Death

  Easing down into the small ravine as he nears the edge of the woodline, Glitch crouched to go into stealth. He moves silently with his head, shoulders, and back covered by leaves woven together with vines. Staying in the ravine he stalks towards a small depression at the top of the ridgeline. Before his silhouette would break the top of the ridge, he silently settled down into a prone position. Toes out, heels down, and his staff held on top of his right hand as he inches his way up the final few meters.

  How’s it looking Sassy? He silently communicated with his companion.

  WIde open to your right. Nothing in sight. Just cleared the low ground on your left. Nothing there either. Give me a couple minutes to check your rear before taking it down.”

  Okay Sas. Just got in position and I’ll set up while I wait. One leaf at a time, Glitch slowly began clearing a small hole to see through, careful not to shake the small bushes in front of him. Settling back down he looks out and confirms he can see the large mountain lion is still laying in the shade beside the boulder three hundred meters out halfway up the next ridge.

  Your rear is clear..

  Thank God. That last one felt a little wet.

  What?

  Taking the shot. Squinting slightly to trigger his range targeting skills, Glitch zooms in on the right ear of the big cat. Iron Bolt. Glitch feels his iron staff warm slightly as mana moves through it and forms an iron ball about six inches in front of the end of his staff. Fire. A whistling sound and the cat’s head explodes almost instantly as the exclamation mark showing new notifications begins flashing in the lower left of his vision.

  Move up to overwatch Sassy. Time to loot. The last week of hunting has raised Glitch’s stats to the point that nothing short of a herd of elephants should be able to challenge him until the next phase of the integration, Glitch and Sassy work methodically knowing that only carelessness could take them down.

  Once Sassy was in position, Glitch slowly raised to a squatted position in order to remain in stealth and backed out of his covered position before moving out toward the dead beast. Moving from small indentation, to small clumps of brush, to the shade of a boulder, Glitch silently moves forward. Eyes constantly scanning and pausing frequently to listen.

  Reaching the downed cat, Glitch touches it and thinks Loot. two hundred credits, a hide, five claws, and a bronze dagger are added to his nearly full storage. Not a bad haul, but then again, the cat was seventeen levels higher than him. Heading back Sas. How’s it look?

  Sensing movement behind him, Glitch thrusts the butt of the staff back and begins to turn. Hoping to clear space between him and whatever has snuck up behind him, but he is struck unbelievably hard in the back of his head and neck and the world goes black leaving him barely enough time to realize he’s dead. .

  Unknown Error flashes in his vision.

  One year earlier

  Headquarters Cuocomo Expeditionary Development

  Big Boss Cuocomo stands at the head of the table looking at the rest of the family bosses. Some faces look elated, thinking the family has struck it rich. The stock price is soaring. The smarter ones look resigned knowing they are most likely doomed.. In a huge surprise, they somehow were selected to manage the next system integration. Reportedly a massive resource stockpile in a small universe on a sparsely populated backwoods plane of existence. Easy money if carefully developed.

  “Boss James, what are the final estimates?” Big Boss asks.

  “Not good. We barely have enough to last through a max acceleration integration and only if we get lucky and do not need to maximize merc forces. However, once integrated it should be one of the most profitable expeditions ever.” James explains as reality slapped the elated Bosses in the face. Max acceleration decreased integration time to a mere one hundred years, but the risks were too high and rarely was it ever a good choice for the chosen expeditionary development corp.

  Big Boss’s shoulders slumped as he took a deep breath. “Strap in boys. It’s going to be a wild ride.”

  Blackcrystal Investment Offices

  “It’s done boss. CED was selected. Their stock is already up over 400% since the announcement”

  “Have we begun to short?”

  “Yes boss. We should have one hundred percent of the market cap shorted by the end of the year. We expect the profit to be in the three to seven trillion range when they fold. They only have funds on hand to permit a max acceleration and it won’t take much to ensure they fail. The profits when our mercs take over the integration should be larger than anything we’ve ever seen”

  “Good work as always, Sam. Make sure it happens. Have you found our man at the Integration Bureau?”

  “We’ve got a target. Setting the hook in the morning.”

  Sector k-256, home of the Integration Bureau

  “Zantu, you’ve dug yourself quite a hole.” Says the large, dangerous looking gangster whose two even larger and more dangerous looking associates stood at the end of the booth leaving no doubt that no one wants to get close to this conversation..

  “I know, I know… rumor is we’ll have an accelerated integration starting up and with the mandatory overtime, I’ll have the money for you by the end of the quarter.”

  “Not good enough Zantu.”

  “...”

  “We’re going to need more from you and we’ll even sweeten the pot for you. Make sure the next integration fails. Debt forgiven and 1 million for your trouble.”

  Integration Bureau, Native Management Section

  Zantu rushes to finish importing the skills for the selected potential monarchs, setting the stage for CED’s unsteady financial position to cause a failure before the expedition can turn a profit.

  Finally starting the last selection, Zantu runs the script to add all the high level skills that should not be obtained by a newly integrated native for hundreds of years. This final candidate being an extremely unremarkable human with some interesting military skills, but barely above normal stats besides his ridiculous stamina and absurd toughness. This boy, well… actually a middle aged man for non-system humans, has seen some shit. Druid, Ranger, Assassin, and Merchant too. Must have lived an interesting life for the accelerated implementation protocols to grant him those classes.

  “Zantu, you should have left 30 minutes ago”

  Quickly standing to hide the projection he was working on, Zantu reaches to close his screen while he turns. Not noticing the accidental entry he makes or the error message created after the entry is changed. “Just finished the final review.” Everything is ready.”

  “Good work Zantu. Now enjoy your time off.”

  Earth Integration Day 1

  Wow. I feel good. Haven’t slept like that in years and didn’t even have to get up and take a piss. The male looked to be in his late twenties obviously tall and strong but not someone who would appear unusual in a crowd, just slightly larger than the average human. Very lean though. He looked like someone who would tell Dave Groggins he was settling for mediocre.

  As his eyes opened, he jerked awake. Where the hell am I? How the hell did I get here? Glitch? Why the fuck does it say “Glitch”? What are those colored bars and the flashing exclamation mark?

  “You are on Earth and have awakened at your post integration starting point. The second step of Integration is to place natives according to protocols for the chosen acceleration level onto the resource consolidation planet for each sector. In this case Earth, since it had the highest population of sapient beings.”

  “The colored bars are a visual representation of your health, mana, stamina, and spirit levels. Glitch is your name. Odd that you do not know that? The solution to the memory loss for natives was solved during the earliest integrations. Are you defective, human?”

  Quickly standing up and looking around for the source of the unrecognized voice “Fuck you. Who are you? Where are you? My name is not Glitch!”.

  “Step outside and I will show myself human. I am The Grove Guardian. And once again, if you are a defective human, how could you be so certain that your name is not Glitch?”

  Looking around Glitch saw a few tunnels leading down, four small glowing rooms, and a tunnel apparently going up into the light. Turning to the light, he headed up and what he assumed was out. Once reaching the top, he exited into what at first glance appeared to be a small forest of enormous trees surrounded by steep hills and then mountains. The trees were spaced oddly uniformly and free of undergrowth.

  Searching for the Guardian, Glitch finally spotted something, but he couldn’t believe what he saw. A face. Looking back at him from the nearest tree…”You’re a tree?”

  “No. I am The Grove Guardian. And this is my grove. I can see your defects are going to make this difficult. Your planet has been integrated into the system and today is day one of integration in which sapient races are reintroduced to their home planet. Shall we begin the basic tutorial?”

  “You don’t happen to be friends with a cyborg racoon?”

  “No. I do not guard a galaxy. I guard the grove. Can you please try to remain focused?”

  “Sure but later we’re going to talk about why you understood that reference. Begin the tutorial oh wise one.”

  Rolling his eyes and steeling himself for what will be a long century dealing with this defective… if he manages to survive. Grove said, “I am going to request to see your status. Please answer in the affirmative.”

  The Grove Guardian wishes to access your status: accept yes/no

  “Yes”

  “You can respond to prompts with a thought. No need to verbalize. Now THINK status and you should also see your status. At the top you should note that it says your name ‘GLITCH’ in case you were still questioning your obvious defects.”

  “Can I get a new Grove Guardian?”

  “Sure, just transfer your soul to another sapient native on a newly integrated planet and there is a 99.999999999999% chance that you will never even be blessed to meet with a Grove Guardian.”

  “So it’s rare?”

  “There is a THE at the beginning of my name for a reason. Now, next you will see your race. Human. A widely considered unspectacular race that’s only redeeming quality is their unique ability to do almost anything. All stats are uncapped and nearly all skills are acquirable for humans. However, they are rarely considered especially gifted at anything.”

  “Humans receive one point in each of the eight basic stats per level and three unassigned points. So luckily your defective mind will not have to worry about min/max or other meta strategies.”

  “So let me guess, the system is so much like a video game or litrpg series because the system seeded that information to assist us in our integration.”

  “Quite astute for someone as defective as you. Perhaps you hold some potential after all. And yes, as many suspected, Mr Zuckerberg, Mr Bezos, and Mr Musk were all system operatives and responsible for parts of the pre-integration projects. Now you probably noticed that you are Level 0. However, since you are part of a max acceleration integration, your stats have been adjusted and skills have been earned based on your pre-system experiences and accomplishments.”

  Rolling his eyes, but too intrigued to interrupt, Glitch patiently waited for Grove to continue.

  “Next you will see your base stats. The system has found it most efficient to calibrate your base stats so that 10 is average for a newly integrated sapient being of your race. As you can see your strength is 14, vitality 30, dexterity 15, agility 11, wisdom 13, intelligence prior to adjusting for your defects is at 17, perception is 20, and not surprisingly at all charisma is below average at 8.”

  “What is the difference between dexterity and agility, Mr Personality?”

  “Once again, I am The Grove Guardian, not Mr Personality. Dexterity is fine motor skills related to your ability to make fine adjustments using mainly your hands. Agility affects your ability to move your body, balance, and flexibility. Think of the difference between a Pianist and a Martial Artist.”

  “One quick question. Did the system integrate Chuck Norris or did Chuck Norris integrate the system?”

