Beastforged Bond

B4 Chapter 41

I was still contemplating Volix’s comment and the origin of the Essence within the Netherkin’s home when Lea exclaimed.She sounded startled, and I turned to see her holding a small crystal engraved with dozens of tightly intertwined ether circuits. The circuits glowed and emitted ether even as cracks spread across the crystal. Then it fell apart and released violet smoke into the surroundings.

“What in the–” I rubbed my eyes, and by the time I was done, the smoke was no longer there.

“That was the Detonator.” Daniel stepped closer to his sister.

Lea nodded slowly, eyes on the remains of the Detonator.

“Violet smoke.” She tilted her head and grimaced before turning to face me. “I think you are about to be found out.”

“What?!” Did that mean what I thought it meant?

Lea didn’t seem all that concerned. She waved her hand dismissively.

“This.” Lea pointed at what was left of the Detonator. “This was a warning. Father has, or had, another Detonator. It was connected to this one, allowing simple communication. I have no idea how far the Detonator’s range is, but I don’t believe that is of any importance right now.” She nibbled on her lower lip. “Far more important is that you have been found out. Or will be soon. Regardless, we were told to stay away from the Bastion for a while. And to get in contact with our families before we plan to return.”

Were my parents fine? What about the Zerogs? If someone found out about me, everyone else would be in danger as well.

“Don’t overthink. Everyone is aware of the danger.” Daniel patted my shoulder. “The Zerog family always has a Plan B, or C, or… Honestly, I don’t even know how many emergency plans our grandfather devised. I think he had a thing for paranoia, just like our great-grandfather.”

He shook his head. “Anyway, the violet smoke means that they’re fine. We do not have to rush back to rescue anyone.”

“Okay…” I nodded slowly, regaining my composure.

“That settles the issue.” Lea clapped, sending the Detonator’s remains scattering. “We will spend the next few months training, training, and training.”

“I get it, and I agree,” Daniel narrowed his eyes at his sister. “But why are you smiling like that? Are you a maniac or did the air in this place make you insane!?”

Lea glared at her brother, then turned to regard the crystallized trees and other natural treasures.

“You said we can turn Essence into ether, right?” she asked.

“That’s what Volix said.” I said before repeating what the Elemental Phoenix mentioned earlier.

Lea’s expression contorted when I mentioned where the Essence in the Netherkin’s home might come from, but eased up after a few seconds.

“It doesn’t matter. Even if the Essence belonged to other Blessed, they’ve been dead for hundreds of years. Their Essence is being wasted in the Netherkin’s underground home. Nobody’s using the Essence.” She tilted her head once more. “Wouldn’t it be far more honorable to absorb their Essence and use it to grow stronger? To honor their deaths and make sure their power is used wisely?”

I wasn’t too sure about her sentiment, but Lea’s decision was made. And it was not like it was the wrong one. We’d been hunting and fighting beasts of all kinds–sentient included. In fact, the jerky Resh, Nox, and I ate for years belonged to a sentient Monarch. It may not have been bipedal, but I didn’t believe for one second that Monarch beasts were less intelligent than humans or other races.

Aureus was the best example for intelligence in weaker beasts as well. Even as a mutant Soilback, he’d been far more intelligent than most beasts.

The Earthheart’s superior intelligence aside, I had to acknowledge that I ate a sentient beast’s meat. And I didn’t even feel bad about it. The beast had already been dead, and it would have been a lot worse if I’d left the mountains of jerky to rot. That didn’t mean I would go around hunting Monarchs to make jerky out of their meat, but it justified my actions nonetheless.

At least, I believed so.

And, maybe, I would turn more Monarch carcasses into jerky if they decided to attack me first, forcing me to fight them to the death.

You are too weak. Monarch will kill you!

This tale has been pilfered from NovelFire. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Nox pulled my thoughts back to Razarn.

“I think you guys should use the Essence here,” Scott nodded. His wording caught my attention, but Daniel’s mouth moved faster.

“Are you not going to use the Essence here?” he asked, while Lea’s feline Soulkin, some sort of small-framed cheetah, was already in the tiny river, catching a fish imbued with Essence.

“I don’t think I will. Maybe Destiny will nibble on a crystallized apple, but she’s uncertain.” Scott shrugged. “I think Destiny is afraid she won’t be able to evolve. Or that she will mutate in a way that will render our soulshare useless. Or to evolve into something ‘ugly’–her wording–which may also not be suitable for my World.”

I didn’t doubt for a second that Scott was lacking ether. His World was probably large enough to fill several Gates for his Body Tempering right away. All he needed was time to refine the Gates and link them to the weave.

