Soren awoke the next morning, a little confused, no notifications went off, no happy birthday announcement, he felt like his internal clock was going haywire. He now felt an unyielding need to find the answer, since today should be his birthday. Soren traveled down the mountain, he was having trouble controlling his eagerness to finally exact his revenge and find some people to talk to, it had never occurred to him that he could have traveled in time. In his haste he was blind sided by a large boulder, the boulder smashed into his left side which knocked him into the side of the cliff.
<-200 hp>
<+30 hp>
<+30 hp>
Ouch that hurt, who was the asshole that did that.
Soren looked around and a ten foot tall woman with a blue mohawk stepped forward holding another boulder as if it was a baseball. Soren immediately used [inspect] to find out who he was dealing with.
Race: Goliath
level: 28/30
Class: Primal Artic Berserker
Soren had a strong feeling he was now dealing with a STR and DEF heavy class. He was not sure what the artic part meant but he was sure it had something to do with ice. He pulled out his new lance, and began circling the goliath. "I use no weapon, why did you pull out a weapon," questioned Skadi.
"I am not inclined to play games with someone that attacks me."
"That was a formal challenge by my people. Don't you know anything"
Soren's cheeks burned with indignation as he rebutted, "What's the challenge then?"
"No weapons, just hand to hand winner gets all the others persons valuables."
"Sigh very well"
The dual had been agreed upon, and immediately she went with a straight jab to Soren's nose, but Soren was able to put up his guard when hit, it broke the bones in Soren's hands.
This woman is far more powerful than she looks.
Soren dashed backwards, he was not much smaller than this ten foot juggernaut but she was clearly more physically powerful. It was his turn to go on the offensive he dashed left and right creating an opening, he was much faster than her, he struck several times using combos utilizing his knees and elbows. The blows were heavy but he definitely was not able to deal any critical type damage.
Skadi started to get excited, "That's amazing! Yes! Fight me more!"
Skadi started to go wild she was ramping up her combat, she decided to go for her series of moves. Soren used this opportunity, during a right hook from Skadi, Soren pivoted and snagged her wrist and with momentum used a shoulder throw knocking the wind out of her. Soren was catching his breath, he didn't realize the strength gap was so huge. She is probably older and has had time to accumulate more battle experience than himself. Skadi scowled after she was able to regain her composure.
'I don't ever lose out to men, I am the strongest in the tribe how was I thrown,' she thought.
She decided it was no longer time to play games, she punched her knuckles together and a light blue fire seemed to appear, she then stomped her feet and the same thing happened. She then went on the offensive using her hand to hand abilities, overwhelming Soren with sheer force. She caught an opening and went for a right hook and Soren was forced to put his guard up who then skidded across the ground. Getting back up to his feet he noticed his arm had frozen, but was slowly healing.
Soren protested, "You said no weapons but used magic? Isn't that cheating in the dual?"
"fists are weapons, legs are weapons, magic comes from the body what is the difference?"
Soren stood there flabbergasted: What she said makes sense...but damn cultural differences.
Soren decided to try his hand at what she did and focused his lightning magic into his fists.
Soren bounced a bit, he had guards on his feet and hands similar to Skadi albeit a bit different look and element, the ice from Soren's arm also disappeared channeling the magic. Skadi just smiled at him, 'Finally a worthy opponent my blood is running wild!'
Skadi rushed Soren, who rushed in return and exchanged blow for blow, for thirty minutes they exchanged fists and kicks tiring themselves out. The thing Skadi couldn't account for was Soren's monstrous regenerative capabilities. Lying on the ground both black and blue, while both were lying on their backs panting and having sweat drip off themselves, Soren was healing and after a few minutes managed to stand up. Soren still breathing heavily, "D-does this mean its my victory then?"
"Yes it does, you're a good fighter I admire your strength."
"So I'll be taking your valuables then."
"hahaha, no I don't have any."
"Huh? What the hell did I fight for then?"
" I shall join you and accompany you till I can win and regain my honor, my name is Skadi by the way."
"Name is Soren, and um what did you say??!"
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What does joining my party do?
Soren thought it over for a few minutes.
It had ultimately come down to the fact that Soren was tired of traveling alone he saw that she was powerful and he could definitely use a travel companion.
Yes.
Level: 28/30
Health: 600
Str: 105
Dex:70
Def: 90
Int:60
Vit: 120
Cha: 100
Magic: 80
She is a lot stronger than I gave her credit for, if she didn't focus so much on her strength and actually utilized her agility, and if I didn't have regen I definitely would have lost that fight.
Skadi approached respectfully, "I apologize for not introducing myself earlier, my name is Skadi, a goliath. Would you mind if I looked at your stats now?"
Soren was taken aback by how formal an introduction it was, seeing as they had an intense brawl not that long ago. He was a little on guard about showing his stats since he's been betrayed before, but this would be a good step in the right direction to build trust. He also noticed that being able to view her stats did not mean he could view her skills, blessings, resistances or abilities either. He was banking on her not being able to view the same, so Soren nodded his head in affirmation and opened his stats for her to view. As she was pondering his stats and such Soren started to get a much better look at her. Standing slightly taller than himself at a solid eight feet, he noticed her blue hair again, but not in a mohawk but a pixie cut. Only one side of her head was shaved while the other was long and flowing with a braid that rested on her shoulder. Her build was extremely athletic, her breasts fit her frame but not overly encumbering. For a normal sized person they'd probably seem pretty massive, but for her it'd be the equivalent of a B/C cup. Her entire armor set was hides of different animals, she wore a skirt made of a giant artic dire wolf with the tail dangling behind her, while her shins were covered in some furry armored hide of an unknown animal. She was adorned with a hide breastplate that resembled rock from another unknown creature of the mountain.
