The killing haze lasted until the last gray wastewolf stopped spawning. As the instincts from his new mantle faded, Daniel became more aware of the degree of his tunnel vision while in that state. He hadn’t given any thought to his friends once he knew they were safe, but more so, he was surrounded by hundreds of bodies. The most frequent killing blow had been decapitation as he’d been at least aware enough to preserve them as best he could. The slaughter had been easy as he’d essentially spawn camped each wolf as it came back to life.
I can’t do this again, he thought as he observed the carnage. His hybrid form gave much in strength, though it was also affecting his mind. Thomas was right to be concerned. Another downside was that there was no way he was getting advancement from all of these wolves. They’d stopped growing stronger after the fourth resurrection and had given up at a certain point. Grinding these creatures forever to reach level 9 didn’t seem something the Octyrrum would allow, though he’d have to check his phone in a few minutes to confirm his suspicions.
It would have been more convenient to revert then and there, but the hour long cooldown on Beast Mode wasn’t done yet. Turning his head to check on his friends, he saw that they’d made camp. Silora was huddled under a tent, though she was applying the hydrating cream herself this time. Rait had apparently had enough after the attack and was resting himself.
Willow and Thomas were trying to get at the clump of webbing on Spinner’s back, though it seemed the monster was conflicted, helping at times and running a short distance away at others. Was Tlara trying to let them while Spinner refused to part with its prize? He’d have to have her show them where her true body was at some point, but Daniel would deal with the wolves first.
“Hey, I’m going to switch back in a minute or two. I’m not sensing anything else nearby. Spinner must have drawn everything in.”
Willow stopped trying to calm down Spinner and looked up at him. “I need to get whatever is on Spinner’s back. I don’t know what it is, but it’s important.” She blinked a few times and looked around, frowning. “Those flames, I don’t see them anymore.”
“You don’t see Hunter!?” Daniel was about to go crazy, worried that the wolves had stopped spawning because something had happened to him, but Willow sighed a moment later.
“No, wait, they’re over there.” She pointed to the east, but Daniel himself couldn’t see anything even with Sense Astral still going. “They’re walking away? The distance, it’s hard to tell, but I don’t think they’re afraid.” Daniel didn’t press her on that as he doubted she could give him more information. Knowing that Hunter was out there was enough, and he didn’t believe the ringcat’s soul being nearby was a coincidence. They’d find each other again.
“I’ll help you soon. We should also talk about your bond, I can talk through how mine worked in case that makes things clearer to you.” Daniel said, easing the tension in his voice. Willow was still dealing with the death of her parents only to have this new bond thrown on. He’d have Reassure while in human form worst case, but the young avianoid was doing well despite it all.
With the last minute of the cooldown burning off, Daniel put his back to the sand and enjoyed the warmth of the sun. He couldn’t get sunburned anymore with all of his advantages in healing and it did feel nice. He only just stopped himself from taking a nap to hit the switch.
Daniel frowned as he watched the fur evaporate from his arms and the tingle of the sun became a slight burn. It’d been pleasant seconds ago but now he wanted to join Silora under the tent. He didn’t have time for that though. After tabbing through to confirm that he had in fact only received two advancement potential for the hunt, something that felt almost insultingly low, he stood. There were a ton of wolves to scan.
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You have scanned multiple Creatures, listed below.
Scanned Targets:
• Gray Wastewolf, Deceased (Whole) - 12
• Gray Wastewolf, Deceased (Damaged) - 321
• Gray Wastewolf, Deceased (Destroyed) - 20
• Rust Shank Stomper, Deceased (Damaged) - 14
• Alpha Desert Urchin, Deceased (Damaged) - 15
You have met the requirements to unlock multiple Encyclopedia entries, listed below.
Encyclopedia Entries:
• Monster: Wastewolf, Detailed
• Formulae: Smoke Bomb, Item
• Formulae: Astral Aegis, Shield
• Monster: Wastewolf, Extensive
• Formulae: Cloudburst Cloak, Armor
• Affix: Self Repair
• Monster: Wastewolf, Complex
• Affix: Patchwork
• Formulae: Splitting Arrow, Ammunition
• Monster: Wastewolf, Complete
• Monster: Shank Stomper, Extensive
• Monster: Desert Urchin, Extensive
You have unlocked all Encyclopedia entires relevant to Creature: Gray Wastewolf!
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Analysis of Creature: Rust Shank Stalker and Creature: Alpha Desert Urchin has improved Formulae: Winged Boots to Quality: Standard!
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Woah, Daniel thought after the final tally came through. He fully remembered the fight but things had gotten hazy when he’d relied on his hunting instincts. That was an insane amount to have killed in under an hour. While the other monsters hadn’t given him anything due to their relatively low number, he’d scanned enough wolves to earn everything he could from them.
