Bonded Summoner

A few days had passed since their wedding, and the family was still relaxing with their light schedule. They trained lightly for an hour or two each day, but much of their time was spent crafting and sending messages to members of the Guild.

Jake was in the middle of enchanting some of Ophelia’s crafted armors, when he received a message from Valtor.

[Lord Jake, we received a communication. I think it’s important you get here to the war room right away. I’ll explain when you get here. Your ladies are optional, but I’d imagine they would like to be here as well.]

Jake’s girls were filled in right away, but Jake frowned. For Morwen’s report, the council wasn’t to meet for a time yet, so he didn’t think it was related to that. The girls quickly got ready, and they teleported to their Refuge portal room.

For now, Life’s Haven was still their Primary Headquarters, so they moved through the portal to meet Valtor there. Jake was wearing his tribal chieftain’s outfit, his girls matching him with their tribal wear.

Within the War Room were Valtor and Amara, Yiming and Longwei, Nadessa and Seamus. Jake knew Morwen and Bedwyr were already getting their people set up in the north.

Valtor nodded to the Conquest Table, and they gathered around it. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. We have received a communication not from War, Glory, Profit, but from a larger guild–one that is a direct subguild of a guild of the Third Tier.”

Yiming grimaced. “This…is likely not a good thing. It’s hard to put this in perspective, but people and resources in subguilds flow up the chain, not down. This sounds like it’s a Tier 2 Guild, but our report was at the first? Most likely…this is a guild asking us to back down our claim. There are very few Third Tier Guilds in our Frontier Sector.”

Valtor nodded. “That was the feeling I got when we scheduled the call for Lord Jake. They were adamant that the call must be soon, and they refused to provide a topic of discussion or to have, if it’s so urgent, the information or request handled by the Head Administrator. What Yiming said was true. Aside from some natives at the third Tier with guilds, there are not many third tier guilds in Frontier Sector 87.”

He continued, “This is because it requires significant investment from outside Sectors, in resources and time to build up a force to have many members at that level of strength. At the early formation of a Frontier Sector competition, only Tier 1 people are usually sent.”

Jake frowned. “Why is that?”

“You can think of each Frontier Sector competition as like starting a new round in a real-time strategy, or RTS game, or perhaps, the best comparison might be a 4X Strategy Game. The–”

Berri raised her hand and interrupted, “A what now? I know Faye likes the triple x, what’s the fourth for?”

Fhesiah chuckled and smirked at her, but Valtor answered, “Expand, Explore, Exploit, Exterminate. In these games, you would start a team or civilization from scratch, where technologies must be researched and a force built up from capturing land and building up from simple units. As the round goes on, each team would branch off significantly technology-wise as they compete for ownership of a map. In this case, it’s the Frontier Sector.”

He continued, “The reason why higher tier units are not brought in, is because they have a significant cost. As a simple example, if you brought a high tier unit into the map, then the enemy just might get two, to compensate. It can be done, but it should be done sparingly. At least until the Sector matures. The penalty for a lower-tier unit is lesser or nonexistent.”

Blood noted, “And that maturation is from this War Trial? We’re nearing the end of the round now?”

Amara bobbed in the air. “That’s right. This will be the fourth War Trial in this Sector’s history. The first two were lost. Thankfully, the third was won by Lord Guan Yu, putting the Alliance in a much better position, almost completely overturning the previous losses. This one was much more important than the first two.”

Ophelia noted, “But Guan Yu and his party are of the fourth Tier. How many Guilds of those are there?”

Valtor noted, “Most of the guilds are remaining third Tier, until they have built up their base. It is almost exclusively fourth tier native guilds at the moment. Because once a Guild goes up in Tier, it cannot go down. Most likely, these guilds intend to enter the fourth tier once the stage of the War Trial is entered. There are only a handful of fourth tier worlds owned by the alliance.”

