Chapter 2
Trees crashed and splintered, recently awoken birds abandoned their morning songs to panicked flight as Alric barreled through the forest. The increasing sunlight filtering into the forest felt like a sunburn in real time. I could really use some SPF 10,000 right about now!
Finaly he could see the mouth of the cave he had started this new life in not so long ago. With a burst of speed, he threw his massive ass into the embrace of the soothing darkness. Touchdown! He cheered to himself. As he lay in the mouth of the cave, he could feel the slight burning and faint stiffness that had started to overcome him beginning to fade. He didn't bother with dignity as he crawled deeper on all fours. Well, almost all four as he clutched a wolf to his chest with one arm. He had lost all but this one wolf during his mad dash to escape the wrath of the ball of fire in the sky.
I can't believe how close that was! Rule one of being a troll; Avoid the sunlight. He was surprisingly not very winded by his morning jog. The stamina of a troll was rather high it seemed. That was surprising as while he had large muscles, he had a bit of a pudgy belly. His overall build wasn't screaming Adonis, but more well…Troll. I wonder how this new body would react to some actual workouts. I know I didn't keep in shape much in my last life, but I at least know the basics for some calisthenics. I could try the One Punch Man workout. I've already lost my hair.
*crunch-rip*
Alric ate his last "furred snack" with a slight grumble. He still felt salty about nearly dying on day one to something as ridiculous as a sunrise. I'm really going to need to find a way to fix such a huge weakness. If I recall the weakness to light was a result of the origin of us trolls. Made by the first Dark Lord Morgath…or Morgoth. He made the trolls out of stone as a dark mockery of the Tree Ents. I guess that somehow makes sense here. Yeah, a dark wizard dude can make multiple new species from his dark will and actual rocks! But somehow, left them weak to something as basic as plain old sunshine. Although…come to think of it that doesn't seem to be consistent he remembered several trolls later serving Sauron that didn't turn to stone! How did he pull it off. Those trolls were special: the Olog-hai. They were especially bred stronger and bigger. So, there must be a way around the affliction.
The last bite of meat fully enjoyed, Alric decided he would sleep now and figure out something after the hateful sun went away. Shooting the lovely day breaking outside his cave an envious glance he trundled deeper into the cave. As a proper Troll should Alric wiped his mouth, scratched his still exposed bum, and then promptly went to sleep right there. His new body was nearly as hard as the stone beneath him and was perfectly comfy sleeping on a bed of granite.
The forests animals began to emerge in the Trollshaws; a perfectly normal day began. The many critters near a certain cave smelled the scent of a predator…specifically a Troll. These were the Trollshaws, and the denizens were very familiar with the scent. They also had grown accustomed to their strictly nocturnal habits. But soon a terrible growling roar began to emanate from the depths of the den. The beasts froze or bolted as the rhythmic roar of what must be a truly evil and fierce beast rolled forth constantly.
Completely oblivious to his recently gained reputation among his new neighbors, Alric slept peacefully. His cavernous mouth slightly agape and snoring loud enough to scare a Barrow-wight back to death. He remained completely oblivious to the war-crime levels of noise pollution he was carelessly releasing on his new world.
Deep in his subconscious a force stirred and shifted ever so slightly. Then a note of magic sounded, foreign and flat it wove into The Great Harmony with ease. The note rippled and folded just as any other piece of existence. It was neither the pure good of the Ainur nor the discord Melkor had sown in. And in a cave deep in a forest Alric dreamt. The magic pulled and shifted the dream. Soon Alric saw something that made him very happy. His cheat had arrived. His peaceful sleep shifted with a sound every transmigrator waits for 'Ding'
A blue screen appeared front and center in his consciousness.
"Tithe Of the Devourer."
Sweet! That sounds awesome. Devouring skills are all OP.
A new screen drifted into his awareness.
"Learn from the life consumed. Each time the Devourer eats a piece of The Great Harmony they extract their due. To the victor the spoils, and to the devourer his tenth."
…So what I have to eat ten of something to get anything? No it said tithe a tenth, so I get a tenth of something from every living thing I eat? Or does it even need to be alive? It says a piece of The great Harmony and that is literally all of physical existence more or less. Maybe even magic or even especially magic.
