"You dont trust everything you see. Even salt looks like sugar." -Unknown
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Day 11
So today I plan on leading a hunt with the whole tribe. Not including the pregnant women of course, no need to risk the future of our clan. So I got us all equiped with our weapons, and tied some sheets of metal on top of their fur cloths over vitals.
Sparticus seems very quiet lately, not even daring to look at me. Too bad hes one of the few with an active Psychic talent, else he couldnt detect me reading his mind. Ah well. Bob seemed pretty excited at least, but that was probably because when we get back we are slaughtering a few goats to eat. Damn Psychopath...
I pack some Frostbite Peaches in my extremely basic pouch. Imagine a tiny hammock fo fur, made to hold things. Not the most reliable, but until we find some packs of travellers ot something to take inspiration from. Not to mention our giant hands dont exactly work well with advanced crafting...
Anyways, we are going to hunt for any travellers or humans not focused on combat. I did find a small merchant group walking with a few adventurers on a path a couple hundred meters away. Gotta love these perceptive owls.
I decided to be a bit careful and hide a dozen daggers, 100 hornets, and another fur armor under my fur cloak. I feel like i dont have enough hornets at all, but I do want to have a reason to actually fight. Hence why I started harvesting the hornets poison and trying to find ways to put it in these daggers. Still feel unsafe to leave but I dont have too much else to prepare with...
Back at home, I have multiple owls in and out the cave in case an unexpected attack. I also still have the hive to protect the women if we cant make it there in time. Calling Hedwig to my arm, I pet her and feed her a piece of my Frostbite Peach. Shes grown strangely over the past few days, seeming to have tiny antlers on the top of her head, somehow growing another pair of eyes behind her head, and even got much better at stealth.
I dont exactly know how shes changing, evolving, but I really want to find out how. Would defintely make me feel safer if I can just evolve like that. Oh, I also found out something while setting up my little owl system, as well as the difference between Halfhorn and the others...
Our horns are how we use our Psychic abilities outside our bodies. There are apparently ways to use your mind to advance your body, which I have tried. I can heal faster, run faster, be stronger, etc temporarily, at the expense of serious hunger pains and a headache.
The horns however seem to be an amplifier for our Psychic powers, which would probably explain my kinda crazy 100 meter range, as well as the fact I can use my powers more if its through Hedig, due to her horns. Theres just too much I dont know...
Letting Hedwig fly, we finally set off. The others were shufting uncomfortably due to my super long introspection. Ah well, I nod at them and start to head off, they struggle to keep up with my light jog. Time to see if we can take on less than a handful of adventurers!
Day 12
We couldnt. They were strong, Unbeleivably Strong. They shot fire out their hands, striked us with lightning, and so on. Good thing my plan of attack was for them to distract one side as I use wasps to kidnap a couple people and run off. Bad news is we lost 2 men, leaving our current population at 4 men, including me.
Soo, we took a strategic retreat. Its not cowardly, Im just not suicidal. At least through the couple of bags I stole, I should find something that helps me. On our way back, an idle child Dark Elv walked to our territory of the cave, looking very lost. Of course, I got the wasps to paralyze him, and mentally told the women to take the child into custody.
They kinda just sat on his back, being huge compared to its 5 foot stature, they just continued making some clothes for their future children. When we got back, I tied the two humans up to the trees with a Minotaur watching them. the other three were eating and resting.
Walking up to the asleep humans, I sit down, take out the bags, and look through the books to see if there is anything of use. What I didnt realize is the fact that Im not literate. So, I may spend the rest of the day asking/torturing mentally/mind reading so I can learn what the words on here mean.
The women can take care of the Dark Elv for now. Hopefully. 'No Eating the child!' I mentally command them, seeing Bob eye the boy with a bloodthirsty glint in his eyes. Freaking Psychopath...
Day 13
After alot of asking, and mind reading (after they got over the shock of the sight of me, as well as the fact I speak the human tongue), I finally got a general Idea of how to read. Sadly, no new skill, but I did get this!
<< Telepathy leveled up! Proficancy now reached Adequate >>
<< Level Up! >>
<< You have reached level 10! Choose Mutation; The Owl Mutation, The Wasp Mutation, The Beast Mutation >>
<< The Owl Mutation; Gain wings with the ability to fly, as well as an extra pair of eyes that see far and in the dark. Side effects are that you grow feathers instead of hair. >>
<< The Wasp Mutation; Allowed to make a limited amount of mindless mini-yous known as the "Workers" under your control, allows your teeth and claws to have necrotic properties, and have a 5 inch stinger hidden in your wrists. Side effects are that you become almost stationary, having to do things through your clones, and you need to eat rotten corpses to upkeep the necrotic poison. >>
<< The Beast Mutation; Able to increase all senses, strength, speed, and increases all stats by x10. Side effects are that you lose any sentience or sense of control you have. >>
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Mm, its funny how theyd even show me something as trap-like as the Beast, considering my mind has been one of my biggest advantages so far. The owl mutation sound good, really good. The wings can help me gain more momentum, and I can attack from above... But i need my hair. Its the only thing keeping my head and neck warm...
So the Wasp Mutation it is!
<< You have unlocked the Wasp Mutation! Initiating changes now! >>
Whoa whoa, wait- Arghhhh!!
...
Day 14
Well... This feel weird. Im seeing through 5 pairs of eyes, all looking at my "Main" body. They dont look too different from me, just dont have antlers as long as mine (which have grown to be two feet long), poison, and have half my stats. They are a tad smaller than me at 7 feet tall, and dont have such a sickly look to them.
Honestly, I can probably pass them off as humans if you didnt look at their very obvious glowing gold eyes.
