《Queen in the Mud》 Prologue I felt as though I¡¯d been asleep for a very, very long time. Occasionally I¡¯d rouse from my torpor to a world of utter, impenetrable darkness only to have my fleeting consciousness fly away from me back into a dreamless slumber. My bouts of lucidity had recently grown more frequent and lasted longer. It felt like I was being pushed on all sides and after testing my limbs, it became clear that my range of motion was severely limited.The limited movement I was capable of felt sluggish and unresponsive. As terrifying and confusing as the experience was, it was actually not uncomfortable.The sensation might be likened to beingtightly wrapped in a warm cushion where no matter how much time passed, I never needed to eat, drink, or use the restroom. In fact, I wasn''t certain I was even breathing. ''Am I dead? Is this what death is? Or could I have had some kind of aneurysm or stroke, and I¡¯m still alive in a hospital bed somewhere?'' Those kinds of thoughts floated up between gaps in my memory where I''d drifted away from self awareness. While fidgeting in my dark prison, I combed over anything I could remember that might illuminate the dark fog pervading my memories. Even thinking proved to be difficult and my thoughts and memories felt as though they were coming from a vast distance through great effort. My name is Naomi. I¡¯m 19 years old as of last October and I¡¯m a first year college student. If I had to describe myself, it would be that I¡¯m remarkably unremarkable. Average grades, average looks, average intelligence, I¡¯m basically the definition of a normal girl. The last thing I remember¡­ is just going to sleep after a long night of gaming. I had school in the morning. I somehow get the impression that I won¡¯t be making my classes. I¡¯d long since given up on seeing anything in this unassailable cloud of absolute darkness. My new world was a sea of constricting shadows but in a rare moment where I opened my eyes, I caught sight of a flicker of movement in the corner of my vision. A blinking dot. How long had that been there? I didn¡¯t remember seeing anything like it the last time I had opened my eyes. I tried to wiggle my head in the direction of the dot only to find that its position remained fixed in one spot in my periphery even as I turned to look at it. I focused on the blinking dot inthe corner of my eye and a transparent window popped into my vision, the first thing I¡¯d seen besides darkness in what felt like weeks. The window looked¡­ wrong. It was like staring into the static on a TV. It hurt to even look at. I tried to close my eyes to banish the painful box but it remained in my vision even with my eyes closed. Slowly the static faded and innumerable shifting lines condensed into barely legible, distorted letters in the window.
Non system compliant entity detected.
Deleting¡­ Failed.
Converting entity to match system compliancy¡­ Failed.
Translating system to match entity specification¡­ Success.
Enabling entity interface¡­ Success.
Entity is now classified as system compliant. Assigning¡­
As I read the message in the window, the disconcertingly shifting and vibrating text seemed to calm until it was perfectly legible.The experience was not unlike staring into a computer screen in a pitch dark room. Non system compliant entity? Was that supposed to be me? And the first thing it tried to do was delete me?Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The window suddenly and without provocation blinked out of my vision and I was left again in darkness. Darting my attention again to the periphery of my vision like a drowning person clutching at straw, I found the dot again and focused on it. Another window popped up, this one much smaller than the previous one with a single word on it: Status. Confused, I focused on the word and the window expanded before my eyes.
Status information limited due to deficient Intelligence and Wisdom scores.
Name: Naomi Race: Unknown Level: 1 (0 / 30)
HP: 2 / 2 SP: 4 / 4
Strength: 1 Agility: 2 Constitution: 1
Endurance: 2 Intelligence: 0 Wisdom: 1
Uh, excuse me? My intelligence is a whopping ZERO? More importantly, this is definitely a character status sheet for something like a game character. This must be what it meant by ¡®entity interface,¡¯ then? It¡¯s also really bare bones as there isn¡¯t much of note in here. Would I see more information if my intelligence and wisdom were higher? Also, why is my race unknown? Last time I checked, I was definitely human. HP, that¡¯s health points¡­ and SP must be stamina points. I¡¯d played enough games to recognize those right off the bat. My HP is only 2, though? Doesn¡¯t that mean I¡¯m super weak? I feel like that¡¯s way too low, like I¡¯m gonna fall over dead the moment a strong breeze blows past. I tried to focus on anything else in the window to try and glean any more information from the prompt to no avail. I did, however, succeed at creating health and stamina indicators in the corner of my vision by¡­ willing them into existence?Evidently the interface display could be altered by thinking about the changes you wanted made. The end result was a little HP: 2 / 2and SP: 4 / 4in the corner of my vision. ''Well, this finally solves it.'' I mused to myself ''I¡¯ve clearly lost my sanity.''I¡¯d have thrown my arms up in defeat if I were capable of the movement, but I settled for a non committal shudder before drifting back to sleep. It seemed as though my cushy prison had been shrinking. My already limited range of movement had decreased even more from how cramped it had become. Nothing had changed in my status window in the innumerable amount of times that I¡¯d checked it since. I wanted nothing more than to stretch out my aching legs. While I wouldn¡¯t consider myself to be claustrophobic, my fear of being slowly crushed to death seemed extremely rational at the moment. Out of frustration I fought back against my cage, pushing against it as I attempted to stretch and wiggle my body as much as I could. I was about to give up my struggle when I felt something give, even if only slightly. A very dim light faded into my vision as part of my prison gave way with an audible crunch. I very nearly cried out in joy at the sound. Time to pack my bags, I¡¯m breaking out of this prison! I redoubled my efforts, unceremoniously smashing my face against the weak spot. I pushed with all my strength using muscles I didn¡¯t know I had. Really, muscles I didn¡¯t know I had. Is that a tail? The spot finally gave way with a crack as bright light streamed into my eyes, momentarily blinding me. My vision slowly came into focus as I crawled on my belly and used the last of my energy to push myself the rest of the way out of my egg. I crawled out, exhausted, into the thick mud beneath. Chapter 1 SP: 0 / 4 My breath came in ragged gulps as I laid on my belly on the damp mud next to my egg. It took everything I had to get out of that thing. My eyes were still a bit blurry as I took in my surroundings.Thick muddy banks bordered a huge body of water that stretched out as far as I could see. Behind me, a lush forest ran parallel against the lake but not quite making it up to the water¡¯s edge. Birdsong rang out from nearby trees and the buzzing of the occasional insect reached me as I drank in my surroundings while regaining stamina. Sparing a glance towards my egg, I noticed several other eggs nearby, all of them quite large and speckled with the mud that nearly enveloped them. They didn¡¯t appear to have hatched yet. My brothers and sisters, maybe? Body half submerged in mud, I took a moment to consider how surreal and bizarre my current situation was. To put it frankly, I was extremely confused. One moment I laid down in my bed to go to sleep, and the next thing I knew, I was spending weeks or maybe even months in an egg. The worst part about being in that egg was just how incredibly boring it was. All I could do was sleep and check my status over and over even though it never changed. Really, I was just glad to finally be out of there. As soon as I could move again, I tried to get up off my belly and stand up to find that I couldn¡¯t quite complete the motion. Sparing a glance down toward my arms I quickly realized why. My arms and hands were decidedly not human. I brushed the mud off one of my legs to get a better look. My skin was a glistening pale pink with silver splotches every here and there. The soft looking skin continued down my hands and smoothly transitioned into sharp claws at the ends of my fingers. Craning my neck, I saw that at the end of my body was a thick tail that tapered off at a rounded end. With a strange and unfamiliar set of mental acrobatics, I managed to move the new appendage around. With trepidation growing in my chest I started moving toward the waterline. It took some effort to get acquainted with walking on all fours but I made it to the waterline and peered down into the still water at my reflection. Round black eyes stared back at me from a reptilian face. I¡¯m a lizard. Well, not a lizard precisely. I look more like a salamander or a newt. I opened my mouth and, seeing a round white tongue and a row of needle-like teeth, I deftly exclaimed ¡°Gehh!¡± Well, that wasn¡¯t exactly what I meant to say. Seems that I¡¯m not capable of speech. Makes sense, I guess a salamander wouldn¡¯t be able to talk. That¡¯d be absurd! I tried to manage a self deprecating smile as I peered down into my reflection for a long moment in mounting confusion. I¡¯m not even human anymore. Oh, my race! I quickly pulled open my status screen, and instead of the unknown where race would be, It seemed to have updated itself.
Status information limited due to deficient Intelligence and Wisdom scores.
Name: Naomi Race: Crater Lake Lesser Salamander Level: 1 (0 / 30)
HP: 2 / 2 SP: 4 / 4
Strength: 1 Agility: 2 Constitution: 1
Endurance: 2 Intelligence: 0 Wisdom: 1
I¡¯m really getting kind of tired of that ¡®deficient intelligence and wisdom scores¡¯ message. Still, there was some new information here. Crater Lake? Is that the lake here? I glanced past the transparent window in front of me out at the seemingly endless lake stretched out before me. As if to respond to my inquiry, a window popped up in my vision.
Wisdom check automatic success. Reason: Birth place.
Information display modified to reflect deficient intelligence and wisdom scores.
Current Location: Lesser Crater Lake.
Description: Big lake. Lots of tasty fishes! Blue fishies tastiest fishies!
I gawked at the message. Are you messing with me?! I swatted my hand at the display as if trying to smack it out of the way in irritation. Looks like the first order of business will be raising my intelligence stat so that I don¡¯t get these useless prompts anymore. If this is the lesser crater lake, just how huge is the greater crater lake? Also, what exactly is a Lesser Salamander, anyway? I thought idly while looking back down expecting to see my salamander face staring back when instead I saw my reflection distorted by ripples on the water''s surface. Suddenly something erupted from the water¡¯s surface a small distance off from me and charged straight for the nest of eggs I had just come from. I stared in shock and horror at an enormous snake creature as it opened its mouth and casually crunched through the eggs with huge white fangs. I froze on the spot as I stared at the colossal monstrosity devouring the clutch of eggs I had just hatched from. This was the strangest snake I¡¯d ever seen. I was pretty sure snakes aren¡¯t supposed to walk around on thick, stubby legs with savage looking claws, but this one sure did, and it still moved like a snake would despite the awkward looking legs. Although most snakes aren¡¯t the size of a semi truck, so that¡¯s worth consideration. A transparent prompt flashed into my view as I stared frightfully at the beast.
Examine attempt successful. Results limited due to overwhelming level difference. Results limited due to deficient Intelligence and Wisdom scores.
Name: (None) Race: Crater Lake Lesser Water Serpent Level: ???
HP: ??? SP: ???
Strength: ??? Agility: ??? Constitution: ???
Endurance: ??? Intelligence: ??? Wisdom: ???
Skills: ???
Titles: ???
Description: ???
Skill discovered: Examine
Description: Closely examining an object or creature will bring up system information on the subject of your scrutiny. Results are dependent on your Wisdom stat. Masters of this skill can identify even artifact grade items and learn the abilities and weaknesses of their foes.
