Francois, Roland, Eilyen and Phyara were still wide-eyed when I made my declaration: “It’s time to train!”

Each of the four had a different reaction to the new me: Francois laughed, Roland furrowed his brow, Eilyen seemed to be seeing me in an entirely new light, and Phyara was grinning like a maniac and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Francois elbowed Roland’s side and said: “Ey, wha’ ye been feedin’ te lass!? Dino s’eaks!?”

“Close enough,” said Eilyen.

Meanwhile, Roland wrinkled up his nose and informed me: “We can’t understand what you’re saying, Senwyn.”

“Really?” I asked, and I tossed Phyara my harness. I had more important things to be doing than fiddling with a bunch of straps and buckles. She caught it and glanced between me and the harness once, then nodded.

“Yes, we can’t understand you. I am assuming you are speaking Draconic right now.” Roland said before turning to Eilyen and asking her: “Don’t we have a ring of translation or two kicking around downstairs?” She looked over to him, gave the Company Leader a curt nod and took off with a rapid stride. Phyara was making fairly quick work of adjusting the harness for me, I was impressed with how dexterous she was with all the fiddly adjustment clamps and buckles.

My tail curled in the air behind me while Roland gave me an appraising look. I could feel him probing me with a skill, and I figured I might as well pull up my sheet to see what changed along with me while he was scoping me out.

Name: Senwyn Everhome

Level: 10

Species: [Half-Dragon] [Shapeshifter]

Class: [Fighter]

Faith: [Devotee] of [Vorthrax, the Ravenous Wyrm]

[Strength]: (141)

[Agility]: (131)

[Endurance]: (143)

[Vitality]: (142)

[Intelligence]: (35)

[Wisdom]: (35)

Unspent Stat Points: 0

Languages:

[Common]

[Draconic]

General Skills (0/6):

Class Skills (3/6):

[Fighter’s Grit] – Level 13

[Flurry] – Level 1

[Battlefield Paranoia] – Level 1

Divine Skills (3/3):

<[Touch of Flame] – Level 10>

[Tenacity of the Scale] – Level 16

[Draconic Surges] – Level 1

Whoah, no wonder I feel so different, I gained a wagonload of stats and then some! Also, ugh… notifications once again.

I pulled up my new notifications and looked them over quickly.

[Tenacity of the Scale] has gained 1 level and is now level 16!

[Touch of Flame] has gained 9 levels and is now level 10!

[Touch of Flame] has reached Tier II!

You have gained [Hyperactive]

You have gained [Bloodthirst]

What’s all this?

Touch of Flame – Level 1

Passive I

The blood of the dragon god courses through your veins, and his terrible power will reshape your vessel as he sees fit. Serve Vorthrax, The Ravenous Wyrm well and you will reap further rewards. You’ve gained a shapeshifting ability to draw out the power of your blood and enhance your draconic traits. Tread with vigilance Devotee, for as you stoke the flames of your might, the dragon within you shall surely rise.

Tier II

You’ve gained experience during your shift, and a new awareness and understanding of both of your forms.

Your shifts will be easier on you and the time it takes to shift is reduced by 10%

Minor upgrade at best, but I’ll take it. Assuming I even want to shift back, that is! Hah!

[Hyperactive]

Status Condition

Your body thrums with energy! Where it is all coming from, you have no idea! You want to move, act and do more than just sit around and ponder!

[Bloodthirst]

Status Condition

You are itching for a fight, cruising for a bruising & praying for some slaying. It doesn’t matter what form it takes, but you need some violence in your life, now.

Ah, so that’s why I’ve got so much drive and energy!

I shifted from foot to foot and let the fire in my chest burn at a steady clip. With every exhale, I was shooting out puffs of smoke from my nostrils. I liked the effect! Phyara finished up with my harness adjustments and moved over to help me into it. It was strange looking down at her, I thought I might have been a foot taller than she was, so estimated I was around seven and a half feet tall, by that metric. Eight plus with the horns considered, and thus… the doorframe.

I puffed my chest out with pride as she strapped the harness around me and tugged down the straps, so it was a secure fit. When she was done, I reached out my hand and placed my right palm between her shoulder blades and pressed her curvaceous form against my side. She squished against me and giggled.

“You’re welcome, Senwyn!”

I looked down at her and grinned, and she returned the smile. I let her go and straightened up. When she stepped away, I swapped [Shadow’s Cleaver] to my right hand and used [Attach] to lock it into place. Eilyen still hadn’t returned, so I started to work on some of the stretches that the twins had taught me that morning. I was far, far more limber, this was a piece of cake! Despite being much more flexible, I was seriously crunchy! When I rolled my neck around on my shoulders it sounded like I was crunching up some stale bread, and the relief set in immediately.

Must be some sticky joints leftover from the change.

I paced back and forth a little and flexed my hands open and closed and felt how my claws scraped the insides of my palm whenever I tried to make a fist. Throwing a proper closed-fist punch wasn’t going to be an option for me, unless I wanted to skewer my palm four times.

That’s fine, I’ll just claw their face off instead.

I could hear Eilyen walking up the staircase all the way down the hall and turned in that direction. She made her way back to us quickly, and handed a ring to Roland, who slipped it on.

“Try saying something now, Senwyn?”

