The New Bond

“Nature Affinity in mana is a mix of a few affinities but is only considered a secondary affinity because of the requirement that it always has some variation of Life Affinity or Earth Affinity. That is why Druids, Elves, and people who specialize in this affinity usually lean towards either support, defensive, or healing classes in adventuring groups. It is recommended that people who aim for this affinity spend time trying to understand how nature works in a way that the person can understand and agree with.” Anderson Drowk on the variations of affinities.

Aster

Getting ready to leave the dungeon was a series of small steps, literally.

My first priority was fixing up my leg, and that required me to get over to my bag. A painful and slow process, but now, with no worry about being attacked, I didn't have a problem doing just that. As I walked, or rather hobbled, towards the forest, I decided to check my status sheet. It'd been a while since I'd really looked at it as a whole, and it served to keep my mind off the throbbing spin that kept increasing.

[Name: Aster]

[Grade: 2]

[Level: 81]

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

[Achievements: Skin to Stone, Early Bird.]

[Mana: 965/965]

[Stamina: 1730/1730]

[Race Class: Beast Kin - Level 81]

[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.]

[Second Class: Bonded Ranger - Level 81]

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

[Passive Class Skills: Stealth - Rank Six, Careful Step - Rank Nine, 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 Five, Survival Talent - Rank Six, Hand Combat - Rank Seven, Riding - Rank Seven, Woodworking - Rank Five, Aerial Balance - Rank Three, Arrow Shaping - Rank Three, Cooking - Rank Two, Basic Farming - Rank 1.]

[Available Skill Points: 66]

[Attributes]

[Available Attribute Points - 54]

[Constitution - 222][x1.0]

[Strength - 344][x1.0]

[Endurance - 386][x1.0]

[Dexterity - 650][x1.01]

[Charisma - 278][x.9]

[Intelligence - 219][x1.0]

[Wisdom - 327][x1.0]

The small level increase in both classes for the whole dungeon seemed lacking at first, but having The knowledge that after grade one, each grade only had twenty-five levels but held a bigger impact made the lack of a bigger gain understandable, if a bit upsetting. Two main points that caught my eye were the fact my new bow skill went into my second glass and that my skill points were decently high.

A good side note was the jump in my skills. It was a small jump and only for a few, but Careful Step was now at rank nine. I didn't remember seeing the notification of it increasing, but I could have just missed it. Either way, it meant that skill was close to advancing, and I wondered what would be offered as an upgrade. The free Attribute Points I had could be spent now, and I was tempted to dump them into constitution to help the leg heal faster, but the benefit would be minor even with almost fifty points, and there was something I wanted to test when I had time that would take a few. Looking around, I judged where I'd left my bag and started into the forest.

With the witch's power so fresh in my mind, I was also going back over the idea of learning more skills. I still had a few I hadn't tried and still had to figure out what they exactly did, but it was possible that something like the fight with the witch could have gone much more poorly if I didn't have the Progenitor System to find me the skills I asked for. One of the ones that stuck in my mind was the Status Screen Alteration, which cost five skill points. It was cheap, and it was my hope that it would help with how cluttered the screen was becoming, but again, I'd probably wait at least until I went over the idea with Umbra.

Rubbing my face, I yawned, but it turned into a gasp of pain as I tried to take a step. My injured leg refused to rise, and I almost fell. Turning around, I jerked my foot free of the root that it had got caught in, then righted. Looking down, I snarled at the piece of wood sticking out of the ground before turning around and continuing walking.

My bag was where I'd left it and sitting down on a large root. I opened it up, pulled out the remaining cloth patches, and looked at the gouge of my leg. One of the patches didn't cover the wide opening completely, but applying them over each and sticking them over one another worked well enough. In the long term, they would start to peel apart; that didn't matter, though. Leaning my head against the trunk of the tree, I grimaced as I thought of the reaction Umbra would have when she saw me. My leather was covered in grime and splinters from the entire dungeon, my ears and tail were caked with dirt that wouldn't be easy to wash off, and my whole body was becoming, if not already, one big bruise. I started to giggle, and as it turned into a chuckle, I closed my eyes and focused on the bond. The invisible strands that connected us were there but stopped after a certain point, just vanishing into nothing.

