A Salamander, but Mighty

POV: Tamara

The light of the adventurers had vanished, the only sound that reached Tamara's ears was the drip of luminous water falling from the ceiling of that labyrinth-like dungeon. She hurt all over, she could barely walk and she knew that with the different flow of time inside the dungeon and the lack of someone to bring her food, she would have to go back to her diet of raw monster meat or maybe of some insect.

The worst thing, however, was the feeling of loneliness, that and the knowledge that this time no one would come to help her.

Come on Tamara, you have to move, you can't stay here waiting for the dungeon monsters to respawn! She didn't know where she could go or if there was some hiding place that only creatures as large as her could squeeze into, the only thing she could do in that moment to try to increase her hopes of survival was... "Status."

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[Tamara Parker][Salmadrer][Monster (lv.8)]

[Health: 1/60 (60)][Mana: 12/30 (30)][XP: 845/1713]

[TRAITS MODIFIERS]

Nourished

[TRAITS]

[8 points to place]

► Dexterity: 12

► Faith: 6

► Knowledge: 6

► Resilience: 12

► Speed: 11

► Strenght: 7

[FEATS]

[2 Feat slot free to use]

► Acid Spit 1

► Scale Armor (Lesser) I

► Scratch I

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Having all those points to distribute made the decision more difficult than when she only had a couple of them: she knew that if she distributed the points in Resilience she would recover some hit points quickly and get out of that... unfortunate situation where even tripping on a stair would have been enough to kill her, but Dexterity had aided her greatly in her fight against the large humanoid hynarl.

Of course, her absence in Strength had been felt, and quite a lot.

“Okay, Faith is clearly the dumb stat for me, unless it has benefits I can't guess now,” She clicked her tongue, or at least, she tried. “More power to Resilience, Knowledge and Strength it is.”

With that parenthesis completed, it was time to move on to the Feats.

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FEAT LIST:

► Bite (Lesser) I

Strenghtens all bites by 5%

► Growth (Lesser) I

Increases user’s size by 5%

► Greater Reach I

Improves user’s limbs reach by 10%

► Nocturnal Habit (Lesser) I

Increases user’s hability to see in any non-magical darkness by 5%

► Scale Armor (Lesser) II

The skin of the user becomes harder to damage by 6.5%

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This time Tamara would not abandon the idea of growing in size, it was clear that that hynarl was not a different version of the same monster but rather that it represented the effects that the Feats can have on the body; she couldn't know if that would be the most powerful opponent she might encounter down there, but her instincts told her that thinking otherwise would be highly optimistic.

Size has a quality of its own after all.

SYSTEM: You have chosen [Growth (Lesser) I], do you want to confirm? Y/N.

SYSTEM: You have chosen [Greater Reach I], do you want to confirm? Y/N.

Y and… Y.

SYSTEM: [Growth (Lesser) I] added to your Feats list. [1] Feat slot still free to use.

SYSTEM: [Greater Reach I] added to your Feats list. All slots are occupied, it is not possible to choose another Feat.

The increase in Resilience had the desired effect, the pain faded by virtue of no longer being literally at death's door, beyond this, there was no surprising change: she felt a sensation that took over her entire body , but nothing that was stronger or more annoying than when she chose [Scale Armor] or [Acid Spit], she didn't even feel taller! The only significant difference was that it was now able to lift its chest and abdomen off the ground slightly more and that its tail must have become perhaps an inch longer.

This result was… underwelming.

Now that she had completed all the technical steps, she had to worry about food. Tamara didn't know when she would get her next meal although her current level was higher than that of the first rodamuse she killed, so if she encountered a similar one, she might be able to kill it with relative ease and eat it...

…

Tamara had to hold back a retch, the rodamuse were in all respects gigantic rats, the idea of ​​eating them was not exactly appetizing for her very human tastes.

I have to put off the need to eat as much as possible, maybe I can hold out until Luchael comes back for me, a shiver shook her from head to toe: will Luchael come back for her? Was hers more of a hope or a fact?

The possibility that he wouldn't return tightened her stomach, she needed to focus her mind elsewhere to avoid panic and making choices that would lead to her death. Her completely black eyes rested on the hynarl corpse, the humanoid one was bigger than the others and would have provided her with more food, the problem was that with its shape it reminded her of a human being in an extremely realistic furry costume.

Her monster instinct told her to eat and get fat, her head told her that this was low-key cannibalism.

Better to start with the two hynarl corpses that were clearly not humanoid.

The mouth with its small pointed teeth sank into the soft parts of one of the two hynarls, smearing itself with blood and squinting as it tore pieces of cold, raw meat with difficulty, chewing the insides a few times before swallowing; the... food, wasn't exactly haute cuisine, but at least she wouldn't starve and she wouldn't have to navigate the meanders of the dungeon with temporary penalty points.

SYSTEM: [Nourished] status improved to [Well fed]. [+2] Bonus added to Traits.

Tamara felt full and that still wasn't enough to get the maximum bonus from the nourishment? Well, she had no choice but to continue eating, at least at that moment eating wasn't so much a question of scarcity as of taste.

SYSTEM: [Well fed] status improved to [Satisfied]. [+4] Bonus added to Traits.

When the system finally notified her that she had reached the maximum bonus she could obtain by eating, half of her body was stained with blood and some fragments of flesh or bone, she had not touched the humanoid hynarl and found herself thanking the universe for not shoving that moral question in her face with far fewer options to choose from.

Having completed the preparations for her short-term survival, Tamara turned her head towards the two entrances to that sort of excavation room, on one side had gone those who had to complete the mission - whatever that was - and on the other the rescuers of Luchael; the safest route to take was the one Luchael and the others had taken, she wouldn't risk running into them and if she was lucky, she would be able to find her way out if she was ever able to get out on her own without risking being killed instantly by the city guards.

The dungeon would be her new home, at least, for a while.

More of this is currently happening in the advanced chapter u__u and you're just $3 away from reading them right now. u__u
Just saying. u__u