Looking directly into the eyes of this creature in the water near me, I weighed my options. I could either run like hell, and probably get caught by it. I could fight it and probably die trying. I could try that new skill I got.....To be honest, the last one speaks the most to me. If it goes wrong, I can always just run and hide, so, with a bit of trepidation, I reach for the skill that's now in me and activate it. [Animal Companionship]. As soon as I touch upon it, a sudden overwhelming feeling of familiarity washes over me as I continued to stare at the creature. A sense of connection that I couldn't quite place had formed between us, and for some reason, I felt like it could understand me now, at least slightly better through it.

"Alright there. You just...don't make any sudden movements. Stay calm. I don't want to cause you any harm. Just want to get by peacefully so I can find my friend...." I started to say, when I finally realized why the creature suddenly seemed so familiar to me. "Stein?"

We then started talking more and more, and a bunch of information had been revealed to me. Within the conversation that I held, it was to my surprise, that this green goliath was actually Stein. I figured he might've received an affinity from eating some of the poison that was imparted into the meat, but I didn't think he'd...change so drastically. Actually, with that in mind, why didn't I change when I ate those mushrooms and that other stuff that somehow got into my body? According to the system, there was some body changes I underwent, but I don't look any different nor do I feel anything wrong inside of me. Do opposing affinities cancel each other's transformative effect, or amplify it? From what I thought, it'd be a combination, cause that's how it usually goes, but this...this might be nice to have. Now I won't have to figure out how new body parts work in case I just find another opposing Affinity, and they're not all too hard to find.

So, with that thought out of the way, the nature of our conversation leapt to the forefront of my mind. Either Stein's transformation or the [Animal Companionship] skill apparently allows us to communicate. I'm thinking it's more a case of the later than the former though, since it also lets me understand him. However, the skills usage is very weird to me, because even though I could sort of understand what he was saying to me, I could still tell that he was talking in barks and yips. Besides that new nugget of info though, there was also another tidbit that I had apparently missed out on. It seems that he already had a name, Claw, and seemed a little put out that I had renamed him Stein without his consent. To be fair, we didn't understand each other, so it was kind of acceptable in my eyes. Although, with the topic of names coming up, I felt that neither Stein nor Claw was a good name for him anymore. He agreed, surprisingly, and asked me to rename him, so I went with Kojo. Figured I'd stray from German to Japanese naming sense, given his form is now more of a lithe thing than the stocky build he kind of had before. Plus, given that he transformed, I'd figure a new form means he'd have to have a different naming convention. I also figured since he had evolved I would [Observe], him to see what had actually changed in terms of his character.

Species: Timber Mariphasa

Affinity: Flora

Name: Kojo

Title: Lone

Level: 76

HP: 2220/2530

AP: 125/250

Effects: Recovering

It was nice to see that my first friend here was doing well after the fight. I was a bit worried that the poison would still be stuck inside of him after the whole transformation, but it seems to have gotten out of his system. Plus, I can see that he also has a title of his own. I don't really know what it means nor what kinds of bonuses it could give him, but I think the origin of it is probably because he got kicked out of a pack or something. I can always ask him since we have all the time in the world nowadays, but it might be an invasion of his privacy now that I think about it. Wait, I just realized something. Why didn't I get more information besides that? Shouldn't [Observe]-Oh yeah! I didn't advance it yet, so it's still kind of stuck at this stage. I need to choose whether to keep advancing this particular skill or not. So while I drank some more water slowly along with Kojo, I decided that putting off the choice was a worse decision than just not making it at all, so with a mental coin toss, I basically chose to advancement it. After all, with the way it had worded what advancement was like, it could only ever become a better skill

You have chosen to advance Observe to its next stage, Analyze.