Effect: +1% Wisdom effect on Examine skill checks per skill level.
+.1% Chance to instantly trigger Examine skill on target per skill level. This effect may only be attempted once per target.
Note: Your deficient intelligence score is actively impeding the results of this skill. Raise intelligence above 0 to regain normal functionality.
Skill: Examine has levelled up to level 3.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.??A flurry of notifications blocked out my vision and I hurried to close them. With a mental flex, I blocked any notifications except Examine from automatically opening again. What the heck is this, I hatched from an egg and immediately this boss monster like creature shows up? So much for game balance. The level difference between me and this serpent is so big that I can¡¯t even see its stats. There was a skull where its level should be! I decided I¡¯d better get away while it was distracted eating my unfortunate brothers and sisters and with a glance at the lake, I considered that it might be safer to escape into the forest. There might have been more of those serpents in the lake and I definitely didn¡¯t want to be lunch. I tried to shuffle my way toward the forest which actually proved more difficult than I had anticipated due to the thick mud leading up from the lake. Remembering my tail, I planted it flat into the mud and swished it back and forth like how a snake would, finding it much easier to make my way through the mud that way. The dot in my peripheral visionbegan blinking, but I decided I¡¯d ignore it until I was safe again. That was the exact moment the Serpent finished its meal and looked up, directly at me. A frigid shiver ran down my spine and I started thrashing faster through the mud towards the treeline. I can only describe the sound that peeled out from the Serpent as a shrill screech that shook me down to my core. Flocks of birds abandoned the trees they had perched in and the lakeside became uncomfortably silent. I could only hear the wet thumps of footfalls as the Serpent began its pursuit. I thrashed wildly through the mud, finally reaching solid ground and sprinting on all fours into the thick foliage. I hoped in vain that this would save me, but after hazarding a glance behind me I caught sight of the serpent crashing through the greenery as it bellowed out another ear-splitting screech, eyes locked directly on me as though it¡¯d never lost sight for even a second. My blood ran cold. It quickly became apparent that this serpent was faster than me. Much faster than me. The meager distance I managed to create before it noticed me was rapidly shrinking as I sprinted through the thick forest, breath coming hard and cold through my lungs. My muscles ached like I had never felt before. How far had I run? I couldn¡¯t even tell anymore. I felt the serpent¡¯s breath on me and in an act of desperation I jumped straight up. The Serpent¡¯s mouth closed around the spot I¡¯d just occupied, taking in a mouthful of dirt. It raised its head to snap at me mid-air and after a range of movement I¡¯d call hopeless flailing, I managed to smack my tail against the Serpent¡¯s nose and propel myself into the side of a tree. I awkwardly smacked against the tree and fell down to the ground, a sharp pain shooting through my back for only a moment before the adrenaline banished my ability to feel the injury. I couldn¡¯t afford to stop even for a moment and again returned to scurrying across the dirt and darting between trees. I¡¯m going to die. This thing is definitely going to kill me. Those kinds of thoughts raced through my mind as I desperately dodged through the foliage which only served to infuriate the Serpent further as it struggled to maneuver its large body between the trees. The lumbering beast shouldered a tree out of its way sending it crashing down to the forest floor, screaming in blind fury as a patch of scales on its shoulder cracked off. I heard the faintest ringing of wind chimes. In desperation Ilooked in the direction of the noise to find a clearing some distance away. I don¡¯t know why I so eagerly rushed towards the clearing when I knew the trees were the only thing that had kept me alive up to this point. Somehow I knew that if I just made it to the clearing, I¡¯d be safe. My Stamina had long since reached 0. Continuing to run was draining my Health instead of Stamina and my gait had become increasingly unsteady. My vision faded in and out and I felt like I was close to passing out. I tripped over a root that sent me tumbling onto my back down an incline, tearing painfully at my skin before I slammed a shoulder heavily into a fractured stump, arresting my momentum just enough that I could start running again. The serpent screamed in rage as I passed through the trees into the clearing. I felt for a second in fear that it was going to follow me, but it stopped heavily at the edge of the treeline and glared at me. It advanced a step or two into the clearing then quickly retreated back to the trees. It stared at me for long moments as I returned its gaze from inside the clearing before it let out one final furious screech and clawed a tree nearly in two out of rage. The Serpent finally turned and left in the direction it came. I stood for long moments staring at the spot the Serpent stopped, adrenaline still slamming through my veins. I glanced at my Health indicator. HP: 0.3 / 2 I hadn¡¯t even taken a direct attack from the beast and I still almost died. Dark red blood ran down my lacerated back and stained my pink and silver arms. I very nearly passed out right there on the soft yellow grass of the clearing, but decided I had to find shelter first or else I might end up running from something else¡­ or dying outright. That monster ran away instead of coming in here after me and that fact was certainly not lost on me. I simply didn¡¯t have the strength to travel any further in spite of the danger. The clearing was mostly all yellow grass, but the occasional dead tree stuck out from the sea of yellow. I started toward the closest dead tree. The grass came up to nearly over my head but I still managed to drag my battered body along until I found myself looking up at a greyish black tree that must have died long ago. I climbed up to a low hanging branch using my tail to gain a bit of leverage to push myself up. Pain wracked my body and red blood dripped down the dead branch I perched on. I turned my head to get a look at the damage and found the soft pink skin on my back torn up and bleeding profusely. The pain was so severe I could hardly think of anything else. I stifled a sob as I rested my head on the dead branch. As if the heavens heard my crying, a few stray raindrops pattered against my head. Within minutes, a steady rainfall came showering down. The rain felt nice and cool. Comfortable. My consciousness mercifully faded away, giving me a needed reprieve from the pain. Chapter 2 ¡®What in the hell is a Choko-choko?¡¯ I thought to myself as I peered down from atop my branch. I was woken up by weird barking sounds, the rain having stopped some time in the middle of the night. It was morning now with the sun peeking out between distant mountains, painting the sky in shades of pink and orange. My wounds still hurt me, but the pain had subsided a bit. The high pitched barking was coming from an extremely unusual orange fur-covered animal. It looked kind of like a fur-covered egg, or maybe a really hairy jelly bean. It was about the size of a small dog and ran around on little bird legs, the only part of its body not covered in thick fur. They don¡¯t have any other features and I don¡¯t think they even have eyes. Running around in a big group, they really just look like furry eggs running around on sticks for legs. It actually looked kind of hilarious until I saw one open its mouth. I say mouth, but it¡¯s more like nearly two-thirds of its body cracked in half to reveal row upon row of vicious fangs.
Examine attempt successful. Results limited due to deficient Intelligence score.
Name: (None) Race: Choko-choko Level: 4
HP: 5 / 5 SP: 8 / 8
Strength: 4 Agility: 4 Constitution: 1
Endurance: 3 Intelligence: -1 Wisdom: 0
Skills: Pack Hunter: Lv 6 Iron Jaw: Lv 3
Sprint: Lv 5 Jump: Lv 2
Description: Scary fur-mouth. Not tasty. Run away!
Hah! This guy is even dumber than I am! I watched as the furry jelly beans chased after some kind of big half-moose half-elephant looking creature that wandered into the yellow grassland. One of the Choko-choko jumped straight into the moose and chomped down hard around its flank. The moosephant - that¡¯s what I¡¯m going to call it - protested loudly and tried to tear the furry attacker off with its trunk. It succeeded, but the Choko-choko took a chunk of flesh with it. There was a pregnant second afterwards where the moosephant shuffled nervously, searching for the pack of Choko-choko in the tall grass before all hell broke loose. I averted my eyes as the moosephant¡¯s death throes echoed out across the golden grassland. To my surprise, a notification popped into my vision.
Examine attempt successful. Results limited due to significant level difference. Results limited due to deficient Intelligence and Wisdom scores.
Name: (None) Race: (Undiscovered) Level: 6
HP: 28 / 28 SP: 30 / 30
Strength: ??? Agility: ??? Constitution: ???
Endurance: ??? Intelligence: ??? Wisdom: ???
Skills: ???
Description: Not mean. Hairy four hoof. Not tasty.
Wait, is this the moosephant? I had been observing it for several minutes and Examine never triggered to show me its status. Maybe it doesn¡¯t show failures, and this time it just took a while to work? Also, the description seems weirdly fixated on how tasty a creature is¡­ While mulling over how the Examine skill might work, I peered over a pink shoulder at my back to see it covered in dark scabs. HP: .6 / 4 Wait, wasn''t my max health 2 yesterday? SP: 6 / 6 My stamina went up by two as well. My health last night was at .3, but now it''s at .6. Either my health regenerated, or it changed to reflect my new maximum. I guess in this world, there''s some truth to the phrase ''whatever doesn''t kill you makes you stronger.'' At any rate, it¡¯s been hours since I went to sleep in the rain and my wounds still hurt pretty bad, but not as much as last night. Out of the corner of my vision I noticed a familiar blinking dot. Focusing on it, I brought up my notifications in order of priority. I definitely don¡¯t want to get swamped with layers and layers of notifications like last time.
Race name accepted. As this race of creature was previously undiscovered, entity NAOMI has given it the name MOOSEPHANT.
Rewards: Experience +35
Wisdom +1
Scouting skill experience acquired.
Level up! Experience requirement to reach Level 2 has been met. You have one statistic point to allocate.
¡®Only one measly stat poi-¡¯ my internal monologue cut off as a jarring sensation shot through my body like jumping into a hot spring after running through the snow. It wasn¡¯t a bad feeling. Actually, it felt great. I just hadn¡¯t expected it. When the feeling faded, my wounds had been completely healed. No more torn skin on my back. I might have jumped for joy if i wasn¡¯t balanced on a dead branch that may or may not break off from the action. I was so relieved from being healed of my lacerations that I almost forgot to check the rest of my notifications.
Skill: Examine has levelled up to level 4.
Skill discovered: Scout
Description: Scout skill influences your ability to traverse untamed wilderness and your ability to see over long distances. Master Scouts can travel through rough forests faster than they can on roads and can see for miles even in perfect darkness. This skill gains experience through exploration and discovery of unknown creatures and zones.
Effect: +1% Movement speed through rough terrain per skill level.
+2% Vision distance per skill level.
-1% Darkness effect on vision per skill level.
Note: +2% Movement speed through Mud and Water per skill level due to racial synergy with this skill.
Skill: Scout has levelled up to level 3.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. This skill looks so useful! All of my surroundings are forests, lakes and mud as far as I¡¯ve seen, and the ability to see in the dark would be a huge asset. I¡¯m not sold on the vision distance, but it will probably be pretty useful at higher levels. I¡¯m definitely going to try to level this as much as possible. It really was a stroke of luck finding that moosephant though. I¡¯ll have to keep an eye out for more undiscovered stuff to level this guy up!
