Pebble awoke to a pounding headache as his blurry vision came into focus, "Ugh, how much did I drink last night?" He grabbed his head and sat up in his bed. His pulse could be felt in his temples. "Ugggh, f*ck drinking, I can't remember anything."
He stood up and took a couple paces forward, away from the bed, before realizing that this wasn't his room back on Earth. He looked around and observed the stone walls and marble floors. He saw a dresser next to his twin sized bed. The dresser had a circular mirror mounted to the top of it. He approached the mirror and took a good look at himself.
"F*ck me, it's real." He looked deep into his stone cold gray eyes. They looked unreal, but they were his new eyes. They had to be real. He pinched his skin and noticed that there was hardly any loose skin to pinch, but he felt the sensation nonetheless. He looked back up at the mirror and flexed. His body looked even more toned than when he arrived yesterday, 'Am I more toned because of the level ups or from the mana burning my muscles?' Pebble shivered at the memory.
Bad memories aside, his muscles were huge and impressive. His face wasn't anything to scoff at either. He admired his own stubbly jawline once more as he noticed the symmetrical details on his face and his proportions were all exactly how he envisioned an ideal man.
"Oh my god, I'm hot!" Pebble exclaimed. He began to smile and looked down at his pecs as he was currently shirtless. He turned his fist upright in front of him and squeezed his chests. He let out a whistle at the site of his bulging muscles. "Okay," he changed poses and continued flexing in the mirror, "Okay! This ain't a bad body to be stuck in, all things considered."
Pebble paused.
He looked down and slowly pulled his underwear away from his body, and peeped his situation down where it matters, "Oh, thank god!"
He let his underwear snap back against his pelvis and noticed that a set of clothes were set aside for him. On the pile of neatly folded clothes lay a note. Pebble walked over, grabbed it and read it out loud.
"Pebble, we are pleased to see you enjoyed your first night in Aegis. We hope you bond with our City and its people as its new Hero. We expect great things from you! You'll find a set of clothing under this note, I'd suggest you take a shower and get dressed. Today you shall have brunch with the King. Signed, The Raven." Pebble scratched his head. "I guess the Location Ping line in my status might be the culprit here."
Pebble was sure that if he got a note, then his friends probably had a similar ordeal waiting for them. He walked over to the bathroom attached to his room to check it out for the first time. It looked like a stone chamber with a class sculpture shaped like a diamond floating high in the middle of the bathroom. That sculpture was the only light source in the room, giving the whole bathroom a dark yet warm feeling. Pebble didn't see a shower.
He searched the room and eventually noticed that next to the door there was a panel in the wall that didn't look like a screen, but rather a glowing rock. When he pressed the rock a British voice was heard that reminded Pebble of a butler from an old TV show.
"Good morning, sir. How hot would you like your shower to be today?" The voice asked.
"Hello! I'd like it nice and steamy please!" Pebble replied.
"Right away, sir!"
Pebble heard a harp start playing out of nowhere and some nature sounds began echoing off the walls, giving him the illusion of being in a vast forest. He could hear distant birds chirping and what sounded like monkeys, but he wasn't sure. A slow violin began playing as well and steam was released as water began raining down from all over the ceiling. The whole bathroom had pouring water covering every square inch. It was the perfect temperature and Pebble's muscles felt immediately relaxed.
"Ahhh." Pebble verbally released his stress as he lowered his shoulders and straightened his back. He closed his eyes and felt like he could fall asleep again in this bathroom. He had never been so relaxed.
"Would you like some suds, sir?" The bathroom butler asked.
"By suds, you mean, like, soap? Sure!" Pebble replied.
Within seconds his nose got a whiff of lavender and lemon as soapy bubbles started floating around the bathroom. Pebble was enjoying this thoroughly. He decided he wanted to prolong his time in the shower and started looking through his menu. He needed to decide what to do with his 3 free stat points.
Pebble rubbed his chin, 'Should I continue to dump points into constitution? It seems to be a solid strategy. Not to mention how dying sounds like a sh*t deal.' He took a deep breath and appreciated the scent of the suds once more. He decided to check out his challenge menu before choosing which stat to increase.
Pebble focused on Challenge Skills.
<1850 CP>
"Wow, that's a lot of CP!" Pebble said through the showering water and ambient music.
"No, sir. We don't mind if you have to pee, but I'd like to direct you to the urinal in the corner." The butler replied.
