I couldn't sprint at full speed because I could run into a concealed slime pit. Not a wonderful experience, trust me.

The bleating sounded painful. As I approached, I saw a black goat with its butt facing me, looking down at one such slime pit.

I couldn't hear the person anymore. As I got a better look, the goat or maybe a ram wore saddlebags. It also had metal rings on its pointy horns. Wait. It had two sets of horns. The curled spiral of a ram and the pointy horns of a goat. The ram horns covered the sides of its head without hindering peripheral vision. The creature had square eyes, yet its eyelids worked normally.

When the creature, which I would later learn was a Tityron, sensed me, it bleated louder. I reached the edge of yet another slime pit. A concealed one.

Below, the fresh remnants of a man slowly dissolved in the slime. The monsters swarmed around the body, secreting a lot of acid. An acrid stench rose along the fumes the acid released.

The poor Tityron was about to jump in, desperate to join its master. I grabbed onto its collar and pulled it away from the edge.

The bleating woke the Wolfertinger pup. The little guy poked its head out of the pack and howled. It scared the Tityron but instead of fighting me, it went to the side and away from the pit. The sudden tug threatened to put me off-balance but I had a slight advantage.

"Can we stop making a racket?" I asked the two creatures. "Stop. Sit. Down. Hush."

I wish I could teach the Wolfertinger pup tricks. One of them was recognized by the Tityron because it stopped tugging.

The Tityron was very tame. It could have scratched me with its horns but it just wanted to go where it wished. Even it meant death.

Even after the Tityron calmed down, I didn't let go. It didn't take its eyes off of the slime pit. The creature's sadness was heartbreaking.

I found a leash looped around a metal ring on the saddlebags. I tied it to the Tityron's collar and noticed it had a wooden name tag attached. A broken one.

The name tag was carved in flowery cursive and it read, "William O…" then something resembling a lowercase L and what could be either the left side of an N or an R. The second name could start with "Olr, Oln, or what I thought as an L and a part of another letter could very well be a very strange H. If I assume the hole to hang the original name tag was drilled in the middle, it didn't leave much room for more letters, maybe one or two.

William's second name was something starting with either "Olr", "Oln" or "Oh".

"William!" I called in a commanding voice. The Tityron tilted its head to look at me with its square eyes. "Come!"

It didn't follow me. William was more interested in the slime pit where its former master was now a bunch of bleached bones slowly dissolving.

I had to let it take a last look. William looked down into the pit and bleated his frustrations. We spent some time watching the slimes eat the bones.

Once I was sure William wouldn't go inside, I hammered a stake on the ground and tied his leash to it. Then, I went to the pit edge and killed all the slimes.

William bleated a requiem. The Wolfertinger pup howled.

*

*

Once nothing remained of his former owner, William followed me as we cleared the area of all slime pits we could find. I took him along my route. The Tityron proved to be a fast hiker, keeping up with me effortlessly.

I scouted the other quest areas, amazed at how intelligent William was. He instinctively knew when to avoid monster-infested areas and had no trouble following me.

The saddlebags didn't have much in the way of valuables. It was that guy's mobile home. Crockery, tableware, spare clothes, some knick-knacks, and just a handful of silver coins.

I had no need for any of these but the coins and the saddlebags proper. Once we reached a hill with an unobstructed view of the road, I prepared a small stone cairn and buried the man's belongings. I couldn't retrieve the body but this would be a good marker to remind the world of his existence.

I never learned his name.

*

*

Back in town, I spent the next two days training. Physical workout, archery, and melee weapon, the staff, short sword, and daggers. I was strong enough now to wield heavier weapons but they lacked the speed and versatility of my chosen ones.

I also decided on a name for the lazy Wolfertinger pup. "Sleepy" may sound childish but it clicked the moment I thought about it. To avoid confusion, I would keep the S dim when issuing commands, so the pup would focus on the "Leepy" part. It shouldn't clash with any colloquially used word.

