A fruitful fishing trip

With a wide range of possibilities and many things to test before he runs out of Mana, Kai grins and starts his ghostly experiments.

He reaches down to his hip for his dagger, but feels nothing. Frowning, Kai looks down at where the scabbard should be, and his already ghostly complexion pales as he realises on very bad feature about this new form that he should've realised by now.

I'm... naked...

His eyes scan the ground around him and after a few moments he spots his gray bodysuit in a heap under the tree he fell off.

Floating over to his clothes, he reaches down, but his see through arm passes right through them. Frowning, Kai reaches for the handle of his dagger, which his hand also passes through.

Sighing, Kai stands... floats straight and looks down at his only source of protection from being spotted naked.

Well... maybe no one can see me. That could be true... No, people probably still see me, just they can also see through me. Still, there's a lot of things I need to test.

For experiment number one, Kai decides to test was he really immune to all physical damage. Readying himself, he takes a deep breath and flies as fast as he can towards the tree opposite him.

The bark of the tree gets closer and closer as Kai's heart rate picks up, really hoping he won't just smack into the hard bark.

Just as his face is about to kiss the bark, darkness covers his eyes as he continues flying forward. Not even a second later, his sight returns as he comes out of the other side of the tree.

Bringing himself to a stop, Kai catches his breath, which really isn't nessesary as he currently doesn't have a physical form to breathe for, and turns around.

The tree he just passed through looks the exact same as before, no differences at all. Smiling, Kai floats back towards the tree and enters the base. His whole body dissapeared into the tree, hiding him completely.

Then, a nose emerged from the bark, followed by the rest of a face. Kai watched the forest as he stayed put inside the tree, hiding the rest of him completely.

This would be great for spying on someone, I could be the greatest spy alive-

Maybe not alive, but a great spy nonetheless. I'm immune to attacks and can hide anywhere, this is great.

His incorporeal form emerges from the tree as he opens his status menu.

Wraith mode costs twelve Mana a minute to sustain, and it gives me an extra 10, meaning I can keep this form for... sixteen minutes.

While the time limit was more than expected, the greatest boon to this form is that Kai can still think rationally as his will stat stays the same, unlike the Goblin and Hobgoblin mode. But while Wraith mode does have quite a few good aspects, it has an equal amount of bad ones.

I can't even touch anything like this, how am I meant to hit anything? Damn, I wish I had Earth spike now.

While he may say that in a passing thought, Kai has grown to love Umbra way too much to give her up for a chunk of rock, that wolf was just to precious to him now.

The other problem is that while Kai is immune to physical damage, any sort of magic attack would be extremely bad for him. Having no idea how his health works in this form, one singular spell could end up killing him as its not like his new form can bleed, so would that mean spells would do extra damage to make up for blood loss.

A few more experiments later, Kai cancelled his innate ability early, leaving him with twenty Mana left, enough for one more test.

Kai emerges from the forest near one of the many streams of the Dome.

His bodysuit, which is back on his body now, has its legs rolled up to his knees. Sighing, Kai walks into the stream, the cold water hitting off his thighs as he gets deeper and deeper in.

Alright, since I got something to save me last time, does that mean I can get something aquatic now?

Will of the Kaiser

Goblin mode activated

Well shit-

The silouette of the of the ghostly dagger appears in his hand. With wide, bloodshot eyes, Kai looks around for its prey... But there's nothing to hunt.

Angry, Kai thrashes around in the water, growls escaping from his drooling mouth. He sprints through the stream, looking for anything to sink his teeth into.

A singular fish swims through the beautiful, blue stream, the fish is a vibrant purple and has some type of horn on it's head.. A grin grows on Kai's face as he makes a made dash for his food.

With his mind lost but his instincts remaining, the feral Kai drops his dagger and lunges at the fish, deciding that his hands would be more efficient than the dagger.

Thrusting his hands into the water, Kai grabs the fish and pulls it out, bringing it up to his face. Just as Kai is about to take a bite of the innocent looking fish, it opens his mouth and let's out a wail unlike anything Kai's ever heard before. The fish falls out of his grasp as he brings his hands to his ears.

The fish falls back into the stream with a flash, then pops its head back out and smiles... as if gloating at Kai.

Kai's head throbs as blood drips out of his ears, his face deathly pale as he starts to feel dizzy. His feral mind starts to calm, as if blown away by the sonic scream.

His mind returns to normal as the power of the fishes scream managed to nullify his innate ability.

Kai stumbles and falls face first into the water, catching a glimpse of the quater moon in the fishes third eye. Someone shouts something just before he passes out, face down in the stream.

"Hey... What..... ai...."

******

Waking up on the ground is never a nice feeling, Kai learned that after all the time spent in the white room. So when he has to do it again for some reason, he can't help but groan while sitting up.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

A voice Kai faintly recognises comes from the side. Groaning and holding his head, Kai turns to the side to see who spoke.

"Oh... hey John."

