Born a Monster

Something was wrong when I woke up. I knew that, even as I was sitting up. It was more than just the dehydration and dizziness. I felt worse than when I’d taken an arrow up my nose. Worse than after a day of fighting, worse than the exhaustion of a day of pulling the cart.

Oh, hey. The System messages were no longer scrolling. I tried something simple.

[You have 8/80 health points.]

Ah, see! No wonder I felt terrible! I was down to ten percent.... Of...

[You have 8/80 health points.]

Uh, no. Some System had gone off the deep end, and was giving me somebody else’s health total. That was the only thing that made sense.

[Your Might traits are: Durable, Rapid Healing, Athletic, Well Fed.]

[Tissue Boost: You have second tier muscles and organ structures.]

.....

[Your Might rating is 5.]

Uh. Nope. I did not live in a world where people went to sleep and woke up with two more levels of Might than when they fell unconscious the night before.

[Rhishisikk]

[Level 9 Magical Beast, Protean (Titanspawn-Demigod)]

[Might:5, Health: 6 (base health 80), Labor: 6, Strength:6]

[Agility: 3]

[Valor: 4]

[Resolve: 4 (base sanity 40)]

[Insight: 4]

[Charisma: 2, Serenity:3 (base serenity 30), Soulistics: 3]

[Lore: 1]

[Psyche: 2]

[System: 1]

What? No, none of this made sense.

[You have 7 development points.]

Okay, if this was real, then where had the development points come from?

[You have 20 unlocked abilities (filter: omit free powers)]

Okay, I had fewer abilities, I must have sold some back... somehow.

I got myself a ladle of water from the half-barrel that our tent shared. It was stale, but I didn’t actually taste that.

[Serenity injury: You are in shock (denial phase, healing)]

Yeah, a second ladle of water wasn’t going to help that... but it didn’t seem to hurt, either. Neither did a quick run by the water closet to purge my body of things it no longer needed, including blood from both exits (solid and liquid).

I scrubbed myself down, the closest I was likely to get to a bathing house today.

I didn’t remember any other Might tier leaving me feeling this tired. But... yeah, I felt like I was walking around on the last little bit of my health.

I passed by a row of the dead but not yet identified bodies. My stomach growled.

Ugh. Might of five times body mass of three is fifteen, times 9 is 135... Yeah, I needed to find food. Sometime before my hunger had me looking for an unidentified body would be best.

I was in line when someone in slightly less dinged-up armor came by. “You. Snake face.”

I turned my head to show him I was listening, and then the rest of my body as he took a step back.

“Your position is on the wall!” he screamed at me. “If you are well enough to stand in line for food, you are well enough to stand up on the wall!”

“I will gladly return to the wall once I have breakfast, sergeant.” I said.

“Sergeant!? How dare you! I should have your head struck off for...”

“Sir Ying! Meaning no disrespect, sir, but please look down to your breastplate.” One of the women ahead of me in line said.

“At my...” he looked down. “Ah-ah. I see. Yes, I am wearing my sergeant’s breastplate, and not my own, which is in the interior for repairs. And you would not know me at a glance, as my soldiers do. So sorry, but I shall now introduce myself. I am lieutenant Ying Son, leader of the Fifth Support company. This meal line is for Fifth Support soldiers only.”

My stomach made a loud protest, which we all pretended not to hear. “Sir Ying, it is not my intention to take food from unapproved sources. Where is the line for injured soldiers to be fed?”

“For soldiers too injured to leave their bunks, food is brought to them. For those who can walk, and better yet, argue...” he pointed at the nearest staircase. “Take yourself to the wall. Food is brought to the towers, and your sergeants bring it to you. Now, get OUT OF MY LINE!”

I had five Might, I could... I could get kicked like a punk. Whatever my maximum health, I only had eight health at that moment.

I bowed, damn you Daurian society. “This soldier requests leave to return to his unit, Sir Ying.”

