Cherreads

Chapter 5 - Chapter Five: A New Spark Ignited

Sam stared at her horse for a moment longer, mouth slightly open in disbelief. Sunblaze paused only to flick an ear at her, then returned to munching.

"How the hell is this horse not dead? Or even mildly mauled?" Sam murmured. "She's just... happily eating grass like nothing happened."

She approached slowly, her boots crunching lightly on the forest floor. 

"Hey, girl. You enjoying your snack? Honestly, I should've named you Lucky."

She unsheathed her dagger and carefully sliced through the tangle of low-hanging branches, freeing the reins.

{"Sam,"} Jarvis intoned, his tone as composed as ever, {"it would appear Sunblaze's saddle is enchanted. Specifically, it bears a passive concealment enchantment designed to make her less noticeable to wandering beasts when not in your presence. A rather clever enchantment, really—discreet and highly effective. Much like myself."}

"Ahh, that makes way more sense." Sam nodded, swinging herself up into the saddle. "Let's get you home. I'll give you the full spa treatment."

They made their way back to the cave at a relaxed pace, taking a wide detour around where the wolf had last been. The path twisted gently beneath the forest canopy, dappled sunlight flickering across the trail like shifting gold.

As they rode, a subtle translucent overlay flickered to life in the corner of Sam's vision. A circular mini-map hovered there—simple but sleek—with her position marked at the center by a glowing blue arrow. At the top edge of the circle, a small compass spun briefly before locking north.

{"As part of your reward, the Mini-Map feature has been successfully installed,"} 

Jarvis announced with a smooth confidence, as though unveiling a luxury model car. 

{"You'll now have a real-time overview of the immediate terrain, complete with orientation. That glowing bar at the top is your compass. I trust you can manage north from south?"}

Sam tilted her head slightly to test the display. The map rotated with her movement, always keeping her facing forward. "Neat."

{"Indeed. Additionally, you may notice red dots appearing along the outer edge. Those indicate the general presence of hostile creatures—nothing too precise, mind you. Just enough to make you second-guess every squirrel in a bush."}

"Comforting."

{"That is what I strive for."}

The map zoomed out slightly as they exited a tight cluster of trees, revealing the winding path behind them and faint outlines of nearby elevation. Sam found herself oddly grateful for the feature, not just for the tactical edge, but for the sense of control it gave her. A visual anchor in a world that had none.

As they neared the cave, the comforting silhouette of her shelter appeared between the trees. Sam lit the scavenged lanterns from the abandoned village and led Sunblaze toward the makeshift stable—a rough lean-to cobbled together from salvaged planks and stubborn optimism.

She removed the saddle with care, giving Sunblaze a quick brush-down, pausing when she found small nicks and scrapes. With a sigh, she mixed up a fresh batch of healing salve using the last of her herbs and rubbed it gently over the wounds.

"You really are lucky," she murmured, massaging the balm into Sunblaze's flank. 

"Or maybe just too chill to notice death was close."

Sunblaze let out a soft exhale, drank deeply from her water bucket, then curled her legs beneath her and lay down with the grace of a seasoned show horse. Sam closed the rickety stable door—not that it would stop anything determined, but the gesture felt... safe. Contained. Settled.

For now.

{"This might be a good time to use your stat points Sam. You've collected quite a few.}

Opening her S.I.S.T.E.M. Sam took a look at her available Stat Points.

{Stat Points Available: 32}

"32!?...I take it I get 10 stat points at milestones?" Asked Sam doing the math quickly in her head.

{"That's correct."}

Looking at her stats she thought about where to put them.

Strength (S): 14

Agility (A): 12 (+2)

Perception (P): 11

Vitality (V): 15

Intelligence (I): 14

Wisdom (W): 12 

Charisma (C): 12

Luck (L): 9

"Ok, let's put 5 into vitality, that will bring my health to 200. 8 into wisdom, bringing my mana to 200 as well. That leaves me with 19…hmm. Let's use 12 to bring strength, agility, perception, intelligence and charisma to 15. I'll leave the rest for later once I know for sure what needs a boost."

{"Solid plan Sam. Just so you are aware, strength, agility and perception should level alongside each other. If you boost agility with low perception you'll be smacking into things right and left. 

With a low strength, you may not survive those mistakes. Not to mention the wind pressure and debris that may hit you when you run. If nothing else keep strength and perception slightly above agility so you can end your trip the same way you started it. In one piece and not covered in small cuts"}

Sam laughed "Thanks for that tip"

{"Of course. Now would you like to choose your Support Class? There are a few options.}

"Sure…Wait, didn't you mention something about pre-planning for my classes? Before you mentioned the horse missing?"

{"Ahh yes. With the classes I suggested you may want to prepare a few things beforehand. For example if you choose Beast Tamer you will obviously need beasts. 

You happen to have three right here. Although they are non-integrated we can change that. For example, if you hunt and acquire beast cores you can feed them to your pets. 

As you saw earlier with the wolf, they are quite easy for animals to eat."}

"And every beast has a core?" She asked

{"Yes, it's where their skills manifest, no core, no skills. The higher the level and tier the bigger the core."}

"Because they have stronger skills that need more mana, so their cores are bigger?" Sam asked 

{"Exactly. At the moment you have five beast cores gathered from the Swiftbunnies. You'll be able to tell the difference just by looking at them."}

Sam opened her inventory and summoned the five cores. Jarvis was right. The cores of the Green tier common bunnies were the size and colour of a grape (the green kind obviously) with a dull shimmer to them. 

The Orange Uncommon bunnie leader's core was slightly larger, about the size of a strawberry. It was a light orange colour and was slightly shinier than the common ones.

