The transformation for Shami had been something sudden, it was as if she could feel some power alter her physiology, breaking down her cells and reshaping them into something else. She had grown feathers and even her fingers had slightly altered to look more like talons. Her instincts drove her to change rapidly and she got a hold of Tanatswa and quickly blasted off into the sky. She then realised that her mana bar was active and slowly dissipating.

Tanatswa who was at first alarmed by the sudden transition from running to flight, glanced back at her and saw her in bird form, but she still retained a human frame and her upper body was mostly intact. The fur she had as her coat probably got ripped off during her transformation, but her unitard seemed to be still intact. When Shami confirmed that this was her power he then said, “Okay, well, so you’re a shapeshifter now, alright then, that’s pretty amazing, but how did you know that’ that guy would attack us?”

“Well, this might seem crazy but I think I can now tell killing intent. I felt like he wanted to kill you specifically for some odd reason, so my question is, did any of your enemies follow you to the grave?” she asked, flapping her wings and gliding a bit in effort to experience the joy of flight.

“I don’t think my enemies would follow me into death nor would they choose suicide. I think, it’s either this guy is just hostile or,” he said, thinking back to the information about the assimilation method that he had encountered. Had they finally encountered a player that wanted to just waste them for the sake of gaining xp and leveling up? Why did it have to be now of all times for them to face such a player considering that Tanatswa was still dealing with some early relationship baggage. Shami noticed him pause and asked him, “Or what? What other reason could he be doing this?”

“He probably wants to kill us and take our xp for the sake of leveling up faster.”

“Wait, you can do that?” she asked, seriously surprised. She hadn’t done any of the how to max out stats searches at all and she probably missed out on the assimilation method description.

“Yeah, if a person kills you, they can gain your xp for them to level up. I didn’t think that we would ever meet someone who is actually willing to take a life even in the afterlife but it seems like there people here who treating this place like a player versus player scenario.”

“Well, everyone is capable of anything, we pretty much killed ourselves to get here so we can’t assume people wouldn’t kill others in this place even if it seems counter intuitive. Like there are a lot of dangerous things in this place already so wouldn’t it be better for us to just work together and face those things?” she said, gliding downwards and seemingly flustered by the lapse in logic in others.

“How are you finding flying? Like is it weird or it just feels natural to you?” he asked, slightly curious about her experience.

“Well it’s unbelievably second nature. I feel like I have 4 pairs of legs, the other two being my wings, but I think I won’t be able to keep this up for much longer.”

“Why, wait, are you running out of mana?” he asked, petrified that she would suddenly lose consciousness and drop.

“Yeah my bar is almost reaching the critical levels so I am guessing that if it gets empty I will probably go back to normal. I will get us to somewhere safe before that happens.”

Flying was different from running for Shami and the fact that her stamina bar didn’t even get that much affected by her constant flapping made her feel fantastic, when they were now just 20 feet above ground, she reverted back to her human form and they then landed badly, on top of each other. Open realising that the two of them were close to each upon impact, certain emotions and hormonal reactions of physical attraction occured since Shami was on top of him, but she quickly got up to avoid them having a moment.

Tanatswa noticed this but decided to push it aside to focus on their current problem. Tanatswa began to explain to her, “I don’t know if we really got away or if he decided to not tail us, but I am guessing since it seemed like he was level 2, that light thingy explosion was probably his special ability. So in the event that he is gonna follow us or maybe decide to wander off, at least we can track him.”

“Are you gonna use the custom goal to track him?” she asked, interested in what he had to say.

“Yeah, I will just enter the 2nd nearest person to me, hopefully there aren’t others who are around because it would just confuse the tracking mechanic.”

“Well, I could also add the 3rd nearest or 4th just to make sure that he doesn’t slip up.”

The two of them did just that, but the results that came contradicted them in terms of distance. They had probably flown just 5 to 10km away from the new guy, but the 2nd nearest to the 4th nearest person were 100kms away from them and some of the locations were opposite the direction they had come from. They hadn’t flown that far and clearly they had left the new guy back in the Oakwood forest. Tanatswa began to come up with a hypothesis and told her that it was either the new guy was super fast and disappeared or he could hide his presence and not be tracked by others.

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The potential of being that fast wasn’t out of the question considering that even at his current level of agility at level 2, he could probably out run a lot of cars at max speed, but knowing that was horrifying because if the new guy was that fast he could probably seek them out and attack them when they least expected him. Shami understood their sticky situation and opted for them to return home and plan in advance. Tanatswa’s paranoia became heightened as they made their way back, getting the jitters whenever there was a sudden rustle in the bushes or just noises that crackled in the area. The power that the new guy had exhibited was enough to totally annihilate the level 4 Hydra beast.

The fact that his ability could destroy a creature 2 times his level meant these powers had significant applications to their current lifestyle. Tanatswa took one of the mana plants and sank his teeth in The golden and purple miasma appeared and he felt invigorated. He kept on eating the plant until it was finished and he noticed that his mana bar was ⅘ full. Shami glanced at him wondering what would happen, but nothing did. He had scaled up but nothing crazy occured.

