Robert opened his eyes just to find himself on the same stony field. He was half expecting something grandeur after the fact of getting new abilities, but the reality had laughed at him. Indeed, some of his colleagues had already begun to test newly acquired powers. Still, nothing mind-blowing. He saw that the huge fat barbarian made his skin look like shining silver with visible segments. The strange teenage girl turned her both arms into beasty-clawed paws, actively trying to severe an imaginary enemy in front of her. Few, like Robert, were just observing the others, either not having the ability to show off or not bothering with that. He wondered how many of them made a similar choice as him, but there would be no answer for the time being.
What was more interesting – was the small changes in appearance. Some led to new colors of hair or tiny scales on the skin. The mentioned earlier teenager had got pitch-black long nails. The biggest awarded its owner a short protruding horn on a bald forehead. It attracted attention not only from Rob but also from others, turning him into a local point of interest. Dressed in rags, that muscular man was five people apart from Roberts’s location, being hidden from eyes before that. Even now, it was hard to see the details, as nobody was polite enough to clear the sight for Rob.
I am sure he got it after merging with the Soul, but I haven’t seen anything in the list that may produce such an effect. Hmm, so not only we are from various worlds, and have different pasts, skills, and abilities, but our blessings options seem to be random too. Together, it will make each path of the so-named Envoy quite unique. Maybe this is the main goal of Hunter’s god – to create numerous strong individuals, so they can reap worthy souls? Could be… Also, I wonder will I look prettier? It’s not that important but my face might need some fix. Not sure, if that soul of the rodent can make it happen though. Whatever.
Throwing away this thought, Robert tried to feel any difference in his body after becoming one with his soul and there was none. No visible addition from a magic gnawer too. He was thin and weak as before. At least his potential had risen quite a bit, so a large frame might be achievable. Despite understanding that stats were about performance, stronger muscles were bigger by default. However, the way to get there was not even close – he needed to train for years. The only hope was in the description of Adaptive Growth, which might shorten the time needed. Continuing checking himself, soon he felt some emptiness deep inside himself, ephemeral and subtle.
Must be Core or my soul. Guess, such a drop is hard to ignore. Now, I need to think about how to increase my stats. It’s an easy task with Strength, Endurance, and Agility – ordinary training. Toughness and Vitality… The only idea is to let someone beat me and, with the help of my Adaptive growth, maybe it will change something in me to become a tougher punching bag? Already can feel the pain in just testing it. Nothing can be done with my Mind – I had literally surgery on my brain to get there. Same with Perception – I can’t train to see further… Hmm, there are more senses in it, but just don’t know. Core is the last, but not least. Hope my soul is similar to muscles – the more I use mana, the more it trains.
Robert continued making mental plans and pondering about what was waiting for him. Working out could help a lot, but he also needed hard skills to survive. He would be grateful and happy if God could send him to some kind of Magic Academy to study and prepare himself, but that was just wishful thinking. He got his prepayment already and now he needed to start returning the investment. Rob had a rough guess that after death, God might take his soul back and maybe the next batch could be merged with his remnants to get an increase in the Mind stat.
Modified human Robert Flop – special surgery was held to merge the brain with an alien’s organ to get its performance to the level of the hive mind. Extremely fast processing of any information. It is boosted by special equipment at the price of a weak constitution. Has a strong soul to survive the presence of a real God, but no mana-based abilities.
Traits: Remolded Brain, Strong soul, Weak
He sighed inwardly, trying to throw away pessimistic thoughts, which were boosted by boiling imagination. Returning attention to the surroundings, he saw that by this moment everyone was finished with their blessing, patiently waiting or trying to be acquainted with new powers. To his surprise, no one tried to communicate with each other. Robert could understand that. Most likely, he would never see anyone, so what’s the point? He also didn’t want to waste time, mentally preparing himself, which soon proved to be a good idea.
There was no signal, no command, no briefing, no parting speech from the God themselves. Nothing. The surrounding instantly became black because of the whirlwind that sucked him in a moment earlier. Rob felt he was pulled somewhere but couldn’t discern anything in this vortex. However, there was no discomfort. Only this strange force that was transporting him to an unknown destination. This time Robert wasn’t bored at all despite the non-changing scenery. Growing anxiousness inside him kept his mind busy. Alas, nothing was endless. His body was spit out and dropped heavily on a hard surface, resulting in a wave of pain in his back. Rob lied for a few seconds before opening his eyes and looking around.
