Gaia woke up to the feeling of something heavy sitting on her chest. She hesitated before opening her eyes. All she saw was sickly green. She felt around her and found the weight on her chest was Malachite. He was his normal size of about three feet long. When she touched him, she had surge of words come through their bond.
“Okay? Sleep long. I protect.”
“Yeah. I think I’ll be alright. I won’t be able to see though. I’ll need you to tell me where I’m going.” She replied.
She felt a surge of relief from him when she said she was alright. He was more worried than she’d thought. As they were finishing their short dialogue Teresia came in with what smelled like some kind of soup.
“Ah, good. You’re awake. How are you today?” She asked.
“I’ll survive but I still can’t see. Will this be permanent?” Gaia asked.
“It appears so. You said there was something about spiritual damage, right? Spiritual damage directly affects someone’s spirit. Someone’s spirit can’t be healed as it is not a physical aspect of someone. People’s spirit can affect the world around them and others, but they can’t be healed through magic.” She explained.
“This instance was from a monster that was dying and a rank above you. Therefore, it is likely that it used what little bit of its spirit was left to mark the damage on your spirit. The damage to your eyes is permanent. You won’t be able to see for the rest of your existence. This has an extremely small chance of having some unexpected benefits though. We won’t know what they could be until you rank up at the earliest or may never have them.” She finished.
“So, I’ll be blind for the rest of my life, and may or may not gain any benefits from the very thing that caused it?” Gaia asked coldly.
“Essentially, yes.” Teresia replied with a wince.
“Great. I’m in a world I don’t know much about, outside of the building I’m currently in, with monsters everywhere and can’t see anything. What benefits could outweigh that?!” She yelled exasperated.
After a couple minutes of silence Gaia broke the silence. “How do I rank up anyway? My screen shows that I’m at level ten but there’s no indication I can rank up yet.”
“That’s because to rank up from stone to iron rank requires an item for your class. The rank up from normal to stone isn’t a massive boost but unlocks a lot of abilities and skills. These normally deal with your race and class.” Teresia explained.
As she finished Aira’s voice came from somewhere to her left. “Luckily, something dropped from the giant spider for you. Not sure if it’s an item for your tamer class as you’re the first we’ve ever had though.”
Gaia felt something placed in her hand. She felt the object and discovered it was some ball of smooth fabric. It was incredibly soft but pulsated like it was alive. She tried to focus on it without her sight and luckily a screen appeared.
Living Silk. Item is considered a creature.
Bonding growth item. Does not have a consciousness. Binds to the user's spirit and allows for a living silk robe to be created. Grows with the bonded entity.
As she read, she was getting excited. Until a new screen appeared.
Detected Compatibility. Splitting bond. Living silk has bonded to entity Gaia. Living Silk has bonded to unhatched egg of the unchosen.
Modifying Egg of the unchosen.
Modified Egg of the Unchosen. Bound to Gaia. Hatches in twelve hours.
When the living silk bound to Gaia, she felt the fabric spread along her arm towards her shoulder. There it spread out into a weblike design that covered her entire right shoulder. Then the pain started as she felt like thousands of tiny needles pricked her flesh over and over. It felt like hours of stabbing pain but only lasted a minute. When it stopped, she couldn’t feel the silk there anymore and moved her hand to touch it. In the area the pain came from the skin felt soft to the touch. As she was feeling the area another screen appeared.
Entity Gaia has completed binding of Living Silk.
Forcibly ranking up.
“Well, that doesn’t seem good. I think I’m about to rank-.” Gaia started before her body was racked with pain, and she lost consciousness.
“How is she doing?” Aira asked as she walked into the infirmary.
“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen someone rank up without a ritual. It’s already painful with one so I don’t know what she’s going through. I’m just surprised it’s taking this long. She’s been out for two days.” Teresia responded.
“I also can’t even try to check her health because whatever monster hatched is defending her from everything. We can’t even bring food over without it lashing out with some kind of web.” Teresia said annoyed.
