Congratulations! Your animal companion, Ringo, has grown past the baby stage. This can be accomplished through age, natural growth, strength of your bond, or reaching a certain level of minimum stats. Now that your companion is past her baby stage, she will begin to grow at her specific natural rate. You have also gained access to your animal companion’s character sheet. Would you like to access your animal companion, Ringo’s, character sheet now? Yes No
Luke mentally selected yes and a new character sheet opened up with Ringo’s name on it.
Because this is the first time you are viewing this sheet, additional information has been provided. This information will not be displayed upon future viewings. To see this additional information again, focus on something specific.
Ringo, Alpha Wolf
Level 5 – Level shared with master and 3 attribute points awarded per level up
Favorite Foods: Meat (any), Fruit (apples)
HP: 100 (Base 100 + 10 per point in Constitution)
MP: 0
Stamina: 150 (Base 100 + 10 per point in Agility)
Abilities Base (Modifier)
Strength: 5
Agility: 6
Intelligence: 2
Wisdom: 1
Constitution: 1
Social: 3
Luck: 1
Skills, Spells and Abilities
Confusing Howl (Beginner 1): A high pitched howling sound wave that pierces the eardrums of all enemies who can hear it, causing them to become confused. Cost: 2x Stamina, where x = skill level. Effect: 100% chance to add the confused debuff. This percentage decreases by 10% for every 5ft the enemy is from you.
Pounce (Beginner 0): Building up energy, you leap onto an opponent, dealing bonus damage. Cost: 1x stamina, where x = skill level. Effect: Add 1x damage to your attack or 2x damage if used while unseen.
Tracking (Beginner 1): Being a wolf, you have enhanced senses that lend themselves to tracking and hunting. Effect: +1x% increased chance of finding and following the scents, tracks, sight or sounds of your enemy, where x = skill level.
Luke swiped away the messages, happy that Ringo was growing up strong. This made his decision to train with Ursa easier. If Ringo was going to gain more abilities, beast tamer must be the right specialization.
As the messages about Ringo vanished, another system message came into view, this one pertaining to his own skills.
Skill up: Beast Mastery, Beginner 6.
New Skill! Companion Telepathy, Class Skill. By strengthening your bond with your animal companion and having them reach a certain stage in their life, you have gained the ability to speak with your telepathically. The range of this skill is increased by your Beast Mastery skill level. At the current level the range is sight only.
This is incredible, thought Luke as he cleared all the messages.
“What’s incredible papa?” Ringo’s voice echoed in his head.
“Wait, can you hear all of my thoughts?” he said aloud.
“Unless you block our connection, I will hear everything.” Luke began experimenting with sending thoughts to Ringo and then closing their connection. He was pleased that he could still hear Ringo when he closed his thoughts off to her. He would only allow his own thoughts through to Ringo when he chose.
Luke looked at the time and began to panic. He should have left at least fifteen minutes ago if he wanted enough time to get to Ursa’s warehouse. “Ringo, we have to hurry!” he sent telepathically to her as he bolted from the room. He thanked the gods that he slept in his armor the night before.
He stopped for nothing as he raced through the city against the sunrise. He knew he still had some time because none of the shops were open, not even the ones that served breakfast.
Luke ran so fast that his stamina bar was completely depleted when he reached Ursa’s warehouse. He knocked on the door as he slowly turned to check if the sun was peeking over the mountains yet.
“You made it with no time to spare.” Luke spun on his heels to see Ursa holding the door open for him. Luke and Ringo entered the lit warehouse, Luke noticing Ursa’s gaze being drawn to his wolf.
“What’s next?” He asked with more than a little hesitation in his voice.
Ursa gave him a warning glance before speaking. “She has grown past the baby stage I see.” Ursa’s hand began to glow green as she laid it on Ringo’s back. “Hmm… I will have to change the training plan slightly to compensate. I planned on separating you two again today but I think it would be better if I separated you for only part of the day.”
Luke raised his hand, scared to speak out of turn again. Ursa gave him a slight nod of her head, so he decided it was safe to speak. “I don’t want to doubt you, but why does her growing larger change your plan for us?”
“Good point. Let me ask you a question then. Are you sure you want to be a beast tamer? And I mean sure.”
Luke really thought it over. He loved casting spells and shooting arrows but in their short time together, he was really growing attached to Ringo. His thoughts went to their time in The Den and Ringo jumping in and defending him against the Goblin Warlord. “If I choose to be a beast tamer…” he paused and looked to Ringo before returning his gaze to Ursa. “If I become a beast tamer, will Ringo get stronger? Will she be able to defend herself better?”
“Yes. Ringo will grow regardless of what path you choose. But choosing the path of a beast tamer will increase her growth and her potential. More than that, it would increase the bond you share and enhance it with special abilities.” She hesitated as she thought of a better way to explain it. “If you choose a different path, Ringo will still grow to be a great wolf, with training and proper care of course, but if you choose to be a beast tamer, she will become a great alpha wolf. She will draw on your potential more and as your bond increases, the two of you will become a formidable force together.”
