Ch. 16 Finishing My Quest

That night was an interesting one, when we got home I told Lynette what happened and two things happened. First she smacked me, twice, then took me in the room and lets just say was not gentle. It felt just as good as it hurt.

I asked her about it the next day and she smiled "I figured if I make it memorable enough you wouldn't do as much stupid shit and hopefully stay alive long enough to see me give birth again."

I stared at her for a second, my mind was getting smarter with my increased stats, but WHAT???

"Did you just say?" she smiled at me and when she did I ran over and picked her up, spinning her around the room, kissing her neck. "Holy crap, a third baby. Shit we need to get a house now. Okay sell these stones, put a down payment on a house. Crap what about the car?"

My mind was going a mile a minute and she was giggling "Honey, slow down and relax. we still have most of a year." I shook my head and opened the door, Bella ran in the room and jumped on the bed, rubbing Lynette's belly, who laughed.

She bolted out of the room just after I did and followed me into the living room where Claire was sitting with Junior in her lap. "Claire, we gotta get going." She looked up and nodded "Where are we going?"

"We gotta sell the stones. I gotta try and see if the bank will give us a home loan, we need a bigger place. We are gonna be having another baby." She got up and squealed excitedly, then ran up to me and gave me a quick hug before she ran to Lynette and gave her a hug.

I was grabbing my jacket when I felt arms wrap around me "Honey, slow down. Relax and breathe." I smiled and turned my head kissing her, then shook my head "Man no relax, man make money."

She slapped my arm playfully and I took a deep breath, yes I was definitely rushing things. She was right, we have a while before the baby comes. I just really want to make sure our household is ready.

"Alright, we leave in ten minutes Claire." I said as I walked back to the bedroom and changed the little furballs' water, food and towel.

We sold the stones later that day, I got almost 5,000 dollars where Claire got 3,200. Her eyes were wide as she kept looking at her bank statement on her phone. I grinned, I had around 9,000 left in my bank account after buying weapons and essentials.

I set up a meeting with a home loan specialist at the bank for next Monday (It was Wednesday currently). Then Claire and I went to train.

We got to the wooded area Will had taken us to and began practicing. Claire and I challenged each other over and over, trying to see who could shoot the fastest and who had better aim.

I noticed something though, as we competed I realized just how fast we were. I could see differences I hadn't realized were there before. My hands had a certain nimbleness to them, my fingers loading the crossbow with ease. It wasn't just practice, but something within me guiding my hands.

I felt Powerful!

I knew I had power, abilities that I hadn't had a month ago, but seeing my fingers, my arms and just myself in general moving so much faster than what I was used to, I was amazed.

We continued practicing for a couple of hours. We spent the next few days doing the same routine, continuing to practice as we trained our skills.

I finally heard a Ding on the fourth day and grinned at the message.

System Message - You have reached level 20 in Skill Animal Handling. You can further upgrade your current Animal Companion *Bella* or you can gain another Animal Companion follower at 1 level below your current level.

I brought the box in the front room and asked Lynette "Who do you think I should make my new Animal Companion?"

She looked up at me then looked in the box "You sure you don't want a different Animal Companion?" I shook my head "I promised Bella I would bring her sisters in first. Once all three of them are my Animal Companions then I will get more."

She just shook her head and looked in the box, then pulled out one of the raccoons and held it out to me "This one. She is the smallest and cutest." I nodded and set the box down.

"Alright Nina, welcome to the group." I said out loud as I mentally selected her as my newest Animal Companion.

Everyone stopped to watch as the Raccoon began growing right in front of our eyes. She grew to almost the height of Bella and stopped, then plumped out until she was almost as wide as Bella.

System Message - *Nina* has been recognized as an Animal Companion for Odellin Hundai. *Nina* Has become a Dire Raccoon.

Nina (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon)

Level: 4

STR: 22

DEX: 21

CON: 23

INT: 9

WIS: 10

CHA: 8

HP: 450

MP: 190

STA: 230

SKILLS:

Dig - 1

Multi-Attack - 1

Tracking - 1

She ran around the room playing with the babies as I stood there smiling. "Definitely going to get to 30 and get their other sister in my furry army too." I said and Bella said into my mind "Of course, Lord of the Raccoons". She laughed in my head when she said that, I just smiled.

it was another 2 days of training before Claire and I got a call from the Association. In those 2 days I had met with the home loan specialist at our bank and they gave us a really good deal on loan options. Apparently being a Breaker was a very good thing. The pre-approval went through, all we had to do now was to find a house we wanted.

Bella had trained Nina how to fight. She trained her how to track, how to be Stealthy, everything Bella had learned she taught Nina.

I was getting used to having Nina's emotions fluttering through our bond, just like I had with Bella. It was a lot of work.

We drove to where the rift was and I sighed "Seriously, is nothing sacred anymore?" we were standing in front of an Elementary school.

We grabbed our gear as Bella and Nina jumped out of the vehicle and followed us. Once we had our gear we walked over to where the rest of the team was waiting. Agent Smith was standing there and waiting for us, nodding.

Will and Tyrone turned when they saw Agent Smith nod to us then smiled "Bro, you came, and you have a new friend?" Tyrone said astonished when he saw Nina. I chuckled "Yeah, a couple days ago. This is Nina, she's Bella's sister."

Tyrone nodded and leaned down. I gave Nina the go ahead and she sniffed Tyrone's hand, then waddled up to Will and the rest of the team, sniffing their hands as well.

"So what kind of Rift is it?" I asked and Tyrone looked over to the Rift chuckling "It's a level 4 Goblin Rift. The Association confirmed there weren't any fluctuations in the Rift. They've upgraded their equipment to try and counter the changes going through Rifts all over."

