Kaden stood in a stable surrounded by a dozen Beasts, most of them different types of mounts, though a few draft Beasts stood in stalls. Daku lay on a bench, pretending to sleep. His [Identify] claimed the man was a [Stablehand].
“I know you’re not sleeping,” Kaden said. “I heard you talking to a messenger bird a moment ago.”
The spy rolled over. “You can’t know that. I talk in my sleep.”
Kaden focused on the nearest horse. “Lay down!”
It remained standing.
No matter how much he stared or shouted or pointed or pleaded, the ache in his head got no worse and his control over the Beasts got no better. A few hours in, he caught Daku staring. “You need something?”
“Every child in Xiao knows the legends of the Beast Masters who nearly destroyed us. I knew legends grew with time. I never appreciated how much they grow. The Emperor will be very pleased with tonight’s report.” He went back to sleeping.
Kaden knew—and felt—the moment everything had changed. Like a mulick spine embedded in his calf, it stood out now that he’d used it once. But then again, so many of the other skills hadn’t unlocked at first.
Darkness came and Kaden still worked, finally giving up to pace back to the room where Trella waited with a cold dinner. “I hope your day went better than mine.”
She smiled—a missing tooth smile. “It didn’t. I haven’t been this bad at reactions since I learned from the Sisters and this is amazing. Their version of Alchemy is all controlled failures. We push for success, they walk the brink of failure, but when they do manage the balance, the results are better.” In silent code, she relayed a different concern. *He’s giving me re-agents worth more gold than we’ll make off the shipping. I think it’s because we’ve agreed to back off the port situation and let Tomoko take control.*
That would be very shrewd. A single messenger bird to Lord Sato would destroy every plan. The price of everything they were given was fair, given the stakes. Now that they were alone, Kaden unleashed Trinity. “Girl, can I try commands with you?”
Trinity’s wave of acceptance said he was welcome to fail with her.
“Sit.” Kaden said.
She did.
Excitement rose in him. “Did you sit because I told you to?”
Her middle head growled an affirmative.
“Did you sit because I made you?” Kaden asked with a sinking feeling. He knew the answer without Trinity’s reply. “Never mind. Don’t sit if I don’t force you to.”
Trinity was not a small beast, but the way she loomed, staring at him as if to say he couldn’t force her, that made him reconsider his ask.
“Think back to what happened,” Trella said. “You did it once, you can absolutely do it again.”
[Relive the Moment]. It let him look at a moment repeatedly. Since he hadn’t had it in active mode, he wouldn’t be able to move around and look, but he didn’t need another view. He wanted his view.
The skill activated, and with only a thought, Kaden was back in the nest. The panic was a memory but it still made his chest tight as the [Fire Wyvern] raised his head. It hadn’t been a thought as much as a combination of need, desperation and sheer will.
The pain of Skill Shock let him know exactly when the skill had activated, and Kaden went over it again and again. Need. Fear. Decision. Demand. It hadn’t been just words, it had been an expectation.
Kaden opened his eyes. Trinity snoozed, two heads asleep while the armored head watched him.
“See? He’s alive,” Sara said. She sat in one of the chairs with a bowl full of noodles, tossing meatballs to the Horror’s psuedopods. “How many times did you have to relive that moment?”
“Lots.” Kaden stood and stretched. His muscles were stiff, his legs cold from resting on stone. But he looked to Trinity. “Stand.”
Trinity’s serpentine head opened one eye to look at him and closed it again. That command hadn’t had the right urgency. It had the expectation but not the emotion.
“Stand!” This time, Kaden winced as pain split his skull.
All three of Trinity’s heads whipped up to stare at him.
So close. There was something here, something powerful and if he could only find it, it would make the difference. “Stand!” His willpower, the drive to find this skill, and the expectation that Trinity would stand combined to hammer a spike into his brain so badly that Kaden lost his balance and fell.
You have learned a new skill: Beast Command
[Beast Command]
Your suggestions are more than words, Beasts will be compelled to obey your commands. The complexity of the command will affect the length of time it is in effect. As this skill grows, your commands will last longer and be more effective. Strong-willed beasts can resist your commands.
New Second Tier Skill Prerequisite met - Beast Leader (Required for: Beast Lord).
“Kaden!” Trella’s Deceptions worked together to help him up. What had begun as shadowy projections now had actual strength. Trella herself had disappeared and burst through the doorway with Eve behind her. “He was trying to figure out that skill and collapsed.”
“Didn’t collapse. Turn down the lights, please, my head is killing me.” Kaden cradled his head.
Eve pressed cold fingers to his forehead. “It’s a status condition but not a normal one. Skill Shock. What did you learn?”
