Delicious was all I could think the moment the thick fluid permeated my skin. My mind sort of clouds over, even though I am still capable of logical thought. I remember being awake for 3 nonstop day completing an assignment on the biology of plant cells in comparison to a humans, I could still complete the assignment, but I was on a sort of autopilot. Well, this was sort of like that. The wolf man's blood induced a sort of nirvana. I retracted the makeshift biological weapon to reshape back into the right side of my body. I originally planned to use only my arm, but adding more mass to the spear by merging my right torso in with the spear was absolutely devastating. I myself was shocked at the speed I propelled my makeshift limb to reap the souls of my opponents. My arm never left the second victim, instead I decided to test the bounds of nature magic, but not here.
Brett:”Elf, pick up the other body, were getting the fuck outta here”
Elf:”Yes”
I believe she already figured what I was going to do with the bodies, after all, it was her own body that gave my first shock of power. The beast man blood seemed to add a new edge to the power I tasted. With the elf it was a pleasurable experience that concentrated in my core, what I presumed to be the center of my life. With this, we pushed farther into the forest. When I deemed the area to be sufficiently.....stocked with "livestock", I commanded the elf to drag the bodies into a tree and wait for me. I was a man....plant with a plan, and nothing was going to stop me this time.
I began to wander the area, searching for prey. Using nature magic, I thinned my body against the ground, the slinked around trees as to not disturbed my prey. The first animal I came across resembled a lion, but stood on 2 feet. I figured he possessed tremendous power due to the bulging muscle on his body. I decided to try something new. While hiding myself in the tree, I attempted nature magic, but not on myself, but on the roots of the tree I am currently standing on. Now, the sensation when using such magic on myself was strange, it felt as though my own consciousness was permeating through my body, willing myself to change form. But when I used it on this tree I received a strange response.
???: "You cannot command me, for you are not the spirit of this territory"
Brett: (Sigh) "Come-on man, I don't want to die fighting that thing"
The reason I wanted to fight this beast man was due to the aurora he possessed. It seems as though small flames flicker on his mane, I figured it was due to magic. He was some sort of lion humanoid variant. Where there is magic there is mana, when there's mana in beast men, well, there is blood, and that my friends is what I love best. I do not want to risk dying right after coming to this world, I suppose I can take out some of the others first. It bugs me, the damned tree spoke as if I was commanded by this "spirit" as well. I suppose some instinct awakened in me when I was given a new body in this world, and let's just put it this way, nothing is going to fuckin tell me what to do.
I need a goal in this world, beginning with finding my brother. He's always been resourceful, and loves fantasy, and is better than me at most RPGs....so he should be fine, especially with Bonsai guiding him. But before this I will need to gain some strength. I will set the bar at this alphas level. When I am able to defeat this variant alpha feline, I will begin to travel. On my way back to the tree I decided to test some more nature magic. I always remember this being a regenerative force, also a way to shape biology, also to.....wait. I believe the skill was called [Cell Crystal]. It allowed me to increase attack and defense in a game I once played. Quite the game if I remember, it was extremely flexible in mechanics, and ways to clear dungeons and use magic was quite interesting. Anyway, I decided to try such a technique. I need to find a place to stay first, it seems the alpha has heard a sound, that came from my feet, tentacles, well my multiple extremities that I have been using to quickly traverse the ground.
I decided to try my luck and find some protection with another tree, I prayed that one bad apple did not spoil the bunch. Currently I was five or six miles away from the Elf, I really should care enough to learn her name, after all, I have some wicked plans for her in the future, especially after the reverence she showed me earlier. On my way to find a new place to stay for a bit, I executed two more wolf men to fuel my "training". Hopefully consuming more blood into my crystal will continue to allow me to grow. While I was stalking from tree to tree, I spotted two of the humanoid wolfs. I deemed it dangerous to take both on at once, even though I was able to earlier did not mean they could not retaliate, after all they were shocked previously after they saw some humanoid plant "spirit" pop up from behind a crouched elf, it was like some flippin ghost jump scare. I chuckled to myself thinking of how scared I was of that movie, in comparison to how calm I was in that situation. This time I decided to use some actual magic.
