When a creature evolves from Tier 1 to Tier 2 it is rarely anything interesting and could easily be mistaken for a simple increase in level. In truth, calling it an evolution would be an overexaggerating for the most part. Barring a few notable exceptions, the evolution to Tier 2 merely signified the creature in question reaching adulthood. Due to this the first Tier is often known as the Baby Tier amongst the sentient species of the universe.

As a Nyeo Bear Hazel was not counted amongst the exceptions and her evolution was not a particularly impressive change. She reached her full adult size, 7 foot in length with a five foot shoulder height. The green spot on her back had grown, morphing from what, in hindsight, was obviously a seed, to a full grown tree complete with branches and roots. The evolution added an extra detail, a thin green circle enclosing the tree.

Beyond the physical changes there was another, much more impactful, change to Hazel. It had nothing to do with her Skills or her new ability, it had to do with her mind.

[Dad?]

Michael jerked back, startled, and looked around for the source of the voice. Michael heard a giggle and realised he hadn't heard it with his ears. Somehow the voice had come from inside his own head. for a second he was terrified that his Loot Hamster had come to life.

[It's me dummy.]

Michael's eyes widened, his head snapping towards Hazel. "Ar- are you talking to me?"

The bear looked at him, a sparkle in her eyes. [Yes! I can finally talk to you!]

Michael was flabbergasted. "What the everloving what? How? Since when? Where?"

[Since I grew up a few seconds ago! I don't know how I can talk but I can! Hello Dad!]

Michael was speechless, his mind frozen by the revelation that his animal companion was not only intelligent but also thought that he was her father. Literally nothing in his life had prepared him for the awkwardness of trying to tell a bear he wasn't her father.

"Um, I'm not, uh, I'm not really sure how to tell you this but I'm not actually... What I mean to say is, um, I'm not actually your father."

Hazel stared at him for moment, then cracked up. The sight of a bear laughing, truly and unreservedly, is the three hundred and forty third weirdest sight in the universe, a fact proved by Hazel at this moment. The sight was so shocking that no-one did anything other than watch, slack jawed as the bear actually guffawed while rolling on the ground. Since the rest of the team hadn't heard Hazels side of the conversation they were even more confused then Michael.

Eventually the bear stopped laughing and sat up from where she had been ROFL-ing. [Hehe, I know that silly. You are not even a normal bear, never mind a wonderful Nyo Bear like me. I know that you aren't my dad dad, but you are kind of my dad. Part of me was created from an imprint of your soul, that's why I know stuff a normal bear wouldn't. Besides, I want to have a dad. I would have preferred a Bear but you'll have to do. Maybe if we get one of those Race Change tokens like the stubby one then we can make you into a bear!] Hazel nodded, as if the plan was already set.

Michael was confused and amused. He'd toyed with the idea of having kids before, especially after that one scare, but he had never imagined anything quite like this. "Um, sure. We'll see when we get there."

After a brief conversation to let his teammates know what was going on, Michael pulled up Hazels Status Sheet.

Soul Companion Status Name Hazel Age 2 Hours Level 1 Experience 0 / 100 Race Nyo Bear Tier 2 Health 140 Mana 150 Health Regen 7 per min Mana Regen 7.5 per min Attributes Strength 13 Agility 8 Vitality 14 Dexterity 8 Perception 14 Magic 15 Skills General Earth Armor lvl 3 Stone Spikes lvl 4 Regrowth lvl 2 Thorny Retribution lvl 4 Affinities Earth 26% Nature 25% Life 6% Innate Abilities Barrier of Pure Protection

Focusing on Hazels new Ability, Michael received a notification.

Barrier of Pure Protection

Creates a barrier of Mana around a target that protects against Magic x 2 damage. 30 Second Cooldown. 30 Second Duration. Upgradeable.

