by Dakota Krout
Jaxon turned his dodge into an attack of his own, grinding two stiffened fingers into the beast’s windpipe and cracking cartilage.
Critical hit! Damage increased by 220% (Acupressure bonus) -66 health!
Jaxon grunted in annoyance as the damage indicator blocked his view—why had it suddenly become an annoyance? Did his preferences get changed? He growled at the notification as he swung his other hand forward. “I can’t stand the sight of you. You’re so annoying!”
Jess choked just as she was calling out the next attacker, “O-one on your left! Also, fine! When this is over, we’ll just go our separate ways! Why are you like this?”
“No idea what you mean, Jess.” Jaxon punched out, hitting the primate in the thick part of its skull and damaging his hand. “Gah! This is so much easier when I have some protection for my hands!”
Jess used the bonuses granted to her by her new armor to dodge and weave through the expanding troop of monkeys, taking light damage but unable to deal any herself. “Jaxon! Drop and roll left!”
Jaxon dropped as soon as he heard her but rolled to the right before her words were complete. He got stepped on but was able to avoid the surefire critical that would have torn open his back. He had the wind knocked out of him, and it took a hard shift to open his airway. Eight monkeys had charged into battle with them, and without weapons, the humans were starting to have a tough time holding them off. Jaxon started to land crippling or disabling blows, intent on making it difficult to be overrun by sheer numbers.
In a few moments, his efforts started to bear fruit, and the primates began to slow. Whether it was because the creatures were attacking slower thanks to twisted limbs or simply moving on legs with severe and sudden cramps, the tide began to turn against them. Jaxon knocked one over and sharply punched it in the jaw four times before rolling backward and activating Adjust. The mandible he had targeted shifted and broke, causing serious pain and disorientation. While the beast flailed on the ground, Jaxon landed a heavy blow to its neck, cutting off air and blood flow.
“Jaw-dropping action! One down, seven to go.” Jaxon bent his knees, bobbed in place, then splayed his hands and wiggled them tauntingly at the remaining troop. His non-official skills in inciting violence were near mythical by themselves, which was proven as the remaining opponents rushed at him while howling furiously. Jaxon twisted to the left as the first strike came down, jumped over an attempted tackle, and weaved between a pincer tactic. He took every available opportunity to lash out with an attack of his own, landing a few critical hits over the course of a few seconds.
This wasn’t enough to take any of the beasts down, and they began to rotate away from him if they took too heavy of a blow. He couldn’t pursue them without opening himself up to all sorts of attacks of opportunity, and they seemed to know it. “Jump!”
Jaxon heard Jess speak and took to the air as soon as her words registered. Two primates crossed in the air under him, having attempted to bring him to the ground with flying tackles from either side. As Jaxon was coming back to the ground, he felt something click in his mind and realized that his newest skill had just finished cooling down. He settled on the ground and found himself in a swiftly closing ring of bodies.
“I’m surrounded!” Jaxon exclaimed with false horror before allowing his true feelings to shine through. “Attacking in any direction it is! Living Weapons!”
“Craw?”
“Nyah!”
Jaxon’s hands blurred and were replaced by T-Rex heads. They made some interesting sounds, perhaps inquisitive or interested vocalizations. The primates, either not realizing the danger or disregarding it, continued their attack. Jaxon lashed out with his arm the same way he would with a straight punch, not having any control of his hands other than to direct them. The jaws of his hand opened and tore into the monkey’s face, and as Jaxon pulled back his hand, a good chunk of its cheek came with it.
Another fist flew out, and Lefty latched onto one of the beast’s clavicle. Jaxon tried to pull his hand back, but the feral T-Rex head refused to let go of its prey. Clawed paws tore long strips of Jaxon’s sides open, and he growled in fury.
Intimidation success!
Lefty let go of the monkey and turned toward Jaxon with a low *hiss*. Jaxon glared back at it, even while swinging Terror into range of an unprotected throat. The long, sharp, sturdy teeth tore through the soft flesh with ease. The monkey dropped to the ground with a wet gurgle, and Terror swallowed the chunk of meat it had taken.
