You have bonded with: Bearded Vulture (Female).

To name your bonded animal think the following words:

"I wish to name my animal companion, "

You have gained spell: Summon Companion.

You have gained skill: Companion Communication.

You have unlocked the following menus:

Companion Status

Companion Specialisation

You have reached level 5!

Your health has increased by 4 points.

Your mana has increased by 6 points.

You have 10 attribute points to spend.

You have gained spell: Animal Ally.

You have gained spell: Wooden Flesh.

Yay, so many things!

“But befriending you is the most important of all of them,” Lucinda added out loud, rubbing one cheek against her bird companion who still remained upon her lap.

A single word suddenly echoed within Lucinda’s mind.

“Mate?”

What!?

Lucinda stared down at her animal companion in a stunned silence that lingered for several seconds.

…I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. This must be how Waflaw and Wollow speak too! Then, can I…?

Hello?

Lucinda tried to focus her mind on her animal companion as she thought the word, but after a considerable stretch of silence, she was forced to conclude that her attempt had been unsuccessful. Bringing up her skill list, she inspected the newly added, relevant entry.

Skills Name Description Bonded Animal Bearer possesses a bond with an animal. Both animal and bearer are aware of each other's location at all times. Through the bond, thoughts, emotions, and images can be directly communicated.

Oh… The bond…? I don’t feel any different. Well, other than being the happiest I’ve ever been!

It took a few moments more before Lucinda thought to try calming her mind in the way she used so often for spells or influencing animals, but when she did, everything became clear. There was something new inside of her. Something that she doubted she would ever be able to accurately describe in words. But, whatever it was, by focussing her mind upon it she gained a vague sense of something outside of her own self, and as realisation dawned upon her, joyous laughter spilt forth from her lips.

That’s her! I can feel her, in my mind! We’re connected… Forever.

Despite the implicative weight of the discovery, Lucinda’s elated state did not diminish. Directing her attention to the connection she shared, she once more tried to communicate with her animal companion using nothing but her mind.

“Hello?” she sent.

“Hello? Mate?” came a reply almost immediately, startling Lucinda once again, yet pulling more happy laughter from her.

While the simple words she received were not explicit when considered alone, each came bundled with additional unspoken meaning that left Lucinda with no doubt as to her companion’s intent.

I can see how she might think that, and I’m touched… But, best to set things straight!

“Friend,” Lucinda mentally corrected. “Best friend.”

“Friend?” The message was clear, her animal companion did not comprehend the word’s meaning.

I suppose birds of prey don’t really have a chance to make friends very often… Poor things. Ah, not that I’ve made many either…

“Friend. Someone who gives you bones. Pets you. Plays with you. Looks after you.”

Lucinda wasn’t sure whether the process was inherently intuitive, or just similar enough to her innate ability in nature, but with little difficulty, she added a series of relevant mental images to go with her words. First of her handing a bone to a large bird of prey, then her petting said bird, and finally one of playing together in the warm pool nearby.

“Friend,” came the reply from her animal companion, and with it an underlying confirmation of understanding that only increased Lucinda’s already wide smile. After a small pause, another word reached her. “Sleep.”

“Oh… sleep well,” Lucinda replied, only momentarily caught off guard by the sudden decision of the bird on her lap.

A strong desire to continue interacting with her companion lingered in Lucinda’s mind, but with some effort, she moved onto other things. With a single mental command, she brought up the menu relating to the statistics of her newest and best friend.

Animal Companion

Name

Species

Bearded Vulture

Sex

Female

Age

5

Level

5

Specialisation

Health

Strength

Agility

Endurance

179

179

26

33

21

It’s still hard to believe she’s a vulture. I did wonder with the whole bone thing… But, she’s so beautiful! And cuddly!

I’ll have to come up with the perfect name for her… Ah, I should have thought of one already, I hope she doesn’t mind waiting.

It looks like she’s in good shape, and the same level as me! But, I don’t see an experience value… Do we share? Something to ask Waflaw… It’s also a bit odd she doesn’t have mental attributes. Does that make her weak to spells? Another thing to ask Waflaw I guess.

