The Last Primal

Being left alone again, Aiden sighed once again as he took another look at both small tents, before shifting his attention towards his inventory.

'I still have several hours and I will need all the advantages I can get to be successful. My goblin form might not necessarily bring me the results we would need… What to do…' He lamented. While Aiden's goblin form would be genuine and not just an illusion as the girls believed, it would still not be necessarily enough to get him the results they were hoping for. 

From the absorbed ex-leaders' memories, Aiden realized a crucial problem: Goblins were looked down on by the other races in the horde. If he wanted to command proper respect, he would need to either raise his own worth by a significant amount or, and that's what would be the most feasible, use another form to gain entry. The question was, what? The two monster cores extracted from the bodies of the two dead orcs, might not give him enough life essence to formulate the new form… Even if it would, he would be considered a regular orc, and would have no knowledge on how to climb the ranks, he did not absorb the orcs directly. No, he needed something more, something special…

"Wait, that's it!" Realization suddenly hitting him, Aiden jumped up from his seat hitting his left palm with his right clenched fist. He almost forgot, he had a system feature that he never used, besides taking a quick look at it once!

He still had several hours, before they would need to get ready, and now with all the additional items he gained, he might have enough ingredients to create something unique, something that would command the respect he would need!

Focusing his will on his System's interface, a transparent, blue-tinted window appeared, floating in front of Aiden's eyes. Focusing on the available options, he selected the Fusion item, from the appearing System Menu. 

Following that, a faintly familiar and very brief screen greeted him. The Step-by-Step Fusion System Process screens.

[Fusion 

* Step 1 of 3 *

Please provide the ingredients for the process. Once ready, continue to NEXT step.]

'If I remember correctly from Enya's words from back then, I will be able to select as many Mastered Forms as I want plus Monster Orbs if I have any… She did say I should try to stick with at most 3 but prefer 2 as that would be still feasible. Anything higher than that would risk potential mutations, whatever they may end up being.'

Deliberating his options, he looked through the list of choices that suddenly appeared. 

[* Available choices: *

- Mushroom bug

-Cave Viper

-Worgen (mutated)

-Goblin

* Usable items as ingredients: *

- Monster Energy Orb (Tier 1) (clean)

- Mountain Orc's Heart (Tier 1) (clean)]

As expected, his two first acquired but mostly harmless, primitive forms appeared as the first two choices. His more feral, mutated Worgen form was also amongst his expectations. The Goblin form, however, did surprise him slightly, as he just recently acquired it, and whilst he did gain the goblin leader's memories and was quite confident in using it, Aiden didn't expect that it would be an available option to choose. 

From the items, he smiled, as he was hoping for the heart to be amongst the list of choices and was glad that it was the fact. Lamenting about the list of choices for a short while, he selected the ones he wanted to check out first then hit the flashing NEXT button. 

The screen quickly faded, only to reappear with a new one.

[Fusion

* Step 2 of 3 *

Selected Life Forms:

-Goblin

-Monster Energy Orb (Tier 1) (clean)

-Mountain Orc's Heart (Tier 1) (clean)

-Worgen (mutated) (Tier 1)

Chance for mutation: Calculating…

…]

The screen kept flickering as the system most likely did the necessary calculations. Thinking back, he remembered that back then this part did not take long, however back then, there was only one possible result displayed. With the three that he selected, Aiden was expecting at least a few.

Just as he expected, several seconds passed on with nothing as the transparent, floating screen continued to flicker, blocking most of his vision, the system doing its calculations silently.

With no other choice, Aiden tried to relax a bit, and focus on his hearing instead. Right now, he was the most vulnerable as his vision was impaired and being this close to the 'enemy' territory he did not want to risk any ambushes while he was in this state. Luckily the only noise that he could hear was the crackling sound of the campfire as it continued its ritualistic dance, squirming and wiggling as it continued to eat up the provided substance to provide its light and warmth to the people around it.