He came to a slightly less confrontational pose, and waved me away.

Breakfast at the tower was a soft biscuit, fresh made, and an imaginary dollop of gravy. Two servings, all of eighteen nutrition. So...

“Can we get bales of hay delivered to our position on the wall?”

“With your sergeant’s approval, sure. But what do you think some hay is going to do that the wall itself won’t?”

“Spread around properly, hay can serve as sleeping mats for the weary, and we can just burn it when it becomes too soiled for that.”

He shook his head. “Hay serves as a home for insects and other vermin, but if your sergeant approves it, we definitely have it in the stores.”

And that was about the only victory I was to have that day.

“I’m sorry, say that again.” Meng Wa said.

“I would like a bale of hay a day instead of this miserable half-ration of food. I will gain more nourishment from it, and my share of food can go to whichever other soldier needs it.”

“No, about how your System says you need over a hundred nutrition.”

“One hundred thirty-five.” I confirmed. “I don’t know why, but my System is trying to act as though I am ninth level.”

She looked down her nose at me. “Report to the Rice Gate, Captain Feng.”

“I don’t understand.” I said.

“Champion Monitor, the Rice Gate needs every high-level person they can get. Report to Captain Feng, at the Rice Gate.”

“But I’m...” Crap, I couldn’t SAY it. Somehow, it wasn’t true anymore.

“I am sorry, Little Monitor. I have my orders, and now you have yours.”

Well, crap. So I said my goodbyes, endured all the hugging and meaningless words, tried to encourage them with things that weren’t entirely false, and shuffled off along the wall.

Captain Feng may once have been the image of a proper Daurian captain. When I met him, he was missing all the teeth on the left side of his face, his cheek on that side a mass of scar tissue. The eye on that side had a thin film of gray over it, but it still tracked and focused as though working normally. His armor was scrubbed mostly clean, but blood hid in the cracks and recesses, not all of it fully congealed.

He moved as though his arms were made of twigs, as if he were afraid the wrong movement would cause them to break off.

“And who are you, little one?”

“I am Rhishisikk, sent here because I am a level nine magical creature.”

“Well, let’s have a look at you, then. Hrm. Bloodshot eyes, slightly recessed. How is your health?”

“I’m at ten percent of my full health, sir.”

“Ten percent? Why aren’t you down with the healing troops?”

“They said if I could walk, I was needed on the wall, sir.”

“Well, there is a truth to that, but we don’t need you tonight. Could you use a healing potion?”

I shook my head. “I lack the hundred thirty-five nutrition to make that work.”

He snorted. “Under two hundred. Minor champion, at best. And wounded, at that. Show me your weapons... Ugh. Standard issue. And your armor...” He pressed at my scales. “Hrm. Second level scales. You get what, level four protection from that?”

“Third level sir. Six points of protection from blunt, lacerating, and piercing.”

“Oh, merciful heavens! And they dumped your useless carcass on me?”

“They said you need every champion you can get.”

He shook his head. “Shi Xinyi is getting the food he needs to drink a healing potion today, if not two. Tell me what you know of him.”

I did so.

“Hrm. Didn’t know that bit about his mother, but let me tell you the other part. It’s not just that this wall means nothing to him. That toad-spawn does tier seven damage. Twenty four, and that’s just his base damage. What’s your plan if he gets a red critical?”

“I’ll use My Shield is My Life to take it down to orange. Four times twenty four is ninety-six. At about three fourths health, I can survive that.”

“Oh? I’ve heard worse plans. So what, three maybe four days before you’re of any use to me?”

.....

“I’ve a level of Carpenter. If you’ve damaged spears or need arrows made, I can do that for you.”

“Ah-ah. A single level of Carpenter? No, that’s hardly useful. Not useless, but not useful. So... tell me about what magical powers you have, magical creature.”

He let me finish before saying. “And what types of mana do you need to perform these tasks?”