"Good. Now they're perfect," Noah said with a satisfied tone. "We will leave the gliders here and go back to the center of this island. There's a campsite around the tower. When we come back to the gliders, we're calibrating the shadow gauges again. Every single time, before departing, we calibrate those things. You have no idea how dangerous it was to fly the gliders without a proper heading."

They took a trail that went across the flower meadow. Freddy ran around, smelling the flowers and enjoying his freedom. Robert's prescience and danger sense didn't ping a single thing out of the ordinary. Not that he expected but he was afraid that whatever destroyed the previous realm would follow them into this one.

They went around the hill with the metal tower and flag. On the other side was a wooden cabin with an overgrown lawn. It was surrounded by a white picket fence and looked lovely.

"We will use the cabin," Noah said, then he shook his head at the state of the lawn. "But we need to mow the lawn. We're staying here for a week and we will not go into the liminal void this time, Robert.

"Fine by me," Robert shrugged. He too felt that they shouldn't go there too. Robert wanted to experiment with his evolved talent and figure out its mysteries. He would have almost two years to do that if they were spending a week in real life at the cabin.

"Robert, you are responsible for cutting down the lawn. Amanda, please make a garden. Try to focus more on using your talent than relying on the plant growth spell. And you, Freddy. Let's see. Can you capture a puffbloom for us?"

"Sure," Freddy barked.

"You can go and do your assignments. Freddy, you won't go less than a hundred feet near the edge. If there are no puffblooms near the center of the island, then you can come back."

Freddy vanished. Robert looked but he didn't see a single flower or blade of grass disturbed by the hound's passing. Giving up, he approached Amanda.

"Hey, could you make a handle for my dagger so I can use it as a scythe?"

"Sure," she replied tersely and without making eye contact.

Robert felt bad but it was her who kissed him, not the other way around. Amanda would either come around and deal with her issues, ask him for help, or not. He could do little to help her. Or better, he had no idea what he could do to help her. And he wasn't going to ask Noah for help with the issue. It wasn't his issue, he believed. What should he do? Reject her advance? He wasn't that strong.

Amanda dragged some stone up through the floor and shaped the handle with a hole he could put his dagger in. He used the ultra-sharp water-imbued blade to cut the grass almost as short as his hair.

Noah approached him. "Why are you using that to cut the grass?"

Robert just stared and blinked. "What am I supposed to use?"

Noah chuckled, "I don't know. Did you check to see what's available in the tool shed?"

His jaw dropped. "There's a tool shed?"

"Yeah, it's on the left side of the cabin. Right next to the firewood stacks. While you are there, see if there's enough firewood, and if not, go cut a tree for us."

Robert glanced back at Amanda, who had her lips tightened into a thin line trying not to laugh at him. "Get me a hoe and a rake while you are there," she shouted.

With a grumble, he went to get the tools.

*

*

He was almost finished with the lawn when he saw a puffbloom speeding toward them. It was missing a tuft of fur and squealing like a trapped prey animal. Because it was a trapped prey animal. When it reached the fence, it went up, then down. And once it reached three feet away from Robert, Freddy appeared. he was holding the creature's long fur in his mouth.

"Hey. Was it hard to get one?"

"No. I just approached and bit its fur. It was harder to find one."

Robert grabbed the puffbloom by the fur and took a good look at it. He searched for almost a minute before he could find the creature's front. Its fur was entirely white, its albedo so high it almost shone. The creature had a long rat-like snout but no paws whatsoever. it also had a long furry tail that stretched the entire length of its long hairs. It was squeaking at Robert and attempting to fly away.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Apparently, puffblooms could change their buoyancy and... manipulate air currents? Yes, Robert could sense the breeze close to the creature was in a different direction than the area away from the creature. But that made the puffblooms monsters and not animals.

"Professor!" Robert called.

Noah came from inside the cabin. "What's the matter? Oh, you caught a puffbloom."

"Freddy did," Robert said and petted the Taulusian.

"Let me get a good look at it," Noah said and Robert handed the puffbloom over. "A female, adult. Probably between three and five years old. Nice fur, yes, this one will do."

The puffbloom protested the examination.

"What are we doing with it?" Robert asked.

"What do you think?" Noah challenged.

"Are we going to eat it?"

Noah laughed. "No. It is edible but there's so little meat in here that we would need two dozen of these to feed the four of us. No. This one is for you, Robert. Try to beast bond with it. If you manage to tame the puffbloom, we will attach it to Freddy's harness, this way it won't overburden your glider. If we don't, Freddy will have to ride with Amanda because the combined rider weight matters."

"Did you know they're monsters and not animals?"

