Bonded Summoner

Fhesiah used her [Divine Sense] to monitor and manipulate the materials within her [Pill Furnace]. She circulated her [Qi] and stoked the flames, fluctuating the temperature and energy of the different areas within the furnace with a precision exceeding tenths of a degree. This would be her fourth attempt to create the [Yin-Aspect Bloodline Awakening Pill], and it would be her last attempt before having to ask Jake to make another trip to purchase more materials.

She moved and merged the various resources within the furnace, combining or refining them using the flames and her [Qi] at each stage of the Pill’s creation. [The Framework]’s guidance helped nudge her; she had almost scorched the heavenly herbs and ruined the whole concoction. She redoubled her focus and continued refining the materials as she began absorbing more [Qi Crystals] to maintain her energy reserves.

After several hours of focus, Fhesiah sent one more surge of Qi into the furnace, and slapped the top of it. The door on the front of it opened, and a waft of herbal smoke and a pill rolled out and landed on the pill shelf. It gave off a powerful herbal aroma, and Fhesiah’s cells in her body just screamed to consume the pill immediately. She had done it. She took out her pill container, and placed the pill next to the other she created in its slot, the [Yang-Aspect Bloodline Awakening Pill] and closed it, trapping all the medicinal energy inside.

She was surprised that they were able to collect what she needed to awaken her bloodline in this [Contested World], but it turned out that the [Cultivators] nearby were in quite the rough spot, especially in this area of the [Multiverse]. There was a near mass exodus of some of their most powerful and most prospective cultivators, in an effort to fight or escape the outsiders, or advance themselves. Those with some of the most powerful bloodlines just up and left, and many hoards of resources were recovered– they didn’t need this stuff where they were going. The dusky sky sect was far from the only ones, as she had purchased various other materials since that day.

That left a surplus of materials like these, where normally materials involved with awakening a bloodline would be safeguarded and hoarded, they instead were sold for a pittance, a surplus of these materials. Materials like the heavenly herbs must be used shortly after being harvested. These materials were useless for those without a bloodline, and with those with the bloodlines gone, there was no use for these. Fhesiah had two powerful bloodlines, in fact.

After resting for several hours and having a little fun with Jake and his [Energy Sharing] ability, she returned to her alchemy room. It doubled as her personal cultivation chamber, having an array she purchased that tied it into the refuge’s hearth. The room would receive all of the [Qi] and none of the mana and other energies captured by the refuge, allowing her environment to be the purest possible. She also released the energy of several high-quality Qi crystals into the atmosphere of her chamber, as it was time.

Jake was prepared to help, as she had let him know what she was going to do. She was going to try to accomplish the impossible, and while Jake was worried, he eventually agreed to her demands. When she played with Jake some weeks ago about needing his [Credits], what she had said was true. She felt she was falling behind, and only through perfection, or at least challenging the possible, could she match Jake and his Champion status.

The only reason Fhesiah was even thinking of trying this impossible task was that if she failed and died she could still be resurrected. She’s sure she would pay a price, but it was worth the attempt. In a way, it was like she was not cultivating at all anymore. To cultivate was to defy the heavens, but with [The Framework], it was like she was cultivating with heaven’s guiding hand–pushing her along, picking her up if she falls.

She didn’t feel she was falling behind the valkyrie, especially now that she had embraced the framework and worked on her skills, but she felt that Jake was truly destined for greatness. She needed every ounce of power that she could have if they were going to take part in a [Permadeath Trial], or [Raid], or whatever might come in the future.

The Dark Elf Champion and Berri had already proven to her that her pride and heritage meant nothing in the face of preparations against her or overwhelming power. While she didn’t think she would lose to the girl, she had plenty of reason to fear her mace, or what it represented.

If she didn’t have enough power, or speed, then the mace would descend and there would be nothing left but broken bones and shattered dreams. She would need to give it her all, or an enemy version of Berri might show up to destroy their family, and she wouldn’t be enough to stop them. She had reigned in some of her pride as a result of the battle with the enemy Champion, but she must continue to be vigilant and squeeze out every ounce of power that she could find.

