~Cobb POV~
"Seventy five meters and closing!" My brother yelled. Though JST didn't voice acknowledgement I could see him rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck.
I gave my younger brother a thumbs up. As I prepped for a tactic i've often used when fighting hordes I checked my flashing prompts. I focused on my status bars on the side of my vision and found my MP to be very low but my high wisdom worked against that. In addition my INT raised the cap of mana too so a low percentage for me was still quite high.
Class: - Name: Cobb
Titles: Prey Turned Predator, The Green One
HP: 262/264 Lvl: 22
Effects:
Race Jjerg: +10 INT, +5 END, +5 STR, +5 WIS, +10 MND
Prey Turned Predator: +25 INT, +25 WIS, +20 AGI
The Green One: +7 CHR, + Can color things under your magical control an emerald green
MP:90/309
SP: 210/210 STR: 15 CHR: 17 END: 15 MND: 10 INT: 98 AGI:20 WIS: 97 LUK: 10 Stat Points: 105
Rock Camoflauge (Race Skill) - Beginner 9 (87%)
Hunted Sense - Beginner 9 (50%)
Inform - Intermediate 1 (2%)
Hyperfocus - Intermediate 3 (32%)
Earth Magic - Advanced 3 (60%)
Oooh a new title? I pulled up the relevant prompt.
New Title: The Green One
Unbenknownst to you and your companions you have been dubbed The Green One. You were recognized as the first prey to meet the Shade Panthers in combat. However as Jennifur knew not what Earth Magic was he believed it came from one of your brothers. Only as you met his eyes did he realize you were the one responsible for the sandstone pillars yet he did not have time to rename you, though he recognized your influence on the earth. He had dubbed you The Green One for your otherworldly appearance.
Permanent Effects:
+7 CHR
+Can color things under your magical control an Emerald Green
Charisma for being green? Alright I can dig it. But coloring my magic?! Fuck yes. I only chose green because it was my favorite color but to color my magic green? I'm actually living the dream this game is amazing! The A.I. running this game is an absolute genius! This title has to have been tailor made specifically for me and then fit into my interactions with Jennifur! AMAZING! I calmed myself down I got way too excited over the things that happened in game. I looked at the rest of my Character Sheet after saying a quick prayer to Jennifur.
Looking at my 220 stat points I decided to dump half equally into intelligence and wisdom. Any later stats I needed would be improved with the leftover 105 stat points. My class notification earlier said I had needed five skills which I already do so I wondered what was missing? Surely I was fighting enough, aside from the lull in combat before fighting Jennifur my whole time spent here was in constant conflict. Even meeting my brothers in the cage I was never as relaxed as Jones apparently was the whole time. I took a moment to look at my skills and realized it was most likely because Rock Camoflauge wasn't a skill that I earned because of my playstyle it was just given because I chose a Jjerg. If that's the case then I need one more skill but for now I focused on the skills that I had.
It's understandable that my race skill didnt really rise since the only time I used it was in plain sight of Jennifur towards then end of the last round. Inform didn't gain any new effects aside from being able to learn simple information that i'd probably be able to figure out myself if I spared a second or two. Now Hunted Sense was a bit different and I wondered why it didn't raise? I know for a fact I felt all the Shade Panther's eyes on me. Thinking back on it I never really did feel hunted or feared for my life that probably stemmed from the two other people in this arena. If that's the case then raising this skill is gonna be hard, i'd have to actually be afraid of something hunting me to raise it and increase it's effects. Hyperfocus also reached a new tier since I used it almost continuosly when dealing with my own Shade Panther one on one. Though it drained my stamina while using it my movement was minimal as my newly discovered Earth Magic at the time allowed me to control the fight and subdue the panther.
Hyperfocus - Intermediate 3 (32%)
Your battle hardened instincts did not go unnoticed. Shifting from a state of joy and complete catharsis to complete control and focus is found in only those who experience battle daily.