Eventually, the floating system screen stopped it's annoying flickering and came back into view. 

[Chance for mutations: 15-25%

Calculating results… Please stand by.]

Looking at that it took the system this long to come up with an estimation, which was only a range instead of the fixed number like it was previously causing a small pout to sour Aiden's previously happy mood. Now, he had to wait for more, before he would be able to see the projected results finally.

Heaving a long sigh, Aiden once again focused on his other sensory abilities as he waited for the system, to once again, finish its work and give him the results he was waiting for.

Seconds, turning into minutes, soon piling one after another, Aiden found the passage of time, longer and longer. Once he heard the familiar bell-like sound ringing in his mind, he quickly focused on the appearing screen in front of him.

Focusing on it, Aiden first went wide-eyed, before a smile began to creep up on his face, stretching his facial muscles. The results were even better than what he had hoped for!

[...

3 Fusion Results found!

Fusion Options:

Option 1) 

Fused Form: Varag (Tier 2+) (Goblin + Black Wolf Alpha)

Chance for mutation: 15%

Potential: C+

Vaguely resembling hobgoblins, this magical fusion of Goblin and Black Wolf can reach slightly over 2 meters in height if it would stand in its two back, strong legs. However, these hirsute, violent creatures have double-jointed legs and walk in a hunched posture, vaguely resembling their feral origin. They have bestial, distinctly clawed fingers and paw-like feet, further pointing to their unnatural, bestial ancestor.

Due to their dominant, feral traits, Varags lose most of their intelligence and can barely be considered more than bloodthirsty, violent creatures. However, in exchange, both their strength and speed are several times their original ancestor's. Even a single Varag can be considered a grave threat, but you would rarely encounter them alone in the wild, but most usually in larger packs. Their vocal cords deformed, they are incapable of speech.

Option 2)

Fused Form: Hobgoblin (Goblin + Mountain Orc)

Chance for mutation: 20%

Potential: C+

Larger, stronger, smarter, and much more menacing members of the goblinoids, broadly and falsely considered as the evolved version of the average goblins.

In reality, Hobgoblins carry the cunning and magical aptitude of their goblin origin while inheriting the increased might, ferocity, and intelligence of their orcish nature. While still not the smartest of the 'civilized' races of Eora, they can not be looked down upon in any way. Reaching 1.8-2-2 meters in height, their dark brown, reddish-bronze skin from a distance they resemble tall, darker exotic looking goblins, slightly leaner than their Orc Ancestors. However, with their leaner physique, they also sport an increased speed with a fervor that makes them a considerable threat to anyone.

Option 3)

Fused Form: Feral Orc (Mountain Orc + Black Wolf Alpha)

Chance for mutation 25%+

Potential: B+

This feral and incredibly violent species is the result of the unnatural magical fusion of Mountain Orcs and Black Wolves. Sporting an incredible 2.5-3 meter in height, robust, broad muscles, thick black fur, and fully red, clear, dark red eyes, these monsters are a frightful sight even from a distance. Their sclera-less, demonic dark red eyes are great fuel for nightmares and scary stories around the campfire.

Whilst capable of speech, they barely retain any resemblance of intelligence in exchange for their incredible strength and ferocity. The large, onyx claws growing from the tip of their fingers, are capable of shattering even full tree trunks into tiny splinters. Whilst their speed is unchanged, their violent, bloodthirsty nature puts them as a grave threat and huge risk.]

Looking through the long list, Aiden was speechless for several minutes. Grinning at the air in front of him, he kept reading through the list of options, thinking about the presented options. Whilst there were two that seemed to be considered 'less intelligent' by the world, that would not be a big problem for him as he would most likely retain his own sanity in the newly acquired form regardless. 

The problem was how the other members of the Horde would think about him, and how he would fit in. Considering the goal of the mission, although he was very tempted to try out the incredible sounding Feral orc, he shifted his attention towards the second option instead...