Most of the traits were pretty simple, working just as described. Void Path and Void Evasion were the easiest. Just visualize and go, though Void Path's ten Energy cost was a bit of a hit. Void Sense was a bit trippy, but mostly because being aware of a vast amount of nothing took some getting used to. After a bit of adjustment, it wasn't too bad. However, Empty Kick took a bit more… work. The problem was the timing. Empty Kick's absorption effect only lasted a second, so he had a limited window to absorb damage, which meant he had to activate the ability as the hit landed. It turned out predicting when someone else's attack was going to land was a bit trickier than predicting when his attack was going to land, and if he missed, he'd just wasted energy. He also had to make sure he didn't put too much energy into it, or again, he'd just waste energy. Which was how the short testing session turned into a long lesson on recognizing feints. Which, as Andrew quickly learned, was much harder without emotion sense.

"Better!" The Shaman exclaimed after a quick exchange where he mixed feints and real attacks together for Andrew to block. "You missed two, but you've got the basics down. Just keep practicing and you'll get better. How's your Energy doing?"

"I only have about four points left." Andrew panted.

The Shaman nodded. "Then we'll call it for the day."

Andrew nodded in agreement. Your Energy pool took an entire day to refill, so he wouldn't be up for using any of his new abilities again for at least a few hours. He shuffled back into the house and grabbed a glass of water, downing it quickly before refilling it and taking a seat at the table, sipping at a slower pace.

"So, what are your plans moving forward?" The Shaman asked, sitting down across from him.

Andrew paused, considering the question for a moment. "Well, I'm not going exploring any time soon… at least not far. I'm still too weak. I need to focus on learning how to use my affinities and picking up the ancillary skills I need to round out my capabilities, like a stealth skill and a negotiation skill. Oh, and I'll have to transform my navigation skill into a survey skill. Which means I'll need to work on my Draw skill and my navigation skill…" Andrew paused to do some calculations. He already knew the negotiation skill would cost him five skill points, stealth would cost him two, survey either three or four, depending on whether he used Observe or Concentrated Examination… oh, who was he kidding. He was definitely using Concentrated Examination. That left him four more points to work with. He should probably get something for tracking, which… he let out a sigh. His Concentrated Examination was doing work. But what would he merge it with? He paused. Would stealth work? Examining the hidden steps? Made sense, right? He glanced at the Shaman. Why not just ask? "Would merging a study skill and a stealth skill create a tracking skill?"

The Shaman nodded. "One of the better ones, yes. Though with your skills… it may be better to simply learn how to track on your own. You have plenty of skills related to observation, and your stealth skill will show you what signs to look for, since that's what you need to remove to be stealthy, so all it will take is some practice to learn to look for the signs outside of that context. I'd suggest you focus on Energy Control instead. Something to help you make use of your affinities outside your traits."

Andrew blinked at him, processing the fact that he'd actually forgotten he could learn how to do something outside the system. "Uh… yeah, that sounds like a good idea." He muttered awkwardly, before quickly continuing. "What's a good skill to merge with Energy Control?"

"Energy Control is one of the few skills you don't want to merge with anything else. Instead, you want to advance it into Energy Manipulation." The Shaman replied. "You'll lose a bit stats wise, but the benefits of the skill are more than enough to compensate for it, since Energy Manipulation lets you increase the rate at which your Energy refills, based on the tier of the skill. It requires you to actively concentrate on doing so, so you won't be able to take advantage of it while doing anything complicated, but it's fairly simple to teach yourself to keep it active while performing simple tasks like walking or cooking."

Andrew nodded along. He definitely needed to pick up Energy Manipulation then. "That still leaves me with two more skill points… what should I do with them?"

"You should use them to Advance your skills. Definitely Advance your inner sight skill if you can, though that can wait until just before your Class Advancement." The Shaman replied. "Based on your goals, I'd recommend you focus on Advancing your survey skill as well. Or your kicking skill, depending on how much you struggle with combat."

Andrew paused, considering the Shaman's suggestion. Once he got survey, stealth, and negotiation, his build was pretty much complete… he didn't need more skills at that point, he just needed his current skills to be better. Even Energy Manipulation was more of a bonus, rather than a requirement. "Wow… I never thought I'd actually run out of skills to get."

