Jessica slid through the underbrush in a low crouch, her steps so light they barely disturbed the leaves beneath her boots. She had gained a passive skill called “Light Footed,” which she found really came in handy for sneaking up on prey.

  Popping up from her low stance, she pushed her back against a tree, then tilted her head just enough to peek half an eye past the bark to gauge her target’s position.

  It was another Feral Scalehound. The very type of monster that attacked them when they were first dumped out here in the forest. That was just three mornings ago, which felt like a much longer time. But Jessica never would have imagined she would be engaging with such a monster on purpose.

  Well, I’m level 6 already, and Iris is level 7, so what’s there to worry about? We beat one of those things when we were only levels 2 and 3. Killing monsters is how we can level up more…

  Thinking of Iris, she glanced upwards and scanned the higher branches of the canopy for the winged pup. She first noticed some rustling of leaves, then a bit of movement as Iris glided down and perched on a branch directly above their target. The Hell Hound then turned her gaze to Jessica.

  Should I attack first, or wait for Iris to take the lead? Jessica wondered, hand tightening on her spear.

  So far, she had been falling into Iris’s rhythm with their hunts more so than taking the leading role herself. The few times Jessica attempted to give Iris some kind of command or argue with Iris’s intentions, it was always met with a judgmental look that simply said, “I hope you’re not serious.”

  Whatever… it doesn’t really matter, does it? As long as we succeed in our hunts, it doesn’t really matter who’s taking charge, right?

  Jessica sighed.

  I mean… typically, the human is supposed to be the one in charge, and the whole Wyrmscar Legacy thing is supposed to be about me being some kind of ‘beast tamer…’ Obviously, I’m not living up to it, but… Uh… yeah, I shouldn’t worry too much about it, I guess.

  Jessica was pulled out of her thoughts when Iris suddenly dropped down, wings sprouting from her back and glowing eyes preceding a beam of light that cut across the monster’s back.

  It let out a scratch as Iris glided, dipped, and came up again with a beat of her wings, then shot another beam while remaining out of the monster’s reach.

  Okay—my turn!

  Jessica leapt from behind the tree and charged at the monster. It was too distracted by Iris to even notice Jessica coming, so she had an easy time impaling her spear into its back.

  “Gotcha!” Jessica cried, leaving the spear embedded and then jumping backwards to avoid the counter-lash of its tail while drawing her dagger from her side.

  The monster hissed and flashed its fangs at her, but soon Iris was diving onto its back. Her teeth sank into its neck, but she struggled to break through the scales. Still, it was enough of a distraction.

  Jessica ran forward, dagger swinging, and managed to slash one of the monster’s eyes. It let out another roar and swiped at her. She just barely jumped away in time with the claw ripping her clothes and scratching her breastplate underneath.

  Iris jumped free from the monster's back, landing at Jessica’s feet, and then fired another eyebeam point-blank in the monster’s face. It reared back, screaming in pain.

  Jessica took the opportunity to dart around its side and rip her spear from its back, yanking it free at a harsh angle and then spinning it into a plunging grip. She landed the spearhead just behind the base of its neck, then with a final twitch, the monster fell limp.

  Foe Eliminated! Level 8 Feral Scalehound!

  Experience Gained!

  You have leveled up!

  You are now level 7!

  + 4 strength

  +3 vigor

  +3 dexterity

  +1 luck

  “Ha! We did it! And I got a level—” Jessica pumped a thumbs-up towards Iris. “—Up!”

  Jessica couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear. The Hell Hound at first gave her usual judgmental stare, but then her lip quirked, flashing an amused fang. Jessica thought she also saw a hint of approval in the pup’s eyes.

  Jessica put her foot on the slain monster’s back and pulled her spear free, then started wiping the blood off on some nearby plants. She crouched as she examined the monster, head turning left and right as she sized it up. “I wonder if something like this is what Valrok wanted us to hunt?”

  They had come across much larger and more menacing creatures out here in the woods—thankfully, from a distance. But Valrok hadn’t really given her a ton of direction on what exactly he wanted. Well, at this point, if he wasn’t happy and made good on his threat to leave her out here, she supposed that wasn’t too bad. Actually, she was becoming more and more comfortable with this kind of life, especially with Iris here to help her. She wasn’t sure she’d entirely mind escaping the stress and anxiety amongst the Bloody Peaks to just rough it out here in the woods.

  Jessica watched Iris as she sniffed their kill, then worked on flipping it onto its back so she could get at its softer underbelly.

  Maybe we should try running away while we are out here? No… that probably wouldn’t work, Valrok can cover a lot of ground on that dragon, so I’m sure he’d be able to track us pretty easily. But… maybe some other time, once we’re a little stronger. I could sneak a Direwing out one night, with Iris by my side, and we could just disappear…

  …H-Huh!?

  Suddenly, a golden glow surrounded Iris’s fur. Jessica’s mouth fell open, and she backed away a step as Iris seemed to be growing larger right before her very eyes.

