Zones of Alacria- The Dragon Gate

by K R Dimmick

  I took a deep breath. This was it. I was going to go with the crazy choice I was being drawn to and see what happened. I put the point into Transform 1.

  Now back to my free skill level. Arcane Magic, Spirit Magic or Pet Bond? While I’d love to get Arcane Magic going, I couldn’t even unlock a single skill until I had another five points in Wisdom. It would probably be incredibly easy to level up too, so that was off the short list.

  You know what, I thought, life is short. I only have three more days left that I can guarantee. The decision I’d made about my Pet Bond Point felt good, so why not embrace it all the way and do what my instincts were telling me to do? Like the trainer had told me so long ago, I finally had complete control of my life. My success or failure was down to me. So, the only thing stopping me from following my instincts was what I thought others might think of my decision. It was time to let that go.

  I brought up the skill panel before I could change my mind and, with a shaky hand, I selected Pet Bond as the skill I wanted to use my free level up on.

  Congratulations! You have 1 Pet Bond Point to spend

  Select one of the skills below.

  Share 1.

  Combine 1.

  Transform 2.

  It looked like I still had the same options as last time for my first two choices, and I’d also gotten a new one.

  I felt Soter’s fur brush my leg as he sat down beside me. I wondered what he thought of my decision to select Transform 1, and then get another level up for our bond.

  I think it is good. I glanced at him with my eyebrows raised.

  Wolves always go with their instincts. You are learning. Learning is good.

  “Well, I couldn’t agree more with that,” I laughed. It sounded like his speaking skills had improved yet again.

  I pulled up the description for Transform 2 and read it out to Soter.

  Transform 2

  Transform yourself into a copy of your selected pet for 15 minutes.

  Your body is transformed, and you gain identical skills to them. You also retain your pet’s senses for 5 minutes after you transform back. You are in complete control over your transformed body. There is no distance limitation.

  Cooldown: 24 hours.

  Cost: 1 Pet Bond Point

  Interesting. It lasted longer, and I also got Soter’s increased sense of smell, sight and hearing for five minutes afterward. That could be useful. I wondered what it would lead to, though, for my next level up.

  Combine 1 was still calling to me, however, and I now wanted to know what Combine 2 might offer.

  It was a day of following my instincts. I decisively picked Combine 1 and closed the screen. What’s done is done and I’d try them out tomorrow.

  Tomorrow, we hunt together. You will learn more.

  “Done,” I nodded. Tonight, though, as much as I wished I could stay awake and keep working on what I had to do next, I needed to get a few hours of sleep.

  I awoke to a large red number four in the top right of my vision, reminding me that time was running out. The biggest thing I had left to do was create my potion, but I was also starting to suspect that my Pet Bond skills might have a lot to do with my success at taming a dragon. If that’s what I was even supposed to do. This meant that working on improving my Pet Bond skill with Soter would be time well spent.

  “Soter and I are going out to hunt this morning and learn to work together better,” I told Mikael, who seemed to be the only other person awake this early. “I got a few new Pet Bond skills to try out. Do you want to come along?”

  “That does sound like it has the potential to be fun, but shouldn’t you be trying to kill yourself in the Alchemy hut instead?” Mikael smirked.

  “No,” I said, refusing to let him get to me. “Aliz has all her mother’s detailed instructions in that journal, so she’s going to try leveling herself up a bit with the usual HP, SP and MP potions. And besides, the Herbalist and Allion haven’t come back with the extra ingredients yet, so there’s not a whole lot I can experiment with.”

  “Ah well, something to look forward to, then,” Mikael grinned.

  I am hungry, it is time to hunt. Soter walked up between us, letting me scratch his head.

  “Let’s head in the direction of Ratters Town, if that works for you,” Mikael offered. “I might stop by there later and see what’s going on.”

  We walked through the shield and out into El Silvam. It was time to experiment.

  I wasn’t quite sure how my new Pet Bond skills would work, but I decided it was better to start with Combine 1 so I could at least see the whole process in action before I used the one with the longer cooldown.

  I thought Combine, but frustratingly, nothing happened. I tried Combine with Soter, since if I could have several pets, then maybe I needed to specify which pet I wanted to combine health, mana and stamina pools with, but that produced the same result. A big, fat nothing.

  “Why don’t you try to imagine opening yourself up to being combined with Soter,” Mikael suggested. “I’ve not seen it happen, but the friend we were going to visit in Ratters Town that has a pet seems to merge his mind with it. He once described it to me as opening himself up and simply letting himself become his pet.”

  Well, at this point, anything was worth a go, but it seemed like his friend had picked the Share skill instead of the two I had, so I wasn’t overly optimistic.

  With Soter keeping watch on the far side of the little clearing we were in, I sat down on the floor with my back against a tree and closed my eyes. I imagined myself opening up. I thought Combine as I pictured the energies that surrounded both Soter and me merging.

  It was a good thing I was sitting down. The most disorienting feeling I’d ever had washed over me. It was like I’d used to know where my body started and ended, but now that feeling had been replaced by a feeling of starting on one side of me and ending on the other side of Soter. I glanced down at the bottom of my vision to find the health bar I usually had for Soter had disappeared and the HP, SP and MP bars I normally had were now on a different scale.

