ALL NOVEL 47 - Fusion Token Awaken!
“RRRRRRRRRRRRRuh” Claire groaned in her sleep for the thousandth time since returning to Woodland.
She was curled into a ball, tail wrapped around herself as her head rested on the floor while David sat nearby to keep an eye on her. He smirked at the noise but immediately felt bad, remembering how drunk and out of it she was after devouring the Boss’s head, various toxins and venoms not agreeing with her belly. As impressive, and in David’s opinion heavy-metal as her instinctual reaction had been, it was the wrong choice and she suffered a bit for it. He’d had enough time to hear her mumble about unlocking a Bloodline before her left pupil had dilated and she’d begun to wobble and burp, the smell of which was so foul David had puked the first time it hit his nose. It had almost been a Quest by itself getting her back to the warehouse and into 'bed', as she had kept trying to wander off while ranting about invisible elves and wizards.
Go ahead and sleep, you badass reptile. You deserve it…I will admit it was super gross watching those armor plates grow back, it was like fingernails growing in fast-forward over a couple of hours. Bleh. I’m glad Dallas made it though, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it take so long for someone to heal up after a fight. He’s not a hundred percent on his feet yet, and it’s been hours. Stupid wasp almost bought the farm there for real, I thought the seven Health I dropped to after the lizard-monkeys was bad, but 2? That’s like…fuck. I bet without the Health system he’d have died for sure.
David folded his ears down at the thought in the cool darkness of the warehouse at Woodland Park and tapped his talons on the floor while an anxious hiss slithered out of him. He shook his head and glanced at Claire again, happy for her that she’d managed to be the one to collect the ‘Trophy', whatever that was. He doubted it was the head of the Boss itself since she’d puked that back up the moment the adrenaline left her system and she suddenly understood what she’d done. David took a moment to remember it in 3D-Smellovision and his lips wrinkled so far back over his fangs in a grimace that one of the newly evolved hatchlings that had been approaching to ask him something pretended to catch an interesting scent and ‘followed’ it away rapidly.
Oops, sorry whoever you were. That’s just my face, I swear I'm not mad! Ah well, Claire doesn’t need to be bothered anyway, maybe being snarly-lookin’ is a good thing for once. Okay, Dallas is gonna be fine, Claire is gonna be fine, Kai never even got hit, my talon is growing back nicely…time to get some shit done.
Define: Territory Challenge System.
|Territory Challenge System: Allows the User to sense nearby Territories, honing in on the lairs of powerful Bosses. These Bosses may be challenged for high-quality rewards and large experience gains. WARNING: Bosses are highly lethal, varied, and aggressive.|
Okay, so they’re like…what the hell were they called…Dungeons? I think that’s what Dad called them when he was still playing Wars of Worldcraft or whatever it was. You go in, fight some stuff, fight some stronger stuff, then the boss gets pissed and you fight that too. The rewards were insane, but so was that fight. There’s literally no way someone could get away with fighting those by themse– Yeah, actually, I bet it is depending on the boss. Can't even imagine how badass you’d have to be though.
Define: Fusion Token.
|Fusion Token: Permanently combines Mutagens and Abilities into a single hybrid effect. Allows for the Fusion of Mutagens and Abilities. The Fusion of Mutagens to Abilities will always result in a Mutagen.
The resulting fusion’s grade is determined by component grades. This process is irreversible.|
Oh, that’s nice. That’s really nice. Muahah– Where the fuck did that come from? Calm down David, damn. I feel like I get too into this considering what I’m about to do to myself…anyway, let's see. So if I understand this right, I can absorb an ability straight into a Mutagen if I want to? Lots of potential there…I could…hrm this is hard.
