he was teaching her some uncommon skills that most people wouldn’t think a tall, blonde, blue-eyed, beautiful woman would know. No, she wasn’t going to think about what they might do to her if they caught her. What she was going to do was evade and, if necessary, fight with brutal efficiency, something her father had taught her to do.
Thoughts of her father, Commander Henley, helped Liza focus. Her father had taught her to be self-sufficient, independent, and able to defend herself. This SYSTEM Tutorial, however, sets things up for the true monsters of humanity to emerge. Worse yet, the leader of the assholes, someone named Derrick, had been one of those sneaky assholes that struck while you had your back turned. Liza reviewed what had happened as she continued to move through this thicker part of the forest as quietly as she could.
Like everyone in camp, she had accepted the Tutorial when she’d been offered it back on Earth. After a few moments, she’d appeared in an empty clearing. One thousand people from Earth had arrived here together, wherever “here” was. They were in a clearing surrounded by trees with a stream off to one side. Right after they had appeared, she’d seen birds and small wildlife fleeing the area.
There were a couple of system notifications about choosing one of four basic classes: Fighter, Rogue, Mage, or Cleric. If you didn’t choose one of those classes, you might get an opportunity to earn a special or unique class, but nothing was guaranteed. As everyone was reading their Notifications, an older man, who later introduced himself as Robert Manchester, took charge and began organizing people. At first, some people resisted, but when everything Robert was asking people to do made sense, people listened and went to work.
Robert categorized people by ability, and he put everyone to work, including himself. Those who chose a class were separated into groups with members of the same class. Many people had chosen to be fighters. Half as many decided to be rogues, and some had chosen to be mages. Some even decided to become clerics and pledged themselves to abstract gods of healing or nature. None of the Gods that had been selected had names, which she found a bit weird.
The day had been busy as Robert had the rogues scout the immediate area while everyone else went to work creating walls and ditches to act as a defense against wild animals. Luckily, some of the people chose mage as their class and then focused on Earth-based magic. A few received a spell that allowed them to shape the earth. It could only affect a 10-foot area, and they had to rest to recover their mana, the resource that fueled their magic, but the five Earth mages they had made construction go a lot quicker.
The Nature-based mages also received a very cool spell, Nature’s Gift. While the spell didn’t only work on trees, when used on a tree, that tree would gift a portion of itself once per week in the form of boards, arrows, and anything else they might need that could be made out of wood. The first time the spell had been cast, Liza gasped when a bow and 20 basic wooden arrows dropped out of the tree trunk to the ground below the trunk.
With the Nature mages creating needed materials from the forest and the Earthen mages able to shape the earth, it didn’t take them long to create a small offshoot to the stream that wove into the clearing for a bit before reattaching to the stream. Near the beginning of the inlet, the mages made a small water wheel that lifted water into a wooden basin. A drain hole that had been formed into the basin when it was created from a tree allowed the water to drain back into the stream. Within minutes, they had a makeshift sink with running water, which improved morale considerably. Now, they could quickly fill their water skins and retrieve water for cooking.
Once they had created a source of clean water, the group of mages moved on. At the far end, right before the diverted water stream reconnected with the mainstream, the Earth and Nature mages created rudimentary outhouses with toilet seats that hung over the stream. Robert seemed to understand that simple necessities like toilets, places to sleep, and fresh water made a huge difference to people. Liza noticed that everyone she talked to went from being scared of what had happened on Earth and their new predicament to being focused and even a little bit hopeful.
Robert also set up another area for people to sleep and designated a group of people to take first watch during the night. Those people laid down to rest while everyone kept building the camp up. Luckily, it was nice out, and the grass proved quite soft, so a sleeping area was set up by simply choosing an area and blocking it off.
One-third of the warriors and rogues remained in the camp and kept guard while the last-third of the warrior types went hunting. Luckily, they had some people who were able to dress and prepare wild game for cooking; she was one of them. She was also part of the fifth group of people who hadn’t chosen a class yet. Sure, she’d read the notifications about the four basic classes, but none of them appealed to her. She could fight, and she had some rogue-like skills her father had taught her. While the mage and cleric class seemed neat, she was still having a hard time believing in magic, even with everything that happened. So, she didn’t choose a class, and for that first day, she worked on preparing food with a few others while the camp was built around them.
Robert's leadership had been invaluable when the first monster appeared. It had been a bear, larger than anything Elizabeth had ever seen before. It had been drawn to the smell of cooking meat. When the bear was finally dispatched, no one had died, but a few people had been hurt. The clerics proved their worth when they waved their hands, and gashes and bite marks healed right up. Magic was real; she’d seen the proof.
The bear had been moved over to where a refuse pit had been created and the skinning and butchering began. She looked at the monster and tried to figure out how to prepare it for dinner, she was missing most of the ingredients she’d need to soften up bear meat. Also, while she was considering the bear another thought crossed her mind. They had other people out in the forest who could have run into something like it. Robert must have had the same idea because he issued an order that everyone was to travel in groups of at least five.