Mana restored: 38.
“Behind you, Jaxon!” Jess hadn’t been idle, taking any opportunity to distract or attack the creatures who were focused heavily on the Monk.
“What! If they eat during combat they last longer?” Jaxon turned and drove Lefty into the stomach of the primate charging from behind. He crouched and pushed, lifting and throwing the creature over himself while his left head-hand tore through its entrails.
Mana restored: 54.
“That’s a full second’s worth of mana!” Jaxon laughed as gore rained down on him, looking like a psychotic murderer for all purposes. He pushed up and off the ground, jumping and using his superior weight to take one of the monkeys to the grass. Instead of punching repeatedly, he simply pressed his hands into the monkey and let his hands grab mouthfuls of fresh meat. Then he yanked back, allowing them to tear the meat off and swallow it.
Jaxon was having too much fun to realize how many blows he was taking, but the damage was beginning to add up. A paw slapped against the back of his head, tearing furrows in the skin and nearly cracking his skull. If his bones hadn’t been more flexible than normal, that might have even given him a serious injury. He rolled forward over the now-still monkey and sprang back into battle. His hands gripped onto a pair of furry shoulders, the teeth digging deeply into the animal’s body. Through the adrenaline, Jaxon noticed that the T-Rex heads had found a good spot, and he wanted to try his other abilities in tandem with the Living Weapons. “Adjust!”
Wherever the teeth were grazing a joint, there was a sickening *pop*. A wall of damage notifications appeared in front of Jaxon, and his prey shuddered and stilled. He made sure to tear out a small feast for his hands as he turned to engage the others and was able to finish off the few undamaged creatures in only a few seconds. Holding down the final monkey, Jaxon moved his hands like pistons, allowing them to eat their fill.
When they seemed to want no more, he turned them toward himself and smiled at them. “We are going to have you sample the flesh of thousands of beasts! We will restore the T-Rex as the apex predator in this world! Ah… at least T-Rex heads!”
“Craw!”
“Nyah!
After a few seconds of inactivity, his hands returned to being just hands, and Jaxon sighed contentedly. There was a wall of blinking notifications waiting for him, so he started with the most recent, filtering out the combat damage logs.
Experience gained: 200 (25 * Trial Primate x8).
As this is the first time you have made a kill with your Living Weapons, new information has been unlocked! You can choose to devote the experience from the kills to either leveling up Living Weapons, devote it to your specialization to increase your class level, or allow the experience to flow to your character level. These options can be changed at any time but must be done before combat. Where would you like the experience to go for now?
“To the weapons,” Jaxon responded to the prompt as soon as he finished reading the text.
Experience division set!
Your Living Weapons’ disposition has shifted from ‘Feral’ to ‘Wild’. They are now 10% less likely to attack you if they come in range! Levels of disposition are: Feral, Wild, Confused, Timid, Placid, Poorly Trained, Trained, Obedient, Fully Tamed. There are many ways to move through dispositions; try to find what works best for your creatures!
Skill increase: Adjust (Expert VI)
Skill increase: Body Compression (Novice III)
Skill increase: Contortionist’
s Dodge (Student 0) Congratulations! You have regained the Student Rank for a skill you sacrificed! Title gained: Power’s Cost.
Skill increase: Jump (Apprentice I)
Skill increase: Living Weapon (Novice II)
Title gained: Power’s Cost: You have given up skill levels, not to combine them but to gain something greater. Now, through dedicated effort, you have regained the lost ranking! +1 to each stat except Karmic Luck!
Assassin Class unlocked! Would you like to replace your current class with ‘Assassin’? Yes / No.
“No.” There was only one remaining, so Jaxon finally looked at the notification that had been blinking at him since he first got his T-Rex Head Hands.
Quest complete: Finding a specialization! You have listened to your heart and followed the true path of a Monk. Optional requirement of gaining a class and specializing without joining a party technically completed: Reward: New skill.
