Health situation visibly improved, Dominic decided to find the various Beast Cores scattered around the place before checking out his status screen. Wandering around, he hunted down the multi-coloured balls of almost-crystal. The scrin's was the first one he went for, obvious in the area of flattened grasses by its larger size.
Information, he asked the System.
[Beast Core: Scrin level 7
Ability option 1: Ground Pound (80% chance))
Ability option 2: Stunning Roar (20% chance)]
Well now, that's interesting, Dominic thought as he looked at the information which had come up. He'd thought that the choice of abilities had been something specific to the warthog's Core because it was a dungeon boss. But maybe it was because it had held multiple abilities.
If I'd tried this on the trodil mini-boss Cores, would I have had the same choice? he wondered. Not that it was possible to check now, but maybe if he ever went back into the dungeon and found that it had repopulated the area….
One of the scavenger's Cores was also nearby. Dominic asked the System for information about that one next, curious as to what it would say.
[Beast Core: Resorel level 3
Ability: Sharp Nip]
Focussing on the ability, Dominic attempted to call up its details, pleasantly surprised when it worked: he hadn't been able to access the information about Quick Strike until he'd actually got it to level 1. Nor could he get any of the details about the other abilities he was working towards. Then again, that was in his status screen; maybe he could have asked for information from the System of the Cores. Oh well, I didn't know at the time, he reminded himself.
[Sharp Nip (T0): When lunging to bite at something, consume stamina to offer a burst of speed. At level 1, consuming 1 SP will offer +10% speed. Consume 3 SP for +20% speed. If the bite is to a flesh and blood creature, a Bleeding effect may be applied.]
That sounds rather familiar, the former-human thought as he read the text.
'Is it not very similar to the ability you earned from the dungeon beasts?' Leo pointed out.
'Quick Strike…. Yes, you have a point,' Dominic realised. The two abilities did seem very similar, though Sharp Nip seemed a lot more limited – it only enhanced an attempt to bite, not a quick movement in any direction. Though, the potential of leaving a Bleeding effect was interesting. Dominic couldn't know what that meant for sure, but it had to be to do with increasing the chances of a wound bleeding copiously. From his experience with both warthog and scrin, making his opponent bleed out could be very powerful.
Given how similar the two abilities were, Dominic was tempted to just put the Cores in his inventory; save them for either selling or giving them to someone who would find them more useful. However, a question was niggling at his thoughts. What if I could combine the abilities?
Maintaining the practical effects of Quick Strike while adding in the potential for a Bleeding effect from Sharp Nip could enhance something which had already become an indispensable part of his arsenal. He'd even found himself using it unconsciously in his fight with the resorels and scrin, not even needing to invoke the name anymore.
In fact, it was that which made him wonder if other ways of manipulating the ability were possible: if it was just as easy to activate the ability simply by wanting to strike more quickly, then what else could he 'intend'?
He decided that it was worth a go. The worst that could happen otherwise would be that he'd have to ditch the ability when he got it to level 1 – if it threatened to replace Quick Strike, he'd prefer to keep his more familiar ability. Of course, even if he couldn't actually combine them, he should hopefully be able to have both; then he could choose to use Sharp Nip when he wanted to potentially apply the bleeding effect with his teeth.
That decided, he quickly went to hunt down the rest of the Cores, bringing them one by one to make a little pile. In total, he found twelve Cores. Maybe he'd missed one or two, but he doubted he'd missed many; if he'd killed many more resorels, he should have had more Prey Points than he actually did. Of course, he could just go back and check his logs, but he couldn't be bothered.
Dominic checked through the Cores and saw that almost all of them were level 3; only two were level 4. That probably meant he wouldn't be getting the ability this time, but perhaps he would come across more of their ilk another day.
About to start licking up the Cores, Dominic hesitated. Perhaps I should see if I can absorb them like I did the Beast Core in the dungeon. After all, he didn't really feel like trying to swallow a head-sized Core when he eventually came across one. Actually, how does that even work? The Core should be squishing the brains of all these creatures. Heck, since I've probably got one of these, it should be squashing my brain too, but I haven't had so much as a headache.
Not having any answers, Dominic put it down to magic or the System, instead focussing on his new experiment. Touching his nose to the ball, Dominic focussed on consuming it. Although there was no system message, a moment later the crystal turned into bright dust and flowed towards him.
The process was practically identical to what had happened with the warthog's Beast Core in the dungeon: the dust coated his fur and then seemed to sink into it, the glimmering vanishing after a moment.
