Name: Haxxors (Hax) Runt Timberwolf Familiar*Common*(passive)

Pack Alpha: Colton Niscon
Level: LV4 EXP: 77.32%
Affiliation: The Gamer
HP: 200
MP: 40
STR:14
VIT: 9
DEX:11
INT: 4
WIS: 5
LUK: 7

Point: 15
Size Level: 1
Skills: [Strong Bite LV 1 EXP: 17.06%: Additional +5 damage, COST; 10 MP.]
[Rampant Tackle LV 1 EXP: 0.00%: additional +15 damage, additional -5 to DEX, COST 20 MP.]
[Timberwolf Overgrowth LV 1 EXP: 0.00%: Boost HP Regen by 500%, COST 40 MP MINIMUM, USES ALL REMAINING MP.]
Status: Runt: -5 to STR, -5 to DEX, -5 to VIT
Info: The Runt Timberwolf Familiar's skills and attributes will mirror your own, growing and learning alongside its Pack Leader.
The Runt Timberwolf Familiar's appearance will begin to mirror your and its own actions, growing and learning alongside its Pack Leader.
Max number of Familiar *Timberwolf* you can currently have in the Pack: 1.

So even size was a skill Hax had to level up? Bummer.

I ‘clicked’ the word ‘size’, watching as another window opened up.

Size LV1 EXP: 13.09%
Runt.
The physical size of the ‘Runt Timberwolf Familiar’. It’s not very large at the moment… can it even get any bigger?

Well that didn’t tell me very much. Why couldn’t the stupid fucking thing actually tell me something useful, like how to increase its size? I tried putting a single point into it just to see if it worked, but nothing happened. Since its actual level went up by three –presumably from the skeleton, same as mine,- and its size level was still one, I had to assume it worked off of a different EXP set or something.

Maybe it would level up from eating? But eating what? It was a freaking plant, was I supposed to feed it people food, or other timberwolf souls or something? Whatever, didn’t help me to dwell on it right now.

I waved the window away, focusing on the conversation in the other room. They appeared to be in the middle of a terse discussion, and I pressed closer to the closed door to better make out the words being said on the other side.

Through A Special Action, A Skill To Hear Muffled Or Quiet Conversation, (Listening), Has Been Created.

Listening(passive) LV1 EXP: 12.62%
All conversation lower than an audible level is amplified by 5%

Oh. Cool. I placed my ear against the door, trying to aid my eavesdropping.

“I’m not saying that I don’t believe you girls,” I heard an older woman's voice say. Older as in maybe forty years old. Middle aged, not grandma old. Her voice had a very posh tone to it, one well used to public speaking. “But the dungeon is already registered. It was registered by one ‘Sweetie Drops’, almost… it says she found and registered it nearly twelve years ago. The guard came and it was declared cleared,” she said, the tone of her voice of minor annoyance.

“Yer wrong, though!” I heard Applebloom argue. “There was walkin’ skeletons, hidden rooms and a giant tentacle monster!”

“Yeah, we barely got out of there alive!” Scootaloo affirmed.

“Look, at best I can have a team check it out first thing in the morning. If this isn’t a prank, then it’s of utmost importance that we sort this out,” the woman admitted.

Was it really that big of a deal? What the hell was with there being actual dungeons, anyway? If we had dungeons in our world, they’d be fucking nuked minutes after being found. No way anyone would tolerate skeletons and shit. And if they were confined to actual buildings and stuff, there was no way we wouldn’t bomb the fuck out of them. Go through the ruins afterwards, systematically demolish any remaining baddies with a bevy of high powered firearms.

“Applebloom, can you ask your brother if he’d be willing to give it a look?” she asked, her voice almost dipping down to levels I couldn’t hear. Moments later, a window popped up in front of me.

Listening(passive) has gone up a level

Listening(passive) LV2 EXP: 0.00%
All conversation lower than an audible level is amplified by 6%

I really couldn’t tell the difference, it sounded just as quiet as it had before.

“And see if miss Fluttershy is free too, they seem to work well together. Skeletons… skeletons…” she muttered, and I could hear a fluttering of papers she presumably was sifting through. “Do we currently have any other mages capable of dispelling necromatic enchantments?”

“Well we-“ Sweetiebelle started, before the woman cut her off.

“Lyra!” the woman's voice practically shouted, causing me to twitch from the sudden volume shift, “Lyra Heartstrings, she’s a full fledged bard, her spellsong should be able to…necrophobia... fear of dead things. Wonderful,” her voice became despondent, and I assume she was reading her information off of one of the multitude of papers I could hear being moved around. “Wonderful. Maybe another bard? What about… Vinyl Scratch? She’s not currently on tour, is she?”

“The dungeon is underground,” Sweetiebelle supplied. "Not to mention she's a sonic mage, and not actually a spellsong variant of a bard..." she added under her breath.

“Dangit,” the woman muttered, “She’d just end up causing a cave in…”

“We actually know-“ Scootaloo started, before the woman once more cut them off.

“Octavia? No, she’s currently in Canterlot…” she muttered.

“WE KNOW SOMEPONY WHO CAN DISPELL NECROMANCY!” the three girls yelled out, the only variance being Scootaloo ending on ‘break dead things’.

