Gregory had grown in power and skill since he had been in the past; it had been the full week since the welcoming ceremony, and they wanted to officiate Gregory’s place in the tribe. Many things had happened in the past week, Gregory had begun working on an ocean-worthy boat and been training his armor and weapon crafting as much as possible over this time. Gregory had gained only one new skill over this week, the shipbuilding skill that would allow him to create his own ocean or sea-worthy boats and ships.

SKILLSHIPBUILDING[BEGINNER]PASSIVEThe ability to craft boats and ships. Tier affects the durability of the boat based on size, while level affects how quickly a boat can be crafted. The more durable the ship is, and larger it is, the harder it is to make them at lower tiers.LEVEL = 1COST = N/A

The items he had crafted numbered quite high, having been given the task of re-outfitting the village. He had gained multiple levels in his armor and weapon crafting skills, armorcrafting having reached 79 and weaponcrafting getting to 85. He had also been given the task of crafting jewelry for the people of the village. He had managed to begin gaining major levels here also. He found that in this era, he gained more experience from simpler crafts. ’Seems that reception of an item determines experience gained. Considering these people took the items he made as if they were the best items they had ever seen, Gregory gained massive experience from the items. The jewelry still seems to give slower gains though, as these people were very skilled at crafting the beads into necklaces.’ As the week passed though, Gregory had finally reached beginner rank in jewelry crafting, and became able to make successful crafts every time. He had also half-finished his boat, and gotten shipbuilding to 23.

Having explored the area around the village, Gregory found it strange that there were no dungeons. He had navigated every bit of land in the area around the village, even going so far as to use mystic sight in conjunction with reveal to show any slight traces of anything. ’I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that the dungeons were something that were created by Europeans. Either that, or there was some worldwide event that caused them to appear. The real question is then, how do I grow stronger in level until I can fight non-human beings again?’

Training constantly in physical abilities for a week every night had eventually granted enough experience to gain a level, which made sense in order to prevent him from being too powerful for his level. In all, he had gotten STR to 23, END to 25, VIT to 24, AGI to 31, and DEX to 37. Still though, many of these people were level one or two and would crush him in a physical matchup due to their stats. The warriors of the tribe were stronger, up to level 79 aside from the chieftain. He was level 137, and had physical stats all of which were 700 or higher, with his strength reaching 1009 and endurance to 996. Viewing his status window though, revealed that the bonuses granted passively by Gregory’s stats did not affect everybody for their stats. Viewing his buffs, he viewed five bonuses, all of which were granted for having a high number in the stat. The bonus for strength was a doubled power based on the number, and the bonus for endurance was a 50% reduction in physical damage taken. Most people would not even be able to damage this man, at least not without some very great strength.

Gregory had grown more and more afraid of North America pre-1800s, since that was the time it seemed that their culture had been vanquished. These people were monsters, and there was no way he could beat the chieftain, let alone most of the people here. ’Here I thought at first that I was super OP. It would take all of my skills just to stay alive if I were to fight one of them. Well, Aetius had said that they were stronger. Seeing this makes me realize though, those with mixed blood are very strong and dangerous people. In fact, based on those abilities, they are almost not human anymore.’

Gregory’s main goal over this past week, regardless of what he had been doing, was to escape from North America, since he had gained the ability to move forward in time again. Although he could move forward in time however, he could not move further forward than around 1300 or 1400 A.D. There was some kind of lock in place regarding that time, and until he released it from himself, he would not be able to get back to his time. He did know though, that he needed to get to Europe in order to fulfill whatever conditions there were to get back to his own time. By his own estimates, the year was about 500 A.D. This was not a precise guess, but he did guess by looking that the stars so it couldn’t have been too far off.

Two skills were being practiced by Gregory though, as he wanted to make sure he had them before he got to Europe. The first was a necessity, but also the harder of the two; the second was easier, but was only desired. The skills were transformation, and skill sharing. The aim for the first skill was to change the user’s appearance and unique abilities based on form. The second was what he saw the chieftain use, which gave Gregory the exact blueprints for performing the technique except that it was done different for Gregory than any other. This required him to change the spell, and he couldn’t practice until he had another person to try it on, which he wouldn’t have until he could reach Europe. Anybody here would know what the technique was and figure him out as some person that uses magic for more than just rituals. He had to conceal at least that about himself; If nothing else, Gregory had to hide his ability to perform magic for combat.

Since the weapons and shields Gregory made had turned out so nicely, and were finished for everybody of the village, Gregory asked the chieftain about changing his village profession. Only one other job suited his idea of gaining more skill and power though. ’I need to tell him I want Shaman training; it is the only way to learn how they have access to all the elements.’

”I would like to have training on becoming a shaman; it is the one job in the tribe I feel I could do best at aside from my current one. I suppose it isn’t really much of a job though. I have seen many people crafting their own weapons, and it does not seem hard. In fact, I think you sent some extra people my way just because I offered to do this. I really do not want to hinder the tribe, and take up a useless job when I could be doing something to help out more.”