Animal Companion Specialisations

Having reached level 5, your animal companion has unlocked specialisations. This selection can be changed once per level.

To select a specialisation, think the words: "I wish for my companion to specialise in ", using the following list: Offence

Focus on Strength and damage dealing. Starting ability: Acid Spit Disruption Focus on Agility and hindering enemies. Starting ability: Disorientating Screech Defence Focus on Endurance and resisting incoming damage. Starting ability: Iron Feathers Scouting

Focus on observation and avoidance. Starting ability: Swiftness Acid Spit (Companion)

Fire a glob of damaging acid at target. Repeated use may damage armour.

Cooldown: 15 Seconds. Uses: 2/day + 1 per 5 levels. Disorientating Screech (Companion)

May briefly stun, or temporarily interrupt the casting of, foes.

Cooldown: 2 Minutes. Iron Feathers (Companion)

Take 15% less damage from all sources. Swiftness (Companion)

Increases flight speed by 20%.

Ooo, exciting! And I can change it once per level? That should be useful. Something else I’ll have to think about… And maybe ask her about too, if I can.

Then there’s me… Oh, I almost forgot.

Bringing up her companion’s status, Lucinda focussed on the health value until another bar appeared in her vision. The addition to her status overlay was much the same as her own health bar, but slightly smaller in size, and located directly underneath her own two bars. With that done, Lucinda switched to viewing her status.

Bonding with her gave me a lot of experience! And I’ll probably get more from ranking goat form up to 5 on the way back to the village. Maybe level 6 won’t be too far away after all…

I should think more about attributes soon, but I think I’m still okay with an even split for now. All three are still really useful. I guess that brings them to 25 each?

Status

Name

Lucinda Bazan

Class

Shifter

Level

5

Experience

45%

Health

Strength

Agility

Endurance

194

194

8

10

22

Mana

Intelligence

Willpower

Spirit

234

234

25

25

25

With her attributes distributed, Lucinda moved on to inspecting the new spells she had received.

Spells Name Description Mastery Summon Comapnion Summons bonded companion to caster’s side.

Shaping Steps: 10 · Cooldown: 1 Hour · Base Mana: 10% (13)

Attribute: None 0% Animal Ally Conjure a smaller and weaker version of your last shapeshift. Lasts 2 hours, or until a different form is assumed.

Shaping Steps: 6 · Duration: 2h* · Base Mana: 25% (34)

Attribute: Spirit 0% Wooden Flesh Costs caster’s body in wood to absorb incoming physical damage. Lasts 15 minutes, or until absorption is depleted.

Shaping Steps: 4 · Duration: 15m* · Base Mana: 15% (20)

Attribute: Willpower 0%

Summon companion! Just like Waflaw has. Not surprising, but it’s great to have it already. Then these two new ones…

Oh, wow! I can have my very own pet? Of any form I have? Aww… I can’t wait to try it out… But, I should wait for morning.

Ah, Wooden Flesh, Waflaw has this one too, I think? Getting my first defensive spell is nice though! I wonder if this will actually make my skin turn wooden? Even as an animal? That might be fun to test… But, tomorrow…

With her mental exploration complete, Lucinda gently moved her animal companion off of her lap, before shifting into goat form and snuggling up beside her in the nest.

Lucinda’s excitement had made falling asleep difficult, and as a result, she had wanted nothing more than to lie in bed way past sunrise. Unfortunately, that possibility, and her pleasant dreams of soaring through the sky, were both denied by a sudden mental intrusion.

“Friend. Bone?”

As a beak began nudging against her ears, Lucinda was brought awake regardless of how she felt about the matter. Begrudgingly, she opened her goat eyes to reveal the sight of her animal companion staring down at her intently.

“Bone?” another thought sounded within her head.

“Okay… I’ll get you a bone,” Lucinda replied belatedly, inwardly smiling at the antics of her companion despite her remaining tiredness.

While Lucinda shifted back to human form and retrieved her pack from where it rested nearby, her animal companion waddled back and forth around her, clearly anticipating the early morning meal with considerable eagerness.

I wonder how much she understands… Her vocabulary seems a bit limited. How she actually knows those words is another mystery! But, I have to assume it’s the bond.

