Becoming Monsters: Tidbits 07

Becoming Monsters is the creation and property of Ai Loves, setting used with permission.

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Chapter 7: The Grind

Todd raised his hand. "The base form is y=mx+b"

It was Monday morning, about 10:30, and already Professor Ruddertail was getting a little bit of a headache. "Yes, that is correct. Now, please let the next question go to someone else in the auditorium." There were a few laughs around the College Algebra class, Todd's face flamed a bit, and he shrank down into his seat.

Todd was very much looking forward to testing out of this class to move up. Yellowstone University was new. So new, in fact, that niceties like "initial placement testing" had not been implemented. Taking early exams like Orientation said could only be done after the first week, to make sure students knew what they were doing. This kind of math was something Todd had been doing for over a decade, though, so while he was stuck there he was painfully bored.

For those who don't know, bored nerds are not precisely pleasant to be around.

This goes doubly true for one Todd Reed, sitting next to his suitemates near the front of the auditorium. Especially one Kumiho who had ridden him into his bed after the sun set last night. Song's petite human form of a Korean woman was noticeably changed from the last couple of days. Taller by an inch or two, stronger, more robust. Bustier. Much more attractive. Given the kinds of things that had been filling his time the last three days, his notebook had almost nothing at all to do with what the professor was patiently attempting to teach.

A slip of paper passed down the line. Figure anything out? -J

The classics got that way for a reason. Todd looked at his notes carefully, then wrote I can buff Song tonight, but all three starting tomorrow -T.

Really, that was the show, wasn't it? He figured out how to get himself to barely be able to use his Inspiration buff three times per day, with a bit of wiggle room to practice other things starting in a couple of days. What this meant in practice was that Song desperately needed to keep her bonuses in order to keep from eating people, but Ghata and Jem could trade theirs to someone else for a favor. The boost was incredibly valuable to anyone who really needed to get something done that day, and a limited resource.

Then again, whomever got the buffs, Todd considered himself the winner.

Oddly, Todd's mana was higher than he expected. Even accounting for the extra sips of regeneration from his suitemates, he was a couple of points ahead of where he thought he'd be. More data was needed, certainly. His rates seemed to be what he expected, but overnight he picked up an extra two percentage points somewhere.

He shook his head and kept writing, stopping a moment later at the sound of a soft pop. On his desk there was suddenly a piece of paper that had not been there before, folded into a triangle. As the professor up front was going over the general shapes of various types of equations, Todd unfolded it to find a very different note. The handwriting was one he didn't know, but the message was clear enough. I want you, tonight. -X. Below the note were two boxes, labeled Yes and No.

Todd had almost no way to know who it could possibly be, but he found that he didn't really care. The end answer would be the same. I need some MP restore for that -T. He marked the Yes box, because he wasn't stupid. As soon as he did, the paper disappeared with another popping sound. The only way to see where that particular one would go was to just go there. Vaguely, he heard a bell marking the end of class, and as the rest of the auditorium began to leave he heard the Professor's voice. "Todd, please stay for a moment."

The young man hung his head a bit, the girls of his suite heading off to lunch. The classroom was echoing empty without the masses of other students there, given that the day had been half administrative and half review, nobody was coming up for questions. "Todd, I can see that I am going to have to change a couple of details about how some students will be handled. You in particular. Congratulations on being my test subject." His whiskers twitched.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Your time is being wasted here. So, for that matter, is mine. You seem to be both extremely effective at answering questions directed at weaker students," Todd felt a bit awkward, "as well as occupying the attention of a third of the female students in the room," Todd felt much more awkward.

"I'm... not sure what to do about either, professor. I can't leave this one until testing next week."

"That seems self-evident. You need to not be in this room during class, and you are bored stiff. Thus, I am assigning you an alternative credit. Do not come here Wednesday or Friday. Instead, what I want you to do is gather data."

Todd was jotting notes about this assignment. "On what, sir?"

"On your class and abilities. Explore one aspect of what you do, thoroughly. Devise a hypothesis, and take at least 20 data points on it. By Monday, I want you to turn in to me a revised development and optimization plan, taking into account what you have found."

