Dropping In Part II
1597 Words
I awoke to a hoof slamming down on my gut. Even though the dirt was a hard blow. Suddenly awake, I struggled to hold my seatbelt together. The weight suddenly lifted, and I realized I wasn't in the past.
Above me, Kale lifted her tail and waved it around, showing off the pink under her tail. I felt a strange stirring that must have been from this body's crotch. This world was weird as hell with a bunch of different sapient species. One of Red's brothers nearly died when a sweet lamia tried to introduce him to her sisters. He shook his head and pulled himself out of the mud.
Kale turned and glared at him with her large blue eyes. "Good morning; I hope you slept; our day will be a long one. If you fall behind, your collar will go off until you die."
Ding!
3rd Quest Completed
Survive the Night
Rewarded: +1 RP with Kale, +1 Bronze Skill Roll
Kale 8/100 You aren't the most worthless slave she could have bought.
Bronze Skill Roll
Choosing A Type…
Type: DEX
Rolling F – B…
Ding!
New Skill
Woodcarving lvl1
Type DEX
Description – Carve wood into many artistic and valuable shapes. The sky can be traversed with the proper use of wood.
ATL – Carve wood into something artistic, helpful, or both.
Abilities
1. Steady Knife – -25% Endurance cost when wielding a knife to craft.
I looked around and sighed. There wasn't any wood for miles all around me. Wood in a desert might as well be something precious like water. Why couldn't I have gotten something useful, like a survival skill or maybe a qi-based skill? Kale wouldn't be so quick to shock me if she knew I could blast her at any time.
Of course, I could always shoot her. My collar threatened to shock me at the thought. The implication wasn't lost on me. If this hunk of metal around my neck could somehow predict when I had thoughts of rebellion, escape would be more complex than I thought.
Kale winked at me before walking down the road. I quickly packed the damn tent and tossed it over my shoulder before running to follow her.
"It's so great that I don't have to pack and unpack my tent anymore. Five coppers well spent. How did you end up on the market?" Kale asked.
"You didn't bother to ask my name; why does my story matter?" I asked.
Kale snorted. "You had to have done something to deserve being sold. From what I can tell, you must have been a burden on your family. They probably got sick of your s**t and sold you off." Kale said.
I glanced at her. Sand from the wind stopped mid-air before it touched her. While her ebony hair danced in the wind, she didn't suffer a grain of sand in her eyes. She knew the magic of some kind and used it to protect herself from the heat and the desert winds.
A sigh escaped her lips before her ears flattened. "Fine, what's your name?"
"Red, that's what everyone used to call me," I said. Just because the memories of this body's former owner weren't mine initially didn't mean they felt differently. The sins of Red's past were mine as well.
"My name's Kale of the Rolling Valley Herd. If you serve me well, I might buy another human to join you. Though if you try to mount me again, I'll kick you in the head." Kale said.
"You're rather cavalier about my attempt to mount you," I said.
For the record, it was the previous owner of this body. Though I'd rarely gone 24hours without my fleshlight. Leaving her would always be my greatest shame.
"Stallions from my herd and others have tried, but none had what it takes. I'm looking for a powerful man; mere boys won't do it for me. What about you have you mounted any fillies of your own species?" Kale asked.
"Yes, I was married. No wife wants a lame husband. My brothers took care of her and my son." So I said and felt my eyes water for people I didn't really know.
Ding!
4th Quest
Spring The Ambush and Survive
Reward +2 RP with Kale, +1 Bronze Skill Roll
My ears twitched, and I turned to see a lioness creeping through the tall orange grass. Its eyes flashed, and I stumbled, feeling suddenly dizzy. Why could everything use magic but me? My mind couldn't accept that a dumb animal understood something I couldn't grasp.
"I think that's as much of my past as I can stand to talk about right now. So get ready for a fight." I said.
What I didn't expect was for my collar to go off before the lioness pounced. Instead, I turned to see Kale's tail turned up as she bolted faster than a speeding bullet and with no intention of helping me. This wasn't fair; it wasn't how this was supposed to be. I'm in an issekai; the world is supposed to bow down to my power and give me all its beauties.
Six lions shot out of the grass as she ran, stopped their chase, and turned to me. One blasted me with a spell from its eyes, knocking me off my balance. I took a step and fell on my ass.
All I could think about was how unfair it all was, and I couldn't do a thing about it. So my plans, hopes, dreams, balls, and ass were going to be digesting in a cat's stomach. Well, the male will probably get those, according to animal planet.
Glinting in the sunlight was a weapon close at hand. Instead of all attacking me at once, a juvenile lioness padded forward. The second it came in close, I snarled, threw myself up with my elbow, and smashed the rock against the face of a juvenile lioness. Heavy claws raked against my lame arm digging out five, inch deep rivers of blood. The shock increased, and I charged the juvenile and smashed its face a second time.
The rock in my hand cracked, turned red, and then white as I slammed it against the lioness's head. I heard a sizzling like cooking meat and smelled burnt hair. A second later, the rock in my hand exploded against the lioness's head.
It was magic or qi, but I wasn't sure which.
"Hey, system, which one did I use just now, mana or qi?" I asked.
Ding!
The system is processing your inquiry…
Answer: The user unlocked qi for the first time and uses their connection to the Root of Black Dragon to generate heat.
I concentrated on the world's unfairness and pulled at the power welling up for my contempt for the world. That emotion of hate was precisely what I needed. More power welled up within me, and the grass around my feet soon caught fire.
The galloping of hooves snapped my focus. Kale shot forward, shrouded in lightning. She burst through the lionesses crushing two of their skulls with their hooves alone. Had I been too focused on the fight to notice her come back, or did she have some ability that blocked out sound?
By the way, she didn't react to gunfire the night before; I guessed the latter.
She turned, launching bolts of lighting from her hooves as she kicked a lioness before the feline could land a blow. The few creatures who survived shot off into the grass.
Ding!
4th Quest Complete
Spring The Ambush and Survive
Rewarded +2 RP with Kale, +1 Bronze Skill Roll
Kale 10/100 She thinks you are moderately useful
Bronze Skill Roll
Choosing A Type…
Type: STR/MAG
Rolling F – B…
Force lvl1
Type STR/MAG
Rank: B
Description – Magic becomes the acceleration, and strength becomes mass to create a skill that blends the physical with the mystical to create a potent combination.
ATL – Wield the abilities given by the Force skill to attack or defend.
Abilities
Force Aura – Mana is spent passively to protect the body from damage. When active, the mana drain increases and exponentially increases defense.
Force Body – Strength is passively increased by the user's mana. When active, the mana drain increases and exponentially increases damage.
Suddenly, I felt a massive increase in power. My strength doubled and then tripled. The power was incredible in some ways and frightening in others. Unlike with standard stats, my muscles didn't suddenly break down and regenerate. Instead, the same force that powered my hatchling flames empowered my muscles.
Kale approached with a slight blush on her face. "I'm sorry that I ran off when the lions attacked; I didn't think." She opened her mouth then closed it. "Thank you for warning me back there. If you hadn't, they might have gotten me. No matter how skilled, the centaur lions of the plains have always been our mortal enemies. My brother was taken by them." Kale turned away and sighed. "Present your wound to me; if it's left untreated, it'll get infect."
Hesitantly, I approached her and presented his arm. She took ahold of it and licked his wound. I felt the pain ebb away with each lick. When she released me, my blood covered her face down to her chin.
"I know you don't like the situation you are in. But as long as your mind, I won't mistreat you." Kale said.
Stats
STR 3
CON 4
DEX 3
AGL 10
QI 6
PER 8
MAG 2
PP 0
- Writer
