Chapter Ten

What A Pack Do

Sadly Amy returned saying that they needed to go to the reception room because apparently several of those who had applied to be in the pack were actually already there. Star realized that he hadn't changed out of his Dress Uniform then and switched it for his Civilian outfit before following Amy to a room that looked like one of those old style sitting rooms where mob bosses would be smoking cigars in front of a fireplace.

Star and Amy had barely taken a seat when there came a knock at the door and a servant came inside ushering in the Fox Beastkin woman that he’d given a good ass slap to before he knocked her out in the trial.

Star thanked the servant and getsutered for the woman to take a seat opposite him and Amy. She complied, looking slightly nervous, but determined. Her bushy tail, and red hairy ears atop her head seemed to flick this way and that until she settled in her seat. Amy shook herself before addressing the woman.

“Alexandrea Lexington. Please tell us in your own words what you would bring to our pack and why we should include you.” Something about the way she said it felt to Star like this was ritualistic in nature.

Alexandrea cocked her head to the side curiously then spoke,

“I am a good fighter and would be able to protect our pack. I have been a scout for the army for three years and know the ways of stealth and information collecting. And my service in the military has been exemplary enough that I have been granted the Runnless Beta title, meaning that my claim of a Run could be used to expand our territory. I feel that I bring much to you, your pack and wish to join because I find your Alpha worthy.” Alexandria said, glancing at Star as she spoke of him.

Amy nodded then looked to Star,

“As soon as we have finished with the others we will be deliberating for a short while and you will have your answer then.”

With that Alexandrea was escorted out of the room and another woman entered. Star was pretty sure he hadn’t seen her before. And he was very certain that he would have remembered seeing her in the past. She was slim and frail looking, though almost six feet tall. She had features that he would call elven angular and perfectly symmetrical. Her eyes seemed larger than would be normal and they were icy blue. Her hair looked like a cascade of silver that flowed down to her butt. Not silver as in old people's hair color. But metallic and vibrant. And atop her head were two antennas that looked like the antenna of a moth.

Star looked over to Amy and she seemed to be on edge and conflicted about this one. Which made Star curious. But he remained silent as the woman approached and sat in the chair opposite them. The silver haired woman’s eyes found his and her antenna twitched and her eyes dilated for a second before she refocused and aimed her sights on Amy.

Amy gave her the exact same question/statement as Alexandrea and the woman took a deep breath.

“I am Willow AirHeart, a descendant of the Moth. I bring my magic to the pack, and the potential of producing offspring of Mothen decent. I was trained in the city of ElderMoth and I specialize in Formation, Array, and Rune magics. I can connect any communication Array to the existing network of Dogs Run. I have experience managing funds, and investments. And I am the owner of Alchemical Grievances here in Dragons Roost. I bring much to the table, and wish to join because I believe that your Alpha is worthy.”

Amy gave her the same spiel as Alexandrea again and Willow was ushered out of the room by a waiting servant. Amy leaned over and whispered into Star's ear as she was ushered out.

“Most packs will not allow a Descendant of The Moth into their ranks. They have a history of taking over the position of Beta from the reigning Beta. But having one come to us was a miracle in and of itself so I had to give her the interview. Especially her. Her store is one of the largest providers of Alchemical reagents and potions in the city. I do not think that we are in a position to be able to reject her offer to join without making a powerful enemy.” She said as a third woman was brought into the room.

This third woman was the first person he’d fought in the trial of battle. Her antlers were distinctive and she sat there with poise giving them her reason to join.

“I am Ruby ScarSpear and I wish to join your pack because your Alpha is strong. I do not bring much other than my Runnless Beta title. I am strong and I will face the enemies of the pack without fear. I find your Alpha worthy.”

Amy nodded and gave her the spiel again then turned to Star.

“We only had those three here to deal with right now. I am of the opinion that we accept all three of them. Two Runnless and a Moth. The Runnless will give us the ability to claim more land and expand, corolling more than just one village or city that we set up. Having a Moth will allow us to connect those settlements and up my standing among Betas if I can keep the position from her.”

