[Light Heal has leveled up to 6! +2 to Magic]
[Light Heal has leveled up to 7! +2 to Magic]
[Wind Blast has leveled up to 3! +1 to magic +1 to movement]
[Lion Stomp has leveled up to 5! +2 to physique, +1 to movement]
[Lion Strike has leveled up to 3! +2 to movement, +2 to physique]
[Lion Claw has leveled up to 3! +2 to movement, +2 to physique]
[Morph: Wolf Cub has leveled up to 2! +3 to magic, +5 to movement]
[Passive Skills Regeneration and Resilience learnt! + 3 to magic, +10 to physique]
[Regeneration E+ 1: increase passive healing and mana Regeneration by 5%]
[Resilience E- 1: Reduce all incoming physical damage by 3%]
[Class: Druid has leveled up to 6! +15 magic, +5 movement]
NAME: Samson Michaels
AGE: 19
MIRACLE
?????/????
GODS
?????/????
CLASS: Combat Officer
MANA CLASS: Druid (Lv6) 89%
RANK: Battle Acolyte
ATTRIBUTES
Wind (Lv1) Light (Lv2) Water (Lv1)
STATISTICS
Physique 43
Movement 38
Magic 112
PASSIVE SKILLS
Firearms Mastery (E+)
Blades Mastery (C+)
Terran Combat Series: Lion Fist (D+
Resilience (E-)
Mana Control (E+)
Night Vision (E-)
Regeneration (E+)
ACTIVE SKILLS
Charge Shot (Lv5)
Quick Draw (Lv6)
Swift Thrust (Lv4)
Lion Stomp ( Lvl 5)
Lion Strike (Lv3)
Lion Claw (Lv3)
Wind Blast (Lv3)
Wind Drag (Lv2)
Light Heal (Lv7)
Morph:(Wolf Cub) (Lv2)
"Samson? Are we supposed to be growing this fast? I just from having no levels or just bloody level to level 3 with just a foot into level 4 in under a few hours. During training I thought they said it was going to take us at least a week to reach level 5, and that's with dungeon diving out into the equation." Malkova asked behind me as we ducked under a low hanging curtain of colorful vines, I'm pretty sure quite a few of them were snakes, I hate snakes.
"That's a simulation and tested method of growth under a controlled environment. Levels aren't what matters Malkova, they aim to foster skill, and the proper utilization of our increased stats per level. It is so shit like what happened to us today doesn't happen at all. If we had more skills or more familiarity with our increased biological functions, we might have done much more than flounder about like fishes that have just been pulled out of the sea. Our effciency, especially mine has been a complete flop in all of the encounters we've had.
I've not be fighting in a war Malkova, I've been trying to survive a warzone, and officer or not that's not what I was trained for." I said to her as I kept my ears peeled, laying eyes on our destination as we drew closer to it.
"If you ask me I'll say you're being too hard on yourself, I doubt any of the instructors at the academy would have accounted for this scenario and you have been doing quite well I think. Now excuse me, better stats or not I'm still a better climber than you are, so give me a minute, I'll find out where we are."
I shrugged my shoulders as I let her move past me to start scaling the massive tree in front of us. I turned and placed my back to it, keeping my eyes peeled to the forest just in case we get caught off guard again or rather just so we won't get caught of guard. We envisioned that this particular tree was the tallest in the area, and we need it to give us at least some sort of vantage point, that way we can properly pinpoint the direction of the base or at least see a hint, probably a cell tower or communications relay station that can lead us in it's direction.
A lot was currently going on, but I was taking it in stride... At least I hope I am. In all honesty Malkova was the absolute worst person that I had to get stuck in a forest with. She had something of a reputation back at the academy that tends to rub off on those who associated with her. If this were some teen romance flick, they'll tell you that her reputation of being called the ultimate 10 star slut was unwarranted and that she was just misunderstood.
But Malkova is a 21 year old Russian heiress with the worst possible attitude a young person could possibly have. She drank and partied a lot and tend to fuck anything with a significant sized shlong in-between his legs, or once in a while she'll make a foray into the lands of the other side of, rather her side.
