Well, that’s a bit of a turn-up for the books, I say to myself, my eyebrows disappearing into my hairline – not too hard these days, admittedly, considering how shaggy my locks have become.

So, if I’ve understood it correctly, the Fire elemental doesn’t have its own health pool so it uses a bit of mine – which means that if I die, so does it. I don’t think the reverse is the case, though. I do apparently need to give it mana, though. And it’s not able to be attacked physically, but it can be by ‘opposing elements’.

I guess that that makes sense: if I think about fire, I have now become this elemental’s fuel. If I go, and it hasn’t found a new source of fuel, then it will die. I could beat at a fire’s flames as much as I’d like, but if I don’t disturb either its fuel, source of oxygen, or heat, then I’m not going to have any effect.

If I pour water or earth on it, though, or cool it so much the exothermic reaction cannot continue, or remove the oxygen or replace it with some other nonflammable gas…. At least I guess that that’s what it means by ‘opposing elements’.

Still thoughtful, I pass onto my final message. There, I find the reason for why Fire Taming is in italics on my list.

You have tamed a Fire and have transformed it into a Fire elemental. You therefore have a choice to either keep your current Skill or transform it. If you choose to keep your current Skill, it will rank up with the following additional effects:

- Increased Ease in Taming a fire according to your Fire Affinity.

- Increased chance to create a Fire elemental depending on the duration of your active taming connection with a specific instance of Fire.

- Increased chance of making a symbiotic Bond with other Fire elementals, whether you are the creator or not. Note, some fire elementals may still be hostile even with this increased chance.

- Slightly increased chance of making a symbiotic Bond with elementals from Fire-adjacent elements.

- Reduced chance of making a symbiotic Bond with elementals from opposing elements.

Transform

If you choose to transform your Skill, you will gain access to a new Skill instead: Elemental Bonding.

Until you make a choice, you will remain with the functionality of Fire Taming at Beginner rank.

Do you wish to choose now or close messages? Choose / Close messages

This time, I know more about the kind of choice it’s offering me and I know that I ought to make it as soon as possible. That doesn’t make the choice any easier, though I know where I think I’m leaning already.

The thing is that although the rank up of Fire Taming sounds pretty awesome with a surprising number of effects – three, really, if I combine the chances of making a symbiotic Bond with any elemental into one effect – I’m not sure how much more it really offers me.

Fire-Shaping already offers me control of fire. This whole inferno was managed through my use of Fire-Shaping, not Fire Taming. And with my rank up to Fire-Shaping, I’ve increased my ability to control bigger fires through that. Fire Taming was gained pretty much by mistake in the first place: I approached trying to control fire in the same way I would approach a potential new Bound, and so I got a Skill which was closer to my Class than I really wanted.

Now with Fire-Shaping becoming more and more powerful, I’m not sure how much I will use the control aspect of Fire Taming.

As for the increased chance of creating Fire elementals…I’ve got one already, and I’m not keen on losing even more of my maximum health to create an army of them. Besides, technically, I already created one without the Skill to help me, so what’s to say that I couldn’t create another if I put my mind to it? It might be harder, but surely it would be possible?

Finally, the increased chance of making a Bond with another Fire elemental, or Fire-adjacent elemental, is balanced by the reduced chance of making a Bond with an elemental of an opposing element.

The notification is fairly thin in information about the other Skill it’s offering me – Elemental Bonding. However, just from the name, I have to conclude that it’s exchanging the increased power over fire specifically for a more general power over elementals of all types.

Whether my Fire Affinity will make a difference to elementals which are opposed to Fire, I don’t know. Probably, I would guess. But perhaps if I have a Skill which is designed to help me make a Bond with all elementals, it would counteract whatever issues my Fire Affinity would cause them.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

So really, it comes down to a question of specialisation versus generalisation. Specialise by choosing to continue with a Skill which doesn’t offer me a lot of new benefits, but improves what I already have access to, or generalise by taking something which potentially offers me new options.

I take some time to consider both options carefully. Ultimately, the choice comes down to one main consideration: what I am.

I’m not a Fire-mage; I’m a Tamer.

Continuing with Fire Taming offers me aspects which would help me with my fire-magery, but limit me with my taming. Of course, I might be completely wrong about what Elemental Bond is about, but it seems more likely to give me more versatility in my Taming Skill-set.

