Bonded Summoner

Jake and Ophelia hammered at the ingot, their souls in harmony at the Hearthforge tree in the Refuge. The kids were all sleeping, allowing them to hammer away and focus on their task.

As Jake flooded his aperture for his Technique with mana from his hearth, the two’s souls began to drift closer together and overlap, both in the state of the Guardian. Their hearths were connected, a beam of fiery lightning running between them.

He could feel their soul’s resonance, a vibration that filled his entire body with his lover’s everything. From her thoughts to her emotions, to her dreams and the essence of her being. With every swing, the desire to protect her friends and loved ones, and with every infusion of the flames, Jake’s desire to empower his family, to protect their goals and enable their dreams.

Over four and a half years had passed since the day they rescued Highlands, and they were nearing the end of their vacation. It wasn’t quite five years, but Hestia and her Pantheon agreed that it was nearly time to get moving. The final preparations before the War Trial needed to be made, and so Jake and his party were about to head into the dungeon in earnest.

They had spent countless nights harmonizing their souls and their bodies, experiencing both pleasure and pain, and selfless devotion to one another with their dual cultivation technique. They increased their bond and the depths of their love for one another with every session, and this continued for years now.

Their hearths synchronized in their beat to their hearts, and where Jake ended and Ophelia began started to blur. The sensations of Ophelia’s as her hammer struck the metal were reflected in Jake’s mind, and as Jake tweaked the flame and infused the metal, Ophelia was right there with him, coaxing the flame. In this special state, Jake tried to trigger his new Level 35 ability: [Fusion Ascension].

The divine flames from Jake’s Hearth shot out both from the hearth in his chest, and through his bond and connections to his lover. In response, Ophelia’s hearth did the same, meeting it in the middle. The flames then covered their entire bodies as the two were pulled together, and their bodies merged into one.

The flames continued to cover the new figure, who was nearly androgynous as their features had merged, and they had golden owl wings and hair. The hearth flame blazed in their chest, the brightness and power filling the clearing.

They did not miss a beat, as they continued to swing what was now a single hammer, and a powerful fire was still infused into every blow.

The mana suddenly flowed so much better for some reason. And with new insight into the inner workings of the metals and the mana, the skills accomplished their task even faster as the metal was hammered into shape. The special manas altered the structure in ways that made the armor stronger, more compatible with the vajrafire flames, the deathly tattoos, and even auril when she used it. Which would allow Ophelia…

The being standing at the forge froze. A sense of incongruity struck them, but a gentle nudge in their mind told them to ignore it and focus–the item was in a critical state. They needed to finish their work, to protect their family. They continued their hammering, working through the rest of the metal, pounding it into the perfect form.

Minutes passed as they hammered, but their mastery shifted the magical metal easily, like a master artist molded clay into its ideal form. They eventually dipped it into the magical water, quenching the flames and trapping the mana and auril within.

Pulling it out once it had cooled, they looked over the mostly finished item with more than a little pride.

They had finished the most important stages, and there would still be much work to be done, but–

Berri whined, [It’s no fair. I wanted to be the first one to become one with Jake! But…congratulations sister. You did it, and it was really neat.]

Tanda laughed. [Me too! But that’s not fair, Berri. It’s probably both you and Blood that need to find harmony at the same time, so it’s just going to be even harder for you two. Good job, Lia!]

The new being frowned, then their eyes widened. They dropped their hammer and their figures blurred, as they split and were ejected from one another, sending the pair stumbling to the ground. The hammers split again in a burst of golden flames, landing next to each other.

Fhesiah laughed. [It’s a good thing I nudged you, or that would have happened a lot sooner–before you finished crafting your item. You two were so in sync and focused, you didn’t even notice that you had merged. That was so strange. It was like you two became a new person altogether!]

Blood asked, [I feel like I kind of know already, because we were there the whole time. But what was it like?] Of course, their Hearthian Bond allowed an intimate connection with each other, and this persisted while they were merged.

