Chapter 5
Alric looked up at the moon. The night sky was beautiful, stars twinkling and adding a magnificent backdrop to the dazzling diamond of the moon. He didn't know if the celestial objects were magical in this universe. I think there was some connection to the two fancy trees. The night had grown comfortable to Alric over the last few nights.
Alric sighed as his attempt to distract himself fell utterly flat.
*chew…chew*
Troll, bane of elves! Scourge of the under-bridge! Also! Pacifistic herbivore of the forest. I feel like a damn cow!
He had spent nearly every moment of night over the last three nights eating every plant that looked vaguely edible. Surprisingly, he hadn't felt the need to compensate for his diet with meat. Either his strange tithe system had made his digestion magically competent, or his troll biology allowed for far less violent food acquisition than they utilized. The dark forces of the edge lord twisted abominations…grazing on grass.
He had also kept up the workouts over the last six nights and had been rapidly increasing the difficulty. He had long surpassed the sets of a hundred. His boulder lifts also saw vast improvement. He could now throw his starter boulder with some effort. He had moved to a rock nearly one third as large again as his starter. He continued to push himself ruthlessly. The results were astounding. Even without eating anything but plants for the last nights he had grown a few inches taller and gained muscle mass. In just a few days of extreme effort his massive endurance combined with the natural troll physique to grant him unprecedented gains. He had added just a little more bulk. His muscles are now slightly more defined and corded under thick skin.
What he was most pleased with was how defined his abs were becoming. Without the natural pudge Alric had trimmed in his customization, he was shown to have a reasonable core already. After this first wave of gains his body bulged and flexed with muscle. While his gains were noticeable, so were the limitations. The results were slowing down. He had gotten all he could from this frame in a short amount of time. He was seeing rapidly declining increases in strength over the last night. I guess I need to start killing stuff again. Good thing I'm almost done.
Alric smirked to himself in the dark. He had become a strange mix of hulking muscles and predatory grace. He moved far smoother than something his size should. His constant runs and human mind lending far more grace to his body than the bumbling movements his kind were so iconic for. He had become passingly proficient in a sort of natural parkour. He had begun by traversing the many obstacles in the forest while trying to move at speed. He quickly found his long arms and absurd strength aloud him to move in a strange mix between what he imagined to be a ninja's effortlessness and a gorilla's natural traversal. He began to go faster and gain confidence. The massive crashing sound of him smashing bodily into a bolder quickly rebuked him for his naivety. He hadn't been discouraged, however. His new body, if anything, was durable. Basic falls and tumbles would at worse leave a small bruise.
Alric put his newly forged loping leaps into action as he governed ground back to his cave. He had found that practically throwing himself between or over obstacles was an energy intensive ordeal. He could do it and it was awesome, but he was heavy and acted like a mini mountain being thrown. He had blasted through almost every landing spot he tried, and usually the next few poor trees or such beyond it. However, stretching his stride to cover ridiculous length while guiding around or even hauling himself over with his long arms was much more effective.
As he reached his cave, he moved his new "door" out of the entrance. The massive rock was relatively flat and round enough to roll on three sides. Alric had dragged it into place in front of his cave. After clearing a path on the more open side of the cave mouth the rock could half swing half roll out of the way.
The new rolling door was not the only stride towards civilization Alric made. The massive bear pelt was scraped clean and washed as best he could, most of it was thrown down on the cleanest section of the floor where he slept. His massive hands had beaten it after it dried and stiffened. The thick hide had become pliable and much less smelly after washing, drying, and beating it a few times.
Only most of it was serving as his new bedroll, because the rest was serving to guard his now rather immodestly sized modesty. The loincloth wasn't sophisticated, but it did keep his manhood from swinging in the wind as he ran. Can't have the first Elven beauty I meet declaring a blood feud claiming to have fouled their fair eyes with my uncouth behavior. I would need to win them over with my charm and bulging new muscles.
