It was the day before he needed to go to the Imperial Academy.
Robert sat in a classroom, bored to death. For someone who could endure months alone in the liminal void, that was quite the feat. He had to sit through mandatory new employee training where his classmates and he should learn everything they needed to know about the company. The lecturer clearly hates his position as he droned about employee rules and guidelines, ethics code, and poorly disguised attempts at brainwashing through corporate propaganda. The problem was only exacerbated by the fact he had already read all the employee manuals and rule books he had to read at least three times already. He could be the one up on the dais lecturing. And to add insult to injury, everybody kept their distance from him due to his special status as Amanda's bodyguard.
He summoned his timepiece to his hand. The impeccable craftsmanship kept perfect pace with the crystal clock atop the main hourglass. Robert gladly traded the dull lecture for the emptiness of the liminal void. Gears whirred and beads slid down its rails as the timepiece calculated this visit's length down to the second. It then started to count down. Robert spent some time watching the sand flow down the five hourglasses, each time they turned spurred the gears to spin and count down time.
The artifice timepiece was one of the puzzle pieces he needed to master the liminal void. No more guessing how long he had. No more clumsily waiting for minutes on end in the pose he wanted to take when leaving the liminal void. The only saving grace was that nobody could see him making a fool of himself in the liminal void.
He took his notebook and wrote a note about what the lecture was about and where it stopped. It was getting harder and harder to remember these insignificant details, as the number of ongoing projects increased.
The benefits of training with Tyrone were still unseen. Most of the time, he felt like the instructor was just venting his frustration on Robert. But it was live combat training and it was unsure if this hostility was beneficial or not. But one thing was certain. His proficiency with healing spells was improving visibly.
One thing that was going smoothly was the tempering baths. His idea of using the liminal void to take ten days’ worth of tempering in a single visit worked. He would eventually need to take care of the water he was leaving behind but that moment was not now.
Fluids in the liminal void behaved in a very peculiar manner. Water he wasn't touching didn't flow. That meant all the bath water he dumped out the window was still there, floating outside the window. But if he touched the water, the contiguous mass regained its ability to move and flow although only in a certain radius around him. The further the water was from his body, the slower it moved until the point it froze in time.
The effect was interesting. He poked a finger into the still mass of water and it resumed moving. It seemed like a still moving picture that was suddenly unpaused. Like a ripple, the effect extended for about four feet, and the faster water near him would overtake the slow water further away. If he removed his finger suddenly, the water would just freeze in these beautiful rippling patterns.
Robert even poked in two different spots at once, causing interference patterns to appear. He withdrew his fingers and let it stay there, glistening circles crossing each other in a hypnotic pattern.
*
*
After the lecture, he went home. Freddy was there to greet him, tail wagging. If only he could take the Taulusian hound to the liminal void without risking his life...
The only chance of that happening was if he could form a beast bond with Freddy. He had the book, he had the right affinity, it was only a matter of crystallizing the shell of the spell and convincing Freddy to bond with him. Most beasts accepted the bond only if they recognized the Arch as its master, companion, or family member. Robert wasn't sure where he stood with Freddy.
He brushed the fur on the hound's head and cast telepathy. The connection was rejected. Telepathy required a willing subject capable of communication. He had no idea which of the two reasons was keeping it from working on Freddy.
*
*
Freddy felt the tendril of Mental magic reach for his mind and forced it back. A wave of panic struck him and he forced his body to remain still. He remembered the teaching of his elders before he was bought by that female and gifted to Robert.
"Never let the two-legged know we are intelligent. They will feel threatened and become fearful of us. The day they learn the truth about us, is the day our extinction begins."
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They were refugees. In exchange for their lives, they chose servitude. They buried their warrior pride and became pets. They cherished their time with their family, knowing they would be separated and taken away on the two-legged's whims. What were Robert's intentions? Was he testing Freddy, trying to make sure he wasn't a threat?
Would Freddy die if he accepted the connection? Would it endanger his family? Survival in the rift labyrinth was a privilege for the strong. The Taulusian were weak. What if the situation was reversed? Would they spare the two-legged? Freddy didn't have an answer to that.
"It's okay, buddy. I'm sorry if I scared you," Robert said as he noticed Freddy backing away. "Mind magic is scary, right?"
Freddy nodded and whimpered. Robert smiled.
*
*
Robert sat on the living room floor and hugged Freddy. The Taulusian hound weighed sixty-three and a half kilograms, around a hundred-forty pounds. Freddy laid down and rested his head on Robert's thigh. Scratching the neck of the hound, Robert entered his Ethercosm.
