Beastforged Bond

It was late evening when I returned home. My parents were already asleep, and I couldn’t find Daniel to talk to him about the whole conscription debacle, either.

Instead, I found his father.

“Hello, Adam,” Peter Zerog greeted me with a wry smile.

He was still the same authoritative figure he’d been a year ago, but a lot had changed in the last year. Peter looked worn out. His eyes had lost some of their fire, and he appeared… hesitant.

“How are you doing? Is everything alright?” he asked.

I would have never considered Peter Zerog a friend of mine. He was Daniel’s father, and other than the favor I owed him, we had nothing to do with each other. His wife was different. I liked Chloe Zerog a lot. She was my favorite Zerog – right after Daniel, of course.

Daniel’s mother helped my parents find a well-paying job on their estate. Then again, the pay was the least important factor. The protection they received from living in the main sector had been my main focus. It meant a lot to me, now more than ever.

“I’m fine. The Grand Camp was stressful, growing stronger and all… then the chaos with the Caldera.” I grimaced as painful memories resurfaced, dismissed them, and forced a smile. “But I managed. We managed and made it through. Compared to the Grand Camp, working with Bert and my other responsibilities is nothing.”

I waved dismissively. Truthfully, the conscription wasn’t too bad after all. My appointment to the Warden’s reserves was a little odd, but it didn’t change too much about my intended schedule. Heavy workouts were part of my routine.

Working at the Beast Temple, on the other hand… I was not too sure about that. Tanja seemed nice enough, but one coworker wouldn’t necessarily turn an atrocious experience into a joyous occasion. Then again, I had my fun in the Grand Camp’s Beast Temple. Funding a few Blessed, maybe even unBlessed, to prepare them for the worst-case scenario – to give them an opportunity to survive if the whole war situation turned south – didn’t sound too bad either.

Before I could commit to the funding project, I had lots of things to think through. That would take a while, but it was not like I was pressed for time. From the looks of it, I had all the time in Razarn to think… and study.

“I know we said that already, but I wanted to thank you again.” Peter smiled wryly, his voice sincere. “If not for you, Daniel would have never made it this far. That might sound a little harsh coming from his father, but Daniel is a little… chaotic. He lost his spirit before you returned. It was our fault… well, part of it. His World’s restriction wasn’t our fault, but we did make some mistakes. Quite a few, actually.”

He exhaled deeply. “Your awakening did not only change your life. It also changed Daniel’s life. It returned the spirit we feared he’d lost. And now he has an Expert as a mentor, a student of a Grandmaster Beaster who promised to evolve Coco to a Guardian beast, and he acquired the Species Expansion Aspect through you.” Peter’s smile grew a little and became genuine as he continued, “I know we ‘demanded’ a World Aspect from you in return for helping you into the Camp, but Chloe and I knew that would never happen. Seeing Daniel so happy was worth the investment. It’s all we wished for… and you two crazy kids shattered our expectations. You did great, Adam, and I owe you.”

Peter looked uneasy. His fingernails scraped quietly across the glass resting on the table before him. “Thank you for being Daniel’s friend. For being by his side when we couldn’t.”

My lips parted, but no words came out. What was I supposed to say here? No problem. Being Daniel’s friend is really a pain in the butt. Please, may I be handsome!

That was utter nonsense, although I’d love to see Peter Zerog’s face if I said something this ridiculous.

“I am grateful to have him as a friend,” I said instead, smiling as memories of our time together surfaced. “He talks a lot at times, but Daniel is a great friend. He helped me a lot when I needed his help most, and I returned the favor.” I met Peter Zerog’s eyes. “I hope you know I didn’t work so hard to repay my debt to the Zerog family. I owe you and Mrs. Zerog a lot, but Daniel was my priority. I helped him acquire the Species Expansion Aspect because he’s my best friend. Repaying my debt to his family is a nice side effect, but… honestly? I totally forgot that ‘acquiring a World Aspect’ was a request from you and Mrs. Zerog.”

Peter appeared satisfied with my response. He actually flashed his white teeth.

“And thank you for sparring with Lea. She’s been a little… feisty these past days.”

That sounded a little too melancholic. It was also weird to hear so much praise from a man who’d been nothing but deadly serious and somewhat antagonistic when we first met. And, yeah, Lea was a pain. For some reason, she disliked me.

If she wasn’t such a brat, we could have been friends. I sighed inwardly.

Are you saying that because she is strong, or because you like her appearance? Or maybe you like both and want to mate with her?

Aureus’s voice thundered in my head, making me blush.

