Eyeing the dark hole before him suspiciously, Dominic instinctively sniffed at the air. Lifting his lips and wrinkling his nose, he drew air through his teeth and into his nasal cavity where it was evaluated by sensitive olfactory detectors.
Musty, he thought to himself after a moment, and something else…. It was famili...
2023-11-04 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostDominic reached the main atrium without finding any indication of a secret door in the wall of the corridor. Of course, there could be some sort of magical illusion – with dungeons, level ups, and extra-dimensional spaces, magic was bound to feature in some way.
Dominic thought it unlikely, though. That would be unfair in a way that the ...
2023-11-03 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostAt first glance, Dominic was disappointed. He’d been half-hoping for some new piece of equipment, now that he knew how awesome it could be. It wasn’t equipment. Then again, what could he have enhanced? His claws? His teeth? Ooh, I know – something I could attach to my tail and make it into a morning-star. Actually, that sounds kind of ...
2023-11-02 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostPadding towards the revealed pillar with eagerness running through him, it was only when he reached the altar itself that he realised he was leaving a bloody trail of footprints behind him.
I’ve got to clean myself up, he decided. Opening his status screen, he would have crossed his fingers if he’d still had them. All in the h...
2023-11-01 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostIf this isn’t what the rhyme meant, I swear I’m going to do my best to destroy this dungeon, Dominic thought to himself as he missed his target for the nth time. He frustration ticked up another notch. If he had to contain it much longer while still upping the heat, it would probably reach volcanic levels soon.
This t...
2023-10-31 19:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostSnare sprung; prize not found.
Danger awaits when you turn around.
Cages empty; occupants left;
Solve this puzzle or face your death.
This dungeon needs to take poetry classes,Dominic grumbled mentally to himself as he read the words now carven on the stone of the altar slab. <...
2023-10-28 18:05:00 +0000 UTC View PostTravelling back along the corridor was a painstaking affair. Dominic wasn’t going to assume that the traps had been deactivated just because he’d already been along there once. In fact, there was more evidence of them being reactivated than deactivated – the pit was no longer in evidence.
The young lion suspiciously eyed the in...
2023-10-28 18:04:00 +0000 UTC View PostOf course, getting the chest open was once more made difficult with paws instead of hands. Still Dominic was determined; a mere lock would not stymie him for long.
Eventually, he managed to delicately use a single claw to flip the latch and then the rest was just a matter of time. With anticipation, he pushed the lid open and stared at the...
2023-10-28 18:03:01 +0000 UTC View PostThis would be a lot easier if I had hands rather than paws,Dominic grumbled to himself as he struggled to work out a way to lift the candle from its stone holder. If he had hands, the main challenge would be in merely avoiding the six stone statues while he ran around lighting each of the torches. As it was, he was failing at the first ...
2023-10-28 18:02:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe last ten feet of the corridor took about three times as much time to traverse as the first twenty-five feet had. Whenever Dominic found himself getting restless, though, he reminded himself of just how close he had come to death because he had missed the trigger to that pit trap. The memory never failed to send a shiver from his head to his ...
2023-10-28 18:01:01 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's Note:
If you're interested in getting 5 more chapters (so +10 compared to Royal Road), I've opened up a new tier. It's called Nomad in reference to what male lions usually become after being kicked out of their birth pride (and also what Leo is at the moment).
Enjoy the chapter :)
*****
Dom...
2023-10-28 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe young lion was very cautious as he padded towards the gaping doorway. With its hexagonal shape, it looked like a half-open maw, waiting to bite down on him. Or maybe he was just projecting: his own mouth was his greatest weapon, after all.
It always has been, he thought humorously to himself, though not a little ruefully too. ...
2023-10-26 18:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAuthor's note:
Just to let you know, after having had some feedback, I've decided to reverse the Hunger and Thirst meters. Now, instead of increasing as he gets hungry and thirsty, they will decrease, like they would in a game. Sorry for any confusion!
*****
Status of Dominic Martin Cole / Leo 2023-10-24 18:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post
The trodil growled back at Dominic, meeting his challenge with its own baring of teeth. He was glad to see, however, that it hadn’t engaged Rage – apparently the incapacitation of its minions was not the same thing as killing them. He was glad of that – he’d been worried that, despite his best efforts, he’d gone too far with the two re...
2023-10-20 19:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostUnfortunately, after consuming the other four Cores, nothing else interesting had turned up. Still, his Quick Strike had already got to 93% progress towards its next level. Dominic was curious as to how it would change the ability. More speed? Less stamina cost? I guess I’ll find out.
After levelling up, the only other important...
