Pulling out a bowl for each tame and her cooking pot, she added some water, Managrass, meat and a few selected inner organs and anything else she had in her inventory and bag that might give them a boost. She chopped up everything into small bites and partially cooked them.
Next she brought out the legendary bears core for Tempy, a few light cores for Iggy, Earth cores for Syn and the Darkness core from the panther for the new cubs. Crushing them and placing them in the individual bowls she ladled out the stew. The hot liquid slowly melted the cores. She crushed the darkness core dividing it between two bowls and did the same for the cubs.
While she attended to Sunblaze and Abe a notification popped up.
{Your tame Tempy has advanced to the final stage of her beast species. She is now a Stormclaw. She has gained the following skills as well as +10 to all stats as reward for reaching her final stage.
Due to the rarity and tiers of the core she consumed her Rarity and Tier have increased and her Species Class has been altered.
Species: Thunderstormclaw
Rarity: Legendary
Tier: Red
Present and New Skills have been upgraded
Static Pounce LVL 7 – It dashes at a target, dealing damage and briefly shocking them (1s stun on crit)
Damage: 23 →32
Mana Cost: 10MP→5MP | Cooldown: 6→3 seconds
Duration: instant | Range: N/A
Chain Dash LVL 7 - Hit one enemy, then bounces to a second if within range. Dealing lightning damage.
Damage: 23 →32
Mana Cost: 15MP→10MP | Cooldown: 4 →2 seconds
Duration: Varied | Range: 2→4 Meters
Tempest Coil LVL 4 - Unleashes a whirling storm slash in an arc, dealing AoE damage and pushing lighter enemies back.
Damage: 12→14
Mana cost: 20MP→15MP | Cooldown: 5→3 seconds
Duration: 5→8 seconds | Range: 5→8 meters
Passive skills:
Electrified Whiskers LVL 4 – Slightly→Moderately increases dodge rate due to static-boosted reflexes
Static Speed LVL 4 - gains a five→eight second burst of movement speed after landing a hit.
Storm Dancer LVL 2 - Immune to movement slow effects, reduced fall damage, gains speed in rain.
Active Skill:
Thunder Fang LVL 1 – Bites a target with a charged strike. If the enemy is immobilized or entangled, the attack deals bonus damage and has a high crit chance.
Damage: 23
Mana cost: 15MP | Cooldown: 5 seconds
Duration: N/A | Range: N/A
Passive Skill:
Dual Hunt LVL 1 – If an enemy is focused on an allied beast, Thunderstormclaw deals +50% damage to that target}
"Good god, I was sure there'd be a boost but shit!"
The glow around Tempy had died down and her the T.O.U.S. skill had worn off and she was now the size of a Sumatran Tiger. The cubs backed up a bit, their little mouths covered in their dinner. Re-engaging T.O.U.S. Tempy reverted to a small cat size, much to the cubs delight. They went back to their meal ignoring what just happened.
Once Iggy finished her meal and started to glow as well.
{Your tame Iggy has advanced to the final of her beast species. She is now an Embercat. She has gained the following skills as well as +10 to all stats for reaching her final stage.
Active Skill
Flare Pounce LVL 1 - Leaps on an enemy in a puff of flame. Moderate fire damage, scales with rarity/tier of cores consumed.
Damage: 22
Mana Cost: 10MP | Cooldown: 3 seconds
Duration: Instant | Range: N/A
Passive Skill:
Snuggle Instinct LVL 1 - When Sam is injured, Embercat will curl up on her chest or lap and passively increase health and mana regen.}
T.O.U.S. had also deactivated and Iggy now looked like a large Maine Coon cat. Reaching just above her knee. Roughly the size of a medium sized dog. The cubs didn't seem to have the same reaction to her as they did to Tempy so she left her that size.
When everyone was done with their meal and Sam was done hers the cubs, Iggy, Abe and the chicks were brought inside the tent. Tempy was back to her normal size and she and Syn stood guard while Sunblaze went back to her beast space for the night.
In the morning Sam completed her daily quests and packed up the camp and they headed off, back to Dungeon City. Their journey back was uneventful, traveling on the main road, they didn't encounter any problems. Three days later they entered the city.
When they got home she unpacked her newly acquired resources and added anything she could sell to her stall stock shelves. She set two sets of her Mana hands to work in the forge, and another set to work on the loom, refining the raw ores and using the various plant fibers and wool to make bolts of cloth.
Her stockpile was starting to increase quite nicely. She had a shelf alone devoted to hides of various beasts she'd use to create leather armor. The Phantom Rams bolts of fine woolen fabric looked almost iridescent in the shelves.
She now had a wider variety of various wood types. Some needing to be kept away from direct contact with other woods. Thankfully Ceisel had a set of metal shelving set apart from the other just for cinderwood and other fire affinity resources.
From one caravan she came away with a large assortment of alchemy ingredients. She couldn't wait to level up to use those. She had to reach the next level of her class for that. Speaking of new levels. She had gained access to her beast gear crafting. Her tames would finally have new collars that actually fit properly and she could enchant them. She couldn't wait.
