It didn’t take long for Talia to arrive at the quest area, the location of the den of Dire Wolves was within a forest near the Village.
Talia did not plan to head there immediately as the Guard Captain’s quest would allow her to gain a few levels before she approaches the den, although the Dire Wolves within would not be too highly levelled, they would still be considered dangerous for her present self.
However, something which gave her confidence was that one of the Princesses skills included a spell which gave her with boast in battle capabilities by providing her with a damaging attack to use against the Dire wolves.
Nonetheless, she still had no idea if HP or hit points worked similarly in this World in comparison to the game she was used to, thus she was curious to see whether an attack targeted towards vital points work differently because unlike in the game this was a real-world and not even a supernaturally strong person should be able to survive having their heart pierced.
Yet, this did also make it more threatening for her as well, but an advantage which she does possess is that she is in possession of a spell which would make her appear as a Mage to outsiders which is a rare and highly prized occupation for a reason. Having such a trump-card provided her great versatility as a Mage has excellent battle prowess with long-range attacks.
Walking within the forest, she soon realised she had already stumbled into the area for the guard's captains quest already, the objective for this quest was far simpler than one would think.
The Guard Captain had buried a bottle of wine years ago underground in a spot within the Forest which had a particularly dense concentration of essence, he had hoped that this would improve the quality of the wine which would improve his chances of receiving a breakthrough from its consumption, as he had his own responsibilities now as the Guard Captain, and the Guards were only paid to defend the Village, he required an outside to go fetch it for him.
However, there was one problem. He had already sent a few people to complete such an errand, yet all have failed because a den of large rats had formed unknowingly a few months ago.
The rats are not only stronger due to the high essence density, but at the same time with their abnormal reproductivity improved even further as a result of the location, meant that dozens of them had now set up residence there.
Luckily, Talia knew the key to solving this quest as a result of the droves of players who had set out to accomplish it. A few times a day over half of the giant rats would split up and leave then den to forage for food.
As long as Talia dealt with each of these groups separately then the remaining rats, which would only consist of the weaker ones would be far easier to deal with.
Thinking that the rats may actually be a good idea of trying her beast form for the first time, she repeated the instructions of how a beast soul master transforms within the game, feeling herself imaging and drawing out the beast within her soul.
Suddenly, she felt the world around her rapidly changing as she felt her point of view drastically lower as she had now viewed the forest with the point of a completely different being of view.
Being in the form of a ‘Frost Gecko’ was a strange feeling, she felt that all of the sensory organs within her body has improved, similar to Lizards on Earth a Frost Gecko is capable of converting tastes into smell through the use of a specialised sensory organ within their tongues, which would increase its awareness of the surroundings.
As if instinctively she flicked out her tongue and brought scent particles in the air, pulling it along her tongue. Catching the scent which she identified as the giant rats, she had managed to gauge their location.
Suddenly realising something Talia freaked out at how quickly she adapted to her new-found form, lifting up her foreleg she saw the right appendage of the Frost Gecko. Forming a grasping motion, she felt the sharp claws tense as it carried out her body actions easily, finding it fascinating at being in the body of a completely new species. She quickly, observed the rest of the body, covered in blue scales, and a bit more than two and a half feet long, a Frost Gecko was a far larger than any Gecko found on Earth.
At the same time for its relatively small size, it is more dangerous than it looks, with raiser sharp claws and teeth, it could rip through human flesh with ease, well regular humans anyways, the high levelled ones with abnormal vitality is difficult for even stronger beasts to pierce through.
It also possesses a racial ability known as ‘Frost Breath’ which Talia was looking forward in using, a problematic issue is though, is that the current environment does not suit a Frost Gecko at all, as they live in within environments of extreme cold, whereas within the current Forest she was in, a Frost Gecko is completely out of their natural habitat, with no camouflage at all.
Luckily, Talia wasn’t counting on hiding herself anyways, Giant Rats are a very aggressive species, especially against targets of a similar size. The only thing they are aware of are beasts much larger, and of a higher bloodline, something she was not. However, that doesn’t change the fact that one on one a Frost Gecko is definitely ranked of a higher threat than Giant Rats, so the only thing she needed to worry about was their numbers.
Talia felt it was now the right time to find the Giant Rats, she did not why she adjusted so well in being brought to a foreign world with completely unknown concepts being shown infant of her, but she felt it was something to do with both seemingly merging souls with the Princess, and the strange mechanical voice which brought her here out of no were.
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It may also be the class itself that allowed her to feel extremely casually about transforming into a completely new species but even though she felt her current behaviour was strange, she knew there was nothing she can do but move forward.
She feels that if she continues to follow the course of the game, and grow stronger, then the truth will eventually be completely revealed to her, maybe even if a way for her to go back, returning back to Earth may be found, which only fuelled her motivation further.
Quickly, moving through the Forest, she soon came across the first pack of giant rats. She found four giants scrunched together while they scurried along the Forest, each of them was around the size of a medium-sized dog with large razor-sharp teeth hung out of their maws, drool dripped slowly out of their mouths as they continue to move forward at a reasonable pace.