“Beast Command.” Kaden shared the logs and description. “I don’t remember it hurting like this.”
“Lie down, let me try [Life Explosion],” Eve said. “It feels like a high tier status effect.”
Sara stood over him, eyes narrow, her brow creased with worry. “Every other Beast Skill you had you either learned over time or paid the price for. I’m not surprised you’ve got skill shock, that kind of power is…I suppose, epic. How do you unlock Beast Leader?”
“Older [Beast Masters.]” Kaden flinched as something shifted in the pain.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
Eve stepped back. “I’m out of mana and only managed to reduce it a single tier. Frankly, I’m shocked I was able to reduce it at all. The best thing to do is wait, this is the System’s price for power.”
Trinty’s low groan echoed through the room, reminding Kaden. “Yeah, you can sit down again.”
###
Two days later, Kaden stood on the edge of the dock while Sara made final arrangements. His ship was no longer a skeleton, a thin layer of hull covered the lower fourth, but it would be months before the work was complete. It wasn’t just wood, it was the effort of enchanting the ship.
Trinity stood at his side. Ever since he’s learned [Beast Command] she’d been worried, watching over him while he slept.
Trella carried a chest on her shoulders. “Old Mao gave me training scrolls for their version of Alchemy. It will take decades, but I’ll combine the best of both.”
Ashi hadn’t spoken much for days beyond confirming that she could speak, but she grew more nervous by the moment. “I can feel the spell book page. I know it will come to me. Imagine what I will be capable of with a spell book to capture spells from each college.”
Though it made his headache spike, Kaden nodded. “We’ll be fine.”
Eve arrived at the dock with guards surrounding her—and Sato Tomoko. “Are we set?”
Sara would never be set. She always found one more thing to mention. “I made a few adjustments and gave the crew a dispensation. If they can repack the cargo tighter, each can choose to bring back their own goods, keep the money, or pool it to make more.”
“Generous,” Kaden said.
“It’s not my money. The Mercari are always looking for people with innate business sense. Funding a few dozen silver for each sailor is a bet, one they might lose on most voyages, but when they win?” Sara was on the verge of launching into another explanation of business plans.
*How do you know Xiao will honor the trade agreement?* Kaden asked Eve via mindspeech. He still had to take care to avoid shouting.
*The agreement isn’t with the Sato family, or Tomoko herself. The Emperor’s order, two shipments a year of furniture, is absolute. And it’s worth so much gold over the years.* Eve’s awe came through the mind speech clearly.
“My father regrets he cannot see you off,” Tomoko said, giving a short bow. “I hope to work with you in the future, when peace is a constant. And I hear rumor you will undertake a journey to Xiao when you are stronger. May it be successful.”
Trinity’s entire body had tensed, and her spear-tail posed to strike. The TriTerror shared no kind sentiments.
Before Kaden could speak, Trella put a hand on Trinity’s back, then rested it on Kaden. *It’s a big world. We don’t have to see her again.*
That would make it worth leaving. He wasn’t a fool, and recognized that they were being bribed in vast amounts to leave. The gold would be amounts that even Centurions took notice of, and if he could find out what happened in the Iron Gear Empire, he could multiply it even further. But that didn’t mean Kaden liked any of these people. *Let’s go. I don’t trust anyone here. They’re all working for someone or something. I want to work for myself. My profit. My value.*
Tomoko and her guards escorted them to the Far Portal. “You have our information. Send reports when you can. The Xiao Empire remembers its friends.”
Eve activated the FarPortal.
Kaden drew Trinity into his soul, checked on Vip. Skully would have to stay for now, but undead could wait forever, if needed. He stepped through the portal—and emerged in Verona, in the Council quarter, with Trella right behind him and Sara on her heels. A moment later, the entire party had gathered and the portal deactivated.
“Thank the gods,” Kaden said. He took the chest from Trella and stuffed it in Inventory.
“I need to register the agreement,” Eve said. “Give me a moment, but this will satisfy my duties to Verona for a long, long while.”
She disappeared into the Council headquarters.
Sara looked around. “We should have lunch at BirchHome. The whole party there while there’s not a disaster, this is ideal.”
“I need to talk to James Dervish,” Kaden said. “When do your Mercari quests complete?”
“The first set already have, the second set—and the party quests—don’t complete until the ships return. Patience!” Sara oriented herself. “I have business at the Mage’s tower.”
Kaden looked to Ashi and Trella. “And you two?”
“I have so much new equipment I need,” Trella said. “And I’m probably going to have to move my lab to one of the servant’s buildings. This could be very dangerous but it’s worth the effort.”
“I go to the crafters as well,” Ashi said. “I search for the beast that will cover my spellbook.”
