Watching Rune go to the bathroom filled Shane with a strange longing. He didn't miss the actual act of relieving himself; no, he missed the sense of relief that came after the passing of waste. The sun was slowly rising, and the temperature outside Krooth was doing the same, but not enough to be uncomfortable. Shane had an inkling that after his latest death, the current season fell somewhere around the transitional period between summer and fall—with fall coming soon than later.

At that moment, when Shane was enjoying the warmth of the sun's rays on his skin, he noticed a new notification. He willed it open and grinned so vast his cheek muscles stung for the next couple of hours.

-Party Request Notice-

Add the companion [Rune] to your party?

Accept/Cancel

-Notice-

[Rune] 's stat page will become available upon acceptance

Shane gaped at the loot pupper trotting up to him with its long legs making its gate look almost horse-like.

"You want to join my party, Rune?" Shane asked incredulously.

Rune gave him a single bark that Shane took simply as a yes. He wasn't about to look a gift dog in the mouth, not after what he just went through.

Shane accepted the party request, tabbed over to the party screen, and immediately noticed Rune's icon was now below his. Curious about Rune's stats, Shane pressed on the stylistic icon that almost looked like an AI's artistic interpretation.

Name: Rune

Class: Legendary loot pupper

Species: Greyhound

Level: 10

Exp: 0/1000

HP: Infinite

Strength: 0

Speed: 50

Magic: 0

Abilities:

Rune Is Immortal Doesn't fight and will quickly run away during battle As Rune levels, experience from the party leader is copied and used to reopen Rune's reusable [Adamantine Chest] The adamantine chest can continually be opened occasionally for random loot/spells/money Loyal and loves affection Responds to and knows most simple commands

Shane shook his fists in joy for the first time since coming to this world, pumping them into the air as joy coursed through his very being. Oh wow, I haven't shaken them like that in a while…This was an unconscious physical action that he was rarely aware of doing and happened the most during his childhood.

Rune, my new dog that can continually give great loot through experience gain?! His thoughts were simply overwhelmed. Reacting to the excitement Shane was displaying, Rune jumped up on its hind legs and began to lick his face as he laughed.

A few more licks and a lot of face-wiping later, an idea struck Shane that was so obvious he almost chastised himself for not enacting it during his shield testing. He told Rune to lie down and watch before instructing Tank.

"Tank! I want you to take your sword and use big, telegraphed swings against me. Don't worry about hurting me. If I screw up, I can just heal myself."

Shane didn't need to add that last part, but he knew why he couldn't help himself. Tank promptly followed the order and made a significant, deliberate downward slice toward its master's shoulder. Shane focused and kept his eye on the skeleton's basic-looking longsword cutting through the air. At the very last second, he hefted the kite shield effortlessly, colliding with the sharp blade inches before it touched his shoulder.

Perfect Block!

Perfect Block 1/10

As the materials of the shield and longsword met, a new noise was made that Shane only ever remembered hearing a couple times during testing. A reverberating, clanging boom radiated outward from the impact area—followed by a series of short echoes. It was one of the coolest, like-music-to-his-ears sounds he had ever heard in gaming.

Easily on par with some of gaming's most iconic sound effects, like Mario's super mushroom or the sound characters from Final Fantasy made during a critical hit.

If Shane had blocked Tank's attack with anything but that shield, there would have been some kind of transferred kinetic energy from the blow. However, between the [Perfect Block] and the shield itself, there was no immediate sensation that the sword made contact with it beyond the sound itself.

"Great job, Tank! Only nine more to go, so give it your all!"

The sword and board skeleton gave an almost robotically creaky nod at its master's praise and barreled toward Shane once more.