Chapter 116: Resuming the Journey

This place was great compared to the previous one. I was very grateful that it was the territory of the unicorns, since there was almost nothing that could intentionally hurt me, but that was no reason to calm down either.

After my partner left for a while, some unicorns came to where I was and I had to hide. They knew I was here and it seems that after sensing me, they tried to chase me away or kill me, I don't know.

They must have come after listening to Elise because at first, I didn't feel them at all hostile, but the closer they were, the more aggressive they became. They tried to tell me to leave, or so I understood, it was difficult to understand them because they spoke the same way as Elise at first.

I moved a little further from the place where I was because I couldn't be sure that they wouldn't attack me again, but not very far, in my state it wasn't very safe to go far from here. It's funny the fact that if I was in my normal form I probably wouldn't run away in fear and might even put up a fight, but now that I'm weak I'm just a cowardly rat... mehh...

I collected some food, mainly fruits and plants, I didn't dare to kill near here so as not to attract attention. I improvised some tools, mainly some makeshift weapons or ritual materials. Ritual magic is the one that was most useful to me at the moment, if I could, I would like to do some more, but I don't have the time or resources with my reduced mobility.

...

I spent these two days very tense, the pressure that the unicorns exerted on me was more than expected, luckily they stopped coming to bother me, I think thanks to Elise. I don't know if I could stay here longer, sleeping is difficult having to be on constant watch, I'll leave tomorrow at the latest.

My sleep wasn't too different from the previous days, only making me miss my bed, whether it be at Hogwarts or the Burrow, I even miss my time in the cave when I could sleep. I woke up and started to prepare my things, I couldn't do much, just some wooden weapons and some food, I think I had too many expectations of what I could do here.

I was getting ready to leave, grabbing my last things. Took a final look towards the unicorn territory with some regret, knowing that I might not see my partner again until the campaign was over when I saw with surprise how Elise came walking here.

"Elise...?"(Red)

*Sigh* "... you weren't gone yet" She showed some relief.

"Are you coming to say goodbye?" (Red)

"... Eh... yes... more or less..." (Lys)

"Is something wrong?" (Red)

"Well... I wanted to ask you where you are going"(Lys)

"I don't know at all. I don't have a family here, well, I do, but they still aren't. Maybe I'll go find some things to sell to the merchant and support myself with that, it's hard now that he's only reappeared a few times, but it would be a good way to earn money. I'm too young to go to a Muggle city... or magical, maybe a village... I don't know, it's difficult with my current appearance without trying to take me to an orphanage"( Net)

"And… have you thought about staying in the forest?"(Lys)

"It's not a bad place to get resources, but it's too dangerous for my current state"(Red)

"What if you weren't alone? Like when we were both..."(Lys)

"What are you trying to say?" (Red)

"Well... if you stayed... maybe I could go with you... like before" (Lys)

"What's wrong? I thought everything was fine here. Why would you want to stay with me? You know I can't stay near unicorns, if you insist on accompanying me you won't be able to be with them."(Red)

"Yeah...uhh...it was nice to see them again, but...we didn't get along as well as I hoped. It seems that being around you for so long made them surprised by your 'presence' in me when I arrived. They don't received me badly, but the looks were intense. I explained my relationship with you and that you are not a bad person, but..."(Lys)

"They didn't believe you and came at me"(Red)

"Something like that. I heard that they came to see you and when I knew that they had aggressive intentions I reproached them, repeating that you are not bad and that you were my friend... but they said that my judgment was clouded... just like that time when I wanted to avenge my mother. They tried to stop me from seeing you again, I wanted to apologize for them, but they didn't want us to get together... After spending so much time with you, I don't feel comfortable with them being so... so... "(Lys)

"So?"(Red)

"Just like me before. I know your essence is very bad, but still, I think you can be a good friend and I don't like that they don't see it, no... what I don't like is that they don't let me try to see it by myself... I want the freedom to decide" (Lys)

"So, in a way, it's my fault that yours reject you and you no longer have a place there?"(Red)

"Yes... but it's not that... if they were my real people I wouldn't be so uncomfortable with them... you said that our stay here is only temporary, and they are not my true pack, they will disappear... Can I go with you again? At least I already know you and I know you won't vanish out of nowhere"(Lys)

"...of course, I will be happy to welcome you to my team, it will always be like this"(Red)

"Fine…" she nodded enthusiastically, but still gave a look back in anguish "Come on, let's get out of here"

"Okay" (Red)

Elise had ducked, and understanding what she meant, I jumped on top of her. I didn't have time to give her any signal and she started running away from the place, if it wasn't for my [Ride] skill I probably would have fallen on me.

I didn't know whether to speak, it seemed that she didn't want to, it was the sensations that our connection gave me. Only after half an hour had she slowed down, I had to reset her stamina on the way, still not saying a word, just letting it flow. Now we just drift towards the outer part of the forest.

