So, the question is whether it would be better to go for one of the Enhancements I can currently afford, or save up for something like one of the defence enhancements, or Anti-immunity, Dominic said to himself. He prodded Leo lightly with his mind to see if the lion had any feedback to give, but his companion just grunted in annoyance, once more giving off distinct vibes of not wanting to be disturbed.

  Mentally shrugging, Dominic decided that if Leo couldn’t be bothered to wake up, then he couldn’t complain about not being part of the decision-making. Well, knowing Leo, he probably would still complain, but Dominic wouldn’t need to feel guilty about it.

  With 8 Pride Enhancement points available, Dominic now had seven options to choose from if he did decide to go for them right now. He hesitated over both Pride Tribute and Lion’s Generosity, but then decided against them for now since he had no immediate Ability he wanted to get or give. Besides, he had Group Enhancement now, so didn’t want to waste any Points unless absolutely necessary.

  Actually, he questioned himself, a sudden thought occurring, can I even share Group Enhancement with Group Enhancement? It seemed like the kind of thing that shouldn’t work…but that didn’t necessarily mean it wouldn’t. Dominic resolved to try it out before they left. Eventually, if everyone in the Pride could have Group Enhancement it would be pretty awesome. Not only would everyone be able to share Abilities they gained on increasing in Tier or half-step Tier, but they would be able to enhance Abilities which they shared with each other. Dominic imagined his whole Pride of lions enhancing each other’s Pounce, or the whole Pride using Sonic Attack on a strong opponent. Now that would be powerful.

  Returning to the question of Pride Enhancements, he dismissed the ones linked to affecting the Ability one of his Pride got on Tier up. It seemed like the beasts themselves were able to push towards certain desired Abilities and if there was an Ability he wanted someone to have, that’s what Group Enhancement and Lion’s Generosity were for. Not to mention that one day they might be able to get awesome Abilities from the Ability Forge.

  And as for increasing the Tier of the Ability, a higher Tier didn’t mean that an Ability was actually good. Several of Dominic’s Tier 1 or even Tier 0 Abilities were his bread-and-butter when it came to a fight. Simple, easy to use, and not so costly he couldn’t use them multiple times in a fight. If everyone ended up with Tier 2 or above Abilities, they might be powerful, but also might end up being completely useless. So those options weren’t worth the investment.

  He did hesitate for a long time over saving up for the Pride Defence enhancements. Certainly the shield had come in very useful in the dungeon. But the issue was that it required them all to be together in a group which he wasn’t sure would be the case in the coming fights.

  In the end, he decided to spend his points here and now, and go for the next Prey Points Enhancement. The reason why was because that underpinned everything. New Abilities? Required Tier up unless he used Group Enhancement or Lion’s Generosity. Better defences? Those could be picked as perks on level-up. More offence? Also perks on level-up.

  There was certainly something to be said for multipliers, but they worked best when there was a good baseline to multiply. That said, he decided that perhaps the next Pride Points they earned should go towards either the Pride Shield or increasing their damage when fighting together – combined with faster levelling up, it should put their Pride into a good position to face whatever challenges they’d have in the future.

  Decided, he selected the increase in Prey Points to bring it from 21% to 28%.

  [Error: You are unable to raise a Pride Enhancement above the level of your Pride.]

  What? What is this rubbish? Dominic asked angrily enough that he felt Leo stir in the background.

  ‘What’s happening?’ the lion asked warily. Dominic explained with an annoyed tone to his voice. ‘You woke me up for that?’ the lion demanded after Dominic had finished. ‘Just choose something else or wait until we increase our Pride level again. But don’t bother me!’ With that, he essentially slammed the mental equivalent of a door between them and left Dominic to his thoughts. It was a little surprising that Leo didn’t seem to care what Enhancements they took but perhaps he was too sleepy to think about it.

  Huffing in frustration, Dominic closed the Pride status. Leo had a point, much as he’d like to reject it – they were only five members away from the next Pride level, so maybe he should just wait for the kesh to come. It was even possible that more options would appear when the Pride levelled up, so perhaps it wasn’t a bad thing to wait.

  Seeing the hunting party with Sekhmet returning, Dominic brightened up. Maybe there was a good way to spend the time – one even Leo would approve of.

  *****

  It was close to sundown. Dominic mentally ran through his to-do list even as his gaze roamed over his assembled party. This time he was taking a much larger group with him than previously; he hoped that it wouldn’t leave the Place of Power too undefended.

  The group of kesh had appeared shortly before noon, the five clan leaders with four of their seconds-in-command accompanied by seven young and enthusiastic members of their groups. It had been significantly more than he’d told the kesh leader to bring and Dominic had been more than a little displeased with that.

  To mellow Dominic’s obvious irritation, the main leader Three-Spots had quickly explained that one of the other leaders, Long-Ear, had thought it to be a good idea to add to the Pride both elders in control of the clans and youngsters who could join as part of the hunting groups. Though Long-Ear didn’t know about Dominic’s plans to leave, the lion decided to take the suggestion on board. During the trip away, he’d be able to see just what advantages the kesh could bring his Pride in a fight.

