Motte and I were sitting on the edge of a small ravine basking in the warmth of the high noon sun. I had my feet wading in the water and Motte was curled up like a dog sleeping at the end of its master’s bed. He was laying in a patch of sunlight warming his aching wings and I was content to listen to the sounds of the forest.

It had been two days since the events at the encampment and the encounter with the giant butterfly Essemon. Lucy and Aurora had been quiet the entire time we were traveling while the only one I talked to was Motte. It was interesting to feel my fear start to dissipate more and more each day as I spent time with him. Aurora had mentioned that if I wanted to I could Recall Motte into my ARC Band but I had a feeling Motte wouldn’t like it. He seemed to enjoy walking and jumping through the woods.

“There you are.” Aurora came and planted her boots next to me. “I was thinking. You don’t know what you’re doing. Like at all and that… and well that’s not good. So I figured I could show you a thing or two.”

“Oh, sure,” Lucy called over from behind a row of trees. I could only see the top of her head as she sat by our campfire. “Get your grubby League hands all over the new guy. Recruit him to your ranks and brainwash him with all your rules.”

Aurora rolled her eyes and ignored what Lucy said. “Ben I want to help you. I saw your ARC Band data and well… it’s not good.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your Essemon… what’s his name?” Aurora pointed at Motte who was now sitting up watching what was happening.

“It’s Motte.”

“Yes, Motte. He is an incomplete Design.” Aurora said.

“What did she call me?” Motte said chittering his wings.

“It’s fine Motte. What do you mean he is incomplete?” I pulled my feet from the river shook them off and stood.

“When a new Bonder arrives in Asherik they appear in a starter city. In each of the starter cities, the League has stations set up to help the new people. We teach them about the world, about Essemons, and give them their first Designs. A Design like this.” Aurora pulled up her ARC Band, swiped in the air, and summoned an Essemon in front of her. Out of a haze of white energy a white rabbit appeared at Aurora’s feet. “This is Winter, my Essemon. She is currently using my first ever Design. I have two more Designs equipped to my ARC Band. That is the max my ARC Band rank can currently hold. Why don’t you go ahead and Survey her.”

I did as Aurora bid and pulled up my ARC Band display and Surveyed Winter.

Name Winter Abilities Level 6 [Powder Snow] ★☆☆☆☆ Rank 3 [Unbonded] ☆☆☆☆☆ [Unbonded] ☆☆☆☆☆ Traits Element [Ice] ★☆☆☆☆ Stats Species [Mammal] ★☆☆☆☆ HP 8 Territory [Unbonded] ☆☆☆☆☆ ATK 2 DEF 7 Rarity Uncommon SPD 3 Form Hare SPT 3

“K great. Do you see where it says Traits?” Aurora asked.

“Yeah. It says Element is Ice, Species is Mammal and Territory is [Unbonded]. Then there are stars filled in next to the first two.” It wasn’t hard to realize after the Essemons I had scanned that the Level affected the stats and the Rank was connected to these stars somehow. I wasn’t sure how the stars affected everything or how to gain ranks but leveling up was straightforward. I collected the XP from battles and could distribute them to the Essemon Design. I did wonder how XP would work when I had more than one Design or how the Designs even work.

“Oh my gosh! Look at that.” Lucy said walking over and motioning toward Winter. “She is adorable.”

“Please, would you not interrupt me. I’m trying to teach Ben.” Aurora gave Lucy a scowl.

“Hey don’t mind me. I’m here for a refresher. It’s nice to hear the basics again. After all the League loves to make sure everything is set in order.” Lucy smiled back and Aurora then turned and sat in the shade of a nearby tree.

“Anyways,” Aurora continued. “You’re Essemon, Motte here, only has his Species Bonded with his current Design. That makes this Design incomplete. For an Essemon Design to be considered complete it needs at least its Element and Species Bonded. But… before we can get you a new Core Essence to bind and complete your first Design you need to level up to Level 5.”

“Why Level 5?” My head was starting to hurt now. I never like math.

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“When the Bonder reaches Level 5 your ARC Band levels up to Rank 2. With two levels in your Rank, you can Bond another Core to your Essemon. Each time you bond a Core to your Essemon you get one of those stars. Each star represents a Rank in your Essemon Design. Your Design’s Rank can never exceed your ARC Band’s Rank. I know it’s a lot to think about and I’m not a professional Tutor.” Aurora was scrunching her face and rubbing her hat back and forth. “Gosh, this is coming out terribly. Are you getting any of this?”

