ALL NOVEL Chapter 35: Gym of Life
It’ll take some time to get used to this, Dominic decided after some experimentation with his new piece of equipment. It was heavy on his tail, the strain of the unaccustomed weight quickly making itself known. Clearly, this wasn’t actually something he was going to be able to use in battle until he’d conditioned those muscles a little more.
A shame that ‘tail lifts’ aren’t part of your average gym’s offering, he thought wryly. Maybe I should introduce them. Bet they’d be a hit. Though, joking aside, if he wasn’t the only one to have had this happen to him, there might actually be more interest in non-human exercise programs. Anyway, not something to think about now - he would have to train his tail in the gym of life.
That meant basically wearing it as much as possible. He didn’t want to risk actually pulling something in his tail, but only by pushing his muscles to aching on a regular basis would enable him to put this new weapon to good use.
He could imagine it now - his opponent thinking that because it was facing his back, he was defenceless. But no, a moment later, wham! Clocked in the skull with a spiky ball of steel. Wait, is it steel? He twisted around to inspect the armour currently covering his tail all the way down from its junction with the rest of his body to the ball over his tuft.
Not being a metallurgy expert, he wasn’t sure if he could tell the difference between whatever this was and true steel. In the end, he shrugged. In a way it didn’t matter - its stats were more important.
Just wearing the armour and not letting his tail trail on the ground was enough of a challenge right now, but Dominic would definitely work towards being able to lift it as an imitation of a fifth limb.
Still, even without his tail being strong enough to actually manipulate it yet, when he practised doing some sharp turns, he found that centrifugal force made it a weapon anyway, the weight on the end of the tuft pulling the rest of his tail straight out.
On the other hand, essentially losing control of his tail once more sent him back to the fumbling, stumbling mess that he’d been when he’d first woken up in this body. Definitely need to work on that, he groaned as he rubbed his head with a foreleg. Faceplanting was no more fun on stone tiles than it was on hard-packed earth. In fact, he might venture to say that it was worse.
Giving himself a little break, he decided to check his status, something he hadn’t done in a while.
Status of Dominic Martin Cole / Leo
Species: Lion (body) / human (mind), Two-Souled
Level: Half-step Evolved Beast Level 9 (Path of Evolution)
Progress to Evolution: 230/178 PP level up
Hunger level: 99%
Thirst level: 97%
Quests: A Noble Endeavour; Regain what is Lost
Acquired Abilities:
Quick Strike (T0) level 2 (71% to level 3) – 3 SP for +25% speed; 6 SP for +40% speed
Powerful Kick level 1 (44%)
Crushing Bite level 1 (30%)
Rage level 1 (24%)
Defensive abilities:
- Fur level 3 (6-8 Slicing damage reduction, 1-2 Piercing damage reduction, 3-4 Crushing damage reduction, 1-2 Tearing damage reduction)
- Skin level 3 (2-3 Slicing damage reduction, 1-2 Piercing damage reduction) Flexibility +1%
Offensive abilities:
- Claws level 2 (6-11 Slicing damage, 6-8 Tearing damage, 3-5 Piercing damage)
- Bite level 2 (32-50 Crushing damage, 35-63 Tearing damage, 28-40 Piercing damage)
General abilities:
- Muscular Body level 5 (max speed 24mps; max speed duration 15s) (75/105 SP)
- Carnivore Constitution level 2 (159/350 HP) +20% regeneration
Equipment:
- Leather Gorget (T1) - +12 to Piercing/Tearing/Slicing damage reduction and +6 to Crushing damage reduction to attacks to the neck. 6m³ storage space (non-stasis)
- Tail Armour + Tail Morningstar (T1, Common) - Tail armour offers +20 to Tearing/Slicing damage reduction and +12 to Crushing and Piercing damage reduction to attacks to areas covered. Tail club offers +10-24 Crushing damage and +5-12 Piercing damage.
Most of it was as he was expecting. Actually seeing the number of SP and HP that he had just gave him a little more information: he already knew he had just over a third of health, all thanks to absorbing the warthog. His stamina had improved significantly with the rest he’d had since the battle, but it still had a way to go.
Actually, is there any way of me adjusting my status to show the HP and SP more easily at the top? Dominic wondered thoughtfully. I was able to change my HUD so why not? Focussing on his desire, it was still a little surprising when he saw two new entries write themselves at the top of his status screen.
Looking at the other entries, he wondered whether he could make a new change. Hunger and Thirst don’t really make much sense when I get more hungry as the percentage depletes…. Focussing once more, satisfaction went through him as the display changed once more.