  With some grumbling more for show than anything else, Dominic had accepted their explanation. He did say that he would only accept the leaders and the youngsters, though. If things worked out, he’d add the seconds-in-command. But if he added them now, they would end up outnumbering the small skeleton crew he’d be leaving behind.

  Bringing the five leaders into the fold hadn’t taken more than a few minutes, and the clan leaders and their direct subordinates had left shortly after. The seven younger kesh had stayed, though, and would be travelling with Dominic.

  Adding twelve new members to their numbers, several of them already in Tier 2, had pushed their Pride into the next level and earned them several Pride Enhancement points, allowing Dominic to purchase several benefits for their Pride, including the desired Prey Point enhancement. He had also chosen to increase their group attack bonus, thinking about the possibility that they might be outnumbered in the fights to come and wanting to lock in some good bonuses to their damage in that case. Finally, he had decided to buy something instead of saving up for the more expensive Pride Defence enhancement. Instead, he had taken the increased range for their Pride chat. The reason was that he suspected that they might need to communicate at greater range than ever before and he didn’t want to find out at the last moment that they’d lost contact with one of their groups.

  That had left them with 11 Pride Enhancement points remaining in the bank to use for the better defence system. Instead of saving up for the expensive upgrade later which doubled their defences – useful as that might be – he decided to buy the cheaper upgrade to reduce the cooldown. After all, he figured that when he did eventually get around to buying the more expensive upgrade, the fact that the cooldown would double would be a bit annoying. Hopefully the reduced cooldown he’d just bought would apply to it even then. When the upgrade turned out to halve the cooldown, he was satisfied with his purchase even if that only left him with 1 Point in the bank.

  He’d done a bit of experimenting with Group Enhancement too. He’d only been able to give Healing Cloud to one Pride member so far – Isis, interestingly enough. It hadn’t worked at all without something to heal, so the hunters had been charged to bring half-dead creatures in to give the prospective healers a target. It seemed like one share lasted for about five minutes or so at level 1 which only Isis had managed to use to level it up and thereby gain the Ability. Dominic had also been able to confirm something interesting – and useful. Group Enhancement itself could be shared.

  No one had managed to keep it after the time the Ability could be shared had elapsed, many of them struggling to share one of their own Abilities with someone, but it was a good discovery to have made.

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  There were only two other things left for him to do before leaving and Dominic headed towards the obsidian stone to take care of the first one.

  ‘Are you sure we should do this?’ Leo asked in the background, his voice with a hint of a whine.

  ‘We’ve discussed this. The Points do us no good when we’re not here,’ Dominic reminded him. Returning to the forest had proved that: he hadn’t been given all the Prey Points which he’d ‘missed’. He didn’t know what had happened to them, but he might as well make sure that they at least benefited him by plugging them into the growth of territory itself.

  Adjusting the distribution of the Prey Point division, Dominic redirected the 10% he usually received towards the territory growth. Then he hesitated with his thoughts turning towards Selessa.

  The goddess had come through for them: she’d directed him to a means by which he could repair the damage to his Mana Heart and Soul, she’d helped Jenkins, and she’d given free advice about how to level up his Place of Power. Maybe he should do something for her beyond the hunting that he’d done earlier. Leo emanated agreement which only increased his resolve.

  Focussing back on the interface, he reduced the portion dedicated to the territory expansion by 3% and directed it towards Selessa.

  ‘There,’ Dominic thought at Leo.

  ‘Good job,’ the lion praised, ignoring Dominic’s surprise at the rare occurrence. ‘She’ll definitely reconsider us as a mate now!’

  Dominic shook his head – he should have known that would be Leo’s motivation. For him, it was enough to know that even while he was absent, his territory would continue growing in power. Considering how many of them were leaving, those behind should grow pretty quickly too – far fewer Pride members to share the Prey Points between meaning quicker individual growth. In fact, he wouldn’t be surprised if the kesh were quite eager to join the Pride after seeing the leaders soar in strength.

  On that note, he returned to the group.

  ‘Are you sure that I can’t convince you to stay and look after everyone?’ he asked Nyx. The ameshek eyed him, her antennae moving in a way that Dominic knew expressed frustration.

  ‘We have discussed this. I wish to make some progress too. If what you have indicated might be the case is indeed the situation, this will be more productive for me than remaining here. And you will need my strength,’ she replied, reiterating the points that had caused Dominic to agree in the first place.

  ‘Yes, I know. But with few Pride members staying behind, you’d probably get to the next level in a matter of days.’

  The ameshek leader hesitated, but then a feeling of negation came across his telepathic link with her.

  ‘I wish to explore too. My pack members had interesting tales to tell from when they travelled with you before. I wish to experience some of it myself.’

  Dominic let out a disappointed breath. Technically, with her being his vassal, he could probably order Nyx to stay, but he wasn’t keen on doing that. Not unless it was absolutely necessary – coerced obedience was never as good as willing obedience especially since he wanted her to be in charge here. For all he knew, she would ‘accidentally’ allow an enemy to take over while he was away, meaning he’d have to do more damage control on his return than he’d prefer to.

