The next thing I knew, I was standing in the exact same spot I had been in when I was whisked into my Firmament. Below me, a dark ocean of jungle was swaying, seeming to herald my return. Around me, companions were gathered, faces twisted in shock.

“See? As I said. The process takes moments and, in most cases, is faster than MAS usage. Although, obviously more disgusting.”

The voice of Isran was like music to my ears. Not that I didn’t like most of the people in my Firmament. It’s just that when everyone talks in almost-riddles and big, fancy mysteries, it starts getting annoying.

I examined my hands and saw that the transformation I had experienced followed me into the real world.

I looked over at Makiel, who was standing in the cockpit of our stolen ship with eyes fixed on me. “Like what you see?” I asked, comically flexing my new muscular arms.

She smiled. “You wish I was looking at you like that, dude. No. Your transformation was just so gross, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. I’m not sure how it happened in your Firmament, but out here you were shedding skin and bleeding all over the place.”

I turned my attention to the ground and saw what she meant. Blood and dead skin littered the area, like a snake going through a particularly difficult shedding. I inspected my body again and was surprised to see that not only did my clothes survive the change, though a lot smaller on me than before, but they were also relatively clean, compared to the carnage around me.

Her eyes followed my gaze to the nasty gunk on the floor, and her nose crinkled up in displeasure.

“I’m glad my transformation was cleaner than yours. For the most part, when I came out of changing, I was spotless and my pretty features were untouched.” She moved her fingers across her face, emphasizing those ‘features’ jokingly.

I chuckled, and while watching the display, I noticed that I was slightly taller than her now. I glanced at Lia and held my arm out, comparing sizes; my forearm was probably the length and width of her entire body.

“What are you doing, Steven?” Makiel interjected.

Before I could answer, Isran walked in between us. “I hate to interrupt your reunion and celebration of powers gained, but the ones below are starting to move.”

I looked at him, who was now a foot shorter than me, and saw that he was pointing at the four Mangle. They were walking away from our camp, heading towards a mountain opposite the cave.

I turned my head back to Isran. “With my new powers, do you think we can take them?”

The bug looked very uncomfortable with the question. “I wish I could tell you, but I have bent the rules enough. You’ll just have to go down and give it a shot.”

The way he worded his answer gave me the impression that he was pretty sure we would succeed.

I walked over to the cockpit and gently picked up the sleeping child. “Can you at least take care of Lia, so nothing bad happens to her during the fight?”

Isran looked down at Jin, who was cleaning out one of his nails.

“Yeah, we’ll take the little tyke. Babies, during this System Combat, are in a weird gray area, so we can do heaps more to help them than we can to help you,” Jin answered, holding his hands out.

I placed the baby in his arms, and Jin and Isran began to amble their way to their ship.

When they got in and closed the door, I turned to Makiel, who was sitting back in her seat. “You good to do this?” I questioned.

She put her hand on her neck, taking a second to think, then summoned Atom.

“Read our fortune for this upcoming fight,” she commanded.

The machine floated for a moment in silence. “The Cattle and the Queen conquer. The zoo loses three young and one old.”

Makiel looked back at me. “I’m good.”

I gave a thumbs up and got back into the driver's seat of the open-air cockpit. I started flipping the switches I recognized, flying us in the direction of the Mangle.

As I did, I felt Makiel’s hand tapping on my shoulder.

“Man, the transformation really did wonders for your physical fitness. Compared to you, I look pretty much the same as I did before.”

I gazed at the front of my body, marveling at the change. I really did get a huge bonus to my appearance, thanks to the cow DNA, but Makiel didn’t look bad herself.

“I don’t know what you looked like before, so I can’t say much, but I think you look as good as I do. Maybe even a bit cooler, since you got the elf ears going for you.”

I thought about what the lady in my Firmament said concerning MAS users only being able to get two-thirds the power from the First Instance. Maybe my transformation was more impressive than hers because of this.

I attempted to turn and look at her to get a better gauge, but before I could, her hands shot up, grabbing my head to keep me facing forward.

“Don’t you know you’re supposed to keep your eyes on the road when you're driving, you rock head?” Makiel declared, sounding a bit different than usual.

I tried to pinpoint what it was, but I only had the last few days to go off of, so I just gave up.

I did, however, notice that her hands were bright red. Did I make her mad?

Not wanting to make the problem worse, I changed the subject. “So, I was thinking, when we get down there we should have a plan.”

* * * * *

Hoping to surprise our targets, we flew as slow, low, and quiet as we could. This large black arrowhead ship would never be able to sneak effectively in the lush, colorful canopy of the jungle if the sun was out. But in the darkness of the night, it was like a shadow.

