TJ stopped using Divine Transformation and resumed his normal human form. He realized that he didn't know if he looked any different as a Semi-Divine Human and asked Natalie, the Acolyte that had always been one of the hunters, if he'd changed.
"Not a lot." She responded, looking into his face. "Maybe you're a hair better looking? Slightly stronger jaw, maybe clearer skin? I haven't paid a whole lot of attention, if I'm honest. Your hair might be a little darker?"
TJ shrugged. "My Divine Transformation looks a lot different now, and I haven't looked in a mirror, so I was curious."
"Eh. I've got my compact in my pocket, so you can take a look."
When TJ looked at Natalie a little confused, she shrugged. "A mirror's useful to look around a tree if you're pinned down. Never been in that position myself, but I figured it could be useful if I needed it. You want the thing or not?"
TJ chuckled and raised his hands in surrender. "You're right. I'll take what you have to offer." He caught the tossed compact and opened it to look at his face. For the most part, Natalie was correct, there wasn't too much that had changed about him. His hair was a nearly-black brown before, but was now truly black while his jaw was more defined. That might be because of the pounds he'd shed over the past two weeks, but it also seemed to be slightly different beyond his neck losing some fat. The thing that Natalie totally missed, though, was the change to his eyes.
His eyes had been a little narrower before, but as they'd opened more, his irises were more obvious, and they'd changed from a dark brown to hazel. Most people who didn't spend a lot of time looking at his eyes wouldn't have noticed, but he could see the faintest ring of blue around his pupils now, the center of his eyes calling for attention. As he thought about it, though, TJ wasn't sure if this came from his evolution or from his Divine Authority, or anything else.
Altogether, though, TJ hadn't changed nearly as much as he'd somewhat expected. He didn't mind, though, and passed the compact back to the younger woman.
"Thanks."
"Sure. Anything change?"
"Eh, not really. Don't mind, I still want Junior to recognize me."
"Fair enough." Natalie nodded. "We ready to go?"
"I think so, Molly probably knows better because I'm giving her a chance to lead, to do something on her own."
Natalie met TJ's eyes, her gaze uncomfortably firm. After appraising him for a minute, she asked, "You trying to do something with her?"
TJ wasn't so thickheaded as to misunderstand what she was asking and didn't begrudge her the question.
"No. She's a child. My late wife taught high school, and when I saw kids like those she loved and cared about here in the Tutorial, I just kinda adopted them in my mind. They're at a time in life where everything was already changing tons, and having the apocalypse come along and keep them from dealing with what should have been regular life is shitty. That their parents aren't in here either is even more painful, and I just feel for them. I figure I should try to keep them as safe as possible until this is all over. I'd want an adult to look out for my kid if he was in this, so I figure I'll keep the kids safe and occupied."
Natalie continued watching TJ. Then, she slowly nodded. "Seems like you're telling the truth. I'm glad. A couple of the hunters weren't quite to the level of going for the young ones, but they were wanting to trade 'favors' for protection."
TJ's blood boiled. He gritted his teeth, then, after a time, pushed the thought from his head. "So long as they leave the children alone, I don't wanna hear it. It's a new world, and if someone wants to sell their body for levels, I'm not going to stand in their way."
"You might be right, but it's pretty fuckin' gross." Natalie sighed. "It's get levels or die, and you're gonna demand sex to help someone live?"
"Not a whole lot different to doing it for money if you ask me." TJ replied. "But I'm not in charge and I don't want to be. So long as kids are safe, the adults can do what they want, for now at least."
"I only heard the end of that." Molly interrupted, Tessie by her side. "What's going on?"
"I'm going to make sure you're safe until the end of the Tutorial, that's what." TJ noogied the two teens, both of which dodged out of reach as he did so, Tessie sticking her tongue out at him. "I figured I'd treat you two as practice for when Junior gets all big and annoying. Maybe you should sass me a little before we go out there for extra practice."
Both looked at each other before, in unison, rolling their eyes. TJ chuckled and jokingly shook his fist at the two girls. "Just right. Now, who else is coming with us? I have something to do before we get moving."
—-
With the ten people who were going on the hunt all together, TJ used one of his newest Skills. The mere 75 of each of his resources wasn't much to sacrifice, and after the sacrifice and a minute-long chant in a guttural tongue he didn't know, TJ pulled his Wendigo Blade out and cut into the palm of his left hand. The blood pooled and filled his palm quickly, but he could feel the wound quickly closing, the blood never spilling more than enough to fill his single cupped hand. Everyone looked at each other in a mix of fear and confusion, but TJ walked to Natalie first. She grimaced but didn't move as he dipped his right hand's index finger in his blood and annointed her forehead at her hairline with a long line. Then, two quick dots on the back of both of her hands, and he moved on to the next. Granny Penny, when it was her turn, sighed and grumbled something about kids and their wacky ideas.
With supernatural ease, TJ finished painting the finale of the Ritualistic Transfer on each person in the party. As soon as it was complete, he could get a general sense of every other participants' current state. They were all near full, and he could feel that the ritual would allow him to continue to move resources around for the next two hours if they stayed here. Once they started to move, it'd cut down to merely thirty minutes, but that was manageable.
