Dungeons of the Crooked Mountains
Page 21
Getting up off the stone, I cautiously walked over to the place my extremely short-term pet was just lying. Just to make sure, I poked the air with my hand and foot. What if he just turned invisible? But no, nothing.
Shocked, I turned my head and lowered my gaze to the metal animal in my hand.
- Would you like to summon your pet?
- Expends 20 mana points.
Yes! It took effort to hold back and not tear my throat shouting for joy!
The second my supply dropped twenty mana points, the harn appeared at my feet out of nowhere. In fear, I jumped a step to the side. The creature was seemingly no less stunned than me. His scales stood erect; his tail nervously fell to the ground. He tried to hop to his feet but couldn’t and plopped down heavily on his stomach.
Our gazes met. Seemingly, we both had the very same question: “What just happened?!”
“Sorry,” I said, extending my right hand apologetically and taking a step forward. To be honest, despite the amulet’s assurance, I was still a bit afraid of him.
The harn extended his neck, and touched his wet nose to my hand. I wanted to jerk my hand back out of inertia but I stopped myself. The beast’s hot breath coated my skin and a moment later I felt the soft touch of his warm tongue. I’d bet my neck that, if my parents were here to see this show, they would never have believed their eyes...
The harn licked me again and his nose reached for my knapsack in a logical progression.
“Sorry buddy,” shrugged my shoulders. “But I don’t have any more fish.”
I felt an irresistible desire to pet the big old cat. When I placed a hand on his flat head, I was expecting to feel a familiar stony hardness but was pleasantly surprised. The harn’s scales were now soft and warm to the touch. And the tongue by the way was not rough. So does that mean my pet can adapt to its master?
He liked being petted, even took it with satisfaction. A deep chest purr bore witness to that. His eyes rolled back, he turned on his back like a cat, revealing a powerful chest and light gray stomach.
“Good boy,” I said, smiling. With every second, my fear abated. It was squeezed out by a realization that this dangerous behemoth was now mine.
I wanted to check his status. I was curious what it would look like... When I glanced at the description, I was slightly perplexed...
- Ferocious Harn.
- Level: 5 (130/20,000).
- Status: Loyalty to master (permanent)/Hunger/Weak pain.
- Strength: 37/75
- Agility: 45/75
- Animal instinct: 8/10
- Speed: 39/75
- Flexibility: 41/75
- Health: 35/50
- Endurance: 35/50
- Life supply: 28/400
- Energy supply: 32/400
- Scale armor: 12/25
- Defense: 120
- Damage: +97.3…+239.7
That was followed by a list of twenty abilities and skills like “bite,” “paw swipe,” or “animal regeneration.”
I felt outside of reality for a time. And let me note that this is the first time something like this is happening to me. Seeing a detailed description of another creature including all characteristics and other information is generally an ability reserved for mages. And I am not one of them. So it must be the amulet.
Briefly studying my minion’s stats, I managed to cobble together an overall picture. Based on its supply figures, which weren’t really that high, the harn was born with fifty life and energy. That, by the way, is twice what a normal person gets. And five times more than I got. I wonder how much the Great System gives a newborn gulper. I don’t even want to imagine. I’d die in envy.
The ceiling for most of the harn’s characteristics is fifteen points per level. The very lowest is Animal Instinct. His Endurance isn’t all that high either, but his low Health is compensated and then some by his Scale Armor. To even get to the cat’s life supply, you have to first deal over one hundred twenty points of damage. Anything below that would simply be absorbed by his resilient scales.
Based on the names of most abilities and skills, the harn: is good at camouflage, sees excellently in the dark, and can jump a long way. And for level five, he can do quite high damage. Every “bite” and “paw swipe” leaves nasty bleeding wounds. A flexible, agile, strong and fast creature. Can sit patiently in ambush for a long time. Has high Animal Instinct.
And for minuses, he spends energy quickly and has a small life supply. And also... A terrible hunger! He constantly wants to eat! While I read, he crawled over to where I buried the first two sets of fish guts, dug them up and gorged himself a bit more. Now he’s lying on his stomach six feet from the water and closely watching the gray spines of the lungfish.
When four of the big fish swam into the inlet, I felt an uncanny urge to slam them all with a Ram. Something gave me the impression this desire did not belong to me, that it was somehow from without. And furtively so... On the sly...
I glanced at the harn. He was still absorbed in watching the fish. His paws tucked under him, his tail stock still, his triangular ears standing on end. And then it finally hit me! The feelings were coming from my pet! What did it say? A special mental connection?
