An insane pressure bore down on my ribs. My foe managed to trip me and then climbed on me. Its two large, blocky teeth snapped at my face. I raised my leg, placing it under the center of its stomach. I kicked up, tossing it over my body, then rolling up and slammed down on its upturned belly. With as much force as I could muster, I tore through the flesh of my attacker.

Or at least that’s what went through my head as I tore off the wooden chest plate of the mannequin I was battling. With the construct’s protection ripped off, my large black claws aimed for the bright blue core in the center of the faux-beast’s torso. The mannequin shuddered, then fell to the ground, defeated.

Heaving, I scrambled off the mannequin’s body and looked over it again. Who would have thought it? A hippo monster. Wasn’t expecting that. I walked around it, imagining what the actual monster this thing is based off of looks like. I don’t know why, but I kept coming back to a large hippo swimming through sand. “Hmm.” After pondering for a minute longer, I let the issue drop.

I reverted out of Ursa form, hopping up and sitting down on the hippo’s back. My eyes scanned the guild’s backyard, and at my handiwork. Six other mannequins laid around the place, two in a worrying number of pieces that I desperately hoped were easily reassembled. “Maybe a bit too far.” I breathed to myself, laying down on the incredibly uncomfortable wooden creature, but it was good enough for now.

Just as I went to close my eyes, a ding went off in my head. A notification popped up.

[URSA PROFICIENY LEVEL UP. NOW LEVEL ‘6’]

[GOOD JOB!]

[Still waiting for a “Thank You”… -Tutor]

I rolled my eyes at the snarky comment. Why should I thank her for doing her job? And there’s a typo even. Part of me wanted to tell her, but in my current mood, I was liable to rant and rave at her. She didn’t deserve that. I was going to give her shit about it, but when I was in a better mood and could truly enjoy calling her an idiot.

I pulled the Ursa section of the mimic records to see the changes.

URSA -

Proficiency Level: 6

Type: Beast

Timer: 1 hour

Stat Changes:

STR +21

DEX - 15

AGI + 9

CON + 22

INT - 17

WIS + 10

CHR - 10

Abilities:

Ursa-rage:

Put yourself into a fit of Rage. While raging, you gain a + 10 boost in STR and CON, at the cost of - 9 to all mental stats. You also gain a 10% unarmed damage increase and a 10% damage reduction. These bonuses increase with proficiency.

Elemental Claws:

Pick among the elements below. Your claw attacks will gain affinity for that element. Comes with Elemental Discharge. After gathering elemental power in your claws, make a powerful attack. The type of attack and stamina costs change with element.

Learned Behavior:

Preflex:

May predict where an attack will land. Chances of activation

increase with proficiency level and wisdom. Also boosted

when in Ursa form.

Activation % = Proficiency + (Wisdom/ 10) rounded down + 10 (only if in form)

Current = 8%, in form 19%

“Pretty standard. No cool adaptation this time.” I was happy that this practice leveled it up. After all the training I’ve been doing recently, I was worried I wouldn’t see any growth unless I was fighting actual monsters. I closed the Ursa tab. But before completely closing out of the character sheet, my eyes hovered on the Objects Tab of the Mimic Records, making me recall that I leveled up object mimicry to ten. Maybe it does something different now?

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

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.

Level 10 Bonus: Expands what may or may not be mimicked. i.e. Size and Shape restrictions are lessened.

(Recorded Entries)

I blinked at the bonus message. “Hmm.” I looked down at my seat, the hippo mannequin. It was approximately twice my size. I shrugged, shuffled off the thing and activated the ability.

[SIZE INCOMPATIBLE]

Okay, twice my size is too much. I looked around for another mannequin to copy until I caught the reptile one Fennel and I practiced with the other day. It was larger than me, but the smallest mannequin out here. Worth a shot. I activated the ability. Then my skin crawled and itched in the same manner when I shifted into a log for the first time. My hands fell to the ground as more wood protruded out of my body, ripping through a portion of my clothes and then covering me completely.

I felt separate wooden planks and joints click together around my body. It stopped soon after and I was in my new form.

[Mimic Entry “Reptan Mannequin” Recorded]

“Yes! Ack.” I coughed along with my joyful outburst. Talking with a wooden mouth sucks, but this form made up for that ten times over. Something I wasn’t able to do in any of the other object forms. I could move. I turned my wooden reptilian head to the side, inspecting my body. Sure enough, I looked just like my muse. Wooden planks creaked as I tried to twist even more. CRACK.

Some of the slide planks jammed together when I moved too much. Made sense. It was still a wooden construct with artificial joints. Full range of motion wasn’t in the cards. I took a step forward. Awesome. I walked around the field for a few minutes, getting used to the new walking style. It felt wildly unnatural to walk with four feet. Running was a disaster filled with tripping and my wooden mouth coughing up dirt.