The scratch of Todd's pencil stopped. "That's... a lot, sir. Do you have any recommendations or advice for going about it?"

The Otter grinned, his large canines giving the expression a bit of a mixed message. "That is what I like to hear. One thing. Given how broad the question is, I recommend taking down as much contextual data for each point that you can, and to gather more than the minimum number of points. This will let you confirm or disprove your idea more thoroughly, or if necessary to reframe the question."

Todd sighed, perhaps a bit more loudly than would be polite. Of course the advice would be precisely something that doubled the amount of work he would have to do. "Got it." At the professor's dismissal, he shoved the notes into his folder and got walking, his thoughts chasing themselves in circles like a dog trying to catch its tail.

What do I even test? There are so many variables I have no idea where to even begin. I can't test new spellcasts, not enough spare mana to do twenty. Maybe try to track down what's causing those extra points? Try to distinguish what gives me how much experience gains? If there's a limit to my Inspired Performance instincts? Lots of data available for that one, anyway...

His thoughts were interrupted extremely suddenly as his right foot stepped into a loop of oddly-white rope, one that he did not see in his distraction. It closed suddenly around his ankle and yanked to the right, through an open door. Todd was many things. Graceful was not of them, his body slammed to the ground as he completely failed to keep his feet, scrambling unsuccessfully against the hard tile against the force dragging him where he had no desire to go. Through the door, then up. He found himself hanging by one foot, which was easier if less comfortable than standing on one.

Before him stood an odd creature, and not just because of his inverted perspective. From head to torso, she appeared to be a human woman, if on the pale and thin side. Her hair was also stark white, and she wore only a simple tee shirt with the school logo on it. Below the waist, though, was another thing entirely. A large black body with eight chitinous legs supported her. He could see the rope he was trapped by leading back to somewhere at her rear, probably spinnerets.

An Arachne. Spider-woman. One who had him completely off guard. Like so many others, these monsters in myth often hunted mankind for food or sport. He'd just have to hope that wasn't her goal. "Uh. Hi. You seem to be expecting me, which gives you a bit of an advantage."

Her voice was a bit rough, with a lot of hiss in the background. It was obvious that it normally sounded monstrous, and equally obvious that she either had a good vocal coach or a lot of practice trying for a more Human-normal tone. "Todd Reed. I have heard much about you, and then you respond so cryptically. What does this mean?" She was holding a sheet of paper with some familiar-looking handwriting on it.

"Oh! Uh, well, if you're asking for what I think you are, it is spoken for for now. Takes a chunk of my mana every time, and I'm currently trying to help a Kumiho beat her addiction to Human flesh."

"I do not care about your blessings or bonuses. Your Class Abilities are meaningless to me, beside the ability to possibly experience what the other girls are telling me is the greatest thing a woman can have. I want you to lay me, Todd. The way you did May."

"... huh." That was unexpected. He hung there, pondering what to say and how to proceed. "Um. Two things. First is that I really can't separate the two. If I do one, I have to do the other. Second... not to put too fine a point on it, but I'm not sure where to start with you. I need to figure that out before I can do anything."

He was swinging gently back and forth, hanging by a thankfully-strong thread, as the Arachne considered this. "You are not immediately repulsed by me? This is good. I was not expecting that response."

"I wasn't expecting this conversation, either. Say, can you let me down? Getting lightheaded."

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She released the silk rope, which had the unfortunate effect of dropping Todd into a heap on the ground. "I will consider what you have told me. I am a Wizard, we can on occasion do great things when we have the motivation. I have the motivation." The spider woman skittered out of the room and left the building.

It took a moment for Todd to get himself back on his feet. It took another to get his foot out of the silk rope, then coil it up. Not knowing anything else to do with it, he shoved the (thankfully non-adhesive) length into his backpack in order to get moving. Much to his relief, nothing else stopped him before he got out of the building and on his way.

