Varewulf My mother has grown quite weak, and the increased need to help provide care doesn't leave energy for a lot of other things. My creative drive is drained. So this is the last chapter before I put the series on indefinite hiatus. It's been fun so far, and I know I'm going to miss writing, so I hope to get back to it eventually. I just don't know when.
I'm grateful to everyone who has read, and appreciated this silly story so far. I definitely thought it was too niche to achieve any sort of popularity. Hopefully I'll see you again at some point in the future.
A visitor entered the den.
"Good morning, boss."
"Hey, Kathleen," Sara replied without needing to look up. "Good morning. You're not shocked at how I look?"
"It's a little surprising," Kathleen said in a way that didn't sound surprised at all. "But I can still tell it's you."
Sara looked up. "Yeah, I've always wondered how you do that? All of you. You always seem able to tell I'm me, no matter how I look. It was like that back in Merwyn too," she said.
"Hm..." Kathleen sat down on one of the homemade chairs. "Not sure how to answer that. We just know. You always knew it was me even before I became like this, right?"
"You have a point..." Sara admitted. She couldn't say how she had known either, but she had never felt any doubt that she could tell which wolf was which, even if they weren't particularly different appearance-wise.
"So what are you doing, boss?" Kathleen asked.
"Trying to decide if I want to use any of these weapons," Sara answered. "I can apparently equip things to my hands now, so I wanted to see if there was anything I had picked up that I might like."
There was a fair amount actually. She'd gotten a few things from the goblins back in Merwyn (unfortunately she hadn't gotten to loot most of them), picked up a couple of things from the chests in Eron Hills, and gotten a bunch of things from the first bandit raid she had done with Gloria. Maybe she had accidentally looted something on the following raids too, but she had tried not to.
So what she had dumped onto the floor included two axes of different levels. Probably one from Merwyn, and one from the bandits. They looked like they could double as Logging tools, so if she wanted to do any of that... she would still need Woodworking tools.
A shoddy-looking Druid cane that was... better than nothing. +3% to nature skills, and a small boost to Regrowth. She presumed that carried over to its evolutions. It wasn't exciting.
A Mage staff that looked a little bit better, but still not enough for her to want to use unless she had literally nothing else.
A plain, but sharp-looking uncommon longsword with +10 to attack power, and +5 to Strength. No percentage, just a simple point increase. She was reasonably sure that was the one she had gotten from that chest. There were a couple of curved single-edged swords as well, but they were common quality, and had nothing special about them.
Some daggers. A common one that looked a little flimsy, an uncommon one that looked like a hunting knife, and a poisoned dagger, but she had so much poison already. Also a set of throwing knives... moving on.
A whip. She couldn't think of anywhere she could have gotten that except for from the bandits. While she hadn't noticed any whip users, she remembered Aina saying loot came from tables that didn't necessarily reflect what the victim was wearing, or using. The idea was to make it close enough to make sense. Bosses usually had more personalised loot tables. It was interesting that she could use Thread Manipulation on the whip, but it felt heavy, and sluggish to do so. It wasn't her style of weapon anyway.
A couple of bows that only had minor differences. They both had bonuses to Dexterity and Accuracy, but then one had a few points in Vitality, and the other in Strength. She marked the Strength one for potential use. Bows were one of the things she had considered since she had several relevant skills.
One simple looking spear, and one rather nasty looking one.
[ Barbed Spear of Swiftness (Two-handed Weapon - Spear - Rare): Power rating: 66. Defence Piercing: +15%. Attack speed: +10%. Agility: +8. Dexterity: +8. Inflicts Bleed(?) status for 10 seconds if it pierces its target's body. ]
Probably a lucky drop from something. It had a three-pronged head, but not in the way a trident did. Just two smaller, barbed spikes sticking out from the spearhead that looked like they could really mess up someone's insides. She only had the one spear attack skill, but a rare weapon was probably still worth marking. The simple spear only had a power rating of 49, and the sword was 53. While she wasn't entirely sure how much the power rating was worth, she understood that bigger numbers were usually better.
There was a large warhammer, and Sara liked big weapons. Unfortunately the only blunt weapon skill she had picked up was Sweep, so aside from swinging it manually like an absolute amateur, she couldn't do all that much with it. She would still mark it. Maybe she could ask Mirielle to purchase skill scrolls with some basic attack skills. Surely she could get some money from selling a silk ball or two.
She had actually picked up an amount of money as well, but having never used money all she knew was that it was divided into copper, silver, and gold coins as was typical. What things actually cost she had no clue about.
There was also the issue of how useful a melee weapon was when her claws and teeth were generally more effective up close.
No cool, exotic weapons like scythes, or chain swords... nor any magical weapons. Assuming those existed, maybe they only came from dungeons, or strong bosses. Like herself. She wondered if it was worth asking to see her own loot table. It wasn't like she get any of it herself.
The one standout weapon was a pistol.
[ Gerard's Executioner - (One-handed Weapon - Gun - Epic): One of the two flintlock pistols that the bandit leader Gerard wields. This is his left-hand one. It is said he took them from a bounty hunter that tried to ambush him. His aim, and skill at reloading them quickly is impressive. Power rating: 114. Critical hit damage: +50%. Defence piercing: +20%. Accuracy: +15%. Reload speed: +15%. Dexterity: +10. Recoil: Light. ]
It had significantly higher power rating than anything else, even the warhammer, but that was probably in part due to its single-shot nature. Still, the red wood, and pale gold coloured metal was a good-looking combo. Definitely not the sort of thing you'd think a bandit would have, so the idea that he took it from someone was believable.
