[ROGER] was startled at the spiteful lady’s request, but what was even more surprising were the emotions that filtered through the link of his newly obtained skill, [TELEPATHY]. Loss and hope all tangled together and focused on him. She wanted to aid him in any way possible. So, she was actually an angel on the inside then? Looking at the undead sitting around fifteen metres away from him, the bunny wondered if perhaps the name ‘Angel’ might suit her. Nah. Too cliché. Then something to do with angels and probably death too since she was technically dead. Then his overpowered ability ran some translations through his head. Dabria. It meant ‘Angel of Death’. He then ran the idea by Miss not-so-spiteful. The joy he felt across the link did not match the blank look on her face. He smirked to himself. It was really funny to watch.
This situation reminded him of when he had first used the skill on his family not too long ago. They had been discussing the new residents of their dungeon when he had thought to buy a mode of communication between his family and followers. [TELEPATHY] had cost him thirty skill points. To test it he had run it through each of his family’s minds. Most of the thoughts were as expected. The only exception was Rey. The constant skepticism against everyone outside the immediate family running through his brain was surprising. The kitsune gave him a goofy look of enthusiasm while at the same time plotting how best to reveal any ulterior motives from the newcomers. It was honestly pretty scary, and also kind of cool as well. He had decided to keep his opinions to himself for now and let the esoteric sage kitsune go through with his plans. It would be interesting to see how they turned out.
The greeting between Rey and Dabria was like watching two kindred souls find each other after going it alone for who knows how long. The bunny wished he had popcorn right about now to sit back and watch the antics these two would get up to. Sadly, there was neither popcorn nor time currently available to enjoy observing any shenanigans. Introducing his family had actually gone better than expected. He felt their respect for him spreading to include his family. Alright. Before heading in, there were just two more people he wanted to come forward. Linking their minds he called out “Enzo. Elysium. Please come over here.”
Without delay two humans, the brother and sister duo that had vowed to serve him, walked over. Once they had arrived, he linked the rest of his family and addressed them. “Okay everyone, these two are humans who wish to serve our family just like [ULA] and [VASILIOS]. This is Enzo and his sister Elysium.”
The twenty-year-old Enzo gave a small bow at his statement, while the sixteen-year-old Elysium curtsied shortly afterwards. For some reason he sensed Rey take an instant liking to them. Was it just instinct? Interesting.
“I’d like to take you both to meet your fellow attendants so you can all get used to each other” he sent through his skill.
They both nodded in understanding.
Then the bunny turned to address the rest of the group and spoke aloud “I’m teleporting away for a short while. I’ll be back in a moment.”
Resting his hands on their shoulders he took them straight inside the burrow. The snake and horse monsters guarding this section of the burrow jerked in surprise. [ULA] nickered in anger while [VASILIOS] hissed in warning. It took them only a second to realise the situation after sensing his magic. They immediately backed down and lowered their heads in apology. Elysium screamed while her big brother went pale. “Easy everyone, everything’s okay now. [VASILIOS], [ULA], this is Enzo and Elysium.”
The girl recovered much faster. “I love horses” she almost shouted “can I pet you?”
The rabbit made sure to relay her words through [TELEPATHY]. After a moment, the kelpie nodded her head in agreement. Squealing in excitement, the girl rushed over and proceeded to hug and pet the equine while telling her how amazing she was. [ULA] preened at the flattery.
Getting a hold of himself, Enzo slowly walked up to [VASILIOS] and gave another slight bow. “Pleasure to be working with you.”
The basilisk bobbed his head in greeting. “Likewise, and apologies for the scare earlier.”
Great. They were getting along just fine.
“[ULA] and [VASILIOS], I’d like to ask that you each save up points to purchase the [BABEL] skill. It will make communicating easier for everyone.”
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Elysium interrupted their nods of agreement. “Its all good. I just picked [TAMER] for my [CLASS]. Usually, [TAMER]s get a low grade skill like [INSTINCT] to help understand their animal companions intentions, but I just got [WHISPERER]! Its probably because I have already spoken with such a high levelled monster! Thanks [ULA]!”
The rabbit cleared his throat with meaning “I might look humanoid now, but I am also a monster.”
“Right,” she responded with slight embarrassment “thank you My Lord. Enzo, you still haven’t picked your [CLASS] either, you pick the same.”
