Chapter 25

The unexpected companion

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A blinding white light assaulted Sturm as he stepped through the portal stones but on the other side he heard birds chirping in the back ground. He felt a little disoriented after being transported from one place to another but with a quick shake of his head he lost that feeling.

He was in a cave now and they only way lead upwards. As sturm passed through the exit of the cave , where the warm sun shone on his face for the first time in ages again , he pulled the hood from his new robe deep into his face.

Sturm exited the cave and as he turned around he found that the exit had become just another part of the mountain. As he tried to touch the seemingly solid rock the mana around the walls dispersed and left a entrance free.

" Guess whenever a High-elf touches it the solid rock reveals its an illusion. " Sturm said out loud to no in particular.

Now he looked around the forest he was momentarily in and soon he spotted a road along the way. So he left the cave entrance after he had memorized where its exact position was.

As Sturm was half way down the road the portal stones flashed once again and something came through the gateway from Ultharia. This thing had been following the trio ever since they entered the sacred maze of the twin peaks of Ergoth. But as soon as Sturm appeared it changed its pattern and followed him instead.

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Sturm was following the road to the north , at least that was what he predicted from where the sun was hovering in the sky. He wasn't entirely sure if the sun in this world followed the same principle as the real life sun , but it really didn't matter as Sturm was following a ripple in the wind.

The wind was blowing south , or what he expected to be south , today but the dormant mana in the air was flowing north. How far he would need to go , nobody could know. But he just had to follow the signs to th poor souls that had been tormented by the gods.

Soon a town came into view and Sturm sighed a breath of relief as he thought this town looked awfully like european craftsmanship during the renossance era. So he suspected it was a human town.

As Sturm came closer nobody halted him , as the town had no fortifiying walls so they also lacked guards. The first thing he needed to get was provisions so he stopped a human along the way.

" Excuse me , sir , can you explain to me which direction i have to take to get to the market? " Sturm asked politely.

With a few instructions , after the human gave him some suspicious look at his size and the hood , Sturm was headed into the east quarter of the city where the market should be located.

" Looking for work , i am a tailor. "

" Warrior , can be a tank , is looking for a group. "

" Fresh newly cooked delicacys , hunted a few hours ago and cooked a minute ago! "

Numerous advertising shouts assaulted Sturms ears as they either advertised themselves or the wares which they sold. From their behaviour Grim suspected that roughly 90% of them would be players and the minority Npcs.

One really couldn't make the distinction by sight alone , but only the behaviour could tell to which group they belonged.

Sturm headed towards a player that was advertising his newly cooked meat speacialtys.

" Hello there sir , how may i be of help to you today? " The cook said.

Sturm knew that cook thought that he was a npc , and at first he thought about leaving him in the dark. But soon Sturm remembered something , with alot of fame and even a merchant skill they could haggle the prices up for Npcs.

" Relax , im a player. How much meat do you have , preferably rabbit or fox. Also if you have any containers containing herb tea i would appreciate it. " Sturm said non-chalantly.

The other players jaw dropped to the floor at Sturms buisness proposition , the cook smelled the distinctive smell of money around this robe figure even though none of Sturms skin showed.

" I have about 250 portions of Ironbear steak and 100 more of Ghostly Lion kebab. In addition i have 50 containers with spicy herb tea. " The cook offered all of his wares.

Now Sturm smelled something was fishy. Firstly he had never heard of the dishes , which in itself wasn't surprising and Sturm knew that , but the quantity was something to behold.

The cooking skill , even when carefully executed could only , depending on the equipment used , create 25 portions at once. Depending on the dish it would take between 30 mins to 2h to cook them. He suspected a steak would take at least 1 hour and 30 mins and as he had no idea what a kebab was he thought of the lowest time of 30 mins.

Judging by this , the kebabs would have taken 2h , without rest or pause and the steaks 13 hours minimum. The tea added the estimitated cooking time up to 14 hours and Sturm highly doubted they would be fresh. So he set a trap.

" How much for all? " Sturm asked.

Now Sturm could almost see the greed in the humans eyes as he thought quickly about how much he could take from this poor looking player.

" How does 12 gold pieces sound ? " The cook said without batting a eyelid.

" Okay , listen carefully now. I will take everything for 12g , but i have a identifie skill. I will inspect every food item you have for its expiration date. For every dish that will expire in less then 2 days , i will substract 25 silver pieces. Sounds okay? " Sturm returned with a warm smile on his face.

