Honestly, I was expecting Abhor to get this title sooner. He's always been able to adapt to situations so well that it baffled me that he didn't get the title yet. We are currently settled in a cleared out section of the ent's devastation. Several boulders are set around the section for out fire. I rest on top of a nice andesite one. A nice rock, andesite. I had a few chunks of almost every mineral under the sun in my bedroom.
The clearing was full of dead trees, which made for a great bonfire. Me and evelyn went a bit overboard with the firewood, so now we have a big fire and a little one. Currently he is sitting on a rock and chewing on the leg of a boar that evelyn was lucky enough to spot and I was quick enough to catch. I can't help but chuckle at the pig over the fire. Evelyn has taught me to cook a lot, though I still feel uncomfortable around fire. Fire is the opposite of my Ice dragon species. Sometimes I have thought about the idea of being able to breathe fire.
“You look amused.” Abhor comments, landing beside me. “Im guessing you’re thinking about something that contradicts itself.”
“Do you even know what that means?” I counter, lowering my head down to take a bite from the pig chunks I got.
“You say it more than enough for me to have picked it up.” He settles down beside me and nudged me wing with his own. “So, Snowstorm, what's next?” He asks. He sounds as cheerful as ever, but I sense something, see something, in him. Worry, grief, anger. I don't think even he sees it in himself.
“I… think we should take it one step at a time.” I say after a moment. “According to Evelyn, we should be 2 days away from the location at our current speed.” I look to the fire where I expected Evelyn to be. “Where is that human anyway?” I ask, turning to him.
“Look.” He gestures to his back. There, a little human with frazzled hair is draped over his back. Abhor is the size of a big horse, and most would think that this would mean a human would be too big (or the dragon too small) to lie down. They would be dead wrong. Dragons have wings too, and we have bulkier frames than horses. Though no respectable person would be willing to be some mount for a little primate like that, we are certainly built to be damn good at it.
“She deserves some good rest.” Abhor says. “She has been through a lot.”
“Well, so have we.” I can’t help but point out. This conversation is more serious than Abhor likes and more emotional than I prefer, but it needs t0 happen. We both know it.
“Yeah…” Abhor says solemnly, then rubs his snout in his arm. When he looks back up he has a determined expression on his face. “We are going to get darkness back. I swear it with everything.” My face feels a little damp. I look away for a moment, then turn around to him and give him a hug. The way wyverns hug is by leaning onto their back legs and lifting their wings up to wrap around their target. Abhor smiles. I smile.
“Thanks, bro.” Abhor says and chuckles. “Now off with this sappy stuff. Lets talk about something else.” I nod. I would rather stop thinking about… smokewind…
“How about your new title?” I offer.
“Oh, yeah. Want me to read it to you?” He asks, and I nod.
{Adaptable: the user has shown themself to be highly capable in situations that require you to change your plans quickly, to adapt. Grants the skill:Insight. Grants +5% perception}
“Now, that's incredibly good.” I say, nodding. “Perception is a sub-stat of intelligence. Substats can't be viewed at tier 1. Its absurdly rare for a title to offer a boost, and percentage boosts are straight up amazing since they can increase your stats beyond your species maximum.”
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“A sub-stat?” Abhor asks, curious.
“Yes. Each statistic has a sub-statistic to go along with them. Intelligence has Perception, Durability has Vitality, Strength has Will, Stamina has Efficiency, and Speed has Agility. Whenever you put a point into a stat, it'll put half of a point into a substat.” Abhor nods. He tends to only listen to stuff that intreagues or directly affects him. Abhor isn't stuid, despide what I say. In fact, he is incredibly smart. He is able to contain all sorts of information with stuff that affects him. If it doesn't interest him, he just doesn't bother remembering it. He is, from what I have read, good at just being a people person. Or, a dragon's dragon, depending on who's talking. He is very strategic when he wants to be, and very impulsive when he doesn't. However, people would see the impulsiveness and the forgetfulness and assume he is an idiot. I mean, he never tries to correct them, though. He doesn't see it as worth his time. We have met dragons other than Smokewind and Darkness. Dragons have visited along with a few humans, sometimes with supplies, sometimes with messages.
“Hey, Abhor. Show me that skill.” I say eventually, after thinking for a moment.Well, I'm never not thinking, I was just thinking MORE for a moment.
“Yeah, sure, let me see…” Abhor says, his eyes glazing over as he looks at his status.
{Insight: Grants the user insight into their opponents weaknesses, as well as heightening the users instincts to allow for greater insight into any matter, whether fighting or farming, hunting or talking. Effect 1:Instinct. Heightens and focuses the users instincts passively to encompass all their needs in all situations. Allows the user to see weak points. Effect 2:Adaptive style. Grants further insight into how to adapt in order to make the most of your situations.}
“That sounds good, but also not very specific.” I comment. I scratch my throat a bit with my claws. Abhor likes to call them wing-claws, which isn't really inaccurate, but in truth they're just big thick claws. They're far sharper and deadlier than Abhor’s claws, though his ungodly stats alone make him stronger. It's like comparing a bullet to an intercontinental ballistic missile. The bullet may be precise, but the overwhelming force of the bomb will do its job.
The ability itself seems to leave more than a little to the imagination. It makes him more adaptable and insightful, and to see… weak points? In a fight that could be invaluable, but the “Greater insight” part is what stumps me. Greater insight how? Does it whisper ideas into his mind, or does it just bring to the forefront of his mind what he already knows?
“Hey Abhor, can you try it out?” I ask him.
“Uh, sure… Oh, and it gave me a skill called weak point detection.” He focuses on me for a second. I try to feel the mana out, testing to see if what he is doing is magical. It doesn’t seem to be…
“Your weak points are your eyes, the inside of your mouth, the bottom of your jaw, your throat, your neck and underbelly, your wing membranes, and a spot on the arch of your back.”
“That sounds correct.” I nod. Each spot has some level of weakness and softness. I sincerely doubt he knew about the point of a dragon's spine most vulnerable on the arch of their back, so it has to be the skill telling him. Like I already said, he just doesn't care for dragon anatomy. I know that it's not for everyone. That doesn't mean its not for me though. Name an organ and I can tell you about it.
I don’t think I need the skill too much fighting other dragons or humans, and even most animals. I know anatomy pretty well.
“So, how is it showing it to you?” I ask him. He seems to be looking very hard at me with squinted eyes.
“Redness. The redder the spot, the weaker the point.” He tells me. “My insight skill is guiding me on it a bit.”
“So it helps you with stuff you can't figure out?” I ask.
“I would imagine I am very good at puzzle's now.” He says cheekily and flashes a grin. I resist the urge to slap him with my wing. Wouldn't want to wake up Evelyn. She is snappy when she first wakes up. Even with the power and size difference, I did not want to be in front of her. She apologized a lot for it, more to Abhor than me since he was unfortunately in her line of sight. Maybe I could arrange for that t0 happen again…
“Why are you grinning?” Abhor takes a weary step back, his eyes managing to narrow further at me.
“No reason.”
