“Chain it!” one of the Gnolls barked.

The text appeared in front of Cedric’s vision. He squinted at it, clutching at his chest as he felt parts of him go soft under the Wither curse. Before he could contemplate the ten or so more minutes he had to live, a furred paw slammed into his shoulder, spun him around and shoved a glass vial to his mouth.

You have been afflicted by Lesser Regeneration Potion: +750 hp/h for 4 hours

Cedric glanced owlishly up at Micah, as the pain vanished.

“You’re all good,” Micah smiled brightly, “up you go.”

She pulled him to his feet and for the first time he beheld the actual battle.

It...was over. The body of the Voidborne Skyshade lay crumpled and torn between three of the snarling uber-cats. Transparent chains extended from the backs of each of the cat’s antennae-like whiskers. They circled around their kill, further crumpling the paper thin flesh of the Voidborne Skyshade. All in all, the only damage beyond the curses was a single thin scratch on the shoulder of one of the cat monsters.

“Right,” Kayete growled, chugging a red potion as he stared distastefully at the monster. “Potion up, mates. For the beasts as well. Your natural regeneration should counteract the rest of the damage.”

“I’m uh, still going to die.” Cedric said, glancing at his abysmal 13 health regeneration per hour stat. “I need at least 50 more health or Wither is going to kill me.”

The others blinked at him.

“Oh no! You’re a Traveler that just spawned so...you’re level one, aren’t you!” Micah burst out, breaking the silence. “You haven’t allocated any stat points in defensive stats yet.”

“Uh, I guess?” Cedric shrugged. He’d not seen anything about level in his system, and his stat sheet was locked so even if he did he wouldn’t have been able to upgrade his defenses.

“Ok, here!” Micah rushed forward, handing him another vial, this time a malicious shade of purple. Cedric accepted, trying to identify it but the system stubbornly refused. “Drink this. It’s a cleansing potion and it should clear the debuffs from you.”

“Thanks,” Cedric clenched the vial, feeling the tension relax in his shoulders.

“Stop,” Kayete stepped up. “Do not drink the potion yet. It would be far better if you leveled from slaying this dungeon’s denizens and allocated some stats into regeneration. You cannot come with us in search of the tamable Skyshade, but your Shieldbearer can. We will be greatly assisted with a proper battlemage in the party. Will you lend your minion to my pack to aid us both in this endeavor?”

“I suppose,” Cedric said, skeptical. “Will it listen to you though?”

“No,” Kayete shook his furred face. He pulled out a flat bronze disk from his pack, and handed it to Cedric. It looked vaguely like a terrible concave mirror. “This is a sightstone. It will allow you to see and speak through its connected stone for up to ten hours. That should be enough time to find and tame the Skyshade.”

Cedric raised a brow, but acquiesced. It appeared this new world had a magical version of a streaming service. Kayete then showed him how to detach the ‘eye’ — a spherical pale opal embedded in the back of the bronze mirror — and nestle it safely in the Arterial Shieldbearer’s chest.

Activating the mirror he was greeted with a fisheye view from the center of his minion’s chest. Turning the mirror rotated the view like a shitty VR helmet. He hummed, and the mirror buzzed under his thumbs. He lifted them off the mirror surface, and the distorted sound resolved to the sound of his own voice emanating from the mirror.

“Cool,” Cedric said, already used to the operation of the magical device.

“Good, you learn quick. Now you will be able to guide your Shieldbearer to our aid from a distance. We will make a great racket and draw the Voidlings to us while you retreat to the entrance. We will let your Shieldbearer slay the beasts in the hopes you level. Should a Voidling approach you however, jump through the portal for safety and it will not be able to follow. Please provide us fair warning if one does threaten your health as doing so will teleport your Shieldbearer to you.”

Cedric nodded, pocketing the mirror. It seemed like a solid plan.

“Good,” Kayete continued. “Now, Micah, guide the Traveler back to the entrance and return swiftly. We must finish the Adaka before nightfall.”

Micah jumped to the task with the eagerness of a teenager. They made small talk during the walk, Micah being eager to talk his ear off on literally any subject. She was amazed he got used to using the Sightstone so quickly, and asked question after question about Earth. Everything he said only seemed to spark her curiosity further and Cedric soon found himself talking at length on his work back on Earth.

“Wow,” Micah said. “I don’t think I can imagine a beastie so small that you can’t even see it. The craziest part is that your people spent so much time and effort taming them even though they are so small and useless.”

“Well you can learn a lot about the world by studying them, and they are plenty useful in manufacturing,” Cedric said. “You should never judge something just because of its size. Even the smallest creature can make you horribly sick if it manages to infect you.”

