Chương 75: Chapter 73: A Hunt With Mom

I'd slept through my change once before, when I'd first met Mom. This time though, I woke up because the room got too stuffy and... yeah. Turns out, changing shape heats you right up - a useful fact when you're freezing to death, I suppose, but a very inconvenient one when you're trying to sleep through it! I woke up as I began to get uncomfortable, opened my window and the door and went back to bed, and THEN I saw the notification telling me I was about to change. What a wonderful night to have a curse...

Gee, thanks! Next time, I'd go to bed with the window open. Good to know. It was... a lot. It was a lot every time I went through it, but this time I didn't just black out and wake up later. I went through it, every cramp and twinge and popping bone mine to endure and... when I looked up at last, there she was, her black nose and almost goofy expression of puppy concern eclipsing my view, nose an inch from mine. Her advice about walking around a bit was solid, and come to think of it I'd seen her do the same.

The tinglies after changing weren't the worst part but they were worth mentioning. Things had changed a lot for me in the last couple days. Three days ago I'd set out from the cottage I'd found, hoping to practice my Hexerei and help a werewolf, if I could. Two days ago, I met Mom, and now... well, she was my Mom, she was feeding me, and I was... going to live like this for the rest of my life. A werewolf I mean - I'd given up any possibility of a cure, of ever getting rid of this Curse, in favor of- ME!

My Wolf said, bounding around excitedly, her oversized ears flopping and tail wagging enthusiastically! The thought was so intense, full of such joy, such enthusiasm, that I couldn't help but smile in the mindscape we now shared! The beast that had terrorized me for years turned out to be... a puppy, all sleek fur, floppy ears, and endless energy, and with my body and hers united, that last bit really told! This form we had together, this body we were sharing, it was... it felt...! In fact I felt... incredible!

Running on all fours wasn't something humans were really built to do, but... I wasn't human! I was not human natured even when I was human shaped, I figured. The Wolf was too present, too strong, too real in my heart and body for me to be a human anymore. Now that I'd embraced her, now that I'd followed Mom's example, it was obvious to me. Do you always think like this? YOU THINK TOO MUCH Wolf chuffed in response, and play bowed to me and wiggled her butt in the air, tail dragging it this way and that RUN! HUNT!

PLAY! Each thought came with a deluge of emotion - joy - and ideas! She wanted to run in the moonlight with Mom, and that came with a rush of images - the exhilaration of running as fast as we could, the joy of feeling the wind in our face, the absolute freedom such speed and strength could offer us! Then, she wanted to help Mom... uh, kill something? The images weren't clear in her head. Biting down on something, tasting hot blood?

Using my strength to feed myself, to get food for us, to help Mom feed the town like we'd been asked by Mr. Alfredo! Then, Play! Mom, Emily, she was a werewolf like me! She wasn't someone I'd be able to hurt easily, and she seemed to delight in what she was, in what I was, and maybe once we got our hunt out of the way, she'd play with me?

The idea that she wouldn't hurt me, and I wouldn't (really) try to hurt her, that I could test out my new body's strength and get used to it with her help, it excited me to my toenails! I wanted to try out this body, I had to admit! Already I was running at a speed I'd never managed without magic, and I wasn't even really trying! So, I approached her, my, our desires like a list! I glanced to the side to see the bulk of my mother's form, her golden fur a streak of sunlight beside me.

She looked down to me, and the animal love in her eyes resonated with my Wolf intensely, and dragged me along for the ride. MOTHER I said, in that not-language we shared together. Until she'd spoken to me with it, I hadn't known it was a thing! Now that I did, I'd even spoken to the baker's dog Spelt! In this shape, it was incredibly natural, fluidly easy, almost like we were sharing thoughts! I WANNA RUN! Wolf spoke through me, and I found myself resonating with her strongly, mind body and heart.

Mirth crinkled the corners of her eyes in a very human way and she bumped me as we ran! GO FOR IT She said, and I decided to see what I could do! Wolf, in my heart, bayed with joy as we turned the wick up. I kicked off the ground as hard as I could, grabbed the earth and yanked it down, and suddenly we were shooting ahead like a shot from a crossbow, leaving mom behind as I darted into the forest as fast as my body would carry me.

