Chapter 49

A Thorny Debut

I awoke feeling warm and content, it was almost a shame that I felt the energizing effects of the blessing of Belua's realm. Because at that moment I would like nothing better than to lay in bed for a while. I felt somehow both lazy, and ready to take off running. I rolled onto my back, and pawed playfully at the air for no good reason.

I noticed some differences in my form right away, my paws seemed slightly larger, and there was a little more fur between the pads. I thought my fur might be slightly more dense overall too. The most noticeable difference was the spots that had made an appearance between my stripes.

I rolled back over, and slinked off the bed to go confirm in the mirror that there were no other changes, there were not. I watched how the mana was acting, and it didn't seem to be influenced by my newly acquired form, which made me sigh in relief. I did not want to be a walking air conditioner.

My staff came flying over to me, and excitedly smacked me in the head.

Living Wood Thorn Staff has been rewarded with level × 10

Living Wood Thorn Staff needs you to pick a trait.

1. Elemental Infusion

2. Size Shifting

3. Controlled Flexibility

4. Envenomed Thorns

5. Telepathy

6. Mimic Form

Choices will reappear every ten levels.

I growled at my companion's exuberant greeting, though I barely felt it. Something told me that if they had hit me that hard yesterday, I would have been hurting.

I selected Telepathy like I said I would, their response was instant. I heard a childish voice in my head.

"Thank you! Thank you! You are the best! I love you so much right now!"

I watched my companion twirl themselves through the air in excitement. I was happy for them, I mentally warned them that they would have to be careful who they talked to.

"Yes yes! Careful, I know, as careful as you are of being known as a Spirit Beast, yes?"

I raised a paw to cover my eyes. No, more careful than your idiot creator.

I heard laughter through both telepathy, and the link.

"Don't worry, I know, I have heard everything you have thought since I was born."

The poor kid was not making me feel better.

"That has always made you uncomfortable, but I know you don't blame me, I will try not to point it out. No no! Of course I won't share your private thoughts with anyone else. Especially not that lady you like, I know better."

They didn't even give me time to mentally voice that worry, I'm not sure how that made me feel.

"I can't wait to talk to everyone. Or not everyone, everyone who knows about me? Can you please tell everyone in the guild? Pretty please?"

Of course I would, I might as well, it would be good for my companion to possibly make friends. Though…

"I know I know, I should be respectful of people if they seem to want quiet, I will not bother that Krassis fellow, and I will make every effort not to scare the always frightened one."

I wondered if they had thought about a name for me to introduce them as.

"I have! I thought hard, I promise. Names are important, so it was very difficult. I want the right name for me, it'll be my name forever. Though you changed your name, so names can be changed right? But they are so close to each other! I know, I know I can't tell anyone about those thoughts at all. What you know, I know, while you live, I live, what binds you, binds me. I am part of you, but I am my own person by your will. Thank you for that! I owe you everything. You're right! I am getting off track."

It's okay, I thought, the dear thing was so excited our link was practically vibrating.

"Thorn, just call me Thorn. I know I am not, and never will be as powerful as a person with a class, Pierce made that very clear. But, I will be a thorn in the sides of your enemies. Besides, it is part of my label, and I like it!"

I felt sorry for Thorn, I didn't like that they thought so little of their ability to contribute.

"It is fine, it is simply the truth."

Your bonded weapon has requested the name Thorn.

Mentally select: Approve / Deny

Of course they could have the name they wanted, I approved.

Rejoice! The System has been alerted that your very first living creation has achieved Sapience.

Error: Achievement System is currently disabled

Requesting permission from the ruling entity.

Denied

Setting Achievement Reward: Boon: Seeds of Life as pending

"Creator! The System says I am going to be given a class! But I will have to sleep. It says it will take some time, and I will be protected."

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I felt how worried that made Thorn, I didn't really blame them. Who knew what the System had planned, or how long 'some time' would be.

"It will be okay, hopefully it won't take too long. I was going to have to ask you to stay home when I went to the hunter's guild anyway."

"I've never slept before, I wonder if I'll get to meet Belua."

"Maybe buddy, I kinda hope so, she's nice."

"I know…. I'm scared."

"I know you are, but you'll be fine."

"You don't know that, and you're scared of what the System's done to you. You think you aren't the same person anymore because of it. Now it's gonna do it to me too, and I don't even know who I am yet."

