I awoke that morning feeling surprisingly well rested. I looked along my body for the multiple wounds I had sustained but found that other than some lines of missing fur, I was in good health. The mushrooms I ate closed up the damage after my battle with the Felsnare Grazer and the knife wound from the human.
Thinking of last night’s kill, I used a Pulse Sense to check for anything around the beast’s remains and noticed several small heartbeats around it. It seemed some scavenger creatures had taken up the free meal. I considered taking the opportunity to see if they were worth hunting, but I was just relieved I managed to make it through the night without being hunted myself.
I yawned and poked my head up out of the undergrowth that was tightly packed around me. Looking to the sky, I saw its usual midday bright red through the trees, so I believe I had slept in rather late.
More importantly, I remembered the evolution path that opened up while I was too tired to select it.
I pulled up the evolution path menu to look at my options.
[Available Paths]
Rare - Veinseer Nightstalker (All Requirements Met)
Your eyes adapt to see in the dark, and the night brings out your true strength.
Stat Scaling: Sense - B / Attunement - C / Strength - D
Bonuses: Improved eyesight, camouflage, and damage at night.
“You think the darkness is your ally?”
Requirements
Stage 3 Development
Dexterity: 40
Sense: 55
Required Achievement: One with the Night
Rare - Veinseer Bloodhound (Requirements Unmet)
Your sense of smell develops to detect scents from further away, and once you mark your target, there is no escape.
Stat Scaling: Sense - B / Attunement - C / Dexterity - D
Bonuses: Improved smell and the ability to mark prey.
“They can run, but they can’t hide.”
Requirements
Stage 3 Development
Attunement: 40
Sense: 55
Required Achievement: Sniff them out
Epic - Whisperfang Juvenile
Path hinted, further details currently unknown.
Hint 1: You have looked into the eyes of one who knew death was coming and saw the lines blur between predator and prey.
Hint 2: Locked
Hint 3: Locked
Requirements
Stage 5 development
Attribute Requirements: Unknown
Required Achievements: Unknown
Veinseer Nightstalker was available, while Veinseer Bloodhound still required an achievement, and of course Whisperfang Juvenile was the epic Path that I was far from obtaining.
Since Whisperfang Juvenile required stage five development, I would not be getting that epic Path for a long time, but I hoped it wouldn’t disappear if I selected another Path now. Either way, I thought it was only wise to evolve as soon as possible, because if I died in the forest before getting back to my cave, I would never find my pack.
The issue with Veinseer Nightstalker is that its benefits were conditional. The increased damage could be a huge benefit while in this dangerous area where there were so many higher-level things than me, but I couldn’t take that for granted as it only worked at night.
Still, Bloodhound didn’t seem to actually give any combat benefits and seemed solely focused on hunting by giving better smell and the ability to mark prey… But then again, Pulse Sense could already do a lot of work with helping me track prey, so did I really need to mark them?
As I considered the usefulness, something else struck me. How far would the mark reach? For example, if I were to cross paths with another red mask, could I mark them and have them lead me back to wherever they come from? Wouldn’t that be the quickest way to find out what happened to my pack?
I whined with frustration as I buried my nose under my paws. The hunters had flown here, so they were likely far away. Even getting out of this forest was proving to be a challenge. The difficulty of not only finding but also rescuing my pack felt insurmountable at the moment. Yet, it is the only thing I wanted more than anything else in the world.
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The reality is, my most immediate concern should be surviving this forest. Blindly charging towards my goal would only get me killed. Even if I found them, I did not have the strength to kill a red mask, let alone multiple. I only managed to kill one because she was severely wounded, and even then she almost succeeded in killing me. Actually, I would have died if not for all of the level-ups. That simple knife wound had been as good as a fatal blow.
Going back to my first thought. I had to survive. There were too many things lurking in the forest that could easily kill me. Therefore, the Path I chose could only be Veinseer Nightstalker. With it, I could sleep and travel by day, using Pulse Sense to avoid danger, and I could hunt at night.
I closed my eyes, giving it a last moment of consideration. Finally, deciding there was no reason to delay, I pulled it up.
[Choose the Veinseer Nightstalker Evolution Path?]
[Yes] < [No]
I could select yes with my mind, but I opted for lifting my paw and slamming it through yes—more drama that way. It’s important to enjoy the little things!
Instantly I felt an odd warmth surrounding me. I looked along my flank and found that there was a gold aura surrounding me. I likewise felt an intangible strengthening of myself that was similar to getting a level-up but still different.
Then as I looked at my paws, I realized they were getting slightly bigger. Not only that, the little nest I had forced myself into amongst the undergrowth was getting smaller. I had a nice hole of moved twigs and vines I was comfortably curled up in that was now tightening around me.
Finally, as the golden glow stopped, I stretched and flexed myself, shaking my head to clear some of the undergrowth away from me.
I had definitely gotten a little bigger! Not much, but it was noticeable.
[Congratulations! You have evolved into the Veinseer Nightstalker Path!]
