[You have killed African Black Rhino (Half-Step Evolved level 6)]
[You have earned 32 PP]
Once more faced with a behemoth, Dominic wondered what to do with it. Somehow, absorbing it seemed to be a bit of a waste. After all, the last time he’d gained most of his health bar and stamina pool back. Wit...
2024-02-08 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostUnlike every other use of Consume where the dust had been quickly absorbed in one go, this one took longer – there was just so much of it. His health and stamina ticked up quickly over time, the most of each that he’d ever taken from a single creature. And that was despite the fact that it wasn’t nearly the highest level animal he’d kill...
2024-02-06 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAn excruciating pain went through his guts and a large chunk of his health bar vanished in an instant. The rhino withdrew its horn, the rough glide of it out of his flesh creating a sucking noise that was as sickening as the sensation itself.
His mind consumed by the need to get away, Dominic limped as quickly as he could to get some dista...
2024-02-03 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostHis claws buried themselves in unyielding flesh a split second before his teeth dug into the rhino’s thick skin. A trickle of blood entered his mouth, nowhere near the gush that he was expecting.
Two notifications flashed up and he took a moment to glance at them.
[You have dealt 90 damage to Black African Rhino ((21+2+5 Sl...
2024-02-01 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post‘What is this place?’ Leo asked, as if he hadn’t heard Dominic’s question. He was staring above and around him at the bookcases, the decorations, the fireplace with its crackling flames.
‘I asked first,’ Dominic pointed out, nudging Leo with his nose. Then, feeling like the gesture didn’t fully illustrate hi...
2024-01-30 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostOf course, that was easier said than done. First of all, he was still not up to full health, and when the timer from Second Wind ran out, it felt like he’d been punched in the gut. His wounds didn’t worsen, thankfully, but losing that much health all at once hurt.
It actually felt worse than he remembered – was that because ...
2024-01-27 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostNo Prey Points? Dominic wondered. Still, it didn’t have to tell him twice to Consume the chimera: he needed the health and stamina desperately.
As the other chimera’s body dissolved into golden smoke and was absorbed into his body, Dominic was relieved to see his health and stamina jump up, most of his worst wounds healing. Th...
2024-01-25 19:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostBefore actually jumping back in, Dominic decided that he could do with a pick-me-up – one that offered a bit of extra stamina. One of the veten bodies he’d dumped in his storage not long before would do just fine. He’d wanted to keep them for experimentation, but survival trumped that.
Pulling them both out quickly, he Consumed them ...
2024-01-23 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDominic briefly entertained the thought of running away, but if ever he could, that time had passed. He had no desire to find out exactly how the System might impose the conditions of losing on him even if he could escape the other chimera.
With retreat not a possibility, he looked warily at the creature itself, his eyes once mo...
2024-01-20 19:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDominic followed the traces of the intruder’s journey through the bush. It wasn’t hard to track him since he’d been clearly marking territory with claw marks, urine, and scat in certain places. The lion knew that the creature was male from its scent – there was a musk to it which Leo had immediately identified. Although it did...
2024-01-16 19:00:08 +0000 UTC View PostThe pain built, growing until Dominic was clenching his teeth hard enough to crack them. Hopefully the level up would fix that before it finished. It felt like the worst growing pains he’d ever felt as a teenager times ten.
He remembered one period where he’d been growing an inch every couple of weeks – he’d woken up each morning f...
2024-01-13 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostRushing back to the scene of the battle between him and the vetens, Dominic’s eyes darted around to check for scavengers.
For now, it was clear and he heaved a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to make the same mistake as before when he’d hung around a bloody area for too long, but at the same time he also didn’t want to risk missing ...
2024-01-11 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostDominic stared, a bit open-mouthed at the sight of a bunch of cute little bunnies hopping towards a bloody corpse. OK, they weren’t exactly the Flopsey and Mopsey of Beatrix Potter, but they had long ears, snub noses, long hind-legs, and even a little tuft of a tail like the rabbits he’d known. They were rather large – perhaps the size of ...
2024-01-09 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIt had worked before when he tried this technique; almost too well. This time, he’d make sure not to stick around in the bloody area for too long. Though, if another scrin appeared, he might be tempted to stay for the rematch: the abilities the first scrin’s Core had offered were too good to pass up unless it was actually Evolved.
Once...
2024-01-06 19:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostBy the time Leo let Dominic know that he’d finished for now, the sun was rising over the horizon. One of the moons was still high in the sky, the others almost out of view. Clearly they had different orbit speeds.
The lionesses were lying around Dominic, cat-napping. Dominic had no doubt that they’d be wide awake and ready to face any ...
