With the annoying rays of the morning sun streaming through the window, an aggravated growl echoing through the room reached my ears. It did not belong to a beast hidden somewhere in a dark corner. No, it escaped from my throat. How could I not growl, though? The sun stung my eyes even though my eyes were closed. Worse, it made my head hurt. Even throwing myself onto my belly and burying my face in the pillow didn’t help.

With that I may have solved the sun problem, but the noise remained.

Someone from the adjacent brothel was already awake and apparently taking a bath. The innkeeper was working in the kitchen downstairs, and even the noise of the street was coming through the window into the room and to my ears. Slapping them to my head was a half-assed solution made in desperation, a solution that, much to my dismay, didn’t do much either. I could still hear them all.

Sure, I could have pushed out the noises. To some extent, it was already feasible for me. There was a catch, though. It required focus, and to focus, I needed to be awake, the opposite of what I was trying to achieve. 

An anguished howl into the pillow helped me get rid of some of the anger, frustration, and tension, but it didn’t aid my sleep.

Instead, it drew my attention to another irritating thing, my mouth. It was as dry as was my throat, and the odd aftertaste made me think I’d eaten something rotten. It took courage to smell my breath. Courage and a strong stomach, as it turned out. I almost barfed. Seriously, I could already taste the bile in my mouth.

Close, it was so close, and I would have made a hell of a mess on the floor.

Still, it wasn’t enough to get me out of the warm bed. That in itself wasn’t even as comfy as I would have liked. Straw mattresses hardly ever were. Throw in a rough linen pillow and an itchy blanket, and you have a first-class annoyance. Still, I really wished to succumb to blissful sleep.

I didn’t!

The last straw that got me out of bed was the system. 

Although no new notifications were buzzing in my head, the unread ones nagged at my mind. It was a hard-to-describe feeling that I would liken to something you had to do, something important that you couldn’t for the life of you remember, that nagging feeling at the corner of your mind.

Eventually, I gave up the effort to sleep, and after another grunt into the pillow, I rolled back onto my back. Pissed, and despite the headache that seemed to be getting worse by the minute, I looked at the notifications. 

• You were poisoned
• You were poisoned
• You were poisoned

What the hell?! And it just kept going. 

I knew that too much alcohol wasn’t good for one’s health, but this was a bit too extreme. Or was it? Could what I was drinking last night still be considered booze for a normal human? Absolutely not!

Well, what else do we have here? Let’s see....

• [Eleaden Standard Language] reaches lvl 5

I certainly talked a lot, more than usual.

• You were poisoned
• You were poisoned
• [Eleaden Standard Language] reaches lvl 6
• You were poisoned

More of the poisoning. Yada, Yada...

• You were poisoned
• [Behemoth] reaches lvl 2
• You were poisoned

Wait, what? Looking again, I indeed saw that the [Behemoth] had gained a second level. With a bad feeling welling up in the pit of my stomach, I checked the next notifications.

Poisoned, poisoned, poiso....damn, I drank a lot!

• None to Squander reaches lvl 2

The heck! Wha-what is this? Forgetting the rest of the notification, with a lump in my throat and bated breath, I opened my Status Screen. The moment I saw it, I snapped awake, not believing what I was seeing. “What the actual fuck!” I couldn’t keep from cursing loudly. It didn’t make sense until it did.

Too much booze, my caution gone, my sanity drowned at the bottom of the mug, my pride bolstered. All it took was for someone to dare me, and I changed my skills to prove them wrong.

“Fuck!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, letting it gradually build into a roar.

 

Name: Korra Grey

Race: Human/Beast

Gender: Female

Age: 29

Main Class: Deviant of Humanity

Sub Class: Slave

Level: 100

 

Constitution: 102 (39)

Strength: 55 -> 60 (23 -> 25)

Endurance: 31 -> 33 (25 -> 26)

Dexterity: 23 -> 29 (23 -> 24)

Intelligence: 21 -> 23 (11 -> 12)

Wisdom: 19 -> 21 (10 -> 11)

 

Class Skills (8/8):

Indomitable Will (Passive V): lvl 119

Master’s Shield (Active II): lvl 19

Behemoth (Active I): lvl 1 -> 3

Wrought Hide (Passive I): lvl 1

Unbending Resilience (Passive I): lvl 1

Fierce Pounce (Active I): lvl 2

Mantle of Magic (Active I): lvl 1 -> 3

Call of Nature (Passive I): lvl 1

General Skills (10/10):

