NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7: Ritual
Rending Bite (T1) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Use stamina to add temporary serrations to your canine teeth, increasing their tearing power. +5% - +20% tearing damage for 3 - 30 SP. At level 1, serrations will remain for 10 seconds. Choose to activate this Ability for an indefinite amount of time by paying an additional 80% of the initial SP cost every 10 seconds that follow. SP will be paid automatically until either the Ability is deactivated or not enough stamina is available.
Rending Bite was interesting. He'd been expecting it to be the equivalent of Crushing Bite, just weaker, or like Piercing Bite, but instead of being a stamina cost per second, it seemed to make physical changes to his teeth for a short period of time – or a longer period if he was willing to pay the stamina cost. Dominic thought about the idea of his teeth growing jagged edges like a saw and shivered slightly. He wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that…but he didn't mind dealing the extra damage. As long as he didn't get his teeth stuck in something, of course.
Curious, he activated the Ability with 15 SP. He didn't feel anything until he touched his teeth with his tongue. Just as the description had promised, his canines on the top and bottom had grown jagged saw-like serrations. They weren't very sharp – he'd have to press his tongue quite hard against them for them to do any damage – but he could imagine what they would do when piercing through flesh. He shivered again at that.
Extended Leap (T2) level 1 (0% to level 2) – For 30 SP per extra body length you wish to go beyond your natural capabilities, add extra power to your muscles as you push off your perch. For 40 MP, per extra body length you wish to go beyond your natural capabilities, extend your jump while you are in the air. For 10 SP, you can use any solid surface to rebound into the air as long as at least 25% of your normal walking surface area touches it. For 10 MP, you can use any semi-solid surface to do the same.
This one was interesting.
'Hey Leo, do you think that one day I'll be able to leap off clouds?' he asked his companion excitedly. 'I mean, 'use any semi-solid surface' – do you think that clouds count?'
'In what way are clouds solid?' Leo asked, a little scornfully.
'Well, they're water droplets, right? And water, when someone hits it hard, can feel like a solid?' Leo was silently dubious. Dominic sighed. 'Well, if not, then maybe it will develop that capacity later?' he wondered hopefully. 'In the meantime, perhaps leaves count as semi-solid.'
'Perhaps,' Leo replied non-committedly. Still, Dominic's enthusiasm was undamped by his companion's lack of excitement. To be fair, the Ability was pretty useful as it was, if Dominic was reading it right. At its base, it would give his muscles a bit of extra power allowing him to jump further. But it was the side aspects of the Ability that used mana that were the most interesting.
For example, allowing him to go an extra length or more while already in the air – that would enable him to take opponents by surprise, though to be fair, he could already do the same with his wings. But what if he was in a confined environment where he couldn't use them? And being able to rebound into the air as long as he'd put at least one paw on a solid surface could enable him to be even more reactive than his muscles would normally allow. He'd have to test what counted as solid and semi-solid – could he basically run up a tree by leaping with each foot that touched the trunk? Could he rebound off a leaf or an aerial enemy?
He'd have to test the possibilities out. But for now, he had other Abilities to investigate.
Soaring Glide (T1) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Increase your stamina consumption by 20% and increase your speed by 5% as you soar through the sky. Alternatively, lock your wings to reduce your stamina consumption by 10% while gliding in the air.
This was another interesting one with two options – making like an albatross and locking his wings so that he could glide without using as much energy, or choosing to use more energy but increasing his speed as a result. Though it wasn't terribly exciting, Dominic was glad to add it to his arsenal – his flight speed had been lagging far behind his running speed when both were flat out with all relevant Abilities activated. Now, his flight might start to catch up a bit.
Burrow (T0) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Use 10% extra stamina to dig 20% faster in all materials.
Burrow, on the other hand, didn't look like it would be of much use – he didn't tend to dig much, if at all. His paws and claws weren't adapted for the action, and he didn't particularly want to live underground. But perhaps it would come in useful one day – for one of his Pride if not for him.
Ambush (T0) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Increase any attack's damage by 25% if your target is not aware of your attack until 1s before the attack lands.
A fairly simple Ability, but a useful passive one for if he was attacking from an ambush. Dominic hoped that it would stack with the enhancements from Pounce, and suspected that it would – there was no indication that it wouldn't, at any rate. Thinking about Pounce made him question why they didn't get the option to combine these two Abilities when they seemed so synergised.
