The following day came too soon for Kyto; he enjoyed being back in his bed, cuddled up with Tabs. "Can't we just stay here?" He said.

"Only if you want to starve. We need to go and make stacks." She said.

"Yeah, I know, but I missed this." He said, cuddling into the back.

"No. That's not fair." She said, pushing him away and climbing from the bed.

Kyto smiled as he watched her climb from the bed. He did love this woman. Tabs was finishing getting dressed when the usual shout up the stairs came from Crystal.

"Come on, Tabs. Everyone is waiting."

"Coming." She yelled back. She stooped, pecking Kyto on the lips and jumping back as he went to grab her and pull her back down.

"No." She said, smiling. "See you tonight." She called, running out of the door.

"Remember to take the tonic I brought back," he called after her.

Kyto lay there for a few more minutes before he dragged himself out of bed. He felt better today, his body and mind recovering fully from the mana exhaustion.

Stretching off, he then pulled on some clothes before heading downstairs. He was slowly getting used to the transparency display. However, he could not see Tiddles's red dot and wondered where he may be.

Walking into the kitchen, he lit the wood burner and walked to the back veranda. One reason they had picked this property was that it had a well. The well was ancient, and when they had first moved in, Kyto had spent time repairing the mechanism so they could raise and lower a bucket to collect water. There was a stream at the end of the property, and Kyto still hoped to get a water supply for the house sorted at some point.

He took the bucket back inside, poured some water into a pan, and then boiled it on the burner. Once it was boiling, he added it to the coffee pot and, pouring himself a mug, sat down at the kitchen table.

"Morning." A small voice said.

"Morning, Rosie." He said, looking over and smiling at the cub walking in from the garage.

"Where is Tiddles?" He asked.

"Dad is getting breakfast." She replied.

"Ah. Ok." He said.

"Can we have some water?" Rosie asked.

"Sure," Kyto replied. He walked to the bucket he had brought in and grabbed a bowl before tipping some into it.

"Here you go." He said.

"Thanks." She replied.

She sat down at the bowl, slurping away at the water, and called out after a few moments. "Boys, drinks in here."

Moments later, two fur balls came flying in from the garage area, skidding across the floor to the bowl. "Me first," Pouncer said, shoulder barging into Sneezy, who had just stuck his head in the bowl.

"No. I was first." Sneezy said, pawing his brother on the side.

Then, the two of them fought and rolled around the kitchen floor. Kyto watched with a smile on his face at the two boys. Until Pouncer crashed into the water bowl as Sneezy dived out of his way, sending the contents sloshing across the floor.

"Now look what you two have done," Rosie shouted, glaring at her brothers.

"It is ok," Kyto said, standing and walking over, picking up the bowl. He then refilled it, but before placing it back down, he took a second bowl and filled it also.

"There you go, one each." He said.

Pouncer and Sneezy were still arguing as their noses dove into the bowls.

After wiping up the spilt water, Kyto chuckled at the pair and poured himself another coffee.

He sat sipping on his coffee when he saw the red dot of Tiddles appear on his display. Tiddles moved very quickly. The speed at which his dot travelled was unbelievable; only moments later, it arrived back at the garage.

"Breakfast," Tiddles called.

The three cubs turned, bolting back into the garage. Kyto stood following them.

Lying on the garage floor was the carcass of a small Wild One, and the three cubs were diving into it, tearing chunks off before swallowing them.

Kyto's stomach rolled a little at the sight, having never seen them eat before, and their predatory nature was clearly visible.

"Morning." He said to Tiddles.

"Morning."

"I did not get a notification when you attacked whatever that thing is," Kyto said.

"It is a Prangton. I also wonder if we have to be in a certain range." Tiddles said.

"Probably," Kyto said.

"Let’s leave the cubs to their breakfast," Tiddles said, heading into the house.

Kyto followed Tiddles back inside, topping his coffee up before heading into the living room.

"So, skills then," Kyto said.

"What about them?" Tiddles asked.

"Which ones do you have?"

"Several, after the upgrade, I had 57 AK points to spend. I had three choices: stealth, physical and elemental."

"I had 54 initially. What did you choose?"

