"This is a temporary spot. I don't expect you to stay long. If you end up staying longer, and I start to trust you, I'll consider making you a more permanent setup. If I end up staying in this forest, of course," he said to her once he was done, making it very clear that if she wanted a better place to sleep in she would have to earn it.

She did not turn down what he had done simply because that would have been rude, and he didn't have to do it to begin with. She thanked him for what he had given her, choosing to be grateful, "Honestly, this is much better than sleeping in the hammock. Thank you." 

She was about to head inside when he stopped her and asked her a question that seemed different from his overall tone so far, "I could actually use your help with something. You seem to recognize what type of creature I had rescued, and I was wondering if you also knew......." For some reason he felt nervous asking, "Can you tell me if it's a boy or a girl? I've been trying to think of a name for it, but if I don't know its gender I won't be able to give it a proper name."

Seeing how he looked thinking about it, she giggled a little. Luckily, she did have the information for him since she was familiar with its species due to her skills and told him, "She's lucky to have you. I think you'll find a lovely name for her."

Hearing Marcelina say that made him feel a little bit better. He gave her a nod before walking back towards his cabin, "Goodnight ma'am." 

"Goodnight Mr. Ben," she said, waving him farewell as both of them entered into their places of rest. 

Closing the door behind him, he locked it for safety just in case she might have tried to come and slit his throat in the middle of the night. He was going to be extra cautious until she proved otherwise. He hoped, however, that she was actually a good person and that they could try surviving together. That way, at least he wouldn't be so lonely. 

He turned his attention to the creature still lying on his bed. It happily seemed to look at him as he came over and sat next to it. Petting its head, it leaned into his touch. 

Now knowing that the creature was female, he started formulating potential names for it. He did quite a bit of thinking while he was slowly lying down and cuddling with her. Eventually, he decided on a name and grabbed it by its face and petting it behind its ears. 

He looked into her eyes, saying, "From now on I think I'm going to call you, Emma. Do you like that name?" 

It made a happy sound and then started licking the bottom of his chin with its extra long dog-like tongue. He took it as a sign that she did enjoy the name and her affection was a sign of acceptance. It made him happy, and he felt at ease once again. 

He then turned his attention to the final thing he wanted to deal with for the night. He pulled up his character sheet again and went to his abilities and clicked on Arcane Ancestry. Instead of immediately telling him what the ability does, it gave a brief idea and asked him to make a choice.

It stated the following: 

Arcanists are well known for using their magic that they have been naturally gifted with to try and tap into more of the power that it originates from. Based on the origin of their arcane power, they gain several benefits from strengthening their connection to their original bloodline. Choose one of the following types of magical bloodlines as the origin of your powers and gain its benefits. The choices are as follows: draconic, demonic, angelic, eldritch, or fey? 

Without hesitation, he decided to select draconic. In almost all RPGs that have magic and dragons, the dragons are often some of the most powerful magical creatures in those settings. Selecting them would definitely provide him with a lot more power, he hoped. 

It would seem that his choice in his mind was correct, as he immediately became notified that the benefits of choosing the draconic bloodline as his Arcane Ancestry were quite strong. All the base damage for his spells was increased by triple their original amount, he could also cast all spells from level 1 to level 10 an additional 5 more times per day, and lastly, he gained the ability to passively regenerate lost mana by 50 points every hour.

He suddenly felt the magic inside him pulse. He felt a surge of power that he almost became overwhelmed by for a moment. As he acclimated to this increase in overall potency of power, a smile creeped along his face. He would definitely test the strength of his spells in the morning.

Sleep came a lot easier this time around. Soon he began dreaming of one of the few good memories that he had of his childhood. In it, the family dog that he treasured dearly played with him and comforted him on his 9th birthday. The rest of his family seemed to not only forget it was his birthday, and went off on their own to go do other stuff, leaving him alone with only the dog. Despite the sadness of his family having forgotten it was his birthday, he remembers that he had a good birthday because of the dog. The animals seemed to sense that he was feeling sad about it and did everything it could that day to try and uplift his spirit. 

The last thing he remembers is the dog licking his face repeatedly in a show of affection. And it was the first thing he woke up to in the morning as Emma began licking his face as well. Slowly opening his eyes and petting the creature, he noticed that there was something different about Emma. 

Once he fully snapped awake, he saw that she now had two tiny gold horns growing out of her head and had sprouted a pair of golden feathered wings. This definitely was not something she had yesterday, and he was kind of concerned about how she managed to grow wings and horns overnight. But Emma herself didn't seem to mind or care as she continued to lick his face, occasionally going, "bbbaaa". 

He started to get up, and he picked up Emma in order to take her over to Marcelina to see if she could explain what the hell happened. When he opened the door to the cabin, the first thing he saw was Marcelina on the edge of the river naked using the water to bathe herself. Hearing him open the cabin door, she quickly covered herself and gave a small squeaking scream. He, out of respect, slammed the door back closed.