'Perhaps the System doesn't want me to actually shorten this list,' he commented wryly to Leo who just huffed in scorn.
Famine (T1) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Enhance the ability of your body to absorb nutrition from your food: 10% increased satiation from food sources. Be better able to withstand periods of time without food: -5% to rate of satiation depletion; -10% to rate of satiation depletion when at rest.
This was another passive Ability that was quite welcome. Dominic would have to see if he could share it with his Pride through Pride Enhancement – the less they needed to eat, the better in case there was a situation where they didn't have any prey around.
Enhanced Regeneration (T1) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Maximum Ability use period at level 1: 5 minutes: +10% to Health, Stamina, and Mana regeneration. This Ability cannot be used again for 5 hours.
That Enhanced Regeneration apparently applied to all his resource pools was a very pleasant surprise. That it was so limited in time was not. With these restrictions it probably was for the best it hadn't even tried to combine with their Enhanced Stamina.
'I don't know how to feel about this one,' Dominic commented to Leo. 'It's useful…but at the same time, if I can only use it for five minutes every five hours….'
'Use it for this training you wish to do,' Leo suggested. 'Empty our pools and then use this to help them regenerate. Our normal regeneration is usually sufficient enough for battles.'
'That would work,' Dominic agreed slowly. 'Though we might benefit from the increased stamina and mana even in battles. Perhaps the use period will increase as its level does, or it will be able to be used more frequently. If I'm lucky, it will be both.'
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Leo snorted derisively at that. Dominic had to agree that he was probably not going to be that lucky, but he could still dream.
Finally, there was only one Ability to look at. The most interesting of all the new ones.
Sharp Mind (T0) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Passive effect: enhance the capacity of your brain to make connections.
Sharp Mind was simple, but Dominic had already seen the effects it had had on his companions. He could only hope that it would have as much effect on him. Or had it already started working while they went through their new Abilities? There was his assumption about how the change to Quick Strike would work: was that assumption just him, or had it been Sharp Mind helping him to make connections? Dominic was unsure.
Closing his status, he stared up at the sky as he thought through the new Abilities available to him. He'd have to test several of them, and work out where they'd fit in his fighting style.
'Lord Dominic, it is time,' Isalia told him, her voice breaking through his thoughts just as he was about to dive into his Pride Enhancements – that was something else which needed doing. 'Please enter the circle on that side.' He followed to where she pointed – the west side by his reckoning.
Fortunately, Dominic's role in the ritual had been a subject of conversation during their journey too, so he didn't need to ask any questions and just headed off. He knew that his position needed to be the direction of the centre of his territory. His position in the ritual apparently would help provide a link between his territory and its new inhabitants which should ease their transition. That he also held the Seat of Selanthis should make the connection with his land even easier. At least, that was the theory. Since there had never been a situation exactly like this, it was hard for the elves to draw any real conclusions.
Dominic found the circle Isalia had referred to and stepped carefully inside it. Looking around, he was relieved to see that Sekhmet and her group of Pride members had retreated to where the forest truly began. Though it meant that they were rather far away if something suddenly decided to attack, he was rather glad that they were completely outside the ritual area.
The ritual site had been prepared by digging lines in the earth – courtesy of the plant mages – and then filling them with some dark green substance. If it had been dark red, Dominic would have suspected blood. As it was, he wondered whether it was indeed blood – only the blood of trees rather than animals. He hadn't spoken enough with the elves to know such details and it was too late now to ask.
The elves all took their places too and started chanting. Their voices sounded out in the air, melodious and harmonious, blending together perfectly.
For a moment that was all there was to it – pretty music, but nothing particularly magical. And then a wave of static ran through Dominic, making his fur stand on end. In its wake. It left an oddly electric feeling, much like the sensations that sometimes remained after a storm.
The elves continued chanting, and slowly their voices seemed to gain an otherworldly edge to them. It wasn't as though they had changed and become demonic or angelic all of a sudden; it was more that they felt like they were here and not here at the same time. Like the elves were simultaneously singing only a short distance away from Dominic and yet were also far enough that they should be inaudible.
