Syl

Chapter 197: Bonding Threads

Chapter 197: Bonding Threads

It was surprisingly easy to chat with Vee. Our struggles as relatively weak monsters and discussing our various troubles at the start were an almost instant bonding experience.

Although I’d argue my start was a lot harsher, I’d started at tier 1, after all, barely considered a monster according to the system.

On the other hand, Vee had her own unique challenges, having started at a higher tier and faced different obstacles.

Although I did gain an extra evolution choice and ten extra levels that way compared to her. I wonder if that’s what’s being factored into why [Apex Hunter] thinks I’m a higher level than her?

I was relieved to see my makeshift barricade intact when we left the mine. With a cast of [Shatterquake], I unblocked the passageway by exploding it into shrapnel. I had half expected another ambush, but either they were waiting further ahead or had truly given up.

"That’s [Earth Magic], right?" Vee questioned with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah, it’s the third-level spell," I clarified.

"Hopefully, I’ll get something a little more directly offensive with [Dimension Magic]..." Vee muttered.

"When we get to your lessons, perhaps we can take a basic projectile spell and modify it to accept Dimensional Mana?" I suggested. "However, we can start there once we get you [Corrosion Magic]. Its first level spell is called [Acid Dart] and would give you a good firsthand showing of the basic spell components."

I demonstrated the spell by firing the brightly colored acidic dart against the wall. The rock melted away as the acidic magic continued to eat at it.

"That is a first-level spell?’ Vee asked, sounding surprised and doubtful.

"Oh..." I realized my mistake and recast it completely unmodified. The result was far less impressive without the additions I had made to it. "I forgot I had customized the spell; that second one was the original. You can take components of spells and, with some trial and error, mash them together."

"Okay... I can see why she wanted you to teach me. I don’t think I’d ever discover any of that if I’m working with only [Dimension Magic]..."

"Don’t sell yourself short. You discovered the connection between those coordinate spells and your [Rift Thread] all by yourself. If you had seen what the dwarves and humans had to resort to to create a teleportation platform, you’d be shocked. I can only assume the natural compatibility between the spell and your thread is providing some natural support."

"Thanks..."

"No problem. I should probably take that [Companion Training] skill... Would probably help."

"You don’t have to waste a skill point on me," Vee rejected the idea.

"Oh... I mentioned this before, but class levels give you skill points. I’m currently sitting at 15, so I definitely have some wiggle room."

Vee sighed. "You have 15 skill points just sitting around? That’s crazy!"

"Well, when you figure out it takes 10 to uncap a skill, it doesn’t seem like that much. Not to mention 5 or fewer points to uptier a skill."

"You make me feel like I’ve been living under a rock..." Vee sighed.

"Technically, you have been," I teased.

Vee groaned at the bad joke, and I bought the skill.

"Once I’m done with Elementalist... Maybe I should consider Monster Tamer again?" I postulated. "Who knows what other skills there are?"

"I mean, that sounds great... But maybe only do that after we confirm whether I’m staying long-term? No offense..." Vee suggested honestly.

"Oh yeah, no problem!" I agreed. "I want to get Elementalist to maybe 20 or 30 to see if I get any good milestone skills."

"Do classes evolve?" Vee asked.

"No, but there are natural progressions," I began explaining. "A normal Mage would go to Sorcerer and then Archmage, for example. A specialist would go Mage to Pyromancer to Arch Pyromancer. These are broken into the class categories; basic, intermediate, and advanced."

As we walked back, that became our topic of conversation. I also finally went over my notifications from our fight. Obviously, there were no class or race levels, but I still made some progress.

"Ah!" She screeched mentally, having spotted it moments before the [Aegis] spell appeared between them and the dangerous frozen shard shattered upon it.

"See, I’ve set up a reactionary defensive spell for you," I explained.

"You didn’t have to literally shoot a spell at me to prove your point!" Vee shouted as she frantically waved her front little arm legs to demonstrate her outrage.

"I thought seeing is believing..." I teased her. "Anyway, as long I can sense the attack coming, then a shield like that will appear and attempt to block it."

"Point made... Sure, thanks," Vee grumbled.

When we reached the dwarves, she was still tense, and I could feel some of her emotions bleeding across the telepathy bond. She was terrified of the dwarves. Likely, her entire confidence against them was due to being surrounded by her previously impenetrable fortress of tricks and traps.

Most of the dwarves didn’t even notice her on my shoulder. The few who saw her seemed to shrug it off, and only one nosy-looking older dwarf seemed to take offense.

"Elf girl! That better not be an ant you’re bringing into our home!" He demanded.

"She’s a spider. I bonded her as my adventuring companion," I explained relatively politely.

I thought the dwarf might complain, but he adjusted his goggles while appearing to take a closer look.

"One, two, three... Eight!" The dwarf mumbled. "I guess you’re right; that ain’t no ant. Apologies."

I waved it off. "Don’t worry, I understand, I fought a Fire Ant Princess the other day; she was a nightmare."

The dwarf’s demeanor immediately flipped. "Ah! Good, so you know how terrible those six-legged bastards are! I’m glad you’re a good adventurer who knows where the real threats lie! Sorry for the misunderstanding. Let me buy you an ale?"

"I’d love to, but I need to report my latest quest’s success. Another time, maybe?"

"Ah, no problem. Sorry for taking your time, miss. Thanks for keeping peace!" The dwarf said joyfully, waving us off.

Once we were a further distance away, Vee turned to me questioningly.

"Okay, how the heck did you do that? You handled that situation perfectly. Much smoother than our conversations."

"I have a skill called [Acting], I lean on it quite heavily for these types of awkward situations... It’s gotten me out of some real jams in the past," I answered over the telepathic link. No reason to let anyone hear my side of this conversation.

"I see..." Vee muttered. "I wish these damn dwarves would stop calling me an ant, though. As much as I hate being a spider, I wish they knew the difference. What’s their deal anyway?"

"The ants multiply their numbers at an out-of-control rate and dig endless tunnels into the dwarven defenses. As clearly evident, they hate them with the burning passion of a thousand suns, and even the slightest hint of a nearby nest gets an extermination quest promptly issued."

"Well... I’m extraordinarily glad I didn’t pick the Broodmother evolution then if they hate monsters that spawn and multiply that much."

"Was it a final evolution for you?" I questioned.

"I think so. The description mentioned the word ’final’ a lot; I was too scared to pick it... Plus, I didn’t like the idea of laying eggs..." Vee admitted.

"On that we can agree on! Laying eggs is terrible and should never happen no matter how much a pixie complains."

"Uh? Moving on... Did you get Broodmother evolution? I can’t imagine how slimes reproduce, or do you simply split your slime in half, and now there’s two of you?"

"I wish. Slime separated from me just turns into useless goop on the ground," I bemoaned. "But to answer your question, I have a Queen Slime evolution. It mentioned significant boosts to all stats, and it would let me create slime cores. I figured I’d pick it when it was the end of the road."

"A Queen evolution sounds way cooler than Broodmother. I don’t think I’d ever pick it, even if it promised me great stats. Even if you’re vouching for me, if the dwarves react that badly to ants, imagine what they might say if a teleporting spider was suddenly reproducing."

I nodded. "Point taken. A swarm of teleporting spiders sounds horrifying," I teased.

By now, we’d finally reached the dwarven gate. Vee was staring at the massive construct with awe.

Let’s hope my [Bonded Companion] emblem is enough for these dwarves...