Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Horsing Around

I found another mirror to admire my new changes. This time not a small piece of broken glass that only happens to show my reflection, but an actual mirror. It was cracked in places, missing pieces, but still attached to its frame. I had gotten bigger, much bigger. About as tall as an average person from head to hoof.

Now, I know that my choice of Classes had probably hindered me in some ways, compounding skills are probably those that make use of both of my Classes like Horsekick Gambit. However, I can say that I am fully satisfied with the results of my own actions.

Dark fur streaks down the right side of my body, slight hints red around the edges, bright blue eyes like the finest of jewels, and a golden mane fit for only the most luxurious of shampoo commercials. That alone is eye-catching, a visage that inspires dread and awe. But it is not over, for the other half of my body looks entirely different, a stark contrast that shall not allow anyone to look away.

My left side is clad primarily in bright white hairs, ocean blue and brilliant golds serving as decorations. An eyes that seems to nearly eat away all light, a deep black void with the red spark of destruction in the middle. My mane as well is split right down the middle, beside the righteous golds is the burning hellfire, nearly the color of blood, darker in some places, almost giving the sense of raging inferno when it sways.

The place where good and evil intersects, a being of both demon and angels. An appearance that inspires awe, beauty that threatens to tear apart the mind, if not the soul. It is a result much better than any Skill of a compounding nature.

I look fucking cool.

Moving on from form, I give attention towards function. I step forward, one leg at a time, and then two, eventually transitioning into a gallop. I have yet to spend any stat points, but I can already tell that this body is far stronger, than when it was but a wee baby foul. The added stride length alone more than doubles my speed of running.

I tried casting [Hellish Fireball], imagining its structure, before my instincts immediately kicked in. It was like an additional sense, the flow of magic felt, the mana within coalescing into form as a ball of fire slowly formed in front of my face. I felt its heat, saw its light. A deep red, almost like blood, this time not fake nor an illusion, the light reflected by all the ruined surfaces around.

I yelped. I neighed. And I fell back in panic. The fireball fluttered out of existence and I noticed how tired I was, my breathing hard.

And still I managed to cast magic without my stats. I don't really know how that's relevant, I just felt that maybe I could so I tried.

It is perhaps a good baseline, to truly see how big or small of an effect stat points may have.

Speaking of stat points.

System. Show me my Status. And show me what each and every stat actually does!

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Vitality

Overall Toughness. Stand undeterred against damage, the construct of your being harder to affect and diminish.

Resilience. The ability to sustain, survive, and naturally heal damage to your being. Recover from debuffs and harmful effects even faster.

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Strength

Raw physical power, and the endurance to keep on using it.

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Magic

The Mana left to freely flow through your being, a vital component to the casting of many magicks and skills.

Determines your raw magical power, and the amount of mana you have in order to keep using it.

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Agility

Speed. Dexterity. Perception. Reflexes.

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Intelligence

Control and command over magic, efficiency in using your spells. Improved mental processes, the ability to think in parallel.

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Nice. That actually worked.

The stats do just about what you would expect them to, but it's nice to get confirmation. I wasn't sure where endurance would be, or how magic and intelligence would interact. I didn't quite expect that intelligence would actually make me smarter, though I suspect it's more about processing multiple things at once. Which is great, and I bet that ties into casting multiple magicks at once and other related shit.

Now to find out just how effective the stats are, the fatigue I felt from casting that fireball mostly gone.

I went over to my Status Screen and commanded 1 of my Unassigned Mana to be spent on the Magic stat.

[Hellish Fireball].

I watched as the spell materialized, taking its sweet time still, but noticeably faster than before. Larger too, about half as much.

That single spell nearly drained me of all my energy, again. However, now I'm able to feel a tug in the back of my mind, the Skill far from finished, there are still thing I may be able to do with it.

I felt it then, the coalenscence of th power within myself. A simple command I give to spell, and that is to soar.

The fireball moved, not very quickly, but towards my target. I watched, myself already quite fatigued, all but ready to slump over.

The hellish fireball crashed into stone, the flames breaking upon contact with the random boulder I found. Wisps of ember floated about the piece of rock, still red as blood. It stayed for many seconds, the deep red luster melting into the normal orange glow of fire, before it finally dissipated into the wind.

[Your Level Has Risen to 2!]

The announcement blared in my head, but I was getting used to it. I kind of just assumed that I had to kill shit to level, but is there actually a pacifist route?

Not that I'd take it. I won't bother random people, or whatever sentient races emerged from this, but it'd be a waste to be able to use these powers I have after I'd already gone and get them. Though well, it is a bit scary, these monsters will fight back and I'm still not confident in beating the ones I have seen scurrying around outside.

I took some time to rest again after tiring out my magic muscles, going back towards the hole in the wall. Or well, a hole in the wall. I don't even know if it's still right to call the wayward pieces of rubble left intact as walls.

I was never in the best of terms with my roommates here, and for all I know they could've been splattered. I didn't even care to know if any of them were in the house or not.

Oh well.

My mana continued to replenish itself, a substance that can be turned into very real phenomenon.

