The Mimic in Monsterland

My dreamless sleep was interrupted by a banging at my door. I sat up. “I’m up,” I said on the lower side of the decibel scale. The banging did not cease. "Liam."

“I’m up!” I yelled this time, making sure my words got across.

“Okay. You didn’t have to shout.” A feminine voice came from the other side of the door.

I palmed my face. I mumbled "Sorry" through my hand.

 

Breakfast was a quick affair this morning. Mrs. Warbler and Loreli joined me this time at one of the tables downstairs. Loreli was working down here when I got up, working on repair jobs. Some more monster meat and odd colored eggs. The yolks were a much darker shade of orange than what I was used to. But they tasted delicious all the same.

“Ready to go, Liam?” Mrs. Warbler was almost out the door by the time I caught up with her. We left the shop. She was to be my escort today. Which I kind of felt bad about. I didn’t love that I had to have an escort in the first place, let alone it being the kind old lady who is feeding, clothing, and sheltering me. Made me feel like a child.

“I can make it there on my own. You don’t have to leave the shop. It’s starting to feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”

She waved her hand while we were walking. “Oh hush child.” She looked into my eyes for a second. “Oh you actually feel that way don’t you?” I nodded.

She laughed. Full belly kind.

“Honey, I should be the one worried about that.” A smile grew on her wrinkled face. “Oh, that man didn’t tell you, did he sweetie?”

“Who?”

“Len.”

Why do I ask?

She tugged on my shirt. “Where do you think I got the design for these clothes?”

I shrugged and looked them over again. They were reminiscent of the ones I was wearing when I first woke up on Kniyas. But they weren’t the exact same: different fabric and colors.

Then my mind went back to training with Len, when I put on a fresh outfit for the first time. One he said he cleaned and repaired. Did he have Mrs. Warbler make me a new outfit?

I tilted my head at her. “Did Len give you these?”

She nodded. “Yep, the ones he gave me were all ragged and torn to shreds. But it wasn’t hard to perceive and recreate the original design. With my own twist as well. It took some repetition, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was you were destroying the clothes faster than I could make them.” She pinched my arm, getting her faux-anger across physically.

“After I made the eighth outfit. I had it down.”

She beamed, then pointed at people wearing clothes similar to them.

“It's just the right amount of practical and comfortable. The style swept through Laurel overnight feels like. Now everyone is wearing Gran’s Everyday Collection. I made an absolute killing those first couple of months I put them on the racks. And many come in to get repairs done or new outfits still. My grandbaby is going to want for nothing.”

I looked back at the clothes and around at the others with blatant confusion. But this is such basic clothing. It’s pretty much what you see lazy people wear to renaissance fairs. There’s nothing fancy about this at all. It's just comfortable breathable pants and a light long sleeve shirt. And what about the leather armor that came with it? Was everybody just walking around in tunics and togas or something? I mean Len had normal enough clothes on. I mean he wears potato sacks for pants but the shirt looked normal enough.

“—come up with it?”

Mrs. Warbler was looking up at me while we walked.

“Sorry, what was that?” I asked, feeling a little embarrassed about ignoring the sweet woman.

“How did you come up with the design? What inspired you?” Her eyes filled with passionate expectancy. Which made the fact that I had no idea what to tell her so much worse. I wasn’t going to say something about waking up in the middle of the woods just wearing them. Some God of Rebirth named Terrence came up with them when he plopped me here. Or that where I come from this is actually quite lazy fashion. I quickly thought up something.

“Oh you know how inspiration is.” I waved my hand. “It's a fickle and flighty thing. I’m not even sure where or when I came up with it. It just hit me one day.” I finished my statement with my head turned skyward. One eye peeking at her to see her reaction.

Will the ass-pull work?

She nodded. “Oh don’t I know it honey.” She said, letting the matter rest.

Ass-pull successful. I feel like I deserve some EXP. That one extra point in CHR doing work.

 

She walked with me all the way to the guild hall. After a quick goodbye, I entered. The gnomes were busy running around with tools and supplies like yesterday. One walked down the hall leading to Rita’s lab. I shivered. I had no desire to enter her lair today. I was still curious about the test results, but not in a hurry.

I heard some grunting coming from the direction of the training room. With curiosity thoroughly piqued, I ventured into the room. But low and behold, no one was around. I heard another grunt, its source coming from an open door in the back.