Another groan escapes his mouth as he lies back down, his head spinning too much just from sitting up.

"You didn't answer me, what the hell were you thinking?"

The burly man crosses his arms as he looks down at Kai curiously. John blinks a few times before softly kicking Kai in the side, as if trying to fix a broken DVD player.

"Why on Earth were you trying to eat a fish that was still alive?"

"Ow... I don't know? I was unlucky?"

John looks down at Kai like he's an idiot, not knowing him enough to know he basically is. Kai look back up at the older man, shivering from the cold bodysuit stuck to his body.

"Yeah, I was unlucky. The fish must've been a trap or something, yeah... that's what it happened."

I really don't know what he's talking about, damn Goblin mode taking away my will stat. I think I'll just stick to fusing with Umbra.

"Are you high or something? I know you young ones are into that stuff, but how did you get any drugs here?"

A pained chuckle escapes Kai's mouth as he stands up with a struggle. Looking around he sees that the river which he used his innate ability in is still beside him.

Turning to John again, he pulls the clingy bodysuit away from him, giving him some more freedom.

"No drugs involved, I just used my innate ability and got unlucky, that's it."

John raises an eyebrow as his thick arms twitch. After a few moments of silence, the man sighs and says in a blank tone:

"Alright then, but if you lose another fight to a fish I won't pull you out."

What the hell is John on about? Fighting a fish... oh, the screaming thing... that was a fish?

"Haha...thanks." Kai rubs the back of his head, eliciting another wave of thumping. Once his head calms down, Kai curiously looks back at the big guy and asks:

"Oh yeah, do you have an innate ability?"

John starts to walk back towards the centre of the Dome, the man's steps each as confident as the expression on his face. He waits for Kai to follow, before grinning and answering.

"Of course I do, doesn't everyone?"

Kai shrugs and catches up to John, having to take many more steps just to keep up to the man.

"Apparently not, or, at least that's what I've heard, I don't know yet."

John turns his head slightly to look back at Kai, then shrugs and let's out a:

"Huh... Well, you learn something new every day... Unless you're in school, you just forget everything anyway."

John chuckles at his own joke, but doesn't stop walking. Many strides later they reach the centre of the Dome. As Kai approaches Failure's cabin, John lightly slaps his back and chuckles again.

"I'm going to go take a nap now, spending a day in the sun... magic sun always makes me tired, do me a favour and don't go fighting anymore fish."

Kai's body lurched forward at the sudden slap. For John it might have been light, but not for Kai. A pained smile appears on his face as he looks over his shoulder.

"Yeah... I'll see you around John."

Goddamn he hits hard.

"See you around Kai."

Kai watches as John walks away, the burly man's body looking like a moving mountain. Though he isn't as big as Beefcake, John somehow looks sturdier... more durable.

Once the man leaves his view, Kai sighs looks towards Failure's cozy little home. As if trying to copy John's confidence, Kai takes strides much longer than he normally would.

That confidence dissapears once he opens the cabin door though. Lying on the wooden floor of the cabin is the figure of a man with shaggy brown hair. The man is deathly pale and their chest isn't moving. It's...

A corpse.

"Failure!" Kai tries to dash over, but stumbles and ends up sliding on his knees. He frantically reaches for the charismatic man's torso and flips him on his back.

Why does he feel so...

Looking closer, it's as if there's millions of intricate lines carved onto Failure's skin. The lines look strangely similar to the ones on Sofia's bow, yet give off a different vibe at the same time.

"What's all the ruckus about?"

A door opens up behind Kai, and out walks the same charismatic man who is currently lying dead on the floor.

"There's... two."

As if one wasn't enough.

"What are you-" Failure watches Kai as he smiles, his smile radiating the sense of confidence he had before. All the fatigue he had in their previous meeting has vanished, leaving a man who fears nothing.

"I see you've met my latest creation, I'm quite proud of this one you see, it took me quite a lot of effort to make."

Kai frowns, then turns back to the Failure which is lying on the ground. He softly pokes its skin and realises why it felt so off when he touched it.

It's wooden... but the product is incredible, you can't even tell its wooden unless you're basically inches away from it.

"What's it for though?"

Failure grins and places his hands onto his hips. He takes a few steps towards Kai before bending down and picking up the wooden version of him in his arms. Gently, Failure places the doll into his armchair and sighs.

"That would spoil the surprise, my dear Kai, you should know by now that I'm one for the theatrics, much like someone else you know."

And you don't tell me the important stuff you know, much like someone else I know.

"Don't I know it all too well."

Kai rubs his temple as he takes a seat by the fire, a sight he's grown accustomed to since his arrival in the Dome. The hearty fire is the one calming feature of this whole forest, just looking into its flames makes you feel complete.

"Anyways, are you able to teach me anything that would be useful?"

Failure goes to sit down himself, but remembers his doll is in his seat so he just plays it off and stays standing.

"Of course, my friend. But one thing you should know is that before you get to experience my teaching, you have to know why it is that this all happens."

Well... great.