Bonded Summoner

The party teleported up to the forest in their Refuge, their Sanctuary. Jake and his wives now stood across from the children in the clearing, not far from Bloodberri’s incubator. The kids all knew that they were going to say goodbye for now. Because even if the parents were coming back, and hopefully within just a few days at most, this was the beginning of a change in their overall lifestyle.

Their total children was a surprising number: 18 Echidnas, 2 beastkin, 2 athenian, 2 kitsune, and 7 treants. A total of 31 children, with three boys: 1 kitsune, 1 ravenwolf beastkin, and 1 treant.

Jake couldn’t help but feel that, with how strong the echidna would ultimately be, along with the others, that Jake could practically fight the war with Tartarus from his bedroom and home somehow. While that certainly seemed like a lot of kids in just four and a half years, he could have had more than triple that number if he had focused on it. Enough to fill a Dungeon Raid’s worth of people in just a short time.

He kept that thought to himself, as it just might make a few of his wives a little too excited about the idea, wanting to give it a shot.

Tanda had wanted one more child after the Mystic Expanse event when she went into heat, and that sparked all of his wives to want at least one more before their vacation ended.

It was with a promise that this would be the last set of children, until the War Trial first and perhaps second stage had completed, depending on the specifics. They knew that at some point, there could be up to hundreds of years for a stage of the War Trial to complete, so it certainly wouldn’t be the last vacation from adventuring they would enjoy.

Fhesiah had decided on another kitsune to keep Aiko company, as many of her sisters were growing that much faster, and having a dragon could just potentially complicate things. Only the treants had grown and matured slower, and seeing how well Aiko got along with and took care of her little brother, Jake couldn’t help but feel that Fhesiah had made a great choice.

And Jake now had a ravenwolf son, whose features ended up much like Tanda’s. Timothy was mostly a wolf parentage beastkin based on his features, with raven wings just like his mother.

Their treant children were at the tree’s edge with Avalara’s lesser avatars. She hugged the growing toddlers to her, their lanky limbs still a little odd to Jake. The oldest ones could actually uproot themselves and walk around, but four of them remained rooted in place, mostly watching their brothers and sisters as they played while they listened to the song of the world.

Nora, Clara, Rena, Nyxa, and Blaze were all four years old now, having celebrated their birthdays. His oldest generation felt and acted like teens in most ways, having an intelligence and maturity far beyond their actual age.

Aiko and Sharona had been born next, less than three or six months apart from Blaze. Most of the rest born later were around two and a half to three years old now, which made the second born beastkin and athenian look about ten years old, and the second wave of echidnas their early teens when compared to human children.

Nora and Clara were only a little ahead of the bulk of the echidnas in terms of visible and mental maturity, but still a bit further behind the oldest echidnas.

It was so strange to see that the first and second-born echidnas all looked as if they were fifteen or sixteen years old at only four years old. And perhaps more alarming, was that the Framework was already allowing them to activate access. This meant that they were already being seen as in the first Tier in truth.

Their hearths had now ignited, previously starting out as partially dormant cores in their chests after birth. Mana had slowly gathered within the cores as they grew up, as it was suffused in their bodies. From meals to the mana flowing in the air.

The Hearth of the Refuge somehow sent both gentle and dense energies, that did not harm their children’s bodies. It made sense that it was a Divine-level item that it was capable of what should be impossible, as parents on other worlds would often have to regulate the mana density of family areas to protect them from harm.

Jake felt both relieved and a little robbed as he looked at his children, and their smiling faces.

He and his wives had gotten to be there for nearly all of their children’s important growth. While it was short, they had seen everything, from their first steps or undulations or flight, to the first…swings of their deadly maces or other weapons, and even their first magical spells. Of course, most of them said their first words within minutes or days, so they were there for that too.

Their children took knowledge and skills like a fish to water. By interacting with so many parents and children, teachers, tutors, allies and friends, they truly grew and matured far more than he could have ever imagined in such a short time.

To explore the dungeon, or wage war against Tartarus on Contested Worlds, Jake and his wives would need to be away for extended periods of time. Thankfully, because of how the Refuge worked, he didn’t think there would ever be situations that were more than a few days at a time, or more than a week or two without having any kind of warning at all.

Longer events should normally have significant warning, allowing them to make plans to set their kid’s expectations of a longer time away. Even while the Refuge was away from Highlands, their same teachers could come and continue their lessons, and they’d still be able to meet with friends that came over in those instances.