Passive skill gained: Battle Meditation (Novice I). You are not designed to sit still to clear your mind. Your mind is focused and true to itself only when doing things. Effect: Skills costing Mana or Stamina cost .5n% less after you have been in combat for at least five seconds, where ‘n’ equals skill level.
Chapter Twenty-three
Jess and Jaxon were making good time through the forest. Now that they knew the general direction they should be going, they were able to move over the terrain much faster. The two of them had made an official party now that Jaxon’s quest had been completed and had been working to test their new capabilities. Jess had armed herself once more with sharp claws taken from the rampaging primates and was at least able to deal some damage in the recent battles.
While they were sitting to recover from a small fight, Jaxon started looking over his skills and stat sheet. His new class seemed to be intentionally difficult to understand, so he was trying to figure out how everything interacted. He hadn’t been able to re-summon his Living Weapons, but the only change he noticed when the skill went up in rank was a small reduction to its cooldown, a very small reduction. The thirty-minute cooldown had turned into a twenty-nine point seven-nine cooldown. That was only a… point two-five-five reduction per level!
The Mana cost had moved from fifty a second to forty-five per second, but he wasn’t sure if that was due to the skill level or the disposition aspect of things. He pulled open his character sheet and took a look at his current stats.
Name: Jaxon ‘Legend’ Class: Bonecruncher
Profession: Chiropractor
Bonecruncher Level: 1 Exp: 0 Exp to next level: 1,000
Level: 12 Exp: 78,026 Exp to next level: 12,774
Hit Points: 425/440 (50+(380)) (Base 50 plus 10 points for each point in Constitution, once it has increased above 10.)
Mana: 337.5/337.5 (12.5*27) (12.5 mana per point of Intelligence.)
Mana regen: 9 (.25*27) (Wisdom multiplied by .25 mana regen per second)
Stamina: 415/565 (50+(315)+(190)) (Base 50 plus 5 points for each point in strength and constitution, once each of the stats has increased above 10.)
Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)
Strength: 74 (2.24)
Dexterity: 101 (3.01)
Constitution: 49 (1.49)
Intelligence: 27 (1.27)
Wisdom: 36 (1.36)
Charisma: 6 (0.06)
Perception: 22 (1.22)
Luck: 46 (1.46)
Karmic Luck: +2
Not a huge amount had changed, but when the page came up, he noticed that a new tab had been added. He opened it and was given a stat sheet for his living weapons!
Name: Lefty and Terror Class: Living Weapons
Level: 1 Exp: 175 Exp to next level: 825
Characteristic: Raw score (Modifier)
Strength: 37 (1.37)
Dexterity: 50 (2.0)
Intelligence: 13 (1.13)
Wisdom: 18 (1.18)
Perception: 33 (1.33)
The stat sheet was simpler than his own, which made sense. The weapons didn’t have their own health pool; they were his hands. They also didn’t have mana or stamina of their own, using Jaxon’s to operate. There was a small section under the stats that vanished after he read it, but luckily, it had been easy to understand.
Statistics are calculated as: User’s stats divided by two, plus one point per two levels for every stat except Perception, which gains three points per two levels. Living Weapon’s level cannot exceed user’s own character level.
Jaxon looked at his own stats then the weapon’s and dropped his head between his knees. His hands had better perception than he did—by a full ten points. Jess shook his arm, beckoning for him to rise. “We need to keep moving, Jaxon. Night is going to fall in a few hours, and I have no interest in getting out of this forest the wrong way.”
“I was just looking over the stats for my new skills, didn’t mean to go off into my own world there!” Jaxon popped to his feet, and they began trudging toward their goal, the Wolfman outpost. They only had a solid day of travel left, having worked out a more direct path than the one they had arrived on.
Night has arrived in the forest of trials. Doubling the number of predatory monsters in the zone. Good luck on your survival!
