Divine Beast

“Kyle?”

“Yes Fi?”

“We’re doing my stuff next.”

Kyle nodded at this, he wasn’t completely happy with the idea of her wanting to take part in a fight when she had just been injured, but he also knew that her having Skill and spells to use as well was simply too much of an advantage not to allow it.

“Alright Fi, let’s see what you can do,” he requested.

Fi nodded happy to be brining up her own status for once.

Statistics

Name: Fi Fergusson

Race: Quetzalcoatl (Divine Beast)

Level: 2

Companion Type: N/A

HP: 40/40

HP regen: 0.4 p/s

MP: 110/110

MP regen 5 p/s

SP: 40/40

SP regen 4 p/s

Str: 4

Dex: 5

Agi: 10

Con: 4

End: 4

Int: 11

Wis: 10

Will: 8

Exp to next Level: 37%

Unassigned Stat Points: 1

Racial Traits

Divine Blessings- As a Divine Beast, one of the servants of the gods this companion has access to a number of healing and protective spells as well as the specific powers of the deity they serve. Intelligence +1 and Wisdom +1 per Level.

Feathered Serpent- As a creature with attributes of beings of both the land and air the Skills and spells that can be learned are varied. Skills granted Flight and Heat Vision. Agility +1 per Level.

“It’s still weird every time I see that,” Kyle commented with a sigh. Having a type of Divine Beast as a Companion wasn’t actually that unusual but what was unusual was that despite the amount of research they had done over the years they still hadn’t been able to find out what deity had a being known as a Quetzalcoatl as a Divine Beast.

Each Deity had their own unique Divine Beast that would occasionally appear to believers to deliver a message from one of the gods. If one was summoned as a Soul Companion it was treated as a sign of that gods favour so not knowing which deity Fi served was a big problem as the gods didn’t like it when a new god appeared because that nearly always meant that they would lose some of their worshipers to this new god which decreased their own power.

Of course, this was dependent on which pantheon the new deity was aligned with. There were various pantheons in the world which shared a certain amount of the power that they earned from their worshipers with the other members of their pantheon. An example of this would be Asteria the goddess of light and her brother Larchius the god of shadows. They had both started out as primarily elven deities but had chosen two humans as their champions early on one of which went on to form the kingdom of Coronia naming it for his companion who had the form of Asteria’s Divine Beast. Nowadays these two deities were worshipped by both elves and humans in the kingdom and the neighbouring countries. Asteria was the more popular of the two gods but that wasn’t to say that Larchius was unpopular with certain groups. Though Larchius was the god of shadows he was not an evil god, his priests specialised in information gathering and espionage making him very popular in the military. Many a time someone who had escaped justice found themselves on the wrong end of the knife of one of his Paladins who were closer to Rogues than the traditional Knights. Together these two deities worked in both light and shadow to ensure the safety of the people making their pantheon one of the most popular of all.

Fi nodded at Kyle’s remark, though she was called a Divine Beast by the System she was still only Kyle’s companion, so she wasn’t anywhere near as powerful as a true Divine Beast and never would be due to the limitations the System placed on companions.

“So, what do you plan on dong with your Stat Point Fi?” Kyle asked. Companions only received one Stat point to distribute while their partner had a Tier 1 Class which was one of the ways the System prevented those with companions from having too large an advantage. Someone with a companion also gained experience at a slightly slower rate than someone without one.

“That’s a strange thing to ask,” Fi noted as she placed the point into Constitution without a second thought raising her health to 50 and her regen to 0.5 per second. “Especially after what happened to me earlier.”

Kyle grimaced, he should have known that Fi would know what he was thinking when he looked at her Status. FI would never be able to take much damage but being able to take at least one hit from an enemy was a basic requirement for anyone who planned on fighting a lot of monsters.

“Right let’s see what new abilities I can unlock!” Fi exclaimed excitedly. Unlike their partner a companion could only earn the points to purchase their new abilities one way; by Levelling up. Nor would their Skills and spells level up on their own, they had to spend Ability Points or AP to both unlock new Skills and upgrade their old ones.

