[center][h1][color=chocolate]Edward Marsh[/color][/h1][/center] [hr] The plan was a success. Asteria not only managed to land the attack, but she also managed to maim the giant bug enough to keep it grounded for good. Mother Rat came in to help her offspring and ravaged the wound Ed caused to a more severe extent, spilling forth copious amounts of blood onto the ground. But before Asteria could land the blow, she was knocked off and the bloodingfly was on top of her in seconds. To a lesser extent, [Rabid Fit I] activated for a moment and Ed let go of the gnarled stick and grasped onto the bug with both hands. [color=chocolate]"GET AWAY FROM HER!"[/color] Ed let out a powerful roar and practically tore the severely wounded fly in two. Splattering his arms and some portions of his chest in the unnaturally colored blood as he ripped the damaged thorax from the rest of its body. With that, the bug died within seconds. Only the sounds of the calm winds blowing through the darkening fields and Ed's ragged breathing was heard. Gradually calming down and deactivating [Rabid Fit I]. Then, a sudden burst of light appeared in the forest, catching the interest of all the individuals present. Ed didn't know if this was something to be afraid of, but the fact that it put out the fire that was beginning to consume the fields meant that it at least didn't want all of nature to suffer over such a petty action of one group. Though there was something more interesting that caught his attention more than the dancing lights. The cries of awe and voices of the villagers in the distance. The night was near but Ed's sense of sight was sharper than any normal human's. In the dim light of the fading sunlight, he saw the silhouettes of the humans in the village. Seemingly waiting for more of the lights they both witnessed a few moments earlier. It was in the calm that the System notified him of the level up. [quote=System:Ed] LEVEL UP! Your combined experiences have culminated in new power! You are now Level 6! You gain Skill Points to distribute as you please! Unspent Skill Points: 22 ((12 unspent from before Transformation, 10 from current level up)) Current Skills: Beast Sense II (2.625) Rabid Fit I (1.55) Stronger I (1.35) Muffle II (2.025) Use Light Equipment (--) Alert I (1.0) Material Analysis (0.4) Magic Analysis (0.65) Monster Analysis (0.9) Faster (0.7) Warcry (0.4) Dextrous (0.8) Tremor Sense (0.025) Mental Resistance (0.9) Telepathy (0.075) Mana Shape (0.7) Focus (0.8) Shield (0.5) Mana Shell (0.4) Soil Manipulation (0.7) Overwork (0.9) Harder (0.3) Crafting (0.25) First Aid (0.1) Meditate (0.4) People Sense (0.2) Plant Analysis (0.1) Swift Swimmer (0.4) Charm (0.025) Repel (0.025) Stealth Kill (0.3) Blunt Resistance (0.1) Prehensile Tail (0.3) Smash (0.7) Mana Strike (0.2) Minor Heal (0.05) Dynamic Eye (0.3) [/quote] [color=chocolate]"Woah...so many skills."[/color] The young ratman muttered to himself as he read through the available skills, unintentionally failing to notice Asteria approach him and laid a paw on his leg. The sudden, and admittedly unexpected, voice of Asteria rang throughout his mind. Causing poor Ed to jump in surprise. With a masterful and graceful display of his finesse and agility, the young ratman fell flat on his ass with the grace of a break-dancing hippopotamus. Seeing as Asteria was there, he realized that she may have developed a telepathy like Jason did. Casually, he stood up and dusted himself of dirt and debris and spoke to her as if she hadn't caught him by surprise at all. Attempting to save some of his bruised pride. [color=chocolate]"That's amazing. That telepathy, or whatever, will really come in handy in the future."[/color] Ed gave her a thumbs up as she left to attempt to communicate with Mother Rat. Ed took that time to assess and choose the skills he needed. He had kept this waiting long enough and it was time he decided what skills he needed. [color=chocolate]'System, allocate 3 points to [Faster], 7 points to [Harder], 7 points to [Dynamic Eye], 3 points to [Smash] and 2 points to [Dexterous]...uhh...please?'