Wow. Some of those skills would come in handy. They all cost a lot though. My measly 100 points would not get me many. Would it be worth it to level up my current skills or to get new ones right now? New ones right now. It looked as if using the skills could level them up as well and I might need a few of these to survive the coming night. While I was sitting here on this rock examining myself that mesmerizing sunset continued to set and it was almost dark. I have no idea what I am going to do, where I am, or what is around me. Giving the skill list a good hard look I made my choices. I got Scavenger, Hunting, and Zoology. That left me with five points left. It was the strangest thing, as soon as I selected the Hunting skill I could feel the creatures that were moving through the grass around me. That must have been the Danger sense coming into play. Hunting and Zoology must have been reacting together because I could tell that they were snakes, and mice around me. That is cool, I did not know that skills could link like that. It made me even happier about my choices. I had been hoping that the skills could play off each other, it was why I had chosen the three that sounded like they could be useful together. I began to shiver, it was getting cold and I had nothing else to put on. I can’t start a fire here, it would set the whole place ablaze. As the wind turned colder as the sun grew dimmer I grit my teeth. As much as I did not want to, it was time to try out my Transform skill. I would be warmer as a dog then I will be as a human. I focused hard on the thought “Transform (canine)” It asked me which one I wanted. I only had one choice so I chose the German Shepherd. As I feared the Transformation did hurt a bit. It felt as if something had grabbed me and shoved me into a different shape. Lots of pressure. It was quick though, over in a few seconds. I was trapped in my clothes when it was finished, so I would change back naked. Great. The only thing that wasn’t in the pile of my clothes was the pendant. It was in a new shape, a slim silver collar around my neck with that same jewel in the center. It was only visible since my hair as a german shepherd is short enough that it can be seen. My necklace on the other hand was hanging precariously off my neck. I tried to pick up my clothes with my teeth, but they were so scattered that it was hard. I would have to change back to human and fold them. It was too cold for me to do that now though. The sun had officially set and even in my warmer dog form, it was getting a bit chilly. I instead chose to make a nest out of my clothes to retain as much heat as I can while I listened to the sudden shock of noises that I could suddenly hear. My sense of smell was going wild as well. I had no idea what it was that I was smelling, but I could smell a lot of it. My Hunting and Zoology skills were trying to tell me things all at once, but it was too much for me to take in. I looked at my stats again.

Name: Elise

Age: 25

Mind: 70/90

Str: 10 Spd: 10 Int: 15 Res: 6 Def: 9

Race: German Shepherd (Earth)

Sex: Female

Gender: Female

Level: 10

Gift: Shapeshifter

Titles: 4

Abilities: 6

Skills: 9

Skill points: 5

Wait, my race and stats had changed. I was not as strong but my speed, resistance and defense had all gone up. It looked like I gained three new abilities as well. Strange. I checked my abilities.

Abilities: Unique skills that a person can use.

Abilities: Analyze, Transform (human), Language translation, Keen hearing, Keen smell

Analyze: The ability to look and see the description and status of self, other things and people. Rare. (Level 1) Points to next level 20

Transform (canine): The ability to change into another creature. Restricted to human (Elise). Cost 20 Mind. Rare. (Level 1) Points to next level 20

Language Translation: Automatically understand the verbal language of all speakers and basic understanding of the written. Ultra Rare. (Level --)

Keen hearing: Greater hearing, can hear sounds from greater distance. Rare. (Level 1). Points to next level 30

Keen smell: Greater sense of smell. Rare. (Level 1). Points to next level 30.

Bite (Medium): Use fangs to cause damage to the target. Medium effectiveness. Plus one extra damage per Str. Stat. Common. (Level 1) Points to next level 15

These must be skills that I get when I am in my German shepherd form. I did not realize that it would change everything so much. This was going to take a lot of getting used to. I spent the next few hours trying to isolate sounds and smells so Zoology could tell me what it was that I was trying to identify. It only worked on animals, but surprisingly enough Scavenger came to rescue a few times to tell me what that object was. After a few exhausting hours of this I finally fell asleep cocooned in my clothes.