Beastforged Bond

As interesting as Dracos’ auctions sounded, the weekly and bi-annual auctions had already ended. If I’d successfully digested the World Mending Elixir a day earlier, I would have watched the bi-annual auction, but I wasn’t blessed with that much luck. Not that I could complain. For all I knew, some of the auctioned goods would have caught my attention. Knowing myself, I would have spent most of my coins on goods that were not nearly as useful as more World Mending Elixirs.

Maybe they would have sold another high-quality Elixir.

Aureus commented lightly.

Letting out a drawn-out sigh, I squashed the dissatisfaction welling in my chest. There was no reason to be unhappy with my situation, after all. Not when my Soulkins were back by my side!

I knew I was more protective of my family than before, yet I didn’t realize just how overprotective I had grown until my mind drifted back to Blastor Refinery and the worries that had plagued me for weeks. A single question remained: What would happen if someone damaged my World again – this time mid-combat rather than after the battle had already ended?

If that were to happen, I would… I would still use my World, use the Core’s liquid ether, and rely on my traits to end the battle quickly, because I was too weak otherwise. Without ether to use or any of my traits, I was nowhere near as powerful as I could have been.

Is it possible to restrain Worlds? Damaging them was one thing. It wasn’t all that easy and, with the right precautions undertaken, it would be even harder. With the two techniques I’d practiced in preparation to fight the Ruler of Fire, I had done enough to ensure that not even someone like Raffael Torch could damage my World easily. It did happen at the end of the fight, but that was the culmination of events happening in quick succession.

“Restrictions,” I muttered to myself, certain some race or beast had the means to weaken bonds or outright restrict access to Worlds. It wouldn’t be easy, and it was bound to drain beasts or Blessed alike, but it didn’t sound impossible to me.

And if that happened, if I were restricted, my strength would drop greatly. The fight with Orieath made that painfully obvious. I’d have to rely on the Gates’ ether without access to any traits.

You worry too much. Just relax a little, ’cause you’ll never fight someone like that~

Sapsie consoled me cheerily, yet I couldn’t ignore the thoughts lingering in my mind.

I had to figure out how to fight without my World. Worst case, I’d have to rely far more on my ether control, physical momentum, and weapon mastery.

What about the weave? Can I absorb and annex ether through the weave? I mused, hoping it was possible. Because, if it was, using ether in combat without relying on the core would become much easier as well.

Curious, I left the house. Maybe Serviath could help me.

***

“Serviath is not here? Do you know where he is or when he’ll be back?” I asked, much to the annoyance of the auction house’s staff.

The receptionist leveled a glare at me, which was quickly replaced with a professional smile.

“He is not in the house,” he repeated with the faintest smile I had ever seen. “If your business with the lord is important, I can leave him a message. However, I do not know when the lord will return to the house. He is rarely in the office.”

I was fairly sure the receptionist was fighting with his inner demon. He wanted to be rude to me, maybe even scold me for trying to talk to ‘Lord’ Serviath, but my golden membership card seemed to stop him. The moment he saw the membership card, his attitude became even more pleasant, or so it was supposed to sound – probably.

To me, it felt like he was forcing himself. Not that it mattered in any way.

“A message? I don’t think that’s necessary. I just had some questions I was curious about, you know?” I tried some light chatter, but the flat stare thrown back at me made me curse internally.

“I don’t.” came the short response.

“I see. Thank you, either way. Have a pleasant day.”

The receptionist offered a deep bow before bidding me farewell with a smile that was a touch too bright for my liking.

Did I do something wrong? Why is that guy such a…

Jerk?

Aureus completed my sentence.

Beansprout in need of love?

Sapsie chuckled.

Cold body? Because we kill!

Nox added almost as happily as Sapsie.

“No, we won’t kill anyone,” I muttered, though clearly loud enough for the receptionist to hear. His smile dipped and he blanched.

Since the auction house visit led nowhere, I entered the market in search of the right vendor.

Divine Weaponry. Fluffy Fluff Bakery. Dragon Hoard. The Beast and the Butcher. Darvian’s Alchemy Hell.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

While most vendors had…interesting signs, I was more interested in Darvian from Alchemy Hell, as well as two nameless vendors.

“How may I help you, good sir?” a dark-blue-skinned Mikoniv asked with a bright smile. “Are ya lookin’ for an Armoria Serum to pep up ya love life? Or mayb’ ya need an Elixir to help da beasts grow stronger? Our stall has the greatest of all da goods to sell. Our company vouches for da highest quality and da fairest prices.”

He spoke in Common with a deep accent, but it wasn’t too hard to understand him.

“Don’t listen to him. He’s not even an Alchemist. None of these fishfaces are Alchemists. All they’re good for is scamming us poor fellas!” a deep, rolling voice rang out from the nameless vendor two stalls over. He was human, covered in scars, and looked ready to beat everyone in the market bloody.

I raised my eyebrow at him and picked up faint ether movement. While covered in scars and adorned with better equipment than I had when I was an Expert like he was, he was only at the Expert Rank.

Maybe I’m the odd one here. I shrugged inwardly, eyes still trained on the scarred human.

“Do no’ listen to da child. Ya gotta know that ou’ merchandise is back. Da Alchemy Tower sold all de goods to us.” The Mikoniv vendor said hurriedly, which only earned him a snort from Scar.

