In the traditional fashion where one wakes up from a long, relaxing night of sleep, was an experience that Nenn did not have on this night. He came into consciousness abruptly. He was no longer in the dark death-mana-aspected cave, but now in the dark lightness forest somewhere in the world of The Trial.
The Trial had one moon in the sky, much like Earth’s. It looked a little different, but it was still a grayish-white sphere that hung there illuminating the night sky. The celestial object was tinged a slight purple color in some circular spots, but otherwise it looked like a moon should. Tonight was a new moon, the darkest night of all in the apparent lunar cycle of The Trial. Without the slight light mana infusion from the moon, the night predators would be at their most active tonight.
But none of this mattered to Nenn at the moment. The concern on Nenn’s mind was that he once again found himself feeling out of place in his own body. He tried moving his limbs, but found they moved in a weird in-human manner. He tried to stand up, but found that his body wasn’t able to do so. His hands felt like they had lost a great deal of dexterity while his feet had gained some. His arms were still attached at the shoulder, but he found their range of motion had become more limited.
Seeing that there was no way to see his reflection at the moment, Nenn turned inward on himself and activated [Nature’s Regrowth]. Nenn nearly jumped out of his figurative skin when he saw what he had become. In his meditative state Nenn was able to observe his body. The life mana that had once coursed through his body had been reduced to a small condensed ball centered around Nenn’s heart. The rest of his body was composed of death mana. Nenn looked at the shape of his body and it quickly became clear to Nenn that he had shapeshifted into some sort of cat-like ambush predator. He was shaped like an oversized quadrupedal mountain lion, except instead of fur and skin covering his new body there was only the twisted and gnarled wood that Nenn had come to associate with the eldritch being. The branches and roots of his new form wound around his body in such an intricate fashion that he could not wait to see what his reflection looked like in the light, as such minute details were currently lost to him.
Status, Nenn thought and a piece of parchment fell down in front of his face, landing on the ground. Looking down he was surprised to see that he was able to read the document. There was no source of light to speak of, but yet he could see. My eyes must have changed to match my form, Nenn thought.
STATUS
COMBAT LEVEL: 19
COMBAT CLASS: Druid (Tier - Undefined)
SHIELD: 480/480
HEALTH: 480/480
STAMINA: 480/480
MANA: 432/480, 10% of total mana locked in reserve.
STATS:
VITALITY: 48
STRENGTH: 48
DEXTERITY: 48
INTELLIGENCE: 48
WISDOM: 48
SKILLS
[Entangling Roots] (Active): The forest crawls with all sorts of hidden hazards. Summons roots to bind and squeeze an opponent. The strength and number of roots depends on the amount of mana infused into the skill and the environment summoned in. Be aware, Entangling Roots effectiveness will be severely limited against fire, metal, and massive.
[Rot](Active): The natural world is composed of more than sunshine and rainbows. A druid well acclimated with this uncomfortable truth can accelerate the rotting process in their target causing them immense pain and suffering, possibly leading to death. Be aware, Rot’s effectiveness will be severely limited against targets that exist outside of the cycle of life and death
[Shapeshift - Deathstalker](Active): Death is no longer a fear but a welcome friend in your life. Having met and formed a covenant with a death-aspected paragon being has resulted in the formation of this skill. The druid will take on the form of a deathstalker that matches the natural environment around them. Grants access to new abilities matching the form.
[Ambush Predator](Active - Subskill): Hidden in darkness, quiet as a mouse you stalk your prey, waiting until the moment is right. When activated the druid will attempt to blend into the environment, hiding out of sight, and out of mana detection. Consumes stamina and mana to maintain the state. If the druid is undetected it may choose to end [Ambush Predator] prematurely and spend 10% of total mana and stamina in order to double strength and dexterity for 2 seconds.
[Nature’s Weapons](Passive - Subskill): Embrace the ferocity of nature and strike out against your prey with the weapons that nature has provided. A druid in [Shapeshift - Deathstalker] form will find that their natural weapons (ex: teeth, claws) will be extra effective in combat.