“Oh?” came the woman's voice, a slight dazed tone to it. “Well why didn’t you say so? Wait, this isn’t that zebra who lives in the Everfree, is it?”

“We keep telling yall, Zecora’s nice! Ain’t a bad bone in her body! But it ain’t her, it’s the stallion we brought here!”

“Hmph,” the woman let out a blast of air in a huff, muttering, “Lives in the forest... necromancer… Fine, this stallion, the one waiting in the hall?”

“Yeah! He punched a skeleton in the face, and he hit it so hard it turned to dust!” Applebloom stated enthusiastically.

“Uh…huh,” the lady ‘scoffed’. Well she didn’t really laugh, but I could hear it hanging out there at the edges of her words. “I see. Well then, if we could just get him in here so I can get a better look at him, that would be wonderful.”

Wait, what? Holy crap crap crap crap crap-

I backtracked away from the door, plopping back down in the chair they had left me in. Wouldn’t help my case if they found me doing something suspicious right off the bat. The door opened, and I could see a grey haired woman peering out. Above her head was her name and title.

Mayor Mare LV 15
<Elected Leader>

Ha. Fucking HA! Her name was Mayor? Good god, that must have gotten her some serious flak back in school. ‘Well then Mayor, what do you see your career being in the future?’ ‘I wanna be a singer!’

Anyway, she looked pretty normal. Waistcoat, button shirt, slacks. Some sort of classy looking shoes. Loafers, maybe? Perched on the end of her nose were a pair of delicate looking spectacles. She had mostly purely slate grey hair. Mostly. I could see traces of pink at her roots, meaning she dyed.

“Excuse me, Mr. … I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name?”

I froze for a couple seconds, before just giving her my name. Wasn’t like I had anything to hide. “Colton Niscon.”

“Colt… Nice Son?” she exaggerated, causing a wave of irritation to run through me. I hate it when people make fun of my name. It’s a perfectly normal name, like the fifteenth most used in the United States or something. Perfectly nondescript. Yet people seem to harp on it regardless.

“Colton,” I corrected her, “Colton Niscon. Niscon, just one word.”

“Oh, my apologies, would you please come in,” she waved a hand towards the inside of her office, where the three girls were waiting.

“Uh, yeah. Sure,” I said, making my way inside.

“These three were just informing me how you can… dispell traces of necromatic effects?” she led, and I could almost hear her trying to trip me up. I was going to have to be careful in how I responded.

“I actually have a rather… hard to describe effect on magic around me,” I started, thinking fast to remember what I had said to the girls. “I kinda… leach off of it. Passively. It’s not really something I do on purpose, but as long as I’m in close enough proximity, things that can’t be killed… well as long as enough physical or magical damage is done to them, I can finish them off by… God, I don’t know what to call it. I guess, I eat the energy holding them together? Something like that? Anyway, yeah, I can kill skeletons.”

“That… is a rather odd ability. What class did you say you were?” Horribly named Mayor Mare asked.

Now, I may not be college level intelligent, but I’m not fucking retarded or anything. You don’t say a sentence like that unless you’re fishing for information. She said something similar while asking for my name. Something she didn’t know, which I freely gave. Perhaps foolishly, at that.

“I didn’t say,” I said pointedly, “And might I mention that I find such a fashion of inquiry as very rude. You don’t need to trick information out of me, Mayor. If you want to know something, just ask. As it so happens, I don’t have a class. We didn’t really have such a system where I come from. Unless you have a class that translates to ‘librarian’?”

I’ve worked in the same library for the past seven years. Just being surrounded by books every day, it was a dream come true. I could tell you where any book you cared to ask about was, right down to the last number in the serial. There are few things more perfect than the Dewey Decimal system.

She considered my words, no doubt figuring out some way to spin this to her favor, get even more information out of me.

“Scholar,” she finally said, giving me a short nod. “Although that does raise a question. Why would somepony with such a unique talent become a scholar? It seems like an odd shift in priorities…”

“Where I come from…” I started, carefully choosing my words, “Well, there aren’t any dungeons. Everywhere is just a big, connected city.” Half… kinda true. No dungeons, for certain. I guess the states could be considered a giant web of connected cities. “There’s no need for such a talent. Society just needs a bunch of little cogs to turn the machine of civilization. Little cogs like a bunch of librarians to run a library. Mechanics to keep all the different machines working. Teachers to keep the youth of the nation up to a certain level of intelligence, so that the machine of society can keep on ticking. If you wanna fight for your life for those that can’t, you join the army. Or the Navy. Air Force, Marines.”

Maybe I was a retard. I gave up too much. She didn’t even ask for that much.

“Anyway, I’ve never even so much as seen an animate skeleton before. I honestly wasn’t sure it would work, it was previously just an unproven theory,” I explained, hopeful that my words would be taken as truth.

Through A Special Action, A Skill To Convince Others Of Your Words, Truthful Or Otherwise, (Bluff), Has Been Created.

Bluff(passive) LV1 EXP: 0.00%
User has a +5% chance to convince target of their intentions.

Huh. I just kept getting new skills that the Gamer never did in the manga. I got the blunt weapons themed spells, so I could obviously still get the ones he had. But It was still worrisome.

