webnovel

Ace detective. And training.

It's been a couple of weeks since my reincarnation into this new universe. I'm not sure exactly how much time has passed, but there is one thing I am sure of.

It's been slow. After meeting my mother who doesn't seem to have a name not much has happened. Not that I wanna encounter dangers or anything. I'm still an infant after all. Still, I feel like I'm going crazy just laying around not doing anything. The only thing I've done is sit around waiting for Mother, sometimes talking to her or just laying with her. I hope this isn't how all Deathclaws live the majority of their lives. When they're not hunting they're just laying around wasting time away. While laying with Mother isn't all that bad just waiting around in silence when she's gone is driving me nuts.

Though I did find out a few interesting things in the time that has passed since that first day. First, the most intriguing thing.

I have no father.

Apparently, I was just born from my mother one day. She's never laid any eggs before she laid me... What's more, she's apparently never mated with any other Deathclaws. It was because she was very different… Her appearance was unfavorable to other male Deathclaws. Smaller arms, shorter claws, and slower on all fours, What's more, she never laid eggs. So to all other Deathclaw including herself, she was believed to be barren, incapable of producing children. She was seen as defective and never received the chance to have offspring.

Even if she could lay eggs no Deathclaw wants weak hatchlings. Therefore she was driven off. A sort of banishment. She was no longer allowed within her pack and was treated as an outsider. If she were to go back she would be treated as an invader and killed off...

My mother was a bit similar to myself actually in the fact that she was an anomaly. Apparently, her own mother was just a normal Deathclaw and out of nowhere one of her eggs just hatched my mother.

Getting all of this complicated information out of her was very VERY hard. I had to ask it in the most simplistic way possible. I had to make it easy enough for her to comprehend the question even the simplest questions like when were you born were difficult to word in a way she would understand. Or else she would just look at me in confusion. By the way, she was born about 8 to 10 years ago. Don't ask how I found out because I don't know myself.

It seems I was wrong about the whole changing over generations thing. It was just that my mother was born different….. And then I was born even more different.. But that also leaves so many questions. I should not exist. So why do I? My mother just Laid me one day out of the blue. She was never even inseminated.

And if I truly have no father then why do I look so different from my mother? There were a few things we had in common….. But they were like the similarities between a shark and dolphin. Genetic inheritance occurs due to genetic makeup. This makeup is DNA. DNA that is being passed from parents to their offspring. When an animal or any organism for that matter reproduces all the information for Appearances, growth, survival, and reproduction for the next generation is found in the DNA passed down from the parent generation. If I was born from only her I should look exactly like her….. I mean I know I've inherited some of her DNA after all I got my Mind Link trait from her. Actually, I shouldn't even be a male. But I'm sure I am. How do I know?….. My horns are curved forward although they're small and not grown in by much there pointing slightly ahead of me. And I remember hearing that male horns are pointed forwards and female horns are pointed backward. I mean it could just be the Molag Bal type again and I may actually be a female but I choose to believe my own theory. Because I want to.

I decided to liken my appearance to the Molag Bal thing on my Information page.

Another question I had was why was my mother different from a normal Deathclaw? Why was she born different when her brothers and sisters from the same litter were born as your everyday Deathclaws?

'Could she be a reincarnator as well? No, impossible. Her low intelligence(Sorry mother) wouldn't make sense.'

I try and think about it but nothing logical comes to my head. I mean it can't be natural and it definitely can't be some biological experiment. No matter how many people are involved, No matter how much humanity has progressed in this futuristic yet retro world. In the end, a monkey can not give birth to a sheep. Maybe by aliens, But that's very unlikely. So for now I have no choice but to attribute it to whatever god or mystical force brought me here.

The next thing I found strange was the fact that my mother doesn't know English. I didn't even realize it until just recently. I noticed it when my mother told me something but when I tried to remember what she said(thought) later I noticed that her thoughts were just growls and grunts in my mind. When I spoke to her she never really replied in English. No, I did not understand her grunt and growls as some sort of strange Deathclaw language but rather I understood the intent she had behind the sounds she made in her thoughts. It seemed she was the same. Although my thoughts were complicated for her she appeared to grow more and more used to it over time. It seems to be an amazing learning tool. If I were to say 'car'. She would automatically know what it is I'm talking about. Because she has seen cars before. Even if she did not understand what they were. But if I were to say something like 'Ice cream' she would have nothing to compare my intent to therefore all she would hear is human words that she would not be able to understand.

It was an interesting discovery, to say the least. Maybe after she hears my thoughts and intentions long enough eventually, she will be able to speak English.... Actually, she's already "thought" a couple of words in English. Especially when describing certain things… For example, eating. After hearing me say the word eating enough times, she truly remembered what it meant and when I focused on her thoughts and not her intent I could actually hear her speak the word.

