The New Bond

Umbra

I trotted out of the house with a yawn, my jaw parting as wide as they would go before shaking my body, my scales rattling slightly. I looked behind me to see Aster closing the door behind us.

“Let's get going!” I was hungry, and the idea of a nice juicy rabbit sounded good right now.

Aster gave me a look. “You were the one who wanted to sleep in,” she reminded me.

She was right, but that was earlier. Now, she was the one being slow, and I didn’t have to do anything to get ready. Still, I did look away before perking back up with an idea. “Can I lead today?” If I could lead, then I could find the prey first, and that would make up for it!

She nodded, giving me a smile, and I felt her excitement as well for a hunt, seeing her tail wave a bit. “Lead the way.” She points off towards the east.

I gave a little hop of excitement. I enjoyed it when we shared the same emotions.

Letting the snow crunch under my talons, I made my way to the tree line. I wasn’t worried about Aster keeping up; she always managed, but if she did fall behind, she could use the bond to find me. I kept a good pace, a fast trot until we were deep into the inner forest.

Flicking my tongue out, I tasted the air but didn’t scent anything yet, so I moved on. Looking back, I didn’t see Aster, but she was always hard to see, but I could scent her. She smelled like the big wolf, Kulni.

I shivered at the memory of her, not in fear but in anticipation. One day, I was going to be that big as well, and I would be able to fly, but that was much closer.

I looked back at my wings. I wasn’t big enough to use them yet, but in another month or two, I would be the best hunter in the forest.

“Smell anything?” Aster asked, breaking me out of my thoughts, and I tasted the air again.

No rabbits, but there was something else. I had to think about it. I knew I had eaten it before, what was it? Oh! “There's deer.” I looked in the direction of the sent. It was fresh, so they had to be close. Lowering myself in the snow, I enjoyed the cold it gave off before I started to make my way forward.

“They're up and to the right behind the thickets.” Aster’s voice was a whisper through the bond. I don’t think she realized she didn't need to whisper when using it yet, but that was okay. She would figure it out.

I saw the thickets she had mentioned, and when I focused really hard, I could hear the noises of the deer on the other side as they pulled at the grass they had dug through the snow to find. I may been able to scent things way better than Aster, but she had better ears. That’s why we made a good team.

It was slow moving to get around the leaves and trees without making noise. With all of the sticks and dead leaves, as well as the snow, it seemed that everything made noise.

It was a ting bit before I was able to see the deer, three of them, and one of them had a white coat. I identified each of them.

[Deer - Unclassed - Level 13]

[Deer - Unclassed - Level 11]

[White Stag - Unclassed - Level 27]

I wondered what made the stag different. It smelled like a deer, was larger compared to the others, and its smell was heavier, but that might have been its level. Was the stag a race advancement for the deer?

“Do you want to get the stag, and I’ll get both of the deer?” I had a vague image through the bond that she had an arrow knocked somewhere off to my right, already taking aim with another arrow palmed.

“I’ll get the stag!” It was the perfect time to practice my only skill, which I’d earned after the last hunt, so I activated it.

[Freezing Talons - Coat your claws in a frost-like mana that drains your target on contact, siphoning their stamina and giving a small amount to you. If your claws wound the target while this skill is active, there is a chance, based on competing intelligence, that the wound could gain the affliction ‘frostbite.’]

I knew I stuck out on the white background as bad as a white rabbit in a green forest, but dragons weren’t the creatures that blended in usually. This meant I had to be smart when getting as close as possible. Moving like a snake, I lowered myself into the foot-deep snow and started to slither forward, parting the blissfully cold substance with my nose. Knowing that my back was still sticking out, I was slow in my movement, but my tail and wings seemed to want to keep moving, and it was an effort not to just jump out and chase them. I would have, but I knew they were faster compared to their long legs. Mine were short ones. When I reached the big thicket, things got a lot tougher. With the brown bush to my right and dead sticks everywhere, I felt as if every movement made a noise that would startle the creatures, but they never seemed to notice, too busy trying to find still lush grass, and soon enough, I was creeping up the final foot I would need before I could pounce.

Then the white stag looked up, his eyes landing on mine. I don't know why he did if it had been a skill warning him, but the surprise it must have felt at me being a half dozen feet away gave me the second I needed to jump. I sprung forward, the tension in my back legs shooting me forward almost as fast as the arrow that passed me, embedding itself in the deer to the stage right. I didn't hear the deer scream or notice the second arrow shot past. My focus locked on the stag, so I didn’t miss my leap, but through the bond and Aster's emotions, without her even having to share a word, I knew that Aster had already shot her second arrow and hit the other deer.

I felt like I made an amazing sight as I soared through the air, the light glinting off the scales. That was until the stag lowered its head and pointed its antlers at me. That movement from him turned a perfectly enjoyable hunt into an ‘I'm going to get bruises everywhere hunt.’ I had to flip in midair using my tail to rotate my body to avoid the sharp ends piercing into my belly where my scales were still soft and would easily get cracked or break. The movement resulted in my fluid, graceful attack turning into me becoming a bolder, relying on my small weight and harder body to absorb the impact.

