Liliana opened her new class information once more, still a bit giddy at the class. She had a good idea of where her class was headed, as in the game this class path had a few offshoots but there was a specific class she hoped to get to from it. Based on her knowledge her next rank-up should give her a Blade Dancer class from her current one.

Battle Dancer: Class Requirements: Level 35 in a weapon, level 25 in Dancing. 50 Endurance, 50 Speed, 55 Charisma, 35 Dexterity.

A warrior who is as comfortable on the dance floor as on the battlefield. The way they move their body and weapons is an art form. Still a novice in many aspects the beauty of their movements is undeniable, even as they leave their partners in the dance of death bleeding and broken behind them. A Battle Dancer is a Dancer who has truly begun to turn to the art of war and battle, seeking to make the battlefield their stage.

+5 to Speed Per Level, +4 to Endurance Per Level, +4 to Dexterity Per Level, +3 to Charisma Per Level.

Battle Dancer was a good class, a bit over what the normal was based on what other classes she’d seen. She knew the entire Blade Dancer and Blade Singer class path was a difficult one. In the game, it required grinding out a pointless skill, [Dancing] to qualify for it at all. As well as pumping stats into Charisma, which many players didn’t believe in using. Even if a higher Charisma stat in the game got you better Quests, it didn’t help with the damage that went against most meta-builds. Liliana however had chased the Blade Singer class at one point, it was one of the few classes that could hold up to classes even a rank above it despite being one you could get as early as Rank 5. However, there were other classes equal to it that others preferred to go after as the requirements weren’t as tedious.

It was also an evolvable class, meaning the class itself could evolve into a more improved version of itself. Same as Blade Dancer. There was no telling though if in the world as opposed to the game if there was a third evolution for the class, but Liliana was excited to find out. At the very least this was a familiar class that would work well for her. And the fact that Blade Dancer offered buffs for party members would help her when she got bonds as well.

The other classes she had been offered hadn’t been nearly as impressive. She hadn’t filled out the requirements to get better ones, though she’d been disappointed at the lack of any Taming classes. She’d been offered the same original classes with the addition of a Ranger class, which was probably the closest she’d come to a Taming class. She’d denied it though as her skill with Archery was so bad she was a danger to herself and anyone around her. She’d been offered a Glaiveir class as an uncommon class, the same ranking as Battle Dancer. However it had replaced Charisma with Vitality, and Liliana wasn’t willing to lose the free points there.

Liliana closed her class screen and looked to the excited fox patiently waiting for her.

“Okay today’s going to be the last day we can do this,” Liliana seriously addressed her companion.

“After this, my family is going to be back, and I don’t know when I can sneak out like this,” Liliana continued her explanation, meeting the amber gaze that for once was somber rather than filled with mischief.

“If that means you want to cancel our contract I’ll understand, since I won’t be able to get you food as easily, I’ve appreciated your help the past four days,” Liliana bowed from where she was sitting to fully show her thanks, wiping at her eyes that were most certainly not filling with tears. She waited for a response from her silent companion. No, her friend.

A moment of silence later she felt a warm tongue licking her cheek, wiping away the salty tears that were beginning to fall. Liliana giggled at the tickling sensation and wrapped her arms around the sun-warmed coat. Polaris climbed into her lap and let her hug him like a stuffed animal as she hid her face in his plush fur. It might seem silly but he felt like the first real friend she’d made since falling into this twisted wonderland. She adored Silas and Astrid, but they would never really be her friends. Astrid was more like a mother, and Silas a mentor. Polaris felt like a friend, a mischievous friend who got her into more trouble than she often thought she could handle, but a friend nonetheless. Even if he was a fox and not a human.

“Thank you, Polaris,” She murmured into his coat and the fox yipped quietly in her ear, nosing her ear, eliciting a yelp from her when his cold wet nose made contact with her ear.

“Polaris!” She squealed pulling back from the fox. He bounced out of her lap and circled her twice, yipping excitedly before running a few feet from her, nose pointed in a direction.

“Okay! Okay! No more dreary emotions, if it’s our last day let’s go out with a bang right?” She asked and got a loud yip in answer that drew giggles from her as she leaped to her own feet, naginata gripped in her hand as she chased after the flashing fire orange fur.

She chased after the small flashes of fur in the forest, well used to following Polaris now as she weaved through trees and brush, leaping over grasping roots and deadfall. [Stealth] was active, muffling her footfalls and guiding her movements to avoid crunchy leaves and twigs. She was nowhere near as silent as Polaris, who moved like a ghost in the forest, but she was certainly a far cry from the bumbling novice she’d been at the beginning of the week. Constant use of the skill had enabled it to make swift growth, and using it in combat situations seemed to pump the experience even higher.