Michaels eyebrows raised. At first glance this ability seemed to be a copy of the Earth Armor skill, not really much of an ability. The fact that it was Upgradable or that the protection scaled with Hazels Magic Attribute wasn't enough to differentiate the skill. Then Michael realised something; there was no mention of cost. Michaels eyebrows raised even further, if he was right then the Ability didn't cost anything to use.

Michael looked over to Hazel to find her looking back at him with a smug look on her face. He wasn't quite sure how she did it, he didn't know bears could even look smug, but nevertheless. "You know you're amazing, right?"

Hazel beamed at the compliment [Yup!]

With Hazels evolution sorted the team moved on to the dungeon rewards. The rewards room, similar to the last Dungeon, was situated in the Boss room. Michael asked what would happen if someone quit half way through the dungeon and learnt that the portal in the first room would also lead to the Rewards room, the Boss room portal was merely a shortcut to make it easier for the ones who made it through the entire Dungeon. When Michael entered the Rewards Room he was surprised to find that Hazel wasn't with him, though that was likely due to her being a companion rather than a pet. Walking up to the Rewards Chest he placed his hand on it.

Congratulations!

100% Dungeon Completion - Reward upgraded

First time Completion - Reward upgraded

Highest amount of Damage Dealt - Reward upgraded

After the notification faded from view the chest clicked open. Lifting the lid Michael was prepared for another item like the Cleansing Soap but was greeted with the sight of a pair of wooden boots. Not knowing what to make of it he Identified the boots.

Barkskin Boots

Tier 2, Rare Quality, 25 Durability

Passive effect: Increase Vitality by 5.

Passive Effect: Decrease damage taken by 10%

Michael was surprised, despite looking like their looks the boots were actually awesome. They could literally mean the difference between life and death. Removing the raggedy bonus-less boots that he had gotten from the Tutorial he put on the Barkskin Boots, finding them actually comfortable despite their looks.

Once the boots were on he left the Rewards Room, arriving outside to find most of the team waiting. A few moments later both Hazel and Sam materialized outside the barrier, completing the team. After a quick debrief they compared loot, the 'prize' this time going to Olivia who had gotten a Wand of Strawberries for her Dungeon reward. The wand did exactly as it sounded, when activated it grew a small patch of strawberries wherever it was pointed at. The strawberries themselves were a delicious source of food as well as restoring both Mana and Health.

Hazels reward was, surprisingly, a bag of 10 Aglao seeds. The reward was surprising as the team had never gotten herb seeds as a reward before. Considering that the Dungeon was nature themed this was a surprise in of itself.

With the Dungeon finished the group decided to head back into town. It was a dangerous decision, but events had reached the breaking point. After the fight over the Field Boss loot Turk would likely send parties out to hunt them. Rather than wait for the fight, Olivia decided to take the fight to them, a decision that everyone else supported wholeheartedly.

There was another factor at play here. Whilst within the borders of the town everyone, including Mark Turk, had to follow the rules of the town or else face the systems punishment. That meant that if Turk or any of his cronies were to start a fight then they would be punished, either by being imprisoned in the town jail, one of the few buildings automatically included in every town, or they would have a kill order placed on them. Turk and his men could ignore the order but doing so would strip them of their position and get a kill order placed on them as well.

All these rules stopped at the gates though. That meant that unless the team was inside the town walls Turk could do whatever he liked to them with no repercussions.

The cherry on top of the decision cake was the Mayoral Duel. At any point someone could challenge the Mayor to a one on one duel for ownership of the Town. The rule sounded a bit barbaric to Michael but he remembered that they were technically a Tier 1 civilisation. If civilisation Tiers were anything like the other types of Tiers then the system likely thought they were actual barbarians. Michael asked why they hadn't challenged Turk before and Olivia explained that they had but beating him wasn't exactly an easy thing to do. As the challenged party Turk could always set the rules of the duel an almost always set it as a Time Trial with the attacker having five minutes to drive his health under 20%. Since Turk was a Shield Warrior armed to the teeth with the best gear available this was almost impossible. Out of everyone on the team only Olivia could put out that kind of damage but she didn't have any way of stopping Mark from going on the offensive. The one time that she had tried she had almost died from his onslaught.

