I must admit that it was more than a little tricky getting out of the mess that was the brush. While the main cavern was big, big enough so that I could crawl around on my hands and knees, it wasn’t so big that I could turn 360 degrees. Thus, I was left with a barking Enyi doing his best to push me with his cold nose going backwards lying down through a small tunnel that I could only just fit in. To no one’s surprise, Enyi’s excitement and attempt at helpfulness did not in fact make me go faster.

••••••••••

Eventually, we did make it out alive, if a little disgruntled and covered in mud. A moment of reprieve from the mud and earth of the bush. I had just stood up when Enyi came sprinting out, the tunnel no challenge for him, tripping over his own uncoordinated feet before regaining his balance and then sprinting full-force into a tree. I could do nothing but blink twice.

We gotta go, Ens. I don’t want to be anywhere any longer than we need to be.

Enyi yipped in agreement. I swooped down and picked him, still lying on the ground from dizziness, up with one hand.

And with that, we (and by "we" I of course mean me) started walking.

••••••••••

As we walked, I told Enyi about my Skill modification. I had heard that modifying passives was far harder than changing actives, but still… What was I doing wrong?

I’m trying to control where Rebound deflects.

I got a woof of confusion.

Rebound is a passive Skill that deflects all attacks.

I got another woof of confusion, this time seeming to ask what deflection meant.

Deflection? That’s hard to explain. It’s like, um, sending something back from where it came from. Like a frisbee- wait, do you know what that is?

I got a short woof, and with the oddly-human action of Enyi shaking his head, I assumed that meant no. But then Enyi furrowed his brow in concentration, and I sensed him trying to send… pictures?… across our bond.

(SB) Communication is now Level 2!

I received two pictures, and then a lot of exciting yipping. The first was of a classic passive Skill, Regeneration, as the Skill healed over a warrior’s wounds in the midst of battling against a thousand-foot lizard, but with no input from the warrior. The second was of a similar but active Skill, Minor Heal, in which a warrior had to concentrate, actively casting Minor Heal for every small injury he got.

I… agree? What does that have to do with anything?

Enyi woofed in frustration. He then sent me another image- Rebound, doing what it was supposed to, deflecting all attacks but uncontrolled and towards the caster, easy to dodge with no precision, and then what I wanted it to do- deflecting all attacks according to where I wanted them to go.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

I still don’t get it.

Enyi now growled in frustration. The next image he sent was simple- it was the difference between an active and passive Skill. One with input, the other without.

Oh. I’ve been an idiot.

Enyi woofed in agreement as I realized what I had been doing wrong- I was trying to force Rebound into being an active Skill. Indeed, I had been trying to make Rebound something that required thinking and that I could control, going against its passive nature.

But I couldn’t just leave Rebound alone. No, the random nature of the deflection, even if it was going at the caster, left too much room to leave for chance. But what else could I do? How could I make it not random? Because Rebound was passive, I now realized I couldn’t control where it was deflected at.

Enyi woofed- it seemed like he was once again calling me stupid. He sent me another imagine, one of deflected attacks not just going at the caster in random directions, but specifically zooming towards the head and heart, a human’s most vital, one-hit regions. Then another imagine, of deflected attacks exploding the three hearts of a guinko, a huge creature that could be considered the very angrily conceived love child of a dragon and a giant squid.

Good idea, Enyi.

What if I didn’t need to aim it? What if its attacks were just naturally deflected towards the most sensitive and vital points? The head, the heart, the lungs? Maybe even the eyes? What if it didn’t leave anything to chance- and what if I didn’t need to do anything, allowing it to remain a passive Skill?

This… this would work.

••••••••••

But I would have to modify Rebound later.

I was, afterall, still walking, my arm was getting tired, and Enyi was getting antsy- he wanted to be let down.

Look where you’re going this time, Ens, I said as I bent over and he jumped to the ground.

He woofed in agreement, prancing, before tripping over a root and banging his head.

Good grief, I sighed, shaking my head but smiling in amusement. I watched Regeneration work its magic on his slight cut, the flesh knitting itself back together and Enyi’s soft fur regrowing. Regeneration was fairly straightforward- it didn’t really leave much room for change.

(P) Regeneration: Passively heals all acquired wounds, diseases, illnesses, etc

But… maybe Enyi could change the priority? I didn’t know how it worked, but it could easily be dangerously inefficient, healing the minor wounds before the major. It never says anything about what order they get healed in, or if the severity of the injury has any relation to priority. The thing about Skills is that you can’t assume anything- if it doesn't say anything about it, you don’t know anything about it.

If there was no injury-severity related priority list, and it was, like I suspected, the order of which they were acquired, then that could easily be a big problem. If that was the case, Enyi would have to make the list severity of injury based, and not just how old they were.

However, that too would have to happen later. Enyi was too young- he couldn’t even speak, and was just now learning how to send images. There was no way he could concentrate long enough in order to modify a passive Skill.

But maybe Chomp?

I would have to think about it later- as for now, we still didn’t really know what Chomp meant.

••••••••••

As I thought about the best Skill-modifications for Enyi, he snapped me out of my contemplative trance by woofing. He sent me an image- one of danger, of a gut feeling from Sixth Sense of a disaster looming.

And then… I heard it. The sound of a beast running through a forest, growling and barking as if it was on the hunt. And then… the sound of a dozen beasts following it, howling as if declaring war.

I picked up Enyi and I ran.