It hurt, but the lack of cracking scales and the breaking of the deer's anglers told me that I'd come out on top, hanging half off its head.

Reaching out, I scrambled up using my claws, trying to get onto its back as he shook wildly. My hind legs were scrambling, the individual talons on them failing to find any purchase with the deep rakes, only managing to rip out fur. With nothing left to do, I bent my head and bit down on its neck, locking my jaw.

The stag buckled for a second, starting to tilt before it reared up on its hind legs, letting out a thunderous bleat that deafened me. Then it took off half running, half staggering under its weight. Blood ran from its neck, the flavor of it coating my tongue, blocking out any other sent. I wrapped around it using my tail as a lever to lift my back onto the top of the stag, wrapping myself around its neck like a snake would wrap around a tree, except I had claws that were working overtime to keep me balanced.

Still, the stag refused to give up. Its constitution and endurance must have been dozens of levels high. I could see out of the corner of my eye an arrow that had hit its flank at some point. The area was freezing over slowly, and its fur crystallized before breaking off.

Glancing at it gave me an idea, and I stopped shaking my head. The movement had done very little in the way of ripping it's flesh anyway, and I started to exhale, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. The effect was immediate. The blood in my mouth began to coagulate before I felt it freeze over in small chunks. I repeated the process, and this time, when I shook my head, the sound of tearing was mixed with the same sound stepping on ice had made. The stag stumbled as a fresh wave of blood flowed out, and then it collapsed. I would have let out a roar of victory. I couldn't quite make a roar yet if it hadn't fallen on me, pinning me under its bigger size. Wiggling out, I looked around, feeling the bond, and Aster, who was a good distance away, the stag had run fast while trying to knock me off. I let her know I was okay through the bond before I used the time it took her to get here to roll in the snow. I didn’t want the blood to dry onto my scales. I learned that the last time we hunted, it had happened, and I had to bathe in the river. I also read the notifications that had appeared on the side of my vision after I was sparkling and clean and had taken a bite of the stag for tasting purposes. It tasted like deer.

[Your bond has killed a Deer - Unclassed - Level 13.]

[You have defeated a creature of the same grade. Experience is awarded]

[Your bond has killed a Deer - Unclassed - Level 11.]

[You have defeated a creature of the same grade. Experience is awarded]

[You have killed a level 27 White Stag - Snow Grazer. Experience has been gained.][You have defeated a creature of the same grade. Experience is awarded]

[Notice: You have gained multiple levels in the Race Class: Frost Dragon. Increased from Level 9 to Level 12.]

[Notice: You have reached level 10 in your race class and unlocked the race skill - Adolescent Frost Dragon’s Breath.]

Aster

When I had first seen the Stag run off, I had been worried about Umbra, but I had to remind myself that she was a dragon. Even as clumsy as the jump she had made towards it was, she had been mostly unharmed and even broken some parts of the antlers. That didn’t stop me from firing an arrow half-filled with mana from my new skill, but that was all I could do before it was gone, only leaving a splattering of blood in its way. I would have usually followed the blood trail, but instead, with the bond, I could feel the curving path it made through the forest and used that to make my run quicker after collecting the arrows and the bodies of the deer into the storage gem. The notification of the stag’s death was a relief, and the mental affirmation that Umbra was unhurt was even better. What surprised me, however, was the other notifications that popped up. I slowed my pace to read them, still keeping an eye out, watching for anything.

[Through repetition and practice, you have gained the Passive Class Skill: Stealth - Rank One.]

[Congratulations! You have earned your first Class Skill.]

I felt no change in my body, but my mind was filled with information. The change in my mind was smooth and instant as I realized there were slight adjustments I could make to my footing over the snow to make less noise and now see indents where branches and twigs hidden making them easier to avoid. I grinned. It had taken almost a month to gain my first skill, but all things considered, Class-related activities were not as high on the list at the moment compared to caring for Umbra. With this only being my second hunt with her, I hadn’t even gained a level in either class yet, so adding a skill was amazing.

I was so distracted with practicing the skill as I moved that I didn’t notice the cone of frost coming at me until it was feet away, and at that point, it was too late to move. Covering my head with my arms out of instinct, I bent halfway over, turning slightly. The ice crystals cut at my skin as they passed, probably cutting my clothes, but the cold didn’t prove to be an issue. It was gone in a second, sliding over me, and I looked up to see Umbra frost billowing out of her nose. She looked panicky as she moved towards me. She must have got a new skill as well.

“Are you okay? I didn’t see you! You’re bleeding.” She sounded worried.

I reached out a hand, gently patting her snout as it pushed into me. “I’m fine, just a few scratches.” I gently reassured “I’ll be fine. Actually, It’s a good thing to know your cold doesn’t bother me. Maybe it’ll be useful in the future?”

