After 15 minutes I had a good 40 kilometers ahead of me still.

If I hurried at top speed I'd need maybe 90 minutes, if I sprinted whenever feasible.

The terrain was quite varied, a feast for the eyes.

I had left the forest and river of 『Swordfish's Den』 behind.

The open rocky landscape was colorful with plenty of brilliant plants interspersed between Rainbow rocks.

I am a 100% certain that's plenty of valuable ores.

Shame I had neither the tools nor the expertise needed to truly mine this.

I had to make due with pebbles and plant life.

Rapidly gathering anything of potential value on my path I loped and tumbled beyond.

There were some nasty looking flying predators, small bunnies and other innocuous wildlife.

A few minutes later, the terrain was visibly flattening and larger beasts roamed everywhere.

'Just great.

Those are Omicron Bulls, their circular welts are pulsing in distinct colors.

By the look of it I cannot proceed through here.'

They were perfect targets had I wanted to hit Level 11 ASAP.

When a bit less clustered, but still evictionbait.

And there are too many of them to bypass.

'This sucks!

Now I have to backtrack for a lengthy detour!'

Thinking of that I looked back...

'Fuck! When did they get there?'

I was looking at a group of 7 Bulls levels 4-7.

One was looking particularly nasty.

Towering at 2 heads above his herd, an Alpha.

If that was not enough to make the distinction, his circular welts were oozing a menacing blood-red liquid.

Not blood, but the secretions frenzy nearby bulls and most terrifying, offer instantaneous regeneration of disabled body parts depleting itself in the process.

I attacked the weakest member, skewering its eyes for a double critical.

Next I somersaulted on its back delivering yet another critical through its torso and into the heart, leaping off of the dead beast for a repeat performance against the next.

Evading the attacks from the thinning herd became second nature to me.

I quickly assigned +3 to Dexterity and +2 to Agility as I had just leveled up again.

'Level 5, yeah!'

2 level 6 Omicron Bulls and the level 7 Alpha.

That'll be tough, they stick close to each other now, making sure to hit me if I attacked any one of them.

'Still can't run, they block the path back, dangit!'

I readied my Bow and started firing arrows at them.

I hit them, which was amazing, but had been unable to target weak spots so far.

Also did not manage to break up their formation.

"RWUUUH!" They started making noise.

'That's some frenzied Bull. Shit, more like pussycats!

Too scared to approach, but not letting go of me, fuckers!'

The first 4 went down in mere minutes.

I wasted just as much time peppering these nasties with arrows but they must really want me dead.

It would take just a few more minutes and more would come.

I doubt my stamina would keep up for the hundreds of them.

As a few ranged crits got in, I rushed the waiting bulls for the finish.

Again aiming for the the eyes of the lesser two resulted in two neat overkills.

The Alpha charged and grazed me.

'Ooof! That hurt!' An eight of my HP was gone just like that.

'Gotta love those Bosses.

If that had truly connected I'd be in deep shit.'

Swallowing some Herbs, 'Tasty!' I got back on my feet.

Focusing on the Alpha I rushed at his side.

The regenerative ooze on him had to be depleted.

I aimed at the calves of his hind legs, the massively muscled protractors made for 2 sure crits.

After connecting I barely escaped his retaliation.

Sure enough the ooze visibly thinned, still mobile he charged again with a furious Roar.

I almost got stunned and hit, but I was lucky.

I threw two knives for his eyes, another double crit.

Then rammed my hastily equipped spear into his side.

No more Ooze.

I had to finish this.

By attacking his weak spots relentlessly, I permanently disabled the mean bastard piece by piece.

I grabbed a glowing Orb from his corpse and ran.

There were dozens of the shitty bulls at my heels.

After shaking the bovine stampede I took a break.

Thanks to the Herbs my Health was maxed again.

I was at Level 5 with 1 effing % to the next.

'Fuuu... What gives?

Not enough that I met a Boss on the road.

There have to be some of the most dangerous beasts of any Newblands in the hundreds if not thousands here.'

I vowed to not underestimate the "soft and forgiving" intro to 『Final Immersion Origin』 again.

I had let my preconceptions get the better of me.

Worse, I had trusted second hand information with no more validation than a few easy kills.

I had to be cautious, now!

Not a second too early, as the next malady hit me in the form of a Winged Babe.

I had seen several winged Predators on my way through here a few minutes back.

But not this radiating azure beauty.

Her Arms doubled as Wings, which she could relocate from her shoulders to her back.

'What unnatural flexibility is this?'

Similar for her legs.

Those also had very sharp claws glittering like diamonds.