Giant rats are usually known for just being great scavengers but that isn’t the complete truth, any beast which they believe they could take down for food, they would immediately aggressively attack. Even if it is a bit stronger, that concept meant nothing to the vicious rats who would always have numbers on their side. If they encounter a larger creature who they felt that they currently could not deal with, they may leave and return with an even more bigger amount of giant rats to deal with it down.
Therefore, it made them a nightmare if left unchecked since their reproductive capabilities were high it would only take a few years before they could gather a swarm containing hundreds of them.
It is also one of the reasons why once reported the Guard Captain had immediately requested an outsider to deal with the rats and to fetch the wine if Talia failed she knew that the Captain would just hire an even more capable group of adventurers to sort out the problem, as the Giant Rats if left alone, could eventually even pose a problem to the whole Village itself.
Without even attempted to hide the swaggered in front of the path of the Giant Rats, who squeaked in agitation upon seeing an unknown looking beast.
Not feeling a scary aura from Talia, they pounced towards her straight away, but this was what Talia was waiting for, calling upon her racial talent ‘Frost Breath’, she felt a sudden loss of energy leave her body as a wave of mist emerged from her mouth.
The rats who had charged at her all at once were each within the trajectory of the emerging mist, all four of the rats were soon submerged within the mist.
A moment later the mist finally dissipated, leaving the four rats exposed, the damage the mist had left behind could be seen.
None of the rats seemed to have died, but that was not the damage that frost breath primarily inflicts, the cold seeps into its target, causing their actions to be extremely slowed. A Frost Gecko uses this ability to ware and slows down their prey to allow them to easily inflict damage and to decrease the danger of damage being inflicted on them.
Although Frost Gecko’s ability is usually stronger and more effective in groups, their targets of prey are usually even larger than Giant Rats, additionally, they are creatures adapted to cold environments, whereas a Giant Rat usually lives in warmer climates, this made Talia’s racial ability purpose be achieved even without the presence of other Frost Gecko’s.
The rats' reactions seemed to have slowed down noticeably, which is what Talia wanted to achieve.
‘Ha, try and use your numbers now!’ She thought deviously as she latched onto the nearest Giant Rat tearing out the flesh.
Talia felt strange at how easy it was to fight as Frost Gecko, it didn’t feel unfamiliar at all and was not like she has spent her entire life as a human.
‘I think this is what was meant when they said Beast Soul-masters are natural fighters in their beast form, every evolution they didn’t seem unaccustomed or unadapted to the new beast at all, although their fighting skills can improve over time, their starting point is always at the level of what the average experience of that specific beasts combat knowledge would be. That should not be underestimated as every beast of a race which can make it to adulthood would have gone through numerous battles, and would perfectly know how to use their strengths best, she guessed this is why she did not feel awkward at all as she carried out her current actions.’
Talia didn’t hesitate as all, as she moved her claws into tearing into the Giants Rats throat, ending its life almost immediately.
Feeling the death of the first Giant Rat made her feel unfamiliar energy entering her.
‘Experience’ she thought instinctively feeling like she knew what the mysterious energy is, while she continued to kill the remaining Giant Rats who proved to be no challenge for her at all in their current slowed state.
After dealing with the rats she had found her experience bar had gone up by almost halfway to Lvl 2.
‘I guess I should go after the remaining rats, they’re not too much of a challenge for the current me, unless they are all together, then that’ll be a problem.’ She thought.
Talia quickly found herself dealing with two more groups of Giant Rat, upon the death of the tenth rat, a bright, white beam from the sky embraced Talia.
‘Level up’ she thought.
After four or five seconds the beam disappeared.
Looking at the prompt, she had found her attribute points had all increased by ‘2’ exactly like the in the game, as a result of current low stats, every increment was noticeable, so she instantly felt stronger than before.
I think this feeling is going to get addicting was the idea that came quickly came to mind after experiencing the ‘thrill’ of growing stronger.
Talia also found it extremely important, as she already experienced the ‘realness’ of this World already.
Although she played smart with how she fought the Giant Rats, they still managed to inflict a bit of damage to her, and the feeling of being clawed, bitten by the rats was not very pleasant. It also brought her to the reality that she could die if she takes it too far, highlighting just how important stats are, as the stronger she is, the better she can defend herself.
She immediately felt the effect of Vitality, as her scales felt a tad stronger, giving her slightly more confidence in being able to take a hit.
Additionally, despite the instincts of the Frost Gecko, she still found the reactions of the monsters as she clawed into their flesh horrifying, the screams of agony and pain, the blood which spewed out of their bodies as their lives ended irritated Talia’s nerves a bit.
But, she knew she just had to steel her resolve and continue hunting the Giant Rats until every last one of them was dead, only then will she be one step closer in discovering the purpose in why she was sent to this World.
After finishing off the last remaining hunting groups of Giant Rats, providing her with a good way on to level 3, she knew it was time to head to the rat's lair, which although mostly the weaker rats remained, it was still the largest group of them she was going to encounter so far.