Remove Thyself From The Premises

Mia suddenly found herself a lot less inclined to side with humans in the future after a solid twenty or so minutes of focused arrow fire on her specifically. And for what?! EXISTING?!? I didn't even DO ANYTHING to you people! I've literally been helping with this shitstorm and this is the thanks I get!? Know what? Forget it! This is no longer about making good impressions, it wasn't to begin with! This was for levels, only ever for levels, and I didn't even have any kind of ulterior motive deciding to do this to begin with!

Mia had been forced to use a modified version of her area darkness spell, to be more specific. "High, Darkness, Medium, Area." She had swapped out the area and potency. Which still resulted in a similar level of mana drain, but with the many levels she'd gotten in such a short span Mia suddenly found her ability to use magic greatly increased. How many levels have I gotten...? Doesn't matter, focus up, check later. STOP talking to yourself Mia.

With yet another reminder given to herself by herself to shut up and strap in, Mia was determined to NOT be found another time. Whoever that damned archer was that kept finding her was a pain in her haunches, and she REFUSED to be seen again. Mia let the area darkness spell wind down, before letting it vanish entirely. Light flooding back into the battlefield. Mia instantly went on the move, darting around inbetween monsters and under the legs of creatures larger then her

She heard a shout from atop the wall, paid it no heed, carried on with her evasive movement regardless. As long as the pull was still there, Mia would not allow herself room to slack off. One hundred percent of her focus was on surviving, and surviving alone. The cries of a human were not important right now. 

With a flash, she leaped upwards and almost cleaved a monsters head from it's torso. Obscuring her movement in a rain of blood, she zipped around in a frenzy. A potent mixture of frustration and instinct guiding her movements. She cut, tore, ripped and dodged through the many monsters around her all the while moving almost as fast as she could. At this point, stealth wasn't even active because of her being stealthy, it's just that nothing could keep their eyes on her for any solid amount of time.

All the while this blasted headache had been building, the pull as she'd dubbed it. The spurn from the humans she'd somewhat tried to help, the constant life or death pressure, the burning headache driving her actions... It was all a bit much. So conscious thought became a bit of a far fetched thing for her at the moment. Slash-slash-slash every other movement leading into a fresh attack. Claws ripping out chunks of flesh with ease, leaving a bloody parade in Mia's wake. 

Yet all of a sudden, a pressure on her mind relented. What the... Am I dead? No, body still hurts, magic attack? No this is distinctly nothi-oh NOTHING! No duh, I'm outta here! Mia observed her surroundings, glancing in each direction rapidly. Humans to her front, monsters to her... leftrightbacksoutheastsouthwestnortheastnorthweastnorthsouthwest... everywhere. Away from the humans is away from here! Let's go! Mia turned on her hind legs and bolted for the tree line as fast as she possibly could. Zipping past plentiful amounts of monsters as quickly as she could manage.

On the way a few unfortunate monsters who had gotten between her and her way out were genuinely outright cleaved in half through a strike of her claws. She would feel bad, but they should've known better to be honest. Though any possibility of remorse for the pitiful deaths would be immediately snuffed out.

Succesfully killed one hundred enemies, acquiring experience! 

Level up!

+12 strength, +12 dexterity, +21 constitution, +7 wisdom, +6 capacity, +6 intelligence, +3 charisma, +2 manipulation

Level up!

+12 strength, +12 dexterity, +21 constitution, +7 wisdom, +6 capacity, +6 intelligence, +3 charisma, +2 manipulation

Level up!

+12 strength, +12 dexterity, +21 constitution, +7 wisdom, +6 capacity, +6 intelligence, +3 charisma, +2 manipulation

With just that little extra bit of juicing Mia ran even faster, shortly after breaking into the trees and far far away from the other humans who she knew wouldn't be far behind. Those three, she still remembered them vividly. The primal fear that had gripped her at the sight of them was a stark reminder of their existence. Mia absolutely didn't need another one, so she ran, and she ran real fast. 