The sovereign was taken aback from how the young lady addressed him. He supposed as both a sovereign and an [EARL], that was what people were supposed to call him. Still felt weird though.
“Alright you two” he spoke to the other monsters in the burrow “there’s now less pressure to grab the [BABEL] skill, but it would still be handy to have. Take your time and when you can manage it, be sure to purchase it.”
There was another round of nods.
“Great. Well, I’ll leave you to it then. Time to get back to the others now. Bye.” He said before teleporting back to the entrance.
Appearing before everyone again, he decided to get the ball rolling. “Hey everyone. Now that I’m back let’s get you all out of the sun and settled in. Discussions have been had amongst my family and we believe sheltering in the second floor would be best for everyone. It will give you some time to hide should certain elves waltz back in here. Also, there’s less refracted light from the sun the further you venture down, which will be nice for those who no longer have a heartbeat.”
There were some nods of agreement around the group.
“Alright then, follow me.”
As they travelled further discussions were had. It was agreed that the best spot to set up camp would be next to the wall near the pond that was furthest from the entrance. [MOPSY] was exuberantly chatting with anyone who would speak a word to her through the link, which was everyone. She was really good at making new friends by the looks of it. [FLOPSY] was the one to take charge of the conversation though. She brought up what they would build for them and how they would make it. The subject of what a house was made up much of the conversation. The sovereign interjected here and there, suggesting that they could just dig any rooms and communal areas that were needed, just like a burrow, only larger. No one opposed his idea and he even sensed approval through the link. Caspian then commented on the efficiency of the idea and how he thought it would work well to hide them from any intruders.
Less than an hour later, with the help of an escort of [WARG]s, they reached the intended wall. This particular pond was guarded by the [BULLETTE]s, however, the now [LEVEL 30] plus wolf monsters easily drove them all off. His entire rabbit family stepped up to dig out the intended homes. [BUGS] was especially suited to moving the rock with his [TRANSMUTATION] magic. Each monster put their own magic to use as they carved out halls, general areas and then rooms. With a lot of guidance from the humanoids, the metamorph rabbit also transformed the rock into wooden furniture and dirt into fluffy bedding. All his siblings were really getting the hang of their magic.
Once most of the construction was out of the way the sovereign sat by the pond in his human form and gave his canine companion some scratches. The alpha lapped up the attention like a puppy, nuzzling and licking his master. While watching everyone else make the final touches, he got the alpha to do some tricks like sit, shake and roll over. Every time, the command was obeyed, and every time, the canine ferociously wagged his tail at being told he was a ‘good boy’.
The sovereign thought it would be good to get naming him out of the way so he would lose a smaller amount of stats compared to later on. After all, he really, really wanted to name the big puppy dog. He’d grown up without pets in his previous life, but he’d always wanted one. Now he had one. A few names filtered through his mind. Something that connected with being an alpha or leader. Something simple. A name that would include meaning about how amazing the canine was. He had it! It was short and to the point. The name meant ‘illustrious leader’ or ‘champion’ according to his ability.
“Hey buddy, how would you like to have the name Roark?”
The alpha’s ears perked up and his tale wagged as fast as possible, though he didn’t move from his position laying right next to the rabbitman.
“I would love to have a name master!” the [WARG] shouted in his deep baritone voice that definitely matched his huge frame, “ThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou!!!”
[ROGER] just laughed at the canine’s enthusiasm. “Then I name you [ROARK].”
With one thousand and seven attribute points total, he took one from [STRENGTH], twenty from [AGILITY] and [DEXTERITY], and thirty from [CHARISMA] and [PERCEPTION]. The sacrificed amount came to one hundred and one points. It was his biggest hit yet. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to do this again for a while. Probably not since the plan was to clear the entire dungeon once the new residents were all settled in. Attributes were once again decreased as the newly dubbed [ROARK] lit up green for a few moments.
[ROARK]’s tongue lolled as he panted with joy. That was one happy dog and he couldn’t help himself from smiling in kind. “I’m planning to take off again soon. Going to go deeper into the dungeon. You look after everyone while I’m gone, okay?”
The alpha sat up straight and took on a serious expression, “Yes master!”
The sovereign just grinned at his response before standing and reaching up to rub his chosen companion’s ears. “Good boy.”