“That took too long. I want to go train!”

Roland shook his head and took the ring off, saying: “No luck, it apparently doesn’t work with Draconic. That’s going to make things difficult until you shift back.”

I held out my palm and shook it side to side, then pointed at Phyara, hoping she knew what I was trying to say.

“She can’t shift back until she hits first evolution, her god wanted her to learn how to use her other form properly.” Phyara said, stepping to the side so she could address us better as a group.

I’m hungry and thirsty.

I looked over to Eilyen and mimed taking a bite out of a big drumstick and drinking from a jug. She snorted in response and pulled a jug out of her storage and handed it to me. I deposited it and waited for something to eat. She pulled one of those big dark bread sandwiches out, but I shook my head and repeated my drumstick chomp gesture. The sandwich popped out of her hands and was replaced by one of the giant raw steaks that she’d given me before. I nodded emphatically and grinned.

That’s much better!

She handed it to me, and I held it up and took a massive bite out of it, biting off nearly a quarter of the steak in one go. I tried to chew the meat, but chewing was sort of awkward. I had to snap my jaws open and closed to do it, and it occurred to me that I probably lacked molars.

If I choke, at least there’s a few people here who could squeeze it back out of me.

Abandoning the chewing, which was only mincing the steak, I just swallowed it whole instead. I could feel what felt like a pound of meat slide down my throat, which expanded and bulged around it like it was no big deal at all. And then it was where it belonged, in my stomach! This was so much better! I tried to sound my pleasure and more or less growled fairly loudly.

Francois snickered loudly at that, and I just shrugged and grinned. It was what it was, I didn’t care.

“So what now then, if she can’t speak? Should we resume training her?” Eilyen asked, addressing Roland. I resumed eating, taking it one big chomp and gulp at a time while the two talked.

“I think it’s best if you try and evaluate her abilities as she is right now and see where she’s at. If she’s in a good place, I don’t see why we shouldn’t set her loose to sprint her way up through the tower until she’s at a place were she can be challenged. She’ll level herself quickly, especially now that she has that leveling bonus skill you mentioned.” Roland said, talking to Eilyen and Phyara both.

I was nearly done with my steak, and I popped the last chunk into my mouth when Francois turned to me. “Ye will fi’ righ’ in roun’ here, lass. I had te feelin’ soon as I saw ye. I ca’ch up wi’h ye soon, ‘ake care of yerself in te ‘ower!” I went to hold out my hand, but I could smell the blood on it, so I held up a finger to ask him to wait. Sticking my tongue out to lick my fingers clean was an experience, because a good six inches came out and it felt like there was plenty left to reel out by the time I stopped.

Damn! This this is massive!

I licked my fingers clean, wiped them on my belly to get the spit off and held my hand out to Francois. We exchanged both a firm shake and toothy grins, and he made his way over to the staircase and left.

“Senwyn, what do you say to doing a quick demonstration on some of the challenges in the gym, then we’ll try a spar or two to gauge where you’re at?” Eilyen asked me.

I gave my trainers and the Company Leader a big grin and a clawed thumbs-up. A round of nods went around, and I didn’t wait around for instructions. I wanted to go! Having far longer legs was great. Feeling my mane flapping around was great. The fact having the humongous slab of metal on my back didn’t slow me down or give me pause in the slightest was great.

I took the stairs three at a time and went straight to the gym. I got there a bit earlier than the others, so I took the opportunity to pop the jug of red huskfruit juice out of my storage, open it and pour it directly into my muzzle. This stuff was good, really good! I had to find other drinks like this, because between the juice and the steak I could feel mana surging in my core. It was soaking up the food and drink and shooting out hot pulsing waves of mana through my arms and legs. The three slowpokes came in while I was still chugging the jug of juice down.

I held up one finger as the jug emptied the remainder of the juice into my mouth, which immediately went straight down my throat. I brought my head down and recapped the jug and offered it to Eilyen. She took it and it popped out of existence immediately. I felt the need to burp, so I turned to the side and thumped my chest twice with my fist and let it rip. It wasn’t terribly loud, but it did produce a burst of smoke! I laughed out loud, which sounded strange even to my ears, making a sort of “arr arr arr” sound interspersed with rumbles.

Right then, I want to see what I can do!

My jog was more of a loping gait with how much longer my legs and feet were, and I practically sailed across the gym to where the ropes were. I couldn’t climb these more than a few hands at a time before my arms gave out earlier. Not this time! I went arm-over arm straight up the bulky fiber rope without even having to use my feet to carry myself and the heavy blade. I loved the way my biceps bulged when I pulled myself up. I’d kill for muscles like this in my human form. I’d get there eventually, sure, but with [Shapeshift] I had them right now and it was glorious.

I lowered myself down about halfway down the fifty foot rope and dropped the rest of the way. I landed with a thud and with both my shifted ankles and my knees able to absorb the impact better the twenty foot drop was a piece of cake. The scales covering my palm weren’t even scuffed or scraped up by the climb, unlike earlier when the fiber rope was more than delighted to nibble at my palms.