When darkness came, she was exhausted, but not so exhausted that she hadn’t found a place near a torch with plenty of other people sleeping nearby. She also had the pocketknife she always carried. She was a young woman in a strange place, and people could be assholes. As she lay down and closed her eyes, she realized that she’d been far more tired than she had thought. She immediately drifted off to sleep.
A little while later, a scream woke her. She listened intently and heard muffled voices and another muffled scream. She lifted her head just a little bit to look around and see what was going on. A group of men and women had started rounding up the cooks and a few of the guards and leading them over to the cooking area, which was the only lighted area in the clearing.
Staying low, Liza crawled away from where she’d been sleeping and moved toward the outside of the camp near the stream. As she made it to the edge of the tall grass near the stream, she heard a voice near where she’d been sleeping.
“Where is that bitch? I’ve been looking at her all day. I want her.”
“She was there just an hour ago, Derrick”
“Find her!”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes and then slipped quietly into the stream, allowing it to carry her away from the camp and into the forest. She stayed in the water for a while and was well within the forest when she heard a shout.
“She’s in the river. Get after her!”
That had taken a lot less time than she’d figured. She had no idea why things were happening the way they were, and she didn’t want to find out. She began to swim actively with the current. When she grew tired, she rested. When she had energy again, she swam. After a little while, the stream she was deposited into a shallow river. She crossed the river under a moonlit sky and emerged into a thicker part of the forest. She was about to slow down and relax when a voice called out.
“Across the river, there!”
What the hell was wrong with these people? Elizabeth ran out of the river and into the forest. Once out of sight, she slowed down and moved slowly and quietly. A method of movement her father had taught her during one of their hunting trips. Sure, she was a pretty woman, others thought so anyway. But she wasn’t only a pretty woman. Her father had made sure she understood that and understood that another’s assumptions could be used to her benefit if she needed to. He’d also made sure to let her know not to use that ability. She’d been grounded for an entire month when she turned 15. Her father had found out that she’d been cruel to a boy at school. He hadn’t been furious at what she did exactly. He’d been furious that she’d used her womanly wiles, as he called them, as a prank for no better reason than she could. That kind of ruthlessness should be used sparingly and only against people who had proven themselves her enemy. The boy had been so distraught that he’d changed schools.
Her father had made sure she understood that there was a time and a place for such viciousness. Picking on a shy boy was not an appropriate use of that skill. In addition to the use of an enemy's psychology against themselves, her father had also made sure she received physical training. If her enemies wanted to assume that she was just a dumb, pretty blonde and underestimate her, she’d let them. Her dad had been a Navy Seal before he became an officer. Unfortunately for whoever was after her, they were about to find out what that actually meant because while she’d never been through seal training, her father was sure that she could probably have passed BUD/S, Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training. She had fitness and combat training of all types since she was six years old and a physical strength comparable to a six-foot man. She was slightly weaker in her upper body strength, but not by much. She presses 220 pounds quickly and runs a 5k route without losing her wind.
That’s why her training and decisive decision not to be taken prisoner surprised the rogue who tried to grapple her from behind out of Stealth. One moment, nobody was near her; she’d stopped to get her bearings and see where her pursers were, and the next, an arm was reaching up and around her neck. Unfortunately for the rogue, he hadn’t braced himself against her back as he grabbed for her throat. That lack of proper technique allowed her to step backward and to his left. She quickly brought her right arm over his neck and bent him backward as she dropped him onto her right knee. A quick left jab to his temple with her left hand stunned him, which was the only thing she needed to gain total control of the situation.
Unfortunately for the rogue, Liza had been trained not to pull her punch, and a combination of factors combined so that her strike stunned him long enough for her to shift her arm, which forced the rogue to tilt his head back. Without muscle training and a little practice, a left-handed chop usually wasn’t very strong. Unfortunately for this asshole, she was ambidextrous. She brought the heel of her left hand down on his larynx in a single brutal blow, crushing it. As the rogue's eyes bulged, one of the lessons Liza’s father had taught her came to mind. “If in enemy territory and you make a mistake, don’t make it worse by allowing that mistake to draw attention to you.”
She didn’t know why they were after her, though she had her suspicions. It didn’t matter. Before the rogue could start thrashing and choking, she struck his temple again, which caused him to go limp. Stunned or knocked out, she wasn’t sure in the darkness. What she did know was that he was limp, which was all she needed to adjust her position, grab him by both sides of his jaw, and lift slightly. She yanked and rotated the rogue's head as hard as she could to the right and then to the left, which snapped and crushed the vertebrae in his neck. Her dad had said she only needed to apply five pounds of pressure. She might have used a bit more than that.
