Paige was frustrated and a little aimless. The calico had run off in true cat fashion, so she'd lost the only partner her Skill actually worked on.

She just wanted to try out her Skill Beastspeak. Not on a cat, but something cool.

She also really wanted to use Share Trait (Beast), but even without looking at the Ability directly, she knew she didn't have the connection she would need to use it. She felt that instinctually.

She wasn't much for planning, but she was determined. She was going back out in the woods. But she had to try a little more than last time.

Remembering that there were rations available, she visited the canteen, hoping there was something in the rations she could use to attract animals.

The rations were located in a big crate with a sign that said 'Free Rations.' Not all that creative, but definitely getting the job done.

Looking inside, she saw small packages wrapped in brown wax paper, tied with what looked like hemp or jute string. Paige plucked out three and put them into her pack. Noticing it only took up one slot and labeled 'Basic Rations 3/10,' Paige tried to take 27 more.

Unfortunately, the system limited her to one stack of 10.

From there, Paige headed directly to the surrounding forest. She didn't go to where she'd been before, where Levi was setting up camp, but she did choose to stay close enough that he might hear her if she was in trouble and called out. She didn't know if he would or could help, or even if he was there at the moment, but just the idea of having someone to call out to was enough to make Paige feel safer.

Wandering out, she looked for a small clearing similar to the one she'd found before. It took a while, but she found a clearing just around a dried up creek bottom. The creek had been gone a long time. Other than a Bald Cypress close to the center, it was mostly a clearing surrounded by various types of Oak.

Acorns hadn't fully started dropping yet, but there were a few on the ground. Paige hoped that would draw in some animals, at least the squirrels.

She sat down in an open patch of grass. There were a couple of logs laying around, but sitting on those was how you got strung by scorpions or bit by snakes. It was best to just find a good patch of leaves where nothing was really hiding. Half of that she'd learned from her dad, and half of it was just common sense. East Texas wasn't quite as wild as Australia, but there was plenty to watch out for.

She pulled one pack of rations from her sack and unwrapped it. She looked down at the stalest bread she'd ever seen, cheese that didn't look moldy but was clearly too wet in some spots and too dry in others, and a single 1" wide, 6" long strip of mystery meat jerky. She flicked the bread with a finger, and it actually made her finger hurt with how hard it was.

Shrugging, she stuck one end of the mystery meat into her mouth and chewed. It tasted a little musky. Maybe it was the gamey flavor from whatever animal it had come from, maybe it hadn't been dried right and had gone a little bad. Either way, it wasn't great, but Paige didn't care. It was edible.

She wasn't too optimistic about the cheese, but she did sniff it. She was pretty sure it would work better as fish bait than food. She crumbled it up into pieces and tossed it out as far as she could in front of her.

After that, she did the same with the bread.

She stared out to where she'd thrown her 'bait' for all of five minutes before it all got entirely too boring for her.

Chewing her mystery meat stick, she decided she'd pass some time looking at her actual character sheet, or at least, based on what she'd assumed, what there was of one.

She hadn't really done that. Mostly because she'd kind of felt pulled along by the flow of things. She really just had been so excited about her Class, Skill, and Ability that she'd hyper-focused on trying that and hadn't paid much attention to the details.

She also didn't know how to access it. However, as soon as she focused on it, it popped into her vision.

________

Name: Paige Mandy Montoya

Age: 18

Class: Untamable Beastfriend

Level: 1

Experience to next level: 5/150

Base stats:

Physical Strength = 5

Physical Proficiency = 6

Mental Strength = 4

Mental Proficiency = 3

Spiritual Strength = 5

Spiritual Proficiency = 4

Skills:

Beastspeak - Beastspeak allows you to speak to beasts. Be aware that all beasts are different and that this ability may have a large variety of results.

Abilities:

Share Traits (Beasts) - Share Traits may only be active on one target (Beast) at a time.

Depending on the depth of your friendly connection with a target, you may share traits with the intended target. While you gain a trait of the target, they gain a trait from you, but neither you or the beast lose traits while sharing them.

