POV - Tad

As I ran back to the Bank the question of what a monster was churned through my mind. Those Sheep definitely slotted into what I conceived a monster to be. Mindless, violent and destructive.

The Waterprowler; not so much.

In fact, the Totally Scary Brute, way back in the Library, felt significantly more monstrous than the Prowler. He was clearly designated by the System as a Human while the Prowler was just as clearly labelled a River Monster.

Yet that Prowler clearly had a very close bond with her babies. And the description had mentioned close family groupings. Even the term family suggests a deeper relationship that goes beyond simply procreation and continuation of the species. A family supports and provides for a mutuality of care that, quite frankly, is anything but monstrous.

On the other hand the flock of Stormsheep, while operating in a group, showed none of the closeness. They just straight out zerged. And they had no hesitation in killing each other. They were like the Trashbugs. Each out for themselves. Eager to be the one to destroy all that was other. Including each other.

I suppose that an abusive family was somewhat like that and could easily be considered monstrous. But the Prowler was from a tight knit grouping. And it showed by the way she treated her kits. There were plenty of examples of abusive relationships in humanity. Did that make us monsters as well? What was TSB’s upbringing like to have formed such a scary presence? Or was that the effects of a high level of intimidation that was exacerbated by my extremely low level? This had the vibe of correctness. I was relying more and more on my intuition.

The Prowler had defended her kits in a self sacrificial way that was the antithesis of monstrous. And even badly wounded, at less than a fifth of her health, there was no question that she would not back down, that she would abandon her babies. It was quite obvious to me that she was a fully sentient being, with feelings and responding to experiences that shaped her environment. There was an awareness and responsiveness about her that was so much more than that of the Stormsheep.

She had presence. Yes. That was it.

In comparison there was no impression of specific consciousness with the sheep. They were all instinct. A mindless instinct to attack and destroy, even at their own detriment. Of course they obviously were able to sense things. There was that low level of sentience there. But it was markedly different. The Prowler was on a whole other level.

And killing monsters like the Trashbugs and Stormsheep was quite different from killing sentient, maybe even sapient beings. Yet the System should surely know? Why would it label them as monsters? My intuition was nagging at me.

There was also that extremely effective way she had attacked the sheep. She had known what to do. She had taken the fight to them in a way that showed both experience and shrewdness. Even the way she flung the rocks. A tool user. And she had targeted the most dangerous first and taken out the Cerberam before it could incapacitate her. In fact, looking back at the fight, it was now clear than if there had been only one ram, even with eleven Stormsheep she would have probably come through relatively unscathed.

She had strategized on the fly. Her tactics were perfect for a being which would normally have more of her family providing support. All in all the impression I was forming was that she was way more than sentient. There was a sapience about her. Planning attack lines, displaying wisdom, judging, assessing and then acting. Even in removing her kits from harm’s way. Yes, this was undeniable wisdom. This was a self awareness that went well beyond animal sentience.

And she had refrained from attacking me. It was clear that had she wished she would have been able to attack me. But as soon as she had perceived that I was offering her no violence, that I was not preventing her from going to her kits, she had also de-escalated the engagement. I had convinced myself. The Prowler was a fully sapient being no matter what the System labelled her. I would treat her as such. Warily and with extreme caution.

But not as a monster.

No, and in a way this was so much more complex and dangerous. You could generally expect a monster to be monstrous. That was almost a given. But a sapient, hostile enemy. One who could plan. Who could ‘employ devious strategies’, as the System put it, was extremely dangerous. I was going to have to be extremely careful. And clever.

I so needed some Magic of my own.

And some range.

Reaching the Bank, I again ascended the short flight of stairs and set up my campfire. Hmmm. I was burning through these faster than I liked.

But I needed some down time. Two confrontations in one morning was more than enough, especially as I was spectacularly green. This was not a lifestyle I was used to. I needed to ease my way into this adventuring gig. And it would be nice to be the one choosing to have these fights rather than having them sprung upon me.

Sitting down to [Advanced Meditate] and recuperate my depleted Heath Points I rested my spade across my knees. It had been remarkably effective in whipping those rock missiles. Rather than a bow and arrows maybe I could make a sort of stick sling. Ammunition was plentiful, virtually unlimited with all the rubble about, and I could gather up a hefty amount and store them in my Bucket of Holding. Yes that sounded like an excellent plan and it would arm me with some much needed distance options.

Ha, that was my sapience speaking.

I checked out my HP while humming under my breath. I had recovered 100 odd HP since my first fight but then lost 40HP in the second. In another hour’s time I would have regained all that my potions would replenish. I could take another Health Potion now but it would only return 75HP, at least for the next five hours or so. No, I would conserve them for the time being and see if I could boost my natural regeneration by [Advanced Meditation] and [Basic Cultivation].

And it was a very relaxing five hours.

And it passed remarkably fast.

