The New Bond

“War is like a storm, a big destructive terrible storm; it builds rapidly and gains strength, and when it hits, fields are ruined, towns are razed, and people die. The most dangerous part of war happens when people get used to wasting life, where every person becomes an icon on a table, and orders have to be disobeyed to live another day. That's when the true horrors of war emerge.” - Theodore Thodum during the Goldrun War.

Kat

I tapped my foot nervously as we waited for the griffins to approach. To say I'd been lucky was an understatement. Being the first to awake after the advancement and as my brother was approaching was a blessing from the gods. I rushed to clean myself up and get something edible in my stomach while at the same time reading the descriptions of my new skills. The last time we'd seen each other was when I got the anti-scrying tattoo, and we'd said goodbye. While it had been presumed by both of us that a few more years would have passed before our next visit, I was itching to give Ren a hug.

As the Griffins drew close overhead, I couldn't help but admire the brown and white feathers of the creatures. They were leagues more beautiful than Aster bond, but when the dragon did take flight, the shiver that ran up my back when I could see her above told me she was more terrifying.

Those thoughts left my mind as the griffins descended, and I could spot the outline of a man against the sky. As the dirt of their landing settled, I held myself back from running up. I had to start acting like my class’s name said I was, that of a princess, but only a little.

As Ren got off the lead griffin, my smile grew wider. Oh gods, was I thankful that I had no tells on my emotion like Aster did.

Giving his griffin a pat, he turned to me and, taking a step forward, opened his arms.

That was when the line of blue frost slammed into the body of one of the griffins in the back.

Aster

Waking up from the advancement was much easier after knowing what to expect. I first stuck a loaf of bread into my mouth, one of the last few saved from the bakery. The second was to check on Umbra. The bond told me she wasn’t outside around the tent, which meant she had finished her advancement before me. Deciding to wait to send a thought to her through the bond, I took a moment to dip out of the tent to do my business and wash up at the nearby river. I didn't hear a person or spot anyone as I walked over the hill, but that didn't mean Graves or anyone else wasn't around; even in grade two, they still had at least a grade on me.

After taking a moment to rest my feet in the river and let my wet hair dry, I finally looked at the blinking in the corner of my vision and let the notifications appear.

[Congratulations, Aster, you have advanced to grade 2 and have gained the following: Access to achievements, advanced attribute information, and skill points.]

[Notice: Any previously earned achievements are retroactive]

I nodded slowly. It was almost the exact same, the only real differences being what was unlocked and the fact that the message used my name. It didn't speak about the error or whatever it was that had happened at the end of the advancement. I tilted my head as I moved to the next set of notifications, a set that hadn't been there at my last advancement.

[Notice: You have made a fundamental change, a racial alteration that has changed your race. Your previous race, Human, has been replaced with Beast-Kin. Racial change can result in various effects and unforeseen alterations.]

[Notice: New title unlocked: Progenitor]

[Notice: Progenitors Quest started]

[Notice: New achievement unlocked: Early Brid]

[Notice: Progenitors Quest set to locked until grade three]

Ah, that last part of the first message almost seemed like a warning. I didn’t feel different; well, I was hungry, but that had to be because I’d only had a loaf of bread so far. That only left questions about my status sheet and any physical differences.

I reread all of the notifications a few times, then realized I'd get nothing more out of them. I reached up to rub my ear, a sense of anticipation mixed with nervousness coming over me. Starting with my tail, I looked over it, but it was still the same bluish-black fur. It was almost like a pronouncement ran through my body as I looked down at the water, the idea that there was going to be something different. There had to be. That feeling was confirmed, but it wasn't what I expected. I had no idea what a Beast-Kin was, and while I could make a few good guesses, what showed in the water wasn't from that race, or most of it at least.

Crystal blue slit eyes looked back at me, not amber, not anymore, and no longer round, but they were my own. I grinned into the water, trying to ease the sharpness my eyes gave, but my canine's showing didn’t help. I tilted my head as I tried a few other expressions. My ears definitely helped to soften the look when I smiled, but there wasn’t any denying that my eyes were like Umbra’s, those of a predator.

Sighing, I lead back. The chimera class option was making more and more sense. Shaking my head, I started to laugh. It started as a chuckle but grew as the entire idea of what was going on finally hit me. I wasn’t a human at all anymore, but neither was I fully beast-kin. What I was, well, god’s be damned, it didn’t matter, did it? I was myself, and I had made the choices I did. Why should what I looked like matter that much? I sat up, taking a moment to look at myself in the water again. It would take a while to get used to this; I needed something else to distract me, and I knew just what it was.

Picking a piece of grass from the ground, I rubbed it between my fingers as I pulled up my status sheet.

[Name: Aster]

[Grade: 2]

[Level: 76]

[Titles: True Daughter of Kulni, Bonded, Progenitor]

[Achievements: Skin to Stone, Early Bird.]