This time I hid behind a tree, maybe 25 meters away from the duo, who seemed to be slightly wounded, they were probably deserters from the battlefield, as I do not know the current inhabitants of this new land besides the information the elf taught me, which was limited to the war for territory, including humans, elves, and beast men. I merged my right abdomen into a sort of twined spear, it glimmered in the sunlight. It was black, with red streaks of dull red through it, like a hard forged spear that was dripping with never drying blood. After admiring the weapon, I tried to detach it from my body. The process was slow, but not painful. Imagine holding a branch around five feet long, and your hand cannot fit around it, but if you brought over your other, you would easily be able to. And sharp. Very sharp, it seemed I can meld my body into whatever shape I truly wanted. Now hold the branch, then gently pull, allowing minimal pressure, as though you are trying to help a baby stand by holding it's hand. Then, while the stick is detaching, it immediately heals, allowing for no insides to show, no rings, nothing. As simple as that. Now comes the freaky part. It is hovering, and all I have to do is will it to move. the potential I see in this ability is outstanding, I must test if I can use telekinesis on anything besides myself later, maybe on the elf.....hahaha I can see it now you poor woman.
This is the tricky part, shoving thought of joking around with my servant for later I decide to try out my newly formed weapon. While staying behind my tree I glance down at my right side......wait. My right abdomen and arm are a slightly less red hue than before. Now it is shinier, as though you wiped me down with a hardwood floor solvent. I need to kill these wolf men to get back to my restore what was lost. I do not know if this indicates a loss of power, but I think it is safe to assume so. I will my spear to move as fast as it can. I subconsciously shove my right hand forward towards the humanoids, it seems this helps with the unspoken incantation of the "spell". 20 meters, 15 meters, 10 meters, 5 meters, then. It stops. As though hitting a wall my spear drops. Nonexistent beads of sweat form on my brow, well my dryad head. FUCK, what happened, clearly the wolf men did not stop it, they are in a frenzy....hahaha. Have you ever scared a dog on hard wood before, know how it scrambles to stand then runs in a random direction, well that is what is happening before my eyes. Damn it get yourself together Brett.
I make a step to start climbing the tree, and both of the humanoids eye me with bloodlust in their eyes. Then, they race towards me. Even when I was a child when friends were chasing me, I always had a sense of danger in the back of my mind, a tingling of the spine speaking to me like instinct to choose flight over fight. But this time, it was different. A sense of peace came upon me, wind flowed through my streamlined body, then as though the adrenalin hit me like a chorus at a concert my body went sort of numb, a shock of pleasure flowed through my feet, up my spine, and to my brain, I was ready to fight. I hear a loud base in the distance, I think it is Willow casting some sort of frenzy on my body, allowing me to fight as I previously planned. I'm ready to kill. With a newfound power, I come from behind the tree, the bastards were 10 meters away and closing. I bend down like an Olympic runner at the gates, I will strength to my lower limbs. At this point after body manipulation I have 5 "legs" like roots of a tree. Two were human like, two came from my mid to upper back, sitting below my shoulders but lower, and into the ground, and one from my middle lower back to stabilize. The way they move was so graceful, and I immediately loved the form. Then I sprung into action. I leapt, like a bullet, the in mid air manipulated both arms to form one drill that did not spin in front of me.