At any of the Outposts their guild had formed within the dungeon, Jake’s party could create a portal to their Refuge, heading home nearly any time they wanted. In areas where this didn’t exist, there were still often Safe Areas on a floor, where the little bubbles of safety were created.

In those locations, they could also portal home. This was why, when they previously entered the dungeon, they were often only gone for at most part of a day. When they flew as fast as their party did, and the map and Outpost for that floor was already explored and completed, they moved insanely quickly from Outpost to Outpost.

And the same was true on Contested Worlds, and would be in many of the different conflicts they could take part in. The Refuge was meant to be a constant place of safety and a place for Adventurers to rest, to provide some semblance of normality to what was essentially a soldier’s life.

Thanks to this, their kids were always just a small amount of travel and a portal away, whether in the dungeon or in a Contested World.

Even though they were effectively teens in most of the ways that mattered, the kids were always being watched by an adult. Avalara would watch them with her two lesser avatars, and there was also Yona the nanny and maid, and lastly, Bree now had a much more humanoid form to help out.

Despite all of those facts, that didn’t make this moment less difficult for Jake and his wives. The mood was heavy as the parents looked on at their children fondly, and with a little reluctance to leave.

No matter what, they would miss their many children while they were gone. This was a signal of a major change in their children and parent’s lives, and all of the parents felt guilty and reluctant, except maybe Berri, or at least not for the same reasons. This signaled that there really wouldn’t be any more eggs for some time, a true downer for her. There was no longer any eggs for her to watch, so she felt her kids would be fine for a couple of days with Ava watching them.

Over the past few years, the Refuge was truly a place of joy and growth, and Jake’s resolve both wavered and was strengthened by this. He now had a large, loving family, the thing he had wished for from the bottom of his heart for his entire orphaned life.

Rena’s white hair and caring expression looked a lot like her mother Berri’s. Perhaps sensing the emotional heaviness, Rena said, “It’s okay, Dad, and Moms. Nyxa and I will help, and watch over the smaller ones! You don’t need to worry about us, and you can focus on being heroes once more.”

Blaze had her arms folded in front of her. Somehow, she was simply bigger than most of the other echidna children, now that they had grown. Bloodberri had eaten some sort of massive lava salamander boss monster corpse while she was pregnant with her, and that somehow seemed to transfer into her makeup. A few of the many echidnas were like this, but Blaze’s was very pronounced, just like Moxy, the muckbill echidna.

Blaze snorted. “Who’s smaller? We don’t even need them anymore, we can take care of ourselves now.“ The girl froze, and her eyes widened, and perhaps, realized that she was doing the opposite of reassuring her parents. She cleared her throat. “I mean, that’s right. Big sis Rena and Nyxa can watch over us all, while you’re gone–they’re almost like little mommies. I’ll even help with the little saplings–I taught one of them the high five and fist bump last week.”

Clara’s wings fluttered, and she added, “We’ll miss you all, of course, but we know you’ll be fighting for good. Saving people, and gaining honor and glory for our family and guild. They need you more than we do, now.”

Nora pumped her fist. “Yeah! They’re going to be fighting all the bad guys, kicking their…rumps. And–”

Nyxa interrupted, “And we’ll be good. We’ll stay focused like we always have, preparing for our own life’s challenges. Our teachers and tutors will still be coming here on schedule, and we’ll continue our own studies and practice with magic. Then, mommy Ava and Aunty Bree will always be able to fill us all in on what you’re doing, right?”

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Blaze snapped her fingers. “This will just be like… Mommy Faye is in her alchemy chamber, Daddy is in his enchanting room and in the zone, Mommy Bloodberri is at baseball practice or with the orphans, and Mommy Ophelia and Tanda are at the Arena….and all at the same time, which they’ve done a few times. And just for a few days at a time instead of most of the day. Right? No big deal at all.”

Ophelia frowned, her golden wings fluttering. “Why do I feel like a piece of crap right now?”

Tanda touched her stomach, and her ears were flat on her head. “It’s like a physical blow. Is she doing it on purpose?”

Jake couldn’t help but feel the same way, grimacing.

Rena giggled. “What sister is trying to say, is that we know you love us, and we love you too. We’ll miss you, but we know that we’ve been very blessed. You raised us to be strong, while giving us all the things, and all the love

Aiko chirped and nodded as her tail swished behind her and wrapped around her brother, who was letting out sad fox chirps. She chirped again, and then tilted her head in question. And somehow, Jake knew what she was asking.

