Legendary Beast Tamer: Every Beast I Raise Makes Me Stronger

Aiden started preparing for Nyx's evolution after breakfast.

Cinder had changed into her human form while the camp was empty of strangers. She sat beside the fire, cutting dried meat into pieces while Aiden checked what they had left.

Nyx had spent most of the morning near his bag.

"Staring at it isn't going to make us leave faster."

Her pale eyes narrowed.

"We're going."

Nyx kept staring.

Aiden sighed. "Miasma eats first."

Miasma was sitting on the workbench beside Corwin's notebook. She lifted her head at that.

"See? Someone appreciates good planning."

Nyx looked at Miasma.

Miasma looked back.

Neither moved.

Cinder pushed a strip of dried meat into Aiden's hand.

"Eat."

"I ate."

"Again."

"Cinder."

She shoved a piece into his mouth, then squished his cheeks. "You look better. Still too thin."

Nyx nodded.

Miasma looked Aiden over, then nodded too.

Aiden chewed in silence.

Wonderful. Yesterday I discovered I obey my beast when she wants head scratches. Today she's feeding me by force. Tamer of the year.

Cinder seemed satisfied.

Aiden packed the rest of the dried meat.

They weren't heading underground yet. He wanted everyone fed, rested, and ready before taking Nyx back to the Voidglass. Cinder still needed to recover her Ember reserves after the fight with the takers, so she would stay at camp again.

She didn't like that part.

"I'll be back before dark. Guard the camp."

Cinder folded her arms.

"I know."

"And don't burn Seraphine unless she actually crosses the boundary."

Cinder smiled.

"That smile is why I had to say it."

She kissed two fingers and pressed them against his forehead.

Aiden stared at her.

Where did she learn that?

Cinder changed before he could decide what to say. Fire spread over her body, and the red-haired woman became a huge Solari Blaze Dancer again.

"You're getting very comfortable with that form."

Cinder bumped him toward the path.

"Fine. We're leaving."

Nyx led once the fog swallowed the camp. They headed back toward the low water they had crossed while searching for Corwin. Today, Aiden was only interested in the strip of black peat where Miasma had slowed. Perception had shown far more Vesperian motes there than around the marrowfern they had found.

If she wanted to feed before Nyx's evolution, that was the best place Aiden knew.

They reached the black peat without trouble.

Miasma stopped.

Aiden activated Perception.

Green motes floated above the wet ground. The concentration was just as strong as before, but Miasma ignored the roots she had inspected last time.

Instead, she turned away from the path they had been following.

Nyx stopped a few steps ahead.

Miasma continued into the fog.

Aiden followed.

"Apparently we're going somewhere else."

Nyx came back and took the lead through the fog.

The black peat continued between narrow channels. There were fewer reeds here and almost no insects. Twice Aiden saw small marsh beasts retreat through the fog before he could identify them.

The Vesperian motes grew thicker. At first they were spread through the soil. Farther in, they collected above the water as well. Green specks drifted around Miasma's legs and along her spines.

She didn't stop to eat any of the plants they passed.

That was what finally worried him.

"You know where you're going?"

She kept walking.

"Good talk."

Nyx's eyes appeared beside him for a moment, then moved ahead again.

"Don't start. Your conversations aren't much better when you're awake."

They reached a low hollow where the ground dropped around a pool of black water.

Miasma stopped at the edge.

Something the size of a large dog sat half-submerged in the pool. It looked like a giant seedpod grown in the shape of an animal heart: two swollen lobes joined at the middle, narrowing toward a base buried in the peat.

Its shell was green-black and hard, with thick ribs running from top to bottom. Rootlike cords disappeared from its underside into the mud.

Aiden couldn't tell if it was a plant, a fungus, or something else entirely.

Perception couldn't identify it, but the water around it was packed with Vesperian motes.

Not scattered particles like the ones around marrowfern. There were so many around the object that Aiden could barely see the water beneath them.

"Well. That's quite an upgrade from marrowfern."

Miasma stepped into the pool.

Aiden caught himself before reaching for her.

She wasn't stumbling. She wasn't being dragged. She had chosen to go.

Nyx sat beside his boot.

Miasma walked through the shallow water until she reached the green-black object. She lowered her head and smelled it.

Nothing happened.

Then she touched it with her nose.

The motes moved.

They lifted from the water and gathered around her. Green light brightened beneath her skin, and she jerked back with her spines flattened.

Aiden took a step toward the pool.

Miasma didn't move.

