Chapter 17: Beast Trait Manifestation
[STATUS WINDOW]
Na: Bahamut
Age: 17
Race: Half Beast (???)
Class: Tier 1 (Circle of Body)/ ???
Rank: Mortal
Titles: Psychopath, Ruthless Killer, Unknown, The BEAST, Fox Bane
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HP: 05 / 130
MP: 00 / 40
Level: 3
EXP: 50 / 100
─
Attributes:
Strength: 20
Speed: 22
Agility: 22
Endurance: 18
Perception: 34
Willpower: 26
Luck: 1.5
─
Skills:
?? Pain Resistance (Lv. 2)
?? Super Reflexes (Lv. 2)
?? Super Senses (Lv. 2)
?? Regeneration (Lv. 3)
?? Death Intent (Passive – Locked)
?? Beast Trait Manifestation (Lv. 1)
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Special Traits:
?? Fragnted Soul (Effect Unknown)
?? Past Lives mory (Dormant)
?? Madness Bloom (Dormant)
─
Followers:
?? Ren (Chaos Bunny)
PATH OF THE BEAST
B - Brutality of the BEAST
...
Bahamut woke to the stench of blood and iron, thick and clinging in the back of his throat. His eyes cracked open, greeted not by dawn’s warmth but by a faint glow hovering in the air; a translucent screen, cold and rciless in its clarity.
He groaned, dragging his still-tired body toward the sound of running water. Each step was heavy, his muscles screaming from overexertion even though the wounds themselves had long since knit shut. The fight had healed his body, but it had drained his spirit. His clothes had been torn to shreds, leaving him bare, little more than a vagabond cast into a strange world.
He collapsed into the stream with a final push, the cold water biting against his skin, pulling a shaky sigh from his lips. For the first ti since the crimson fox fell, his mind cleared enough to focus on the glowing screen.
His gaze drifted through the information, eyes narrowing when he reached the skill section. A new line pulsed faintly as though daring him to read it.
"...Beast trait manifestation?" he muttered.
The system answered imdiately, its voice echoing in his head like an impartial judge:
[Skill Unlocked – Beast Trait Manifestation]
Description: Host can manifest a physical trait of any beast previously slain.
Manifestation limited to a single trait (ex, claws, tail, fangs, horns, wings, etc.)
Trait mimics beast’s original strength and durability, scaled to host’s current Tier.
Duration: 3 minutes
Cooldown: 1 hour
Side Effect: Prolonged use increases Beast Will contamination. ( Sanity Risk)
Bahamut’s eyebrow twitched upward as the words scrolled before him. Manifesting parts of slain beasts? His lips curled into sothing between a grin and a grimace.
"Borrowing strength from the dead... fitting," he muttered, dunking his head beneath the icy stream. When he resurfaced, water trailed down his darkened skin, dripping into the scars still etched across his chest.
But the warning at the end clung to him. Sanity Risk. He clenched his fists beneath the water, rembering the mont his eyes had turned red, the mont Ren’s aura had been tainted by his loss of control.
"...So this is the price, huh?"
The screen faded, leaving only his reflection rippling in the stream, red beastlike eyes staring back before fading once more to the grey, blind ones he now bore.
"System?" Bahamut’s voice was low, almost casual, but there was a razor beneath it.
[I’m all ears, Host.]
"What is a Chaos Bunny? Ren is... a Chaos Bunny."
The reply ca with the sa unflinching neutrality as always:
[Replying Host...]
[A Chaos Bunny is a beast aligned to both order and the powers of chaos. However, the one you encountered is the first of its kind. Its mutation occurred after Ren assimilated with it. Additional factors remain under analysis. More information will be available in due ti.]
Bahamut tilted his head, brows furrowing. "So you an Ren’s soul... mutated the bunny? And now, Ren is the bunny?"
[Exactly.]
[Because of Ren, the body of the bunny evolved to accept his soul... a soul that carries a trace of chaos. That mutation forced the creature into an entirely new category. Were it another vessel, it too would have beco a beast of chaos.]
A slow grin stretched across Bahamut’s face, chilling in its sharpness. He leaned back against the smooth stone by the stream, water dripping down his scarred fra.
"I see... if Ren had survived in his old body, he would have awakened as a being of chaos. Interesting."
The mory of inhabiting Ren’s form still lingered, the chains of pain, the humiliation that had been forced upon him. Bahamut’s grin thinned into sothing darker.
Even his blindness wasn’t natural, but an artificial work, and the culprits were in the Shadow Fang Sect.
"We will take our revenge before we leave this region. I swear it!" Bahamut swore under his breath, his eyes turning beastlike and red before fading to their blind grey.
...
Bahamut stepped out of the stream, water streaming down his scarred fra in rivulets. His body, once frail and skeletal, had begun to change. Muscle lined his arms and chest now, lean but unmistakably defined, a fighter’s body, carved by battle and fed on the flesh of beasts. Each scar stitched across his skin was a reminder of survival, each mark another step away from weakness.
His blind eyes turned toward the massive carcass of the crimson fox. The beast’s crimson fur shimred faintly even in death, its body still radiating the aura of a Tier 2 predator.
"Let’s try out this manifestation thing..." he muttered, recalling the skill he’d just seen displayed on the screen.
He focused, willing the claws of the fox to form at the ends of his fingers, but nothing happened. His hands remained bare, trembling slightly with strain.
[System Intervention...]
A cool voice filled his head.
[Host is inexperienced. Directing energy flow.]
[Concentrate on the fox’s essence within your core. Picture the claws, not as borrowed, but as your own.]
Bahamut exhaled slowly. His fingers twitched, and then...
SHKRRRIP.
Dark, curved claws burst from his fingertips, crimson veins tracing up his forearms like molten lines. They glead faintly, mirroring the fox’s own weapons.
He flexed his hand, the claws clinking together with a tallic scrape. A grin tugged at his lips.
"Better."
Turning back to the carcass, he knelt and dragged the claws across its hide. The sound of tearing flesh and rending fur filled the clearing. The fox’s once-impenetrable hide parted under his strikes like fabric before a blade. Blood oozed from the seams, steaming slightly in the cold air.
[Efficiency increased by 72%. Continue skinning for optimal material recovery.]
Bahamut snorted. "You really are treating
like so apprentice butcher, huh?"
Still, he worked thodically, peeling away strips of crimson hide under the system’s guidance. The claws moved with unnatural precision, each cut cleaner than the last as if the system itself was tugging at his hands.
Minutes passed before a large section of the pelt was finally freed, slick with blood but intact. Bahamut held it up with a satisfied grin.
"Not bad. Not bad at all."
The claws dissolved back into nothing, leaving only his scarred, bare hands.
[Beast Trait Manifestation: Progress
1%.]
Bahamut’s grin deepened. He was beginning to feel it, the beast, the brutality, the power that was slowly becoming his own.
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