The Lupine System

System

'Take a breath!' He yelled at himself inwardly as he felt his heart start to race once more from his excitement. He took a glance at his ferocity and saw that it had gone from 7% to 11% at an uncomfortable rate.

'This emotion thing is going to be an issue.' He rubbed his face with his hands as he once again got his breathing under control and looked at things from a logical point of view. Thankfully, after years of traversing this moon in search of scraps with hope tending to be bleak, he'd learned how not to get overly excited about something.

Granted, having an ability that would make him sought after to either be killed or recruited by Humans and Lizardmen alike was quite a bit more exciting than finding scrap good enough to sell for a couple hundred credits.

'But it's not so simple.' He thought after calming down once more.

He read over the restrictions and found that the ability wasn't as flawless as he'd originally thought.

The first and biggest obstacle when it came to using it was that the ability he wanted to steal needed its user to be dead. It went without saying that killing people, especially those who had abilities, wasn't a simple task. Other than the obvious fact that people with abilities tended not to enjoy getting killed, there were also strict regulations in place that prevented them from being killed, protecting them from normal humans and other ability users alike.

Each ability user was also recorded in a long but frequently monitored list, with there being at least a semi-detailed entry on their ability and how it worked. So if an ability user died one day and another one suddenly started to show traits of a similar ability, especially when they didn't possess it before, more than a few eyebrows would be raised.

Then, there was the issue of compatibility. Mike didn't know how that worked. He didn't know what abilities had a higher compatibility than others, and he certainly couldn't go on a killing spree to see what abilities fit him better.

'Hm. It's a lot harder to use I suppose.' He thought, feeling an odd sense of relief at that. However, he now wondered...

'What the hell is my ability? I thought it was the whole Lupine stuff, but then I see that I have that Primal Surge ability, and now I learn I can steal other abilities, restrictions aside.' He fell on his back and watched the mayhem occurring in the sky above. He knew he should probably feel more angry or terrified, knowing that he currently sat on a Moon that could face orbital bombardment at any point and kill him, but there was a grim acceptance in his heart, like he knew that no matter what he didn't, he wouldn't be able to change the situation, so if he died, he died. I'd not, then he could thank his lucky stars.

His gaze shifted to the holographic screen and he mused aloud.

"What are you?" As soon as he said that, and description appeared in front of him.

[The system is a metaphysical construct bound to the host, you. Its purpose is to keep the host alive as well as ensure the host grows stronger, with the primary goal being to ensure the continuation of the Lupine lineage through the host.] The response was short, but Mike still froze.

'Did it just... respond to me?' He thought with shock. He was already very skeptical about all of this, but he had NEVER heard of an ability talking to its user, let alone explain its purpose.

Mike went from confused to wary in a heartbeat.

"What are you?" He asked again.

[The system is-]

"I mean what are you?! Where did you come from? What do you want?" He pressed.

[The system's purpose is to-]

Mike pinched the bridge of his nose as it gave him the same perfunctory answer.

'Okay, how about this? Where did you come from?' He asked. Everything went silent for a moment before...

[The host cannot learn that information at the current time.]

Mike's eyes narrowed.

'Bullshit. Why not?'

[Such information is irrelevant to the Host as the current time and will do nothing but hinder their growth.] It replied, and Mike snorted.

'Is it that or is it something else? Perhaps that your intentions towards me aren't pure and if I learn what they are, I won't go along with what you want?' He retorted, but the system gave him a surprising response.

[The intent of the system isn't pure, nor is it malicious. As stated prior, its purpose is to ensure your survival, rise in strength, and continuation of the Lupine lineage. All other possible interpretations depend on the Host, but those are its goals.] Mike fell silent at this.

After a moment, he asked.

'If I wanted you to exit my body, would you?'

[Negative. Even if the system wished to comply with such an order, it could not. It has been bound to your body, mind, and soul, and removal, whether forced or voluntary, isn't possible.] Mike chewed the inside of his cheek, then he sighed.

'That's that, then.' He relented. He didn't trust the system one bit, but he recognized that he couldn't get it to leave his body, not at this stage, anyway, and trying to fight it would only be detrimental to him.

'Fine. Can you explain everything to me in regards to this the stats and all of that?' He asked, unable to hold in his curiosity anymore.

[The Host's status is a comprehensive report of his abilities, both physical and supernatural. The main status displays all your physical stats and ferocity, with the skill points section showing the skill points gained after leveling up. The host gains three skill points after each level up and can allocate them to any stat he desires to strengthen further. Each level up increases each stat by three as well. Your leveling up depends on the difficulty associated with accomplishing a task associated with your path.

