Winston lifted his head, looking around. He’d licked each bowl clean. His mind palace hadn’t really changed. The only difference was that the brick foundation had expanded once more. He took a moment to inspect it, but still couldn’t figure out what it was.
As he turned to leave, he caught a glimpse of the two gravestones, sitting alone in the billowing grass.
Winston froze, a wave of sadness washing over him. It was strange how his mind had cut out any grief or guilt since he’d been trapped. As Winston stood, he realized that it had only been a few days since Renir’s death, and barely more than a week since Roderic’s.
He knew it was probably a good thing that his mind was shutting out his emotions. He hadn’t known them very well, but he was sure that his grief would impede him. Winston shook his head. He couldn’t get lost in his emotions now. He was still imprisoned. He could think through them when he was free.
Winston closed his eyes and exited his soulspace. Immediately, he pulled up his status screen.
Name: Winston
Race: Corgi
Class: Relentless Consumer (Unique)
Rank: Initiate 9
Titles (3/5):
Non-Humanoid Progenitor
[Redacted]
Modified
Food Energy: 550/550
Stats:
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 15
Toughness: 14
Charisma: 45
Stomach: 55
Mind: 25
Free Points: 13
Active Skills (3/10):
Consume lvl 8
Channel Food Energy lvl 7
Mental Manipulation lvl 2
Passive Skills (2/10):
Enhanced Stomach lvl 4
Passive Charm lvl 7
As Winston read through the screen, he couldn’t help but be disappointed by [Mental Manipulation]. It was still just level 2. He knew it was his newest skill, but shouldn’t it have been level 3 already? Or were some skills just harder to upgrade than others? He’d broken through the minds of both the Caltheran guards, several fringillades, and even the Acolyte-tier Alpha Fringillade. Then, he’d managed to break Thalysar’s concentration. And after all of that, he’d still only gained a single level in it. It just didn’t seem right.
Winston had 13 points to distribute. Not as much as he would’ve liked, but still better than nothing. He’d been neglecting his first three stats: Strength, Dexterity, and Toughness. Still, he wanted to strengthen his mental abilities as well. Eventually, Winston threw five points into Mind. The other eight went into his physical stats. Winston stretched, checking his stat screen one more time.
Stats:
Strength: 17
Dexterity: 17
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Toughness: 17
Charisma: 45
Stomach: 55
Mind: 30
Free Points: 0
Winston knew he would have to start putting more points into Charisma soon, but for now, it wasn't a priority. Charisma and [Passive Charm] were what had let him survive so far. He knew that it had played a part in Erynd’s party bringing him back to camp. And when he’d been pulled in by the Nightrender, it hadn’t immediately killed him, treating him more like a toy than its next meal.
As Winston looked over his titles, he realized he hadn’t checked them in a long time. One after another, he concentrated on them.
Title: Modified
You have accomplished a feat that few across the Universe achieve, having the System directly modify your status screen!
+10 Charisma
+5 Stomach
Winston read the description with disinterest. He was more excited to see what would happen when he focused on the [Redacted] title. Winston realized that he hadn’t tried reading its description ever since he’d first gotten to the tower, where it’d shown him nothing. Hopefully, it would give something more this time.
Title: [Redacted]
[Redacted]
[Redacted]
[Redacted]
Winston sighed. He didn’t know what he’d expected. What was the point of giving the title to him if it wouldn’t tell him what it did? It wouldn’t even let him see the name.
Title: Non-Humanoid Progenitor
Congratulations on being the first non-humanoid creature of your world to be recognized as a contender in the Tower!
Cultivation is 10% more efficient
Winston tried to stay positive as he read through the title’s description, but he was still disappointed by the previous title’s description. Winston let out a yip of frustration. The 10% boost to cultivation was so vague. What was it supposed to mean? Was it easier to cultivate? Faster? Did he gain more energy than usual?
Winston shook his body, trying to clear his head. Thalysar had said he’d be back with others in a few hours, but Winston didn’t know how far away that was. He always lost track of time while he was within his soulspace.
Winston had done everything he could, so he decided to just sit down and wait. He considered trying to collect more of the metal from the door, but he didn’t want them to walk in while he was stealing whatever the door was made of.
Winston sat down and closed his eyes. But just a few minutes later, he heard the door opening. His eyes jerked open, and he watched the door. Two guards entered first. Winston tilted his head. One of them was significantly more nervous than the other. Then he remembered, he’d taken control of the guard’s mind when he’d tried to escape.
Following the guards came Commander Thalysar, and behind him came several more Caltherans. None of those behind him bore weapons, only armor. The two guards stopped and stood by the door as the rest continued towards Winston. Thalysar had his spear strapped to his back, but in his hand was a chunk of roasted meat.
Seeing the food, Winston realized he hadn’t eaten anything for days, but he still wasn’t too hungry, not that he’d say no to free food. Eating the energy-infused kibble within his soulspace had the same effect as eating actual food.
Thalysar set the chunk of what looked like venison at Winston's feet. Winston bent down to take a bite, but he froze at the last second. He’d seen far too many movies to trust this. The captor would always poison the prisoner or at least put something into the food. Winston closed his mouth and stored the meat in his spatial ring.
Seeing this, Thalysar tilted his head, but didn’t say anything. After a moment, he turned and spoke with the three Caltherans who had followed him in. Winston waited patiently. After a few minutes, Thalysar turned back, along with the others.
“Now, then,” Thalysar said, “We’re going to run a few tests on your ability to ‘consume’ items. If you’ll just—Initiate 9? Since when?”
Thalysar frowned and shook his head before continuing, “As I was saying, just use your skill on the items we give you, and everything will go smoothly.”
Thalysar smiled and stepped back, letting the others approach Winston. The three Caltherans were each Initiate 5. One of them stepped forward, holding out a stone.
Winston tilted his head, trying to identify it. No description came up. It was just a normal stone. Still confused, he bent down and consumed it. He didn’t know exactly how [Consume] worked, or what would happen if he consumed a poisoned item. That was why he hadn’t done anything with the hunk of meat he’d been given earlier. Now, he knew he would have to consume the items he was presented with, so he had to trust that they hadn’t done anything to them.
The stone disappeared in a faint swirl of green mist, and Winston looked up. All the Caltherans had strange looks on their faces. Then, they laid out a row of a dozen items before him. Winston began trying to inspect them, not knowing where to start. There were several mana stones and animal parts, but nothing he hadn’t seen before.
Winston stood there, unsure of what to do. Eventually, one of the Caltherans tentatively stepped forward.
“Start over there,” He said, pointing at one end of the items. Winston complied, waddling over. The Caltherans were scared. They were scared of him. They must’ve found out about his escape attempt. Winston found it hard to wrap his head around it, but at the same time, it felt good. They were trapping him here, separating him from Erynd and keeping him from finding his humans. But they were scared of him nonetheless.
Winston looked at the object at his feet. It was just another rock, albeit larger. Looking down the line, he saw that each object got more and more energy-rich. Winston wasn’t sure what they were doing, but he wasn’t going to say no to free energy.
When Winston finally got to the last of the objects, the 3 Caltheran turned and left, talking under their breath. Before Thalysar left, he spoke, “Thank you for complying. Just so you know, you’ll be going out hunting tomorrow. And yes, you may see Erynd; he will be participating in the hunt.”
Buy Winston a treat! (11 Chappies ahead)