With a little luck, I'll be able to ignore any future pulls with that burst of leveling. Please god, please, I beg of you. Now... I am so... HUNGRY! 

Despite all of the fresh kills she'd made, evidently so, she got an achievement for a hundred of them, Mia hadn't had the time to actually stop and eat any of them. For that matter, she was thirsty as well. Mia had lived entirely off of eating her prey whole. Drinking the blood for hydration. She just hadn't actually mentioned it to herself, because she'd like to think that a normal human didn't drink the blood of their enemies. Though now that she thought about it, she was starting to understand how silly that notion was. Of course I'm not a normal human, god Mia, get a grip.

Though, if I can help it... I think I'd like to have some actual water. Bloods gross, and it leaves my face sticky. Speaking of sticky... There's blood all over me. Stealth is, lets just say... Not gonna be very effective like this. I'll reek of it, plus being bright red kind of sticks out amongst the greenery. Also, I'd like to feel somewhat clean, even if I'm an animal. Though, humans are just more evolved animals so what do I know?

Mia shuddered, slowly falling to the ground. Despite her inner monologue, she hadn't actually stopped running the entire time. She wasn't keeping track of where she'd gone to, but she'd gone far away from the humans town. The tree line was thick, foliage blocking the light naturally without the use of any magic. In the near distance she could also hear the quiet trickle of a stream. Can't quite put my finger on it but... I think I like it here. 

With a dull caution Mia sauntered in the direction of the water. After she'd come down from the adrenaline spike that was the flux, her senses had dimmed. The no longer do or die situation allowing her to somewhat relax. While she'd never been a fan of the dark as a human, as what she was now, a shadow wolf, it felt a bit more homey then before. She was confident in the fact that even if something stumbled upon her it'd be hard to actually find her. Granted she got the coat of blood off of her fur. 

...

Didn't even realize how sore I was... Mia laid flat in a shallow patch of water. Still covered by a thick tree line, roots dipping into the stream itself. So light was mostly absent, leaving her ninety percent confident in the fact that she wouldn't be found. As a result, Mia was letting her body untense... Somewhat. Something in the back of her head wouldn't let her relax completely, to her displeasure. Blood was carried away in the gentle flow of the water, carrying the unpleasant coating of red away from her black fur. She was half tempted to just take a nap in the water, but she was still dimly aware of that probably being a bad idea.

Alright, so let's just take stock here, I suppose. Might as well get the big question out of the way first. How many times did I level up? Status.

Mia, Diminutive Shadow Wolf

Level 34

Strength 318

Dexterity 313

Constitution 435

Wisdom 164

Capacity 141

Intelligence 148

Charisma 68

Manipulation 59

Abilities, Riftwalker, Touched By Death.

...What?

Mia dunked her face into the cold water, shook it around for a good few seconds, got all the blood off, decided that wasn't enough to dull the shock. Held her breath for a few moment, then violently yanked her head back up. 

WHAT?! Was I not at like, oh I don't know A HUNDRED THIRTY something strength and dexterity earlier? What in the hell was my stat gain on this class?!

Mia, Persistent Diminutive Shadow Wolf

Level 16

Class skills, Apprentice magic proficiency II, Apprentice willpower II, Low persistence I, Low tracking II, Fledgling stealth II.

Skills, Low shadow proficiency II, Natural born hunter.

Stat gain, +12 strength, +12 dexterity, +21 constitution, +7 wisdom, +6 capacity, +6 intelligence, +3 charisma, +2 manipulation.

Holy crap... I know I already saw this? But looking at it again? That's truly just absolutely nuts. Level cap seems to have increased, I mean it's literally at sixteen where as it capped at ten before so... Also the stats I get per level to begin with skyrocketed on this class advancement... That is a recipe for explosive growth I suppose. Urgghhhh, it hurts me to say this, as I very much do not want to be an overconfident idiot. Buuuuut I think I might be stronger then just about everything else now.

I could already tear through the horde, granted they didn't all come at me at the same time. Now my stats doubled, again. Hopefully I can just kind of... Ignore the next pull? This one was a little easier to resist, so I'm just hoping levels correlate to the ability to go against it. Cause if they do I should be able to ignore it the next time it comes knocking on the proverbial door... 

