"Fair enough, I don't mind getting my hands dirty" Sam looked over at the cats and saw they were just about finished. Tempy started that telltale glow again. This time a little different. Now she was fully integrated and had grown to the first stage size.
{Tempest has evolved into a Stormkit - the first stage of a four stage process for a Stormclaw}
Now the size of a full grown house cat. She retained her smoky colour but now, much to Iggy's annoyance, her eyes flicked with static. She was even more twitchy. Her tail flicked back and forth and her hyperactivity seemed even worse.
"Oh sweet baby Jesus what have I done." Sam laughed. "Don't worry Iggy I'm sure you'll get her back soon" she said laughing at Tempy attempted to perform a Static Pounce. Lucky for Iggy, Tempy seemed to be too excited to land the hit.
"We'll work on that, come here Tempy." Sam called. She was beside Sam in seconds and trying to hold her gave her little harmless shocks.
{A strong connection has been formed between you and Tempest: A Stormkit. Emotional connection 100%. Would you like to add her to your Tame List?}
{Yes/No}
"Yes" Sam said hoping she's be immune to her tames elemental effects
{Beast Tames (2/4)}
{+100xp for Your Second Tame}
Sure enough the static stopped effecting her. "Well Tempy? What do you think?"
Tempy's eyes widened in wonder being able to understand Sam on a more intense level. Like Sunblaze could, Tempy could feel Sam's delight in Tempy's change. She was very proud of the little kitten…well Stormkit.
Sam herd he instantly in her head 'Tempy happy! Sam Happy! Iggy grumpy' she giggled 'Down please! Wanna do zoomies' shaking her head, she was about to put the kitten down when she asked.
"Would you like to try your beast space on our first? Like Sunny? I bet there's all kinds of room to do zoomies there"
'Yes please!' Tempy said surprisingly polite. I'm a flash she was turned into a streak of grayish blue lightning and hit Sam's chest.
"Thank the mana gods that wasn't a real lightning bolt" Sam said going back to the workbench to make here new pendant. She placed some leather and a scrap peice of wood on the table and then scrolled in her mana-pad to the Accessory section.
"Create"
{You've created a Beast Space Pendant - Hold the pendant against Beast to attune them. From then on contact is not needed to summon or send a tamed beast to the Beast Space.}
{+300xp}
"300 wow!"
{"Doubled remember?"} Jarvis reminded her.
"I know, but still" Sam said moving to the bed to pick up the eggs. "Let's put you guys somewhere safe" She moved the eggs to an empty crate with a lid trying to jostle them as little as possible. She then put the crate near the dying fire.
This seemed like a tragedy just waiting to happen so she banked the still warm embers to one side and placed the crate in the other. Then placed a damp cloth over top…just in case. It was still warm on the crate's side so she hoped for the best. There were still a few hours until she could feed Iggy the last egg so she decided to do a little shopping.
Opening the shopping window she saw a list of categories. Mentally clicking on resources she checked out the items she had no idea where to find. Atherglass was first.
{Aetherglass:
Spheres: (small) 4s, (medium) 6s, (large) 10s
Use: Scrying tools, high-level mana foci
Enchantment: "Mindlink" — enhances mana regen and telepathy
Twist: Transparent until touched; reveals nearby illusions}
"So, I'm going to assume I need large shards? 10 silvers, not bad. Sold!" Sam said buying the sphear. She figured she only need if two this would give her extra. Plus the bench would only use what's needed. The item appeared instantly in her inventory.
"Alright, let's see… I can grab the cindersap wood from the forest. I know where that is, and I can hunt down the fire core no problem. The thread needed and the glowrocks pebbles are in the same place most likely. I'm still a ways off from runes so I better check for those."
Under the section labeled Runes she found what she was looking for. It was a little pricey at 75s, but without having access to runes yet she didn't know what else she would do.
Buying some random tech with the same rune would be probably even more. 75 Silver poorer she hit buy and like the orb it appeared in her inventory too.
She checked her remaining balance:
58 copper
268 silver
16 gold
Between O.S.'s resource sales and her parents savings, she wasn't doing too bad…she thought. Thankfully the coins she got from killing beasts went directly into her inventory bank, so no picking through high grass to find a copper coin.
Done with her little shopping trip, she took the sphere out and used 'Material manipulation' to divide it into four shards. Placing them back in her inventory she asked Sunblaze and Tempy to leave the Beast space so she could attune them to the pendant. They could go back if they wanted too.
She thought of the two of them coming out of the beast space and a bright yellow and blueish gray beams of light left her chest and right before her stood Sunblaze and Tempy.
"Ok Sunny, did you want to go back in? Once I attune you I can just leave you there until I need you or you want out again." Sam asked the horse. One of the weirdest experiences she's had here. Expecting an animal to respond verbally.
'If you wouldn't mind Sam, It is quite peaceful there' Sunblaze said giving Tempy a not so subtle glare.
{"Just so you're aware Sam your tames can leave on their own if they really want to or sense you're in danger."} Jarvis let her know.
"Well that's definitely good to know, thanks" She held the pendant to Sunblaze's head and thought of her going to the beast space. Once again she disappeared. She then heard the notification ding.
{Ding! Beast Tame: Sunblaze, has been attuned to your pendant.}
"What about you Tempy? Wanna go back?" Sam asked.