Inside, the Professor pulled out his own lunch. Todd was not his only student with potential, and plans did have to be made. He was the only one who required quite this much investment, however. The Fennec in the back row had tried to feign boredom, but Otterly had noticed the signs of his ears tracking closely. He could practically... and literally... smell the power on another Human, this one to the mid-left, though in her particular case it was obvious she had a handle on her own Class Abilities. Development there would be more a matter of nudging her in the right direction.

Perhaps in Todd's.

The man shook his head. Though he was both very good at his job and solidly level eight in his Class, the first stretch of a new semester was always painful. Especially here. Especially knowing the kinds of students that Yellowstone University prioritized. A 6% rate of students with that kind of potential was frankly absurd in his first class. James and Neil did good work on their selections and simulations. Otterly just hoped that Mr. Harrison over in Athletics was having similar success.

The cafeteria was much, much noisier this Monday than it had been over the weekend. People of a hundred different shapes and sizes swarmed the place as they realized just what their schedules meant for their ability to eat. As well, the tables were back and set up with information on a dizzying variety of clubs and activities. It seemed implausible for all of these to be running side by side, especially when both the student body and the faculty were still a year or two from being fully fleshed out. Games, books, debate... and, of course, sports.

By the time Todd got to his friends, Jem was waving him over. "Hey, how did it go?"

"Honestly, not bad. Professor Ruddertail basically excused me from class if I did some research, so that'll save me time." He didn't mention his meeting with the spider woman... whose name he never actually got, now that he thought about it. "What's up with all of these?"

Song had an enormous armful of pamphlets and info sheets. "Extracurriculars. Something they're calling the Development League. All kinds of activities. Any of you play Fantasy Build and Brawl? There's some kind of partnership going on."

"I played FBB, but never really got any good at it. Nobody to play with." Todd shook his head. "They have chess? I'm good at that."

Ghata raised one eyebrow. "You're going to have a heck of a trial getting time for it, but I think I saw that. I'm looking at their sports league, it's some kind of cross-discipline thing because we're too new to go up against other schools."

Song nodded. "Not only do they have chess, I'm also joining it. They're encouraging everyone to try everything, though. Self-discovery philosophy."

Something tickled the back of Todd's mind. "Hold up. Development League. Didn't they say something about encouraging everyone to use their Race and Class abilities? You think they mean for all of this, too?"

Jem looked at the signs and tables sharply. "Some of that would completely change the nature of the games. I mean, can you imagine trying to score a touchdown when the defensive line has an Ogre on it?"

"Or trying to play a strategy game against someone who can see the future. That's what I mean."

"We can find out tonight, I guess. Meeting up at four and again at seven tonight." Jem was looking at something else, now. "Looks like a lot of folks are going for it."

Ghata glanced over. "It looks like a lot of the same people we saw at the mixer, Song. They have something to prove... and thinking about it, so do we. I know we're all in Gen Chem in an hour, but what about after that?"

"I have CompSci." Todd had opened his notebook up. None of the others had anything else until after dinner, the scheduling being odd around here. All three were, however, taking Biology in the evening. "Hm. Okay. Worth taking a look at, anyway. You three hit the first one, I'll get the one at seven, then come back to the dorms and compare notes before buffing Song?"

All three nodded at that, though Song's smile was certainly the largest.

General Chemistry's first day was almost exclusively administrative and safety. Todd felt glad this particular instructor was not an Otter, since this class actually utilized lab coats. Wouldn't do to confuse them this early. The Green Slime had to take extra precautions against contamination, but he seemed to know what he was doing. At least a couple of students... like Jem... were outside of the size range for the lab equipment in the closet. There were theoretically others in storage on campus, but they wouldn't need to be custom ordered. Not like the True Cyclops who needed to take a modified version of things in the evening.

It was... almost surreal. Todd wasn't sitting bored, though it wasn't exactly new information. He wasn't focusing on the developments of his life and his Class. Even with the ladies there in the room, he could pretend he was just a regular guy. A normal student, here to make a start on the rest of his life. He was even taking notes, jotting down the format for the lab reports he would have to do.