Midway through undoing her bundled shirt that held the remaining bones, a troubling thought occurred to Lucinda.

Is this really okay? I just forced the bond upon her, without even asking how she felt about it… And I expect her to leave her home and come with me. When will she next get a chance to find a mate like she wanted?

“Friend! Bone!” the newest interruption from her companion brought a smile to Lucinda’s face despite her worries.

Resuming her actions, she retrieved a bone as asked, and was pleased to see it quickly disappear down the bird’s gullet. But, she knew she had to broach the subject still.

“Hey,” she started, meeting her companion’s pale orange eyes. “Will you come with me? I came here to find you, but now I need to return. Away from the mountains, away from here. I know I didn’t ask you what you wanted… I’m sorry for that. But, I want to travel the world, with you at my side.”

Lucinda added images with her words, trying her best to convey her intent even if her words were unintelligible. But, as she waited for a response, further doubt still filled her, and continued to do so as her animal companion stared at her quietly. Fortunately, a reply found her before she gave entirely into despair.

“Fly! Friend!”

A peal of happy laughter emerged from Lucinda as the meaning behind the reply became clear, while relief spread through her body. With two simple words, her companion’s willingness to follow her was made known, and with it came a rush of emotion that caused Lucinda to waste no time in wrapping her arms around the large bird before her, and hugging her tightly.

“We’ll have lots of fun! I promise!”

Though Lucinda had been intending many things that morning, they were all brushed aside as the need to attempt to educate her newest friend became known to her. There were potentially an endless quantity of topics to cover, but Lucinda tried to cover those that were most pertinent, or would be in the foreseeable future.

She began with talk of humans and birds, and the differences between them, before moving onto other animals with the help of her shapeshifting ability. From the start of that discussion, an idea of the range of her companion’s vocabulary began to take shape, with creatures that she had seen during her short five years of life, being matched to names easily, while others eluded her until Lucinda provided a visual example.

Moving onto other topics, Lucinda began explaining clothes and armour, as she realised how strange such things must seem to a bird. That inevitably led to another session of playing in the pool, that derailed the other explanations Lucinda had in mind, at least for a time.

Fully dressed once more a while later, Lucinda brought up magical spells with the aid of live demonstrations that caused her animal companion some amount of fright, that Lucinda could hardly blame her for. Fortunately, that fright was soon replaced by interest, which came as a great relief to Lucinda.

Her next topic was weapons, and how humans and other creatures differed in that regard, before she began an attempt at describing her status menu, and the details that lay within. However, long before she reached her goal of talking about specialisations, her bird companion quite obviously lost interest, leaving Lucinda faintly discouraged, at least until she realised it was time to move onto something a bit more entertaining..

“Now, some new magic!”

“Magic!”

Laughing quietly at the shared excitement her companion’s words indicated, Lucinda began casting one of her recently acquired spells. A light brown ball of mana appeared between her hands, and in just a few shaping steps, its effects manifested as a rippling wave of magic that spread over her body.

This is definitely the spell Waflaw has!

Her skin had noticeably changed under the influence of the magic she had indirectly applied to it, with the tone darkening, and her still visible features being joined by bark-like surface detail. A quick flexing of her arms revealed her movement wasn’t hindered in any way, and the same proved true when she stood up and tested her whole body.

“Friend, tree?”

“You know I’m not a tree…” Lucinda replied, giggling at what seemed like an intentional joke from her animal companion.

And now for what it looks like in shapeshift form…

Using a considerable chunk of her mana, Lucinda switched between a few of her forms, discovering that the visual effect of the spell persisted as she had imagined. Though, the alteration was less noticeable in certain forms, mainly due to the colour of their pre-existing fur, which helped obscure the wooden-like look.

“Speaking of trees, could you fly to one and perch on it?”

“Tree. Fly!” her animal companion replied, before waddling to the cave entrance and taking flight.

I’ll really have to spend more time teaching her how to speak properly. Even though it is cute… and I can understand her… Ah, maybe it can wait a while.

It took her bird companion just a few flaps of her wings to land upon the nearest tree, and Lucinda was instantly met with another mental thought of trees as talons met branch.

