The New Bond

Aster

The mental tap on the bond was enough to wake me up from my doze. I'd been waiting all night, feeling the bond as it grew stronger as Umbra got closer. The tap was to let me know she had made it safely to the Forest, and I yawned as I spoke through the bond. How was the flight?”

“It was longer than we thought it would be, but there was nothing that bothered me, and I caught quite a big bird right before I got into the forest. There's a tight grove of trees I found a few miles east from you to sleep in.” As Umbra spoke, I could feel the tired but joyful emotions

Looking around the small cave, I saw that Wren was the one sleeping, with me having taken the first watch and him having the second. It meant Kat was awake, and the sun should be coming up soon, which left no time to visit Umbra.

“Get some rest. I can tell you're tired. Tomorrow night, I'll get away and meet you there. There's no telling where the minders are, so I'll have to be careful.”

Standing up, I stretched, then rubbed the fur on my tail straight and tried to clean up my hair somewhat. It had tangled in the bedroll, making it a pain. After I felt a little more presentable, I made my way outside and could just make out the dawn light starting to rise through the leaves of the treeline.

“Good morning. Want some of last night's bear?” Kat's voice had me turning and looking at where we had made the fireplace and pulled some logs up to sit on last night. She was currently sitting on one of the logs, using another as a backrest.

I shook my head. “I thought to go and try to catch something a bit less tough and try to get some kind of tracking skill.”

It had been a surprise last night when we'd cooked the bear meat and found out that while it tasted fine, the texture was like chewing the bark of a tree

Kat snorted and nodded. “Do you need anyone to come with you? Splitting off doesn't seem particularly safe.”

“No, I think I'll be fine. I'm not going to fight anything I can't take, and I can get away quite easily. It's not like the dungeon.”

Kat nodded, seeming to agree with my words, reaching down into her bag by her feet and pulling out a small metal disk with runes drawn on it. Using her knife, she started carving out the lines.

I started to check my equipment, going over everything. At the same time, I pulled my bow out and clipped it to my back. I felt a little embarrassed that I'd forgotten it yesterday when we'd set out. While taking the bow out of spatial storage was virtually free, I didn't want to depend on keeping my weapons in the collar's gem.

Looking down at myself, I frowned. The flight suit was fine. The black would blend in fine with the shadows, but the leather armor had purple over it. The scale pattern broke it up nicely, but it still was a color that would draw the animal's eyes, so I'd have to be more careful when tracking and seeking up to take a shot.

“I'll try to stay close to parry range and return before the sun reaches its high. Send a message through the party system if anything happens.”

With those words, I set off into the treeline. The time frame wouldn't allow me to visit Umbra, but I would make time tonight. As I made my way through the trees, I focused on moving slowly and avoiding anything that would cause too much noise. I was rewarded with a ding only a few hundred feet later.

[Through experience and showing expertise, you have gained the skill Forest Stealth Basic - Rank One.]

[Through hard work and an abundance of knowledge shown in Forest Stealth Basic - Rank One and unearned skills, The skill Forest Stealth Basic - Rank One has been altered to Forest Stride Basic - Rank One

I felt my ears flick in a bit of confusion, and after a moment, I pulled up my character sheet, then focused on the skill and read the window that popped up.

[Forest Stride Basic - Rank One - This passive skill combines the skills Forest Explorer Basic, Forest Stealth Basic, and Forest Travel Basic. This passive skill improves all types of travel through any forest.]

My tail swayed happily as I closed the screens. While the skill didn't give me the feeling of any jump in abilities, it was nice that my work before grade one was being recognized. The only thing that made me frown was the fact that Kulni hadn't told me about this. I could have had loads of skills, even if they were all passive, before going to the city. Stepping around a pile of sticks and speeding up, I pushed the thought away. She had to have had a reason, and I could ask her when I went back. For now, I wanted to gain the skills.

As the sun rose slowly, I did my best to focus on each act, trying to gain a skill for everything I thought would get one. The results varied, but over the course of the morning, I got three more skills: one for tracking a deer called Tracking Basic, another one for skinning the deer not surprisingly called Skinning. The last skill I gained was almost by accident.

I had turned around and started to head back to the camp when I had the idea of moving through the trees to try to gain some more levels in balance, but as I made my way up and from tree to tree with Stalkers Movement when a mental ding sounded, I almost didn't read it the screen that appeared assuming that it was just an increased balance level but the second ding and screen had me stopping to look them over.

[With grace and the use of movement skills, you have gained the skill Acrobatics - Rank One.]

