Bonded Summoner

Jake woke up from their wonderful night together wide awake. Not needing sleep in the first place, he only fell asleep for a couple of hours for his own enjoyment, and he was fully rested. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled a relieved sigh.

For the first time in months, he had no place to be, no fire that needed to be put out. Jake could finally just do…nothing. He was covered in warm bodies, as Ophelia and Tanda monopolized his sides. Fur and fluffy feathers covered his body, their hearths more than keeping him warm.

Jake was bathed in the Presence of his girls, and it felt great. He just basked in it for a moment, a contentment filling him as he did nothing.

Berri was giggling in her sleep, rubbing her belly as she lied next to Jake’s head on her massive coil. She had a big dopey smile on her face, and Jake thought it might be her permanent look for a few months, since Fhesiah had assured her she was pregnant now.

Blood’s golden eyes snapped open. “It’s my smile too, Milord. I cannot wait for our child to come.” She looked at Tanda and Ophelia, “And these ones too. I can’t wait to see our kids play together.”

She smiled with pride. “The wiki doesn’t contain an entry on our unique races, but it appearsmany of these high races are in fact less fertile at higher Tiers. Their life span is more, but their immense mana and faith levels interfere with conception. But our mixed origin with the Hearthians makes it a sure thing, I guess? Or our bond? Perhaps we should ask Hestia.”

Ophelia had wanted a child just as well as Tanda and Bloodberri, but she wanted it to be more natural–only for it to happen their first time without birth control anyway. Something about being a Hearthian made it a sure thing–if they both desired it.

There might also be other factors or costs they are not aware of, but Jake didn’t feel anything being expended.

Fhesiah confirmed success with her Divine Sense on the three of them, but it was like Jake knew down to his soul that they were, before she even checked.

Fhesiah and Blood floated Ophelia and Tanda away from surrounding Jake, and hugged them into each other next to Jake. The golden and the black-haired girl’s expression somewhat frowned from being removed from Jake, but otherwise evened out as they got comfortable with each other.

The two replaced themselves at Jake’s side, Blood’s large body taking up his right and Fhesiah as a kitsune his left. He hugged his lovely wives to his side tightly, as he enjoyed their embrace.

Blood nuzzled up to Jake as her golden scaled hands roamed Jake’s body. Her claws were retractable, and her hands felt smooth on his body.

She sighed in contentment. “This is wonderful, not having a place to be for a time. We do have something that must be done soon–you had submitted Morwen’s report to the council, but they will not meet for a time.”

Fhesiah idly circled a finger around Jake’s chest ring. “I’m sure that will lead to some conflict. I’ll be leaving the Sector for a time, but with how long it takes others to move, I suppose I’ll be back before anything major happens.”

“Hmph, if they come knocking at our doors, we shall crush them like the bugs they are. I have been looking into these War Games, and if anything, they are more likely to motivate and strengthen our people.”

Jake asked, “How do they work?”

“It is different at each Tier, though it appears more things are added as you rise. On any Tier 1 world both Guilds have presence, additional facilities will be allocated within the Headquarters. The first, is a kill board, and conquest tracker. Each kill of the enemy will take a percentage of their conquest. It is one of the costs for allowing war declarations in the first place.”

Jake thought he understood the implications. “So, unlike normal where it is merely a race for each guild in their contribution or conquest points, there is an opportunity to steal their contribution for your own. But they can’t take Highlands from us, can they?”

Blood shook her head. “We will be under a grace period for a few years, as we rise up in Tier. However, the additional facilities would in fact allow them to take ownership from us–given enough time and dominance. It would take a significant time investment with how high our conquest here was. Years of us being defeated over and over, without us making any conquest anywhere else would be required.”

Fhesiah frowned. “I thought the Framework doesn’t like things that take away from the war. They can’t fight outside of a city or node’s radius, right?”

Blood nodded. “That is correct. The truth is, after a respawn, there is a grace period where it is possible to head outside the city and earn conquest for your guild. Then, on a non-contested world like this one, joining Sector Incursions to reduce the enemy’s overall number of Rifts Sector-wide is difficult for the enemy to stop, allowing Guild members to earn conquest and preventing the world from being captured.”