[Nature’s Regrowth](Passive): Embrace the healing factor of nature. Allows for the druid to form a meditation circle in nature and increase the rate of resource recovery of all inside the circle’s boundary. Caster must focus on being one with nature while meditating.
[Nature’s Absorption](Passive): Embrace the bounty of nature. Allows for the druid to absorb unbound or volunteered mana through the usage of mana channels in the form of roots. Caster must focus on the process and be in a meditative state.
Oh wow, this is neat, Nenn thought. A shapeshifting ability was definitely high on his list of desirable skills. And it even comes with subskills. That’s good. It would suck to get a shapeshift form and then be stuck without usable skills. I wonder if I can still cast my older spells.
[Entangling Roots] Nenn thought with intent and the ground in front of him burst into a tangle of emerging roots. Good. I would hate to lose that versatility. But then what’s the drawback of being in this form if I can still cast all of my old abilities.
[Shapeshift - Deathstalker]. Nenn activated his newest favorite ability. Fuck. There we go. That’s the drawback right there. Nenn thought if he cast the shapeshift ability again he would transform back into his human form. But that wasn’t the case. In fact, nothing happened at all. There was no expenditure of mana, no tingling feelings, or light effects. Nothing happened. How the fuck do I cancel this? Nenn thought.
Nenn turned his attention back to his status sheet. Can I get a more detailed explanation of my [Shapeshift - Deathstalker] ability? He queried The System. The piece of parchment folded in on itself then reformed.
[Shapeshift] abilities are a class of skill that require external factors to be met in order to acquire. Druids, for example, at level 15 receive an active skill that is unlocked by studying the desired [Shapeshift] form in nature until they have an adequate understanding of it. Other methods of unlocking the skill include forming a covenant with a higher-ordered being that can grant the knowledge to the druid. Warning. Once [Shapeshift] has been activated it cannot be canceled. To return to base form the user must obtain [Shapeshift - Base Form], which can be unlocked by mastering the current [Shapeshift] form.
Well fuck. At least The System was helpful this time, Nenn thought. I might be stuck like this for a while, but… Nenn stretched his back out like a cat. He felt his limber body stretch in a way that his human base form could not and it was a pleasurable feeling. But, I think I can live with it, for now.
With all of the changes out of the way, it was high time for Nenn to start exploring. He could see everything around him with reasonable clarity. It definitely wasn’t like looking at the world in the daylight, but it was a far cry from being pitch black. Nenn could see enough to be able to move without reservation. There was no fear that he wouldn’t be able to avoid the tripping hazards on the forest floor, or any other obstacles in his way. The new eyes that his [Shapeshift - Deathstalker] had given him were really effective in the dark.
The world around Nenn was just like any other random section of forest he had seen. He was in a small clearing, one that was just big enough to have a hole in the forest canopy that let the light from the stars in the night’s sky shine through. The trees and bushes looked familiar in a way, both to their Earthen equivalents, and to Nenn’s new experience with the flora of The Trial. The grass under his paws was soft and damp with nightly dew. The air carried a slightly sweet scent on it. It was a scent that Nenn couldn’t place.
Without any indication of where he was, or how he had gotten there, Nenn did the most reasonable thing he could think of and tried to climb a tree. After a brief search he found a good candidate. A tall tree with thick branches that looked like it could support some weight.
Nenn lined himself up, imitating every cat video he had ever seen, and crouched down on his back legs. He pushed off with his back legs and jumped into the air. He quickly found that he had over done it and had overshot his intended target by quite a bit. The human turned deathstalker landed in a small thorny bush a ways away. The thorns scraped against Nenn’s wooden exterior, but did not find any purchase. Nenn rolled out of the bush and returned to the launch point in front of the tree. He had lost one whole health point for his effort.
He lined himself up with the branch and tried jumping to it again. This time he didn’t put enough power into his jump and fell well short. It was a little frustrating, but still a lot of fun at the same time. Nenn had always wondered how it felt to be a cat. Well, not specifically a cat, per say, but an agile quadruped animal. Just the feeling of zooming around, and experiencing how the muscles worked together to make it happen was a very rewarding sensation. Even though Nenn was struggling to make a single accurate jump it was still a fun process as he learned how to move within his new form.
