Maybe the name Jumpy or Skippy would have suited the newly dubbed [BARONET] more. Journeying back towards the burrow, the fox zoomed around like nobody’s business as the elevated stats apparently agreed with Rey. Reynard had also become more confident and was now picking fights with the other dungeon monsters they happened to come across. Usually teleporting through this area, the rabbit was actually having to keep a proper eye out. Still, the fox managed to handle most of the fights and even glowed a light Madang green briefly a few times from level ups. Seeing this the rabbit decided to give the fox some advice. “Hey Rey, you should put some free points into [INTELLIGENCE] and [WISDOM]. It will help you think better”
Rey, coming to stand before him tilted his head in confusion. “Points?... In telly gents?... Wis dom?”
He seemed very confused. Couldn’t his friend access his stat screen? Did others have stat screens. Rey had glowed green just like the stat screen. The bunny wished he could show Rey his own stat screen so the fox could understand.
Would you like to access your [BARONET]s status screen to adjust the Attributes?
He was startled by the sudden notice.
“Umm. Sure” he responded out loud not sure what was going on.
[STATUS]
KIND: [MONSTER]
RACE: [JUVENILE SHIRO YOKAI KITSUNE]
SEX: [MALE]
AGE: 0
NAME: [REYNARD]
TITLE: [BARONET]
[LEVEL 9]
BASE ATTRIBUTES:
STR – 0
VIT – 14
AGI – 13
DEX – 13
CON – 1
INT – 0
WIS – 1
CHA – 13
PER – 0
Unspent Attribute Points: 13
Unspent Skill Points: 13
Would you like to assign unspent Attribute and Skill Points for [REYNARD]?
Note: Creatures with [INTELLIGENCE] under [10] are unable to access their [STATUS].
[TAMERS], [NOBLES] or [PARENTS] are able to access and adjust the [STATUS] of those they are connected to.
Well that was enlightening. Sometimes this system was very helpful. Other times not so much. Luckily, this was one of the more helpful times. Did this mean that for most animals and monsters, if they didn’t get [INTELLEGENCE] increased when they levelled up then they remained at zero [INTELLENCE] forever? Thinking on it, that actually made sense. He supposed that wouldn’t hold true for beings like dragons, but then again [INTELLEGENCE] may be one of the automatically assigned stats for those kinds of monsters. That wouldn’t be the case for his friends and family though. He would help them all out just like he was going to do with Rey.
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“Rey, will you let me change your stats for you? I promise its just until the system will let you do it on your own.”
Reynard’s blank stare wasn’t all that reassuring. It took a while but eventually he asked “Friend help?”
“That’s right. I’ll help you with your status until you can do it on your own”.
“Yes” the fox responded sounding happy that his friend wanted to help him.
“Okay then, here we go”.
The bunny assessed the situation and made some decisions. First off, five points to [INTELLIGENCE] right off the bat. If he thought he could get away with it he would have brought the stat all the way up to ten, but as always, in this place survivability came first. Four points to [STRENGTH] and four to [CONSTITUTION] should assist his buddy. Moving on he saw that he could also spend the skill points, then remembered that those might be useful during Rey’s next evolution which wouldn’t be all that far away. Despite setting the Skill points aside, he still wanted to get a look at what the fox was offered.
Available Skills:
[CLOAK] – 2 Points
[BLOODLETTING SCRATCH] – 3 Points
[BLOODHOUND] – 2 Points
[SWIFT MOVEMENT] – 3 Points
[CHARM] – 1 Point
Okay, those were kind of cool, and they all sounded useful too. Especially since Rey wasn’t born with the impressive list of skills that he himself was. Changing his mind, the rabbit purchased [CLOAK], [BLOODLETTING SCRATCH] and [SWIFT MOVEMENT]. Survivability first. That would leave five points for the evolution. Less than before, but it wasn’t nothing. Giving the changes one last check he selected the [YES] prompt, confirming the choices. There was another green glow and then all of a sudden Reynard’s eyes were clearer.
“Head feels faster!” he exclaimed with excitement.
“Body feels like rocks” he added while stretching out muscles.
The rabbit was pretty sure he meant those as a good thing.
“More levels!” Rey announced suddenly before dashing ahead looking for his next prey “It’s time to go hunt some frogs.”
That’s exactly what he himself had said earlier. What a copycat. Joyful at his friend’s newfound smarts the rabbit bounded in the fox’s wake.
***
Racing along they soon reached the pond of the horned rabbits which was again under attack by the frogs. The amphibians had decided to try their luck once again. He and Rey would be happy to oblige them in their contest. First though he needed to get something straight. Coming to the edge of the pond he gazed towards where the horned rabbit monsters were defending, sat down and then proceeded to thump his right back foot against the ground very loudly several times. Much louder than he expected. So loud in fact, that even the frogs turned to see what the commotion was about. Gathering more attention than intended but taking advantage of it anyway he proclaimed in a reverberating voice “This fox is now on our side. He will fight with us. Do not attack him or there will be consequences”.
He hadn’t meant to come off so domineering but he really needed to hammer that point home so that Rey wouldn’t get hurt by his presumed allies. As one, every rabbit monster in the vicinity nodded once. The sight was eery but they clearly viewed him as their leader of sorts. A leader that would be followed. Maybe it had something to do with his race including the word sovereign in it.
*DING*
Skill: [SOVEREIGN’S CALL] granted.
*DING*
[SOVEREIGN’S CALL] has reached Level 1
*DING*
Skill: [ENHANCED VOICE] granted.
*DING*
[ENHANCED VOICE] has reached Level 1
Moments later the battle had resumed, Reynard leaping forward to chase his next level. Happy with the skills he had gained and regained the Sovereign decided to join as well. Instead of focusing on the water where his companions were fighting, he turned his attention to the banks of the pond and beyond where many enemies were stalking amongst the vegetation.
Coming to the conclusion that this would be a great chance to experiment with magic he drew upon the [WATER], [AIR] and [LIGHTNING] strands of mana and channelled them into a loose ball of sorts just in front of his body. The ball began to convulse tremulously but he focused his intent to infuse the elements together. [WATER] and [AIR] were easier to fuse as they formed into a cloudy fog. He tried adding the [LIGHTNING] but it wasn’t working the way he wanted it to no matter how hard he tried. The extra element was like an outside force that just didn’t want to join in. An idea came. In his previous life as Roger, he’d learned in school that lightning and thunder were actually a result of clouds rubbing against each other and causing static which in turn resulted in storms. This idea was probably the dumbed down idea of what really happened but maybe it would be enough. Concentrating on that thought he thread the [LIGHTNING] mana through the cloud but only while also dividing the cloud and churning the pieces to create friction. With joy he realised he’d succeeded. Aiming the miniature storm up into the air he made it hover over the area the frogs were coming from, then the real magic began.