"Most builds are relatively complete by level twenty-five." The Shaman nodded. "From there, you focus on refining your skills. Maybe pick up a crafting skill, which will benefit you at the higher levels."

Andrew frowned. "Why would a crafting skill help?"

"Because once you out level the area, you need to depend on skills to level up, for which crafting skills are the best. Crafting skills reward experience based on the quality of your work, so as long as you continue to refine your craft, you'll continue to level up. At least, as far as its tier allows. Generally, a crafting skill will allow you to increase your level up to its tier multiplied by twenty." The Shaman explained.

"So… the Tailor, Blacksmith, and Alchemist?" Andrew asked.

"The Tailor was a scout, the Blacksmith a warrior, and the Alchemist a mage." The Shaman nodded.

"Huh… What do you mean by 'out level the area'?" Andrew asked.

"Once you're so many levels above the average level of the creature's in an area, your leveling will slow to a crawl. Usually you top out somewhere around ten levels over, fifteen if you dedicate yourself to killing as much as you can for a few years, though if the rank is lower, that'll decrease by about three or four for each rank lower, and the reverse if it's higher, though that practically never happens. After that, you either need to find a higher level area, venture into a danger zone, or find a high-level dungeon-"

"Wait, what are those?" Andrew asked, interrupting his explanation.

"Danger zones and dungeons?" The Shaman asked and Andrew nodded. "Danger zones are areas of- well, danger, like volcanoes or glaciers. Areas like this are full of Aspected Energy, which infuses the plants, which are then eaten by the animals, which are eaten by other animals, making them stronger. Since these areas are generally hidden or isolated in addition to this, they can become frighteningly dangerous, full of creatures with levels in the hundreds or even higher. Dungeons on the other hand form in areas of dense Energy, creating sub-spaces full of false life, mindless constructs which attack any living being on sight. These constructs are always created at the same level and slowly respawn over time. However, the spaces themselves are unpredictable, full of hidden dangers that can cripple or even kill a reckless delver. Additionally, as creatures die in the dungeon, it becomes stronger, the space larger and more dangerous and the constructs higher level. It's a common practice to feed dungeons higher level creatures to provide a stable source of experience for leveling. Though, if you aren't careful to keep the dungeon at a manageable level, it could backfire and lead to a dungeon break, where the dungeon bursts and the constructs are expelled as real creatures which lay waste to their surroundings."

"They become real?" Andrew asked incredulously. "How?!?"

The Shaman shrugged. "Who knows? It's just what happens. Thankfully it also destroys the dungeon in the process. Otherwise, certain high-level dungeons would continually flood the surroundings with powerful creatures over and over and we'd be lucky if all other life wasn't eradicated in the process."

"Is there any other way to destroy a dungeon?" Andrew asked. From what he could tell, a dungeon growing was practically inevitable. The only people interested in a dungeon would be those near its level, within five or ten at least, which meant it was inevitable that people would die. If there was no way to destroy it other than the break, then every dungeon was essentially a ticking time bomb, a disaster waiting to happen.

"If you can reach the core of a dungeon, and wipe out all the creatures inside, you can cause a dungeon break artificially by breaking it. If there are no creatures inside, then the dungeon break has no effect, and the dungeon simply goes away." The Shaman replied. "Otherwise, you simply evacuate the area and let the dungeon break naturally, then clean up the mess afterwards. After the initial rush, the new creatures calm down and become more like normal animals, spreading out and finding their niche in the world, so they're more easily managed." Andrew nodded slowly. That made sense. "But dungeon breaks aren't a huge worry, since dungeons rarely appear near populated areas, unless someone has built a settlement around a dungeon, but that is only something you risk when you have a sizable, and stable, population, which is rare among goblins, or really any of the monster races, unless they're working in conjunction with a noble race."

Andrew frowned. "Why would dungeons be rare around populated areas?"

The Shaman paused. "I'm not sure… it could simply be because there is more wilderness than not." He shrugged. "I'll be honest, all I know of dungeons is from records left behind by our forefathers, which focused on methods of handling them, rather than how they formed. A dungeon hasn't appeared near our tribe in centuries. However, if you manage to discover one in your travels… it could be a great benefit to the tribe."

