You've eaten a tier II Elk, unlocking a possible mutation for the benefits it gives you. Please select one amongst the mutations avaiable:

Elk Horns Grow horns made of steel, which can be used as conduit for the flow of several kinds of energy. Swiftness Increase your speed modificator acquired from the Iron Elk for a factor of 6. Light Manipulation Acquire the special characteristics from the Double-Horned Steel Elk to manipulate light to aid you. Steel Skeleton Increase your bone durability modificator acquired from the Iron Elk for a factor of 6. Iron Elk Tier[II]- An immediate power multiplyer by a factor of 2 related to all characteristics acquired from the Iron Elk. Iron Elk Tier[II]+ Convert the strength acquired from the Iron Elks into potential strength, reducing the amount of Elks eaten to 0, but inproving its power multiplayer by a factor of 4.

I immediately discarded a few options, because I wasn’t about to grow Elk horns. I mean, a horned man has to look cool, but not with Elk horns; they should be at least Bull ones, and if I could get something from any kind of mystical beast, that much better.

Also, swiftness was tempting, I was getting a speed-related power, so being swifter could help me better control it, or better yet, improve even more my speed. At the same time, it could possibly mean that they would overlap, and only one would come in action, possibly the mutant power, so for now, discarded.

Then there was that light thing that the Elk did to dodge me. I mean, it was pretty neat, and I would love to do it, but when I thought about it I felt a nudging from inside, as if something resisted that choice. I hadn’t had these powers that long, so I would better be careful for now, if something inside me didn’t want that, and since nothing inside me had hurt me, I would avoid that enhancement for now.

Then there was that steel skeleton thing. Ooh, how I almost clicked that, my claws were made of bone, so if I changed my skeleton, that would change too, wouldn’t it? But then I remembered, I had a tab on my system which was out of my reach for the time being, and it seemed plausible that it would contain things upgrading myself that weren’t powers per se. An example of that could perfectly be Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton, which was artificially implanted to him, instead of being part of him.

So, hoping that that would be its function, as it was nothing but speculations, I also passed on the steel skeleton.

That left me with only two choices, and this was eating my mind. What would be better to acquire, a multiplying factor of 4 when it came to improvements made by eating Elks, but erasing all the improvements made until now by eating them, or just a multiplying factor of 2 for an immediate gain?

I mean, I already had been in this forest for a long time, so being here a few months, or even a year or two, wouldn’t hurt me that much. And I wanted to stay here anyway until I ate 200 of each species available to me, improving myself to the maximum.

[Mmm… I guess I’ve already made my mind, so let’s go.]

Iron Elk Tier[II]+ mutation selected. Starting evolution.

***

Bob’s POV:

[Seeing him sleeping is weird.] – I couldn’t help but wonder why was he sleeping; I had never seen him sleep more than two hours straight, and he said it was only to rest his mind, and here he was, already 20 hours into his sleep, and no signs of waking up.

Suddenly I was startled by a noise, coming straight from him, but not of his doing. His bones were creaking, and it seemed as if he was losing some muscle at visible speed. What was happening?

I needed to be alert, if anything wanted to attack master, now would be de time, so I couldn’t allow it. I stood watch over the cave, weapon in hand. Master said this is called a Morningstar, and I’m in love with it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good fist fight like any other, but the weapon felt alive in my hands, as if it was destined to be mine from before it was ‘born’. When I crushed skulls with it, aah, pure bliss…

Anyway, ready for everything I will stand watch until he wakes! Even if I have to stay awake for a week!

***

Lyon’s POV:

I woke up groggily, more tired than I had been for a year. This improvement was really tough with my body; I felt as if I had been running 24 hours with my ‘Earth body’. This was exhausting, and all I had done was sleep.

I stood up and almost fell. It felt my legs were flailing, ever since I had started consuming beasts I hadn’t felt this much weak. It was astounding what some muscle and bones could do. That was what I thought, but the moment I tried ‘looking’ inside of me, I knew the reason. It was not only that I had lost some muscle and skeleton toughness. I had lost every improvement on my skeleton from the red mist. Also, I probably had lost about half of it on my muscles.