  “Mr Norris was another pre-integration operative. So it would not be entirely incorrect to say that Mr Norris integrated the system. Now… even though I fear we will encounter more defect related struggles, we will move on to what the system refers to as Complex Stats or Aggregate Stats. These stats are impacted by the values of your other stats as well as potentially being directly improved..”

  “Your speed rating of 12 is calculated off of your strength and agility scores as well as points applied directly to speed which can be gained in other ways. Your awareness score of 20 is affected by your intelligence, wisdom, and perception. Think of perception as your ability to see or recognize a specific object and your awareness is your ability to know what is going on around you. Your toughness of 75 is partially based off of your strength, vitality, and agility. I guess repeated head trauma could explain your defect. All though, I must say, I’ve never seen an initial toughness that high.”

  “Do you know where I can get an ax?”

  “If you require firewood, please gather it outside of the grove. You do not wish to activate my defenses. Health, Spirit, Mana, Stamina, and Rage are commonly referred to as resource stats. Your Max Health is at 3900 and partially derived from your strength, vitality, and stamina. Your spirit of 200 is partially derived from your perception, wisdom, awareness, and agility. Your max mana of 1700 is derived from your intelligence and perception. Rage is a unique stat that is built up during combat by striking or much more likely in your case, receiving strikes from an opponent.”

  “So I spend spirit, rage, mana, and stamina to use skills and abilities?”

  “Yes, but before we move to skills and abilities, let us look at your class. One second, just checking to make sure Unique is not a synonym for defective in your language. As you probably guessed, American English is not actually my native tongue. We are both currently using a System generated skill that all sentient beings are granted upon integra…BY GUNTHAR’S HAMMER boy. What did you do prior to integration?”

  “I was a mail carrier. Why?”

  “I can understand Hauler and Messenger. But how the hell did you get Ranger, Druid, Assassin, Healer, Merchant, Trainer, and Leader classes?”

  “I did other things prior to becoming a mail carrier. I just enjoyed delivering mail and walking helped with my back.” Glitch said with a shrug.

  “You don’t understand. Unique classes are usually a combination of two classes and in extremely rare cases three. You have nine. If you weren’t defective, I would say you are the definition of overpowered. Most of what you gain experience from will not count towards all classes, but almost all of your experience will go towards leveling more than one class. I take that back. You are extremely OP even with the defects. The stat gains alone will be outrageous. You are my ticket out of these integrations and into a premier permanent station. We’ve got to get to work. I will not have you die before I earn my promotion.”

  “How would me being OP help you get a promotion?”

  “I am currently a Tier DZB Level 87 Integration Specialist Grove Guardian. I receive experience based on the experience and achievements of individuals that I interact with during integration. At Tier EAA level 0, I can evolve to a Galactic Grove Manager and obtain a position at one of the galactic capitals.”

  “Slow down hoss. Tier XYZ?”

  “I am The Grove Guardian, not a horse. You are currently Tier 0 Level 0. At level 100 you will start earning experience towards Tier A Level 0, then up to Z 100 where you will begin working towards AA 0.”

  “That’s a lot of levels to grind.”

  “The system is infinite. As a unique, you will not evolve, but you will be able to pick up an additional class instead. But no wasting time…we need to get you leveling.” brows wrinkling, Grove was either taking a shit or thinking. Considering he was a tree, I’m leaning towards thinking. “Wait. We need a plan. The native non-sapient species will also be boosted by the accelerated integration. Can’t have you killed by being kicked in the head by a giraffe or shredded by a drop bear. Don’t leave the Grove, but go run around jumping over things while I go over your skills, talents and abilities.”

  The Grove Guardian would like to view your skills, talents, and abilities trees: accept yes/no

  “Yes. How do I know the boundaries of the grove and what do I do if I run into a tree gator or something?”

  “I am The Grove Guardian. I do not allow any dangerous non-sapient beings inside my grove. Go that way, keep the large trees like this one on your left.” A limb on the left side of Grove began shaking so Glitch, wanting to try out his new body, took off at a sprint.

  “Wait. What weapon were you given?”

  “I don’t have a weapon.”

  “Think inventory. It should be there.”

  “Oh. Indestructible Iron Bolt Staff. It’s asking if I wish to bind it.”

  “Yes!!! Wait. Why the hell does a druid have an Iron Bolt Staff? Never mind. Bind it. It will gain experience as you do. It will be the only primary weapon you ever need. Focus on the staff and think equip then swing it around and hit stuff while you run and jump. My guess is we’ll go with range attacks for your primary, but we still need staff and blunt weapon skills for close up fighting.”

  “Great, Now I’m going to end up on youtube. Idiot running around woods swinging iron bar.”

  “Earth won’t have youtube again until someone invents mana batteries, mana conduits, mana recording crystals, mana projections, mana networks and about 100 other things.”

  “No social media? This system is sounding better by the second.”

  A few hours later…

  The Plan

  “Glitch, stop and come over here.”

  Confused, sweating, and bruised from attempting to swing a bar around while running, Glitch looked around. Spotting the familiar face on a nearby tree. “Groot, how did you get out here instead of over by the cave?”

  “I am The Grove Guardian, not Groot. As The Grove Guardian I am the Grove and not a single specific tree and the face you are seeing isn’t actually there, it is just your perception's interpretation of me focusing my awareness on this location. Now I would like to apologize. Your name is not Glitch. Apparently, “Glitch” is The System’s rather concise way of displaying the error code that is being displayed because of the corruption of your data file.”

  “Told ya. Not defective.”

  “Says the human that apparently tried combining sodomy and pole vaulting into a movement skill seventeen times during the last 3 hours.”

  “You saw that?”

  “Yes. Definitely defective. I suggest angling the top of your staff forward while moving at high speed over difficult obstacles.”

  “Good idea.”

  “Did you see any stat gains or other notifications?”

  “Yeah. Agility, Dex. Stamina. Some staff and blunt levels also. Oh and gained some xp from exploration”

  “Yes. The max acceleration 10x multiplier of experience makes physical training quite rewarding at the early stages. This will slow down as you develop. Each level and stat point will take about 10% more experience then the previous one, but you will also be able to earn larger amounts of experience from performing more difficult tasks, so it will be a while before you feel your gains slow down too drastically.”

  “On to skills. It’s very strange. I have to assume it’s related to the glitch. You have skills already available to unlock that should not be available for several thousand levels at the earliest. All of which are geared towards building and developing an extremely powerful army or becoming an extremely powerful being. Basically, you have everything you need to share xp and stats with your loyal servants, soldiers, crafters, companions, and security forces.”

  “A max acceleration integration is only done when you have both an extremely desperate development corporation assigned to your sector and extremely high resource potential. Yet somehow you have been given access to the skills that will be needed to establish yourself as one of the leaders of the natives and possibly make the initial invasion fail.”

  “Invasion?”

  “Yes, one hundred years after integration begins, the development company will have exclusive rights to invade and exploit the resources that were consolidated from your sector onto this planet. They will deploy security forces and mercenaries that will be far higher level than what native species will be expected to have achieved. However, with your defects you have an opportunity to build yourself and your forces into quite a challenge for them to handle. You have an excellent chance to be offered a position as one of the leaders of this new world and work for the development company.”

  “And what will happen to everybody else?”

  “They will be eliminated or enslaved working for you and the corporation to exploit the resources.”

  “And what if I’m not okay with that?”

  “You might be able to get the first developer to fail, but the follow up developer will undoubtedly bring far greater forces to bear and your only choices, if you survive, will be to lead the slaves or be a slave.”

  “We’ll see about that. So…you were looking at my skills.”

  The next hour or so were spent with Grove and Glitch going through some of his more important skills and deciding what to pick up with his available skill points.

  Noobs first build

  With twenty two skill points available and a seemingly unlimited list of skills, powers, and abilities to choose from, Grove came up with an unusual list. Already possessing the skills required to deliver devastating long range attacks, skills were chosen to help Glitch avoid close combat.

  Lightning Nova: Release a blast of lightning knocking back enemies within 10m. 25% chance to stun. Dealing 10 x spell damage (spl dmg). Lightning Damage.

  Blizzard: Cover a 100m radius with a snow storm. 50% slow. .1 x spell damage/sec. Duration 1 minute. Air and Frost Damage.

  Next up came the Druid Summoning choices Grove felt most important to give Glitch a companion on these early hunts to scout and watch his back.

  Companion’s Boon: Gain 10% of XP earned by companion

  Companion experience: Companions gain 20% of experience earned by summoner

  Bound Companion: Companion can be resummoned 8 hrs after death

  Companion Communication: Telepathically communicate with companions up to 1km away.

  Shadow Companion: Allows companions to learn and use shadow elemental skills

  All for One: Summoner gains 5% of summoned companions base attributes

  One for All: Summoned companions gain 20% of summoner’s base attributes

  For an extra level of protection and to begin developing fire skills Grove recommended:

  Fire Shield: Absorb and reflect melee damage. 10% damage reflected. Max 10 x spell damage. Fire Damage.

  For sustainability in combat Grove recommended:

  Mana Recharge: Mana regained 10% faster

  Stamina Recharge: Stamina regained 10% faster

  Spirit Recharge: Spirit regained 10% faster

  For utility Grove recommended:

  Firestarter: Summon a small flame

  Sprint: Gain 5x movement speed for 3 seconds.

  Purification: Remove 10 pts of Poison or disease

  And to turbocharge Glitch’s overpowered ability from gaining stats by leveling multiple classes:

  Fighters Boon: 2x xp gained from combat

  Druids Boon: 2x xp gained while using Druid skills

  Rangers Boon: 2x xp gained from combat, exploration, while using ranger skills, and stealth related activities

  Healers Boon: 2x xp gained while using healing skills and abilities.

  Crafters Boon: 2x xp gained while crafting

  Haulers Boon: 2x xp gained while carrying at least 25% of max burden.

  Reign of Sassy

  Unique Companion available: Sassy (stray cat) accept: yes/no

  Sassy? The talkative black cat on Pine that the pit had cornered when we first met? I wonder how she became a unique companion. “Grove. I’m being offered a unique companion.”

  “Accept it. Unique companions can have troublesome personalities, but almost always have abilities that make them worth the trouble.”

  Yes. A swirl of lights and dust and a surprised Sassy appeared with a freshly killed chipmunk in her mouth. Obviously startled with her back arched and tail poofed out straight in the air, nearly twice the size that Glitch remembered her, Sassy turned towards Glitch and visibly relaxed. Dropping the chipmunk Sassy ran to Glitch and rubbed against his legs.

