No point asking himself questions that couldn’t be answered. For now, he needed to focus on the present. He now had saved up enough skill points to purchase the basic [IDENTIFY] skill. Without further distractions he did just that.
*DING*
Skill: [IDENTIFY] granted.
*DING*
[IDENTIFY] has reached Level 1
Looking around he decided to test the new skill straight away. He found that the skill required intense focus, but eventually the results came through.
Object – [ROCK]
Object – [GRASS]
Object – [TREE]
Object – [MANA FUSED POND] – [LOW QUALITY]
Monster – [ADOLESCENT HORNED RABBIT] – [LEVEL 11]
Monster – [JUVENILE SHIRO YOKAI KITSUNE] – [LEVEL 10]
It was pretty basic but that’s about what he’d expected for a level one skill. On cue Rey ran up with a request. “Level ten. Must evolve. Safe place?”
“Of course. Come with me. You can meet my family.”
“Family nice?”
“They’ll need to know your friendly first, especially Mother. But after that, sure, my family will be nice to you.”
“Friend help with evolution until Rey think better?”
“Um… Okay. If you want me to”
“Want”
With the conversation settled the pair continued into the burrow and travelled to where the rabbit’s brothers and sisters were living.
Monster – [INFANT HORNED RABBIT] – [LEVEL 4]
Monster – [INFANT HORNED RABBIT] – [LEVEL 4]
Level four shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise, but it was to him. He had been levelling up like crazy ever since he left the comfort of the burrow less than a week ago. Hopping forward he immediately sought out Mother. She would need to be informed first. The look she gave him as their eyes met wasn’t all that reassuring. “Baby, that a fox. Fox no good.”
It seemed Mother had decided to start off the conversation. “I know foxes can be dangerous Mother. Any dungeon monster can be and we should always be alert for enemies. This fox is not an enemy. I decided to save and name him so now he is loyal to me. Reynard is my friend. And by association he will be a friend to our family as well.”
Mother paused while processing what he had just said. The adolescent gave her a minute to think. “Reynard help babies?” she asked.
“Yes”.
“I trust baby. Reynard stay. Reynard family now”.
While saying this Mother nodded her head with conviction. To be honest he had thought that this was going to take longer. Looks like it was all sorted then. Turning away he spoke to Rey. “Alright evolution time”.
Nodding Rey found a comfortable spot to rest by the wall and then laid down.
*DING*
[REYNARD] has passed control of his [EVOLUTION] to you.
Do you accept?
[Y/N]
He selected yes.
[EVOLUTION AVAILABLE]
Would you like [REYNARD] to evolve?
[Y/N]
Note that further levels can not be attained until [REYNARD] has evolved.
Yes again.
Select your evolution from the following options:
[ADOLESCENT SHIRO YOKAI KITSUNE]
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[ADOLESCENT SHIRO YOKAI KITSUNE VIZIER] – [INTELLIGENCE] increases by 1 per level
[INTGELLIGENCE] and a cool name. Yes. He had a feeling this was connected to his sovereign race though. That would kind of make sense.
[EVOLUTION IN PROCESS]
[JUVENILE SHIRO YOKAI KITSUNE] to [ADOLESCENT SHIRO YOKAI KITSUNE VIZIER]
[COMPLETE]
Yokai Kitsune generally have their Affinities and Proficiencies selected for them due to their low [INTELLIGENCE] and [WISDOM].
Generically Yokai Kitsune are granted one of the following:
[FIRE AFFINITY] – 100% - Chance 7/10
[MENTAL AFFINITY] – 100% - Chance 2/10
[FIRE AFFINITY] – 50% [MENTAL AFFINITY] – 50% - Chance 1/10
As a fox that lives amongst poisonous nature the following may also be granted:
[POISON AFFINITY] – 100% - Chance 1/20
[NATURE AFFINITY] – 100% - Chance 1/20
[POISON AFFINITY] – 50% [NATURE AFFINITY] – 50% - Chance 1/100
[FIRE AFFINITY] – 50% [POISON AFFINITY] – 50% - Chance 1/100
[FIRE AFFINITY] – 50% [NATURE AFFINITY] – 50% - Chance 1/100
[MENTAL AFFINITY] – 50% [POISON AFFINITY] – 50% - Chance 1/100
[MENTAL AFFINITY] – 50% [NATURE AFFINITY] – 50% - Chance 1/100
[FIRE AFFINITY] – 25% [MENTAL AFFINITY] – 25% [POISON AFFINITY] – 25% [NATURE AFFINITY] – 25% - Chance 1/1000
Due to your [INTELLIGENCE] being equal to or above 10, you may choose [REYNARD]’s Affinities and Proficiencies.
