《New Australia (A LitRPG)》 Prologue: Nothing To See Here moreincidents since we put that thing up.¡± Chapter 1: Rescue Jerome appeared in a lush forest completely alone and still drunk as all hell. The trees themselves were tall with green leaves and spiky trunks. Underbrush had a blue-ish tint and almost seemed to tilt towards him. He reached out and they recoiled like a scared cat. Interesting. Beside him a fist-sized purple insect buzzed happily. If he had been on earth he might have been scared by it. Hell, if he was sober he might have been scared of it. As it was, he merely looked at it with curiousity until it flew away. As far as prisons went, this wasn¡¯t bad. He decided to go explore his new cage. Were there paths through this forest? Was there anyone else here with him? As he walked he picked up a stick and started swinging it absentmindedly. Absent of mind. He didn¡¯t even consciously process that he was doing it. That made the text that appeared in his vision all the more surprising. Oh no. I broke a prison rule. He dropped the stick and put his hands up. Only after the panic subsided did he bother to read the text:
You have gained the skill Swordsmanship. 1% of the way to level 2.
Well this was interesting. He turned his head and the message still stuck. Go away, he thought, and then the message went away. Nice! He picked up the stick and started swinging it some more. Although no more blatant messages popped up, he found that if he focused his curiousity on his swordsmanship he could get something like a progress bar.
Swordsmanship, Level 1. 2% progress.
Whatever place those nasty alien-hiding government employees had sent him to, it was pretty cool. When he got back his guild-mates would be super jealous. Maybe they¡¯d all sneak into the government facility as well. Wait, what if they all did it together and made the employees tell them what¡¯s up? His mind swam with possibilities before realizing that he might not ever make it out. They had called it ¡°New Australia¡± as in the old penal colony, not ¡°New Carribean Island Cruise¡±. Maybe, if this was a game-world, he could find an exit-screen. He focused his curiousity on settings but nothing happened. Controls? Menu? Then he focused his curiousity on himself and found that he could pull up a status screen.
Name: Jerome Wallaby Race: Human
Level 1, 0% progress 100/100 HP
100/100 MP 100/100 SP
Statuses: Drunk (Agility -30%, Dexterity -50%, Focus -50%, Fearless)
Strength: 10 Endurance: 10
Agility: 10 (7) Focus: 10 (5)
Dexterity: 10 (5) Connection: 10If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
Skills Special Abilities
Swordsmanship Level 1, 2% progress None
Oh good! He was stuck inside an RPG. That was something he understood. And MP¡­ that meant there was magic to be had. He looked at his current status and smiled to himself. Being drunk here was pretty much exactly how it was on earth. He was glad this game didn¡¯t have a ¡°wisdom¡± score because of the effect his drunkenness might have had on that. Jerome would have been happy to swing his stick around by himself and explore his stats for quite some time when the loveliest thing caught his eye: a woman! She was fit, thin and muscular, running through the woods with a determined gleam in her eye. Her armor was light-weight, a camo brown and green getup with hints of blue, and Jerome noted that it covered up entirely too much of her body compared to other games. Some part of this game had to be punishment, right? Still, each movement was efficient and graceful. Jerome enjoyed the sight, watching in a open-mouthed drunken stupor. Her stats didn¡¯t come up because he had no curiousity about them. Behind her there was motion. Two motions, small and nasty, covered in fur but running upright at a furious speed. Fangs bared, clubs held in hand and ready for swinging. They were chasing the girl! This was¡­ this was a quest! A rescue quest! No other prompting was needed. Jerome gripped his stick firmly in both hands and ran towards the two beastly assailants. ¡°Unhand her!¡± he shouted, despite it making no sense ¡ª their hand-like appendages weren¡¯t even close to the woman ¡ª but he wasn¡¯t going to let that ruin the moment. It just sounded like the right thing to say. They turned towards him. Good! His plan was already working! He pulled the stick back and, when he got close enough, swung it like a baseball bat at one of the beasts. The beast blocked the sword-stick-bat with its club, and Jerome¡¯s weapon snapped in two. At least one end was sharp now? The other beast slammed his club into Jerome¡¯s ribs and Jerome tumbled sideways in pain. 50% health gone? Not fair! This prison-game was throwing quests at him that were far too hard. Maybe that was the punishment? Drop you in at level 1. All quests require level 20. Die continually until your sentence is up. He turned on his back and held the now-pointy stick towards the assailants. The beast swung his club again and Jerome rolled to the side, gratefully hearing the thunk of club into ground beside him. However, there were two beasts, and the second one had a clear shot: the club hit Jerome square in the back, taking off another 40% of his health. Another thunk rang out in his ears, and because of the lack of (new) sources of pain, Jerome assumed he had died. That¡¯s why he flopped on the ground, unmoving. The two beasts also assumed his death due to said flopping, and due to the fact that the previously fleeing damsel-in-distress was now kicking their asses. It was kind of distracting. Both creatures swung and she dodged both blows handily. The first one she merely dodged. The second she sidestepped while using her hands to guide the offending arm further forward, knocking the creature off balance. Then energy burst from her hands, causing the club-wielding arm to shoot backwards, taking the creature with it. The creature recovered its balance after three steps, but three steps was enough. It gave her time to focus on the other creature, the one whose blow she had merely dodged. It stepped back cautiously, showing a new restraint. The girl feinted a kick, causing the creature to flinch and try to block the attack, before she lunged forward, placed her hands on the thing¡¯s chest and activated whatever awesome power she had. The creature rocketed backwards from the energy burst, stopping only when it slammed into a nearby tree. Jerome realized by this time that he was not in fact dead, and that this damsel was still in some amount of distress. He took his stick, walked over to the one who was slumped again a tree, and started poking it with the sharp end. Despite its near-catatonic state the creature grabbed the stick and pulled Jerome close. The stench of dirty breath and bloodied animal was overwhelming, even to Jerome¡¯s alcohol-muddled brain. ¡°You humans,¡± it spat, ¡°you¡¯re all the same. Nothing but destruction and hate. I¡¯ll be glad to die protecting my clan from you.¡± It raked weakly at Jerome, taking off another 6% from his health bar. Jerome moved out of the thing¡¯s reach. Only 4% health left! He felt like collapsing on the ground again, so that¡¯s what he did. Thirty seconds later, after the sounds of battle died down, he saw the beautiful angelic damsel standing over him looking angry but otherwise no worse for wear. ¡°Oh good,¡± he said. ¡°I rescued you.¡± Chapter 2: What a World He woke up with a massive hangover. She¡¯d fed him a sweet herb, which had been followed by sleep. Now every time the sun came out from behind the clouds his head felt like it was going to explode. ¡°He lives,¡± said a feminine voice. He tried to lift his head up off the ground but it was like a thousand baseball bats hitting him at once. ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just the status effect; your HP¡¯s fine. Get the right liquids in you and you¡¯ll be good as new.¡± She offered him a water-skin and he endured the baseball bats long enough to drink deeply. Then it was only a hundred baseball bats hitting him, and they started to take turns. ¡°Maybe a little bit of rum?¡± he ventured. ¡°Take the edge off.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have to wait this one out. We won¡¯t be having alcohol for a while.¡± ¡°What? Why? Every fantasy world has alcohol. Most of them don¡¯t have hangovers. Why are we stuck in the one that¡¯s the opposite?¡± All this because he wanted to see some aliens. He could¡¯ve just seen them on the TV, and they would¡¯ve probably been cooler than any real aliens the World Government was hiding. Then again, this game-world was pretty cool, hangover and near-death experience notwithstanding. ¡°There is alcohol,¡± she said, ¡°but we¡¯re humans. We¡¯d have to steal it and that¡¯s not worth the risk.¡± ¡°They banned humans from buying alcohol?¡± ¡°Not specifically, but try to go into any city and see how long you last. They hate us here.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad.¡± ¡°If the guards don¡¯t get you then you¡¯ll be taken out by the first hero that glances your way.¡± ¡°Taken out, like¡­¡± ¡°Killed.¡± Killed for being human! ¡°And before you ask, no, there are no respawns. You die once and it¡¯s all over.¡± Damn fantasy racism. It was supposed to be flavoring, elves-vs-dwarves banter, or some side issue that¡¯s overcome through the power of friendship and killing lots of things together. But to actually be hated and destroyed because of his species¡­ that sucked. ¡°Is that why those things were chasing you?¡± ¡°Yeah. I was hoping the gnolls would understand. They¡¯ve been kicked around a lot, mischaracterized¡­ or so I thought. But they were just as afraid of me as all the others, and they reacted just like their stereotypes said they would.¡± ¡°And then you killed them.¡± ¡°No,¡± she said indignantly. ¡°Then I ran because I didn¡¯t want to inflame tensions. Then some idiot tried to hit them with a stick and then I had to rescue that idiot. That idiot is you, by the way.¡± ¡°No, that was Drunk me. Sober me had nothing to do with this.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t just hide behind your status impairments! What you did was stupid. It would have gotten you killed if I hadn¡¯t have been there. What were you thinking, attacking two creatures six levels higher than you, without any skills or equipment?¡± The baseball bats hit his head with all the force of her voice. ¡°I was drunk¡­¡± ¡°No. If I¡¯m going to protect you, you¡¯re going to take some responsibility. And before you say anything, know this: the elves, the ptau, and the ockdine are all organized enough to sent hunting expeditions after any known humans. Gnolls and every other race might kill us as they find us, but let me repeat: hunting expeditions. By three great empires. Did I mention that the ptau can fly?¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Okay, sorry. I¡¯m sorry. I acted without thinking because¡­¡± he paused, catching himself. ¡°Because previously I made the bad decision of getting drunk. Which was my decision and responsibility.¡± ¡°Good. Now sit up. We need to get you mobile as soon as possible. No telling how soon those gnolls are going to wake up.¡± ¡°Wake up? You didn¡¯t kill them?¡± ¡°No! I¡¯m trying to make friends with one of the races. Killing can hurt that effort. As it is, an alliance with gnolls in this part of the world is even less likely than when they started chasing me. Can you tell me why that is?¡± Ugh. ¡°I get it, I get it.¡± ¡°Good. Now sit up.¡± He pulls himself up from the ground, braving the dozen or so baseball bats that continued to beat him over the head, and took another drink of water. When that was done he opened his eyes. She squatted in front of him, armor off, holding a cup of something warm. He forced his eyes to focus and was richly rewarded for the effort. Her face was perfectly rounded and graced with a gentle smile. Her muscular shoulders said she was ready for anything, but they weren¡¯t shredded like a bodybuilder. Moving down, she wasn¡¯t exposed, per se, but she¡¯d sweated considerably during the battle, and the green summer tunic she wore was soaked through and matted nicely against her¡­ wow. Oh wow. That¡¯s when Jerome decided he liked her. He quickly invented several other more socially acceptable reasons. She had a killer skillset (literally). She knew how to take care of herself. She was nice to him and saved him from gnolls. She¡¯d probably done well in school and loved her parents. Anyone with those boobs should love their mother, at the very least. ¡°Stop staring and take the tea,¡± she commanded, smile gone. He did so. Not only did he take the tea, he drank it. His hangover cleared almost immediately. ¡°That¡¯s magical.¡± ¡°It¡¯s herbalism. ¡®Magical¡¯ has a very specific meaning here, so you can¡¯t just say it as a shorthand for something you don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Whoa. Cool.¡± She sighed. ¡°Whoa cool indeed. Lots of whoa cool coming your way soon. But before we do that, I need to get something straight: why did they send you here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. They¡¯re jerks.¡± ¡°Not helpful. Who¡¯s ¡¯they¡¯, and why are they jerks?¡± ¡°The security guards at the government facility. Something about quantum research. I snuck in so I could see the aliens, but they wouldn¡¯t let me see the aliens. Instead they grabbed me and sent me here.¡± ¡°You snuck into a government research facility.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°To see aliens.¡± ¡°Yeah. But there weren¡¯t¡ª¡± ¡°Yes, I know, there aren¡¯t aliens. At least you¡¯re not a real criminal. Just an idiot. I can work with idiot.¡± ¡®Real criminal¡¯? He could be a real criminal if he wanted to. He just, you know, didn¡¯t want to. That was his excuse for a lot of things, for when ¡®I was drunk¡¯ wouldn¡¯t work. ¡°What about you?¡± he asked. ¡°Are you a ¡®real criminal¡¯?¡± ¡°I was at a free speech rally.¡± His admiration quickly turned to disgust. Boobs or not¡­ a free speech rally? ¡°Tell me you were one of the counter-protestors.¡± ¡°If I was, do you think they¡¯d throw me in here?¡± That was a good point. ¡°So yeah, I¡¯m a thought criminal of the very worst sort.¡± He wasn¡¯t sure what to do. It was awkward. She¡¯d saved his life. She was the only way he would survive in this world. She had boobs that could make a grown man cry. And yet she was also a free-speech extremist who wanted to allow bibles and hate speech and anime porn. She was everything he¡¯d been trained to despise, and decades of government propaganda said that to associate with a free-speecher was almost as bad as being one. If there were prison guards up there watching would they see this and extend his sentence? What to do? Luckily, he was saved from that decision by a loud crash nearby. ¡°Ockdine,¡± she said in fear. Well, ¡®saved¡¯ might not be the right word. The octopus-men were, after all, trying to kill them. Chapter 3: Ock-DIE The two ockdine unrolled their tentacle-limbs, stretching out into the tiny crater they¡¯d made. ¡°Where the hell did they come from?¡± asked Jerome. ¡°Assassins and hunting parties get cannon-shot from the water so that they¡¯ll be as fresh as possible,¡± said the girl. He checked her stats real quick to get her name: Krystyna. Good to know someone¡¯s name before you die with them. Felled trees and a slightly impacted earth showed the truth of her statement. The ockdine themselves were a gooey non-human head atop a roiling mass of tentacles. They could be called octopus-men, but they were mostly octopus. The parts that made them man-like were the fact that they could talk, they could stand ¡°upright¡± if they liked in order to better interact with different sentient species (the close portion of their limbs stiffened below them to hold their head up to the desired level), and the tips of each tentacle had mutated to be better able to manipulate tools. Krystyna dashed to her armor, which assembled itself around her in a matter of seconds. Jerome was sad to see the boobs go away, but magic armor was cool, and living was definitely on the top of the priority list right now. As the ockdine collected themselves after impact, bubbling to each other in some unknown language, and Jerome decided that he and Krystyna were somewhere between completely and totally screwed. He didn¡¯t do a stat analysis or anything that complicated, he just looked at the two monstrosities, saw that their speed of movement increase as their cannon-induced dizziness went away, and knew instinctually that his level-one ass was toasted. Krystyna might or might not survive, but his chances of making it through the fight were hilariously low. ¡°What are we going to do?¡± ¡°They like to kill by strangulation,¡± Krystyna said, ¡°so don¡¯t let them get their tentacles around you. Try to discover your unique power if you can.¡± ¡°Unique power?¡± ¡°You know what, never mind. Just run and hopefully you¡¯ll distract one of them. You divide, I conquer.¡± He didn¡¯t like this keep-getting-saved thing; a training montage was definitely in order if they survived this battle. In the meantime, however, he ran. The ockdine split up, with the smaller one chasing after him. It took a little while for the creature to get going but once it did it was terrifying. It wrapped tentacles around a tree trunk, carefully avoiding the ones that had spines, and used that to fling itself forward. It caught and redirected itself with another tree, more agile than a monkey. Jerome ran as fast as he could. He tried to think of what his old gym teacher had said about running. What was the secret to running? Ah, that was it. Years of training. Surely, he thought, there must be some way to run faster right now. And with that, his curiousity activated another screen. Would you like to transform? * Kalakit? (gnoll, 17 hours remaininig) He didn¡¯t want to be a gnoll. Would he even be able to appreciate Krystyna¡¯s Wit and Charm (that¡¯s what he¡¯d named them) as a gnoll? Then again, other gnolls might serve him beer while not trying to kill him, so there was that. Also he might be able to run fast enough to not die. Yes. His body morphed, fur and muscle growing where it shouldn¡¯t. Claws. He had frikkin¡¯ claws! He was pleasantly surprised to find that he was still wearing clothes, or at least what passed for clothes among the gnolls. The unpleasant surprise was that running as a gnoll was completely foreign to him. He had not, it appeared, gotten a fully gnoll brain along with the body. He tripped and tumbled into a tree (thankfully a smooth-barked one), splatting him against it and taking off three of his HP. That¡¯s when he found the second nice surprise: his HP was 137/140, distinctly higher than it had been before. Looking closer he saw he wasn¡¯t a skill-less level 1 human anymore. He was a level 4 gnoll with skills. Skills like Claw Combat.
Name: Kalakit (Jerome Wallaby) Race: Gnoll (Human)
Level 4 (Level 1, 72% progress) 137/140 HP
80/80 MP 120/120 SP
Statuses: Transformed (24 hours remaining)
Strength: 12 Endurance: 12
Agility: 14 Focus: 8
Dexterity: 15 Connection: 7
Skills Special Abilities
Transformation Level 1, 12% progress (unique) Store, Transform
Claw Combat Level 5 Swipe, Eviscerate
Claw Movement Level 4 4-legged run, Climb
Blunt Weapons Level 3 (Level 0, 0% Progress) None
Swords Level 1, 15% progress None
His new skills meant he had a viable method of attack, and the increased Agility and Dexterity meant that he could run faster. That is, once he got his balance and figured out how these new limbs worked.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. It only took a few seconds for Jerome to get everything sorted ¡ª including activiting the faster 4-legged run technique ¡ª but the ockdine had gained dangerous amounts of ground in that time. The chase began anew. The ockdine was gaining steadily, but it wasn¡¯t at the same terrifying clip as before. Then a new thought arose: maybe he could fight back. Jerome turned to face his opponent. Or he tried to turn. However, mastering running hadn¡¯t gotten him all the requisite gnoll mobility skills, and his attempt at turning his head sent him once again tumbling. Thankfully not into a tree this time. As he rolled to a stop the ockdine slammed into him. He put out a claw as mangled instinct, managing to at least take five HP off of the beast, but from then on it was a disaster. The tentacles wrapped around him, trapping three of his limbs. The last free limb got two good strikes in, taking eight HP off of the ockdine each time, but then it too was enveloped. He struggled, biting hard at the tentacle holding his one of his front limbs. The tentacle was far too large to take a proper chunk out of it with his teeth, but the pain must have done something because it flinched away. Another tentacle came to take its place, but that split second was enough. The incoming tentacle was swiped at with a claw, causing it to recoil again. The claw then took out the tentactle holding his other front limb, giving him free swiping range again. His legs, however, were still enveloped, and it was hard to get to them. He wasted a precious few seconds trying to figure out how to free them before settling on swiping at the nearest soft surface: the ockdine¡¯s face. Success! Fifteen damage! He did it again, this time aiming for the eye. Twenty-seven more damage! Combined with the other hits, the ockdine was now at about half health. Then, tired of the attacks on its face, the ockdine swung Jerome against a spiny tree, piercing him was a dozen sharpened wooden daggers. And breaking his spine. He couldn¡¯t feel his legs anymore. No. No no no. He found he had room to slash at the tentacles holding his legs, and he made them withdraw, but it was too late. His legs were, for all intents and purposes, gone. Compared to that, the massive loss of HP seemed almost inconsequential. Being in a fantasy game without being able to walk was certain death. One thought consumed his mind: revenge. Revenge, and distract this thing long enough for Krystyna to have a chance. He dragged himself towards the ockdine with his forelimbs. The beast considered him a while, then snuck out one tentacle and wrapped it around his throat. Breath left him. A blue bar appeared and began to shrink; it must be his remaining oxygen. He scratched at the tentacle frantically but each weak hit only did only 1 HP. There was no way he could finish this thing off. No other options. His desperation was mixed with curiousity. Were there other options? Would you like to transform? * Orrnuro? (ockdine, 24 hours remaining) Yes, yes, oh goodness yes. His body shifted again, this time into an ockdine. His body slipped out of the other¡¯s grasp, which caused an audible gurgling that he recognized as surprise. He used that opportunity to flail his limbs toward the other ockdine, hoping that one of them did some damage. How did ockdine fight each other? He took a quick peek at his new stats.
Name: Orrnuro (Jerome Wallaby) Race: Ockdine (Human)
Level 3 (Level 1, 72% progress) 130/130 HP
100/100 MP 130/130 SP
Statuses: Transformed (24 hours remaining), Drying Out (30 minutes until stat reduction)
Strength: 19 Endurance: 17
Agility: 16 Focus: 10
Dexterity: 12 Connection: 10
Skills Special Abilities
Transformation Level 1, 21% progress (unique) Store, Transform
Tentacle Combat Level 4 Push, Strangle, Fling
Tentacle Movement (overground) Level 5 Crawl, Stand, Fling Self
Current Manipulation Level 8
Swords Level 1, 15% progress None
He was pleased to have full health and use of his legs again. More than pleased: ecstatic! This Transform ability was useful for that bonus alone. Solve any physical ailment by just switching into a different body! Another pleasing side effect was the opposing ockdine¡¯s complete and utter confusion. It lasted longer than Jerome¡¯s unfamiliarity with how to control an ockdine body, giving Jerome the advantage. He wrapped his tentacles around the other creature¡¯s neck. Tentacle combat wasn¡¯t that hard. Its eyes went wide in confusion and betrayal, and from that point on it didn¡¯t even try to fight back. It went softly, staying still and horrified until a slight convulsion gave way to death. Yes! He lived! You have reached level 2. Bonuses and point assignments will occur when you have returned to your default form. He had survived a battle, discovered his unique skill, gained a level, and now he could go back and rescue Krystyna. For real this time! He glopped himself over to where all the noises were coming from and saw that Krystyna and her ockdine were still engaged in ferocious battle. Any time a tentacle would come too close she would reach for it and it would twitch out of the way. One tentacle latched onto her arm, but she was able to put her other hand against it and use her awesome power pulse to knock the tentacle back. A second tentacle grabbed onto the arm that was doing the pulsing. Krystyna tried to repeat the trick with her newly freed arm but a third tentacle wrapped around it. She was trapped! Time for Jerome to show some heroics. It looked like Krystyna¡¯s limbs were being pulled apart. That must hurt. But then she pulled her legs up and pressed them against one of the tentacles and ¡ª so cool! ¡ª it appeared she could use energy pulses from her feet as well. But it was a losing battle. The ockdine had eight tentacles, and once it had happened upon a winning strategy it knew that it could pursue it until the end. Her limbs would be separated so that her pulsing power was useless, and then it would be over. The other four tentacles could strangle her. They could double up, two on each limb, creating enough force to rip her in half. They could slam her against a tree until she was nothing but a ragdoll. Or, if the ockdine was feeling particularly deviant, it could use the remaining tentacles to¡­ no, he couldn¡¯t let his mind go there. It was hero time. He wrapped two of his tentacles around the one on Krystyna¡¯s left arm and yanked. Krystyna and the ockdine both looked at him in fear. No matter. Two on one would be short work, and this ockdine had only a quarter of its health left. Jerome tangled up its tentacles while it was confused, then got two around its throat. The other ockdine returned the favor, and the blue bar returned. It decreased a bit slower this time, but it decreased all the same. Then the blue bar was gone and his HP dropped. Oh how it dropped. He might just die anyways. But no, the other ockdine was already severely injured from its fight, and Jerome had a freshly transformed body. It was still close. When the other ockdine shuddered and collapsed Jerome had less than 20% of his HP bar left. ¡°We did it!¡± Jerome exclaimed. He was incredibly glad the fighting was over. Anything more and he might have died. If he died in this body would he die for real? He moved a congratulatory tentacle towards Krystyna, who jumped back. ¡°CHLKTHOMRSRLTHUM!¡± she yelled. Right. Language barrier. She stepped forward with purpose, put her hands against him in what he now recognized as her signature attack, and after a short pulse he was catapulted backwards into a grove of spike-barked trees. Chapter 4: Unique Powers Jerome, in the ockdine¡¯s body, was impaled on the spiky bark of a tree trunk with only 4 HP left. He¡¯d lived a good life. He¡¯d transformed into a gnoll and a ockdine, so he might have even lived three good lives. That was more than most people. Being impaled was not a stable position, so his HP went down to 3. Was this the end? It was a curious question. How could it not be the end? Would you like to transform? * Norrruru (ockdine, 24 hours remaining) * Krystyna (human, 24 hours remaining) Salvation! Two choices for salvation! It was, perhaps, the easiest choice Jerome had ever made. Back to human, here we go! His new transformed body was no longer impaled, but it was really high up, so he fell unceremoniously into the dirt below and lost a small chunk off of his health bar. It was good to be human. He didn¡¯t even mind the pain of the fall. Time to pick himself back up and¡­ why was his balance so weird? He stood up and almost immediately toppled forward again. That¡¯s when he realized that he didn¡¯t just take on a specific race when he did the Transformation¡­ he took on the entire body of that specific person. He was himself, but in Krystyna¡¯s body. His balance returned and he was able to manage standing upright. This was almost as hard as getting used to the gnoll body. How could she fight like this? Suddenly Jerome had a newfound respect for women. Speaking of¡­ he looked down and started immediately respecting Wit and Charm. They looked so different from this angle¡­ attached to him!If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Krystyna stood with her mouth open. ¡°Holy hell! What the¡­ how in the¡­¡± ¡°Hi to you as well. You almost killed me back there.¡± ¡°How was I to know? You looked exactly like the ockdine that chased after you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe because I saved you from the other one?¡± ¡°It was a heated moment!¡± She jogged over to where he sat, then crouched next to him, inspecting his face and arms. ¡°Are you okay? You don¡¯t seem hurt much, despite the whole fight.¡± She continued her inspection, stopping at his (her?) chest. ¡°Huh,¡± she said. ¡°I get why you always do this.¡± Finally, something he could bond with her over! ¡°I know, right? I don¡¯t get why girls seem to dislike it. Being wanted feels nice.¡± She turned bright red. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want¡­ I mean¡­¡± She looked around. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about your power. I think we¡¯ve found your unique power.¡± It made sense that she didn¡¯t want to touch his boobs. They were her boobs, and she¡¯d had many opportunities to touch them her entire adult life. Still, he was disappointed. ¡°Yes, my power. How did you know I had a power?¡± ¡°Every human in New Australia gets a power. It makes even a level 1 human dangerous, and it¡¯s one of the reasons why we¡¯re so feared.¡± ¡°One of the reasons?¡± ¡°The other is that a lot of the people sent here are convicted felons. There are political deportees like myself, and blundering idiots like you, but we¡¯ve also got thieves, murderers, rapists, embezzlers, kidnappers, drug runners, gangsters¡­ they got here and started wreaking havoc. Not to mention a good portion of the non-criminals thought it was a game and that they could just kill and steal without consequences.¡± ¡°Got it. So we¡¯re fledgling superheros.¡± This was going to be awesome. ¡°Were you listening? Maybe we¡¯re superheroes, but ninety percent of the humans coming across the quantum border are fledgling supervillains. Actual villains, or idiots who think this is an MMO, given superpowers.¡± It finally made sense why they were so hated, why people were trying to kill them. It also meant they were the last two humans here, and if they wanted a future for the species¡­ he smiled to himself. Duty was a hard hard¡­ well, no, his duty wasn¡¯t hard at that moment because he was in the body of a woman. How were they going to make a future for the species like that? ¡°Why were you smiling?¡± she asked. ¡°I just told you that we¡¯re the most hated species in this world. Did I mention that the only human outpost is run by a convicted rapist? I don¡¯t know how long you stay in my body, but trust me, as long as you look like that there¡¯s nowhere safe for you.¡± The gears in his head turned. Humans were hunted everywhere¡­ but he had just turned into a gnoll and then an ockdine. ¡°I think I have a solution.¡± Chapter 5: Transformation Rules ¡°So my unique power appears to be transformation,¡± Jerome said while inhabiting a near-perfect replica of Krystyna¡¯s body. ¡°So it¡¯s simple. Transform into whatever I want and then walk around town and buy what we need.¡± ¡°It can¡¯t be that simple,¡± Krystyna countered. ¡°The powers humans get assigned are strong, but they¡¯re not that strong. Transform into anything you want at any time? Game-breakingly strong. You could impersonate the kings of all three empires. There have to be limits.¡± ¡°I think I¡¯ve worked out the first few rules, just from what happened in the fight.¡± ¡°Go on¡­¡± She was clearly surprised to see him acting logically, but come on. This was the first time since he arrived in the world that he hadn¡¯t been drunk or hungover or fighting fantastical creatures or getting used to the sight of humongous boobs. All of those things impair logic to an astounding degree. ¡°At the beginning of the fight, when I was running and thinking about how I could be faster, I received a helpful message asking me if wanted to transform into the gnoll. Then I fought the first ockdine. When the gnoll body was about dead I got a message asking me if I wanted to transform into the ockdine I was fighting. I did so, killed him, then came to save you.¡± Krystyna raised her eyebrows skeptically. Jerome ignored it. ¡°So I killed the second ockdine, who was killing you, and that¡¯s when you energy-punted me onto a bunch of spikes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s called Recoil Burst.¡± ¡°Okay, you Recoil Bursted me onto a bunch of spikes. Then I got a message giving me a choice of who to transform into: you or the other ockdine. ¡°So it looks like when I touch a sentient being they¡¯re added to the list of bodies I can transform into. When I transform it removes them from the list.¡± ¡°Okay, interesting so far¡­ I¡¯m assuming the next limitation will explain why you¡¯re still wearing my body?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a limitation or not, but I can¡¯t figure out how to transform back into myself, and the only other option is the ockdine. We both know how well that went.¡± She considered for a moment. ¡°Stay as me for now. I like knowing what words you¡¯re saying¡­ usually.¡± She glanced quicky at his copy of her body and then away before twirling her hair. ¡°My transform status says ¡¯24 hours remaining¡¯, so I assume I¡¯ll transform back to myself after that. Or¡­¡± He gulped in fear as a thought occurred to him. What if he died after the 24 hours were up? What if he was forced to keep cycling through bodies, always a vagrant in someone else¡¯s skin? Would novelty wear away into doldrums? One thing was certain: he would be completely unable to lead whatever passed for a regular life around here. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± No, he wouldn¡¯t lead a life like that. ¡°I¡¯m just wondering what¡¯s going to happen to me 24 hours from now.¡± ¡°Probably transform back. Nothing to worry about,¡± she said brightly. ¡°I¡¯ve found a second limitation. It appears that your stats are half of mine¡­ but with the addition of the swordsmanship skill, level 1. Anyone who knew me would be able to tell that you were the fake.¡± Half? He checked both of their stat sheets:
Name: Krystyna Kowalska Race: Human
Level 8, 17% progress 170/170 HP
100/100 MP 170/170 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 29 Endurance: 19
Agility: 42 Focus: 10
Dexterity: 18 Connection: 17
Skills Special Abilities
Recoil Burst Level 14, 9% (unique) Burst, Blast Off
Dodge Level 10, 83% Hear the WindThe narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
Herbalism Level 9, 21% Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Grappling Level 7, 10% Mobility Awareness
Light Armor Level 5, 95%
Unarmed Strikes Level 5, 43%
Name: Krystyna Kowalska (Jerome Wallaby) Race: Human (Human)
Level 4. (Level 1, 145% progress) 135/135 HP
100/100 MP 135/135 SP
Statuses: Transform (24 hours remaining)
Strength: 19 Endurance: 14
Agility: 26 Focus: 10
Dexterity: 14 Connection: 13
Skills Special Abilities
Transform Level 1, 41% (unique) Store, Transform
Recoil Burst Level 7 (Level 0, 0%) (unique) Burst
Dodge Level 5 (Level 0, 0%)
Herbalism Level 5 (Level 0, 0%) Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Grappling Level 4 (Level 0, 0%) Mobility Awareness
Light Armor Level 3 (Level 0, 0%)
Unarmed Strikes Level 3 (Level 0, 0%)
Swords Level 1, 15%
Sure enough. It was a little over half, but close enough for him to be uncomfortable with the disparity in their power levels. ¡°It looks like my stats are halfway between my regular stats and your regular stats. That¡¯s why your skills are at half and my swordsmanship shows up there.¡± ¡°Makes sense. That¡¯s way better than just being at half; it means we can level you up and have it improve each of your transformations.¡± She stared off into the distance and appeared to be calculating something. ¡°At just plain half power your transformations wouldn¡¯t be good for much besides disposable battle bodies and the occasional run into town to get supplies. And even then the battle bodies, at half power, might end up killing you sooner when you ran out or accidentally chose an especially weak body. Yes, this is much better. ¡°We¡¯re going to start with something to improve your survivability. Improved attributes. Basic skills that, even at half power, can get you out of scrapes. Then we can work on stuff that¡¯s synergistic with specific missions¡­¡± He wasn¡¯t quite sure what to make of her new tone. On the one hand it felt almost like she was a teacher planning out a torture session for him (he looked nervously around for chalkboards and was relieved to find none). On the other hand she was getting really excited, and that made him excited by proxy. ¡°Let¡¯s test something,¡± she said with a gleam in her eye. ¡°I¡¯ve got an herbalism recipe here that requires level 5, a skill level you have for the next 24 hours. I want you to make it.¡± She pulled ingredient from her bag, then set them in front of him along with a mortar and pestle. Just like with using the alien limbs of a gnoll or ockdine, it took him a while to make contact with the herbalism skill he now possesed, but when he did he ground up the herbs as naturally as if he had trained the skill himself.
You have learned Herbalism, Level 1. 23% Progress
He combined them, decanted some water into a bowl, and mixed them expertly.
You have reached Level 2 in Herbalism.
That was quick! He checked his stats sheets and saw that for Herbalism it said Level 6 (Level 2, 14%). The combined/average skill level for him and Krystyna had gone up. ¡°No fair,¡± Krystyna gasped. ¡°I had to create a dozen level 1 potions to get to level 2, but it just took one level 5 potion for you to level up. Do you know what this means?¡± ¡°That I¡¯m an herbalism prodigy?¡± ¡°It means you can just tap someone on the shoulder and power-level their most advanced skills. The effect levels off the closer you get to their skill level, but still¡­ You get to skip the line on the early stages.¡± That was pretty cool. See someone whose skill he wanted? Tap them on the shoulder and then practice it up. Preferably quite a distance away, so that the people who knew them wouldn¡¯t get confused by the body double. With this unique power he could become this world¡¯s most accomplished jack-of-all-trades. He wondered why he hadn¡¯t leveled up in Claws or Tentacles while using them, then figured there must be some sort of lock that prevented the human-souled from leveling up skill in using appendages they didn¡¯t have. That left one question¡­ He walked away from the herbalism set, put both of his hands firmly against a thin tree, and willed it to move away from him. The tree exploded outwards, snapping near the base so that the bulk of the trunk could fly away as fast as possible. It felt amazing. He had just snapped a tree in half and then sent it flying, like a frikkin¡¯ superhero¡­ and it had only taken 4 SP! He could do a double-hand pulse like this over 30 times before running out. Even better was the message he received.
You have learned Recoil Burst, Level 1. 4% Progress.
¡°Hey Krystyna,¡± he said cooly, savoring the implications of the message. What it would mean for his place in the world. ¡°I thought you told me the powers were unique.¡± Chapter 6: Cold Hard Mentoring (Krystynas POV) Krystyna watched Jerome bounce around experimenting with his newfound power, happy as a little boy at christmas. She¡¯d been frustrated ¡ª was still frustrated, in fact ¡ª by his refusal to take responsibility and show basic adult social competencies. Then again, that wasn¡¯t uncommon these days. The bottom 90% of men and 50% of women, their jobs automated away and all their needs taken care of by Basic Income, were fed propaganda that would forever make them useless but (this part was important) happy to die alone in front of a tv screen. The type of man she needed in this situation (and the kind of man she was attracted to in any situation) was a disruption to earth¡¯s established order. A danger. So the World Government gave everyone free netflix and free soy milk until the problem went away. It wasn¡¯t all bad, of course. When Jerome found something enjoyable, like Recoil Burst, he was able to focus on it obsessively. The last two hours he¡¯d gone around knocking down trees with the power, experimenting with different burst angles and trying new ways of applying it. If he could keep up this kind of intensity on the other things he needed to do for survivival then he might actually turn into a real man. The enthusiasm was temporarily infectious. She had to stifle a laugh when he grabbed a smaller stick, held it balanced above his head on both palms, and yelled ¡®Kamehameha¡¯ as it shot into the forest canopy. Recoil Burst was fun, she had to admit. Some of her spark of life had worn away from having to survive in these woods for months, alternately trying to make peace wth the various races and then fighting off hunting parties they invariably sent after her. Food wasn¡¯t a problem, since humans didn¡¯t seem to need to eat or drink here unless they wanted the beneficial status effects, but the stress of surviving had taken the playful joy out of her bread-and-butter move. She¡¯d resigned herself to a life of avoidance and training, with merely a glimmer of hope for the distant future, when she was strong enough to really do something. Discovering Jerome, however¡­ that changed things. His power meant that they could get supplies from town. They could get better, more up-to-date information. And, as a kicker, he could absorb and power-level almost any skill - including the supposedly unique power that each human was given. With that power, a little bit of luck, and a lot of hard work¡­ they could do practically anything. They could take over the one human encampment and make it an actual city, not an overgrown criminal¡¯s hideout. He could force one of the three major empires to listen to her entreaties for peace. Thinking smaller, he could carve out a space for them in a village. Go in transformed as one of their species, make friends. Then, a week or a month later, he would reveal that he was actually a human, and then the villagers would all overcome their murderous racism enough to let the two of them live there. Of course, given the limitations of his power, that plan would require kidnapping a member of the same species, keeping them tied up nearby, and having Jerome never go more than 24 hours without touching them. So there might be problems with that approach. She couldn¡¯t tell why, but it felt ickier than just straight-up killing someone. If she kidnapped someone for weeks¡­ she wasn¡¯t sure she would be able to live with herself after that. She had one iron-clad rule: make choices she could live with, and then live with them. That was what kept her from spiraling into insanity, helplessness, or evil. She could easily blame others for the situation she was in, but that would do her no good. She knew the risks of going to that rally. She knew the risks of fighting the system. Hell, she knew the risks of staying out here in the wild instead of going to the outpost and living in comfort as one of Armando Muerte¡¯s slave girls. They were her choices, they were the best she could have made at the time, and she was going to deal with the consequences. None of this ¡°but I was drunk¡± bullshit. Eventually Jerome tired of smashing trees, both mentally and physically (SP close to zero), and he laid down on the ground to rest. That portion of training was good enough for now. He¡¯d leveled up his personal skill in Recoil Burst several times; she couldn¡¯t be sure exactly how many, but now their average skill was two points higher. That was the low-hanging fruit; each level required more experience, and the power-leveling effect from having half her skill level diminished the closer his skill level got to hers. When his SP was full again she called for him to get up. ¡°Time for strike and dodge practice.¡± He groaned. ¡°I just practiced. That was the hardest I¡¯ve practiced anything in years.¡± ¡°Get used to it. You¡¯re not on Basic Income anymore.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it dangerous to exercise too much?¡± ¡°Maybe on earth if you go nuts for five hours, but here you can just look at your HP and SP. If they¡¯re full then you¡¯re good to go.¡± She punched him, a quick jab. ¡°Ow! What was that for?¡±Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°You have half my Dodge. Use it!¡± She punched again and he leaped to the side, tumbling and sprawling out awkwardly. She winced, feeling embarrasment for the body that looked so much like hers. It seemed to take him a little bit to adjust to each new skill, something he would need to keep in mind when adopting new bodies. He got up quickly enough. At least he seemed motivated to not be embarrased in front of her. She could use that. She punched again and he sidestepped handily. ¡°Good. Now do it again. Stay on your guard.¡± She threw a punch, which he dodged, then followed it up quickly with a light kick that caught him in the stomach. ¡°Not fair!¡± Did his voice always have that whine in it, or just when he was made to work? ¡°No one fights fair,¡± she said with forced patience. ¡°You¡¯re lucky I didn¡¯t kick harder, then follow it up with a Recoil Burst or a grappling takedown.¡± He set his face into a hurt expression, seemingly expecting sympathy. Instead, she threw another punch, a jab, followed up by a cross (rear hand) punch. Good, he dodged both. The next thirty minutes was her throwing punches that were almost too fast for him to dodge, but not quite. A couple still hit, but overall he trained up his Dodge skill quickly without losing too much health. She was an excellent trainer, if she did say so herself. An unexpected benefit of the training was that it distracted him from staring at her chest. While the amount of power he could eventually control was attractive, the staring was weird, he acted like a child, and his stick-thin true body wasn¡¯t really her type. Then again, if he wore her skin while¡­ her imagination tumbled into a tantalizing possibility until she realized that no, his childishness and utter lack of gravity would ooze through the disguise, turning her as dry as a desert. He¡¯d have to grow a bit before she could consummate that particular fantasy. Even with those luscious hills on his¡­ She forced herself back to the task at hand. No use ruminating on the subject. There would always be horny entitled men, just like there would always be governments with their tax collectors, and they would both keep on trying to grab things that belonged to her. Distracted, and perhaps subconsciously letting out her frustrations, she threw a flurry of punches and kicks against which Jerome had no chance. He ended up on the ground holding his stomach and face and once again nursing a look of grievance. Too much soy. ¡°I guess we¡¯re done here,¡± she said dismissively. ¡°Go punch the air to level up your unarmed strike skill.¡± He did so half-heartedly. He clearly wanted to rest. Once he was properly engaged in self-improvement she took a look at his stats.
Name: Krystyna Kowalska Race: Human
Level 4 135/135 HP
100/100 MP 135/135 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 19 Endurance: 14
Agility: 26 Focus: 10
Dexterity: 14 Connection: 13
Skills Special Abilities
Recoil Burst Level 9 (unique) Burst
Dodge Level 6
Herbalism Level 6 Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Grappling Level 4 Mobility Awareness
Light Armor Level 3
Unarmed Strikes Level 3
Swords Level 1
It was hard to get a good idea of what was going on. Presumably his version of this had more information ¡ª she couldn¡¯t even see the Transformed status effect! However, she could extrapolate a couple things. His Recoil Burst, Dodge, and Herbalism were all higher than half of her skill level, which meant that he had earned some skill levels of his own ¡ª at least one in Dodge and Herbalism and at least three in Recoil Burst. His skills were doing well; they weren¡¯t astounding, but he was more prepared for battle than just a couple hours ago. It was the best she could do for him right now (no way she was going to help him train his grappling). One issue was his stats. They were still exactly halfway between her stats and the starter stats. Hadn¡¯t he leveled up? Didn¡¯t he get stat bonuses for trying new things and completing extraordinary feats? Maybe it had to do with the Transform ability; she¡¯d have to talk to him about that after he was done practicing Unarmed Strikes. Hopefully it had something to do with the fact that he hadn¡¯t turned back into his true form since the battle. If it was some permanent defect that came with the Transform ability he would be permanently underpowered, handicapped and good for little else but doing runs into town for supplies. There was a boom, and she looked over to see that he had felled yet another tree with Recoil Burst. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she yelled. ¡°I got bored! Why would I punch something when I have Recoil Burst?¡± She had a good reason but she didn¡¯t get to share it, because that¡¯s when she heard a scratchy yelling from a mere fifty feet away. ¡°There they are!¡± Somehow they had attracted the attention of a pack of gnolls. Seven of them. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Jerome had exploded trees for half the day, making loads of noise and creating a huge swath of destruction. Or maybe it had something to do with the two gnolls that she had, in her great benevolence, let live. Whatever it was, this was the result. Seven gnolls with spears and clubs and claws. She could take four average gnolls on her own, maybe five if she was lucky. Time to see if Jerome¡¯s training worked. Chapter 7: Gnoll and Void On one hand, Jerome hated being ordered about, hated having to work until he collapsed and then work some more. He had a human right to life, leisure, and the pursuit of pleasures. It was in the World Government''s Constitution. On the other hand, an MMO without quests was a dull, listless affair filled with little to look forward to but the neverending grind. He was sure he¡¯d find the real quests eventually, but until then following Krystyna¡¯s training regimen was the closest thing he¡¯d found to the direction and purpose a quest-giver provided. His musings might have reached a more firm conclusion eventually, but they were interrupted by the scratchy yell of a gnoll: ¡°There they are!¡± At least this training was going to be good for something. There were seven gnolls in the blurry distance, all but one of them running towards him and Krystyna. Time for battle! He and Krystyna turned in unison and prepared to face the fast-approaching combatants. ¡°The devil-woman has multiplied!¡± one yelled. ¡°Curse these human invaders and their dark magics!¡± This would be the perfect time to launch some ranged attacks to soften up the enemy. Jerome didn¡¯t technically know any such skills¡­ but then again, there were still some unexploded trees just standing around. Options and strategies tumbled in his head. By using Recoil Burst he might be able to not just explode a tree trunk but turn it into an effective projectile. He put his hands around the trunk of a tall thin one then released a controlled Recoil Burst. As expected, the force snapped the trunk of the tree at the specific place where he had placed his hands. It started to topple and he scrambled to catch it. The gnolls were a third of the way to them. Krystyna¡¯s armor had assembled around her and she was making the final manual adjustments. The tree trunk was heavier and more unwieldy than Jerome had expected. It crashed painfully into his arm, which it used as a pivot, the longer part continuing to fall and the smaller part coming up to barely miss his face. He moved to stabilize it then realized that even if he could hold it properly in his arms he couldn¡¯t get his hands to the right part to launch it. He dropped the tree. The gnolls were two thirds of the way to them. There was still time to try one more thing¡­ A rock. He spotted a perfect-sized one five feet away. Too big and he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold it properly. Too small and¡­. Well, he wasn¡¯t quite sure. Would it be like a bullet, faster because of the decreased mass, or would it move the same speed as a bigger rock? No time to experiment. The gnolls had almost reached them. One of the gnolls raised a spear and looked like it was about to throw it. That would be his target. He held the stone in front of him with both hands, hastily adjusting his hands so he could support the rock but also not blow off a thumb or finger in the blast. He could get a new body, sure, but in the meantime it would hurt. And who knew how many HP it would take off. Once his aim was lined up he released as much into Recoil Burst as he could. It took 10 SP (more than usual), but it was effective: the rock zoomed forward straight into the head of the gnoll, knocking it clean off. ¡°Did you see that?¡± He whooped. ¡°That was amazing!¡± But there was no time to celebrate. Krystyna had already stepped into the middle of pack, the five remaining ones who hadn¡¯t stopped at the beginning or slowed down to try and throw a spear. The other one, the one hanging back¡­ was it injured? No matter. It didn¡¯t seem to be armed, so he ignored it. Time to go make some more gnolls¡¯ heads explode. The problem with that plan was that Krystyna was in the middle of the gnolls. She had more HP than the gnolls, but there was no telling how much overkill went into that shot. He didn¡¯t want to risk destroying his trainer, friend, and maybe-possibly-sexy-times-buddy. He¡¯d seen enough movies to know that if he saved her a couple more times ¡ª and respected her intensely while always following her wishes ¡ª she¡¯d fall into his arms, smitten forever. Movies would never lie about something like that. First, though, he had to figure out how to save her. He ran towards her position, strategizing the whole way. Krystyna dodged a gnoll¡¯s strike and delivered an elbow to its back as it stumbled past her. However, before she could lay on hands and activate Recoil Burst another gnoll swung a club at her. She bent backwards to avoid the swing, then caught that gnoll¡¯s arm in an elbow lock, one hand on the back of its elbow and another on the wrist that held the club. Against a normal opponent this hold would take some time capitalize on, and in the five-against-one melee a quick-witted gnoll might escape before critical pressure could be applied. However, Krystyna was not a normal opponent. She activated Recoil Burst and the gnoll¡¯s arm broke, flinging the elbow in the exact wrong way with a crunch so loud and sickening that it temporarily startled the other gnolls.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. That gave her an opportunity to her hands on another gnoll¡¯s chest and burst the creature backwards, taking it out of the melee for now. Jerome reached the fight and copied Krystyna¡¯s strategy as best as he could. Before the gnolls took note of his entry he placed his hands against a gnoll¡¯s back, positioning them to¡ª nope, took too long. The gnoll spun around and knocked Jerome in the chest with a club, taking off fifteen percent of his health. Lesson learned: burst quickly. He realized how useful grappling could be when combined with Recoil Burst; when performing her burst Krystyna had been able to keep her hands stuck to its chest even when it tried to back out of the dangerous position. Another lesson learned: don¡¯t contemplate future training plans while in battle. The gnoll already had its club pulled back for a second strike and Jerome barely dodged it. He tried to hit the creature, but the punch barely phased it. For now, it appeared, Recoil Burst was his best shot at contributing. Krystyna kicked another gnoll behind the knees, knocking its legs out from under it. She recoil bursted it into the ground, its head bouncing several times. It wasn¡¯t dead though. Jerome ran over to finish the job, forgetting the gnoll behind him. A solid strike of its club, connecting loudly with Jerome¡¯s back, took thirty percent off his health and sent him tumbling forward. The gnoll loomed over him, preparing what it clearly thought could be a killing blow. It reared back, club behind its head. Jerome inched his feet forward just a bit and put them on the gnoll¡¯s ankles. And activated Recoil Burst. The gnoll¡¯s ankles blew backwards. They might have broken. But it wasn¡¯t all good: center of mass being what it was, the rest of the gnoll fell on top of Jerome and took another five percent off of his health bar. This was a problem because Jerome was not especially strong, and the Grappling skill he¡¯d inherited from Krystyna wasn¡¯t fully activated by practice yet. So the gnoll, not missing a beat, started clawing Jerome¡¯s face and neck. If he could just get his hands some purchase on the thing¡¯s chest, its arms¡­ anywhere, really. He tried to put his hands on its stomach, thinking it might not notice or be able to move out of time quickly enough, but the gnoll simply took a short break from savaging Jerome¡¯s face to bat the arms away. Jerome was down to 10% health. He needed to transform. Would you like to transform? * Norrruru (ockdine, 19 hours remaining) * Nabako (gnoll, 24 hours remaining) Ockdine or gnoll? The ockdine might be more effective in battle¡­ but the gnoll could cause so much more chaos. Also, gnoll and human speech seemed mutually intelligible, and he wanted to be able to communicate with Krystyna to coordinate tactics. He selected Nabako, the gnoll. The transformation took hold, his limbs sprouting hair, his muscles bulging, his posture becoming more stooped and feral. His HP bar went back up to 100%. Nice. He took advantage of his opponent¡¯s confusion and clawed at its face, then kicked at the thing¡¯s body to extricate himself. From there he was free to run around slashing at the others, harrying them and causing confusion. He slashed at one of them. It swiped back then paused in confusion, giving Jerome a chance to get in a second swipe. Then the slaughter started. Simply put, Jerome was half as good at being a gnoll as the gnoll whose body he stole. He could cause confusion and distraction, but as a battlefield force his current form left something to be desired. Also, the gnoll that had pinned him: not confused anymore. So he scampered backwards, taunting the two gnolls and drawing them away from Krystyna. Krystyna was kicking ass, but she was down to half of her health. More worryingly, she was down to a quarter of her SP. That was to be expected with a long battle. Several of the gnolls must be close to death and after that things would get easier. That¡¯s how these things worked. He inspected one in order to get a gauge on things and saw, to his chagrin, that it was at full health. As was the next one. And the next. Looking around, he couldn¡¯t find the gnoll with the broken arm. There were five of them and none of them had broken arms. Of course! The gnoll that stayed back¡­ it was a healer! Jerome sprinted as fast as his gnoll legs could carry him away from his current opponent and towards the magic user. It looked at him with a smirk. Did it not see the transformation? Did it not know that Jerome was coming to kill it? He lunged, claws bared, snarling¡­ then, just before he was about to claw the smile right off the creature¡¯s face, Jerome stopped in mid-air. He hung there, suspended and confused. His legs were off the ground, and he could move his limbs as much as he wanted, but his center of mass was trapped in one spot. He was pinned to the air like a butterly to a naturalist¡¯s board. His swipes, though they came within a half foot of the healer¡¯s face, were completely ineffective at hurting it or getting himself out of this spot. Krystyna was too far away to help, and her position wasn¡¯t looking so good. Four gnolls had her surrounded and on the ground. One tried to pin her and got appropriately launched into the sky, but two of the others kept just the right distance to poke her with their spears while another used his club as a bludgeon. Her SP was low enough that she could do little but dodge and roll, and even that ineffectively. Jerome saw one of the club strikes slam into her arm. The cry of pain she gave fill him with dread. She who had dispatched the first batch of gnolls with ease. She who felt confident enough to order him around in training. A man feels an instinctive protectiveness towards beautiful woman and a natural fear of whatever can hurt the kind and strong people who mentor them. The current situation triggered both of these feelings in Jerome, all while he couldn¡¯t move his center of mass even an inch. He was enraged and terrified. Time to get out of this trap. Would you like to transform? * Norrruru (ockdine, 19 hours remaining) * Tikak (gnoll, 24 hours remaining) He selected the gnoll, Tikak. He was already in gnoll-form, so the change wasn¡¯t dramatic, but he could feel his facial structure changing. In addition, the couple hits he¡¯d taken off of his health were healed up. . But one important thing didn¡¯t happen: he wasn¡¯t freed from the magical spell like he was supposed to be. MMOs had been very clear on this point, that changing form freed you from all movement impairments. Jerome felt betrayed by the very fabric of reality. The mage inched towards him but stayed just out of his reach of Jerome¡¯s claws. It regarded him with clinical interest. ¡°That¡¯s an interesting ability you have, human. Time to pick you apart.¡± Chapter 8: Bring to Heal Jerome was stuck, his center of mass pinned in mid-air by some terrible spell. Transforming didn¡¯t work; he was just as stuck in his new gnoll body as he was in his old one. The gnoll mage who cast the spell stood just inches out of Jerome¡¯s reach, inspecting him. ¡°A changeling human. The elders will be quite interested in you¡­ but don¡¯t get any ideas. I¡¯ll still kill you if I must.¡± Jerome swung his claws impotently. In the background he heard Krystyna cry out in pain. Maybe the problem was that he stayed as a gnoll. If he could change into another species maybe he¡¯d be free of this spell. Would you like to transform? * Norrruru (ockdine, 19 hours remaining) He selected Norrruru and his hairy muscled body turned into a moist head and collection of wriggling appendages. Still stuck. Damn. But his reach had extended. He wrapped four tentacles around the mage who, for the first time in their interaction, looked frightened. One went around the neck. Another trapped the gnoll¡¯s right arm to its torso. Another held the left arm out to the side, useless. The final one held the legs together so the thing couldn¡¯t run. Jerome lifted it off the ground. He could tighten and wait for his helpless opponent to die, but would Krystyna be able to hold off the other five gnolls for that long? He had to finish this quickly. He could fling the thing into a tree trunk, like an ockdine had once done to him. Or¡­ The Recoil Burst he had to work with was very low-level, since it was only half of his own already-low personal skill level in it¡­ but he had dozens of suckers pressed firmly against the gnoll¡¯s helpless body. He activated Krystyna¡¯s power and the gnoll¡¯s entire body burst, a torrent of green blood running down Jerome¡¯s tentacles. Holy hell. Some of these skill combinations were terrifying. Sure, it had used up about half of his SP ¡ª 2 SP per sucker ¡ª but it had made the gnoll¡¯s inside practically liquify. As soon as the gnoll mage died Jerome¡¯s body was released. He could move freely again. He turned quickly to see how the rest of the battle was progressing. The answer: not good. Krystyna was on the ground, barely recovering SP fast enough to dodge blows. She wasn¡¯t even trying to hit the gnolls anymore because she didn¡¯t have enough energy. Sometimes the blows hit her anyways. She was down to less than 10% of her health. He could intervene. The ockdine body could probably beat any one of those gnolls, although taking on all five of them would be difficult. And then if just a couple more hits landed on Krystyna she was dead. However, he had just strangled a healer. Which meant he had touched a healer. Would you like to transform? * Kanani (gnoll, 24 hours remaining) He selected yes and his slimy tentacled form condensed into that of a small hairy biped.
