Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Congratulations! You have evolved into Veinseer Pup!

New skill obtained: Pulse Sense LV1

[Sense increased]

[Attunement increased]

[Dexterity increased]

New Skill Obtained: Pulse Sense LV1

New Trait Gained: [Predator’s Focus] You deal bonus damage when attacking from stealth or targeting unaware enemies.

New Feature Unlocked: Stat Page Access

That’s a lot to take in!

I blinked rapidly as new information flooded my vision. It wasn’t like it hurt, but it was a little overwhelming. I looked around, not exactly feeling any different.

[Stat Page Access Now Available.]

Would you like to view it now?

[Yes] < [No]

Yes! Yes I would!

I mentally smacked the “Yes” button. Just like that, the full stat screen opened before me in all its glowing blue glory.

Name: ???

Race: Hell Hound

Path: Veinseer Pup

Stage: 2

Level: 1

Body Development: 1%

Vitals

Health: 20 / 20

Mana: 30/ 30

Stamina: 40 / 40

Attributes

Strength: 4

Dexterity: 7 (+2)

Vigor: 4

Sense: 9 (+5)

Attunement: 6 (+4)

Active Skills

Pulse Sense LV1

Passive Skills

Enhanced Smell LV1

Basic Fighting LV1

Traits

Predator’s Focus lvl 1

Bonus damage when attacking from stealth or targeting unaware enemies.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Camouflage lvl 1

Bonus to stealth when not moving.

Dexterity and sense were the highest! Between those and my camouflage trait, I was probably a stealthy ninja puppy now. It made sense I would have decent Dexterity even though it had an F scaling grade, since I had gained some from play fighting with Luke so much.

My Attunement must have been at 2 before gaining my Path, so it was still only the third highest value despite getting the second-highest boost. I wonder if it would start to go up faster now with my Path?

Strength and vigor clearly were not my strong suit. But who needs to hit hard when it seems the whole point of this Path is to hit first? Speaking of which…

I dismissed the stat screen and instantly started looking around for Luke.

Ben and Jerry were no longer shooting fireballs at eachtoher. Ben seemed to try as he opened his mouth and made a slight coughing sound, but all that came out was a pathetic puff of smoke. Maybe that meant they had drained their mana already? Thankfully they didn’t have an unlimited supply of those fireballs, otherwise we would all be in trouble.

Iris was still in her corner, chewing on a bone; the white glow of her eyes against her dark fur was otherworldly—mythical, even.

Finally, Luke was eyeing up Lily as his next target. She sat in the middle of the cave with her tail wagging. Her eyes were still the normal dull brown we all had pre-Path, so I suppose that meant she hadn’t gotten hers yet.

My hackles puffed up slightly as I thought about Luke bullying her now that I was no longer the target. Don’t get me wrong, Luke was fun to play with sometimes, but he needed to learn to be a little more polite about it sometimes.

I walked around Mom and found a shadowy area of the cave to duck inside of, thinking this would help my camouflage, and if Luke attacked Lily as I suspected he would, then I could test out my own abilities on him guilt-free!

Sure enough, the rascal suddenly charged at Lily without warning. I likewise started to move to intercept him. However, I underestimated how much faster his class made him, as he cleared the distance between them in moments, diving for Lily in a full-on pounce—and Lily just sat there! She didn’t make any move to defend herself at all!

Look out, Lily! You’re about to get clobbered!

However, I was stopped dead in my tracks and shocked when Luke went right through her like she was a ghost. She phased out and disappeared.

…

DID LUKE JUST KILL LILY!?

This world was video-game-like, so maybe things that were not prey just dissipated instead? How was I to know one way or another?

Then, another Lily appeared, but this one had purple eyes! She jumped out of thin air as if there was an invisible window sitting there, and she tackled Luke from behind!

How impressed I felt was only overshadowed by my disbelief. Did Lily also select a rare class? And it was some kind of trickster class at that. Though I have to admit it made my camouflage seem much less impressive in comparison, I was happy for her.

