Day 36.2

***POV Whipman***

Whipman watched the first match with only half of his attention; the other half was divided equally between the strange battle going on in the sky, Ashni proceeding slowly through the forms with half closed eyes while sitting in the stands of the arena, and Predator.

It almost seemed like the strange battle in the sky had reached a stalemate. The glowing orbs and the lightning backed off. As Whipman partially watched, a strange grouping of three orbs floated forward, meeting a huge serpentine bolt of the red lightning. After they separated from their respective peoples, they began to chat.

Ashni’s movements, even while she was simply sitting here practicing, stole Whipman’s breath. He had always dreamed that someday he would be able to bring home a woman like Ashni to his parents. Strong, noble, imposing aura… But of all of Ashni’s features, Whipman believed it was her calves that haunted his dreams. He leaned forward casually, getting a better look then sat back with a sigh. Those calves were sculpted by the gods. The amount of acceleration that she could achieve with barely any movement.... It was breath taking.

But then a sob stole Whipman’s attention away. Jana was sitting with Predator, now on his lap, as he continued to whisper to her, his black and white eyes strangely luminous. She shivered and squirmed back and forth, not struggling against him, but perhaps locked in some sort of internal struggle. Maybe Predator was convincing her to throw caution to the winds and follow her heart.

Normally Whipman would be unamused at his disciple’s disreputable behavior. After all, they were here to scout some of their competitive, getting a feel for what they would be up against.

Whipman spared Ashni’s calves another glance. Indulging certain… desires, couldn’t be all bad, could-

“Ahem.” Whipman looked up from Ashni’s calves and caught her glare. Frowning, as if he had been deep in thought before being interrupted, Whipman looked back towards the arena.

Sighing, he swiftly found himself growing bored. Not that both the challengers and the Path Boss weren’t powerful. It was just a fight where one side was countered by the other.

The challengers were some rare giant breed with which Whipman was unfamiliar. However, their strengths were clear: they were 10 m tall beings of pure muscle with 6 arms. One giant wielded 6 clubs, another wielded 6 spears, another 6 scimitars.

Their leader had 3 axes and 3 spears, waving them indiscriminately.

The path itself was small, peaceful looking pond. As the giants approached, no minions appeared, no traps, no structures or obstacles. They just ran forward freely, relying on their huge bodies to protect them, glaring around.

From the pond, and small creature, perhaps as large as a human head, flew up and hovered meditatively. A preying mantis, dragonfly-esque wings buzzing at its back. Then the dragonfly waved its arm.

The giant’s eyes went dull, and they all fell to their knees. Very quickly they were drooling and sleeping.

Whipman stifled a yawn. Muscle can’t guard against all attacks.

He spared another glance for Ashni’s calves. That’s why technique and practice were important too.

With a groan, Jana fell limp in Predator’s arms, the inner turmoil passing. Or reaching such a state of strife between whatever voices were arguing in her head that she collapsed, but Whipman had a hard time believing that Predator was sophisticated enough to cause that.

Honestly, the fight on the screen began to grow comical. Although the preying mantis had neutralized the giants, its weapon was a long thin rapier. It hovered nervously, considering how to attack their huge bodies.

Jen spoke up. “Well… that was a bit anticlimactic. But maybe…”

The preying mantis stabbed a giant in a fluttering eye. It awoke with a roar, and the preying mantis hastily employed its sleeping magic again. Snoring fitfully, the giant returned to its slumber. After a moment of hesitation, the preying mantis stabbed again, digging slightly deeper.

The giant woke up.

The mantis put it back to sleep.

“...or not…” Jen seemed sullen, and it seemed obvious to Whipman that it was because Jana lay curled up on Predator’s lap. Maybe Jen was hoping that a violent display would distract him from his newfound fascination with Jana. But Predator’s black and white eyes just roamed the stadium, looking at the chatting spectators.