Eleaden Standard Language (Passive I): lvl 4 -> 8

Perfect Equilibrium (Passive II): lvl 19

Spatial Domain (Passive II): lvl 21

Beast (Passive III): lvl 30

Never-Dying (Passive III): lvl 40

Tail of Poison Empress (Active II): lvl 13

Heart of Magic (Passive I): lvl 9

Striving Mule (Passive I): lvl 1 -> 2

Dancer’s Stride (Passive I): lvl 1 -> 3

None to Squander (Passive I): lvl 1 -> 2

 

[Painless Agony], [Tireless Machine], [Swift as a Whip] all gone. All the effort I put into leveling up the skills was lost in one night that I didn’t even remember. I have fucked up, colossally fucked up!

The sight of my Class Skill levels made me want to cry. Only [Master’s Shield] and [Indomitable Will] survived my drunken rampage. Plus, judging by the two levels in [Mantle of Magic], I did some serious magic last night. How could I have been so dumb to do that?

With a growing headache, I scanned through the General Skills, finding to my relief only one victim, [Inner Perception]. However, I had more skills than I should have had. There were three new skills that didn’t ring a bell among them. Not in the mood to go into detail, I quickly skimmed through their descriptions, only to learn that they weren’t as bad as I feared.

[Striving Mule] was practically a replacement for [Tireless Machine] and [Dancer’s Stride], despite its name, in turn for [Swift as a Whip]. The [None to Squander] skill whose leveling notification gave me a real eye-opener a few moments ago seemed to be a match for [Behemoth].

The worst awakening I’ve ever had!

With another sigh, I sat up on the edge of the bed, leaning my elbows on my knees and my aching head in my hands. 

No, this wasn’t the worst morning I ever had. The worsening headache reminded me of the mornings in the cellar after a sleepless night when I writhed in pain as the essence injected into my veins reshaped my body. Even if I could still fall asleep, the screams of other slaves going through the same torment would not let me.

Fucking up my skills and stats wasn’t the end of the world. Unlike what the beast essences did to me, I could still change my skillset. Sure, what my drunk self did was a setback. It was also a good life lesson. 

I’ll never again touch booze.

I know, I know. Never say never. Fine! I’ll do my best not to get drunk like this again. That sounded better.

Seriously, though! What happened? The last thing I remember was talking to Frank about Mr. Scoresby. Then...tss, the headache was killing me. Think Korra, think! What could I do to get rid of it?

[Painless Agony] was gone to ease my suffering. Regeneration didn’t work on hangovers since, in a sense, this wasn’t an injury to heal, and for some reason, that massive Constitution seemed totally useless to me. I must have got something wrong, but I would have thought that I shouldn’t suffer any hangovers, at least not strong like this one.

So what was wrong?

If I had to guess, the stronger the booze, the stronger the hangover.

Didn’t Blaine say I should be able to suppress the pain with [Indomitable Will]? A few tries, and I gave up. Using the skill required focus, in other words, using my brain, and any thinking, like trying to remember what happened last night, caused me a throbbing headache.

Seeing that the effort to use my brain right now has only led to misery, I decided not to cry over spilled milk. What’s done was done. I had no choice but to accept the harsh truth, man up, and deal with it. And yes, I meant both the skill and the hangover.

One look around the nearly empty room, and I sighed wistfully again.

What wouldn’t I give to have my own bathroom now? Actually, a proper shower would be enough? Pipe dream it was. The only thing they had here at Broken Mug, and I was at Broken Mug, was the cold water well outside. My skin crawled with goosebumps just thinking about it.

It did, however, bring me out of my stupor. After finishing my morning business, I staggered more refreshed to the tavern part of the inn, finding it empty. No guests, no innkeeper, not even his daughter. No surprises there, though. It was pretty late for breakfast, a time when ordinary working people already minded their own business.

“Ah, good morning, Korra!” Byron, the innkeeper, called as he came out of the kitchen door. “I was about to tell Tess to wake you up. She’s cleaning the rooms upstairs.”

“You don’t let your guests sleep in? F-for housekeeping?”

He laughed. “Of course, I’ll let them. Most of the rooms are already empty at this hour. Wait, where did I put it...” While mumbling, he started searching through the shelves and drawers under the bar. “Huh? Why in the name of all the labyrinths did I place it here?” 

