FMH ~ 25!

Goats ran away bleating in terror as the personification of goaty death loomed large behind them. A white streak whirled through the air and left behind nothing but pulverized grass. At first the goats had made a proud and noble stand, but now the unified herd that controlled the entire grassland was in full retreat.

“Ha, ha! Thirty points in Fitness!” Luke bellowed after the fleeing creatures at the top of his lungs. He flashed forward, catching up to his target as if it had been standing still. Cookie came down, and Luke caught the escaping pearl on the first bounce. Collecting all the pearls was easy, as that was the largest object left after each Cookie-cutter smash. The pearls didn't seem to mind the force, but skulls didn't particularly care for it.

“How hard must I be hitting in order to totally demolish the entire goat like that, Cookie? How do I transfer points in ‘body’ to a usable metric?” Luke pondered this thought while working to destroy every other living thing in the zone. That included the grass; it was working with the goats to hide them! When it was as short as the grass in zone two, he left it alone after careful consideration and a long conversation with Cookie.

“I could have burned this place down and the goats would have just respawned anyway, huh?” Luke mused calmly. “Ah, no point in worrying about it now.”

He spent the next few weeks utterly annihilating the entire zone. At the start, he was killing dozens of goats every minute, but now that he needed to chase them he was only getting that many every other minute. Luke was also attempting to find his limits, and found that after four days straight of wakefulness, his mind couldn't handle the stress anymore. 

Every time that happened, he would retreat to zone two and rest, then get back to work as soon as he woke. A month into his new pet project, he had cleared about half the zone and was finding fewer and fewer Battering Rams. He almost slipped as he returned to killin’, as there was so much blue blood on the slope that it couldn't dry up in a reasonable amount of time. On a positive note, it made getting to the second zone both fast and easy! He jumped and slid on the proper-length grass; treating the gentle slope like the largest slide in existence and traveling to zone two in style. “Whee!”

Another month, and the excitement had worn off. There was one major positive: Luke finally finished off his grim task. Over the last few weeks, he had explored all the changes to his body and now had a good grasp on his limits. The feeling that he was stagnating was gone. Now he was disgruntled that fighting such weak things had kept him trapped for so long. Even worse, with his new level, they gave him such a small amount of… exp… that he hadn’t gained even a single point.

Challenge completed: clear all Battering Rams from zone one! Reward: 200 Potentia! Current Etheric Xenograft Potentia: 200/14,400 to level 11!

“Hooray.” Luke growled at the words that he still had a slight grudge against. “It was so worth the effort.”

He sat down in his old camp next to a pile of discarded bones, horns, and hides that was piled higher than he stood. Luke leaned against the hides and took a short nap, awakening feeling refreshed and relaxed. He had finally gotten revenge on the goats for the years of torment, and avenged ‘right herd’. Yes, their extinction had been his fault, but when he thought about-

Battering Ram Horn (x500) have finished being absorbed by skill ‘Fully Geared’. You are now able to slot the Ram Horn as a fist weapon for either right or left hand slot.

“I’m some sort of enchanter class, right?” Luke massaged his head and tried to remember the stories he used to read, but he couldn't think of anything else that was similar to what he was doing. “Horns, huh? That’s bone… come on, Cookie, let’s see what happens. Bind horns to right fist?”

There was no clear change, though when he looked at his status, the weapon had bound to his fist.

Gear

Head: None.

Shoulders: None.

Gauntlet: None.

Torso: None.

Legs: None.

Feet: None.

Right Hand: Battering Ram Knuckles. Effect: +5% physical damage (Blunt). Right hand treated as a weapon when attacking.

Left Hand: None.

Luke grabbed the horns that had the deepest blue coloration and headed toward what he now knew was a waterfall and pool of concentrated mana. He dipped a finger in, cautious now that he knew what he was dealing with. There was no pain, no sudden death. That was a plus. It still seemed like simple water to him, so he stepped in and got to work. 

He used his pure strength to forcibly smooth the damage that had been done to Cookie by the guardian of the third Zone. He soothed her the whole time, knowing that the process must be painful. Still, since she was so egotistical about her looks, Luke knew that he should try to fix up all the scars. Shaved goat horn, mixed with the water, acted as a kind of glue. When he was finished filling in everything that the water couldn’t do by itself, Luke gently placed Cookie into the pool. He waited by the poolside for a few days, really letting the mana soak in, and fretting for her the whole time.

During that time, he found that the mana pool had carved a channel down through the exact center of the Zone and into the next one. He took a half hour and explored the new stream, finding a new pool in the center of zone two that had definitely not been there before. “Yet another mystery to explore!”

After a week, he pulled Cookie out of the water and tried to shave down any new protrusions; Even going so far as to smash Cookie against the ground as hard as he could over and over. Luke wasn’t worried; during the week she had stared to shine a deeper blue that let him know she would be harder to break. The extra bone material stayed on, and seemed almost as strong as the original. “Good… good… time to flatten a monkey.”

