Ken smiled as he pulled up the cat's status.

[Lux: Status simplified. Level 18 Tier 2 Human-blooded Lynx. Animal companion.

Animal (Predator) Tier 2: Claw 0/10 Adept, Bite 7/10 Beginner, Tracking 9/10 Beginner, Thick Hide 0/10 beginner, Fierce Roar 0/10 beginner.

Universal monster Skill line Tier 2: Paw fis.h.i.+ng 1/10 Adept.

Blood transformation Tier 1: Human Form 0/10 Beginner (1 Hour), Monster Form 0/10 Beginner (1 Hour).

Human skills: None.]

(Great job Lux!) Ken praised.

(Thanks! Now that we are the same size again, you should stop pretending to be human and tussle with me!) Lux replied.

Ken laughed. (Since you have challenged me, and princess isn't around to see it, I accept.) The hunter reverted to his animal form.

The two adult lynxes fought wildly without actually hurting each other too badly as their claws were retracted.

After a few minutes, Ken finally pinned Lux to the ground. (I win!) He hopped off.

(Dang it! You are a lot stronger than before.) Lux grumbled.

(I am the older brother. It makes sense that I would be more skilled than you.)

(Again!) Lux shouted.

Just as the feline leapt, Ken reverted to his human form and sidestepped out of the way. (We can play more, later. I just remembered something important.)

Lux paused. (Wait! I can pretend to be human now too!) The lynx used his human transformation to look almost exactly like Kenneth. Beginner cloths magically appeared on his body. "And I can speak human speech! This is so exciting! Now I don't have to feel left out when you talk with your friends!"

Kenneth laughed as he was glad the game system didn't demand realism since minors played the game. "That will make things easier. However we should probably get you some equipment for your human form later. I can teach you some human skills."

"Really? That would be cool. But I kind of miss my paws." Lux sighed and looked at his hands.

"You can always go back to being your normal self whenever you want." Ken replied.

"Being human feels weird. I'll do that." The feline reverted and stretched. (Much better, I don't know why you like being human so much.) He purred. (By the way what was this thing you remembered that is so important?)

"Actually it is two things. The first is I promised my friend to ask you a question."

Lux realized something that made him very happy. (Ah! I can understand human speech while being my handsome self too! I like this human blood, it is so useful!) He distractedly roared.

Kenneth smiled "I'm glad. It will make communication easier in the future. Lux, can you tell me what you know about the mist that cursed you?"

Lux slumped. (Not much, really. I noticed that the mist appeared. Then after things died in the mist, there were more creatures. I was just a kitten at the time so I didn't pay much attention.)

Ken frowned. "So, there is nothing you can remember that could be important to know?"

Lux silently thought about it. (The voice!) He roared. (The voice was strange. It was almost snake like.)

"How so?"

(Have you never heard a snake hiss?) Lux questioned.

Ken laughed. "That isn't what I meant. Forget I asked. Is there anything else you can remember?"

(Nope! So what is the other thing you remembered that was important?)

The pre-teen pulled out the box he had obtained a few days back. "This."

[Lux's hidden treasure: (There is something special hidden in this dimensional box that refuses to be opened by any creature that is not a lynx): Despite the fact that no lynx has ever been able to open it, they have pa.s.sed it down from one generation to the next. This item cannot be operated by a non-lynx.]

Lux's eyes widened. (You found my special box?)

Ken gave a nod. "I did. Do you know what is inside?"

Lux shook his head.

"I wonder what is inside of it then," Ken replied while casually tossing the box in the air like a cool kid.

(My Box!) The feline roared as he swiped it from the air before it fell back into Ken's hand.

[Your animal companion has swiped the item you were holding. Lux has learned the human skill Swipe 0/10 Beginner. He has gained the Thievery skill line.]

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Ken frowned. "Lux, give it back! I want to figure out how to open it!"

(If you want it so badly, come catch me!) He called back.

Ken ran after the cat. (Get back here, I doubt you can open it on your own!)

Lux dodged out of the way. (It's my hidden treasure! You can't have it!) He ran further into the woods.

Realizing he wasn't going to catch up in his current self, Ken a.s.sumed his animal form and gave chase.

Lux and Ken darted between the trees playing a game of tag that the pre-teen was losing.

Lux laughed after a few minutes, forgetting the reason for the chase. (It's my turn to win this time!) The feline twisted around and pounced Ken.

Kenneth, taken by surprise, was almost pinned. He successfully kicked the lynx off of him.

Ken and Lux started fighting once again. Their playful roars scared off the nearby lower level creatures. Lux's hidden treasure was caught in-between their slightly more violent playing.

Ken swiped the box away from Lux. The box tumbled to the ground. (Haha!) Ken leapt at the box.

(No you don't!) Lux roared as he also charged towards his special treasure.

They gripped the box with their claws as they continued fighting.

A light flashed and the box opened, pulled apart by their claws. The two cats flew apart. Some objects clattered to the ground.

A powerful image of an old lynx like creature emerged. (Finally, some worthy lynxes!) An aged growl shouted.

[You and Lux have opened Lux's hidden treasure.]

***

Jericho logged into the game and looked over to his dancing sister with a smile. "I'm here." He called out.

Princess stopped. "That was sooner than I expected. Are you good?"

