FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I head to the exit of the tower and wait, hearing a chime start to come up nearby followed quickly by the sounds of some marching. I turn and see a bunch of figures that seem to be almost miniature people. They all stand about half my size though none of them look like they're children. I turn to look at them and they seem to be completely oblivious to everything around them. None of them look any way but forward. They seem to be aware enough to get out of my way, but do not make any other action in response to me at all. The walk forward and I can see off in the distance another line of mini-soldiers coming towards us. When they run into each other they don't make any sort of gesture or greeting, just immediately start attacking each other. They pick one that was in the front on each side and go about attacking. Some attacking with a sort of broad sword while others attack with a small gun. In all instances not only do they not show any sign of the attacks but also all manage to attack in perfect unison to each other. When one falls they all switch targets to the next one without any sign that the first one had fallen at all. The one that fell quickly begins to dissolve back into earth, their very features seeming to become the dirt itself.

After a bit of them slowly killing each other a new group start coming past me on their way to join the fray. But they don't feel any incentive to hurry, moving at the same speed as before. And like before, no response one way or another beyond just attacking the person in front of them. Eventually, after watching this second round of creatures fighting I decide to go ahead and head on out and get everything over with as the next group begin walking past me. As I head out, I can hear a little chime and the golden path reappears, though it's obvious where it wants me to go anyway. Curious as to what effect it would have on them as I walk I take out my staff and point it at one of them and fire one of the fireball things at it. The chip allows me to do this no problem and when it hits the guy I'm walking with I can see a little crystalline shield pop up around him and the fireball stops and doesn't do anything else. Doesn't seem to at all phase him.

Wondering if I have any impact at all when the two groups get together and start attacking each other I send a fireball at one of the ones on the other side. This time it does seem to actually affect them. They stagger back a foot and then continue on as before, though slightly worse for wear. When I attack the one the others are attacking I notice afterwards that that one dies before his counterpart. Meaning I am doing something to these things, but it doesn't really look like I'm doing all that much in the grand scheme of things. But then again I am also using an attack that I have an unlimited amount of. It'd make sense for that to be a bit on the lackluster side. And it is still more than what any of them are able to do based on how much quicker they go down. I hear a chime go off near me and I can see another screen go up, giving me another bit of instruction. This one is much larger than the others. It shows the cartoon me but also two little figures which I guess is supposed to be these little guys just wailing on each other. It cycles between three animations.

First is of me standing outside some invisible line and when they go down nothing happens and it just resets. When I'm inside this line it shows a bag appearing above my arm when the other side's guy goes down. Last one shows me doing the final hit and a much larger bag of that thing shows up. Doesn't really take too much effort to figure out what it's trying to tell me. I get a bonus for the things I kill, but so long as I'm relatively close to the carnage I'll get something. Though what that is I don't know, some form of currency if I had to guess. Seems fairly straight forward, I guess. Another sign shows up, this one trying to instruct me to do something. It seems to be putting some energy into my staff, raising my staff up into the air, pushing it a bit higher somehow and then throwing it forward. I don't really know what it's talking about but I get the chip acting up on me again, likely forcing me to use it so that I can learn it, similarly to when it had me throw the fireball in the first place. I mimic the actions in the sign but not knowing what all it wants me to do beyond that I am forced to let that chip tear it out of me.

I feel something draw the energy through the staff and instead of firing off a normal attack my hand position changes slightly on the staff and a ball of fire builds up and I can see a large fireball form a few feet above my head and I can feel that I could build it up further if I wanted but the chip has me throw my arm forward and the much larger ball flies forward until it goes over the middle of the other side and then my arm shoots downward and the ball follows it, creating a small explosion of flame around point of impact, hitting the entire wave and killing the lot of them. My side starts walking again and I start to move to follow but the chip stops my legs. Apparently, it wants me to prove I know how to do it myself. But before I can try to mimic it I hear a chime to the other side which shows a simple image of me looking at my arm. Figuring out quickly it wants me to look at that status thing it gave me I notice that not only has my blue bar decreased from this attack but there is now an icon on it with a clock slowly cycling around.

