What is pain? I always thought that it was the body trying to tell you something is wrong. Some people think it is a really good way to make someone talk. Others think that it can be a perfect motivator. To all three opinions, I disagree. Pain is Hell.
Immediately after activating my ability, [Shift], intense pain racked my entire body. I felt every single bone in my body shatter. It was so painful that I could not even open my jaw to scream. Not that it would have mattered, as my jaw was currently in the process of reshaping itself, just like the rest of my body. It hurt even more than dying a slow death did.
My skin is being torn to shreds as fur replaced what was once there. A thick coat that made my think of the [Alpha Wolf]'s gray coat. It looked so pretty on the wolf. On me, it is ever so painful.
One by one, my bones pulverized and reshaped themselves to look like a wolf. One by one, pieces of my skin were shredded and replaced with a thick coat of fur. One by one, my limbs turned into wolf legs. My wolf tail and ears grew just a little bit during the entire process, till I looked like a real wolf.
All of this just took a second.
When I can focus without the pain, I realize that I am on my side, laying down. The [Alpha Wolf] that was next to me is gently sniffing my snout.
From what I remember of my years of grade school, wolves are supposed to only see in black and white. Or were those dogs? Either way, I can see in full color. And my vision is clearer then when it was when I was in my human form. I can see the insects scurrying around me like ants. I can pick out bugs from their camouflage.
My sense of sight is not the only one that has changed. My sense of smell jumped to at least 200% sensitivity. I can smell each and every individual wolf in the area around me. I can also smell the fresh rain and the plants that grow around here. I can smell the animals that roam the forest.
My sense of hearing has also increased. I can hear a deer racing away from the pack that is around me. I can hear that small creek from before, but now I realize that I am hearing a large river. I can hear the insects chirping and jumping around inside of the forest. I can hear water dripping off the leaves of the canopy above, like tear drops off of a face.
I'm sure if I were to test it, my sense of taste and feel would also be different. Maybe not better like my other three senses, but different.
I stand up... and fall back down to the ground. The [Alpha Wolf] huffs at me, almost as if he is laughing. He backs away and gives me some space.
I try again and stand up successfully... for a few seconds before falling back to the ground. It is way harder to stand on four legs then it looks.
This time I try to clear my mind and do stand without thinking about it... and I succeed. It seems like a certain amount of a wolf's instincts are in me. I can stand when I am not thinking about it, but as soon as I try to concentrate on standing, I fall over.
This will probably stop as I get used to being on four legs. I take a step forward... and I slam face, no, snout, first into the ground. I stand back up and do what I did when I stood up. I let my instincts take over and I find myself trotting around at a slow pace. Learning my lesson, I don't consciously think about putting one paw in front of the other as I step and walk around.
I stop for a second before tilting my head around and looking at my new body. My tail is the same bushy thing that was sitting in my lap, gently wagging around behind me. My fur is a dark black that could blend in with a shadow easily. I'm just a little bit slimmer than the [Alpha Wolf] that was sniffing at me earlier, but I am definitely taller. My paws have a ferocious set of claws on them, the kind that could tear anything to shreds in an instant.
I look around me and see that all the wolves, except the pups, are watching me walk around slowly. I try to tell them to stop, but instead a low growl comes out of my snout. The wolves looked at me amused before returning to what they were doing before I shifted.
Another thing that made Limitless Expansion Online extremely popular was the NPCs. Unlike other games, every single creature, be it living or undead, has an advanced A.I. behind it. This makes it so that every creature in the massive universe of LEO can think and act like they are real creatures. All these A.I are connected and are run by a bigger A.I. The A.I. form a chain of command till they get to The Overseer. The Overseer is the most advanced A.I. on the planet. This A.I. creates new A.I. anytime a problem occurs or something new needs to be added to the game. For example, the developers wanted this to be an infinite game that always had more quests, locations, and items. The Overseer created A.I. to take ideas from the internet and adapt them to be places, quests, events, items, and much more.
A snout nudges my side and I turn and see the big gray wolf next to me. I look at it and it turns and uses its nose to point out in the forest. Getting the message I make my way out of the pack of wolves and walk out into the forest. The trees that make up the forest are tall enough that a human could ride through here on horseback easily. There are quite a few shrubs and small bushes dotting the forest ground.
I glance back at the wolves, my final goodbye before I leave. I don't feel necessarily too bad about leaving. That was like the beginning town, everyone leaves eventually.
I walk for a little ways before I start to smell something amazing. I follow the trail for a little ways before stopping outside of a clearing in the forest. A few flowers of red and purple are blooming here and there and deer dot the clearing. I realize that that incredible smell I was following was the scent trail of a deer.
{Ding! Deer lvl: 1:
HP:25
SP:50
Attack power:3
Description: A creature native to most worlds. No one knows why these are found everywhere in the universe, but one thing is agreed upon by most creatures. They make a really good meal}
I hear a growling behind me and quickly glance back, but don't see anything. It takes me a minute to realize that my stomach is the culprit behind the growling. I am starving. Raw meat did not sound appetizing to me before, but since I became a wolf my priorities changed.
I sneak up behind a deer, getting almost there, before it goes rigid. Seeing that I'm spotted, I race at the deer and bite at its flanks, blood fills my sharp toothed mouth. Instead of being disgusted, I get hungrier. I repeatedly bite at its flanks.
-7
-10
-8
-6
The brown deer falls to the ground dead.
{Ding! XP gained: 100}
To level up in LEO, you need to gain experience points. These points could be earned by killing creatures, doing quests, and by completing objectives like making armor or potions.
I remember, one guy got to level 100 by just cooking food. He became rich off of the game because of selling his buff food to other players. In LEO, the common currency used is Vix. These Vix could be exchanged for real world currency at a rate of 1 Vix: 5 USD. It is fully possible to become a millionaire by making smart decisions in game.
{Ding! Skill:Sneak obtained: Good job, you can sneak up behind an innocent creature and brutally maul it. *Claps Dramatically*}
Limitless Expansion Online is the type of game where you gain skills by doing certain actions and meeting requirements. Like how sneak could be learned by sneaking around, fire magic could be learned and upgraded by use of fire magic. If you do something with the intention of getting a skill that isn't in the game yet, there is a chance one of The Overseer's subordinates that work with skills will add it. This keeps the game feeling free and fluid.
{Ding! Ability:Predator's Drive Activated}
In LEO, players that could use disassembly are highly sought after. The loot of the creature would usually drop and then depending on the type of creature, a disassembly expert was needed to extract useful things like the pelt, teeth, bones, and meat.
I, however, do not have a disassembly expert. What I have are my wolfish instincts. Following my instincts, I start to eat the flanks and the internal organs of the deer. If I was a human, I would have aimed at the muscles and the flesh of the deer, but as a wolf, my aim is a little bit different. I eat my fill before starting to back away. I will leave this carcass here for the scavengers and insects. I look at the gory mess before turning around.
To my great shock there is a little elf girl standing behind me. She is shaking with fright and has tears going down her cheeks. Her eyes are a dark gray color and her short hair is a dark-ish blonde hue. Her ears, in common RPG fashion, jut out about a finger's length from her head and end in sharp points.
I look at her confused for a second. 'Why is she scared, did something happen?'