Daniel, Steve and John all sat together in the central room of the Training Hall. They all sat in a somewhat awkward silence each waiting for one of the others to speak. In the end it was John who spoke up first.

“So, what’s the plan? We briefly discuss what we need to do, but not too many of the specifics.”

“Well from my perspective there are six steps we need to take to get you caught up with Daniel and I. First you need gear. Second, you need some basic training. Daniel and I have purchased skill books that give instructions on how to gain some of the most basic General Skill that are useful to adventures. You don't need to learn all of the skills that are in the book immediately, but they are very helpful. Third, we need to purchase a skill gem for the General Skill ‘Party Interface.’ Daniel and I already have the skill learned and have the skill necessary if we plan on going into the Team Dungeon together.” Steve then turned to Daniel and spoke to him. “Speaking of which, we still need to buy the skill gem for Kota as well.”

Daniel nodded. “After we finish this conversation we will go to the shop to buy John his gear and the skill gems for the both of them.”

Steve returned Daniel’s nod then turned back to John and held up four fingers. “Fourth. We will need to share all of the current information we have on the Solo Dungeon because,” Steve then help up all five of his fingers,” the fifth step of the plan is once you have all of the knowledge, gear, training and skills we can give you, you will need to start clearing the solo dungeon to start leveling up. Once you have cleared enough floors and leveled enough all the sixth and final step will be for the three of us–”

Kota suddenly barked at Steve, interrupting him.

“Yes, sorry Kota. The four of us will enter the team dungeon together.”

Daniel had been mostly silent so far during this discussion of what their next steps would be. He had mostly been nodding along in agreement with everything Steve had been saying. It was only when Kota barked at Steve for not including him in the planning that a thought suddenly entered his mind. Had Kota also been following along with the conversation. This was not a new thought for Daniel. Several times while they had been in the dungeon Daniel had thought Kota was able to actually understand what he had been saying and listening to commands. It was not though in this moment where Kota had literally just spoken up for himself that Daniel was now positive in Kota’s increased intelligence. It had been one thing to see the numbers on Kota’s stats screen increase, but this was a clear example of what those numbers reflected in the real world.

Steve didn't even stop his explanation while Daniel had his revelation. Daniel wasn't even sure if Steve had even understood the significance of what had just happened, but Daniel did. For now Daniel decided not to interrupt Steve. Daniel would have a private word with his companion once they entered the next floor of the solo dungeon.

“Once we clear the Team Dungeon as a group then we can come together like this again and see what our next course of action will be. For right now however this is the plan. Do you have any questions John?”

“No not at the moment, but I do have a suggestion. I believe we should discuss what each of our respective classes do and figure out the best way we can use them to work together as a team. At the moment I am still just level 1 and only have a handful of class skills, but I can still give you a general understanding about what my class will eventually be capable of.”

“Sure thing. How about Daniel and I go first? Then you can tell us where you think you will fit in with the team.” John nodded his agreement so Steve went ahead and started his explanation. He told John about how he was an elementalist which allowed him to control four different elements. Most of his class skills assisted in controlling the various elemental magic he had access to as well as assisting him in making new spells and reducing mana costs of various spells.

Steve also shared an interesting fact about specialization that Daniel did not know. Apparently all of his different magic types. Fire, Wind, Water, and Earth. We're all basic tier 1 magics. This meant that the skill trees for each of the related magics had lower bonuses than would have been possible if he had specialized in a specific magic. However this meant that the skill tree he got as an elementalist at tier 5 was a lot more powerful than a normal skill tree someone could acquire at tier 5.

A normal mage for example might choose water as their first type of magic. That same mage might decide to specialize in fire magic at tier 2. Even though the mage is now tier 2 and has access to tier 2 specialization they chose to specialize in a tier 1 magic. However that same mage that chose tier 1 fire magic at tier 2 could then specialize in the tier 3 magic of steam which is a combination of their tier 1 fire and tier 1 water magic.

Now let's say that the same tier 1 water mage from before had decided to go down a different path for their advancement. They could have also chosen to continue to specialize in water magic. They could have gained another skill tree that's focused on water magic that would make all their water based magic even stronger. If they continued down this path of water magic even farther they might eventually specialize in ice magic or even pressure magic where they would be able to use their magic on opponents to simulate the pressure a person would experience at the bottom of the ocean. Daniel found Steve’s whole explanation very interesting.