After evading her first dive I noted the deep gashes in the rock.

'Never get hit by that. Check.'

『??? Lv4』

Her lack of status information was troubling.

Even that Omicron Alpha had identified its class once nearby.

No time.

Rolling to evade a winged slash with an unbelievably wide circumference I threw the last few of my throwing knives at her.

'Tch, barely a reaction, got to improve my aim.'

I started throwing the pebbles, rocks and anything else I could get my hands on while staying well out of reach.

Surprisingly there was some feedback, she was able to ignore the knives easily enough but not this?

I had to test this.

I steadily whittled down her HP but soon ran out of material to hurl at her.

'Maybe..., worth a shot.

No way in hell I am closing in on those talons.'

I grabbed the pulsing stone from the Alpha's carcass, aimed carefully and let loose with my most powerful pitch yet.

I hit her dead center!

Though what happened next threw me for a curve.

She was enveloped in a lightshow of bolts and particles wildly exiting her body.

After dispersing however, that energy was getting sucked into me!

I, too, passed out after this.

Though not for long, according to the In-Game Clock.

It was 10:48.

She was still there on the floor where I had seen her collapse.

Still unconscious, I was lucky to have some time to prepare.

'Doesn't seem like she will get up soon, better check my log.

There have to be at least some answers there.'

Well, I did level up, albeit... Level 6 / 0% 0/8613.

Reading the log:

, scrolling down:

You and your bonded share the dangers of Life and Death, please watch over each other!

Raise up to the next Level immediately!>

If it weren't for me wanting to stay low level, I'd have gone nuts.

But wait, that wasn't important.

I had 40 free points to assign!

'Insane, but I better do so now before she wakes up.

Who knows what bonded truly means.

In the end I am her plaything and not the other way around.'

After raising most of my base stats to 20 I still had 17 points left.

'Do I continue to prioritize Dexterity and Agility? '

Evasion was nice, as long as you had enough room and weren't surrounded too badly and conscious, but that graze by the bull got me thinking.

My plan to go for an Assassin build had paid off so far, but now I had the chance to skip yet more steps in between.

I would soon reach Observers Hold ... maybe.

My map hadn't warned me of any of the dangers I faced in the past hour.

In the end I went with the following build, rounded but still focused on my strengths.

My new growthrate would allow me to focus on magic once I unlocked it.

I had wanted to put more points into defense, but considering I only lived because of my luck and critical hits, I chose to focus on raising those.

But amped up my endurance, had been too close to not add some points.

『 Lv6』

Exp: 0% | 0 / 8,613

HP: 9,110 | +4,070 /m | +1,590 /m | +188 /m

Stamina: 2,330 | +1,600 /m

Strength: 26 | Vitality: 21 | Endurance: 25

Agility: 28 | Dexterity: 31

Intelligence: 22. | Wisdom: 19

Luck: 27 | (Growth: 12)

Attack: 652

Defense: Physical: 343 | Magic: 491

Hit: 63.4 | Evasion: 50.3

Critical %: 37.2 | Critical ×: 5.28

Skills:

Herbalism Lv3 5%

Mineralogy Lv0 32%

Survival Lv2 3%

Lore Lv6 90% (locked)

Dashing Lv7 67%

Marathon Lv4 97%

Unarmed Lv6 2%

Sword Lv5 63%

Knife Lv4 44%

Axe Lv2 0%

Blunt Lv2 0%

Spear Lv3 0%

Quarterstaff Lv2 0%

Throwing Weapons Lv3 84%

Bow Lv4 60%

Dual-wielding Lv3 7%

(*New*)

Acrobatics Lv3 89%

Ambush Expert Lv1 4%

Rapid Looting Lv1 0%

Neat new skills, I had not known Ambush Expert even existed!

But I had expected to gain Acrobatics actually, with all that jumping around.

『Rapid Looting』 will add anything within a short radius to your Inventory without penalties to speed, coordination or similar.

Perfect!

Considering this skill was only rumored to exist, getting it this early or at all suited me very well.

I had already spent quite some time pondering on how to distribute my stats and skimming the log.

A few bits of the bonded effect were briefly explained.

Apparently I gained the growthrate of my bonded retroactively, which lead to the massive stockpile of points.

I'd now gain 12 instead of 5 points per level up.

Talk about OP, this little Harpy Queen had a growthrate well befitting a High Level Boss.

What bonding actually meant, that ominous line about life and death, none of that was detailed.

'AGH! I feel queasy, what if she continues attacking me?

I definitely cannot kill her now, not that I would've enjoyed it, she looks far too human.

And pretty.'