After several close attempts Nenn finally landed on the broad tree branch. He sunk his claws into the living wood for balance. He found the next branch up and sized the jump up. He crouched once more and pushed his back legs into the branch, firing himself up into the air once more. The tree itself shook in recoil from the change in weight and from the amount of force exerted on the branch. It shook just enough to move the branch just out of Nenn’s clawed reach and he tumbled down towards the ground. Just like a cat from Earth, Nenn was able to contort and orient his body just in time to land on his feet. It was not something that he had consciously done, but managed to do instinctively.
Maybe that’s the key to all of this, Nenn thought. Maybe I am overthinking all of this. A cat probably doesn’t think about the positioning of all of its limbs or a percentage of power to push off with. It just does.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
With that epiphany Nenn returned to his chosen launch point. In one shift motion he crouched and launched himself back up to the first branch, finding it even easier this time. He didn’t wait to come to a complete stop and instead jumped again to the next branch, then the next, and the next until he had reached the highest branch that he thought would support his weight.
Unfortunately this was still not high enough to see over the forest canopy. Nenn hooked his claws into the main branch of the tree and began to climb up. His claws, thanks to [Nature’s Weapons] were able to easily pierce the bark and into the wooden core of the branch. It took a bit more of a coordinated effort than the jumping had from Nenn. If he could see himself from the ground he imagined that he looked like a kitten trying to climb someone’s pant leg.
It was slow going, but after a minute Nenn emerged above the forest canopy. The world was much brighter with the uninterrupted star light shining down from the heavens. Nenn looked around. Other than the sky, the canopy, and the occasional tree that shot slightly above the canopy line there wasn’t much for Nenn to discern. There was no black Obelisk pointing up into the night sky for Nenn to see. In the distance Nenn noticed a mountain that jutted into existence, blocking part of the night sky. It was hard for Nenn to try and gauge the distance, but it looked to be no further than 20 kilometers away.
That’s probably my best bet, Nenn thought. If I can get to the top of the mountain I should hopefully be able to see the Obelisk. And if not… Well, I don’t want to think about it. The reality that Nenn was lost and irreparably separated from the group was a thought that he very much wanted to avoid, especially this early in the adventure.
Wait. When did I hit level 19. I could have sworn after the fight with the ogre’s I had only reached level 15. Did the black apple give me experience? Or did I do something without knowing it. Nenn leapt out of the tree, and landed on his feet. The jump from treetop to forest floor was several dozen meters, but to Nenn it felt like he had only jumped down four or five feet. Nenn checked his combat log, once more summoning the status piece of parchment in front of him, but found that there were no pending entries to read.
Hmm. I wonder if that means I haven’t fought anything. Or does it mean that The System doesn’t log combat if I am not conscious to experience it? But that would make for a really inefficient combat log, wouldn’t it. If combat happened, it should be recorded.
Combat log updated.
The parchment scrunched itself up and then folded itself flat again in one clean motion. There were indeed several more entries that had been hidden.
You have slain 17/17 enemy combatants. Bonus experience earned for level difference.
Huh. 17 enemies slain. And I don’t recall any of it. Well fuck. I guess that’s some kind of sleepwalking, maybe? Or System-enabled self-defense? Nenn thought. Whatever it was, I can’t depend on it.
The piece of parchment faded away to nothingness as Nenn began the long walk towards the mountain in the distance. He started off by trying to keep the same speed he was used to in his human form, but quickly found his stamina was recovering faster than it was being depleted. So he picked up the pace, increasing it until he managed to finally hit the neutral point, the point where his stamina expenditure matched his recovery. Nenn was moving faster than he could have imagined he would have ever been able to move under his own power. He felt as though he was somewhere close to matching a cheetah back on earth when it was sprinting.