Thanks to Michaels gift of the Advanced Boon, things would be different this time. While an elemental blocked Marks attacks Olivia could burn his health down with impunity. For the first time in months Olivia had hope that everything would work out.

The trip was quiet, Damien making sure to steer them clear of any Monsters. They stopped at the outskirts of the forest, deciding to camp for the night. The atmosphere was subdued, everyones thoughts on the following day. The had no idea what was going to happen, but the odds of them getting to the town without a fight was slim. Forgoing a fire in favor of stealth they dined on jerky and water. As a potential last meal it wasn't great, though Olivia did brighten it up with some strawberries thanks to her new wand.

As they were settling in for the night Olivia went over plans for the next day. The discussion petered out after a while though, no one really in the mood to talk. Eventually they went to sleep, Michael staying up to take the first shift. Thanks to Olivia's elementals they didn't really need to but no one wanted to risk it. Michael set at the edge of the camp, resting his back on Hazels side. The bear hadn't been immune to the atmosphere and had been quiet all evening. As the others drifted off to sleep she spoke up.

[Hey dad?]

[Yes Hazel?] Michael responded, having learnt to speak telepathically to his 300 pound magical bear daughter.

[What's gonna happen tomorrow?]

Michael looked at Hazels face for a second. It was sometimes easy to forget, what with her massive size, but in many ways Hazel was still very much a child. She wasn't even a day old yet. For a moment Michael thought of taking her and just walking away, leaving the team to their battles. It would be easy, despite her size Hazel could be surprisingly sneaky.

Despite wanting to, in the en Michael couldn't do it. He'd promised Olivia and the others that he would help and he would keep his promise. He knew that he didn't need to, the Advanced Boon had already been more than enough to pay them back for saving him, and then some. Damien still called him an idiot every now and then for giving it away, he just couldn't understand why Michael did that.

Michael knew why though, it was for the same reason that he would never abandon them in their tie of need. During his year in the Tutorial he'd had a lot of time for self-reflection. As the months passed and loneliness plagued him he had come to realise just how much people needed each other. It was true what they said, you never really know what your missing until you no longer have it. Olivia, Sam, Anne and even Damien, they were his friends. He may have only known them a few hours, but he had truly bonded with them. The sweet yet fiery Anne, the gruff and goofy Sam, the strict yet caring Olivia and the annoying yet loyal Damien. Somehow they had become like family to him, despite the short time they had known each other.

Michael knew they likely wouldn't understand, he didn't even understand it, but he would always be there if they needed them.

Michael turned his mind back to Hazels question. [I don't really know Hazel. There will probably be a fight, some people might get hurt, but I won't let you get hurt.]

The bear chuffed.[Silly man. You don't need to protect me, I'm going to protect you.]

Michael looked at the massive bear that had made him her dad, and felt proud. [Let's just protect each other, okay?]

Morning came peacefully. The night had passed without incident, thankfully, and the team broke camp early the next morning.

They left the forest quickly, heading northwest towards Turkton. Mark Turk had set up his town just south of where Roseburg had been, the city of over twenty thousand having been reduced to just under five. The forty three year old had been a Football coach before the Manapocalypse and had capitalised on the confusion and desolation of the early days to cement a leadership role over the survivors. His grasp on power was further increased when his team killed a Field Boss and secured a Town Token.

As michael and the team crested a final hill they were greeted with the sight of Turton. The town, surrounded by a large wooden wall, was almost medieval in looks. Most of the buildings were made of wood, a scattering of stone buildings nearer to the centre. For a second Michael thought that he had travelled back in time, the leather armor and the bow in his hands giving momentary credence to the idea. Shaking his head to get rid of silly thoughts he moved to follow the team on towards the town, and the fight that waited for them.