Though I hadn’t been thinking about it specifically, when I looked through my [Status], I was slightly surprised to see that none of the new keelish that had become my subordinates considered me their leader, even if disputed. Beyond that, though, was [Quaking Claw]. I could understand, at least partially, the [Skills] that said I was “unqualified” to know how to evolve them, especially since [Combatant’s Bloodlust]’s requirements had updated when I’d gained [Imperial Bearing]. But just like before my evolution to khatif, the requirements for the evolution of [Quaking Claw] were hidden. Before I could begin to curse at the heavens and the [System] alike, a notification appeared.
[The Administrator assures you that, this time at least, the concealment of the requirements for the evolution of Quaking Claw has nothing to do with her will. The Administrator assigned to keelish, khatif, and Keel is thusly limited to the specialties and strengths of the keelish, khatif, and Keel. Though khatif and Keel are more magically inclined than keelish, they are far from as adept in the magical arts as the most innately magically powerful races. Thus, more members of the Administrative Body are required to give their approval in order for the user to acquire the evolutionary requirements.]
That was… annoyingly vague. I couldn’t understand what exactly the Administrator was saying, but I got the feeling that she was attempting to circumvent her limitations as best as she could. Even so, I couldn’t begin to understand when I would be able to complete the other four [Skills]’ requirements. What exactly did “primary catalyst” entail for forcing 100 enemies to surrender for [Debilitating Diatribe]? How much was a significant increase in morale for [Innervating Address]? And when would I ever begin to approach the level of killing a creature with [Crippling Cry] alone? It was a new [Skill] to me, so I couldn’t be sure, but the quoll had been affected so little as to have been about to shrug it off right after I’d used it.
Before I could think too much about it, though, Arwa trotted happily through the brush and dropped something in front of me before settling onto her haunches. It was the body of the weird round thing. Now that it was dead, it seemed much smaller, though, and it was no longer round at all. In fact, looking at it, the creature seemed to be of similar build to the quoll, but without the tail. Its legs were a bit longer, and its head and eyes were more like those of a prey animal than the forward facing face of the quoll, but otherwise, the creature was surprisingly similar to its would-be predator. Both stood about a foot tall, and while this new thing didn’t have a tail, its torso was just about the same length as the quoll’s at a bit over a foot.
I was conflicted, looking down at the body. If I had been the one to kill it, then I would have learned its name as well as completed my [Quest], but I suspected that killing the creature wouldn’t be worth very much in bonuses to Stats. But would that be worth it, so long as I could get another new [Quest]? I couldn’t guarantee if it was, and I could still complete a [Quest] I didn’t know the specifics of, as I’d done frequently in my days as a recent hatchling. Beyond that, maybe the weird thing was surprisingly magical, as evidenced by its ability to seemingly use some sort of air-focused magic, and that would provide me a hefty bump to my Magic Stat. Maybe not. Either way, I couldn’t bring myself to care overly much, and instead I locked eyes with the patiently sitting Arwa.
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“Eat.” I commanded, and though I knew she didn’t speak keelish, she immediately began ripping into the creature. It didn’t take more than a minute before it was completely gone, even the bones having quickly disappeared down Arwa’s throat. Once the creature was gone, she looked up at me and grinned in her canine way, her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth and her head cocked to the side. With a little sigh and chuckle, I reached down and scratched at the base of her antlers, as I had come to learn she liked. As I continued to scratch, Arwa leaned into the scratching before, in an act of something that I’d never seen before, began to twitch one of her back legs over and over again, setting her foot to thumping again and again against the ground.
As I stopped my scratching, so too did Arwa’s foot, and she looked at me, begging for more. Though I was larger and heavier than her, when she was sitting on her haunches like this, our eyes were nearly level with each other. Arwa nudged her head into me, continuing to plead for more scratches. I initially went to scratch under her jaw, I caught myself as my claws were less than an inch from her throat. Though I could control my body better than I could as a human, I was thinking of using sharp blades on a wolfstag’s exposed throat. I curled my fingers and rubbed at her neck with my knuckles. Not long after that, though, I whistled for Arwa to resume following me, and she did so without complaint.
It was obvious in both of our postures as we changed from relaxation to focus, and Arwa immediately perked her ears up and started listening for any sounds nearby. I felt a faint glow of pride at the wolfstag’s ability to follow my commands, and we both set out to investigate for any and all signs of humans. It was slow and tedious work, but I refused to rush headlong into a confrontation with a dozen humans who would summarily mount my head on a speartip. Thus, after several hours of search, we found ourselves only having progressed a couple short miles and without having found any signs of humans or interesting prey.
Though she fought against herself about it, I could feel Arwa beginning to get restless at my slow pace, but I refused to let her range off by herself or force me to speed our pace. Eventually, we had spent long enough out in the jungle that I could see the beginnings of sunsrise appearing. Though reluctant, I turned our direction back to the nearest entrance to the den that I could remember, and we made our way back, our hunt largely unsuccessful.
That was how I and my scouting parties passed two nights. And then, things changed.