As morning dawned, Sam opened her eyes to see a mouse sitting on her chest.
"Good morning," she said, stifling a yawn. "I need to give you a name… hmm. Emotions, lie detector… how about Abe? He was a man from my old world famous for saying, 'I will not tell a lie.' They even called him Honest Abe. What do you think?" She gave his head a gentle stroke with her finger.
'I like it,' the little mouse said.
"Abe it is, then." She scooped him up and placed him on her shoulder after equipping her armor. "I'll have to add a pocket somewhere for you later. Armor is notoriously lacking in pockets."
Abe just nodded and dug his little claws into her pauldron, giving it a sniff.
"Oh yeah, maybe the shoulder isn't the best place." She pulled a piece of rabbit hide and ironstone from her inventory and, with Item Creation and a quick durability enchantment, made a little reinforced, fur-lined pouch. Giving it a small knock, she said, "There we go. Durable on the outside, soft on the inside, and once attached to my belt, it won't fall off either. You can even duck inside and cover the opening with the flap. Or I can attach it to Sunblaze when I'm fighting. Then you won't be knocked about. Probably a better idea."
She laughed as she secured the mouse pouch to her belt. Abe scurried down her body and climbed inside.
'Comfy. Thank you.'
Sam packed up the camp after breakfast, and they were on their way. Most beasts shied away from the massive, direwolf-sized Syn, and there weren't many willing to fight so close to the road to Thrasien. They made it there by late afternoon, and after a quick application of her T.O.U.S., Syn was back down to a more city-friendly size, with Tempy and Iggy reduced to normal house-cat size. Tempy chose to walk alongside Syn, while the ever-lazy Iggy draped himself across Sam's lap. Abe had escaped his little hidey hole in favor of her shoulder.
The outskirts of the city were filled with farms of every kind. Row upon row of cultivated land, lush with various grains and vegetables, stretched for miles. Dotted in between were pastures for ranches and livestock. The city itself sprawled along the shoreline. It too had massive walls to keep the town safe from any beast waves that might occur.
Behind the walls in the city proper was a well-planned layout—no building blocking its neighbor's view of the ocean. The gently sloping landscape helped with this. Buildings closer to the wall were slightly taller than those near the shore, the only exception being what Sam assumed was the city lord's home.
It stood in the center of town, its bright sandstone bricks gleaming. More glass than Sam would have been comfortable living with spanned the upper floors—most likely to make use of the view. While clearly made of glass (or whatever glass-like material this world had), it was slightly opaque from the outside, allowing only vague silhouettes to be seen.
The rest of the city was made up of wood, stone, and what appeared to be a lesser-quality sandstone than the lord's home. On the shoreline to the south lay a massive, complicated-looking dock and shipyard. Foodstuffs were clearly not their only source of income. Ships dotted the waters, most staying close to shore—the tales of sea creatures kept them from venturing far.
Sam made her way toward the local A.H.A. building, hoping to hand in at least some of her quests there. The building looked like a large tavern: the ground floor made of stone while the upper floor was wood. She left Sunblaze and Iggy outside and brought Syn and Tempy with her, each taking a side, with Abe perched on her shoulder.
Walking up to the quests counter, she was greeted by a friendly-looking woman in her thirties.
"Oh, a new face. What can I do for you?" the woman asked.
"Hello, I'm from Dungeon City. I was wondering if I can hand in the quests I received there. I have a couple that might be better suited to turn in here," she said, sliding over her completed quest scrolls.
The woman took a look at her two remaining quests. Her eyes widened at the caravan one.
"Yes, these can be handed in here. You found the caravan?" she asked, shocked.
"Yeah, it wasn't that hard to find really—although the beast that attacked them was…" She shuddered. "Horrific is the best description. Barely survived it. But I can give the location of where it's trapped and a description. Oh, I also have this."
She stepped aside to a metal table, presumably for handing over proof of beast kills. First, she laid down a pile of Plains Stalker fangs.
