it was sometime in the night when I woke up. I found the others laying down around me and immediately invested time into meditating.
I was in a short time of meditation that my master finally spoke.
" Something is off..."
" What do you mean master?"
" My estimation was off. but it was off in a good way, I guess."
" Master what do you know about a man in a dark room."
I felt my heart pinch as she spoke. I knew my next words were vital as to living or dying.
" When I went into a sleep, I was pulled into a soul dream realm? it called it that the thing that said he would heal me for free. also told me that if I asked for help, it would come at a price. it hinted at some other things, but the figure in the room with us was oddly familiar..."
my master had no answer as the silence carried on. I just continued to meditate silently.
" This'll... I need to rest for a bit. Don't bother me!"
when she finished those words, I felt a pulse as a wall shut her off from me. she was hidden from even me!? which brought me down, but I tried not to let it bother me too much. I felt that we were in motion as the carriage we were in made a few creaks. I heard a conversation from two men. I was going to pull my special attack when I heard him say my name.
" Silver, correct? why don't you come out and join us? I'll be pulling over up here a bit."
I was given a shock from the situation here.
It wasn't long before the carriage actually stopped when I exited the carriage it was the older men from earlier. both men had deep looks they looked defeated? the man called CoCo stretched and stood to his full height, so I had to look up at him, noticing the other man who started the conversation.
" Welp, no need to hold back. I will update you the next time I see you. although this is no goodbye. plan for the worst, and expect nothing less than that! I have some terrible luck in these things. I hope you have a safe travel friend. don't spend too long out here before going home. Your granddaughter may find it interesting that she has new siblings, it seems..."
" I know it's not exactly going to please her mother nor her, but if my worst fears come to fruition, that will be the least of my worries that would kill me."
they both had a laugh sort of ignoring me as I sat there watching them. the man called kiki took a step into the sky as the flames around his feet turned into jets he took off, making a cracking sound as he disappeared from sight quickly into the rising dawn.
" I should probably give you an explanation, right?"
" About what, sir."
" About why I am taking you with me."
" You already told me I am indebted to you. and I will not go back on that word, sir."
" No. young man, let me explain the relationship between you and I. You call me father from now on, from here on out. I am adopting you and those kids. right now, we are outside of a mountain range with a race of Lycanths. we are going to be here for about a year or so before we head back to the kingdom of Amethyst Raven. while we are here, you will go through the awakening of kin. linking to one of these alpha lycan women, they will be your betrothed. the girl will marry my youngest grandchild. those two will become mage knights until they reach Duke and dutchess status. am I clear?"
he stated, so concisely, my body shivered as his hand passed my shoulder he pointed at a compartment.
" Open that."
doing what he said, I opened the compartment on the side of the carriage, finding a small Black box.
" Mm, yep, that's yours first before you open that. Let me do a bit of fishing. oh, and I will speak to that master of yours in due time, but let her rest for now she has expended a good amount of her ether. going dormant for now is okay as we will find troubles come the awakening of kin."
he flicked his hand as a small Black orb formed. The smoke began to form around that orb as it clad its orb in bones, growing from the center as clean and white as a bone could get struck brightly around that black orb. it's eye sockets pulsed as a dark purple color flame shot from them, making it seem eerie as if staring into you.
the skeleton man was dressed in an archers outfit with a handy bow, although it had no arrows. I guess it doesn't need them as it aimed to pull the black energy string. a purple colored arrow formed with a swunk it flew, splicing the air hitting a tree with a heavy thud. below it was a lizard that was stuck to the tree narrowly missed by the arrow.
it wiggled hard, but the arrow did not show signs of moving. as it tried to retreat their eyes, growing gaunt as the skeleton approached. it leaned to one side going limp as the skeleton reached down to grab it. the arrow disappeared from sight as it lifted the lizard. it was quick at moving as I had not noticed it move to get it or back to kiki... no to father. looking at me, the skeleton held out the lizard, forming a purple knife out of what I assume was mana?
