Bonded Summoner

The skies were blue and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, as Jake rode on his pterodactyl. Jasmina swam in the water beneath them at an impressive pace, searching the water with echolocation.

Despite it being winter near Cascadia, Jake was traveling even further to the south, by the equator. The weather was warm, and he was having a blast exploring the world of Highlands.

It had been a few days since their Winter’s Giving celebration, and Jake had already collected several templates. When a creature or beast was friendly and willing, scanning them did not take overly long–just a few minutes.

Unfortunately, scanning a complex intelligent humanoid did take a long time. Jake would need hours in total to scan one of the Highlands beastkin. Thankfully, he could split this up into several sessions with an individual.

He had scanned Roxo, who was helpful to give up his time. Many of the Hearthtribe elites that had joined for the Prime Instance were busy, doing one of two things.

Making war, or making babies.

When the winter front came in, it was like an instinct of the beastkin to have a child. It appeared their normal pregnancy period would cause them to give birth in late spring and early summer.

Of course, when Jake contacted Roxo and Darris who hadn’t yet left to join their Conquest and PvP activities, they didn’t tell Jake they were making babies. They said they were doing their duty, which, Jake was thankful for.

He had done his duty too.

Suddenly, Jasmina felt a spark of alarm, a fear of something, and Jake felt something shift in the distance.

Unable to protect her entire body, he still covered her upper body with a Barrier as he saw a tentacle erupt from the water like a spear, covered in auril. The barrier held and deflected the attacking limb with a burst of flame searing into it, but it quickly twisted and went toward her unprotected snake-fish body.

Jasmina’s tuning fork staff vibrated as she sang a discordant note, causing the oncoming tentacle to freeze in motion. Continuing her song, she retreated toward Jake with haste, him having changed his course with the pterodactyl. He leaped down to fly directly at her in his flight suit, descending rapidly.

What Jake saw with his Umbral Gaze, his new bloodline ability, was surprising. It was a giant octopus, that utilized the gray auril much like Davonius, the chameleon beastkin shaman of Bastet. It was covered in an armor-like coral that shifted along with it, making it difficult to detect.

The creature continued toward Jasmina, its body moving closer after its prey. Jasmina then controlled the water, slowing its approach.

Until Jake’s Aura washed over the creature. It froze once more as it detected something it couldn’t understand, and while Jake’s Hearthian Presence was welcoming to most creatures, it was still a somewhat alien feeling to them.

Jake created a runic platform where he landed next to Jasmina, then provided a peace offering. Dumping the meat of a giant crab out of his Storage Ring and into the water, the large chunks of meat creating large splashes of water. He had a whole lot where that came from. In addition to capturing various templates, he was also hunting auril beasts and collecting meat.

His pregnant wives’ appetite was insatiable, and not just the monstrous one.

The octopus was large and tentacles as long as a semi truck, but it wasn’t at the level of a boss. Jake sent to Jasmina to sing a song of calming, to try to reduce the creature’s aggressiveness.

It immediately sensed the crab’s flesh in the water, snatching large pieces of it with its large tendrils and bringing it back to its beak. Jake pushed his Aura further, trying to make himself feel like less of a threat, and more of a friend.

The creature started ignoring Jake, and continued eating his peace offering. Thus, Jake began using his Enhanced Capture Template.

Soothing lights gathered around the creature, and it just happily enjoyed its offered meal, the lights not bothering it at all. Jake even dumped a school of fish he captured, allowing him a little more time to get the job done. The larger, complex creature took a bit of time, the beast of the sea having three auril hearts.

Its meal completed and its hunger sated, the octopus covered itself with its gray auril, and disappeared as it returned to the depths. Luckily, Jake had finished the job in time.

Jasmina rose from the water, her fish-snake body treading water to bring her humanoid body close to Jake.

He patted her snout and ran his fingers down and along her neck, which he could tell she liked. “Nice work, Jasmina. That was scary for a moment, huh, girl?”

She nodded, but he could tell from their bond that she hadn’t been overly worried. Now that Jake had entered the second Tier, he was like a god living among mortals as he traveled throughout Highlands.

His wife’s teasing voice entered his mind, [Are you almost done playing with that other woman, husband? Remember, do not have too much fun–if you do, I better be there to watch. You said you wanted to be here when I used that dao treasure. It’s almost time.]