  Jessica raised her hands without thinking, palms out. “Ah—I-Iris? Are you okay, girl? Uh—is that a new skill or—”

  Iris didn’t seem bothered at all herself, completely ignoring Jessica’s stammering as she lifted her head high and let the glow consume her. With a final flash, it disappeared, and she was left standing there notably changed. She was bigger, not quite a full-grown wolf, but now standing above Jessica’s knees. Also, her white eyes seemed to glow just a little brighter, any trace of a pupil within them had disappeared, and her claws likewise grew larger and took on a white tint.

  Iris turned her neck to examine herself, then rolled a shoulder and sprouted a single wing from her left side. But even her wing was changed. Before, when she sprouted her wings, they were basically just light that looked almost solid but remained distinctly translucent. This wing had something more like a bone at the top base with luminescent feathers not quite attached, but hanging from it in neat rows like they were tethered there.

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  Iris wagged the wing once, then turned her head to her other side as she sprouted the second.

  “Oh…” Jessica muttered. “I know what this is. You just evolved, didn’t you?”

  Jessica then pulled up Iris’s stat screen to see what had changed.

  Name: Iris

  Race: Hell Hound

  Level: 8

  Path: Seraphwing Luminary

  Stage: 3

  Body Development: 0%

  Vitals

  Health: 190/190

  Mana: 375/375

  Stamina: 220/220

  Attributes

  Strength: 40

  Dexterity: 55

  Vigor: 38

  Sense: 42

  Attunement: 75

  Active Skills

  Lumen Burst Lvl 3

  Channels mana into the eyes and releases it as concentrated beams of searing white light.

  Skystrike lvl 2

  Use in coordination with Aether Wings to pounce on foes from above.

  Aegis Wings lvl 1 (new)

  Manifest your wings defensively to intercept incoming attacks, reducing damage taken.

  Halo Flare lvl 1 (new)

  A halo forms over your head with a burst of light that temporarily blinds surrounding enemies.

  Passive Skills

  Celestial Instincts lvl 2

  Enhanced perception of creatures with hostile intent.

  Controlled Descent lvl 1 (new)

  You take reduced damage when dropping from heights.

  Traits

  Aether Wings lvl 4

  Freely sprout wings from your back to take flight. This ability will steadily drain your stamina while your wings are out.

  Cognitive Reach lvl 1 (new)

  Transmit focused thoughts, intent, or impressions to others.

  “Looks like you’ve got four new skills, huh? Guess evolutions are a pretty big deal,” Jessica muttered as she read over everything.

  It was to her understanding that humans could not evolve the way monsters could, but they could gain classes, which had similar effects to evolution. However, getting four skills all at once seemed pretty impressive compared to Jessica’s own instances of gaining things from the system. Also, monsters’ physical appearance changed whenever they evolved, but that never happened for humans.

  Aegis Wing looked like a defensive ability—some kind of wing shield. She figured that’d be pretty important for Iris, considering Vigor is her lowest stat. Though thanks to her ability to fly and her ranged attacks, Jessica supposed being tanky wasn’t the important thing for her.

  Halo Flare would definitely be useful as well, both offensively and defensively. Iris could blind their targets, making it easy for Jessica to go in for the kill.

  Controlled Descent wasn’t anything all that impressive. It seemed like a case of the System giving a skill for something pretty mundane, such as spear throwing. Though Jessica had to admit that after getting such skills herself, she did notice a difference in her abilities.

  “And last there’s… Cognitive Reach, huh?”

  Jessica placed a hand under her chin as she read the description. It wasn’t clear to her how that would be used at first. Well, depending on how much effect it had, maybe it could lead prey towards traps or something like that?

  Jessica looked over at Iris, still standing there amid the trampled leaves, the Feral Scalehound corpse nearby. The Hell Hound had her glowing eyes fixed on Jessica quite intently as she tended to do when she wanted something.

  “What? Did I miss something?” Jessica asked.

  Then she heard, or rather, felt something in her head.

  “Elva.”

  Jessica raised an eyebrow and used a finger to clear her ear. It was like something just whispered to her, but it was more like a thought.

  “Elva.”

  There it was again. Jessica looked over both shoulders, much more certain this time that something had spoken her name.

  Iris barked, drawing Jessica’s eyes back to her as the voice entered her head again.

  “Elva! Here!”

  Jessica blinked, staring back at Iris. “Iris… did you just…”

  The Hell Hound narrowed her gaze, holding the intensity as more words came through.

  “I… choose this…” Iris’s eyes squinted as if she were thinking hard, her gaze dropping to the side. “You words, I hear. I say.”

  Jessica’s mouth slacked open slightly, then she suddenly ran at Iris, causing the Hell Hound to flinch as Jessica dropped to her knees right in front of her. “No way! You can talk to me now! Iris! That’s amazing!”