She continued, “The Player versus Player, or PvP, can almost be entirely avoided. Guild members must return to Headquarters to capture or realize their CP, and this forces them to need to come there, where it’s another place it can be stolen. Then, there can be minor battles which resemble the battlegrounds we faced that occur as events which force conflict periodically, that earn a lot more points for the kill board–this requires investment on the aggressor’s part to enact.”

Jake found this idea interesting, and saw how the Framework could see this as a method to train warriors for potential conflicts against the enemy. It gave them a safe place to experience battlegrounds like what they might experience against Tartarus, while making them competitive to earn more conquest.

On most worlds, Conquest took many months or years to complete. It was only because Highlands was so close to failure, and also because Tartarus wanted it so badly, that things moved so swiftly.

A one-week respawn of several people was a detriment to the conflict, but they would not be powering Tartarus’s conquests with their deaths. Because of this, it appeared that was usually a price worth paying to make people more competitive, as long as it wasn’t abused.

“What about the natives? We hadn’t heard about them being outright slain by the Adventurers, but they definitely abused them.”

Blood nodded. “When the world is at war, killing a native is not allowed and protected by the Framework–as their soul could be collected by Tartarus. Even when we win, those souls are sort-of ransomed by the Alliance, after all.”

She continued, “Outside of the war, it is possible for a Framework person to kill a native. However, it’s heavily discouraged. They will lose both Contribution Points and Conquest Points, in significant numbers. However, that doesn’t stop other terrible, despicable practices.”

Jake frowned. “You don’t mean…like slavery?”

Blood nodded, her expression serious. “It is possible. It is not common, because Planetary Lords like you can prevent higher Tier people from entering at all. Then, natives often grossly outnumber Adventurers, even if they are on average weaker. Still, we will need to remain vigilant. Someone from another guild at war with us could arrive and sneak around for nefarious purposes.”

Looking at the wiki entries on War Games, he learned that if things were as bad as they were when they arrived on Highlands, all PvP would be halted to force focus on the war effort.

He did see some opportunity for abuse, but it definitely appeared to require significant effort to completely sandbag a world’s loss. The other thing of note he found, was that upon killing a target and sending them into motes of light, a piece of equipment or an item within their storage bracelets was often left behind.

Their Divine rewarded equipment would be exempt from this, though it seemed as though they would pay a significant price instead, as a form of ransoming the item.

Jake tried to picture what this looked like. “So, if this War, Glory, Profit or others declare war games against us, it will enable PvP mode. On Contested Worlds, our people can be attacked and killed within cities near nodes, but not outside. They can earn conquest on that world without really being interfered with, but the enemy can steal the conquest they earn by killing them back at headquarters, or by forcing this event you talked about?”

Blood nodded, and Fhesiah added with a vicious smile, “But then we can steal theirs. If they have captured any worlds, we can send teams to steal their worlds too, with the events from this significant investment. We can challenge them in these battleground-like events, and take everything they own.”

Tanda and Ophelia stirred, the two girls stretching. Ophelia ran her hand through Tanda’s fur on her head, causing her tail to wag, but Ophelia’s face morphed into a frown. “You’re so fluffy and soft, but what happened to my Jake?”

Fhesiah smirked. “My Jake, is he? You monopolized him at night while asleep, so we took him in the morning. It’s just fair.”

Tanda giggled. “It is. What’s going on, we’re talking about fighting? I thought we get to rest now!”

They spent some time getting the two girls caught up.

Ophelia smiled. “So, it looks like training our people is going to be a high priority, to make sure they can face this scum. This actually sounds kinda fun! We will fight a battle by proxy, for a change.”

Tanda seemed excited, standing with her tail wagging, her paws swiping at an invisible enemy. “Some of our guild members will really like this! I can see Rookard’s people out for blood, chanting it! My mom and dad will really shine here, ready for the hunt!”