As we glided downward, the movement and interactions of the jungle creatures masked the faint noise the slow moving vessel produced, almost completely drowning it out. So far in my end-of-the-world adventures, I haven’t had much success in sneaking, but with all the factors going for us in this scenario, we might pull it off this time.

Just as the thought entered my mind, one of my horns caught a tree branch, ripping it out, causing several alien coconuts to fall, smashing a hidden juvenile devil lizard, who then proceeded to cry bloody murder.

“Are you kidding me, Steven?” Makiel whispered angrily.

“Hey, back off! I only just got these things. You can’t expect me to be used to them already,” I retorted.

The Mangle, who had been oblivious to our movements, were now looking straight at us.

Dang it. That's strike three for sneaking.

Not wanting to give the Mangle a smooth opportunity at escape, I pushed the button that accelerated the ship, hoping to ram into them. Just as I did so, the group scattered into the trees, the two wolves heading to the left of the ship, the scorpion to the right, and the lizard running towards the camp, in the opposite direction.

I glanced at Makiel, who gave me a nod. I switched places with her and jumped out the vessel, fingers crossed, hoping she would remember the flying lesson I gave her on the way here.

“Don’t forget the plan!” she yelled, pressing a button that sent her into an aileron roll, instead of chasing the scorpion.

The idea to scrap the plan entered my mind, but she quickly recovered and pushed the right buttons to flip the craft back around.

With an awkward smile, she shot off.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

I took a quick look at my stats.

Sitiveni L. Lotu

Race: Human Age: 27 Level: 1 Exp: 0/50

Active Effects

N/A

HP: 375 / 375

DNA Combination: Cow (+10 Strength, +5 Endurance, +5 Potential)

MP: N/A

Totem Name: Illana

Strength - 16 Endurance - 5 Predecessor - 2 Potential - 5

Skills

Retain Matter Fear Not Milk for the Hearty

Inventory

Royal Mangle Matter Mushy Matter

The act of looking at my stats didn’t feel like it did before, when I had the practice unit on. Instead of an interface I knew was being projected onto my eyes, like an old Gameboy Advance light attachment, it felt more like the images and numbers I was seeing were sent straight from my brain into my consciousness. It felt leagues more efficient and less distracting.

Not wanting to forget, I read the description of the Predecessor attribute.

Predecessor

Whispers of the dead enter your ears, as they sing wondrous melodies of their experience. You are able to commune directly with the spirits that maintain and upkeep your Firmament, allowing them to share skills and passives with you. This is a cursed attribute–caution is advised.

There appeared to be a link associated with ‘cursed attribute’, but clicking on it just gave me a pop-up that read, “Illana is connecting and updating data registry. Thank you for your patience.”

I closed out all the tabs and stretched my arms. Now that I knew what all my attributes did, I was excited to try them out, especially my increased strength. I knew from buff descriptions, that although I wasn’t seeing it, my intimidation was still at 3, which gave a small cushion just in case the plan didn’t go as well as I had hoped.

I started jogging in the direction of the two wolves. It was amazing how much more endurance I had. I must have been running for at least a mile by now, but I wasn’t winded whatsoever. The breeze that blew past me, as I steadily prowled through the jungle, was refreshing and exhilarating.

Eventually I caught up with the two mangle, which was odd, since I hadn’t planned on catching up to them, and I wasn’t any faster than I was before. Certainly not fast enough to out-pace wolves. The fact that I was this close was kinda fishy. My intention was to run in their direction and mount a large boulder nearby to keep watch. And if they did come, my position on the boulder, and my increased regeneration, would let me comfortably take them on one at a time. Hopefully that would give me enough of an advantage for Makiel to tidy things up on her end and rescue me.

Maybe I should slow down and let them get farther ahead. I thought to myself.

An unfamiliar sensation jolted through my mind, like a sixth sense, as I stopped and raised my hands to block. Leathery skin slammed into my guard, and a ‘20’ with a shield next to it floated above my head. I jumped away from the group of enemies. My new health pool stood at 375, so after the hit, I was at 355. Considering how I had started at 110, I wasn’t that worried.

I peeked up over my hands and saw the lizard in front of me, scaly lips perked up in a sinister, slightly nervous smile.

I tried again to read their stats. Instead of outright nothing showing up, like when I had examined them with my practice unit, I was now able to see their health and levels. The two wolves were at level 2, with 150 health, and the lizard was at level 3, with 260 health.

Something was off about them. They had seemed so confident when they cornered Makiel and Lia, but now they were wary, almost scared. I couldn’t see any of their buffs or debuffs, but I took their expressions as a sign that there was something I could do to win this, even if I had to fight them all at once.

