Chapter 6: Tools for Fighting
"Wow, that was super trippy!"
Riva commented while she lay on her back and enjoyed gazing at the beautiful night sky.
Well, not quite, she mostly enjoyed the view of her life energy count: 36!
Her hungry self had hunted four more animals before the part of her mind that was supposed to be in control awoke from its frozen state.
A window greeted it.
[Acquired Skill: Predator Aura]
[Description: Anyone who lays their eyes on the user of the skill will have to resist its menacing fear-inducing effect that depends on the number of targets that have been killed in the last 10 minutes and witnessed by the viewer. If they fail to resist, they will be put into a helpless trance-like state of horror.]
"Hahahaha!" Riva burst into laughter after she read through the skill's details.
"I'm so scary, I even frighten myself!"
She had looked at her outside self and carefully extended the ripple towards it, testing her mental state. She remained hungry but had calmed down a lot.
Thus her 'control self' carefully aligned her waves to the wavelength of her other self and transmitted the request to merge back into one. Her 'instinctual self' agreed, It too longed to be whole once more.
As such, Riva managed to rejoin the parts that had been ripped into two before. She was whole once more returning her to one single consciousness. What remained was a weird feeling as if she was sewn together from two pieces of different fabric.
"The side effects of 'Self Control' are no joke! This could have gone very wrong. It almost did!"
"If I want to stay as one single consciousness in this body, I will have to avoid letting my mind run free and not let it become obsessed with extremes."
"This strange state can multiply my fighting prowess severalfold… I should treat it as a resource when I need to take desperate measures, a last resort with severe side effects. But hey, side effects beat dying, err… eternal sleep any day!"
She then looked at the other new skill that popped up following her rampage.
[Devourer of Life]
[Description: This is the advanced and tiered form of the racial ability of the life-consuming races to perceive and actively consume life energy. The skill user can increase their absorption proficiency with every level in this skill. This will broaden the range, way of absorption, and targets that can be absorbed from.]
She had advanced to level 1 proficiency with it and could now use her feet as a medium for absorbing the life energy.
"Pretty random. Why does the first level unlock using my feet? I was unaware that undead preferred eating with their feet."
"Yeah, right, as if I'm going to believe something like that!"
"How would one even use their feet? I want to meet the person that thinks it's more convenient to attack with bare feet than bite the opponent and would never use their hands on top of it."
I think I used a weapon back when I was an adventurer. Hmmm…
Riva couldn't accurately remember how she used to fight before her death. She examined her clothes, or what remained of them.
She had been wearing light armor made from scaled animal hide. It was irreparably torn with a hole through straight through the midsection, where the spear had pierced her body. Underneath she wore a once-elegant set of men's clothes. They would have looked good on a bard. From what she could tell, it looked neither overly expensive nor cheap.
Everything was crusted with her blood. Most of it was purple.
I guess something changed about it? I would have understood if it turned green or black or something, but it's bright purple.
"System, is there something special about my purple blood?"
[Unable to classify 'Special']
Nothing can be special if you have no definition for what's normal. Riva mocked in her thoughts and was about to rephrase her question.
[System suggests learning the 'Taming' skill which is based on user's blood for 20 points of life energy]
'Taming', a skill of unlimited potential and a great addition to any good isekai hero. There are countless stories only based around it. Riva's declared within her thoughts.
Despite her inability to understand what she was thinking, she was sure about the potential and power of the 'Taming' skill. It was a feeling based on her forgotten experiences back when she was alive.
"Tell me more!" She said in anticipation.
[Taming]
[A tiered profession skill. It can only be learned by those with the corresponding potential. Acquiring the skill is equivalent to achieving the profession of 'Tamer', a person that uses contracts to impose their will onto others.
A contract is a type of ritual and depends on the skill user.
Individual Info: The user's ritual is based on and requires their blood.]
"The description is pretty vague. But the skill sounds pretty cool. Even if it's weak at first, it's a tiered skill. I would eventually gain levels and make it stronger in time."
I need to find a way to become stronger, strong enough that I can take my revenge and face the people that will inevitably want me dead.
I was thinking about getting a weapon and a tamed monster is in a way a weapon in and of itself. I could sit back and watch the show or use it as an additional fighting force when I join the fray. Even if the skill turns out to be weak, I want to try it. A pet would also be kind of cool.
Riva immersed herself in the thoughts about the possibilities brought on by a taming skill.
"I have decided, I want to get the taming skill!"
Her energy drained as soon as the words left her mouth. Her hunger flared up but was contained by 'Self Control'. New information entered her mind.
She immediately focused on its comprehension, but not before she set the system window color to black.
She achieved Level 1 in 'Taming' at dawn. The skill and corresponding ritual was a complex concept and Riva needed time internalizing the skill's ritual runes. She would need to use her blood and paint these runes onto her target. After this, her strength and the target's willingness decided her success.
Once tamed, would be able to share stats with the target based on her skill proficiency.
"Time to find my first tamed monster!"
Riva had likely traveled a long distance during her hunting spree. She had no idea where exactly she was. But it didn't matter.
The surrounding forest was a region from which she knew that it was regularly swept by extermination teams from the adventurer guild. They would exterminate all monsters outside of the dungeons. This way, monster attacks could be prevented and cross-species evolution was less likely.
There were no real monsters during Riva's hunt which indicated that the last extermination wasn't that long ago and she was safe for the time being.
She would have to use the time to become strong enough before the next sweep or find a way to return to civilization. A goal she had in mind anyway.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
mingapur
mingapur "The system distracted me before. I didn't find out what weapon I wielded in the past. If I had one before, I must have either lost it or it was stolen before I met the system."
"I also threw away my shoes. Even if it's stupid, it's better that I play every card I have. Maybe I'll suddenly find myself in a situation where I need to use my feet for the absorption skill… I don't think that'll happen. But there's no downside in trying."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone