As they traveled the branch-trails, the first to collapse was not Dem, though he did have to draw strength from Ina to manage it. The first to collapse was Dice, in a panting pile, at one of his pre-planned resting spots. Karmis, despite her earlier smugness, actually looked a bit green in the face. The jumping from branch to branch required by the trails had not agreed with her stomach, apparently. Perhaps it was that the rider duo didn’t usually use their rider trick for all-cycle excursions and the motion was sickening. He wasn't sure. Wersa was hardly winded and looked to be in better condition than Karmis. To his sensitive nose, Wersa positively reeked of leather, old sweat, and blood. Her stench allowed him to constantly train his nose to tune out smells while they traveled, at least. He tried to be positive, despite his own exhaustion.

  They had moved fast, faster than he would have thought safe, but having Wersa behind him, grunting constantly, smelling awful, had pushed him to keep them moving at a significant pace. Ina had kept ahead of them, killing a lesser beast that might have gotten in their way. Their trip had been wondrfully uneventful. Beasts could often instinctively judge the relative strength of a foe, and so strong parties hardly ever encountered weak beasts unless they were specifically hunting one.

  The branch they were resting on was quite wide, more than enough room for for everyone, but he camped on higher branch, allowing a better view of the surrounding Wilds. The adventurers below him had spelled tents that could both expand automatically and latch onto most surfaces easily. Though Wersa was still too large for hers, with her legs sticking out rather comically. Karmis had looked a bit disgruntled when he mentioned where he would camp, offering to share her tent with him. Indeed, her tent was actually larger than Wersa’s, but he had turned her down using the excuse that he needed to keep watch during this cycle’s resting period. After the explanation, she had taken the rejection seemingly in stride, with a smile on her face.

  Eventually, he made some more excuses and left. He offered to take Dice with him, but she was hardly able to move. The woman was as agile as a cat, but didn’t have much in the way of endurance it seemed. No wonder Karmis said they were here to train her.

  He met Ina, a short-distance away, her face still showing evidence of some light snacking on her kill. They moved in a circle around the camp, putting down the alarm spell trinkets. They weren’t really needed this far from the settlement, there would only be lesser beasts in this area, but he wanted to test them out.

  With his chores done, he took the grimoire from Ina and they moved further away from the where the party was camping. He didn’t know what a good distance would be if the thing began to leak something detectable, but if he were far enough away he could move a different direction and feign ignorance if they came to investigate. It wasn’t likely they could move much, as Dice was wiped out and Wersa was already snoring in her tent. He had a good amount of time before he absolutely had to be back.

  Ina cuddled next to him, trying a bite of the field rations he had brought. He hoped the grimoire would finally have more answers for him, and having Ina at his side would help no matter what he learned.

***

  He opened the book, but nothing strange happened. Or at least nothing he could detect. Should he ask the most important question first? He sighed, anxiety flashing through him. He could start with smaller questions before the big one? Would that help? Should he just get it over with?

  He ran his hand the tangled mane of Ina’s hair, trying to distract himself, but she only looked him in the eye, seemingly offering him support. He had explained some of the issues with his Class and Path to her, but she couldn’t really help him directly.

  Breathing deeply, he asked his question.

  Speaking to the book, “I have identified my Path, and I have successfully advanced on my Path. What is my Class?” Then he waited.

  You are..

  Was the book forming words slowly intentionally? Or was it just his mind playing tricks..

  ..the only one of your kind, the first of your Class…

  He cursed to himself.

  Beastdung, you stupid bunch of cryptic pages, spit it out.

  ..you are The Dominator.

  His mouth gaped open. His head shaking back and forth.

  What, in all the Divine Humanity, was a Dominator?

***

  This told him almost nothing. He had never heard of a Dominator. The only silver lining was that his Path and Class would be very closely aligned judging by their names. Just by using his Class, he would advance his Path often. He needed to know more about what he would actually be doing.

  “What does a Dominator do?”

  A Dominator dominates…

  This had to be intentional. The grimoire was torturing him purposefully. He was actually dead, his soul on some desolate Land-Below being tortured for eternity, and didn’t know it.

  ..everything.

