Gaia was still having trouble sleeping and woke up multiple times a night. She knew her room was safe but was still paranoid that what happened would occur again. She stayed awake after the third nightmare and just focused on practicing with her webs and Mana Influence. She had been at it for a few hours when she heard a knock at her door and Griff asking if she was awake. She said yes and they went to get breakfast. Ferguson joined them a few minutes later.
After breakfast they went to check out the stores and stalls. They went through most of the armor shops. Griff was looking for a new set of armor that would be stronger but still flexible. He didn’t find anything he liked until they arrived at Will and Summer’s shop. He found a leather armor set that was made from some kind of reptile hide. It covered his chest and legs but left his arms uncovered. Ferguson got himself a cuirass made from monster scales. Gaia didn’t find anything she needed as her armor was always active.
They continued looking around the shops and didn’t find much. Griff found himself a set of scaled arm guards and shin guards that would allow him to block attacks instead of dodging. Ferguson found himself a short sword and a new knife to defend himself in close combat. Gaia felt around the stalls and shops but didn’t find anything until she found a small stone. It was oblong and felt hard to the touch. It felt like it was calling to her when she touched it but didn’t know why.
“What’s this?” She asked.
“Just a nice smooth black stone. It dropped from a monster, but no one knows what it is. I thought I could sell it for decoration. No one’s wanted it, though.” The man stated.
“How much do you want for it?” She asked.
“Wait. You actually want it? Then I’ll take ten stone cores for it.” He said after a moment.
She quickly took out ten stone cores and handed them to the man. She then took the odd stone. She still didn’t understand why it felt like it was calling to her, but she held onto it. They went around to a few different shops until she heard Jess call out to her.
“Hey what are you guys doing?”
“We’re out shopping for some things. We’ve mainly gotten equipment though.” Griff replied.
“Well, have y’all gotten new clothes yet?” Jess asked.
“No. Why would I need any?” Gaia asked.
“You always need some. You’re always wearing the same dress, aren’t you?” She replied.
“Yeah, it’s from my armor. It repairs itself.”
“So, you haven’t gotten any new clothes since you got the armor?” Jess asked incredulously.
“No. I don’t need it.”
“Ferguson. Griff. You two will be helping me select some clothes for her.” Jess stated.
“What?” All three replied.
“You heard me.” Jess stated as she started pushing them towards a store.
If there is one thing Gaia never wanted to do again it was shop for clothes with Jess. Jess was extremely surprised when she found out Gaia didn’t even have undergarments. So, she took her time to choose multiple for Gaia to wear. It took them around five hours of trying clothes on before she let the party go with around five new dresses. That didn’t even include the other things Jess bought for Gaia and made her promise to wear.
Gaia now officially hated women’s clothing. Everything felt restricting. The only comfortable thing she had was the armor’s dress form which was loose and comfortable. The worst part was that she couldn’t even put half of the dresses on without assistance. She had some clothes to wear if she needed to dress nicely, at least that’s what she thought.
After the ordeal with Jess and the clothes they made their way back to the inn. She had her armor out in her usual long dress but realized she still had on one of the dresses. Her armor was somehow over the new dress which was odd as it didn’t feel like it was when she walked. When they got back to the inn she put her new dresses in her room, dropped her armor as they were back, and went to get dinner. She walked over and knocked on the guy's room. Ferguson opened the door and just stared for a moment before letting her in. She asked them if they wanted to go get dinner and they agreed. She walked towards the tavern. The dress she wore was floor length and mostly black with red lace around the bottom with some red ribbons across the front. It also had a couple small red roses made from ribbon on each side of her hips. As they walked, she felt the guys staring.
“What?” She finally asked.
“You just look really good in the dress.” They stated almost in unison.
“Ok? That doesn’t mean you have to stare.” She stated questioningly.
The two seemed flustered for a moment before they averted their gaze, and the group ate dinner. She felt a few more stares while they ate but was able to just ignore them. After dinner she went back to her room and used her analyze skill on the stone she’d bought earlier that day.
