Chapter 4

♪ Kururururu! ♪

“Kuru kuru kuru~”

After feeling a strange vibration through the air near where he was laying, Tru woke up.

“AAAHHHhhhh?”

He yawned, shaking his head as he sat up after a long nap. Upon opening his eyes, a faint green hue glowed gently, the comfortable light bringing Truck a feeling of warmth. After looking up, he observed a peculiar sight. One large, brown eye met his gaze with anticipation. As time crept along, the golden eye gradually became more flustered. The two of them inspected one another silently with both caution and conjecture.

….....

….....

….....

Brown, thick fur along with a brown eye, the white replaced by a magnificent golden chroma, reflected in Truck Coon's eyes. The moment Tru stood up, restless and unable to maintain the standstill, The humongous greatswordstaff leaned into his shoulder. In other words, Masada snuggled its fur coat against his shoulder by falling against him. Woah, it's light, Tru thought.

“Kurururu!” hummed the greatswordstaff, clearly excited to meet its creator. He extended both hands around Masada and started to stroke the fur of the puppy-like, living weapon. Masada closed its eye and blissfully soaked up all the affection it was getting from its creator. Still caught in the moment, Tru examined Masada.

Lifting its eye muscles to appear as if it were raising an eyebrow, though it had no brow, Masada emitted the question,

“Is something wrong?”

He aimed his eyes upwards along the entirety of Masada to admire his new creation. Fur was growing at the base of a 6 feet long, 2 feet wide blade made of bone gradually more pointed towards the tip. However, large, red tear ducts stretched across the length of the blade from the eye. Just below the fur, which acted as a hilt, wood melded seamlessly into the bone. Intricate carvings were strewn across what could only be described as a wizard's staff. A face-sized magic crystal at the end, being caressed yet held firmly by spirals of wood and constantly emitting a green aura teaming with life, kept the weapon stationed in midair.

“You look just like the weapons in my imagination.”

The look he received in response said, “Of course,” as he remembered why he just woke up.

“Ah, I get it now. That scroll absorbed all my mana and made me pass out, huh? That would make you Masada.”

“♪ Kuru ♪” Masada hummed musically using magic from the crystal in confirmation.

After confirming the being before him, he yet again inspected his new partner. The blade radiated a feeling of power; a foreboding existence for any who would dare oppose it.

To that, Masada gave back a strong look. Tru suddenly felt, as if in a mirror, the emotion Masada was feeling and reflexively said,

“That's what I'm talking about! I love that confidence.”

“Kururu!~” Masada conveyed a feeling of gratitude in Tru's mind.

I'm not alone anymore, he thought. The two continued their inspection of the other in a second moment of awkward silence.

…....

…....

So soft. Masada looks like a weapon, but I can tell he's a living creature just by the touch. Tru thought, still petting the monstrous weapon.

“Ahem”

Truck cleared his throat to get Masada's attention,

“I'm the one who just created you. My name's Truck Coon, and I've named you in memory of the battle between the Jews and the Romans over a plateau city named Masada. The Jews fought valiantly and decimated the Roman army. What do you think?”

“Jurururrr~”

the GSS purred contently at the name, satisfied with its origins. I'll just leave out that the Romans won in the end, after receiving many times more casualties than the Jews, and the Jews even chose to kill each other over becoming slaves. It's a good thing Masada can understand what I say though.

Truck took out the skeleton of Masada Schafer and said, “This is also Masada, who actually reminded me of that battle when I found him. This guy has already saved my life by being here, just like I'm sure you will.”

He could feel that the newly summoned greatswordstaff was encompassed in a feeling of closeness to its master, knowing it was named after such an important figure, as well as the city where a great battle took place.

“I guess if you're my creation, made from my own mana, we can be considered family. So, that makes you Masada Coon.”

Once the new creation moved away from Tru's shoulder, he noticed again that he could barely even feel the weight of his new friend. Only then did he remember that the creation would be [...an extension of the caster's body, able to be freely controlled...].

Could that mean that he won't even feel heavy to me, or is Masada just not that heavy? Tru asked this to himself, while subconsciously deciding Masada is a male, not an 'it'. Respectfully, Tru decides to perform some tests regarding Masada's weight.

“I'm not really sure how to ask this, but may I... equip you?”

Masada's eye closed with an oddly sophisticated look, like a faint grin forming with the muscles beneath it. Truth be told, he just wanted to be close to his master and creator but also had his pride. Understanding that he was magnanimously given permission, Tru reached for his companion to grip the staff handle. He spun the sword 90° to set the flat of the blade down on his left hand. Lifting him was more akin to playing with a toy sword, one of those plastic swords you'd find in any toy store, the glaring difference being the quality and size.

“Would you get dizzy if I were to swing you like a sword?”