He didn’t shoot out flames, fly, transform or anything. He could feel something akin to a sensation that wanted him to execute his abilities, but nothing actually happened. He experienced some mental vexation and even roared in anger at the disappointing outcome. Shami then assured him, “Maybe certain conditions need to be met before you can use your ability, so don’t worry, we can figure out all that stuff when we get home.”

“Yeah, I guess I should remain patient until I figure it all out,” he said as they trotted in the jungle, leaping over serrated rocks, “but, wait, what if our abilities are related to the names attached to them?”

“Wait, you mean like the ability’s title?” she asked, confused by where he was going with this.

“Since Goshem is like a video game, I am pretty sure that naming conventions are not random and have a purpose, like for instance, your ability’s name is body…”

“Body dysmorphia, that’s the name of my ability as stated from what I can see.” she said, slightly disconcerted by the term.

“Well, what is body dysmorphia?” he asked, genuinely unsure about its meaning.

“Well it’s basically when one has an obsessive disorder towards their own appearance, like they worry way to fucken much about how they look and stuff.”

“Wait aren’t all women body dysmorphic then?” he asked, genuinely perturbed and confused by her explanation.

“No, it’s way more than being fashion conscious and willing to make an effort to look good, it’s when you are so self conscious about your body that you constantly worry and you get anxiety attacks about every single detail: your body weight, pimples, subtle expressions, body language and even how others perceive you.” she said, seemingly bothered by her own description. Tanatswa noticed her struggle and then decided to just wrap up his hypothesis.

“So okay, the similarities I am getting from what you can do and the title of your ability is ‘appearance’, so maybe you can shapeshift because of that, but now the question is what exactly is a refiner? Do I polish things up or make them better? I hope I didn’t get a useless ability.” he lamented.

“Hey, don’t worry, I think this refiner ability is probably incredible, so let’s be happy that you at least got the mana into your system. But wow, I can fucken shapeshift. Holyshit” she said, breaking into laughter at the idea that she could do something like that. Tanatswa grinned at the idea and then they decided to bolt to their home base so that they could get there early.

Upon arrival, the two of them were immediately met with mixed emotions. The hut had been totally trashed and almost all the food that was stored had been taken. Luckily the perpetrator didn’t feel like destroying their cottage which made Shami feel relieved but at the same time she shed angry tears at the destruction of what she had put effort in making. Nothing was sacred here in Goshem and anything could come in and destroy what they had put time and effort into crafting.

There were no signs of the fortress being breached so it was either a flying creature or someone who climbed over the wall and did their worst in their base. As they scanned the area and held each other with mutual grief, Tanatswa noticed a writing engraved on the ground, near the cottage. It read as, “Come live with me miss and leave your man alone. You will be much safer with me.” Shami noticed it and then figured that the person who had done this had been secretly observing them, but for how long? If there had been a voyeur last night watching them during sex that was probably the most disturbing thing that she could imagine.

This person probably had ulterior motives for wanting her, and she was sure that no good would come from it. Tanatswa also felt threatened by this person who clearly highlighted her leaving ‘her man’. He considered himself her man and wanted to do whatever it takes to resolve this problem. He then told her, “Whatever it takes, I will get back at the person who ruined what you made for yourself.” Shami was really pissed at the thought of another survivor like them, intentionally fucking shit up for them and looked into his eyes and then said “I want these fuckers to know pain, I won’t accept this.”

The two them looked at the sorry state of their home, angry and at the same time on high alert. There were high chances that the new guy who they encountered was the one who did this and if so, they would have to figure out a way to face him. His power was extraordinary, but Shami could shapeshift and he was still yet to figure out what his power could do. So far she had turned into a bird but who knows what else she could do. Tanatswa now had a new muse to motivate his growth. Vengeance!

The man with the husky hair used one of the satchels he had snatched from Shami’s place to collect all the mana plants he could find. He seemed slightly pissed and was engaged in self discussion. He said to himself, “I fucked up, I should have managed to kill them instantly but that bitch could fly, damn it! But why would I kill both of them? I just needed the guy to die so that I could get his experience points and then do whatever I want with the girl. Yeah, I haven’t encountered any girls thus far so why should I kill the only girl I have seen so far, especially one who is fucken hot.Yeah, yeah, that piece of ass should stay. The things I could do to her, she is going to fucken love it, but I can’t be reckless. We are both level 2 so I don’t really have that much of an advantage plus I don’t know what power that guy has, Shit, fucken shit, I gotta think this through and kill them, no just the guy, we need the girl. I haven’t tasted any pussy in a while, we should keep her alive, yeah, we should keep her alive.” The man finished collecting the mana plants and then immediately entered his custom goal and said, “the two nearest people.”

He was immediately given two navigation points that directed him to Shami and Tanatswa. He gauged the distance and apparently figured that they had already returned home. He began to laugh, anticipating how they would react to what he had done to their hut and all the food he stole for himself. He then remarked to himself, “Don’t worry, I will be on my way shortly you love birds.”