4 First Kill, First Form

The arrow flew straight and true and pierced the wolfs neck easily. It took off running across the clearing leaving a large blood trail, but only made it halfway to the wood line before it collapsed.

'Well, that was easier than expected. With all the talk of weapons and armor, other creatures, and creature ranks I was beginning to wonder if this old recurve would work after all.'

I looked at my bow for a moment feeling a little melancholic that I might have to leave behind the bow that had been with me since I was 18. It had accompanied me on more occasions than I can count for over half a decade and I didn't want to see it go, but I had a feeling that if I wanted to survive I would have to wield a stronger weapon. I slung it back over my shoulder and decided to keep it with me as long as I could.

'Since it worked on the wolf it should be good enough for now anyway. Maybe I'll be strong enough to hold on to it as a keepsake.' I smiled at the bittersweet wishful thought.

I knew that I was only kidding myself but who knew right? I crossed to the backside of the roof to the ladder and climbed down. I decided to cross through the cabin rather than go around since the wolf was far enough away from the front door that I should be able to open it. Shutting and locking the back door behind me I crossed through the house quickly and went through the front door after unlocking it. I knelt on the ground by the wolf and laid my bow in the ground next to me and began to think about what I needed to do.

'I need to find the Ethereal Core to get Ethereal particles to level up, but I don't know if the wolf even has one, much less what it would look like or where to find it if it does. Even if it has one and I find out how do I absorb it? I also need to absorb it's blood essence to work on unlocking my first form and leveling up my shapeshift ability. But again, how do I do that and where do I find it?'

After thinking that a row of text appeared in the top right corner of my vision-

'You have two new tutorials and one pending tutorial. Would you like to view the full list now?'

I had forgotten about the pending tutorial for the creature ranks and hearing that I had two new tutorials peaked my interest.

'Yes, show me the full list' I thought.

'Ethereal Core Tutorial

Blood Essence Tutorial

Creature Rank Tutorial

Please select a tutorial to begin.'

I thought about it for a second and decided to start with the creature rank tutorial.

'Creature Ranks from low to high are: Unranked, F, D, C, B, A, A+, S, S+, SS, SSS, King, Emperor, Legendary, and Mythic. Each time a creature ranks up it will evolve depending on multiple factors, this means two of the same Unranked Creature could evolve into to different F Ranked Creatures. All creatures on Treth will start as Unranked. Weapons and Armor of lower rank than the Creature will not be as effective due to the Creatures increased stats.'

'Well that was useful, at least I understand the basics now. Let's do the Ethereal Core Tutorial next.'

'All Creatures contain Ethereal Cores. The amount of Ethereal Particles you can absorb from the core varies from creature to creature and depends on the amount of Ethereal Particles contained in that particular Ethereal Core. The location of the Ethereal Core varies however there are two locations that are the most common to find them. The most common location is inside the brain, the second most common location is near the heart. To absorb the Ethereal Core you must have physical contact with the Ethereal Core and focus on absorbing it.'

'Well that sounds simple enough, hopefully it's as easy as it sounds. Well, last but not least let's see what it has to say about blood essence.'

'Blood Essence can only be absorbed from creatures killed by you. In order to absorb the Blood Essence you must be in physical contact with the creature and focus on absorbing it's Blood Essence. The lower rank the Creature is the lower the number of the same type of Creature you have to absorb Blood Essence from in order to gain it's form. Once you have gained the form of the Creature you can choose to store the blood essence after absorbing it to evolve your form to the next rank or you can choose to attempt to gain a skill or ability the creature had to use in your humanoid form. Absorbing the Blood Essence of a Creature will desiccate the corps and leave only the bones as viable resources to be collected from the creature. Absorbing Blood Essence will also automatically absorb the Ethereal Core so you will have no need to find it after absorbing the Creatures Blood Essence.'

Hearing that I started thinking about what to do with the wolf. I had to options, harvest the meat and hide and top of the bones and the Ethereal Core, or Absorb it's Blood Essence to start working on getting my first form.

'Well, I have plenty of food in the Cabin so I don't need the meat, and it's not like I need to try and make some crappy clothes right now especially since this is probably an Unranked wolf. I guess I'll absorb it's Blood Essence to start working on my first form. Kind of ironic with it being a wolf and all though.'

I placed my hands on the wolfs ribs and attempted to concentrate on absorbing the wolfs Blood Essence, and kept trying, and kept trying, but nothing happened. Finally, I closed my eyes and decided to focus on the concept rather than the Blood Essence itself. I imagined a bunch of red colored particles flowing from the wolf's heart, through it's ribs and hide, and into my hands. It took a few minutes and I was just about to give up when I succeeded. I had just imagined the red particles flowing through from my palms, up through my arms and into my torso when I felt a slight trickle flow from the wolf's ribs, through my hands and arms and into my chest. After a moment of surprise during which the flow of Blood Essence almost stopped I became ecstatic. Due to this I imagine the flow of Blood Essence becoming faster, stronger, and wider until I could nearly feel the corpse desiccating under my palms. Towards the end I thought I felt a couple of strange particles flow through that gathered in a location behind my heart, but I wasn't sure. After about 5 minutes I had absorbed all of the Blood Essence from the wolf's corpse and slowly opened my eyes to see what essentially looked like a mummified wolf minus the bandages.

I noticed a few rows of text up in the right hand corner of my vision and decided to read them since the probably had something to do with what just happened.

'Absorbed 2 Ethereal from Unranked Wolf'

'Absorbed Blood Essence from Unranked Wolf; 1/3 needed to gain Unranked Wolf Form.'

'Congratulations, due to this being the first Blood Essence you have absorbed and your Racial Affinity for your System Type the number of Blood Essence required to gain the form of Unranked Wolf has been reduced to 1.'

Congratulations, you have gained the Unranked Wolf form!'

"What the hell does it mean racial affinity? How would a human have a racial affinity for shapeshifting? What is going on around here!!