Liza was sure she’d killed the Rogue when a Notification filled her vision.
Congratulations, you have killed a level 3 Common Rogue
XP Awarded 30.
No Class Present, XP is banked until Class is chosen.
As she watched, a crystal appeared from the corpse, glowing in the night. She reached out and grabbed the crystal with both hands in an attempt to cover the light so it wouldn’t give away her position. As she did so, new notifications appeared.
Congratulations! You have found a Common Ranked Tutorial Skill Crystal.
Tutorial Skill Crystals may be utilized to teach you one of the following Common Skills, provided you have an unused Skill Slot.
Identify – This skill will allow you to identify monsters and their levels.
Analyze – This skill will allow you to Identify any Magic Spells, barriers, or items that you encounter.
Dodge – Once per hour per rank at No cost, you can dodge any attack of equal or less Rank. Additionally, your normal chance to dodge is increased by one for every rank in this skill.
Inventory, Common - You have been granted a dimensional storage area that may hold up to 10 slots worth of equipment.
Each slot may hold up to 5 pounds of a single hand-sized item. Multiple Slots may be required for larger items. The number of slots required for any specific item is based on its weight.
Items summoned from your Inventory will appear either in your hand or on the ground in front of you, as you desire.
Regardless of the weight of the items you carry, they do not increase your weight.
Eye of Eris, Common – Range: 10 Feet. This is a 360-degree spherical perception skill. You may now perceive everything within 10 feet of you. This Skill Negates all Levels of Stealth, though Incorporeal Opponents that are also invisible may not be detected.
WARNING: Each rank of this skill multiplies the current range by 10. If any of the following attributes: Perception, Wisdom, and Intelligence are lower than the current range, you will suffer information overload and receive the debuff – Distracted
If any of the following attributes, Perception, Wisdom, or Intelligence, are lower than the current range by more than half, you will suffer information overload and receive both the debuffs: Distracted and Pain-Racked.
To utilize the Tutorial Skill Crystals, you must have a Skill Slot available.
Note, Tutorial Crystals may NOT be utilized to increase the Rank of Common Skills.
Would you like to use the Common Ranked Tutorial Skill Crystal, Yes or No?
Liza looked over the choices, chose “Yes” and then chose “Inventory. Common.” Her attributes couldn’t handle the Eyes of Eris right now, and she only had one Skill Slot. She needed to get a skill that could help her out right now. That skill was the Inventory Skill.
She also chose the skill so that she could take everything off of the rogue. There was a pack, a short sword, and a dagger. She knew how to use knives so that the dagger would be helpful. The shortsword she could use, but she wasn’t as proficient with it.
Liza closed her notifications and then set them not to display unless she called for them. She didn’t need the distraction while she was trying to evade capture. She left the body where it lay, another lesson from her father taught her. She didn’t know how many of the people were part of the coup because she couldn’t believe Robert would allow this. With that thought, she moved further into the thicker forest.
Half an hour later, Liza heard a scream through the woods that ended soon after. Another scream followed a moment later. She continued to move slowly and quietly among the trees. She kept her breathing under control and tried to maintain her heart rate at a slow and steady pace so she wouldn’t wear herself out. She had an idea that something was hunting the ones hunting her, but that wasn’t something she had time to worry about. She continued moving slowly and carefully.
As she walked around a tree, she froze. Directly in front of her was a black kitten. No, not a kitten, but it was a baby cat of some sort. What type, she wasn’t sure, but it was happily chewing on something that looked a lot like a human leg bone. The baby cat looked up and locked eyes with Liza. At that moment, something connected with Liza’s mind. She was unsure of what the feeling meant, but she felt a kinship to that of the Shadow Panther. She knew it was a baby Shadow Panther. How did she know that? Liza focused her thoughts and took in her surroundings. Nothing was in her immediate area, but she thought she had heard something close by. She checked the baby panther one more time, but it was still gnawing on the leg bone. If not for the fact that it was a human leg, it would have been cute as hell.
Just then, the sounds she thought she heard solidified into sounds she definitely heard as someone crashed through the bushes on the right side of the tree. A scrawny human burst into the clearing with his sword drawn, completely focused on the baby Shadow Panther on the ground. He raised his longsword above his head, preparing to strike.
“YOU FUCKING CAT, YOU KILLD CHAD, BUT THAT’S OKAY BECAUSE I KILLED YOUR MAMA, AND NOW I’M GOING TO KILL…”
Before he could finish that sentence, Liza pulled the dagger from her Inventory and took two quick steps. She reached out with her left hand and grabbed his right wrist to keep the sword held high while she stepped in close right between his arms with her face only inches from his, her eyes locked on his, as she drove the dagger up through the bottom of his mouth and into his brain as she verbalized, “Shhh.”
