*+10 LP!*

You are no longer dying!

“Aaargh!” *Crash!*

Cavemen, throughout (human) academia had been renowned for their cleverness in solving problems and adapting to their environments. Of course, this estimation was relative in nature. When one is the only being on a planet capable of planning for the future in more than a vague, abstract manner, that comparison is fair. When placed out of context, say in a mostly benevolent and super-advanced society among a small number of medical and scientific personnel, they come off as downright single-minded.

This was the exact situation Kain was in at this moment. A small inner city clinic, they had found an organism in obvious need of medical attention, and using the most advanced methods available to them, had applied themselves to helping the hairy sophont. Still terrified from nearly dying, starving, and painfully thirsty, the eons-old creature rose to a four-limbed crouch when the nano-infusion knit its wounds and bared its once-rotted teeth. Its last clear memories were of loping along an open plain, chased by a canine easily six feet long from haunch to nose. With no convenient trees, caves, or large rocks in which to hide, the outcome had not been in doubt.

Still carrying that fear, remembering calling on the spirits to aid him, and seeing himself greeted by these strange humanoid creatures with four arms and soft green skin… Kain flipped the hell out. He flipped a tray of silvery instruments towards the three beings closest to it, grabbed a stool, threw it at the nearest, and ran, hooting, out of the door. Suffice to say, the doctor and nurses were left with puzzled expressions as they hair ape left the confines of the clinic and hurried out into the much meaner streets outdoors. The tallest of the three said quite simply, “Well. That was a thing.” The nurse to his right said, “So… we’re not going to tell anyone about this, right?” The other nurse replied, “Of course not. We’d have our licenses pulled due to mental insufficiency.”

Kain was just as bewildered. Outside, he dashed down what seemed to be a smaller, less heavily traveled alleyway and turned to fight his latest enemy. The floating blue box! Its fists swung wildly at the boxes, passing through them until he was left panting and unable to breathe. Seeing the box was NOT in fact attacking him, however, he forced his aching bones to climb into a boxy waste receptacle and lay back in the warm, pungent pile of trash.

All this perhaps paints Kain in an unflattering light. Aggressive, stupid, and now hiding in a pile of trash. One must thus consider the fact that Kain possessed a poor sense of smell among other things. Add that to the fact that our unlikely hero did not grow up with the assumption that life is supposed to be pleasant, and we arrive at the current state of affairs. Specifically the one where Kain is shoveling discarded food-stuffs, nutrient paste, and fruit into its gullet. In other words, the picture does not grow markedly more flattering.

*You are no longer Starving! You are now Hungry!*

If he had much in the way of a sense of taste, soda would’ve been a revelation. He did not.

*You are no longer Dehydrated! You are now Thirsty!*

*Due to your exertions, you are Tired!*

Feeling awash in exertion, Kain decided to rest his tired bones in this little haven he had found, the slow rot of the garbage surrounding him suffusing the box with a gentle, soothing warmth.

***********

On an endless field, Kain saw the enemy ape tribe. Their pale white fur was striped by ritualistic burn scars. Yellowed fangs were bared in hungry snarls and they pounded worn bones, wrapped with leather at the base, against the ground. The caps of the femurs made for serviceable clubs while others had been splintered and appeared to have been rubbed against stones to make sharp edges. The palms of their hands were an angry red color, and every so often, one with a makeshift torch could be seen roaming the darkened, ruined structure in the distance.

He knew they were trouble. They had killed his tribe. Made it so that he was alone. In his primitive mind, being alone, without tribe, was the same as death. It was as close to hate as he could experience. As a shaman, he was a less physically fit specimen. All of his food and water came from tribesmates as gifts for blessing their hunts and their fights with other tribes. Without them feeding him, he had been driven, exposed to the elements and predators, bereft of the comfort and protection they were supposed to provide him in his old age.

He could not get that back, but he was not lazy, either, and though he didn’t understand the plain he was upon, he understood fighting and sneaking as general concepts. He knew he couldn’t tangle with the other tribe head to head. Still, as a shaman, he was intelligent. Moreso than most other apes by leaps and bounds. He was patient, and with death facing him, he was as close to fearless as he could get with his instincts. He was resolved to die. Just not soon, or easily. And not under this endless, darkened purple sky. No, he would die under the bright sun, in the cool breeze of the morning, licking the dew from the sweet leaves.

Kain leaned low to the ground, on all fours, until his belly brushed the barren ground. Creeping forward ever so carefully, Kain moved towards the first of the white apes, one lurking behind a knee-length broken wall. Moving carefully to crouch on the little wall, Kain raised himself up and jumped on top of the white ape as it bent down to examine something. Fingers closed on its neck as his weight bore the creature to the ground, a meaty wet sound escaping as its face collided with the ground.

