Once clothed, TJ took special care to stay unnoticed for several minutes as his Divine Transformation timer ticked up to 2:00. In total, with his new attributes, he could remain transformed for 26 minutes. Though he strained his ears to listen to anything that approached, the whistling wind, groaning trees, and rustling brush didn’t tip him off to anything. With a sigh, TJ, instead of worrying needlessly, pulled up his status sheet.
Status Sheet
Name: TJ (Thiago Jorge) Harris IV
Race: Human – lvl 3
Class: Neophyte lvl 4
Occupation: Savage lvl 3
Level of Divinity: Dirt (0)
Divine Bloodline: Kukulkan
Health Points (HP): 310/310
Mana Points (MP): 170/170
Stamina: 290/290
Attributes
Strength: 17
Agility: 12
Endurance: 29
Vitality: 31
Toughness: 25
Wisdom: 18
Intelligence: 17
Perception: 19
Willpower: 26
Fixation: 18
Free Points: 3
Skill List:
Class: Divine Transformation
Occupation: Primitive Craftsmanship
Titles: Irregular
Current total Divine Transformation time: 3:17 / 26:00
(End+Vit+Will+Fix)/4
He’d at least doubled every one of his attributes since getting an Occupation only yesterday, and his Class today. He could feel that levelling up would take more and more time, since the slight understanding he’d gained of both Savage and Neophyte warned him that he wasn’t even close on either. Curious to compare, TJ carefully focused to ensure his clothing came with him as he transformed back into a coatl. When he opened his eyes, every article of clothing had disappeared, and he looked once again at the changes.
Status Sheet
Name: TJ (Thiago Jorge) Harris IV
Race: Coatl – lvl 3
Class: Neophyte lvl 4
Occupation: Savage lvl 3
Level of Divinity: Dirt (0)
Divine Bloodline: Kukulkan
Health Points (HP): 620/620
Mana Points (MP): 170/170
Stamina: 580/580
Attributes
Strength x2: 34
Agility x1.5: 18
Endurance x2: 58
Vitality x2: 62
Toughness x2: 50
Wisdom: 18
Intelligence: 17
Perception x1.5: 28
Willpower: 26
Fixation: 18
Free Points: 3
Skill List:
Class: Divine Transformation
Occupation: Primitive Craftsmanship
Titles: Irregular
This snake became so much tougher and stronger than him that it was difficult to understand. With a thought, TJ shifted back to his original form and stretched. “Do I need to always display the whole status?”
Just as when you changed the System’s form of address to you to “you” from “Participant Thiago Jorge Harris IV”, you can adjust nearly every notification and display that the Divine System gives you. The purpose of the System is to assist all Participants in advancing towards the Divine Throne, thus the System can be adjusted to each Participant’s desires and comfort.
“Then hide the Skill List. That’ll just get long.”
Skill List hidden.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He verified with a glance then released the Divine Transformation. TJ stood tall and stretched, the bones in his sternum and shoulders popping pleasantly. To his delight, and a little fear, staying mostly still while only garbed in his pretty shoddy clothes wasn’t as miserable as the day before. Before he began to worry, though, TJ had an epiphany. “Do I not get as cold now that my Vitality is higher?”
Vitality and Endurance allow the Participant to better survive in extreme climates and conditions.
TJ grinned widely, happy to get some real good news for the first time. He would be demonstrably better suited to life like this. Even so, his smile quickly faded. His son wouldn’t be there, and TJ couldn’t say when he would be able to see him again. Worse, his Strength and Agility were both going to be quickly outclassed. He would swiftly become nearly impossible to kill as his Endurance, Vitality, and Toughness continued to spike, but if he couldn’t do anything to return a hit except for bite and constrict, anything larger than him or even a bit tougher than these coyotes would kill him.
Even so, TJ couldn’t simply decide to dump every Free Point into Strength. That just was foolish, as far as he was concerned. There had to be a way for each of the Classes to be individually viable, right? If the System could be trusted, which TJ didn’t but had to anyway, then each Class had to have the possibility to become the God that sat on the Throne. A Disciple couldn’t be confined to only heal everyone else, or else they would be mere servants to the Zealots and Acolytes, and the Neophyte couldn’t be limited to taking hits like a video game tank. There had to be something missing.
As if it had listened to his worries, the System chimed in.
At each multiple of five, a Participant will experience a marked increase in their capabilities to protect themselves and continue their progress towards the Throne. With each Skill’s acquisition, a Participant can hone their vision for their Path towards true Divinity. If you decide that you would like your Class to provide Skills that assist in your ability to cause harm, then act in such a way that exemplifies your desire to become a God of destruction. If you desire for your Occupation to provide Skills that facilitate your ability to slaughter, then you must engage in slaughter.
The way the System bluntly presented what TJ feared he would have to become turned his stomach. Even as a spike of anxiety made him lose what little appetite he’d built up, TJ examined himself. For Junior, what would he do? Would he kill coyotes, rattlesnakes, bears, and mountain lions? Absolutely, and without hesitation. Would he take things from others, things that would help another person?
Throughout his life, TJ had considered himself a generally kind person, willing to share and go out of his way to help people. That wasn’t what this was about. If he had to take food that could go to someone else, would he do it? Would he fight for it? Would he kill for it?
