World Seed: Game Start (22 page)

As
the body of the wolf latched onto me became lifeless, I heard a growl
off to my left. Unfortunately, that was the arm holding up the wolf,
so I was not able to clearly see what was coming. I did, however,
feel a strong impact against my side that launched me away and made
me crash into a nearby tree.

While
the first wolf hadn’t actually managed to do damage thanks to
my armor, the impact from this one had managed to. When I looked, I
saw the wolf swaying lightly before finding his balance. If I had to
guess, it had taken a running start and headbutted me. Finally, the
mother wolf was watching me warily, as if waiting to see what I would
do. Since I had already killed one of its pups, it didn’t seem
to eager to rush at me. And that suited me just fine.

I
had already decided that I’d be keeping one of the wolf corpses
to practice my Nature Magic with, so that of course meant that I
couldn’t run away. And I knew that I was neither faster or
stronger than these wolves, but I was better equipped. I could kill
one with my dagger, or my magic. I really need to practice Earth
Manipulation at some point.

As
the second wolf once again began its charge, I leapt forward as well.
Though, again, it was far faster than I was. By the time I had made
it three steps, it was on me, its claws swiping for my unprotected
face. I had roughly half a second to decide what to do, so naturally
I procrastinated.

I
was thrown to the side with the force of the attack this time, but
that meant little compared to the burning pain on the right side of
my face. I could barely think to assemble an Alchemic Heal spell,
which dulled the pain a bit. I’d need to do a more thorough
treatment after this fight. And since they’ve seen I can bleed,
the mother wolf seems more comfortable joining the fight.

Well,
screw that! I thought to myself, quickly pouring my mana to merge my
signature with that of the snake scale, activating Aspect of the
Armored Beast. The two wolves paused their charge as they saw me
changing forms. From the earlier exchange, they saw that they could
hurt me if they hit my bare skin, but now they had lost such targets.

Deciding
to take the initiative, I launched myself to the closest wolf, my
blade in hand. Before I had gotten this armor, and this new spell, I
would have been forced to retreat quickly against three wolves. But
now, my equipment and magic were finally starting to match my level.
There was still little hope of me mastering the use of the dagger,
but if it’s just stabbing and cutting then I won’t have a
problem.

As
soon as I neared the wolf, it had finally come to its senses and
jumped away before I could swing down with my weapon. At the same
time, I felt something slam into my back, presumably the final wolf.
Since this was no longer simply armor, but my actual skin, the force
of the impact was lessened a bit. That didn’t stop me from
being launched several feet forward and losing my balance, though. At
least I didn’t slam into a tree this time.

I
decided to try something new, mixing my Plant Affinity with a Nature
Magic spell to get increased results. First, I slammed my fist into
the ground, pouring mana into it while casting Nature’s Grasp.
Here, I was able to see the result of my Nature Magic increasing from
Beginner to Basic, as several thick roots sprang out from underground
and caught the mother wolf. Then, I used Plant Manipulation to
control the movement of those roots which already had been immersed
in my mana.

The
end result was… not something I’d ever want to have
happen to me. The roots all began stabbing into the wolf’s
skin, making miserable whines emit from its mouth before one finally
struck a vital point. After that, the roots just froze, holding the
wolf a couple feet in the air. I had absolutely no desire to do
anything about these roots that would make me see the results of my
handiwork.

Though,
thanks to this scene, the other wolf decided I wasn’t worth the
trouble, and ran off while its mother was being stabbed to death. And
with the battle over, I was finally able to cast another Alchemic
Heal on myself, taking care of the last of my injuries. When I looked
over the result of the battle, I was a bit disappointed to find out
that killing the two wolves had barely given me a ninth of what I
needed to level up. I can either repeatedly fight wolves like this,
or fight a single really strong monster. One of those snakes probably
wouldn’t give me an instant level anymore.

Taking
my loot, in other words the dead wolf, I continued my journey back to
the grove. Perhaps since I didn’t cancel the Aspect of the
Armored Beast, nothing else bothered attacking me. Though, I found
another reason why the beasts were being so timid as I had nearly
gotten back to the grove. A certain loli elf was staring at me with a
mix of curiosity and caution, and it was my guess that she had just
finished leading another student to Jarl. “Who.. or what, are
you?”

“
Well,
Rita, is that any way to talk to a friend?” I tried to tease,
but my voice sounded a bit different in this form. It was no surprise
she wouldn’t recognize me, and the casual use of her name put
her on guard even more.

“
I’ll
ask again, who are you and how do you know me?” I could see her
clenching her fists, and knew that if I didn’t give a good
enough answer this time, she might attack. And unlike the wolves, she
would certainly have a way to kill me in one hit.

As
such, I immediately canceled my Aspect spell, letting my appearance
return to normal. “Better?” I asked with a cautious
smile, ready to jump to the side if things were not, in fact, better.

Rita
looked at me, blinking for a moment as she seemed to be thinking of
something. “Falenel… right? Guess you found an
interesting snake, huh?” She asked, looking at my armor.
Thankfully, though, she seemed to have relaxed quite a bit. She even
giggled when the two lovebirds flew down from the tree to finally
perch on my shoulders again. Maybe they don’t like it when I go
scaly? I’ll have to remember that trick for the future.

“
Yeah,
that’s me. Got another druid in training, I take it?”

She
nodded her head, relaxing a bit more. “Yeah, another traveler.
Just dropped her off, and was on my way back. I think she should be
one of the last ones in this group to have gotten her class, since
she’s focused more on her skills than anything else.”

