47 Making His Choice

"This is pretty cool!" Leo thought as he clicked to summon a companion from the card. There was a small list of options of choices for him, but he decided to consider each one. The reason was because he needed a companion that could help him infiltrate the spider's cave. If he was able to rely on his own help, he could travel much faster.

Considering his fighting style, Leo chose not to move forward with a small golem as his choice. He did not need a meat shield of sorts since his speed was good enough to retreat on his own if needed. Also, a small golem was just impractical in a general battle due to its speed being so low. Maybe one day it could be used as a siege type, but Leo did not have the patience for that.

Another option Leo saw was a hawk type bird that seemed to specialize in the wind element according to its description. This type of companion would be very useful on small scouting missions. Plus, in the future, it could be used to deliver messages or even carry Leo on its back. Its use would only be impacted by his imagination.

However, Leo couldn't help but ponder for a long time on the third option he was given. This was a small tiger type cub that specialized in the fire element. A small cub couldn't help him in a real battle, but for this current mission, its small flame on its tail could be used to light up the cave area, and its speed was acceptable as well according to its low stats.

"A bird could only become so big, and a golem could only be used really as a meat shield or in a battle against big walls. When it comes to a tiger though, if it grows into an adult, it could have some hidden innate abilities. Plus, since it is of the fire element affinity, I could simply create small winds to expand its attack area in the future."

"It is too bad that I need to use it as a scout soon once it is time to head into the cave. If not for that, I would have tried to slowly train this tiger cub into a full-grown adult so I could even ride its back into battle!" thinking of how cool he would look riding an adult tiger that breathed flames into a battle drove Leo to make his final decision.

To Leo, what mattered the most was what companion could assist him the most on this mission. The tiger cub seemed the most logical, because the bird couldn't travel as easily within the cave once his battlefield became that area, and the golem was too slow to make a real impact if a battle broke out. At least the tiger cub would be useful within the cave area and had more future uses.

"Well, I guess this really was only a cub." Thought Leo as the screen summoned the tiger cub next to him. This cub was small enough to fit on top of Leo's back comfortably. It had bright orange and white fur with dark black stripes around it. If a little girl was around, she would be mesmerized and would want to pet this cub.

Looking at this cub's stats, Leo realized that he could slowly level it up along with himself without even adding it to his squad. Not only that, but he could also decide on each level up what to place its attributes into since to the screen, it seemed as if a summoned companion, was equivalent to an item. Though there was no way to see the true level limit of this tiger cub, it still added to its overall potential.

"I wish I had a fast way to level this tiger cub up. Maybe after this mission, if the cub levels up enough, that might actually turn it into an older tiger?" Leo thought as he decided to use another card's ability to give it to the cub. This ability allowed the tiger to blast out a small fireball at enemies. Leo was not interested in such a low leveled ability and decided it would be best to give it to his new companion.

If he wanted to learn that type of spell or ability, he could always purchase a magic book in the future within the city. "Are you ready to go?" Leo asked this cub as he saw its eyes shine with an innocent type of brightness as it rolled around the waterfall's ground in a playful manner.

Seeing this, Leo was a little lost for words. In a way, this tiger cub reminded him of some of the pets he grew up having. "Am I going to actually have to train this thing?" he thought as he went to pick up this tiger cub. Surprising enough, this cub was rather light, or maybe it was just that Leo's strength attribute was now much higher than it was?

"Since that is the case, I will simply name you-" Leo couldn't come up with a suitable name at this time. Instead, he decided to cook his lunch because both the cub and his stomachs growled due to hunger at the same time.

After eating his meal and giving the cub some meat to eat as well, they were now ready to set off onto the mission. Leo's plan was to use the same plan as he had earlier by killing a spider once it split away from the rest of the group, then using its corpse to attract more towards it.

With this method, Leo could continue trying to not only level up himself, but he could also see that the cub will slowly increase its level as well in a safer environment. Leo's hope was to level it up close to or to his level by the end of the mission. The closer the tiger cub's level was to Leo, the more confident he would feel bringing it back to the city with him.

Back in the city, several tamers would be spotted and even some of the stronger warriors would have horses or other types of companions of their own. Therefore, since it was not actually a monster, Leo wouldn't be shunned bringing the tiger cub back to the city. Unfortunately, there were no other tiger typed beasts around the area of the city or its surroundings. It might cause some type of stir, but he was confident that no one would publicly give him any troubles.

Picking the tiger cub up yet again, Leo placed it on his back as he moved out towards the area he left off at earlier. He was now even more excited that he could slowly level up his companion during this mission and it might bring surprising benefits and trump cards while facing the stronger spiders who lay lurking within the cave!