Naming it also eroded one of the barriers that was unconsciously keeping us from deepening our bond.

On its latest visit to Melgart's clinic, it weighed six and a half kilograms. The little monster was steadily growing up even though I was trying to reign in its food intake, especially the highly potent daddy jerky.

Our city block had a shared backyard area where people did all sorts of things, from hanging laundry, to raising chickens, dumping trash, and keeping goat monsters? William was at home I there, with all that delectable garbage to eat.

With everything in order, it was time to make one huge decision. To pick my first subclass. I opened the list of unlocked Classes, the one I should pick from if Scout's Oath hadn't locked in my choice. I had Common, Uncommon, and Rare picks. Filling a slot would increase my Experience requirement to level up from three to four thousand points. But since it came with more Attribute points, it was considered as a poor man's rarity upgrade.

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The System limited subclass choices to one's main Class rarity. It didn't make sense to be Rare in the main and set an Epic Class in a sub-slot. Increasing one's rarity was supposed to be hard to nigh impossible.

I removed the Common and Uncommon Classes from the view. Rarity wasn't as important for subclass as it was vital for the main Class but it still mattered a little. While a Sub-Class gave only five Attribute points per level regardless of rarity, the single Skill granted would be a bit stronger, the meager Perks earned more powerful.

One could also sacrifice the subclass slot to gain Attribute efficiency. It was considered a poor choice unless one had extremely high levels and couldn't be bothered with diversifying their build or had a Parallel Progression.

The five points per level granted by the subclass were a bigger boost to one's power than a meager thirty percent efficiency to three Attributes or twenty percent to one. To break even, one needed to be fully focused on these Attributes and have at least an Epic rarity Class.

I had twelve Rare Classes unlocked. Arcane Sharpshooter, Venom Marksman, Dark Sniper, Woodland Stalker, Monster Hunter, Assassin, Beastmaster, Monster Rancher, Spy, Cryptozoologist, Witch Hunter, and Soul Eater.

Some of these I would not even consider. If I was going to keep on solo, it would be one of the former three. But now, with a Legendary bond, only two resonated with my perceived path, and one of these would require me to settle down.

With all other alternatives excluded, I locked in my choice.

> Requirements met.

> Has good understanding of animal and animal-like monster (collective referred to as beasts) ecology, behavior, and identification.

> Has a feature to forge mutualist bonds with beasts.

> Befriended at least two monsters.

> Class unlock successful.

> You have become a Beastmaster.

> You have unlocked Class experience. Earn Experience points by performing activities relates to one of your Classes.

> Scout: discover threats and resources while ranging at a good distance from your group's main shelter.

> Beastmaster: bond and care for beasts you control.

> You do not gain more Attribute points per level. Instead, for every level you gain, each bonded beast at the time gains five Attribute points. This effect is not retroactive. You may allocate the points but the choice is irreversible. You need a thousand extra Experience points to level. You and your bonds count as a single entity for Experience awards.

> You gained the Trait, Bond Synergy. Add ten percent of your base Attributes and resources as a bonus to bonded beasts. Add five percent of the base Attributes and resources of each bonded beast to yours.

> You gained the skill, Beast Mastery. Rank I: Non-Hostile beasts’ reactions are twenty percent more favorable to you per rank If you or your party don't intend to harm them.

> You gained the trait, Extra Bonds. You may have two extra Beast Bonds.

> Your next Beastmaster Perk is at level 30. You gain a new Beastmaster Perk every fifty levels.

I couldn't hold back my excitement. I felt like I had gained the lottery and shouted. Sleepy barked and howled as he chased me around the house.

I reread the messages five times to understand them. The first thing that popped was that I gained no personal power from the Class on its own. Subclasses gave five points per level. Instead, my bonds earned five points.

Class experience granted a little trickle of Experience. Tan here, eight there. People who relied on it said it took years to earn enough Experience points to go up a level. Yet, it was better than nothing.