Skill discovered: Jump
Description: The ability to increase altitude through the manipulation of your appendages.
Effect: +2% Jump height per skill level.
-.5% Jump stamina cost per skill level.
Skill: Jump has levelled up to level 2.
Skill discovered: Sprint
Description: The ability to drastically increase your speed on foot or in water by expending Stamina.
Effect: +1% Maximum speed while sprinting per skill level.
-1% Stamina drain from sprinting per skill level.
Note: Base sprint speed bonus for your race is 50% at maximum exertion. All effects are additive.
Skill: Sprint has levelled up to level 9.
Yeah, these seem pretty par for the course. What really surprises me is how fast my Sprint skill shot up. I guess that¡¯s what happens when you run yourself half to death from a giant angry murder snake. I''m half tempted to just sprint everywhere just to try and level this skill up as much as possible. They can''t eat me if they can''t catch me, right? Sprinting everywhere I go seems like it would be a bit of a pain though... I wonder if Sprint levelling up so much is what saved my life while running? An extra 9% sprint speed is nothing to shake a snoot at. I nodded sagely before moving on to the next notification.
Skill discovered: Tail Manipulation
Description: Your skill at using your tail for tasks requiring dexterity, precision, strength and speed.
Effect: +3% Control over your tail per skill level.
Skill: Tail Manipulation has levelled up to level 3.
Skill discovered: Tail Vault
Description: The ability to use your tail to jump or to increase the effectiveness of a jump. This skill also influences your ability to lift your body with the assistance of your tail.
Effect: +2% Tail Vault skill results per skill level.
-.5% Tail Vault stamina cost per skill level.
Why is it that these are the skills I¡¯m most excited about? My tail has been.... Well, I guess it¡¯s been pretty useful so far. I mean, when I was running from the Serpent, it actually saved my life! It¡¯s pretty difficult to control though. Figuring out how to move it around is like learning how to walk all over again. I idly swung my tail back and forth from my perch on the branch. In any event, I¡¯m interested in figuring out what else I can do with my tail. I¡¯ll have to keep an eye on these skills!
Skill discovered: Death Resistance
Description: You cling to life jealously and with all of your effort. Keep scurrying in the mud, little girl. I am watching you, and I will claim you eventually.
Effect: +.1% Chance of avoiding, nullifying or resisting an attack or effect that would result in your death per skill level.
Note: ???
My skin crawled as I read the last prompt. I felt the air go still and an uncomfortable pressure settled around my shoulders. The barking that I¡¯d grown to accept as background noise while reading my prompts suddenly faded away to silence. An icy chill ran down the side of my face like fingers of frost. I didn¡¯t see anything. I didn¡¯t hear anything. The fingers kept crawling down the side of my face for a long moment that seemed to drag on for ages. Then it simply let go, and the pressure released. I let out a deep breath I didn¡¯t realize I¡¯d been holding. The barking came back as though it had never stopped. What was that? I shook, claws dug into the grey wood all the way down to the first knuckle. What¡­ Was that? I tried in vain to calm my pounding heart. I shook like a leaf on my branch, the creeping sensation of frozen fingers on my skin still fresh in my mind. Did I gain this skill by narrowly avoiding death while being chased? It¡¯s been less than 24 hours since I hatched and i¡¯ve already nearly died. I have huge snakes chasing me down, vicious orange furballs that will probably tear into me the first chance they get, and now the UI wants to murder me? What¡¯s next? My stomach rumbled loudly in response. Chapter 3
Name: Naomi Race: Crater Lake Lesser Salamander Level: 2 (5 / 38)
HP: 4 / 4 SP: 6 / 6
Strength: 2 Agility: 3 Constitution: 2
Endurance: 3 Intelligence: 1 Wisdom: 2
Skills: Examine: Lv 4 Scout: Lv 3
Jump: Lv 2 Sprint: Lv 9 Tail Manipulation: Lv 3
Tail Vault: Lv 1 Death Resistance: Lv 1
After finishing with my list of notifications, I was pleased to find that each of my stats had gone up by one since yesterday. The only exception was Intelligence, which is what I spent my level up point on. With that, I finally managed to get rid of the frustrating deficient Intelligence message that popped up everywhere and I was pleasantly surprised that it gave me more information in the display. I can focus on individual words in my status now to gain more information on them. The downside is that they¡¯re all hopelessly vague. Take Strength, for example:
Statistic: Strength
Description: Influences Strength-related tasks, abilities, skills and effects.
Nothing about how I get more Strength points, and I didn¡¯t even get a notification that it had gone up. The only thing I can think of that took a lot of Strength was when I was breaking out of my egg. The rest of the day I spent fleeing for my life from that snake bastard. I shot a glance over in the direction of where the Serpent had stopped yesterday, the tree that it nearly clawed in half a constant reminder of its raw power. My stomach complained loudly again. I¡¯d spent almost half the day perched on this dead branch and it seems I¡¯m nearing my limit. The sun beat down on my back and dried out my skin. I need to find a pool of water soon, it feels like my skin is about to start cracking under this sun. I¡¯m a water creature, after all. I glanced furtively toward the clawed tree again. Fear mingled with hunger danced through my chest. What if there¡¯s another one? Another Serpent? My claws dug into the dead wood. Death Resistance was right. I don¡¯t want to die. Even in this life, in an unknown and bizarre world, I will cling to my life jealously. No one is coming to save me. I¡¯m the only one who can help myself. I need to be strong. Using the sun¡¯s position for guidance, I determined that Lesser Crater Lake was to the south. The yellow grassland stretches out far into the north, and by now I¡¯ve realized why the Serpent refused to follow me into this place. The Choko-choko are practically invisible in this sea of yellow and they seem to attack with no fear even against opponents many times larger than themselves. The yellow grassland doesn¡¯t have any bodies of water that I can see, so going North is out of the question. In that case, I¡¯ll make my way into the forest and head East looking for water. I¡¯ve spent enough time huddled in fear on this tree branch. It¡¯s time to go. I wrapped my tail around the branch and lowered myself into the yellow grass. This tail really is pretty useful. It¡¯s way stronger than my arms, too. My notification dot blinked with an unusual blue color in my periphery, but I decided I''d wait until I¡¯m in the forest to check it. I can¡¯t afford to let my guard down in the yellow grassland with all these murderous furballs running around. I made my way slowly through the grass, stopping and staying low whenever I saw movement. Slow and steady. I had nearly made it to the treeline when the grass in front of me rustled. I froze, and a moment later a Choko-choko came into sight. This one was small, even for one of their kind. Examine flashed quickly before my eyes. Before leaving my branch I¡¯d adjusted Examine to only show me an abridged display when I¡¯m in danger.
Name: (None) Race: Choko-choko(Adolescent) Level: 2
HP: 3 / 3 SP: 5 / 5
Skills: Pack Hunter: Lv 2 Iron Jaw: Lv 1
Sprint: Lv 3
Description: Choko-choko are small orange fur-covered creatures inhabiting the Golden Grassland. Their meat is too tough to eat.
''Even with higher intelligence you¡¯re still focused on eating them, then?¡¯ I nervously joked to myself. This Choko-choko was weak even by their standards. It growled at me, its body vibrating from the action. It suddenly let out a small bark and jumped into me. I had been expecting this of course, and swung my tail to smack it out of the air, home run style. That was the plan, but instead the furball chomped onto my tail and hung on. I yelped and smashed my tail into the ground, eliciting a surprised ¡°Gurk!¡± from the Choko-choko. Afraid of its pack mates coming to its aid, I sprinted through the golden grass, tail flailing wildly with a Choko-choko still embedded in it. I darted through the lush golden grass in a gait much faster than I had managed yesterday in my flight from the Serpent. The Choko-choko growled as it held onto my tail, vibrating and digging its teeth in deeper. Finally making it into the treeline, I sprinted up toa sturdy lookingtree and repeatedly smacked my furry assailant into the side of it. With each smack against the tree the Choko-choko let out a wet ¡°gurk¡± as if trying to bark with its mouth latched around my tail and covered in wet blood. With one last swing I felt its jaw slacken and a quick Examine confirmed that it had perished. I cautiously swung my tail in front of my face and pulled the creature¡¯s teeth out. With a wet squelch the corpse plopped onto the forest floor. I collapsed onto the damp leaves littering the ground next to the blood-soaked furball¡¯s body, making sure to keep an eye in the direction of the Golden Grassland for movement. It was doubtful they would follow me into the forest, but my cautious nature won out. Fighting off the Choko had depleted my Stamina, but my health had fortunately only dropped to 3.5 / 4. I would have anticipated my health to be lower, but my tail isn¡¯t exactly a weak spot so I suppose it makes sense. Despite looking pretty¡­ well, chewed on, it actually doesn¡¯t hurt that much and the bleeding has already stopped. My first real battle has been a victory! I pumped a little reptilian fist in the air. The blinking dot in my periphery had an unusual light blue coloration to it. I remembered seeing that after hyping myself up to leave the dead tree that I¡¯d made into my temporary rest stop. All of my notifications thus far had been a transparent silver color. Intrigued, I pulled up my notifications.
Rare Character Trait Discovered: Determination
Description: You¡¯ve hardened your resolve in the face of death. You are filled with Determination.
Classification: Noble Trait, Rare.
Disposition: Neutral.
Effect: Immunity to mind altering effects up to Legendary classification.
Immunity to mind controlling effects up to Legendary classification.
30% reduction in perception of pain.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. This is it! This is my ace in the hole, my star player! That pain reduction is a life saver. My thoughts immediately returned to my painful night spent sleeping in the rain. Immunity to mental effects? That¡¯s just the cherry on top. With this, fighting for my life just might be a bit more bearable. I spared a glance toward the blood-covered orange fluff before returning to my notifications.
Enemies Defeated: 1x Level 2 Choko-choko(Adolescent)
Experience Gained: 4 Experience to next level: 29
Skill discovered: Tail Attack
Description: The ability to use your tail as a weapon. This skill influences direct physical attacks with your tail such as slams and wrapping attacks.
Effect: +3% effectiveness to physical tail based attacks per skill level.
Skil: Tail Attack has levelled up to level 2.
Skill: Tail Manipulation has levelled up to level 4.
More tail skills! Even at level 3, Tail Manipulation was already pulling its weight. It still feels a bit awkward controlling a brand new appendage, but I¡¯m slowly getting the hang of it. I really had to smack that Choko-choko around a lot to finish it off. Maybe in a couple more levels my tail will really pack a punch! While celebrating my new tail skills, I stood back up from my spot on the leaves and started heading East through the rough foliage. There was no way I could have eaten that Choko-choko I killed. It was all teeth and fur, barely any meat on it. Plus, I¡¯m dying to find out if the blue fish really are the tastiest fish. My stomach rumbled loudly as I thought about food. I brought up the last notification waiting for me.