Is it time for hugs yet?

Blaze nodded in response to Rena, “Yeah! Why, our mentor brought over that one beastkin girl, and she said her mother went away, and then she never even came back. We know that our parents are way better, and would never be weak like that!”

All of the echidnas, including Sharona, who was usually joined at her bigger sister Blaze’s hip, deadpan stared at her.

“W-What. We know they’re–”

Berri giggled, and then dashed forward and hugged her fiery daughter–who already wasn’t that much smaller than her. “Thank you Blaze, for your reassurance. We do feel bad about leaving you, but we know that you girls will be well taken care of, and that no matter what happens–we will be back.”

Blood added, “It is because we know this that we can leave. If we didn’t, we would fight tooth and nail to stay. But we believe in all of our lovelies, in that you are strong and can live without all of us for a short time. And, that we shall not be gone for long. If Tartarus tries to stop us from returning to you, then we will just make it pay in both blood and pain.”

The many girls and the few boy’s expressions turned a little vicious, with feral grins. Many of their claws at their sides began gripping, as if imagining crushing or clawing their own invisible enemy.

Jake chuckled at just how fierce some of his children looked. “That’s right. We are going to fight hard to get back to our little ones because we all love you so very much. We want to make this world a better one and protect our homes, and for that, we do have to fight. Just as we know you girls and boys will, if that’s what you choose to do.”

He almost rolled his eyes as he said that. All of his children were vicious, and he knew there was zero chance that any of them wouldn’t be forming Incursion parties and similar within the next few months, or at the very least, next year when the bulk of them unlocked the Framework menus for themselves. Rena, Nyxa, and Blaze were ready, but they might want to help their little brothers and sisters prepare as well, so they can form rounded parties among them.

Jake continued, “So for now, we’ll say goodbye. No matter how many times we leave to fight, we’ll always be back. We love you all, and we’ll fight our hardest to come back to you as soon as we can.”

Ophelia felt like she was ready to cry, her voice trembling as she looked at her two athenian daughters, and the rest. So many of them had come to her for training, and play fighting over the years, that she had spent time with all of them. “So be strong for a little while. For us, leaving you…is harder than fighting the enemy.”

Nora and Clara’s faces scrunched up, and tears spilled from their eyes as they raced across the clearing to their moms. This started a series of all the other children doing the same, with many hugs and I love yous exchanged.

While many rushed to their biological mothers and Jake, they all hugged their clan mothers and said goodbye as well. Everyone eventually got snake-piled, the oldest snake girls being especially larger now.

Only Blaze was almost the same size as Bloodberri was originally, but the fact that they were as large or larger than adult humans even without their several meter long tails was surprising, especially with so many of them.

All the mothers were forced to give many ear scratches and tight, loving hugs while they removed tears from their kid’s eyes, and a bit of their own.

Goodbyes said, it was time for them to suit up. They teleported to portal room, and switching equipment was nearly instantaneous, thanks to their Storage Rings.

Knowing exactly what level they were working towards, they had crafted items with approximately level forty to forty-five in mind. They had used much of their guild’s resources and connections to make their final pieces of equipment, and he was quite happy with the results. They would only replace them later when they found superior metals or materials.

Because of what had happened with Tartarus’ plot where the Enforcer showed up, they focused on demonic runes for their important enchantments, other than a few quality of life choices. Then, Celtic runes for places that auril would travel.

Having reached Expert in Enchanting, Jake was able to somewhat match what he had seen on Odin’s armor when he came to visit–the tiny runes all across the armor. He used this primarily for his Celtic runes, which needed auril to pass through the haft of their weapons and their auril leather undersuits. But he also increased the sturdiness of their breastplates, making them even more reliable.

Ophelia, Tanda, and Fhesiah now all matched with their red auril leather and monster bone bodysuits, topped with their red and gold breast and shoulder plates with red accents and the runes looking like red tattoos on the otherwise plain gold.

With Avalara or Tanda’s auril or nethril running through it, the bodysuits now provided substantial protection and malleability. The red and gold greaves, helm, and gauntlets made it difficult for enemies to take out any of their limbs with excellent protection, but their focus was still largely on making sure the chest piece and helmet were the most sturdy they could accomplish.

