Bonded Summoner

After their coupling, Ava and Jake relaxed in the pool in the shimmering grotto for a time. The other girls joined to congratulate her once more, and each of the girls took turns relaxing and getting pampered by Jake.

Ophelia did enjoy him brushing her hair, and running his hands through her feathers. She had changed her hair to platinum blonde, a color very close to her original white.

Jake and Ava’s bond had reached the fifth level: Summoner’s Bond Level 5: Love. However, when they attempted to form their Hearth bond, it felt like he couldn’t. He didn’t think it was because of them not being willing–it was like something in him was missing.

Ophelia hummed. “Maybe it’s because Fhesiah isn’t here, or, because she hasn’t entered the second Tier? Whatever Hestia did with her to form the Hearthian Bond is delayed, right?”

Ava was sitting on the rock next to them. She closed her eyes, and he could feel her inspecting their bond. She had a better understanding of the soul than he himself did, though Fhesiah was probably their expert. His sensory was getting better by the day, and soon his focus would be on understanding this a bit better.

Still, there was a major difficulty in his understanding. How could he know what was wrong, when he didn’t know what it was supposed to look like? His soul had changed significantly when he reached the second Tier. It resided somewhere in his Hearth core, and his ability to see it or sense it directly was limited.

Ava noted, “I do think there is something missing here. Right now, your soul almost resembles a hazy starfish. But one arm looks and feels…unfinished.”

Jake did his best to feel with his mana sensory, and observe with his Umbral Gaze what she meant.

Feeling around a bit and following the lines of his bonds with his wives, he eventually found what he thought she meant.

She giggled, her ears wiggling up and down. “It’s no problem at all, my love. It is wonderful that you have such a bond for us to be so close, and to empower one another. However, I am more than happy with what we have for now.”

Next, Tanda pushed him into brushing her yet again, and then he scrubbed and oiled Bloodberri’s scales. Now having some even on her arms and some retractable claws to sharpen, she had changed quite a bit.

Feeling her hands, despite them being scaled, felt similar enough to a normal woman’s hands–just smoother and more firm, lacking the softness. She was always sturdy with her constitution, but he was thankful little had truly changed.

He did pamper Ava as well, and she was happy to have her ears and tail fluffed with the brush. Once all the girls were done, they all pampered him in return. He received an amazing massage where each of the girls worked on a limb or his back and shoulders.

Having been well groomed and relaxed, they eventually returned to their Refuge, where it was time to prepare for their recruitment run. Getting dressed in their altered Champion clothes, they prepared to meet various leaders.

Jake was now the planetary ruler of the world, and Hearthtribe was a rapidly growing guild. On the other hand, it also had enemies. It could be difficult to recruit people at such a time.

Blood grinned at his thoughts. “Now is the perfect time to recruit. It is at these difficult times that when we have people join, we know they have mettle in them. That they won’t just give up when the going gets tough in the future.”

Jake saw value in this line of thought. “You’re right. Those willing to join now are either spies, or those that will become the most loyal and valuable to our guild.”

Ophelia noted, “Spies are a concern, but Valtor is confident with his information control. With Mysticus and Zorina, they can decide if foul play is involved at any point, and even set up a trap.”

Tanda beamed. “So far, Hearthtribe is doing fantastic! Out of the many worlds we have moved to influence the war, only two have we suffered major setbacks. Instead, we’re the one’s punishing them, and making a big impact!”

Berri was snacking on a large muckbill, enjoying her blissful revenge, and the taste. “Let’s not forget to do some good stuff for people too! I wanna go to the orphanage, to meet all the cute kids of this world. That was one of the reasons you became Champion too, wasn’t it?”

Jake smiled at Berri, “The war is important, but the goal of Hearthtribe is to protect and empower families. Let’s see if there are some ways for us to both directly and indirectly do that while we’re there.”

Throughout the week, they used the portals to travel throughout the many nations of the Concordia Republic, an alliance of nations that formed much of the world’s powers. The other nations were little more than city states, refusing to join their alliance.

Jake took turns meeting leaders with different girls at his side. Berri and Blood both worked in orphanages and hospitals. Despite having healing magic, not every ailment was easy to cure in the first Tier–for those that hadn’t joined the Framework, to become warriors.

Part of becoming like a video game character or avatar had this advantage, that even minor heal effects could eventually make someone hale and whole. Joining the Framework to be healed had an additional cost, one that many Tier 0 or 1 people could not afford.

Few healers could compete with the Arch Cleric, and she healed many of those with lost limbs or magical illnesses with her holy light. Jake, Ophelia, Avalara and Tanda each spent some time doing the same, as the world had a population in the tens of millions, with dozens upon dozens of hospitals.