She continued her forward motion as the warrior fell backward. She looked behind herself to make sure the baby Shadow Panther was alright and noticed that it was moving up along the other side of the man's body, which wasn’t quite dead yet. Before Liza knew what was happening, the Panther jumped forward and bit into the man's neck and ripped sideways, tearing out his carotid artery.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Notifications bypassed her settings and began to fill her vision.
Congratulations! Your party has killed a Level 10 fighter
Party XP Earned: 50
XP banked until a Class is chosen.
Congratulations! A Unique Opportunity has presented itself.
Prerequisites:
Participant in Tutorial during System Integration.
Shadow Panther Bond formed.
Kill a Creature with your Bonded Pet.
Prerequisites Met.
Class, Claw Mother, is offered. This class is a combination of the Rogue, Beast Master, and Ranger classes.
Skill Slots: One plus One per 10 levels.
Class Skills
The following Skills do not require Skill Slots and rank up with as you Core, Class and Evolution do.
Stealth
Stealth skill allows you to vanish from sight. Those with special skills or a high perception may pierce your Stealth Skill. Class-based stealth has both mental and physical aspects. Skills and Equipment of equal or greater rarity are required to pierce your stealth.
Backstab
When attacking an unaware target, you receive a bonus damage multiplier equal to your class rarity level. This is in addition to the base x2 multiplier.
Current Backstab multiplier: x3 at Common Rarity.
Shadow Panther Bond
Unlike a normal Beastmaster, a Claw Mother is a class that focuses on Pet Bonds with large cats, preferably Shadow Panthers.
Unlike a normal Beastmaster, you are not limited to the number of beasts you can bond with, only to the type of creature. The only requirement to add to your Claw is that the pet must be a large cat of some sort: Shadow Panthers, Tigers, Lions, etc.
Every member of your Claw lends their strength to the Claw Mother. Your Strength, Agility, Endurance, Constitution, and Luck are increased by 10 per member of your Claw. If one of the members of your Claw leaves, the bonus attributes are lost. If the member of your claw dies, the bonus remains and may improve all surviving members of the Claw.
Additionally, each member of the Claw may heal another member of the Claw by touch at a rate of one hit point gifted per point of mana per Combat Turn.
Instead of the typical 10 attribute points and one free attribute most Common Classes receive, the Claw Mother receives the following:
Hit Points and Stamina +3 per level
Mana +1 per level
Psychic Energy, Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, Constitution, Perception, Intelligence, Willpower, Charisma, and Luck +1 every 4 levels.
Finally, if you accept this class, all members of the Claw form a sort of Hive Mind with the Claw Mother. While not a telepathic link, all members of the Claw will be able to share their senses and general feelings on a subject and receive information from the Claw Mother up to a range of feet equal to your intelligence Attribute. Outside of this range, the general direction of the Claw member is known, including whether they are alive or dead, but nothing else.
This Bond will always be active and can never be removed without sacrificing the class.
Would you like to accept the Class Claw Mother, Yes or No?
Liza chose “Yes”
Congratulations! You have chosen the Class Claw Mother
Your Core has been upgraded to Common Rank.
Evolution advancement to Common is required before Core, Class, or Evolution may be upgraded to Uncommon.
Shadow Panther Bond Detected.
Shadow Panther, Uncommon Level 0 has joined your Claw.
A moment later, Liza’s mind exploded as she was wracked with pain from not very far away as another Notification appeared.
Shadow Panther, Uncommon, Level 61, has joined your Claw.
Other notifications filled her mind as well, but the pain was overwhelming, and a sense of urgency filled her mind. Through the notifications, she could see that the baby Shadow Panther had stopped chewing on the dead fighter's throat and was moving off in the direction that the pain seemed to be emanating from.
Liza closed her notifications and followed. It was only thirty feet or so from where they’d been. A larger Shadow Panther lay on its side sticking out of some bushes. It had been run through with a sword and had the presence of mind to drag itself into a bush to try to hide. The cub sprinted in and started nuzzling the other Shadow Panther, whom Liza intuitively knew was her mother. Liza also moved in a bit more slowly until her eyes met the adult Shadow Panther. She reached out and allowed the Shadow Panther to sniff her hand before she placed her hand on her jaw and willed her to heal.
She wasn’t sure how that ability described in the Class description was supposed to work, but when she felt a drain and saw the wounds start closing on the larger cat, she smiled. Liza closed her eyes and listened to her surroundings as she allowed her mana to heal the large cat. Ten minutes later, the flow of energy stopped, and the large cat shifted to stand on all fours before a very wet, sloppy lick was given to Liza on the side of her face.
The baby shadow panther was looking around, a bit confused because there was blood on the ground from when her mother was bleeding out, but now she was excited to see her mother moving around. The feeling of overwhelming pain was gone, but now Liza felt something else, almost like a voice in her mind giving her thanks.