  “Honored servant. I knew you’d find me. You may pet your Queen.”

  “Nice to see you too Sassy. When did you become royalty?” Glitch said while reaching down to scratch behind Sassy’s ears.

  “I have always been royalty. I’m a cat. You two legged servants are silly. Now continue petting.”

  “Yes mam. Want to do some hunting? We need to get strong.”

  Grabbing his staff, Glitch moved to head along the cliff that the cave was located in. “Remember you must stay alive to gain levels, Glitch. You aren’t op yet.” Grove called from behind him.

  Sassy whirled at the sound of the voice and a second after spotting Grove said, “No worries Groot. He’s with me. I’m OP enough for both of us.”

  “I’m The Grove Guardian. Not Groot. Remember anything from your planet can be out there. Snakes, spiders, scorpions, anything.”

  “Watch out for creepy crawlies. Got it Grove. We’ll be back in a few.” Glitch said as he left.

  The Hunt Begins

  Moving just outside the grove, Glitch stopped and took a knee gathering some leafy vines off of a small tree. “I’m not going to be much help in this denser veg Sassy. Can you circle around me keeping a lookout for creepy crawlies. I’m planning to hunt from the edge of those hills to take advantage of the cover.”

  After wrapping the vines around his head, torso, and legs in order to provide some camouflage, Glitch cautiously moved out with Sassy silently circling around him. Less than one minute later, Glitch heard a quick scuffle from where he sensed Sassy. Moving quickly to check on her, Glitch found her with a small mouse she had killed. Wanting to try something he placed a finger on the mouse and thought loot. 1 credit, 3 small bones, 1 mouse tail. Checking his inventory Glitch found the new loot in there with his multi-form utility tool.

  “Hey give that back. Bad servant.” Sassy exclaimed when the mouse disappeared.

  “Sorry Sas. Just checking to see how looting worked. Next time you get one, touch it and think loot.”

  Grumpily Sassy went back to exploring and Glitch continued on towards the more open hillside. A few seconds later, another scuffle from Sassy’s direction. “Servant. What is a credit?”

  “Ah…so you can loot also. Good to know. Think inventory to see its contents. I believe credits are money and we will be able to exchange them for goods and services.”

  “You owe me a credit then thief.”

  Opening his inventory and focusing on the credits, Glitch transferred one to Sassy. “Not any more. Let’s find some bigger game.”

  Moments later Glitch paused when he reached the sparsely wooded beginnings of the smaller hills. Spotting movement about 100m ahead. He paused. Instinctively crouching to improve his stealth, he watched for more movement and identified it as a large domesticated boar. “Sas, I’m going to take out this boar.” Squinting his eyes, he focused center mass on the boar’s chest. Iron Bolt. Glitch felt his staff warm as a small ball of iron formed in front of his staff. Wondering what to do next he thought, Fire? With a whoosh of air collapsing into a vacuum the bolt almost instantly reached the boar whose chest caved in an explosion of blood.

  I guess Grove knew what he was talking about when he said my range attacks would be powerful. Gonna move forward to get the loot. Keep your eyes open Sassy. Slowly moving forward, Glitch caught a glimpse of Sassy moving extremely fast off to the left to see if the area was clear. Reaching the boar, Glitch reached out and looted. 10 credits. 1 pigskin. 20lbs of pork. Moving back to cover. See anything worth shooting over there.

  “There is a large deer moving in your direction from about 200 meters out.”

  A few hours later and several deer, boar, cattle, sheep, and bear later Glitch was nearly overburdened and decided it was time to head back and see what can be made of these hides. Peeking at his stat sheet as he walked…Ok. Maybe Grove was right and my situation is a bit op. Thirty six unassigned skill points. Two hundred forty two unassigned stat points. I guess I’ll just throw thirty in each base stat and a couple extra into charisma. I’m going to have to deal with people sooner or later.

  “Did you feel anything Sassy?”

  “Yeah….I feel stronger. What did you do?”

  “Just giving my queen a little boost.”

  “Oh. Thank you honored servant. You may pet me if you wish.”

  Developing the Plan

  Upon arriving back at the Grove, Glitch called out, “Hey Groot. You up?” Did Sassy just snicker? Maybe the queen has a similar sense of humor. Have to remind her not to piss off what is probably by far the most powerful being on the planet.

  “I’m not…oh nevermind. What are your questions?”

  “In the books I’ve read, people have a habit of passing up on a mental defense skill right before they need it…so…do I have any mental defense skills available?”

  “Let’s see…ummm….looks like there are two currently available. Of Body and Mind offers defense against attacks on your mind equal to 25% of your toughness would be pretty strong for you. And… Mana Mind Shield is a passive that alerts you when you are being targeted with a mind ability and can be actively used to resist.”

  “Sounds good. Do I need to worry about soul powers being used against me?”

  “No. What you think of as your soul is basically your data file that is protected by the system. Not even gods can edit it once the integration has begun.”

  “Are there any skills that will give me resistance to all elements?”

  “Think skills query elemental resist. You can also query for physical resist”

  After doing as instructed Glitch saw a list of skills begin scrolling across his vision. “Hey Grove buddy…umm…would you happen to have a suggestion on what would be good for me?”

  “Not if you ever call me Groot again. But for someone whose toughness is now one hundred twenty five I would suggest Elemental toughness which would give you one hundred twenty five pts in each elemental resistance. Atheist shield will build resistance to both Holy and Unholy.”

  “That’ll do. How about protection against stuns and attacks that impact my mobility?”

  Quite a Few Minutes Later

  After a long discussion, thirty six skill points had been put into skills for leatherworking, light armor, alchemy, enchanting, redneck engineering (improvised crafting and building skill), charge, skills to reduce DOT (damage over time) from various elements, skills to reduce stun times, skills to eliminate movement restricting statuses, spirit manipulation, mana manipulation, body manipulation, stamina manipulation, and skills to raise his various resistances.

  Groot…I mean Grove also explained that mana could be used with the multi-form tool in Glitches inventory to change it into any tool that is needed for crafting or building and was supplied to all native sapients during integration. He also learned that the sap from the grove trees could be used as a glue and would harden into an extremely durable resin like substance. And last but definitely not least, Glitch learned that the four glowing rooms he spotted in the cave contained fountains of Health, Stamina, Mana, and Spirit.

  At Glitch’s low level, the fountains were basically full of radiation that would do horrible things to his body and cause instant death. However, items could be soaked in the fountains to gain affixes. As an extra bonus, the cave in which he awoke would be an ideal place for meditation when it was time to start working on opening nodes and developing his core. However, the presence of these fountains and the resource rich mountains surrounding it also made his current location the almost guaranteed ground zero for the invasion.

  Currently Glitch was working on shaping some sheep antlers to attach to his weapon. He felt he needed more heft and pointyness (explained to Sassy as a technical term used by weaponsmiths). His plan was to place 4 horns parallel to the base of the staff with each one bending out to a sharp point. He wanted to use sap and leather straps to attach the horns with a dense river rock encapsulated inside leather and sap securing it in the middle of the horns to add more weight. On the top end of the staff he had attached 3 horns curving out and up with their pointy bits sticking out about 8 inches from the end of the staff secured with sap and leather straps. He also planned to wrap the staff in leather to improve his grip and place rings of bear claws for additional pointyness.

  He already had deerskin pants, boots, and a shirt heavily reinforced with pigskin and sap curing near a fire at the cave entrance. Once he was done crafting, he would store excess materials and food he had gathered in the storage located in the tunnel leading down from the room he had awakened in. Grove had informed him of what amounted to a stationary inventory device of unlimited capacity that could be used by individuals to store and access items. The storage facility was accessed by placing a hand on a glowing crystal in the wall.

  Once everything was assembled and cured, he planned on doing some physical training while everything soaked in the fountains. While working, Glitch was thinking that saving earth for the humans was a worthy cause, but he wouldn’t be able to do it alone. Especially since most of those high level skills that he had available were for boosting other people and his companions.

  He currently could add 2 more animal companions. He might be able to take care of that while he was hunting. However, he wasn’t going to fill his five party slots, millions of soldier, administrator, crafter, and other slots in time to get ready for the invasion. He also hoped to find other people with advanced skills available to work with.

  He’d need food grown, settlements built, technology developed, weapons crafted, He didn’t consider it wise to share the location of the grove with just anybody, so he’d need people he could trust to run operations for soaking items in the fountains. And of course, he needed to build defenses around the grove. It was a little bit overwhelming the list was never ending, but one thing far outweighed the others. He had to survive. In order to do that he needed to gain levels and raise his skills. He needed to hunt more, but before that, he needed a nap. High stamina was great, but it was closing in on 48hrs since he had awakened.

  To The Rescue

  “Servant….Servant…Help”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Groggily rolling over Glitch rubbed his eyes. “What’s up Sas?’ Looking around he realized she wasn’t in the cave. Then he froze… Her health bar was below 50%.

  “Get them off me! Save your queen!”

  Map. Zoom out. Zoom out. She’s not far outside the Grove. Far faster than humanly possible, Glitch ran to help. Hearing what he assumed was Sassy over the next hill and seeing Sas’s health was still over 25%, Glitch slowed as he came over the top and cast healing aura and froze. There were mice everywhere. Dead, alive, and one massive ball with dead mice flying out of it. Realizing what was going on, Glitch charged to the ball and instantly cast lightning nova sending mice flying. Grabbing the bloody Sassy he cast heal on her twice before letting loose another lightning nova and sprinting to escape the horde of mice.

  Once back at the Grove after chain casting heal to top Sassy off, Glitch had to ask, “Care to explain why you would attack a horde of mice?”

  “I didn’t. I caught one for breakfast. Then I saw another and after I killed that one I saw another which led me to another and then another then suddenly they were all around me.”

  “Ah… I see. Even the mice are getting smarter but why were there so many?”

  Grove appeared on the nearest tree. “Sorry for eavesdropping, but my curiosity got the better of me when you went flying out of the Grove with no gear and came back so quickly. You are right. The native species are going to be developing extremely quickly. They will still be aggressive as they feel the system pushing them to grow, but they will start using basic tactics and abilities beyond what they were capable of before integration. Horde tactics can be quite dangerous no matter the size of the individual creature.”