I decided to see what would come next and estimated the distance to the bay. Not bad. Fifteen feet. Should be plenty close.
I got off a Ram and sent all four fish flying on shore, splashing everything around with water and wet sand. The harn jumped with what looked to be the last crumbs of his energy and caught all the lungfish while they were paralyzed.
Oh yeah! This kind of fishing is fun!
Another thing also made an impression on me. Despite my expectations, the harn didn’t start eating the fish right away. He lay next to their shredded bodies sniffing them greedily with his black nose, but he was just staring at me... Is this his way of asking permission?!
“That’s all you,” I nodded.
After getting the go-ahead, he greedily sank his teeth into the side of one of the lungfish without waiting another second. Now that’s discipline!
Due to the level difference, he got no experience, but I was inundated as usual. Scrolling through all the messages, I swiped them aside out of habit. But then my attention was drawn by the now flickering “Pet” tab. Hm... That’s new... Let’s take a look...
- Attention! You have successfully fought your first battle with your pet! You now have access to the Pet Training and Progress function!
I opened the window and was slightly taken aback.
- Available materials for pet training and progress:
- Experience essence (17400).
- Gold tablet of Intellect.
- Silver tablet (30).
- Stone tablet of Agility (9).
- Stone tablet of Strength (9).
- Stone tablet of Endurance (9).
- Stone tablet of Wisdom (9).
- Stone tablet of Mind (9).
- Stone tablet of Accuracy (9).
- Stone tablet of Speed (9).
- Stone tablet of Intuition (9).
- Stone tablet “Fisher” (9).
- Stone tablet “Hunter” (9).
Wait, where were all those esses and tablets from? I read the list again. I hit upon the line with the gold tablet of Intellect and it finally hit me... That’s all my loot from the last few days down here in the caverns!
I glanced at the harn as it eagerly ripped into the fish. I didn’t think for long... I stroked the back of my head... I looked over all the loot again... Then, with a shrug I whispered:
“Ah, why not?”
Chapter 17
- Initiate pet training and progress?
“ALRIGHT,” I said, rubbing my hands.
As far as I could tell, the harn had been spending all his experience and characteristic points the way his instincts told him to. He was trying to better adapt to his hunting area and environment. Although, to be frank, something tells me it wasn’t him doing it at all. The Great Sy
stem was probably doing it for him.
By the way, speaking of Intellect, that reminds me. I now have nine stone tablets of Mind. That’s almost enough for two points.
- Attention! You have unlocked your pet’s Mind characteristic.
- Present value: 0.2/1
Got it. So at the moment, the harn’s Mind ceiling is one. Not much, but something... I glanced at the cat out of the corner of my eye. He’d already taken down the three big fish and was tucking into the last. As was his style, he was gorging himself again. Hey, you know what would make a good name for him? Gorgie!
- Would you like to name your pet “Gorgie?”
The unexpected message made me shudder.
“Gorgie?” I turned the word over on my tongue and thought about how it made me feel: “Georgie... Gorgie... Hm... Sure, I’ll let him be Gorgie for now. It fits his character well...”
As if he could smell that I was thinking about him, the harn raised his scaly face. By the way, his supplies had already filled out pretty well. Unfortunately, the figures were still far from ideal. He was still hungry. I wonder how many fish this bottomless pit needs every day.
Alright, let’s keep going... As soon as I raised the harn’s Mind to one, a new message jumped before my eyes which, in essence, was a response to my question.
- Meat required before complete recovery: 33 lbs.
Woah! He’d already downed a bit more than twenty-six pounds. Thirty-three more would make just shy of sixty pounds! Although this was probably only because was seriously wounded. It was only natural he might need more food than usual.
So that means I would still have to get him another ten fish at least. No problem. As long as the lungfish don’t stop swimming into the inlet. But for now, it would be nice if the harn moved inside the Lair. There would be a supply boost soon.
As soon as I thought about that, the creature got up off the ground and slowly walked over to me, staggering and holding the unfinished body of a lungfish in his teeth. Huh... What obedience! I was astonished. I didn’t have to start talking, or even think a complete thought! Looks like Intellect noticeably increases the strength of our mental connection.
Within a few minutes, I had thrown almost all the stones into his characteristics and skills. I unlocked another two new characteristics for him and brought them almost up to two.
- Attention! You have unlocked your pet’s Accuracy characteristic.
- Present value: 1.8/75
- Attention! You have unlocked your pet’s Intuition characteristic.
