Beastforged Bond

The next morning, I woke up early. The morning sun wouldn’t rise for another few hours, which left me with enough time for other matters before I had to leave for the Warden training.

Because I had forgotten the day before, I used Soulfusion with Aureus to eat and digest a piece of Monarch jerky. As much as I disliked its taste, especially early in the morning, I had to go through a session practicing the techniques Fortress and Mindbreaker Shell.

The latter was the least fun early in the morning, but it was not like I liked wreaking havoc on my mind at any time of the day. Regardless, I was fortunate enough to benefit from the aftereffect of the Accelerated Regeneration serum I’d consumed the night before. It kept me energized, enough to check up on everything.

My World was firm and growing rapidly. Blastor Refinery’s 6th Volume worked wonders, but it was the Aspect Ring that did the heavy lifting. The Aspect Ring came to be when I tried to bind a World Growth Aspect to my World. Instead, the Elemental Phoenix consumed the Aspect, stripping it of the energy Volix required to be reborn.

After a bit of back and forth, Volix returned the World Growth Aspect’s remains, transforming it into a molten ring that revolved around the World core. It provided the World and its core constantly with energy, breaking down and regenerating the core. Even though I wasn’t sure whether the World Growth Aspect would have been as violent as the Aspect Ring, the Elemental Phoenix had come up with a great way to pressure the core into growing without damaging it permanently.

It was a scary sight. There was no doubt about that. However, my World kept expanding as the core grew more resilient. The Aspect Ring’s power was constantly being drained. It would only last for a few months – seven, maybe eight with a little bit of luck – and I was already sad to let it go. Who wouldn’t be sad? The Aspect Ring would help me grow my World to three times its size by the end of it. By then, I’d hopefully be close to Blastor Refinery’s 8th Volume and able to liquefy my ether…though I doubted that.

Even if I was fast, it would probably take two more years, one if I was very, very optimistic, to reach the 8th Volume, and even that would be fast. Working with liquefied ether before the age of twenty would surely break some long-standing records.

Putting my World’s growth aside, I had other matters that required some attention. My soulshares were once more in pristine condition. They were stronger than ever and showed signs of continued growth. The Ferronox Mantis’ soulshare grew the slowest, Nox’s envy of the sacred beasts’ potential stirring conflict. That was a matter I’d have to come back to, not with promises but with solutions. Nox trusted me; however, a promise carried far less value than actions.

Resh was happy, his bond inching closer to the 1st Stage. His bond would continue toward the 2nd Stage as long as I kept him fed and fully rested. There was no doubt about that.

That left Volix and Aureus. Volix was impatient but happy to turn me into a full-fledged Alchemist, while Aureus continued to tinker with the Major Earthen Aspect. His progress was astounding, and it already bore fruit as the second Unblemished Earthen Gate showed signs of forming.

The Gates were yet another issue, as was figuring out which traits I was supposed to practice first.

The Earthen and Fire Aspects seemed like the obvious answer. Using them with elemental-attuned ether augmented their power drastically. It was a no-brainer to use and master the Earthen and Fire Aspects. However, Gravity was interesting as well. So were Predator and Nullblade…Mirage, and Paralyze. At least I didn’t have to practice much with Paralyze, but the same could not be said about the other traits.

Nullblade was a powerful trait, so powerful that it made no sense an Evolved beast like a Ferronox Mantis could unlock and wield it. If the history books weren’t lying, Nullblade-coated blades from a Ferronox Mantis had pierced an Overlord’s hide. That was a gap of three Ranks. No matter how weak the Overlord’s defense was, an Evolved beast shouldn’t have been able to bypass it.

And that was exactly what made me curious. Maybe Nullblade wasn’t an Evolved trait at all. Maybe it was a much more powerful trait, and Nox had only awakened a portion of it. Just like Aureus could upgrade his Minor Earthen Aspect to a Major one, Nox might be able to do the same. By doing so, his potential would increase, allowing him to surpass the limits of his race.

Even if no more Ether Gates were to form from Nox’s breakthrough, it would still be wonderful. Therefore, I had to study the Nullblade trait with Nox and unravel its secrets to concoct suitable serums: In case my little, brick-headed mantis wouldn’t be able to do it on his own.