I could hear Lucy chuckling to herself as she watched us.

“Uh… Yeah, I think so.” Honestly, everything was going over my head at the moment.

“Okay… Okay… Just… Let’s level you to level 5.” Aurora said.

“How do you plan on doing that? We aren’t in one of the League’s training centers.” Lucy taunted.

“I have an idea,” Aurora said giving me a smile.

Aurora’s plan to get me to level up was to have her Essemon fight Motte. She said that I could practice my commands and gain some XP to not only power up Motte but also my own ARC Band. I wasn’t totally convinced with her idea but I didn’t have another choice.

“Okay Ben, are you ready?” Aurora asked. She was standing thirty feet away from me as we faced each other near the bank of the river.

“I guess. Motte you ready?”

“Let’s do this.” Motte crouched and readied to fight.

“Here we go,” Aurora commanded Winter to bound forward and the battle began.

Essemon Battle Initiated!

Name Motte HP: 10/10 【▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮】

Name Winter HP: 8/8 【▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮】

“Winter let’s show them a true Essemon battle. Use Powder Snow.” The white rabbit came to a halt, scrunched into a tight ball then shook its fur. It let out a buzzing sound as it activated its ability. A flurry of snow began to fall from the sky. It lightly fell to the ground and there was no wind to accompany it. A nice calming snowfall in the middle of a bright jungle.

I waited a second to see what the ability did then decided to pull up my ARC Band and Survey it myself. As soon as I attempted to pull up my ARC Band the white rabbit attacked knocking Motte back a few steps. It had moved so fast that I only saw a blur of motion and had no time to react.

“Motte, are you alright?” I asked watching Motte stand back up and shake the snow from his body.

“Not really… Did you see how fast her Essemon was? I didn’t have time to react.” Motte said.

“Sorry, I was checking out its ability. I didn’t see what happened.” I called back.

“Ben. You can’t always rely on using your ARC Band. You need to feel the connection between you and your Essemon. Your senses, bodies, and minds are connected. Use that to your advantage. You will learn more by focusing on your Essemon than on your band. So pay attention or you’re going to lose this fight fast.” Aurora made eye contact with Winter and in another flash of white Motte was hit on the side and sent tumbling through the snow. I could feel the impact hit me in the side and a shock of pain cut up my back.

The display of the battle stats flashed with a new update.

Name Motte HP: 6/10 【▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯▯】

Name Winter HP: 8/8 【▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮】

Both hits had done two points of damage but I couldn’t see if any status conditions were affecting Motte unless I pulled up my ARC Band. I strained to keep my eyes on the fight and resist the urge to check my wrist. I commanded Motte to try and dodge Winter’s attacks but no matter what he did she was too quick. I knew that her Essemon’s Speed was lower than Motte’s so whatever was happening had to be because of her Powder Snow ability.

Her Essemon got another good hit and then retreated. Winter’s HP was at max and Motte only had two HP left. The whole situation reminded me of the fight with the Pondfang. That’s when I had an idea.

“Motte let’s see if we can pull off what we did back to the Pondfang. You in?” I called out to him.

“Sure. Sounds good.” Motte replied.

“Wait till after I’m done then go in for an attack.” I quickly pulled up my ARC Band and thought I had enough time to activate my [Swarm] ability before Winter came in for another attack. I pressed the screen and summoned a cloud of insects to attack Winter. As the buzz of bugs shot out from my wrist Winter was gone. My attack hit nothing.

“Too slow Ben. This fight is over.” Aurora said.

I turned to see Motte laying on his side knocked out with Winter standing next to him.

“You’ve been lucky so far. But you have a lot to learn.”

Name Motte HP: 0/10 【▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯▯】

Name Winter HP: 8/8 【▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮】

DEFEAT!

XP Gained: 25

All Essemon Designs Shattered

Unable to Continue

I felt a wave of pain wash over my body and my mind started to swirl. I couldn't believe I had lost so quickly. I fell to my knees as weakness took out my legs. I placed my hands on the ground and felt tears swell in my eyes. I clenched my teeth and refused to cry in front of these girls. I'm sorry Motte. I then blacked out.