S_Winter
patreon
Chapter 83: Wrestling
🕑 Added 2024-01-27 19:00:02 +0000 UTCOf course, that was easier said than done. First of all, he was still not up to full health, and when the timer from Second Wind ran out, it felt like he’d been punched in the gut. His wounds didn’t worsen, thankfully, but losing that much health all at once hurt.
It actually felt worse than he remembered – was that because he was actually losing more health in one go, even though the fraction remained the same? If so, what would it be like if he added more health to his pool?
Aware that he was next to a large pool of blood – was covered in it too – Dominic withdrew a bit into a bush nearby. He didn’t mind if he drew something to where he was: if nothing else, it could offer him a good target to test his new enhancements. Still, he’d rather not be surprised by whatever it was, like he had been a couple of times.
Intentionally not thinking too much about it, Dominic gave himself a tongue bath. Sure, he could pass on this job to Leo – the lion would be perfectly happy to do it – but he didn’t mind doing it as long as he didn’t overthink the actual mechanics too much. The sense of comfort and safety was always nice after a battle to the death. Funny how he’d now done so many that he could think that.
Once he’d finally licked the last square inch of fur clean and could stretch without feeling drying blood pull at his hair, he decided to check out the new changes on his status screen.
Opening it, he focussed on just seeing the changes and additions.
Species: Lion (body) / Human (mind), Two-Souled, Chimera
Progress to Evolution: 152/382 PP
Acquired Abilities:
Quick Strike (T0) level 3 (7% –> 10% to level 4) – 3 SP for +35% speed; 8 SP for +70% speed.
Second Wind (T1) level 1 (8% –> 16% to level 2) – activatable when under 50% health or stamina. Gain 50% of your maximum health and/or stamina for the duration of the timer. Timer: 05:00. At the end of the timer, lose 50% of your max health and stamina.
Crushing Bite (T0) level 1 (30% –> 36% to level 2) – Use stamina to enhance the crushing power of your jaws. +6% - 60% Crushing damage for 2-57 stamina per second.
Powerful Swipe (T0) level 2 (52% –> 57% to level 3) – Use stamina to enhance the damage of your swipe. +6% - +60% damage increase for 5-75 stamina per second.
Rapid Attack (T0) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Spend 3 SP or MP to attack for a second time within 1 second. SP or MP costs double per additional attack within half a second of the previous. Maximum number of chained attacks at level 1: 5.
Offensive abilities:
- Claws level 2 (12-22 –> 48-53 Slicing damage, 15-25 –> 32-41 Tearing damage, 6-10 –> 24-35 Piercing damage)
General abilities:
- Enhanced Regeneration level 1 (1 HP / second)
- Telepathy level 1 (range: 5 lengths; strength: 1)
There were quite a few changes. One thing that made his non-existent eyebrows rise was the sheer number of Prey Points he’d gained from his kill. There hadn’t been any notification about them, so he’d kind of assumed that he hadn’t earned any. That appeared to be incorrect as in fact he seemed to have gained over a hundred points – he’d started the battle with 45 Prey Points.
He was also not quite sure what to feel about having gained ‘Chimera’ along with ‘Two-souled’. What had prompted that? The other creature had identified him as like it, a chimera – was that why it was suddenly appearing on his status screen? Or was it because he’d defeated and absorbed a chimera?
And what did it mean – did it have any consequences, or was it just a description like he suspected ‘two-souled’ was? Shaking his head at the unanswerable questions, Dominic moved on.
Almost all his Abilities were coming on well. Pounce and Group Attack obviously hadn’t changed since he hadn’t used either of them in this battle. Not for lack of effort, but he hadn’t managed to activate either bonus from Pounce. An additional 8% for the single use of Second Wind was good, though it seemed like reaching level 2 wouldn’t be happening any time soon.
Then again, with his enhanced regeneration, perhaps he might feel more willing to use it. That, of course, was another addition to his status screen. With a sudden thought, he pulled up another entry which hadn’t changed, but was apparently still there – he’d been wondering if it had disappeared.
- Carnivore Constitution level 3 (600 HP) +60% health regeneration
So I’m still gaining more health regen from Constitution. How are they interacting? His health pool was one thing; the fact that he also gained +60% to his health regeneration from Carnivore Constitution was another thing. Was the 1 HP/s with the +60% already taken into account? Or would he actually be gaining 1.6 HP/s? Or were they two separate regeneration rates, acting independently?
Either way, one health point per second meant that he’d be able to regain his health pool in ten minutes only with Regeneration’s effects. So, that meant Regeneration would regain him the 50% health in five minutes he needed to sacrifice to Second Wind, giving him a fair bit to play with. But if he was in a difficult battle and lost what he’d gained from Second Wind and some of his regenerated health, he’d be in trouble. However, Enhanced Regeneration was clearly something he could enhance on level up; what if the next level offered him two health points per second? And what if level 3 offered three points per second? Or more?
‘I think I know what we’re enhancing when we next level up,’ Dominic told his companion excitedly.
‘I agree,’ Leo replied with a calm eagerness.
As for the enhancement of his longer claws, that was much as expected – better damage in all areas. Good, but not as exciting as his new health regeneration. Being able to fully heal in ten minutes was amazing. He’d never have to worry about being badly injured after a fight and not having a level-up in the wings waiting. He just needed to get through the fight and then rest for ten minutes and he’d be good to go.
