Damian squatted down in front of the Wild rat, placing his hand on its head.

"Come back, Brave. Become the first soldier of my monster army." As Damian finished his sentence, black fog emitted from his hands, completely covering the Wild rat's carcass.

«Activating the skill 'Soul Call'»

«Spirit: -1; Mana: -15»

The fog was so dense and black that even with the sun shining directly above it, not even a speck within could be seen.

Since he couldn't see anything inside, Damian stepped back, observing the fog from outside, as it contrasted and sometimes expanded.

The speech wasn't necessary. To activate the skill, he simply had to touch the monster and pull the 'thing' within its body with the 'thing' inside him. Damian had a sneaking suspicion that this 'thing' was Spirit.

But Damian wanted to make this moment a bit special and memorable, even if he had to do something cringe-worthy.

Reading the pop-up system messages, Damian opened his status in a hurry.

>----

[ Strength: 7 + ]

[ Agility: 7 + ]

[ Stamina: 7 + ]

[ Vitality: 7 + ]

[ Mana: 4/19 + ]

[ Spirit: 0 ]

>----

*Sigh!*

Damian exhaled a sigh of relief as he read through his attributes. 'Thank God, my Mana didn't decrease.' He could increase his Spirit by simply killing a monster, but to increase his Mana, he had to rely on the stats gained after levelling up.

As soon as Damian finished his little check the black fog was done with its task. It gradually faded away, dissolving in the air, as it left behind a breathing creature at the place a dead body had once lain.

When Damian's gaze fell on the creature, he began to wonder if it was the same Wild rat he remembered.

It was still a rat the size of a cat, but in place of the once dark and thick brown hairs, were the short white hairs shining brightly under the sunlight.

The dull grey eyes of the past were no more. The pair of beautiful golden ones shone with a mysterious yellowish gleam in their place.

Black thunder symbols ran horizontally from both of the creature's eyes, giving it an unrealistic and fantasy-like appearance.

*Squeak!*

The creature's cute squeak jolted Damian out of his trance. Raising its small pink nose the furry creature sniffed the air, letting out a short squeak soon after, it locking its golden eyes with Damian's black ones.

Suddenly, it ran towards Damian, and after sniffing his feet, it started rubbing its head on them.

Looking at the cute creature affectionately rubbing his feet, Damian understood why people had pets.

Walking through the woods with bare feet, Damian had been through a lot, and the needle incident had particularly traumatised him to the point where he had considered never taking his shoes off again, but when he felt the smooth and soft hairs of the creature rubbing against his ankle, he was tempted to do so.

Picking the creature up, Damian looked at its golden eyes as a system message popped on its head.

*Ding!*

«New companion acquired!»

«Please name her.»

'So she is a lady.' Looking at the golden eyes, he could still see the will and determination shining in them.

"Brave. You are Brave from now on."

As Damian finished his sentence, Brave let out a small squeak and nodded her head, as if pleased with her name, earning herself a smile from Damian.

«Companion has been named 'Brave'.»

The popup was immediately followed by the number 1 on top of Companion. Damian returned to his resting tree and placing Brave on his lap, opened the companion window.

-----//-----

[‹Status› ‹Skill› «Companions¹»]

>----

[«Monsters: 1/1» ‹Tribe: N/A› ‹Nation: N/A]

>----

[ Name: Brave ]

[ Race: Thunder rodent (Hybrid) ]

-

[ Evolution stage: 1 ]

[ Grade: C- (Upgradable) ]

-

[ Level: 2 ]

[ Experience: 0/50 ]

[ Stats: 2 ]

[ Class: N/A ]

-

[ Strength: 5 + ]

[ Agility: 19 + ]

[ Stamina: 6 + ]

[ Vitality: 12 + ]

[ Mana: 4 + ]

[ Intelligence: 3 + ]

-

[ Thunder affinity: 5.12% ]

-

[ Skills: N/A ]

-

[ For next evolution:- ]

[ Level: 1/10 ]

[ Souls: 0/100 ]

[ Thunder essence: 0/5 ]

-----//-----

After looking at the status of Brave, Damian was conflicted. He was perplexed at times by the low number of stats; at others, he wondered how Brave would get a class.

