"Oh, boy. It's terrible," I sighed with a slight hint of relief.
"What is it?" Nenandil asked, worried.
Pandora just blinked her light.
I frowned. "It would be terrible if I were a normal female. Here, let me show you."
> * Random disability (rare): Upon birth, you gain a random disability. This disability is removed upon true death.
> * MRKH Syndrome: You have no uterus, cervix, or birth canal. Your kidneys are malformed. You have difficulty filtering toxins from your blood. Bloodborne poisons last twice as long.
The poison weakness was canceled by my immunity.
"Oh," Nenandil gasped, shocked. "Nothing there?"
I shrugged and flicked my tail. "Even with all my flexibility bonuses, I can't really bend over and look. You can check if you want, but I think you'll see everything normal except for the lack of... an opening?"
"I'll trust the System on this one," she said with a head shake. "Yes, you are right. To a normal female, that would be awful. It means you can't have babies or even try to."
"Back on Earth, they have surgery to fix that. I think they did a few womb transplants, too. I think it is still a nightmare. I feel bad for being so relieved."
"Don't," She hugged my cheek sympathetically. "You could have gotten worse. I remember how blindness hindered you. Not to mention Arista's delicate skin. Even with the {Moon-Bound Regeneration} you still had a ton of bruises."
"Well, with acclimating to my new Status over, I think it is time we say our goodbyes to the elders and shamans, then go on our way. We need a ton of levels if we are to achieve our goals. But first..."
I removed the rough leather band that bound my breasts and rinsed them with a bit of water. Snowdrop was not as endowed as Lakerta's double-middle-of-alphabet but it wasn't like Rosewise's what's-a-bra either. Discarding the leather, I wove a band out of silk that started as blue on top and shifted to a light brown, with embroidered white flowers like my namesake. After I tied it to my chest, I sighed with relief. My living silk was the best. I added a pouch at the back where the fairy could enter and rest if she wanted.
"let me set the final details on my Status. I don't want anyone to wonder why they can't {Appraise} me, at least not at the beginning."
I picked my professions. They didn't give HP or MP bonuses anymore but didn't cost Exp either. A good tradeoff, I was sure of it. To my surprise, {Appraise} was now considered a "universal" proficiency instead of a profession. Everyone could develop it. They must've changed it to allow people to pick actual trades.
I selected Enchanter, Alchemist, and Baker. Arista didn't want to, but it was time to resurrect the delicious Honorcoin fruit bread. I let a gormandizing groan escape my lips when I thought of tasting them again.
I had between ten to fifteen points of proficiency with several weapons, and twenty-seven with spears. Funny how the first ability at 15 is just the damage and accuracy bonus. If you ask me, they should be implied in the proficiency. But it seems they want people to spend points to branch out like I've spent 3 ability slots to keep my spellcasting techniques.
Back to the spear. I've trained with it more than any other weapon. The focus the elders gave to it must've been a hint. I selected {Spears} and {Blades} as my weapon proficiencies. {Physical Mastery} and {Evasion} were the non-weapon ones.
I had to fuse my Paths soon, but not before I ranked up. The reason to fuse was that these proficiencies wouldn't register as permanent unless I did. And the reason to wait until I ranked up was that until my paths fused, I could keep the Class Attributes as outside bonuses instead of adding them to the main. My Attribute cap was stuck at the ridiculous value of 1 until I ranked up. I could select the other Paths now.
But I would have to do that later, as I had a fairy nagging and pointing me to move forward. I almost felt like a triangle-obsessed elf.
"I'm done, I'm done," I raised my arms to placate her.
"So, let's stop horsing around?" Nenandil suggested, clearly bored.
"In fact, you just gave me a great idea. I can use shapeshift to swap my lower body with a horse's, that will give me twelve on all Physical Attributes," I concentrated for a while then clopped my hooves. "We're good to go."
"Won't you shapeshift before?" She asked, settling in the pouch.
"I just did," I grinned then walked out.
The elders seemed to be waiting for me outside. I could see hope in their eyes and the prickling feeling of them using {Appraise} on me. I repaid the favor and did the same.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Where are you going now, child?" The priest of Zacheia said.
I could see he was sad. We've been trapped since the humans kidnapped the herds, as the other species took over the greener regions of the peninsula. The roaming bands of centaurs that escaped didn't come back in these eight years and we've been isolated here.
"I'm going to fight and level up. Then visit the Abode of War and gather information there. Do you know of any places where I might find clues to our heritage, elder?" I asked respectfully.
"I'm sorry, we already told you everything we know. You've received the tools you need to search from the System. Proving yourself is part of the quest. Trust your instincts, heritor."
I saw a glimmer in his eyes and felt a small surge of divine power. Zacheia, Queltphion, and Rabhorktaar were plotting something but I understood why they needed to keep their involvement to a minimum. I still had a lot of enemies in the pantheon, as suggested by the vote that extended past the Administrators because they tied. Once more, Loki threw a wrench on everyone's plans forcing the vote extension when he abstained.
