'That would be a nice Gift to have.' Dorian thought to himself as he charged up a lightning bolt and fired it at an agile, fox like monster. The monster let out a screech before dropping to the ground, its body twitching and smoke rising.
With every monster he killed, Dorian was getting more and more proficient in manipulating his powers. If someone random saw him, then they would think that he had been using his lightning powers for a long period of time, and not just a few days.
The reason for all this was none other than the Golden Oracle. Not only did it bestow the ability to wield multiple Gifts, but it also allowed the strength of Dorian's Gifts to grow at a much faster pace than others!
Bzzt!
Bang!
With a flash of lightning, a ball of lightning crashed into a group of monsters and exploded, causing them to be badly injured. Bolt leapt into their midst next and began to bite into their necks and crush their spines with his superior physical strength.
The Lightning Hound was much stronger than he was when he was a rank 1 beast. Although the boost was not drastic, that did not mean it was negligible. His physical strength had grown greatly, and the power and lethality of his attacks had also grown. He could easily deal with a rank 1 version of himself.
Bzzt!
The air around Bolt began to crackle as it became charged with massive amounts of current. His fur stood on end and his eyes suddenly began to glow. The monsters around him were too taken in by their blood lust to take note of the danger that surrounded the rank 2 Lightning Hound, and kept rushing in to attack him.
Bang!
Bolt lifted up his front legs and slammed them back down, which was followed by an explosive discharge of all the lightning that had been gathered moments earlier. Lightning engulfed the surrounding area and spread over a dozen meters in all directions around him, engulfing all the monsters within range, which were all rank one.
As the high charge of lightning ran through their bodies, their brains and nerves were all fried and they all instantly died. Even the Stone Snakes that were in range all had their bodies fried by the lightning.
Dorian stared with surprise. His lightning ball was nothing compared to Bolt's AOE attack that had just been launched.
'How was an area of effect attack that strong?! Shouldn't it be weaker because it is spread across a greater distance?' Dorian thought to himself.
[That is the wonder of rank 2 monsters. They are stronger than rank 1s by far. There is a reason why I said you could fight one, but not defeat one.] Psyker responded even though Dorian had not intended for him to answer.
'Oh, I get it now.' Dorian made an 'o' with his lips and nodded his head before turning to find more monsters to fight. However, most of the monsters in the horde had been taken care of by now and the rest were being cleaned up without too much fuss.
"I guess that's that." Dorian shrugged and went around, tapping the corpses of monsters that were scattered around.
'How is the progress towards a new Gift, Psyker?' Dorian asked when he had passed the fifth Stone Snake.
[I have extracted the essence of the Stone Snakes in its entirety and I am in the middle of piecing together a Gift from it. I am also doing the same for others. I can show you their completion rates.] Psyker responded.
'Show me.'
[Gift Completion Rates]
Earth Manipulation (Stone Snake): 100%
Heightened Strength (Ground Hog): 68%
...
[You will need to be in a state of rest for me to safely allow the new Gift to merge with your body. Until then, you will have to wait.]
'Alrighty, I can wait a bit, I guess.' Dorian said. He was grinning widely while looking around for more bodies of Ground Hogs. They were a fairly common monster specie, so it did not take long for him to find a few more. Before long, the completion rate of the Heightened Strength Gift had reached a hundred percent as well.
A lot of other monsters shared similar abilities to the Stone Snakes and Ground Hogs, so he was not able to get a start on anything new, but he was already satisfied with those two as they were. They might only be rank 1 Gifts, but after consistent use, they would eventually grow past their humble beginnings and turn into something truly powerful!
"Dorian!" Dylan called out his friend's name as he jogged over, followed by a couple other people. He was relieved that Dorian was fine. He had been too occupied with defending himself that he could not properly keep track of Dorian during the fight.
"Hey, Dylan. Are you okay?" Dorian turned around and looked to his friend.
"Am I alright?! I should be asking you that question! What was that burst of lightning?! Did you get hurt?" Dylan looked at Dorian with an incredulous gaze.
"Oh, that. Don't worry, I'm fine. That was just Bolt taking care of a group of monsters." Dorian said and waved at Bolt who stood beside him, happily wagging his tail with his tongue hanging from the corner of his mouth.
Multiple pairs of eyes turned to the tame looking Lightning Hound. The man who had used the bull monster as a rag doll earlier eyed Bolt warily. Bolt looked harmless right now, but he could easily recall the threatening feeling that had crawled down his back as he watched the explosion of lightning earlier. He would have been badly injured he had been at the center of all that.
What astounded him was that this powerful beast actually followed and listened to Dorian. It was not something he had seen before. He knew that there were people with a Gift that allowed them to tame monsters, but this was the first time he had witnessed something like this.