“Hmm. Regardless of whether or not you’re telling the truth,” she started, sifting through a stack of papers, “It seems we are indeed in need of the services of a particular classless scholar. Might I ask for you to undertake a scouting mission, back to the supposedly re-infested dungeon these girls have brought to my attention?”

Huh. Was she seriously asking me to go back to the hole with fucking living skeletons, just to see if there actually was skeletons, because she wouldn’t believe us when we said there was skeletons? Gee, sure, let me get right on that, I’ll be more than willing to go risk my life for no reason, without even being payed to-

“I would of course, be more than willing to compensate you for your troubles,” she said coyly. Bitch had my number pegged.
I paused for several seconds, letting her stew before I started fishing for information myself.

“What exactly are we talking about here? Because I won’t say no to some extra cash. I was kinda teleported here against my will, and I really don’t know how to get back home. Would what you’re suggesting be enough for say… a weeks rent at a local motel or something? Just a little bit of cushion while I get back on my feet and can start earning a bit of money for myself?”

I know I was asking for a bit much. No way a simple ‘scouting mission’ could be worth a whole weeks of free residence. But the trick with haggling is, you have to start ridiculously high. Then they try to lowball you and guilt you for asking for such a high amount. Then you try to guilt them right back for lowballing you, offering a slightly lower price than your original. It was just savvy business.

She gave me a cold, calculating look as she studied me for a few seconds. Then she let a warm smile spill out over her features.

“Just… residency? I’m asking you to head back into a potentially deadly area and all you ask for is… residency. Well then, I guess we have a deal, Mr. Son,” she said with a happy lilt in her voice.

So… what the fuck just happened? I… did I ask too little? I asked too little. I fucked up the haggle and started too low, she saw that I didn’t fucking know what I was getting myself into, and jumped on my offer before I could change it in my favor. Should have asked for two weeks. And some bits. A LOT of bits! God dammit, so fucking stupid.

{Quest Alert}

Retrace your way back to the dungeon you found Sweetiebelle in. Provide support regarding potential undead.
Success- Scout the required area, return to Mayor Mare.
Failure- Death, or otherwise failing to return to Mayor Mare.
Rewards- 10 EXP, 5 bits.

“Don’t say much, do you?” I said to my almost silent companion.

He was a big guy. And saying that is almost a disservice. He was a freaking giant of a man, he had to be at least seven feet tall, maybe even seven and a half. And for a guy like me who is barely five feet and a couple hairs, I can definitely say he was stupidly tall. Guess he didn’t get the name Big Macintosh on accident. The plethora of plate armor and the big sweeping cape he wore didn’t exactly give him a ‘cute and cuddly’ image, either.

“Eeeeenope,” he drawled, adjusting the hammer slung over his shoulder. Sweet Purity, according to the observe I did on it. Didn’t get anything other than the name, guess the skill was still too low.

“Is he always this charming, or does he just really like me?” I directed towards Fluttershy, who was walking on the other side of Big Mac. Mcdonalds. Heh.

“He’s just… a mane of few words,” she explained. God, these horse puns would be the death of me.

Listening(passive) LV3 EXP: 17.20%
All conversation lower than an audible level is amplified by 7%

Well at least one good thing came of speaking with these two. They were both leveling up my listening skill like there was no tomorrow. If only Flutteshy would just keep talking. Wasn’t like Big Mac ever initiated conversation.

“So… you guys do this often?” I asked, watching as Fluttershy’s face was tinged with a flash of red.

“That’s… it’s not just… we just-“

“Standard procedure,” Big Mac supplied, “Minimum one melee, one magic wielder for dealing with blight infestation, or otherwise.”

“We work well together,” Fluttershy added.

“Blight infestation?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation going as we walked. We were still a good ten minute walk from the hole I made into the dungeon, and I had no idea where the other entrance the girls had found was.

“You really aren’t from around here, are you?” Fluttershy asked as Big Mac gave a snort of amusement.

“As a certain resident loudmouth who does nothing but yammer on endlessly says, eeenope,” I responded.

I got a small laugh out of both of them. “Well then you really wouldn’t know,” Fluttershy quietly explained. “Every so often, a wild beast wanders into town, infected with the blight. They can be a huge danger to themselves-”

“And to noncombatants,” Big Mac interjected.

“Y-yes… if they aren’t stopped, somepony could definitely get hurt… so the town usually issues five pony teams, usually… with me at the forefront…” she stopped suddenly, her gaze pointing downwards at the ground in front of us.

“Druids heal blight,” Big Mac supplied.

“I, yes!” she stammered, “I can heal the blight! So If I can reach the blighted critter before they’re killed…”

She was silent for a few seconds, before Big Mac took up the slack.

“She heals the beasts, they go back to their nests, their holes, their homes, and get blighted by whatever source they contracted it from in the first place. Then they come back to Ponyville, and we start the cycle all over again. Far kinder to just let them die.”

Huh. Tense subject, if the shaking Fluttershy was anything to go by.

“Sometimes,” Fluttershy started, her voice shaking almost as much as her body, “Sometimes the spells to cure the blight fail. They don’t always work. In that case, it is kindness to end their suffering. But if we can restore them… then it’s worth it.” Her voice grew steely, and a new text box popped up in front of me.