The only firearms Sara had tried in her old life were bolt-action rifles at a civilian shooting range, but she was curious about how it might work in this game... in this world.
What do I do about ammunition for guns, mother? Is it just auto-present?
"In essence yes. Ranged weapons have an ammunition slot. For guns it's ammo pouches, and for bows it's quivers. By default you only get a poor quality one, but you can equip better ones directly to the weapon. It doesn't make much real-world sense, but that's how they decided to handle it game-system wise. Better quality ammunition does more damage. Special ammunition you need to craft, or buy. You can then load a limited amount into the special slot in a regular ammunition pouch, but only uncommon quality and up pouches have those. You can also craft, or buy a special ammunition pouch, but they are hard to make, and expensive to buy.
I see you have a common quality quiver in your inventory, so you would be able to immediately upgrade a bow should you wish to, but you do not have any ammo pouches. The pistol will still pack a punch, but the jump from poor to common ammunition is big enough that you would get higher DPS from the bow assuming your accuracy is good. In general the rule is that a decent archer can fire three arrows per one pistol shot due to the reload time, but it varies a little depending on individual skill, and what skills you possess."
I see... Sara picked it up, and equipped it, which made something extra appear next to it in her Equipment screen. This one has two ammunition slots?
"That is often the case with ranged weapons of epic quality, or better. So you can have both a regular, and a special pouch equipped at the same time. Or two special pouches for different situations."
Sara put it back down, and marked it as her number 1 choice so far. She was unsure how easy it would be to fire, and how much practice it would take to get good, but she was absolutely going to try it.
"I don't suppose you have any opinions on weapons, Kathleen?" Sara asked.
"Not really boss," Kathleen replied. "But I like the colours on the thing you were holding. And that long, spiky thing, and the big, smashy thing feel dangerous. I've seen elves, and Adventurers use those sticks with strings that makes the little pointy sticks fly. They seem alright."
"Maybe I should actually teach you the names of things," Sara said. "But I'm not sure how interested you are."
"I wouldn't mind," Kathleen said. "Knowing things is good, right?"
"Yeah, you're right," Sara said with a smile, and went over all the things that were present. After Kathleen had a good grasp on it, Sara asked: "Did anything happen while I was evolving?"
"Yes," Kathleen said with a nod. "Two things outside of the usual yesterday. First was a group of Adventurers that wanted to talk to you about 'feedback', but I didn't know how to deal with that, and just told them you were unavailable. There was something they wanted me to give you, but I have no way to carry things, so I asked them come back later."
"Oh? You talked to them yourself?" Sara felt a little surprised.
"I've listened to you do it a few times, so I felt like I could handle it," Kathleen said. "They had one of the Druids that could understand me. I am not completely certain, but I think all five of them were part of the raid that attacked us."
"Oh yeah, I did ask for them to take contact," Sara said, remembering her 'speech' in Komeron. "What terrible timing. What was the other thing?"
"Some elves wanted to trade for silk, but I had to tell them to come back later as well," Kathleen replied.
"Hm... hopefully they actually do," Sara said. It was nice that Kathleen was getting a bit of experience talking to people too. It might not be necessary that often, but it would be useful if Sara had to go elsewhere for any amount of time.
"Oh yeah, and there was a person who brought a Druid to ask if any wolves were willing to team up with them for a while to... do some quests? That's what they call it, right?" Kathleen sounded unsure.
"Yes, that's correct," Sara confirmed. "Did you help them?"
"Not me personally, but one of the packs agreed to, and helped them out for a couple of hours. I only heard it about afterwards," Kathleen said. "They got some roasted meat out of it, and seemed happy with the deal."
"Neat," Sara said, and decided to equip the pistol, and the longsword for now. "I'm glad that's working out, though I hope the wolves won't feel pestered too much." The spear, and warhammer were both two-handed weapons, so she couldn't use them with the pistol. Though she noticed there was a quick-swap slot she could save one of them to, and picked the spear for the time being. She'd do some practice with them later to see how it felt to handle them. She stuffed the rest of the weapons back into the inventory. The ones she had marked would be easy to find again.
Now onto the even more important choice: Hat! She had a few in her inventory. The purple tricorn hat she had found in Eron Hills; the black commander hat, and the light blue feather hat she had gotten as achievement rewards; an iron helmet that did not look like it would fit on her head, but maybe the game had some equipment size/shape scaling that would allow it; and finally a brown flat cap. Not as many as she had hoped, but at least it was something.
The latter two she had no issue ruling out. The other three were tougher to decide between.
The feather hat was really nice-looking, and elegant, as expected from an important achievement reward. The actual feather was a vibrant red. It seemed like a cosmetic item though, since the defence rating was low, and the only bonus it had was a small charisma boost.
The commander hat was cool with its gold trim, but it was so close to a captain's hat that it looked a little too modern. They had clearly tried to make it look a little more period-appropriate, but hadn't gone for the classic bicorn design. She thought it was still cool, and it gave a bonus to morale gain for those under her command, but seemed like it was primarily cosmetic as well. Plus there was still the question of how morale actually worked.
The tricorn very much evoked that seafarer/pirate captain look that had its definite appeal, and it was the only hat that had some proper stats on it. +6 Vitality, +4 Endurance, and +4 Dexterity. It was a nice hat.
She tried them all on to see what they felt like on her head. The feather hat was nice and light. The commander hat felt like a solid fit. The tricorn bumped against her ears a little, but she was able to adjust it to a comfortable position. She really wished she had a mirror. All she could do was to ask the only person present:
"What do you think, Kathleen? Which one suits me?"
"I don't really understand such things, boss," Kathleen said with a slightly apologetic tone. "But I like the colour on the tree-sided one."