Familiar’s Egg. - Can be bound by blood. Once bound, hatches immediately. Egg holds a familiar that has yet to be hatched.
She just stared at the screen and reread it a few times before she charged into the guys room.
“Do you two know what a familiar is?” She asked.
“Yeah. It’s a monster made from a person’s mana that is bound to them. They can have a variety of different abilities. Why?” Griff asked.
“This is a Familiars egg.” She stated holding it out.
“What? That’s not possible. They can only be made and bound through a familiar ability or skill. How did an egg for one appear?” He asked incredulously.
“Do you know what kind it is?” Fergus asked.
“No. I won’t know until it hatches.” She stated.
“Then try and hatch it.” He suggested.
“Do you have a knife I can use?” She asked.
She felt the handle of a blade be put in her free hand. She quickly made a small cut in one of her fingers and placed it on the egg. A moment later the sound of cracking of stone started. It lasted for around a minute before it stopped and heard a small yip. It sounded like a puppy which was weird, but she felt the area she’d put the egg. There was a small puppy sitting in the cracked shell.
Its fur felt extremely soft, but her hand would occasionally feel like it was passing through the creature. She just pet it for a while before Griff and Ferguson came closer and went to pet it. It made the smallest, cutest growl she’d ever heard. It was more adorable than threatening. She told it they were friends and after a couple minutes they were petting the little dog happily.
“What color is it?” Gaia asked.
“It’s black, like pitch black.” Griff replied.
This made Gaia think about her dog from earth. She’d had a large black lab she’d named Shadow. She decided it was a fitting name for the puppy and thus it was named Shadow. After a few more minutes of loving on the little fur ball she analyzed it using her skill.
Name - Shadow
Race – Shadow Hound Familiar
Rank - Normal
Level - 1
Title:
Hatched Bond – Familiar has had no bond before. Familiar has a parental bond with Hatcher. Senses can be shared through bond. When used, sense cannot be used by other entity.
Skills:
Bite
Claw – Creature attacks by slashing its claws. Has a small chance to inflict the bleed condition.
Shape change – Creature can change its shape into any other creature of its rank or lower.
Abilities:
Incorporeal body – Creature has an incorporeal body and can shift between an incorporeal and corporal state. All of creature's attacks deal magic damage and effect incorporeal enemies.
Keen senses – Creature has heightened smell and hearing. Extremely loud noises can cause deafened condition.
Strength – 1
Resistance – 1 (???)
Recovery – 1
Reflex – 10
Spirit – 1 (Poison)
Tamer Quest: Raise Hatched Familiar Shadow to Stone rank. 0/1
Gaia stared at the screen for a while. She reread it multiple times and every time she stopped at one specific section. “Senses can be shared.” She thought about that for a while. She might be able to see through its eyes, but it would make Shadow blind while she did. She decided to try it after Shadow ranked up and only use it sparingly. She also looked at the question marks next to the Resistance stat and wondered what they meant. For now, she just picked up Shadow and went back to her room for the night.
The next morning, after the group had finished breakfast, Gaia decided to check everyone’s status. Ferguson and Griff had asked her to check their statuses as well. They could check their own but couldn’t check anyone else’s without an ability. This gave Gaia an idea. She used her analyze skill on herself and tried to make it appear for them as well. It didn’t work at first, but she did have a screen pop up in front of her.
Create party with Ferguson Carrelion and Griffon Magnus?
Yes/No
She clicked yes and heard the other to start for a second. Then heard them say they could see it.
Name – Gaia
Race – Earthbound Lost
Titles:
Unwanted
Cracked Spirit
Blasphemer
??? – Stat and Level Limit increased.
Class – Unwanted Tamer
Rank – Stone
Level – 23
Bonds – 3/3 (Effected by Spirit)
Skills:
Ability copy – Copied Abilities (2/3)
Spirit Bond
Earth Glide
Healing Shot
Abilities:
Tamer’s Guide
Defensive Nature
Web Manipulation
Toxic Spirit
Irradiated Defense – Defensive barrier has Radiation magic emanating from it. Whenever defensive barrier is struck, attacker is inflicted with radiation poisoning.
