Karl set a bit of Commander Rank monster meat on the ground in front of the beast, but slightly off to one side, so he could see if it was going to adjust course.
For the first time since Hawk had spotted it, the beast paused, as if sniffing at the food, then continued along its way.
But Karl had many tricks to lure beasts to him. He extended [Flaming Body] and roasted the piece of meat, to let the wind waft the scent toward the slowly moving creature.
It immediately doubled back, leaping into the air to show that the barrier extended below it to make a full sphere, then opened slightly to allow the food to safely enter without being destroyed.
Karl cut and roasted another piece, and tossed it between the beast and himself.
This time it didn’t jump, but ran to the spot. [It must be a new friend for Hawk, the way it loves to eat.] Thor joked.
Karl chuckled and prepared a few more pieces, tossing them progressively closer, but holding the last one in his hand.
The creature accelerated as it snapped up the food, then stopped right in front of Karl. It bounced a few times, as if demanding the last bite, before he dropped it toward what he assumed was a waiting mouth.
The black barrier dissipated as the food fell, revealing what looked like an average Honey Badger.
That was not at all what Karl was expecting.
But when he roasted another bit of meat in his hand, thin wings, a fleshy membrane like bat wings, extended from under the protective fur on its back, and with a flap, it was snagging the food from Karl’s hand so fast it wasn’t even finished cooking yet.
The beast gave a strange expression as it landed with the half roasted meat in its mouth, then swallowed and looked up at Karl.
[Meat?] He heard a gentle girlish voice ask in his mind.
Karl nodded. “You have to be patient, it takes a few seconds to cook.”
[What is a cook? MEAT!] It pleaded.
Karl roasted the meat and handed a much larger piece to the badger, which it promptly used its black energy skill to cut into small cubes that it ate with a dainty claw, now that there was enough food that it wasn’t worried about starvation.
That must have been why it was unconcerned and sluggish before. It was just hungry and stumbling along looking for something to eat, or lost in daydreams of food.
Orcs didn’t look tasty, and the creature seemed to prefer roasted meat to raw, but didn’t appear to have any fire skills of its own, as it didn’t know what cooked was.
Once the food was finished, it established a large black dome over both itself and Karl, and promptly went to sleep. Karl had the food, so he couldn’t be allowed to escape.
Karl shook his head at the logic of the small creature, and stroked the top of her head, before focusing on the spare space and transferring her in.
[Quest Complete: The Perfect Pet] [Calculating]
Calculating what, Karl had no idea. He had finished the quest, he had his reward sleeping soundly in his newest beast space, and she was powerful.
[Name] Cara
[Species] Winged Void Badger
[Juvenile]
[Royal Rank]
[Skills]
{Disintegration} Monarch Rank: creates an area of pure destructive energy. {Nullify} A disintegration-based counterattack. May completely cancel skills of equal or lesser energy.
{Rapid Flight} the Winged Void Badger is an agile flyer, even when fully grown
{Limited Invulnerability} the Winged Void Badger ignores all attacks that deal under ten percent of its total health, and an equivalent amount of all attacks stronger than ten percent of its total health.
Karl read the stats of his new partner with a sense of awe. It was no wonder that it didn’t care about anyone attacking it. Not only did it have a protective dome spell, it could simply ignore any weak attacks that were sent against it.
Karl’s new bracelet was good, but not that good.
[Maybe that was a normal skill for this place, and the invulnerability isn’t the part that makes her a good partner?] Rae suggested, seeing a pattern in the loot they had gained.
[I suppose it’s possible. The disintegration did seem to be powerful, the way it eliminated that Orc.]
Karl waited patiently inside the dome for Cara to wake up. He could likely walk through it now that they were partners, but it did allow him to rest while she slept. From what he could tell, only the Orcs would dare to attack the dome, and that was just the kids who might not have known better.
In a region where Monarch Rank was among the strongest residents, this impervious black dome of nonchalance was a menace to society.
It was only three hours later when Cara woke up in the mental space and began to look around in confusion.
[Hey, where did everyone go? I swear I put the food vendor right here.] She mumbled to herself.
[I moved you into a mental space for safety while you rested. We’re going to be very good friends.] Karl insisted.
[Friends with a food vendor? That sounds alright. Oh, there are more people. Hello spider lady, and snake, and bird, and giant puppy.]
Karl laughed at her description, then Hawk roasted an entire Ascended Rank boar and moved it to Cara’s space.
[We’re having a pig for lunch? You know, you guys aren’t half bad.]
The barrier over Karl vanished, and he rose to his feet. There was nothing in the immediate area, but in the distance, Karl could see that there was a large dust cloud coming his way. That sort of cloud meant either huge and fast moving, or a large group kicking up dust, like an army on the move.
It was too wide to be from just one truck, even if there was a dirt road in the region, but there was no realistic way to hide and wait for the threat to pass by.
[Should I go scout?] Hawk asked. [No, wait here for a moment. I don’t know if they’re even trying to find us, but I don’t want to be easy to spot. I will just walk away from their path.]
Karl began to jog, putting the current path of the dust cloud to his right side, and watched as it came close enough that he could begin to make out the cause of the dust cloud.
It was a cavalry charge, but the riders were on some sort of two legged giant lizards.
Thor recognized them as a predator, but not one that he was familiar with, and not one that was native to the Golden Dragon Nation.
The fact that someone was riding them was surprising enough, but when Karl saw that it was actually Orcs riding the giant lizards, he was momentarily stunned.
Since when did Orcs have a civilization that advanced? From what he recalled, they were barely considered sentient, much less civilized enough to be taming monsters.
Whatever was going on in this place, it was beginning to feel like Karl had missed some critical historical information about the world. It couldn’t even be that he was lied to this time because he had met Orcs before, and they were definitely primitive compared to these ones in quality armour and riding mounts with complex saddles.