48 Phase 40: After Farm Wars III

It took perhaps ten seconds more before all three of them were scanning their Comrades, checking to see how far they had progressed.

Colin started with Shiro. The white wolfcat still showed up on his scans as 'Shiro, M-5 Experimental Wolfcat Cub (2nd Stage)'. He tapped the 'abilities' tab.

Shiro

Abilities:

HP: 60/69

MP: 15/133

Str: 23

Sta: 23

Spd: 86

Int: 75

Wis: 29

Wit: 53

Total: 289

Traits:

Feline Finesse

Canine Loyalty

Independent

Analysis

Empath

Protective

"That's… odd." He said, frowning. "Levels are counted as 10 total stats per level… he's almost 29, but he's still considered a 2nd Stage cub…?"

Also, it seemed either his Wit was improving a lot more than usual, or everything else wasn't going up as fast as they used to. It might make sense, considering that the wolfcat rode in Colin's bike more than running around recently, but why would his Wit shoot up so fast…?

Raiki was still 'Raiki, M-5 Experimental Stormcat Cub (2nd Stage)'. She hadn't reached the next stage of growth either.

Raiki

Abilities:

HP: 90/96

MP: 22/158

Str: 12

Sta: 42

Spd: 59

Int: 64

Wis: 47

Wit: 15

Total: 239

Traits:

Feline Finesse

Indifferent

Shy

Uncertain

Protective

Colin breathed a sigh of relief. At least her Traits were getting better. Raiki had started off with Feline Finesse, Independent, Focused and Efficient when she was with Katrin. After being transferred, sadness set in and her Traits changed from Independent to Lonely, from Focused to Distracted and from Efficient to Listless.

She had been in recovery for nights. Now, at least, she had gone from 'Lonely' to 'Shy', from 'Distracted' to 'Indifferent', from 'Listless' to 'Uncertain'. Colin hoped one day she would recover her original traits and become as powerful as she used to be. As for the 'Protective' trait, that one had come from a certain event in the first Farm Wars.

"Hey, Colin… let me see?" Katrin came over, a bit excitedly.

{Whew… she's not running away…}

He showed her Raiki's scans. Even after she'd given Raiki to him, Katrin still showed concern for her First Comrade. She looked and almost touched the projection, then shook her head and changed the subject. "How about the rest?"

"You want to see them all?!" Colin stared.

"You don't need to show them one by one. Just bring up the summary." Katrin said, showing him how.

https://imgur.com/bDDooLq

"Twenty-one Comrades." Colin counted. He let out a sigh. "Mine's going to look so miserable in comparison."

"Just show me." Katrin nudged him.

He brought up the summary.

https://imgur.com/Ao1nn7K

"What the-?!" Edward jumped.

"What?" Colin blinked. "What's wrong?"

Well… Shiro was at a remarkably higher level than most of his or Katrin's Comrades. But Edward really looked shocked.

"Your summary's messed up." Katrin observed. "They're supposed to be arranged in order of their levels… but it's putting Kirin third, when she's obviously lower level than most of the others."

"That's not it." Edward said. "At first I thought so too, but this proves otherwise. There's been a lot of theories on the sorting, which I never really checked, but looking at this summary, there's only one that makes sense."

"What's that?" Colin asked.

"Your summary sorts them in order of potential."

"Potential?" Katrin blinked.

Edward sighed. "You know how some Comrades grow faster but once they hit a certain level, they can't grow any more?"

"Like Lynxmice?" Colin remembered. "Meek's not growing any more."

"Yes. Exactly. That's why she's at the bottom." Edward said. "In Katrin's case, the moles will probably be the first to reach their maximum growth."

"They're already slowing down." Katrin agreed.

"So, in other words…" Edward coughed. "Shiro and Raiki…"

Colin looked at his summary again and realized what he meant.

"Shiro and Raiki have the potential to become stronger than full-grown Storm Swans."

***

It was Michi, Colin remembered, who first told him about growth stages and potential. The faster the Comrade advanced through Stages, the lower the final potential was. Meek became an Elder by level 10. Shiro was still a cub at level 28.

{Just how far can Shiro and Raiki really go…?}

Stronger than Storm Swans. Colin remembered Shinji's Storm Swan, Rain. Kirin's mother was as big as Edward's truck, maybe even bigger. Rain could control the weather itself, and call down lightning in a moment's notice.

{And those two cubs can one day go beyond THAT?! Colin let out a low whistle. I don't know if I can ever finish repaying Katrin for giving me Raiki…}

Well, there was a way. He'd tried to give her Shiro in return, but she absolutely refused.

Katrin spun around and marched for the gate purposefully.

"Kat! Where are you going?" Edward called.

"I'm going to Tame a Red Panther!" Katrin called back. "I want to know exactly how strong one of those can be compared to Velvet and Streak!"

Fireheart, Colin realized, was fifth on his list, below Sonia. But Sonia was Jijin's breeding. Sonic Wolves were powerful enough as they were, but with Jijin's hand in her parentage, she was considered something else entirely, a J-87 Enhanced version of Sonic Wolves. If Edward's theory was correct, her potential wasn't as high as Storm Swans, but Colin felt sure that it would be far beyond Red Panthers like Fireheart.

"You know…" Edward mused, watching her go. "There's bound to be some differences even between Wilds of the same kind. The only way to know for sure how strong they can really be is to max out your Comrades' abilities."

Colin scratched his head. "That's going to take a long time."

"Yeah." Edward said. "Now, help me clean up."

(Author's note: Colin didn't notice, but Raiki's stats had different growth than before also. In her time of sadness, her Wisdom went up really fast, while (since she was sitting in Colin's hands all the time) her strength and stamina hardly changed)