She nodded but rubbed her head against me one last time before looking up and backing away. We walked over to the stag, and I looked over it. It had fur missing everywhere and wasn't a clean kill, but it was level twenty-seven, so it was well done, in my opinion.

Storing it in my gem after picking out my arrow, we decided to continue the hunt until dark. We both had levels and skills that needed to be gained.

We hunted the creatures in the inner forest as long as we could. I still didn't manage to grab a level, but Umbra did gain two more, bringing her to fourteen. There were no books for dragons like humans and the other races that noted the maximum for them until their second class, if they had one at all, so it was best to get as high as possible.

The hunt ended when the sun started to set. We ended up clearing out a decent section of the inner forest’s east side. During that time, Umbra sadly had to limit her use of breath because it froze the flesh of the beast she used it on, only using it on a level thirty Echo Bear that kept making copies of itself. Dropping the catches on the prey pile, we took our share, keeping the white stag that Umbra seemed to enjoy.

I was cooking a steak I’d cut out of it when Mother walked in the house, greeted first by a chirp from Umbra. I set the pan off to the side of the fire before I greeted her, not wanting to burn the food.

We ended up eating together, a few more slabs of the stag being cut off, seasoned, and cooked as I shared how the hunt had gone. Umbra helpfully relayed to Mother with chirps at some of her favorite parts, including when she had used her new frost breath on the bear, almost using it in the house, only stopping at the glare Mother gave.

“I wanted to talk to you two about the academy.” Kulni eventually started after we ate and had cleared the table and moved to the main room, followed by my reluctant nod. It was time to do so. The winter only had another month and a half before it started to ease, and we would have to leave. She waved her hand over the table, multiple Items and bags appearing.

“There’s a lot that you're going to have to learn about the other sentient races when you get to the city. There's a book in here that should help a bit, but a lot of it can’t be explained. I did receive a message back from the king, and there will be someone just outside of the forest that will take you to the capital.”

I nodded, looking over the items. There were pouches that held several different types of coins I knew from books, ranging from copper to gold. Picking one up, I noted the writing on them with interest. The same style was written on some of the ruins, which meant they were from the ruins. I set it back in the bag and looked at the rest. The books looked new compared to the worn ones I was usually given. There was one on magical theory in elvish, the history of the kingdoms in the only other tongue I knew called common. The last one mother must have been talking about was labeled ‘understanding the common races.’ There were clothes and supplies of various types, from writing to starting a campfire, rope, and even clothes, to my surprise. All of the clothes I’d had up until this point had been made out of leather or a thicker cloth. These were made of a fabric much lighter than what I was used to. One set of clothes sat out from the rest.

“With your new bond.” She gestured to Umbra at her chirp. “ I mean, Umbra, you have almost complete immunity to the cold, so I had clothes created by an old friend that one of the wolves went to pick up. That's also where the books came from.”

I picked up one of the tunics unfolding in front of me. The colors all ranged from dark green to a dark brown. They looked like a relatively tight fit, but at Kulni's gesture, I tried it on. To my surprise, it felt comfortable. I took the moment to Identify it.

[Enchanted Tunic - Rare - This Tunic crafted by a master of their craft is enchanted with various enchantments to allow it to grow with the user. This tunic resists stains and can self-mend simple cuts.]

"This is amazing. I don't know what to say."

It was my first time seeing enchanted clothes, and I was fascinated by them. I wanted to know how to do it.

Kluni let out a snort. "These are basic tunics and pants that you should have, that thought," She flicked her figures, gesturing to the separate pair of clothing. "Is your uniform that all year ones at the academy are required to wear."

I picked up the first piece, a jacket, holding up to show Umbra. It was a mix of cloth and leather, boiled black with golden trim. There were loops for a belt at the waist and cuffs at the end of the sleeves. On the back was the imprint of a white crown with a stylized A colored blue behind it, also trimmed in gold. The pants were cloth, lacking any leather or golden trim.

It looked different compared to what I usually wore, and it looked like it would be annoying to have to clean. Still, a glance at the identify told me it was enchanted, similar to the tunics, but was only ranked at the uncommon rank and lacked the growth enchantment.

I mimicked Kulni's movement and waved my hand over the table, taping each item and storing it.

"I originally planned for no one to know that you were my daughter when you attended. For safety, that idea was before your grade advancement and class up."

My cheeks heated up, but I didn't feel bad about it. The choice had been obvious, and I hadn't known that not that I would've picked something different.

"Now, while you look more like me, you'll need to be careful." She stressed the last word, and I nodded. I wouldn't make Kulni worry. When was I not careful?

She reached over and ruffled my hair, and I ignored the fact my tail had started to wag, instead fixing my hair and getting it out of my eyes.

The rest of the night was peaceful. I spent most of the time reading the books to Umbra and answering as many questions as I could. It was clear that there was a lot I didn't understand, and the idea of the academy was starting to feel more tempting than ever.