Jake and Ophelia both frowned, as they tried to search for the words–and they did arrive at the same thought at nearly the same moment. He was the first to speak. “It was really like we were one, and I forgot for a moment which one of us I actually was. We had been in sync before, but this was more.”

Ophelia added, “It felt like…we were stronger than ever, too. Better. Our mana moved so easily, and our hearth flames were so dense and powerful.” She smiled at Jake. “And I felt closer than ever.”

The family had been trying to achieve the spell for weeks, ever since Jake earned it. They had tried duels and fights, and even tried it during their soul harmonization–the bedroom leveling. Each time any of them had attempted it, they had failed and even got pushed out of their resonance.

Their Hearthian Bonds had increased once over the past few years, but as Jake checked his hearth enchantments on his core, he could see that something had shifted slightly once again. The hearth mana within both his core and the aperture of his Technique within his mind, had become more solid, tinged with Ophelia’s mana rather than just his own. His and her core and bond had actually reached the third level as a result as well, a surprising fact.

He reviewed his skill, looking for anything else he had missed.

[Champion Skill: Fusion Ascension]

[Find resonance with your bond, and ascend into one being. Equipment will be fused together matching the new being, attributes will be added together at 75% efficiency, and Class Bonuses will be added together. Skills will be improved by their resonance. Skills from both beings will be available to the one, and certain skills may be affected in special ways. Resource energy will be completely merged and added together in a 1:1 ratio, allowing for immediate usage. When the two beings separate, resources can be split by the Nexus based on desire. ]

One might think that 75% efficiency was bad, but it was in fact quite powerful. Each attribute point was worth more than the last, and to have so much strength in a compact body was significant. Since the class bonuses were added together, it was more than enough to make up for this detail, besides. It would allow far more power to be brought about, allowing for devastating attacks.

Jake knew that the last lines in the skill description about resources mattered the most with their Divine Energy, so they would have double or more the maximum amount of Divine Energy to call upon their gods with when merged. While his Energy Sharing ability allowed Hestia to manifest with more of the girl’s Divine Energy and even their mana, this would likely allow him to summon their Divine instead, giving them more options. They would be able to use both of their hearth’s manas from their cores to cast massive spells, their two minds and wills even stronger.

Their hammers had even merged into one, and split when they split. Their clothes had become a strange amalgamation of the two’s, but they weren’t wearing their special equipment at the moment–just similar gym attire. He imagined that it would likely somehow balance the two equipments somewhat.

Jake’s actual weapon, the Divine Hearth, was more fluid, so that would make it simple with whomever he merged with.

[Yes, it’s all very interesting husband, but you girls are asking the wrong questions. We saw what happened to the equipment, but what kind of ‘equipment’ did Jakelia have? That’s what I’m calling that form, by the way.]

Ophelia and Jake both rolled their eyes at Fhesiah’s single-minded focus, and Jake replied, “I don’t think we had any equipment, as you like to put it. That might be why we couldn’t do it while doing the soul harmonization, too.”

Lia shook her head. “Even thinking of a sense of self is what started to kick us out of sync. Focusing on what resonated with us and our task was what got it to happen and stick. So…having that kind of fun is probably out of the question, though I suppose if it were you merged with him, you just might be able to manage it, Faye. I know I don’t want to stick anything into you, so Jakelia wouldn’t, besides.”

Fhesiah whined, [Aww, but I was hoping–well, I bet we could always grow what we need–]

Jake decided to shut that down. Even thinking back to himself as Jakelia felt so surreal at this point, that it was like he was really another person altogether. “Fusion Ascension will only be used for battle, training, and crafting, and certain people should probably get any other weird ideas out of their heads.”

Fhesiah was definitely pouting. [I was mostly just playing. Mostly.]

Really, it felt like quite the cheat move. But it was one that he was glad to have. Because he knew that the traps Tartarus and the evil divine would try to attack them within the dungeon would be more dangerous than ever, and with enemies on both sides of the War Trial, that was bound to be even worse.

Jake was actually the only one that received anything special at this level. He had been a bit ahead of the girls–him being a part of a hundred percent of the tempering sessions, and the girls only about one in three. One might think that would put him way ahead, but it didn’t, exactly.