“Don’t move, I’m going to use some magic.”

With a ball of bluey purple mana, Lucinda brought another of her new spells to completion. The effects were sudden and quite dramatic as she had suspected they might be. Her bird companion vanished in a crackling burst of electricity, before reappearing beside her in a similar manner, where she promptly fell a short distance to the ground.

“Oh, sorry!” Lucinda sent, even as she saw her companion land safely on her feet.

“Magic!” her bird companion replied, her single word and all the startled wonder that came with it, eliminating Lucinda’s concern entirely.

“That’s the summon spell. I can bring you to my side even if you’re far away.”

“Summon,” came the acknowledging reply.

Delighted once again by the large bird’s understanding, Lucinda made sure to offer her some affectionate neck scratches before moving onto her next spell. Having left the most exciting of her new spells to last, she smiled eagerly as she shaped the purple ball of mana to completion, and as it finished an animal sprung into existence beside her and her companion.

Oh, just as I hoped!

Her conjured animal ally had appeared in the form of her last used form, dragonling. Its body was identical to hers, as far as she could recall from her observations in Deihg’s ice mirror, but it was also considerably smaller. Of course, Lucinda was more interested in petting the creature, and her hand found its way to the dragonling’s scaly head in just a few beats of her heart.

Ah… It’s a bit cold. But, nothing like Deihg, thankfully.

However, while the creature looked almost exactly how she imagined it would, it was decidedly passive in nature, doing little more than stare at Lucinda even as she continued to pet it. Once she was satisfied, Lucinda turned her efforts to ordering her conjured assistant about, which turned out to be a familiar process, relying on a mental connection that was similar to the bond she shared with her bird companion, though the connection was much weaker, and did little more than act as a conduit for her to issue thoughts through.

Testing her control for a few minutes, Lucinda found that her summoned servant would try its best to carry out any requests she gave it, just as long as they were simple enough for it to understand. Which she soon realised was all she needed to provide another lesson for her animal companion, who had been waiting patiently beside her.

“Would you fight the dragonling? It will be good practise for our travelling.”

“Fight!” her companion replied, turning its full attention on the small dragonling.

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised a bird of prey understood that first time… Even one that eats bones. Oh… I can’t have my animal ally use dragonling breath before me! What was I thinking? I guess I’ve been so focussed on finding a companion I forgot about it.

“Don’t fight just yet,” Lucinda sent to her bird companion as she shifted back into dragonling form.

Pacing over to the pool, Lucinda planted her feet firmly and activated her frost breath ability. A fierce sensation of cold came into being inside her belly, and from there she felt it rise up her neck in a mildly disconcerting manner. As it reached her mouth, she opened wide and let it emerge, which it did, forcefully enough to almost push her head backwards.

Oh, wow! I really should have tried this sooner!

A thick cloud of icy magic appeared within the cave, leaving a layer of frost upon everything it touched, even including the surface of the pool. However, even before the cloud had disappeared entirely, the frost began melting thanks to the heat given off by the body of water, and before long the cave was ice-free once more.

Too bad it’s once per day only… Oh, well.

Shifting back to human form, Lucinda turned to find her companion watching her curiously, while her conjured dragonling had remained exactly as she had left it.

“Sorry, I’m ready now. I know you’d be better off outdoors for battling, but let’s try this first.”

To initiate the cavern based battle, Lucinda ordered her conjured dragonling to growl menacingly, which proved to be menacing enough to cause even Lucinda herself some discomfort. However, it was short-lived, as her bird companion reacted swiftly and violently, bringing her focus to the battle taking place.

With a single wing-aided hop, her bird companion closed the distance between it and the dragonling. But, before the bird’s sharp talons could make contact with the scaly beast, a blast of frigid air burst forth from the dragonling’s mouth, catching Lucinda’s animal companion head-on.

Though the breath weapon had caught the large bird of prey off guard, she seemed only mildly injured by the attack, and closed the distance again without pause. Her second assault proved more successful, with her talons biting into the dragonling’s side as it tried and failed to dodge entirely. With a pained hiss, the small dragon retaliated, lashing out with one of its front claws that caught Lucinda’s bird companion upon her breast. Lucinda winced as she saw the hit land, but focused on encouraging her companion to fight back, at least once she was sure the dragonling’s attack hadn’t done much in the way of damage.