"Hey, it's not so bad, I always wanted magic and adventure, right? It just came with a little baggage, and it sure beats the alternative."

"I think it's starting, help me to my pot? I feel so heavy all of a sudden."

Thorn was swaying slightly in the air in front of me, so I shifted, so I could take hold of them. I helped them over to the pot I had created for them, what felt like ages ago, but really hadn't been much more than a week, and gently pushed their roots into the soil that I had been making sure to keep in good condition for them.

"Sleep well buddy, I'm sure I'll know when you wake up. Good luck, I hope you get a class you like."

I felt their consciousness fade through the link, and was forced to back up as I felt System mana flow over them. I watched as it created a hard mana shell around them. Then my heart dropped into my stomach as the link I'd had with Thorn since the moment after their creation winked out.

It was strange not having them there, the absence of the subtle background noise of their feelings in the back of my head felt wrong. I hoped whatever happened to them, they would be happy.

I stood there just staring at the shell that contained my companion for a while, unsure of what to do. A big part of me was tempted to stay until Thorn woke up. They had been so scared, and I couldn't blame them one bit.

The way classes could force you to think and feel things was intrusive as hell, it was the most profound violation I could imagine. But it was the way this world worked, and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. I usually tried not to think about it, it was easier to just go with the flow, and find enjoyment in all the new sensations.

I learned in my first life, how to accept new normals, how to exist in a body that constantly disappointed me. How to deal with a plethora of drugs meant to dull the pain muddling my mind. This was so much better than that, that's what I had to keep reminding myself.

Thorn didn't have those horrible memories first hand. I wasn't sure exactly what they did have, they hadn't seemed to really have their own opinions on things until just a couple days ago. I did know my mind had been an open book to them for their entire existence. Like they said, what I knew, they knew.

It was odd that it never really bothered me, it still didn't, I felt like it should. But I only felt a slight discomfort when I thought of all my thoughts being shared, and I knew it was just part of the bond. I still hoped that when they woke up, they wouldn't be so tightly bound to me. No one should have to hear every inane thought that went through my dumb brain. Thorn would probably hate it though, practically everything they had experienced had been filtered through me.

I waited a while longer, I really didn't feel right leaving them, but there wasn't anything I could do, and my stomach was letting me know that it was time for breakfast. So I grabbed my brush, made myself presentable, and headed out the door. We'd obviously have to wait to introduce Thorn's new ability to the guild.

The sun had already risen when I made it to the guild hall, and people were eating. When I walked in, everyone glanced my way. I was kind of happy to see the ever silent Krassis sitting in his place. Whatever injuries he had suffered, he looked as whole and healthy as ever. The only people that were missing were Nefen and Samuel, but Samuel never showed up for guild meals anyway. They were probably back out trying to find that wendigo.

Torril smiled brightly, lighting up the room, my heart fluttered a little when I saw it. "Good Morning!" She said loudly, and cheerfully, it was amazing how much I'd missed it. I hardly knew the woman. Everyone else greeted me too but the lovely lady captured my full attention.

I smiled back, careful not to show too many teeth, and walked over to what had become my chair. "Morning! It's good to see you back to your old self."

"I hear I have you to thank for forcing my contracts to end a little earlier than planned. I should have lost a week. But I always include exceptions that trigger if I'm stressed. When you talked about that monster, it sure did the trick. I'm sorry you had to deal with the aftermath though." She frowned, and her face turned a little red.

"You were fine, I've had much worse episodes with my class making me act funny." I smirked a little, funny didn't begin to cover how the mana affected me sometimes.

"I bet, wild mages and spiritualists have a lot in common that way. You deal with the raw mana, and we deal with spirits, but the end result makes us both look all crazy. I think we have a similar chance of actually ending up permanently altered by the Concepts we work with too." She smiled, like she was talking about the weather, not the possibility of losing her sanity.

I didn't miss her directly calling them Concepts, it made me wonder if she was a contractor, but I still didn't know how to put the Concept into my speech. Which I'd realized at some point was exactly what it was when Hoyt had said old soul like that. I hadn't been aware of Concepts at the time so I wasn't even sure which ones created that strange resonance.

I surreptitiously tried to see if she had a mark, I'd never noticed one, but I didn't see Hoyt's either. It was pretty obvious that having Belua's mark openly visible, in the dead center of your forehead was not the norm. Mine wasn't even visible all the time, so I am not sure what I was looking for.

