AN: I wonder how many people who read the previous iteration of this story are reading it now? This is obviously my highest traffic story right now at almost 500 people today and yesterday, but the original version has had 40 people? I wonder what people are looking up to find the original and not this unless they're reading both. Also, shout out to the guy in Denmark.
A review complained about the numerous stat and skill information in the last chapter… really? I just don't think they like litRPG type stories because they almost always have stat info heavy chapters from time to time. I also mentioned a dump would be coming in the next chapter in the AN of chapter 4…
Speaking of, I always say this in all of my stories, but please make an account if you're a guest. It's so easy and I prefer to actually be able to talk to people than shout out them from an Author's Note that might be ignored.
Another thing I wonder about: how many people read the entirety of my Author's Notes?
Kinda a big/small thing, I don't know, I had never read the Jaco story. I was only aware of what it was about. Apparently, the last chapter has the Briefs visiting the doctor's island ten years after Tights' adventure. This is right before Dragon Ball begins and they mention that Bulma has graduated college. So… I might have to change some dialogue from earlier, but this is honestly great. Now I can do more with her because I thought she would be in school, which admittedly is the implication in Dragon Ball since she says she's on her summer vacation and only has a month to find all the Dragon Balls, in fact, I'm pretty sure she says she's in high school during the Red Ribbon Army saga. Oh, long-running manga and their retcons. Gotta love 'em. Admittedly, it's perfectly believable to the point where I wonder if I low balled Bulma's Intelligence stat and skills, but I don't think I'll change them.
Bulma's last name is Brief not Briefs and I hate everything.
Beastman/men are now Beastkin. Being a gendered word made me want to say Beastwoman/women and all four of those words don't roll off the tongue as well as Beastkin does to me. I've already made the changes, just be aware of it moving forward.
Anyway, on with the chapter.
~GG~
Chapter 6: Aftermath
Goku flew quickly to the nearby village after having gorged himself on dinosaur meat. It was nearly midnight so almost none of the villagers were awake. That did not help Goku at all! He needed to bring them to the dungeon and the fastest way to wake somebody up was a loud noise.
"HEY!" the monkey boy screamed at the top of his lungs as he lazily looped over the village. "OOLONG IS DEAD! WE NEED HELP WITH THE PRISONERS!"
At first, very little people were stirred, but after repeating the message twice nearly all of the villagers were awake and out of the house. The only people who ignored him had not lost anyone to Oolong and frankly did not care, a few of them got up to support their friends though.
"Bulma said she needs food, water, and uhm… uh… medical supplies! All of the prisoners are super weak. I don't think they can walk." Goku informed the slowly growing crowd in front of him.
There were no leaders in the village, all of the families simply supported each other and survived off of the land. But such a petty thing like a lack of leadership would slow them down, they were frontiersmen! Within half an hour each and every villager had collected at least one of the items Goku had asked for and more. Even those who had no connection to the kidnappings came out, they were a close-knit community and had shared in the sorrow of their neighbors. A fire burned in every eye.
"Follow me!" Goku instructed as he led the mob into the darkness.
Bulma was not awoken by the small army of villagers that Goku had escorted through the dungeon and the villagers had no interest in waking her up. The moment they saw the sleeping girl, sprawled out amidst her first aid supplies, they realized that she was to thank for the survival of their missing children.
There were several hours of tearful reunions and painful grieving as people found their children either tortured and hanging onto life by a thread or dead. The entire thing was horribly awkward for Goku who was lucky enough to have his Grandpa in the four-star-ball he carried with him everywhere. The boy missed him of course and Goku doubted he would ever forget the pulped body of his Grandpa crushed into the earth by a giant foot, but he was not all that sad about it.
When the villagers and freed prisoners had started calming down they quickly got to work. Most of them wanted to leave as soon as possible and had brought stretchers made of two poles and linen to carry people with. None of the prisoners could walk under their own power so those families left along with the people who had no family members kidnapped.
A few of the older men who had children among the dead organized themselves and started sorting through the bodies. It was a sordid, painful affair. About a quarter of the bodies were completely unrecognizable, their flesh far too decayed to have many distinct features. They could not even identify them through possessions since Oolong had stripped them of everything they had. The worst part was matching decapitated heads to their proper bodies, apparently, the demon had a certain fondness for decapitation.