Pulling my attention back to something else that had been bothering me for a while, I focused on the weave. It was fully intact and stronger than ever. The Earthen Gates reinforced the weave’s branches, while the Blazing Gates formed a circulation system that reused the ether leaking from all linked Gates throughout the day. Because of that synergy, keeping my weave at its prime and at an all-time high was a simple task.

It had performed even better ever since Aureus became a true sacred beast, and thanks to the small boon I gained during my time in the World Tree’s domicile.

“I have… 37 linked Gates. Fifteen Wild Gates, fifteen Awakened Gates, and seven Evolved Gates,” I mused to myself, forsaking all that “star” nonsense. Volix didn’t like that name, and apparently neither did Aureus or Nox. They said nothing for a while, but the more I thought about it, the more I disliked it as well. Did the soulshare convey their feelings to me, or was I simply sick of calling the Gates “1-Star,” “2-Star,” and so on? I wasn’t sure, but I made a mental note to think about it later.

One way or another, each of my Gates was worth three to four regular ones. That being said, my Wild Gates alone were enough to elevate my strength and put me on par with the strongest Awakened beasts. All things considered, I was as strong as an Unblemished beast back when I had not yet filled my first Unblemished Gate. It was ridiculous, but so was the leak present in each and every Gate.

I had once considered filling only the Earthen and Blazing Gates, since they provided additional gains, but they leaked earthen- and fire-attuned ether into the weave. Circulating too much attuned ether to the weave would inevitably alter it, which in turn would amplify that attuned ether. While this would boost my Elemental Aspects, it would come at a detriment to my neutral traits as well as my future elemental traits.

“One regular Gate for every Earthen and Blazing Gate it is, then,” I grumbled, still not quite sure how long it would take before I finished my first Unblemished Gate.

It felt like the weave and its Gates were the hardest and most arduous aspects for a Blessed to work on, and that would be entirely correct. Most Blessed spent much of their time filling and refining their Gates. Filling didn’t take nearly as long as the refinement process, but it could still take months to fill a high-ranked Gate. I wouldn’t be much faster in most cases. After all, filling took me three to four times as long as it did others.

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My only advantage lay in the refinement process. I simply ignored it, because the constantly leaking ether would undo months of refinement just as quickly. It wasn’t worth it.

What was worth it, however, was to keep going–to move onward and embrace the grind required to acquire real power.

***

The following days passed in relative silence. Training with the reserve members and studying under Beaster Bert and Volix became just as routine as World refinement and Gate refilling.

The same couldn’t be said about my time at the Beast Temple. Tanja taught me a few things that hadn’t been important at the Grand Camp’s Beast Temple, one of which was how to blacklist unwelcome customers. She showed me the ropes and forced me to read a long rulebook, which I finished that very day in order to adjust the basics of the Foundation I had founded.

My Foundation was nothing special. It was little more than a framework supported by the funds acquired from the serums sold over the past several days. The paperwork was rough–a complete nuisance–and I finally understood why everyone hated it so much. Founding a Foundation turned into a process that lasted several days, one that didn’t seem to want to come to an end.

Fortunately, I wasn’t in a rush. My weekly quota for the Beast Temple was almost full, courtesy of a few active soldiers. The day before, a tightly knit group of five soldiers had visited the Beast Temple. Setting aside their curses and grumbling–mostly about the difficulty of finding suitable beasts elsewhere–they appeared… acceptable. I wasn’t particularly fond of them, but that wasn’t necessary.

The group didn’t appear well off, but they clearly belonged to the same unit, one that must have been sponsored by the Council. Tanja helped me with the unit and equipped the team with adult Evolved beasts and juvenile Awakened beasts. Three of them focused on the higher-ranked adults, seeking an instantaneous power increase with few future gains as their soulshares grew.

The other two, the youngest of the group, chose Awakened beasts instead. The youngest among them had a World large enough to bind an adult Evolved beast, but followed my suggestion and acquired a suitable juvenile with the racial potential to reach the Peak Awakened Rank. Breaking through that racial potential would not necessarily be easy; however, bonds formed with younger beasts tended to be stronger and continued to develop over time. Furthermore, my World worked best on younger beasts, which made my job even easier.

The older soldiers were not particularly impressed with the strategies I proposed, but they didn’t need to be. I offered them suggestions regarding which serums their beasts should take and left them to their own devices. When some of the soldiers remained unconvinced and even went so far as to make inappropriate comments questioning my expertise, I showed them my tag as a Master Beaster’s Apprentice. Their tune changed slightly after that.

