Barry reddened as he pulled his head away from Tuti.

“I see you haven’t lost your sense of humour,” he muttered as he stood awkwardly to the side.

“I see you’re still a naughty little perve,” Tuti smirked in reply.

“Well come on, help me up,” she continued, holding up a hand.

Barry reluctantly grasped her hand with his own and helped to drag her to her feet. Tuti had the outline of a large hand on the side of her cheek from the nasty slap she’d received, and her once silky fur was bruised and bristled. Barry couldn’t help but giggle at her dishevelled state now that he knew she was ok.

“Oh, you think this is funny do you? If it wasn’t for me distracting that lizard guy, then you wouldn’t have been able to hook him with your chain and drag him closer to Swirly. Plus, I used up every last drop of mana I had to give Swirly that final burst of strength to finally put that monster down for good,” she exclaimed as she stomped away from Barry towards Swirly who had reverted to his tiny monkey form.

The little ape was covered in even more blood than Barry was. His pudgy, furry body was riddled with painful cuts and wounds. Swirly was puffing and panting and was in the process of stumbling over when Tuti scooped him up into her arms, cradling him gently.

“It’s ok, you’re safe now. You did such a good job, I’m so proud of you,” Tuti whispered.

The little ape smiled lightly as he closed his eyes and fell asleep right there in her arms, completely exhausted.

Barry felt a weight roll off his shoulders now that he could see that both Swirly and Tuti were ok. He let out a prolonged breath and closed his eyes.

“I need to stop scraping through these fights by the skin of my teeth, it’s exhausting,” Barry thought.

“I’m impressed that you were able to take out both of those other lizard men Barry, I must say I underestimated you,” Tuti admitted as she looked at Barry.

Suddenly a realisation hit Barry at the mention of the lizard men.

“Shit, Draco,” Barry said as he spun around and looked in the distance at the spot where the unconscious lizard man had lay.

Barry met the glaring eyes of a very much awake Draco who was now standing, grasping his dagger having recovered it from the ground.

“You will pay for this,” hissed Draco, with a venomous tone.

“Have you forgotten that you attacked us first? Is short term memory loss the racial skill of the lizard men?” Barry mocked.

Draco’s knuckles clenched as he radiated with rage before spitting blood down onto the ground next to him.

“You will pay!” he hissed before turning and sprinting off into the forest away from the group.

“That guy has some issues,” Barry said.

“So you didn’t take them out then?” Tuti asked as she looked suspiciously at Barry.

“I defeated them both, but I didn’t kill them. Well, I did kill the other guy but I didn’t mean to,” Barry explained.

Tuti rolled her eyes, “You do know they were going to eat us right?” she said.

“Yeah, I know but it didn’t feel right,” Barry replied.

“It didn’t feel right? Are you serious? What if that guy with the dagger had of got up and attacked you whilst you were distracted. Or even worse, what if he had of attacked Swirly, or me?” Tuti quizzed.

Barry felt both annoyed and ashamed after hearing Tuti’s comments. He hadn’t really thought it through at the time, but he truly had put them all at risk. He had no idea how long Draco was going to be out of commission for, and he would never have forgiven himself if something had of happened to either of them because of his hesitation. He’d also just created a dangerous enemy for the three of them.

“I’m sorry, I just didn’t think,” Barry apologised to Tuti.

“Yeah, well I guess its fine, it all worked out ok in the end,” Tuti conceded.

“Did you level up?” Tuti asked, changing the subject, “I don’t know if you noticed but there’s something a little different about me now.”

Barry looked at her questioningly before he understood what she meant as he activated his inspection ability.

Inspection:

Race: Vixant

Level: 8

Stat: Strength

Seeing that Tuti had reached level eight Barry smiled remembering that he had received some energy from killing Cedric and Salzahar. He proceeded to draw his attention inwards to check on his notifications.

You have slain lizard man Cedric Fezro, level 3.

You have contributed to the slaying of lizard man Salzahar Creft, level 6. Percentage contribution 20%.

Soul magic: has reached level 6.

Barry saw that he gained a soul magic level from his clash with the lizard men. This was the first time Barry had been involved in a fight as part of a team, and he found it interesting to see how the strange magic experience system calculated his contribution. He also felt that twenty percent was generous considering he’d not done much apart from trip Salzahar up briefly. In terms of damage, he’d done very little, certainly less than twenty percent compared to Swirly’s vicious slap of death. Barry shivered at the thought of that deadly strike from Swirly, it was just so hard to believe that this cute little monkey was capable of such brutality. To get his mind off the battle Barry instead focussed on where to allocate his free points. After some thought he decided to throw a free point into vitality as per usual, bringing his total stat up to thirty-six. The second free point he placed into strength, bringing it to a total of six, as his battle with the immensely strong Salzahar had made him feel particularly inferior.