"This is for the other quest you have there. And this is for the caravan." She summoned the tentacle of the monster onto the table. It was larger than she expected, hanging over the side. She returned to the counter and laid down the Adventurer's badges she'd found. "Also, there's this. I'm not sure if there's one for everyone that was there, but I also found the IDs of a few more people," she said, handing over the items she'd recovered among the carts.
"So… what happened?" the woman asked, pale-faced, bringing a mana-pad to record Sam's words.
"Well, it seemed one of the carts broke a wheel. It must've been close to a stopping point in the day since they decided to make camp while it was fixed. They'd positioned themselves in a copse of trees hidden from the road.
When I got there, there were no bodies. I assume whatever was pulling the carts were integrated beasts, since there weren't any horses or oxen attached. I took a look around and found a trail of discarded weapons and armor leading to a cave in the side of a hill. I wasn't too excited about delving in if something that had killed so many people was still there—but I didn't have to. It came out to find me."
She winced. "It was a Harrowmaw. Not sure what level—around thirty, maybe? It never fully came out of the cave, and I was a little too busy trying to survive to check. My tames and I fought it, but its defense was too high, and those damn tentacles were a pain in the ass.
Eventually, we managed to collapse the entrance of the cave on top of it. Then it seemed to enter some kind of dormant stage. We didn't stick around to find out more. We went back to the caravan, collected what was there, and left."
Stunned, the woman stared at her for a moment. "Wow. Not many would've lived to tell that tale," she said, sending the recording and proof to the higher-ups. "We'll probably have to get that location from you and set a quest to kill it. Thank you for all your hard work." She slid over twenty-one silver and a merchant guild credit slip. "You can use that at any merchant guild store," she said, tapping the 30% off your next purchase coupon. Sam smirked and sent both to her inventory.
"You can also deposit anything from the caravan you wish to sell over there." The woman pointed to another counter under a sign reading Acquisitions. "Sometimes you can get a better price than in the market. Faster than the S.I.S.T.E.M. store for unique items. They can also trade for goods instead of silver or gold."
"Great, thanks for your help. Oh, also—just want to make sure—but I can take quests here too, right?"
The woman smiled. "Of course. You can obtain and turn in any quests from any branch of the A.H.A. However, if the quest has a specific resource or item attached, you're better off turning it in to the branch you got it from. Less chance of things going missing in delivery." She winked.
Considering that, Sam nodded and went over to the quest board, looking for vermin quests. Any that took place outside of town would probably be considered plains biome mice or rats, so she had to make sure it was one kept within the city.
{"Bet you're wishing you took that sewer quest now. You'd be on your way home."} Jarvis joked.
Unfortunately, he was right. The only quests that involved beasts classified as Urban Biome creatures were sewer rats.
"Thank the gods I put an Auto-Clean enchantment on my armor."
{"Shame it does nothing for your now-heightened sense of smell. I suggest doing a quick enchantment on a scarf or mask. Perhaps they have one in the merchant guild."}
Grabbing the sewer-clearing quest token, she handed it in and received the scroll. After a quick mask creation and enchantment, she was off.
{"By the way…"}
{Ding! The following skills are ready to upgrade!
Weapon and Armor Smithing
One Size Fits All
Recursive Inspiration
Mana-Forged Crafting
Enchant Item
Enchant-opedia
Runic Inscription Index}
"Really? All of them?" Sam asked, stunned.
{"Sometimes it happens. One more use pushes it over the edge."}
"Huh… okay." Sam used seven SKP to upgrade her skills. Then another notification popped up.
{Ding! Your Support Class: Master Crafter has upgraded to LVL 4!
You now have access to the following skills:
Active Skills:
Beast Accessory Weaving LVL 1 – Crafts beast equipment.
Mana: 25 | Cooldown: 20s
Beast Armor Smithing LVL 1 – Makes protective beast gear.