The creature struggled beneath him, trying to get up, so Kain pulled the creature’s face up, and slammed it back down on the ground, bashing it against the floor again… and again… and again… Soon, the white ape’s thrashing slowed, and then stilled. Still covered in the white ape’s blood, Kain grabbed the club-like femur in one hand, and raised it to swing as another hooting and shouting ape ran around the corner.

The club connected with the hooting ape’s face, caving in its teeth and shattering its nose. It collapsed in a spray of blood from its ruined face, and Kain turned to meet the sound of footsteps as yet more of the apes came running. For a time, there was only blood, screaming, and death.

***********

*Embattled Soul Level +3! Embattled Soul is now Level 4!*

*Congratulations, you have gained the skill Pitiful Stealth!*

*Congratulations, you have gained the skill Pitiful Scrapping!*

*Congratulations, you have gained the skill Pitiful Pain Resistance!*

*Congratulations, you have gained the skill Pitiful Club Proficiency!*

*10% LP, PP, and SP restored for sleeping!*

*You are no longer Tired!*

*Congratulations, you have gained the skill Pitiful Asceticism!*

Kain wave his hand at the irritating blue boxes and finally, they moved off to the side. They were still sort of in the corner of his vision, but at least this way they weren’t so irritating. He couldn’t destroy them, it seemed, but they weren’t threatening or attacking him. They were certainly less upsetting than that utterly terrifying nightmare he had just awoken from. Hundreds of Yellow Fang Tribe. A strange landscape. And they carried fire around WITH them. Their weapons had been a huge advantage. Kain’s tribe had possessed no way to fight back facing those weapons and their superior numbers.

Stolen novel; please report.

Still, Kain clearly could not stay put. The multi-limbed creatures that had menaced him the day before could not be trusted. They had stuck him with sharp things and what’s more did not look even remotely like his tribe. Some sort of monsters or spirit beasts, obviously. As a shaman, he knew these things instinctively. Still, his belly was rumbling unhappily at the unaccustomedly rich diet he had just engaged in. With a nearby food source, even if it was primarily in bad condition, he was unwilling to move very far. The choice was, perhaps thankfully, taken from him relatively shortly.

Voices from outside his hiding place had begun to pick up in pitch. Expecting to be ambushed, he scrambled to all fours despite his aching joints. Despite the intensity of the battle in his nightmares, some of the fear and desperation had cleared from his mind, and with it, a greater willingness to fight back. Teeth bared, he bunched his legs, ready to leap. The top of his hiding place opened, and he saw a face with four eyes and a maw filled with glistening teeth, and then… a bright flash of light.

***********

Kain looked up to see one of the white ape above him, showing his blood-covered yellowing fangs. A sharp pain in his abdomen revealed his enemy leaning on a bone with a sharpened tip, pinning him to the ground. Anger. Fury. Outrage. All emotions that flashed through his mind at this revelation. The emotion, outrage, was one of the many new overwhelming experiences that had assaulted him in this nightmare. It was something about the cruel pleasure on the other ape’s face that did it. As if the beast thought it funny what was being done to him.

Kain pushed up and through the pain, burying the sharpened bone deeper in his abdomen, and got his fingers around the throat of the ape before falling back. He pulled the ape down repeatedly as he squeezed, choking of its air and bashing its face into the base of the bone until it expired. Then, panting heavily, Kain pulled the bone out of his abdomen, roaring with pain.

***********

Kain couldn’t know, of course, that local law enforcement had been informed of a ‘primitive’ hanging out in a nearby dumpster and had responded with stun wands. There was a procedure for this sort of thing, after all. Every so often, creatures from less developed planets would find their ways to a more advanced planet. Usually as stowaways. The procedure was thus: Take them aside if possible, or stun and detain them if not. Give them a skill nano full of the local language, a cleansuit if they were from a ‘clothing optional’ planet, and explain the situation to them. If they got it, they were set up with a menial job and a place to stay until they could make more of themselves. If they couldn’t gel with modern standards? Then it was off to a detainment facility.

Kain woke up after the injection, while they were putting the bright orange cleansuit on him, and was immediately greeted by more of the irritating blue boxes.

