I use telepathy to talk with our latest party member.

“So welcome to the team! I am Auxentius human tamer from another world and Ratina over there is your senpai team member” (Auxentius)

“I can’t believe I was enslaved by a BABY and a MOUSE, I am the river master, the fear of all creatures who come to drink, at least the baby is at least mentally older than me but to be diffeated in such a manner by such weaklings I….” (not yet named)

“Just who exactly are you calling weaklings? Surely you couldn’t be referring to my master who could’ve snuffed out your life in the hole, nor I who was bleeding you out slowly as you helplessly squirmed in said hole like a worm” (Ratina)

“I WILL SHOW YOU RESPECT YOU PUNY” (not yet named)

“Hippo sit” (Auxentius)

The hippo slams down on the ground due to the order.

“Your name is now Nasby; it is short for nasty bitch. It is understandable that you do not enjoy losing your freedom, but you are not in charge, *looks over at Ratina* and neither are you. I am in charge and you two will not be fighting between each other. I decide the pecking order and I said that Ratina is your senpai until I decide whether you have achieved enough merit to be treated better. Do I make myself clear?” (Auxentius)

“Yes master” (Ratina and Nasby)

“Good, now Nasby you are free to move again but are forbidden from attacking me, attacking Ratina, or from telling anyone things about me I wish to be secret, which you know from the magic connection, now join the party invite I am about to send you.” (Auxentius)

Party Leader Auxentius LV 5 Tamer Party members Ratina LV 6 Mouse Nasby LV 24 Tough hippopotamus

Now that the group dynamics have been settled, I use soil manipulation to move me on top of Nasby and lock me in place up there. We hunt around for a bit and kill 4 giant bugs, 2 rabbits, I avoid killing a deer we find as I wouldn't want to trigger a hidden revenge flags of Steven's, and finally we locate a bear.

I have levelled up 7 times, Ratina levelled up 6, and Nasby has stayed the same level.

The bear would be a doable fight if we could have it focus on Nasby, but I know from Nasby's memories through the link that these bears are smart enough to target the mage and have strong enough muscles to leap out of any pit I could dig, because she has seen one run up a cliff before.

I am not even suprised at this point, just know better than to pick a fight with something of the level of absurdity.

And bbesides there is a good reason not to take risks at the moment.

Ratina has met the requirements to evolve a while ago.

Turns out Nasby used to be a fish. I was very annoyed at her for not revealling what she knew about evolutions, but apparently she was trying hard to hide it because she was embarassed of being a fish.

Nothing can be hidden forever through magic connection, but you can delay it by not thinking much about what you want to keep secret.

As punishment I allowed Ratina to ruthlessly verbally abuse her about it, and told Nasby I would only have her stop if she told me every detail of what she knew about the subject.

Nasby had the option to evolve at LV 10 of the common salmon race, why a salmon can evolve into a hippo is beyond me.

She had the option to become a stingray, a sword fish, a small shark, a crocodile, or a hippopotamus.

She chose to evolve immediately which left her unconscious and undefended until the evolution finished.

She doesn't know how long it took, once again the inability to track time urks me.

She woke up at level 1 again, but she kept her swimming racial skill from being a fish and got her Bulky.

She evolved again into a tough hippopotamus, this time after hiding herself, at level 20 and once again was returned to level 1 with her past skills, and learned her tough hide and crushing bite skills.

Unfirtunately she didn't check her menu immediately after evolving either time and doesn't know what her stats were at level one.

She got notified she had new skills and was reduced to level one, but just used the skills without checking the descriptions and didn't confirm her new stats.

Ratina unlocked some options at level 10, but I want to see if new options will unlock by waiting until she is a higher level.

I have also unlocked options to upgrade my class at level 10, but want to wait until we are at a safe place to seriously consider them.

Nasby isn't very stealthy, but we are far enough away that it hasn't noticed us yet, so we head back to camp for the night.

Right camp isn't prepared for something Nasby sized yet.... Guess it'll be a few more hours before I get to sleep.

Unfortunatlely my baby body is too tired for that so I just have Nasby go in the river near our tree while I sleep, this can be a tomarrow problem.

Babies shouldn't have to work so hard, or even survive in the woods in the first place so maybe I'm not in a position to complain. Yeah I'm gonna complain anyways, stupid work leave the baby alone.

I wake up later and luckily Ratina and Nasby didn't get killed or kill each other while i slept.

Now is a good time to open me and Ratina's menus and see the changes.

Name

Auxentius

Race

Human, male

Age

0

Lv

12

Class

Tamer

LV 1

Rank 1

HP

40/40

MP

103/103 (increases by 0.98/sec)

Strength

21

Intelligence

123

Dexterity

20

Willpower

157

Stamina

19

Wisdom

98

Luck

50

Charisma

97

Skills

Mana perception

Analyze

Mana manipulation

Magic mana sense

Magic connection

Telepathy LV1

TameLV2: 2/2 monsters tamed

Assassination

Fire magic: fireball

Water magic: waterball

Wind magic: windball

Earth magic: throw rock

Earth magic: soil manipulation

Monster buff LV1

Hide

Astral projection

Titles

Child prodigy

Dark Horse

Heroic victory

Legendary Victory

Sinister puppetmaster

Tamed monsters

common mouse LV12

hippopotamus Lv 24

Linked beings

hippopotamus Lv 24 common mouse LV12

Class upgrade options

Veteran Tamer LV2 Rank 2 Novice Trainer LV2 Rank 1 Monster teacher LV 2 Rank 1

Monster alpha LV2 Rank 1

Name Ratina Race Common mouse, female Age 3 Lv 12 Class Mouse Rank 0 HP 46/46 MP 24/24 (+0.19/sec) Strength 19 Intelligence 29 Dexterity 43 Willpower 18 Stamina 22 Wisdom 19 Luck 99 Charisma 15 Skills

Gnaw LV3

Claw LV2 Hide LV5

Poison resistance LV2

Iron gut LV 4 Mana Perception Mana Manipulation

Magic: mana sense

Telepathy Titles Owned by Auxentius Race skill Compress LV3 Evolution possible Rat Opposum Giant squirrel Mouse tribe leader

It looks like every option is level 2, and that rank will only increase by staying on my current path.