[New Trait Obtained: Night Hunter lvl 1]
Improved camouflage in addition to improved strength and dexterity scaling at night.
[New passive Skill Obtained: Night Vision]
You can see at night.
[New Active Skill Obtained: Veil of Shadows]
Conceal yourself in darkness, muffling your footsteps and obscuring your outline. Breaking the veil with an attack moderately increases damage based on Strength and Dexterity.
My tail wagged reading this new information. Since this was not a strength or dexterity based Path, it lacked a little possible synergy with Veil of Shadow’s stat scaling. However, it did seem that it would stack with Predator’s Focus, which gives me bonus damage when attacking from stealth. All in all, this felt like it would be quite a useful ability.
Checking my stat page, I confirmed that I still maintained all of my skills from Veinseer Pup, so I could assume any skills I learned in the future I would maintain regardless of what Paths I end up switching to.
Name: ???
Race: Hell Hound
Level: 8
Path: Veinseer Nightstalker
Stage: 3
Body Development: 1%
Vitals
Health: 165 / 165
Mana: 150 / 150
Stamina: 164 / 164
Attributes
Strength: 36 (+5)
Dexterity: 43 (+6)
Vigor: 33 (+2)
Sense: 60 (+9)
Attunement: 37 (+4)
Active Skills
Pulse Sense LVL 3
Sense the heartbeats of surrounding creatures.
Crippling Bite LVL 1
Target limbs and snap bone to weaken your target and effect their mobility.
Veil of Shadows LVL 1
Conceal yourself in darkness, muffling your footsteps and obscuring your outline. Breaking the veil with an attack moderately increases damage based on Strength and Dexterity.
Passive Skills
Enhanced Smell LVL 3
Basic Fighting LVL 4
Poison Resist LVL 1
Night Vision LVL 1
Traits
Predator’s Focus LVL 2
Bonus damage when attacking from stealth or targeting unaware enemies.
Camouflage LVL 3
Bonus to stealth when not moving.
Night Hunter LVL 1
Improved Camouflage in adition to improved strength and dexterity scaling at night.
Pack Bond LVL 1
You now gain experience from anything killed by a member of your pack during a hunt in which you are involved.
Giving a big stretch to loosen my sleepy muscles, I decided it was time to start heading home! That bird had dropped me quite far away from my den, but it wasn’t that far, and as long as I could move confidently, I could very well make it home before the end of the day!
I prepared to start moving but stopped, realizing a problem.
Looking to the sky, I had absolutely no idea what direction to head in. The only possible landmark in this damn forest would be the huge lake that was somewhere in the middle of the vale. I supposed that would stop me from traveling too far in the wrong direction.
I looked around, my eyes scanning through the tree branches. I couldn’t even see the mountains from down here!
Well, since I had no information to aid me, I figured the only way forward would be to just pick a direction and start moving, making sure I maintained that one direction until I reached the edge of the forest. The mountains domed around the vale, so once I made it that far, it would be a simple matter of walking alongside the mountains until I found the path that led up towards my den.
I used {Pulse Sense}, not spotting anything that might be trouble for me, and then shook away some more of the undergrowth and broke free from the temporary nest I had made for the night.
Once I was out in the clearing, I looked towards last night’s kill. Already, I saw several critters scurrying away from it at the sight of me. I had no interest in them at the moment, as I was still feeling quite full from gorging myself last night and would wait until dark to do my hunting.
Finally, I started moving.
The forest did not seem nearly as scary as when I was first dropped in yesterday. Granted, I had leveled up a LOT since then. It was an odd stroke of good fortune that those red masks came after me, because even killing Leaf Crawlers would have been difficult if I had remained a level 3 pup.
Felsnare grazers seemed to be my best option for prey that I had crossed paths with. A single kill would grant good experience and more meat than I could eat by myself.
I sighed, lowering my gaze to the ground as I continued trotting along.
Defeating the Felsnare Grazer was still quite difficult, even with the attribute bonuses I had last night. I could just imagine if my brothers and sisters were there to help me; it would be an easy kill. Then we would all have enough to eat and bones to chew on… That single kill would be all the hunting we would need, and we could have spent the rest of our day playing in our den.
As much as Luke used to bother me with his random attacks, I’d give anything to look up to see that familiar blur leaping at me right now. Most of all I was worried about Lily. She is the most sensitive of us, and I just hoped that wherever they were, they were all together and could support each other.
The Pulse Sense wore out, so I used another.
Spotting a larger heartbeat ahead of my path, I snuck into the undergrowth and prowled forward more carefully. When I came closer, I lifted my head and saw it was a shaggy elephant the Encyclopedia had. identified as a Furthrum Wanderer. It was quite large and far too dangerous for me to try to hunt, even if I had my brothers and sisters with me. Still, I licked my chops, thinking it looked quite tasty, and maybe one day I could defeat it alone.
For now, I lowered back into the undergrowth and arced my path around it, being sure to keep plenty of distance. Once I was far enough away again, I used {Pulse Sense} to see the way ahead was now clear, then continued walking.
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