"Alright, I will teach the skill first, and then I will activate [Chosen Partner], so that Shade can bond with her directly."

"Why do you call him that?" Anilla asked.

"That's what he said his name is."

The girl nodded, and the Elder smiled, seeing a solution to her problem in sight.

First, Karl activated [Follow Me Little One], and chose to give Anilla the [Beast Space] skill, hoping that it would work now that he was an Immortal.

{Pet Sitter Karl Grants Knowledge} Skill [Beast Space] has been transferred to Shade's pet Anilla.

Karl chuckled both at the description, and the way that the [Follow Me, Little One] message had changed with his class change. No longer did it ask them if they wanted the skill, it simply gave it to them.

But the fact that the System already considered her the cat's pet boded ill for her future as an independent being.

[Chosen Partner] activated.

{Shade has chosen his partner.}

Anilla was lost in the System Selection screen when the cat vanished, retreating into his new Beast Space to start the necessary renovations.

"They're going to need plants, possibly some bedding and other materials. The beast space starts out pretty bare, and needs to be mentally formed, but it

works better when there are real objects in there.

What species is he, anyhow?"

"The cat? He's an orphaned Divine Moor Cat that I picked up a few months back. His mother was hunted for resources, but he was hidden and the Sect doing the hunting didn't notice him.

Or if you mean the girl, she's half Elf."

Karl nodded. "I guessed that part. It's also why she is late to activate her System. Elves mature more slowly, even half Elves do, though not to the same extreme. That's why she hadn't awakened yet.

She likely wouldn't have activated a class until close to twenty, that's the usual age for them, as I remember."

The Elder shook her head. "You're still young. The competition between Immortal born is fierce. Here, even the Elves find a way to force early awakening so that their children aren't vulnerable for decades.

Ten years is already a long time to be locked down, protecting the children. But for Elves, where their children don't usually awaken for fifty years? It's an eternity to prevent the news of a powerful member's weakness from being used against them."

"Ah, so that's how it is. While the children don't have a class, they're a target painted on your back, easy leverage to get an Ascended Immortal to do something unsavoury."

The Elder nodded. "Have you made plans for when your wife gets pregnant?"

Karl smiled. "Actually, those plans were made for me. You see, the beasts are very protective of their Dana Mage, and now we've got an Immortal Rank Behemoth in the group.

He's also got a fresh clutch of his own to protect, so I suspect that not many will be able to get past him."

"When did you go hunting for a Behemoth?"

"He was mortal, Mythic Rank, and just advanced. He was actually the second member of my team, other than Hawk."

"Ah, so that's how it is. Well, I can't say that you're wrong to want a Behemoth on your side, assuming that you can manage to feed him. That's always the tricky part with the larger species.

Even this Divine Moor Cat is a pain to feed, as they will often refuse anything but specific wild beast meats."

Hawk laughed at her comment. When you tried to keep a wild beast as a pet, what else could they do in the face of overwhelming power but annoy you with small things like being a picky eater?

After over a minute of standing immobile, Anilla finally returned to the land of the living, and ran over to hug Karl.

"It's amazing. My Class awakened, and I got to bond with Shade, and I've got all sorts of Ranger type skills available in my skill tree. Even my Class abilities are good."

Karl patted her head, while the Elder questioned her daughter.

"So, what Class did it give you, and what were your Class Skills? I will arrange tutors and supplemental training to help you catch up."

The little half Elf looked horrified at the impending workload, but dutifully answered.

"My Class is Forest Stalker, and I have Bow Specialty, Silent Movement, and Shadow Meld as Class Skills. Well, then I've also got [Shred] and [Ambush] from Shade. Bonding with a Divine Moor Cat grants me their innate skills."

That was better than even Karl had expected.

Most Rangers would be able to use a skill from their beasts, whether it was an innate one, or something that their Class granted. But getting to use both of the Divine Moor Cat's innate skills was going to be amazing for her advancement.

Silent Movement, Shadow Meld and Ambush combined with a [Shred] enhanced arrow would be a huge first strike bonus for her.

As a hunting focused ranger class, there wasn't much better that she could

hope for at the very start of her progression.

The Elder nodded slowly, making a tutoring plan for the girl as she processed

the skill names.

"Alright, I know what you need, and I will get you started tonight. Evening lessons will be most beneficial to you, as a stealth-based hunting class with a

Moor Cat bonded.

You should go rest now, you've got a long night ahead of you, and I need to talk to the Karl for a moment."

Anilla bowed formally, then ran back inside, eager to gloat to her brothers that she now had an even better class than they did. And it really was an amazing

class.

"Alright, you managed to pull through and bound the girl with the best possible beast for a young Elf. So I won't be stingy with the reward.

Do you prefer Clan Credits or rare items?"

"Either is fine by me. I have a stockpile of both, but there can never be enough rare magic. Especially when you have multiple beasts to consider."