Once the bodies were organized and sheets were laid upon them they were burned. A simple and respectful funeral pyre for the more than thirty dead, most of them not old enough to be considered adults.
By the time that the bodies were burned the villagers who had stayed felt comfortable enough to move their kin and take care of them at home. The entire event took six hours during which Goku fell asleep on his Flying Nimbus, earning him several coos and awes at his cuteness as he gently floated around. It was at this time that Bulma finally began stirring from her sleep, the dungeon almost completely empty and smelled of smoke and burnt flesh.
Breathing deeply as she awoke from her slumber Bulma began hacking and coughing as the smoke entered her lungs.
"Oh kami, why does it smell so bad?" she complained.
Goku had no such problems, the Flying Nimbus had floated down to the ground automatically to protect its rider.
Once she had recovered from her painful wake-up Bulma put on a mask and checked out the hallway leading to Oolong's room. Goku was easily noticed floating down the hall, but his snoring made her unwilling to wake him up so she left him alone. Bulma quickly discovered where the smoke came from when she looked at the morgue cell.
'Good for them… I guess.' Bulma thought as she trekked through the long hallway.
Death was not something the teen with a college degree had to deal with much in her life. She had never met her grandparents, her few friends were perfectly healthy, and neither her dad, mom, nor sister was in any danger… well, Tights might be if she hangs out with Jaco more. Not to mention her family was rich and famous making them obvious targets…
'Why do we never have problems like those?' Bulma wondered ignorant of her father's horrifying array of self-defense and home protection weapons that he built into their house.
The past week had brought her closer to death than ever before and yet no one had died. The idea terrified her.
'Dungeon's clear, the villagers got everyone out and burned the bodies, the last thing there is left to do is search the lair itself.' Bulma shook her head at the absurd reality she lived in. Even knowing about aliens thanks to Jaco, the reality of demons still felt like a horrible dream. 'I knew I should have brought my ray gun, but no! "It's too dangerous!" dad says. You could radically reduce an entire population or destroy an environment!" he complains. Well, now I'm fighting demons dad… fuck.'
Dismissing her mental diatribe Bulma surveyed the room she had returned to.
'No one came to get her?' was her first thought since Akane was still asleep on the… experimentation table.
The girl was still sleeping soundly despite the light smoke in the room so Bulma ignored her and walked up to her bag.
'Better clean this up and put it away… it saved lives today. I saved lives today.' The thought was equal parts scary and wonderful. 'I really saved lives.'
Wiping away tears brought upon by the sudden surge of emotion Bulma finished packing her huge first aid backpack and ignored the loot Oolong dropped in favor of looking around the room. It was relatively simple, the wall with the door was completely barren as was half of both of the adjacent walls. The other halves, as well as most of the back wall, was dominated by cabinets separated by a dark, stone counter and about two feet of free space.
A quick perusal of all of the cabinets netted Bulma nothing but more mental scars. They were filled to the brim with jars full of liquid containing body parts from various creatures. Her morbid curiosity compelled her to observe them revealing them to be human, occult owl, bull, ogre, and fly bits. The only other things that the cabinets held were an assortment of random parts.
'Probably from his robot form or something.' Bulma guessed. She did not touch any of it.
The only thing left to search was the small red door that was on the back wall, it was the only separation of the shelves that existed and the teen feared that it was Oolong's personal room.
'I hope there isn't more fucked up shit in there.'
The door was unlocked and luckily the room within was not some sort of nightmare realm. It was rather luxurious, the small room dominated by a king-sized bed with bed curtains of all things. Even she did not have bed curtains… at least not since she had outgrown her short princess phase. There were two nightstands, one for each side, and a large dresser on the left side of the room. But the piece that caught Bulma's eye was the large chest at the foot of the bed.
"Please have something good." she begged and at that moment a screen appeared.
You have completed the Quest [Slay the Mighty Demon Oolong!]
Slay the Mighty Demon Oolong!
Description: The people of the region have been terrorized by a shapeshifting demon called Oolong for the past few months. In exchange for a dragon ball, they have asked you to defeat the mighty demon and free their daughters.