"I had started to look at elemental initially but decided to split them between elemental and stealth eventually."

"Why not physical?"

"Until I met that Vilorse, I did not think I needed more physical skills, but now I wish I had considered them."

"Vilorse?"

"The thing that cut me and poisoned me."

"Ahh."

"That thing was like nothing I have seen before. There are six legs, although the front two can be used as arms; it's ugly as hell. Looks like part Keefir and part spider."

"That sounds like an interesting mix."

"It is the first time I have ever left a fight."

"You left it."

"Yeah. I felt so bad from the cut that I could not focus."

"I hope it is not nearby."

"I haven't seen any sign of it since. I returned to where we fought this morning, and its scent was going away from here."

"That is good to know, at least. So, what skills do you have now."

"Stealth tier 1 at level 4, Shadow Meld tier 2 at level 1, Elemental Fire tier 1 at level 5, Elemental Combat tier 2 at level 4, Flaming Bite tier 3 at level 1, Flaming Claw tier 3 at level 1."

"So, you have combat skills."

"Sort of. They are elemental, though, and I cannot use them without mana support. I did not know until I had selected them; they have a mana need, and I cannot draw on mana."

"Oh. So, you need mana to use them."

"Yes. Although they are elemental skills, they do not trigger without a mana supply."

"What do they do exactly?"

"Flaming Bite says at level 5 I can breathe fire, and Flaming Claw at level 5 says my claws will burn." He said, smiling.

"Damn! Breath fire!" Kyto said in amazement.

"Yeah, but I have not seen what either does currently."

"Well, I have a skill called Wielder Support tier 2 level 4, meaning I can provide mana. It has a 200% efficiency, so for every one mana spent, I can provide two." He said, smiling.

Tiddles was excited at this revelation. "Oh. Could you try now and see what happens?"

"Sure."

Kyto focussed on Tiddles and began to construct the strands. They were unlike his healing strands, which had a fluidity to them and were more rigid in appearance. He began to push the strand from his body towards Tiddles.

"I can see it," Tiddles said excitedly.

A perfectly straight yellow strand had begun to leave Kyto's outstretched hand and move towards Tiddles. A beam of light was the only way Kyto could describe it. The beam hit Tiddles in his chest, and a yellow glow appeared.

Tiddles and Kyto's displays triggered.

Congratulations, you have formed a mana stream. Mana streams may only be maintained by line of sight.

"I have a mana reserve," Tiddles said excitedly, slowly watching his display as it raised.

Kyto's pool was slowly reducing as he streamed mana into Tiddles.

"That was 50 mana I just pushed into you," Kyto said, cutting the stream.

"My reserve is at 100."

"So, it works then," Kyto said, smiling.

"Let me try one of my skills."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Tiddles focused on his Flaming Claws skill and his display trigger.

Flaming Claws activation costs 50 mana and 50 elemental sparks. Flaming Claws duration will last for 10 seconds. Duration will increase with level upgrades. +50% damage to lifeforms susceptible to fire damage. +25% damage to other lifeforms unless fire elemental when extra damage bonuses have no effect.

Kyto was watching his display and noticed that he could now see Tiddles's mana reserve as a small yellow bar underneath his elemental and watched as both dropped.

"I saw you activate them," Kyto said.

"How?" Tiddles said.

"I adjusted my display to show party status details as a transparency."

"Can you tell me how? That sounds handy."

Kyto spent a couple of minutes explaining how he had adjusted his display.

"This is strange."

"You get used to it. I only did it yesterday, and it already feels quite normal."

"I hope so."

"So flaming claws, what did it do."

"Bonus damage and also uses both elemental and mana reserves."

"Nice."

"Yeah, but it's costly and only lasts 10 seconds. The duration increases with level increases."

"Well, it is good to have an idea."

"I will try Flaming Bite."

Tiddles went to activate the skill when his display triggered.

Insufficient mana reserve to activate skill.

"Strange, I should have 50 mana left, but it will not activate. Ohhhhhh."

"What?"

"My mana reserve seems to drop over time. I do not think I can keep hold of it."

