Ned kept his eyes on the path.
It was a fantastic night out, probably. His gaze lingered on the moon. He was sure it would’ve looked alien in a more noticeable manner, had he ever seen the sky back home.
Ned kept his ears on the waves. They moved gently, lapping at the rocks and receding into themselves. It was a soothing rhythm,
Ned very pointedly did not turn his attention to the gnawing sounds coming from the Beast he’d chosen as his only confidant. He was sure if he looked to the side, he would see those same beady eyes he’d grown to trust locked hungrily on what was left of the thumb he’d just finished regrowing.
So Ned kept his eyes on the path.
...
The vast blue moon was dipping into the horizon.
Ned had kept up a mostly-persistent grind of his parameters—he noted the feeling of Beast reading his mind every now and then, so Beast must’ve been working at it too—and he was starting to notice the real effects of his enhanced Vitality. He hadn’t become stronger or faster, but there was a much more welcome development for their situation.
Endurance.
Despite a current maximum of 24.7 Vitality, Ned was usually operating at about three quarters that amount. He wanted to provide himself with a decent buffer in case of a Wildlife attack, but he also wanted to keep progressing through regeneration without having to micromanage.
What this meant was that he was operating at a modest sum of approximately 20 Vitality, or quadruple what he had begun with. Ned was tireless, able to keep up his jogging pace all night. Moreover, after seeing how Beast pushed his body to exhaustion by straining himself on stored moisture, he’d ceased smacking himself with a rock to reduce Vitality. Instead Ned realized it was much more efficient to sprint, full speed, for a good ten minutes. Their progress down the winding river was thus speeding up.
His endurance predator ancestors would be very proud, but Ned worried it would never be enough.
The Wildlife’s superhuman speed and viciousness loomed in his mind. Against foes like that, what good was it to push his normal body for longer?
In Ned’s eyes, his biggest asset was the attack included in Lizard Sheds Tail. It was something truly essential to his survival - a force multiplier, dependent on Extraphysics.
It did worry him, though. If his ostensibly endurance-based Caster powers included something explicitly designed to outclass the fist as early as Level 1, he was willing to bet other Casters might have even more aggressive capabilities.
Ned knew he couldn’t dance around it forever. Extraphysics, at least, were geared towards violence. The two Casters each had their physical body augmented in some specific and, at face value, useless ways. However, that was more than enough to create a massive physical disparity between their pre-PACES and post-PACES selves.
Against his better judgment, Ned remembered the dark place he’d been in during his Baptism. If that was an Extraphysical location, it made perfect sense that the Wildlife were so brutal.
PACES was trying to make these vicious forces digestible and comprehensible. To Ned, it felt too ambitious. There was a perfect idiom lost in his old language. Instead, he had to settle for ‘Lipstick on a pig.’
Another mental click. His fingers from the daylight hours had regrown already — now he was regenerating the small flakes he’d shed from his knuckles. Ned again found himself perplexed by Hydric Immortality. How did it take the same amount of time to regrow both a finger and a skin flake? Regardless, Ned popped open his Status and upgraded it.
● Your body fully regrows over 19 standard hours.
Beast tugged at Ned’s shoulder. He refocused on the world.
A piece of trash was floating down the river.
Ned still had no jaw. Instead of grinning, he put a spring in his step. Finally, a sign of civilization! People!
Aliens.
He didn’t slow down, but his brows knit together. He was going to show up, very clearly something other than to this world’s native inhabitants, and he couldn’t even speak English in his condition. He turned pleading eyes on Beast.
“Statement to Ned. I’ll take care of the diplomacy,” he said with a faux-disdainful sniff. “You must know that civilized people do not woo each other with rocks or displays of violence. We resort to words, Ned.”
Ned graced him with a long-suffering exhale.
...
A short time later, after running just long enough for Ned to worry, their destination’s dormant chimneys poked over the horizon.
The tiered platform was built on thick stilts of stone. Already he could hear the low din of machinery. The lowest level was filled with sparks, bangs, and the grinding of disparate metals. The upper floors were clearly more residential in nature. Ned found himself reminded of a concept that only existed in the same place as English - an oil refinery.
Stolen novel; please report.
The stilts had clear hand and foot-holds built in. Ned noted a green-robed figure clambering down the closest one to their position, though the climber was too far away to get a good look. Ned stumbled up the cliff, waving his arms at them, and their descent hastened.
Ned’s nose twitched. On a whim, he tried to pull at their public Status.
PUBLIC STATUS
-- Name: Auddie Speck 4th
-- Role: Caster
● Source Word: CUSHION
● Level: 0
His brow furrowed.
Apparently having reached a comfortable distance, the alien jumped the rest of the way to the ground, spraying a small cloud of dust and stones into the air. Ned hastened his approach.
The alien had smooth, rubbery skin, and atop its head three scaly gnarled horns. Its eyes were a gleaming yellow. Body features like that of an upright reptile. Covering its torso was a dull, seaweed-green cloak, which cut off at the ankles to reveal taloned feet - those of a rooster.
