'Ok, so I am just going to wager that this is an addition. Otherwise, Arcane Enhanced should simply correct me. Now: Astral, Life, Healer or Tamer?'

Liz spent a lot of time mulling it over in the hope that it wouldn't let her make the wrong decision in the end. Whatever way that might present itself.

'I would eliminate Astral and Life, just because the other two should bring more immediate effects. And possibly because they sound rare compared to a standard mage focus. There probably are only few mages, that are also Healers and Tamers, if only Deviant grants the possibility. But then both sound equally useful. Healer would eliminate my dependency on potions. I don't want to imagine the fountain breaking. With Tamer, I can gain allies to defend myself, before I get injured. None really trumps the other. Fuck it, the last two will be decided by coin!'

Flipping the time-coin from downstairs presented her with Healer as the answer. Liz however felt unsatisfied with the selection. And so, despite her initial decision to honor the coin-flip, selected Tamer, in the hope of not making a catastrophic mistake. Her decision, of course, wasn't influenced in any way by the adorable way the cats had seen it as their duty to escort Liz downstairs when she fetched the coin and were now lounging on the two divans, looking at her with the unspoken demand of more scratches.

-- You have selected the focus [Tamer] --

-- WARNING: Trait [Arcane Enhanced] enforces retention of primary focus [Arcane] --

-- Enabling locked secondary focus slot --

-- [Tamer] selected as secondary focus --

-- WARNING: Focus foreign to class; skills incompatible --

-- +2 [Tamer] skill slots --

-- Class stat point distribution adjusted --

-- You have learned the passive class skill [Bond] --

'It worked. I am a genius. Now, what exactly did I get?'

Name: Elisabeth Larson

Class: Arcane Mage - lvl 16

Title: Deviant

Status:

Health: 132/132

Stamina: 218/220

Mana: 496/496

Vitality: 11

Endurance: 20

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 22

Perception: 28 (+1)

Wisdom: 31

Intelligence: 29 (+1)

Unassigned stat points: 3

Traits: Persevering, Arcane Enhanced

General skills:

Arcane Magic Immunity - lvl 3

Eastern Plains Common - lvl 0

English - lvl 7

Health Drain Resistance - lvl 1

Identify - lvl 2

Mathematics - lvl 1

Meditation - lvl 2

Pain Suppression - lvl 17

Stamina Drain Resistance - lvl 1

Class skills:

Arcane

Arcane Blast - lvl 5

Runic Intuition - lvl 3

Spell Channeling - lvl 3

Mana Draw - lvl 1

Tamer

Bond - lvl 1

- empty slot -

Bond - lvl 1

You may bond with beasts at the cost of mana. Several factors influence mana cost. Bonds are sustained through a small mana expenditure and may enable you to understand the beasts on an instinctive level.

"So I can possibly understand what your mewling means? Or will I get bombarded with request for scratches?" Liz spoke to the cats.

She only received another of the cryptic purrs in response.

"Now, who wants to volunteer for a bond? I need your full consent!" Liz approached the lounging cats.

With no cats suddenly jumping for the first spot, Liz surmised that she had enough consent just by their previous behavior, and activated her new skill on the nearest one, Charly.

She somehow knew that she had to touch the cats while drawing some mana into the hand touching their fur. Instead of staying their as she had expected, it moved into the cat but with no intent of harm. Instead, some foreign mana reached her just a second later. The foreign presence pulled on her core, drawing more and more mana from it.

Liz just let it happen, deducing that this massive expenditure was the real cost mentioned in the skill description. The draw finished with around a quarter of her mana gone. Once it was done, the presence didn't retreat from her body, instead it settled near her core, where it continued pulling a small barely noticeable amount of mana from it. Liz felt a presence in her consciousness emanating from it, like a notification.

But unlike a notification she got no discrete message, only a rough idea of how Charly currently felt. There was a mix of curiosity, boredom and expectation. Expectation of what, Liz didn't know but guessed it to be belly rubs. She also felt how, despite them being in a safe place, Charly was still attentive of her surroundings.

