"Looks like we've got a map to a different ruler's lair," I said to Gwen. "The Skulkers might have to wait."

"I don't know if we're going to find their trail again when it's this cold," the panther said to me as she moved to follow me towards the Countess' differently glowing loot orb.

"We might have to take all of the bosses out before we can get back to Earth anyway," I told her. "Might as well take the opportunity to take one down if we have it."

Approaching the corpse of the spider mage, I reached out and touched the ball of luminous energy now floating above the body.

[Loot List]

1. Greater Mana Shard: A soul shard that brims with a greater than average amount of mystical energy. Can be used for spfell-forging/enchanting, combined with other soul shards, or refined for consumable crafting.

2. Map to the Webspinner's Lair: A map that will lead you to the lair of the Ruler of the South, the Webspinner.

I took both of the items for my own.

I tried to summon the map into my hand, but was instead greeted by a System announcement as I activated the item in my inventory:

[Initiate mini-map: y/n?]

"Yes," I said.

A large overlay of a massive map filled my vision and, just as quickly as it had expanded, it shrunk down to fit comfortably into the edge of my peripheral sight.

My eyes focused on the newly appeared map. I could see a marker for me on it and another for Gwen, no doubt as a result of our bond.

"Gwen can you see this?" I asked.

I felt the cat's curiosity sweep over me and then felt her mental touch reach to see through my eyes.

"I can now," the cat's voice rumbled in my head.

[Share mini-map with party member: y/n?]

Assuming Gwen was still seeing what I was, I selected yes.

The cat growled slightly and I felt her mind's eye recede from linking with my own.

"Mine is more detailed than yours," Gwen said.

This time I reached into the cat's mind to see what she was talking about.

"That's odd," I said, realizing that she was right, "I wonder what's causing that? It's a pretty big difference; yours shows more terrain features and--"

Just as I was speaking, the part of my mind that was still attached to observing my own personal world caught my own mini-map changing.

My map now looked just like Gwen's.

"Well, mine just changed to be the same," I communicated.

I paused.

"Gwen," I started again, "do you have any tracking skills on your Character Sheet? Maybe since we're doing this together we both benefit from what you can do?"

I was asking about actual skills, as in anything that went beyond the abilities granted by her physical make-up and senses.

"I don't have a Character Sheet," Gwen replied.

What? I had just assumed for all this time that she had.

"So... what do you have?" I asked.

"An ability and traits list," the cat responded. "It tells me what I can and can't do. I gained a few more of both when you guided me into evolving."

Interesting.

"And Mana? Health? Stamina?" I inquired.

"I have those," the panther answered. "My abilities use them, just like yours do."

"Do you have spells?" I asked. "Before you picked up your lightning, we could both us [Mana Blink] the same way?"

"They're not called that," Gwen answered. "Traits are things like my senses. Abilities are things like your spells."

The panthers natural tracking ability probably was the reason my minimap had updated then.

"That's... weird. Why would the System give us separate ways of categorizing powers?" I asked aloud. "I just figured everyone and everything was working off the same power balance."

Maybe it had something to do with creatures, which Gwen had originally been even if I thought of her as more of a person now, being more instinctual? Still, it was odd.

As we were talking, another notification had pinged in my vision.

[You've discovered a new Quest.]

[The Webspinner's Lair]

Quest Conditions: Slay or otherwise permanently defeat Galadhel, the Webspinner.

Time Limit: None.

Rewards: 1 Rare Magic Item.

Do you accept this quest: y/n?

"Give this a look over," I requested of Gwen. "What do you think?"

I felt Gwen's eyes within my own and could sense her mind mulling the words presented by the System alert.

Which meant she could read, I noted. Was that always something she could do, or had it been granted when our souls had further bonded?

"Could you always read?" I asked her. "Like, before you became my familiar?"

"I'd never tried before that," the cat replied, her mind felt split as I could feel it was still finishing up the text it'd been working on, "but it feels normal."

Yeah, to be fair, she wasn't really that old. I still couldn't get my head around the fact that I, or at least myself with the System's help, had created an entirely sapient being.