As for skills, skills are arts learned or obtained from various means. They are different from abilities as skills often stem from actions performed with an ability. The two passive skills you currently possess are traits tied to your nature as a Lupine. Active skills typically require energy to be activated, and they can be leveled up with enough mastery.

Abilities are gained when a being possessing an ability is killed, and the ability is compatible with the host, allowing it to be taken. Compatibility is how well the ability can merge with the body of the host. If the Compatibility rate is lower than 70%, the ability cannot be taken as that will lead to a rejection. As for what determines the Compatibility rate, in the case of the host, your body is that of a Lupine which excels in physical strength, so abilities with high physical augmentations tend to have a higher compatibility rate than, say, an ability that focuses solely on ranged attacks. The number of abilities the host can take depends on their level, with the host gaining another slot after level ten, then another after level 20, then 40, 80, and so on.

As for evolution, the information the system can give you currently is that unlocking it depends on your efforts and nothing else, that is all the information it has at the moment.]

Once it finished its lengthy explanation, Mike was silent for a while as he digested everything he'd heard.

The information was plentiful, that was for sure, and there was a lot more he could do now that he understood what each feature did. However, the evolution part still threw him off.

'Unlocking it depends on my efforts and nothing else, huh? What would that even entail?' He frowned before ultimately throwing it to the back of his mind. It looked like something he would only need to worry about in the future.

If he survived his current situation, that is.

With a sigh, he looked back at his main stats.

STATS

Strength: 21

Agility: 25

Endurance: 19

Vitality: 23

Perception: 18

Ferocity: 8% (Stable)

Allocatable Stat Points: 9

He looked at them as he considered what each stat did.

Strength was self-explanatory, agility probably had to do with speed, and possibly dexterity, endurance most likely meant stamina, or maybe toughness. Probably both. Vitality, he assumed, was his health and most likely how quickly he could regenerate from wounds. Then there was perception, which he guessed was related to his senses.

Seeing the 9 stat points he had available, he considered how he should allocate them.

'I don't think anything is bad, but I should consider my current situation, what situation am I most likely to encounter that would require certain stats?' He asked himself as he looked around.

With the battle going on currently, it didn't exactly take him long to make a decision, especially when he remembered how he'd nearly been blown to bits by that ship cannon.

'If endurance increases my toughness and stamina, and vitality increases my regeneration, then focusing on them should at least ensure that i can survive for a bit longer...' He mused for a bit as he considered how he should allocate the stats.

After a while, he made a choice.

STATS

Strength: 21

Agility: 25

Endurance: 19 --> 24

Vitality: 23 --> 27

Perception: 18

Ferocity: 8% (Stable)

Allocatable Stat Points: 0

As soon as he allocated the points, he had a strange feelings. It was like his body became warm for a moment, but it was gone as soon as it came, making him almost question if it had been real, despite being sure that it was.

He stared at his hands and mused.

'So what? I'm harder to kill now?' He mused.

His logic behind the stat allocation was pretty simple. Make himself tougher and increased his regeneration speed. But he'd assigned 5 points to endurance, as while vitality and regeneration were good, there won't be much to regenerate if your head gets blown off. So it's better to be able to resist your head getting blown off before healing whatever damage remains.

He sighed.

"Well, now what?" He mumbled.

Should he go back to the settlement?

His gaze shifted in that direction, and with his increased perception, he could easily see how the place was... sort of on fire.

'Big Joe...' His lips trembled for a moment, then he killed his thoughts. He couldn't allow himself to be too emotional.

Once more, he slowly filtered in his thoughts, but he was interrupted as a sound caught his attention.

He froze before getting up and looking around before he spotted a large ship which looked like itbwas being escorted by several smaller ships suddenly breach the atmosphere and start moving in his direction.

He panicked for a moment and turned around to run, something he quickly realized was pointless as the ships were far faster than him.

He stopped as the big ship landed in front of him. His eyes darted around as he considered what to do, but the hatch at the back opened, and to his relief, a couple of human soldiers came out and motioned for him to go over urgently.

He didn't think twice as he ran over, not noticing that he moved far faster than he'd ever moved before, nor did he seem to remember his lack of clothes.

Once he reached the soldiers, they quickly threw a blanket over him and ushered him into the the ship where he saw several other people huddled together. Survivors.

'They must be going around and evacuating as many people as possible.' He thought with some relief as he found a corner to sit, covering himself with the blanket as much as possible.

The ship quickly took off once more and headed straight for the atmosphere.