Jericho gave a nod. "I think we should be able to refine the song and dance steps fairly soon. Don't you agree?"

She gave a nod in response. "Oh, brother, I was warned today that something bad is likely going to happen in the area soon. Alex was really worried and wanted me to tell you we should finish our quest and get out of here as soon as possible."

Jericho frowned. "I see. So what do you want to do?"

Princess frowned back. "While we could go with the line dance and song we created before, I don't think it will satisfy them. I don't think rus.h.i.+ng our quest is a good idea. We should keep going at the pace we are going. Good stuff takes time or effort, great stuff takes time and effort."

Jericho let out a light chuckle. "Spoken like an artist. So other than the words, I can play the basic melody while you dance to it. But like you said yesterday, you need to figure out how a satyr would dance to it right?"

The girl gave a nod. "Yeah, But I don't know of a way to make my body like theirs enough to make it work. I don't want to ask them for help just yet, but I will later if it is more useful."

Jericho smiled. "I have an idea then. It'll be a bit gross, but if it works, I should be able to help you with that." He split himself into two and had his clone move out of sight. "For now, you and I should refine the overall performance while my clone tries to see if my idea could even work."

Jericho and Princess practiced the piece they had worked hard on the night before.

"Jericho, do you want to talk about it?"

The bard shook his head. "Glaw mentioned something that set me off but I am much better now but I don't want to talk about it. Thank you for caring though."

Princess gave a nod. "You don't sound like you are lying like you were this morning."

Jericho chuckled. "I'm that readable?"

"Only to me; I know my brother better than anyone. What did Glaw say?"

The bard shook his head. "Moira, I don't want to talk about it."

The girl sighed. "Alright, I'll stop pus.h.i.+ng."

"Thank you. So tell me about this warning."

"Alex said it was some sort of spiritual poison and was very dangerous." Princess replied.

Meanwhile the other Jericho looked at his legs and was trying not to be grossed out. He watched as his body shape deformed. "Mutable body in human form is defiantly not supposed to be a thing." He groaned.

His feet shriveled into the shape of hooves. "They still look fleshy." He muttered as he tried to stand. He winced in pain as the small 'hooves' were surprisingly tender despite looking calloused. "At its current stage, Mutable body won't work." His stamina depleted and his body reverted back to normal. "Wow, so human form, mutable body consumes stamina. That is good to know." He sat in a meditative position to breathe and regain stamina. Ken mentioned that breathing does help restore stamina.

{Hey Glaw, I have a question.}

{I might have an answer for you. What is your question?}

{Do you know that the benefit for having mutable body at Expert is?}

{I do.}

Jericho waited before laughing. {My bad, will you tell me what the benefit is?}

Glaw joined in the laughter. {I'm getting familiar with your human humor. I am glad the joke was funny.} He emerged from Jericho to face him directly. {You can change your state of being. For example, if I were to use mutable body, I could become an ice or steam elemental which changes how my abilities work. Like so,} Glaw froze himself and used aqua slash which turned into an icy blade that he could swing. He melted into steam and used the same ability. The slash blasted a wall of hot mist at a high speed outward. {I don't know how it would work with your human body. But I can't use it to become something I am not.} He resumed being a normal water elemental. {For example, I am made of water and cannot make myself be made of fire. Your human form is made of flesh, so I am not sure what 'states' it could be in. Also, the ability doesn't allow you to change how much ma.s.s you have. Even now, if you were to grow an extra arm, you would probably shrink because the material for the arm doesn't form randomly.}

Jericho gave a nod. {Thanks Glaw, it looks like it would be good for me to try and get it up to Expert then.}

{True, and then you should be able to make four of yourself.} Glaw reminded.

Jericho remained silent for a bit before Glaw's words sunk in. {Wait… that is what all the complicated explanation about lesser elementals was saying in the skill description for split? I feel dumb.}

Glaw waited before answering. {Yes. As a lesser elemental you cannot split. As a small elemental you can split into 2 lesser elementals. As an elemental you can split into two small elementals or four lesser elementals. When you reach Llyn's level of power, you will be able to split into eight lesser elementals and so on. Did you not understand this? Is that why you have delayed working on the elemental skills? I did think it was strange that you were ignoring them when they could be so useful to you and your performance skills.}

Jericho scratched his cheek. {Yeah… Well, now that I know, I should practice more. Mutable body is the closest to breaking through so I will just use that one. Who knows, maybe I will find it works great for the quest once it reaches Expert.}

{Good luck.}

{Thanks, I have one more question though. My sister just mentioned to my other half that the mist she wanted to investigate later is a type of spiritual poison. Do you know of anything that could help?}

Glaw gave a nod. {Your Serenade soothes spiritual ailments. Spiritual poison is likely an ailment. That, and your sister has Yun's staff, right? While I do not know for sure, both of those should be able to help protect you.}

{I see, thank you.} Jericho, the clone, turned into his water elemental self. {Now I can practice without having to worry about stamina running out, or being grossed out by my own actions.}

{Jericho, I have a question. There is something I don't understand.} Glaw stated.

{What is it Glaw?} Jericho asked back thinking it strange that there were things Glaw didn't understand.

{Why is it that mutable body is not gross when you are an elemental but is gross when you are in your mortal fleshy form?}