When he looked at her attributes, he was taken aback by the high number of Agility and Vitality, followed by the new attribute of Intelligence and the low number in front of it.

Going further down, he wondered why there was only one affinity, and what the Thunder essence of evolution was.

*Squeak*

As if sensing his perplexity, Brave jumped up and down on his lap. She began rubbing her face on Damian's palm in an attempt to get his attention.

Damian's face lit up as he looked at his adorable Brave, trying to catch his attention. Patting her head, he couldn't help but exclaim at their softness. Brave closed her eyes and sat in his lap, enjoying her pats.

"Today has been a little difficult for me, Brave."

Damian continued to talk to his sleeping Brave while patting her on the back.

"I am a bit on the edge. Why wouldn't I be? When you sleep on your comfortable bed after a long day, you don't expect to wake up in the middle of a forest, all naked, and a black elephant-sized lioness licking you, do you?" Taking a deep breath Damian continued.

"Obtaining a system and a quest, fighting five dog-sized rats, and being thrown to your death bed by needles on their bodies that you mistook for hairs! That's not your everyday occurrence, is it?" Damian was willing to pay for the medical bill of the mentally ill person who said yes.

*Sigh* Damian sighed and chuckled as he looked up at the sky, feeling Brave's even breaths.

"But don't worry. Us humans possess a special skill that doesn't need to be mentioned or graded by any system... 'Adaptability'. Yes, it will take some time, but... I will be fine. "

Closing his eyes, Damian felt the breeze blowing by him, cooling his body as well as his mind. It passed through the trees, moving their leaves, and played a piece of calming music. Damian felt his emotions calm when he was immersed in this music.

*Phew!*

Opening his eyes Damian let out a breath as he asked, "What is a hybrid?"

Silence. Only the rustling of leaves was heard.

"What is the grade? And why does Brave only has two stats, instead of five like me?" Damian asked another question, and...

«Every state of being is classified into grades, from the lowest F- to the highest SSS+. The higher the grade of a being, the more authority it has over World's spirit.»

«The higher the grade of a being the more stats they get.»

Damian nodded in satisfaction as he began to grasp a better understanding of the types of questions that the system answered.

"What is Thunder essence?" Damian asked another question to prove his theory as well as satisfy his curiosity.

«Thunder spirit condensed in any form is Thunder essence.»

Damian nodded in understanding. 'The system only answers terms new to me, and...'

"How can Brave get a class? And how many stats does she get on every level up?" Damian asked.

«Companions are automatically assigned a class after level 5.»

«Monster gets two types of stats: automatic and free. The automatic stats are assigned according to their race and class allocation, and free stats can be assigned by you.»

Damian was glad that he asked the second question, or he wouldn't have known that Brave would get automatic stats as well as free stats.

'Shall I assign her stats later?' Looking at the sleeping Brave, Damian suddenly had a thought in his mind.

"What are intelligence stats, and why do I not have one?" He quickly asked.

«Intelligence attribute is the measure of the level of understanding and thinking capability of a creature.»

«Humans are intelligent creatures by birth, their brains already have a level of understanding and thinking capability. Their intelligence cannot be measured.»

'Intelligence is measured only for those creatures who aren't born intelligent. Why not say it directly?' Damian concluded and complained about the system's lengthy and confusing answer.

'Does this mean monsters don't have the intelligence or is it just Brave in particular?' Damian's mind was filled with new questions that began to appear with no way of answering them.

'I don't know the average intelligence of humans or monsters, but three is very low.' With this thought, Damian didn't think any further and added both the stats of Brace to her intelligence, bringing it to five.

There were no aftereffects. Brave was still sleeping peacefully in his lap. Damian, seeing this, sighed in relief and closed his eyes, deciding to take a short break.

Nature has a perfect balance. To an atom, it gives the same number of electrons as protons to neutralise it. To a creature of raw power, it gives low intelligence; to a creature of high intelligence, it gives less power.

Unknown to Damian, he took a step that should have never been taken. Going against the will of the world, he was raising a monster... That shouldn't have existed.