The El'traggi forest

I wake slowly, confusion filling my mind. The first thing I notice is everything, but the first I focus on is my vision. I'm having trouble understanding where everything I see is, but I'm pretty sure I'm in a relatively small cave after a few seconds of only seeing grey.

Well, after only seeing grey through three eyes.

The other three are staring at the silver fur of my side, though I can't make out much more than it being silver. My first reaction to not being able to understand what I'm seeing is to move my eyes to look from a different angle, but nothing happens. I don't even feel my eyes trying to move.

So it's not just a visual overlay, they actually managed to give me new eyes. Fun.

But confusing. I seem to be able to see in every direction. From every part of every eye. I can almost see my other eyes, I think, but not quite. They seem to be placed quite efficiently, giving me maximum range of view without excessive overlap.

It's still incredibly confusing to be getting visual input from six different eyes at once, and I can assume that half of the things I'm seeing are being viewed from three angles.

I haven't tried moving any other parts of my body yet, getting lost in my attempts to understand my sight, but even without moving I can feel a clear difference.

I can feel a light pressure from where my tentacle things and tail are presumably resting on the ground, but I have no sense of where on my body they are, I'm just able to feel them.

I know where my four normal limbs are, they don't feel like my arms and legs but they are there. Trying to flex my fingers results in the strange sensation of my paw pads pushing into the ground and no input from my thumb. I then try to raise my head and my vision goes swimming, with some things disappearing from my sight before reappearing elsewhere as if by teleportation, and others seeming to turn and stretch so that I'm looking at three sides at once.

Then there's the way my neck moves, seeming oddly elongated and using my shoulder and back muscles differently from before. I don't pay much attention to it, focusing on tracking different things through my much expanded vision.

I've only been awake for a few seconds at this point, but they have easily been the most interesting seconds of my life. This is weird.

I'm definitely having fun though. The next few minutes are spent making small movements with my neck while trying to make sense of my vision. It's coming along well, I can at least tell which eye is seeing what, but I'm still trying to understand which of the things I'm seeing are in what direction.

That takes me another twenty minutes, but now I have a shaky comprehension of what I'm seeing, and my brain seems to agree as the image has went from blob of colors to proper image. Sort of like those optical illusions where the longer you look the more things seem to change.

I'm looking around slowly, stopping every time my vision changes in a new way as I try to understand what I'm seeing. It appears I am indeed in a cave, perhaps twice as tall as I am while laying on the ground like this, and my current position is in a circular chamber. I could probably walk around the edge of it while not stepping on myself still lying in the center, but just barely. It seems more like a den, but the walls are solid stone so I doubt I could have dug this out myself, especially with how smooth the stone is. It was probably put here by the game as my starting location.

Speaking of the game, how do I- oh.

Mezuku
Race: Taedreno
Level: 1
Title: N/A
Health: 600/600
Energy: N/A
Stamina: 800/800
Defense: 110
Resistance: 140
STATS
Physical:
Str: 120 Agi: 140 Vit: 60 End: 80
Mental:
Int: 100 Wis: 80 Per: 130 Wil: 100

Just think about the status and it appears, I see. Not so hard to believe after they gave me an entirely new body.

I have nothing to compare any of those stats to, so I just close the window for now. I need to get back to learning my body.

The window itself appeared directly before my snout, and I was only able to see it through the very edge of both my front right and front left eyes. I wouldn't have been able to read it if it had appeared just ten minutes sooner.

The exit to this small cavern is a simple tunnel, about the same height as the chamber, and rises in a gentle slope before ending with the view of green foliage, and bright sunlight.

I think I'm set for vision now, at least until I start properly moving, but first I should learn how to move.

I've seen large cats walking on video before, so I use that as a base as I attempt to push myself into a standing position.

The sensation of my paw pads pressing into the ground under my weight alone is enough make me freeze. It's... odd. I have nothing else I can really say about it. It doesn't feel like fingers or my palm, and yet I have no other comparison.

Either way, it's enjoyable. I'm having quite a lot of fun trying to adjust to this new experience. So, continuing to rise past my low crouch, I end up hitting my back against the ceiling lightly after I try to fully extend my legs. And arms...

Uh, fore and hind legs, I think that's what they're called. Then I remember that those large cats never had straightened limbs in the videos, so I stop pushing my legs down as far as possible, lowering myself into a position that feels... natural. And now I'm a few inches below the ceiling, so that's a plus.

I lower myself back down into a crouch, then back up to stand, to get a feel for it, before realizing that both my tail and the four tentacles are hanging limply.

The tentacles sort of look like dreadlocks with how they're draped over either side of my neck, and I'm just about positive that they're completely ruining my regal look like that.

In order to fix that problem, I drop back to the ground, relaxing my body as I focus on the sensation coming from the five extra limbs.

I.. decide to start with one. Trying to control five limbs I've never had while they aren't restricted in motion by such trivial things as bones, doesn't sound like a good idea.

I attempt to raise the upper right tentacle, my mind immediately being flooded by alien sensations. It's nothing like my arms or legs, and even stranger than my vision. At least I've actually had vision before.