Through a special action, a skill to detect killing intent, (Sense Battle Aura), has been created.

Sense Battle Aura(passive) LV1 EXP 42..91%

In the seconds I stood waiting for her to finish, the EXP counter steadily rose, even passing the EXP max and giving me a level on the skill. And then another. And then, yet another. Damn, I could literally feel the hairs on the back of my neck trying to squirm away from this mousy little girl. I wasn’t even the one she was ‘directing’ her ‘intent’ towards!

“And don’t you ever forget that.”

A few more seconds passed before the big guy responded.

“Mmmmkay.”

Okay. So I could definitely see they had different opinions on how the world should be. Apparently something called ‘blight’ was a thing? The way they talked, it sounded more like the T-Virus or something.

We walked in silence from that point, much to my chagrin. Fluttershy’s talking had been giving me a great chunk of EXP towards Listening. She was just so quiet. So SHY.

Like her name. Yeah, I caught that. Were these people not named until they finally developed a defining trait or something? Because that was a bullshit naming system. I’d have probably been dubbed ‘Asshole’. Or Whino. Something demeaning, I just know it. I can’t think of much worse than being given a name that says to the world ‘Hey! I’m shy!” Seems counterproductive or something.

“So Colt, I see you managed to get some shoes?” Fluttershy said, shaking me out of my reverie.

“Colton. And yeah, apparently some girl named Rainbow… something or other left them at the dress makers place.” Fuck! I forgot the fucking name. Rainbow… god dammit,it’s on the tip of my fucking tongue. It was something really fucking obvious, like Train. Or Track. One syllable. Super fucking easy to remember. God, this was gonna drive me nuts…

“Oh, I thought they looked familiar. Do they fit alright? From what I remember, Rainbow has pretty small feet…”

Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffdlfnaslvnfncioeanncoinqpirenp;cldmqpvmcapmmagafnazbumwizzco;qeinvnlknfv;nd;pnlnbfvl;dsagafnazbumwizzvp’nfib’iadn’lkendlfnaslvnfncioeanncoinqpirenp;cldmqpvmcapmmco;qeinvnlknfv;nd;pnlnbfvl;dsavp’nfib’iadn’lkendlfnaslvnfncioeanncoinqpirenp;cldmqpvmcapmmco;qeinvnlknfv;nd;pnlnbfvl;dsavp’nfib’iadn’lkendlfngafnazbumwizzaslvnfncioeanncoinqpirenp;cldmqpvmcapmmco;qeinvnlknfv;nd;pnlnbfvl;dsavp’nfib’iadn’lken.

Sorry for that brief mental lapse. Just a little hiccup, nothing to worry about. Why does everything taste like copper?

“They… fit. They fit alright.”

“That’s good.”

“Can’t help but notice,” I started, looking down towards her own feet. “You aren’t wearing any shoes. That ever bother you?”

“Oh, it’s never been a problem. I just… love the way the ground feels under my feet,” she admitted with a slight giggle. “There used to be a slight problem with cuts, but when you’ve been barefoot for as long as I have? You tend to get some pretty thick calluses.”

Oh. Duh. That made sense. Guess she was a flower child through and through.

“Makes sense.”

“Eeeeyup.”

Oh shut up, chatterbox.

The conversation kinda died again, and it stayed quiet until we reached the clearing with the hole to the dungeon.

“Colt, this the place?” Dick Macintosh asked.

“Colton. And yeah, this is the place,” I responded testily.

“How did you find this place?” Fluttershy innocently asked, “It’s not like it’s very… defined.”

Ehn. I didn’t like these people asking about things relating to my gamers ability. That felt personal. Like… it was mine, not theirs. So? Time to lie! And lie convincingly.

“I… well, it’s complicated. The whole process is complicated. I first went around town, asking people about Sweetiebelle to not only gain a firmer mental presence of her, but also to collect traces of her magical aura. Then I used that to home in on her like a compass. Unfortunately, it didn’t lead me along the same path she and her friends took, instead leading me to her actual physical position. Which just so happened to be here,” I gestured to the hole as the red caped asshole pulled a long strand of rope out of his bag. “Above her, I’ll admit, but very nearly her exact location.”

“That sounds very useful,” Fluttershy said.

“Sounds like a lie,” Big Mac said harshly.

“Big Macintosh!” Futtershy admonished him.

“Just sayin’, sounds like a load of hooey,” he retorted.

I was going to have to watch this guy. He didn’t seem like the sort to be taken in by falsehoods. Well he was a Cleric, according to his class tag thingy above his head. They had the whole ‘monk/priest’ thing going on, right? Righteousness and virtue and all that?

“Whether you believe me or not is your own problem. Are we climbing down there?” I asked, pointing to the rope he had just tied around a tree.

“Eeeyup.”

He followed this by jumping down the hole –sans rope, he let that fall alongside him,- and landing with a heavy sounding thump. I looked down the hole at him, as he looked around the room I had fell into myself only an hour or so earlier. I shot a look at Fluttershy as she spread her wings, “Yeah, no. I’m going to climb down the rope like a normal person.”

She didn’t respond to this, descending into the hole by her own wing power. I was left to my own devices, so I called down “Are you sure you need me down there?”

“…yes?” Fluttershy tentatively called back up.

