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[Notice:

Quest Complete: The Basics of Energy

Reward: Access to your status screen.

Would you like to view your status screen now?]

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“Nice.” Riolu’s arm cut the air as he completed his fist pump. It had taken him five minutes to get past the first layer of his soul. And it had taken him another five before he got to the bottom.

Was he getting over excited for ten minutes of work? Yes. Not that he cared. After all, what gamer worth his salt wouldn’t be happy to get a status screen of his very own, and so without any further delay.

“Yes, please show me my status screen.” The professionality of the words was betrayed by his childlike voice that sounded like he was getting a new toy, it only took a moment before he was greeted by a new white screen.

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[

Name: Riolu the Primordial King

Race: Primordial Energy Human (Juvenile)

Grade: E

Level 1 (0%)

Class: None

Title: None

Blessing: None

Stats:

Strength: 6 (0%)

Endurance: 6 (0%)

Speed: 7 (0%)

Agility: 10 (0%)

Intelligence: 10 (0%)

Mind: 10 (0%)

Charisma: 9 (0%)

Aura: 10 (0%)

Shard Limit: Limitless

Soul Shard: The Power of Troupes

]

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Riolu's eyes were not drawn to the written information on the status sheet. Instead, they were pulled to a picture that had appeared to the right of it. There standing on the screen was a young child of no more than eight years of age.

This child had long and straight white hair which flowed like water down to his lower back. His body looked as though a goddess had chiseled each muscle personally. His eyes were a bright gemlike red and the closer Riolu looked, he swore he could see occasional swirls of a deeper red hidden within the iris. His skin looked smooth as glass, his face riddled with soft features that would have appeared femenine if not for the ridiculously toned body. The little friend handing between the child’s legs served as further proof of his manhood.

As good as the kid looked, there was one thing that stood out even more than his amazing figure. On the center of his chest and around his neck, there was a yellow haze that made seeing the muscles beneath difficult. Riolu’s presence of mind vanished, and he thought about what that could mean.

He glanced down at his body. The hole in his chest was already visibly starting to heal and Riolu took a second to marvel at it. He fingered the area where the front half of his neck should be. Shifting his gaze to his back, he saw beautiful white hair matching that which he somewhat expected. Curiosity running wild, he ran his fingers through it, it felt soft and cool to the touch. There were no knots to speak of and he could almost feel the hair as it actively moved to stay out of his way.

He turned back to the screen and his eyes were drawn above the child to the words that read, “Appearance”. Then he smiled.

“Riolu you have truly outdone yourself. Watch out ladies cause Riolus comin atcha.” He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t at least a little miffed at the fact that he was in the body of what effectively looked like an eight year old. But give him a few years and he would be one of the most disgustingly good looking people on earth. That was of course assuming he was still on earth. He still wasn’t entirely convinced he had not been isekaied. Finally, he took one look down at his crotch and sighed.

“Don’t worry Riolu, there is still time to grow.” He finally began reading the information his status sheet detailed. He got to his race before finishing his thought, “Hopefully.”

Moving on, there were a few things that struck Riolu as odd. He grabbed his still healing neck and closed his eyes. He could feel the energy in his body frantically working to heal the afflicted area. It was amazing, if not a little bit creepy.

“Is there some kind of help function? Or at least something to explain the details of my status?” His answer came in the form of a white screen that popped into existence a few inches from his face, causing him to flinch. “I’ve gotta get used to that.”

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[Notice:

Riolu the Primordial King, a boss monster spawned on the planet earth after its integration into the system. Riolu was born with an incredibly high intelligence for a monster, and as such, the system granted him a name. His name was changed from his own, Riolu Kings, to that of Riolu the Primordial King.]

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So yes, there was indeed a help function. Information and new questions just kept coming in waves at him. Riolu fingered his neck in what was quickly becoming a habit, unsure how he felt about being spawned as a so-called monster. It made sense, it would explain why his instincts had changed so drastically. Maybe his memories of saving someone and dying were fake, or maybe, he had stolen someone else's memories. He closed his eyes and his brow furrowed in thought.

“It doesn’t matter. This menu can call me a monster all it likes, but I’m a human, and that’s that.” His thoughts were drawn to the fact that the system had taken the liberty of changing his name. Could it just do that? Was it allowed to? He would be lying if he said he was overly attached to his old name. But at the same time, he wasn’t too fond of the new name either. After all, the last thing that he considered himself was some kind of king.