As Liza stood, the baby shadow panther pulled on the paw of the larger cat and then moved back toward where the fighter had died. Liza followed both panthers and watched as the young shadow panther proudly displayed its kill. Liza actually smiled at that. It was pretty hilarious to see a baby shadow panther, which was about the size of a domesticated cat, showing off its kill.
A moment later, the large cat chuffed just before five more panthers dropped down to surround the three of them. A Shadow Panther that had landed next to the one she’d healed moved forward and sniffed Liza. Liza felt no malice from the large cat, so she stood her ground until the cat licked her and stepped back as a new notification appeared.
Shadow Panther, Uncommon Level 9, has joined your Claw.
This happened four more times, prompting four more notifications.
Shadow Panther, Uncommon, Level 10, has joined your Claw.
Shadow Panther, Uncommon, Level 15, has joined your Claw.
Shadow Panther Uncommon, Level 21, has joined your Claw.
Shadow Panther, Uncommon Level 25, has joined your Claw.
Liza looked around at the five new members of her Claw as the changes to her body took hold. Another sensation occurred as well. The minds of the cats synchronized and submitted to her will. To say she had complete control would be incorrect. Instead, it would be better to say that they had a hive-mind mentality, which allowed them to react simultaneously based on their instincts and Liza’s desires. They could choose to ignore her will, but doing so in the middle of a fight could be deadly, and they knew that. Liza was the alpha in their Claw structure, and they intuitively knew that. This combination and control, as well as the desires associated with instinct being fed into her mind, hadn’t been described in the class description.
Just then, Liza heard a sound through one of the panthers' ears. Each cat and Liza activated Stealth, even as the cub jumped into Liza’s arms. Liza couldn’t see the six adult Shadow Panthers, but through their senses, she knew approximately where they were in relation to her position.
A minute later, Liza found out there was a party of five humans moving directly toward her position. She’d been holding the cub while the baby’s mother stayed close as the other five Shadow Panthers fanned out around the party. Unfortunately for the two rogues scouting ahead of the main party, the Shadow Panther's perception was outstanding, and they detected the two additional trackers before they detected the Panthers.
One of the Shadow Panthers in a tree above the party overheard the party’s conversation, which allowed Liza to listen.
“Why is Derrick obsessed with that bitch?” one of the fighters asked the other people with him.
“Did you see the body on her? She was something straight out of Sports Illustrated magazine,” The second fighter said.
“Are you okay with our new fearless leader taking young girls and doing what they want with them?” the mage asked the only female in the party, who looked to be a cleric.
“He isn’t coming after me, so I don’t give a shit. Besides, what girl doesn’t like a good shag?”
“Obviously, the one we’re chasing,” the first fighter responded, which garnered a chuckle from everyone.
“I’ll tell you what, the trouble this bitch is putting us through, I might shag her myself when the boss is done with her, of course,” the female cleric said.
Liza put the baby shadow panther down and pulled the short sword from her inventory. With a thought, she implemented her plans. The primary threat was the rogues, though the cleric could be troublesome. One of the Shadow Panthers dropped back about fifty feet behind the party, and two more moved off to each side of the party. Two of the Shadow Panthers moved in on one of the rogues while Liza positioned herself near a tree the second rogue was about to walk by.
She told the two panthers that one should go for the rogue from behind and grab it by the neck while locking down as hard as it could. The other should go for the rogue's leg, and then they should back away from each other while still holding on. As she sent out instructions to the various Shadow Panthers, she knew that she was going to need to learn their names or name them herself to keep them separate in her mind.
Liza’s thoughts were brought back to the present as the rogue stepped directly in front of her, which was weird. The only reason she knew he was there was because the Shadow Panther nearby was watching him. She moved her short sword back and forth in front of her body until she could see that she was lined up with the rogue’s back through the Shadow Panther’s vision, which was an incredibly weird sensation, almost like playing one of those third-person games like Diablo or StarCraft. Then, she sent the signal to the other members of her Claw, and the attack commenced.
Her shortsword slid into the back of the rogue, who went still in shock before pitching forward, dead. Simultaneously, the other rogue was attacked and ripped in half by the other two Shadow Panthers, while the other three Shadow Panthers off to the sides and behind the main party let out a roar, which distracted the other five members of the party.
Congratulations! You have killed a Level 6 Common Rogue
Party XP Awarded to a party of Eight: 8
Reward: Common Tutorial Skill Crystal has been placed in your inventory.
A moment later, another Notification appeared
Congratulations! You have killed a Level 8 Common Rogue
Party XP Awarded to a party of Eight: 10
Reward: Common Tutorial Skill Crystal has been placed in your inventory.