I can pretty easily guess that there's likely some sort of cooldown for this technique and that this one does use that reserve. It does definitely seem to be much more effective at taking care of things, but would have limited uses or at the very least can't be spammed. I don't exactly know how quickly I am able to regain that blue bar. But as this is a tutorial I imagine it'll do something to get me back to full. Especially since I don't know how many attempts it'll take for me to figure out how to master this one ability, let alone if I have any other abilities at my disposal. And since I have time to work on it I figure I'd practice my smaller fireballs a bit, as well as check something. Naturally the other side is massively weakened from my attack earlier but I am still able to check something. Particularly, I make sure to try and attack not one of theirs, but my own side, attacking them just as the enemy side attacks, producing that little shield thing around it. And I notice that doing this does indeed cause all their attacks to do nothing to it as well. Meaning that at the very least I am able to shield these little minion things from damage. How thorough that ability is I have no means of telling. If I can do the same with the other actual people; if anyone has this ability, I cannot tell. If I do end up running into someone else I can be sure to ask them about it. Would be useful to know, however rare such an application might end up being. But when the timer expires I can feel the compulsion from the chip starting to form. And yet, strangely enough, it seems more intent on just letting itself be known, unlike before it doesn't actually seem to be trying to do anything.

Which I suppose makes sense. The point is to get me to learn how to do it. With the little fireball things it could simply spam those out until I figured out how to do it myself since there was no delay between when I could use it. For this, not only am I only able to use it a limited amount of time before needing something to recharge it back up, but I can only use it once every like fifteen seconds or so. Which is fairly quick all things considered, but not exactly something that can just be spammed. Which means a different tactic needs to be met and only force me along if I absolutely don't seem to be getting it. But knowing what it meant now about how to get my energy to go through the staff. I raise my arm up and mimic the action, though it takes me a bit to actually accomplish the act. Eventually I start to get a larger fireball forming above my head. It isn't growing nearly as fast as when the chip did it so clearly there must be some skill involved in how to do it more efficiently.

I wonder about how large I can make it and more importantly, if growing it larger would have any impact on the blue bar being consumed. I look down at the thing on my arm as the ball is still growing and notice that my blue bar has moved again but does seem to be completely stable now. I can feel the chip starting to try and encourage me to continue with the casting. Not so much as forcing me to do anything but rather showing impatience. I sigh and go ahead and point my arm forward and I can feel the ball start to move forward. I actually find that I can steer it quite well. Wherever I aim my hand in front of me that's the direction it moves. So I could move it to my side and it'll start moving in that direction. But I eventually go and move the ball over the other side's dudes and then drop it down so that the chip will let me be.

It crashes down into the ground and produces the same effect as last time and I feel the chip letting go completely. I also hear a chime sound further to the side and a couple of signs show up giving various facts. Based on the game of Pictionary they seem to be giving me, one is talking about the blue bar. Primarily that there is a blue potion that can increase it quickly, though it will regenerate slowly over time on its own. Further it seems that one of the purposes of those tower things is those also regenerate the blue bar. Definitely useful information to have, particularly in regards to an advantage of waiting in those tower things. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out there are also going to be items that either increase this regeneration or how much I have. The other sign is more specific to that one ability. Primarily that, as far as I can gather, there really is no limit to how I can make it but there are two very big limitations on it. First being that there is a limit to how far I can throw it. Not sure how far that is in context, but there's probably a reason it locked me in place where it did. Can probably get an idea of how far next time I use it. The bigger problem is that the moment I start growing it over my head to when I detonate it I have to root myself in place. If my feet leave the ground the ability terminates but still uses the blue bar already consumed and the timer does still go off. This means that while I am using this ability, though I can make it as big as I want, I am a sitting duck with a large glowing target on where I am. So may have to become extremely selective about how big I make it, especially until I figure out how to make it grow as fast as the chip made it grow.