Their offspring would be strong.

Volix agreed, urging Nox to add something too.

Powerful! Deadly offspring!

Sensing the unanimous agreement from my Soulkins–even the Mirage Serpent agreed in silence–felt like a killing blow. My cheeks burned like phoenix fire.

“I was impressed with your strength. To think you’d be strong enough to fight my daughter head-on,” Peter continued, oblivious to my embarrassment. Or he knew better and ignored it like the businessman he was. “Do you think you could spar with her again? I know Lea is a little bit difficult to be around, but I think having someone to spar with every now and then would be great.”

I was not too sure about that. Honestly, Lea was still stronger than I was. Maybe if I exposed Volix, I could keep up with her for some time, but Lea barely used her Soulfusion to fight me when I used three Soulfusions in unison to pin her to the ground.

Peter took my silence as agreement. He nodded happily, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, and left for the elevator.

“That was weird,” I murmured, watching the elevator doors close behind him.

That it was. Is he trying to tie you to his family?

Aureus mused to himself… in my mind.

An arranged marriage? That would be an intelligent move from an intelligent man. He’s not pushing it too much either. First, a little spar. Then maybe breakfast together. First, he needs to nurture their friendship, make them interested in one another. Then he would need to plant a seed of romance. Maybe add a sprinkle of tension, and–

I cut Volix’s nonsense short.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Stop that!”

Beat her. Pounce her. Done!

Nox added, happily ever after.

“You too?!” I cursed, ruffling my hair in despair.

Initially, I’d planned to spend the night with my Soulkins, but I had enough of their nonsense.

Ignoring their banter, I focused on my growling stomach and headed to the kitchen. The next thirty minutes I wasted spending a miracle on making a filling late-night meal. It was not the best meal I had eaten by far, but I made it myself, and I savored every bit of it. Honestly, after eating jerky from a Monarch beast for months, the meal was divine.

For all its advantages, the Monarch jerky was dry and salty. At the very least, the jerky in the onyx ring was. The near-perfect retention of compressed ether certainly did not help the taste either. If anything, it made the jerky saltier than it already was. Eating it in the wild and at the Grand Camp had been fine. I had to fill my leaking Gates and grow as quickly as possible, and the Monarch jerky helped greatly.

Now that I was back in civilization, I preferred a nice meal. Preferably one I didn’t have to cook myself. My cooking skills were… well, it would be a crime to say I was skilled. It was more of a mishmash, yet it tasted better than the jerky. That had to mean something.

Resh’s bond stirred as I savored my meal. As quiet and comfortable as the Mirage Serpent was, he was a glutton by nature. He had been starved in the Beast Temple, and I couldn’t even hold that against him. Resh was a disaster–he ate as much as whole families of colossal beasts.

The glutton emerged from my inner World and coiled around my arm, his scales shimmering in ever-changing colors, as soon as I retrieved a piece of jerky and devoured it greedily. Ether poured through the Soulkin and surged into his core, only to evaporate in what could only be a bottomless pit, whereas the stored nutrients were neatly distributed.

“At least someone likes it,” I snickered, embracing the joy oozing from Resh’s bond.

Another piece of jerky appeared in my hands, and Resh shot forward to swallow it whole.

His Monarch jerky was truly heaven-sent. Resh loved it, which was probably for the best. I wouldn’t know what to do with the Mirage Serpent if he hated it.

“If you ever stop liking jerky, know that keeping you full will be a nightmare. I will try to keep you full and all, but please…” I shuddered.

Resh looked up, and our eyes met for a moment. But rather than reassurance, a profound sense of hunger poured out from his bond.

“Still hungry?” I let out a hollow laugh. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep you fed as long as you eat jerky.”

But while I said that with as much confidence as I could muster, I wondered how long the Monarch jerky would last. I had mountains stored in the onyx ring, yet Resh ate several strips a day. When he felt like it, he ate as many as a dozen. That amount would kill most Blessed and most beasts, yet it didn’t seem like much to the Evolved Soulkin.

Once the Mirage Serpent was full, Resh returned to his most beloved resting spot–my inner World. He coiled up and slept until his gluttonous nature would wake him again.

Something is wrong with him. You know how dense a Monarch’s ether is. Even if we put the purity level aside, your little snake companion shouldn’t be able to digest this much. The nutrients sink too smoothly into his body without changing anything, and the ether just… disappears. I cannot sense it. That makes no sense!

Volix grumbled, clearly unhappy at being unable to understand it.