As Byron found what he was looking for, he walked over to my table and placed a note in front of me. “One of your mates you came with last night left it here.”

Since I was glad, I was able to read it at all, knowing just from the handwriting who wrote it was next to impossible for me. It wasn’t even necessary, though.

Labyrinth Square at 9:00.

Come in your training clothes.

Who else could it be but Deckard? A quick check of the system clock told me it was 8:13, damn early to be getting up after such a night. However, the fact that I got up early, even if not by choice, left me plenty of time to eat breakfast and get my shit together. Well, I sure had to think about what I was going to tell him about my skills when I met him.

“Thank you,” I said, realizing I might have caused some trouble. “...and I apologize for my behavior last night.”

“What are you talking about?” the innkeeper asked back, a little confused but smiling. “Ah, you don’t remember, do you? Well, you came here...I should say your mates brought you here because you were almost out of it. They just threw you in bed and that was it.”

Mates? Plural? So someone else was with Deckard? Anyway, um...

“Why here?” Why didn’t they let me sleep in the barracks? They were across the street to the Drunken Filly. Just a few steps away, they didn’t have to drag me all that way here.

“They say you insisted,” said the innkeeper in response to my loud musing. “I’m quite pleased that you feel so strongly about Broken Mug.”

Was I?

“All right, how about breakfast? Maybe a Dawn Sober?”

“A what?”

“Potion, Dawn Sober. It’s for a hangover. I always keep a few in stock,” he said, pointing behind the bar. 

“That would be great, but what about the price...” I said and stopped short as I looked at my spatial storage at my hoard. It has dwindled and dwindled considerably. By four silvers and fifty-eight coppers, to be precise.

“One silver twenty, for one,” the innkeeper said. Coupled with my rather unpleasant find, the potion price took my breath away. That was way out of my budget. Spending that much on a hangover remedy when I only had a little less than eight silvers in my pocket would be insane.

“Sorry, I...”

“Say no more.” Byron stopped me. “I understand. Anyway, you’re the one suffering.”

“...a lot.”

He chuckled. “The price for enjoying yourself. What about that breakfast? Or are you completely broke?”

The fact that he saw through me made me feel awkward, but I shook my head. “I’ll have breakfast.”

“Great, I’ll get it right away...and don’t worry too much about it. You could have fared worse,” he said amusedly and returned to the kitchen. I had to give it to him. He was right. I could have ended up a lot worse. Broke without a single coin. I could have had all my skills replaced and my stat points placed in Wisdom. Hell! I could have woken up in a cell with a collar around my neck.

Yeah, in spite of everything, I turned out…okay-ish.

Actually, my drunken choices were pretty reasonable, and redistribution of my stats wasn’t bad either. Stats were on my mind long before I underwent class evolution, and I delayed my decision just to see where the new class would take me. If I were to become a powerful mage, more strength wouldn’t exactly do me any good. Deviant of Humanity wasn’t a magic class, though. It didn’t make me a craftsman or a scholar. No, it went with what I was already, and so not much has changed in that regard.

Well, this stat allocation, the one my drunken self did for me, was the one I came up with. Strength was a no-brainer, and Endurance and dexterity were always good to have more in the fight. Putting one stat point each into Intelligence and Wisdom was a bit of a long shot, but I had skills that required mana and its control. My reasoning was that as I became stronger, I would need more and more mana, even though I was a fighter.

Well, we’ll see if it wasn’t a waste of stat points. Anyway, there was nothing I could do about it.

That couldn’t be said for my skills, though.

 

Class Skills (8/8):

Indomitable Will (Passive V): lvl 119

Master’s Shield (Active II): lvl 19

Behemoth (Active I): lvl 3

Wrought Hide (Passive I): lvl 1

Unbending Resilience (Passive I): lvl 1

Fierce Pounce (Active I): lvl 2

Mantle of Magic (Active I): lvl 3

Call of Nature (Passive I): lvl 1

 

I didn’t have many reservations about my Class Skill. The only thing I still wanted to consider was [Wrought Hide], I mean I haven’t really gotten to try [Ride of Ancestors] yet. Otherwise, good job, drunk Korra. 

My General Skills? Well...