  “As to why there were so many… the most likely explanation is a very lucky nest of mice. They must have discovered a natural resource or combination of resources that increase birth rates and growth rates. I recommend you eliminate the horde and gather all the magical resources near their nest. I must insist that you do not consume any of the resources that you find until you have acquired at least a few female human companions.”

  “What are you saying Grovey Baby? I’m not your type?”

  “Not in the slightest.”

  “Aww. Come on baby. Don’t knock…” Glitch suddenly cut off what he was about to say as two very sharp looking roots popped out of the ground and stopped just millimeters from his eyeballs. “Oh well. I’m not a fan of splinters anyway. You get rested, Sassy. I’ll gear up.” He said while tossing her a couple pieces of venison jerky that had been quickly dipped in the stamina fountain the night before.

  After carefully removing his new boots, pants, shirt, and his improved staff from the mana fountain. He hung them in the breeze by the vines he had attached to dip them in the fountains in order to give the concentrated mana time to evaporate.

  Getting dressed, he saw that the boots and pants had gained affixes giving small boosts to mana, vitality, stamina, and spirit while the shirt and weapon had gained increased regeneration. He also received a notification that his Bound Indestructible Iron Bolt staff was now a unique weapon. He named his new weapon Inevitable and its melee damage was now significantly higher with the added weight and pointy bits.

  Sassy was still looking a bit worn out. “Why don’t you sit this one out Sassy. Maybe talk to Grove about which elemental companion skills I can pick up that might let you gain crowd control and escape abilities then go jumping around the grove to see if you can add a few feet to your leaping ability.”

  Glitch placed one of the skill points he had earned from leveling up his Healer class into poison bolt and the other into an herbalist passive skill that highlighted magical resources. He then headed back to the scene of Sassy’s near demise. As soon as he left the grove, he began seeing mice shuffling around the underbrush which he picked off one by one using poison bolt while chewing mana jerky.

  After a few minutes the mice had apparently got the word out and he began seeing only individual mice leading him back near the hillside he had rescued Sassy on. Pausing as images of flying mice bombarding him with poison darts crossed his mind, Glitch shook his head and with a semi-confident “Fuck it.” continued following the mouse targets towards the obvious trap.

  As soon as Glitch saw the horde of mice charging in from all directions, he immediately cast Blizzard 75 meters out in each direction and popped a sap encapsulated drop of mana diluted in water and pulled out more mana jerky while swatting away the few unlucky mice that made it to him.

  A minute later when the blizzard died down, there were no live mice to be found. “And now the not fun begins.” As Glitch slowly began systematically searching the area for mouse nests and whatever resources were allowing them to become such a threat. Storing his staff and pulling out his multi-form tool, Glitch began probing suspicious spots and into thicker foliage.

  Working his way over the next raise, he spotted the first glow. Carefully he moved leaves away from 3 mushrooms that were glowing. Identify only listed them as having healing properties, but he picked them and stored them in his inventory knowing they probably weren’t what he was looking for. “And the fun continues.”

  A few minutes later Glitch found what he was looking for. Fruitful berries. Raspberries that boosted birth rates. After storing all the berries, He meticulously cut down the small briar patch and dug up the roots and burnt it all before continuing his search.

  Moments later he found the nest, or rather it found him and a lightning nova when mice started boiling out of the ground. Digging down about a foot, Glitch found the actual nest and a small green crystal that identified as a growth booster.

  “Sassy, you feeling better?”

  “Yes. Are you done?”

  “Yeah. Want to come start looting while I finish my search? The materials aren’t going to be worth much, but sooner or later we’re going to need all the credits we can get.”

  “Sure. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Walking in a spiral from the nest out, Glitch looted corpses and gathered resources finding a few herbs that identified as alchemical ingredients. After getting about 200 meters from the nest, Glitch got bored and headed back to the area Sassy was looting.

  “Servant. I have something for you. You may pet me to show your appreciation.” Sassy said as she transferred him a brass ring giving +5 to strength.

  “Cool. My first bling. Thanks Sas. Guess this answers the question of whether the system gives items in loot.”

  OOOoooOOOooo

  “And that is our queue to exit stage left. I don’t feel like trying our luck against a wolf pack.”

  Return of the Pack

  The next couple of days went as planned: physical training in the morning, moving out to a new area to hunt, and returning in the evening to craft. Day 3 was a different story…

  A couple hours into the hunt, Glitch paused after looting his latest kill. All day long it had felt like something was watching him. However, he hadn’t spotted a single thing. It had been eerily quiet and all the game seemed to be moving away from them forcing them to search further to find the next prey. Sassy had stayed a little closer trying to avoid missing anything hiding in the low areas between hills.

  “Sassy. I’ve got a bad feeling. How about we move in and try the other side of the grove.”

  “Works for me. I’ve had a bad feeling. Something is hunting us.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Moving quickly back towards the trees and brush closer to the grove. A flash of grey fur in the woodline told Glitch they might be in trouble.

  “Sassy, it’s a wolf. I don’t know if he can one shot you or not, but let’s not take any chances. Get invisible and stay there.”

  “Odds are pretty slim it’s just one wolf.”

  “Exactly, when they hit us, I’m charging straight through. Get back to the grove when you hear my lightning nova. If I go down, good luck.” This is going to suck. Feet don’t fail me now.

  About 20 meters from the woodline 3 wolves came growling out in front of them and 5 wolves popped up over the hills to the right and left. When the lead wolf let out a howl that was answered by howls all around them.

  Having seen enough, Glitch charged the woodline and cast blizzard in front of them. As the front line of wolves jumped to attack, he released lightning nova clearing a path…straight into a shitload more wolves. Every tree and bush had a wolf step out beside it. Sticking to the plan, Glitch charged straight ahead reaching the next wolf in a blink of the eye batting it to the side with the hefty end of his staff then released another lightning nova blasting back the wolves to his side only to be hit square in the chest by a wolf with the luck to be just outside of the range of the nova.

  Pushed back out of the woodline and wolves surrounding him, he had no choice but to nova, swing, poke, dodge, charge over and over again as he continued to get pushed back further and further away from the woodline. Realizing he was running out of mana, he began saving his nova for when a wolf would get a good hold on him…which of course led to more wolves getting a hold on him.

  Suddenly the loudest howl he had ever heard rang out and the wolves that were able to, began pulling away. The largest wolf he had ever seen stood on top of the tallest hill behind him. “Iron Bolt it is then” Glitch started to pull his staff up to aim when 10 more oversized wolves crested the hill but didn’t charge. Popping a health capsule and some mana jerky in to recover what he could. Glitch squinted to trigger his aiming skills just in case .

  The beast and his friends just continued to stand there so Glitch took a chance and began tossing some jerky near the most critically wounded wolves. The biggest wolf took a step forward, but stopped when he saw the nearest wolf snatch up the jerky before getting up and stumbling off. Glitch waved at the boss wolf and began moving around giving jerky to conscious wolves and breaking capsules in the mouths of the unconscious wolves and over their wounds.

  “Tell your boss that I will not hunt wolves if they do not hunt me and have him send someone to talk to me if he’d like a safe place for his young and more strength for the pack.” Glitch announced hoping that one of them would have high enough intelligence to understand with the help of his animal communication skill that he had picked up in case it helped find new companions.

  “We’ll see two legs.” a deep voice rumbled in his mind. “For now we will not hunt you again. You are too strong to make it wise.”

  Big guy has good hearing I guess. “Sounds good, big guy. Glad to get this out of the way. Come talk if you need anything.” Glitch said as he slowly hobbled back to the grove.

  Another long howl rang out and the large wolves moved down to check on the wounded wolves. “Thank you for helping those you could human.”

  Back at The Grove

  “Grove! Help him. The wolves will kill him.” Sassy cried out desperately.

  “I can not, little one. I can only guard the grove.”

  “Shit, shit, shit.” Sassy hissed as she looked from Grove back to the direction she came from. “Time to use some of those 9 lives.” She thought before bolting back towards where she sensed Glitch.

  Slowing for maximum stealth to move from shadow to shadow, Sassy tried to get into position to help Glitch if possible. However, there were too many wolves. She struggled to get anywhere without exposing herself. Suddenly a howl rang out stopping all the wolves before they began trotting off.

  Is he dead? No I still sense him. What is going on? Sassy hurried forward to check on Glitch. Just short of the edge of the woodline, she finally spotted him walking slowly towards her.

  “Glitch! You’re alive.” She shouted as she jumped into his arms rubbing her head against his chest. “Pet me. Pet me.”

  “Sassy what are you still doing here? You should be back at the Grove.”

  “Grove couldn’t help so I had to see what I could do.”

  “Nice to know you care sas. But you should have stayed safe. There was no reason for both of us to die.”

  “A queen has to take care of her servants. How did you survive?”

  “The pack leader was an enormous wolf and he decided it wasn’t worth it to finish me off. We’ve got a truce for now, so no hunting wolves. We might become friends, so be nice if you get a chance to interact with them. Come on. Let’s get back to the Grove. I’m beat.”

  “Welcome back Glitch. I see you survived.” Grove appeared as they reentered the grove.

  “Hey Grove, if I make friends with the wolves can you let them into the grove?”

  “Sure, but if they attack any humans, I will have to attack them.”

  “So we’ll need to have a plan to keep other humans out of the grove and to protect the wolves while they are here.” The rest of the day was spent recovering and restocking his consumables.

  On With the Grind

  The battle with the wolves was a real eye opener for Glitch proving beyond a doubt that he wasn’t OP yet. So he and Sassy pushed themselves harder than ever. Physical training in the morning with Sassy flying from tree limb to tree limb like a flying squirrel and Glitch filling his inventory with river rocks prior to running around with a boulder in his arms.

  After PT, Glitch and Sassy would head out to hunt. There seemed to be wolves around them at all times while hunting. At first it was one or two showing themselves at a distance or a large group appearing suddenly around a nearby hill. They appeared cautious at first, but seemed to relax over time when it became apparent that Glitch and Sassy were not going to attack them, so Glitch would just wave and continue on his way.