[Two passive skills, Ballance - Rank Four and Acrobatics - Rank One, can be merged. Merge skills? Note: Some effects have the chance of change depending on the skills merged and their previous usage. Skill will be set to Rank One.]

I frowned for the second time today. This was another thing that hadn't been explained to me. My frustration was aimed at the academy this time. Merging skills seemed like one of the first things that should be mentioned with skills.

I didn't have to think hard about what to do and mentally confirmed I wanted to merge the skills. The feeling of having a skill dragged out of my body wasn't painful, but it also wasn't pleasant. The strange feeling of lacking something I had just had was quickly refilled.

[The skills Ballance - Rank One and Acrobatics - Rank One have been merged into Careful Step - Rank One.]

I quickly pulled up the skill description and read it.

[Careful Step - Rank One - This passive skill improves balance and will drastically enhance balance when in motion, relating to movement based on balance. This passive skill aids in learning footwork-related skills.]

The skill had definitely changed in a way I hadn't expected, but there was potential in the skill. The effect of the skill was instantly noticeable in my first few steps on the branch. My feet felt like they almost snapped to the wood when I moved, and my steps felt more sure than ever. The downside of the skill was apparent as well.

When I stopped moving, the feel of the skill changed. While I kept my balance, the feeling of being stuck to the wood was gone.

Checking, I noticed the skill specifically mentioned when in motion, I gained an increase in balance.

I spent the better part of half an hour getting used to the skill, testing it in the trees, on fallen logs, and even in stones. While my feet didn't actually stick to anything, I found it hard to fall while not actively trying to. The only time the skill didn't apply at all was when I was in the air.

I had a smile on my face. If Umbra hadn't been asleep, I would have been trying to think of other skills we had that could be merged.

Reaching camp again, I saw that Wren and Kat were both outside of the Cave doing their own things.

Kat was still working on carving out the runes and had a set of discs already on the ground. Wren was practicing his sword strikes on a log. They both looked up when I walked in, and Kat greeted me with a wave. It was hard to hold my excitement in as I started to explain what I'd been doing. At the same time, I pulled out the skinned deer and began to cut up the meat, placing it on a flat stone that had been dragged out of the cave last night; it would make a good breakfast.

When I brought up the merging of skills, neither of them seemed surprised by it at all. In fact, they seemed more surprised that I had gained four skills in a morning. When I asked why they didn't think it was a big deal, Kat had the grace to look a bit embarrassed. “I thought it was common knowledge. I was taught it by my mother when I was raised.” She said

Wren gave Kat a narrow look as he spoke, “Tutors taught me, but most commoners don't gain that many skills not related to their class. Skill merging can only happen with passive skills, so it's not exactly a common thing unless you're an adventure or noble.”

Kat looked surprised and added with a bit of a hitch in her voice, “Well, that would make sense. My father was an adventurer, but only for a few years before he met my mother.”

I perked up at the words, looking up from the leg I was removing. “Your father was an Adventurer? You never told me.”

Kat looked to the forest and let out a long breath. “I wasn't born yet, and he didn't talk about it.”

I winced at the sound of slight anger in her voice and dropped the idea of getting any stories about it but didn't miss the quick, interested look Wren got.

After the meat was butchered and cooked, we all started to work on improving in our own way until noon. At that time, we would go as a group to try to find a beast or a few to fight. I spent the time working on the process of making the bear hide into leather. The process was a lot more in-depth than I had ever thought, and I found myself actively enjoying the process as I moved from step to step. When I had to wait, I started on the deer hide. Over the course of the few hours I worked, I gained two levels in leatherworking Basic.

Once we were getting ready to leave, I pulled up my status sheet and looked at it.

[Name: Aster]

[Grade: 1]

[Level: 53]

[Titles: True Daughter of Kulni, Bonded]

[Mana: 475/475]

[Stamina: 980/980]

[Race Class: Daughter of Kulni- Level 53]

[Class Skills: Stalker’s Movement, Pack Bond, Pack Formation, Spirit of the Wild Hunt, Frost Control - Rank One]

[Second Class: Bonded Ranger - Level 40]

[Class Skills: Bond Speech, Leatherworking Basic - Rank One, Ranger's Aim - Rank Three, Night Eye - Rank Three.]

[Passive Class Skills: Stealth - Rank Two, Careful Step - Rank One, Rune Etching - Rank Six, Archery - Rank Nine, Frost Affinity Meditation - Rank Two, Leatherworking Basic - Rank One, Forest Stride Basic - Rank One, Tracking Basic - Rank One, Skinning - Rank One.]