Objectives: Defeat Oolong, Save Captives, Save Akane
Bonus Objectives: Perfect Clear the Dungeon
Quest Completion Rewards: +2 to Vit and Wis, Honored Status with Villagers, Demon Realm Gate, Party Member
Bonus Rewards: Gold Chest, Random Tier 3 Spell Book
Quest Failure: Failure to complete Quest [Hunt for the Dragon Balls], Death
The Quest and has been completed perfectly +2 Luck
"That's why Akane is still here… but to think that the game would give entire party members… that's insane. Wait… is she even real?"
Yes
"Oh… thanks." If at any time the game was going to blatantly answer her questions this was one of the best ones. "Let's see what's in there!"
Rubbing her hands conspiratorially Bulma walked up to the large, gold chest and opened it up. A shining white light rose up from the seemingly empty chest before a window appeared in front of it and pictures started rapidly spinning like… a…
"Slot machine? We better not get something crappy!" the teen complained.
The spinning eventually stopped and the genius' interest was piqued when the item it stopped on looked like a pair of earrings. The window then disappeared and the light started shining brighter to the point that Bulma had to close her eyes. When it faded the light left behind a very expensive looking pair of diamond drop earrings that floated down to hover just above the rim of the open chest. With a small amount of hesitance, Bulma stepped closer and then reached out and grabbed the earrings.
"Beautiful." she muttered as she rolled them around in her hand. "But what do you have to offer? Observe."
Witch's Petals
Description: These magical earrings created by the paranoid witch Rose can be fed mana to create a small, invisible shield around the wearer's head. This shield blocks all damage equal to the amount of mana that it holds. Unfortunately, its small size gives it a poor conversion rate. Plus they're super cute!
Type: Equipment
Quality: Epic
Damage: N/A
Defense: N/A
Durability: 500/500
Enhancements: +5 Charisma, 500 mana capacity, 10% conversion rate
Capacity: 0/500
"That's pretty great… and absolutely perfect for me! Now I don't have to duck behind this shell… as much." Between the shell and the earrings she only had to worry about her front and legs which were covered by turning and crouching as before. Bulma breathed a sigh of relief knowing that her most vulnerable area had good protection. "But what's this conversion rate?"
Getting no prompt the teen decided to start pumping mana into the earrings when she realized that she had no idea how to do that! On a limb, she decided to mimic the process she used to create manabolt and try to channel that energy into the earrings. Instead, all she got was a face full of raw magic.
You have inflicted 15 magic damage to yourself
"That… really didn't hurt that much." Bulma noted, the attack felt more like a large water balloon. "Oh shit!" she exclaimed when she realized her attack had come from her hands… the same ones that were holding the earrings. A quick observe found that the earrings still had the same amount of durability.
"Huh… N/A for defense but they took absolutely no damage from a straight-up attack? Weird."
Pushing past that Bulma had to come to terms with the fact that she had no idea how to push her mana into the earrings. She was not discouraged, Bulma Brief had a college degree in Robotics at the age of sixteen she was not a slouch. Be it intricate and delicate mechanical parts or the mystic arts she was sure she could figure it out.
"Alright, I'm missing the spellbook and… sweet kami the Demon Realm Gate. I don't think I've ever hated the series of words more."
The idea of traveling to wherever Oolong and his henchmen had come from was absolutely horrifying to the genius. She had not missed the fact that all of their races had said Lesser Demon and Oolong's had simply said Demon. The implication of Greater Demons and even creatures beyond that was obvious.
Putting off finding the Demon Realm Gate Bulma returned to the main room to look through the pile of loot the shapeshifting monster had left behind. Zeni was around as expected and this time there was enough to actually buy a meal in a restaurant. More than ever before, but still chump change to the rich heir. Disgustingly enough there was a small, curled pigtail.
Oolong's Tail
Description: A moderately powerful regent taken from the shapeshifting demon Oolong. Very useful in various potions and rituals.
Type: Material
Quality: Unique
Damage: N/A
Defense: N/A
Durability: 10/10
Enhancements: N/A
Bulma almost threw it away, but it was still an item and like a lot of the things they had found in the dungeon it was useful in some way. Even if she could not do anything with it at the moment. The next thing that caught her eye was a small rock with a rune etched in it that looked vaguely familiar.
Demon Realm Gate Key
Description: A key for opening the Demon Realm Gate. The rune etched upon it means "open."
Type: Key
Quality: Rare
Damage: N/A
Defense: N/A
Durability: 10/10
Enhancements: N/A
"Huh, I wonder if this organically came from Oolong or from the Quest Rewards?" Bulma mused as she tucked the stone into her left pocket.