In a way, isn't this unlimited free clean energy?

I looked back at the outside. Night had fallen, the sky a dark shade of blue, near black. I could see the moon in the air, the sky devoid of clouds. A giant white crab the size of a car just walked in the middle of the cracked and splintered road, like it was the most normal thing in the world. The monster pushed aside the dented cars and ruined motorcycles.

The pile-up accident was still there, standing in the creature's way. The crab screeched at the chaotic formation of many vehicles, and the large collective mass moved. It lifted up off the ground, by only a tiny bit, before crashing back down.

The crab was not strong enough to do it, and it cried.

It actually cried. A high pitched screech.

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The sight was so ridiculous, I couldn't help but laugh.

I had enough mana by then, and seeing the crab do magic just made me want to do my own so I got back to my experimentations.

This time, I a single point to intelligence. I formed the fireball again, and noticed that I managed to do so faster. I felt that the fireball itself was also a tad stronger, a bit more concentrated. My added extra sixth sense for magic working wonders in giving a more educated guess.

I had the fireball fly towards a nearby wall, and it moved faster than before. It was still lacking in force, very easily dodgeable, but the embers spread out a fair bit more thanks to a slightly stronger impact. It was hard to tell, but I felt that the residual flames lasted just a moment or two longer.

Although wasn't this supposed to stick better to my targets? Hmm...

I experimented more with my newfound abilities after that. I raised my intelligence up to four, and I was able to confirm that my observations previously were mainly correct. The stat did make my fireballs more concentrated, and I was able to invoke the skill with far more ease. Not to mention a sense of clarity in my mind, an increase in my brain's processing power.

Aren't horse brains supposed to be different to a human's? Why do I feel the exact same...

I added some points to the other stats, and saw what they did too.

Strength does what it says, and agility allows me to move faster. I also do indeed feel that I am able to see better, and hear with greater accuracy. Although, I did notice something interesting in regards to agility and intelligence when it comes to my senses and perception. There is a sense, a sensory capability, that is a lot more tied to intelligence, than it is to agility.

It's that new sixth sense I noticed, the ability to just sense magic. It definitely got better as I raised my intelligence.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that not only agility, but strength also has an impact in running speed. Being stronger allows me to leap longer distances, and cover more area with every stride. Agility is still the most important in regards to speed, but it's worth keeping in mind.

That was really hard to test in the cramped spaces of this former apartment-house.

[Your Level Has Risen to 3!]

[Your Level Has Risen to 4!]

I was very apprehensive in testing this next one, but it seems that my own flames can hurt me, although not nearly as much as I thought it would just based on residual heat alone. Its almost akin to a mere warm touch, perhaps someone that has a very bad fever, but nothing that can actually damage me.

I questioned why that was, I felt around the magic. It's almost like the flame is avoiding harming myself, a will of its own, or perhaps is simply my will.

An interesting theory, I immediately put it to the test. I took better hold of my magic, stronger control, and I forced the fireball to target myself.

It certainly worked.

I squeeled like a pig, which is really weird to hear in a horse. My fur burned and it spread as my flesh was cooked by the flames. It didn't dissipate quickly like it did against the wall, and I panicked. But then I remembered the flames were under my control and I was able to put out the fire. Literally.

I also managed to test my healing skill thanks to that incident, and well it does good work. My flesh knit itself back together in front of my very horse eyes, and even the fur regrew. Which is good. I don't want to be an ugly horseling.

[Your Level Has Risen to 5!]

I got yet another level for that, along with more stat points. I used it to test how stats interact with healing, and it seems that focusing on the Intelligence stat is more useful if I wish to be some kind of cleric, rather than on Magic. Otherwise, the process becomes really inefficient and wastes too much mana.

Picturing what my healing is supposed to do also seems to be important for efficiency. And that is a task best aided as well, by Intelligence.

It was midnight by the time I was done. Probably. I wasn't really sure. I tried checking the time by looking for any surviving clocks, but not a single one of them remained functional, most broken and mangled beyond repair.

Overall, I think my first day of the apocalypse went pretty well all things considered. Just one look at the flower shop across the street covered in shattered pieces of ice tells me that I'm doing much better than the rest of the population.

Ah, to be in the top 1%.

I tucked myself to sleep, having found my old bed still intact. My poster of the most overpowered slime battling dragons and gods lay crumpled underneath a fallen shelf.

Just two more volumes, but the author is now probably fucking dead.

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Name: Jackal Dolmer

Level: 5

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(Unassigned MANA: 15)

Vitality: 4

Strength: 5

Magic: 10

Agility: 6

Intelligence: 10

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Class:

[Thy Blessed Pony]

[Hell Baby]

Skills:

[Foal Blessing] (Level 1 / Integration 4%)

[Hellborne] (Level 1 / Integration 5%)

[Hellish Fireball] (Level 1 / Integration 9%)

[Trailblazer] (Level 1 / Integration 2%)

[Blessed Heal] (Level 1 / Integration 5%)

[Longstrider] (Level 1 / Integration 2%)

[Horsekick Gambit] (Level 1 / Integration 2%)

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