Bound items:
Living Silk Armor
Barbed Vines (Barbed Seeds)
Strength – 33 (Unbound)
Resistance – 440 (Radiation)
Recovery – 137 (Unbound)
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Reflex – 38 (Unbound)
Spirit – 490 (Poison)
Radiation Poisoning – Condition. Causes low damage over time. Instances refresh when inflicted again. Instances can stack. Afflicted entity has strength stat slightly reduced when inflicted and worsens as instances increase.
She saw that she had spot to copy an ability and chose to copy Keen Senses. This would make it easier for her to tell the general direction something was by sound and smell. It would be more helpful in every situation compared to Shadow’s other ability. Ferguson and Griff stared at her status screen aghast for a bit before she pulled up Malachite and Liv’s Status screens.
Name - Malachite
Race – Speed Turtle (Stone-hide)
Rank - Stone
Level - 23
Title - Unchosen bond
Skills:
Bite
Hide
Size change
Shell bash
Water shot
Abilities:
Defensive Nature
Creator of Currents
Strength – 33
Resistance – 440 (Radiation)
Recovery – 161
Reflex – 321
Spirit – 161 (Poison)
Name - Liv
Race – Living Weave
Rank - Stone
Level - 12
Title - Unchosen bond
Skills:
Bite
Bind
Poison Shot
Trapped Webs
Abilities:
Web manipulation
Woven Webs
Strength – 43
Resistance – 43 (Radiation)
Recovery – 85
Reflex – 64
Spirit – 430 (Poison)
The entire group looked at their stats and almost couldn’t believe their eyes. Some of the stats they had were well above what they should be for their rank and level. They also looked at the monsters' highest stats and realized that each of them was specialized for a role. Malachite with his high resistance and reflex stats was set to be a vanguard. He could keep attention on him for long periods and take quite a few strong hits even if he couldn’t dodge them. Liv on the other hand was set up to be a mid to rearguard. She had some skills that allowed her to control multiple monsters at a time and some to deal damage from a long range.
Gaia was set to be a mid-guard as she could control multiple enemies and make it easier for any monsters to be dealt with quickly. Her damage over time abilities made her perfect for this as she could inflict a multitude of enemies at a time and could bind them while the others dealt with any stronger monsters. After realizing this Griff and Fergus let her analyze them.
Name – Ferguson Carrelion
Race – Human
Titles:
Gale Loved – All ranged attacks have the wind attribute.
Wind whisperer – All attacks that have the wind attribute deal increased damage.
Class – Bowman
Rank – Stone
Level – 23
Skills:
Gale Arrow – When an arrow is imbued with mana it gains a wind barrier. Wind barriers increase the arrows speed and damage.
Arrow Stab - Attacks with arrows at melee range deal slightly higher damage. The first melee strike with an arrow deals high damage.
Multi-Shot – Allows multiple arrows to be fired at once to the maximum of Three.
Gust Blade – Fires a small blade of Wind attribute mana towards an enemy within fifty feet. Damage and blade size can be increased by increasing mana cost.
Wind Barrier – A Wind Barrier is constantly in place around the holder. Causes physical projectiles to miss the holder. Does not effect magical projectiles..
Abilities:
Ranged Proficiency – All attacks with ranged weapons have a higher accuracy. All attacks with melee weapons deal reduced damage.
Bow mastery – All attacks with bows have increased accuracy and deal increased damage.
Swordsmanship – Attacks with swords deal slightly higher damage.
Volley – Shortens the time required to reload when firing multiple shots.
Bow combat – Slight increase to damage when making melee attacks with a bow or arrow.
Bound items:
Seed of Range/Vine Bow
Strength – 138
Resistance – 74
Recovery – 170
Reflex – 490 (Wind)
Spirit – 170
Name – Griffon Magnus
Race – Human
Titles:
Mana Circulator – Mana naturally circulates through title holder's body. Physical attacks deal increased damage and magic damage. Reduces aging process.
Mana Efficient – All skills and attacks that require mana have a reduced cost.