A bloody knife had been partially lying on top of the key and it revealed… many things.
Oolong's Favorite Knife
Description: What was once a simple bread knife has been repeatedly bathed in blood by the sadistic hands of The Demon Oolong. His actions have twisted and warped this kitchen utensil into a weapon capable of sawing through bone without much difficulty.
Type: Knife
Quality: Unique
Damage: 30 + 0.1*Agi physical
Defense: -5 physical
Durability: 20/20
Enhancements: [Blood Frenzy]
[Blood Frenzy]: When bathed in blood this weapon repairs itself and gains an extra 10 physical damage. If bathed in enough blood it may grow stronger.
"I'm melting this. Next."
The teen nearly squealed when she picked up a spellbook.
Channeling the Aether: Mana Bomb
"Oh shit… that sounds very dangerous."
Unable to control herself Bulma immediately opened the book and started reading. She quickly realized that the spell was beyond her capabilities given the language the book used and reliance on prior knowledge, but only barely. Upon closing the book a small window appeared.
Requirements: 150 Intelligence
Bulma blinked. "I am very close to that." She did not bother putting it away. She now had a mission.
The last thing that had been left behind was a simple piece of not quite paper, given the way it felt in her hands, that seemed to have a letter written upon it.
Dearest Oolong,
I hope this letter finds you well. Mother and Father still miss you terribly even after all these years, but I know you had to leave. I am sending this because there is a reunion coming up in a few months, nothing huge, just Mother's side of the family and we all wanted to make sure you would be able to come. It's at Uncle Grebuhel's castle and that means we get to swim in a pool. I for one cannot wait for it.
See you soon,
Wigoglo
"…huh." Bulma did not quite know what to think about it. "This better not be some stupid foreshadowing or something and I definitely don't want a-" The girl looked around with shifty eyes. "Journey or Adventure." After a few seconds passed and no Quest prompt appeared the teen breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."
With all of the loot sorted and put away, except for the earrings that she was already wearing, the rock in her pocket, and the spellbook in her hands Bulma turned to the last thing left in the room. Or rather the person.
Akane Otake, half-beastkin, half-human; an anomaly. Bulma was aware of the fact that she was not the most worldly of women, being only sixteen and having spent most of those years studying or tinkering in a lab she did not have all that many connections outside of her family, but even she knew about the unspoken separation between humans and beastkin.
It was not quite racism, that was definitely a part of it, but beastkin were not treated as second class citizens, they were not denied rights of any kind, they seemed to be employed without judgment, hell, the president was a beastkin, but you rarely ever see human/beastkin couples. Before today Bulma had never before seen the progeny of a human/beastkin couple and was very confused why the two races did not get together more often.
Akane was gorgeous. Even malnourished and dirty her hair was a beautiful, deep red, her dark brown skin practically glowed in the light, a fact that Bulma found oxymoronic but nonetheless beautiful, and she was tall. Like… a lot taller than herself. She was not about to measure the still sleeping woman, but Bulma guessed her height to be around six feet. Much more than her 5'5" and absolutely towering over shortstack's four feet… she had not measured him either. The last thing that Bulma noted was that despite the fact that they had clearly withered away, Akane's muscles looked like they could pack quite a punch. Which made sense given the stats she had seen earlier. She chose to ignore the woman's prodigious assets both on top and below, Bulma was NOT an insecure teenager.
Not wanting to awaken the half-beastkin from her much-needed slumber Bulma decided to look for the Demon Realm Gate.
"Why am I doing this?" the genius muttered, but her curiosity could not be quenched.
The rune made it fairly obvious where she had to go, so after walking for half an hour Bulma arrived at the horrible rune room they used to solve the wall puzzle. It looked the same, blood, guts, and bones were everywhere and that little table with the knife on it.
"If I have to sacrifice people to open you I'm not doing it you hear me?" she told the rune circle at her feet.
When it did not respond, Bulma was nearly expecting an angry pulse of magic or something, she pulled out the key. Immediately a prompt appeared.
Would you like to use the Demon Realm Gate?
[Y/N]?
"No."
Now the teen knew for certain that this was where she and Goku could enter the demon realm… if they ever lost their collective minds of course. Curiosity sated Bulma tucked the key away, grabbed the weapon, and left the disturbing room. If she never came back again, it would be too soon.
