Continuing her prodigious pace—much, much faster than Aylin had suggested regular people could—Sable gained one more level before her hunts for the day ended. Surely her progression would slow at some point, but for now, she blazed forward.

***

[Path: [Frostfire Sorceress] advanced from Level 7 to Level 8.]

[Skill gained: [Dominator’s Blessing]]

***

***

[Dominator’s Blessing] - Assign a title, and grant appropriate bonuses, to a member of your Thrall.

***

Naturally, Sable was intrigued. It was a skill without a clear definition. A title? Appropriate bonuses? What, exactly, did that mean?

By the sounds of it, she simply got to pick one. Or maybe she earned them and doled them out? Though how did she ‘earn’ titles, in that case?

Like usual, she needed to experiment with the ability. She shelved serious consideration of the skill; she would wait to experiment with Aylin and Granite, and possibly receive advice.

She checked in on how her stats, HP, and mana were progressing.

***

Sable

Juvenile White Dragon

Level 8 - Frostfire Sorceress

[ Hoard ] - MEAGER

[ Notoriety ] - RISING

Stats (base):

Might - 321 (428)

Grace - 321 (428)

Resilience - 407 (542)

Intellect - 578 (770)

Wisdom - 578 (770)

***

***

[ HP: 28,683 / 29,617 ]

[ MP: 1,322 / 2,270 ]

***

From what she could tell, stat scaling was exponential—she was gaining higher and higher amounts with each successive level up.

Sable doubted that was a dragon-specific feature. From the way Aylin talked about it, the higher level adventurers across the world had fearsome strength: the sort that would boggle Sable’s mind. Like, using one obvious example, the ability to ‘turn a fifth of the continent into a festering undead wasteland’. Though Sable had a feeling that particular event must have involved some shenanigans.

Her mana was still above half after all the fighting, mostly because Sable had been quite conservative with the resource. Dipping so low during the hivemother had been a necessity. She wouldn’t go weakening herself like that for something as simple as mundane hunting trips.

Pleased with her progress, Sable left the Fang Hollows behind. She had a skill to experiment with.

***

“Huh,” Aylin said. “A title? Got no clue what that means.” The short green-skinned woman considered for a moment, then shrugged. “Test it out with Granite.”

The statement amused Sable. Aylin’s pawning off of the role of ‘guinea pig’ had been instant and shameless. She didn’t want to be the one Sable figured out the skill on, because she wanted the full fruits of its benefit.

To be fair, Aylin was the more useful tool, even if Granite was the more powerful. Sable wanted the skill to be used effectively on her more than she did Granite, too.

[First, I need to come up with something good,] Sable said. [In case the cooldown is too long.] Assuming the skill ‘just worked’ in the first place, and she didn’t need to earn titles, or something like that.

Aylin pondered this for a second, then said, “Give him something that lets him share experience better. I still haven’t leveled. Think it splits pretty strictly on who contributed to the fight.” She shrugged. “It’d be neat, if it works.”

Sable agreed. That application hadn’t been one she’d considered, but that was probably because it was a title that entirely benefited Aylin, and not Granite.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Not that Sable thought Granite would mind. He seemed to be a ‘go with the flow’ kind of golem. He wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation—he had crouched down and was studying a fuzzy caterpillar as it crawled along a log, ignoring her and Aylin’s debate on the strange new skill.

[If it works, it would be,] Sable agreed. [I suppose it’s worth trying.] She wanted to know how creative she could be with the ability. A title that let Granite share experience better, even if he did the bulk of the work, was surely an unusual or specific enough application that it would show whether other similar titles would work. [But what would the title be?]

“Hm?”

[The title itself. The name of it.]

“It works like that?”

[I think so.]

Aylin nodded, then tilted her head and frowned as she mulled it over.

[Mentor?] Sable suggested.

“Is simple the goal?” Aylin asked. “Or does a dramatic one do better?”

It was a good point. [Better to be dramatic than to not, I suppose.]

“The Great Experience Sharing Sage,” Aylin joked. She paused. “Well, honestly, it sounds silly, but it’s fancy and on the nose. Less chance of getting the wrong effect, if there’s some randomness? I wonder how much you can guide it.”

[I’ll try that,] Sable said. Maybe the topic was due a bit more consideration, but it simply wasn’t that important, if the worst case turned out true: that it had a high cooldown or even couldn’t be changed. What titles her minions had was relatively unimportant to her. Even with an amazing one, they remained rather insignificant to her overall plans.

Focusing on the rock golem, she declared him ‘The Great Experience Sharing Sage’. She felt somewhat silly using the dramatic name, but she was already a giant flying politician lizard that could cast magic, so her standards had recently been readjusted.

***

[Dominator’s Blessing] failed. This title is beyond you.

***

Sable paused. She relayed the notification to Aylin.

