Ryan woke up with a loud yell. The stinging pain of sharp little fangs penetrating into the meat of his hand had woken him from a pleasant dream about pizza. Thin, flat dough covered in tomato, pepperoni and melted cheese baked in a wood-fired pizza oven. With a grunt he grabbed Fury by the scruff of her neck and heaved the cub of his cot. The hunger pangs due to the missed dinner weren’t pleasant and apparently the little rascal was hungry too. So, the first order of business was breakfast for him and the vicious feline.
Alas, his pleasant dreams of pizza weren’t to be fulfilled and Ryan was simultaneously dreading and looking forward to what breakfast had in store for him. Raw meat of the lioness. He wasn’t looking forward to the gamey taste at all but he would bear it if only he could finally obtain that damn mutation he was after. When the Skill had first showed up in the list of possible mutations he had consulted with John on the matter, it felt weird to him that the Skill, a thing he considered to be granted by the Interface, would result from a mutation. After several lengthy uninformed discussions on the matter they had eventually theorised that it was inherent in the genetic expression of the prides shield cells and thus a Skill that could be obtained by mutating the same cells. At least, that was the theory that they eventually agreed on to be most likely.
The little cub was resolutely dogging his steps, never stopping once to investigate what to her must be a frighteningly strange new world. That she had latched onto him, even in light of the fact that he was the originator of her new circumstances and the one that had unceremoniously caught her felt strange to Ryan, but he would take it for what it was worth. He just hoped that Johannes had an insight on what to feed her. As far as Ryan knew, she would be eating meat already but was still reliant on suckling to obtain all necessary nutrients, so unless Johannes had a solution for that issue she’d be lacking resources to let her grow properly.
The dining area was abandoned which confirmed Ryan’s initial guess that he had overslept by a significant margin. So, Fury in tow, he entered the kitchen. A risky move as Katrina didn’t look kindly on interlopers in her domain, knowledge that every member of Exsolutus had quickly taken to heart. Nonetheless, the cub and he needed food so he’d risk her wrath. Katrina spun around on his entry, scowling furiously and her weapon of choice, a cleaver, lifted threateningly.
“Ryan skat, hoekom de donner is jy in my kombuis?”
“Katrina, tannie, ek soek net iets tee et en iets tee et vir die kleintjie.“ with puppy dog eyes he pointed at the adorable cub. Ryan could see her heart melt even if the scowl never left her face.
“Johannes het kos vir haar.” she explained. “En jy, jy sal moet wag. Kom terug as die kaatjie kos gehaad het” Katrina didn’t relent and made her displeasure clear that he had missed breakfast. Resigned, Ryan accepted her ruling. He’d return once Fury had been fed by Johannes. Making a note to knock and not set a foot over the threshold unless invited he left to find Johannes.
He found the Level 17 Pack Alpha where he had expected him to be, at the stables. The buildings had, in times distant past, held horses for any guests to ride around the plot. Neglected and used as storage area it had taken quite some work by the guild to make them fit for habitation of Johannes little menagerie. It was strange to see the variety of animals, some very clearly mutated heavily, interacting peacefully. Over the past few weeks, while Ryan had undergone his experimental training regime, Johannes, with the help of Miguel, had collected a few animals to bond with. Two spotted Hyenas, a Cheetah, a bunch of Meerkat, an Eagle Owl, a young Wildebeest and an Oryx were lazing about the corralled area. John was physically present as well, but deeply engaged in playing with Bugger.
The third cub was hiding in a corner, shivering. “What’s up with her? Haven’t you bonded her yet?” Ryan asked when he noticed the state of the cub. It was such a marked difference to the state of the rest of the zoo that Ryan immediately noticed the obvious.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“I can’t. The Interface won’t let me. Maybe I have reached the maximum size of my pack. I’ll know later today when we find that pack of African Dog’s that are still roaming the sanctuary if that’s the case. Miguel has had a hell of a time tracking them but we narrowed it down by now.”