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Now that the danger had passed, Barry and Tuti spent a bit of time looting the bodies of Cedric and the dopey lizard man, whilst Tuti and Swirly looked for a place to rest. Disappointingly Barry found little worth taking from the pair, and unsurprisingly nothing could be reclaimed from the mess of flesh formerly known as Salzahar. After doing the rounds of the battlefield they decided to have a rest to allow their health and other key stats to recover before pressing on into the forest. They found a nice, shaded space next to a tree where they could rest on the many leaves, using them as a makeshift mattress. Tuti was resting up against the tree with Swirly in her lap and Barry lay on his back with his hands behind his head, looking up at the orange sky as day was in the process of transitioning to night. Despite his best efforts, Barry couldn’t silence his thoughts as his mind raced with questions and theories.

“Hey Tuti, what do you use as your soul item? Is it your gloves? Do you even have one?” Barry asked, breaking the silence.

“I’m trying to relax you know,” Tuti responded with an irritated tone.

“Ok, sorry about that,” Barry said sheepishly.

“It’s fine. Yes, my gloves are my soul item,” Tuti explained.

“That’s very cool. What do they do?” Barry pressed.

“I only have one soul magic ability currently, it allows me to rapidly expand my gloves, and hands within, turning them into giant weapons. Or if I’m activating my beast affinity at the time the ability works on Swirly instead. I call it my big fist ability,” she continued.

“That makes so much sense,” Barry replied, “I was wondering what exactly Swirly had done in that battle and how his hands got so massive when he pounded that dopey lizard man.”

“That was the one,” Tuti smiled.

“So that other thing you did, where you gave Swirly the strength to, you know, squish that guy, it must be your soul magic, right?” Barry questioned.

“Yep, I can give Swirly a boost of strength, but it fully empties my mana stores so it’s more of a last resort, the more mana I have left, the stronger the strength boost. But it’s a onetime thing,” Tuti said.

“Well, as gross as it was, I sure am glad you chose to use it, I don’t know what we would have done otherwise,” Barry nodded.

“Mmmhmm, lucky indeed,” Tuti said as she closed her eyes.

“Change of subject, but another thing I have been trying to work out is how exactly receiving experience and levelling up works. Despite my best efforts it seems that I only have a very basic understanding of how soul magic, soul items and power levels work,” Barry continued.

“You sure have a funny idea of what constitutes as rest and recuperation,” Tuti grumbled.

“Sorry, but my mind is just racing with questions. But it’s fine, I can ask you another time, get some rest,” Barry said.

“No, we might as well chat it through whilst we have the time. Plus, I’m awake now anyway,” Tuti said, opening her eyes again and looking at Barry.

“Great! So, I understand that when I kill something, I receive some energy which acts as experience that builds towards advancing a level in either my soul magic or item stats. But I don’t understand how that is calculated,” Barry said.

“I don’t know if I’ll have much more information that you to be honest,” Tuti replied, “From what I can tell the experience, or energy as you call it, will be distributed between your soul item and soul mana depending on how you fought and what skills you used most effectively to succeed in your battle. At least that’s what it seems like for me. How much experience you receive is another thing. I believe that the experience you receive differs depending on the strength of the opponent slain, and the challenges faced within the battle. Like the stronger the enemy, the more experience received. That new team contribution thing that I’m sure you saw as well was a new one to me though."

“Another change of subject, have you noticed when you take out another initiate their soul item vanishes?” Barry quizzed, “I was hoping to find the spear of that dumb looking lizard guy but had no such luck.”

“I’ve not thought about it before, nor have I killed many people,” Tuti said with a suspicious look on her face, “But my guess is the item is bound to the soul of the wielder, so when they die their item dies with them.”

“That actually makes complete sense,” Barry conceded, embarrassed that he hadn’t come to that conclusion on his own.

“Can I ask one more thing?” he asked.

“What is it?” Tuti snapped.

“That necklace you have, is it a spatial storage item?” Barry asked.

“Yep,” Tuti replied bluntly.

“Awesome,” Barry said awkwardly, finally picking up on Tuti’s growing irritation. Barry forced himself to lie back down and placed his hands behind his head trying his best to relax. Suddenly, a loud grumble sounded out, Swirly and Tuti’s ears twitched and the two reflexively sat up, immediately alert.

“What was that?” Tuti blurted. Barry burst out laughing and Tuti scowled at him, “Can you focus! Surely you heard that, there’s something nearby,” scolded Tuti.

Barry struggled to get the words out between giggling breaths, “That wasn’t some beast, that was my stomach.”

“That is disgusting, control yourself please,” Tuti said.

“I’m pretty sure that’s an involuntary bodily function,” Barry quipped.

“I’m never going to be able to recover with you sitting here talking and making weird noises, why don’t you go and find us some food and leave the two of us to recuperate without your distractions,” Tuti suggested.

“Alright then,” Barry said still smirking, as he got up and headed off to hunt for some dinner.