Deciding that while it was probably important, it could be ignored for now, his attention shifted to the section of this little help box that detailed the exact location where he had spawned.

He felt a twinge of sadness when he found out that he was still on planet earth. He wasn’t sure why seeing as he remembered almost nothing of his life on the planet, he just felt that being isekaied would have been more fun. A hunch if you will.

In what was quickly becoming annoying, Riolu’s thoughts were again interrupted by a white screen appearing in his vision.

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[New Quest Available: Supremacy Among Monsters

Would you like to open the quest details screen now?]

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Riolu’s annoyance at being interrupted by yet more questions only momentarily stopped him from giving his mental assent. Supremacy Among Monsters sounded important after all, especially if his menu thought that he was one.

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[Quest: Supremacy Among Monsters

As a boss monster born in the Primordial White Spawn Point 27, you have been automatically included in this quest. Enough energy has been accumulated in order to form a dungeon. Slay the other boss monsters and claim your place as the dungeon’s master.

Boss monsters slain, 5/13.

Reward: Evolution to Dungeon Boss

Failure Penalty: Death by the surviving boss monster.]

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Having finished reading the details, he thought about the quest and got annoyed at the penalty for failure. He then internalized it, and decided to ignore it for now. His time was better spent elsewhere at the moment. After all, he had a status menu to study.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The first piece of information he accessed was the help menu for his race. He was hoping to find some explanation on several things including but not limited to how he was still alive. Fortunately this explanation had answers.

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[Race: Primal Energy Human (Juvenile)

This is a variant of high elemental that has complete affinity for Primordial Energy. Like all higher elementals, this creature has taken a form in the shape of a physical creature. Do not let this form deceive you however. This creature has taken the functions of their physical form, and enhanced them. The only way to kill this creature is to run its energy reserves completely dry as their physical body is merely a suit of energy they wear. Unlike other high-elementals, this specific strand is actually capable of intelligent thought and as such make up some of the most dangerous creatures in existence. This particular creature is still in the youngest stage of its growth and will grow far stronger in the future assuming it survives.]

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“Well now, aren't you a helpful little screen.” Riolu spoke to the floating white boxes. They showed no reaction to his voice but he felt some odd compulsion to compliment them anyway.

In any case this did answer many of his questions. First, it explained why he survived despite having his chest and throat critically wounded. The bunny had hesitated in the fight because of his strange biology and it was something he would need to keep in mind for the future.

It also gave him some insights into a few other details, namely, his Energy “A” which was in fact called Primordial Energy if the notification was to be believed.

Riolu wanted to argue that he was human and not some fake human elemental, but looking at the hole in his chest that had already almost completely filled in, he couldn’t find it in himself to argue.

“Even if I’m not technically a human anymore, I can still keep my humanity.” He knew he was just trying to comfort himself, but at the moment, it was all he had.

He returned to the section that talked about his shard limit, whatever that was. The fact that it was mentioned implied that normally, you would have a maximum to how many you could have. There were only a few reasons he could think as to why he would not have a limit. Chief among them being his boss monster status.

In hopes of getting answers to these questions, he tried to access the help function for his “Power of Troupes” shard and he was soon rewarded.

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[Soul Shard: Power of Troupes Stage: Fragment

This is a passive soul shard which belongs to Riolu the Primordial King. This ability allows him to gain bonuses to his stats in return for following certain rules dictated by his soul. This bonus to stats works multiplicatively and currently caps at two times your base stats. Be wary however, as this power comes with a price. For each troupe that can be used positively, another troupe can also be used negatively.

Current Available Troupes

Rule of Cool/Tempting Fate

Troupe Type - Life Changing

Rule of Cool (positive) - Any action you perform that you would consider cool will cause your stats to buff themselves for the duration of the action. This can range from a minor boost to stats, to completely altering the way you perform certain actions. At your current stage of development, this effect will only affect you and no one else.

Tempting Fate (negative) - The negative troupe associated with the Rule of Cool. This troupe will cause certain things to change around you when you tempt fate. At your current level, these changes will be miniscule, only causing minor changes to your environment.]

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“Was that the cold feeling in my arm?” Riolu looked over towards the corpse of the bunny. There it lay, with its own fang pierced through its skull. That particular finisher was badass no matter which way he thought about it, though he hadn’t been trying to act cool at the time.

“Well that’s convenient. Does this mean that I will start doing flips in combat for no reason? Come up with cool one-liners?“ Riolu wasn’t sure exactly how much this buff would actually affect the way he fought. Though, the troupe type did say Life Changing on it.

