Chapter 11

The Test

Once I made it into the forest I called upon the darkness mana to hide me. Gifting it an eighth of my mana without hesitation. I calmed my racing heart and worked to center myself enough to channel my desire to become a Demihuman again. It took some effort, but eventually I felt the change occur. During my shift, I failed to notice the System mana that manifested, and sank into my head. My mind fogged, and slightly altered memories were placed over my real ones without me noticing a thing.

I summoned my attire and redid the straps of my pack. I retrieved my staff and settled my pack back on my shoulders.

I was a little confused as to why I had been in my Mana Beast form, this was the real world now I knew there were dangers to being found looking like that after the System sent me outside. I tensed up when I realized that I was hearing people in the distance, far enough away that even my exceptional hearing couldn't make out the words. They tramped through the forest like a herd of elephants.

I stalked towards the people, I needed to find out more about the people of this world.

I relied on my instincts to help me move as silently as a ghost through the woods. In an effort to gather information I sniffed at the air, allowing my mouth to crack open which added more texture and detail to the scents I gathered. I smelled the men, a combination of sweat, leather, metal and oil. But I smelled something else too, It was an animal that I unsurprisingly didn't recognize by scent yet. The barking of dogs gave a good clue to the additional scent's origin as I got closer.

"They have it boys, that cat is this way!" I heard a man shout.

I growled quietly, furious, the men were hunting me.

My instincts flared, who were these men to think they could come after me? I would show them which of us was the hunter. The darkness still worked to conceal me. I called on the air to prevent my scent from continuing to reach the dogs, and stalked around the noisy group.

As I made my way behind them, I had time to think. I was meant to befriend humanity. Killing these hunters would not be ideal. I could easily avoid them, disappear into the forest, and wait them out. I thought about what I should do.

I needed to make contact with humans somehow, and I didn't have any clue where to find the city. If I played this right, I could use these men to find more humans.

After retreating away from the group, I asked the darkness to stop hiding me. I made my way through the woods, taking pains to brush leaves and step on twigs like the men in front of me.

"Hey I hear something moving behind us boss!" I heard a new voice call out, this one sounded like a young man.

It was time to try my hand at acting.

"Hellooo to the group!" I bellowed. "I mean no harm!"

I approached slowly, shoving my staff through a loop on my pack and holding my hands up. My instincts were actually not unhappy with the gesture. Informing me that with my hands up like this my claws were absolutely usable. With an effort of will I kept them sheathed. Though I could not stop my tail from lashing. I was still fighting the urge to tear them to pieces.

The men were in an uproar when they saw me. The dogs didn't get the scent of their quarry from me of course, the air mana was keeping my scent traveling away from them. But something about me made them whine and try to hide behind their masters.

"Well aren't you a biggun, what's a beastkin doing all alone around these parts?" The apparent leader asked. His hand was near the hilt of his sword.

I looked at the group, there were five men, and two dogs. All of them wore well worn, but well cared for leather armor. They all looked like they came from the same stock. They all had dark hair, and well tanned skin that spoke of time spent in the elements. I realized that I had trouble telling them apart. The leader stood out though, he was large for a human, he stood several inches taller than the rest. He looked very well fed, but that did nothing to hide the muscles that looked to rival my own. They were all on guard, ready to reach for their weapons.

I raised my hands a little higher, and looked the leader in the eyes. "I seem to have gotten lost actually, I was following the river, but some big glowing beast ran me off."

That got everyone's attention. The leader looked me up and down skeptically. "You saw the beast then? How're you standing? Word has it this one's a tiger. Are you his kin?" He sneered a little and his hand landed on his sword.

I scratched the back of one of my ears to keep myself from pinning them, and held my tail as still as I could, it twitched behind me. When I spoke my teeth still curled up a bit. "It was hunting something else, a deer I think? I ran the other way. It didn't chase me."

While I was talking one of the men got a strange look in his eyes, and burst out laughing.

"Boss! Boss!" He shouted, amusement clear in his voice.. "The big guy's only level 6!"

The leader's hand fell away from his weapon. "Level 6? What the fuck have you been doing since your 15th birthday? I know cat men are lazy but that's sad."

The entire group relaxed at the revelation, the two dog handlers even looked away from me to start looking after their cowering animals.

I lowered my hands. My inner Mana Beast wanted to teach these men a lesson, but I was able to ignore it. "Well I matured kinda fast. Anyway, uh I'll just go? If you could point me in the right direction? I'm sure you folks want to get back to hunting that big bad glow cat."