“Well, we don’t have those around here. It would have been the talk of the clan if some itty bitty beastie was able to make people sick and spread to other people.”

“I’m sure you do. You must,” Cedric frowned. “Bacteria are the basis of life. Higher order organisms like us couldn’t exist without them. You’re telling me you’ve never gotten sick in your life?”

“I mean I’ve got poisoned, and withered, and a bunch of other stuff—”

“No,” Cedric paused frowning. “I’m not talking about when a monster uses an ability on you. You’re telling me, you’ve never just gotten a fever, chills, or a runny nose out of the blue?”

“Well, no.” Micah said, then shivered. “I don’t think I’d want to Travel to your world. Invisible, untouchable tiny monsters that can kill you and there is nothing you can do about it. Scary...”

Cedric nodded idly, still reeling at the revelation that his world didn’t have bacteria. He’d kind of expected it considering the absurd rates of regeneration present in this world but still. He would have to run some tests, of course. Travelers were common enough to be known by the populace, so it was unlikely the world hadn’t already been inoculated by bacteria. If they hadn’t though...he was about to become the deadliest carrier of infectious diseases ever to be recorded.

They arrived at the mountaintop beside the portal, and Cedric set that train of thought aside for a moment because he had a different question that had been bugging him.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Hey Micah, I have a question.”

“Go for it!” the gnoll grinned, showing enough teeth to make him shiver.

“So the way you have been talking is that there is only one monster in this dungeon that can be tamed. Is it the same monster for each of us, or is it that each of us has only one monster we can tame per dungeon?”

“Oh, right! You don’t know!” Micah clapped her hands like it was the most exciting question ever. “So in every zone, there is only one tamable monster at a time. In here, it is the Voidborne Skyshade, and for our Adaka, we must compete to tame it. Whoever succeeds will become Gamma, and will protect the clan with their strength.”

“I see, like a coming of age ceremony? Hold on, you said every zone. Does that include the overworld?”

“It does! So right now there is a monster called a Hartebeast Behemoth that the clan is tracking. It is an unusually strong monster with an S-tier passive ability that makes it almost unkillable as a Juggernaut. The reason we have to be quick, is because it is leveling at an unusually fast rate and Vorahr, our clan Alpha, has called for a hunt.”

“Wait, so only one monster can be tamed at once and then what. Once a monster is tamed, the system just chooses another one?”

“Once a monster has been tamed, a zone doesn’t get another tamable monster until a week has passed. It is possible to tame two monsters from a dungeon, but most dungeons despawn before then though...”

“I...see,” Cedric said slowly, a sinking feeling settling in his gut. “Wouldn’t every tamer in the entire world come to this area to try and tame the Hartebeast Behemoth? I feel like only one monster for an entire zone is too little.”

“You are mostly right, but the overworld is split into zones as well. The Hartebeast Behemoth is Gnollan’s current monster. Gnollan being our country, which is mainly a forested biome. If you are in Gnollan the monster you can tame will be the Hartebeast Behemoth. Once you step out, though, you will Tame whatever monster is on the other side. I’ve never been out though, but I super want to. That’s why I’m going to win this Adaka.”

“What makes you so sure you’ll win?”

“Tikah, and Takete are both headstrong idiots. I would bet my Fashta,” she gestured to her uber-cat-mount, “that they will both rush in the moment they see an opportunity. I’m going to wait in the wings for the beastie to waste its cooldowns, then I’ll swoop in and chain it, beat it up, then Tame it!”

“That sounds like a good plan, thank you for the information,” Cedric said, noting that Kayete was getting impatient on the other side of the sightstone. “It looks like Kayete is getting impatient though, so you should probably go.”

“Oh right! See ya!” Micah gasped, then jumped onto her mount, spinning and racing back down the mountain.

“Good luck with your Adaka,” Cedric called after her, the words tasting like ash in his mouth. For some reason, taming the Hartebeast Behemoth had become personal. For ten days he had seen that message hovering in his vision. It had felt like a personal challenge. One he couldn’t achieve immediately, but that he could strive toward.

It had almost eclipsed his desire to go home. Or more accurately, he had connected the two in his mind. He felt that once he had tamed the Behemoth, he would be one step closer to finding some way home. The Behemoth signified his success. Getting it meant his food situation would be fixed. It meant he would have found shelter. Even if those things didn’t get fixed by acquiring the Behemoth. In his head, at least. It felt like they would.