Then it dawned on him. I can go faster, Nenn thought. Nenn felt a surge of energy flood into his legs, one that felt significantly different than mana. This energy was raw, and unrefined. The energy entered into his muscles and was burnt like some kind of fuel. I guess stamina is a fuel in a way, Nenn thought. If mana is a stable energy and can be used to influence things, then stamina is unstable and is immediately spent to make things move.
Nenn raced through the forest, quickly finding a game trail that led in the correct direction. The slightly beaten down path provided the sight lines he needed to avoid tripping over whatever laid across the ground, while also avoiding all of the flora in his way.
He pushed his muscles as hard as they would go, and found them wanting more. Nenn was happy to oblige as he pushed more and more of his body’s stamina reserves into his muscles. He was burning over a point of mana a second now, but he was zooming through the forest.
With 30 percent of his stamina reserve remaining he began the process of slowing down. His muscles didn’t want to, but as Nenn lessened the flow of stamina to them they gradually began to feel fatigued. Fatigued in a ‘oh that was a good run’ kind-of-way, rather than a ‘wow my legs are rubber now,’ kind-of-way. He returned to his neutral pace, then slowed down even more, allowing his stamina to gradually recover. The world seemed to move so slowly around him now.
I’m not sure if it's this form, or the increased intellect, but I am really thankful that I am able to process everything while moving that quickly, Nenn thought. If he had not been able to he would have definitely ended up hurting himself within a couple of seconds after tripping over a pebble. But, my thoughts don’t feel faster. Must be more System fuckery.
Nenn continued at his mid-recovery pace. He was still moving faster than he could have as a human, but it definitely was less spectacular than even running at neutrality.
Nenn’s train of thought was interrupted as his triangular ears atop his head perked up as he heard a sound coming from ahead. Instinctively Nenn activated [Ambush Predator] as his body moved on its own to get closer to the ground. He crawled forwards towards the sound. He noticed that he couldn’t make himself move any faster than what the skill allowed him to.
Nenn stalked through the underbrush. Ahead he saw the dull orange glow of a fire. He moved in closer to investigate. As he got closer he feared that he might start to take damage from the light mana, like a night predator would. But after keeping a close eye on his health he noticed that nothing was happening.
I guess this is what happens when your body is filled with death mana and not dark mana, Nenn thought as he suddenly remembered that there was very much a difference between light, life, dark, and death aspected mana. I’m going to need a typing chart to try to keep all of these mana types and their nuances organized.
Nenn crept closer. He hid beneath one of the thorny bushes the same type he had landed in earlier, and observed the campsite. There was a campfire at the center of the clearing. There were four humans present, all dressed in initiated armor and clothing. Just about every piece of clothing they had was ripped and torn. They were stained with dark reds, and some greens and blues here and there. The group looked to be in rough shape, but they had at least managed to survive this far.
Three of the humans were asleep on the ground. One of the humans, a male, turned over onto his back and began snoring loudly. The fourth human, who was sitting upright on a tree stump on watch duty poked the snoring man with a stick until he acquiesced and rolled back over onto his stomach.
The damage had already been done. Nenn watched as a shadow jumped from across the clearing and landed on top of the human on watch. The man went down like a wet sack of potatoes as he floundered for his weapon. He tried to swat at the shadow with his prodding stick but it was ineffective.
Nenn ended [Ambush Predator] and felt his body surge with raw untamed power. Within a split second he had pushed a lot of this power into his hind legs and launched himself through the air, pouncing onto the shadow. Nenn sank his claws into the shadow’s back, and wrapped his jaw around its apparent neck. In the orange glow of the campfire the details of the night predator came to light. The shadowy figure was a blackish-gray color, and looked like a contorted twisted abomination of something humanoid. It was tall, thin, and it bled. Nenn clamped down harder with his jaw, lacerating the night predator's neck, while he pushed his front claws in deeper.
The momentum from Nenn’s surprise attack carried him and the night predator off of the poor nightwatcher. They came to a stop a few meters away. Nenn raked the night predator with his claws, finding that he was getting covered in an inky black substance. He tasted the liquid as it oozed into his mouth and found it had a very familiar iron taste.
