[+5 Stat Points]
[One-time taming of the hatched beast possible]
***Skill Unlocked: Shared Instinct Lv. Max***
Corvin knelt on the ground, unmoving, sweat dripping down his face as the snake soaked in the heat radiating from his worked-up body.
What the hell is going on? Parent? Am I… a snake’s mother now? Or rather, father?
[Enter a name to tame the monster and bind it to the user]
[Name: ?]
“I’ll be damned,” Corvin muttered. “Looks like I really can tame this newborn monster thanks to the achievement. Just like the Beast Tamer Icon? Holy shit!”
The prompt calmed his nerves. A grin tugged at his lips. “Hey, little buddy. Want to grow big and strong for Daddy? Help him kill all those nasty goblins?”
The boa opened its yellow eyes and hissed, as if it understood what he meant.
Corvin gently petted its slick, scaly head. “Who’s a good little monster of destruction? Who? Who?”
The snake coiled around him, hissing softly before closing its eyes.
I’ve officially lost my mind. Guess I’ve got a snake now. Wait… don’t snakes eat moles? He chuckled.
“Hmmm.... I’ll name you Nera. What do you think?”
A chime rang in his mind, confirming the choice. The snake gave a slow nod, almost approving.
[Name chosen. Beast has been bound to the user.]
[Congratulations!]
[Check the tamed monster’s status?]
“Oh, I can do that? Sure, let’s see what my baby can do.”
The status window popped up before his eyes.
Name: Nera
Rarity: Unique
Level: 30
Age: 0
Race: Celestial Neather Boa
HP: 900/900 | MP: 100
Strength: 10
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 20
Vitality: 20
Magicka: 10
Mana Regen: 8 / per 5 seconds
Skills: Passive [Poison Blood Lv. 2, Nocturnal Lv. Max, Echolocation Lv. 5, Exoskeleton Lv. 2, Heat Vision Lv. 5]
Active: [Miasma Beam Lv. 1, Holy Horn Lv. 1, Strangle Lv. 1, Venom Fang Lv. 1, Acid Lv. 1]
Resistances: Darkness Lv. Max, Holy Lv. 5, Poison Lv. 1
“I’ll be damned… and you just hatched. How can a baby already be stronger than me?” Corvin sighed, resting his hand gently on the snake’s head. It's probably the system, who knows what it did to her before she hatched.
“Nera, my child, Daddy’s going to depend on you for a bit, okay? Just for a little while.” He forced a bright smile.
Nera hissed softly and rubbed her head against his cheek.
Then her stomach growled, a deep, beastly rumble, as she nudged Corvin.
“You’re hungry, huh? Well, Daddy is too… but we’ve got nothing to eat.” He glanced around and chuckled. “The only thing we have are dead goblins.” He pointed at the corpses with exaggerated flair.
The moment Nera saw them, her eyes gleamed. She slithered toward the nearest goblin and swallowed it whole.
“Hey! Bad girl! Those things are poisoned and nasty, spit it out!” Corvin shouted, chasing after her.
But Nera shook her head and darted away, leaving him in the dust. Every so often, she spat out a bone or two. Then a notification popped up:
[Tamed Beast: Nera – Poison Resistance Lv. 2]
“Oh! You can level up skills too? That’s… actually amazing.” Corvin stopped mid-chase, watching her devour another goblin, then another, spitting bones like trophies.
“She’s faster than me… I really need to work on my speed.” His eyes lit up. “Oh, right, I’ve got those 5 stat points and a new skill. Let’s check that out!”
He rubbed his palms together like a greedy little goblin.
First, he dumped all five points into Agility, his weakest offensive stat. Even a newborn snake was outpacing him; it was unacceptable.
Then he opened the menu to inspect his new passive skill.
Skill: [Shared Instinct]
Rare skill gained as a reward for the Are you, my Mommy? Achievement.
The skill builds a bond with the tamed beast, allowing the beast to understand the user's commands more easily. Through the skill, the two will gain experience equally, regardless of who deals the damage.
The leveling formula will apply the same way to the linked creature!
Skill can evolve into [Beast Instinct]. Requirements are unknown.
“Looks like leveling will get easier now, thanks to my little helper,” Corvin murmured as Nera lay sprawled on her stomach, happily spitting out bone after bone.