In fact, as Dominic stood, he realised that his health regeneration had already healed most of his wounds. His health pool wasn’t yet filled, but it was more than three-quarters full, the remaining wounds more annoying than truly painful.
Nothing had followed the scent of blood, so Dominic decided he might as well continue his patrol. Maybe he’d find something he’d be able to use his new Ability on. As he padded through the grass, his eyes scanning and other senses sharp, he thought about Rapid Attack.
The information he’d initially seen hadn’t been particularly detailed; now he had gained it, he was able to see exactly what it could do and how much it cost. From what he could read, it seemed a bit like a flurry of attacks. Apparently each had double the stamina or mana cost of the previous so he could imagine that getting pretty expensive after a while. At level 1, the number of attacks seemed limited to 5 anyway.
Working it out, 3 SP for the second attack, 6 for the third, 12 for the fourth, and 24 for the fifth…. That would add up to 45 SP – or MP – in total. In addition to the stamina costs of the initial attack, of course.
Actually, what if he used Quick Strike and then Powerful Swipe along with Rapid Attack? Would the effects be replicated in all the subsequent strikes? If so, would that only cost the SP required for Rapid Attack, or was that in addition to the cost of the strikes themselves? It had to be – 3 SP for an attack enhanced by Powerful Swipe would be very cheap. Unrealistically so.
Could Dominic choose to make each attack different from the previous, or did they all have to be identical? Because if he couldn’t adapt the attacks to the reaction of his target, then that could actually be quite dangerous. He might find himself forced to attack an area which the creature had already vacated, opening himself up for their counter-attack.
Well, hopefully he’d find a target soon to test this on.
Unfortunately, as the hours wore on, no target presented itself.
‘Is this what lions do all day?’ he complained to his companion. ‘Just wander through the grass, everything else running away?’ Leo sent him a sense of amusement.
‘We almost died a short time ago and you’re already restless?’
‘Yes,’ Dominic told him firmly, ‘because we didn’t die, and we got a few nice enhancements I want to test out.’
‘Enhanced regeneration is a bit of a safety net,’ Leo admitted. ‘Perhaps it wouldn’t do too much harm to risk enraging a more perilous foe,’ he continued. Dominic perked up.
‘You’ve seen something, haven’t you?’ The lion huffed smugly.
‘Perhaps I have.’ Dominic started growling audibly.
‘Come on, give.’
‘What if I don’t?’ Leo taunted Dominic. Clearly the lion was suddenly in a very playful mood – perhaps the recent near-death experience was the root cause. If it had been one of his mates, he’d have wrestled with them, play-fighting until one of them cried uncle. Not possible to do when only one of them had a body. Or is it? Dominic suddenly wondered.
Taking a quick glance around, Dominic couldn’t sense the presence of anything nearby.
‘What are you doing?’ Leo asked in surprise as he tucked himself into a nearby bush. Dominic ignored him, crouching down and closing his eyes. Focussing, he tried to access his ‘sanctuary’ – the space where he ran, uh retreated to when Leo was having fun times with his lionesses. He was pretty sure that it was the same place that they’d been thrust into when he’d got to level 10, so it should be possible to access even when he was the driver.
It took some concentration, not helped by Leo’s repeated questions about what he was trying to do. Finally, though, it felt like a wall had suddenly collapsed under pressure, turning out to be plaster rather than cement. Dominic ‘fell’ through the hole and into the study he’d envisaged the first time Leo had done his mating duties.
This time, Leo was there too, looking around himself with confusion.
‘What is this place?’ Leo asked. Dominic didn’t answer, just jumping on him. He was in his lion body, he realised a moment later. Probably because he had just been in the real leonine body – his mind hadn’t caught up with the fact that he didn’t have to be in it any more. Still, it would probably work better for this task than his human one: wrestling Leo until he gave in and told Dominic what he’d seen.
The lion responded to his ‘attack’ with claws and teeth bared at first, but when he realised that Dominic wasn’t using his own claws, and his teeth were nipping rather than biting, his demeanour of fright quickly transformed into one of play.
In fact, he became downright eager, his emotions joyful as he bounced around like a cub, Dominic responding equally childishly. The physical play brought back memories of wrestling with his dad and his friends, as well as sense-memories from Leo of doing this with his brothers and sisters – siblings which Dominic himself had never had.
By the time they finished, they were both tired, even though this was only a mental projection. Perhaps it was that they knew they should be tired physically and their minds imposed that tiredness on them. Either way, Leo flopped against Dominic, raising his front paws in the air and batting lazily at the ceiling. There hadn’t been any real ‘winner’ of their wrestling match, but Dominic hoped that Leo had had enough fun that he’d be more willing to answer the question.
‘So, what did you see?’
*****
Discord server link here!
Chapter 84: What is this place?
Comments
S_Winter
Yes, I enjoyed writing that scene! And yes, put the longer claws that can still retract down to magic, lol.
Samuel_Almonihah
Awwww, look at them being a bit more like the brothers Leo has been calling them. :) It does make me wonder if more practice with their shared 'mental space' will help make switching even smoother, or if the two of them growing closer will be more important to that (and what else they may find they can do as two minds in one body moving forward). I'm a little impressed they can still retract their claws. XD I'm going to blame it on magic...
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter!
