The Mimic in Monsterland

I looked back at the choices and could immediately cross one out. I had no interest in Berserker Pride. My rage was hard enough to control and I doubt it would be helpful if I’m fighting in a group. If I was still out in the wilderness then I could possibly see a world where I choose it. But I’m back in civilization, and I would prefer to stay here. Don’t want to be thrown out or imprisoned for hurting a friendly.

That left the elemental power and the tanky one. From how Jaren just explained it, this choice might lead the form down a different path. I looked down at my hands and imagined fire spewing from them, then electricity crackling around my finger tips. My inner nerd screamed out in delight. I almost clicked it right there without a second thought. But that’s when the more mature boring side came in to ruin all the fun.

I looked down at the other choice and sighed. Stalwart Bear wasn’t really my cup of tea. Being a tank was never my preferred style in any game I played. I get the merit, that badass feeling of walking into a room and knowing it would take every person there to even scratch you. And Ursa already gave a pretty sizable increase to my toughness and that boost has been a massive help the whole time I’ve been on Kniyas. Who knows how many fights could have been much worse without its help. Ursa has absolutely been the MVP form. And it was my first.

The passive Learned Behavior was crazy. And it would stack with all of my other forms and in effect, making them each stronger. That by itself is pretty remarkable. And this isn’t a game. These numbers actually reflect my wellbeing. That shouldn't be thrown to the wayside. It’s probably the safe choice.

But my mind kept coming back to the idea of team fighting. I wondered how healing is in a raid squad. Would the health boost be necessary if healing is easy.

“Hey Jaren.”

“Yep.” He responded, still clearly mulling over my character sheet.

“What does healing look like on Kniyas?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are there people with healing abilities? What do those abilities do if so? Is it more of an out of combat type of healing? And also are there any monsters that can heal others?”

Without turning toward me, Jaren answered. “Healing in general is valuable, as you could probably guess. But it is not as rare as your question implies. Every Raid Squad has, at minimum, two supports. One to focus on health and one to focus on stamina. In my personal squad we have a support named Terl. He is one of the few who does both.”

He turned to me before continuing. “Healing doesn’t come in many varieties. You have the most plentiful with the single target Basic Healing, with patches up surface wounds. It won’t reattach a limb but it will help you get back in the fight. Advanced Healing is a much slower process but can pop your arm back on. The time frame varies on the degree of the injury. A limb normally takes weeks. Anyone with it is placed on the back lines in raids.”

I spoke up with my next thought. “Is there some kind of AOE healing then?”

“AOE?” He questioned with a confused look.

Damn gamer talk. I chastised myself. “Area of effect. It means affecting a whole area. Which is a completely recursive definition. Lemme try again.”

Jaren raised his hand. “No I got you and yes it exists. Group Healing is the skill. It works like Basic Healing but on the surrounding allies. It's very rare and only people in high levels ever get it. There are some more unique healing abilities but that is a gene by gene basis.”

He rubbed his chin. “AOE, I like that.” He made a decisive nod. “I’m stealing it.”

“All yours.”

He grinned and clicked his tongue.

“I’m betting you’re asking about this to help choose whether you should pick that health boost aren’t yah?”

I nodded.

“Well, I can’t give you many recommendations about your gene yet. I’ve barely seen it in action. Now this might be bad advice, but from what I can tell, you should go with your gut. I couldn’t tell you how many splicers I’ve met that get hung up on adaptations. They brainstorm on which is the best for days at a time. That amount of overthinking ain’t great in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, you should put some thought into it, but it’s the kind of thought that matters."

 

“They make the mistake of thinking what’s the absolute best choice, not what's the best choice for them. Ponder on why you use that ability, or I guess in this case, that form. Yes, passive increases are great, but what do you give up for that single benefit?”

Why do I use this form? For some reason, my thoughts drifted back to my first fight on Kniyas. The gremlins by the river. Little shits. Even though I slaughtered probably a dozen colonies worth, they still pissed me off. Probably because they got so close to killing me.

But then other instances came to the forefront. All the fights won through nothing but pure unadulterated might. Yes it could take a hit but that wasn’t why I used it. That strength was why. So I wanted to focus on that aspect and how to harness it without too big of a tradeoff. And besides, I can find a different monster later that will probably be better at tanking anyways. Maybe a turtle. I could work with a turtle form.