The negative effect was Tempting Fate. As Riolu began to consider what it could mean, the only conclusion he could come up with was that it was now his very own proof that the universe would be out to get him. Honestly though, it couldn’t really be that important. After all, the description did go out of its way to say that it was not that big a deal. How bad could it be?

All around him, Riolu felt a shift in the crystals. They were all glowing faintly white before now, but none were going to finish “hatching” any time soon. Now however, Riolu could sense the shift in the Primal Energy that, as far as he could tell, is what sustained all life here.

The crystals visibly brightened and cracks echoed around him. Out of three of the smaller crystals, a blinding light began to shine. Shortly thereafter, three wolves as tall as Riolu fell to the ground.

Two of them had white fur, and the other had a clean black coat that blanketed its lithe figure. The sound of sniffles filled Riolu’s ears as they struggled to reach their feet. Just like Riolu and the bunny, one of the wolves had bright crimson eyes to go along with its white pelt. The other had something that momentarily caught Riolu as strange. It had deep blue eyes, a trait that it shared with its black furred brother.

The air stood still as Riolu made eye contact. Pupils on all the wolves shrunk down to needles as growls that felt like they shook his very soul reached for the feelings in Riolu’s heart. In spite of himself, he let out a small chuckle.

“Note to self, don't ever tempt fate again.” His words acting as the starters shot, the wolves began to encircle Riolu. His eyes followed them and his instincts began to run wild. He watched the wolves and he began to truly understand how bad his situation was.

He mentally kicked himself for letting them surround him with no contest. With no crystal to act as his shield, he was essentially in a three on one situation. His eyes locked to the dark wolves and immediately, Riolu felt that something was wrong. Why hadn’t they attacked yet? The dark wolves let out a howl and Riolu’s head began pounding.

His vision began to spin for a moment and it took everything he had to hold on to consciousness. A sharp pain ran up his hamstrings as an iron clad jaw began to crush his leg. The pain helped stabilize his faculties and he spared a glance to see the red eyed wolf biting into his leg. It felt like the weight of a planet was on his leg but luckily, it only served to bring his mind to focus in spite of the howl that still rang his ears.

He pivoted to see the final wolf already in the air careening towards his back. A refreshing chill engulfed both of Riolu’s legs, feeling like a cold drink on a hot summer day. He pivoted on his leg, the wolf biting into it being taken off its feet as its body dragged through the ground. Riolu, surprised at his own strength, hesitated slightly.

In that small moment of hesitation, he felt the cold refreshing feeling he now associated with Rule of Cool almost completely recede. His leg slowed considerably and the wolf managed to move slightly forcing Riolu to hit it on the side, missing the head he had been aiming for. There was a loud crack and Riolu felt his leg sink into the flesh of the canine. Its body was sent careening through the air and it slammed into the nearest crystal, letting out a small yelp of pain in the process.

Riolu’s gawking at his own ridiculous strength despite his young (and more importantly small) body was interrupted as he was lifted from the ground. The wolf that had latched onto his leg had maintained its grip in spite of Riolu’s spin which had taken its feet off the ground. It had regained its footing and was now shaking Riolu like he was some kind of chew toy.

The world was spinning. Riolu couldn’t make out what direction was up. The howling had not stopped and it combined with his current situation, he was so dizzy it felt like the sky was falling. Riolu desperately tried to think of a way to escape the creature's jaws and came to a decision.

Riolu trained his eyes onto the wolf who shook him like a chew toy, its white fur and red eyes the only consistent shape in his shaking world. With a herculean effort, he straightened his body and wrapped his other leg into a triangle grip around the creature's maw. He grasped the creature's ears in between both of his hands. The wolf began to shake him even more violently in an attempt to get him to let go.

Riolu's whole body filled with the energy from Rule of Cool and he used the creature's momentum to spin. The wolf vision was flipped 180 as its neck was twisted into a position quite lethal to its continued existence.

The fleeting power of Rule of Cool left him and Riolu’s already dizzy form was helpless to the corpse of the wolf which soon fell on top of him. Immediately, Riolu’s mind caught up to him and he shoved the corpse to the side as he stood up and began searching for the other wolves.

Unfortunately for him, his body's equilibrium had not yet returned to normal. He fell to his knees heaving up blood spit and some kind of gray matter. In a desperate attempt to protect himself from the wolves that he knew would be coming, Riolu flailed his hands out in front of him.

