“For once I do believe we are all in agreement.” Mr Black said snidely.
“Seconded.” Aspen commented from Pogo’s shoulder.
“If you’d be so kind as to follow us, we may discuss this matter in greater detail.” Redwood cheerfully explained jestering for the two of them to follow. With quiet obedience they followed them into the hollow tree in the center of the town. Gently closing the door, Redwood spun away ready to yell but was cut off by Aspen.
“We all got a notification saying that travelers had slayen Theodore, Is this your doing?”
“Yes? I’m sorry, what is going on?”
“YOU DIDN’T Ugh- Theodore is as you know the forest guardian. He kept the peace between citizens of warwood and the wild animals of the forest. The animals would leave our crops alone or hunt them and in return we wouldn’t chop down any living trees or dilute the water. SO NOW THAT PEACE IS BROKEN BECAUSE OF YOU!!!” Redwood screamed at the now quiet adventurers.
“Could you give us a moment, so that we may discuss? I do believe that Redwood makes a good point but-”
“We have talked it over and have an offer for you.” Aspen quietly spoke, breaking the guilty silence.
Mandatory Quest, A bugging problem: After slaying Theodore the tender peace between human and local wildlife has now been broken. Either find a way to make peace with the wild life, find a stable way to grow crops and water inside the town, or be permanently banished for warwood and never speak of it to anyone. Failing to accept this quest is like being banished. Rewards: variable. Failure: banishment for town ‘Warwood’ for life. Do you accept this quest? Yes/No
The next morning they stood in the middle of the town square and waited for Le0n’s adventual respawn. Of course the villagers were watching, but would never admit it. They would probably say they were ‘Just seeing a friend nearby’ or ‘I was just to happen to be walking by’. So there in the early morning hours a portal shimmered into existence, catching that moment and turning into an eternity. The awestruck and wonder on their faces made every second worth of the gloomy glares and distant frowns.
This moment was ruined when Le0n stepped through breaking the peaceful moment. Breaking the mystical moment.
“There you two are, I see that you have had some fun while I was away!” He joyously claimed, strolling over to them breaking and disrupting the natural flow of commotion.
“So let’s talk about it shall we! Lunch’s on me!” Le0n cheerfully exclaimed. Throwing an arm around each of us.
“That's what we need to talk about.” Marlow said in a low tone already guiding them to Redwood house. As time ticked on they informed Le0n of what happened while he was away.
“Ah that would explain my new quiver then.” Le0n said, patting his newly fresh lavender sack on his hip. Hearing this Marlow inspected his own prized possession.
Item gained Bag of near endless Treats (Uncommon): This bag holds, you guessed it, a near endless treat for all sorts of creatures. When an animal or monster consumes a treat from this bag their tame rank will increase with you depending on how many treats are consumed. This bag holds up to 5,000 treats per day, and will refresh at midnight. All non eaten treats will disappear. It is then up to you to choose what to do.
He read over the item's description, stroking the silky lavender baggy. Only hearing the last tidbit of the conversation.
“That is why we should head back to the mine.”
“No, we should help out the town so we can leave in good standing!” Jazz retaliated standing up, knocking her chair over. Pointing an accusing finger at Le0n.
“We’re the reason why, they'll have trouble farming. Do we want to come back here with a hungry guild? Only to be met with starving, angry, citizens!” Jazz Responded, anger rising in her jovial voice.
“Jazmine if we left we could let nature take its crouses then in a few weeks we’ll be back with the guild and we’ll claim this land as our own.” Le0n smuggly responded.
“What your talking about is genoside and I for one won’t stand for it!” Jazz said, slamming her fist on the table.
“Think about it, they hate us, they're not even real, they're just digital construcks. They won’t feel anything. If anything we'll save the world AI some valuable storage space.” Le0n responded, kicking his boots up on the table.
“You know, Le0n, if you start seeing the world that way you're also just taking up valuable space in the game. And by that logic you also mean nothing.” Marlow commentied.
“Yes, but you and I both know that we are real people.”
“Yes and to the people of Warwood they are real to each other too. If you start killing them off because you see yourself as their better, does it make you or just a powerful person not to be trifled with? That is one of the reasons why you mainly have non combat professions around here. Everyone agrees that having a big stick is cool, but it isn’t as cool when someone starts swinging it around demanding people to change to fit their world view. Others might go and get their own big sticks and swing them around as well.” Marlow argued politely, while petting Opal. How had woken up from her peaceful slumber.