  I stood up slowly and cast Healing Mist on the area around me. Sure enough, the combined mana bar shrunk, but not as much as it normally did. It also promptly filled back up much faster than normal, as well.

  “Can you move to the other side of the clearing, Soter,” I asked, looking over at him.

  He had all four legs spread out like he was terrified of falling over.

  This feels confusing.

  I started laughing and would probably have fallen over myself if Mikael hadn’t reached out to grab me as I started to try and walk further away from Soter. This was definitely going to take some getting used to. I couldn’t imagine what would have happened if I’d tried it out for the first time in combat.

  The further I went, the bigger the field seemed to get, and the more disorientating it felt. Mikael helped me walk back until I was right next to Soter. Suddenly, it was like everything became clearer. I looked down to check that it wasn’t simply because the skill had ended, but it wasn’t. I still had only three colored lines at the bottom of my vision.

  Soter looked like he felt the same way and was now standing normally, instead of looking like a baby deer on an ice patch.

  I took a small step away from Soter, who looked up at me with concern written across his face. Everything still felt normal. I took another step. All of a sudden, the disorientation returned in full force. Before I could move back, though, the feeling started to lessen. I stood my ground, and a few seconds later, I felt okay again.

  The two minutes we had left on the skill were spent seeing how far apart we could get without falling over. By the time the skill ended, we were both happily standing on opposite sides of the clearing with no ill effects. The question was, would it be the same next time, or would we start with the range we could currently manage? There was only one way to find out, and there was an hour’s cooldown left before we could try it again.

  46

>   Excuse Me for Trying to Kill Stuff

  Two more attempts with Combine 1 had left both Soter and me a lot more comfortable with the skill. He could move around like normal, while I still had to stand still for a few seconds after starting the skill.

  Mikael held a finger up to his lips just as I was about to say something.

  Three approach.

  We crouched down into stealth to avoid being seen until we knew who was there, because there’s no way we’d have detected an elf party before they’d seen us.

  “…sick of being treated like his errand boy.”

  Colt, Saris and Baynor came into view, walking around the edges of El Silvam. They were hauling a huge cage between the three of them, with two corrupted mobs in it. One rabbit and one squirrel. Why they were walking toward Ratters Town with corrupted mobs, I had no idea. With a lot of finger pointing, we decided to follow them and see what they were up to.

  “I’m supposed to be part of the guild leadership now,” whined Colt. “I can’t believe he has me doing grunt work again.”

  They stopped walking as Colt turned around to face the others.

  “I don’t understand it. Somehow, it makes sense when he first tells you what to do, but when you get out here, you feel like you’ve been disrespected yet again.” Colt threw his hands up in the air and looked at the others.

  “Can’t say I know what you’re talking about,” Baynor chipped in. “I just follow the orders I’m given and get on with doing them.”

  “I’m just sick of him telling me what to do and threatening to kick me out if I don’t do it,” Saris complained. “I can’t say anything he says ever makes sense.”

  It looked like Andrew was using his powers of persuasion on Colt at least, who in turn clearly didn’t realize what was going on. I supposed the others were too far beneath him to bother with. Well, they were getting what they deserved, in my opinion.

  Without thinking, I turned to walk away from the area.

  “What was that?” Baynor asked quietly, his bow popping out of his inventory and into his hand instantly.

  I froze, silently berating myself for not thinking things through.

  “What was what?” asked Colt. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, like Andrew requested, the only thing around here are wild animals. Stop jumping at ghosts and put that stupid bow away.”

  “I’m telling you, I heard something over there,” Baynor said, pointing toward the bushes we were hiding in.

  Soter slunk lower, crawling silently out from underneath the bushes. As soon as he reached the edge of our hiding place, he bolted, making more noise than I’d ever heard him make while running.

  “See, what did I tell you, it’s just a stupid wild animal,” Colt sneered. “Let’s get back to what we’re supposed to be doing, shall we? Because I’ve had enough of lugging this cage around.”

  Baynor seemed to accept what Colt was saying, despite looking like he was having second thoughts. Saris, on the other hand, did not.

  “I’m going to see if there are any more in there,” she declared, crouching down into stealth.

  Thankfully, since we already knew she was there, her stealth failed, and we could see her creeping slowly toward where we were hiding. I had no idea if the two of us could take out the three of them, since from the look of it, they’d all gotten past level 12 already. Colt was even up to level 15. It didn’t matter if they killed me since I’d respawn, but Mikael wouldn’t.

  I glanced at Mikael, frantically pointing to myself and then miming walking on all fours with my fingers. He stared back at me with his eyebrows disappearing under his hair. Clearly, I was not good at miming. Time for action instead.

  I closed my eyes and imagined Soter and what he looked like. Thinking Transform, I imagined my body changing into a wolf.

  It was the weirdest feeling I’d ever had. My body seemed to become liquid. It rearranged itself, my legs shrinking and my arms growing, as I found myself standing on four legs instead of two. The look of shock on Mikael’s face was priceless.