Sara might as well go with that one for now, since she had nothing else to go on. At least it kinda fit with wielding the gun. She'd ask Mirielle later. The sky was only barely starting to change from black, to dark blue, so it was a little early to call her yet. She could finish organising her menus, and maybe even get a bit of firing practice in.
Her bonus points got split up into +5 Strength, +5 Agility, +5 Dexterity, and +5 Intelligence. A rather aggressive spread, but keeping her upcoming battle with Gurmel in mind it seemed like a better choice than going defensive. Defence was still her lowest stat, but it wasn't awful, and she had skills that helped compensate for it. She had wanted to put more of it into Strength so she'd get up to the same score as that bear, but she felt it was too short-sighted to focus only on that fight, and not see beyond it.
[ Name: Sara ]
[ Species: Nyolund Werewolf Huntmaster (Nyolund Guardian Beast) | Gender: Female ]
[ Genus: Wolf ]
[ Class: Shapeshifter (Beast) ]
[ Role: Nyolund - Northern Great Forest of Ildhena Zone Boss ]
[ Level: 30 (30) ]
[ HP: 245/245 +23 (222/222 +19) | SP: 253/253 +26 (226/226 +20) |
MP: 257/257 +37 (229/229 +24) ]
[ VIT: 116 +23 (95 +19) | END: 131 +26 (102 +20) ]
[ STR: 120 -> 125 +25 (89 + 17) | DEF: 98 +24 (71 +17) ]
[ AGI: 151 -> 156 +33 (123 +24) | DEX: 113 -> 118 +23 (81 +16) ]
[ INT: 153 -> 158 +31 (120 +24) | WIS: 148 +37 (124 +24) ]
[ LUK: 230 +46 (75 +15) ]
[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 ]
Then she spent some time sorting out her skill list, thinking about what she would need, and what she probably wouldn't.
[ Active: ]
[ -> Physical: ]
[ Chomp Lvl Max (Max) | Rend Lvl Max (Max) | Body Slam Lvl Max (Max) |
Savage Blow Lvl 9 (Max) | Pack Leader's Howl Lvl Max (Max) | Sprint Lvl Max (Max) ]
[ -> Magical: ]
[ Frost Arrow Lvl Max (Max) | Greater Fireball Lvl 9 (Max) | Water Jet Lvl Max (Max) |
Arcane Blast Lvl Max (Max) | Root Bind Lvl Max (Max) | Poison Arrow Alt. Lvl Max (Max) |
Thorn Armour Lvl Max (Max) | Growth Lvl Max (Max) | Budding Regrowth Lvl Max (Max) |
Rejuvenate Lvl Max (Max) | Mass Rejuvenate Lvl Max (Max) | Tree Form Lvl Max (Max) ]
[ Concealed Active: ]
[ -> Physical: ]
[ Back Attack Lvl 5 | Ambush Lvl Max | Death From Above Lvl Max | Strong Poison Strike Lvl Max |
Shred Lvl 8 | Crush Lvl 4 | Solid Kick Lvl 5 | Charge Lvl Max | Pounce Lvl 7 | Smack Lvl 2 |
Slash Lvl 1 | Cleave Lvl 1 | Skewer Lvl 1 | Fire Lvl 1 | Power Shot Lvl 1 | Snipe Lvl 1 | Stomp Lvl 2 |
Roar Lvl 2 | Taunt Lvl 3 ]
[ -> Magical: ]
[ Rock Blast Lvl 3 | Rock Hammer Lvl 1 | Earth Wall Lvl 4 | Water Bubble Lvl 2 | Water Film Lvl 4 |
Lightning Arrow Lvl 5 | Arcane Missile Lvl 1 | Vine Whip (New) Lvl 1 | Mass Thorn Bind Lvl 1 |
Poison Cloud Lvl 4 | Thorn Barricade Lvl 2 | Poison Enchant Lvl Max | Advanced Leech (Evolved) Lvl 1 |
Recovery Cocoon Lvl 1 | Mystic Wolf Form (Evolved) (Hidden) | Stalker Cat Form (Evolved) Lvl 1 |
Flight Form Lvl 1 | Swim Form (New) Lvl 1 ]
[ -> Other: ]
[ Spider Net Trap Lvl 1 | Disarm Trap Lvl 1 | Vanish Lvl 3 | Erase Presence Lvl 17 |
Extrasensory Perception | Slow Fall | Tracking Lvl 1 ]
[ Form Locked (Concealed): ]
[ -> Flight Form: ]
[ Glide Lvl 1 | Flight Lvl 1 ]
[ Passive: ]
[ -> Physical: ]
[ Keen Senses | Claw Expertise Lvl Max (Max) | Firm Grip Lvl Max (Max) | Enhanced Movement |
Insulation Lvl Max (Max) | Solid Coat Lvl Max (Max) ]
[ -> Magical: ]
[ Nature Element Up Lvl Max (Max) | Advanced Mana Manipulation (Evolved) Lvl 1 (Max) ]
[ -> Other: ]
[ Danger Sense Lvl Max (Max) | Leadership Lvl Max (Max) |
All Attributes Up (Medium) Lvl Max (Max) | Commune With Animals ]
[ Concealed Passive: ]
[ -> Physical: ]
[ Dig Lvl Max | Burrow Lvl 2 | Spider Climb Lvl Max | Spider Silk Lvl Max | Swim Lvl 7 |
Dive Lvl 1 | Pursuit Lvl 7 | Desperation Lvl 1 | Flanking (New) Lvl 1 | Ranged Attacks Up Lvl 1 |
Spear Expertise Lvl 1 ]
[ -> Magical: ]
[ Multi Cast (Evolved) Lvl 1 | Fire Element Up Lvl Max | Water Element Up Lvl 8 |
Earth Element Up Lvl 2 ]
[ -> Other: ]
[ Trap Sense Lvl 4 | Intuition Lvl 5 | Chameleon Lvl Max | Paralysis Venom Lvl Max |
Thread Manipulation Lvl 5 | Poison Immunity | Heavy Immunity | Fire Resistance Lvl 6 |
Dark Resistance Lvl Max | All Regen (Medium) Lvl 8 ]
[ Concealed Trade: ]
[ -> Gathering ]
[ Logging Lvl 1 ]
[ -> Crafting ]
[ Woodworking Lvl 1 | Cooking Lvl 1 | Blacksmithing Lvl 1 | Tailoring Lvl 1 | Alchemy Lvl 1 ]
[ General: ]
[ Identify Lvl Max (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) | Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]
[ Concealed General: ]
[ Skill Gain (Hidden) | Languages (Hidden): Common, Beastkin, Goblin, Elf, Human, Troll |
Life Magic Lvl 10 | Decryption Lvl 1 | Double Skill Experience (Hidden) ]
[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]
[ Tough Scales (1) | Medium Armour Expertise (1) | Struggle (1) | Sweep (1) | Chop (1) |
Throw (1) | Bow Expertise (1) | Lockpick (1) ]
[ Skill points: 24 -> 7 ]
Mystic Wolf Form was hidden regardless, but she still decided to set it into Concealed alongside Stalker Cat Form. She had never publicly used Bear or Cat form anyway, so there was no reason to keep them on there.