Well, that's pretty much everything I've learned over the last few weeks And I honestly don't know what to do now. Can't really leave the cave. Since I'll probably die and all…. Mother is gone. The reason mother leaves the cave is that there are no male Deathclaws to hunt. And if no one hunts we will both die of starvation.

'Hmm, I need to try and figure out another way of passing time. Or I might really end up going insane. If only my skills were at a higher level, Then maybe I wouldn't be afraid of dying.'

The idea of training my skills came to me awhile back. But I've been hesitant to actually try it. My new body was born premature after all. Carelessly pushing it to the limits is to brash. The possibility of causing permanent damage is very real. 

Looking down, I clenched my fist tightly.

'But lately, I've gotten a better feel for this body, and I don't feel particularly weak. The idea of giving it a try has become more sensible.'

'...It's about time...….'

 I've already spent so much time sitting around observing my condition. Testing some ideas shouldn't be too dangerous. If things work out then I can begin improving myself… Well, that's if I truly can level them up through normal conditioning.' 

An intense glint passed through my eyes. The direction I take will greatly change depending on whether or not this works.

'Let's get started.'

Thinking this I stood up and walked toward the edge of my nest.

I got on my stomach and carefully reached my foot down to the ground.

'It's still cold.'

Although it was quite humid, the ground has always been colder than the nest.

'It probably wouldn't affect me if I had proper scales…. But, I have noticed recently that my skin has been thickening. It's most likely my body trying to catch up to the standard baby Deathclaw. I hope it doesn't take too long. I also hope that there isn't any permanent side effects.'

'Let's just focus on the current Experiment.'

Walking, I approached a stone wall near the nest. Of course, not close enough to damage anything.

'Now let's see. Information page.'

A black screen with green letters appeared in front of me. I ignored everything and just looked down at the area labeled skills.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Skills: Scratch[1], Bite[1], Glare[1], Hiss[1],

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I nodded to myself.

'Just how I remembered them.'

'Bite is crossed out. I'm definitely not biting the wall. And also Hiss? I'm not sure how useful it is. Crowd control? It could be another type of intimidation. Perhaps I can stack certain skills and traits together in order to amplify their effects? Well, let's try scratch first.'

Not wasting any time, I raised my arm into the air and brought it crashing down against the stone wall.

*Screech*

I grimaced slightly at the sound. It was similar to two concrete blocks rubbing together… A bit gravelly.

Bringing my hand back, I pulled up my information page again, but nothing was different. Perhaps I'd have to do it a few times or even a couple hundred times.'

With a intrested expression, I continued scratching the walls near mine and Mother's nest.

...…..

...…..

...…..

...…..

...…..

...…..

At least 3 hours, An entire 180 minutes at least was spent scratching a wall. Every time my stamina fell below a certain point I'd have to stop and wait for myself to recuperate. It didn't take too long to go back up as long as it didn't fall too low.

Mother Had long since returned with some food, she looked at me curiously but she didn't interrupt. She also didn't seem to mind the scratching noise I made when hitting the wall. Though eventually my claws really started to hurt. Many small gashes formed on the rock face. I must have slashed it hundreds of times, maybe even over a thousand. But.....

'Sigh…. Information page.'

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Skills: Scratch[1], Bite[1], Glare[1], Hiss[1],

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

'…. I don't think I can train my skills. At least not like this…'

I already realized this over an hour ago…..But I had to make sure…. If I had to guess. I can only level up things like skills through actual combat. Like how in Skyrim, no matter how many times you hit a dummy target with your sword. Your one-handed skill proficiency won't ever increase. You need to defeat proper opponents to get that sweet exp.

'It looks like I can't train myself after all.'

Now I'm a bit dejected. Looks like I'm just going to have to deal with it until I'm large enough to go outside...…. As I felt myself grow depressed a thought flashed through my mind.

'Wait.... If I can't train my skills….. Can I train my body? Like muscle and endurance training that humans from my old world used? That…. sounds like it could actually work… It would take a while to see any actual results, but what do I have if not time? It's reasonable. I might actually be able to improve my strength without leveling up.'

After the thought, I felt like an explosion went off in my head….. 

'If I can grow to my maximum capacity even before leveling up….. Then how strong would I be If I started leveling after that?'

... The answer? Very…. 

Like a Lv1 character with max level character stats, then you add his own level stats on top of that. Not to mention the fact that I would already be very strong and would be able to level up extraordinary quickly... But it would take a long time.... Preferably I should train until I reach maturity. Which could take some time... Probably between 6 - 8 years using my mother's age as a reference.

I held my chin in thought…. Then slowly, a smirk formed.

'I guess it's time to exercise... Well, let's eat first.'

End Of Chapter 4