Before this morning, Whipman would have said that Jen would be right; a display of violence would capture Predator’s attention. But in the fight earlier, the violence was minimal; that was simply torture. Whipman understood how hard of a world it was, but still…

As a teacher, did Whipman have a responsibility to investigate his pupil’s bloodthirstiness?

Well, knowing Predator, he would be fine.

As if on cue, Predator stood.

“Hungry,” He growled, his voice sounding awkward and harsh. He held Jana by the scruff of the neck, her feet dragging on the ground like a ragdoll.

“Oh! I know a great place!” Jen said brightly, hopping up and down, bouncing. Then she landed, and wiggled side to side. “Ah, but it might be faster if...mmm with your hands… You can just… take me…..and… let me…..ride… you….”

Nodding, Predator picked Jen up and set her on his shoulder.

Whipman took his sweet time standing, allowing Ashni to go first, giving him a good view of her calves.

***POV Predator***

“Isn’t someone taking over my body impossible?” I said, scratching my head. “I have a skill that prevents outside influence.”

“Most outside influences,” The penguin corrected automatically. “99% of the time. And I really must say that skill-”

“You explanation is taking too long.” A deeper, still female voice came from behind me, and I turned to find another two animals. One was a rabbit with crimson fur. The other was an iguana.

-It’s like a fucking petting zoo in here.

“Who are you all?” I asked, slightly perplexed. The whiteness of the room was beginning to make my eyes ache. Plus there was the fact my body wasn’t in my hands…

“Her sisters. She didn’t tell you? We are-” The iguana opened its mouth, but the penguin hurriedly waddled over.

“Meytia! You cannot just tell him what we are! Information is valuable.”

The Iguana, Meytia, rolled her eyes. “You are always so uptight. Okay, okay, fine. We are sisters. As she said, I’m Meytia, the stuffy one is Mosslar, and the cute one is Morgana. We… uh… have special powers?”

I looked at the red bunny, almost ignoring what Meytia was saying.

-Definitely the cutest, also seems to have the softest fur.

-I wonder if I can pet her?

“Don’t think about it,” Meytia said. “She’s also the touchiest. Ah, not in that way-”

“See! This is why I’m always saying that precise language is important!” The penguin, Mosslar, turned back to me. “To answer your question, yes, you do have a very powerful skill that defends against mental attacks. Think of it as a shield, and your mind as a glass vase containing water. The shield can block outside attacks, sure. But you were creating errors and warping data faster than I had ever seen. We took your soul from your body because the errors were caused by the glass vase and were generating heat, and we didn’t want your mind boiled, as it were.”

“Unfortunately…” Meytia said, sighing, her tiny Iguana body visibly deflating. “After we had forcibly stopped the errors but before we returned you to your body, someone else slipped into your body. I guess it’s not surprising. You were warping A LOT of data. Anyone with any sort of detection system would have noticed.”

“So… how do I get my water back in the right place?” I asked.

Mosslar looked at me blankly. “What water?”

-....did she forget her own metaphor?

-She’s an idiot savant, best pay it no mind.

With barely any strain in my jaw, I asked slightly differently. “How do I get back into my body?

“Oh, simple, quite simple. There are multiple ways of leveraging your advantage as natural owner of the body to force them out. There are three main options as I see it. If you locate THEM physically, you can disrupt their concentration and- ah, but we don’t have that information. Hm, well assuming that you have more sophisticated mental attacks- well, based on who we suspect the culprits are, that is quite doubtful. I suppose the most barbaric way would be for you to possess another body temporarily, and proceed to your REAL body. When you come in contact with it, the resonance should give you an open-”

The crimson rabbit Morgana spoke up, interrupting Mosslar’s monologue. Her voice betrayed her as the youngest, and sounded incredibly sweet. “They… left his body on their own.”

Then the rabbit winked out of existence.

Mosslar blinked. “So they did.”

***POV Shuusuke***

Shuusuke chuckled, watching as the pitiful Path Boss finally killed a single giant, and looked on with heaving breaths at the remaining huge forms.

