"That is true. In that exact period of time, the oak tree is better than the acorn. However, that same oak tree was once also an acorn. So the difference between the two is chance and luck something no one can control. So in the grand scheme of things, neither the oak nor the acorn is better than each other. They are both as special as they are insignificant. Just like you and me."

This was something I once heard while listening to one of Alan Watts's lectures, which I found to be very fascinating.

He looked at the trees but his gaze seemed to go beyond them, after a while, he looked at me with a smile and said, "Alright, I'll be your right-hand man Zed!"

"Ok Shams!", We were still smiling like fools, so I hurriedly opened the party menu and entered his profile, and assigned one of my skills to him.

His smile suddenly turned stiff and he closed his eyes and started examining his body. After a while, he opened his eyes his mouth open wide with a shocked expression on his, "My body exploded with unimaginable strength, after what I said... W-what happened?"

I closed my eyes, made a very pious expression, and said with a dreamy voice, "The world must be blessing our connection!"

"The world?", He asked stupified!

"Indeed! Probably the god of morality and passion blessed our dream to become the best versions of ourselves. To live beyond mere simple materialistic needs and rise above everything!", I said shamelessly, even though technically it was indeed correct!

The system was made by a godly being, even its ability to detect our conviction in each other and the things we talked about was heaven-defying!

"I feel so good, what is this feeling?", With a brittle voice, he closed his eyes and asked.

How should I know? Purpose?

"Do you have to give it a word, just feel it!", I was once again bullshitting but also not.

Of course, he felt powerful because I shared with him my strongest Skill.

[The Stranger(Passive): +50% to all Stats. |Perfection|]

I could have shared any other skill, but nothing nearly compared to this one. Other than my Blazing Heart title Stats boost, but titles were off limit.

I appraised him once again to see his new strength.

[Appraised Target: Sterus Tenebrous Gecko

Cultivation Realm: Foundation Establishment(Low)

Health Points(HP): 411/411

Magic Power(MP/Mana): 396/396

Spiritual Power(SP): 331/331

Magical Resistance: 51

Physical Resistance: 58

Spiritual Resistance: 47

Vitality: 149(74)

Strength: 169(84)

Stamina: 147(73)

Intelligence: 153(76)

Agility: 166(83)

Spirit: 141(70)

Description: The Sterus Tenebrous Gecko, is a rare reptile species that specializes in physical combat and stealth. Thanks to its small size, beautiful appearance, and other skills it can appear very harmless enabling it to lower its enemy's guard only to explode with terrifying strength.

]

Fucking hell!!!

I completely forgot that his base stats were way higher than mine!

I somehow just assumed that having only a 50% increase when I had a whopping 150% would not make any difference.

Sweet mother of god, what have I created?

I hurriedly went to the party menu and checked his profile only to see that I was able to remove the skill anytime. Even though I did trust him and logically knew he had no reason to attack me, even more so when he got his strength increased but it made me somehow paranoid.

I was just overthinking, this was a very good thing. I finally had someone as strong as I was to help, well he was even stronger now.

"Shams, let's go for a stroll", I helped him get on my back and we flew away.

Although he was small, he was surprisingly heavy as he was sitting at the edge of my right-wing looking at the world from my point of view with the wind blasting his face.

He had an excited face and he seemed to be enjoying flying.

After I bought The Beast Master's Mark and Basic Memory Transfer I was left with zero Karma Points, and since I'd be taking him with me I needed another Unique Beast Pouch to hide him in.

We flew around for a while just enjoying the view, sometimes I accelerate and start moving wildly just to throw him off but he seemed to really like it with his tongue out and saliva dripping all over.

~Ding!

[New Quest Available]

Hearing the sound I was excited! I hurriedly opened the quest menu to check its description and I simultaneously opened my map.

The quest was actually about helping two monsters who were caught in some sort of illusion and were on their way to die.

Seeing three blue dots northwest on my map I darted in their direction, two of them appeared to be Peak Body Refinement while the attacker was a tree.

I did not want to seem like I was directly targeting them but wanted it to look just like a random encounter. What we were doing was not the best example to teach morality, I just needed some Karma Points to get a pouch.

As we got closer he also seemed to sense it and asked, "It seems like two monsters are about to die, should we interfere?"

The monsters were two young bears, their size was huge but you could tell they were not that old just from their face.

"Since they happened to suffer misfortune when we're nearby it doesn't seem like it's their time to die", After I landed on a tree I added, "Go on your own I'll wait here for you to finish."

He did not say anything else and jumped down from the tree branch and ran in their direction.

I could not see what was happening, so I just closed my eyes and followed him with my spiritual sense.

When we were on our way here, the bears were just dazed and walking in a direction aimlessly, when we landed they had already woken up but it was too late.

An especially dark tree had its branches warped around them and easily dragged them against any effort they made to hold on to the ground or the nearby trees.

As Shams was running in their direction I started noticing black smoke coming out of every pore of his body covering him whole, then out of nowhere two shark-like fins suddenly appeared both below and above his head.

The upper one started from his upper lip and ended at the top of his head, whereas the other was from the tip of his bottom lip to his throat making him resemble an arrow.

