Beastforged Bond

Time was a truly curious thing. At times, it felt like it passed slowly, so slowly a single day could feel like a week. Then there were those days that felt more like seconds.

In my case, nine months felt like a week. Maybe only a few days.

My routine never truly changed.

The Warden training was always the same. Sure, I cranked up the difficulty by adjusting Gravity and practicing my other traits simultaneously, but the training itself was monotonous. The higher-ups hardly ever adjusted the training, nor did they bother us with too much nonsense. All they wanted was for us to be in our prime if the Outsiders decided to bomb the dome once more. That actually did happen. There had been some bombing, although I was fairly sure it was meteorites crashing down from the sky.

The dome flickered and nearly collapsed at that time, but the Ethericians and the logistics workers reinstated the dome within seconds and fixed additional issues in no time. Anyway, we were prepared for an all-out attack by the Outsiders, though most of us doubted it would happen anytime soon.

Socializing was the epitome of boredom. The reserve members were not annoying or anything, but little about them was interesting. I knew they thought of me the same way. Their interest in me only started when the reserve members found out about my work: That I’d been working in the Beast Temple and that I was apprenticing under a Master Beaster. That also led to fewer people glaring at me.

Apparently, some people had been angry with me for not joining the army or another active military unit when they realized how strong I was. It was truly mind-boggling, considering I was never given a choice. The Council and the Bastion’s authorities appointed me. What did they expect I would do? Barge into the main tower to cry about their selection?

That was a hard no! Hundreds of Blessed did actually do something like that, but I was none of them. Then again, those other Blessed had probably been deployed to the Strikers and other units where dying was a possibility.

As for the reserve members, their inferiority complex and other issues mattered little to me. If anything, I used their glares as fuel to work even harder on myself. The looks they threw at me these days showed clearly how successfully that tactic had been.

Motivated to take matters into my own hands, I pushed Blastor Refinery to the 7th Volume. Now it was only one step away from full liquefaction.

At the 7th Volume, it was necessary to compress ether to a high degree. The World refinement technique required highly compressed ether that was somewhere between a half-liquid, half-gaseous state. It resembled densely grown mist that carried some physical weight. It wasn’t much yet, but it changed a lot. Both in the World refinement process and my Gates.

All Gates linked to the weave were now supplied with compressed ether. The leakage trouble was still a bother, though it was a fair price to pay for the strength received in return. Every Gate was even stronger than before, and they would grow even stronger once I could wield fully liquefied ether. It was as marvelous as it was terrifying.

How could I not be terrified? Merely nine months had passed, but I’d finally done it. I had linked 45 Gates to the weave. Five neutral, five Blazing, and five Earthen Gates of the first three Ranks had been linked to the weave. The first Unblemished Gate had yet to be completed, but I was already as strong as some of the more powerful Master Blessed. The few sparring sessions I did with Lea Zerog over the months proved that much.

She’d broken through and challenged me a month ago, and she did defeat me. But Lea had not been satisfied with her victory. She thought her breakthrough allowed her to crush me. That didn’t happen. I overperformed. So much so that I was surprised by my own performance. That led to more challenges, each resulting in my loss. Yet what started as a disappointing loss transformed into a Pyrrhic loss over the weeks, which finally ended with my first victory. Sure enough, I took Lea by surprise and intercepted her triple Soulfusion, but the details did not matter. Not to me, and even less to Lea Zerog.

She was furious and returned even more often to crush me over and over.

I actually didn’t mind the sparring sessions. They helped me greatly. Each spar with Lea Zerog allowed me to test one of the ideas I came up with during nine months of Warden training.

Most ideas turned out as duds, yet it was those rare successes that excited me the most. They pushed my prowess enough to force Lea into her Soulfusion, which irked her more than anything.