As he pulled ahead, the girls would often be pulled along with him because the increased energies he required would simply level them faster. In addition to getting more and more expensive, besides.

Ophelia picked up her nearly finished breastplate. It contained the heart guard and thicker pauldron, and space for the orb that Jake’s equipment had. A bone-lined auril beast-leather suit would go underneath it, and she would of course have a helmet, gauntlets, and greaves to go along with it.

They had decided to shift to this over the full chainmail plate for a few reasons. The first, was resource limitations. Covering their entire body with the special metals was just too costly. After four and a half years, with a number of worlds under their control and with taxes, drops from conquering worlds, and very successful guild members, Jake had thought that they would be rich by now.

But the truth was a sad story. Their bedroom leveling and bloodline refining was an extremely expensive habit. They had to constantly source rare materials for Fhesiah to refine for their purposes, to continuously temper their bodies and souls.

It was enough to bankrupt an entire guild, and even if Jake charged significant taxes on the worlds he owned, it still wouldn’t be enough. Thankfully, Tanda’s work had started to bear fruit, but the problem was that often by the time she would have resources grown that matched what they were needing for the refining, they would already need something more costly.

The second, was that healing those less important areas of the body were actually quick and easy in comparison. They had auril which healed wounds, and all of them were healers and more.

And the third reason was actually more or less the same as the first–their tempered bodies had become exceptionally sturdy. It was difficult to actually find materials that were harder than their own flesh and bones when they needed to be.

At this point, the primary reason for even wearing armor at all was enchantments, monster essence with special qualities, and runes. Jake was tempted to try enchanting tattoos on himself, Fhesiah and Bloodberri, but he realized without some kind of higher energy like what Tanda and Ophelia had in theirs from their crazy seal, it simply wasn’t worth it.

Their bodies were already suffused with such dense magical energies that their armor became a good target as a sort of magical battery for them. It was that aside from being similar to extra armor plating on a tank. The armor wasn’t harder than their skin, but having more of it would reduce the chance of anything piercing a lot of it and into their flesh.

This was why they focused on the heart and hearth guard, to add this thick plating to where they needed it most. In addition, the orb and defensive plating also served to hide their Hearth’s status, though they were sure the enemy would likely know about it. They mostly assumed Tartarus would know their status, but their Alliance enemies might not.

Ophelia commented on the breastplate as she examined and tested it with her mana and auril, “Almost as good as the Mythic equipment from our goddess, but not quite. Those have grown a little as we have, and your enchantments have held quite good on them.”

Jake smiled at her. “With that done, assuming we can repeat that process for the other equipment, it’s nearly time to go. Our vacation is nearly over.”

He took a look at his status sheet, reviewing the changes with his recent core upgrade.

[Jake Status Level 35]

[Strength: 305]

[Dexterity: 294]

[Constitution: 318]

[Intelligence: 298]

[Wisdom: 334]

[Charisma: 305]

Jake’s stats had increased by nearly 50% since he had entered the Second Tier at level 26. Nearly every stat was around two hundred, and now, everything was around three hundred. This was because two core levels had added forty to all stats, and nine levels of his Mythic Class which gave five to all stats per level, added an additional forty-five.

But there was approximately another twenty-five to forty or so to all stats–from years of practicing the Voidborne Soul Harmonization–the body and soul tempering technique. It raised Constitution and Wisdom at a higher ratio than the other attributes, especially for Jake, with those two standing out more than the rest.

Jake and his wives’ bodies were sturdy, and that was before they enhanced them further with Techniques or their armor’s enchantments.