  ‘Fine. Hopefully Procyon and Sirius will be able to hold the fort until we get back, then.’ They had been the only two amesheks he’d been able to convince, though Sirius had been a hard sell. As the highest levels of those he was leaving behind, they were unquestionably the leaders. And hopefully they’ll find those two dungeons which should be appearing soon and be able to take groups through them, Dominic said to himself.

  The juveniles had been another group he’d tried to make stay behind and then caved because they’d looked so disappointed at having finally properly joined the Pride and then getting exiled from all the hunting groups and left with the rest of the cubs. At least, that’s how they seemed to see it. Even Max who had been most willing to do that had changed his mind when he saw how eager the lionesses were to join.

  Brushing cheeks with Nyx, Dominic moved onto the second remaining task: making sure the albuhas were fully under his control.

  ‘Alright Jenkins, front and centre,’ he called in the Pride chat, moving to the open space between the four groups. ‘That means ‘come here’,’ he quickly clarified, feeling her confusion.

  The lioness stepped forward, her head cocked sideways curiously. She had managed to level up in the last hour and the mini wings on her back had got noticeably bigger. Clearly, she was still determined to be able to fly one day, but it also proved how far she still had to go to achieve it.

  ‘We fight?’ she asked with interest.

  ‘Yes – I need to prove to your group of albuhas that, even if you command them, I command you, and for good reason.’

  The enthusiastic lioness didn’t need any more encouragement. She didn’t even wait for Dominic to tell her to start, but just pounced on him using both Enhanced Speed and Pounce to try to knock him out of the fight early.

  Even with Enhanced Speed, though, to Dominic who had invested significantly in his own speed and reactions, it was almost like she was moving in slow motion. He easily dodged the first strike and then the second and third.

  My turn, he said to himself with a mental grin.

  Activating Rapid Attack, he landed several blows that batted at Jenkins’ head and drew blood even if he’d had his claws sheathed and intentionally not aimed anywhere vital. She snarled and backed away for a moment.

  The momentum of the fight lost, Jenkins was barely able to react in time as Dominic leapt for her. She dodged his first attempt to bite, but didn’t spot his wing in time. Still off-balance from her dodge, she was bowled over onto her side by the hit from his wing.

  Dominic struck at her vulnerable back, gripping her neck with his sharp incisors. He didn’t bite hard enough to break her skin, but she could very clearly feel his presence from the way she went still.

  ‘Give up?’ Dominic asked her, surprised at how much fun the last few seconds had been, despite how little time the fight had taken.

  ‘I yield,’ she agreed with a pleased rumble. Dominic let go of her neck, unsure as to why she was pleased at losing. The lioness twisted around and Dominic was hit by the scent of her arousal, an aroma which made heat and answering interest go through him. ‘Strong male,’ she practically purred. ‘Powerful male. Good mate.’

  It took every ounce of Dominic’s willpower not to give in and mate with her right then and there, but he succeeded. Just.

  ‘Later,’ he rumbled at her privately, giving in to lean his head down and rub it hard against hers, an instinct making him want to spread his scent over her so that everyone around knew that she was his.

  And then Dominic caught his own thoughts and recoiled from their possessive nature. That was Leo’s influence…right? He enjoyed mating, but that was because it felt really good and he liked both Sekhmet and Jenkins. Right?

  Not daring to even look at his own emotions too closely, Dominic stepped past Jenkins and focussed on Howler who still seemed to represent the albuhas as Jenkins’ second in command.

  ‘Satisfied?’ he asked the albuha. The winged-coyote lowered himself to the ground, his head flat on the earth and looking up, his wings spread out sideways. Behind him, the six remaining albuhas did the same.

  ‘Yes, satisfied, pack leader,’ Howler answered respectfully. ‘You are strong. You are alpha over and above female alpha.’

  ‘Good,’ Dominic answered, both pleased and relieved at the answers. At least that wasn’t complicated. ‘Right, is everyone ready? Goodbyes said?’ he looked around at the groups of different species. There were only positive responses. ‘Then let’s go.’

  Leading the way towards the edge of the clearing, the albuhas choosing to spring up in the air and start to fly, Dominic paused for a moment to look back. Procyon and Sirius stood with the single albuha, who Dominic quickly instructed to follow Procyon’s command, and the four lionesses staying behind: Saffron, Kalista, Aurora, and Neith. Around them were the fourteen cubs, several litters of different ages.

  ‘Be well,’ he told them, ‘and look after our home.’

  ‘We will, pack leader,’ the two amesheks answered, the four lionesses echoing a similar sentiment.

  ‘But remember that we can always find another home – take care of yourselves even more than this place. If you need me, send Shrieker to find me.’ That was, after all, the main reason why he was leaving one of the few albuhas behind.

  Once more they stated their understanding and agreement.

  Dominic gave them a final glance and then turned and led the way into the forest.

  here!