Nico flew low over the forest canopy, cloak fluttering in the morning air as trees blurred beneath him. Though his expression was calm, but on the inside, he wondered what the hell possessed him to call that mess a plan.
It had been hours since he'd laid out his plan.
Hours since he lied out loud with a straight face and enough confidence that even he almost believed it.
And in accordance with that plan, they'd split up.
Nom-Nom was currently barreling through the north-east of the forest.
X-97 had gone south-east.
And Nico himself headed straight east into a whole lot of green and absolutely nothing resembling civilization.
The goal was simple: Find people and get intel, or better yet, a city.
He could keep in touch with Nom-Nom through their Familiar Bond and track her location using the System's map.
X-97 was a little trickier.
So he'd given her an enchanted stone he'd bought from the shop. Nothing fancy. But it displayed her location on his map, and if she found anything important, she could ping him by pouring a bit of mana into it.
He also gave her one of the two Grade 2 Healing potions he had in his inventory, food to last a week, and a backpack to carry it all.
All of it tied together to something Nico made look like a plan.
And the plan in question?
Yeah.
Bullshit.
He'd made it up on the spot, stitched it together just well enough to sound convincing, because the alternative was telling Nom-Nom that freedom came with terms and conditions, that her wings needed to stay tucked away, her eyes needed to change, and who she was had to be managed from day one.
And the entire thing hinged on one single factor that he was pretty sure didn't exist.
"This is gonna blow up so badly on my face," Nico muttered, eyes scanning the forest below for roads, smoke, or anything that looked even remotely civilized.
-Ding!
{It indeed will.}
"Yeah. Thanks. Very helpful."
-Ding!
{Question: Do you regret doing this?}
He didn't answer right away as he thought about how somewhere far off, Nom-Nom was probably having the time of her life terrorizing local wildlife just by existing loudly.
"I don't know," he said. "But now she gets to be free without apologizing for it… I can live with the fallout."
-Ding!
{You know, this line of reasoning closely mirrors the decision-making patterns of my previous Host.}
Nico snorted softly.
-Ding!
{And just like him, you are also a very good liar.}
"Yeah," he said, eyes still searching the world below. "Well. Let me be selfish just this once."
He didn't even get a full second to sit with that thought as -
"Master."
Nom-Nom's voice slid into his head through the Familiar Bond, bright and unapologetic as ever.
"There's no food left in the Inventory."
Nico nearly lost altitude.
"…What?"
There was a pause on the bond as though she was confused as to why this was confusing.
"Yeah," she reaffirmed. "It's empty."
Nico's brain short-circuited as he said, "Nom… there were six pizzas in there this morning."
"I know. I had them for breakfast."
He closed his eyes mid-flight and exhaled through his nose.
"…Of course you did."
"So now it's empty," she added, as if that explained everything. Which, to be fair, it did.
Nico rubbed his face in resignation as he flew, "Alright. Fine. What are you in the mood for?"
Her answer came instantly.
"I want…" she paused dramatically, "… Something good!"
"Of course you do." He snorted despite himself. "System... You heard the lady."
-Ding!
{Fried Chicken Wings purchased. Item stored in Inventory.
3 credits deducted.
50,020 credits remaining.}
"Yay!" Nom-Nom cheered through the bond.
And then, just like that, she went quiet. Probably already eating.
Nico shook his head as a small smile tugged at his lips, feeling the tension in his chest ease just a little.
Then his own stomach chose that exact moment to remind him that skipping breakfast had been a bad call.
"Figures…" he muttered.
Spotting a thick, sturdy branch ahead, he drifted down toward it.
"System," he said, landing lightly and sitting back against the trunk, "… buy me a sandwich."
-Ding!
{Sandwich purchased. Item stored in Inventory.
1 credit deducted.
50,019 credits remaining.}
Pulling it out of his inventory before Nom-Nom realized there was more food there, Nico took a bite and sighed contentedly.
Status
And the next second, the familiar interest unfolded in front of his vision as he leaned back against the trunk.
[Protocol: Chronos]
Name: Nico
Race: Human
Circuits: 9
Affinity: Infinity, Time, Ice
Level: 9
EXP: 1,125 / 38,437
Status: Normal
Stat Points: 0
Stats:
STR: 1
AGI: 1
END: 1
DEX: 1
MP: 55 / 55
MP Regen: ∞
LCK: ERROR
Magic:
Ice Pebble (Common) [2 MP] (Optimal at 2 Circuits)
Skills:
Precognition (Legendary) [2 MP/sec] (Optimal at 2 Circuits)
Temporal Step — Aevum Trace (Rare) [60 MP] (Optimal at 2 Circuits)
Gear:
Cloak of Flight (Epic)
Credits: 50,019
Tabs: [Shop] [Inventory] [Map] [Crafting] [Familiars]
He stared at the EXP bar while chewing.
"…Just one more level," Nico muttered with excitement creeping in. "And I can basically teleport."
That alone almost made the sandwich taste better.
With a thought, he then tapped Map.
The world unfolded in a satellite-like view before his vision, with a white arrow marking his position and the direction he was facing.
A blue dot in the corner of one side showed the direction Nom-Nom was in. While a green one on the other side gave X-97's position.
He zoomed out slightly, revealing that most of the map was still buried under white fog, except for the thin trail through the white fog he'd carved through it himself.
In the last few hours, he's learned that just like him, any unknown territory Nom-Nom visited would also lift the fog on his map due to their Familiar Bond.
And since pretty much their entirety of the Map was covered in fog, he was able to trace the path both he and Nom-Nom took from their starting point.
His own route was a simple straight line.
While Nom-Nom's… wasn't.
As he zoomed out further and went towards Nom-Nom's direction, it expanded into an erratically moving blue arrow.
He traced the cleared fog behind her and immediately started laughing.
The path Nom-Nom took looked like a child had gone feral with a crayon on his map.
Zig-zags, sudden detours that made no sense except that they probably involved something interesting, edible, or both.
"So long as you're having fun," Nico snorted as he took another bite.
His gaze then drifted across the map to the X-97's green marker.
No fog cleared behind her path since she wasn't his familiar, but the arrow itself cut cleanly across the terrain at a speed that made Nico whistle.
And just as he was about to close the Map.
"…She stopped?" he blurted, heart rate spiking instantly as his eyes locked onto the map.