“What?!” both Bridget and Phatagin exclaimed simultaneously.

  “How are your attributes so even?” Bridget asked.

  “How have you already acquired an advanced skill?” Phatagin complained. “And leveled it all the way to 14?”

  “How does your class get five to each attribute for each level? That’s crazy!” the mosquito complained next.

  “And how broken are those special abilities?” Phatagin practically yelled. “Accelerated healing, gaining power by spawning. This is preposterous! Look at the synergy there between your class and the ‘Battle Meditation’ Special Ability. The longer you fight, the stronger you get, and you also get stronger from being hurt. And you can heal by eating??? How quickly does that work?”

  “Bawk,” Charlemagne answered casually.

  “The only thing you’re lacking here is that your base attributes seem to be a bit low,” the pangolin continued. “I might be willing to trade information on how to get a few easy Achievements, if you have something I could use as well.”

  “Bawwk. Bawk,” the rooster answered, somehow managing to look a bit sheepish.

  “What do you mean you forgot a few things?” Bridget huffed. “Are you saying there’s more to share?”

  “Bawk,” said Charlemagne as she sent over a list of his Achievements. His hidden Achievement that he received for defeating Raul remained concealed, however.

  This reveal was followed by several minutes of incoherent spluttering.

  “How is that even possible?” Bridget buzzed in anger.

  “So you’re telling us that the attributes you shared, are in fact, unmodified by your Achievements?” Phatagin demanded.

  “Who cares about that,” Bridget yelled at the pangolin. “Just read some of these feats. Breaking the sound barrier? Being the first to kill a member of Earth’s dominant species? A hidden energy skill? These are all just nuts!”

  Phatagin took a moment to collect himself before answering.

  “These accomplishments are far more impressive than you realize, mosquito. The truly stunning feats are those relating to tempering and genetics. Based on these, it is likely that our feathered friend will be offered a significantly more powerful class at level thirty than the one he currently possesses. He not only has an advanced skill that has been upgraded, but he also possesses superior genetics and has tempered his body and soul in preparation for his first class advancement. His Patron must be both wise and powerful to have arranged for such feats.”

  “Bawk. Bawwk bawwak,” the rooster replied.

  “Your Patron never told you anything about this?” Bridget gasped.

  “What do you mean, ‘what is a class advancement’,” the pangolin yelled. “I have been forced to debase myself over and over in order to prepare for my own. I have sullied my hands with...” Phatagin stopped and shuddered before continuing, “manual labor. It is, in a word, perhaps even more important than choosing your initial class. And you have somehow just stumbled into a perfect set up for an advancement that most creatures would kill for.”

  “Bawk,” Charlemagne remarked with pride.

  “Yes, I am fully aware that you have killed in order to accumulate such a ridiculous set of Achievements. That was hyperbole.”

  “I wouldn’t use those around the boss, Phatty. He doesn’t usually go for figures of speech,” Bridget warned.

  “What did you just call me!?” the pangolin demanded in outrage. “I demand that you cease and desist using that preposterous nickname at once. My name is ‘Phatagin’. If you feel that you must shorten it, then you may use ‘Phatagin’.”

  “But that’s the same thing!” Bridget objected, landing on the top of Charlemagne’s head and giving the pangolin a dirty look.

  “I am quite aware,” Phatagin noted.

  Can you believe this guy? the mosquito complained, switching from verbal communication to the Party channel.

  Yes, I certainly can. It’s called being courteous, the pangolin shot back.

  Crud, I had forgotten that you just joined the Party, Bridget sent.

  “Bawwwk,” the rooster warned his two Party members.

  “Oh right,” Bridget said, switching back to speaking. “Charlemagne is kinda strict about using the Party chat channel for unnecessary conversation.”

  “Well, what kind of conversations do you prefer?” Phatagin asked Charlemagne.

  “Bawk, bawak, bawwk,” the rooster explained.

  “So, basically, nothing unless we’re killing something, eating something, or have found you a suitable mate? That is…a bit limiting, don’t you think?”

  “Bawk.”

  “Fine, fine. My apologies. Now, my new but good friends, since our avian friend has been so kind as to share his capabilities with us, I will return the favor. My Patron is not willing to allow me to share my status screen, but I can give you a general outline of my abilities.

  The first thing of note is that I have a skill similar to Ironskin which makes my scales much more durable. That, combined with the ability to increase my personal density in times of need, makes me fairly difficult to injure with physical attacks. I have, of course, various other defenses, but nothing worth speaking of here.

  Complementing my defensive capabilities, I possess a fairly versatile Special Ability that allows me to store momentum and use it in a number of ways. I can store some of the kinetic energy from being attacked and convert it into acceleration. By decreasing my personal density, I can use this stored momentum to fly for several minutes before having to recharge.

  I also can use this Special Ability to attack. Since I have a substantial bonus when attacking an enemy who is unaware of my presence, I will often attack from camouflage. Should an enemy survive my initial attack unscathed, I can use the rebound to escape.”

  “Bawk,” was all that Charlemagne said in response.

  “I gotta agree, boss,” Bridget said. “Sounds a bit cowardly to me. Well, I guess it’s my turn to share, since you guys have both told me what you can do. Although, I gotta say, Phatt…er Phatagin, that there’s no substitute for seeing this big bruiser in action. He killed this enormous bull that was a Dungeon boss just a bit ago and made its hide into the hat he’s wearing now.”

  “It must be a powerful item indeed if it came from a Dungeon boss,” Phatagin opined.

  “No idea, you’ll have to ask the boss,” the mosquito said with a shrug. “Now, my class is called ‘Sanguine Vector’, whatever that means, but basically I’m like a mosquito that is really good at being a mosquito. I can suck blood from almost anything and store the extra energy inside my body. I don’t know exactly where it all goes, because my size returns back to normal super-fast after I feed. I can use stored blood to heal my allies.

  As far as movement goes, I can fly silently and am very difficult to spot, so most creatures don’t know they are already dead until they are. I’m working on getting my flight speed up, because trying to keep up with Mr. supersonic over here is hard work, and at some point I need to work on my defenses. But I’m a lot more difficult to injure than I look. Oh, and I can make a ton of mosquito babies super-fast. In fact, once we’re done here, I’m going to drink up all these humans and lay a bunch of eggs. Well, unless Charlemagne wants to eat them.”

  “Bawk,” the rooster answered.

  “Oh, thanks!”

  “Well, thank you for that summary, Bridget. It seems that our Party certainly has a number of complementary abilities, and I look forward to our future collaboration. Now, you mentioned that you and Charlemagne just recently finished a Dungeon? Where was it?”

  Bridget gave the pangolin directions as best as she could, and the other creature’s look of worry soon evaporated into one of relief.

  “Ah, that is good. It is not the Dungeon that I am seeking to clear. Although perhaps we could tackle it once it has reset.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know about the boss man but I would be up for eating more of those yummy cows. Although maybe we could try a lower difficulty setting? You wouldn’t believe how much trouble we had injuring the boss. Its hide was invulnerable, apparently,” Bridget boasted, happily sharing credit for the kill.

  “Hmmm, you cleared the Dungeon at a higher difficulty than Normal?” That is extraordinary, but I suppose with our friend’s ridiculous abilities it would have been doable. Tell me, what rewards did you receive?” Phatagin asked with excitement.

  The question reminded Charlemagne of something very important. He had never finished claiming his rewards for defeating the Kine Dungeon.

  “Bawk….” he admitted to the pair before asking the Squiggles for help.