2024-01-04 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostAbsorbing the six small Cores from the cubs – still bigger than the other level 0 Cores he’d absorbed – and the two Cores from the adult and sub-adult lionesses, Dominic checked the Abilities currently on the road to being acquired in his status panel.
Acquired Abilities:
Powerful Kick (52% to level...
2024-01-02 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhile he waited to see if any of the lionesses would claim their sisters' bodies – and those of her cubs – Dominic decided to collect the Cores hanging around the place. Finding them wasn’t too hard: he just had to go to the spots where a lot of blood had soaked the earth and search around for a glinting gem-like marble.
Since the hy...
2023-12-30 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's note:
I meant to say this on Saturday, but forgot, sorry. I've put a poll up on Royal Road (chapter 65) about the direction of this story, in particular the harem/non-harem question and the split/merge/other question about Leo and Dominic. I'd love to know your thoughts on this, either by voting in the poll on Roy...
2023-12-28 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhat met his eyes was something that might have been an unwelcome sight – at another time. Fresh off his conversation with Leo and with the potential backup of the lionesses, the large group of hyenas looked more like walking bags of Prey Points than a threat
There were about sixteen hyenas, maybe as many as twenty – they were mi...
2023-12-26 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostAlthough this was his first time as the lead male in a buffalo hunt, Leo suspected that the time it took him to suffocate the buffalo was longer than it would have been Before. He’d hunted buffalo with his birth pride before, though his sire had been the one to leap on its back and bring it down with his weight. Leo himself had been with the l...
2023-12-23 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostDominic was looking at the powerfully muscled bodies, the broad shoulders, and the side-sweeping horns that met in the middle to make a helmet of bone over the herbivore’s skull. Plant-eater this creature might be, but hunting it was a dicy prospect, even for lions. Add in the sheer numbers of them and the fact that, unlike most prey beasts, t...
2023-12-21 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostDominic was in the middle of reviewing a memory of his eighteenth birthday when he had the sense that someone was calling him. The sensation was a bit like being in a dream and hearing someone’s voice. At first, it feels like the voice is part of the dream, but then, as one rises towards consciousness, it becomes clear that the voice ...
2023-12-19 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostBy the time Dominic decided that it was probably safe to investigate what his co-passenger was up to, he was feeling a mix of relaxed and mournful.
Running through the reel of his favourite moments in the past had been enjoyable, but also reminded him of how much he had lost. Even if he managed to regain his human body, which seemed possib...
2023-12-16 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note:
Since I don't think I actually announced this, for any of you who would like advance chapters of both my stories, I have released a tier which is a combination of both stories' max tiers (so Taming Destiny at +25 chapters and Chimera Rising at +15 chapters) and will always remain so. It's called All Included...
2023-12-14 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostLeo was satisfied. No, scratch that. Leo was very satisfied. He had won the challenge, sending the older lion running. Had this happened Before, it would have been very different.
As a not-quite-full-grown lion, Leo had been vulnerable to reigning males finding him in their territory. He’d once been cornered by a coalition of t...
I don’t know how to deal with all that. River seems almost as confused as I am over it all, only he seems to feel like I’ve acted selflessly while I’m lamenting over my own selfishness. He speaks of ‘master’ in one breath and ‘best of friends’ in the next. How does he see me? Or is there just so many differences between our culture...
2023-12-10 18:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDominic watched from the backseat as Leo stepped delicately out from the bush where they’d been hiding. The female lions who were congregating around the waterhole immediately looked up. Their reactions, however, were rather different.
Three growled at him, baring their teeth and stepping forward to crouch threateningly in front of the y...
2023-12-09 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostWarning: discussion of lion infanticide
After admiring the beginnings of a proper mane, Leo moved to find a shady spot not too far from the water. Closing his eyes, he slept in the sun, knowing that his keen senses would detect anything coming too close.
He slept for a little while, feeling the heat of the day redu...
Leo padded through the savannah, regularly breathing through his mouth to search for both the scents of water and other lions in the air. Although he was not detecting any scent of lion yet, it was only a matter of time. The marking on the tree was only a few days old, meaning that it had happened after the world had changed. Besides, the tree w...
2023-12-05 19:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostEven after the body had disappeared, the slightly maudlin mood didn’t leave Dominic. Seeing the glimmering of the Beast Core left behind, he padded over to it, hoping that it might hold some ability which would help lift the funk he was in.
[Beast Core: Bengalengel level 7
Ability option 1: Rending Bite (75...
2023-12-04 21:03:24 +0000 UTC View Post