I tried to keep kicking the ground, to move my legs as fast as I was going, but that only had me losing control and flopping into a bush with a squeak! NOT LIKE THAT My wolf whined. I didn't need to take each step - I had to learn to fly, to touch the ground only to maintain my height above it, to change direction, to stop! And them Mom was there, grabbing loose skin on the back of my neck in her jaws and dragging me out of the bush that had caught my fall.

She set me on the ground again, sniffed me over once to make sure I wasn't hurt, and only then did Mom's tail start thumpathumping the ground behind her. YOU GOOD? She asked, nose to nose with me. I checked my status - I felt more or less okay, a little sore, but I hadn't actually looked for a little while. [Health: 200/230] [Stamina: 185/230] [Mana: 285/285] I blinked. My stats had gone down? Oh. Ohhhh. I only had two cores now, didn't I? I decided it was long past due to look at my character sheet.

Name: Rachael Sootpaw the Strange, Black Beast of the Fallen Forest / (Rachael Ploughman) Race: Human, Lycanthrope Class: Witch [LIFE, MAGIC] Status: Malnourished, Winded, Excited Skill Slots: 8/3 Skills: [LIFE, MAGIC] Witch level 12 Witch skill points: 8 Skills: [LIFE] Inspect, Rank D: 100% [LIFE] Animal Husbandry, Rank D: 100% [LIFE, CRAFTING] Repair, Rank C: 20% [MAGIC, CRAFTING, SYNERGY] Embercraft, Rank F: 0% [LIFE, MAGIC] Herbology, Rank D: 80% [LIFE, MAGIC] Braucherei, Rank F: 10% [MAGIC] Witchstride, Rank B: 40% [ANIMAL, MAGIC, SYNERGY] Ember Magic Manipulation, Rank F: 0% [MAGIC, MONSTER] Lycanthrope, Level 1 Lycanthrope skill points: 1 Skills: [MONSTER] Lycanthropic Transformation, Rank E: 50% – – I winced a little - Eight skill points unspent?

I did a little mental math and... okay, yeah, that tracked. I'd gotten rid of Hexerei, good riddance - YEAH! - Heh! And that had freed up six skill points right there, and... Ah. My heart sank a little. My Fire Magic Manipulation skill was synergized, as was my Blacksmithing skill. I'd been a little worked up last night when I'd been changed and worked stuff out with Hexerei and my Wolf, and had ignored my notifications. Now I had... Ember Magic Manipulation?

Was that like the Beast of Cinder's Ember Breath and Ember Fang skills? I had to assume so. The 'Ember' element was animal magic that mixed Earth and fire, I knew the principle of it, but.. as far as I knew, there was no such thing as Ember Magic Manipulation, or Ember Magic as a skill that... humans could... I shifted my gaze in the mindscape to the waggy-tailed Wolf pup beside me, and she tilted her head at me, eyes literally glowing with the fiery magic inside her that I could sense.

She wasn't stupid, she was... however bright I was, but she was definitely different and part of me. Oh! Right! I'm not human. Riiight. So that was kinda neat actually. I found myself growing excited to figure out and practice my new magic! That just left Embercraft. What was Embercraft, then? I'd lost Blacksmithing... in favor of another weird ember skill? Animals didn't work metal as far as I knew, so had subsuming my Beast of Cinders class, incidentally, ruined my Blacksmithing hobby? I doubted it.

The World wasn't so cruel that she would give me a skill I wouldn't find useful, I knew that, but... losing Blacksmithing was a bit of a heel! I liked working metal, taking the little scrap bits of copper and lead and bronze I found and working them into something I could use, it was a hobby! I guess it could still be one. Knowing what I knew, I was sure I'd rank it back up quickly. I'd see what this Embercraft was all about later on.

I must have been sitting still for a minute thinking, because Mom began to lick the little nicks and scrapes I'd picked up while tumbling. As she licked them, I fully noticed that they had happened, and... wasn't that interesting? Didn't hurt! Not... really. I was already healing from them, and- You have learned a new skill: [MONSTER] Animal Vitality Your [MONSTER] Animal Vitality skill, Rank F has evolved from a Synergy into [ANIMAL, MONSTER, SYNERGY] Indomitable Beast.

