Chapter Fifteen - 015
Halfway up the cliff, Felix nearly smacked himself in frustration.
He had fifteen free stat points to spend. If there ever was a time to stay ahead of the curve, it was when he was expecting an ambush. Wedging himself against the rock face, he quickly allocated points to Perception, Agility, and Vitality. Felix clutched at the cliff face, feeling his heart race and his limbs burn with energy as his physical body changed rapidly. He didn't realize quite how hard he was gripping.
*CRACK!*
Felix pulled his hand back, watching in shock his handheld broke away. Apparently he didn't know his own strength anymore. He laughed, the sound drowned out by the roar of the waterfall, and started climbing again, this time without the magic rope. In less than a minute, he was near the top, barely panting, and listening to that near audible music as his Free Climb Skill shot up past the level 10 threshold.
Just below the cave, he checked his health and stats one last time.
Health:
201/238
Stamina:
174/211
Mana:
150/383
STR:
43*
PER:
31The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.
VIT:
47*
END:
38
INT:
46
WIL:
72
AGL:
32
DEX:
30
Good enough.
With a sharp pull, Felix was up and over the edge, rolling quickly to his feet. His levels in Acrobatics showed their worth as he did so, the movement feeling effortless. He scanned the dim interior of the cavern, but saw nothing. Quickly, Felix grabbed the rope and commanded it to untie. A pulse of his Mana and it did so, even going so far as to coil up into his hand. Forcing himself to stop gawking at it, he stowed it and warily walked to his hidden Temple.
It wasn't until he was several steps into the ambient light of the Temple that he heard a soft clicking sound from behind him. Felix spun, holding his hooked sword out and gathering a liquid ball of virulent green in his left hand. Sitting on the hexagonal tiles in front of him was a puppy. Sort of.
"Wha-?"
It was small, likely a foot tall while sitting, covered in russet fur, with dark black coloring its four paws and neck. It's head, shaped like an odd bird of prey tilted inquisitively, huge golden eyes bright in its dark face. Those eyes...
The pup barked, a high pitched yipping sound. Of course! The little animal. But...it followed me all the way here, without me noticing? How'd it even get in?
Felix wasn't skilled at listening for pursuit, but he figured his Perception of 31 would have at least caught something. He looked over the pup, and it definitely was a dog of some sort, despite the fact it had a bird head and two small grey-fuzz covered appendages on its back that twitched. A dog-bird? He focused on the creature.
Analyze is now level 13!
Name: Tenku
Type: Chimera
Level: 1
HP: 40/40
SP: 35/35
MP: 35/35
Lore: A chimeric beast, tenku are pack hunters and are equally at home in the sky and the land.
Strength: High Perception and Agility, they are speedy strikers.
Weakness: Low Strength and Endurance, a drawn out battle is worst case scenario for them.
"Chimera? Aren't those bigger, usually?" He muttered to himself, but soon remembered the savaged horse-sized corpse he found near the Orit. Right. That was probably its mom or something...Poor little guy.
The tenku regarded him with a second head tilt, sniffing in his direction as it yipped again. Felix followed its gaze to the satchel at his hip, and when he looked back he saw it lick its dark beak. Felix laughed. "Oh, I see. You're hungry." He looked off to his room, only a dozen feet away. "Wait here, little dude."
Moving slowly at first and without turning around, Felix navigated to his room and grabbed the last few fruit he had stashed there earlier. When he turned around to leave the room, he found the tenku sitting in the doorway, mouth open and tongue lolling.
"Uh, hey buddy. You like these, right?" Felix tossed one of the fruits to the chimera, the red and white food bouncing once before fetching against the doorjamb. "Eat up."
Felix looked down to grab another fruit, and when he looked back, the tenku had already eaten half of its own. It was impressive, really. A few more bites, and that fruit was gone. Felix stepped a bit closer and rolled another at the pup. The tenku pounced and devoured it in seconds. Felix went through his entire stash in the next few minutes, but thankfully the last one seemed to satisfy the ravenous beast.
"Holy hell, dude. You can really pack it away, huh?" Felix scratched his head as he regarded the tenku, who proceeded to walk into his room, growl once or twice, and plop down right onto his bedroll. It was asleep in seconds.
Felix smiled and despite his dire straits and constant battle to survive, despite everything, he felt pretty good. Maybe he shouldn't be trusting this strange little creature, but he found it hard to be worried about a puppy.
Pactmaker (Rare)!
You have formed a pact with a denizen of the Wilds, gaining benefits even while binding your life to theirs. +4 AGL, +3 DEX, +4 PER
You Have Learned A New Skill!
Companion Pact (Uncommon) Level 1!
You have formed a pact with a denizen of the Foglands. Increasing Skill Level and Affinity will net larger gains from the pact, for both you and your Companion.
Congratulations! As A Pactmaker, You And Your Companion Share Level Benefits!
Overlapping bonuses do not stack.
You Gain: +1 PER, +2 VIT, +4 AGL, +3 DEX Per Level!
Companion Gains: +3 WIL, +1 END, +2 INT Per Level!
"Wait, what? How?" Felix quickly looked down at his hands, but the tenku was gone. Frantic, Felix spun in a circle, thinking he had unconsciously dropped the little guy.
A sharp bark shattered the silence, deeper than before. Felix looked up. Pit was standing five feet away, tongue lolling happily and eyes wide and bright and clear.
"You're ok! And you...you're bigger." The tenku in front of him was a few inches taller than before, and his wings looked fuller, with the start of real feathers on them. "We're...Companions now?" Felix looked over the notifications in front of him, reading and closing them rapidly. "You can do that?"
Pit barked, excited suddenly and ran headlong into Felix's legs, nearly bowling him over. Almost idly, Felix bent down and scratched the chimera's birdlike head, noticing for the first time the feathers that started to grow in among the fine fur. Pit panted and leaned into the scratches.
A small blip in his vision alerted Felix to a new icon in the shape of a small feather. He toggled it.
Name:
Pit (Companion)
Level:
1
Race:
Chimera - Tenku (+2 VIT, PER, +4 AGL, DEX, +3 WIL, +1 END, +2 INT per Level)
Health:
40/40
Stamina:
35/35
Mana:
35/35
???:
???
STR:
1
PER:
15
VIT:
8
END:
7
INT:
10
WIL:
6
AGL:
32
DEX:
14
Skills:
Bite (C), Level 1
Rake (C), Level 1
Cry (R), Level 3
Skulk (C), Level 15
Companion Pact (U), Level 1
"You can gain levels?" Felix breathed. "And Skills too?"
Felix laughed.
