Chapter 6 I Become a Chew Toy

While all that information was nice, and I had a steady source of potential income. I would have like to have had a very concerning question answered as well. What was I? Was it possible that even Amoris didn't know? She said that she ran out of power at the end. Did that somehow affect my race? If she ran out of power there was the possibility that she really didn't know. However, my racial abilities should have told her what I had become. There were no excuses!

I sighed and headed for a copse of trees. While there was no one on the road it would be embarrassing to change out in the open.

*Skill Gain- Etiquette~

A skill that would be handy in keeping me from making a complete fool of myself. I activated it and allocated Exp until it leveled up. I had meant to distribute more of my Exp before I met Henry, but I had gotten caught up in reading Introductory of Races and Species. I promised myself I would think about which skills I wanted to level up as I pulled out several items of clothing from my inventory.

Amoris had been kind enough to give me several pairs of underwear. While the boxer style would take some getting used to I wasn't going to complain about that. They didn't use elastic but rather a drawstring much like athletic shorts at home. However, one pair was going straight into the trash bin. They were patterned white with little pink hearts. Very funny Amoris.

I had a few undershirts that closely resembled t-shirts, but you could tell that they were hand sewn. Looking back over the underwear, those too had been hand stitched. Did sewing machines not exist in this world? My modern clothes would really stand out if that was the case. Not to mention the elastic and synthetic fibers. I briefly wondered at Henry for believing all my lies.

I had several pairs of socks, but without elastic, I wondered how they remained up. I pulled on them a bit and discovered they were very stretchy. They probably stretched over the leg and stayed up that way. Once again I marveled at Amoris' taste in clothing. Why would I ever need a pair of orange socks with purple argyle? I was just glad most of her style choices of under clothes were solid shades of white.

I was given one long sleeved over shirt. It was a dark hunter green. I knew I looked good in green. It matched my eyes. It had some short lacing in the front that I loosened to pull over my head, then tighten again so the shirt didn't gap. The sleeves were a bit puffy for my taste, but Henry had been wearing a similar style.

The pants gave me some trouble. They were leggings. My underwear kept bunching up in the legs every time I pulled them up. I finally got the hang of smoothing down the underwear with one hand while pulling the pants up with the other. They were made of the same stretchy stuff the socks were made of.

Henry's pants weren't leggings. His pants didn't make it obvious the size of his member. I kept trying to readjust so things weren't as obvious. Was this Amoris playing another joke on me? Surely this wasn't the fashion. People didn't just run around showing off like this.

Thankfully, the boots were standard, went up to mid-calf and laced using a hook and eye style. They were black and had a slight heel. Amoris had been right, they felt no different from my Nike's. There was even some arch support which surprised me given the more medieval vibe I was getting from the rest of the clothes.

The black hip length jacket was also nice. It was made of some sort of thick fabric that I suspected was wool. It reminded me of a pea coat that the girls at my college wore. It had double breasted buttons like a pea coat too. Falling to mid-thigh it hid everything the pants were putting on display. Pity it was too warm out to be running in it.

Changed, I gladly put the hated purple polo and khakis in the trash bin. Socks and shoes followed. I debated about keeping my old underwear but decided it wasn't worth the risk of godly wrath and in the bin they went. I hit the delete button and they vanished from this world forever.

Back on task, I opened the map to check for monsters in the area. Oh, another Red Wolf. I would be able to get even more Exp if I were to hunt it. It was a bit out of the way. I would have to travel nearly a half mile in the wrong direction. I would still be able to make it to Yellow Springs by mid-day even if I detoured again. Thinking it was worth the side trip, I headed deeper into the trees.

With my recent level ups, traveling through the woods was a lot easier. My feet seemed to instinctively pick out the correct footing. If I thought about it too hard I would trip and stumble, but if I just let my body react I could wander the woods like a seasoned pro. It was a bit difficult not to get caught up in the new ways my body was able to move. I couldn't really feel a difference, but the logical part of me knew I had never been this graceful on Earth. For that matter, I had never been much of a runner on Earth either.

If I was this active I wondered how long it would take before my body's physical appearance matched the movements I was able to make. While I wasn't exactly overweight I wasn't physically fit either. I had a slight paunch from all the chocolate I ate. I was lucky I wasn't fatter. I was only 5 foot 8 inches. A slightly less than average height for most Americans. I had played some soccer in college, but it was always pick up games between friends. I was more of the indoor type.

I would probably begin to lose weight and build muscle. I'd never seen my body all muscle bound. A nice six pack would be a decent goal. I hoped I didn't end up looking like the Gorilla Viking. Someone tall could carry off that kind of build. It was harder for someone short. Some guys could do it, but I wasn't one of them. Nor did I have any intention of shaving my head. It always seemed like super muscle-bound guys always had shaved heads. I liked having hair, even if it was a mess most days.

Would I have to start shaving? When I was on Earth, sadly, I didn't start growing facial hair until my junior year in undergrad. Even then it was patchy and made me look like a hobo or the creepy neighbor you didn't want living next door. When I did shave, it was usually once or twice a week.

I was, unfortunately, a very late bloomer and puberty didn't really begin for me until I was about 16, when I was about 18, I had finally had a huge growth spurt. Until then I was even shorter and could pass as an 8th grader. That summer my senior year had been wild. I left school looking like a 13-year-old kid and in a few months my hormones had kicked into full gear and I was suddenly an average high schooler.