Effects:
+Perception of time slowed by 22%
+6% increase in muscle reaction
Earth Magic - Advanced 3 (60%)
Your innate sense for the Earth has awarded you with ability to manipulate it. Earth magic is the most practical of elemental magics. Earth Mages are sought out often for the pure utility they bring to the table. Unlike the other elemental magics Earth is solid and with the ability to manipulate something solid comes the ability to create.
+60% effectiveness of offensive magic
+30% effectiveness of contructs of Earth
+Earth attributed creatures are friendlier by 15%
Woah cool. Friendliness with all earth creatures? I'll take it. I'm not sure what counts as earth attributed but i'm not sure if all monsters are even attributed to an element. Obviously Shade Panthers would probably fall under the dark element if there is one which i'm pretty sure there is since Twoen has been amazing thus far. From what Jones just yelled down earlier it doesn't seem like the Qrabiles are leaning towards any element. Add to that the Geckans who don't seem magically talented in any way, though I could be wrong, and it seems that elemental creatures are quite rare. In addition even if I did find a creature that favored a certain element, drawing on the only three types of monsters that I met it would seem that theres only about a 30% chance of meeting one. Now divide that 30% by however many elements Twoen has and the chance for meeting one lessens even further. Of course my calculations are based on only three monsters so my sample size isn't large enough to make any reliable claims. But so far it's looking like the advanced effect isn't as helpful as I was originally thinking. Then again it did come from the Advanced tier and raising it up so easily only came from being surrounded by high leveled creatures and being who I am. Most people wouldn't dream of reaching this level of the skill and because of that I'm hoping it's actually more helpful than it seems.
"Twenty meters." Jones said, his voice carried over the sound. Often my little brother would be the scout, and information gather, he had learned to convey information over the dull sounds years ago. While he provided the information I drew the conclusions.
A few seconds passed and huge crash could be hear against our sand fort.
"This sand castle is bomb Cobb." JST said to me. Small amounts of sand came loose from the cracks in the walls as the sound of bodies battered the walls.
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Wait it actually is a sand castle. Why the fuck was I calling it a sand fort?!
Mentally slapping myself I waited for twenty minutes, something akin to eternity in battle. I practiced my control of the sand as I waited, slow pulses of sand was sent through the floor. This was one of the ways I liked to practice control or get used to new magic system. I was inspired by watching a video of different sounds and their effects on water. The display of sand around me was reminiscent of water, it vibrated in pulses, shortening, elongating, undulating, speeding up and slowing down. Unlike the experiment however there was no sound though it seemed that there shouldv'e been such was the control of my magic, it seemed like real water. Although the wow factor was probably lessened by the fact I was manipulating something really fine and thin. I could still do the same thing with solid rock though.
If only they knew how relaxing this is. They'd drop their weapons and find something you can't find in real life.
Keeping the sand vibrating, I breathed deep and exhaled slowly as I opened my eyes. My brothers were smirking at me. JST gave up his stance after five minutes of bodies still pounding against the wall, now he was leaning against the sand stone wall getting a massage. His tower shield and hammer lay on the floor not far away.
"I guess I didn't need you after all." His voice vibrated, his hair was vibrating rapidly as well. "AhHhHHhhHHHhHHhH" He sighed in staccato. I tried not to stare at his genitals we were still naked and they were flopping around vigorously.
I distracted myself and made sure to keep my influence on my sand to a minimum, lower than my regeneration so my mana would rise. As it was now I was at around 70%, more than enough for this fight I think.
"Ooooohhh yeahhh." I heard Jones murmur from up above. I gave them both an annoyed look before walking over beside JST. I gave Jones credit since I saw his eyes still watching the below horde and if anything important came up he wouldn't hesitate to break our reverie.
JST smirked knowingly at me, his breathing had long ago returned to his normal and the majority of his wounds closed. His scales though were regenerating slower and his major wounds were still in the process of healing, the blood never disappeared instead his left side was caked in dark brown. I glared at him as I tried leaning against the wall for myself.
Am I in heaven? Oooohhhh lordy that's good.