All the Shadow Panthers retreated and faded away as they activated Stealth again. It wasn’t even fair. Liza decided to call the baby shadow panther Rene and her mother, Bella. Liza hadn’t particularly liked the Twilight series but utilized the female names from that series to keep the large cats separated in her mind. So, Baby and Mama were Rene and Bella. The other five females were Rose, Alice, Jess, Rachel, and Rowan, though Rowan was from a different series. If she were able to learn their true names at some point, she would change their names, but for now, this would work.
Seeing how easily the cats had killed the rogue, Liza decided to take out the party, especially the cleric. Rose, Alice, and Jess were each assigned to one of the fighters. Rachel and Rowan were assigned to the mage, and that cleric was hers. As she considered how to attack them, Liza led the Claw back toward the camp. If she knew anything about bullies, as soon as their nose was bloodied, they’d tuck tail and run. They’d expect the threat to be in front of them, not back along the way they’d just come.
Liza had Rene and Bella watch the corpses of the dead rogues. She wanted to know when the enemy party found them. It didn’t take long. After a quick but concise argument, the rogue bodies were looted, and the party was headed back toward Liza and the five Shadow Panthers in her Claw waiting for them. As the enemy party grew closer, Liza adjusted her position until the Cleric was going to step by her. The other Shadow Panthers were already in position.
When the cleric stepped in front of Liza, she reached out casually with her dagger and slit her throat. Liza miscalculated her strike, probably because the extra strength gifted to her through the Shadow Panther Bonds with seven Shadow Panthers was five times the maximum strength of a human. The cleric's head popped off and dropped to the ground, and her headless corpse fell forward. Liza may have been covered in a bit of arterial blood spray as well.
While she killed the cleric, Rachel and Rowan killed the mage using the same technique they’d used to kill the rogue. Alice and Jess took down their foes easily enough, but Rose missed her target. The Fighter had struck her once. As she turned and prepared to try to pounce him again, he brought up the sword to bring it down on her head. Liza saw this all happening in slow motion and was next to Rose, blocking the downward slash from the fighter with her short sword in one hand while she drove the dagger in her other hand up under his left armpit and yanked forward.
The attack entered his chest cavity and ripped his left side open, exposing his destroyed heart. Her strength was getting to be a bit ridiculous if she could shred a human body like this.
Congratulations! You have killed a Level 11 Common Fighter
Party XP Awarded to a party of Eight: 14
Reward: Common Tutorial Skill Crystal has been placed in your inventory.
Congratulations! You have killed a Level 10 Common Fighter
Party XP Awarded to a party of Eight: 13
Reward: Common Tutorial Skill Crystal has been placed in your inventory.
Congratulations! You have killed a Level 9 Common Fighter
Party XP Awarded to a party of Eight: 11
Reward: Common Tutorial Skill Crystal has been placed in your inventory.
Congratulations! You have killed a Level 13 Common Mage
Party XP Awarded to a party of Eight: 16
Reward: Common Tutorial Spell Book has been placed in your inventory.
Congratulations! You have killed a level 11 Common Cleric
Party XP Awarded to a party of Eight: 16
Reward: Common Tutorial Spell Book (Divine) Crystal has been placed in your inventory.
The Crystals had been deposited into her Inventory, but that spell book crystal intrigued her. She summoned the Spell Book Crystal into her hand.
Congratulations! You have found a Common Tutorial Spell Book Crystal.
Tutorial Spell Books may be utilized to teach you one of the following Common Spells, provided you have an unused Spell Slot.
Shield – Spend 10 mana to create an opaque shield in front of yourself that can take 10 points of damage. This shield can be placed anywhere within 10 feet of yourself, so it can be used to stop other attacks as well. The Shield does not move. A shield may be cast multiple times and will persist for one minute after casting. This skill will allow you to identify monsters and their levels.
Force Dagger – Spend 10 mana and create a dagger of force that will last for one full minute. Base damage: 3. Durability is 100. The Force Dagger will persist until durability reaches 0 or one minute has passed. The Dagger can be thrown, but must be retrieved.
Magical Bolt – Spend 10 mana and create an Arcane bolt of energy that inflicts 6 points of damage on any target within 10 feet. The spell “Shield” will not block this attack. The spell “Armor” does reduce the damage of this attack. This spell does not miss its intended target.
Light – Spend 10 mana and create an orb of light within 10 feet. The Orb of light will generate illumination equivalent to a 100-watt light bulb. This orb of light will persist for one hour.
Armor – Spend 10 mana and create magical armor on yourself or someone else within 10 feet. This armor reduces all physical damage directed at you by 10 for 1 minute. The armor moves with the caster. Additionally, this spell may only be cast once on any target. Recasting before the spell expires resets the duration to 1 minute.
To utilize the Tutorial Spell Crystal, you must have a Spell Slot available.
Note, Tutorial Crystals may NOT be utilized to increase the Rank of Common Skills.
Would you like to use the Common Ranked Tutorial Spell Book Crystal, Yes or No?