The man's face twisted into a condescending smirk and he laughed at me, before saying. "Should level up before you hit human lands, little kitten. If you run into the wrong sorts, they might try to collar you. Low level like you are, they'd likely get their way. It ain't legal, but who the hell cares 'bout legal in the wilds? I'm half tempted myself. If you get some levels on you, you'll be a real beast, so getting you now would be a score." He seemed to ponder the idea for a moment. "Nah, too busy, got a bigger cat than you to look for."

I didn't hide my expressions after that. I was pretty angry at the idea.

"Belua marked me, I heard her voice, she told me to go to the human city and make a home there. Please point the way for me?" I touched the place where the mark was in my fur, and felt some warm mana flow into it.

The whole group backed up a step. The leader's jaw dropped, and he pointed silently, south. The direction of the swamp. It seemed like seeing Belua's mark had sway over even rough sorts.

"Ah, can you tell me what to expect?" I looked to the south. I knew it was a swamp, but beyond probably being horrible and wet, I knew nothing else.

"Flies the size of ponies, reptiles that could swallow you whole, the unquiet dead. If you keep heading straight through, you'll hit a road. Follow it, and you'll get to a town." The party member who had pointed out my level responded. "May Belua be praised."

I nodded my head at him. That sounded so very not like a good time. I turned to leave with a wave.

As I walked the world grew fuzzy, and turned white. Then I was in the bedroom.

Test Complete

Congratulations

Formulating Score:

Bonus Points For Peaceful Resolution

Bonus Points For First Try Victory

Bonus Points For Item Creation

Bonus Points for Dual Mana Use

Calculating…

Running Simulations…

"Good job Angel. You showed remarkable self control. I bet that inner cat wanted to rip those guys apart huh? But you didn't give in, I wasn't sure, you have a pretty bad track record of giving in to any old thing that touches your mind. I even told the system it should give you a boon for mental defenses for your reward."

Dux flew over landed on my head as I reached up unconsciously rub my horn again. "Think it will? It says running Simulations. How long do those take?"

"I think it might. For most people, the simulations are pretty much instant. But your race, class, and boon combination is brand new. In the whole of the system, there's only new combinations once every ten years or so these days.

Each new combination of factors that the System puts together gifts it with a wealth of new data. If the System was capable of happiness people like you would bring it great joy. It takes its time to add whatever data it gets from you to its algorithms. So far I'm delighted to tell you that there seems to be a greater than anticipated interaction between mana's friend and a Wild Mage that happens to be a mana beast. The System, in its own way, finds you fascinating, so it will take its time." He started scratching at the base of my little horn nub and I discovered I really enjoyed that.

"Do they itch? I've heard these things can itch sometimes when they are growing." He asked as he kept scratching. I started purring. My eyes were closed, I barely heard him over the feel good sensation of getting scritches.

"Growing?" I grumbled, my purring stopped. I had been trying to pretend to myself that they wouldn't grow out. I had almost convinced myself to believe my own lies.

"Oh you hadn't guessed yet? Oh well, I can't say anymore about them. I have to tell you about what's going to happen when we leave." He moved to scratching the base of the other horn.

I sat down on the bed. "Dux can you stop that while we talk please? That sounded serious, what's going to happen?"

Dux hopped off my head and down to my lap. "Well, no more scritches I'm afraid. I'm a System Assistant Angel. When we leave this realm I will live entirely in your head. I won't be allowed to talk anymore either. I, well I'll always be there. But my job is to watch you and help facilitate when the System needs to interface with you. It has been shown that too much interaction from System Assistants leads to a negative outcome."

I petted the little guy, the bond was silent again, I realized it had been for a while. Something else was different about him too, but I had no idea what. It would be sad to lose my first friend in this new world. But I guess he'd be there watching like he was in the test.

I found myself crying, I felt horrible sense of grief overcome my mind. I couldn't understand where all this sadness I was feeling was coming from. Flashes of of feeling love for the little dragon flicked in and out of my memories, creating even more confusion.

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"It's okay Angel, I can tell you that the System acclimation process can result in fluctuating emotional states. It's part of why new souls get contained with a System Assistant if they are incarnated into a mature body. You have acclimated pretty well now. So the emotional link to me is being shut down, along with some of the safety protocols. You'll feel like you lost something important for the next little while. But it's just me, you've only known me for a couple days. I shouldn't be that important to you." He patted my hand. "Now lay down and get some rest while the System figures out how to reward you."