{"All cores of the same colour are the same size. Whether it's a green common rabbit or a green common elephant, they are all that size. Same with the other colours. 

The rarity is the shine, the shinier the core the higher the rarity. The largest and shiniest would be a gold mythical core. The shine would be almost blinding and would be about the size of a small to medium-sized melon…one of those mini watermelons roughly"}

"And I'm guessing mythical beasts don't come in bunny size?"

{"If they do, it would be a very large bunny"}

"Right, well let's stay clear of mythical giant bunnies for now. I'm assuming if I feed my animals all common cores they will be common tier beasts?"

{"If you can get higher tier common cores it's possible for them to receive a higher rarity, but essentially yes."}

Looking at the kittens who had come to sit on her lap as she sat on what she could only assume was the world's most uncomfortable bed, she contemplated their future.

{"Don't forget that once they integrate with the S.I.S.T.E.M. you can continue to feed them cores. They don't need them, but it will help in their evolution."}

"Evolution?" Sam questioned 

{"Indeed. If, after integration, one of those little rascals turned into an Embercat, her first stage would be an Ember-kit. She'd begin with the active skill Ember Nap. The ability to keep you warm while providing a health regen, it also slows fatigue effects. As well as the passive skill, Living Heater. Handy in colder climates, with her around you'd need a sleeping bag to keep you warm.

Then further feeding her cores of a higher rarity or tier would evolve her into a Firefoot, she'd grow to be the size of a regular house cat, gain more power behind her skills as well as the additional skill Campfire Spark this active skill turns her into a living firestarter. She would be able to ignite dry materials for fire starting and light torches with her tail, breath or even the pads of her feet. She'd also gain a second passive called Ash-Sniffer, not the most dignified skill name, but she'll be able to easily find combustible materials and fire-related herbs.

Then there's the third stage Hearthlynx, this stage would increase her size again and add the active skill Flicker Dodge, a skill that allows her to briefly turn into fire to avoid an attack. It will require her to rest afterwards before she can use it again though. So have her use it wisely when her agility isn't fast enough. Her newest passive would be Flameproof Fur like the name suggests she'll be able to walk through fire and embers without harm…well as long as the fire isn't too strong. Obviously the strength would depend on her power scale. She'll also be able to warm a group of people at this point.

And finally her last stage is Everglow Felinx. By this stage, and if I go by your memories as a reference, she'd have a similar look and coat of a mane coon cat and the size of a medium sized dog. Her back would come to about your knee. So very large for a house cat. 

Her final active skill would be Flare Pounce allowing her to pounce on an enemy in a puff of flame. It wouldn't do much damage at a common green tier, but if you are able to get higher tiers and rarity it will increase the fire power…and yes that pun was totally intended. 

Her final passive would be… sigh I honestly don't know who comes up with these names… Snuggle Instinct, when you are suffering from a more severe exhaustion related debuff or heavily injured she'll lay on you and provide an increased regen boost."}

"So she'd be more of a utility tame? With minor to medium combat?" Sam asked petting the little black kitten's head, this one was particularly snuggly "Would you like to be an Embercat?" The kitten's response was a delighted little mew and then a purr that made her little body vibrate. "I'll take that as a yes." She laughed.

{"You would be correct. Unfortunately most utility tames have a low HP level, so I'd suggest if you also go the enchanting route, that you make her some kind of collar that boost defence and raises her health."}

"Thanks Jarvis I will definitely keep that in mind"

Night had come while they were talking. Sam moved the kittens to the bed and made her way to the kitchen.

"Well I may as well get the progress started. I think I'll follow your recommendation Jarvis. It…feels right." She still had the cores in her hand so she placed them in a bowl and got to work. 

With a distinct lack of kitten chow on this planet she did what she could. Cutting some small chunks of rabbit up she placed them into two bowls, one for each kitten. She then took the two small cores and placed one into each bowl.

"Alright ladies, dinners ready." Placing the bowls on the stone floor the kittens tumbled from the bed in haste to get to their dinner. Watching them she laughed as the little ones tried to eat the cores whole. 

Thankfully their little sharp teeth managed just fine in cracking the cores in half and they gobbled them up. They then worked on the meat.

Astonishingly the kittens started to slightly glow for a second. The reaction must have been dimmed by the light when she watched the wolf eat hers. Taking the last core, that of the leader, she made her way over to Sunblaze. She placed it on the palm of her hand and offered it to the horse.

"Got a treat for you Sunny" she said to the drowsy horse. "I'm not sure how good they taste but the kittens seem to like them." 

Sunblaze made her way to her feet and turned in Sam's direction. Sniffing her hand Sam could feel the velvety lips of the horse pick the small cores up and a quiet crunch could be heard seconds later. Just like the kittens Sunblaze glowed for a few seconds, slightly longer this time for her.

Sam looked at the kittens assuming it may take a few minutes to register and then used inspect on the the little black kitten with her face in her bowl.

{Name: (unnamed)

Age: 2.5 Months

Species: Domesticated Cat

Level: Non-Integrated 

Integrated Process: 10%

HP: Full}

Looking at the other kitten gave the same information.

"I really have to name them…well your mother's name was Ember, and I plan on hopefully getting you to Integrate into an Embercat…hahaha what are the chances eh? Anyway…hmmm something fiery. How about Ignite? I'll call you Iggy for short. Do you like that Iggy?" 

The purring coming from the kitten could have been from it enjoying its dinner, but Sam chose to think it was the name. "Iggy it is then!" Checking the kitten again, and sure enough it listed Ignite "Iggy" under name.

"This S.I.S.T.E.M thing is so weird…" shaking her head she looked at the other kitten. "Well little gray cat. What are we going to do with you. Any suggestions for this one Jarvis?"

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