Blood’s body broke away from Jake, rising into the air. Her smile was vicious, as her claws came out from her scaled hands, and made a crushing motion. “Yes, I can see it now. We shall crush all these scrub enemies, and take from them which they took from others. It is perfect, it only requires some organization and preparation, we will take the fight to them instead. This War, Glory, Profit is just an ally of these jerks, isn’t it? We should declare war on their other ones ourselves!”

Fhesiah’s blood thirst was stirred as well, as she floated away from Jake, positioning herself in front of Blood. “Yes, but first, we need information. We must collect data on how many members our enemies actually have. Now I have another reason for being sad to leave, it seems like things are going to be busy!”

Jake sat up, but he was aghast. What happened to relaxation? His girls were far too bloodthirsty.

Tanda and Ophelia were now play fighting, wrestling with each other now. They each stirred their auril and mana, infusing themselves with supernatural strength.

Berri gave Jake her snake-but-puppies eyes, as she rubbed her belly. “Daddy Jake, I think I’m extra hungry–I’m eating for two now, after all. P-Plus, I’m an Echidna now. Let’s go make a big–no, wait, jumbo breakfast? Maybe two jumbo breakfasts?”

Jake chuckled. “Well, alright then. I guess, let’s go get cooking. We’ll cook some extra for our storage rings, and make sure the mommas are all well-fed.”

He teleported to the kitchen. Bloodberri followed along with him, and to his surprise, Fhesiah did too. Blood and Berri immediately busied themselves, with removing the various meats and vegetables from storage, preparing the many stoves and grills.

Fhesiah smiled at his questioning look. “I only have a few weeks or so now. We…don’t know for sure how well I’ll be able to communicate with you, when I’m there.”

Jake wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sure we’ll be able to make it work. But if not, I believe in you. We’ll be here for you when you get back, no matter what happens.”

They joined Blood and Berri in preparations, preparing many auril beast meats and, of course, muckbills. Thanks to their purifying flames, Berri even insisted on consuming the higher Tier versions of the creature.

Jake had to push his cooking skill to the limits, and used his own purifying flames on the meat to remove the odd magical toxins within the monster.

Blood now had a form of Enhanced Telekinesis, granted from the Framework as she evolved. She manipulated various utensils with enhanced precision, and Jake was quite impressed with what she could do.

“You’re getting really good with that. I had noticed that your nudges did help with that boss battle before. Then, thanks to you, my own Hearth control had increased–by me copying what you were doing, but with my Hearth flames. I saw you all have Hearth Control now.”

Blood nodded with a smile. “That’s right, but it’s the first Tier of Hearth Control, like you used to have. We were granted Expert Mana Control, and have them both. We may be able to catch up to you, with your help.”

Fhesiah smiled, as she sliced some auril-infused root vegetables with a knife. “So many possibilities for everyone now. It was starting to feel like we had no way to advance, but now they are limitless. I just need to finish my advancement.”

Blood hummed, as she finished adding a basted meat onto the rotisserie. “That reminds me. I did do some preliminary checks, and I do think there are some materials of interest for you. Thanks to the immense funds earned from taxes, our large stockpile of CP, and our Prime Instance loot, I think we can swing something.”

Jake had begun frying various foods, having more than one massive wok going filled with rice and vegetables. He was cooking like he needed to feed an army, but it was really just four women–that would normally not even need to eat.

The hot flames blazed into the bottom of them, as he used spellforms to shake and stir their contents around.

“I…thanks, Blood. What did you find?”

Jake could tell she shared the details with Fhesiah, before she replied, “I found what might be a nice pair for that Dao treasure you purchased, with the Source Energy? It is a sort of painting, which is originally a Tier 3 item–however, it is inert, its dao energy consumed. Still, it holds the truth of the dao for powerful kitsune flames, and it mentions if paired with such an item like the Source Energy one, it may help bring about an epiphany.”

Jake’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “A Tier 3 item, you say? Can we have such a thing?”