"My bad, I was talking to myself." Pebble turned around as if to hide from the conversation, but he was unsure what he was hiding from. He continued with his menu. He looked at the Challenge Skills that followed Life on Kill
<
'Oh sweet, I can unlock the Store right now.' Pebbles went ahead and unlocked the Store with 250 CP
<1600 CP>
Two additional skills were unlockable after the Store unlock.
Pebble could afford the Sprint Support Augment if he wanted, but he didn't even have the Grapple skill unlocked yet, so that was not even an option for him currently. He looked back over at the Rock Throw Support Augment.
'For, 100 CP, why not. I just hope this doesn't somehow brick my skill.' Pebble thought. He pondered for a moment and zoned into the relaxation atmosphere of the shower. He had a brief moment of self realization, 'I think I'd prefer to support my team.' He remembered the screams and pleas of the goblins he massacred yesterday. He's had his fill for now and didn't want to risk triggering Berserker or Blood Luster again. For the time being, he'd do his best to stay in the back lines. He mentally pulled the trigger and unlocked the Augment.
<1500 CP>
"What does that look like!?" Pebble shouted. He decided to keep checking his options for now, but he was already starting to get excited since he learned how to kick through the ground.
Two abilities once again became unlockable after Rock Throw Support Augment.
Pebble nodded at both options. His wallet was still metaphorically fat, and the word "life" sold him immediately. He unlocked Life Rock.
<1300 CP>
"HUGE!" Pebble once again shouted in excitement. He immediately knew how to summon the Life Rock, it was a ground punch instead of a kick. but he was not done with his CP shopping spree yet. Life Rock had two more abilities after it.
Pebble immediately attempted to unlock the Healing Hug skill.
Pebble rubbed his stubbly chin and selected Moral Support.
'Okay, so those are out for now.' Pebble went back and eyed the Thorns skill, it was 500 CP and he was currently at 1300. He closed his eyes and waited for a moment. He trusted his instincts and right now, he felt like this was the right move. He unlocked Thorns.
<800 CP>
Pebble was a little disappointed as he was hoping he would be able to provide thorns to his teammates, but it seemed to be only usable on himself. He could activate it by a mental command, which was neat. He was still impressed by the amount of damage per bullet and the fact that it was Divine damage. 'What does that mean? Does a god smite them personally, or do I myself deal Divine damage somehow?'
The two abilities that followed Thorns were a support augment and a skill that intrigued Pebbles immediately.
It was interesting that Cleave had a support augment. Pebble couldn't imagine any way to make that skill a support skill. Pebble remembered fighting with his axe and how he ultimately felt more effective fighting with Rock Throw. He had only sliced it a couple of times when he was in control, but he remembered when Berserker took over he was much more efficient. He unlocked Axe Mastery
Pebble got a strong headache that felt like his skull was being split open. It lasted for a moment, but subsided instantly. Now, he felt that if he summoned his axe, it would feel like an extension of himself rather than an unwieldy tool.
'Next up, the store!' Pebble thought. 'But first, let's try this Rock Throw Augment.' Pebble figured that since he was able to summon rocks with Rock Throw even through the arena was made of sand, he'd be safe to use an ability here with the marble floor.
Pebble suddenly flexed his muscles and the bathroom butler raised some concerns, "Uh, Sir? Is everything alright?" Pebble didn't answer as he lifted his foot behind him and kicked into the ground.
"Oh Sh*t, I was wrong!" Pebble yelled as a giant hole in the ground appeared and he could see below into the bathroom beneath him. Phil was standing in his naked snake glory as he was also showering. Phil looked up in utter surprise and made eye contact with Pebble.
"WHAT THE F*CK, BRO!?" He shouted.
"Oh my god, they really did take your d*ck away!" Pebble replied as he pointed awkwardly.
"I see you definitely still have yours! Do you mind covering up?!" Phil yelled. As he requested Pebble to cover up, a layer of rock encompassed Pebble's entire body. Pebble now looked like a stone gladiator statue. He had a big gladiator helmet with holes poked in it for him to look through. "Oh, that actually works nicely. Thank you, but you really got to stop punching holes in ceilings, man!"
"To be fair, from my perspective, this was a floor." Pebble shrugged and the stone armor moved nicely with him, only hindering his movement slightly.
"What the hell, mate!?" the butler questioned with a much more Australian accent this time. Pebble remained shrugging, but began looking around as if to attempt to look at the butler.
"Are you ready to meet the King?" Phil shouted from below.
"F*ck it." Pebble quickly entered his menu and allocated his 3 stat points. He chose to put 1 into constitution to bring his total HP to 50 and he put the remaining 2 points into strength.
<50/50 HP>