Hunter took painstaking breaths as he assessed the situation. He didn’t have any healing potions or healing magic. However, he did have a giant demon corpse to drain energy from. In fact, he could already feel his staff going to work on draining the life force from its victim. It wouldn’t be enough—especially, if the staff was absorbing some of the energy to upgrade itself. To prevent the staff from consuming the life-saving energy, he tried to ignore his pain and the ticking notifications that informed him of his pain resistance being leveled.

Instead, he focused on the staff and the effects of the black wind. He knew that visualization was necessary, so he closed his eyes and imagined the energy coming from the corpse. Red smoke would be health, green smoke would be stamina, and blue smoke would be mana. Gray smoke was the still undefined soul energy.

In his mind’s eye, he saw the life force of the ghorum, represented by the different colored smoke, drifting from the demon and being slowly consumed by the staff. With a mental fist, he took each stand of smoke and braided it together until it was a quad-color chain. When that was done, he pulled the chain toward him and focused the smoke on his ruined ribs.

Hunter gasped as he felt the pain reducing before it became an uncomfortable itch. He refused to permit the sensation to disrupt his focus. He needed to stabilize himself, and he didn’t have much time.

As he pulled the life-force into his body, he noticed that more smoke was being generated by the staff. It was hungry for the life-force that Hunter was redirecting, and it wanted more for himself. Typically, this would be okay. However, Hunter needed every fraction of that energy for himself. He could feel a headache coming on that was more than physical. It was as if his soul had a hangover. Pushing through the distraction, he weaved more and more of the energy together until he had scraped every bit of life-force he could from the ghorum. When the last dregs of power had been consumed, Hunter opened his eyes.

His chest was still misshapen, but his health pool had recovered to halfway, and the drain on his health pool had slowed. He still wasn’t out of the woods yet, and he wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t think he was able to walk. Even if he could, he might damage himself further and die before he could reach safety.

Beyond that, where would he go? The Sanctuary was too far away, and it was possible that he would run into another demon. If he went to the Outpost, the tieflings would just as soon stab him in the back as they would help him. As he was thinking, his eagle erstwhile eagle companion, floated down beside him. It made a strange crooning noise as it watched Hunter struggle on the ground.

Hunter reached a shaky hand out toward the bird, but it nipped him with its peak and gave him a signature avian glare. The young warrior just laughed. He was on the verge of dying, and the damn bird still wouldn’t relent.

Aren’t animal companions supposed to be nice? They fight for you, act like your friend, bring you little animals as gifts….wait.

An idea occurred to Hunter. The eagle had already shown a willingness to fight demons. He wasn’t sure if it had done so because it hated the type of creatures that captured it or if it found some sort of kinship with its human savior. Either way, it had shown a willingness to accompany him. Maybe he could build on that connection. The only problem was that Hunter had no idea what to do.

Hunter closed his eyes and tried to imagine his mana. Instead of smoke, this time, he imagined that it was cobalt-colored wind. He visualized the blue wind all around him. It was the ambient mana that existed in the surroundings to nourish the unique effects of the Rift. With every breath he took, mana was inhaled into his lungs. From there, his lungs trapped the mana and delivered it to his blood like oxygen. The mana flowed through his body as it was pumped in time with his heartbeat. First, it traveled through arteries. Then it swam along each vein before ending in capillaries that nourished and strengthened his body. When Hunter used a skill, he imagined that same wind rushing from his capillaries to empower his imagination and turn it into reality.

Hunter channeled his mana to his palm and let it gather there. When he felt that he had acquired a sufficient amount, he pushed the energy toward the eagle. With no direction provided by a skill, it was like trying to guide the wind with just his fingertips. Every time it moved more than a few inches from Hunter’s body, it evaporated into nothing. Worse, when Hunter opened his eyes to check his mana pool, he saw that it had decreased by a fair margin.

Okay, so I’m doing something. I’m just missing something. What do skills rely on? It uses the Archives as a framework and mana to power them. So, I need to build a framework that’s more solid than mana alone.

Hunter frowned as he tried to think of what he could use. He wasn’t sure how to use his health or stamina. That seemed inextricably tied to his body.

What if I use soul energy?

The idea had merit. The soul wasn’t nearly as tied to his corporeal form. There was an entire stat—faith—that affected it. He had stolen soul energy from various enemies he had defeated, and his mask seemed fused with him in a way that seemed to go a step beyond simple magic. It changed shape, reactive to his bloodline abilities, and probably had even more capabilities that Hunter had yet to discover.

Closing his eyes again, Hunter summoned mana to his palm just as before. This time, he imagined a dense and heavy smog of soul energy. To his surprise, it manifested even easier than his mana. He started to weave the two forces together as he had done with the ghorum’s life force. At first, the two energies repelled each other. Hunter strained to pull them together into a structure that would maintain itself. Soon, he had conjured a double-helix of soul energy and mana. When Hunter was convinced it wouldn’t simply collapse, he pushed the collection of forces toward the eagle.

Hunter opened his eyes as he made contact with the eagle.

Congratulations! You have earned the Active Skill: Soul Bond Lvl 1

Soul Bond (Lvl 1): Create a bond between your soul and another. This bond shares a percentage of attributes between the two soul-bound companions. Additionally, any bloodline, passive skill, or racial effects will be transferred to your companion. Further levels will increase the percentage of shared attributes and unlock more abilities.

WARNING: If your companion dies, all benefits will be rescinded and the amount of shared attributes will be deducted from your own.

Hunter was giddy as he had discovered a skill all on his own. It felt validating to figure out some of the Archive’s methods without help. He pushed down his excitement and focused on the bird. It ruffled its feathers as the soul bond made contact but otherwise made no response. Hunter couldn’t tell if the bond had worked and the eagle was ignoring him, or if he had messed something up in the process. After a moment that felt like an eternity, the eagle tilted its head until it was studying him with one eye. Very slowly, it tilted its beak in acceptance.