I was going to need some supplies before I left, but I wasn’t planning on sitting around a moment longer than absolutely needed. We could get this done and over with, load up on some goods, and hopefully I’d be out of here in the next couple of hours. Speaking preparations, I needed something to practice my [Juggernaut Blade] on. Something or someone. I reached over my shoulder and thought the command, popping the blade free and drawing it over my shoulder in a smooth motion. My trainers were watching me practice swings with it and murmuring amongst themselves. I could probably hear what they were saying if I wanted, but I didn’t care.

I was more focused on the way the weapon felt in my hands. Before it had felt like I was trying to swing around a plank of lumber or something, and not a blade. And to Phyara’s point, she was correct in her assertion: this is not a sword. Swords parted the air when you sliced with them using proper edge alignment. This blade didn’t part the air when it passed through it, it ripped it down the middle like a savage beast would a small prey animal. There was something that resonated within me and in the sword while I warmed up with it.

It feels right in my hand now. I’m not swinging a weapon, I’m swinging an extension of myself, like I was taught.

“Let’s do a few practice spars, Senwyn, and I’ll get a feel for where you are at.” Eilyen said as she stepped forward. Her sword appeared in her hand, and I found it interesting how different her sword looked compared to her sister’s. It was very… utilitarian, I suppose is what I’d call it.

It was a double-edged longsword, and similar to her sister’s blade, it had runes running down the middle of the blade, carved into the metal. Unlike her sister’s sword, it wasn’t ornamented, the runes were a bright red and the rest of the sword looked simple in design. The guard was curved forwards to engage with an opposing blade and was like a darkly stained brass metal I didn’t recognize. The hit was wrapped in black, rough looking skin, and an octagonal pommel made of the same brassy metal was affixed to the end. The pommel had runes carved into it as well as the blade.

“I’ll start off slowly and gauge your reactions while I push you harder. I do not want you to hold back whatsoever, or I won’t be able to properly gauge where you should be aiming for in the tower, okay?” Eilyen held her sword up and traced designs in the air with her free hand. Once again I could vaguely sense mana flowing around in the air and being drawn to her blade, and the runes lit up until they glowed like hot steel.

She did this several times, each time doing something different and applying effects to herself. The first was a glowing golden ball that spun around the wrist of her right hand and left a trail in it’s wake. It circled half a dozen times, fading as it did until it was no longer visible. I was pretty sure the effect persisted.

Oh, she’s casting [Buffs] on herself. I guess that means this will be a serious spar after all then. Better put my back into it and try to make a good showing!

She layered on several other buffs. One that covered her in an electric blue glowing mist that hovered just off the surface of her skin and clothing, another that was an elliptical golden ring that was just larger than her silhouette. Finally she cast a [Buff] that looked like a green glowing vapor that condensed out of the air around her and sank into her form, even through her clothing. When she was done casting, none of the effects were visible at all.

“We’ll fight until submission, faint or Roland calls it. Sound good?”

“Can’t wait, let’s go!” I said, then gave her a thumbs-up.

She entered a sort of fencer’s stance, with her right leg and right hand forward, and her left leg back and her left hand held at chest height.

I didn’t have a stance. I had no idea how to use this seven foot long meat cleaver, I was just going off feel. I did have a basic strategy in mind, though. She and her sister were some kind of hybrid swordsman caster mashup, so I figured they preferred to keep things pretty light and focus on evasion to carry them while they shot fireballs between lulls in sword swinging. Or something like that. I felt I had two options; one was to use the length of this metal behemoth to out-range her and hopefully apply enough pressure to keep her from slinging spells at me. The other was to hit her as hard as possible to try and get her on her back foot, and then stick to her like stink on shit.

“Ready!” Roland called from the sidelines, and Eilyen and me nodded and waited for the signal. My whole body was bursting with energy! I was like a coiled up spring ready to tear loose inside, but my body was loose and flexible. Twelve to fifteen feet separated us, that wasn’t that much farther than my reach with the blade, in all honesty.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Fight!” Shouted Roland, and both my opponent and I were instantly in motion. I was leaned in to dash forward, trying to close the gap between us. Eilyen didn’t move from her position with her sword held ready, pointed at me. The runes on her blade flared in intensity and a bolt of lightning shot out of the tip of her sword. It hit me square in the chest a fraction of a second later, and I could feel blooming heat and bouncing arcs of electricity dance along my scales.

It hurt like fuck, if I’m being totally honest, but it was mostly the crackles of electricity that danced outwards. The burning was like a candleflame compared to the kiln roasting in my chest. I’d like to say that it was my pitiful excuse for strategy and tactics that guided me, but I’d be lying. I wasn’t actually thinking about much at all beyond how much I wanted to hit her. Alien instinct guided me from there. I bared my teeth and hissed as the bolt discharged in my chest, but it didn’t even make me blink.

When my second step landed, I was running on autopilot. My leg folded under me and I’m pretty sure the claws on my toes actually bit into the stone floor. I launched off that leg like a bolt from a crossbow, with my blade held in my right hand and with my sword hand in position at my left hip for a backslash. Eilyen was moving her sword into a block from the looks of things, rather than trying to parry or evade it. She had a smirk on her lips, and I wanted nothing more than to wipe it off her face.

Take this!