I hovered over that last ability, Elemental Claws. Yep, feels right. I clicked it. I hope it doesn’t hurt.

I closed my eyes. I raised my head skyward, waiting for some feeling or energy to suffuse my body.

…

“What are you doing?” Jaren asked.

I opened one eye and looked at Jaren. “Umm, waiting for something to happen?”

“You picked one?”

“Yep.”

“Then you’re good. Check your sheet.”

How anticlimactic. I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. This felt like a big deal.

Shrugging it off, I looked at the updated Ursa page.

Abilities:

Ursa-rage:

Put yourself into a fit of Rage. While raging, you gain a + 15 boost in STR and CON, at the cost of - 14 to all mental stats. You also gain a 12% unarmed damage increase and a 12% damage reduction. These bonuses increase with proficiency.

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. First element chosen upon entering the form will be the only element available until the next use of form. (List of Elements)

That caveat about the first element chosen wasn’t there before. It dashed my hopes of switching between shooting icicles then fire balls. But I was still happy with some versatility. Maybe it will change down the road.

I smiled and was about to shift into Ursa before I felt Jaren’s big hand smack the middle of my back.

“Not yet. I know you’re excited but you have another choice to make.”

“Mmm. Fine.”

I looked farther down the records and found the Tigris page.

 

TIGRIS -

Proficiency Level: 5

Type: Beast

Timer: 2 hours

Stat Changes:

STR + 15

DEX + 18

AGI + 22

CON - 16

INT - 10

WIS - 17

CHR + 20

Abilities:

Eternal Shade:

Create an aura of darkness surrounding your body. Size and intensity of aura increases with proficiency.

Learned Behavior:

N/A

 

Adaptation: Choose one from the following abilities.

Shadow Blades: Whilst Eternal Shade is active, you create two blades from the darkness. You have complete control of them while in the darkness. They may leave the field but will disappear after five seconds.

Predator’s Bloodlust: Gain a stack of Bloodlust when you make an enemy bleed with your claws. Each stack of Bloodlust increases your STR, DEX, and AGI by 1.5%. Max stacks = proficiency level

Proficiency 5, already? It was 3 the last time I looked at it. Then I remembered the raid. I slaughtered who knows how many boars whilst hopped up on magical poppy flowers. Still annoyed my initial plan for income was taken away from me like that. Well not completely, it was probably a viable way to make money. People always have vices. But breaking bad isn’t in my nature.

I shook my head; there were more important things to focus on.

There were only two choices for Tigris. Two different combat abilities this time. Both of which don’t seem bad. Bloodlust was another stat booster, and a damn good one at that. Bonuses to the offensive stats without a drawback.

But Shadow Blades sounded awesome. Swords made from pure shadow, floating around my enemy who is already blinded by the shade. Each strike coming at them from every direction, shredding them. Yep, easy choice. I hovered it, but felt a weird pit in my stomach.

I looked over at Jaren, he was leaning against the monster replica he trained with earlier, writing in a notebook. Apparently everyone in this freaking guild had one.

His words echoed in my head. You should put some thought into it.

Shadow Blades seemed really cool. But there are some issues with it. For one, they really only work while in the shade. Which will get larger down the line, but I have no way of keeping a monster in it. They can move out of it. I’ve only really used it as an ambush tactic, or on slow monsters like the boars. A fast monster or at least monsters with better reflexes would hop out before the blades could do anything. I guess the blades could be used as a way to force things to stay inside the bubble. But doesn’t that kind of ruin the fun.

Predator’s Bloodlust was a guaranteed increase in my fighting capabilities because if that form is good at anything, it's making things bleed. And if I’m going up against something that’s hard to make bleed, I shouldn’t be in Tigris form in the first place. I thought about turtles again. They’d be hard to bleed. Man what's with all the turtle stuff right now.

I hovered over Predator’s Bloodlust. The pit in my stomach receded. And I clicked it.

“Good choice.” Jaren said, coming over to me.

“Now let’s test these powers of yours.” He finished. His face wore the creepy smile again.