ALL NOVEL Chapter 54: Boundless Fertility
[Beast Core: Warthog level 6
Ability option 1: Charge (80% chance))
Ability option 2: Boundless Fertility (20% chance)]
Those percentages add up to 100, Dominic noted immediately. That’s different from how the Guardian Core in the dungeon worked. But the scrin’s Core was the same… I didn’t get a choice with the scrin’s Core, though I did with the Guardian’s. Is that because the dungeon one was a reward that anyone could get, whereas I only get these ability options because I can absorb abilities?
Then again, there had been that bit in the dungeon information which talked about enhancing the chance of getting one of the abilities. Maybe other people, or crafters, perhaps, were able to access the abilities stored within all the Beast Cores, not just the dungeon ones. That would make them more valuable, potentially – if he ever came across someone to trade with, of course.
In the end he shrugged – it was an interesting question, but until he had more information to work with, he wasn’t going to come to any conclusions. The point here was that he suspected that there was no chance of getting both abilities. Nor did he seem likely to get neither, which was reassuring. Another difference between the Cores given as dungeon rewards and these ones. Boundless Fertility, I wonder what that is.
[Boundless Fertility (T0): Multiplies the chance that a mating session will successfully conceive offspring. Ability starts with a +10% multiple and may continue to increase with the ability level]
We want that one, Leo interjected immediately.
Wait, no we don’t, Dominic objected just as quickly. How will a fertility multiplier help us survive?
Not us, but our legacy. The more cubs, the better.
Yeah, but to even have cubs, we have to survive, huffed Dominic. Here was a gap between the way they saw the world. To Leo, his survival was only to spread his genes and ensure the survival of his progeny. Dominic would rather just survive for himself.
Plus, we won’t have a choice in this one anyway, he pointed out instead of arguing: he had a feeling that neither of them was likely to convince the other any time soon. Leo grumbled wordlessly but subsided without further comment.
Dominic absorbed the Core, silently hoping that he’d get Charge, no matter what Leo might want. Then a thought suddenly struck him: if he could concentrate on one option and slightly increase his probability of getting it, could Leo do the same? Not wanting to risk accidentally getting Boundless Fertility because of the lion desiring it more than he focussed on Charge, Dominic concentrated his efforts again.
When the golden dust faded, he quickly called up his list of abilities to check.
Acquired Abilities:
Quick Strike (T0) level 2 (85% to level 3) – 3 SP for +25% speed; 6 SP for +40% speed.
Second Wind (T1) level 1 (8% to level 2) – activatable when under 50% health or stamina. Gain 50% of your maximum health and/or stamina for the duration of the timer. Timer: 05:00. At the end of the timer, lose 50% of your max health and stamina.
Crushing Bite (0% –> 3% to level 1) – Use stamina to enhance the crushing power of your jaws. +5% - 50% Crushing damage for 3 - 60 stamina per second.
Powerful Kick (52% to level 1)
Rage (24% to level 1)
Charge (3% –> 10% to level 1)
Sharp Nip (50% to level 1)
Stunning Roar (19% to level 1)
Phew, it gave me more progress towards Charge, Dominic said to himself, relieved. Still, he tried to keep it a bit quiet so his companion hopefully wouldn’t hear. No doubt he was annoyed at not getting the ability he wanted. Good to see my use of Crushing Bite in that fight started progressing it to the next level, he noted too.
Dismissing his abilities, he briefly called up his level progress.
Progress to Evolution: 216/237 PP
Shame, he said briefly, mentally flicking the information away again. No level up this time. He would just have to hope that the warthog had a few family members in this area and go hunt them down. Or let them attack him, as this one had.
Before moving on, Dominic quickly absorbed the corpse of the warthog, noting the 2% extra it gave to Charge after he did. Leo protested, and Dominic made a mental note to let him have a turn in the driver’s seat when he could manually eat a carcass if he really wanted to. Apparently he really liked eating warthogs. Then, his senses all on the alert again, he continued moving carefully through the alien vegetation.
It was a little unnerving: Dominic could hear lots of different creatures, but none seemed to approach. Dominic didn't know whether it was because, bar the warthog, none of the other creatures dared to take on a level 12 lion, or some other reason. He hoped it wasn’t because they were about to set an ambush, but had a feeling that his luck wasn’t that good.
It seemed like his pessimism was justified: after a while of practically walking on eggshells, expecting an attack to come at any time, it happened. From a direction he was not anticipating.
Ow, Dominic thought as something thunked down on his head painfully. The attack was followed by an increase in the whoops which had been growing in both volume and numbers of creatures making them. Not hyenas, he didn’t think – the sound was different, as were the tactics.
They were just as foreboding, though, especially now the sources of the sound had revealed themselves able to attack from above. With nuts, Dominic realised as he saw the source of his pain: some sort of coconut-style fruit. Almost as hard as a rock, the impact had been painful. And there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t actually use rocks: there were plenty lying around on the forest floor.