I felt mana rocket up from my core through my heart, where it split to pour into my arms. Burning heat infused both of my arms, and my right arm twisted and lashed out like a red-scaled viper. I was shocked at how completely effortless swinging [Shadow’s Cleaver] felt, as well as by just how fast my attack was. The edge of my sword collided against the golden barrier she’d erected previously, which conveniently appeared to intercept my sword as it entered her personal space a few inches from her blade. I’d been set up with a simple ploy and fell straight into it.

It felt like time was passing at a snail’s pace as I watched the events we’d set into motion unfold. I’d poured a hell of a lot of kinetic energy into my swing, and the blade of [Shadow’s Cleaver] had bitten several inches deep into the golden barrier. A weave of golden strands that looked like coarse cloth was deformed around the vicious edge of my blade. For a fraction of a second, it felt like I’d failed, and was about to eat a face full of magic when the strands failed, and the entire barrier catastrophically ruptured and exploded into golden motes of light. My awareness of events snapped back to real time, and [Shadow’s Cleaver] slammed into Eilyen’s sword and slid down the length to crash into her cross guard.

As I was swinging with a backslash from low to high across my chest originally, Eilyen had to cant her sword forwards for my blade to connect with her, so the force of my blow was shoving her back and upwards. The smirk was gone off her face as she rocketed backwards from the blow. She was in control of herself during her ascent, and she landed gracefully high up on one of the stone climbing walls. I didn’t relent for a second as she’d been sent flying. I’d carried through with the swing until my sword had swung around to my rear right side, and I reached down with my left hand, grabbed the base of the handle, and threw the sword tip-first directly at her. It was already mid-flight and streaking across the room.

I’ll show her not holding back!

I sprinted across the floor, sending up chips of stone as my claws gouged the floor. Eilyen twisted away from the incoming sword as I kept my eyes trained on her and leapt after my sword. My feet had just left the floor when my blade buried itself into the climbing wall, and an explosion of jagged stone fragments burst from the wall in a blooming hemisphere of shrapnel. Eilyen jumped off the wall from where she’d dodged my sword, darting through the air to land gracefully on top of the stilts.

I arrived at the climbing wall just a moment later, grabbed my sword handle, landed in a crouch and then launched myself off the wall, pulling the big blade out of the stone along the way. Eilyen had made a point of showing off her fine control and had landed on a bamboo pole poised on one foot with her other leg partially folded. I on the other hand landed on one of the wooden beams. I didn’t like the prospect of splitting the bamboo under my feet and skewering my feet.

Eilyen was darting from bamboo pole to bamboo pole and making it look effortless as she launched an attack against me. She thrust her sword out, and I brought up my blade and blocked the fine tip of her sword with the handspan-wide blade of mine, which caused her sword to ricochet off to my left side.

“Well done.” She commented in a conversational tone. I growled back at her. She recovered from my block damn near instantly, before I could hope to attack her, and proceeded to launch into a flurry of swings aimed at my chest. She was only trying to use the last few inches of her sword to cut me, which meant that her attacks were blisteringly fast all the way out at the tip of her sword, but they didn’t benefit a ton from leverage.

My far faster reactions and natural instincts guided my blade, which I took into a two-handed grip and rotated through a dozen different angles, just barely managing to block and repel her blade as it whistled through the air right in front of me. I kept having to backstep and rotate from beam to beam, and I was immensely grateful for the fact that my field of view was massive now. Navigating the beams was easy when I had forty-five degrees added to each side of my field of view. I really couldn’t overstate how useful that was.

I saw a chance to fire off an attack myself as Eilyen was advancing from pole to pole, and I took it. I used a broad side-to-side swing aimed at waist height to attack her. She lifted the tip of her sword up and held the hilt at chest height in front of her, and casually hopped over my swing. I’d guessed that she was going to jump over it, and I’d put entirely way too much force into the swing intentionally. I let the sword swing me around and used the extra vertebrae in my neck and enhanced field of view to keep a single eye locked on her. When she was just about to hit the apex of her jump, I flexed my arms hard and arrested the sword’s motion, which instead sent me into a hard spin.

Perfect!

I carried through on the spin and used my tail like a bullwhip to lash out at her while she was at the slowest point of her jump. This was going to be good! She pulled her legs up, but I was aiming for her ribs, so that wasn’t going to get her out of this situation! The runes on her sword blazed and she leapt off thin air! My tail strike hit nothing, and she rolled herself up while doing a flip and landed directly behind me.

Well, shit. This is going to suck.

She thrust twice and I felt her blade slip through my back and out my front like a burning hot spear, once through each kidney. The pain was agonizing, and I roared like the wounded beast I was, spit flying out of my mouth. Eilyen had stabbed me twice so fast and immediately leapt away before I could get her with my tail. Seems she had plenty of experience fighting humanoids with tails and was well aware of the danger it presented.

“You bitch!” I shouted at her, but of course, it came out as a roar followed by an undulating growl. Not quite the effect I was going for. Shouting hurt, and I pressed the fingers of my left hand to one of the holes in my gut. At least the lighter hued scales of my palms and contact area of my fingers let me see my blood okay. I was bleeding pretty heavily, and I knew it would sap me quickly.

I tried to exert [Tenacity of the Scale], even though it was a passive skill. I’d learned that even passive skills could benefit from trying to follow a similar method of activating them as you would an active skill. If anything, it made the wound hurt worse. As much as I wanted to smash the shit out of Eilyen right now, she was outside my weight class by a huge margin.