The feeling of being cut off from Umbra was unpleasant, but it was a reminder that the sooner I harvested the core of the witch and got out of the dungeon, the sooner I could see her. Opening my eyes, I leaned down and closed my bag, then slipped it on. Looking around, I found a good stick, a bit long and curved, but it helped to support my leg. Making the trip back to the village was much easier after the small break, and walking through the trees brought up the memory of when I'd broken an arm for the first time in the forest, exploring a small ruin. Sandath and I had been in a panic, mostly out of the fear of what Kulni would say and Sandath having to be relatively gentle in the run back to the cave with me on his back. It was a fond memory that was almost ten years ago, but it still served as a warning not to go against what mother said.

The witch's corpse was almost a complete pile of ash except for the upper part of the body and part of an arm that was already starting to fall apart. Looking over it, I titled my head, scanning what was left of the body. The witch was close to human-looking but not quite. Still, it was as close as I'd ever seen a monster. The long arms that stretched down to where its feet must have been before they'd turned to dust were thin, mixing that with the long fingers and larger than-necessary eyes. Even in death, the monster looked just wrong. I shuddered and got to my knees, setting my pack down on the side and looking at the pile of ash. I judged where the core might be and then reminded myself that it was a dungeon creature before rooting around.

The core was a red color with sparks of the same black energy used in the attack floating around in the center. It was no bigger than the cores of the beast on the second floor but was heavy and had a feeling of a much more dense energy when touched. Putting it on my back, I wiped my hands on my chest to clean them and stood before looking around at the buildings. Almost all of them had a piece missing or were outright destroyed. The idea to loot them and take everything I could was tempting, so much so that I almost put off returning. The deciding factor was the fact that I couldn't store any of the furniture because of the spatial lock inside the dungeon. There might be items inside the houses that could be useful. I just couldn't care enough.

Looking around the dungeon, I smiled as I stopped at the rune circle of the portal that would lead out. As hard as it was, and as much as I wished I'd had at least one other person to help me, the experience of running a dungeon alone wasn't lost on me. Being alone in a place where I knew there was danger had a way of forcing me to reevaluate what I was doing and how I could do it better, not that I wanted to do it again. That said, now I was going to be looking into a quiver and how to make one work.

Taking in a breath of the air, I stepped into the circle, and with a flash of blue light and a pause that seemed long and short, I was somewhere else and blinked to clear my vision before I started to cough. The smell of the air was horrible. The smell was from the yellow rock, the sulfur I had all but forgotten about. It sent a burning feeling through my nose, and I leaned down, blinded for a moment as my eyes started to water. Using the stick as support, I let myself adjust for a moment, taking in unpleasant breaths through my mouth. Only after the attack on my nostrils had become manageable did I look around.

I was in a round cave, a small one with a smooth wall and a glowing light that came from a white stone above the only exit through a small wood door. Adjusting the straps on my shoulders, I moved over to the door and opened it. The pathway outside took a long moment to remember. It was the first hallway in the dungeon on the first floor, the one I'd thought had a trap. Looking at the door, I knew it hadn't been there when I'd first come, though I sighed. I still had a long way to walk until I was out. It seemed unlike the first dungeon that put me outside the dungeon. This one seemed determined to keep me inside as long as possible. “I'm not coming back here ever if I can help it,” I grumbled as I started the walk.

An hour of small breaks, slow walking, and debating using stalker's movement to move faster was what it took to reach the entrance. The smell of fresh but still rancid air was a blessing and curse. The strong breeze that flowed into the entrance was the first sign that I had left the dungeon; the other sign was the bond snapping into place, the end of the strands nearby but actually leading to someone.

The feeling was abrupt but also the best feeling in the world, and I couldn't stop the smile from spreading onto my face.

“Umbra, This place still smells terrible. How long has it been, and I'm still not used to it?” I spoke through the bond, relishing the feeling of her happiness and joy.