Name: Kanami (Jerome Wallaby) Race: Gnoll (Human)
Level 3. (Level 1, 273% progress)You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. 80/80 HP
140/140 MP 95/95 SP
Statuses: Transform (24 hours remaining)
Strength: 8 Endurance: 12
Agility: 11 Focus: 19
Dexterity: 9 Connection: 21
Skills Special Abilities
Transform Level 1, 93% (unique) Store, Transform
Recoil Burst Level 3, 47% (unique) Burst
Healing Level 3 (Level 0, 0%) Refill HP, Refill SP
Alteration Level 2 (Level 0, 0%) Blessing
Dodge Level 2, 14%
Herbalism Level 2, 9% Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Claw Combat Level 1 Swipe
Claw Movement Level 1 4-legged run
Grappling Level 1, 12%
Unarmed Strikes Level 1, 5%
Swords Level 1, 15%
A small hairy biped with magic. He immediately started healing Krystyna with Refill HP. The first attempt only healed a little bit, but he got the hang of it quickly and soon she was at full health. Next he used Refill SP to get her energy back. Once again the first attempt only did a little bit, but that was enough for her to burst off the ground and start kicking ass again. It was a beautiful sight. After fully resporting her SP he looked at his stats and saw that he had one more skill available: Blessing. He tried it on himself, just to see what it did. Each of his attributes increased by 1! Oh hell yeah! He cast Blessing on Krystyna and saw that each of her attributes increased by 2. He tried it a couple more times and the increase went up to 3 but it seemed to max out there. No use to continue casting it. He healed up her HP and SP again and watched the battle unfold. Now that the gnolls had lost their healer they were going to fall one by one under Krystyna¡¯s explosive energy. Of course, things couldn¡¯t go on perfectly forever. One of the gnolls noticed that the heals were now going to their opponent and decided to change the equation. It sprinted to Jerome, dropping to all fours in order to increase speed. Jerome put out a hand to use Recoil Burst but forgot that he was now influenced by the mage¡¯s stats instead of Krystyna¡¯s. His strength and agility were now pitifully low, so when the gnoll crashed into him it knocked him over, pinning him easily. It was a warrior versus a healing mage at close range - not much of a contest. The gnoll clawed at Jerome¡¯s face, taking off twenty percent of his HP or more with each swipe. It hurt. No matter. He was a healer. Jerome could just barely keep with the damage by healing, but he could keep up. How to get out of this situation? Each slash across his face distracted him, but he tried to think the best he could. He could keep healing and just stay here until Krystyna was finished with the others. And then his MP ran out. That limited his options down to one: transforming into the gnoll sitting on top of him. Would you like to transform? * Bakan (gnoll, 24 hours remaining) Transform selected. He got fresh HP, MP, and SP with the transformation, but his situation hadn¡¯t changed much. He had half the strength and skill of the warrior gnoll on top of him in every attribute that mattered, so in a straight-up battle he was still losing. Worse, his healing skill was now considerably weaker than before, and his MP pool far more limited. The opposing gnoll was doing damage twice as fast as Jerome could heal it. His HP was down to 20%. It looked hopeless. Then a head exploded. Chapter 9: Gutsy Moves The exploding head was the gnoll¡¯s, taken off by a speeding rock. Green blood spilled all over Jerome, but he didn¡¯t mind. He was alive! ¡°You¡¯re just full of tricks, aren¡¯t you?¡± Krystyna walked over and observed him with what might be called, for the first time, approval. ¡°I can¡¯t believe I¡¯ve had this power for so long and didn¡¯t think of using it as a slow-loading makeshift gun.¡± He couldn¡¯t have looked good laying on the ground, in the body of a gnoll, covered in blood¡­ but she looked at him with approval! Maybe women really did like bad boys; he had, after all, just emerged victorious from a terrible battle. Nevermind that he had only killed one gnoll while she had killed six, but he¡¯d done several things to turn the tide. One of those things: saving her by healing her at a critical point. He added it to his mental tally, wondering what the score needed to be in order for sexytimes to occur. The number was different in every movie. Did it count less if it was through the relatively unmanly method of healing? Did the fact that she saved him at the end count against him? Women were complicated. Anyways, time to transform back into something more presentable. Would you like to transform? Too bad, you¡¯ve used up all the transforms in your queue. Go touch something else! Ugh. His ability was based on physical contact with other sentient creatures. Possibly the most extroverted of superpowers. At least he could engage those creatures in life-and-death struggles instead of making smalltalk. Or, if they were standing over him, he could just reach out and touch their leg. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she asked, not sure what to make of Jerome¡¯s sudden movement. ¡°Getting boobs,¡± he said lazily. She sighed. ¡°My boobs are up here. Not that you should grab them. You shouldn¡¯t.¡± Damn. Guess he had to save her a couple dozen more times or listen to her problems or something. ¡°Not yours. A pair of my own. That are yours.¡± Would you like to transform? Too bad, you¡¯ve used up all the transforms in your queue. Go touch something else! What? But he had just touched Krystyna! When he thought that a helpful message floated into his field of view. You¡¯ve been transformed into Krystyna within the last 24 hours. Go touch someone else. Wow, even the game messages were saying he was getting too grabby. It was just her leg! ¡°Nevermind. Apparently my ability has limits.¡± ¡°Get on up then. It¡¯s time to loot the bodies.¡± She paused. ¡°Well, except for that one. What the hell did you do?¡± He sat up and saw where she was looking: the exploded pile of bones and green blood that had once been the gnoll mage. ¡°Ockdine tentacles, combined with Recoil Burst.¡± Krystyna actually grinned. She grinned! At something he¡¯d done! Apparently the way to a woman¡¯s heart (and boobs?) was through killing things in creative and brutal ways.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. He grinned back like a puppy that had just been petted¡­ and for some reason that caused her grin to fade. What? No! No takebacksies on approval! ¡°Tell me about these limits,¡± she said as she rifled through a gnoll¡¯s pockets. ¡°It¡¯s better to know what you can and can¡¯t do before we get into another combat situation.¡± ¡°The first limit is I have to touch something before I can transform into it.¡± ¡°We covered that already.¡± ¡°I want to be thorough. Make sure we¡¯re on the same page. ¡°So I touch something and it goes on my list of available transformations. I can transform into anything on that list at will. The second limit is that when I transform into something it¡¯s removed from the list. That means I can run out of transforms. ¡°Related to that are the third and fourth limitations. If I don¡¯t use a transformation within 24 hours it disappears from the list. At least that¡¯s what I think that ¡®hours left¡¯ message means. And then if I transform into something I can¡¯t transform into it again for another 24 hours. ¡°That¡¯s it for triggering the transformations.¡± Krystyna grunted in acknowledgement. She¡¯d been digging around the gnoll¡¯s bodies ¡ª much deeper than the pockets ¡ª and her hands were bloody. Beside her was a small pile of coins that were also covered in blood. Why was everything in this world covered in blood? Beside that¡­ bones, organs, and various crystalizations she¡¯d pulled from the corpses. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± She pointed at the pile of body parts. ¡°Herbalism is a dirty business.¡± ¡°Those¡­ aren¡¯t herbs.¡± ¡°Technicality. If it can be used to create potions it falls under the purview of herbalism.¡± Jerome felt a pang of cognitive dissonance, although he didn¡¯t know that was the word for it. He¡¯d been able to forgive the whole part about her being a free-speech extremist, but now she was digging through the corpses of her enemies for drink ingredients while using words like ¡®purview¡¯. There were some things even Wit and Charm couldn¡¯t overcome. ¡°You stopped talking,¡± she observed. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± ¡°You¡¯re collecting body parts from sentient creatures.¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m collecting body parts from dead creatures. One of which you killed.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to drink them.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t seem to mind that hangover cure.¡± He blanched. ¡°Waste not, want not. It¡¯s what my mom used to say. And those crystals, I hear gnolls themselves will buy them. Now finish telling me the rules for your transformations.¡± Couldn¡¯t they just loot the clothes and weapons off of their enemies like normal adventurers? Well, whatever it took to stay alive. He continued his explanation, his voice only wavering during the first few words. ¡°Okay, rules. Rules for when I¡¯m transformed. My transformed attributes are halfway between my own attributes and the attributes of whoever I¡¯m transforming into. So if they¡¯re stronger than me I get a boost. If they¡¯re weaker then I¡¯m pulled down. ¡°My own stats haven¡¯t gone up yet, even though my progress bar says three hundred and seventeen percent. So I¡¯m guessing that once I transform back to my own body, about twenty-three and a half hours from now, then I¡¯ll be able to level up three times. ¡°My transformed skills are also halfway between my skill levels and the skill levels of what I¡¯m transformed into. So any skill I learn is only half as strong when I transform into a body that doesn¡¯t share them.¡± Krystyna was done with the first two bodies and was on to the third. She was fishing out a crystal from its torso. ¡°Is that all the limits?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°Good. Now let¡¯s talk about the positives. You can power-level skills. You can combine skills from diverse sources that normally wouldn¡¯t mix, like you did with the ockdine tentacles and Recoil Burst. Magical skills are typically difficult or expensive to learn, but you can just touch someone and get them, so that will be big. ¡°And then there¡¯s the huge one: the supposedly-unique skill that humans get when they come into this world. They¡¯re powerful enough to make the other species scared of our power. When combined into one person¡­¡± ¡±All the species here will band together and concentrate their military efforts on killing me.¡± ¡°Well, there is that. But once that¡¯s done, you could¡­ well, I¡¯m not going to say rule the world, because you¡¯d be incredibly bad at it¡­ but you could be the sovereign power that decides which empires rise and fall. ¡°Kingmaker.¡± Chapter 10: Less Lit, More RPG Jerome¡¯s heart skipped a beat. Kingmaker! So much power. The whole world at his fingertips¡­ That thought made it even more annoying when, after they got a comfortable distance away from the scene of the battle, Krystyna insisted that he practice unarmed strikes. Wasn¡¯t the point of power so he could get what he wanted without working? Worse, the gnoll didn¡¯t have any overlapping skills, so Jerome was practicing at half his (admittedly low) skill level. The opposite of power-leveling. He kept practicing though. Government television was clear: if he wanted any chance at sex he must not only save women in a dramatic fashion, he must also make every effort to do what they wanted. Slavish devotion was the best form of respect. When the day was over his thoughts of respect didn¡¯t stop him from staring as her armor removed itself, dissassembling into a neat pile on the ground and revealing the exquisite female shape underneath. After all, the whole point of respect was to get access to her Wit and Charm, so it was a motivational video in a way. During the training he talked as little as possible. He¡¯d never liked his own voice, but the gnoll version of it was even worse. It was like a goat spent thirty years chain-smoking and then learned English. So he trained silently, went to bed, got up, then trained some more. He practiced unarmed strikes. He practiced herbalism. He practiced Healing and Alteration magics, although given this body¡¯s low Connection he had to wait quite a while for his limited MP to return. Messages came across his vision as he practiced. There had been a lot that he¡¯d ignored while in combat, but there was no reason not to read them now. Unarmed strikes has reached level 2! Unarmed strikes has reached level 3! Herbalism has reached level 3! Healing has reached level 2! Alteration has reached level 2! Then, finally, it was time. The clock ticked to zero and his body morphed into its true form. With his old clothes still on, fortunately. You never knew how these shifter things could go. He¡¯d forgotten how skinny he was and how flabby his muscles were. After spending time in a gnoll body ¡ª or even Krystyna¡¯s body ¡ª he¡¯d gotten used to the feeling of strength. That was, he admitted, a pretty good reason to train. A flurry of messages came into his vision. Transformation skill has reached level 2! Transformation menu will show the level of the creature you¡¯re transforming into. Can receive attribute bonus points while transformed. You have reached level 2! You have 6 attribute points and 20 reserves points to distribute as you see fit. You have reached level 3! You have 6 more attribute points and 20 more reserves points to distribute as you see fit. You have reached level 4! You have 6 more attribute points and 20 more reserves points to distribute as you see fit. Your actions while transformed have given you 5 bonus strength. Your actions while transformed have given you 12 bonus agility. Your actions while transformed have given you 2 bonus dexterity. Your actions while transformed have given you 3 bonus endurance. Your actions while transformed have given you 6 bonus focus. Your actions while transformed have given you 5 bonus connection. Whoa, cool! Bonus points! He¡¯d done a lot of dodging, unarmed hits, and precision striking with Recoil Burst, so it made sense that agility was the place where he got the most improvement.
Name: Jerome Wallaby Race:Human
Level 4, 17% progress 100/100 HP
100/100 MP 100/100 SP
Statuses: Unassigned points (18 attribute, 60 reserves)
Strength: 15 Endurance: 13
Agility: 22 Focus: 16
Dexterity: 12 Connection: 15
Skills Special Abilities
Transform Level 2, 1% (unique) Store, Transform, Preview (level), Pass-through (attribute bonuses)
Recoil Burst Level 3, 47% (unique)Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Burst
Unarmed Strikes Level 3, 57%
Herbalism Level 3, 9% Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Healing Level 2, 25% Refill HP, Refill SP
Alteration Level 2, 12% Blessing
Dodge Level 2, 14%
Grappling Level 1, 23%
Swords Level 1, 15%
He was pleasantly surprised with how quickly his stats and skills had risen. Sure, it had taken work ¡ª about as much work as he¡¯d put in during the entire last year before New Australia ¡ª but the results of that hard work were amazing. It even felt like his muscles were a little bit firmer, his shoulders a little bit broader. This feeling was amazing¡­ he might keep practicing these skills, even if the motivation of Krystyna¡¯s favor for some reason disappeared. He wondered where to put the rest of his unassigned points. He decided on an experiment: meditation. He thought about his body, his mind, tried to take it all in¡­ and then assigned a point to Strength. He felt a small increase in power, in ability. His muscles firmed ever so slightly while becoming, paradoxically, more relaxed. Maybe it was because holding himself up required a smaller percentage of his muscle power now. Next he assigned a point to Agility. As he did so he felt like he could move just a little bit quicker, a little bit lighter on his feet. It wasn¡¯t just speed, although that was part of it. It was more of a decrease in the gap between when something happened and when he could respond to it. Dexterity was more difficult to understand. Had anything happened? He picked up a rock and played with it while thinking of the skills that dexterity usually effected in games. Usually dexterity and agility were combined into one stat, so it was a difficult exercise. He thought for nearly ten minutes, trying to peel them apart, but to no avail. All the while he played with the rock, tossing and twisting it. Eventually he forgot about his investigation and focused on a trick where he held the rock in an open palm, tilted his palm forward so it rolled to his middle finger, then flicking it back to land in his elbow. It took a couple dozen tries, during which he completely forgot about meditation and skills, but he eventually got it. +1 dexterity bonus. That trick is useless but being more dexterous is always nice. Ah, that made sense then. Agility was speed of response while dexterity was precise motor control. Agility would be connected with dodging a blow or placing a Recoil Burst on a moving body while dexterity would be connected with shooting bows or crafting trinkets. He put another point into it. Meditation resumed. He put a point into endurance and felt a tiny bit healthier, like he could run and fight longer without getting tired. Based on the feeling it must be connected with HP or SP regeneration, or maybe both. He put a point into focus and could feel his mind get a bit sharper and clearer. The effect was incredibly subtle for his normal thinking (maybe that¡¯s why it was called Focus and not Intelligence) but was more clear when he thought about casting a spell. Spell power, then. Then, finally¡ª +1 connection bonus. By meditating you have increased your connection with yourself, and thus with all of life. Well, that answered that question. If it took the place of where Wisdom usually sat in the stats then he could guess that it also increased MP regeneration. He went ahead and put another point into connection. MP fed his healing ability, and his healing kept him alive. He didn¡¯t want to skimp on staying alive. That left him with 12 remaining attribute points and 60 remaining reserves points. The attribute points were easy. Everything except dexterity was useful to him, so he put two points each in the other five attributes. Then, because he was starting to like the feeling of having muscle, he put the last two in strength. The reserves points he spread equally between HP, MP, and SP. He didn¡¯t know what his next transformation would be, so better to be balanced. He admired his new stats.
Name: Jerome Wallaby Race:Human
Level 4, 17% progress 120/120 HP
120/120 MP 120/120 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 20 Endurance: 16
Agility: 25 Focus: 19
Dexterity: 14 Connection: 19
Skills Special Abilities
Transform Level 2, 1% (unique) Store, Transform, Preview (level), Pass-through (attribute bonuses)
Recoil Burst Level 3, 47% (unique) Burst
Unarmed Strikes Level 3, 57%
Herbalism Level 3, 9% Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Healing Level 2, 25% Refill HP, Refill SP
Alteration Level 2, 12% Blessing
Dodge Level 2, 14%
Grappling Level 1, 23%
Swords Level 1, 15%
He could get used to being powerful. If stats had been tracked like this in the real world he might even have put in a little bit of effort back there instead of subsisting on welfare checks. ¡°Come check it out!¡± he yelled to Krystyna. She looked up from her herbalism work and whistled. ¡°I know, the stats are great aren¡¯t they?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t checked the stats yet,¡± she admitted. ¡°You look different.¡± ¡°Well yeah¡­ I¡¯m me again, not you or some gnoll.¡± ¡°No, I meant¡­ nevermind.¡± She blushed. Oh yes, he was definitely going to level up some more. She whistled again. ¡°That is a lot of bonus points. I guess getting thrown into the deepend and developing lots of skills paid off.¡± He smiled giddily, happy for the positive attention. ¡°Well, I think you¡¯re ready now. It¡¯s time to try making a run into town for supplies.¡± That¡¯s when the most wonderful message came up into his field of vision, the one he¡¯d been longing for since he got here. You have been offered a quest. Chapter 11: A Quest-ion of Intention A Quest. A purpose. This was why he played videogames so much back on earth. When he was attending citizenship harmony training courses, when he was collecting his basic income check, when he put food in his mouth to keep from starving¡­ those things were just the grey dreary requirements for his continued existence. What he truly lived for were the occasional beer or three every night and the videogames that gave him Quests. When he was on a Quest, life had meaning. Although his life here hadn¡¯t been dull like his real-world existence (it was anything but dull!), it had been marked by mere survival. Running around, training, trying to survive the patrols of armed baddies that always seemed to find them. Now he was taking the lead. Or, more precisely, he was taking Krystyna¡¯s Quest. ¡°I¡¯ve been doing the best I could out here,¡± she said, ¡°but it¡¯s been hard. Even without the requirement of food, well¡­ you¡¯ve seen the level of comfort I have. But it isn¡¯t comfort I¡¯m worried about. There are three items that you can buy in town that would greatly increase our survivability.¡± Surviving. That sounded good. ¡°What are they?¡± ¡°The first two are scrolls of Refill HP and Refill SP. I know you have those skills, but basic healing is useful for everyone.I fight up close, in a way that eats through SP and exposes me to damage, so they¡¯re especially useful to me.¡± ¡°Got it. I need to get the two scrolls. What¡¯s the next item?¡± ¡°I want a bag of holding. You stick something in and the item disappears to some netherworld, only to reappear again exactly when you want it. Handy thing to own if you have to carry all your belongings with you. If you can score one of those, then we¡¯ll be living much better. Maybe I¡¯ll even get a crossbow for fending off stray ptau.¡± He wanted to ask what the ptau were, but the message across his screen distracted him. Would you like to accept the quest ¡°Survival Gear¡±? Conditions: Give a Refill HP Scroll, a Refill SP Scroll, and a Bag of Holding to Krystyna. Rewards: 500 XP for each item. 1500 total XP! That would get him to level 5 and halfway to level 6! Wow! In addition, Krystyna would get way stronger and they would both have a much better chance of surviving. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± Quest Accepted. One thing, however, didn¡¯t make sense. ¡°You¡¯re not an NPC¡­ how did you give me a Quest?¡±If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She laughed at that. Why had her demeanor around him picked up recently? Was it because he had increased his stats and put on muscle? No, girls weren¡¯t shallow like that. Maybe it was the general mood since the battle. He hadn¡¯t complained much because things seemed to be going pretty good. When he complained that meant things were bad, and she showed her agreement by putting on an exasperated air. Or maybe¡­ yes, it was the third option. It was because he¡¯d accepted her quest. He was on his way to another round of saving her and she sensed that in her womanly manner. ¡°This world,¡± she explained, ¡°it¡¯s game-like¡­ but it¡¯s not an actual game. Who knows why it resembles RPG games so much. Maybe Gygax had a scrying vessel into this world and created a game out of it. The point is, the things that many RPGs use seem to be bastardized versions of this world¡¯s mechanics.¡± ¡°Such as Quests.¡± ¡°Exactly. Here Quests are just the product of focused intention. You decide what you want, focus on it, create the conditions for the quest, and then go for it.¡± He suddenly got very excited. His days of hard work were over! He would just create super easy quests, collect the EXP, and level up in peace. Would you like to accept the quest ¡°Pick Flower¡±? Conditions: Pick a flower, any flower Rewards: None, you lazy bastard. You call this a quest? Rats. ¡°How do I determine the EXP? I created a quest but it didn¡¯t offer me any EXP as a reward.¡± She looked at him quizzically. ¡°What was the quest?¡± ¡°Picking a flower.¡± She was even more quizzical now. If she wasn¡¯t careful, she¡¯d get downright examical. Midtermical, even. ¡°Why would you want to pick a flower?¡± ¡°To get EXP.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not good enough. To make a Quest worth it you need two things: purpose and difficulty. Picking a flower has neither of those. Walking along the hillside picking flowers isn¡¯t a Quest, unless you¡¯re just learning about Herbalism. Climbing the highest mountain to pick a rare flower¡­ you can make it a Quest, but since the purpose is lacking you won¡¯t get full EXP. Climbing the highest mountain to pick a rare flower to save your dying mother¡­ now that is a Quest!¡± Huh. Jerome tried to create Quests called ¡°Rule the World¡± and ¡°Earn Krystyna¡¯s Love¡±, but the system rejected them as ill-formed. Aside from that and survival he couldn¡¯t think of anything he wanted, so he just nodded along to Krystyna¡¯s explanation. ¡°Guess it¡¯s time for me to get started, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That it is. Here are the crystals I dug out; hopefully they¡¯ll sell for enough that you can get the items. Now go touch a gnoll. And¡­ try not to kill anyone if you don¡¯t have to. They may hate us, and we¡¯ll do what we must¡­ but they¡¯re not evil.¡± She hugged him, filling up his nostrils with her scent. Beauty, sweat, and blood. ¡°Now you¡¯ve got my powers again,¡± she said. ¡°Only use them if you¡¯re already found out.¡± He turned away, happy at a newfound purpose, happy at the shift in her behaviour towards him. ¡°I¡¯ll fulfill this mission,¡± he said in what he hoped was a solemn voice. She giggled. A good giggle though. ¡°Godspeed.¡± Chapter 12: Wonders The route to the city was filled with wonders. Jerome had gotten used to the spiky tree trunks by now. The blue underbrush was old hat, even when it reached out to nuzzle his legs like some sort of photosynthetic puppy. The purple fist-sized insects buzzed around happily ignoring whatever violence was occuring. However, as he ventured farther away from his spawn point he saw new sights. A giant armadillo-type creature bathed itself in a waterfall, seeming to take pleasure from the pounding water on its brick-like hide. Its tail, which had a terrifying spiky ball on the end, whipped back and forth happily. Occasionally it would bounce off the stone cliff face and chip off bits of rock. Jerome snuck up to the creature, curious. You have learned the skill Sneak. He placed his hand on the beast, hoping to gain its power. The beast turned ever so slightly to look at him. The movement of the hide scraped Jerome¡¯s palm and caused him to flinch. Three percent of his health bar gone from the monster simply adjusting its position! The monster stared Jerome in the eye. Was it intelligent? It was either extremely docile or it knew, instinctively, that Jerome was no threat in either intention or power. If a fight started he might get one Recoil Burst off before the thing trampled him. Jerome backed off. When he had gotten to the relative safety of dense trees (the monster would have to knock some down to reach him) he checked his transformations. Would you like to transform? * Krystyna (human, level 9, 20 hours left) Rats. He couldn¡¯t transform into the monster. There must be some sort of minimum intelligence requirement. He continued on. When he first accepted the Quest he had rushed off in a random direction, hoping for some sort of map or directional arrow. Instead she¡¯d run after him and explained his route to the city. There were dozens upon dozens of gnoll towns and villages (such as the one Krystyna had tried to befriend), but there was exactly one large gnoll city. That was where money was offered for crystals and where he have the best chance of finding the scrolls and the bag of holding. They were lucky to be fairly close. ¡°Fairly¡± ¡°close¡±.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Five hours, according to Krystyna. Knowing her that meant walking quickly, straight ahead, stopping for nothing. Jerome meandered a bit, stopped to pet the scary armadillo, and even rested sometimes. He guessed it would take about ten hours. Well into the night. He could have cut straight through the plains, of course. They were in a strip of forest by the coast, which protruded out in a thick peninsula. Cutting through the peninsula would take about two hours, there would be fewer distractions, and he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about gnoll patrols or a sudden visit from unfriendly ockdine. However, Krystyna had made him promise not to travel across the plains. She said it was ¡®too dangerous¡¯, and Jerome had no reason to disagree; anything that scared her scared him. He eventually hit coastline and followed it, keeping it on his right. There were sandy beaches which he could have walked on, but it felt weird being too close to the sea. Ockdine could be anywhere. His last battle with them had been a little too close, and there was no telling what other tricks they had. They were probably more powerful closer to their natural habitat. Thus Jerome walked at the treeline, watching both the beaches and the trees for danger. What he saw instead were more wonders. One-foot-high twelve-limbed mammals, vaguely resembling fuzzy spiders, making their way through the forest and chomping down on the big purple bugs, catching the flying insects in springy heroic leaps. One of those things could probably jump onto his face, wrap around, and¡­ Okay, maybe they weren¡¯t wonders precisely - more like terrors that were currently uninterested in terrorizing him. On the beach were small sand-worms no longer than his arm which burrowed lazily in and out of the swash zone where waves caressed the shore, sucking up land and sea creatures alike that were unlucky enough to cross their paths. Eventually the sandy beaches turned into small rocky cliffs. When he got closer to the city he started running into more gnoll patrols. He headed deeper into the woods so that, when they passed, he had more room for maneuvering and more options for where to hide. Sneak has reached level 2. When they passed he tried to be far away and downwind. If they were anything like classical fantasy gnolls their key characteristics were amazing noses and constant infighting. Of course, classic fantasy said gnolls were huge and yet the ones Jerome had seen were only five feet. Classic fantasy clearly distorted some things ¡ª including the strange de-emphasis of octopus-creatures. Once, about six hours into the journey, he heard (or maybe felt) a giant thud. It reminded him of the thud when the ockdine had crashed into the forest near him and Krystyna. Shortly thereafter he saw a pack of gnolls running as fast as they could towards the sound. Interesting. Then, about eight hours in, he found a road. Not a path. A road. Jerome guessed that the road would lead to the city, and he followed in parallel, making sure to duck down and be still whenever someone passed. Sneak has reached level 3. Night fell and he slept. In the morning it was only an hour¡¯s travel until he saw the city. It was then time to start the trickiest part of the Quest: infiltration. Chapter 13: New Life (Nakats POV) The humans had no souls. After dozens of experiments that was the only opinion that a professional could come to¡­ and yet his colleagues continued to carry out their bloody work. Despite the threats (and occasional attacks) from the ockdine. Despite the so very gnoll-like screams of the captive humans. Despite his own protests over the immorality of their actions. Despite it all they persisted. Well, he would have no more of it. Nakat was done. Maybe he would go to one of the villages and live a simple life of subsistence and petty warfare. Maybe he would seek out the human settlement he¡¯d heard rumors of, see how they lived in their natural environment. Maybe he would even dare contact one of the great civilizations. Try to broker some unified solution to the human question. Goodness knows that the things were hard enough to handle at their current level of power. If the humans ever gained a foothold anywhere, built a true city¡­ it was said it couldn¡¯t happen due to human¡¯s natural aggressiveness and lack of nobility, but the great civilizations had said the same thing about gnolls.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Now the gnolls built a city, did science, and held their own against raids. And he was leaving it all behind. Walking out the gates of the only true bastion of gnoll civilization. All because he didn¡¯t want to pay what his colleagues called ¡°the price of progress¡±. The guards didn¡¯t give him trouble. Why would they? They were there to keep wildlife at bay, to stop raids from those who opposed King Katani¡¯s unification, and to collect taxes on goods that entered the city. As long as no one was chasing after him and yelling ¡°thief¡± the guards would do nothing¡­ and even then, there was no reason he couldn¡¯t climb up the rough insides of the walls and jump down. Walls were for keeping unwanted things out. Still, he trembled a bit as he passed through the stone archway. After he was clear he saw open sky. No nets to protect him. He went on all fours and broke out into a run until he could reach the cover of the forest. This was prudent and no one would think less of him for it. In fact, they might think him mad if he didn¡¯t do it. Then again, when his shift came they would think him mad anyways for abandoning this life. He reached the forest and relaxed again. Here there were dangers, but at least there were no ptau. He could follow the strip by the sea, go through the deep forest, and reach Elven territory all without seeing open sky. Excitement welled up in him. He would go exploring! No more stuffy basements! No more bosses and performance reviews! No more wailing humans begging for release, for mercy, and eventually for death! These were the triumphant thoughts running through Nakat¡¯s head when a hand grabbed him and pulled him roughly into the underbrush. A hand without claws. A human hand. Chapter 14: No Country for Gnolled Men He was Nakat now. Nakat, gnoll scientist. Who woulda thought there¡¯d be such a thing? Of course, he couldn¡¯t get a straight answer out of the creature about what kind of science it had been doing¡­ just lots of crying and begging for forgiveness. These creatures sure had a lot of hangups about rationality. Anyways, he¡¯d made it promise upon pain of death to stay away for at least 24 hours. If for some reason this Quest took longer then he¡¯d be in another body by the time the gnoll came back. He walked from the forest to the city¡¯s gates, enjoying the first completely open sky he¡¯d seen in a long time. Beautiful blue sky, with only a couple green and orange streaks in it. Not clouds: streaks. Cool. When he finally meandered to the gate the guards were staring at him. Had he done something bad? Was there some hidden protocol where he supposed to walk directly to the gate? ¡°Forget something?¡± one of them asked. Jerome was wearing Nakat¡¯s clothes, and had stolen its bag, so the guard probably recognized him. Nakat had just walked out of that gate less than half an hour ago¡­ Subterfuge was clearly not Jerome¡¯s strong suit. Yet. It wasn¡¯t his strong suit yet. If there was anything he¡¯d learned from this game, it was that progress was possible. By practicing (ugh) and finding a hot chick to give him quests (yay!) he could make something of himself. Was there a level for Subterfuge? He scrolled through his notifications and it didn¡¯t show him learning anything like that recently. The closest was Sneak. Did that mean he couldn¡¯t get better at it? No, that couldn¡¯t be it. There was no ¡°combat¡± skill that he could level up; to be effective at combat he had to level up other skills and then put them together in intelligent ways. Subterfuge would be the same. ¡°I think he forgot how to talk.¡± Right. He was standing in front of two guards, one of which had asked him a question. ¡°Science mind,¡± Jerome said apologetically. ¡°Hard to make it work on non-science things.¡± Apparently that was a good enough explanation, because they didn¡¯t stop him as he walked forward. The gnoll city wasn¡¯t large, but it was densely packed and filled to the brim with¡­ well, gnolls. And everything that entailed. The smell was the worst part at first. His nostrils were more sensitive as a gnoll, but the smells that he considered pleasant and unpleasant were still his old human tastes. It wasn¡¯t long until he saw his first fight break out. It seemed the stereotype about gnoll infighting was true. But then¡­ a policeman came and broke up the fight. They really were serious about creating a civilization here. Architecture in this city had some resemblances to earth architecture ¡ª gravity did seem to work the same here, after all ¡ª but there were also some wild departures. Walls and buildings were white stone, seemingly drawn up out of the very earth with no separation between foundation and sides. While the outward-facing walls were nearly perfectly smooth, many of the walls in the city itself were roughly textured, and occasionally he saw gnolls climbing up them. The dome-like tops of some of the buildings were irregular, beyond just a rough texture, but that appeared to be more the result of heavy impacts rather than imperfections in workmanship. That must have been incredibly difficult to pull off. Then there were the nets. Draped over the main walkways at strategic intervals were heavy nets, with ropes nearly as big around as his arm that were woven together. He could fit his head through one of the holes in the nets if he had the Rocket Blast ability, and maybe even his whole body. Were the gnolls were scared of open sky? The nets might be able to slow down an ockdine that had been cannon-shot into the middle of town, but it probably wouldn¡¯t stop them completely. They¡¯d crashed through trees just fine. Well, no use wondering about this town¡¯s defenses. He¡¯d gotten through them and that was what mattered. Now he just needed to find a shop to buy his crystals and sell him the goods. So far as he could tell the gnolls hadn¡¯t developed widespread literacy yet, so the various shops were marked by icons depicting what happened inside them. That was the good news. The bad news was that this city was big enough that not all the shops were in one neat little row. Eventually he went into one that looked promising: it just had coins on it. That would mean either general store or bank, and they didn¡¯t look quite far enough along to have huge banks.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. As soon as he went in he was pleased to see the shelves lined with goods of all different types. A general store it was! ¡°Glory and elevation to our race,¡± the gnoll at the counter said as greeting. ¡°How can I help you?¡± Glory and elevation to a race? Jerome knew the gnoll meant species, and not race as it was understood on earth, but hearing those words still sent shivers down his spine. The World Government had made it clear: everyone deserved life, leisure, and the pursuit of pleasure¡­ except racists and those who associated with them. It took everything he had not to go running out of the store right then. This was a different culture, and to infiltrate it he had to play by their rules. ¡°Glory and elevation,¡± he said, carefully leaving off that last part. ¡°I¡¯d like to sell some crystals.¡± The shopkeeper studied him. Had he done something wrong? Maybe he should have eavesdropped on such interactions first. Mentally he gave himself +1 Subterfuge for figuring this out. ¡°I could ask how you got those crystals as a scientist, and why you¡¯re trying to sell them to me instead of directly to a government official¡­ but I¡¯m not going to ask those questions. In exchange I¡¯ll give you half of what the king is paying. Does that sound good to you?¡± Half of what the king was paying? And why were crystals going to the king? It was a super-weapon. It had to be a super-weapon. That was the only reason people ever collected large amounts of precious stones in fantasy games. It would explain why they needed science. Of course they wouldn¡¯t study medicine or chemistry or anything like that. It would be all super-weapons all the time. ¡°Well, how about it? Or I could get an official right now and have you try and sell to them. For some reason I suspect you wouldn¡¯t want that.¡± Scientists, it appeared, weren¡¯t supposed to come across crystals. They¡¯d pulled the crystals from corpses so¡­ did the shopkeeper think he was a grave-robber? And how did the gnoll know he was a scientist? It must have been something in the clothing that got copied or the bag he stole. ¡°I¡¯ll sell to you,¡± he said at last. Hopefully half would be enough. Jerome laid out the seven crystals in front of the shopkeeper, who inhaled sharply in surprise. ¡°You don¡¯t mess around, do you? Well, no matter. A deal¡¯s a deal.¡± The gnoll counted out nineteen gold coins and seven silver coins. That was simply amazing. On the gnolls they¡¯d looted (okay, that Krystyna had looted) they¡¯d only found one gold coin and twenty-three silver coins. He didn¡¯t know the exchange rate, but he was pretty sure that a gold coin had a value many times greater than a silver coin. What that translated into in terms of real goods he still wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°No better deal than that,¡± the shopkeeper said. ¡°You going to take it?¡± Jerome suspected that wasn¡¯t quite the truth, but he kept silent. A fight here would be ill-advised; it was true that if he was mobbed he could keep switching forms, but each switch took some time, and who knew if there were abilities out there that could one-shot him. If someone with those abilities existed in the gnoll empire it was pretty likely that they would be in the capital city. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll take it.¡± ¡°Good,¡± it said with a chuckle. ¡°I knew you¡¯d be rational.¡± With the selling complete, it was now time for buying the three items needed for the Quest. The shopkeeper only had one, the Bag of Holding, which he sold for two gold coins and five silver coins, complete with assurances that it was the ¡®best price in town, guaranteed¡¯. It was good to know that the used car dealer ethos carried over to an alien planet game-world. The shopkeeper wasn¡¯t all bravado and bluster, though. When Jerome asked it for the two items it didn¡¯t have, it helpfully gave him directions to the Mages¡¯ shop. On the way out Jerome slid his money into the Bag of Holding. It kept its flat shape, making it seem like there wasn¡¯t anything in the bag at all. However, when he reached in and thought about the money it seemed to fall directly into his hand. No fishing around for change required. Yes, this was going to be a very handy thing to have. The only limit seemed to be the size of the opening. He could fit his fist in there, and even his head, but no way his torso and shoulders would go all the way through. That was probably for the best; if he accidentally fell into his own bag of holding, how would he communicate his predicament to someone in the outside world? Armor, though it fit the torso, looked like it could be inserted when properly folded or disassembled. He was nearly whistling as he left the store. Once he found the scrolls his first Quest would be complete! Trying to follow the directions, however, was not quite as easy as he had hoped. It would be too much to ask that this city be laid out like modern earth cities. Five minutes into this wander another gnoll waved to Jerome with an expression of exaggerated excitement. ¡°Nakat! Didn¡¯t expect to see you in this neighborhood.¡± Drat! Someone recognized him. Time to play it cool. Inspect them: Rikan. ¡°Hey Rikan.¡± ¡°So formal today,¡± the gnoll said jokingly. ¡°Whatever¡¯s got you bothered, don¡¯t bring it to work, you hear?¡± Work? ¡°Come on. Our shift¡¯s about to start.¡± Chapter 15: Forced, Scrolling Jerome was stuck. What to do? If he ran now then Rikan might give chase. He could bump into some other gnolls and add them to his transformation list, but what good would that do? As long as someone had eyes on him they could keep tracking him. He didn¡¯t know this city, so he had no idea where he could go to hide and transform into someone less suspicious. If he tried to fight then soon enough the entirety of the town would be gunning for him. In a larger brawl he might be able to slip into another body unnoticed, but whatever he started wouldn¡¯t be a brawl; it would be a hundred-against-one massacre. That left his last option: going to work. He might learn something. Or he might spend the entire time demonstrating his incompetence and showing himself to be an impostor. Then, surrounded by people who knew this body and knew each other, possibly locked inside a giant open-office hellhole, he would be pummeled to death by jeering gnolls. They were scientists, so the pummeling might take a while. Going to work, unfortunately, appeared to be his best option for now. ¡°Come on, Nak,¡± Rikan said with exasperation. ¡°You weren¡¯t planning on skipping again today, were you? I know you don¡¯t like what we¡¯re doing, but they¡¯ll respawn you for sure if you keep on making a fuss. Discipline has to maintained.¡± Respawned? As in, the thing that happened in games after people died? Krystyna had said there were no respawns here, so either she was wrong or the gnolls meant something else by the word. Perhaps they were believers in reincarnation. Either way, the threat was clear: death for disobedience. Maybe slipping off before-hand was the better option¡­ ¡°Did you hear me?¡± Rikan said. ¡°Sorry,¡± said Jerome. ¡°I was thinking about an errand I have to do. Can we stop by the scroll shop on our way to work?¡± Rikan looked at him suspiciously. ¡°Okay, but make it quick. When did you start experimenting on the side?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a new hobby,¡± Jerome said. This gnoll seemed to know Nakat, so it was better to not pretend to a long-term interest. Playing the noob also had other benefits. ¡°In fact, it¡¯s my first time to the scroll shop. Do you know the way?¡±This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Follow me,¡± Rikan grumbled. ¡°If you make us both late I¡¯m going to spike your gruel.¡± In just a couple minutes they reached a small shop with a scroll icon etched over the top of the doorway. That was straightforward enough. ¡°Glory and elevation to our race,¡± said the shopkeeper. ¡°Do you know what you want or would you prefer to look around?¡± ¡°Refill HP and Refill SP,¡± Jerome stated confidently. The shopkeeper studied him. ¡°What¡¯s a scientist doing losing HP?¡± Damn. Who knew that being a scientist would raise so many eyebrows? ¡°You know how the ockdine have been recently,¡± Rikan cut in smoothly. ¡°It¡¯s better to be safe. City guard can¡¯t protect everyone in case of a major attack.¡± ¡°Makes sense,¡± said the shopkeeper. ¡°If worse comes to worse, you¡¯re running out of MP, and there are dozens of wounded laying in the streets¡­. remember who sold you this scroll. One gold and two silvers.¡± Jerome reached into his Bag of Holding and called up that exact amount of money. Quest completed! Well, kind of. He had the items. Now he had to slip out of Rikan¡¯s sight, get out of town, and make the journey back to Krystyna. However, while he was here, maybe he should get some things that would be useful to himself. There were hundreds of scrolls stacked up in the shop, sorted by which magic skill they were associated with. Jerome longed to look at all of them and see what he could learn¡­ but there was that problem of work. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Rikan said. He couldn¡¯t stay and browse scrolls, so instead Jerome opted to put his hand on the shopkeeper (in what he thought was a friendly manner), hoping that he could later transform and learn some skills. Surely the gnoll would know a lot, right? Rikan practically pulled Jerome out of the shop. ¡°I get that you don¡¯t want to do this, but you¡¯re going to get us both punished if you keep dallying.¡± You have received the status effect Leash. The farther away you get from the caster (or the designated center) the harder it is to move. What the hell? ¡°This is for your own good,¡± Rikan said. ¡°You¡¯re going to get over this squeamishness and then you¡¯re going to become a productive scientist again. I don¡¯t want you respawned because of this one little issue.¡± Jerome felt his stomach drop. His options were killing his ¡®friend¡¯ Rikan to break the spell, thus drawing the attention of the entire city, or going and doing whatever job had been brutal enough to make the real Nakat leave town. Rikan walked forward quickly and Jerome felt the air around him turn suffocating. Staying still felt wrong, going away from Rikan felt even more wrong¡­ the only thing that felt right was to follow. If the gnoll could cast this kind of magic, who knew what else it had up its sleeve? Jerome put his hand on Rikan¡¯s back so he could transform and steal its skills later, but that didn¡¯t help his current situation. This was going to be a long day. Chapter 16: Soul The guard was physically imposing, and Jerome saw that it was level 15. He gulped. There was no way he would be able to fight a level 15 guard. He couldn¡¯t even think of an excuse to lay hands on it and add it to his transformation queue. ¡°Hey Rik, hey Nak.¡± It waved at them lazily. ¡°Cutting it a bit close today, aren¡¯t you?¡± Its manner, despite what seemed to Jerome to be an intimidating level, wasn¡¯t that of a highly trained soldier. It was closer to that of a mall cop. What level were their elite forces? ¡°You know how it is, getting up in the mornings,¡± said Rikan. Covering for them as usual. Rikan seemed like he might be a good friend if he wasn¡¯t a) a gnoll, and b) standing in the way of Jerome accomplishing his goals. Jerome thought about running, but he remembered the vast feelings of wrongness that would be incurred by trying to move away from Rikan. The only way he knew to escape that magical leash was to kill Rikan, and there was no way he was going to do that in front of a level 15 gnoll. Why was he here? Knowing that might allay some of his fears. As they walked into the building he looked at the skills he inherited from Nakat, trying to figure out what exactly his job was. He found two: Soul-crafting Level 9 (Level 0, 0%) Surgery Level 4 (Level 0, 0%) Soul-crafting and Surgery. Interesting. The second one he understood ¡ª surgery was just cutting into people to fix them ¡ª but the first, soul-crafting¡­ what the hell could that mean? It was clearly something Nakat did a lot; Jerome only got half of Nakat¡¯s skill and it was still level 9. Jerome must have hesitated or stopped walking or something, because Rikan turned around and put its hand on his back comfortingly. ¡°Once we figure this out we can go back to how things were. It¡¯s just one more experiment. You did it before, and that¡¯s the whole reason we have this city, this kingdom. The reason our race can be unified. They reason we¡¯ll be elevated to the status of a Great Civilization. Now you just have to do it again. Give us the keys to their power and make them a part of us.¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Rikan opened another door and Jerome stepped through it. In the middle was a stone table, fused with the floor as if it had been pulled up from the very earth. Stark white stone covered with stains of brown. Off to the side was a tray covered in scalpels of various sizes. Surgery. Two other gnolls were in the room. Both beefy level 9s with clubs. One carried an oversized set of keys. More guards. ¡°You sure took your sweet time today,¡± one of them said. Rikan stared it down, despite being clearly no match for it in a fight. ¡°Science can¡¯t be rushed.¡± The guard averted its gaze and tried not to cringe. ¡°Get today¡¯s subject,¡± Rikan commanded. The two guards obediently filed through a second door, which they left ajar. Inside was what looked like a prison. Through the door came a cacophony of human voices, each in various shades of grief and misery. A key clinked in a lock and parts of the chorus died out while others got louder. The one that was loudest, the one that stuck out the most, was that of an older man. ¡°Take me,¡± he said. ¡°Take me, take me. Don¡¯t take my daughters. Please, take--¡± A blow cut him off. Jerome glanced nervously around, trying not to give away any of his feelings. How did gnolls show feelings? How did they hide them? Did gnolls have feelings? Rikan clearly did, of at least a limited sort. More importantly, how had he gotten himself here? Why had he chosen this gnoll, out of all the possible gnolls in the town, to impersonate? If he had just made another choice he could have been far away from here, ignorant of whatever happened in this building. Blissful. There was a feminine scream, a blow, a dragging of skin on stone, and then a clink of keys in a lock. ¡°Careful,¡± said a gnoll¡¯s voice. ¡°We¡¯ve only got twenty more.¡± ¡°Nineteen. One killed itself. Grew claws ¡ª that was its unique ¡ª and slit its own throat.¡± The two gnolls came back with a girl, dragging her backwards so her bloody heels scraped the floor. She was hoisted her face-up onto the table with little care for any bruising that the action might cause to her naked, unprotected body. Then they took five thick leather straps and wrapped them across her, one at her neck, one at her chest, another at her hips (which had extra loops to hold her wrists) and two more over her legs. The straps attached to both edges of the table, and when the guards tightened the straps it held her flat against the stone, unable to move. She offered little further resistance. She was about Jerome¡¯s age, with skin like dark sand, terrified green eyes, and a thin fragile frame that had known hardship. Rikan placed a scalpel in Jerome¡¯s trembling hand. ¡°Come on, do it,¡± Rikan urged. ¡°Find her soul.¡± Chapter 17: Purpose Her body was still, pressed against the stone table by thick leather straps. Fear kept her even more rigid, freezing her up and preventing what little physical movement she still had available¡­ but her green eyes pleaded with him. Begged him. ¡°Find her soul?¡± Jerome repeated, trying to buy himself time. Or, perhaps more accurately, delay the inevitable. ¡°I know it¡¯s a hard task,¡± Rikan said softly. ¡°It doesn¡¯t form into a crystal like ours. But I believe you can do it.¡± The crystals, the ones Krystyna had dug out from dead gnolls. The ones he had sold for so much gold. They were souls? The king was buying up souls? ¡°Why do we need their souls?¡± Jerome asked weakly. ¡°Nakat¡¯s gone nuts,¡± muttered one of the guards. ¡°Can¡¯t even remember his own discoveries.¡± Rikan shot the guard a glare, which shut it up. ¡°It¡¯s okay to be nervous.¡± ¡°What if they don¡¯t have souls?¡± That was what the World Government said. No souls. The theists had been proven wrong, proven dangerous, and then crucified. That¡¯s how much the government disbelieved in souls. ¡°They respawn,¡± said Rikan, ¡°just like us. The Great Civilizations, they don¡¯t see it. They kill the humans, thinking they¡¯ll go away, but the humans just keep on respawning. That¡¯s proof enough of souls. Maybe it doesn¡¯t form in a crystal, but it has to form somewhere. And once we find it, we can control it. Harness it. Protect them and keep them from being taken by the Great Civilizations.¡± The way Rikan talked he made it seem so innocent, almost like they were helping the humans. Doing them a favor.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. That was why, for one moment, Jerome was able to ignore the girl¡¯s fearful whimpers, her panicked eyes, and press his scalpel down through the sandy dark skin of her stomach. Screaming, agonized screaming. There was no anesthetic here. In the holding room several prisoners began wailing and crying, leading a guard gnoll to slam the door. Red blood seeped through the small cut, making the girl¡¯s mortality seem very real. Jerome pulled his hand back. He couldn¡¯t continue. Rikan sensed his hesitation. ¡°You¡¯re the one who said we had to try it while they were alive, then while they were conscious. That the soul might be escaping at the moment of death, or of sleep.¡± The blood was red. It was red and seeping slowly from her stomach onto the table. Her screams turned to whimpers as the sharp pain of the scalpel receded and calmed into the dull ache of a wound. He couldn¡¯t let this continue. He had to save them. Would you like to accept the quest ¡°Save the Gnoll¡¯s Prisoners¡±? Conditions: Rescue the prisoners from the Gnoll capital and escort them to safety. Rewards: 37,000 EXP This was a powerful purpose, one that welled up deep inside him and touched the core of his being. To not act would deny a part of his humanity. And yet there was the level 15 guard outside. There were the two level 9 guards in here. Rikan¡¯s Leash held him effectively in place. Then there was an entire town full of gnolls standing between him and the gates, trying to strike down both him and his entourage of twenty helpless prisoners. Proof of that difficulty was in the reward: 37,000 EXP. Getting all three items for Krystyna was 1,500 EXP and would give him a level. 37,000 EXP¡­ if completing such a quest were possible, it would shoot his level up into the double digits. He couldn¡¯t do it. There was no way he could do it. Yet. There was no way he could do it yet. He could do this one surgery. This one murder. He could leave, level up, raise his skills. Come back with Krystyna and a plan. It wouldn¡¯t be ideal, but it was something he could do. He couldn¡¯t save all of them ¡ª he couldn¡¯t save this girl on the table ¡ª but he could save some of them. He accepted the quest. And then he, once again, put scalpel to skin. Chapter 18: Keeping His Head Jerome tried to do a shallow cut so she wouldn¡¯t die, but a part of him knew that it would only prolong the inevitable. She would die. He would kill her. Throughout the entire process her screams would echo in his ears. Truth be told, they would echo for long after that. Still, he went for superficial cuts. Ones that wouldn¡¯t kill her, despite the massive amounts of pain she would experience. Pulling the band-aid off slowly instead of ripping it off all at once. Was it cowardice? Was that why he couldn¡¯t do it? Then he heard the first ¡®thunk¡¯ on the roof. A guard cursed. ¡°Not again.¡± ¡°We carry on,¡± Rikan said with forced calm. ¡°We¡¯ve built to withstand this.¡± ¡°Yes, but during an experiment?¡± A glare from Rikan shut it up. Jerome didn¡¯t trust his shaking hands to not destroy the girl¡¯s guts while cutting on her stomach, so he decided to move to another part of her body. But where could he go? Where could he cut that would cause the least pain? As he thought on this conundrum something else hit the roof, this time making less of a thud and more of a splash. ¡°The ockdine been getting more accurate,¡± said the guard fearfully. ¡°Zeroing in on this building.¡± ¡°I heard they recently used an acid payload,¡± said the other. ¡°Vicious rumors,¡± Rikan hissed. Jerome pulled back his scalpel, glad of any excuse. He pretended to study the girl and hoped that the arguing gnolls wouldn¡¯t notice his work had stopped. No such luck. ¡°There is nothing to be afraid of, Nakat.¡± Rikan spoke with the practiced coldness of a government official. ¡°Please continue. You don¡¯t want to waste a subject just because of bad timing.¡± Jerome placed his scalpel on her leg. She tried to squirm away but the straps were too tight. Nothing she could do to stop this.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Nothing he could do to stop this. She moaned in agony, but during the breaks in her cries he could hear yelling from outside. ¡°I¡¯m going to go check,¡± said a guard. ¡°I want to know what¡ª¡± Rikan slapped it. ¡°You will stay right here. You know as well as I do that, aside from the palace, this is the most secure building in town.¡± ¡°Acid,¡± said the guard. ¡°It can eat through stone. It doesn¡¯t matter if the stone was pulled from the earth with magic. It¡¯s still stone. Still vulnerable.¡± ¡°Well then, I guess you better stay right here to defend us.¡± There was another thump, and yelling. Mixed in with the harsh cries of the gnolls were the soft bubbling sounds of ockdine speech and what seemed like a subtle fizzing, both of the latter coming from the roof. Acid? The guard clearly wanted to go outside and figure out what was going on. One even moved to exit, despite Rikan¡¯s protests, but he paused in mid-stride, unable to progress. ¡°You will stay here and guard us. If you must stay in that one spot, then you stay in one spot. You can swing your club at any ockdine that approaches you and hope for the best. But you will obey.