2023-10-20 17:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDominic stalked through the waist-high savannah grass. Well, it would have been waist-high on his old body; on his new one, it was almost to his shoulders if he stood properly. Actually… am I bigger than I used to be? the human-turned-lion wondered. A moment later, he pushed the thought away – this was no time to consider such thing...
2023-10-20 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe level 5 trodil lay dead at his feet, its blood seeping into the dry earth underneath its body. Dominic was panting and his health was down to under a hundred points, but it was OK. He was alive; he’d survived.
Not unscathed, though. Not uninjured. His front right leg was hurt enough that he wasn’t putting any weight on it. Blood wa...
2023-10-20 13:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostGetting to level 6 was immediately different from the ones before.
<Congratulations! You have reached your first half-step tier. As a reward for reaching this first milestone, you may choose an extra option to enhance. Reach further milestones to gain greater rewards. Which two aspects of yourself would you like to enhance?><...
2023-10-19 19:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostIt wasn’t even a challenge. The trodil was taken completely unawares and a message was floating up in front of Dominic’s eyes before it could even fight back.
<You have dealt 112 damage (Piercing+Tearing+Crushing)>
<You have killed Trodil (Basic Beast level 3)>
<You h...
2023-10-19 17:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe three trodils required to bring Quick Strike up to 100% were gratifyingly easy to kill. Finding them was actually the most difficult part as it seemed like Dominic was close to clearing this area of the roving trodils – had maybe achieved it already. The last one actually must have taken him more than an hour to find: he actually had to us...
2023-10-19 15:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe young lion stared around himself disbelievingly. Dominic had been walking through a pitch-black tunnel when suddenly...he wasn’t. Instead of darkness, it was bright daylight – impossible when he knew it was nighttime. Instead of tunnels, he was out in the open air.
Or at least, he seemed to be – closer inspection revealed him to ...
2023-10-19 13:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostLevel up, Dominic thought and a System message appeared before his eyes.
<Congratulations! You have earned enough PP to level up. You can choose 1 aspect of yourself to enhance via Evolution. See options?>
Only one? Dominic thought with dismay. Last time I chose two!Unfortunately, how...
2023-10-18 19:35:01 +0000 UTC View PostThe hyenas lunged; Dominic ran for his life.
Perhaps it was a bit cowardly of him, but he was determined not to throw away this second chance the way he had his first. As his paws pounded the earth below them, he heard the whoops and growls of hyenas on the hunt. They were after him.
His eyes scanned the dark landscape around him. Th...
2023-10-18 19:34:00 +0000 UTC View PostAs Dominic leaped, the kangaroo leant forwards once more. About to fly over the ‘roo’s head rather than catching it in the neck, Dominic panicked and his paws reacted automatically. Clamping together, his claws caught the marsupial’s skull.
Bolting upright in panic, the kangaroo even half-turned to run, but it was too late.
Dom...
2023-10-18 19:33:01 +0000 UTC View PostDominic jogged lightly across the surface of the savannah, marvelling at the difference from only a short time ago. His paws fell softly on the earth, only a faint swishing from the grass around causing any noise at all. Perhaps this is a reason to make paws softer, he wondered, thinking back to one of his enhancement options. It hadnâ€...
2023-10-18 19:32:00 +0000 UTC View PostOut of the three, Evolution felt at first to be the weakest. Compared to gaining what made other members of the cat family great in the present or the past, basically sticking with his current body seemed to be like just settling. However… Something in Dominic kept going back to the third option. A little bit of experimentation revealed that i...
2023-10-18 19:31:00 +0000 UTC View PostBefore he tried to activate the levelling-up process, Dominic checked himself. The lion in the back of his mind felt wary. Given that he’d just thought that maybe he should lean into the instincts of the lion a bit more, he tried to pay attention to what it was saying.
Danger, it seemed to tell him. Competition...
2023-10-18 19:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostOne of the dog-things darted towards Dominic’s front legs and he lifted a paw to swipe at it. Even if the blow had connected, he doubted it would have done much damage because his claws were still sheathed, but that was irrelevant since he missed by a mile.
A sharp pain from one of his back legs revealed that the attack to his front had ...
2023-10-18 17:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA sense of outrage, desperation, and pure fury hit Dominic. It was a wild beast’s pure insanity at being caged, proof that the lion wasn’t gone. The emotions were so powerful that Dominic feared being swept up in their undertow. Fortunately for him, that’s not what happened.
For all that the emotions appeared like a tsunami to Domini...
2023-10-18 15:30:01 +0000 UTC View PostA lion was eating his guts. A lion was eating his guts. While he was still alive! Dominic’s eyes fell on his phone. It had clearly been knocked out of his hand when the lion had jumped him from behind and knocked his head against a rock. The cracked, black screen was rather symbolic of his life right now: without hope.
...
2023-10-18 14:09:25 +0000 UTC View Post