"I guess that makes sense," I replied to her and trailed off for a moment. "So, the quest? Are you up for it? I personally think it's a better shot at progressing towards clearing this dungeon than stumbling around in the dark looking for lost enemies. Worst case: we take out a major threat that's right here in front of us. Best case: we do that and find out where the Skulkers went, and just who sent them, while we tackle the immediate issue."

The panther's mind slowly redirected its attention away from the words and back to conversating with me. "I follow your lead, Lady Clarissa."

She certainly did... but... why? We were friends. Bonded in a really weird way, but her loyalty was almost more instinctual than freely given.

"Gwen, do you want to follow me? I mean, is that a decision you've made?" I asked.

I felt a strange emotion that I couldn't parse flowing from the cat after she contemplated what I'd asked for a few moments.

"I didn't make the decision," she finally admitted. "It had just always been made."

I felt a little guilt.

"You're my friend, you know," I said. "I'd be really lonely without you and, yeah, we both really don't have anything better to do than work together to escape this mess, but--"

I once again paused as I tried to collect my thoughts.

Then I continued on talking to the panther:

"If you wanted to make a different decision for yourself after all this, then that'd be okay you know?" I said. "I think we're always going to be bonded now, but I want you to follow yourself too and not just me."

The panther purred.

"You have a good heart," she said.

I felt myself redden a bit. "Thanks, but--"

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"Following you is the decision I want to make," Gwen assured me. "It was what I was created to do and, when you bonded ours souls together to save me, it became more than that: I chose to give a part of myself to you too. We're in this together, my lady."

I only felt my own loyalty, freely given, growing as I listened to the panther's straightforward and heartfelt words.

"Thank you," I said, not knowing what else to say, "I'm going to do my best to not let you down."

"You won't," the panther promised me.

I smiled a little. Gwen was a lot more animalistic, but the way she was so sure of herself reminded me of my big sister. And her little bit of honest innocence? That reminded me of my younger sibling.

"So, the quest?" I asked.

"I agree with you," Gwen said, "it's best to hunt your enemies before they can hunt you. Perhaps we've scared off the Skulkers for now, but this Webspinner has already sent these minions of hers against us. We should scout with the map and then decide a course of action."

"We definitely shouldn't rush in, no matter how to the point the quest objective is," I agreed.

My mind lingered on the fact that, despite is seeming like the quest was indeed suggesting it, that the wording didn't necessarily demand that we kill the boss monster it revolved arond; how avoiding doing that might work, I couldn't begin to guess.

Then again, the frostblood monsters had seemed more calculating than the Skulkers had been, which were more like lumbering brutes than the tacticians the spider monsters had leaned more into being.

Of course, the arachnid beings had still attacked us on site with a deadly ambush. So, I couldn't really say I felt all too willing to negotiate with them, but maybe if it came up I'd consider the option.

"I'm accepting the quest then," I told Gwen.

I returned my focus back to the System text:

Do you accept this quest: y/n?

I selected yes.

[A new quest has been added to your journal.]

My eyes shifted up to the minimap that stilled filled both mine and Gwen's vision. There was an arrow leading us further south into the craggy, cold wasteland on the map.

There would be a time to follow the map, and soon, but first.

I glanced around to the many lootable corpses all around.

I'd wasted a lot of resources on the previous, hard-won battle.

I needed to replenish my stores and to rest a little.

"Let's gather up our loot and then we'll see what we can do about the quest," I offered.

Gwen growled in agreement.

I went from corpse to corpse collecting the offered items.

Of course, I looted the remaining two high-level monsters first, before anything else.

The [Bonesilk Archer] offered up only two items, just like the Countess had:

[Loot List]

1. Greater Physical Shard: A soul shard that brims with a greater than average amount of the physical world’s energy. Can be used for spell-forging/enchanting, combined with other soul shards, or refined for consumable crafting. Quantity: 1.

2. Bonesilk Thread: The supple, yet steel-strong, silk produced by an arachnid archer. Item level: 30. Can be used in crafting or as a reagent in certain spells. Quantity: 1.