“Do you think we took too long of a break there?” Jess questioned as they hurried along their chosen path, slowed only by the need to go around any trees in their way.
“If we somehow did take too long of a rest, would it help us in any way to ruminate on it?” Jaxon tossed a response at her, and she went silent for a few minutes as she thought about it. The silence stretched long enough that Jaxon was actually starting to feel comfortable around her.
Then she started to speak, “I guess not? Maybe that is my real issue in life. I always think on the things that I did instead of the things I want to or should do.”
Jess paused and licked her lips. “I guess wisdom comes with age, huh?”
“That’s not wisdom. That’s common sense, or at least, it was. The past is the past, the present is gone, and the future is all we have.” Jaxon grinned about his revised sayings. “You think that your past is what has been holding you back? Or… would you like it to be what is holding you back so that you have an excuse not to try?”
“Excuse me?” Jess raised her brows and dared Jaxon to continue speaking.
“Done!” Jaxon nodded at her words. “All is forgiven, then. From what I have seen, you have some talent as a tactician. It’s unrefined, and I think you freeze up mid-combat. Either that or you are really quiet. You have admitted that this is what interests you. What is stopping you from applying to one of the big guilds and getting training and experience?”
“Nothing, now!” Jess quipped, hoping that playing this off would make Jaxon go silent so she could focus on running. “You’re bringing me on!”
“Yes, yes, but before that you were planning to settle into a guild you didn’t like, doing things you didn’t like, with people that are pretty unlikeable.” Jaxon had a concerned look on his face when she dared to look over. “Again, you have a talent that many people don’t have, but you seem like you’d rather not even try. What can I do to help you? Here or in real life, there will always be someone willing to take a stand for you, even if you don’t believe it.”
Jess shook her head. “Jaxon, I lost a dagger that is currently unique to the guild of player killers. I might be safe from them in the middle of a huge guild, but there are going to be times when I am alone or my group is small enough to be taken down. Unless I figure out a way to replace the dagger, I’m going to be blacklisted for a long time, and they have plenty of money for setting up bounties, legal or not.”
“Fine, I’ll buy out your debt. What will it take?” Jaxon rolled his eyes when she shook her head.
“It’s not that easy. They won’t accept money, not for this.” Jess glared at Jaxon. “I’m serious! The dagger is an item that lets you loot a player when you kill them with it, and it can only be gained in a really dangerous area that the
guild either owns or is the only group to know it’s location. Going through that area and getting your own dagger is the only way to join the guild, and I lost the one that had been loaned to me for my mission. Now I would need to go through it and give up my reward weapon just to get off their blacklist. They’d still hate me, though.”
“I’ll ask the Wolfmen for the dagger when we get back. Alternatively, what if we both went through and gave up the dagger? Then they are getting out more than they put in and would have no reasonable complaint against you.” Jaxon smiled at her shocked expression; it was a nice shift.
“I couldn’t ask you to do that. I told you, the area is super dangerous. Also, apparently, if you don’t make it through there, you can never attempt it again.” Jess’s eyes were on the darkening forest ahead of her as she spoke. “You can only go back if you clear the place every time you go through it. If we screwed it up…”
“Good thing we are getting all this practice working together, huh?” Jaxon’s eyes were bright, and his maniacal smile even made Jess’s lips twitch. “I’ll go if you will let me, and then you’ll have no excuses for working to become a powerhouse in my guild. Deal?”
“I guess it’s a deal.” Jess waited for a notification, a quest or something to pop up at her. Jaxon had just seemed so Noble and sincere, so it was a little disappointing that she only had his word and not a system assurance. She shook that thought off; at least he was trying.
Ah-whooo! The hunting call of the Trial Primates sounded near them, confirming that they had been found and another fight was on the way.
As the first of the Primates broke stealth to attack Jaxon, he laughed and retaliated. He activated Living Weapons and struck back with a T-Rex head hand, “Guess what came off cooldown? Looks like meat is on the menu, boys! Eat up!”
“Craw!”
“Nyah!”