Amara added, “As you know, we are forming various subguilds for our different efforts. We have been given a special extended grace period due to the nature of our situation. When the timing was presented, there were various factors considered: the age of our guild, the fact it was a native one, and that all members were on a single world. Winning Highlands put us instantly at Tier 2.”

Valtor nodded. “Yes, we have two years to create all our subguilds, and a snapshot of our technology and knowledge, our doctrine, culture and training will stay at Tier 1. As people Tier up to the second Tier, they will graduate from the subguilds and enter our main ones, at the second tier. It is against our interests to allow those subguilds themselves to Tier up.”

Tanda frowned. “So, this guy contacting us, he’s like some kind of feeder guild for one of the top ones? Why should we care? The third Tier guild can’t really do anything to us on our world or worlds, can it?”

Yiming shook his head. “They can. But, it would be a waste of their time and effort. They can always limit themselves and come down to our Tier and level to face us, if the Planetary Ruler does not allow them entry at their original Tier. Still, this is usually advantageous to them–aside from the idea that if they are busy on our world, they are not earning somewhere else.”

Jake nodded. Someone at the third tier would have an immense amount of experience in fighting. Even if their skills were limited to this tier, they would have a distinct advantage.

Valtor noted, “If we’re talking by rarity, in this sector, it is nearly an 8:1 ratio as you go up in Tier. Just by virtue of being a Tier 3 guild, they are at least eight times the size and power. Since they are probably holding off on going to the fourth, and we just barely entered the second, it is probably even more drastic than that: they are likely way over the sixty-four times our strength, at over two or three hundred times, currently.”

Jake shook his head. “Alright, so we know they are likely up to no good, wanting us to back down. I’m not doing it. The beastkin deserve their justice and their vengeance, and letting these guys win with us rolling over without us trying is not something I am going to allow. Let’s talk about how to handle this.”

Ophelia and Tanda both beamed, and somehow, Ophelia’s tail feathers were wagging almost along with Tanda’s. Both were clearly for doing the right thing. Morwen and Bedwyr were not here, but they were clear where they stood by making the report in the first place, knowing the danger.

Longwei laughed. “The stones on you, lord Jake! I love it. The brotherhood is with you. You can count on our aid!”

Jake looked at him in question. While he wasn’t disregarding his strength, he just wondered how they could help beyond that.

Yiming chuckled, and seemed to answer his unspoken question. “Having three sides to the battle can be immensely helpful. A lot of the events within the war games have a cooldown. If you are running into difficulty on a world, we can use up their challenge, giving your people some breathing room–in addition to our extra manpower, of course.”

It was important to note that the enemy also had many subguilds and potentially allies. Jake would have to keep this detail in mind.

Jake smiled. “I appreciate that, Yiming. It’s good to know we have helpful allies.” He looked over to Nadessa. “The Elysians did just join this world. I do have some concerns about what our enemies might be able to do here, but I think Valtor can help ensure everyone is ready.”

Nadessa nodded. “Many of us have become clergy of the Celtic Divine and others, and we won’t stand for such blatant evil. We are not ones to shy away from a fight. We have some noncombatants that have now arrived, but if things get challenging here, we can move them.”

Valtor added, “Us Eternum stand ready. Our people, too, will not stand for evil. The Alliance is to stand for good, it is why we joined it.”

Jake nodded. “That settled, any ideas on how we can get the most out of this upcoming call? Meaning, how do we play it? I’m not backing down. Do we try to buy more time by acting a certain way, as we prepare an attack of our own?”

Blood hummed. “It’s a tough thing. I think if you tried to act like you could be won over to their side, that might be the smartest thing to have them play the slow game and win you over. However, there is a big problem, or an obvious problem with that method.”

Jake thought about it for a moment, and slowly nodded. “We’re all Champions. We represent our Divine. If I tried to act like I was a mercenary like them or somebody who just loved to fight for fighting’s sake, they wouldn’t believe I could be a Champion of Hestia–unless they’re not all that bright. In which case, I guess we don’t really need a ploy.”