" Stab that lizard for me, please."
" Yes."
I did as I was asked, stabbing the lizard.
upon its death, I felt a soothing voice in my head.
~ Earth oil lizard dead~
it was cool hearing the prompt from the AI that was planted in my head but the images in front of me.
the lizard convulsed, but its body glowed a light as a ring lifted from where its core would be.
" That is a soul ring. their is also a core in this beast. The element seems to suit you well, so try absorbing the earth element, and that ring at the same time. There is no real limit to how many elements you have, but a low-level soul can only absorb two or three rings. before the body either rejects or replaces one unless you can expand your soul, which I felt you have a nice affinity of companionship and bonds. this is considered like a bond in some sorts as a soul ring can contain all types of things like that of a human that can make mana into a weapon or use their soul to build a soul imprint. there are countless ways for cultivators to adapt their own awareness. let's see how you found yours. I will be here to help you develop, although my grandchildren have been training since young so you will have much to make up for in practical ways."
he motioned me to sit as he did, making quick work of explaining his point.
" Let me see here if I am pointing out things to start off with for a tamer to have no skill or companions... I will not pry, but we must correct that sooner rather than later."
he pointed at the egg but hesitated as he looked at the now dead creature. his eyes turned to the forest as I looked in the direction I saw a small brown pup. it was sitting too far into the bush for me to make out anything else besides its short perked ears and face looking at us cautiously.
he coughed as he pointed at the now dimming halo in front of us.
I focused on it as I stretched out my soul space, accepting it rather easily. The ring floated at me before bursting into light flowing into my chest. I felt it form slowly in the middle of my soul force, adding a small layer to it expanding as the small amount of earth mana making up the island floating in said space shift. it grew as the ring imprinted on that island, marking it with an oily symbol it wasn't black but a grey dull color. the dirt seemed to ooz that now oily substance making the ground a bit easier to move.
I immediately understood the skill the ring had it was called simple slime. it is a secretion of that lizard that was used to move faster and also for defense as the slime coated its body, stopping prey from eating it or being able to hold it. and I could now do the same... what use was this!!
" What would I need this skill for? Would I ever use it?"
he looked at me through one open eye as he meditated while being uninterrupted while in the middle of a cycle he spoke to me, making my jaw hit the floor.
" That is unwise to dismiss a skill that creatures use to make ends meet. think about it, his life may have ended prematurely for your cause, but that beast was closer to fifty years old. it has survived for so long using that singular skill."
he looked at me, moving his arms as his meditation never once changed about I could feel his cycle as the area grew dense with soul force and Elemenal influence. mana circuits began to pulse as he pushed outwards he spoke.
" Do not use the ether, I will explain in due time to you now though there are a few carnivore Beasts to tend with for choosing as an entry beast. from left to right, there are nothing but cubs. Nothing over twenty years old they should do fine for you. I see a mud golem wyrm, nasty little buggers after they evolve. there are a few types of wolves they green ones are ivy wolves while the black ones are oil fur and mud fur wolves, a blue salamander, ah that's a grey rock spider it is rare for such a young one to be out alone away form the brood mother. also, that black orb looking thing is a demonized slime it's actually no longer just a slime it's more like an amalgamation they are not so rare, more common of mountains left untethered like this one. ah, that's neat. Those are mountain ferrets really rare to see them packed up like that ah and the elements of them seem like a dead match with the wolves here. how many pets can you hold?"
I looked inwards, expecting nothing special besides a singular healed vessel. when my spiritual realm opened, the number of vessels made my eyes blink, and I was lost by my own words.
" Si... Six? what is this pok... nope, no, let's get serious here. How?"
" That fine for a youngster. I have seen some prodigy tamers with the ability to stretch their spirit realm to house a full command. twenty Beasts and more important than that the Ranks were of no low stock. best rank beast here is the C Rank mud golem wyrm."
think about this calmly. I want to hatch my hidden egg someday, plus this little egg here quoting the one at my side in the black box. and the one in the pod on the ship...