Lea was also not as bad as I thought. She still hated me–or, at least, I thought she did–but she’d accepted me. Once again, it felt like that. Lea was not very talkative, but our sparring sessions revealed a lot more about her character than hours of talking could. She may not acknowledge that, but I was sure Daniel’s sister respected me. She saw my growth and watched me train for months without taking a single day off. There was no break. I had no time for such nonsense.

The only thing she might not have approved of was the time I spent in the Beast Temple. I was forced to work overtime almost every day, but that was hardly a surprise. The Rising Foundation was thriving, after all. My bank account, on the other hand, was crying blood.

Putting the hundreds of millions of Credits I’d spent aside, I was happy. Credits carried little meaning to me at this point.

And honestly, how could I not be happy after my Foundation allowed more than 1,000 unBlessed to finally claim their first Soulkin? Many more were waiting eagerly, and that was yet another problem. I had too many submissions, and it grew increasingly difficult to decide which unBlessed deserved to bind a wild beast the most. It was one of the few problems I had, and I hated it the most: the power to decide other people’s fates.

Aureus and the others told me that I didn’t have to worry too much. That I was already doing far more for the unBlessed than the Rulers and other authoritative figures ever had, but that wasn’t enough for me. I was impatient, trying to change a caste system that had existed for generations, but I was alone and had only one Beast Temple to access beasts from.

Time was of the essence, or so it felt as the months trickled by and the changes in the Bastion grew more and more apparent.

Inflation hit the Bastion especially hard as hunting became increasingly difficult. Outsiders destroyed our hunting grounds in the wilderness mercilessly. Only a few Outsiders had been seen according to the official reports, yet those few had been enough to devastate the ecosystems of several Zones around the Bastion. It was a disaster, and yet the active military units took their sweet time organizing themselves before they finally departed to locate and destroy the smaller groups of Outsiders.

But even as the soldiers returned victorious, carrying the heads of hideous-looking creatures that resembled a mixture of Goblins and Cyclopes–if their faces had been put through a meat processor–, the Outsiders were not done. Their forces, small units only, returned to continue where their fallen brethren had stopped.

Tension was higher than ever. More soldiers were deployed to scout the Zones up to a hundred kilometers around the Bastion, yet no matter how many Outsiders were killed, more returned a week or two later. Our only ray of hope was that the Outsiders were eliminated within days, long before they could cause significant damage to what remained of the ecosystems. That was what the plappermouths from the Warden’s reserves swore, claiming their family members or friends had joined the Strikers and other active units.

One way or another, our Bastion had the least trouble with Outsiders. We performed so well that more and more people sought refuge with us. They joined convoys that traveled between the Bastions to deliver military equipment, food, and other supplies, putting themselves in momentary danger to escape the place they once called home.

It was dangerous to travel the wilds even in convoys, which were often attacked and destroyed these days. Yet to them, staying in their home Bastion was even more dangerous. Our Bastion was simply more secure.

As nice as it was to hear that our Bastion was deemed safe enough to seek refuge in, it made me wonder just how bad the situation in other Bastions had become. I’d long since stopped trusting public channels monitored by the Council. How could I, after all the lies the Council had told?

At least I could trust my communication with Fabienne and Sophie. They were still in the Ninth Bastion, fighting Outsider armies head-on. Both had been injured quite a few times, yet they survived and hadn’t been maimed. Still, the constant conflict was getting to them. The forces of the Fithar Alliance were not overwhelmingly powerful; instead, they were numerous. For every Fija and Tarthon killed, two or three more replaced them.

No matter how dire the situation looked, it was a hard fact that the Ninth Bastion was still standing. They suffered daily casualties, but for every Blessed who died, hundreds of enemies fell. Even better, the fallen could be processed. Their bodies were invaluable, with ether occupying every part of them. Mad scientists had begun experimenting on the corpses. At first only to analyze them and uncover their weaknesses, and then… then they processed the Fija and Tarthon into ingredients.