  A small dark wolf, which Glitch took to calling Bandit, seemed to take pleasure in trying to pop out of stealth as close to Sassy as possible causing her to jump and Bandit and Glitch to share a smile every time. Getting such a chuckle out of Bandit’s antics, Glitch began leaving small amounts of any meat they looted after a kill. Figuring it worth it because there was no way in hell they would be getting any kills if the wolves decided to stop them.

  Glitch used his skill points to pick out every elemental companion ability, but Grove had told them it would be several levels before Sassy would have a chance to pick up crowd control or escape skills. He also picked up a few more utility spells to clean and maintain his gear and himself as well.

  One morning as Glitch and Sassy moved into the sparsely covered hillside, he spotted Bandit apparently sleeping next to a larger grey wolf. Glitch waved to the alert wolf and put a finger to his mouth before pointing at Bandit and making a walking motion with his fingers. The wolf nodded its head with a smile, probably familiar with Bandit’s antics. Glitch and Sassy dropped into stealth and maneuvered towards the sleeping brat of a wolf.

  Glitch had almost reached him when Bandit turned towards him and sent, “Too stinky to sneak hu….oooaaaay” Bandit jumped to his feet and spun when Sassy appeared out of nowhere to slap his backside. The other wolf began shaking and huffing before falling on its side in what Glitch interpreted as LMAO in wolf.

  “You were saying?” Sassy proudly asked while sauntering her way over to Glitch to bump her paw against his lowered fist.

  Later that day disaster struck. While looting a mountain lion, Glitch was killed by a single strike from an invisible enemy. Sassy was on overwatch but saw nothing besides Glitch dropping and disappearing while feeling her bond break. Sassy stood in frozen shock. How can this be?

  Suddenly a howling Bandit came running over the next hill. “Run Little Cat! The pack comes, but death will find us if we stay here.”

  “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

  “Run. Glitch would want you to live.” Bandit gently pushed her towards the woodline as other wolves began appearing around them.

  Slowly Sassy began running towards the woodline picking up her pace as Bandit urged her along and the pack formed slowly around them. A group of enormous wolves ran up next to them. The largest, easily 3 times the size of Bandit, slowed his pace and moved next to him.

  “Was it the invisible death, son?”

  “Yes sir. I couldn’t see it even when it attacked and barely caught its scent.”

  “Little Cat. I am sorry, but you are pack now if you wish to stay with us.”

  Sassy nodded her head to the large wolf before suddenly stumbling and tumbling to a sudden stop. All the wolves came to a snarling halt turning to find whatever had attacked the nimble cat.

  “He’s alive. The bond is back. Glitch is in the grove.” And she was gone. Moving faster than the wolves could track, she left them standing in confusion.

  Reboot

  Blackness. Then a flashing error message followed by “Rebooting…Rebooting data…” And Glitch opened his eyes back in his cave. I’m back. Guess there is a softcore mode. Sassy? Bind Sassy. BInd Sassy. SYSTEM BIND SASSY. Glitch let out a sigh of relief when her icon popped up in the upper left of his vision.

  “Glitch. How did you get back in the cave without me seeing you?” Grove asked from outside.

  “I died and got rebooted.” Glitch nonchalantly replied.

  “That’s impossible.”

  “I was dead and now I’m here. Are you defective? Did you get hit in the head while I was out?”

  “Smartass. That is not possible with the system. You don’t come back after you die unless you are resurrected.”

  “I figured. Everything went black then an error message flashed and it said rebooting.” Pulling up his status, “Shit. Lost my levels on my classes and skills. All that xp gone.”

  “It is a setback for sure, but it has only been a week and if you are more careful it will not matter in the long run.”

  Laughing Glitch responded. “No I won’t.”

  “Won’t what?”

  “Be careful. I lost the levels but kept the stats and even though Blizzard is at Level zero it still does .19 times spell damage per second and slows by 56%. All of the skills appear to have the same values as when I died despite being back at Level 0. I’m even more OP than you thought.”

  Sassy came charging into the grove and froze about 10 feet away. “Glitch. How? You died. The bond broke.”

  “I don’t know for sure Sas. The system had an error and rebooted me.”

  “Glitch there are hundreds of wolves. At the edge of the grove.”

  “They made sure I made it back. They said the invisible death got you. They don’t know what it is, but its stealth is ridiculously high and it’s really strong. They rarely can even smell it, but they don’t recognise it when they can. The big one said I was pack now.”

  “I should go talk to them. I’ll be back in a second.” Glitch said as he walked towards the edge of the grove.

  “Otherside Glitch.”

  “Thanks Groot.”

  Upon reaching the edge of the grove, Glitch saw a wolf staring at him. “Is the big guy around?” The wolf dropped its head once and started walking away looking back to make sure Glitch was following. “Right behind you buddy.”

  Seconds later they came across the big guy and his group of oversized wolves. “Human, the cat was right. How are you alive?” The deep voice boomed in his mind.

  “Not certain. The Grove Guardian says the system made an error with me. Apparently it made a bigger mistake than we realized and it doesn’t know what to do when I die and it sends me back to the grove when I die.”

  “Who is this Grove Guardian?”

  “He is an extremely powerful being that was placed here to help humans integrate into the system.”

  “Great power? He must be the danger we feel coming from that place.”

  “I’ve talked to him and if we can reach an agreement he can allow wolves into the grove where they will be safe. I thought you might want to keep your young there.”

  “What kind of an agreement? What do you want from the pack?”

  “Let me know if humans approach the grove and warn any wolves in the grove they are coming so they can leave. Grove cannot allow you to harm humans in the grove even if they attack you and he cannot protect you from them. Outside the grove, I will need a promise you will not attack humans when you can avoid it. When the integration ends, we will be invaded and will need everyone we can save to fight them. It is my goal to make as many humans as possible strong enough to survive. Part of my Glitch has given me skills that allow me to give my allies a stat boost based on how strong I am and how much I am able to level those skills. I should not have reached a level to obtain those skills for hundreds of years.”

  “Can you share this boost with the pack?”

  “I think I can if I assign you as scouts.”

  “Show me on the one you call Bandit. Silly pup actually likes that name.”

  Bandit walked up and looked at Glitch tentatively.

  “One second. Never done this before.” Glitch said as he moved back towards the grove. “Hey Grove. How do I assign someone as a scout?”

  “Assign Name Scout. I’d suggest making their leader as a Scout Captain and he can assign Scout Lieutenants, Scout Leaders, and Scout Sergeants. List assigned scouts will show you who is currently assigned.”

  “Good idea. Thanks Grove.” Glitch said before heading back to the wolves.

  “All right Bandit. You ready?”

  “I guess.”

  “Assign Scout Bandit.” List assigned scouts…Nothing…Oh….”What is your real name Bandit?”

  “It’s Bandit”

  “No it isn’t. That’s just what I call you.”

  “My real name is stupid.”

  “His real name is Stumbles.” The deep voice rumbled.

  “No wonder you prefer Bandit. Assign scout Stumbles.” List assigned scouts. Seeing Stumbles listed, Glitch said, “Sorry. It says I cannot assign clumsy scouts.”

  “Liar. My stats went up. Wow. That’s just part of your stats?”

  “Yep. Just wait until we level up some more. But I must say, I can’t wait to tell Sassy your real name.”

  “Nooooo!!!!.”

  “That’s enough pup. Thank you. Now I must talk to the human.” Big guy said with a nod to Bandit. “I saw his stats. You can do this for all of us?”

  “Even better. I can assign you Scout Captain and you can assign them as well as assign Scout Leaders and Scout Sergeants.”

  “What will the scout leaders and sergeants do?”

  “Sergeants are responsible for making sure your orders are carried out. I’d recommend one sergeant for every 5 or 6 scouts. Leaders would oversee 5 or so Sergeants. Your Lieutenants can oversee 5 or so Leaders.”

  “I like this. We often work in small groups and at times it can be quite hectic for me. I would like to be a Scout Captain. My name is Black Claw.”

  “Assign Scout Captain Black Claw.” List assigned scout captains. “It worked. If you move anybody into the grove, make sure they know the rules…oh and don’t harm the big trees and make sure no one enters the cave. There is some dangerous stuff in there. I can show you the cave when we have the chance”

  “Thank you human. How will we let you know if any humans approach?”

  “For now can we add a wolf to my party for hunts and as soon as I can, I’ll get a communication skill that lets you speak to me from anywhere.”

  “Bandit. Would you like to hunt with the human and the cat?”

  “Yes sir.”

  Throwing some hides on the ground, Glitch instructed Bandit, “Touch those and think store.” Bandit did as asked and the hides disappeared. “Now think Inventory and focus on the hides and think drop.” The hides reappeared. “Black Claw, when you hunt, touch your prey and think loot. Hides, meat, items, and credits will be stored in your inventory. Think inventory when you want something from it. I will show you and some of your wiser wolves how to store your items in the cave. The stuff you don’t want I think you will eventually be able to trade with humans for stuff you want once I start getting everything set up.”

  “You are full of surprises, human.”

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet, pal. Here take this and wait here for a couple minutes. I wish to thank the pack for helping Sassy when I went down.” Glitch emptied all the meat from his inventory and headed back to the cave for more meat.

  Once back Glitch asked, “So sas says you have no idea what killed me?” while dropping the meat from his inventory.

  “No. We call it invisible death because it can attack from stealth. It is very powerful. We sense great danger from it.” Black Claw said with a shake of his head.

  “I’ve got an idea how to deal with it, but I’ll need to be stronger. Send a few wolves back in the morning. I have something else I think I can do for the pack.”

  “We will stay close tonight and I will be back in the morning. I am curious to see what you have.”

  “Pick up those hides, pack mule. We need to pump you up.” Glitch said to Bandit as he turned to head back to the grove. A confused Bandit did as told and followed Glitch.

  Back at the camp

  “Grove. I’ve made an agreement with the wolves. They understand the rules. Can I bring Bandit into the grove?”

  “Yes, Glitch. Will other wolves be coming?”

  “Eventually. Their leader is Black Claw. I’m meeting him again in the morning. I’ll let him know they can now enter the Grove. We have a plan to warn wolves in the Grove if humans come and also let me know. That is why Bandit will be with us for a while.”

  “Thank you for letting me know Glitch. I will allow the wolves access. Did you remember to warn them about the fountains?”

  “Yes and I’ll make sure Bandit understands not to touch the glowing liquids in the cave. I need to have a talk with Bandit and I’ve got some crafting to do unless you need anything.”