~GG~
Akane's eyes opened slowly. The bright lights of the room she had been in for several days now did not make for a pleasant wake-up call. Her arms and muscles stiff, she decided to stretch out and was surprised to find that she was not restrained in any way. As such, she closed her eyes tightly as she stretched luxuriously and let out a massive yawn. An observer might comment that the act had been distinctly cat-like and they would be right, she was a Puma Beastkin after all. It was at the apex of her stretch that Akane became aware of the numerous wounds littering her body and a rush of memories startled her out of her wake-up procedures.
Two weeks ago she had been hunting in a mostly uninhabited mountain when she came across a little bipedal pig wearing some sort of military uniform. Akane had not been a part of civilization for nearly a decade, but she found him to be quite odd. The strangeness did not deter her from approaching him though, there was no way such a small creature could possibly be a threat to her after all. She was an amazon of the forest and there was nothing that she could not hunt.
The pig's sneer was uncomfortable, to say the least, but she had not been prepared in the slightest when he suddenly transformed into a large bull and rammed her into a tree. Stunned as she was she was unable to retaliate when the bull transformed into an ogre and swung at her head with his mace.
All Akane knew was darkness until she woke up chained to a wall in a cell. Soon after… the dissecting started and time became irrelevant. Life was a fugue state of pain and unconsciousness, but she refused to die. She was a predator, a queen of the night, and there was no way she was going to die tortured at the hands of an evil piggy. At some point, it became easier to deal with, not that she let her captor know.
Akane did not know how long she had slept, but she now remembered the sounds of battle and the teenage girl that cared for her afterward. It took a moment to register, even after stretching without restraint, but she was free and her tormentor dead.
The beastkin was broken out of her reverie by a voice. "Watcha doin'?"
The redhead's eyes flew open and she blinked a few times at what she saw. A small boy, no more than eight years old, was looking at her with wide, curious eyes. His hair was unnaturally styled in large spikes and he wore a set of leather armor that no one would wear in modern times. The oddest part though was the monkey tail slowly wagging about behind him.
'Is he like me? No. He does not have other beastkin features like ears or eyes, though the hair might be hiding them…'
"What are you?" Akane did not want to leave such things ambiguous again lest see go from one captor to another.
Goku tilted his head in confusion. "I'm a boy."
Akane shook her head negatively. "No, I mean what is your race? You are not human nor are you half-beastkin. What are you?" she used her most piercing stare on the boy.
Goku's lack of awareness easily deflected her attempt at intimidation. "Question marks… uhh… I mean, I dunno."
The redhead was bewildered, to say the least. "Did your parents not tell you?"
"I dunno never met 'em, I think they abandoned me… and if Grampa Gohan knew he never said so."
"Ah…" Akane felt bad bringing up such painfully memories… until she realized that the boy clearly thought nothing of it. "Where is the blue-haired girl?"
"…you mean Bulma? I dunno."
Akane rolled her eyes. The boy was quite… simple. "Well, I want to find her and thank her for dressing my wounds. I would have died otherwise."
"Yeah, she did that for everybody… but there were still a bunch of dead people."
The half-beastkin small snippets of memory in which she saw people chained in cells, but they were too vague to hold onto.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
Goku shrugged.
Sitting up slowly, many of her wounds were quite tender and raw and could open back up, Akane let her legs dangle off the edge of the table. She was in pain, the movement reminding her of her current state in a way that the earlier stretch had not, or maybe she had ignored it. Letting out a shuddering breath Akane moved to get off the table but was stopped by a new voice.
"What are you doing? You shouldn't be moving!" Bulma yelled from the doorway.
Akane quirked her left eyebrow before getting off the table in defiance… and wincing in pain because of it.
"As you can see-"
"You are still hurt. Your legs are shaking." Bulma emphasized the point by pointing at said legs.
"…Fine."
Both Bulma and Goku had to help the woman get back onto Oolong's operating table and once they did Bulma redressed her wounds, luckily only a few had been badly aggravated by her movements.
Akane observed the teenage girl as she once again took care of her. "Why so helpful?"
Bulma blinked in surprise at the question. "Why not?"
"It's not an average person that has their name on two different items of clothing. Why are you even here?"
"It's just for identification ya' know. And we're here to get a dragon ball."
"Dragon ball?"