Abilities Sheet

Spells

N/A

Skills

Flight- Allows the companion to fly at speeds of up to 15 km per hour. Lvl 1 (Cost to improve 1 AP)

Heat Vision- Allows the companion to sense heat sources within a range of 10m-Lvl 1 (Cost to improve 1 AP)

System Link

Soul Bond- Links the companion to their partner, allows them to sense the other’s location. Lvl 1 (Cost to improve 1 AP)

Status Access- Allows the companion to access the Status and Skill screens of their partner. Unlocks basic Status and Skill knowledge. Lvl 1 (Cost to improve 1 AP)

Inventory- Allows the companion to create a spatial pocket that they can use to store items. Spatial Pocket size 1 square metre. (Cost to improve 2 AP)

Appraise- Allows the companion to examine items and discover their parameters. (Cost to improve 1 AP)

Scan- Allows the companion to access basic information on the scanned monster. (Cost to improve 2 AP)

Ability Slots remaining 6/8

AP: 3

Spells- The companion has access to a number of spells based on their Race and variant, but these can only be unlocked and upgraded with the use of AP.

Skills- The companion has access to a number of Skills based on their Race and variant. These can only be unlocked and upgraded with AP.

System Link- A Soul Companion’s purpose is to advise their partner on various uses of the System and aid them in any way that they can. These abilities represent this purpose and can be upgraded using AP for additional benefits.

Ability Slots- Both spells and Skill share the use of these slots, but System Link abilities are treated as Racial Skills and do not take up slots of their own.

Ability Points- Used to purchase and upgrade Skills. The companion receives 2 AP (+1 from partners high-ranked Class) per Level while partners Class is at Tier 1.

“You know FI there’s one thing I’ve always wondered,” Kyle said quietly as they looked over Fi’s Ability Sheet. “Why are your System Link abilities treated as Racial Skills but not the Skills given to you by your Racial Traits.

“Because I’m a companion not an actual Divine Beast, remember,” Fi sighed, she was a spiritual entity that was given this form by the system, so she wasn’t technically a true Divine Beast.

“Still though…” Kyle muttered drawing an exasperated look from his companion. “Alright, fine. Do you want to upgrade any of these abilities or get some new ones?”

Fi fiddled around for a while checking out several of the options, “Hmm, if we improve Soul Bond we can communicate using our minds within 10 metres, that would be useful, or if we improve Status Access I can give you some status bars in the corner of your vision when you’re fighting. The others would be useful as well, but I want to have a look at the new abilities that I can get before spending too many AP. What do you think?”

Both options were quite useful, Kyle was quite good at guessing how his full his MP and SP were and figuring out how badly damaged you were was fairly easy but in a real fight it did start to get hard to track these. On the other hand, this could also be taken care of to a certain extent by being able to communicate with Fi more easily and being able to communicate with Fi mentally would also be useful outside of battle.

“I think you should upgrade Soul Bond this time,” Kyle advised.

“Alright,” Fi agreed placing the Ability Point into the desired Skill happily.

She then started fiddling around with a screen only she could see as her happy expression slowly changed to a worried one.

“What’s wrong Fi?” Kyle asked.

“It’s just weird,” FI replied.

“What is?”

“The spells that I can get,” Fi explained. “I can pick from three at my current Level, but it’s odd. My healing spell is a light-based one and my attacking spell is a darkness-based one.”

“That is odd,” Kyle replied, Fi got access to spells related to the Deity she supposedly served but Kyle had never heard of a god of darkness and light. “What about the last spell?”

“It’s a defensive one that looks quite useful, but it costs two AP,” Fi replied distractedly. “I think I’m going to get both the spells I can afford, the Skills that I can get at this Level either aren’t very useful or are too expensive.”

“I’m all for you getting spells Fi,” Kyle said. Even with her putting her Stat Point into Constitution she didn’t have enough health to stand up too much punishment, so magic was the best thing for her to focus on as far as Kyle was concerned.

Fi turned to look at Kyle.

“Oh, I’m sure you are,” she replied smirking at Kyle who refused to look her in the eye. Even if a companion died, they were a spiritual entity that was bound to their partner, so they could be summoned once again at a Class Stone at the cost of a Levels worth of experience, but it was nice to know that Kyle still wanted her to be safe.