After gaining some distance to her, Liz tried to communicate to Charly to come over to her. She tried to imagine sending the intention to Charly's mind. It didn't work. After a few more tries, utilizing different techniques, she succeeded by addressing the presence near her core with the message. But Charly still didn't move, instead Liz only felt a short spike of curiosity and the idea of being comfortable where Charly was, through the link. After adding the idea of giving a scrap of meat in return, Charly finally moved.

Rewarding her accordingly, Liz tried some more commands. Only the most simple worked, all others only got her a feeling of confusion in return. She could communicate intentions like attack, stay back, come here or help me. More sophisticated tactics were impossible to communicate or failed at the cat's understanding.

Still, Liz was happy. This gave her so many possibilities and should make her life so much easier. She wasn't dependent on the cats' instinctive understanding of her actions and instead could give them order according to her plans.

Elated Liz started bonding Dana as well, just because she was the nearest. When the draw began, Liz felt an ever greater strain on her mana reserves, her mind also felt incredibly exhausted afterwards. It took a bit more than a third of her whole mana to bond.

'So there is a mental fatigue cost as well?'

The passive mana draw of both bonds also increased slightly. The third, Logan, took nearly two thirds of her mana. The mana draw increased accordingly. The strain on her mind was comparable to the worst migraine Liz had ever had.

Afterwards she just felt fatigued beyond anything she felt before. Yet, Liz wanted to finish the fourth and last bond, unwilling to discriminate the last male. But beforehand she rested for some bit. Liz refreshed herself with some water as her mana recovered, now at a slightly lower rate, due to the passive draw of the bonds.

When she felt ready, she started bonding with Nick. Just the first slurp of mana removed a quarter of her reserves and let her fall forward onto the cat from the sudden dizziness. The draw continued, taking half her mana without slowing down. Two thirds, still going. Three quarters, without losing any momentum. It reached her maximum and still sucked more out of her. The dizziness left the world spinning around her.

However, her regeneration was limited in supplying the demand, any excess demand seemingly getting transformed into more fatigue on her consciousness. By now she felt like she hadn't slept for weeks, to the point that she could no longer resist her body's urges and just passed out, for once without any pain being the reason.

There were flashing lights everywhere. Dana had decided on this club. She had dragged her from the quiet and nice atmosphere of the small pub and threw her into this mess.

And now she was gone. Lost. Somewhere in the dancing crowd.

At least the bartender was still there.

And at least he still had drinks.

The drinks. The drinks were better than at the pub.

He even served the strong stuff. It tasted like hand sanitizer.

But it did its job.

The evening didn't get any better.

There were still leering idiots. At least they weren't multiple decades her senior.

How desolate must she look, that every god-damn idiot in here thinks its his job to cheer her up? No, thank you.

She didn't even know why she was still here. Dana was still MIA.

Food!

Of course there was a line for the toilet. At least the douche-bags maintained their distance here.

Food!!

'I should just go home.'

FOOD!!

'Yes, I'm going home...'

FOOD!!!

Liz felt ravenous hunger. But not from herself. No, the feeling emanated from somewhere foreign. Remembering where she was, she realized it was one of the cats. Opening her eyes, she saw that all four of them were arranged around her, staring and mewling their demands at her.

Their demands had even seeped into her dream, which she remembered less by the second. She only had a vague idea of going out with Dana. Something about cheering her up. From what she didn't know. Only that she essentially spent the evening without her in the end.

Contemplating the fragments of the dream she remembered, Liz went to get some food from the pantry, equipped with a cat-safe latch by now, and distributed it between the cats. She felt their gratitude as well as heard it through their purrs.

But she also felt a new notification.

-- You have successfully gained the skill [Compulsion Resistance] --

Compulsion Resistance - lvl 1

Your mind is less open to forced suggestions. Effect increases with skill level

'What the fuck? Who compelled me? The cats?'

Liz frantically looked around, looking for whatever perpetrator meddled with her mind. Her turmoil even reached the cats through the link, causing them to abandon their meal and take defensive positions around her, looking for whatever upset Liz.

There was nothing and no one near, at least not visible.

'Is this ruin haunted? I get some serious strange vibes from this, even in this world'

As she perceived no immediate threat around her, she slowly relaxed from her state of agitation.

'Can I even trust my senses? Or am I compelled to ignore something? No, then I would simply 'have' to ignore the skill notification.... Maybe it really was just the cats...'