While reaching Nasby's rank would remove the combat penalty, the diverging paths seem like a long term investment, and I am quite the fan of investing in long term benefits.

For Ratina, I wonder if the rat path is there just because I named her Ratina, or if it was a normal path.

If no new options appear, the tribe leader seems promising for a path to rat queen, but changing race is tempting since you keep the old racial skills.

And before anything else I want Ratina to learn the rest of the magic skills I have in case they unlock new options.

Try as I might, I cannot pull up advanced information on the evolution options, I do figure out how to pull up advanced information on our current classes though.

Tamer The weakest class focused on taming other races to help your own, you have just begun the path of a tamer and any path on your class tree would be an improvement. Main atrribute Charisma, sub attribute Willpower Mouse You are a mouse, you feed on scrapes and hide from powerful predators. Main attribute Dexterity, sub attribute Intelligence. Tough hippopotamus You are no ordinary hippopotamus, your toughened skin and high defences protect you from even stubborn foes, your bite allows you to crush your prey mercilessly. Main attribute Stamina, sub attribute Strength.

The main and sub attributes were pretty noticable based on how our stats had been increasing so far.

I try to distract myself as I feel Ratina's seething rage of her class description, I just hope she doesn't rush to change classes just because the menu is egging her on.

The more the system urges me to class up, the more I want to test and see if waiting unlocks new options.

While levelling up may unlock new options, first I want to try and see if learning new skills will unlock options first. So today I will focus on teaching my monsters magic, except Nasby has no interest in anything involving thinking and asks for permission to hunt on her own.

Looks like I have a blockhead on my hands now, I could force her into the lessons, but instead I will let her go and hunt, I will however leave her in a party with us without telling her of course, she could easily tell from the link that I am messing with her but she actively avoids paying attention to it with a high and mighty attitude.

Maybe she'll learn something after all hehehe.

After a few hours of magic lessons ratina learns all of the ball magics and soil manipulation, I also teach myself fire, water, and wind manipulation in between helping ratina learn.

Both of us also gain 3 levels from Nasby's oblioviousness.

Name

Auxentius

Race

Human, male

Age

0

Lv

15

Class

Tamer

LV 1

Rank 1

HP

54/54

MP

55/112 (increases by 1.07/sec)

Strength

28

Intelligence

132

Dexterity

27

Willpower

166

Stamina

26

Wisdom

107

Luck

56

Charisma

113

Skills

Mana perception

Analyze

Mana manipulation

Magic mana sense

Magic connection

Telepathy LV1

TameLV2: 2/2 monsters tamed

Assassination

Fire magic: fireball

Water magic: waterball

Wind magic: windball

Earth magic: throw rock

Earth magic: soil manipulation

Monster buff LV1

Hide

Astral projection

Fire magic: fire manipulation Water magic: water manipulation Wind magic: wind manipulation

Titles

Child prodigy

Dark Horse

Heroic victory

Legendary Victory

Sinister puppetmaster

Tamed monsters

common mouse LV12

hippopotamus Lv 24

Linked beings

hippopotamus Lv 24 common mouse LV12

Class upgrade options

Veteran Tamer LV2 Rank 2 Novice Trainer LV2 Rank 1 Monster teacher LV 2 Rank 1

Monster alpha LV2 Rank 1

Elemental Tamer LV2 Rank 2 Necromancer apprentice LV2 Rank 3 (will kill all of your currently tamed beasts and reanimate them to serve you in death) Name Ratina Race Common mouse, female Age 3 Lv 15 Class Mouse Rank 0 HP 61/61 MP 11/35 (+0.3/sec) Strength 25 Intelligence 38 Dexterity 58 Willpower 28 Stamina 28 Wisdom 30 Luck 105 Charisma 21 Skills

Gnaw LV3

Claw LV2 Hide LV5

Poison resistance LV2

Iron gut LV 4 Mana Perception Mana Manipulation

Magic: mana sense

Telepathy Fire magic: fire ball Water magic: water ball

Wind magic: wind ball

Earth magic: throw rock Earth magic: soil manipulation Titles Owned by Auxentius Race skill Compress LV3 Evolution possible Rat Opposum Giant squirrel Mouse tribe leader Magic mouse Mouse scholar Rhinocerus

Well necromancer unlocked in a way I never expected it to, but I have no interest in losing my taming route for the skill, I just wanted it as an add on.

Elemental tamer could be a class that allows me to tame spirits, or maybe it allows me to give elemental properties to my monster, the latter would be amazing, but the former could be useless as I haven't seen any spirits or stones with strong elemental properties.

As for Ratina I have no idea where Rhinocerus came from, but seeing as how a fish can become a hippo I am not completely shocked, just lightly dumbfounded.

Magic mouse seems like it doubles down on magic, but my main stats for my class will orient me more and more away from magic, and my MP may eventually all end up used on buffs.

Mouse scholar is intriguing, but is probly a non combat class and isn't worth the risk.

It would be best for us not to both upgrade at the same time in case we both lose consciousness, and I don't trust Nasby on her own to protect us.

I should go first in case I don't lose consiousness so we dont waste time and class upgrade into...... (cliff hanger!)