I had no way to check her stats, or new menu options.

Nor was there any indication of the bonded effect in any of my status screens.

For now I chose to calm myself by testing 『Rapid Looting』.

The skill itself performed spectacularly, although the radius was really tiny.

The loot was disappointing.

Most of my missiles had not survived, becoming mere pebbles.

She had sliced quite a few and deflected the smaller ones.

The knives were dull and useless.

My presumably most valuable trade resource was effectively gone.

I still had my spear, sword and combat knife and bow.

A few dozen arrows were left.

Luckily I still had an abundance of Herbs.

I would likely collect back some ore while traveling,

but I could not be certain my new skill also applied to gatherables.

I had left no stone unthrown and there were no herbs nearby.

"ugh" What was that?

While mentally still taking stock and preparing, I turned around.

The 『Azure Empyrean Harpy Lv4』 was waking up!

The groan of that blue feathered birdwoman was followed by her opening her eyes.

Of course piercing blue, her unfocused gaze quickly wandered to me.

"Hello?" I tried.

She spasmed.

It looked like an attempt to hurl herself at me.

I retreated.

"What's your name my Lady?"

No reply.

Belatedly tried introducing myself.

Still nothing.

"Uhm... any chance you know what that "bonding" thingy means?

Oh, and are you OK?

I have some herbs which could help you, I guess.

Do you want some?"

If it wasn't obvious, by now I was very nervous.

Our last encounter had been a struggle I barely survived.

And she appeared to be still very hostile.

A weak cry of frustration left her.

Luckily she was also incredibly drained.

"You do know I did not ask for you to ambush me, right?

I am sorry it had to come to this, you are the first monster I do not want to kill."

"... ," she was now just glaring at me, hateful and malevolent.

"So, how about you stop trying to do me in and we can be friends?"

"... ," still a piercing stare, and dang, that face.

"I'd settle for not being enemies, actually." (bright smile)

"Human...," she started whispering, "give me your life, and I will consider our debt paid."

"Uh, what? Hell no! Why should I? I beat you fair and square! If anything, you owe me!"

I considered just running away at this point.

But better to nip this in the bud now than facing another airborne ambush.

What followed was a stream of probably expletives, but whispered and with me backing away I was not sure.

At least she seemed to not recover quickly, or I'd be in deep shit.

Again.

A last attempt.

I closed in again.

"Here, have some herbs, you can eat those.

They do heal humans.

Don't know if they do anything for you."

I drew my spear.

"But if you attack me I will nail you to the floor! Got that?"

She just stared at the small bundle of herbs.

They would restore some Stamina and HP over time.

Not enough to get me out of the red zone.

But moving.

"Can you pick them up?"

She moved incredibly slowly, her featherclad hand slash claws inching towards the Herbs.

After she swallowed them the effects were astounding.

Snails pace would have described her well up till now.

But with just a few Herbs her body seemed to brim with energy.

"Food." She stood and looked at me, spear still pointing at her.

I took out some rations, hadn't been hungry so far, but got them anyway.

She ate and occasionally glowered at me.

"I've introduced myself, isn't it rude not telling me your name?"

"..." silence.

"I've been meaning to ask.

Why have you attacked me?"

"The Stone..., I needed it."

"..."

"Now it is gone, and I am chained to a Fool."

If I didn't know better I'd have sworn that was an insult.

"The stone I threw at you before we both went to sleep.

What was it?"

Her expression told of loss and longing.

"A Power Stone, one so rare it takes thousands to harvest only one."

'No clear answers she will give, dammit.'

"Heard of those, didn't expect it to be one.

Thought only high levels drop those?"

I tried again.

"Don't pretend you know the rules of our World, Human."

With that she finished snacking and studied me.

Sizing me up and categorizing everything.

Still looked as dangerous as ever, albeit restrained.

I still pointed the spear, but really did not want to.

I could not continue to do this for hours.

I had stuff to do, magic to learn!

"Again, how about you don't kill me, we part ways and enjoy our lives?

How does that sound?"

I was hardpressed to maintain myself, the pressure she exuded was unlike anything I had experienced so far.

A derisive snort, an angry swipe into the air and her glowering.

"I can not harm you.

As much as I wish to.

Nor can I leave you."

"Uhm, great, the not harming part, but why are you bound to me?"

"You do not need to know.

I will be following you."

"Damn, you really dislike me that much.

What are you not telling me?"

"Everything." She smirked and leapt up, quickly rising ever higher into the sky.

'That could've gone better.'

I wasn't about to lower my guard.

I exchanged weapons, kept sword and knife ready and started exploring the rocky lands.