In regards to the snake girl, she couldn’t help but feel that they were lucky. Such a powerful ally was valuable, and her addition to their party only added to her conviction that she had made the right choice, pushing Jake to this path. The girl’s situation was strange, Fhesiah’s [Divine Sense] noticing a change in her soul when the personality switched, but otherwise could not pierce through her Hearth Core and see deep into what was going on.

Either way, she was confident that it would be sorted out eventually. The girl was fun to be around, though a bit impatient. As long as they kept the activities moving, she participated with a smile, and she knew Jake was starting to care for the girl. Her husband certainly had a soft spot for a girl with such a troubled past. Fhesiah smiled. It also helped that she gave such great hugs, and was so beautiful. Fhesiah couldn’t wait to see what that amazing tongue felt like.

Berri got along well with Ophelia as well, and she felt like they were all becoming sisters in-truth. They all had so much fun together that she looked forward to every single day and every single activity. Jake did his best to give his attention and to make them all happy, but they kept each other motivated and entertained just as well. She had fun teasing Ophelia, and Berri appeared to hardly care at all when she tricked her, just laughing at the fun she had.

She took a moment to give a small thank you and a prayer. A thank you to her mother for truly setting her up for success. That she can be with Jake and enjoy the family they would be together with forever was nothing short of a blessing. While her mother was no longer around, she knew Hestia was. While prayer would have been too demeaning to her before, Hestia’s guidance had already helped her family. She had already let her pride impede her own success, and she would not allow herself to continue doing it. She would ask for her guidance here, to help her achieve this near impossible feat, to help protect her family and ensure that these fun days would never end.

She took the [Yin-Aspect Bloodline Awakening Pill] into her mouth and swallowed it. The energy spread throughout her body and blood when she combined it with Qi. She swirled the energy to the tune of her bloodline techniques taught by her mother, and the energy slowly suffused and merged into her body.

Her Kitsune bloodline stirred like a cat awakening from a long nap, and she directed her body to accept the changes she desired. She did not want fox ears and tails. While Jake might enjoy them, she had made her choice; she was a dragon before she was a fox-demon. She wanted the flames of the Dark Kitsune, the yin aspect flames most appropriate for a demoness.

She took another pill, a [Bloodline Strengthening Pill] that she had purchased earlier. She would need to strengthen the bloodline further if it was going to have a chance to stand up and not simply be erased by her draconic bloodline when she awakened it, as strong as her Dark Kitsune bloodline was. As much as she could within her body, she circulated her energy and solidified the Kitsune bloodline. After quite a bit of work, the blood in her veins now carried the power of a Dark Kitsune. She added even more [Qi Crystals] to the atmosphere, and continued her work to prepare for the next stage.

The Dark Kitsune was a powerful creature, capable of using yin aspect flames to create various types of magics and destruction alike, and thanks to this she would be able to create powerful illusions or flames that consumed or otherwise cursed those that came in contact with it, bringing them to Ruin. Fhesiah guessed that such a creature and capability would be Epic in its rarity, and its power to match. But this was not good enough for her family and the challenges that they would face.

With that completed, she took the [Yang-Aspect Bloodline Awakening Pill]. Once again, she spread the energies the pill released through her body and blood, circulating it using her bloodline method that was taught to her. Her [Dantian] lit aflame, and her dragon bloodline roared as it awakened from its slumber within her body. Yang flames were the power of creation, flames full of vitality and power. When a volcano erupts, it leaves destruction in its wake. But from the ashes, a verdant forest will emerge, even more lush and emanating the power of life than before. The superiority of dragons allowed them to destroy and create the world in their image, and such a creature would be Legendary in its rarity.

She attempted to merge it together with her body and blood, and used her powerful soul that was orders of magnitude above a normal [Qi Condensation Realm] cultivator and her energy manipulation. She even tried leaning on [The Framework], using her [Divine Sense] to detect any details that would help lead her to the solution, of being able to suffuse both bloodlines into the same body.