Both parties continued to take further hits as the battle continued, but before long it became clear that Lucinda’s animal companion was the stronger of the two combatants, and with a final flurry of talon rakes and beak pecks, the conjured dragonling collapsed, and then vanished altogether.

“You did great! Let me heal your wounds.”

A quick bout of healing magic brought the victorious bird back to full health, prompting Lucinda to congratulate the animal with some more petting, before she made her desire for further combat practise known.

Round two commenced outside of the cave, in the centre of the small valley. Lucinda had summoned a weaker and smaller version of her wolf form, and instructed both it and her bird companion to do battle. The open arena naturally provided the large bird with a distinct advantage, as she could choose when and how to engage, and it was something she made use of from the get-go.

The very first swooping dive, saw large red strips of damage appear on the wolf’s body, while it failed to retaliate in time. The second and third attempts were less successful as the wolf made better use of its agility to dodge aside, but there was little doubt that Lucinda’s animal companion once again had the upper hand. Then after just a few more swoops, during which the large bird took only a few minor bites herself, the wolf was finished off by a savage series of close quarter talon strikes.

“Fun!”

“Good work! I knew you could do it! Let me heal you up again.”

Once her companion was healed, and had been fed a small bony treat, Lucinda moved onto the third phase of her training plan, namely incorporating specialisations.

I think the Offence specialisation will be a good place to start. She’s already fast enough, and I don’t think taking hits is really what birds are best at. Maybe that means Defence would be good in that case… But, if we’re not fighting spellcasters or ranged enemies, she can just stay in the air and swoop in to attack. Stunning with the Disruption specialisation might be useful too, but it can wait…

I wish for my companion to specialise in Offence!

There was no visual indication of any kind that her mental desire had been granted, nor any communication from her animal companion, however, like most people Lucinda had been raised to trust in the words of her status related messages. Although, it certainly helped that her companion's status did show some changes.

Animal Companion

Name

Species

Bearded Vulture

Sex

Female

Age

5

Level

5

Specialisation

Offence

Health

Strength

Agility

Endurance

189

189

31

33

23

Now I just need to get her to use it…

It was a few minutes later, when Lucinda finally succeeded in witnessing the ability that had been granted to her animal companion, but it was worth the wait. The small black bear she had summoned to pit against her bird, took a severe dose of a bright green substance that had flown out of the bird it fought. The sizzling noise, and the acrid stench that followed, were all Lucinda needed to know about the effectiveness of the attack, though the bear’s pained growls added to the seeming potency of it to a reasonable degree.

With the addition of the powerful attack, the battle proved to be even more one-sided than the last, and Lucinda was soon congratulating her animal companion on another victory. Then, once the miniature celebration was over, Lucinda returned to the cave with her companion in tow, in search of some lunch.

“We’ll leave soon,” Lucinda sent to her animal companion, as she feasted on some of the berries and ferns she had stored in Nassach’s box. “To see Waflaw. My human friend, and his deer.”

“Human friend, Waflaw,” came the response, with a note of understanding. “Fly?”

“No, you know I can’t fly. Not yet, anyway… I’ll be climbing as a goat, and then gliding.”

“Change? Fly?” her companion replied, using the word Lucinda had learned she used to indicate Lucinda’s shapeshifting.

“I don’t have a bird form yet… Unless you want to carry me?” Lucinda projected an image of her being held up by the shoulders by her bird companion as it flew through the air.

“Heavy!”

Lucinda burst into laughter at the indignant tone of her bird’s mental communication.

“I thought not. Although, maybe if I was something small… A cat?”

“Heavy?” While her animal companion had learned what a cat was, the corresponding lesson had unsurprisingly not included how much they weighed. “Hurt friend?”

“You’re right, your talons probably are a bit too sharp for my cat body. Maybe I can have a harness made…?”

The thought of herself being carried through the sky as a cat by her animal companion was enough to send Lucinda into a brief fit of giggles, and caused her companion to become increasingly animated as she caught on to Lucinda’s mirth.