“Kururu~” Masada replied positively, Tru recognizing that he was saying “Don't worry about it.”

*Swiiiish* went the greatswordstaff as it cut through the air, nearly hitting a wall in the, now cramped, cave. Truck noticed the near blunder and set his friend down again. Balancing on the sharp tip of the sword seemed so natural, but looked more like magic or some kind of force was keeping him from falling over. Nevertheless, it was made overwhelmingly apparent to Tru that Masada is, in fact, copiously dense as he pierced into the garnet by sheer weight alone the moment Masada stopped balancing himself.

Truck-kun's eyes stretched wide open in stupefaction, causing Masada to look even more proud of himself with a sharp look in his eye and a conniving grin.

“Okay now, don't you think you're getting a bit full of yourself?”

“Kururu...~” Masada replied embarrassingly.

The realization that Truck was having a conversation with a weapon made him question his sanity a bit. “......Are you really able to understand exactly what I'm saying?”

“Kururu.” Tru could very easily understand what Masada was saying purely by raw emotion, even without using words. Since Tru could understand, he supposed that Masada could understand in the same way.

His supposition was correct and given realization at Masada's favorable reply.

“It makes sense if you think about it. I made you with my own mana and we're basically extensions of each other.”

The thought of having made Masada using his own mana reminded Tru that he had seen the notification window just before he passed out.

“Status Menu,” he said, excited to see if his stats were still maxed out. “Awe, bummer. I guess it makes sense though. I passed out for God only knows how long, used up all of my mana, and projected all of my stats onto Masada when I summoned him. Any one of those occurrences could be what made my stats revert back to normal.”

'bling'

[~Status~]

[Health: 275/275]

[Mana: 116/116]

[Energy: 1100/1100]

[~General Stats~]

[Strength: 25 +1]

[Agility: 50 +150]

[Stamina: 50]

[Intellect: 15]

[Spirit: 20 +1]

“Hmm... I must have gotten notifications though. Notifications... Nice! Which class to choose?” Tru had quite a few notifications, the first few being classes that he now met the requirements to obtain, the remaining notices being the results of eating each [Red Moon Berry].

1 'bling'

[Requirements met to obtain the class [-Summoner of Masada-].]

[requirements: Summon a creature named [Masada].]

[description: A [~Summoner~] with close ties to the summoned [~Eidolon~].]

"Okay. Pretty basic I would think."

2 'bling'

[Requirements met to obtain the class [-Beast Creator-].]

[requirements: Create a [Unique] creature that is the only one of its kind]

[description: The [~Creator~] of a [Unique] [~Eidolon~].

"Another pretty standard one. I'd imagine the [Unique] trait would add some unique skills. I wonder how common a [Unique] creation is? There are probably certain things that are common to create, or even summon like a wolf, but I shouldn't really presume to understand how this world works."

3 'bling'

[Requirements met to obtain the class [-Beast-Master, Synergist-].]

[requirements: Summon a creature that is both an extension of and stronger than yourself.]

[description: A [~Summoner~] with close ties to the summoned [~Eidolon~]. Empowers the [~Eidolon~] to fight together with the [~Summoner~].]

"This one makes more sense. I mean, since Masada is a greatswordstaff, we'll definitely be fighting together. If we didn't, he'd be kinda useless.”

“Kururu!!~,” Masada said angrily.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I get it and I already said, I want to fight together! I'm not just gonna forget you, man. And you've already got pretty busted stats. I'd be an idiot to not want to fight together."

“Kuru Kuru,” was overtly conveyed to Tru in response, the words “dang right” made clear.

“Think about it, could you imagine me making you STRONGER when we do have to fight? This is probably the one to choose, but let's read the last two classes, yeah?”

4 'bling'

[Requirements met to obtain the class [-Beast Royalty-].]

[requirements: Summon a creature which is the King of its kind.]

[description: A [~Summoner~] with close ties to the summoned [~Eidolon~]. Both [~Summoner~] and [~Eidolon~] rule over the summoned [Royal] creatures species.

"Being the king of a species could be pretty neat if there were other creatures to even rule over. I could probably get some kind of higher social status. That could have perks. Politics are definitely not my thing though. Groups of imperfect people trying to govern will always produce at least some power-crazed individuals. I guess the process of government might make it more or less difficult to abuse. But still, I'm not about to be caught up in a power struggle, especially since I got these awesome gifts from God to play around with."

5 'bling'

[Requirements met to obtain the class [-Beast Arch Wizard-].]

[requirements: Expend at least 100,000 mana to summon a creature.

[description: The [~Summoner~] of an [~Eidolon~]. Uses the [~Eidolon~] as a shield to defend while the [~Summoner~] casts high-level [Arcane Magic].]