The [Bonesilk Thread] was interesting. I'm sure it'd have its uses as I further honed my crafting skills, probably as an extra component once I'd unlocked that feature from the Crafting Menu.

The physical shard I'd gotten, meanwhile, meant I'd have a chance to create a few health potions of greater strength. Though probably still of lesser quality, it'd be a major step up from the [Lesser Health Potions] I'd relied on regardless.

But I had a lot more items to collect. It wasn't time to start brewing potions quite yet.

I approached the giant, burned corpse of the [Frostblood Baron] next.

On it, I found something quite interesting indeed:

[Loot List]

1. Greater Poison Shard: A soul shard that brims with the subtle power of deadly poison. Can be used for spell-forging/enchanting

2. Frostblood Poison [Greater]: A blood-freezing, magical poison. Renders creatures without the appropriate resistance completely immobile and paralyzed. Quantity: 5.

Poison, huh? That could be useful, though I didn't really have any weapons that were physical enough to coat with it.

Still, the description made me glad I'd very purposefully avoided being hit by any of the great spider's stingers.

The rest of my looting proved much less eventful.

Despite there being a massive quantity of the [Frostblood Spiders] their lower level seemed to limit their loot tables.

At about a fifty-fifty split I'd collect either a [Lesser Frost Shard] or a [Lesser Poison Shard] from roughly two-thirds of the monsters. The other third would usually at least give me a lesser and lower quantity variant of the [Frostblood Poison].

All in all, I'd collected a ton of poison and a lot of soul shards that weren't of my preferred element.

"Alright," I told Gwen, "that should do it. Let's find somewhere a bit more defensible so I can restock my potions and experiment a little."

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

When I'd reached level fifty in [Leatherworking] I'd been granted a number of basic crafting recipes related to the skill.

Gwen's hunting had come very much in handy when it came to making use of said achievement.

The panther had provided the pelts and skins I'd needed to create a rugged looking tent big enough for two, along with a bedroll for myself and some fur rugs for both of us to lay and walk comfortably on.

It was in this tent that we now rested.

I'd summoned some food from my inventory for Gwen, who was now settled in comfortably atop a deer hide.

I, meanwhile, relaxed atop my bedroll, which was a comfortable mix of deer hide and rabbit fluff.

Three of my earth-shaped clayware cauldrons bubbled in the middle of the tent as a number of soul shards were dissolving in each.

I was glad I'd made sure to stock up on filled waterskins before we'd set out as it seemed having access to liquid for potion-brewing, and just drinking too of course, would prove to be a sticking point for my comfortable survival.

As my potions brewed, I now held my palm out in front of me.

I was a bit frustrated.

Fire magic, being the first magic I'd stumbled upon and invested heavily in, had come easily.

Conjuring fire was all about allowing your mana to flare quickly and brightly. The faster you let it burn up, or the more you compressed it before you let it spark, the more potent the spell would become, only stopping as your spell consumed your mana down to nothing.

Earth magic had taken more work to figure out, as it either required a deep saturation of one's mana into already existing earth or for one to allow their mystical energies to form very tightly into a solid form.

[Stoneskin] for example felt as if I was pouring my mana into my flesh and then allowing said mystical energy to thicken and suffuse the skin into a rough exterior.

That said, I hadn't gotten stone or flame soul shards from the spiders.

I'd gotten frost and poison shards.

Poison magic wasn't so hard to understand.

I'd created a simple spell known as [Sickening Touch] with a lesser shard as a test.

Poison shards seemed inclined to produce necrotic type spells. Though I was sure, as with all shards, that one could get creative with their use.

[Sickening Touch] had allowed me to feel out the necrotic element.

Necrotic spells were actually somewhere between Earth and Fire spells in how it worked it seemed.

Like earth magic, necrotic magic needed to be suffused into a target's being to really get the desired affect.

I'd tested this on a few already withering plants.

Unlike, earth magic, however necrotic magic didn't strengthen whatever it suffused into.

Like fire, necrotic magic wanted to consume whatever it touched. Only necrotic magic didn't burn, it rotted; and it didn't feel warm, but rather cold and dead.

