“Do you really think it’s okay for us to use your teacher’s ether devices?”
Against my expectations, nobody paid much attention to me when I stepped off the skytrain. A few uninterested glances followed me out of the station, but that was normal. Some people were always curious about the frail-looking, sweaty guy who seemed like he might collapse after taking a few dozen steps.
My clothes, drenched in sweat from all the running around, didn’t help my appearance either. Not that any of that was important right now.
“Don’t worry about it, dude. I’ll take care of Teach, though I doubt he’ll be there.” A teen with short blond hair and ocean-blue eyes waved dismissively, winking at me. “I’ll take all the blame if something happens—which it won’t—so stop worrying and follow me!”
Daniel was the complete opposite of me. He was almost two heads taller, muscular, and his looks were great. He had a chiseled face, bright, focused eyes, and I couldn’t remember a single time his hair was disheveled. He was confident, kind, and just… as close to perfection as one could be.
Then again, he was also stubborn like a bull and a chatterbox. Though the latter was likely his parents’ fault, since they kept peers away from Daniel to protect him from those who wanted to take advantage of the Zerog family’s money—or something like that.
“I see,” I muttered, following Daniel through the second sector.
My skin prickled, but I couldn’t tell if that was the sector’s ether density or nervousness speaking. I looked around and grimaced at the beauty of the massive structures everywhere. The ninth sector already had many large buildings, but they were smaller, older, and not as well taken care of as… any of the buildings in the second sector. Was that the difference in their status?
I sighed but followed Daniel even as we approached one of the massive structures.
[Bert’s Beaster] was written on a large sign that showed a video of an Emberio Wolf evolving into a Searing Scale Wolf in the background.
“Are your studies coming along well?” I asked, slowing to watch the short video clip a second time.
“Studies? Aah, you mean my tutelage as a Beaster?” Daniel turned to me with a grimace. “I guess it’s fine. Studying the zones adjacent to the Bastion was interesting at first. But to learn everything about all the zones’ flora and fauna is tedious. Boring, compared to the thrill of adventuring. You know, I’m more of a fighter than a researcher. Serums are great and all, but I want to focus on what I’m good at instead of this.”
He pointed at the shop with a sour look.
Right… I forgot how spoiled he is.
I responded with a thin smile. Becoming a Beaster was anything but easy. They researched beasts and studied how they evolved in the wild. Their evolution paths were recorded and studied to copy them—to concoct serums that allowed Blessed to evolve their Soulkin.
Knowledge about them was hard to come by, but Daniel had mentioned them once or twice. Often enough to tell that they protected mankind in their own way: with studies and experiments. That was how ether devices and evolution serums had come to be, and it was rumored that the Blessed had come to be in the same way.
But most importantly, Beasters were wealthy. They had the means to strengthen your Soulkin and possibly trigger its dormant potential to unlock special traits. With enough treatment, Beasters could jumpstart a Soulkin’s evolution, especially if a hidden strain was discovered. Or something along those lines. Daniel didn’t speak often about his tutelage, and if he did, it was usually incomprehensible.
“Come on inside, Adam!” Daniel called out, opening the door to Bert’s Beaster shop. A chime resounded through the shop, and I hurriedly followed—not without noticing a middle-aged woman standing behind a counter, looking him straight in the eyes.
I froze in my tracks and didn’t move until the woman smiled at me. She nodded toward Daniel and pointed to a door behind the counter.
“He won’t be back until evening. Make sure you put everything where it was, or that old fogey will throw a fit.”
Daniel walked nonchalantly through the shop and crossed it quickly, but I didn’t follow him right away. My eyes were drawn away from the woman behind the counter to the goods the shop sold. First, I noticed a wide variety of glass vials filled with liquids of countless colors. Some looked like they would taste sweet, while others definitely looked sickness-inducing. But it wasn’t just vials. I also recognized kibble, fruits, and the like—food for Soulkin—and serums for them to consume.
However, the serums weren’t evolution serums. I didn’t see any of those displayed anywhere. Some serums read Poison Fang, while others read Fiery Breath and Aqueous Shield. There were countless serums, and I had no idea what any of them meant.
“Those are for Awakened Soulkin. Feed one of these serums to a Soulkin with the dormant trait to unlock it.”
I heard the woman’s voice from further behind and jumped when I felt a hand linger on my shoulder. Fortunately, it was only Daniel, but he scared the living shit out of me. When did he appear beside me?
“There are also healing serums and serums required to push a Soulkin’s racial limit. Then again, there are always some restrictions and conditions that have to be met. The science behind beast evolutions, potential, and the like is complicated, to say the least,” Daniel explained, holding onto my wrist to pull me away from the shelves.
I could have escaped his light grip but didn’t bother. Instead, I chose to listen.
“I’m currently trying to create a serum to strengthen a Soulkin’s Endurance. A non-attributed serum, which is kinda hard to concoct. Then again, concocting serums with elemental attributes has its own difficulties.”