Liliana drew to a halt and ducked behind a bush when she spotted Polaris laying on the ground, eyes locked on something ahead. As she dropped down she saw what Polaris had targeted and she smiled. She hadn’t fought many of the Giant Toads, she’d just out-leveled Horned Hares when she reached level 35.

Giant Toad

Level 41

A toad of truly epic proportions. Its leaps can cross distances of 40ft at the least. Its tongue is fast as lightning and can stretch 20ft. Once it has prey wrapped in its tongue it’s nearly impossible to get free. Can also shoot balls of water from its mouth with a distinctly slimy texture that will slow and hamper prey and opponents.

Rank: 8

Since her Rank up she’d fought a small handful of Giant Toads but what made her smile was that they had the exact same attack patterns as the game. Unlike the Hares which hadn’t even been in the original game, these were welcome in their familiarity. Their predictability lowered their risk rate to Liliana even with their higher levels. They also had very low Intelligence, unlike the Hares which had high Intelligence to enable their multitude of magic attacks. Toads focused more on Vitality, Strength, and Endurance, making them harder to kill but easier for her to confuse with [Tempo]. Her greater speed also meant that it was only a matter of time before she whittled them down to nothing.

She’d been surprised that Polaris seemed to enjoy eating them as much as the Hares though she suspected that higher-leveled creature’s meat did something for the little fox. He’d increased in size since she’d met him, despite never participating in fights and the lack of experience share in their Bond. She didn’t know if the System awarded him experience for guiding her to monsters, so she had to assume he got something from eating the creatures. There was no other explanation for the fact that he seemed to have a black hole where his stomach was, enabling him to eat far more than his weight in food daily.

“Some fresh frog legs coming right up,” Liliana promised her furry friend as she summoned [Will-O-Wisp]. Eleven glowing orbs floated around her, spinning more chaotically and with more speed than they had at lower levels, showing off the benefit of leveling the skill. She’d found out that because the skill looked quite a bit like over-large fireflies the dumb toads tended to focus on them, thinking they were an easy meal. Which usually let her get off several hits as [Tempo] took effect and rendered the Toad utterly defenseless against her.

As the Toad focused on the floating lights and began shooting its muscled tongue out to try to capture the tantalizing morsels Liliana activated [Tempo] and [Dance of The Day Star]. The boost of speed had her at the Toad’s flank even as its tongue was darting out for another attack at the floating lights. Her blade practically sang as it cut through the air, slicing a gash into the toad’s hide. It wasn’t deep, the toad’s Vitality was too high for one attack to be much more than a superficial wound but Liliana was used to this and she danced away as the Toad turned at the attack.

Her naginata spun around her, a tornado of hardwood and deadly metal. Small wounds appeared on the Toad as if by magic as her feet traced a complicated pattern across the ground, always keeping her at its flank even as it tried to spin to face her. A major weakness of the Toads were their horrible close quarter's abilities, they were masters at long-ranged fight but take away their ability to use their tongue and they were clumsy and far too easy to hit.

As her [Will-O-Wisp]s spun around the pair, tracing dizzying designs in the air and the ghost drums of [Tempo] pounded in her ears the effect of the spell slowly started to take effect. She could see as the Toad became more and more disorientated, its tongue missing more shots and its steps fumbling and treacherous as it tried to face the annoying creature biting at its body.

The Toad slowed more and more with each passing second and its hide was soon far more red than green as her blade cut into already existing wounds, slicing deeper into muscles with each pass. Blood coated the ground beneath them making for dangerous footing but Liliana danced around the puddles, feet finding dry ground as she moved. The Toad slipped on its own life’s blood and tumbled, falling onto its back with an agonized croak, displaying its vulnerable underbelly to her blade.

Victory in sight Liliana activated a new skill she’d gained when she hit level 35 and got her new class. Based on the name she assumed she’d earned it in part from the Zephryn fight. [Dance of The Windsong]. She felt her Vitality drop drastically as her Speed rose in answer. Anyone watching would have a hard time following her movements now as she moved like the wind itself, her blade cutting through the Toad’s flesh so fast it looked like wounds appeared out of thin air. Faster and faster its flesh was torn until finally, she’d weakened it enough to stab her naginata into its failing heart, ending its weak struggles.