[Mana: 940/940]

[Stamina: 1705/1705]

[Race Class: Beast-Kin - Level 76]

[Sub Race: Progenitor of Wolf-Kin]

[Class Skills: Stalker’s Movement, Pack Bond, Pack Formation, Spirit of the Wild Hunt, Frost Control - Rank Five, Progenitor’s System, Alteration’s Legacy, Primal Shift.]

[Class: Bonded Ranger of Frost - Level 76]

[Class Skills: Bond Speech, Ranger's Aim - Rank Seven, Night Eye - Rank Nine, Advanced Frost Arrow, Lesser Draconic Instinct, Arrow Creation, Lesser Bond Transfer.]

[Passive Class Skills: Stealth - Rank Six, Careful Step - Rank Eight, Advanced Rune Etching - Rank Two, Archery - Rank Nine, Frost Affinity Meditation - Rank Eight, Leatherworking - Rank Three, Forest Stride Basic - Rank One, Tracking Basic - Rank Seven, Skinning - Rank Four, Survival Talent - Rank Six, Hand Combat - Rank Seven, Riding - Rank Seven, Woodworking - Rank Two, Aerial Balance - Rank Three, Arrow Shaping - Rank Three, Cooking - Rank Two.]

[Avaible Skill Points: 79]

[Attributes]

[Available Attribute Points - 9]

[Constitution - 187][x1.0]

[Strength - 309][x1.0]

[Endurance - 341][x1.0]

[Dexterity - 605][x1.01]

[Charisma - 258][x.9]

[Intelligence - 189][x1.0]

[Wisdom - 307][x1.0]

It was a lot to take in, too much, if I was honest. There had to be a way to narrow a lot of it down to make taking a glance at it more manageable, and this cluster had me determined to figure it out. “I wonder if there’s a skill that makes all of this look a bit less cluttered.” My words were just a thought spoken aloud, but as if an answer from the gods, a new screen appeared in front of me. It wasn't the standard blue screen or the bright red that had been in the advancement, but a purple one.

[Protogentor’s System: Recommendation of skill Advanced Status Screen Alteration. Cost: 5 Skill points.]

“What the hell?” I couldn't stop the words from coming out. The screen was so surprising that I swiped it away with my hand. Snorting at my reaction, I looked back at my status sheet and, making the connection with what the screen had said, I focused on the new class skill, Progenitor’s System. The screen that appeared was the same purple as the previous screen, telling me my guess was right.

[Progenitor’s System: A Progenitor requires specific skills to lead the path that others will follow. The Progenitor System allows for this. This skill will alter how the system interacts with the user, allowing for more direct aid.]

“Well, that doesn’t tell me much,” I said with a spark of annoyance. If a class was going to change everything about me, the least it could do was tell me how everything worked. I waited a moment to see if another screen would pop up, and when nothing did, I felt my cheeks redden. I guess it was too much to expect all of my answers to appear. Taking the weird screens as a cue to avoid making another mistake, I started to identify my new skills, and what better place to start than with the other weird-sounding skill?

[Alteration’s Legacy: This skill was created by Alteration in hopes that his knowledge wouldn’t be lost after his death. This skill allows for knowledge Alteration learned to be passed down when in meditation or resting.]

I tossed the grass into the river and groaned. My race class had to be one of the most vague ones out there, and all it did was give more and more questions like who was Alteration? It seemed like a confusing name and not one I’d enjoy having. At least the skill told me how it could be used, and hopefully, some testing would make it easier to understand. Turning my attention to the next skill, I inspected it.

[Primal Shift: As a Beast-Kin, your race has a right to the other half of your form. At the cost of stamina, this skill allows the physical shifting of forms into the related Subspecies of your race. While in use, this skill limits the use of all non-racial skills and abilities.]

[Notice: This skill requires the skill Spirit of the wild hunt to work.]

The skill had me forgiving all of the strange things the class had done up until now. If I understood it right, which I really, really hoped I did, then I could take the form of a wolf. My excitement swelled, and I let out a completely reasonable and not childish squeal. I had had dreams about being a wolf and being able to fully join in on hunts when I lived in the Claw Woods, and I mean, anyone growing up surrounded by wolves twice your size would have, right? Especially when your mother could shift forms between a humanoid and a wolf. Those dreams had faded when I’d found Umbra and had been forgotten about after arriving in Arilon and starting at the academy. With this skill, though, that dream could hopefully become real. I couldn’t count my prey until it was caught. Not wanting to wait, I activated the skill and was met by a purple screen.