Checking his status screen, Dominic was pleased to see that he had the new skill listed. Though, he did curse a little at the thought that he'd lost the percentages that the bodies of the resorels would have offered since he'd consumed them before he'd absorbed the base Skill. Good to know, I suppose, he told himself dourly, trying not to sulk at the missed opportunity.
Pleased anyway at the fact that his experiment had worked, Dominic next wondered if he'd be able to absorb multiple at once. Glad that he'd already brought the Cores into a pile, he placed his paw on several and focussed on consuming them, curious as well to see if his paw would work as a trigger.
It seemed a day for experiments to work – all the Cores he was touching disintegrated and flew towards him. Murphey must have gone on a coffee break. The cloud was much bigger and seemed almost brighter thanks to the sheer density of glittering dust, but it was absorbed just as quickly as the others had been.
Itching to check his status, Dominic nonetheless felt like he needed to make his decisions about the scrin's Core first.
Although, do I actually need to make a decision? I didn't get a choice with the trodils' Cores, he thought. Or is that only because I hadn't checked the information first and didn't know what I could choose?
Aware that he might be wasting his time, Dominic quickly accessed the information about the scrin's Core once more and briefly reviewed the two ability descriptions.
[Ground Pound (T0): Rear up and bring your front paws downwards in order to deliver a heavy blow to either the ground or your opponent. If your front paws hit the ground, there is a high chance of creating a wave of force which may stun, unbalance, or even kill your opponent. The force of the blow and possible subsequent wave is equal to your speed +20% * your whole body mass. Consumes stamina.]
So I could put the mass of my whole body into a strike with only my front paws, Dominic interpreted, intrigued despite himself. And the faster I am, the more force will be applied. The wave of force which had almost knocked him off his feet was explained too, though it seemed like it wasn't a guaranteed effect. Pretty powerful, though I wonder if it comes with any downsides, Dominic wondered.
Although it mentioned that it consumed stamina, it didn't say how much. Though for an ability like that, and the fact that the scrin hadn't used it very often in the battle indicated that it was probably a large chunk. Still, it could be good to add to his arsenal: he had Quick Strike for frequent, small injuries. Maybe Ground Pound could be good as a finisher or to give himself an advantage.
[Stunning Roar (T0): Let all around hear and fear your bloodlust. While roaring, use mana to have a range of effects on those who hear you. Opponents may freeze, flee, or attack blindly. Effects are stronger on lower level Beasts or Humanoids or those without an adequate mental resistance. ]
That could also be pretty useful, Dominic thought. The one issue he saw there was that it seemed to be based on mana, a resource he currently had very little of. Actually, he hadn't added mana to his HUD yet, had he? Concentrating, he fixed that oversight, concentrating on adding another line to his status screen while he was at it. When the bar appeared in his vision, however, it was completely empty. Apparently the time since the battle hadn't yet been enough to gain even a single point.
So perhaps I should choose Ground Pound, if I get the option, Dominic concluded. At least it would be something he could use immediately, if necessary. Though how come that scrin was able to use mana? Surely it didn't use the same method I did?
'Perhaps it was already able to use mana before the world changed,' Leo suggested, his sudden interjection a little startling after he'd been rather quiet during Dominic's thought process.
'Perhaps,' Dominic mused, wondering if that was possible. Well, if there were other creatures out there already able to use mana, he'd have to be a bit more careful. 'That sucks: I was hoping I'd got some sort of advantage there,' he groused.
'Being able to absorb the abilities of other creatures isn't an advantage?' Leo remarked pointedly.
'OK, fine,' Dominic half-snapped back before controlling himself. It wasn't Leo's fault that Dominic was suddenly grumpy at the realisation that he wasn't as special a snowflake as he'd thought himself. 'So if you had the choice, what would you take?' he asked as a way to offer an olive branch.
'I agreed with your thought process,' Leo replied. 'I didn't see anything to add in. Both this 'Ground Pound' and this 'Stunning Roar' could be useful. I will say that we are not in the habit of rearing up in the middle of the fight, but I suppose it doesn't mean we couldn't use it anyway.'
'True,' Dominic replied thoughtfully. Oh well, this would be irrelevant if he didn't actually get the choice after all.
Touching the scrin's Core, he focussed on absorbing it. No message flashed up to let him choose which one he wanted, but he got the sense that, by applying determination, he might be able to push a little towards one more than the other. Not enough to get something which only had a 10% chance every time, but perhaps enough to be able to improve the chance of getting it to 20% or even 30%. As it was, though, he was willing to let probability decide for him in this particular case.
All the dust absorbed into his body, Dominic pulled up his status screen to check out the changes.
'Not bad,' he thought, pleasantly surprised.