Trouble In The Forest

Liam made sure to keep moving around as he attacked the slimes in front of him. Luckily, the slimes lacked basic coordination which made it easier for him to cut them down.

Blu was doing his part too. The slimes that Liam wouldn't cut, Blu would ram into them and stun them.

Finally, Liam sliced through the last slime. He sheathed his sword and exhaled slowly.

"Whew!" Liam wiped the sweat from his forehead ,"That was quite a workout"

He sat down on a fallen log and took out two apples from his duffel bag. He tossed one to Blu who swallowed it in one bite.

Liam chuckled and took a bite of his own apple. He opened up his menu scrolled down to the Inbox to claim his rewards.

[Congratulations: You have successfully completed the Beginner Quest.

Rewards:

-20 Experience points

-5 stat points]

[«Attention»

-You have run out of attempts for the Beginner Quest.

-Please check the new quests available]

[«Notice»

-You have leveled up from Lv.3 to Lv.4. Familiar<Blu> has leveled up from Lv.5 to Lv.6.

-New skills now available]

"Nice! Another level up for us", said Liam excitedly ,"First things first, using all my stat points-"

[<Stats>

Lv.4

HP: 160

MP: 110

-Strength: 17

-Agility: 17

-Intelligence: 15

-Stamina: 21]

"I've gotten pretty good, if I do say so myself", Liam nodded in satisfaction ,"Next is skills-"

As he'd been fighting the slimes and leveling up, Liam had managed to acquire three more skills.

[<Skills>

-Enhance: when active, buffs familiars for a period of 3 minutes.

-Switch: ability to switch places with a selected familiar with a range of 100 metres.

-Persevere: buffs Tamer's abilities when health falls below half health.]

"Ooh! Persevere sounds pretty good", said Liam ,"I feel a bit safer at least. I wonder what skills Blu got-"

He tapped on Familiars and checked Blu's stats.

[<Familiars>

-Blu:

Lv.6

Race/ Slime

Skills/ Alternate space

Ingest

Dissolve

Imitate]

[<Familiars>

-Dissolve: turns the slime's entire body matter into a corrosive acid.

-Imitate: steals the appearance and abilities of a selected target after coming into contact with it. Duration: 3 minutes. Cool down: 12 hours]

"Hmm, not bad. Especially this Imitate skill", said Liam ,"Even though the cool down limits it a lot, at least it's not a one time use]

Finally Liam scrolled back to his Inbox and opened it. Three notifications popped up on the screen.

[«Notice»

You have three new quests.

-Quest:

Defeat 3 Fire foxes.

YES/NO?

-Quest:

Defeat 1 Steel scaled python

YES/NO?

-Quest:

Defeat 2 fanged boars

YES/NO?]

"Wow, these quests seem way harder than before", said Liam nervously as he stood up. He quickly clicked on YES for all of them ,"Well, I guess it's just the system motivating us. Let's go, Blu!"

Liam and Blu headed deeper into the forest. The forest was teeming with all sorts of creatures and it didn't take long to complete the quests.

They happened to stumble upon a group of five Fire foxes that were resting on the lower branches of some of the trees. They had sharp blue eyes and their fur was made of flickering orange colored flames.

The foxes immediately barred their fangs as soon as they saw Liam. They were fast on their feet and scurried away whenever Liam got too close.

Fortunately, Liam came up with a clever plan. He told Blu to go out and collect a lot of water using his skill, Alternate Space.

Blu left for a while and came back with enough water to fill a small pond. While Liam distracted the foxes, Blu snuck up behind them and sprayed them with water, instantly dousing their flames.

Liam took advantage of their confusion and sliced swiftly with his sword. Of course, he made sure to only injure one of them so he could try taming it.

"Nice work, Blu", said Liam to his partner, making Blu bounce about happily.

Liam surveyed his handiwork. The pelts of the foxes that he had killed were still lit.

'Fire fox pelts might go for a good price in some places' Liam thought to himself.

"Hey Blu", Liam pointed at the carcasses of the foxes ,"Go collect all those dead foxes and keep em safe for me, will you?"