The emotions warred within him, TJ desperate to protect his son, to make sure he could go back to him. But he’d never killed someone. The only fights he’d gotten into as a kid were schoolyard things, never anything worse than a bloody nose and a split lip. But to ascend to the Divine… would he step on people to get there? Would he become a god of slaughter and destruction, leaving a ruined world in his wake just for the slight leg up it might give him?
For his son, yes. TJ would weep bitter tears and destroy his soul for his son. If TJ must hurt others to protect his child, his sole remaining link to his beloved Mari, his little guy, then he would regret it, but he would do so.
“Have mercy on my soul.” TJ quietly prayed as a single tear dropped from the corner of his eye. He’d never dreamed of being in a situation like this, but he was here. And he would succeed.
With a brusque brush of his dirty and rough hands, TJ cleaned his face. He was sure that there was a streak in the dirt now from his brief stint with emotions, but he couldn’t care. No. He had a goal now, and though his current objective was still the cabin, TJ would ensure that he killed and harvested every creature he found on his Path. And, first things first, he needed to process these corpses.
Unsure of his own abilities, TJ decided to practice skinning the first two coyotes before tackling the Anubis-blessed one. He drew one of his “knives” from his backpack before beginning the messy, painful process of butchery. He’d done this a little before, and now, with his Occupation and Primitive Craftsmanship, the going was faster. In fact, he learned that, with certain cuts made, he could pull the pelt from the meat in one mostly neat piece. With that revelation, the first coyote was quickly reduced to a furred torso with four stripped legs. Then, working quickly, TJ disemboweled the corpse and tried to carve the much larger and more intricate torso free from its skin and fur. Though more successful than every attempt before, the end result still sported various holes and awkward cuts.
Savage Occupation-related task completed. Experience gained.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, TJ realized he could feel how much he’d progressed with his Occupation, drawing somewhat near to level 4. Though a part of him wanted to carve a Path entirely focused on slaughter, as the System had somewhat suggested, TJ realized that he would want to be able to take care of himself as much as possible. The Savage, though a less specialized Occupation than so many others, would afford him the ability to provide for himself when others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Beyond that, he couldn’t be sure that there wouldn’t be times where he was forced to fight as a human. In those cases, his Occupation would continue to serve him greatly.
He refocused his mind, and already flowing from one task to the next, TJ didn’t hesitate to jump into stripping the hide of the second coyote. Again, with more experience and the bonus from his Skill, TJ’s hands moved ever more smoothly and dexterously. On a whim, he didn’t cut the skins of the legs free once the pelt had been carved from the meat, instead preparing to take the whole of the pelt, legs and all. TJ’s fingers, wet with blood and stiff from cold, ached terribly, but he forced himself to continue. Each leg’s fur was pulled up to the shoulder or hip, and he began to process the whole body. TJ fought to keep his hands steady, cutting smoothly and cleanly through the connecting fat and tissue, but when he unwillingly shivered, he accidentally sent the blade of his stone through the pelt.
“Shit!” He cursed to himself, but after pulling his hands back and out of the corpse for a moment, he returned to cutting the pelt free. Another couple of minutes passed, and the mostly whole pelt was off the corpse. Again, the System sent him a notification, but he didn’t pay it any mind. He couldn’t forgive himself for his stupid mistake, because an obvious solution was right there. With a quick thought, TJ activated Divine Transformation and the chill that had slowly settled into his bones was gradually banished. He watched the counter that had completely replenished itself tick down, continuing to curse his overeagerness.
Four minutes ticked down, and TJ felt he’d warmed up enough to deactivate the Skill. As his human body returned to him, TJ flexed his fingers and found them agile once more, caked blood and viscera notwithstanding. He then turned to the final corpse, its black fur somehow refusing to show the brown dust that should have covered it. TJ began to methodically process the body, cutting around each paw, and then up each leg. With sharp tugs, he pulled the pelt inch by inch up the extremities, the movement making a sickening wet tearing noise. With each leg pulled up to the torso, TJ carefully carved where his Skill guided him to, disemboweling it of its viscera and carving up its neck.
With a series of sharp slices, TJ cut the pelt from going higher than the base of the coyote’s skull, knowing that he couldn’t really skin it there with his current tools and abilities. Then, more carefully and deliberately than before, TJ carved the pelt from the ribs, the shoulders, hips, spine, and belly. Once, as he felt his fingers begin to complain, he immediately pulled back, let himself rest, and then, as the chill set in, he briefly transformed to a coatl. Without waiting too long, he returned, and though his fingers ached from the effort and strain, TJ completed removing the pelt.
It felt special, the moment it was removed, and TJ’s body stiffened with the now familiar sensation of levelling up.
Savage Occupation-related task completed. Experience gained.
Occupation: Savage has advanced to level 4.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +1, Agility +1, Endurance +2, Vitality +1, Toughness +2, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +2, Willpower +2, Fixation +1, Free Points +1. Additional Free Point available.
Race: Human has advanced to level 4.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +1, Agility +1, Endurance +1, Vitality +2, Toughness +1, Wisdom +1, Intelligence +1, Perception +1, Willpower +1, Fixation +2. Additional Free Points currently available.
He grinned fiercely before bundling up the pelts, placing them in his backpack, and setting off once more towards the cabin. And if he found something else to kill on his way? Then the hunt would begin.