[Attributes]

[Available Attribute Points - 14]

[Constitution - 93]

[Strength - 166]

[Endurance - 196]

[Dexterity - 324]

[Charisma - 140]

[Intelligence - 96]

[Wisdom - 167]

While I would have rather never met a Wraith, the levels from aiding in the kill, however slight, had done a lot. There were also the free attribute points I was going to wait to assign, but looking at my attributes, I was just too tempted and spent eleven to bring constitution and intelligence to both above a hundred. While the points didn't affect me in a way, I could instantly feel it was amazing to have every single one of my attributes that high.

Locking my bow in place on my back, I looked at Kat. As we discussed last night, Wren would be taking point, and I would be in the middle, keeping an eye out for anything that might be missed. After packing out our essential items, we started off. The idea was to loop around the cave further and further away until we found something or it got too dark to hunt safely. Unlike the Claw Woods, where life seemed to be abundant, and monsters and beasts were everywhere except around the den, this forest was quiet. Deer and smaller animals were abundant and only in the lower levels of grade one. The only thing of interest that was found was some small red thumb-sized leaves I recognized that would add a nice spicy tang to meat. It took three more hours before we found any traces of something bigger than a deer, and to my disappointment, I recognized them as more bear tracks. Still, we followed them to a den and, after watching it for twenty minutes, we could confirm it was only one. The fight went to plan this time, and with Wren luring it out and distracting it, Kat and I were able to take it down quickly.

After skinning and storing the beast, we went back to camp. All of us were upset that there had been nothing close by to fight, but it made sense if the bears had regularly used this area to hunt.

As the day drew to a close, all of us went back to working on improving our skills, and with a few probing questions, while I worked on starting a fire to roast the meat, I managed to convince Kat to tell me what she knew about the adventuring guild. Henry had gone over how to join and the structure, but Kat expanded on what it meant to be in the guild.

“The main reason a lot of people join the guild is either to grow to avoid politics, with the guild spanning the entire known continent and branches in almost every big city in Arilon and Karvum, they openly recruit from both.”

I tilted my head as Kat paused to take a piece of the meat of a stick and popped it in her mouth. I asked, “Why would both countries allow this? It seems weird that you'd have something that big in your cities, and wouldn't it cause problems?”

“Yes and no, there's still a lot of hate between the Elves and Dwarfs, and they're rarely partnered up, but when you join the Guild, you make a system boud oath that states while you're part of the guild and up to three years after you leave you can't take act in any politics regarding the countries or and city-states, not that there's a lot left. The big reason that the adventures guild can't be removed is they provide too big of an aid to the city and local economy.” Kat sat down on one of the logs, stretching out. “The guild takes almost any contract regarding monster attacks, and they host quite a few expeditions into the desert ruins, so everyone really benefits.”

Nodding slowly, I turned the meat as I thought over her words. Signing a system contract didn't sound appealing, but if Umbra and I could stay untied to any country and explore both, it would probably be worth it. I asked a few more related questions, picking every piece of knowledge I could from Kat before the meat was finished. Once done, we sat to eat. Wren had gone out to check the nearby forest, so I couldn't say when he would be back, but it was nice to have his stare gone from the camp. There was a mix of deer and bear with the spice on both. As we ate, I remembered the disk I'd seen Kat carving, and when asked, she pulled one of them out and handed it over. It was a small round piece of metal with runes carved around the middle, nothing overly special.

As I looked at the runes, she explained it. “I wanted to create a way to trigger most traps in dungeons. This disk might do the trick. It heats up and will vibrate while letting out mana. It lacks the rune to increase its weight, which is all that's missing, but once it's done, it'll save me from having to buy similar items. In the future, I want to look into illusion runes and spells to improve it.”

I agreed that it was a good idea. Handing the disk back, I wondered about making something similar. The disk, if it triggered a trap, would probably be destroyed, but it would be better than being in its place.

I opened my mouth to ask her if it could be done on something smaller, but before I could speak, the sound of a cracking stick put the hair on my tail on end, and I turned to the noise. Wren made a lot of racket with his metal clinking and moving. I would have heard him well before he stepped on a stick right outside of the clearing. Normally, I would have missed what I saw in the shade of the tree and the falling sun, but with the help of Night Eye and the setting sun at just the right angle, the glint of metal reflecting the light of the campfire was enough of a warning to grab Kat and push to the side with Stalkers Movement. I had never used the skill while holding someone before, and to my relief, the skill worked, but the draw on mana was unbelievably high, and in that short movement, over a hundred points of mana and two hundred points of stamina were gone. Looking up, I felt my blood freeze. I stared at the figure covered in a fimilar black cloak in horror.