Beastforged Bond

Jura made me purchase more Essence than initially planned. As much as I’d planned to reject his offers, they were simply too generous to pass up. If not for that, how else would I have been able to purchase the Apex-grade Essence of the Flower Empress for 15,000 gold?

The Flower Empress was a beast whose Essence was of the highest grade and highly attuned to life. The last part was crucial because Life Essence was rarely sold. And if sold, it was usually purchased instantly because it was the most pleasant Essence to absorb. Rather than putting pressure on the World, Life Essence embraced the World, seeped slowly into it, and merged with it.

Even young Blessed with small Worlds could safely consume high-grade Life Essence.

Alas, the Flower Empress did not leave more than a single unit, a tiny, meager droplet with Jura. It was safely stored within one of the Essence Crystals, preserving it perfectly, yet no matter how much it glowed, it was only one droplet. One that the Emperor beast merchant had sugarcoated until I purchased it alongside some other things. Maybe that’d been stupid, but it was important to learn about Apex Essence’s potency at some point…so why not learn about it now?

Back at the house, I found Chloe and Peter Zerog leaning over a dozen spread-out documents. They didn’t even notice me.

“Are your parents mulling over their business idea again?” I asked Daniel when I caught a whiff of him.

He came out of the kitchen, hair damp, holding a bowl of soup in his trembling hand. “Yeah, they’re still trying to figure out how to get a license for selling Essence. They’re planning on contacting some pseudo-Alchemists who failed the True exam, but it’s hard to find them, apparently. Then there’s all that paperwork and the licenses they need to conduct serious business in Dracos. And then there’s the problem with the starting capital, because the licenses are apparently quite costly.”

Lea seemed to have overheard us because she came out of the room, eyes drifting to her parents before turning back to us. “Hey guys. You look like ass, Daniel.” She snickered, enjoying her brother’s annoyed expression, and continued, “Father wants to use the cruiser and his storage to visit Outsider settlements as well. That will be quite expensive and time-consuming too. No idea how he plans to learn the Outsiders’ languages when he barely understands the Terats, but that’s his issue.”

“He could bind a Languia. Your father should have no problem binding the Awakened beast. If he wants the Linguistic trait, he’ll have to pay a bit of coin, but it would be more than worth it.” I proposed, only to notice the issue before I was even done speaking.

Money.

“Looks like it’s time to pull my weight.” That said, I left the Zerog siblings staring at me with narrowed eyes and walked over to their parents.

“Good afternoon.” A faint smile played on my lips as Chloe and Peter looked up. “Can I borrow your bank card for a moment, please?”

“Do you want to buy something? Is it about your World?” Peter Zerog asked, his attention drifting to Chloe for a moment. When she nodded subtly, although I still noticed it, Peter pulled out a small bronze-colored card framed in silver threading. “Don’t splurge too much. We don’t have that much after buying this place.”

Ignoring Peter’s grimace, I retrieved my Golden Card, opened the finance tab, and pressed it against theirs.

When I pulled the card back again, storing it in the onyx ring, Peter and Chloe stared at me with a mixture of surprise and confusion.

“How do you have a Golden Card?” Chloe asked as soon as she regained her bearings. In the meantime, Peter Zerog pulled his card back, eyes growing wide.

“And where in the Spirits’ names did you earn 200,000 gold coins?!” he asked in surprise.

200 platinum coins. While not my entire fortune, I thought it was a fair amount to give the Zerogs. After all they had done for us, it was only fair to repay their kindness. Plus, my parents and I were still living in their place. The equivalent of 200,000 gold should be more than enough to pay rent.

“We cannot accept that.” Chloe got to her feet, the documents on the table beside her all but forgotten.

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“You have to.” I responded with a shrug. “Because I won’t take that money back. Plus, I still have enough to pay for a few more Elixirs or Essence – enough to fully recover. After that, I should have enough left over to feed myself and my Soulkins for a long time.” I gestured to the documents before pointing a finger at Daniel and Lea. “You can either use the 200 platinum to fund your business or invest in Lea and Daniel.”

Looking back at the siblings, Lea looked like she was about to have an outburst. “No, that does not mean I think they cannot take care of themselves. I just think that I was lucky enough to inherit Kazriel’s fortune. It’s only fair to share the money I made from selling some of his books and most of his weapons. It’s not like that’s anything new.”

