I pivoted on my right leg and dodged the charging gorilla like a matador as I took a swipe at his flank with my chainsaw claws as a test. "As expected." Clicking my tongue at the high pitched squeal from being unable to penetrate his skin, I jumped back as I unleashed an ice spear at his back to see the reaction. The ice spear almost made contact, but one of his lower arms bent back and crushed it in its grip. "I'll need something else to deal with this guy. But that's what the rain is for after all." I grinned and waved my hand to signal a wave of ice needles flying at his eyes. He used two hands to cover his face and punched with the other two. I kept dodging and rolling out of the way of his hits, water flying up through the air as his fists bore craters into the ground with each swing.

"How the hell does he know where I am?" I muttered after dodging the umpteenth fist. The cavern was about as bright as night with a full moon at most, and I had created a heavy downpour in our area, covering the light and limiting visibility drastically. I could understand if he was swinging in my general direction, but his fists where scarily accurate the whole time, and it limited my options if he wasn't giving me any space. I was using my connection to my conjured rain to know where he was precisely, and Bio analyze to dodge his punches so far. Wait, that might be it! If I'm using magic this way, he might be as well. I decided to test my theory by hopping up slightly and using water magic to start walking on the water, and dispersed the pressure of my weight across the whole field. After that, Big Ugly froze for a moment and looked confused, stopping his attacks as he tried to figure out what went wrong. Seems I was right, he was using his earth magic to monitor me whenever my feet were on the ground, now he can't sense me anymore. But I might need to end this quickly, I can't focus on any more big magic beyond maintaining the rain and my water walking at once. I grimaced. Anytime I cast more magic I'll need to dispel the water walking and give away my position. I had already dispelled the water and ice on my claws so I could concentrate, but I needed a way to end him quickly.

I used a small amount of mana to propel myself along the water to increase my speed and with the force of the water launched myself up into the air above the gorilla. The commotion managed to grab his attention so he looked up vigilantly with the rain in his eyes. I focused the rain above me into a cylindrical shape, then refined it into an ice spear that fell far faster than just gravity could force it to. Without even seeing it coming a spear of ice lodged itself in his eye socket, blood pouring out like a fountain around it. It didn't manage to properly break open his skull however, but I had planned for this anyway. He stumbled back in pain, at least, he tried to. The ankle deep water he was standing in turning to solid ice prevented that however. With my fingers interlocked, I hammered down on the butt of the spear with all my momentum and strength. The spear cracked slightly, but the mana reinforcement held out just enough as the spear plunged downwards, completely scrambling the insides of his brain.

Hell yes! It actually worked! I can't wait to brag about this to Safi later. Unfortunately, I was interrupted from my victory monologue by slamming directly into the giant gorilla, which as I can now tell you is a great stand in for a brick wall. I... will leave this part out...

I quickly dusted myself off, and used some water magic to wash off the new bloodstains from my clothes then evaporated the water to make sure I was fully dry. I used the same method to get rid of the new swamp I'd made of the clearing I was in. Then came the part I'd done all this for, my new 'friends'. I'd wanted to test my Life Modification on a live test subject that I wouldn't feel too bad about. I'm no villain but I certainly wasn't nice enough to risk myself for a group of monsters I had no connection to. Especially since they could be a danger to me as well. I turned towards the female Stone Gorilla after putting Big Ugly in my Storage and watched for her reaction. She was standing bravely in front of the three small monkeys but the shaking of her legs gave away how weak she really was right now. She was covering in scratches and deep cuts, likely from stones being hurled at her while protecting the small monkeys. They shouldn't usually do much to her, but after a long chase and accumulation it did its damage. She was too fatigued and had lost a lot of blood, but she still protected the small monkeys from the new predator in front of her. It seems she had enough intelligence to realize I was faster than any of them, so she decided to make a last stand.

After a tense stare off with the protective mother, I slowly walked towards her with my hands to my sides and relaxed. She watched me vigilantly as I approached, but didn't make a move yet. Interestingly enough, it seems she was getting more relaxed as I got closer. The small monkeys started to bare their fangs at me and made angry grunts at me when I got within 2 meters, but their mother patted their heads roughly to placate them. I smiled at this scene feeling some warmth in my heart. A mother who sacrificed her livelihood for her sons, and sons who defended their weakened mother from a monster, no matter how much they were shivering in fear. I suppose this will do then. This was close enough anyway for the first part. I reached out my hand and concentrated as green tendrils of light appeared from my palm and traveled to the mother. She slowly sat down no longer tensed as the tendrils seemed to phase into her body. Green light radiated from her wounds as they quickly closed up and an odd bond began to be formed. It was tentative and fleeting. Like a whisper in the wind. I was flabbergasted at this odd occurrence, but it seemed I wasn't going to get any more details on this right now as the healing process finished. The mother opened her eyes filled with gratefulness as her sons jumped around her in happiness and excitement. I turned around started making my way back to the cave. "Follow me."

The mother slowly got up and prodded her sons to follow me along with her, though the monkeys were quite confused themselves. I was right, that odd feeling I had earlier helped with communication. At least she could tell my intentions, I wasn't sure if she understood my words though. I continued walking back while listening to my surroundings to make sure we didn't run into anything too large, but it was for naught as we got to the entrance without incident. I sighed, and after some words and interpretive dance, I managed to convince the small family to stay in one of the larger chambers in the cave and went back outside. The family might have been giving me a weird look but that must have been my imagination!

