An hour later Dan had a small army of domesticated Bashers, looking for all the world like a crazy cat lady, except with a variety of different colored bunnies. All of them with a glossy and curly hairstyle due to the uncommon upgrade all of the fifteen rabbits had. Other players passed by but with the exception of a few that asked him a few questions, they all quickly left after his lowered charisma got in the way, he was left alone for the most part.

Luckily there didn't seem to be a limit to how many domesticated followers a player could have but there did seem to be a bit of mental strain to keep all the rabbits from hopping away whenever they were distracted. While Dan didn't have any direct control over the creatures it seems like they naturally followed directions he thought at them. He had no clue how the system could be interpreting his thoughts as orders for the rabbits but he didn't even know how a game like this was possible so he just let that thought go.

After the sun started to dip towards the horizon Dan realized he needed to hurry up and get that fox pet so he could go and get a proper permit from the pet shop. So he spent another fifteen minutes walking further into the forest until he spotted a lone fox eyeing the bunnies with hunger. After a short howl the fox charged and Dan met it with his shields planted firmly into the ground. After the fox bounced into it and fell into a daze on the ground he started the taming process.

Battle of Wills initiated

It wasn't even a contest. The orb of light gave a little resistance as the fox stood up but that was quickly crushed as the fox staggered dizzily to the side and fell over, likely from some concussion at hitting the shields so hard.

You have tamed: Level 3 Common Female Fox.

Foxes are commonly found near where the various forms of rabbits live and grow stronger by killing them. With time they may grow to higher levels with more powerful abilities or changes depending on the type of prey they consume.

Domestication viability: High

Current abilities: Piercing Bite - Teeth can pierce light armor. (Passive Ability)

Would you like to begin domestication of: Common Fox?*

Dan clicked yes and read the next prompt that popped up.

You have begun domesticating a common ranked animal (base time to domesticate common ranked animal is one hour) it has a high domestication viability reducing time to domesticate by 50%. Total time to domesticate: 30 minutes minutes. Beginning in 3… 2… 1…

Satiation: 93%

Domestication: 1%

The fox's satiation bar began to drop almost immediately and Dan realized what an obvious mistake he made. He was supposed to feed the fox… but it didn't eat grass like the rabbits it ate, well rabbit. With a sigh he gave a command for one of the rabbits to move in front of the fox which began to eat its way through the rabbit. After six minutes the Fox finished its bloody meal and looked at Dan expectantly.

Satiation: 100%

Domestication: 20%

There went his plans of domesticating an army of foxes. It would take five rabbits to satiate a fox's hunger in order to max out the bonuses of Domestication. So that was at least fifteen minutes of work to just domesticate the rabbits, not including the part where he had to find and tame them in the first place. It was going to be a long half an hour but he resigned to give the fox as much food as it wanted if it came out with some good abilities.

Twenty five minutes and another four rabbits later, Dan got a notification for the domestication process as well as another one he wasn't expecting.

Your tamed Fox has eaten five Uncommon Domesticated Bashers and has undergone a change.

Your Common Fox has turned into an Uncommon Cottontail Fox.

Sure enough, the fox had undergone a change. Its tail had grown out more and become a bit rounder and more condensed like a rabbit's tail, its ears grew longer and fluffier, hanging down around the sides of its head, while its muzzle shortened becoming more suitable for eating plants than animals. Perhaps the most noticeable change was its fur turning snow white and growing out, becoming far more fluffy and soft. Despite the changes it was still recognizable as a fox, though heavily altered from what one would expect of a fox.

Congratulations! You have domesticated a Cottontail Fox! As the Satiation and Domestic levels of your Fox were maxed throughout the whole domestication process it has gained an additional non-combat trait!

Uncommon Domesticated Female Cottontail Fox: This rabbit has become a non-combat pet through domestication. Any attempts to provoke this creature into a fight will end in failure, as such its level has been lowered to 0. It has gained the trait 'Floofy' which causes those around it to want to run their hands through their fur, whether consciously or not. Doing so has a chance to apply a +5 bonus to luck once a day.

This was amazing! It seemed that harder to tame creatures could give out buffs even if they were just a pet! And he did have to admit it was adorable in a strange sort of way. He would've wanted to keep it if he had time to tame another but with the sun setting in the distance he knew he had to make it back to town.

Dan started to make his way back through the forest, which was pretty empty due to the waves of other gamers coming through and clearing out the animals. As he saw the heard snapping and cracks behind him and whirled around, though he could see nothing. He slowly began to back up as he came up to the edge of the forest and with a sigh of relief he came upon the gates. The guards gave him an odd look and he remembered the trail of animals following behind him.

"All animals being brought within the city need to be covered by a permit. Failure to have one means none of the animals may enter the city… and for the sake of your the time you must have put into taming all those creatures I do hope you have one."

Dan began to rummage around in his backpack before the guard had even begun talking and finally with a sigh of relief he finally pulled out the battered paper. "Here you are, sir. I hope this covers all the animals." The guard took the paper and after reading it for a few minutes he scratched his head and gave the paper back.

"Well I'm sure you knew what you were doing, that temporary permit does state that any animal brought within the city is your responsibility until ownership has changed. If they happen to hurt anyone, even from a broken leg after falling over one of those monsters, then you will be held accountable. I suggest getting back to whoever gave you this permit and selling the rabbits off before people start getting funny ideas. In fact shift change is coming up and we would be more than willing to escort you and your pets on our way back to the barracks… for a price."

Dan was not one to haggle or bargain, and despite the fact that the guard was a bit scummy their protection would be appreciated. "I'll give you half of what I earn through selling these of, you can split the half you get among yourselves."

The two guards on the inside of the gate and the two on the outside gave a hoot of delight. Apparently this was more then they were expecting, though Dan was just glad he wouldn't have to worry about any shady characters on his walk through the darkening city. The shift change apparently happened right at night and the Guards switched over, leaving him in the hands of four Guards. They loosely walked in a circle around the parade of animals and began to walk to the shop.

The guard that had stopped him initially walked next to him on the way to the shop. "According to the permit we're on the way to Fluffy's Pet Shop. Generally the owner doesn't give out even temporary permits, they must have been desperate for help if they turned to a random traveler for assistance. Though I think you'll have proved your worth to them. I imagine you've done this to get a permanent permit though? Fluffy is the best person you could have gone to in order to get one at I know he has done contacts within the kingdom to speed up the process."

Dan walked alongside the chatty guard in silence, just doing his best to absorb everything he was saying. Eventually they reached the pet shop and walked inside, the animals following through the tight corridors. Fluffy, as he was apparently named, walked out of the back open-mouthed before looking at the guards and waving Dan forward and behind the counter.

"Come here, I have a place for the… army of pets you brought me in the back room. Oh right payment. Uh, here I'll give your bodyguards four gold, one each, that should be more than enough. Now come back here, I need to inspect the animals in detail." Dan followed the shop owner through the backdoor with his herd of bouncing bunnies following behind him.