The deeper the connection, the higher the level of traits may be shared. Traits include the basic senses, Stats, Skills, and Abilities, in that order. It is far easier to share senses between you and the target than it is to share Abilities.

Sharing traits will often result in physical manifestations for you that mimic the anatomy of the target. These physical manifestations may persist for a short time even after you have ended this ability.

There is a .001% chance a physical manifestation of Share Traits will be permanent. When this occurs, both you and the target will retain some, if not all, of the shared traits. The physical manifestation will be entirely irreversible, and becomes part of your own body. A permanent manifestation does not count as Shared Trait being active.

______

It was interesting and informative for Paige. She thought she understood what most of it meant, if not exactly, and it gave at least a somewhat clearer picture of what to expect.

She definitely picked up the most important parts. She was somewhat worried and slightly unclear about the 'physical manifestations' part of Share Traits (Beast), but she felt like a 1 in 1000 chance gave her plenty of wiggle room in regard to things going wrong.

She noticed she had gotten 5 experience at some point but hadn't gotten a notification for it. As soon as she thought about it, a list popped up. Only her experience with the Calico was listed, granting her the five points.

As someone who had played video games, if not considering herself an outright gamer, she thought the basic stats were kind of weird, but at least they mostly made sense. Especially in a world that wasn't exactly a game but had just adopted a lot of the principles.

"Oye, oye, oye. What're you doing here?"

A voice pulled Paige out of her thoughts. She looked up to see quite a few black birds perched in branches around her. "Ravens?"

"Eh, you hear that, boys? She called us ravens."

The comment was followed by at least 20 different birds laughing.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha," filled her mind, but behind it, in her ears, she heard the real, "Caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw, caw."

"This bird thinks we're ravens, does she. Ha, ha. Not so prim and proper, us. Doesn't know a crow when she's seen one." came another voice.

"Aye, but she ain't been unkind yet, so she earned no ire. Be nice and maybe we make a friend," a third voice chimed.

"What does it matter? Won't change a thing. Who's gonna have the stones to go down there and see if it is safe to grab that bread," another voice called.

"I'll do it. The rest of you lot stay here until the all clear," the first voice said.

As he fluttered down, before he could land, Paige spoke, "It is safe, and you can have it all if you'd just spend some time to talk with me."

The crow immediately flapped away and back into a branch. All the other birds immediately started chanting a "Caw, caw, caw," but Paige didn't get any actual intention beyond a basic alarm.

"Did she just speak to us," asked one of the crows.

"I believe she did, I believe she did. Hold a second fellows, while I sort out this conundrum." The lead crow hopped down to a lower branch and eyed Paige, head cocked sideways. "If you really understand us, say 'All corn goes to crows.'"

Paige stumbled for a moment, deeply questioning her new position on the food chain and relative intelligence level, but managed to choke out an, "All corn goes to crows."

When she said it, the lead crow fluttered back away from her, but only by one branch.

"My feathers, blokes, she speaks."

Cawing filled Paige's ear, but most of it was indistinguishable.

"And she said all corn goes to crows! We've won the war." A new, younger voice said.

But this was only followed by all the other crows cawing in a way Paige understood meant they were telling him to shut up and that he was an idiot.

The lead crow fluttered down and spoke to Paige directly, "Human girl, it's a bit odd for me, so grant me a bit of mercy... but WHY are you speaking to us?"

"Well, because I got the class Beastfriend, and it came with skill Beastspeak, and I'd really like to use the ability Share Trait with a Beast."

The crow cocked his head to look close with his other eye, "Whoa, whoa, slow down, miss. So you're using something called Beastspeak to speak with us. We'll get to the rest in a second. What do you plan on doing when the flock flies down and eats up what you've put out here? All that bread and cheese.. well, probably not the cheese, if I'm being honest."

"I don't know. I guess I'll just talk to you guys. I was hoping to use my ability if we became close enough friends, I guess. I'm not sure how that exactly..."

