I studied the cavern occupants and tried to figure out how they moved around without clobbering themselves. The fish followed the flow of the water, the moths the flow of the air, and the small salamanders were a mystery. They are good at navigating in water and on land. It is like they have enhanced their hearing, smell, and touch to such a degree they can tell what is around them.

  I have Olfactory, but I also have a natural bear’s hearing, and I have Nightsight and my own fur. I can’t get another enhanced physical sense until my Physical Perception gets to 40, but other senses, like Spiritual Sensing, are not locked to a physical sense. The Salamanders seem to do it, so why can’t I?

  I spent a lot of time sitting with my eyes closed, listening, smelling, feeling and spiritually sensing what was around me. Physical Perception was the main attribute here, but I wanted more than just the physical. I started to lean in on the Spiritual Perception.

  My Spiritual Perception was pretty low. I had some attribute points I could add, but I didn’t want to do that until I was sure it would lead somewhere. After all, another level in either of my classes would be enough to get my Physical Perception over 40 and get another physical sensing skill.

  I started moving around a bit with my eyes still closed. I would trip easily at first. Then, I got to know the area and where rocks were around me. That is part of the way the small creatures get around. They know their territory and seldom leave it. I started to move and learn about the area around the Rock Eater and the tunnel. I started to move with my eyes closed up and down the tunnel, avoiding the traps and relying on my memory and other senses.

  I was getting more comfortable operating without sight. This was useful when we were outside hunting as well as when I was using both my sight skills. I had a better memory of the land around me and was more aware of what was beyond my sight.

  In the cavern, I had to rely more on other senses. My Olfactory and Spiritual Sensing were soon pushed through to Journeyman. I knew their levelling would greatly slow down now. I checked with my Identify, but there was nothing close. I was missing something. Maybe I should sleep on it.

  My Spiritual Sensing highlighted the gems in my pouch. The light gem I now kept there instead of on my helmet was bright in my senses. The pieces of scale and rib rock were also strong but not bright like the light gem. The feeling of cold vastness was stronger in some ways than the light gem. I had two rock elemental gems now, and they both felt the same as the ribs and scales. The four things combined probably were why it felt stronger. That, plus the overall spiritual feel of the cavern, was this cold, vast area.

  I did not have clear directions on what I needed, but I felt Spiritual Perception was what I needed. Physical Perception is linked to the physical senses, so I need to focus on the spiritual senses. I used one free point in Spiritual Perception to see how it changed things, and it did make my Spiritual senses clearer. The more attributes you have behind a skill, the more power it adds to the skill level.

  I change my strategy. I focus on this feeling of vastness and absolute cold I am getting from the stones and the cavern around me. I pulled out a stone and a section of the rib that I had chipped off. With my better senses, there was more to it than just vast coldness. I slipped another point to Spiritual Perception. I only had two left. I hope I was not making a mistake.

  Everything became clearer again, and I was able to get more details about the spiritual sense, but I didn’t understand it.

  I left it for now as the Commander had his training session, and then I was on watch outside. With the Commander’s training, my Guard class was about to hit Apprentice level. That will give me two more attribute points to use, and I feel they are sorely needed.

  The training was intense, and it did tick the Guard class over, and I am back with 4 free attributes. I could use it to get my Physical Perception to 40 and get another physical sense, but I think I am on the cusp of something else. I just don’t know what.

  It was a beautiful, clear night, and Felix came to keep me company. I made my way to one of our key watch positions, and I studied the clear sky. The largest moon was rising, and it was a half moon, giving the snowy landscape a wonderful look. For all my attempts to navigate without sight, a night like this is worth looking at.

  A cool breeze came across the ice, but I decided to stay in my humanoid form for now. I used my transform skill to thicken my fur, the same as my bear form. This was much easier to do now that it has ticked over to the Journeyman level. I learned more about my Anatomy, and this helped me push the skill over the edge to Journeyman. I can now change small things like the length of my fur much more easily and almost instantaneously for a small cost in energy. I am interested in what the skill will do if I ever get it to the Master's level.

  I pulled out the gem with the cold, vast feel and played with it. The cold matched with the cold clear night, but there was something more there I couldn’t yet sense.

  Since learning the mental skills needed to form a bond, I am aware I could bond with Felix. Yoboc told me people usually bond with young animals as they will live longer. A bond's formation will extend the life of the animal you bond with. Felix is old and only expected to live another 2-5 years, according to Orir.

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  I am setting myself up for a loss like Yoboc went through if I bonded with Felix. Then again, Sheila died unexpectedly. She had another 10-15 years of life expectancy because of her bond, but now she was dead. I don’t know how long a bond with Felix would extend his life, but either or both of us could be dead tomorrow.

  Felix is the kind of animal I would like to bond with. He is not demanding. He is just there with his quiet presence. I always considered myself a loner, and our species are loners. We don’t form long-term relationships or bonds. Why would I change that?