....Is...is that it? I thought I'd get something a bit flashier sounding or at least something cooler, maybe with a bit more system text than that. Don't get me wrong, from the description, it seems to be a slightly more powerful version of [Observe]. It provides the same information that the basic one did, but it will also tell me the components of a material that I [Analyze]. Hence the name, I suppose. It's just....I thought I'd get maybe a stat increase or something for doing it? Maybe I've just become spoiled from all of the recent ones. However, should I also upgrade Meditation? From what I could see, if I didn't advance a skill, I would basically get another within the same 'category' at the same skill 'value', whatever THAT meant. A part of me is wanting to see what kind of similar skill I would get if I passed on upgrading it. I mean, Meditation seems like a very spiritual affair, so it would only come to pass that more spiritual skills would come from it. However, Meditation's just too good at recovering not to do it. Plus, I don't really want to pass out on it, just to get a skill for something like individual therapy.

You have chosen to advance Meditation to Kundalini Meditation

...There's multiple types of Meditation? I thought maybe it'd just make a new skill outright that automatically does things. Wait...the description here...Kundalini is overpowered! It's basically Meditation without having to sit still in one place. It also has some other effects listed as hidden, which is strange, but it probably won't end up being too bad. I need to test this. Oooh. Resetting the skill also apparently puts the MP cost back to what it used to. That sucks, but I guess there's always going to be price to pay. Probably also means my analyze is the same level that observe was at before, even if it says level one right now. It's best to check though before assuming anything. I'll just look at the water or something. With any luck, I can find contaminants or something. [Analyze]

Water

Alright, so it's still not good right now, but it'll be great in the future, I just know it. Speaking of the future though, how am I going to get back to civilization. There's surely people around somewhere...Wait, if I could talk to Kojo, maybe he'd know the answer? He's probably familiar with the forest.

"Hey Kojo. Do you have any idea on how to get out of the forest?" Kojo stopped slurping the water up and looked back at me, his fur glowing softly in the daylight.

"..Out forest? Thought you go family?" Kojo's inquisitive look bored into me. Ok...that's maybe a bit to parse through. This may have made it easier to converse with him, but that also means I have to find out what exactly he's talking about now. Does he think that I live here?

"No. I think I got magicked into that cave somehow. Don't even know where I am." Kojo turns pensive as his wooden ears twitch a bit, his head turned towards me slightly while still staring upriver.

"....Know one way. Many moons ago. Visited outside forest, easy hunts. Ran from large green. If follow...must promise." So...large green probably means plains or something. Moons probably means either months or years, which is kind of hard to parse through, but if he remembers it still, his path there shouldn't have changed much. However, a promise....

"Sure. Anything buddy. What kind of promise?"

"....Anything happen, you run. No fight like big beast before. Cannot promise life." The look Kojo gave me, was deadly serious. His moss eyebrows pulled downwards in front of his eyes, conveying a level of sureness I don't think I had seen from him before. Actually, I can tell a lot more of his emotions now than before...Is it because of [Animal Companionship]? No, don't go down the rabbit hole. You need to assure him.

"Yeah. Don't worry bud. I promise. I won't attack anything. If something's too dangerous I'll run." Kojo nodded in satisfaction.

"....Ok. To do, must go out other way, but quiet." At this, I shot him an incredulous look. Quiet I can probably get, there'd be predators on the way there, but would it still matter with how he is now?

"Other way?"

"Cave go two ways. We go safe way. Need go dangerous way." Kojo's words stopped my heart. We went....the safe way!?!?! We had poisonous mushrooms, mind warping eyeballs, and giant mutant t-rexes all come at us before we were actually safe. What could possibly be worse in the other direction?

"What...could possibly make, the other way more dangerous than what we went through?"

"Many wolves. Not sure if respect new me. Could want kill us both." So, it's not a powerful being situation, but unmanageable numbers? That at least makes some sort of sense, we're only two after all.

"*sigh*....Ok. How many are we talking here?"

"....Not sure. Last remember, least 4 packs." Not really enough information to work on there. Don't know how big a pack is at all.

"How many in a pack?"

"Five five's." Five five's, what's that supposed to.....there's twenty-five in a pack. There are four packs on the other side of the cavern. That's at least 100 horse-like wolves, some may be like Kojo with evolutions or something, that want to kill and eat us. That....that's not good. Not at all.

Stolen story; please report.