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The lead crow cut her off, "Alright boys, eat your fill. Leave no crumb behind. The lass is as harmless as a fat squirrel in an open field."

With that, even the lead crow fluttered to pluck up bread crumbs, entirely ignoring Paige.

And she'd had enough of animals dicking her around today. Were they all assholes?

Abruptly, she shot out of her sitting position, yelling and waving at the birds. "No!" She yelled. "You can eat the food I gave you, but you will not ignore me. You'll either talk to me seriously as a form of trade or we won't be friends."

The crows, at least most of them, fluttered into the highest tree tops.

She heard a faint "Caw, caw, caw," back and forth between the crows. She heard a distinct "That's fair, that's fair," from the crow who'd taken the lead.

The lead crow fluttered back down. "You ain't a pushover, I see. Alright, alright. So, what's your offer. We ain't stupid. You ain't gonna eat the bread crumbs off the ground. And you won't stay here forever. So what's your offer?"

Page pulled a second bundle of rations out of her pack. She immediately snatched the jerky and shoved it into her cheek. It stuck out of her mouth at least three inches.

She waved a hand over the bread and cheese... well, again, mostly just the bread. With a thought, she snatched the cheese and tossed it over her shoulder. Then she waved her hand over the bread again.

"I have at least this bit of bread, plus eight more in my pack. And, I have an unlimited number of these small loaves. I'll feed you as much as you want, under one condition. Help me use my ability."

The lead crow fluttered one branch higher and begin cawing. It was obvious to Paige that these crows were far from adept at speaking with humans because their entire debate was spoken right in front of Paige.

"Alright, alright, alright, fellows. That's a good offer. A bloody good offer. I daresay that could put us into retirement. But she seems a bit desperate. I say we try to milk it for everything it is worth."

"Hey, hey, hey, she may just rescind that offer if we push too much."

"Yeah, yeah, but it's just a bit of bread isn't it, and not the best quality. We may be set for life, but it ain't a great one."

"We could ask her to spice it up a bit, ay, maybe a bit of corn."

Paige heard a cacophony of crows cawing, suddenly getting why a flock of them was called a 'murder' of crows. It certainly murdered her ears.

Paige interrupted the crows before her ears bled. She had to yell to be heard over the cawing. "Hey, I've got a new, better offer!"

The crows went silent, and the lead crow fluttered back down.

"Alright, alright. Let's hear this better offer."

"We become real friends. If I have any food to give you, and can spare it, it is all yours. If you're in trouble and I can help, I'll help. I'm not going to promise to always have food or be helpful, but you'll have my promise. I'll always do my best as your friend.

But the same is expected of you. Real friends. Just like I will never barter with you over bread or help, just give it if I am able... you have to be my friend and help me if you're able. No pretending to be a friend when you aren't.

And as far as corn is concerned... any time I get my hands on corn..." Paige paused for a dramatic effect, then clenched her fist and thrust it skywards. "All corn goes to crows!"

"I reckon we might just work with that," the lead crow said, before fluttering to a higher branch.

"Alright, alright, boys, let's hear the Yays."

Caws of 'Yays' rang out. Most of the crows kept repeating it.

"Okay, okay, okay," the lead crow interrupted, "Now let's hear it for the Nays."

Paige heard one protesting 'Nay' caw from what sounded like the solo, idiot crow from earlier, but it was quickly drowned out by other crows cawing out that he was an idiot and needed to shut up, again.

Paige smiled. This was happening.

______

Levi had collected almost everything he needed.

In fact, the only thing he was missing was a Tome for Mana Sense or a similar Ability or Spell. For whatever reason, it wasn't considered 'basic' enough to be provided as a starting Spell, Skill, or Ability.

He did find a Spell Tome for Identify. The description it provided inside the cover was fairly vague. It mentioned being able to identify objects, plants, and animals to a lesser degree, with the potential to 'See the secrets of the universe,' if developed far enough.

