Rexus ~ Chapter 7!

At least they left him on a path and pointed him in the right direction. It would have been rather difficult to traverse the forest in an unknown area and find where Jaxon should have been going. A temple behind enemy lines… this sounded like a song worthy quest! It was also fitting for a monk to go to a temple to increase in power, and for some reason Jaxon felt that this was the absolute correct decision. Jaxon supposed that the quest had told him to follow his heart, and he thought that was what he was doing. After all, the heart is in the front of the body, and he was constantly moving forward.

Jaxon continued walking along the path, having been told that it would lead him directly to a settlement that would give him directions to the temple. The old crone had told him very specifically to be careful, leading him to believe that there were going to be fun things along this path. Jaxon started walking, then, remembering, Jaxon started skipping along the flat and well-traveled trail. Jaxon decided that this would be a good time to train his dexterity, and while skipping Jaxon also began to do flips and cartwheels in the air. This was certainly not the fastest way to travel, but after a couple hours Jaxon started to see improvements in his form.

Dexterity +1!

“Thank you game, that is very helpful.” He never stopped skipping along as he read the notifications.

Skill increase: Aerial Acrobatics (Beginner II).

Skill increase: Jump (Apprentice 0). Congratulations! You have entered the Apprentice ranks! As a reward for your efforts, damage from falling has been reduced 5%!

“Those are also handy!” His smile only grew as he continued traveling, but sadly Jaxon was not paying attention to where he was going. Did you knew that snakes like to sunbathe on trails and flat rocks? Jaxon learned that by completing a flip and landing on a snake’s head like a certain red-hatted Italian plumber.

*Hiss*! Jaxon seemed to have angered the serpent. This would be an interesting challenge, did snakes have back problems? Jaxon had never run into a similar issue, but he had a great fondness for reptiles and most of all snakes.

“Hi there, little guy!” The snake coiled and reared up, it’s head now above his and waving back and forth. “Listen, I’m so sorry about that. I love snakes, and would have never intentionally attacked you. You are all spine! It’s glorious!”

He was nearly shouting by the end of his small speech, and the snake had gone still. Its tongue flicked out repeatedly, the only part of it noticeably moving. *Whisk*! Jaxon contorted to the left, dodging the finger-length fangs that had been aiming for his neck. “Oh, come on! My snakey-snake, why are you making me do this? I already said sorry!”

*Whisk* *Whisk*! Jaxon slid to the right, then tumbled into a somersault to avoid the follow up strike. “I don’t want to fight you, and I won’t!”

Quest gained: Betting your life! A Monarch Death’s Touch Asp has targeted you for an infraction. Although you apologized, the mean ol’ snake just woke up and is grumpy! You promised the snake that you wouldn’t fight it, so let’s see what happens! Avoid the unbelievably poisonous fangs long enough for the snake to get bored and leave. Failure requirements: Attack the snake, get bit. Reward: 5 points to dexterity, variable. Failure: Death or Warlock title, double Exp penalty.

Jaxon almost faltered as the quest appeared, the fangs brushing the strap of his backpack and beginning to corrode it in the same moment. As he cartwheeled over the next attack, the strap broke and he needed to let the pack fall to the ground. He had gained a few feet of wiggle room, or so he thought. The Asp moved forward in a straight line across the ground, not winding like a normal snake in the slightest. It left a furrow on the ground of smooth packed dirt, leading Jaxon to believe that it had some kind of earth manipulation ability.

The front of the snake lifted off the ground as it approached, like the prow of a ship that was moving across water extra speedily. Jaxon was off-balance, and the only option was up. As he gained a firm foothold and jumped forward into an aerial somersault, the snake came further off the ground and fangs opened to catch him. Jaxon burned through nearly a hundred points of stamina with his next maneuvers; Contortionist’s Dodge was used to his maximum ability and his ribs shifted up and over the Asp’s mouth. The rest of his body slid along the snake, and he rolled down its length as it passed under him.

Jaxon hopped to his feet and stared the snake down as it swung around to face him once more. He started weaving his body side-to-side, arms held out and moving independently in slow arcs. His fingers were also wiggling as he warmed up. Jaxon hoped that blocking an attack wouldn’t count as attacking, because he was starting to run low on stamina. The Asp, seeing him move like this, coiled up and reared back. 

It locked eyes with Jaxon, and its head started moving in time with his own. Jaxon, understanding that something had changed, continued moving in similar patterns. He slowed down incrementally over time, but the snake stopped following his movements well before he got close to stopping or needing to stop. With a somewhat agitated hiss, the Asp slithered away through the underbrush. Jaxon took a deep, calming breath, then screamed as a wall of text and pain slammed into him.

Quest complete: Betting your life! You charmed a Monarch Death’s Touch Asp into leaving you alone! While you certainly didn’t tame it - a feat believed to be impossible - your movements struck a chord in its snakey little brain. Perhaps it thought that you were another of its kind? Reward: +5 Dexterity, Title: Snake Charmer.

Snake Charmer: You have shown that your love for snakes is true, refusing to fight even on the verge of dying! In the future, it will be 20% easier to tame reptiles, and snakes especially will show you favor, attacking you last if possible.

You have reached a threshold of 100 dexterity! Your nerves, reaction times, and bodily movement ability are being modified, please lay down to avoid falling and hurting yourself! Starting in 2… 1…

Jaxon hadn’t even been in this much pain when he had burned to death over thirty seconds. His skin rippled as his muscles were forcibly contracted, and his limbs spastically twitched. His head thrashed side to side, and the only reason he didn’t bite his tongue was that his jaws were too firmly clenched. Then Jaxon felt his bones change. This was the most terrifying aspect to him, as he knew exactly what his body could handle to this point. Then the pain and fear went away, and he was left with pure excitement that he once again had the opportunity to explore a new body.