"Damn, so to be able to activate the skills multiple times, I will have to be nearby then."

"It looks that way."

"I wonder what range the stream will work to."

"Let’s find out." Tiddles stood and made his way outside.

Once they were in the garden, Kyto reactivated his stream. This time, the stream immediately appeared and connected with Tiddles.

"Looks like now it is linked. It automatically joins," Kyto said, smiling. He was slowly refilling his pool from the plants in the garden as he streamed into Tiddles.

"This is going to take some time to work out how efficient this will be," Tiddles said.

"Yeah. None of this is straightforward. Move away and see how far you can be from me."

Tiddles began to back away; he passed twenty-five metres, and the stream cut out.

"Well, at least we have an idea of the distance I can stream now," Kyto said.

Tiddles activated his flaming bite skill, his display triggering.

Flaming Bite activation costs 50 mana and 50 elemental sparks. Flaming Bites duration will last for 10 seconds. Duration will increase with level upgrades. +50% damage to lifeforms susceptible to ice damage. +25% damage to other lifeforms unless fire elemental when extra damage bonuses have no effect.

"Flaming Bite has the same effect as Flaming Claws."

"Great bonuses to damage, then. How long does your elemental core take to recharge?"

"Not sure. I have never really checked."

Tiddles watched his pool as it slowly recharged. "It appears that I regain one spark per second and have a pool of 1000."

"So, you can get many activations before recharging fully. That is good to know."

"It seems that way, although my mana reserve drops at one every 2 to 3 seconds."

"And what is your pool size?"

"Ummm. Looking at this, it is 500."

"So, I can pump you with 500 initially, and then it will remain for about 15 minutes or so?"

"Possibly."

"Well, at least we have a starting point to work from."

"True, but I am unsure how this would work if I were fighting. I can quickly cover the distance, which could put me out of range."

"I know. I understand how you fight from the actualisation skill and your usual approach, but maybe we must adapt. I am not a fighter. I have never been in a situation where I have had to fight for my life, and apart from having an understanding of what you do from actualisation, I have only ever witnessed your attack on the slave previously."

"I think we need to go hunting then."

"I think for now, we need to continue working through our alignment a little more and try and understand what these quests mean."

"I forgot to say when I killed the Prangton earlier. I got a kill towards my quest. Only 95 experience for the kill as it was such a small Prangton, but it seems any kill counts."

"That is good to know. My issue is that my healing skill experience does not work unless I use it on someone else."

"Can you not just heal people? I mean, many people must get injured in New Talisia."

"There are many injuries, but I have not wanted to advertise that I can heal. There seems to be uncertainty since the upgrade, and several have been fanaticising about it."

"You have not shown anyone what you can do?"

"Only those here and a couple of the guards who witnessed me heal one of the injured guards while I was at the fishing district."

"Start healing then. You need to for your individual quest."

"I hope I may have a way around publicly healing just now. I have been imbuing the tonic bottles, and when they are used to heal someone, I gain experience."

"That is good; mine is by kills only, so I really do need to go hunting."

"The incursion quest concerns me; it states the destruction of New Talisia. I wonder what it even involves."

"No idea, but I suppose we should investigate at least. I can go and do some snooping around."

"You are not even allowed in the town, from what Sniffer said, so how are you going to snoop around."

"Well, I can investigate around the area. I doubt it will happen inside whatever it is."

"Well, I am going into town tomorrow to collect my payment for the job at the fishing district, so I will see if anything strange is happening. I will also speak to Tabs and Crystal to keep their eyes and ears open."

"I just hope Sniffer and Elizabeth are ok."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they were planning on heading back to New Haven as soon as they had sold up and got a new truck."

"Oh, I did not realise they needed a new truck. The next truck auction is not for two months."

"That may help out then. Anyway, we need to grab the cubs and go hunting."

They went back to the garage, and Kyto grabbed his jacket before they took the cubs out. The sky looked heavy as though it might rain, and the wind was cutting in from the lakeside, bringing the cold air from the north. "I wish this weather would improve," Kyto said.

"It is perfect hunting weather. There is a southerly wind, so we will head north and see what we can find. Hopefully, more than a few Prangton, even the cubs, could take them out alone. They are such weak Wild Ones."