“I completely agree with you on the fact that we should clear out the mine. But we should also find a way to compromise with the inhabitants of the forest so we can leave in good standing and come back with the guild. So that we may build a strong society along with the people of Warwood. So that in this new age we can hold our own and show that we aren’t savages.” At this point Marlow had begun to scratch under Opal’s chains to scratch the uncomfortable feathers. Looking up he got confused looks from team members.
“What?”
“I have never heard you speak more than a few sentences, and now you just spit out some philosophy like some scholar, so that's ‘what’.’ Jazz retaliated.
“Oh well I'm urm.” Marlow muttered, turning red as red as a tomato. Staring him down didn’t really help either; only after a minute or so of quiet contemplation did the attention change.
“So I see that we are currently divided on this, should we discuss this more tomorrow? When will we have time to think this over?” Le0n possessed the question. Agreeing the party temporarily split, each member heading off to further sharpen their own blade.
To each of their own ends Jazz wandered off to find a place to plant her regeneration mushrooms, Le0n went off to go practice his archery, Marlow well he stayed with Opal. Pondering. But realized if you did nothing all day the only thing you got done was nothing. So he took a night out on the town.
Visiting shop after shop he found the item they're either too expensive or way too trashy, as in literal trash. Sifting through the bin of garbage he could have sworn he heard the shop keep snicker. Moving a small box of broken wooden ships he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. How even his hands were currently tried in some unwind yarn. So he let the rat bite him. Crawling back out of the human whole he turned to face the poor manager.
“Hey quick question, how much for the rat?”
“It says on the bin.” The manager quipped, not at all breaking eye contact from the woman from across the room who was doing her best to swipe the dust-caked room. Leaning back and around the side he read.
‘1 copper no r-uns’
Shrugging he turned to the counter and dropped a few coins on own’s desk. Getting a response after he already left.
“Wait did you say rat?”
Next on his shopping list was to get a bell or a flute. Reason being to train and condition his pets to obey him, without having to train them individually. After all, if everyone stood up at the same time whenever a bell rang, so would you. Using peer pressure at its finest.
Walking out of the ‘poor man’s music shop’ with five less silver he was the proud owner of a flute. Heading back to sheif Redwood house he was met with confused looks followed by giggling and pointing at the fawn variegated rodent cupped in his hands. Gathering a small following of children asking to see what wonder he has bought.
Many ‘Oohs’ and ‘Awes’ later the curious kids ran off to ask their parents if they could also have a pet rat. Which of course being responsible parents said gently but firmly ‘No’. Followed by a scolding of how you shouldn’t talk to strangers.
Gently closing the door behind him Marlow sat down with the now fat, well groomed, and quite tired rat. Checking the time he found it to be quite late. With the remaining string he tied the rat to Opal’s chain and commanded Opal not to eat the convenient snack.
Wait, a minute his new rat must have a new name! Oh how rude of him, he’d rudely been carrying his new rat around without giving it a name! Let’s see Opal was named after her opal egg shell. But this rat had no egg or shell, but it was brown with white patches.
“How about, patches!” The rat made a low growl, hunching further down on the table.
“Okay that’s fair, patches is a girl name, when you are clearly a boy. So far you’ve done nothing but hiss, growl, and lick me. Mr Brown? Yeah no, you're right, that's a terrible name. How about Gwaner?”
As if those words were magic a notification popped up confirming that Gwaner had become his newest tamed beast. Looking out the window he saw the sun setting below the horizon.
With what time he had remaining he read over his stat sheet and assinded his remaining points. Dumping two in strength and constitution he read over the latest notification.
Professions unlocked! Congratulations! Please select a Profession from the list below.
Animal Handler: Wow their betsy, steady girl. Whether you are trying to calm a wild or tamed animal the Animal Handler profession will make the process so much easier. Tamers, druids, and even rangers can almost always calm any racket caused between man and beast.
Profession benefits at first level: Animals under your control are 80% less likely to outright attack civilians, unless told directly. Animal Handlers has a fixed 5% taming bonus.