- Present value: 1.8/5
They told us in school that Intuition isn’t strictly required to do critical damage. The chance is always higher than zero. But having Intuition bolsters your chances significantly. It was just unfortunate that the harn’s “ceiling” was quite low. A pet that constantly crits would be very cool.
For now, I don’t quite know why the harn needs Accuracy. Time will tell. As father always said: “You never know when something’s going to come in handy.”
After spending the “stones,” the picture looked like this:
- Ferocious Harn.
- Name: Gorgie.
- Level: 5 (130/20000).
- Status: Loyalty to master (permanent)/ Hunger.
- Strength: 38.8/75
- Mind: 1/1
- Agility: 46.8/75
- Accuracy: 1.8/75
- Intuition: 1.8/5
- Animal instinct: 8/10
- Speed: 40.8/75
- Flexibility: 41/75
- Health: 35/50
- Endurance: 36.8/50
- Life supply: 213/400
- Energy supply: 263/418
- Scale armor: 12/25
- Defense: 120/250
- Damage: +98.5…+242.9
I studied his damage figures and considered the best way to invest the silver tablets for a bit. In the end, I came to the conclusion that it was best to improve abilities and skills related to damage. Sure, Strength gave a certain percentage increase, but it was less effective per point than skills. I can’t dispute that the ideal option would be to improve both. And probably some rich little baron or count would do just that. But I’m no nobleman... My resources are limited...
So then, what did I know...? The harn has the natural weapons he was born with — claws and teeth. The former did three damage points and the latter ten. Well, discounting the extra points for every level.
Other than that, the Great System had given him a few useful abilities: “bite,” “paw swipe” and “pounce.”
- Bite: 17/25
- Effect:
- Teeth multiply damage.
- Maximum energy expenditure: 50 points.
- Paw swipe: 22/25
- Effect:
- Claws multiply damage.
- Maximum energy expenditure: 25 points.
- Pounce: 4/5.
- Effect:
- Distance: 12 feet.
- Height: 6 feet.
- +40 to maximum damage.
- Maximum energy expenditure: 75 points.
So that means my new friend can do serious damage, but gets tired very fast. Let’s put it this way — the harn was not made to fight for hours. But if a quick deadly attack is what you need, he is the perfect candidate... A lightning-fast jump... Clawed paws that swipe with a vengeance... Powerful jaws that bite down hard... Overall, he expends energy quickly, but gets results almost immediately. All that remained was to learn to use all his plusses while considering the minuses.
The Scale Armor merited special attention. Every point invested in that characteristic gave an additional ten points of defense. If I brought that up to its ceiling, it would give two hundred fifty points!
Hmm... Looking at all these characteristics and skills, I feel like a kid in a candy store... I want to bring them all up right now! But alas... My abilities are limited...
I looked to see what I had left in my knapsack.
- Experience essence (17400).
- Gold tablet of Intellect.
- Silver tablet (30).
- Stone tablet of Wisdom (9).
- Stone tablet of Mind (4).
I wasn’t able to use the Wisdom tablets; they required Intellect to use. At first I wanted to correct that weakness, but I thought better of it and decided to hold onto the gold tablet for better times. The harn having a magic supply was quite an attractive perspective. But for now with no spells or magical abilities it was a pointless luxury. Furthermore, that tablet was my ticket to freedom.
So I had to figure out what to do with the esses and silvers.
As for the former, I was clear. Let him gain experience slowly the natural way. I wouldn’t be able to get him up to level six now anyway. I’m almost twenty-five hundred essences short. Furthermore, based on the experience he had saved up, he’d just hit five. Most likely in battle with the hexapod. The evidence for my theory was him having the skill “Resistance to Hexapod Poison.” He has a seven there. He’d brought it up pretty well, actually. I think some of that was my doing.
Alright, we figured that out... Now I have thirty silver tablets left. I think I already know where to invest them. What’s most important? Correct. My new friend’s life. That means I need to safeguard him as much as possible. Furthermore, I can bring a few things up to maximum.
First things first, Animal Regeneration. It proved itself very effective. Minus two tablets. Next... Scale Armor. Minus another thirteen silvers. And I set the remaining tablets into health, increasing his life supply to five hundred fifty points. I looked on my creation and felt a certain degree of satisfaction.
- Ferocious Harn.
- Name: Gorgie.
- Level: 5 (130/20000).
- Status: Loyalty to master (permanent)/ Hunger.
- Strength: 38.8/75
- Mind: 1/1
- Agility: 46.8/75
- Accuracy: 1.8/75
- Intuition: 1.8/5
- Animal instinct: 8/10
- Speed: 40.8/75