Hmmm. Could I argue with that? If I did, would I just end up having to go back down there anyway?

“Fuck,” I muttered to myself, “Fine. I’ll go down the fucking hole with all the things that want to kill me, alongside the fucking guy that knows that I’m lying straight to his face. I’ll climb on down, and put myself in a tiny room with him, this is a greeeeeeat fucking plan.”

“Colt? You okay?” Fluttershy called up.

“Colton! And yeah, yeah. I’m coming down!”

I slowly made my way down the rope, the trip seeming to take longer than my trip up the vine that Scootaloo had found. Speaking of, where the hell did that thing go? It didn’t just walk off… My feet touched down, letting me know I could tear my eyes away from the rope. I looked around, noting that Fluttershy was watching Big Mac dig at the pile of stone I had let down over the doorway.

“Find anything interesting?” I asked, picking up a chunk of rock and tossing it to the side.

“Eeeeno-“Big Mac stopped, shifting a section of the pile. The Skeleton he had uncovered took this opportunity to politely hiss at him. As politely as a fucking SKELETON can be. Big Mac responded as politely as he could as well. He unhitched Sweet Purity from his back, and brought it down on the sad sack of bones with the force of a freight train.

He brought his hammer back up, letting me see the still remains. Note that, the STILL remains. Not twitching, no sign of life –regardless of the whole SKELETON aspect- at all.

“The hell. Did you guys even need me here? Why the hell did I come if you can kill them on your own?” I asked, rankled that I hadn’t gotten any EXP from the kill. Must have been because he wasn’t a part of my party. I’d figure out how to leach free EXP from him at a later date.

“New enchantment,” Big Mac explained. And by explained, I mean he said those two words, and nothing more. Real helpful. “A new Blessing I managed to apply to ‘ol Sweet here.”

Yeah, that tells me a lot. Wait, actually, it does. Cleric. He’s a cleric. Holy or something, right? So he could make effects called blessings? Were they actual faith type ‘blessings’, or magic or what? This warranted further investigation.

“Meaning that little miss pink roots doesn’t know about it, right?” I guessed.

A snort of laughter, quickly followed by silence from Big Red, a nervous chuckle from Fluttershy.

“Eeeyup.”

I turned away from them, looking back towards the rope. “Can we go back now? You got proof now right? Good enough to give to the big bad boss lady?”

“As I hear it, the ‘big bad’ is going to be paying you for literally doing nothing,” Big Mac said in a dry tone.

He had a point. If we went back now, she might renege on paying me, simply because I didn’t technically do anything. I looked around the small room, trying to think of something. My eyes fell on a messy pile of books, fallen from one of the numerous bookshelves in desperate disrepair.

“Inventory,” I stated, starting to collect books and slide them into my inventory. Hax didn’t seem to like this all too much, as evidenced by the fact he kept on sneezing from all the dust I was moving around.

“What are you doing, Colt?” Fluttershy asked with great interest.

“Colton,” I responded, brushing the dust off a book before I put it in my inventory. “I don’t like the idea of being completely useless dead weight on this trip. I assume that if you ‘clear’ this dungeon of all the little bony’s and other monsters, you’re going to pack up anything of value and sell it or distribute it, right? I’m just expediting the process, as I see it. If I take all these books back in my pocket, that’s one less room someone else has to sift through, and god knows how many pounds of stuff someone has to lug back up through the hole. Am I wrong in thinking this is a good idea?”

Plus, if I sheltered all of them away in my inventory, I could dole them back out at my leisure. And if it came to light through my proddings in my inventory that a book happened to be a skill book? Well I would just so happen to ‘forget’ to unload it. Win win. And by that, I mean I win, and I win. Best of all, no one could see into my inventory. Thank you, Gamer’s ability.

“A dimensional pocket?” Fluttershy asked.

“Uh… yeah. We just call it our ‘inventory’, but I guess it’s the same idea,” I stated.

I continued to pack books away, wincing mentally as each book I picked up failed to give a ‘would you like to learn so and so’ message. Was I just putting them away too fast? Maybe. I slowed my pace for a couple books, turning them over in my hands and looking them over as I brushed the dust from their covers. No indicator. Nada, zip, zilch.

Neither Big Mac or Fluttershy deigned to start conversation back up, but they didn’t interrupt or try to get me to stop. I continued like this for the next fifteen minutes or so, only stopping occasionally to watch as Big Mac shored up the doorway with scattered rubble or destroyed furniture.

“I’ve gotten… pretty much every book in here,” I said, turning in a slow circle to look around and give the room a second once over. “All the ones I can see, anyway.”

“We should head back,” Big Mac said, startling me. Good god, for a minute I had forgotten he was there. For a guy as big as him, that was actually pretty worrying. Did he have some sort of stealth skill, or was I actually that inattentive? “Mayor Mare needs to know we have confirmation for undead. If what mah sis and her friends say are true about how many of them there are, then we could have a major problem.”

Fluttershy actually let out a squeak, a petering sound that echoed around the room.

“The hell was that?” I asked incredulously. “A hissing skeleton doesn’t faze you, but someone saying we might have a problem is cause for alarm?”