[Damn, this is harsher than I thought it would be. I guess I’ll have to adapt fast and hunt some more, need all the improvement I can get from the Elks.]

“Bob! Get ready!” – I shouted excitedly and headed towards the armory, but turned around when I felt that Bob was not following me, or even responding me. And I saw him there, almost at the entrance of the cave, looking outwards, with the Morningstar by his side, and sleeping soundly. I smiled meekly.

[This silly boy has guarded me? I guess I’ll have to reward him.] – I took my sword, a couple daggers and a few javelins, and marched out of the cave with a clear path in mind.

I shadowstepped towards the center of a 20 kilometer radius zone in the forest which I knew was full of Elks. I would have to hunt for a long time if I wanted to recover everything I lost, but at the end of the day, I would have the benefits from eating 800 Elks, with just a quarter of it, it was a great deal.

And so it started my hunt for meat. I walked and ran for a while, getting used to my lowered strength the same way I had grown used to my increased strength. I practiced for half an hour before I thought I was ready to try and hunt an Elk.

I grabbed a dagger in each hand, and started searching for my first prey. It wasn’t even 10 minutes later that I found an Elk, and I got ready to ambush it. I charged the bones in my arms, and waited on top of a tree for it to come near, and when it did, I jumped. I was halfway the jump down when it turned its head to me, and did what I expected it to do, turn around and try to kick me, except I wasn’t there anymore. The moment it turned around I shadowstepped a meter forwards and stabbed my dagger onto its neck, connecting and reaching its spine, severing the connection between its brain and its body.

Unfortunately for me, though, my arms weren’t as tough as they used to be, and they broke down under the pressure from the energy.

[It has been a while since something hurt me like this…] – I looked at my broken arm, which was repositioning itself in place, and healing, all in less than 3 seconds. – [I guess I have to be more careful until I digest some Elks again.]

After I was healed, I took the Elk and shadowstepped back to the cave to leave its body, then shadowstepped again to hunt for more, but in a different location, to avoid focusing on one sole herd. I only stopped hunting when I got over a dozen Elks home. A pretty big feast, if I’m allowed to say so; I would share some with Bob, obviously, his watch wouldn’t go unrewarded, and so he would have an entire Elk for himself!

…I need to eat a lot, ok? Don’t judge me.

I went towards one of the ‘rooms’ that were unused right now. It was almost empty, though it had a few holes through the walls, going directly outside, and a depression on the ground, prepared for a fire. Yep, it was the kitchen. It had been a pain in the ass to make the holes, but it was a necessity. Once we lit the fire, the air was rapidly consumed, so it was hard to breath, and so I did the holes.

There was also a stock of wood on the side, so we wouldn’t have to gather it every time we wanted to light a fire. I prepared myself for a long day of cooking, and started the fire.

***

Bob’s POV:

“Mmm…” – I woke up to the smell of cooked meat, and immediately realized I had fallen asleep. – “Damn, Master has woken up and I wasn’t awake, I wanted to be there for him…”

I stood up and walked towards the place where the smell was coming from, wondering what kind of food would my master prepare. Once I was about to walk in, I saw something that made me widen my eyes. On one of the things Master called ‘rooms’ there was a full mountain of jumping meat! Master called them Iron Elks, but for me they’ll always be jumping meat.

Master had surpassed himself this time on the hunt, or so I thought. I entered the thing he called kitchen and saw him with a big Elk on the fire, being cooked ever so slowly, making the fire sizzle with its grease and making me salivate with hunger.

[Master…] – As soon as I stepped through the door he turned to me, and smiled warmly, and motioned for me to go closer. – [I’m glad to see you’re okay, Master.]

“Hahaha, don’t be silly, why wouldn’t I be? I’m super strong aren’t I?” – He’s just that cool, I’m glad I found him, my life has done nothing but improve ever since, and even though I technically I lost my freedom when I lost, he treats me as a student rather than a servant or slave.

“Come, sit, we’ll be having a feast; and I’ve kept you this juicy Elk just for you!” – As he said that, he pointed towards the cooking meat on the fire, and I started salivating uncontrollably. – [A FULL ELK FOR ME?!] – I couldn’t believe it; I almost never was fast enough to hunt those, so I could only eat them if Master let me, but normally he hunts barely enough to increase his strength, and as his strength is very important to him, I usually ended up barely scraping a leg or hunting for myself.