Liza chose “Yes” and picked the Spell “Force Dagger.” The ability to summon a weapon out of nothing sounded extremely useful.
Next, she pulled the Divine Spell Book Crystal out of her inventory
Congratulations! You have found a Common Tutorial Spell Book (Divine) Crystal.
Tutorial Spell Books may be utilized to teach you one of five Common Divine Spells, provided you have an appropriate class and an unused Spell Slot.
You do not have the appropriate class.
You may NOT utilize this Tutorial Spell Book (Divine)
Notifications END.
That was disappointing. Liza had one more thing to do before she headed back to camp to confront Derrick and free the rest of the people he’d captured and abused. She sent the Claw out to scout the surrounding trees while Bella and Rene made their way to his position. With only 10 slots in his inventory, there wasn’t too much else she could take with her, so she chose to take the two sets of lockpicks she found on the rogues, the food, and three water skins. When she was done moving things around, she pulled up her inventory tab and took a quick look
Inventory Slots: 8 of 10 Filled
(1) Back Pack (1) Dried Meet One week’s worth and Sleeping roll.
(2) Water Skins (3)
(3) Tutorial Skill Crystal, Common (5)
(4) Tutorial Spell Book (Divine), Common (1)
(5) Lockpicks, 2 sets
(6) Daggers (8)
(7) Short Swords (2)
(8) Long Sword (1)
Next she opened the notifications that had appeared when she first accepted her class. It seemed like they’d been important but she’d been in such a rush to save Bella.
Congratulations! You have Earned the Title “Unique.”
You have accepted a Unique Class. All Attributes +10
Congratulations! You have earned the Title “Cat Lady”
You have accepted a unique class dedicated to Cats. Predominately Shadow Panthers but all cats are welcome. +10 to all Attributes +10 Levels
Congratulations! You have earned the Title “Defender of the Defenseless I.”
You protected an innocent life from certain Death with no thought of the consequences and, more importantly, no regret. +10 all Attributes
Next she pulled up her Status screen and took a look at it for the first time since she chose her class.
Name: Elizabeth Henley
Birthday: September 16th 2007
Apparent Age: 19
Race: Human
Evolution: -
Core: Common
Classes
Common / Shadow Panther Claw Mother / 10
Hit Points: 172
-Health Regeneration: 5
Stamina: 111
-Stamina Regeneration: 12
Mana: 71
-Mana Regeneration: 3
Psychic Energy: 33
-Psychic Regeneration: 3
Strength: 110
Agility: 110
Dexterity: 40
Endurance: 30
Constitution: 110
Perception: 40
Intelligence: 40
Wisdom: 40
Willpower: 40
Charisma: 40
Luck: 110
Skill Slots: 3
Spell Slots: 4
Running Speed
MPH: 67
FPS: 98
Abilities
?
?
Titles
Unique
Cat Lady
Defender of the Defenseless I
Perks
Claw Bonus
Skills
Stealth
Backstab
Shadow Panther Bond
Spells
Force Dagger
Liza looked over her Status. Her attributes had increased by quite a bit. Also, the 10 levels that she’d been awarded seemed to be helping her out quite a bit. She had three Skill Slots left, so she could use the Tutorial Skill Crystals if she wanted to, but she was going to wait. Waiting had allowed her to get this awesome, unique class, so holding off sounded like a good idea.
She piled the equipment and gear she couldn’t carry near a tree and tried to remember the location. Each member of the claw grabbed a corpse, carried it off about 50 feet, and dropped it before moving away from the corpse and marking the area. Through their bond, she was assured that they could find this place again if they needed to.
Liza started making her way back toward the camp. She wasn’t sure what the attributes meant exactly, but she knew she had a major advantage over anyone still in the camp, all because she saved Rene. What did her father always say? “When life gives you lemons, make that lemonade!”
Liza didn’t rely entirely on her Stealth skill. She was pretty sure that the skill “Eyes of Eris” could detect her, so she made sure to warn the Claw to stay at least 10 feet away from every human they saw. As they made their way back toward the camp, she had time to think even after they found another party. The Claw had dispatched them without much effort. What had that one author called the disparity between ranks, “The Tyranny of Rank?” While it didn’t seem as profound, it did seem to exist within this SYSTEM.
Liza had shared her thoughts with the Claw and worked on their communication while they moved until she’d been able to convince Rose to share her status sheet with her. Once she’d understood that Rose, the lowest-leveled Shadow Panther besides Rene, in the Claw, had a Strength of 128, she stopped worrying. These Shadow Panthers were monsters. After seeing Rose’s Status, Liza had wondered how Bella could have been almost killed until Bella shared with Liza that there had been another party of humans that had attacked her while she was hunting.
