The whole cannibal village assembled halfway around the mountain, standing in the cold wind to witness the duel, some three hundred elders, women, and children and thirty warriors.

The numbers he was seeing in no way reflected the number of dead Genosians he had seen earlier in the village. There had literally been hundreds of dead men. They couldn’t possibly have all come from this one village. Which meant that the attack on Deinos had been a joint effort by…maybe five tribes at least. Possibly ten or more.

What had caused them to join hands so readily? The sentiment toward the Seeker tribe was one of disdain. Was it simply a desperate food shortage, or was it something more sinister?

Cal stood wearing nothing but a leather loincloth, his entire body shivering as he faced his opponent.

His opponent stood across from him, staring at him with a smug grin. His grey skin seemed to shrug off the cold as easily as a wolf’s pelt. Not a single shiver crossed the rippling muscles. He sported a thick black beard and dizzying tattoos across his scalp.

He must have outweighed Cal by a good fifty pounds, but he didn’t look musclebound either. Long, lean muscles covered the man’s wide frame, making him look perfectly suited to climbing obsidian studded mountains and balancing on thin peaks above perilous falls.

Which is exactly what this challenge was.

“Now, the two of you will race to the peak, where the odeya awaits.” Aoehe explained.

The odeya was a pretty necklace made from – you guessed it – obsidian. The entire mountain seemed to be made of the stuff. It made walking around barefoot hazardous at best.

“Once the competition begins, there are no rules, there is no time limit. The one who places the Odeya in my hand is the winner, and claims the right to become my daughter’s Incha Huala.”

Cal looked up the mountain slope, full of steep cliffs lined with obsidian, jagged, sharp walls, and stone spires connected to each other by wood planks, where they were supposed to run along them while balancing.

A single slip would tear either of them to tiny little pieces. The best bet might be to simply let the other guy go first and hope took a tumble. Some of those planks looked like they were about to give out.

Fighting each other while traversing an obstacle course greatly favored the one with more mass, muscle and better balance.

Cal gave himself a two out of ten chance of not being immediately thrown off the cliff by the other man’s superior strength and tumbling down the razor sharp peaks until he hit the slopes ready for the stewpot.

Of course, letting the other guy go ahead of him was stupid too, as there was more than one way back down to the ground, he couldn’t exactly catch him at a choke point.

Wait. There’s a choke point right here. Cal’s heart started hammering as he realized what he had to do. He’d convinced Aoehe not to feed him the Noeula this morning, and so he was sporting a single Bent

The other guy’s gonna use his Iron Skin as soon as he starts scaling the walls. The magic seemed to be universal for the tribe, and it also made this obstacle course significantly less deadly.

For them.

There was no way to win once they were up there. There was only a tiny window of opportunity for him, and if he wanted to live, he had to seize it.

“Kuetha, are you ready?”

“Ready.” His opponent said, facing toward the wall filled with sharp glass.

“Calvin, are you ready?”

“Ready,” Calvin said, facing toward the mountain.

“Go!”

Splitting.

0/10 Bent remaining.

Targeting a massive vein of pure volcanic glass, Calvin reproduced a simple glass knife in both hands, twisted violently and shoved one into his opponent’s neck.

Kuetha glanced over at Cal with a confused expression, his skin turning silvery an instant too late. His steps faltered and he reached up, his fingers brushing the glass embedded in his windpipe.

Knife-Work has reached Level 5!

Level 5: Boosts handling and sharpness of knives, 25% correction.

Kuetha opened his mouth to speak, and blood bubbled out. He got angry, glaring and stumbling toward Cal. Cal took a powerful step forward and put everything he had into one of Karen’s front kicks, pushing the two of them away from each other.

Get distance and let the wound take its toll. Karen seemed to whisper in his mind.

Kuetha staggered backwards, and might have caught himself, but for the weakness in his knees. He toppled backward, and struggled to put his feet under him, his breath creating a strange whistling as it passed between the knife and the rest of his throat. The cannibal almost stood up, but Cal kicked him in the face, forcing him onto his back.

Once they’re down, don’t let up.

Gasping for air despite not having done much at all, Cal picked up a big half obsidian rock, and carried it over to the wheezing man on the ground who was tugging on the blade blocking his air.

While he was trying to get up, Calvin smashed his head with the rock until he stopped moving.

Once that was taken care of, Cal turned to face the rest of the village. The only sound was the mountain wind blowing over them. Some seemed alarmed, others angry. Aoehe and Ella were watching without expression.

“Let me make something clear!” he shouted, riding the wave of anger and adrenaline.

“If you think you can challenge me to some half-assed competition without betting your life, you better fucking think again! Losing my position here means death! You are trying to kill me! And I swear to each and every one of you, there’ll be no rope climbing, necklace retrieving, treasure hunting pieces of shit! Every. Single. Challenge…will be to the death! Because guess what? It is for me!”

Anything to stop them from seeing how scared and disgusted he actually was. Only a small fraction of his shaking knees were from the cold.

Acting has reached Level 5!

Acting Level 5: Behave exactly as you intend. Convey emotion naturally. 25% correction.

