"Of all the times to trigger a quest, why now?!" Liam complained loudly as he kept avoiding the monster trees' attacks.
Blu kept bouncing up and down on his shoulder in distress but Liam had no time to worry about that. He was wondering how Blu's detection had failed to sense so many of these creatures. Was it because they were plant-based?
Luckily enough, the creatures' attacks weren't too fast so as long he kept his guard up and stayed alert, Liam thought he would be just fine.
So he thought...
Just as he was ducking under the swipe of one of the tree monsters, another had crept up behind him with its sharp branches outstretched.
'Shoot!' thought Liam as he tried to twist out of the way.
SHANK!
Unfortunately, he hadn't been quick enough and one of the branches managed to pierce his torso while another poked a hole straight through Blu's body.
"Argh! No, Blu!" Liam cried out in pain and despair as he watched the helpless little slime dissolve before his eyes. The worst part was that in addition to his own pain, he felt all of Blu's pain as well.
Holding back his tears, Liam kicked weakly at the monster in front of him, freeing himself from it's grasp. He struggled to his feet and pressed his hand against his wound to slow the bleeding, his breathing becoming heavy.
[«Attention»
-One of your familiars ‹Blu› has received fatal injuries and has fallen.
Time for recovery: 2 hours 59 minutes]
Relief flooded Liam when he saw the system notification, but now was not the time to worry about such things. He eyed the monsters in front of warily as he tried to back away.
His heart was pounding so fast and so loudly, he thought it would burst out of his chest at any moment. He'd never felt so much pain and so much fear in his entire life.
"Need to...get out of here *cough*", Liam muttered to himself as he suddenly coughed up blood. The tree monsters were starting to close in on him again, ready to finish him off.
Out of the corner of his eye, Liam spotted Sky flying high above him waiting for his command. Seeing the majestic bird, an idea suddenly popped into Liam's head and he stretched one of his hands towards Sky.
"Beastification, activate!" Liam shouted.
Immediately, Liam felt a strange tugging sensation in his gut before his vision blurred momentarily. When his vision cleared, he found himself gliding in the air with his arms outstretched on either side of him. However, instead of his regular arms, his arms now had a plumage of feathers!
He was flying! High up in the sky and out of the reach of the tree monsters.
Liam let out a shaky breath of relief. He was glad that this skill had worked just as he had hoped it would for the first try. He had no idea what he would have done if it hadn't. He glanced down below him at the cluster of tree monsters that were roaming around in confusion after their prey suddenly disappeared.
"Serve's you right", Liam snorted before flying back to where he had entered the forest and landing on the ground. He took this chance to examine his new appearance.
Aside from his wings, Liam's face now had a long yellow beak and his eyesight was much sharper. His feet also had sharp talons and he noticed that he had shrunk to almost half his normal height.
"Not bad", Liam remarked, "I feel like I'm much quicker too. I should be using this skill more often. Beastification, deactivate"
Liam felt himself separate from Sky and he immediately regretted it as he was hit with a fresh wave of pain. He had been hoping that his 'Beastification' would've healed the injury he had received but it seemed that today really wasn't his day. Liam took a glance at his health.
[HP:180
MP:300]
"All that from just one hit? I need to do something about this injury" said Liam before he suddenly remembered that he had the perfect skill for this situation.
He quickly opened up his inventory and took out some food he had stored during his grinding days. Liam took a bite out of some dry bread and smiled when he noticed his HP and MP go up, even if it was just a little bit. Thanks to another one of his skills 'Devourer', he could just eat to slowly replenish his health and mana.
After some munching, Liam was back to full health. Even his wound from earlier had closed up, leaving a big pale scar across his abdomen. Liam silently thanked the system for giving him this skill.
"I think I'll have to tap out on this one", Liam murmured under his breath after thinking about the tree monsters, "I'm just too weak"
It only made sense. One attack from the tree monsters had literally one-shot his highest level familiar. How was he supposed to fight something that strong? He would just have to report everything to the guild once he got back.
'We're starting our journeys as adventurers with you...'
'I will not be held back because of someone like...'
All of a sudden, Liam recalled the harsh words of his friends, making his blood run cold.
"Right...I've always been weak. It's why I was abandoned", said Liam with a bitter smile. He suddenly slapped himself hard and said, "What am I doing? I have a chance to get stronger so why am I just walking away without even actually trying!"
Liam clenched his jaw in determination, his thoughts finally clear. His friends had left him behind because he was weak. In this world, only the strong got decide how they lived and Liam would do everything he could could to get to that point. He never wanted to let anyone look down on him or betray him ever again.
And to do that he needed to get stronger, to use his skills as a beast tamer to the fullest.
"Come out, everyone", said Liam as he summoned all of his familiars, except Blu. They all looked at him expectantly, awaiting his commands.
"I'll be damned if we lose to a few lumps of wood", Liam declared with a cold look in his eyes, "Tactician...permanent activation"
A/N: Yello! Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I accidentally forgot to save my work...aha ha. But here it is, and I hope you enjoy!