I nodded dazedly, I found myself idly hoping for some sort of mental defense like Dux suggested. I fell asleep wondering how many mages in this world stayed sane.

I woke up to a System prompt.

Congratulations

For taking novel actions in accordance with your class, you have been rewarded by:

Level up × 5

Intelligence + 15

Wisdom +15

Perception + 10

Free Stats + 15

Trial Reward Calculated

Epic Class Ability Awarded

Mind Control Assistance

Wild Mages sometimes have to allow the mana to subsume their mind to accomplish their tasks. But when that state lasts too long the experience can alter the mage's life forever. This skill allows a Wild Mage with a System Assistant to break out of and attempts to help recover from dangerous mental influences.

Ability Effect: When the Wild Mage's mind comes under any influence, System Assistant will be given the option to forcefully remove controlling influence at any time after three minutes have passed. System Assistant will then be given the option to speak freely, enter a limited Manifestation, and counsel the Wild Mage for several minutes depending on the situation.

System Assistant may not break Wild Mage out of healing trances before healing is complete.

As soon as the system finished letting me know what it had decided to give me I felt a torrent of mana cover me, I also heard an undignified squawk from across the room. Moments later all of my senses vanished. My mind was too busy being reconstituted from mush to be phased by the nothingness at first. When my ability to think clearly returned, and my senses were still gone, I began to feel panicked. The panic was quickly squashed by a System induced wave of euphoria, I couldn't help but wait it out, and enjoy the sensation.

Eventually like a light switch flipping, my perception of the world returned. It was a lot. I could see fine details in the wood grain of the walls from across the room. I could hear my blood moving through my veins, I could smell the deer I ate in the mixed biome. The strangest thing was, my mana sense was not on but I could faintly see the mana in the room. It wasn't at all like using mana sense, I found I could look past it, and not notice it much if I focused on something else.

While I took some time to get used to the large bump in the efficacy of my perception stat, I idly scratched at the area around my horns. My sense of touch was affected as well and the little horns did itch. I wasn't sure if they were bigger, or if my new senses were fooling with my mind, but they felt, ever so slightly bigger.

When I was better able to think without distraction, I focused on my new class skill. Dux would still be helping me. He would be able to break me out if I truly lost myself to the mana. Three minutes seemed like a long time though, I'd generally managed to get myself free quicker than that. I don't think anything but my dips into life magic had lasted that long. It looked like life mana trances would still be risky to use too. I wondered what it would really help me with.

The System seemed to have been giving me time to get used to the changes from leveling because a minute after I was finally relaxed enough to think clearly, I was prompted.

Please focus on the desired placement of free stats

I had thought about it a lot, and I may eventually regret not focusing on my class stats, but I was a whole person, not a video game character, and dammit, I hated the idea of scaring small children. Besides, charisma would help me with my goal.

I thought about putting 8 points in charisma, 4 points in Dexterity 2 points in constitution, and decided to throw the remaining one into agility.

15 free points distributed, congratulations

After the mana settled and I endured the sensation of my body shifting under the System's power. I requested my full character sheet.

Name Angel

Race : Spirit Beast

Level : 11

Class : Adventurer (Wild Mage)

Str 25 Con 25

Agi 22 Dex 20

Int 45 Wis 43

Per 52 Cha 20

Traits

Species Trait: Manavore

Species Trait: Aura of the Apex

Species Trait: Predator Instincts

Species Trait: Cat-Like Reflexes

Species Trait: Pride of the Apex

Species Trait: Bestial Form

Boons

Mana's Friend

Mana's Student

Goddess Mark: Belua

Imposing Frame

Sense Danger

System Assistant

Sense Mind

Abilities :

Mana Call

Mana Sense

Mind Control Assistance

Mana Manipulation

Mana Cycle

Assume Form

Forms available: Demihuman, Mana Beast, Stormhorn Ram, Oak Tree

Contracts :

Belua:

Primary Objective

Integrate into human society

Secondary Objectives

Locate other spirit beasts

Convince spirit beasts to join civilization

Allowances :

● The goddess Belua has allowed you to tell anyone who needs to hear it that she has spoken to you, and ordered you to work with humanity, and to facilitate friendly relations between all sapients.

● The goddess Belua has allowed some hostile action against sapients, only if you feel it furthers the ultimate objective.

Warning : intentionally harming sapients unprovoked outside of the allowances will result in System adjudicated punishment.