This is why he so rarely involved himself in the 5th floor. No potential, and more farce than competition. Still, it wasn’t bad for a few gags, and Shuusuke recorded the scene from a few angles.

The camera-mic hybrid that Shuusuke purchased from the Tower and used to record could move as fast as the speed of light on an off day, record video and noise from any angle, and recorded 1000 frames per second. It also existed on an astral plane that was layered over and through the Tower, so competitors were unable to detect or interact with it. A camera man's dream.

Unfortunately, unlike more sophisticated rigs, that meant that he only had one camera to work with, so large battle scenes that sometimes occurred couldn’t be entirely managed by Shuusuke alone.

Abruptly, Shuusuke desired money, more than he had in a long time. He had done alright as a streamer, but…

Shuusuke’s eyes rested on the credit chip left by his parents for his dinner. Then he looked at his recorded logs of those huge amount of bets on the final fight of the day on the 5th floor.

Because it was essentially a shot in the dark, the odds were currently 10:1 that the path boss would fall, even with the huge influx of money. Apparently he had only been a path boss for a little less than a month. The house's algorithms did not favor whoever it was.

Hands shaking, riding a strange high, Shuusuke maxed out the credit chip and made his bet.

‘It HAS to be a sure thing. Otherwise, why would so many people bet so much money. And when I win, I’ll just replace the credits I took, and pocket the rest.” Shuusuke thought to himself with a smile.

***POV Whipman***

“Hello, Whipman.” A voice behind him made Whipman jump, spinning around. He had been about to go outside and get some stance practice in before the match later. Predator ate enough to feed a small army and went back to his room. Jana had awakened, but just said something to Jen and then fled out the door. Ashni snorted and retired to her room as well.

Jen jellied around, listeless, then said something about checking ‘administrator things’ and wandered away. Honestly, Whipman was quite worried that she had no idea how she was supposed to help.

Which was fine, Whipman supposed. They had Predator and Ashni. Even Jana had a power that was useful.

‘And they have me,’ Whipman thought, doing his best to form a confident smile. Which was exactly when the voice spoke up behind him, shocking him almost out of his wrinkled skin.

He turned to find Kettle, looking slightly haggard, which was a surprised. Usually she was the picture of pristine preparation. The bags under her eyes were quite visible, as if she hadn't slept in a while. And her clothes were folded and creased everywhere.

Spoiling her sudden strangeness, Kettle straightened her glasses.

‘Same old Kettle,’ Whipman thought.

“Are you alright? You are simply staring.” Kettle’s words were not rude, but they were sharp. Whipman blushed.

“Oh, yes, sorry, hello. Why are you...? Do you want to see Predator?”

Kettle narrowed her eyes, a strange light flashing within them. But then her face returned to its impassive state. “Actually, no. I’m here to see you. I have a gift.”

Kettle extended her hand, showing a strange mechanical bracelet. “I will not be there for… you all, so I made this. It contains within a powerful spell. Simply point and press the jewel at the center, and it will release a blast of flame directly forward.”

She hesitated for a second, and then said. “I hope you shall use it to protect Predator.”

‘Ah, that’s why.’ Whipman thought sadly. He took the bracelet.

“Well, I have much to do, so I must depart-”

“Wait, before you leave, do you want to speak with Predator? He’s just up in his room.”

Kettle was already turned away, but she paused. Her voice was quiet when she finally spoke.

“Has Predator seemed… strange lately…?”

Whipman shrugged, but then realized she couldn’t see him, and said. “He’s strange all the time.”

“That he is.” Kettle’s words were soft, as if she spoke them only to herself. Then she asked. “Has he… asked about me?”

Whipman just opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

After two full minutes, she said. “Then I must be going.” And left.

***POV Predator***

“So can I go back to my body?” I asked, wondering what they had done with me. Whether they had eaten anything today. My ghost stomach rumbled, expressing its concern.

