***Learner***

Day 1 among the four limbed prey:

Deciphering their hoots has taken priority over all other endeavors, as understanding this strange communication will lead to rapid advances in understanding. Thankfully my disguise has allowed me to listen to a wide range of hoots from multiple four-limbed prey while also studying their behavior.

The smaller ones with lumps are weaker and smaller on average than the others, and yet, somehow more valuable, sought as a resource of some kind by the larger, flatter ones. Perhaps they are a caste of decision makers for the larger ones?

An inherent higher value reinforces my choice of form, and perhaps explains why the manifold predator was protective of it.

Side note: Some meaning seems to be conveyed beyond simply the hoots they make, including simple motions and stances. I am proud to say I have already grasped the ‘come here’ gesture.

The primary subject of study, the Manifold Predator is seldom seen, which is fine for now, as I have not yet mastered the strange hoots to communicate with it. Although my guts feel a little…not good at the prospect of not seeing it.

Post script: Many other four limbed prey are using the hoot “asshole” to describe the one previously hooted at as ‘Ryan’. Can names among these four limbed prey shift over time, or am I missing something entirely?

Requires more study.

On further inspection, Internal organs seem to be fairly universal between flat Hooters and lumpy Hooters, with a few exceptions. They are most likely recently divergent species.

…I just gave something a nickname.

I’ve never done that before.

Requires more study.

***Calvin***

When Calvin’s sense of self came back, he thanked the gods that breathing was an autonomous part of his body, cleaned up the mess and got back to work, turning in early after a full day of hunting and experimenting.

The next day, he got right to work.

Okay. The new years festival is in four days. Including today. I want a day to prep, a day to escape, and a day of leeway. So all the time I have to practice is…today.

Hmm… Calvin was deep in thought as he flicked the tip of a knife out of his finger and extended the cutting edge just under an inch with Bent.

He was currently dissecting the Lure, carefully removing the top of the creature’s bulb-like head. He could have taken it apart with Harvester, and he still intended to do that to salvage any mistakes he made, but sometimes it was far easier to figure out how something worked when it was still together rather than a pile of pieces.

There was no bone in the bulb, per se, just a sort of cartilage that parted in front of the knife quite easily. Beneath the tan flesh was something he wasn’t expecting:

Empty space.

In the center of the bulb there was a pinkish looking orb, see through, and distorting the light that went through it. Surrounding it was nothing but air until it struck the edge of the bulb, where there was a film that shimmered like cut meat. The film was pearlescent, pale, and incredibly delicate. it fell to pieces at the slightest touch from Calvin’s fingers or knife.

Deciding to leave it alone, Calvin glanced down at the pink orb. At the base of the orb was meat, and…spinal column.

Neat. Calvin thought as he reached in with a finger, produced a tiny blade and separated the orb from the pine with a soft pop of separating squishy bits.

Old Salt has reached level 12! 60% Correction

Oh, that’s what this reminds me of.

What’s that? Calvin thought.

This looks something like an eye. Elliot said.

How’s that?

That pink orb? Lens. The pearlescent film? That’s the sensitive bits that process info. Or reflect it. I don’t know. Usually the lens is on the outside and the film is on the inside. This is all backwards.

It couldn’t have been using light to see, as the creature’s bulb was opaque.

I’ll bet this is the sensory organ that lets it tell what people were looking for. Calvin thought, inspecting the orb before setting aside and digging deeper into the creature’s spinal column. The spine seemed to be threaded with brain-like organs blooming off the sides, connected by thick strands of nerves. Somewhat similar in design to the fire worms, really. He’d gotten up to his elbows in guts before he stopped and used Harvester.

19/20 Bent Remaining.

The remains of the Lure were sorted out into neat packages, including a perfect peel of the sensitive film on the inside of the bulb.

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Elliot asked as Calvin eyed the rapidly drying film.

If you’re thinking reinforcing it then seeing if I can use it as a thought-sensitive component in the future, then yes. Or perhaps grind it down, use Refine and create a coating. That sounds more practical. We’d have to verify that the lining actually does what we think, though.

Ah science and dissecting the kill. Youth really takes me back.

As fun as that was, Calvin thought, heading for his cleaning dish, I’ve got to practice some Skills before we leave this Warp-rich atmosphere. Calvin had his Knick-Knacks bag up the monster parts and start the process of labelling them and saving them for later, while he cleaned the goop off his arms.

Which Skills did you have in mind?

