Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

modifier, plus the Darkness bonus meant I dealt upwards of 8000 damage in a single hit, minus the enemy’s armor soak. And Jump wasn’t even the highest damage ability in my arsenal. I sunk six of my Skill points into Stealth, bringing it up to the maximum limit before I needed a trainer to guide me into the Advanced levels. The other four I held onto. When I found a Master Spearfighting trainer, I would need them to advance to the first level of the skill.

Next up was my Mark of Matir ability. On seeing the options, I didn’t even have to think about which one of the two I was going to pick.

  Shadow Sight (Life)

This ability conveys the Black God’s blessing on your eyes, allowing you to see in the dark. Under low light conditions, you will be able to see with high clarity. In true darkness, you will gain thermal darkvision.

  Ghost Hunter (Entropy)

Any weapon you wield can strike incorporeal enemies, even if unenchanted. You may bless a weapon to only strike incorporeal enemies, dealing 1.5x damage to them on top of any other bonuses, but leaving corporeal entities unharmed. Duration: 1 Hour.

“Darkvision. No regrets.” I selected it without hesitation. While Ghost Hunter wasn’t bad, I already had a bunch of Dark-element combat abilities that worked on shades and other undead.

The Mark of Matir pulsed with cool energy, and my vision blurred for a moment before resettling. The sky was still bright, storm clouds massing over our heads. I wouldn’t be able to test out my vision for a while yet, but I was hopeful.

“Okay, hold on tight for the descent!” Karalti flicked a wing-tip, coasting to the right. “I’m going to have to land in that clearing there, and then we’re gonna have to hoof it to the ruins. This jungle is too dense to permit the full extent of my majesty.”

“Seems like there’s more to love with every level,” I replied, closing my screen. “Assuming the position.”

“Heads down, butts up!” Karalti trilled to everyone. “Don’t worry, Suri: I’ll make it gentle.”

“Thanks. Appreciate it.” Suri mumbled back.

True to her word, Karalti came in slow and smooth, alighting in a clearing formed by an enormous collapsed tree. Rotten wood and fresh ferns crackled under her feet, and nearby trees swayed. Suri and Rin began to unbuckle straight away, while I surveyed our path ahead from Karalti’s back. Massive trees with flat crowns towered over deep, dark, primordial forest. The birds were silent, spooked by the noise we had made, but hoots, howls, and bellows could be heard echoing from the distance. Knee-high mist swirled across the soft ground, and water condensed and dripped from the canopy like warm rain. Beautiful as it was, I half expected to see a squad of powered armor materialize out of camouflage and start raining down fiery hell.

“You alright?” Karalti asked me, dipping down to let her passengers off. “You got nervous all of a sudden.”

“It’s nothing.” There was a pang of sympathetic pain in my shoulder as I slid down my dragon’s wing, then leaped down to the mossy forest floor. “We just need to be on the top of our game here. It’s too easy to get ambushed in terrain like this. And we need to watch out for traps.”

“I think we’ll be okay. Don’t worry, alright?” Once the others were off her back, Karalti shifted down. When the light cleared and diffused, I did a small doubletake at her appearance. While she still looked mostly human, Karalti had kept her crest of seven horns, which swept back from her skull like a crown. Small scales climbed from her feet up to about mid-thigh, with similar scale gloves climbing the pale flesh of her arms. As she turned to show me her back, I saw that she had patterned her scales down along her spine to the top of her butt.

“What do you think?” Karalti struck a pose, looking back over her shoulder at me.

“I like it.” I came close to her, absently sliding my hands up over her back. “Why the change?”

“I’m tired of people thinking I’m just an ordinary human, because I’m not.” Karalti turned in my arms, then reached up to tie her hair back into a long ponytail. “I’m Solonkratsu, and I want to be known for what I am. If I need to go undercover, I can simulate a more human shape. At some point, I might even figure out how to make vocal chords.”

“You are plenty human shaped.” I was more than happy to hold her while she stretched. Now she was fully mature, the sight and feel of her made my pulse leap. And it wasn’t just the curves: it was her smell. As I leaned in, I caught a hint of a deep, intoxicating scent—a very familiar scent. Every month, once a month, Karalti went into heat. She wasn’t there yet, but it wasn’t long now. A matter of days. “And it’s gonna be that time any day now, isn’t it? Ready for a second round of Extreme Sex Tag: Kalla Sahasi Edition?”

Karalti let out a yarp of laughter, startling Rin. The Mercurion looked over, turned bright blue, then turned back with her face in her hands.

“You better hope we’re back in Kalla Sahasi.” Karalti’s violet eyes smoldered as she equipped her monk fighter’s outfit, then her armored iron gauntlets. “We’ve got a few days yet. Four or five.”

“Duly noted.” I mimed bringing up my HUD. “Let me just mark that on my calendar.”

Karalti giggled. “Suriii. Hector’s flirting with me.”

“You think ratting him out’s gonna get me to help you?” Suri laughed, her voice hollow behind the shield of her greathelm. “Snitches get stitches, Special-K.”

“Does she have clothes on yet?” Rin squeaked, her back still turned toward us.

Karalti planted her fists