“Anyway, the rest is history from there. I had a good personality and people liked me. I was suddenly the expert on the Beast Lord class. Sponsors were suddenly interested, and my career was born. With this game, I didn’t have much choice but to try to power level. It’s what the sponsors wanted instead of letting me figure out the game. I guess, I just kind of took things for granted after leveling so much, so fast,” Titan continued.
“I didn’t know that . . . any of that,” I said. It was the first time I had ever heard that story. I had heard a made-up version about him finding a rare item that would allow him to bond with any beast and nobody ever questioned it. I don’t think Titan had ever told anyone except maybe Baby.
“No one does. Vector Games hot fixed the Bermisi’s bonus. It prevented anyone else from doing what I did. They paid me to give the rare item story. I didn’t feel good about it, but I wanted to propose to Babs and the money . . . anyway, now that I have this month, I’ve been trying to make the most of it. Getting my Charisma up was important and I have already started on the tutorial for it, or at least the groundwork. I will probably film it next month in a different province. Babs prefers I keep her out of the limelight,” Titan explained.
“I’ve given you my opinions on what you need to work on and hopefully help people learn,” I said.
Titan just nodded. “First thing tomorrow, I think Babs and I are going to the Bazaar. We’ll see if we can find someone with my class to help me learn a little more.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me,” I said.
“Jack, come to bed already,” Rose yelled from the tent.
I looked over my shoulder to see her with her hands on her hips looking rather annoyed.
“Good luck,” Titan said, grinning at me.
I laughed and shook my head. “Best not to leave her waiting,” I said, excusing myself and saying a few ‘good nights’ to my friends.
Chapter 21 – Baby and Titan
Baby let the morning settle in as she sat in one of the chairs around the long table that had been set up for meals. Titan was sleeping in after drinking a little too much the night before with Marie and Olaf. Baby had said goodbye to Bye-bye before he left for Root City. She knew he would be back in a couple days, but she was interested to see how Rose handled a couple nights without her boyfriend. Baby loved her sister dearly and worried about her even more. That said, she thought that Bye-bye was good for Rose.
Micaela, Olaf, Sooty, Nahid, and Vision departed not long after Bye-bye.
Micaela had a quest to clear out some angry ghosts or something from the villages that were massacred not too long ago. Baby thought it was a bit ghoulish but apparently that was just something Shamans were expected to do.
And of course, Olaf wasn’t about to let Vision get out of range. The wolf pup was the only defense he had against the chimera. Sooty had suggested that Olaf try to learn ‘Stealth’ and some subskills to go with it. The idea being, that it just might let Olaf hide from the cat-bat-bull-thingy. Thus, Sooty and his shadow, Nahid, were dragged along.
“Morning, Baby,” Marie greeted the Fairy, looking refreshed and ready to take on the new day. That was something Baby admired about Marie. The woman was always so . . . energetic, even after a hard night of drinking. Maybe admired was the wrong word, envied might have been more apt.
“Morning, Marie,” Baby replied. “Off to torment that poor blacksmith at the Hunter’s Union again?”
“I would never torment any Dwarven blacksmith. I will have you know I have been teaching him to be a better blacksmith,” Marie retorted.
Baby just shook her head.
“Has Loral already left?” Marie asked, changing the topic.
“I don’t think so,” Baby replied.
“Ah, there she is,” Marie said, seeing Loral exiting her and Sooty’s tent.
The two Dwarven women exchanged morning greetings and were off to the Hunter’s Union, eager to get to their crafting.
“Hey, Sis,” Rose said, sitting down next to Baby, offering her a cup of tea at the same time.
“Morning, Rosie,” Baby replied, happily accepting the tea. “So, what are your plans for today?”
“I finally got ‘Charge’ to level 100,” Rose answered. “Harrison is going to teach me ‘Shield Charge’. It will be nice to have a better skill for initial contact. Especially one that lets me hit more than one target at a time.”
“Are you going to miss Bye-bye?” Baby asked.
“Maybe a little,” Rose answered, the honesty of it surprising Baby.
“You could have gone with him,” Baby suggested.
“Nah, we already spend a lot of time together. A couple days apart won’t kill us,” Rose replied. “Anyway, there’s Harrison. Have fun today, Sis. See you later,” she added in a rush as she ran to catch up with Harrison who hadn’t waited for her.
That pretty much left Baby by herself until Titan finally got up. She was really happy to be able to spend time with Titan this month. Though admittedly, she might have wished he didn’t look like a teddy bear the whole time. And she was fairly sure he wished she didn’t look like a child either. It made any physical intimacy between them a non-starter. Still, they were together. Baby was teaching Titan what she’d learned about the game in little bits and pieces. Mostly, they were just together. Chatting in bars, going shopping, and doing things together. It was very similar to what they used to do when they first started dating. It was nostalgic. Still, the lack of intimacy was really starting to get to her. The end of the month and log out time couldn’t come soon enough.