Such should have been stigma enough to make her time at the academy a living hell, but seeing as she could kill a fly with a handgun from 30 paces away, those who would want to look for her trouble knew how to shut the fuck up. The fact that she was who I ended up being partnered with right now was funny, we never were able to see eye to eye back at the academy. She dropped down besides me a few minutes later, a couple of leaves sticking out of her hair and giving her a rather wild look, but it was not my place to tell her that, I might get my jaw displaced.
"There's something really off about this place Samson, for one even if we were knocked off course during entry, it shouldn't have been so bad that even a single communications tower would have been hard to spot. There's nothing but trees and forest for as far as my eyes could see there's a small hill to the north-northeast from here that can give us a better vantage point, but I think it's occupied."
"Occupied by whom?" I asked her as I kept my eyes peeled for something out of the ordinary.
"I can't tell, there's smoke rising up from a campfire or something of the sort. It could be a signal from the other cadets, which means it should be worth checking out." Malkova said as she pointed in the direction of the camp, except I shook my head as I gave an analysis about this camp she found.
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"Even you won't light up a fire, not when you know you're in hostile territory. I think it's a trap, but we're not so stupid as not to notice, we won't be lighting campfires in the open. That's a surefire way to get killed, which means it's either a trap or something totally unrelated to the elves and us. But without a proper bearing, that's the only direction we can go towards. How much farther is it from our current location?" I asked her as I checked the last of our ammunition, feeling a pit in my stomach at how low it currently was.
"About two to three kilometers from here. If we take a direct route we should be there in about thirty minutes. A circular route would probably take us twice as long, but at the very least we should be able to canvass the area and notice any trouble or trap before we walk right into it."
"Elves aren't stupid Malkova, don't you think they would be expecting that? I think what we need to do is find a secure location of our own, and then one person goes and canvass the other location. That way in case it's a bloody trap the other can stage a rescue if it's plausible. Point me in the direction of the camp, let's meet back here in 2 hours, I'll go find out what's up with the smoke, and you look for a secure location." I said to her as I got back up to my feet in preparation to move.
"Are you serious right now, do you know how dangerous this is! If it's true what you just said then they would probably be elves hiding in waiting for you. Do you think you can handle them alone, they will see you coming from a mile away!"
"If I didn't know better Malkova I would say you're worried about me." I said to her with a teasing smile as I stepped out of range of her wild swing.
"Fuck you Samson!"
"I might consider it later, but don't worry Malkova. They won't see me coming, just a poor lost wolf cub."
" What do you mean by!.... Oh!... OH!"
"Yes indeed Malkova...Oh!"
"Get out of here Michaels! And better be back here in 2 hours and don't die or I'll find you and kill your ass!" I tuned out the rest of what she had to say as I made my way into the forest, how she was going to kill me when I was dead was a mystery I would like to solve one day, but seeing as she was a chosen if the God of the Underworld, there was an active possibility she could actually pull that off.
I let myself blend into the forest, keeping an eye out for displaced shrubbery and we'll one need branches. Elves loved vantage point ambushes, it probably made them feel superior to attack someone from the sky. Either way I'm expecting that the elves would have put up a perimeter, I just didn't know from how far or how close to the smoke signal that perimeter was. Elves could cover a lot of ground in an absolutely short amount of time, so their perimeter would be wider than most, it would be better to make preparations before anything else.
I discovered a small clearing, the trees around were without branches except at their crowns, making it difficult for any elf to have the vantage point they needed to snipe the shit out of me. I had a plan, a scary one and not at all what me and Malkova just discussed, but if it worked out things might actually go really well or really bad.
The clearing had almost 10 inches of dead leaves on the ground, it was deep enough for me to hide all of the gear on me, including my clothes until I was standing there in the middle of a forest, naked as the day I was born. There was a chill in the air, but it carried with it the smell of nature that almost seemed to caress and encapsulate me in a soothing embrace. It reminded me of my mother, even with all of the danger around me it made me feel like I was right at home.