Another wave of static ran through him from nose to tail tip and he shivered in its wake, his fur almost crackling audibly. A dull sort of roar grew, the sound similar to thunder, or to the hoofbeats of a massive herd of beasts. The voices took on a more intent edge and Dominic abruptly remembered his own instructions.
'Come Mother of Selanthis. Come to your new home. Come, set your roots into the soil and drink deeply of the water to be found here. Come and bring your family with you.' He repeated the words he had painstakingly learned again and again. Somehow, even though he was unable to say them aloud, he felt like they were combining with the harmony of the elves to create something greater than all of them combined.
Acting on instinct, he started almost crooning, a strangled roar that barely emerged from his mouth. It should have sounded ridiculous to his ears, but in the context, the sound blended perfectly with the thunderous rumble and high-pitched chanting of the elves.
Slowly, an outline began forming in front of Dominic. At first no more obvious than dust particles in the air, the outline became thicker and more present with every moment that passed.
It wasn't long before Dominic was able to recognise it as a tree, and not just any tree – the Great Mother herself. The massive baobab-like growth appeared right in the centre of the ritual, but even when its outline had strengthened substantially, what was within the outline was very faint and all but imperceptible.
For a long moment, Dominic just stared at it. And then he remembered what the elves had said – that as both the Seat-holder and the ruler of the land of arrival, it was him who had to accept the placement or not. Dominic eyed it, making a quick evaluation. He had no idea about whether it was a good place for a tree, but it worked well enough in relation to the Place of Power as far as he could tell. It was close enough that even the lower levels would be able to easily travel to and from the centre. They might have to figure out some way of communicating messages quickly, but that would have to happen wherever the Great Mother settled.
Though not sure how to accept the placement, it turned out that just thinking hard about it was enough. Dominic found it interesting that there hadn't been any System notifications so far.
Once the Great Mother had received his approval, it started solidifying increasingly rapidly, filling almost the whole ritual area. His view of all but two of the elves was quickly blocked and Dominic found himself grateful that the elves had done their measurements correctly – the bark of the Great Mother was less than a body length away from his nose with roots rising out of the ground behind him.
Though the sudden appearance of a massive tree before his eyes was startling, what Dominic found the most surprising was just how…settled it looked. The earth around its roots wasn't even disturbed; the tree could have grown from a seed in just that spot for all the disruption that he could see. Magic was crazy.
And the ritual wasn't yet complete.
The chanting of the elves and the rumble of the background sound had died down a little while the Great Mother settled into place but, with another wave of static, increased once more. This time, a quiet sort of clapping sound joined in as a counterpoint to the base rumble. Looking up, Dominic realised that the Great Mother was actually moving; the sound was the breeze causing her leaves to clap against each other, almost like polite applause when a golfer had just accomplished a good swing.
This time, Dominic didn't have to say any words, mentally or otherwise. All he needed to do was to focus on allowing the events to happen.
And one by one, more trees appeared. Unlike the original Selanthis, the Great Mother was no longer the centre of the forest. Instead, she stood as the closest of the elven trees to the Place of Power, the rest forming beyond it, like followers in the train of some great queen. These, Dominic didn't have to consent to one by one – apparently his blanket consent was sufficient.
They were grouped together, and nestled closer to the Great Mother than they had been in their original site. Nor were there as many – by the time the ritual started winding down and the rate of new trees appearing had slowed significantly, Dominic suspected that only a third of the trees had been brought over. He had to hope that the elves would have enough housing – and that all of them had come as planned. If some elves hadn't got the memo about which trees to be in for the transition, they might have got left behind. He'd have to check with the elders.
The final thing that the ritual summoned was a familiar large and flat construction – the tree stump where the elves brought their grievances to the Elders. That was the only construction which came almost as close to the Place of Power as the Great Mother herself. Almost. And unlike in Selanthis, the stump actually ended up right next to the Great Mother. Dominic wondered whether the elders had wanted the stump to have been moved ages ago for reasons of convenience and were now taking the opportunity to group both government structures next to each other.
Slowly, the chanting died down and the rumble with it. The waves of static which had been pulsing all that time came with less frequency and were each weaker than the previous one. The clapping of leaves, which had been added to by each new tree which had appeared, also died away with the trees no longer moving in some unfelt breeze.
Finally, the last voice disappeared and silence swept the newly-planted savannah.
It was done.