Maya was pleasantly surprised, there is an item that can actually give her so many benefits? "What is that?"
"It's a water crystal, a... treasure of our tribe, it can grant you an infinite amount of water energy."
'system, is that true?'
[Negative, that is a beast crystal of a powerful water beastman. It appears he is not aware of it]
'a beast crystal? Is that like a beast core?'
[Affirmative, when you rise up in ranks, the beast core crystalizes and forms a beast crystal]
"Can you...please... Save me..now?" Salmon said weakly.
Maya snapped out her stupor and activated the inspection skill.
Name: Salmon of the Gillblade clan
Race: fish beast shifter
Class: Novice shifter
Attributes
Strength: 6
Speed: 11
Defense: 8
Intelligence: 0
Charm: 0
EP: ----
HP: low (critical)
Fish abilities
Full transformation
Water streak
Super jump
'i have inspected him, what now?'
[Use regeneration skill]
'couldn't l have just used that instead of the skill?'
[I wanted to show you the usefulness of the inspect skill]
'bad timing system'
She activate the regeneration skill, she could feel the energy in her body rushing to her hands. The energy coated her hands and turning into blue translucent water, she instinctively placed her hands on Salmon's open wound. The water spread itself across the wound and started glowing softly, feeling the pain easing up, Salmon's tense body finally relaxed.
After a brief period of time, Maya removed her hands and weakly fell on her bum.
[-100EP]
'what? It costs so much?'
[Affirmative, healing others requires a larger amount of energy than self healing]
Everyone's breath hitched when they saw the closed wound that had stopped bleeding and looked like it was starting to scab over. Salmon himself was more shocked than anyone else, she had just shown three water abilities, what if she had more? And more importantly, she had the rare water healing ability!
When Salmon asked her to save him, it was just out of desperation, he didn't actually expect her to save his life. He felt happy but upon looking at the crystal on his hands, he felt a pang of pain in his chest. Without this crystal and with the arrival of another water user, he might as well be discarded by the tribe and live like a commoner. But being alive was still better than anything else to him, he gathered up his courage and offered the crystal to Maya as promised.
Looking at the mucus covered crystal, she frowned "Can you at least wipe it first?"
Salmon smiled apologetically and used his own body to wipe it, Maya used a small amount of energy to make sure its throuroughly cleaned.
After getting a hold of the crystal, Maya tried to absorb it right away but the process was too slow so she retired to the dune of the old blacksmith.
After seeing her display of power, the elderly beastman no longer troubled her especially after knowing that she would be their new water source. He didn't dare think of scamming her anymore, he out right used the crystal she had paid him to make an armour for Maya in order to gain her favour. Just like many beastmen, he bullied the weak and feared the strong.
The next morning, when Maya woke up, she could see that the energy absorption was still in progress.
[41%...]
She felt slightly impatient but she couldn't do anything about it. Seeing Maya awake, Muddy walked in with a bloody beast in his mouth. He laid it beneath her feet and wagged his tail as he looked at her as if waiting for praise.
Maya understood his intentions but looking at the prey soaked in saliva she lost her appetite "thanks, but l don't eat raw food"
What Maya was more interested in was his form, he looked like a dog made of dirt. Before the disappointed muddy could say anything, the elderly beastman hopped in and kicked him away. Muddy smashed on the wall and crumbled to dust, before Maya could even show concern, the elderly beastman presented a yellowish - apple green chest piece with a yellow core in it's centre showing a wide spread network of energy veins.
"This is the best piece I've ever made in my life! You better remember this favour female, I didn't sleep the whole night because of you!" The beastman sounded like he was blaming Maya more than just telling her
Maya frowned, no matter which angle she looked at it, she didn't really like the armour. But perhaps that's the way it was in the best world, they didn't care about style or looks..only strength.
'it better be impressive then'
[Would you like to use the inspect skill?]
'yes'
Mid-tier Chitin Breastplate armour
Strength: +3
Speed+1
Defence: +6
Durability: 100%
Although it had a nice boost in stats especially the defense, for some reason she still didn't feel very happy about it either. 'maybe that's how all their armour is made' she thought as recalled all the armour she had seen the beastmen wearing.
She was at least happy to know that she would be returning to Smith's clan earlier than expected. Looking at the chest peace again, she noticed something amiss.
Forget about the design and the stats, the biggest problem was that the blacksmith had forgotten to leave breathing space for her chest!
"Is it possible to adjust the armour after it has already been made?"
Realizing this problem, the elderly beastman felt like tearing out the hair off his head "No! No one in the outlands can do that, only the best blacksmiths from the inner settlement are capable"
'huh? The inner settlement?'
A commotion suddenly came from outside the dune.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Where is she?"
Bang!
A strong iron hoof busted through the dune.
"My dune!" The elderly beastman let out a scream of exasperation.
A horse strode in before transforming into a small giant muscular man "Hopper! I heard you are keeping a relatively powerful female here"
His eyes scanned around the small dune before landing on the lean figure of Maya who happened to be starring back at him. Once their gazes locked, the horse man smiled "she's a rare pretty female at that too, were you planning to breed with her alone and not share? Are you outlanders worthy?"
Hopper cowered and his bunny ears dropped "of course not your lordship, I was only stalling her to stay here. Now that you've arrived, l dare not keep her with me, please take her away"
Maya looked at the two men and felt disgusted "I am not a commodity! I can make my own decisions!"
The horseman sneered "do you think you can be exempted from the rules just because you are a female? Whether or not you can become my breeder .depends if you can beat me in a fight! Did no one tell you?"
Maya had enough of fighting she didn't feel like fighting anymore at that moment, besides that she could feel a slight oppressive aura from the horseman, indicating that she was weaker than him.
She wanted to leave this place as soon as possible, but the moment she had this thought. A fat beastman with a fluffy black and white tail stopped in front of her, he exposed his big bum at her before letting out a pleasant smelling purple gas.
[Unknown substance detected]
[You have no resistance to the unknown substance]
[You are being affected by the unknown substance]
Maya suddenly fell to the ground, unable to move and her whole body feeling numb.
"It's always convenient to bring you along, Cobber" the horseman said as he picked up Maya and threw her on his back as he transformed into a majestic looking horse.
'looks like we found ourselves an entertainer for the battle for freedom. She should be enough to bring the luster and liveliness our arena once had' the horse snorted happily as he ran through the desert.