After Steve finished his explanation about his class Daniel then told John about his class. There wasn't a whole lot to say really. He was a melee focused fighter that specialized in survivability and recovery. He was the team's tank and bulwark. With Daniel’s current skills he was positive that in any prolonged battle he would emerge victorious.

Then it was time for John to talk about his class. “I don't think my class is meant for fighting as your guys' classes seem to be. I think with our current team setup I will be in a more supportive non combat role, or at least not in direct combat. I am an earth and stone based mage, but that is not where the strength in my class truly lies. My class specializes in forming and fueling grand rituals that are used to make massive structures like castles. Then once I have made a defense I can then make stone and earth golems that can man the walls and defend the structure and any people inside.”

“At the moment I don't have nearly enough mana to make even one of the most basic rituals I have access to, but once I get a few levels under my belt I should be able to if I help Steve to funnel mana to the ritual. My daughter also helped me choose a feat called ‘Ritual Caster’ which helped me vastly reduce the mana costs needed for any ritual I am a part of. Then my second feat I chose is called ‘Earth Siphon.’ If I am in contact with the ground I am able to connect with the land around me. This allows me to directly draw in the mana of the earth. This will allow me to constantly refill my mana pool which will allow me to be even more efficient when fueling my grand rituals.”

Daniel tapped his chin thoughtfully before gesturing at John, “I agree that your class seems more non-combat focused which could be a problem. How do you plan on clearing the various levels of the solo dungeon?”

“That should be an easy enough problem to deal with. One of the very first skills I picked up with my class was the skill that allows me to make stone golems. I also have some ability to use stone magic and manipulate the stone around me. I should be able to have the golems clear the dungeon for me as I help to support them.”

“How many can you make?” Steve asked.

“The skill works by linking any of the golems I create to my mana pool. The more mana I have the more golems I can have active.”

“If the golems are connected to your mana pool how can you also use them as guards for the structures you can make with your grand rituals?”

“Oh, that’s easy. I am able to transfer the link from me to something else. In this case it would be the mana core of the structures I make. Once the link is established it can maintain the golems indefinitely without my assistance.”

“Okay, it seems like you have the ability to clear the dungeon, so once you have gained some new skills and gear I think you will be ready to enter the Solo Dungeon. Well at least you will be much better equipped and prepared then I was when I first entered the dungeon.” Steve said.

“Yeah, I entered the dungeon with basically no armor and only a maul I had made.” Daniel shook his head at the memory. “I have no idea what I was thinking back then.”

“Well, I appreciate what you guys are doing for me, and it seems like we have a solid plan, so why don't we go to the shop and purchase what I need to get started.”

With that decided, all of them stood and made their way over to the shop. The first thing they purchased was two ‘Party Interface’ skill gems for both John and Kota. Daniel took the skill gem that was meant for Kota and knelt down in front of his companion. Daniel knew Kota had grown much smarter since becoming his companion, but Daniel didn't really know the extent of his friend's new intelligence.

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He decided he would speak to Kota as not just an animal, but as a person. “Kota, this is a skill gem. It will allow us to communicate with one another. I need to press it to your forehead and you will need to focus on absorbing the skill that is contained within. Do you understand?”

Kota bobbed his head up and down, and proceeded to sit down on his haunches in front of Daniel. He then lowered his head as if inviting Daniel to press the skill gem to his head.

Taking the invitation for what it was, Daniel reached forward and gently pressed the ‘Party Interface’ skill gem to Kota’s head. When the gem touched Kota's head his companion closed his eyes. Other than that Kota had no reaction to the skill gem. After a minute of waiting with nothing seeming to happen the internal light contained within the gem began to slowly fade away. This process also took several minutes until the light from the gem was completely extinguished. A moment later Kota opened his eyes and looked at Daniel. There was a new light there in his eyes. A light of intelligence he had seen from Kota a few times before, but never with this kind of intensity. It might be better to say that before the light had been a flickering ember which constantly threatened to go out. Now it was a constantly burning candle flame.

