Tentacle Test
Staring at his stats, Kane debated how he would distribute the four points he had left.
"Maybe something like agility could be useful? Since (Eldritch Brain) helps my processing and understanding speeds, but it relies on my body to keep up. But even if I focus my agility, I can't let my other stats fall too far behind, otherwise my body really won't be able to keep up."
He stared at the plus buttons on the silver screen.
"Then maybe I should distribute it so that majority goes to agility but increase my stamina and strength equally? So my muscles don't take more out of me than I have to give. But by the logic of how much my body can do versus how much it can give, shouldn't I find out what exactly adding strength and agility does?"
The longer he thought about it, the more it made sense to him.
"Then I'll treat using these points as an experiment."
With that he touched the plus on agility.
<Agility: 9>+
As the point was added, Kane felt his leg muscles cramp up and relax over and over again.
*Groan*
He felt a slight warming sensation going through the rest of his body and in his head along with a slight stretching sensation followed by a feeling of loosening.
"Woaaaaaah."
Soon it was over.
"That was... weird. It seems that agility focuses leg muscles for the strengthening, presumably to increase my speed. It also got the rest of my body though... And my head. So maybe it strengthens my nerves and inner ear? Balance, coordination, reflex speed, and flexibility? I'll need to test this all later anyway when I head out."
He sighed.
"Then last on the list, strength."
He tapped the plus.
<Strength: 7>+
Similar to increasing his stamina, the feeling he got was all over his body. As the muscles all over his body felt like it was cramping and relaxing over and over, Kane lay on the bed in pain.
"It'll all be worth it." He muttered to himself through gritted teeth.
Very soon, the pain faded, leaving Kane on the bed, panting and covered in sweat.
"Am I going to have to go through that every single time? It's awful..." He complained.
Suddenly, Kane wondered how he would test the exact effects of the stats.
"Well I need to know exactly what they do before I add more... I can test stamina right now, but for strength and agility I need a special place for it... Same with the tentacles... Maybe I should pay a visit to my good friends, the Ents."
Kane realized that in order to test what exactly he could do, he would need to find a place to go.
"I can't exactly show each and every weird ability of mine. Not even my rapid strength improvements. I think all that needs to be seen from me now is that I have a mental gift."
He thought about how he would highlight his mental gifts in order to shadow his other... oddities.
"Well then, I suppose I'll have to head to the forest tomorrow. But for now... rest..."
With that he closed his eyes for the day.
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*Yawn*
Slowly, Kane's eyes opened.
Laying in the bed, he muttered to himself what he needed to do for the day.
"First things first, I need to check out the coin pouch I got from the bandit leader. Then... breakfast. Next I'll head to the forest and try out the new skill and my attributes. After that I think I can head to the guard station and see if they have any techniques or anything I can start with."
Pushing himself off of the bed, Kane grabbed the second coin pouch that he had gotten off the bandit leader and emptied it.
"One two three four... nine ten eleven... twenty. Twenty silver coins and fifty copper coins... Nice! That helps quite a bit."
*grumble*
He looked at his stomach before putting the coins into his pouch.
"Time for breakfast then."
Kane headed to the front of the inn to get a meal ticket.
"Can I get a meal ticket please?"
Working the front desk at this moment was the old woman.
"Of course, five copper."
"Okay here you g-... Five? Isn't it ten copper?"
The old woman nodded.
"Well the normal price is, yes. But since you went out of your way to help protect the village, we decided to let you get a discount."
"Oh? Well thank you all then." He said as he handed her the coins.
She smiled and handed him a ticket.
"Today for breakfast they have a nice salad with tomato egg and crumbled bacon served with a raspberry vinaigrette."
"Sounds delicious, thank you very much."
And with that, he headed to the dining room and had his meal.
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After the meal, satisfied, Kane headed to the forest.
At the gate was Harry and Rylan who had a few bandages on their bodies.
"Whoa look at you, walking around uninjured. Didn't you take some pretty nasty hits?" Harry whistled.
Kane smiled.
"After all the things I've been through, I'm particularly tough. And through my adventures, my ability to recover from injuries became much stronger."
Harry nodded.
"You must have suffered a lot to be that tough."
"I've suffered in quite a few ways. But it's all worth it since I can stand here now."
"That's a good attitude to have. So where you heading?"
"Going to the forest to see how the I improved from the battle."
Rylan seemed to become interested at that.
"Kane, we should spar when you come back. Lindsey told us about how you wanted to get stronger. I can teach you a bit about using the spear if you spar with me."
Kane tilted his head in a thinking motion. After ten seconds, he looked back at Rylan.
"That sounds like a good idea, but are you sure you aren't too hurt to spar?"
Rylan shook his head.
"The only real hard hit I took was when he swept all of us with the tentacle. Even then I was pretty lucky and got hit before it built up too much momentum."
Kane nodded.
"As long as you're okay, I don't mind a sparring match. I'll be back later."
With that, he waved at Harry and Rylan before walking to the forest.
About fifty five minutes later, he made it to the cave.
"It seems that agility helps more than I thought. Even at walking speed I got here faster than before."
He removed his clothes and coin pouch and placed him beside his rock.
"Well then, what shall I test first? I suppose I should test the easiest thing first."
Walking about twenty feet from a tree, Kane stopped.
"Well then... I suppose the way to do this would be to think of the symbols while saying it?"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"... (TENTACLES)!" His eyes opened as he said the Eldritch Word.
From the ground in front of him, a large tentacle emerged.
"Wow..."
He felt a connection to the tentacle, as if it was a part of him.
"Is this how the bandit leader felt?" He wondered as he controlled the tentacle with his hand.
"It almost feels like I could control it without the movements though..." He stopped moving his arm, but the tentacle kept moving.
"Is it an effect of (Eldritch Brain)? I can process and understand how extra body parts function and how to control them? And feeling a link with artifacts based on eldritch power? It didn't seem like the bandit had the same connection... He had to hold the statue after all, whereas it just merged with me."
Stopping himself from thinking further on the topic, he looked at the tree.
"Then let's see what the combat power is like."
The tentacle leaned towards Kane as if charging an attack. Then Kane made it swing at the tree."
*Crack*
The tree cracked at the center.
"A crack? Interesting. I wonder what happens if an Ent gets split in half."
With this thought in mind, the tentacle wrapped around the tree from the crack, and began to squeeze tightly.
In ten seconds the crack began expanding. In fifteen, the top half of the tree snapped off.
<EXP: 39/1000>
"Hmmm, it takes fifteen seconds to snap a tree that was struck with the tentacle in half. What about one that is in perfect condition."
Making the tentacle wrap around a different tree, it began to squeeze.
Ten seconds. Twenty.
*Crack*
Twenty five. Thirty. Thirty five.
The top of the tree snapped off.
<EXP: 40/1000>
"About thirty five seconds or so for a tree that was crushed from the start... How do I make that stronger? Stats, Eldritch Words, or different skills? I suppose that's a test for later. Next is a test for my attributes... how do I test that? I suppose the most obvious answers would be to test how much I can lift, how fast I can move, and how long I can do both."
He looked for something heavy to try and lift.
"Hm, I suppose the most accessible thing at the moment is the rock I put my things beside."
He walked to the cave and lifted the rock with some effort.
"It isn't as bad as I expected... I really should have tested how hard it was before I added the points." He said as he put it back down.
"Then I suppose next is a test of my movement abilities? I'm sure there are other things to test though. I'll figure those out eventually."
With that, he ran to the river where he originally found the flint.