His star shone in five colors. The white where it hadn't filled yet, and one patch for each of his affinities. It was at thirty-seven percent full, an enormous feat for only two months. Or mediocre progress for almost seventeen years. Robert thought he would've gone crazy if the time in the liminal void didn't blur together. Repetitive tasks didn't leave a strong impression in one's mind.
The shells for his abilities spun lazily around his star like a planetary system. If he focused on them, he could see dozens of faint and incomplete shells, potential abilities he could develop. He didn't. Despite having plenty of time, he didn't recover essence while in the liminal void. Save for the few Void wisps he found there, that was. He focused and floated next to the only black shell in the entirety of that constellation. Void punch. It wasn't finished by far, not even halfway there. Without guidance, it would most likely remain that way. It was further ahead than the other incomplete shells but only because he tried to use it.
He needed to solidify the ability to regrow lost body parts to work on void punch without fear of becoming a cripple. That led him to another shell that was almost finished.
Biomass Absorption was an odd tempering technique. It did what most tempering techniques did, reinforcing the body but it also served as the basis for a plethora of Life abilities that modified the body. It was going well. The cafeteria in this floor only served the best food, and he would gladly never again sit on the toilet if he could. The shell was developing very well. He gained forty pounds in this week.
That extra biomass passively increased his body's inertia and resilience. It made the beatings he took from Tyrone more bearable. But it also threatened to slow him down. He needed to develop his muscles to keep the same speed. In a pinch, he could rely on the haste and accelerate thought combo but that cost essence. The only active use for the biomass was to fuel reconstruct, his self-healing spell. With the combined boosts of vitae infusion and his tri-affinity tempering baths, the healing quality would soon hit supernatural.
Life Archs had this reputation of being almost impossible to kill and very hard to maim. Some legends aid masters could regrow their whole body from just a severed head.
Lastly, he went to check the beast bond shell. It only had a few faint threads of runic script. This one would take a long while, maybe even longer than void punch. Should he buy a creature known to form bonds to train with? It would speed up the shell's crystallization but also take up Freddy's spot. Not to mention it would be cruel to buy a beast to experiment on. The manual said some beast masters could bond with more than one beast but he was afraid that required an evolved ability.
Perhaps he should, considering the benefits against the costs. He could get a bird or some creature with good perception abilities. Or some creature he wouldn't feel bad if it died or anything.
*
*
After he packed all of his possessions into his storage rings and the backpack of holding, Robert put the harness and leash on Freddy and left the apartment. It was still his but he'd be absent for the next four months. He checked the time on his wristwatch. He had a few hours before he had to get the bus to the Imperial Academy. Perfect.
Robert took the tram to ground level and walked a familiar path to the Mollusk Realm facility. There, he used the employee entrance instead of the main hub.
"Mr. Blaze, welcome," one of the security guards greeted him.
"Hey, Saul," Robert said. "Is everything ready for me?"
He scheduled his solo delve at the last moment. It was approved only because he sold the idea to Jeremiah as a research project. What if a Mollusk could be used as a bonded beast? It would be hard for anyone else to test it but Robert had one trump card. His Mind Blackout spell could seize complete control of a creature's mind. His bet was that he could use that on a mollusk to skip part of the bonding process by overwriting the creature's memories.
"Yes, we will temporarily lock down the corridor's front door, and you can use the side access to cross."
"Good. I'll leave my hound here and will be back within the hour," Robert said, then knelt next to Freddy. "You stay here and be a good boy, okay?"
Using the side access would let him go without any delver noticing. The corridor had several steel doors that could be dropped. The ones closest to the passage were the strongest ones. Robert traversed the narrow hallways and reached the now empty corridor. The side door was designed to be flush with the wall, making it almost imperceptible if you didn't know it was there.
On the other side of the passage, a squad of four Samson Security staff stood guard, making sure no delvers would come next to the passage. Robert exchanged a nod with them. The leader pointed in a direction, the one less likely to cross into any delvers. Robert took off. The silent conversation helped preserve operational security. You never knew who was listening to voices.
Once away from the passage, Robert dove into the liminal void without stopping. He used the accelerated time to search a wider area. Groups of slugs and snails were ignored as he wanted a specific creature.
His clockwork timepiece showed three hours remaining when he found what he wanted. A group of three snails and two slugs, led by a flying squid. Robert examined them and then sat to read a book on architecture. When it ticked five minutes to resurface, Robert prepared himself and drew his sword.
A snail head flew the moment colors returned to the world. Robert dodged the spray of white blood and used his talent again. One by one, the landbound mollusks perished, leaving only the squid. It had squirted a jet of corrosive ink but Robert deftly dodged it, warned by foresight.
Robert reappeared behind the squid and pointed a hand at it.
"Mind Blackout!" he shouted.