Chương 10: Book 1 - Chapter 10: The Plot Thickens

After glancing around just to make sure no other enemies had appeared in the meantime, Dominic lay down and made himself comfortable. That room had just been too much – he really needed a rest. But not sleep, not yet. So, he'd got his first Evolved Domain. Which apparently came with a choice of 'Mutation'. Hopefully the good kind. He considered the flavour text relating to his newest Domain. The channel widens… I guess that matches the name 'Conduit' pretty well.

Would it have killed them to have indicated what exactly flows through me, though? he questioned with some exasperation. The more tired he got, the less patience he had for vague messages. What possibilities? the lion asked curiously. Surely blood. Maybe, Dominic agreed. But something was flowing through us while we did those puzzles – that electrical feeling. Then he paused, getting a little more excited. It would be pretty cool if it's talking about magic. Maybe answer in Mutation, the lion suggested.

Maybe, Dominic agreed. Choose Mutation, he thought, hoping that the System would be as intuitive in this as it had been in everything else so far. Fortunately, that appeared to be the case as the notification cleared from his vision, replaced by a new list. Meditation Conversion Mana Reservoir Predator's Surge Annoyingly, concentrating on the options didn't result in a description written before his eyes, but Dominic could get a good sense of what each of them would give him.

Meditation Conversion would allow him to consciously convert XP into Evolution Energy – and vice versa – and choose how to apply it. This was of limited use right now since he didn't have any XP and he wasn't sure if he had any Evolution Energy either – unless evolving his Conduit Domain required it. However, that might change in the future.

What was most intriguing about it was that he remembered the initial messages he'd seen when he'd first been incarnated into this lion body – the one directed at sapient beings mentioned XP; the one directed at beasts mentioned Evolution Energy. That he was actually being offered a Mutation that allowed him to convert one into the other implied he could use both, didn't it? Perhaps this was an advantage of being an anomaly – or could be if he chose that Mutation. Mana Reservoir was much as it said on the tin.

If it actually gave him a mana reservoir, he'd be more interested, but he sensed that it only increased the mana pool a little and gave him a faster recovery rate when resting. He didn't have any mana listed on his status sheet, so it would be a wasted choice unless it managed to unlock that, or he gained mana from somewhere else. Predator's Surge was what Dominic felt the lion was most keen on. Quick kill, he agreed.

Yeah, but I can sense that the temporary boosts to speed or strength are followed by a period of weakness – that could be risky in a fight. And I can't tell how much the boost even is. Certainly if Dominic thought about the fights they'd just been having, sure, they could have shaved off a second here or there with this Mutation, but then they would have potentially made themselves more vulnerable later. Still, he had to admit it was tempting.

Really, he wanted them all, but he had a distinct feeling that he could only choose one – and that he wouldn't necessarily receive the same choice ever again. Quick kill good, the lion insisted. Use carefully. Maybe, Dominic replied, but found his eyes drifting towards the first entry again. In the first messages he'd seen, XP and Evolution Energy were directly linked to getting stronger. Crafting, killing… both of those seemed to be in service to gaining either XP or EE.

Predator's Surge would make him better at killing. So could Mana Reservoir if he ever gained a Mutation that allowed him to make use of it. But Meditation Conversion would allow him to directly tap into what allowed him to grow. All he needed to do was to figure out what would earn him XP or EE – or both – and then manipulate it with his new Mutation to grow the way he wanted to. The lion protested at his choice, but Dominic felt sure that this was exactly what he needed. Growing means getting more powerful.

Getting more powerful means being able to defend ourselves better, Dominic pointed out, by this point knowing what the lion was focused on. Sure enough, it wasn't long before the lion reluctantly agreed to take Meditation Conversion. Selecting the Mutation was easy enough, though Dominic didn't feel like anything had changed as a result. Curious, he called up his status screen to see the changes. DOMINIC MARTIN COLE /? Species:? Form/s:? Tier/Rank:?

XP Pool: 0 / 2000 (100XP: 1EE) Domains Predation – Basic Stage 1 Active Mutation: None Stored Mutations: None Aegis – Basic Stage 1 Active Mutation: None Stored Mutations: None Realm – Basic Stage 1 Active Mutation: None This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Stored Mutations: None Conduit – Evolved Stage 1 Active Mutation: None Stored Mutations: Meditation Conversion – Stage I Type: Mutation Enables the host to convert accumulated XP into Evolution Energy and consciously direct it to enhance chosen Domains. The process requires sustained stillness and concentration to stabilise energy transfer. Initial conversion efficiency is low but improves with repeated practice and increased Conduit development.

Sovereignty – Basic Stage 1 Active Mutation: None Stored Mutations: None The plot thickens, Dominic murmured, seeing just how much had changed in his status screen as a result of that one notification. Actually there must have been other notifications I missed – surely Conduit fully unlocked like the others did, into a Basic Stage before it Evolved? Then again, what did he know?