"I'll keep an eye out." Andrew nodded. "Okay, one last question, why do ranks matter?"

"Because killing something of a lower rank divides the experience by ten for each rank of difference. So if you're one rank higher, it's ten percent of what you'd normally get, and if you're two, it's one percent, and so on. Though conversely, if your opponent is of a higher rank, the experience is multiplied by ten." The Shaman explained.

Andrew sat back in his chair, taking a sip of water as he considered everything the Shaman had said. The rank thing was annoying, but it wasn't that big a deal, particularly when he could add in his animal core. With the extra stats he gained, he could fight well above his level. Hell, if he started fighting, the hard part would be not leveling so he could work on his skills. Andrew paused for a moment as he realized how well set up he was to be powerful in this world. Just having two cores was huge here, unlike in the Beast world. And if you could hit above your weight class, animal cores were broken. Just killing something five or so levels above you every time would get you a significant boost in stats per level, and if you could do that consistently, you could become very scary… he was beginning to realize why everyone said to be careful in the wilderness. The average animal wouldn't be a problem, but the ones who got the right chances and started growing… Andrew shuddered slightly. This world was kinda crazy, wasn't it?

Anyway, the long and the short of it was that Andrew needed to hunt. Andrew's lips curled up. It always came back to that, didn't it? If you wanted power, you had to go out and grab it. The only difference was that he needed to make sure to keep his skills up in between. Andrew nodded. He knew what he needed to focus on at the moment. Go out and find something high level to kill, get a few levels for his animal core and a single level for his goblin core, pick up Walk again while practicing his Hide skill, before finding another high level creature to kill for his next level, which would let him merge the two for a stealth skill, then kill another for the skill point for Energy Control, work on that for a bit, then another level to Advance it, then the negotiation skills… or should he work on survey first? Eh, the point was, he had work to do. But before then… he needed to wait for his Energy to refill. Might as well work on Hide in the meantime, right?

"Okay, what the shit?!?" Andrew cursed in frustration. He'd finally found the time to head to the Outside and hunt, ready to see just how effective this damn animal core would be, but it wasn't giving him anything! He killed a Beast and nothing. He absorbed a crystal and nothing! It just sat there, completely ineffective, gaining nothing from anything! "The fuck am I doing wrong?!?" He growled, glaring down at the body of his latest kill.

"Okay, okay, let's think this through." He muttered to himself, taking a deep breath. "So, obviously we aren't working off system world rules… maybe? I think… hold on, obviously my different cores count as separate people for experience gain, right? I mean, otherwise my animal core would have leveled three times from that level four kill. If that's the case, then since I'm sharing between six cores… is that the issue? I never learned how group experience works… okay, let's try this." Andrew shifted his aura around, getting most of his cores as small as they would go, only keeping his Lizard core up, and even then he decreased it a bit to make sure the rabbit folk core was… he didn't know what, but anything to make it a bigger part of the equation and everything else… not. "Okay, now, let's find something to kill." Andrew muttered.

It didn't take long before he found another one of the ever-present Squirrel and tore its head off with a quick swipe of his talons. "Alright, let's- fuck!" Andrew cursed as he checked the animal core and it still hadn't changed! He let out a sigh, before cutting out the ability crystal and popping it in his mouth. "Why isn't this-" Andrew grumbled, before freezing as the energy from the crystal flowed into him, splitting as normal, except a significant chunk which flowed into his animal core! "Oh, finally!" He exclaimed with a laugh. "Okay, let's see what you've done." He muttered, focusing on the core.

[Level: 4

Strength: 28 (10)

Agility: 28 (10)

Will: 36 (12)

Intellect: 0

Energy: 28 (10)

Sensitivity: 28 (10)]

That… wasn't as big a difference as he'd thought. That was only… he frowned, doing the calculations. Only ten extra points per level? That… did seem right. If the Squirrel was the equivalent of level five, then he would have leveled up to four, but he would have gotten an average of nine more points per level. But if it'd been six, he would have gotten eleven more points per level. Ten was just… weird. The answer, of course, was to go kill another Squirrel.