I was planning on using the family as research materials, but I felt that was too heartless and decided they would be the 'final product' of my research. Thus I needed more live subjects to test on so I didn't end up killing them or turning them into vegetables or something. I had told Safi I would probably be out for about a week, so she wouldn't worry. I would need a lot of mana for this, and I was less inclined to do this bloody work in front of Safi. I shook my head and smiled as I heard some small skittering characteristic to the Giant Squirrels I had been having for dinner lately. They were always annoying me, so I decided they had signed themselves up for testing.

♦ ♦ ♦

The Stone Forest had been in a relative peace in recent years. No single species or individual was deviating from the balanced ecosystem. Until 2 weeks ago, when the Silver Moon Boa rushed out of its lair and caused a disturbance that the other forest dwellers could see no reason for. The Boa eventually retreated back to its lair wounded, but it had caused no major damage relatively so it was quickly forgotten. However monsters had begun to avoid the area of the forest the Boa had ended its mad dash. It reeked of blood and the lifeforce in the area was distorted in an unnatural way. At first monsters rushed in at the scent of blood that attracted them, but after it accumulated to such a degree it became far too eerie. The monsters couldn't sense lifeforce, but their instincts were all howling at them that something wasn't right and they would suffer if they entered half heartedly. Luckily, after a week the smell of blood began to decrease and the distorted lifeforce began to repair itself.

♦ ♦ ♦

She was always smarter than the others in her troop. She recognized that by killing other monsters she became stronger, so she participated on hunts as often as possible, using her tail and throwing skills to get the final blow on prey as often as possible. Eventually she began to sneak out and do hunts on her own, as she discovered that she became stronger much faster by hunting with her ingenuity. But she always felt an odd pressure whenever she became stronger, as if something was interfering with her. It was unknown if it was because she was smarter than usual or she was just plain odd, but the others couldn't feel the same thing. She eventually grew strong enough and evolved after killing a pack of wolves that almost took her life, and she passed out. When she awoke she had become a Stone Gorilla, one of the strongest in her troop.

She wanted to continue getting stronger, but the female gorillas were obligated to bear strong young, and she also fulfilled this duty. Months passed, and she gave birth to triplets, all males. This was meant to be a happy occasion for the troop, but her sons were all sick out of the womb. They grew slowly, and were physically weak which was detrimental. The troop usually abandoned babies like this, but she was unwilling, she adored her sons with all her heart and couldn't bear to part with them, so she separated from the troop. They wandered the forest, using basic traps to hunt small prey and using brawn on anything that found them. She saved the last hit of most prey for her sons so they could become strong like she did, and while it was slow, they did become stronger. However everything fell apart soon afterwards.

They were met with a calamity in the form of a four armed alpha. It was incredibly bloodthirsty, and after being pelted with stones from her sons after he had tried to steal away their mother for mating purposes he was enraged. She took her sons into her hands and fled as fast as she could. She used the traps she had made and the map of the forest she memorized in her mind to slow him and his group down to escape, but it was all for naught. She was weak and bloodied, and he had caught up. All was lost for her, before she managed to send her sons away however, an odd phenomenon occurred. Water began to... fall from the sky onto the group of enemies. She had never seen something so odd before in her life. Soon water came down like a lake was being emptied on their heads. She quickly focused as her sharpened senses noticed a shadow moving through the water, quickly stopping at one monkey, and then moving to the next. She wasn't sure what was happening, until the water was cleared from a roar, and she saw the shadow. A lanky monkey, but that couldn't be it. The monkey was too tall and had no tail, but it was too skinny to be a gorilla. It also had the ears and claws of a wolf and only had black fur on its head. It face was different from what she had seen before, and its teeth were bared with the lips curving up in a malevolent way. But it was the eyes that rooted her to the spot and kept her from moving. The golden eyes felt like blades pressed against her throat, obstructing her breathing.

The water soon kept falling, and she could only see shadows flashing in the water and the ground shaking from impacts. Until after one final thump the water stopped falling, and soon turned into mist as it rose into the air. The enemy that had chased her this far had fallen and the new creature that had killed him. Steam continued to rise as those eyes turned towards her. She bravely tried to become as much of a wall as she could between him her children, but felt something odd as he approached. A gentle feeling washed over her as she could feel no ill will in those eyes, so she accepted the green light that healed all her wounds. She stood and heard odd sounds come from his mouth, but oddly felt that he wanted her to follow. She decided that since he was so strong it would be fine, and followed along with her sons. Eventually, they came to their new residence in a vacant cave. The air felt thin here somehow, but it was safe. For several light cycles the odd creature would bring them some food and then leave, smelling bloodier each time. But she was unafraid. Those eyes held no malice towards her and her children, and an odd feeling gave her confidence in this creature. So when he  reached out his hand with that green light appearing again, she was unafraid. She rested her eyes as she felt her whole body begin to become more compact and her mind expanding and fell asleep to this odd sensation.

[Name] Aura  

[Class] Biomancer  

[Subclass] None  

[Race] Human (Half-Monster) 

[Level] 26

[HP] 300/300 [MP] 420/420

[Vitality] 30

[Capacity] 42

[Strength] 30

[Agility] 36

[Intelligence] 40

[Charisma] 10

[Fortune] 2    

[Stat Points] 50

[Unique Skills] Unsteady Life, Abnormal Growth

[Class Skills] Bio Analyze 6, Flesh Reinforcement 5, Notepad, Life Modification 5

[Skills] Analysis Eye 5, Storage 2, Dagger Combat 1, Unarmed Combat 4, Water Magic 5, Claw Combat 3, Life Magic 4, Non-Elemental Formula Magic 1, Stealth 1