  I crouched down, and found that, unlike my other pet skill, this one just felt normal and I knew exactly how to be a wolf. Copying Soter, I slunk lower and crawled out from underneath the bushes. I could see Saris to my right getting closer and closer to our hiding place.

  With a growl, I launched myself away from the bushes while trying to grab her attention. I could sense Soter ahead of me, so I ran toward him. It was strange to be able to see his scent. There were pale blue paw prints on the ground, with white sparkles in them that I just knew represented Soter’s scent.

  “Another wolf,” yelled Saris, standing up out of her failed stealth and running toward me.

  Follow me. This will be fun.

  Soter and I ran through the forest, slow enough that Saris could just keep up, in order to drag her away from Mikael. The breeze swept through the fur covering me, keeping me warm, yet somehow also keeping me cool as it moved.

  We leapt over fallen trees with ease, stopping to howl every so often so that even Saris could spot the direction we’d taken. She was no match for us, but it was fun to play with her, I thought.

  After a few minutes, my stamina was starting to get low. I had no idea if, as a wolf, I could still access my inventory and therefore my SP potions, but I didn’t want to be in the position to have to find out.

  Time to lose her and head back to Mikael, I thought at Soter. Hopefully, this mind speech thing worked both ways.

  Agreed. This way is faster. Soter changed direction and I followed, realizing that I now had an uncanny sense of exactly where I was in the forest, where we’d been and where Mikael was still hiding.

  We slunk back behind a few trees and quietly passed by Saris, who was now cursing and swearing over our disappearance. Humans really didn’t have a clue in the forest, I thought.

  I finally noticed a small timer at the bottom of my vision telling me how long I had until this skill wore off. We got close to the area we’d left Mikael in and I had thirty seconds left before I’d transform back again. Quickly searching for a suitable hiding place, I spotted a large thicket and ducked into that.

  Once again, my body seemed to become liquid. My legs grew and my arms shortened, and I found myself crouched down on the floor. Despite my earlier worries, my gear was all present again now that I was back to being human. I thanked the gods and game designers for that small miracle and pulled aside some of the branches around me to see what was going on.

  I felt almost blind, deaf and directionless now that I’d experienced the enhanced senses that came from being a wolf. Frankly, it was a little disconcerting. I could no longer see the scent trails or hear whether anyone was nearby. I looked at Soter questioningly.

  We are safe. I relaxed a bit, letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

  “Let’s head back to Mikael then,” I whispered.

  We quietly approached our original hiding place to find Mikael was still there. Saris, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen and it looked like Baynor and Colt were simply standing there, arguing over whether they should go and look for her or not.

  The crunch of twigs and leaves announced Saris’ reappearance.

  “Lost them,” she grumbled.

  “I told you not to bother,” declared Colt.

  “Hey, unlike you, we don’t get to keep leveling in the arena against the extras,” Saris sniped, waving her hand in the direction of the cage of corrupted mobs. “Baynor and I have to get out and level on our own. With the elves refusing to let us into Elvenwood and Ratter’s Town being so quiet, it’s not like we have many opportunities to get XP anymore. So, excuse me for trying to kill some stuff.”

  Well that was interesting. It sounded like Colt, as part of the Dragon Hunters’ leadership, was leveling by killing off corrupted mobs in their arena. I figured he was probably part of the power leveling team for the new players now. I guess that’s why they were lugging around a cage with the mobs in it. They were takin
g them back to kill them in the arena.

  I motioned to Mikael that we should leave. He shook his head. I guess he was right. Last time, they’d nearly discovered us. I could be patient and wait.

  Baynor was sitting down on the floor with his head in his hands.

  “I’m just saying that, if Andrew is the one creating this problem, why shouldn’t he be the one to clear it up?” Colt shouted.

  Suddenly, Baynor stood up.

  “That’s it! I’ve had it with you two fighting. You’re getting what you need from the guild,” Baynor shouted, pointing at Saris, “So quit complaining that life isn’t as perfect for you as it is for our lordly noble.”

  “As for you,” he yelled, turning on Colt, “You have a ton of privileges in the guild, so stop moaning about having to do some work for once in your life.”

  He glared at each of them in turn until they both looked away.

  “Now, let’s get this done, and we can all go our separate ways and you can do whatever it is that you two do.”

  Baynor walked over to the cage and opened the door.

  “Come on, get out,” he yelled at the corrupted mobs, starting to kick them through the bars from behind.

  “I still say it’s not fair we can’t kill them,” muttered Saris, trying to get the slightly wobbly creatures out of their drugged state and persuade them to head toward Ratters Town.

  “Well, they wouldn’t be much use to Andrew dead, now would they?” said Colt condescendingly. “At least when the residents see them, the ones without protection sigils will see the problem still exists. We’ve only gotten sigils on about half of them so far, the others are claiming someone told them to say no and stand their ground, so quit moaning and do your job.”

  “Who would have told them to say no?” Saris asked, no longer pushing the rabbits and looking genuinely surprised. “I mean, I got bitten to prove to them that the thing works. Why wouldn’t they want one?”