Jake was finishing meeting one of the leaders, when he felt a stirring from a location he didn’t expect: his familiar. Ira was starting to wake up. Teleporting home, Ophelia was the first to arrive with him.

When the crystal shattered, Ira’s body streamed out of the void like a snake exiting a hole in the ground. The changes to Ira were a surprise: it now had four clawed limbs, with several streamers running down its black body, like whiskers.

Each stream matched the flames of their family. Ira now looked like an eastern dragon, with deadly claws to match. His familiar had grown in size, and Jake thought Ira was already at the peak of the first Tier.

Ophelia beamed. “Wow! You look really awesome now, Ira!”

Jake nodded. “You really do. Thanks for your help, my friend. Hestia said you helped us in our time of need, risking yourself. I can’t ask for a better protector.”

Ira wrapped around Jake and Ophelia, and gave them both a hug.

A feeling of pride emanated from Ira, and Jake thought it understood his words and their meaning even better now–and was also observing them with newfound intelligence.

“Oh! You think Ira can learn to talk, soon? That’s wonderful. The Framework will likely help Ira learn, as it focuses on it. After all, it provides translations.”

With Ira’s return, Jake felt a lot better about looking for anything strange regarding the betrayers. Thus, he scheduled a surprise visit to each of the city states. In truth, he didn’t think he would find overly much. Tartarus had various special means, and for all they knew, it simply used spirit readers or some kind of special advantage that was unique to the world.

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If Tartarus was able to tap into the song of the world on Highlands for example, it would have been able to counter all of the beastkin’s movements.

Of course, one of the biggest suspects was the dark elves and lamia races–they would visit them first, and soon.

***

Recalling a wisp of her consciousness, Bree ended her projection with a satisfied sigh, they were useless for battle, but they still had their purposes. She had finished giving away much of her earned divinity, and had set made sure her sprawling list of beast provinces was protected for her future time away.

She would have to give up on this body, at least for now. It was a shame, but if she wanted to grow alongside her mate and pack, it was something that had to be done.

Her mind was back to the paradise of Savage Eden, her mother’s massive home world. Despite her shared body being the size of a small world, it was tiny compared to the world’s vastness. Her sisters and herself were resting in a gigantic mountain cave, recuperating from her mother’s work to separate them.

A voice interrupted her calm, angry barking filling her ears. “What do you seem so happy about?! You grow weaker by the day, sister. Just why are you so stubborn about this path, all for this weak male?” Isolyn’s irritation had led to anger over the past few months.

Bree snorted. “And why must you be so stubborn? Mother encourages it, why can’t you accept that I have made my choice? Just a little longer, and you can have nothing to do with me.”

Ainora’s response was more calm, “We worry for you, sister. Your leaving us… it has us concerned for your safety, your future. That you discard so much of your strength…”

Bree replied, “I discard my strength for now. I shall rebuild myself anew, earning my strength once more–along with my mate and his pack.”

Ainora hissed at the mention of the word, mate. “You have to understand how difficult this is for us, that you choose such a weak human. He only just recently reached the second Tier. I could understand if he was a demigod, but didn’t we all agree to only choose those which could defeat us?”

Bree nearly rolled her eyes. While that was true, they were quite the old maids already thanks to this policy already. And it was ridiculous. How was any male to win when it was always three versus one?

Isolyn’s voice became haughty, “Yeah–I’m not buying it. Are you sure the void child really defeated you? Maybe you were just in heat, ready to bend over for the next male that came along? That mark doesn’t look so strong at all–just look at it.” Her power stirred, and Bree immediately knew what she was going to do.

“Why, it looks like just a little nudge, and it might just unravel.”

Isolyn’s magic and will approached their mark, like a grasping claw near Bree’s soul. With a roar, Bree covered the mark with her will, and breathed flame right in her icy sister’s face. Isolyn had been expecting this of course, blocking with her own icy breath. But she hadn’t been expecting that Bree would lash out and bite deeply into her ear, tearing off some off her flesh.

“Ow–that hurt! How dare you!”

Of course, Bree’s mouth had to cross right in front of Ainora’s face to accomplish that, so Bree could only go so far in her attack lest she leave herself open to her. Isolyn’s ear would heal soon enough, besides.

“Enough!” Ainora’s eyes flashed, “Remember mother’s resolution. Leave her precious mark alone.”

Isolyn huffed. “Hmph. Fine. I still think if this male was worthy, you wouldn’t have to protect his mark and have to feed it to keep it from unraveling. It’s proof that he caught you in a moment of weakness, and while you were thoroughly limited at that. This was not what we agreed upon for our choice of a mate and you know it.”