With the concentration of Warp, he had points coming in every hour or so. It would probably be faster, but Elliot told him that was as quick as his body could ‘naturalize’ the Warp.

He had enough points to catapult a single skill to the top, or even out his oddly stilted mental Attributes, or, if he was feeling particularly dumb, spread them around evenly.

I’m thinking Beli Ma.

It was the only defensive skill he had, and Calvin wanted to get it to a level that it could be relied on more heavily.

For that…he needed to talk to Kala.

Calvin stared at the bowl of soapy water for a moment, took a deep breath and set his shit aside. Better talk now than later.

Calvin forced himself to march over to Kala’s Unqua. If I slow down or stop, I’m not going to be able to do it. Then her feelings will fester and she’ll hate me forever. Calvin had a bit of the rush and sudden lack of control a person might experience going off a waterfall as he stepped up to her tent.

The Unqua grew huge in front of him, but he knew he was actually the one shrinking, as evidenced by the receding cavern ceiling. Calvin felt like he was slipping back out of his own mind again, watching his body lift the flap, duck and stride into the yurt.

“’scuse me.”

“Can I help you?” Kala said, scowling at him, her front covered by her yellow dress, crumpled against her chest.

Whatever Calvin had been planning on saying was shoved aside when he saw the curve of her legs, sloping up toward her waist, soft dark skin barely covered by the ragged dress she held in front of her.

“Oh. Um. I’m S-“

“I’m sorry.” Kala said.

Calvin blinked. “For being naked when I came in?”

“No, you doof. For making you worried. Watching you do that to Ryan got under my skin. Until I found out how much of an asshole he really was.”

“Oh.”

Well, this is going easier than I thought.

“I still didn’t like the way you did it though.” She said, her shoulders relaxing as she let the dress down, baring her lovely mounds as she picked up the needle and got back to fixing her dress.”

“Uuuh,” Calvin said, staring. “Those are really distracting.”

“Tough,” she said with a scowl. She was still a bit mad at him, but he could tell from her gaze that she also very much enjoyed the impact she had on him. Calvin never could quite grasp how someone could feel multiple ways at once, but girls did it more than others.

Calvin shook off the distraction. “I’m sorry. I was enjoying hurting Ryan. And I shouldn’t have been.”

“No, probably not.” Kala said, glancing up at him. “Have you ever seen my dad torture people out in the middle of the palace?”

“Well, no, but I haven’t really spent that much time in court. I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“How about your village elder, then?”

“Well, he spanked a kid who threw eggs at his house, once.”

Kala sighed and tested the rip in her dress before standing, pulling it over her head and sliding the silk dress back down over her lithe body, turning as she did, affording him an excellent view of her rounded backside.

“What I’m trying to get at is when you become a Wizard King, you need to let other people punish people for you. Your violence needs to be impersonal, and calculated. At least in public.”

“So what you’re saying is…I need people to get angry for me?”

Kala shook her head and chuckled. “Not exactly, but…close enough. Nadia and I set Ryan straight for you. He won’t be bothering anyone again” She tested the sewing job again then glanced over at him. “Was there something else?”

The knot in Calvin’s stomach eased. That was so much easier than I thought it would be. Thank the gods Ryan deserved it.

Calvin refocused on the task at hand.

“I’d like to get more practice with Beli Ma before we go topside again.” Calvin said. “If you could help me with that, I’d appreciate it.”

Kala broke into a smile. “Might make me feel better.”

***

Beli Ma has reached level 11! 55% Correction.

Beli Ma has reached level 12! 60% Correction.

Beli Ma has reached level 13! 65% Correction.

Beli Ma has reached level 14! 70% Correction.

4/8 Warp Remaining.

Calvin held his hand up and tried to do the technique Kala had described to him, spinning two whorls of bent against each other. It was far more advanced than simply dragging a strand of Bent behind his palm and allowing it to tug the attack aside.

If successful it should be able to catch a strike in midair between the two whorls, and it was the next step toward having Beli Ma become an aura.

Bent manipulation has reached level 4! 20% correction!

3/8 Bent remaining.

The two whorls in front of his palm became slightly smoother, but the momentary distraction proved to be too much, as the bone switch caught him in the palm before Kala whipped it back and caught him in the head.

Calvin bit back a yelp and tumbled away, rubbing his head as the violent sting slowly dulled to an ache. The adrenaline from the pain slammed through Calvin’s heart, making all his nerves tingle with unspent energy before they gradually faded away.