Still, I'm able to get used to it after a few minutes of overload, and soon start slowly flexing different sections as I try to get a feel for which muscles need to be moved together to get what motion.

It takes me nearly an hour, but then I'm able to start on the other three. Which is considerably easier now that I've used a similar limb before, but still hard.

A bit more than an hour later, and I'm starting on trying to use all four at once, which is incredibly fun, if challenging. I love the way all of this is applying a slight pressure on my mind, something I haven't felt so vividly since I was a child, around the age of twelve, and teaching myself advanced space travel theory. School became boring years before then.

This is something that actually forces me to think and it's euphoric, as if I'm finally stretching a muscle I haven't stressed in years, mainly because I lacked the means to stretch it passed what it was already used to.

The next few minutes are spent idly waving the limbs through the air, getting used to the feeling they bring with every movement. Eventually, I move on to my tail, the easiest to get used to so far, but still a new experience entirely.

These muscles extend straight out past my tail bone, which I guess can't be called that anymore- it's more of a tail now, and I can feel them flexing and tensing in my back with every movement of my tail. I feel them in my tail too, but that was to be expected. It seems obvious that they're not just in my tail, now, but I wasn't really thinking about such things so deeply when I chose the race.

Either way, I now have to figure out how to stand like this ...And then walk. And run. And jump. And- yeah, this is gonna take a while.

First, I try to stand. Which goes pretty well. I rise up into the natural feeling stance I found before, shifting it slightly as my tail swaying behind me changes my balance. This is going to take some getting used to.

I'm holding my head tentacles in the same way the model from before was, which also feels quite natural, and only getting slightly distracted every time one of them sways into my vision.

Then, I try to take a step forward, and almost fall over the moment my right forepaw leaves the ground.

Wow... It's a good thing I'm not bipedal anymore.

The next ten minutes are spent trying to figure out which body parts to shift how far so that I don't fall over when I move other body parts.

It's actually the easiest thing I've had to do so far. I doubt the trembling and wobbling is helping with my regal impression though.

Eventually I feel confident enough to walk, so I make my way towards the entrance. Slowly.

After a few last minute adjustments and minimal stumbling as I get my claws caught under my paws, I find myself standing at the entrance to the small cave.

It takes me a second to realize that I don't have to move my head to take in all the scenery, and another to understand exactly what I'm looking at, but I think I'm getting better at this six eyes thing.

Before me lies a forest, a dense, lush forest. My last set of eyes, the ones farthest from my snout, can see that the cave I'm still half standing in is set into the base of a small cliff, about three times my height. It's relatively steep, but not sheer. I could probably climb up it, but only because I have claws and four limbs to use them with.

The forest ends a few feet from the cliff, but continues on it, and the cliff itself is a few times my total length in both directions from the cave, with no other holes visible in its surface. The top starts lowering as it nears the ends, eventually fading into a hill and probably flattening from there, but it curves out of view by that point.

All in all, it looks like someone just forgot to put this half of the hill here and just left it as an angled wall.

And then someone else found it convenient and decided to drill my cave into the side.

I can't see more than ten foot into the forest before me in any direction, and that's in very few places. For the most part, three feet is all I've got before getting blocked by some form of plant.

I only have a few seconds to take this all in before I take my next breath and am bombarded by dozens of different scents, most of which I've never experienced before.

I freeze once again, adjusting to the new sense of smell I hadn't realized was so powerful, before attempting to locate the sources of these new scents.

I shift the positioning of my head, raising my snout as I try to imitate the actions of different animals I've seen that were supposedly following a scent trail, while also increasing the pace of my breath to be more of a snuffle than my usual slow breaths.

It doesn't really change anything in regards to me knowing where the scents are coming from, but it does let me scent them faster, though I also stop scenting them faster. The pace at which the scents come and go seems to be linked to my breathing, which should be expected. I also learn that the slits in the glyel at the end of my snout seem to be designed to not make any noise, regardless of how fast or hard I might be breathing.

I wonder if that means I can't snort?

Eh, I'll find out if I ever try to.

Seeing as just snuffling at the air doesn't help, I lower my head to be just higher than my normal resting position, taking a step to the right and turning as I do.

The moment I take my next breath, still breathing rapidly, nearly all of the scents have changed, some getting stronger, some weaker, and all to varying degrees.

So, you need to move to find which direction a scent is stronger in, good to know.

It's just as overwhelming as everything else though, so I take a minute to walk around in slow circles, getting used to the information and learning how to sort it as I do.

After that, I head into the forest.

Because what else should I do?

I'm as close to having control over this body as I'm going to get without experience, so I should probably go get it.

My first step into the forest is right beside a tree. I set my paw down on a large root, just large enough to comfortably fit my paw, then stick my snout into the gap between a large leaf of some kind of plant and the tree's trunk, pushing past the leaf as I continue on.

I pause as the leaf brushes against the three eyes on that side of my head, the feeling uncomfortable but not quite painful. Pulling my head closer to the tree just lets the leaf move closer to its original position, still pressed against my face.