Any skill points invested have been refunded and the skill is reset to Rank F. -- thhhhhhhat was probably why. Indoma-what now? [ANIMAL, MONSTER, SYNERGY] Indomitable Beast, Rank F: 0% - Your cursed body teems with boundless life force. You resist harm, recover from it with supernatural speed, and shrug off enchantments and curses more easily. Whoah. That was NEAT! It did line up with the Beast of Cinders again though - that class also made it easier for me to shrug off magic for whatever reason.

Even my own - I'd had to push things way, way too far just to make them stick. Which is why I'd looked like an overdone sausage. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Come to that, what about Embercraft? [MAGIC, CRAFTING, SYNERGY] Embercraft, Rank F: 0% - With even minimal tools, your innate understanding of Embers allows you to work metal. Oh, that was neat too! Blacksmithing told me about working metal, but this?

This was a Magic skill as well as a Crafting skill. I'd heard that Fire Sages could do amazing things with metal, but I'd never actually seen an example. I seriously doubted they had this exact skill though - this had the word Ember in it, just like my Beast of Cinders class had, so I had to assume that this skill had the same mix of Earth and fire elemental forces. Which... might actaully be amazing for blacksmithing! It was a heel right now, subsuming like I had.

Losing Beast of Cinders meant I was far, far less able to defend myself, and a couple of my favorite skills had been reset, but... the idea of keeping that instead of my Witch class, of embracing animal nature and the possible consequences of that? I'd heard stories of people doing such things and transforming into strange creatures by doing so, and given what I'd seen of the world? I just about believed it! Animal classes were for animals, and... Beast of Cinders was an [ANIMAL, MAGIC] class. I hadn't dared.

A lick to the side of my head broke my concentration. In a flash of frustration, I made a noise that sounded like a noise a puppy would absolutely make and found myself, completely on automatic, trying to gnaw on Mom a little! I was a little alarmed, but then I realized that she was wagging her tail with amusement and simply bowled me over with a single paw and a strength that would have startled me when I was human-shaped, but in this one, it just served to knock me down onto my back. Then, she went for my belly!

A tiny, tiny part of me was alarmed by that but I knew, KNEW, she would never hurt me. In the same way I knew I was now her daughter, her... pup. It was weird. I knew it was weird - I'd been on my own for years and I'd... admittedly been... okay, I was bad at being on my own like that but...

Wolf overrode me and made more grunty growly noises as Mom nipped and 'got' my tummy, and the squirming, the play, it spoke to a part of me I thought I had left behind, a part of me that I thought was lost when I was changed into what I was now. I delighted in it and I found myself licking Mom's snout and face. When she got up, I followed her and shook off bodily. Wolf had a point, I knew. Why get complicated about it?

Who cares if it had only been like three days or something since I met her, she was Mom now, and she was right about the core thing, about stabilizing. This was...... This was incredible. I felt like I'd had a night's rest, I'd had a really good meal, and now Mom was going to show me how to hunt! The idea that I could use my new speed to run down some creature hadn't yet fully percolated through my head, but the basic idea was more than a little enticing to the Wolf half of myself.

LETS HUNT Mom said, and I waggled my tail gamely in response. ALRIGHT I replied in that same not-language, and we set off together. Her gait as she went along was low to the ground, closer to wolf than woman, padding along with her nose close to the earth. She would occasionally lift her head and lid her eyes a little, staring at the middle distance as she took in big breaths through her nose with a noise like... hff hff hff, and then change directions a little. I tried my best to do what she was doing and...

my nose turned out to be for more than sitting pretty on the end of my lupine snout! You have learned a new skill: [MONSTER] Keen Senses It was for finding things, and for hunting! [MONSTER] Keen Senses, Rank F - 0%: Your senses of hearing and smell are enhanced, allowing you to see and hear sounds and scents respectively And the world... changed. The dark seemed to fade, and suddenly I was swimming in an overwhelming sea of scents and sounds as the world seemed to swim into focus where before?

It had just been a muddle of shades of dark blue and black. I gasped a little, eyes wide as I saw... clouds of colored fog wrapping everything and heard the scents as well. My ears perked and swiveled on their own, and I found myself taking little hff hff sniffs of my own much more naturally as Mom watched me keenly, like she... knew what I was experiencing. In that not-language, I spoke without fully intending to. I CAN SEE SMELLS AND HEAR SMELLS AND SEE SOUNDS Patiently, she nodded her great head at me.