“Haha, it’s actually not so simple. Until we get rid of your pesky 0, this will happen again and again. And I suspect that it will be much worse if we allow it to continue for a long period of time.” Meytia said, walking forward on her iguana limbs.

Mosslar waddled over too. “It’s actually extremely interesting. Did you know you error, aside from slaughtering a few hundred people who were caught in a temporal loop, also caused two entirely new races to be born? I mean, compared to your ability, it is a small thing, but your ability just IMAGINES races. This actually caused them to be born.”

The penguin's eyes were practically glittering. I frowned. “...How do you know about my ability?”

Meytia chuckled. “If it happens in the tower, we know it.”

After giving Meytia a harsh look, Mosslar spoke. “Anyways, you are lucky. Usually we wouldn’t be able to do anything about something like this, especially when the Arbiters are so adamantly avoiding intervention But, since it’s a 0… our specialty may come into play. We can’t get rid of it, but we can move it around.”

“You’re like the Ilium,” I said slowly. “Making a trade.”

“No-”

“Yes,” Meytia immediately interrupted, this time the iguana the one giving the pointed look to the penguin. “Although it’s not exact, as you may have guessed from Mosslar’s reaction, it’s functionally similar in this instance. With the added benefit that we aren’t just kept trapped below the 5th floor either.”

Once more, Mosslar glared at Meytia.

-They have so many things they don’t want the other one to tell us.

-Honestly it’s hard to keep track of them all.

-Harder still to care, at this point. Let’s work on having a body again.

“Okay, so you can move it. To what?”

“To another statistic,” Meytia supplied.

Mosslar rolled her eyes. “Didn’t we talk about this? Stats being 0 is dangerous. We will move it to an attribute. Whichever one you like.”

-...whichever we like…?

-Setting aside the fact I don’t know very many attributes, why would they be so accommodating? The penguin was so rude when I arrived.

-...Maybe the trade was accurate, but not in how we first thought. They aren’t moving our 0 one place to another, we are giving them 0 luck and taking a 0 in something else.

-Then why did the picky one speak up and say it wasn’t a trade?

Other me had no answer, but I my hackles were raised; there was something I wasn't seeing.

“Do you happen to have a list of attributes?” I asked.

***POV Whipman***

Whipman shifted from Thunder to Water stance with a quickness that surprised himself. Ashni always became incensed when he used Thunder stance in their spars, taking it as a personal slight.

Her powerful blows lashed out towards him, only to be calmly pushed aside by Whipman’s spear.

Just as smoothly, Whipman transitioned to Air Stance and appeared behind Ashni, his spear darting out in a dozen quick stabs.

Ashni twisted, her face pinched and focused. The speed of her turn was such that a huge sonic boom smashed outwards, with more than enough force to blow away the light Air stance as if it was nothing more than floating petals.

Unfortunately for Ashni, Whipman had already transitioned into Earth Stance, and was waiting calmly for the turn. Her own incredible twisted impaled herself on Whipman’s waiting palm, knocking the wind out of her and sending her staggering.

Whipman switched to Thunder Stance and advanced. Ashni brought up her guard, scrambling backwards. A split second passed, but Whipman didn’t press his advantage. Ashni blinked, shifting her stance.

But just as she did that, a Clear Sky, Sudden Strike was heading towards her.

In fact, Whipman derived quite a bit of benefit watching Predator employ this move to such success time and time again.

It was the only move which Ashni had nothing to teach Predator, but Ashni had decried it, saying that it was simply a gimmick. By pausing, the opponent lowered their guard. At higher levels, that wouldn’t happen.

When watching Predator use it, and now as he knocked Ashni backwards, Whipman wasn’t so sure. It wasn’t a gimmick, it was all about timing. Striking just after the body has told the brain you haven’t struck, but before the brain sends back another order for a movement. Slipping into that brief time was incredibly difficult.