¡± Jerome had looked up from his dissection, his ¡°experiment¡±, his reluctant murder to watch the drama and avoid the inevitable, but Rikan pushed his attention back down. ¡°You have to find the soul, Nakat. You can¡¯t let this excitement distract you. If you find it, the humans will be saved. Together our races will be elevated to the status of a Great Civilization. We will have a golden age of peace and harmony.¡± There were more thunks, more yells from outside. The sounds of battle. ¡°They¡¯re serious this time,¡± said a guard. ¡°This is more hits than I¡¯ve ever heard before.¡± Rikan turned his attention from Jerome to the guard. ¡°One ockdine will defeat one gnoll, that is known¡­ but they are on our territory. If we die here, we respawn knowing that our predecessor died in glory. If they die here, their souls are in our hands, and we can do what we like with their respawns. You know this. You¡¯ve seen the dried husks in the basement, forever floating between life and death. It is a hell that they have willingly stepped into by attacking us on land, at our home base.¡± He stopped cutting again and Rikan noticed. ¡°You have to keep experimenting, Nakat. They want to stop these experiments, no matter what. You can fight them by continuing. By continuing this you can save¡ª¡± Fuck all of this. Fuck waiting. Fuck strategizing. Fuck compromising. Jerome had a Quest to accomplish, and he was going to rescue some goddamn humans. He put one hand on the right side of Rikan¡¯s head and another on the left side of Rikan¡¯s neck. ¡°Nakat, what are you doing?¡± it asked. Jerome activated Recoil Burst and the animal¡¯s neck snapped. Chapter 19: Humans are Humans Rikan¡¯s head hung limply to the side for a moment before the body flopped unceremoniously to the ground. Recoil Burst had created a split in the skin in addition to breaking bone; green blood pumped out of the wound in weak spurts. When Jerome moved he found that he was freed from Leash. Both gnoll guards stared at him, standing still, dumbstruck by what they had just seen. Which was good. There was no way Jerome could take either of them in a fair fight, much less both of them at once. He took the opportunity to transform into something that might even the odds. Would you like to transform? * Krystyna (human, level 9, 3 hours left) * Ninuk (gnoll, level 7, 22 hours left) * Rikan (gnoll, level 18, 24 hours left) Only three possible transformations. It appeared that brushing elbows with someone in a crowd didn¡¯t add the person to the list. It didn¡¯t matter, though; he had what he needed. He transformed into Rikan, instantly gaining access to a high Alteration skill level¡­ and the Hold technique. Both guards were now running at him, clubs back and ready to strike. When he applied Hold to them (okay, on his third attempt of applying Hold to them) they stopped in mid-air, center of mass pinned to the spot it had been in when the technique was used. Alteration has risen to level 3. MP drained from Jerome while maintaining the technique, but Rikan had a generous amount of MP as well as a high Connection score (high MP regeneration). Jerome¡¯s version of Rikan could hold the guards for several minutes if he didn¡¯t use any other magic. The downside to this form was that despite the high level his HP, Strength, and Endurance were incredibly low. Everything had been put into magic, a feeble attempt by the gnoll to control its surroundings. An attempt that ended with the crunch of tiny bones. Should¡¯ve been more balanced. One snap of the neck and all the magical power in the world was useless. Jerome kept Rikan¡¯s death in mind as he went about his work. He kept the guards¡¯ positions in mind as he freed the naked girl, worrying with the first strap around her neck. The buckle had been pulled tight by a guard with much greater strength than this new form and he had trouble getting it loose; worse, as he pulled ineffectually on it to try and loosen it up it temporarily tightened, cutting into her throat. Her tear-drenched eyes bulged at this new pain. He could switch to Krystyna¡¯s form. Her strength wasn¡¯t quite as high as guard¡¯s, but it was much higher than Nakat¡¯s. He could probably get it done in her form. But if he did that the guards would be released and he might or might not be able to finish them off. Then he remembered the scalpels. He grabbed one from the plate of tools and started sawing through the straps. Or at least he tried to. The straps resisted cutting, allowing the knife to go only a tiny amount further with each stroke. Curse this form¡¯s weakness! By the time he finished with this his MP would be almost gone. He could kill the guards. That would work. He looked for a piece of damaging magic that could destroy the guards quickly. Surely a feared level 18 mage would have some sort of magic that could cause damage at a distance. Sure enough he found it, attached to some skill called Flows. Crystal Overload Timing: Heavy channeling, with 2 second initial cast time Cost: 15 MP/second (including initial cast time) Scaling: normal Damage: 2 * power(focus) HP/second. Effects: Can cause muscle shaking, limiting actions taken by target Limit: Damage to unsouled creatures is greatly reduced He didn¡¯t know how to read all that, but he figured it would be faster than cutting through the straps, and then he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the guards anymore.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Jerome concentrated on the guard and using Crystal Overload. It took two seconds of intense focus for anything to happen, but when it did it was amazing. The guard he targeted had a brief look of shock and then its whole body started trembling. The damage started off slow but picked up power as Jerome got used to the technique. Eventually the whole body flailed and convulsed. The gnoll would have been writhing on the ground but the Hold technique was still in force. As it was the creature¡¯s legs left the ground erratically and then came falling back down without any muscle control. Its face contorted grotesquely. On the whole it looked like a puppet being jerked around. After a mere ten seconds it flopped to the ground, obviously dead and with smoke rising from its skin. You have learned the skill Flows. +1 Connection. You have touched part of what keeps us together, though in a destructive manner. Flows has reached level 2. Jerome saw that his MP was reduced by about half as much as the spell description had implied. Perhaps that was due to the fact that in Rikan¡¯s form he had a Flows skill of 11. ¡°Please,¡± said the second guard, ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are, and I don¡¯t know what we did, but I won¡¯t do it again. I¡¯m too young to respawn. I don¡¯t want to reset. I¡¯ll do anything. I¡¯ll pretend you¡¯re Rikan. I¡¯ll help you do what you want. I¡¯ll kill the humans if you want me to¡­¡± Wrong thing to say, monster. Jerome sent electricity ¡ª because Crystal Overload was clearly fantasy-speak for electricity ¡ª through the remaining guard until it died. He went over and touched one of them, then looked at his transformation list. Would you like to transform? * Krystyna (human, level 9, 3 hours left) * Ninuk (gnoll, level 7, 22 hours left) Drat. Looked like they had to be alive in order for him to add them to his transformation list. He was left with two choices: transform into Krystyna for her strength but lose the awesome magic powers and the ability to blend in¡­ or he could spend five minutes cutting through these straps. What decided it was the sounds of battle from outside. Would the gnolls still be distracted in five minutes? That would be bad if the gnolls won. It might be even worse if the ockdine broke in. Continued chaos was the only way this worked. He concentrated on transforming into Krystyna and was pleasantly surprised when he found he could do so without viewing the list first. That could be useful in heated battles. The increased strength made removing the straps difficult but doable, and his changed form seemed to make the girl he was saving less scared. ¡°Where did you come from?¡± she asked after he removed the neck strap. ¡°Are you the reason there was pounding on the roof?¡± He undid the latch on the chest strap with a burst of effort and thought about how to answer her question. The truth clearly wouldn¡¯t work, at least not yet. ¡®Oh hi, I¡¯m the guy who tortured you until it was convenient for me to stop. You sure are lucky the ockdine attacked when they did!¡¯ Instead of answering her question he shared some of his plans. ¡°We¡¯re going to get you free. Then we¡¯re going to get everyone else free, and then we¡¯ll get out of here.¡± He pulled off the last strap and she sat up. ¡°We¡¯re going to save my family?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The girl heaved a sigh of relief. Then she looked around. ¡°Where is your father?¡± ¡°Not here.¡± ¡°Your husband?¡± Jerome laughed. ¡°Nope.¡± He hadn¡¯t realized the confusion having a female body might cause. The woman gasped. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we will help you find them. Keep your virtue safe until then.¡± What the hell was this? Women needed rescuing sometimes, but aside from that they were strong and independent and didn¡¯t need no man. Then he made the connection: deep tan skin, green eyes, ridiculously backwards views, and a reason for entire families to be sent to New Australia (the brutal unending war with the World Government). She was Afghan. On earth he might have hated her for being on the wrong side of history, but in this world humans were humans. They had to help each other. He put his hand on her back, ostensibly to comfort her but also to steal whatever her unique power was. ¡°Everything will be okay.¡± She nodded, then moved gingerly off the bed. Blood trickled down her leg. Right, she still had giant gashes in her. It must have taken amazing strength of will to move despite her wounds. She grimaced but didn¡¯t complain. Jerome grabbed the giant ring of keys off the guard¡¯s dead body and then proceeded to free the prisoners. They were equal parts confused and grateful. The girl hastily put on clothes and then hugged her family: an older man, another woman a bit younger than her, and a boy of about eight. ¡°We¡¯re going to freedom,¡± Jerome said. ¡°Who knows how to fight?¡± No one raised their hands except the boy. Drat. They had all been taken prisoner. And, given the density of gnoll patrols, many of them would have been taken prisoner right after coming here. He would have to do all the fighting himself. He laid hands on each one, making an excuse of comforting them. They may not be trained in combat but they would each have a unique skill he could steal once they were out of here. Time to make their escape. The front entrance would likely still be guarded. Even if the level 15 gnoll was somewhere else (something Jerome couldn¡¯t count on) they would be dumped straight into the main street where they were sure to be seen. The back exit it was then. Jerome placed his hands against the wall (there was not yet a back exit) and activated Recoil Burst. Chapter 20: The Flesh is Weak The wall gave a shiver but didn¡¯t budge. Jerome cursed. The way Recoil Burst worked was that he could apply a large impulse at the place where his palms touched. Against a gnoll¡¯s chest it would send them flying. Against a rock it would send it flying even faster, like a bullet. Against a wall that seemed to be made of one single stone, with no weak points, it gave the entire building a little shake but did no other damage. He tried again, just in case. Maybe he could weaken the wall and eventually break through? Maybe he could eventually shake it off of its foundations? No; both of those would take a long time if they worked at all. Would they have to go out the front entrance, with all the danger that entailed? His thoughts were interrupted by a loud buzzing sound. One of the prisoners was tracing his finger along the wall. A fine dust sprayed from where his finger traced and Jerome could see that he was making a door shape. Eventually the man finished his motions and began to push on the stone slab he¡¯d separated from the wall. ¡°You can do that?¡± asked another prisoner. ¡°You can do that and you never thought to, you know, free us?¡± ¡°It only works on the lifeless, so I cannot fight,¡± he replied. ¡°And the noise means it cannot be used stealthily.¡± This man, this glorious man with his glorious power, put his shoulder against the stone and continued his efforts to dislodge the chunk he¡¯d cut off. ¡°You did well. I¡¯ve got it from here.¡± Jerome pushed him aside and used Recoil Burst on the slab. It shot obediently away, creating a nice beautiful opening through which they could all escape. Jerome ran through and motioned everyone else to follow him. He should have looked first. In that street were three ockdine and eight gnolls, all of which were engaged in vicious fighting. Not engaged enough that the newcomers escaped their notice, however. The ockdine bubbled unknown commands and turned towards the humans. The gnolls regrouped and formed a defensive line in front of the humans. One turned towards the escaping prisoners and yelled at them. ¡°Go back, if you value your current form! We can¡¯t protect you out here!¡± What kind of insanity was it going on about? Current form? Protection? The gnolls had just been telling him to slice up a human, and had held all these people captive, and now they were pretending to be friends? Well, no matter. He would use their weird attitude to his advantage. Let the gnolls and ockdine battle it out while he and the other humans ran. ¡°This way!¡± he yelled at the humans while motioning away from the battle. As he said that one of the gnolls broke away from the line and took towards an alleyway. A runner? If news of their escape got out and there was a coordinated attempt to recapture the prisoners¡­ Jerome used Crystal Overload.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. After two seconds of startup time the gnoll started quivering as expected, but the move was significantly weaker than before and cost double what it had previously (that is, the full price instead of the skill-reduced price). He was running quickly through his smaller-than-before pool of MP. Not only did the gnoll lose HP slower than when Jerome was in the mage¡¯s body, but it was able to take struggling steps away. It stumbled into the alleyway with plenty of HP left, breaking line of sight and thus ending the technique¡¯s effects. Over half of Jerome¡¯s MP was gone. Krystyna hadn¡¯t spent any time training her magic skills, and Jerome had only done a little bit, so any magic he used while in her form was going to be of limited effectiveness. The Hold technique should still work, however. Jerome kicked himself for not using it while he still had a line of sight, then started running after the gnoll. If it warned the other gnolls about their escape then no one was getting out of this. To reach the escaping runner he had to pass by the fighting ockdine and gnolls. Could he get around them? Sneak wouldn¡¯t work because they could already see him (and it would take too long). He could only hope that they were too caught up in fighting to notice him. Jerome careened around the corner, catching sight of the runner. He tried to cast Hold, but it only resulted in a slight slow-down, as if gnoll was running through knee-deep water. Before Jerome could try again a tentacle wrapped around his ankle and interrupted his focus. The ockdine lifted him up quickly by its hold on his ankle, hoisting him into the air nine feet, and then slamming him back down onto the street. The entirety of Jerome¡¯s body reverberated with pain, both from the impact at the bottom and the surprisingly damaging, whip-like snap at the top. 38% of his HP was gone just from that one attack. Two more of those and¡­ He couldn¡¯t think about it because he was once again in the air. He tried to reach around to put his hands on the tentacle, to get off a Recoil Burst, but the momentum was just too much. He hit the ground and lost another 39% of his HP. Down to 33%. He had to transform. It couldn¡¯t be any of the humans ¡ª none of them could fight, and it was unlikely that any could take more than two hits like this before dying. There was a chance that their unique power could help, but did he really want to risk everything on that sort of lottery? That left the shopkeeper gnoll, Ninuk. The one who had sold him magical scrolls. Surely it would know some powerful magics, something that could turn this desperate situation around. The ockdine lifted up Jerome for one last destructive blow but only got two feet up before the transformation took hold. Jerome, in his new body and freed from the ockdine¡¯s grasp, flipped through the air before landing on his back. He scrambled to all fours and backed up out of range before the ockdine could figure out what was going on. Time to see what this new body bought him.
Name: Ninuk (Jerome Wallaby) Race: Gnoll (Human)
Level 6 (Level 4, 195% progress) 110/110 HP
110/110 MP 180/180 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 16 Endurance: 14
Agility: 19 Focus: 14
Dexterity: 34 Connection: 14
No. This was horrible. The guy was level 7 (making their average level 6) and it seemed like the only stat it had invested in was dexterity. Jerome had nothing that used dexterity. It got even worse when he went to the new skills. Record-keeping. Calligraphy. In this life-or-death struggle he now had at his disposal Gnollish Calligraphy. The ockdine approached. Chapter 21: Kill-igraphy A level 7 shopkeeper gnoll. That¡¯s what he was stuck with for now. His most powerful transformation was a gnoll highly skilled in Calligraphy. How the hell did it do calligraphy anyways with these giant claws? Jerome looked at his hands and saw that the claws had been filed down. Could this get any worse? The ockdine was momentarily confused by the fact that Jerome had turned from Krystyna, an incredibly attractive human, into an ugly ugly gnoll. Not that the ockdine would have good taste, but the contrast was large by any standards and that gave Jerome a couple seconds. Maybe if he transformed into one of the other humans he could get another couple seconds confusion. And then¡­. There it was. He had a plan. He ran towards the ockdine, seemingly oblivious of their vast power differential. It grabbed at him with a tentacle and he swatted it away with his unclawed hands¡­ but right behind that was another tentacle grabbing his torso and another one grabbing his arm. He transformed into a random human. That freed him from the ockdine¡¯s grasp long enough to do the thing he had planned: laying hands on the creature. It worked. The thing showed up in his transformation menu. As soon as he transformed the ockdine¡¯s eyes went wide. It pulled its tentancles away from Jerome¡¯s slimy new body and backed up quickly. Jerome flung himself forwards at it, wrapped his tentacles around its throat (the thinner area right below the head from which the legs sprouted), and prepared to squeeze until it died¡­ but before the pressure took hold the creatured gurgled out a single word: ¡°branch-brother¡±. Whatever that meant in their twisted octopus-world, in battle it meant that the thing was going to let Jerome kill it. Just like the first ockdine he¡¯d fought, it seemed horrified at laying hands on something that looked just like it. Now all he had to do was finish this strangulation and repeat the process on all three of these ockdine. After that he could kill the gnolls they were fighting and escort the humans to saftey. The ockdine wore a face of pain and betrayal yet it did nothing. It couldn¡¯t even bubble out anything in their weird speech. But that didn¡¯t stop the other ockdine. Jerome felt two strong tentacles wrap around the one he was using to choke, and then they pulled hard, ripping his tentacle away. No, ripping it apart. The bulk of his tentacle flailed on the ground while Jerome stared aghast at the stump. It only took off 23% of his health, but he was bleeding, in pain, and losing health by the second. ¡°You dare take advantage of his branch-honor?¡± said the attacking ockdine. It ignored the three gnolls scratching at it. ¡°You take this face and pervert our order? Whoever you are, you have turned the whole of society against you now. If you were truly an ockdine you would know the shame and horror of such a thing¡­ But you are not ockdine, so you will simply know death.¡± The one he¡¯d almost strangled had its back up against a wall. No, it didn¡¯t have its back against the wall; that was human-speak. Its tentacles pushed against the wall, climbing it via strategic use of the suckers that lined its tentacles. The point, however, was the same ¡ª it was getting as far away as possible from the hostile thing that bore its face. Could he repeat the trick with the ockdine that attacked him? He would find out soon. But first he wanted to learn the basics of ockdine combat. He had the advantage that gnolls were attacking his opponent and not him. His disadvantage: he was half as good at all the relevant tentacle-fighting skills, had no experience or knowledge of what was coming next, and he was already bleeding out and slowly losing HP because of the destroyed limb. Fighting in this body was all about multi-tasking. A human body had to have at least one (preferably two) of its four limbs on the ground to keep balance, and then it could only generate sufficiently damaging force in one of the remaining limbs at a time. An ockdine body could balance sustainably with three limbs on the ground in a tripod arrangement, but it could also hang from one limb or stick to a wall. It could even ¡°sit¡± and have all eight limbs available, although that meant that the range of each tentacle was limited to the arc right in front of it. However many limbs were available for battle, all of them could move separately, seeking out a weakness in the defensive position. Jerome tried to ¡®punch¡¯ with a tentacle, but it flopped with little force onto the other ockdine, which used the opportunity to wrap up the tentacle with one of its own and yank, bringing Jerome off balance.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Being boneless changed the dynamics of battle. The other ockdine knew these dynamics and took full advantage of them. It grabbed Jerome¡¯s outstretched tentacle with two of its own and tore it apart before Jerome could regain his balance, all the while fending off strikes from Jerome¡¯s other tentacles and using the two remaining tentacles to keep the gnolls at bay and minimize damage from that direction. This thing was a battle machine. Sure, it would dry up and become less effective over time the longer it was on land. Sure, it would shrink back in fear and let itself be killed if Jerome transformed into it. But if there was another ockdine nearby who could see through the transformation then that second weakness didn¡¯t matter so much, and since ockdine only fought when freshly cannoned from the water the first weakness didn¡¯t matter much either. These things were killers. He had several gnolls helping right now and he was still losing badly. Time to go in for his trump card: transforming into the ockdine. It would let the other ockdine come back, now that it didn¡¯t have a body double to fear, but Jerome didn¡¯t see much other choice. He transformed. The ockdine he was fighting seized up, cursing. ¡°By the lost crystals! By the diffusion below! I will not fall for your tricks!¡± Despite its resistance Jerome still had a reprieve ¡ª not to mention a new body. He took the opportunity and got his tentacles around the other ockdine¡¯s neck. But it was still fighting back. It cursed the loudly (well, loudly for an ockdine), it fought with less vigor, but it fought. Then Jerome remembered his combination trick. Through every sucker on the tentacles wrapped around the thing¡¯s neck he pulsed Recoil Burst. 46 SP gone in a flash, 2 SP from each sucker that had used Recoil Burst, but it was worth it. The ockdine lost 58% of its HP and wore a terrified look, like it had just seen a thousand future lives flashing before its eyes. ¡°You are powerful,¡± it said with haunted sadness. ¡°After they take you there will be no stopping them.¡± They? Who were they? Probably not the ockdines, since the dying ockdine showed no signs of triumphalism. No matter. He could worry about that later. He applied another round of Recoil Burst and the thing died. Two more left. Two more ockdines and some gnolls, whose ineffective scratchings he had almost completely forgotten about in the heat of ockdine-on-ockdine combat. He reached a tentacle onto several gnolls in order to get their forms for later use, suffering a decrease of about 15% from his HP bar due to their scratches, and then pulled back from that front so they could focus on the ockdine he hadn¡¯t yet engaged. Five on one looked about fair (two had died). He went ahead and grabbed that ockdine¡¯s form for later transformation as well. He was down to about half of his SP, the first time he¡¯d seriously worried about it since that first training session; switching bodies had always been able to recharge him long before it became a worry. However, this tentacle explosion move ¡ª using Recoil Burst from a dozen or more suckers while wrapping up a victim ¡ª could only be done three times with his current SP pool before he had to rest or switch to a new body. The first ockdine he¡¯d faced came crawling back, angry and ready for battle. This time Jerome was ready. He knew the basic rules of the game and he¡¯d thought up a couple new tricks. First trick: channeling Crystal Overload. Well, trying to channel it. The two second startup time meant by the time the damage started the ockdine was already to him. It did interrupt the ockdine, making it more difficult for the thing to move, but it did manage it eventually¡­ and a weak uncoordinated slap from the victim was enough to break the channeling. All told Jerome had taken off less than 5% from the thing¡¯s health bar. Hopefully the second trick would be more effective. Whenever he made contact with the other ockdine¡¯s tentacle, he used Recoil Burst¡­ but only on one sucker. That kept the thing off balance, making its attempts at tentacle combat just as clumsy as Jerome¡¯s. He hoped to get to its neck and use the last of his SP to do explode it, but it didn¡¯t work. With the addition of Recoil Burst as an unbalancing tactic they were evenly matched. Jerome watched his SP ¡ª the source of his fantastic damage ¡ª drain as they blocked and parried each other, five tentacles from each creature pushing, defending, seeking for any advantage. Eventually Jerome gave up on the neck and was able to grab hold of a tentacle. He tried to rip it apart, but it didn¡¯t work. Tentacles were pretty tough, considering they had no bone. He had an advantage, however, and he wasn¡¯t about to give it up. He used a mass Recoil Burst on the wrapped tentacle, using half as many suckers as when he wrapped a throat, and exploded the thing. It was effective. The horror produced by the newly detached arm gave him his biggest advantage yet. While the ockdine stared at its bleeding stump, Jerome wrapped up its neck and squeezed. He couldn¡¯t do a mass Recoil Burst ¡ª not enough SP left ¡ª but he was in no hurry. He let the thing batter him ineffectively with its remaining tentacles while he choked the life from it. And then it was done. The five gnolls ¡ª down to four, actually ¡ª were finishing off the third ockdine. Victory. That¡¯s when he heard the screaming. The pack of humans was exactly where he¡¯d left them, with one brutal exception: in the middle was a giant ockdine with metal-plated arms. Three of its tentacles heldbodies¡­ but not for long. It whipped them against the wall, similar to how the ockdine had tried to whip Jerome into the floor, but these people were not trained. Not strong. They died on impact, snapping at all the usual places. It dropped the corpses and picked up another three. Chapter 22: Tenta-culled No. His humans. The humans he rescued. They were all going to be slaughtered by this gigantic armored octopus monster. It was looking increasingly like the sole purpose of this ockdine invasion was to kill the humans. Why? Why would gnolls subject humans to hellish experiments but then protect them with their lives? Why would ockdine put so much effort into killing humans? He could think about that later. For now he had a monster to defeat. First to distract it so it killed fewer humans. He grabbed a gnoll and tossed it at the giant ockdine, hitting it square in the eye. That¡­ that worked! It took out 19% of its health! Jerome picked up another of the gnolls, whose scratching whittled his own health a bit, and tossed it at the creature. But it was not to be. Now the ockdine knew what was happening and batted away the flying gnoll with little fanfare. It crunched into a wall, along with the humans the ockdine had been holding. One of those humans was the Afghan girl. The one whose flesh he had cut with such hesitation and anguish. The one he¡¯d killed Rikan and those two guards over. Gone. Had it all been for nothing? Had it been worse than nothing, considering the other five humans killed (so far)? This was why he never did anything important. If he put forth effort that meant he wanted it, and if it failed that meant he failed. Like he¡¯d failed here. If he¡¯d never accepted this quest, never accepted purpose, he could still be happy ¡ª well, maybe not happy, but he wouldn¡¯t feel this. Once he accepted a purpose that meant he had to work at it. If he slacked off, that mattered. If he made a bad choice, that mattered. That was the price of purpose. Everything he did mattered. And when the purpose came apart violently like this one just had¡­ No time for thinking. If he thought too long right now then more humans might die. First, deal with his low SP. He had 5 left, barely enough for anything, so he transformed into his last fresh ockdine body. Then he grabbed another gnoll by the hind legs and dragged it behind him until he got close enough to the armored ockdine to execute the move he¡¯d planned. He swung the gnoll towards the thing¡¯s eyes and released. It blocked, of course, but the block created an opening for Jerome. He wrapped five of his tentacles around one of the giant¡¯s tentacles and used Recoil Burst, dismembering it.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. The thing was at 63% health. He just needed three or four more critical hits like he¡¯d just scored and this thing would die. However, it was giant, it was wearing armor, and it was incredibly skilled. Jerome would get exactly one more surprise attack in: when he transformed into the giant¡¯s form. Best to wear out this current body first, using its remaining HP and SP in order to hurt the giant as much as possible. The remaining life didn¡¯t last long. The giant slammed an armored tentacle down on Jerome, making two of his smaller unarmored tentacles go squish and bringing down his health dramatically. He needed to transform. Giant ockdine time. Of all the forms he¡¯d taken so far, this one felt by far the most powerful. He towered over everything else except the other armored ockdine, his head almost coming up to the roof of the buildings. The armored plating transferred over, making the top of each tentacle strong and durable while letting the suckers on the bottom do what they needed to do. Every time he transformed like this it caught the ockdine by surprise, and for many it completely took them out of the fight, but for others it only incapacitated them for a short time before they were ready to fight again. Jerome could tell this one would be the second type. That meant he had to act fast to get his hits in. He wrapped up several tentacles and used Recoil Burst simultaneously. That took out 11% of the thing¡¯s HP, but didn¡¯t destroy any tentacles outright. It hadn¡¯t been a focused enough attack, and the armor blocked a certain amount of the damage. He used Recoil Burst a second time, but the ockdine had already disentangled many of its limbs and so the second attack only did 5% damage. This type of attack had diminishing returns with the armor and with the ockdine¡¯s skill at manipulating its arms, and Jerome only had enough SP for one more round. It wrapped its tentacles around Jerome¡¯s neck. So this is what it felt like. His head was like it was a balloon getting inflated past its breaking point. His tentacles were losing their connection with his brain, making them seem distant and erratic. He flailed about with his tentacles as best as he could, trying to land another Recoil Burst, but it was useless. His HP drained at an ever-increasing pace. Time to transform again. He became a gnoll and was released from the tentacle¡¯s grasp, but he dropped several feet to the street. As a gnoll the giant ockdine looked even more terrifying. He¡¯d only seen it as a lesser ockdine and then as the giant itself, both greater in stature than a typical gnoll. He would be destroyed. A tentacle swept him into a nearby wall, nearly crushing him despite the ockdine not even bothering to grab on. 74% HP gone in one blow? Was this how he would die? Then he heard the sweetest sound possible: gnoll voices yelling at the top of their lungs. A bunch of them. They must have had some sort of magic user with them because the ockdine twitched and recoiled before they even came into sight. When they did come around the cornerin their rough armor, spears in hands, the creature cut its losses and retreated. On its way out it snapped two more humans and then retrieved the ockdine corpses that Jerome had created. The battle was over. The gnolls cheered, but Jerome couldn¡¯t cheer with them. Eight humans had been killed. Eleven were cowering in the courtyard, ready to be taken back by the comparatively kind gnolls. No rescuing had occurred. And he was at 26% health, surrounded by armed and highly skilled gnolls, wearing the body of one of their comrades ¡ª one whose corpse was just twenty feet away, waiting to be discovered. Chapter 23: Rayi of Hope His rescue had failed. Not only had it failed, but it had gotten eight humans killed. It might even get him killed, if the victorious gnoll army noticed that he shared a face with one of the nearby corpses. The gnolls were rounding up the remaining humans, taking them back to the prison they¡¯d so recently escaped. After this they¡¯d probably bump up security. He¡¯d gotten lucky several times and was still barely alive with a failed mission; he couldn¡¯t make a dent here until he was much stronger. Time to escape. That¡¯s when something caught his eye. Redemption. The Afghan boy was pressed up against the wall, eyes darting back and forth¡­ right by the corner. If he could disappear around the corner with the boy, he could save at least one human. He would be a hero, even if on just a small scale. The father and remaining sister huddled together, crying. Jerome vowed to rescue them. He vowed to avenge their loss. Would you like to accept the Qu¡ª He accepted the quest without reading. It would just be a technical explication of his thoughts anyways. Walking over to the boy was tense. He had to pretend to be normal, whatever normal was for a gnoll in this situation. He was just going to go help round up prisoners. The only difference: when he got to the boy, instead of herding him to the prison, he grabbed his collar and pulled him around the corner, dragging him a bit. When they were around the corner and safely out of sight Jerome turned the kid around. ¡°I¡¯m here to help. You might not believe me, but I¡¯m human.¡± The boy was clearly scared, but there was a cunning gleam in his eyes, like he was used to thinking under pressure. ¡°Are you the one that kept changing shape?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Can you teach me?¡± ¡°I can teach you how to fight, but we have to get out of here first. We¡¯re going to pretend you¡¯re my prisoner until we get to the gates. Then we¡¯ll make a run for it.¡± Jerome pushed the boy in front of him roughly, just rough enough to make it clear to anyone watching that the boy was his ¡®prisoner¡¯, but not rough enough to actually make him lose balance or get hurt. ¡°I already know how to fight,¡± the boy responded with confidence. ¡°Yeah right.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got the best kill record on my squad.¡± What the hell? Kill record? Squad? ¡°You¡¯ve killed people?¡± ¡°Thousands,¡± he said confidently. He seemed to loosen up at talk of his past murders, forgetting the horrific violence that he¡¯d just seen. No wonder this kid and his entire family was in here! Jerome suddenly reconsidered the wisdom of helping them. Thousands killed by an eight-year-old? He knew the terrorists fought dirty, but wow! The kid kept talking as if nothing was wrong. He was even getting animated. ¡°I like to run around a corner and surprise them. Pump them full of bullets before they even know what¡¯s happening. And then I make fun of them because it¡¯s shameful to be killed by a child.¡± Jerome considered bolting then and there. ¡°Abu-zar has a better kill/death ratio though. He plays more defensively, and his internet connection is better. His neighborhood hasn¡¯t ever been bombed.¡± Oh. The kid wasn¡¯t a psychopathic mass murdering terrorist child soldier¡­ he was a gamer who liked online shooters. Jerome laughed from relief. ¡°What¡¯s funny? My KDR is still greater than one, and the chaos my tactics bring gives us¡ª¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Nevermind,¡± Jerome said, trying to get back to a serious escorting-a-prisoner face. ¡°Let¡¯s just concentrate on getting out of here. No chatter.¡± ¡°Roger.¡± This kid would be a good addition to the team. Tactical knowledge. Enthusiasm. Jerome inspected him to get his name: Rayi. Rayi walked with exaggerated affect, looking exactly like a cartoon prisoner. At least this trip hadn¡¯t been all for nothing. He¡¯d failed, yes, and he¡¯d caused some deaths¡­ but many of those deaths would have happened anyways, either in dissections or in the ockdine attack. He had, after all, taken out two of the ockdine and distracted the giant one. If it hadn¡¯t been for him, the ockdine might have broken in to the jail cell and killed all the humans. And now here was Rayi, a concrete reminder that his actions had created some good in the world. Rayi would train with them, level up, and take part in the eventual rescue. He¡¯d reunite with his father and sister. They¡¯d hug and cry, they¡¯d say how happy they were at what Jerome had done, they¡¯d give him a sweet sword or piece of armor, and¡­ no, that last part was just in games, not here. No sweet armor for this. The other two things might happen, but he already knew it wouldn¡¯t be a pure celebration. They¡¯d lost a sister already, in a way that Jerome couldn¡¯t help but blame himself for. Before any of that could happen, though, he needed to get them out of this town. They carved through back streets, trying not to look lost or out of place. Just a gnoll guard taking their human prisoner out for a stroll. The ockdine attack seemed to work in their favor, since anyone who might have cared about town security was on high alert for an altogether different type of threat. One did stop him, a level 8 with a club and a distracted, panicked look. ¡°Where are you going? The humans go the other way.¡± Time to bluff. ¡°The king needs this one.¡± The gnoll didn¡¯t quite know what to make of that lie, but it seemed to be in too much of a hurry to really bother. ¡°Your head if the tiny one goes missing.¡± It shrugged and ran off. ¡°That¡¯s so cool. Being anyone you want¡­ How does it work? Do you get their memories too? Can you be ten people at once? Could you be a dinosaur? Could¡ª¡± ¡°No memories, no multi-people, no dinosaurs.¡± Jerome really didn¡¯t want to explain his skill right now, so he turned the question around on Rayi. ¡°What¡¯s your unique skill?¡± ¡°It¡¯s stupid. It doesn¡¯t even work right.¡± He inspected Rayi again and sought out the unique skill. Portal Hands. ¡°How does it work?¡± ¡°I wanted to grab the keys from the guard, so I used Portal Hands to try and grab his keys¡­ but I miscalculated and instead of grabbing the keys I grabbed his elbow. He caught my hand and wouldn¡¯t let go, and I couldn¡¯t move or pull it back, and he said if I tried that again I¡¯d be next for the experiment.¡± That explanation was missing a lot of context. Jerome steered them to a deserted alleyway, where they could practice without being spotted, and said, ¡°show me. This may be useful.¡± Rayi punched the air in front of him with his right fist. Midway through the punch his arm disappeared at the midpart of the forearm¡­ then reappeared a half second later ten feet away, delivering what would have been a solid punch if anyone had been there. The fist uncoiled and the fingers flexed, grabbing the air, all while still ten feet away. ¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s stupid. I can¡¯t even control where it goes very well. I meant to punch a foot to the left.¡± ¡°So? You can get better!¡± ¡°And when I¡ª¡± Midway through the complaint Jerome was already transformed into Rayi¡¯s form, eagerly playing with the new ability. You have learned the skill Portal Hands. This was going to be amazing. ¡°You can¡¯t bring anything through,¡± complained Rayi. ¡°No weapons, so you just have to slap them. You can¡¯t bring anything back either. It sucks. I¡¯d rather have magic. Or a gun.¡± Jerome ignored Rayi and instead tested out the limits of his new power. Once the portal was created it seemed to be a set length and direction. Moving his arm up moved his hand up. Swinging his arm back and forth didn¡¯t have the dramatic impact he had hoped for: instead of his hand flying wildly as if he had a ten-foot arm, it moved the same distance it would normally¡­ just ten feet away. He could turn around and have the hand end up behind him. With proper technique he could even scratch his own back. The split always seemed to happen in the middle of his forearm, meaning his wrist and a little over half a foot of arm were on the other side of the portal with his hand. Good to know. The cost was minimal ¡ª 3 SP ¡ª but it seemed that SP recovery stopped while he had a portal out. So there were some limitations on how much he could use it. Then Jerome tested the most important part. He put his portaled hand against the stone and activated Recoil Burst. It worked! Well, these buildings were ridiculously sturdy, so it didn¡¯t have much of an effect, but Recoil Burst had activated on his distant hand. Now he knew how they were going to get through the gate. Chapter 24: Gate Expectations The combination of Recoil Burst and Portal Hands was insanely powerful. It essentially turned Recoil Burst into a ranged attack ¡ª albeit one with limited accuracy that took some time to pull off and endangered him while he was doing it. Still, it was going to be pretty amazing. He briefly considered going back right then and there to rescue all the prisoners, but thought better of it. He had little control over this new skill yet and, based on how the giant ockdine had reacted, the gnoll mage had some magics even more powerful than Rikan¡¯s. He¡¯d only killed Rikan through a very lucky sneak attack. Escaping for now was the right decision. Jerome decided to test one more limit of the new move before continuing with their escape: putting both arms through different portals. The first one went through, but when he tried to create a second portal he got a message: Limit of one portal at a time this skill level. When he tried to double-up limbs on the same portal he got a variation of the same message. Rayi interrupted his experiments with excited chatter. ¡°If you¡¯re me, does that mean I get to be you? Did we switch? You can have my power if I have yours. Do you think if I die I can respawn with a different power?¡± ¡°No respawns. No power switches. No¡ª¡± ¡°The gnolls said they respawn, so we should respawn too.¡± ¡°No respawning for humans.¡± ¡°No. My sister is respawned somewhere. And she died in battle so she was basically a martyr so she¡¯s gonna be awesome when she respawns, like she¡¯s gonna have an even cooler power and then¡ª¡± ¡°Shut up,¡± Jerome said harshly. He didn¡¯t want to think about the girl getting snapped in half. He didn¡¯t want to listen to this kid¡¯s weird religion-talk. ¡°I don¡¯t even know why you¡¯d want a bunch of girls after you die. So gross. I want exploding hands and shape-shifting like you have. Were you a martyr? Did you fight the World Government?¡± ¡°I said shut up.¡± The government propaganda videos hadn¡¯t been lying about kids. ¡®Kids: they¡¯ll distract you from the pursuit of pleasure.¡¯ Still, there was some primitive longing, hidden deep and not yet rooted out, to provide protection. Whenever an antiquated game quest had tasked him with saving someone¡¯s child or younger sibling he felt some stirring and wondered what the old systems of kinship had been like. Whenever he saw someone who looked like him, Jerome had a flickering forbidden thought: are we related? Do I have a brother, or a sister? Rayi looked at him with this strange look. It wasn¡¯t resentful or angry at all, just¡­ hurt. Dammit. The kid wasn¡¯t even trying to manipulate him, to earn his protection. It came as naturally as breathing to him. It didn¡¯t matter. Jerome had already made the decision to save someone before all this emotional crap, so he could safely think of his current actions as not being manipulated. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s escape.¡± Jerome had transformation access to several of the gnolls from the previous battle, so he transformed into the higher-leveled one (level 8). The exit still had two guards on it and now they were hyper-alert. One was even looking inwards, protecting the exit. It was a futile gesture when it came to ockdine, who could just crawl up walls, but it was hard to truly internalize fighting something with a different form. Which was exactly what Jerome was counting on. His magic was weak enough that he couldn¡¯t expect to use Crystal Overload or Hold effectively this battle. However, with Portal Hands he could definitely freak out the guards and cause some chaos. One was standing next to the wall, looking inwards, with his head temptingly close to the stone. Jerome would walk out around the corner, just enough to get line of sight, then Portal Hand to the side of its head and smash it into the stone with Recoil Burst.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. That was the plan. When he used Portal Hand it ended up just a little bit behind and to the right where he intended. No matter: he would adjust. That¡¯s when he discovered another limit: a tiny, almost-imperceptible delay between impact and feeling, between thought and action. Maybe an eighth of a second each way. He¡¯d been so enamored with the ability before that he hadn¡¯t noticed, but now, using it in earnest¡­ well, it should still be good enough, as long as he didn¡¯t try to thumb-wrestle the guards. He had to get in, hit them with a Recoil Burst, then get out before the guard had a chance to react. He adjusted his arm, trying to get it to the side of the guard¡¯s head, but the floating hand somehow caught the guard¡¯s attention. It turned enough to swat the hand away, landing a hit that knocked Jerome slightly off balance. Time for subtlety was over; he probably wasn¡¯t going to get a hit knocking the gnoll¡¯s head against the wall like planned, so he opted for the simple and easy attack. He put his Portaled hand on the gnoll¡¯s back and used Recoil Burst. That launched the gnoll towards Jerome. His Recoil Burst wasn¡¯t leveled up yet and the gnoll form cut his skill level in half, so the gnoll only left the ground for maybe half a foot, but it was stumbling for quite a while. That left an opening. Jerome ran forward, recalled his hand, and wound up a vicious claw attack. The gnoll had only barely recovered its balance when Jerome hit it ferociously, momentum and buildup allowing him to take off a good 37% of its health in one swipe. A good start, but now there was a problem: the second guard. It was running towards Jerome. He couldn¡¯t take on two guards at once. Without tricks he might not even be able to take down one. The guard he had clawed was just now recovering. Couldn¡¯t have that. Jerome put two hands on its chest and used Recoil Burst as hard as he could, making sure to stagger his feet in a strong stance, press them into the ground, and fully activate both of his hands in order to get as much of an effect as possible. It worked, launching the guard six or seven feet backwards. Poor guard. It hadn¡¯t known what was happening this whole time. Now, however, the tables were turning. The second guard was rushing at Jerome and he didn¡¯t have time to react. The full force of its running claw swipe would hit Jerome in the side, doing massive damage. That is, if the guard wasn¡¯t thrown off by a small disembodied fist punching it in the head. ¡°Heck yeah!¡± Rayi yelled. ¡°I got¡¯em!¡± Now instead of doing massive damage with a claw attack the surprised guard merely barreled into Jerome, knocking them both onto the ground. He took 23% damage, which made him curse his true form¡¯s continued weakness. When he got back to camp, he was going to train hard. Until then he had to survive, and he had a gnoll laying on top of him. He was able to get his hands into position and Recoil Burst the thing off of him, at least partway. It bounced up, which let Jerome get his feet between them and do a four-point Recoil Burst. That was effective. The thing tumbled backwards, all the while being hit sporadically by the inaccurate but insistent Rayi. That one was distracted for now. The other gnoll was getting up and preparing for another attack. Jerome had a solution for that. He used Portal Hand to perform a claw attack on it, and then¡­ his wrist locked up. The thing had anticipated the move, absorbed the claw attack, and then caught Jerome¡¯s hand and arm and put him into a wrist lock. From eight feet away the gnoll twisted Jerome¡¯s wrist, pushing him painfully and helplessly onto the ground. Talk about a downside to this move. Maneuvering out of a wrist-lock was normally hard (he presumed), but because of the eighth-of-a-second delay he had zero chance. He couldn¡¯t even try to kick the legs out from under the gnoll ¡ª it was just the gnoll and his cruelly twisted wrist. He tried using Crystal Overload, but the pain interrupted his channeling. That tactic was out. It laughed evilly, then dragged a sharp claw along the soft underside of Jerome¡¯s exposed forearm. Jerome bled from a distance, an unnatural and terrifying phenomenon. He had to get out. He had to transform. There is a split in your soul. You have two options: * Wait until you put yourself back together * Transform now and permanently dissociate your right arm. What? This was a horrible message. He had a soul? Portal Hand split it? And Transform required the soul to be in one piece or he lost one of his body parts forever? He wasn¡¯t sure which of these revelations shocked him most, but he didn¡¯t have time to dwell on the philosophical implications. What he did have to worry about was his HP. Each rake of the gnoll¡¯s claws brought it down a relatively small 9%, but the bleeding¡­ the bleeding would kill him soon. There was nothing Jerome could see ¡ª save permanently losing his right hand ¡ª that could stop it. Maybe Rayi could save the day again? No. The second gnoll had regained its balance and was facing the small boy. If Jerome didn¡¯t act, Rayi would be dead soon as well. Time to make a decision. Chapter 25: Risk It All Jerome was held down by a long-distance wrist lock, his soul was separated so he couldn¡¯t transform without a horrible cost, and the kid he was trying to rescue was about to be mauled to death. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Jerome broke his own wrist. Every instinct, every impulse told him not to do it. Wrists don¡¯t heal quickly, and the ability to transform doesn¡¯t make one immune to pain. Wrist locks are designed so that pulling against it is so painful, so obviously harmful to the joint¡¯s long-term health, that the victim would rather just stay there. But he did it. He yanked hard and the delicate tendons in his wrist gave way. The many small bones of his wrist pressed and ground against each other in an unnatural manner. The whole process was much more complex and painful than a simple snap. Then he just kept on pulling, ignoring the pain as best he could and watching his HP dwindle. It was a hellish life-or-death tug of war. If he could get his hand free he could portal it back and transform. If he couldn¡¯t, he would die in pain. Rayi faced a charging gnoll twice his size, so he wouldn¡¯t be any help. Except he was. Despite the beast barreling towards him, Rayi portal punched the one that was killing Jerome. Even after the gnoll ran into him and took him down to the ground, Rayi send another portal punch, knocking Jerome¡¯s gnoll in the jaw. Madman. The kid was a madman. Only an insane person would sacrifice themselves that way. Was it because Rayi was religious and thought he would respawn? Whatever the reason, it worked. The gnoll let go of Jerome¡¯s wrist long enough that he could pull it back through the portal. He had less than 5% HP left when he transformed into a different gnoll, soul intact and with a body as good as new. Lesson learned: don¡¯t use Portal Hands frivolously or it could cost part of his soul.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. His next use of it was anything but frivolous. Rayi was dying. He was at 44% of his HP, pinned to the ground, with the gnoll scratching at him relentlessly and tearing off huge chunks of flesh and health. Rayi¡¯s strikes, on the other hand, were doing practically nothing. If Jerome ran at the gnoll to take it down, without risking himself by using Portal Hands, then Rayi would surely die before he got there. So he used Portal Hands. He put his newly-discovered soul at risk. This world was making him an idiot. The first strike was a simple Recoil Burst against the gnoll from the side, knocking it off of Rayi. The burst didn¡¯t take the gnoll very far, however. It was already on the ground and it was able to quickly right itself. Soon it would be back onto Rayi. Jerome sent out a claw strike with Portal Hands. It was a risk. The creature was aware of him now. The beast blocked most of the damage, but it didn¡¯t have enough time to grab Jerome¡¯s hand before Jerome pulled it back through the portal. Clearly Jerome was a bigger threat than Rayi. The gnoll got up, backed away from the boy so he couldn¡¯t be tripped, and prepared to counter the onslaught. In a straight one-on-one fight the gnoll would probably win. If Jerome used his Portal Hands to push on the thing¡¯s chest, he ran a huge risk of losing a part of himself permanently. So he got clever. He Portaled a hand behind the gnoll and then maneuvered it¡­ to the back of the gnoll¡¯s knee. One quick Recoil Burst and the creature collapsed onto the ground, dazed and howling in pain. He hadn¡¯t gotten the hand exactly behind the knee, so the Recoil Burst had been at a bit of an angle, and knees were fragile things. The rest of Jerome¡¯s body caught up with the fight¡¯s location and he leapt onto the gnoll. He slashed at its face repeatedly, taking advantage of its pain and confusion, whittling down its health. It screamed horribly. And then it was dead. It was dead and they were alive. Jerome used Refill HP on Rayi. It was slow because neither he nor the gnoll whose body he inhabited had high Focus or Connection, and Jerome¡¯s low Healing skill was cut in half. But it did the trick. It was only after a good ten or fifteen seconds passed and Rayi was fully healed that they thought to wonder why the second gnoll hadn¡¯t attacked. That¡¯s because it had run off¡­ and was now coming back with three more gnolls. They couldn¡¯t defeat four gnolls. They¡¯d had enough trouble with two. However, the gate was currently unguarded. ¡°Let¡¯s run.¡± Chapter 25.1: Risk It All part 2 Jerome and Rayi dashed towards the gate, desperate to get there ahead of the four gnolls that were sprinting to cut them off. If it was just him, Jerome could have made it no problem. Gnoll-form was incredibly fast when on all fours and he was closer to the gate than the other gnolls. It was Rayi that was the issue. He was running slow, like a human. He was also eight. He might get to the gate first, but the gnolls would run him down soon afterwards. Three of the gnolls were loaded down with weapons, and the fourth ¡ª the one who had fought Jerome before ¡ª knew how to counteract Portal Hand. This wasn¡¯t a fight that Jerome could win, at least not in any traditional sense of the word. Any two of them could take him down unless he had access to an awesome form like Krystyna, Rikan, or an ockdine. The best he could hope for was to delay them long enough that Rayi could get away. The obvious solution, if Jerome wanted to survive, was to ditch the kid and run. Escort missions were hell. But these days Jerome had, for some reason, stopped taking the obvious solution. The obvious solution had been to keep cutting the girl. The next obvious solution had been to run away when the ockdine attacked. The obvious solution after that had been to pretend to be a gnoll and leave the humans to their fates, slipping out of the city with his original Quest complete.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Jerome was a man of easy, obvious solutions. Sure, he had risked his life the second he came into this world trying to save a girl, but back then he was drunk and he didn¡¯t know he could die. Now he made these decisions sober with full knowledge of the pain and death that could come his way. He couldn¡¯t even blame it on the Quest. He might not get anything for the Quest, rescuing just one of the survivors. He didn¡¯t even care about the EXP anymore. This was about rescuing one little speck of hope and innocence from the darkness of the world. Giving it a chance to live on, grow, illuminate. He didn¡¯t do it because of propaganda. The government on earth wanted him thinking about children and the future as little as possible. He did it, instead, because he had some instinct in him, some spark of life that not even the most dreary and degenerate of lives could extinguish completely. He did it because he knew it was right. They met at the gate, the gnolls still thirty feet away. ¡°Run like hell and I¡¯ll catch up,¡± he told Rayi. ¡°Which direction?¡± ¡°Away from here.¡± Rayi looked almost like he wouldn¡¯t do it. Like he would stay and try to help. ¡°You¡¯re level 2, kid, and hurt pretty badly. Let me handle this.¡± Rayi nodded and ran. Now Jerome had to fight for their lives. Chapter 26: Forest Run The first gnoll came in swinging. Jerome dodged its blow then put out a hand and used Recoil Burst to knock it off balance. Off balance was good. That meant it couldn¡¯t run after Rayi, and for at least a couple seconds it couldn¡¯t attack Jerome again. That gave him time to deal with the other three gnolls. The gate itself worked to Jerome¡¯s advantage. It was made so that one gnoll could block it against several attackers. His disadvantage was three-fold: he didn¡¯t have a weapon, all of his forms were strictly weaker and worse at claw attacks than the gnolls he was defending against, and if any one of the gnolls got past he would have to abandon his fantastic fortified position. He backed up, letting the gnolls take a second to feel out the situation. ¡°Why do you let the human escape?¡± one asked him. ¡°Has the kingdom not cared for you well? Do you not want the same for it?¡± ¡°This one must have been raised outside,¡± said another. ¡°I keep saying we should respawn new citizens, especially those who do battle.¡± While the others argued one of them tried to climb up the walls, which Jerome had forgotten they could do. A quick Portal Hand and a Recoil Burst reset five seconds of climbing and the fall did some damage. Hopefully they wouldn¡¯t try that again. ¡°Fighting now,¡± said the leader. ¡°Talking later.¡± Thus it began in earnest. Two attacked one after the other. Jerome dodged the first, but then was hit by the club of the second. He slammed against the wall, dizzy from the blow that had knocked out 16% of his health. It was okay. He still had more forms he could use up. He just had to keep them from getting away. One tried to scramble past him while he was dizzy, but Jerome was able to cast Hold on it to stop it in its tracks. His mana slowly drained away with the spell, but that was okay. He could get more mana. When he did that, however, he let his back be turned to the other three, and the club once again struck him, this time square in the back. He lost 21% of his health and went sprawling face-forward onto the ground. The good part of that was that it showed him which direction Rayi was going; not that he would have needed it, with the gnoll sense of smell being what it was. But it was good to see Rayi getting farther away. The bad part of being on the ground was that his back was exposed to attacks from every single gnoll. Three blows struck in quick succession, one from a club, one from claws, and a third from a saber. Those last two caused bleeding. He was now at 8% health, so he flipped over and transformed in one smooth motion. From his back he was able to see the incoming blows easier. He dodged the next two and even managed to get a kick off into the stomach of an attacker. The third attacker he cast Hold on.