Bella had been caught when two of the rogues had been able to sneak up on her while she hunted for food for Rene. One of them must have had the ability Liza was warning them about now because Bella did remember moving close to the party of humans as she made her way along a wildlife trail following the scent of a doe. The other members of the Claw had ranged out to see what was making all the noise in the forest and had ignored the humans as a non-threat. When the humans had attacked, Bella had been severely wounded. She’d been able to evade most of the attacks, but the mage and the cleric had made things extremely hard for her. She’d run and called out for help as she tried to protect Rene. Bella had killed one of her attackers, but she’d been hurt. When the rest of her sisters returned, their primary focus had been to destroy those who had attacked Bella. The reason Liza hadn’t seen the bodies was because they’d been a little farther to the north while the lone fighter had chased Rene when she ran off with her snack. Also, there hadn’t been much left of them.
Liza had chuckled at the irony of the situation. She’d received the unique class, a title that improved her to almost maximum human standard, and another title that, while a bit demeaning, gave her 10 levels as a reward, all because this guy Derrick had this fantasy about turning her into his slave. Someone was going to get poked, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be her.
With the Claw watching for patrols and sentries, it was a simple thing for Liza to make it all the way back to the edge of the camp, where she climbed a tree and looked in. The people who hadn’t chosen a class, like her, were in the sleeping area, which had four guards posted around it. The clerics were in the area where the wounded were taken. Right now, it looked like they were resting, though. The Nature and Earth mages looked to all be sleeping in the guarded area also.
From where she was, she couldn’t hear what people were saying, but she could see that some were bullying the others around. After she looked on for a bit, she found the area that had been created for the leader, Derrick. There was a small building that even had a makeshift roof on it. Nearby, a couple of the young women in her age group were being guarded by a couple of guards.
It was almost dawn, and Derrick's reign had to stop. Maybe she was overestimating herself, maybe not. But she wasn’t going to stand by and let a dirtbag make the end of the world even worse than it already was for everyone.
Liza pointed out all of the apparent targets to the rest of her Claw. Attack and fade, attack and fade. Anyone that she didn’t point out ignored if they could, strike with retracted claws if they couldn’t. Liza let them know that even their paw attacks without claws could kill most of the humans here. Rene stayed by the tree line while the rest of the claw spread out and prepared to attack. The guards around those who didn’t look to be cooperating in the sleeping area were the first targets.
Liza snuck into camp and made her way to the entrance to Derricks area before a voice called out from within.
“About time you fucks finally brought her to me. Get her ass in here!”
Liza walked in past the two stealthed rogues that Bella had noticed when she’d checked the area a few minutes ago. She was about 20 feet back from the back door and waiting for the signal to go in and end Derrick. As Liza entered the room, she could tell through Bellas's vision that it was just Derrick and the two rogues. It looked like he’d been going over a map laid out on a table that the Nature mages had created when Liza moved. One of the Rogues was fast; he’d tried to dodge and roll away, but only to find a very precise cut decapitating him at the beginning of his roll. As the second rogue moved in to attack, a quick flourish with her blade reversed her grip, and she stepped back and up, driving the sword in through his bellybutton, up under his ribcage, and through his neck into his brain.
Such precise control and specific placement wouldn’t have been something she’d have been capable of even six hours ago. The first rogues movement had seemed slow. As he’d tucked his head and come out of the role, it had been laughable for her to lunge down, angle her strike, and remove his head. She’d been able to do that while still keeping track of the other rogue through Bella’s senses as he drew his shortsword and tried to thrust it at her. She hadn’t even turned to face him but moved slightly to the left and stepped back and up with her sword. She attacked behind her with such a strong, precise strike that her short sword was lodged through his neck and into his brain.
That had all happened within a single moment, which concluded with a large crunch and a shriek as Bella pounced forward and her jaws clamped down on the back of Derrick’s neck. Even as she stood and moved in front of Derrick only seven seconds had past. The last action of her Combat Turn was to take a dagger out of her Inventory, shove it into his heart, and then savagely rip it down, disemboweling him as she stepped back. The look of indignation turned into shock and then fear as the light fled from his eyes and notifications appeared in her vision.
Congratulations! You have Killed a level 25 Common Commander.
Party XP Awarded to a party of Eight: 32
Reward: Common Tutorial Skill Crystal has been placed in your inventory.
Bella crunched down on Derrick's neck, decapitating him.
Liza was about to consider why she was becoming so brutal when a spike of alarm shot through the entire Claw except for herself and Bella. When she looked at the door, Liza saw that the predawn sky had lit up with a brilliant white light. Liza activated Stealth as the other five members of the Claw that had just finished killing their targets disengaged and bolted toward the tree line. They didn’t make it.
As Liza looked out of the doorway and up, she saw a woman in a flowing black robe. Above her, an opening in the universe led to another place, with the noonday Sun shining through. Before Liza could react, the ground rushed up to fill her vision before everything went dark, and a new notification appeared before the world faded away.
You are Unconscious!