My eyes rolled back in bliss as I made the wall hug me and my older brother, softening it in the process. I tried to ignore the feeling of my junk flopping around. A soft moan to my right was ignored. Of course I stopped pulsing the sand, after all this needed all my attention. I mean we are veteran gamers so we find the fun in everything even in the middle of combat. This continued on for another 30 minutes and I think I remember looking at JST to see he was softly snoring against the wall. I don't really remember it very well since I fell asleep too. Unfortunately with an unspoken agreement Jones stayed awake and kept watch.
Please don't think lowly of your older brothers when you see our junk flapping in the wind.
I woke up with a start as Jones was saying something. "-opped, they're filling up a third of the arena." He was looking at JST before turning to look me in the eyes as he finished. I was very concious of my penis and balls as I peeled myself off the wall. JST was already up and stretching out his his muscles.
He picked up his tower shield with his left hand and grabbed the war hammer from the floor, shaking the sand off of it. He assumed the same position he was at before. He was focused forward and facing the wall and nodded knowing I was watching. With a gesture a section of the wall slid down and JST was upon them.
"Wake me up if you need me!" Jones waved down. I nodded and studied the Qrabiles.
There was a dark blue ichor on the floor as I tried to study some that were appearing in the doorway. I saw the plates Jones mentioned, they were four-legged and besides the plates and their sharp teeth they seemed very straight forward. I tried to look for further details but I couldn't get a specimen that lasted long enough, they were too busy exploding into ichor by my brother's warmhammer.
Goddammit Derjar. Why do you have to be so good at that.
I used inform instead.
Inform
Qrabile - Level 17
Weaker but faster descendants of Qrabs. They are covered in medium plate armor and are found in large numbers. Other than their natural armor and sharp teeth nothing indicates how these creatures could survive in the Uncharted. Until one sees them hunt. They come in neverending waves and their natural bodies let them deal signifcant blunt damage but without an initial charge they are weak. Still when you can't even count the number of them it doesn't matter.
I was correct in their size they were a little less than half a meter tall. Their legs were a fourth of that height, and they seemed sluggish yet their speed was unmistakable. I realized that my initial deduction on their appearance and adaptations were pretty accurate they only seemed useless because the plan I formulated negated all their advantages. Force distribution, blunt weaponry, and a funnel. Even though they were pretty short JST had no problems swinging low, the warhammer squashed two or three of the creatures before winding up for another blow. In that time he brought his tower shield up to keep them at bay before removing to make way for his warhammer, taking out four or five in the process. This process continued for an hour and I became extremely bored. JST was sweating but he was nowhere near tired.
I sat down as I made myself a sand stool. I decided to think of another way to practice my magic and settled on recreating the scene of the battle. I created a mini U shaped structure out of sand but kept the ceiling open so I could see what im manipulating. From there I raised three inch tall sandmen and created a smaller version of the Geckan Battle Arena. I even created the Geckans in the stands and made them move, some standing, some leaning forward in their seats and most importantly most of them with their fucking mouths open. Next I flooded a third of the arena with mini sand Qrabiles and made them charge my mini sand castle. I decided to try and use The Green One's effect and succesfully colored me and my brothers an emerald green. The emerald green sand sparkled brilliantly. I made Mini JST fight the Qrabiles in the front but it quickly became as boring as the real thing. Mini Jones gestured wildly to Mini Cobb and Mini Cobb closed the doorway of the Mini Sandcastle. They all climbed to the roof of their sandcastle and spotted a huge Qrabile in the middle of the horde it had to be a Qrab! Quickly they looked at each other and gave silent warcries. Mini Cobb propelled them directly into the horde. He formed weapons for JST and as he carved their way through the horde of sand Qrabile. Behind his older green brother Mini Cobb vailiantly threw waves of sand, absorbing the sand Qrabiles and representative of their death. A small green form of sand could be seen darting through sand Qrabiles and circling behind the Qrab with daggers in hand. As Mini JST arrived in front of the Qrab he was struck down to his knees, it fought completely