"'Ding!' First time reward! Would you like to accept? Yes or No?"
Yes! Of course.
"First time reward accepted. You received one free cosmetic customization"
So it's character creation. Seems a little late for that…But better late than never.
The screens faded and were replaced with a perfect replication of his new form.
Huh, neat. How do I…
Alric trailed off, Just as he had the thought the avatar turned and rotated every way he could imagine allowing him instant and direct control.
Neat. I got a free customization.
With a thought the rather crude face refined. It wasn't truly a human face or charismatic, but it was much closer to his previous face. It remained slightly brutish and bald…it wasn't winning any beauty pageants, but it could be charitably called rugged instead of hideous.
I wonder how far I can push this.
The face wouldn't be getting any better but other areas were still fair game. Alric set to work seeing just how far his customizations could go. He attempted adding limbs and was instantly denied. The next thing he fixed was the slouched hunch of his shoulders gaining a couple inches. He was still slightly hunched with a wide curved back and a slightly forward lean but far less pronounced. This gave him the idea to increase his size as much as he could. He was quickly informed of the limitations of the word "cosmetic". The avatar would snap back to the same size no matter how hard he pictured it swelling into a behemoth. But the hunch already gave me more height, so why…Let me try that.
With a new Idea on how to abuse the free gift for as much power as possible he went to work. Instead of attempting to scale himself up, he lengthened his legs. Surprisingly this worked to a certain extent. For an extra six inches or so the legs gained girth as well as length staying optimally sized for the new length but the harder, he pushed the longer and thinner they became. They no longer gained any mass only stretching. Alric quickly settled back on a moderate increase to the length of his legs. The last thing he did was remove the pot belly. He knew instinctually that this modification made no difference in performance and that fat was even slightly helpful to his defense. Still, humans were vain creatures, and while Alric wasn't human anymore, he retained his human sensibilities to a large degree.
Alric's new form swiveled before him in the dark void of his dream. It stood nearly a foot taller and looked almost like a sculptor carved a discount store version of the Hulk from dark grey stone. His fat was gone revealing the muscles beneath and while he wasn't quite bulging with muscles considering his large frame he remained solidly built.
Its perfect…well almost.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to get any hair. Such a thing seemed to be well within the bounds of a cosmetic alteration in Alric's opinion but the empty void of his dreamscape seemed to disagree.
Oh well.
A quick surge of confirmation in his thoughts had the selections solidified.
"Changes saved."
"You have consumed six Forest Wolves. You have gained slightly increased speed. You have gained slightly increased perception. You have gained very slightly increased strength. Additional Tithe is available for integration. You have consumed Miscellaneous Plants. You have gained very slightly increased vitality. Additional Tithe is available for integration. Would you like to integrate?"
Nice It doesn't seem to show me but I seem to get a portion of the strengths of what I eat. I wonder how small a "slight improvement is"?
After the message he was returned to customization. Oddly his avatar wasn't alone this time. He saw two small floating balls of… something next to his avatar. One was a light grey and gave off the feeling of a predator. This one was larger and instantly made Alric think of the wolves. The second was a tiny wisp of a calm green that he easily connected to the message on the plants he consumed.
Alric had some instinct granted to him on what these were and what he could use them for. The rest he would need to deduce with practice and common sense. This was the additional Tithe that was mentioned. He could integrate it and gain features and even morphology of the creatures it came from. He started with the larger orb of energy. He willed it to integrate. It quickly merged into the avatar's chest.
Yikes…It looks like it tried to turn me into a werewolf but didn't have nearly enough oomph.
The Avatar had changed but the changes were slight, underdeveloped, and patchy. He quickly recalled the orb of wolf essence returning his avatar to his new standard. He then attempted to will the integration to be more specific. He didn't need fur all over his body. I don't need fur, but.
A quick mental order used up nearly two thirds of the available wolf orb to add a head of short black colored fur to his head. A little more energy spent and a matching short beard was added. Nice! Hair: get.
He pondered for only a moment before willing the last scraps of the energy into his crooked teeth and tusks. The tusks evened out and his teeth grew slightly more uniform, if also slightly sharper. That done, His attention fastened on the inconspicuous little green wisp of energy. If he could do what he was thinking, this might very well be the most important step thus far.