In the underbrush, hidden beneath the crowded leaves of a bush, a young felith waited silently. Pressed low against the ground, her dark pink fur mottled with dirt to better hide from predators and prey, she stayed perfectly still and stared with intent focus at the earth in front of the bush. Along her spine, a ridge of small crystals emerged from her back, although these too had been covered with mud to break up their shape and color.
All around, the forest was dense with life. Trees spread their tall canopies up to the sky while bushes and grasses covered the ground. Birds claimed the sky, calling to each other with threats and warnings. Squirrels, skymunks, and lizards made their home in the branches of the trees, scampering above her head. On the ground, daily wars were fought between insects, rodents, snakes, wolves, and the even larger creatures that the felith avoided on instinct.
Finally, it happened. One of the skymunks, a furry creature with pale yellow stripes on its back, had come down from its tree in search of fallen nuts or berries, and its path crossed in front of the felith. She waited until it moved all the way into her sight, and then in an instant she acted. She drove her claws into the ground and the crystals on her spine shone a dark pink, visible even through the spattered mud. Beneath the skymunk, the ground tumbled away as a set of quartz crystals that had been supporting it crumbled to dust, revealing a large pit. The skymunk let out a shrill yelp of alarm before it too tumbled in.
The felith leapt forward to the edge of the pit and looked down. It was around two bodylengths deep, not enough to kill the skymunk but certainly enough to phase it. It was scampering around the bottom of the pit, desperately searching for a way out. She lashed out with her front claws once again and a thin needle of quartz erupted from the stone floor, spearing upwards fast enough to drive straight through the skymunk's torso. It shrieked again, and this time it was accompanied by a compressed burst of wind that erupted from the pit and slammed into the felith’s chest. Caught off guard, she didn’t even attempt to dodge and was instead thrown backward into the air before colliding with the rough bark of a nearby tree. She let out a weak gasp as all the air in her lungs was forcefully expelled, and a cracking sound accompanied by a sharp pain in her side informed her that she had at the very least fractured one of her ribs.
Even a damn chipmunk nearly killed me, the felith thought to herself, now collapsed in a heap at the foot of the tree. Another shriek came from the hole, quieter and with far less force. A few moments passed, and then two dark red screens appeared, floating a few feet in front of her.
You have killed Skymunk (Sciuridae Ventus)
You have leveled up!
Level 2 => Level 3
Corporis and Mentis scores have been adjusted accordingly.
She knew that the screens weren't really there. Even when they were right in front of her, she was still able to see through them. She had discovered that she wasn't able to touch them either; her claws just passed through the red planes without any resistance. She would have thought they were only in her mind if it wasn't for the fact that she could sense them with her magic. They felt strangely invasive to her magical senses, but at least she figured out how to dismiss them with a light push of her mana. She did so now, watching as both screens faded away.
Still in pain, still nestled against the roots of the tree, she braced herself, knowing what would inevitably appear a moment later. Sure enough, after the message faded away, another red screen appeared in front of her.
Specification Form Name: Unnamed Species: Felith (Felis Lapidae) - Juvenile Job: N/A Level: 3 (+1) Corporis Mentis Vigor: 5 (+1) Charm: 9 (+1) Vim: 3 Moxy: 13 Might: 4 Savvy: 8 Grace: 9 (+2) Acumen: 19 (+1)
This screen galled her. I have a name, goddamnit, the felith thought to herself. My name is Jade Wroth, I'm a 24 year old human, and I have a job, if I could just get back to it. She hissed in rightful indignation at the Specification Form.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
This protest didn't seem to affect the form at all, as it resolutely continued to display the same information as before. She noticed that her Vigor, Grace, Charm, and Acumen had all increased, although she had no concrete idea of what that meant or if those numbers were good compared to others of her kind. The Mentis side seemed to be higher than the Corporis, but was that something to be desired? The memories of her former life were still scattered, but she remembered playing games where her characters had status windows like this one. Unfortunately, that didn't help her recognize any of these statistics or let her know they did.
What's more, she didn't seem to have any agency in terms of what abilities grew when she leveled up. Without any control and without any frame of reference, the Specification Form was useless. Worse than useless, because it insisted she was unnamed and unemployed. With a disgruntled mental shove, she dismissed the form.
Slowly, the felith stood up. Two of her ribs on her right side let out a sharp twinge of pain in protest. Yup, definitely fractured. She didn't let that stop her, though--she had to get to the skymunk now, before some opportunistic predator came along and took her hard fought meal away from her.
With an effort of will, she limped over to the hole. At the bottom she could see the skymunk, with a jagged crystal of quartz running clean through it's stomach. Rationally, she knew it should have disgusted her. When she was a human, she hadn't liked even eating meat, much less hunting the animals herself. Now, however, she couldn't help but salivate, and after that wind attack she had precious little sympathy for the creature either. The felith channeled her energy through the spines on her back and willed the spike to grow, reaching up out of the pit and delivering the carcas to her. She could tell that her mana was running low now, a feeling like a dull emptyness in the back of her neck.
Greedily, the felith tore into the skymunk. It was still warm, and she devoured it with relish, each bite meaning more energy for the next hunt. When she reached it's chest, she found a small blue stone just under its heart. From experience, she knew to bite into this, and it shattered in her mouth. The taste was luxurious and refreshing, like a cool breeze or a soft rain, and when she swallowed it she could feel her mana returning in a sudden surge. Wow, that's really something, she thought to herself. It even helps with the pain.
Purring in contentment, she dropped the skeletal remains of the skymunk back in the pit. With a sudden flare of mana, she willed the hole to close back in on itself and bury the remains. Leave no trace, she thought to herself with a chuckle. Then she leapt back into the safety of the bush and disappeared into the forest.