Now that my personal problem was no longer at the forefront I could take stock of my surroundings. The first thing that caught my eye was a crowd of monster girls completely engulfing something.

This made me chuckle, perverts were the rarest of the bunch to visit monster girl park but it was always a spectacle to see every inch of open skin getting sucked on.

Another thing that was probably true was that the person in the center was probably female, the high-level difference made anyone with a dick circumspect to a low-class bond, something they did not want most of the time.

That thought made me look down at my own, if this was some sort of anime then my cheat would be that I had it much easier with bonds, classing up a low-level bonded monster was just a matter of attuning the monster to you(something that normally took years) and I could skip the hard parts.

This brought a small smile to my face as I headed deeper into the woods, overgrowth became commonplace the deeper I went and people became sparser, eventually, I reached what looked like a massive bush taller and wider than a small house.

As I approached the giant shrubbery, I tried to psyche myself going over all the points I made for my argument. After a little too long of procrastinating, I put my hand through the bush. The surface vibrated like water shimmering as the illusion stabilized, it felt like I was putting my hand through gelatin though there was no pushback whatsoever.

I blinked and I was in this bedroom with a techno laboratory aesthetic. Machinery was strewn about, and the back wall was just massive computer screens displaying static, at the center of it all was a massive circular bed with neon purple sheets that were tinged with a metallic sheen. The whole room was dimly lit with a mixture of soft lights. At the center of the bed lay one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen that rocked the tech android look like it was made for her.

I just entered the domain of a boss-tier monster girl.

"Oh my, it seems you are back, little one."

The woman was puny with her lithe five-foot frame to my towering six-foot-one. A lot of her flawless skin including her midriff was exposed with not a once of visible muscle just smooth alabaster white skin. Despite all the physical differences, a single flick from her could turn me into meat paste, and now that I knew, I wondered what lucky star had saved me during my first encounter.

"Your dampener is working fine I hope."

Her eyes stared at my pants and now I noticed wooden tendrils wrapping around every bit of it and I felt agitation through the bond.

I turned off my dampeners and let my power seep over her calming the scared and concerned monster girl.

"Beautiful, is it not? She has no hope of even scratching me and yet her first instinct is protecting you from a perceived threat. Such devotion..."

"Mom... will you quit it?"

A playful smile danced across her artificially perfect face, her eyes flickering like a computer screen.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Why, I am simply a worried mother who is concerned about her son's choices is all. I thought you wanted to climb the ranks quickly by 'bonding the strongest ones around."

A blush bloomed on my cheeks and I looked away.

"Stuff... happened..."

"Awe. Is my son embarrassed, do not worry your mom is harmless."

I could not help but snort.

Boss-tier monsters are any monster at S-rank or above, they were so powerful that reality would warp around their domicile to match their taste. So mighty was their innate mana that hunger was a thing of the past, they ate for fun and not much else. Case and point this room, it was nothing but undergrowth till she came along and turned it into her hidden home, and I knew for a fact she had not taken a master in all the years I have known her and I have known her for three years now.

My mother gave me a mock pout.

"It is true! I am harmless to you and your friends."

While our banter was going on My plant girl calmed down and went back to feeding, though some agitation remained.

"I want to be bound to you."

I dropped the bomb knowing the conversation would get derailed quickly otherwise.

"Ahh..."

She said before her whole tone became a lot more maternal, I did not like that one bit. This meant a lecture was coming along with what was most likely a rejection. She got up and came to the edge of the bed before patting the spot next to her. I sighed, came up, and sat next to her. My plant girl visibly flinched at the proximity but her actions remained constant.

"Do you remember the first time you came here?"

"Yeah..."

She answered for me still spinning up a story.

"A boy who could no longer bear the multitudes of emotions that everyone projects. Disgusted and confused by emotions possessed by their own family. Who used this place as an escape because, for the terrible things monster girls do, they are still simple animals who only wanted love."

I settled down listening to the recounting of my past self. This was the safest place I could be and for a moment I could get lost in her soothing voice.

"The boy started spending more and more time in the park, it reached a point where he spent more money to sleep among monsters than in his own home."

"A doll took interest in the boy, lost and forgotten as she was she felt a small kinship with the boy. She started to take an interest and keep an eye on the boy. One day, out of pure happenstance the boy came into contact with the doll's home. Instead of turning him away like all the others, she accepted him in."

"The first sensation the boy felt was pain from the emotions from the doll, do you remember that?"

"Yeah, but you made me these dampeners and my life has been immensely better afterward like now I am a functioning human being."

"Do they protect you from your bonded?"

"Not much... But they feel good, not overwhelming or mind-breaking."

"Yes, but they are natural monster girls. I am a doll created from human experiments. My mental matrix is more complex than most humans, our first encounter is proof as such."

"So I take that as a no?"

I was expecting this but still sucked, I called her mother but that was just a pet name, if there was anyone that I genuinely loved in this life, it was her. Being on the receiving end of rejection sucked.

Arms wrapped around me, and I felt soft kisses all across my scalp.

"My boy, I swear if I was any other monster girl or if you did not have your gifts I would accept you in a heartbeat. But to knowingly hurt you so terribly would go against everything that I am. I simply cannot."

Tears came unbidden to my eyes, I felt the loneliness in her words which were so profound that I could not stop myself from sobbing. She was not wrong, the only deep emotion monster girls could feel was devotion towards their bonded master everything else was very surface level. But that did not make it easier. I felt consoling caresses and thoughts from my little plant which helped more than I realized.

"I swear... I will reach the S-class, gain complete control of my powers and then come back for you."

A small lonely chuckle rang across the room.

"And I shall wait for that day."

A small ring from my S.A.I watch broke the moment. Frustrated, I brought up what could be so important that the watch overrode my silence. On the holographic screen blared a message, "Congratulations, you have passed with exemplary marks! As such you have been chosen for the 'Brighter Future' Program".