Another thing that surprised Shawn was that when he became the Captain, his stats soared as well. He felt that holding the sword had become easier, and his body had become lighter.
Curious, Shawn clicked on the statistics that were in parentheses to see if there was any explanation for this.
[When using Metamorph on a body higher than the host, some stats will go up to match the body. If the stats are larger than those of the host by a large margin, in order not to damage the host's body, these additional stats will be reduced, and if the stats have a very high margin of difference with the host's body, turning into that can permanently damage the host body. However, when transforming into a more powerful body within the host's limits, when training the stats, the body will adapt more quickly to those stats until it assimilates it permanently.]
'Hmm, so that means I can transform into more powerful beings in the future and assimilate their stats for myself. However, the body can't be very powerful, or instead of gaining stats, I will lose out on them...' Shawn thought as he assimilated this new knowledge.
If the ability to copy other people's abilities was already very powerful, being able to copy stats was even more powerful, since even without an ability, the attack of a man with 100 points in Strength would be much more powerful than a man with 10 points in Strength using a skill.
Level: 5
Level: 5 (11)
Strength: 5 (13)
Dexterity: 5 (11)
Agility: 5 (8)
Endurance: 5 (12)
Looking back at his own stats, Shawn was excited that if he fully assimilated the Captain stats, he would likely become as powerful as a man.
With that in mind, Shawn decided to stop thinking and start training.
When he held the sword and tried to use the knowledge he received from [Silver Dust Town's Military Sword-play], Shawn felt it was much easier than he had imagined.
'Is this the effect of already receiving an ability in the Rookie Rank?' Shawn wondered, confused.
The more he swung the sword, it was as if he wasn't learning something new, but rather remembering something he had forgotten.
After two hours of training, Shawn found that learning [Silver Dust Town's Military Sword-play] was simpler than he imagined. Of course, for someone who figured it would take years to move from Rank Novice to Rank Amateur, the speed it took Shawn to learn the skill apparently made it look like he would reach Rank Amateur by the next day.
When Shawn was hungry he would go to some fruit tree and eat it, when he was thirsty Shawn would go to the nearest river and drink some water. Initially he thought about washing in the river, but as he started to sweat a lot while swinging the sword for two hours, he knew it would be better to wait until the end of training before washing, otherwise he would spend more time washing himself than training.
Finally, when night fell, Shawn heard a notification.
[+1 point in Strength.]
[+1 point in Dexterity.]
'Finally!' Shawn thought excitedly as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
As he was transformed into the Captain, even with the increase in both stats, Shawn didn't feel that he got any stronger, but he did feel that by increasing those stats, his control over his own strength improved.
Before he felt like he was controlling a robot more powerful than he was, but when those stats rose, Shawn felt that the strength belonged to him, and the control over it got much better.
After a few more hours of training, seeing that the moon was already shining in the sky, Shawn decided to wash up in the river and sleep now. He had no home in this world, so between sleeping in a stinky town while others looked at him like a beggar, Shawn preferred to sleep in the woods where there was free food and water.
But while showering, Shawn noticed something odd he hadn't thought of before.
'I'm washing another man's fucking body?!' Shawn was scared. He remembered the size of his own dick, and clearly after transforming into Capitan, his body changed into Capitain's, which also included his dick which, by the way, was a few inches smaller than Shawn's.
'Shit, this is going to be something I'll have to get used to. I still have a few hours left in this body before I can change again, and I won't start changing back into my old body whenever I need to wash.' Shawn thought in frustration.
It was strange, since he was looking down, and while he knew that body was him, it felt like it wasn't.
But by running the water over his body and feeling everything he was supposed to feel, Shawn calmed down and tried to ignore this problem.
Because of the monsters, Shawn climbed a tree and slept on a thick branch, while braced with his sword, ready for any night attack.
But this area of the forest was much more peaceful than the deeper areas. The monsters that lived here weren't very powerful, and as there was a lot of space, the monsters decided not to stay too close to human cities, which made Shawn's night more peaceful than he'd imagined.
Unfortunately, a peaceful night does not mean that the night was comfortable. It was the first time Shawn had slept alone in a forest, and sleeping on a twisted branch made it even more uncomfortable.
Any suspicious noise woke Shawn, only to find it was squirrels passing by, or seeing him moving leaves.
When he woke up, the sun was still dawning, but despite the sleep he had and the slight muscle aches in his body, Shawn couldn't go back to sleep.
So, without thinking about it any further, Shawn rinsed his mouth with water from the river, ate some fruit and drank some water before starting to train again.
The day before, Shawn had started training at approximately 11:00 am, guessing based on the position of the sun, and the next day, at noon, Shawn heard further notification alerts.