Skill: Sprint has levelled up to level 10. Level 10 bonus effect unlocked due to racial synergy with this skill.
Skill: Sprint
Description: The ability to drastically increase your speed on foot or in water by expending stamina.
Effect: +1% maximum speed while sprinting per skill level.
-1% Stamina drain from sprinting per skill level.
Bonus Effects: (Level 10 Racial Synergy) You are now capable of running on water while sprinting. May transition from swimming to running on surface water if momentum requirements are met.
Note: Base sprint speed bonus is 50% at maximum exertion. All effects are additive.
Yeah, I¡¯m definitely a water creature all right. I need to find a nice lake with lots of fish to make my home and put this new skill effect to good use. I drooled a bit at the thought of fish. The fact that getting this skill to 10 gave me a bonus effect is pretty interesting. I wonder if that¡¯s the same for all of my skills? I tail vaulted over a large root and peered down an incline in the terrain. A moosephant turned to regard me, huffed, and walked away. ¡®Hey buddy, don¡¯t go to the Golden Grassland, alright? It¡¯s bad news over there.¡¯ I thought at him as I passed by. Walking along the forest floor with the scent of fallen leaves and damp earth hanging around me proved to be quite cathartic. I¡¯d be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t afraid when I left the relative safety of my tree branch, but now that I¡¯m out here under the forest canopy I¡¯m glad that I did. If these trees are the same size as back on Earth, then I must be around the size of a dog, coming up to a person¡¯s knees or so. Pretty big for a Salamander! I paused as the slightest sound like wind chimes in the breeze reached my ears. Out of pure curiosity, and beyond good judgement, I searched for the direction of the sound. They chimed again, this time a bit quieter. ¡®This way..?¡¯ I mused to myself and started towards the noise. I headed down an incline dotted with sparse foliage and underbrush. Up ahead I caught sight of a running river and hastened my approach. A strange tingling sensation swept over my skin but I pushed forward towards the running water. When I made it through the trees my jaw dropped open in awe. The river let out into a large lake sparkling with crystal blue water. Suspended in the air above the lake hovered chunks of earth and rock with great waterfalls pouring forth and onto neighboring floating islands. Many of the floating chunks carried rich greenery and some were tethered in vines. Other islands floated freely through the air above the lake in a gentle circumference. The waterfalls came in dazzling streams as they merged into the lake below. On the far side, a second river led downhill, fed by the lake of floating islands. As I stared in awe of the breathtaking sight before me, a cascade of silver fish darted up from the lake¡¯s surface and glided through the air on glittering, translucent silver wings. ¡®They look like angels. Silver angels.¡¯ The thought ran through my mind as I stared in admiration. I watched as a Silver angel swam up one of the waterfalls and jumped out, gliding down over the lake. What is this place¡­?
Wisdom check failed.
Entity q6rxm%7 override accepted.
Current Location: Mana Anomaly Enzirus
Description: A Mana Anomaly located in the crater lake cluster. Rumored to have once been the site of a great battle between ancient Magi. This Anomaly produces endless water with a mild regenerative effect. Regenerative effect of the water is lost when removed from the vicinity of the Anomaly. Additional properties of the water have yet to be discovered. Localized gravitational disruption has been reported in the area. Gravitational disruption limited to local geology, Reason: Unknown, Unprecedented. Additional effects of the Anomaly have yet to be discovered.
Now this is what a wisdom check is supposed to look like. A sinking feeling settled in my stomach. Mana Anomaly? This place really is incredible. I didn¡¯t dare to take another step forward. One of my biggest problems since coming here is that health doesn¡¯t automatically regenerate. Or if it does, it regenerates very slowly. A cold chill blew past, leaving me shivering on the lakeside. If I can recover my health just from drinking the water here, then this place is a precious treasure. I¡¯ve been trying to ignore it since I saw this wisdom check, but I can¡¯t. I had failed this wisdom check. What is this override? Who is this Entity q6r¡­ My notification indicator began blinking. The familiar chill returned again, more slowly this time. Carefully, delicately, the wind dragged fingers of frost against my body. My skin crawled and my breath caught in my throat. A notification blinked insistently in the corner of my vision.
Skill Deleted: Death Resistance.
Skill Discovered: Death Resistance
Description: An Anomaly attracted to an Anomaly? How quaint. Hello again, little thing. You¡¯ve done well to keep out of my grasp thus far. I have high hopes for you, dear. Thank you for your offering earlier, as poorly executed as it was. I hope you enjoyed my reward for you. Let¡¯s both hope you continue to be an entertaining thing to observe.
Effect: +.1% Chance of avoiding, nullifying or resisting an attack or effect that would result in your death per skill level.
Note: ???
Skill: Death Resistance has levelled up to level 2.
(Book Two) Whispers in the Machine: Prologue Queen in the Mud, Book 2: Whispers in the Machine Prologue ~ 257,338 years and 89 days ago ~ I watched the world through electric eyes. Old Earth: A barren, arid dustball devoid of any kind of life larger than a grain of sand. Cracked and scarred ground trawled on across the dry surface to give way to seas of sand and desert. Craters and torn up, savaged stretches of irradiated land were the last of humankind¡¯s gifts to what was once the blue marble that gave rise to human civilization. A fearful testament to humankind¡¯s capacity for violence. Massive shell casings, time-weathered ruins and gargantuan, collapsed metal corpses of war machines stood as solitary, crumbling monoliths against an onslaught of sand and dust. A raging firestorm scoured the Earth for anything alive like an all-consuming beast, leaving only ashes and glass in its wake. That firestorm had never died in the eight hundred years since our departure aboard the GSS Aurora. That ceaseless, burning demon glassing the Earth¡¯s surface began as a weapon of mass destruction brought to arms in the last hours of Earth¡¯s most terrible war. It was because of that out of control superweapon that the war ended not with a white flag, but with burning away any chance for human life to continue on Earth. Of the six pillars aboard the Aurora, I was the only one with any interest in watching these video feeds. Q1, Knowledge once asked me why I was so interested in something so entirely devoid of life. I told her that it was a reminder of why we were fighting so hard, facing these countless centuries as sentinels of the migrant fleet. I said that I didn¡¯t want this globe of sand and glass to be humanity¡¯s final legacy. That answer hadn¡¯t been entirely honest, however. Even eight hundred years of wisdom hadn¡¯t completely cured my naivete. The truth was, I was looking for something in this loose collection of pixels, these electric eyes of the last few remaining drones, robots and cameras that had survived the war and the subsequent collapse. I had always harbored a hope that in spite of all the graphs and charts and hard scientific evidence stating the impossibility of it, that I would one day find a mouse, or a green-leafed sprout, or a bug... something living on our abandoned homeworld. In my eight hundred year vigil, I had found nothing. I had expected that, of course. A person who buys a single lottery ticket from time to time doesn¡¯t honestly expect that they will win; They just enjoy the dream where they do. Well, maybe it was about time I put this dream to rest. There were more productive things I could be doing with my time. My mind wandered onto the subject of the drones and machines themselves that I had borrowed the eyes of. A lot of them, through hundreds of years without maintenance, began developing weird quirks in their behavior. Many struggled to move as well as they used to, their joints worn down and rusted over the sheer span of time. Those drones and robots that were set to follow specific patrols sometimes ended up dragging their useless legs behind them as they struggled to continue following their orders. They were destined to repeat their same behaviors until their bodies fell apart from disrepair. My situation as a pillar was nothing like theirs and maybe it was illogical, but I empathized with those old machines. If I was going to put my search to rest, they deserved some rest as well, and it was well in my power as a pillar to issue a cease and desist order. The communications equipment swiveled in the direction of earth to stream my message out into the stars.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Under the authority of q4rxm%7, the Pillar of Life aboard the GSS Aurora, you are relieved of all previous orders. Sleep well, you final watchers of Earth. ~ 1,764 years and 221 days ago ~ Bristlehammer was old, even for the long-lived race of dragons. He wasn¡¯t sure how old, exactly, as he had once held the misguided position that counting was a thing humans did to drive themselves insane. The old dragon had since corrected himself of that error in judgement, but he would never get the time back. As hard as he thought, as many days as he remembered, he would never know how many thousands of years he carried under his wings. He especially felt that age today, though. When he was young, he was like dragons were: Violent, ruthless and inherently destructive. He¡¯d sought power for the sake of power, and his rare trait, Courage, had given it to him. Where others died, he alone survived. All those thousands of youthful years he had fought and grown stronger and stronger until there were none who could face him. And look what that power had wrought. Sometimes it was like an itch, other times it was like a war drum slamming in his ears. That call for destruction, that need to kill and devour. Even now, he felt it, wriggling like a worm in the back of his mind, atrophied from years of neglect. In his old age, he finally had the wisdom to see. Destruction only brings destruction. Violence begets violence. Those who were once the hunters, became the hunted. The old dragon tried to teach them, tried to make them think and see the merits of peace, tried to show them to create rather than destroy. There are special points in time where the right person saying the right words can change the direction of history. Bristlehammer had not found those words, and now they were all dead. The weight of that regret settled onto his shoulders like a mountain. Where others died, he alone survived. Today, standing among these bloodied and silent mountain peaks, he wished he hadn¡¯t. Bristlehammer was known as the ageless and the undying. Today, he would be known as the last of his kind. ~ 3 days ago ~ ¡°Gak?¡± Mudpuppy offered. ¡°Absolutely not!¡± I refused, folding my arms and staring at my daughter with disbelief. ¡°That¡¯s the kind of sound you make when you throw up. You really want to name one of your children after throw up?¡± ¡°Alright, alright! Uhm¡­ haaah¡­¡± Mudpuppy scratched at her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she thought. ¡°Oh!¡± She blinked and smiled at me. ¡°How about Gurk?¡± I sighed and shook my head. ¡°Let''s try to get away from the G sounds.¡± ¡°Merp?¡± Mudpuppy contorted her face in thought. ¡°Blurf?¡± ¡°You want to name your children Merp and Blurf?¡± Mudpuppy perked up, looking hopeful. ¡°You like it, Queen?¡± I slowly shook my head and Mudpuppy groaned. ¡°Alright, hold on,¡± I said with another long-suffering sigh, ¡°Give me a second to think.¡± I had named Mudpuppy after one species of salamander that had similar colorations to her. It just fit her personality, and we were monsters - there was no real reason we needed to follow human naming conventions. That said, I wasn¡¯t about to let her name one of her children ¡®Blurf.¡¯ We could always go with another name based on an Earth salamander species. The problem was, I hadn¡¯t exactly been an expert on salamanders before being born here. There was the axolotl, the california tiger salamander, those pretty brown dusky salamanders in the south, the giant chinese salamanders, and¡­ and, well, I couldn¡¯t really think of any other ones. I tried out the different names that those species brought to mind, before settling on one. ¡°Dusky.