That was the only thing Daniel seemed genuinely interested in—concocting serums. Not the studying or practicing part, of course, but the creation of a serum that strengthened Soulkin.
As I was pulled to the other side of the room, I caught sight of several serums that attracted my attention. Some were meant to unlock the potential of a beast, others to improve a beast’s potential, and much more than that. The middle-aged woman wasn’t even trying to hide her smile as I turned back to Daniel, but she was kind enough not to laugh out loud.
We reached the backroom of the shop after some back and forth, and I froze again.
“That must have cost a fortune,” I blurted aloud, and Daniel nodded.
“100 percent. Everything in here is expensive. Teach is very invested in ether technology. It’s one of the things he’s researching, other than Wild and Awakened beasts. Teach is obsessed with evolution paths. Sometimes, he spends months outside, analyzing a singular pack of beasts to learn all about them.”
For Daniel to say that something was expensive, it had to cost a lot more than I’d imagined. What he considered a little bit of money was already a fortune for me, so...
No, I don’t want to know.
It was a lot to take in, but my heart was racing in anticipation.
The backroom was massive. It was at least twice the size of the front, maybe even bigger, though that was hard to tell since the backroom was as cramped as it was large. The wall to my right was covered in shelves filled with boxes, smaller devices, and a wide variety of herbs and body parts stored in glass jars.
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I took note of illumination crystals in a box and found small etherstones on the workbench near the shelves as well. There was even some powder of the same color as the etherstones in a mortar nearby.
That’s a crushed etherstone, isn’t it?
Beaker tripods, glass vials, and various other tools filled the workbench, each presumably a necessity to concoct serums—just like the small ether devices I found beside the workbench. Vials filled with blood were inserted into a small device that rotated rapidly, shaking the contents. I could only guess why anyone would want to shake blood like that and turned to the other devices.
Some ether devices were small and inconspicuous, but there were also massive machines.
A pool filled with a viscous liquid. A pod that could fit a human who was two meters tall and wide—though I doubted the pod was made for Blessed. None of the machines and smaller ether constructs resembled the devices that had been used on me to examine my World and analyze my body. Still, I recognized a metallic box covered by a glass vitrine: an incubator.
“Are you ready to find out what kind of beast your soon-to-be Soulkin is?” Daniel asked, weaving around stashes of cable, boxes of etherstones, and other resources that couldn’t have been any cheaper. The sight unfolding was enough to make me salivate, and for a moment, I would’ve loved to be a mean asshole without any principles. That way, I wouldn’t have had any issues pocketing a few etherstones to pay for our bills.
Alas, the thought alone was already enough to fill me with guilt.
“Sure. What do I have to do?” I asked, glancing back at the door. “But are you sure it will be fine doing these tests?”
Daniel waved dismissively. “Teach’s wife knows we’re here. You saw her earlier in the front. I took it upon myself to tell her about our predicament, and she was more than willing to let me use the Analyzor.”
“He wouldn’t like it if we were to play with his tools, but his wife wears the pants, so there’s no need to worry,” he added before pointing at a small podium outfitted with a small cushion. “Put the egg on the cushion and let me do the rest of the work.”
The podium looked like it had been carved from a single stone of marble. It was pristine-white and shimmered as if someone spent hours polishing it daily. Not even a speck of dust lingered on the even surface.
Following Daniel’s instructions, I approached the podium and retrieved the tiny egg. Suddenly, I was overcome by the fear of caking the cushion or podium in mud, but I placed the egg down nonetheless.
“Take a step back and wait,” Daniel’s voice rang out, and I stepped back.
My friend whizzed past me and arrived before the podium. A holographic keyboard materialized before Daniel, and he began to type.
With little—basically zero—knowledge of the procedure, I waited impatiently, my palms feeling sweatier than ever as a bell made of a milky-white material descended from the ceiling. It covered the podium, obstructing my view of the beast egg. Losing sight of the egg was harsh, but listening to the machine as it worked its wonders, making sounds that were impossible to interpret, I felt something pull on my nerves.
“That will take a moment,” Daniel said, his voice oddly calming.
Regardless, I continued trying to interpret the device’s sounds, hoping for the best; hoping Daniel would exclaim and relieve me of the tension that was about to consume me.
The examination was concluded, and the noises stopped. The milky-white bell was lifted again, revealing the muddy shell of his beast egg. I moved instinctively toward the podium, ready to scoop up the egg and retrieve it when Daniel raised his hand. He said nothing, but the bell was lowered again and the Analyzor resumed its work.
Nobody said a word, but worry crept up the back of my head. It filled my mind to the brim and let me imagine the worst.
Seconds stretched on. It felt like hours had passed—it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes—until Daniel finally said something.
“That’s interesting,” he muttered, turning around and gesturing to the egg. “You can take it back.”
