After a bath that he embarrassingly needed Mitchel’s help for, Myles was clean, feeling a thousand times better, and stable enough to make decisions again. At the top of his list was one he’d been putting off for far too long.

Sitting on his couch, surrounded by his friends, he ruffled Squishy’s hair as she sat next to him, took a breath and smiled.

It was time to consider everything that happened in his absence, starting with the most important.

“Everyone’s told me you’ve been thinking hard on this,” Myles said, trying his best to think like how his father would have done in this situation. He’d had his name as long as he could remember, but Squishy had grown beyond hers. It was a moment that should be treated with all the importance it deserved, and he was sure Maximus Chase would have done his best to make Myles feel relaxed and understood as the slimekin beamed at him. When she didn’t respond after a moment, he gently prompted her with his smile. “Well, are you ready to tell me?”

Squishy nodded, and her smile warmed like a campfire on a frosty night. “Yes.”

“Yes?” Myles asked.

Another nod. “Only one choice.”

“She had eight,” Kendra said from her chair nearby. “But we told her she couldn’t take any of our names or Ashra’s. It would be too confusing.”

Myles considered that and had to agree. Besides, he didn’t want Squishy to be one of them. As far as she’d come, she deserved to be herself, whoever or whatever that meant.

After his attention returned to her, Squishy beamed like a star before growing nervous. Among his team, her connection was currently the most active, the strongest, and strung like a lute ready to be played.

“I’m sure it’s right,” Myles assured her.

The tense string of emotion slacked, and she smiled once more as she said a single word. “Kit.”

“Kit?”

The slimekin smiled wider. “Kit!”

Myles tested the name on his tongue for the moment. Kit? Where had she come up with that? Granted, it wasn’t really that bad compared to other choices she could have made, but it just felt…

The thought stopped immediately as he realized how right it felt.

It felt right, and he wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

With your approval, a monsterkin in your care has updated their interface information.

Squishy has chosen a new name!

Squishy has changed her name to Kit Chase!

All information regarding names has been updated!

By abiding your monster’s wishes, your connection has increased.

Soul Bond complexity has been increased from Trusted to Devoted.

As the information registered for Kit, the joy in her body seemed to overwhelm her small frame. More liquid than solid, she pounced Myles, wrapping her arms around him and chiming happily at his acceptance. From her soul, an innocent happiness and pure truth rang across their connection in a way he’d never felt before now.

For his part, Myles did his best to wrap his mind around everything as she hung from him like an apron. Squi… Kit was still a child, born from strange circumstances that probably couldn’t be replicated if he tried.

In reality, Myles wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed at the system for needing his permission or to be surprised about the fact she’d also taken his last name. It really shouldn’t have, he figured the longer he thought on it.

He was the first face she saw.

He had always been there.

He was there when she became an entirely new species.

Ashra even said Kit saw herself as his daughter, and with what he assumed she knew with her increase in mind and basic knowledge, why wouldn’t she want a family name?

Kit was like Ashra now, a Runner in all but Title, and a member of the Chase family. Her fate was his.

With that thought, Myles smiled ruefully.

Oh, his dad was going to flip when this made it to the broadcast.

Myles said nothing, hugged her back, and smiled. “Hello, Kit.”

Kit smiled back, hugging just a notch below bone bruising. “Hello.”

The pair ignored the cooing from the peanut gallery.

***

Once Kit had settled in for a nap, Myles and those closest to him were sitting in the living room with yet another decision to discuss.

“So you’ve all chosen your Path?” Myles asked.

Choose a Path was one of the most important choices given to advancing Classes. Normally, a Class would advance on its own until the journeymen Rank, then the accumulated experiences someone went through would open up different paths. The more widely you used your abilities, the more Paths one could open. He’d had a few notices as he went along, but until Journeyman, he’d only have hints of what they were.

Whatever Path he took, they’d change his Skills and Traits quite a bit…. Or not at all.

Tail shrugged. “I’ve been on the Path of Mirrors since after the fight with the Wolven.”

“Path of Steel since the fight with Shardking,” Mitchel added.

Myles already knew their Paths since soon after the fight with Shardking. He had his own choices to make now, but knowing how the others were advancing their Class Paths would give him more room to make a choice.

