[Ability Forge (level 1)

  Components entered: None

  Combinations discovered: None

  Combine components: Please choose components.

  See list of components available to be entered?]

  It was pretty bare-bones. But that was to be expected considering it was both new and only level 1. Since the first step was obviously to add components, Dominic agreed to see the list of available ones.

  [Quick Strike (T0)

  Second Wind (T1)

  Crushing Bite (T0)

  Pride Attack (T1)

  Pounce (T0)

  Powerful Swipe (T1)

  Rapid Attack (T0)

  Sharp Bite Attack (T1)

  Sure Feet (T0)

  Venomous Acidic Bite (enhanced) (T2)

  Enhanced Stamina (T0)

  Momentous Charge (T2)

  Majestic Sonic Roar (T3)

  Airborne (T2)

  Easy Landing (T0)

  Tail Strike (T1)

  Spatial Awareness (T0)

  Hypnotise (T1)

  Temperature Tolerance (T2)

  Mapping (T2)

  Rage (T1)

  Bleed (T1)

  Enhanced Fertility (T0)

  Fleet Foot (T0)

  Flash Step (T2)

  Camouflage (T1)

  Healing Cloud (T2)

  Group Enhancement (T2)

  Rending Bite 34%*

  Bloodied Stalwart 40%*

  Rock Skin 10%*

  Spike Attack 24%*

  Enhanced Scales 75%*

  Loose Skin 5%*

  Poisonous Spikes 13%*

  Projectile Vomit 48%*

  Hop 1%*

  Extended Jump 56%*

  Enhanced Accuracy 24%*

  Intimidating Hoot 36%*

  Tribute 11%*

  Fearful Howl 70%*

  Soaring Glide 34%*

  Champion 30%*

  Poison Cloud 100%

  Gore 48%*

  Charge 36%*

  Burrow 42%*

  Ambush 21%*

  Death Roll 44%*

  Extended Breath 66%*

  Quick Snap 22%*

  Famine 22%*

  Add Abilities]

  ‘You know, I hadn’t realised just how many Abilities we have until I saw them like this,’ ruminated Dominic.

  ‘We don’t have all those Abilities,’ Leo pointed out. ‘At least half of them are in the course of being acquired.’

  ‘I realised that,’ Dominic told him with a bit of exasperation. ‘What, you think I’m likely to forget exactly which Abilities we can call upon and which we can’t? But even so, we have…twenty-eight Abilities already? Maybe being able to combine a few of them is a good idea – to shorten the list a little and allow for more flexible Abilities.’

  ‘As long as the combinations are better than what we currently have,’ Leo warned him. ‘Better to have some Abilities we barely use than risk damaging the Abilities we rely upon.’

  ‘I wasn’t planning on being reckless,’ Dominic responded, a little defensively. ‘I’d only combine Abilities which look like they’d be good fits. Like maybe Rapid Attack and Quick Strike. If we could combine the ability to attack fast with the ability to attack more frequently, that could be pretty powerful.’

  ‘True, I suppose,’ Leo granted begrudgingly. ‘But better to experiment with something less important; we don’t know how this Forge works. Have you noticed that it’s showing Abilities we haven’t earned yet?’

  ‘Yes – with a percentage and a star next to each of them.’ Focussing on the star, Dominic asked the system for more information about it.

  [Partially earned Abilities can be stored, collected and used in the Ability Forge, however, a sufficient combined percentage must be reached in order to transform them into a full Ability. Warning: because they are partial Abilities, the fragments may not contain the whole of the Ability.]

  ‘A sufficient percentage must be reached…I assume it means a hundred percent. Why couldn’t it have just said that?’ Dominic asked, exasperated. ‘Unless it doesn’t mean that. We were able to combine fragments with an Ability before to transform it, after all. And what’s up with that warning?’

  ‘I can’t comment on the ‘sufficient percentage’, but that the fragments would not carry the whole Ability would make sense to me if it is not complete,’ Leo told him.

  ‘Sure, but what does that mean in practical terms?’ Dominic asked him. ‘Like, say we were talking about Quick Strike and only had twenty percent towards it. What would that twenty percent look like? I don’t remember exactly what it was at level one, but say it offered thirty percent speed for three Stamina Points, would twenty percent of it only offer six percent increased speed for three Stamina Points, or six percent speed for less than one Stamina Point?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Leo replied after a long moment. ‘Perhaps we should experiment to find out?’ he suggested. ‘And only with Abilities we don’t actually want, mind,’ he added quickly.

  Dominic sent a mental eye roll at him. He knew he didn’t always make the best decisions, but he wasn’t generally that reckless. That was more Leo’s side of things.

  ‘No it’s not!’ the lion protested.

  ‘Fang,’ Dominic told him pointedly.

  ‘That wasn’t reckless,’ Leo argued. ‘That was dealing with a threat to our Pride.’

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  ‘In the worst possible manner,’ Dominic told him. ‘Anyway, no point in getting into that.’ A thought suddenly occurred to him about ways of hedging his bets in the future. Wanting to check if it would work, Dominic focussed on Group Enhancement in the list, hoping that it would come up with the details of the Ability. His wish was granted as the list expanded to allow for the text of Group Enhancement to appear, like it did in his status.