[/color] Ed thought to himself. He never really interacted with the system this direct and who knows? Maybe the System likes polite folk. With all the points allocated, the notification disappeared and he waited for the System to notify him of his 5 new skills. It was then he saw, Asteria hiding the bodies of the bugs inside of their little burrow. She tells him that after harvesting them for parts, they ought to either bury them to hide the smell from other monsters or they could eat them. Either way, they would be resting until the later part of the night when most, if not all, of the villagers were asleep. [color=chocolate]"Yeah. I agree, lets take whatever parts we can carve off the bugs. Maybe we can even make some bits of armor and weapons from them."[/color] Ed chuckles slightly. This was really starting to feel like a game he and his sister played before where they hunt and kill monsters for parts to use in their armor and weapons...what was it's name again? Monster Slayer? Beast Hunter? or was it Beast Slayer: Sovereign Amalgamate? Ed couldn't remember. It'd been a while since he played that with Audrey. [color=chocolate]"Now in regards to weather to eat or bury the bugs. I suppose it would be wise to bur-"[/color] His stomach chose to speak for itself and let out an audible grumble. Thoroughly embarrassing himself in front of Asteria. A familiar blush rose to his cheeks, but he kept his composure this time. The last time was more severe, this was a molehill in comparison. [color=chocolate]"-eat the bugs as we burned a lot of energy in that fight and trek from the cave."[/color] Rather than waiting for Asteria to laugh or anything, he went inside of the burrow and began carving off pieces of bug. Using his sharp claws as a makeshift carving knife to pry and cut off useful pieces of the bug off while leaving the meat behind for consumption. [hider=Stats] LVL: 6 HP: [color=yellow]Injured[/color] SP: [color=yellow]Winded[/color] MP: [color=orangered]Near Empty[/color] Effect/s: [b]SKILLS:[/b] Unspent Skill Points: [color=red]0[/color] Current Skills: Alert I (1.0) [color=green](PASSIVE)[/color] Beast Sense II (2.4) Dynamic Eye I (1.0) Rabid Fit I (1.2) Smash I (1.0) Harder I (1.0) Faster I (1.0) Stronger I (1.05) [color=green](PASSIVE)[/color] Muffle II (2.0) [color=green](PASSIVE)[/color] Use Light Equipment (--) Dexterous I (1.0) __________________________________ SKILL PROGRESS: Material Analysis (0.4) Magic Analysis (0.65) Monster Analysis (0.9) Warcry (0.4) Tremor Sense (0.025) Mental Resistance (0.9) Telepathy (0.075) Mana Shape (0.7) Focus (0.8) Shield (0.5) Mana Shell (0.4) Soil Manipulation (0.7) Overwork (0.9) Crafting (0.25) First Aid (0.1) Meditate (0.4) People Sense (0.2) Plant Analysis (0.1) Swift Swimmer (0.4) Charm (0.025) Repel (0.025) Stealth Kill (0.3) Blunt Resistance (0.1) Prehensile Tail (0.3) Mana Strike (0.2) Minor Heal (0.05) [b]Inventory:[/b] - Vine Belt (Shoddy Quality) - Healing Herbs x 4 - Bundle of Sticks - Flame touched crystals x 2 - Tainted Crystal x 1 - Gnarled Stick (Unknown Quality) - Giant Ant (Dead) [DROPPED] [/hider] [hider=Action Summary] -Briefly used [Rabid Fit I] to tear bloodingfly in two, literally. -Noticed the lights and chose only to observe. But focused on the villagers in the distance once they made themselves known. -System notification of leveling up appeared during the calm. -Failed to notice Asteria and got spooked by her sudden mind voice. -Attempts to keep dignity and brushes it off like nothing. Congratulates her. -Allocates skill points to [Dexterous], [Smash], [Harder], [Faster], and [Dynamic Eye] to let them reach rank 1. -Agrees with Asteria on the notion of harvesting parts and reminisces slightly of a more simple time prior to reincarnating. -Wanted to bury the bugs for a later time, but his stomach disagreed with him. -Embarrassed, Ed enters the burrow to begin carving pieces of usable material from the bugs and ready them for consumption. [/hider]