Chapter 390 The Girls“ Beast Companion Abilities
"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Mooldrat finally lifted his head, trying his best to make his smile amiable. "As Jack stated, I'll proudly be accompanying the daughter of Eedaj. Should you need, I'll give up my life."
Daliea was taken aback, feeling both nervous and touched to receive such a companion. She stepped toward Mooldrat and asked, "Can I call you Mool for short?"
"Of course you may." Mooldrat's big eye blinked, startling the spooked Eliza but not Daliea.
"Can I feel your tentacles?" asked Daliea, reaching out her hand.
"Sure, but be careful of the barbs. I don't want you hurting yourself by accident," replied Mooldrat. "I hate to be the cause of your pain, Daughter of Eedaj."
"You can call me Daliea, Mool. I'd prefer that since we'll be partners from now on."
"Thank you, it's an honor, Daliea."
One of Mooldrat's ten tentacles lowered into Daliea's hands, feeling both heavy and light at the same time due to the beholder's levitation. She examined the matte skin, noticing a cluster of black barbs begin to emerge from the end of the tentacle. Each barb measured as long as Daliea's hand, proving that the dozen or so barbs of each cluster could easily latch onto prey or shred something to pieces.
When Daliea finished examining the tentacle, the barbs retracted and Mooldrat nodded to her. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to never bring you harm, Daliea. As your companion, I'll support you in every way I'm able."
"Now, onto the main event," Jack interrupted the conversation, grabbing everyone's attention and sitting Eliza down on Bowzer's soft fur. "I want you all to try to activate the bloodlines of your companions. Before you could activate a portion of their skills or abilities, but now you should be able to do more, like how I can make a flame body."
"Really? Why's that?" asked Maura, intrigued at the possibility of using the hydra's bloodline.
Jack smiled, continuing his explanation, "Since I've leveled up the skill so much, you should all be able to use it like I always could. Now, I can activate up to two bloodlines at once so you should be able to activate one too. Let's get the seal out of the way now…"
He wasted no time, performing the mutual seal between Mooldrat and Daliea. Relieved to have such a strong beast keep his wives safe, Jack resumed his explanation. "Okay, now each of you should be able to use the skill. Clear your mind and imagine your companion, then you'll be able to feel some sort of resonance. Once you feel that, try to envelop yourself in it that resonance and let it loose."
As Jack explained the process, Daliea followed along step-by-step. With her mind cleared, she easily noticed a new strength surging out of her core. Letting that power envelop her, Daliea took a deep breath as her body started to shift and alter itself.
Six black tentacles started to emerge from Daliea's back, either finding a way out of her shirt or forcing their way out through a newly-ripped hole. Each tentacle was a bit longer than Daliea was tall, similar to how Mooldrats tentacles compared to his four-meter tall body. When Daliea finally opened her eyes, both were yellow with a piercing red pupil.
"That's it!" Jack shouted, reminded how talented Daliea has always been. "With those tentacles, you should be able to control the barbs and use the many eye abilities that Dark Beholders wield."
"What kind of abilities?" Daliea looked to Mooldrat and asked.
Proud to see her transformation, Mooldrat replied, "Naturally you have True Sight, letting you see through illusions, invisibility, darkness, and all manners of haze. There are five different rays that you now possess. You should be able to use a telekinetic ray, a fear ray, a paralyzing ray, a disintegration ray, and a petrification ray."
"Petrification?!" Startled, Maura stepped a bit closer to Jack and Bowzer.
"That's right, but the petrification is very slow and is only permanent should you manage to petrify the entire target of the ray," explained Mooldrat. "It's fearsome but very difficult to use as a finishing blow in a battle. It's better for imprisoning an already defeated foe or to store food for later."
"For food? You can eat stone?" Daliea asked, not afraid but excited to learn more.
"Sure, but it tastes better fresh," continued Mooldrat. "As for the paralyzing ray, it's very self-explanatory, as well as the telekinetic ray. Personally, I prefer to use the fear ray on anything that needs to use concentration for spells or abilities. The fear ray, in those cases, is a battle-winning ability. The disintegration ray is faster than the petrification ray but will only affect wherever it touches. Blasting a creature with the disintegration ray is best for dealing damage, scarring them, or removing limbs should you be able to concentrate the ray long enough."
"Oh!" Remembering something, Mooldrat added, "And know that you can only use one ray at any given time and it takes anywhere from a second to a minute to recharge for the next ray. That depends on how long the previous ray was active, especially the petrification ray which is more taxing."
"Also, try levitating, Daliea. I'm guessing it's got something to do with your telekinesis," chuckled Jack.
Focusing her mind, Daliea felt an ethereal force outside of her body. To her, is seemed tangible and solid, able to form around anything she wished. She allowed a portion of that force to wrap around her, lifting herself off the ground.
"Amazing!" Lina, who had been so amazed she was speechless, finally got some words out. "Big Bro, what can I do?!"
Laughing, Jack shrugged. "Sorry, Lina, but you don't have any beast companions. And you're already a beast so--"
"But I still want to transform!" shouted Lina, not wanting to be left out. "I want a beast companion!"
"That's… I like the way you think, Lina!" Jack suddenly got excited, imagining Lina becoming a beast that could terrify even the gods. "Right now… I can't think of any beasts that would work well with you. But we'll double-check after we get back from the ancient tomb, okay?"
"Okay! Thanks, Big Bro!"
"Maura, Eliza, aren't you going to try it?" Jack asked while staring caringly at them.
"Alright, I'll give it a try!" Maura relaxed and let her breathing calm her body. Doing as Jack mentioned earlier, she found the energy gathering from her core and let it envelop her.
Maura didn't grow in size, but her skin and features began to change. Her hands became webbed with sharp claws at the end. With glacier blue skin, Maura felt a comforting coldness fill her body. And Maura's teeth became identical to Lina's Jaws. She also gained Lina's dragon-like eyes that were better than an eagle's, even underwater.
"I'd talk to Lina about your new abilities, but I imagine that all your water spells and abilities should be much stronger in that form," stated Jack.
"Not just my spells…" Maura giggled, feeling light as a feather, only just realizing that she had grown a long, powerful tail to match Lina's.
"Wow! Big Sis is like me!" Still in her hydra form, Lina walked over to Maura in excitement. "You're water should be much stronger now. Oh! Try and eat something!"
"Oh yeah! Test and see if you have Lina's devour skill!" Also excited, Jack eagerly watched as a small vortex of energy started to gather around Maura's enlarged mouth. "That's it! No fair… I can't get that ability from my pact…"
"Was Bowzer's flame body not enough?"
Everyone then looked to the teasing Eliza, who was no longer shaking in fear. With everything going on at once, Eliza managed to put Dragov's existence to the back of her mind so long as he was behind her and out of sight.
"Jack, how come I can't do it?" questioned the more impatient of Jack's three wives.
"That's probably because you have two beast companions," answered Jack.
Confused, Eliza then asked, "But Maura has two companions, so why could she do it so easily?"