But it wasn’t enough. She could feel that the draconic bloodline was pushing the Kitsune bloodline out, and her efforts to strengthen the Kitsune bloodline or protect it using her soul were not working. But that was fine, because she wasn’t alone. Jake entered the room, and came to join her on her cultivation mat. She was in the lotus position, and he moved her into his lap as he did the same, and pressed his hands over her navel from behind.

Jake was using his [Energy Sharing], but he was not sharing mana or Qi. He was sharing his [Divine Hearth], which had the spark of Hestia’s divinity within. She circulated the new energy within her body, and used it as a demarcation between the Kitsune and Dragon bloodlines, and took another [Bloodline Strengthening Pill]. Things appeared to stabilize with this change, and she continued to merge the energy to try to solidify these bloodlines even further.

Finally, she tried to seep the two bloodline energies into her [Dantian], her spiritual sea. She tried to find equilibrium here, but once again she found that their efforts would not be enough. She could not use the [Divine Hearth] energy within her Dantian, as doing so would shatter it on its own. On top of that, this was a limited resource; she would not have enough to keep it in her dantian to keep equilibrium forever.

Her very being was a product of the merger of these two beings, beings of yin and yang. It was a proof that this should be possible to have both energies present in a being, but perhaps at this stage of cultivation it was a foolish endeavor doomed for failure. If she didn’t awaken her Kitsune bloodline before [Foundation Establishment], then it would definitely not be possible to awaken it later, as her dominant bloodline of dragons would snuff it out the instant she attempted to awaken it; that is, if it wasn’t completely erased from her recreated body permanently right now.

Her body strained, and her dantian started heaving. She would need to give up on the idea of awakening both bloodlines, or her dantian would crack, shatter, and she would die; the only reason they were attempting this, was knowing that the Framework could bring her back, and she could attempt it anew if things went catastrophically.

Just as she was about to use the [Divine Hearth] energy to snuff out her Dark Kitsune bloodline, a ripple in space appeared in the room they were in. Her divine sense locked on to a black snake-or a wyrm creature, she realized and was about to prepare for an attack when she received reassurance from Jake. He sent to her mind, “Sorry about that. This is my new familiar I just summoned. You aren’t the only one doing everything they can to move forward. It wants to help you.”

She was just about to ask how such a creature could possibly help, when she felt a ripple spread out from her [Dantian], and the two energies that were fighting were now separated. Jake said, “The creature is a young voidwyrm. It lives in the void and the planes, and can control these special energies. It used void energy to separate the two within your Dantian...and it seems to be trying to tell you…to go forward. It cannot do this forever.”

Fhesiah furrowed her brows as she looked inward. Just what do they mean by moving forward? Her body is merging with each of her bloodlines, and there was no way that she could merge them into a single one– they must remain separate. She may be able to merge the energies the bloodlines create in the future into a single one, but a bloodline was not something that could be merged. She was also not yet capable of merging the two energies, far from being able to accomplish the task. She would be lucky to be able to do this by the time she reached Tier 2, perhaps even Tier 3.

To move forward could only mean…to enter [Foundation Establishment]! She had hoped to have at least a week to solidify her bloodline further, and to get used to using their energies, but she guessed it must be now. She would have to heavily lean on [Advanced Energy Manipulation], rather than what she imagined would have been trained individual skills for [Kitsune Fire] and [Draconic Fire] to control these exotic energies. If she could not find equilibrium with the two energies within her [Spiritual Sea] as a Qi condensation cultivator, she would just have to enter foundation establishment.

Luckily, she had already prepared to enter foundation establishment by buying and creating [Foundation Establishment Pills]. Once again, it was very fortunate that these resources were so ubiquitous here, otherwise she would not have been prepared. She had even grabbed enough to make four of them. As once you enter [Foundation Establishment], the large amounts of QI contained within the pills can still be used to increase the overall size of her [Spiritual Temple], and thus your level under the Framework.

When she had entered [Foundation Establishment] the first time, she had only needed one pill, but she had heard one of her elder brothers or sisters that both parents were draconic, had needed two just to enter it. She went ahead and consumed two of the pills, as she just knew the requirements would be excessive for being able to create the foundations for her spiritual temple that used the two energies.