“Yes, only today, though, I will have to eat a ton of these now that I’ve lost all improvements they gave me…” – Wait what? He lost them?

[What happened, Master? How did you lose something that was inside you?!] – I really wondered, I knew he got stronger from eating, but I didn’t, so it meant it wasn’t from Berserk Fury. How did he end up losing strength?

“Aaah… don’t worry, it’s actually a good thing, but it pains me anyway to have to do it all over again.” – A good thing? How could losing strength be anything near good? – “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not what you think. I didn’t exactly lose it; I just somehow compressed it into potential strength. Now if I eat my maximum again, I’ll have four times the strength I got from eating Elks. – FOUR? Damn, he was getting stronger again…

“Well, let’s eat, before it gets co…” – As soon as he said eat I had a leg on my mouth. I turned at him without chewing and he was smiling with a wry smile. – “It’s ok, keep eating, you glutton.”

Glutton, he said, hahahaha; I had never seen anyone that could eat as much as he could, and my pack was full of huge apes that could eat double their sizes, but none of that compared to Master, it was as if he had a bottomless pit on his stomach.

We stayed up late until he finally ate through all the Elks. He even gave me an extra leg! It was all delicious; I didn’t know how I had survived without what he called ‘cooking’.

***

Lyon’s POV:

Three weeks passed by in a flash, and I achieved my two hundred mark in my eaten Elks. It was getting monotonous to just eat Elks, so I added Foxes to the mix, and with that, I got to the two hundred mark in the Foxes too.

Werewolf Fury G mid tier Progress: 99.7 %

Preys devoured (Naming acording to knowledge):

- Iron Elk [II] ( x200 ) : Hugely improves agility and bone durability.

- Scorpion Panther ( x34 ) : Improves poison and acid resistance, stealth and agility.

- Spiked Lion ( x7 ) : Improves strength and bone durability.

- Draconic Wolf ( x200 ) : Improves speed and agility, and also skin durability.

- Fiery Ape (x5) : Improves balance and coordination, small improvement in strength.

- Gryphon (x27) : Improves eyesight, hearing, balance, speed and strength. (+54% at Angel's powers)

- Shadow Fox ( x200 ): Highly improves speed and stealth.

[Okay! I’m thinking that maybe I should try upgrade my current powers. I mean, they have been pretty much stuck at the same level for a while now, and I want to leave this forest, eventually.] – I stood up and went towards the darkest place on my cave. It was time for the most feared immersion; it had already been months since I fully tapped into the Shadow Dimension. After the strain I put it into, I feared a similar effect was I to repeat my mistake, but this time permanent, that’s why I avoided entering consciously if I could avoid it, and even if I couldn’t, I didn’t stay long in it, making sure not to overexert the dimension, but this ended today.

Now in the darkest place I could find, with nothing but specks of light passing through the entire cave to light me up, I sat down. I closed my eyes, and willed the shadows to swallow me and carry me into the Shadow Dimension. It made it much easier being in this dark place for me to focus on the shadows, and imagine being swallowed, so it worked quite fast. Once I felt I was inside, I opened my eyes, and looked around.

Once again I found myself here, in the thing I felt was an ocean of shadows, except this time they felt… brighter. I knew I only had so much time to use inside, so I asked for help to the shadows, which were getting close to me. I immediately was pushed upwards, towards what I thought would be the surface. I only could stay here for about ten minutes, so I really hoped I would be able to the surface, and see what was there.

After around ten minutes, I began feeling like when I was on top of the Gryphon; it felt the same in the aspect of freedom, even if I couldn’t feel the air. I imagined myself once I unlocked Angel’s powers and I got to fly, and I could barely wait.

It was then that I realized I was accelerating; I looked around me and noticed a denser layer of shadows in the form of wings, attached to my back, flapping to carry me higher, and higher, until 5 minutes later I reached the top, and we jumped out of the “water”. Once I was out, I felt as if I was alive for the first time in my life.