The two parties sized each other up. Wind blew past the cold, tense standoff.
From his shoulder, Beast spoke.
"Statement to Speck the 4th," he said, and the alien's expression became guarded. "We are travelers marooned on your planet. We come in peace and with the intention to earn our keep. I am Beast. My traveling companion is Ned." In a quiet voice, Beast instructed Ned to open his arms to his sides and puff up his stomach. He did so. The alien visibly relaxed.
When it spoke, its voice was smooth and clear, pitch bent and inquisitive upon each word. "Travelers, hm? With no resources but your bodies, and no pertinent education to operate our machinery, I fail to see a job I could provide you! Though I simply must ask - where did you learn my name?"
Beast snorted. "Our capability has been altered by Baptism. As a gesture of goodwill, be aware that at the very least, all Casters can perceive your Public Status with a thought."
It went still. A rumble rose in its throat. The alien was laughing.
"Very well. It seems you're valuable. 100 of us were allotted to attempt the Baptism, to assess its success rate. I survived. You can use my first name, Beast. You already know it, and with this your gesture of goodwill is repaid."
There was a short pause. Auddie tilted its head.
"Both of you, Level 1? You know the advancement criteria. I'll trade you five days' lodgings for that!"
Ned was nervous. From the way Beast was handling this it seemed like Auddie's society valued transactional behavior without pretense. He wasn't sure how Auddie would take the knowledge that level progression required fighting the dangerous Wildlife that their very presence summoned. Yet at this time, could they afford to spurn the first offer of shelter?
Ned was suddenly glad he didn't have a mouth right now. He wasn't obligated or able to deal with this!
Beast hummed. "Three days lodgings for both of us, as well as food and water during our stay, and I will personally deliver the method to you as soon as possible."
Ned was flabbergasted, and it must've shown on his face, because Beast continued: "Statement to Ned. Auddie has acknowledged only my value, and its agreements have been with and regarding me alone. I have only earned the right to operate by the letter of our deal - not the spirit."
Beast's fuzzy head pushed into his cheek. "Knowing this, I would not leave my traveling companion behind."
Auddie watched all of this with an expression close to a smirk. Its tongue flicked from its mouth before it resumed speaking. "I accept! I've gotta admit, you're a solid negotiator for one unfamiliar with our customs!"
Beast grunted.
Seeing it wouldn't get any free information, Auddie adopted a knowing smile and led the two up the leg of its home. There was no small talk as the three—really just Ned and Auddie—climbed. At the point where the stilt met the stone platform, there was the sealed indent of a trapdoor. Audie knocked a peculiar pattern upon it.
The door slid aside.
They climbed into a room that resembled an airlock, flanked by two more of Audie's species. One stood beside a lever, the other stood aside with a long metal staff. Curious about the Citizens, Ned pulled for one's Status.
PUBLIC STATUS
-- Name: Gallus Reck 2nd
-- Class: Citizen
● Parameter: Heat
● Level: 0
So, even non-casters had at least one Parameter. Did they still have skills? Mana? Did their parameters rise at the same rate?
His mind clicked. Hydric Immortality was ready with another point. At the same time, Ned's brow relaxed. He'd suddenly figured something out.
Earlier, Ned wondered how PACES knew what to regenerate him into. It was time to revise that question to one far more useful - how did Extraphysics know what shape to regenerate?
His brain was abuzz with ideas. All the details he'd been wondering about had abruptly collapsed into a crystal of understanding.
Hydric Immortality kept him from aging after a single moment. It was also responsible for his regeneration. His active skill, Lizard Sheds Tail, started with a simple function and changed the scope of that function with each new line. If that pattern held true, his regeneration was an extension of his inability to age.
He'd been misled by the parameter name of Vitality. His power wasn't healing! It was specifically regrowth! Hydric Immortality somehow captured his body at the exact moment of the baptism, and returned him to that state in time constantly. The process must've been slow—say, 19 standard hours—but that was still fast enough to outpace old age. This also somewhat explained why vastly different body parts regrew at the same speed - they'd been removed simultaneously!
NOTICE
-- Condition satisfied.
-- You have comprehended a skill's underlying function more accurately than its description. Because PACES is incentivized to encourage such behavior, you have become eligible for our "Research Credit" program!
-- Research Credits are a premium currency that can be immediately converted to 5 Level Progress each, or saved to smooth the process of Condensing your parameters. As Density is projected to be essential to long-term progression, PACES recommends you save up. Your first Condensation can support up to 10 Research Credits, or a 100% bonus to its provided Density!
-- Note that in order to earn Research Credits, you must come to your conclusions independently. Making use of external resources, such as guides or predecessors, is frowned upon.
NOTICE
-- As compensation, Ned Locke has been paid 5 Research Credits (&)
-- Would you like to liquidate up to 5& into Level Progress?