Squirmie was full. It was a delightful feeling after decades of lying hidden in the dirt, barely alive and hiding, but always hungry.

The new pet had been amazing. Every chance he had the pet had gorged himself on high mana foods. The dark mana in the charred meat was especially nourishing for him. And the battle! Giving the pet access to their own abilities while they used it as an incubator had been the right choice. Not only was his pet adept at using his scything talons, but it had already evolved itself and taken a special ability that synchronized with his own. This led to a surprising message from the ever-watching system.

[Congratulations! By working together to achieve goals and defeat foes you and your pet have unlocked the ability Symbiotic. This ability will increase the rank of Enhancements by 50% when both you and your pet have evolved in the same way. This ability will be lost if your pet bond is permanently broken.]

Both he and his pet had earned 18 Enhancement Points for defeating the stupid meat creature. Much thought would need to be put into how they spent these points. It helped that his pet was so agreeable to his suggestions. It would be a shame to lose this pet when they were ready to leave the incubator, but the knowledge was so useful for the next one. The thought made the bug sad and it wondered if there were any way to keep this pet.

----------------------------------------

Rolly was ready for a nap. The day had been fun, but a lot of work. He'd helped Ozzy clean up the barn and then they'd grabbed the loot chest from the Daemon. He hid the 87 silver and 340 copper that he'd gotten from the chest. He'd learned long ago that you didn't keep money anywhere obvious.

Then he'd gone to the kitchen and talked to Betty and Granya, presenting them with the big bag of rare spices. Their eyes just got bigger and bigger and they'd immediately started talking about what to make. It was a great trade. He would never use the spices himself, and now they were cooking him special meals any time he swung by. Not today though, that barbeque had totally filled him up. He wasn't hungry for the first time in days. It was getting time to take a long nap.

First, though, he wanted to spend his points. His character sheet was a bit lopsided. All of his skills were WIS-based except for Weak Poison Resistance. He'd easily maxed that out with how much raw sedgebeast he had been eating lately. With Squirmie's help, the poison didn't bother him and Tastes like Steak improved the taste and how many calories food gave him. His experience had gone up with each bite as he put more and more poison into his body without dying.

With all of his experience in WIS and CON, and now another 1000 experience from killing the Daemon, which again had to go into WIS or CON, he was going to have to raise the cap on those stats. He tossed the full 1000 experience to CON. Then he spent 2 points raising the cap on the two stats to 7 each. The extra experience flowed in and both his CON went to rank 6, almost to rank 7. With his Heritage bonuses, he was at 8 CON and 7 WIS. He was happy with that. Those were important stats for a Pet Breeder.

Next, he looked at things he could take to work with Squirmie. Symbiotic was a new skill he'd qualified for, and it made sense to maximize his abilities by taking advantage of it. Hopefully, that would help with keeping some of his Super-Shepherd powers. Squirmie was loaning him Mitigation, and Disguise, and had shown him how to make Natural Weapons work. But better, his little bug helped him unlock those skills so he could gain them himself, and increase them. Squirmie was such a great pet! And they'd gained a special ability.

[Congratulations! By working together to achieve goals and defeat foes you and your pet have unlocked the ability Symbiotic. This ability will increase the rank of Enhancements by 50% when both you and your pet have evolved in the same way. This ability will be lost if your pet bond is permanently broken.

Symbiosis detected. Because both of you have Natural Weapons 1, the enhancement has been upgraded to Natural Weapons 2.]

"Good idea. Let’s start with Natural Weapons 2 for ten points."

[Symbiosis detected!

Both you and your pet have the skill Natural Weapons 2. Skill upgraded to Natural 3. Your natural melee weapons will do +30 points of damage in combat.]

[Experience in combat has given you a new skill learned from your pet.

You have gained the Primary skill: Scything Talons. This is a DEX-based skill.

Base attack chance: 30% plus 5% per point of DEX and 10% per class level.

Damage: 40 points plus 5 points per point of STR. You may make an attack with Scything Talons for each appendage used.

Bonus damage from Natural Weapons 3 will apply to this skill.]