The massive quantities of heavenly energy entered her body, and she utilized her cultivation method to cycle the energy through all three of her dantians. The lower dantian was where her [Spiritual Sea] resided, and while none of the Qi Condensation realm touched the middle or upper dantian, triggering entering foundation establishment meant filling them with energy.

Her dantians emanated a powerful aura, and the process had begun. Her Dantian expanded, and she found herself standing in a blank white mental landscape, not much different from a dream– her mind was now inside of her dantian. She began using the energies to build the foundations of her [Spiritual Temple].

She took the three energies of Kitsune Fire, Draconic Fire, and Qi that were residing inside her dantian, forming them into hexagonal bricks and began constructing what would eventually become her temple. Brick by brick she laid, directing them by floating them into various positions across this mental landscape using her energy manipulation technique and her powerful soul.

Eventually, she would build an entire temple, but for now, she must start with a single room. She had used guidance from her family, her mother, to use formations of these hexagonal bricks that create the strongest of foundations, creating pillars and arches where appropriate. At the back of the room, two thrones. It’s not that she was leaving out the other girls, but this is all she had enough bricks for, for now: one for her and one for Jake. Besides, would Berri even use a throne?

She continued laying her bricks, and the different colors of energies formed a mosaic of colors spread across the room. One side certainly had more draconic fire, and the other side had more dark kitsune fire by a large margin, but both sides contained bricks of each. She looked over at what she had made, and she was in awe of how everything turned out. There were not many bricks left at this point, and she was running somewhat low on time. The room shook, but she could feel like something was not quite right.

“I think I know what might be missing” Fhesiah spun to where she heard the voice. It was Jake, standing there in her spiritual temple with his hands on his hips. She was filled with both surprise and confusion, but said, “What…how are you here?”

“I’m not sure, I just followed through our bond… it just felt right.” Jake smiled at her, and she could feel the love he had for her pouring over the bond. She was overwhelmed with her own emotions. They would once again become stronger, but together. She helped him form his mana core, achieving something that might otherwise be impossible for a Tier 0 human, and now, he would help her enter foundation establishment with both dark kitsune and draconic fire.

She looked over to where Jake was looking, and it felt easily apparent what was missing. A hearth, behind the two thrones. Not only that, but the two thrones faced out at the world, and while they were side by side, it was impersonal. They would need to turn their heads, perhaps even lean forward if the chair was particularly decadent to even look at and talk to one another. This was wrong.

While she wanted to make Jake a King, their family came first. Jake becoming King would serve their family by granting it the power and protection of an entire world. She would arrange the two chairs more like a semi-circle, the semi-circle to be completed once she was able to add the other thrones for her sister-wives. It would then resemble a living room where friends and family gathered around, instead of an impersonal throne room for meeting with strangers with bureaucracy and decorum.

Jake nodded at her thought, and she set about removing and realigning bricks to rearrange the thrones, and to form the alcove that would become a hearth, and she gasped in surprise when Jake’s flames from his hearth entered the air from within the hearth on her side of the Spiritual Temple.

They then wrapped around the bricks that were becoming the hearth. She noticed that he was inscribing runes using those same flames…just what was this?

“I had gotten a skill when I had advanced, and I haven’t gotten much of a chance to practice it: [Hearth Enchantment]. That’s why I’m not going to be overly ambitious here, as I’m a bit of a beginner. But I think you’ll recognize the runes I’m using. I’ll do my best to make it so that I can add onto them later. My gut tells me the best time to do this is now.”

Jake pulled in the fire from his hearth, and began creating runes using his hearth-fire to draw almost as if he was etching with his scribe. He placed a single rune in the center of each hexagonal brick, the demon rune of fire. As he did this, he put everything he had in his heart for Fhesiah, of what he thought of when he thought of her and her fire. Her passion for both her path and for Jake and her family. Her desire for enjoyment and for advancement and power. Her love and his, fueling the fire burning brightly to both warm and protect their family, and destroy their enemies.

