92. Transitions Final

"Joe, what kind of animal are you thinking about trying to get as your companion?"

"I am leaning towards a feline of some sort. That is going to depend on the area of the realm that Alan created that I am going to."

"I have an idea. You see there are some things in that region that have to do with character development and plot lines and things like that, that I do not want to tell you right yet. How about this, I will create your animal companion. If there is something wrong with the creature then tell the system and I will pull you back out and let you design something and pay you a penalty."

"I will admit that I am curious about what animal you will come up with but I am more interested in what is going on in the region that would alter animal companions to the extent that you would keep it a surprise. I do not need the guarantee. As long as it is a combat able feline companion then I will be more than happy with it."

"I am not going to give it a lot of abilities yet because I am going to treat it as a younger companion that you wanted until you were a little stronger to bond with. It will be about a year to a year and a half old and knew a few things. But I do not want to give to much away."

"Well since that is the case then I think that I am ready to go. I would like to spend some of my leftover coin on some mundane and healing items."

"By all means." Joe pulled up the list of goods and went to work grabbing anything and everything that he thought he might need. With the potions he burned through almost a third of his remaining gold but he just about anything that you could think of, to include a coffee pot that was designed by him a long time ago and made mention of in one of Alan's early books.

"Is there going to be tobacco available?"

"Alan had us put in a few different strands, to including one with a hint of mint that he really likes."

"He always has like menthol. I prefer regular tobacco to mint as long as it is there. Tell you what I am going to move to a pipe. I would like a large tin of cherry pipe tobacco and can we make pipe tobacco available in the area?"

[Affirmative]

"Thank you system."

"Are you done?"

"Yeah, I am done. All I need to do is put my name on the top of the sheet and my character will be finalized."

"Are you going with your current name or are you changing your name?"

Joe opened up the name option and typed in Theren Greenleaf. "That will do it."

"Well, Theren it was good to meet you and I hope that you have a great time in your next life. By the way I am going to download a lot of information about the area and things that have taken place since Alan or should I say Novum got there. Just some basic information. And just so you know you will be starting in the northwest."

"Make sure that you include a mental map and a paper map of the area when I get there. I should have a really good understanding of the area since I have been a ranger in the region for a while."

"That is fine." The being put out his hand and Joe took it. As soon as his hand made contact he was back to feeling like he was floating on a cloud like before. A huge amount on information flowed into his mind and as soon as it stopped he felt his body shift like he was on a rollercoaster and when he opened his eyes he was standing in the middle of a huge forest.

"That was nicely handled. And way to go Novum, you have been busy over the last year."

Theren heard a noise and looked beside him and saw the biggest mountain lion he could have imagined standing next to him. This huge feline was as big or bigger than the lions and tigers that he saw in the zoos in his old world. Theren realized that like animals that Novum dealt with earlier that this cat was altered by the magical vapor residue, making it bigger and smarter than the average mountain lion. Hell bigger than the average tiger.

[Congratulations Theren for arriving safely into this new world. Please make sure that you equip all of the items that you purchased and please find a welcome gift from the system. They were picked for you specifically and the monetary values were rolled at random.]

"Thank you system." Joe pulled out the armor, rings, and bracers he bought and put them on. He also found a pair of boots in his bag that he had not purchased but would have purchased if he would have had the funds. There was also a quiver that he had not seen before and then he realized that it was a magical storage quiver. There were three sections and two of them held over four dozen arrows and the third section held unstrung bows and weapons of that size and shape.

Theren also found a potion that was different from the healing ones that he bought earlier and saw that it was clearly labeled as a potion of invisibility. He found a pouch of coins which he quickly dumped into his other pouch and two gems came out with the coins. "This is an amazing welcome package system. Thank you."

[Mission: track and kill the giant that has moved through this area towards the Three Mines area.]

'that is a little spot on system but thanks for that.'

"Okay, Svetlana it is time to go kill a giant and link up with a young man that I have known for a long time. Are you ready?" The lion purred at him and to an average person it would have sounded like a growl. "Yeah that is going to take a little getting used to."

Theren started to look around the area in a systematic manor so that he could find the trail that the giant left behind. The system did not tell him the type of giant that he was looking for but given his level he assumed that it was a buffed up hill giant or something like that. I mean it could have been an ogre since they were considered giants but this seemed like it would be a little more complicated than that.

It took him most of the rest of the day to find the trail but with his knowledge of the area and his bonus against giants he found the trail. It was getting late into the evening and the system did not give him a time line to find the giant so he found a huge tree in the area and the two of them climbed way up into the branches that started to give under the weight of the cat they stopped there.

Theren found a nice crook in the tree and pulled out his pipe and lit up a smoke before he ate some of the trail rations and gave some of the fresh meat to the cat. It was stared in his bag and it did not rot so the cat ate it right up. It was a beautiful evening and he just found a clear spot in the branches above him and just stared at the sky as he puffed on his pipe.

As he leaned there he realized that this wonderful world was even better than he pictured in his imagination and that however small he had a part in creating this place. Alan was always bouncing things back and forth off of him and he made a lot of minor changes to this world through his input. He had always had a bit of an ego but this, this right here was bigger than anything that even he ever thought he would do. This was an entire world created out of pure imagination.

With that thought in mind he carefully put out his pipe to protect the forest and drifted off to the best sleep he has had in a long time, probably since his first deployment. That was a long time ago and that was a great nights sleep. The sun's rays cutting through the leaves on the tree woke him up and he stretched and moved towards the ground.

Theren cooked the rest of the deer that he had in the bag and gave some of the raw to the cat. He finished his morning pipe and made sure that the fire was completely out and buried he got up and stretched out. "Lana, my friend. It is time to go giant hunting." With that he took off at a steady run following the giant's trail.