I feel like a massive predator is looming over me, posed to strike. Like I’m a mouse before a great cat, I’m instantly pushed into a flight or freeze mode. And then the feeling vanishes like it had never existed before I can do more than reach for my knife.
“What was that?” I ask hoarsely, my skin still crawling.
That was the effect of me pushing my Will into my Domain, Kalanthia explains. My Domain always surrounds me, though a Beast with a higher Tier could potentially suppress it, but the majority of the time, it is undetectable. If I so wish, though, I can flood it with my Will and cause the effect you just experienced. On another note, manipulating the earth is easier within my Domain than without.
“Will I be able to do that?” I ask a little eagerly: not only is it just plain cool but I can already see a whole load of use, either in keeping enemies at bay or surprising them in the middle of a fight.
I do not know, Kalanthia says with a head toss. Beasts do not have ‘stats’; perhaps humans do not have Domains. However, you wanted to know about how the Core works. My fervour is a little cooled, but I promise myself I’ll try to explore the potential. If I can work out how to. I focus back in as Kalanthia continues to speak.
The reason why Beasts are only able to use magic after forming the Core is because manipulating Pure Energy is notoriously hard. In order to make this process easier, the Energy must gain our personal ‘flavour’. Energy is pulled and absorbed from our environment and the creatures we kill. It is pulled along Energy channels and into our Core. Here it intermingles with the seat of our soul.
At the beginning of the Core stage, this is where it remains, limiting our mana capacity to the size of our Core. However, a sensible Beast who wishes to progress will start to feed mana back through their channels. Extending, widening, multiplying...the process is long and painstaking, but offers invaluable benefits throughout. Two obvious ones of which are the increased storage of mana throughout our network of channels and the improved speed of casting magic.
“So for me, with damaged Energy channels…?” I ask leadingly. I’ve been listening with rapt attention, sensing the importance of Kalanthia’s words.
I think you already know the answer, she answers, a little chidingly. I feel a sense of disapproval press down on me. Her Domain, I now realise.
Abashed, I work through what I’ve just been learning. On the face of it, it’s obvious. I need to re-extend the channels which have been consumed – as I am convinced that's what the System calls my ‘Internal Matrix’ and Kalanthia’s Energy channels are one and the same. All I can hope in that case is that it’s obvious where I need to extend the channels because my matrix seems pretty complicated. Much more so than Kalanthia seems to indicate a beast’s starts as.
Beyond that, though, I’m still struggling to understand why, if it’s my soul that provides usable mana for me, it’s Wisdom that determines my mana regeneration. Unless Nicholas’ world’s scholars are incorrect in so clearly defining Wisdom as a mental stat and Willpower as the sole soul stat. Which, I suppose, is possible. Equally possible is that what works for beasts is not the same as what works for humans with a Class. Well, only one way to find out, I guess.
“Thanks, Kalanthia,” I say in the end. She simply dips her head regally.
We will no doubt touch on these matters again when we start your earth-shaping lessons. Let me know when you wish to begin.
“I look forward to them,” I smile. I can tell through my Bonds that River, Fenrir, and Sirocco are coming up the hill, though I sense that Sirocco is very nervous. I wonder why for a moment; a glance at the massive predator next to me reminds me of a likely explanation.
It’s OK, I send to her down the Bond, feeling her accept my attempt to make contact. She’s not going to eat you. Reluctance comes back at me, but I just send waves of reassurance in response. By the time my Bound come into view, I can see that she’s chosen to remain, sitting on River’s shoulder. I can sense through the Bond, though, that she’s ready to take flight at a moment’s notice.
“Kalanthia,” I say out loud. “Can I introduce you to another of my new companions?” Mentally, I try to send her a message that Sirocco’s feeling very nervous and needs a little reassurance. She seems to get it, at least she doesn’t move more than just turning her head slightly.
Welcome Sirocco, she says finally, calmly. From the surprise that comes down my Bond from the bird, I can only assume that Kalanthia is projecting to everyone. I will not attack you as long as you do not threaten any of those under my care. I feel a little flattered: with the words comes a little packet of impressions. Lathani, of course, is in the number one spot, but I’m also included, as are Bastet and the cubs. It seems we’ve grown on the nunda just as much as she’s grown on me.
Sirocco seems to send something back at Kalanthia, though I only catch the barest hints of it. From those, I would guess that it is some sort of promise to behave. Either way, I send some gratitude to Kalanthia afterwards as Sirocco feels a lot more relaxed now the giant cat in the room has been addressed.
As I move towards my group of Bound, indicating with my head and a mental message to move towards the big hole that I’d dug for my fire pit, I marvel at the changes within myself. When I’d first met Kalanthia, telepathy hadn’t even been something I’d believed possible. Now, I find myself picking up and transmitting messages and impressions on an increasingly regular basis.
Heck, I hadn’t realised until today, but I reckon that I’m even starting to be able to understand the raptorcat cubs as well – while watching them play earlier, I could pick up some basic emotions. Is this because of my increased stats? It must be – I realise that I’ve been picking up more and more, ever since touching the Pure Energy. Practice probably helps too.
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By this point, we’re beside the fire pit and I indicate that we should sit. Fenrir does so happily, but River hesitates.
“What is it?” I ask, my eyes narrowing. Is he injured? I didn’t spot anything.
I hoped to offer these carcasses to Lath...to the Great Predator’s honoured cub, he says a little nervously, his clawed toes shifting in the dirt.