[Warning: Due to recent racial changes, it is recommended that the Progenitor waits to use this skill until soul damage is repaired.] [Continue skill activation? Yes/No]

I felt my eye twitch, and then I took a deep breath, letting my sense get the better of my eagerness. It was a hard fight. Soul damage wasn’t something to take lightly. With the pain from my race class changing and my race changing altogether, my soul hadn’t come out unscathed. From the little I knew, damaging a soul wasn’t easy, and while it couldn’t hurt your body directly, it could affect the mind. If a soul was destroyed, a monster core could form, and around that core, a monster. Best to just wait a few days at the least. Blowing air out of my nose, I moved my attention to my second-class skills. My hope for them was that they would be more focused on combat than my race class skills. I started with the skill that had been altered, one that had been a core of my fighting recently, and I identified it.

[Advanced Frost Arrow - This skill allows for an arrow to be imbued with mana, creating a thick film first on the tip of the arrow. This allows for arrows imbued with the skill to partially ignore air resistance. When the tip of the arrow imbued with the skill comes into contact with an object other than the caster, the imbued mana is directed into and spreads to whoever is hit, slowly freezing them and slowing stamina regeneration until mana in the arrow runs out.]

The improvement didn’t seem like much, but the ability to ignore air resistance, even if a little, would allow it to fly further and faster, and while the skill didn't change much otherwise, I would bet that it was more potent. I would have to do a lot of testing and figure out how to adjust my aim to compensate for the differences, but I was more than happy with the skill. Turning my attention to the next new skill, I smiled at its name as I identified it.

[Lesser Draconic Instinct - As beings of great power, dragons are born with instincts enhanced by mana, allowing them to rely on it often more than their eyes. This skill passively grants a sense of danger in a small area around the user and can be increased at the cost of continuous mana. This skill effect is increased when in the air.]

I tilted my head, a bit confused at the description. There wasn’t a lot to go off of, but I didn’t sense anything around me differently. Even putting mana into the skill didn’t seem to do anything, but if it could only sense danger, then that had to be a good thing. I chuckled and shook my head, adding it to my list of things to test in the future. With some interest, I turned to the next skill.

[Arrow Creation: A ranger should always depend on their own craft. This skill increases the benefits of other skills when working with arrows.]

While it had to be one of the most simple skills I had gained from an advancement, I was more than happy to get it. With a bit of excitement, I wondered if it could even help level my advanced rune etching when working on arrows. I pulled out an arrow and then paused as I realized I would probably get carried away, and that would lead nowhere good. Putting the arrow away, I looked at the last skill of my advancement and, rubbing my hands together, I identified it.

[Lessr Bond Transfer - As a bond grows, so does the connection and the reliability. This skill allows for the transfer of Mana and Stamina to your bond at a significant cost.] [Notice: Constant use of this skill without rest can strain the bond and cause soul damage to the user.]

I could see multiple uses for the skill, but remembering my current soul damage, I decided against testing it now. Still, in a fight, it could be the difference between life and death. If I had the skill, did it mean that Umbra had it or could get it? Rubbing one of my ears, I felt the bond. It was time to see how Umbra was.

“Did your advancement go well?” I asked her as I started my walk back after changing clothes into a clean pair of tunic and pants and pulled out another loaf of bread to eat. It was really good,

“Well, look who finally woke up. You know you're advancement took three days longer than anyone else. Nine days.” Umbra said, but a moment later, she added, “It went well. Most of my skills advanced to a greater version, but I didn't gain any new skills.”

I could feel the relief from the bond and the slight grumble, and I could understand. As a dragon, Umbra’s advancement worked differently. Her advancement didn’t give her a new class option until grade four. Instead, her class and skills were improved, which meant that the skills she had she was stuck with grew stronger and stronger.

“Why didn’t you come over when I woke up? I know the feeling of the bond being empty.” I shivered at the memory. I just didn’t feel right, and judging the bond, she agreed.

“For one, you smelled like two-day-old prey, and another, when I awoke, there were visitors here, and we got in a slight fight.” At her words, I felt her embarrassment, and I blinked in surprise, but no images came through the bond to clear up her words.

“Did you kill them?” I asked, concerned as I sped up my pace slightly.

“No, although I took a few feathers, I don’t think they expected my breath to hit as hard as it did, but it turned out they were expected.” She was a bit snarky with her words, but I didn't miss the important detail she mentioned.

“Feathers? Umbra who’s here?”

“You’ll see, I haven't told them you’re awake.” With her words, I got a rough idea of where she was, in the middle of the camp, eating what seemed like a mix of a big cat and a snake with skin made of fiber.

I crested the slope to the camp and looked down. When I’d left, I hadn't paid much attention, instead focusing on cleaning up and stuffing my face, but as I looked down on the other side of the camp from my tent a little ways away, Umbra was eating her meal, in the direction she was facing, there was another trio of tents a little ways off. Around those tents were two forms slightly larger than the tents, and as I looked at them. I could make out their tails and wings, and when one screeched, I almost dropped my bread in awe. There were griffins here!