"Yeah, magic wish-granting balls. The little guy and I are on a quest to get 'em."
"Why tell me?"
"Because I want you to come with."
Akane would have done a double-take if she had not been laying back and talking to the ceiling. "At the risk of sounding like a broken record… why?"
'Can't say it was because a quest said you would…' "I think you're a good fit. Big, strong, hopefully, a local. Also… none of the villagers who came to get the prisoners we freed came to get you. I was asleep the entire time, but I probably would have gotten up if someone came in here, but no one did. Maybe I feel a little responsible for the woman whose life I saved."
"…Thank you." Akane said softly. It had been a while since anyone had cared for her as this stranger did.
"Not a problem, so what's your name?" Bulma asked, not wanting to be rude by just whipping it out randomly.
"Akane."
"Just Akane?"
"…Yeah."
"Alright, I'm Bulma Brief. You may have heard of me."
Akane squinted as she racked her brain for the name, unfortunately, nothing came to mind. She had been in the wild for a long time.
"Sorry, doesn't ring a bell."
"What's the point of that perk if it hasn't worked even once?" Bulma grumbled under her breath. None of the villagers had recognized her either. "I was just curious. But hey, you didn't say if you were okay with coming with us." she asked as she finished changing all of the bandages.
"I'll go with you. A quest sounds more interesting than not."
"Awesome, Goku, can you invite her to the party?"
Said boy had been twiddling his thumbs, literally, as he waited for Bulma to finish. Perking up when his name was called he immediately did what she had asked.
"Invite: Akane."
Akane nearly jumped off the table when a screen suddenly appeared in front of her.
You have been invited to join Goku Son's party. Do you accept?
[Y/N]
"What sorcery is this? I will not be freed from one demon to serve another."
"I'm not a demon! We just kicked a bunch of demon asses!"
Bulma flailed her arms in panic. "Oh, Kami no! It's just an ability Goku has. It lets him, and everyone in his party, see the world differently. It's basically a superpower."
"Yet he does not know his race."
"I-" Bulma was taken aback slightly by the retort. For all they knew, Goku might be a demon. "That… might be possible, but it might not be." Bulma leaned in to whisper in Akane's ear. "Between you and me he's too stupid to do anything even if he was one."
Akane shot Goku a wary look before slowly pressing 'Y' on the screen in front of her. At first, she was going to say that nothing happened, but then she saw words floating above the heads of her new companions.
Goku Son Lvl: 3
Bulma Brief Lvl: 2
"Huh…"
"I don't know if you've ever played a videogame, but it's kinda like that."
"I have not."
"Me neither!" Goku added.
"To be honest I've only played a couple of phone games. Never a proper videogame. But we've figured out how to use it as we went. For example, if you way the word 'stats' a screen pops up showing you your stats. They're basically a numerical representation of how much… stuff you have. I say stuff because it measures, physical, mental, and metaphysical properties like strength, intelligence, and luck."
"Interesting. Stats."
Name: Akane Otake
Race: Half-Beastkin (Puma) Half-Human
Lvl: 2
HP: (180/180 (+1.8/s)) [5/5 (+0.05/s)]
MP: 115/115 (+0.6/s)
KP: (58/58 (+0.058/s)) [36/36 (+0.036/s)]
Stats - 311
Str: 33 (1)
Vit: 36 (1)
Agi: 54 (1)
Dex: 51 (1)
Per: 38
Int: 23
Wis: 12
Mnt: 10
Fth: 0
Aff: 39
Luk: 0
Chr: 15
"Ah… that makes sense." Bulma said when she looked at Akane's full stat sheet.
"What does? I'm guessing those ones are bad."
"Yeah, let I'll explain the stats…"
Bulma proceeded to spend half an hour going through the game's definition of the stats during which Goku got bored and went off to explore the now empty dungeon on his cloud. The explanation came to a halt when she got to Akane's race.
Hybrid
Hybrids are unique in that they can gain any number of benefits from the races of their parents. This can range from a single benefit to all of them.
As a half-human/half-beastkin woman, you receive the following benefits:
Being a very simple yet resilient and intelligent race, though lacking in the power department, Humans succeed with general skills.
You learn Skills/Spells/Masteries/etc. and earn Perks and Special Perks much easier
You can breed with pretty much anything vaguely humanoid
Beastkin are an ancient offshoot of the human race who dabbled in transformation magic that they should not have. Millenia later they are their own distinct species whose greatest strengths often align with the animal they are most similar to.