[Jake’s Level 35 Combat Skill Sheet]

[Expert Hearth Control: 3]

[Expert Hearth Runic Magic: 2]

[Hearth Spells: Scorching Ray, Barrier, Spear, Renewal, Hearth Blade, Pyrokinesis, Construct]

[Expert Energy Control: 2]

[Advanced Spell-forms: 3]

[Spell-forms Known: Clean, Mana Bolt, Force Push, Mana Blade, Flame, Telekinesis]

[Technique: Resonance Bound: 2]

[Expert Purifying Flames: 2]

[Advanced Divine Energy Manipulation: 5]

[Expert Champion Magic: 2]

[Champion Spells: Hearth, Divine Reinforcement, Call Goddess, Hearthian Aura, Fusion Summon, Fusion Ascension]

[Framework Spells: Bolster, Reinforcement, Haste, Cure Wounds, Advanced Stamina Regen, Summon Arcane Eye, Call Summon, Enhanced Capture Template, Manifest Template, Reverse Summon]

Because he was able to use spellforms with his Hearth mana, Jake had practiced with them quite a bit over the past few years. That practice was what helped him finally be able to reproduce some of Hestia’s spells.

In the end, he didn’t want to invest too much time researching special spellforms that accomplished different things. Instead, he had focused on the recreation of Hestia’s spells by example, and as a result, the skill had improved, and it even noted a special construct spellform.

He was sure the only reason his skill wasn’t even higher was because he was merely copying the spellforms, like an artist who traces.

[Monster Menagerie]

[Permanent Summons: Zephyr the Garuda, Jasmina the Naga Siren, Avalara the Battle Avatar, Bree the Dinodog, Ruby the Blood Badgerdillo, Sati the Living Flame]

[Jake’s Level 35 Non-Combat Skill Sheet]

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[Expert Cooking 1]

[Expert Enchanting 2]

[Subskills: Investment, Runic, Hearth, Manaweave Reinforcement]

[Void-Divine Hearthian Core: 3]

[Hearthian Bonds: Ophelia: 3, Fhesiah: 2, Blood and Berri: 2, Tanda: 2]

[Hearth Bond: Avalara: 5]

[Misc Skills: Eternal Oath, Energy Nexus, Energy Sharing, Auto-Loot]

Jake’s Monster Menagerie simply had too many templates to track. He now had templates from everyone he knew in Hearthtribe, along with countless Auril Beasts from Highlands, monsters from Ganestra, Ankhmar, the Mystic Expanse, and more.

He and his wives had all hit the 35th level aside from Fhesiah who was 39 as planned, with Jake a bit ahead of them. Nearly all of Jake and his wives’ skills were on the second level just like his, but he knew they were pushing the third because a few skills had already made it.

With just a bit of deadly combat, thanks to their mentor’s guidance and their hard work, they would definitely be hitting those next levels soon. Training was great, but the Framework seemed to give a lot more aid to leveling skills in conjunction to what they would gain from deathly combat.

He and his wives had spent plenty of their time focusing on their Divine Energy Manipulation. The enemy Champions they faced all used various tools, from enhancing their spells to enhancing just about anything that they did.

Jake previously had a very difficult time doing anything with the energy, and even as his wives all became Champions, they too couldn’t do much better. It was like moving clay within their bodies, and they had difficulties doing anything meaningful with it.

Part of the problem was that during their time trying to save Highlands, they had not wanted to waste much of the energy. They never wanted to show weakness because they knew that enemy Champions were hiding, and would exploit any sign of it. Then, they were often saving up and preparing for the final battles.

Aside from a single attempt per few days as they kept their Divine Energy topped off, they didn’t get many chances to do anything with it. And could one really get much better at anything, only making a few attempts for a few seconds per week?

The Divine Hearth of the Refuge actually restored used Divine Energy at a ten times rate when not docked on a Contested World–which Highlands no longer was. So over these years, they had many opportunities to blow it all. To exhaust their Divine Energy several times each month, and really get to practice and try different things almost daily.

When they figured out the answer to why they were so terrible at it, they all felt so dumb. They knew that their resonance with their Divine determined their potential strength as Champions. And yet, they, who had so much resonance with their divine that their respective gods and goddesses actually went out of their way and sought them out, still had difficulty with it. Just why was it so hard for them?

It was because they were treating it like a normal energy. It was not meant for them to wield, it was meant for the gods themselves. At least in part.

When using it, it was like they needed to hold on to the things that resonated with their Divine–their god or goddess–clenching it firm in their mind and with their will. In a way, it took a little bit of piety as well. A reverence for their divine.