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The drain of mana resumed; he could keep the spell going for about half a minute with one of them, or eight seconds with all four. Then he realized his mistake: when he¡¯d switched forms the mana drain from his previous Hold had stopped. That meant his previous channeling of Hold had stopped, and the fourth gnoll was freely chasing Rayi. Jerome scrambled backwards, trying to fend off the two free gnolls in front of him while getting a look at the gnoll that had escaped, but it didn¡¯t work. He would have to turn his back to his attackers if he wanted to do anything to the gnoll that was getting away. He stepped forward and did his strongest Recoil Pulse in order to buy himself some time, absorbing a blow from the second, and then taking advantage of the attacking gnoll¡¯s attack recovery to take it down with a Recoil Burst-enhanced kick to the shin. Now he had the chance to cast Hold on the escaping gnoll. There it was, almost caught up with Rayi. He cast it and¡­ the spell slowed it down, but didn¡¯t stop it. It must be an issue of range. Time to abandon his defensive position. Jerome dashed as fast as he could towards his target. With the Hold slowing it down he was able to catch up quickly and take it down with a claw swipe to the back. It wasn¡¯t dead, but it was definitely hurt. He ran with Rayi. If it had been just that gnoll things would have been great. But then Jerome¡¯s MP ran out, his Holds were released, and he had four gnolls running after him. They¡¯d all recovered from the various attacks he¡¯d sent their way and he didn¡¯t have the stone tunnel of the gate to use anymore. Worse, Rayi was slowing down. Apparently he¡¯d run out of SP. Jerome had a solution for that, however. He switched forms ¡ª he had many available now ¡ª and used Refill SP on Rayi. It didn¡¯t take much to get him back running full speed. The rest of that form¡¯s MP Jerome used on applying Hold to the other gnolls. It only fully stuck on two of them and merely slowed down the rest. That lasted for eight seconds, during which time Rayi was able to get farther away and Jerome was able to get in some cheap blows against one of the completely stuck gnolls. That one wouldn¡¯t be part of the chase anymore. Then something magical happened. The gnolls started to slow down. A quick glance at their stats told Jerome why: they were each down to 10% of their SP or less. He hadn¡¯t had to worry about that much except while in ockdine form, since he kept on transforming so much, but for longer battles and for creatures stuck in one body SP was something to consider and conserve. Jerome refilled Rayi¡¯s SP again and sprinted after him. He caught up quickly. ¡°We¡¯re not safe yet,¡± he said, ¡°but we¡¯re a hell of a lot closer. We keep running until we completely lose them.¡± Of course, there was another thing that might happen: if the gnoll¡¯s low-SP-use speed was still as fast as Rayi¡¯s jog then Jerome might run out of MP (and forms with which to replenish it) before the other gnolls completely ran out of SP. They ran for another fifteen minutes, a game of attrition, stat counters slowly ticking away. Then they reached the plains. The forest stopped abruptly, giving way to flat grassland. Just as abruptly, the gnolls stopped giving chase. ¡°Keep going,¡± said Jerome. ¡°They may have stopped for now, but we want distance between us and them.¡± His words were cautious, but inwardly he was rejoicing. He¡¯d done the right thing. Against all odds, he¡¯d saved someone. He¡¯d mastered new techniques, learning far more rapidly than in his prior years of sloth. And he¡¯d also forgotten Krystyna¡¯s warning to not run through the plains. A warning he only recalled when he saw, flying towards them, a giant pterodactyl. Chapter 27: Wing and Claw The gnolls had stopped at the forest edge. In their city they had giant nets hung between buildings, and the guards had looked at him like he was mad for staying out in the open. Most explicitly, Krystyna had emphasized that he would die a quick and horrible death if he went into the plains. The reason for all of this turned out to be the giant pterodactyl thing that was swooping down towards them. Or, as the people of this world called it, a ptau. What was it about this shape that made people think ¡®pt¡¯? Was it the sound of the victim¡¯s breath leaving them as the beast grasped them up in its talons and prepared to disembowel them mid-flight? Okay, Jerome didn¡¯t actually know how the ptau attacked. Maybe like a pterodactyl? The initial resemblance was striking, but the ptau were twice as big as a human, covered in shimmering feathers, and had an unusually large head for a thing that flew. This biggest distinction between this thing and a pterodactyl, however, was that this thing wasn¡¯t dead and laying in some museum. He tried casting Hold on it, but it seemed to have no effect on the ptau¡¯s flight. Then he tried casting Crystal Overload. The two seconds it took to charge seemed like an eternity as the beast hurtled towards them, but Jerome had reason to hope. Lightning was good against Flying, right? When the spell finally took effect, that¡¯s when Jerome knew they were doomed. It had no effect on the ptau¡¯s flight and almost no effect on its HP. Even if he wasn¡¯t interrupted he would run out of MP before the creature lost even 10% of its health. Why wasn¡¯t it working? His Flows skill level was low, and this form had low Focus and Connection, but surely it couldn¡¯t be that bad. Did the Ptau simply have that much health? He concentrated on the message that was on the edge of his vision, bringing it to the foreground. Ptau are resistant to magic. So this would be a battle of wing and claw. That was bad for one obvious reason: wings fly and claws don¡¯t. No wonder the gnolls avoided the plain. Jerome used the last of this form¡¯s MP to refill his HP and SP¡­ and then the ptau was upon them. He leapt up, trying to intercept one of the wings. That was a mistake. The wings were the thinnest, most vulnerable part, but they were also the most immediately mobile. The ptau was able to simply lift the wing that Jerome had targeted to get it out of the way. If Jerome targeted the wing at the top of its range, the ptau could simply flap it downwards to get it out of the way. It wasn¡¯t all bad. The ptau¡¯s maneuvering had thrown it off of its expected course, leading it to veer sharply away and tumble onto the ground. It pulled both wings into itself and tucked its neck. Apparently rolling on the ground after a botched attack was, if not ideal, something that the ptau had learned to cope with. The ptau quickly righted itself and flapped its wings, creating lift and separating itself from the ground. It kept itself just out of claw range, studying its prey. Calculating how to kill something that fought back. Let it try. It had never seen anything like him before. Jerome used Portal Hands to claw at the ptau¡¯s wing. He didn¡¯t hit exactly where he wanted, but he still did some damage. The thing flapped its wings harder, causing a vicious wind and taking it higher and further away. How intelligent was it? Could it tell that the attack came from the gnoll body on the ground? Better not to give it time to figure it out. He used Portal Hand to get his hand above the creature, palm face-down, then lowered his hand until it rested on the thing¡¯s back. At that the ptau flapped even harder, bringing both of them upwards ¡ª lifting Jerome off the ground temporarily. However, he quickly put a stop to that with a Recoil Burst. The ptau dropped towards the ground, outstretched wings creaking under the stress. Jerome hoped that one of them might burst or something, but he had no such luck. Instead they stopped the thing¡¯s fall before it hit the ground. That was nothing a second Recoil Burst wouldn¡¯t fix. If he could keep the ptau on the ground he might be able to win. However, his next attempt at Portal Hand wasn¡¯t quite as accurate and he portaled his hand two feet above the ptau. He couldn¡¯t reach down far enough to make it happen. There was a frighteningly intelligent glint in the creature¡¯s eye. Was it figuring out the game? It had only lost about 15% of its health. Sure, given its anatomy it seemed unlikely to grab his portaled hand and trap it like the gnoll had, but even so, he had already used his most effective strategies. If it learned, then Jerome might not be able to get off the dozen or more hits that would be required to bring it down.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Enough theorizing. Doubt wouldn¡¯t win battles. Nothing to do but try. Jerome leapt up for a flying claw attack, using Portal Hand halfway through. That gave the attack more momentum, and he happily scored another hit. This one was powerful enough to knock 8% off of the ptau¡¯s health ¡ª his strongest attack yet! The ptau pulled back¡­ was it running away? Jerome tried another Portal Hand + Claw attack, but the creature was now far enough away that success was unlikely. Accuracy of a portaled hand fell off drastically with distance. Sure enough, the attack missed. Was it running away? Jerome hoped so, wished fervently that this problem would just disappear, but it wasn¡¯t to be. After getting some distance and considering its options, the ptau swooped in quickly toward them, trying to avoid getting hit through sheer speed. Jerome¡¯s first attack missed. A claw and forearm swiped through empty air. His second attack, close enough to be done without a portal, hit. It raked across the ptau¡¯s chest, ripping out shimmering feathers and doing some damage but not slowing it down in any appreciable way. Jerome braced for impact but it never came. Had the ptau missed? No, it simply hadn¡¯t been aiming at him. It was heading for a different, easier target: Rayi. The boy let out a yelp as the ptau grabbed him. One arm in each talon, lifting him off the ground and carrying him swiftly away. Right, the ptau was wasn¡¯t a soldier: it was a predator. It didn¡¯t want to defeat Jerome: it wanted to eat. Jerome used Portal Hand to try and grab the boy¡¯s leg. He got lucky and his hand showed up pretty much exactly where he hoped it would. However, the ptau could pick up both of them almost as easily as it could pick up one. Jerome¡¯s feet lifted off the ground, eight feet away from the escaping ptau and three feet below. It did nothing except stretch Rayi¡¯s body, making his cry of fear turn into one of pain as well. Jerome let go and dropped a couple feet to the ground, taking a small amount of damage. He picked himself up and sent a portaled claw to rip at the ptau, but that did nothing to stop its escape. He ran alongside the thing¡¯s flight path, but he wasn¡¯t nearly as fast, even when running on four legs. Even if he could keep up on the ground the flying beast could just go higher and escape that way. There it was. The last of his mission. His salvation. The kid who had sacrificed to save him. The kid who believed irrational stupid things that kept him smiling. He was flying away in a misshapen dinosaur¡¯s talons, screaming bloody murder. If only the thing hadn¡¯t thought to go for Rayi he might have had a chance. If only it had been a dumb beast. If only¡­. That was it. It wasn¡¯t a dumb beast. Krystyna had said ptau were one of the three Great Civilizations. He transformed. It took him a second to find his wings, but when he did¡­ the lift was glorious. He chased after the escaping ptau. Despite his skills being only half that of the creature whose form he inherited he wasn¡¯t burdened down with carrying another being, so he was able to fly a bit faster, gain height a little bit faster. Within half a minute he had caught up. They were only a hundred and thirty feet or so in the air but it felt like a huge distance. It took everything Jerome had to trust this new form and not give in to the vertigo and fear of falling. ¡°Jerome!¡± Rayi yelled against the wind. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re a dinosaur! You said you couldn¡¯t be a dinosaur! This is so fucking cool!¡± Good, he could still understand human speech. He tried to respond but it came out as a vicious caw. Where did you come from? the ptau thought into his brain. Which faction are you? Let him go. The conglomerate¡¯s wings do not stretch this wide. Are you an upstart? Jerome attacked, scratching the ptau with its talons. It was unable to fight back because it was holding on to Rayi. Its wings were needed for flight (and not great for attack anyways), and its beak could only face the front. The boy is mine. Let him go. The ptau knew it couldn¡¯t fight in this position, so it complied. It dropped Rayi. Only then did Jerome realize his error: they were a hundred and thirty feet in the air. The ptau, freed of its burden, turned to attack Jerome. Its first attack took 23% off of his health bar, but he didn¡¯t care. He dove towards the falling boy, hoping against hope to rescue him. Could he fall faster than an unwinged body caught by gravity? Was that possible? He tucked his wings against him, at least trying to minimize the wind that slowed him down. It wouldn¡¯t be enough. But he could use Portal Hand. He stuck out a wing and used the move, hoping to catch Rayi¡­ but it was a foot to the left, and stretching out the wing slowed his descent and sent him spinning, so Rayi quickly passed by. No. This couldn¡¯t be happening. This was supposed to be his redemption for the botched rescue. When Rayi hit the ground he tried to catch himself with stiff outstretched arms. All that did was rip his shoulders from their sockets a split second before the rest of his body crashed into the ground and broke, irreparably. Fuck. No. After risking detection to save the kid. After risking his soul at the gate. After all of that he¡¯d failed the boy just like he¡¯d failed the boy¡¯s sister. Just like he¡¯d failed the other half dozen prisoners that had been broken against the wall. For the first time in his goddamn life he had cared, he had sacrificed, he had tried¡­ and it hadn¡¯t been enough. Jerome crashed into the ground and his life bar went down to 15%, but he didn¡¯t care. He was numb. It was pure self-preservation that made him switch to a fresh gnoll form. The ptau gave no thought to the anguish of its defeated enemy. It was a predator first and an intelligent being second. There was no victory dance, no assurance that Jerome wouldn¡¯t come after it. Jerome was no longer a threat, and it had already captured its dinner. What else was there to do? The ptau picked up Rayi¡¯s shattered, lifeless body with its talons and flew off into the sunset. Chapter 28: Do Not Go Gentle Jerome ran to the opposite edge of the plains unharassed by external forces. However, that did not stop him from suffering. He¡¯d lived his entire life not trying, not caring, and it had served him perfectly well. He¡¯d had a nice thing going. Go to the mandatory citizenship harmony classes. Tweet outrage about the latest harmony-breaking villain. Grab the basic income check. Go home, sit in his chair, drink, watch tv, and play videogames until sleep overtook him. Back then the closest he¡¯d gotten to trying and caring had been the videogames. They¡¯d been the only truly volatile spark in his safe and comfortable existence ¡ª the only thing that dared judge his performance ¡ª but they weren¡¯t destabilizing enough to be banned. Now he¡¯d been well and truly cursed. Krystyna had started it. Her beauty and take-no-shit attitude combined to create a motivation hitherto unknown to him. Then he¡¯d started to enjoy the process of growth. Then he saw people in trouble and wanted to help them. Then he started taking risks. He put his life and soul on the line multiple times. He¡¯d grown to care about someone far above the government-recommended levels. It had seemed so natural, so human. More human than anything he¡¯d ever done. That was what made this inhuman agony so unbearable. The fact that he¡¯d done everything right, he¡¯d done more than he¡¯d ever done in his life, and he¡¯d still failed. He wanted to take the ptau¡¯s form, fly hundreds of feet in the air, and turn back into a gnoll. Then he wouldn¡¯t have to think about this. He wouldn¡¯t have to live with this. Could he go back to the way things were?This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Could he become numb again? He passed from the plains into the forest, long grasses giving way to trees and shrubbery. As his thoughts tumbled he came to realize that there was only one way forward. His concience, awakened, would not easily lie back down. He knew what was right. However, just knowing the right thing and attempting it wasn¡¯t enough. He had fought and bled and given everything he could. He¡¯d risked and sacrificed. It hadn¡¯t been enough. If he wanted to save this world, it wasn¡¯t enough to be a good person. It wasn¡¯t enough to put in a last-minute burst of effort. He needed to become the type of creature that didn¡¯t just have good intentions, but could take those good intentions and turn them into reality. He needed to practice until he could execute unthinkingly. He needed to train until he was a living weapon. He needed to become a monster. Krystyna¡¯s camp was easy to find ¡ª he remembered her scent from when he left, and his gnoll-form nose was powerful. It was a wonder that gnolls weren¡¯t attacking her more often. She was punching a training dummy she¡¯d set up. Sweat drenched her lithe form. Nearby a pile of crystals had accumulated, taken from gnolls she¡¯d killed in his absence. He stepped on a twig and she turned to face the noise. ¡°You¡¯re back!¡± Her face lit up in delight, but only for a moment. She saw his grim expression. She didn¡¯t know what he¡¯d gone through, but she could see that something was wrong. ¡°I finished the quest,¡± he said flatly. He took out the two scrolls and handed them to her. ¡°And the Bag of Holding?¡± ¡°I¡¯m keeping it.¡± Quest Completed (2/3rds) +1000 EXP He knew that he should be cringing and apologizing but he didn¡¯t care. He stared her down. She didn¡¯t complain even though he defied her openly. She was confused at first, since she had never seen Jerome so intense, so focused. So substantial. So formidable. Then she wore that strange look he¡¯d seen in the really old movies, the forbidden movies, right before the main character got laid. Maybe the forbidden movies were right¡­ But he didn¡¯t have time for that. He had a Quest. ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± she asked, grabbing his hand. ¡°This world is a terrible, terrible place,¡± Jerome said bitterly. Fiercely. ¡°And we have work to do.¡± Chapter 29: Becoming Something Else The storm inside subsided, somewhat, leaving Jerome with the clearest focus he¡¯d had in years. He must get stronger. He must raise his skills. He must become nigh unstoppable. Then, and only then, would he be able to rescue the humans from their cruel, torturous captivity. Anything that distracted from the mission was to be tossed aside, or at least postponed. For example, the looks that Krystyna kept giving him despite the ugly gnoll body he wore¡­ those would have to wait. He wouldn¡¯t see more human lives snuffed out because of frivolities. There was a mass of +1 attribute notifications he¡¯d ignored in the heat of battle, as well as some +1 skill level notifications. They were too numerous to count easily, and since his stats were merged with the gnoll¡¯s he couldn¡¯t get a good look at his own personal totals right now. He¡¯d worry about that after he transformed back into his own body. For now he had all the human forms he¡¯d touched: each set to expire in less than a day, each with a unique skill. Skills that he could make his own and use for his mission. He transformed into the first one. You have reached Level 3 in Transform. Intimacy bonuses available. Jerome brushed the message aside. ¡®Intimacy bonuses¡¯ sounded weird and not at all like something that could help with rescuing the humans. What would help: this form¡¯s unique skill. Stormcalling (unique) Timing: Heavy Channeling. Effect grows with time spent channeling. Cost: No cost. Effects: Causes a thunderstorm to form around the user. Limit: The thunderstorm can take a long time to summon, especially at lower levels. The type of thunderstorm can change depending on environment ¡ª temperature, amount of water available, etc. That could be useful. A cost-less skill. Sure, it required heavy channeling, and thus not getting hit, but if he found some sort of protective spell or skill that wouldn¡¯t be a problem. He tried it. When he channeled his concentration was pulled strongly inward, sort of like when he got sucked into a video game, but his focus was a mix of his internal state and the sky above him. He lost track of time. He saw small animals moving in the periphery of his vision but payed them no attention. More important to him were the clouds that formed in the sky. Some were pulled from nearby cloud formations. Others formed in the air, ambient moisture collecting and forming into something visible. Rain fell gently. Then a crack of thunder, which surprised him enough to break the channeling. He¡¯d have to get rid of that reflex if he wanted to use this skill effectively. Still, he¡¯d done it! He¡¯d called a thunderstorm! He wasn¡¯t sure how useful that would be in battle, but it was a nifty skill nonetheless. The ground turned to mud beneath his feet. If only he had a skill that could make storms go away, then things would be great. He saw the messages that had formed while he was channeling: You have gained the skill Stormcalling. You have reached level 2 in Stormcalling. Checking his stats Jerome saw he was already halfway to level 3. That was quick! Such leveling in only¡­ three hours? Three hours? It had taken three hours to summon the storm? The countdown timers on the other human forms didn¡¯t lie. He had been channeling for three hours. Hopefully the other skills wouldn¡¯t take this long to learn. If they did he might not get through all of them. He transformed into the next human. There was no more time to waste. This human¡¯s unique skill seemed more immediately useful. Magic Pulse (unique) Effect: Takes any channeled spell and applies X seconds of it immediately. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.Timing: Immediate Cost: 2x the usual MP cost in MP. 1x the usual MP cost in SP. Limits: High cost. At level 1 can only apply with 3 seconds worth of channeling; at higher levels the range of channeling times increases. Initial cast times are taken into account. Using this interrupts any other ongoing channeling. Magic of any kind cannot be used for five seconds afterwards. Now that was a skill! The applications were immediately obvious. Healing was one. Refill HP and Refill SP were both channeled skills. They were moderate channeling, which meant he couldn¡¯t do anything fancy while using them. He could jog, dodge, and take minor blows, but sprinting or doing any actual fighting was out of the question. With Magic Pulse he could throw emergency heals to himself or a teammate that was in trouble all while continuing his part in the battle. Crystal Overload was another application. He¡¯d only get 1 seconds worth of damage and effect, since initial cast time would eat up 2 of the 3 seconds he got, but that would be plenty. It would interrupt a caster who was channeling something, and ¡ª if he leveled up his Flows skill ¡ª it would paralyze a fighter for 1 second, giving him time to get inside the foe¡¯s defenses. The only trouble was the massive cost. He tried it out. There were no ensouled creatures nearby he wanted to hurt, so he settled on casting it on a nearby tree. It worked! Not very well ¡ª his skill level in Flows was low (2 in this form, although his base skill level was 3), and a tree trunk was not ensouled ¡ª but it still worked! You have gained the skill Magic Pulse. The cost, however, was great. 82 MP gone. 41 SP gone. He¡¯d only be able to use this once per non-caster form, and maybe two or three times while in a caster form. And that was only if he didn¡¯t want to use his MP for anything else, and if his SP wasn¡¯t critical. It was clearly a limited-use tactical move, but it was still one he was glad to add to his arsenal. He tried using it with Stormcalling, hoping to be able to use it to cut down on the massive cast time, but found that using Magic Pulse interrupted the long-term channeling. That combination wouldn¡¯t be much good unless he could somehow figure out to call a storm in 3 seconds or less. Hopefully there were more skills this good buried in his stack of transformations. The next one was interesting but not great for battle. Mood Enhancement (unique) Effect: Enhances an ensouled creature¡¯s emotion Cost: None Timing: Immediate Limits: Can only enhance emotions that are already strongly present. Hard to control. Works by stripping away other emotions, which can be dangerous. He might as well pick it up. His primary emotions right now were determination and a desire to help humans, so no harm in trying it right now. He cast Mood Enhancement on himself. Your mood has been enhanced. Which mood? Which emotions had been amplified and which emotions dampened? The message didn¡¯t specify. Then he saw another set of messages. You are unable to learn more unique skills. You are limited to (2 + transform skill level) unique skills. Currently: 5. Would you like to forget one of your other skills so you can level up in this one? Fuck! It was always something in this world. Always a fucking limit. He punched a tree in frustration, sending waves of pain radiating down his arm. He lost a couple points of HP but the tree looked just as solid as ever. Still, it made him feel a little better. He put both palms against the tree used Recoil Burst, sending it tumbling into the woods. Jerome smiled. Explosions were therapeutic. The World Government had said that violence was never the answer (except against fascists and harmony-breakers), but while he¡¯d been in this world it seemed like violence had been the correct answer almost every single time. Was this entire world populated with fascists and harmony-breakers? Without the World Government¡¯s civilizing force that could indeed be the case. But then again, why would a tree be a fascist? That didn¡¯t make any sense. None of it made sense. Weren¡¯t the Afghans religious fascists? Wouldn¡¯t the correct violence be against them rather than to protect them? And as far as breaking harmony, it seemed that Jerome had been the one doing that the most. The simplest explanation was that the World Government was just as wrong about violence as they were about what women wanted in a man. Violence felt good. The exercise of power felt good. Had this world thrown limits in front of him? Sure. It threw limits in front of everyone. Denying limits, denying reality¡­ that was for losers. Raging against reality was no better. He would train. He would fight. He would make reality his bitch, limits or not. He grabbed a rock and shot it at a tree with Recoil Burst. It ripped through the trunk, causing the upper part of the tree to topple over. Jerome smiled at the destruction he could cause, but then he frowned at the time he¡¯d wasted, first raging and then at soothing his rage with wanton violence. Why hadn¡¯t Mood Enhancement fucking worked? The answer didn¡¯t matter, of course. He wouldn¡¯t be keeping that skill. Time to forget about what was past and focus on the hard path ahead of him. There was work to do. Chapter 30: Things Fall Together Jerome worked through the rest of the human forms, going deep into the night. The timer was a hard limit and he didn¡¯t want to risk sleeping in and missing it. He tried to remember which of the humans had died from the giant ockdine so that he could preserve their skills preferentially, but it wasn¡¯t to be. They were just faceless corpses to him. A horrifying small-scale statistic. The only one he could remember was the Afghan girl. When he got to her he started crying. The Mood Enhancement effect had worn off somewhat, so he could do that. He remembered her screams as he cut into her. Her strength as she stood up from the table despite her injuries. Her joy at seeing her family again. Her dangling from the ockdine¡¯s tentacle. Her hitting the wall, soul and body separating with one sickening crunch. But crying wouldn¡¯t help, so he stopped as soon as he could. He had to move on and do what he could to save the living. Her ability was useless for combat, so he ditched it and turned into another form. In the end he settled on Magic Pulse and Blast Off as the two new skills he would keep. He had hoped to get to level 4 Transform and get another slot for unique skills, but it was not to be; this was a difficult skill to level, and by the end of his transformations he was less than halfway there. Blast Off (unique) Effect: Extraordinarily powerful jump can take the user high in the air. Can be used against walls or angled surfaces to launch outward. Some protection against fall damage. Cost: 15 SP for max power. Scaling: Max power gets greater with higher skill levels. Cost for max power stays the same, but cost for the same power launch decreases with higher skill levels. Cost for any launch never goes below 5 SP. Limit: Less powerful when against soft surfaces. Protection against fall damage scales slightly slower than ability to jump, and is predicated on the user¡¯s ability to pay attention and maneuver freely when hitting the ground. Blast Off would gain him a huge amount of maneuverability. He could extricate himself from groups of gnolls, jump over walls, and maybe even catch some ptau off guard. The protection against fall damage wasn¡¯t bad either. There were some other skills that did tempt him. Death Defy, for obvious reasons. It wasn¡¯t immortality, but it would have let him go to -100 HP before actually dying. The catch was that he would have had to lay there paralyzed until his HP crawled back to 1. Lay there, vulnerable to any cruel gnoll that decided to ¡®make sure¡¯. Lay there while he was buried and suffocation took him past -100 HP. Lay there while his allies got killed one by one. He saw Rayi¡¯s body hitting the ground. He saw the people smashed against the wall. He imagined Krystyna falling to a gnoll blade. No, Death Defy was not the skill for him. Much better to avoid death altogether so he could keep fighting. The others were mostly non-combat skills (like the ability to cut through non-living material) or skills that wouldn¡¯t pair well with the arsenal he was developing. Finally he was able to collapse onto the soggy ground, ten feet away from Krystyna. When he did that he was glad he¡¯d ditched the Stormcalling ability; it only made him uncomfortable. He considered himself lucky that his stormcalling was stopped by the thunder before the effects became even stronger. He slept fitfully and awoke in the early light. Krystyna was up and practicing. She was going on a rampage, using Recoil Burst against anything she could find: trees, rocks, whatever she could find. Experimenting with angles. Experimenting with differential power when using two hands. Then, when she was exhausted, she used Refill SP and kept going ¡ª that ability alone would likely double or triple the rate at which she leveled her skills. It was an amazing sight. The way the sweat ran down her body, coating her clothes and making them hang heavy off of¡­. He made himself think of his mission; he had to train, not gawk at others who were training.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Or he could do both. ¡°Let¡¯s spar.¡± She jumped a bit, his voice catching her off guard and making her latest Recoil Burst sending a rock in a completely different direction than the others she¡¯d shot. Not anywhere close to his head, thankfully. ¡°You¡¯re up.¡± ¡°You¡¯re observant.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right I¡¯m observant. I can see that you¡¯re wearing someone else¡¯s body. A different one than when I went to bed last night. Want to tell me what happened?¡± ¡°I ran into some humans.¡± He really didn¡¯t want to talk about it right now. He wanted to train. ¡°Did you kill them?¡± Was that an accusation? It should have been an accusation, but it didn¡¯t seem to be. ¡°Might as well have.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to have to be a lot more specific than that. If there were bad humans between here and the gnoll city then I should know. And if you went evil I want to know now, while I can still kill you.¡± Her eyes darted to the side as if she wasn¡¯t quite sure she could do it. Or was it a joke? He couldn¡¯t tell. Emotions were¡­ complicated. He told her about the infiltration, the ockdine attack, and the rescue attempt with as little animation as possible, although some emotion broke through despite his best efforts. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot,¡± she said harshly. ¡°Trying to do all that by yourself? Such an idiot. You could have been killed!¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you just threatening to kill me?¡± ¡°That was before I knew what happened! Don¡¯t you know you can die here?¡± He looked into her eyes, trying to understand what she was thinking. ¡°Of course I know. And I¡¯d do it again. I will do it again. I¡¯ll succeed this time.¡± Her eyes quivered and she bit her lip. ¡°You¡¯re a complete and total idiot.¡± She smiled affectionately. ¡°But you¡¯re a different kind of idiot than when you left.¡± ¡°Does that mean you¡¯ll help?¡± She laughed. ¡°Of course I¡¯ll help. It¡¯s better than trying to survive out here alone, forever. And I¡¯ve¡­ started to like you not being dead.¡± That was progress. ¡°Okay then. Let¡¯s spar.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to practice your new moves?¡± She asked. ¡°I saw you learning them last night.¡± ¡°If I don¡¯t learn the basics, I lose. The fanciest moves in the world can¡¯t replace being able to dodge a punch.¡± ¡°Well, there are some damage-absorbing spells I¡¯ve heard of¡­ but your point is taken. Let¡¯s go.¡± She threw a slow punch towards his face and he handily moved his head to the side. ¡°Right,¡± she said. ¡°Your agility and dodge have both gone up. This might be an actual fight now.¡± It wasn¡¯t an actual fight, at least not at first. She let loose a flurry of blows, only half of which Jerome was able to dodge. He responded in kind, but his strikes were slower and she was able to dodge each one. It was close, though. Then he decided to cheat. He jumped back, causing her to circle him carefully. A natural pause in the fighting, which she used to channel Refill SP. He interrupted that with a punch delivered via Portal Hand. ¡°What the hell was that?¡± she demanded. ¡°I¡¯ve got some new tricks,¡± Jerome said with a smirk. He held out his arm to the side and then used Portal Hand to tap her on the opposite shoulder. She turned to look, but he had pulled his hand back to its normal place. A juvenile trick, but it was still funny. And effective. He used Portal Hand to put his palm on the other side of her stomach ¡ª it was pretty accurate at this range ¡ª and use Recoil Burst. She flew five feet to the side, arms flailing, before hitting the ground and rolling into a defensive crouch. ¡°Oh that is definitely not fair.¡± She scowled at him. ¡°You better call an Equality Enforcement Officer.¡± She laughed at that and her face broke into a wide grin. ¡°I think I¡¯m liking this new Jerome.¡± She sighed happily, letting herself fall back on the ground. ¡°God, it feels good not having to be the adult here anymore. And I¡¯m happy you have those abilities. You¡¯re going to use all that unfairness against our enemies, and even in training, when it¡¯s frustrating, it will help me up my game.¡± Not being the adult anymore? Jerome panicked. ¡°You should still be an adult,¡± he said hurriedly. ¡°The more adults the better.¡± She laughed again. ¡°Yeah, yeah. The parent, I should say. I don¡¯t have to be a parent. Now we¡¯re two adults, each of which can take care of themselves¡­ but helping each other out because we¡¯re better that way.¡± Jerome let the silence that followed hang for a while. She seemed to be chewing on some meaty problem and he didn¡¯t want to interrupt. He even let himself stare off into the sky, mind wandering. That stopped when he felt a fist slam into his stomach. ¡°You¡¯re not the only one who can fight dirty,¡± she said with a wink. It was on. Chapter 31: Wrestle and Relaxation The sparring session only wound down when they were both out of MP ¡ª and thus out of ways to restore their HP and SP. That was after Jerome transformed into Krystyna halfway through, boosting many of the relevant skills and giving him a better shot in a straight-up fight. Jerome had definitely fought dirtier, although that was more due to opportunity (and necessity) than anything else. At one point he¡¯d used Blast Off to get his hands on a low-hanging tree branch, pulled himself up, then used Portal Hand to throw punches from there. That ended when Krystyna grabbed his hand in a wrist lock. He yelled at her to let go before he lost his balance and fell, completely destroying his wrist (the wrist was at ground level, but the unusual physics of Portal Hand meant he would hang from the wrist eight feet off the ground). She made him promise not to use that trick again, which he quickly agreed to. From then on it was just creative use of Portal Hands and Blast Off combined with all the basic skills. He didn¡¯t have any other transformations in his queue, so he couldn¡¯t afford using Crystal Overload or Magic Pulse, and using Hold¡­ well, it would drain his MP fairly quickly, and there were limits to how unfair he would get in a sparring session. Finally they both collapsed on the ground, twin bodies five feet apart, all of their bars completed exhausted. ¡°This was such a bad idea,¡± Krystyna said once she caught her breath. ¡°If gnolls find us in the next five minutes we¡¯re screwed.¡± ¡°Nah,¡± Jerome said. ¡°The first gnoll comes in, I grab its form, then refill your SP. No problem.¡± Krystyna considered, then nodded. ¡°Then I¡¯m glad we did this. It was fun, and it was good to see your current limits.¡± ¡°Good to see your current limits too,¡± he said. ¡°They¡¯re¡­ I can¡¯t believe I have all these powers and we¡¯re still about equally matched.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been in the game a lot longer than you, and seen a lot more fighting¡­ although I suspect that gap has narrowed significantly in the 48 hours since you left.¡± Holy hell, it had only been 48 hours since she¡¯d given him that mission? He did the math and it had, indeed, been less than 48 hours. He felt like an entirely different person, and it wasn¡¯t just because of the stat gains. She rolled over onto her side to face him. ¡°I should teach you grappling while you¡¯ve still got half of my skill.¡± More fighting? Already? ¡°Have you looked at our SP bars? I can¡¯t fill us back up unless I get a new form.¡± ¡°I can show you the moves slowly, then we¡¯ll practice once our SP is higher.¡± ¡°With the others I¡¯ve just been able to start practicing and I get the moves¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s because most of the other skills just have a couple moves, and ones that are pretty obvious. How many ways can you dodge a blow? How many different ways can you throw a punch? Half a dozen of each, if you¡¯re good, but you can get a lot of mileage out of the first one that comes naturally to you. ¡°Grappling is more complex. Your extra skill means you¡¯ll pick up the natural flow of these moves much quicker than if you were at level 1, but you still have to either learn the moves or roll around until you discover them yourself.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Now that he¡¯d have a couple minutes to rest and was back above 10% SP the idea started to appeal to him more. Rolling around on the ground with Krystyna¡­ well, two Krystynas, if he counted his current form. He didn¡¯t even have to worry about getting a boner, so this really was the best time to have her pressed against him. ¡°Okay, stand up,¡± she commanded. ¡°Stand up? How are we going to wrestle standing up?¡± ¡°Most grappling starts standing up, and if you¡¯re fighting multiple opponents ¡ª like we tend to do ¡ª then you¡¯ll want to stay standing up. A full mount is a strong position against one opponent, but it does no good if a second baddie can just whack you on the back of the head.¡± ¡°A full mount?¡± Krystyna sighed. ¡°You really are starting from zero knowledge here, aren¡¯t you? Well, I guess we can do ground grappling; we need to make sure you don¡¯t get stuck in some hold. Get on the ground, on your back.¡± Jerome hesitated, so she wrapped one arm around his waist, grabbed one of his arms with the other, stuck her butt into him, then used all of that leverage to flip him over her hip and onto the ground. A half second later she was sitting on his stomach, weight holding him down, hands positioned to do some serious damage via punching or choking. ¡°This,¡± she said, ¡°is a full mount.¡± ¡°How¡­¡± he was still dizzy from the fall, and confused as to how it had happened so quickly. ¡°Leverage. That¡¯s the secret of grappling. Through leverage you can take down someone three times your strength, hold them down, and then choose whether to kill them or not.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you use this in our sparring session? You could have won!¡± ¡°Two reasons,¡± she said while shifting her weight to get into an even more secure position. ¡°First, as I said, this is a bad position against multiple opponents. If I move, you can get out. Second, if I used this against you, you could just Recoil Burst your way out of it.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Oh. Right.¡± He moved his hands to press against her stomach, but she grabbed them at the wrist and pinned them down. ¡°If you were in the heat of battle you would¡¯ve gotten that one off, no doubt. When you¡¯re fighting your usual hesitancy goes away. In the meantime, think of this as a position to avoid, because your usual tricks won¡¯t work here.¡± She was right. Portal Hand didn¡¯t work when the hand or wrist was being grabbed ¡ª either going through the portal or going back. His hand being stuck attached to his body was better than it being stuck farther away, but it still wasn¡¯t great. ¡°You could have gained an advantage by grappling in our match. Why not use it?¡± ¡°There are more dangerous positions for us, ones that if I had started doing ground grappling I would have no doubt gravitated towards. Don¡¯t use Recoil Burst right now, okay?¡± Jerome nodded. As soon as he did so she leaned forward and wrapped his neck and right arm in some sort of messed up hug. There was a brief moment of freedom where there was less weight on him, but it didn¡¯t last long. She ended up laying on him, chest to chest, with both her legs to his left and the hold around his head and right arm wrapped up tight, constricting. Once again, he could barely move. ¡°This is a side mount. Very strong. Not as strong as a Full Mount, but a little easier to get into. And, for us, way more dangerous. What¡¯s your first instinct here?¡± He thought about it, then put his hands on her chest to push her off. Right on her breasts. She slapped him. Playfully, but strong enough that he knew to take his hands off. Then she tightened the hold so his hands couldn¡¯t sneak in. ¡°Was that not¡­¡± He was deep enough into the grappling lesson that he hadn¡¯t even been thinking sexually until she slapped him. ¡°Yes, that was the right instinct. It¡¯s just¡­¡± she turned red. ¡°In the heat of battle it would have been great. But not right now, when it¡¯s distracting and¡­ anyways, in battle you would have used Recoil Burst. And that would be bad for both of us. ¡°My body launches, starting from the chest, but my hands are wrapped around your neck. You would be doing Recoil Burst, indirectly, on your own neck. And that would¡­ well, I don¡¯t know how damage is calculated on sensitive areas like that, but it would be a lot. It probably wouldn¡¯t kill you while we¡¯re sparring, but we don¡¯t know¡­ and in an actual battle, where your health has already dropped significantly, it would be very very bad.¡± It was always something with these skill combinations. ¡°Okay, so no Recoil Burst while grappling on the ground. At least until I get more skill and HP.¡± ¡°You got it. Later on we¡¯ll add it back in, in a controlled manner, by yelling ¡®Burst¡¯ and analyzing how it would work, but for now let¡¯s focus on you getting out of these holds. You can¡¯t always count on being able to Transform your way out of a bad situation, and if you¡¯re in an especially powerful form you may not want to transform and lose those powers anyways.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve thought about this, haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I had two days while you were gone just for thinking about how to integrate your skillset. I didn¡¯t know how long I¡¯d have to be the one making all the decisions for us.¡± They wrestled a couple hours more. The focus was on ground grappling, Krystyna showing him the Knee Mount, the Rear Mount, the Turtle, the guards, and various strategies to transfer between them (that is, escape). The Full Mount and the guards were the positions where Recoil Burst wouldn¡¯t be dangerous to use, but they practiced without it just in case. Jerome asked how she knew names for all the moves and Krystyna responded that she had done martial arts before being transferred to New Australia. Although she had to start at level 1 in each skill, she was able to level faster and proficiently execute advanced moves sooner due to her previous experience. By the time they were finished Jerome had reached level 4 in his personal skill level of Grappling, and had escaped from each of the positions at least once (although repeating that trick was still difficult). Krystyna, to her delight, also gained a level in Grappling. Jerome didn¡¯t seem to benefit from that immediately, but he would the next time he used her form. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to practice more?¡± she asked. ¡°There¡¯s so much more to ground grappling, and we haven¡¯t even started on the standing techniques, and¡ª¡± Jerome cut her off. ¡°There will be time later.¡± He also wanted to continue, but that was the problem. The continual closeness of her body was making him desire that closeness even more than he desired training to rescue the humans. He was losing track of his mission. Everything must come second to the mission. Krystyna seemed disappointed. He focused on Recoil Burst and Unarmed Strikes, since he could power-level those using Krystyna¡¯s form, but his Healing got some practice from all the Refill SP he used. In general he worked himself to exhaustion. Krystyna offered some herbal concoctions (or¡­ well, better to just think of them as herbal) that made his SP and MP refill faster so he could keep on training. MP was the real limit: he could use it to refill his SP, but the only way to refill his MP was to wait. Even with the potions that wait seemed interminable. She would smile at him maddeningly, making him want to start wrestling again right then and there. Was that her goal? Did she want to raise her grappling skill that much? Eventually darkness fell. He could keep on practicing for a while, but it seemed there was a hidden limit beyond MP and SP that made him need sleep just as much as he needed it in the real world. He lay down about ten feet away from Krystyna. ¡°Why so far away?¡± she asked. ¡°What if a gnoll attacks in the middle of the night?¡± That didn¡¯t make any sense. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be better if we weren¡¯t both in one place? So we can¡¯t both be attacked by the same gnoll?¡± ¡°But if we¡¯re closer, we¡¯re more likely to hear it if the other was attacked.¡± She¡¯d spent many nights alone here and didn¡¯t seem to worry about this before. Hell, she¡¯d spent several nights here with him and hadn¡¯t worried about it until now. Was it because he was now able to protect her? She moved closer, not waiting for his permission. About a foot away, close enough that he could smell her. She put her hand in his. ¡°If a gnoll tries to grab one of us in the night then we¡¯ll feel the pull and wake up.¡± She squeezed three times in quick succession. ¡°That¡¯s the sign for being in any other sort of trouble.¡± Jerome couldn¡¯t understand the reasoning, but he chalked that up to the butterflies in his stomach and the electricity coursing through his veins. His reasoning ability was completely shot. If someone tried to explain addition and subtraction to him he might not understand it. He¡¯d grabbed her body in many ways today, pressed his flesh against hers, and even accidentally grabbed her boobs, but nothing felt half as exhilarating as simply holding her hand. Maybe it was that before there had always been a good reason, and for this the only reason he could think of was that¡­ she wanted to. She wanted to hold his hand, but didn¡¯t want to admit it. There was nothing he could do to train further right now, so he allowed himself this¡­ pleasure? No, this was stronger than pleasure. Stronger even than lust. ¡°For safety,¡± he said with a nervous smile. ¡°We¡¯re safer together.¡± Chapter 32: Harder, Better When Jerome awoke the sun was shining brightly through the trees. His hand was still in Krystyna¡¯s. More than that, she had rolled over on her side and grabbed his arm with her other arm. It would have been a completely ineffective elbow or wrist lock, he noted, so it must have been affection. She lay on her side facing him, eyes closed, face completely relaxed in sleep. He turned so they were face to face, less than a foot apart. She was beautiful and he could lay here forever. Then he noticed that he was back in his original form. He could tell because of his raging boner. Old shows had joked about ¡®morning wood¡¯, but he¡¯d thought it was a fabrication. How it felt now was like it did halfway through a porn session. Porn, which he¡¯d been nearly a week without¡­ There was a difference. He would never seek out porn of someone sleeping gently. If he stumbled across it he would click through to the next thing almost immediately. But this¡­ not only did he want to stay here forever, the sight seemed to be affecting more than his dick. She opened her eyes. ¡°Oh,¡± she said softly. ¡°You¡¯re back as you.¡± He waited for her to withdraw her hand in disappointment ¡ª even with all these new muscles he wasn¡¯t half as pretty as she was ¡ª but she kept it there and squeezed, then looked into his eyes. ¡°Something¡¯s different,¡± he said. ¡°Not just me.¡± He immediately chastised himself. What a stupid thing to say! He didn¡¯t even know what was different, aside from the whole she-wanted-to-hold-his-hand thing, he just had a feeling. Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t destroy whatever was going on at that moment. Thankfully she just smiled. ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± What could be different? He hoped she would say what was different. Then again, why was he thinking about this? He should be practicing, focusing on rescuing the humans, rather than laying here wondering what was in some woman¡¯s mind! Still, it would be nice if this could just keep on going forever. He would let fate decide. If this went on, if she kept on giving him these looks and holding his hand, it would be wonderful¡­ and he could continue this safely tonight, after he was exhausted. If it stopped, then he would be able to concentrate on rescuing the humans, and that would be fine. If he were completely selfless, a true hero, he would even prefer the second¡­ but he was not completely selfless. As strong as his desire to rescue the humans, he couldn¡¯t pull himself away from this moment. He could, however, take risks, do things that could either take them deeper into the moment or make the moment explode in his face. ¡°Tell me about it,¡± he said. ¡°You seem better about understanding these subtle human things.¡± She laughed and put her other hand on top of where their fingers interlaced. ¡°That¡¯s just because I¡¯ve been paying attention longer. You¡¯ve started paying attention while you¡¯re here. I can tell. The fact that you could tell something was different with me, that means you¡¯re making progress. And the fact that you asked, that you wanted to understand¡­¡± ¡°Okay, but¡­ that¡¯s still me. Why are you different?¡± She sat up to a kneeling position, butt resting on her feet and one hand leaning hard on her legs. He sat up to match her, knees inches from hers. In the middle she clenched his hand almost painfully. ¡°Because I can be now. Because this new you, it lets me relax. It lets me be how I want to be, not how I¡¯ve had to be these past¡­ oh God¡­ years? Even before I was here. While I was fighting the government I never knew who was a plant. I had to be vigilant all the time. Always watching my back. And then here I never knew when a gnoll attack was coming. When I¡¯d have to fight. Kicking ass gets old after a while if you¡¯re just doing it to stay alive.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°It was just me against the horde of gnolls. Me, stuck between bloodthirsty creatures who wanted to kill me and the equally bloodthirsty humans who wanted to lock me in a room forever, good only for the occasional rape. ¡±I¡¯ve been alone for so long.¡± She bit her lip and her eyes glistened, but she kept talking. ¡°When I first ran into you, you were like a child. Your personality and strength had been squeezed out by the gentle relentless crushing caress of the World Government. But I could tell there was something about you. A goodness they couldn¡¯t squeeze out, not completely. And having something to take care of, even as stupid as you were back then, it was better than nothing. Better than just living for myself. ¡°And now¡­ You¡¯re a man now. I can relax in your presence. I can let you take care of me for a time. ¡°They try to separate us out there. They try to make us separate units all hooked into the same entertainment-industrial complex, all of us forming our strongest bonds with the same hundred characters on a screen. Not individuals, not even close. They tried to sell it to us as that, at the start, back when people cared about such things. Consumer as individual. But individuals find other individuals, form relationships, create beauty and joy and life. ¡°You did that,¡± she said, pausing, looking into his eyes as if trying to find something. ¡°Not with me, not at first. Staring at boobs and receiving protection isn¡¯t a relationship. But then you started to break free. When you made the hard choice. When you formed a bond, and then risked everything for someone you knew. Not an ideal. A person. A flawed, annoying, but exceedingly real person. Don¡¯t hide it, I could tell how you felt by how you described Rayi. You liked him, but he annoyed you. He wasn¡¯t some scripted fakeness, something calculated by a thousand test screenings to maximally exploit your affection. He was real, and you were real, and you made a connection. Then you took responsibility. You took risks. You can¡¯t take risks without taking responsibility; without responsibility it¡¯s just reckless endangerment. Then you saw your weakness and you grabbed it by the throat and started the long slow process of strangling it. You¡¯re getting stronger. You¡¯re not doing it for vanity; you¡¯re doing it so you can be the man you want to be. To protect the connections you form, because you see how tenuous they can be. And that man, as stupid and naive as you can still be¡­¡± The torrent of words halted and she started crying. ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± she said, tears flowing down her face. ¡°I look so weak and stupid, and you didn¡¯t ask for this. You didn¡¯t ask to take care of me. I can still take care of myself. I¡¯ve done it for so long. I¡¯m imposing on you and¡ª¡± He cut her off with a finger on her mouth. He¡¯d seen that in the old movies and it was the only thing he knew to do. Shockingly, it worked. Her tears slowed. She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him, sobbing onto his shoulder. He returned the embrace and let her cry. But then she pulled back and looked at him, hands grasping his arms, wet eyes sparkling and full of need. His heart jumped into his throat. He knew what the men in the old movies did next. The men with their chiseled jaws, their confidence, the very not-like-Jerome men who always seemed to know what to do. Except he was like them now. He wasn¡¯t a scrawny boy any longer. He had tried. He had failed and he had succeeded. He had grown. He had skills and muscles and magic. Apparently he had whatever those individuality and connection things were that Krystyna had talked about. More relevantly, he was holding a beautiful woman, holding her in his arms, not ogling her through a screen with his dick in his hand, and this beautiful woman was vulnerable and looking to him for strength and reassurance. He knew what the men in the old movies did next and with terror in his heart he followed in their footsteps. He kissed her. She leaned into the kiss, as natural as breathing, overwhelming her insecurity with passion. It went on for a split second of eternity. Five seconds? A minute? There was no way of knowing. His limbs tingled. Then she broke away and started crying again, throwing her head onto his shoulder. He held her close and patted her on the back, and she squeezed him in a hug that used all her strength. It took his breath away. Literally. She was still the physically stronger of the pair and in her passion she wasn¡¯t holding back at all. He was even losing HP, albeit slowly. He coughed and tapped out. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± ¡°I¡¯m so sorry,¡± she said as she pulled back, the thought not crossing her mind that it was physical limitations that made him want to stop. ¡°There are all those humans being tortured and I¡¯m here crying and being useless and¡ª¡± He kissed her again, stopping both tears and speech. Another small eternity later he realized he needed to stop. Despite how wonderful all this was, he still had a mission to accomplish. ¡°I have to go,¡± he said. ¡°Practice. Leveling.¡± She laughed through the remaining tears. Thankfully no new ones were being produced. ¡°I would be disappointed if you did anything less.¡± Chapter 33: Faster, Stronger He¡¯d slept in late. He¡¯d kissed a beautiful woman. These were wonderful things, but they were not his main mission. His Quest. The humans held in the gnoll capital didn¡¯t care that he felt well rested. They didn¡¯t care that he felt, for the first time in his life¡­ he wasn¡¯t sure what the word was. Stronger than lust, and also more robust and complete. It was wonderful. But it wasn¡¯t his mission. His mission required power, and it was power he would gain today. His various exploits had gotten him to level 7. Remarkably fast progress according to Krystyna, but also hard-earned. He¡¯d fought a lot of baddies that were far beyond his level. All of his stats had increased through +1 bonuses; he¡¯d ignored them in the heat of battle, but he could see the effects quite clearly now. He willed the increases to display as before, even though they¡¯d accumulated while he¡¯d been transformed. Whatever reality or system ran this world obliged, showing the accumulated bonuses alongside his level-up messages. You have reached level 5! You have 6 attribute points and 20 reserves points to distribute as you see fit. You have reached level 6! You have 6 more attribute points and 20 more reserves points to distribute as you see fit. You have reached level 7! You have 6 more attribute points and 20 more reserves points to distribute as you see fit. Your actions while transformed have given you 6 bonus strength. Your actions while transformed have given you 8 bonus agility. Your actions while transformed have given you 1 bonus dexterity. Your actions while transformed have given you 5 bonus endurance. Your actions while transformed have given you 5 bonus focus. Your actions while transformed have given you 3 bonus connection. He¡¯d done quite a bit more fighting and living during this set of transformations than during the first set, but the bonus stat gains were fairly similar ¡ª maybe even a bit smaller. Perhaps it was that the number of new things that he had encountered was similar. Perhaps stat gains simply got harder to earn as you earned more of them, just like levels and skill levels.