Meaning
I’m probably far weaker than her… Great. I sighed,
shaking my head. “Well, I’ll head on over then and
introduce myself.”

Nodding,
she went on past me and let me go to meet the new girl. I was rather
surprised when I found a stunningly beautiful wood elf sitting next
to the pond, but it wasn’t the girl that had me most surprised.
It was the fluffy white creature sitting in her lap, that familiar
horn on top of its head…

We
meet again, my nemesis… I glared at the rabbit, and it glared
back at me. The girl seemed to have taken note of this, and looked
over to me curiously. Did I mention stunningly beautiful? I think I
did. While she may have been lacking in curves thanks to the more
streamlined bodies of the elves, she was still very well
proportioned, with long golden hair and deep sapphire eyes.

“
Have
you met Mr. Fluffims before?” She asked me rather cutely, and
my brain froze. While I may hold a grudge against horned rabbits in
general, that name was more than enough punishment. Combined with the
fact that we were in the presence of a pretty girl, and I no longer
felt the need to pummel it.

“
No…
just recalling a bad experience.” I said with a sigh, moving
over and sitting on the ground. “So, I take it you’re
here to meet Jarl?” I looked around, not seeing the druid
trainer nearby.

She
tilted her head slightly, but nodding soon after. “Yup. I sent
the others to go look for him, so he should be back soon.”

She
sent others… so she has more animal companions… and is
able to control them far better than I do mine. I lowered my head in
depression at that, thinking how much I fail as a druid. Sure, I
don’t want a lot of animal companions, but if I could at least
get these two birds to listen to me, I’d be happy. “So…
did you already choose your Sub-Class?” I had a feeling I knew
the answer, but asked anyways.

She
nodded again, with a bit of a smile this time. “Yup! I got the
option right after choosing the class, so I’m a Beastmaster
now. How about you?” She asked, looking to the two birds on my
shoulder, which had begun happily snuggling against the sides of my
face.

“
Not
yet. I’m aiming for a specific skill set, but the next part of
training is… well, it’s rather terrifying to be honest.”

She
tilted her head cutely again. “How could it be that bad?”

I
sighed helplessly, shaking my head. She’ll find out sooner or
later. “I’ve got to turn into one of these birds…
but they are very… eager to see that happen. And for none of
the right reasons…”

She
seemed to have trouble processing my meaning, but I could see her
cheeks slowly turning red once she understood me. “Oh…
oh, I see… yes, I could understand how that might be bad.
Then… pardon my asking… but why did you pick female
animals, if you didn’t want there to be a risk of that?”

“
I
didn’t pick them… they picked me.” I then
explained how I had picked their favorite apples, and the swarm
chasing me to be fed. And how by that point I had practically no
choice but to take them as animal companions.

“
Ah…
I only take in female companions to avoid any risk of that when I
learn how to transform. I’d rather not be ‘attacked’
by them.” She said, still blushing slightly. “But I will
have to see about finding some for myself.. that is a rather
interesting ability they have.”

It
was at this point I noticed I had fallen into one of my bad habits.
“I’m Falenel, by the way, what’s your name?”

“
I’m
Sharon.” She smiled warmly to me, which only made me feel even
more depressed. Am I the only one that used a fantasy name when
choosing the elves?

“
Well,
Sharon… mind helping me out a bit?” I asked, seeing no
other way I could do this safely. When she looked at me curiously, I
explained. “I need someone to distract these two while I
transform, so that they don’t ‘attack’ me…”
Blush incoming…

Blush
sighted! She nodded, her cheeks turning red again. “Sure.. I
can try to keep an eye on them.”

Alright!
Now, with that taken care of, I can finally take my next step towards
becoming a Xeno-Shifter! And thankfully I’ve got a cute girl
here to help. Possible love interest?! No, not likely. Still, good to
have friends!

Chapter 20: Third
Wheel?

With
Sharon’s permission, I had Yang go over and play with her,
while I used Yin to study her mana signature. Yang was predictably
reluctant, but after some coaxing she agreed and flew over to nestle
against the nearby elf. Meanwhile, Yin sat between my hands as she
had the first time I studied her aura, waiting for that uncomfortable
feeling she felt last time.

I
don’t think I’ve ever really properly described what mana
signatures are like, have I? Well, that’s because it’s a
bit hard to explain. Remember how I said that analyzing that herb
felt like feeling deep inside of it? That’s actually only a
small part of it. The entire mana signature itself is like a massive
array of various strands of light.

Each
section of the array contains different patterns and colors,
determining different things. For instance, the scales I got from the
Great Boa are like a braided pattern of silver and green light. In
order to copy that onto my skin, I had to identify my own skin’s
signature, which turned out to be a series of straight, dark blue
lights. Once I overlaid the two patterns across my skin’s
entire mana signature, the Aspect of the Armored Beast would
activate.

On
the other hand, the bird wings had to be grafted on, rather than
overlaid. Thankfully, a creature’s mana signature seems to
vaguely match up with their body shape, which makes it easier.
Strangely, the lovebird’s camouflage ability was an overlay
like the snake scales, but was a graft like the wings. In essence, I
was adding a layer of paint to my mana signature.

The
texture, such as feeling the wet rose when I explored the herb, comes
from a deeper exploration of the signature. Each part of the mana
signature has a different feeling, usually related to what the
signature corresponds to. So, the wings had the feeling of stroking
feathers, while the snake scales were more rough. It was the mix of
associated feelings that helped me remember the patterns more
clearly.