She'd also have to go register her new tames. She was concerned about that. At this stage in her class she should only have two and she had seven, soon to eleven. She'd have to weave some more BS to not draw attention to that. Maybe she could blame it on a quest? She had no idea, but the last thing she needed was more attention on the supposedly blue level tamer.
Well that was future Sam's problem. Right now, after a few days of traveling all she wanted was a hot bath and a soft bed. So after locking up her warehouse and work room she took her new tames in the house, got them something to eat and then after a hot bath, she was snug in her bed surrounded by four cats of various sizes and a mouse that took up residence on a pillow near her head, just in case one of those cats couldn't reign in their instincts.
With Syn happily sleeping outside in her full form, and Sunblaze securely settled into her stall in the stable everyone finally fell asleep, happy to be home safe and sound.
The next day Sam checked her profile.
{Operator: Samantha "Sam" Foreman
Age: 18
Species: Human
Tier: Purple
Level: 16
Experience: 21,665/43920xp
Health Points: 350/350HP (w/armor 450HP)
Mana Points: 520/520 (w/armor 620MP)
Mana Control: 45 (w/armor 55 MC)
Mana Regeneration: 52mp/sec (w/armor 62MP/S)
Stats:
Strength (S): 27
(+15 Armor) = 42
Agility (A): 25 (+2 Ring) = 27
(+10 Armor) = 37
Perception (P): 25 (+10% Pendant) =27.5
(+10 Armor) = 37.5
Vitality (V): 35
(+10 Armor) = 45
Intelligence (I): 45
(+12 Armor) = 55
Wisdom (W): 52
(+10 Armor) = 62
Charisma (C): 27
(+11 Armor) = 38
Luck (L): 11
Available Stat Points: 16
Available Skill Points: 102
Coin Balance:
1296 Copper
7031 Silver
490 Gold
Primary Class: Beast Tamer LVL 2
Tamed Beasts: 7
- Sunblaze LVL 8
- Tempest LVL 8
- Ignite LVL 8
- Syndrome LVL 8
- Abe LVL 5
- Nox LVL 1
- Nyx LVL 1
Beast Bank Level: 7
Beast Bank Balance: 5,982/6,400 xp
Active skills:
Beast Command LVL 3
Bond Healing LVL 3
Animal Empathy Surge LVL 2
Beast's Insight LVL 1
Passive skills:
Animal empathy LVL 3
Keen senses LVL 3
Beast Familiarity LVL 1
Enhanced Bond LVL 1
Secondary Class: Enchantress LVL 1
Active Skills:
Enchant Item LVL 3
Stat Enchantment LVL 1
Passive Skills:
Enchant-opedia LVL 3
Runic Inscription Index LVL 3
Support Class: Master Crafter LVL 4
Active skills:
Item Creation lvl 5
Accessory Weaver lvl 3
Human-forge LVL 4
Mana hands LVL 5
Weapon and Armor Smithing LVL 3
One Size Fits All LVL 3
Beast Accessory Weaver LVL 1
Beast Armor Smithing LVL 1
Passive skills:
Material manipulation LVL 5
Waste not, want not lvl 5
Efficient Crafting LVL 5
Material Identification LVL 5
Recursive Inspiration LVL 3
Mana-Forged Crafting LVL 3
Enhanced Durability LVL 1
Ambient Workshop LVL 1
…}
"Not bad for a month of work. To think the people around here go on and on about the benefits of the academy. Pfft."
{"Not to burst your self-esteem bubble, but you do have to consider you may have just a slight advantage over everyone else."}
"Shut it you! I'd say it's like 50% Divine intervention, and a 20/30% split between me and your tactical genius."
{"Says the Atheist. Although now that you mention it, during your soulprint calibration, there was a moment between your untimely demise and your arrival here where your soul was enveloped in what I can only describe as a warm motherly embrace. Maybe you're on to something."}
"Wait, seriously? That was like 90% sarcasm just now. Do you really think a God intervened." Sam asked stunned
{"Do you have a better explanation for why you retained your memories and didn't reincarnate, or go to some afterlife. Or just ceased to exist."}
"Well shit."
After that revelation she went to sleep dreaming of heavenly mothers. When she woke the next morning, after feeding herself and her beasts, and finishing her daily quests, she went into her workshop. Checking her skill Mana hands was ready for another upgrade so she did that, now she had six sets of mana hands to help her work.
With all her other enchanting skills at level three, she would dedicate today to leveling Stat Enchantment. It wouldn't be too difficult since her tames needed new collars and armor. When she advanced it to level three then she'd get Multiple Enchantments and could just enchant them more, thankfully using a Stat Enchantment and a regular enchantment were seen by the system as two separate actions. She needed Multiple Enchantments to add more than one of the same skill. Plus this brings her class skills up even further. Unfortunately she was only at level one right now…but she was sure she'd get there soon.