*Embattled Soul Level +2! Embattled Soul is now Level 6!*

*Pitiful Pain Resistance Level +2! Pitiful Pain Resistance is now Level 3!*

*Pitiful Scrapping Level +2! Pitiful Scrapping is now Level 3!*

*Congratulations, through the use of a skill-nano, you have gained the skill Competent Verbal Standard!*

*Congratulations, through the use of a skill-nano you have gained the skill Competent Written Standard!*

The irritating blue boxes. He understood them now somehow. And the bored-looking humanoid with the maw full of teeth and the four eyes… He could understand him. He realized he was laying on something very flat and hard while the man went on, reading off of something, “… due to assaulting an officer of the law, you will be remanded to a local detention center. While detained, you will have access to basic education to get you up to Gal-standard. You can take part in trade training and apprenticeships should you wish to if you complete basic education. Upon the completion of your period of incarceration, you will be released without prejudice, and your debt to society will have been paid.”

None of what this strange creature with its gravelly voice was saying really made sense to Kain for the most part. As far as he could tell, he was being held prisoners by these beings. As a slave? Not as food? No. Kain was no person’s slave. With his newfound bravery, he would have these beings know that he would rather die than live for another’s convenience. Now if only this creature would stop droning on and get to the fight he knew was coming. With an internal sigh, Kain turned his attention back to the man in time to hear,”-f you understand these facts as I have explained them to you, indicate your understanding by stating your name.”

His name. THAT Kain understood. “My name is Kain. Learn it well. You shall be cursing it for the rest of your short existence.”

Name: Kain Race: Ardipithecus Level 12, 44% Gender: Male Class: Primitive Shaman Level 15, 77% LP: 5/5 PP: 5/5 SP: 5/5  

Vigor: 1

Reflexes: 1

Fortitude 1

Charisma 1

Intellect 1

Cunning 1

Willpower 1

Perception 1

Luck 1

Status Effects:

Elderly – You are near the ultimate life span for your race. Even your mind is beginning to go. Your stats all decay by half for every further year of life.

Malnourished – Stat growth halved until malnourished is removed. You haven’t been properly fed for a very long time. It takes more than one good meal to get rid of it.

Hungry – Your health and stamina regenerate at half the normal rate.

Thirsty – Your health and stamina regenerate at half the normal rate.

Spirit-Ridden – You have traded your shamanistic powers by allowing a powerful spirit to ride inside of you. In return you have gained new intrinsic abilities. Explore them to find out more!

Tier 0 Skills:

Embattled Soul Level 6

Your soul is a battle ground for the angry spirits of the dead. Should you fail to fight them off, when you die, your soul will die with you, obliterating you from the cycle of reincarnation. Stat Cap of 5 for all stats. With your soul teetering on the edge of oblivion, its potential has been curtailed severely.

Tier 1 Skills:

Wobbly Balance Level 1

You can barely hold yourself upright most of the time. The years and hardship have taken their toll. It will be a hard road getting back to normal.

Pitiful Asceticism Level 1

While you could barely be called an ascetic, you can generally get by on three fourths the food and water most people need daily. You still feel hunger and thirst, but they have no practical effect on you other than discomfort. Still affected by dehydration, starvation, malnutrition, and any other advanced effects.

Pitiful Club Proficiency Level 1

You know to hold one end of the stick and keep swinging it until your enemy is dead or unconscious.

Pitiful Hearing Level 1

Your hearing is going in your old age. People right next to you who don’t speak clearly are likely to be missed.

Pitiful Pain Resistance Level 3

Every little physical inconvenience sends lances of pain through you. You keep going these days mostly by sheer stubbornness.

Pitiful Scrapping Level 3

What you do couldn’t even be called brawling. Still, when you get into a barehanded tussle, you flail around and don’t stop until you’re the only thing standing. There’s a lot to be said for persistence.

Pitiful Sight Level 1

You’re incredibly near-sighted. Maybe eat more carrots?

Pitiful Smell Level 1

Your brand of upright apes never did have very keen senses of smell, but yours is kind of pitiful.

Pitiful Stealth Level 1

You know that making lots of noise is likely to get you noticed so you try not to. You succeed. Mostly.

Pitiful Taste Level 1

You can barely taste anything. Then again, you eat garbage, so maybe this is a blessing?

Pitiful Touch Level 1

You can feel pain, pressure, heat, and cold, and that’s about it. Better textures escape you.

Tier 5 Skills:

Competent Verbal Standard Level 1

You can communicate well in the standard spoken language of the galaxy at large. This doesn’t convey understanding of all the concepts embedded in your vocabulary, however.

Competent Written Standard Level 1

You can read and write in the common written language of the galaxy at large. This doesn’t convey understanding of all the concepts embedded in your vocabulary, however.