She swung her arm out again, hand stretched out flat. A silvery sheen enveloped her hand and a savage glee suffused her when it sliced through the bear's hind leg with the sharpness of any sword she'd ever held. Something in the skill resisted and the silvery glow flickered, but Tess reached into the ether and gripped the skill with her soul, pulling it back into place. The System didn't consider her a weapon? Well it had no say in the matter.
Its head swung around and she dodged, narrowly avoiding canines as long as her arm. She punched, the glow at her fist forming a spike inches long that punched through bone and flesh with equal ease.
She howled, a primal roar. She knew the fight was over. She knew she was the victor. She just had to show the bear.
In her distraction she missed the backhand and was sent bouncing across the ground, dirt and grass flying up in her wake. Bones ached and she felt a rib crack, the snapping sensation giving her an ironic sense of nostalgia, but she was on her feet in an instant and running to meet the bear's charge.
They crashed together with a force that sent ripples through the ground, bending the air around them. She held each of its great paws in her hands, matching its incredible strength with her own. She felt herself begin to bend, her arms shaking with the effort.
Indignation filled her. Am I indomitable or not?? She pushed against the skill, taking control. No more would she be dominated by the rules of others. No more would she be trapped inside of prettily-designed cages meant to keep her playing within the rules. No more would she be weak.
"NO. MORE!" The skill resisted, more so than the Weapons Mastery. Still she pushed, prying the skill open, looking for what she needed. There. She found it and dove in, shredding everything that stood between her and what she needed. Zavier had called the skills seeds and paths and choices, but she knew them another way. They were pure potential, and everything they could ever do was inside of them, you just had to be strong enough to rip your way into them and pull out the part you needed. Indomitable Strength. She felt something in the skill break, then reassemble itself. Notifications flashed across her vision but she dismissed them. They were unimportant.
Muscles flexed and she pushed back. She was a doll facing an angry dog. An ant standing proud against the oncoming boot. But she was a fucking predator.
The bear's rear claws dug trenches where it scrabbled to gain control. It bit down on her, only to be met with a headbutt that smashed cartilage and teeth. Her foot came up, pressing the bear's chin backwards even as she pulled its arms. She knew that if she'd had the reach she could pull its damned arms off.
She may not have had the reach, but she didn't need it. Her foot lashed left and right, its silvery glow slicing the bear's arms off at the elbows.
It collapsed with a roar of pain and she dodged the chomping of its ruined jaws. It lunged forward again and this time she caught it. Gripping the teeth on each of its jaws she forced its maw open. When it had been pried apart enough for her to step inside she set one foot inside the mouth, then another. She heaved upward, hearing the bones in its jaws creak as she slowly, shakily forced its mouth wider than the muscles could support.
Her scream of exertion was matched by a massive rending sound and suddenly she was upright, its massive tongue flapping uselessly against her legs as she stretched her arms upward to their limits. The bear's bones cracked and she felt something give, then the pressure from its jaws was gone. She fell backwards in a roll as the mouth collapsed with a wet slomp.
She climbed to her feet, her black skin glistening with blood and drool. She approached the whimpering creature with disdain. Its eyes begged for mercy that she would not give.
She activated Bladestorm and spun into it, feet, hands, elbows, and knees shredding the massive head.
Tess stood, panting. She howled in glory. She tasted the blood running down her arms, her white teeth turning red. She stretched her limbs to the night, screaming her victory to all who could hear.
She collapsed to her knees, sobs purging the last of her doubt from her soul. In the deep, dark, fetid basement of her spirit a dark passenger died with a whisper of black fog.
Tess had no idea how long had passed before a large, furry head bumped into her gently. She reached up and petted Maisy, the rumbling purrs calming the waves in her heart. Using the cat as support she stood, the weakness in her knees causing her to stumble.
"I shouldn't be this weak - I leveled up."
"It was a good fight. Rest is needed."
"I think there's something more. I did something to my skills during the fight - forced them to change how I wanted. I think that may have had an effect."
Admiration was not an emotion Maisy doled out lightly, so Tess felt pride in the feeling of it coming across their connection. "You forced the… System? System. You forced The System to change to your needs? That is a true hunter queen. Well done."
"Thank you, that means a lot. I need to check and see what changed. Do we have time?"
Maisy sniffed the air and studied the sky. "Some. One more thing to be done, but we have some time."
Tess pulled up her screens and whistled. A LOT had changed.
The first thing she noticed was that she'd reached level 15, and with it her class had changed. She wondered if it was automatic at 15 or if it was due to her changing fundamentally and forcibly evolving her skills. Either way, it said a lot about how The System saw her.
Class: Primal Apex
Description: The Primal Apex is the ultimate embodiment of predatory instinct and raw physical prowess. No longer reliant on external weapons, the Primal Apex uses their own body as a finely honed instrument of destruction. Each strike, leap, and movement is performed with lethal precision, tapping into the user's natural agility, strength, and enhanced perception. This class allows for instinctive combat, where the user can adapt in real-time to any situation, exploiting weaknesses with surgical efficiency. As a Primal Apex, you are not just a combatant but the embodiment of predation itself, striking fear into the hearts of even the fiercest foes. Your heightened instincts, unmatched resilience, and refusal to yield transform you into a dominant force in battle, capable of breaking down the strongest opponents with sheer physicality.