I bowed to the priest, shamans, and elders. "I'll set out on foot, and clear the monsters and other tribes that might be encroaching on our territory. Then I'll sweep the peninsula clear. Once that's done, I'll head to the Abode of War, sending word to the other centaur clans that the peninsula is safe again."
The priest reached out. "One more thing, child. Use the gifts the Gods gave you well. They have a plan for us."
I grinned and winked. "I know exactly what you mean, father."
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Fulgen's Throne Room
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Queen Sariandi grimaced as she got yet another report. For thousands of years, humans coveted the Forest. They tried to invade several times, but since the days of Rudolph III, they didn't get this deep in their incursions. But this time it was different. The humans had two major additions. One, they enslaved several tribes of the plains Centaurs, using the barbarians as a spearhead for their forces.
Second, they started to use something very troublesome. An ancient item whose secret was kept by them for all this time, until one daring King emerged and decided to bring it to the field. That item alone tipped the scales of the conflict.
After all, when the enemy commander is all but invincible, what could one do about it?
She reminisced of one such time, months ago, when she visited the frontlines.
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She stood a safe distance from the actual engagement, as far as her aides would allow the High Queen to come. She wove her magic and cast spells to reinforce and bolster the elves, but the humans kept advancing. In a move that contradicted everything, their King was at the front, taking the lead. A spellcaster of no small prowess, he rained magic upon the elves while nothing they could do came even close to scratching him.
"Burn that cart down!" The elf commander next to her shouted. "I can't understand why that is happening! Rangers! Shoot on my mark!"
A volley of arrows enhanced by the magic of a hundred Rangers shot true at the heart of the human King. Sitting on his throne, consuming MP potions, he just guffawed. The arrows struck his clothes...
And promptly fell down, without even bruising the fabric of his clothes. The King hit the arm of his strange throne and laughed.
"MORE, MORE, MORE! I'll do what my ancestors always dreamed of! I'll conquer this forest of yours, turn your queens into my whores, and then the plains on the other side will taste civilization!"
He cast another spell and tossed it at the elves. Their druids and mages unraveled the magic, but the damn wagon holding his throne creaked forward. Earth magic erupted around the wagon but anything they threw at it stopped affecting the ground a meter around the throne. It did stop the advance, but only as long it took for the humans to smooth the path and push the damn contraption forward.
"Tell me, commander," Sariandi said. "What am I looking at?"
"The impossible, my Queen. The human King is invulnerable. We tried all kinds of attacks we could. Nothing ever pierced. All damage notifications told us the base damage of the attacks was nullified. Even our siege spells couldn't do anything."
"Can't we attack past him? Kill his troops? A [Wizard] alone is hardly a threat."
"Ma'am! We tried. They have hundreds of spellcasters and priests focused on defensive magic plus the centaurs to defend from melee combat. So long they stay behind the King, any attack behind their lines is too dangerous. It was as if they've prepared for this very moment their whole lives."
She shook her head. For a human, their whole lives were barely more than a century. Sariandi needed to know the truth about the strange vehicle the King sat on. She felt it was the key to surviving.
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"Daughters," the High Queen spoke, "We need to pool our MP and commune with Nature and the Mother. They are our only hope at understanding our enemy."
The four Season Queens voiced their dislike. They hadn't tithed their own lifeforce to Nature in centuries, delegating the task to the hundreds of princesses now living in the central Tree.
Sariandi had no patience for their childish wiles, "We must do it ourselves. Come, hold my hands."
Begrudgingly, they did. The five elven Queens held hands and used their [Elven Royalty] Perk to commune with Nature. The five Elder fairies, the embodiment of the primal forces of the planet, answered.
"What do you want, Elf Queen?" The Fire Queen asked.
"So bold to call upon us in your seat of power, when you are about to lose it!" The Earth Sovereign snickered.
"Tease the elves no more, sisters," The Water Ruler said. "Why do you call us here, Sariandi?"
She sucked in a big breath. "Humans encroach on our lands. They have an invincible King. Unless we discover the secret to his invulnerability, we are doomed."
"Look inside the throne," The Wind Regent spoke. "The answer is there. A grievance long forgotten but never forgiven. A dying wish. a grievance born of pettiness," she said the last part staring at the Season Queens. "A bond that's been broken. The weakness of your heart, Sariandi."
The Wood Monarch spoke next, "You committed the same sin twice, Sariandi. It displeases us. You no longer hear the Voice of the Forest, and because of that sin, you are losing it now. Bark is but a cover for the heartwood hides within. Look at it with your eyes, talk to it with your voice, hear what it has to say with your ears. Learn of your folly and the love you've lost for naught. Despair, and maybe after that you'll find salvation."
"We have no more to say," the Elder Water Fairy continued. "Any more would be too much interference with the mortal world. But the first clue you need lies underneath your own feet."
With that, they vanished.
Sariandi let go of her daughters' hands and rushed out of the throne room. "Call the farseers!"