By now, the cats had resumed their meal. Liz took a quick count of the presences available to her. She counted 4 of them.

'So the bond with Nick established sometime while I was passed out. There will definitely be no fifth bond. Kinda a bummer, that I can't have more than the four of them right now. But I guess I have no other candidates, at least at the moment.'

Liz finally made herself a meal as well. Thanks to her hunting from the day before, she was now the lucky recipient of a steak for breakfast. The side-dish this time was a lettuce-like plant, one of the ones subject to ripening on the floor. It was therefore quite mushy, but at least the venison was quite tasty.

Liz desperately missed salt, questioning whether she might find some in the workshop. But for now she was resigned to the current situation as she had more pressing issues and tasks.

For one, she needed to take down the laundry from the day before. Secondly she needed to get more food into her storage. Winter wasn't waiting for her need for seasonings.

Still a bit spooked by the Compulsion Resistance, Liz hurried to get out of the fort and into the valley.

Equipping the armor she had used before, together with the coat from the day before, Liz used her new ability to command the cats to convey her intention to hunt, gaining a delighted feeling in response.

The cats got up from their lounging positions on the two divans near immediately, even beating Liz to the door to the stairs.

'At least they are eager now. Personally I don't want another wolf-encounter'

Overnight it had snowed again, causing Liz to now move through ankle-high snow. A few more centimeters of snow and the boots wouldn't be able to hold back the snow anymore.

'So new winter-proof boots need to be added to the to-do list as well!'

Liz decided against using the path she took the day before, as she had no intention to meet the wolves again. Instead, she continued along the high mountain path. It was barely visible before, but in the snow it was practically invisible now.

Still Liz somehow managed to stay on course and take the next path down into the valley. The valley floor was still free of snow, a phenomena Liz simply couldn't explain.

'Probably some kind of magic'

But it was only to her advantage, as she and the cats had a far easier time traversing the forest. She also had further luck as she found another clearing, close to the forest edge, rather quickly.

There even was another brook, but this one flowed through a small pond taking up most of the space of the clearing.

Liz decided to employ the same hunting technique as the day before, finding a fitting low-hanging tree and scaling it.

This time the waiting took considerably longer. After about an hour another roar could be heard from deeper in the valley. It still caused the same fright in Liz. By now, she was curious what monster caused the sound and why it happened every day.

'It always sounds agitated! What kind of monster can agitate whatever utters that sound? I don't want to meet either!'

After two more hours a herd of deer finally entered the clearing. This time Liz commanded three of the cats to circle behind the herd just making camp at the water edge. With one direction blocked by water, Liz judged her chances of getting at least 3 of the deer high enough to actually succeed. Dana and Charly, still inseperable, advanced on the herd from the right side of the water, Logan from the side opposite of the water, and Liz and Nick were lying in ambush in the fourth direction.

Directing the three cats to show themselves left the herd running around in circles, as single animals only ever saw one of the cats. The females advanced and finally made the whole herd to converge towards Liz's position, just like she had hoped.

She had charged up a considerable amount of mana, which she released into the middle of the herd, dispersing them and causing further chaos.

Her shot hit true and one doe immediately dropped onto the ground, although already getting up again.

The two females and Logan had successfully separated two of the deer, keeping them from fleeing for now. Nick had taken to the doe downed by Liz. He was now firmly attached to the does hindquarters.

The rest of the herd was gone by now. As the three cats had the two does firmly in check, Liz went for the single deer-cat pairing, daggers in hand.

Making quick work of the injured animal, Liz was already on the move again.

Nick quickly released the body, following Liz to the other cats trapping the deer at the waters edge. While he joined the others in circling the frightened game, Liz charged another Blast. Aiming it at the head of one of the does, incapacitated it giving Logan the opening to bite down on its hindquarters before it recovered.

Liz meanwhile converged on the second one. While Dana and Charly pounced on its hind as well, Liz had free rein at the front with her knives.

Both were dead quickly. Liz directed the felines to the first single kill while she prepared the other two for transport.

-- You group has killed a [Deer - lvl 18] --

-- Experience awarded respective of contribution --

-- You group has killed a [Deer - lvl 17] --

-- Experience awarded respective of contribution --

-- You group has killed a [Deer - lvl 19] --

-- Experience awarded respective of contribution --

-- [Arcane Blast] has reached level 6 --

'Ughh, this is not gonna be fun to drag back through the snow! I need some kind of carriage'

After she had removed the intestines from the bodies, reducing the weight slightly, Liz refastened her rope construct from the day before.