Blood. Nenn realized. He released his bite on the slumped over night predator and clamped down again, this time aiming to finish the job. His teeth cut right through his target's neck as he felt the body beneath him go slack. Nenn felt invigorated. He felt a stream of mana enter his body from the corpse beneath him, urging him onwards. The feeling was ecstasy. He needed more.
A human scream brought Nenn back to his senses as the campsite was now filled with a flurry of activity. The other three humans were up and had managed to grab their arms. The one on watch had managed to rise to their feet, but they were in bad shape. They were bleeding from their back. The smell of human blood was enticing and sweet. But that would have to wait. There were five more night predators who were shambling towards the group. Nenn hesitated for a moment and re-engaged [Ambush Predator]. He lowered himself to the ground and readied himself, happy that he was able to re-engage the state. Which he promptly canceled, and felt the surge of raw unbridled power course through his veins once more.
The predators engaged the group, lashing out with their sharpened appendages. Nenn leapt at the one targeting the watchman, dragging it down to the ground just as easily as the first one. This one crumpled into a puddle of inky-black night predator blood as Nenn did not waste any time in severing its head from its shoulders. Another infusion of energy entered Nenn’s body as the unengaged night predator turned towards Nenn and lashed out. Its arm appendage extended and a sharpened lance of whatever night predators were composed of and stuck Nenn in the shoulder blade. The impact hurt, but it only managed to puncture a small bit of Nenn’s hardened flesh.
[Entangling Roots]. Nenn willed his roots to reach up around the night predator’s waist and pull it back, dislodging the spear from his back. The roots retreated into the ground, in effect suplexing the night predator, smashing its head against the ground, leaving Nenn with an easy follow up with his claws. His mobility had not been affected by the spearing, thankfully, but some of his health points had definitely been lost in the exchange. Once more the mysterious stream of energy entered Nenn’s body. It’s from killing them, Nenn thought as he connected the dots in the moment.
The battle continued. The human defenders had now retreated around their fire. One of them was face down on the ground. The watchman was barely managing to stay upright let alone hold up his sword. The group had managed to defeat one of the night predators which left two of them. The predators approached the group from opposite sides.
Nenn returned to his tried and true methods of reusing the same tactic. He reactivated [Ambush Predator] noting that the two remaining night predators must not be that intelligent. He canceled the ability and fed it the required ten percent of his mana and stamina reserves. He was rewarded with that sweet, sweet surge of power. He leapt at the night predator closest to himself and chomped down on it. This time he was fluid enough with his attack that rather than pull the night predator down with him he managed to cleanly bite through its neck and sailed through it, landing on the ground. On instinct he pushed off again transferring the momentum with the fleeting dregs of additional power he had left and pounced towards the final last night predator.
The doubled strength and dexterity ran out before Nenn could land the decisive blow, but it was enough. He crashed into the thin lanky body of his foe and dragged it to the ground, raking and lacerating its flesh until it stopped moving. The feeling of ecstasy from the shiponed energy he was receiving from both of his last kills was broken when one of the humans rudely shoved a sword at his back.
The sword glanced off of the hardened eldritch wood of his body. Nenn contorted on instinct, and swatted the follow up strike with his paw, managing to knock the sword out of the human's hands.
Before the humans could regroup, he sat down on his rear and began to carve letters into the ground. The humans before him stopped in their tracks as they watched this black-gore covered oversized wooden mountain lion carve well formed English words into the ground.
“Hi! I’m human!” Nenn inscribed. “From Ottawa.” The group of humans visibly relaxed.
“Jesus fucking Christ guy, what in the sweet fuck did you do?” One of the more intact humans said.
“Druid. Shapeshifting. Complicated.” Nenn inscribed.
“Huh, well shit. Thank you for saving our asses. Oh fuck,” the human turned back and ran to their fallen companions side.
Nenn rushed over, dragging a claw in the dirt as he circled the campground, spending the extra stamina to do so quickly. He came to the center of his circle and quickly wrote. “Healing. Stay in Circle.” Then properly activated [Nature’s Regrowth] and [Nature’s Absorption].