After figuring all of this out, I'd racked my brain for a possible use of the element that would best suit me.

I had finally settled upon creating a spell, similar to [Sickening Touch] which simply rotted whatever it attacked, but that would more allow me to play to my own skills.

My flame magic would remain my main attack skill.

However, I always had a free-hand when I used my conjured blade.

I'd also used very little of my hand-to-hand experience up until this point.

So, with that in mind, I'd created the [Sap Strength] necrotic spell.

The idea behind the spell had been inspired by me remembering just how exhausting being in a hard fight or spar could be and how every hit would feel like it carved a bit of your strength off of your fortitude.

Essentially, sap strength would allow me to drain just a little bit of my opponent's stamina every time I touched them. Or, every time I punched or grappled them.

The spell was, to me, a dedication to trying to further expand some of my other strengths.

Being vulnerable to the poison of the [Frostblood Spiders] had shown me that being too tightly specialized could create vulnerabilities.

I still couldn't afford to move too far away from what I was good at, but I did feel comfortable enough to now to start trying some new things.

It was with this spirit of adventure in mind that I'd then moved onto trying to use some of my [Lesser Frost Shards].

Frost magic, however, proved to be absolutely nothing like either earth, fire, or necrotic.

Trying to push more mana into frost worked in the strictest sense, but the more I imagined pumping power into the spell I'd created, a simple one dubbed [Frostbite], the more the magic seemed to push back against me.

It was as if frost magic was entirely opposite of what I was used to and it frustrated me.

So, as a small stream of ice danced above my palm, and a trickle of sweat dripped down my forehead, I finally gave up with a sigh.

I just wasn't getting it and it seemed the System noticed too as its rate of rewarding me [Frost Manipulation] was practically glacial when compared to how generous it generally was.

Maybe I'd have better luck if I stewed on it for a while.

I took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from my brow.

My eyes redirected to the bubbling potion pots. My brews should be just about done anyway.

I got up to approach the first of the three pots. A foaming red broth threw up puffs of cinnamon smelling smoke into the air directly above the earthware.

[Finalize your potion: y/n?]

I selected yes and was greeted by the expected alert.

[You have created [Greater Health Potion (Poor)] x 5.]

The next pot had a minty and blueberry smelling concoction and rewarded me with a few more mana potions.

The final pot, however, bubbled a gross sludge black.

[Finalize your potion: y/n?]

With a much greater curiosity, I again selected yes.

[You have created [Lesser Poison (Average)] x 5.]

About what I'd expected from the [Lesser Poison Shards] I guess.

I pulled up the item block

[Lesser Poison (Average): A poison of a relatively weak variety. Brewed adequately, this concoction manages to bring out a little of the base component's ability to cause sickness. If ingested this poison will cause 5hp/s of poison damage for 30 secs. If coated on a weapon, the weapon's next hit will cause 1hp/s of poison damage for 30 secs. If thrown onto the ground, unlike stronger poisons which may create a noxious cloud, this poison will dissipate mostly harmlessly.]

The hint that stronger poisons could be used as some sort of chemical grenade was interesting, but currently mostly out of reach, unless I wanted to sacrifice my single [Greater Poison Shard] to further experiment with which I wasn't quite ready to do yet.

Again, though, I was running into the issue of not having a physical weapon to coat with poison.

My [Raging Blade] was a pretty potent weapon and it gave me a lot of versatility. Especially because I couldn't really be permanently disarmed if I relied on magic to form my weaponry.

Still, it had its drawbacks.

My mind began to mull over a few possible solutions as I took in the sunset between the tent flaps.

"It's getting late," I said to Gwen, somewhat absentmindedly, "I can get the first watch if you want to nod off?"

The panther growled a bit. "I can finish eating while you rest for a little while. Get some rest, my lady."

I reached up to rub my eyes.

The panther seemed to need a lot less sleep than I did. Though, I knew she liked lounging at certain times much more than most people I knew.

"Alright," I said, not putting up much of a fight, "but wake me up before too long. We both need our sleep if we're going to start on the quest tomorrow morning."

Gwen bit and tore into her meal.

"I will," she promised. "Rest."