  “Bandit, there is a cave on the north side of the Grove. There are fountains of pure condensed mana, stamina, spirit, and health in there. Do not touch the glowing liquid. It will kill you. We are not strong enough yet to withstand direct contact. Come along, I’ll show you the fountains and also something really cool.”

  “Okay. Glitch, can you explain to me what ‘pump you up’ means.” Bandit asked while they were walking to the cave.”

  “It means to make you stronger. Carrying heavy weight for long periods of time will earn you more strength and stamina. Doing something that requires a lot of balance and quick movements will increase your agility. As you get stronger you have to do more to improve, but you also get stronger so you can do more. I think of it as earning experience for stats. Sassy and I exercise every morning if we can. Every little bit helps. If you want, you can ask Sassy to run you through some agility drills just don’t let her talk you into climbing trees. Or you can go load your inventory up with river rocks and run around.”

  “Is this a joke?”

  “Not at all bud. But before you sneak out of sight to try it, let me take care of something.” assign companion bandit. “Making you a companion will give you a bigger boost to stats than just being assigned as a scout. Sassy and I have leveled that skill a few times.” bind bandit. “It’s up to you, but I would like to bind you so if you die I can recall you 8 hours later.”

  “What are the drawbacks?”

  “None that I know of other than you can’t attack me.”

  Do I have to stay close to you when you smell bad?”

  “As far as I can tell, Sassy can go wherever she wants. Next time she’s teasing you ask her about when the mice kicked her ass.” Reaching the cave entrance, Glitch continued. “This is the cave. The fountains are in the rooms that are glowing. Do me a favor and just don’t go in there. Now down this tunnel is the cool thing I wanted to show you. Touch the glowing rock and think, store hides.”

  “It’s like my inventory you showed us.”

  “Exactly. Only you can access what you put in there. It’s stationary and seems to have unlimited space. I suggest Black Claw pick a few wolves we can trust and show them how to use it. It will keep meat fresh plus you won’t have to haul around any items you loot until you are ready to trade them.”

  “Now I’ve got a ton of crafting to do. Touch the rock again and think withdraw hides. Then you can go play with rocks. Ask Sassy what to do when you want to work on agility.” Glitch drew out his multi form tool and began working.

  First he fashioned a large collar and used sap to attach some strips of thicker hide for protection and teeth and claws pointing out to give that all important pointyness. Once he had a small pile he took them out to the fire to cure the sap so he could soak them in the fountains.

  “Glitch. It worked. I gained 1 strength.”

  “Did you doubt?”

  “Who me? Not at all.”

  “Don’t forget to work on agility also. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Working through the night, He felt he had almost enough pointy collars finished for the pack by the time the sun came up. “Bandit. Sassy. Get up, you lazy bums.” He called while walking to the mouth of the cave to find Bandit. “Come here Bandit. I’ve got something for you.” he said while pulling out one of the smaller collars.

  “It gives me stats. Thanks Glitch.” Bandit said as Glitch finished lacing his collar onto his neck.

  “Do you think the pack will like these?”

  “I think the pack would roll in shit if it gave them stats.” Bandit answered while trying to twist around to examine the collar.

  “Where’s my collar?” Sassy asked as she joined them.

  “I didn’t think it would do someone as small as you as much good, but if you want one I’ll be happy to make you one tonight.”

  “Well I am part of the pack, so yes. I would like a collar.”

  “Your wish is my command. Now let's go see Black Claw.”

  Later at the edge of the Grove

  “What is that on your neck young pup?” Black Claw asked upon seeing Bandit.

  “Glitch made it for me. It gives me stats.” Bandit answered while puffing his chest out in pride.

  “I’ve made more. Would you like to try one?” Glitch asked while pulling a much larger collar lined with rabbit fur out of his inventory.

  “It gives stats? I would like to try one. How many do you have?” Black Claw answered while stepping closer to Glitch.

  “One hundred sixty seven, but I can make more if we need them.” Glitch laced the collar making sure it was not too tight. Once finished Black Claw stood still for a second then let out a long howl and looked around at the largest wolves who then howled and ran off.

  “This is a great gift, Glitch. Please give my lieutenants a few moments to get everyone organized.” Black Claw said as groups of wolves began forming around them.

  “I have another gift and a favor to ask.” Glitch said while pulling health jerky out of his inventory. “Chewing this jerky will help recover health. I do not have enough for everybody, but I thought your sergeants could carry some in their inventory. The favor I ask is to help me find a way out of the valley to find nearby human settlements. I thought maybe your scouts could go into the hills to try and find a pass through the mountains. If this is possible, I would be happy to trade them meat from my hunts for their service.”

  “You have done so much for the pack that no trade is necessary. We will always have plenty of meat now that you have shown us how to loot and use our inventories.” Black Claw bowed his head as the wolves began filing by to receive their collars. He identified the sergeants as they came through in order for Glitch to issue the health jerky.

  The Team Grows

  Once finished, Glitch informed Black Claw that he would be hunting the hills on the other side of the Grove to avoid the invisible death. “The pack is welcome in the Grove. Meet me at the cave in the north in the morning for the rest of the collars and more health jerky. It is time for us to grow strong and put an end to the invisible death.”

  The hunting that day was uneventful, taking down predators and small groups of prey. Glitch constantly reminded Bandit and Sassy to be prepared to return to the Grove as fast as possible if anything happened to him, but his warnings were unnecessary. All of them gained levels and Glitch began picking up skills to increase his physical resistance, novas of other elements, lightning and frost shields to stun and slow attackers, and skills to allow him to sense stealthed enemies in close proximity and a druid skill to sense life. Getting a share of the packs xp was really paying off quickly.

  In a good mood, Glitch decided to call it a day and get some crafting done. However, once they entered the woodline at the edge of the hills, Bandit froze. “Glitch there is death ahead.”

  “Spread out. Stay at least 20 feet away from me. I don’t want either of you caught in the fight if it is the invisible death.” Moving slowly and maximizing stealth, Glitch crept forward until he spotted the carcass. An enormous tiger nearly twice the size of Black Claw lying on its side with no visible wounds except where it appeared meat had been eaten by something even larger. “I don’t want to meet whatever killed that.”

  “I think you already have.” Sassy said when she approached. As she came around the tiger, she froze and disappeared in stealth, then reappeared. “Glitch, it's a baby. Help it.”

  “There is no way that was a baby Sassy. It’s huge.”

  “Not that. This.” Sassy gestured behind the tiger’s head with her paw and Glitch walked around to see what she was pointing at. Sure enough. It was a tiger cub. Barely larger than Sassy, it appeared unconscious. Pulling water out of his inventory, he dribbled some in the cub’s mouth. After a few drops, it began to lick and swallow the water. He then broke a health and stamina capsule into his water pouch and continued to slowly dribble water into the cub's mouth.

  As the cub became more alert, he began chewing some health jerky to soften it and fed small bits of it to the cub. When the cub’s hunger seemed satiated, he gently picked up the cub and led Sassy and Bandit back to the Grove where Sassy and a pair of female wolves watched over the sleeping cub and Glitch finished the collars and made health jerky before going to sleep.

  In the morning, Glitch went out to check on the cub before meeting with Black Claw. Finding Sassy and a few wolves still watching over the little one, he was happy to see the cub awake and exploring his new home. Startled at Glitch’s sudden appearance, it froze until Glitch sat down next to Sassy and offered her and the wolves meat from his inventory. Sensing no hostility, the young cat cautiously moved up to Glitch and shyly pawed at his pants leg.

  “Would you like some breakfast, Stripes?” Glitch asked while tearing up some small chunks for the tiger and watching it quickly devour the meat. Once the cub had its fill, Glitch scratched its ears and asked, “Would you like to join our band of misfits?” the cubs head jerked back in surprise when the invite to become a companion apparently popped up. Hesitantly, she looked Glitch in the eyes searchingly before making up her mind.

  An unnamed female tiger cub has become your companion. Would you like to name the cub?

  “Hey Sassy, what should we name the cub?”

  “Little Sassy, of course.”

  “Little? I bet she already weighs more than you. How about Toni or Tonya?”

  “Tonya would be okay I guess. I suppose naming her Little Sassy would be a lot of pressure to put on a young cub.”

  “Tonya sounds nice.” a small voice said.

  “Oh. Sorry little one. I should have asked you. I forgot being a companion would raise your stats enough to understand us. So you want to be Tonya?”

  “Yes.” came the shy reply.

  “There is one other thing we need to talk about Tonya. If I make you a bound companion, I could resummon you. This will help keep you safe until you are strong and then I can release you if you would like to go your own way or you can stay with us if you like. You don’t have to decide now, we’ll keep you safe in the grove for a while. You can take your time to decide.”

  “I have no one else.” Tonya sadly said, “I accept.”

  “Don’t worry little one. You are pack now. We will make sure you live to become the strongest of us all.” Black Claw’s deep voice rumbled as he walked up with a group of uncollared wolves who stopped a short distance off.

  “Good to see you Black Claw. Did Bandit tell you what we found yesterday?” Glitch asked while pulling out health jerky and collars.

  “Yes. We get stronger every day, but cannot set eye on the invisible one. We only know he’s there by the prey we find and a brief scent is occasionally reported.”

  “I should be strong enough to handle him soon, so maybe he’ll take another stab at me soon.” pausing in thought for a second, Black Claw could practically see the light bulb turn on above Glitch’s head. “I just had an idea on how to train my defenses. Come over here and take a swat at me. Make it a light one at first and we’ll see how it goes.” Glitch said, as he walked a short distance away.

  A confused Black Claw tilted his head and looked at Glitch like he had just grown a second head, then seemed to shrug his shoulders and followed Glitch to the small clearing. Glitch took a deep breath and nodded to Black Claw who raised his paw to take a light swipe at the crazy human. But as he swung, his paw smacked against a shield of roots that rose between himself and Glitch.

  “Gentlemen, you are lucky I was listening and knew what you were doing, but in the future please confirm that I am aware of your intentions. My automated responses are quite sudden and very brutal and we do not want any accidents if I am not actively watching.” Grove scolded as he appeared on a nearby tree.

  The stoic Black Claw looked utterly terrified at the realization of what could have happened and Glitch cursed, “Shit, sorry guys. I really blew it that time. Thanks for catching that Grove.”