From what Tail had explained, the Path of Mirrors was all about misdirection and counter combat. He’d seen them in action enough to know how well they could perform, so he chalked that up to a Class closer to an [Assassin] than a warrior.

Mitchel’s path was all about reinforcement. His armor, body and shields would hold better than someone on another path, but would eventually surpass any natural or alloy material in his hands. He would be the perfect shield and was firmly in the defensive camp.

Lyna’s Path wasn’t much of a surprise.

“Path of the Masters,” she said proudly. Myles almost asked if it was like his [Monster Tamer] class, but she continued to explain it simply. “Basically, I’m going to learn how to use my weapons to the fullest.”

“So, you’ll be a master of all trades?” he asked as a follow-up instead.

“You know it.”

So, another on the path of combat then.

Turning to the final member, Myles expected something to amplify Kendra’s Beserking, but was surprised.

“Path of the Gathering Storm,” Kendra said. “It trades my Beserker’s Rage for a trait called Tempest’s Rage. So I can’t rage on command anymore, but my power increases the more damage I take until my life is in real danger. When that happens, I become an Avatar of the Tempest, heal faster than a slime, and get a limited amount of time to what equals out around Beserker’s Rage Ten without any of the challenge buffs active.”

“Which is?”

She grinned, “Nearly ten times my normal strength.”

“What did you have before?”

“Beserker’s Rage five.”

That sent an excited chill down Myles’s spine.

When they’d fought Shardking, her Trait was four or lower, and that had been enough for her to knock a power core from its housing in an elite B class threat floor guardian. What in the pantheon’s name could she do if she survived enough damage to use the maximum? Still the more he thought about it, the Trait was a double-edged sword, balancing it out decently well. For it to be the most useful, she had to be constantly taking damage. The chill moved from his spine to his stomach, where it sunk like a rock.

His slime Medic and healing potions could only help so much.

The Path put Kendra squarely into the front line damage dealers. Her and Lyna would be powerful together, and Mitchel would be able hold his own. As Kit grew, she’d be as good on offense as she was on defense, and she wasn’t even on a Path yet. With Ashra pushing to become a [Phantom Fist] and Tail creeping in the shadows as an assassin, there was little chance of getting more defensive power without bringing in someone new, and they already needed a healer.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Knowing that, Myles looked at his offerings to see what his Classes were willing to offer:

New Paths await your decision for the Monster Tamer Class.

Three Paths await at your fork.

The Path of Fusion

The Path of the Invoker

The Path of the One

The Path of Fusion

Journeymen Path - Monster Tamer Class Path

Unique Skill - Monster Fusion, Fusion Crystal, Summon Fusion Station

Path Information: The Path of Fusion follows a path of making monsters greater by granting them abilities from your other monsters through a process called Monster Fusion.

Monster Fusion takes the minds and bodies or two monsters and combines them into one, taking the best of both and making a new, more powerful whole. Fusion can be performed temporarily on the fly between compatible monsters or permanently through the use of Fusion Statis Gems and a Fusion Station without restriction, though compatibility issues may occur if species are too incompatible.

Fusion is an additive process and becomes more expensive for each fusion after the first.

On The Path of Fusion, combine your strength and let none stand before you.

The Path of the Invoker

Journeymen Path - Monster Tamer Class Path (Variant)

Unique Skill - Monster Invocation

Path Information: Originally a path of the Monster Binder Class, The Monster Tamer’s Path of the Invoker follows a path of self-empowerment by taking the powers of monsters in your control and combining them with your own body by invoking the power of Soul magic.

Monster Invocation uses the soul patterns of your monsters and combines them with your own, changing your Soul’s pattern temporally. Through this process, you wll gain powerful new abilities, instincts, and Traits that could not normally be gained through your class progressions and normal monster taming.

Though the skill’s use is restricted to monsters you have a high trust with, the Path of the Invoker is a path to power few can call their own.

On the Path of the Invoker, call forth your true power.

The Path of the One

Journeymen Path - Monster Tamer Class Path (Unique)

Unique Trait - The Power of One

Restriction - Sustain a single monster’s bond

Path Information: The Path of the One is a path of unity and cooperation. You and your monster of choice will fight as a team with no more to rely on than one another. Through this bond, you will share all Skills and Traits of all Classes between one another. Mana and Soul Energy will be spent to create a substitute for the required limbs or organs the Skills and Traits may require.

