Kit walked into his mud hut and glanced at the animal skin Snowball was using to keep his treasure collection. His eyebrows rose at the sight in front of him. Last night there was only one small stone sitting on the rug.

Today there was a small collection of stones. Kit started to laugh at the little thief that had followed him inside.

“Snowball, where on earth did you get all these?”

Kit bent down to get a better look at the stones. A sea of colour entered his eyes. The stones were all different shapes and sizes. He was amazed at how fast Snowball had grown his collection of treasure. Kit swung his head to look at his companion.

If a dog could look smug, that’s what Kit pictured what Snowball looked like right now. The small dog had a twinkle in his large eyes and was showing his sharp white teeth. He pranced over to Kit as if saying praise me, I am incredible.

Kit laughed harder at the cute ball of fluff.

“Yes! Yes! You are awesome! Come here Snowball.”

Kit sat on the ground and patted his lap. The small dog happily sat down on Kit’s legs. Kit started to pat the dog then opened his game menu to look at the new companions tab. Snowball’s name was written in bold script in the tab.

Kit clicked on his name and Snowball’s contract appeared along with new information about the Hoarder of precious things.

[Hoarder of precious things]

A unique beast mixed with the blood of a mythic beast. It finds hidden treasures by instinct. When fully grown will develop a pocket dimension to store its precious treasures.

Name: Snowball

Bonded to player Kit.

Family bonus: Snowball has 30% increase to his luck to find hidden treasure when family members are together.

Snowball

Age: Puppy

Level: 27

Skills

Cuteness overload: Snowball uses his innate cuteness to capture targets heart strings. If successful target will not attack and even protect the hoarder of precious things.

Treasure nose: Treasure has a distinct smell only available to hoarder of precious things. The higher the level of hoarder of precious things the further away it can smell the treasure.

Beast tracking: A unique skill evolved from the mixture of special blood running through the hoarder of precious things. Snowball can use his nose to track beasts.

Pocket dimension: After the hoarder of precious things devours enough treasure a pocket dimension will start to form.

Kit sat in stunned amazement at the information in front of him. He thought Snowball was astonishing before, now it took him to a whole new level. Snowball could literally smell treasure. Kit started to crackle like a mad man.

“Snowball, I love you so much. With you by my side I’ll have no trouble finding the treasure on the map.”

Kit assumed with more treasure gathered together the stronger smell should be for Snowball. He now had no worries about finding the treasure when the time came to ascend the mountain. He couldn’t wait to tell Mars what he had just found out about Snowball.

Kit couldn’t contain his excitement and ran over to Mars’ hut to tell him the news. All his previous fatigue had left his body and a trembling excitement had replaced it. Kit pounded on Mars door. The door swung open with a flustered Mars.

“Kit what is it, are you alright?”

“Mars I have never been more alright.”

Kit quickly shared Snowballs information with Mars then waited to see his reaction. Mars flustered expression morphed from flustered to stunned, then joy. Soon the pair were laughing like lunatics together.

“Holy shit Kit your luck is really amazing. Not only did you get a map you even have a cheat in finding the treasure. Snowball my friend you are really amazing. I can’t wait to see what the treasure is going to be.”

Once the pair calmed down Mars started to scrutinise Snowball.

“Hey Kit, I’m curious about something that was written in his skills. It said Snowball would have to devour treasure, right?”

Kit nodded his head.

“Then does that mean that the treasure will disappear when he devours it?”

Kit blinked. He hadn’t thought about what that would mean.

“Umm I’m not sure. Should we try it out?”

“How are we going to try it out. I don’t have anything that we can use.”

“Oh, that, Snowball already has something. He brought home some treasures already. Come to my place and we can see what happens.”

As Kit went to walk out the door a horse head poked through the animal skins covering the entrance. Kit jumped in fright at the sudden arrival of Pint.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Pint, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

Pint snorted in reply, then stamped his hoof.

“I’m coming, stop being so impatient. It wouldn’t kill you if you missed one day of alcohol.” Mars grumbled at the horse but still took out a beer bottle and started to feed the large horse.

Kit raised his eyebrow at the interaction between beast and man. By the looks of things this was a regular interaction between the two already. He could only laugh at the sight of the horse’s head poking through the door.

“I swear Kit if this room was bigger, he would want to sleep in here with me.”

Kit looked at the horse and thought Mars wasn’t wrong. Kit chuckled at the thought of the horse living with Mars in the future. He had a feeling that his thought would turn into reality one day soon.

Once Pint was fed, he moved out of the entrance and Kit, Mars and Snowball went over to Kit’s home. Kit went over to the pile of stones on the animal skin and picked one up. He then placed it in front of Snowball.

“Ok Snowball devour away.”

Snowball yiped then picked up the stone with his mouth and bit down. The stone shattered into fine dust. Before any of the dust could escape Snowballs mouth, the dust was inhaled by the little dog. The white speckles on Snowballs back started to glow.

Kit watched as the white specks started to intensify in brightness. Once they reached an intense radiance Snowball shuddered. The white speckles returned to their normal state of looking like a soft coating of snow covered the fluffy black fur.

Kit walked over to inspect the little fluff ball. Kit couldn’t see any difference in Snowball’s appearance. Kit decided to check the companion menu to see if anything could be found there.

He pulled up the game menu and looked inside Snowballs tab. To Kit’s surprise Snowball had raised his level to 28. Kit wanted to spit out blood. If Snowball gained levels by devouring treasures then he would turn into a very expensive pet in the future.