Star just shrugged,

“We will do what you think is best. I know how to kill things. It's going to be your job to deal with the more social side of people. I can deal with the Army leadership just fine because they don’t know what my capacities are and they respond well to me being decisive. I am in an interesting position with them. But with regular people I’m pretty sure I’m just gonna come off as a bully or overly pushy.”

Amy agreed with his assessment,

“So we are in agreement. Let us go and inform them of our decision. We will go to the city center together with them afterwards and sign the necessary documents to make it official.”

Then they did just that. It surprised Star how much paperwork was involved in the lives of these people. For a society that lived in what he basically considered the dark ages they were ridiculously civilized, and barbaric at the same time.

After signing the appropriate paperwork Star and Amy made their way back to the SilverEye estate, and his new pack mates went off to their respective homes to do whatever it is that they were going to do.

The sun was still up when they arrived back home but it would only be up for another hour or so. Amy practically dragged Star into their now shared room and began tearing off her clothes. Apparently Beastkin women have a sex drive that would put most human males sex drive to shame with its ferocity.

What followed could almost be described as the most savage sexual experience of Star’s life. He’d thought that the previous night had been intense, but apparently Amy had gained a lot of confidence and went full pornstar sex goddess on him. And if anything she was even more vocal than before. And he actually built up a decent sweat throughout the whole affair.

By the end of it Amy was a ragdoll and completely spent. Again draped across his body like one of the warmest and most comfortable blanket you could imagine . Of course he was just about to fall asleep when his WarPad began chirping out a tone that he’d never heard it make before. And somehow it had appeared right beside his head.

Frowning Star picked it up and found that there was a message from Hermies waiting for him.

From Hermies, (The Pantheon)

Hello there Star! It is my pleasure to announce to you that we here at the Pantheon have been hard at work, and have managed to plug a new update into your systems. I have also been authorized to give you a few bits of knowledge about how some stuff works here in this new world.

Ok so… Where to begin? I’ll start with your update and if you have any questions I will send you another message in a few days to explain.

The update has added a new item to your store and a new function to your interface. The two go hand in hand. The new item is called The Pack Collar which is a collar that serves a very powerful function. The collar -once put on willingly- can be activated from your interface. Once activated the collar will become a part of the wearers body, permanently. It will absorb the essence that the wearer generates and you can then determine how the essence is used on their bodies. Essentially the Collars turn whoever is wearing them into Elites that you control the growth of. The collars can also be used to designate an instinctual hierarchy among the pack members. This function will prevent infighting among those wearing them. The final function is very useful for you personally, it will send ten percent of all essence gathered by the individuals wearing them directly to you. Meaning that you will level up much faster.

Just think about the questions you may have and in a few days I will send you another message to explain a bit more if the questions are not restricted information.

Best of Luck to you, (Hermies)

Star flipped over to the store immediately and found the new item. He had four of them in stock already, but the cost to purchase more of them was insane. He could buy 20 rounds for his RKKV weapons with the same amount of resources. He popped one out and examined it. It was a simple length of what looked like woven microscopic wires. There was no latch mechanism on it so he was not sure how it was supposed to be worn. He reached down and gently shook Amy awake. Best to get one on her as quickly as possible. Being able to make her stronger was a must.

Amy blearily looked up at him and almost seemed to snarl,

“What is it, Star.”

“I have a gift for you that will make you stronger. Basically turn you into an Elite. I just need you to put it on and I’ll do the rest.” He said handing her the length of strange material.

She held it trying to figure it out then wrapped it around her own neck. Where the ends met the material seemed to meld together until it was a solid ring around her neck.

“Can I go back to sleep now?” She asked.

Star nodded and chuckled as she snuggled back up to him again and got comfortable. He checked his WarPad and on his character page he found a new tab labeled Pack. Tapping it he found himself looking at a notification asking him to activate Amy’s collar. He confirmed it and looked down at Amy. The collar around her throat shifted slightly then seemed to melt into her skin, disappearing into her body. She made no indication of experiencing any discomfort.

Looking back to his WarPad he now saw Amy’s stat page.