A moment later Daniel received a system prompt informing him that someone was requesting to join his party. After reading who was requesting to join his party Daniel was surprised all over again. It was Kota. Daniel quickly accepted and a moment later Daniel was able to feel a faint connection between them. Then a new connection was made. One that linked their minds together so that they could telepathically communicate. There were several long seconds of silence after the connection fully formed before a gruff voice hesitantly spoke through the newly established connection.

“Father?” Kota did not exactly say the word father. Instead he had spoken through images of Daniel himself. Impressions of how his companion viewed him, along with various emotions, scents and smells which all merged together to form a single image. An image that painted a picture of Daniel himself. Daniels' own mind took all of this various sensory information, images and emotions, and translated them into a form that his mind was better able to understand. This did not mean that Daniel did not sense the various stimuli, but that his mind boiled it all down to a single word. “Father?”

Daniel was unsure how to feel about this. Daniel knew that dogs, but mainly wolves, had a very hierarchical society if you could even call it that. Unlike what was commonly believed by many people wolves did not have a so-called ‘Alphas.’ It was a commonly used term that had been coined by some researcher that had been studying wolves, but drew the wrong conclusion after observing their behavior. However the term alpha had unfortunately stuck. In reality wolves had a family hierarchy. The leaders or alphas of a pack of wolves would be the parents or grandparents of essentially all of the other wolves in the pack. That was why packs of wolves had hierarchies. Young males would then go out and try and find a mate to make their own pack.

Daniel didn't know how to respond to Kota. Daniel knew that Kota could understand the spoken language to some extent, but he just didn't know how to respond using images and other physical stimuli. That being said Daniel was still going to try. Daniel pictured Kota in his mind, and tried to hold it there as he tried to fill the mental image of his companion with more details. Once that was done Daniel then tried to push that image over their mental connection to Kota.

Daniel didn't know if it had worked until several long seconds later when Kota sent him another image. This one gave Daniel the impression of Kota asking a question. As if he was asking “What’s Next?”

Daniel didn't know how to send Kota such a complex message to answer his question, so he decided to speak out loud to the group in hopes that Kota would understand what he was saying at least to some extent. “Okay, now that we have all learned ‘Party Interface’ our next step should be to get John trained up as much as possible before he challenges the solo dungeon for the first time. John, are you ready to start training?”

John still seemed slightly dazed after absorbing the skill. Daniel knew better than anyone that the flood of new information into your mind could be a little disorienting, but he still nodded in agreement.

Together they all went to the training room, and began to go over the various general skills they had gained. Even Kota participated in the training. Now that Daniel knew that all creatures could learn skills Daniel was taking this opportunity to also help Kota to grow stronger.

About an hour into their training Daniel decided he would also ask Ulgatha a question. “Ulgatha, are there any differences in the skills that beasts like Kota and a Human like myself can learn.”

“Yes and no. There are theoretically no skills that any person or creature can't learn, but depending on the skill it might not be worth it to learn if that makes sense.”

Daniel thought about what she had said for a second, but did not fully understand what she meant, “Can you elaborate further?”

“Take the skill ‘Prowl.’ It's very similar to ‘Stealth’ in function, and it is usually only acquired by beasts. This does not mean that a human like yourself can’t also gain the skill, but why would you. ‘Stealth does the same thing, and you will generally have a greater affinity for the skill meaning that you can advance it faster. On the other hand if you gained ‘Prowl’ instead you might not be able to advance past level 1 which would just be a waste.”

Daniel now understood what she meant, but he still had one more question, “you are talking about the skills as if I could only gain one or the other. Could I not have both?”

“Ah, no you could not. This is something about the system we have not yet talked about. I will need to get a little off topic to answer your question so bare with me.” Ulgatha took a long breath before diving into her speech. “The space in which the system controls while not infinite is vaster than any normal mind could comprehend, and it is constantly expanding into new galaxies. Just take your planet if you want proof of that. Mind you the space I am talking about is just the mortal worlds. This doesn't even take into account the higher tier planes that you can only get to after advancing past tier 10 which is still a ways off for you, but not as far off as you might think. Now the system contains a theoretically infinite number of skills. Any of which might do exactly the same thing. This is where skill similarity interference comes into play. This is why you can’t learn both the ‘Prowl’ skill and ‘Stealth;’ the skills are too similar to each other, so the system won't let you learn both. Now I can already sense the next question you are going to ask. Why won't the system let me learn both?”