All Proficiencies from each Affinity must equal 100%.
You may bypass this limit by sacrificing a skill, skill point or attribute point.
1 point will increase proficiency in one affinity by 10%
Note that all beings have natural affinities. This means that a being will be able to more easily channel and control the magic of that affinity. Yokai Kitsune natural affinities are [FIRE] and [MENTAL]. [REYNARD] and his leash also have a natural affinity for [POISON] and [NATURE].
[REYNARD] has reached the TITLE: [BARONET]
Raising 1 rank allows you to increase your proficiency by 10% in any chosen affinity
You have raised your title by 6 ranks. You have gained 60% proficiency to increase in any chosen affinity.
Select magic affinity from the following base affinities:
[FIRE]
[WATER]
[AIR]
[EARTH]
[LIGHTNING]
[LIGHT]
[DARK]
[LIFE]
[DEATH]
[UNDEATH]
[POISON]
[TRANSMUTATION]
[NATURE]
[SOUND]
[MYSTIC]
[BEASTIAL]
[MENTAL]
[NULL]
[SPACE]
[GRAVITY]
[TIME]
[CHAOS]
[ORDER]
Magic. Now? Didn’t that happen at level five? All well, for now don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. He would have to look into it later. With two spare attribute points, seven available skill points and six title jumps that came to 250% proficiency. Thinking the possibilities over he decided to spread it out. Sticking with the natural affinities first he selected [FIRE], [POISON], [NATURE] and [MENTAL]. Then he also added [NULL] and then threw in [MYSTIC] and [TIME] just for the fun of it, and also to sate his curiosity.
You have chosen the following affinities and proficiencies:
[FIRE] – 50%
[POISON] – 50%
[NATURE] – 50%
[MYSTIC] – 20%
[MENTAL] – 50%
[NULL] – 10%
[TIME] – 20%
Would you like to confirm your selection?
[Y/N]
He confirmed the selection.
*DING*
[LEVEL UP] [REYNARD] has reached Level 11.
13 Attribute points have been distributed according to the natural inclinations of [REYNARD]’s race.
[REYNARD] has 3 Skill points and 3 Attribute points to distribute manually.
Deciding to get this out of the way as well he put one point in [WISDOM] and two points into [PERCEPTION]. His friend’s stats were beginning to look a little more suited to the fox. “Done” he whispered to himself.
Coming back to the world around him the bunny noticed that all his siblings had gathered around in a semicircle to watch. A moment later Rey stirred and looked around at his apparent audience. Sitting up the fox didn’t have the capacity to communicate with them directly and instead began to wag his tail to show his appreciation for the attention. “Play?” he asked.
The next hour was spent once again running around in circles as well as competitive tackles from out of nowhere. The adolescents were careful to manage their strength around the others but still had just as much fun. Eventually they all fell in a pile, heaving for breath. After calming down the runt of the litter spoke up. “Help too”.
“Hmmm?” the adolescent hummed in question.
“Help us too” the runt repeated with better grammar.
Looking around he saw all his siblings were agreeing with the youngest brother. “Sure, I’ll help” he told them.
Reynard nodded enthusiastically. “Family nice, Rey help too” he continued to nod even after speaking his sentence.
His tail seemed to also approve as it followed the head’s movements. They might not have understood the words of the fox but all his siblings began to giggle and laugh at his antics. Rey’s personality was lifting spirits just by him being present. “Yes, Rey will help too” the bunny told them, both answering the fox and relaying the information to the others.
Considering the implications, the rabbit came to the conclusion that Rey really needed to get some kind of communication skill. It didn’t have to be as good as [WHIMS OF THE WORLD], just enough so he could understand the basics of what other languages or communications were saying. Following that thought he immediately brought up his skills list and searched to see if any of the sort was available.
Available Skills:
[WHISPERER] – 20 Skill Points
Communicate your intentions with any beast or monster. You will also be able to understand their intentions as well should they wish to convey it.
[BABEL] – 50 Skill Points
Be able to understand and speak any common humanoid language.
Well, that seemed pretty straight forward. [IDENTIFY] was clearly helping out as he could now read basic descriptions of skills he hadn’t even bought yet. As Rey had now crossed the level ten threshold, perhaps he would have access to these skills as well. First though, he would have to save up enough points for the actual purchase of the skill.