Fhesiah chuckled. “So, do we look weak and an easy target, or look like a strong plant that needs to be removed from the roots?”

Valtor shook his armored head. “I don’t think the weak and easy target ploy will work, exactly. They should have a recording of our boss battle.”

Jake frowned. “Really?”

Yiming nodded. “It is common, though it requires a decent investment on their part. It is primarily a tool that exists for monitoring for cheating by the enemy by the sector council and the Divine, but guilds or individuals can buy these recordings for CP. It is primarily a research tool, for learning Tartarus boss battles.”

Ophelia’s wings fluttered. “But then our allies can use it against us? This is frustrating.”

Jake asked Valtor, “How much time before our call?”

“We have a little over an hour, he was incessant about the timing in the messages. That if we didn’t answer the call, we would regret it.”

“Alright. I guess we’ll start with the somewhat weak approach, and switch to the strong one depending on what they do or what we learn.”

***

Jake triggered the call, answering it on a special video display. A magical camera was a few meters in front of him, looking over his throne room they hastily created within his Refuge.

His wives were crowded around him on a large throne, wearing their tribal wear. They were in various states of exhaustion, draping themselves around him or each other nearby.

They had used a special appearance item, resetting many of their race’s visage back to high human, valkyrie, or dark lamia. Fhesiah was in her kitsune form.

A man appeared on the screen, and Jake almost thought he was looking through some kind of weird, twisted mirror, for a moment.

He was also surrounded by women, scantily clad, and sitting on a large ostentatious throne. He wore what appeared to be a metallic toga, and his own crown.

The man smiled, and seemed to be taking in Jake’s surroundings. “Greetings, Baron Jake–I am Baron Cassius, Guild Leader of the Obsidian Blades–and direct descendant of Ares. I wanted to congratulate you on your victory, winning the Prime Instance on Highlands.”

As expected, this was one of the major Tier 2 subguilds in the list of those under the Tier 3 Guild–Radiant Glory. This guild was certainly above War, Glory, and Profit in some way, and was definitely calling about their claim.

“Thank you, it is a pleasure, Baron Cassius. Our victory was hard won, but it was an enjoyable battle.” Jake smiled with pride, pulling Fhesiah close to him.

Cassius gestured, and a hologram image or video began playing near him. Jake was nearly shocked, but had been somewhat told to expect this–but it was a video of their battle against the Twin Demons.

“It really was. Our guild was more than impressed with the outcome. Your Prime Instance Battlegroup was strong, and well-organized for a mere Tier 1 guild. Five Champions is an odd choice, but it clearly worked for you. We are definitely interested in talks of your people joining Obsidian Blades.”

Jake tried to look interested. “What would that entail?”

Valtor had prepped Jake on this, but he thought being ignorant about the topic would help give off the appearance they were looking for.

Cassius smiled. “It would come with a number of benefits, for you and all those that join with you. You’re a Baron like myself, which is not taken lightly. You’d be given an extra world or two to govern, and your people would fall under the much larger umbrella that is Radiant Glory. You’d join us on our various Raids and Battlegrounds, earning excessive amounts of Credits and CP.”

Jake made himself look impressed. “What would be my responsibilities to the Guild?”

“You will have some quotas for Adventurers, resources, and CP earnings. All normal things to be expected. On the other hand, you will gain access to our Guild Store, allowing you access to…many pleasures, that I think you just might enjoy.”

Cassius seemed to nod at Jake’s women when he said that, but made the quotas sound like they were not a big deal, but in actuality, they were predatory. If Jake didn’t keep up with his quotas, they would take worlds back from him.

They would force him to behave a certain way, and Jake was starting to see how the mercenary mindset worked.

The guild doctrine for these guilds, including Obsidian Blades, was public. Odds were, there were some unspoken items, like the guild store that Cassius referred to, but otherwise these quotas were something Jake could already see.