differently from the usual Qrabiles. As he was adjusting to the new dynamic he was forced backwards and into Mini Cobb. Momentarily distracted, a stray Qrabile slammed into Mini Cobbs leg. It seemed like his leg was badly broken, sand bone could be seen sticking out. Still his focus was regained and he could be seen inhaling deeply, his mini chest rising slowly before falling. Suddenly huge waves of sand emitted from Mini Cobb and every Qrabile was wiped out. However the huge Qrab survived and came upon the two green older brothers in a fury. Mini Cobb took a few steps before fainting of apparent mana loss, he could be seen trying to create something before the partially formed sandstone reverted to sand and his head hit the sand. Mini JST could no longer retreat he took an inhuman leap for his size and slammed into the Qrab, he had gone on full offense. His strikes forced the Qrab back and cracks could be seen forming on its sand plates a particularly strong swing opened up plate on the Qrab's neck. But an attack focused onto his unconcious brother forced Mini JST to take it with his shield and he was brought to his knees. He would not let his brother die today. Another powerful strike knocked his shield away and broke both the arms that were bracing it. Defiant he looked into the Qrab's sandy eyes and arms limp, closed his eyes awaiting the finishing blow. With a silent howl the Qrab lifted his arm and fell sideways into the light brown sand, sending dust all around. As it cleared a small figure of green sand stood on the neck of the Qrabile with his dagger hand deep into the crack of his neckplates. With a twist he yanked his arm out, dripping sandy ichor, he walked to his brothers.
"Woah im awesome! Dang you know how to captivate an audience." My brother said excitedly. In all likelihood, unable to sleep with the squelching sound of exploding Qrabiles he jumped down from the roof to see what I was doing. "That was me right?" He asked.
"Huh. What?" Embarassed I quickly flattened the whole thing. My sand brothers, Qrab, Qrabiles, Geckans and their arena became flat sand. At the end there I kind got carried away. I made the Qrab like fifty meters high and I was focusing everything on controlling everything at once. I even needed to use Earth Magic to sense my creations as I couldn't keep my eyes on everything. My cheeks were either red or purple i'm really not sure how Jjergs blush since I haven't been damaged enough to bleed so I don't know the color of my blood.
"Yeah that was you. I got bored man what else was I suppose to do? I just made this whole situation and got carried away." I said cheeks reverting from whatever color they were.
"Bro that was sick! Don't you do all that random magical crap to calm yourself? You should do stuff like that it's more entertaining than watching pulsing sand!" He eagerly suggested. I glared at him.
Fuck you that took me so long to do right.
"Probably not, that took all my focus just to maintain." I said sadly. It was actually really fun.
"Awww." He whined.
Did I really model Mini Jones after this whiney baby. Mini Jones will always be more manly than you Nojas, always.
A flashing prompt drew my attention.
Class Notice!
You have met the requirements to choose your Class! Significant actions and constant battle has given us enough data to suggest you your Classes! The minimum of five skills has just been met!
Available Classes:
Species Cataloguer
Animator
Enchanter
Druid
Geomancer
Hunter
"Woah I can choose my class now!?" I yelled in surprise.
"Wait you already have five skills what the heck?" He asked. "I only have four!" He said indignantly.
"Racial skills don't count." I said distracted with the choices.
"That means I only have three! How'd you get so much?" He asked loudly.
I looked at him straight in the eyes and dead serious. I looked around to make sure no one was looking and leaned forward. "Magic." I whispered. My hands followed a rainbow motion as I threw green sand into the air.
Jones looked at me for a second before facepalming and wall running back up to the roof. He sat in his comfy sand chair and fumed.
After he calmed down he looked back over his chair. "What was the skill anyway?" He yelled down to me. I blinked. I didn't even check.
New Skill: Storytelling - Beginner 6 (25%)
Storytelling is used to captivate an audience, it is an art that though may seem mundane, not many people perfect. You have taken steps into the world of entertainment and have succeeded in eliciting from your audience what many people fail to, emotion.
Effect:
+6% more emotion from the audience
I laughed out loud.
"What is it!?" He yelled getting annoyed.
"Storytelling!" I smirked up at him.
I howled with laughter as I pointed at him and slapped my knee. I even formed multiple sand hands to help me slap my knees. This was a defnite knee slapper.
His face was the definition of comedy gold.