Despite how excited some of the formulae and affixes made him, he put off looking at them as he needed to help Thomas and Willow. He did sneak a glance at the fully fleshed out monster entry for the wolves out of curiosity and burned a little bit of mana to read in stopped time. While the majority was relatively uninteresting and confirmed what he’d already figured out, a section at the bottom caught his eye.
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Illustrious Design Notes, Final: After careful consideration, we are suspending further development on the wastewolf. Addition of the Undying, Astral Walker, and Splitting Traits are too taxing on the Mana Structure, even with the flaws introduced to counterbalance the costs in order to satisfy Fundamental Law: Balance. This Monster can only survive gestation at Level: 3, as weaker variants cannot support the modifications, and those of higher level are too enfeebled by the initial drawbacks to survive gestation. The Creature: Base used is also too simple, another compromise too far for the positive traits. While a monster that is nigh unkillable without the right Powers would be a significant boon against the Gods in the eventual war, we have too ambitiously pursued this goal here.
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
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The Illustrious really are designing monsters, Daniel thought, his breath catching. That had been a theory floating around in the group after encountering the lake monster, though it hadn’t been confirmed until his unshackled Encyclopedia had sucked the information out of all the bodies. If the Collapse is letting their min-maxed shit start spawning, we’re in trouble.
“What is it, Guy?” Thomas asked, reading his face as he returned to camp.
“I’m calling a meeting,” Daniel said with a determination about half as intense as while he was in Beast Mode. “After we get whatever is in that web down, I’m making good on my promise.”
“Guy, I don’t know if you can trust Silora,” Thomas whispered, pulling him close. “Or Rait. He was selling us out to Aucrest before Mark happened to him.”
“I don’t care,” Daniel replied, trying to mean the words. “I’m not telling everyone I meet, but this world has gotten a lot more dangerous and I can’t worry about this anymore. We can tell Silora not to tell anyone, and honestly, I don’t think it will matter by the time she’s free.” Thomas looked uncomfortable with that suggestion but didn’t object.
Turning back to the last stumbling block between him and spilling his guts, Daniel looked directly into the eyes of Spinner. They were insectoid and not at all as human as Khiat’s, and yet he could make out something there if he looked for it. “Spinner, look, if you’re that hungry I can let you take some of the wolves I just killed. The ones that came back healthy don’t look as toxic. Willow seems to think that thing on your back is important, can you let us have it?”
Any doubts that this creature wasn’t special were erased as the spider-like head nodded, but in the next moment, Spinner backed away. Still confused, Daniel sighed and hoped this wouldn’t take too much mana. “I’m sorry, but we do need to know what that is.” Hopefully not an egg sack, he added mentally.
Daniel used Telekinetic Reach on the clump and grimaced as mana began to drain from out of his hands. The power was being actively resisted and the webs posed an additional barrier, so he cut off his attempt with a shake of his head. “It looks like Tlara can’t override Spinner. We’ll have to find out where she is, but I want to do this first. Is that ok?”
The avianoid looked disappointed, but she still didn’t protest. After looking down for a few moments, she said, “I don’t feel like Tlara’s in danger, just that something’s wrong.”
“You might have an Empathic Link,” Daniel said, grimacing at what the experience of sharing Tlara’s inner mind must be like. “Now that I can see bonds in my phone, I could try to identify yours. Just will the information to be shared with me.” Nothing happened as Willow closed her eyes, and from his earlier experiences, he knew it was easy enough for normal powers. Khiat had done it moments after gaining her cursed class.
“How long did it take you to figure this out?”
“A while. With Khare, I got the information up front, but Hunter’s bond was blocked from my phone by a jerk.” He was getting into too many details, especially since this was coming before his confession. “I should start at the beginning and everyone needs to hear this.’
Everyone gathered where Khiat was clumsily repairing her armor. She wasn’t in any real danger without it as she could fully collapse her shell when Sun Resistance ran out, but it would be uncomfortable. He hoped the work his beast self had done would help with that. As he prepared for what was about to happen, he also began enchanting a piece of the fur he’d torn off. Making bags of holding was difficult, but a level 1 leathercut bag of holding with level 3 material was something he could manage. This would also give him something to do while talking, help heal his arm, and allow them to store wolf bodies at the same time.
“I’m sorry about abandoning you guys,” he said first, though he continued before she could reply. “I’m still figuring this out. That’s not why everyone’s here. I told you I’d tell you everything, and this is the time.” Daniel did pause now but no one was going to interrupt the man about to confess a deep secret. He was hesitant, but there were some lessons he could learn from his beast self. “There are more worlds than just the Octyrrum. I’m from one of them.”