Grants the Special Perk [Animal Instinct]
All Beastkin more easily gain Per and Aff
As a Puma, you gain Str and Agi
Congratulations. In this case, you have gained every benefit from your parents' races
Something to note is that hybrids can only ever be of two races meaning the child of a couple with three or four races between them will only receive two of them.
"That's… unfair." Bulma complained.
Akane could not help the pride that grew within her upon reading everything. She was amazing. The zero in luck still irked her though.
"Well, I think it's time to get moving. I wanna see if you can ride the Flying Nimbus. Otherwise, we'll have to spend the night. Luckily that oolong guy had a pretty nice bed." Turning away from her patient Bulma walked to the doorway and screamed, "Goku, come back here!"
A minute later no one appeared and Bulma's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I knew I should have made him stick close. Oh well. Let's try to get you to the bed… oh, also, do you think you're good to wear clothes yet?" she asked as she stood next to Akane's table.
Bulma's question finally made the half-beastkin aware of her nudity, something she did not normally think about hence her lack of reaction despite having company.
"I'm not sure. What do you think doctor?" she answered as Bulma helped her stand up.
"Oh, I'm not a-" the teen shook her head. "Look at you, making jokes. Honestly, it's a question of whether or not my biggest stuff can even fit you. How tall are you?"
"I haven't measured in years, but my guess is a little over six feet."
Bulma sucked in air through closed teeth. "Yeah, you'd be lucky if one of my more flowy summer dresses even cover your ass given your… bust."
Akane laughed, the first time in what felt like years, at the teen's words. "Better than nothing." The redhead thought for a moment. "Why didn't your little friend, Geeku, react?"
Bulma could not stop her laugh. "His name is Goku, and he has this crazy debuff, oh we gotta look at yours, that he got because he broke his head as a little kid. Brain damage I'm sure. It says he's incapable of romantic love and given how he's lived his whole life in the mountains, mostly by himself, I don't think he's capable of sexual attraction."
"Weird… and sad."
"Right, I was originally going to have this… stupid wish, but now I want to use it to heal him. Not to mention, in this game we now live in more numbers is good and that debuff is crazy. We'll fix your stats too."
"Thank you… again."
"Bah, it's fine. Besides, you can't fight if you're all ones." she responded as she laid the redhead into bed.
"Still-"
"It's fine, now that you're comfy say 'skills' and 'perks' to bring up those screens."
"Alright, skills. Perks.
Skills
Stealth
Description: You are skilled at blending in with your surroundings to stay hidden from sight. Your footsteps are light and your movements precise to ensure that no one ever hears you coming.
Requirements: 40 Dex and 20 Per
Level: 3
Type: Passive
Activation Time: Instant
Cost: N/A
Range: Self
Damage: N/A
Effects: Makes it more difficult for people to see or hear you
Special Effects: N/A
Tracking
Description: You are adept at following a trail left by your prey… or someone you're looking for. You can read the earth and know the scent to stay on target.
Requirements: 20 Per and Aff
Level: 3
Type: Passive
Activation Time: N/A
Cost: N/A
Range: Line of Sight
Damage: N/A
Effects: The user is more perceptive of evidence left behind by their target
A target can be set making tracking them to be easier
Special Effects: N/A
Animal Awareness
Description: The user pushes the limits of their senses to the very maximum to understand the world around them.
Requirements: Be a Beast
Level: 2
Type: Active/Sustained
Activation Time: Instant
Cost: N/A
Range: 10 meters
Damage: N/A
Effects: The user perceives the world around them and can sense all manner of activity
Lasts for 10 seconds
One minute cooldown
Special Effects: N/A
Spells
None
Martial Arts
Sneak Attack
Description: An attack from out of nowhere meant to deal as much damage in a single strike.
Requirements: Stealth Skill and 20 Agi and Dex
Level: 1
Type: Passive
Activation Time: N/A
Cost: N/A
Range: Self
Damage: N/A
Effects: Increases the damage dealt by attacks by 20%
The user must be concealed from the enemy for this martial art to work.
Special Effects: N/A
Rend
Description: The user uses their claws to rip their enemies apart.