“I didn’t really see the skeleton before Big Macintosh destroyed it,” she explained. “It’s just the idea that a legion of undead monstrosities could be lurking less than twenty meters away… it’s enough to just…”

“We need to head back, now,” Big Mac said forcefully, grabbing the rope and ascending out of sight.

“I… yes. We should go back. Back outside, where there’s trees, and grass, and wind,” Fluttershy muttered shakily, following him with a flap of her wings.

A single feather floated down from her departure, which I hurriedly tucked into my inventory. I could inspect it later, maybe if I learned alchemy or something I could use it. Maybe it had unique properties, it did come from a pegasus. Human… pegasus-hybrid-maybe-thing-person.

I grabbed onto the rope, slowly making my way up. After a few seconds had passed, the rope was almost jerked out of my hands as I hung on for dear life. I was hauled upwards at an unnatural rate, stopping only after I had cleared the hole and was hanging in the sunlight.

I hung there for a couple seconds, the juggernaut of a guy holding up the rope in one hand.

“Yer really light,” he joked in a dry tone.

“I try to watch my girlish figure,” I retorted, straining to reach the edge of the hole with my outstretched toes.He swung the rope -with me on it- back over the ground, letting me fall into an undignified heap.

"Are you okay, Colt?" Fluttershy asked.

I brushed myself off as I stood up, "I'm fine. And it's Colton. Colt-UUUUHHHHHNNN. I've corrected you like ten times now, why the heck do you keep calling me that?"

She uncomfortably avoided my gaze, staring off at the clouds in the sky. "Sorry..."

"I mean... I guess it isn't that big of a deal, but why would you keep calling me something I obviously didn't want to be called?"

She didn't respond, instead opting to fly off back towards Ponyville. I watched her retreating form for a few seconds before Big Macintosh broke the silence.

"Dun goofed... Colt."

I followed Big Mac back to Ponyville, but I didn't see Fluttershy again from our trek from the outskirts to town hall. Guess she went home. Big Mac had a heated discussion - I didn't WANT to listen in, but my listening skill skyrocketed up to level six all on it's own.- with the mayor involving the validity of skeletons. Eventually, she caved and said something along the lines that she believed him, and would send an order requisition form to Canterlot or something.

He also told her about how I picked up every last book in the room at the bottom of the hole. Fucker, I was hoping that might get lost in translation. Oh well, I could still flub the number, and just forget to regurgitate the ones I didn't want to give up.

"Oh, that sounds perfect!" she replied.

Perfect? Perfect for what? Did their local book supply go up in flames or something? That didn't bode well, that basically meant I'd have to give up more than half the books if I wanted to deflect suspicion. Hopefully not too many of them turned out to be skill books.

I was once more left to my own devices, so I decided to pull Hax's stats back up, maybe allocate a few of the points he had.

Name: Haxxors (Hax) Runt Timberwolf Familiar*Common*(passive)

Pack Alpha: Colton Niscon
Level: LV4 EXP: 77.32%
Affiliation: The Gamer
HP: 200
MP: 40
STR:14
VIT: 9
DEX:11
INT: 4
WIS: 5
LUK: 7

Point: 15
Size Level: 1
Skills: [Strong Bite LV 1 EXP: 17.06%: Additional +5 damage, COST; 10 MP.]
[Rampant Tackle LV 1 EXP: 0.00%: additional +15 damage, additional -5 to DEX, COST 20 MP.]
[Timberwolf Overgrowth LV 1 EXP: 0.00%: Boost HP Regen by 500%, COST 40 MP MINIMUM, USES ALL REMAINING MP.]
Status: Runt: -5 to STR, -5 to DEX, -5 to VIT
Info: The Runt Timberwolf Familiar's skills and attributes will mirror your own, growing and learning alongside its Pack Leader.
The Runt Timberwolf Familiar's appearance will begin to mirror your and its own actions, growing and learning alongside its Pack Leader.
Max number of Familiar *Timberwolf* you can currently have in the Pack: 1.

Nothing seemed to change since the last time, but that wasn't that big of a surprise. Not like I had gained any more experience since then...

I plopped six points into INT right off the bat, not only did I want my pooch to be as smart as he could be but I also wanted to give him more MP for his moves. With a hundred MP, He could pull off a few bites and tackles, and still be able to activate that weird 'overgrowth' regen thing. The fact that it ate up the remainder of his MP was truly a shame, meant he couldn't spam it. I still had nine points left, so I first slotted five points in WIS. Anything to get his MP regen up that much more. I put the remainder into VIT and DEX.

Name: Haxxors (Hax) Runt Timberwolf Familiar*Common*(passive)

Pack Alpha: Colton Niscon
Level: LV4 EXP: 77.32%
Affiliation: The Gamer
HP: 240
MP: 100
STR:14
VIT: 10
DEX:14
INT: 10
WIS: 10
LUK: 7

Point: 0
Size Level: 1
Skills: [Strong Bite LV 1 EXP: 17.06%: Additional +5 damage, COST; 10 MP.]
[Rampant Tackle LV 1 EXP: 0.00%: Additional +15 damage, additional -5 to DEX, COST 20 MP.]
[Timberwolf Overgrowth LV 1 EXP: 0.00%: Boost HP Regen by 500%, COST 40 MP MINIMUM, USES ALL REMAINING MP.]
[Magic Siphon LV 1 EXP: 0.00% : Drain from a singular target's MP pool. Mana drain is equal to mana gain from (Magic Siphon). Gain 1MP per attack. Magic Siphon cooldown between activation; 50 seconds.]
[Root LV 1 EXP: 0.00% : Fasten a target to the ground using organic growth. Duration 1 to 5 seconds MAX. COST 30MP]
Status: Runt: -5 to STR, -5 to DEX, -5 to VIT
Info: The Runt Timberwolf Familiar's skills and attributes will mirror your own, growing and learning alongside its Pack Leader.
The Runt Timberwolf Familiar's appearance will begin to mirror your and its own actions, growing and learning alongside its Pack Leader.
Max number of Familiar *Timberwolf* you can currently have in the Pack: 1(+1).

