A fish in the desert

The first thing Maya did once she woke up was to check her stats, the system notifications had been ringing non-stop during the previous night. It was unbelievable that she had finally arrived at the Valtori tribe, a journey that was supposed to take her three days only took her one night thanks to the unforeseen horrors of the forest at night.

[Mission complete +3 stats]

[Mission complete +2 stats]

[Mission complete +2 stats, +2 intelligence]

[Mission complete +4 stats]

 She quickly allocated her stats to speed, strength and defence. After getting some points in charm and intelligence, she didn't feel that they were useful so she ignored them.

[+5 stats has been allocated to strength]

[+3 stats have been allocated to speed]

[+3 stats have been allocated to defense]

Host: Maya Rodriguez

Race: Dragon shifter

Class: Novice shifter

Level: 2

Exp: 110/500

Attributes

Strength: 13

Speed: 15

Defense: 7

Intelligence: 3

Charm: 8

EP: 70/200

HP: 200

Dragon abilities

Partial transformation

Water whip -Rank F

Water spout -Rank F

Regeneration -Rank E

Water shield -Rank F

Slipping water -Rank F

Skills

Combat mastery (LV2)

Enhanced senses (LV2)

Glitch - inspection

Inventory

-Empty-

Maya couldn't help but feel proud when she looked at her soaring stats, although she didn't breakthrough she felt that she was one of the strongest novice shifters alive.

While she was busy admiring her progress, a body suddenly burst through the dune and landed two feet away from her. A trail of water could be seen on the ground but it was quickly covered up by the blowing sand.

"My dune!" A cry of despair came from outside.

"Hand over the female or the next shot is yours!" A high pitched voice said.

Maya walked over to the fallen figure "Muddy,what happened?"

Muddy gasped in pain before saying "Salmon....is here"

'Salmon?'

At that moment, a hopping figure rushed in before grabbing her hand and dragging her outside.

"Lord salmon, l kept this female especially for you" the ederly beastman bowed and attempted to shove Maya forward but she stood firmly and didn't move an inch.

Maya looked up at Salmon and was astounded 'Salmon is a salmon?'

"what business does a fish have in the desert?"

Everyone gasped in shock 'this female is a dead female!' They all thought simultaneously.

Salmon who was being carried in a metal basin looked down at the bold female in displeasure "I should be asking you the same thing, l can smell your reptilian bloodline, your breed belongs to the ocean too. Does it not?"

"I was born and raised on land" Maya answered honestly as she looked at the fat red fish lazily laying in the metal basin full of water.

"Which clan do you belong to?"

"No clan"

Salmon's fish's eyes suddenly looked jubilant as he said proudly "l am the clan leader's second son and my clan is one above all others in the entire ocean"

"So?"

Salmon was astounded, what did she mean so? She should be gravelling at his feet! "Be my female of course! you will be the Gillblade clan leader's female, that should be an honour for an abandoned reptile like you!"

"No thanks" Maya turned around and walked away.

Salmon flew into rage out of embarrasment "Sure females are rare, but do you think you deserve to have such a sense of self importance? You are forgetting i'm the boss here and everything l say goes!"

Salmon jumped 2 meters high out of his metal basin and transformed into a demi-human? He looked more like a humanoid fishman than a merman, his fat body was covered by red scales and he still had his fish head.

"Female! Fight me, if l win you will come back to the ocean to lay eggs for me!" He took advantage of Maya's back facing him, his gills opened up and two streaks of water flew out towards Maya.

Some of the spectators wanted to voice out the unfairness in his actions but no one dared to, not that because Salmon was strong but because he was very useful in their tribe. But a fight against a female? It was obvious who would triump over the other. Starring at the soft and tender looking female, they also wanted to be her partners. Not to mention that females were rare, the beautiful ones were even more rare! They felt unwilling to let the ugly fish take her away but they couldn't do anything about it either.

Maya looked away the moment she saw Salmon's humanoid form, she was already irked with everyone wanting to make her bear children for them. The sight of the naked fish beastman and his words ticked her off the wrong way, when she saw the streaks of water coming her way, she counteracted.