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Damn… I haven’t had someone I could rely on since Stix and Urdu. What was that, ten years ago? His chest tightened as he exhaled slowly. I’ll get Boridus for you guys. Just you wait.
He walked up to Nera and squatted. Her yellow eyes opened, glinting with mischief.
“So, you can understand me, at least a little. But you didn’t listen to your father, did you? Bad girl. Bad!” He wagged his finger dramatically.
Nera raised her head and rested it on his knee, staring up at him shyly.
“Haha… you really are smart. Damn baby.” Corvin chuckled, not minding the overly attached monster. In fact, he was starting to like the huge snake; he started to feel like things were finally starting to go well for him, until his ears twitched.
The faint sound of small feet echoed through the tunnel.
***Skill Level Up: Enhanced Hearing Lv. 2***
“They probably realized the other five aren’t coming back… and now they want revenge.” Corvin sighed. “Bastards.”
He turned to Nera, voice dropping into a conspiratorial tone. “Listen, Nera. Some bad boys are coming. They killed your mommy, okay? Left Daddy all alone down here. Let’s show them who’s boss.”
His grin widened with lunacy. “We’ll strike the small ones first. Then the two big ones, they’re strong, so be extra careful for Daddy, okay? You hear me?”
Nera nodded, or at least seemed to, and Corvin rose, spear in hand.
“Okay. Let’s go hunt. Nera, follow me!”
He slipped behind a mountain of bones, using Echolocation to gauge the tunnel’s layout. Nera slithered behind him, melting into the darkness like a living shadow.
The same strategy as before… hopefully it works again. Maybe even better this time.
Then an idea sparked. Hehe… that could work.
“Nera, wait here.”
Corvin grinned as he leapt upward, grabbing a stalactite. Carefully, he wedged Firecracker Bombs, his loot from the scouts, into every crevice and hollow he could find.
Once satisfied, he dropped silently to the ground and crouched beside Nera, who instinctually darkened her shining horn. Darkness swallowed them both, two predators waiting for the kill.
***
Through the darkness, a group of ten goblins and one towering Hobgoblin crept into the old lair of the Cave Boa. Each carried a torch in one hand and a spear in the other.
[Hobgoblin Spearman Lv. 145] [HP: 21,075 / 21,075] [MP: 750 / 750]
The smaller goblins were all in the low thirties, weak individually, but their numbers made them dangerous.
Corvin exhaled slowly, motioning for Nera to stay low and silent. His heartbeat thundered in his ears as the group advanced beneath the trap he’d prepared.
The Hobgoblin halted at the site of the last battle, torchlight flickering across blood-stained stone. Bloody footprints, puddles of gore, but no bodies, and no Boa.
They knew the reptile was fiercely territorial. Yet this time, she was nowhere to be seen.
The Hobgoblin sniffed the air, then screeched something guttural. The goblins froze.
Corvin’s pulse spiked. It’s now or never.
He hurled his last Firecracker Bomb into the ceiling. The clay pot shattered against another bomb, and then the chain reaction began.
Light exploded across the cavern as one bomb ignited the next. Stalactites shattered, raining stone and fire. Screams filled the lair as rubble crushed goblins like insects.
Most of the small ones died instantly. The Hobgoblin survived, but barely. A jagged shard pierced its leg and back, leaving it limping and snarling, torch clenched tight.
Corvin didn’t have time to savor the carnage. Notifications flashed in his vision.
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
He ignored them, whispering to Nera. “Kill the stragglers first, the small ones.”
Four small goblins still clung to life, but barely.
Nera hissed and vanished into the torchlight-covered darkness like a phantom. Her body blurred, then, splat, a globe of acid melted the first goblin into sludge. She coiled around another, crushing bone with terrifying strength.
Corvin stared, stunned. She’s just hatched… and already hunts like a predator born for war.
He shook off the thought and hurled a poison-tipped spear into a goblin’s back. It shrieked as venom spread, while Corvin felt a faint sting, his amulet’s penalty draining his health.
Summoning another spear, he crept forward. A goblin whimpered, pinned under rubble. Corvin stabbed silently, again and again, until poison finished the job.
Behind him, Nera strangled the last goblin, bones snapping like twigs.
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
Then there was one.