The benefits more than bridged this gap. Not needing to share Experience points was huge.

Bond Synergy was fantastic. My bonds would benefit from my PP, and I would gain a few points from them. With enough bonds, it could even offset the loss of level-up Attribute points.

I knew tales about people who used monsters to fight. They split into two camps. The ones who used whatever monster they could get and replaced said monsters as they died, and those who raised, nurtured, and treated their creatures like family members.

It was an easy decision in which camp I fell. Back to analyzing my new features. The Class didn't grant a way to bond. It was a requirement. Extra bonds meant I would have my own petting zoo soon.

I also needed to get defensive equipment for my bonds and also stock on healing items. With my next subclass at level fifty, I could try to get a healing Class. My abysmally low MP pool was a problem. I needed to invest in my personal combat and didn't have the points to spare on Clarity.

And I doubted the System would be so kind as to grant me an achievement for it.

Beast mastery would make my life in the wilderness much easier. I couldn't wait to see what other benefits it would give me in future ranks.

Now I needed to bond with Sleepy really fast. The little critter had to start earning my level up bonuses sooner rather than later. Not to mention gaining dive percent of a Legendary Attributes progression.

I tried to use my Perk on Sleepy but it didn't work. I could feel it was almost there but not quite yet.

Since I intended to take William with me on my trips, I grabbed Sleepy on my arm and went to the backyard to call the Tityron. William was eating grass on the other side but quickly came once I called.

I scratched under his snout and rubbed his thick fur coat. Come next Spring, I would have a lot of black Tityron wool to sell.

I tried to use my Perk on William. Something brushed against my mind. William stared at me with his square eyes and square pupils. He moved closer and bumped his nose against my hand.

> Do you want to bond with level 15 Tityron?

This easy? I stared at the lazy chimera on my arm. You little… but then again, I killed his family. It was in self-defense but who cared?

I bonded with William. The Tityron was an Uncommon species and, at level fifteen, William should have two hundred and twenty points. I checked my Status and noticed I gained only nine points, two fewer points than the theoretical maximum. The system rounded down, always. But William gained dozens. It should be noticeable especially on the effect of the mental Attributes.

> For bonding with level 15 Tityron, you gained 60 Experience points.

There, I gained the Class Experience award. I needed to bond with more than sixty beasts.

Even several hundred points of Intelligence wouldn't grant an animal sapience. A sheep-goat with such intellect would be really smart and perceptive but it would still only be several times the base animal intellect.

I could sense William's location and mood. I could also sense his health status and quickly extract several ticks from his fur as I could sense his discomfort and where it hurt. Maybe our bond could evolve with a Perk to allow for communication but this base empathic bond was already an order of magnitude better than the mundane silence of dissociated minds.

I held sleepy by his armpits and held the Wolfertinger in front of me. Sleepy yawned and showed me his sharp teeth and long tongue. Freeing a hand, I fetched a small slice of daddy jerky. Sleepy's eyes went wide and he barked a demand.

I tried to bond again. Nothing. Tried harder. Yet another wasted effort. Sleepy chuffed and barked at me as he kicked the air with his rabbit feet. Its eyes were on the jerky. I looked at William. William looked at me and bleated with a mental shrug. I might be imagining things.

Sleepy started to bark, demanding jerky. "No." I put it away. He didn't like it a single bit. Sleepy begged for the jerky, and I kept saying no. Eventually, he stopped.

"Quiet," I said and took out the jerky. He barked. I put the jerky away. We repeated it several times until he learned that begging for food yielded nothing.

I gave him the jerky when he was on his best behavior that wasn't sleeping.

> For training level 3 Wolfertinger, you gained 1 Experience point.

Level three? How? Did all this jerky it ate turbocharged its level up? I was sure Sleepy hadn't killed anything.

I had to train this little one before it was too late. Considering how vicious the rest of his family was, I couldn't take that risk.