Chapter 5 First Battle 2
As I approached the lake, I saw quite a few more groups of goblins. I was avoiding them for now as I wanted to finish this quest as soon as possible, and it would be a waste of my time for now as I needed to join a guild as soon as I could so I'd have some form of protection from slavers and unwanted eyes. There was also the benefit of buying better gear, skills, and the ability to take better quests, most things a freelancer and low-level basic user needed more access to.
The requirements to join a guild were level 30 for Standard systems holders and level 10 for Elite systems holders, but there were no level prerequisites for named systems. Of course, the rules could be bent for those with connections or powerful families. Hell, if mine didn't throw me out, I could easily get into any guild I'd like. Guilds were throwing themselves at these users, for they flipped the script regarding the strength they could possess. They also brought in lots of publicity so that the guild could prosper and be the first to pick raid quests as well as other opportunities.
I was avoiding the goblins because the bloodlust I had felt from the first taste of hearts was driving me mad. I knew only the taste of a different one would ease it enough to keep my sanity. Still, the system was pushing my body and mind to get stronger, to crave what could give me what I wanted. Going on a mindless killing spree would only get me killed if I lost my reasoning, even if the allure of more stat points were in my mind. I was no wild beast. Just because I was a werewolf didn't mean I wasn't still human in some regard!
I may be stronger than most lv1-5, but I was still a low level and solo, making my easy target to a group if I was paying no attention to what was happening. Snapping out of my long train of thought, I stopped by the rushing riverbank, weapons drawn, keeping my eyes peeled as any Fishman could jump out to try and ambush me, so I had to stay vigilant.
I kept pacing around slowly, doing a 360 every 2 seconds, when suddenly I was launched onto the ground right on my back and ass. I dropped my knife and was tumbling, stopping soon after as I saw a large-scaly red salmon, Fishman, with long webbed fined hands and feet, screaming at me, trident in hand. Scrabbling to get up, I spit out some blood from my mouth.
~-50 HP~
~HP90/140~
I was ambushed by a sudden assault that struck me forcefully in the ribs, resulting in them cracking. Despite the trident aimed towards my face, I held onto my sword firmly and successfully blocked it at the last minute. The adversary, a Fishman, was robust and effortlessly pushed me backward. However, I could rotate on my left and disengage from the confrontation. I inflicted a wound on its side, but the fish escaped with just a tiny scratch on its scales and no bleeding.
I found myself facing a formidable opponent in the form of a fisherman. Its strength was undeniable, as it moved with a speed and agility that exceeded my own. I soon realized its defense was equally impressive, making it a formidable foe. Suddenly, it launched a powerful water bullet in my direction, which I could not avoid despite my best efforts. In an attempt to turn the tide of the battle, I countered with a series of claw slashes, hoping to gain the upper hand.
~-10 MP~
~-10MP~
~-10MP~
The first two were enough to disperse the water bullet as the last slash hit it head-on in its chest, knocking it on its back. It screamed as it drew a large gash of blood on it, but nothing too crazy of damage. Using [Appraisal] quickly, I saw it was lv10."Fuck!" I'd expected a Fishman to be fast, but its level was at least 7 or 8, not this.
Seeing it jump back up about to launch another bullet, I had to pull a hail marry as any slip-up would get me killed, or I would kill it, but with a low mana tank after. Rushing it as I stayed in straight sight, I gritted my teeth hard as it finally launched at me.
As I cast both [Aura Bind], keeping it in place as their limbs and neck were bound by dark gray ethereal chains long enough, I shot in front of it with [Quick Step], swinging my sword at their neck. Its body thrashed and struggled to break free before the last thing it knew. I sent its head spiraling into the air as the chains faded away, dropping the body.
~~lv 10 salmon Fish-man killed gained 100 EXP~~
Putting the body and weapon in my [Storage], I quickly retrieved my knife and booked it back to the cover of the trees, away from the lake. Breathing hard from adrenalin, my body buzzed as soon fatigue overtook the numbing sensation. Leaning on a tree surrounded by many others gave my covering to catch my breath as my stamina and mana were low, opening my system to see how bad things were, cursing this damn luck of mine.
~HP:90/140~
~Mp:15/120~
"Fuck my mana is low as hell, and I forgot to get any potions, thinking this would be easy to hunt some low-levels with my past experience hunting these mobs ..., but I'm still not used to this system. I was a dumb-ass, and my luck made it so I would always be on my toes." The only good thing was that not only did I kill an LV10 monster, but I also got its body with me as its scales can be used to make armor and accessories, as well as its trident, which was in perfect condition at that, maybe this luck isn't so bad.
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Taking its body out in the somewhat cozy nook, a thought crossed my mind. My storage never did state I couldn't store living objects inside. Thinking of wanting to enter my storage, both I and the body were sent into a dark purple space. I laughed madly when I saw the carcass and the looted weapons inside. I had my own pocket space, which would be invaluable to me as the applications would be endless.
Carving out the heart in the safety of my space, I looked at it as the heart was blue and much smaller than a human's or goblin's, popping it into my mouth before eating it, letting out a deep animalistic murring of pleasure, my tail wagging happily.