She felt like she didn't have much of a choice other than leaving Advanced Mana Manipulation revealed. If people found it weird... well, they already thought she was weird anyway. She had accepted she was beyond the state of not seeming suspicious.
Otherwise she had disabled all skills not relevant to what she had currently equipped, and a couple she couldn't see a use for.
"You didn't have to disable Throw, Sara," Aina chimed in.
I disagree, Sara replied. If she ever truly needed it, she would relent, but until then certain grudges didn't die.
She had considered disabling Roar too, since Howl was just better for her, but having some redundancy in causing negative effects to enemies might be alright. And she kept all her spells, since she felt like she might find some use for them all. Granted she had yet to use Mass Thorn Bind, even though she'd had it for a while, but she felt like... just in case. Just in case she needed it one day she wouldn't have to go into her menu, and enable it mid-fight.
And she was going to at least try to set up a Spider Net Trap once. Just to see what it was like. Hopefully the system assistance was very nice about it.
She got up, and walked out of the den on only two legs for the first time. A good thing the entrance is actually tall enough that I'm not in danger of bumping my head. She still had a decent clearing, so it was probably at least four metres tall.
Kathleen followed her outside. "What now, boss?" she asked.
"After the sun rises I'll ask a raven to go ask for Mirielle to come see me. Until then I have a few things I want to try out," Sara said, and headed into the middle of the clearing. She wanted to feel what it was like to become a bird, so the first task was to activate Flight Form.
Like whenever she had activated a new form for the first time the sensation of being stretched, compressed, and altered was quite disorienting. Borderline nauseating. This time she ended up growing a fair bit smaller as her arms morphed themselves into wings, her fur changed into feathers, and her snout into a beak.
¤@1/%€+&
Wait, what was... oh. Right. There's one skill here I don't already have, huh?
"Correct," Aina said. "You were still missing Gust. I don't know if you want to try flying already, but at least be prepared when you unmorph."
No, I think it's a bit ambitious to try to fly right away.
Sara looked towards Kathleen, who looked a lot bigger now. "How do I look?" she asked. "Or rather, what do I look like? I can't really see myself."
"Well, you're smaller," Kathleen said, stating the obvious. "About half of your previous size, maybe a little less, but I think you're still bigger than the ravens. And you kinda look like one of those... uh... hawks. Or eagles? Something like that."
"So you know what those are?" Sara asked. As far as she knew neither of those were in Nyolund, though it was possible they flew way overhead, the eagles especially. Or maybe mobs just had that kind of information on each other. As far as she could see from looking over her shoulder, she did have brown feathers. The ravens here were about twice as big as the ones on Earth, so if she was bigger than that, then eagle was probably correct.
"Yes, boss," Kathleen replied without further elaboration.
"Alright." Sara nodded. "Then there's one last thing to try out before I move on." The travel mode. She imagined herself activating it, and things immediately started changing. Her proportions remained much the same, but she grew in size quite rapidly. It was really disorienting, and she felt thankful she couldn't get an upset stomach. At least not one that threw up.
"Whoa, boss!" Kathleen let out a genuine bark of surprise, and jumped back a step. "You're like... twice as big as you usually are."
Ugh... Sara fought against the dizziness. "R-really?" she managed to say out loud. Where would all that mass even come from? she wondered internally.
"It's magic," Aina said. "You should have felt when using Bear Form or Tree Form that there's no real conservation of mass in a Druid's transformations. That's why we're able to make modes like this."
Right... I shouldn't try to apply too much logic to this. Sara finally felt herself settling down, and breathed a sigh of relief.
[ Flight Form Skill Level Up! ]
"That was awkward..." she said.
"It looked really cool though, boss," Kathleen said. "I think I could fit on top of you now."
Sara raised an eyebrow. "Let's not test that out right now..." she said. "I haven't even learned how to fly yet." Maybe she should save that for the next day. She'd like to have an open schedule before starting anything like that. It was possible that the system actually made it really easy for her, but... she'd test that later. So what remained was unmorphing...