Tentatively Soren asked, "How much can you see?"
"I can only see your stats, class, level, and race. I've never met a trollkin before, only trolls. You're much more intelligent.
"haha I would hope so."
"You are nowhere near max level, how long do you think it'd take for you to evolve?"
"You know about evolution?"
"Of course I do. Everything except humans evolve, well for the most part. What numbered evolution are you on?"
"I will be on my third."
"Me too! How old are you? I don't mean to brag but I am somewhat of a genius, I just hit my 45th birthday, which for a goliath is pretty young."
Soren opened his mouth to speak but no words really came out.
"4-4-45??! You don't look that old at all!" well I guess from human standards.
"Stop! you'll make me blush"
"I'm close to my 15th birthday, I thought it was today actually, so maybe soon."
This time it was Skadi's turn to have her jaw drop. "What kind of monster are you?? I was strong, but it took me a while to get my strength to where it is.
"Well, lets just say I am special, but by sticking with me I can make you stronger as well." Skadi remained silent.
Skadi just looked at Soren skeptically, she had never heard of anything of the sort before. A level cap for her was not the only requirement to evolution and had to either meet certain criteria or perform certain rituals to even get evolution options, if she did not perform rituals or try to meet criteria she ran the risk of having a forced evolution with no choices. For instance, one of the things she did to become a goliath was to increase her strength by weight training with various sized rocks and shaving her body which was completely taboo for a mountain dwarf. She was small even for a dwarf and one day she was just exhausted of being smaller than everyone else, which may have also influenced her evolution pathways. There was not a lot of research conducted in how evolutions worked so it seemed random a lot of the times.
Skadi asked, "So what are your evolution options?"
"I dont know, I have to be at max level to even view the options but last time I evolved I had around five or six options.
Skadi nearly got lightheaded, she had never had that many options before. She felt that as long as this person wasn't lying straight to her face it'd be highly beneficial for her to stick with this mysterious man. Now that the introductions and situations at hand have been resolved, Soren checked on how he was doing for time.
"Hmm its now the afternoon, we should be able to travel a bit before making camp.
Soren and Skadi were now running down the mountain making a lot better time, Skadi who has been in these mountains since she was little knew the best paths so it was able to make up for some of his lost time. "So, I take it you had evolved into a goliath then, sometime ago," inquired Soren
"Yes, I was a mountain dwarf before, and the runt, I was tired of being smaller than everyone else.
"Makes sense, listen before we get to where we are going, I am going to have to tell you something that is difficult for me to say."
"We are a party now, and by mine honor, nothing will sway me from your goals. We will strive to get stronger together."
Ugh such cliche, though, I guess its not all bad. Having someone to talk with now is infinitely more fulfilling.
"When we stop for the night we will have a long chat, and whatever decision you make Ill accept."
The two traveled for several more hours, only stopping to alleviate their thirst. By the time the sun was getting low in the sky the two had slowed their pace. Soren and Skadi went to hunt for their dinner before setting up camp.
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Soren
Race: Trollkin Variant: Herculean
Level: 10/25
Health: 500/500
Str: 87
Dex:63
Def: 63
Int:48
Vitality:100
Charisma:60
Magic: 80
Luck:100
Bloodline: Royal
$%* ^$ &#(@!
Blessing:???????
skill points (SP) available:33, 28 shop currency (SC), free upgrade skill box x2, random skill box x1, random ability box x1, skill level up x2
abilities: [25% Magic Resistance-C] [Reciprocated Helper-C] [Charm Immunity-B] [Poison Immunity-A] [Indomitable Will-B] [Iron Hide-c] [Assassins Vision-B] [Troll Libido-D] [Hydra Regeneration-S] [Trolls Musk-D] [Omnispecies Reproduction-F] [Magic Amp-A] [Mana Cost Reduction-B]
skills: [Swordsmanship lvl 3] [Polearm Mastery lvl 2] [Clawed Slash lvl 2] [Inspect lvl 3] [Unarmed Combat lvl 2] [Spike Bombardment lvl 3] [Concealment lvl 1] [Hunters Stride lvl 1] [Sonic Blast lvl 3] [Dash lvl 2] [Haste Strike lvl 2] [Sunder lvl 2]
Magic:
[light-D] [Radiant-B] [Holy-A] [Lightning-A] [Gravity-A] [Space/Time-B+] [Shadow- A]
-----------------------------------------------
Inventory
-Advanced Ice magic tome
-1100 gold pieces
-black blade sword (midnight)
-lunar lance
-3 health potions
-2 mana potions
----------------------------------------------------------------
Level: 28/30
Health: 600
Str: 105
Dex:70
Def: 90
Int:60
Vit: 120
Cha: 100
Magic: 80