“Huh,” she said. “Maybe that means you do have to make it simple. When you’re higher level, you can use stronger ones?”

Sable inferred the same thing.

[I’ll try ‘Experience Sharer’,] Sable said. [In case ‘Mentor’ is too vague, and I can’t mentally guide what the effect is.]

She did as she said she would.

***

[Dominator’s Blessing] failed. This title is beyond you.

***

Sable frowned. [Still beyond me, it says.]

“Huh.”

The two of them considered.

[Maybe if I tie in a negative effect?] Sable asked. It made intuitive sense to her. If she wanted a strong effect, one beyond what her level would allow her naturally, then she might be able to make the gap up by giving it a downside. [What about, ‘The Self-Sacrificing Experience Sharer’?]

It was wordy, and like before, kind of silly sounding, but Sable didn’t care. It was a title that got the point across.

“Try it,” Aylin said.

Focusing once more on Granite, who remained captivated by the fuzzy caterpillar, she directed her resolve and newly-acquired skill his way.

***

Title granted to entity [Granitemaul]: [The Self-Sacrificing Experience Sharer]

***

She blinked. She’d mostly expected it not to work.

Naturally, she [Inspected] the title itself, hoping to glean the exact effects.

***

[The Self-Sacrificing Experience Sharer] - The bearer of this title provides a small portion of their experience gain to their teammates regardless of combat contribution. Additionally, title-bearer receives half experience from all sources.

***

Sable winced. A fifty percent reduction to Granite’s experience gain was pretty crippling.

[Well,] Sable said. [It did work. He has it now. The title gives his party members a portion of his experience regardless of fight contribution.]

Which should mean he ought to be able to ‘power-level’ Aylin to an extent, seeing how Granite was fairly strong for a level four—he could probably handle up to level six, seven, or even eight mobs. Seeing how Aylin was level one, getting a portion of experience from a level seven kill ought to be a significant increase to her leveling pace.

[But the downside is pretty bad, too.]

“What is it?”

[Fifty percent reduction to his own experience gain.]

Aylin cringed, casting a guilty look toward Granitemaul. The golem had responded to the title with a head tilt, but had quickly dismissed it, resuming his watch over the caterpillar. As always, he remained unperturbed.

“Huh,” Aylin said. “Well, can you remove it? Change it? Hopefully he’s not stuck with that forever.”

Sable checked on her mana; the title-granting hadn’t cost mana. [I’ll try changing it. But removing might not be smart, in case there’s a cooldown.]

“Fair.”

A short experiment later, Sable received a confirmation of what she’d already expected:

***

This entity’s title cannot be changed for 7 days.

***

[One week cooldown,] Sable said. [Sounds like it’s individual, though. Think I can still give you one.]

“That’s good,” Aylin said. She didn’t sound surprised. “What should mine be?”

[Another experience boost?] Sable suggested. Truthfully, Aylin wasn’t useful from a combat perspective until she was much, much higher level. Giving her a fighting title was pointless. Though, maybe something utility-based would be nice. Something related to her being a diplomat. Or even keeping the title open for when Sable needed something more specific. Lots of good choices.

Analysis paralysis could be a killer, though, so instead of agonizing over maximizing the ability, she picked the ‘good enough’ choice—simply using it for something that would be valuable, even if it wasn’t the best possible application.

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” Aylin agreed. “Think I’ll need a downside too, though?”

[Do you want one? It would mean a stronger effect, but is having a downside worth it?]

“Think we can be sneaky about it? Give me, like, a magic debuff?”

[I’d figure we couldn’t,] Sable said. [Whatever rules that stopped me from giving too strong of a title would account for that, too.]

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Aylin shrugged. “Well, try a basic experience title first, then. If we can’t, we’ll go for a downside that’s reasonable?”

[Quick Learner?] Sable asked.

“Seems like it’d do the trick.”

Leveling her attention toward Aylin and focusing her intent, she activated [Dominator’s Blessing].

***

Title granted to entity [Aylin]: [Quick Learner]

***

***

[Quick Learner] - Title-bearer gains experience 25% faster. Additionally, title-bearer has minor increases to learning mundane skills.

***

“Oh,” Aylin said, eyes widening. “That’s even better than I thought.”

Sable agreed, though not wholeheartedly. [Less of an increase than I’d hoped,] she said. Twenty-five percent wasn’t much. [But learning mundane skills faster is helpful.]

“Seeing how, by being your champion, I’ll be getting into all kinds of crazy situations I’ve got no idea how to handle, yeah. It’ll be a godsend.”

That was Sable’s thinking, too. It made Aylin a more versatile minion. Though not any better to start with, she could pick up tasks that Sable assigned her easier. And Aylin had already proved herself adaptable.

[Now,] Sable said. [Let’s see how well they work. It’s time you two tackle a dungeon.]