It was disgusting, yet it was the very reason the Ninth Bastion was still standing. Survival justified the grotesque treatment of corpses. I think. Maybe.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I hated war–and that the Council had some redeeming qualities. Not many, but one or two at most. They acted when hunger plagued the poor and less fortunate. With a rapid increase in our Bastion’s population, prices for everything skyrocketed. People were starving, and had been for weeks, until the Council intervened and provided rations for the less fortunate. They acted. That alone was more than I had expected, even if it should have been the bare minimum.

Still, it was one of the few times the Council genuinely seemed to care about the unBlessed and the less powerful Blessed.

That didn’t mean all the Council’s wrongdoings were forgiven. If anything, they were increasingly annoying as the Beast Temple drastically increased the cost of acquiring a Wild or Awakened beast. The juvenile wild beasts that had once cost 50,000 to 100,000 credits were now five times as expensive. It was disgusting. How was any regular family with one or two Blessed, or an unBlessed family, supposed to afford that? Wild beasts with increased potential, favorable mutations, or the means to evolve under certain circumstances were even more expensive.

As for Awakened beasts, I doubted anyone could afford them without any support. I certainly wouldn’t have been able to purchase an Awakened beast, let alone the serums required to stimulate Aureus’ evolution, without any help. Maybe I’d have found an Awakened beast if nobody had supported me back then, or I’d have saved up for years to finally purchase one, but with those prices?

I really couldn’t understand the Beast Temple’s decision. It was disgusting, even if their explanation–how inflation affected the cost of food and other supplies required to take care of the Temple’s beasts–was not entirely wrong. The beasts still needed a lot of resources that were currently much harder to come by. I still didn’t like it. It was not the right thing to do, but what was I supposed to do? Attack the Beast Temple and free all beasts to seek out suitable humans to bond with? That would end in chaos and many, many deaths.

While Nox was in full agreement with my ‘plan’ to strike the Beast Temple and my other Soulkins were not totally against it either, we all knew that a Grandmaster was deployed in the Sanctuary to protect it. I’d be crushed the minute I attacked.

The last nine months had been fortuitous. My Soulkins and I had grown a lot, but we weren’t strong enough to fight Grandmasters. That was still beyond us.

Aureus’ growth was the most impressive. The Earthheart advanced to the Unblemished Rank two months after he became a true sacred beast. Ever since then, the Earthheart had been growing, a little bit every day, until he reached his potential limit. In the meantime, he deepened his understanding of the Major Earthen Aspect and unlocked more of his potential. He formed more Earthen Gates, furthering his racial potential toward the Late Unblemished stage. All he needed now was either time or a lot of resources to fully become a Late Unblemished beast. By then, his potential ought to be even higher, as long as he continued to study the Major Earthen Aspect.

Once his mastery of the Earthen Aspect stagnated, his potential would no longer increase. That was one of my greatest worries, although Volix was not particularly concerned.

Aureus spent months pushing to the mid levels of the Unblemished Rank, becoming my second strongest Soulkin. Only Volix was stronger, even though the Elemental Phoenix’s power hadn’t changed at all.

For nine months, I didn’t feed Volix a single unit of soul energy. Blastor Refinery’s 7th Volume required a large World. A World great enough to control a peak Guardian beast, or so the theory went. A peak Guardian beast required roughly 10,000 soul energy units to create a firm and stable bond. That was five times as much as a newly advanced Guardian beast required, at 2,000 units.

My World had been large nine months ago. It had already grown to a size that could contain a low-ranked Guardian beast, an Unblemished beast, and two Evolved beasts. The difference from when I first started was startling. My World’s growth was extraordinary, and it only improved. After all, I had a World Aspect–the molten Aspect Ring–to use, to exploit, for seven months.

There was no doubt most of my World’s growth stemmed from the Aspect Ring. Without it, my World would never have grown to accommodate 10,000 soul energy units. But with the Aspect, and a little bit of recklessness, I managed to push much further than that in nine months. I practiced the 7th Volume of Blastor Refinery’s refinement technique prematurely. It was stupid in hindsight, since it nearly killed me half a dozen times, but it worked.