Wait. Wait one sec. This will help!

Observation. Hypothesis. Method. Data. Analysis. Conclusion. That's what he'd need for Professor Otterly's assignment, and possibly his own life. It could let him arrange things, get order from the chaos. Todd assumed that he wouldn't need to do the full format, with title, abstract, and materials... but then again, he might.

Somehow, I don't think Jem would like being referred to as "materials." Lab partner, maybe?

The class released without incident, the girls left to go to their event, and Todd found himself next to some kind of cephalopod in a wetsuit at Computer Science a half hour later. She could barely write her name on the board, but when it came time to type she was using every limb she had with absurd speed. The adaptive keyboard had keys four times the size of Todd's, and the markings were definitely in wildly different colors, but it worked. To Todd's other side was a Cobra Beastfolk, which he supposed wasn't quite as ironic as if he had been a Python.

In all, he was glad when he got to stand up again after class. Learning was fun. This, though? They hadn't gotten to the "learning" part. He headed back to the cafeteria, but decided to take his time. Meandered a bit. Enjoyed the sun. Detoured wildly to avoid a group of Alpha Omega members, just in case they recognized him.

That gave him some pause. Todd figured that being easily recognizable for, of all things, being amazing at sex would be amazing. The experience itself, though, wore off after a few days. Anonymity was absolutely impossible. He couldn't know if a group of people would end up trying to get into his pants, and without the ladies here he was feeling oddly defenseless. Taking a breather, he pulled up his Status screen. Class Progress was at 68%. Level four would be happening tomorrow, or perhaps tonight if something unusual occurred. MP at 55%, roughly where expected. Stamina at... 60%. He could use a nap, getting into the swing of things was taking it out of him, but he'd be fine. Nothing should be coming to knock him that far off.

Should it?

He sat himself down at dinner, sandwich in hand, but didn't have long to wait before the ladies joined him. They looked tired. Dramatically so. Enough so that Todd took one look, told them to sit down, and went to get their food himself. Or tried, anyway, he was but one man and his arms were scrawny. What he got the ladies evaporated almost as soon as he dropped it onto the table.

Between mouthfuls, Jem was the first to speak. "Thanks, Todd. That was... an event. Not supposed to tell other people about it until tomorrow, said they didn't want to ruin the surprise."

Ghata shook her head and swallowed her own current bite. "It's not like Todd's going to be on the field. Anyway, they're using this to work rules out. It's the first year doing it, so there's still bugs."

"Whoah, wait a sec. What even are you all trying to say?"

"That's the thing, it isn't all that clear even after the information." Song was shaking her head. "It looks like some kind of constant competition. No set teams, everyone just racks up points for what they personally do. Supposed to be some kind of prize for top performers each year. Is there more garlic bread?" She was looking down at her now-empty plate.

"Uh, yeah. Left side towards the back." Todd took a couple more bites of his sandwich. Song went to retrieve some. "Guessing that you all got started already?"

Ghata and Jem nodded. "And it was a scramble, let me tell you." Jem stretched out. "If you're going to the next one, I hope it isn't as crowded. Looks like both Alpha Omega and Theta Delta are telling their members to go hard. Actually, speaking of. It's at the sports field, if you want to make it to yours without pushing it you should get walking. Drink some water first."

With that encouragement, Todd got moving. He ended up arriving early, though by no means first. A temporary stage had been set up to one side of the field, roughly where the soccer goal would be, and upon it were three large displays. The middle of these had the words "DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE" displaying, all in capital letters, across the top. There was a lot of room under it, looking like something else was supposed to be written there. The two sides were off.

Around the field were about a dozen tables, some University staff already there. No student volunteers, though, which set an alarm bell ringing in the back of Todd's head. Even for move-in, students helped students. Not this time. There were quite a few students present, in almost literally all shapes and sizes, but none of them were behind the tables. In addition? All of the tables were empty. There were signs, but the signs were covered or flipped over. Most of the tables had boxes next to them, but those boxes were also covered. It was impossible to tell what was in them.