In exchange for this power, you may tame no more monsters and any contracts beyond the one chosen contract will be released.

As a boon for taking this Path, your partner monster cannot die while you live and will use your mana as a lifeline until healing can be secured.

On The Path of the One, there doesn’t have to be another way.

Myles looked over his choices, cursing.

After what happened to Ashra, the Path of Fusion seemed right out. Not only would he be risking his partners’ sanities, he’d lose the monsters he fused in the long term. Most of his monsters weren’t even for combat. Outside of Squishy… Kit, Myles had to remind himself again, and Ashra, most of his team was designed for support.

Granted, Myles was using them as symboties more often now, but that didn’t mean he wanted to lose them forever. They could easily turn the tide of combat on their own, and he wasn’t going to give that advantage up.

The Path of the Invoker sent a shiver down his spine.

He remembered full well the feeling of being a Rabbitkin in Somniums. He hated the inital feelings that came with his new body. It felt wrong… but…. But when he’d called on Kit’s power to defend himself.

Well…

It still felt wrong, but the power that came with invocation was undeniable.

Then there was the unique Path.

The Path of the One had a horrible cost to it, but the pay-off was huge. If he picked Ashra to be his single monster, they’d share every ability either of them had, opening up plenty of physical power to back his magical prowess. As if that wasn’t enough, his oldest and strongest monster would be unable to die as long as he lived, negating the biggest fear squatting in the back of his mind with all his monsters. Death would no longer be a problem for anyone but him. But just like the Path of Fusion, he’d end up losing some of his strongest allies and the advantages that came with having them.

The choices all had their strengths and drawbacks, some greater than others, but when it came to his [Succulent Magician] Class, there were more… reasonable choices.

New paths await your decision for the Succulent Magician Class.

The Path of the Proof

The Path of the Exotic

The Path of the Preserver

The Path of the Proof

Journeymen Path - Succulent Magician Class Path

Unique Trait - Weight of Proof

Path Information: Like a [Pyromancer] wielding fire, wielding dough has become second nature to you. The Path of the Proof increases your ability to wield dough as a weapon. In your hands, baked goods become the bane of your enemies as any within your sphere of influence, determined by Will, dough can be Proofed into a substance reflecting the power of your will for as long as your Soul Energy or Mana hold out.

Will does not affect taste.

On the Path of Proof, prove your power.

The Path of the Exotic

Journeymen Path - Succulent Magician Class Path (Variant)

Unique Trait - Fine Control

Path Information: Weapons, armor, and tools made from dough? Check. On a Path originally designed for [Dough Smith]s, your dough is like clay to the artisan. On the path of the Exotic, your fine control over your dough constructs increases based on your body and Will. The larger the construct, the more of each it will take to form properly and operate.

On the Path of the Exotic, only your imagination can limit your power.

The Path of the Preserver

Journeymen Path - Succulent Magician Class Path (Variant)

Unique Trait - Persevering Touch

Path Information: Toxins, beware! On the Path of the Preserver, a variant of a [Healer] Class Path, decay of any kind cannot touch your dough without overcoming your magical prowess. Be it poison, mold, or time itself, preserve the freshness and remove the impurities that could rot your creations for as long as you have the power to do so.

On The Path of the Preserver, you will endure.

As if mana from the heavens answered his call for help, the problem here wasn’t limitations. Each aspect only had positives. He could create stronger constructs on the Path of Proof, he could craft finer constructs and weapons on The Path of the Exotic, and stabilize wounds and, if he read it right, remove poisons, on the Path of the Preserver.

The only one natural to his Class was the Path of Proof, which he remembered the message for, but the other two he could imagine what it took to open them for him. More than likely, the incident with Tail in Somniums opened the Path of the Preserver, and the Path of the Exotic probably came from crafting the Twisted Breadstick, his focus and primary weapon outside his now seldomly used knife, making bolas and wielding dough more like a weapon than a baked good.

Still, he wasn’t a dedicated healer, and the Path of the Preserver wasn’t going to do them as much good as whoever filled that role.