Fhesiah looked over to the runes Jake was creating, and she was once again amazed. She knew that the goddesses' flames could not reside in her dantian, yet here they were, in her Spiritual Temple. He was using the same demonic runes that she used on her gauntlets and fan, and alternating the ones he understood throughout the hearth itself. The runes echoed the truths of the Dao, and she was moved by the amount of understanding Jake had for her flames, for her path. He was just using mana, but just how much time had he spent to increase his own understanding, to use her runes? It was like he expended significant effort just to understand her, and she was reminded of the many years she herself had spent mastering her flames.

He coughed, even though his body wasn’t real, covering his mouth, but she could see he was embarrassed by her thoughts. She smiled; her lover might be amazing in his own way, but he couldn’t take a compliment, or her teasing. She redoubled her effort to finish the hearth, and it lit aflame. Jake’s bond connected through the Hearth, and she could feel the [Hearth Bond] snap into place, instead of the old [Summoner’s Bond].

The Hearth of Jake’s Family, with Hestia’s divine spark contained within, protecting and strengthening it. It burned brightly, deep within her soul. The blackish-purple kitsune fire bricks lit aflame, and the golden draconic fire bricks lit up as well. The bricks built of heavenly energy then gave off their own glow. It was beautiful: the mosaic of her [Spiritual Temple].

She luxuriated in the new feelings as their bond grew stronger than ever, and she spun her fool around and kissed him on the lips, to which he was shocked in surprise. Jake disappeared shortly after the kiss started; his time within her spiritual temple would be limited until she grew stronger, but her foundations were nearly completed. There was just one more thing that must be done. She gazed at the sky, as what she was expecting rolled in: Heavenly Tribulation.

But instead of the angry clouds of her old Heavens meant to destroy her, they were the gentle golden clouds of the Framework. Tears came to her eyes as she realized that she had been wrong the whole time, and just witnessing this would be enough for Cultivators to potentially change their mind about joining the Framework in earnest.

The clouds now covered the sky, and lightning roiled through them. She prepared her defenses, wondering what exactly was going to happen. She did not feel like her life was in danger, so she watched with rapt attention. The lightning in the clouds built up, and eventually, it struck down on her temple. To her surprise, it was attacking the mosaic of her bloodlines.

She looked at where lightning struck, and saw that the lightning had passed through a wall, yet the only places that received damage were where it was weak; the balance was poor. She now realized that while most of her spiritual temple was mostly perfect thanks to her mother’s method she taught her, she was not able to properly balance the mosaic. The new Heavens was helping her understand her mistakes!

Lightning continued to strike, pointing out the weaknesses in her foundations. She moved the bloodline-aspected bricks around, correcting the imbalance. She emboldened the defenses with her Qi as the lightning struck, and she felt that this was just as useful as her old Heaven’s tribulation, feeling her soul being tempered just the same, only with the Framework’s almost-gentle guidance in comparison.

She continued correcting problems for dozens of lightning strikes. Her foundations were slightly damaged each time, but these were only minor setbacks compared to the old heavens. She moved another brick into place, and the lightning stopped. The clouds parted, and was left with a blazing Sun rising into the sky, filling the room with light. The Draconic bricks lit aflame, and she smiled.

She had truly viewed the Framework wrong. It really was the New Heavens, where Cultivation was no longer a defiance of it. Cultivation was now pushed along by the Framework’s guiding hands of the New Heavens, in an effort to make her stronger and better able to face the outsiders. Still, this was strange to her. Why wasn’t this in some wiki, or other piece of information that was available to her? It was true that information had a cost, was knowledge of how something like the New Heaven’s worked just too costly for low-Tier existences like themselves to learn?

Questions for later. For now, she had done it. It was a rocky start, but with Jake’s and his strange familiar’s help, she was able to accomplish the impossible. While the wyrm was interesting, she doubted its intelligence. Fhesiah liked to think that this creature was somehow guided by the goddess. She would continue to build her [Spiritual Temple], expanding to other rooms and recreating their refuge in her soul, until it was a veritable castle in its own right.