“Just get the spells Fi,” Kyle deadpanned.

“Fine,” Fi replied making the purchase.

New Spells selected!

Restore- Uses healing light to restore the targets health. Heals 12 HP. Costs 20 MP. Casting time: 1 second. Cooldown 5 seconds.

Shadowbolt- Fires a bolt of dark energy at a target. Deals 6-8 darkness damage over 3 seconds. Costs 10 MP Casting time: Instant Cooldown 1 second.

“Restore will get a slight heal over time the next time I Level it up,” Fi noted as she checked over how things had changed on her available abilities screen.

“They’re both great spells Fi,” Kyle laughed, seeing how happy his companion was.

“Oohh and Shadowbolt gets a chance to inflict blindness! That’ll be useful!” Fi exclaimed as she wriggled excitedly causing Kyle to laugh at her silliness. Little did they know that they were being watched.

***

“Well this is a problem,” groaned a glowing woman as she paced back and forth watched by a man who seemed to be clad in shadows as he nonchalantly draped himself over a large obsidian throne.

“Problem? What problem?” he drawled watched causing her to turn and glare at him in irritation.

“What problem?” she hissed storming towards him angrily.

“You know exactly the problem that I mean!” she shouted pointing at a floating screen that showed a young man and a feathered serpent laughing as they talked about what they were going to do next.

“The companion?” the man asked raising an eyebrow.

“As far as the rest of them know she’s just a normal companion,” he said dismissing the glowing woman’s worry with a wave of his hand.

“What have you done?” the woman growled her golden eyes flashing like two suns in her beautiful face.

“I just helped our younger sister out that’s all,” he replied, looking as though every word was exhausting to say.

The glowing woman sighed, why was it that her brother was so hard for her to deal with?

“Larchius,” she said catching the man’s attention. “I know you care about her, but she’s gaining power too fast.”

“Of course, she is!” Larchius replied angrily. “You know what she represents! There’s not a single person on this planet that doesn’t worship her to some degree!”

The glowing woman sighed again, she knew her brother was right but that didn’t mean that the other gods that they shared the world with were just going to let a new god, one that had barely been around for a hundred years steal their power away from them.

“Look Azzy,” Larchius said seeing his sister’s hesitation. “I know you’re just worried about her, but she needs to have a champion of her own.”

“Don’t call me Azzy,” the woman replied distractedly causing her brother to grin at her.

“Anything you say Asteria,” her chuckled drawing a withering look from the goddess.

“You’re right, I suppose,” Asteria admitted sadly, she knew how important a champion was to a god’s development, a new one in particular.

“Of course, I am,” Larchius replied in a surprisingly cheerful tone of voice for a god whose domain was darkness.

“And it’s not like she made a bad choice is it?” he pushed.

“No, it’s not, the kid has a lot of potential,” Asteria admitted. “I just wish that the System hadn’t given him that Class so soon.”

Larchius laughed bitterly at his sister earning himself another sharp look.

“Who knows what that thing’s thinking,” he said as he remembered the first time he and his sister had encountered the being that called itself the System.

Even now they still had no idea what the System was, where it came from or what its goals were. The first time it had appeared it had given them a warning that their world would soon be combined with several others and disappeared without a trace. That had been over a thousand years before the worlds had been forced together. Some of the other gods of various worlds had attempted to stop the System from forcing their worlds together, but it had wiped them from existence with the same amount of effort as it would take one of them to destroy a mortal.

Ever since they had obeyed its demands without question, even taking in the most recently formed goddess as a new member of their pantheon.

“It’s only part of the Class at the moment so they might not notice,” Larchius said hopefully.

He knew that it was unlikely that they would be able to keep Kyle and Fi’s existence hidden for long, but he had made an effort to hide the pair from the other gods so unless they did something stupid they should be fine for the moment.

Asteria rolled her eyes at her brother, “Oh please, the minute he uses that weapon in front of a worshiper of a different pantheon the other gods will know.”

“They do like to gossip,” Larchius joked trying to break the dark atmosphere that had suddenly appeared at his sisters’ words.