The next voice sounded a little angry. [H-How could you waste such a yummy crab like that? That was for the baby! And Me! And Blood! …Lia and Tanda could have had a little, too.]

Jake laughed. He guessed that if he ever became a god in truth, nothing would change back at home. “I can collect another one, not to worry. I’ll be back shortly.”

***

Jake arrived back at the Refuge through his portal, depositing Jasmina in her sanctuary. He found all his wives, and his future wife, busy in his living room.

Avalara, Tanda, and Ophelia, were working on ecology planning. The world was still growing, and shifting, and Avalara had much control over this. Their gaming table had a hologram above it, with the world of Highlands pictured, along with many other areas zoomed in. The girls were gathered around it with thoughtful looks, but smiled at him as he entered.

Tanda bounded toward him, her black wolf tail wagging as she collided with him. She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. “Did you enjoy your hunt, my mate?”

Jake nodded, returning her tight hug. “I did. The octopus was a welcome find, but I found a few other useful creatures, too. If we ever have to fight in the water, I’ll have quite a bit of confidence. What’s all this?”

Ophelia chuckled from the table, her golden wings fluttering and her blue eyes looking on at Jake with a bit of mirth. “We’re still planning things out. While building something like Berri’s precious castle is easy, projecting the world’s growth along with its people and species’ movements to place it in a location that matters, and continues to matter, is a lot more complicated.”

Avalara added with her calm voice, “It’s not just that, but all the immigrants. Valtor predicts we’ll have hundreds of thousands over the next several years. Many are desiring to live on the world of Hestia’s Champion, along with our special environment. If not for him, I’d be a little lost on how to predict this at all.”

Jake looked on at the holograms, trying to get a feel for what they were working on.

The odd geography of Highlands with the many plateaus was interesting and effective for protecting the beastkin from Tartarus and the wildlife, but the game would change in the second Tier.

Many of their enemies would be capable of flight or scaling walls with ease, and as Jake understood it, the flat-footed dinosaurs of Highlands incapable of climbing would no longer have this problem at the second Tier.

Not only would they be more capable of controlling their vines and more in-tune with the auril energy, but the creatures would also evolve and change somewhat as they ascended.

Jake frowned in thought. “The immigration issue is a challenging one, and something important for us to get right the first time. We cannot just fit infinite people into our major cities–there is only so much space, auril, and mana to go around. That means establishing more cities and villages. More to build and protect, but even that has limits.”

He had been spending some time reading the many books his master, Zhuge Liang, had recommended. Alliance Kingdom planning was one of the several topics outlined, the skilled statesman from Ancient China providing a detailed summary of his personal lessons learned during his second Tier.

Avalara nodded, and gestured to the hologram of the world. It shifted its representation from geography, to a dizzying array of lines that encompassed the globe. Jake noticed that many of the thicker lines certainly followed mountain ranges, rivers, and oceans, matching the previous map.

The living world core smiled with pride. “My core draws in vast energies from the cosmos, and through the connection with the beastkin and the cycle of life and death of the world, generates mana and auril and sends it along the channels. The world’s air and water currents carry this life energy both to and from my core, almost like a body’s circulatory system.”

She pointed at a few locations, showing where energy converged–Jake knew at least five of the brightest points completely coincided with the major cities of the current world. These were currently the brightest of all, though there were a few that could compete with those.

Complete with those in the ocean and dotting around the entire world, there were nearly two dozen others that were nearly the same size. Then numerous of much smaller qualities dotted the landscape.

Avalara continued, “These locations, nexus points, are perfect for cities, but some require much more effort for me to alter and prepare, and we are trying to find a balance between nature and civilization. Not only that, but new conflicts with Tartarus will require new entrances to the dungeon. Some of these nexus points must remain open for those purposes.”

Tanda smiled. “There’s really so much room for growth! But eventually, there will come a time where people must live in places that are suboptimal, or the cities will become overcrowded.”

Jake nodded. “It will be some time, but there will eventually be a separation between those that have, and those that don’t, even here on Highlands. Building a world and kingdom is a challenging task, and even the divine’s worlds have flaws. Creating a utopia is an impossibility, but I think as long as there is opportunity for success and the presence of safety and stability, people will continue to grow.”