Noah nodded. "Yes, but in the decades people spent monitoring this place, not a single person was attacked by a puffbloom. Their wind magic is weak. You will find out that people give creatures the most convenient denomination, not the most accurate one. Also, revealing that the puffblooms are monsters would be bad for the travel guide business. Rich Archs kids often come here in search of a vacation spot or a secluded training area. They take a longer route than we did, though."

"Anyone would if they could avoid those creepy caverns!" Amanda protested from the other side of the lawn.

"Are they really capable of lifting a person?" Robert asked. "Wouldn't it fly away and carry us?"

"Yes and no. They can carry a person but they won't unless forced. And it wants to get away from you. Why would it attempt to take you with them? Don't let go of its fur. If you do, it will float away like a gas balloon."

"Understood, Noah. Thank you." Robert grinned as he took the puffbloom back.

"I'm here to help you two develop into the best Archhumans you can be. Trust me, the week we're going to spend here won't be just for leisure."

Noah examined the lawn. "You need to finish bagging the grass, use the burlap bags in the tool shed. We'll use it for composting. Freddy, do you want to go find another puffbloom?"

Freddy barked excitedly and wagged his tail furiously. The next thing, he was bounding over the picket fence and vanishing mid-air.

"What a scary talent," Noah said with a shake of his head. "In the wrong hands, it would be a nightmare."

"But it is in the right paws."

"It's not scarier than yours, though," Noah said seriously. "Good luck taming your new pet. I'm back inside to finish dusting everything."

They each took to their chores. Robert tied a string around the puffbloom's neck, then saw it bite the string, then decided to stuff the critter inside the tool shed while he gathered the cut grass.

*

*

Robert sat on a cushion in the middle of the lawn with the puffbloom on his lap. Amanda was planting the garden and Noah was whistling as he cleaned up inside the cabin.

"How do we go about it, buddy?" Robert asked the puffbloom.

It had calmed down and wasn't attempting to evade anymore. Robert found a way to stroke the creature's fur that he assumed it liked. it involved digging deep until he almost reached the body and then pulling slowly, letting the hairs flow between his fingers and gently stretching it. The creature practically purred in his lap. He also fed it flowers. The puffbloom chewed them with an amazing speed.

He cast beast bond on the critter. The spell failed. The feedback he got was that either the spell was too weak, or that the creature wasn't friendly enough, or that it was very resistant to the Mental affinity. Either way, he needed to change his approach.

Should he try the same as he did with the centifish? While domination wasn't exactly conducive to making friends, he was already taking the little Wind-affinity monster out of its natural habitat and keeping it captive. He knew his mind blackout spell didn't cause pain, only disorientation. It was a tool like any other. What was the difference between dominating one's mind with a mind blackout or blowing the same head with a void punch? One was covert, and the other was overt.

He wouldn't use his spell on a sentient being to dominate them. Yeah.

Robert called upon his ability and cast the spell. "Mind Blackout."

The puffbloom offered no resistance. With the snap of a finger, Robert had total access to its mind.

Not that he found many things in there. The monster was very simple and mostly acted on instinct. The goodwill he gained from petting and feeding it was short-lived. In fact, the creature didn't remember anything from more than five days ago, only some impressions and learned behaviors. They had no natural predators. The number one cause of death among puffblooms was starvation among the clouds if they couldn't drift too close to an island to feed.

He changed its memories to make it feel like it was with Robert for days instead of just an hour. He increased the pleasure from his petting and even made the flowers he fed it tastier.

Robert felt a darkness envelop his mind. Damn. If this power was a mere souvenir from Cerebelon, just how powerful was the eidolon? Was it stronger than the one who destroyed the slime caverns? He feared that the answer was yes. He also felt extremely afraid of using this spell on a person. He could mold the person into whatever he wanted if he had the required essence to use it. The upkeep cost to keep the domination running while he made changes to the person was nothing to scoff at.

But the changes were permanent. This puffbloom was now Robert's pet. It loved Robert and unless he left it alone and away from him for more than five days, it would keep on loving Robert. He'd brainwashed the puffbloom.

One last test. He tried to make the little monster use its power. Robert told it to fly in a circle around him, then land on his hand. The puffbloom executed the instructions with perfect accuracy.

He sighed and canceled the mind blackout spell. The puffbloom squealed happily.

"Beast bond!" Robert chanted. Since it wasn't a unique ability, he didn't need to say the name out loud.

This time, it connected. A tether of ether-linked the puffbloom to the ether shell in his soul. The ether solidified, forming a silver thread.

Robert could hear the puffbloom thoughts. While it couldn't use language, it had concepts for flowers, the same as food, clouds, land, trees, and others. He could issue commands to his pet, which the creature interpreted and then tried to execute to the best of its knowledge. which was none. It was different from the direct control granted by mind blackout.

He needed to teach the puffbloom tricks now.