Much better, he thought, looking at the new and improved status.
Species: Lion (body) / human (mind), Two-Souled
Level: Half-step Evolved Beast Level 9 (Path of Evolution)
Progress to Evolution: 230/178 PP level up
Satiation level: 99%
Hydration level: 97%
Health Points: 159/350
Stamina Points: 75/105
Quests: A Noble Endeavour; Regain what is Lost
This way I only need to call up the first part of my status unless I’m deciding what to enhance, he thought happily. Much clearer than having to search through the rest of his status for his health and stamina points.
Though, there was something interesting in his main status: the fact that he was sure that his progress towards the next level of Quick Strike had increased. Last time it was definitely in the sixties; now it was at 71%. Because I’ve been using it? It certainly can’t be because I’ve absorbed more Cores with Quick Strike because I…haven’t. If it could continue improving just with use, that was good to know.
It made sense too: if most creatures couldn't absorb abilities from Beast Cores - except, perhaps as dungeon loot - then how would they improve their abilities? Still, good to know.
The strain from his tail starting to get painful, he unequipped the item. Touching it and focussing, it wasn’t long before it was safely stowed in his Inventory. He’d pull it out again when his tail stopped aching.
Settling down onto the stone ground, Dominic turned his thoughts to the other loot he’d got which he still needed to make a choice over. Absorb the spell Lightning Discharge and its accompanying risks, or not?
And which ability should he go for from the Warthog Guardian’s Core? The basic Charge, or the more exotic - and also more risky - Second Wind?
Plus, another question: should he level up first? Frankly, after having satisfied his curiosity about the loot, his desire to know what would happen on this level up was almost more than he could contain. Still, he was able to restrain his inclination to act on impulse and forced himself to consider the situation logically.
Waiting to level up might actually be the better idea: if he did himself some damage in one of his choices, he’d have a way of restoring himself to full health immediately available. He did take a few moments to consider what he would choose to enhance, assuming he had the option of one, two, or even three aspects. That way, if he had to level up in a hurry, he wouldn’t risk making a bad choice just because he felt overly pressured.
His decision made in terms of first choice, second choice, and third choice, he turned his mind back to his loot. He’d also made a decision on these choices too. He was tempted to second-guess himself, but tried not to: there was no right answer, and these choices felt right to him.
First of all, he’d decided to attempt to absorb the Lightning Discharge spell. Why take the risk? Because he suspected that it would be his only chance to learn magic in the near future. He might be wrong – there might be a city with a number of magic teachers just the other side of the hill the dungeon was found under. Though, even if that was, in his current leonine form, it wouldn’t be much use to him.
The potential benefits of magic were too numerous to pass up willy-nilly. Yes, there were risks attached, but there were risks to everything: his whole experience in this dungeon had been risk after risk, not all of them able to be calculated. And he had an idea of how to reduce the potential consequences.
From the Beast Core, he’d decided to take Second Wind. Charge looked like an awesome ability, and the fact that it was a guarantee was very appealing. However, Dominic had decided not to go for it for one reason: he suspected that it was very common. Not that he had anything against ‘common’ abilities per se - he suspected that Quick Strike would also be, in one form or another, a common ability.
No, it was the fact that all he needed to do was find and kill enough other animals which had Charge – or equivalent – and absorb their Cores. Actually, although he had no real evidence for the thought, he suspected that, like the trodils had had Quick Strike even at their lowest level versions, and then Rage as a mini-boss, the same was true of warthogs and Charge.
If he’d been encountering families of warthogs instead of packs of trodils, Dominic suspected that the individual members would have had Charge; the mini-bosses Overdrive. Perhaps it was only becoming a proper boss which gave the Warthog Guardian Second Wind, or maybe it was upon reaching level 10.
His only real indication of this was the fact that Charge was clearly the lowest tier ability, yet it was also the one with the highest percentage chance. Then, the fact that Overdrive looked so similar to Rage, and had the second highest percentage chance was another indication that he was right.
Though, it did leave Dominic feeling a bit miffed: where was his ability? Surely I should have got at least one as a lion? Where’s my Deafening Roar or Pounce? Maybe it was a way of the System equalising things slightly: if he’d got his own abilities as well as being able to absorb those of others, he would have too much of an advantage.
Still not fair, he grumbled to himself before sighing and turning to the Beast Core. He’d roll the dice on Second Wind. Then, if he was lucky and got it, he’d have a bit of insurance in case the attempt to gain Lightning Discharge went wrong.
Here goes.