Lanek was roused from his sleep by the sun stabbing into his eyelids, a feeling he had never been fond of experiencing. He squinted at the sun that had found just the right angle to directly shine on his eyes despite the tall wall and roof of the stable and glared at the hateful thing. Grumbling and feeling incredibly hungry, Lanek stood and walked out into the light before coming to a dead stop.

  Sprawled across the courtyard, sunning themselves on the warm stones were two heaps of fur that took him a moment to recognize as his companions. Part of the issue was that both animals now gave off a more intimidating aura that was just slightly visible to his eyes. Flickers of red would pop in and out of existence around Sanguineus’ fur while Kazuma had blue flickers that would occasionally dance across his fur. Lifting their heads and noticing Lanek, the two got to their feet and rushed him, giving Lanek his second shock of the morning.

  They were larger. Where Kazuma had only reached 50cm before, the cat now hovered around 70cm. Sanguineus had grown as well, outgrowing his furry friend, much to Kazuma’s obvious disapproval. The wolf now reached 100cm in height. Lanek whistled at the sight, silently deciding that if the wolf kept getting bigger he would need to find a saddle. Honestly, he was kinda tempted to put saddle bags on the wolf and make him pull his own weight, but figured he shouldn’t push his luck considering Sanguineus probably weighed as much or more than him at this point. Well, let’s see what they evolved into.

  Yikes, that’s nasty… Glad he’s friendly.

  That’s also terrifying. I’m the least intimidating of the three of us! Lanek chuckled in amusement. He gazed in the direction of the sleeping gryphon, imagining the possibilities if he could add that creature to his party.

  Now, about those subclasses. Let’s start with the Rogue evolution, that way I can choose another subclass to complement it.

  Alright, that is messed up. I love my mobility, but I also really love explosions. But is keeping my mobility worth the slower leveling I’m going to run into? Hmm, let’s look at the additional subclass options before making a choice.

  Lanek scanned through the list, seeing the same options as before, builder, fisher, hunter, scout, and ranger. He wasn’t going to complain though as he always struggled between a rogue and ranger when creating a character in video or tabletop games, so his choice was easy.

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  As for his evolution, he couldn’t pass up the versatility or mobility of the [Shinobi] class, even with the decreased experience gains. Once he finalized his choices, new notification flashed before his eyes, mostly for his new skills. Moving on to his skills, Lanek saw quite a few useful options were now available to him. He even saw a few skills that had evolved.

  Oh, that’s nice, I don’t need to specifically hit an enemy from behind anymore.

  Huh, shinobi is just going wild on my skills. It looks like it is an automatic upgrade if you have two almost identical skills. It looks like that’s all for my evolved skills. My new skills look handy as well.

  I’m surprised that I didn’t get a new Soulbinder skill. Maybe the skills for that class have special requirements or I need to find someone or something to teach me. It also looks like I got a few weapon proficiency skills.

  Let’s see, throwing, one-handed sword, spear, and bow. Lanek shook his head ruefully. Add those to my chain whip and light blade proficiency, and I only have weapons to accommodate three of those. It does simplify my load out, no sense taking the hand axes or kanabo without skills for them. Looks like I’ll be lugging around Sanguineus and Kazuma’s vessels along with the throwing knives. I’m more than alright with that.

  While he strapped on his gear and stowed his tools and excess weapons in one of the stalls, Lanek turned his attention to the courtyard before him. This has so much potential. It seems safe, has plenty of room for me to train, the building itself is imposing, and it would be fairly easy to defend considering the single door and narrow staircase leading up here. The tower is also a great vantage point.

  The only problem is food, but I can always take a few trips into the forest and spend a day or two stockpiling food before coming back here. My cave can be my vacation/hunting cabin! I always wanted a vacation home in the woods. Laughing at himself, Lanek called his companions over, once more shocked at their size. Both creatures positively exuded hunger and Lanek couldn’t blame them, their evolution had to have taken a lot of energy.

  “Alright, let’s head back to the cave for now and get some food. We’ve got a lot to talk about and I have some plans that I need to work on.” He hefted his pack, planning on poring over the maps back in the cave where he felt more secure.

  Descending through the monastery, Lanek heard the clash of metal on metal outside in the plaza. He held out his hand stopping his companions from rushing outside. He leaned over and peeked through the open doorway, gawking at the sight. Four figures were running through the plaza, fighting their way through a crowd of ash goblins as they tried desperately to escape from a group of bugbears that were slapping their lesser kin out of their way in their eagerness to reach the fleeing figures.

  Lanek found himself torn between his desire to help and the urge to remain hidden. He snapped himself out of his indecision, dropped his pack, and strode out of the monastery while drawing his sabre. Those were Night Arrows and he needed answers.