If I was 18 now, would that mean I was still growing? Would I grow taller? I felt like I was the same height I was when I was on Earth, but it was hard to be certain. I didn't feel any shorter than normal. It would be nice to be a little bit taller, and if I was still growing maybe other things had room to grow as well. Especially, if I continued to grow from the same size I was at 24. Suddenly, going through puberty twice didn't seem so bad.

Feeling optimistic about future bodily changes, I slowed down and double checked the map. I was close. The little red dot was slowly headed in my direction. I readied my staff and prepared for my prey to come to me. It would pay to be cautious. After all, it was a lv 12, and this one wasn't distracted by food.

A wolf with burgundy brown fur rushed the bushes where I was waiting. It had saliva dripping from its jowls and had a deep baritone of a growl. It's body shape looked more like a hyena than that of the wolves I was used to. The four canine teeth were absurdly long and were extremely menacing. Getting a closer look at the monster you could see it had bright red eyes. I had missed that before having snuck up on the last one.

It gave an ear ringing bark. It sounded like what you'd imagine a bear would sound like if it barked. I could feel the vibrations of the bark all the way down my spine.

*Status Anomaly- Paralysis~

What! Shit, I couldn't move!

I tried shifting my feet, then my arms. Then I desperately tried to lurch out of the way as the wolf came barreling in. Shit, shit, SHIT! There was nothing like this mentioned in the short description I got on the wolf from the map. Quickly, I mentally opened my status menu and began allocating Exp to Defense.

The wolf bit down hard on my leg. God, it fricken hurt! Dammit, Shit, FUCK!. The wolf brought me down, and without being able to move or brace myself for the fall, I received even more damage. I mentally added Exp to my pain tolerance. Hell, if I was going to die I didn't want to feel it.

With the pain ebbing, I could think clearly again. I needed to move. I had to move. I'd die if I didn't move. I focused all my mental will on the hand that still gripped my staff. Nothing happened.

The wolf had stopped dragging me by my leg. Perhaps it had noticed I was trying to resist? That couldn't be the issue, I still was stuck inside my own body. It looked me right in the eyes, then slowly, as though to take its time about it, opened it's large mouth and brought those huge teeth towards my neck.

MOVE DAMMIT! I mentally screamed at myself. There! Did my arm twitch? Not enough!

*Skill Gain- Paralysis Resistance~

YES! I mentally shouted. I could feel the hot putrid breath of the dog as its teeth bore down. The wet hardness of the teeth pressing into my flesh made me desperate. I activated the skill and allocated Exp like crazy. At Lv 3 I could move.

I punched the wolf in the head using my free arm. Then I rolled over and in a very undignified manner scurried away. The wolf bit down on my leg again and tried to rip it off. Flipping over on my back I brought the staff down square on its head. Once, twice, a third time, I just wanted it off me. The jaws of the wolf suddenly slackened. I literally watched as the red light went out in its eyes. I had killed it.

*You have leveled up please check your status~

I ignored my status screen for a moment and just lay there. I had almost died, again! Here I was thinking I was off to a good start in this new world and I go and almost get myself killed. It had only been a little over 24 hours! I was sure I hadn't done anything particularly heroic this time around for the gods to let me have a redo. Shit.

I needed to be more careful. I had been cocky. Too damned cocky for my own good. I had all this extra strength and power and it made me so confident. It was just occurring to me that everyone else in this world probably had the same strength and power. Amoris had said this world was hard. People stronger than me probably got eaten by monsters all the time.

In order to stay alive, I had to do better. Where had I gone wrong this time? Attacking from the front was not a good idea. I didn't know about the barking paralysis attack either. If the wolf hadn't used that attack I was fairly confident I could have beaten it in the first attack.

There was that confidence popping back up. What if it hadn't been paralysis but super agility or high defense instead. I couldn't dare to predict how an attack would play out. I needed to get better, but to get better I needed more Exp. The fastest way to gain Exp was to kill monsters. I was going full circle.

Perhaps the core of my problem was lack of knowledge. If I had known about the paralysis attack I would have approached the wolf differently. The short descriptions of places, things, and monsters I got from my map just weren't adequate. I needed more information. To get that information I needed to either ask people or find that library.

First things first though, I needed to buy a new pair of pants. Well, maybe not first, I still didn't have any money. Shit.

I opened my screen and allocated my new Exp.

Name- Eri Veritas

HP 1863/2335

Level- 11

Age- 18

Race/Species- (Human) Unknown

Gender- (Male) Unknown

Occupation- Unemployed

Exp- 192

Physical Power- 220

Stamina- 278

Defense- 348

Agility- 489

Intelligence- 84

Magic Power- 8

Metal Rain Lv 1

Paralysis Resistance Lv 3

Skills

Staff Fighting Lv 2

Basic Sword Lv 2

Skull Bashing Lv 2

Martial Arts Lv 2

Spear Lv 1

Stalking Lv 1

Jumping Lv 1

Running Lv 2

Pain Tolerance Lv 3

Deception Lv 2

Poker Face Lv 1

Etiquette Lv 2

Rock Throwing

Dancing

Harvesting

Small Talk

Racial Ability-

Hidden Among the Masses- 20

Stealth- 95

Items Equip

Inventory Bracelet

Blessing 1- All Map Exploration

Blessing 2- Exp Points Required by Level Up / Current Level

Blessing 3-Exp Increase X Current Level

Blessing 4- Item- Gamer Glasses

Titles- Devotee of Amoris

Oracle of Amoris

Grateful Petitioner

Enemy of Apes