"Alright, everyone." TJ explained. "For the next 30 minutes, I can transfer my Stamina, or someone else's to your HP. That'll allow me to heal you if necessary. I won't unless there's serious danger, because I want to make sure everyone gets experience while we've got this bonus going on. Any questions?"
Though they looked back and forth, nobody asked anything, so TJ nodded. "Then let's get hunting. Who's leading the way?"
Natalie set out, and TJ gestured for everyone else to follow suit. He thought to activate Divine Transformation, but more and more, as he had become a foot-thick snake that was as long as an entire semi truck and trailer, he realized that slithering around in the forest was just not what his transformed body was made for. Maybe in a jungle instead of this mountainous forest, he'd do well, but more and more, he was feeling the need to learn how to leap or even fly like the coatl in his vision of other Storm using Participants. For now, he would stay as a human, and transform as necessary.
It wasn't long before Natalie called back, "Seeing some signs of something passing by. Seems like a wendigo and its worshippers. Something else I'm unfamiliar with but like the coyotes."
The hunters looked back and forth, and TJ nodded. "No reason not to. Sounds like there aren't any Elites that are allowed to get to Copper tier and stay in here, so we should be able to take care of ourselves. Chances are, it's one of the ones the other one made, so it might not be too high level."
"Sounds good." Molly said with a grin, dropping to all fours as a Lightning Dog. As soon as she did, the "things like coyotes" burst through the brush.
"These are wolves!" someone shouted as the pack of wolf-wendigo things rushed to shred into the party of people. They looked as if someone had grafted a wendigo's skull onto a wolf the size of a doberman, and TJ figured at that moment that he could guess where all the coyotes had gone. He activated Divine Transformation as he Appraised the new monsters.
Wendigo-bred Coyote, 17
The coyotes left fog in their wake, and the six of them lunged at the party's unprepared Zealots as they rushed to put themselves on the front line. TJ smashed broadside into one and pushed it into two more. His jaws ripped and tore into desiccated flesh while the coyote abominations whimpered in pain. He didn't slow, throwing the shredded and mostly dead one to the side while crushing two more in his coils. Even so, he had more length to work with and he interposed himself between the other coyotes and the back line of Participants.
Above you. Whispered the winds, and TJ listened without looking. A massive umbrella of wind burst into existence above him and the backline, throwing the volley of spears from pukwudgies above wide. Several met his scales and clattered off to the side.
"I knew you were good for something." Laughed Granny Penny as she picked a fist sized rock up off the ground and pelted one of the coyotes in the eye with it. She ducked back behind a shield after doing that, though no pukwudgies' attacks were anywhere near. TJ scoffed and refocused himself on the battlefield.
The winds followed his every thought more than he'd believed possible, and TJ changed his focus from slaughtering as many of the monsters as possible to keeping everyone safe. He tried to ignore the coyotes trapped in his coils' bites, but although they couldn't manage to break through his scales' innate Toughness, they were annoying and their innate cold was threatening to affect him. With a quick flex, TJ killed both by snapping their spines.
Looking around, the other three coyotes were being held off by the Zealots, but their master approached with his claws at the ready. Appraising it, TJ saw that this wendigo wasn't frighteningly high level, currently 14. Maybe it was one of the newer ones, but that wasn't his concern now. Instead, TJ watched as the wendigo coated both hands in black ice and struck out at one of the Zealots on the front line, a middle-aged man whose name he couldn't remember.
TJ tried to call out to him in time, but the wendigo's claws carved through his mundane shield without any issue. His Holy Vestment armor held under its initial attack, but his arm was mostly shredded by that first blow. The creature went to finish the kill, but TJ flooded the Zealot's HP with 1,000 of his own Stamina. While he darted forward, TJ watched the man's arm knit back together as he screamed in fear and defiance and smashed his metal club into the wendigo's face. The steel scraped off the Elite's bony face and it slashed two more times before TJ could arrive. Between the wendigo-bred coyote and the wendigo itself, the man sustained multiple life-threatening injuries, but then TJ arrived and activated Divine Manifestation on Wind Manipulation.
Immediately, the skies screamed his rage. The wendigo turned to run, leaving its cultists and coyotes behind, but over half of each were already dead and TJ had arrived. With the Storm emboldening his attack, the Storm-Calling Neophyte called a storm to smite the cowardly wendigo. A pillar of wind smashed it to the ground. As soon as it lay prostrate, four blades of wind amputated each limb and the Elite monster was nothing more than a whimpering torso. He left the crippled monster as he turned to ensure all the rest of the monsters were slain as well. Though he was far and away the strongest in the party, the rest had survived this far by their dedication and strength. No pukwudgies, invisible in the trees, had escaped, and the coyotes were all culled.
Then, seeing that nobody was still hurt badly enough to need his interruption, TJ deactivated Divine Transformation as he smiled widely.
Class: Storm-Calling Neophyte (Copper (I)) has advanced to level 20.
Attribute points allocated: Strength +7, Agility +6, Endurance +13, Vitality +13, Toughness +11, Wisdom +7, Intelligence +11, Perception +7, Willpower +11, Fixation +13, Free Points +10. New Skill selection available.
There were five options, but there was only one that he considered as he turned back to the hunters. After all, it was only 10 AM, and there were plenty of monsters to kill.