#$\¤0~%[email protected]
Varewulf My mother has grown quite weak, and the increased need to help provide care doesn't leave energy for a lot of other things. My creative drive is drained. So this is the last chapter before I put the series on indefinite hiatus. It's been fun so far, and I know I'm going to miss writing, so I hope to get back to it eventually. I just don't know when.
I'm grateful to everyone who has read, and appreciated this silly story so far. I definitely thought it was too niche to achieve any sort of popularity. Hopefully I'll see you again at some point in the future.
A visitor entered the den.
"Good morning, boss."
"Hey, Kathleen," Sara replied without needing to look up. "Good morning. You're not shocked at how I look?"
"It's a little surprising," Kathleen said in a way that didn't sound surprised at all. "But I can still tell it's you."
Sara looked up. "Yeah, I've always wondered how you do that? All of you. You always seem able to tell I'm me, no matter how I look. It was like that back in Merwyn too," she said.
"Hm..." Kathleen sat down on one of the homemade chairs. "Not sure how to answer that. We just know. You always knew it was me even before I became like this, right?"
"You have a point..." Sara admitted. She couldn't say how she had known either, but she had never felt any doubt that she could tell which wolf was which, even if they weren't particularly different appearance-wise.
"So what are you doing, boss?" Kathleen asked.
"Trying to decide if I want to use any of these weapons," Sara answered. "I can apparently equip things to my hands now, so I wanted to see if there was anything I had picked up that I might like."
There was a fair amount actually. She'd gotten a few things from the goblins back in Merwyn (unfortunately she hadn't gotten to loot most of them), picked up a couple of things from the chests in Eron Hills, and gotten a bunch of things from the first bandit raid she had done with Gloria. Maybe she had accidentally looted something on the following raids too, but she had tried not to.
So what she had dumped onto the floor included two axes of different levels. Probably one from Merwyn, and one from the bandits. They looked like they could double as Logging tools, so if she wanted to do any of that... she would still need Woodworking tools.
A shoddy-looking Druid cane that was... better than nothing. +3% to nature skills, and a small boost to Regrowth. She presumed that carried over to its evolutions. It wasn't exciting.
A Mage staff that looked a little bit better, but still not enough for her to want to use unless she had literally nothing else.
A plain, but sharp-looking uncommon longsword with +10 to attack power, and +5 to Strength. No percentage, just a simple point increase. She was reasonably sure that was the one she had gotten from that chest. There were a couple of curved single-edged swords as well, but they were common quality, and had nothing special about them.
Some daggers. A common one that looked a little flimsy, an uncommon one that looked like a hunting knife, and a poisoned dagger, but she had so much poison already. Also a set of throwing knives... moving on.
A whip. She couldn't think of anywhere she could have gotten that except for from the bandits. While she hadn't noticed any whip users, she remembered Aina saying loot came from tables that didn't necessarily reflect what the victim was wearing, or using. The idea was to make it close enough to make sense. Bosses usually had more personalised loot tables. It was interesting that she could use Thread Manipulation on the whip, but it felt heavy, and sluggish to do so. It wasn't her style of weapon anyway.
A couple of bows that only had minor differences. They both had bonuses to Dexterity and Accuracy, but then one had a few points in Vitality, and the other in Strength. She marked the Strength one for potential use. Bows were one of the things she had considered since she had several relevant skills.
One simple looking spear, and one rather nasty looking one.
[ Barbed Spear of Swiftness (Two-handed Weapon - Spear - Rare): Power rating: 66. Defence Piercing: +15%. Attack speed: +10%. Agility: +8. Dexterity: +8. Inflicts Bleed(?) status for 10 seconds if it pierces its target's body. ]
Probably a lucky drop from something. It had a three-pronged head, but not in the way a trident did. Just two smaller, barbed spikes sticking out from the spearhead that looked like they could really mess up someone's insides. She only had the one spear attack skill, but a rare weapon was probably still worth marking. The simple spear only had a power rating of 49, and the sword was 53. While she wasn't entirely sure how much the power rating was worth, she understood that bigger numbers were usually better.
There was a large warhammer, and Sara liked big weapons. Unfortunately the only blunt weapon skill she had picked up was Sweep, so aside from swinging it manually like an absolute amateur, she couldn't do all that much with it. She would still mark it. Maybe she could ask Mirielle to purchase skill scrolls with some basic attack skills. Surely she could get some money from selling a silk ball or two.
She had actually picked up an amount of money as well, but having never used money all she knew was that it was divided into copper, silver, and gold coins as was typical. What things actually cost she had no clue about.
There was also the issue of how useful a melee weapon was when her claws and teeth were generally more effective up close.
No cool, exotic weapons like scythes, or chain swords... nor any magical weapons. Assuming those existed, maybe they only came from dungeons, or strong bosses. Like herself. She wondered if it was worth asking to see her own loot table. It wasn't like she get any of it herself.
The one standout weapon was a pistol.
[ Gerard's Executioner - (One-handed Weapon - Gun - Epic): One of the two flintlock pistols that the bandit leader Gerard wields. This is his left-hand one. It is said he took them from a bounty hunter that tried to ambush him. His aim, and skill at reloading them quickly is impressive. Power rating: 114. Critical hit damage: +50%. Defence piercing: +20%. Accuracy: +15%. Reload speed: +15%. Dexterity: +10. Recoil: Light. ]
It had significantly higher power rating than anything else, even the warhammer, but that was probably in part due to its single-shot nature. Still, the red wood, and pale gold coloured metal was a good-looking combo. Definitely not the sort of thing you'd think a bandit would have, so the idea that he took it from someone was believable.
The only firearms Sara had tried in her old life were bolt-action rifles at a civilian shooting range, but she was curious about how it might work in this game... in this world.