"Can....can you even hide when you're larger than you were?"

"......Yes. Become nature." Well, that....that could work probably, if he means what I think he means.

"Become nature?"

"Hide as nature. Close eyes, no one tell. Can you hide?" So it is camouflage. However, I should consider his question. Could I hide? I have the stealth skill, but I haven't really used it much, and I would rather not test my luck again.

"....Maybe not. Don't have good eyesight to spot where the packs might be, so I wouldn't know where and when to hide to begin with."

"...If we cover with leaves, can hide on me?" It sounded reasonable and I could probably level up my stealth and hearing skills, but....something's off here.

".....Yeah, that might work. Wait, do we even need to go through the cave? Couldn't we just follow along outside it?"

"...Work, sure. Like better even, can't though." Can't....that doesn't really bode well.

"Why not?"

"Stuck." That...that doesn't sound good whatsoever.

"What do you mean stuck?"

"While you sleep, I wander. Surround cliffs. Water come cliffs. Not comfortable drinking next to cliff, came further in drink." Ok...parsing through all of that, he just walked around the perimeter of the mountain/hill/thing to find water. But the phrasing...why would he mention cliffs with water near it, unless he mean's it's coming from a cliff face. Wait...he mentioned going around...are we in a caldera?

"So, we're stuck in a valley surrounded by high cliffs?"

"Yes. Tried climb, paws no keep. Doubt you either. That why go back in." How long was I out, for him to even have tried doing this? I mean, he physically changed his entire makeup. I don't even know how long, wait. I would, the time limit on the Newcomer title effect.

Effect: Newcomer (10:25:13)

So, I have about 10 hours left for the effect. I wonder what's going to happen when it ends. Will I end up unable to get skills as easily, or does it have to do with the experience I've gained? As of now, I can't tell until it goes away. However, either way I was only out for about an hour or so, so how the hell could the time be changed so fast? Wait, speaking of physical changes....

".....Could you even fit in the cave? With your new size...."

"If crawl, should make through entrance and exit. Everything else, big enough think." Visions of the trials we had gone through flashed through my mind once again. I shook it off though and tried not to dwell on it.

"After what we went through, I don't think it's worth it to go back in."

"After went? We beat bigger beasts than waiting for. Just number problem. Trust me and we make through." His assuredness pulled me away from a bigger anxiety attack, as I slowly breathed in and out before going to respond.

"......Alright, if you say so Kojo, but could we maybe take our time? I want to bathe in sunlight for awhile. It's been long enough, since I was not currently worrying or fighting or anything stress inducing. I think I need this, otherwise I might snap during this next problem we've got to take care of."

".....No physical harm nearby? No snap. Should be fine, Dave. Should be. I am almost big as before beast now, so doubt others mess with easily."

"....Yeah. Thanks big guy." The conversation I think is getting slightly better. I think the extended use of the skill is advancing it, so I probably don't have to worry all that much about it.

And with the end of the conversation, Kojo stood up from the river, his wet moss absorbing the water. He stretched his back, causing a couple of twigs that got caught to snap off of his form, while he flexed his thorny paws and shook his bushy tail. The sounds of his body moving sounded like the slow creaking of a tree, ready to fall over after a storm. His trunk-like legs began moving slowly, with him looking towards me. Not to be outdone, I tried to perform much the same.

I flexed my back out, stretched my arms and legs, but the real cracker was when I manually took my head in my hands and popped my neck, hard. I always did that before any exercise that I did in high school, and it seemed like it'd been awhile since I'd last done it, while I was out, because the resounding crack produced nearly unbearable amounts of ecstasy. I almost wondered if this is what all those people who had their necks just snapped in half in those spy movies felt before dying. Then I realized I was thinking about death again, and forced myself to stop. If I think about that, then I probably will focus on how I might end up dead, here in the wilderness, with only a dog to keep me company, well a wolf, but semantics.