His hands hit nothing but air as he attacked and it took him a few seconds to realize that the dark wolf had stopped howling. The taste of blood and bile in his mouth made him want to puke all over again. Instead, he drew his gaze up towards the dark wolf. It was just staring at him with an inscrutable look that Riolu couldn’t read. Glancing over to the other wolf, Riolu found that it had not moved from the spot where he had kicked it.

It took a moment, but Riolu managed to regain his feet and as soon as he did, he realized how silent it was. The first wolf appeared to be dead, and the other had stopped moving after it slammed into the crystal. The pain coming from all over his body screamed at him. It sharpened his thoughts and made him think faster, a feeling similar to adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Riolu readied himself for anything. As the wolf moved closer, Riolu saw something in its eyes. Its pupils were no longer needle points. There were no more snarls to be heard amongst the others. It approached slowly, until it was less than a few feet from him. It was at this moment that Riolu realized he had not in fact, prepared himself for everything.

The wolf lowered itself to the ground. Looking at it, It almost appeared as if it was submitting to him. Riolu prepared for an attack, and if it wasn’t for the creatures stillness. He may have tried to kill it. His primal instincts began to beckon him. They told him that this wolf was weak. After all, he had just slain two of it’s brothers and had been weakened from a previous fight. He should kill the creature and move on.

Something else spoke to him however. It wasn’t his instincts as those had been completely changed. It was a voice in his heart telling him that this creature did not know any better. And that killing it would make him into the monster the floating white boxes told him he was.

Slowly, Riolu lowered his guard. The wolf was still bowing and Riolu wasn’t exactly sure how to handle the situation.

“I know you probably can’t understand me.” the wolf raised its head, seemingly searching for the new sound. “I don’t feel like killing something that has already surrendered. So leave, or hunt, or go forage someplace else.”

The wolf tilted its head in apparent confusion and Riolu sighed. He didn’t have time for this, even a quick glance around told him that more monsters were going to spawn, and soon. Taking a quick gauge of his energy, Riolu was able to determine that he felt very tired. He reckoned that he was probably somewhere over half of what he had started with. But if that was the case, then why did he feel so drained?

He hadn’t felt so beat in the fight and he idly wondered if elementals came with a built in adrenaline feature? Regardless, he needed to get out of here, and fast. If more monsters like these wolves spawned, he would be in trouble. And if the crystal corresponds to the strength of the monster. Then the newest monsters would likely be stronger than those wolves were.

Fortunately for Riolu, the wolf let out a howl that didn’t ring his mind like a gong, he winced and almost jumped the wolf thinking that it was attacking him. Without any more ceremony, it trotted off. It ran only about fifteen meters away before biting into the bunny he had left earlier.

This momentary breach of his focus would have only been temporary, if it wasn’t for what came next. It’s at this time that it should be noted, Riolu could feel energy. Not just his own Primal Energy, but the energy all around him. This included the energy in the air, in the crystals, and most importantly, the Primal Energy of the creatures around him.

He could feel the wolf draining the energy from the bunny. It was a gruesome sight, watching the wolf tear the body of the bunny apart. But in the spectrum of energy it was fascinating.

Riolu could feel the wolf, even now, it was pulling the energy from the bunny and applying it to itself. As he watched the beast, he began to feel its own energy grow in proportion. It was barely noticeable, but he could feel its body grow just a little bit stronger. Its energy climb just a little bit higher.

Riolu’s heart skipped a beat and he glanced at a crystal, no more than ten meters from him. A loud crack had heralded that a new monst- animal was being birthed. Across from this crystal, he could see many more that had just reached the threshold. He hesitated for only a moment, whatever the wolf was doing it wouldn’t matter if he was dead.

Even as his instincts screamed at him to stay and fight, there was just no way Riolu would be able to fight many more of these creatures. He was already down to almost half of his total energy and he had only fought four of these beasts. There were thousands of crystals, and hundreds of them had just shot up in Primordial Energy when he had tempted fate.

If this was a “minor change to your environment” then he didn’t even want to know what a large change would look like. One thing was for certain, things can always be worse. That is now a way of life for the individual Riolu.

The wolf began growling at the newborn warthog looking creature. It had white fur and red eyes, a trait Riolu was quickly coming to associate with the beings birthed from these crystals. In a somewhat desperate bid to save the dark canine’s life, Riolu looked at it and gave it a small piece of advice.

“Run!”