Ainora snorted. “At the first Tier, at that. Could you really call that a true contest? Millions die each day at that level of arena. Will this void child ever even make it to a level of strength that actually matters? Few ever reach the third tier, let alone the fourth.”

“That may be so. But that he won shows his potential. Had you been in my position, you may have lost too.”

Isolyn scoffed. “It is pointless to think about this, as you know that contest is no longer possible.”

“And yet, I lost. What puts you above me, that you think it couldn’t happen to you?”

Ainora’s eyes flashed, and she grinned. Bree could tell she was up to no good–after all, Bree would get the same look in her eyes when she would do the same.

“You might be right. How about this, my dear sister? If you believe it so, then how about you bring him to challenge one of our vessels? Sector 87, wasn’t it? We could play a game–have a wager.”

Bree’s eyes narrowed. Paying the Price to enter one of their own vessels to enter the sector would be costly. The Framework and Tartarus both understood the advantage from higher beings entering the contest, even if it was with a restricted vessel or Avatar. It was for this reason that very few demi-divine or Divine ever entered a frontier sector–at least until the final stages.

This act moved her. While Bree was willing to do the same for her sisters, even if they brought her back, the cost would be substantial. Of course, it would be expensive to enter to earn the prize of a frontier sector–the natives were given an inherent advantage.

“You would pay the Price to enter, just to face him? What is your wager?”

Ainora’s look at her was meaningful, and her, Bree able to feel the care in her voice, “It’s just the second Tier, isn’t it? It will be costly, but as much as we fight, you are important to us, sister. Then, it has been a long time since we fought in a proper war, hasn’t it? As to the wager, it’s nothing special. If he fails to defeat us, you’ll simply give up on him and return to where you belong–by our side.”

Bree snorted. “For it to be a wager, it means he must get something for victory. What does he gain when he wins?”

Isolyn was pissed, her eyes narrowed in anger, her dinodog lips furled back, and she growled. “When? You mean if. I’m not sure I agree to pay this Price. After all, that mark looks like it’s almost past the point of no return anyway. This conversation is pointless, it won’t be long before it simply unravels on its own–then what, you won’t even be able to enter unless you pay the price yourself. With what you just spent, do you even have enough? You have a year at most, despite your pitiful efforts.”

Bree couldn’t help but feel ashamed. Isolyn was right–Bree had been reinforcing the mark, but she could only replace the more fiery energies contained within, using her own nascent divinity as a filler. The other energies within the mark were falling apart from the strain, and it was only a matter of time.

On top of that, her mind and soul were nearly separated from their shared body as a result of Mother’s help, and Bree would soon need a new vessel. Her head on their cerberus dino body would slumber, and her sisters would be stuck with a near lifeless head on their shoulders. Knowing them, they just might find some way to make use of it, despite the difficulty.

Her mate’s mark would soon unravel, but she could feel there was a problem with renewing and strengthening it.

Jake was not yet ready. Something happened when he reached the second Tier, and his soul was unable to form a new connection to a mind and soul like hers, at least not yet. She had eavesdropped on Jake’s conversations somewhat, and it appeared the world core may have joined his pack.

Bree grinned, wondering if this particular detail might interest her sisters. Something as rare as having a sapient world core as a mate might be enough to interest them. Not every sector even had one because they were so rare.

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter–they were only interested in personal strength. After all, Bree had been the same before.

Ainora had been pondering for a moment. “What are you grinning about? If he wins, we’ll bless your union. We’ll even go so far as fighting as allies, doing everything in our power to help him win the War Trial–even fighting alongside his armies if we must. Of course, our beast avatars will be quite formidable, a valuable asset for any budding kingdom.”

Bree narrowed her eyes. They had never served in another army, except for mother’s. They worked ‘alone’, refusing to team up with others. The only reason they didn’t mind fighting using Jake’s mana constructs was because it was like playing with puppets.

It was completely for fun, it had nothing to do with the war or service. It was why Bree herself had refused to clean up those corpses that day.

Still, Bree saw this as an opportunity. While Isolyn and Ainora were limiting the reward to just their aid, she knew just witnessing her mate for themselves would change their minds, and they would be fighting to join his pack soon after.

Bree asked, “What are the specifics? Depending on the terms, I’m in agreement.”

The three discussed for a time, and an agreement was made. Now, she had to hope that Jake could help her with her vessel in time. If successful, they could meet at one of the many beast realms of Sector 87 and have their bout–whenever Jake was ready.

She would give him a little more time to resolve whatever issue he was having, then find a way to broach the discussion. After all, she would be completely unable to help him with this type of issue until she had a new vessel, the Framework restricting all her guidance until she sealed her knowledge and memories properly.