It felt as if every fiber of my being was being fed energy and it was drinking it avidly, not wasting a drop. The shadows that were forming the wings which had carried me here, took me to what seemed to be, a floating island. Everything was of different shades of red, some pieces of land blood-colored, others, a more pale shade, almost rose.

Once I landed, the shadows dispersed, going back to the sea, but I didn’t even notice, I was too entranced by what laid in front of me. It was, with lack of a better word, pieces of space. They were pieces that showed me the forest, the ponds, the dangerous swamp, and even the cave! I could see Bob, rummaging through the kitchen in hopes to find something to eat, yet… everything seemed frozen.

I had been told by the system that the time here passed that much faster, but this was as if time itself was frozen in here. I turned around and I almost fell down. Something was lying on the ground, it was purplish, elongated and with a spike on one end. The other end though, was even more surprising; it was attached to me! I had a tail!

It was at least a meter long, and had the same shape as Nightcrawler’s, even if its color differed. I tried moving it, and after a minute I felt it; it felt weird, very weird. To try to know how I felt, try to imagine you got a new pair of arms, or even wings; how would you move them? Can you imagine how it would feel to have new bones, new muscles and new tendons? You can’t imagine, right? Me neither, that was mostly the problem; another problem was that it had appeared from nowhere, and I was having troubles imagining when had I grown a tail in the entire time I had been here.

*Ding*

I immediately opened the system, ready for any kind of explanation on my newly grown limb.

> has synchronized. After reaching the [Brimstone Dimension], you have finally steped through the gates of hell and reached the lobby. On the Brimstone Dimension time flows at a rate of 10:1, meaning that 10 seconds on the Brimstone Dimension are just a second on the real dimension.

From now on the time avaiable to you to stay on the Brimstone Dimension has increased to 1 hour. Each minute inside takes four times the amount in real time to recuperate. If you stay for the maximum amount of 1 hour, you will have to wait 24 minutes before being able to enter again for an hour. Waiting for 12 minutes will instead allow you to reenter for half an hour.

Due to the synchronization with the Brimstone Dimension you have acquired another trait related to it. You have acquireed [Prehensile demon tail].

You can manipulate it like any of your other limbs.

Due to a relation between [Prehensile demon tail] and [Fenrir, the Immortal Wolf], [Prehensile demon tail] has been upgraded to [Demonic bone-sword tail].

Due to this being your first time on the lobby, you will be able to stay for 4 hours and the time rate will be 200:1 on this lobby with a comprehension rate 4 times greater.

I was amazed it could do that, even without mixing both powers; at that moment I saw, marveled, how my tail changed. It was growing longer, thicker and sharper, developing some sort of sharp exoskeleton around the tip, and I felt the full restructuration of the bones forming my tail. After a few minutes I knew it was already fully integrated with me, as I could feel it as I felt my arms.

I tried moving it, but it felt worse than drawing with your left hand when you’re done nothing to learn how to do so and you’re right handed. Imagine a third arm that was thrice as hard to move as your non-dominant arm, and you’ll be short on the feeling.

Knowing I could stay here for quite some time now, I took advantage, why go to the normal dimension and train for hours, when I can spend those hours here and it will only pass a few seconds. It said clearly that next time I enter the time will flow slower, meaning this chance is unique, and I wouldn’t throw it away.

It took me an entire hour to move it properly, and another one to be comfortable with it. You may think this is fast, but the more I used it the more I noticed it was not entirely as having a second non-dominant arm, but rather it felt as if I lost my dominant one, and then I recovered it. Also, with the bonus in comprehension thanks to the (now with the right name) Brimstone Dimension, it was almost a walk in the park.

After the third hour, I was able to take out my new “claws” for the first time; they were more like dagger-spines on my tail. They extended to both sides of the tail, simulating a very sharp and elongated spine, and were as sharp as my makeshift daggers, but tougher, as they had the same durability as my own bones.

After the fourth hour, I had a pretty good control over it, and I had already managed to charge it a little bit. I didn’t risk too much, because I would need to infuse the red mist on the tail before it grew as strong as the rest of my body.

Now that my four hours were ending, I took a look around, at the different windows to the normal dimension that were near me, and I saw something that surprised me more than the windows themselves. A human was walking on the forest, and it was about to be killed!