I yipped and ran over as she and Luke rolled around on the floor together. Ben and Jerry looked up, seeming like they wanted to play but were too tired, while Iris elegantly remained with her bone, not involving herself.

I did semicircles back and forth around Luke and Iris as they continued to scuffle. Since it was a fair fight now, I didn’t think I should jump in, but the excitement was overwhelming. I couldn’t stay still!

Luke tried to pivot around and get at Lily’s scruff, but she was being a clever pup, doing her best to stay behind him and knock him over whenever he seemed to be getting his bearings down.

Eventually, he did succeed, however. He jogged away from Lily, then turned and ran straight at her. He knocked her over and grabbed her scruff, causing her to let out a loud yip.

Okay, time for big sister to get involved!

Well, technically we were all the same age, but Lily was the smallest, so I still considered myself her big sister. And as a big sister I had to do my part in defending her from Luke!

I slammed into Luke with more strength than I anticipated, as I not only knocked him off of Lily but also found us rolling across the floor together. I really didn’t understand my own strength; I guess that bonus from sneak attacks is pretty major.

Then, next thing I knew, I felt myself drop, and the world around me changed from the dark of the cave to a more reddish environment as me and Luke tumbled down a hill together.

I hadn’t realized it in all the excitement, but his battle with Lily brought him close to the mouth of the cave, and I just knocked him and myself clear out of it!

I had never seen beyond the cave entrance before, but apparently our den sat atop a rocky hill. It wasn’t very steep, but still enough that getting my paws under myself again became difficult, and a few tumbles later we finally came to a stop. My back hurt a little, as I once bounced off a sharp rock, but I was more disoriented than anything else.

Luke hunched into his shoulders nervously, apparently ready to put our battle on hold while he cautiously glanced around our new environment, and I did the same.

There were jagged mountains all around us, their black, spear-like peaks stabbing so high it almost felt like they could pierce the sky. The sky itself was nothing like the one in my memories of my last life. It was red, tapering into purple along the horizon. The sky I remembered could take on many different colors depending on the time of day, but this sky above me now I didn’t imagine could ever actually be blue.

Tracing my sight down the mountains, I realized they formed a massive bowl that was mostly made up of forestland. I also realized it was a good thing we found this flat spot to stop our descent, because we were actually far above the forest, with a much further way to go down. We could have seriously gotten hurt!

Luke showed a surprisingly cowardly side of himself, as he slowly backed against the hill as far as he could, then huddled down on all fours, tail tucked beneath him and shaking.

I, however, couldn’t help my curiosity getting the better of me. I walked towards the cliff to get a better look at what was below, seeing that the mountain we were on had layered paths that wound down to the bottom and eventually disappeared into those trees, which was an unbroken sea of green and grey. Grey, being the bark of the trees, as they likewise were not like the trees in my past life memory.

These trees twisted in odd ways, not simply growing straight up, and their branches curled towards the sky as if trying to reach up and escape.

In the middle of this forest of strange trees, a spot of blue shone through, which took me a moment to realize was a lake. But, the sky being red, it didn’t make sense for the water to be blue until I focused on it and realized it was not the same blue that I could remember. No, it was like, neon blue, almost magical if I could explain it, and I could see tiny green orbs rising from it like enlarged motes of dust.

My tail began wagging softly. What lay before me was, in a way, quite terrifying, but at the same time I couldn’t help but feel excited. I was just a little pup now, but I could imagine one day growing to Mom’s size, or heck, even Dad who made Mom seem small in comparison. If I were like them, I’m sure there would be nothing to fear from this otherwise alarming world, and I could imagine there were so many interesting places I might be able to explore.

And this is just one big dome between the jagged cliffs. I wondered what could lie even further beyond?

I let my sight drift past the forest to an area where the jagged mountains parted. I couldn’t see past them, but at their very base I noticed an orange, flickering glow as if something were on fire…

Okay, yeah, maybe I wouldn’t want to actually go there any time soon.

But then, a shadow descended over me. I heard Luke yip fearfully, and I dropped to my belly, looking up at a massive, monstrous creature that now loomed over me—cornering me against the cliff with nowhere to run!