Name: Amy SilverEye Affiliation:The Pantheon

LVL: 32

Unassigned Stat Points: 160

Strength: 7

Dexterity: 8

Constitution: 5

Perception: 15

Intelligence: 8

Class: unassigned

Class Skills: N/A

Star wondered how she could be level 32 and have none of her stat points assigned. It seemed strange. Also he wondered what was a normal Perception score among Beastkin and whether or not her scores were calculated off of a human standard or a Beastkin standard. Lots of questions were coming to mind. He figured that he might as well at least make sure she was rounded out then he would ask her opinion on how she wanted to progress in the morning. She did not like to be woken up.

So he spent twelve of her unassigned stat points to make sure everything was at a minimum ten and confirmed the allocation leaving her with 148 unassigned points and a minimum score of ten in every stat. Satisfied with the stats for now he turned to the Pack menu and set Amy as the Beta. Then he tossed the WarPad aside and went to sleep.

* * *

The next morning Star awoke with a start as Amy gave a strange yelp and he felt her jump. Star immediately was on the alert scanning the room for any wouldbe invaders or threats. Finding nothing Star looked at Amy who was sitting at the edge of the bed wide eyed and looking at her arms and legs, moving them around, clenching her fists, seemingly entranced.

Star realized that this was probably the first time she had ever experienced her stats jumping up so suddenly. Her body probably felt strange to her suddenly being stronger, sturdier, faster. Even her mind was moving 20% faster than it had when she’d gone to sleep. She looked over to him, her eyes wide.

“What happened to me? Why am I suddenly so fast? So strong?” She said in nearly a whisper.

“I woke you up last night and told you to put something on and I told you that it would make you into an Elite of sorts… Don’t you remember that?” he asked

Amy frowned,

“I remember you waking me up and being very irritated but I don’t remember what you said or did. You can turn people into Elites?” She asked, her voice filled with incredulity.

“I can only do it for my pack members and I have a limited supply of the Collars as it stands. They are also very expensive to purchase. I only have three left, but they allow me to designate a hierarchy among my pack and the others that wear one will not will not challenge you for your position in the pack. Only I can change the pecking order per say. It also makes it so that I can distribute the essence that you gather to make you stronger. Essentially you are an Elite whose growth depends on me now.” He informed her.

She seemed to take a long while to process what he had just said. Star could see the gears turning in her mind as she worked out everything that this meant. Finally she almost whispered.

“We are going to have the strongest pack in the history of Dogs Run. We need to get Willow as quickly as possible, Ruby and Alexandrea as well. Do you have enough resources for more of these collars? We need to get as many into our pack as possible.” Amy was talking faster and faster as she skipped around the room looking for her clothing.

“Hold up, before we start up with the day's events. You still have a lot of stat points that need to be distributed and I didn’t want to just use them all without you getting a say how they are placed.” He said, holding up his hands.

Amy froze and looked at him with hungry eyes.

“I don’t know what you mean by points to distribute but does that mean that you can make me stronger right now?” She asked

Star nodded and told her what he knew about stats. He tried to show her his WarPad but discovered that she couldn’t actually see anything on its screen. it was just darkness to her. So he was forced to relay everything verbally. At the end of it she didn’t know what she needed so she just told him to do what he would do for himself.

Star shrugged and brought all of her stats up to be equal to her perception. 15 across the board leaving him with 128 points to distribute. Which he then divided up across the stats bringing everything up to 40 across the board, and sense her perception had always been higher he put the last three points into that. Then he confirmed everything and Amy suddenly collapsed to the floor.

She didn’t move for several seconds before she sprung to her feet looking more alive than he had ever seen her. She was bouncing energetically which was fairly distracting seeing as she hadn’t dressed yet. It was definitely a great view though. Amy dressed herself excitedly and sprinted out the door.

Star followed after her wondering exactly what he had just created. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be a lot of fun and very challenging. Amy was zipping around the estate doing her own thing so Star decided to go to the family Library and see what they had to offer. he wasn’t a big fan of reading, but maybe they would have some stuff that could give him some history or backstory for what exactly caused this strangely civilized savage culture.