Class – Magic Martial Artist
Rank – Stone
Level – 23
Skills
Shoulder charge – User rams an enemy with their shoulder dealing low damage. The longer the run before a hit the higher damage is dealt. Knocks the monster back depending on momentum. Has a chance to stagger the enemy.
Palm strike – User slams an enemy with their palm dealing high damage ignoring resistance. Can be charged using mana to increase damage.
Counter – User redirects an enemy’s attack and counters using their momentum. Deals high damage. Low chance to stun.
Mana Shot– Fires a small bolt of mana towards an enemy within fifty feet. Range and damage can be increased by increasing mana cost.
Healing Shot
Abilities:
Unarmed Proficiency – All attacks made without weapons deal increased damage.
Mana dense – Defensive Barrier is enhanced by mana and can use entity’s mana reserves to replenish.
Lightweight – Damage increases while not wearing metal armor.
Magical Martial arts – All unarmed attacks deal additional magic damage.
Mana Bound – Reflex and Spirit stat are bound and grow at an increased rate at the cost of resistance.
Bound items:
Wooden Impact Gauntlets (Seeds of Impact)
Strength – 170
Resistance – 42
Recovery – 170
Reflex – 330
Spirit – 330 (Unattributed)
They all read through their abilities. Griff and Ferguson read through their own and then through everyone's. They quickly explained that while their own statuses showed them their own skills and abilities they weren’t as detailed as what her ability showed. For example, Fergusons Arrow Stab ability just stated he could stab something with an arrow to deal a lot of damage. Now he knew it would work with all such attacks but the first dealt more damage. This let them get a better grasp on their own abilities.
As they read their statuses, they all stopped at the odd title Gaia had. It increased her stat and level limit. This was an odd thing as when someone reached level one hundred, they were stuck at that level until they ranked up. This meant she could continue to level up beyond that limit until she could rank up. She could increase her level and stats, but her skills and abilities wouldn’t improve until ranking up. This was both a blessing and a curse. It would make it harder to rank up as she would hit her limit later, but she would be stronger starting out at the next rank.
This would also make it harder to keep up with her teammates. Griff and Ferguson were both humans. This meant they obtained more abilities during normal rank and that they’d level up a bit quicker. Therefore, they would also rank up a bit sooner than her. They had explained this to her, but it hadn’t really mattered until this new title changed that for her. This would cause her to rank up much later than them.
She was worried what that would mean for their future hunts and activities but knew that her teammates would stick with her. They decided to worry about how that would affect them when they reached that point. They went back to their rooms and prepared for the day. They would take a couple requests to get back into a rhythm since the Mana Torrent should start within another day or two.
They took two requests, both of which were stone rank subjugation requests. One was for a monster known as a Mantis Beetle which was an insect creature that was a mix between a praying mantis and a beetle. It had a pair of scythe-like appendages from a praying mantis with the pincers of a stag beetle and had a carapace that was as hard as iron. It was also around the size of a small house. They were known to be solitary monsters so there would likely only be one but had been seen in pairs before. The second request was for a beast type monster known as a Behemoth Hexabeast. It was similar to a Bison but had six legs and two large hippo-like heads. It was a quick monster and was known to be difficult to defeat since it used its swift movements to dodge attacks and would become enraged and attack wildly when it was heavily wounded.
Both requests were within an hour walk from each other. The Mantis Beetle request was from a small village just within the Shimmering Forest and the Behemoth Hexabeast request was just outside the forest towards the west. It was mainly plains in that direction and was where some farming villages were located. They decided to go for the Mantis Beetle first since it would require them to go into the forest. The group swiftly made their way to the village and were greeted by a group of villagers waiting at the main gate.
“Hello there. I am this Villages leader. Are you all the Hunters here for the monsters?” An elderly man asked.
“Yes, we are sir. Can you tell us what you know about them?” Griff answered.
“These young ones can tell you. They were the ones to see them.” The Elder explained.