Swallowing my pride had never felt this difficult before. Maybe because I never had any. I felt cooped up and tied down, and I wanted out, right now. If I was going to try and get back into the tower tonight, the right move was to tap out. If I had to do it, I’d do it with dignity. I looked over at Eilyen who was once again casually perched on a bamboo pole on one foot like a crane. I couldn’t gauge the look on her face, it looked somewhat cross, but I couldn’t be sure.

I swung [Shadow’s Cleaver] over my shoulder and locked it into place, then hopped fifteen feet or so down from my pole to the floor. The floor under and immediately surrounding all the poles was recessed downwards and filled with sand to pad any falls, although not by much. The sand felt good between my splayed toes, I liked it. The pattering of my blood dripping onto the sand sort of ruined both my enjoyment of the sand and my mood.

I have to get stronger. So much stronger. This was embarrassing.

I leaned back against the timber I’d dropped from and slid down to a seated position. The energy I’d felt earlier was rapidly fading away, leaving me drained and sore. Most of my body from the neck down was aching and throbbing in an unfamiliar way that became more apparent as the fire within me died down from a blazing bonfire to a pleasant campfire in my chest.

Taking the time to slow my breathing, I closed my eyes and directed my perception inwards. Since I’d dropped [Awareness] my ability to tell what was going on with me internally wasn’t so great. My muscles were warm and sore in most of the muscle groups throughout my body. The tunnels I had felt forming just the other day when my core formed were stinging and burning like a cut would.

I’d gotten lost inside myself trying to feel out what was going on and better understand it, and I think I might have lost track of time, too. It was quiet, and I heard footsteps approaching. I opened my eyes and saw Roland and walked over and knelt next to me. He was craning his neck and looking at where I’d been wounded. Both punctures seemed to have stopped bleeding, and the pain was slowly getting better. I huffed out a smoke-tinged snort from my nostrils.

He looked up at me and we made eye contact. “You fought well, far better than any of us was expecting. The twins updated me on the training and skill plan they were working with you on. Were you aware you were using a fairly advanced technique while you were fighting?”

I shook my head, not really knowing what technique he was referring to specifically.

“You feel tired now, right? Sore, worn out, maybe even in a good bit of pain outside of these?” He gestured at where I’d been stabbed twice.

I nodded slowly.

“That’s an intermediate to advanced [Mana Control] technique called [Augmentation]. It’s also sometimes called mana pumping or mana swamping. You were using your mana to directly empower your body beyond it’s capabilities. It can allow you to outperform your physical limitations, but without even having undergone your first evolution yet, it’s exceptionally dangerous for you to use.” Roland explained to me in his usual, calm, level voice.

I reached a hand out to the sand between us, brushed it mostly flat and drew a question mark with my fingernail.

“When you undergo evolution, it isn’t just about advancing your class, it also fundamentally changes your entire body, your mind and your essence. Strengthening is one of the outcomes. Normally [Augmentation] strengthens and enhances your body, accelerates your reflexes, boosts your speed and perception, sometimes dramatically.”

Roland brushed some sand flat himself and made a quick drawing to demonstrate. A glass with… icicles coming off the bottom. A cold glass, got it.

“In your instance you’re taking a cold glass, and then pumping it full of hot mana…” He drew a teakettle pouring out steaming water into the glass, and then drew cracks forming all over the glass. “…it will cause tears in your muscles, fractures in your bones, blood vessels to spring leaks, that sort of thing.”

Looking up at me to make sure he had my attention, he turned back to the drawing and split the entire glass down the middle, saying: “Or it can damage something vital, and you can severely wounded, or even die.” He looked back up at me and tapped a finger to the center of my chest. “You could rupture your heart, burst a blood vessel in your brain, or other sorts of things that you don’t usually recover from.”

I nodded slowly and snort sighed. I wasn’t really trying to do it, but now that I knew what was going on, I could avoid doing it.

I wiped the sand clean and wrote “Elfs?”

Roland chuckled, wiped the sand clean and corrected me by writing out “Elves?”

They might have taught me to speak well, but it’s not like I got a fancy noble education.

“They’ve left for now. You did something that pissed off Eilyen, but I’m not exactly sure what. She basically stomped out, and her sister went after her.”

Another wipe of the sand and I wrote “I want to go level.”

Roland gave me an appraising look and rested on his haunches. Several moments passed as he sat there, thinking. Finally, he said: “I think you might be right. The ways of training and the system we’ve developed clearly weren’t designed with either a [Shapeshifter] or a Divine Touched in mind. You’re sort of your own special case.” He looked up to the high ceilings of the gymnasium and drummed his fingers on his thigh.

“I will allow it, but on a few conditions.” I nodded, wanting to hear what he had to say.

“We’re going to have to get you something to wear to make it extremely clear that you’re not a monster to other low-level people who are looking to shoot arrows and fireballs at everything that looks like it might give experience.”

I am not a monster!

Despite my annoyance at the term, I saw the wisdom in his words, and I nodded in agreement.

“I think you should stick with the training plan that the twins have put you on, did they give you all the details?” I rocked my hand from side to side in response and he sighed.