I rushed to the podium and took the beast egg back; however, my focus never diverted from Daniel, not even once I was certain the beast egg was fine.
“So?” My voice rang out, sounding far less certain than I’d hoped.
“Well, the egg is interesting. It’s a Wild egg, which you probably guessed already. Your father wouldn’t have survived if he’d stolen the egg of an Awakened beast,” Daniel said matter-of-factly, his usual joyous nature replaced by seriousness. “I thought the egg looked familiar, but I did not recognize it. Not until the Analyzor told me.”
He pointed at the egg. “A healthy Soilback is growing in the egg.”
“A predator with decent potential,” Daniel clarified when he saw the confusion on my face. “A reptilian beast. A lizard with scales that look like dried-up mud. It is not as big as a Stonegutter or anything like that—you won’t be able to mount it or use it for transport. However, the Soilback egg’s size might not be too bad for you.”
He glanced at the egg for a moment and returned to several holographic screens displaying various sheets and graphics.
“But the egg’s size is also an oddity. Soilback eggs are usually bigger—oftentimes as big as a tennis ball rather than a ping pong ball,” Daniel smiled at me. “But that is good for you. Given its small size, it will likely require less soul energy to form and maintain the bond. At the same time, all tests confirm that the Soilback in the egg is growing healthily. It may take a little bit longer than others to hatch or grow, but no indicator suggests that it will be weaker than its peers. That being said, once mature, it will be a 3-Star Wild—if…”
My heart skipped a beat, not liking the sound of the ‘if.’
“If what?!”
Daniel looked a little uncomfortable but continued, “To be honest, I am not a certified Beaster yet, so my understanding of special cases is limited. But I know enough to say that if the Soilback egg’s size does not indicate a malignant mutation—which I highly doubt, given the tests to determine the Soilback’s healthy growth—everything should be fine.”
“All tests say that even if the Soilback is a mutant, which is not something I can say for sure, it isn’t a bad mutation. Every graph and number is within the norm of the recorded data,” Daniel explained to me, his voice soothing to my wildly beating heart. “Teach studied Soilbacks ten years ago… or was it twelve years ago? I don’t remember. Most of what he said goes in one ear and out the other.”
Daniel laughed a little at that, but I didn’t join in. “Adam… you are damn boring.”
I didn’t grace him with a response and waited until he continued, which I knew he would. Daniel was never out of words.
“Regardless, Teach studied them for almost a year when the Soilback population near the mountain range skyrocketed. That is also why I’m confident in the Analyzor’s examination. It compared your egg’s data with all the data stored in Teach’s Analyzor. Thus, except for its size, everything is in order. Your future Soulkin is healthy!”
My lips parted for a response but snapped shut when Daniel threw me the look. He had more to say… who would have thought?
“Furthermore, and probably most importantly, your World wouldn’t want to bind a creature knowing it would negatively influence its structure. The fact that your World responded to the tiny Soilback egg alone is already enough reason to bind it, no matter what the numbers and graphics could have said.”
I only stared at him, earning Daniel’s ire.
“Dude, I double-checked it to make sure I’m not wrong. There has not been a single—not even one—case of a World reacting positively, demanding even, to a beast with a malignant mutation. Read it yourself if you don’t believe me.”
I believed him. I trusted Daniel enough, yet I was curious about the details. Rarely was I given the chance to learn more about the Blessed. Daniel ushered me closer, which I did to read the data about [A World’s Synergy] in detail.
More than half of the things theorized in the thesis went over my head, but the consensus was that Daniel was right—and he knew it too. His self-satisfied face said it all.
“Putting your distrust aside,” he jabbed lightly at me, smirking like the fool he was, “Teach’s studies will help you quite a lot. He examined several Soilback Soulkin, following the articles and theories he’d shared in the ethernet following his research back then. That means I have a lot of information about Soilbacks, including potential evolution paths. Teach also has some personal records of evolution serums he concocted and how the Soilback Soulkins he’d treated reacted to them. That also includes records of the Soilbacks’ conditions, rank, strength, and what serums worked best on them to reinforce their foundation—to provide them with all they may need to hit the requirements to evolve into Craglings.”
Daniel met my eyes, his lips curling into a beaming smile. “And that is what you want to do. To evolve the Soilback into a Cragling, unlocking a minor aspect toward the element of Earth. As long as you manage that, your Soulkin will be Awakened and—”
He stopped himself midway, but his smile widened as his imagination escaped the confines of rationality.
What Daniel said was far-fetched and highly unlikely, but it was a possibility nonetheless.
As long as the Soilback wasn’t a malignant mutant and just a normal late bloomer that took a little longer to reach the size and strength of its peers, everything would be fine. I’d have a 3-Star Wild Soulkin.
With that, and a strengthened soulshare…
I could no longer hide a smile.
“Did I convince you?” Daniel shouted, slapping my shoulder excitedly. “Finally! I knew you would cave in at some point!”