Ooooh, so leveling up didn't give him new skills, but leveling up his attributes did? I boosted his intelligence, so I guess that translated into him gaining magic oriented skills... Magic Siphon... it was practically useless as it was currently. I'd have to help him level that up as soon as possible. If I could get it to where he gained at least ten MP per attack, he could reliably stay in the fight for a good amount of time.

Through A Special Action, A Skill To Lead a Pack, (Pack Leader), Has Been Created.

Pack Leader(passive) LV1 EXP: 1.92%
+3% Damage for all Canid type creatures in the pack
+3% Damage reduction for all Canid type creatures in the pack
+3% HP Regen for all Canid type creatures in the pack
+3% MP Regen for all Canid type creatures in the pack
+20 HP for all Canid type creatures in the pack
+5 MP for all Canid type creatures in the pack
+1 to Pack Size

Oh, now THAT was awesome! It not only boosted the attack for Hax, but it also... I guess It allowed me to go get another timberwolf? Maybe? I scoured Hax's status window, smiling as I saw a certain bit of info. Max number of Familiar *Timberwolf* you can currently have in the Pack: 1(+1). The plus one had to be from the leader skill thing, which was a huge boon! All I had to do now was... go back into the forest. And find a dangerous magic animal that in it's natural state, looked exactly like a pile of leaves and other forest things. In the forest. And then I'd have to hope my 'monster trap' thing would actually work. Which it might not.

I quickly pulled up the stats for the "Monster Trap', wincing as I saw that it was indeed, a 30% chance at success. As in, a 70% chance at failure. Not in my favor.

Okay, so I'd look into getting another Timberwolf... but it didn't say it HAD to be a Timberwolf. It just said canid type critters. That meant dog, right? So I could potentialy have a pack of all different kinds of dogs? Cool? I guess? Well at the very least, I knew the basic area where to find timberwolves. If I could just find some way to ensure that I wouldn't get my feet chewed off if things went wrong...

ID CREATE. In the manga, it created a pocket dimension that he was immediately transported to. So theoretically, If I learned that I could potentially make tracks outta dodge whenever I wanted. Plus I'd get the ability to use magic in the process. If I could get it to work.

I slumped in my chair, trying to shut out the conversation from the other room. How the hell did he do it again? Something about strength? Hands and strength.

'Just put some strength into your hands,' if I was remembering correctly. I tried to follow that instruction, focusing on the feeling in my hands. I imagined them steadily growing hotter, a heat drifting down and pooling in them.

A Skill Has Been Created Through A Special Action

The Skill To Directly Use Mana, [Mana Bolt], Has Been Created

Mana Bolt (Active) LV1 EXP:0.0%
A skill that attacks by emitting mana.
Attack power increases by INT
Range 10 m.

Good, I was on the right track. So to make an imaginary pocket dimension... Appear.

Appear.

Appear, Illusion Barrier!

A Skill Has Been Created Through A Special Action

A Skill To Make Illusion Barriers, (ID Create), Has Been Created

ID Create (Active) LV1 EXP 0.0%
A skill to create Instant Dungeons
Stronger Instant Dungeons may be created according to skill level

The conversation, -and really all sounds- died out suddenly. I looked around, noting as it still appeared I was still within Town Hall. I got out of my chair, slinking forward to knock on miss Mares office door.

"Hello? Anyone in there?"

I opened the door cautiously, noting with satisfaction that there was no one inside. It worked. Now just to create the skill to get back out, ID Escape. I closed the door -kinda unneeded, but I did it anyway- and sat back down in my chair. I went through the process again, the varriation this time being that I kept on chanting 'I want to escape' in my head.

The air cracked around me, falling apart in shimmering fragments that crumbled to nothing. Ambient sound returned, letting me hear that Big Mac and Mare named Mayor were still talking.

A Skill Has Been Created Through A Special Action

A Skill To Get Out Of The Instant Dungeon Illusion Barrier, (ID Escape), Has Been Created

ID Escape (Active) LV1 EXP: 0.0%
Used to Escape Instant Dungeons

It worked. Good, now I had a viable route of escape from any dangerous situations.

Plus I could now use magic. If I could just skip a few steps and get the rest of his altered Mana Bolt spells... maybe town hall isn't the best place to play around with exploding balls of magic. Just maybe.

I picked Hax off of my shoulder, turning him back and forth. He didn't look any smarter. Or stronger. Hax cocked his head to the side, looking me over as well. I was suddenly hit by a certain thought. Was he thinking the same thing about me?