What do I do about ammunition for guns, mother? Is it just auto-present?
"In essence yes. Ranged weapons have an ammunition slot. For guns it's ammo pouches, and for bows it's quivers. By default you only get a poor quality one, but you can equip better ones directly to the weapon. It doesn't make much real-world sense, but that's how they decided to handle it game-system wise. Better quality ammunition does more damage. Special ammunition you need to craft, or buy. You can then load a limited amount into the special slot in a regular ammunition pouch, but only uncommon quality and up pouches have those. You can also craft, or buy a special ammunition pouch, but they are hard to make, and expensive to buy.
I see you have a common quality quiver in your inventory, so you would be able to immediately upgrade a bow should you wish to, but you do not have any ammo pouches. The pistol will still pack a punch, but the jump from poor to common ammunition is big enough that you would get higher DPS from the bow assuming your accuracy is good. In general the rule is that a decent archer can fire three arrows per one pistol shot due to the reload time, but it varies a little depending on individual skill, and what skills you possess."
I see... Sara picked it up, and equipped it, which made something extra appear next to it in her Equipment screen. This one has two ammunition slots?
"That is often the case with ranged weapons of epic quality, or better. So you can have both a regular, and a special pouch equipped at the same time. Or two special pouches for different situations."
Sara put it back down, and marked it as her number 1 choice so far. She was unsure how easy it would be to fire, and how much practice it would take to get good, but she was absolutely going to try it.
"I don't suppose you have any opinions on weapons, Kathleen?" Sara asked.
"Not really boss," Kathleen replied. "But I like the colours on the thing you were holding. And that long, spiky thing, and the big, smashy thing feel dangerous. I've seen elves, and Adventurers use those sticks with strings that makes the little pointy sticks fly. They seem alright."
"Maybe I should actually teach you the names of things," Sara said. "But I'm not sure how interested you are."
"I wouldn't mind," Kathleen said. "Knowing things is good, right?"
"Yeah, you're right," Sara said with a smile, and went over all the things that were present. After Kathleen had a good grasp on it, Sara asked: "Did anything happen while I was evolving?"
"Yes," Kathleen said with a nod. "Two things outside of the usual yesterday. First was a group of Adventurers that wanted to talk to you about 'feedback', but I didn't know how to deal with that, and just told them you were unavailable. There was something they wanted me to give you, but I have no way to carry things, so I asked them come back later."
"Oh? You talked to them yourself?" Sara felt a little surprised.
"I've listened to you do it a few times, so I felt like I could handle it," Kathleen said. "They had one of the Druids that could understand me. I am not completely certain, but I think all five of them were part of the raid that attacked us."
"Oh yeah, I did ask for them to take contact," Sara said, remembering her 'speech' in Komeron. "What terrible timing. What was the other thing?"
"Some elves wanted to trade for silk, but I had to tell them to come back later as well," Kathleen replied.
"Hm... hopefully they actually do," Sara said. It was nice that Kathleen was getting a bit of experience talking to people too. It might not be necessary that often, but it would be useful if Sara had to go elsewhere for any amount of time.
"Oh yeah, and there was a person who brought a Druid to ask if any wolves were willing to team up with them for a while to... do some quests? That's what they call it, right?" Kathleen sounded unsure.
"Yes, that's correct," Sara confirmed. "Did you help them?"
"Not me personally, but one of the packs agreed to, and helped them out for a couple of hours. I only heard it about afterwards," Kathleen said. "They got some roasted meat out of it, and seemed happy with the deal."
"Neat," Sara said, and decided to equip the pistol, and the longsword for now. "I'm glad that's working out, though I hope the wolves won't feel pestered too much." The spear, and warhammer were both two-handed weapons, so she couldn't use them with the pistol. Though she noticed there was a quick-swap slot she could save one of them to, and picked the spear for the time being. She'd do some practice with them later to see how it felt to handle them. She stuffed the rest of the weapons back into the inventory. The ones she had marked would be easy to find again.
Now onto the even more important choice: Hat! She had a few in her inventory. The purple tricorn hat she had found in Eron Hills; the black commander hat, and the light blue feather hat she had gotten as achievement rewards; an iron helmet that did not look like it would fit on her head, but maybe the game had some equipment size/shape scaling that would allow it; and finally a brown flat cap. Not as many as she had hoped, but at least it was something.
The latter two she had no issue ruling out. The other three were tougher to decide between.
The feather hat was really nice-looking, and elegant, as expected from an important achievement reward. The actual feather was a vibrant red. It seemed like a cosmetic item though, since the defence rating was low, and the only bonus it had was a small charisma boost.
The commander hat was cool with its gold trim, but it was so close to a captain's hat that it looked a little too modern. They had clearly tried to make it look a little more period-appropriate, but hadn't gone for the classic bicorn design. She thought it was still cool, and it gave a bonus to morale gain for those under her command, but seemed like it was primarily cosmetic as well. Plus there was still the question of how morale actually worked.
The tricorn very much evoked that seafarer/pirate captain look that had its definite appeal, and it was the only hat that had some proper stats on it. +6 Vitality, +4 Endurance, and +4 Dexterity. It was a nice hat.
She tried them all on to see what they felt like on her head. The feather hat was nice and light. The commander hat felt like a solid fit. The tricorn bumped against her ears a little, but she was able to adjust it to a comfortable position. She really wished she had a mirror. All she could do was to ask the only person present:
"What do you think, Kathleen? Which one suits me?"
"I don't really understand such things, boss," Kathleen said with a slightly apologetic tone. "But I like the colour on the tree-sided one."