I nodded, I was looking forward to a Rift that didn't change when we went through, hopefully their equipment was right.

I didn't see any other faces I recognized in the group other than Tyrone and Will, so we all got the introductions out of the way quickly. Tyrone turned to face us "Alright guys, John and I will be the Tanks. Frank, Stephanie, Shaquanda and Yu Chin will be the melee DPS. Will, Claire, Odellin and Richard will be the ranged and support. Odellin and Richard have heals, so if you get injured make sure you get to them before it becomes serious."

Everyone nodded as we formed up. We all turned as one towards the Rift, a crowd had gathered around us while Tyrone was giving us the rundown. The Police were blocking off the area making sure nobody got through but of course the sound of cameras and phones taking pictures was heard.

I just chuckled under my breath before Tyrone and John jumped through the Rift. We all followed soon after.

We got a chance to take a look at our surroundings for a few moments. Like most Goblin Rifts, this one was a cave as well. The glowing moss on the wall gave off a red glow, giving the cave an ominous red haze as we made our way deeper.

As we were walking I noticed both Frank and Yu were holding their swords nervously. They both had what looked like bulletproof vests on and a sword in their right hand, with a shield in their left.

I was just about to go over to them when Tyrone dropped back a bit and began reassuring them. I looked down at Bella and said "You and Nina, watch out for those two." She nodded as we continued walking.

It was almost half an hour before we saw our first Goblin. They had tried to lay an ambush for us, using a side cave that looked as if it was made just for that reason.

Bella warned me of them ahead of time, her sense of smell was definitely improving. Tyrone and John had moved ahead of the rest of us to trick the Goblins.

The 10 Goblins popped out of the side cave and turned towards our 2 Tanks, snarling and yapping like Goblins do. Bella and Nina charged them just as Tyrone and John yelled out a taunt to get the Goblins attention.

The rest of the DPS rushed forward as well. The Goblins were unprepared for us. It took all of a half a minute to bring them down.

One of the new guys almost retched at the sight. I walked up to him and put my hand on his back "Just breathe bud. You'll be alright."

He nodded and took a few deep breaths then turned and asked me "How do you do it?" I shrugged "I just think about what would happen if they were unleashed on the world. The monsters in here don't care about us, they would kill us as easily as we slaughter a chicken or cow." He nodded at that.

I noticed the other new guy had been listening as well.

After a few more ambushes like that the new guys seemed to adjust. It hit me that I really hadn't had an issue like that before and I wondered why. I wasn't necessarily a violent guy or anything. I didn't know how to explain it, so I would deal with those thoughts later.

We got to the Boss Room after another half hour, this Goblin Rift seemed to love trying to ambush us.

The rest of the team took on the Goblin Warriors surrounding the boss while Nina, Bella, Claire and I took on the Hobgoblin boss itself. It and it's warriors went down quickly.

Once we got out of the Rift I grinned as I finally saw that part of my Progress Quest was complete, now I just needed to consume 4 more Mana Stones.

I couldnt consume Stat Stones, so I needed to get my hands on some Skill or Spell Stones.

It was another month before I could get enough money to buy 4 Spell Stones, none had dropped in the other 5 Rifts I closed. It cost me almost 12,000 dollars, but I was able to do it. I smiled when I reviewed my Character Sheet again.

Name: Odellin Hundai

Level: 6

Str: 14

Dex: 30

Con: 13

Int: 28

Wis: 17

Cha: 12

HP: 270

MP: 450

STA: 130

(0 unused stat points)

SKILLS:

One-handed - 1

Two-handed - 1

Survival - 10

Evocation - 31

Animal Handling - 26

Ranged - 29

Meditation - 30

Stealth - 22

Mana Manipulation - 27

Necromancy - 16

NON-COMBAT SKILLS:

Cooking - 8

Bartering - 6

Multi-Tasking - 2

SPELLS:

Force Missile

Mana Arrow

Necromantic Healing

Ball Of Light

Ray Of Frost

Fireball

Jolt

FEATS: Adamant

Goblin Crossbow 20 DMG. (2)

Rift-Line Compound Hand Crossbow (Uncommon) 35 DMG (2)

Bella (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon, Soulbound)

Level: 6

STR: 25

DEX: 24

CON: 24

INT: 10

WIS: 10

CHA: 8

HP: 490

MP: 200

STA: 240

SKILLS:

Dig - 8

Multi-Attack - 25

Tracking - 31

Stealth - 16

Nina (Animal Companion, Dire Raccoon)

Level: 6

STR: 24

DEX: 23

CON: 25

INT: 9

WIS: 10

CHA: 8

HP: 490

MP: 190

STA: 250

SKILLS:

Dig - 6

Multi-Attack - 16

Tracking - 13

Stealth - 11

Spell Acquired: Ball Of Light - Cost 10 Mana Per Cast

Creates a ball of illumination that gives light equal to that of a torch in a 25 foot radius. Duration - Until Dispelled. Cast Time - Instantaneous

Spell Acquired: Ray Of Frost - Cost 15 Mana Per Cast

Creates a ray of freezing cold that deals 20 Damage + INT + Evocation Skill rank in Damage. Cast Time - Instantaneous

Spell Acquired: Fireball - Cost 30 Mana Per Cast

Creates a small ball of fire that will launch itself at targeted area. Upon reching it's destination it will explode dealing 50 + INT + Evocation Skill rank. Cast Time - Instantaneous

Spell Acquired: Jolt - Cost 15 Mana Per Cast

Creates a jolt of electricity that will launch in a straight line and deal 15 + INT + Evocation Skill rank in damage to the first obstruction it touches. Cast Time - Instantaneous