The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 2 - Chapter 16 - Sapphire (Patreon)

Wolf

“Holy fucking shit,” I mutter in surprise as I stare at the beautiful red chest in front of me.

This definitely makes up for my shitty luck over the past couple of weeks!

I reach forwards to touch the crescent moon symbol on the front of the chest before a bright flash of red light shines from the chest and a notification appears in front of me.

Well, that’s annoying.

No one else should be on the seventeenth floor besides me though, so it should be fine. And even if someone does get to the floor while I am still here, I won't be anywhere near this location by then.

I turn my attention to the description above the red chest as the notification vanishes.

“Huh?” I mutter in confusion as I read the item’s description.

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Item | Tarachnid Companion Egg | Tier 8

This item is not attainable outside of mythic loot boxes within the Administrator Dungeon.

This egg will hatch into a soul-bound companion after a player injects it with their own life force.

The player who bonds with the resulting tarachnid companion will be granted System Access to the Companion menu.

Tarachnid description:

A tarachnid is an elemental spider. Its body takes on attributes of its element, which in the case of being a soul-bound companion, is the element of its master.

Later on in life, the tarachnid will gain the ability to manipulate its element to an extent, while also gaining abilities related to its element.

Note: A player may only have one soul-bound companion in their lifetime. When the companion dies, it may be revived through their Companion menu through a large cost of SP.

The companion may also level up and gain skills itself.

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A soul-bound companion?

That’s unexpected.

I didn’t realize that items themselves could actually give something like that. Much less a System menu.

An egg suddenly replaces the description. The egg itself is black in color with a red crescent moon on it.

“Let’s see what the System Forums has to say about this…” I mutter before grabbing the egg and opening the System Forums.

It’s a Tier 8 item, so it must be pretty damn good! Especially considering that it came from a mythic chest.

Executive Stream

Leo gapes at the screen as a bright smile emerges on Diane’s face before she exclaims, “Now that’s what I’m talking about! It was about time he got some good luck after all of those crappy loot boxes, and the pandora’s box a while back!”

“Good luck…?” Leo mutters before as he watches Wolf browse the System Forums for information about soul-bound companions, “this goes way beyond just good luck at this point! I have never heard of someone getting a mythic loot box this early on in the run before! Much less a soul-bound companion!!”

Diane just shrugs it off with a smile stretching across her face from ear to ear and says, “That’s just how my pup’s luck seems to work! It’s either terrible or just non-existent for a while before suddenly shooting up and giving him something that makes the bad luck completely worth it!”

After saying this Diane nods her head in satisfaction before opening her menus.

Leo notices this and turns to look at her as he asks, “What are you doing?”

She doesn’t look up from her menus as she answers him, “I am giving him some advice about the egg.”

A few minutes pass in silence as Diane composes a message before she selects confirm and looks back up again at the screen.

Wolf looks surprised for a second as he continues staring forwards.

“This is going to be interesting to see,” Leo mutters while scratching his chin, “since someone can only get a soul-companion egg in the Administrator Dungeon, there hasn’t ever been a recorded instance of a harbinger having a soul-companion.”

Diane briefly nods her head before adding, “That’s true, although there could have been some unrecorded instances where a competitor might have sold an egg to a harbinger.”

Leo just nods his head as they both watch Wolf turn to the egg in his hands.

Wolf

A soul-bound companion sounds really good!

It will be able to hide in my shadow whenever I need it to, fight alongside me when it reaches my level, and is basically immortal as long as I pay the SP price.

The only thing that bothers me a little bit is the fact that I can only have one in my entire lifetime.

Before I can dwell on this thought, a message appears in the corner of my interface from Diane.

I gape at the message for several seconds before turning my attention to the egg.

This egg sounds like a once in a lifetime thing from the way she is describing it…

I lightly chew on my lip out of frustration as I try to decide whether or not to use it now before eventually scratching my right hand holding the egg with a claw from my left hand to let my blood drip onto the egg like the forums described.

It sounds like a really good deal, at least for the late game, so…

My thoughts trail off as I watch my blood begin to climb up the egg to the crescent symbol before it suddenly goes inside of the egg. Soon after that, a flash of red light shines from the egg. The red light quickly turns into a light blue before it completely fills the entire cavern, causing me to close my eyes in the process.

A few seconds pass before the light vanishes and I reopen my eyes to see a half-a-foot-long spider with… is that actual ice? With little spikes of what looks like actual ice arcing up halfway down each of its legs at the joints. The spider itself is a light blue color with what look like tiny little hairs made of ice around its body.

The spider looks up at me before slowly opening all eight of its tiny little black eyes. It then makes a purring sound as very light vibrations run through my hands.

I guess it’s happy?

I stare at the little fella for several seconds before a notification appears in my vision.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that.

I open up my status before selecting the new menu.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Name: N/A | The player soul-bound to the companion must give her a name for it to show up here.

Species: Arctic Eternal Tarachnid

Level: 1 | Not Synced

EXP: 0/100

Skills List

Revive | Current price: 0 SP | Companion must be dead to use this.

Return

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It’s only level 1?!

Well, that’s a problem.

It’s going to take forever to get it to catch up to me in levels! Now I understand exactly why Diane said that I might lose my position as forerunner!

My new companion seems to notice my frustration and actually climbs up my arm to my shoulder and rubs its body against my neck.

I automatically reach up to pet it before realizing what I am doing.

Did I just pet a half-a-foot-long spider?

I turn my head to look at the little fella, only to find it with its eyes closed while vibrating again very lightly and making a light purring noise.

Is it some sort of tarantula or something? It sort of looks like a large one, I guess. With spikes of ice and a light blue coloring.

I shake my head before turning back to the menu again.

This is not earth, and that spider is nothing like the spiders on earth. It can purr if it wants to purr.

Although, judging by the note next to its nonexistent name, it is actually a female. So, she is more accurate.

Anyways, what should I name her…

I turn to look at her again as she continues purring before an idea comes to mind.

“That might work…” I mutter as I look at her beautiful light blue coloring and blue ice.

My companion looks up at me for a second with all eight of her black eyes before I smile and pet her again.

“I think I will name you Sapphire.”