But from the sound of it, there were other, far more capable groups who were actively hunting the Behemoth. And the Voidborne Skyshade for that matter. With four Gnolls, riding powerful Fashtas, there was no doubt that the party Cedric had stumbled upon was far more qualified then him. They had supplies, monsters, team members. By all rights, they should tame the Skyshade and leave him empty handed.

Except...that sucked.

At least at the end, he would be invited to the Gnoll’s camp and be given shelter, food, and all the other commodities of civilization. There was a chance that he would eventually be allowed to do an Adaka and get more of his own creatures. Rise up in the ranks...Maybe become Alpha one day...

His crystal flashed, sending seven distinct upgrades through the portal to the Hartebeast Behemoth. It flashed repeatedly, this time sending rapidfire upgrades into the dungeon. The Sightstone revealed a few of the lights melding with the Arterial Shieldbearer, but most of them vanished over the mountains.

The Voidborne Skyshade had just grown stronger.

That was it. Cedric realized. This was why he felt so possessive. It was his crystal that was upgrading these monsters. It was his crystal and no one else's. He was responsible for the ‘unusually fast leveling’ of the Behemoth.

His system was broken and restricted leveling. He had zero faith that killing a few Voidlings by proxy would give him a level up. He and the Arterial Shieldbearer had slain hundreds of monsters over the last ten days trekking through the forest. He couldn’t level. Full stop. If he didn’t tame the super monsters that his crystal was upgrading then he would die. He needed these monsters. Far more than any individual Gnoll.

He’d already lost his first monster, and it was becoming exceedingly obvious the numbers were king in this world. He needed to increase the size of his party. The Gnolls didn’t count. They actively hindered him by attempting to tame his monsters. He needed more companions. Starting with the Voidborne Skyshade.

Cedric turned to the mirror, and saw the party rebuff another group of Voidlings. They really were pathetically weak. A few short commands to the Arterial Shieldbearer where all that was needed to melt them in a pool of corrosive blood.

Of far more interest was the Skyshade that floated above them.

Inky black and paper thin, the Skyshade glared down at the party with its hundreds of baleful red pinpricks. It’s kite-like silhouette was utterly massive and stuck out like a sore thumb in front of the brilliant blue, sunless sky.

Voidborne Skyshade Stats Invested: 955 Talents Invested: 800 Health[6]: 1782

Regeneration[6]: 148.5/hr

Armor[6]: 71 (Damage reduction: 41%)

Ability Power[8]: 2541 Ability Haste[7]: 58%

Area of Effect[6]: 349%

Hinder 8m:25s 67 ft radius Nearby enemies are cursed for 15 minutes and lose ability haste equal to 25% of ability power Curse 10m:31s 67 ft radius Nearby enemies are cursed for 15 minutes and lose armor and magic resistance equal to 25% of ability power Wither 18m:57s 67 ft radius Nearby enemies are cursed for 1 hour and take 400% of ability power as magic damage over the duration Mordath -passive- Recover health equal to 20% of ability power when a nearby enemy with three or more curses dies.

It was another glass cannon, with an absolutely absurd amount of ability power and area of effect. It’s Wither could be up permanently and extended over a 67 foot radius. At over 10,000 magic damage over the course of an hour, it was a debilitating ability.

It was a good thing Cedric had retreat to the dungeon entrance, but for some reason he couldn’t help but feel excited about the impossibly high stats.

Kayete barked out orders and the battle began. The Gnolls instantly split, their mounts easily making distance between each other. 67 feet was a lot though, so to make time, Kayete charged directly at the Skyshade. Transparent chains shot from his mount, and in the blink of an eye, wrapped around the Skyshade. It screeched, a pulse of red light emanating from its many eyes.

It tried to pull back, but Kayete pulled back on his reins. It screamed again, changing strategies and charging straight down at the Gnoll. The pull of the chains accelerated its dive. Kayete braced, ready to take on its charge, but at the last moment it pulled up, and rocketed into the sky.

One of the transparent chains snapped under the immense strain of containing the huge beast, but the other held forcing the monster back to earth. The beast crashed with an earthshaking rumble just as Kayete and his ride were launched into the air. The other gnolls rushed towards the crash site, ready to tame the beast.

The Skyshade straightened out of the crater like a malevolent god. Purple power coalesced within its inky darkness. It rippled, its many eyes scanning the surroundings with cunning intelligence.

Then it screamed.

A wave of pure purple death exploded out of it. It washed over Kayete and oozed into him, before passing through unhindered. The wave approached the Arterial Shieldbearer and it raised it’s shields, triggering Riposte.

A mere fraction of a second before the purple miasma could touch Cedric’s minion, he stepped through the portal.