It was interesting that his choice to take Meditation Conversion had added a line into his screen relating to his XP pool – currently empty – and that all of the Domains except the one that was still locked had the potential of storing Mutations. That implied possibilities that were more than a little intriguing – even exciting. Even though he'd decided that the 'boring' option was the best for the long term, the possibilities Predator's Surge had offered had almost made him take it.

The idea of flummoxing his targets by suddenly being faster than they expected, getting inside their guard before they even knew he was moving had been tantalising. As had the image of an opponent who thought they had him overpowered suddenly finding the tables turned on them. It made him wonder what might happen when he got the other Domains to Evolve – would he be offered Mutations in those too?

He hoped so, because, whatever happened next, Dominic strongly suspected that fighting for his life would be part of it, and any advantage might be all that kept him alive. The most recent challenge was a case in point – if he hadn't unlocked Aegis by completing the bonus room with those shadow beasts, the pig-dogs would have torn him apart long before he'd managed to complete the puzzle. And whatever other objectives Dominic might have, staying alive was obviously top of the priority list.

Closing the status screen, Dominic pushed himself to his paws. Curious as it was, he couldn't stay in this room forever. He must have missed something – a button to push or a puzzle to complete. While inspecting every nook and cranny of the room, Dominic found his thoughts wandering to something that had occurred to him halfway through his discussion – read, argument – with the lion. It felt… wrong to just call the lion by his species name, as if he weren't a distinct being in his own right.

Because, if nothing else, Dominic was certain that was true. And so Dominic decided the lion deserved something that all individual beings should have. Hey, lion, do you want a name? The lion emanated confusion. Name? Yeah. Like mine is Dominic – it's a way of differentiating yourself from all other lions. Dominic… no other Dominics? Well, Dominic paused. Alright, there are other Dominics, but there probably aren't any other Dominic Martin Coles, and if there were, I doubt they'd have been born on the same day. My…

name, Dominic? The lion seemed confused. No, that's my name. Your name would be different. Dominic considered the matter for a moment. Actually, would you like me to suggest some? Yes. The lion was very definite about that. Alright… how about Lionel? Dominic started. No. Simba? No. Mufasa? … No. They continued like that, Dominic investigating the room while thinking of names and sending them to the lion, always receiving a negative answer.

He got the impression from his companion that he didn't like long names, or ones that were distinctly associated with anyone else, or 'weak' names – though his definition seemed to be different from Dominic's. Well, how about Leo, Dominic asked finally in exasperation. Short, not connected to anyone in particular – and about a damn constellation. If not this one, I don't know what will suit you. The lion contemplated it for several seconds. Yes, he decided. Finally, Dominic responded with relief.

He looked up at the lion puzzle, sat in a regal position, then lifted one paw with mock gravity. Then, I dub thee… Leo. The lion… Leo responded with the emotional equivalent of a side-eye, but Dominic wasn't fooled – he could feel the lion was touched. Pushing himself to his feet again, Dominic sighed. I can't see any sign of a door – I was almost expecting one of the tiles to be a button, but apparently not. Paw print, Leo suggested.

Yeah, that's what I was wondering, Dominic agreed, padding back towards the podium. He hadn't checked it because, in the previous room, the podium had been inert after he'd completed the puzzle, but maybe that had been a mistaken assumption. Placing his paw into the imprint, he saw it light up again, but this time the puzzle didn't illuminate. Instead, a large square around where he was standing was outlined by white light.

Dominic had just enough time to feel a sudden burst of alarm before the floor fell out from beneath him, to the barely-audible sound of gleeful laughter. Fortunately, it seemed that cats did land on their feet, even when they were actually a human in a lion's body. The impact still stung his paws and sent reverberations through his joints when he landed hard on a stone surface, though.

Immediately in front of him was what looked like a natural stone wall, like one found in a cave – and the light was coming from behind him, Straightening from where he'd fallen into a crouch, Dominic turned around and headed carefully towards the light. When he worked out what he was looking at, his breath caught in his throat. How big is it? No room was this.

Instead, as he looked around, he saw that he was standing on a ledge sticking out of a vast cliff that stretched in both directions as far as his eyes could see, the cave only one of many pockmarking its surface. A series of stones stuck out of the surface of the cliff and led downwards into what appeared to be a rainforest, heat and humidity radiating from the tops of the trees. As he looked further out past the rainforest, he saw it transitioned into grassland.

And there, almost too far to make out clearly, a clearly man-made structure, shaped a bit like an unusually pointy beehive. After standing in awe for a moment, Dominic shook his head to force himself to focus. As he returned his attention to the ledge on which he stood, he realised that there were words carven along the edge. Reach the temple by sundown, he read.

It took him a moment to process and identify exactly what the 'temple' could be, then he looked up at the sky with dismay – the sun was, if he hadn't missed his guess, almost at its zenith already. How was he supposed to get all the way to the beehive by sundown? And, as he heard the calls of unknown birds or beasts from the forest below, he wondered uneasily exactly what obstacles – or beings – he might have to go through to get there.