Kaden set off into the city, heading for Dervish’s Summoning Services. He hadn’t leveled much, and it was frustrating, but the world couldn’t be all battles. Not that he would want to battle with the level of Skill Shock that lay on him.
Dervish’s Summoning Services’s front entrance was white marble with crystal doors that reached to the ceiling, but the man he wanted to talk to stood out front, seven and a half feet of summoner with ash-white skin, a bald head and one missing eye. Beside him, the captain of the city knights, Captain Blanco, stood, engaged in a heated argument.
He spotted Kaden and the argument died. “Look who it is. Verona’s [Beast Master.] I’ve been looking to talk to you. I have a squad of knights searching for bandits on the road east, and we’ve only found a handful. And there’s this village. Deshun?”
“Deshun a Noduska Bahon De,” Kaden answered. “Deshun for short.”
“Who’s hanging badgers from a tree?” Mr. Dervish asked. “Shouldn’t it be ‘Deshan?’”
“I wasn’t going to re-do an agreement at that point. Is there some place we can talk? I received a Beast that I have no idea what to do with. It doesn’t need to be secret, just safe from commoners.”
Mr. Dervish herded them inside to the floor of Summoning Services. “If you don’t mind, I like people talking about what they saw here.”
Kaden summoned the [Destruction Wyvern] hatchling, ignoring the feeble aura of destruction that stole ten points of health at a time. “The mother is imbued with [Destruction Mana]. Her aura killed all her brood. I swore an oath I wouldn’t eat this one in my nest. What do they eat?”
No longer in his soul, the hatchling radiated hunger.
“Hold on.” Mr. Dervish put out a call and a moment later, fed the hatchling from a wheelbarrow of meat. As a Centurion, its effect on him was negligible. “I’ve seen this twice. Beasts whose own nature threatened them.”
Kaden privately shared the logs. “I don’t want a [Cloak of Destruction]. I already had to place my griffin in a colony. This little guy can’t go to another wyvern colony. He’ll destroy it or they’ll destroy him.”
“Wyverns are precocious,” Mr. Dervish said. “From the moment they can walk they’re on their own, hunting other hatchlings until they can fly and then eating fish. They only come back to the nest for shelter at night. It’ll be flying within the month. The Vivomancer’s guild will want it.”
“Not happening. I got a new skill. Want to see?” Kaden focused on the hatchling. “Come to me.” Once again, Skill Shock struck, but he was getting used to it.
The hatchling was not a creature of great will. It was one of great appetite, but fell prey to his command, stumbling over to Kaden to wipe bloody jaws on Kaden’s cloak before turning in a circle to lay down.
“Commands. That’s going to be powerful. You mind taking a look at a Variated Drydel? They’re walking trees that some people use as mounts and this one’s got a illness we can’t identify.” Mr. Dervish led him back to a sterile steel room where a tree-beast the size of a wagon stood. If someone had chopped down a tree ten feet across, and then dug it up, and the roots animated to allow it to move, that would have been a [Drydel]. It had no visible eyes, and only stubby branches sticking out from the thick bark. Its root-legs whipped back and forth nervously as it shifted back and forth.
And it smelled of rot.
[Drydel - Tree Beast]
The Drydel were the weapons, the warriors, the tools and servants of the Dryadians when they ruled their continent. Like all Empires, they fell to ruin with time, but the living tree-beasts they engineered still walk the earth with ponderous, sure steps. Drydels cannot trip or fall, and though their pace is slow, they can cover any distance over even the most hostile terrain, regrowing burned limbs, ignoring poison, and serving as a base of operations for Adventurers. This Drydel has a rot deep inside, one that spreads with each day.
*Sick*.
Kaden shared the notification. “I think it’s being literal. I can feel the rot. Trees are odd. The outer rings are the living, growing part. My guess is there’s a fungus, or maybe termites, or something that has literally gotten deep inside.”
“What would you do?” Mr. Dervish asked.
“Find a class that can sense hollows. Hidden chambers. Safes? Then get a spearman to stab down and open it up. I can’t say how to kill the rot when I don’t know what it is.” Kaden couldn’t help hating the unease that leaked off the drydel. It knew it was sick, but had no mouth to ask for help.
“I’m not bad with a spear though I prefer lances,” Captain Blanco said. He lifted the Drydel with one hand, holding it high overhead. “There’s a black dot here. Looks like rotten wood. And I hear chewing.”
“Kaden, out.” Mr. Dervish said. “Ain’t risking you to find whatever’s hiding within.”
Kaden stepped out the door and shut it, watching from the observation crystal.
Captain Blanco thrust his fist through the knot, which crumbled.
An army of black swarmed out.