The thought of his new problematic size and general lack of appeal did make his future love life look rather bleak. Forget stealing the heart of an ageless lass I have a face only a mother could love. The sheer difficulty and danger of getting physically intimate was also problematic. Of course this wasn't an issue for female trolls.
Female trolls were undoubtedly entirely capable of reproducing with other trolls and even himself. God! I hope I don't get a troll heroine. Picturing a particularly frightening image of a troll with sagging breasts and flabby limbs, he shuddered. Hmm… Of course there is the trope of a female monster being completely hideous by monster standards but an absolute hottie by human standards! Unlikely though. Besides ELVES!
He settled down onto his makeshift bed. Enjoying the bare trace of comfort.
"Ha"…Bear comfort.
Alric was looking forward to tonight's tithe session. He had been preparing his new paint-job for what felt like ages. Tonight, he should have enough to become completely immune to the wrath of the heavens!
After falling asleep he went to work immediately. Dismissing the messages of "very small" gains to his vitality he found his customizations. With a quick swish of intent, the expected tithe of plant matter flooded into his patchy skin. The last remaining areas, still the standard grey, were overwritten into a deep green. The hue bleeding in to fill the gaps of what had been a truly bizarre gestalt.
I barely look like a cave troll anymore. I look more like an oversized World of Warcraft Orc. Or maybe a more tusky version of the one great smasher the Hulk. Didn't the dark magic of the Fell turn Orcs green? This is kind of the opposite. Dark magic made me, or did it? Was his transmigration an exception to the origins of trolls? The light still affected me so maybe not.
Looking at the progress he had made so far, Alric was both happy and frustrated. He was thrilled at how much he had changed from the hideous beast he was initially. That said he knew he was far from the pinnacle of power in this world. He was growing stronger, but if he ran into the wrong fight too soon, he could lose very badly. He wanted to be faster. He knew it was ridiculously greedy to be unsatisfied with his explosive growth.
He had the means to grow in nearly any way he wished with nearly no power cap as far as he could find. He just needed time. Time was something he should have lots of. Trolls can live over two centuries. Unfortunately, for Alric's hopes of slow cultivation of power he knew his rise would soon be contested.
He had found footprints. He wasn't a tracker but needed very little help with placing these prints. He easily identified the many large footprints as trolls. He was not alone in these woods. In fact the numerous tracks suggested he would inevitably meet his kin sooner or later. The fact that the prints were slightly larger than his still young feet could produce was of no comfort.
With the mental equivalent of a resigned sigh Alric finalized the changes. He was surprised when his attention was pulled to a small nearly clear whisp of energy he hadn't noticed before. The whisp swirled. With a quick thought he brough the dismissed notifications back. He quickly found the discrepancy the last screen didn't mention random plant material.
"You have consumed Three Poisonous Mushrooms. You have gained very slightly increased vitality."
The nearly invisible energy didn't give Alric the feeling of health and natural abundance the green energy had. Is that because they are poisonous? Good thing my cheat allows me to avoid the effects of poison.
He was in a dilemma. Becoming poisonous sounded great on paper but was leaving him stumped. The poison would be weak. It would be ridiculously weak to start. Of course he could strengthen it later. That left him with just one problem where to add the toxin. Not his bite as he just wasn't feeling the whole bite your enemy in the middle of a brawl. Bringing his face in close just felt like asking to get socked in the kisser.
His claws? His thick fingers had thick barely pointed nails that while strong, weren't sharp enough to be viable as weapons. He wasn't sure he wanted to have claws either. They might look cool but would also be in the way a lot of the time. He could cut himself by making a fist or holding a weapon. Maybe he could give himself retractable claws? That would be cool but it would take time.
Alric hemmed and hawed for awhile in his head before an idea stuck him. Nothing said he had to use the energy immediately! He had used every tithe as soon as he got it so far without a second thought. What would happen if he left without using it. Could he use it later? Deciding this was a good time to find out he willed himself out of his customization without using the clear essence.
He would find out what else his system could do next time for now he needed sleep and the blessed new skin to come forth. The proper color for a troll: Green. The best color, a color of the strong with much legacy behind it.