The cook could barely see the smile , due to the hood , but he knew he had a formidable opponent so he had to do something about the losses the cook would garner with this kind of transaction.

" Okay 8 gold it is and no identification. My last word. "

" 6 Gold and you have a deal. If not i will go to the next food shop and tell them about you. Think the rumour will be fast enough so all of your wares expire before you can sell one? " Grim said as he put on another warm smile.

A chill ran down the cooks spine , but he knew even with 6 gold it was a huge profit as 80 % of his wares would expire in 2 days and the rest in 3 days.

" Deal. " He said while pressing out some fake sweat trying to mislead Sturm.

They changed the coins and wares but Sturm was happy as he stored it inside his new travelling pouch.

-

Icy pouch 60 slots

Made from the leather of yetis it contains a spell of ice that keeps wares fresh

Increases food stuff dirability by 300%

4 slots were already filled with the three items he had just acquired and 1 slot with filled canteens of the icy water from the basin. This would last him for about 100 days , if you considered 3 meals every day. With this he was headed to another place.

Just outside the city perimeters on the north side where the road lead to if you just wanted to pass through the city was the stable master. There Grim wanted to buy a horse for hastening his travels.

The building was made completly out of wood , besides the stone chimney , and on the east side of the contrusct was a big barn where the horses were kept.

Sturm stepped on the stairs that lead to the house and firmly knocked on the door. After a few seconds a disgruntled old lady , with incredible muscles , opened the door.

" What do ya want? " She said.

She tried to get a good look under Sturms hood , but he was smart enough to stand 2 steps lower so the height difference wouldn't give her the advantage. After all the topaz's that were aligned like a crown were on his forehead and with a little bit of a rumour of a strange fellow with gems in his head spreading , some could make the connection between the ruby and topaz prince.

" Want a horse that can withstand the cold. Also want a saddle and travel pouches for it. It has to be loyal and won't run even if i don't tie it to a tree. In addition hai for 100 days and some apples. " Sturm stated his desire.

The old woman still eyed him suspicious but led him to the stables. All sorts of animals were aligned in the barn. Horses , cheetahs , elks , bears and some other creatures he had no idea of what to call them.

" Thats all i got a bear or elk would be best for the cold , but none of these can withstand extreme colds forever. " The lady stated.

As Sturm was thinking about his decision , he noticed a large gate leading to a deeper part of the stables.

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" Where does that door go? "

She almost grunted before she replied , satisfiying her urge to display her displeasure.

" To the ' dangerous ' animals. "

While Sturm was just staring at her she gave up with a sigh and lead him towards the gate. She unlocked the chain that covered the gate multiple times and opend a smaller door that lead inside of it.

From a sidestand she took a lamp and light it before she took the lead once again.

" We got alot here. But most of them can't be tamed. They will kill their new masters if they have the chance. See this one? He already killed 2 masters who wanted to mount him. Ferocious hellhound he is indeed. No this one on your right the pegasus has impaled 10 masters so far. Well it was mainly the same girl trying to rid him again and again but chosen ones just don't stay dead ya know. " She told him a little bit about the creatures in the back.

He looked at every one of them and as they stood infront of another wooden wall he considered taking the Pegasus. After all flying would be phenomenal, but also the fact that maybe he got some bonuses out of it , like with his pact with Thalia.

Also Thalia could get a playmate from it , when Sturm decided to call her back to him. He just refrained from this so far as to leave Palanthalos in the dark that he had been resurrected. At least until the Ice godess has been resurected.

He leaned against the wall behind him while thinking but the wall gave in a little bit and this startled Sturm. As he looked around that this wall had numerous chains criss crossing about it. At least 7 locks were placed between the chains.

" Whats in there? " Sturm asked.

With another sigh of the old lady , she unlocked 1 chain and opened a little hatch just wide enough to allow vision inside. She motioned him to step closer and take a look.

As soon as his eyes were able to see through the chains creaked and the wood cracked under the pressure the beast had brought up to slam itself into the gate. Sturm unfased by it just kept looking at the elegant creature.

Its white fur , its gleaming golden eyes in the dark its great stature and refined muscles. Sturm had a gut feeling that this would be the right choice.

" Open the chains. " Sturm commanded and a skill involuntarily activated.

-

Skill Audial born leader was activated. You force the women into heading your order.

