The stallion pawed at the ground and stared directly at Tobias in challenge.

Tobias had been around horses all his life and he was able to read his body language loud and clear: He might be able to lay a hand on the stallion, but chances were he would lose that hand.

Luckily, he had an ace up his sleeve.

Tobias turned and jogged to the tack room. It was a dusty side area where the saddles, bits, halters, and everything else to manage a horse were placed. As this was the Overlord's stables there were also whips, clothes to blind, and hobbles.

He passed all of those and went to the back where the feed bags were stored. There was not much.

When times got desperate, people snuck in for anything worth eating. Mice and rats got the rest.

But Tobias practically lived in the stables, and he had his hidey-holes. There was a dirt-encrusted rack of cabinets nailed to the back wall. Half the doors hung cockeyed. In the back of one of these, he had stuffed several burlap sacks all folded over into one another to try to keep the vermin out.

At the bottom of those bags were the last slivers of last year’s dried apple.

He had saved them for when the mare gave birth as a special celebration for her. But this would have to do.

Grabbing the dried apple slivers, he returned at a quick walk... even though all he wanted to do was run. Horses could pick up anxious energy.

Making sure that the Clydesdale was watching him, he reached into the bag and pulled out the three precious slivers.

He held them up. "Here. These are for you."

In answer, the Clydesdale lifted his thick lips to bear teeth in a way a dog would. Tobias had never seen that expression on a horse.

Without any other warning, the Clydesdale lunged forward to snap the apple slivers out of his hand.

But Tobias had been sure to stay just out of his reach. The teeth came short.

The Clydesdale whinnied in fury, slamming his chest against the stable wall and stretching out his thick neck at full length to bite.

That was the moment Tobias had waited for. He twisted a step to the side and rested his palm against that neck when the horse was in full stretch. The fur and flesh was hot under his fingers, and he felt the rush of a thundering pulse.

Tobias activated the Steed Tamer class.

It was as if, for a moment, he was both standing there in front of the horse but was also the horse himself – and he had far underestimated the rage the stallion felt for him. For all humans.

He didn't want to just bite Tobias's hand and stop. He wanted to dig teeth into this annoying human's body and shake and shake and leave him as a warning for others. That way no one would ever be able to hurt him again.

At the same moment, the stallion was fully aware of Tobias' intentions. That Tobias had no love for any of the Overlord's men. That he, too, just wished to be free.

"Join with me," Tobias said both aloud and in his mind. "We can fight them together."

There was a moment of confusion.

Then to Tobias's shock, the horse gave silent acceptance.

The moment the horse agreed, it felt as if lightning struck Tobias all the way down to his toes. He jerked his hand back from his neck and he swore he thought he saw a zip of static trying to bridge the contact.

Steed 1 "Unnamed"

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

Age: 3

Level: 1

Sex: Stallion

Health: Excellent

Element: Lightning

Innate Skills: Endurance, Stomp, Kick

Trained Skills: None

Before Tobias could do anything more than glance at the sheet, the stallion whipped his neck around and bit at the hand that held the apple slivers. If Tobias had not flattened out his palm at the last moment, he would have gotten fingers instead of the treat.

The apple slices gained, the stallion made a suspicious chuckling sound, tossed his head back, and bobbed his head up and down as he munched.

"I wouldn't lie to you. I would have given that to you no matter what," Tobias said.

It hit him then: By agreeing to tame the stallion, he had just connected him to the System. That meant he had just turned him from a normal animal into a leveling System beast.

Tobias hadn’t known that was even possible.

Carefully—very carefully—he reached to pat the stallion's neck. The strength and vitality he could feel running through the horse's frame was incredible. And even more gratifying, the horse didn't try to rip his face off at the touch.

Another notification itched at his mind:

What do you want to name this steed?

Tobias's mind stuttered to a halt. He hadn't named anything since... actually, he didn't remember naming anything ever before. Back before the System, naming horses fell to his father and the other stable hands. Registered horse names were important business as they helped put the stamp on a breeding line. Common names—barn names—were always decided by the people whose jobs it was to take care of the foals.

He glanced up at the horse who now wasn't actively aggressive but was still eyeballing him like he was considering literally shaking him down for more dried apple slices.

The Overlord had taken one look at the skull-like blaze on his face and named him, imaginatively, Skull Face.

I am NOT calling my horse Skull Face.

"Max," Tobias said, pulling the first name that came to mind. It fit a huge Clydesdale stallion. "Your name is Max."

In his mind's eye, the name "Max" attached itself to the horse's sheet.

Max turned to look at him, and in his gaze, Tobias clearly read, Get me out of here.

"Yes," Tobias agreed, but then hesitated. He took a proper look around the stables for the first time since he unlocked the system.

For the first time since he had unlocked the system, he took a good look around the stables. There was no one around. Why couldn't he just leave with Max? And with the others too?

Max snorted impatiently and pawed at the ground.

A look of determination crossed Tobias's face, and he did something he never would have dared to do a half hour ago: he unlocked the stall door and pulled it open.

Max pranced out as if he were king of the entire stables.

The smart thing to do would be to lead him to the tack room, get a saddle on, and get going. He thought with the new connection that he had forged between himself and the horse, there would be a good chance that Max would accept the riding encroachments without a fight.

Maybe.

But Tobias was a Steed Tamer. More than that, he had loved horses all his life. Max was not the only one in these stables, and he was not going to just leave them behind to be mistreated.

"Stay here," he told Max, and walked over to the next stall.

Of course, the horse didn't listen and simply walked along behind him. Ignoring him, Tobias unlocked the stall for the next horse in line—one of the gelding plow beasts.

The gelding took one look at Max and pushed himself against the back of his stall as far as he could get from the stallion. The gelding was just an animal, but did he sense that Max was a leveled beast?

That gave Tobias an idea. He had no idea if Max understood him, but… it was said that System beasts had basic intelligence. That was part of what made them so dangerous.

"Get that gelding out of there and into the hallway," he said, and then moved to the next stall to unlock it.

Behind him, he heard Max snort, followed by a squeal from the gelding. Tobias glanced back over his shoulder and saw Max moving into the stall with backed ears to force the other horse out into the hallway. Not optimal, and certainly not gentle, but it got the job done.

I’m not just imagining that. He had listened to me, right?

Tobias felt a surge of wonder for his new class and couldn't wait to explore all he could do with it. But first, he had horses to save.

He turned to the rest of the stalls and started throwing open the doors one by one. Max followed behind to "encourage" anyone who was slow to exit. With the stallion's baleful eye on all of them, not one of the horses dared to retreat back into one of the stalls. They all gathered in the hallway.

It was late at night, but with the amount of racket the horses were making, someone may be in to check before long. And that was if Brock wasn't already on his way to find those missing spurs.

They had to get out of here.

Soon all the stall doors were open. Tobias paused only long enough to slip a halter over the pregnant mare and lead her out by hand. He had just slipped another one over the large ears of the mule when, once again, the two large barn doors in front were thrown open.

Brock stood there bracketed by the night shadows.

He took one look around and a look of rage came over his face. "What the hell is going on here? Why are all the horses out?"