Name: Jerome Wallaby Race: Human
Level 7, 21% progress 120/120 HP
120/120 MP 120/120 SP
Statuses: Unassigned points (18 attribute, 60 reserves)
Strength: 26 Endurance: 21
Agility: 33 Focus: 24
Dexterity: 15 Connection: 22
Jerome took a look at Krystyna¡¯s stats for comparison.
Name: Krystyna Kowalska Race: Human
Level 9, 25% progress 180/180 HP
100/100 MP 180/180 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 32 Endurance: 21
Agility: 46 Focus: 14
Dexterity: 19 Connection: 19
Skills Special Abilities
Recoil Burst Level 16, 81% (unique) Burst
Dodge Level 11, 33% Hear the Wind
Herbalism Level 10, 9% Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Grappling Level 8, 71% Mobility Awareness
Unarmed Strikes Level 7, 52%
Light Armor Level 6, 5%
Healing Level 3, 2% Refill HP, Refill SP
She¡¯d gained a level while he was gone, likely from fighting gnolls, although she might have assigned herself some sort of quest as well.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Her skills had risen in level as well, with most going up by one and Recoil Burst and Unarmed Strikes going up two levels each. Healing had been added and raised to level 3. Finally, her stats had risen by several points each, with Focus making the most radical rise simply because she hadn''t ever trained it before. He compared her stats with his and saw that her Strength, Agility, and Dexterity still beat his. Agility wasn¡¯t even close. His Focus and Connection were stronger than hers, even though he was a lower level and still had unassigned points, simply because he¡¯d had a lot more practice. She¡¯d been purely an Agility and Strength close-combat fighter before getting Refill SP and Refill HP. Now she was a purely Agility and Strength close-combat fighter, but one who could heal herself and shoot rock bullets. A nice upgrade. He, on the other hand, was a burgeoning jack-of-all-trades who had developed a bit lopsidedly into Agility and Strength based moves, but that was mostly because Krystyna¡¯s form was the only one he had readily available for power-leveling. The mage-forms he¡¯d found had to be switched out of rapidly in battle due to how quickly they took damage, and he had no friendly mages to switch into, so he¡¯d have to level those skills and attributes like a normal person for now. Time to assign the points he¡¯d accumulated. Irrationally, he wanted to match her stats ¡ª or at least match her Strength stat, so he wouldn¡¯t get crushed in hugs anymore ¡ª but he couldn¡¯t let his pride get in the way of his mission. It was important that he kept on raising his Strength attribute, but to dump his free points in there out of vanity was foolish. He needed all his stats, except maybe Dexterity. Dexterity was good for crafting ¡ª and, seemingly, for aiming the Recoil Burst rock bullets ¡ª but he didn¡¯t want to craft, and he had other long-distance attacks. Analysis of his current battle effectiveness led him, surprisingly, to put a bunch of points into Focus and Connection. If he raised those attributes, then Hold and Crystal Overload would both be more effective (Focus) and could be channeled longer and used again sooner due to a higher MP regeneration rate (Connection). However, while both those moves would increase his battle effectiveness significantly, it was secondary to the true target: Refill SP. With greater Focus, Refill SP worked faster and thus used less MP. With greater Connection, MP refilled faster and he could use Refill SP more often. Thus by raising his Focus and Connection he would be able to raise all of his stats faster through more intense and constant practice. He would be getting many stats for the price of two. Thus he put 6 points each into Focus and Connection, and split the remaining 6 points between Strength, Agility, and Endurance. His reserves points he once again split evenly between HP, MP, and SP. HP would keep him from dying, SP would let him go longer between having to take a break and channel his healing spell, and MP was the fuel that kept everything going. He considered skimping on SP, but decided to wait on that until using Magic Pulse and Refill SP together returned more SP than the combo cost in MP.
Name: Jerome Wallaby Race: Human
Level 7, 21% progress 140/140 HP
140/140 MP 140/140 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 28 Endurance: 23
Agility: 35 Focus: 30
Dexterity: 15 Connection: 28
He was turning into quite the combatant! Next he looked at his skills.
Skills Special Abilities
Transform Level 3, 62% (unique) Store, Transform, Preview (level), Pass-through (attribute bonuses), Intimacy Bonus
Recoil Burst Level 8, 47% (unique) Burst
Portal Hand Level 3, 79% (unique) Portal (1)
Blast Off Level 2, 22% (unique) Blast Off
Magic Pulse Level 1, 54% (unique) Pulse
Unarmed Strikes Level 6, 28%
Dodge Level 5, 36%
Grappling Level 4, 87%
Healing Level 4, 81% Refill HP, Refill SP
Sneak Level 3, 71%
Alteration Level 3, 59% Blessing, Hold
Flows Level 3, 11% Crystal Overload
Herbalism Level 3, 9% Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Swords Level 1, 15%
It was quite a formidable array of skills, although each of them were still pretty low level. If he fought a high-level enemy he wouldn¡¯t do well¡­ and then if each of the skills were halved due to the new form they might hardly do anything. He¡¯d gained a lot, but he still had a long way to go. Swords and Herbalism he could safely ignore. Herbalism was Krystyna¡¯s domain, and Swords were pretty useless if he couldn¡¯t carry a sword with him between forms or through a Portal Hand portal (not to mention the fact that a sword would interfere with Grappling and Recoil Burst). Would you like to forget the skill Swords? Yes. Forgetting swords would be wonderful. Just like that, the skill was gone. You have 24 hours to retrieve the skill if you decide you¡¯ve made a mistake. Good to know. He decided to keep Herbalism for now, just in case. He might get stuck in a place without Krystyna and want to make a helpful potion. Looking at his skills, he chided himself for not using Blessing more often. With his skill level of 3 in Alteration he could get +3 on every stat, basically for free¡­ and he would level his Alteration. That would not only make Hold more effective and cheaper to maintain, it would also increase the stat gains from Blessing, making a virtuous cycle. It lasted 15 minutes, so if he recast it whenever it wore out then he¡¯d level quite quickly. At higher levels it might even pay for itself in terms of MP due to the increase in Connection. The other skills he wanted to focus on today were Blast Off and Portal Hands. They would always be best to level while in his own form (at least until he found the owner of Blast Off) and leveling them up would add significant flexibility to his movement around the battlefield. He spent hours practicing them, leveling them up once each, and leveling Healing in the process because of how often he had to use Refill SP. Krystyna insisted on a wrestling session, where he learned how to get into a standing elbow lock from a dodge (and raised his skill level to 5), and then a sparring session to practice Unarmed Strikes and Dodge. One of his punches hit Krystyna straight in the mouth. ¡°Oh shit. I¡¯m sorry. Are you¡ª¡± ¡°C¡¯mon, ya pussy,¡± She cut him off with a wink. ¡°Just because I cried in front of you doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m fragile. Look at my HP: less than 10% gone.¡± ¡°Still,¡± he said, getting into the spirit of things, ¡°I feel like I should kiss it better.¡± She complied, wrapping herself in his arms. He lost himself in the kiss and then five (ten? Thirty?) blissful minutes later he pulled himself away. ¡°See? Your HP is higher than when we started.¡± Hours passed, skill levels climbed slowly, and then it was dark. She lay beside him again, holding his hand. He pulled her closer, her head top of his chest. ¡°It¡¯s even safer this way.¡± She murmured agreement. It wasn¡¯t safer, in the end. The next day they trained and kissed some more. Blast Off reached level 4. More auspiciously, Portal Hand reached level 5, meaning the accuracy of his portal was increased (that happened every level) and he could send a second limb through the portal (although the second portal¡¯s accuracy was lower than the first portal¡¯s had been at level 1; close range only for now). Then that night, when Krystyna laid her head on Jerome¡¯s chest one thing led to another, and the lack of safety began¡­. first, they didn¡¯t use a condom (try making one of those while in the middle of a gnoll-filled forest). Second, her moans carried a long way, and unlike the grunts and crashes of fighting they were noises that gnolls did not often make. When he finished he rolled onto his back and let her snuggle up to his chest again before he fell blissfully asleep. He awoke to the sound of gnolls. Chapter 34: Discovery ¡°Their stench is everywhere,¡± complained one of the gnolls. ¡°Then this should be easy! Find them!¡± Jerome put a hand over Krystyna¡¯s mouth and then nudged her. She made a thankfully-quiet noise before figuring out where she was and that it was Jerome covering her mouth. ¡°You try it,¡± said the gnoll. I¡¯m about to faint. Seriously. They¡¯ve put their gross human body-water over every square inch of this place.¡± Body-water? Did the gnolls mean sweat? They¡¯d been fairly stationary while doing it earlier. And was a gnoll saying they smelled bad? There was no accounting for interspecies taste. ¡°What are we going to do when we find them? Katani is paying top dollar for live humans. Way more than for crystals.¡± Another gnoll grunted displeasure. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that guy¡¯s doing with humans, but it can¡¯t be good. Every time a tribe cooperates he gets stronger. I say we just kill them. Then when they respawn they¡¯ll be someone else¡¯s problem.¡± ¡°What if they respawn in Katani¡¯s territory? Then he gets them and we get nothing. If we sell, think of all the gear we could buy with that money. The weapons, the armor. We might even be able to eat. You remember the last time we ate? Those stat bonuses were amazing. With the weapons, armor, and food we could drive our rivals back to level 1.¡± ¡°And then what? Sell their crystals to Katani and make him even stronger? Or wait until another tribe kills them and does the same?¡± Jerome wasn¡¯t sure which was more intriguing ¡ª the stat bonuses from eating or the political struggles between gnolls. Both sounded like great tools to use on his mission. ¡°How many?¡± Krystyna whispered. Right. They would have to fight these gnolls pretty soon. ¡°A dozen?¡± ¡°This is gonna be hard.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you fight off five of them by yourself last time? You¡¯re stronger now and have Refill SP. I¡¯m way stronger now and have all sorts of tricks.¡± ¡°What are the odds that I can get my armor on in time? And in case you forgot, taking on five wasn¡¯t exactly easy.¡± ¡°If they have a Mage I¡¯ll kill it first. Deal?¡± ¡°Deal.¡± Krystyna got up and brushed herself off. Jerome followed suit. He cast Blessing on both of them, giving them that little bit of extra edge. ¡°I hear noises over there!¡± yelled one of the gnolls. ¡°Capture them if you can! Kill them if you can¡¯t!¡± The moon was bright, so Jerome could see the shapes running towards them. As they got closer they turned from shadowy silhouettes to still-kinda-shadowy bundles of fur and claws. The first one reached him and he dodged. He put his hands on its side and used Recoil Burst to push it far away from the battle. As a bonus it tumbled into one of its companions and did some damage to both of them. Claws swept towards him and he dodged again. He didn¡¯t have time to do anything to that gnoll because another claw swipe followed quickly. A claw swipe he couldn¡¯t dodge because he was stuck in a frustrating Hold spell and could only move so far. The swipe hit him across the front, tearing off 14% of his health. Shit! Where was the mage? It would be a gnoll that was hanging back, not one that was rushing him. There were two of them back there, and¡ª His thoughts were interrupted by another scrape to his front, and then one to his back, bringing him down to 55% health. As long as he was stuck here he was practically dead. At least Krystyna seemed to be moving fine, although she was having to dodge so much that she couldn¡¯t get any good hits off. If the mage got a Hold on her¡­ Two gnolls were hanging back. One was brawny, large, with an air of authority. A commander. The other was a thin gnoll who was watching the battle like a hawk. Another claw attack convinced Jerome of two things: he didn¡¯t have any time to waste, and he didn¡¯t have the time or concentration to make Portal Hands work, at least not at this distance and while surrounded like this.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Crystal Overload it was. He paired it with Magic Pulse and cast it on the mage. The cost was high ¡ª 75 MP and 38 SP ¡ª but worth it. He was released from the Hold and the mage¡¯s body twitched erratically for a whole second. The extra Focus was paying off handsomely: the mage¡¯s life bar had shrunk considerably. If only he had bumped his MP up to 150 he could have cast it a second time¡­ but there was nothing he could do for now. He had to take advantage of this second of freedom. He kicked one of the gnolls behind him and applied Recoil Burst, sending it flying backwards, then did the same to two in front of him. They seemed surprised that he could move again and were easier targets because of that. He ducked between two of them and sprinted towards the mage. The mage¡¯s confusion at what had happened extended the one second of shaking interruption into five seconds of freedom for Jerome. But it wasn¡¯t to last: the mage recovered its senses and cast Hold again. Drat. Jerome was less than halfway to where he needed to go, and it would be a little while until his MP had recharged enough to cast a second Crystal Overload + Magic Pulse combo, and even that was only if he didn¡¯t refill his HP or SP. Crystal Overload by itself would take too long to charge ¡ª the gnolls would get to him before then. But with a couple seconds head start, and at half the distance he¡¯d been at before, he might be able to make Portal Hand work. He concentrated, then tried to place his hand right behind the gnoll. Close! Close enough that by pulling it in as if to his chest he could place his palm on the gnoll¡¯s back. Those two days of Portal Hand practice were really paying off! He applied Recoil Burst, sending the mage flying towards him. That cut the distance in half again, but wasn¡¯t enough to break Hold. What an annoying spell! He recalled his portaled hand, then sent it out again and repeated the trick, sending the mage flying straight into Jerome. Jerome prepared a kick which caught the gnoll right in the solar plexus, knocking the breath out of it but not, alas, breaking the second Hold. That didn¡¯t matter, though. The mage was a couple feet away, crumpled on the ground. Jerome used Portal Hand on his leg to stomp on the gnoll¡¯s head until it died. Victory!.. over one of the dozen gnolls. Two assailants from before had caught up with him (the other hand run off to attack Krystyna) and got off terrible strikes against him while he was distracted. Down to 9% health! Jerome used Blast Off to rocket over the heads of the attacking gnolls, giving him a precious few seconds as they processed this new tactic. He backed up while channeling Refill HP, hoping he¡¯d be able to get enough time to fully heal himself. It was working! They held back! With his new Focus and Healing power it only required six seconds (and 46 MP) to completely restore his HP from 9%, and it looked like they were going to give him that time! It helped that, even though he couldn¡¯t fight or do any other techniques while channeling, he could step backwards and dodge and look like he was ready to fight. He was back! His HP was full! And the gnolls still seemed to hold back, keeping a wide berth. That was strange¡­ he hadn¡¯t done anything that threatening, and they¡¯d been attacking him fearlessly just ten seconds ago. A roar from behind him said almost everything he needed to know. The huge blow that fell on his back told him the rest. The Commander. 54% of his health was gone in one hit. It had been a surprise attack from behind, so he could probably handle another hit if he saw it coming, but still¡­ this was bad. Jerome tried to use Magic Pulse + Refill HP, but he didn¡¯t have enough MP left. Drat! The gnoll towered over him. Most gnolls were about five feet tall when standing up, but this one was at least seven feet tall ¡ª maybe eight ¡ª and had stats to match. It also had armor, a fact that Jerome hadn¡¯t fully appreciated until the thing was nearly right on top of him. He had a gnoll form he could transform into, and Krystyna¡¯s form, but he didn¡¯t think that either could stand a chance against the Commander. He cursed himself for not laying hands on the mage directly (without Portal Hand) before he killed it ¡ª at the time killing it as fast as possible had seemed like a good idea. A magical form, with that fresh MP pool and really nice Alteration level (and thus effective Hold spell), would be really good right now. The best strategy here was obvious: take the Commander¡¯s form and fight the giant gnoll by becoming a giant gnoll. Anything else was suicide. If he held back and tried to wear down the beast using Portal Hand, the other gnolls would tear him to shreds. If he went in with his current form, Krystyna¡¯s form, or the gnoll form he had available, then he would be able to take only a few hits before having to transform again, with Magic Pulse + Refill HP giving him one or two extra hits if he used it correctly. That wouldn¡¯t be nearly enough breathing room to take down this fearsome beast. A punch wouldn¡¯t do very much damage, and Jerome didn¡¯t know enough of standing grappling to consistently get a damaging joint lock on a human, much less a giant gnoll. No more time for thinking. The Commander was readying a side swipe at him. Jerome had to respond or die. He rolled quickly onto his feet ¡ª grappling had taught him that much, at least ¡ª and used Blast Off to leap over the giant club and land a flying punch on the commander¡¯s jaw. The hit took off about 6% HP from both of them, sending pain radiating down Jerome¡¯s arm and confirming just how necessary it was to change forms. With his other hand Jerome laid his palm on the beast, then went to his Transformation menu and took its form. This was his only shot. The only form that stood a chance against the Commander. He had a time limit of however long Krystyna could hold off the eight gnolls that surrounded her. She couldn¡¯t do much damage because of the sheer numbers, but through her crazy agility stat and her dodge and grappling skills she could avoid damage pretty well. She could refill her SP using the new spell, so her real limit was her MP. It was about a quarter gone. Of course, if Jerome lost this fight then her limit would be how long she could take the Commander¡¯s beating, which wouldn¡¯t be long at all. What was he up against? Jerome looked at the Commander¡¯s stats and blanched. Karamir the gnoll Commander was going to kill him. Chapter 35: Karamir vs Karamir Karamir, the giant gnoll Commander, was definitely going to kill him.
Name: Karamir Race: Gnoll (Giant)
Level 14, 25% progress 270/270 HP
100/100 MP 190/190 SP
Statuses: Giant (+20% to Strength and Endurance), Armored (damage protection according to armor stats, armor skill, and strike placement)
Strength: 72 Endurance: 64
Agility: 35 Focus: 12
Dexterity: 15 Connection: 11
Skills Special Abilities
Clubs Level 17, 61%
Claw Combat Level 12, 29% Swipe, Eviscerate
Heavy Armor Level 11, 87% Reduced Burden
Claw Movement Level 8, 32% 4-legged Run, Climb (improved speed)
These giant monsters were his bane. First the giant ockdine and now this giant gnoll. It made sense that he¡¯d encounter them after running through hordes of the smaller versions, but it was still annoying. ¡°The stories of you are true,¡± it said. ¡°The formless devil. I thought Katani¡¯s fallen warriors must exaggerate, as a way to force unity, but for once the imperials do not lie.¡± Stories? They told stories about him? Wait, Katani¡¯s fallen warriors told stories about him? ¡®Fallen¡¯ must mean something different here, because surely they didn¡¯t mean dead warriors. That would¡­ that would be terrifying. Regular gnolls were bad enough, but undead gnolls would be even worse, and he hadn¡¯t seen any Holy magic yet. It wasn¡¯t all bad. With Karamir¡¯s form he had inherited some of its Strength, Endurance, and HP, as well as half-level versions of its skills. His own skills were cut in half as well, and the gnoll¡¯s lower Focus, Connection, and MP lowered his own, but the gains were bigger than the losses. He also got sharp claws and a set of heavy armor, but no club. The armor must have registered as clothes, while the club didn¡¯t. Even with all that, Jerome was at a huge disadvantage. Not as huge or insurmountable as it had been in his base form, but it was still pretty damn big. If he had a shot, it would have to be through clever use of his special moves. And he would have to do it before Krystyna ran out of MP/SP and got killed by the eight gnolls surrounding her. He started off by using Blast Off to launch in the air and get in a flying kick to Karamir¡¯s jaw. A nice, lucky hit! It usually took him some time to get used to the form, and in his first action he¡¯d taken 13% off of the beast¡¯s HP. However, the luck didn¡¯t hold ¡ª the impact set Jerome to spinning in midair, so that when he landed he sprawled on the ground, limbs flailing. By the time he recovered the gnoll was already swinging its club down at Jerome. He rolled out of the way, but not enough out of the way. The club hit him in the leg, crushing it and taking out 21% of his HP. Crushing it. Club and ground met, leaving the shin-bone between them shattered and spread across the earth. The pain was excruciating, and the only reason Jerome didn¡¯t pass out was because he knew this wasn¡¯t his own body. Mind over other people¡¯s matter. He tried to stand up but ended up tipping over again, because for all practical purposes he had no left leg anymore. It was a mass of barely-held-together flesh. Blood loss drained his HP ¡ª not enough that he would die purely from that, not in the time frame of this battle, but enough that it gave him great pain and put him at a definite disadvantage. He couldn¡¯t focus on that though, or he¡¯d get hit again. Jerome rolled onto his back then saw another club strike coming down towards him. Thinking quickly, he used Portal Hand to place his hand on the gnoll¡¯s chest. With the club less than two feet from his face he activated Recoil Burst, pushing the gnoll violently up and to the side and making the club scrape the ground ¡ª and not his face ¡ª as its owner flew away. Karamir rolled on the ground, thoroughly disoriented. Jerome went to his knees ¡ª thank goodness the strike had only taken out his shin and not his knee ¡ª and turned to face his opponents. Two regular gnolls and Karamir. He couldn¡¯t move very well, so he was going to have to use Portal Hand, Recoil Burst, and his claws to keep them all away from him. It was a good thing he¡¯d leveled those first two so much in the last couple days ¡ª even at half of his native skill level they were still far more formidable (more accurate for Portal Hand and stronger for Recoil Burst) than they had been during his fight in the city. Portal Hand had dropped below 5, alas ¡ª having two portals available would have been useful ¡ª but the increased accuracy would still help.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. While Karamir recovered, Jerome decided to even the odds a bit. He used Portal Hand and a claw swipe to rake one of the smaller gnolls. 47% of its HP gone! The next hit wasn¡¯t as lucky, only taking down 31%, but still ¡ª one more hit from these giant claws and he would only be facing two opponents instead of three. However, he wouldn¡¯t have time for that. The gnoll he¡¯d been attacking was certainly vulnerable enough, laying on the ground in pain and fear, but the other small gnoll started circling to get behind him, and Karamir was up and approaching him again. Jerome used a Portal Hand and a Recoil Burst to knock the smaller flanking gnoll back to someplace he could see, then turned his attention to the true threat: Karamir. He put a Portal Hand in front of the charging beast, and used Recoil Burst to knock it back again. It didn¡¯t lose its balance as drastically as before, and it took no damage, but it did get pushed back. This wasn¡¯t a winning strategy long-term, but it was good while Jerome figured things out. There were a couple seconds where nothing was a threat, so he used that to send a final Portal Hand claw attack to the almost-dead gnoll, killing it. Things were getting more manageable, especially since the other small gnoll was running away. Towards Krystyna. Could she handle nine? She was having enough trouble with eight. Jerome sent a Portal Hand claw attack at the fleeing gnoll¡¯s back before it got too far away for his strikes to be accurate. 59% damage! Back attacks truly were wonderful. The smaller gnoll turned to face him, backing away more slowly while keeping an eye out for more attacks. Smart gnoll. Jerome didn¡¯t have time to take that gnoll down completely, because Karamir was rushing him again. Time to repeat the strategy he¡¯d used before. Jerome used Portal Hand to put his palm in front of Karamir¡¯s charging body, and then¡­ Karamir used a Claw Swipe to knock it aside! Ow! It wasn¡¯t a strong hit, but it took 6% of Jerome¡¯s health away and, more importantly, destroyed his simplistic strategy. He would have to either time the Portal Hand more precisely or he would have to think of something more clever. First he would try the precision strategy. Just a couple inches in front of the charging beast¡­ Nope. The portal ended up on the other side of Karamir, and his palm pointed uselessly at open air. Trickiness would be the order of the day. He would have to do it quick, too, because Karamir was upon him. Way too close for comfort. The club was already pulled back, looking like a stronger strike than the one that had taken out Jerome¡¯s leg. He couldn¡¯t dodge very well, thanks to the fact that he was on his knees and missing half a leg. The best he could do was throw himself to the side, and then what would that do? Let Karamir take out his other leg? Karamir had even jumped a little bit in order to land a harder hit. Jerome could try to use Portal Hand and Recoil Burst, but if he messed up he was dead. Magic Pulse + Crystal Overload was his emergency move, the one he could use only once (at most) per form, and this looked like an emergency. He used it, taking 82 MP and 41 SP. The effect was exactly what he wanted. Karamir¡¯s body shook, making it drop the club and turning its coordinated attack into just a ball of furry momentum. The momentum, of course, was still heading directly for Jerome. He put out both hands, hoping to block the incoming creature. It crashed into him, and even though Jerome successfully activated Recoil Burst and sent the thing flying, the initial impact was enough to push Jerome backwards. His head hit hard soil, knocking off a couple HP points and making him dizzy. He picked himself up quickly, ignoring his spinning head and the excruciating pain from his leg. This was progress. Sure, he¡¯d used up about two thirds of his MP, and his health was still draining out through blood loss, but he¡¯d separated the giant gnoll from its most formidable weapon. A quick Portal Hand + Recoil Burst tossed the club far afield, making sure it couldn¡¯t be retrieved during this battle. Then another claw swipe and the second smaller gnoll was gone. But Jerome¡¯s SP was almost drained. He used Refill SP while Karamir recovered from the surprise double-handed Recoil Burst and the loss of its club, but then his MP was gone. This was Jerome¡¯s last burn through the SP bar (it wasn¡¯t even full), and he had no MP with which to call on his magic techniques anymore. Jerome¡¯s HP was at 61%. The gnoll¡¯s HP, on the other hand, was still at 73%¡­ and it still had both legs. Perhaps he could even the odds there. It would require a precise Portal Hand, but it was his only good shot at making this a fair fight. Karamir was lumbering towards him, more carefully now. It didn¡¯t know that Jerome no longer had the mana for the Crystal Overload trick ¡ª it just knew that it was without its favorite club, and the shapeshifting human had killed three of its companions (including a mage!) and kept on besting it with crazy new tricks. That slowness, however, allowed Jerome to focus and use his Portal Hand with increased accuracy. He sent out the portal, then was able to grab Karamir on the side of the knee. A Recoil Burst and boom ¡ª the knee was blown. Karamir roared in pain. The move only took out 9% of its health ¡ª seriously, this thing was a tank ¡ª but it fell to the ground and looked around for the next attack, paranoid. After looking in vain for another phantom claw it decided to crawl towards its attacker. It had more movement experience in this body than Jerome, but it was still hampered by the loss of a knee. It hobbled jerkily forward on all fours (all threes?). Jerome sent out a Portal Hand on top of it, pushing it down with a Recoil Burst and making it collapse onto its stomach. He sent the palm down further and tried it again. Success! The move didn¡¯t take more than a couple points of HP off of Karamir, but it kept the thing down. Jerome glanced over at Krystyna. Her SP bar was almost full, but she was down to 35% of her MP and she¡¯d taken a couple hits that knocked her HP down to 79%. She ducked and dodged through the tangle of gnolls, their claw attacks and swings narrowly missing her. Occasionally she had time to Recoil Burst one away, or get in a punch, but it was all she could do to not get hit. Jerome would have to finish his battle and then draw a couple of the gnolls away from her before she ran out of MP. The only way he could do that was if he got in a bunch of good hits. That could either be claw attacks to vulnerable areas or Recoil Bursts on other vulnerable points. A Recoil Burst on the other knee¡­ that would get him a huge advantage. Jerome tried, but Karamir was wise to his tactics now. Instead of carrying on forward and ignoring the brush against its knee, Karamir collapsed it, slowly its total progress but pulling the knee rapidly away from Jerome¡¯s hand, and almost crushing his hand in the process. Jerome was able to get a Recoil Burst off against the upper leg, but that sent Karamir flying closer, which was not the desired result at all. Hitting the ground, once again, only took off a couple points of the monster¡¯s HP. Claw attack were the new order of the day. They didn¡¯t require the same precision, and they could be executed quicker. Karamir batted many of them away as it moved haltingly towards Jerome, but many of the others landed. By the time it reached Jerome it was at 28% HP. Jerome, due to the blood loss, was down to 39% HP. More importantly, he was just about out of SP and completely out of MP. Jerome tried one last Recoil Burst, hoping to push Karamir away, but the beast swatted away his hand. Then it raked Jerome¡¯s face and chest furiously with its claws, knocking him down to 18% health. This was it. One more claw attack like that and he was dead. This form was done. The small gnoll form would be almost useless, so he had one shot left: Krystyna. He transformed into her body. He didn¡¯t have much of a chance, but it was a chance, and this was a pretty good body to die in. Then he saw a small message at the edge of his vision. Intimacy Bonus applied. Chapter 36: Killing Machine Intimacy Bonus? He had hundreds of pounds of solid fur and claw towering over him, so he would have to figure out later what an Intimacy Bonus was. If they survived this, maybe he could explore it later with Krystyna¡­ it sounded fun. A claw came at him and he dodged, much quicker than he was used to. Then he sent an upper-cut into Karamir¡¯s jaw, hurting it, dizzying it, and only doing a tiny bit of damage to himself. Having both legs again was nice, especially since his opponent was still hobbled. Grappling felt more natural than ever before. When the next swipe came he dodged and applied an elbow lock on the outstretched arm, smoother than when he¡¯d practiced it, then used an extra-strong Recoil Burst to break the joint. Karamir was still vastly stronger than him, and had more endurance, but the tables had turned. It was at 21% health and had two blown joints. ¡°How?¡± The giant gnoll asked plaintively. It knew the battle was over as well. ¡°Please, don¡¯t let Katani tame you. If he tames you, it¡¯s slavery for the rest of us.¡± Who was this Katani that he kept talking about? Some enemy of Karamir¡¯s gnoll troupe, and a powerful one at that, but that could be anything. Could he take this gnoll prisoner and question it? Jerome looked at Krystyna, saw that she was out of MP and running quickly out of SP. He could leave this giant gnoll here, but if it had some way of healing then that could be a fatal mistake. Better to be sure. Jerome put one hand on the side of the giant gnoll¡¯s neck and another on the opposite side of its head, then used Recoil Burst. Its neck snapped, killing it instantly. Time to clean up the rest of this mess. Krystyna was holding her own against the eight smaller gnolls. They had only managed to get a few hits on her ¡ª eight against one! ¡ª but her MP was gone and her SP bar was at 19%. Another minute and she would have been on the ground gasping for breath while they pummeled her. Jerome jogged towards the melee, not going full pace so that he could channel Refill SP on Krystyna while moving. She didn¡¯t dare look up at him, lest she get hit, but she smiled. She knew what it meant. Help was on the way. Once her SP bar filled completely Jerome sprung into action. He sprinted towards the nearest gnoll and grabbed its arm while placing his other hand on the shoulder blade. A quick Recoil Burst and the thing¡¯s shoulder snapped.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. How had he known how to do that? Krystyna had showed him the basics of standing grappling, how the various joints didn¡¯t want to move, and how Recoil Burst could quickly make them move in those directions anyways¡­ but that was smooth. She¡¯d shown him a shoulder lock while grappling, and he¡¯d then transferred that principle it to standing grappling as if he¡¯d practiced it a hundred times. He glanced at his Grappling skill and it was¡­ 10? His base Grappling skill was 5. Krystyna¡¯s was 9. Somehow the average of that was 10? What? No time to think about it. He was half scared that if he looked again it might go down. Just use it while it was there and don¡¯t ask too many questions, at least until all the gnolls were dead. The one in front of him still had a working shoulder, one attached to a set of claws. It turned around swiped at Jerome. To counter, Jerome pulled on the arm he was already holding to throw the gnoll off balance and make the swipe miss. Then in the same motion he swept the gnoll¡¯s ankles with his foot, sending it onto its back. He reached down, put his hand on the thing¡¯s face, and used a Recoil Burst. The head, already resting on the ground, had nowhere to go, and so it was like hammer striking an anvil¡­ with a watermelon in between. All of that happened in ten seconds or less. It wasn¡¯t the absolute most deadly he¡¯d ever been, but it somehow felt more brutal doing it this way, in a human form, than when he had exploded gnoll bodies using a couple dozen suckers. Being in an ockdine body always felt strange and unreal, but ripping apart limbs and exploding faces with bare hands felt real and raw. If it wasn¡¯t for his Quest, and the fact that the gnolls had attacked them first, he might even have felt guilty. But he did have his Quest, and the gnolls had indeed attacked first, so he didn¡¯t feel guilty at all about what he did next. First he wanted to clear some space. He did a basic two-handed Recoil Burst on one gnoll, aiming it so that it hit two of its comrades and knocked all three of them over. His Recoil Burst was vastly stronger than he was used to, so the gnolls went farther and took more damage that he would have expected. Four visibly nervous gnolls remained standing against Krystyna and Jerome. They knew they were dead. Everyone involved knew what was coming. It was just a matter of cleaning up. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Krystyna asked as she dodged a blow from a gnoll, tossed it over her shoulder, and then kicked a econd one in the chest. ¡°How are you suddenly so good at hand to hand combat?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± said Jerome, ¡°I¡¯m just really good at being inside you.¡± Krystyna stomped a gnoll¡¯s face until it died, caught another one in a sacrificial flip that left them both on the ground, and choked it out while punching it in the face to hurry up the dying process. During that time Jerome had thrown a gnoll into another, toppling them both, then did the hammer-anvil-watermelon trick with both of their heads at once, one hand for each. Then he went over to the pile of three gnolls he¡¯d knocked over earlier, who were each in various stages of recovering their feet, and did spectacular violence on them until they died. Victory. They¡¯d fought twelve gnolls, including a mage and a giant Commander, and won. Krystyna slapped him. Chapter 37: Two Become One The adrenaline from the battle still surged through Jerome¡¯s borrowed body, but the slap still stung a surprising amount. ¡°What was that for?¡± Jerome complained. ¡°You know what that was for,¡± Krystyna said. ¡°I¡¯m serious. I don¡¯t know why, but look at my stats ¡ª I¡¯m really good at being inside you right now.¡± ¡°Stop it!¡± she yelled. ¡°You almost made me crack up while we were fighting those gnolls! What if it had gotten out of control? What if I had started rolling on the ground from laugher? Wouldn¡¯t you feel terrible knowing I died because I was laughing at your stupid joke?¡± She chased him and he backpedaled, tripping over the body of a dead gnoll and falling onto his back. She fell on top of him, probably on purpose. ¡°I¡¯m glad you survived,¡± he said. ¡°Deadly jokes and all.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± she said warmly. Then she kissed him. Jerome¡¯s heart rate had barely started to slow down from the battle, but it shot right back up when she did that. He returned it passionately, grabbing her and pulling her tight against his body, and also sticking his elbow in something squishy. ¡°Hey this is great and all,¡± he said, ¡°but I think we¡¯re laying on a dead gnoll¡¯s body.¡± ¡°Oh yeah, let¡¯s uh¡­ let¡¯s move a bit.¡± They scooted over, but ran into another one. ¡°These things are frickin¡¯ everywhere.¡± ¡°Who put all these dead bodies here?¡± she asked with fake harshness. ¡°Bring me the lips of whoever¡¯s responsible for this!¡± ¡°Seriously? Let¡¯s at least get away from all the dead things first.¡± Krystyna grumbled but agreed. ¡°I knew there was a downside to you acting like an adult.¡± By the time they found a nice not-splattered-in-blood tree to lean against the moment had passed. Instead of kissing they held hands and relaxed as much as they could ¡ª it was, after all, still the middle of the night. After a while Krystyna spoke. ¡°We might as well figure out what¡¯s going on with your stats. I can¡¯t do that because it hides all the transformation stuff from me, so you¡¯ll have to narrate out the facts.¡± Jerome looked at his stat screens.
Name: Krystyna Kowalska (Jerome Wallaby) Race: Human
Level 11 (Level 7, 178% progress) 224/224 HP
168/168 MP 224/224 SP
Statuses: Transformed (24 hours remaining, Intimacy Bonus)
Strength: 43 Endurance: 34
Agility: 60 Focus: 32
Dexterity: 25 Connection: 34
Holy hell! 224 HP! An Agility stat of 60! This was madness! It was higher than either one of their stats. No wonder his movements had felt so smooth during the fight. A normal transformation takes half (0.5) of your stats and combines them with half (0.5) of the target¡¯s stats, creating an average. A transformation with an Intimacy Bonus is greater than the sum of its parts, raising the 0.5 multiplier applied to each set of stats. He looked at his skills, hoping the bonus applied there as well. Oh boy did it ever.