“Okay, that’s fine, we’ll get it cleared up before you leave. You tested with an aptitude for more than just [Juggernaut Blade], correct?” Roland asked me, and I nodded in agreement.

Smoothing out the sand, I wrote: “BIG BOW.”

“Oh, right. I want you to take one with you along with some arrows. Practice with it. When you get to a higher level and start getting into a range where you can group with some of us without putting you in excessive amounts of danger, the best thing you can do to contribute to a fight while staying somewhat safe is to use a ranged weapon or magic.”

Fine, whatever it takes to get me out of here. Being able to group with others a bit faster will be nice, though, admittedly.

“Finally, we’ll be sending you in with a good load of high level food, drink, some mid-tier potions and curatives, as well as some money.” I immediately frowned at the mention of potions, medical supplies and money. Roland held his hand up and gave me a look that put an immediate end to my protests.

“You are much too strong to benefit from killing level 10 monsters, so you’re going to have to jump yourself up a number of levels before you’re able to get experience, but you get bonuses for level differences, so that’s good. What’s not good is that you lack experience of the tower itself, so that means you’re going to be putting yourself into danger. Take the supplies and use them. It’s not up for debate. And regarding the money, do the smart thing and take an advance on your salary to use in settlements inside the tower.”

I blinked, confused by his words. I wiped at the sand and wrote: “Salary?”

Roland nodded and explained to me: “You’re an initiate here, not a full member, so you don’t make a full member’s salary, but we still pay initiates. It’s 5 platinum per year, which boils down to about 40 gold a month. Francois handles all the guild payments and personally delivers payments; you just haven’t been here long enough to receive one yet.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and held it several long moments before letting it back out slowly.

40 gold is more money than I’ve ever owned at a single time. I used to think I did pretty well for myself as a [Butcher] making 2 gold a week. Now I make five times that amount to train and eat like a pig. Fuck.

I opened my eyes and nodded to Roland. With a rumbly grunt, I got to my feet and stood upright. A swipe of my big right foot cleared out the sand we’d been using like a slate. I prodded at the site on my abdomen where I’d been stabbed. My scales had covered the wound, but it was still tender. My [Regeneration] was steadily stitching me back together, it was honestly amazing to my mind.

“It’s going to take a few hours to get everything put together, why don’t you get cleaned up and have something to eat? It would be easier to set out tomorrow morning, I would think. That’ll give you time to rest and recover from the beating you put yourself through earlier.” I thought about what he was saying and nodded in agreement. I did feel like I’d been put through a wringer, Roland wasn’t joking when he said that [Augmentation] wasn’t wise to use at my level.

I reaffixed [Shadow’s Cleaver] on my back so that it would allow me to get through doorways without having to walk sideways. With how tall I was now, I barely had to angle it much to keep it off the ground. I went downstairs and drew myself a super-hot bath in one of the larger tubs, grabbed a pair of towels for my hair and set my sword & harness down on a bench.

The water felt divine, and I wound up finding a comfortable position reclining back to the point where only my muzzle was sticking out of the water, with almost the entirety of my form otherwise immersed. My tail was just too long and bulky, unfortunately, so even though I looped it around the inside of the tub once, I wound up draping the last two feet over the side of the tub by my feet. I let the heat suck the tension out of my body and cleared my mind.

While I was at it, I decided to clear out my notifications as well.

You have new skills available!

You have gained new titles!

[Fighter’s Grit] has gained 2 levels and is now level 15!

[Battlefield Paranoia] has gained 7 levels and is now level 8!

[Tenacity of the Scale] has gained 3 levels and is now level 19!

[Touch of Flame] has gained 1 level and is now level 11!

I pulled up my titles next.

[Blood of an Elder God II]

Blood beyond your abilities surges throughout your body, challenging your right to control it. It granted you power beyond your means, and you’ve felt the after effects enough to grant you further motivation in the future.

[Mana Control] skills and abilities beyond your current capabilities will be easier for you to control. The enhancement to control doesn’t innately mitigate the effects of using abilities that exceed your physical constraints.

[Mana Prodigy II]

You’ve discovered [Augmentation] far before anyone would think it possible. Incredible! Also: incredibly dangerous! Go you!

You have gained a 15% bonus to your mana density, effectively increasing your maximum mana.

Those are both good, I suppose. It’s not like I’m a caster. Let me check and see if there’s anything that stands out on my skill list.

I scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled. Normally I’d be annoyed having to dig through the full list of skills I’d unlocked, but I had a general idea of what I was looking for. And… there!

[Juggernaut Blade Proficiency]

Passive I

While wielding a weapon of a size that most would consider to be absurd, you’ve learned a few tricks here and there. [Juggernaut Blades] require their users to develop their own combat styles, as very few other weapon techniques are applicable due to their size and weight.

You have an increased chance of discovering new skills specific to [Juggernaut Blades]. Your [Juggernaut Blades] gain an additional 10% [Armor Penetration].

That is immediately getting slotted. Anything that boosts the effectiveness of these weapons.

I pulled my skills for a quick review. I was still sitting with most of my slots empty since I’d purged most of my skills at the behest of the twins.

