Beastkin came in three main types.
The mostly human lightblood who showed small features of animals, be it ears, scales, a tail, or any other variation.
The half human half animal halfbloods, who stand with a human build and features like hands and thumbs, but also have the fur and features of an animal.
And the Fullblood, who could be indistinguishable from animals if not for the ability to speak, and use the system.
Yet the beastkin often divide themselves further into more niche subtypes.
Carnivores, herbivores, air, land, sea, furred, scaled, the list goes on. This list wasn't made out of a means of discrimination, but more so because these beastkin felt an inclination towards something.
The beastkin of the sea found swimming to be enjoyable beyond measure, beastkin of the land could run like it was a drug, beastkin that burrowed could live in a tunnel they could hardly move in like it was the most spacious room in the world.
Liora tore across the sky, the wind whipping through her feathers as she could hardly stop herself from letting out joyous whoops and hollers.
The speed, the air, the shift from leaning one way or the other, the freedom of up, down, left right. It was more addicting than a drug.
The group had decided to press on, continuing on their trek towards Tessegog.
Liora, wanting to try out her new abilities, had volunteered to go ahead and do a bit of scouting. Everyone in the party knew that wasn't her real intention, but they were happy to let her enjoy her newfound flight.
Despite her ulterior motive, Liora was in fact scouting, and considering both her newfound speed, and the fact she was in the air, she could scout quite well. She had seen monsters, other travelers, and even a pack of migrating birds, though it was expected considering the leaves were turning orange and the days getting colder and shorter.
Despite this as Liora flew she found herself stuck between three thoughts.
WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH, I can do a flip *Woosh*
I wonder if the others are as satisfied with their class selections, Im rocking this!
Why are we getting so lucky?
It was this third thought that gave her the most pause and had her in quiet contemplation as she flew. She had even used her new authority over the wind to make a ledge she could sit on as she stared down and thought.
Adventurers who were worth their salt were not unknown to relying on the whims of lady luck for much of what they do, and yet what they experienced seemed... almost curated with what it was.
For starters they had been given a vehicle, something adventuring parties often saved for a few years to afford because of the distance to travel between towns slowing down how much money they made.
Then they had run into the Masked man himself inside of a random dungeon they happened upon, all the while it being directly related to him and some group called "The Sons of Blue"
The strange "Your Soul Stirs" messages they received from time to time.
The fact these fateless figures kept arriving to meet them and chat.
Hell Aiden had been practically given a free upgrade by this Clay guy when the hand horse attacked, not to mention the stranger oddity of Thalia finding a book like that and something interfering to prevent a disaster.
Thinking over this last point, Liora opened her system, and scrolled up the messages and reread.
You are being targeted by Knowledge Hunter: Azurite Chimera (A).
??? Has interfered
You are no longer being targeted by Knowledge Hunter: Azurite Chimera (A).
You have been targeted by Knowledge Hunter: Hand Horse (C).
While it was impossible to know, Liora felt like the very fact that the hunter in question had been changed is what allowed them to survive at all, even if they were technically on borrowed time.
She closed her system screen, and looked up at the clouds, expanding the tile she sat on as she laid back.
From what Liora could tell, there were targets of this strange "guiding" effect as she had dubbed it. Aiden, Thalia, and Selene. Of them Aiden and Thalia seemed to have the most of this strange guiding effect, while Selene seemed to have only gained this guiding aspect recently. The question was why.
Why were Aiden and Thalia being guided.
Aiden was supposed to be some random small city alchemist, did he lie about that? If he did, he did a good job because as far as everyone in town was concerned he was just an alchemist on the mountain.
What about Thalia? She suddenly appeared out of nowhere with a sob story, could she have something she isn't telling us?
Liora's suspicions of the dwarven women had faded over time as Thalia proved herself to be a true member of their team again and again, but she was beginning to wonder how unwarranted those suspicions really were.
"Oh wow, who would have thought there was an invisible platform here. How did you find it?"
Liora whipped her head to the side to see that for some reason she was no longer alone in the sky.
The figure looked to be a girl in her late teens with an above average figure and pink hair with small streaks of black here and there. She was somewhat scantily dressed wearing short denim shorts and a crop top that showed her stomach and shoulders. Several white belts with golden colored clasps hung on various points on her body and she was laying on her side facing Liora with her elbow propping her head up and a cheeky smile on her face.
Liora stared for a moment before sitting up and clearing her throat.
"Do you mean the platform I made with my skill?"
"Thats the spice." The woman said knocking below her, a sound like tapping on glass sounding back.
Liora stared at the, what she assumed, was the very clear edge of her platform that the figure was not on. She looked back up at her.
"You... you do know thats not a part of my platform, it ends like there."
The girl blinked, slowly looking down at the platform below Liora and then looking back up at her.
"Really? Well shiiiiiiiiiiiii-!" The girl yelled as she suddenly began to plummet towards the ground like the platform she had been on vanished.
"Are you going to stop yourself or?" Liora asked diving down to fall next to the girl.
"Aw, you say that like I can fly my lovely feathered friend."
Liora blinked at her, not sure how to react as the girl began to try out various poses in the air. Liora wanted to ask about the can't fly thing but her more immediate question came out first.
"What are you doing?"
"Trying to find a funny pose to die in, if I'm gonna splat, then I'm gonna make someone chuckle!"
"Thats what you focus on right now?"
"I default to comedy in times of stress!"
They were now maybe a second or two before hitting the ground, and Liora was realizing the girl may in fact not have a way to fly. Grabbing the girl, she channeled her mana, creating a billowing effect to help her as she changed both of their directions. It wasn't enough to stop them from falling, but instead of a splat, they would just go tumbling. Liora braced herself as they tumbled, holding the girl tight as they rolled and eventually came to a stop with the girl on top of Liora as she was sprawled on the ground.
A small groan escaped from Liora's mouth as the pain of the landing seemed to thump through her.
The pink haired girl rose, dusting herself off as she cleared her throat and turned back to Liora like she was about to give a rehearsed speech.
"Oh to my savior, I cannot offer very much, but I can offer you my gratitude and love."
Liora sat up with a twinge of pain, and gave the girl a confused expression.
"What in the hells are you doing?"
"Expressing my undivided love."
"Huh."
"Well you saved my life, so it's only fitting."
"I don't… huh?"
Liora didn't expect many things these days, mostly because adventuring was a wild experience filled with strangeness, but getting confessed to by a pink hair girl that somehow climbed several hundred feet into the sky without realizing she could fly still seemed too far outside of her expectations.