Liliana canceled her skills and spells and sighed as she felt her health start to slowly regenerate. [Dance of The Windsong] was a high-risk high-reward skill. At its current level, she could sacrifice 15% of her Vitality to have the same amount added onto her Speed. It was a channel with a fairly high Mana and Stamina cost, enough that she couldn’t keep it and her other Skills and Spells active for long. The other drawback was once she canceled it she got her Vitality back but her health had to naturally regen back up to full.

She’d been cautious about using the skill at the beginning of a battle, only using it when she knew victory was assured. It let the Skill level while she got used to it enough to eventually be comfortable alternating it with her other abilities.

Liliana yanked her naginata out of the toad and set it to the side, taking out her skinning knife to set to work on the toad. Its skin was fairly useful for its waterproof qualities, and its lungs, heart, and eyeballs were all alchemical ingredients. Liliana removed all the parts she needed to keep for herself before stepping aside to let Polaris at his latest meal. With great delight, she placed the newest materials in her very own spatial bag.

Fifteen gold, thirty silver, fifty-six copper. Every last penny she had earned the past week had gone into it. Including a portion of the pelt from Zephryn, the part not needed for the new gear she’d commissioned. His horns had given her the last bit she needed to afford a small spatial bag. She wouldn’t have been able to afford it at all if Silas hadn’t covered the cost of her new gear being commissioned, doing it sneakily when he and Astrid had taken the materials to the town to sell and use to commission her gear.

It had allegedly been his celebratory gift for her killing her first named beast and her progress for the past week. She also suspected either he or Astrid had chipped in partially for the cost of the spatial bag because she knew it wasn’t the smallest possible size which was what she’d assumed she’d get for what she had. It was twenty cubic feet and could fit about ten toad skins, their cores, and their alchemical organs. Though the skins were usually pretty shredded by the time she skinned them. Which had lost her more than a few coins. There was no other way to kill the things though at her power level. Unlike Horned Hares, these things didn’t die with a single slash at the neck.

Liliana perked up when she heard a yip from Polaris and turned to see the half-eaten corpse, he was done for now and seemed ready to head towards the next target. Liliana hastily wiped off her naginata before moving to follow her companion with a grin.

“Onwards! To battle!” She commanded with a giggle as the fox bounded off, Liliana following him.

“One more?” Liliana asked hopefully to the red fox. Polaris gave her a far too knowing look and laid down on the ground. Liliana slumped as she dropped next to him, her heart heavy.

“Yea, guess not enough time,” She murmured as she settled her hand in his warm fur. The sun was hanging low in the sky, soon enough it would reach the point that signaled it was time for her to head back home.

“You know for a week I got to forget all the bad stuff about this new life,” Liliana started conversationally, Polaris tilted his head, settling intelligent amber eyes on her. Eyes far more intelligent than they’d been when they’d met. Their shared time had changed them both, in some ways more noticeable than others.

“I didn’t have to spend pretty much any time awake at the manor. From dawn until dusk I was out here. Fighting monsters, leveling up, getting new Skills and Spells. Making a friend, living a life I never dreamed I’d ever be able to,” Liliana smiled wistfully as she shifted, laying down with her head resting on Polaris. The fox didn’t protest the position and his tail even curled around to rest on her throat as if he was comforting her.

“I didn’t have to see the judging looks of the servants or deal with their disrespect or snide whispers they think I can’t hear. Didn’t have to deal with my stepmother’s machinations or worry about poison in my tea. Didn’t have to worry that Alistair had snuck a snake into my shoes, or stolen something from my room. Nor did I have to deal with Miss. Beckett’s disparaging remarks about my intelligence or her constant attempts to force me to fail,” Liliana continued, her voice holding more than a little pain.

She had known this life wouldn’t be easy, and in some ways, her memories of her past life protected her from the pain. In her mind, these people weren’t her family. The titles of ‘father’ and ‘mother’ belonged to two people from another world with hearts of gold and never-ending love and kindness.

Yet she now shared the original Liliana’s memories, all of them. She had lived the horrid past of the girl, and had become someone different than she’d been when she arrived in this world. And the treatment affected her in ways it never would have without the memories. Truth be told she had a wound in her heart, a festering ever bleeding wound that was never allowed to heal because it was constantly agitated by the very people who had caused it. Like her heart was wrapped in barbed wire, with every cruel word and cold gaze the wire tightened a little more, digging harsh barbs into delicate flesh.