  Group Enhancement (T2) level 1 (0% to level 2) – Numbers are strength. Increase the effectiveness of a single Ability shared by multiple members of your group, or share a single one of your Abilities with a single other member of your group. The cost of using Group Enhancement is double the normal cost of the chosen Ability. The duration of either effect is decreased by the difference between your selected Ability’s level and the level of your target/s’s Ability, and increased by the Ability level of Group Enhancement. If the creature the Ability is shared with increases the level of the Ability while the effect is active, they will keep the Ability permanently.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Leo asked curiously, clearly sensing that he had something in mind, but not exactly what.

  ‘I’m thinking that we might be able to create something like a ‘save point’.’

  ‘A save point?’ Leo asked, mystified, then apparently he accessed Dominic’s memories as sudden understanding crashed over from his side of their shared mind. ‘Oh! You mean share our Abilities first?’

  ‘Exactly,’ Dominic agreed. ‘Say we want to experiment with…Quick Strike. If we make sure that at least one of the Pride members has it – which, in fact, multiple of them do – then we don’t have to worry about the Ability Forge chewing it up. We can just get it back from our Pride member if necessary.’

  ‘For the cost of Pride Points,’ Leo noted.

  ‘Yes, which isn’t ideal, but it’s a good backup. And if we can pass on Group Enhancement so that they could share the Ability with us later if necessary….’

  ‘Then we don’t even need to spend the Pride Points,’ Leo finished with a hint of approval. ‘It’s not a bad idea, though one which will take time to come to fruition and would also require work to level the Ability up again. And we will have to be careful with our Abilities even so. We don’t want to give an Ability to someone who might be a threat.’

  Dominic just knew he wouldn’t agree to sharing the Abilities with any male lions, and he suspected that Leo might consider some of the non-lions to be ‘threats’ too. Dominic’s own concern was with something else.

  ‘We might have to be careful with some Abilities which really used our Chimera aspect too. I don’t know what would happen if we tried to share something like Venomous Acidic Bite, for example. Perhaps those without both acid and venom wouldn’t be able to even use it at all, but, more importantly, we wouldn’t want it poisoning or eating away at our Pride members because they don’t have any resistance to the Ability they’re trying to use.’

  ‘That’s a disturbing idea,’ Leo commented seriously. ‘I don’t think we should risk it.’

  ‘Honestly, I agree. So perhaps we can’t use this save point strategy with all Abilities. Anyway, it will take time to put into practice, time we don’t have right now. Especially not since we still need to visit the kesh. Which, if all goes well, will give us more Pride Points to play with too.’

  ‘You’re not thinking about adding those primates to our Pride, are you?’ Leo asked, dismayed.

  ‘I’m considering it,’ Dominic replied. ‘Arguably, with enough Points, we could use Lion’s Generosity to give the Ability, and then Pride’s Tribute to get it back if necessary, forgoing the need to use Group Enhancement at all. But that’s probably a bit wasteful with our Pride Points,’ he noted reflectively.

  ‘No. No, we’re not doing it,’ Leo replied adamantly.

  ‘Let’s talk about it later,’ Dominic suggested placatingly. ‘Those are future concerns. For now, let’s see how this whole thing works before we try to plan how to use it most effectively and efficiently.’

  He looked down the list and tried to identify what might have a good compatibility and also wouldn’t matter too much if he messed them up. ‘How about Intimidating Hoot and Fearful Howl?’

  ‘Why those?’ Leo asked curiously, apparently willing to let the previous discussion go – for now.

  ‘Well, they’re both vocalisations, they both seem to be linked to fear, and if we lose them, it’s not the end of the world. We already have an Ability which does much of the same and if we mess up, we might be able to get Fearful Howl from the albuhas through other means. And if we integrate the kesh into the Pride,’ Dominic slipped in slyly, ‘Then we could also get Intimidating Hoot again. Which means that this is practically risk-free! Plus, adding them together makes over a hundred percent so that should be ‘sufficient’ percentage.’

  ‘And if it works? What’s the point of having an Ability we’re not going to use?’

  Dominic shrugged at him mentally.

  ‘This is a test. Worst case scenario, we see how this whole thing works to better use it next time with something that’s actually useful. Best case, we have an Ability which is different enough from Majestic Sonic Roar to be useful. And it’s possible that it might combine with Majestic Sonic Roar on our next level up, enhancing that one further. Besides, even if we don’t find the resulting Ability useful, others might. Honestly, I don’t see that we have anything to lose for just trying this. Do you?’

  There was silence for a long moment before Leo admitted that he couldn’t find any good reason not to try it.

  Since they were both in agreement, Dominic mentally selected Intimidating Hoot and Fearful Howl. They were each highlighted in a faint blue colour which Dominic guessed was meant to indicate that they had been chosen. Mentally selecting the ‘Add Abilities’ option at the end, the list disappeared from before his eyes. A new notification flashed up in its place.

  [You have chosen to add (fragment) Abilities to your Ability Forge: Intimidating Hoot; Fearful Howl. Do you wish to continue?