It was lucky that Squirmie was loaning him the Disguise ability. That would be handy to have. Squirmie got a bargain on buying the skill for only 2 points. His pet had a lot of neat skills that he hadn't seen on the list for Contract Workers.

[Sybiosis Detected!

Both you and your pet have the Disguise enhancement. This is upgraded to Disguise 2, allowing for further body modifications.]

Two points left to spend, plus the three points he had saved. He needed STR to help with melee damage, and Squirmie was suggesting Jumping Jack. One point of STR would increase his damage by 5 points leaping abilities were always handy.

[Symbiosis Detected! Jumping Jack 1 is increased to Jumping Jack 2, allowing you to leap three times your normal distance.]

Perfect, he was glad that was done. He was so sleepy.

Rolly lay back in the nest of silk fibers he and Squirmie had made in their little hidey hole in the willows. It was very comfy. He pulled the matted silk around him like a blanket and went to sleep.

"Good night, Squirmie."

Unseen by anyone, the System sent an update to the Engine:

[System Alert!

The Major Quest: Help Squirmie Evolve had advanced to Stage 2.

System Alert!

The Regional Event: Blightfall! Pets for Everyone! has advanced to Stage 2.]

The Engine churned and considered the ways these events would change the world.

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Suzette was up early the next day. She had to start several kegs of Blud Dark fermenting along with other types of beer and ale. Derek had turned over the work of brewing beer to her. He handled the Tavern in the morning and afternoons. She ran it in the evenings with the help of Ozzy, and a couple of early mornings for brewing.

Heading downstairs, the first thing she noticed was grain from one of the sacks of barley scattered about in the short hallway that connected the large room she brewed in with the storage area and the sub-cellar. Rats again! It seemed like once or twice a week several large rats appeared as if by magic, and she got a notification to offer a quest to players to take care of them.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Her brewing area was a mess. A mash barrel of sprouted malt was overturned. A half-emptied grain sack was on the floor with two large rats chewing away at the oats. Screw quests, these things are dying right now.

[You have accepted the quest: "Rats in the basement." Kill all the rats in the basement of the tavern and report back to Suzette the Lonely Barmaid for a reward.]

Damn! Maybe she should do this every day. Skip the players. Wonder how much experience she could give herself? But first, she had to kill some rats.

She cast Runic Burst first. Ghostly sigils rotated around her, the inner set moving clockwise while another circle moved counterclockwise on the outside. The next second a rat took a Solar Arrow in its backside. The Runic Burst collapsed after giving her spell some additional damage.

[Giant Rat takes 100 points of damage.

You have killed a Giant Rat Level 1!

You have gained 20 experience in Aspect of Radiance.

You have gained 20 experience in RAD.

Rats killed 1/3]

One down. The other didn't notice its competitor had quite moving and that extra moment was all it took for another glowing arrow to kill it.

[Giant Rat takes 80 points of damage.

You have killed a Giant Rat Level 1!

You have gained 20experience in Aspect of Radiance.

You have gained 20 experience in RAD.

Rats killed 2/3]

Looking at the two rats, they seemed much larger than those she had seen down here before. She took a broom, shoved the corpses over to a corner, and swept up the floor. Maybe it was time to get some cats down here. Looking at the trail of grain to the sub-basement, she figured there must be one more down there. She was glad that Timmy had 'volunteered' to clean the place out. There were still some old barrels stacked at the end, but all the broken ones and trash had been removed. Moving into the room she looked around but saw nothing.

No, wait...one of the barrels at the end had been slid out from the wall and there was an empty grain sack in front of it. She took two steps forward trying to get a better look. Something furry and bipedal leaped out from behind the barrel and rushed at her.

It wasn't a rat. It stood about four feet tall on crooked legs. She got a quick look at its sharp teeth and the rusty knife it held in one hand and wanted no part of it. She managed to get off one Solar Arrow before it was on top of her.

[Solar Arrow deals 80 points of damage to Rat-kin Warrior. Rat-kin Warrior is blinded for two rounds.]

It swung at her wildly with the knife, cutting her forearm. The claws of the other hand also left marks.