Mana: 30 | Cooldown: 30s
Passive Skills:
Enhanced Durability LVL 1 – Crafted items last longer.
Ambient Workshop LVL 1 – Bonus crafting speed/quality near your forge.}
"Nice! Looks like you girls will be getting some gear—and just in time for our dungeon trips."
She made her way to the far side of the city. The sewers opened there into a massive septic pool. Through various mana-tech systems, the refuse was filtered out of the water, turned into fertilizer, and the water dumped into the ocean. It was a disgusting, horrific-smelling place, but the only one that led into the main sewer system itself.
Putting on her mask, Sam had Sunblaze, Iggy, and Abe wait at the entrance. The tunnels would be cramped enough with Syn and Tempy as it was. It didn't take long for them to come across their first rat.
"Sweet baby Jesus, these things are huge!" Sam exclaimed, staring at the corgi-sized rats. Thankfully, their only real skills were sharp teeth and rapid procreation. Though they weren't far from being land piranhas—when they swarmed, they could clean a body to the bone in minutes. On the upside, with such a fast breeding rate and short lifespan, their levels weren't high. The newly integrated wouldn't struggle against one. Unfortunately, it was rare to find only one.
Taking out her bow, she had Syn erect a barrier of vines to keep them back, then sent Tempy out to Chain Dash from one rat to the next. She lined up her shot and pierced one cleanly through the head. Her next shot, unfortunately timed, hit Tempy. She heard a series of dings but ignored them for the moment.
"Shit! Sorry, Tempy!" Sam yelled as she shot at other rats. Being her tame, she couldn't actually hurt them, so the arrow just bounced off—but still, it was the principle of the thing.
After a few more hours of "hunting" rats, she checked her inventory. Inside were more than twenty rat tails—enough to finish the city's ongoing quest. She called it a day once they cleared their section of the tunnels.
Making their way back out, she was pleased that none of the grime fouled her armor or herself. Her tames weren't so lucky. After a quick dip in the ocean, they were as clean as they were going to get. Reaching the entrance where she'd left the others, Sam laughed at the look on Iggy's face. It was amazing how expressive she was—and the look of disgust was unmistakable.
'Eww, you two stink!' Iggy said.
"I know. We'll see if there's some kind of… I don't know, tame grooming shop in town and get you a bath. If not, I'll just find some shampoo or something. Trust me—it was worse earlier."
After dropping off the quest and earning not nearly enough silver in Sam's opinion, she asked about grooming shops for tames at the A.H.A. Apparently, they had their own, and half an hour later both Tempy and Syn came out smelling much better—though Tempy's groomer had received a few mild shocks, for which Sam apologized profusely.
Opening her notifications on the way to an inn, Sam was ecstatic to see the results. While the rats hadn't given any XP (their levels were too low), the real reward came from the quest.
{Ding! Quest complete! You've completed the quest Natural Selection – Defeat five beasts from five different biomes: Forest (Done), Mountain (Done), Grasslands (Done), River/Aquatic (Done), Urban (Done).
Reward One: +500 XP
Reward Two: New S.I.S.T.E.M. Feature – Beast Realm: Until taming limits are removed, the Beast Realm will allow tame candidates to be held until they can be tamed. This also applies to beasts too young to tame. After the restriction is dropped, it will transform into a kind of social area for beast-space tames to mingle. They can train skills here as well, though the skill won't increase until Operator allocates an SKP to it.
Reward Three: New Skill – Resource Farmer LVL 1: With your general skills in Herbology, Gathering, and plant knowledge, you can now grow plants for crafting, alchemy, or enchantment enhancement.
Skill increases growth rate and yield by 50%. Quality and rarity of resources harvested increase based on the original resource and skill level.}
"Great, so I'm a farmer now? Meh. More XP and no more tromping into the woods to pick grass. Win-win. Also—best S.I.S.T.E.M. feature ever, eh guys?" Sam said, relaying the new feature to them.