A chuckle went through the crowd that had begun to gather, watching him practice the skill against Kala. There wasn’t a lot of entertainment in the Abyss. At the moment boiled down to either watching Calvin get pounded or sex.

Hahaha. Calvin smirked at the double entendre.

“Alright, again,” Calvin said, readying his hand and creating the two whorls of energy.

“Yeah, again!” Nadia called from her seat on some poor bastard’s lap.

“Actually,” Kala said, wincing as she looked at Calvin’s battered body. “I don’t think I’m enjoying this as much as I thought I would.”

“No, this is working, I’m almost level fifteen.”

“Ooh, ooh!” Nadia said, standing up and waving her hand excitedly. “I’ll do it!”

Kala gave Calvin a glance, asking if that was okay. Calvin nodded, and Kala handed the switch to Nadia, who practically leapt over to them, jiggling with excitement.

Without preamble, Nadia turned around and began beating Calvin with the switch.

“Die, you bastard!” she shouted, her grin white and feral as she brought the bone down on him.

Calvin held the whorls in front of the attack, but Nadia was way too fast for his feeble Strength to keep up with, and she simply whipped the narrow bone around his defenses and caught him across the face.

Calvin’s vision exploded with white and he stumbled backward, guarding his face as at least six more strikes fell on his ribs, neck and legs.

“Nadia!” Kala shouted over the Ilethan’s cackling.

“It’s fine!” Calvin said, holding up his hand toward Kala. “She’s holding back.” The Ilethan princess could probably have removed his head from his shoulders at full strength, so she must be slowing the switch down a bit at the last moment.

Still hurt like a bitch, though.

Blood from Calvin’s split eyebrow began dribbling into his left eye.

Calvin wasn’t faster, but he knew what he was doing. When the blood forced him to blink, he blindly waved his hand up, trailing Bent in a basic Beli Ma style. Nadia tried to hit him where he was blind, and the switch was caught, forcing Nadia’s arm up with the switch.

For a brief second the switch was caught in the flow of Bent, Calvin was able to narrow Nadia’s options, stepping closer and forcing her onto her back foot.

When the Bent let go of the switch it was up above Calvin’s head, and there she was, on her back foot, arm raised in the air. She had two choices: Step back, or strike.

It was fairly obvious which choice the hyper aggressive princess would make.

Calvin leaned his head to the side and held up his palm, whorls running counter to each other. It was as if the switch was sucked into his palm, trapped in a tight area of circulating Bent and coming to a halt barely an inch away from his skin.

Nadia tugged on it with a snarl, but all that happened was the bone switch snapping off in her hand. the rest of it stayed firmly secured in midair, floating in front of his palm.

Beli Ma has reached level 15! 75% Correction.

+1 Stability.

2/8 Warp remaining.

Calvin reached out and flicked Nadia’s nose to scattered applause. The Ilethan princess scowled, backing away from him.

“The princess isn’t done yet. Somebody get her another switch.”

One of the onlookers leapt to their feet to get another bone stick.

Let’s see the list while he’s running…

Please choose an ability or mutation.

Passive External Circulation: 1 Bent/5 levels of Beli Ma may be passively circulated outside the body. This Bent is disconnected from the User’s internal storage, allowing a greater amount of Bent to be stored total, while also improving reaction time with Beli Ma. External Bent may be reabsorbed, but toxicity rates apply if it is above internal storage limits.

Long Range: Beli Ma’s range is increased by (Intuition)%

Elliot’s Invisible Hands: Use fine threads of Bent to manipulate objects within range of Beli Ma at will.

Body Awareness: Beli Ma Correction applies to the entire body.

Rooted Lotus Style: Double Beli Ma Correction by standing still.

Mutations:

Dragon clutches Pearl: Absorb (Correction*1) of a successfully deflected Ability's Bent cost. limited to original Bent cost.

Slippery When Wet: Able to excrete a slippery substance through your pores to make it more difficult for others to grapple or hold you. Can be directed with practice.

I choose body awareness. Calvin thought as the man returned with another switch. Of the choices available, it seemed like the first step toward an aura type ability.

What about the Passive Circulation? That seems aura-esque.

What, did you think I was gonna stop at level 15? Calvin thought as he watched Nadia swish her new stick through the air.

Calvin held his thumb to the cut in his brow until it stopped bleeding.

“Let’s get back to work.”