[Level: 5

Strength: 40 (12)

Agility: 40 (12)

Will: 50 (14)

Intellect: 0

Energy: 40 (12)

Sensitivity: 40 (12)]

"Aaaand another ten…" Andrew frowned. "The hell? If it's ten, I should have leveled up at least twice!" This didn't make any sense! Either he should have been leveling up more or he should have been getting less stats! Was there some kind of glitch happening because the system wasn't supposed to be in this world? Andrew considered it for a moment. Well… ability crystals only contained ten percent of a Beast's energy, right? Was that the issue? He was only getting ten percent of the experience he was supposed to? But then… he was definitely gaining a lot less stats than he should. Unless there was a cap? Like ten more stat points per level was the limit? That was… probably good. Without a limit, animals could get crazy strong. Particularly since they apparently only needed about fifty percent participation for it to count. Actually, that was a pretty big caveat… maybe the system wasn't that broken. Maybe it was a him problem. These rules made perfect sense for the average individual. Animals weren't intelligent. They couldn't strategize. The vast majority would only get two more stat points per level for most of their levels. When they got lucky enough to kill something of a higher level, they deserved a reward. He was the weirdo who could steal cores and bring human intelligence to something that was only meant for animals.

"The fuck am I?" Andrew muttered to himself, shaking his head. It wasn't the first time he'd asked himself this question. He started getting suspicious after the incident during the Beast Tide, and then the time he'd died really just drove it home, but he was definitely not just a Beast. He'd have to be an idiot to not realize it by this point. However, he still had no idea what he was, or how something like him was even possible. But that just figured, didn't it? It wasn't enough that he was a Beast, which was weird for a Bonded, who were weird for humans, but he was weird for Beasts as well! That was three levels of weird! Not just weird, not just super weird, but super ultra weird!

*Hey, what the hell?* Cathryn asked incredulously. *What's got you all mopey out there? I know you aren't hurt.*

*It's nothing.* Andrew sent back with a sigh. *I'm just… coming to terms with the fact that I am completely, irrevocably abnormal. I mean, I'm currently a part of a tribe of literal monsters, and I'm still the worst abomination around! I mean, when I took the rabbit folks cores, the scouts freaked! What I can do is just weird!*

Cathryn paused for a moment. *I mean… yeah? But I thought you already knew that?*

*I mean, I did.* Andrew sighed. *It's just… I mean, I know it, I'm just having a hard time accepting it. Like, why do I have to be weird? All the time? I know I can't change it, and I'm just going to have to get used to it, but… I don't know. It's just frustrating sometimes. Like… Why did it have to be me?*

*I guess… It had to be someone, right?* Cathryn offered. *Plus, if you weren't, we would never have happened… maybe you wouldn't even be with Jing. You wouldn't be the same person, because you wouldn't have had the same experiences. I guess the question is… would you give up what you have just to be normal?*

Andrew blinked. He… hadn't thought of it that way before. Well, he'd had thoughts like that before. Like, if not for his friendship with Benjamin, he'd probably never have gotten with Cathryn. It's just a fact of life that things build on each other, and if one thing changes, so does everything that comes after that. It'd just never occurred to him that him being weird was one of those things. Or at least, it hadn't occurred to him recently. Before all this, before Li Jing and Cathryn, back when the fact that his life sucked was all he thought about, he always thought about the fact that if he was just normal his life would be so much different. So why hadn't he thought about it when his life was good? *I think- I still don't like the fact that I'm weird, but… I do like the way my life has turned out despite it. Ugh, I can't believe I actually have to be grateful I'm weird now.*

*I prefer to think you're grateful for me.* Cathryn sent back along with a smirky feeling.

"Oof!" Andrew grunted as Li Jing fell into his lap. "How was your day?"

"Good." Li Jing muttered, snuggling into him.

"Anything you wanna talk about?" Andrew asked.

Li Jing shook her head. "No."

Andrew nodded, the two of them sitting there cuddling for a moment, before Andrew frowned as something occurred to him. "Hey Jing. Do you ever feel like- I'm not saying this is a problem, but- do you ever feel like we don't… talk enough? I mean, I love us just cuddling like this, just being with each other. It's just us. But when I think about it, me and Cathryn talk a lot, cause we're in each other's heads and it's just a thing, and… well, I don't want you to feel left out or anything."