“You know that’s not what I mean!” Asteria snapped.

“In all seriousness sis,” Larchius said his previously careless expression disappearing. “How many allies do out think we have among the other gods?”

Asteria shook her head sadly, “Not enough.”

Their pantheon was one of the most influential ones in the world, even though they only had three members. This meant that Asteria and Larchius were individually more powerful than any other god which didn’t earn them many friends and their new recruit would only serve to distance them from the others further.

“Father’s still on our side, though right?” Larchius asked hopefully.

“Yeah, for what that’s worth,” Asteria sighed.

Their father was Osman the elven god of wisdom, who also happened to be the oldest surviving god. Osman was one of the few gods who refused to either join or create a pantheon o his own and spent all his time trying to find out why the System had fused their worlds together. He was mostly worshipped by mages and was quite powerful but refused to take part in what he considered the squabbling of children.

“That’s good,” Larchius breathe.

“Why?” Asteria asked in confusion.

“Because he’s going to need the help of one of father’s priests to access the Class he’s supposed to have,” Larchius replied cryptically.

“What do you know?” Asteria asked.

“God of secrets remember?” Larchius chuckled. “If someone doesn’t want me to know something, it just makes me want to know even more.”

Asteria rolled her eyes again, her brother was surprisingly irreverent for a god which didn’t help them much in the friend department, but no-one could deny his ability to gather information. Even she didn’t know how far his influence truly went. In many ways this was why they worked so well together, his priests and other servants could discover information that no-one else could and being the goddess of truth her own could discover whether the information was accurate

It was due to this that even though they had few friends among the other gods there weren’t many who actively wished them or their worshipers harm. When one had been around for thousands of years they had a lot of secrets to keep and Larchius made sure to discover as many as he possibly could. It wasn’t something Asteria really approved of, but she couldn’t deny how effective it was.

“Fine then, keep your secrets brother,” she replied. “just remember one thing; the truth will out.”

And with those ominous words she disappeared in a flash of light causing Larchius to shake his head.

“She always has to have the last word,” he complained.

“Pfft, like you’re any different master,” giggled a childish voice.

“Oh, shush you,” Larchius grumbled as the owner of the voice appeared in front of him.

The being in front of him was a Pixie, a spirit of mischief and his Divine Beast. She took the form of a tiny winged woman with obsidian skin and flitted around randomly as she laughed at her master.

“Alright Puck that’s enough,” he said holding out his hand which the Pixie quickly landed on brushing the wrinkles out of her purple dress.

“Very well master,” she grumbled annoyed that he had ruined her fun. Larchius was usually more than happy for her to mess around for a while but today he was all business.

“I take it you were listening?” Larchius asked.

“Of course, it’s not like I had anything more interesting to do,” Puck replied cheerfully leaving Larchius wondering whether this was how the other gods viewed him.

“Then you know what I want you to do I take it?” he asked causing the pixies chest to puff out with pride as she realised that she was finally getting an important job to do.

“You want me to keep an eye on those two mortals,” she replied excitedly, it wasn’t often that she got sent down to the mortal world to do something for Larchius, so she planned on enjoying it as much as possible.

“Don’t cause too many problems please,” growled Larchius remembering the time she had almost started a war because of a trick she played on the princes of two neighbouring countries.

“Don’t go dredging up ancient history,” Puck scolded wagging her finger at Larchius as she took to the air. “I’m not 1000 years old anymore!”

Larchius rolled his eyes, if there were two things that would never change it was that his father was boring, and that Puck would cause trouble wherever she went.

Seeing the disbelieving expression on the gods face Puck pouted, he was just as bad as she was!

“Get a move on then,” Larchius sighed already making plans for the apologies he would have to send to the other gods for releasing Puck on the world again.

Grumbling to herself the tiny woman opened a hole in space and flew through, causing Larchius to shake his head with a smile.

Puck may cause problems, but she was very loyal and had never failed to complete a mission, she had simply inherited the worst parts of his own personality.

Larchius glanced at the image of Kyle and Fi, who were now going over the improvements to Kyle’s Skills while chatting happily.

If they only knew what the gods had planned for them.