Kneeling down, Luke gazed into Ringo’s eyes. He never noticed just how blue they were. Resolve setting in, he knew his answer. “I’ll become a beast tamer!” Bunching his hands into fists, his mind was made up.
Ursa gave Luke a genuine smile, the first time he had seen her show real emotion. “Do you have enough saved points to get your social skill to five and your beast mastery skill to intermediate?” she uttered as her face returned to its emotionless state.
Luke pulled up his character sheet. His social attribute was at four and his beast mastery skill was at beginner six. He had four unspent points for both attributes and skills. Knowing his future path, he decided to put all four points in social and beast mastery, confirming his choices when prompted to do so.
Skill up: Beast Mastery, Intermediate 0. New rank achieved. Additional effect added.
Beast Mastery (Intermediate 0): You have bonded with a beast and taken steps in befriending the animal kingdom. By improving this skill you can now feel the spirit of your companion and know where he or she is located by feeling their spirit. Improving this skill will increase your bond with your animal companion. This skill also scales based on your social attribute. Effect 1: +10% animal companion’s bond rate. Effect 2: You know your animal companions general location from x+3 meters away where x = skill level.
Increasing your Beast Mastery skill to the intermediate levels has increased the range of your Companion Telepathy skill to sight or 6 meters without sight.
After his skill increased, he sensed something in him change. It felt like a part of him was missing. Not like a missing limb, more like part of who he was. Looking over at Ringo he could sense that she was the vital missing piece in the puzzle that made him who he was. “I can feel you now.” He mentally projected to her, and she began to wag her tail.
“Judging by the look on your face, you just entered the intermediate levels in beast mastery. That feeling you have right now is a soul connection. Bolstering that feeling will become important in your training and to becoming an effective beast tamer.” Ursa walked over to Luke and placed her hand on her heart. A bright green glow o
f energy surrounded her hand and as she pulled it away from her chest, it remained connected by a green string of energy.
“What's this?” Luke asked as he stared on in amazement.
Ursa placed her hand on Luke’s chest and his face turned beet red from embarrassment. He opened his mouth to say something but energy shot into him. His whole body started to warm up and his chest began to burn with pain. Ursa pulled her hand away and the string of energy was now going from her chest into his. Luke fell to one knee, grasping his chest. Ringo was saying something but Luke’s head was swirling. He was unable to make out what came across as loud barking as Ringo also began to panic. System messages began popping up on his screen, but his vision was becoming too blurry to read them, so he tossed them aside to help him focus.
Then it was all gone. The feeling of warmth and pain poured out of him as quickly as it had entered. Panting and holding his head in a frail attempt to stop it from throbbing, he stood. Ringo’s voice slowly became clear again.
“Papa, papa, are you alright? Papa. Say something Papa.” She sounded worried and troubled.
He placed a hand on her to both calm her and steady himself. “It’s ok… I’m… ok,” he said aloud, not having the mental capacity to send it through their connection. “What the hell was that?” Turning his attention back to Ursa he saw the line between them still connected but slowly fading and becoming transparent.
“Look at your status.” Ursa appeared to be in just as much discomfort as Luke. She was holding her head and was still down on one knee. It impressed Luke that she kept her signature monotone, not allowing the pain to affect her voice.
Luke waited a moment for his vision to be fully clear again and for his throbbing head to calm down before he pulled up his notifications.
Ursa, the Beast Master, has chosen you as her official apprentice. You are now connected and bound to the apprentice system.
The apprentice system allows for a higher level individual to take someone under their wing. The higher level individual, or master, may impart knowledge, such as quests, abilities, spells, or classes, onto the apprentice through various means like training. The apprentice system is limited to one person per master. Each apprentice can also only have one master at a given time. Warning! When a master chooses their apprentice, they bond their spirit energy with that individual. This causes them to lose a portion of their accumulated experience and may result in losing levels depending on what they impart on their apprentice. The master may set a goal for the apprentice, and if that goal is met, they will recover their lost experience and more. Failure to meet this goal will result in the permanent loss of that experience. Note: This is a one time system message.
Beast Tamer Conditional Specialization acquired. You have been awarded +1 agility, +1 intelligence, +1 social and the Beast Bond skill. Your new stats upon leveling up have changed to +1 agility, +1 intelligence, +1 social and 2 unallocated attribute points.
New title gained: Beast Tamer. This title gives you +1 agility, +1 intelligence, +1 social and bonding with beasts is 10% easier.
New skill acquired: Beast Bond, Class Skill. Through rigorous training and resolve, you have chosen to specialize as a Beast Tamer and unlocked the ability to bond with wild beasts. Successful use of this skill will cause a beast to become an animal companion. At your current specialization you are limited to one primary animal companion and two minor animal companions. Attempting to tame additional beasts will result in an automatic failure until you release one of your animals. Effect: Tame and bond with a wild best. The chance of successfully taming an animal is x/2% where x = social attribute limited to 30. Note: Other factors may increase or decrease this effect. Example, feeding or socializing with an animal may make it more perceptive to your bonding attempts.