Their guild operated on what Jake knew as the cobra effect, a name known from an event in Earth history. The British government had a problem with too many cobras in their colony in India, and decided to put out a bounty for killing them.

It was a well-intentioned incentive that led to perverse consequences–because it led to people breeding cobras for rewards, the numbers of actual cobras increasing as a result of the bounty.

Obsidian Blades would put unrealistic quotas or overly ambitious goals, and this would lead to unethical practices. This was the complete reverse of Jake’s guild, which incentivized seeking the more moral outcome.

“It almost sounds like there’s no reason not to accept. Was there anything else?”

Cassius’s smile froze. “Yes, there was just another small matter. We would like you to withdraw your claim against War, Glory, Profit.”

Tanda’s eyes flashed, and she sat up properly next to Jake, looking angry. Jake petted her ears, causing her to be mollified slightly, continuing with their act.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. One of my lovers is one of the beastkin of Highlands, you see. Is it really that big of a deal? It’s not even a strong Guild, at Tier 1. My Hearthtribe has already passed up their pathetic guild in numbers and strength, and in such a short time.”

Cassius frowned. “You’re right. Unfortunately, there is more to it than that, and our activities at the first Tier require this claim to be dropped. I can offer you two more Tier 1 worlds if you join, and drop the claim.”

Jake appeared to mull it over, the idea of having countless more people under him sounded like it should be a good thing–that he could do more good, help more people.

But in reality, it was a part of their trap. His quota would increase for each world under him, and these would be nearly impossible to meet without unscrupulous behaviors, such as slavery.

Not only that, but these four worlds on offer were probably already pillaged of anything of value, their people likely taxed and ruled with an iron fist to a point of despair. They would be nothing more than a burden, more than likely. It was a sad state of affairs.

“Which four worlds are you offering me?”

Cassius triggered something, and a holographic image appeared when Jake accepted it to be shown in his menu. The Sector Map containing the four worlds was shown, and all four were actually quite far from Highlands.

Even with his new speedy Refuge, it would take Jake a few days to arrive.

Jake was mainly making note of them, to see if there was a way he could help those folks. Two of the four world’s current ownership were under a man named Baron Calix, and the other two were under a man named Baron Avaron.

Jake was hoping they would be under some guilds that wouldn’t be marked as under Radiant Glory, so they could nab more secret targets. War, Glory, Profit, was not even listed as a subguild under Radiant Glory.

It was a native guild, but it was clearly somehow their lackeys. Even Jake’s wives’ minor research was able to tell they were somehow linked, but he supposed that wasn’t actionable proof by this sector council or divine like Tyr.

Perhaps, there was something Radiant Glory didn’t want to come to light if someone looked at them with a fine-toothed comb.

Jake took one more look at his lovely beastkin mate, before he looked back. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Cassius looked pissed, his jaw clenching and a vein bulging on his head, before he sighed. “I had hoped we could be friends, Baron Jake. But you leave me with no choice. If you refuse the carrot, then it will have to be the stick.”

A table of information floated in front of him, some numbers Jake had become familiar with. It showed his Adventurer counts, their contribution earned per member, average levels, and even a sort of battle power estimate.

The estimated battle power was a complicated equation that took various things into consideration, such as level, attributes, affinities, and average skill levels among a person’s top five skills to determine battle effectiveness.

Jake thought there were numerous things not considered that set his people apart. The first and foremost one was their auril heart. The endurance and resilience of the beastkin, once they built their bodies up, was phenomenal.

They could fight a battle to near exhaustion, and just a few minutes later, thanks to Fhesiah’s pills and their connection to the Heart of the World, be ready to go again.

Most users of mana would regain next to none during a long battle. Then, many powerful spells took a time for the unskilled to cast–the beastkin’s auril was always raring to go, a powerful javelin a flick of the wrist away.

This was in addition to things that were difficult to quantify, such as the beastkin’s coordination on the battlefield thanks to their auril hearts, their songs, or the effectiveness of their technology and equipment. Auril items were a lot like heavenly energy, in that they often outperformed items of the same rarity or grade.