…
He managed to craft three gray bags of holding during his conversation, the interior space within slightly smaller than the ones he’d made from the greater skink leather. It wasn’t the level of the craft but the dimensional aspect of the level 4 monster that had added to the carrying capacity. What the wolf fur did wasn’t immediately apparent, though the bag felt gritty to the touch.
Of everyone, Rait had immediately checked out as he was far over his head. The rest pestered him with questions like Murdon and Lograve had originally done, a new wave coming up each time he moved from the various topics. When it was over he was more exhausted than after killing hundreds of wolves, and yet he was calm. That Cloak hadn’t swept in to stop and/or kill him was another good sign. The secret was out.
Then Khiat broke the silence. “I don’t have a class.”
“Wait, we don’t-“
“I was an Assassin, but then it went away.” She looked at Daniel, knowing the truth now. “You helped me get rid of it.”
“That was you!?” Silora shot up. “How did you avoid my Regional Log? You kept coming on and off it.”
“Oh, that was me. I have a power that blocks that kind of stuff.” That was so minor a secret compared to everything else he hadn’t bothered to mention it. The Fate looked angry at that, but her outburst was preempted by Thomas.
“Damn it, I guess we’re all doing this. I have Ressurection. It’s not like half of you don’t already know.”
“What’s that?” Khiat asked, not quite getting it from the word alone.
Thomas scratched at the back of his head as he looked away. “I can bring back the dead. It sucks.”
“What!?”
“I can’t bind a Focus for a year because she blackmailed me into bringing her back right before the Spiritualists would have freed her anyway,” he said bitterly, glaring at Silora. “With normal people, it locks me for a week, but it takes a longer time if they’re higher level than I am. Look, I’m not trying to be callous, but you wouldn’t know the trouble this power has, uh-“ Spinner had suddenly charged up to Thomas, removing the webbed bundle it had so fiercely protected before. The insect-fearing Cleric stumbled backward, only for Spinner to push the webbed thing forward towards him.
Both Willow and Daniel got the same premonition for different reasons. The avianoid ran to the clump while Daniel stayed rooted, not sure if he was right. As Willow tore off sections of webbing there were slight sparks from the latent charge the magical silk the spider monster put out. She didn’t notice and gasped when enough had been torn away. Her eyes went to Thomas. “Can you help her?”
The Cleric sucked through his teeth as he looked down on Tlara’s pale face. Patches of feathers were missing, though the decay hadn’t become too noticeable yet. “She’s been dead for too long. I’m sorry. If I had my powers I’d try, but her soul…”
“She’s possessing Spinner like a ghost,” Daniel said hollowly. Had Tlara gotten the same body swapping power with Spinner he’d had with Hunter before she’d died? Would Hunter’s mind have persisted in him if he’d managed to swap over before the end? No point in wondering about that now. “Thomas, if her soul is in Spinner, could someone still bring her back?”
“When you say in Spinner, you mean…” Thomas looked up at the monster and couldn’t hide his revulsion. “Damn. Uh, maybe. I don’t know if Threst has someone that can do that but both people in Aughal are tapped for a year. If she can hide out in Spinner I guess it’s just down to making sure there’s enough of the body left.”
“How much is enough?” Willow asked, her voice torn.
“We should put it in a bag of holding right now.” Thomas caught one of the wolf bags and frowned at the feeling of the exterior. “Handy. Look, that might not be enough, Willow. The soul usually passes on before it’s a problem, but the church has tried it with people who were mangled in monster hunts. There’s not a clear point of when the damage is too much, and I can’t heal dead things.”
“Does she still have her other monsters?” Daniel hesitantly approached the body, more fearful of Spinner than Tlara’s dead body. The monster, or more likely Tlara, was reacting poorly to the news. He guessed where her waist was and peeled back the webs with a talon hand, taking care not to damage the body. Tlara had at one point brought him to murderous fury, but he would have let Thomas bring her back now if that had been an option as he didn’t have Hunter’s body.
It took some exploring, but he found the set of pouches on Tlara’s belt and pulled them off. “She’s awake in there, right?” Daniel asked Willow. “You did bond with her and not Spinner. Do you think there’s anything with the bond that could help?”
Willow gave a troubled, assessing look at Spinner and shook her head. “All of this is just feeling it out, but it doesn’t feel right. There’s something with those pouches, though.”
“Tlara can have two monsters out at a time, I think.” She did against the lightning dragon, at least. “Do you know if she was hunting a lot over the last month?”