Almost disappointingly he hadn't even made it to the library when Amy came running up behind him and began dragging him towards the entrance to the house.

“Uncle sent somebody to teach you how to use a sword. He’s waiting for you in the training yard.” She said. She was far too happy for somebody who didn’t strike him as a morning person.

Amy introduced Star to Bjorn ThistleBerry who was a sword and board instructor. He was a turtle beastkin of very few words. He’d given Star a practice sword and shield and showed him how to stand, how to move and how to position himself. Star was actually fairly engrossed in the training he didn’t know of any guy ever that didn’t dream of being a badass with a sword. And everything was coming to him fairly easily.

Finally his instructor called for him to stop doing the drills and he realized that it was well past midday. Amy was seated in a reclining chair at the edge of the training yard under an umbrella watching him along with Willow, Ruby, and Alexandrea. They were all eyeing him and chatting amongst themselves as he made his way towards them.

“Y’all enjoying the view?” he asked as he approached.

“Very much so!” Alexandrea said, her eyes roving up and down his body.

The rest all seemed to just nod along. Ego boost maxed out for the day he just smiled and looked at Amy. She stood up and got everyone moving. She guided everyone into his room then turned and locked the door.

“Ok you can give them their presents now.” she said.

Star raised an eyebrow at that, but just popped out the three collars that he had left and handed them to the women and explained that they needed to put them on. After a few seconds of hesitation the women complied and Star activated them with his WarPad.

Willow was the one at the highest level of the bunch at level 41. Alexandrea was at level 40, and Ruby was level 37. Before he did anything he explained to them exactly what was going on and asked them if they had any preferences about how he distributed their stats. Alexandrea and Ruby just wanted to be fast and strong; they wanted to be able to fight better. Willow’s request was interesting. she didn’t care about her physicality, she just wanted her mind and senses enhanced. Her stats were also the worst physically of all of them.

Name: Willow SilverEye Affiliation:The Pantheon

LVL: 41

Unassigned Stat Points: 205

Strength: 2

Dexterity: 5

Constitution: 3

Perception: 20

Intelligence: 10

Class: unassigned

Class Skills: N/A

* * *

Name: Ruby SilverEye Affiliation:The Pantheon

LVL: 37

Unassigned Stat Points: 185

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 8

Constitution: 7

Perception: 12

Intelligence: 9

Class: unassigned

Class Skills: N/A

* * *

Name: Alexandrea SilverEye Affiliation:The Pantheon

LVL: 40

Unassigned Stat Points: 200

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 11

Constitution: 6

Perception: 15

Intelligence: 7

Class: unassigned

Class Skills: N/A

For Willow, Star did the standard and raised all of her stats to below ten up to ten spending twenty points to get her up to a baseline. Then he divided the remaining 185 between intelligence and perception 90 into perception and 95 into intelligence, bringing them up to 110 and 105 respectively. After confirming the changes Willow flopped to the ground unconscious. One could not do the same with physical stats as they could with perception and intelligence. Strength, dexterity and constitution needed to be within twenty percent of each other or they caused issues. But mental stats and physical stats could be raised separately without any negative effects.

For Alexandrea and Ruby he raised their stats to a minimum of ten then divided everything among their physical stats.

Name: Willow SilverEye Affiliation:The Pantheon

LVL: 41

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 10

Constitution: 10

Perception: 110

Intelligence: 105

Class: unassigned

Class Skills: N/A

* * *

Name: Ruby SilverEye Affiliation:The Pantheon

LVL: 37

Unassigned Stat Points: 0

Strength: 69

Dexterity: 69

Constitution: 69

Perception: 12

Intelligence: 10

Class: unassigned

Class Skills: N/A

* * *

Name: Alexandrea SilverEye Affiliation:The Pantheon

LVL: 40

Unassigned Stat Points: 192

Strength: 74

Dexterity: 75

Constitution: 74

Perception: 15

Intelligence: 10

Class: unassigned

Class Skills: N/A

Ruby and Alexandrea flopped over in a similar fashion to Willow. All of them remained on the ground for a few seconds before their eyes popped open.