“Like the Rising Foundation? I still don’t know why you founded that one.” Peter Zerog muttered aloud, though he seemed to realize his mistake too late. Grimacing, he added in a much quieter voice, “Did I just say that out loud?”

“Yes, you did.” Daniel groaned, “And we both know exactly why Adam founded the Rising Foundation.”

Lea nodded, “He felt guilty about inheriting so much money, he had no idea what to do with all that money, and he feels good helping those who were as unfortunate as he had been. I think he did a good thing, though he made me feel bad for keeping my purse on me rather than donating everything I own to his Foundation.”

She threw a sly grin my way before waving dismissively at her parents, “I don’t need that money. I’ve been doing a great job working as a Huntress. There are quite a few rowdy beasts, and even more bandits and other stupid fools who think it’s smart to attack Dracos’ outposts.”

Daniel rejected the money even before his parents could offer him anything as well. As it was, Daniel had a decent deal with his Master, one that rewarded him with a plethora of resources as long as he brewed and concocted enough complex serums. Alchemist Zuan was apparently quite generous, especially whenever Daniel showed him a recipe he hadn’t seen before. As rare as that was, Daniel had trained under Grandmaster Heros in the Bastions. He knew a lot of recipes, and he had even created some of his own before.

One of those was none other than the serum he had created with Fabienne’s help. While nowhere near as potent as Fabienne’s spell trait had been, infusing the trait retained enough of its power to remain helpful. Clearly, Alchemist Zuan thought the same.

My only problem with Alchemist Zuan was that I didn’t know him. I’d have to research him, but being a True Alchemist was already impressive enough, to be fair. The Alchemy Tower’s pass rate for the True exam was less than seven in one hundred. Only the most experienced Alchemists could even register for the exam, yet only seven percent passed even then. They only had three tries as well.

Alchemist Zuan passed the exam on his second try, meaning he was still affiliated with the Alchemy Tower, and that was a sign of prestige and power. His concoctions were among the best of the best, even if he was not the very best.

I, too, would require the help of True Alchemists sooner or later if I wanted Nox and my other Soulkins to keep up with my growth. For now, only Aureus and Sapsie would grow alongside me. Resh, the Mirage Serpent, was still an open book, his evolution questionable, but Nox, Tessa, and Cosmo had already reached and surpassed their racial limits. To continue their paths, they needed serums, Elixirs, or a lot of Essence.

Chloe was clearly uncomfortable with taking so much money from me, yet it was actually Peter Zerog who convinced her to accept it. He clearly noticed that there was no point bantering with me, and it wasn’t like they could reject the money. Not if they didn’t plan on postponing their business’ launch for years. Unlike Daniel and Lea, they did not have the strength or brewing skills to earn a lot in a short time. They were great at administration, bartering, and dealing with human resources, but the rest?

Leaving the Zerogs to themselves, I followed Sapsie’s advice and returned to my room.

Food! I want your blood, Adam~

Sapsie shrieked, fully aware of how creepy she sounded. It almost felt like she actually enjoyed sounding creepy.

Like mother, like daughter. I shuddered while retrieving a bunch of highwood nuts for Cosmo to eat. Tessa gobbled down some glob I found in the market – she loved that from the bottom of her abyssal heart – and Sapsie cut into my finger at last.

Sapsie leaped toward my hand in her compressed form and coiled around my finger. If she had permission, she would have easily squeezed through the small cut to enter my bloodstream and suck me dry. But that would kill me, and I was not fine with dying just yet. I wanted to live a long, healthy life if possible.

Sure, sure. I will heal you, make sure you’re the most virile man in all of Razarn, and you will give me all your blood~

Sapsie snickered all while consuming my blood.

“I really don’t want that. Just make sure I’m healthy enough to stay alive even if I have to fight a Ruler or Emperor.”

Is that the plan?

Aureus asked in my mind.

Do you want to fight again?

I wasn’t too sure about what I wanted, but fighting felt like an integral part of my life. If not fighting the Spirits or Rulers like Raffael Torch, I’d have to fight Spawns and other monstrosities. One way or another, I needed strength. A lot.

Fight the cat! We kill Emperor!

Nox hissed excitedly.

Or we bind him.

Aureus mused.

Letting out a sigh, I pulled the Essence crystals out. It was really time to finish recovering.