He smiled at each of the girls and added, “I’m thankful I have my queens to aid me in this. I’m looking forward to how our kingdom, world and people mature, together.”

Jake received a hug and a kiss from each of his girls, before he headed over to see what his echidna wife was doing.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Bloodberri was in the kitchen, cooking up a storm–while also working in front of some figures of their own provided by Amara, the Eternum magical tome woman. Of course, she was also somehow managing to snack between actions, the pregnant chimeral girl constantly requiring sustenance.

Berri was busy with her work in creating an orphanage and school. The beastkin had little to no need for an orphanage, their families interconnected to the point where any children orphaned would almost always find a home with a relative.

Many of the war torn beastkin families adopted, an extra mouth to feed and song to protect being an easy thing for them. However, the Elysians had mass migrated, and then various races had started to join the world of Highlands now that it was no longer Contested.

Thus, they were creating a multiversal orphanage. It would pay transit fees to bring children needing a home and family to this world, where they would stay until they found a new home. Whether they found a home or not, they’d be cared for and be provided schooling, helping prepare them for their lives.

“Jakey!”

The many cooking implements stopped, and Jake was wrapped up in her snake body in a blur, her smiling face brought closer to his own.

Berri hummed in pleasure as she hugged him tightly, “Mmm…mwah!” And kissed him on the cheek. “Welcome back, daddy Jake!”

Jake chuckled, hugging his wife’s snake body back with a tight hug. He had let himself be captured, and while his monstrous wife was strong, he was no slouch either.

Berri’s eyes narrowed in happiness, as Jake added, “It’s good to be home. As always, I’ve brought gifts.”

“Oh, goody! I–We, were getting so hungry! This little one is going to be so strong, I just know it!”

Berri rubbed her budding belly. Despite it only being about two weeks, she was already showing–something that normally took human women nearly four to five months. At the same time–it was just a tiny bump–on her immense body.

Without a word, Jake transferred the many spoils into the various bracelets in the kitchen–along with a surprise. Jake had not been completely idle, or focused on his travels. In addition to doing enchanting on the go, he had also been cooking with his hearth’s flames.

In their kitchen, heating up any of these efforts would only take seconds, and they would be ready to eat, both piping hot and absolutely perfect, like they had just finished cooking for the first time.

Blood and Berri looked at the many bracelets with a bit of hunger. Something within them stirred, and it really felt like Jake was in the room with a wild beast.

Blood smiled with him, her golden serpentine eyes meeting his. “Thank you, milord. You’re truly taking care of us, in our time of need. Oh! We did make something for you, too.”

She opened the oven with her telekinesis, and floated a tray of his favorite–chocolate chip cookies.

Jake chuckled as Blood floated one of the cookies directly into his mouth for a bite. The hot cookie was soft and gooey, the chocolaty goodness giving him a nostalgic pleasure. If not for her telekinesis, the cookie would have crumbled into dozens of pieces trying to pick it up, the cookie far too hot. With his superhuman body, they were just perfect.

It also gave him a thankful feeling–his wives, even in their own hunger, had thought of him. After all, this tray of cookies were like little coins of sugar to them, providing little sustenance at all.

“Thanks for thinking of me. Of course, these are my important first steps as being a father–providing for the little ones.”

Berri smiled. “Nope! Your first step was on our wedding night, where you filled us! Remember? In my–” She was pointing to her mouth, as Jake chuckled, and interrupted.

“How could I forget?” He kissed her cheek, and willed her to relax her tail, dropping him onto the ground. He looked over all the tabled numerical figures, which held cost and size projections for their orphanage. “Everything going well here?”

Blood waved her hand, and a few more diagrams appeared above the table. Blood was about to speak, but when he saw one of the images, he laughed.

“Don’t tell me Berri wants that coliseum for her baseball?”

Berri bristled. “W-Why not! They already have two others, why can’t I have just one?”

She pouted, and Blood cleared her throat. “Warrior Brotherhood and Seamus are looking to instead expand the others–the fixture that generates the monsters and environments is better to just upgrade a single one rather than several, at least for now. I think the coliseum for a sports and martial arts complex is a great idea.”

Jake looked over the other buildings and figures, and noticed something else. “What are these income projections? We’re going to be working these orphans?”