Blood chuckled. “Apparently, it is only allowed on a non-contested world, or otherwise unable to leave our Refuge. It turns out that as a Tier 3 item, it would be powerful as a barrier–the painting’s power as a shield would be insane, even for us. Though, I guess it might be a bit too heavy to be used that way.”

Fhesiah nodded. “Yes, items with heavenly energy probably perform closer to a half a Tier above most mana-infused items, too. Well, for us at the bottom of the second Tier, I guess this painting would be formidable. Anyway, the description does look like something that might help me. How expensive is it?”

Jake waved it off. “It doesn’t matter. If it helps you at all, it’s worth it. I’ll find a way to afford it if I have to. Was there anything else, Blood?”

Fhesiah’s hearth flickered, filled with warmth. Blood was about to respond, but Fhesiah interrupted, hugging into Jake. “My, that was sexy of you, husband. You really mean it? You’ll do what it takes, to get me what I need?”

Jake side eyed her, continuing to operate his woks. “I didn’t think this was new to you, you should already know? Each of you girls are everything to me. If we don’t have a way to get what you need, I’ll just have to make a way.”

Blood cleared her throat. “It wasn’t that expensive, for the record. If there were ten paintings, we could afford them all, by moving things around. Having loot, Credits, and CP at the moment makes things a little less straightforward, but we can manage. I’ll put in the order?”

Fhesiah nodded. “Thanks, Blood. I appreciate it. So, was there anything else?”

Blood nodded. “There does appear to be a potential Source Energy treasure and a potential claw material for core formation, but it is at a local cultivator auction. We can try to have an agent win it, in the next two weeks. It should arrive here just in time, before you leave. It’s the best we can do.”

She once again shared the information available, and it was clear that it was limited. However, it looked like it was much better than nothing.

Fhesiah frowned. “That looks…too good to be true. These are definitely going to be expensive, right?”

Blood continued helping Berri with her telekinesis. “That’s right. However, I think we can make it happen, at least to obtain one of the items. If you want to earn your keep, this is in fact an auction–couldn’t you make some of your amazing pills, for us to sell or trade there? That way, you can pay for some or all of it on your own.”

Fhesiah hummed, and then hugged into the much larger Blood in the air. “You’re right. Thank you so much, my dear sister, for looking into this for me. How long do I have to get this to our agent? I’d kind of like to go since auctions are fun, but with our time so limited, I’d rather be here.”

Blood hugged her back with one arm, as Berri whisked up some frying batter in the other. “Less than a week. I’ll let them know it is a go.”

Jake smiled, as he finished cooking up the first batch of Highlands chicken vegetable fried rice. “It sounds like, one way or another, you’ll be just a little closer to what you need. I’ll talk to Valtor and see if there’s anything else we can do to raise our funds rapidly in the near future with our crafting. I’m sure Ophelia and Tanda would love to help.”

Berri nodded. “And me and Blood, too! We’ll make all sorts of neat bone armor, and Hearthtribe will help too! I know it. I’ll get all the spriggons to help if I have to.”

Fhesiah sighed, her heart and hearth filled with the warmth of family. “Thanks, husband, Blood and Berri. Family is a wonderful thing, knowing I don’t have to go it alone. Let’s get this food ready so we can eat.”

They worked together to prepare enough meals to fill an army, then eventually called in Tanda and Ophelia.

The large table filled with various meats and magical food was laid out. The aromas filled the air, and each was happy to dig in and eat.

Berri was especially ravenous, eating an entire T-rex leg, and probably way too many roasted muckbills on a stick.

“I think the baby likes the muckbills the most. I need more!”

Tanda laughed, her tail wagging. “That’s just your desires leaking. That baby can’t be bigger than the size of a pea, it can’t have a preference yet!”

Ophelia sighed in happiness, enjoying her roasted auril boar. “The skin is so crispy, and the pork is so good. I can eat this all day!”

They each enjoyed their Highland berry shakes, which Jake added his various supplements to. The Divine Hearth of the Refuge likely filled their strange bodies with everything they needed, but it didn’t hurt to be safe.

They each patted their stomachs happily, as their meal came to an end. They had no place to be, but they were all together and happy.