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AR Chapter 314
🕑 Added 2025-01-31 04:00:07 +0000 UTCAfter a series of increasingly personal and weird questions strangely supported by the feeling of the best bath I’d ever had, Nievtala’s conversation with me drew to a close. I couldn’t think of any questions that I had for her right at that moment, but though she’d assured me that I might never find myself in this space again, we wouldn’t be out of contact.
“Once a System user has progressed to this point, the boundaries between them and their patron are much lower than before. Of course, there will remain limits to the extent of our communication, but you’ll find yourself able to learn much more than ever before.”
“Then I will rest. Is there anything happening to my people that I’ll need to be prepared for as soon as I wake?”
Nievtala flicked her tail, the seemingly endless appendage sweeping through the air. “I cannot say. Enjoy your rest.”
I couldn’t react or respond, my mind falling into nothingness faster than I could comprehend. The worried oblivion of evolution consumed me, and I thought I could hear my bones crackling as I grew. Then, there was nothing.
—-
After considering what exactly the goddess had spoken with me about, the warning she’d given me, I stood tall, moving every joint in an attempt to loosen my painfully stiff body as I inspected what had changed. I’d grown even taller, nearly to ten feet, though much of that came not from actual growth of my body but from the shifting of my hips and spine. Just as I’d suspected when seeing Nievtala’s form, Keel were a fully upright species, though I had to lean more forward than a human, given the extra weight threatening to pull me backwards. I still had a tail, which stuck out of the top of my legs, a bit under two feet thick where it joined with my back.
The tail had always been mobile, but with each sublimation of my race, it had become more flexible and easier to control. Now that I was Keel, that still held true, my tail wiggling behind me in an almost prehensile fashion. As I did so, I nearly lost my balance while several hundred pounds connected to me moved back and forth. I knew the tail would serve me in balancing moving forward, but for now, the feeling was alien.
Looking down at myself, the white brand of a spear still nearly glowed in the center of my chest, so bright it was sure to draw attention. The scales on my chest, shoulders, stomach, and neck had grown larger, segmenting together almost like a full suit of armor. When I touched them, I could feel that they’d changed somewhat in form, even the smallest scales growing at least twice as thick. Each scale had a thicker center, where a ridge showed the additional armor each scale provided. On my hands, the scales I’d gained as a Bloodletter a year ago that sectioned together were the thickest scales on my body, with perhaps the exception of those on my shoulders, which stood out almost as much as pauldrons. My naturally gauntleted hands’ scales flexed together, and I realized I could make my hands rigid in any position, whether to stab, as it had been limited before, or to tear.
“Alpha.” A quietly insistent voice pulled me from my self-inspection. I looked up from my hands, and several feet shorter than me stood Sybil. Though I hadn’t expected anything differently, she was still khatif, and among the khatif, she was small. Maybe a hair over six feet tall, without the heavy shoulders that most had, though she wasn’t so small-figured as the Kha’Tal. Even so, I knew just how formidable she remained, and I smiled down at her.
“Hello Sybil. How long was I out this time?”
“It has been nine days, far and away the longest time that you have ever spent in this state. I ensured that food was brought to you daily, and though you never opened your eyes or moved beyond this, you snapped up each bit of food that was brought to your mouth. As such, you should not have experienced any hunger these days.”
I sniffed, wondering at how they’d taken care of all the various things that occurred to a body in that amount of time, but I didn’t care to explore that. Instead, I flared my frills as I glanced around the room I found myself in. It was one of the several dozen still-standing buildings, a makeshift roof of roughly hewn timber stacked atop the walls. “Thank you, Sybil. Have there been any problems that need my immediate attention?”
“No, Alpha. There are, of course, a variety of plans that require your input, but there is nothing so pressing as to need to be addressed at this time.”
“Great. Then walk with me as I try to feel out this new body of mine.” I said as I stepped forward and out of the doorway. Brutus stood guarding the door, a makeshift belt around his hips with a couple of rocks precariously perched in slipshod pouches. I stood well over a foot taller than him, too, now, though he seemed unbothered by that.
“Glad to see you awake, Alpha.” He said as he fell in step behind Sybil and myself. Sybil too remained silent as I, at last, pulled up my [Status].
