Tenebris has been awarded 400 experience from defeating Bone Rat level 4
Tenebris has been awarded 100 experience from defeating Bone Rat level 1
Sanaa has been awarded 300 experience from defeating Bone Rat level 3
Sanaa has been awarded 500 experience from defeating Bone Rat level 5
You have been awarded 500 experience from defeating Bone Rat level 5
You have been awarded 1050 experience from defeating Bone Rat Matriarch level 7
I had gotten notifications for both familiars, which was odd but not bad. I found my familiars as they finished their meals. Once I saw the gore on their claws and mouths, I decided not to invite them to take a seat on my shoulders. Instead, they both took to their air. While we walked through the quarry, I caught two things I hadn’t noticed before. On the right side of my vision were two icons. One was a coiled gold and white dragon and the other was a perched black and purple dragon. Both of the icons had a little exclamation point in their upper right. When I concentrated on the black one, I got a new screen.
Name: Tenebris Level: 2,9% Species: Umbra Dragonling Characteristics Health: 60 Magic: 180
Regen/min: 5 Stamina: 120
Regen/min: 3 Attributes Agility:16 Charisma:14 Endurance: 13 Intelligence:18 Luck:3 Perception: 10 Strength:7 Vitality:6 Wisdom:10 Resistances Umbra: 100% Abilities
(Free Points:1) Sphere of Darkness – Lv 1, Points to next level: 1
Soul Bond - Lv 1, Points to next level: 1
Umbra Breath – Lv 1, Points to next level: 1
The first thing that I noticed was his health, or rather lack of health. He only had 60 hit points. I guess that explained why he hunted more like an ambush predator. His magic points were almost as high as my own. His luck and vitality stats were pretty bad, but in all, he had a lot of going for him.The question was, what ability did I boost? I assumed that Sphere of Darkness was the ability that made the black ball. Necrotic Breath was clearly another weapon. I didn’t know how much damage it did, but it could be a good option. Soul Bond was the one I was most curious about it. Soul Bond was the only ability all three of us shared. It was also the ability for us to communicate over distance. The question was, what would help me more right now? Power or Utility? I only thought about it for a moment before spending the point.
You have chosen to increase your familiar’s ability: Sphere of Darkness to level 2. The darkness created by the spell is a five-foot sphere and will extinguish all light sources mundane or magical of weak strength or lower. Creatures caught inside the sphere may be blinded.
Well, that would have been useful to know before spending the point, but it was fine. The sphere did what I thought it did, though knowing it could stop magical light was useful. I went over all of his stats again, but there was nothing else of note. I dismissed the screen only for the icon to disappear. I raised an eyebrow and tried to imagine the icon returning. After a second it did, only this time it was missing the exclamation point. “So I have some control over my ‘user interface’." I made a note to pay more attention to things like that in the future. Next, I turned my attention to the golden icon. It opened up just like Tenebris’.
Name: Sanaa Level: 2, 22% Species: Radiant Dragonette Characteristics Health: 60 Magic: 80
Regen/min: 6
Stamina: 130
Regen/min: 3 Attributes Agility:19 Charisma:16 Endurance: 14 Intelligence:8 Luck:3 Perception: 10 Strength:7 Vitality:6 Wisdom:13 Resistances Radiant: 100% Abilities
(Free Points:1) Brilliant Frills – Lv 1, Points to next level: 1
Soul Bond - Lv 1, Points to next level: 1
Shining Breath – Lv 1, Points to next level: 1
It was a bit shocking how different their stats were. They were both bad at luck and strength. Strength made sense since they were both rather small, but why were they so unlucky? Also, how come I couldn’t increase their attributes? Was it something they controlled? Or were they forced to get a preset value on every level? Either way, they were fairly strong, especially if they could work together. I turned my attention to her free point. My reasoning was the same for her as it was Tenebris, but this time I decided to go with a more offensive build. I placed her point into Shining Breath.
You have chosen to increase your familiar’s ability: Shining Breath to level 2. The damage caused by the beam of light is 5-10 radiant damage. Anyone caught within the area of effect can not benefit from invisibility for 60 seconds. The maximum range of the attack is 30ft.
I wasn’t sure what abilities they would unlock down the line, which sucked. Based on the way they fought, Sanaa was more of a single target damage dealer. She attacked like a constrictor, taking out her opponent. If I assumed that she wanted to use Brilliant Frills first because of some animalistic instinct, then she wasn’t that different from Tenebris. Both disabled their target. If facing multiple enemies, they took the group out of the fight and then attacked their prey. Tenebris seemed to have the leg up with magic. Assuming he could learn either his own spells or my spells, he would make a dangerous enemy to deal with. Either way, those were thoughts for tomorrow. Right now, we needed to survive. I got rid of her status screen and after focusing for a moment, her icon joined Tenebris’.
