And the final part before the scouting, lets go guys!
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The two of them were sleeping in the hole under the stream. They had waited a few minutes before they had heard the sounds of wolves in the area over their heads. There had been barking, howling, and lots of sniffing. They had stayed awhile, each minute making the two worried they had caught on to their plan. In the end, the wolves had left, howling, but Steel figured it would be safer to spend the night in the hole just in case. Using the last of his mana, he had made a breathing hole to the surface for them, and they had settled down to sleep.
He woke up when a certain someone's foot kicked him awake. Faintly amused, he watched Hunie's leg thump the ground, another trait most likely from her rabbit days. He heard faint mutterings of, "My carrot bitch" as her leg thumped, which begged the question:
"Who in their right mind would steal a carrot from a Hungry Bunny?"
He shifted a bit in the hole, trying to listen to anything that might be around them. Unfortunately, he didn't possess super hearing or an earth sense, so he just rolled around for a little longer, stuck between sleep and wakefulness.
Eventually, he got bored and shook the rabbit girl awake. She woke up slowly with mutterings of "food" and "I'll kill you bastard". Once she remembered where she was, her demeanor changed to her usual self, respectfully sarcastic.
"Good morning Master." She respectfully, waving her hand dismissively at him at the same time. Yup, she was awake now.
"Hey. Ready to get back to the city?"
"Not really Master, but I go where you go." She said firmly.
Like the forest, Hunie had never been in the city, on account of the sword happy guards who feared the her with a deep terror. Still, she was curious and a little excited to see where the humans lived, and all the food they would have. Drool escaped her lips at the thought, which she quickly wiped away.
Steel earth walled the stream, chugged a mana potion, and opened the hole back to the surface. Once they got out, he used two more mana potions to seal the hole and release the stream. He didn't have Hunie fill the hole in, he wanted a escape place in case the expedition went sour.
The two of them inspected the area before making a move. The ground on the side of the stream they had come from was scratched up and paw marks littered the area. The wolves had really been frustrated to lose their prey, judging by the looks of it. Seeing nothing dangerous in the area, they headed in the direction of the gate, according to Hunie's nose and ears. Hunie denied her ear's use, but Steel had watched them long enough to tell they always twitched toward the north direction when she was agitated.
"Hunie, if nothing else, you'd make a wonderful compass." He joked.
She grabbed her ears and turned red, but merely marched ahead of him through the forest, demonstrating an inferiority complex about her ears. Another story for another time then.
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The journey through the forest after that was relatively uneventful. The farther they traveled from the wolf lair, the more sign of life they saw. Eventually, they could hear the chirping of birds and the chitterings of small creatures. Hunie disappeared at least twice to try the little creatures, but always returned disappointed that she couldn't hunt like she was used to. Her body couldn't fit in the holes anymore.
As they were walking, Steel thought of some things, and decided to ask Hunie about them.
"Hey Hunie, think you can answer some questions?"
"I'll do my best Master." She replied.
"Why are those wolves corrupted? It seemed like they were normal at some point."
Hunie inclined her head, "Well Master, you are correct in your thoughts. They were normal wolves at some point, at least the alpha was, the others look too young."
Hunie took the time to explain the differences between monsters and creatures in the world. Creatures were normal animals, and lived as normal animals did. They ate, slept, fought, breed, and acted their parts in the world. Animals could rank up to stronger varieties if they met certain requirements or were born from parents of a stronger variety. The Hungry Bunnies, for instance, were all descended from a few bunnies that had ranked up in ages past. The grassland held their descendants, but they were few in number because the higher the rank, the lower the fertility. Steel understood she was referring to spawn rates, stronger animals had lower spawn rates so as to not overrun the players.
Monsters on the other hand came in three varieties: corrupted animals, ranked up animals, or natural born monsters. The latter two were the most common.
Sometimes an animal would rank up to a form outside the realm of normal animals. They would gain increased intelligence, skills, and fighting abilities. These were the ranked up monsters; such as minotaurs, centaurs, harpies, lamias, and etc. Their children would continue to change until the bloodline made them into natural born monsters. Sentients could also become monsters, but through conversion by outside means, as sentients didn't "rank up" like animals. Another game design, as players could change their race through special quests and the like.
The original natural born monsters were demonic and angelic in nature. They had been the first creations of the gods to live in the world, and were longed lived and powerful. Over the years, the two had dispersed, intermingled, and declined until there existed a vast number of beings hat relied on light, dark, or both attributes primarily. While the two had their stereotypical tendencies to good and evil, the majority followed their own code of conduct, resulting in a large grey area for both species. The strongest viewed the world as a game, seeking way of elevating themselves to godhood in order to join the pantheon. The descendants of ranked born monsters joined this category eventually as well, making natural born monsters that largest group in the world.