She moved to her skills, dismissing the string of error messages that had filled her vision. She had an idea of what she'd see but the confirmation left her stunned.
Name: Enhanced Perception
Level: 5 (3)
Description: Awarded for your adeptness in quickly recognizing and evaluating threats, this enhancement sharpens your overall sensory awareness. It enhances your ability to detect details in your environment, both passively and actively, accelerating your information processing capabilities. In addition, you have taken control of a System-generated artificial intelligence which has drastically improved your perception abilities. Your reaction times, recall, and processing of everything your senses take in have the ability to be processed by the entity known as Fara. Additional benefits may emerge as a stronger synergistic bond is created between you.
Note: The enhancements provided by Fara require the AI's cooperation. If the AI's processing power is not applied your skill will be at level 3.
Advanced Identify: You are able to gain more information from beings you identify, to include their Core Stats. This ability is gained at level 5 and will be removed if the connection to Fara is severed, but will be regained when reaching level 5 of the skill without the AI. Greater Hunter's Sense: Your instincts as a hunter have fully awakened. You can sense fear and hesitation in your prey, using it to your advantage. When your opponent falters, you strike harder and faster, ensuring there is no escape. You deal an additional 10% damage to enemies that are under fear, hesitation, or stunned effects.
This skill's synergy with Advanced Identify gives you an immediate danger sense when identifying living beings.
This ability is part of the skill and cannot be removed if the connection to Fara is severed.
Name: Weapons Mastery
Type: Combat Skill
Level: 5
This skill was issued as a System reward for proving yourself a frontrunner due to your experience with weaponry and your demonstrated proficiency in wielding edged and projectile weapons during times of peril to protect those around you.
Note: This skill has been forcibly modified by Tess Torres. Effects and abilities have been recalculated and the following enhancements approved, but this skill now falls outside of the standard path of Weapons Mastery and may not follow known evolutions.
Description: You have transcended the use of conventional weaponry. Now, you are a weapon. Your understanding of all forms of combat has reached a pinnacle where even your bare hands can deliver killing blows as lethal as any forged blade. Every part of your body has become an instrument of destruction.
New Advancements:
All Weapons are Edged Weapons: You are able to cut with any item you hold as if it were an edged weapon. This edge does not increase the durability of the item.
Living Weapon: Your hands, feet, and body become extensions of your will, capable of dealing devastating damage equal to that of a weapon. Unarmed attacks have a 30% chance to inflict a critical hit, and damage is increased by 10% of your Strength. Durability of your body as a weapon is directly impacted by your Strength, Defense, Attack, and Magic Affinity skills.
Note: This skill was forcibly created by Tess Torres and its usage and adaptability are unpredictable. Sharpness and durability of the blades created on your body will be highly dependent on the situation. Further experimentation will elicit more thorough definitions.
Name: Indomitable
Type: Combat Skill
Level: 3
Description: Your will cannot be broken, and now your resolve manifests as raw, physical power. In the face of overwhelming odds or crushing pressure, you summon a surge of strength, becoming a force of pure determination. However, pushing your body to its limits comes at a cost, and you can only maintain this state for a limited time before exhaustion takes hold.
Note: This skill has been forcibly modified by Tess Torres. Effects and abilities have been recalculated and the following enhancements approved, but this skill now falls outside of the standard path of Indomitable and may not follow known evolutions.
New Advancements:
Unbreakable Resolve: You can resist not only fear-based attacks but also any form of psychological manipulation, including mind-control or charm spells. Imposing Will: When facing larger opponents or overwhelming odds, your presence radiates unyielding determination. Enemies within 5 meters of you experience a 15% reduction in their attack speed and accuracy for the first 30 seconds of the encounter.
New Effect:
Overwhelming Force: Upon activation, you gain a 20% boost to Strength for 60 seconds, allowing you to strike harder, push back larger foes, and break through barriers or defenses that would normally be impassable. This boost enhances both unarmed and armed strikes, making you a relentless powerhouse in combat.
Weakness:
Exhaustion: Once Overwhelming Force ends, you suffer from extreme physical exhaustion. For 2 minutes after the effect wears off, your Strength and Agility are reduced by 20%, and your attacks deal 25% less damage as your body recovers from the strain. If you activate Indomitable again before the cooldown period ends, this penalty will double and physical damage will occur. Cooldown: 10 minutes
This must have been what Cass felt when he pushed past the bottom of his 'pool.' The bonuses for forcing the changes you needed were staggering. She was shocked that it was even permitted, but realized that she should have expected it. Whoever was running The System wanted them to grow and advance beyond all limits, so it would only be natural for them to reward those that managed to survive the push.
It also explained why she felt so shaky. She'd pushed Indomitable and now she was suffering the backlash of reduced strength and agility. For the next 10 minutes or so she'd need to be cautious.
All of her melee combat stats had improved and she'd even gone from a shameful N/A in Magic Affinity to a Basic 3. She guessed that The System treated tearing into a skill and pulling out the useful parts as having an affinity.
Her inspection was interrupted by another head bump.