Is it wrong to tame a monster?

"Oi, get your lazy butt up. It's time to be productive," Ryan said and lightly kicked the sleeping Navi.

Her eyes quickly opened in surprise, and then she growled at him, pissed off. He smirked. Clearly, Navi was more intelligent than the average goblin.

"I know you don't get it yet, but I need to get stronger and earn some cash for a skill, and then I can also make you smarter and stronger," he said while petting Navi. She stopped growling and leaned into his hand. "Ah, you like that, huh?" he asked with a smile.

He stopped petting her, and she looked kind of sad as a result. "Come on, we've gotta find some goblins to kill." She got up and started walking with him, still not understanding what was truly happening. Ryan found it adorable.

Ryan wasn't planning on returning to the camp. He could always just steal another camp from the goblins, so there was no reason to settle down anywhere in particular.

After a couple of hours, and a few dozen whiny growls from Navi, they finally found another group of goblins.

"There's… about 30. You just hang back and watch; I'll make short work of them." Unlike the previous times, Ryan decided to engage the goblins head on.

"Sup, fuckers," Ryan greeted with a viscious smile, and then he drop kicked the closest goblin; he felt its bones break under his feet. Afterwards, he landed on top of the goblin and, safe to say, that didn't bode well for the little monster. "Yep, it's super dead," he said with disinterest as he stepped off the corpse.

Ryan quickly found an appropriately sized stick from the ground, and then he went to town, beating all of the goblins over the head with it. By this point, his strength was already a little inhuman, so he could almost blow their heads clean off.

Without Ryan noticing, one of the goblins snuck up behind him, ready to launch a sneak attack, which was quite clever for such a creature.

"Yo, nice save, Navi." His pet goblin had seen it coming and beat the other goblin over the head with her own stick. She bared her teeth at him, her way of grinning, he assumed. Together, they fought off the remaining goblins, with Navi proving herself quite the capable combatant, and didn't seem to have a problem with killing other goblins. Lucy suddenly spoke to him.

{She might actually be an oni, Ryan}

"Well, that would explain why her skin tone is red instead of green, and I did notice how she seems to have some stomps on her head, hidden underneath her hair - they may be her underdeveloped horns."

As the dust of their battle settled, Navi found herself getting tired and sat on the ground with what sounded like a yawn.

"Man, you've just had a night of rest. How come you're already tired?" he asked while poking her back with his bloodied stick.

{Perhaps oni are lazy creatures?}

Ryan's lips twitched. "Maybe… nah, I think Navi is just particularly slothful. Oh well, I guess I'll take a breather with her." She began chewing on her stick like a toy as he sat down next to her, and then he began petting her again.

With a neutral look, Ryan glanced at all of the corpses. "[Abysswalker] is kind of scary, isn't it? In my last life, I would faint at the mere sight of blood, and now I don't seem to care, at all. If the skill affects me this much, can I still really say I'm me?" Lucy sighed in response to his philosophical question.

{I won't deny the skill has changed you in a few ways, but it will also increase your ability to survive and thrive in this world. Besides, you can still feel emotions, like sadness and joy, right?}

Ryan smiled to himself. "Yeah, that's true." He decided to look at his status again, to see how much he had grown.

Basic Abilities:

•Strength: I52

•Endurance: I42

•Dexterity: I57

•Agility: I55

•Magic: I25

Skills:

•Abysswalker: S

System Tokens: 955

He whistled. "That Side Quest did wonders for my stats, and I've also gained a little from killing all those green skins." Navi rested her head on his shoulder as he said that, her big eyes regarding him with interest.

Ryan glanced into her yellow eyes. "I kind of feel like you want to say something to me, Navi." The suspected oni blinked a few times, and then she tried opening her mouth to speak. Unfortunately, the growls and mewls were completely incomprehensible, but Ryan was still smiling from ear to ear.

"Welp, we should probably get going again." He took her hand and raised both of them up. "Soon, Navi. Soon we'll be able to understand each other better," he promised the little murder machine. She bared her teeth.

They continued their journey through the forest, killing all the goblins they came across, but then something interesting occurred - Ryan received another Side Quest.

[Side Quest - Clear out the nearby mine]

Objectives: kill all the kobolds and the kobold warchief

Rewards: 35 free points invested into each Basic Skill (only 25 for Magic) and 1500 System Tokens

Ryan's eyes narrowed as he regarded the entrance to a nearby cave. "Right, that must be the mine the quest is referring to." Navi growled.

"If I clear this quest, I'll have more than enough Tokens to buy [Tame]. But we'll need a source of light."

His plan was pretty simple. Ryan took some of the loincloths from some dead goblins, wrapped them around a stick, and then he started a little fire to light the torch. "You'll have torch duty, Navi," he said as he handed it to her, and then kicked out the small fire he had just made.

Sure, Navi had proven she knew how to fight, but Ryan was still stronger than her, and he couldn't afford to hinder his own mobility by carrying around a burning torch.

She didn't seem pleased, growling and whining a little, but she still took the offered torch. He petted her a little to appease her, and then they entered the cave system together.

Immediately, Ryan could tell the place was dangerous; the air smelled rotten and decayed. In the distance, he could also make out some sounds - it sounded like rats scurrying about.

"WARRGH!"

To his left side, a scream resounded, and then a bipedal rat creature appeared from the darkness. It tried to stab Ryan in the chest, but he simply punched it in the face, took the primitive knife from its hands, and then he nimbly slit its throat. "Kind of reckless to do a frontal attack against a larger opponent, don't ya think?" He could have sworn he heard Navi cackling at his words.