Looking up, Dominic searched the trees for his assailant, or one of the assailant’s buddies since the former-human was almost certain that it wasn’t a single attacker. Hearing the crashing of branches, Dominic whipped his head towards the flicker of movement as a creature swung through the treetops.
The first thought, as it released another hard object from its paw, throwing it at Dominic, was automatic: monkey. Even as Dominic dodged the projectile, his mind was already dismissing the thought. Not a monkey, but not dissimilar. He then had to dodge a second projectile which shot at him a moment later.
Having been unsuccessful in its attack, the creature screeched angrily at him and then swung away again. Dominic watched it go, his thoughts whirling. Clearly not from Earth, this creature had six limbs rather than the four of non-insectile land animals. Dominic hadn’t had the chance to see too much, but he’d got the overall picture.
The not-monkey used four of its limbs to swing easily through the trees as a monkey might, leaving the other two to hold whatever it wished – in this case projectiles to throw at him. Oddly enough, it had no tail. Perhaps six limbs were enough to be getting on with. More than that, Dominic hadn’t been able to tell with the quick glimpse he’d had of the creature in between attacks.
Unfortunately, it looked like he was going to pay for standing still when three more of the not-monkeys emerged from the area around him, perhaps having been attracted by the first’s screeches.
Dodging the projectiles wasn’t so easy with three at a time flying at him. He got hit in the shoulder and on the crown of his head, making his headache, which had already been throbbing, strongly increase in intensity.
Dominic growled in irritation, glaring up at the not-monkeys which were again screeching, this time sounding mocking more than irritated themselves. See how you like this, then, he said to himself, crouching and wiggling his tail behind him.
With a jump enhanced by Quick Strike, he rose swiftly into the air. With the enhancements to his body, the already-impressive jump abilities of a lion were improved further for Dominic. The not-monkey didn’t know what had hit it before it was already dead, his jaws clamping around its midsection, practically biting it in half. Its health bar was drained before they even landed back on the ground.
[You have killed Kesh (Basic Beast level 5)]
[You have earned 19 PP]
Dominic didn’t waste any time in Consuming its body, nor in leaping again to snatch another kesh out of the trees. The creatures seemed shocked at the fact that they weren’t as invulnerable up above as they had thought themselves, and he managed to grab another of the three before it could react.
This one put up a bit more of a fight, screeching and scratching at his face. Dominic was forced to close his eyes to protect them from the kesh’s claws, meaning that he misjudged the landing a little. Fortunately, he didn’t lose his grip on the not-monkey even as the wind was half-knocked out of him.
Shaking his head back and forth, it wasn’t long before the kesh was limp in his jaws and another kill notification was flashing up in front of him.
[You have killed Kesh (Basic Beast level 5)]
[You have earned 19 PP]
Opening his eyes now the danger to them had passed, Dominic looked upwards again.
Oh, shit, he swore. Clearly the screeching of the kesh he’d killed hadn’t just been in protest or pain; it had been calling for back-up.
Twisting his head frantically to one side and then the other, he saw at least twenty kesh lining the branches around, each with stones or nuts in their two free paws. I can’t survive this, he thought, making his decision in a split second. Wishing he had Charge, he poured six stamina points into Quick Strike, forcing himself to leap to the side from practically a standing position.
Stones and nuts rained down on the spot he had just been a fraction of a second before, enough probably to have battered him to a moaning, pain-filled lump of himself.
Though he’d avoided the initial onslaught, there was no time to dally: each of the kesh had at least one more projectile; those which hadn’t attacked in the first wave still had two.
Once more triggering the fastest version of Quick Strike, Dominic twisted and leapt back the way he’d come, the part of his mind which was still working despite the situation figuring that they wouldn’t predict him to backtrack.
It seemed to work; he only got hit by two rocks which, considering the deluge flying at him, was pretty amazing. Since he’d landed back next to the corpse of the second kesh, he quickly triggered Consume to top up both his health and stamina. Spotting the glint of two Beast Cores, he dared to take a moment to lick them up, dismissing the notification before it even formed: he couldn’t be distracted. Knowing an attack would be coming, he leapt away a moment later.
Not quite fast enough – pain ran through him as a rock landed square on his tail-bone. A new fear ran through Dominic’s mind: what if a rock landed badly? What if he became paralysed? Could his health potion even deal with that sort of thing?
I need to gain enough Prey Points to level up, he decided, then took a moment to calculate how many he needed.. He’d been 21 PP away the last time he’d looked and each of the kesh he’d killed had been 19 PP each. A sense of relief flashed through him as he realised that he’d already achieved his aim. Worse came to worst, he could level up and wipe his injuries away.
Alright then, he thought glaring at the kesh in the treetops above. Time for some payback.