“Do you have purified, liquid ether? If not, you should break down some Essence into liquefied ether,” Daniel proposed, but Scott dismissed it.

“I attuned and liquefied my ether a year ago. Since then, I’ve been purifying it, since that has been the only thing I could do to grow stronger.” He grimaced. “Fortunately, that’s no longer an issue. The Mare of Divinity has not yet reached maturity. The Spawns have been hunting her ever since she reached the Guardian-rank, and that’s nowhere near her limit.”

Nowhere near her limit? That caught my attention, but I let it be. Whether the Mare of Divinity could reach the Overlord rank or advance to a Monarch, I was happy for Scott regardless. And I was a little jealous. How could I not hear Scott talk about liquefied ether like it was nothing?

You get easily jealous, don’t you?

Volix teased, but he was not all that wrong.

There was not really a reason for me to be jealous. I didn’t think Scott would hesitate to change Worlds with me if he had the opportunity.

“You’re going to spend the next few months Body Tempering, and you’re sure you don’t need anything from this place?” Daniel asked again, as if he didn’t understand Scott the first time.

“All I need is time, food, and some water, Daniel.” Scott chuckled. “And I’m not only using Body Tempering techniques. I’m also going to befriend the Mare of Divinity and learn more about her and her traits.”

That sounded good enough. Filling a bunch of Unblemished and Guardian-ranked Ether Gates was bound to take a while, as would reaching the 1st or maybe even 2nd Stage of his bond with the Mare of Divinity.

“What’s your plan? Don’t you have a few more Gates to fill as well?” I asked Daniel when his head flicked back to Lea and her Soulkins. His sister’s arms were already filled with apples, some crystallized bark, and a few other items her Soulkins had collected.

Thinking about it, that was the first time I saw most of her Soulkins. There was a Verwood Troll, an Evolved humanoid beast, and many other Soulkins with unique features. The strongest, however, was certainly the cat-sized cheetah. It didn’t look all that dangerous at first glance, but the strength compressed into its tiny body was tremendous.

“What?” Lea asked when she noticed everyone looking at her. “I am not going to waste this opportunity. Even if my Soulkins aren’t going to evolve, I’m going to make sure their potential increases enough to reach the next Rank. That’ll be the worst case, in which both traits and empowerment will still be much more potent than before.”

If she could evolve the Verwood Troll or any of her other Soulkins, that’d be a massive gain. Lea was already a very versatile fighter. She had a wide variety of traits, all of which hailed from non-elemental mammals, as restricted by her World, and they would only grow stronger as long as they absorbed more Essence.

Tell her to be careful with the bark. I don’t believe the Essence within is highly attuned to nature, but if her Verwood Troll evolved into a Woodwalker Troll, it may develop a nature-based trait.

Volix said, which I relayed right away.

Alas, the Verwood Troll was already about to bite into one of the crystallized branches it picked up earlier, forcing me to react. I unleashed the Gravity Aspect upon the Evolved Soulkin and forced it to its knees.

The effect lasted only for a second, but it was enough. The Troll let go of the branches, and Lea had enough time to react.

She blanched and yanked the bark and branches away.

Noo, my snacks!!

Sapsie exclaimed in my head.

I rolled my eyes at the World Tree sproutling’s antics and walked over to collect the bark and branches once more.

Sapsie wiggled in my palm, her roots coiling around the Essence-imbued objects.

“Be careful.” Daniel chided Lea, who glared back at him.

“I am careful.” She exclaimed, but the edges of her ears turned red. “But maybe…just maybe, I am a little excited.”

Daniel turned back to me. “It should be alright to store some of the Essence-imbued objects, right? I want to put some aside for my Soulkins. For later, when my Soulkins are ready.” He said the last part out loud enough for Lea to hear.

“You should be careful as well,” Scott said to me. “Since your Mirage Serpent is evolving, you need to make some space for him in your World. Do you have enough space?”

I…did not. In fact, I’d used up most of my unused soul energy to feed the Elemental Phoenix to deal with the Spawns.

Sure, some of it had been recovered, quite rapidly at that, but it would be nowhere near enough to provide for Resh’s evolution and the rapid growth of several Soulkins. That meant I couldn’t allow everyone to consume the underground ecosystem’s Essence.

For now.

I didn’t like it, but there was no way around it. If Nox were to start evolving now, or Cosmo’s growth spurt would further accelerate, I’d have real trouble. And that did not even include Aureus’ recent, stable growth or Sapsie’s growing list of demands.

It had been obvious before, but now it was even more apparent: I really had to reach the 8th Volume of the Blastor Refinery technique. The sooner the better.

That was even more important than all those Gates that were waiting to be filled. They could wait. My Soulkins couldn’t. Nor did I want them to.