"I don't like the idea of just using my own creation as a shield, although, the requirements seem pretty high. I mean, having 100k mana to even qualify? The class notifications were ordered from easiest to hardest to achieve I think. High-level [Arcane Magic] sounds OP. If I'm most concerned about surviving, this is probably the best one. What do you think?” Tru asked Masada, slightly torn between the third and fifth class options.

“Kurururr~” the meaning 'I'm fine with either,' came to Tru's mind.

“That's just unhelpful. Which would you prefer?” Tru asked, annoyed to a small extent at the apathetic response.

Masada's ability to feel what Truck feels made him go from a feeling of 'I think you'd be the strongest either way!' to a feeling of being a disappointment. With that on his mind, Masada replied with the one he liked most without thinking into it too much.

“Kuru.”

Simultaneously, Tru selected the option chosen by Masada.

'bling'

[You have selected the class [Beast-Master, Synergist].]

[Do you accept?]

Yes / No

'bling'

[You have accepted the class [-Beast-Master, Synergist-].]

[Beast-Master, Synergist lvl 1]

[Class Type: [~Summoner~]]

[Class Skill Learned: Weight Up(minor)]

[Weight Up(minor) lvl 1: Your Eidolon becomes heavier, increasing weight by 8%. Does not stack with skills similar to this effect.]

[Duration: 1 minute]

[Cooldown timer: 5 minutes.]

[Mana Cost: 20]

[Class Skill Learned: Weight Down(Minor)]

[Weight Down(Minor) lvl 1: Target becomes lighter, slightly decreasing weight. Does not stack with skills similar to this effect.]

[Duration: 1 minute]

[Cooldown timer: 5 minutes]

[Mana Cost: 20]

[Passive Class Skill Learned: Amalgamate]

[Passive - Amalgamate lvl 1: The Eidolon is an extension of the summoner and created by their mana. Upon creation, All damage to the Eidolon is subtracted from the Summoner's mana, energy then HP in that order. Uses the summoner's mana and/or energy for its own abilities. All exp gains attained by either the summoner or the Eidolon are also given to the other.]

[Passive Class Skill Learned: Hone]

[Passive - Hone lvl 1: Living blades held by you are coated with mana, slightly increasing sharpness.]

'bling'

[20 General Stat Points are added to Agility]

[20 General Stat Points are added to Spirit]

[10 General Stat Points available]

Truck's mind was consumed with questions about the class, and wondered aloud, “Weight manipulation, eh? That can be either incredibly useful or relatively difficult for me to use.“

He picked up Masada with the intention to test his newfound abilities. Holding Masada straight out in front of him, he said,

“Weight Up,” which had no effect. “Do you feel any different?”

“Kururr,” Masada replied with a clear “No.”

“Maybe I have to say the full name of the skill. I guess I still haven't learned how to use mana too. I'll give this a try though. Weight Up(Minor).”

Tru felt a subtle sensation as if warmth was flowing from his heart, through his shoulders, down to his hands, and leaving him into the staff. Masada could also feel the same warmth pass from his creator's hands into the staff, stream along the carvings, down to the ever glowing green crystal. None of it could be tangibly seen by the adventuring pair, only perceivable by the feelings produced by the mana's flow.

“Did you feel that?!” Tru said, Masada's excited reply agreeing with Tru's surprise, “Kurururu!~” Truck couldn't feel a difference in the weight thanks to the [Amalgamate] passive making them extensions of each other, but could tell that the weight had increased purely by the flow of mana after the skill took effect.

“At least now I Have an idea of how to use mana. You think it could be that I just need to say the right thing?” Tru asked. Masada praised the idea, seemingly without actually giving it much thought, as though Tru was just always right in his eyes.

“Kururu!~”

While the idea was still fresh in his mind, Tru withdrew the [Brightgem] from the ring of space. “I only really tried to push mana into this thing earlier, so let's try a few different phrases that could work,” Truck said while walking over to the [Wooden Chair] and placing the [Brightgem] on it. “Light on!” he said, the very first attempt made achieving success. The same feeling of warmth passed from his heart, through his hands, and into the lantern containing a gem. White-blue light filled the room when Tru proclaimed, “I get it now! But I do wonder why this is the way magic works. I can't help but think it's similar to the midiclorians from that famous sci-fi movie series. Kinda like I say the right thing and billions of microscopic life-forms accept my mana to make the effect happen. Could be wrong though, so might as well just leave it at that.”

Thinking about the nature of magic led his mind to thoughts of nature in Driscoll, which led to the situation outside his cave of security. After explaining their location, his skills and items, and the surrounding creatures Tru had run into so far to his new partner, the pair of them began devising a plan to overcome the known danger and escape the [Abascan Forest].