He followed the stream downhill and charged straight at the Stone Ape. It watched him come, and prepared itself to counterattack as it always had. Cookie swung around into its face… and the Stone Ape shattered just like that. Luke was shocked, but dove forward and caught the pearl that fell from the creature.

Damage dealt: Unknown. You are using a weapon that has not been quantified by your skills.

“Stop trying to make me eat Cookie!” Luke screamed at the screen, his eyes wild and his chest heaving.

You have slain Stone Ape Guardian (level 3). Potentia gained: 1. Slaying a creature two levels lower than you reduces Potentia gained! Caution! Defeating a guardian will spawn two more at the same level! All new spawns will remain for twelve hours after the most recent guardian was defeated, then fade away until only a single guardian remains!

You have gained a skill pearl (T2) from a Stone Ape Guardian! You can either use the pearl right away by swallowing it, or combine fifty pearls at a time to upgrade the skill rarity!

Luke scanned the notifications and looked into the distance. Two slabs of stone lifted from the ground over ten seconds and resolved into Stone Apes. “Well, now I know what I’m gonna be doing for the next year or two!”

He dove into the fray, shattering the two guardians with a swing each. Four more appeared, and soon there were so many spawning and attacking all at once that he had a seemingly never-ending stream to fight against. “Level five, huh? I wonder how hard it’s supposed to be to kill you?”

Hundreds of guardians were popping out of the ground every second, and Luke was starting to get torn up by their claws. Even though he could kill them with one hit using Cookie, he couldn’t react fast enough to dodge what was now a swarm. His armor was rags at this point, the metal claws easily able to tear through the goathide. Only the fact that he had started with half a foot of leather made it difficult for the guardians to get at him. A deep slash opened up his side along his left ribs, and Luke roared furiously. Changing his grip, he started swinging Cookie in a huge arc; becoming a whirlwind traveling toward the edge of the zone. 

He made it, barely, and fell into a heap once he had found safety. With trembling fingers, he unscrewed Cookie and drank the water stored inside. Soothing warmth started emanating from his stomach, and the raw mana traveled along his new mana channels like the world's best medicine. It actually was this world’s best medicine, as far as he knew. Luke’s wounds didn't close instantly, but when he pulled up his status he could see the number ticking upward. 

Health: 87/150. Caution! You are bleeding heavily! 

You have slain Stone Ape Guardian (level 5) x439. Potentia gained: 439. 

You are able to increase in level! Do so now? Yes / No.

“No.” Luke stared at the Potentia hungrily. “What are you… is there anything else you used for?” 

Checking access levels… no trainer present within [error] miles. Early access granted. 

Etheric Xenograft Potentia is used to increase the potential of your being, or applicable skills to bring them to the next tier or level.

“How much do I need to bring Fully Geared to the next level?” Luke asked excitedly.

Current exp in skill: 477/8,900 to skill level 10!

“I only have half of what I need…” Luke took a long breath and continued to wait until his health had returned. “I have two options. Level myself so that I have a higher reaction speed, or save up the exp. But if I level myself, I might not get any exp from the guardians anymore…”

A third option appeared in Luke’s mind, and his eyes lit up. “It said that I can get a skill per pearl tier from each monster!”

Luke had pearls for days. He pulled out a T1, T2, and T3 from his goat hide canteen, swallowing them down in order.

Skill gained: Bum Rush. T1, level 0. Mana cost: 10

Effect 1: At the cost of 10 mana, once per minute you can empower your forward charge, allowing you to cross the distance in one second that you can normally sprint in five seconds. Extra effective for knocking over defensive lines!

“What’s a Bum?” There was no answer to Luke’s question, so the next pearl went down.

Skill gained: Goat Call. T2, level 0. Mana cost: 10.

Effect 1: Lure goats to your location, forcibly. Near-impossible for goats to resist.

Bonus 1, at range: Lure goats from up to a mile away.

“Alright, so not every skill is a winner, good to know.” Luke grimaced at the new skill. Why would anyone want more goats near them… wait. He could lure them closer and then kill them! This skill was amazing! The next pearl went down.

Skill gained: Innate Balance. T3, level 1. Mana cost: none.

Effect 1: You gain an innate balance when walking on narrow ledges or anything that you are attempting to walk on that requires good balance. This skill is modified by the sub-characteristic Physical Reaction. Current balance increase: 5%. (passive ability)

Bonus 1, at range: When jumping or leaping, balance bonus doubles.

Effect 2: The bonus is active at all times, not only when on narrow walkways.

Just to see what would happen, Luke then ate another T1 pearl. No new skill appeared, so he put the others away carefully. No need to waste them, who knew if he would someday come back and get these pearls all the way up to tier five? In fact… now the pool of water that had formed in the zone took on a new meaning. Should he hide his pearls in the water? He decided that would be better than lugging them around.

“Then I’ll lure in my dinner!” Luke thought of his new skill with glee. The goats had been trying to hide recently, now… now he could force them out into the open.