There is a small circle that is much closer to where the two groups are fight. I reluctantly move forward and stand in that area. Once there the chip locks me in place again. I'm sure that that thing they had put in me to make me more compliant is also making me more accepting of this 'do what I say or I'll make you feel pain' thing the chip is insistent on. It waits until the next groups start to clash and then I can feel it take full control over my body, my body screaming a bit at the act. This time it's sending the energy down to my feet and I can see them start to glow. After a second of charging it has me step back, then sweep my leg to the side and a blast of fire extends out from my feet for about a good fifteen feet. It quickly spins me around and that sends forth another arc of fire from my other leg, this one apparently much wider, but doesn't extend as far. Finally, it kicks up with one of my legs and I find myself flipping backwards well into the air, a line of fire extending out in the direction my leg was facing at the time.

The landing actually seems to be rather automatic. As soon as I end up going airborne the chip stops giving my body commands and even then I find that by the time I get back down to the ground I'm standing upright again. Another board appears off to the side, showing this ability off, though I notice that this one has also now gone on cooldown. And as much as I really hate this chip I understand why it forced it out of me as it did. There's a lot of variation that can be done with this ability. Any sweeping motion of my legs while this ability is active will create some sort of effect. How fast I sweep the leg determines how far it goes outward and how wide the attack is. And it goes until I either do four attacks or sweep upwards, which will immediately launch me in the opposite direction. Means I have a lot of options in regards to how to use this ability.

As I wait for the ability to go off cooldown so that I can prove that I know how to do it I wonder what other abilities it might be giving me. So far I know that throwing this energy up gives me a larger fireball that is just slow and locks me in place. The second is a very versatile and fast ability by pushing my energy down. Though by comparison, there is much more risk in the first, meaning the first must have either a larger maximum range, or does more. I also know they operate by the direction I send my energy. Go up and I get one ability, go down and I get another. Stands to reason then that any other ability will likely be sending it to the side, in front of me and behind me. How many abilities it'll end up giving me I have no clue. This tutorial thing is effectively my instruction manual and it's just taking its time letting me read it since it has to wait on timers. Though I do agree with that guy in the tower. These things fighting in front of me aren't really people. They're practically nothing more than clay dolls. They don't really bleed. They just fight on as if nothing is wrong and at some point just fall down dead. Since the chip is for the time being letting me do whatever I walk up and crouch down and take a look at the creatures close up. It's somewhat of an uncanny valley type of thing. They look like some sort of humanoid, but there is absolutely nothing on their faces. They all look the exact same without any distinguishing effects and they don't react in any way. Wondering what response it would do, between attacks I reach forward and touch one of the ones I can attack and I don't get any response from that either. When that doesn't do anything I grab the weapon of one of the close range fighters and try to pry it away from them.

And it does actually end up working, sort of. I am able to pull it off them with almost no resistance in the process and it does result in the thing missing its next attack. However the moment I pick up the sword it was carrying the weapon quickly starts to turn back into dirt and fall through my hands and another sword seems to grow out from the soldier's arms. So I am able to disarm them, but it is probably far less effective than if I just hit the soldier he was going to hit anyway. Makes me wonder what would happen if someone were to take the staff from me. Would the staff turn to dirt and a new one grow out of my arm or something?

But the timer on my second ability has gone away, meaning it's time for me to prove I can do it. I stand up and figure it's not important to actually hit things with it in this case I just stand up where I am and try something out. I send the power down to my legs until they start to grow. Once again I'm much slower at this than the chip was able to do. Once it feels like it is ready I start by kicking straight forward, feeling the line of fire come out of my leg. I then sweep to the side without dropping it and notice the arc starts from where my leg was, meaning it mostly misses the soldiers. I experiment further by then kicking straight backwards and find that it does react the same way as kicking forward, though since it's slower the attack moves a bit slower. And since it is expected I kick that leg up and I can find myself leaping up into the air. Now having full control I also try to see if I can adjust my course in any regard. I can still rotate freely and I find that I can actually still attack with my normal attack, though aiming it is definitely a challenge. I can definitely see quite a few uses for this one, but I can also see quite a few problems with it. Primarily in the fact that it is a fairly long cooldown, probably about twice that of my first ability and I have no control over where I am when I go into the air and I'm assuming if I don't use the flip thing it would simply mean I have to walk everywhere, unless one of my other abilities also has something to help me move it also means its best used as an escape more than anything.