After nine months of struggle, mixed with a lot of luck and stupidity, and a few more Accelerated Regeneration serums, my World was five times its previous size. It crossed 15,000 units of capacity and was large enough to accommodate a peak Guardian beast–on top of the beasts I already possessed.

My core was much larger than it used to be, large enough to help me accommodate the ether within Monarch jerky strips much better than before. That alone was incredibly helpful in several ways. And I’d lose most of it if I were to feed the Elemental Phoenix.

Volix was almost as greedy as Resh. He burned through three units of soul energy for every additional unit he occupied. Nurturing him was the most expensive by far. Pushing him to the mid levels of the Guardian Rank would cost close to 10,000 soul energy units. That was good to know for emergencies, but I needed the soul energy. It was unoccupied for now, but Blastor Refinery’s 8th Volume would need far more than that.

The Elemental Phoenix made me worry. His growth troubled me the most. He needed to grow, but how was I supposed to justify losing everything I’d worked for over the last few months? I couldn’t. It was simply not possible. But Volix wanted to grow, and I was lucky that he was my strongest Soulkin. For now, he was satisfied being the strongest. Alas, it was only a matter of time before Aureus caught up to the Elemental Phoenix. When that happened, Volix would bother me to resume his growth as well.

Putting those competitive souls aside, there was Resh. The Mirage Serpent hadn’t changed much, other than the fact that he was growing again. He required almost 20% more soul energy than he had nine months ago. While that was not a lot, Resh was growing even when he wasn’t trying. Our bond accounted for part of his growth, but it wasn’t everything. Volix and I were sure: the thing within him was stirring. It was not full yet, but the supply of Monarch-ranked food had changed something.

It was just a start, but it was something. Worse still, Resh seemed to like growing. Or maybe it was simply the fact that he could eat even more strips every day that he loved so much. Either way, his growth was the slowest. Nox followed shortly after, and then there was Aureus.

But Nox was the problem.

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Calling him a problem was cruel. I wasn’t wrong, though. He was a problem. To be precise, it was his actions that were the problem.

The Ferronox Mantis had been fed large amounts of serum, yet the growth spurt of the first two months slowed down drastically. It hadn’t stalled entirely, but it would be years until Nox reached the Peak of the Unblemished Rank. If he continued to grow, which… actually wasn’t all that unlikely.

In despair and frightened of being left behind, forced to remain in my World while we were out there fighting the mightiest of creatures, Nox’s attitude changed drastically. He practiced Nullblade tirelessly. It went so far that he appeared beside me whenever I trained with Beaster Bert. Bert didn’t like Nox’s presence at first, but after a few weeks, he learned to ignore him.

Well… until Nox started eating crystals. Bert’s valued elemental crystals.

Nox snatched an entire box of elemental crystals while I was busy listening to Volix and Beaster Bert, trying to separate their voices and digest their teachings. He ended up gobbling down the entire box of pyromantic crystals and… he actually digested them.

Nox’s scream was still etched into the back of my mind. That day had been horrendous, and it only worsened when I saw the mantis spitting out fire before he collapsed to the ground. His pained screeches rang in my ears. Nox’s pain was my pain. He did not know it at the time, but our bond tore wide open as he collapsed, and his pain came rushing into me.

It was terrifying. Not the pain itself, but knowing that Nox was in so much pain that he wished to die. That he had been so desperate that he did something so stupid.

I couldn’t remember much of that day, but Bert later told me that I rushed to Nox before collapsing beside him. He thought we were both about to die when the flames consumed us, but a crown made of flames manifested around my head. Apparently, it absorbed all the flames before they could harm us.

Volix later shared that he helped a little. Not because it was necessary, but because he wanted to absorb the flames to continue tempering Nox’s insides later. The Elemental Phoenix’s sole worry had been the atrocious efficacy of the Ferronox Mantis’s method.