It was ridiculous that the older soldiers only considered me worth listening to once they saw my Apprentice badge, especially since they should have been able to tell how much stronger I was. Even if they couldn’t pinpoint my strength, it shouldn’t have been difficult to sense the vast difference between us–in my favor, of course. The soldiers were no elites, after all, yet one of them still managed to get on my nerves, treating me like an inexperienced infant. That, coming from someone I could have crushed with a wave of Gravity, was absurd.

Just thinking about the soldiers made me shudder. I would have loved to punch that one meathead real good for getting on my nerves. Alas, violence was not the answer. Not always. Most of the time, it wasn’t.

Nox has really been affecting me, hasn’t he? I chuckled inwardly.

The Ferronox Mantis was acting all innocent, which only added to my amusement.

Don’t worry. I wanted to beat him too.

Aureus chipped in.

So, you’ve been influencing me? Is that why I want to beat up Daniel sometimes?

I half-grumbled, half-laughed at the situation.

That might be my fault. Daniel has a punchable face.

The Elemental Phoenix chirped happily.

Me too! Stab Daniel!!

Nox hissed excitedly.

That was odd. If all my Soulkins felt like that, either they were the problem, or they were being influenced by someone’s opinion. Or…it was all Daniel’s fault. Yeah, that was probably it.

I snickered and returned to my desk close to Tanja with a smile, discarding the annoying thoughts of the day before. My Gates had already been refilled for the day, and the soldiers had filled most of my quota for the week already as well. Maybe they achieved something great with their new Soulkins, which would result in a ‘cashback’ reward. The term didn’t make much sense in that regard, but it worked somewhat. Not that it changed the fact that the soldiers were unlikely to achieve anything great enough to reward me with points. It was unlikely, but a man could always dream about miracles.

A miracle. That was what the child needed.

A young boy, no older than eight years old, approached the front desk with hesitant strides. His clothes didn’t look haggard or anything, but they were worn out from years of use. A simple scan showed that he had no ether. He was unBlessed.

Dark brown eyes shifted tensely from Tanja to me and back to the elderly woman. His lips parted, but they snapped shut after a moment. Clenching his trembling fists, he stepped closer. Sweat pearled from his forehead, like approaching the desk was a great challenge, which it appeared to be in a way. The young boy was not physically restricted, but he appeared conflicted whether he should approach the desk or not.

It was a draw. No side came out victorious, which only added to my amusement. The boy was clearly interested in the recordings displaying Blackstar Hounds, Starry Lemurs, Terau Pythons, and everything else shown in the holographic displays in the main hall.

Soon enough, his attention shifted from the desk and toward the screens, smiling vibrantly. That was until he noticed me. The boy stiffened and flinched when I got up. He shuddered like I was death’s incarnation as I approached him, and he hurriedly lowered his head.

“I-I a-apologize for my rude b-behavior. I k-know we shouldn’t come here i-if we d-don’t plan to purchase anything, b-but I-I heard about t-the Blackstar Hound puppies and–...” The little boy rattled on, but cut himself short when I appeared before him.

He didn’t even dare to breathe, which set me off in more ways than I could comprehend at a moment’s notice.

“You do not have to apologize about anything,” I said, trying on the best possible smile. “I was also very interested in beast cubs when I was younger. It filled me with strength. To keep training and never give up.”

The boy looked up, his eyes screaming with understanding.

“I think you understand what I’m talking about. That’s good.” My smile widened uncontrollably as a particular thought ran through my mind.

Good thing I finished most of that darn paperwork already.

“I am not busy right now. Do you want me to show you the Blackstar Hounds?” I asked, studying the boy’s reaction with the same precision I studied my enemies on the battlefield.

He lit up but seemed too hesitant to agree, which was even better than I could have hoped for. The boy looked easily excitable, yet his first impression hinted at early maturity.

“No strings attached?” the boy asked quietly, like he was afraid to ask questions.

“No strings attached.” I laughed and winked at him. “But you are not allowed to touch or feed the cubs. They don’t like too much noise either.”

The boy nodded slowly, lips tightly pressed together like he was afraid to make too much noise otherwise.

The Foundation is ready for its first customer.

My opinion of the boy could change, but I didn’t feel like that would happen. I was confident, hopeful… excited.

The boy’s life was about to take a turn. It was about to change forever.