"Did I say something funny? Why are you looking at me like that?" Torill looked vaguely self-conscious.

I glanced at Ivo, who had been quietly eating his breakfast across the table from us, the poor man was grimacing and rubbing his temples with a look of utter confusion on his face.

I leaned over to Torill, and whispered quietly in her ear. "I didn't know normal people weren't supposed to know about that. I accidentally gave Ivo too much information."

"Huh, usually people just don't understand what I'm talking about if I try to explain it. I didn't think it was a rule, I mean nothing ever stopped me from saying things…" She whispered back.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be that kind of rule. Apparently reality doesn't like people knowing? That's what the System shared with me after it happened." I honestly didn't know what to think about reality itself having reactions to things, but with the way Concepts and Aspects worked, I figured they had something to do with it.

"Well that's concerning. Let's talk later, in private, I think we're making our guildmates curious whispering like this. We should let them think we're lovebirds. I mean, they've definitely seen me trying to get your attention, so it should fit their expectations." Torill nipped my ear, before pulling away from me, making me feel all sorts of things.

I coughed and scooted my chair forward, my face felt a little hot, she made it worse by giggling sweetly at me. I started to fill my plate, trying to pretend she hadn't just done that.

"Let's go for a walk after breakfast, it's such a nice day." She said, touching my arm, her voice sounded bright, cheerful and innocent.

"Sorry my dear, we have plans with the man for the day. You two will have to postpone, I wouldn't get in your way if we didn't have a bit of a time crunch, of course." Ivo cut in, he genuinely sounded like he regretted it.

I nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Uh yeah, I'm still looking forward to seeing if they have anything interesting. I picked up something new last night, so I'm not feeling compelled to seek things out. But I still feel like I need more options than I have."

"I thought I noticed something different about you, you didn't have those spots before right? What did you get, and how? If you don't mind sharing." Ivo looked curious, it was a fair question, hard to think of anything in the town that would give me spots like I had. Unless I went to the hunter's guild without them or something.

I shrugged, I was of the opinion that there wasn't much reason not to be honest and open with the people around me. "It's called a Snowy Mountain Prowler, and Belua introduced me to one in a dream last night."

Martin coughed. "Did I hear you right? Big cat, thick spotted gray and white fur, make the air freeze around them just by existing? You can turn into one of those?"

"Well, yeah? I guess? I haven't had time to check what turning into it is like, I'm not sure about the 'make the air freeze around them' part." While I inhabited the cub form, I definitely made the area around me colder, but freezing the air was a bit of an overstatement.

"Hell, I don't think it's a good idea to use that around us if Martin's description is right." Pierce cut in, his grumbling voice making it clear he wasn't looking forward to possibly being frozen.

"I'll test out how much control I have, I doubt Belua would have picked it out for me if it wasn't immediately useful." I found I really believed that too, I couldn't help but trust Belua.

Pierce just grunted.

"I want to see it! Come on! Show it off!" Janus suddenly seemed excited.

"What? Now? I'm trying to eat, and it might be dangerous." I chuckled, waving my egg covered fork at the excitable man. Truth be told, I was tempted, something about having a new form made me really want to try it out. I'd been holding it back all morning, it hadn't seemed appropriate considering what happened with Thorn.

"Well, okay, not here, but let's all go see it after breakfast! We can watch you in the arena from outside the ring, if you think it's that dangerous." Janus sounded like he expected a show, I guess there wasn't much entertainment to be had around here.

"I'll be honest, I kinda want to see one too, I've only heard about them in warnings. We've got a map somewhere with known territories on it, everyone avoids them unless they are crazy, or high level, or both." Martin said.

"Sure, okay, you can watch me try it out. But like Ivo said, we've got plans today, so I'll just shift to it for a couple minutes. I'm not going to try anything crazy." I said, as much as I was looking forward to trying it out, I was looking forward to seeing what the hunter's guild had on their premises. It almost sounded like they were running a weird sort of zoo.

"I'll watch you too, I'd love to see all your forms." I heard Torill chime in, happily.

My tail thumped on the chair.

"Well, I'm not going to be testing anything on an empty stomach. I apparently have an appetite to match my forms these days." Might as well put that out there, if everyone knew, I wouldn't need to be so self conscious about eating my fill.

Everyone hushed after that, and we ate our breakfast.