But next to Hearthtribe’s Battle Power at the bottom, was a number that raised Jake’s brow.

“You see it? Your battle power is less than a tenth, not even a twentieth, of our subguild’s battle strength at Tier 1. You will be crushed easily in the war games, and we will make you pay for not backing down. Then, when your grace period ends, the difference will be even greater at Tier 2. You will not be able to join any world’s conquest, forced to face the dungeon at best as we kill you and your people repeatedly everywhere they go. So? What will it be, Baron Jake?”

Jake and his girls all stirred awake from their faux fatigue, and stood up. There was one more thing that Valtor told Jake before he left the war room. It was a prediction of Hearthtribe’s future growth in the upcoming years, even if they never recruited a single additional person to their cause–an extremely unlikely proposition, with all their upcoming efforts.

Thousands of people participated in the Dungeon Raid, but there were tens of thousands of warriors all over Highlands still leveling up and becoming auril heroes. The thickness of auril in the air was improving all beastkin at a significant pace, and the Heart of the World’s supply of auril was increasing.

Highlands was a sleeping dragon, and it was still awakening from its slumber. With the curse of the death god ended, nethril warriors would start appearing soon, even without Morwen’s servants. The battle power figure of their enemy wasn’t even close to Valtor’s prediction.

This grace period was a tremendous boon, where they would get the benefits of a higher Tier world while operating at a lower one. Hestia and the Divine had likely paid heavily for this, to allow time for the sleeping dragon to awake.

By the time the grace period was through, there would be no stopping them.

Jake was confident they would completely dominate the first Tier, and he believed in their culture his family had built together. He believed in the power of his family, their brethren and their bonds, and that warriors of a similar mindset would overcome the adversity coming their way.

Jake smiled, and his wives joined him in smiling confidently. “We’re not backing down, Baron Cassius, and neither will the beastkin. They are my family, and anyone who attacks my family will be destroyed by our flames. Those people killed thousands of my brethren, and they will pay for what they have done–one way or another.”

Cassius sneered at Jake. “You will regret this.”

The man triggered something in his Menu, and nearly a dozen guild war declarations arrived at the same time. They were for nearly a dozen guilds like War, Glory, Profit, and many of them were underneath Radiant Glory. A couple of them weren’t under any, and his wives all grinned as Cassius helped supply them with a few more targets.

But Jake shook his head, and smiled. “We won’t, but you will. You missed a couple there.”

Jake then triggered in his own Menu war declarations on several more unlinked native guilds Cassius had left out, much like War, Glory, Profit.

The man became furious. “You’ll pay for this, Baron Jake! I will make sure–”

Jake ended the call, chuckling. His wives all beamed, their hearths beating with pride and anticipation.

Ophelia called her spear out, holding it in a fighting stance. “Looks like we have a lot of training to do. The beastkin will definitely benefit from some additional practice.”

Tanda’s tail was a blur as she beamed. “I’ll help! This should be a lot of fun!”

Blood hummed. “There are so many preparations to make. We must plan our conquest, while keeping in mind the war games.”

Jake nodded. “We’ll work on that with Valtor. There’s much to do.”

Fhesiah nodded. “I was making pills for sale, but soon I will work on wrapping up my work on the auril pill recipes and methods. We will ensure the beastkin have all the power they need.”

Berri said, “And I’ll play with the kids and the spriggons! Everyone’s helping!”

Tanda laughed. “That’s just what you’d do anyway!”

Berri folded her arms. “Hmph. If everything is all fighting all the time, there’s nothing good to live for. Children are our future, and if everything is just war war war, they won’t have hope. They will despair, and they won’t want to join.”

Tanda was shocked into silence for a moment, but Jake clapped his hands. “Alright. Let’s get the beastkin ready, to take on our foes. We’ll go see Valtor.”