As Blu went straight to work, Liam walked over to the fox he had injured earlier. Although it was in pain, the fox still growled at him viciously.

Liam delivered a swift kick to the fox's snout that knocked it off it's feet. Then he extended his hand towards it.

"Tame!" Liam chanted.

The fire fox glowed brightly before turning into tiny particles and flying to his hand.

[«Notice»

-Successfully tamed Fire fox

Number of slots available: 8]

"Nice!" Liam exclaimed enthusiastically. He wasted no time and extended his hand in front of him again ,"Come out, Fire Fox!"

A magic circle appeared and the Fire Fox jumped out, waiting for it's orders.

[«Attention»

The familiar, Fire Fox, desires a name: _____]

"Hmm...alright", said Liam after giving it some thought ,"You will be Kai"

The fox yelped happily and rubbed her head against Liam's leg affectionately. Liam scratched behind Kai's ears briefly before straightening up.

"Come on", he said to his two teammates ,"Lets keep going"

For the next three days, they continued heading deeper and deeper into the forest, fighting nonstop, taking down and taming whatever enemies that they happened to stumble upon.

By they time the third night came, Liam's clothes were torn and soiled from the many battles he'd fought. Honestly, Liam was exhausted beyond belief. He had cuts and bruises all over his body but he still smiled happily.

"We've done pretty good these past few days, haven't we?" he panted as he looked around at his familiars.

His party had also grown stronger. Along with the beasts he been asked to defeat in his quests, Liam had managed to tame a rainbow lizard named Seph, a fanged monkey named Razor and a silver winged falcon named Sky. They all sat around him in a circle, laying on the ground or perched in the nearby trees.

Liam sat on a log and opened up his menu to check his stats.

[<Stats>

Lv. 6

HP: 290

MP: 280

-Strength: 60

-Agility: 60

-Intelligence: 55

-Stamina: 70]

[<Skills>

-Paired Senses: allows Tamer to share the senses of his familiars.

-Beastification: allows Tamer to merge with a selected familiar and attain the abilities of the familiar. Duration: 5 minutes. Cool down: 12 hours.

-Devourer: allows Tamer to replenish health and mana quickly by consuming food]

"I'm too tired to be excited about anything", said Liam as he yawned and laid down as well ,"I think I'll just take a nap for now"

Suddenly, he tensed. He could feel one of his familiars in distress about something. He sat up and his eyes met Kai's. The fox turned and started walking in a certain direction.

Liam and the rest of his familiars followed quietly behind her, staying alert for any attacks. Soon, Liam could hear noise up ahead. The sound of a battle!

He started running and found himself in a wide clearing. A bearded man in leather armor with a sword in hand stood there with a little blonde girl in a blue dress. They were surrounded by a pack of wild dogs that Liam recognized as Night hounds.

Liam had run into a few of them while he'd been hunting but had chosen to avoid them. Night hounds were large dogs with sleek black fur and crimson eyes. The had a really good sense of smell and usually hunted in large groups. They liked to corner their prey before killing it slowly.

Liam watched as the man thrust his sword at one of them beasts.

"Stay back, you stupid dogs!" he shouted as he drove them away. The dogs maintained a good distance, waiting for an opening.

"Daddy, I'm scared...", the little girl sobbed next to him, gripping his leg tightly.

The man used his other hand and patted her head gently ,"Don't worry, Tina. I'll get us out of this..."

One of the hounds crept towards them hesitantly and the man swung at the beast. The hound leaped back and another sprang forward, clamping it's teeth on the blade of the sword. It tugged and wrenched the sword out of the man's grasp, leaving them defenceless.

The man's face turned pale as the wolves closed in. The girl began to cry in terror and the man raised his hands in a last desperate act to protect her.

However, before the dogs could pounce on them. A shrill whistle resounded behind them, making them turn their heads towards it.

Liam stepped out from where he'd been watching. His familiars stood besides him, ready to attack.

"Hey, ya damn mutts!" Liam called out with a smile as he unsheathed his sword ,"Why don't you mess with us instead?"