[You have have received a Blessing of Nature! +5 to all Stats]
[Morph: Wolf Cub]
The transformation was pretty jarring, completely unlike the first time it happened. I felt weird as everything seemed to change, I didn't have to lay attention to the changes before because it was in the heat of battle, but now having to squeeze all of my mass into such a small form left me with a wave of dizziness. But it didn't last long, just about five seconds, leaving me a young wolf cub in a merciless forest.
The nature's blessing was weird, but not completely unheard off. Mostly druids and elemental mages find a place where the power of nature is strong, they get blessed having their attributes increased. Looks like this small clearing was such a place and it would be in my best interest to come back here again, assuming I survive what I'm about to do. I turned around and left the clearing, picking my way through the terrain as carefully as I could and trying to put on my best wolf cub impression.
It really wasn't too hard to do, I was rapidly ning go realize that when the adrenaline of a fight had worn off, I was a human in the body of a wolf. Previously I had to rely on just my instincts to move, but now it was like learning to walk all-over again. And it sucked, for the better part of an hour I tripped and staggered my way forwards, so clumsy in my movements my fur was covered in a coat of twigs, dead leaves and crushed bugs. I looked and felt hideous and rapidly beginning to rethink my course of action, and then I heard a sound, a soft thud just behind me, like someone was stalking me. I turned around and let out a less than stellar help as the enlarged face of a wood elf covered my entire vision.
It took all of my will to not lazy out and attack, I was supposed to be a helpless and scared wolf cub, which should explain the shaking, it was not as if I was scared or anything like that. But still I was caught off guard, and as the wood elf stared at me with an even closer and focused scrutiny, I felt the fur on my body bristle as fear lanced through me.
"Are you lost little guy? Do you need food? Where's your momma?" If I had eyebrows then they would be raised at this very moment. This was an elf? Of all the things I expected when I took this current course of action, being doted on by what seems to be a middle aged but still sexy as hell wood elf was not a part of the equation.
He stretched his hands down to pick me up, but I wasn't having any of that. Even if it seems as if the bloody elf had a few screws loose in his head and did not seem to be any sort of threat to me right now, he was still the enemy, and I did not want the enemy's filthy hands on me. But even with all of my thoughts I had to notice one very distinct fact, and that was my lack of fear. Sure the elf had startled to the point of almost making me shit myself, but now, when I looked up at the long eared brown haired perfect freak! All I could see was an ordinary person, and somehow that scared me even more than I thought it would.... I saw a person, no different from a human being.... It pissed me the fuck off.
I scratched the elf and relaxed a growl that was decidedly more cute than I wanted it to be. I hated everything that I was seeing in front of me, and even with the rising anger a still conscious part of mind was telling how much of a bloody fucking conundrum I was. My emotions were all-over the place, now that I was face to face with an elf that wasn't about to kill me or through a TV screen watching the horrors they had visited upon humanity; I realized that perhaps they were no different from us.... Just normal people, and that shit pissed me off. What gave them the fucking right to be... To be.... To be fucking human! They come to our universe and kill us like we're nothing more than common dogs and then here they were being so fucking annoyingly normal! They're monsters! They should act like the monsters that they were and remain fucking monsters!
"Awwnn you poor thing, you must have been through quite a lot haven't you? Don't worry, you're safe now. Come, I'll take you to the camp, you should have a warm meal and a chance to sleep near a fire." And before I could give any other baby wolf resistance and deliver a piece of my mind to the elf, probably with a few light scratches on that pristine and perfect skin of his, he picked me up and held me in the crook of his arm before turning to look up at a tree to the left.
"After my watch is over and I'm heading over to the camp, I'll send your replacement up as soon as I'm there, I should go find something for our little friend to eat." The elf that held me said, but there was no reply, not from the forest and definitely from the tree itself. He took off, going from 0 to a 100 in a split second as we... Or rather he ran in the direction of the smoke signal, the trees moving past us like a car driving down a highway in the countryside.