There isn’t a lot of wiggle room in what I have, but I think if it works like last time it’d be worth it to roll an Ability up into something, probably Glare or Nocturnal Strike. Epikek– No, wait, Apical seems extremely strong, but so are Unnerving and Atavistic. I think the real question is can I live without Nocturnal Strike or Glare? There’s absolutely no way I’m getting rid of Gloom, and Screech is the only thing I’ve seen period since meeting everyone that can do damage to something far away…
David’s ears slowly crept down over the back of his head as he thought, face wrinkling in concentration as his mane slowly lifted in response to the intensity of his focus. He bristled in the dim lighting, fangs gleaming in the darkness and muscles tense while he muttered quietly to himself, analyzed his options, and stared into space. Several of the newly evolved Woodlanders immediately found somewhere else to be that was far away from him, usually within the first few seconds of noticing his body language. David vaguely heard a few muffled curses of surprise when others saw him, usually followed by a startled backpedal and then running footsteps but paid no attention as he poured over his Status.
It’s gonna have to be Glare, it’s the only thing I’m willing to give up and hopefully, it’ll stop costing Stamina if it ends up rolled into a Mutagen…but which Mutagen?
Glare might work together with Unnerving to make it just pop off randomly more often, but then it might pop off randomly more often. I feel like eventually someone is going to attack me because I made them have a mini heart attack and shit their pants just trying to say hello. At this point, I’d be willing to deal with that and just let Claire do the talking if it meant stuff thought twice about ripping my face off, honestly.
Glare and Atavistic could also be really good, since Atavistic strengthens my body, it might do something nifty if I combine Glare with it. It could also synergize with Unnerving still, depending on how the new Mutagen turns out. Definitely gonna be a bubble bath from the deepest pits of hell on that one though, Atavistic affects the entire body…blech. Still might be really strong though.
I don’t know enough about Apical yet, but it seems ridiculous. It’s just a Nocturnal Strike with no damage but better, I guess it is ‘Boss Loot’ or whatever though. Probably means it’s just a higher quality or rarity overall. I wonder how strong you’d be if all your Mutagens were from bosses…Focus! I’ll probably leave that one alone for now, I don’t want to ruin a good thing with the bonus abilities.
Okay, okay. Let's do this.
I want to use my Fusion token. Fuse Glare and Unnerving Mutagen.
–Confirm fusion of: Unnerving Mutagen B & Glare E?–
–Fusion will result in: C Mutagen–
…Yes.
–Fusing–
–Received: Dread Mutagen C: Your form inspires dread, which may cause enemies to reconsider aggressing you. Enemies that meet your eyes may find themselves unable to look away, eventually causing them to be afflicted by Fear.–
Oh shit! That’s great, it’s like Glare but free! Hold up, ‘inspires dread’? That’s a lot worse than just being unnerving, isn’t it? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU-
David’s mental howl of anguish was cut short by a wave of bubbling energy that filled his eyes and forced him to slam them shut. He snarled and clenched his talons, scoring the floor with an unpleasant noise as the altered Mutagen overrode the older version and began to change him. The few remaining people brave enough to still be within his line of sight froze as David released a sibilant hiss that crept into their ears and froze their blood. He writhed and jerked as the awful numbing bubbles continued to fill his eyes for what felt like an eternity before finally spilling out like tears, running down his muzzle and neck, soaking into his mane, and continuing along his back.
After much longer than the sensation usually lasted it vanished between one heartbeat and the next, and David sagged slightly as he caught himself with his wyvern-like wings, leaning forward and balancing on his claws carefully before he widened his stance and shook his head forcefully. He opened his eyes after a moment and straightened up, not noticing anything different besides the text on his Status noting the new Mutagen in the first slot he’d ever filled. Casting a glance back over himself, he finally noticed that his mane was slightly longer, shaggier, and continued almost all the way to his haunches down his back. It gave him a more feral appearance, and he hoped that it would be the extent of the visible effects of his transformation.
It’s probably fine, it gave me a bigger mane I guess? So what. Maybe I’m a little poofier when it pops up now. How bad could it be, honestly? ...I bet my eyes are fucking weird now, that took forever.
–Free Ability Slot Detected–
–You have one Pack Ability Selection Remaining–
–Pack Abilities may be changed every 72 hours–
–View List: Offense, Defense, Restorative–
“Eh?”