[You are cut! Rusty knife does 20 points of damage.

You are slashed! Claws do 10 points of damage.]

"Cheating human! You have blinded me, but I will be victorious! I can smell your breath! I can hear the beating of your frightened heart.

Suzette backed away from it, circling to her right to try and stay out of its reach. It seemed confused at first, but jumped more or less towards her, swinging the knife through the air. She could hit it with her cantrip again, but that was sure to get her stabbed when it heard her casting the spell. Instead, she reached into the dart holder concealed under her sleeve. Ben had made it for her after their ill-fated rabbit hunt. After moving again, she threw two darts at the hairy creature. Her first shot just missed, but the second took it in its pinkish snout.

[Dart misses Rat-kin Warrior.

Dart hits Rat-kin Warrior for 10 points of damage.

Rat-kin Warrior is poisoned!]

"Aaargh! My nose! My beautiful nose! I will eat your gizzards raw!" The Rat-kin lashed out in a fury, jumping around and slashing wildly. Suzette tried to keep out of its way, but it recovered from the cantrip's blindness effect and ran at her. As it tried to tackle her, she used Barmaid's Balance and sidestepped it, treating it like a clumsy customer. The knife raked along her side injuring her again.

[Rusty Knife cuts you for 40 points of damage!]

She launched another Solar Arrow at it, which hit but didn't blind. It was slowing down as the poison took effect. The rat-kin moved to the doorway and slammed the door shut. She realized that in trying to stay out of its reach, she'd let it maneuver her to the wrong side of the room. It started to advance on her and she hit it again with Solar Arrow just as it rushed her.

She failed to dodge and it bore her to the floor. This was bad. It had weapons in each hand and its teeth; she couldn't hold it off. It laughed at her. "Who is smart now? Who is winning? I can kill you at will. I give you a chance to surrender. You are feisty and will make a good worker in the cheese factory.”

She stopped struggling and whimpered, "You win master. I surrender". The rat-kin leaned back, pleased with itself. "Of course, you do! It was inevitable."

She stabbed it in the leg with three darts loaded with poison and blocked the descending knife with her arm. It yelled in outrage, "Betrayal! Bad slave." The rat stabbed her three times in the arm with its knife, but it was slow and weak; she stabbed it in the leg three times with darts. Finally, it quit moving and slumped. She pushed the foul-smelling and still living rat-kin off of her and got to her feet. Several kicks in the head ended it.

[You won!

You have killed a rat-kin Warrior Level 3! You earn increased experience for fighting a creature above your level and killing it in solo combat.

You gain 50 experience in Darts

You gain 50 experience in Poisoning

You gain 50 experience in RAD

You gain 50 experience in DEX

You have completed the Quest: Rats in the Basement. You gain increased favor with Suzette the Lonely Barmaid and a free flagon of ale.

You are injured! Current Health 230/600.]

She staggered up the stairs yelling for Ozzy. He took one look at her, picked her up, and ran for the Alchemist's house. Luckily, they rose early, otherwise, he'd have kicked the door in. No one asked questions until they had the bleeding stopped and a healing potion into her. Then she told them about the fight, emphasizing that the creature had been fairly cunning in maneuvering her around.

Ozzy added. "But stupid enough to be fooled by you at the end of the fight. Best to assume human intelligence though."

Aleister nodded. "Correct, the rat-kin from the dungeons are close to humans in intelligence. Clever and cunning, but also more prone to errors and overconfidence. Treat them as a dangerous foe and don't underestimate them."

Everyone in the room suddenly received a message:

[Quest: Rats in the Tavern Part 2 Accept? Y/N.

Those fiendish rat-kin are up to something! Find a clue as to where they are coming from and report back to Suzette the lonely Barmaid for increased favor and a free ale!]

Suzette spread her hands. "Don't look at me. I have no idea what's going on."

Adrianna turned to Ozzy and Aleister. "I suggest you two strapping men go take a look; I'll stay here and tend to Suzette."

No one saw Zephyr, a bandolier of potions over her shoulder, head out the back door after accepting the quest.