 

General Skills (10/10):

Eleaden Standard Language (Passive I): lvl 8

Perfect Equilibrium (Passive II): lvl 19

Spatial Domain (Passive II): lvl 21

Beast (Passive III): lvl 30

Never-Dying (Passive III): lvl 40

Tail of Poison Empress (Active II): lvl 12

Heart of Magic (Passive I): lvl 9

Striving Mule (Passive I): lvl 2

Dancer’s Stride (Passive I): lvl 3

None to Squander (Passive I): lvl 2

 

Frankly, it struck me as odd that I still had [Eleaden Standard Language]. My only guess is that my drunken self couldn't get around without this skill just like me.

Moving on, not much has changed apart from the absence of [Inner Perception]. That is, except for three new skills.

[Striving Mule] didn’t sound very flattering, but I could see where it came from. It wasn’t in my nature to brag, yet I would dare to say that I really put in the effort. The mule part referred to my beast origins. Not that the mule was in one of those essence cocktails Dungreen gave me. At least, that’s the way I rationalized how I came to have the skill.

 

Striving Mule: lvl 2

Passive I (Slave - 10%)

You’ve got the tenacity of a striving mule. You want to get things done, strive to reach your destination, and endure through the rough times, no matter what. For that, for the pursuit of your endeavors, your [Endurance] is increased by 27%(25%).

 

I’ll have to ask Deckard if there was a better skill, but this one didn’t sound too bad. The 27% bonus, which I assumed was with Slave’s input, was actually the same as [Tireless Machine] gave me at tier two. The downside was the missing stamina regeneration bonus. I could only assume it would come with other tiers and hope the lack of it doesn’t hold me back too much.

The fact that I was already one level into it showed how exhausting last night had been.

If [Striving Mule] was supposed to be a replacement for [Tireless Machine], then [Dancer’s Stride] was clearly an attempt by my drunk self to fill in for [Swift as a Whip].

 

Dancer’s Stride: lvl 3

Active I (Slave - 10%)

Not every step is the same. It can be heavy, cumbersome, short, or clumsy. Yours is neither. The dancer’s step is light, graceful, and swift. All the more true of their stride.

Your [Dexterity] increased by 22%(20%).

 

Although not with the stat bonus of [Striving Mule], it was the first skill that increased my Dexterity. Another decent one at that, it really was.

From what I’ve noticed, the first-tier skill bonuses could start as low as five percent. At the other end of the spectrum were skills like [Heart of Magic] which already gave a 75% bonus at tier one. 

If my heart and this magic skill really did originate with drakes, then it spoke about their innate power. Hard to imagine then the might the dragons had to possess when each of their skills was so powerful.

It also put the [Beast] in a new light. The skill initially gave a 50% bonus and made me question others. On the other hand, [Tail of Poison Empress] didn’t seem like an exceptional skill from this perspective. But maybe I missed something. After all, I’ve been struggling with this skill since the beginning. In light of my new experiences, I became more and more aware of that. Could the skill change with my greater understanding of it, though? I highly doubted that.

Simply, the skills were like everything else in the world. There were good skills as well as crappy ones. Some were more than excellent, and others were not even worth considering. Right now it was hard for me to say what category [Tail of Poison Empress] belonged in, but [Dancer’s Stride] was a decent skill. 

The only thing that bothered me about it was the level of it. Why the fuck was the skill already at level three?! Did I dance last night? Shit, does it require dancing to level up?

Trying to remember anything would only make my headache worse, so I chose to put it behind me, at least for now, and take a good look at the last skill I had picked out in my drunken stupor.

 

None to Squander: lvl 3

Pasive I (Slave - 10%)

You’re one of those people who consider wasted food a crime and an unfinished plate an insult to the cook. That mindset is mirrored in the nature of your body itself. Don’t waste a single grain and digest what you can of the mouthful you get!

The efficiency with which you digest food increased by 33%(30%).

 

Really good skill, on a par with those of Deviant of Humanity. I wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, though. Wild guess, I get thirty percent more energy and nutrients from food than before. Did that mean I would eat 33 percent less food, then? Because if so, that skill was a keeper. Less food meant less to spend on it.

Good thinking, my drunk self.

The fact that [None to Squander] was on level three meant I had to eat something last night, right? Or did all those levels come from drinking booze? Did I get more alcohol out of it? Is that why I got such a terrible hangover?

Damn you, drunk Korra!

But before I could curse my drunken self any more, the innkeeper returned with breakfast.

Despite my hangover, I enjoyed it, and a full stomach lifted my spirits. With plates empty and time running out, I changed into my sweat-smelling training clothes in my room and made my way to Labyrinth Square to hear what was surely a lecture from Deckard.