Quest alert! Passion of Beasts. Quest complete! Reward: + 100 reputation with Edmund.
Quest alert! Gift from a Friend. Quest Complete! Reward: 1,000 exp. Other rewards delayed until you speak with the quest giver.
Congratulations, Level Up! You have been awarded +1 agility, +1 intelligence, +1 social, +2 attribute points and +1 skill point, based on your class. Be careful with your decisions as they can not be undone.
Luke staggered back in shock. “You did all this for me… why?”
“Well, I don’t exactly have a line of people waiting to become beast tamers. You are the first person in a long time to even be interested,” she answered dryly.
“Yeah, but I’m sure as more travelers start entering the game,” Ursa cocked her head at the mention of this being a game. “I mean world,” he tried brushing past his slip up. “That’s bound to change.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Right now you are the only one, and you said you are resolved in your decision. Now I hope you won’t regret it. Not with what I have planned for you.” Ursa had a gleam in her eye.
Luke wasn’t sure if he should be happy that he was chosen or scared. He pressed on regardless, “But I thought I had to be level ten before I could become a beast tamer.”
Ursa placed her hand over her chest. “Traditionally, yes, but since you are my apprentice, I have given you enough experience to give you access to the class now. I need you to have the class in order for us to really start your training.”
Luke thought over what she was saying. If she had to give up the missing experience, does that mean she had to give up over thirty thousand experience to make this happen? “Wait, you gave up thirty thousand experience for me?!” he said in shock.
Ursa cocked her head to the side again. “That sounds about right. I think it was a little more, though. The exchange was slightly over one for one. I only lost one level though.”
Luke’s jaw dropped. “I don’t believe you.” Ursa looked confused. “There’s no way you gave all that up for me, a random traveler you barely know. What’s the real reason.”
Ursa opened her mouth and was about to brush him off but noticed the determination in his eyes for the truth. “Fine. Rose asked me to and I owe her more than I can ever repay.” His eyes went soft at the mention of Rose. “She really sees something special in you or something.” She approached Luke and lifted him by his fur armor. “Let us get one thing straight, though. You will listen to me and follow my orders. You will choose to be a beast tamer specialization when you hit level ten and I will get my lost experience back. If I get even the faintest hint that you are thinking about going back on this apprenticeship, I will kill you and I mean really kill you. I don’t care if you come back to life a thousand times, I will be there waiting for you each and every time until I beat the beast master specialization into you. I don’t care how much I owe Rose, I’m not doing all of this for nothing. Do I make myself clear?”
He swallowed before responding. “Yes ma’am.” Ursa put him down and took a few steps back.
“Great, then we have an understanding. Now it's time to start today's training.” Ursa walked down the hall and entered another doorway.
Luke took a few deep breaths to calm himself as he pushed up his glasses. Regardless of how their exchange ended, he was ecstatic about his class change and getting started as a beast tamer. Looking at Ringo he could tell she was sharing in his enthusiasm. The pair took off at a sprint toward Ursa and their next exciting challenge.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Beast Tamer
Luke collapsed from a mixture of exhaustion and being out of stamina. He gulped down air in long labored breaths.
“Not half bad.” Ursa walked into the room, surveying his progress.
She had put Luke and Ringo to work in an underground mine. She gave him a heavy pick axe and told him to break apart the large rock wall to make a hallway. She tasked Ringo with digging out the chunks of rock buried in the compact dirt. When they filled their space, each of them would help fill bags and carts that they would drag back to the surface together.
They had been repeating the process for half a day and only made a few feet of progress. Luke tried removing his armo
r but was instructed to leave it on as extra weight. He would have found the task easier if there had been better light or better air quality but they had to work with hastily placed torches and thick hot air.
Luke followed Ursa out of their hole in the ground and reviewed his notifications.
New skill acquired: Mining, Beginner 0. As this skill increases, so does your proficiency in mining. Proficiency lowers the amount of stamina required to perform this action. Effect: Proficiency +n% where n is skill level.
Skill up: Mining, Beginner 2.
Attribute point increase: +2 strength.
Attribute point increase: +1 constitution.
Ringo attribute point increase: +2 strength.
Luke was pleasantly surprised to see Ringo’s stat increases. Remembering his recent level up after becoming a beast tamer, he pulled up Ringo’s character sheet and distributed her three stat points into agility, strength, and constitution. He also distributed his two points into constitution to help gain some survivability, electing, per usual, to save his skill point for later.
Ursa’s large wolf walked in with a scroll in its mouth. She plucked it from the creature and read it before turning to Luke and stating, “I think that's enough for today. I have some urgent matters to attend to.”
Luke’s mouth went wide with a smile. “No argument here.” Looking at Ringo he could have sworn he saw her smiling as well. Ursa began to leave before Luke remembered what happened last time he left her facility and called out to her. “Wait! Do you have a place where we can clean up? We really could use a wash before we leave.”
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