He stood there kind of shocked at first, not expecting to see that this morning. After a moment of composing himself, he cracked the door open, and he shouted out to her, "Sorry about that! I didn't know you were washing yourself! When you get done and dressed, could you come here?! Something happened to Emma and I need your help! It's not immediately urgent, but I would like you to give her a look!"

He heard her shout back, "OK! Just give me a few minutes!" 

Closing the door to the cabin back shut, he sat Emma down and tried to understand how she changed. Grabbing two chocolate bars and a bottle of water from his shelf, he put some food in his belly and handled his thirst. The entire time, not taking an eye off of her as she playfully nudged against him like a cat before rolling over and letting him pet her underbelly. 

By the time he had finished, he heard a knock on the door which caused Emma to jump in shock, but she just moved behind him as he walked to open the door. Opening it, he saw Marcelina in a new pair of clothes, clearly what looked to be a workout outfit she probably had in her purse. He knew women that went to the local gym that he had a membership in back on Earth who would sometimes store work out clothes in their bags to carry with them so they could change into them in the locker rooms or in the bathrooms. Despite how odd it was from a male's perspective, he wrote it off as just her being prepared in other respects. 

She immediately looked behind him at Emma. She noticed the horns and wings as well that were definitely not there yesterday. She clearly seemed to have an idea of what might be going on but began examining Emma cautiously because Emma was still an alien animal to her that she was not currently bonded with. 

After about 10 minutes of examining her and being able to inspect her new body parts, Marcelina stood up and let out a sigh. This worried Ben as he thought something might have been wrong with Emma.

Before he could ask any concerning questions, Marcelina put up her hand and explained, "As a beast tamer I have an ability that allows me to bond with animals and if I give them a name it can cause them to gain power and transform. This morning when I woke up, I saw this in effect with Charles. He was no longer a round bunny, but he was much longer and could even walk on his hind legs. He resembled more like a rabbit ferret creature with four eyes and horns than he originally did. He also seemed to gain a level of intelligence as he responded to what I was saying with some degree of understanding, but could not talk. My ability expressly states that it's not a unique thing and that this is a potential natural occurrence when an animal and a person have a strong enough bond or an animal has imprinted onto a person. Giving the creature a name is what is the catalyst for the transformation, and it will occur while they're sleeping. It looks like Emma must have been imprinted on to you after you saved her yesterday."

"So you're saying that this is supposed to be normal. That's kind of odd, but I played some games where it was a mechanic. It's a little weird seeing it in practice, but I guess I can get used to it," Benedictus responded while rubbing the back of his head. 

"From what my ability's description told me, natural occurrences for people who are not some form of beast tamer or have a similar ability like mine, usually tend to be much weaker. So, even though she has transformed and gotten stronger, don't expect her to probably start acting or doing things on a similar level to Charles. But I do suggest you open your character sheet, and you should see a new tab for animal companions with all of her information," Marcelina continued to inform him.

Sure enough, when he pulled up his character sheet he saw that there was a new tab for animal companions. Clicking on it, he saw that it was in a list format and currently the only one listed was Emma. Clicking on the character sheet only gave him the basics of Emma's information. It gave him a basic overview of her stats, her current HP, AC, and EP, along with any natural resistances or weaknesses that she had. 

Through it, he found out that she had resistance to both magical fire and magical water-based attacks. He also saw that her HP was kind of low, but her EP was very high along with her AC. Her AC was 35 and her EP was 650. Despite her only having 100 HP, she clearly could take hits and had enough energy to spare. Her stats, though, were kind of low in comparison to his own, with only a few being over 12. Her highest stat was Brilliance, which seemed to be 20. 

Thinking about it, he realized that even if she wasn't the most intelligent creature ever, she was definitely smart enough that she probably could understand the intent behind what he was saying. He decided to test her to check and see just how intelligent she was. 

He looked to her and asked, "Emma, where is the bed?" 

To his surprise, she walked over to the bed and climbed onto it, jumping to signify that she was on bed. He smiled a little, and then he asked her, "Emma, where is the food?" 

Emma walked over to the fire pit and right next to it were the bones of the fish that she had eaten the day before. He had to toss them onto the edge of the fire pit so that the bones could burn away or at least down enough where they would eventually continue to fuel the fire. She pulled out one of the fishbones and held it in her teeth. 

"Looks like you're pretty smart, Emma. Aren't I a lucky guy? My Emma is so intelligent," he said, petting her on the head, and she nuzzled into his touch.

Marcelina, watching it all, remarked with a surprise smile, questioning some things mentally, "Well... I guess I stand corrected.... I didn't expect her to be that intelligent."

"That's understandable. It just so happens that her Brilliance is 20. Considering mine is in the 30s, and I'm, not to toot my own horn, a lot smarter than most people, I figured this meant she probably had at least human intelligence. She's still technically a child and her character sheet confirms that she's only about 3 months old. So she might be smart but she is still learning," he clarified.

Hearing that, Marcelina got confused, and then she reacted very surprised and astonished, blurting out loudly, "Wait, you're telling me she has a Brilliance of 20! How is she smarter than me?! My Brilliance is only 14!"

"Wait what," Benedictus questioned when hearing that.