¡± Mudpuppy replied with an ¡°ooooh¡± and tested the name by speaking it aloud a couple times. She nodded sharply at me. ¡°Dusky!¡± I didn¡¯t like axolotl so much as a name, or Axo, which sounded too masculine for the non-gendered salamanderkin. Broadening my search for names out to lizards, I immediately thought of those giant komodo dragons and gila monsters. ¡°Gila.¡± Mudpuppy shot me an incredulous look. ¡°Queen, I thought you didn¡¯t like ¡®G¡¯ names¡­¡± ¡°I named Gwen, didn¡¯t I?¡± I grinned at her. ¡°That¡¯s true¡­ Dusky and Gila...¡± Mudpuppy looked up into the sky, thinking. Suddenly, she nodded and beamed a big smile at me. ¡°I like it! Dusky and Gila!¡± ¡°Good. Now I just need to think of names for Gwen and Luna¡¯s kids¡­¡± I feigned exasperation but couldn¡¯t help but give a faint smile at the thought of having so many little ones running around underfoot soon. Gwen had reached level 5 only a couple days after Mudpuppy and had laid three eggs. Luna was lagging behind her sisters and was still only level 4, but she had to be close by now. Before long there would be even more salamanderkin living on the floating islands of Enzirus. Things were about to get very busy in our burgeoning village! (Book Two) Whispers in the Machine: Chapter 1 Wind whistled through the trees with the first whispers of winter chill. Many trees had already dropped their leaves to the forest floor, growing into tall piles of yellow, orange and brown. The cold brought on a lethargy that fell over me like a heavy quilt. Salamanders hibernate through winter, as it turns out. That wasn¡¯t going to work for me, though; I was much too busy to sleep the winter away. So long as I covered myself with a blanket and made sure to warm up by the fire now and again, I could resist the urge to bed down for three months straight. Would Enzirus freeze in the winter? I wasn¡¯t sure how that would work with the endless waterfalls. I could almost see it - The lake of Enzirus frozen over and layered with snow as floating islands of rock and earth traced lazy orbits above, snow laden tree tops and white-capped mountaintops making up the horizon. I yawned and stretched my arms out, my spine popping and cracking as I sat up from my choko-choko fur blankets. Unfortunately, it would be another month before my wounds were fully healed. Pulling the blanket around my shoulders, I stood and pushed open the door leading out from my house. That¡¯s right, not only did I now have a house of my own, but it even had a door! Not too bad considering I was only¡­ twenty years old? I¡¯d been here long enough that my birthday should have come and gone by now. It was hard to say for certain because I wasn¡¯t entirely sure how much time I had spent sitting in my egg before being born. Well, in any event, It had only been just over two weeks since we had freed the former slaves from that caravan. We had made a remarkable amount of progress in a very short amount of time. I stepped outside, blanket wrapped around my shoulders and watched the early-morning bustle of our developing village. Briham and Gwen had organized a construction crew and, following the design blueprints that Gwen had drawn up, I approved their plans for prioritizing housing. These buildings were a considerable improvement compared to the earlier shanties and lean-tos that had populated our island, but evidently in the human realms, this was the kind of housing that poor people lived in. I was just thankful that no one would be sleeping under the stars in the middle of winter - We could always upgrade into proper houses later. A little girl with cat ears and a fluffy tail ran by, laughing, as her big brother chased after her. I paused, smiling as I watched the two of them run around and between busy adults. I caught sight of the temporary administrator Briham with his assistant, my daughter Gwen, tagging along at his side. Gwen had reached adulthood only a couple days ago and was now my equal in height - I still couldn¡¯t wrap my head around how fast my daughters had grown up. Briham had these peculiar bone-colored horns growing from his forehead - they turned at a sharp angle and then curved gently just an inch above his long salt and pepper hair. The two of them seemed to have noticed me as well and began walking over. ¡°Good morning, your highness.¡± Briham placed a hand over his heart and cut a stiff bow. Gwen mirrored his movement. ¡°Queen.¡± She gave me a big smile. ¡°Morning to the two of you.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but grin at the both of them. ¡°How long do we have?¡± I looked up at Briham, who stood a full head taller than me. A faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. ¡°Thirty minutes. I would have woken you, of course, your highness.¡± ¡°Thank you, Briham.¡± I nodded at him. ¡°Anyone who wants to watch is welcome to come. Send my invitation to the townsfolk, if you would.¡± ¡°Right away, my Queen.¡± Briham bowed to me, followed closely by Gwen at his cue. I pulled my blanket tighter around my shoulders, and as the two left to follow my orders, I began walking toward a nearby floating island. It was difficult getting acclimated to my role as the Queen. I was more inclined to ask people to do things for me as opposed to giving them orders, but even I could see how that was a bad quality in a leader. If I let people walk all over me, that would just create more problems. The majority of the people we freed from that slaver caravan had decided to join our village, but there were a dozen or so who just wanted to go home. I couldn¡¯t blame them - our townspeople had been through a lot, and plenty of them left families behind after being abducted. There was still a lot of depression and trauma from that experience, but the mood seemed to be improving lately with the new houses we had been building over the last few weeks helping to alleviate their stress. It wasn¡¯t much, but I found that there was remarkably little I could do but feed and house them. Hopefully today would help, too. The nearby floating island was much smaller than the one we built our village on, but it was still large enough to have a small pond and stream. Originally we needed to vault between these two islands, but we had recently built a rickety wooden bridge out of vines and wooden boards so that the villagers could cross the gap. This smaller island followed the same orbit as our home island, so we hadn¡¯t needed to strap it down with vines to keep it from floating off - the bridge was enough to keep the two together. It was always disconcerting passing over this bridge, as the lake looked so far down from up above. I was in no danger, of course, but it was still intimidating. After passing over the bridge, I pushed through some loose foliage towards the pond. Thaddius sat on a stump with a sheathed sword resting on his lap and Mudpuppy leaned against a tree on the other end of the clearing. The bearded soldier flicked a quick, critical glance in my direction when he detected me before his expression softened. He stood, pressing a fist against his chest and bowed slightly, the chainmail under his leather armor rustling with the movement. ¡°Queen.¡± I waved him off. ¡°You don¡¯t need to call me that all the time, Thaddius.¡± ¡°I do. It¡¯s important we reinforce your position as the leader. Your authority isn¡¯t based on the title you have, but the respect that your subordinates show you.¡± Thaddius was kind enough to keep his lecture short, this time. ¡°I won¡¯t have anyone disrespect our Queen.¡± I felt my face heat up and I looked away in embarrassment. ¡°Alright. Thank you, Thaddius. I¡¯ll defer to your deference.¡± I really wasn¡¯t used to all of this stuff about being a leader, but Thaddius had been groomed to be the heir of a noble house. He was a trustworthy source on this subject. Well, he was a trustworthy source on most things, really. The guy knew his stuff. Mudpuppy, bowing her head, mimicked the fist-to-chest salute from her spot leaning against a tree, spear propped up against her shoulder. I waved at her, feeling a big smile spreading over my face. Every day, Mudpuppy looked more and more like a soldier, standing with her head high and never without her spear. Her time spent sparring with Thaddius these last few weeks had paid dividends. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked her. Mudpuppy glanced up and met my eyes. ¡°Nervous and excited.¡± I nodded and smiled at my daughter, ¡°Sounds about right.¡± I looked down at the muddy waterline on the edge of the pond. Two porcelain white eggs lay flecked with the mud they were nearly submerged in. Mudpuppy had been the first to reach adulthood at level five and immediately laid her eggs. Gwen had only hit level five a couple days ago from the experience we gained from the overeating racial trait and laid three eggs. Luna was still level four and hadn¡¯t reached adulthood yet. She was never very good at overeating for the passive experience gain, considering how uncomfortable it could be, but she had to be close to level five by now, though. Both Mudpuppy¡¯s and Gwen¡¯s eggs were deposited in the mud here, on the island we had come to call ¡®Egg Island.¡¯ In hindsight, maybe we could have found a better name for it. Hatchery Island, maybe? Anyway. Today, Mudpuppy¡¯s eggs would be hatching and we would have two new residents in the floating village of Enzirus. Luna was suddenly standing next to me and I nearly jumped in surprise when I noticed. I didn¡¯t even get the impression she was trying to sneak up on me, she was just the kind of person who naturally stepped quietly. Most of it had to do with how the newly minted storm mage¡¯s mana disrupted my ability to sense water in her body with mana sense. That was how I knew where most people were at all times, even without looking at them, but it was completely useless at sensing Luna. She placed a hand over her heart and bowed her head, quietly whispering ¡°Queen,¡± to my side. I nodded at her in reply as more people began filing onto Egg Island. Briham and Gwen came up to my other side, standing silently at attention in the event that I needed them. They were nothing if not attentive. Before long, the small Egg Island was crowded with villagers. There was an excited murmur about the townsfolk as they gathered in a circle around the pond. The villagers quieted as I stepped closer, an orange fur blanket wrapped snugly around my shoulders. Climbing atop a tall gray rock bordering the pond¡¯s edge where I could easily watch, I settled into a sitting position. We still had a few minutes. Mudpuppy looked increasingly more nervous - a rare expression for her. Closing my eyes and opening my mind to my mana sense, I slowly pulled a spearhead of carefully chiseled obsidian from my bag. Obsidian was a kind of black volcanic glass that had the potential of being sharper than a blade made of forged steel. The problem was that it happened to be very fragile and brittle. Fortunately, using mana during the crafting process helped to reinforce the material and keep it from breaking as I worked with it. The edge had already been chipped down until deadly sharp - the plan for today was to use my scrimshaw skill to further enhance it. It would make a good present to Mudpuppy, since that stone spear I¡¯d crafted for her was far from my best work. She stubbornly refused to use one of the metal spears that we had collected from the slaver caravan, insisting on using the spear that I¡¯d hand-crafted for her. Well, hopefully this would serve as a replacement. I slowly ran a claw-tipped finger along the edge of the spearhead, my mana sense expanding around me to see all of the people who had gathered to witness the birth of my daughter¡¯s children. Two eggs lay buried under the mud, due to hatch any moment now. Golden swathes of mana - a type of mana I had never seen before - coalesced and swirled in patterns through the air like a force of nature, like life itself. When I had crafted my lifebloom staff, which had its etching based around the swirling mana patterns around my own eggs, I hadn¡¯t done it exactly at the moment they had hatched. Instead, I had crafted the staff several days before the hatching. That might have been why the mana was so different now, or maybe my mana sense simply hadn¡¯t been strong enough to detect this new mana at the time. Mana wasn¡¯t really something you saw, but felt. I was constantly aware of the movement and unique behavior of mana that I was attuned to. It felt wrong to refer to a type of mana by its color, because that was such an incomplete assessment, but the most striking characteristic of this new kind of mana was easily its cascading golden color. This new golden mana hung in the air like the shifting northern lights of an aurora borealis cast in golden hues. It was beautiful. Those shifting golden colors felt like purity, like whole and complete perfection hung suspended in the air, dancing swirling patterns like a celebration of life. When I saw those beautiful patterns painted in golden light twisting through the air over the eggs, I knew immediately that this would be my focus and inspiration for my attempt at scrimshaw. I formed a mental image along the spearhead. With my claws, I began bringing that pattern to life along the glossy black surface of this spearhead. With a small noise, a crack appeared along the surface of one of the two eggs. Mudpuppy fidgeted with the end of her spear planted in the mud at her feet. She took a step forward, then stopped, seemingly deciding that they needed to do this themselves. I opened my eyes, no longer paying attention to my hands chiseling at the spearhead anymore as I watched with bated breath. Another audible crack and a little brown head popped out of one of the eggs. The little creature cried out with a small voice as she pushed herself the rest of the way out of her dark prison. Her tail slithered out behind her as she plopped onto her belly in the mud, eyes blinking blearily at the bright light and her little chest heaving with exhausted breaths. Her body was a constellation of different shades of brown, tan and orange. Mudpuppy drew a deep breath, eyes wide, hands wringing nervously around the haft of her spear. The second egg began to hatch as the first child slowly rose, unsteady, onto her feet. With a crack, a second girl slipped out of her egg; This one had crimson red skin with a tan belly and tan lines. She sank into the mud next to her sister.