"So, what do you usually hunt," Kyto asked as they started heading north from the house.

"Anything."

"Dad does not care what it is," Rosie said.

"Yeah. he will hunt anything at all," Pouncer added.

"Dad, what's that smell?" Sneezy said.

Tiddles stopped walking and took a deep sniff of the air. "Nothing special, just some Stompers. Probably a few kilometres away by the scent."

"We have not seen you take one of them down before," Pouncer said excitedly.

"And there is a good reason. With you three with me, it is too dangerous. They are huge creatures, and when they run, they run through anything, not stopping."

"They cannot be as dangerous as that Jatbear we hunted," Pouncer said.

"It is not that they attack. It is the fact they panic, and you never know which way they will run. They bolt all over before they reform as a herd again and then run until they no longer sense danger. I have hunted them many times, and they never go where you expect them to."

"Yeah, but Dad, we could stay out of the way," Pouncer added.

"I have heard of Stompers but never seen one," Kyto added.

"Please, Dad." Pouncer pleaded.

"If we go near them, you follow every word I say. Do you understand?"

All three cubs replied with excited cries or agreement.

They moved in the direction of the Stompers. They had been walking for about an hour through some thick woodland when Tiddles stopped them.

"They are about 300 metres ahead. From here, you stay silent and follow me closely, and if I say to run, you damn well run up the nearest tree you can find. That includes you, Kyto."

"Me? I cannot climb trees."

"Well, at least make sure you are stood behind one."

Tiddles led the group as they slowly made their way through the woods until they came out into a wide-open, overgrown grassland area. The grasses were four to five feet tall, and the wind was whipping them over now that they were in the open. "See that small hillock over there. Make your way to that point, but stay low and go silently. I will get closer. You should be able to watch from there."

The three cubs excitedly crept towards the hillock, and Kyto turned to Tiddles. "And me?"

"Well, we need to learn to fight together." Tiddles smiled.

Kyto looked into the grasses and saw the huge beasts milling around grazing. They stood nearly six feet tall at their shoulders and had huge, broad shoulders and legs, with big, curved horns protruding from their foreheads. They also had long tails, which Kyto watched swaying around in the air.

"What's with the tails?" Kyto said quietly.

"They are barbed and poisonous. They only use them in defence." Tiddles whispered.

They were about eighty metres from the herd, and Tiddles started approaching. Kyto followed close behind, and as he did, he streamed his mana, feeding it into Tiddles. It was pretty awkward while going through the grasses, and he kept losing connection to him as the strand worked in a direct line of sight. He eventually moved so close behind him that he could have virtually touched him to maintain the feed. Once he had pumped 250 of his mana, he stopped and withdrew slightly. They were now about forty metres from the herd when one of them stopped grazing and looked up and over the grasses. Though he had crouched and not crawled, Kyto froze, knowing he was not hidden well. He watched as Tiddles's body seemed to shift and virtually disappear from his sight; the only thing left was the elemental core and mana pool he had filled him with, which were still visible to him.

Tiddles continued to approach, and Kyto noticed the Stomper that was watching suddenly shake its head and snort. Several others stopped grazing and began to stand as if looking around. Their eyes looked the size of dinner plates from this range, and Kyto would be amazed if they had not spotted him. He dared not move from where he was. Every muscle in his body was filled with nervous tension. Tiddles must now be no more than fifteen metres away, and he had slowly been tracking to the right, between where the herd and the cubs were watching from.

His pools both dropped on Kyto's display as he triggered one of his skills and then he pounced. Kyto was in awe at the speed of the attack; a beast the size of Tiddles had gone from a standing start to hurtling through the air like a bullet straight at the largest Stomper. The sight of Tiddles striking the Stomper caused chaos. The whole herd began to scatter. They bolted in every direction possible, and Kyto watched as Tiddles landed on the beast's back, clamping his massive jaws down on its neck, and sunk his claws deep into its flesh. The combat log triggered, and the beast bucked and writhed, trying to throw Tiddles off. The beast began to run straight to where Kyto was frozen.