As annoying as that was, I welcomed the help. What else was I supposed to do? One way or another, Volix had been certain Nox would survive. In hindsight, it should have been obvious, given how much time Nox had spent in the Pyrosh, tempering his body. Digesting a few pyromantic crystals shouldn’t have been a problem in comparison.

Dozens at the same time, on the other hand, had been a little too much. Unexpectedly, Nox did not exactly digest the crystals. He assimilated them instead, stimulating his body enough to form a new exoskeleton. His old exoskeleton shed, and a similar, armor-like exoskeleton formed in its place. The new one, however, was no longer pitch-black. It incorporated red spots that framed parts of its plated segments.

Long story short, we nearly died. I tried to feed Nox more pyromantic flames at Volix’s behest, but it didn’t work. That caught Bert’s attention. The Master Beaster’s interest stirred; he disappeared with Nox for several hours every day for weeks, leaving me alone with Volix. The phoenix used the opportunity to bombard me with knowledge. As useful as it was, the experience was torture.

Then again… it was incredibly useful.

Also, with a little bit of luck–a ton of luck, and a Master Beaster’s craziness–we may have found a way to help Nox grow. A little bit of torture was a cheap price to pay for such extraordinary news!

Chapter 11 ®

Three strands of ether coursed through the freshly harvested ether plant. The first strand was like a gentle stream. It carved a path through the ether plant, stirring its unique properties and impurities alike. The second strand was less gentle. It was faintly attuned to phoenix fire and surged through the plant, following the path the first strand had created.

The second strand sorted through impurities and properties, separating them from the ether plant. It withered as the life and properties that kept the plant alive were spliced by force, but I was nowhere near done. This was merely the beginning. The second strand guided impurities and unique properties alike through the withering plant, toward the tap to remove them.

But the third strand was the first to arrive. It picked up the energy that had been left behind and merged with it. As the strand accumulated more ether, it caught up to the fire-attuned strand, initiating the hardest part: purification. This step determined how many impurities would be extracted alongside the desired properties.

Some Beasters were efficient enough to purge all impurities and separate unwanted properties from the desired ones. I was nowhere near that level. Nonetheless, my ether control had improved greatly in the last nine months. That improvement also included my understanding and control of the Elemental Phoenix’s Fire Aspect. I was no longer the rookie I used to be.

As the third strand caught up with the second, they collided. The fire-attuned ether strand held tightly onto impurities and the plant’s properties, some tighter than others, and the third strand wanted everything. Controlling the strands simultaneously, I had to strengthen the fire strand’s grasp on the impurities while also loosening its iron-tight grip on the properties I wanted to extract.

Doing so required precise control. Most would struggle here already, and so did I for several months. It had been incredibly difficult, but months of practice and thousands of tips from an old phoenix and Master Beaster Bert helped greatly. I learned a lot, which included the Three Strand Purification technique. It was complex, very much so, but I actually liked the way it forced my mind to work on several tasks simultaneously. The pressure was welcome, as every practice run with the Three Strand Purification pushed me further.

Anyway, the third strand surged through the fire-attuned strand without hesitation. Even as they collided, the third strand did not slow. Instead, it carried the desired properties with it, merging them with the strand to reach for the exit. Under normal circumstances, it would require several circulations through the ether plant to pick up the required properties, but I was lucky today. I made sure to carry no impurities with the third strand while successfully pulling most of the wanted properties with me.

Not perfect, but good enough to move to the next step, I thought, and opened my eyes to a small azure-petaled flower wreathed in phoenix fire. It was no longer as bright as it used to be and withered before my eyes.

My eyes flicked toward a beak. It contained a sparkly liquid that had cooled down since I concocted it. A Basic Base. Volix did not like it in the slightest, but I was not going to revolutionize the process just because the phoenix wanted me to. Staying low-key was the goal. Or, at the very least, I did not want to attract too much attention. Handing out a few hints to stimulate Beaster Bert was fine, but that was about it.