Sara might as well go with that one for now, since she had nothing else to go on. At least it kinda fit with wielding the gun. She'd ask Mirielle later. The sky was only barely starting to change from black, to dark blue, so it was a little early to call her yet. She could finish organising her menus, and maybe even get a bit of firing practice in.
Her bonus points got split up into +5 Strength, +5 Agility, +5 Dexterity, and +5 Intelligence. A rather aggressive spread, but keeping her upcoming battle with Gurmel in mind it seemed like a better choice than going defensive. Defence was still her lowest stat, but it wasn't awful, and she had skills that helped compensate for it. She had wanted to put more of it into Strength so she'd get up to the same score as that bear, but she felt it was too short-sighted to focus only on that fight, and not see beyond it.
[ Name: Sara ]
[ Species: Nyolund Werewolf Huntmaster (Nyolund Guardian Beast) | Gender: Female ]
[ Genus: Wolf ]
[ Class: Shapeshifter (Beast) ]
[ Role: Nyolund - Northern Great Forest of Ildhena Zone Boss ]
[ Level: 30 (30) ]
[ HP: 245/245 +23 (222/222 +19) | SP: 253/253 +26 (226/226 +20) |
MP: 257/257 +37 (229/229 +24) ]
[ VIT: 116 +23 (95 +19) | END: 131 +26 (102 +20) ]
[ STR: 120 -> 125 +25 (89 + 17) | DEF: 98 +24 (71 +17) ]
[ AGI: 151 -> 156 +33 (123 +24) | DEX: 113 -> 118 +23 (81 +16) ]
[ INT: 153 -> 158 +31 (120 +24) | WIS: 148 +37 (124 +24) ]
[ LUK: 230 +46 (75 +15) ]
[ Bonus Attribute Points: 0 ]
Then she spent some time sorting out her skill list, thinking about what she would need, and what she probably wouldn't.
[ Active: ]
[ -> Physical: ]
[ Chomp Lvl Max (Max) | Rend Lvl Max (Max) | Body Slam Lvl Max (Max) |
Savage Blow Lvl 9 (Max) | Pack Leader's Howl Lvl Max (Max) | Sprint Lvl Max (Max) ]
[ -> Magical: ]
[ Frost Arrow Lvl Max (Max) | Greater Fireball Lvl 9 (Max) | Water Jet Lvl Max (Max) |
Arcane Blast Lvl Max (Max) | Root Bind Lvl Max (Max) | Poison Arrow Alt. Lvl Max (Max) |
Thorn Armour Lvl Max (Max) | Growth Lvl Max (Max) | Budding Regrowth Lvl Max (Max) |
Rejuvenate Lvl Max (Max) | Mass Rejuvenate Lvl Max (Max) | Tree Form Lvl Max (Max) ]
[ Concealed Active: ]
[ -> Physical: ]
[ Back Attack Lvl 5 | Ambush Lvl Max | Death From Above Lvl Max | Strong Poison Strike Lvl Max |
Shred Lvl 8 | Crush Lvl 4 | Solid Kick Lvl 5 | Charge Lvl Max | Pounce Lvl 7 | Smack Lvl 2 |
Slash Lvl 1 | Cleave Lvl 1 | Skewer Lvl 1 | Fire Lvl 1 | Power Shot Lvl 1 | Snipe Lvl 1 | Stomp Lvl 2 |
Roar Lvl 2 | Taunt Lvl 3 ]
[ -> Magical: ]
[ Rock Blast Lvl 3 | Rock Hammer Lvl 1 | Earth Wall Lvl 4 | Water Bubble Lvl 2 | Water Film Lvl 4 |
Lightning Arrow Lvl 5 | Arcane Missile Lvl 1 | Vine Whip (New) Lvl 1 | Mass Thorn Bind Lvl 1 |
Poison Cloud Lvl 4 | Thorn Barricade Lvl 2 | Poison Enchant Lvl Max | Advanced Leech (Evolved) Lvl 1 |
Recovery Cocoon Lvl 1 | Mystic Wolf Form (Evolved) (Hidden) | Stalker Cat Form (Evolved) Lvl 1 |
Flight Form Lvl 1 | Swim Form (New) Lvl 1 ]
[ -> Other: ]
[ Spider Net Trap Lvl 1 | Disarm Trap Lvl 1 | Vanish Lvl 3 | Erase Presence Lvl 17 |
Extrasensory Perception | Slow Fall | Tracking Lvl 1 ]
[ Form Locked (Concealed): ]
[ -> Flight Form: ]
[ Glide Lvl 1 | Flight Lvl 1 ]
[ Passive: ]
[ -> Physical: ]
[ Keen Senses | Claw Expertise Lvl Max (Max) | Firm Grip Lvl Max (Max) | Enhanced Movement |
Insulation Lvl Max (Max) | Solid Coat Lvl Max (Max) ]
[ -> Magical: ]
[ Nature Element Up Lvl Max (Max) | Advanced Mana Manipulation (Evolved) Lvl 1 (Max) ]
[ -> Other: ]
[ Danger Sense Lvl Max (Max) | Leadership Lvl Max (Max) |
All Attributes Up (Medium) Lvl Max (Max) | Commune With Animals ]
[ Concealed Passive: ]
[ -> Physical: ]
[ Dig Lvl Max | Burrow Lvl 2 | Spider Climb Lvl Max | Spider Silk Lvl Max | Swim Lvl 7 |
Dive Lvl 1 | Pursuit Lvl 7 | Desperation Lvl 1 | Flanking (New) Lvl 1 | Ranged Attacks Up Lvl 1 |
Spear Expertise Lvl 1 ]
[ -> Magical: ]
[ Multi Cast (Evolved) Lvl 1 | Fire Element Up Lvl Max | Water Element Up Lvl 8 |
Earth Element Up Lvl 2 ]
[ -> Other: ]
[ Trap Sense Lvl 4 | Intuition Lvl 5 | Chameleon Lvl Max | Paralysis Venom Lvl Max |
Thread Manipulation Lvl 5 | Poison Immunity | Heavy Immunity | Fire Resistance Lvl 6 |
Dark Resistance Lvl Max | All Regen (Medium) Lvl 8 ]
[ Concealed Trade: ]
[ -> Gathering ]
[ Logging Lvl 1 ]
[ -> Crafting ]
[ Woodworking Lvl 1 | Cooking Lvl 1 | Blacksmithing Lvl 1 | Tailoring Lvl 1 | Alchemy Lvl 1 ]
[ General: ]
[ Identify Lvl Max (Hidden) | Communicate: Family (Hidden) | Conceal Status Lvl Max (Hidden) ]
[ Concealed General: ]
[ Skill Gain (Hidden) | Languages (Hidden): Common, Beastkin, Goblin, Elf, Human, Troll |
Life Magic Lvl 10 | Decryption Lvl 1 | Double Skill Experience (Hidden) ]
[ Disabled (All Hidden): ]
[ Tough Scales (1) | Medium Armour Expertise (1) | Struggle (1) | Sweep (1) | Chop (1) |
Throw (1) | Bow Expertise (1) | Lockpick (1) ]
[ Skill points: 24 -> 7 ]
Mystic Wolf Form was hidden regardless, but she still decided to set it into Concealed alongside Stalker Cat Form. She had never publicly used Bear or Cat form anyway, so there was no reason to keep them on there.
