24 23: Bullheaded & an Update
James stood there speechless for a couple moments before immediately pulling himself together as he swiftly dodged a swipe of claws and a tail whipping towards his head by the Amethyst Lizardgirl and gave a half hearted counter by grabbing her tail and throwing her behind him and slowly walking into his hut while giving a glance and smirk back at the girl which looked dumbfounded and enraged. Inside was Grukthar who quickly kneeled before speaking, "I apologize dearly Great One...my daughter does not know her place please forgive her..."
James just walked by and said with a sigh, "Please rise Grukthar, I see what you mean by headstrong she certainly caught me by surprise with the drop kick but she isn't done yet..."
As James finished his words the Lizardgirl sprinted inside ignoring her father who attempted to stop her and lunged at James her jagged maw open to rip out his throat and moving quite fast even for James who barely responded in time grabbing her by the top and bottom of her mouth shutting it and turns as he sweeps her leg with his tail and puts his armored knee down on her chest pinning her to the floor as she struggled and swiped her claws not even scratching the armored James.
James quickly added his 7 Free Attribute Points to his Charisma stat of 8 bringing it to 15 then James just let out a loud gutteral roar in her face as he activated [Primal Intimidation] for the first time since he got it which immediately made the Lizardgirl stop all movement minus slightly shaking and small tears welled up in her eyes looking towards her father for help.
Grukthar was startled by the roar from James which sounded much louder and deeper than any he'd ever heard and quickly ran over putting his head to the floor and begged, "Please mighty Stormborn...I beg you do not kill her for her blasphemy..! She will atone and serve you anyway you please she is valuable to our ranks I promise you!"
The Lizardgirl was hurt that her father wasn't even attempting to fight James to protect her but she also understood that to Lizardfolk all they care about is the tribe, power, and bloodline so his begging wasn't because she was his daughter but because of her unique blood and scales, her usefulness as a warrior and hunter, and that she was a female to find a strong partner to have several kids with to strengthen the tribe further.
James turned towards him with low growls, "Stand your ass up Grukthar, this is your daughter yet you beg for her life for her usefulness and not because you feel affection and loyalty to her and frankly that mentality around her has been getting rather annoying!! I had no intention of killing her and you were the chief but now I am and she is not just for breeding or a tool. The tribe is important and she will be useful but she has some say in what happens to her, do you understand me!!?"
Grukthar shivered and kept his head plastered to the floor as he was confused and angry but scared of James and his strength, "Y-yes great one, I apologize...I will try to be better but the way you say this sounds like weak humans and their strange feelings of love and empathy. We Lizardfolk only feel fear, pleasure, and anger so for you to speak of affection and care it is foreign to us...the only exception I've seen is my daughter..."
James didn't think about that since he assumed since he was capable of the full range of emotion that other Lizardfolk could too. He took a second to ponder and then released the Lizardgirl's mouth but kept his knee on her chest, "Tell me your name and if you stop attacking me and we talk for a bit then I will let you go and we can move on from your little outburst with no repercussions."
"My name is Xarzak(Warrior Princess), I surrender for now...I do not understand why my father and the whole tribe have submitted to you but you seem to be helping so I will o serve you and your intentions before I make a final judgment on whether to serve or kill you!"
Grukthar was appalled at the gall his daughter had to say that while James could easily kill her right now and to speak such blasphemy and ignore the hierarchy right in front of them both. James just laughed and took his knee off of her and picked her up princess carry before putting her down on her feet which in that brief moment of being in his arms like that Xarzak could help but notice her heart was beating faster and her face was getting flushed and the tip of her tail was wagging but chose to ignore it yet James noticed two of the three but chose to ignore it right now as she obviously didn't trust him. She was obviously beautiful by Lizardfolk standard as she stood at 6ft but had a more lean and agile figure but obviously had her more feminine curves and since the Lizardfolk had very primitive cloth clothing only her precious places were covered but her assets were obviouse to see as she had decently large but perky breasts that were admittedly smaller than Romania's but nonetheless eye catching around what James would see as in the middle of C cup versus Romania's Double D's and she had wide hips with thick thighs and a slightly large jiggly but somewhat firm ass due to her scales which these assets were the only things that betrayed her otherwise lean muscled figure from her many battles and hunts as she had a couple scars on her arms and legs some cuts and claws a couple being bite marks, alongside her Amethyst scales she had deep blue eyes that almost mirrored the sea and like the James now she has a small horn just above ber snout but she also had two others further up in her head and many small spikes that ran down her spine ending at the tip of her tail that looked more like a scythed blade compared to other Lizardfolk which all together made it obvious she either had a strong mutation or had inherited more traits and the bloodline from her more than likely draconic ancestors.