Besides increasing your groups damage by a fifth of your leadership stat , it also increases your own spell damage by 10% further of your Charisma.

A ice blue sheen had enveloped all of Sturms robes as the old woman opened the chains and tossed the gates open. But as she had done that she ran away.

Without the slightest hesitation Sturm stepped in. As the stable master had left the only source of light had also vanished and the golden eyes of the beast were no where in sight.

But Sturm could still see disruption in the glittering blue air mana that floated in the air so he gracefully side stepped the distortion that came from his left side. For outsiders the beast growled at its failed attack and it sounded like it was aggervated but to Sturm it sounded different.

" Hmm this is a interesting one. " The beast said , in another tongue Sturm could understand due to his bond with a mythical creature.

It also was a mythical creature , Sturm concluded , after seeing the purity of mana the beast radiated from its body. This was one of the 2 reasons Sturm was interested in it. The other one was naturally its size but foremost and of the utmost importance it was a beast Sturm had seen before.

He had seen it on the walls inside the training hall under the twin peaks of Ergoth. During a coming of age ceremony hundreds of beasts just like this were attending the ceremony and looked like they belonged there.

" Yes maybe i am interesting , but what is one of your kind doing here. Shouldn't you be frozen with the rest of your kind? " Sturm said without moving an inch.

All movement inside of the barn stopped , even the loud neighing , roaring or coing stopped this next moment. Every single beast was anticipating the newest kill this beast in front of Sturm would make.

The mana distorted behind him but this time Sturm retaliated. He used the Staff of power , the godess had granted him for his exploration and whacked it across the beasts head as soon as it passed him.

* THUMP* was the next thing Sturm heard as the beast crashed heavily on the floor and slithered into the wall.

" I am surprised you can hide you presence even inside of the natural mana to me until you jump. " Sturm said with honest respect towards the mighty beast.

But now as it was fazed a little bit and its pride hurt the beast totally forgot about hiding its pressence in the Mana and a 16 foot long splotch of darkness made its way towards Sturm , this time from the front.

Not only was it 16 foot long but the heigt of it was at least 5 1/2 foot tall. Not to mention the wideness of the area which Sturm thought to be the chest or the head considering Sturm couldn't make out details at the moment.

Its footsteps were silent and its body ready to pounce at any given second. But it noticed the air around it had changed so it hesitated. Sturm was smart enough to cast multiple ice shards in the air to both its flanks as a precaution. But the beast had not yet noticed what it was that caused it unrest.

" Open your eyes so i can see them. " Sturm said.

Even though he hesitated it spanned its muscles on its legs and was just about to pounce but Sturm had brought the shards close enough so it could feel the cold through its skin. Immediatly the creature stopped again.

" I said SHOW ME YOUR EYES! " Sturm roared and his skill activated once again.

* tring*

- [ window] As you have used your aura of authority to force a mythical beast to listen to your , reasonable , demand your ensnared heart skill will remain. If it had been a unreasonable demand you may have gained the forced will skill instead , leading to a evil alignment.

This may have had bitter consequences.

[/window]

* tring*

You have gained 50 Leadership as you have made a myhtical beast listen to your commands.

Now 2 yellow orbs were glowing in front of Sturm the size of his fist.

" What are you traveller. I don't recognize your smell. " The beast said.

Sturm first showed the beast his open palms and then made the ice shards return inside of his mana , in the form of mana. But as soon as the beast saw its chance it was about to pounce. Hastily Sturm summoned 10 ice shards in front of him with lightning speed , which even surprised Sturm at the 100th of a second it costed him.

" This magic ... this smell .... Tell me what are you traveller! " Now even Sturm could hear the loud roar through its words.

Sturm closed his eyes and took of his hood. The beast gasped at the topaz's that reflected the light from its own eyes and as Sturm opened his own eyes completly the beasts golden glowing orbs lowerd itself to the ground. It was bowing before Sturm.

* tring*

Your bond of antiquiety skill has reached a new level as you have bonded with another mythical beast.

You have gained +6 to every stat besides Str and INt as the racials have applied.

As you have the complete skill now , due to being a High-elf , you have lost only 10 levels.

Once regained your attribute points will return.

Enter name of your new companion

" Your name shall be Ren! " Sturm said and the beast bowed once again.

Ren has accepted its new name and is delighted at the kind master he has

Ensnared heart skill has leveled up