She did know. I buried my snoot in against her a bit and took a good whiff of her flank, taking in her particular scent and the sound it made. Like me, Mom smelled a bit like sage, but she also smelled of those delicious stinky roots she'd cooked up, potatoes, tea, and another scent. Whatever was going on with Keen Senses, it seemed to key my Inspect skill in as well. Was it just an expansion on that skill, related to it? Goldtail Twice-Cursed, Hound of Lambstock, amused, healthy, calm.

Associates with YOU, Duchess Gelidia Windbinder (her Mate), Guardian Bonehound Spelt, Innkeeper Alfredo Gehrman, Merchant Rosacia Pankko, Dame Roxala Burnbright (Leader), Wizard Felorikaan + Torch Axebright (Mated pair) and Alderman Albert Albertson (Guardian Bonehound Spelt's charge) That was a lot of information from just a casual sniffvestigation! Not just the stuff I'd get from inspect normally, but also stuff about who Mom... touched, I realized, and some stuff about them by association.

Wait, couple things - Fel, the nice man who I'd spoken to, was a WIZARD? And he was mated with Torch? Weren't they... wait, Mom was also mates with... Then Mom nudged me over again, concerned. I squeaked in surprise and whined a little as I lost my balance and flopped into a bush again. MOOM! I WAS THINKING! I whined, and she let me get up, tail once again wagging a little ITS A LOT, RIGHT? YOU CAN TELL A LOT WITH IT she replied YOU CAN ALSO SEE SORT OF WHERE THINGS WERE. I tried it and... she was right!

Her scent was super obvious, she was RIGHT HERE after all, but there were also, in the dimness my eyes could cut through easily now, trails of colored fog that moved with what had to be the wind. I could see a patch of sage nearby for example, and I could see where we'd come from as well, our outlines forming a tail like a shooting star behind us, each paw mark showing up to my gaze. There was another moving scent, one that connected in the distance to...

a sort of impression, an outline of something that shifted and moved, lifting its... head and turning this way and that, like some of the ghosts I'd glimpsed in the town. I could see it through trees and bushes, could tell where it had passed between the great big pillars of sap and wood scented trees. Mom nodded, and without looking at her, I saw that she'd done that somehow. I HAVE A SKILL LIKE THAT ALSO she said DO YOU SMELL THE DEER? and at my nod, Mom rose to her paws. I did the same. THATS OUR FIRST PREY.

THEY WILL KICK AND FIGHT WHEN THEY ARE SCARED - BE CAREFUL MY CHILD, WE SHOULD TRY TO KILL IT QUICKLY she said, and when she started to move, I joined her. I didn't need to be told to not quite follow the exact same path Mom took, having raised chickens and sheep on my Dad's farm. The trick was herding them, coming from more than one angle if you could help it! Besides - I could see so well in the dark, and moving was fluid, easy in this form! She took the left side, I took the right.

Deer, I knew, had a lot going on - I'd tried more than once to get one for ritual work. Such a big, vital creature would have been an excellent power source and... and looking back, that was horrific as motivations went. This was much kinder, even knowing full well we intended to kill the thing. At least its death would be swift. It was a stag - once I saw it fully, his eyes widened a little and he took off like a shot, and in the same beat, Mom and I took off after him!

He was fast, this deer, but we were faster - especially when at the same time we both decided to CHEAT! I'd not tried to use Witchstride yet in this shape, but it came as easily as it had before. I didn't actually speed up doing that, it was more like... being in one place then another place. A little experience with the skill told me where I'd appear and how much mana I'd spend doing it. The trick wasn't going large distances in single 'strides' as I called them. That was expensive on my mana!

Like, really expensive! It was so much more efficient to go a very short distance, but do it as quickly as I could! The world became a series of stop motion images for me as I closed towards the deer. Mom on the other hand, she did things a little differently. There was a flash of mana in the air, and... something like a wing of green light extended from her back!