Blood chuckled. “I suppose for someone with Earth sensibilities, they will see this as a terrible thing. This is not going to be exclusive to the orphanage, and is a normal part of the school. Alliance schooling is simply different than that from Earth, and we are going to push two paths that should match the lifestyle of someone who lives on Alliance worlds from an early age–after the grade school level.”

Berri took over their body and features, waving at the two different paths, “Sports, and Crafting!”

Blood continued, “Of course, scholarly pursuits and business, along with pure art or music are important too, but the goal will be for each child to choose one or more of these two paths in addition to that. As Faye would say, conflict is the truth of our multiverse, and to not be prepared means to do a disservice to yourself, and for us to choose something else over that would be the same.”

Jake nodded. “And I take it the sports are still a little more…martial focused than just sports? And then, we’re somehow earning an income from all these activities, to pay for them?”

Berri nodded. “That’s right! And, both the sports and the crafting can earn money, so it’s win, win, win!”

Blood smiled. “She’s right. While we may be able to fund all of these efforts with altruism and philanthropy, the children themselves will benefit from becoming self-sufficient instead, earning their own way, and forming a sense of comradery in working toward these goals. It is only a mandatory two hours per day at the middle or junior high school level, but ramps up to four at the high school level.”

She continued, “It’s at those times that most primary studies in the Alliance shift towards adventuring and personal magical progression among those gifted as well. Ours will be no different.”

Jake understood the latter was hardly different from most work release programs on Earth, though often the four hours or more of early release was something reserved for seniors ready to leave for the workforce or college, and more.

The only thing different here was that selecting one of the two paths was a mandatory part of the curriculum. Jake also understood that many races were completely different, and might arrive at these ages for being able to utilize magic sooner or later than others.

“I like what you girls are coming up with. I suppose the larger challenge here, in my eyes, is the difficulty in making money from the children’s sports and martial arts–magical or not. Adults who have money are often not that interested in seeing other children compete, let alone paying to watch or enjoy–most are just there to watch their own kids.”

Blood nodded. “I think for now we’ll have a unique product that those in the multiverse might be interested in, but it might not scale all that well. Berri is definitely pushing to sell all sorts of memorabilia for the children’s parents, as well as making money off of food sales in the coliseum. There is much to learn and try here, to find profitability will be a moving target–but Mysticus and Amara are helping out with their calculations, so we have a great foundation.”

Jake raised his brow at that. The odd, unliving magical abacus was somehow using its mystical calculations to help them predict aspects like that. With that kind of help, their success seemed plausible to him.

He once again gave them his love and received theirs, and teleported to his cultivator wife’s lair, knowing Fhesiah was ready for him. He hurriedly left because his wives were voracious. Bloodberri was hungry, but they didn’t like to feast in front of him.

He had no problem with it as it was necessary, but she was eating a whole cow worth of food in minutes, and was becoming bashful at the act. Her stomach was magical and quickly broke down all food rapidly, bones and all.

Because of that, she had little need for chewing besides for her own enjoyment and fitting the food in her large mouth. It was an odd thing to watch her swallow large pieces of meat and bones after taking bites and chewing very little–though he suspected, when he wasn’t around to watch, she was probably going a bit further than even that.

Arriving in Fhesiah’s cultivation chamber, the room was currently a bit larger than he was used to. It had to be increased in size, just to fit the giant painting that sat in the back.

Formations–magical lines and glyphs etched throughout the room–carried mystical energies, following some heavenly laws that Jake couldn’t understand. Fhesiah’s proxy hearth rested within the wall, sending Qi into the formations, the powerful energies being drawn from their Divine Item.

Fhesiah sat on what looked like a prayer mat, but for cultivation. Dressed in her mother’s robes, she was in her kitsune form, her three lustrous purple fox tails waving high behind her. She was scanning over the contents of scrolls and crystals, and she had done much to prepare herself for this moment.

The Qi in the room was extremely dense, pushing what was possible for them to collect and provide, and even withstand, in the second Tier. A non cultivator of the first Tier would almost immediately be wracked in pain, the energies like poison to their bodies.

This was even though much of it was heading toward the cultivation mat.