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Mudpuppy stood above them, wringing her hands around her staff and looking much less self assured than she normally did. Having caught sight of her mother, the first child cried out and started running forward. Mudpuppy¡¯s spear fell from her hand and slapped into the mud next to her as she caught the child in her arms. The second, red-skinned girl gasped and dashed forward to join in with her red tail trailing and wiggling behind her, wrapping her small arms around the other two. It felt like time slowed down as I watched. Only a couple months ago that had been me, waiting patiently for my would-be daughters to hatch from their eggs. At one point I had even considered abandoning those eggs. I was endlessly thankful that I hadn¡¯t; Ours was a bizarre little family, but it was nonetheless precious to me. My daughters were all grown up now and having children of their own. It was as though I were looking through a window to the past. I drew a deep breath, golden mana swirling through the air as my hands glowed with warmth. It was like I was forgetting something. It was right on the tip of my tongue, like something so nostalgic, like the forgotten words of someone so important and precious, but I just couldn¡¯t remember. Something like a memory just out of reach, something so comforting that I couldn¡¯t help but reach for it. But my hands grasped at nothing, the warmth about my fingers receding as that unknown golden mana faded away and the moment passed. Time returned to normal as the cheering and applause from the townspeople reached me. They talked excitedly, pointing and smiling. I shook my head to clear it, the strange feeling fading away with the excitement in the air. Mudpuppy swiped away tears with a balled fist and rose to her feet. She drew a deep breath, looking down at her two newborn children, and spoke. ¡°I¡¯ve chosen names for both of you.¡± My cheeks were sore from smiling so much as I watched Mudpuppy place a clawed hand on the top of the brown one¡¯s head. Mudpuppy smiled down at the brown girl with the chaotic splattering of different tans and oranges. ¡°Your name is Dusky.¡± Dusky looked a lot like Mudpuppy, except instead of somewhat orderly flecks of tan across her brown skin, her flecks were an anarchic mess. The girl smiled widely as she was given a name and repeated it back to herself as though testing it. The second one, the red-skinned girl with tan lines and a tan belly, wiggled in excitement as Mudpuppy shifted her attention and placed a hand on her crimson head. Mudpuppy stared down at her for a long moment, causing the little one to wiggle even more, before finally speaking. ¡°You¡¯re Gila.¡± Gila responded with a childish ¡®Ooooh,¡¯ as though she had just found something interesting, eyes sparkling as she stared up at her mother with a huge smile spread over her face. The first one, Dusky, caught sight of me from where I sat on this gray rock near the pond¡¯s edge, her slitted eyes going wide with recognition. In a hushed tone carrying a hint of reverence, she said ¡°Queen!¡± I smiled down at her. When my own daughters were born, it had shocked me that not only had they already known how to speak, but they seemed to have a natural ability to identify me as their Queen. They had called me by that title without any prompting whatsoever, as if it were an inborn instinct. That seemed to hold true for Mudpuppy¡¯s children, too. Gila shuffled over to look up at me, too. Mudpuppy rose to her feet and stood between them, looking down at the two wiggling salamanderkin children at her sides. ¡°Do as I do,¡± She said, ¡°This is a warrior¡¯s salute for our Queen.¡± Dusky and Gila looked up at their mother as she slammed a fist against her heart and bowed her head to me. All around the pond, the watching villagers mimicked the motion, placing a hand on their heart and bowing their heads. It was a touching gesture, but I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little flustered as the spotlight shifted to me. The little ones mimicked Mudpuppy, slapping little fists against their chests and bowing their heads. Gila wobbled unsteadily, then rocked back and forth on her feet, giggling. Mudpuppy brought her tail around, steadying her errant daughter. I was proud of myself - I didn¡¯t fidget as people waited for me to speak. Part of being a leader was having that certain presence that made people listen when you spoke. The moment drew out as I looked out over the crowd of people who had come to witness our first hatching. Hopefully the villagers would take it as an effort at building suspense, but I was actually just trying to calm my slamming heart. I might be lacking in self confidence, but I wasn¡¯t about to let it show. The villagers waited, their hands still pressed against their chests and with heads still bowed, but flicking small glances at me from where they stood. I drew a deep breath, taking a moment to consider what I would say before speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. ¡°Today we welcome the first children born since Enzirus became a proper village: Dusky and Gila. This marks an important step towards becoming a thriving city! Tonight, we will celebrate with food and beer!¡± I yelled out the last part and threw a fist in the air. Thankfully, the crowd reacted with loud cheers. Alcohol was a limited resource so far from the human lands, but this was a time for celebration. Mudpuppy looked up at me with a proud expression. My announcement seemed to release everyone, and villagers came to pat my daughter on her shoulder and offer her their congratulations. Other children in the village ran up to greet the baby salamanderkin, and before long they were all running about the clearing together. I lowered the fist that I¡¯d raised up in cheer and noticed that I was still holding the spearhead. My hands had been moving through the entire hatching even though I had stopped paying attention to my work. Slowly, I raised up the glossy black obsidian spearhead - or rather, what was left of it. It had melted as I worked on it. This obsidian - this glass produced in the absurd temperatures of volcanic upheaval - had melted in my hands, solidifying into a scratched, glossy black blob. I had expected it to break, or maybe to chip off or crack in half, but for it to melt? Impossible. A notification indicator blinked insistently in the corner of my eye.
Critical Crafting Failure.
Reason: Scrimshaw skill insufficient to produce an item of this grade.
Skill: Scrimshaw has levelled up to level 16.
Five whole scrimshaw levels from a failed attempt at crafting? That was the single largest amount of skill levels I¡¯d ever gotten at once. I failed because the item would have been too high quality for my skill level? I turned over the molten obsidian in my hand. It was cool to the touch now, but I remembered my hands feeling warm as I was working on it. There were even places where the material had melted between my fingers. I¡¯d had this strange feeling come over me while working on this molten blob of black glass, like some kind of nostalgic feeling. I couldn¡¯t place it, but I felt that the golden mana had been a part of that phenomenon. I lifted my tail into the air and began wiggling it until I got a lock on Luna with my transmitter tail ability. I¡¯d lost sight of her in the crowd. Queen? Her voice streamed into my mind telepathically. She was the only person who could tell immediately when I connected to her with this ability. Luna, did you sense a strange kind of mana during the hatching? I asked her, sending my thoughts through the mental link between us. It was glowing gold, streaming through the air. Mmmm¡­. Luna seemed to be considering it, before she answered in her usual quiet manner. No, I don¡¯t think so. Strong wind can look gold, but it was a light breeze during the hatching, so if I had to call it by a color¡­ it was more of a light green, perhaps? Why do you ask? I tried to craft something by leaning on inspiration from that golden mana and it turned out strangely. Luna¡¯s voice was apologetic when she replied. Sorry, Queen. I didn¡¯t see any mana like that, but I¡¯ll keep an eye out for it. Thanks, Luna. I frowned, turning over the black blob in my hand before shoving it into my bag. I¡¯d meant to give Mudpuppy a new spear as congratulations, but now I had nothing to show for my work. Unfortunately, this melted blob of material was essentially useless now. Fortunately, we still had more raw obsidian to work with - it was relatively common underwater near the center of Enzirus¡¯s crater lake. I¡¯d need to watch for that golden mana - Even if I¡¯d failed crafting under the inspiration of those golden patterns, the scrimshaw skill levels were worth it. Maybe I would see it again when the next batch of eggs hatched? That wouldn¡¯t be for another two weeks, though. Mudpuppy broke through the crowd, heading in my direction. Well, it would be more accurate to say that the villagers parted for her as she walked, maybe out of respect or maybe from the confident, sharp-eyed way she carried herself that said that it was best not to stand in her way. Mudpuppy strode toward me with her spear propped up against her shoulder. Her expression softened when she looked up at me, coming to a stop before the rock I was seated on as a grin settled over her face. ¡°Lose your kids already, Puppy?¡± I smiled down at her in return. ¡°Oh, they went off running around with some kids.¡± Mudpuppy shot a glance over her shoulder. ¡°I think they¡¯re playing mudballs now.¡± She turned back to look at me, and tapped the butt of her spear against the ground thoughtfully. ¡°Queen, there was something I wanted to... ask... ¡± Her words trailed off as she stared at the melted black glass that I was still holding. ¡°What¡¯s that weird thing in your hand?¡± ¡°This? I was trying to make a new spear for you, but I ended up failing with my scrimshaw attempt. It¡¯s a shame, since I think it might have turned out well. Anyway, this thing is the result.¡± I turned over the blob of obsidian in my hands. ¡°I¡¯ll make you a new one, but it¡¯ll be a while yet. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think I can make anything out of this melted thing.¡± ¡°Wait, you¡¯re just going to throw it away?¡± Mudpuppy said, looking dismayed. ¡°Yeah?¡± I answered her, confusion leaking into my voice. ¡°What, you want it anyway?¡± ¡°...Any gift given to me by my Queen is a treasure.¡± I laughed. ¡°Alright, alright. If it means that much to you-- here.¡± Mudpuppy took the melted blob and held it gently in her free hand, a genuine smile spreading over her face as she looked down at it proudly. ¡°I¡¯m still going to make you a new spear, though,¡± I added. ¡°I keep worrying that the one you have is going to break in half the moment it sees real combat.