For Jake, once he understood what was missing, this was all very easy. He already spent much of his efforts finding resonance with his wives, so finding resonance with Hestia when her path was so similar to his own was trivial.

Then, a small prayer or grateful request combined with an intent helped the energy to move, just as easily if not easier than mana that he was already so comfortable with. Nearly all the enemy Champions had spoken a prayer of some kind as they called upon their Divine to summon them, and he was sure this was more than a stupid habit that told the enemy what you were doing. It was not meaningless.

For things more complicated or for using it on abilities that didn’t match their divine, it just took their will–what they had learned to use with Advanced Energy Manipulation, or now Expert. And that led him to think about what his mentor, Zhuge Liang had said.

He had wanted him to think about why the Framework had given it to his party. It was certainly to think about different means of controlling energy, but Jake now thought it was largely to help guide him to find the true reason he sucked so bad with Divine Energy Manipulation. In the end, his party didn’t quite reach Expert with it. But he felt like they were close, and so they were now respectable with it.

An interesting happening was that in those four and a half years of body and soul tempering, his bloodline had finally improved.

It was not overly exciting, however. His body now had more regenerative properties, and the influence of foreign mana and spells felt to be even less. Then, his void lungs stored a lot more void energy, allowing him to breathe out and disrupt larger spells and effects–or pass the energy on to Ira, who could use it for much more interesting things.

[Bloodline Menu]

[Bloodline Refinement Rating: C]

[Traits: Void Lungs, Void Cells, Umbral Gaze]

His Umbral Gaze was largely unchanged, but his void lungs and cells now showed additional information.

[Trait: Void Lungs]

[The orbs within your lungs draw in void energy with every breath. Through them, you have established a connection to the void. New: Your storage for void energy has increased, and you can now breathe breath it out and control it, creating a nullification field.]

In truth, Jake had already been able to breathe it out–but primarily, he had used Ira’s help on it. Now, he had some level of control over it with his Bloodline, and he imagined he was close to being able to use the void to accomplish more meaningful things. Even watching Ira and its actions with his Umbral Gaze was getting him somewhere with it, but it was slow-going.

[Trait: Void Cells]

[Cells within your body have harmonized with the void, storing significant amounts of void energy. Your body is naturally stronger, and more resilient against all spells. New: You have unlocked superior regeneration of your vessel, and increased the advantages of the void cells further.]

Ira had also grown significantly, these past few years. Now that the creature had finally had some time to rest and grow within the dense energies of the Refuge, it was able to accomplish far more than it used to. It had entered a slumber and woken up some time ago and in the second Tier, and Jake was happy for it.

Ophelia sighed. “I can’t believe it’s already been four and a half years since we rescued Highlands. Time really flies.”

Jake nodded. “I know. But it seems our Guild’s actions have gone deep into the dungeon, and Hestia thinks both we and they are ready for us to come out of our vacation. Our allies have grown, and she sounded truly proud of what we had accomplished.”

Ophelia beamed, remembering her praise. “She really did. And our Mentors feel like there’s little left to teach us, until we get some more experience. It’s almost time for us to join the fight once again.”

Jake could feel her excitement. His battle angel had enjoyed many arena battles, but it was not the same as being in the thick of true combat. Not only that, but she desired to do honorable battle, rescuing people and worlds.

He smiled at her. “Let’s try to find harmony again. We’ll work on the rest of this gear together.”

Her wings fluttered as her eyes lit in excitement. She brought out another ingot of the expensive material, and put it over the Hearthforge Tree’s flame.

The hammering began, and they focused on finding their harmony once more. They would master Fusion Ascension as much as they could while they worked on their final equipment, and then they would be ready.

***

A few more days and weeks passed in a blur, and now Jake and Ophelia had teleported to the training area. Two behemoths were fighting, and Tanda, Bloodberri and Fhesiah were watching off to the side. Jake sat in between Bloodberri and Tanda, joining them, and Ophelia sat under Fhesiah, who was floating while eating spicy chips.