The last type of monster was the rarest and most dangerous, the corrupted monsters. These beings included things that had permeated with mana, resulting in various abilities and strengths not found outside the class. Most often, however, this power also included madness, death, pain, destructive impulses, and the metric system. That last one Steel included in his head. A few in this category were stable: such as golems and the like, inanimate objects that lacked a mind originally. This usual came from animals or monsters being near a strong source of natural mana in the area, that was the glow the two had seen before at the wolf lair. The type of mana affected the outcome of the corruption: for instance besides demon wolves, there could be aqua wolves, pyro wolves, etc. The abundant mana changed the bodies to suit the need of the mana, allowing it to soak away to lower the stress of having too much mana in one place. There was always something to absorb mana, that's how the golems and the like came into being, even the rock, air, and other elements could absorb mana. Mages had shown what happened if too much mana was in one place: boom.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
That was one reason why lairs were never permanently cleared, humans and the other races let the excess mana create monster so as to prevent natural disaster, and acquired wealth from the loot the developed from the mana. Monster drops were popular, and the equipment taken from dead adventurer's into the lairs sometimes absorbed a little mana and strengthened. Besides being useful, magically enchanted items could also be broken down by enchanters, who learned the enhancement from the process and then applied it to other materials. Some major trade cities had formed around large lairs that entered the realm of dungeons, and the loot was the main source of income. These were rare however, as most lairs were small and burned up after awhile. Finding this lair would bring safety and profit to the city of Rostwood for some time.
"I'm surprised Hunie, you know a lot about these thing."
"Thank you Master, but its weird, I didn't know them before, but its like something fed me this. Is this the so called instinctive genius trait I wonder?"
There was no such thing, but Steel didn't feel like telling her she was an A.I. now, and had access to the unlimited information the cyberworld had to offer. He didn't think she was quite ready yet.
"Muu, Master, why does it always feel so nice to talk to you about things?"
"Er, just call it a blessing of Milna."
"That sounds fishy Master, but alright. Treat me to some food later!"
"Okay, but help me fine some things to cook while we are here in the forest. I owe someone some ingredients."
Since Steel had been outside the wall for 3 days, he figured finding 3 new ingredients for Mema would keep her happy. The demon wolf meat was one, so he had to find some more, especially since he used most of the meat to distract the alpha wolf.
So, while they made their way through an ever growing abundance of wildlife, the two of them kept an eye out for anything that looked remotely edible and mysterious.
In the end, though, neither had strong searching skills. They found 5 mushrooms, a turtle, a strange fruit from a tree in the middle of a clearing, and nothing else. A little disappointed, Steel didn't bother checking what they were, though he most likely would have not been able to in the first place as he had yet to learn about plant types.
After a while, they came out of the forest into the grassland, the wall stretching out in front of them. Smiling at the sight of Rostwood, Steel started to walk into the grassland, when a wall of bunnies appeared in front of him. In fact, it looked like every bunny in the grassland was here, staring at him.
No, not at him, at Hunie. He looked back to find Hunie shuffling her feet behind him awkwardly, using his body to hide from their stares. Her ears twitched nervously, and A TAIL wiggled behind her. How the heck did he miss that before? It was adorable!
Shaking his head to clear the unholy thoughts, his attention returned as one of the bunnies hopped forward to stop in front of him. It reared up on it's hind legs and sniffed the air. Steel moved sideways and held Hunie up as the rabbit approached her, sniffing her.
Some unheard communication passed between the two, and Hunie's eye teared up, not of sadness but of relief. She bent down and touched noses with the rabbit, who closed it's eyes. An ethereal crown appeared over the rabbit's head as it opened it's eyes, and it turned to look at Steel. It BOWED to him and then the rabbits all scattered to the wind, leaving Hunie and Steel to watch them disappear.
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Faction UpdateFaction:The Bunny LegionSome groupd of animals have a leader appointed to them by the goddess Milna to protect them when they are in danger. The rabbit king has acknowledged your bond with Hunie and had offered his blessing.Max intimacy with all rabbits- they will protect you by sleeping on top of you when in the grasslands
Title gained: One with the Carrot
For gaining max intimacy with a member of her inner circle, Milna granted you +2 intelligence and wisdom
Steel stared on in shock as he took in the information. The bunnies had a king? He was no longer so sure about the world. Still, he looked over at Hunie, who was still crying happily.
"Are you okay Hunie?"
"Sniff, yes Master, I'm alright." She answered, wiping her cheeks, "It was just an amazing thing to meet her, you have no idea."
"Him right, since he's a king?"
"Stupid Master, why should a male be in charge? With most animals, the females are stronger, bigger, and more intelligent than the males. It's only called king because that's how you silly humans name things." She sniffed at him.
"So, what did she say?" He asked curiously, changing the topic quickly.
"She told me it was alright, that they still considered me a rabbit, and that I can..." She blushed and did not finish her sentence.
"What? What can you do?"
Hunie coughed and looked into the distance, her hands behind her back, "Um... travel with you, yes, she said being with you, cough, traveling with you would be fun and that I should see the world before, er, settling."
Confused, Steel tried to understand her words, when she turned around and grabbed his hand with a smile.
"Come on Master, lets go see how you humans live." She said joyfully.
The two of them speed across the field toward the gate, Hunie's heart lighter than it ever had been.
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And that wraps up that part. Next time, we have a few domestic chapters to clear, cybertown, two death weapons meeting the other, etc., then the first expedition. After that, some old fashioned training, and new adventures. We've almost hit 300 follows guys, THANK YOU SO MUCH :)