Day 1.10

August was starting to think the creature had fallen asleep because it hadn’t moved for several minutes now. He continued scratching at the fur that covered its rounded torso, remaining tense the entire time. For all he knew, it would flip moods in an instant, just like his mother’s dog had done when he was young.

However, he had managed to recover some of his calm, and his heart was no longer thundering in his chest. At first, he’d thought that the dark spots on its body had been holes, like those the spikes emerged from—but that wasn’t the case. It was simply a strange repeating pattern of black and red, like that of a ladybug.

The spikes that emerged from the actual holes seemed almost sealed to the body, and when he’d grow brave enough to touch the material, he was surprised that it felt less like the bone it appeared to be and more like something metal. He couldn’t discern the composition from sight alone, but it felt cold to the touch, whereas bone should have probably been warmer.

August managed to stop himself from knocking on the material with his knuckle—purely out of self-preservation because that would have just been inviting more danger. The body itself almost looked like a shell from a distance, but it felt like there was flesh under the fur.

The two stumpy legs beneath it were thick, rough, and looked like something that belonged to an elephant. There was no eye’s, ears, mouth, or nose that he could see anywhere on the thing’s body, and he had no idea how it could observe its environment in any way.

It seemed to take about a minute to regenerate enough mana to use [Tame], and after about ten repeats, he’d narrowed it down to something like [1 MP per 5 seconds]. He used it as soon as he reached the minimum threshold required to do so, and every time the creature chirped in response.

All evidence pointed to it being able to sense the mana usage—that was both an interesting and frightening conclusion. If the other monsters in Devil’s Nest could sense him using mana, then every time he so much as used [Analysis], he was potentially making himself a target.

There was a ray of hope, though, because there had been two of these things, and only one of them had turned to look at him earlier. It could be the trait that had been listed that allowed this one to sense him—[Absorb] certainly sounded like something that might have to do with the current situation.

The chirping high above felt dangerous now that he knew what was really up there, hidden from sight amongst the leaves. Had these creatures been following him since he’d entered the forest? He’d come through it haplessly thinking that he had been lucky not to have run into any monsters, and they’d been there the entire time.

Was this still a good idea to make a camp here? They hadn’t attacked him yet, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t. If he could manage to tame this one, then perhaps he might feel more comfortable with the idea of staying so close to a forest filled with monsters.

The creature tipped over onto its side, and August flinched at the sudden movement. It let out a high-pitched chirp, and he realized he’d stopped scratching at its fur. Before it could do anything else,

August moved to continue the ministrations, using bursts of [Tame] every time he had enough mana to do so. It felt like an excruciating amount of time, but he couldn’t have said how long he sat there, patting the spiky ball of fur.

August tracked the progress until finally—[Tame Progress – 30/30]. The text of the still open [Analysis] panel changed, and the information was restructured before his eyes. A marker appeared halfway down the description, and it expanded further when he focused on it.

Level 3

Healthy

MP – 33/3

EXP – 17/300

*

P. ATTACK – 60

M. ATTACK – 5

P. DEFENSE – 5

M. DEFENSE – 5

AGILITY – 12

Absorb – Able to absorb and store mana above the total cap.

Variation E1726926, designation ‘Efkini.’ It subsists on the existing ambient mana within the environment; they are known to kill creatures, including each other, for sport. A portion of their internal mana reserves is converted into iron production, which is then used to construct, lengthen, and repair the appendages they use to traverse their environment.

August carefully read through everything available and then reread the summary several times; once he was done, he found his eyes settling on one section in particular—[Variation E1726926]. That was perhaps the most mysterious part of the entire text. It looked like some kind of reference number or a product code of some kind. Had the person who’d brought him here created these things as well? Or was it another case of the [Analysis] spell assigning it information based on its appearance?

The [Efkini] chirped again, bringing him out of his thoughts and leaving him with the realization that he had no idea what he was supposed to do next. He’d tamed the thing, but now what? Would it follow his directions? Would it just vanish back into the trees, never to be seen again?

August made to stand up, the motion slow and controlled—the [Efkini] moved with him, dropping down onto the dirt and spinning around. It chirped again, shifting its weight onto one stumpy leg before resettling.

“Hey,” August tried, coughing to clear his throat. “You’re friendly now, right?”

It shifted around a bit; the motion seemed to convey either a lack of understanding or perhaps impatience, he wasn’t sure. August hesitated before deciding to just move on; he had a shelter to make.

Before heading towards the lake, he circled around the [Efkini], giving it a meter-wide berth. The thunk to his left made him stop cold, and then a blur of red, black, and white zipped over his shoulder, tumbling through the air. A second thunk rang out—then it was swinging from a branch on his left, chain tethering it to the three.

After he’d ascertained that it wasn’t trying to murder him, he started forward again. It repeated the maneuver, reeling itself in and keeping pace with him as he made his way out of the forest.

August watched it untether the chain halfway through reeling itself upwards, and it had just enough momentum to let the creature land feet first on a low hanging branch. It seemed to have some kind of instinctual understanding of motion, and its incredible nimbleness was completely at odds with its body’s rounded, clumsy shape.

He passed the tree line and caught sight of his mostly completed [Lean-to]. August made a beeline for it, and the [Efkini] followed, using the treeline to launch itself forward. It landed on the ground near him, and he was glad it hadn’t crashed into his shelter—he wasn’t ready to test the structure’s durability against something like that.

August moved behind the structure and removed some of the newly retrieved vines from his inventory. He quickly lashed the last angled branches to the crossbeam, and the very moment he was done, the quest updated once more.

Survive

Water - 1/1

Food - 1/1

Shelter - 1/1

Fire - 0/1

He personally wouldn’t have considered that as complete because there were obvious gaps between the branches, and it would do very little to keep the rain off of him. He’d have to cover it in something eventually, either leaves or something that would seal the gaps.

That left one final thing to accomplish—well, two things, really, because he needed to figure out exactly where he stood with the monster that was currently investigating his [Lean-to]. The [Basic Campfire] was more simple than the other blueprint had been, requiring just wood, kindling, and some larger stones to create a border that would give it some level of permanence.