“Let me know how that goes, will you?” Ryan retorted. “Jeez, your pack is almost to my Level, what are you feeding them?” Ryan considered the levels of Johannes’ pack carefully. They were ranging between 7 and 17, Johannes own level. Not for the first time Ryan considered that facing Johannes one-on-one was a scary proposition. He had seen the seamless way the pack coordinated during a hunt, all driven to achieve the objectives the mastermind designated, but relying on their own strengths to obtain that goal. Ryan was glad that Johannes, who deeply loved his pack, had found such depth of connection in this new world after he had suffered through the loss of his community.
Reaching up to a shelf Johannes handed Ryan a bowl. “Here’s her food, should contain all she needs. Guess that’s the reason you’re down here with me and not off catching up.”
Johannes had, over the past couple of weeks, quickly determined that Ryan absolutely hated being behind in levels and rubbed it in subtly whenever opportunity presented itself. The fact that Ryan, with his comparatively ridiculous Energy reserve due to the higher level of cultivation together with his generally strong Stats, was likely the strongest if taken in isolation, didn’t enter into the little rivalry that had developed. Exsolutus had taken to sparring sessions quickly and Ryan, when his training regime had allowed, had quickly shown that, fighting unarmed, was a force to be reckoned with. The only one that beat him with embarrassing regularity was William. Krav Maga lent itself to their improved physicality very well and everyone was learning from William. Ryan, well practiced in Taekwondo, couldn’t easily deal with his little brother and was taking lessons too.
Combat with the wooden training weapons was another issue altogether, ruled by those that had taken the relevant melee classes. Ryan however was sure that he could eliminate any single member of the Guild, especially from ambush, and make a clean get-away, his Skillset seemed literally designed to such effect. While Ryan was musing on the relative combat strength of Exsolutus the little cub was lost in ravaging the contents of the bowl and was done within a minute. She toddled over to Ryan and collapsed at his feet with a growly purr.
“What did you feed her?”
“Raw springbuck, cartilage broth, some goat’s milk and a herbal concoction that facilitates growth. You’ll have to ask Gabriel what exactly it is. But it is safe, my Interface shows that it’s rated green for feline predators.”
“You’re interface shows what is safe for animals to be consumed?” Ryan wondered.
“Yeah, more or less at least. It’s a Skill I have been granted due to the Synergy between my classes and Professions. It gives a rough indication of whether something is safe to consume for a specific animal.” Johannes answered.
“That’s probably coming in handy.” Ryan quipped.
“You have no idea. With the mutating flora some previously harmless plants are now deadly to herbivores. We’ve seen a herd of Oryx that were killed by a batch of buffalo grass. That’s where I found Linda.” Johannes pointed at his Oryx. “She’s immune for some reason.”
“You don’t know why?” Ryan asked.
“No, I can’t see their full sheet yet. She just shows as immune to most poisons. Anyway, if your cub is done I’d like to commune with my pack some more, strengthen our bond. You can stay and watch, but I assume you have a lot of catching up to do.” once again Johannes managed to slip a needling comment in.
“You’re an arse, you know that, right?”
“Yeah, yeah. I know you love me.” Johannes took a parting shot. With an amused snort Ryan picked up the snoring Fury and headed back to the kitchen to announce himself with a timid knock. Katrina, busy cooking, just shouted for him to come in and pointed at a platter of raw meat strips. They didn’t smell or look to appetizing, but at least they were properly bled and near dry to the touch. The meat was cold, chewy and stringy and Ryan had to masticate with great determination to transform it into a state that allowed him to swallow it. It took him a while to finish the meat and by the time he was done his stomach was bursting. In that state, he decided, it wasn’t sensible to do anything strenuous. So, foregoing any possibility of catching up, he carried the still sleeping Fury to his cot. “You better appreciate the taxi service you little minx.” he muttered as he carefully deposited her on the cot and headed to the pool to clean of the accumulated grime of the past few days.
“I stink. Can’t mingle like this.” he grunted just before he entered the pleasingly cool water.