Checking my health I was pleased to see it had recovered nearly 400HP. Hmmmm. I concentrated. This was important if somewhat boring stuff. My natural regen had been boosted by [Meditation] and [Cultivation] significantly. Returning about 300HP over 5 hours, that was only slightly less than the rate of the Health Potions. Okay, maybe 80% of a trash tier potion. There was plenty of room for improvement but still this was way better than normal regeneration by about a factor of ten my intuition was telling me. With my health now at 1090 I was now at 89%. Only another 133HP and I would be at full health. While I could take another Potion now it was better to continue as I had. Another two and a bit hours and I would be at full health.

I continued. Cultivating and enriching and healing my body by cycling Essence through it was very therapeutic. And it also had the benefit of imbuing my Essence at the same time. This was excellent.

Finishing healing up I checked my campfire. It had just under half an hour left. Okay, I could spend this time adjusting my weapon. My multipurpose spade sling. Ha, I had visions of turning my spade into a Swiss Army Spade. Truly, imagination is a wonderful thing. [Ding]

Congratulations!

You have been endowed with 2 IMA Bonus Stat points.

As your Mana is unlocked you may allocate to your Mind Stats as you desire.

Ohho. Bonus Stats. Excellent. I allocated them to IMA anyway. That was the key Mind Stat after all.

Injecting one [Essence] into my spade I notched the top end of the handle for the slip knot and provided a ring notch about a handspan down to take the other end of the sling. Then I cut an arm's length off my rope. The rope itself was too thick but, being made up of multiple strands I was able to unravel it into the three separate strands. Next I cut off about eight centimetres off the trouser legs of my old hemp pants and cutting the band open and doubling it over, formed two strips of heavy fabric. I layered up one end of the fabric and, boring a hole through both pieces with my remaining throwing dagger, I fixed a strand of rope through and tied it off. Repeating for the other side except with the fabric in the reverse order I now had a pouch to cup my ammunition. I tied off one side to the top of my spade and created a loop on the other to slide onto the notched end of the spade.

Excellent. A double headed sling spade. I gave it an experimental twirl. Waahoo. I was feeling dangerous. I could scoop up boulders with the spade head and fling them hard and fast, rapid style. Or I could load up the sling and get extra range but sacrifice some speed.

I [Inspected] my spade.

The System promptly pinged me with a notification.

Attachment detected on your Red Adamantine Spade.

Do you wish to integrate [Rope] and [Hemp] with your soul bound Spade?

Inject [10 Essence] to activate.

Note this action is irreversible.

YES NO

Oh. Hmmmm. Curses. Decisions affecting my Soul again. After a brief humming and harring I selected [Yes] and committed the Essence. The potential benefit of getting self repair on the sling was totally worth it.

My Spade shivered. The red that infused it expanded and extended along the sling. The rope tightened and the pouch melded together. This was super cool. Then the sling spun and wrapped itself around the top end of the handle, storing itself helpfully out of the way. Far out, I was a genius. I commended myself. Now to test it and see just how clever I was.

My campfire flickered. I gathered up my stuff, packing it away and detaching my red BoH from my backpack. It was time to gather some ammo and get some practice in.

I descended the Bank stairs, [Observe] on high alert. All was still and quiet.

Selectively collecting various sized pieces of rubble I loaded them into my bucket. I tried to keep them in a uniform size range of small, medium and large so that I would get a better level of accuracy in slinging them. I stopped at fifty. The bucket was still as light as the day.

Loading a small fist sized piece into my new sling I carefully transferred my hand from the pouch to the handle of my spade. Focusing on a ruined building on the far side of the square I convulsively whipped the spade forward sending the stone hurtling into the air.

Needless to say I missed the entire building.

By miles.

The stone went way higher and further than I had expected, disappearing into the far distance.

Okay. I had a distance attack. And it was too effective. Unless I could see further that is. I tried again.

This time I didn’t whip the spade straight overhead but tried a more sideways movement, trying to keep the trajectory lower and flatter. That worked. The stone exploded as it hammered into the side of a ruin.

Just not the one I had been aiming at. Botheration.

Some practice was definitely needed. At least until I could hit the side of the house. I tried again. This time using the head of the spade rather than my sling. Ahh. This was easier, both in direction and speed of delivery. But not quite as powerful as the actual sling. Still, if I could accurately hit whatever I was flinging at, it would be devastating.

I spent the next hour or so trying different sizes of rubble. Too big and I was slow and the distance was pitiful. I needed better strength before I tried the larger spadefuls. Too small and my accuracy suffered with the stone vanishing into the distance, nowhere near what I was aiming at. At the moment a rock the size of a baseball was my sweet spot for both spade and sling.

And none of my practice unlocked a Skill.

It was getting late in the afternoon. Time to try and revisit the Shop. Hopefully this time I would not get interrupted. As I tramped I collected rubble. Hundreds of them. I would not run out of ammo quickly.

I entered the Shopping square.

I felt eyes on me.

Someone, or something was inspecting me.

I froze.

Who? What? Where?