[-5EP]

[-5EP]

Both her palms opened up, two jets of water flew out and met Salmon's attack halfway. The water attacks cancelled each other out but Maya wasn't done, she wanted to show this fish that he couldn't force her to do anything against her will. She never wanted to feel as powerless again as she did when Kai forcefully teleported her to this nightmare world!

While everyone including Salmon was shocked upon witnesing Maya's display of water abilities. A strip of water formed in her hand, she tightened her grip and whipped it in Salmon's direction.

[-10EP]

Salmon was shocked, she has two water abilities! He was unable to react on time, the strip of water mercilessly whipped across his chest and blood splattered as he was sent flying two meters away. If not for his heavy body, perhaps he would have flown away even further.

When Salmon landed, dust rose and silence reigned before the spectators exclaimed and some cheered loudly.

"She has two water abilities?"

"A female won?"

"She must be an apprentice shifter!"

"What a powerful female"

One of the men who had been carrying around Salmon threw away the metal basin and dropped to Maya's feet "female, please be our new master, we are wiling to protect and serve you in exchange for water!"

"That's right, we no longer need to drink the disgusting water from Salmon's gills, since this female can produce it from her hands it won't smell fishy at all."

Everyone's gaze landed on her soft looking palms and they visibly gulped, the water from such tender looking hands ought to be laced with her scent and be delicious right?

"I would still drink it even if it came out of her mouth" one of the infatuated spectators said as he looked at her plump cherry red lips.

Maya abruptly pushed everyone aside and ran towards Salmon, she had finally calmed down her emotions and realized that she shouldn't have used all her strength. She really didn't want to kill a beastman, it felt as wrong as killing a human.

She knelt besides Salmon, his whole chest area was split open and blood was gushing out. Surprisingly he was still alive, when he saw the grim reaper had come to finish him off, he cowered. His previous haughtiness was gone and his eyes were full of fear.

"Please don't kill me, i-if you save my life l promise I will do whatever you wish!"

[Use inspect skill]

Maya was dazed, she didn't recall having thoughts about the system, so...what was happening?

'system, what did you just say?'

[I said you should use your your inspect skill to determine what's wrong with him and what he needs for you to be able to save his life]

'system, didn't you say you can't hear my thoughts if you aren't mentioned? How did you know l was thinking of saving him?'

[I had an upgrade the previous night when you gave me enough beast core energy. Now l can access all your thoughts and give you my opinions on matters you seem troubled about]

Maya was stunned, access to all her thoughts? That would be invasion of privacy!

[I apologies for the inconveniences this might cause, but l am unable to control it]

Maya was disturbed but then calmed down after thinking that it's just a machine.

[I am not a machine, I am a creation of the beast god designed to help beastmen become their strongest in a very short time.]

Maya was once again surprised, 'beast god? is that The Creator? Didn't the system refuse to reveal any information about him before?'

[I malfunctioned during the forceful teleportation of my previous host, l am now a glitched system. The more I upgrade the less likely I will be bound by The Creator's rules]

Maya nodded, this glitch might not be a bad thing at all, she had always been curious about the system's creator.

'i will have to give the system more beast cores in future' thinking of this, she smiled.

Looking at the devilish smile on the grim reaper's face, Salmon felt despair. What else did he expect from the Valtori tribe? beastmen kill each other everyday with a smile on their faces. But he was still unwilling to die!

His shaky hands were hesitant but he still drove them deep into his gills, he made disturbing choking sounds before bringing out a blue glowing crystal covered in mucus. The crystal bore some resemblance to a beast core but it gave off a much stronger energy pulse.

Salmon gritted his teeth before saying "if you save my life, I will give you this water crystal"

[A water Sage beast shifter's crystal with 80 % compatibility with the host has been detected]

[Ding! Optional quest has been activated: absorb the beast crystal]

Rewards:

- instant rank up to all water abilities

- instant level up to level 3

- instant level up to apprentice shifter

+2 stats to all stat points

[Failure: no penalty]