A typical green forest surrounded him. It wasn’t too dense, so trees and plants had enough space to get their portion of sunbathing. Robert saw some mushrooms and even colorful flowers, but having almost no knowledge of botany, the scenery looked quite ordinary to him. Trees didn’t tower on hundreds of meters. There were no huge man-eating plants. He didn’t see any dog-sized spiders or their thick webs. No strange claw marks on the nearest barks or gigantic footprints on the ground. Even the local star looked as common as it possibly could, maybe only a little bit bigger than the accustomed sun. Mediocre scenery of nature, that couldn’t even make it in the top ten thousand beautiful places on Earth.
However, in Robert’s eyes, such ordinariness was completely untypical. He, who spent most of his life in training centers of orphanages, never traveled anywhere. Best best-looking place that he saw live was the surroundings of bunkers on defense lines. Considering that any obstacles were wiped out so as not to obstruct shooting in the incoming swarm, he mainly enjoyed the view of the fields. Grassy, rocky, or snowy, but fields. And now, breathing such fresh air not filled with the smell of oil, petrol, or gun powder, was a pure pleasure.
Wow, maybe this was worth the death…
It was a crazy thought, but Robert from the beginning didn’t feel any regrets. His life was plain. Very important for thousands of citizens behind his back, but plain. Even being right in front of a real God didn’t impact him so much as an ordinary nature. Or, maybe at last, the final realization came to him – death crossed out everything, but instead opened an unimaginable path ahead. Rob just needed to be strong enough to endure traveling it to experience more.
Okay, Robert, let's head out then. The apocalypses of the world will not wait for me!
He started to walk in a random direction. Rob had a logical thought about an option of orienting using the star not to circle around but wasn’t sure how he would keep tracking it in the forest. Also, he didn’t know the duration of the day. Not that was a necessity for it. Still, the absence of knowledge led Rob to abandon the idea for now. Therefore, he just walked, while carefully observing his surroundings. After reading the descriptions on the list of optional souls to merge with, he couldn’t afford to be careless. Some of the animals from it could easily pose a real threat to a fully equipped soldier in an exoskeleton, not talking about him. For such cases, Robert found a long and almost straight stick to use in self-defense. Fortunately, there was no need.
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During several hours of walking, he saw a few deer and noticed motions in bushes. Nothing more. Most of the wildlife ignored him or quickly ran away. On the other hand, he already had a problem with tiredness. He wasn’t thirsty or hungry, but soreness in his muscles, especially in his legs and back, started to kill him. Control bunkers, being the main place of stay for years, had quite a limited space. Robert was sure that he made less than five hundred steps per day on average. For him to move for so long was indeed an achievement. However, awareness of this fact didn’t help at all.
Fuck, I am tired… That dusty treadmill in the storage could be useful if I had known the future…
Trying to catch his breath, he plopped down on the nearest fallen tree trunk. Stretching his legs, Robert massaged them a little bit, while thinking about the current situation. Robert hoped deep down that this forest wasn’t enormous, and he would soon find humans because for an alternative he had the death from starvation as a very possible scenario. He wasn’t even ready for survival in wildness, not talking about the future end of the world.
Damn, too many wishes together – the size of the forest, humans in this world, a correct direction, a settlement near me, minimum hospitality of locals. I can really die in the beginning… at least there would be no muscle pain… Wait, what?
Focusing on his body, he was surprised as a new feeling emerged from inside. It was a mixture of refreshing and a cooling wave, which came from a heart and washed over his tiredness. Dull pain in muscles was completely gone, instead replaced by almost an imperceptible hunger and an odd emptiness. As if not fully believing in his own senses, Robert got up and jumped a few times. He was indeed as good as when he had appeared in this forest. Recalling the description of his abilities and traits, Rob looked at his forearm. To his utter surprise, the tattoo was nowhere seen, but only a single thought about the status screen made it appear immediately. Surrounding went pitch black, completely cutting off the outside world. He made a mental mark to look into his stats only in a safe place, before shifting his attention to the text. There were a few changes.
Envoy of Wepwakor (candidate) – Tier 0
Strength 2/23 Agility 5/17 Endurance 3/25 Toughness 4/15
Vitality 5/16 Perception 9/14 Mind 40/50 Core 13/20
Mana regeneration (7): 1% in apr. 107 seconds
Current level of mana – 0%
Abilities: Adaptive
Traits: Remolded, Envoy, Spirit, Anchor
His position as a candidate and tier level gave zero valuable information. Maybe tier could influence something but remembering that status screen showed his own acquired strength, he felt it was useless. A similar situation was with the newly appeared level of mana. Considering he wasn’t able to fast-check the exact number and that he somehow could vaguely feel this energy inside him, the usability of this feature was under a big question. Most likely, with additional training or time, he could feel it in the same way as he could feel his own stamina.
No, the most eye-catching thing was obvious – mana regeneration. Its level definitely came from the Core stat, but that was not hard to deduct when the previous description had directly talked about putting part of his soul in space between dimensions.
Wait, how does it even work? If my body is one with the soul, then putting the soul there means my body is also there? Hm… don’t feel anything. No, it may mean more ties between body and soul. So, no reincarnation or possible future of an Archi-Lich… Too many fiction books, Rob, way too many.
Looking at these numbers, Robert made quick calculations with the help of the ground and a small stick, which was found nearby. It took some mental strain, but he figured out the exact difference between Core and Mana Regeneration level – 177%.
Okay, it explains that strange number of 107 seconds. Therefore, the base speed is 1% per minute if the stats are the same. It also confirms the exponentiation used in stats. Now I have two questions without answers. How does it compare with natural absorption? Active or passive variants of it? Not sure that such information will help me as I already might not reverse the effect of soul merge. Also, is there any limit to the Mana regeneration stat? Because it doesn’t show anything like that. If I don’t have a way to increase it somehow, then with higher mana capacity, I will need much more time to be full again. However, it is a task for the future. Right now my main goal is to understand the capabilities of this Adaptive ability.
Robert wasn’t stupid not to understand where the strange recovery came from. He remembered that it was uncontrollable, but there had to be some rules or conditions to trigger it. Rob had some ideas that he needed to check. So, without wasting more time, he got up and continued his directionless walk. His long stick became quite handy in it, fortunately not being used for the main purpose. Despite that, Robert spent almost half an hour sharpening its tip with stone. Better be safe than sorry.
Still, his journey looked like a trip through wild nature on a premade tourist route. Especially with the addition of a light breeze and a feeling of freshness as a result. Untouched nature blossomed without the influence of humans, creating truly gorgeous sceneries. At least those were the thoughts of Robert. He couldn’t stop himself from pausing periodically just to watch as another bug carried something on his back. Or until a signing bird had finished its opera. Or other phenomena that bewitched him. Even a group of wild boars, that he observed from afar, looked fascinating.
He even spent some time hiding in bushes so as not to trigger possible aggression while imagining himself as a real forester. However, he was noticed almost immediately. At least the black leader with huge tusks only snorted in the direction of Robert before continuing his way further. Such a small action made Rob sweat from the possible consequences of careless admiring of animals. Especially, when most of them were at mid-thigh level, while the front one, the leader, easily towered above others. Moreover, that was Robert’s thigh, not the average’s person. He wasn’t sure if he could outpace the ramming sprint of such beasts. When the boars finally left, Robert checked their route only to find trampled earth. Without a second thought, he chose to follow it in the hope of finding the solution to thirst as some books described such an animal’s habit of leaving a trail to the watering place. Of course, he went oppositely from the group.
This time he didn’t meet anyone and had enough time to reflect his newly acquired ability. A few experiments confirmed that it wouldn’t activate while doing anything, despite how tired he was. Robert needed to relax for a minute or sometimes more before a new refreshing wave would restore accumulated fatigue. He vaguely felt that the main purpose of ability was different. Text explanation described it as Adaptive Growth and not restoration using mana. Attempts to find change in muscles didn’t lead to anything – he needed more such cycles to see it, but he guessed that was it. However, that gave another conclusion.
In sum, mostly likely it will speed up my training, but I need to stop from time to time to push the change onto me. Maybe that rodent conversed energy during danger, while only being in the safe place made him trigger the growth. So, no endless stamina during any activity. That leaves questions about the value of the increase in speed of training and borders of this adaptability. The big problem is hunger. I understand that the main source of energy is mana, but it can’t possibly fully replace the need for nutrients unfortunately… Damn, right now I would swallow even that disgusting wheat porridge from the last time when Daniel had a wonderful thought to test a new recipe!
The environment slowly became darker, but Robert kept walking. It took him almost an hour to get to some kind of river. An involuntary smile appeared on his face when he saw a sunset reflection on the water's surface. However, it was literally washed away in a moment by the presence of a huge bear. The giant animal immediately turned to him, before angrily roaring with all its might.
Shit!