Perhaps it was related to the name Predator, but he just never missed opportunities like that. And after studying him for two weeks, Whipman was starting to see it too.

Both panting, Ashni and Whipman regarded each other, him standing, her sitting on the ground. Whipman felt his gaze straying from her eyes, and of course, they went straight to her calves. Although she didn’t use the Air Stance, that entire fight Whipman had been incredibly hard pressed due to her high mobility. She could strike and retreat, moving close enough to attack in a heartbeat.

She was graceful, strong, and merciless. She was a spectacular warrior.

“Would you like to marry me?” Whipman blurted out. Then he went white, and fled back towards the inn.

***POV Change***

Jana stumbled in the dark alleys by the arena. When she had awoken, she couldn’t remember what Predator had said to her, just that it had filled her with needy fear.

Fear she knew because she couldn’t see straight or stop vomiting.

Needy she knew because the strongest emotion in her aside from the fear was a strange compulsion to return to Predator again, letting her everything be washed away by him.

Below that was only numbness. She could barely remember anything before today. It was all a fog. Even when the rest of the group had called her name, it sounded unfamiliar. It was all she could manage to tell Jenn she was leaving the group, and then run away from it all.

But she could still go back, a voice inside of her told her. Return to Predator. Let those voices wash everything away. Let those black and white eyes consume her.

She paused, torn. Then she vomited again. By the time she wiped her mouth and could stand, the fear had once more asserted itself as the most powerful emotion.

Her resolve restored, even if briefly, Jana wondered where she was.

Then she saw them, running along the wall towards her. A strange, sticky liquid that slithered along the walls. Seemingly similar to Jen’s slime body, these substances oozed around, rushing towards her, clearly guided by something. One was black, and the other was white.

“Ah…” She went to scream, but it just came out as a croak. The black and white oozes came closer, racing towards her.

They would be on her within a few seconds. Shakily, Jana raised her hands. “I… I reject…”

Her power activated and force slammed into the oozes, throwing them backwards. This just seemed to incense them, and they began rushing towards her, faster than ever. Her hands dropped, falling to her side, a vast weariness taking over her.

Strangely, she wished Predator was here. She shivered, knowing he was the cause of it, but still…

“Awe, this doesn’t seem fair. How about I join in? You prepared a vessel so meticulously, it’s the least I could do.” A voice sounded right behind Jana’s ear, a sweet and young voice, like a teenage girl. Then heat flooded Jana’s veins, and the consciousness of Jana was thrust somewhere far away. The oozes paused.

Before their eyes, Jana’s body shuddered, and changed, two long, tall rabbit ears growing from her head, the fur of them red. Jana’s hair turned the red of blood. Her skin crawled as the muscles beneath it rearranged themselves. Then she shuddered and fell still.

After a few moments, the new Jana stood up.

“Well, well, well,” She said in a giggle. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve had a body.”

***POV Predator***

I opened my eyes to see the ceiling of the inn, I sat up, rubbing my head. To my delight, when I opened my status screen I had 700 some Biomass. Whoever had my body had apparently been eating. Then I groaned, a dozen aches and pains hitting me. I carefully massaged my neck.

-Apparently they also practiced getting kicked by a horse.

-Bah, at our level of strength, the horse would break its legs on us. Kicked by a Minotaur more like.

-Pfff, you don’t even know if a Minotaur is a real thing. Don’t just go making up weird races.

After stretching and checking to make sure everything else was alright, I thought about what I had gained: my new attribute Fury. It was currently at 0, but the animals told me that during fights, I would slowly accumulate fury, gaining stat bonuses and the ability to ignore debilitating injuries.

They said that it would, out of battle, slowly return to 0, but warned that too much fury was dangerous, because I wouldn’t be able to see far enough through the bloodlust to stop attacking people.

Still, they were quite vague about where exactly the line would be.

-Fury limit likely depends on the individual.

-So what about us? Can we handle more fury because there are two of us?