Following closely behind Kojo, I focused on activating the new meditation skill that I had gotten. At first, nothing really seemed to happen, at least, until my vision started acting strange. In the beginning, I had thought I had probably needed to keep my eyes closed, or focusing on my breathing, but it seemed that as long as I focused on the movement of my body it would seem to, for a lack of a better term, pulse something through it. It wasn't really clear what I was doing in the beginning, or really even what the skill was actively doing with my body, but it was definitely doing something to my vision, as colors seemed to bleed from everything.

As I looked around, I noticed that some objects had colored auras surrounding them now. Most plants had a greenish mist surrounding them, while any animals I saw had a slightly brown dust emanating from them. Kojo's aura was a halo of the purest green that I could see, while I....Well, that's certainly strange. I think I can see my affinities bleeding into the area surrounding me, or at least, I think that's what it is.

They're basically the same colors as those windows by that sphere inside me, which seem like where my affinities lie, so....Come to think of it, how can I tell that it's my two affinities? I'm only really emanating a single color. Questions for later I suppose on how my perception has changed. I close my eyes to steady myself away from those questions, only to find that the colors remained in my vision......huh. So I guess this might be a spiritual ability of some sort? I don't seem to be able to control what I see, but maybe as I advance, I can narrow the focus or something. I don't know, but I guess this explains the cthulu-rex. Don't need eyes if you can see souls or something. Wait...if it could see our souls...damn it. We're always out in the open to anything that could use this. To me, I think I can see a bit of a definition in the things around me, but after a certain range, the colors seem to bleed into a singular pulse. Interestingly enough, the sky gives off basically nothing, just the regular blackness that is me eyelids unless this has a limited range to see or that's the actual color coming from the sky. Can't take anything for granted here. I look up from my inspection to see that Kojo has left me behind and I run to catch up, but....this is bad actually. If I move too fast, the meditation just gets cancelled. Dammit. Do I have to level this up until I can keep it up with any fast movements? As it is right now, it's almost worthless in a fight. I need to get his attention.

"Hey Kojo! Could I ride on your back? Seems more comfortable with all the moss and all. Plus my feet had a couple of rocks stuck to them, probably from the river." Kojo stops walking and turns his head towards me. Peering downwards, he looks to me before nodding and lowering his body down to the leafy ground.

"Climb then. Big form means more movement. Rather you keep than left." Well, that's an affirmation that's good enough for me. With that, I jump up onto him and start climbing. Thankfully, it doesn't seem too difficult to climb up, especially since the trunk-like legs have little knots coming out of them. When I finally reach the moss of his main body, I find that it's a bit hard to grasp, but it's still manageable. The sensations I get from my fingers as I climb almost tricks me into thinking that I'm just climbing up a wet piece of fabric with how thickly it covers his back, but it doesn't rip off when I pull my weight upon it. I swing my leg over, attempting to straddle Kojo's back, but I think I misjudged how wide Kojo's gotten. It's almost like my leg is straight out once it gets over the curve. Somehow, something seems to grab that leg and hold it steady while I pull myself on top of him...I look only to find...

"Kojo....are you doing that?" Kojo's head turns towards me.

"Yes. Fur can do things now. Didn't do much, but can move my body some. Helps Dave get up. Did Dave get up ok?" Ok. Creepy moss that can grab me aside, it's actually a bit more helpful than what a saddle could've provided.

"....Yeah, buddy. Just thought that you had creepy plant stuff being a parasite upon you or something. It's fine though. You're welcome to keep going on." Kojo nods, and then stands once again, and begins to head back towards the cave. The motion of his body is, a bit disorienting at first, but I think I've gotten the hang of it. It's slower than his wolf stride, so it ends up being better for my purpose, but ......I kind of feel bad for lying to him about why I wanted to get up here.

It had to be done though. What else could I have said? 'Hey Kojo, I need to be carried while I advance some skills so I stay alive longer. What? Oh yeah, this'll definitely help somehow I guarantee it. No, it's not an attack. What do you mean that's useless? Bah.' Then I'd probably be on walking duty while he deliberately slowed his pace and not talked to me till we got to the cave, or worse, seem like a bad friend or something. Already lost too many of those already whether by my poor conversational skills or otherwise.