~~User has devoured an lv 10 salmon Fishman heart and gained +3 Agi, 3 Int, 2 Str, and two con, as well as obtained one of the three skills of the user choosing [Water Bullet lv1], [trident Mastery lv1],[Natural Hardness lv1] When the user gains a skill from eating, use restrictions are ignored, and perfect integration of the skill is learned~~
[Water Bullet] Conjures a 10-inch water bullet from the user via magic, added ability to shoot from the mouth or to be channeled out from hands or magical medium costs 15 MP and can be infused with Aura as well
[Trident Mastery] Allows the user to use and know basic trident weapon skills and proficiency instantly
[Natural Hardness] Alters the user's natural skin and bone structure to harden and become a natural form of armor and grants a +10 Con per every skill level
After reading all the skills, it was clear [Natural Hardness] was the best skill to take over the other two as the only other contender in my eyes was the [Water Bullet] spell, seeing the damage it could do firsthand, but since I preferred to be a more agile fighter having natural armor would be the best as I could wear light armor and less constricted actually, this skill itself could remove the need for me to wear anything more than maybe a chest plate.
~~user has selected [Natural Hardness] due to the user's physique of their race, and the skills capability future race upgrades will be different due to this new racial trait~~
I've once heard skills can invoke or allow a new race evolution. Still, I would never have thought this would do just that for me in the future. Yet I was forced to keel over in pain. I yelled out in pain as I felt my entire body burning from the inside out. My bones felt like they were constantly breaking and reforming over and over again. In contrast, I could feel my muscles and flesh melt away, bones snapping and grinding together, only to pass out from the pain itself.
Waking up three hours later with a harsh gasp, I looked at my hands to thankfully see the skin was still there. I thought I was hallucinating, only to see clumps of burned dead flesh around my body as my broken ribs no longer ached. If anything, my entire body felt better than ever. I was hungry as hell, though. I practically jumped onto the dead fish's body, ripping its arm clean off as I ate away, including the bones, as I did not want to ruin the body too much to be able to sell later in what mental clarity I could muster.
After finishing, I opened my system, swiping away the 50 EXP bonus notification as I couldn't care less. Seeing all the changes was much more critical, but I was surprised at the +40 healing from eating. This skill was super busted.
_Status_
Blaze Nights
race: Lower Werewolf (Evolution available at lv 10)
bloodline:-----
lv:1
Exp:285/500
Gold:300
HP:250/260
MP:45/150
Str:14
Int:15
Agi:15
Con:26
Luck:19
Stat points:0
—-Skills—-
Unique ability: [Aura Manipulation lv:1]
_Active skills_
[Claw slash lv:1] [Appraisal lv:1] [Lycans Rage lv:1] [Quick step lv:1>lv2] [Aura bind lv:1]
_Passive skills_
[Predators body lv:1] [Unyielding soul lv: max] [Devour lv:1] [Storage lv: max] [Natural Hardness lv:1]
Seeing how multiple things have changed, I was happy. Not only could I now evolve at lv 10, but [Quick step] hit lv two and went from 3 meters being my limit to now 5. Also, being unconscious for a few hours allowed me to regain some mana. Having still lost 50HP, it didn't matter. My ribs healed somewhat from that hellish reforging and the added benefit of gaining health back from eating. Exiting the storage, I saw it was about the mid-afternoon or around 2:56 p.m. After looking at my watch, the screen cracked from my fight.
Thinking of what I could hunt next to complete this quest and escape this Forest, my nose and ears twitched as I stayed still. Seeing a black horned rabbit blending into the darkness, I smiled wide as this would more than definitely count as horned rabbits, like many monsters are capable of using spells, let alone having systems of their very own. Slowly drawing my knife as I got low, I used [Appraisal] to see it was lv 5 midnight horned hare. Readying my blade, I let it fly through the air as my new stats allowed it to shore home before it could jump away, impaling it mid-jump into a tree right through its skull.
~~ lv 5 Midnight Horned Hare killed gained 50 EXP~~~
Pulling my knife free, I picked up the bloody hare, stuffing its body into my mouth, eating everything: heart, bones, fur, and all.
~~Devoured the heart and flesh of a level 5 midnight hare and gained +5 AGI and 25 bonus EXP. Hidden quest completed awarded 500 EXP bonus reward gained item Aura manual. The user is now lv 2 and gained ten stat points ~~
I walked out of the Forest and training grounds, heading to the city center, ignoring the looks of disgust from people as my ears and tail gave away my werewolf race. Not too many were fond of us as we were seen as the most savage-like race of half-beasts. That and all the blood on my mouth and ripped coat told many I clearly ate something alive out there as I wore this bloody smile with pride, as others didn't even bother to care. With some understanding, I had quite the hunt. They gave my thumbs up as I headed to the best guild in my city. The Daylight Martyrs. Pushing open the doors with a big show as multiple guild members looked over the doors, shooting open.
"MY NAME IS BLAZE NIGHTS, AND I HAVE THE NAMED SYSTEM OF THE DEVOURS SYSTEM.....I WANNA JOIN!