***
The Hobgoblin gripped its spear tightly, torchlight flickering across its blood-streaked face as it limped toward the exit.
Corvin and Nera circled like predators, their senses sharp. One wrong move, and they’d die. The monster was, after all, massively over-leveled.
Nera struck first. A beam of dark miasma erupted from her maw, slicing through the gloom. The Hobgoblin couldn’t dodge thanks to its shattered leg and broken back. The blast slammed into its shoulder yet barely pierced its thick hide. The wound blackened, but the goblin ignored it.
It roared, eyes blazing crimson as a blood-red aura engulfed its body.
He is enraged; this is not good. Not good at all. He even tanked Nera’s attack. Corvin cursed and hurled a poison-tipped spear, hoping for a lucky hit.
The Hobgoblin snatched it mid-flight with one hand and snapped it like a twig.
Holy shit!
While Corvin scrambled for options, Nera slithered closer, her mana nearly drained, but regenerating fast.
The Hobgoblin thrashed, legs wound, knitting together as its regeneration kicked in.
“We don’t have much time,” Corvin whispered, eyes darting to Nera’s dim horn.
As a plan formed in his mind. He checked the monster’s stats:
[Hobgoblin Spearman Lv. 145] [HP: 10,470 / 21,075] [MP: 320 / 750]
The explosion and Nera’s strike had hurt it, but nowhere near enough.
“Nera,” Corvin hissed, “blind him with your horn. I’ll hit from behind. We bleed him out, slow and steady, before that leg heals.”
Nera nodded and lunged. Her horn flared like a miniature sun, blinding the Hobgoblin as she rammed into its ribs, searing flesh before retreating into shadow.
Corvin charged from behind, summoning Coilbreaker. Its jagged edge ripped through the Hobgoblin’s already wounded back, leaving gaping wounds.
The effect of the blade activated, making the goblin bleed more than it should. Seeing the hobgoblin's HP descend fast, he chuckled, thinking he had won.
Then the hobgoblin roared, clutching Corvin’s blade with one hand and driving its spear forward with the other.
The strike pierced Corvin’s abdomen, ripping through flesh. His HP nosedived.
“Fuck you, you green freak!” Corvin spat blood, gripping the spear to hold it in place, just long enough, as Nera unleashed everything. Acid rained down, once… twice… her mana burning dry as her young body strained.
The Hobgoblin shrieked as acid ate through its open wounds, melting muscle and bone. Meanwhile, Corvin let go of his blade and pulled out his last spear as he stabbed through the monster's throat.
Then with a final, guttural scream, it collapsed, dead.
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Your Beast Leveled Up!]
[…]
Corvin gritted his teeth as he yanked the Hobgoblin’s spear free from his abdomen. Pain flared, but then the level-up boon surged through his veins, knitting flesh and restoring vitality.
He collapsed onto the cold stone, chest heaving. Smoke curled upward from burning goblin corpses, painting the chamber in a hellish glow.
“This was too damn close,” he muttered. “If it wasn’t for you, Nera… I’d be gone. Fucking goblins, and this fucking tutorial.”
Nera slithered forward, dragging the Hobgoblin’s corpse to his feet. She nudged it toward him, as if urging him to feed.
Corvin chuckled weakly. “My child, Daddy doesn’t eat goblins. I’ll manage. Maybe they’ve got something in their pouches.”
He smiled at her, but then froze. A chilling thought struck him.
Two Hobgoblins were leading the pack… Where’s the other one?
His hands trembled as he shoved loot into his inventory: the Hobgoblin’s body, its spear, and whatever pouches he could salvage. He had no more bombs, and the cave was ruined anyway.
“Nera, we move. Now!”
They bolted through the tunnel, Corvin’s echolocation pinging faint echoes as they climbed the slope. No sign of the second Hobgoblin.
They emerged into blinding sunlight. Corvin squinted, shielding his eyes. Beside him, Nera hissed at the glare.
“Aww… just like her father,” he smirked, then froze as his ear twitched.
The ground rumbled.
A green, mud-caked monstrosity erupted from the earth behind them, blade flashing as it swung for Nera.
Corvin didn’t think; he moved, dashing to intercept. “Fucking goblins!”
[Hobgoblin Swordsman Lv. 103] [HP: 10,659 / 10,659] [MP: 410 / 500]
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