“She was mostly staying at home with us.” Willow shook her head as memories she didn’t want returned. “I don’t think she advanced at all. We used to fight about this, you know. If monsters could think and feel. At first she was being confrontational, but then she awakened the Beastmaster class.” Willow sat in the sand and looked sadly at her sister’s body. A short distance away, Spinner stopped shaking. “She’s not a bad person. I don’t know what happened in the Thormundz, but she never did anything really bad or hurt anyone. Not physically, at least.”
“She wouldn’t save Hunter when all it cost was a bit of mana,” Daniel spat back, Willow’s defense of her sister driving out some of the old pain despite his attempts to hide it.
Willow glanced to where her sister was now and shook her head. “She’s not a good person either, just not a bad person. I mean, she didn’t help our mother kill hundreds of people and our father, so there’s that. From what I heard she even helped kill that dragon. You both did.” Spinner’s eyes shined with the recognition. “What do we do now?”
“I could ask around in Threst’s church,” Thomas said with a verbal shrug. “We don’t have a great chance, but with all the money the kingdom owes Wings of Craft we could try buying a Resurrection, assuming there’s a Cleric there with it. Quala’d help.”
Oh right, that, Daniel thought as he remembered the deferred sum Rasalia had promised them. As long as Rikendia’s fall didn’t throw that into jeopardy, he was set to receive a lot. When his mind got back to the matter at hand, he made a decision. “We’ll help you. Tlara, you were an absolute bitch to me and part of me thinks this is exactly what you deserve.” Spinner reared back slightly at this, either one or both of them taking offense. “But I’ll help you, if only because I want to hear you apologize in person. You can’t deny you were wrong anymore. You, uh-“ His fierce words were cut off as Willow approached and held out a hand for the belt of pouches. Seeing Daniel and Thomas’ support had given her some strength that she was now using to investigate whatever her instincts were driving her to.
When Willow was busy inspecting the pouches, he continued, “You’re easier to fix than Hunter is, and that’s the only reason I’m splitting my focus like this. I help get you back, and you do everything in your power to help me.” He didn’t wait for an agreement but looked back to Willow. “Figure anything out?”
“There are others in here,” she said, certain of the knowledge but uncertain of why she had it. “I think I can free them? Not forever, but release them at least.”
“She has a wyvern, it’s the only other level 3 thing if she hasn’t gotten more monsters. Try bringing that out.”
Willow’s hand hovered over one of the pouches and she frowned. “I don’t think any of these are special. They feel empty, but it’s like I can put something in them. Something I don’t have.”
“Souls?” Daniel asked hopefully. “The flame you saw earlier, Hunter, if we got another level 2 ringcat, could you put him in it?”
“No.” She looked back at the pouches and said it again. “No, I’m sorry. It doesn’t feel right. Everyone is alright if I bring it out? What if it attacks us?”
“If they’re still in there, Tlara’s class is still working. It’s still dominated, but Spinner isn’t,” Daniel suddenly realized. That tag had been present on every one of Tlara’s monsters, but it had been replaced by the possessed tag. Spinner didn’t have an awakened version of its species, though perhaps it had progressed into the stage Hunter had been in before his. Too bad we don’t have Lograve here to confirm with Telepathy.
“Khiat’d just blow it out of the sky with one of those arrows if it gets fussy too,” Thomas said, clapping the dusker on the back. “What do you think that new power is anyway?”
“It’s called Sun Arrow,” she reported, the tone in her voice not exactly enthusiastic about the power. “It hurts to use, and I get really tired right after.”
“It’s strong, though. I’m going to try and get you better armor, Khiat. Maybe that will help block out the light more.” Daniel turned his attention back to Willow as she began the process of drawing out one of the monsters. He didn’t know exactly what limits Tlara had had on the process other than that there was a cooldown involved. Willow was likely accessing that power through the bond, and after a minute dust flew out and coalesced into a familiar blue wyvern with lightning spines threaded through the wings.
Its dull eyes flicked towards Spinner as if waiting for a command, though something changed in them after a few seconds. Daniel identified the creature and immediately realized the mistake he’d made as the wyvern moved its head to inspect one of the wings.
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Young Skyshock Wyvern - (3, Possessed)
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Tlara Seliri - (Avianoid, Beastmaster - 3)
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“So, yeah, Tlara,” he said, now a little nervous. “Thanks again for agreeing to help.”
While she had been fighting for control with Spinner before, there seemed to be nothing in the way within the wyvern. A smile too large spread over the wyvern’s face, though it flickered when the head turned to where Thomas was stuffing Tlara’s body into the bag. For a second the lightning spines sparked and a weak shot of electricity burned the sand a meter away from Daniel. As he recoiled, the wyvern took flight.
“Man,” Daniel said, a little stunned despite the purple lightning missing him. “I thought my bonds were weird.”
Above, Tlara danced in the sky.