They also said that I would still keep the title and the title’s other effect, because they couldn’t do anything about those. After they made the change, Mosslar warned me not to let a Solicitor look at my status screen, and a sinking feeling in my chest warned me that what they did would likely earn me another warning.

I was ready to start training for the day, feeling as if I had wasted most of the morning, but there was something I wanted to do first. 700 was plenty to get rid of this strange race. I opened my status screen again and clicked level up.

Congratulations! Due to your actions, you have reached level 21. All Biomass has been consumed.Due to your special circumstances, you have the choice of retaining the previously earned Racial Growth Rate of “Stunted Hypothermic Leprechaun” or use the Biomass to receive another randomly assigned Growth Rate. Note, retaining a Growth Rate will allow you to learn Racial skills at the typical level they are learned. Note, if a Growth Rate is retained, the Biomass will instead be converted into random chances for improvement.Retain Growth Rate? Y/N

-God no.

Due to your special circumstances, you will receive the racial growth rates of a random race based on the amount of biomass consumed.Congratulations! You have received the racial growth rates of a “Sable Haired Lynx.” Would you like to splice another race onto this one?

-Likely, but which one?

-I think I’m good on leprechauns for now. A two headed Lynx might be nice? It’s a cat, right?

-Yea I think so. But how are we to know if the heads will be useful or just… mutant-y.

-Then what are your thoughts?

-The robot. The problem with the last splice was that the two creatures lived in different climates. We don’t know anything about the races, but we do know that robots can survive most places that animals can.

-Except underwater.

-How much do cats like water?

Honestly, everything was a gamble. I grinned. It was part of the fun. I selected XN-00013.

Determining Spliced Race…Congratulations! You have obtained the growth rates of a “CTZ-103 Hunter-Seeker Model”.Vit +4End +17Str +10Agi +22Dex +19Memory +30Wisdom +3Timeless Perception +18You have gained the Stat “Balance”. Balance set to 0Balance +101

When the notification popped up, I elected to retain the Sable Haired Lynx and forget Leprechaun as a race for splicing. Before proceeding outside to find Whipman for training in the stances, I took a moment to enjoy my status screen. It’s good to actually have useful level ups.

-Too bad you didn’t gain any skills, though.

Name:PredatorLevel:21Racial Growth Rate:CTZ-103 Hunter-Seeker ModelBiomass:0Light of the Unlucky Star:0Essence:22/27Health Regen:x4.6Mana:1106/2106Fury:0Vit:95 (+30)End:106 (+30)Str:92 (+30)Agi:127 (+30)Dex:147 (+30)Memory:295 (+30)Processing Power:330 (+30)Parallel Computations:2Wis:125 (+30)Luck:33 (+30) (#Error)Timeless Perception:134 (+30)Balance:101TitlesA PredatorRacelessNurturer of the UndeadSinger of the Dark CadencesBringer of WarMaster of Throwing KnivesWarden of Glacier and MoonOne Who Denies His Own MortalityGene SplicerBorn Under a Cursed StarSkillsAir Affinity Lvl 3Endless StomachWeapons Mastery Lvl 2Silent Kill Lvl 1Path of the DragonAura of the Predator Lvl 5Summon Lesser Dead Lvl 6Bile Emission Lvl 2Unholy Bestowal Lvl 2Physicality Lvl 7Song of the Murloc People Lvl 1Thunder Stance Lvl 4Cadence of EarthCadence of WaterWind Stance Lvl 1Wind Blade Lvl 7Pain Tolerance Lvl 8Greater Resistance to Fire Lvl 1Sneak Attack Lvl 1My Heart is the Bellows, My Body the Metal Lvl 3Lesser Ice Affinity Lvl 5Lunar Affinity Lvl 4Automated Air Armor Lvl 1Flicker Lvl 1Saved Growth RatesSable Haired LynxOgre Variant (Two Headed Albino)Carniverous Dusk Wing OwlXN-00013