As the smoke started to cover all of his body his legs suddenly bulged and exploded with terrifying strength and jumped.

The moment he did so the previously gaseous and intangible smoke suddenly solidified with his head as the tip becoming a dangerous weapon in the shape of a spear flying at an astounding speed.

There was no sound, no life energy no nothing. Especially now that he gained stranger's passive. Even me with my high spirit attribute I would have failed to sense him if I was not expecting an attack.

He reached and penetrated the tree fairly quickly, and as he was halfway into its body another change suddenly occurred.

With the gecko as the center, a blast of rocky shards exploded out of nowhere.

The previously unaware tree was completely obliterated from the middle.

[Quest Achieved Successfully. Rewards: 80 Karma Points, 5.000 Experience Points, 3 Stats Points, 1 Skill Point]

[Congratulations Host for Leveling up from 33 to 34. +5 Stat Points, +2 Skill Points.]

Holy hell!

A Quest without me interfering in any way is stunning.

The battle was also a beautiful sight, it was a combination of two skills the arrow and the earth explosion, simply magnificent.

I also leveled up which was always great.

I opened my Party menu and checked his profile to see the skills he had.

[~Shams(Sterus Tenebrous Gecko)~

Affinities: Darkness 38%, Earth 35%

Skills:

[Dark Spear(Active): Turns the user's body into a sharp spear using Dark elements while increasing penetrative power and speed for the skill's duration. Cost(100MP) |Advanced|]

[Terrestrial Blast(Active): Creates a compressed orb of earth elements inside the user's body and detonates it creating a huge blast of rocky shards, the user is immune to its effects. Cost(100MP/Max) |Intermediate|]

[Earth Dome(Active): Creates a Dome made of Earth elements that act as a shield, its durability is dependent on the mana spent forming it. Cost(100MP) |Intermediate|]

[Tenebrous Breath(Active): Generates a breath filled with condensed Dark elements. Cost(15MP) |Advanced|]

[Devious Reptile(Passive): Masks the user's presence to a certain extent underground. |Advanced|]

]

An affinity with both earth and darkness, how rare!

He indeed had some great skills. Especially the combo of Dark Spear and Terrestrial Blast, it was way overpowered!

Plus Devious Reptile passive, it'd make a killer sneak attack combination of skills, maybe if the target is not dead use Tenebrous Breath as the last touch.

However, for me, all of those skills were not that great, as I could not use them.

Dark Spear needed the two hidden fins to truly unleash its full potential, needless to say, I was not able to get the other skills due to differences in Affinities.

But I was salivating at the thought of having a skill like Terrestrial blast with my Fiery charge.

Tenebrous Breath seemed like the only option, I already had a wind long-range attack skill and now I gained one of darkness. It was also great that I could launch both of them simultaneously, I did not need to use my mouth to create wind blades, so all was good there.

Though, to be sure I had to test Dark Spear and see its power without the fins, maybe it'll surprise me.

I flew out and landed beside the tree after the young bears ran for their life.

I formed a mind link and connected us, "You are powerful Shams, those two skills were something!"

Looking at the tree that was blown to smithereens even he seemed shocked at the damage he was capable of, "Yeah... They were not that strong it's also my first time seeing them like this."

I laughed and said, "Yeah with your strength I feel more secure in our next adventure. Alright, let's go." I carried him on my back and flew in the camp's direction.

I was too excited I could hardly contain my smile!

The plans I was preparing for took into consideration this exact thing, for others to be able to finish my quests on their own. When I saw the party function I had some hopes and thankfully they turned out to be true!

However, I needed to be sure of something.

'System does party function also takes loyalty into consideration?'

[Directly, no. However, the conditions for someone to become a party member are complex.]

'How?'

[Well, if you look at this example now, Shams understood what you told him and he felt empathy for the very first time. Because monsters naturally don't have a physical organ that is capable of that it doesn't occur naturally for them. They have to actively and sincerely put themselves in another's shoe and compare it with their previous experience to truly feel empathetic which sparks their growth even further.]

'I see, and how does that relate to loyalty?'

[Everything! Because he felt empathy and he was in a dire need to live for something beyond mere survival, he was convinced of what you told him and now he has a sense of purpose and meaning in life. Both of them are closely tied to you, he believes in his newfound purpose and he believes you also feel the same because you were the one who saved him and the one who showed him, and more than that he believes in the cause more than anything. All of these moving parts combined signify loyalty. However, once one of them fails either he gives up on himself, the cause, or you, he'd no longer be eligible to be a party member.]

I finally understood it!

Each one of those things on its own did not necessarily mean I had his loyalty, however, when you put all of them together it becomes a whole different matter.

However, his loyalty now was only as strong as his convictions which were just starting to I had to pay attention to him and guide him further in his new experiences.

I also gained new insights on how I can add new party members, but it is indeed difficult and there is an element of luck involved.

I will do my best to nurture this little fella and make him as powerful as possible, and the first things on the list, a divine cultivation manual and for the tigers as well!

I needed tens of thousands of Karma Points and I only had five after I bought the last unique Beast Pouch. However, I was not discouraged at all. I just gained a heaven-defying ability, I just needed new party members and I'd start farming Karma Points, Exp, Stats, and Skills points in droves!