Fhesiah in the first Tier didn’t have much mana or auril for running enchantments. But now that she was a hearthian in the second, her special core included some mana and auril storage. Combined with how she regenerated the two, she could easily power the enchantments even if they weren’t Qi, and that would save her Qi for enhancing her body or casting her spells.

Jake had Tier 2 Mythic Armor and a Divine Hearth as his weapon, but his shield was made in a joint work with Ophelia, making the two shields look quite similar, even if hers was still superior. It could hold his hearth flames, and he could make it act just like Ophelia’s shield used to. He could make it hover near him as if he were holding it and fly around, as well as a sort of ranged focus for casting his spells, if he desired.

Bloodberri was the only other one in the party with Mythic Armor granted by a goddess. When it was upgraded with the token, it still kept its transformative feature, and merely had its materials improved. As she leveled up, it now had its own orb like Jake’s had, covering the hearth in their chests.

The transformative feature of the armor was not necessary for them to rapidly equip any longer thanks to their Storage Rings. But it did enable them to accomplish interesting things with their unique body, including the odd battle carriage that they would make for Jake when he fought in mounted combat.

The armor still had its odd-looking champion shield belt, along with having the style match the rest of them. Then, she had prepared for their needs in the dungeon, and Jake was excited to see how it worked out in truth.

Bloodberri’s weapon was one of the most unique of the bunch, in that it was alive and could also evolve and transform–the Chimeral Axe. They had fed it numerous meals over the past few years, and it had become even sharper and sturdier.

It even had the ability to add a few strange attacks, though Jake saw them as relatively marginal in terms of what kind of utility they brought to the table–his party was just so versatile already.

Ophelia had her upgraded version of Retribution, the mixed polearm weapon capable of dealing more damage to targets that had harmed her or her allies. It had a long, lance-like spike at the tip, an axe blade on one side, and an armor piercing spike on the back of it.

And Tanda had her transforming bow and polearm weapon. Hers took on the shape of a crescent moon halbred, or a giant recurve bow that had its own special seed quiver. Drawing arrows from her Storage Bracelet, she now had numerous options and could fire arrows rapidly.

Ruby and Sati were still away, helping Nessa with her guild’s goals. They were working towards finishing Aetheris’ Integration Trial, and it shouldn’t be that much longer before they should wrap up the Dungeon Raid there.

He was sure he would be seeing the three in the near future–when the War Trial came. And it was the same with Warrior Brotherhood.

Timone and Dahlia had helped the brotherhood claim a Tier 2 world, solidifying their position in the Sector. The total number of worlds Hearthtribe or its allies owned was over twenty, with Hearthtribe having more than half of that number. They had surprised everyone within the Sector by claiming all the worlds they had set out to, rescuing them all. Thirteen was a lot, and several of them had reached the second Tier.

Their subguilds had long-since broken off, and were working to claim even more across the Sector in the first Tier. These guilds were primarily full of any new recruits that grew up on any of the Tier 1 worlds they owned, and would slowly grow from the guidance of those they had left behind, both the magical knowledge and tech from before the Grace Period, as well as some of the support staff Valtor had brought up to speed.

While they had not claimed any worlds yet, Jake saw more than one where they had solid chances of getting spots for the Prime Instance and claiming them. And that was in addition to all the support they were giving the natives of several worlds.

Jake looked over at his wives and smiled. “Looks like we’re as ready as we could be. It feels a little strange to do battle for our first time nearly a third of the way through the Tier.”

Fhesiah smirked. “Yes, well, I did very much enjoy our method of grinding a lot better than your way, Husband. Still, I do enjoy my share of violence all the same, so I am looking forward to a few fights with a few of us unsealed.”

Ophelia looked eager as well. “Yes, nothing gets my heart pounding like an epic battle.”

Tanda added, “Me too! But I also can’t wait to see our Hearthtribe friends. They’ve been working hard in the dungeon, and while I’ve seen a few of them at the Arena or when we’ve helped them on events, they practically live inside it.”

Berri added, “It’s been a while since I’ve smashed something worth smashing. But I’ve had my fill thanks to baseball. And the Bill smushing simulator.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “That thing was expensive, but then you use it just for that…”

Blood chuckled. “I do have to admit I am excited about a good fight as well. We’ve worked hard to fill in any of our shortcomings, and now it is time to show the fruits of our labor. To grow our potential, and show our people the strength of their king and queens once more.”

They entered the portal, which transported them directly into the first floor of the dungeon, into a random location. It would soon be time for a real fight.