But I was so streamlined, with my legs tucked together, like an arrow. My body following the cone in front of me heading directly for the stomach of the first wolf man. I did not feel any resistance. By the time I was standing again, with a smile on my face. The other wolf man was still running at the tree I was previously at.......then he slowed down as if he knew his fate......then glanced back to see my second attempt at telekinesis. Let's just say I did not fail this time. It came from above, as to not alert it of an attack. The pierced its head with such ferocity, that it entered the ground below him. As though life left him at that instant it crumbled to the ground in a heap of flesh that simply was sprawled on the ground, while still being set up by the......support rammed through his carcass. I think I almost squealed with delight at my spear working. Then I manipulated the spear to slowly but surely retract from his body, then I threw it a second time as hard as I could into the clearest patch of wood in my immediate vicinity. I received results quickly. The spear fell to the ground 30 meters away from me. It seems using it for this short period of time allowed me to move it farther that previously.
I swept the spear in a circle around me and sat down, waiting for the spear to do my bidding. Sure enough within a couple seconds the bodies lay in front of me. I hold the spear in my left hand, surely looking like some tribal "spirit", wearing no cloths holding a long spear. I extended my right arm into a spear and punctured the first body, using [Nature Manipulation] I rooted all through his body, down every major limb, the sprouted smaller branches, using this made me feel slightly exhausted, surely due to the concentration it took to manipulate myself into such a detailed form. Then, as you know, I drank, ever drop of life from that poor animal. The blood flowed through the cells of my arm, thankfully bringing back the red hue, immediately all of my fatigue was gone, nada, as though it never existed, then the fluid made its way to my center, which happened to contain a crystal that is growing larger as I noticed. The blood flowed through the crystal, absorbed the mana, then shot back through my cells to the parts that lacked the lacquered red hue. I was glad to get back the color, it began to grow on me no pun intended. After this little experiment of mine I buried the body, then made my way back to the elf. Upon arrival she lightly bowed to me, then offered me the two bodies she has been safekeeping. I decided to tease the elf a little, I climbed the tree, they walked straight at her. She showed slight apprehension, but did not move from that spot. I admired her courage, I purposely walked "dignified" to tease her a bit. Then I bent down to her ear, and in my most gentle voice, as though speaking to a sleeping baby....
Brett: "What is your name elf"
Elf: "Aella" She spoke just as softly as I did
With this, I manipulated my spear down to me, and made a slice right behind her ear, she winced in pain, but it was something that had to be done. I had been thinking of this since I was born from the ground. I brought my head down to her head and licked behind her ear, not allowing a single drop of the elixir to fall to the ground. Then just as fast as I cut, I healed. She gasped, then exclaimed...
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Aella: My gods, what exquisite execution of nature magic, not even my elder could heal wounds that fast.
I took it as a compliment and a bar that has been reached, it seemed my previous knowledge of biology has allowed me to progress faster than normal in this branch.....get it branch, of magic. While using this technique, it seemed part of my consciousness was inserted into what was being manipulated, as where after discussion with Aella, it seemed most paladins, priests, and elves healed using a technique that allowed the whole body to regenerate faster than normal, but was slower than mine on a certain point of the body. Another huge contribution to my skill in this magic was that I knew what the hell I was doing.
Aella said that they simply force huge quantities of mana into the recipient and use the proper incantation, or magic circle, where as I need no such thing, and actually know how cells regenerate. Also, my research allowed me to manipulate myself easier, it was almost as though I could see the cell walls degrading, then multiplying, then a new cell wall being produced, with the main nourishment being mana and blood. I am such a cheat, these primitive people probably do not even know what half of the organs in their body do (sigh) I suppose I can share such information with trusted....colleges, servants, comrades, whoever treats me good, and is in my inner party. I can't help but notice a slight blush on Aella's face, perverted elf. She did not even hesitate to allow me to get close, she must have complete trust in me after I saved her life. I need to know if she is friend or foe in the long run, my main goal in this live is to protect the nature, I will not allow what happened in my old world to happen in this one. And for some reason, I get this feeling that humans will be the main factor in this, just a hunch. I then begin my....examination?
Brett: "Why were you here in the first place, were you fighting for the territory?"