The chieftain jumped right on this. He thought Gregory’s reserves were still lowered, but knew that they were still considerably high. It meant that he would be able to perform the spells with more proficiency and power than the other shaman, while doing it solo.

”I will accept your proposition, and appreciate your willingness to help with the village. Just to let you know, the duties of shaman are not easy. You will need to learn to cure the ailments of fellow tribal members, and how to perform the rituals the same as all the other shaman in the tribe.

The ceremony was about to begin, Gregory was sat down in the gathering tent. There was a large fire inside, and magic being flowed into the smoke coming off of it. In the magic, there was a powerful spell, a spell that would bring out the spirits nature animal. Even with all of his knowledge, Gregory was lost and frightened slightly by this ritual. He didn’t find fear in knowing his nature animal, but what might happen if something went wrong. He was not Native American, and was much older than the people normally undergoing this ritual. It was possible that he could end up seriously hurt or killed because of the ritual he was being put through.

As the mana swirled inside of him, Gregory could feel changes. He could feel something deep inside of him growing, taking up his body. It felt as if his body was a home, and that whatever else was consuming him was using the physical portion of that home to become more comfortable. He didn’t know what exactly would happen yet, but he could feel magical energy electrifying his body. He knew that as soon as the spirit animal fully awakes, it would begin to change the body through those electrified channels. ’Can I stop this, what if I don’t want to change yet? I am not ready to not be myself anymore, I want to stay a human. I shouldn’t have done this, even if it is necessary for gaining all the elements the same way these Native Americans have. I don’t care if I become stronger as a result, I just don’t want this anymore.’

At that moment, the animal woke up. Gregory could feel something cold moving throughout the open mana circuits, and into his skin and muscles. The energy seemed to be locating itself in certain locations throughout his body. The energy was pushing itself into his back, focusing on the spinal cord, his hand and part of his forearms, his eyes, as well as throughout his entire body to some degree. As the true changes began taking place, Gregory’s body forced him asleep for them. The pain these changes were causing to Gregory was enough to tear his mind apart without sleep. His back was being covered in scales, with the base coming out to form a tail. His eyes were also growing scales around them, with the irises becoming elongated, narrow, like those of a feline but thinner. His hand and forearms grew scales, with his fingertips being changed into claws. The full body changes involved Gregory’s bones and muscles. His bones were becoming lighter, but stronger and more flexible at the same time. Necessary changes to prevent them from cracking any easier because of their now less dense form. His muscles were also changing slightly, becoming stronger throughout and more densely packed in his back.

An hour later, Gregory shot awake. He could feel no pain, and then saw the chieftain walk into his tent. He let out a small sigh of relief, thinking that the ritual hadn’t actually been done yet. He began to sit up, but felt a lump as he did so. He was afraid to reach down for it, guessing that he knew what it was. He reached his hands to his ears though, and was relieved again when they felt the same as before.

”I have never seen anything like you before, I can’t place you in any animal family I have seen to date. Believe me, I have seen many different spirit animals come forth; some of them were different, but were at least able to be placed in groups the tribe has seen previously. My question is, do you know what your spirit animals actually IS?

Gregory then saw what he didn’t notice before. ’Here I thought selective vision was a myth, seems it has more basis than I thought it did.’ Gregory saw his hands now, seeing the scales and claws on them. His mind rushed to fear and anxiety immediately, foregoing logical reasoning the second he realized he had transformed. He then took deep breaths, forcefully relaxing himself that way. Nearly completely relaxed once again, Gregory looks at his claws and tail. He felt along his back, but a lack of wings confused him.

”Is there any way to tell aside from my appearance? Is there some way to communicate with the spirit animal?”

”In order to communicate, you need to focus on reaching down into your own spirit. The animal is not in your mind, but in the deepest fiber of your being. We have seen men go mad when they make pacts with animals, which is why we draw out the spirit animal. It does not transform your mind through a pact, but changes the body into the truest form. Just reach down inside yourself, and ask what it is.”

Gregory was slightly relieved at what he heard, also reaffirming what Aetius had said about demons in the flesh of man. ’Seems that I am protected from mental manipulation because of the ritual format, that is a very good thing. Although, would my Gamer’s Gift have protected me anyways? That is a hard thing to answer, but does seem like a possibility. So, what are you inside me? He didn’t get a response back, but half didn’t expect to. He asked his mind, not his ‘spirit’ as this man called it. He reached down this time, trying to reach into the center of his being, and asked again ’What are you?’ This time though, he got a response. ’I am you, or at least a part of you. I am not a what, but a who. My name is Sophos, Sophos Glaciadraco. If you have any intellect, you should be able to tell my species from that. Never call me a what again though, or you will learn what ice really is.’

”It seems Sophos is a dragon, a mythical creature where I come from.”

”Interesting, I will leave you be then. Your training as a shaman begins tomorrow.”