Skills Special Abilities
Transform Level 3, 74% (unique) Store, Transform, Preview (level), Pass-through (attribute bonuses), Intimacy Bonus
Recoil Burst Level 18 (Level 8, 88%) (unique) Burst
Portal Hand Level 4 (Level 5, 66%) (unique) Portal (1)
Blast Off Level 2 (Level 3, 42%) (unique) Blast Off
Magic Pulse Level 1 (Level 1, 68%) (unique) Pulse
Unarmed Strikes Level 9 (Level 6, 82%)
Dodge Level 11 (Level 5, 63%) Hear The WindThe story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Grappling Level 10 (Level 5, 45%)
Healing Level 6 (Level 5, 31%) Refill HP, Refill SP
Sneak Level 2 (Level 3, 71%)
Alteration Level 2 (Level 3, 91%) Blessing, Hold
Flows Level 2 (Level 3, 21%) Crystal Overload
Herbalism Level 9 (Level 3, 9%) Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Light Armor Level 4 (Level 0, 0%)
Heavy Armor Level 1 (Level 1, 39%)
Those skill level were amazing. His unique skills like Portal Hand took less of a hit than normal, and the skills he shared with Krystyna were amped up like crazy. Level 18 for Recoil Burst! No wonder that gnoll had flown so forcefully into its comrades! ¡°So my transformed stats, they¡¯re a combination of our stats, like before¡­ but instead of half and half it¡¯s more like two thirds and two thirds.¡± ¡°Huh,¡± she said, ¡°that makes sense with all the numbers I¡¯m seeing. What was your HP before?¡± ¡°140¡±. ¡°And mine was 180¡­ So if your transformed HP is 224 when we would expect 160, that means¡­¡± She was silent for a second while she stared off into space, doing some sort of mental math. ¡°If it split things equally, then it took 70% of each of our HP instead of 50%. The other ones are harder to check, since the numbers are lower and there¡¯s probably some rounding, but I suspect it¡¯s similar.¡± ¡°My old MP was also 140. Test it with that.¡± ¡°And my MP is 100, and your new transformed MP is 168¡­ so the split seems to be even. 70% from each. The biggest question is¡­ why¡¯s it doing that?¡± ¡°Through the, uh¡­¡± Jerome choked on the words he was about to say, embarrased at the name of the bonus. The ¡®i¡¯ word was weird. Even weirder than the ¡®l¡¯ word. You could ¡®love¡¯ ice cream, tv series, video games¡­ really, anything could be loved. It had lost the old inflammatory, reactionary, revolutionary meaning it had once held. But to be intimate¡­ intimacy was a weird anachronism that had no place in modern society. He finally found his voice and repeated something he¡¯d heard on an old show once. ¡°It¡¯s through the power of friendship.¡± ¡°Did it say that?¡± Krystyna asked darkly. ¡°This better be more than just friendship.¡± He turned red, doubly embarrased now. Hiding it was definitely worse than saying it up front. Might as well come clean. ¡°It¡¯s called¡­ an Intimacy Bonus.¡± Whew. There, he said it. ¡°An Intimacy Bonus? So you get awesome powers because we had sex?¡± Jerome focused in on the message that popped up. There is no bonus from casual sex or forced sex. More bonuses are applied for greater commitment, higher levels of affection, and better (and more frequent) sex. ¡°Not just because we had sex, although that seems to be a part of it¡­ After all, it¡¯s not called a Sex Bonus.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ what¡¯s the rest?¡± ¡°The status screen says we should¡­¡± This one would be even harder to say than ¡®Intimacy¡¯. Jerome breathed deeply and psyched himself up. ¡°We should get married, love each other deeply, and have mind-blowing sex all day every day. If we want to maximize the bonus, that is. You know, for effective fighting and all that.¡± Krystyna fought down a grin that threatened to engulf her face, winning that internal battle only after a good ten seconds of effort. Then her face fell, no effort required. She rubbed her eyes and sighed. ¡°I¡¯m turning into my parents.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡± How would she know what her parents were like? ¡°I¡¯m old-fashioned, but not that old-fashioned. I¡¯m not going to jump into a forever commitment with the first person I sleep with.¡± ¡°This was your first time too?¡± That didn¡¯t make any sense. She was definitely hot enough to get laid. Any guy would be thinking about it within five seconds of meeting her. And yet she hadn¡¯t had sex before? ¡°Have you seen the guys out there? I mean, did you see you when you came in here?¡± Heh. ¡®Came in here¡¯. But Jerome had gained enough awareness to not make the joke and ruin the moment. ¡°Girls aren¡¯t like guys,¡± said Krystyna. ¡°Guys can stick it in a warm cherry pie and make things happen. Girls have all these conditions before it¡¯s good for us. I think I told you some of mine when I had that¡­ episode¡­ the other day¡­ but we don¡¯t even know what all of them are until they¡¯re met!¡± ¡°But the government films¡­¡± he knew it was stupid as soon as he said it. ¡°The government films are trash, written to make the men of the world complacent and easy to manipulate. The old films were better. They were still wrong in many ways, but they weren¡¯t written explicitly to sedate and emasculate an entire generation; that was just a side effect.¡° ¡°What¡¯s that mean for us? Are you saying that we shouldn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°No! We definitely still should. Just¡­ not forever. Not yet.¡± Krystyna had hopeful pleading in her eyes. ¡°We can¡¯t just¡­ we have these feelings, you know, and they¡¯re chemicals in the brain, and what happens when the chemicals go away? Forever is a long time. We don¡¯t know how this bonus works. If we commit to forever, and we break that, what happens? Does it just go away? Does it take back what it¡¯s given you, with interest? They didn¡¯t have a magical bond, but when my mom left... He¡¯d thought their relationship was forever. Despite everything that he saw in the world, despite the statistics, he held to the old religion and he thought it would protect them. ¡°He wasn¡¯t a perfect man, but he really thought it would be forever. He gave her a part of his soul. ¡°It left with her, and he never got it back.¡± Jerome was stunned by this revelation. ¡°You¡­ you knew your parents? Isn¡¯t that¡­¡± ¡°He tracked me down. It was illegal, but he did it. We couldn¡¯t live together as a family, and we couldn¡¯t do registered activities together, but the state is incompetent, and no one reported us because no one else knew. I called him by his last name. He was a dance instructor ¡ª well, really a martial arts instructor, but he hid it like he hid everything else ¡ª and he took me on as an unregistered student. I had dinners at their house. Before she left, that is. After¡­ ¡°I¡¯ve said too much already. I just don¡¯t want to break your soul, okay? And I don¡¯t want you to break mine.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ okay,¡± Jerome stuttered. It was weird thinking about something forever. He¡¯d said ¡¯marriage¡¯ just because it was the longest commitment he could think of, an absurdity, an anachronism. No one actually got married these days. ¡°So maybe not forever¡­¡± Forever might increase the Intimacy Bonus, but the talk of soul-ripping had made him skittish. ¡°Still, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be abandoning you any time soon.¡± She smiled. ¡°You better not. Or I¡¯ll hunt you down and¡­ I don¡¯t know. Rip out the pieces of soul I¡¯ve given you.¡± ¡°With a threat like that I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever find the courage to leave.¡± ¡°Good,¡± she said with satisfaction. Then she got one of those embarrased looks, like she was ashamed of sharing too much and wanted desperately to change the subject. ¡°Now, about the weird things those gnolls were saying when we got up...¡± Chapter 38: De-unification Light slowly crept into the woods, illuminating the corpses they¡¯d created in the night. Bright green gnollish blood lay splattered across the brown tree trunks and the darker blue-green underbrush. Instead of discussing the gnoll¡¯s plans they¡¯d spent the rest of the night snuggling and dozing, but now it was harder to ignore everything that had happened. Jerome started rifling through their pockets, while Krystyna set about collecting crystals. ¡°We really messed them up, didn¡¯t we,¡± said Jerome. ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Krystyna agreed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you took down that giant one. And there was a mage? Their hunting groups are getting stronger. We need to figure out what exactly is happening with the gnolls.¡± ¡°It sounded like there were two groups. The giant one said something about ¡®Katani¡¯.¡± ¡°Katani?¡± ¡°He said ¡¯if Katani tames you, it¡¯s slavery for the rest of us.¡¯¡± ¡°I think I remember¡­ at the beginning, before they attacked, they mentioned selling the crystals to Katani¡­ and selling us to Katani.¡± ¡°The King! In the capital, they said it was the king buying up all the crystals! Then when I was forced to do surgery, they told me to search for that woman¡¯s crystal.¡± ¡°So the king wants to collect all the crystals from humans and gnolls¡ª¡± ¡°To build a superweapon.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°A superweapon. Come on. You¡¯ve played RPGs, haven¡¯t you? Any time a villain is collecting crystals, it¡¯s to power a superweapon. This is especially true if the crystals come from sentient creatures.¡± She laughed in disbelief. ¡°A superweapon? Have you seen their technology level?¡± ¡°A magical superweapon. Come on, keep up.¡± ¡°That would explain why he¡¯s paying so much for them. With a superweapon, he¡¯d be able to enslave the villages¡­ but didn¡¯t the gnoll say that they¡¯d been enslaved if you were tamed?¡± ¡°Maybe he¡¯s unclear on what Katani¡¯s doing with the humans. If we have these powers it¡¯s stupid to just cut us open; it would make way more sense for us to be tamed and used to fight.¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s zoom out a little,¡± said Krystyna. ¡°We don¡¯t know exactly what Katani is doing with these crystals, but we do have a pretty clear uniting-the-tribes dynamic going on, so we can look at historical examples and try and use that knowledge to our advantage.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Look at Otto Von Bismarck unifying Germany or Rome building its empire. There¡¯s a common pattern of a strong leader arising in a central city, then playing rivals off each other while consolidating power. There¡¯s a lot of violence at the beginning, followed by a long period of peace, prosperity, and oppression. We¡¯re interested in the violent beginnings phase, and how we can best insert ourselves in that in order to rescue the humans.¡± ¡°And make sure Katani doesn¡¯t develop a superweapon.¡± ¡°Yes, that too.¡± ¡°It sounds like we need to kill Katani.¡± ¡°We need to get stronger first, and maybe get allies.¡± ¡°Allies among the gnolls? Aren¡¯t they all trying to kill us?¡± ¡°The alternative is to commit genocide. I¡¯d much rather understand their culture and find a way to make peace. Even if we kill all of them, there are still those ockdine to worry about, and the ptau, and off to the east are the human settlement and the elves, all of which are trying to kill us. Either we figure out how to live with them in peace, or we commit to at least one genocide, possibly more. If we can free them from this Katani¡¯s oppression, then that may buy us enough goodwill that our two species can live side by side.¡± ¡°Even if that was a good idea¡­ how? Killing them all seems a lot easier. I¡¯m getting really good at killing.¡± ¡°If diplomacy doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll kill them. But let¡¯s try diplomacy first. You have the perfect skill to get inside their culture and understand them. You can impersonate anyone, provided you have enough knowledge to not give yourself away.¡± ¡°So I sneak into a village, stir up rebellion¡­¡± ¡°Not so fast. Villages are small, so everyone will know each other. A hundred gnolls on average. You got unlucky running into someone who knew you in the capital. In a village, that will take five minutes at most, and then what? Would you be able to imitate the gnoll whose body you stole and know the correct words to say that would inspire them to fight against Katani? Most tribes hate their neighbors, so you can¡¯t imitate a gnoll from outside the tribe. Then what happens when the gnoll with the stolen body returns? There¡¯s no way I can see that it doesn¡¯t turn violent.¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Then we fight them. I get whatever information I can and then I fight them.¡± ¡°There are hundred gnolls in a village, on average. Let¡¯s say that half of them are males ¡ª all the hunting parties have been male, so I¡¯m assuming their women don¡¯t fight ¡ª and half of those males are in fighting shape. Maybe you could kill them, but then what? You have a village with seventy-five gnolls that can¡¯t fight, but do hate you for killing their sons, fathers, and husbands. Double-useless.¡± ¡°So I don¡¯t infiltrate a village yet. What about just talking to them as a human?¡± ¡°You saw the result of that when we met. I was lucky it was just two that chased after me.¡± ¡°Okay, fine. I¡¯ll do the city thing. But when I infiltrate the city again I¡¯m getting some better armor for you and some more scrolls for both of us.¡± ¡°Good. Now here¡¯s the things I want you to look into¡­¡± Would you like to accept the quest ¡°Mystery of the Crystals¡±? Conditions: Figure out why King Katani wants crystals and what he¡¯s doing with them. Rewards: 2000 XP Would you like to accept the quest ¡°Gnollture¡±? Conditions: Gain insight into Gnoll culture. Valuable insights to gain: where they keep the women and children, the alliance structure (if any) of the gnoll tribes, how King Katani enforces order, history of Katani¡¯s conquest, etc. Rewards: 600 XP for each helpful insight. He accepted the quests. After they were done planning the infiltration and looting the bodies (not much good except some money and the crystals) they went back to practicing. Jerome tried the giant gnoll¡¯s Heavy Armor, but even though it reshaped itself to fit to his smaller body it was still really heavy. At his skill level it made all of his movements slower and use more SP, and when he changed shapes it would disappear in favor of whatever his target was wearing, so after reaching level 2 in the skill he decided that it wasn¡¯t worth training. But he didn¡¯t remove the skill completely, because he could very well have another target with heavy armor, and the extra level would be useful. The +1 STR he got from the training wasn¡¯t bad either. Because Jerome was in Krystyna¡¯s form, most of the day was spent practicing the skills they shared: grappling, unarmed strikes, Recoil Burst, and dodge. She showed him more grappling moves, focusing on ones that could be done standing up, and he picked them up extremely quickly due to his high combined skill level. When night fell she placed her head on his ample chest. ¡°This is nice,¡± she said. ¡°Soft.¡± ¡°Now you understand how I feel.¡± ¡°It¡¯s weird. I¡¯ve always wondered what¡­¡± she trailed off, and then went in for a kiss. ¡°Those are softer too.¡± They¡¯d kissed while he was in her body before, but this time they took the time to really explore and see what was possible. The experience for Jerome was subtler and stranger, but ended up being more intense. There wasn¡¯t the rush to completion that he¡¯d felt the first time, the frantic desire to finish the act in one glorious burst. Instead it was a slow build of give and take, playing and discovering. Midway through he transformed into his base body. ¡°Good, you¡¯re back,¡± she said. ¡°I think I like this form of you better.¡± ¡°Really? I think I look better in your form.¡± ¡°I like me a lot, don¡¯t get me wrong, but my curiousity has been satisfied. I like you best as you.¡± The urge to finish returned quickly upon transformation, but he held it back and instead focused on building up the energy further. They might or might not try Krystyna-on-Krystyna again, but he¡¯d learned enough from those couple of hours experiencing how her body felt that he could conduct the the Jerome-on-Krystyna experience better and make her moan even louder and more insistently. Eventually Krystyna grabbed him and squeezed him in tight so that he couldn¡¯t delay the inevitable any longer. It felt even better than the first time because of the buildup, and better than any single point of time from the last couple hours. ¡°We made so much noise,¡± she said after they finished. ¡°We¡¯ve learned nothing from last night.¡± ¡°I think we learned a lot,¡± Jerome replied with a wink. ¡°Maybe if we make more noise we¡¯ll learn even more.¡± ¡°You can keep going?¡± ¡°No, not for a little while.¡± It had taken more out of him than the first time ¡ª probably because it had lasted so much longer. They agreed to go to sleep, and when they woke the sun was shining brightly and they hadn¡¯t been killed by gnolls. Jerome leveled up and applied his points, putting 10 reserves points each into HP and MP, then putting one point each into everything but Dexterity, and putting the extra point into Connection. More MP recovery meant more training, especially if he wanted to train magic skills. It was another day of hard training ¡ª this time focused on the unique skills and magic skills that Jerome didn¡¯t share with Krystyna, since he was back in his own body ¡ª and then another night of hard, wild, but quieter (for safety) sex. ¡°We have to get you as big of a bonus as possible,¡± said Krystyna, ¡°just in case you run into trouble.¡± He wouldn¡¯t complain about that. The next day she loaded him up with a list of items and knowledge to acquire, taking the form of four quests. Would you like to accept the quest ¡°Survival Gear part 1.5¡±? Conditions: Give a Bag of Holding (for real this time) and a new set of light armor (better than her current gear) to Krystyna. Rewards: 500 XP for each item. Would you like to accept the quest ¡°Scroll Up¡±? Conditions: Visit the scroll shop and buy at least three useful scrolls. To count they must be learnable by either Krystyna or Jerome. Rewards: 1000 XP. He accepted the quests and then he was on his way. His second infiltration of the capital city. This time, he promised himself, it wouldn¡¯t end in disaster. Chapter 39: Identity Jerome waited a little farther outside of town this time to catch his new body. Who would few gnolls know, but many gnolls trust? If he got access to the King¡¯s quarters that would be even better, but all the soldiers that ran by were in groups, and any concubines the king kept would probably be cloistered in his quarters, not walking the road on their own. In fact, he didn¡¯t see any women walking the road. That was one of his knowledge goals this trip: figure out where all the women and children were kept. He hadn¡¯t recalled seeing any. Older gnolls were few and far between as well. So Jerome grabbed a middle-aged male who didn¡¯t seem to be in a hurry. He couldn¡¯t tell what the thing¡¯s profession was, but that sort of knowledge deficit could be fixed. In fact, if he played his cards right, he could get this one to tell him all sorts of things before he even entered the city. ¡°What¡¯s your profession?¡± Jerome asked. ¡°You¡¯re a human!¡± it spat. ¡°Why would you want to know? Aren¡¯t you going to kill me without a second thought?¡± ¡°I want to understand your society. If you talk to me, I¡¯ll let you live.¡± The gnoll glared at Jerome, untrusting. ¡°I won¡¯t tell you anything secret.¡± ¡°Did I just mention that I¡¯d kill you if you refused?¡± ¡°They¡¯ll do worse,¡± he said matter-of-factly. ¡°What exactly is worse than killing?¡± ¡°By my brother¡¯s crystal, you¡¯re worse than a level 1.¡± No one said he needed to have good rapport with the gnoll, as long as it talked. ¡°Tell me more about these crystals.¡± It looked at him in disbelief. ¡°You don¡¯t know about the crystals? They¡¯re¡­ you know what, just, if you find one, then sell it to the king. That¡¯s all you need to know. Or sell it to some other gnoll, since there¡¯s no way you¡¯re getting in the king¡¯s presence.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to tell me more about the crystals.¡± The gnoll started screaming. ¡°Help!¡± it shouted. ¡°Human!¡± Jerome killed it quickly, hid its body in the underbrush, then took its form. It was just quick enough: two other gnolls ran in right after he finished hiding it. ¡°Where¡¯s the human?¡± they asked breathlessly. ¡°We are here to help our brother.¡± He could have easily taken on both of them, but he remembered Krystyna¡¯s no-genocide rule. Well, more of a guideline. A no-genocide-without-a-very-very-good-reason guideline. ¡°A false alarm! I was scared by a passing beast and thought it was a human. But, I knew my error when it, uh¡­¡± Jerome racked his brain for how gnolls described humans. ¡°When it wasn¡¯t very smelly,¡± he concluded. ¡°Ay, that¡¯s too bad,¡± said one of the gnolls. ¡°I¡¯d like to get some of what the king¡¯s offering for a live human.¡± This was his chance to get information! ¡°Same here,¡± he said as nonchalantly as he could. ¡°That money would sure be nice. I just wish I knew why he wanted them so bad.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Who cares why he wants them? They¡¯re to make our kingdom stronger, and they¡¯re to line my purse. Same with the crystals.¡± ¡°So no one knows what the crystals are for?¡± The gnoll looked at him strangely. ¡°Are you a level 1? Everyone knows what the crystals are for.¡± ¡°Uh, I¡­¡± ¡°Is that fresh blood on your arm? I thought you said it was a false alarm¡­¡± The gnoll wiped away the bright green splotch, only to discover no wound below it. ¡°Is that someone else¡¯s blood?¡± ¡°That it is,¡± said the second gnoll, who had been wandering around and sniffing while Jerome concentrated on his conversation with the first. ¡°We¡¯ve got ourselves a killing bandit.¡± ¡°You called us here to take our crystals?¡± the first asked in disbelief. ¡°I would expect it of one of those tribal gnolls, but you¡­ I could have sworn I¡¯ve seen you in town before. Have you been scoping us out? Selling us back our own crystals?¡± ¡°I knew we shouldn¡¯t wipe them all without checking,¡± said the second. ¡°It opens up space for scum like this to operate.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s kill him and take both the crystals.¡± He looked between the dead body and Jerome. ¡°Hey wait¡­ they¡¯re the same!¡± The battle began, then just as quickly ended. They weren¡¯t warriors. His new form wasn¡¯t a warrior either, and he felt the loss of stats, but the training and skills of his base form meant that taking on these two was still absurdly easy. He snapped the neck of the first, then held the second for questioning. ¡°How are you so strong?¡± It asked. ¡°How are you identical to the body on the ground?¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking the questions. What¡¯s your profession?¡± ¡°Are you serious?¡± ¡°Yes, why would I not be serious?¡± ¡°You must be outer tribe scum. No culture. It¡¯s clear you¡¯re going to kill me anyways, so just get it over with.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill you if you answer my questions!¡± ¡°Yeah, right. I see the two bodies over there.¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t answering my questions.¡± Getting any info out of these things was really annoying. ¡°First, an easy one. Do you have any appointments today? Anybody who expects you to be somewhere?¡± ¡°Not until tonight! And why¡ª¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask why, just answer. What is your profession?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a gatherer. I get ingredients for herbalists and cooks. Look at my clothes, come on!¡± ¡°Good. We¡¯re making progress. Now, what are the crystals used for?¡± ¡°Throw my crystal into the sea, why don¡¯t you? There¡¯s a reason I signed up for gathering, not for teaching the level 1s.¡± ¡°Level 1s. Where do they come from?¡± ¡°You¡­ you¡¯re a human aren¡¯t you? You¡¯re the human who can change forms! I had friends that lost memories because of you! I hope you die and you never ever respawn. I hope the elves acid-wash you into oblivion. I hope¡ª¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t answer my question, I¡¯ll kill you.¡± ¡°Better to die than to give you more tools to fight us with. For Katani! For¡ª¡± Jerome snapped its neck. Clearly he¡¯d have to pretend to know what crystals were for or he¡¯d risk being found out as a human. Gnolls from the capital were expected to know how various professions dressed, but an outer tribe gnoll wasn¡¯t expected to know that. However, asking about what crystals did had given him away immediately. So all gnolls were expected to know what the king wanted to do with the crystals. There was a clue there somewhere. To know more he¡¯d have to get inside the city and find a place to question some more gnolls. Maybe in a more friendly manner. Maybe¡­ at a bar? Jerome¡¯s heart leapt. Alchohol! For the first time in what seemed like forever, alcohol! This was going to be great! Chapter 40: Getting Inside Before Jerome could go and get information from other gnolls by being drunk, he decided to show some discipline and concentrate on the other quests. Buying items should come first, since that could happen quicker and it was less likely he¡¯d be found out during the process. Then he could sit back and enjoy the sweet sweet embrace of drink. More crystals would mean more and better items, so it was obvious what Jerome needed to do. The three dead gnoll bodies stared lifelessly at him. There were crystals in there, one in each body, and those crystals would add nicely to the ones he already had. It had always been Krystyna who¡¯d done this part. He¡¯d watched enough. Well, he¡¯d been in the vicinity enough ¡ª he¡¯d avoided watching, because rooting around in a dead body was gross. But this was what he had to do. He had claws to open up the body, he had the knowledge that there was a crystal in there, so there was really nothing stopping him. Kneeling down got him closer to the body. He was closer to his goal. Yes, this was progress. He put his bag to the side so it wouldn¡¯t get bloody. That could have taken five seconds, but Jerome looked around for the absolute perfect spot for it, finally settling on a tuft of grass nearby that hadn¡¯t gotten blood on it and that would effectively separate the bag from the dirt. A sharp claw. He had a sharp claw, and that would work for dissection. Thank goodness this form hadn¡¯t filed down its claws for frickin¡¯ calligraphy. When the claw touched the stomach it didn¡¯t go through immediately. He had to press down on the skin (the hide?) in order to pierce it. Finally his claw punctured the thing¡¯s hide and Jerome was rewarded by seeing green blood rush to fill the hole. He pulled to extend the cut, creating a line of seeping blood.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Flashbacks of scalpel in hand, like it was yesterday. The Afghan girl about to be opened up before him. He found his claw shaking and digging in. This gnoll was not the dead girl. This gnoll was not the dead girl. This had a purpose. He was to remove its crystal. Do it. He remembered Rikan¡¯s voice clear, sharp, cutting swiftly through him. Find her soul. He accidentally crushed part of the gnoll¡¯s entrails while thinking of Rikan and the Afghan girl, which made him even more disgusted. But that didn¡¯t change what he had to do. He had to find the crystal in this corpse. How to best rummage around a corpse? The crystal had always been in the torso. Jerome thought he¡¯d seen Krystyna reaching up, so maybe it was somewhere closer to the chest than the stomach. Intestines squished out of the way as he moved his hand up the torso, trying to feel around for where the crystal was located. He was under the rib cage, feeling around in a strange and alien landscape of touch. He touched lungs ¡ª he thought it was lungs. Was it the heart? Would he know the crystal when he found it? It wasn¡¯t on this side, at least as far as he could tell. The spine and the sternum blocked direct passage to the other side, so he pulled his hand out and prepared to stick it back in again. His arm was sopping wet with green blood and brown, white, red viscera that stuck to him in clumps. When he tried to throw up there was nothing there. Only a small hint of bile and stomach acid made its way up, burning his throat but giving him no relief. Screw the crystals. He had to get something to drink. Not water. Water would only cure his physical issues of a burning throat. Alcohol. Just one. One drink, not even talking to anyone, just one drink, and he could start on the other quests. He stumbled towards the city''s entrance. Chapter 41: Drink Jerome stumbled towards the entrance of the capital city, disgusted by his aborted exploration of a gnoll corpse. His desire to get another crystal wasn¡¯t strong enough to go through that. Killing he¡¯d become inured to; digging around in a dead body was an entirely different experience. Aside from common body horror, it reminded him too much of the Afghan girl he¡¯d been forced to cut open. Alcohol awaited inside those walls, he was sure of it. Then he could finish his quests. He had enough presence of mind to transform away from his blood-soaked form and into the gatherer¡¯s form, and then place his clean Bag of Holding back on his person. Then he got on the path, sprinted across the open area, and attempted to enter the city. ¡°Bag of Holding, eh?¡± said one of the guards. ¡°Anything to declare?¡± Shit. What would be worth declaring? If they searched him and found something then he¡¯d be in trouble before he could accomplish even one of his quests. Of course, there wasn¡¯t all that much in the bag ¡ª just money, crystals, and a couple potions that Krystyna had made for him. She¡¯d taken the rest of the bag¡¯s contents to use in herbalism. ¡°A bunch of crystals,¡± Jerome said. ¡°Where from?¡± ¡°Outer tribes.¡± It seemed like a safe bet. Less likely to make the guard mad than saying that some had been acquired in the woods right outside the city walls. ¡°What¡¯s a gatherer doing fighting the outer tribes?¡± ¡°They got in the way.¡± Jerome realized belatedly that he didn¡¯t have any gathered ingredients, so his story would fall apart if they searched his bag, so he added some detail. ¡°Chased away my prey, so I didn¡¯t get what I wanted, but the money should be good.¡± ¡°No kidding. That crystal will fetch you ten gold.¡± Ten gold! The storekeeper from before had said three gold was half price¡­ oh well, he¡¯d go somewhere else this time¡­ after he got his drink. ¡°Where¡¯s the best place to sell it?¡± The guard seemed to think he only had one, and that was just fine with Jerome. Better to seem like a gatherer who¡¯d just happened upon a payday. ¡°I haven¡¯t gathered this sort of material before.¡± ¡°The palace. Come on, you¡¯re a gatherer and you didn¡¯t know that?¡± Jerome had no answer, but he was glad of the information. Even better it would give him an excuse to explore the palace! ¡°Thanks,¡± he said and walked through the gates.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hold on just a second,¡± said the guard. ¡°Just because you¡¯re selling to the King doesn¡¯t mean you don¡¯t have to pay taxes.¡± ¡°Right,¡± said Jerome. How much would taxes be? This was closest to an income tax, so out of ten gold he would owe the government six. Thank goodness the guard didn¡¯t know about the other crystals! He grabbed six gold coins from last time and handed them over. The guard¡¯s eyes went wide as it accepted the coins. Had his payment not been enough? Was the income tax higher than 60% here? ¡°Th-thanks,¡± it said. ¡°I, uh¡­ here.¡± It handed back four gold coins. Wait, that would mean the tax was less than twenty percent. Maybe even less, if the guard had decided to steal some for itself. Twenty percent! How could they build roads, provide a Basic Income, or do science here on only a twenty percent tax? Maybe the lack of Basic Income was why the outer tribes didn¡¯t like King Katani? It was all too confusing. Jerome walked through the gate, which triggered memories of Rayi. Back when he was alive. A drink was definitely in order. How had Jerome gone so long without one? He ducked into the first building with a cup of frothy liquid on the sign. The outside was just as pristine as every other building on the street, but the inside contained an aura of seediness that did not surprise him. Back when he¡¯d done odd jobs, before he¡¯d settled into living completely off of Basic Income, this was the type of joint that he¡¯d gone to. ¡°Gatherer?¡± said the gnoll barkeep. ¡°Must be hard on your luck to show up here.¡± Yes, this was definitely the type of bar he was used to. He was much richer here than on Earth, but that didn¡¯t matter. A drink was a drink. ¡°Just give me some alcohol.¡± ¡°Really hard on your luck. That¡¯s okay, we don¡¯t ask questions here¡­ but we do ask you to pay up front.¡± Jerome produced a silver and the barkeep took it, then gave him back some coppers and a cup full of bubbling liquid. The liquid burned his throat far more than the stomach acid, but it was a strong relaxing burn. This feeling! This glorious feeling! The alcohol didn¡¯t hit immediately, but he knew it was coming, and that was good enough to drop him into a better state. This was a strong drink. Or maybe his tolerance had lessened, since he¡¯d been without for a while. Whatever the reason, the rush of relaxation and joy was fantastic. Now if only he had a good porno or an easy RPG to sit down with he could easily forget all of his problems. He¡¯d have to settle for a second drink. ¡°Another.¡± Jerome put all seven of the coppers on the table and the barkeep took five of them. So there were twelve coppers in a silver. Useful knowledge. A good insight. The Gnollture quest was practically completed. Maybe by the end of the second drink he¡¯d be able to get it all the way done. He downed the entire glass without even taking a breath. ¡°Another.¡± Chapter 42: Lost It took altogether too long for the barkeep to get his third drink. ¡°Slow down! I have other customers!¡± it said. Well then. At least his status effect was hitting. Tipsy: Agility -10%, Dexterity -20%, Focus -20%, Lowered Inhibitions, Relaxed Ah yes. Relaxed. He needed Relaxed to get over all the fucking death he¡¯d seen and caused lately. That made him even more sick. Who said he deserved to be relaxed? He¡¯d gotten all those prisoners killed. Now here he was drinking less than a mile from where so many of them died, drinking as if nothing had happened. Wanting to jack off to porn and play an RPG because having a beautiful, sexually enthusiastic woman and having an over-powered skill in a real-life RPG world was no longer escapist enough. Meanwhile, less than a mile away, humans sat imprisoned. Tears formed as he thought of everything he¡¯d done. He replayed in his mind, over and over, the bodies hitting the wall and snapping to death under the impact. Rayi¡¯s body hitting the ground and turning into a corpse. The fucking ptau flying off with it. The ptau he kept on repeat. It just flew off into the sunset, taking his new companion with it. Finally the barkeep gave him the third drink, which Jerome nursed close to his chest while looping through the pain in his mind. The beer, or whatever this was, sloshed on his chest and he decided to start actually drinking it. All those humans, still waiting. He saw the scalpel in his hands, the blood seeping from the cut in the girl¡¯s stomach. The cut he¡¯d made. The dissections wouldn¡¯t stop just because Jerome was out of town. They¡¯d continue for as long as Katani held the prisoners. How many had died while he¡¯d been playing in the woods, fucking Krystyna. How many more would die between this infiltration and the time when they finally got around to rescuing the humans? Jerome finished the rest of the drink in one gulp and threw the mug on the ground in frustration. ¡°What are you doing?¡± The barkeep yelled at him. ¡°Those mugs aren¡¯t cheap!¡± Jerome growled, fished out a gold coin, and tossed it at the shocked barkeep. Enough wasting time. He walked unsteadily out of the bar, catching himself on the doorway and heading into the sunlight. Where was that prison? That ¡°science center¡±. Jerome loved hearing about the experiments of old, but he¡¯d had terrible luck with science centers lately. Was all progress this messy and hidden under the layers of history? Surely Lysenko hadn¡¯t killed giraffes while trying to make their necks longer.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Didn¡¯t matter. This was one set of experiments he had to stop, and he had to stop them now. The streets swirled around him, all the buildings with their same one or two stories of white stone pulled straight from the earth, their curved roofs, and nets hung at various points. ¡°Hey you,¡± he said, stopping a random gnoll in the middle of the street. ¡°Where¡¯s the science center?¡± The gnoll looked at him reproachfully. ¡°The one where they cut up the humans.¡± It backed up and spoke harshly. ¡°You¡¯ll do nothing for the kingdom going there drunk.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not drunk!¡± Jerome said forcefully. ¡°I¡¯m tipsy. Just tell me.¡± It pointed and Jerome followed the finger. Why couldn¡¯t these streets make more sense? When Jerome found a general store he walked in and demanded a map. ¡°A map?¡± ¡°Of this city. This area.¡± The shopkeeper regarded him suspiciously. ¡°Why would you want a map?¡± ¡°So I can find things!¡± ¡°At your level? A Gatherer? And you don¡¯t know the city yet? You¡¯re going to sell this to the outer tribes, aren¡¯t you¡­¡± ¡°What? No! I just want¡ª¡± ¡°And your skills¡­ my god, you¡¯re a killer!¡± The shopkeeper backed up in horror. ¡°Help! Help!¡± Jerome scrambled over the counter, trying to take down the shopkeeper. His legs knocked over several potions and trinkets on his way over. The alcohol and transformation robbed him of his usual agility, but he could still take down this fucking shopkeeper. A back-fist to the face. Not the most elegant move, but he wasn¡¯t in the mood to be elegant. It cracked the shopkeep¡¯s jaw and made its head whip to the side. Only took off 23% of it HP though. Shopkeep had no moves to respond with. Fucking useless thing. It tried to call for help but the broken jaw garbled its words, and Jerome hit it in the solar plexus to stop any further communication. He wrapped his hand tight around the thing¡¯s neck. ¡°Street out there is pretty busy,¡± said Jerome. ¡°No one heard you, I bet. If they did, I¡¯ll kill them. Now, you¡¯re going to sell me a fucking map.¡± Good. This was progress. Hurting gnolls made the pain recede. Any Exp was good Exp, right? If beating and killing gnolls was wrong, then the game shouldn¡¯t have made that the way to level up. The gnoll pointed weakly to a closet. Jerome got up and opened the closet, but there was nothing there. The shopkeep had tricked him and was trying to crawl away on hands and knees. Nope! Not happening. Jerome stomped it in the ass, knocking it down to its stomach. ¡°You asked for this, you fucking animal,¡± said Jerome. He put his foot at the base of the thing¡¯s spine and used Recoil Burst, breaking its spine and taking out most of its remaining HP. ¡°Try crawling away now.¡± It tried, using its arms to drag itself, so Jerome repeated the trick further up the spine, killing it. Then he ransacked the shop, looking everywhere for a map. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. No map. The stupid shopkeeper could¡¯ve just said that. He grabbed the money from the register: four gold and a bunch of silver and copper. Half a crystal. Maybe Krystyna would find some of this useful. He dumped what he could into the Bag of Holding, including a second Bag of Holding. Quest partially complete. But no one saved. No map to get him closer, and a dead gnoll on the floor, spine snapped in two places. It reminded him of the human prisoners shattered against the wall. The species were different, but they broke just the same. Jerome collapsed on the floor and cried. Chapter 43: Found The stone was not damaged in the slightest, although several potions had been destroyed in the quick melee, and the shop¡¯s goods were either in Jerome¡¯s bag or scattered on the floor. The dead shopkeeper sprawled motionlessly on the floor, body twisted in unnatural ways where the spine had broken. Jerome¡¯s current body couldn¡¯t handle alcohol like his regular body could. That much was clear. Would he have to build up a tolerance with each new body he borrowed? Would he have to switch into a hard-drinking gnoll whenever he wanted just a little bit of relief? Then would come this body¡¯s hangover, which he wasn¡¯t looking forward to at all. He¡¯d have to¡ª Wait, no. He wouldn¡¯t have to suffer through it. He had two more available gnoll bodies. Jerome turned into the other gnoll he¡¯d killed outside, figuring that the shopkeeper would likely be discovered first ¡ª and thus an extra copy running around would cause alarm first. Better to save that form for battle, if he got found out. His new form snapped him to clarity terrifyingly quickly. The pain of the dead humans receded but sharpened; it became a shard of glass in his foot rather than a bludgeon to his head. With his inhibitions raised back to normal levels, he also saw how horrifically bad an idea it had been to try and break the prisoners free. Without the chaos of the ockdine attack, the combat support of Krystyna, or a solid plan, he¡¯d only end up getting more of the humans killed¡­ and likely raise the defenses of the city even further against him. The gnolls he¡¯d killed were already big red flashing lights signaling trouble to any gnoll that stumbled across them. This new form was dressed similarly to his last form, so it was probably a gatherer as well. That was good ¡ª he could keep up versions of the same cover story he¡¯d been using. Now to find the palace. Emotions exhausted, he was able to think clearly for the first time since he¡¯d made that first incision into the gnoll¡¯s belly. With a clear mind he could start piecing some logic together. He had to find the palace so he could sell the crystals. Asking about where the palace was located would mark him as an outsider as surely as asking for a map had, so his only choice was to find it on his own. The palace was likely bigger than the other buildings. While this deduction wasn¡¯t much use on its own, he also remembered that he¡¯d seen some gnolls climbing the walls. If he could get to the rooftops he could look across the town and see where he needed to go. Outside the shop, in the alleyway, Jerome tried it out. The wall wasn¡¯t perfectly smooth; there were little patterned deviations that were designed for claws to latch onto. With a running start he was able to get halfway up the wall, and then the rest took him about ten seconds of climbing to finish. Being easily climbable was an unusual feature for buildings, but with enemies like the ockdine and the ptau it was probably necessary. If an ockdine could transport itself to a rooftop, then the gnolls would want to be able to follow. For the ptau, someone needed to set those nets. Jerome guessed that every wall in this town, with the exception of the outside of the city wall, was climbable by a gnoll. He¡¯d have to keep that in mind for the eventual rescue. He had Blast Off as an additional mobility advantage over the gnolls, but Krystyna and the human prisoners would have to go over the ground and would be vulnerable to gnolls jumping from above. The gnoll city skyline was nearly featureless ¡ª a bunch of stone buildings, each looking like they¡¯d been raised from the earth using a set of three or four blueprints. A couple were two stories tall while most were just one.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The city walls were taller than any building except the building that must be the palace. It was four stories at its highest point, where it looked like more of a guard tower than a proper building. The third story was similarly focused. He couldn¡¯t tell how big the second story was, because another wall, smaller than the city wall but still formidable, blocked his view. That was his destination. Might as well start running there. Jerome made sure that he had his Bag of Holding with him then ran across the rooftops, able to jump the first few alleyways with just his 4-legged run. Soon enough, however, he came to an alley he couldn¡¯t jump easily, and he decided using Blast Off would draw more attention than it was worth. He studied the layout of the streets below and picked out his path to the palace. After going up on the rooftops and figuring out his destination the layout of the streets no longer seemed quite as dizzying. There was still a frustrating sameness to the buildings, at least to his non-gnoll eyes, but he could detect differences in traffic patterns as he came to main streets. It was like following a river to the sea ¡ª go in the direction of increasing traffic and eventually you get somewhere important. That rule didn¡¯t end up applying all the way to the palace, but it got him to the point where he could see the four-story spire and guide himself the rest of the way. The palace was guarded by another wall, this one not climbable from the outside, and placed far enough from surrounding buildings that no normal gnoll could leap across the gap. The wall was discolored in places, with seemingly random variations in thickness, as if it patches of it had been built at different times. A level 11 gnoll stood at attention, guarding the small gate which allowed entrance to the palace. Beside him was a bell, which could be rung either by pulling on a rope or ¡ª this was clever ¡ª stepping on a pad connected to a set of levers. An interesting set of obstacles for any attacker¡­ or for any gnoll trying to get in to help with an emergency. If an ockdine cannoned into the courtyard, and one of them blocked the gate, would the rest have the run of the place and be able to kill the king? It didn¡¯t make sense. Getting through today, however, was quite easy. ¡°What is your business?¡± asked the guard. ¡°I¡¯m here to sell crystals.¡± ¡°The king thanks you for your contribution to unification,¡± it said. ¡°Is this your first time selling?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Go up the path lined with purple flowers. Once you get to the inner compound, it¡¯s the third door on your right.¡± Jerome stepped inside and his heart stopped. To his right were dozens of warriors doing drills, training in combat of spear, club, and claw. Their leader was level 19, with an assistant at level 16, and the average level of the trainee was level 8 or 9¡­ much stronger than the typical gnoll grunt from the outer tribes that they¡¯d faced. To his left were a smaller set of five gnolls doing magic. The leader was level 16, while the trainees were level 5, 8, 10, and 11. All mages. The trainees were paired off doing a drill: one would raise a wall from the ground, then another would blast a hole in it. Jerome wasn¡¯t sure how long they¡¯d been practicing today, but drawing up the stone from the ground then breaking it had already created a rubble-filled pit a foot deep. These mages would explain why the gnolls felt safe making the outsides of the wall unclimbable ¡ª their elite could blast holes in the wall any time they wanted, letting other gnolls in and out. Presumably this knowledge was guarded from the common gnoll and the gnolls of the outer tribes. Jerome¡¯s heart sank as he inspected each mage in turn. Rikan, the mage he¡¯d killed in his first visit to the city, was strictly average for these trainees. Jerome had improved his combat abilities drastically, but not enough to face four Rikans. That Hold ability he could overcome through use of Portal Hands¡­ but if one of them got a Crystal Overload going on him, he would be incapacitated for some time, and the leader could kill him with it and still have enough MP to finish off Krystyna. Was there a way to increase magical resistance? The ptau had natural magic resistance, and some of the gnolls had resisted his weak Hold, so there must be some way. ¡°Is there a problem, gatherer?¡± A rough voice interrupted his thoughts, making Jerome realize how long he¡¯d been standing still and staring. The voice belonged to the level 16 warrior assistant. Jerome might be able to defeat it in a one-on-one battle, but definitely not with all the other firepower on display here. The gnoll spoke in a voice that was kindly on the surface but permeated with threatening undertones. ¡°It is dangerous to look too long upon the king¡¯s might.¡± Chapter 44: Blood Money Jerome barely kept from trembling. With the number of high-level mages here he wouldn¡¯t stand a chance, even with Krystyna¡¯s powered-up form. ¡°I¡¯m here to sell crystals,¡± he said in a voice he hoped wouldn¡¯t anger the gnoll warrior standing in front of him. ¡°Did Takita not¡­ never mind. I¡¯ll show you.¡± Jerome followed the warrior, trying to take in everything around him. There was little greenery in the front half of the courtyard, on either side of the path. On the left mages pulled stone from the earth and destroyed it again. On the right warriors stamped out, through repetitive drill, any life that may have once existed. Only farther down the path did grass and multicolored flowers turn the courtyard from death rehearsal grounds into something more pleasant. The stone walls looked climbable from the inside, so that warriors could get on top and toss down spears. Mages could destroy the stone with a motion, creating a new front for easy flanking, then close up the hole again just as easily. It was only the attacker from outside who had no good options. If they wanted to attack the palace, he¡¯d have to steal that earth-destroy move from a mage, which meant he¡¯d have to get close enough to touch one without triggering any alarms. Now was not the time for that. When the path split they took the route with the purple flowers, just like the guard had said, and soon they entered a tunnel ¡ª although others might call it a hallway. It was a thin passageway that had a roof but was open to the courtyard air from either side. The air cooled noticeably when they entered. ¡°That¡¯s the door,¡± said the warrior. ¡°Once you¡¯re done, be sure to get out quick, unless you¡¯ve got other business.¡± Was there other business he could invent? Asking the warrior might tip it off that he was human, so it was better to just stay silent on that matter. Sneaking¡­ well, if he was caught he didn¡¯t trust his Blast Off to take him outside the walls before a mage got a Hold on him. It seemed that, unfortunately, his stay at the palace would have to be a well-behaved one. ¡°I¡¯ll do that,¡± he assured the warrior before opening the door and entering. On the way he brushed the warrior¡¯s shoulder with his hand, hopefully with enough intention to grab the thing¡¯s form and thus whatever moves it had. Not as good as a mage, but every little bit helped. Inside the room sat a gnoll writing notes in a ledger. It wasn¡¯t at a merchant¡¯s counter but at a desk meant for studying. The gnoll turned towards the squeak of the opening door. ¡°Visitors!¡± it said. ¡°A stranger. A gatherer. You must be here to sell.¡± The gatherer form was working great so far. Too bad he couldn¡¯t keep a gatherer around for handy transforming whenever he needed to go buy and sell in the city.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Yes. I hear you give ten gold for a crystal.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve heard corectly.¡± It got up and went to a second table filled with instruments, then patted it. ¡°Now just come over here and set the crystal down and I¡¯ll get you paid. I¡¯ll worry about the processing after that.¡± Scientific instruments. ¡®Processing¡¯. Yeah, they were totally building a superweapon. Was it okay to sell these superweapon crystals to the madman king? Sure, the city was run fairly well, the policegnolls kept order, and everyone in town looked fairly happy, but the outer tribes were terrified and the king was literally paying for their body parts, so¡­ madman confirmed. Then again, with the money they got from this, they could buy whatever equipment they wanted and overthrow the king that much sooner. Jerome grabbed a handful of crystals from his bag and placed them on the table. ¡°Oh my¡­¡± said the gnoll, impressed. He grabbed another handful, bringing the total on the table up to nine. The gnoll¡¯s jaw dropped. Jerome fished the last of the crystals out from the Bag of Holding. Fourteen total ¡ª the twelve they¡¯ve killed together and a couple others that Krystyna had killed while he¡¯d been gone on his first trip. The gnoll took a moment to compose itself, starting several sentences before finding one it like enough to continue. ¡°So you must have, uh¡­. Two smaller hunting parties from the outer tribes wiped each other out, and you stumbled on the remains of the battle?¡± Sure, why not. Jerome nodded. ¡°Quite lucky¡­ not sure you deserve a hundred and fourty gold just for fishing out the loot from another¡¯s battle¡­ but a deal¡¯s a deal.¡± The gnoll opened up a cabinet, pulled out a sack of gold and started counting out the pieces into piles of ten. At about eighty he had to pull out a second sack of gold. Surely they could afford a bag of holding! To be precise, they could buy almost seventy with the gold that he was about to receive. Maybe they thought it would be harder to steal this way¡­ as if any self-respecting thief wouldn¡¯t bring their own Bag of Holding. Jerome started scooping up the coins into his bag, but the gnoll slapped away his hand. ¡°Wait until I¡¯m finished counting.¡± He¡¯d come this far to get ordered around by a scribe. Such was the way of life when the scribe had elite warriors and deadly mages on its side. Finally Jerome could take possesion of the gold. It felt good to see it disappear into his bottomless sack. ¡°I hope you make good use of the crystals,¡± said Jerome. Asking about what specifically the crystals were used for was an obvious no-no, as evidenced by his earlier conversation with the gatherers¡­ but he could use this opportunity to fish for information. ¡°Oh, we will,¡± said the scribe. ¡°They¡¯ll make our kingdom that much stronger.¡± Not a confirmation, but it didn¡¯t go against the superweapon theory either. How much time left until they completed it and then used it to obliterate their enemies and create a worldwide tyranny? ¡°Good,¡± said Jerome. Can¡¯t be seen as anti-superweapon here. He walked himself out of the compound, heart pounding, hoping none of the mages or warriors noticed anything amiss about him. When he got outside he found a nearby alleyway and leaned against a wall to collect himself. More than at any other time, he felt like he¡¯d gotten away with something. Walking undetected through a field of powerful enemies, walking away with one hundred and fourty gold¡­ He could buy anything he wanted¡­ as long as he could find the shops. Chapter 45: Buying Power The palace had been infiltrated, a second Bag of Holding had been acquired, and he¡¯d basically confirmed that King Katani was developing some crazy superweapon¡­ now he just had to finish the rest of his quests. It was a little weird that the Mystery of the Crystals quest hadn¡¯t completed yet¡­ maybe he had to return to Krystyna first? The item retrieval quests required that, but he didn¡¯t see why the information gathering quests had to do that as well. Whatever the reasoning on the information gathering quest, that left buy armor, buying scrolls, and retrieving answers to the smaller questions she¡¯d posed. No matter what he¡¯d thought during his previous emotional outburst, the fact was that he had plenty of time left to criss-cross the city and find the correct shops. He found the armor and clothing shop first. There was nothing specifically for women, alas, and none of the outfits were even remotely revealing. However, he remembered the way Krystyna¡¯s current armor fitted itself to her body when she put it on¡­ maybe all of these would do that. ¡°Let me try that one,¡± he said to the shopkeeper, pointing to a set that was clearly too big for him. ¡°You got it,¡± the thing said cheerfully. ¡°Gathering must be getting dangerous, what with all the humans running about.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Jerome agreed. ¡°Dangerous and smelly.¡± ¡°So I¡¯ve heard. Hopefully the king can fix the smelliness once he fixes their souls.¡± Now that was interesting. ¡¯Fixes their souls¡¯. Rikan had told him to find the girl¡¯s soul¡­ and it would explain why the gnolls thought they were helping humans even as they carved them up. It didn¡¯t change the fact that the gnolls were barbaric murderers trying to build a superweapon, but it did put some sense into their actions. The shopkeeper carried over the armor and started picking up bits of it and placing them over the correct area of Jerome¡¯s body. They shrank until they fit the gatherer gnoll¡¯s body, forming perfectly to his particular shape. Wonderful! He could buy any of these and they would likely fit to Krystyna¡¯s form, boobs and all. ¡°How do you like the feel on that? We could do a play fight so that you could feel how it would move in battle.¡± ¡°It¡¯s light armor¡­ they don¡¯t all move the same?¡± The gnoll shrugged. ¡°Mostly. That one¡¯s got a boost to Dodge, so it¡¯ll be especially nice for you. Increase your odds of getting away safe.¡± ¡°Any that can help resist magic?¡± The shopkeeper got a mournful look on his face. ¡°It¡¯s been pretty bad since the outer gnolls got their hands on the Hold spell, hasn¡¯t it? I told them combat scrolls on the open market were a bad idea. It took that little secret leaking out until they closed it off, and by then several others attack spells were out, with some of the more common ones getting to nearly every tribe. We¡¯re lucky they¡¯re not united and sharing secrets¡­ ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m talking too much. You want magic resistance, I¡¯ll get you magic resistance.¡± Thirty minutes later Jerome walked out of the shop with two sets of the best magic-resist-enhancing light armor the shop carried and two sets of the best dodge-and-strike-enhancing light armor they carried, only having spent thirty-seven gold. Both armor sets went straight into the Bag of Holding. One set was for Jerome to practice in, and the other set was for Krystyna. The benefit to Krystyna was obvious, as well as the benefit to Jerome when he was fighting in his own form, but there was an additional benefit as well. When he¡¯d transformed into the Commander, he¡¯d gotten the commander¡¯s heavy armor. If Jerome could figure out how to get Krystyna¡¯s armor and the Intimacy Bonus, he¡¯d be that much more powerful.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The downside of that rule was that if he put on the armor now it might very well disappear, never to be seen again, when he transformed into something else. He didn¡¯t know the rules on that, except that while his Bag of Holding stayed with him through transformations, everything else he was wearing disappeared. Was that because it was on his body when he transformed away, or because it was part of the transformation? He wasn¡¯t sure, but he wasn¡¯t going to risk this sweet new armor just to find out. What he did know was that when he transformed back to his base form, he always got the old clothes from when he started the transforming, so it was safest to put it on then. Next: the magic scrolls. The quest said to buy three useful ones, but there was no reason to stop at three. He only hoped that there were useful ones left, since apparently the combat spells had been pulled. After an hour of combing the city he found the shop. He identified two things he needed. First, he needed something in Flows so that Krystyna could level that skill up. The skill didn¡¯t even need to be useful¡­ it would be so that he could use Crystal Overload + Magic Pulse multiple times in her form. Each skill level in a magic category reduced the cost of the move, and since Crystal Overload + Magic Pulse was his best emergency move ¡ª especially against mages ¡ª he wanted as many uses of it as possible while in his most powerful transformation. That meant a skill that both of them could use to make Flows level up as efficiently as possible. Second, he needed a skill that helped with magic resistance. Those mages were his weakness, especially if he got caught in a Hold or Crystal Overload. If he could grab something useful for attacking or breaking down walls that would be fantastic, but he doubted they¡¯d sell something like that, not after what the armorer had said. ¡°What¡¯ll it be?¡± asked the shopkeeper. ¡°It¡¯s getting more and more dangerous to explore,¡± said Jerome. ¡°I need some protection, and maybe something to control my environment with.¡± Controlling the environment sounded like something that Flows would do, and it fit into his cover story nicely. ¡°You¡¯ve come to the right shop! We¡¯ve got all the scrolls¡­ all the scrolls that won¡¯t get my crystal thrown in the ocean, that is. Let¡¯s see, so you¡¯ll want some Healing, some Alteration, maybe some Flows, depending on how much money you have¡­ can¡¯t sell you the best ones, the ones that¡¯ll really set the humans howling, but there¡¯ll be definitely something here to keep you safe. Got¡¯em all arranged by skill, so have a look.¡± The gnoll motioned to the sides of the store where shelves held rolled-up scrolls, each labeled with a name. The shelves themselves were labeled by skill. Jerome went to Alteration first. He saw the Blessing skill he already had, but didn¡¯t see Hold. They¡¯d already pulled that one as being too dangerous for a common gnoll to possess. One interesting spell from the Alteration was Specialize. He could select one of his attributes and it would temporarily transfer half of those points to another attribute. This would be great for Krystyna¡¯s herbalism ¡ª she could transfer half of her Agility to Dexterity while crafting potions, then do the opposite while in battle. When practicing magic they could both take their highest stat and transfer half of it into Connection for quicker MP regeneration. Jerome set that scroll onto the front counter, starting what he hoped would become a large pile. He had plenty of money, and his only goal was gaining as much power and combat flexibility as possible for both of them. The next useful skill he found, Ether Ghost, was magnificent! It took any magical effects cast on the user and, instead of applying the effect or doing damage to his HP, it did damage to his SP. The skill itself took no MP to apply, more of an on and off switch for the effect, and so as long as his SP held up he¡¯d be immune to Hold or Crystal Overload. He¡¯d have to experiment and see how much SP a Hold or Crystal Overload ate up, but even if it was a lot this was a useful tactical tool. He tossed it with the other scroll, then went back to the Alteration shelf. As he picked up the next scroll he heard another customer enter. Hopefully it wasn¡¯t someone who knew the gatherer whose body he¡¯d stolen ¡ª that would be awkward. ¡°Back so soon?