General Skills (1/6):

Juggernaut Blade Proficiency – Level 1

Class Skills (3/6):

Fighter’s Grit – Level 15

Flurry – Level 1

Battlefield Paranoia – Level 8

With that taken care of, I relaxed in the bath and lost myself in all the sensations of my new body. An indeterminable amount of time passed and unfortunately the water cooled, but what finally aroused me from my relaxation was the scent of someone in the bathroom with me.

Female, lightly floral scented with a dash of cherry on top. Phyara.

I thought about saying something, but then was reminded that we had a language barrier. Shit. With a regret-filled flick of the end of my tail against the side of the tub I brought my clawed hands up to the sides of the tub and rose from my near-total immersion with care. I didn’t want to slop water absolutely everywhere. I climbed out of the tub and opened my outer eyelids, leaving the transparent inner eyelid closed to keep any drips of water from running into my eyes.

My hair—more of a mane, really—was completely soaked and holding a pretty serious amount of water. I resisted the urge to shake it out and instead pressed my palms against it and ran them from just behind my horns down as far as I could reach on my back. A few passes of that dealt with getting the bulk of the water out. From my position standing in the tub, I was able to reach over and get one of my towels and proceeded to start to pat down and dry my hair.

It was probably a waste of time to dry my hair like this, it didn’t look or feel like my normal hair did, and I think it sticking out was just going to be an everyday fact of life. Phyara came around to the bathtubs and showers side of the bathroom and washed her hands before coming over to me. She grabbed my second towel and gave me a hand drying off the bottom quarter of my hair I couldn’t reach very well on my own. I gave her a smile in thanks, although I’m pretty sure my smiles were more like a wolf exposing it’s teeth than a person’s cheery grin.

Once I was mostly done drying my hair, I stepped out of the tub. Water ran off my scales and only left behind tiny little traces of wetness here and there. It was nice being able to come out of the bath and feel more or less dry immediately. It made me question what swimming was going to be like, if I ever got the chance, I’d have to try it out in the tower sometime.

Phyara looked up to me and gave me a smile, but it wasn’t her usual warm smile. It was more like she was smiling out of habit, or as a gesture, without really feeling it herself. “Would you like to get something to eat, and we can discuss your training plan? Roland informed me that you’re going to be leaving in the morning, and ideally you can pick up skills as you go and train them without having to worry about losing progress." I nodded to her, and she led the way out. I tossed my towels into a laundry bin and grabbed my weapon and harness, strapping it on as we walked.

Phyara ran me through the general idea of what skills to look out for, which ones to take and then subsequently evolve. She told me to keep my eye out for durability skills, since I wasn’t wearing armor in my shapeshifted form. Also of note was general magic resistance skills, and a class skill called [Charge]. I was to look for a better information-gathering skill, of which she named a few, none of which I had. She had told me to try and unlock [Juggernaut Blade Proficiency] as well, but I’d already nabbed it, so that was one less thing to take care of. Finally before we separated, she loaded me up with a good week’s worth of higher level food and drink.

“One last thing-“ Phyara said as I was standing up to head upstairs for the night. I turned to face her, and she continued in a lower tone for just the two of us to hear: “I’m sorry about Eilyen earlier. She shouldn’t have acted the way she did and stabbed you like that in training, it was uncalled for. She had a bit of a flashback while you two were sparring and it upset her. I hope… you don’t hold it against her too much.”

I wouldn’t say I’m holding a grudge so much as I want to smash her into a wall, but we’ll save that for a future training session when I’m more capable. I was always taught it was best to get even, not get angry.

I nodded slowly to Phyara and gave her a clawed thumbs-up, then headed for my room. After eating a late dinner, I was already getting drowsy. Sadly, I wasn’t able to fit on my bed very well, and I didn’t trust that it was up to the task of holding my increased weight, so I tossed the blanket and pillow into the corner, made a blanket nest and passed out.

I wound up waking up first thing in the morning when Roland knocked on my door. I invited him in, and we took care of business. He gave me a new, rugged purse to hold my money in, and it had the hefty sum of 40 gold in it. I immediately put it in my spatial storage ring for safekeeping. Next came my potions, which I was a bit surprised by. Roland gave me a hard case to attach to my belt that was bound in leather, and the interior was lightly padded and had numerous straps to hold various potions and elixirs in. Half a dozen bright red mid-grade healing potions were securely held inside.

I affixed that to the belt of my harness and positioned it on my back left side so I could quickly access it in a fight, but it would be otherwise out of the way. The box was constructed of a rigid metal with reinforcements on the inside between vials, so I was relatively confident that I was the one who would get hurt landing on it, and not the box itself. The rest of the potions were in a plain wooden storage rack that resembled a test tube rack with two retaining straps on top to keep the contents secure. It held a dozen refills of mid-grade potions, and I stuck it into spatial storage.

Roland licked his lips and addressed me before he presented the next items he had for me: “I am not the best at fashion, so I tried to pick you up some things that wouldn’t hinder you much in a fight. The colors are all dark, in the event that you bleed on them, it shouldn’t be as much of an issue. Apologies if these aren’t to your tastes.” With that, he handed me an ankle-length combat skirt in black, a poncho that would reach down to my thighs in charcoal gray, and a full-length full cloak, again in black.