Herbalist: The study of botany and use of plants intended for medical purposes or for supplementing a diet. The herbalist can find rare and powerful ingredients needed by chiefs, alchemists, and apothecaries. Whether to poison or heal, the herbalist can acquire the needed materials.
Profession benefits at first level: Plants you harvest are 50% more potent for seven days. All useful herbs have a faint pillar of light above them. (Can be toggled on/off)
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Tracker: Steadily moving and searching for their target, trackers use their high perception of the world to great effect. Hunters, trappers, bounty hunters, and investigators rarely lose their quarry, and this job offers them the best starting benefits of any option.
Profession benefits at first level: Grants the skill ‘tunnel vision’, which allows the tracker to see anything in the area that relates to their target 80% more effectively. Trackers move through rough terrain 50% easier than others.
“Those aren’t many options” Alreading knowing that he would never pick plants for a living, let alone narrow his vision to such a small point, he picked Animal handler. With that done he closed his eyes and slept an albeit semi peaceful night.
Fweee! In the early hours of the morning Marlow played a single note, in which Gwaner, his new rat, stood at attention waiting. Playing a different note Marlow's new pet rat scampered off into the nearby forest. Patiently waiting for his master's next command.
Turning he faced Opal and played a note to signal for her to sit, sadly as most birds are Opal, continued to peck at the ground ignoring the new command.
After he had begged Redwood that Opal would be useful in clearing out the mines and promising it up and down he had finally allowed her off of her chain. This miraculous miracle was lost on his four foot tall companion and chose to hunt for worms. As he was examining Opal he spotted Le0n smugly approaching.
“HelloO Marlow, have I got a deal for you! I have thought diligently on what we should do! And have come up with a compromise, would you be interested in hearing it?” He cheerfully exclaimed, nearly tripping off a rock he hadn’t noticed.
“So long as nobody gets hurt, I’m fine with whatever you have in store.” Marlow said off handedly, already turning back to continue training Opal.
“Oh... Well um... would you like to hear it anyways?”
“Sure?”
“Wonderful! So I was examining all of our collective items, skills, and titles. I notice our reputation doubles when we gain reputation and half’s when we lose. So with this line of thought we should only take high reputation quests. So when we complete them we’ll fly through the reputation ranks and be out of here in no time flat! We could also head back to that ‘mine’ quest and finish it up.”
“Did Jazz agree to this?” He questioned now turning his full attention back to the charismatic archer.
“Not, exactly.” Le0n mentioned averting his gaze not meeting the low leveled Beast Tamer.
“Wh-what exactly are you doing, with your oversized bird?” He quickly changed the topic.
“It's a chicken! And I am trying to use pavlovian conditioning to train my animals so that next time we are in a fight we’ll have numbers on our side. After fighting that bear I realized a few things. Monsters in this new world are powerful, as you can attest to. And two the one monsters that are surviving are of course the ones with the guts to back it up.” Marlow spoke sagely, getting a nod in return from Le0n.
“As a Beast Tamer I can tame animals, wild beasts, and possible maybe bugs. But I’ve been wondering. What if I could tame monsters, not now of course but definitely down the road. Imagen sending a thousand bugs to go find someone, then alerting ” Marlow dreamily spoke with a distant look in his eyes.
“It's nice to dream, when you have nothing to do!” Le0n said, gesturing towards the mine.
“Come on, man, let's clear out that mine. I bet there's going to be some epic loot!” He said already starting the small hike. Ten minutes later they made it to the mouth of the infested cave. Only to be greeted by Jazz with a few potions in hand each one varying in color and shape.
“Hey guys! I’ve been busy when you were away!” She enthusiastically greeted her, handing over a few deep red bottles.
“These are some minor regeneration potions, they're great for recovering health outside of combat not so much as when we fight you know since we’ll be taking damage and all that. These cream colored ones are my favorite, there the hardening foam. After the glass breaks it will of course rapidly expand and immediately hard. It will last anywhere from an hour to a day, depending on how much pressure it is. I thought we could use this for preventing cave-ins or blocking off those ant swarms. This one is my only glow potion.” Jazz continued to ramble off, however Marlow was distracted when Opal, who had followed them here.