As the clearing was practically at the edge of the forest, she only had a short distance to traverse before she was back on the path to the fort.

And this was definitely handy as just a few minutes after she left the forest, she heard a howl from the direction of the pond. She was unable to identify any meaning in it, but it was still chilling to think how close the wolves still were.

'Maybe the roaring monster isn't the most dangerous to me. A whole valley filled with wolves intent on getting revenge on me is a stark contender for this spot.'

The additional weight of a second body and the higher snow let her be even slower than the day before, but her slower speed let her examine her surroundings in more detail. A fact that brought to her attention a whole section of bushes still carrying berries. Berries that Garuna had deemed safe back on her first trip and that were quite tasty by her experience.

With her backpack filled to the brim with berries, further adding weight, Liz continued towards the fortifications.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent with processing the new meat, yielding more usable meat for Liz, thanks to her experience with the first one, training with the cats, by now indoors thanks to the snow, and relearning the language, still at a snails pace.

Her food reserves should now last her for another 10 days, should the cats continue at their current meat-eat-speed their supply would last for a similar time. Still not enough for the winter but a beginning. Her training progressed similarly, she still tried to master the moves from a martial arts book she had found, currently only able to learn by studying the pictures, however scarce they may be. This left the cats being the victors in most mock-battles.

Her study of the language also progressed only marginally. But when she fell asleep, exhausted but content, she could at least guess at the content of the preface.

The club was a bust.

The whole night sucked.

"The whole world sucks!"

It started to suck, when Dana had to gift her some bullshit snow-globe.

'Marking a new beginning. You are as free as this stag in the globe!'

For fucks sake, she only got fired. No big drama. She just had to drown her frustration for a night. Then she would just look for a new job.

No need for some bullshit freedom. She still needed the money. And the figurine wasn't free. Otherwise, it wouldn't be in this bullshit glass.

"DO YOU HEAR ME? You. Are. Bullshit!" she threw the snow-globe at the wall.

It shattered.

The stag figurine stumbled out of the shards.

'HELP!'

It ran into the closet.

"Hey, get back here! Get back in the glass! You are not supposed to be free!"

She stumbled after him.

"Why is my closet so da..."

Liz woke with a start.

'Is this how I travelled here? Through my fucking closet? Did I imagine this figurine or is there really one that requires my help? Or was it an alcohol-induced delusion?'

-- [Compulsion Resistance] has reached level 2 --

The cats were still all asleep.

'Nope, there is definitely something here trying to interact with me! But where? And why? What does a figurine need my help for? And why compel me? In the dream - memory? - it could talk.'

By now the cats were also awake and radiated confusion at the weird antics of Liz, who was pacing around the room, looking for a figurine.

After checking every shelf in the suite, Liz stopped her frantic movement. Instead, she decided to get some distance to her current problem. By taking a bath. And eating.

Munching on the wayside-berries, Liz contemplated the situation.

'So somehow something - a figurine? - tries to compel me. But from where I have no idea. Supposedly it is the reason I am here in the first place. Wait, first place. I didn't wake up in the tower! My first place in this world was the dungeon! But does this Compulsion even reach from there? And I didn't see a thing down there. But then I wasn't down there ever since day one!'

'But the bats! No! I won't go down there on some hunch! Maybe whatever is here is somewhere else in the ruins! Yes, that must be it! I will just find it and will never have to enter this paradise for monsters for nothing!'

Completely ignoring her initial plans for the morning, Liz tackled another search of the fort. Now looking for both a small animated figurine and an annoying piece of jewelry. She really wanted to find the figurine. The other tasks were unimportant in the face of this objective. At least that was what Liz's mind told her.

She went through all the places she had searched for the locket before, crawled through the rubble of the two fallen towers, looked in every corner that wasn't buried. She even tried to utilize the cats to search the piles of rubble, failing at communicating her description of the items of interest.

Nowhere did she find a sign of the - living - objects.

'Fuck, the dungeon really is the last place left that isn't buried under tons of stone!'