“You trick them into selling their goods to you. Most of your serums and Elixirs barely reach the required efficacy and quality to be sold. To true Alchemists, they’re trash they’d never willingly sell to anyone, but they need money, so they pass their products on to you.” Scar growled, before telling me again not to buy anything from the Mikoniv.

Scar and the merchant continued to bicker, which looked more and more like a regular thing. It was only obvious that they knew each other, and that they hated each other, but that wasn’t really my business.

What was my business, however, were the Elixirs I wanted to purchase. If Scar’s words were true and the Mikoniv was not an Alchemist and that he purchased the failed – or semi-failed(?) – products from the Alchemy Tower’s Alchemists, I had to be careful.

“Are your products dangerous?” I asked. “Efficacy and quality aside, will consuming them endanger me, my World, or my Soulkins in any way?”

“No!” The Mikoniv was still engaged in a heated debate with Scar when he heard me. “They won’t put anyone in danger. If they did, I’d be barred from the market. Not only that, my company would throw me out, and I’d lose my trading certificate!”

“They would put you in jail as well and force you to pay compensation.” Scar nodded sagely, looking way too smug for my liking.

“So he’s telling the truth? They won’t endanger anyone?” I stared at Scar, who nodded again, although more reluctantly this time.

“That’s fine with me then. It’s not like the market has a dozen Elixir shops. It’s not like I expected the quality of the Alchemy Tower’s Elixirs either. If I did, I would have gone to them and paid their premium prices.”

This time, I spoke to both of them. Then, looking at Scar’s stall, I let out a sigh.

“Are you an Alchemist? If so, you’re probably not part of the Alchemy Tower, or you would be selling your goods through their channels.”

“I’m not.” Scar nodded slowly, which made the Mikoniv grin.

“Da Alchemy Tower threw de fool out. Made a big explosion. Fool wasted Apex Essence on low-quality Elixirs and was too weak to stem da reaction.” The Mikoniv gossiped, all while eyeing Scar with the brightest of savage smiles.

“It would have worked if Samantha hadn’t intervened. That stupid bitch should have never been there!” Scar growled. “My Elixirs are the best of the best, and everyone knows that!”

Before the two could return to their idyllic little fight, I cleared my throat loud enough to pull their attention over.

“This is too much,” I grumbled under my breath before returning my attention to them. “I am looking for World Mending Elixirs. Do either of you sell any?”

The Mikoniv was the first to react. He retrieved a small box of vials from his spatial device and held them out.

“Low and mid-quality goods. Da best ya can find for da lowest price. Low 15,000 gold, mid 75,000 gold.”

His prices were actually not that bad. I had done my research and couldn’t see a fault in his pricing, except that their efficacy was likely much lower than I would have hoped for if I paid such a hefty price.

The Tower’s pricing was five to ten thousand gold higher, but their efficacy was closer to 100%. If Scar was right, the Mikoniv’s Elixirs were barely at an efficacy of 60%, which was definitely not enough to justify his pricing.

“Since you didn’t deny Scar’s accusation, I will have to reject your offer. I wouldn’t pay more than 5,000 gold for the low-quality Elixirs and 35,000 for the mid-quality ones. Except if you can promise their efficacy to be at 80% or above. If you can do that, I will pay 10,000 gold for the low ones and 50,000 for the mid-quality World Mending Elixirs.”

The Mikoniv narrowed his eyes at me and was about to say something, but Scar was first to move.

“I’m not called Scar, but you might as well do.” His gruff demeanor vanished as a business-like persona took over the massive man. “I harvested everything by myself. Except for the Essences used in the concoction process, of course. All my serums and Elixirs have been thoroughly tested, each marked with their efficacy and a quality report. If you pay me 60 platinum, I’ll give you two World Mending Elixirs. One low, one medium, efficacy over 80% but closer to 85!”

I made a decision on a whim more than through research and accepted Scar’s offer. Using the golden membership card of the auction house, I paid the full price. Scar smiled vibrantly, while the Mikoniv stared sourly at my member card, eyes wide and regret written all over his face.

“Here’s my contact. If you want more Elixirs, or special serums, don’t hesitate to contact me. As long as you give me some time, or ask ahead of time, I can prepare all kinds of Elixirs for you. As long as they’re not more difficult than mid-quality World Mending Elixirs. I’m still experimenting with middle-grade Essence, so…”

World Mending Elixirs were some of the easiest Elixirs to concoct. That didn’t mean they were simple concoctions, let alone that the ingredient set needed to complete the Elixirs were cheap. Nonetheless, World Mending Elixirs were among the easiest to produce. That was also why many Alchemists trained their skills at Elixir brewing with the World Mending Elixir recipe. If their wallets were deep enough and their success rate high enough to justify spending tens of thousands of gold coins on a few ingredient sets.

Fortunately, or unfortunately in my case, many Blessed humans needed World Mending Elixirs. Also, the Elixir worked on the souls of other races, though it was nowhere near as potent.

Still, humans had a habit of hurting themselves, something I could personally attest to.

Though I wondered if they really needed this many World Mending Elixirs if hundreds of true Alchemists brewed them for practice. Maybe there was more to it. Things I couldn’t understand, like using completed Elixirs to concoct even more advanced Elixirs.

Be that as it may, I needed the Elixirs and that was it.

“Sounds good. I’ll probably need more Elixirs very soon, but I’ll contact you after testing these two first,” I said with a smile before stepping away, leaving the Mikoniv and Scar to trade profanities at each other.