Li Jing blinked at him, taking a moment to take that in. "I- think it's okay? I don't feel like I need to talk to you any more than I do… Unless, do you want me to talk more?"

"I- don't? I mean, I enjoy talking to you, but… I don't know, I feel like I almost get more of you when we're just sitting here cuddling like this." Andrew replied.

Li Jing smiled at him. "Me too."

Andrew smiled back. "Okay, cool. I just- I wanted to make sure you were okay, you know? I don't want you to feel like I'm neglecting you."

Li Jing frowned. "I don't think we need to talk… I just need to know you think about me. And I know you think about me."

Andrew raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Of course." Li Jing smirked. "Cathryn and I do talk." Andrew froze. Why did that make him nervous?

Andrew stepped out of a portal dropping him right at the edge of the forest. "Alright, let's do this." He muttered, before slinking off into the forest. It was… actually oddly relaxing. Stalking through the wilderness, looking for prey… this was what he did! Andrew rolled his shoulders. "Oh yeah, I'm gonna enjoy this." Andrew chuckled, his steps lightening as his legs shifted to rabbit folk legs and carapace covered him. He was ready to do some damage!

Based on his calculations, he was looking for something at level nineteen. At least, if he wanted to level up with one kill. Or eighteen if he didn't involve his animal core, but why wouldn't he? Plus, if he killed a level nineteen, that'd take his animal core to level seventeen, which would get him another… hundred and twenty-four more stat points per level! That was just… freaking insane! And that was only if his theory about a stat limit was true! He was more sure than ever that what he was doing was something that was never supposed to happen. Andrew actually began to feel a bit nervous, like… like he was doing something wrong. Like the time he ditched school to hide in the woods all day. He was on edge, like somehow, at some point, something was going to swoop in and catch him, punishing him for his transgression. This- this couldn't be allowed. There had to be some sort of catch!

Andrew let out a breath, shaking his head, turning his focus back to the hunt. He didn't need to think about the ridiculousness of this system and how he was abusing it. He just needed to go kill a level nineteen. That's why he was here. No need to get bogged down by the implications. He paid close attention to his aura sense, searching for the right prey. After his Class Advancement, his aura sense finally had some substance to it, letting him see more than a dozen meters or so away. It still wasn't as good as Beast Andrew's aura sense, but it was getting there, more than enough for him to spot creatures before they spotted him and stay out of their way.

The outer edge of the forest seemed to be a weaker area, all the animals Andrew encountered topping out around level ten, so he ended up heading deeper, following the slowly increasing average level. In the process, he focused on practicing his navigation skill, almost purposefully getting himself a bit lost as he navigated through the dense foliage. He also took some time to practice his Hide skill, since it was the perfect area for it, and the average level didn't exactly increase quickly, so after an hour or so of travel, he needed something to break up the monotony. It also gave him some time to play with Shadow Energy, though he couldn't do too much, since he didn't want to waste his energy. He only used about a point an hour, which was well below his regeneration rate, but with his Sensitivity, that still gave him a lot to work with. It not only let him observe how Shadow worked, but it let him practice his Energy Control as well.

It was getting close to evening when Andrew finally found something at level nineteen. The moment it entered his aura sense, he switched to his ant form before flying closer. It was in a small clearing, so he had to land in some bushes near the edge, before transforming back to get a good look at it. In the center of the clearing was a large bear, clawing at a small mound. Clearly it'd been at it for a while, because it'd made some significant progress, a large divot in the hardened earth. Andrew frowned as he noticed another aura, inside the mound which felt… strange. It wasn't exactly weak, but it was faded, and he couldn't get a good grasp on it. Andrew considered it for a moment, before shrugging. Obviously whatever was in the mound was scared of the bear. If he could kill the bear, he didn't have to worry about whatever was in the mound. Especially not after his animal core became the sheer bullshit he knew it would.