" I would think it best. If I took three for now, at least I have some reservations for this little one and another egg that I have hidden away."
" Nah, just settle on four of these beasts it will stretch that spirit realm slightly, allowing for more vessels to grow. it can be expanded just like the soul realm and mental realms. although I have heard of other realms, I have only explored a few hundred Planets, and even then, I can't meet with everyone, but I have viewed many Abilities and such that have variables that can mutate or even evolve like Beasts, creatures, and animals alike. incidentally, we are all derived from such evolutionary beginnings."
I looked at my surroundings, feeling eyes on me as I got a shiver.
" Well, you seem to have a few predators that are curious the Eyes you feel are from a grass viper. it's about fifteen, but it seems to have developed enough bloodlust to get an actual vibe. the other set of eyes is a water dumpling ape. oh, and the last one something that doesn't sit well with me. but none the less it's here that is a uniligor cub. Feral little Beasts, the mother or father must be an alpha of this mountain. let's leave that one alone out of kindness. Mmm, I don't want a pack of uniligors following us for a cub, and you will not be strong enough to get near them even if you learned to fully cowl aura or mana over your body you would convulse in seconds, meridians having no time to react to such purity or pressure of bloodlust. let alone living you would be telling a beast without morals you are taking its cub..."
I looked at the Cub curiously, noticing it looked at the corpse as it moved closer with confident steps it looked at the man in front of me, picking it up, laying down, and eating it with loud chomping sounds. it looked up with a lofty smile as it ate the meat, licking its paws. The cub swiped twice before a small grey gem fell in front of me. it sniffed, then finished its meal. laying down in front of us calmly, it had no need to look around as it purred it was a small orange and yellow lion with green nub in its forehead no mane but it had a small Mohawk down its back of purple fur.
it stood on end as a small green pup that had crawled over to the remains silently took them away. the ferrets watched as it did so mischievously planning. In unison, as the two chirped, the wolves moved in a circle as it drug the remains to a slightly smaller wolf that was multicolored. green and brown marks covered it completely, but neither was dominant as the even coloring made it stand out but blend in as I hadn't noticed it before.
" Ah, an Alpha?"
" No, that is a beta of a pack. The alphas are not allowed to hunt until the beta is strong enough to protect them. after that, the alphas protection will slowly wein as it grows stronger and stronger, eventually claiming pack seniority over the next generation, although if the alpha is too weak, a beta can gain seniority from that original alpha claiming a new pack line making a beta pack. from what I can tell, this is a beta of a beta pack with no true alpha yet."
I looked at him before checking my surroundings once more, and the ferrets were gone. As the wolf ate, I noticed the ferrets plan in action. One made a tunnel while one tried attacking from the front it took its time, drawing them out away from the rear where the brown ferret was using magic to burrow a tunnel under the wolf.
when it had heard a squel, it turned to run as the Wolves all went back to the little leader. the notice it halfway in a tunnel halfway out struggling. the wolving working together using magic and teeth made quick work. as the little brown gerret popped out the hole holding meat. it ran slowly but ran. the other wolves noticed and alerted to it that now being the target. before they could turn to run a grey ferret jumped in front of them, screeching as mana built in its Forehead, releasing a torrent of smoke and oil. the wolves blind and Slippery were unable to run all but one black wolf that was part of their group. it ran after the ferret getting blind sided by a mud golem Wyrm as it gripped the wolf's neck, crunching it clean through in one bite. the ferret chirped as It skipped away. the mud golem wyrm growled and glared at the wolves daring them to try it. it finished eating the head of the wolf, then left the area. the ferrets ate their now soft enough spoils. as the wolves all lost out in the situation. what was this a poison pot of carnivores? survival of the fittest!? I shall choose only through the mighty...