"Athios?" he asked.
"Yeah, cat form. Thanks," she said. She activated her BeastScape Ability, that thankfully didn't come with a Mana cost, and transformed. In her feline form, Athios was a scrawny, orange-and-white tortoiseshell with short, wiry hair.
Garath leaned over and scooped Athios into his arms. Her slight form felt boney and fragile to the Necrologist, like he may break her if he squeezed too tight. He cradled her close to his chest and they set off.
Athios dozed, unintentionally purring in his embrace as he, Daisy, Gary, and the boys made their way through the empty city streets. For reasons she didn't understand, being in his arms comforted the Dimensionalist. This man she had met only days ago. They had fought together, laughed desperately together, and survived together. His sense of humor and inspiring confidence, even in the direst of circumstances, had endeared the Necrologist to her. Though her headache had eased and her mind was clearing, Athios remained in House Cat form, comfortable in his arms for the remainder of the walk.
Chapter 25
Guild?
Garath sat alone with his back to the wall in the old classroom he and Warrion were sharing as living quarters. He would have preferred his own room of course but, even in the spacious three-story building, with more survivors coming to BOTH HQ each day seeking shelter, food, and safety, space was quickly becoming a premium. Warrion wasn't such a bad roommate, Garath decided after a few days. With his two-decade gamer's education, the Necrologist had actually found himself enjoying spending the time between retiring for the night and actually falling asleep on the hard linoleum flooring discussing the new world mechanics with the gangly Assassin.
The last remnant of sunlight had left the sky, sinking into the Pacific ocean on the horizon, but the Necrologist could see easily in the pale blue light of the summer sky pouring in from the room's west facing window. His cat, Tarzan - a massive, black Maine coon who had spent the majority of The Culling sleeping without a worry in the world inside of Garath's gym bag - had just eaten her weight in salmon and now lay, huddled and bloated, purring contentedly against his leg. Garath figured it was as good a time as any to allocate the APs he had gained for hitting Level 22.
He willed his MENU panel into semi-transparency in front of him and opened the Profile panel. A player profile filled his vision to the right of the center panel that listed the options. An avatar of the twenty-nine-year-old gamer took up most of the panel, complete with glowing eyes, useless staff, and pointed hat. To the side of his avatar, on the same panel, his stats were listed in a vertical row.
Garath
Race: Human
Class: Necrologist
Level: 22
Age: 29
Health: 830/830
(base: 720; APs: +110)
Stamina: 100/100
Mana: 840/840
(base: 720; APs: +90 items: +30)
Exp to next Level: 32,185/75,000
Attributes
Vitality: 83 - Each point of Vitality provides +10 to maximum Health.
Wisdom: 81 - Each point of Wisdom provides +10 to maximum Mana.
Regeneration: 40 - As a Necrologist, each point of Regeneration increases Mana recovery rate by +1.11 per second; Health recovery rate by +.25 per second; and recovery from injury by +2%.
Strength: 5 - In addition to making one stronger, each point of Strength increases physical attack damage by 1% and reduces damage received from physical attacks by .25%.
Dexterity: 10 - In addition to making one more agile, each point of Dexterity improves the critical strike chance of physical attacks by +.3%; the critical strike damage of physical attacks by +3%; and improves chance to dodge by +.5%.
Unused Attribute Points: 3
Having not invested a single point into Strength, Garath pondered the usefulness of the stat for a Necrologist. It probably wouldn't be much help to him in combat, as all of his damaging spells were Mana dependant and only gained power from Wisdom, but after his fatal battle with the Ice Drake, Aldrasyl (where he had taken advantage of the real-world combat aspect to overcome a foe that was far beyond him), it just seemed negligent to continue ignoring the Attribute - it was reasonable to think that a time would arise that his relatively adorable Strength wouldn't be enough to take advantage of the real-world aspect of this new Earth. Happy with where his Vit and Wis Attributes stood after the automatic three points each for leveling, Garath distributed all three points into Strength, then confirmed his decision and felt a surge of power wash over his body. His muscles tightened. He felt the effect of the increased Strength immediately, and in a more profound way than he had after boosting any of his other Attributes.
Satisfied with his decision, Garath flexed the muscles in his arms and was looking around the room for something heavy to pick up when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in," he said, still seated next to the sleeping feline. Garath knew it was bad manners not to come to the door, and his mother would definitely scold him for it had she been there, but Tarzan was sleeping comfortably and he didn't want her to hate him. When Warrion opened the door and entered, Garath cocked his head and raised one eyebrow in question. "This is your room too, dude. You don't have to knock..."
"Nooooo thank you. After seeing you get frisky with Aldrasyl, I do NOT wanna walk in and see you doing... whatever it is you do in here when you're by yourself."
“That was ONE time!” Garath’s face took on an injured expression. "And I was just distributing APs," he said defensively. "If I wanted to do something more… private? I'd find a private place. Wait…” He paused to think about it. “You haven't been spanking it in here, have you?"
"I mean, a few times. Yeah," Warrion admitted unabashed. "But as much as I know you want to just sit here and talk about my personal habits, that's not