Begun nugging Marlow’s bag for more treats. She only got a firm head turn away, this only encouraged the loyal bird companion to continue its hunger for the delicious food. Plastering her head against Marlow's side, she began to peck at the fabric that was preventing her from her scrumptious treats.
“Do we need to wait for you? Or shall I continue?” Jazz interrupted the little squabble between the tamer and the unruly chicken.
“No, ple-ack! Please continue.” Marlow said, shaking his reddening hand.
“As I was saying. These last ones we use in emergency situations or when we finally find the big bad boss of the mine. They were originally regular mana potions, but with some tinkering. They are now self destruct potions. My line of thinking was when we fought the bear. Explosions in this world seem to be very powerful, especially magical ones. The way this one world is, it sort of causes that person’s mana to overload and go kablooey, so the more mana a person has, the bigger the boom. On the bright side this should maybe unlock your guys mana.” Jazz finished her speech only to get shocked looks in return.
“What?”
After a moment of stunned silence Le0n stepped into the conversation.
“WHat, what do you mean ‘what?’ you want us to drink these! I know this a game, but-”
“That’s why we only use these in emergency situations!” Jazz defended herself earnestly.
“What an even bigger emergency the mine is caving in on us! Sure we may have saved the day, but who is going to save us now! Jazz, oh wait no one, because the strangers who wander into town can just come back from the dead. So why worry. Do you know what it’s like to be crushed? Either too fast or too slow.”
“Ya I’m with Mar on this one. I know that it is just a game but we should just go full kamikaze on them. Suidied is never that answer anyways. We could save it for when we fight mages?”
“What no, I would never, I made it, just so… mmmmm” Jazz was turning a few shades of red realizing what she had just suggested.
“Ya let’s save it for mages.” She mumbled stuffing them deep with her bag. Pulling out the rest of her supplies and distributing it to the rest of her party.
“It doesn’t look like the crickets are back yet?” Marlow commended hoping to draw Jazz out of her stupor.
“Oh really! Yep you're right! The pesky crickets are gone, does everyone know what they're doing?” Le0n remarked, already taking the role of leader. Get a ‘yep’ from each of his party members.
“What um, what will we do with you?” Le0n pointed at Opal happily munching on some sunflower seeds.
“Well this is a bug dungeon and chicken do eat bugs, so?” Marlow inquired.
“Great, a fine addition to our team” Le0n smiled, already skipping into the mine. Seven and a half hours later three portals appeared in the town’s square followed by three people steeping and heading off to bed.
The next morning Marlow prepared himself. Pressing his fingers against his flute he played a single note. Gwaner had been biding his time in the wheat field and was most definitely not munching on a few grains here and there. Came trodding up to his master and stood ready for his next command with his other friends who heard of the nice human that handed out food, so long as you did things that the big not cats did. Apparently Master was confused that Gwaner had brought friends, nevertheless Master gave a wide smile bearing his teeth. Speaking in a deep slow voice that only a few of his brothers could understand even then only picking out a few words like; Gwaner, rats, followed, and mainly food.
Master held his metal tube and played the noise indicating that he should run in a circle. Leading by example his rats nets followed him each one hoped to get a scrumptious treat. Playing a must higher noise they increase their pace, before hearing a low screech telling them to lay down and be still. They laid at the ready and immediately lost all focus when the master pulled out a treat from his pocket.
Waves of fur launched themselves at the Master hoping that he would drop the delicious treat. However the Master didn’t move, only giving a human expression of disappointment. Only staring down Gnawer as he was the only one not moved by this whole exchange. Tossing the treat at him the hungry rats followed the treat through the air and became enraged that one-some else had received the treat before them.
This continued until every rat learned that just because the treats were out that didn’t mean it was for them. Even as far as learning that they should not in fact bother the large bird that pecked at the ground, for it could and did swallow one of them whole. Of course the Master came over and grumbled at the bird until it spit it out.
It was very late into the night when Marlow finally dismissed the swarm of rats. He didn’t mind that first few dozen or so by every time he called them there always seemed to be more and more of them. At least his Tame was finally gaining some needed levels not to mention his charisma skill has the unfortunate bonus of increasing as well. He had asked the rats to go hunting outside of town, so that Warwood’s food supply would be tarnished, often repeating himself over and over again. This continued on for a few weeks until something changed.