"Ah, and here comes its friends. Do you also want to play with us?"

The rat-men screeched at them, and Ryan rolled his eyes in amusement. Thanks to Navi illuminating their surroundings, their attacks were clear as day, and Ryan effectively dispatched the four kobolds who had shown up.

"I know you said [Abysswalker] makes me more focused in combat, but the amount of finesse I'm showcasing is unreal." Just like the goblins, kobolds' strength lied in their numbers, but Ryan never got caught off guard, well, except for that one time Navi had to save his dumbass. But let's just forget about that, okay?

It was like a dance, and Ryan was simply going through the moves, decimating all of his opponents.

{Well, it is an S-rank skill, so of course it would be slightly overpowered}

"Fair point. How are you holding up, Navi? You aren't about to fall asleep on me, are you?" he teased, and she had the gall to kick him on the shin. Perhaps it was unwise to be this carefree, but Ryan knew he could handle anything this cave could offer, and Navi also seemed to trust his skills.

The story repeated itself. When kobolds showed up, Ryan would wipe the floor with them, and he could feel himself grow stronger from every encounter - it was a very satisfying feeling, and he couldn't help becoming excited about his future adventures. How far would he go? How strong would he become? He began asking these questions to himself.

"Ah, so that's the warchief, eh? Sorry, but I expected you to be much larger. No offense," Ryan said in a dry tone. The filthy rat was only twice as large as its peers, so this was a very sorry sight for the eyes. It wasn't attacking him for some reason. It simply stood there, frozen, like it had seen a ghost. Perhaps it understood the difference in power?

Navi poked him with her elbow. "What… ah, you want to fight him, don't you?" She nodded several times.

He hummed in a thoughtful manner and took the torch from her hands. "Sure. But if I see you losing, I'll step in and steal your kill." Navi growled at him, and he smirked, clapping her on the back. "Go get 'em, girl!"

The kobold warchief was only a little smaller than Ryan, but for the tiny Navi, it was like facing off against a goliath - it was a pretty funny sight.

Finally, the kobold warchief decided to make its move, and it ran at Navi, intent on maiming the suspected oni with the primitive sword it was carrying around.

It tried to hit Navi with an overhead swing, but she simply ducked between its legs, climbed on its back, and then she took a vicious bite out of kobold's throat. "Alright, that's pretty much a K.O," Ryan said, not hiding the amusement in his tone.

The kobold wailed in pain and anger, but there was nothing it could do. Navi jumped off its back, and the kobold fell over, bleeding profusely from the wound.

Navi walked back to him, no longer interested in the kobold, it would seem. Well, it was going to bleed out in a minute or so. Ah, there you go.

[Side Quest Complete - Clear out the nearby mine]

Objectives: kill all the kobolds and the kobold warchief

Rewards: 35 free points invested into each Basic Skill (only 25 for Magic) and 1500 System Tokens

"Come on, Navi - let's leave this shitty mine, and then I'll use [Tame] you." She hopped around in excitement. How cute.

When they had left the cave, Ryan immediately bought the skill, and then he used it on Navi.

"Whoah, what's happening?" he asked himself as Navi was enveloped in a blue light.

{She'll evolve into a higher form now}

He suddenly felt a little lightheaded. Lucy was quick to explain why.

{You don't have a lot of Mana, Ryan. If you spend most of your mana, you'll grow very fatigued, and if you spend all of it, you might faint}

"G-Good to know," he stuttered, doing his best not to hurl. The world was spinning around him, from his perspective, at least.

"Master? Are you alright?" A gentle voice asked, and Ryan's eyes widened in surprise.

Standing in front of him was a pretty girl. She had silver-white hair, two red and sharp horns, protruding from her forehead, amber colored eyes, and her skintone was an excotic red.

She grinned at him. "Surprised? Well, I am too." She stretched her lithe arms and groaned in satisfaction.

For some reason, she had also received some proper clothes after her transformation - anime logic, he mused. Not that he wanted to see her naked or anything… Well, that was a lie, since Navi looked absolutely gorgeous now. She was now wearing a gray leather vest, with her red arms bare, and some black linen pants.

His brain finally caught up with him. "What's with the 'master' thing?" She tilted her head to the side. "Well, I feel compelled to call you that, but I can just call you by your name… Ryan."

He shook his head. "Yeah, just stick with Ryan. Hmm, oh wait, I just realized something. Would Navi be welcome in Orario? Oh, I'm speaking to Luce - she's." He tried to explain things to Navi, but the oni just shook her head. "I already know about her. All information relevant about you was transferred over to me when you used [Tame]. Also, I can also hear Lucy speak, because you're our 'link', if that makes any sense."

He nodded. "Ah, that makes things easier. But would Navi be accepted in Orario, Luce?"

{Normally, no. But that shouldn't be a problem. Right, Navi?}

Navi puffed out her modest chest. "Course not. I can make myself look like a human, like this." She snapped her fingers, and then her skin turned white, and her horns disappeared into her head. "Voila."

He clapped, impressed. "Pretty cool parlor trick." She pouted. "It's no mere 'parlor trick', it's a highly advanced transformation spell!" She yelled back, and he chuckled. "Whatever you say."

This was nice, Ryan thought to himself, and Navi's cheeks flushed a little, able to sense her master's happiness.

"Well, shall we get going?" he asked, and Navi nodded with a grin.

Their journey had just gotten started.