  I looked down and saw that he was curled up beside me. He wasn’t asleep. He was just there. I enjoyed that. I liked having him there. That doesn’t mean I have to bond with him, though.

  I sat and looked at the stars and moon and thought. Yoboc's navigation lessons taught me a lot more about the stars and planetary bodies, and I find them even more interesting now. The sunlight reflects off the moon, the orbit of the moon around this planet and in turn, this planet orbits the sun. It is a lot to get my head around, but it explains so much about how the stars and moons move.

  My mind is flitting all over the place tonight. I rolled the gem between my fingers. Why is my mind all over the place? The gem, the stars and Felix? What is going on?

  Yoboc thinks the Skill Identify is linked to our subconscious. I use Identify on myself. There is something close, but I can’t seem to bring it to the surface—typical subconscious. Yoboc is probably right.

  I use Identify on Felix. Husky dog, low threat level. What am I missing?

  It has to be something with my Spiritual Sensing. It must have changed somehow now that it is Journeyman Level, but how? What am I sensing, or is it just weird feelings I should ignore?

  I use Spiritual Sensing on the gem. No change. I use Spiritual Sensing on Felix. That is weird. He has what I would call the sense of a dog, but he also has the sense of the gem. Cold and Vast and something else. It is there. Do the other dogs have it? I don’t know.

  Then, a thought comes to mind. I use Spiritual Sensing on myself. Then, I stopped and emptied my pouches of all the spiritual materials. I do it again. I am getting that sense, too. I am cold and vast, and something else? Is that what is driving my connection to Felix? We have the same spiritual signature.

  How am I sensing Felix? I don’t remember getting anything from the other people or the dogs when I was trying to use my spiritual senses to track movements. I wasn’t specifically looking for it, but I am sure I would not have missed that. Spiritual Sensing has just hit Journeyman. Does that mean I can now get that sense from others?

  That is easy to test. I slip into Stealth and check the patrol circuit that takes me near the entrance to the mine where Sinmot is on watch. I see how close I can get before he sees me. This is a challenge we do. My circuit is at random times, and occasionally, he will walk a circuit, and we see who can catch the other out. The Commander, Eric, and Yoboc have the highest stealth skills and are the hardest to find. I am much, much better at spotting stealth since I got Clearsight, and now that it is at Apprentice level, I am really good in all sorts of weather.

  Sinmot has several spiritual items on him that show up, but from him, I get nothing but a sense of dwarf, which is a species sense. It is why they didn’t know what sort of Kin I was when I first found the camp. They had never sensed bear-kin before.

  So why can I sense this from Felix, and why do we share the same spirituality as the gem? Sinmot does not have it, or if he does, I can’t sense it. Is this part of why Felix was drawn to me? Because we shared the same spirituality? Can animals sense that better than people?

  I pondered this until I got back to the main watch post. There are so many questions. Why have I never used Spiritual Sensing on myself before? Or maybe it would not have helped as it was not Journeyman, and I was running with minimal Spiritual Perception. I don’t know.

  What was still bugging me was that I was still missing something. First things first.

  “Do you want to bond with me, Felix?” I reached out mentally the way Yoboc taught me. I wasn’t sure if this was right for me to bond, but I was going to do it anyway. I reached out to Felix and felt his mind right there. He was ready and waiting. It is almost like we were halfway to bonding anyway.

  Felix’s mind was calm and happy. It was like he was wagging his tail in my head. I could feel him in my mind, just like I thought of him when he was lying beside me. His personality was like he knew we were best friends, and he was happy and wanted to play and be with me. I could feel in his mind that his body was tired. Would our bond reinvigorate him? I hope so. We will have to see.

  He was my buddy, and we would be together till one of us died, and that was OK. All of it was OK, or better than OK. Felix had been living with the expectation of not living very long and not being able to play and work like he used to. He loved to run and be running at the front leading. Now he was tired, but maybe we could run together?

  I looked at my status, and I now have Animal Bond level 1. As the bond grows, we will get to know each other better. Felix had four skills on his status: Endurance Running, Power Running, Cold Resistance, and Team Leader. There were no levels on the skills that I could see, and they were probably reduced as he was old and not in the best health. Maybe our bond needed to grow for me to see more. I should ask Yoboc.

  I was interested in the Running Skills, as you don’t normally get a skill for something like running; you just do it with your attributes. Apparently, that is not totally correct. Felix has been running and pulling sledges most of his life, so Endurance Running and Power Running make sense. They seem to boost his stamina and strength, and there is a component boosting his Mental Strength to keep going as well. I can’t see his attributes, though, only this limited skill list.

  Cold Resistance is expected and is the same as mine, but I can’t see how high it is.

  Team Leader is interesting. It gives a boost to the Mental Strength of the team members and a small boost to learning and growing skills.

  “I guess you are our Team Leader,” I told him. I reached down and petted him and I felt his contentment through the bond. I was also happy with the decision to bond.

  We settled down to watch in the light of the moon, and I pondered what was missing.