With the captured Mern rescued and secured, Nadia decided to remain with the Oman Clan over the next day as they packed up their village, preparing to move further into the untamed Wildlands.
During her time with them, she came to learn that they had a rather unique culture, and among civilised society were regarded as world renowned tinkerers and inventors.
While she’d been waiting, wary of another attack on the clan, the survey drone had tracked the robed men to a walled town nearly a dozen kilometres away which Nadia mentally marked as her next destination.
With there being no need to have it continue following them, she instead set it to work searching for a suitable location for the Oman Clan to establish a new settlement.
“Three kilometres west of here is a large river, and if you follow it down stream, where it meets the mountains there’s a large valley with a narrow entrance.” She said, having mapped the route already. “It might take you a week to arrive on foot, and you should be cautious while you travel. You’ll be passing through the territories of some large beasts.”
Arus chuckled hearing her concerns. “We’ll manage just fine, thank you. It should be easy enough to build rafts. This isn’t our first time settling a new home in the wilds.”
“As I told you, there’s someone I need to look for, but I may stop by to visit in the future if that’s not too much trouble. Not sure how things are going to go if I run into those hunters again.” She sighed.
“It’ll take us some time to get settled, but by all means, stop by. We of the Oman Clan never forget our friends.” He said. “I hope your hunt is fruitful.”
With that, he turned and made his way to the head of the column of Mern, leading them away from the village to start over somewhere new.
Nadia, meanwhile, left in a different direction, following the path the hunters had taken, making her way towards the walled town.
~
Nadia recalled the survey drone, attaching it to her pack and allowing her Evo Suit to recharge its power cells while she walked. Throughout the night, she’d talked a bit with Core in an attempt to get a better understanding of it, and it had supplied her with some useful information.
Core was a unique type of magical spirit that would bind itself to an individual and assuming an aspect that governed the various forms they could take, growing ever more complex with time. If Nadia wanted to accelerate that growth, she could absorb materials with it, allowing it to branch out and taking on more and more variation.
Core can unlock additional forms and abilities through material and Essence absorption, Host.
While within the village, Nadia had thought about that, eventually deciding that if she was going to follow the hunters, she might need to disguise herself as one of them. Stripping a fallen hunter of his robes, she’d had Core absorb it.
Form available: Hunter’s Shroud Lv1
Ability gained: Tracker’s Instincts
Tracker’s Instincts made trails clearer to her, and also allowed her to easily identify the signs of animal passage and habitation. It doesn’t really feel like magic, I guess… but its definitely useful.
The other thing that Tracker’s Instincts gave her was a sort of sixth sense for danger.
Crash~!
Nadia rolled to the side at the last moment as a large creature pounced on her, narrowly dodging its swipe as it tried to correct its balance. As she came out of the roll, she brought up the survival gauntlet, firing an energy pulse at maximum power.
YaAowAoow~!
Her attacker was a large jungle cat that made a tiger look like a joke. Its had large bony ridges running along the 2.3m long spine and continuing along a flat, solid tail that resembled a huge, flexible cricket bat.
It was covered in drab brown fur, and had four piercing eyes, two of which were locked on Nadia while the other two were oriented to the sides, seemingly to keep track of the peripheries.
Holy shit, Nadia, do not get mauled by the big fucking cat! She positioned a tree between herself and the jungle cat, preparing to take another shot with the gauntlet when it made its move. The creature paced sideways, circling at a distance with its eyes on her as it waited for the right opportunity to strike.
Nadia kept her eyes locked with the creature, still ready to fire when she felt the same sense of danger from behind and to the side. Diving away from her position, she watched with incredulity as the cat once again attacked from the rear, it’s large paw striking a glancing blow as she evaded.
How the hell did it get behind me!? I was just watching it! She wondered frantically as she fired another shot from the gauntlet to ward it off. Once again, she placed cover between herself and the cat, and saw it repeat its previous actions, staring at her as it made as if to circle from a distance.
Oh, not again you fucker! With equal parts fury and panic, Nadia fired another shot as the cat paced, only to realise it wasn’t where she thought it was.
The shot went wide, and Nadia quickly dove behind a rock as the cat tried to pounce on her again, not backing off this time. In a desperate rush, Nadia got her feet under her and turned to fire a shot from the gauntlet directly into the cat’s face.
YaAow~!
The cat shrieked in pain, falling back with a nasty burn on the left side of its face, and Nadia took that opportunity to break its line of sight. She activated Active Camouflage before carefully circling the creature, readying another shot.
The energy pulse from the gauntlet will disrupt the camouflage, so I’m going to have to make this shot count. She thought, determined. Inching closer, she took aim at the cat that was now shifting around in confusion, its eyes racing as it searched the surroundings for Nadia.
As one of the eyes looked in her direction, she felt an odd sense of incongruity as for a moment, she swore the cat was to the left of where she could see it before the eye looked away again and the incongruity faded.
This thing was fucking hypnotising me!? Not wasting another moment, Nadia fired the gauntlet. The energy pulse struck the creature’s throat, burning a large hole into it. The cat tried to cry out again, but only managed to release a gurgle before it collapsed, dead.
A rushing surge of energy filled Nadia with its death, reminding her that this was a world that possessed magic, and it was only natural some of the predators would make use of it.
Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she felt as though she’d just run a marathon at a dead sprint, but she was still alive.
~
Nadia was leaning against a tree, catching her breath from the life or death battle she’d just gone through when Core started talking.
Host, Core requests materials from the slain creature.
Releasing a sigh, Nadia looked at the corpse for a moment before shrugging. Sure, take whatever you want. She replied, too tired to care. She shuffled over to the body and watched as the it was blanketed in indigo light before the whole thing was seemingly absorbed.
Essence Core absorbed: Magic capacity increased.
Form Acquired: Bone Stalker Armour Lv1
Attachment Acquired: Mask of Guile
Mask of Guile
+2 Presence
Bewitching Gaze - Beguile, charm, or mesmerise a target while maintaining eye contact.
Nadia shifted to the new form, inspecting it. Ridged dark bone plates ran down her spine, embedded in dark leather that covered her body, with vambraces, spaulders and greaves protecting her limbs.
Her feet and hands sported claws that she could extend and retract, useful for climbing or if she was forced into hand to hand combat. Lastly, her head was covered with a dark hood, and the Mask of Guile rested on her face, a seemingly delicate black visor with the four emerald eyes of the large cat set into it.
I bet I look like a fucking edgelord. She thought to herself sarcastically, but was appreciating the soft fur lining the inside of the armour and how cozy it all felt. Hey Core, what was that about an Essence Core being absorbed? It’s not like your distant cousin I hope?
An Essence Core forms in creatures with magical potency above a certain threshold, and serves as a both reservoir and pump for magical energy, not dissimilar to how Host’s heart operates. If Host finds the nomenclature confusing, Host may suggest an alternate designation for Core.
Alternate designation? Like a name? Uh, sure. Nadia thought about it for a moment before deciding. What do you think of the name Felix?
Acceptable. Core designation is now Felix.
Oh, before I forget, what’s the deal with that ‘+2 Presence’ on the Mask of Guile?
Attributes adjust Host’s various physical, mental, and magical parameters, divided into six categories. Presence measures social acumen, willpower and emotional strength. Greater Presence increases one’s ability to influence others, and resist external influence.
So… what does the +2 mean, really then?
Host Attribute Values:
Agility: 7
Physique: 6
Intellect: 7
Perception: 7
Presence: 8(+2)
Magic: 2
Attributes do not scale linearly, thus an increase in value means different things at different levels. Host’s Presence attribute was initially rated 8 due to Host’s superior willpower and emotional fortitude rather than social acumen. The +2 indicates an increase in overall ability in the affected characteristics, but does not measure associated skills or lack thereof.
So you’re saying not even your magic can improve my social skills… Good talk, Felix.
Felix is pleased to assist Host.
I guess I deserved that. She thought wryly.
Also, with the Mask being an attachment, does that mean I can switch it off even if I’m wearing the armour?
Correct. Attachments are subassemblies which may be equipped independent of the use of a particular form.
Alright, that makes sense. Thanks, Felix.
Having had a chance to get her breath back, Nadia set out once again, following the hunters’ trail towards the walled town.
You were hunted by people and now a magic cat, but you’ve still got a mission to complete. Don’t you dare quit now, Laurence. She imagined what the commander would have said to motivate her if he’d been here, and was pleasantly surprised to find it helped.
Really loving the suits abilities! Very scifish instead of magical, but i love mixing scifi and fantasy! What the heck hapned to the commander? Why did he leave without waking up the mc or even leaving a msg?
There were circumstances that led to that happening, and even Nadia questioned that situation. There are things at work that Nadia is not aware of, despite the abilities she's gained. More will become clear with time. :)
Honestly if it is a wild cat predator what maybe better is a boost in physical abilities or something to speed up the metabolism allowing it to spend more time awake.
Mesmerising is interesting but the problem lies in the fact that wild cats do not wait for their prey to come to them they are more proactive hunters even if they are not at the top of the food chain. What maybe better would be silent movement or actually sort of hypnotic pattern on it that confuses attackers but only if you really want that hypnotic ability.
Just throwing out ideas for abilities she doesn't already possess.
Thanks for the input! The primary idea behind the Bone Stalker is that it's given up some of its agility for natural armour, hence the bone ridges, and its species developed the mesmerising magic to shore up their weaknesses while amplifying their strengths. I was trying to bring it across in the scene that it could do bursts of speed, but struggled to adjust directions rapidly with their heavy frames.
The mesmerising is a low-cost (in terms of energy expenditure) effect to produce, and can allow the creature to punch above its weight class, enabling it to edge out competitors that may not have the tools to adapt to its strategy both on offence and defence.
I think it's worth noting that Nadia only survived her encounter thanks to the 'danger sense' aspect of Tracker's Instincts, and would have been otherwise unable to even notice that she was being mesmerised before it was too late (though I also grant you that she might have fallen to the initial ambush, too).
Accelerating the metabolism of a predator means increasing consumption, which could be detrimental to long-term survival and could force the animal into a rapid downward spiral in the event it doesn't come out ahead in a contest even if it managed to escape.
Body enhancement is a great ability, both in terms of power and applicability, but it's also the kind of enhancement I would expect to see on an apex predator.