It takes me a moment to remember that I have four idle limbs just hovering about my head, but one of the lower ones raises to hold the leaf a few inches away from my eyes once I do. I then continue forward, making sure to use the four tentacles as efficiently as possible.

Beyond the leaf is more leaves, and trees. I don't know what I was expecting. Continuing on, I move my head around the next tree before me, pulling the rest of my body along behind me while keeping in mind what the ground looked like when I decide on the placement of my limbs.

I manage to place my feet exactly where I wanted to, a good sign, and continue moving forward slowly. I pay a bit of attention to identifying and memorizing scents as I go, but keeping most of my attention focused on not falling over and actually using all of my limbs to help me move through the foliage.

I can already recognize the scent of most of the surrounding plants, along with the moistness of the earth, the earth itself, and the water making it moist. It's fun to have so many things to pay attention to, and now I feel annoyed that humans have such weak senses.

My hearing seems decent too, but the sounds in the forest aren't much different from what I'm used to. These tentacles though, they're incredibly sensitive, and everything I even lightly brush them against I can feel with impossible clarity, even better than my human fingers.

Also, pressing any of them into something with a bit more **** vastly amplifies my hearing, sort of like pressing my ear into a wall or floor as a human, but much clearer.

I spend the next few minutes idly pushing my tentacles against random trees and plants, getting used to the odd way of hearing. I can hear insects crawling under the bark, chewing away at the live wood underneath, talons scraping against the upper branches as birds shift their weight, and my own footsteps on the ground beneath.

I can't even hear my own footsteps normally. It's incredibly strange, even more so how I can feel the vibrations traveling up my tentacles. They're probably connected directly to my brain, now that I think about it.

Feeling confident that I'm not going to stumble off a cliff the moment I find one after a few minutes, I change my pace to be a casual walk, rather than a slow, hesitant one.

I weave through the trees and bushes, paying a bit more attention to my senses now that I've got a decent control over my body. The plants around here are nothing I've ever seen before, though they're all green and at least resemble the ones from earth.

I don't smell anything that could hint at civilization, at least civilization about as advanced as earth anyway, regardless of which way the wind is blowing, so I assume this forest is decently sized and mostly wild.

I'll have to explore if I want to meet other people. Sounds about right for this race. Well, time to explore then.

And I do just that, making my way through the forest in a vague, counterclockwise circle. As I move, I continue getting better at using this body, and my circle is so vague because of all the times I change course to investigate one of the scents I don't know yet.

Most of the trails lead me to some kind of animal, generally hiding up in the trees. Some, though, are a bit more interesting. I come across a dark pool of a viscous purple liquid , which I avoid, and a few rocks with small bits of blue metal sticking out of them.

Both the purple pool and the blue metal have strong scents, with the pool specifically smelling deadly, if that's even possible. The metal seems safe to touch though, but doesn't do anything other than sit there, so I continue on after a few minutes.

I eventually find myself standing above my cave at the top of the cliff. I'll be able to see over the trees below if I climb one of the ones up here. And that's exactly what I'm debating doing at the moment.

I'm not sure if I'm ready to try, but I'll probably be fine. Well, falling from a tree shouldn't be enough to take out six hundred health, so I should at least try.

That's the deciding factor, so I walk up to the tree and set my right paw on it, digging my claws in as I raise onto my back legs and set my other paw above the first. Then I dig into the bark with my right hind leg, pushing up with it while I pull with my left forelimb, until I'm able to place my left hind paw above the right.

This seems to be working, so I repeat the process with my left side, pushing up with my hind leg. As I do that I reach my right forepaw higher before following with my back paw.

I let myself fall into a rhythm, increasing in speed as I move up the tree trunk. It's surprisingly easy, and doesn't seem to be straining my muscles much at all.

When I reach the branches, I twist around to stand, each paw settling on a different branch. It's a bit odd, but not uncomfortable. The moment I have a sure footing, I check my status.

Mezuku
Race: Taedreno
Level: 1
Title: N/A
Health: 600/600
Energy: N/A
Stamina: 797/800
Defense: 110
Resistance: 140
STATS
Physical:
Str: 120 Agi: 140 Vit: 60 End: 80
Mental:
Int: 100 Wis: 80 Per: 130 Wil: 100

Huh, most games I've played before this don't even give you the stamina or strength to climb halfway up a tree at level one. This is a nice change of pace.

I close the window, instead focusing on my sight. It seems like so much more to look out over a vast distance when you have my range of vision. I don't even move my head as I observe the vast sea of green, as I can already see everything, as far as the forest behind me.

One thing instantly catches my attention though. To the left, far off into the horizon, I can see hundreds of skyscrapers towering over the trees.

I probably wouldn't be able to tell it's a city if I had my human eyes, so that confirms that my eyesight is better now, even with the insectoid eyes.

That's good.

I turn to face the city, without any real reason, and stare at it for a few seconds. That's my new destination, it's time to see the rest of this game.

I drop down from the tree, landing safely, surprisingly, and set off into the forest. I just hope I'll have fully adjusted to this body by the time I get there.