  Warning: Abilities added to the Ability Forge are removed from your capabilities while they are in the Ability Forge. Uncombined Abilities can be returned to your capabilities later.]

  ‘Yes, continue,’ he told the notification.

  The message dissolved, to be replaced by the original Ability Forge status even as a cold shiver went through him. He scanned the text, noting the differences.

  [Ability Forge (level 1)

  Components entered: Intimidating Hoot 36%*; Fearful Howl 70%*

  Combinations discovered: None

  Combine components: Please choose components.

  See list of components available to be added?]

  Closing the Ability Forge temporarily, Dominic called up his own status, mentally scrolling down until he could see his list of Abilities waiting to be acquired fully. Sure enough, Fearful Howl and Intimidating Hoot were now both absent from his list. It was what he’d been expecting, but he’d wanted to know for sure.

  Returning to the Ability Forge, he found it unchanged.

  ‘Alright, let’s find out how to combine components,’ he said to Leo absently.

  Fortunately, the process was as intuitive as the rest of the System manipulations – he just had to focus on adding each of the two Abilities to the ‘Combine components’ section.

  ‘Combine components?’ he said to the Ability Forge hesitantly.

  [You have chosen to combine (fragment) Abilities: Intimidating Hoot; Fearful Howl.

  The percentage of each fragment is sufficient for combination. Do you wish to continue?

  Warning: The combination of Abilities is irreversible. Abilities may be improved or damaged as a result of combination. Combination results may not be as expected.]

  The warning wasn’t anything more than he’d expected – it was much the same as when he was offered the option to combine Abilities on level-up.

  ‘Yes, continue.’

  [Abilities in the course of being combined. Estimated processing time: 02:00]

  The timer started counting down. Though it was only two minutes, they felt like almost the longest two minutes of Dominic’s life. Almost, because the minutes where Leo had been eating his guts when they first met had felt far longer. Though, this time he didn’t even start a conversation with Leo – he didn’t want them to be distracted. So they just waited in silence watching the seconds tick away.

  Finally, the timer hit zero.

  [The selected Abilities have been combined. Result: Fearful Voice (T1)]

  Dominic was curious and asked for more information.

  [Fearful Voice (T1): Use a vocalisation to spread fear among those who hear it. Those who are susceptible to the effect will see the user as stronger and more powerful than they actually are and may hesitate in an attack or choose to flee.]

  ‘Well, that looks pretty good, don’t you think?’ he asked Leo, feeling pleased.

  ‘Majestic Roar already does all of that and more,’ the lion pointed out. ‘It doesn’t even offer a stun effect or anything like that.’

  ‘Well, I don’t think either of the original Abilities offered that,’ Dominic said. ‘At least, we didn’t experience that either in the fight with the albuhas or the kesh. But the effect of our opponent seeing us as stronger than we are is something Majestic Sonic Roar doesn’t offer – we saw how useful that was in the fight with the albuhas,’ he said pointedly, remembering how even Leo had hesitated at the albuha leader using his Ability. ‘And the point is that we can share this with others, not just use it ourselves.’

  ‘I suppose,’ Leo agreed in his usual disgruntled manner. ‘Are you going to absorb the Ability now, then?’

  ‘In a moment,’ Dominic agreed. First, though, he wanted to just explore what the Ability Forge would show them.

  Going back to the main status, he saw some more differences.

  [Ability Forge (level 1)

  Components entered: None

  Combinations discovered: Fearful Voice (T1) (1 x Ability available)

  Combine components: Please choose components.

  See list of components available to be added?]

  The components had indeed been used up and there only appeared to be one Ability waiting to be absorbed. That told Dominic that even Cores of previously gained Abilities would still be useful. Actually, I wonder if we can add the Cores to the Ability Forge directly? That would be pretty useful. Dominic decided to try it.

  Pulling out one of the warthog Cores from his storage space that he hadn’t wanted to absorb when they were in the dungeon because it had nothing he’d wanted, Dominic hesitated before touching it to the obsidian rock of the Place of Power. That was where the Ability Forge was, right?

  To his pleasure, the Core was immediately absorbed and the screen changed in front of his eyes.

  Components entered: Gore 17%*

  So it’s pretty much like when I absorb a Core, he thought to himself. Even the Ability Forge only gets one of the Abilities. But at least that means the Pride might manage to accumulate Abilities even when I’m away. Then he thought about it. On the other hand, perhaps they shouldn’t risk touching the stone. After all, Selessa had warned him that others touching it could have serious consequences for them.

  Well, they could still accumulate the Cores and then he’d add them when he got back.

  The last thing he did was work out how to absorb the Ability. That turned out to be quite easy – he just had to touch the stone and think about taking the combined Ability. To his interest and pleasure, it immediately appeared in his list of acquired Abilities – he didn’t even have to level up!

  This has a lot of promise, Dominic thought to himself. Especially once others can use it. Just another reason to level up the Place of Power, he guessed. Which was another good reason to go and speak to the kesh – after all, Selessa had indicated that the affiliated and recognised denizens – his Pride – played a big role in increasing the speed at which the Place of Power made progress.

  here!