  Well that was helpful. He would have to dominate everything. The only way so far he had done any sort of ‘dominating’ had been in the process of.. mating. Would he have to mate with everything then? Just humping away at the entire world? Perhaps he wasn’t dead, but it was clear the Land-Above hated him and the Divinity of Humanity had rejected him.

  Still he endeavored on, trying a different, more specific line of questioning.

  “What unique spells does a Dominator have? Do they have passive spells?”

  Your primary spells, at this time, are as follows:

  Dominate Mind (casted, range: touch, target: other)

  Dominate Will (casted, range: touch, target: other)

  Dominator’s Influence (passive, range: proximity increases intensity, target: others in proximity)

  Dominator’s Gaze (passive activated, range: eye contact, target: other)

  Dominator’s Presence (passive, range: self)

  This list, at least, made sense to him. It was arranged how spell lists were usually arranged, denoting whether the spell was something he would cast discreetly, or something he could have working all the time. He only had two spells he could actively cast from his class, going by this information. He still had his previous Tamer spells, and some other basic spells the grimoire had imparted, but these two were the spells actually associated with his Class specifically. Having just two, when starting out with a Class, was not very unusual, but also not encouraging. Casted spells were usually the offensive parts of any Class, and were usually imparted sparingly for safety’s sake.

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  Having so many passives that would be fueled solely by his Path of Domination, was hard to take. That was a lot of.. mating he would have to do. He snorted at his own realization. He supposed he wouldn’t mind that much, but he hoped Ina would let him have some rounds. What if a selfish-lover was what stood between him and his Path?

  Right now, though he needed more details.

  “Give me the specifics of each spell in turn, please.” Perhaps being polite with the grimoire would mean it would torture him less.

  Dominate Mind: Control the mind of another with this spell. Spell controls thoughts, and thoughts control actions. Spell is cast on another sentient being. A targeted sentient being with a similar mental makeup to the Dominator makes the spell more efficient and easier to cast. Spell has a chance for failure based on the mental fortitude of the target sentient. Spell is more efficient against targets who have been inundated with Dominator’s Influence. Spell is stronger against targets who have been inundated with Dominator’s Influence. Spell will be more successful against targets who have been inundated with Dominator’s Influence. Spell will damage the minds of targets relative to the mental fortitude and level of Dominator’s Influence they possess. Mental damage to target, in order of severity, is as follows: loss of memory, lost of personality, loss of complex functions, loss of basic functions, and death.

  Despite all these details the damned book was still being fairly vague. The spell controlled minds? How did it control minds? What were its limits? This sort of power, well, he had never heard of it. He was widely read for a man from the hamlets, but Caius had laughed at him whenever he had put on airs of being actually a learned person. What had Caius called him? A toad at the bottom of a tall granite-tree, looking up, only able to see the trunk and no branches? He did feel that such a spell was strong for a starting Class spell. His feeling stemming from the.. horrible nature of the spell. Why would he even use this? He read through it again and tried to understand its finer points, making notes to himself.

  With the spell he could control the thoughts of people, and therefore their actions directly. It had to be cast on a thinking being, and the closer that being was to him, a human, the easier it would be. The spell would be harder to cast on beastfolk for instance, is what he understood the grimoire to mean.

  People could resist him apparently, based on their ‘mental fortitude’, but ‘mental fortitude’ wasn’t defined by the spell. Judging by the consequences of the spell, he could seriously harm anyone he used the spell on depending on how much they fought it. They could even die as a result.

  Apparently, Dominator’s Influence improved Dominate Mind in just about every way, and punished him for not applying it to his targets.

  He looked down noticing that the grimoire had finish writing out the text for Dominate Will.

  Dominate Will: Influence the will of another with this spell. Spell influences will, will begets action. Spell is cast on another sentient being. A targeted sentient being with a similar mental makeup to the dominator makes the spell more efficient and easier to cast. Spell has a chance for failure based targets perception and reasoning ability. Spell has high chance of failure unless target is distracted or incapacitated. Spell is more efficient against targets who have been inundated with Dominator’s Influence. Spell is stronger against targets who have been inundated with Dominator’s Influence. Spell will be more successful against targets who have been inundated with Dominator’s Influence. Spell will damage the minds of targets in the case of failure. Mental damage to target, in order of severity, is as follows: loss of short-memory (high chance), lost of personality and animating will, death.