  Iris’s ears folded back. She was not matching Jessica’s excited energy at all, but that was perfectly in character for her.

  “Little… words…” Iris said, each one coming cautiously. “Hunt, kill, fight, spear, mask, food, cage, System, skill, level. Names. Little words.”

  Jessica nodded slowly, eyes widening slightly. “Oh, right, I get it. You don’t really know English, or uh, whatever this language is called.” As far as Jessica could tell, this world only had one language that just so happened to be what she recognized as English.

  Iris tilted her head slightly. “English? Language?” She repeated the words in a way that was more like she was trying to understand them.

  “Oh! Uh, so English is a language. Um, it’s like, different cultures and nations use different words to communicate things… I guess.”

  Iris’s eyes narrowed in irritation, and she growled, causing Jessica to flinch back slightly. Jessica grimaced and scratched her nose. “Oh… Sorry, that was… yeah, that was probably way too much.”

  “Show words,” Iris said. She walked over to the monster they had killed and put her paw on it. “Meat.”

  Jessica blinked and then nodded. “Ooooh, okay. So you want me to tell you what things are?”

  Iris scoffed in annoyance, causing Jessica to wince again.

  Right… Guess I need to keep my sentences a little simpler.

  “Elva. Come here,” Iris suddenly commanded and started to lead the way. The way she did it caused Jessica to grimace even harder. That sounded a little too much like a master giving an order to a subordinate.

  Guess she learned that one at least… Jessica sighed.

  “Oh, and I’m Jessica,” she said, as she walked quickly to catch up with Iris. “Can you call me that instead?” She pounded and open hand on her chest. “Jessica.”

  Iris raised a brow. “Name Elva.”

  “N-No, I mean, everyone calls me that because they think that’s my name and, well, I guess it technically is…” She trailed off, realizing she was once again getting too complicated for Iris to follow. She let out a breath and tried again. “I like being called Jessica. Jessica good.” She made a thumb up and smiled. “Elva bad.” She thumbs-downed and frowned, slacking her posture.

  Iris held that judgmental look in her eyes, then repeated, “Jessica.”

  “Yeah! Just call me that!”

  Iris exhaled through her nose, looking forward again as she repeated it once more. “Jessica.”

  “Oh, right, and you want to learn more words. Uh, let’s see…” She reached out a hand and tapped a tree as they passed by it. “Tree.”

  Iris seemed slightly less annoyed. “Tree,” she repeated.

  “Yeah! Tree! And…” Jessica waved her arms and did a few slow turns as she stepped ahead, gesturing all around herself. “Forest.”

  “Forest…?” Iris seemed confused.

  “Yup. Look. Tree, tree, tree, tree…” she said, pointing out different trees. Then she gestured wide all around herself again. “Forest. Lots of trees make a forest.”

  Iris looked around as if processing it. “Many tree is forest. Different word if many…”

  “Ah, yeah, pretty much.”

  “Pretty?”

  “Um… Don’t worry about that one for now.”

  Iris continued to look around thoughtfully until she said, “I am Hell Hound. One Hell Hound. Many is pack.”

  Jessica smile faded somewhat at that. It seemed Iris was thinking about her family. “Um… yeah, that’s right.”

  “Show more words,” Iris commanded with that returning edge to her voice.

  “Oh! Okay, let’s see…” Jessica looked around, then jogged over to a bush. “Bush.” She picked a berry off it. “Berry.”

  They continued on like this, Jessica stopping occasionally to point something out. She figured it was a good first step to get Iris familiar with what things were called, and once she had that, she could start piecing together how to make proper sentences.

  She’s really smart, though. Like, human-level intelligence, it seems. Are all Hell Hounds like this? Jessica wondered.

  Then again, even on Earth she knew dogs could be pretty smart; they just didn’t always seem like it. And dogs definitely could understand some words. Maybe if dogs were able to speak, they would show that they understood more than people ever gave them credit for.

  “Let’s see… oh, I got one!” Jessica pointed at a tree. “Tree…” Then she waved her finger wide across the overhead branches. “Branches.” She kneeled down and picked up some stray leaves. “Leaves. Leaves from branches.”

  Iris nodded in understanding. “Branches. Leaves.”

  “Yup. And here’s a tricky one.” Jessica pointed up as high as she could, standing on her toes. “Sky!”

  “Sky…” Iris tilted her gaze up but repeated the word uncertainly. “Sky…”

  “Yup, branches and leaves…” Jessica lowered her hand and gestured around the tree tops. Then shot her finger straight up as high as she could. “Sky!”

  “Sky.”

  Jessica wasn’t sure if Iris got that one or not, but figured it was a start.

  “Prey,” Iris said. “More hunt and show words.”

  With that order, Iris continued to march ahead.

  Yeah… it definitely feels more and more like she’s the boss in this relationship…

  Your bond with Hell Hound "Iris" has risen to level 2!

  H-Huh!?

  Read next chapter now!