[quote=System:Ed] LEVEL UP! Your learning Experiences have culminated in new power! You are now Level 4! You gain Skill points to distribute as you please! Your base HP has increased! LEVEL UP! You have overcome a harrowing trial! Your Battle experiences have culminated in new power! You are now Level 5! You gain Skill points to distribute as you please! Skill Gain: Muffle I! This skill grants you the ability to be just a little bit better at being stealthy, with a focus on reducing the sound of your movements. Unspent Skill Points: [color=red]12[/color] Current Skills: Beast Sense I (1.6) Rabid Fit I (1.2) Stronger I (1.05) Muffle I (1.0) SKILL PROGRESS: Material Analysis (0.2) Magic Analysis (0.6) Monster Analysis (0.6) Faster (0.4) Warcry (0.1) Alert (0.3) Dextrous (0.6) Tremor Sense (0.025) Mental Resistance (0.9) Telepathy (0.075) Mana Shape (0.6) Focus (0.6) Shield (0.5) Mana Shell (0.3) Soil Manipulation (0.45) Overwork (0.5) Harder (0.2) Crafting (0.25) First Aid (0.1) Meditate (0.3) YOUR BODY IS BEGINNING TO CHANGE! You are undergoing Transformation! Based on your life experiences, your ability to survive, and the strength of your will, new paths have appeared! Choose carefully--there is no going back! [color=red]WARNING. THIS PROCESS WILL LEAVE YOU TEMPORARILY VULNERABLE.[/color] OPTIONS (* Indicates Suitability): *(Adult) Dire Rat - Dire Rats are quite large and strong for rodents, with sharp senses. They are predator scavengers, and because their teeth constantly grow they forage and gnaw constantly. Their forepaws are somewhat capable of gripping and manipulating, but they aren’t very skilled. Rats often hunt in packs, composed of family units, but the mothers will often drive off the fathers as they will behave aggressively towards the young.[list] [*]Slight Increase to all Base Stats [*]Increase HP [*]Increase Potential[/list] *(Immature) Giant Rat - Giant Rats are rodents of such unusually large size, many people don't believe they exist. Their behaviors are virtually the same as the Dire Rat, but they often shed many of the usual "prey" animal behaviors of rats due to their much greater size and strength rendering them difficult for predators to bring down. As a result they can often be quite calm, and some humans even keep them as pets.[list] [*]Increase to base defense-stats [*]Increase HP [*]Increase Beast Sense (reduced)[/list] **(Immature) Rat-Man - Through some magical quirk of evolution, these rodents have gained primate features. Roughly the same size as Goblins, though tending towards much thinner and more agile bodies and often still running on all fours, Rat-Men are capable of using tools and weapons. They often gather into large hordes, and seek hidden places near other groups of creatures--such as humans--in order to steal food and valuables from them. Their sharp senses of smell and dextrous fingers make them proficient crafters and alchemists, though they also show addictive tendencies with their own products.[list] [*]Increase to base power-stats. [*]Increase to Use Light Equipment (reduced) [*]Increase Beast Sense (reduced)[/list] (Immature) Mongrel - It is hard to define this creature as a rodent, a feline, or a canine, though it possesses traits of all three. Some speculate it is some kind of primitive, common ancestor to many carnivorous monsters today such as the Dire Wolf, but that raises the question of how it continues to exist? As a Beast-type monster in the truest sense, it has low levels of intelligence and is so aggressive it can barely form mating pairs with its own species. However, its strong jaws and claws are not to be underestimated, and it is much faster than it appears.[list] [*]Increase to power-stats [*]Increase to speed-stats [*]Increase Beast Sense (reduced)[/list] [/quote] Ed slightly flinched at the sudden system notification while he was resting. He was about to read the message when suddenly, another notification popped into his mind. [quote=SYSTEM] EVENTS HAVE ALTERED THE COURSE OF NATURE. SHIFT IN AMBIENT MANA DETECTED. MANA CONCENTRATION LEVELS TEMPORARILY RISING. ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS HAVE BEEN ALTERED. A DUNGEON CORE HAS FORMED. ASSIMILATION RATE INCREASED TO 0.1%. DUNGEON PRIMARY ELEMENT: EARTH. DUNGEON SECONDARY ELEMENT:DEATH. OTHER PRESENT ELEMENTS IN ORDER OF CONCENTRATION: NATURE. ENERGY. WATER. DUE TO THE ALTERATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS, INHABITANTS OF THE DUNGEON MAY EXPERIENCE VARIOUS EFFECTS. DUNGEON FORMATION COMPLETED: THE OTHERWORLDLY CAVERN [/quote] [color=chocolate]'Huh? What the hell does that mean?'[/color] Ed thought to himself when he heard Jason's panicked statement. Even more confused than he was before, he sat there for a few moments in shock. Finally snapping out of it and regaining composure, he heads straight to the bonfire to retrieve what he could from the stash of mana crystals. Moving past his poisoned needle traps, he gets his worn lizard stomach and begins to fill the improvised sack full of what his rat hands and mouth could stuff in. Satisfied with what he could get in, he puts the mana crystal filled bag horizontally onto his back and balances the it as if carrying a sack of potatoes. Jason along with the a number of his allies were long gone when he had returned to Rattleskull's corpse. [color=chocolate]'Shit. They're gone.'[/color] The young dire rat thought to himself as he did his best to formulate a way to locate Jason and the others. He begins to sniff around the air and utilize his sharp sense of smell to locate the distinct odors of Jason's evolved form. Once he picked up the scent, he begins to scamper towards it, in hopes that he would arrive to where Jason and the others went to. [hider=Stats] LVL: 3 HP: [color=orangered]Very Hurt[/color] SP: [color=darkkhaki]Rested[/color] MP: [color=darkorange]Below Average[/color] Effect/s: [color=green]Muddy[/color] [b]SKILLS:[/b] Unspent Skill Points: [color=red]12[/color] Current Skills: Beast Sense I (1.6) Rabid Fit I (1.2) Stronger I (1.05) Muffle I (1.0) __________________________________ SKILL PROGRESS: Material Analysis (0.2) Magic Analysis (0.6) Monster Analysis (0.6) Faster (0.4) Warcry (0.1) Alert (0.3) Dextrous (0.6) Tremor Sense (0.025) Mental Resistance (0.9) Telepathy (0.075) Mana Shape (0.6) Focus (0.6) Shield (0.5) Mana Shell (0.3) Soil Manipulation (0.45) Overwork (0.5) Harder (0.2) Crafting (0.25) First Aid (0.1) Meditate (0.3) [b]Inventory:[/b] -Lizard Stomach Water skin x 1 [slightly worn] ; (Filled with mana crystals) [/hider] [hider=Action Summary] Ed stops resting and has decided to put off leveling and evolution at a later time. Went back to the bonfire and filled the slightly worn lizard stomach with as much mana crystals as he could. Balances the sack on his back and returns to Rattleskull's corpse. Jason and some others are gone and Ed uses his keen sense of smell to track them down. [/hider]