I never had a mirror or anything reflective enough to see them, but they are actuallyboth terrifying and awesome. It has two rings in the golden iris, with a vaguely triangle pupil. Very strange and unique. Moving on...
I can barely move my regular body. I can move, but it now requires extreme focus, unless I stop using my Hosts (Decided to use that as the term for these guys, instead of everything I mind control), which just makes them fall on the floor in a wonky fashion.
I pick them up and walk into the cave, thinking that maybe if I advance the telepathy a bit more, I may be able to use my Main body along with these hosts. Jeez the multi-tasking will be annoying...
I sit in my little private part of the cave and then start using my hosts. I will dub them... Boros. I use Boros 1 to continue reading, Boros 2 to talk with the humans later on to hunt, Boros 3 to take care of the Minotaurs and making sure Bob doesnt kill all the goats, and Boros 4 is going to have a little chat with our Dark Elv buddy and find out any information on whats going on down there.
After all, it would be great if we somehow take over 30 clans of Drk Elvs, with their numbers and small hands, we can milk, craft much better armor and weapons, and have a work force. they arent strong at all, and would be easy to kill off a clan or two even with our 3 active minotaurs...
However, we are dealing with 30 clans that can potentially band together and fight us. So I need to figure out the situation, how much this kid is worth, and think of a good plan to rule over them...
Sigh We should try herding Mammoths soon. They are slower breeders and harder to control/capture, but I dont think Bob will try killing them all for the joy of the supieriority. Freaking Psychopathic Stupid Bob...
Day 15
Well, I got plenty of information out the kid, the humans, and the books. First lets start with Qi. Qi is apparently a mystical force that allows one to advance themselves, ridding of impurities in their bodies, growing very old yet being young, etc. Daos of this would be your path, or your Dao Clans path to power. An example would be the Daos of dreams, stars, mountain, river, valley, tree, bull, etc.
I also learned the very basics of how to feel and manipulate General Qi, which is Qi with no specific element. I got a new skill out of that.
<< Qi Manipulation (Basic) Acheived! >> << Qi Talent Obtained! >>
Also found that magics a thing, but needs much more specific requirements to unlock and develop, so I will hold off on that. As for the Dao Im planning on following, its my own Dao of Space. Ambitious, yes, but why not shoot for the stars? Im ageless, and have all the time in the world to cultivate.
After feasting on some fried human, I foudn out that the dark elv child is the daughter of a clan leader named Tanya. Dont really care about her name, will honestly forget it eventually, but whats important is that I have a hostage of decent importance.
Considering how I treat her with smiles, food, and warmth, even going so far as to not hide too much of my sick status, I doubt the 10 year old even thinks she is a hostage, just a little girl being helped by a group of strange beings.
I decided to start my cunning plan by feeding her some crap of how we live at the entrance of this cave to keep the dangerous wild beasts out, the adventurers away, and the cave warm. I also told her that we were "sadly" declining in population, due to how ruthless things have gotten out there, and that we may not survive another season.
That elicted a few tears from her, which is good. It means shes buying my BS, and likely not smart enough yet to notice that the "fat ones" are no longer fat, or even around us anymore. Thats another big event that happened today. Three women gave birth to three litters of Minotaurs.
This increased our population from 6-7 to 35+. Most are babies yes, but they grow up very very fast. Back to the Dark Elv, she said she can get her papa to help us out. I told her that would be wonderful, and that I will help her get back to her clan if she can get them to help me.
Obviously she cant promise such things, but I have a feeling that her parent will be more politically inclined to see that we have her as a potential hostage. I'll use the Wasps (which are slowing down around 1k due to not many rotting corpses around) to scout the caves to find us a way to get to where she came from, as well as a contengency plan if they just attack me/Boro 4.
Also just realized that I can gain skills through my Boros. If they learn or level skills, I personally get them. I also found out how it works with levels, due to a basic skill allowing a level one to go level two. Boros one was te one practicing cultivation and Qi manipulation, and he leveled up. He didnt increase in stats, or got any AP...
But I got 5 free AP. This means everytime a Boros levels, I get 5 AP, plus I still personally gain the experience that they gain as well. This ability, thats not even a skill... This may be my most used ability ever!
Oh, and lets not forget the few skills/notifications I got along the way.
<< Language (Adequate) (Dark Elvs) Acheived! >> << Multitasking (Beginner) Unlocked! >> << Level Up! x2 >>
Looks like Boros 4 is now level 5! Mm, I havent spent any of my new AP yet. Lets change that before I encounter the Dark Elvs.
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<<
Level 12
34/130 Exp
11,000 Hp
5000 Sp
10,000 Psy
Strength: 45
Perception: 40
Endurance: 55
Charisma: 15
Intelligence: 100
Agility: 60
Luck: 1
AP (Attribute Points): 70
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Mm, Im pretty agile, but since Im hoping to NOT fight, I think Charisma needs a teeny tiny boost...
Put 45 in Charisma!
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<<
Level 12
34/130 Exp
11,000 Hp
5000 Sp
10,000 Psy
Strength: 45
Perception: 40
Endurance: 55
Charisma: 60
Intelligence: 100
Agility: 60
Luck: 1
AP (Attribute Points): 25
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There. Think my chances of negotiation are going to be slightly better. still bringing my thousand or so wasps hidden in the ceiling of this large cave system, just to be safe. Hopefully noone looks up and sees the pure white swarm of wasps...
Meh, either way its in my favor, and if it really goes down hard I can put down the 25 in agility and they would get +12 agility. Hopefully by the time Boros 4 comes back from getting support with the Dark Elvs, the children will have grown up and are having their own children by then. We do need more land for our mighty clan Snowflake!
Chuckles I cant even say that with a straight face!