“Ah. Yes. I saw one of ‘em. It was flying around the trees about a mile to the west of the village. It was a big black beetle creature. It was cutting the trees in its way, and I ran as soon as I saw it.” A young man stated.
“I saw the other one. It was around the same area as I saw a bunch of cut trees but was smaller than what he described. It was around the size of a horse and was a brownish color.” A young woman added.
“So, there’s likely two of them. Since they’re different sizes and colors I’m guessing a male and female. I’m guessing the male tracked her here since they were seen on different days.” Ferguson suggested.
“Sounds like a good guess.” Said Gaia.
“Thank you. We’d best start heading in that direction.” Griff told the villagers as their party started to head to the spot the monsters were sighted.
They arrived at the area within the hour and began to follow the trail of sliced trees and small holes from the monsters' movements. They tracked the monsters for a couple hours before finding them. It appeared that it was the monsters mating season as they found one of the monsters doing something with its pincers in front of the other, at least that’s what Griff described to Gaia.
They quickly made a plan of attack. The larger one was a female and could fly so they would need to trap its wings to keep it on the ground. The other one was a male which couldn’t fly but was quicker on its legs. Malachite would carry Gaia out, she and Liv would use their webs to bind the females wings while Malachite attacked the male and kept its attention. Griff would help Malachite deal with the male while Fergus would have his arrows ready to hit the females wings if she broke free. He would also back up both groups by using his Gale Arrows to deal some damage to each but would focus on the female.
With the plan ready they enacted it. Gaia was on Malachite's back as he ran out towards the monsters. He was creating water shots as he ran. Liv was moving around Gaias armor and took control over it to create the body suit as she prepared some poison shots and some trapped web balls. Gaia made her webs and was sending them out, when one finally touched one of the monsters, she hopped off Malachite's shell. Before she hit the ground Malachite had already changed her chair into his poisoned spikes and he charged towards the smaller monster before bashing his spike covered shell into it.
Liv had thrown her trapped webs out which were small balls of webs that when they hit a surface unraveled into a large web. One hit the female beetle and wrapped around the back of its shell forcing her wings shut. She’d also sent her poison shots out and hit the female beetle. Gaia was wrapping her webs around the female and binding her wings even tighter while trying to bind its blades appendages. Her attempts kept it from being able to cut the webs Liv had attached.
Griff had sprinted in soon after Malachite had rushed forward and had activated his gauntlets before slamming into the male with a shoulder charge. This shoved the monster back about ten feet before it regained its balance and moved towards them. Fergus was firing Gale Arrows at the females bladed arms trying to cut one of them off. The shots were distracting the monster and one even bound it with vines. This allowed Gaia to wrap up the appendages in her webs and bound them to its body. The monster wasn’t going to be able to unbind itself easily.
This allowed Ferguson to focus on the male. Griff and Malachite were dealing constant damage to the monster and Fergusons arrows added to them. Within about a minute and a half the monster was dead and they all focused on the female that was bound by webs. Gaia had been poisoning the monster with her webs and it was slowly being dealt more and more damage. It didn’t last but a minute after that with the entire group focused on it.
They were relaxing before setting out towards the second request when she realized Shadow had leveled up a few times. She picked up the little fur-ball that had stayed back by Ferguson during the fight and pet her while they relaxed. The other two also came closer to love on the puppy. Looking at Shadow’s level, Gaia realized that if they took one more stone rank request when they got back, Shadow would likely rank up.
They discussed the idea as they headed towards the second request and decided that they’d discuss it after they returned. It took them about half an hour to arrive at the area for the second request. When they arrived, they could immediately tell something was off. Malachite sent her an image through their bond of the area. It was an area that looked like it had once been a farm with a house. Now it was a barren area that appeared to have been completely trampled with some wooden ruins to one side of the road. The only thing still standing was a thick stone wall that appeared to have had a chimney in one section. Shadow was between Griff and Gaia as they approached.
Fergus quickly started scanning the area around them cautiously. Griff did the same while Fergus started to move towards the area where the house had been. As he was heading towards it, Gaia heard the sound of hooves rapidly approaching from that direction.