Thumbing through the Tome, it primarily focused on the use of mana and the application of it to identify. Most of it was kind of abstract, like using your mana to find the identity of the target and create a reciprocal connection of information... or something like that. He really hoped he'd at least get something, anything, helpful from it. But to be honest, Tomes seemed damned near useless if you couldn't just use them to automatically learn what you wanted.

The lack of actual information was a serious source of irritation for Levi. However, he honestly felt that it would be impossible for a system to impose itself onto reality without being somewhat abstract in nature. The truth was that existence was a difficult thing to quantify with any amount of accuracy, beyond statistically.

Nothing was constant. Nothing followed a certain set of rules all the time, at least as far was measurable by any known methods. Nothing, not even gravity, was 100% predictable and calculable without a margin of error. Sure, it was close enough for science to be science, but even science had always been changing and growing to accommodate all things it couldn't yet know.

So, you add in a system bringing in video game concepts and imposing them on reality, while connecting it all through dimensions beyond human comprehension... Levi would have been surprised if everything had been so cut and dry.

He'd also grabbed a Tome of Mana Infusion. The contents of the tome were also far more complicated than he felt it needed to be, and he questioned how much he'd be able to glean from either tome, honestly.

But being able to use some form of identify and be able to get a sense of mana around him was critical to how he planned to move forward. He hoped the Tome of Mana Infusion would teach him at least a basic understanding of sensing and manipulating mana.

So he had taken both books, tucked them into his pack, and hoped like hell he could actually get something useful out of them.

He also grabbed two books on Tai Chi Chuan. He didn't really think that the martial art itself would be effective against whatever monsters were now out there in the world, but that's not why he grabbed them. The principles setup in Tai Chi Chuan and practicing those principles were extremely valuable to an idea he had bouncing around in his head.

He planned on practicing the slow sets and those principles again, but he needed a refresher course. It had been years since he'd done Tai Chi.

He'd also grabbed a book on primitive bow making that included crafting primitive string, arrows, and arrowheads. Levi was pretty sure he could trade for a starter bow from some archer, but he liked the idea of making a bow, needed to learn skills, and had a feeling it could pay off to know how to at least make the strings and arrows.

He'd also supplemented his survival knowledge with an extensive book on making primitive traps.

Last, he'd grabbed a book on local plant identification and the same Herbalist Tome Grace had picked up. He didn't quite know where the line between his old reality and the new system created reality fell, but he wanted to cover his bases.

And that was it. He could, and honestly somewhat wanted to, grab more books. But he couldn't really imagine how he'd get through what he already had, and looking for more at that moment was just a waste of time.

He decided to call it done on the library and headed towards the doors. On his way, he saw the desk the librarians usually occupied. It was kind of silly, in Levi's opinion. It was just a huge prop for no reason. It even had two nameplates for the supposed librarians who were missing, 'Mr. Noone' and 'Mrs. Gonaway.' Nice to know the system had a little sense of humor.

The library really did try to give off a pre-system vibe. There was even a table with books on it with a sign that read, "Discontinued Texts and Abandoned Material."

Levi tensed and focused on the pile. 'Wait a minute, that isn't normal phrasing.' Suddenly excitement filled his chest. He'd found something and he knew it.

Levi went to the table and grabbed the first book that caught his attention.

The Essence of You: Why What's at Your Core May Be All You Need

He had no idea what the title meant, but he knew it was different from all the other books he'd collected from the library, both Tomes and pre-system books.

He shoved it into his pack and grabbed another.

A Brief Introduction to the Esoteric Realities of a Post-System World

Holy shit, he'd found something important. Just the mention of it being a 'Post-System World' verified these were system related books. He shoved that book into his pack, too.

He laughed out loud as he read the next title.

The Anarchist Cookbook: Post-System Revision

This was great. He tucked that book into his pack and reached for another.

His hand met empty table. All the books were gone. They'd just disappeared, and he actually caught an image of the books at the edge of the table dematerializing.

"Shit!" He should have looked through them instead of shoving the first ones he found into his pack.

Still, he was excited. He knew there was something to every book he picked up. Something special, something you had to find and he'd found it.