  Was this worse than the previous spell? It looked harder to cast, with more requirements. Once again, Dominator’s Influence, was an important part of the spell. What did this spell do exactly? Dominate Mind was direct control, with a high chance at damaging the mind of his poor victim. Dominate Will.. was more subtle? Either it worked, or it seriously broke the person he was targeting with it. It would help if the person were not particularly sharp or attentive. What did it mean to influence a person’s will? What was a person’s will? He would ask the grimoire later.

  Dominator’s Influence: Those close to you find themselves slowly and increasingly mentally and physically influenced by you. Spell is passive and functions at all times. Spell radiates from caster in all directions, but decreases in effect the further it travels. Spell effects sentient beings with a similar mental makeup to the dominator more effectively. Spell caster has limited control over intensity, and can increase intensity through close proximity and physical contact. Spell intensity increases over time as influence builds in the mind of those affected. Those affected can reduce and resist effects based on mental fortitude, perception, and reasoning ability. Spell will increase in effectiveness as caster advances down their Path. Current spell strength: very weak.

  This.. explained a lot. Clearly the effects weren’t too overpowering, or he would have had half the settlement listening to his every word just by stepping through the doors. Clearly, Greer was suffering from his influence, but he didn’t think this passive was the whole story with her interest in him. From what she had said, she had been thinking about him for a while, making a plan, but it seemed the effect of his passive had pushed her over the edge, pushing her plans for him forward. This also explained a lot of the reactions he had received so far. Even the man who sold him his clothes was surprisingly accommodating to a young man dressed as he was.

  Was this why Ina wanted him? Why she had have be receptive to his advances? Her emotions over the bond were confusing, but clearly positive towards him. The spell said it was less effective on non-humans and that it was currently very weak. It wasn’t likely that it affected Ina to any great extent, right? The idea that she only enjoyed being with him because of a passive spell hurt him in some indescribable way.

  He kept reading, his heart sinking slowly.

  Domaintor’s Gaze: Spell applies a concentrated dose Domaintor’s Influence to target within range of sight through eye-contact. Spell is passive and functions at all time at a very low intensity. Spell can be activated for increased intensity at increased drain of stamina. Spell must target another sentient being. A target sentient being with a similar mental makeup to the dominator makes the spell more efficient and easier to cast. Spell has a chance of disorienting, or intimidating, and/or making the target open to suggestion. Spell effects the mentality of the caster. Current spell strength: weak.

  He tried to see the brighter side of this spell. It didn’t harm the target seriously at least. It was probably weaker than the two casted spells by a significant margin but it did give him something to use against another person trying to hurt him in some situations.

  It dawned on him then that these spells were nearly useless to him, as the biggest threat to him was almost always a beast. Using them in settlement would be.. immoral. Using a Path or a Class for twisted ends always twisted the user. The Church had taught that from the very beginning. It was ingrained in his very being. Beyond the moral implications, if he were found out, he would be killed at the very least. Either the Church, the settlement, or the Tower would object to him and whatever sort of awful Class he now had. His safety would lie in being as anonymous as possible.

  He didn’t know what the second to last clause meant, that it would affect his mentality to use it. How would it do so? Another thing to ask the grimoire. He moved on.

  Dominator’s Presence: The spell caster’s very existence is found to be commanding and attractive to those within a radius of the caster. Spell intensity decreases as range increases. Spell effects the way sentients experience the caster through sight, sound, touch, and smell. Spell manifests as a permanent change to the physique that costs no drain on castor’s Path or Stamina. Spell increases mental resistance against the spells of other castors. Spell will change over time depending on advancement of Path. Current spell strength: very weak.

  At least he knew why Karmis’ spells failed against him. He considered what he had just learned for a moment, but finally he sighed deeply, and buried his face into the unruly tuft of hair on very top of Ina’s head, as she snoozed next to him. No wonder she liked the way he smelled, it was part of what the book had done it him. The change was permanent, so he had no way of rejecting it now. It was just who he was now. He still worried that his relationship with Ina was entirely artificial, a product of his Class and his own weakness to resist the Path he was put upon.

  He inhaled her musky scent, and rested for while. He leaned on her, as she leaned on him, considering what his Class meant for him in the future.