More than that, and Grandmaster Beasters and Rulers would come knocking on my door to ask questions, to interrogate me. A young Blessed, a mere Apprentice Beaster, was not supposed to know what Grandmaster Beasters who’d lived for a few hundred years failed to comprehend. They’d ask unpleasant questions. Questions I couldn’t answer without exposing Volix.

The Elemental Phoenix chirped impatiently in my mind but went silent when my control of the Three Strand Purification technique nearly slipped.

I ignited a small flame beneath the beak to heat up the Base. It was important to heat it slowly or crucial properties would no longer bind with the reagent I was about to prepare. The small flame maintained a low heat for a few minutes. After that, the temperature would increase slowly, ensuring the Base was ready when I needed it.

My head churned, rattled by the multitude of processes happening simultaneously, but I smiled through the pain as Bert handed me a set of ingredients and a mortar. I started off by flooding the mortar with ether. Once that was done, I reached for the clean pipette and drew Silverstar Nectar from a small bottle. Exactly three droplets of Silverstar Nectar dripped into the mortar bowl before I placed the pipette aside again. I fished for the pliers to place exactly twenty-five grains of Taraqun in the mortar.

Then I crushed them and soaked them in Silverstar Nectar. Grinding and mixing Nectar and grains was a boring ordeal, yet it was necessary. It caused a reaction that dyed the grains violet. Soaked in Silverstar Nectar, Taraqun grain reacted to my ether and absorbed it, attuning to its frequency, doing exactly what it was used for.

Next up, it was time to extract the ether plant’s properties. Since I’d already spliced impurities and desired properties with the Three Strand Purification technique, extraction was simple. I retrieved a smaller beak and placed it beneath the flame-wreathed flower just as a droplet of liquid gathered at the onyx-colored tap. Droplets of viscous liquid flowed from the tap, unaffected by phoenix fire, of course.

The liquid was a mixture of pure ether and special properties, which also included liquid from the Glacial Flower. It was a necessary coolant to make sure the final ingredient would not burn the consumer from within.

The serum required exactly 15 droplets of the Glacial Flower’s liquid, but I extracted a total of 51. Only 15 were put in the mortar, whereas the rest were to be used for two more serums of the same kind, if Bert thought I did well enough with the extraction. The final result would decide that matter.

Back to attention! I chided myself and mixed the Glacial Flower’s liquid with the remaining ingredients. It took another minute before the violet grain reacted properly with the cool liquid, sensing my ether frequency within the mixture. That was a little faster than it should have been, but I was ready for the next step and reached for the small pyromantic crystal with tongs.

Even though it was the main ingredient for the serum, it was cheaper than the Glacial Flower. It was still too expensive to fool around with. And, in all honesty, both the crystal and the Glacial Flower were too expensive for me to test concocting with.

No pressure at all, right?

Discarding the thought, I struck the crystal with Gravity at full impact. The pressure tore through it, cracked it open, and converted it into raw energy as I charged the breaking crystal with a second, third, and fourth load of Gravity. To put it simply, I used Gravity to grind the fragile crystal into powder–much finer than I could have achieved by wasting precious minutes crushing it with blunt force.

That did not save me from spending another ten minutes carefully mixing the pyromantic crystal powder with the rest of the mixture in the mortar until the Base was finally at the right temperature. I retrieved several droplets of the Base with another pipette and mixed them into the paste. While doing so, I replaced the ether in and around the mortar with phoenix fire, increasing the temperature to match the Base’s own.

That was not necessary, but it helped accelerate the final process. I placed the paste into the beaker with the rest of the Base and stirred it slowly. Normally, it would take several minutes of silent watching to determine whether the Base reacted to the paste, but since I had already ensured compatibility with a few droplets, there was no need to worry. The paste and the Base reacted properly, dissolving smoothly into one another.