  “Just looking out for my self interest. This great pack could provide quite a boost to my experience gains now that they are friends of the grove. Speaking of that, I assumed you wished to declare the mighty Tonya as a friend of the Grove?”

  Angry at himself for making such potentially deadly mistakes, Glitch said, “Yes. Grove. I need to get my head out of my ass, don’t I. Once again I owe you.”

  “That is fine Glitch, I am no longer a young being and have learned to pay special attention to the more … defective.. individuals I interact with. Besides, you will soon be able to do something far greater for me than I will ever be able to do for you. I have begun accumulating acorns and soon you will be able to assist me in growing the Grove. Particularly in the direction of the human settlements.”

  “Now as to your training plan. You will be able to survive a 100% strike from Black Claw as long as you do not have an unlucky landing, but I recommend using 50% strikes for efficiency. You should be able to take 5 strikes at that level before risking an unlucky death. If you are chewing your health jerky, you should be able to maintain your health at one 50% strike every 10 seconds. And yes Black Claw, I can practically hear your gears turning. This will work for you also. In this case, Two 50% open handed strikes to the shoulder or flank per 10 seconds will be optimal. And yes, just tell your wolves to attract my attention by focusing their communication on one of the grove trees and I will optimize their training for them.”

  “Groves Gym is open for business.” Glitch shadowboxed around Black Claw before slapping him hard on one shoulder and dodging around to slap him hard on the other before being sent flying by a paw to his forehead.”

  “Black Claw that was closer to 85% then 50%. A little softer next time. However, hitting him in the head did help prevent anything important from being injured.” Grove spoke up.

  “Oh. My bad.” Black Claw said with a suspicious looking smile, while Glitch scraped himself off the tree that had stopped his flight. A few minutes later, quite a crowd had gathered to watch Glitch dancing around slapping Black Claw before being sent flying by a casual slap from the giant wolf. The crowd began thinning as wolves paired up and moved off to another section of the Grove once Bandit asked Sassy what the “big goofballs” were doing and he spread the word. And Sassy left with Tonya, a couple wolves, and some of the older pups to play what appeared to be a very aggressive combination of hide and seek and tag. Grove disappeared with a huge smile on his face as he daydreamed a bit about the xp these insane monsters would bring him.

  About an hour later, Glitch cleansed and healed himself and Black Claw before tracking down Sassy sitting near the exhausted pups and Tonya. “Got something for you Sas. Did you think I forgot?” He said after pulling a small black collar lined with mouse fur out of his inventory and attached it around her neck. “I made it out of some snake skin which came with some poison resistance.” Sassy thanked him and they agreed she should stay with Tonya for the day while Bandit and he prepared to go hunting. Later that day Glitch and a struggling Bandit whose inventory was loaded down with the various loot they had acquired returned to the grove.

  After unloading Bandit, Glitch grabbed the stealth buffing boots and blunt damage absorbing pauldrons they had looted and headed in to begin soaking them in the fountains. A brief consultation with Grove gave Glitch a better idea of how long to soak the leather and metal items to maximize the gain from the affixes. He also started pulling the handful of daggers, swords, and hammers he had in his storage to begin soaking them. He would never use them, but he would definitely be willing to trade or sell once he made contact with humans.

  The next few days went pretty much the same except for everyone becoming more creative in their training by adding weights to inventories, balancing on stones, or running “the loop”, Sassy’s evil creation for improving the stamina and speed and dodging of the youngsters. The loop was basically a high speed obstacle course weaving around the grove in which the last cub/pup in the line would have to sprint to the front of the file without leaving the narrow course, while each one they passed tried to strike them.

  Glitch was able to loot a leather cap that increased his awareness that he modified with the tried and true combination of sap, teeth, and strips of heavier hide to increase damage prevention, coverage of his neck, and add the all important pointyness leaving him with a stiff leather cap that Sassy insisted he name his “Crown of Teeth.”

  After donning his crown, Glitch took Bandit out for another day of hunting and Sassy gathered up Tonya and the largest cubs to go hunting small game just outside the Groves boundaries under the careful oversight of several wolves.

  A few hours later after taking down a small group of cattle grazing the high ground between the hills and the actual mountain, Glitch and Bandit turned to work their way back to the Grove on a slightly different path than they had exited when a few minutes later, Bandit reported smelling death again off to the side.

  “Same as before, Bandit. Alert the nearby pack. Keep deep in stealth and take off for the Grove if anything happens to me.” Soon the smell became strong enough for even Glitch to pick it up and they shortly after found its source. Three dead lionesses and a massive male even bigger than Tonya’s mother. Disappointed in finding 2 dead cubs, Glitch’s spirits rose when Bandit found one still breathing weakly a short distance away. He quickly mixed up a highly diluted health and stamina potion to revive the cub.

  After an hour of dribbling the potion into the cubs mouth while pack members pulled security and searched the surrounding area, the cub began showing some life and Glitch began feeding it health jerky he had chewed to a soft mush. Once the cub had eaten its fill and was deeply asleep, Glitch carefully picked it up and was escorted by Bandit and the others back to the Grove.

  “Bringing in a lion cub Grove.”

  “I suppose we will soon have a bear cub joining. Oh my.” Grove responded. “I’ll alert Sassy and the wolves in the nursery you’re bringing him in and add him as a friend of the grove.”

  “Thank you, Grove.” Sassy and Tonya soon came running up. Tonya, excited to see her little brother, took one look at Sassy gently licking him and announced, “He’s so little and ugly. He’ll never be as good as me.” and headed back to play with the pups.

  “Definitely won’t be any sibling rivalry at all.” Glitch said as he began filtering for passive skills to pick up to increase damage resistance, toughness, and anything else that might help him survive the initial attack from the invisible death. Not wanting to waste skill points on leveling up skills when his xp multipliers had them leveling up fast as it was.

  After an evening of crafting and a morning of getting swatted by Black Claw, Glitch took Bandit and Tonya out to hunt. At nearly twice the size of Sassy, Glitch felt she had her stamina and stealth sufficiently high to not be a problem and he wanted to begin showing her how they worked and see how she did in the field.

  Explaining to Tonya how the team worked with Bandit and Tonya pulling security for him during movements and looting with explicit instruction to not engage and what to do if he went down. Tonya followed instruction well and stealth came natural to her. Her senses were strong and she was finding nearly as much prey as Bandit once she became comfortable.

  They were working their way through a lightly forested hill not far from the Grove when suddenly he felt a presence behind him. Diving to his right he blasted out lightning nova, frost nova, and fire nova as quick as he could, but still caught a solid blow to his back. Rolling over he had just enough time to see white fur and an enormous black paw descending towards his head before the lights went out.

  Error…Rebooting…Rebooting

  And back at the cave. “A fucking polar bear. How the fuck does a polar bear hide in the woods?” Glitch was finally able to yell out at the insanity of what he saw. “It’s fucking white. It should stick out like a sore thumb.”

  “Camouflage helps stealth, but a high enough stealth level would allow you to hide in a glowing green suit in front of a black screen.” Grove answered from outside.

  “It’s still bullshit.” Glitch, still not happy with the explanation, fumed for a while. ‘ Does a bear shit in the woods? Apparently a polar bear does and he’s invisible when he does it. No fucking sense.” Finally taking a deep breath to calm himself, he decided he should let Black Claw know what he saw. As he pulled up his companion tab, he realized all three were already there and he saw their icons materialize in the upper left of his vision. Didn’t he have to add Sassy last time? He was pretty terrified at the time, maybe it takes a second for the system to add the companions back.

  About that time Tonya came flying into the cave. Apparently she was a little anxious to confirm that he really did return and wanted to see for herself. Bandit trotted in behind her.

  “I’m fine Tonya. You two did well coming back to the grove. Bandit. I saw it. Can you let your dad know it’s a polar bear?” Glitch said, while standing as he headed down to the river to gather some rocks wanting to work on his strength while coming up with a plan.

  Frustrated that he couldn’t come up with a better plan than what he was already doing. At least he had survived the first hit. That was an improvement. Knock back. That might be the key. If he had kept his feet, he might be able to take advantage of the bear slowed by the novas. So he started filtering, picking up knock back resistance, tumbling, and quick feet. Then with a rare moment of brilliance, he searched for mimic skills. It was time to get a new bearskin rug for the cave.

  Wondering how Leo was doing, he headed out to check on the lion cub. After watching him play with the wolf cubs for a while, he called out to Leo who came running over to rub his head against Glitches leg. Assign Companion Leo. Glitch reached down to scratch Leo’s head. When he got the notification that Leo accepted he asked,”Welcome to the team buddy. I’m going to send you an invite to bind you. You don’t have to accept it right now. When you do it means I can resummon you in case something happens to you. I can release you from the bind if you ever want to go out on your own for a while.”

  Leo has accepted the binding. “Glitch, I want to thank you. You didn’t have to help me, but you did. Sassy has told me a lot about you. Black Claw invited me to the pack. I will do my best for you and the pack.”

  “No rush little cub. Train hard and in a few weeks you can begin hunting with me and the gang.”

  Having too much pent up anger and excitement about adding mimic to his polar response, Glitch went to talk to Grove. “Hey Grove, is there a way to use a trigger word to trigger several skills at once?”

  “Yes, Glitch. Create trigger phrase name then add skill name. Once done adding skills, say complete trigger phrase name.”

  “Thanks, Grove.” Glitch responded as he began creating trigger phrase “polar” with all his nova’s, shields, defensive buffs, and mimic. Once done, he asked, “Grove, so what were you going to have me do with those acorns?”

  “Expand the Grove to where I can be in contact with more humans. You can make gallon vessels of skin lined with cured sap to carry the raw mana, stamina, health, and spirit. Place the vessels about 6 inches underground and the acorn about 4 inches above them. Within a couple hours the acorn should have grown into a mature enough tree for me to manifest into and it will be added to the grove as long as it is within 5-10 miles of a grove connection dependent on ambient mana levels where it is planted.”

  “Sounds simple enough. Got any acorns handy. Tomorrow I can begin spreading your influence to the south.”

  “You expect to find a settlement to the south?” Grove asked while 5 acorns materialized at Glitches feet.

  “Black Claw has had the wolves scouting for a passage through the mountains in that direction. I figured it most likely with the grove being located on the north side of the valley.” Grove stowed the acorns and went off to begin crafting the vessels he would need.