The two had finally finished the rest of their gear, and while they did try to accomplish Fusion Ascension with the others, so far, only Jake and Ophelia had managed it. Thankfully, they could accomplish it reliably now, even in duels.

Avalara’s battle avatar, the giant humanoid reindeer with a giant tree as a mace now fought against Bree, the heroic dinodog. A large paw with deadly claws crashed into the immense mace, flames and death energy scattering into the clearing. Avalara was using her Nethril Sublimation, and it was like a deathly mire surrounded the pair and much of the large room, and her body was similarly covered in blackened vines and thick bark in some places.

This training room was the largest one they had in their Refuge, and it was one that their children could not enter no matter what. Because it was where they practiced all their most powerful attacks. It had a special fixture that would keep the fighters alive, just like the boss health bars they faced in dungeon battles.

The dinodog breathed out a powerful cone of flames, the fires containing monstrous energy and the fertility of spring. The wide stream of fire washed over and dried out the swamp with its intense heat, and started scorching Ava’s battle avatar. Her dense nethril energies defended against it, but it was clear it wouldn’t hold up for long.

The treant reindeer gave out a low roar as she cycled over the swamp and herself to life, surrounding herself and her club in auril instead. Then with an apparition of a stag manifesting at the tip of the club, she swung her tree mace downward, and slammed it into the river of flame, dispersing it.

That was when Bree lashed several twisted vines around the mace, and gave it a tug. Two large dinodogs then materialized next to her and leaped to attack Avalara, much like Rookard’s wolves ability.

Avalara stumbled for a brief moment, but quickly found her footing and dashed forward into a shoulder tackle with her antlers, crashing into Bree, who was charging.

The two butted heads, and one elongated horn from Bree still pierced into Ava’s shoulder just before Bree’s face was shoved away to the side. The two dinodogs went after Avalara’s sides, but numerous vines whipped from her treant body, and with manifestations of several animals, from wolf bites to hawk’s talons, to bear’s claws and dinosaur tails, smacked into the dinodogs and sliced into their bodies.

The two giant women tugged back and forth, and the fight then became an outright brawl with claws and teeth, but it seemed each girl gave as good as they got. Until Bree’s much more useful tail smashed into Avalara’s face, knocking her aside and giving her an opening.

Bree was just about to leap and go in for the throat with her mouth filled with flames, but suddenly the auril in the area stirred and the dinodogs were knocked away once again by the powerful vines whipping.

The auril and nethril from the surrounding area rushed into Avalara’s chest, causing a powerful golden flame to ignite. The golden flames traveled throughout Ava’s body, and it was quite a similar effect to what Tanda accomplished with Cyclic Resonance.

The dino dog’s eyes widened, but she started to gather her own auril, the flowers on her body lighting up with bright flames, preparing her own attack in counter. The dinodogs broke apart and became a red mist which joined her, the flames within her increasing.

Jake could really feel the power of life and fertility coming off of Bree now, but also a bestial feeling as her body was enshrouded with monstrous strength. In addition to the woven vines that covered her, a Sublimation of scales grew over her, a protection of auril, and her claws extended.

It seemed Bree was powering up with an attack that was much like Fhesiah’s draconic might, as the flames traveled to her arm and claw, and she swung as she leaped toward Avalara.

The blast that came out of Ava’s chest was a focused explosion. Like Jake’s Scorching Ray but with a wider spread, her golden flames covered Bree’s entire body, and spread out over the area. Bree was sent flying, a beam of red light striking her body and healing her as the flames engulfed her from the fixture above them. As she landed on the ground, much of her body was burnt.

But she quickly recovered, starting to get back up. Bree seemed to take the loss in the clash well, chuckling as the beam restored her burnt flesh.

Despite being a giant dinodog, Bree was able to speak normally, her voice coming out deep from the large monster. “Damn. Seems when I fight you, I have to make sure I don’t let you build that up.”

Ava’s battle avatar had a big grin with its large and flat teeth, and Ava’s lesser avatar nearby smiled and answered. “That’s right, it takes me a bit to get warmed up. Like Tanda here.” She turned to Jake. “I hope I’m still worth it enough to call when you need me, my stag.”