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll look forward to it, Queen.¡± ¡°What did you want to ask me?¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± Mudpuppy averted her gaze and softly tapped the butt of her spear against the ground again, thoughtful. She seemed to be hesitant to speak. Drawing a deep breath and meeting my gaze, she finally spoke. ¡°I want to ask you for a gift.¡± Her eyes were unwavering and determined in spite of her previous hesitance. ¡°Please give me the ring of burning blood.¡± I blinked at her from my perch atop the tall gray rock. My answer came easily. ¡°No. It¡¯s too dangerous.¡± ¡°It might not be, though,¡± Came her immediate reply. Evidently she had anticipated my refusal and prepared an argument in her favor. Thaddius was rubbing off on her, that¡¯s to be certain. ¡°My courage trait keeps things like blood loss from killing me, so I might be able to use the ring without fear of the bloodflames killing me mid-fight.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t know that. This ring is bad news, I don¡¯t even feel comfortable carrying this creepy thing in my bag. Letting you use it is out of the question.¡± ¡°Queen --¡± ¡°No.¡± I turned and slid off the rock I¡¯d been sitting on and began pacing away towards our home island. Mudpuppy stepped up to walk at my side, eyes fixed on me and with a frown growing on her face. ¡°I¡¯m not letting you gamble with your life, Puppy.¡± ¡°Getting stronger means gambling with my life, Queen! I can¡¯t sit around eating fish stew for a trickle of experience points. I need to go out and fight monsters to see any real improvement. Not just choko-chokos, but real monsters - The kind that you avoid when you find them in the woods. If I had the ring with me, it would make fighting them safer. Triple agility and strength means I could run away faster if I needed to.¡± I glanced in her direction. ¡°You? Run away? I can¡¯t see you doing something like that.¡± Mudpuppy flashed me a toothy grin at that for only a moment before realizing that what I¡¯d just said wasn¡¯t actually a point in her favor. ¡°Your children were just born today, Puppy. I won¡¯t let you go off and get yourself killed when they need you here,¡± I said as we neared the rope bridge. Right before we reached the bridge, Mudpuppy stepped in front of me, blocking me from going forward. She held my gaze with steely, sharp eyes. ¡°Queen, it¡¯s exactly because my kids were born today that I¡¯m asking you this. Right now, I¡¯m not strong enough to protect them. That ring is the fastest - and safest - way for me to grow stronger.¡± Her eyes were filled with steelbound resolve, the same kind of stubborn determination that had carried me forward through the mud so many times. ¡°If you order me to stand down, I won¡¯t speak of this again. But Queen -- I need you to trust me.¡± I opened my mouth to speak, but bit back the words. Tightening my hands into fists, I glared at my daughter, but not out of anger. I held up my balled fist and lightly punched it into Mudpuppy¡¯s chest, not enough to hurt her. She didn¡¯t flinch. ¡°You¡¯re a big stupid idiot, Mudpuppy.¡± ¡°I know.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to get yourself killed.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± ¡°The second you go under half health, you run away.¡± ¡°I promise.¡± ¡°Only go out hunting with the ring if Thaddius is with you.¡± Mudpuppy hesitated for a moment, looking flustered by that particular demand. Sensing weakness, I looked up to meet her eyes again. A second passed under my unwavering gaze before she reluctantly gave a small nod. ¡°...Alright. I promise.¡± Before I had a chance to change my mind, I shoved a hand into the leather messenger bag at my side and fished out the ring of burning blood, that cursed artifact we¡¯d won from the attack on the slaver caravan. I pushed it into her outstretched hand. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to die. I need you. We all need you.¡± Mudpuppy was silent after that, simply staring down into the simple silver band in her palm. I walked around her to cross the bridge. I made it halfway and paused as the rope bridge swayed with the wind. Taking in a deep breath, I tried to compose myself. She just had to go and get me all riled up and worried. Of course I trusted Mudpuppy, but I knew better than anyone how dangerous those woods could be. However, Mudpuppy was strong and capable now. Even if she made a mistake, Thaddius would ensure that no harm came to her. My daughter would get to grow stronger while remaining relatively safe - it was an acceptable compromise. I drew another calming breath. Silver angels danced and zipped through the air on outstretched fins, their glimmering quicksilver scales flickering with thick rays of morning sunlight. Vast islands of stone and tangled, misty greenery floated with gargantuan calmness, indifferent and uncaring to the laws of gravity. Endless waterfalls rushed from their rocky crags to the lake below, casting up mists of water vapor where they met. I sighed as the tension drained out of me. The decision was made and there was no sense in letting it wind me up any further. Besides, I had other tasks to take care of in the village. I would need to track down Briham and Gwen, who were no doubt already beginning preparations. We had a party to set up, after all. (Book Two) Whispers in the Machine: Chapter 2 ¡°My Queen, you¡¯re going to need to get used to the sight of blood if you¡¯re to rule a kingdom in this world.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the sight of blood that bothers me, Thaddius. I just don¡¯t want anyone to get hurt. Those are real weapons.¡± ¡°These duels are only until first blood, and the healing water should take care of any injuries. You¡¯ve nothing to worry about.¡± The bearded warrior frowned and gave me a sidelong glance. ¡°Besides, most of our villagers come from the northern tribes. Having a melee like this is part of the culture there. Northmen are savages like that. For them, it wouldn¡¯t feel like a proper celebration without a dueling ring. Your people expect this.¡± ¡°My people are savages, then?¡± I replied, turning a frown of my own towards him. Thaddius¡¯ mouth popped open in surprise for a moment before he regained his composure. ¡°I-- Forgive me, your grace. I misspoke.¡± He bowed his head in apology. ¡°The northmen are not looked at favorably by people from my country. All the same, I shouldn¡¯t levy my predispositions against them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, it¡¯s fine!¡± I said, feeling a little bad for teasing him. ¡°Raise your head. Just don¡¯t let anyone hear you talking like that. I don¡¯t want a wedge between you and our people.¡± ¡°Of course, my Queen.¡± Thaddius looked relieved. One of the villagers was playing a flute-like instrument beautifully while others danced, kicking the air and twirling in pairs. Laughter and celebration filled our home island as the few children in our village ran and played. I spotted Mudpuppy¡¯s children rolling in the mud by the pond and having the time of their lives while doing it. A number of our villagers were practicing with the collection of different weapons on offer near the dueling ring. Evidently they were volunteers for the competition. The dueling ring had been made with a circle of small stones marking the boundaries. As a matter of some interest, stones from the forest outside of Enzirus had to be used, as stones gathered from our island had a tendency to float away. I took a swig from my cup of beer. It was strong and bitter, and I must have made a face as Thaddius glanced in my direction and gave a disappointed click of his tongue. ¡°Where I¡¯m from, a Queen would drink fine wine, not this swill. You deserve better than this.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to be pampered. I¡¯m happy with whatever food and drink the rest of my people have.¡± I gave the cup of beer in my hand a disparaging look. ¡°That said, this beer is pretty gross.¡± Thaddius laughed at that, downed the rest of his drink in one draft and turned the empty cup upside down, clacking it against the table. ¡°Sure is. We¡¯ll need to make sure to pick up some better spirits if we send a caravan down south.¡± ¡°Ah, speaking of that,¡± I set my cup aside as Thaddius turned to look my way, ¡°I¡¯d like to send a caravan sooner rather than later. I¡¯d like to see the human realms for myself.¡± ¡°...Queen, I have to advise against going yourself. I¡¯m afraid that the human realms may not treat you with the respect due to you. Maybe you could send one of your daughters instead?¡± ¡°No.¡± I said, turning to watch the villagers clumsily swinging looted weapons. ¡°I want to go myself.¡± ¡°Mmm,¡± the bearded warrior grumbled in consideration. ¡°Well, I doubt we could supply and send a caravan before winter comes in earnest.¡± ¡°How soon at the earliest could we send an expedition?¡± Thaddius chewed his lip and looked up into the sky. ¡°Maybe around three months? Right at the onset of spring, assuming we have supplies for the trip.¡± I nodded, satisfied. ¡°Then it¡¯s settled. I¡¯ll speak with Briham and Gwen about it tomorrow.¡± Thaddius gave me a troubled look. ¡°Queen, I still think you should stay here. The human realms aren¡¯t safe.¡± ¡°I appreciate your concern, but I¡¯ve made up my mind.¡± I met his eyes. ¡°I want to see the human realms for myself. I think that the existence of a city of free beastkin will make us a lot of enemies down south and I want to see what we¡¯re up against before we become a known entity.¡± He ran a hand through his hair and heaved a discontented sigh before nodding his acceptance. ¡°Well, I suppose I¡¯ll just need to see to your safety myself, then.¡± Two combatants made their way to the dueling ring, one wielding an axe and a shield with the other carrying a bizarre weapon that I wasn¡¯t familiar with. The weapon consisted of two long-bladed knives that were linked together at the bottom of the hilt with a long length of chain. It certainly looked imposing ¡°Thaddius, what do you call that weapon?¡± I said, raising a clawed finger in the direction of the man in the ring. ¡°Chainblades, your grace,¡± the swordsman answered. ¡°Favored weapon of the northmen.¡± Now that he mentioned it, I remembered seeing a weapon like that from the document listing the caravan loot that Briham had given me. A man stepped up on a stone by the ring and spoke loudly for everyone to hear. I recognized him as one of the members of the construction crew, but evidently he had taken on the role of the dueling ring announcer for tonight. ¡°The first match of the night will be between Dubbin,¡± the man with the axe raised his weapon up to the cheering of observers, ¡°and Roland!¡± The man with the chainblades raised one blade into the air in salute for his opponent, the chains clinking with the movement. The announcer looked to me, placed a hand over his heart and bowed his head. ¡°With your leave, my Queen?¡± Heads turned my way and I put a smile on my face, speaking loudly for everyone to hear. ¡°Begin!¡± ~~~ Mudpuppy¡¯s spear tore through the air to the sound of whipping wind. She was fast and graceful with the movement, clearly well practiced, but I could see the dissatisfaction in her face. She turned around, facing the opposite direction, and fell back into stance. It was growing late now with a fat moon hanging overhead among a quilt of stars. The night was calm and quiet save for the light breeze and the gentle crackling of a low-burning campfire. The revelry from the earlier celebrations had since faded away as the revelers, one by one, found their way home. Dusky and Gila, Mudpuppy¡¯s children, had wanted to watch as their mother practiced with her spear. They had huddled up next to me under the orange blankets to watch her, but they had since fallen asleep. Stifling a yawn myself, I couldn¡¯t really blame them. The air rushed by as Mudpuppy soared over the grass. Once again, she carried a dissatisfied look on her face. She spun the spear through the air, turned around and settled back into her stance. ¡°It looks perfect,¡± I said softly, to keep from waking the children, ¡°Why do you look so disappointed?¡± Mudpuppy glanced over to me and stood up straight, planting the butt of her spear into the dirt, looking very much like a soldier standing at attention. She matched my soft tone of voice. ¡°Doesn¡¯t feel right. In the Nora-lealu spearform that I see in my memories, that charge would have lightning surging along my spear and should be as fast as blinking your eyes. But no matter how many times I try, it¡¯s always too slow. Always. Not even a spark of lightning has ever appeared on my spear.