“All three of you actually.” Len continued.

“Really?”

“Really?”

The twins asked in unison, as they did. But the tone from each was the complete opposite. Tawny practically had stars shining in her eyes as she vibrated in place, her excitement bubbling over. Hait shrunk his head back at the news, almost hiding it behind his shell covered shoulders.

My reaction was more mixed. I was tired, I felt it in my limbs. I looked down at my free hand, slowly balling it up in a fist, each knuckle popping. I fought a lot today. More than I have in a long while, if ever, but for some reason I knew I could do more. And there was no ignoring that instinct deep in my stomach. I enjoyed it, the thrill of battle. There was something about the intense fighting that drew me in. Feeling the monsters’ flesh tear and break from my own power and succumb to my strength. The satisfaction of seeing my training bear fruit. Especially with others.

I looked over at the twins. A small smile grew on my face. Sure, our teamwork was shoddy, my arms tingled remembering some of the shocks I got from Tawny and the slips from Hait, but we still overcame it. Even working with the damn bird wasn’t so bad. Infuriating, but I couldn't deny his usefulness. We took down every beast that came our way. And I had this urge to see just how far we could take it. To see how strong we could all become. To discover what obstacles we could climb, what beasts we could fell. I shook my head. I sound like an epic fantasy character. I chuckled. Maybe that’s not so bad. It would have been dumb back on Earth, but here, on Kniyas, these thoughts might just be a positive.

I knew I should be more worried. All rationale says we are putting our lives in danger, that we’ve done enough. But my body said otherwise. Maybe our vibrating little lightning mage’s excitement was just infectious, but energy rose up in my chest. It was stupid, but damn I wanted to try. I looked back up at Len. He was already looking at me, a faint grin on his face that disappeared almost as soon as I recognized it. Weird.

But then I actually digested the words he said.

“Three of us? What about Rashith?” I asked.

Len shrugged. “Nope. He was only on loan for a single wave. The Third took a pretty big hit from the pit fiasco. She especially needs her Supports back, even the less desirable ones.”

I was a little sad to see I wouldn’t be able to thank him. He was incredibly helpful, for a pompous stamina battery that is. But Len’s other comment honestly interested me more.

“The pit fiasco. That’s what we’re calling it? Real official.” I scoffed.

“A spade’s a spade. It was a fiasco caused by pits in the ground. I guess we could call it the Ground Pit Fiasco. Bit of a mouthful.”

I thought back on the pit, how they all just opened up at the same time as if it were planned. Maybe Len had some answers about them.

“So, from how everyone reacted to them, I take it they aren’t your everyday occurrence in Raids.”

Len rubbed his stubble. “Well, I wouldn’t say it's totally out of the realm of possibility. But the only monsters I know of that do anything close to that aren’t found in the Forest. More in the Desert and the Hills.”

I nodded. “Those are the regions to the south and north of us right?”

“Yep. But aside from the pits, I haven’t seen any signs of those monsters here. Troubling to be sure. But we should leave that discussion for another time. We should get out of here and let the medics have the space back.”

I stood up, perhaps too quickly. My whole body lurched to the left. The twins caught me before I fell to the ground. “Sorry,” I said as I wagged my still covered injured arm. It was heavier than I anticipated and messed with my sense of balance. Once the twins felt I was steady enough to walk on my own they let me go. As I took the first step, my stomach growled. Loud as usual. I didn’t think anything of it. Kind of numb to it now. But that was not true for everybody else around me.

All the chaotic movement in the tent stopped instantly as terrified faces all turned paused on me. Even the twins gave me a confused gaze. In a second, the guards from earlier made another appearance, spears at the ready. Len chuckled, which the twins must have taken to mean this was normal as they joined him and walked away, leaving me with the fun task of explaining that the monstrous war cry that terrified the whole tent was just my stomach. It took a few minutes.

I caught up with my squad after. They stood around a giant bonfire blazing near the tent. The scent of charred meat wafted into my nostrils. A couple of soldiers stood at a large table, fileting monsters and handing the meat over to the next group who skewered the meat on sticks and placed them next to the fire. Battlefield cooking at its finest.

My mouth flooded with saliva, it smelled so good. But just before my cheeks overflowed, I slammed my mouth shut. Shit, this stuff is dangerous. I remembered Len’s advice. God, do I really just spit on the ground? Eww. I almost swallowed it, but my burning esophagus was still fresh in my mind. I really didn’t want to go through that again.

So I looked around, making sure nobody was watching. Once it was clear, I slowly opened my mouth, releasing the viscous drool onto the ground. It sizzled once it landed, burning away some of the dirt and making a little hole in the ground.

I kicked some dirt around to flatten out the ground so nobody tripped. Then a thought pierced my mind. A major problem with this form that is quite possibly the greatest predicament I have ever faced. How do I eat?

Nearly panicking, I ran over to Len, grabbing on to his shirt as tears rolled down my cheeks. “Leeeeeen! How do I eat?” I asked, voicing the only thought on my mind.

Len barked out a laugh, as lukewarm flames pulled me away from my mentor. “With your mouth. What are you on about?”

“I know that, jackass. I'm talking about the acidic saliva I can’t swallow. How the heck do Salamandrans eat?” I said, my gaze drifting away from him over to the skewers of meat leaning next to the fire. The twins stared while nibbling on their own meals. I ignored their snickers, food was far more important than shame.

“Oh, that. Just don’t add the acid.” Len said.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“What?”