  The next morning after PT, Glitch gathered up Bandit and Tonya and went hunting and Groot planting south of the Grove. Having forgotten to ask how many acorns Grove could provide, they went out straight south, planting trees at the appropriate ranges and hunting as they went. This continued for two more days, until on the third day Bandit reported that the wolves had spotted a small herd of enormous elephants moving through the hills to the southeast.

  Black Claw had already begun gathering the pack to keep an eye on the elephants in case they proved to be a threat. As Glitch neared the position of the elephants, he asked Black Claw to meet him. Once together two hills and 400 meters from the elephants, Glitch, Black Claw, Bandit, and Tonya broke stealth and moved to the top of the hill so they would be within sight of the elephants. The pack was spread out around the elephants, but staying out of sight. However, the elephants had definitely sensed them as they had formed a defensive circle with their young in the center.

  Shocked at the size of the biggest ones, Glitch attempted to communicate with the elephants. “Hello, elephants, can any of you understand me?”

  “Keep your distance if you wish to live, human.”

  “Not planning to get any closer. Just wanted to welcome you to Black Claw valley. Do a little show of force. And let you know if you don’t start any trouble we won’t cause any trouble.”

  “Two wolves, a tiger cub, and a human aren’t much of a show of force.”

  Glitch nodded to Black Claw and nearly 200 of the wolves moved within sight of the elephants, broke stealth, and let out a long howl before backing off the hills making it apparent that they did not intend to attack.

  “Okay. I see your strength. You said you wish to welcome us, may we remain in your valley?”

  “It’s actually Black Claw’s valley, but he is fine with you coming and going as you please as long as a few conditions are met.”

  “Do not attack the Black Claw wolves. Do not attack any humans or my companions, the tiger you see here, a young lion, and a smaller black cat. You should soon sense the Grove trees I have planted. Stay away from them until you and your herd are designated as friends of the Grove. They are protected by the most powerful being currently on our planet, the Grove Guardian. He is here to assist humans during our integration to the system and is required to protect his territory from dangers such as yourself. You will sense his presence most strongly at a large grove located on the north side of the valley. On a lesser note, I will ask that you try your best not to damage the groves of fruit trees located on some of the lower hills closer to the grove. Eat as much as you want, but I might find trade for the fruit in the future if the trees survive.”

  “Sounds fair. How can we become friends of the grove?”

  “Just stick to the terms of our agreement and we’ll see what the guardian thinks. Black Claw would like to identify which of his wolves have a high enough intelligence to communicate with you. If you don’t mind he has moved his pack behind us and would like them to approach one at a time to attempt communication. This way if you need anything you can approach any wolf and they will be able to call for a wolf to speak with you.”

  “That is fine, human. We sense danger only in your direction now. Forgive us if we keep our guard up.”

  With that, Black Claw stepped forward and said, “Can you understand me, elephant?” Receiving a nod in return, Black Claw nodded and stepped back calling for the next wolf to try communicating. Feeling confident that the elephants weren’t going to be a problem, Glitch started to head off to the Southwest to continue planting when a thought suddenly struck him.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but have you guys been in the valley this entire time?”

  “No, we just came through a pass in the mountains yesterday. We've been moving in search of a suitable home.”

  “Have you seen any human settlements outside the mountains?”

  “There was a road not far from the entrance to the pass and we sensed a fairly large settlement less than a day's travel to the southwest.”

  “Thanks pal. Let us know if you need anything.” Glitch said as he headed out.

  The next day the wolves were able to locate the passage and the road the elephants had mentioned. Having added the cartography skill already, Glitch was able to see them on his map and began spreading groves network directly toward the exit from the valley.

  Two days after that, Glitch had nearly reached the exit when the Polar Bear made his third appearance. Triggering Polar allowed Glitch to dive to the side without getting struck as the confused bear attacked.one of the mimics as Glitch unloaded an iron bolt into center mass of the bear and his 4 remaining shots as the bear attacked the other two mimics. He then used charge to stick the pointy end of his staff into the side of the heavily wounded bear and began to smash the bear’s skull with the weighted end of his staff but was knocked several feet to the side as the bear collapsed onto its side. Sensing all the fight had left the bear, Glitch popped some health jerky into his mouth and began casting Heal on the bear.

  Seeing the bear's eyes open in surprise. Glitch explained, “I’ll let you leave this battle alive if you promise to never hunt humans, Black Claw wolves, or my companions.”

  A slight nod from the bear confirmed he understood and Glitch continued casting heal while breaking health capsules over some of the worst wounds. He also dropped a large pile of health jerky near the bear's mouth and motioned for him to eat. A few more minutes and casts of healing later, the bear seemed stabilized and he rolled over to his stomach and looked at Glitch thoughtfully.

  “Why human?”

  “This valley is important. Your strength will help protect it. Also, I’ll be leaving this valley soon and I wouldn’t mind having you come help. You are the strongest being we have met outside of some of those elephants that came into the valley yesterday.”

  “What are your plans?”

  “To find humans and help those that join me to become strong enough to survive the dangers of the integration and the invasion that will come after.”

  “Why should I join you?”

  “I am getting stronger quickly and I have skills that will allow me to boost your stats with part of mine. I can also help you get things you want and need.”

  “Okay.”

  “Just like that…okay…Do you have a name?”

  “You let me live. No name.”

  “ How about if I call you Boris?”

  “Boris is fine.”

  Assign companion Boris. Bind Boris. “If you accept the bind, I will be able to resummon you if you die.”

  “Not dying is good. Boris is happy.”

  “So tell me Boris, how did you get so good at stealth?”

  “Small bears hide from big bears. Big bears hide from humans and sneak up on prey. Boris old bear. Lots of hiding and sneaking.”

  “Glitch? You okay?” Sassy asked from somewhere back towards the Grove.

  “Yes. Sassy. Have Bandit call off the wolves and you four can head back here, we’ve still got some trees to plant. The bear is with us now.” Glitch continued to heal Boris as he explained, “My companions are joining us and the wolves that were closing in might get curious and check out what’s going on, so keep your cool and let me introduce you to the gang.”

  “Too sore to do anything else.”

  “All right big guy, I’ve got to bury an acorn, so we’ll give you some time to recuperate.” And Glitch pulled out his multi-form tool and began digging. About the time he finished digging, Sassy popped out of stealth and smacked Boris in the face 5 times before he had a chance to react then calmly walked over to rub herself on Glitches side.

  Stunned, Boris asked, “What was that for, little cat?”

  “For killing Glitch you big prick. No one harms my servants.”

  “Sorry little cat. Since the system, I feel the need to fight and get strong. I won’t do it again” Boris explained.

  With a small pop, Sassy disappeared from beside Glitch and reappeared poking one claw into Boris’ nose. “Better not. I’ll be watching.”

  “Sassy, what was that?” Glitch asked in confusion.

  “Shadow walk. I picked it up the other day.”

  “Oh…ok…well leave Boris alone, he’s pretty cool and needs to recover.” Glitch said as his other companions and Black Claw walked up.

  “I see you chose to spare the Bear. I assume he won’t be a problem.” Black Claw rumbled showing his teeth and letting out a low growl inches from the bear.

  “Nah. He’s agreed to leave your clan alone.”

  “Hello mighty wolf. I am Boris. I watched your pack many times. Pack strong. Glitch will help Boris get strong. Boris will help Glitch get strong. Boris will help you guard the valley and travel with Glitch.” Boris stated earnestly and gave a slight bow to Black Claw.

  “Boris…I am Black Claw. Glitch is my friend. The wolves are my pack. The cat, the tiger, and the lion are my pack. Do you understand?”

  “I understand Black Claw. Glitch saved my life. Glitch says he’ll bring me back if I die, so I will die many times to help my friends.”

  “How many times did you hit him in the head, Glitch?” Bandit asked.

  “I don’t know. Do you think I need to heal him some more?”

  “Sure, pick on the new guy.” Boris stood and stretched his towering body making everybody besides Black Claw step back in awe of his size.

  “If you’re feeling better Boris, I’ve got another tree to plant. We’ll see you later at the Grove, if you want, Black Claw. I’d like to make a plan for clearing the pass.” Glitch said as he finished planting the acorn. “We’ll make this a quick one. Bandit scout towards the pass. Boris behind him. Leo, take the right flank and Tonya left. Sassy rear security. Move at a quick pace, but stay in stealth calling out any prey. Boris and I will move into melee and we’ll roll right over anything we hit. Watch your maps for each other and stay in formation.”

  With that, Bandit took off with the rest following a few seconds later. Glitch was pleasantly surprised at how well the team moved and stayed together. Most of the prey was one shot by Boris or Glitch, except for a small herd of large antelope that Glitch brought in Tonya and Leo from the flanks. Taking them down in a well coordinated attack.

  Once they reached the location that Glitch wanted to place the day’s last acorn, Glitch called a halt and had the companions secure the perimeter while he worked. Once done, they took a direct path towards the first tree planted that day rolling over the prey as they went. Bandit halted about 50 meters out from the tree and Glitch moved forward to attempt to call out to Grove.

  “Hey Grove! You there!... … … Grovey, Grovey, Grovey”

  “Yes Glitch?” Grove appeared on the tree.

  “Just checking in. We’ll be bringing a YUGE polar bear with us. His name is Boris.”

  “Made friends with the bear?”

  “He’s big. He’s bad. And he’s fucking invisible. Of course, I made friends with him.”

  “Surprisingly wise for one so defective.”

  “Oh hush. I know you’re all in on Team Glitch.”

  “Don’t you mean Team Grove.”

  “Nah. Just doesn’t have the same ring.”

  “Don’t you mean Team Sassy. Let’s vote on it.”

  So they became Team Sassy with 3 votes for Sassy. Two for Glitch. One for Grove. And one for Bandit.

  “That’s okay Leo. I know you voted for Sassy just because you think Tonya is cute. Bros before…” Glitch cut off when Sassy suddenly appeared on his shoulder with a set of claws to his throat. “Uh…absolutely adorable kitty cats.”

  “Nice save.” Bandit snickered.

  “We’re heading back. See you in a bit, Grove. Let’s go Team… Sassy.” Glitch said while wondering if he was going to have to dye his armor bright colors.