Cal started down the mountain, back to his nice warm yurt.

“The competition isn’t over yet.” Aoehe said.

Cal glanced over his shoulder at the muscular body with the smashed in head, and then at Aoehe.

“There’s no time limit. I’ll get around to it.”

It would have been more cool and convincing had Cal not caught the tiniest waft of blood and excrement carried down from uphill. His stomach instantly rebelled, and he doubled over, spewing his breakfast all over the mountainside.

Why are there even chunks? I only ate bread and water the last week?

The adrenaline high left his body at the same time as his food, and he sank to his knees, shivering violently.

“Ella, take him back.”

“I knew I was gonna be a babysitter again,” she grumbled. The Genosian girl put her shoulder under his and levered him up, half-carrying him to his Yurt.

“I declare this challenge complete and Calvin the winner,” Aoehe intoned. “Take Kuetha back to the freezer. Damnit.”

On the way down, Cal had enough presence of mind to try his new ability.

Lady Killer

The veins in the arm that was draped over her shoulder turned black where they pressed up against her skin, and Cal felt a warm sensation begin to build between the two of them, a tantalizing sensitivity that reminded him of-

Bzzt!

Cal’s arm suddenly tingled viciously, like it had gone dead for hours and only now was getting the blood back. Pins and needles assaulted him, and he barely managed to keep a straight face.

Lady Killer is better for both parties when the target is willing.

Lubricates the process, if you know what I mean.

….Have some class, boy.

Ella shivered a moment, frowned, glancing over at him and ran her fingers over her shoulder and back of her neck, raising them to her gaze as if expecting something to be there.

“Did you do something?” she asked.

Are you telling me, that the one reason I got this mutation is meaningless, because I have to tell them about it!?

I don’t make the rules. Oh wait, I do.

Cal put the strangely talkative System in the back of his mind for a moment and brought himself back to the present. He couldn’t use the damn thing secretly, so there wasn’t much point in trying to lie about it.

“I was trying an ability I learned a while ago.”

“What kind of ability?” she asked with a raised brow, her posture becoming cautious. She’d seen how he’d conjured obsidian knives out of nothing, like everyone else.

“I can borrow Bent from people, but apparently not without permission, which the damned thing didn’t tell me when I got it.”

She stared at him a moment, her lovely face backlit by Soscath, the Scowling Moon. They were so high in the air that the light of the sky was pure blue, glowing down on her hair and skin. It was a heart pounding moment.

Then she smiled, and Cal remembered the Genosians were distinctly not human, looking at her triangle shaped teeth.

“What kind of pathetic Ability requires the enemy’s permission?” she asked, shouldering him again. “Sounds funny. Let’s try it.”

“Just like that?”

“Why not? You are my Incha Huala.”

The phrase meant more to Genosians than Cal. It seemed as if the possibility of betrayal from an Incha huala didn’t even register. A cultural blind spot.

“I think I can walk on my own.” Cal said, disentangling himself from her grip, trying not to enjoy the way she felt against him.

“Good,” she said, slapping him on the back hard enough to make him stumble forward a few paces. “let’s walk and talk then. You can tell me where you got so good at fighting, and I’ll tell you what’s expected of you as my Incha Huala.”

“My mother taught me how to fight since I could walk.” Cal said. “I never beat her.”

“Your mother taught you?” she asked. “That is very strange.”

“She’s six and a half feet tall, blonde hair, about this wide, eight Breaks, at least.” Cal said, gesturing.

“Blonde…Your mother was the golden haired Aiaka that killed so many?”

“What’s an Aiaka?”

“A great warrior who has experienced more than six Breaks. A legend. Something nearly unheard of for us. We simply don’t have enough people to engage in battles large enough to Generate that kind of Warp. Not like humans.”

She glanced at him from the side. “I see why my father chose to bring you back. A child born from an Aiaka is said to be the reincarnation of a great historical figure.”

“Actually I…” Cal was about to say something to deny being an Aiaka’s kid, then realized Elaine must have had a similar number of Breaks, too. “Don’t think I did anything special in a previous life.”

“How would you know?” she asked with a chuckle as they arrived at the yurt.

Cal climbed into the warm building and buried himself in the furs of his bed, shivering uncontrollably now that he was no longer walking. The side of the mountain was harsh on skinny teens in loincloths.

“Your turn.” Cal said, peeking at Ella from beneath the furs. “What is expected of me?”

The voluptuous Genosian sauntered into his yurt, sniffing the air with a curious expression before she turned her grey eyes back to Cal.

“Tomorrow we drink the Guya. Then we begin training your potential,” She said, sitting down crosslegged beside his bed. Her sheer proximity made it difficult to think, his gaze was dragged down her body against his will for a moment before he forced himself to look at her face again.

Is Talking to Girls even working? How bad would this be if it wasn’t? Cal thought.

Yes. Bad.

“Still cold?” She asked, holding out her hand.

Cal took it, and his icy fingers met smooth, warm skin that tickled the tiny hairs on the back of his hand, sending jolts of formless energy to his heart.