He was flat on his back in the middle of the road, a few cuts from sharp rock dripping blood. He didn’t mind one. Little. Bit. Jaxon only had smiles today. His legs lifted up, then bent to put the pads of his feet flat on the ground. Ever so slowly, Jaxon straightened his body into a standing position without ever needing to use his hands or force to get into that position. “I’m made of rubber! I bet that looked like a scene from a horror movie!”

He was correct, and the one person who had witnessed the event was nearly sick from watching the inhuman motions. A dagger glinted in the light briefly as they considered moving against the target early… no. Jaxon was going to be leading the team to treasure, moving against him now would be foolish. The knife vanished into a sheath, even as the figure vanished into the shadows. 

“While that was fun, I seem to be out of stamina. Time for a snack, a rest, and then onward to destiny!” Jaxon folded his legs and plopped down to the ground, landing gently although he wasn’t trying to do so. He pulled over his damaged bag, reaching in for some travel rations and a sewing kit. He sewed the strap back to the bag, nodding when he pulled at the ugly work and it held.

Skill gained: Sewing-

“Don’t want it.” Jaxon loudly spoke even as the rest of the information began appearing. Then he waited with anticipation. This was a trick he had learned, the secret to his amazing success and the only way he knew of to get ahead in the game. This was the one thing he would never tell another person.

Are you sure you want to refuse learning the skill [Sewing]? If you refuse this skill, the only way to learn the first rank of skill [Sewing] will be to devote five skill points to learning it. Yes / No.

“Yes, refuse skill.” Jaxon subvocalized the words, never knowing who may be listening in.

You have refused the skill [Sewing]! Five free skill points have been added to your sheet!

“Excellent.” That put him at thirteen free skill points. Looking at his skills, he finally broke under the pressure and used three points to bring his two most-used skills to the next ranking. Even though he only had ten free points right now, the hope was that it would be enough to be beneficial to any skill he may gain during specialization.

Skill increase: Adjust (Master 0). Congratulations! You have reached mastery of your main class skill! Mastery reward: The base damage of ‘adjust’ has been doubled! Base damage is now 10, and each stack adds damage by 10X, where X=number of stacks. When healing, the penalty has been halved! Now only .5 points of damage are given when adjusting to help others!

Skill increase: Acupressure (Master 0). Congratulations! You have reached mastery of the application of pressure to the body. Mastery reward: Critical damage done to acupressure points has been doubled! Current critical hit bonus: 240%.

It had been a long time coming, but Jaxon was now a Master at his craft! He wanted to shout his glee to the world, instead he simply got to his feet and began skipping down the road with renewed vigor. His body moved in perfect sync with itself, and his head remained stable even as the rest of him shifted fluidly. He almost wanted to pick a fight with something or someone just to see the benefits of his new threshold and skill levels! It seemed that all of the Wolfmen in the area had been mustered for war however, and Jaxon didn’t see a single one of the race’s combatants anywhere.

He heard a bugle off to his left, followed by a series of rapid explosions. He must have caught up to where the army was waging their war! Jaxon slowed slightly, then shook his head and picked up the pace. If he left this path he may never find it again! Specialization needed to come first. Besides, it wasn’t as if there was any real benefit for him in the war as it stood. The quest had been completed. Right now it was a slaughter of a shattered race, and that was just too bad. Jaxon decided to do a few more flips. He was really enjoying the feel of his body! How tightly could he curl himself while in the air? Jaxon never saw the overturned earth or magic flowing in the ground under him, he was far too entranced with his body.

Luck +1!

“I agree, game! Doing flips at my age is oddly lucky!” Jaxon happily skipped, twirled, and pirouetted down the path, all the while somehow avoiding pitfalls, explosive traps, and patrols of both the human and Wolfman army. The signs of their passing or setup were obvious to those who knew what they were looking for, but Jaxon was only looking for the next landmark he had been told would be in his path. Hours passed, and he found no enemies, no monsters, and no signs of life whatsoever.

“Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jole~e~ne! I’m begging of you please don’t take my life!” Jaxon had started singing to pass the time as he continued onward, and was hoping that something interesting would happen as he sang. “All you’ve ever brought is pain and strife; your teeth are sharp, your mouth takes life; your claws rend flesh, there’s no escape… from the judgement of the eldritch one, Jolene!”

Would you like to change class to ‘Dark Bard’? Skills include summoning magics, debuffs for friends and allies, and self-sabotage. Yes / No.

“No thank you, game.” Jaxon furrowed his brow. “Perhaps I should be more careful of what I’m singing?”

His eyes lit up as the late afternoon heat began shifting to the chill of evening. In the distance a tribal-style palisade was coming into view, and hulking sentries were watching him approach. Snarls and barking filled the air, warning to others that an invader was approaching. Jaxon clipped on his ‘Token of Appreciation’ and waved at the gate guards. He shifted to their language, and the nearest winced as he butchered their native tongue. 

“Heelloo fellow fist-punchers! I arrive here to go to temple of rewarding tests! I pass through? You want chiropractic services?” The last few words were in English, as the Wolfmen simply didn’t have a translation for them. “I give good trade! You strong, me money getting! Democracy!”

The sentry was confused at a few of the words, but when he saw the token he nodded and let down a rope. There was no need for gates around the town, and only children needed ropes to get in and out, but Jaxon didn’t understand the insult and clambered up. “Ah! My grati-thanks! I can close eyes in peace and rest here?”

He smiled around at the Wolfmen who were now surrounding him. What an unexpectedly cordial welcome, they were smiling! Wait. Didn’t smiling mean something different to them?