“Morning, Babs,” Titan said with a yawn that turned into a strange high-pitched growl, then asked, “Everyone gone already?”
“Yeah,” Baby answered then gave a quick recap of where everyone went and what they were doing. “Anyway, what do you want to do today?”
“Well, I spoke with Bye-bye a little last night and he pointed out that I don’t really know much about my class because I’ve spent all my time leveling and not nearly enough time learning the game. I thought it might not hurt to see what we can find,” Titan answered. “Besides, I’m not really getting much Charisma gain from the NPCs anymore.”
“Sure, that sounds fun,” Baby answered. In truth, Baby hadn’t been in much of a mood to play the game or improve any of her skills beyond raising her Charisma at the same time as Titan. Unintentionally this also raised some of her social skills. She could have been doing a little training with Rose in the afternoon, but they didn’t. Instead, they spent their afternoons together just talking about unimportant things. Well, that wasn’t exactly true either. It wasn’t important to the game, but Baby’s wedding planning was important. And as Rose was to be her maid of honor, it was important to Baby that her sister was involved in the planning. Being they were in a game, their planning was focused around using the ‘Tome of Otherworldly Knowledge’ for looking at wedding dresses, flower arrangements, wedding halls, and chef reviews to name a few. “Lately, I might have been slacking off on all the game stuff myself.”
“Okay, so, let’s see if we can get Perses moving and we’ll head to the Bazaar, sound good?” Titan asked.
“Sure,” Baby replied, giving her fiancé a soft smile.
It took the pair about twenty minutes to get Perses up and moving. The bear had basically been allowed to hibernate for the last week and the lazy beast just accepted it. As a result, there was a ‘Hungry’ debuff on the bear, which basically made him completely unruly until he’d been fed. After watching Perses clean out the entire stock of warthog meat Bye-bye stockpiled, they were finally on their way.
The Bazaar was fantastically busy, packed with people from all over the World Tree. Baby even saw a few more players showing up. It had honestly felt like their group had been alone in the province for the last week, having seen no players other than Leonidas. But that was changing, as noted by a barely dressed elf girl gushing over Titan being there, asking for his autograph and giving him her room n
umber. Baby was reconsidering her happiness at seeing other players in the province after that.
“Any idea where to start looking for someone capable of training you?” Baby asked. She had a couple ideas of where to start but she wanted to hear what Titan was thinking. She wanted to see if anything she had tried to impress upon him had stuck.
“I was thinking we just start with a guard and go from there,” Titan said.
“Usually, I would agree with you. I do agree that would actually be the easiest method. However, who would you go to if there wasn’t a guard to ask?” Baby inquired, trying to push her fiancé to think a little outside of the box.
“I remember you saying something about the local Priestess helping you during Rose’s first month in the game, so maybe the temple would have someone able to help,” Titan said.
“A very good idea, and if the Priest or Priestess is not on duty today for some reason?” Baby asked.
“Well, let’s see. I am a Beast Battle Rider. So, if we focus on just the word ‘Rider’, maybe a stable or something . . . if they have a stable,” Titan added as an afterthought.
Baby gave his furry cheek a quick kiss, “Good job.”
Titan just grinned a little. “That still feels so weird,” he said with a small chuckle.
“My kisses feel weird now, do they?” Baby teased.
“It’s the fur,” Titan said, trying to justify his statement.
“Anyway, let’s try at the temple first then we can check with a guard. I don’t know if there is a stable so we would need to ask a guard. Though, considering we tied Perses up outside the city, I’m inclined to think there isn’t a stable here,” Baby said.
The temple was interesting to Baby. It was much smaller than the temple in Hurligville, and the inside was very simple by comparison. It contained maybe two dozen small alcoves with iconography related only to the various deities of the Orisha pantheon.
And managing the temple was a single Priest . . . correction, Shaman. Apparently, a Shaman ran the temple.
“Welcome to the Temple of the Orishas. I am Shaman Ade. Is there something you require assistance with? A marriage perhaps?” Ade asked, smiling brightly at the pair.
Baby blushed at the marriage suggestion but still managed to nudge Titan with her elbow, prompting him to speak.
“Actually, I was hoping you might be able to give me a little guidance,” Titan said stiffly, and far too formally, as if he had forgotten everything that he had learned about speaking to NPCs.
“Well, I follow the will of the spirits. Maybe they shall guide you this day as well. Please, tell me, what is it that makes you feel you need guidance?” Ade asked, matching Titan’s formality.
“This might sound a little odd, but I’m looking for someone that might be able to teach me more about my class. I’m a Beast Battle Rider,” Titan said, feeling awkward asking a holy man . . . Shaman for advice like this.
“Ah, I see now,” Ade said with a friendly laugh. “Well, you have an interesting class. There not many Beastkin that would practice such a thing. When you consider that many of us are part beast, the idea of being ridden is . . . distasteful. However, there are those who are more pragmatic about such things. I would suggest you pay a visit to the Meerkatmen Tribe. Due to their smaller stature, they have no choice but to be pragmatic about such things and riding beasts gives them a combat prowess they would not have otherwise.”