It didn’t take Barry long to run into another couple of the same clobberfoot falcons as earlier. He made quick work of the beasts, storing them in his spatial storage, before making his way back near Tuti and Swirly. Instead of disturbing the snoozing pair he decided to set up around fifty metres away and start preparing the birds. He swiftly plucked the feathers from the beasts and took the head off with a few slices of his knife. Barry set up a small pile of dry twigs next to a pile of larger sticks. In the middle of the small pile he placed a bunch of woody shavings that he made by finely running his knife down the edge of a piece of wood many times over. He then pulled out his flint stone from his spatial storage and clanged his knife against it creating numerous sparks. After a few attempts he managed to create a flame which he willed to life by clasping the shavings carefully in his hand and blowing air into it for fuel. Shortly after, Barry stood with his hands on his hips and looked down proudly at the small bonfire blazing away on the ground. It truly was amazing what he had managed to put together using the skills he’d observed watching all that television back on earth mixed in with a little bit of inventive ingenuity. To complete his creation, he skewered the two raw birds onto a long stick which he placed parallel to the ground above the fire, secured in place by lodging it between two larger sticks that were driven into the ground in a criss-cross shape on either side of the fire. That way when he held one end of the meat stick, he could simply rotate his hand slowly around to create a manual rotisserie system which allowed the meat to cook evenly. At first Barry found the process calming, and he almost went into a trance of sorts as he methodically turned the meat stick. He reflected on his battles over the past through days, his stats and abilities, and his goals. He wanted to maintain his strong position in the training grounds, and he wanted to spend more time fighting as a team with Tuti and Swirly, it was much nicer to have company in such an unpredictable and dangerous environment like this forest. However, after an hour or so the activity become more monotonous and boring than it was calming, and his growing hunger was beginning to overpower his patience. He realised that an open fire rotisserie might not be the most efficient way of cooking meat.

After another half an hour or so, and a few readjustments to his set up to avoid the meat stick catching fire, he was left with two deliciously charry, cooked bits of poultry. By now Barry’s mouth was watering and his stomach was growling something fierce as he walked over towards Tuti and Swirly with his meat stick held proudly aloft. The sleeping pair were stirred awake by the smell of the charcoal falcon meat and Tuti’s stomach let out its own audible grumble.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who’s hungry,” teased Barry.

“Shut up and come over here so we can eat,” Tuti said between yawns, “This does look delicious though.”

With that the three of them quickly devoured the bird meat. For Barry, it was the first proper meal he’d had in nearly four days, and he savoured every bite. The simple dish was like heaven to his taste buds after living off mushrooms and berries of late. The crispy skin of the falcon and the tender meat beneath tasted heavenly.

“I must admit, you’ve done well Barry,” said Tuti between mouthfuls as Swirly screeched in agreement.

Barry simply nodded in acknowledgement of the comment, too enveloped in his own meal to bother verbalising a response. After dinner the three returned to their rest, and this time even Barry got some shut eye.

“There’s nothing better than a food coma,” he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

The next couple of days were comparatively uneventful in comparison to Barry’s first four in the training grounds. There were still many encounters with forest beasts and small battles, but nothing to the extent of which Barry had already been through. Levelling had slowed dramatically, and Barry had only gained a single soul magic level, but it was enough to get him to a power level of eight, once again equal with Tuti. As per usual he’d thrown a stat point into vitality bringing his total level to thirty-seven, whilst using the other for mana which was now six. The group had exited the region of dead trees and leaves inhabited by the falcons and through a more barren area of rocky outcrops and stony ground where snake creatures that spat venom were prevalent. They were now passing through an area of dense, wet marshland where the only plant life was a collection of countless tall yellow reeds in all directions. Barry was thankful for his tall hiking boots that were able to keep his feet dry as he squelched through the shallow muddy swamp, pushing aside the reeds that constantly blocked his vision. Tuti on the other hand was barefoot, tiptoeing awkwardly in an attempt to only step on the shallowest parts of the marshland. Barry had asked why she didn’t put some form of footwear on and Tuti had explained that in vixant culture it was tradition to remain barefoot to ensure they always had a physical link to nature. This comment seemed a contradiction to Barry given her soul item was a pair of gloves, but when he’d pressed Tuti about it she’d given him such an intense glare that he thought it best to let it go. Meanwhile, Swirly alternated between resting atop either Tuti or Barry’s shoulders to avoid the water all together. Weirdly enough, despite trudging loudly through the swamp for half a day or so the group had not encountered a single person or beast. Tuti had argued that this was because no one, not even beasts would want to live in such a foul, sloppy, smelly environment like this. However, Barry wasn’t convinced, given every other section of the forest had contained beasts of some sort. Whilst Tuti focussed on limiting how wet her fur was getting, Barry kept his wits about him.

Tuti’s groaning and complaining continued as they trudged through the muck.

“Gross, the mud is so stinky, we don’t have anything like this in the forest I come from,” Tuti complained as she trailed behind Barry.

Ignoring the comments Barry kept pushing through the reeds, his clothes completely clean and dry with the exception of a few specs of mud that had flicked up onto his trousers. After some time, Barry noticed the chattering behind him had suddenly stopped. At first, he didn’t think much of it, he figured Tuti had just tired and was focussing on her walking. But then he realised that there were no sounds at all, he couldn’t hear her footsteps, or the mud squelching, or water splashing, there was just nothing. As he started to turn his head, the first thing he noticed was the squelching had resumed, albeit more rapidly than before. Suddenly his eyes widened in shock as he saw Tuti’s gloved, clenched fist flying towards him before it collided with his head.