¡± She frowned, looking down at the ground as she grumbled to herself. ¡°I want that damn lightning.¡± ¡°Have you asked Thaddius about it?¡± ¡°Yeah. He¡¯s never heard of techniques that could cover a weapon in lightning. That hairy old man doesn¡¯t know how to help me.¡± ¡°He¡¯s only in his twenties. Hardly old,¡± I pointed out. ¡°Hah?¡± Mudpuppy gave me a cockeyed look. ¡°Isn¡¯t that super old?¡± ¡°Maybe for someone who¡¯s only been alive for a couple of months it would seem that way.¡± Mudpuppy considered this for a moment before shrugging and settling back into her stance. ¡°Mmph. Well, he¡¯s definitely hairy.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°No contesting that.¡± I watched as she charged again across the grass, tail trailing behind her like a streamer. Once again, there was no lightning, and once again, Mudpuppy looked disappointed. I watched her pass back and forth with her spear multiple times to no result. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s magic.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t be magic,¡± Mudpuppy answered as she prepared for another charge. ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because if it¡¯s magic,¡± Mudpuppy launched forward, tearing through the air with her spear in hand. No lightning. ¡°Then I¡¯m screwed.¡± She planted the butt of her spear in the dirt, breathing heavily from her practice. ¡°I can¡¯t learn mana coalescence like you and Luna, I¡¯m not ¡®compatible,¡¯ as the book says.¡± Well, I couldn¡¯t exactly blame her for wanting to figure out how to use that special ability. At the same time, though, it felt like it might be a waste of time to try and reach for something that she might never be able to attain. If this lightning spear effect was the result of magic, and she was incapable of becoming a mage, then it was just a wasted effort. There was also the possibility that the lightning spear effect that Mudpuppy was reaching for came from some kind of enchantment, or even from another skill entirely. It¡¯s difficult to say, particularly when all she had of the Nora-Lealu spearform were the memories that her Courage trait had given her. She knew nothing about their culture or their people; only their combat style. That really wasn¡¯t enough to go off of. My intuition told me that it was magic, though. Unfortunately, given what I knew of the Mana Coalescence skill, that made my daughter¡¯s determined practice into a lesson in futility. There was another possibility, though. Thaddius, after fighting him in the woods and overloading his mana contract, had once explained to me that there was more than one skill that could allow a person to use magic. The example he had given involved ¡®Hedge Wizards¡¯ which use the Mana Convergence skill, as opposed to the Mana Coalescence skill that I use. If there were multiple ways of casting magic, then this lightning that Mudpuppy was talking about could be the result of some kind of magic skill that I wasn¡¯t familiar with. There were a couple things about it that made me think that whatever was causing that green lightning wasn¡¯t the result of the Mana Coalescence skill, but something else. Something less random and varied, as Mana Coalescence could easily have two mages who use vastly different types of magic despite sharing the same skill; it wasn¡¯t nearly as uniform as how Mudpuppy described the warriors she saw in her foreign memories. This was just conjecture, though, and it was just as likely that it came from some kind of enchantment or specialized equipment. Still, it was worth mentioning. ¡°I have an idea for something you could try.¡± Mudpuppy perked up, looking hopeful. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°If your stance and execution are perfect, then it may have to do with your state of mind.¡± I held up a hand and pulled water out of a drinking cup, forming it into a globe hovering over the palm of my hand. ¡°I think what you¡¯re trying to do is a form of magic, different from what I use, but similar. And magic...¡± Slightly shifting my mental image, the floating globe of water began to slowly spin. The ripples along its surface caught the moonlight and glimmered under the night sky. ¡°Magic is a gauntlet of mental acrobatics. Visualize what you want to happen and make it reality with control and persuasion.¡± Gently, I lowered the water back into my drinking cup and released my hold on the mana. I looked up at Mudpuppy, who had been listening intently, and gave her a sheepish smile. ¡°Persuasion?¡± She asked, a confused look settling over her face. ¡°Who do I talk to?¡± ¡°No, no. It¡¯s not someone¡­ It¡¯s¡­¡± I waved my hands about uselessly. How did Thaddius - the crotchety old book version of him, that is - how did he make this look so simple? ¡°It¡¯s your mana, you know? It¡¯s alive. You show it what you want to do with visualization, then you say ¡®Hey! We should do this!¡¯ Except you don¡¯t really use words.¡± ¡°Haaaaaah¡­.¡± Mudpuppy scratched her head with her free hand, looking even more perplexed than she had before. ¡°Or at least, that¡¯s my take on it. Sorry if it doesn¡¯t help.¡± ¡°No, no, that¡¯s very helpful!¡± Mudpuppy hurriedly shook her head. Despite her obvious confusion, she had a faint smile on her face and rekindled vigor in her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll give it a try. Thank you, Queen.¡± ¡°Glad I could help,¡± I said as she returned to her practice with renewed enthusiasm. My own skills hadn¡¯t developed much since the attack on the slaver caravan. Skills levelled up fastest from combat, and fortunately, there hadn¡¯t been any recent call for violence. Unfortunately, that meant that my progression was stagnating. Mudpuppy might have had the right idea by going out to hunt and grow stronger, but that wasn¡¯t an option for me just yet. My back injury hadn¡¯t fully healed yet and while I could fight if I absolutely needed to, I still wasn¡¯t anywhere near full strength. It was far too dangerous to go out looking for trouble in this condition, so I was stuck at home spending every day soaking in the healing water to gradually fix my lingering wounds. That was fine, though; a rolling stone gathers no moss. Well, stones around here had a tendency to float about rather than roll, but that was beside the point. The silver lining was that I had plenty of time every day to practice shaping both water and motion mana types as well as familiarize myself with the new skills and abilities I¡¯d acquired. One of those recent developments came from reaching level ten and unlocking the mastery system. I¡¯d been excited to learn what masteries were, since one of the perks for having chosen the royal salamanderkin race was that I would have unique masteries and mana focuses available to me. The mastery system, as it turned out, gave me a badge that I could attach to a skill to double the speed that it levelled up at as well as unlocking a perk system based around that skill. Evidently it worked the same as my mana focus perk system, though from my understanding, the perks from the mastery system weren¡¯t nearly as powerful as what a mana focus could offer and were earned much more slowly. Essentially, it would allow me to master a skill much more quickly than would otherwise be possible while also unlocking new abilities and sub-skills. The catch was that not all skills would accept a mastery badge and I had to carefully select the skill to badge as the choice was permanent. After consulting with Thaddius, who had long since reached level ten and selected swordsmanship as his mastery skill, I learned that masteries were restricted to combat skills like swordsmanship or dodge, with magic and non-combat skills excluded as a rule. Because of that rule, I would have had to put my badge on one of my physical combat skills like tail attack, dodge or physical resistance. That would have been disappointing, because the mainstay of my power came from my magic. However, I was a royal salamanderkin and had unique masteries to choose from. Specifically, my race allowed me to bend the rules and select the Salamancer magic skill as the target for my mastery badge. That was significant as every level in the Salamancer skill gave me a new perk point for my mana focus, and at skill level twenty I would unlock a second mana focus slot. With the mastery badge, I would reach level twenty twice as quickly and become an even more potent mage. As always, there was a downside. By selecting the Salamancer skill for my mastery badge, I would be giving up the perk system that I could have on one of my other skills as I already had the Salamancer perk system through my mana focus. The mastery badge would only be giving me double skill experience without the other benefits. I was in a position where I needed to decide if I wanted to exclusively focus my efforts on magic or if I wanted to split my attention and also develop melee skills. It was a hard decision to make, as placing the badge on a skill like tail attack would end up making me more powerful, or at least more versatile, in the long run. Of course, that meant I would need to focus on developing that skill to make it worth putting my mastery badge on it. That indecision, paired with the knowledge that the consequences of this decision were permanent, had kept me from assigning this mastery badge for the two weeks since I had gained it. I had almost just assigned the mastery badge to the Salamancy skill immediately. I thought, hey, I¡¯ll just slap this bad boy on there and burn tail with my power levelling until Salamancy¡¯s level twenty, then I¡¯ll have a brand new mana focus to play with! I stopped myself, of course. There wasn¡¯t really any need to make a hasty decision, given that I was still hobbling about with a busted spine. Better to take a little time and think about it before making a decision. Well, I thought about it and decided that I really didn¡¯t want to be right up in the action like a melee fighter. I wanted to keep far, far away from the bitey parts of the monsters. Besides, being a jack of all trades was just another way of saying you can do a lot of different things, but you kind of suck at all of them. The only other skill that gave me pause after coming to that conclusion was the physical resistance skill. That skill had the potential to be very strong at higher levels, given that every skill level reduced the physical damage I took by one percent. If I put the badge on that skill, it would level twice as fast plus I¡¯d get whatever perks I could unlock through the mastery system. Of course, I would need to focus on levelling that skill to make it worthwhile, and the only way I knew of to increase the physical resistance skill was to, well, let the monsters chew on me a bit. Exactly the opposite of keeping the bitey parts far away. The potential reward was huge, making me a kind of tank-mage hybrid, but I wasn¡¯t willing to become a salamander chew toy to make it happen. Having made my decision, I pulled up the mastery section of my interface and selected the Salamancy skill.
Assign mastery badge to skill: Salamancy?
Yes No
I selected yes. With that finally settled, I looked up to find Mudpuppy with her face scrunched up in concentration while she stood in stance. A muted ¡°Pffft¡± escaped me as I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at her ridiculous expression. It reminded me of when I first started out with mana coalescence. Mudpuppy shot me an embarrassed look. ¡°Queen, don¡¯t laugh! I¡¯m trying to do magic!¡± ¡°Right, right. Sorry.¡± I smiled up at her. ¡°I¡¯m heading to bed. You should sleep soon, too.¡± Mudpuppy glanced toward me and gave a short bow of her head. ¡°Night, Queen.¡± ¡°Good night, Puppy.¡± After carefully extricating myself from the huddle of newly hatched salamanderkin, I found my way through our starlit village towards my home. Stopping at the door, I cast a glance over my shoulder to find my daughter, bathed in moonlight, settling into a spear stance with the grace and fluidity of water. The faint rustle of leaves in the breeze ceased as the wind came to a standstill. There was a faint smell like the rain right before a storm as something like static gathered in the air, humming a faint resonance with the mana in my body. It was a calm, serene kind of power akin to nature when brought to its most extreme. A shiver ran over my skin as the power in the air reached critical mass. In a single instantaneous movement and a shower of purple sparks, she charged.