I walked through and found out it led to a huge backyard area. Three or four times as spacious as the guildhall itself, completely fenced in. There were a number of objects littered among the yard. All covered by cloth, except for one.

Jaren swung a massive double sided sword that was probably taller than he was. He was landing hits on what looked to like a wooden statue of a large monster. It was a reptilian type from the shape language, but stood on two feet. It also appeared to have joints. It was almost more of a construct than statute. Can it move on its own?

My attention then landed on Jaren’s fighting. His movement was so graceful and clear. It shocked me. I expected the large half-elf dragon gene man to wield some greataxe or warhammer with vicious savagery. Completely decimating anything that came in his path. That’s what it felt like when we had our scuffle yesterday. But watching him now, I can tell he was just playing with me. That I wouldn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell at fighting him when he truly fought.

His swings with the double sword exuded precision. Like every strike was completely planned in advance and then executed without flaw. It was oddly mesmerizing to watch.

He dropped down and prepared one final blow, green energy surrounded with blade, and with a snappy swipe, the energy flew forward in an arc heading straight for the construct’s neck. It cleaved the head from its shoulders. The wooden head rolled on the ground.

Jaren took a breath and then shoved the sword into the ground. He turned around and saw me, giving a wave. “Mornin’.”

I nodded and returned the greeting before asking about his fighting.

“Is that your real fighting style? And what was that awesome energy slash attack. That was awesome!”

“Yep. Though I was a bit off today. Should have cut the shoulder first before going after the forearm. Would have made a cleaner strike. And you're right, Hurricane Slash is awesome. But that's not important.” He walked over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Today is not about me. We are going to start your official raid training.”

Training. The word hung in my head for a second. It came with some mixed feelings. On one hand, I was excited. I hadn’t really got to move and exercise much in the past few days and I was honestly itching for some action. A little shocking I know, but after eight months of constant training, fighting, and foraging my body yearned for the blood pumping effort.

All the talking and learning was wildly fascinating and necessary. This is my new reality so I need to understand it. But I haven’t felt quite right without the training.

On hand number two though, I was worried about the raids themselves. Apprehension still surrounded my thoughts about fighting huge hordes of monsters. Would I do well with a team? These are people who have practiced and fought since they were children.

Jaren must have seen the trepidation on my face. “Don’t worry so much boyo. I’m not throwing you to the Wolvens yet. That’s next Tuesday.” He winked and bumped my shoulder.

“No, first I need to come up with a proper regimen for you. So sheet please.” He held his hand out. “Oh and do me a favor, just ignore the name for now.”

I pulled my Character Sheet up and found the notification.

 

[Share Your Character Sheet With: “Jarenth Savannah”]

[Yes] [No]

 

I clicked on the yes. Savannah huh. Everybody calls him Holdsburn. Wonder why he changed it. I thought about it for a moment longer, but decided to go with what Jaren asked and ignored it. It wasn’t any of my business anyway.

Jaren was busy reading the sheet. His eyes flickered across the sheet. I decided to give it a look over as well. I reviewed it just before the raid, but that felt like a month ago after everything that’s happened.

 

CHARACTER SHEET

Name: Liam Foster

Level: 4

Race: Human

Monster Gene: Mimic

Stats:

Health Points: 160

Stamina: 310

Mana: 160

 

Strength: 24

Dexterity: 24

Agility: 24

Constitution: 24

Intelligence: 24

Wisdom: 24

Charisma: 25

 

Abilities:

Active:

Mimicry (Object) (lvl 7): Copy the likeness of one object. You gain the stats of the object while active. May be canceled at any time. (Recorded Entries)

Mimicry (Creature) (lvl 9): Mimic one creature of your choice. This may include stats, abilities, spells and other aspects. May be canceled at any time. (Recorded Entries)

 

Passive:

Learned Behavior: You may gain a portion of the stats and/ or abilities from a mimicked monster. Benefits given depend on the creature mimed and only given if you become adequately proficient in that form. With higher proficiency, benefits may increase.

Dark Sight - See in the dark. Up to 10m.

Preflex - Predict incoming attacks.

 

Spells:

None

 

And as I thought, nothing changed. I wondered if something would have happened after the raid. It was that kind of monumental event in my book. But that is a normal occurrence of this world I suppose.

“Oh and you can hit on the recorded entries to see the list of my forms.” I informed Jaren.