Now that I'm up here though, I guess I can focus on something to do while we head towards the cave. I activated the meditation again, as well as [Analyze], because if I have it constantly active while I look around, maybe it'll get better. It might need other requirements to level up, but right now I don't, and can't possibly, know about any of them. I've put most of the leveling of my skills hidden, so I actively have to check whenever I want to. Just figured with how fast it was going before, it might've just been annoying, and probably dangerous, to deal with it all the time, but now it's almost quiet with how infrequent I get updates for anything. I'm tempted to turn them back on, but I turn myself away from the thought. It's either they're all on all the time, or they're not, and I'd rather not have to keep turning off notifications whenever I get into a fight.

While Kundalini was active, I tried to move my magic around. If my magic was somehow still seeping out of me, that was probably bad. Maybe this was the visualization of my mana being spent doing the leg the entire time while my body regenerates it back, my regeneration, and/or the meditation being done, but I digress. I have to use this chance to figure out what's happening here, otherwise I might lose my prosthetic for good. Which reminds me that I was being kind of stupid activating it earlier since I was barely recovering 2 MP that entire time I walked to the river. I have no idea how that leg's been activated this entire time, but if I lose it, I might not be able to bring the magical prosthetic back and I'd be stuck until my regeneration finished regrowing the actual leg back. Right now the growth's come down to just above the knee, so it's actively doing something, but it might not be doing anything after this, if the regeneration runs on mana or something much like the leg.

So I try to do what I did in the fight with the Grendal while I look around. Now that I've done it once, it seems like that I can trigger the sight instinctively. It might be a combination of my [Read Magic] skill and the meditation one, but as of now, I simply don't know. As I looked around internally, the area I looked at had a couple of symbols floating around it now, Some were colored, while others were not, and some of my mana was going through them....That's cool, I guess. I wonder what those symbols do, anyhow. I've decided that this is definitely my soul. I mean, I guess it's good to know that I have one, but it seems that I might have had to break some of it to get that magic spear in my hand. Who knows what would've happened if I had just shattered it completely. Would I just be bleeding mana everywhere? I'm not willing to find out.

I look outwards while closing my eyes to see the mana slowly moving farther away from me. The mana immediately surrounding my body isn't really...touchable per se after a few centimeters, but I was able to suck a bit of it up and back into my body. I gathered the reclaimed mana into a foggy sphere. For some reason, the mana doesn't seem to want to go back through the hole I had made, which is weird. If mana can come out, it should be able to come in. Maybe it's because some is coming out of that hole to maintain some spells? Could be why, but...maybe I could just...force it in through my shell? Trying to maintain pressure around my soul, I try to squeeze the sphere into my core. Nothing seems to happen at first, so instead of picturing fingers or hands squeezing, where there could be points that aren't squeezed, I try and instead make the sphere a bit bigger around the smaller mass before I actively start shrinking it down. It's easier thinking in terms of geometrics anyhow then just in terms of pressure.

With that, the mana seems to almost give slightly, before it's forced into the container itself. Unfortunately, I wasn't expecting the sudden give, so I had started squeezing my soul. It was kind of too late to push back now, as I could feel groans coming through my very being. It wasn't...painful, because I only felt it a little bit before my sphere of force went....through my soul. It was...kind of creepy to be honest, as it felt like I was just...moving stuff around in the core of my being. The feeling wasn't really weird enough to get me to stop though.

For finding out how to control your magic intuitively, and for discovering how to compress it without being told how, you have earned +1 WIS, +1 INT, and the ability: Mana Compression.

...So, this is apparently also a thing that I can do? But hey, not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. More wisdom points just means more mana I can hold. The more I can hold, the better I can use that regenerate spell I have. Wait....something's wrong. We've stopped moving. I open my eyes to ask Stein, Wait no it's Kojo now, if we were there already, only to see what had stopped him. The cave had collapsed.

Quest Received

Quest: Escape the Caldera

Reward: New Title, 10 Levels

Failure: Imprisonment (Time: Undefined), -10 Levels, -20 LCK

Accept Quest: [Yes/No]