Ulgatha had been exactly right. Daniel had been about to ask that very question.

“Well, let me tell you why that is. There are two main theories why this is the case and I will tell you about both. The first is that the system doesn't want someone stacking nearly identical low tier skills. If you were able to have five different variations of the same stealth skill would their effects stack essentially making you have a stealth skill several tiers higher than what you should have. The second theory has to do with training. If you had two skills that are effectively identical then how would you train them. Would you only be able to train one of them leaving the other forever at level one. Or would doing the actions to train one of them train them both simultaneously. If the second option is true then you get back to the first theory. Do the effects stack, and if so then you would effectively have a combination of low tier skills that combined are stronger than a skill of a higher tier.

There is also technically a third theory as well, but it's more of a thought experiment than anything else. If you did have two tier 1 stealth skills that were both maxed at level 5 what would happen if you tried to advance them. Would they each advance into their own tier 2 stealth skill or would they maybe combine together making a new skill that is stronger than its tier would indicate. It is impossible to know for sure because we are unable to gain identical skills, but it is something to think about. Now with this all being said. You are able to gain two very similar skills without causing any problems, but finding such similar and compatible skills without triggering the skill similarity interference is hard, and many powerful factions hoard this knowledge zealously. That kind of skill synergy makes members of their factions stronger than most others at their same tier, so if you ever do encounter some scion of some large faction be very careful and try your best to avoid fighting them.”

“What if I am forced to fight them?” Daniel asked.

“Then even if they are a tier or two below you take them seriously, and don't be complacent. Large factions tend to invest heavily in their faction's youth, and they will have access to many powerful skills and items that could pose a threat to you even if they are a lower tier. I can't stress this enough Daniel if you ever run into a situation like that you need to be very cautious.”

Daniel could hear the stress and tensions in Ulgatha’s voice, “Okay, I will. It will probably be a long time before I meet any other factions, but I will keep it in mind for the future.”

Ulgatha sighed in relief. “Good. That's good to hear.”

Daniel didn't know what had come over Ulgatha at the end there, but Daniel would make sure that he would avoid whatever she had been afraid of.

His conversation with Ulgatha had only taken a couple of minutes. Mind to mind communication was much faster than speaking aloud. After the conversation was over Daniel refocused on the world around them. Steve and Kota were still running sprints in an effort to gain the ‘Sprinting’ skill. However his conversion with Ulgatha had given Daniel some new ideas he wanted to test out. He informed Steve that he would be back in a few minutes then made his way back to the shop.

Pulling up the shop's interface one again he began to filter through the shop items. Eventually he found what he was looking for. It was a book titled ‘Skills Every Beast Companion Should Learn’ surprisingly enough it was also written by Vergo Astont the same person who had written ‘Skills Every Aspiring Adventure Should Have And How To Level Them’ a book that Daniel had already purchased. The first book had helped Daniel quite a lot, so Daniel didn’t have any reservations about his decision as he purchased the book.

A moment later, a leather bound book appeared on the counter in front of him. The color of the title was gold and had been scrawled in a looping cursive that Daniel could only barely read. He had never been good at reading cursive. Picking up the book Daniel made his way back to the room where Steve and John were going over the training John would need to do.

Finding a chair Daniel sat down and began to read through the book he had just purchased. Like the first book Daniel had purchased from Vergo Astont the information contained within was surprisingly detailed. There were charts and diagrams for various contraptions to build that would assist in gaining specific skills. After Daniels first skim through the book Daniel then went back and gave a more in depth read over three skills that Daniel thought would immediately be helpful for Kota if he learned the skills.

The book had been broken down into several sections of skills based on the combat style of various beasts. For example bear type companions tended to be geared towards being tanks or close up brawlers. Wolves like Kota in the wild tended to be agility based hit and run fighters with an emphasis on pack based combat which included aura skills to buff other members of the pack.

This wasn't the case for Kota. He didn’t have a pack well besides for Daniel, and he was also more focused on stealth based combat more like what a lot of feline beasts. There were still a lot of skills in the book that would be helpful for Kota, but Daniel decided to focus on the skills that would help Kota the most immediately.

With the skills Daniel wanted to work on picked out it was time for a small training montage for Kota.