[+1 point in Strength.]
[+1 point in Endurance.]
[Silver Dust Town's [Military Sword-play skill] has reached Amateur Rank. As a bonus, the user will receive 5% more muscle memory from the skill's original owner (Captain Nolasco). Total Muscle Memory: 15% for this skill.]
Reading this, Shawn was surprised. 'So that's why I felt like I was remembering how to use this skill, rather than "learning" how to use it! If I have received 5% muscle memory now and the current total is 15%, then I must have received 10% muscle memory when assimilating the skill!'
Animation was the word that defined Shawn. He figured it would take months, if not years, to reach Amateur Rank in this skill, but because of this muscle memory feature of the system, Shawn knew he could progress much faster than the others.
Shortly thereafter, another notification appeared.
[24 hours have passed, the [Metamorph] skill can be used again.]
Seeing this, Shawn was excited. However, remembering that there was no good target to use this ability, Shawn became discouraged again. 'I can't be greedy, I have to focus on what I have to do to improve it, instead of being greedy and wanting to eat more than my mouth can handle.'
Luckily Shawn only needed one more Rank to reach the Expert Rank in [Silver Dust Town's Military Sword-play], so he could learn the [Double Slash] skill that was Rank Silver!
As he thought about it, Shawn's stomach growled. He had noticed that he was getting hungry faster and faster lately. Probably because his body was developing so much, after all, he got 2 Strength points in less than 24 hours, so his body must be craving protein.
"I'm going to hunt for some meat to eat." Shawn said to himself as he walked away from the area he was temporarily living in and walked deeper into the forest.
While leaving town the day before, Shawn had noticed that there were stores with signs that said the best monster meat was sold there, so Shawn deduced that monster meat was edible.
To have meat he will need to hunt, and to hunt he will need to kill some monsters. Luckily, Shawn was confident in the Rank Amateur ability he had achieved, so as long as the monster he encountered wasn't very powerful, Shawn believed he could handle it.
Not to mention that there was a saying Shawn had heard in his previous life.
(A soldier who has not gone to war is not a real soldier.)
And he felt that it fit him, even though he had achieved a good rank in skill, Shawn had no battle experience, and unfortunately, experience wasn't something that could be gained by transforming into someone.
So, despite his stomach growling from time to time, Shawn struggled to keep going deeper into the forest.
It took 30 minutes to find a creature. As he had followed the riverbank, Shawn had expected to find some creature distracted while drinking water, and finally he did.
From a distance he warned a red boar drinking water beside a yellow meerkat. Strangely these two monsters were very close, and neither attacked each other.
Shawn found this strange, until he remembered a movie about a lion he had seen in his previous life. 'How ironic.' He thought as he approached the two monsters.
Shawn is not a bad man, but he is selfish. He doesn't mind taking something for himself first, or stealing something from someone else. Especially in a world like this, where strength speaks louder than justice, Shawn adapted easily.
In this world where it's kill or die, Shawn doesn't want to be the person who dies. If he needs to kill the husband of a pregnant woman, he will kill as long as it gives him some benefit.
Of course, he's not irrational to the point of killing anyone who has treasure, but if the person tries to cross his path, Shawn will kill without a conscience. If the person wants to blame someone, they can blame themselves for trying to do something against Shawn.
Shawn wasn't a vigilante, he was just a human, a human who sees risks and benefits. If the benefits outweigh the risks, Shawn will do it.
People always ignored Shawn. When he needed someone the most, the person disappeared, when he felt like he couldn't get it anymore, no one was there for him, so Shawn saw no reason to care about anyone but himself.
He managed to have a comfortable life in his previous world, despite difficulties, he got a good job, a good house, a good car, all without depending on anyone, and it's not in this world that Shawn will become emotional.
If he needs to kill two monsters that look like friends, Shawn will kill, as he needs that boar's meat.
'Nonsense, here I am thinking about the friendship of two monsters, as if they really were the two friends I saw in the little lion movie. In this world, these two monsters are just my enemies. Just as I want to kill them, they will also want to kill me as soon as they see me, since just as I see them as food, they will also see me as food for themselves.' Shawn thought as he shook his head.
Not worrying anymore about it, Shawn ran to the boar as he drew his sword and prepared for battle.
Initially Shawn thought about trying a surprise attack on the monster, but if the boar thought it was a more powerful monster and ran away, Shawn would be pissed off, so it was better to attack head-on and train the sword-play he learned, making the monster see that it was just a human and trying to fight back, instead of scaring the boar away and making it run away, thus losing the target of fighting.
With that in mind, Shawn ran to the first monster he would kill in this world.