Orc Lord

I decided to end the hunting here today. We’ve been out for several hours, and (formerly ) used up a good amount of my magic power. I'd rather not drop below half at any given moment, in case something unexpected happens.

It only takes an hour to walk back, since we’re no longer carefully searching. It looks like village life has continued smoothly in my absence.

It's entirely up to me to decide what gets done with the stag. I'm going to eat the meat for dinner, but I think I'll give the pelt to mom. As the chieftain’s mother, she should have something to wear. Also, I feel like the antlers suit her, so I'll make sure she makes them into a hat.

I dress and butcher the prey myself. As long as I activate , I won't make any novice mistakes. My proficiency with the skill is still low, so I can't finish in an instant like momma. It takes about fifteen minutes to properly process all the parts, which is still ridiculously fast.

That's all I can do about it at the moment, since I don't have the intention to learn just yet. It will probably take momma a day to turn the pelt into something wearable.

As I'm dropping off the raw materials to momma, I suddenly hear the voice of the spirits.

[[Skill has not been used since acquiring. Embedding failed. Skill has been removed.]]

That sent a cold shiver down my spine.

I can lose skills…!

I had no idea that was possible. That reminds me, though. I wanted to see if could show me my current skill list. Let's try that first.

There’s nothing like an information screen when I activate . Rather, the knowledge is suddenly so clear in my head that I might as well be reading it off a screen.

I currently have 8 skills: , , , , , , , and . Of these, and give off a wispy feeling, but the rest are stable. really is gone.

Well then, I know what my next task for today is. I have to make sure my skills embed properly. It would be terrible if they disappeared right before I actually needed them.

First is healing, because that's a spell I definitely want to have. Since I already have and , I'm the best person to test it on.

After returning to my hut, like a madwoman, I use my demonic wolf bone mace to crush my left hand. The dull, throbbing pain is more intense than usual, since this can be considered a more serious injury, but it isn't so much that I can't ignore it.

Raising my right hand over my broken one, I gather my intent to heal and focus my magic power. The word bubbles up in my mind like warm water, and slips out between my lips.

“”

A warm white glow spreads out from my right hand, enveloping my broken digits in a texture that somehow leaves a sweet taste in my mouth. Faster than even can manage, my hand is completely healed.

The speed amazes me. It only took about three breaths, although it did use a lot of magic power in that time.

However, right away, I can sense a critical flaw in this magic:

It heals all damage perfectly to the original state.

I've been injured enough times to understand this, but non-lethal damage is my ally. Every time a blade scratches my skin, the skin gets tougher against slashing damage. Every time I break down my muscles through training, they grow back strong enough to handle that level of punishment.

speeds up the body’s usual healing process, so it easily leaves behind callouses and scars. doesn't do this.

I can understand right away, that if I tried to use on my muscles after a training session, they would return to the state they were in before I trained them. It perfectly erases damage without any concern for growing stronger.

But it's not useless. will be my lifeline if I ever sustain a fatal injury or if a bone heals crippled.

Anyway, I check with , and the spell has embedded successfully. Next, I patrol the perimeter to search for frogs. I want to regain my .

Using and , formerly , I find two frogs in just a couple of minutes. Looking at the purple-and-green-spotted prey held between two of my thick fingers, I feel my gag reflex acting up.

I never wanted to eat one of these disgusting things again…

It's a pity, but, well, down the hatch.

It takes a few minutes after swallowing one of the frogs before the spirits call out.

[[Conditions met. Skill acquired.]]

Alright, good. I gave my body another few minutes to settle down before eating the second frog. I focus on activating while I eat it, and it actually tastes much more manageable.

confirms that the skill has embedded.

Later, when the women were setting up a fire to cook my dinner, I stuck my hand in and activated . It's still hot, but it's just barely cool enough to keep from burning me. The women shake their heads at my crazy tendencies, but I'm in a good mood from embedding all of my skills.

Dinner is delicious tonight. Magic beast venison tastes even better than normal venison. I'm tempted to go to sleep right after eating, but embedding reminded me of something.

I hate the cold as much as I hate pain, but I haven't gotten the resistance for it yet.

This is something I need, so I wait outside of my hut when night falls.

As the temperature slowly drops, I focus my efforts on fighting the sensation of cold. It takes much longer than other skills I've gotten, but finally, at around 1 am,

[[Conditions met. Skill gained.]]

I'm tempted to go inside where it's warm and immediately get some sleep, but I know I still have to use the skill to embed it. And then, two notifications ring out back to back.

[[Conditions met. Skill gained.]]

[[Warning. A number of skills have been embedded exceeding the S system. Automatic shock absorption has been disabled. Attempting to seal off new skill… Error, skill sealing has been disabled. Attempting to accommodate new skill within soul shell… Success. Remaining soul capacity is at 99.9%.]]