Andrew turned his focus back to the bear. As far as he could tell, it was still rank one and it should be level nineteen. He was still adjusting to the differences in auras between levels close to each other, but if he was a little off it wasn't the worst thing in the world. At worst he'd gain two levels instead of one and miss out on two points of strength… but in exchange, his animal core would gain another ten points per level, so he wasn't dumb enough to complain. The other issue he was facing was that judging auras wasn't as straight forward in this world as it was in the other. Depending on skills, or kills for animals, two individuals with the same level of aura could have wildly different strengths. And since this was a bear, there was a good chance it'd killed at least a few creatures with higher levels. A basic level twenty rabbit folk wasn't going to be a match for even a level ten bear. It might have four times the stats, but at a fraction of the mass, that wasn't going to do much for it. F equals m a was still true around here, and while Strength gave you acceleration, it didn't give you mass. Which, he had to remind himself, he was going to be fighting against as well… maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

Andrew considered it for a moment, before letting out a sigh. "Fuck it, I can always run." He muttered to himself. Plus, his aura healing still worked, so as long as the bear didn't one-shot him, he'd be fine. And even if it did one shot him, that just meant… Well, he wasn't sure what the result would be, but he was pretty sure he'd just end up back at level one. Annoying, but not really a problem. He took a deep breath, before letting it out. "Let's do this." He growled, suddenly disappearing from the bush as he teleported into the air above the bear, putting all his Strength into his first kick, right to the bear's head!

The bear's head barely moved, but the bear still stumbled from the strike, proving that the head was still a weak spot, system or no. Andrew flipped away as the bear roared in fury, recovering and moving way faster than any animal that size rightly should to swipe one of its massive paws at him. Andrew was prepared though, meeting its strike with a three Energy Empty Kick, which should have worked, since he figured the bear would only have around two-hundred Strength max given how hard it was hitting the mound, only to quickly realize he had woefully underestimated the bear's Strength. "Oh, shi-!" Andrew exclaimed as he was spiked into the dirt like a freaking volleyball! "Okay, that needed at least seven Energy… maybe eight." He groaned as he teleported away from the bear's follow-up stomp, flaring his aura. Why was the bear's Strength higher than it should be? Unless… "Ah, crap, it's spending Energy!" He should have realized he'd have to deal with that! Animals had Energy too and they could use it just the same. Speaking of, why wasn't he using Energy?!?

"Also, meeting an attack of unknown strength mid-air. Not a good idea." He continued, as he dodged backwards, the bear charging at him. "Too bad you're too stupid to realize I'm leading you towards a tree, and I can teleport." Andrew grinned as he teleported at the last minute ending up just above the bear's head again as it rammed into the solid… oak? Didn't matter. He added another kick to the back of the bear's head for good measure, complete with an Energy boost, adding in the force he'd absorbed from the bear's swipe as well, firmly embedding it in the tree's trunk. Andrew managed to get another four good Energy boosted kicks in before the tree burst into pieces as the bear pushed through it, roaring like- well, like some little piece of shit mutant was seriously pissing it off. "If I had claws, you'd be dead." Andrew grumbled, teleporting away. Why the hell had he thought that kicking would be a good combat style?!? He needed to rip and tear, not bludgeon and club!

"Okay, time for a recharge." Andrew muttered as the bear swung around, its eyes literally red. Tends to happen when someone uses your head as a tap floor. With the same freakish display of speed, it charged towards him again. This time he dodged to the side and it whirled around, raising its paw and batting at him. "Ten points for safety!" Andrew yelled, kicking high to meet the oncoming paw, which against all laws of physics simply stopped.

The bear literally froze, stunned by the sight of something maybe an eighth its size stopping its strike dead. "Ohoho yeah, that just happened!" Andrew grinned viciously, taking advantage of its shock to teleport up and deliver another kick right to the top of its head, complete with Energy and the absorbed force, and this time he heard something crack! He flipped backwards as the bear stumbled, swaying dangerously before collapsing. Andrew didn't level up, so he knew it wasn't dead, but it was definitely dying. He delivered a few more strong kicks to its skull, before realizing a problem. He was definitely hurting it, but he wasn't killing it. At least not quickly. He was just making the poor creature suffer as it slowly died.

"Shit." Andrew cursed under his breath, looking around for something he could use to end the bear's life quickly. He left his knife back at the tribe, since he knew he might need to rely on his any form, and he didn't want to lose it. The only option he could see was parts of the broken tree, but they weren't exactly sharp and he didn't have anything to work them! He was beginning to panic, when it occurred to him. Void was part Destruction, right? "Please let this work." He muttered as he kneeled next to the bear, beginning to pool Energy in his palm and placing it along the bear's throat. He put a good ten points into it, before shifting it to Void and pushing! It wasn't pretty, but the Energy ate away the bear's skin in just a few seconds, and blood began to gush from its neck, until Andrew finally got the notification that he'd leveled up and he collapsed backwards in relief.