So that's what she did. She started with Syn. Since she now had lower stats than Tempy and Iggy. Using the Plains Stalker hide she crafted a thick durable collar that wouldn't impede her movement but would help protect her vulnerable throat. She then enchanted it with a general Beast Tamer enchantment. This gave a boost to Syn's overall power by 25% raising her all her stats by a couple points. She then enchanted the collar with a Strength Stat Enchantment that added a +5. Now with a strength of 22 Syn's damage was more in par with Tempy's.
Next she worked on armor for Syn. She already had her natural chest armor vines but whatever kept her safe was a benefits. The armor she created was made of Thistlehog leather, it allowed for smooth movement while protecting her more vulnerable underbelly. She gave it an enchantment of Thorns, which would deal damage on enemies that attacked her, and she added a vitality stat enchantment that raised her vitality with another +5 to 18, thus bringing her health to 180.
As she was working on Tempy's collar, she received the notification to upgrade Stat Enchantment and used the SKP to do so, then continued on. She enchanted Tempy's Thunderstorm Bear armor with an enchantment of the storm, which would allow her to summon a localized storm of lightning and thunder, along with an instinct stat enchantment of +5 mainly for improving her agility. For her collar she basically did the same as she did for Syn with a Beast Tamer Enchantment, and increased her vitality stat this time, because… well Tempy is Tempy.
Iggy got a boost to her fire output by enchanting her Ash-Boar armor with its natural fire resistance, The enchantment Focus would increase her skill power by 20% giving her skills a bump of a few levels of damage and quicken the effects of Ember Nap and Snuggle Instinct. Her collar received a wisdom stat boost to increase her mana by +5 and the Beast Tamer enchantment.
Now Abe was a little bit more troublesome. One did not typically collar a mouse or give it armor. Plus he wouldn't be fighting. That didn't mean he didn't need protection of course. After a good long think about it, and some lunch, the first thing she did was upgrade her Stat Enchantment since it was ready.
{Ding! Your skill Stat Enchantment has leveled up to LVL 3.}
{Ding! Your Secondary Class Enchantress has leveled up to LVL 2. You've gained the following skills:
Active Skills:
Mana Enchantment – Adds mana regen, cost reduction, or control.
Mana: 30 | Cooldown: 30s.
Elemental Enchantments – Adds elemental traits (fire, arcane, time, etc.).
Mana: 50 | Cooldown: 1 min.
Passive Skills:
Mana Charge – Faster mana regen.
Arcane Conservation – Lower mana cost to enchant.}
"Well, that'll help a bit. Let's check out the Enchant-opedia first." She summoned the ethereal looking book flipping to the elemental enchantments. Specifically the arcane ones.
Looking at Abe the most burning question was what do you make a mouse? She could go all Cinderella and make him tiny little boots and a vest. She laughed just thinking about it. A tiny cape?. The issue was he wasn't a tiny mouse person, he was a mouse. He didn't need clothes or shoes. She wasn't sure what the AHA would give her for his ID tag. It was probably the same size he was.
With nothing else coming to mind she made him a chest piece of sorts. A few strips of Shadowshade Panther leather that would allow him to hide in the shadows, wouldn't get in his way, or fall off. Now enchanting it was a test of steady hands. She cut a strip of leather wide enough to hold a rune, then painstakingly painted the rune for beast tamer and an enchantment called Mirage.
It would cast illusions of multiple versions of him to throw off any attackers. With the additional +5 to his stats, and his natural speed, she was banking on him being able to out run any attacks. If all else fails she can always send him to his beast space if he gets in trouble.
Sunblaze's saddle already worked perfectly so she really didn't need anything, but she added a beast tamer rune to her halter just to give her an added boost too. What Sam really needed was to work with Sunblaze on her skills. She double checked to see if any needed upgrades. To her surprise a few had reached a high enough usage to need leveling, mainly the passives but any help was needed.
Sun-Linked Bond, Coursers Mark, Tamers Bond and Lightstride could be leveled up to LVL 4, all passives like she thought, but going up three levels was a testament to her lack of attention she gave Sunblaze's skills. She'd have to rectify that.
The cubs weren't old enough to fight yet so they would be safe in their beast space. She'd make them something similar to what the others had later. As for the eagles…she knew they got quite large so it was mainly the weight of the armor she made that would be the issue. She'd deal with that when they were older.
With the crafting of the armor and collars her two new active skills in her Master Crafter class had reached level 2. As had her passive for Enhanced Durability. With most of her day still ahead of her she contemplated her next actions. She had things to sell, but also needed to work on her own items. It would probably be enough to bump her to the next level. However she wanted to get into the dungeons before getting too high.
So, she equipped her armor and checked her weapons. She made four dozen more arrows each getting a different elemental enchantment. Fire, Ice, Air, Poison. Then another fifty regular arrows with a piercing enchantment. Adding a mana cost reduction enchantment to each weapon made the mana cost practically free to use.
When she was done all of her new skills that were at level one were now level two. It didn't take very much work to get to the second level, the next ones were a different story. Each level needed more than the next.
With her preparation done, she sent the cubs to their spaces and the eagles to the Beast Realm. Sunblaze was saddled and then they were off. As they reached the gate to The Rift, She was stopped by the guard.