Fifteen minutes later, the serum was done. My first unique serum.

Sure, it was only graded as a Basic serum, but it was also one I could give my Soulkins. The Ferronox Mantis, to be precise. That alone was a massive stride toward my goal of helping my Soulkins grow alongside me.

Nox sensed the serum was complete and appeared beside me, his eagerness contagious.

“Is the serum okay? Can I give it to him?” I asked Beaster Bert, barely turning toward my teacher as impatience bled into my voice. He studied the product sternly, then gestured for me to hand it over.

Nox screeched in defiance, but Bert knew the Ferronox Mantis wouldn’t attack him. After spending several weeks together, the Master Beaster knew that much about the deadly Soulkin.

“Wait a moment.” He dismissed Nox with a wave. “I think the serum is fine, but we want to be certain, don’t we?”

Nox cursed in my head, his impatience growing worse by the second, but Bert ignored him pointedly.

The Beaster’s hands glowed silver, and his eyes shimmered blue as he used several traits in quick succession. He poured the serum into a vial and placed it inside an ether device hidden behind a glass window, his attention fully captured by the holographic screens that flared to life. His eyes flicked rapidly as he took in the data the device provided, a small smile forming on his lips.

“He can consume it.” Bert retrieved the vial and handed it back to me for Nox to drink.

The mantis didn’t need to hear that twice. He severed the glass vial’s head without spilling a single droplet and emptied it in one swift motion.

Then he waited for the burst of fire – the churning flames meant to ravage his stomach, spread through his body, and consume him.

That never happened. Not after the first incident. That time, Nox had eaten too many elemental crystals. It had been as painful as it had been expensive. I did have the money to repay Bert, but that was probably the smaller issue. Nox had developed a liking for elemental crystals. He no longer devoured entire boxes, but he demanded a crystal every week.

His demands escalated quickly. First, one crystal every week. Then one every few days. At this point, Nox was being given one crystal every day.

The costs rose accordingly, but I could afford to feed my Soulkins. It would have been laughable if I had the means to spend hundreds of millions to fund the Rising Foundation yet couldn’t spare a few million for elemental crystals. Especially when Nox loved them so much. Taking that joy away would have been disgraceful. I had to nurture it instead.

As the days passed and Nox consumed more and more crystals, something about the Ferronox Mantis began to change. He did not grow stronger, not directly, at least, but the changes were undeniable.

“Elemental resistance,” Bert murmured as he approached Nox. He retrieved a lens, his glowing eyes locked onto the beast’s exoskeleton.

It was the second exoskeleton Nox had shed that week. Truthfully, there had been a lot of shedding, which consumed enormous amounts of nutrients and ether. A few strips of Monarch jerky resolved that issue, though Nox hated it even more than I did. He still ate it, his desire to grow stronger outweighing his hatred for salty jerky.

Red spots traced his exoskeleton. They were more pronounced than after his first shedding, and it was only a matter of time before they deepened further.

“Elemental resistance? Are you sure you don’t mean fire or heat resistance?” I asked, my eyes widening as I realized where Bert’s thoughts were heading.

“That’s not what I mean.” He didn’t even look up. “Do you really think we’re going to stop at that? That we’d stop with a minor fire resistance for your little troublemaker? No, the pyromantic crystals are only the beginning.”

Nox agreed wholeheartedly. A minor fire resistance was far from enough. He needed more.

“See that? Nox wants more than that. And so do I.” Beaster Bert looked up at last, lips pressed into a faint smile. “And knowing you, you want more for Nox as well.”

“His body is malleable. In tune with the modifications forced upon him. That should be more than enough to give him minor elemental resistance. I am sure of it,” he spoke confidently. “It might be a little tricky, but the serum worked as intended. The pyromantic crystal lost only a small portion of its potency to suffuse smoothly with the rest of the serum, which now spreads evenly through Nox. In a way, the process is similar to how some Blessed temper their bodies. Well, somewhat.”