“Okay, let’s head off. I’m going to be a bit slow compared to you, but it can’t be helped.”

“Goat. Slow!” her companion declared, and provided Lucinda with an image of a familiar-looking goat climbing a mountain.

“Ah, you saw me! I shouldn’t be surprised… I'm sure your eyes are much better than mine.”

After taking a few sips of water, Lucinda tidied up her pack for the journey. About to exit the cave for good, she found herself glancing back at the nest as a hint of guilt struck her.

“Friend. Slow!”

The impatient thoughts startled her back to reality, where she found her companion waiting for her outside the cave mouth.

She really doesn’t seem to mind, but I just hope she understands…

“Sorry. Let’s go.”

A short walk across the valley floor brought Lucinda to the southern cliff face, which was unfortunately as tall as ever. Casting her eyes upwards, Lucinda felt her body rebel slightly at the thought of more mountain climbing, even after the significant break she’d taken over the last few days. Suppressing an urge to release a weary sigh, she shifted into goat form and approached the sharp incline.

“I’m going to climb now. You can wait for me at the top, or fly around and watch me be slow!”

Lucinda made it up the mountainside without too much difficulty, and with only a few taunting comments from her animal companion. The sight that greeted her in human form was as incredible as she remembered, and did much to dispel her imagined weariness. Taking a moment to discern the direction she needed to head in, and relay that information to her companion, she set off to the south-west, back in the direction of the village.

Many hours and mountains later, Lucinda and her companion stopped for the night. With darkness rapidly approaching, Lucinda dug another snow cave, which unfortunately required some extra effort to make room for her bird companion, but with no sign of natural hidey holes, she had little choice but to exert herself.

“Not too far now,” Lucinda sent to her animal companion, as she drank some water within the small snowy cave they shared. “We’ll stop off to visit some friends of mine tomorrow, you might not like them, but they have a lot of bones we can take. The village isn’t too far from there then.”

“Bone,” her companion replied encouragingly. “Sleep.”

“Good idea, I’m feeling quite worn out again… Good night.”

Lucinda awoke in goat form to a new status notification, whose contents weren’t entirely welcome.

You have reached rank 5 of Shapeshift Goat.

You have gained: Hearty Milk (Goat) Hearty Milk (Goat)

Produce up to one bucket's worth of milk. Possesses a mild fatigue recovery effect.

Effect scales with Base Level and Spirit.

Cost: 90% Base Mana

More milk? Ah, I guess it is useful… And Waflaw is bound to be happy about it!

After a brief breakfast for Lucinda and her companion, they set off again on their journey. The weather was noticeably colder that morning, but that didn’t prevent them from reaching the wolf cave at around the midday mark.

The wolves were happy to see Lucinda, as they always seemed to be, though she did not give them a chance to greet her bird companion, who she asked to stay out of reach, just in case. Lucinda was relieved to find all of the wolves were alive and well, and that the wolf pups looked ever so slightly larger since her last visit, but with more journeying still to go, she didn’t linger long.

With another bundle of bones collected, Lucinda led her companion away from the cave, and to the southern edge of the area that the cave was located in.

“That’s the village,” Lucinda remarked, as she and her companion overlooked the land below. It was still a fair distance away, but was visible despite the intervening terrain and plant life. “There’s going to be a lot of people there, but I promise they won’t hurt you.”

“Fly!” the large bird of prey remarked, causing Lucinda to giggle quietly.

“Yes, I know you can fly and they can’t! Oh… I’ll need to check it’s safe first. Could you wait here? Or fly around until I’ve found Waflaw?”

“Fly,” her bird companion agreed.

“Thanks! I’ll have a bone waiting for you.”

As her companion took flight, Lucinda shifted into her dragonling form and leapt off of into the air. Gliding through the sky at a steady pace, she went over all the things she had to talk to Waflaw about.

Ah, I still need to name her. I can’t introduce her properly otherwise! Oh… I’ll have to make sure their first meeting is something special!

Internally giggling to herself as an idea took shape, Lucinda continued to descend towards the village, while keeping an eye out for Wollow.