After taking a moment more to think through the options for a last time, I nod my head and make my choice.

Curious about what’s going to happen, I dive straight into my Core space. Last time, it was Lay-on-hands which transformed into Flesh-Shaping. Then, the core of Lay-on-hands had been integrated into Flesh-Shaping, but that’s because it had promised that all aspects previously explored would be included in the new Skill. The same thing hasn’t been promised here, so I’m curious about what the differences will be.

My internal matrix vibrates, the shifting becoming stronger and stronger, centralised around the dense web of lines which makes up Fire-Taming.

Then, the lines start shifting. At first the movement is small, subtle. Then, it becomes more and more evident. The lines move like snakes, coiling and uncoiling, writhing and twisting.

Though some of the lines don’t move, most of them do, the area becoming a blur of gold for an elongated moment.

Then the moment passes. The snakes find their new positions and settle down, finally quiescent. The design before my eyes now is significantly different from the one which had been there before, as different as it is from any of the other Skills in this area of my matrix. This is where all my Class Skills are, so they all have a similarity to them which they share with my matrix as a whole. At least, they used to – now with the changes my Fire affinity has had on the mandala around my Core, the similarity isn’t so strong.

Seeing as the process seems to have finished, I pull out of my Core space. As expected, I have a new message waiting for me.

Congratulations!

You have gained a new Skill: Elemental Bonding.

Would you like to see the Skill description?

See Skill description / Close messages

Elemental Bonding

Elementals appear from time to time in places where a concentration of their element and Energy coincide. With this Skill, gain the attention of the elemental and be able to offer them a Bond. With your Fire affinity, you have an increase of 25% in your chance of success with Fire elementals, and 12.5% more chance of success in Bonding Fire-adjacent elementals.

Close messages

Much as expected, though it’s good to see that I don’t appear to have had any reduction in my chances of Bonding an elemental of an opposing element to Fire, which I would have if I’d continued with Fire Taming. It’s also good to see that my guess about what Elemental Bonding actually was turned out to be fairly accurate.

My messages all dealt with, I turn my mind to deciding how to assign my points in my next level up.

While I wanted to dedicate a level to each stat, and found watching both Willpower and Wisdom being increased by six points to be very interesting, I have to consider my needs at the moment.

What’s facing me in the near future is first dealing with the forest, which hopefully will fall into place easily enough, and then dealing with the lizard-folk. Although I could always do with more health, more mana, more strength, more everything, I have to make a choice.

Ultimately, I have to go back to the reason I chose Elemental Bonding over Fire Taming – I’m a Tamer, and that’s where my strength is. My Bound provide the strength, the power, the protection. In a pinch, as I’ve just seen, they can also provide the mana either from their own pools or from their health – not that I want to make a habit of demanding that from them.

What I do, as I’ve identified before, is bring the players to the table in the first place. With a sigh, I decide that I know where I need to put my points. Adding six at a time to my physical stats and Intelligence to see how that works when I’m in my Core space will have to wait. For now, I’ve got to make sure that when I face the Pathwalker and Warriors – no matter if they are trapped or free – I don’t fail.

So that means putting at least the bulk of the points in Willpower. Though, I might put a point each in Dexterity and Strength: those ones are rather falling behind and if it comes down to a fight, as it did with the members of the hunting party, then a point in each of those might help me get to the point where I can confidently use Dominate.

But that will be in the morning – I’m not stupid enough to go wandering into the pool in the middle of the night when I can’t see what I’m putting my feet on. And even if I can easily clean my clothes now, I’m not keen on stinking up the shelter for hours with the stench of the liquid that is expelled from me when levelling up.

“Want to sleep a bit more?” I ask Bastet quietly. She’s been pressed up against my back this whole time, her presence comforting.

I could sleep, she comments off-handedly, pushing herself to her feet. Then after a good stretch, she nudges at my shoulder. Is all well?

I cock my head to one side. Is all well? River and his group are who knows where. I don’t know how Persephone is getting on with her pregnancy. I’m still tired on a mental and soul level. And I still haven’t completely figured out this ball of fire that has continued bobbing gently over my shoulder without pause or sign of distress for goodness knows how long.

Well enough, I reply finally. Well enough.