[Status:
Name: Ashlani
Race: Sonic Keel Zak’Tal
Titles: Voice of Nievtala
Killer of Redael
Fahvalo of the Moonchildren
Keel Progenitor
Current quests:
-Hunt 6 new species. Reward will vary depending on the evolutionary level of prey. Base reward: Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. CURRENT PROGRESS: White-hooved Deer, Long-haired Elk, Stoneskin
-Subjugate or otherwise conquer a community of at least 1000 individuals. Base reward: Constitution +7, Strength, Agility +8, Intelligence +10, Magic +9. Possibility of additional rewards for greater difficulty.
-Speak the entirety of the True Words of Power of Nievtala. Rewards: Upgrade to Title: Disciple of Nievtala; Acquisition of Skill: Voice of the Divine; Constitution, Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Magic +8. COMPLETE. NEW QUEST: Establish a temple to Nievtala. Base requirements: Sanctum, Altar, Priesthood, Divine Representation. Rewards will vary according to effort, quality of materials, and quality of final product.
NEW QUEST: Create a city that can house, provide for, and protect 10,000 inhabitants. Rewards will vary according to the quality of the final product.
NEW QUEST: Lead a force of 1,000 to victory in battle. Rewards: Constitution +10, Strength, Agility, Magic +12, Intelligence +18.
Stats:
-Constitution: 191+8+36=235
-Strength: 213+8+48=269
-Agility: 195+8+40=243
-Intelligence: 189+8+42=239
-Magic: 210+8+45=263
Skills:
Absolute Dominance: 0/1
Combatant’s Bloodlust: 2/4 (Imperial Bearing, Nemesis)
Conqueror’s Rebuke: 1/5
Evolutionary Exemplar (Cannot Evolve)
Exceptional Individual (Cannot Evolve)
Fanatic’s Fortitude: Unqualified
Imperial Bearing (Cannot Evolve)
Innate Leadership (Cannot Evolve)
Nemesis: 0/5
Pack Tactics: 7/10
Pain Tolerance (Cannot Evolve)
Perpetual Sonilphon: (Cannot Evolve)
-Murderous Melody: (Cannot Evolve)
-Disastrous Discourse: (Cannot Evolve)
-Innervating Address: 0/1
-Nurturing Enunciation: 22/50
-Destructive Wave (Cannot Evolve)
Raptor’s Eyes (Cannot Evolve)
Spear of the Many (Cannot Evolve)
Tremorsense (Cannot Evolve)
Victor’s Spoils (Cannot Evolve)
Voice of the Divine (Cannot Evolve)
Evolutionary Possibilities
Evolutions possible, but not currently foreseen. Progress further, and such possibilities will be presented to you.]
Comments
No_Creative_Name
Bloodlust: I noticed this in my master document this week and changed it there. Forgot to do so here, but yes, I caught that on, I think, Monday. Sonilphon: nope.
Silerus
Hi and thanks for the work, as always! "Combatant’s Bloodlust: 2/4 (Imperial Bearing, Nemesis)" - shouldn't this be at 3/4 since he evolved [True Dominance] to [Absolute Dominance], with only [Pack Tactics] left to eolve? "Perpetual Sonilphon: (Cannot Evolve)" - even after his evolution to Keel, he's still unable to evolve this organ further? Thanks in advance for the answers! :)
No_Creative_Name
Hafthor Bjornsson competed at 430 pounds and 6’9” while Shaq at 7’1” was 325. Three feet taller though less heavily muscled than Hafthor and a bit bulkier than Shaq and covered with thick scales and a tail thicker than my thigh? I estimate a Keel to weigh over 700 pounds. A bull elk, 6 feet tall and 10 long, weigh that much, and a Keel is bigger. They’re dense. I think it’s just easy to underestimate how much sheer size adds to weight. A grizzly is 8 feet tall and 800 pounds. A polar bear nine and easily over 1,000. Makes sense to me.
inkaral
Erm. Several hundred pounds... of tail? That'd mean it's like almost half his body weight?? if he's just under 10 feet tall. Though I'm not sure how long the tail is.
