Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 238: Evolution at its Finest

Lily was quick to discover an entire new area of the system, one that had been hidden to her, and all others who did not receive the skill [Charm Animal.] What she initially thought was a useless skill due to the lack of powerful wildlife in the area, proved far more promising when she actually put it to the test.

She started her ability by charming one of the bulls that were slaughtered for beef. And the moment she did so, she uncovered a new area of the system. Similar in many ways to Zane's horde management screen, she found herself with the [Animal Companion] section of the system.

In this screen, she could not only see the number of animals she had tamed but also their levels, their physical attributes, their skills, which at the moment was completely absent from the bull she charmed. As well as the experience they gained and would help them level up.

She even found that she could summon and dismiss her animal companion much in the same way that Zane could do with his horde. And after experimenting with the system for a while, she realized that she could effectively control this 2,000 lb bull, perfectly bending its thoughts to her will. Lily quickly realized the potential this new skill had.

And because of this, she was quick to approach Zane, hugging the man in a friendly manner, before forcing herself away after she realized what she had done. Lily swiftly informed the others of what she had learned over the past hour about her skill. And when Zane realized the similarities it had with his horde management system, he was quick to pose a theory about her animal companions.

"You know… Judging by how much alike the animal companion and horde management systems are. It's entirely possible that after leveling up your companions to level 5, you can evolve them into something new… I mean, I can't say for sure until we replace out, but this could prove to be very useful to our party…"

Lily had not even thought about this possibility, but Zane was right. If such a thing were true, and she could keep evolving something like a bull into a mythical creature, then wouldn't that be very valuable for their party? Hell, even their settlement?

With this in mind, Lily was very excited to test out her new skills. As were Madison and Angelica, who had also just recently gained new skills of their own, skills which had yet to be fully tested. Naturally, Zane had a solution to this, and that was to venture into the ruins of Old Reno and grind out more of Bartholomew's never ending horde.

After all, Zane's party members were close to reaching level 25. They really just needed a few more days' worth of grinding, and they would all be at an appropriate level to challenge a Tier I Horde King, even if they didn't have Zane by their side.

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It did not take long for Zane and the others to arrive at their destination, where they quickly began clearing the undead which dwelled within South Reno, not only for the purpose of their immediate goals, but also for their long-term goals as well.

Even now, the number of Tier II Undead that had replaced Tier I undead as the majority of Bartholomew's forces were themselves rapidly evolving into Tier III Undead, and so on and so forth. Because of this, Zane's usual tactics of drawing battle lines and using tactics to defeat the enemy were starting to become a bit more difficult.

In the past, the quality of Zane's much smaller Horde had proven to be the most advantageous aspect of it. Having a few thousand Tier III Undead beneath his command was much better than having tens of thousands of Tier I Undead.

But Zane's losses had begun to grow. And though he could now effectively convert any undead beneath that of Tier I Horde King to be his own servant, the rate at which his Horde progressed, and evolved into higher-level combats, had actually decreased from what it was a few months ago.

Simply because the increase in XP gained from killing Tier II undead instead of Tier I undead did not actually make up for the much smaller numbers that Zane and his party were capable of eliminating without suffering losses.

The good news was that after only eight hours of grinding. Lily raised her animal companion to level 5 and found that she could indeed evolve the creature into something greater than what it had been born. But after fighting for the majority of the day, she did not get to test out its might as the group had returned to their home to consolidate their gains and rest for the evening.

Still, at dinner, after washing herself off from the blood and grime that she had coated herself with during her eight hours of slaying the undead. Lily eventually chose to evolve the beast companion she had taken on a whim.

And in doing so, she was shocked by what she found. The animal companion which she had named Tauros had evolved from a run-of-the-mill bull, to its pre-historic predecessor known as the Aurochs. The Aurochs were not only considerably bigger than a modern day bull, but it also had much longer horns, and had an attitude that was significantly meaner.

The massive beast had increased in size from a mere 2,000 lbs, to nearly twice that amount. And instantaneously at that. It had also unlocked a skill slot, as well as an equipment slot, which Lily found to be surprising to say the least.

Unlike awakened humans, which could only obtain a new skill via the consumption of the Horde King's blood crystal. An animal companion was granted a skill point for every five levels gained. And so long as they had an open skill slot, that skill point could be used to purchase a skill for them.

When Lily saw this, she looked through a variety of skills for Tauros to make use of. But she honestly did not know how to best incorporate these potential skills into their current strategies and tactics, which Zane employed against the undead and living alike.

Because of this, Lily brought this matter to the group's attention. Which after telling them what all the skills did and how they functioned. Zane selected the one he felt was most appropriate for the girl and her animal companion.

"I think you should use Bull's Charge… From what you just told me, this could prove to be very useful, especially if the Horde Kings learn from my antics and start employing their servants in formations.

What was the exact nature of the skill again? I just want to make sure I heard you correctly?"

Lily looked at the information about the skill which was displayed in her vision by the system as a form of augmented reality and relayed it back to Zane word for word.

"For 5 seconds... your companion moves 33% faster and if it strikes a foe in the melee, that foe is knocked down."

Upon hearing the skill to read back to him a second time, this time with its exact words, Zane nodded his head in agreement with his selection. Before outlining why, he was advising Lily to invest her companion's skill point into this particular skill.

"Yup, it's exactly as I thought. Lily, assuming we manage to unlock the recipes to craft your companion some armor. It will quite literally become a tank on the battlefield. Used to suppress enemy formations and break the front lines. If you had this when we fought against the army of Elysium, this skill would have saved us many casualties.

And I get the feeling that the Horde Kings won't just keep spamming their hordes against us for much longer. Eventually they will evolve to the point of using actual military tactics, and when that day comes having a tank of a companion to just mow down the enemy ranks will be a godsend…"

Lily had not fully understood why Zane had advised her to invest in this skill when there were others that she thought had more potential. And sure, maybe in a 1v1 fight, those skills would operate as such. But when Zane fully explained his reasoning for wanting her to purchase this skill with her only skill point. She no longer doubted him and his advice.

Almost immediately after Zane had explained his reasons to her, Lily did exactly as the man had advised and purchased the ability Bull's Charge for her new animal companion "Tauros" who she hoped would provide some use to their party in the battle against Gwen that was on the horizon.

As for Zane himself, he remained silent for the rest of the meal. His mind was focused on more important things, like calculating how best to defeat Gwen while minimizing the casualties to both his and her horde.

After all, he now knew that he could seize control over an enemy Horde King's remaining forces when if he killed them off before the Horde, and that was his immediate goal.6