Between the options, only one seemed to stand out.

You have chosen to follow the Path of the Proof.

Your Traits have been updated.

Go forth and give your enemies proof of your strength.

Myles groaned.

You have one Path left to follow.

Strangely, Myles didnt feel anything from making his choice. Nothing seemed to change except a tingling at the back of his mind that could have been his imagination for all he knew.

Looking back over the Paths left, Myles made a decision, took a breath, and said a small prayer.

A moment later, he closed his interface and opened a new one as he began to rummage through his mess of an inventory, taking out a few items he’d promised himself to start taking better inventory soon. One by one, glimmering white vials of starlight appeared in his hand until there were as many as he had fingers.

The action wasn’t ignored.

“Soul Dew?” Kendra asked, looking at the glimmering vials of moonlight.

He nodded. “Two [Succulent Magician], two [Unifier], and a [Dream Weaver].”

“None for [Monster Tamer]?”

He shrugged. “I gave that one to Sindra.”

Kendra cursed, tossed up her hands in defeat, and groaned. “You make the worst deals.”

“Have to agree there,” Myles grinned darkly as he uncorked the first [Succulent Magician] vial and drank deeply.

Drinking Soul Drew was not the same as a potion despite what it said.

The sensation was more like when he’d eaten the clear slime cores. It never made it to the back of his throat though and fizzed all the way to his heart where it disappeared.

Nothing happened except for feeling more awake.

“Should he be drinking those?” Lyna asked, watching him more intently than she had a few moments ago.

“The healers only said mana and health potions,” Kendra said.

“And don’t those restore mana?”

Kendra shrugged.

“Why does that matter?” Myles asked, looking at the remaining four.

“Because your soul could explode,” Lyna said nonchalantly. “They do taste good though.”

Myles added the vials back to his inventory carefully as he felt at his chest.

“That should be fine,” Tail said from their place closer to the kitchen area. “It only helps with your natural regeneration, and Soul Dew doesn’t work the same way. It just enhances what is already there.”

“Maybe,” Lyna considered.

“Maybe he should space them out?” Tail offered at the consideration.

“Wouldn’t hurt,” Lyna conceded. “We won’t be going to the next floor until he’s recovered, and we have another sponsor day in three days.”

It was Mitchel’s turn to groan.

“They aren’t that bad,” Tail offered. “We get quite a lot of useful gear.”

“Granted, but it gets more expensive with every floor, and we just cleared ten at once.”

Myles suddenly remembered he hadn’t completed what his other sponsors asked and began feeling anxious again. Not to mention the magazines he probably had piling up in his mailbox he hadn’t properly registered yet. Not that he was in any hurry to get to some of those editions.

He really needed a better system.

“I should have taken them all before picking my Path.”

“Can’t fix that,” Kendra said, curiosity creeping into her voice. “What did you pick?”

“Path of the Proof.”

“Not Path of Proof?”

“I didn’t pick the name, but its baseline lets me make my dough like steel.”

She nodded approvingly. “Sounds useful. Waiting on tamer?”

He nodded. “I should have waited on [Succulent Magician] too.”

“Can’t change the past, but I’m sure that Trosana is chopping at the bit to ask you about everything. I’d try to pick it by then.”

Myles was about to reply when a yawn erupted from his mouth like a sinkhole opening in the town square. It lasted nearly a minute as his muscles protested being awake still, and his inaction over the past week showed.

Kit mimicked him, opening her mouth in a yawn wider than what should be humanly possible.

“Who’s staying tonight?” Mitchel asked to the group. “Just me?”

“Seems he’s through the worst of it,” Lyna offered.

“Agreed, but he still needs help,” Tail pointed out.

“I’ll stick around too,” Kendra offered. “Not like I have anyone to go home to yet.”

Myles instantly ended any thoughts of an argument as he quieted himself, but Kendra did her best to wave it away. Even with the smile on her face, Myles could tell what bubbled below the surface.

“Sure, but I’m going to cook,” Myles pushed. “I’m feeling better.”

Standing under his own power, Myles felt more like his old self again… and that lasted about as long as it took for his legs to wobble like cooling jelly and nearly send him face first into the coffee table.