Bert waved dismissively and turned back to the data screens. “Anyway, the serum is working as it should. We should concoct a few more and adjust the recipe to accommodate the other types of elemental crystals. That shouldn’t take more than a few months, which means the Ferronox Mantis should adapt to all the elements in half a year.”

The basic serums would not elevate Nox’s potential by a lot, but if he managed to acquire a Minor Elemental Resistance trait, we may as well push it further. Possibly advance it to a Major Elemental Resistance trait by increasing the serums’ dosage and potency. Though it would likely take an Intermediate serum, maybe Advanced, to reach the required level.

No matter how I looked at it, the Refinement serums would hurt a lot.

Nox was tough. He was durable and driven enough to endure the pain of constant elemental damage to grow. But that still left one question: would a Major Elemental Resistance trait be enough to evolve the Ferronox Mantis? Or would it stimulate a mutation that elevates his racial potential?

The latter was more likely. It was our greatest hope, since we didn’t know what a Ferronox Mantis could evolve into. Master Beaster Bert researched several powerful mantises at the Guardian Rank, but they were all very different from Nox. As for Overlord mantises, Bert hadn’t found any. Maybe they existed somewhere in Razarn, but most mantises were too aggressive and ended up entering territories of beasts too powerful for them to fight.

At least, that could not happen to Nox, except if I ended up in another powerful beast’s domain and we had to fight our way back to Razarn. That… should not happen anytime soon, though. I was more than just fine with the downtime I was offered.

“Fire was the easiest, as you know. His experience with fire-attuned ether allowed the first signs of a mutation. But now that the easy steps are over, we can only hope to use the mutation’s stimuli to guide the other elements. To accept them rather than repel them,” Beaster Bert continued, his commentary scattering the thoughts occupying my mind. “If the other elements are repelled, we will have to come up with something else…”

The Elemental Phoenix spoke in my head, sharing his own understanding of serums and his wisdom of the strongest resistance traits he’d come across in all his lifetimes. Even better, Volix told him how some beasts mutated from natural treasures. Invaluable treasures I could not afford. Not because they were so expensive but because no one in the Bastion sold them.

Still, the phoenix’s expansive knowledge was helpful. And appreciated.

Bert ruffled through his hair, studying the data screens once more. Then he pulled back into his own world of thoughts, duplicating the screens and pulling up other charts and information.

“Your serum’s efficacy was decent but not perfect.” His commentary startled me.

I was sure he’d spend the next hour deep in thought.

“A serum efficacy of 85% is acceptable. If we consider that it was the first time you concocted this type of serum, it’s quite good, actually. But you will have to work on that as we move forward. Getting complacent won’t help you, though I am pretty sure you know that already. You’ve been a great student.” He smiled, though it was hard to tell if his smile was directed at the screens or at me.

See, I told you he wouldn’t notice the Three Strand Purification technique. You worry too much, Adam.

Volix made a clicking sound. He clicked with his tongue? I didn’t even know he could do that.

He’s not wrong, though. The efficacy is low. It is honestly a disappointment that he considers it a serum. A proper alchemist would have discarded your mishmash of ingredients. 85% is too generous for that liquid nonsense you concocted. Then again, humans measure the efficacy of serums in a weird way. Why does a perfect serum have an efficacy of 200%? That makes no sense. But whatever.

A mental image of the Elemental Phoenix shrugging formed in my head.

It was like Volix didn’t care, but that couldn’t have been more wrong. The phoenix cared. He wanted me to grow, to become a better alchemist. Alas, his words stung.

Nox’s serum was my best product. It was the first time I created a serum with an 85% efficacy rate, only to be made fun of. To be told that the serum was worthless.

Sometimes, I really wanted to shake Volix. Twist his fiery plumage a little.

Couldn’t he be a little bit nicer?