I didn't have time to gawk at her as she kicked off the ground and actually changed trajectories in the air with another 'kick' of that green light as her paw struck thin air as if it were a solid surface! I came at the deer from the front and side, and Mom came at it from above and behind. Of the two of us, the Stag had a much easier time noticing Mom's movements - they were actually quite loud and obvious, with big flashy expenditures of magic I'd never seen before.

Mine, it was subtle - and, I knew, hard to follow even in broad daylight! I actually saw his muscles bunch up, could smell the stag's stress, and had a feeling I knew what he was about to do! Deer Windrunner, Level 7, healthy, terrified, shocked Sorry fella.

I planted my feet in front of the charging thing, just suddenly there without moving my body to get there, and brought my paw around and struck the thing with all my might, claws digging a furrow through its flesh and ruining his footing before he could juke out of the path of Mom's attack, which he had clearly anticipated, but his reaction to which I'd totally spoiled with my surprise attack. Hurriedly, I Strode again, jerking out of the path of the tumble I anticipated.

Then, Mom hit him like a hammer blow, kicking off the Deer's back with another burst of that green light that sent her skyward again a short distance, and swatted the stag to the earth. There was a grisly CRUNCH as his ribcage bounced off the earth and~! GOOD GIRL! You have crushed the resistance of Deer Windrunner, Level 7! Bonus XP is gained for fighting alongside a mentor with the same Core as you! Due to fighting as a group, XP is reduced. ~that was that.

The deer flopped to a stop a couple dozen feet later, his back snapped and life extinct from his eyes and I felt... part of me felt sick. But most of me? Most of me felt exhilarated. The stag was as big as I was in this shape! In human form, I'd never have been able to do a thing to this beast! He was too big, and I'd probably get the snot kicked out of me for so much as trying. Here he was, looking like a broken toy, instead.

My paw stung a bit where I'd struck him, but I felt a definite sense of accomplishment - my first hunt with Mom! Ding Ding Ding! Your [MONSTER] Lycanthrope Core has reached level 2! You have gained 1 Lycanthrope skill point Health +10, Stamina +10, Mana +5 Oh! I'd leveled! I got a frisson of joy out of it, a bubbly, giddy sort of energy that had me pat-patting the ground a couple times with my hand-paws and Mom noticed, smiling at me! I LEVELED UP!

I exclaimed excitedly, and she chuffed, a wolf-like noise, and bounced in place a bit! That had NOT taken long at all! GOOD! Mom said YOU DESERVE IT! YOU DID SO WELL! she said, and scooped me in against her in a great big hug that had my tail was wagging so hard my backside was swaying side to side! She rumbled her pleasure at this and gave me kisses - licks upside the head - which my Wolf repaid in full with happy wiggly energy that could not seemningly be contained! I didn't even really try - it was infectious!

But! We weren't just hunting for our own food - we were hunting for the town as well, so we decided, together, to do a little more prowling tonight. This was as good as play! Maybe we'd actually play later? By the time dawn hinted at the horizon, we had taken down another pair of stags, I'd gained a THIRD level in Lycanthrope, another skill slot to go with it, and another couple times the World called me a 'Good Girl'? What was up with that? We were dragging our kills back.

The guards saw our hulking figures, me with one carcass and covered in blood - the third had been a little bit more frisky! - and Mom was carrying two more as if they were sacks of potatoes. They were Lambstock guards, and even my momentary worry was unfounded. Tipping their helmets to Mom, they said"Morning, Good Hound, morning miss Sootpaw" politely. Mom's tail waggled a little, and she chuffed a cheerful reply, but didn't say much.

I tried, of course, but once again my tongue and teeth and snout got in the way as Wolf tried to speak, turning it to garbled mishmash and dog noises.

"Hwraaaarrarh! Reeeeh!" I said, meaning to say something like 'Good morning, sirs!' I sighed in frustration, but Emily laughed at me! Her tail was waggling and her jaws lolled open, tongue hanging out as he made a jolly 'hreeheeheeh' sort of noise! I felt a flash of indignance, stomped a paw down, and that only got her laughing harder as she bludgeoned me with her tail! I began to laugh too, and it sounded the same way, but was knit to a kind of 'hreeeh' noise.

We proceeded onwards and towards the inn, where Torch stood ready and waiting for us.