Aella: (Gasp) "Please great spirit do not associate me with such things, every single elf adores nature and all it provides us. I was forced out of the woodlands near the human continent and pressured to fight for the land, or else they will destroy our forest, therefore our homes. Since we do not possess money or any monetary possessions aside from cloths that are always made from the forest, how are we........"
Brett: I stop her short "Speak no more"
She shuts her mouth immediately, I stroll lightly behind her and prop my back against hers. With the bodies of the humanoids laying next to us, and a firm floor below us I relax against her. Then speak.
Brett: "I am going to halt the humans and beast men from destroying occupied forest...(I pause for effect) I will raise an army, and welcome anyone who wishes the same as I"
Aella does not speak, instead she reaches with her right hand to touch her stomach, where the tattoo is, then gracefully slides her fingers into mine, which were resting on the floor, taking some of my weight of Aella. I hear a slight sob, and smile to myself. It seems the elves were oppressed and were under some heat from other races who wished to abuse the natural resources that the forest offered. I smiled in response to her silent affirmation of my declaration.
Brett: "Will you follow me, as my first servant, protector, and comrade"
She does not hesitate to spin my body around and pull me into an embrace. We stay like that for a while she certainly recounts some horrible memory she has had suppressed since the battle. While still being embraced I explain some plans I have for the future.
Brett: "I want to defeated spirits on this unexplored land, become powerful. Powerful enough to make anything bow before me." I figured that now I am in a new world, I may as well treat it how I would in a game. "I need to find my brother, and I figured that since the elves are at a disadvantage geographically being next to forces oppressing them, we should bring them here. At the mention of this she noticeably stiffens.
Aella: "You mean......like.....here.....to this unknown land.
Brett: "Yup, we will have an advantageous position, and as I heard from you, they are force to give up their lands, and fight in their armies due to superior elvish archery and magic. She tightens her grip on my torso and squeals with delight.
Aella: "That's an amazing idea, let's get them now!"
Brett: (Chuckling) "Hold your horses"
Aella: "I am not strong enough to hold horses master"
Brett: (Sigh) "Just calm down, we need to train, how the hell are we going to pull every elf from the armies, and lands un noticed, we need to force them out, then protect as much of the forest left as we can, the border of your forest is only 80 to 100 miles away from the border you fought the battle at as explained by you earlier, that is still close enough to hold and consolidate as our land."
Her eyes light up at the thought of potentially keeping her previous lands under our power. I laugh at her delight.
Brett: "Well we better start sooner than later"
Aella: Her cute demeanor suddenly vanished as she released me. A look of extreme determination floods her face. She has a slight smile at the thought of revenge on those who oppress the relative peaceful elves "Agreed".
I have seen Aella fight, she is strong. I don't know how I would stand against her in a fight, but since it is electricity she specializes in, I think I would. I could simply ground the energy if I fought a shock mage. We spoke at length about magic in this world. For the most part all the people know is that everyone has access to it, but some way more than others. I now know that everyone specializes in one or two certain branches of magic, and some more detailed than others. From what I picked up, some may study Healing magic, but in turn, only heal flesh wounds, that way they are faster, more effective, and do not spend as much mana on the battlefield, leaving deeper wounds to even more specialized mages. This method is used in combat magic as well. In fact the magic Aella claims to use is called "Negative Energy Combat Magic". This includes void magic, electricity, and a few others commonly known in RPG's. Others use the classic "Positive Energy" that includes fire, water, earth and air, with many branches into each of these elements. We sat in that tree for three days speaking of the magic system and of the world in general. Just the classic kingdom versus savages of the forest etc. Nothing most games have gone into. I will need to learn the detailed geography in the future though, along with the names associated. During this time she ate meat from the beast men, she had no qualms of such actions, and I admired that greatly for some reason.