Calculating... Hidden quest. Complete! Infestation of Rats (Repeatable). For completely stopping the wave of rats from eating and destroying the town’s food and supply and not slaying any rats your reward has been doubled. 2,000 reputation gained, 1,000 experience gained, 5 skill points gained. Along with taming such a rat population your tame skill has received an additional bonus of Group Taming.
Bonus Effect to skill Taming (Group Taming). When taming a large group of animals with similar species types taming will be 5% more effective if you have already tamed an animal of the species.
Checking his status page he scrolled over his Tamed section and was met with overwhelming notifications.
Gnawers tame rank has increased from Tamed to Fully Tamed (level 1):
Gnawer has eaten enough taming treats and has moved to tame rank Fully Tamed. They are now 75% less likely to attack you if they come in range!
Warwood Rat’s tame rank has increased from Feral to Timid (level 1):
Warwood Rat’s has eaten enough taming treats and has moved to tame rank Placid. They are now 45% less likely to attack you if they come in range!
Warwood Rat’s tame rank has increased from Feral to Timid (level 1):
Continuing to scroll he found that the average level of his newly found rat army was mostly around level one with only a handful of them being level two. After blindly scrolling through he went back up to the top and tapped on Gnawer to see some more information. Only to be met with a class selection menu.
At this point in time Gnawer is on the brink of leveling up as a Beast Tamer you choose how you want your animals to grow. If left unchecked they will choose the class best suited to their survival.
After reading through the comprehensive list he revived ones with the most potential.
*Commander (Uncommon): Gwaner will become a Leader of this rat colony. As the colony grows so will his skills and abilities. The more rats there are, the stronger and smarter he’ll be. Not to mention that he’ll be able to grant curtain buffs to his fellow compatriots. Recommended characteristics Dexterity, Intelligence, and Charisma.
Mount: Gwaner will become a rat varent mount. Eventually growing to the size of a pony, it will be as strong as a bear cub, while still keeping its rat-like mind. This mount can safely carry one person at a time or five days worth of supplies. Recommended characteristics Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity.
Plague: Gwaner will become an infested rat. He will be able to carry multiple diseases and pass them around wherever he goes. After each excretion he’ll have to return to a place of filth to regain more and more illnesses. Recommended characteristics Dexterity, Wisdom, and Perception.
“This last one is quite frightening. I can't imagine this last class lasting pretty long out in the wild, they will be hunted down immediately. As for the mount I could use it with one of these other rats, so I guess that leaves us with a commander.” Marlow spoke aloud to his soon to be rat army. Pressing the commander he heard a high pitch screech as Gwaner curled into himself. Fearing the worst he began making his way over to his little friend, stepping over and sometimes gently booting some rats who didn’t notice the giant walking by.
Taking one last large step he finally made it into the small clearing. Bending down nelt by the whimpering rodent. Noticing a few new details inserted of having the speckled spots of brown it was now full of patches of brown against the white fur. Where once little soft toes were now met with little claws. As the whimpering subsided Gwaner stood giving Marlow a puzzled look.
After all, it was the first time he had ever been hugged before. The only expressions of love he had ever known was pet, scratches, tummy scratches, and well urm snuggling together. So it was interesting to be hugged by a human. The more befuddling part was that he was looking over Master’s shoulder while having two feet firmly on the ground. Then again he was always bigger than his brothers and sisters when growing up.
Taking another deep breath had calmed down enough to finally let go of the now rats sized dog. And Finally look at his notifications.
Class selection for Gnawer has been approved by you. Calculating… The Risky II title has taken effect! Searching for a reasonable reward… Searching for... reward found! pi-rat genes found! Applying now!
Skill increased: Tame (Beginner IV): Woohoo! Your classesmain skill is currently your highest skill. Way to go! As of currently gain 1n% of taming them and when trying to increase animals tame rank, where n = skill level. And a permanent 5% with taming a large group of animals with a similar species, but wait there more!
Skill Gained: Mutation (novice I) You now have a .5n% when selecting a creature’s class for it to gain a hidden or trait unique related to its species! where n = skill level.
Letting Gnawer go looked him up and down before finally breathing out and smiling at his new companion. Standing up he dismissed his rat army to their own devices.