“Fergus! I think it’s coming towards us!” She yelled.
He moved to run back as a massive impact could be heard. Soon after she could hear the sound of stones slamming into the ground around them. The sound of the hooves didn’t stop though, she could hear them swiftly approaching them. She quickly sent out her webs and focused them all in the direction of the noise. When she felt something heavy and fast hit them, she tried to bind the legs, but it was too quick for her to be able wrap them enough to stop it. It shredded the thin webs as it ran through the group.
Liv started to make her trapped webs and threw them all around the group with thin passages between for Griff to run through. Malachite had already rushed after the beast when it passed them the first time. Liv had prepared more trapped webs for when the monster came back towards them. Fergus was launching arrows at the monster but only landed a few shots as it was too fast for him to be able to aim accurately. Griff was poised, ready for when the monster came in for another rush.
After a few seconds the monster turned and started racing towards the group again. When it reached Liv’s webs it slowed but continued barreling through them as Liv hit it with more. Gaia had weaved all of her webs together to make a singular thick thread and wrapped the monsters back legs with it. This time as the monster hit another of Liv’s web traps it stopped as the first trap had slowed it and bound its front two legs. The second had bound its middle pair and Gaia had successfully bound its back set. It slid a few feet before stopping. Gaia and Liv swiftly started using more webs to make the binding more secure.
The monster was strong and was already trying to break through the webbing. It was also snapping its jaws at the party as they got close, so they stayed towards its center mass. Thankfully, Gaia's webs had also already started poisoning the monster. Once the monster had been stopped Griff started pummeling the monster with attacks. He started with a shoulder charge as Fergus was firing arrow after arrow into the monsters hide. Malachite had caught up and hit the monster with a shell bash as he made his spikes. Gaia continuously created webs to keep the monster bound while using her vines to cut the monster and bleed it. Liv was doing the same and making trapped webs which she lobbed at the creature and used some poison shots to hit with some extra damage.
Malachite continued to bite the creature while also using some mana to create water shots that pelted the creature as it was trapped. Griff just finished unloading a massive combination of attacks when the monster let out a maddened roar. As it did it seemed to grow and bulk up by a good foot, and it broke free from the webs. It broke through their traps and formation. It was stronger and quicker than before as it made its way in a semicircular around them almost instantly. Gaia was stunned and had ringing in her ears from the monster's roar and didn’t notice it until it started charging towards them. They didn’t realize it had passed them and had Griff in its jaws.
They panicked and swiftly starting firing arrows and poison or water shots at the monster as it charged in a circle around them biting Griff. It made a quick turn and charged towards them with its second head. This time they were able to dodge thanks to Malachite hitting it with a shell bash that knocked it away from Fergus. This caused it to change its target to Gaia though. Shadow was by Fergus and tried to jump between them to block the attack but was too slow.
Gaia was quickly snapped up in the monster's second maw, it’s tusks attempting to dig into her. Liv had activated her armor at the beginning of the fight, so it wasn’t a horrible situation. It was also only hurting her defensive barrier which in turn was dealing damage and causing its attacks and strength to weaken with each hit. Fergus was hitting the monster with arrows less frequently as he didn’t want to hit one of his teammates that were now attached to it. Griff was punching the monster while it held him but had been dealing less and less damage as his mana was drained to bolster his barrier. He had managed to break one of its tusks as he attacked it.
The monster eventually let the two of them go and Fergus let loose with a bunch of his multi-shot skill. Each attack having at least two arrows hit as it charged towards him. Malachite was also launching water shots as it barreled towards them. As it neared it abruptly lost its strength and its legs gave out. It buckled and its front head slammed into the ground as it started to bounce end over end for a moment before skidding to a stop around thirty feet past Fergus. He quickly shot more arrows to ensure its death and sprinted towards his friends.
Griff had gotten up and was a bit frazzled from the ordeal but was otherwise alright. It was the same for Gaia and she thanked Liv for activating her armor. The group rested for a moment before going over to where the monster had quickly started to dissolve. There weren’t any items that it dropped but they were thankful to see that the monster was truly dead.