“Aster! Three days. I'm so happy you're back, but how bad was it? I can tell you're in pain.” Her voice trailed off at the end. I paused, wondering the best way to explain everything that had happened without making her more worried. The truth in small amounts would work better.

“It was difficult, the first floor was long, but the monsters were easily put down. The boss for it was a problem because it was made almost completely of stone and metal, but the second floor was a lot harder. I did get hurt, but it's not anything I won't heal from after a nice wash, and I got a lot of cores.”

I started walking again and shifted my bag to reach easier. I laid a hand on it and stored it in my spatial storage with my bow and spare arrows, happy to have the weight off my shoulders.

Umbra was silent for a moment, and I paused at the entrance as I waited for her response, a bit anxious for her to see me. “I'm relieved you're okay, but this was the last one without me and the only one alone.” Her words weren't a question, and I could feel the firm conviction behind them. Nodding to her and knowing she received the gesture through the bind, I smiled slightly as I covered my eyes from the sun and stepped out. It was the latter part of the afternoon with only a few hours of the sun left in the sky, but that light was covered quickly by a shadow and a large snout that sniffed me and wrinkled but didn't move back.

I reached up and rubbed the snout with a long sigh. There were a few things I'd found that could relax muscles and relieve aches, like a cool bath or laying in the grass enjoying the sun on a perfect day, but nothing I could think of was like making contact with Umbra. The relief was only temporary, though it acted like a mind cleaner and gave me the energy I'd need to get everything done before I fell asleep. “I'm glad I'm back.” I sighed.

“I'm glad you're back as well, but seriously, you need to bathe. I know creatures can smell, but I'd be able to scent you from a mile away and for days.” A rumble that I knew was a laugh came out of Umbra, and I rolled my eyes.

“I know, I know, there's nothing I want more right now than to clean the grime out of my fur and off my skin. When we get back, I'll end up sleeping for a week. While the floors weren't as complicated as the last dungeon I did, the second floor wasn't easy, and there's a lot I want to go over with you.”

The enjoyment of the moment was broken by several squawks and a voice a few dozen feet away calling out.

“I'm glad to see you made it out, but we need to talk.”

Renald Karvum

Ren was surprised, setting up tents near the dungeon and having his nearby run carver engrave something to give them all clean air. It made the short stay here tolerable, especially because he'd been in worse areas, but after the third day, Ren had started to get angry, and he wondered how long they should wait. He knew he should be out of this wasted piece of land helping to form the Empire into what it used to be before it was twisted Into a house of war, but in his eyes, a family came first. He needed to make sure this threat was dealt with before any of his citizens and, most importantly, his sister went into the event.

The topic of what would happen when the dragon felt the bond snap had also been a concern, but with three griffins, each almost three grades above her, there wasn't A worry about bringing it down if it didn't try to flee and a dragon suffering from a bond loss especially this early into its life wouldn't be a true threat.

Those plans and worries had been tossed off the griffin when the girl had actually come out. He'd been alerted To the exit by the dragon getting up and moving close, but he'd still managed to get a glimpse.

He didn't have to wonder if she'd actually fight the final boss with the injury he could see on her leg. Feeling his teeth grind in his mouth, he took a second to look away and rubbed the neck of his griffin while he thought. This entire operation going on was insane when he thought about it. A dragon rider he had to indirectly kill because her parent wasn't related directly to Arilon. If she had been related to the kingdom, he could have killed her and could have claimed defense of the border, but there were spells that could reveal the truth, and the guardian who lived in the forest was no easy opponent from what the books said.

He tapped his foot and thought for a moment he'd made a plan for this outcome, one that would love both the dragon issue and rider issue at once and honor his word. The Bestor Dungeon. It wasn't the closest dungeon that could fit a dragon, but a very dangerous one at the moment. With it partway through its advancement into a grade four dungeon as determined by their dungeon analysts, it was actively hunting for mana. Seeing as it was normally a specialized dungeon for large groups and the closest city required that a group of twelve grade three people run the second floor because, for a multitude of reasons, there shouldn't be a chance in any gods that she or her dragon made it out. He took in a long breath and shook his head. He needed to be on the safe side, and to do that, he'd have to twist the truth and force them in as soon as possible.