“I considered climbing into your bed to warm you up,” she said thoughtfully, “but I don’t know you that well yet, Calvin.”

“M-makes sense.” Cal said, shivering violently now that his body was starting to regain its heat.

“Try the thing.” She said.

“What?”

“Try to take my Bent. You have my permission.”

Lady Killer

As the two of them watched, the veins beneath Cal’s skin darkened, and then that darkness spread into his hand. He felt something resist him for a moment, before he plunged into it, shoving the soft barrier aside. An insanely pleasurable tingling spread up his arm as the black veins began to climb up the back of her hand and wrist, wrenching a stifled groan out of him as he tried not to writhe.

“Ngya!” Ella let out a girlish yelp, tugging her hand away from his.

As quick as it came, the strange sensation fled, the black veins fading away in seconds.

“That was, um…” She panted a bit, the skin of arms covered in goosebumps as she looked at her hand, flexing it and making sure it wasn’t hurt. “Did you get it?”

“No, I don’t think it was long enough.” Cal said.

“Is it supposed to feel…like that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Cal shrugged, trying not to tent his covers. He just had to think about other things to keep it under control, rather than the girl blushing and panting next to him, soft thighs pressed against the floor, large breasts heaving with every breath.

That was the wrong thing to think about.

A moment later, she grinned conspiratorily.

“Let’s try that again,” she said, grabbing a fur and lying down beside his bed. Her leather-clad breasts deformed against the fur in front of him, pressing together and up under her weight. Over her shoulder, he could see her glorious backside rising enticingly into the air, the furs barely able to restrain her flesh.

“You know what, I’m gonna close my eyes,” Cal said. “I think that’ll help me concentrate.”

“Sure.”

He closed his eyes and felt her warm hand against his own.

Lady Killer.

Forwarned, he managed to bite back a moan of pleasure as he began draining her Bent. After a fraction of a second longer than the time before, he felt his Bent begin to refill.

1/10 Bent remaining.

It works!

2/10 Bent remaining.

3/10 Bent remaining.

Feels like it’s speeding up…

“Nnnokay, thas enou-,” she said, pulling her hand away.

Cal opened an eye and glanced over. Ella was shuddering, making her generous figure wiggle in time with her movements.

She raised her head to look at him, and he spotted a corner of the fur she was resting on, in her mouth, pierced by her sharp teeth. Her cheeks were full of color now, softening from grey to magenta.

“That was…interesting.” She said, tugging the thick leather off of her teeth. There was a bite-pattern driven straight through the thick leather, now.

“As your Maje, I want you to know you can come to me for assistance at any time, I’m responsible for helping you reach your full potential over the next few years, after all.” She said, pushing herself to her feet and posing confidently, her knees trembling as she leaned against the tree trunk dominating the center of his room.

“Will do.”

“I’m going to go…take a nap,” she said, wobbling away. “Do not interrupt me for at least an hour…but once you recover, come speak to me about your training regime.”

Ella walked out of the yurt, and a moment later, Cal heard a strange thump and yelp outside, followed by whispered Genosian cursing a bit too fast to follow.

“Huh, that went well.” Cal muttered to himself. He didn’t feel nearly as cold anymore, and the guilt and sickness from brutally murdering someone was a faint background sensation.

Told you so.

Who are you? Cal asked internally, bringing his thoughts to bear on the voice in his head. it didn’t seem like an emotionless system, like he’d been told. It seemed to have…quirks.

Acting has reached Level 5!

Acting Level 5: Behave exactly as you intend. Convey emotion naturally. 25% correction.

+1 to Intuition

Please choose an ability or mutation from the list of compatible ones.

Abilities:

A mile in his shoes: 1 Bent to disguise yourself as the target for an hour, including voice and tactile effects. Does not lend supernatural knowledge of the target's mental state.

Good for sleeping with other men’s wives, if that’s included in the mile.

Infectious emoting: 2 Bent. Act out an emotional state (Anger, Calm, Sadness, Happiness, Defeatism, Courage, etc.) and watch it spread like wildfire!

Good for wars, orations, In-laws and Cutesiñeras

Confidence: At will, speak with such surety that people want to believe you. Even when they know they shouldn’t. Causes victims to build belief and make assumptions based on your statements if they aren’t paying close attention.

Good for lying. At its heart, Acting is the art of lying with confidence.

Mutations:

Me myself, And I: design up to five alter egos. Each one may be a different race or gender, changing your body when they assume control. Pro: Can fool rigorous magical testing to determine your identity or locate you. Con: stay on good terms and ask nicely for your body back.

Ironclad disguise. Possibly wake up married with kids.

One of the Guys: At will, take a snapshot of every humanoid within 100 feet. Your race and gender become the average values of theirs until the ability is dismissed. Pros: Extreme duration. Con: dependent on environment.

Good for hiding amongst nuns…or lizard-people…or any homogeneous group of humanoids, really.

Mesmerizing Eyes: capture a target’s attention for as long as eye contact is maintained, causing increased suggestibility and memory lapse. Intuition resisted by Will.

Side effects may include vampirism and Dry-eye.

Just gonna dodge the question, huh? Figures.