At the end of the two days came the fun part. Training. We began training with spears, it seems she was extremely proficient with such a weapon, and almost cried....well did cry when I gave her my spear and of how I made it. She hugged me tightly and gave a little sob speaking of how much it meant to her, and admired the quality of the weapon. I had to rub my neck a little, I was embarrassed she spoke at such length of its beauty, damn girl you know that came from my body right. Well anyway, I made another spear, the same way as before, then absorbed more beast blood to return the extra power to my left side this time. She also began to teach me "Negative Energy Combat Magic", more specifically, electricity. I was....ecSTATIC...if you know what I mean. Anyway, it was very strange to use any magic aside from nature, when I told this to the elf she spoke as though it happened frequently.
Aella: "Indeed, some magic's, when used to a degree and mastered, such as you have with nature healing and manipulation, using other magic's will feel strange, as though you are trying to ride two horses at the same time. This was a perfect analogy. Eventually I was able to initiate a response with the mana around me. Whereas my nature magic utilized mana inside of myself, excluding the spear, of which Aella was also intrigued with, electricity took a whole new outlook of use. My former education was not going to help me with this, and I had the luck of training with a master. Despite looks, which are extremely deceiving. Aella is approximately.....old, she made me promise not to tell anyone, let's just say younger than 200, but looks younger than 23. She trained in her village, and when she graduated from the magic school there, she was "recruited" (cough) forced, to train with humans in combat magic, her affinity simply leaned toward electricity, and here were are today. I did ask her if she had a significant other, which she then proceeded to cough on her wolf meat and shout "of course not....silly". She was really cute and I laughed at her response, at which she pouted. Well its good she did not, I may gobble her up in the future myself. She roughly 5'8 female with brunette hair, I always did like that color, it is just as dark as my current skin. She was slim, but had a perfect bust. My kind of woman all in all.
Aella: "EHEMMM, are you listening?"
I come out of my reminiscence of the last few days, and reply with a nod of my head and recite the method to produce a reaction of electricity. It has been hard, really hard. Like listening to the audio book and reading another at the same time while concentrating on both.
Brett: "I know you are able to shoot electricity though the air in a bolt, and a continuous stream, but it is not working for me. (Ha-ha, it is as though I am watching my female skyrim character using magic) Indeed that was just what she was doing, even her robes resembled my equipment.
Aella: "If you cannot produce the friction in the air as I told you I suggest you find another incantation that works for you"
She explained that using this type of projectile magic was difficult to use, and took many people many years in the academy to learn to use. I decided to use her explanation of mana ignition and expand on it. I decided to use skyrim animations to base my magic off of. She said you must visualize, and looking at hers simply was too abstract. I close my eyes...and ignite mana a few feet in front of me, imagining a railroad carrying my mana along, but also willing it to take the form of electricity. I hear a yelp, then a sound similar to artillery fire. I open my eyes and see my arms, with tendrils of energy jumping excitedly on them, sometimes leaping from arm to arm, then eventually all the energy enters my antlers. Aella claps loudly exclaiming how gifted I am. I give a light bow to her energetic response. Then look in front of me. I witness pure destruction. In a straight line, just like a railroad, so two lines parallel to each other, each rail roughly two feet wide devastate everything in their paths for 30 meters.
It seems my bubble applies to all magic in terms of range. I also realize the magic still came from my body, even though I ignited it away from me. Aella said it was due to how amazing electricity and nature magic were affiliated with each other. I was ecstatic with the results. After a week of training almost nonstop we went back to the tree feasting on more prey on the way. While I trained she always brought me new bodies to feast on to gain strength back. While she slept I continued to train, now that I had a goal, it never left my mind. Late one night, while Aella and I were back to back, with her sleeping I thought to myself 'That damned tree, not letting me manipulate him, well anyway'. With a huge grin on my face I strengthened my resolve to use my newfound power to take over this forest and destroy other spirits in my way of conquest, I always dreamed of having some power, and by the way the tree spoke, it seemed like power could change frequently in this society. I also smiled at the plans I made to protect this worlds natural habitats, and I grinned a bloodthirsty smile at how in the immediate future I would feast on a rare delicacy, that damned lion variant.