“The acid ability. Tell me you looked at your character sheet.”

I coughed. “Umm. No. I didn’t even realize I had a new form ten minutes ago.”

Len sighed and palmed his face. “You really should. But for now, I can explain a little. That acidic spit is an ability, it goes by a couple of names so I’m not sure what yours is labeled. Here, feel the inside of your cheeks.” He said while pointing at his own.

I followed his instructions. Everything seemed normal, the same soft warm flesh that lined everybody’s mouth, until I got to the back. There were two small protrusions, one on each cheek, just above my wisdom teeth. They had a little hole in them.

“Is that where the venom is?” I asked.

“Yep, and when you activate the ability, the liquid secreted from them mixes with your own saliva creating the acid. So just don’t use the ability.”

I nodded. “Got it. How do I do that?”

“How am I supposed to know? I don’t have the ability.” Len said as he walked away. “I’ll be back in a minute. Stay here and focus on healing up.”

He walked away from the fire and then rocketed into the sky, his feet covered in flames. Yep, I really need to find a fire elemental soon. That crap’s way too cool.

I returned to the twins with just a few skewers in tow. Eight is a few, right?

“Oh, did you bring us some more? Thanks.” Hait said, reaching out for one of my skewers. I pulled back and snarled. “No!” He recoiled behind his sister who laughed it off.

“Do not mess with Liam’s food. Noted.” Tawny said with a giggle.

After a quick apology, I brought the food to my mouth, drool dripping down my chin. Okay, just don’t use the ability, easy. I don’t use abilities all the time. I took a bite. The very second the meat hit the saliva, it disintegrated, losing all of its shape and flavor. I spit out the toxic looking mixture. “Dang it.” Okay, maybe go faster this time. Just don’t use the acid.

It was a bust. The entire first kebab melted prematurely in my mouth. I managed to swallow it, but then spent the next minute guzzling water, provided by Hait of course.

“Crap, dang it, I can do this.” I dreamed.

Which is what it stayed, a dream. I was down to my last skewer, each one before it ending as goopy piles of acidic flesh in my stomach or on the ground.

“Come on! You can do this.” I hyped myself up while the twins joined in.

“Liam! You’ve got this.”

“Yeah, Cap! Show that meat whose boss.”

Don’t let them down, dang it. All of my willpower went into the next thought, no command. NO ACID!

My teeth met flesh, heavily charred, overcooked flesh, but this was a good sign. It wasn’t charred overcooked goop. No, don't get cocky. I gingerly continued to munch. It was unsalted and nowhere near as tasty as Mrs. Warbler’s but it was still meat. I swallowed it down before taking another bite. YES! I’m doing it. I tore through the rest of the meat, unable to hold back my desire, which ended in me melting the rest of the skewer. Sad and defeated, I turned my head away from my comrades. They believed in me and…I failed them. Which just made them snicker. Tiny jerks.

After Tawny and Hait finished laughing at my pain, I decided to follow Len’s advice and look at my Character Sheet. It seemed a good choice since we had some downtime.

CHARACTER SHEET

Name: Liam Foster

Level: 5

Race: Human

Monster Gene: Mimic

Stats:

Health Points: 180

Stamina: 330

Mana: 180

Strength: 27

Dexterity: 27

Agility: 27

Constitution: 27

Intelligence: 27

Wisdom: 27

Charisma: 28

Abilities:

Active:

Mimicry (Object) (lvl 10): Copy the likeness of one object. You gain the stats of the object while active. May be canceled at any time. (Recorded Entries)

Mimicry (Creature) (lvl 9): Mimic one creature of your choice. This may include stats, abilities, spells, and other aspects. May be canceled at any time. (Recorded Entries)

Passive:

Learned Behavior: You may gain a portion of the stats and/ or abilities from a mimicked monster. Benefits given depend on the creature mimed and only given if you become adequately proficient in that form. With higher proficiency, benefits may increase.

Dark Sight - See in the dark. Up to 10m.

Preflex - Predict incoming attacks.

Spells:

None

Same increases as last time, nothing new there and too small of increases to notice this early. I pulled up the far more interesting and fresh piece of information, the Salamander record.

SALAMANDRAS -

Proficiency Level: 1

Type: Amphibian

Timer: 1.5 hours

Stat Changes:

STR + 2

DEX + 5

AGI - 6

CON + 4

INT + 3

WIS + 2

CHR - 7

Abilities:

Acidic Salvo:

Turn saliva into a deadly and toxic acid. Able to spit acidic missiles up to [5 + (3 x Proficiency)] meters. Accuracy and speed dependent on DEX.

Protective Mucus:

Produce a protective mucus over a limb. Multiple limbs can be covered as well at lessened amounts. Amount produced increases with Proficiency. Natural healing is boosted while the mucus is unbroken.

Learned Behavior:

N/A

I sighed. I wasn’t disappointed with the form itself, for as nasty as it was, it seemed incredibly powerful, especially the mucus. Natural armor is always a plus as well as the recovery. Shifting into an object fixed up my external wounds like cuts and gashes, so the mucus looks like it might be able to handle internal injuries. A great combo.

I was just a bit bummed my first long range ability was acid spit. Its range going up is neat. I wonder what proficiency it needs to be before I can just start sniping people with my spit. I snorted to myself.

I felt a nudge on my shoulder. It was Hait. “Len’s coming back. And it looks like he brought company.”