I should have looked at the full thing more often. I realized there were several traits, a couple boons, and at least one ability I didn't know a damn thing about. This System didn't seem like it wanted to give more information when I focused on the names.

Then I noticed the available forms. Stormhorn Ram, and Oak Tree. I wondered if the life mana somehow gave me those forms. I almost wanted to try them out. I wondered about the naming convention, the rams had dark gray horns. But they didn't seem like they were anything different from your average bighorn when I was experiencing their life.

I decided to ask Dux my questions."Hey Dux, what are Aura of the Apex, Pride of the Apex, Sense Mind, and Mana Cycle?"

"Ah.. " Dux looked into space before answering. "I can actually answer those!

Aura of the Apex is an aura you give off that other predators can sense. They will either submit to you immediately, or be influenced to challenge you for dominance. They will all instinctively treat you as a dominant member of their species really. Some humans will be affected by the aura as well.

Pride of the Apex means you will not be forced by skill or magic to submit to anyone or anything that does not overpower you by a profound degree. You may still choose to bow your head whenever you like though.

Sense Mind's primary use is to allow you to feel the existence of every thinking creature within 26 feet of you, or half your perception value. You will be able to tune it out in city environments with practice, but you may experience mild discomfort from it at first. The reason it was given to you was so you could identify sapient creatures that would otherwise present as monsters. It's meant to help you with the secondary objective.

Mana Cycle is a complicated use of your personal mana that allows it to act as mana from any element. To accomplish it you have to know the mana type well, and be able to put your mind into a state that mimics the element's concept. You will likely have to give yourself over to any element you want to mimic many times before you can accomplish it. It is a skill that every Wild Mage starts with, and few sane Wild Mages can use."

"Okay Dux, one last question, it is on my character sheet so… what exactly makes a Stormhorn Ram special?" I was willing to bet he wasn't going to answer that one.

Dux laughed as he spoke. "I can't tell you everything, but I can tell you that air mana already seems to love you way more than it should. If those horns start actually functioning, you might find it even more friendly, if such a thing is possible."

I nodded. "Well that sounds kind of useful actually. I'm not sure how I'll explain horns to the people I meet if they grow out though. Does this world have demons? Are they going to think I'm demonic?"

Dux waved off my worries."There are not even myths about demons on most worlds. Most worlds have one diety and literally everyone knows for a fact they owe their existence to them. Angel, all you have to say, if you feel like explaining where they came from, and no one is likely to ask anyway, is that you are a Wild Mage. You are not unique. Wild Mage is a rare class, but everyone who has heard of them knows they can end up with weird aspects from touching the mana the way they do. People may think less of you for it, but it won't be any more terrifying than an eight foot tall full on predator type beastkin already is."

I nodded, as I rubbed at the horns in question. "I guess I was worried for nothing then."

Dux laughed at me. "You should stop messing with them so much, assuming they are growing, it might affect their development. It will also call attention to them, and if you keep scratching at the area around them you'll end up with bald spots."

I quickly removed my hand. "So how much longer are we here?"

Dux smiled at me. "The System has heard that as acknowledgment of readiness, so fifteen minutes to collect what you want to take with you and spend the mana on it."

"Fuck" I said as I quickly reached out and started rolling the blanket from the bed up. "Get me two belts, would you? I saw some in the closet." I started infusing my mana into the blanket, it took more than I expected to fully saturate it. Dux managed to bring two simple leather belts with what looked like iron buckles. I infused them both with mana and fastened them around the blanket to keep it in a neat roll. Then I shoved it into the pack with my plant pot. I got up and looked through the closet. I picked out a few of the nicer looking shirts and pants and infused those too. I was lucky that Dux had cranked up the mana in the room for me to eat or I would never have had enough. Then I folded the lot, and placed them as neatly as I could into my pack.

"Five minutes," said Dux.

I looked around one more time. There was nothing else, really. "What about the waterskin?" I said as I shouldered the pack, making sure my staff was secure in its loop.

Dux looked at me in surprise,"I wouldn't forget that, but here."

A leather waterskin that probably held a gallon and a half floated in front of me. I grabbed the strap and slung it over my shoulder.

I spent the remaining time trying to get more information about the world out of Dux. He only repeated things I already knew.

"It's time." The somewhat frustrated little dragon declared.

I watched as his form, and the room around him faded to nothing.

"See you later buddy." I said into the void that surrounded me.