She felt like she didn't have much of a choice other than leaving Advanced Mana Manipulation revealed. If people found it weird... well, they already thought she was weird anyway. She had accepted she was beyond the state of not seeming suspicious.
Otherwise she had disabled all skills not relevant to what she had currently equipped, and a couple she couldn't see a use for.
"You didn't have to disable Throw, Sara," Aina chimed in.
I disagree, Sara replied. If she ever truly needed it, she would relent, but until then certain grudges didn't die.
She had considered disabling Roar too, since Howl was just better for her, but having some redundancy in causing negative effects to enemies might be alright. And she kept all her spells, since she felt like she might find some use for them all. Granted she had yet to use Mass Thorn Bind, even though she'd had it for a while, but she felt like... just in case. Just in case she needed it one day she wouldn't have to go into her menu, and enable it mid-fight.
And she was going to at least try to set up a Spider Net Trap once. Just to see what it was like. Hopefully the system assistance was very nice about it.
She got up, and walked out of the den on only two legs for the first time. A good thing the entrance is actually tall enough that I'm not in danger of bumping my head. She still had a decent clearing, so it was probably at least four metres tall.
Kathleen followed her outside. "What now, boss?" she asked.
"After the sun rises I'll ask a raven to go ask for Mirielle to come see me. Until then I have a few things I want to try out," Sara said, and headed into the middle of the clearing. She wanted to feel what it was like to become a bird, so the first task was to activate Flight Form.
Like whenever she had activated a new form for the first time the sensation of being stretched, compressed, and altered was quite disorienting. Borderline nauseating. This time she ended up growing a fair bit smaller as her arms morphed themselves into wings, her fur changed into feathers, and her snout into a beak.
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Wait, what was... oh. Right. There's one skill here I don't already have, huh?
"Correct," Aina said. "You were still missing Gust. I don't know if you want to try flying already, but at least be prepared when you unmorph."
No, I think it's a bit ambitious to try to fly right away.
Sara looked towards Kathleen, who looked a lot bigger now. "How do I look?" she asked. "Or rather, what do I look like? I can't really see myself."
"Well, you're smaller," Kathleen said, stating the obvious. "About half of your previous size, maybe a little less, but I think you're still bigger than the ravens. And you kinda look like one of those... uh... hawks. Or eagles? Something like that."
"So you know what those are?" Sara asked. As far as she knew neither of those were in Nyolund, though it was possible they flew way overhead, the eagles especially. Or maybe mobs just had that kind of information on each other. As far as she could see from looking over her shoulder, she did have brown feathers. The ravens here were about twice as big as the ones on Earth, so if she was bigger than that, then eagle was probably correct.
"Yes, boss," Kathleen replied without further elaboration.
"Alright." Sara nodded. "Then there's one last thing to try out before I move on." The travel mode. She imagined herself activating it, and things immediately started changing. Her proportions remained much the same, but she grew in size quite rapidly. It was really disorienting, and she felt thankful she couldn't get an upset stomach. At least not one that threw up.
"Whoa, boss!" Kathleen let out a genuine bark of surprise, and jumped back a step. "You're like... twice as big as you usually are."
Ugh... Sara fought against the dizziness. "R-really?" she managed to say out loud. Where would all that mass even come from? she wondered internally.
"It's magic," Aina said. "You should have felt when using Bear Form or Tree Form that there's no real conservation of mass in a Druid's transformations. That's why we're able to make modes like this."
Right... I shouldn't try to apply too much logic to this. Sara finally felt herself settling down, and breathed a sigh of relief.
[ Flight Form Skill Level Up! ]
"That was awkward..." she said.
"It looked really cool though, boss," Kathleen said. "I think I could fit on top of you now."
Sara raised an eyebrow. "Let's not test that out right now..." she said. "I haven't even learned how to fly yet." Maybe she should save that for the next day. She'd like to have an open schedule before starting anything like that. It was possible that the system actually made it really easy for her, but... she'd test that later. So what remained was unmorphing...
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