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I brought my attention to the present just as he we returned to the ramp. There wasn’t anything special about the quarry now that we had dealt with the rat creatures. I guided Rex out of the quarry after a beat. We headed toward the next location. Tenebris and Sanaa landed on my shoulders as we tore through the canyon. The sun was starting to fall, so we would have to look for a place to bed down soon. Thankfully, the next location wasn’t too far away. We arrived at the base of a cave less than an hour later.
Notice! You have found: Gold Mine.
“Holy Shit, it’s a gold a mine!” I could practically see myself jumping into a pile of gold coins like a certain duck. In my haste to get off of a Rex and inside the mine I knocked both of my familiars off my shoulders and into the air. The irritation they felt was nowhere near enough to sour my mode. I let Rex roam about on his own and rushed into the mine. Once I was inside, I cast Sphere of Light. The bright golden light illuminated the first veins of gold. I grinned and ran my fingers along one of them. Unfortunately, my lack of mining skill limited me to knowing absolutely nothing about the vein. Based on the number of golden streaks, there was a lot of gold in here. At least I hoped that was what that meant. I calmed myself down and headed deeper into the mine.
Both dragons settled on my shoulder, clearly not enjoying the close confides of the mine. Now that the initial excitement had faded, I had to agree. Being underground or rather inside a canyon wall felt suffocating. I was just about to head back when I heard a scratching sound. I winced at the idea of fighting a bunch of the rats in close combat, sending a chill down my back. I brought my light down and crouched. I waited until the sound quieted. I watched the stealth indicator at the bottom of my screen like a hawk. Whatever was in here hadn’t noticed us or didn’t care enough to investigate. Either way, I was more than happy to keep it up. We rounded a corner, and I caught sight of what was making the noise. It was a creature that looked like an armadillo, if armadillos were the size of mountain lions and their shells were a dull golden color. The damn thing’s claws were at least an inch long and had the same dull gold sheen. I ducked back behind the corner and waited. Once I was sure the beast hadn’t seen me, I began coming up with a plan.
I ordered Tenebris to begin the attack with his Sphere and then for Sanaa to follow up by constricting the thing. I gave it a three count, and the attack commenced. The armadillo creature was taken completely by surprise. As soon as the sphere of darkness appeared, I began my casting. A bolt of golden light formed in my hands and then shot forward. The moment the light entered the darkness, it disappeared. I cursed, but wasn’t surprised when the creature was unaffected. I hoped the light would disappear, but the attack would still hit. I sent an image to Sanaa of the beast’s arms and claws, wanting her to focus on those. I wasn’t sure if she understood, but it didn’t matter. As soon as I was close enough, I reached into the sphere and unleashed a gout of flame. Tenebris unleash his necrotic breath at the same time. Both attacks hit the creature and it let out a cry of pain.
I flinched, hoping that nothing else heard the noise or that everything else in the mind would just ignore it. I pulled my attention back to the battle when a wave of pain hit me. My eyes went wide as I searched my body for a wound. The pain hit me again before I realized it was coming from Sanaa. “Flee!” I spoke and thought the command at her. A moment later, her serpentine body shot out of the dark. There was a cry of triumph and then the golden creature came rushing out after her. I ended the flow of magic to my spell and started casting a new one. Sanaa unleashed her breath once, just before the four rays of light shot out of my hand. Now that we didn’t have to worry about the darkness, we were free to attack. Tenebris landed on the creature’s back and was trying to find a way around or through it. Sanaa darted through the cave, using the full 360 degrees to avoid the monster’s claws. Once it realized it couldn’t hit either of them, it turned its attention and fury to me. It let out a snarl before rushing me. Instead of running, I decided to take the attack head on. I brought both hands together and dual cast Lesser Gout of Flame just as the creature leapt at me. Fire exploded from my hands just as the armadillo’s mouth sunk into me.
I bit down a cry of pain and focused on maintaining the spell. Now that the beast couldn’t attack them, Tenebris and Sanaa were free to begin their assault. Sanaa wrapped around its neck and then bit into its softer flesh. Tenebris clawed at its eyes. The combined assault was too much for the beast and soon fell to the ground. I followed a moment later, pulling out more of my blood potion. The taste was strange, but I was getting used to it. Especially when it got rid of the pain. “Never thought I would be the tank, but I guess that’s the burden of being the highest level of our little group.” I spoke to myself mostly, but it further supported the fact that I needed more people. I pulled up my notifications while waiting for MP to regenerate.