I wonder if I light up too. I looked up into the sky, it was late afternoon now. That test will have to wait for nighttime. After playing around in the form for a few more minutes and getting used to the abnormal form of movement, my stomach roared out. I shifted out of the awesome new form. It needed further testing to see if it could fight or if it was purely cosmetic. Pretty neat either way.

I walked by the side of the guild and into the street, making my way towards that sandwich shop Len brought me to after the break in fight. The old, gruff fox man nodded once after I ordered three of today’s specials. Karibu Beef Sliders. Sounded right up my alley.

He was quick and quiet like last time, I pulled out the coin purse Rita gave me. It was a few bronze chips worth. I gave him a silver. “Keep the change.” He snatched up the small coin and grunted, handing me a cloth containing my spoils.

I swallowed one on my way back to the guild, quelling the beast inside. I wanted to make sure my stomach didn’t growl while I walked through the district. Didn’t need more people thinking a monster broke into the city. I had enough crap going on.

Upon returning to the guild’s front entrance, I noticed the gnomes were winding down for the day. The whole group was outside putting their tools away into bags and such. I sat down on the steps leading up to the front doors, figuring it was as good a place as any.

I tore through the second sandwich just as quickly as the first and barely tasted it. Now determined to actually attempt to enjoy my meal, I ate the last one slowly. It was good. The meat was fresh and cooked well. Surprising considering it's been weeks since the last raid. Are there hunting parties that go out? They don‘t have fridges or anything like that. I shook my head. I can’t believe how much I still don’t know about this damn city.

I nibbled on the side of the sandwich peacefully, or that was the goal. Yet my mind decided otherwise, it seemed. Irritation bubbled up in my head. “Damn it.” Recollections of Len’s story and my heated argument with Jaren prodded at my psyche. It was bound to happen without the distraction of tearing up mannequins and cool new powers.

I was glad to have some illumination on the situation of Ferals and city folk, but I was still pretty torn. I didn’t really identify with either side. I leaned toward the Ferals, but that was mostly out of shared mistreatment, which isn’t really the bedrock to a healthy relationship with others. Not that verbal and physical abuse from the city folk was any better. Nope, quite worse in fact.

The urge to go into log form and let its blank thoughts steal me away rose up. But a random ass log sitting on the guild steps might raise some questions. And at worst, the gnomes might think they just got some free supplies. I like to avoid saw blades wherever possible.

I closed my eyes and ran my hands through my hair. “What am I doing?” I said out loud.

“Skipping training, from the looks of it.” A young feminine voice came from the doorway behind me. I leaned further back to get a glimpse of the new arrival, albeit upside down.

Two young people stood under the open door. I fixed myself and twisted my torso to get a better look. My eyes opened wider once I recognized them. It was the twins, the other new recruits from Fennel’s squad. Though their names escaped me. “Umm. Hi?”

They wore the same outfits as they had yesterday, robes that denoted them as mages. The girl grinned while she stared at me, her brother looked back into the guild hall. I wasn’t sure if he was avoiding me or if he was just thoroughly interested in the guild. It was a pretty cool building.

“So why’d you skip? Still sore from laying a smackdown on that jerkwad?” The girl asked, punching her palm.

I stood up. With my feet on the ground, the two were a bit taller than me now. “No, I’m fine. But why are you here?”

The boy turned his attention to me, bumping one of his shoulder shells on the door post.

“Dork.” His sister jeered.

“Shut up. We were looking for you. We asked Fennel where you were. Told us about this place.” The boy's eyes darted back and forth from me to whatever was behind me.

“Yep. So we left after practice. By the way, he is pissed. Skipping training is a big no-no.”

I scoffed and rubbed my forehead. “Yeah, I got an earful from Jaren about it this morning already. Glad to know another is coming my way.”

I looked back at the two. Both stood wide eyed.

“What?” I asked.

“Do you mean Jaren Holdsburn?” The girl started.

“Our Legion Commander?” The boy finished.

“Um. Yes. Why is that weird?” I asked.

The two turned to each other, their faces unchanging. Both turned back to me at the same time.

“Who are you and how are you alive?” They asked in perfect unison.

A small chuckle left my lips. The two squinted at the same time, then crossed their arms, giving me the same skeptical look. Which made my chuckling turn into full on laughter.

“What? Stop it.” The two spoke at the same time again, poking at my sides. Their pleading did nothing but make me roar even more. Gabby and Tim did the same thing when they were younger, speaking and acting in sync like that. I didn’t think I’d ever experience it again.

I calmed down after a minute…and a punch from the sister.

“Tawny, you didn’t need to hit him.” The boy said.

“He stopped laughing. So clearly I did, Hait.” Tawny replied.

Sweet, don’t have to ask for names now. I collected myself and apologized. “Sorry. You just reminded me…of something. But with that out of the way, can you tell me why you were looking for me?” I asked.

They nodded at each other, then bowed to me.

“Thank you for saving our lives!” Hait, the shell covered boy, shouted out.

“We are forever in your debt!” Tawny, the sister, yelled after him.

“We are at your command!” They shouted together.