I would have preferred pants, but thinking about it, they would have likely needed to be tailored to fit my altered anatomy. No, a skirt made sense on second thought. It even was made to accommodate a tail, perfect. I inclined my head in thanks and gave him a grin afterwards to express my gratitude and appreciation for his choices. It was simple clothing, but like he said, it was practical, and he probably put more thought into picking them out than I would have.

My last items were my [Giantsbane Bow], and a quiver filled with equally oversized arrows. I say arrows, but the things were basically javelins at four feet long. Roland gave me a basic breakdown on the few different types of arrows that he’d included.

Picking out one of the ones with a thinner shaft and narrow, dagger-like steel head, he explained: “These light arrows are for long-range shooting, like if you have to shoot something airborne, uphill or at a distance. I would avoid using them otherwise, as they’re the most fragile.” Next he picked out one of the heavy shafted arrows with what I could best describe as a spear head. It had a leaf shaped blade, but also a crossbar at the base of the head, which confused me. Pointing at the features of the head, he told me: “These are for shooting things that are going to be soft targets, like game animals or relatively weak monsters. This bar here is to prevent the arrow from over-penetrating the target and burying itself underground or shattering on something behind the target.”

Oh, I hadn’t considered that. I guess the likelihood of blasting straight through a monster is decently high with such a bow. Like with some crossbows.

I nodded quickly and gave him a thumbs-up. “The rest of these are bladed broadhead arrows with heavy shafts for doing heavy damage. They should be your go-to for most circumstances, really. And one thing to note, Senwyn. I realize you are new to [Archery], but quality arrows aren’t cheap. They’re much more expensive for [Giantsbane Bows] because you’re basically dealing with spear heads and not arrowheads. I wouldn’t say they’re expensive on the salary you are getting, but they will add up quickly if you’re losing or breaking them left and right. Just be aware of that.”

Ah, hmm. I wonder how much it cost to fill this quiver?

I put my fingers around the full bundle of arrows and shot Roland a questioning look. He didn’t get what I was asking at first, but after a few rounds of trial and error, he got it. “About twenty-five gold for a quiver of fairly basic arrows like this.” I coughed immediately, letting out a puff of smoke when I did. I waved my hand through it, feeling embarrassed at blasting my Company Leader in the face with smoke. He only chuckled at my response and said: “And this is why I told you, because I know you’re not used to costs like this. Use them all the same, just try and be careful with them.”

I nodded, and he handed me the bow last. Like [Shadow’s Cleaver], this wasn’t the bow they had in the showroom or gallery, but a different bow entirely. I examined it closely, then used [Inspect] on it. Just like my blade, it was huge, and was constructed of several pieces of metal that bolted together. The limbs of the bow looked to be forged steel and were coated in some kind of matte lacquer. The grip was wrapped in leather and intended for large hands, which suited me just fine in this form. The heavy string looked like it was gut or something similar, undoubtedly from some kind of monster.

[Steel Giantsbane Bow]

Uncommon – Giantsbane Bow

Tier IV – Level 75

As the name implies, this class of weapon is best suited for taking on particularly large or tough monsters. As they are impossible for small and medium size species to wield, they do not see much use at all, and are considered [Exotic Weapons].

Huh, interesting. This is considered exotic as well. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to see if the weapon skill for these bows can be evolved with the one for my blade.

With the last of the main loot delivered, Roland asked me a handful of other simple questions to see if I had any further questions. I didn’t, and I was once again practically itching to get back into the tower. He unloaded some everyday adventuring staples as well and transporting them from his storage to my own was a breeze. With that done, he left me to my business, wishing me luck, and I closed the door behind him.

After a little bit of trial and error, I was able to get myself dressed in the skirt. The poncho was a serious pain in the ass to try and put on, as it kept snagging on my horns. Eventually I got it put on and made a mental note to stay on the lookout for tops with wide necks if I was going to be dressed in this form. The harness worked just fine through the poncho, which was one of the things I’d been somewhat concerned about. I tossed my cloak in my ring’s inventory, along with the bow and quiver. Even with all the food and drink packed in, I still was only taking around a third of the total storage capacity.

Doublechecking that I had everything, I left the Free Rogues Trading Company headquarters for the first time in a week and set on my way to the tower. Walking around the city nearly three feet taller than normal was a new experience entirely. I was used to having to carefully watch my step and avoid getting bashed around in the parts of the city where foot traffic was heavy. Not now! Between my Half-Dragon visage and looming height, people seemed to magically get out of my way as I walked.

They know beauty when they see it and move from my way as is to be expected.

The foreign feeling of pride swelled in my chest as I navigated the city, feeling as much as seeing eyes moving on people, tracking me. I knew that if I was in their footsteps, I’d present a bit of an odd sight, even in a city where minotaur, trolls, ogres and other large species roamed freely. The steady stream of tingling sensations in the back of my skull was also a dead giveaway that people were taking interest in my presence.

I finally made it to my destination, the large city plaza that was dedicated to the coming and going of climbers on foot. Here more than anywhere else, I felt the scrutiny of people on my form. The only heed I paid them was in passing, I had places to go, and a mountain of monsters to slay. Levels were desperately calling out to me from within the tower. Pulling up my interface, I selected [Floor 10] and stepped through the gateway.