"Hey," I started off, bringing him closer to my face, "I put six points into your intelligence. You any smarter?"

He didn't respond, unsurprisingly. He did however strain forward and lick me right on the lips. Uggghh, tree sap, gross...

I set him down on my lap, contemplating his existence. He looked like a bundle of twigs, leaves, and other greenery. His spit was apparently sap, however the heck that worked. Petting him... his body actually felt just like really coarse hair, not sharp or rough tree stuff. His eyes were apparently hollows, filled with a soft green light. That was kinda weird. His tail was the softest part of him, even though it looked to be made of the same material as the rest of him.

"Colt," Big Mac said, somehow suddenly standing right in front of me. I REFUSE to believe I'm that fucking inattentive! He had to have some sort of stealth skill, no one that fucking big was that fucking quiet! "Mayor wants to see you."

I got my beating heart back under control, watching as he clomped off. No way in hell I missed him, making all that noise. After I caught my breath, I made my way back inside Mayor Mare's office. Hax of course took residence up on my shoulder again.

"Mr. Niscon, so good to see you again. I believe we have a matter of residence to sort out?"

I looked around the room, noting the litany of bookshelves peppering the walls. The scent of them permeated the air, infusing the room with that oh so good wood pulp smell. This was offset by the warring smell of a grove of thriving trees.

I was inside a hollowed out, still living tree, after all.

How the fuck does that work? Fuck if I know. Magic, if I were to guess. Seems to be these people go to answer for pretty much anything else.

"This is..."

"Would this be satisfactory, Mr. Niscon?" Mayor Mare asked, startling me out of my reverie. Kept forgetting she was there. "There is an attached living space, as well as a spacious basement for any storage concerns. I can personally attest to the quality of the kitchen appliances, they're all powered by the earth itself, along with the plumbing!"

They had plumbing? They had fucking plumbing, but still had dirt roads? What kind of bullshit was that? Gah, I can't complain about anything in this fucking place without it becoming trite. Magic. Magic answers ANYTHING. Fucking bullshit.

"I can of course offer you a weeks residence as we previously agreed," she started, drawing my attention, "But if you were willing to make this a more... lasting placement..."

I stared at her for a few seconds before I responded. "I'm listening."

"Well, as it so happens, Golden Oaks Library had a competent caretaker until about two months ago. A Mr. Pen Wright had been living here for the past twenty eight years, but decided to move to Manehatton to live with his granddaughter. The only other scholar we have currently living in Ponyville owns her own house, and has a profession she decided she couldn't give up. Ms. Cheerilee is a good sort, putting her job as a schoolteacher before her own personal wants..." she trailed off, reminiscing on some memory or something. I fake sneezed to draw her attention back to the current point, "Oh, yes. So we are in need of somepony to deal with the upkeep, organization, so on and so forth regarding Golden Oaks. If you took up these duties, I could see about extending your residency indefinitely. As well as sending pay your way, it's not like I could ask you to do this job for free."

Was she fucking serious? She was not only offering me technically my own house, to do whatever the fuck I wanted in, but also offering to fucking pay me for that too? As long as I kept the place tidy, I guess.

I'd have to be fucking insane not to take this deal!

{Quest alert}

You've been offered a job!
Sucess conditions: Accept.
Failure: Rebuke the offer
Rewards: Indefinite Residency within Golden Oaks, and all the paperwork that goes with it.
25 EXP
50 Bits.

Now that was even better, I couldn't say no now! Fifty bits, just for getting a place to sleep? That was insane over the price the other quest gave me...

"You got yourself a deal, Mayor," I said, offering my hand for a handshake.

She took it in her own and gave it a single firm shake.

"Well then. May I be the first to welcome you, Colton Niscon. Classless Scholar, Welcome to Ponyville!"

Everything... was going my way.

Author's Notes:

Okay, to start off, more than a few people voiced concern that Colton didn't get the physical resistance skill in the last chapter. He fell through three stories off rock and other stuff, shouldn't he have gotten it?
Yes, you are all absolutely correct. I went back and did my best to shoehorn it in, hopefully it doesnt feel too obtrusive.

To add to that, I also altered Colton and the CMC's run in with the Skeleton. Messed about with the damage they were outputting.

Before you go off and start harping on Big Mac being an ass, let me explain. Colton LIED, straight to his face. As to his actions towards Fluttershy, He's been fighting alongside her for a good long while. He's seen several of the very same beasts Fluttershy 'supposedly' healed come right back and cause bodily or property based harm. He's a bit sore about that, and can't understand why they don't take the utmost steps to prevent that.

In the last chapter, I had the level up's read 'You Level Went Up By One'. YOU LEVEL. HOW DID NO ONE CATCH THAT? AND WHY DIDN'T ANY OF YOU TELL ME!

For that one guy that asked if the 'Pack Leader' skill would affect a Displaced like Amaterasu, if she became a temporary 'member' of the pack. Short answer, yes. As long as she was in the 'pack', she'd get a boost from the Pack Leader ability.

Added in a couple 'quest' windows.

Fictional Fanatic asks; Question for Colton: Are you going to take a look at the options menu anytime soon?

Wait, what? Options?
...
...
...
Fuck! I completely forgot about that!