Requirements: Have Claws and 20 Str
Level: 2
Type: Active
Activation Time: Instant
Cost: N/A
Range: Touch
Damage: ½ Str and ½ Dex
Effects: Causes the [Bleed] status
Special Effects: N/A
Masteries
Dagger Mastery
Description: Tracks the user's ability to use daggers effectively.
Requirements: N/A
Level: 2
Effects: Increases damage dealt by daggers by 2%
Special Effects: N/A
Bestial Combat Mastery
Description: Being in touch with the beast within your attacks and movements are powerful and graceful. You can effectively use your natural weapons, such as claws, to tear your opponents to shreds. Fighting is something that is nearly instinctual for you.
Requirements: Be a Beastkin and 20 Str, Agi, Dex, Per, and Aff
Level: 2
Effects: Increases damage dealt with your limbs and natural weapons by 4%
Special Effects: When fighting in Nature this bonus is doubled
Transformations
None
Perks
Night Vision
Description: You have highly evolved eyes that allow you to see in almost all conditions.
Effects: You can see in the dark
Mountain Woman
Description: You are one with nature and nature thinks that's pretty cool.
Effect: +10 Perception and +20 Luck while in Nature
Affinity gains are easier while in Nature
Pain Tolerance
Description: You have dealt with pain to extreme levels, far beyond what is normal.
Effect: You can tolerate pain a bit easier. It does not distract you in battle.
Debuffs
Deathly Malnourished
Description: You've been starved for weeks and are barely alive now.
Effects: Physical Stats are reduced to 1 until this is cured
Special Perks
Animal Instinct
Description: As part of the Beastkin race you are in touch with your animal side. Your five senses exceed those of a human and your awareness is second to none. As a Puma, you are a stalking creature of the night, powerful and majestic.
Effects: Grants Skill [Animal Awareness]
Grants Perk [Night Vision]
"I can't believe I haven't fed you!" Bulma yelled before reaching inter her fanny pack and looking for a certain capsule.
"I barely even notice it at this point."
"That just makes it worse." Bulma then brought out a capsule and held it up in triumph. "These are my emergency snacks… like actual emergencies." she then opened the capsule which revealed several plastic squares. The teen picked up one of the bigger ones and showed it to Akane. "This one is 3,600 calories, but you're supposed to spread it out over a couple of days." She then picked up a much smaller package. "This is 400 calories in two pieces. It's a lot smaller and if you're hungry in half an hour you can have more. Oh and water of course!"
After getting fed and watered Akane and Bulma went over the redhead's skills and perks.
"So… you're great at being sneaky. Oh, and you and Goku have the same perk!"
Akane nodded. "This makes sense. I've lived in the wilderness for years and this is a mountainous region. I've survived on my own and hunting things like dinosaurs require stealth and fast takedowns."
"I like it. Goku is a strong frontman, I have guns and magic at a range, and you can be a ninja! But first, you have to be healthy. I think we're going to spend the night here so go ahead and try to sleep."
As the young genius left Oolong's bedroom Akane could not stop herself from whispering, "Thank you."
~GG~
AN: I missed writing for a little while there. Nioh 2 came out and then the Borderlands 3 DLC 2 came out while I'm not finished with either, the quarantine has made it so that my siblings have a lot more time to play videogames and since the consoles are restricted to a single TV only one person can play at a time.
Speaking of: be safe. Wash your hands, don't touch your face, avoid public gathering, stay six feet away from people at all times, etc. You have all heard it a bunch of times, but this is serious and when people don't treat it seriously things get worse.
That aside tell me what you thought. This Akane is very different from the previous version. From the moment I wrote it I disliked the extremely vulnerable, shy, and worshipful of Goku personality I had given her. I felt like a shitty hentai writer and just… ugh. I had intended from Original Akane to eventually move past that and have a real personality, but they would have taken a long time and parts of that vulnerability would, realistically, linger forever. Not to mention how at odds it was with her physical representation.
This Akane, as I hope to have conveyed, is a fierce, wild woman. Think Tarzan but at ten instead of as a baby and being raised by herself or nature if you wanna be poetic. I'll go into more detail eventually I'm sure, but that's all I'll say for now.
EDIT: I'm so sorry! I finished this chapter almost a month ago and thought I had uploaded it! So I went to check out reviews and work on chapter seven to find no chapter! Expect chapter seven to come relatively quickly as an apology.
Please leave a thoughtful review.
Thx ;)