"Are you really not mad at me for creating conflict with your pack?"(Red)

"No... You're a bad person but I can trust you... they're good, but I don't feel comfortable being with them... I don't feel like I was before and although I don't feel bad about it, I don't want to affect them somehow. At least with you, I can see many things that I could not otherwise, when we return to our world I will be able to return to my true congeners. I consider this an adventure that I will tell you about in the future..."(Lys)

"Well, you don't have to hide me if you feel bad"(Red)

"Uhm..."(Lys)

"Did you manage to meet your mother?" (Red)

"Yes..., but she's not the same, she's younger and she doesn't act like her at all. I tried to explain to her who I was, although she believed me in part and her attitude towards me changed a little, still she didn't felt like the mother I knew"

We were talking when a series of notifications and screens appeared before me.

[Characters: Unlocked]

[Party: Unlocked]

[Favorability: Unlocked]

[Advise: Favor Level with Elise exceeds requirements]

>Select<

→Companion(Party)

→Mount(Mount)

[Characters] was the list of people and places I acquired before, I remember it was mentioned that it was needed to get campaign rewards or something. I had lost it like other abilities and now I had it back.

[Party], a skill I gained a while ago but couldn't use. Useful only in conjunction with other people, it allowed forming a group of up to 6 people, with some benefits and disadvantages. I had gained this ability when I had already returned to work alone, maybe it could have been useful to me or at least know how it worked if I was still in my Auror job with Tonks.

[Favorability] was an upgrade for [Characters] and I acquired it not long after this one. In the character's boxes appear with two bars. A garnet bar of unfavorability ranging from -100 to 0, and a yellow bar of favorability ranging from 0 to 100.

There were some slight differences, like when it came to a place, then the yellow bar would turn green and represent reputation, or when it came to a romantic relationship or the like, the bar would turn pink.

You could simultaneously have both favorability and unfavorability, depending on the type of bond with the person. The 0 in both was absolute nothingness, what you would have with someone unknown, and the more they increased in their respective directions, it could be said that the relationship would change.

50 favorability is a friend's level, 75 is a best friend, and 100 is the point where your friend, even though he knows he's going to die horribly or have to leave his family, will go to hell with you and back without hesitation.

You can start a romantic relationship at any level of favorability, but depending on the level, it will be the stability or intentions of that relationship. It is at 80 relationship points when for the other person you are the one with whom they can plan a future together, and at 100 'the only true love'.

I hadn't paid much attention to this because the relationships were much more complicated than these simple bars. They went up or down in no particular pattern, I couldn't get closer by increasing these bars, rather these bars changed the closer I got, but now I finally understood one of their functions.

It seems that both [Party] and [Riding] required a certain level of favorability to apply some characteristics to beings with a certain intelligence.

If the other person does not volunteer, it will take 50 favorability points to integrate them into the party manually. For [Riding], Elise, being a being with a certain level of wisdom, also required 50 favor to be able to choose her as a personal mount and be able to use [Summon Mount], a sub-skill that I had not been able to use until now.

"Hmm..." I was thinking. According to [help], if I choose Elise as a companion, the [Mount] Skill will lose all functionality until the party disperses. In this forest, mobility is much more useful to me than combat prowess, at least until I regain my power. "Elise, do you want to be my mount?"

"You mean riding me? Aren't you doing it already?"(Lys)

"Yes, but this is something more... 'deeper'. That connection that we now have would be strengthened, in a certain sense, we will be more tied to each other than before. We will be able to contact us from anywhere, I will be able to call you at almost any time. If something happens to us, the other part may also suffer some consequences... it's not something to take lightly, although it can be undone, it's still something to consider. Are you sure you want to be so close to me?

"We are already in this together, I just abandoned my opportunity to be with mine. Do you think I would refuse at this point? We are already clear that we will continue together for a long time" (Lys)

"Perhaps it was a silly question... Do you agree to be my mount, my partner?"(Red)

"YES!"(Lys)

With her words, the sign in front of me disappeared and we both felt the change. In my vision, there was an almost empty screen, but the important thing is that it had a small square icon in the lower left with a symbol of the knight chess piece, only with a horn.

If I didn't have my ability to talk to animals, this ability now would also allow us to understand each other only at a lower level than I currently have, more like an exchange of feelings.

We could also communicate over long distances, like with [message], only it was not necessary to write, we had instant feedback of thought. This ability is only somewhat impaired, depending on the place or situation in which you find yourself, not in the sending time, but in the quality of the message.

Being in a relatively safe place, we test communication ability and [Summon]. Our new telepathy was very good, I don't know if it's because of the rest of my abilities or for another reason, but we could talk perfectly as if we were next to each other. On the other hand, the [Summon] allowed Elise to run into an invisible wall or dive into the ground, passing through it like a ghost, and then exit the same way near me.