If it was like his own leveling system, then the higher the level Snowball got the more he would need to devour to increase his level. Kit felt his heart twitch. Would he be able to keep any treasure Snowball found or would it all get devoured?

Kit glanced around the floor to see if the stone had returned. He couldn’t see a single speck of dust or a stone. Snowball really did devour the treasure just like the information stated. Kit felt like crying at the loss of the stone.

Then an even more devastating thought occurred to him. Would he have to buy treasures for Snowball to devour? Kit felt he might remain poor in the future even if his restaurant was successful if that was the case. He decided to put this thought in the ‘I will worry about this later’ part of his brain.

With that thought safely stored to worry about at a later date, he once again felt the excitement course through his veins. He was guaranteed to find the treasure now when he reached level 100. Mars and Kit talked for a while longer about their future plans. When the fatigue started to outweigh the excitement, the pair went to bed.

Kit was woken the next morning to a familiar bellow.

“Get up you lazy bones, it’s time to start training.”

The next three days went the same as the previous. Snowball was collecting a small hoard of treasure. Kit managed to raise his swordsman level to 27 and his chef level to 19. He made some progress with his apple pie, although he still hadn’t made it a stats dish. It was causing him some frustrations but didn’t dampen his mood.

Kit was happy with how things were going, his only disappointment was not getting his hands on some new ingredients. One the fourth day when Grandpa woke them to start training, he came with some happy news.

“Right, I think today we can head to a new area. What do you boys think?”

Kit had been waiting for Grandpa to say these words. He felt a thrill run through his body at the thought of getting his hands on some more ingredients.

He wanted a break from experimenting with the apple pie and new ingredients would be just the thing to distract him. As Kit’s mind was filled with new ingredients, Mars and Twix were happily telling Grandpa that they couldn’t wait to leave.

“Let’s go now Grandpa.”

Kit couldn’t help but to join in the enthusiasm to go to a new place.

“Ok. Ok. Look at you boys being so happy. Let’s go, I will tell you about the area we are going to on the way.”

A soft chuckle left Grandpa’s mouth. Kit could tell he was pleased with their reaction to his news. The trio trotted behind Grandpa like a pack of puppies following their mother.

“We are going to Red velvet lake.”

Twix groaned at Grandpa’s words.

“Twix what’s wrong. You don’t want to go there?”

Kit was curious why Twix responded with a groan. Was it a bad place or dangerous?

“No, I don’t want to go. Grandpa, can I sit this one out?”

“No definitely not. Kit needs some more dishes for his restaurant and what better place to find ingredients than my favourite lake. Plus, you’ll be in charge of zapping all the bugs. You know I hate it when I get bitten, the scratching drives me mad.”

“Grandpa, I’m not a human bug zapper.”

“But Twix my boy, you are great at being a human bug zapper.”

Kit could see a vein bulge on Twix face. Grandpa also noticed it and laughed.

“Twix do you want Kit to return covered in bites? How will he be able to concentrate on cooking if he’s scratching all the time.”

Kit looked at Twix, he saw a pained look pass through his eyes.

“Fine I will come. Kit, I am only doing this for you though. I don’t want you to be distracted this afternoon. I know you’re running out of time to create more dishes for your restaurant.”

Kit felt grateful towards Twix for sacrificing himself to be a human bug zapper.

“Thank you Twix, I appreciate it. How bad are the bugs?”

After listening to their conversation Kit’s imagination had gone wild. He had a picture of swarms of tiny bugs chasing after people in his head.

“If I told you I don’t think you will believe me, it’s better if we just show you.”

Twix sighed. Kit could tell he wasn’t looking forward to the area they were heading towards.

“Right now, onto the monsters in the area. The ones you pair will be after are the Purple tailed turtle and the Black spotted frog. They are mainly around level 40 but sometimes they can get to level 45, but that’s rare.”

Grandpa glanced at Mars and Kit to see if they were paying attention. When he saw that both pairs of eyes were trained on him, he continued.

“The ingredients we’re after are some of my favourites. I can’t wait for you to make something with them Kit.”

Kit’s ears perked up at the mention of new ingredients. His eyes started to twinkle.

“Look at your face, you’re just as excited as me. Now Kit, I am about to tell you something very exciting so keep calm.”

Kit could tell Grandpa was having fun dragging out the suspense. Kit already knew this was a favourite fishing spot of Grandpa’s. So, he already had a vague idea what to expect. Kit didn’t want to burst Grandpas fun, so he played along.

“Grandpa stop stalling, quickly tell me what we will be looking for.”

Grandpa chuckled, he was enjoying himself.

“Ok I’ll stop delaying. The lake is home to the Mountain lobster, Red velvet catfish, Red velvet shrimp and the Crying crab.”

As the name of each aquatic animal left Grandpa’s lips, Kit felt his mind whirl with recipes. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on them and start experimenting. A silly grin spread over his face as his imagination took off.

Kit followed the party in a daze, his mind was consumed with thoughts about what to make. Soon the party stopped, and Kit came back to himself.

“Right now, for this area we will need to stay together, so no wandering off. There are a couple of dangerous creatures here plus the bugs. Twix and I will keep an eye out for them. You two just concentrate on killing the frogs and turtles as you collect the aquatic wildlife.”

“Just past these trees the lake will come into view. Any questions before we start?”

Mars and Kit shook their heads. All Kit could feel was his legs starting to become restless from his anticipation to find the new species of animals.

“I don’t think we have any right now Grandpa.”

Mars answered for the both of them.