Her attack was reminiscent of Tanda’s Cyclic Resonance, but a little different. Then, the cost to manifest her massive body was truly immense.

Jake chuckled. “Now that my core has grown, when mana is dense enough, I think it won’t be an issue. But yes, I think it’s best to only keep one of my permanent summons out at a time. If I summon two, there won’t be much left for me to do much of anything else.”

Tanda’s tail was wagging, and she leaped into Jake’s arms and crushed him with a tight hug. “But my mate, if you bring the two of them, you don’t need to do anything else. You’ve given all your mates their buffs, and your Champion Aura protects us.”

Fhesiah smiled at him fondly. “Just let your girls do all the fighting, and have dinner ready for when we’re all done. Then we’ll all make sure to enjoy your dessert, to reward you for all your hard work.”

Ophelia frowned. “How is that supposed to be a reward?”

“Well, you know. I’m a big fan of his custard, cream pies, or…am I not being clear enough? His baby batter. Berri likes that one.”

Berri sighed, and got a dreamy look in her eyes. “Yes. Any time Daddy wants.”

Ophelia groaned. “I…walked right into that one.”

Bree was basking in the beam restoring her flesh. She was almost back to what Jake considered full health, from near-death, in less than a minute. “How was it, Chief? Will you want to call upon me, too?”

Jake chuckled. “I’ve had confidence in you for quite a while now, but you certainly have shown me your worth even as the heroic boar. I feel like you’re still finding your path, and the cost to summon you has in fact gone up. Still, you’re worth it.”

Bree grimaced. “I think I know why that is, and you are right. I have a bunch of Divine Essence within me, and I haven’t chosen my way to manifest it into a Divine Trait–this is likely why it takes more of your flames to manifest me.” She grinned. “Is it about time for us to go, Chief? Finally, we’re going to get back into the battle?”

He nodded. “We’re about to go say goodbye to the kids now, then it’ll be time for us to go.”

The large dinodog’s grin grew a little wider. “Good. Then I have something to show you, that I’ve worked very hard on.”

A pulse rippled through Bree’s body, fiery flames rippling through her, and then she started to shrink. Vines twisted and compressed, and flesh shifted. Flames and a green, auril haze covered the large body for a moment, as things continued to change. Eventually, a woman in a skin-tight green bodysuit, or rather an odd mixture of vines and scales, emerged.

Fiery and wild red hair flowed down to her shoulders, and both ivory horns and two green canine ears sat atop her head. Her face looked elfin, with high cheekbones and her chin coming to a narrow point.

Her looks certainly reminded him of Bloodberri and the Goddess Echidna, and her green eyes smoldered as she looked at Jake and watched for his reaction.

A large chest and thick thighs were signs of her taking after the fertility goddess Brigid, but the muscles in her legs went beyond that. Really, if she didn’t have canine ears on top of her head with the horns, he’d think that she was a minotress or bovine parentage beastkin instead.

Ophelia had long, muscular legs too, but these had an increased thickness that made it look like she could crush a watermelon between her thighs.

A long tail of an anklyosaurus trailed off behind her and swayed slowly, with a bulbous spiked mace-like implement at the tip. Green Celtic tattoos ran along her lightly tanned body, accentuating her arms and legs, chest, and muscular abs.

The woman’s whole body was thick and dense, and Jake could feel the restrained violence contained within her frame. Like a bow pulled and taught, ready to erupt. All that mass somehow went inside this frame that was half a head taller than Jake, and it was difficult for him to imagine how that worked.

“What do you think, Chief? Do I pass muster now?” Bree had placed one hand on her hip, with the other arm bent, and her hand placed behind her neck in a pose.

Jake smiled at her, trying to show some desire in his eyes–she had just worked very hard on her body, for him. “You’ve made yourself very attractive, and of course, strong. I’m happy to have you in our pack, for now. It seems you’ve certainly done everything you could to motivate me to win when we do end up facing your sisters.”