“For a week I could be me. Not Lady Liliana the unloved daughter of a Duke. Not Liliana the future Villainess. Just...me,” Liliana spoke softly now. Polaris seemed to react to the sadness hanging heavy on each word, a soft whine in his throat as he curled his body until he could rest his nose over her chest. It was like he was giving her his version of a hug.

“Tomorrow I have to go back to it. Trapped in a web spun of razored golden threads, dripping with poison at every turn,” Liliana continued as her hand reached up to softly pet Polaris’s head, fingers dancing along with his soft ears and finding his favorite scratching spot.

“I have to go back to pretending to be the meek noblewoman, who is ever so grateful to her cold bastard of a father, cruel wretch of a step-mother and immature stuck up step-brother,” Liliana sighed and her eyes traced a cloud in the sky, painted gold by the rays of the falling sun.

“I just hope...I won’t have to wait as long this time. I’m strong enough now that if I can find a powerful creature to Bond with maybe I can. And perhaps finally break some of these cursed chains dragging me down,” Liliana continued and Polaris huffed shooting her an indignant look. Liliana chuckled at his unspoken words. She had become rather proficient at translating his vulpine language.

“You know what I mean Polaris! A full Soul Bond, a life contract. I adore you, my foxy friend. But we both know this contract was never meant to be more than a mutually beneficial trade,” Liliana explained and Polaris snorted before laying his head down, reluctantly agreeing to her comment.

She wasn’t sure if the fox would even keep the contract active when she went back, after all, she didn’t know when she’d next be able to go out and get him a meal. Selfishly she hoped he’d let the contract remain, even if it no longer benefited either of them. But she’d never voice it, it would truly be too selfish. Tying him to her when he would do better on his own. Their contract might be weak but it did limit his ability to wander far from her. But their contract also wouldn’t do much for her either. A contract with a Red Fox, no matter how dearly she loved the creature, was nothing impressive. If anything it would get her laughed at by her family. No, if she wanted respect she needed to be bonded to something so strong no one could doubt her power. A mighty creature that inspired awe with its very presence.

“I’d have to go pretty far to find something Rank 7 or 6, which is my goal as I’m rank 8 now. I’d need my family to get invited to another ball. Which should happen again as it is summer and they’re fairly popular. Maybe it can happen in the next few weeks? They wouldn’t bring me that’s for sure,” Liliana continued to speak, filling their last bit of time together with words. Finding comfort in the hope for a better future.

“Do you know where I could find a Rank 6 creature by any chance?” Liliana teased the fox and got a snort in response. Polaris’s way of saying ‘Do I look stupid enough to mess around where there are Rank 6 creatures?’

“Yea, guess not. You’re a smart fox and I doubt you’d mess around anywhere near those kinds of areas. Though you’re level 32 now aren’t you? Getting close to Rank 8. I know that’s the limit for these areas, even the wolf pack is only low Rank 7 and they’re the cap for the area. Where will you go when you Rank out of this area?” Liliana asked conversationally. Polaris let out a small yip and flicked his tail back and forth. He lifted his head then and pointed northeast, towards the snowy mountains.

“Huh, do you have family there? Were you spawned or born?” Liliana asked next and got a high yip and a foxy grin before he laid his head back down on her with no other answer. Liliana rolled her eyes at the fox, his answer was basically ‘Figure it out’.

“I’m just trying to learn more about you, little shit,” Liliana grumbled and Polaris let out a yipping bark that was his laugh. It drew a few giggles from the girl in answer.

“Did I tell you I was from another world? That I met a Goddess?” Liliana asked when the laughter had died. Polaris froze and Liliana grinned at being able to throw the fox off.

“Yea, I lived in a world you wouldn’t believe. We didn’t have magic. Humans ruled the world in huge cities made of stone and metal. We flew giant metal boats in the air and drove metal carriages with no horses. We had technology that rivaled most magics, giant screens that portrayed fantasy shows and movies like illusion magic,” Liliana began to tell tales of her home to the intently listening fox. It felt good to finally talk about her home to someone, even if the someone was a fox who perhaps didn’t understand all her words. Still, the words gushed out of her like water from a burst dam. Lancing a festering pain inside her she hadn’t even noticed, the pain of never having someone to confide in.

As the sun slowly tracked a steady path down the sky, counting down the seconds for her freedom a young girl sat in a forest clearing, cuddled up to a large red fox regaling him with a tale of a sick girl in a world of wonder who met her death far too early and made a deal with a Goddess that she perhaps shouldn’t have.