Miles, who went to the cave to reunite Jelly with its mother, was unaware of changes happening in Unity. He just left the cave and returned to the forest. When he finally exited the damned mountain, he saw the same panther monster staring at him with its golden eyes. The monster was looking at him with its pupils dilated to the limit. Miles froze on his step. After all, Jelly’s mother said, her breath would protect him against monsters in the perimeter of the mountain, but how wide this perimeter was. The panther monster was outside of the cave, was he still protected?
As Miles was observing the monster, the monster was also looking at him. Neither moved and waited for others to make a move. Miles would run into the cave with a small movement of the monster. Not long after the staring contest was over, and with a boom, the monster was lying on the ground, its head lowered. With the sudden movement, Miles bounced back and entered the cave with fear, but after realizing what had happened he emerged from the cave once again with embarrassment.
He looked at the panther monster with question marks on top of his head. Why did this monster lie on the ground? Many possibilities came to Miles’s mind, but he eliminated all of them. It can’t be possible!
He approached the monster slowly. He couldn’t feel any threat of killing intent from the beast. Its head was lowered as if it didn’t dare to look at Miles. Miles walked to its side and lifted his hand. He was going to pet a super-strong monster that threatened his life the other day.
He couldn’t believe it, but it looked possible. When his hand finally joined with the monster's soft and dark fur, he felt like melting.
“So soft!” He pet and the panther stretched its neck. The monster lifted its eyes and looked at Miles.
“I tamed it?” Miles couldn’t believe it. But he knew the reason. Exaltedness of the Creator. This technique he learned not that long ago had marvelous effects. He only skimmed through it and had no time to practice it yet, but even when he was skimming through it, he noticed a few details that made his soul shake.
The first level of the technique allowed practitioners to gain temporary strength, speed, and defense. It was taxing on the body depending on how long it had been used, but the improvement was also exponentially increasing. Miles was at the peak of the middle-tier now. His strength could be said best in Grace-Rank.
His strength, if measured, would be more than 400, which was the threshold of the second serum. But if he were to practice the technique and use the first level it would increase his strength to 500 units temporarily. It might seem a little, but 100 units were the highest humans could reach before Straightening Serums started to be used.
Of course, augmentation would increase when the practitioner also got stronger. But at the moment Miles could only increase his strength by 100. His speed was now more than 140 km/h. His maximum speed before using the second serum was only 70, now it was doubled once again, and if he were to use the first level of Exaltedness of the Creator, it would increase to 200 km/h.
Of course, Miles wouldn’t use such a taxing technique lightly to move faster and could only use it in combat to increase his odds of survival.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The second level of the technique would increase his strength, speed, and defense permanently, and starting from the second level, with each level the permanent augmentation would also advance. Of course with augmentations from the second level and other outside effects, the temporary increase of the first level would rise as well.
Starting from the third level, the side effects of the first level augmentation would decrease and in the fourth level using the first level wouldn't cause any adverse impact on the body at all. But the third level wasn’t only this. With the use of energy on the third level, practitioners could make use of energy to resonate with the monsters. They can communicate to some extent. But the third level is just a preparation for what is coming after.
At the fourth level, the technique allows practitioners to tame the monsters. When Miles first saw the effect of the technique he couldn’t believe it, but now that the Panther monster was prostrating itself before him, Miles had no doubt at all. Of course, he hasn’t practiced the technique and couldn’t even communicate with the monster, but because Jelly’s mother’s breath was on his body, Panther prostrated in front of him.
“Can I?” Miles wanted to try and see if he could make a contract with the monster, but he wasn’t sure if the breath he borrowed would allow him to tame the monster. Miles cut open his hand and placed it on the monster's head. When he saw the conditions of the technique for the first time, he wanted to curse how lame it was, but after he read the details it made sense to him.
Every monster in Portal World had orbs or cores in their bodies. And putting one’s blood on their head would allow their blood to seep into the orb or core and make a contract between two. It wasn’t just dripping blood to contract the souls, but creating a blood link between orb or cores and a person.
The Panther monster looked at Miles and licked his palm. The blood on his head seeped into its head, and Miles felt another consciousness forming in his head. It was like the Maroon armor when he first put his blood in it. He had full control over the monster. Of course, the monster could deny the blood and reject him, but it accepted wholeheartedly. Miles looked at the giant panther with a smile and hugged it. He now had a partner, a panther.
“What should I call you?” Miles held his chin as he looked at the dark panther. Black fur, gold eyes. Hmm, Goldie? No. Little Black? Right, as if I am that lame.
“Since you are she, I will call you Culga, goddess of black death. As per your fur, silent and deadly. Hmm, although cringe it may sound, it is majestic nonetheless.”
Culga licked Miles's hand, approving his choice of name. Although it couldn’t understand human language, it now had a link with Miles, so it could understand Miles. All of a sudden Miles staggered and was about to fall to the ground but Culga supported him. Miles felt light-headed.
“Technique mentioned forming contracts would be taxing to the mind. And I should have been able to form one only in the fourth level, but thanks to the breath Jelly’s mother bestowed, I successfully tamed a monster, stronger than me too. Now it is onerous on my body. Luckily I used the mind serum or I wouldn’t only face lightheadedness and something more serious.
What should I do with Culga? I can’t leave it here, nor can I take it to the stronghold for now. Miles pondered and found a perfect place to take Culga. There, no one could threaten it. Miles hopped on its back and rode his new pet. It was as fast as his newly bought car, maybe faster. In a short few days, two reached their destination. Umbra Forest, where they hunted the humanoid vampire.
“You stay here, buddy. You are allowed to attack and kill anything that attacks you. Including humans” Miles allowed it to kill humans. He wouldn’t be naive and say don’t kill humans. He would even kill humans if they were to attack him. It would be hypocritical of him if he were to disallow his pet to do the same. Of course, it could also eat its spoil of war and level up.