To be honest, ambushing me like this was a great plan. It was a lot simpler and relied on far less luck than mine did. But, I hope that Makiel agreeing to my ploy meant it was destined for success. That probably wasn’t the case, but, whatever. As long as she and I stayed alive, I was okay with anything.

“Looks like you’re cornered like a little rat, alone, and easily disposed of.” The hissing that came from the lizard was sharp, haughty, and gave me the impression that he was the kind of person who would sell out a coworker for a step up on the corporate ladder.

The two wolves separated, positioning themselves on opposite sides of the lizard, creating a triangle formation. They knew how to fight as a team. The thought of duking it out was becoming less and less fun.

I looked behind me to see if there was an obvious exit.

As I did, the lizard spoke up. “Ahhh, I see you want to help your ally. Of course. We don’t want to fight right now, anyway. The night is upon us, and who knows what the system combat AI will do? How about we make a deal: we allow you to help your friend, and you give us back our ship?”

Now I knew there was something up. This kind of guy would never give options to someone he knew he could destroy. Beyond that, if they had full confidence in their victory, they would just kill us and get their ship back. This deal heavily weighed in my favor and I didn’t trust it.

“No deal.” I reached up into the tree next to me, ripping off a branch the size of an olympic lifting bar, throwing it like a javelin at the Mangle.

I was a little scared I wouldn’t be able to launch it fast enough to be a threat, but the way it rocketed off, I’d swear it was fired from a cannon.

The three spread out, dodging the projectile. With a dash, the lizard closed the distance between us and hit me with a solid one-two combo to the chest. I wondered why he wasn’t using his claws, but quickly got my head into the game as I saw the ‘50’ floating above me.

I hit him back with a jab to his unguarded face and, in surprise, I watched a ‘72’ appear in the air above him. A large purple bruise formed on his scaly cheek.

The two wolves pounced on me. One bit into my shoulder, doing 30 damage, and the other slashed my back, doing 25 damage.

My health was now at 250 and, frankly, that wasn’t bad at all.

I reached over to the wolf on my shoulder and grabbed his pelt. He violently struggled, causing me to lose my balance and fall over.

The second I hit the floor, I felt the foot of the lizard connect to my face like a sledge, doing 96 damage. I spit up some blood and staggered back, away from the enemy.

They didn’t chase. Instead, they just stood there, looking relieved.

“And here I thought we were in trouble,” one of the wolves laughed to the other.

“Man, oh, man, are you right. I thought we’d be easy pickings, since we’re a few dinners short of formation, but this guy is worthless,” the other wolf replied, also starting to laugh.

“Should have taken my deal when you had the chance, human. Now we know we can kill you. If Rubar were here, I would never have attempted such formalities. But it doesn’t matter. Now die like the idiot you are.”

I took a deep breath.

My mom used to call me a lot of things. ‘Useless’, ‘without talent’, ‘failure’, but ‘idiot’ always stood out. It was quick, sharp, and dismissive, like she couldn’t waste her time on calling me something more clever. I think that’s the reason it makes me mad. To her I wasn’t worth a thought. Maybe I’m giving her memory too much real estate in my mind. Maybe it's time to get over it.

My emotions calmed and all the useless thoughts emptied from my brain. “I’m not an idiot.”

The lizard's confusion was evident on its face.

“What? Of course you’re an idiot. A human that is connected to the Mana Web is like a Formed Mangle, in terms of power. You should have easily destroyed us. But here you are, at our mercy. If that doesn’t scream ‘ineptitude’, then I don’t know what does.”

I adjusted my stance into the wide one I used against the devil lizards, legs apart and arms held out. Just like before, I felt as the ground gave me balance and weight, as if I was a great boulder.

The lizard narrowed his eyes, suspicious of my new stance. “You two, attack as you did before, and I will follow up. Two more combos and he should be done for.”

The two wolves nodded and circled me again. Within a second, they jumped, this time going for my legs.

Like a bear trap, my right hand grabbed the first by the tail.

His companion had reached me, biting into my calf, doing 30 damage. But I didn’t care. The one in my hand was all that mattered.

I clenched my left fist and brought it down, onto the face of the helpless wolf, doing 75 damage. His head buckled backward and blood ran down his mouth onto his gray fur, staining it crimson.

He gave a growl and prepared to struggle, but my fist again connected with his cranium. The noise of my knuckle on his skull was sudden and loud, like knocking on a door. A ‘70’ floated over his head as teeth fell from his mouth and drool dripped in large glops onto the floor.

I could hear his ragged breathing and, for a moment, I felt sad for the Mangle. Then I heard him sputter out, “Mercy.” I can only imagine the fear he must have felt as my hand came down for the last time.