Perhaps I was a lot closer to the camp than I thought, or the elf moved a whole deal faster too. Either way it brought something to my attention, the elves we've faced this far as compared to the one currently carrying me were weak. I didn't know how I could tell, I just felt it and it scared the shit out of me, this guy was on a whole other level and even if Malkova and I could jointly coordinate an attack, I don't think we would have even made a dent on his skin, not even with his Mana shield down.
"Halt! What's that in your arms Rodal? Do you want the commander to string you up for the sport and amusement of the entire squad?" We had stopped moving? I didn't notice. I squirmed in the grasp of the elf until I was facing the person who had spoke.
We were at the base of a hill, there was a wooden gate made with thick logs and strings and a fully armored elf with a glaive in his hands.... Oh! That's not a glaive.... Or it is, but with the heavy modifications I could see on it, I could tell it was a Gun-Glaive, the barrel under it's gleaming silver blade held the promise of fire and death.... I wanted it.
"That sun elf has a stick up her entitled ass just all sun elves do. She doesn't like pets and beast companions, but that doesn't mean she said we can't have them. You know they're an important aspect of combat abilities and this guy seems to have potential, he actually scratched me! Can you believe it?" The elf holding me Rodal said to the guard.
"No I don't believe it, you're one of the strongest here Rodal, and Arcane blades can hardly get past your skin, how is is possible for a common wolf cub to scratch you? Are you sure about this? There's something off about this." Rodal raised me up until I was face to face with him, I squirmed, my heart pounding in my small body as I alternated between moving and staying still, scared I would be found out.
"Nah! I think he's special, but that's it. I'll find out what it is though, but apart from being a strangely powered wolf cub, I don't think there's anything untoward going on here. I mean look at him! He's so cute and cuddly and fluffy, this guy can't hurt a fly.... At least not yet."
"Well whatever Rodal, if anything goes wrong it's all on your head and it's your bloody funeral. Now get out of my sight your disturbing my peace."
My elf, and I'm using that term quite loosely laughed out loud as he passed the guard, giving him a heavy pat on his shoulder as he went past the gate. I noticed that the path up the hill was about four meters wide before narrowing at the top.of the hill to be at least 2 meters wide. Both sides were fenced and had tiny spikes jutting out of their frames. These spikes had a purple veins wound around them and they seemed to have moisture on them. There was a sickly sweet smell in the air, the kind you know smells somewhat nice, but will turn your stomach something fierce. Rodal noticed me looking at the vines before speaking up.
"Ahhh I read somewhere that wolves have really sensitive noses. Those are Night Nix vines. They're poisonous and really dangerous, even though they smell nice. Contact on your skin would cause paralysis and a painful one at that from 30 minutes to 8 hours depending on how much got onto you. You ingest it, or add it to any biological agent like food, or water or just eating the damn thing and you'll be dead in at most 25 minutes, depending on the method of delivery, they..."
I shifted my head away from the vines, squirming in his hands as if to get off. I was really going all out in order to cement this illusion of being a helpless and hyperactive wolf cub. I almost slipped out of his hands when Rodal cursed and drew me closer, picking up his speed as we went up the hill.
We reached the top and went past the door or rather gate there, with Rodal greeting the guard there with just a box, seems like these two weren't as chummy as the first guard. I shifted my gave to the camp where a massive bonfire was lit in the middle. To the right scattered on the hill under the cover of trees was a smattering of scarlet tents with an emblazoned golden sun on their sides. To the north was a massive white tent, and go the left which in this case seeing as we were coming up the hill in a southward position was west. There were almost three dozen drop pods on the ground, and strung to the side of their pods were cadets that I had went through officer school with. At a glance I could see that quite a few of them were already dead, others close to death and those still alive and filled with vitality were target practice for the elves, my fave threatened to reignite. And then Rodal spoke up, his voice sending chills up and down my spine.
"Young wolf, do you see that, see those humans? Well when I'm done training you, they will be an acquired taste, when I'm don't teaching the true ways of the world. You won't just be incapable of hurting flies, you will be very capable of hunting humans, every. Single. Last. One. Of. Them!