Her spines had flattened against her back.

Aiden stopped.

"Miasma?"

She turned her head enough to look at him.

No panic.

No pain that he could see.

But she didn't have her usual expression either.

Miasma was normally the first one in the pack to decide whether something was dangerous. She would inspect it, make her choice, then expect everyone else to catch up.

Now she looked unsure.

Aiden crouched at the edge of the water.

"I'm here."

Miasma looked back at the object.

After a few seconds, she touched it again.

This time she didn't pull away.

The green motes gathered around her body until Perception could barely separate them from her own Vesperian particles.

Her legs trembled.

Aiden almost went in.

Miasma planted her feet and stayed against the object.

"All right."

He remained at the edge.

"If you want to get out, move back. I'll pull you."

She didn't.

The glow beneath her skin brightened enough for Aiden to see the green beneath her body and between her spines.

Then the notification appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[ BLOODLINE AWAKENING ]

Beast: Miasma (Venomspine Stalker)

Affinity: Vesperian-Type

Method: Vesperian Spore Heart

Lineage: D → C

Cost: None

[ CURRENT LIFESPAN: 90.0 Years ]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Aiden read it once.

Then again.

"C."

Aiden checked his lifespan line.

Still ninety.

"No cost."

That surprised him almost as much as the awakening.

He had been preparing to spend years on Nyx. Miasma had just crossed an entire bloodline rank without taking a day from him.

Aiden looked back at the pool.

Miasma hadn't moved yet.

The motes were thinning around her now. Her glow slowly returned to normal, but her spines stayed flat.

Aiden waited. There was no reason to pull her away when the process was already over and she wasn't hurt.

Eventually Miasma took one step back from the Spore Heart.

Then another.

She returned through the water without her usual quick certainty. When she reached the bank, Aiden held out a hand.

Miasma stopped in front of him.

For a moment, she only stared at his palm.

Then she pushed her head into it.

Aiden's fingers settled behind her ears.

"Yeah."

Nyx moved closer and sniffed Miasma once. Miasma ignored her.

That alone told Aiden more than any notification had.

Normally, Nyx putting her nose that close would have earned an immediate offended glare.

Today Miasma simply leaned against his hand.

Aiden scratched the side of her head.

"You scared me."

Miasma finally looked up.

"I'm allowed to say it. You don't have to answer."

Her eyes stayed on him.

Aiden smiled.

"Convenient arrangement for me, really."

Miasma pushed harder into his hand.

"There you are."

He gave her another minute before standing. Then he looked back at the object in the pool.

So the system calls it a Spore Heart. It must be atrociously poisonous to increase Miasma's bloodline.

Nope. I'm not touching that.

He activated Perception once more.

Only a few Vesperian motes remained around the pool. The dense concentration that had surrounded the Spore Heart was gone.

Its shell was still there, half-buried in the peat, but whatever Miasma had taken from it was gone.

Good. One less ancient thing for her to eat twice.

Aiden turned toward the way they had come.

"Let's go."

On the way back, Miasma finally stopped beside a patch of marrowfern.

She began eating.

Aiden watched her for a few seconds.

"Good. I was starting to worry that becoming Lineage C had ruined your appetite."

Miasma tore off another mouthful.

Nyx's pale eyes curved through the fog.

"Don't encourage her."

When Miasma finished eating, she walked off without waiting for him.

"Back to normal already."

She stopped.

Aiden caught up.

"Sorry. Nobler, more refined, and Lineage C. Guess that's the new normal."

Miasma continued.

Nyx made an amused sound.

Aiden pointed into the fog.

"You stole my only shirt yesterday. You don't get a vote."

They reached camp before dark.

Cinder was waiting beside the shelter in her beast form.

She checked Nyx first, then Miasma.

Miasma tolerated one sniff.

Cinder tried a second.

Miasma shoved her muzzle away with one forepaw.

Aiden grinned.

"Definitely back to normal."

Cinder looked at him.

"Miasma found something. Get this. She's Lineage C now!"

Cinder's tail struck the ground once, then she started bouncing around Miasma.

Miasma watched her for two seconds before apparently deciding she'd seen enough. She closed her eyes.

Aiden looked at Nyx. She was already beside the supplies he had prepared that morning.

"Yes. Now it's your turn."

Nyx stood immediately.

They were a day behind now. Nyx didn't complain, and neither did Aiden. Miasma had just gained an entire lineage rank.

That was worth a day.

Tomorrow, they would go back to the Voidglass.