“Oh, I see,” I say, relieved though confused at his new mode of address for Lathani. Especially since he’d been calling her by her name perfectly well before. “Sure, I mean, if you three have eaten what you need, go ahead.” He lifts his chin briefly to me, then strides away. Not towards where Lathani is tumbling with the raptorcat cubs, but instead towards her mother. Curious, I watch what happens.
Great Predator, I bring some sustenance for your cub, if you would deign to accept it, he offers submissively. I sense that inside he’s still fearful that Kalanthia will choose to take offence at the slightest action of his that she doesn’t like. Clearly he hasn’t yet been reassured that she will not ‘take her due’ for his actions in the past. Or maybe it’s less about past actions: I don’t actually know much about lizard-folk society; for all I know, offending a member higher up the hierarchy attracts a harsh punishment.
Choosing to respect River’s privacy a little more this time, I don’t dig deeply enough into the Bond to hear Kalanthia’s response, since she clearly only projects it to River alone. Still, I sense the relief that pours through him and, with an elongated baring of his throat, he then turns to head to Lathani.
Honoured cub, I have brought some food in offering to you, he says formally. Lathani pauses and a sense of confusion emanates from her. Clearly, we’re close enough to be in range for her own telepathy, and she doesn’t have an iota of the control her mother does.
Why are you calling me that? It’s weird. I see River struggle to form a response, conflict coming very clearly across the Bond. He doesn’t need to answer, in the end as Lathani, in true cub fashion, is easily distracted. Ooh, yummy food. Come on little siblings. Let’s eat. The raptorcat cubs don’t need any more invitation and the three of them dig into the two corpses that River lays down for them. I don’t recognise either of the creatures, but there’s way too much meat for cubs to eat, even if one cub is not that dissimilar in size from a full-grown leopard.
As River comes back over, the conflicted feelings still not settled, I resign myself to having to talk with him again. But now is not the time.
“How did your hunt go?” I ask the three once River has crouched down with us. Fenrir sends back a sense of happiness. If I’ve understood the impressions he pushes through the Bond correctly, he’s eaten better today than ever before, even managing to get a few of the organs, the choicest bits which normally only those at the top of the pack hierarchy would snaffle.
Sirocco also sends me a sense of satisfaction – it seems that she too had her hunger satiated. I get the sense that the two carcasses River carried back weren’t the only things they hunted. Though, to be fair, I knew that: I’d had at least five influxes of Energy from the Bonds with River and Fenrir. Interestingly, I hadn’t had anything from Sirocco, so either she didn’t actually participate in the fights enough to earn Energy, or her being a Tamed rather than Dominated Bound makes a difference. If it’s the latter, then that may be something I should take into account if I have the opportunity to use either Tame or Dominate in the future.
It was good, reports River. We hunted a clawful of beasts. They are very weak here – I was surprised at how easy the hunts were. I also managed to find a number of the herbs I sought. He looks down at the lizog next to him with a feeling of approval. After finding the first of each type, Fenrir was very helpful in finding other examples. My Bound may not be able to directly communicate with each other, but clearly they still pick up a number of cues as Fenrir realises that River is pleased with him. A sense of happiness comes across the Bond from the lizog and I can’t help but smile at him too.
Out of all my Bound, I think that Fenrir is the most straight-forward. As long as the hierarchy is clear, and he has the approval of those above him, he seems to be happy. Being able to eat tasty bits of meat only adds to his feeling of wellbeing.
“I’m glad to hear that it was successful,” I say after a moment. “Fenrir, River, do you want to continue absorbing Energy-Hearts?” They both agree eagerly, so I hand one out to each of them. They then both beat a quick retreat, each choosing his own spot to relax and start absorbing Energy. That leaves me with Sirocco. “Did you think about what we discussed?” I ask, noting the avaricious look in her eyes and the desire that she sends down the Bond as she gazes at River and Fenrir.
In response, she sends a sense of uncertainty and then a whole mess of other feelings and images. They are hard to parse, but with the copious amount of practice I’ve had, I’m fairly confident in my conclusions. Sirocco longs for companionship beyond just a ‘contractual’ relationship, but she’s fearful that more will be demanded of her than she can give. Ultimately, she wishes to have a ‘trial’ period as a full member before completely deciding.
“Fair enough,” I tell her with a small smile. While it’s not the full-hearted dedication to the team that I might like, it’s a step in the right direction. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is trust. If Dominate is a forced relationship that risks falling into little better than slavery, Tame risks becoming a purely contractual exchange of benefits. To move beyond either of those requires time, trust, and effort.
In honour of that, I don’t hesitate before pulling out another of the Energy-Hearts. What’s the good of them unless we use them to increase the power of the team, right?
“Here. Let me know when you’re done with this one and I’ll give you another,” I tell Sirocco. She sends over a feeling of gratitude and grabs it with one of her forepaws. Then she sends across a sense of uncertainty – she’s not sure where to go. She’s worried that if she returns to where she roosted last night, she will be vulnerable to attack. It seems like a bit of an obvious answer to me.
“Don’t go anywhere,” I tell her. “I mean, if you want to sleep elsewhere, that’s up to you, but you’re always welcome to be here. Heck, it’s dry and warm inside the cave – if it rains again, you might want to consider joining us.” I remember how grumpy she felt this morning.
She gives a non-committal response, but settles more comfortably down on the ground. Curling around the Energy-Heart, she closes her eyes and clearly sets in for a session of absorption.
It’s getting dark, but there will still be at least some light for another hour or so. I really should deal with River’s weirdness, but I feel like I’ve talked way too much today. My tolerance level for conversation has definitely reduced since arriving here.
I groan as I push myself to my feet. I’ll see what he’s doing, I decide finally. If he’s busy, I’ll leave him alone. If he’s not….