I could only second that. Resh was a mystery.

“I know. He’s feeding something. I just don’t know what it is.” I shrugged.

Or what would happen once that something was fed.

Aureus chipped in.

I was hoping for a Mutation, maybe an evolution. It’d be fine if Resh unlocked a new trait as well. Or if his racial potential increased. Or… if nothing happened. Resh was not all that interested in growing stronger. He just wanted rest and good food. That was fine with me, but I couldn’t help but think about the secrets the Mirage Serpent might be hiding in his small body.

“Maybe we will know the answer in a few years.” I smiled at the thought. Only time could tell, and I had more than enough of that.

***

Back in the room, it was time to recheck the onyx ring storage.

“What should I sell?” I murmured as my consciousness descended into the ring.

It was as massive as before, with an armory, a section that looked like a built-in Beaster shop, and a massive library. The library was filled with treasures, which reminded me that I had to set aside some time to practice Fortress and Mindbreaker Shell.

I don’t have enough ether to practice them. Unless I… I shuddered as bitter reality came to light. Even though I was finally back in the Bastion, I’d have to continue eating Monarch jerky. Maybe one stripe a day would be enough, but if I wanted to practice Fortress to reinforce my World’s defenses or strengthen and protect my mind with Mindbreaker Shell, I’d need a lot of ether. The higher its purity and density, the better.

Purchasing etherstones was possible with my financial means, but the jerky was likely better.

The Monarch jerky was not for sale. That much was fairly obvious.

“If I eat one stripe every day, and Resh continues to eat roughly eight stripes a day, the storage should last roughly… three years?” I mused, spreading my perception as far as possible to encompass the entire jerky mountain. It was massive but not endless. Nothing was.

Discarding all thoughts of the jerky, I searched through the built-in Beaster shop. Daniel helped me appraise and log everything, leaving me with a few dozen serums I didn’t think I’d use in the future.

There were a series of Advanced serums closely related to Glamour and Charm traits. Daniel used Grandmaster Heros’ test equipment to appraise the serums, which highlighted them as products of the highest quality. They increased the potency of Glamour and Charm traits and held the potential to unlock traits of a higher order – of the same type only, of course.

The serums were expensive, but did I really want to sell them to anyone? What if jerks like Wesley purchased them to strengthen their trait? That’d only make matters worse.

Thinking of my former roommate left me… confused. Honestly, Wesley had been a mess. I hadn’t seen him more than twice since the Caldera incident, but learning that he’d been in on the Rulers’ betrayal weighed heavily on me. He knew about the betrayal and used Charm on several Caldera to scout their home for the Elemental Phoenix’s whereabouts.

At the end of the day, his actions didn’t change the course of events. That was a fact. Nonetheless, he would have done it – betrayed the Caldera after they welcomed us with open arms.

“What if I sell them on the open market and blacklist Wesley and his family? But that would attract unwanted attention.” I ruffled my short hair in frustration. The onyx ring carried a lot more serums that’d be worth a fortune once verified and labeled by a Master Beaster or a Grandmaster. That was no problem. I could always sell the serums to Bert or offer him a share of the profits as long as he helped me sell them.

Hence, my first cleaning session of the built-in Beaster shop began. I retrieved one of the few remaining Accelerated Regeneration serums left and emptied it in one go before removing a little more than three dozen serums from the shop. One dozen was put aside to be sold at a later time, whereas the remaining serums would act as first funding to help me fix the Beast Temple’s point system before it could become a problem.

Since most of Ruler Kazriel’s serums were either rare Intermediate or Advanced serums, I’d make a fortune. That left me with a full section of materials – countless well-preserved ether plants and both rare and exotic beast parts of varying ranks. I did not plan to sell them, but it would be helpful to catalogue them. Just like the armaments in the armory. I put a few heavy-plated armor pieces aside to sell, pointedly ignoring that some of them were made of materials and adorned with ether circuits that could only be utilized by Grandmasters.

In the time we were living in, I was sure to earn a fortune for proper Grandmaster equipment. That’d bolster my finances enough to get us through the next few years… or months, depending on how much the war situation changed the economy.

“Don’t worry so much, Adam!” I scolded myself, smiling grimly. “Your situation is far from the worst.”

As absurd as it was, I’d become wealthy over the last year. And powerful. I was no longer weak.

But neither was I strong enough to face Overlords and Monarchs. However, I did have the potential needed to rise up to their ranks… and beyond. That was something only a few Blessed could say as confidently as I could. Maybe none, and that was as scary as it was exciting.