He nodded slightly but didn’t respond. He only grinned. A sly and somewhat creepy one at that. He also talked to himself about the apparent oddities of my gene, only enhancing the ominous vibes.

“He really doesn't have Primaries or Detriments. Incredible.” His smile disappeared and he looked at me.

“Having a hard time making those decisions?” He asked, his question completely stumping me.

“What do you mean?”

“On your Ursa and Tigris forms. You have adaptation choices to make. I understand it's a bit intimidating but you should get it figured out. I’d like to add them to the regimen.” His eyes glazed back over the sheet.

“Adaptations?”

Before asking any more questions I opened up the forms in question.

 

URSA -

Proficiency Level: 5

Type: Beast

Timer: 1 hour

Stat Changes:

STR +17

DEX - 11

AGI + 6

CON + 16

INT - 13

WIS + 7

CHR - 6

Abilities:

Ursa-rage:

Put yourself into a fit of Rage. While raging, you gain a + 10 boost in STR and CON, at the cost of - 9 to all mental stats. You also gain a 10% unarmed damage increase and a 10% damage reduction. These bonuses increase with proficiency.

Learned Behavior:

Preflex:

May predict where an attack will land. Chances of activation increase with proficiency level and wisdom. Also boosted when in Ursa form.

Activation % = Proficiency + (Wisdom/ 10) rounded down + 10 (only if in form)

Current = 8%, in form 18%

 

Adaptation: Choose one from the following abilities.

Berserker Pride: Focus your rage. Your rage abilities increase in potency. All positive stat increases go up as well as negatives. Rage will become harder to control. Also comes with Wild Swipes. A barrage of claw attacks only available while raging.

 

Stalwart Bear: Forgo the attack buffs while you are raging. Instead trade for boosts in CON, Health, and Stamina. Comes with new Learned Behavior Healthy Bones. A flat 10% increase to health in all forms. 10 + current proficiency while in Ursa form.

 

Elemental Claws: Pick among the elements below. Your claw attacks will gain affinity for that element. Comes with Elemental Discharge. After gathering elemental power in your claws, make a powerful attack. The type of attack and stamina costs change with element

Fire - ED: A large swipe that releases a cone of fire.

Ice: - ED: A swipe that launches forth a barrage of ice spikes

Lightning - ED: A swipe that calls down lightning on the target after a delay.

Earth - ED: A swipe that kicks up a dust storm.

 

I just blinked at the sheet for a solid minute. “What?” I rolled my eyes.

“What the hell, Tutor? This feels like something that could have been brought to my attention a while ago.” I whispered, hoping Jaren would be too distracted by the sheet and his own machinations to hear me.

“Oh yeah, my bad. A lot happened lately, this didn’t seem like a priority until now. Oh, Tigris got one too.”

“I know, Jaren already said that.” I said a little louder than intended.

“What was that?” Jaren spoke up, not looking away from the sheet though.

“Nothing just uh, this is my first time even seeing these kinds of choices. What are they?” I asked, my interest quelling my annoyance with Tutor.

He looked at me funny but then snapped his fingers. “Right, no school. Keep forgetting that. I won’t bore you with all the details behind adaptation. Just think of it as a way to choose which direction your gene evolves. Do you pick abilities that focus on making you withstand more hits like that stalwart one you got, or go for the elemental damage route. That discharge ability is actually the same one that eventually became Hurricane Slash.”

“So wait, do the genes evolve or is it the abilities?” I asked, even more confused but intrigued.

“Both, but a gene evolution is called a mutation. And they are rare, extremely so. Not many genes even have the capability.” He straightened out his back and pointed at himself with his thumb. “You happen to be looking at one too. My Draco gene didn’t come with the Zephyr typing until later in life, after multiple adaptations in my abilities.”

“Fascinating.” I wondered if the Mimic gene could evolve, and if it could what would it turn into exactly. Nah I doubt it. With all the forms and such, it probably doesn’t need a mutation. But what about the forms? Will they mutate? What about…

“Liam.” Jaren nudged my shoulder again. “Looked like I was losing you. Len told me to be careful of that.”

“Right, sorry about that. Where is Len by the way?”

“He's trying to get you your citizenship. Give you some freedom back and make you eligible for the guild. But mostly so we don’t have to keep worrying about finding somebody to lug you around town any more.” He said with a laugh.

“Oh and the adaptations are permanent, so no pressure.”