You have been awarded 800 experience from defeating Tuxena Level 8
So the creature was called a “Tuxena” and it gave a good chunk of experience. I didn’t know if I wanted to fight more of them or not, but I didn’t really have a choice. I decided to wait until I recovered all of my MP before heading deeper in the mine. I conjured another light sphere, and both dragons settled in. The mine opened more as we moved further inside. When I heard more scratching, I checked the stealth icon in order to make sure that we weren’t walking into a trap. Once I was sure we were good, I poked my head around a bend. There was a chamber about as big as an airport hanger in the middle of which was a large Tuxena. This one was about as big as a lion. There were two normal sized Tuxena with it. The bigger Tuxena looked a bit like a saber-tooth tiger. It had two shiny tusks, like daggers coming down its face. Instead of the bulkier form of the smaller tuxena this one was sleeker. It was a bit like an armored panther. The gold color of its body was much shinier than the other one as well. I kept my hand on the other side of the bend and cast Lesser Revelation.
Tuxena Matriarch: Level 10
The tuxena are considered pest most of the time. They consume ores, gems and other materials that can be found within mines. A tuxena matriarch is capable of draining an entire mountain range when getting ready to birth more tuxena. For this reason they are hunted and killed as quickly as possible.
I quickly checked the other two, and they were only levels 3 and 4, which meant they weren’t going to cause too many issues. The question was, how do I deal with the big one? It was a higher level than me, so tanking it wasn’t going to be the wisest idea. I would have to summon the magmite while focusing fire on the matriarch. The problem would be keeping the other two from fucking me up while we killed it. I sighed and made my choices. This next part wasn’t going to be fun. I sent the image of both dragons clinging to the roof of the cave and waited for them to move.
Once they were situated, I crouched back into stealth and began casting. I used both hands and summoned the Lesser Magmite right on top of the Tuxena Matriarch. The manic laughter was the only warning the beast had before the crazy elemental began clawing at it. I began casting my next spell just as the other tuxena began to move. They both rushed me, cutting the distance in half before I could release my rays of light. Thankfully, Tenebris and Sanaa were ready. A black sphere caught the closet one causing it to stumble into the wall. While a Gold and white ball of plasma burned the second. My spell finished a second later, catching the already burning tuxena in the face. I wasn’t sure how long Tenebris could hold the other one off.
I followed up my first spell with a second. A gold bolt slammed into its body just as Sanaa wrapped her body around its neck. The beast's howls of pain mixed with the manic cackling of the elemental. I unleashed a gout of flame, being careful not to burn Sanaa in the process. The tuxena gave up on the pest it couldn’t reach and launched its self at me. I gave up on my spell and dived to the right. The beast’s claws tore a gash in my side. I brought both hands up and dual cast Lesser Spira Blade. The blade of air materialized in an instant before slashing across the beast’s stomach. Sanaa tightened her grip, and the tuxena collapsed. I left the rest up to Sanaa and rushed to help Tenebris. His black sphere had faded, and it forced him to cling to the ceiling to avoid his claws.
He had received a nasty looking wound across one of his wings. The tuxena wasn’t doing much better. It was missing an eye and blood was pouring down its face. I brought both hands together and unleashed a gout of flame. The beast let out a roar of pain and shock as it turned to face me. Tenebris didn’t appreciate having his prey stolen. He unleashed a cone of utter darkness that took the beast in the back. The beast didn’t last much longer between the two of us. Once it fell, I turned my attention to the matriarch. The magmite had mostly been destroyed. It was somehow holding onto the beast's head. Most of its body below the stomach was missing.
It was still cackling, which was a bit scary. I had to wait for more of my MP to regenerate, but neither Sanaa nor Tenebris were patient enough for that. They both flew forward, making alternating dive bombing runs against the creature. The matriarch was fast, but between the still burning elemental clutching its head and the two dragons strafing it. The poor thing stood no chance. I just managed to unleash a spira blade before it died. Once the beast collapsed, I leaned against a nearby wall. I took a sip of my potion to recover the damage and then I gave some to Sanaa and Tenebris. Unfortunately, the potion didn’t do much for them. It recovered a few health points for both of them. I sighed before giving them the rest of the potion. Ultimately, I wouldn’t survive very long if either of them went down, so their health was my own. Once we were all topped up, I placed the now empty container back into my ring and closed my eyes. I needed a break before dealing with all the notifications.