¡± asked the shopkeeper. ¡°Dangerous times,¡± said a familiar voice. ¡°Don¡¯t want that human catching me off guard again.¡± Jerome turned and almost dropped his scroll. It was Rikan. Rikan, who he¡¯d killed. Chapter 46: Rikan Mortality ¡°Can you believe that human?¡± said Rikan, the gnoll mage that Jerome had killed. ¡°It impersonated our best soulcrafter¡­ these humans, they¡¯ve got some nasty tricks, but this one is the nastiest. I knew something was up, but Nakat¡¯s always been weird. Then suddenly it snapped my neck, took my form, killed the rest of the guards, then escaped with one of the other humans. It could be anywhere. We still don¡¯t know what it did with Nakat, so we¡¯ve had to shut down investigations until¡ª¡± The shopkeeper had been motioning over to Jerome ever more insistently, and eventually coughed, cutting off Rikan. The gnoll saw Jerome as if it just noticed a bug in its soup. ¡°It¡¯s not like half the city doesn¡¯t already know,¡± Rikan said bitterly. ¡°I¡¯m not the only one that saw that thing work.¡± The shopkeeper gave Jerome its most ingratiating smile. ¡°I apologize for the fantasies you¡¯ve heard here today. You are to not repeat anything you heard here today. Do you understand, gatherer?¡± Jerome¡¯s jaw still hadn¡¯t left the floor. Rikan was alive? Jerome remembered this gnoll¡¯s neck snapping, its blood pumping from the wound. And it was talking about the incident casually, like he was in pre-raid chat complaining about last week¡¯s wipe. ¡°Do you understand?¡± The shopkeeper asked more insistently. Jerome nodded vigorously. ¡°I won¡¯t talk about the murder human.¡± ¡°Murder?¡± asked Rikan. ¡°What¡¯s a murder?¡± ¡°A murder,¡± said Jerome. ¡°A killing.¡± ¡°Have you heard that word before?¡± asked the shopkeeper. Did they seriously not know the word ¡®murder¡¯? Was this some weird translation error, or did the gnolls not have that concept? ¡°I¡¯ve heard it once,¡± Rikan said slowly, eyes narrowing. ¡°From a human.¡± Jerome rushed the mage, only to be caught halfway in a Hold. That was no problem. He used Portal Hand to place his hand on Rikan¡¯s back, then catapult the beast towards him. Except¡­ the mage barely moved. ¡°You thought Hold was only for others, did you? I read the battle reports. I am prepared for your tricks.¡± Shit. These things were organized. Whenever he battled one of them, unless he completely wiped out the team and any witnesses, they¡¯d share knowledge about the tactics he¡¯d used. And even the ones he killed might come back! That meant any surprise tactics would lose some of their effectiveness after one battle. This battle, however, he could win because he had tactics the city gnolls hadn¡¯t seen yet. He¡¯d have to just keep on finding new tactics every time, that was all. He used Crystal Overload + Magic Burst to shock away Rikan¡¯s Holds, using up over half of his MP bar with a single move. The shock only lasted a second, but that plus the two seconds Rikan needed to recover was enough time for Jerome to cross the distance. He prepared his claws, jumping so that he could do more damage in a flying strike¡­ then got hit midair with Crystal Overload. His shaking body, already in midair, slammed into Rikan.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The shopkeeper! He¡¯d forgotten about the shopkeeper! Not all were as useless as the first one he¡¯d impersonated. After what seemed like an eternity of unendurable pain it stopped. Jerome lay panting on the floor, his HP down to 5. ¡°You almost killed him!¡± Rikan yelled. ¡°If you¡¯d done that, we¡¯d have learned nothing!¡± ¡°Can¡¯t he transform? I say take him down while we¡¯ve got a chance. You lost a whole level last time. Others, ones who don¡¯t have the personal favor of the king, lost way more.¡± Rikan pulled up a chair a couple feet away from Jerome. ¡°My friend here, he¡¯s normally quite nice¡­ but if you twitch the wrong way, he¡¯ll finish you off real quick. Not everything takes as long to warm up as Crystal Overload.¡± A spike of stone shot up just a couple inches from his head. Great ¡ª a weaponized version of whatever those mages in the courtyard had been practicing. ¡°If you answer our questions nicely,¡± said Rikan, ¡°you might be able to contribute to science and to helping the rest of the humans ¡ª and yourself, should the theories prove malleable enough ¡ª to live in harmony here. Perfect integration. Multiple species working as one, just like we now have multiple tribes working as one. But you¡­ you filthy, smelly, bigoted humans, you disrupt progress at every opportunity. Did you know there was a second escape attempt after you left? They¡¯d been such docile subjects before that, but you put ideas into their heads. One of the subjects died! Died and hasn¡¯t returned. Just like you¡¯ll die if you don¡¯t cooperate. So...¡± Should he cooperate, lull them into a false sense of security, and then strike? Assuming they didn¡¯t kill him, then that might be the best thing to do. However, if they slipped, or if they didn¡¯t like one of his answers, he could die in an instant. Another gnoll walked in. ¡°You,¡± said the shopkeeper to the newcomer, never taking its eyes off of Jerome, ¡°go and alert the guards.¡± The new gnoll ran off, taking waiting off the table as an option. He had to strike and escape now while he still had a chance. Jerome transformed into Krystyna, then rolled towards Rikan. The place where he had been laying turned into a bed of earthen spikes. Then, catching up to the state of things, a spike formed right where Jerome was rolling, piercing his chest and sending fire through it, as well as taking out 28% of his HP and causing a bleeding effect. Only way out was through. He had to finish these two out quick before he ran out of HP ¡ª this was the strongest fighting form he had ¡ª and before the gnoll messenger returned with reinforcements. He fired off a Crystal Overload + Magic Burst using the new MP pool, disrupting whatever the shopkeeper was going to do next. Then he finished the roll, driving the spike deeper into his chest (causing more damage), and reached Rikan, who was scrambling away and trying to charge some sort of spell. Can¡¯t have that! Jerome punch Rikan in the shin, hurting his own hand but doing more total HP damage to Rikan and, more importantly, disrupting whatever spell the gnoll was charging up. He then rolled to a squat so he could see what the shopkeeper was doing¡­ nothing good! It too was trying to charge up a spell, probably Crystal Overload. If either of them got that off on him again he was dead, and it only took two seconds to charge. Jerome punched the shopkeeper using Portal Hand, sending it reeling backward and resetting the two-second warmup. Then he turned back to Rikan, who was also trying to warm up a spell. Jerome grabbed the mage by the arm and the opposite side of the neck and pulled it close, disrupting the charging. ¡°Let¡¯s see if it sticks this time.¡± He did a Recoil Burst, but his hands weren¡¯t perfectly aligned. No neck snapping, although what happened certainly wouldn¡¯t feel good for Rikan. Another Portal Hand punch to the shopkeeper, to keep it disrupted, and then he pushed Rikan in front of him, did a double-handed Recoil Burst to send it flying into the shopkeeper, knocking them both into the wall, and then he stepped forward triumphantly to ¡ª Motherfucker, one of them had put Hold on him. Must have been the shopkeeper, since Rikan was unconscious now, if not dead. Jerome used Portal Hand to pummel the gnoll into submission from a distance. When it died the Hold was broken and Jerome collapsed to the ground, hacking up blood. Chapter 47: Gnolltural Understanding Jerome transformed into Rikan, causing the pain in his chest to disappear and a long bloody stone spike to clatter to the ground. He¡¯d killed the thing for a second time, and he had a feeling it wouldn¡¯t be his last. If he had more time he might be able to burn the body or something like that, keep it from respawning, but he had to get out of here quick. Scrolls littered the floor, knocked around by the fight. However, most of them were near the shelves; the two that he¡¯d picked out had fallen to the floor nearer the counter. He grabbed them, then stuffed in several random scrolls from the Flows section. How wonderful it would be to clean out the whole place¡­ but it wasn¡¯t to be. There was a commotion outside, likely from the guards that had been fetched. Jerome ran out the door, nearly running into a beefy guard on his way out. ¡°He¡¯s hiding behind the counter!¡± Jerome yelled. ¡°I think he has some invisibility power!¡± ¡°We¡¯ll take care of this,¡± said one of the guards. ¡°Wait here.¡± Jerome did not wait. They¡¯d find Rikan¡¯s real body soon enough. Thankfully they didn¡¯t bring any more mages, so he was able to sprint away from them. Two guards chased him, leaving six to fight the fake invisible human in the shop. Jerome turned into an alleyway, one that connected to a street on the far side. As soon as the two guards got into the alleyway and got out of sight of the others, he cast Hold on them. Thanks to Rikan¡¯s high Alteration level the spell barely put a dent in his MP pool, so he could make it all the way to the other end with ease, slightly amused by their futile attempts to follow him. However, the effect still dissipated once Jerome hit the far side of the alleyway and went into the street, breaking line of sight. Now he was in the crush and flow of a busy street, with lots of other gnolls that were nearly identical except for their clothing. He could try and blend in to the crowd, but mage clothing stood out a bit, and the guards knew the face he was currently wearing. Time to switch again. He didn¡¯t have access to the storekeeper ¡ª it was too bad, because the stone skill would have been amazing ¡ª but he did have access to the warrior from earlier. He went into a second alleyway, found some convenient shadows, and took the warrior¡¯s form. Immediately upon exiting the alleyway he saw the two guards frantically looking for someone with Rikan¡¯s body. When he walked by them in the warrior¡¯s form they saluted him, suspecting nothing. What a fantastic skill this was. Jerome made his way to the gates trying to look like he didn¡¯t have a care in the world.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Truth be told, things had turned out pretty well with this mission. He¡¯d gotten all the materials, found some useful scrolls, learned a little bit about the palace, and even gotten some juicy bits of information that may eventually crystalize into real insight. Sure, he hadn¡¯t technically completed all the quests yet, and he¡¯d had that embarrassing incident at the beginning, but he could come back when he had Krystyna¡¯s form ready again and he¡¯d practiced his Flows. The best bit of information was that with Nakat gone they¡¯d stopped their ¡®research¡¯, which meant that for at least a little while they wouldn¡¯t be dissecting humans. He had time to practice. It was super disturbing that gnolls really were getting resurrected, but they¡¯d mentioned that before, so it really shouldn¡¯t have been a surprise. Still, seeing a resurrected gnoll in the flesh was different than hearing about theoretical respawns. As he exited the gate he smiled thinking about what was going to happen next. He could give Krystyna the new armor. They¡¯d go and learn the new spells he¡¯d picked up. Then, when he transformed back into his own form, he could level up. They¡¯d also have sex, most likely. As rough as this world was, the sex (and the constant self-improvement) made it all worth it. Jerome spent the next hour or so thinking about different positions and remembering Krystyna¡¯s ecstatic face when he noticed something funny¡­ he wasn¡¯t getting hard. In fact, he didn¡¯t have a dick. Or a pussy. What the hell? If the warrior was a eunuch then there should be some trace, but no¡­ there was nothing. He checked all over his body for any alternative organs, but there was nothing new. They really didn¡¯t have sexual organs. That explained why they hadn¡¯t seen any women. All gnolls were¡­ well, not men exactly. They were just gnolls. One gender. The Gnollture quest updated, showing partial completion and giving him 600 EXP. Weird as hell, but okay. Not much weirder than telepathic pterodactyls, sentient octopi that had somehow invented cannons, and his ability to take the form of whatever he touched. So no reason to think about it further. All thoughts, until he got into his sexytime body, must be about combat. Fighting multiple mages was the biggest challenge. It had been crazy hard keeping track of both of them, even in that confined space, and if he¡¯d missed any two-second window he would have been toast. The new spell he¡¯d stolen would help with that, but he couldn¡¯t rely on it long-term because of the stamina cost. A better way would be to bring allies along. One stone throw from a level 1 teammate would interrupt Crystal Overload channeling just as easily as a knockout punch. But that produced a conundrum: where to get the allies needed for his ally-rescuing mission. Krystyna would help, but to fight a bunch of mages they needed numbers. Possibilities churned in his head the rest of the way back. Finally he arrived, following secret markings he¡¯d made on his way out. Krystyna was there and his heart leapt with joy. She was sitting on a log, laughing, looking beautiful and ¡ª wait, why was she laughing? Had she gone mad in his short absence? That¡¯s when he saw the gnoll. Chapter 48: Crystal Clear Jerome sprinted to get between Krystyna and the gnoll. It must have done some sort of Charm spell. Why would she be laughing with a gnoll? When she saw Jerome she dropped into a defensive crouch. Right, he was in a gnoll¡¯s body too, and one that was much scarier than the puny unmuscled gnoll that was sitting nearby. ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± he said. ¡°Jerome?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± She breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Is that one part of the tribe?¡± the gnoll asked, pointing at Jerome. ¡°Yes, that one is very much part of the tribe. He¡¯ll look different in a little bit, but that¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°We should grow our tribe,¡± said the gnoll. ¡°It feels too small.¡± ¡°Could you explain real quick what the fuck is happening?¡± Why was a gnoll in the middle of their campsite but not dead or being interrogated? ¡°You forgot a crystal,¡± said Krystyna. ¡°Way to avoid the question. Besides, didn¡¯t you hand the crystals to me on the way out?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the answer. You forgot a crystal. And now we have Ted.¡± ¡°Ted?¡± That was not a gnoll¡¯s name. Not enough hard k¡¯s and harsh a¡¯s. At least she got the ¡¯T¡¯ part right. ¡°I call him Teddy.¡± That wasn¡¯t any better. ¡°So the crystal transforms into a gnoll and then you¡­ adopt it? Have you considered that they¡¯ve been trying to kill us?¡± ¡°And I¡¯ve been trying to make peace with the gnolls. This is the first one that hasn¡¯t tried to kill me, so¡­ progress.¡± ¡°Look at your level difference! What happens when that difference closes?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t kill a tribe member,¡± said Teddy. ¡°I only kill other tribes.¡± ¡°Did you teach him that?¡± He was gone for less than a day and already his girlfriend was adopting a child (or at least the closest thing to it for gnolls) and teaching it sectarian violence. Free speechers were nuts! If it weren¡¯t for the boobs and kindness and intelligence and badassery there was no way he¡¯d have anything to do with this girl.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°He came like that. He didn¡¯t know who his tribe was, but he knew that he wanted to protect any gnoll that was part of it.¡± ¡°And kill any gnoll that¡¯s not part of it,¡± the gnoll added with a satisfied smile. ¡°Wait,¡± said Jerome, ¡°it doesn¡¯t remember what it was before?¡± ¡°Not a thing,¡± said Krystyna. Jerome went through the clues in his head. A crystal sat for several days and then turned into a level 1 gnoll with no memories, with no idea of who its tribe was but sure that it wanted to protect those inside and kill those outside. When King Katani was buying up crystals for exorbitant prices it was, essentially, paying for new citizens of its city. Ones that, if taught properly, would be completely loyal. Kill them with its soldiers or buy them with its army, eventually every gnoll would be under the king¡¯s control. That was almost worse than a superweapon. With a superweapon there was usually an exhaust port or something you could shoot and make it go away. With a completely loyal army, they¡¯d have to kill every single one of them. Worse, if the king ever figured out how to do the same trick with humans ¡ª which it was clearly trying to do ¡ª it would have every human it captured wiped and re-educated under Katani law. Or it would cut up every single one of them while trying, since as far as Jerome knew humans didn¡¯t have crystal souls. Quest Completed (Mystery of the Crystals) +2000 EXP ¡°I need to sit down,¡± he said, and they made room for him on the log. ¡°Hard trip?¡± asked Krystyna, putting her arm around him¡­ and then pulling it back. He understood; gnolls weren¡¯t exactly made for sexual attractiveness or softness of any kind. ¡°I saw an old friend.¡± ¡°You made friends?¡± ¡°Well, a gnoll I killed last time. It was back. It remembered me. I killed it again.¡± Krystyna took in the information. ¡°So they¡¯ve figured out how to bring gnolls back with memories intact?¡± ¡°And levels too, unless they¡¯ve got some crazy training facilities.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a ceremony,¡± Teddy said. ¡°The quicker you perform it after death, the more memories and levels you retain. Having the body intact helps preserve the shape of the soul too.¡± ¡°How do you know all that?¡± The gnoll shrugged. ¡°Same way I know how to talk.¡± ¡°And how¡¯s that?¡± ¡°He could talk the second he popped up,¡± said Krystyna. ¡°There¡¯s some serious weirdness with how stuff works here.¡± No kidding. ¡°By the way, they don¡¯t have sex organs. Which fits in with what we¡¯re seeing here.¡± ¡°So that means¡­ unless they have a way to produce more crystals, there¡¯s a constant amount of gnolls throughout time.¡± He hadn¡¯t thought about that. ¡°So if the city takes a crystal from a tribe, that means that the tribe¡¯s population is permanently reduced. No wonder they¡¯re mad!¡± ¡°A shrinking tribe is bad,¡± said the gnoll. ¡°Our tribe is too small. It should be twelve twelves.¡± Quest Updated (Gnollture) +600 EXP That gave Jerome an idea. He needed cannon fodder to distract the mages and this was his chance. ¡°I agree,¡± he said to the gnoll. ¡°Let¡¯s grow our tribe.¡± Chapter 49: Preparing for War King Katani wouldn¡¯t be getting any more of their crystals. Any patrols that came across them would be killed, respawned, and then absorbed into their new tribe. Once they gathered enough force, they would raid a village and convert everyone in it. The logic of it was plain. It¡¯s what King Katani had done, and now Katani ruled half the gnolls. Jerome didn¡¯t have the infrastructure of Katani ¡ª he guessed he¡¯d need that if his tribe grew much over ¡®twelve twelves¡¯, or one hundred and fourty four ¡ª but that didn¡¯t matter. He only needed enough gnolls to keep Katani¡¯s mages from destroying him with a single unblocked Crystal Overload. They¡¯d prepare, training these new skills, until a patrol came across them. If they finished before that happened, they¡¯d go hunting. First, they played with the new skills. Specialize (lvl 1 Alteration) Timing: 3 second cast time Cost: 8 MP Benefit: Temporarily take half of the points from a chosen attribute and apply them to another chosen attribute. Limit: Can only be used on one attribute at a time. However, it can be stacked with Blessing and other buffs. 15 minute effect. Krystyna read the scroll first, taking an hour to absorb it and learn the skill. While he was waiting, Jerome checked the warrior¡¯s skills to see if there was anything he wanted to learn, but it was all claw and weapon skills. He contented himself with practicing his magic, as difficult as that was in this form (the warrior had no magical skill levels and no focus or connection). Jerome cast Blessing on both of them. His base skill level was 4, but because he was still in the gnoll warrior¡¯s form he only got the effect as if he was level 2. They each got +2 on all of their stats. Finally Krystyna finished and handed the scroll to Jerome. His higher alteration skill and focus attribute meant he took a little bit less time to finish reading, but not by a whole lot since he was in the gnoll form. Learning a spell was hard work. To practice, Krysytna first took half of her Dexterity and applied to to Agility, enjoying the new smoothness to her motions. Then she cancelled the effect and redid it, this time applying half of her Dexterity to her Strength, enjoying lifting heavy stones with even more ease than before. Once Jerome finished, he took half of his Agility and applied it to his Connection. Having a bunch of MP renewal was the most efficient way to practice his magic. Then he tested the limits of the skill¡­ he applied half of Krystyna¡¯s Agility to her Connection. ¡°Hey! Not cool!¡± Jerome laughed. ¡°It¡¯s weaponizable! Half your enemy¡¯s best stat and add it to their most useless one!¡± ¡°Okay, but don¡¯t do it to me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re practicing magic. A higher Connection is the closest thing we have to Refill MP.¡± Jerome tried to take half of her Agility and apply it to his own stats, but it didn¡¯t work. While they practiced magic, Teddy ran around on all fours practicing his movement. Once Claw Movement gained a level it started climbing trees too. Jerome pulled out the second of the hand-selected scrolls. Ether Ghost (Lvl 9 Alteration) Timing: Instantaneous casting to turn on and off Base Cost: 0 Benefit: Magical damage and status effects are converted to SP damage Limit: Take lots of SP damage Drat. Level 9 required. He¡¯d have to start casting Blessing and Specialize every fifteen minutes if he wanted to get up to that level, but remembering to do that was harder than remembering to floss. Next he looked at the random Flows scrolls he¡¯d pulled, and was sorely disappointed. Stream Redirect (Lvl 1 Flows) Timing: Heavy Channeling Base Cost: 2 MP/second Benefit: Redirect a stream of water Limit: The larger and faster the stream, the more difficult it is to redirect accurately and the more time it takes to redirect. Great. This would be super useful if he ever needed to run an irrigation project or something. Combat? Not so much. At least it would help them level, since the cost was less than Crystal Overload, and Krystyna could learn it and practice. What other spells had he put into his bag? Windfall (Lvl 6 Flows) Timing: Heavy Channeling Base Cost: 2 MP/second Benefit: Create a wind in the direction of your choosing. The longer the cast, the more powerful the wind. Limit: The negative effects of wind are applied to everyone except the caster, including allies. The wind dies down slowly after casting ends. If channeling is interrupted then vortexes can form near the caster, followed by the wind dying down quickly. This one was much more interesting, although the skill level requirement was too high for him right now. He could think of some uses for this when fighting the ptau, although the uses while fighting the gnolls seemed rather limited. That¡¯s probably why it was allowed to be sold. The rest of the scrolls were repeats or similarly useless. He went ahead and learned Stream Redirect, set it aside for Krystyna, and put the rest in the bag.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. That was only two useful scrolls that he could learn, so Scroll Up would stay incomplete until he got to level 6 in Flows or level 10 in Alteration. Teddy was practicing Claw Combat on a tree trunks, scratching and clawing and trying to get the most damage from each strike. The thing was a natural born fighter. Krystyna had found the armor and was checking them out. Quest Updated (Survival Gear part 1.5) +500 EXP ¡°This is¡­ nice. Really nice.¡± Wisp Armor Type: Light Defense Rating: 7 Magical Defense Rating: 0 Encumbrance: 9% Max Block: 63% Bonus Effects: +8 Agility, +3 Dodge, +2 Strikes Mageless Armor Type: Light Defense Rating: 8 Magic Defense Rating: 6 Encumbrance: 23% Max Block: 74% Bonus Effects: 20-50% chance of incoming magical effects failing (based on Light Armor skill). ¡°What do all those stats mean?¡± asked Jerome. ¡°So they¡¯re both Light Armor, which means they use the Light Armor skill. So that¡¯s good. The Defense Rating is how much is blocked per strike at level 1, but a multiplier is applied as the you raise your skill level. My skill level is at level 6, so let¡¯s see what this Mageless Armor does for me.¡± She willed the armor to coalesce around her and she smiled as she saw the new stats. Mageless Armor (on Krystyna) Type: Light Defense Rating: 12 Magic Defense Rating: 9 Encumbrance: 15% Max Block: 74% Bonus Effects: 25% chance of incoming magic effects failing Looking closer he could see the calculations: Mageless Armor (on Krystyna) Multiplier: (9 + skill level(6))/10 = 1.5 Type: Light Defense Rating: 8 * multiplier(1.5) = 12 Magic Defense Rating: 6 * multiplier(1.5) = 9 Encumbrance: 23% / multiplier(1.5) = 15% Max Block: 74% Bonus Effects: 19% + skill level(6)% = 25% chance of incoming magic effects failing As her skill level went up, just about everything about the armor would improve. ¡°So if I hit you for what would have been 11 damage, it will do nothing?¡± ¡°Not quite. The maximum this armor can block is 74%, so it¡¯ll let in 26% of the damage. I would take 3 damage from that hit.¡± ¡°Still¡­ not bad.¡± ¡°Yeah. Just try not to get hit in the face or any of the other places that the armor doesn¡¯t cover.¡± Given that the armor included boots and gloves that didn¡¯t seem likely¡­ but it was always possible that a foe could pull off a piece of armor in the midst of battle. ¡°Are there downsides?¡± ¡°The encumbrance in a percentage reduction in Agility and Movement speed, but it¡¯s not too bad in Light Armor¡­ Mageless Armor is about as heavy as Light Armor gets, and it¡¯s only giving me a 15% penalty at level 6. It¡¯ll never go away ¡ª at level 31 it¡¯ll be a quarter of the stated encumbrance, or about 6% ¡ª but the bonuses and protection more than make up for it, even at our low levels.¡± ¡°That makes sense. It could be a different story for Heavy Armor, but for Light Armor¡­ yeah. The only trick is¡­ can we get the Intimacy Bonus and the version of you that¡¯s in armor?¡± Krystyna thought about it. ¡°When you transformed last, were you naked?¡± ¡°No¡­ I was in your tunic, like you were when we parted.¡± ¡°Then that¡¯s probably it. The last time you touched me, that¡¯s the form you got.¡± Jerome thought about the times he¡¯d transformed and decided that only counted if the target was alive and unharmed. He¡¯d touched the gnoll gatherer for a second time after it was dead, but still transformed into the live, undestroyed version of its body he¡¯d originally touched. After testing the armor they went back to training. Krystyna learned the Stream Redirect skill and hunted around for water to practice on. ¡°We have to move camp closer to the river,¡± she said. No one disagreed. Jerome tossed her the second Bag of Holding. ¡°Pack up.¡± Quest Completed (Survival Gear part 1.5) +500 EXP Krystyna stuck all her Herbalism ingredients in the bag, as well as all the armor sets that she wasn¡¯t wearing. When you didn¡¯t need to eat and could stand uncomfortable sleeping conditions it was really shocking how little you needed. On the way they met a group of five gnolls, who they pulverized with little fanfare. Teddy was the only one excited by the distraction, and it went from level 1 to level 3 from the experience. Krystyna fished out the crystals from the corpses and put them in her bag. ¡°Let¡¯s see how long these take to turn into level 1 gnolls.¡± ¡°What if they turn into gnolls while in the bag?¡± Jerome laughed at the thought of her reaching into the bag for a crystal and pulling out another Teddy. As long as he wasn¡¯t the one doing the cutting, crystal removal didn¡¯t bother him. ¡°They¡¯ll take a couple days to respawn if we don¡¯t do the ceremony,¡± the gnoll volunteered. ¡°So they should be fine for now.¡± When the got to the river they set up camp nearby, setting the crystals in a row, spacing them out enough so that the new gnolls wouldn¡¯t bump into each other. They still hadn¡¯t seen a new gnoll being formed in real time and weren¡¯t sure how exactly it worked; didn¡¯t want to squish one of them or make a mutant two-headed gnoll just because they placed the crystals wrong. The next day Jerome finally transformed back into his old body. You have reached level 9! You have 6 attribute points and 20 reserves points to distribute as you see fit. You have reached level 10! You have 6 attribute points and 20 reserves points to distribute as you see fit. Krystyna ran over and jumped him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his back. He tottered a bit getting used to the new weight distribution, but was surprised to find that he held her up easily. And her mouth was right in front of his¡­ He wrapped his own arms around her back and pulled her in closer and kissed. After so much death and so many close escapes it was nice to have this¡­ being in a gnoll¡¯s body really sucked as far as his love life was concerned. He pushed her up against the nearest tree ¡ª one without spikes ¡ª and ripped off her armored leggings. ¡°Back up for just a second,¡± she said. When he did so, she removed the rest of her armor with a thought. ¡°Okay, now.¡± He pushed her back against the trees, his tongue in her mouth, his hips grinding against her most sensitive parts. He pushed the tunic up and grabbed Wit, playing with the nipple until Krystyna began to moan uncontrollably. It was like a little volume knob, and he played with the intensity to turn moans into shreiks of pleasure and back again. Then he got hit in the back with a large stick. Not enough to really do damage, but it still hurt. ¡°No fighting within the tribe!¡± yelled Teddy. ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± said Krystyna. ¡°We¡¯re, uh¡­ training.¡± Teddy squinted at them. ¡°What skill are you training?¡± ¡°A human one,¡± she said. ¡°It won¡¯t show up on our stat sheets.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ if you say so.¡± It ran off to go practice elsewhere. ¡°Wow, that was awkward. Sorry that¡ª¡± Jerome was cut off by Krystyna grabbing his rock hard Duty and guiding it into her. Her eyes looked like she wanted to melt. ¡°No apologizing.¡± Chapter 50: Grinding Jerome held up a large flask of water and tilted his hand carefully, trying to make the liquid come out in a tiny steady stream. Bending the entire river was obviously ridiculous at his current skill level ¡ª he didn¡¯t even know how to think about moving it, or tell if he was making progress ¡ª but surely he could control a tiny stream of liquid. Heavy channeling was a timeless feeling, where things nearby were either moving in slow motion or marching forward in double or triple time, but never moving at the right speed. When he¡¯d called the storm it had taken several hours, but it had felt like nothing. With this, at least, he¡¯d break out of the trance when the water or his MP ran out. The first pour he could barely get the water to tilt to the side, but by the fifth pour he was making it do loops in the air before gravity won out and made it fall to the ground. Krystyna didn¡¯t make quite such rapid progress, but that was only because she didn¡¯t have any skill levels in Flows built up beforehand. Mana cost scaling meant that at skill level 11, Flow skills such as Crystal Overload would cost 1/2 of what they would at level 1. At skill level 21, they¡¯d cost 1/3 of their level 1 cost. The precise formula was Base Cost * 10 / (9 + skill level). What that meant in practice was that the higher the level in Flows, the more times he could use his best move: Crystal Overload + Magic Burst. This was especially important for his Krystyna form, since the Intimacy Bonus made that the most powerful form he could take. Thus they both practiced the kind-of-useless Stream Redirect spell, then waited for their mana to come back (they both had Blessing and Specialization applied so that their Connection was as high as possible). When Jerome used his two level ups (those quests pushed him just over the edge) he applied all 40 of his reserve points to MP, and then put a disproportionate amount of his attribute points into Connection. At this point the ability to train up his emergency powers and thus protect himself more effectively against mages was the most important thing. He also practiced Magic Burst with Stream Redirect, which was much less expensive than with his other channeling spells. What happens was something akin to flicking the water ¡ª three seconds of flow redirection done in a moment. After quite a bit of practice on that front he got a level up in Magic Burst ¡ª an exciting development, considering how difficult it was to level! Magic Burst skill has reached level 2! You can now choose the amount of channeling time to used in the burst, between 2.9 and 3.2 seconds. Skill power and mana usage are adjusted accordingly. Jerome tested it out and saw that the water flick at 3.2 was slightly stronger and the one at 2.9 was slightly weaker. Very slightly. The mana usage difference didn¡¯t even register for this small difference in time. This development wasn¡¯t immediately useful, but once he leveled up Magic Burst even more it could help him either save mana while performing interrupts or get a greater effect if he wanted to spend more mana. For example, bursting 2.1 seconds worth of Crystal Overload would save almost a third of the mana but still get the same interrupt effect¡­ meanwhile, because of the two-second warmup, bursting 4 seconds of it would use only a third more mana but get double the damage and double the shock time of a 3 second burst. A high cost either way, but he could slowly start working the move into even more situations. The days wore on with practice, practice, and more practice ¡ª a big skill grind. They used magic skills, in Alteration, Healing, and Flows. They fought using armor, getting Jerome used to the slight penalty caused by the armor¡¯s encumbrance and leveling up his Light Armor skill to reduce the negative effects. Whenever they ran out of MP, Jerome and Krystyna would practice another type of grind, but now being quieter and finding a better hiding spot so that Teddy wouldn¡¯t interrupt them. Teddy was developing quickly. He¡¯d sought out other woodland creatures to kill and thus reached level 4, but when those ran out (did they have crystals and spawn times?) he went around scratching and climbing trees, leveling up his two claw skills, and swinging various improvised weapons. Jerome realized that he¡¯d started thinking of Teddy as a ¡®he¡¯, not an ¡®it¡¯, and wasn¡¯t sure what he thought of that development. Teddy was going to be cannon fodder ¡ª a respawnable ally, like a game NPC. It couldn¡¯t really be thought of as human¡­ and yet he¡¯d assigned human traits to those AI systems (or even, in the older ones, the scripted sequences), so why not to a flesh-and-blood creature? Jerome decided on a rule for himself: ¡®he¡¯ for gnolls in the tribe, and ¡®it¡¯ for gnolls outside the tribe. About three days in the other gnolls appeared. They followed a similar route as Teddy, although they didn¡¯t get quite as much personalized attention from Krystyna. Jerome wasn¡¯t sure, but he somehow felt that these new ones were more menacing because of that. He thought of Teddy as a child that his girlfriend had adopted, but these new ones ¡ª even though they were currently less powerful ¡ª he thought of as soldiers in his army. Maybe it¡¯s because he remembered striking them down and had purposefully waited for them to respawn, instead of them being a happy accident like Teddy. Whatever the reason, there were now six gnolls running around and training. His gnolls. He was the de facto tribe leader, since Krystyna seemed more than happy to hand him control once he showed the slightest competence and willingness to lead. The gnolls were happy for now, but they kept on asking about growing the tribe. ¡°We are not even one twelve,¡± they said. ¡°We should be twelve twelves.¡± Finally Jerome decided they were close enough. ¡°We¡¯re ready to grow our tribe. Prepare to march.¡± He took one last look at their stats before heading out.
Name: Jerome Wallaby Race: Human
Level 10, 12% progress 150/150 HP
190/190 MP 140/140 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 32 Endurance: 28
Agility: 43If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Focus: 34
Dexterity: 17 Connection: 41
Skills Special Abilities
Transform Level 3, 98% (unique) Store, Transform, Preview (level), Pass-through (attribute bonuses), Intimacy Bonus
Recoil Burst Level 9, 26% (unique) Burst
Portal Hand Level 6, 13% (unique) Portal (2)
Blast Off Level 3, 79% (unique) Blast Off
Magic Pulse Level 2, 38% (unique) Pulse
Unarmed Strikes Level 7, 41%
Flows Level 6, 63% Crystal Overload, Stream Redirect
Healing Level 6, 49% Refill HP, Refill SP
Alteration Level 6, 21% Blessing, Hold, Specialize
Dodge Level 6, 4%
Grappling Level 5, 61%
Sneak Level 3, 84%
Light Armor Level 3, 79%
Herbalism Level 3, 9% Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Heavy Armor Level 2, 17%
He was a flexible fighting machine with a cornucopia of fighting tactics available. Krystyna had fewer moves available to her, but she was still ridiculously lethal when fighting in her ideal environment of physical hand-to-hand combat.
Name: Krystyna Kowalska Race: Human
Level 10, 14% progress 180/180 HP
120/120 MP 180/180 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 35 Endurance: 25
Agility: 50 Focus: 19
Dexterity: 20 Connection: 27
Skills Special Abilities
Recoil Burst Level 17, 56% (unique) Burst
Dodge Level 13, 25% Hear the Wind
Herbalism Level 11, 74% Identify Herb, Make Potion (see recipes)
Grappling Level 11, 7% Mobility Awareness
Unarmed Strikes Level 8, 41%
Light Armor Level 7, 19%
Healing Level 5, 62% Refill HP, Refill SP
Flows Level 4, 32% Stream Redirect
Alteration Level 2, 71% Specialize
Then there were their new allies. Teddy was the most advanced of the gnolls.
Name: Teddy Race: Gnoll
Level 4, 56% progress 140/140 HP
80/80 MP 130/130 SP
Statuses: None
Strength: 19 Endurance: 16
Agility: 23 Focus: 10
Dexterity: 11 Connection: 10
Skills Special Abilities
Claw Movement Level 5, 71% 4-legged run, Climb
Claw Attack Level 4, 39% Swipe
Clubs Level 2, 93% Swing
He wasn¡¯t especially formidable yet, but every little bit helped. When they found the gnoll village they approached it quietly in the early morning dawn. It didn¡¯t quite have twelve twelves of gnolls, but there were plenty there. Probably a hundred or so. The six gnolls in their army hid about a hundred yards away, prone on the ground, awaiting for the signal. Each of them had gotten a Blessing (+6 at Jerome¡¯s Alteration level) and a Specialize (from their Connection to their Agility), which at their level was quite a considerable boost. They clutched the special firestarter concoctions that Krystyna had made with her Herbalism skill. Each had a handful of powder in each hand that would, when combined, create a stunning blaze. Jerome and Krystyna sprinted in a crouch to one of the outside huts. These outer gnolls weren¡¯t quite as sophisticated as their city/kingdom counterparts, and it showed in every aspect of their life. Jerome reached into his Bag of Holding and grabbed one of the dozens of rocks he¡¯d placed in there, cradled it between his hands while peeking around the side of the hut. ¡°Let¡¯s do this,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s kill our future army.¡± Chapter 51: Killem All Deep shadows hung over the assemblage of huts, with only the hint of an impending sunrise to light the way for Jerome and his tiny band of marauders. There were about a hundred gnolls in this village, and the goal was to kill every single one of them. They¡¯d dig out the crystals, let them sit for a couple days, then boom: loyal gnoll army. It was the exact strategy that King Katani had used to build his power, and it was the strategy that would bring the king down. The trick was that the group taking down the village was Jerome, Krystyna, and six barely-leveled gnolls. Jerome waited for one to walk around the corner, then he shot a stone at it with Recoil Burst. The stone, carefully lined up with plenty of time to aim, went straight through the gnoll¡¯s head and killed it in one shot. The only sound was that of a head quietly separating from its body, so no one was alerted¡­ yet. Before the alert went out they wanted to kill as many like this as possible: silently. The strategy relied on taking them on in waves instead of all at once. If the village gnolls could form into a cohesive fighting force then they were done for, even with their fantastic moveset and their Mageless Armor. He pulled another stone from the Bag of Holding. There were dozens such stones in there, although Jerome suspected he wouldn¡¯t be able to use them all before the fighting got too intense. He heard a slight pop and saw that Krystyna had taken out another wandering gnoll. ¡°They¡¯ll start to wonder where they went soon enough,¡± he whispered. ¡°Go more aggressive?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± The village had about thirty huts that were made for sleeping and another half dozen with specialized purposes. They wanted to clear out the specialized area first, since that was where the highest value targets were. All six specialized tents were in a circle, a fire burning in the center surrounded by four guards. ¡°Guess we didn¡¯t have to bring our own.¡± ¡°Still glad we did.¡± ¡°Simultaneous shots?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s wait to see if any of them try to take a piss.¡± They waited for a bit until they realized their error. ¡°They don¡¯t have to drink to live, so¡­¡± ¡°Right. Simultaneous shots. I have the one on the far left.¡± They got into position, hidden by the early morning shadows. ¡°Three, two, one, go.¡± Both shots hit, and two gnoll heads rolled away from the fire. ¡°What the hell?¡± said one of the other guards.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. They shot two more rocks, but didn¡¯t have enough time to aim properly. One rock hit a gnoll¡¯s shoulder hard enough to lodge itself in the flesh, a hit that would eventually kill the gnoll¡­ but not soon enough. The gnoll started screaming. Jerome yelled the signal and their gnolls rushed towards the village, death on their minds. Fires started one by one, herbal mixtures carefully combined and set at the base of flammable huts. It started with the weapons depot and the leader¡¯s house. Then several of the residential huts caught. The targets were spread out so as to cause the most confusion and to provide no easy answers as to where the attack was coming from. Maximize terror. Krystyna sprinted to the center of the circle and finished off the two guards that remained there. Gnolls poured out of their spread-out sleeping quarters. Jerome took a position near one of the more central points and sent rock after rock into the stream of emerging enemies, hitting something about half the time. They still didn¡¯t know where it was coming from. More rocks hit from the other side, the work of Krystyna. She must have already finished off the leader. Meanwhile, the allied gnolls picked off surprised enemy gnolls around the edges. In the darkness and confusion it was hard to tell friend from foe, except to the small team who knew that any frantic, confused gnoll was their enemy. They¡¯d be able to take down gnolls a couple levels higher than them, given their Blessing and the element of surprise. Gnolls continued to run around, seeking some order¡­ Dawn had been the perfect time, Jerome realized as he reached into his bag and found that he¡¯d actually run out of stones. Not every single one had hit, but the gnoll¡¯s numbers had been reduced significantly. He worked his way over to Krystyna. ¡°How many rocks do you have left?¡± ¡°Just finished.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s do this.¡± They stepped out into the open, into the chaotic crowd of gnolls. Death went wherever they stepped as punches landed and necks snapped, the dealers of the blows able to dodge most of the confused counterattacks and then heal themselves of any damage. One gnoll dragged the blazing body of another out of a hut, wailing. Jerome wrapped his hands on the living gnoll¡¯s skull and twisted. Dancing firelight turned the gnoll¡¯s green blood into running black shadows. The burning gnoll body smelled like bacon, and Jerome was disgusted with himself for the thought. They¡¯ll revive. They¡¯ll all revive, and they were enemies who would have killed him without a second thought. He stared at the burning body anyways. That got him an axe in the back. Even with the armor it did 28 damage. A solid hit. But it was nothing to him. He channeled Refill HP as he turned to size up his opponent. Basic low-level gnoll. By the time he dodged the second blow Jerome had already healed himself completely. The gnoll swung a third time and Jerome stepped to the side to dodge, then landed a quick punch to the gnoll¡¯s face. That was just a distraction until he could get both his hands around its throat. Once there he used Recoil Burst, neatly separating head from body. Just like cutting down a tree. Suddenly Jerome wanted a drink. But he couldn¡¯t get a drink. Not now. He couldn¡¯t stop now. More huts caught fire; one of his gnolls had gotten the bright idea to spread the flames with burning sticks and it was working, adding to the hellish glare. He had to keep working. He killed another, and another, and another. Eventually they stopped coming. Eventually the huts burnt down to embers, the sun rose, and the adrenaline faded. Nothing was left of the enemy except ashes and corpses, illuminated all too harshly in the cold morning light. Upon this foundation of horrific slaughter he would build his army. They¡¯ll respawn, he told himself. They were enemies, and they would all respawn. Chapter 52: Immortal Kingdom (King Katanis POV) When Katani¡¯s lantern flickered it sent a short burst of fear through his heart. He knew in his head that if it went out he could snap his fingers and two gnolls would come in an instant, bearing more lanterns or whatever he might need. Whatever could be had in the kingdom. It was a small kingdom, though, so many things that were not yet within his reach. Security, for one. Raids from smaller gnoll clans had all but stopped since they had raised the walls and ¡ª more importantly ¡ª bought or plundered the crystals of what used to be the nearby clans. It had been a virtuous cycle while it was happening: a clan raids, their members die, and then the kingdom keeps their crystals. The crystal respawns a gnoll, level 1 and without knowledge, which the kingdom educates to be a good citizen. Thus each raid grew his kingdom. The clans had been angry at first. It was customary to return the crystals after a battle, and his refusal to do so brought much consternation. The tribes had even banded together for a large assault that nearly ruined his nascent kingdom, but they did not have the secrets of organization: their coalition fell apart. Now the leaders of that assault were his loyal subjects, respawned and trained in how to best serve their new nation. Not every victory, however, was that permanent. He peered into the prison¡¯s depths, the pit with steep sides and spiked room, and in the lantern¡¯s dim light he could see the drying ockdine husks. Dozens of them kept in a dry grave, desiccated bodies dying mere days after they revived. When an ockdine respawned from its crystal it was moist and vibrant, and made attempt after attempt to escape, running into the spiked ceiling with ferocity and confusion. It would try to grasp the spikes, but would inevitably slip and fall back down. Then the lack of water crippled it, affecting first its ability to climb the walls and then its ability to even move. The last day was spent in hellish agony as lack of water led the ockdine¡¯s physical body to crumble and leave only their soul. A mere hours later the process would begin once more.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Why did the ockdine keep sending soldiers to their deaths? To an eternity in torment? That was like sending a gnoll to fight in the water, where each revival was a drowning¡­ except the suffering here was far more drawn out. Perhaps they thought to rescue their fallen brethren? But no, it was the attacks that led to these suffering prisoners, and even then they¡¯d gone after the humans instead of trying to find the ockdine that had disappeared. What was it about the humans that was so dangerous? The humans had strange powers, yes, but why risk so much to destroy the power? Why did the ockdine not seek instead to make that power their own? Katani wished he could speak their language, just for a moment, so that he could ask them what they were thinking putting both of their respective kingdoms at so much risk. One moved and made a sound in its soft bubbling speech, a sound as loud as a cough ¡ª practically a scream for them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said to the prisoner. ¡°I know it¡¯s not fair. I know you don¡¯t even remember attacking us.¡° He backed away from the pit then went up the stairs, extinguishing his torch at the top and letting the guards lock the door securely behind him. His palace, aside from the one room, was filled with happy sights: experimental magic, his growing army, and weapon production facilities that were just about ready. It was early days for each of these pursuits, and they were focused on military preparedness by necessity, but soon that necessity would be eliminated. Soon he would have the crystals of the outer tribes and they would respawn as loyal subjects, trained to fight for the glory of gnoll-kind. Soon their borders would be secured and they would be able to defend against the Great Civilizations. With security achieved, they would begin the truly epic task: discovery. How to better work the earth. How to expand to the water and the sky. Most importantly, how to fully retain memories, levels, and skills after a respawn ceremony. An immortal kingdom. He would share his discoveries with the other races, if they cooperated sufficiently. He felt no need to kill or destroy without purpose. He¡¯d hoped the humans would be the first such race to benefit, as the human question weighed heavily on the greatest minds of this world, but their souls were still elusive. Without control over their respawns it would be impossible to integrate the humans into his kingdom. Well, they would start over. They would train someone to replace Nakat ¡ª maybe multiple someones ¡ª and be sure to apply even greater psychological controls than before. Until they found the humans¡¯ crystals the experiments would continue. Chapter 53: Problems of Scale The second village massacre was even easier than the first. This was true from a technical standpoint, as the 94 gnoll allies he¡¯d picked up evened the odds significantly. He had them wear scraps of colored cloth on their arms so as to help distinguish friend and foe, then he had them sneak into the camp and massacre the enemy gnolls in their beds. It was also true from an emotional standpoint. No burning flesh. No repetitive killing. He had his gnoll minions do the dirty work, and then a couple days later, like magic, his army almost doubled in size. However, that didn¡¯t mean his fighting power doubled. Already at 186 gnolls the seams were beginning to show. ¡°We should be twelve twelves,¡± said Teddy. ¡°This is too many. We cannot grow more.¡± ¡°What happens when we grow past twelve twelves?¡± The instinctive definition of a tribe seemed to be about 144 gnolls. ¡°It becomes two tribes stuffed into the skin of one, like two souls stuffed into a body. The tribe will tear itself apart with infighting.¡± ¡°What if we separate the group into multiple tribes?¡± suggested Krystyna. ¡°No infighting.¡± ¡°But then there is outfighting.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen Katani¡¯s city,¡± said Jerome. ¡±It¡¯s peaceful, but there were far more than 144 gnolls in there. There¡¯s got to be a way.¡± Somehow the king had twisted the tribal nature of gnolls and made them form a larger and more complex organism. Teddy shrugged. ¡°We do not need to know his secrets. We are going to free everyone from his ty¡­ what¡¯s the word you used?¡± ¡°Tyranny,¡± said Krystyna. ¡°Yes. We¡¯re going to free everyone from his oppressive tyranny. Then all humans and gnolls can live in perfect freedom.¡± Krystyna had been indoctrinating Teddy with her freedom shit again. If the World Government was so oppressive, like she claimed, why did it give everyone free rations and Netflix? Oh well; as long as his gnolls attacked when he said to attack then he¡¯d take down the King, free the humans, and finally complete his Quest. They were distracted by gnollish howling. Jerome ran to find out what was happening and found nine gnolls engaged in a vicious brawl. ¡°Break it up!¡± he yelled, to no effect. He stepped into the middle of the brawl and punched out one of the gnolls. When that didn¡¯t work he punched out a second.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The remaining gnolls turned to look at him. Six of them; the final one was dead from a spear wound. So they¡¯d had their first killing. ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± he demanded. The six gnolls left standing separated into two clearly defined teams, four on one side and two on the other. ¡°They were taking our practice spears,¡± said one. ¡°We needed them more than you. Our spear skill was lower, so we need the practice more.¡± ¡°Our spear skill is higher, so we¡¯re more important!¡± ¡°It won¡¯t even matter, since you¡¯ll die first in battle¡­ just like your friend here.¡± ¡°Stop!¡± said Jerome. ¡°We¡¯re all in the same tribe. We can ¡ª¡± ¡°Are we? If they steal spears from us, to keep us from improving, they¡¯re more like an enemy.¡± Jerome groaned. ¡°Who killed the guy?¡± The two allied gnolls pointed to one of the other four, who proudly nodded, clearly unaware that he¡¯d done anything wrong. Jerome walked up and snapped his neck. ¡°You¡¯re guilty of murder, asshole. You don¡¯t kill tribe, even if they¡¯re mean to you. If you have a problem, work it out. If you can¡¯t work it out, come to me. Understand?¡± The five remaining gnolls nodded to Jerome, while stealing glances at the gnolls on the other side. ¡°Good. Tell the others. I want the whole camp to know what murder is, and to know that it¡¯s wrong.¡± Two hours later the first dispute was brought to him, and he handled it with as much wisdom and impartiality as he could. Four hours later he¡¯d gotten five different disputes. Six hours later he realized he¡¯d made a horrible mistake. ¡°We have to attack the city soon,¡± he told Krystyna. ¡°They¡¯re going to drive me crazy.¡± ¡°Too many gnolls,¡± said Teddy. After the assault on the city they¡¯d still have too many gnolls ¡ª that was the downside of them never truly dying ¡ª but at least then he¡¯d have other humans to help, and he¡¯d have one less thing to worry about. He decided to limit dispute resolution to an hour per day, so that he could create battle plans and see to the running of the camp. What that meant, in practice, was that the gnolls got impatient and starting fighting again¡­ but now the losers of those fights (the ones who survived) were mad at Jerome. He began to fear what would happen if a gnoll decided that he wasn¡¯t tribe. If all of them decided en masse, and it was him and Krystyna against two hundred gnolls in open battle, then the gnolls might not win ¡ª with his transformations, Jerome could survive a lot of low-level assaults ¡ª but they might be able to kill Krystyna, which was just as bad as them winning. But if they defected in secret, and it was a high-level gnoll, he could wake up with a spear in his throat and all the transformations in the world couldn¡¯t help him. As a stopgap move he asked Krystyna to become judge. She didn¡¯t want to do it, but it was between her and him, and, well¡­ he didn¡¯t want to do it either. None of the gnolls were an option either ¡ª Teddy was the most experienced among them, and he was literally born last week. After the first day of being judge she came to bed exhausted. For the first time since they¡¯d been together, she refused sex. ¡°We¡¯re assaulting the city soon,¡± she said. ¡°The sooner the better.¡± Chapter 54: Walls Only Keep Us Apart Two days later they were ready. Jerome had practiced his Alteration skills consistently, applying Blessing and Specialize to everyone he could, until he¡¯d reached level 9 and was able to use Ether Ghost. However, since no one else on his side had offensive magic, he wasn¡¯t quite sure how it would work aside from using SP to block magic attacks. Jerome left in the early morning, hours before dawn, with a simple mission: get the stone-exploding power. When Krystyna arrived six hours later with the army, it would split into two halves. The first half would show up in front of the gates and yell loudly, attracting the attention of the defense forces. The second half would come around the back, where Jerome would open up holes in the wall. If Jerome didn¡¯t get the stone-exploding power then their only other option would be an assault on the main gate, where Jerome would have to hold off nearly the entire defense force while the army streamed in. Then they¡¯d have to come back through the gate with the humans, since the humans couldn¡¯t climb the inside of the walls like a gnoll could. That was even without considering the palace; without the stone-exploding power an assault there would be an extra complication, one that was far too risky to add. Jerome might complete his Quest, but the king would survive, the gnolls would rebuild, and he would lose the crystals of his army¡¯s fallen warriors¡­ although if their tribe size shrunk to just under 144, the reduced administrative load would be a silver lining to an otherwise horrible cloud. Still, it was clearly better if he won rather than lost. First he did his usual infiltration routine. Waited outside the city, snatched a gnoll, placed hands on it, and killed it. It might lose its skills and memories, but it wasn¡¯t truly dead, so he didn¡¯t feel any reason to bargain with it this time. Then he walked the main thoroughfares, systematically looking for the prison and learning the streets. He¡¯d already done some of this work last time he was in town, when he was walking the grid looking for shops, so in two hours he¡¯d found the prison and satisfied himself that he could find it again, while ¡®accidentally¡¯ placing hands on dozens of gnolls just in case he needed extra forms later. Four hours left. He set up in an alleyway off the main street near the palace entrance. When someone wanted to enter and exit the palace, chances were they would pass by¡­ and Jerome could inspect them. If a stone-wielding mage passed by he could go and grab its power without having to face down an entire courtyard of hostile warriors and mages. Traffic was a trickle in and out of the courtyard, but none were mages. Only one even showed significant combat capability. Did they not come and practice until later? The sun rose higher and higher, and eventually, perhaps another two hours later, Jerome decided he had to risk it. He went out the back of the alleyway and re-entered the street at another point, out of the palace guard¡¯s sight, before walking up the gate confidently. ¡°I¡¯m here to sell some crystals,¡± he said. The guard looked at him askance, then shrugged. ¡°All types finding crystals these days. As long as you didn¡¯t pull it from a kingdom gnoll, I¡¯m fine.¡± As he walked through the gates Jerome wondered the profession of the gnoll whose body he¡¯d stolen. It had some grappling skill and some unarmed strikes skill, which were firsts for a gnoll. Maybe a police officer? Those two skills would be good for taking down criminals in a non-lethal manner. It didn¡¯t matter; he was in. Now he just had to walk up to the practicing mages (when had they arrived?) and touch one of them. And then get out of the courtyard without getting killed. He switched on Ether Ghost. His Alteration skill had dropped to level 5 because of the form he was in, but he was happy to see that he could still use the move. He walked straight up to one of the mages practicing earth-shaping. ¡°Excuse me,¡± he said, putting his hand on the mage, ¡°are you Takatak?¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Takatak was the most gnollish name he could think of. It looked confused. ¡°Who are you seeking and why?¡± ¡°Takatak¡­ he¡¯s a mage, and¡ª¡± ¡°There are no Takataks among the mages. Who has told you that¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s him!¡± interrupted one of the other mages. ¡°It¡¯s the human!¡± Jerome dashed away, but only got a couple steps away before his SP was completely depleted. Ugh. Six mages. Luckily their high-level leader wasn¡¯t here. Jerome transformed, getting a fresh SP pool, turned on Ether Ghost again, then cast Crystal Overload + Magic Burst on a mage who looked like it was about to do something suspicious. The move only ate up a third of his MP due to increased efficiency, but the five-second cooldown for all magic still applied, and Jerome was just about out of SP (again!) before that cooldown was gone. He switched forms. The first thing he did was set Ether Ghost once more, and then he charged the gnoll he¡¯d used Crystal Overload on before. It had lost a third of its HP from that attack (his magic was getting stronger!), so it would be the first to die. Could he kill all these mages before he ran out of forms? He had dozens, so¡­ maybe. He used Crystal Overload + Magic Burst, using the version with 3.4 seconds of channeling time so as to inflict maximum damage, and then landed with a claw swipe. One mage down. Also down: his SP. Again. He switched and set Ether Ghost. Three forms used up and one mage killed. If no one changed tactics, he¡¯d need maximum 18 forms to take down every mage here. He had more than that stored up from his earlier exploration. Unfortunately, these gnolls were smart. ¡°Back away and spread out,¡± said one of them. ¡°We can wear him down.