Kyto could not move his legs, which would not work as the beast approached. Thirty metres, twenty metres, ten metres. Kyto's subconscious triggered before his brain or body reacted, and he threw up his shield without thinking about it. The Stomper hit him at full pelt with a Tiddles hanging from his back, one of its colossal tree trunk-sized legs striking him and throwing him through the air, landing unceremoniously in a crumpled heap on the ground about twenty metres from where he was hit. He felt as though he had been hit by a tree, which he basically had; his health had plummeted to 30%, and the shield he had thrown up had disappeared. His display flashed with the red warnings of damage, and he tried to sit up but could not. Pain flared through his chest, and he struggled to gasp for air, amazed that he was alive at all. He should have been dead from the hit, but his shield had saved his life. He throbbed and flooded his body with healing strands while drawing from the grasses around him.

The combat log triggered again.

Stomper has received a critical hit and died. 2650 shared experience gained.

Kyto heard as the Wild One thudded to the ground no more than fifty metres from where he lay. The remaining herd had vanished by now into the surrounding area. Thankfully, none had run towards the hillock, which must have been Tiddles's plan from the side he attacked.

"Kyto, Kyto", Tiddles called, running back towards him.

"I am okay," Kyto said, though wheezing from the pain in his chest.

"I thought you were dead; I saw you get struck as I was attacking."

"Struck, I was fucking run over." he coughed, bringing up blood as he did. His healing strands were working on repairing his body. His damage log had shown him he had a punctured lung and a broken rib. "Healing now," he said, wincing as the bone in his rib cage cracked back into place, and he felt the hole in his lung seal. His pool was almost drained, and he called his familiar to boost his mana pull.

"I am sorry. I tried to turn him away from you."

The three cubs had come bolting over now that the herd had gone. "Are you ok?" Rosie asked.

"I think I will be," Kyto replied weakly.

"Awesome, Dad." can you get another Pouncer cried out.

Rosie turned and clouted her brother on his nose hard. "Shut up. Can you not see Kyto is injured."

Pouncer pulled back in pain from his sister's hit and muttered, "He is alive, isn't he."

"Only just," Tiddles replied as he watched Kyto's health bar begin to rise.

Kyto lay there healing for another few minutes, slowly drawing from the surrounding grasses before his bar eventually reached full again. He still felt bruised inside, and he slowly sat up. "Well, that fucking hurt," he said, smiling weakly. His display triggered.

You have streamed 1540 mana to heal your injuries, although self-healing the wounds you received were not self-inflicted, therefore count towards your healing quest.

Kyto laughed, "I got experience healing myself as another caused the damage."

"A bit extreme getting ran over by a Stomper, though," Tiddles said, smiling at him.

"You are telling me. At least you got good experience for the kill."

"We both did."

"I think I have had enough hunting today," Kyto said, standing and walking over to the Stomper. It was massive this close, and the cubs happily dived in, getting their fill of the fresh kill.

"You could get some fresh meat to take back?" Tiddles said.

"That is not a bad idea. I suppose you are not dragging this back with you," he said, smiling.

"No. The others will eat it later."

"What others?"

"As for the other predators, there are several around here. Jatbear, Spylore, and a Grylack have also been in the area recently. Never mind all the rodents and flyers that will be grateful for an easy meal," Tiddles said.

Kyto had never considered all the other variants of Wild Ones that were out here, having casually walked along with a beast and Spylore cubs. He had never felt so secure as he did though standing with Tiddles. This beast was a monster. It had quickly taken down a beast twice its size. Kyto spent some time cutting off some steaks from the beast's remains before they headed back to the house. The cubs spent the entire journey back discussing Tiddles's attack and the apparent hilarity of seeing Kyto being catapulted through the air like a rag doll.

Listening to the Cubs did make it sound quite funny. He had had to admit to himself. "I think we need to spend some time discussing combat," Tiddles said as they neared the house.

"What do you mean?" Kyto asked.

"Well, firstly, how to react? You froze, and if we are going to work together, you cannot be freezing in the middle of a fight," Tiddles replied.

"Well, the girls will not be back for a few hours, so we have some time to go through more details," Kyto said.