So... What now? I've got the power to survive just fine on my own, whatever I do I'll be fine as long as I don't go running into the humans town. But... That's also kind of the problem, isn't it? What should I do with myself? I guess I could just... Go live on my own? Distance myself from any source of life, survive all on my lonesome and rely on myself. Set up shop around some abandoned or low population place and live out my days? But...

Mia sat perfectly still within the stream. Just sitting there, doing nothing... Nothing... Thinking nothing... Thinking nothing. Oh for the love of-get out of your own head Mia! You've got what you've wanted! The ability to survive! Nothing's going to impede it now! You're strong enough to deal with any would be attackers with ease, you should be able to ignore the pull until it passes, so what's the issue?! You can just sit and do nothing to your hearts content! You'll survive just fine!

She continued to wage war against her own mind, lying still within the stream.Trying to keep herself from shivering... For... Some reason. But what if surviving isn't what I want? What's the point of anything if there's nothing worth doing? What do I want to survive... For? Don't get yourself wrong, this isn't a want of death Mia. You're not just telling yourself to go charge into battle with reckless abandon. Yet, if you just live for the sake of surviving, that's not really living a life is it? Could I really bare to wall myself off from the world and just do whatever, as long as it meant I'd still be alive? Can you even call that being alive? No. No you can't. That isn't a life and you know it Mia. You'd ONLY be surviving, not living.

The single minded drive that had kept her alive threatened to crumble right beneath her paws, the raw desire to survive that had been fueling all her strength so far cracking at the gaze of contemplation. But what else can I do? What should I do? I can't just live for the sake of surviving, I couldn't bare to carry myself in a flimsy shell like that. In order to survive, I need to live for myself beyond the desire to survive. More then just the desire to not die, I need something to work for. Without that something I might as well just be a husk of my current self. But the question still stands then, what would that something be? What can I live for in this world? Do I even need the answer right now?

She shivered under the weight of her own thoughts, sinking further into the shallow water until her nose was just barely above the surface. I don't think I need an answer to this question yet, but... What I do need, is the understanding that the question needs to be answered eventually, by myself, and only myself. What I will do for myself, must be decided by me and only me. This question has an answer, I don't know it yet, I'll find it eventually, but I'll have to make it myself.

At that moment the desire that had kept Mia alive up until now had begun to change, the raw will to survive that had kept her alive now in the beginning stages of shifting to something else. She didn't realize, nor could she have, the significance of such a change. Especially at the time that she'd had it, yet it would end up being one of the biggest driving factors of her entire new life to come. The thoughts she had to herself at this very moment would be the starting point of the single largest force of her entire existence. 

In a sudden movement, Mia stood from the stream and hopped onto dry land. She shook herself fervently, before blinking once and finding the action a little funny. Was that just me remembering how dogs dried themselves off or is that instinct taking over humanity?... Holy crap Mia, and to think you doubted the validity of shower thoughts before now. You just had a potentially life changing conversation, (held entirely with yourself don't forget that little nugget of information) while taking a bath. Shower thoughts, crazy.

With a single leap, she cleared the shallow stream and skidded to a halt on the other side of it. Mud getting stuck between her digits. She'd have to deal with it. Though, she was still quite thirsty.

After a quick drink, Mia turned back around and dipped back into the thicker forest. She had her eye on a prime bit of Real Estate. Mia wanted a bit more of a permanent residence while she figured out what exactly she wanted to do with herself, and she was thinking of taking some inspiration from her second nightmare encounter. (With the first time I got pulled in being the first one, then you can probably guess the second.) 

That big bear thing had seemingly claimed part of the forest for itself. If it was strong enough to do it, surely Mia could do something similar? The question remained as to how she'd mark the territory as her own. She doubted monsters here followed similar rules to animals back on her home world so those tactics would be a no go. Eh, I'll figure it out eventually. Now, I'm quite hungry so... Time to get to work.