¡± Jerome targeted that one next. It took four form switches to get to it and kill it, and by the time he¡¯d done that the other mages had gotten far enough away that it would take even more time to reach them. They weren¡¯t damaging his SP quite as fast, but the distance more than made up for it. His advantage in physical combat was effectively mitigated. Now it was a battle of attrition, their magic attacks wearing at his SP and his Crystal Overload + Magic Burst taking them down from a distance, their health bars disappearing in chunks every 5 seconds. Except they had more tactics. One, after getting hit by Crystal Burst, created a stone barrier between them so that Jerome couldn¡¯t see him. When the gnoll emerged once more he¡¯d fully healed. Then one had the bright idea to create stone barriers to box him in. The weren¡¯t skilled enough to create huge ones from a distance, or fully enclosed ones with roofs, otherwise Jerome would have been toast, but it was still annoying. He had to either run around it or use Blast Off to get over it, taking 10 precious SP. He went through two forms without making any progress. And then the warriors arrived. Right, they¡¯d been practicing just across the courtyard. Winning was hopeless at this point. Better to run than to run out of forms. He bolted towards the wall, dodging warrior swings, blasting over newly erected barriers, and switching forms three more times before getting to the wall. He used Blast Off to get height, then stuck his claws into the wall and started to his slow climb. A giant spike emerged from the wall and impaled him. These gnolls just didn¡¯t play fair! He switched forms again and dropped to the ground. Once there he saw the warriors closing in and decided to take a gamble. He ran up to the wall, switched into the mage form he¡¯d just stolen, and tried to explode a hole into the wall. It worked! Kind of. He learned the spell, at the very least. You have learned the skill Gaia Magic. You have gained the technique Shape Earth. He tried it a second time and a jagged hole appeared in the wall. He threw himself through it, then watched as a warrior tried to follow but was cut in half by one of the mages closing up the hole. He was out! He¡¯d escaped! Except four holes appeared in the wall shortly afterwards, with four mages and a bundle of warriors emerging from them. Jerome¡¯s SP bar started shrinking again, and he switched forms once more. He had the Shape Earth technique still, but it was back at level one and while he could create holes for his invading army it would be nearly useless in heated combat until he had time to train it. Meanwhile, these bastards could basically walk through walls, and he had to escape from them before his army arrived. He took a deep breath and sprinted towards the nearest alleyway. Chapter 55: Rooftop Chase Jerome used up two of his forms getting to the alleyway. The SP cost to Ether Ghost was better than getting stuck in a Crystal Overload death spiral, but it was still vicious. He was down to thirteen more forms, and all of them except Krystyna were low-level gnolls. Krystyna¡¯s form he had to save until more of the mages were gone. Her body would only last about twice as long against mages than the form of a low-level gnoll, even with the mageless armor, and he didn¡¯t want to use his most powerful form as cannon fodder. As long as he was out of their sight he was safe from their magic attacks. He was safe for a moment after ducking into the alley, but it was a long straight passage and he would be in their sight before he even got halfway. But he wasn¡¯t helpless. He started channeling Shape Earth to create a thin barrier of stone between himself and the gnolls. It took some time, but it almost covered his head by the time they got into visual range. He simply ducked and kept on raising the barrier. Their magics were more powerful, but he¡¯d accounted for that. By the time they got close enough to collapse the wall he¡¯d be in melee range and have an advantage. He¡¯d be able to kill at least one of the mages while losing relatively few forms. Then a club shattered his wall. A warrior! Drat! He could take it on no problem, but killing it would do nothing to slow his SP (and thus form) drain. The gnolls were using a tank to protect their DPS. How very human. Jerome stepped back out of the warrior¡¯s range, then used Blast Off towards the wall. His claws scraped against the wall, catching after a short slide. These walls were meant to be climbed slowly, but that wasn¡¯t how this was going to go. The warrior swung his club. Jerome used Blast Off on the wall to get out of the way, landing on the opposite wall of the alleyway a couple feet higher than he had been before. Another leap like that and he was out of the warrior¡¯s reach. This tactic was far more dizzying than Mario and other platformers had let on. Bouncing between the walls, slamming himself back and forth with sudden jarring changes in momentum, was not a natural activity in the slightest. His head spun. But his SP was will draining, so he leapt again and transformed in the middle. He¡¯d barely gotten used to his new claws before he had to sink them into the wall. His head was momentarily clear, at least. One final jump and he was on the rooftops, where he could roll safely out of the mages¡¯ sights. It wouldn¡¯t be the end. They could climb too, though maybe not as fast. Or could they channel themselves stairs? Either way, he had to get as far as he could before they got on the roofs ¡ª once they got there they¡¯d have long sightlines and he¡¯d have to drop back to the street level. He wanted to be as far away as possible when that happened, so that they couldn¡¯t coordinate as well with their ground forces and box him in.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. He sprinted on four legs to pick up speed, leaping across rooftops to increase his lead. The first two alleys he jumped over, barely managing to clear his legs. A larger street he could get across with Blast Off, but that would only draw attention to himself, so he tumbled into the third alleyway, catching himself on the wall and letting his claws scrape the stone to slow him. It wore on the claws, and one broke, but he¡¯d be out of this form soon enough anyways. He dropped down the rest of the way and absorbed the damage, then immediately changed into a fresh form and acted like he had a good reason to be in this alley. He strolled onto the street, trying to act like just a normal everyday gnoll. How did gnolls act? He¡¯d always had a mission while here, something to find, but now his mission was simply to survive until his army arrived. It was amazing how ordered this city was, all things considered. Quite an achievement, considering what he¡¯d seen of gnoll nature in the barely-too-large tribe he¡¯d created Too bad that impressive order that kept the gnolls peaceful also tortured humans. ¡°You can recognize the intruder by their stats,¡± said a voice nearby. The speaker wasn¡¯t looking at him; it was merely sharing gossip. ¡°It¡¯ll have skills that are unnatural.¡± ¡°Unnatural?¡± the gossiper¡¯s companion said in a scandalized tone. ¡°I can¡¯t even imagine an unnatural skill.¡± ¡°He can breath fire,¡± said the first gnoll confidently. ¡°And he has a move where he disconnects his hand and claws you with it from yards away.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s impossible. He disconnects his hand? How does he get it back on without respawning?¡± ¡°I tell you, he¡¯s unnatural.¡± Jerome was amused, or at least as amused as he could be while running for his life, that it was the skill he actually possessed that was unbelievable, and the one he didn¡¯t have that was accepted without question. But the bigger implication of the conversation was that the gnolls had realized how to recognize him. Most gnolls wouldn¡¯t go around inspecting the skills of everyone they knew, but if it was known that he was in the city, then enough would start scanning skills that it would be hard for him to hide anywhere. If the mages and warriors who were chasing him decided to go public with his presence, and he was in public, then it would only be a matter of time until he was caught. And by time, he meant minutes. Where could he hide? The Bag of Holding was still on him, which meant he still had his money¡­ he could go shopping! The warriors and mages chasing him might look in shops, but the streets would be searched much sooner than every single store, and once found he¡¯d much rather be in the close quarters of a store than the empty streets. He ducked into the first shop he found, a general store. The inside was eery. Nearly-bare shelves. An air of tragedy. A familiar shopkeeper, who backed away and yelled ¡°human¡± as loud as it could. Of course. It was the shopkeeper he¡¯d murdered. Chapter 56: Unexpected Battle Had they heard outside? If they hadn¡¯t, he could kill the shopkeeper ¡ª again ¡ª and avoid detection for a while. But it appeared someone had. ¡°Where?¡± said the gnoll that rushed in the door. ¡°Behind the counter!¡± Jerome yelled as loud as he could, hoping to convince the gnoll through sheer volume, and to drown out anything the shopkeeper might say. Jerome ran for the door, grabbing the new gnoll in a bear hug and rushing him out. ¡°He¡¯s dangerous! Run and grab the guards!¡± The confused gnoll ran off. It was an inevitability that someone would go grab the guards, so might as well use that to get out of the immediate situation. Jerome ducked into the crowd, keeping his back to the store entrance. Would the shopkeeper be able to pick him out of the crowd? Would it scan every single gnoll here? Jerome already knew the answer. Of course it would. Ducking would attract attention even sooner, as would transforming in the middle of the pack. He could tell he was going to be running soon enough, so he risked attracting early attention by laying hands on various useful-looking gnolls he passed, collecting forms to burn through later. Somehow, despite all the factors working against him, he was on the edge of the crowd and able to slip into an alley before any gnolls made it to the particular thoroughfare he¡¯d just escaped. What were all these alleys for? Gnolls didn¡¯t seem to frequent them, although there were sometimes one or two standing around accidentally blocking his escape. Stores and homes occasionally had back exits, but they were surprising rare, and always looked extremely locked. Perhaps they were shelters from the ptau or the ockdine attacks. Or maybe they were just sound-proofing between houses. Whatever the reason, they were useful as hell. This alley had one gnoll in it, a gnoll who clearly wanted to get away from the crowds. It was inebriated, stumbling, clutching a half-empty bottle. That bottle would be the perfect way to blow off some steam. He¡¯d earned it, with all the daring escapes he¡¯d performed lately. With all that practice, and devising a whole strategy. If a man couldn¡¯t reward himself, what was the point? But this gnoll, he only had half a bottle. Where was the perfect place to hide? A bar. No one checked skills at a bar. They were all too busy relaxing into the evening¡¯s glow. Well, in the evening, that was. Anyone who was in a bar at this time of day was not there for a mere glow of tipsiness, and they definitely wouldn¡¯t be checking skills.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Where¡¯d you get that bottle?¡± he asked the gnoll. It pointed unhelpfully towards the opposite end of the alleyway, then fell over because apparently that small action was too unbalancing. At least that was the direction he was already going. Jerome went to the end of the alleyway and emerged into another street. This one was less busy, and he could easily see the building marked by an overflowing cup of deliciously bubbling beer. The bar was nearly as empty as he expected. Two gnolls sat in the corner, while another was behind the counter rearranging his various bottles. ¡°You¡¯re new,¡± said the barkeeper. ¡°My coppers are good,¡± said Jerome, putting four of the small coins on the table. ¡°Pour me a beer.¡± Soon he was in another corner, staring down the mug. On one hand, he knew he couldn¡¯t control himself. This one drink would lead to another, and another, and another, and then his grand plan to free the humans would be lost in a haze. On the other hand, it would feel so good to have a drink, and he¡¯d earned it. When he left this place he could transform and get rid of any drunkenness. He needed to kill an hour or so, and not drinking this beer would be suspicious, as would leaving quickly. Other people managed it just fine. A member of his raiding guild lived nearby, back on earth, and when she came over with a six-pack and a forbidden film she was able to sip on one beer all night while he plowed through the other five. He took a sip, trying to imitate Melody. Precise, mechanical movements. One sip, then put it down. Maybe that was the trick: keeping his hands off of it while not drinking. If he could imitate someone¡¯s body, why not imitate their mannerisms and patterns of thinking? He could become anyone, achieve what they accomplished. He could¡ª Somehow the beer was halfway gone. Dammit! His habits were going to get everyone killed. Yet at the same time, the alcohol calmed his nerves, and he felt more at home and less stressed than he had in a long time. He could pretend this was a night before a raid. That was when he¡¯d been able to hold himself to one or two beers. This was a raid, a real-life raid, so he could just apply those same patterns of thinking. Why had he been able to control himself on those nights? Purpose. He knew his guild would need him, that they were counting on him, so he was able to stop drinking before his reflexes got too compromised. His Purpose now was even stronger. He could remember his Purpose and things would be fine. Purpose wasn¡¯t a constant stat, like Strength. He¡¯d been full of Purpose when he came back from his first journey to town, and that had led to a huge burst in his growth. Then on his second trip to town, when he lost control, he¡¯d failed to properly connect his mini-missions to his main Purpose, his main Quest. He¡¯d thought of them almost as fetch quests, and that weakness in his aspirational structure meant that a traumatic event (like trying to cut up a gnoll) was able to temporarily knock it all down. He took a sip and the placed the mug back on the table. Just one sip, not half the mug. ¡°You¡¯re staring at that mug like it killed you,¡± said one of the corner gnolls. ¡°You alright?¡± Jerome carefully moved the mug to his mouth, took a small sip, and then put it down again. At this rate he¡¯d be able to pass almost an entire hour with just this one serving. ¡°It did kill me,¡± he said, ¡°but I¡¯ll win this time.¡± Chapter 57: Invasion It wore on his nerves and took a lot of concentration, but Jerome was able to pass almost an entire hour while only drinking one beer. When he left the bar he breathed a sigh of relief. His Purpose had carried him through this time, but it wasn¡¯t enjoyable. Enjoyment, however, was not the most important thing today. He¡¯d been right that no one in the bar would check his skills and find him out as human, and that more than justified any mental suffering he¡¯d been through. He¡¯d passed an hour in safety, and soon his army would reach the city. It was about time to let them in. Jerome reached an alley and transformed, noticing as he did so a slight sharpening of his senses. Where were the warriors and mages who¡¯d been chasing him? The city was big, so the chances of running into them directly were small, but how close were they, and how widely had they spread the search? It had been an hour, so hopefully no one but security personnel (and the most dedicated citizens, and shopkeepers traumatized by their last death) would still be scanning the skills of everyone they met. He entered the street and walked towards the back of the city, hoping for the best. Fear spiked within him when he heard the bell ringing, but it turned to excitement when gnolls started running towards the main gates. His army had arrived! He ran the opposite way until he reached the wall. It was, as he had hoped, nearly free of gnolls. Stone melted away under his hands. Placing his hands near the stone he wanted to shape made the process go faster, so he placed them on the receding stone of the wall. He was almost through when someone saw what he was doing. ¡°What the hell are you doing?¡± it yelled. ¡°I act under the King¡¯s orders,¡± Jerome lied. ¡°Oh yeah? What possible strategic value could there be in cutting a hole in our defenses? And your stats¡­ you¡¯re the human!¡± Jerome channeled Crystal Overload, and after two seconds its body began convulsing. It died quickly. Then a spear took him squarely in the side, knocking off 32% of his HP and causing bleeding. Dammit. Onlookers. Why hadn¡¯t all the armed ones gone to battle the gates? He transformed into a new gnoll to get rid of the spear (it dropped to the ground beside him) and restore his HP, then threw Ether Ghost on just in case anyone knew magic. Four gnolls stood arrayed against him. None of them looked especially menacing, and in fact one was shaking. He killed them quickly. One tried to run, but Hold worked like a charm to keep the thing from getting away and thus alerting others. Then he completed his hole in the wall. It started as just big enough for one person to crawl through, but as he continued to be unharassed he expanded it so two gnolls could enter side by side, standing up.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Teddy came first. ¡°Jerome, is that you?¡± ¡°Check out my stats if you want to be sure.¡± Teddy checked, then motioned the rest of the gnolls to follow. ¡°Is that all of them?¡± asked Jerome. Seventy or so gnolls had come through the gate, each with a ribbon of cloth tied around their arm as a make-shift uniform. ¡°Yes. We determined that we needed a large show of force at the front gates in order to properly distract the entirety of their defenses. It¡¯ll look like we have an entire tribe up front, so they won¡¯t suspect anything. We will make our way to the front of the city, where we will surprise them and distract their defenses while Krystyna and the others rush the gates.¡± Aside from the allocation of gnolls that was close enough to the original plan. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡± Working through the city was even easier than they expected. All the organized resistance was concentrated at the front gates, and those that didn¡¯t ignore or flee from the invading army got killed immediately. Some who ignored or fled also got killed, but Jerome didn¡¯t let himself feel too bad. They were the enemy, and they would respawn as more loyal gnolls. A couple blocks from the front wall they started meeting more organized resistance, although it was put together quite hastily. ¡°Kill the cloth-armed barbarians!¡± yelled a defender. ¡°They want to destroy everything we¡¯ve built!¡± Prisons! He wanted to destroy the prisons! Jerome only cared about destroying everything else insofar as it kept future humans safe. Some of his gnolls started to become stuck, likely grabbed by Hold spells. Jerome wanted to sneak off to make a hole in the wall, but first he needed to even the odds in this fight by killing the mages. The two mages were easy to recognize by their dress. Thank goodness for profession-specific clothing. Jerome hid behind a building with just his face peeking out and used Crystal Overload on one until it died. He started on the other one, but his channeling was interrupted by a hard whack from¡­ one of his own soldiers? ¡°Die, capital scum!¡± it yelled. ¡°What the hell?¡± Right, he wasn¡¯t wearing the armband. ¡°I¡¯m Jerome.¡± ¡°How do you know his name?¡± ¡°Look at my skills, then go fight the real enemy.¡± That was bound to happen again if he stuck around. Several of his gnolls were already ganging up on the remaining mage, so it was safe to go and open up the defenses. Big cities were impressive, but they had one major disadvantage: lots of wall. Normally this wasn¡¯t a problem, since the knowledge of earth-shaping magic was well-guarded and gnolls could only climb the inside of the wall, but in the current situation it meant that Jerome could work in peace, only a three minute walk from the main fighting, carving a huge new gate. He stepped through and Krystyna saw him, then raised her arm and yelled for a charge. Half of the army went for the main gates, but the other half split off to run for the newly-opened hole. Good, keep them guessing. If the capital gnolls brought their main force to the hole, they¡¯d face a bloody uphill battle. Jerome climbed the wall to get a better view of the entire battle. Teddy and his gnolls were getting pushed back slowly. This front they would lose eventually, if no reinforcements came, but it would take some time before they broke. A set of defenders huddled with spears, filling up the widened area of the wall that sat right atop the gate, and another set of defenders were behind the gate. Likely many would be in the gate itself, a living barrier that his army would have to kill and then climb over. They would not win on that front, although hopefully their healers would keep the losses to a minimum. Then he saw the most worrying development: fifteen warriors and five mages running towards him. A quick scan of their stats showed that their levels were all high single digits, around 8 or 9, and two of the mages knew Gaia earth-shaping magic. Two of them would be able to close his new opening in the wall. If they did that, then their invasion attempt was doomed. Jerome made sure Ether Ghost was set and prepared for battle. Chapter 58: Unto the Breach Four of the warriors and two of the mages were on the wall while the other eleven warriors and the three mages ran alongside it on the ground. The wall warriors had three spears each on their back, two thin ones for throwing and a thick one for combat. Apparently no one had invented bows and arrows here yet. The wall itself was barely thick enough for two gnolls, and while there was a waist-high ledge facing out, there was no such affordance on the inside. The two mages he most wanted to kill, the ones who had earth-shaping powers, were on the ground. However, if he leapt down there to kill them immediately, he¡¯d lose the high ground on the ledge, and then those throwing spears and distant mages would become much more of a problem. It would be nearly impossible to climb while they harassed him, and the nearest buildings weren¡¯t close enough to do his platforming trick on. Therefore the gnolls on the wall had to go first. The whole time he would be harassed by all the mages, and some of them might close up the hole. Surviving wasn¡¯t an issue, since he was back up to almost twenty forms, but as far as keeping the hole open and saving his army it was a near-impossible situation. The first warrior led with throwing one of its thin spears. Jerome didn¡¯t have much room to work with, but he dodged to the side anyways¡­ and almost fell off the wall. That was it! He didn¡¯t have to kill everyone on the wall¡­ he just had to knock them off. If he knocked a mage off to the outside of the wall, then they would have to run through the hole before they bothered him again, so that would be doubly useful. They would either do that, losing time, or they would fight his army (and, due to numbers, lose). Either way was a good result. Jerome recovered his balance and charged the warrior. Halfway to it he was almost out of SP ¡ª those mages were keeping busy ¡ª so he switched forms. Switching on Ether Ghost after taking a new form was nearly automatic by now and he barely thought about it. The warrior threw its second spear, which took Jerome in the chest. Not enough time to dodge. This form would die soon. Switch. Then it was upon him with its thick combat spear. Jerome saw it coming and ducked into a roll, letting the spear strike go above him. He came out of the roll right under the warrior and so he place his feet against it and used Recoil Burst. It flew backwards into the warrior behind it, sending both of them slipping off the wall. While he was crouched like this the three mages on the ground couldn¡¯t see him, so his SP drain slowed. Could he fight from this position? Another warrior poked at him with a spear and he rolled to the side to dodge. His roll was stopped by the ledge, which was good, but it also meant he was facing the ground instead of his enemy. Before he could fix that a second spear strike got him in the back, pinning him to the earth. Switch. He stood up and placed both hands on the chest of the surprised gnoll. Would they ever stop being surprised by him changing forms? Jerome sent it flying backwards into its companions. It took down the warrior behind it and the first of the wall mages, but none of them had the good manners to fall off the wall. Still, it gave him an opening. He kicked the first warrior off the wall, and the second one he placed his hand on its throat and used Recoil Burst, creating enough trauma to knock it out even though it only took out half of the gnoll¡¯s HP. The first mage was still casting even though it wasn¡¯t standing. He switched forms to restore SP, then grabbed it and threw it off the wall to the outside. Hopefully the fall damage would make it easy pickings for his approaching army.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The last mage on the wall started running, but Jerome caught it by its clothing, pulled it back, and snapped its neck through sheer force. At his current strength level no Recoil Burst was required. His SP was just about gone, so he fired off a Crystal Overload + Magic Burst onto one of the remaining mages for the free damage, then changed forms and leapt to the ground. The fall took about 10% of his HP even though he caught himself, but at this point a little HP damage to one of his forms was the least of his worries. It would only matter if three or four of those warriors stuck him with spears at the same time. Which, he realized as they formed up around him, they might actually do. He should¡¯ve stayed on the wall and channeled Crystal Overload on the remaining mages. Now he faced fourteen warriors, only three of which were injured, as well as three mages. He took two spears at once, one in the shoulder and another in the leg. 42% more of his health gone. Another spear came at his stomach and he couldn¡¯t dodge because of the two already in him. Down to 17% health, one spear away from death. Switch. He used Blast Off to rush the one of the warriors. It didn¡¯t really matter which one, as long as he got to the edge of the circle instead of being on the outside. The warrior he targeted tried to stab him, but he kicked aside its spear before it hit him. His other foot landed on the warrior¡¯s solar plexus, and the momentum knocked it over. Fantastic! It would cushion his landing. The warrior was left gasping for breath, spearless, and Jerome turned to face the other ten. They¡¯d re-formed around him terrifyingly quickly, and a spear got him in the thigh before he even had a chance to completely regroup. Even worse, the hole in the wall was being refilled quickly by the two mages with skill in Gaia magic. However, that did leave an opportunity¡­ only one mage was wearing down on his SP. Jerome transformed into Krystyna. He not only dodged the next spear that came at him, but he wrenched it from the gnolls hands and used it to block the next spear coming at him. Another hit him from the back, but it didn¡¯t pierce his Mageless Armor and thus did less than half of the expected damage. Jerome used Blast Off, reaching higher than before, and targeted the one remaining mage who wasn¡¯t busy fixing the wall. He threw the spear at the top of his leap right at the mage. He might not have any skill in spears, and in a spear duel he would most certainly lose, but at a certain level of strength and agility you can throw just about anything effectively. The spear stopped a foot away from the mage¡¯s chest. Of course. It had Hold. Didn¡¯t matter. Jerome¡¯s momentum carried him away from the circle of warriors, and he didn¡¯t stop when he hit the ground this time. He rolled forward and punched the gnoll right in the face. It stumbled backwards, so he used that advantage to toss it to the ground easily with his grappling skills. To finish it off he put his hand on its head and used Recoil Burst. The other warriors had caught up. Twelve warriors, only four of which were injured in the slightest¡­ He had to finish them all off before the mages finished filling up the hole. Even with Krystyna¡¯s skills that would be a crazy feat ¡ª these gnolls were a higher level and more skilled than the ones Krystyna had held off eight-at-a-time in the woods. His other option: he could try and repeat his spear trick with the remaining two mages. They were distracted, so it might actually work. He dodged backwards, grabbing the first spear that came at him. He pulled, knocking that warrior off balance, then rushed in to kick the creature away from its own spear. Success. Spear acquired. However, the other warriors were now in a three-quarter circle around him, blocking his access to the mages. They could attack him from more angles than he could look in, and he couldn¡¯t roll with the spear, so he had to throw the spear from a distance. He used Blast Off to get height like before, then hurled his spear at one of the Gaia mages. It hit, going straight through the gnoll¡¯s chest. It didn¡¯t die, but it would no longer be able to channel spells, even the healing spells that might keep it alive longer. One down, one to go. Distracted by the mages and carried forward with unchangeable momentum, Jerome landed stomach-first on a spear. His body only stopped its forward rush when he was impaled on it a good two feet, and even then he slid slowly down the shaft, the surface greased by his own blood and viscera. Fuck. Chapter 59: New Ex-spear-iences The spear ¡°only¡± took out 53% of his HP, but the bleeding and the spears that would soon follow would take him down for good. His time in Krystyna¡¯s form, by far the strongest he had access to, had been terribly short. He¡¯d managed to take out two of the three remaining mages¡­ but that wasn¡¯t enough. He needed to take them all out. Already the hole in the wall was shrunken so that it was barely big enough for a gnoll to fit through. Half a minute more and it would be impassable. He switched forms, and his new gnoll body was blessedly free of the spears. Another three spears struck at where he had previously been, and in the confusion he was able to temporarily slip past the warriors and strike out towards the last mage on all fours, hitting a speed the spear-wielders couldn¡¯t match. Two throwing spears landed beside him, and a third hit him in the back. Switch. He reached the mage just in time and knocked it down with a claw swipe. He ducked and rolled, grabbing the body on his way and ending with it on top of him, almost as a shield. The hapless gnoll mage absorbed two throwing spears and died. Jerome used Recoil Burst to fling the body into the row of approaching warriors. It disrupted their middle, letting Jerome right himself and attack the flank to his right. For a precious few seconds, he had ¡¯only¡¯ five warrior to worry about. He could survive being impaled on a spear as long as he had a form left and he didn¡¯t get hit in the head or neck, so he could afford to be reckless. It still hurt to get impaled, and he would feel every single spasm of the dying body¡¯s pain, but the adrenaline and heady Purpose let him risk it. He used Blast Off in order to get high enough that his head wasn¡¯t at risk. He lost control of his trajectory the second he left ground, so he was practically guaranteed to get stuck, but it would only get his lower body and torso. Sure enough, one came up through his stomach and pierced his lung, taking out 54% of his HP. Air and blood escaped through the hole in his stomach, almost making him pass out before he remembered to Switch. He was in a new body and the pain was only an excruciating echo in his head, like he was remembering a wound from last week. He was also among the right flank and prepared to wreak havoc. First he kicked out at the one closest to the other flank and used Recoil Burst to send it flying into them. That should distract them for a bit. He dodged a spear, but then was taken by surprise when the gnoll spun the spear like a staff and knocked him to the ground. Right. Spears were versatile weapons. The pointy ends got all the press, but there were multiple ways to make them dangerous. Said pointy end almost found his neck. He dodged that one, but another found his leg. He used a Crystal Overload + Magic Burst as this form¡¯s final contribution. Switch. At this rate he would run out of forms before killing the rest of the warriors. Either that or they¡¯d get lucky and end up spearing him in the head. These weak gnoll forms wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand that much damage. Which of his moves wasn¡¯t he using? Portal Hands. He used Blast Off to escape the current tangle and ended up about five feet away from the group he¡¯d been fighting. Then he sent a Portal Hand and knocked a gnoll to the side with Recoil Burst, immediately recalled it, then repeated the trick with a second gnoll.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. However, they weren¡¯t taking much damage. They only took a couple % of HP damage unless they hit a wall, and even then it was less than 10%. If he was in his own form he might be able to portal in two hands and snap their neck, but as this gnoll he could only send in claw attacks, punches and kicks, and Recoil Burst. He could still use Crystal Overload. Not in channeled form, since he¡¯d doubtless get taken by a throwing spear, but with Magic Burst. Based on his number of forms and the amount of damage the warriors were taking per hit he wouldn¡¯t be able to finish them off with that alone¡­ but it could contribute. A warrior changed him, and he created a burst of Crystal Overload which crippled the gnoll long enough to make it drop its spear and topple over in the direction it had been running. Jerome took that opportunity to use Portal Hand on his leg and curb-stomp the warrior to death. There it was. There was his strategy. If they ran at him he¡¯d kill them with that combination. If they began moving slowly out of fear, that was a victory in itself. Eleven warriors left. He could do this. But the farther group, they still weren¡¯t approaching. In fact, they were huddled around¡­ one of his army! His army was wriggling painstakingly through the tiny hole in the wall that remained. One every ten seconds or so. The farther group was killing them almost as soon as they entered, but Jerome could put a stop to that. Portal Hand + Recoil sent one of the capital gnolls tumbling into two others. There. Now the fight was one on three instead of one on six. His gnoll would still lose, but maybe the next one would make it inside the walls in time. A capital gnoll tried throwing a spear at the new invader before he exited the hole, but Jerome did a series of frantic Portal Hands to try and punch the spear off course. It was expensive to his SP, and it took several tries, but eventually the punch landed and the spear ended up a foot to the side of Jerome¡¯s relieved ally. Three against eleven. If he could keep the two gnolls on this side of the wall alive then soon it would be four against eleven. He wished he could widen the gap in the wall, but that would require Heavy Channeling and he wasn¡¯t able to spare the attention. At least no other capital gnolls were coming ¡ª they were quite occupied with the two other fronts that Jerome¡¯s armies had opened. Four gnolls approached Jerome slowly. Against four he could hold his own, even in a weaker gnoll form. Then he realized: he¡¯d touched some of these gnoll warriors. He could transform into them. So he did. Yes, this was power. He had increased Strength and Agility ¡ª not as much as his base form, and not even close to when he was in Krystyna¡¯s form, but much better than when he was a random gnoll off the street. He also had some skill with spears, and if he grabbed hold of one he¡¯d be able to do much more than simply throw it. Two spears stabbed at him and he knocked them to the side with his arm. Then he twisted his hand so it grasped the shaft of one of them, turned so that he could get his second hand on it, then spun to yank it out of the gnoll¡¯s hand¡­ and swung back around to spear it with its own weapon. Its eyes went wide. The others weren¡¯t just standing around while that happened. As soon as his spear stuck in the gnoll, the two who hadn¡¯t attacked before took advantage of his presumed immobility and made their strikes. However, he had no reason to try to pull out the spear or even keep using it as a weapon like they presumed. He let go of it and dodged them both. Once the tips were past he slammed his foot down on one, knocking it out of the gnoll¡¯s hands. It panicked and tried to pull out a thinner throwing spear, and Jerome took advantage of that to land a solid round kick on its ribs. It lost its footing, and a second kick to the same spot sent it into the other recovering gnoll. Jerome pounced on them both, pinning them to the ground and using Recoil Burst to splatter their brains against the street. The fourth gnoll in the group then speared him in the back. Switch. Another warrior form this time, one of the two he¡¯d just killed. From here it was easy. The numerical odds were evened, and he had access to the stronger gnoll warrior forms. After the warriors were slaughtered he channeled Shape Earth to let his army in even faster, and pretty soon they were all through. Krystyna saw him and, after a second where she most likely checked his stats to be sure of his identity, she came over and gave an excited smile. ¡°It¡¯s working!¡± she said. ¡°That it is. Let¡¯s go relieve our troops.¡± Chapter 60: Troubles Jerome, Krystyna, and their pack of fresh gnolls rushed in with a fury. The capital gnolls had been winning, slowly wearing down and pushing back the contingent Jerome had previously led, but the reinforcements had surprise, a flanking position, and full HP and SP bars. Krystyna leapt into combat, picking off enemy gnolls with ease. Jerome joined in but was careful to stick to the places where he wouldn¡¯t be accidentally set upon by his own forces. In the heat of the battle it was a mixed blessing to go without an armband; it took a bit longer for enemy gnolls to recognize he was a threat, but he also sometimes absorbed attacks from his own army. The only way he got away with it was because he could verify his identity, either by transforming or inviting them to look at his stats. And if he did absorb some hits, healing was easy. When that force was wiped out they took the fight to the gate. That one was a bit harder, and they took losses as death rained down from above. ¡°The gate is the problem,¡± said Teddy. ¡°Those spearmen can hurl weapons at us, but it¡¯s hard to throw spears back up at them. They have mages, but you are the only one of us with damaging magic.¡± That was indeed a problem. They could try and absorb losses until the guardians ran out of spears, but that would damage their ability to assault the palace. The gate was just about as difficult to attack from the inside as the outside¡­ at least directly. ¡°Take twenty gnolls and have them climb the walls farther out. Ten to each side. Then they¡¯ll be able to rush gnolls on top of the gate.¡± ¡°Climb the walls?¡± asked Teddy. ¡°Like a tree?¡± Right. Teddy had amazing instincts and was already a fairly high level, but he¡¯d literally been born last week. ¡°Yep, like a tree. Every surface here except external walls is climbable by gnolls.¡± He grinned. ¡°I¡¯ll make it happen.¡± Jerome decided to start the slaughter early, to distract them from the greater threat that was coming. He hid behind a building with only his face showing and channeled Crystal Overload. A gnoll started shaking, worrying the gnolls beside it¡­ but it didn¡¯t die. They must be using a healer. At least that healer would be kept busy, and the others would be looking for the magic attacker and not the gnolls coming in on their flanks. Jerome channeled until he ran out of magic, then switched forms and began again. He noticed something that broke his concentration: glistening liquid flowed through the air. Where had that come from? He traced one end to a pile of broken beer bottles that some of his gnolls were throwing through the door of a bar. The stream went past Krystyna and then up, gaining height until it was over the gate. The targeting was somewhat crude, but it managed to hit several of the defending gnolls right in the eyes. Krystyna raised a fist in victory. She¡¯d found a use for a useless move. The blinded, distracted capital gnolls fell quickly to the twenty gnolls Teddy had sent up to the walls. Their forces from outside broke through the gates, the city now completely breached. ¡°We won!¡± exclaimed Teddy. ¡°Not quite yet. The King is in a guarded palace, and we have yet to fight their strongest mage.¡± ¡°Then lead us to victory.¡± Gladly. Jerome climbed on top of a nearby building, switched the form of one of his gnolls (with an armband) and addressed his troops.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°We¡¯ve won a great victory,¡± he yelled, ¡°but it is not yet complete.¡± His voice barely carried and the gnolls ignored him. Instead of following they scattered through the city, looting and pillaging in celebration. A gnoll ran into a nearby shop and dragged out its owner, beating it and eventually killing it. Jerome ran over to stop it. ¡°The shopkeepers are fine! Unless they try to fight, then¡ª¡± ¡°They are an enemy tribe,¡± said a nearby gnoll who¡¯d been watching the scene with pleasure. ¡°They must die.¡± ¡°I¡¯m your tribe leader! You have to listen to me!¡± ¡°If you want to save our enemies, you are not my leader.¡± All around, his gnolls ¡ª or the gnolls that were previously under his command ¡ª carried on the slaughter. A gnoll would enter a home, then exit five minutes later covered in blood. He should¡¯ve seen this coming. Too late now. At least he could justify it a little bit. All of these gnolls that were being killed had been complicit in the torture and murder of human beings. Once that strain of anti-human gnoll had been eliminated then they¡¯d be able to live in peace. After the entire population of the capital had been wiped out, they¡¯d listen to him again¡­ right? The entire population. That was a lot of gnolls. Even if they¡¯d been complicit in the torture of humans, even if they would respawn, Jerome didn¡¯t relish the idea. Respawning without the ceremony meant that their memories would be wiped, their skills removed, and their level set to 1, and so even though the body came back it was effectively the same thing as murder. Krystyna was frantically trying to stop some gnolls from looting a general store. The gnolls pushed past her. She could have stopped them, but that would have involved violence against their own tribe, and who knew what would happen then. They didn¡¯t have any true power as leaders, it seemed, and if you attacked a member of your own tribe did you get kicked out? ¡°They don¡¯t listen to you either?¡± Krystyna grimaced. ¡°They just want to kill the enemy tribes.¡± ¡°They¡¯re gnolls. The surprise isn¡¯t that they¡¯re slaughtering each other now. The surprise is that Katani kept an entire city of them together for so long.¡± ¡°But he¡¯s a tyrant! I came here fighting tyrants, and I will continue to do so.¡± ¡°Even if that leads to genocide?¡± ¡°They¡¯ll come back,¡± she said defiantly. ¡°And then what? We were doing badly enough with just two hundred in our tribe. What happens when we absorb the entire city?¡± She turned away. ¡°Don¡¯t we have a king to kill?¡± Suddenly he wasn¡¯t so sure. ¡°Let¡¯s rescue the humans first and get them outside the city. I don¡¯t trust our gnolls to not slaughter them.¡± ¡°Fine.¡± Chaos spread throughout the city. Most of the capital gnolls left were unarmed, civilians. They¡¯d specialized to a far greater degree than the outlying tribes and thus had a far larger non-combat population. While they¡¯d had walls that had been fine, but now that the walls had been breached it was a disaster for the nascent civilization. He made it to the prison, where he broke a hole in the wall and destroyed the prison cells. ¡°Come with me,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯ll be free soon.¡± They were scared at first because of his gnoll form, but eventually they followed. He led them to the hole he¡¯d made in the back wall and shooed them through. ¡°Wait for me. I might come as a gnoll or as a human, but look at my skills and remember: I¡¯m the one with a bunch of unique ones. Or a woman with Recoil Burst might come, she¡¯ll help too. Anyone else: if they get too close, kill them.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°With¡­¡± Jerome remembered that they didn¡¯t have any developed combat abilities due to all the sitting in prison. And now he¡¯d taken them out and exposed them to the universe. At least before they¡¯d been hidden in a stone cell. What happened if a hunting party ran across them? Or one of ¡®his¡¯ gnolls out for blood? ¡°Start practicing with play combat,¡± he said, ¡°and try not to get killed before I come back.¡± Nervousness settled into him as an aching sensation in his stomach. He closed up the wall behind the humans, separating them from the bulk of the murderous gnolls, but that did no good for the relatively innocent denizens of this city. If these buildings weren¡¯t stone, they¡¯d be on fire right now. What had he done? Chapter 61: Guards He had to kill the king. Or at least talk to the king. What was Katani¡¯s secret? How had he kept thousands upon thousands of gnolls from killing each other? Was it the threat of torture? Would that be why he¡¯d been torturing the humans? He had to get answers. And to get those answers, he¡¯d have to raid the palace and get to the King first. There was a fight at the gate to the palace and he didn¡¯t interfere. Instead, he created a hole in the back wall and walked through. The outside of the walls were unclimbable, and they were too far from surrounding buildings to jump, but the gnolls had never considered that Shape Earth might get into the wrong hands. From there he was able to follow what seemed like a central path. It got more and more obvious as it went that it led to some sort of official room, and when he opened the doors he saw some sort of paintings on the walls ¡ª the first such art that he¡¯d seen in gnoll society. Inside was only one gnoll: the level 19 warrior. ¡°I want to talk to the king,¡± said Jerome. ¡°You¡¯re the human,¡± said the warrior. ¡°You¡¯re the one that¡¯s destroying our civilization.¡± It had a point, but he couldn¡¯t acknowledge it publicly. ¡°You¡¯re the ones who are torturing humans.¡± ¡°Other civilizations kill the humans. We¡¯re trying to make them immortal. For that you destroy us?¡± ¡°Let me talk to the king. Maybe we can come to an understanding.¡± ¡°After what you¡¯ve done outside? We can only perform the ceremony so fast. Many of those gnolls will lose half their levels, half their memory.¡± ¡°Even more reason for us to reason with each other.¡± ¡°You are a disruption that must be purged.¡± ¡°Fine. Have it your way.¡± Jerome clawed it with Portal Hand. The warrior charged him with a speed and ferocity that made Jerome wish Krystyna were here to help. He¡¯d tackled a level 15 warrior before, but that had been while in Krystyna¡¯s form. Sure, he¡¯d trained, leveled up, and learned a lot since then, and he had many forms to switch between now¡­ but none were as strong as Krystyna. And this gnoll was level 19. But it was only the two of them, with no one to interrupt.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Jerome channeled Crystal Overload. It hit when the warrior was just two feet away, and the shaking gnoll collapsed near Jerome. A couple more inches and the body¡¯s momentum would have carried the gnoll into Jerome and interrupted the casting, but it ended up working perfectly. The capital mages had done this to him before Jerome had gotten Ether Ghost and an army, and it felt good to return the favor. When his MP ran out he used Recoil Burst on the warrior¡¯s body before it could recover, switched into a new body, and started channeling again. The warrior had a lot of HP, and the armor had some magic defense, so it took until halfway through Jerome¡¯s third form before it hit critical HP. If he¡¯d been in a mage¡¯s body maybe he¡¯d have finished sooner, but it wasn¡¯t like Jerome was running out of forms. ¡°Tell me where the king is,¡± said Jerome. ¡°Kill me, it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll be revived first.¡± ¡°I will kill you, but it¡¯s what happens afterwards that you decide now. Do you get respawned properly, with the ceremony, or do I throw your crystal into the ocean?¡± The warrior gasped, cursed, called him a blasphemer, but eventually it told him where the king was. Jerome finished off the gnoll and left it there. Outside the sounds of battle raged, but that was not important. Jerome followed the warrior¡¯s directions to a small room, one hardly different than any of the others, and opened the door. Two gnolls were inside: the level 16 mage and another one that must be the king. The king sighed. ¡°So you¡¯re the one causing all this trouble.¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t have to be like this,¡± said Jerome. ¡°I wanted to rescue the humans, and this was the only way.¡± ¡°Rescue them? I am protecting them. The ockdine want to kill your kind. The outer gnolls want to kill your kind. The elves want to kill your kind. The ptau¡­ who knows what they want, but it involves eating your kind if they can. Do you think you can protect the humans? You¡¯ve got powers, but can you be everywhere at all times? No. That is why we have civilization. Because one individual can¡¯t do it all.¡± The king¡¯s tone annoyed Jerome, but this gnoll was the only one to hold together a large gnollish civilization. ¡°Teach me. Rule with me.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve destroyed half of the city! How am I supposed to trust your intentions? Even if I did, how am I supposed to know that you won¡¯t make yet another stupid decision that destroys even more?¡± Jerome was about to argue when he noticed something: his SP bar was almost gone. He punched the mage using Portal Hand, then switched forms and flicked on Ether Ghost again before rushing the mage and pounding it into the stone. Without the debilitating effects of Hold or Crystal Overload it had no method for keeping him away, and since Jerome could switch forms to restore SP he could block an almost unlimited amount of magic. The mage died. ¡°Rule with me,¡± Jerome repeated, ¡°or this will all be destroyed. I won¡¯t try to destroy it, but like you said: I¡¯m terrible at this. You¡¯re the only one who knows how to keep everything from falling apart.¡± The king sighed. ¡°You will add nothing, but I have no choice. We rule together.¡± Chapter 62: Negotiations ¡°Here are my conditions. First, no more cutting up humans.¡± Jerome tried to make his voice as authoritative as possible. If the king refused his demands then Jerome could just kill him. However, if that happened then Jerome would lose his chance at keeping the city from descending into even more chaos; he would be king of a nice stone city and a bunch of rebellious gnolls. ¡°How will we find their souls without science?¡± ¡°Humans don¡¯t have crystals.¡± ¡°No souls?¡± The king looked horrified. ¡°But your kind act as if you¡¯re intelligent¡­¡± ¡°We have souls,¡± said Jerome, thinking back to the message he¡¯d gotten when he¡¯d tried to transform with a Portal Hand still going. Either humans had souls or the system was lying, and the system hadn¡¯t lied before. ¡°They¡¯re just not like yours. They¡¯re more¡­ diffuse.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Is that why you respawn randomly?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t respawn. That¡¯s new people coming in from earth.¡± ¡°Earth? I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Another world. We can¡¯t go back. There are no respawns, just new people coming from Earth.¡± ¡°Why did you decide to come here from your other world?¡± How to explain that most of the humans were criminals or enemies of the government? If he was completely honest then the king might distrust him even more. Maybe he could portray the World Government as evil; that would only slightly improve how the criminals were seen, but it would be a huge boost to the standing of the government¡¯s enemies, like Krystyna. ¡°Well, it wasn¡¯t a decision. It was¡ª¡± Katani¡¯s eyes went wide, then the next second a spear was halfway through his head. Chapter 63: Finality In the doorway stood a gnoll with an armband, who raised it arms in victory. ¡°We have killed the king!¡± Behind it were several other gnolls who repeated the cheer. This was bad. How would he rule without guidance? Already his small band disobeyed him when it was convenient. ¡°Go grab Teddy,¡± said Jerome, pointing at the lead gnoll. ¡°Tell him of this victory and bring him here.¡± The gnoll considered, then agreed. ¡°I¡¯ll be back.¡± Dammit, they weren¡¯t supposed to consider. They were supposed to obey without thinking. Teddy might listen. If he could get Teddy to perform the ceremony, he might be able to salvage some of the king¡¯s memories. However, that would only work if the gnolls here left them in peace. Right now they poked at the king¡¯s dead body as if in disbelief. ¡°How¡¯d you throw that spear so well?¡± asked one. ¡°You¡¯re only skill level 2!¡± ¡°My great strength, agility, and dexterity guided my hand,¡± bragged the killer. Jerome looked at the thing¡¯s stats and determined that the success of the throw was mostly luck. That was one thing about this world: empty boasting was immediately discoverable. Someone with lower levels might beat someone with higher levels if they fought strategically, but you still couldn¡¯t go around claiming you were a great spearman when your skill level in spears was 2 and your highest attribute was 24. ¡°Let your great strength, agility, and dexterity guide you out of here. I need to decide what to do.¡± The gnoll growled but backed away. ¡°Look at my skills!¡± said Jerome. ¡°You will recognize me as your leader!¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. One of the other gnolls ran past, holding its weapon as if to land another blow on the king. Would that destroy its memory further? Jerome used Portal Hand to claw the approaching gnoll, then all hell broke loose. Well, kind of. The fight was easy for Jerome. He used Hold on the gnolls by the door, then used Portal Hand to claw to death the gnoll that was going to further damage the king¡¯s body. He proceeded to knock off the rest of the gnolls one by one. He had to dodge a couple thrown weapons in the first part of the fight, but after that it was laughably easy. Eventually Teddy arrived, along with Krystyna and the gnoll he¡¯d sent off. Jerome pointed at the king¡¯s corpse. ¡°Revive him.¡± ¡°What about the others?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not as valuable. Without the king we don¡¯t get order again for a long time.¡± ¡°Do it,¡± said Krystyna, and Teddy obeyed. ¡°Finally, someone obeys an order. We¡¯re screwed if this revival doesn¡¯t work.¡± ¡°They¡¯re still not obeying you?¡± asked Krystyna. ¡°We¡¯ve passed their natural tribe limit of 144, and their tribal bloodlust seems stronger than their instinct for obeying the leader.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because you¡¯re in a different form now.¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t obey you either.¡± She frowned in agreement. Teddy finished the half-chant/half-dance thing he was performing, then moments later the king woke up. ¡°The city is under attack!¡± he yelled. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, the death has made me forget your faces, but you must tell me¡­ how do our forces fare? How are... Wait, why is a human here?¡± ¡°Your forces lost, our forces won, and you agreed to help me rebuild the city before one of my more zealous gnolls killed you. Any questions?¡± The king thought for a moment, frowning the whole time. ¡°This is terrible, and preposterous¡­ but it does match what I do remember. I really agreed to help you rebuild?¡± ¡°Yes, and you agreed to stop experimenting on humans.¡± ¡°How will we find their souls without science?¡± Jerome sighed. ¡°We¡¯ve already been over this. I¡¯ll explain later. Krystyna, Teddy, protect him.¡± ¡°What are you going to go do?¡± asked Krystyna. ¡°I¡¯m going to go put down our rebellion.¡± Chapter 64: Cleanup Jerome walked through the city killing everything that fought. The hiding shopkeepers and craftsmen he left alone. Any gnoll that had blood on it he made swear an oath of loyalty to himself and Krystyna, and another oath to not hurt humans unless attacked first or commanded to by himself or Krystyna. If they complied, he told them to start reviving other gnolls and make them swear the same oaths when they were revived. If they refused, he killed them. They would respawn as something more tractable. After about an hour of this he decided the city was basically theirs, and any belligerent gnolls would be outnumbered. It was safe to retrieve the humans. The humans were huddled by the edge of the woods, scared to go farther. If there were any actual criminals in this bunch they were the petty type, not audacious killers or daring conspirators. ¡°The city is safe,¡± he said. ¡°Follow me.¡± When he deposited them with Teddy, Krystyna, and the king, he charged them all with coming up with a plan for the two species to live together. Quest Completed (Save the Gnoll¡¯s Prisoners) (10/19)This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. +19,473 EXP That would be good for a level or three when he transformed back into his own form. Once his team was busy on the cohabitation plan he went back out and continued cleaning up the city. At this point there was little remaining open violence. Would every gnoll be completely loyal? Maybe not, but they could root that out with time. If they taught the humans combat and made them go out in groups then they should be mostly safe while the rest of the resistance was broken. For now he just took out the worst offenders. Most of the gnolls he killed were ones he¡¯d trained in the past week. He built them up, he let them get out of hand, and now he was putting them back down again. One week and already his civilization was falling apart. He killed a looter, although it did no good; the store it had been trying to loot had already been ransacked. What was the ideal state? Jerome wasn¡¯t sure, but he knew that it was one with security and order. One where people didn¡¯t kill each other or loot stores. He was sure that Krystyna would find lots of flaws with it, but as far as he was concerned they could go back to King Katani¡¯s regime, just with the humans as citizens instead of experimental subjects. Would you like to accept the quest ¡°Internal Peace¡±? Conditions: Go a week without any violence or theft between gnolls and humans Rewards: 15,000 EXP He accepted the quest. Chapter 65: Peace A relative peace descended on the town. The humans were placed in the southeast corner of town, and Jerome and Krystyna slept in a house by the edge. If there were any trouble in the night, they would be able to respond and trap the offender. The penalty for killing a gnoll (except in self-defense) was set as imprisonment until the gnoll they¡¯d killed had advanced to the same level they¡¯d been at before. The penalty for killing a human (except in self-defense) was for their crystal to be thrown in the sea, since that was the only gnoll equivalent to the eternal death that humans seemed to face. The first week saw two fights whose cause was difficult to determine, four sneak attacks that (purposefully) did not result in death, and thirteen reports of theft. It seemed fulfilling his Quest was still a ways off. But things were still looking up. Katani taught him of how the city was run, and the tricks he used to ensure that the gnolls lived in relative harmony despite their tribal natures. It was fascinating, and in it he recognized crude versions of what the World Government did. Katani¡¯s version would be blunt, obvious, and weak, while the World Government¡¯s policy might not even be recognizable as a form of control even though it was far more effective. Krystyna ate up these lessons as well, although she always argued for less government interference.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Raids still went out to grab more humans, fighting the ockdine for the privilege of snatching the humans away. The battles they won gave them some nice new additions to the human quarter¡¯s population. Jerome spent most of his time in his true form since he liked spending nights with Krystyna. She became pregnant, and though she continued to train physically, Jerome noticed her spending more time on her magic skills and on political discussions with Katani. There were a couple times he transformed, though, and he typically either went through dozens of forms quickly in order to level up his Transformation skill, or he stayed in one advanced form for longer so he could train their skills that were higher than his. When his Transformation skill went up (twice) he held off on putting anything in the new slots. Who knew what the future held? It looked like peace for now, but Katani warned that the Great Civilizations would not forever sit by idly and watch Gnoll power grow. But Jerome wasn¡¯t frightened. The occasional ockdine raids on the city he could fight off with ease. The ptau would sometimes swoop down and try for a tasty snack, but the ones that got through the netting didn¡¯t stay long when Jerome came running. The Elves and the other encampment of humans didn¡¯t make an appearance, but surely they couldn¡¯t be that powerful. All in all it was a good life. He worked hard. The other humans (and even some of the gnolls) appreciated him. He and Krystyna got it on almost every night. And sometime soon he would have a child. Everything about this life was unbelievable. Unbelievably good. In the end, it totally made up for missing raid night and not getting to see the aliens. Afterwards/Postmortem What went right What went wrong What''s next? Two New Stories - one a gritty LitRPG, one a funny/hopeful battle shonen, both full of action Hey everyone! I''ve been busy honing my skills and writing writing writing, and I have not one but TWO new stories I want to share. 1. Mecha Stalin Massacre The first is a dark, gritty steampunk LitRPG set in an alternate-universe version of 1937 Soviet Russia. It''s being serialized AS WE SPEAK right here on Royal Road. If you loved the gut-wrenching twists in the middle third of New Australia, you''ll also love Mecha Stalin Massacre. Read it here: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/23436/mecha-stalin-massacre-an-alternate-universe-steampunkThis story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. 2. Pirates and Powers The second is a fun, light series inspired by battle sh¨­nens like One Piece, Hunter X Hunter, and My Hero Academia. If you enjoyed the first third of New Australia, but wished the tone was more consistent, the hero was more likeable, and the writing was slightly more mature, this your jam. You can sign up for my mailing list and get a free prequel story here: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ct5wowmc57