She grinned, looking more than pleased with herself and his reaction. “A girl needs to stand out, after all. You haven’t even seen the best part, Chief.” The girl spun slightly, to show off her other ample asset. Her ass was very thick. There didn’t seem to be an ounce of fat on the rest of her body, it was like it was all focused on her ass and chest.

Fhesiah looked with undisguised interest, and said what Jake was thinking with a smile, “You sure got that part right.”

Berri twisted her head and her lower body, to look over her shoulder at where her ass used to be–something that Jake was sure most humans couldn’t really do. “No fair. I want mine back now.”

Ophelia chuckled. “Why now? Faye could have done that for you years ago.”

Berri pouted. “Because I was making babies before, and the stub things don’t really work for laying eggs. Then, I kind of forgot. I want my juicy booty back, suddenly.”

Tanda tilted her head, her ears twitching. “Juicy?” She tried to copy Berri, to look at her own, but couldn’t. Jake couldn’t help but feel that Tanda did become a bit thicker, with the children she’d had.

Fhesiah chuckled at Tanda. “Yes, even you became a little more juicy after a couple of children, Tanda. But I think that’s kind of a function of your people, or something? You really look more filled out than before, and you look amazing.”

Tanda’s tail started wagging, and she nodded. “Thanks, Faye. I think you’re right. Many beastkin mothers do become a bit more…jucier after kids, I guess.”

Fhesiah said to Berri, “I’m a bit better at it now, but our bodies are even denser and more magical now too–all those magical materials we use when we harmonize do count for something. It’d take me a few days of effort. That few days might interfere if you and Jake are in the moment, and decide you want to make a child.”

Berri narrowed her eyes at Fhesiah. “I’d rather continue to go booty-less, then.”

Blood hummed. “But we could just, you know? Avoid the stumps for thighs so that eggs can still travel through, but still make it where there’s a hole on both–”

Jake cleared his throat. “I do believe we were about to say goodbye to the kids, weren’t we?”

Bree chuckled, her hands on her hips now. “I thought the discussion was interesting, though? Our pack sure keeps things fun. But yes, I am ready for battle. I can’t wait to show you my strength–my capability for violence.”

Her auril heart beat powerfully in her large chest, filling her body with auril. A hearth burned within her as well, which Jake found interesting.

Rather than a cyclical auril hearth like Tanda had just before she became a hearthian, Bree had crafted a more normal one–an auril hearth. This was actually much like what some of their beastkin clergy-based classes now had in the second Tier.

And part of it was in thanks to the Hearthivy within Tanda, and the tree within their Refuge. Seeds would grow on both as the seasons passed, and they were used to ignite the hearths among their numerous beastkin clergy, through a small ceremony at the Shrines on Highlands.

This allowed many of them to grow their own hearthivy, and cast limited magical spells. While not as good as having their own mana core in many ways, storage primarily, it gave them the longevity that matched the rest of the beastkin by drawing mana from the void to mix into their spells.

In a way, this felt like a bit of a cheat. When Jake manifested a template, he needed to supply the construct with its mana for consumption–it was a part of the cost. They could not generate their own mana, but true Tier 2 casters could control the mana in the surrounding area with their mana control, allowing them to cast spells slowly.

But Bree’s hearthivy would actually generate some mana, from her auril heart beating and stoking the flames of the hearth vines. So it was like if they were capable of both–having a hearth and decent mana control skill–they would have much more mana to work with.

Unfortunately, whether it was due to the lack of capacity or capability, there were no true beastkin wizards among them, utilizing mana in this way. They needed to be clergy of Brigid to even have a hearth it seemed, and this led them to often be healers or self-healing offensive melee, much like Bree.

While that was powerful on its own, it wasn’t often what Jake desired.

Ophelia sighed. “Violence is so much easier than what we have to do now.”

Jake hugged her from the side, and sent a feeling of support through their bond. “I know. But it’s important.”

Berri said, “It’ll be fine. Our lovelies are such good girls and boys. And strong!”

Jake was not convinced that made it much easier. Saying goodbye was never easy.