“Thank you,” Titan said, feeling slightly relieved. “Just one more question. Where can I find the Meerkatmen Tribe?”
Ade laughed again before giving him directions, including obvious landmarks that would hopefully prevent the pair from getting lost.
After thanking Ade again for the help, the pair were on the move again, riding Perses.
“We might want to go hunt some warthogs to replace all the stores Perses ate this morning. Olaf gets cranky without his bacon,” Baby joked, holding on to the railing on the platform. Titan had gotten Perses up to a full speed run, finding it easier than ever to get Perses to follow his orders and he seemed determined to take advantage of it.
“Sorry, I’ve never really left Perses idle like that before. It hadn’t even occurred to me that he hadn’t eaten in a week . . . or moved for that matter,” Titan said sheepishly, snapping the reigns again, trying to get even more speed out of Perses.
“Lesson learned,” Baby said with a giggle, stopping herself from whooping with joy as the giant blue bear really started moving.
What should have taken hours, took just under one with the speed Perses was able to achieve. The Meerkatmen village wasn’t much to look at, at least, not at first. All they saw at first were dirt mounds in the distance. As they got closer, they still saw dirt mounds, but they appeared to be hard packed with stairs wrapping around them. Even closer, they could see large round doors on the tops of the mounds.
The village didn’t have a wall to speak of but the Meerkatmen and women stood atop their mounds, getting a height advantage and allowing them to see threats from much further away than other tribes would be able to, unless they had watch towers.
“I bet their homes are deep underground,” Titan said. “Probably provides a really good defense if they are ever attacked.”
“Halt and identify yourselves,” a Meerkatman said as the pair and Perses got closer.
“Hello,” Titan said with a wave. “I’m Titan Beast, this is Babies Breath, and the big fella here is Perses.”
The Meerkatman asked, “What do you want adventurer?”
“Shaman Ade informed me that you or one of your people might be able to teach me a little more about being a Beast Battle Rider,” Titan answered.
“You are level 96, I should think you would know more about being a Beast Battle Rider than me or any of my people,” the Meerkatman countered.
“Yeah . . . you’d be surprised. I haven’t had any real training from anyone . . . ever,” Titan said. “I just . . . fought my way up to this level. Relied on Perses here to keep me alive and as a result, I can’t say I’ve learned much about my class along the way.”
The Meerkatman stood a little taller, stretching his neck and gaining at least another six inches of height. “Hmm, we shall see. Keep up . . . if you can,” the Meerkatman taunted before whistling loudly. “Let us see if you can catch my beautiful lady,” he added as the
Titan saw a massive warthog and wasn’t sure just how fast it could have been. The beast must have weighed at least 600 pounds. But before Titan could ask more about the warthog, the Meerkatman then jumped atop the beast, landing comfortably in a saddle. He then kicked the warthog’s sides and shouted, “Miliki!”
The warthog reared up on its hind legs for a moment then started running, quickly picking up speed and gaining distance.
“You heard him, keep up,” Baby said, snapping Titan out of his inaction.
“Alright, Perses, let’s show this little piggy what real speed looks like,” Titan said, leaning forward in his saddle and flicking the reins.
Titan and Perses tried to catch up to the warthog and rider, but the smaller beast was much faster and never seemed to run out of Stamina, something Perses seemed to lack.
“Hmm, so you do not lie. You really do not know anything about being a Beast Battle Rider,” the Meerkatman taunted after it was clear Titan and Perses had lost. The Meerkatman leaned down next to the warthog’s ear and gave the rough bristles under its chin a good scratch and asked, “What do you think, Nenda?” The warthog huffed and shook its head, spraying slobber. “Yes, I also like them. Very well, we will help them.”
“Do you actually understand your mount?” Baby asked, trying to be ca
reful with her wording. She felt a little guilty that she had never asked Titan the same question, which made her wonder if Perses could talk like Vision or if Perses was more . . . monster than beast.
“Not words, no. But you get a sense for their feelings with enough time and practice,” the Meerkatman answered. “Before we get started, I should introduce myself. I am Taj, leader of the Meerkatmen Battle Riders.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Titan said.
“Likewise,” Baby added.
“Good, let us start with getting our companions some water,” Taj said, kicking into Nenda’s side and getting the warthog moving again, though at more of a trot this time as opposed to the sprint of earlier.
Taj led them back to the village, which was much livelier than when they first approached. There were Meerkatmen and women everywhere including a large number of children running and playing between the dirt mounds. Titan and Baby also spotted nine more Meerkatmen riding on warthogs, each of them with a javelin in hand and a bundle of javelins hanging from their saddles. Baby hadn’t paid much attention before, but Taj’s saddle also had a bundle of javelins hanging from the side of it, almost like arrows in a quiver.
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