'No…zoomies are fun but no friends in beast space. ' Tempy said
"Sure thing buddy" she repeated the process and got the same notification but this time touched the pendant and thought of Tempy. She was out again in a few seconds.
"Well…that's done. Just waiting on Iggy now. Just how many tames can I have Jarvis?." Sam asked as she bent down to look at the books O.S. had rescued from her house.
{"Typically, a Beast Tamer would receive two tames on their first level. These are usually used for one offense and one defense tame. But if course you get four. The second level grants you an additional tame for utility, a healer or buff/debuff castor. Again you being you, will get two. There's no rule you have to pick your tames in that order. It's just traditionally done that way for best results. Of course why be traditional."}
"Hey! One of my tames is offense…She's small, but that's fine. And Sunny can be seen as defense…in a way. Besides after Iggy I still have a spot to fill. Maybe I'll find some massive beast in the woods. Maybe whatever has been stalking me. Since it apparently means me no harm."
{"Time will tell."}
Looking back at the books, one was a book on classes. A few history and culture books. One she was pretty certain was a romance novel. She flipped through the classes book seeing the other options she might have had.
There were the typical ones like swordsman, mage, archer. Some dubious ones like assassin and thief, and some odd ones like Chronomamcer that manipulated time, and Void Knight that was a corrupted paladin who used 'dark matter for offense and defense'.
She wasn't quite sure if it was evil or not. Corrupt Paladin didn't sound too good. Plague Alchemist and Bloodbinder just sounded gross. Maybe they were the equivalent of a contagious disease researcher and a fucked up phlebotomist in her world. She laughed to herself.
She was pretty sure phlebotomist didn't use blood magic to control their enemies but they still gave have her the creeps.
Hours passed as she read. Lost in her own thoughts and fantasies of how her life would have change had she chosen differently. Tempy had definitely made headway on her Static Pounce skill, much to Iggy's annoyance. A wave of her hand sent a healing aura towards the now puffed up little cat.
The pounce didn't really harm her, the shock was the equivalent of a very vigorous shuffling of socked feet on a carpet. But to be in the safe side she tried out her skill Bond Healing. The effect wasn't as good for a full tame but I'm sure she appreciated it.
{Your tame Tempy has leveled Static Pounce to LVL 2}
Sam laughed at that, poor Iggy.
"Alright Tempy, leave your sister alone. Let's get you that last core so you can at least defend yourself Iggy" This time she broke the core up into some meat and placed it on her makeshift countertop and placed Iggy beside it as she watched Tempy.
Sam tossed her her own chunks of meat as a distraction. The little ball of hyperactivity used her 'Electrified Whiskers' passive to her advantage. Soon Iggy had that glow about her and finally.
{Ignite has evolved into an Emberkit - the first stage of a four stage process for an Embercat}
This time there was no rapid growth process. If memory serves an Embercat at full sized was the same as a very large Maine Coon. Sure it was a large breed of cat but if the first stage size was a basis for how big they'd be when fully evolved. Tempy would be huge.
Sam picked up the now very warm kitten.
{A strong connection has been formed between you and Ignite: An Embercat. Emotional connection 100%. Would you like to add her to your Tame List?}
{Yes\No}
Sam thought yes
{Beast Tames (3/4)}
{+100xp for Your Third Tame}
"Ok so no real offense skills yet…maybe you can…make her really warm by sleeping on her?"
'Iggy sleepy, Beast space? Eggs?' The kittens seemed to have a stilted way of speaking. Sam figured it was a kitten thing. Like a toddler speaking. Being as warm as she was should help the eggs some.
"If you could help our little eggie friends I'd appreciate it." Sam told her.
'Iggy help!' then yawned.
"Let's get the pendant thing out of the way first ok?" Sam held the pendant against Iggy and watched the little red sparks enter her chest.
{Ding! Beast Tame: Ignite, has been attuned to your pendant.}
She then brought her back out and placed the sleepy kitten on top of the crate. She curled up and went to sleep.
Sam felt the box and sure enough there was a subtle warmth to it. She inspected the crate.
{Simple wooden crate
Contents: Four Peakwing Eagle eggs. Ambient temperature suitable for incubation. Estimated time until hatching: 3 weeks, 2 days, 15 hours}
"That'll work for now." Sam said yawning herself. She still two quests to finish so she took out her herbs and crushed them together, smearing them along the Aegis fern she folded it up and put it back in her inventory.
{Quest complete: Healing Salve
Reward: +100xp}
She then took out her dagger and walked outside. Walking up to a tree, she used it as a makeshift training dummy, and tested out her newly heightened agility, strength and perception to go through the moves her body took to easily. After two hours she was covered in sweat but her Dagger skill had increased and the notification she was waiting for rang.
{Quest complete: Weapon Training (Dagger)
Reward: +150xp,
Reward:Your Uncommon, Good Dagger has upgraded from to a Rare, Great, Dagger. Enchantment 'Bleeding Effect' has been upgraded from -3hp per second for 5 seconds to -8HP for 10 seconds}
"Ok, time for bed" Sam dragged herself back into the cave, pulled a piece of precooked rabbit from her inventory for dinner, undressed and took care of her needs before falling asleep.