"Thank fu- Holy shit!" Andrew cursed as his legs suddenly grew enormous! He kicked them out in shock, hitting the bear and it rolled away like it was nothing. Andrew's eyes widened. "I need to check my stats." He muttered.

[Level: 17

Strength: 330 (36)

Agility: 386 (38)

Will: 300 (34)

Intellect: 0

Energy: 298 (34)

Sensitivity: 330 (32)]

"Fuck." Andrew muttered, stunned. That- that was a change. He'd known it'd happen, but actually seeing it happen… It was also clear that his theory was right. There was a cap. Otherwise, his stats would be even higher, which was just a terrifying thought. He quickly mathed out the changes, feeling a bit grouchy since he totally could have done this faster if the animal core would have boosted Intellect as well, and after scratching in the dirt for a bit, he noticed something weird. His stats were all fourteen points higher than they should be… he quickly rechecked his math, and got the same result. "Where…" He frowned, before his eyes widened as he stared at his legs. What would cause his legs to change? What would give him extra points? The answer? He'd ranked up! To rank three if his guess was right. Though why had he still hit seventeen in that case? Unless the bear was rank three too? No, he wouldn't have stood a chance against it then… maybe since he'd already received the experience as a rank one, it didn't reduce it after the fact? Yeah, that was probably it.

Andrew stood up, hesitating for a moment before shifting fully into his rabbit folk form, and quickly realized he'd need to change what he called it. He was big now. Really big. Bigger than the damn bear! And he had claws. Big ones. And his heels had spikes! Like he was wearing freaking stilettos! Also, he was pretty sure he had a snout now, though a short one, and he definitely had horns. And fangs. Those buck-teeth rabbits have had turned sharp and shifted to the sides. Andrew turned back into his goblin form, a weird expression on his face. He thought he'd be more disturbed, but… well, if there was one thing he knew how to handle, it was being able to turn into a giant monster. That was just a Tuesday for him.

He shook his head, preparing to create a portal back to the tribe since he'd accomplished his goal for the day, when he paused. "Oh yeah, you." He muttered, turning his attention to the faint aura in the mound. "Might as well see what you are, eh?" He muttered, activating his Void Sense and immediately regretting it. With all the new Will, he could see a long way away at the moment. He felt like he could feel half the damn forest, though he knew it was still just a small section, his radius only about a third of a kilometer, but still, way too much information! He quickly pushed most of it away, focusing instead on the mound.

There… was something in there, that was for sure. His Intellect wasn't high enough to give him all that clear a picture, but there was definitely a small space inside with another lump of something curled up in the center. There were also small holes all through the mound, for air flow, which was probably why the thing was still alive and not suffocated by now. Andrew couldn't tell what the thing was, but it wasn't big, and it obviously wasn't doing great according to his aura sense. "Hmmm… I can either save it, or at least give it a quick death, right?" Andrew muttered to himself. Leaving the thing to die in a hole in the ground just felt wrong. He couldn't even bear to watch the bear die slow, and it tried to kill him! After he attacked it, sure, but still. No, he had to at least do something.

Andrew approached the divot the bear had been working at, his hands growing claws, or at least longer, more useful claws, and carapace as he began to dig. He didn't want to risk teleporting inside, because the space was really small and if the thing inside lashed out, he might have to kill it for no reason. The bear had been pretty close, so with his increased strength, it only took him about half an hour to finish the job and break into the small pocket. "Finally." Andrew grunted, wiping the dirt off his face and waving the dust away. "Now, let's-" Andrew began, before freezing. Lying on the floor, looking like she'd lost a fight uncomfortably recently, covered it burns and wounds that looked suspiciously similar to what you'd get if a certain goblin chieftain hit you with his ax, was an elf… and she was wearing a rather familiar cloak, just like the people he'd seen the night he'd grabbed the rabbit folk cores. "Oh, shit." Andrew cursed. How the fuck was he supposed to deal with this?!?