James came back to himself making sure not to stare after admiring her looks and how cautious and smart she seemed to be compared to the rest of the tribe, he then dismissed Grukthar with orders to help get the Green Lizardmen acclimated to their new home and to organize the warriors and hunters with Ferzath while he sat down on his "chief mat" which as he did a system notification caught his attention.
-----------------------------------------------------------
[Quest: Lizard Leader]
Objectives:
1. Defeat the Red Lizardfolk
2. Become Chief of the Tribe of Bluescaled Lizardfolk
3. Secret- Subjugate the nearby rival Greenscaled Tribe immediately after becoming Chief
Bonus Objective:
Complete all objectives with zero casualties
[COMPLETED]: GRADE S+
[Reward]
200XP, 100EP, Rare Skill: Leadership lvl 1, 3 Free Attribute Points, Secret: System Update
[Bonus Reward]
Epic Skill: Identify lvl 1
-----------------------------------------------------------
[Total XP: 335/700]
[Total EP: 375]
[System Update in Progress: 1%--->2%]
James soaked up his rewards trying not to show his excitement and keep a straight face since Xarzak was still there and didn't wanna act strange when she didn't trust him and he decided to ignore the further notifications that explain the skills he gained and talk with Xarzak to try and clear the air and his intentions.
"So to start I became the chief due to some strange circumstances to say the least, I came here seeking to join the tribe, prove my loyalty and capabilities, and to slowly rise through the ranks and become chief one day through traditional methods but instead due to my scale pattern and that I wield lightning-"
James quickly shifted his armor to show his scales and it's electric arcs and made a ball of lightning dance in his hand, "-the elders and your father started calling me "Stormborn" and after killing the challenger from the nearby tribes that came here they basically begged me to take over as Chief as the tribe seems to be in a shitty situation and he himself said he'd made bad decisions as leader and I accepted since it was my current goal and then I went and subjugated the Tribe of Green Lizardmen but nonetheless what I want is to make this tribe, OUR tribe flourish and to become the pinnacle of power in this swamp and hopefully even in the nearby grasslands."
Xarzak listened and pondered thinking about how there was definitely missing details but the summary seemed to make some strange sense since her father and the elders basically worship more powerful and unique bloodlines especially if it helped him harness the elements even more especially lightning since to a relatively primitive race like Lizardfolk the sky was basically the heavens so James wielded the power of the heavens like a demigod in their eyes, "Okay I get that much at least and how things came this far and what your goal is for now at least but what's so different about you? We've seen humans and elves before and you have the thick scale thing that covers you like them but yours changes unlike any I've ever seen, you obviously are descended from the great dragons of some sort just like our ancestors based on your horn and tail plus your for sure unique scales but even then it doesn't entirely make sense that you're so smart and understand and feel emotions the same way I can unlike every other Lizardfolk I've met."
James didn't really know how to answer that other than if he was an idiot and exposed he reincarnated and wasn't originally a Lizardman so he tried to come up with a reasonable lie or at least something that'd maybe make sense to her, "Well honestly I'm not sure when it comes to the emotions and intelligence, maybe it's something to do with our bloodlines being closer to that of dragons than the others but my armor or "thick scale thing" as you call it is meant to protect my body and scales and even if something gets through the armor it'll have lessened the strength of the attack so my scales should protect me from the rest or at least lessen my injuries.
As James finished explaining Ferzath rushed in, "Chief we need you to settle a dispute before either gets out of hand!"
-----------------------------------------------------------
[Status]
Name: James Stormblood
Lvl: 7
XP: 335/700
EP: 375
Race: Lizardfolk/???
Class: N/A
Health: 360/360
Mana: 250/250
Height: 7ft 9in
Weight: 310lbs
Attributes:
Strength- 25
Dexterity- 20
Intelligence- 25
Wisdom- 15
Constitution- 24
Charisma- 15
Skills:
Active- Rage, Primal Intimidation, Identify lvl1
Passive- Hand to Hand Combat, Axemanship, Mana Circuit, Leadership lvl1
Spells: Lightning(evolveable), Lightning Bolt(evolveable)
Traits:
Dragon Eyes, Iron Stomach, Monster Eater, Strong Body, Tracker
(New)Mutations:
Spiked Tail and Nose Horn(Unknown Lesser Dragon)
Aspects: Blood of The Dark Blood Wolf
Free Attribute Points: 3
-----------------------------------------------------------
