After receiving a skill as a reward for completing Objective 1, Ethan was excited to test out what it was. But unlike his other skills, the function wasn't clear from the name alone.
As such, he opened the System Interface and navigated to the Skills tab.
The skill tree appeared, with the same three main nodes in the centre - Beast Summoning, Beast Assimilation, and one he was yet to unlock.
Off to the side, however, a new branch had appeared.
Beast Link.
It sat further from the central core of the tree and sat between the two skills he had unlocked, seemingly related to them both.
'D Rank...'
Ethan wasn't exactly thrilled, but he was still only an E Rank with extremely limited abilities. Minor Beast Assimilation was also only D Rank, yet it was a skill he heavily relied on, so he wasn't complaining.
"Beggars can't be choosers."
He tapped the icon, and the description appeared.
{Beast Link - Allows the user to share senses, emotions, and awareness with a summoned beast.}
Ethan blinked.
"That's... interesting."
He wasn't sure what to expect, but this certainly wasn't it as he began reading the additional information that appeared beneath it.
{Stage 1 – Partial Link (D): Enter the body of a selected acquired beast and experience the world as they do.}
{Cost: 2 MP to activate.}
{Note: Prolonged usage causes mental strain.}
{Status: UNLOCKED}
His eyebrows rose.
"So I can literally see through their eyes?"
Then his gaze dropped to the next line.
{Stage 2 – Complete Link (B): Gain full control of a selected beast's body.}
{Cost: 3 MP.}
{Note: Severe mental and physical strain.}
{Status: LOCKED}
Ethan let out a slow whistle.
"Now that sounds more useful."
Partial Link already sounded decent, and the MP cost was surprisingly low. Even better, the description didn't mention any ongoing MP drain, just the initial cost.
As for the mental strain, well, the system had said that Beast Assimilation had similar effects, but he had endured that easily enough, so he wasn't too worried about it.
Complete Link, however, that one had his creativity running wild.
"Imagine controlling my beasts directly," he murmured.
"My mind… their body."
That was an insane ability - it would be the best of both worlds.
Then another thought crossed his mind.
"If I eventually unlock Complete Assimilation…"
Why would he need Complete Link if he could stack his beast's abilities onto his own body?
He scratched his chin.
"Unless…"
A grim idea surfaced.
"…I need to send one of them on a suicide mission."
The thought made sense, and if push came to shove, he wouldn't hesitate.
But it also made him uncomfortable.
Despite not having Wolfy and Talon for long, he couldn't help but feel attached.
He shook his head.
"Let's not think about that yet."
Instead, he focused on the skill in front of him that he wanted to test out immediately.
Before he did, there was one important question.
"What happens to my body while I'm using it?"
The system responded.
{The host's body will enter an unconscious state during Beast Link, and the skill may be deactivated at will.}
{Also, if the host enters danger, the link will automatically break. But by the time this occurs, it may already be too late.}
Ethan stared at that second message.
"That's not exactly reassuring."
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Alright. Safety measures first."
He summoned Wolfy, and the Ulfen appeared beside him instantly.
Ethan knelt down and scratched behind his ears.
"You guard me, alright, buddy?"
Wolfy wagged its tail enthusiastically, though it seemed bothered when its lord then summoned Talon.
The hawk materialised and burst up into the air, gaining a vantage point in the air like it preferred to do.
Ethan then sat down carefully, not wanting to collapse and smash his head on a rock while unconscious.
"Alright…"
He exhaled slowly.
"Let's try this."
He closed his eyes and didn't overthink it - just like with his other skills, it was all instinctive.
'Beast Link: Talon.'
The moment he activated it, he felt that same sensation - the one he felt every time he entered the Tower Of Beasts.
It was like his soul was sucked out of his body.
The world warped, twisted, and everything changed.
Rather than regaining awareness in a body identical to his own, he was immediately certain that this body was nothing like his.
'This is trippy as fuck.'
He could see, but they weren't his eyes.
The world looked completely different: sharper, wider, and more layered.
For a moment, Ethan's mind struggled to process what he was seeing.
His vision stretched across a massive field of view, colours seemed sharper, and movement was clearer. Every tiny detail of the rocky terrain stood out, even the shifting grains of dust in the wind.
This was far greater than what he experienced through Minor Assimilation with Talon.
But then something else became the centre of his mind.
'I'm literally in the body of a fucking bird!'
Ethan experienced everything his infant Skyrend Hawk did, including the flapping of its wings as it flew up into the sky. They moved intuitively, feathers slicing through the air.
He felt the rush of wind through them and the subtle adjustments as the hawk balanced itself.
'This is insane.'
But as the skill description said, he was sharing the body with Talon and could do nothing to control or influence his beast.
It felt more like sitting in the passenger seat.
On the ground in the distance, he could see his own body lying unconscious on the ground, as Talon maintained this altitude effortlessly. Wolfy rushed over to his body, and the Ulfen barked as it pawed at him frantically, as if trying to wake him up.
Watching the scene through his beast's eyes as he was overwhelmed with all kinds of new stimuli was disorienting, to say the least.
It was all so foreign that it made his head spin.
Not to mention Talon was chirping.
To most, it was just the random cries of a hawk, but to Ethan, he almost seemed to understand them, or at least the emotion behind them.
It seemed annoyed and sensed that he was inside its body.
Clearly, it wasn't very happy about it, as it let out another irritated screech, almost as if yelling at Ethan to get out.
He laughed internally, and it was odd doing something then feeling the intent behind it, like living in third person.
Talon then began blitzing around through the sky, almost as if trying to shake Ethan off of it.
It was thrilling soaring through the sky: the freedom, the speed, the view.
But eventually, he couldn't take it anymore, both because it was nauseating and seemed to cause his prideful beast discomfort.
As such, he undid the skill and returned to his body.
The mental strain the system mentioned hit him instantly; it felt like his brain was being stabbed.
'Now this is a headache and a half.'
Ethan would also be lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed that the skill he gained wasn't combat-oriented.
Yet, his heart pounded with excitement as he thought of a way to best use this new skill of his...