What Fhesiah needed to do was something Jake didn’t fully understand. Of course, he’d given quite a bit of effort to doing so, reading numerous books on the topic and spending hours on end in discussion with his cultivator wife.

A cultivator’s Dao, their Path, was simply something hard for him to firmly grasp with his mind, as he couldn’t experience it for himself beyond feeling the effects of his wife’s on the world.

Fhesiah smiled at him, her emotions filled with love and respect carrying over their strong bond. “I’m not so sure of that anymore, husband. Those divine sparks have altered your body in a manner that, in many ways, are far beyond what a cultivator could achieve, merging themselves with the heavens at this Tier. Your Presence and Aura are approaching a level of a cultivator’s Dao domain on their own.”

Jake sat next to her, her tails enveloping him as he wrapped one arm around her waist. His woman was brimming with Qi at the moment, a vast quantity of saturation of the energy.

As she was not making it her own, this was something that should only be temporary. Spending too long with this much Qi in her body would eventually be like poison, but he knew this short duration would be fine.

He returned her smile, his own feelings for his lovely sage causing their hearths to connect once more. Their warmth and love they had for each other carried over their bond. It also ignited his wife’s passion, but she dutifully fought this rather than jumping him. She had spent much preparation for this moment.

“Who knows what the future holds. I’m just happy I can witness this special moment for you. I’m a bit worried about your journey, but I have confidence in you and us.”

Jake was somewhat referring to their bond. Despite her leaving and entering a special Battleground, Jake thought there would still be some opportunity for him to help her, or at the very least, stay in touch.

Fhesiah turned back to the painting, the giant theatrical scene of a giant kitsune and its family facing off against a giant… carnivorous plant monster. The energy within the room was immense, and on some level, the painting actually looked and felt alive.

The kitsune flames and their many tails almost danced as he moved the focus of his vision around, and the plant’s many maws seemed to ooze acidic drool as their tendrils swirled. There was nearly a wall of vines headed toward the kitsune, with many lances or spears of tendrils advancing.

It felt like there was little hope of either side coming out unscathed. Originally, Jake had felt like the plant monster was the villain or such when he had first viewed it.

Now he had an odd feeling, like it was no longer so clear. The kitsunes, even the younger ones that were thought to be being protected at first, had an almost malicious, or feral glint in their eyes.

Fhesiah’s expression became serious, her lips forming a thin line. “Conflict is Heavenly Law, as I always told you, husband. Good will is a luxury of the strong, for being weak is a sin or evil of its own that will lead to death and destruction. As the strong, it is our duty to grasp power, to take it when necessary in conflict–for if we are too weak, those lacking in benevolence and duty will send our kingdom, everything we care about and love, crashing down.”

It was a sobering thought. In Fhesiah’s world of cultivators, there was a thin, almost nonexistent line between those that were good and evil. Even pillars of righteousness and good likely committed their own crimes and atrocities on their path to power.

It was to the point where attacking another entity for power could almost be considered an act of self-defense, the limited resources for ascension contested and fought for. Cultivators had created a culture where might made right, and it took some mental gymnastics to empathize with, but Jake at least understood it.

Despite the dark tone of Fhesiah’s warning, Jake couldn’t help but give off a feral smile. In a way, he was thankful for their great enemy–Tartarus.

It was thanks to this wicked enemy, along with the Framework, that he would probably never have to choose to destroy someone or something undeserving in his path to power. There was no moral quandary for him to face, no villainous act he would ever have to perform for the good of his family and kingdom.

He only needed to defeat a singular, perfectly villainous entity, and the Framework would grant him reward after reward.

Twisted enemy guilds were muddying the waters, but their intentions were clear. They were serving the enemy whether they understood this or not, and they were deserving of punishment. Hearthtribe would sharpen themselves in these conflicts, and take everything from these greedy wolves wearing sheep’s clothing.

Fhesiah nodded at Jake’s thoughts, their entire family’s matching. It was with those thoughts and more, that she retrieved her Dao treasure from her Storage Ring. Brimming with Source energy, the ornate vial had a special weight on the air itself, the dense Qi in the room rushing toward it.

This Source energy was supposed to be like Dao stem-cells. As Fhesiah harmonized her spirit with the heavens and took on these truths, the Source energy would join hers and elevate her epiphany. It would assist her with taking on these truths and becoming one with them.

It was time.