There was a cocoon of spider silk wrapped around the bed Gaia was in with a small spider-like mass of webs crawling on the top. As they watched, it stopped it’s movement completely and melded into the cocoon. Then they heard a muffled scream.
Gaia woke up to the feeling of being wrapped in silk. It was soft to the touch but hard as a granite when she tried to move or tear it. Then she felt something land on her face. Whatever this creature was, it had eight legs and chittered so, she screamed.
An hour after waking up she was sitting on her bed with Malachite nuzzled against her and the offending creature in her hand. She instinctively knew she had a bond with it from the moment she touched it but the shock from having it land on her face was a bit too much. She took a moment to check its status.
Name - ???
Race – Living Web (???)
Rank - Normal
Level - 1
Title - Unchosen bond
Skills:
Bind – Creature is able to create sticky webs and bind creatures
Bite – Creature bites an enemy with its fangs and injects venom. Has a chance to poison the target.
Poison Shot – Creature is able to summon blobs of poison and launch them up to fifty feet. Deals slight poison damage.
Abilities:
Web manipulation – Webs can be created and manipulated freely through mana.
Gaia read the monsters status and decided on the name Liv.
Bond established.
After creating the bond with Liv, she checked her own status, while copying Web manipulation.
Name – Gaia
Race – Earthbound Lost
Titles:
Unwanted
Cracked Spirit – Holders physical body and Spirit are partially merged. The holder’s spirit can affect the world around them. Resistance to spiritual damage. Spiritual strength can be passively increased.
Class – Unwanted Tamer
Rank – Stone
Level – 1
Bonds – 2/2 (Effected by Spirit)
Skills:
Ability copy – Copied Abilities (2/2)
Spirit Bond – Bonded Monsters are connected through their spirits. Incorporeal monsters can be bound.
Earth Glide – Holder has increased movement speed while in direct contact with the ground.
Healing Shot – User fires a bolt of healing mana at a target. Heals target slightly.
Abilities:
Tamer’s Guide
Defensive Nature
Web Manipulation
Toxic Spirit – Holders body has poison coursing throughout. All magic has the poison attribute on top of other attributes. Poison deals low damage over time. Instances have a cumulative effect. Healing magic has reduced effect without the poison attribute.
Bound items:
Living Silk Armor – Can create a set of armor or clothes from living silk in any shape by using magic. Clothes will use the ambient magic to repair themselves. Can switch between armor and clothes. Armor hardens after forming. (Can be controlled by Living Web)
Stats Unlocked.
Strength – 11 (Unbound) Effects amount of Direct Physical damage dealt.
Resistance – 210 (Unbound) Effects the strength of Natural Defensive Barriers.
Recovery – 55 (Unbound) Effects regeneration of health, Defensive barriers and Mana.
Reflex – 11 (Unbound) Effects speed, reflexes, and ranged physical damage.
Spirit – 165 (Poison) Effects spiritual strength, mana capacity, magical strength and magical perception.
Gaia goggled at the information from her status. She had gained a few good skills, had some clothes that would repair themselves, and had access to her stats. She was worried about the fact that healing magic would have a reduced effect on her but, she could heal herself at least. She also wondered what the poison and unbound by her stats meant. They wouldn’t bring up any information when she tried so she checked Malachite’s status, but it still showed him as level ten normal rank. As she looked at him a new screen appeared.
Malachite would like to rank up to Stone Rank. Allow? Yes/No.
She chose yes.
Malachite will rank up. Error. Unchosen bond detected. Evolving Unchosen Bond.
She felt warmth start to radiate from Malachite. After a few minutes the warmth faded, and she checked his status to find his race had changed to a Stone-hide Speed Turtle.
Name - Malachite
Race – Speed Turtle (Stone-hide)
Rank - Stone
Level - 1
Title - Unchosen bond
Skills:
Bite
Hide
Size change
Shell bash – Creature charges forward and bashes with its shell. Damage depends on length of charge.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Water shot – Creature can summon blobs of water and fire them within fifty feet. Damage and range can be increased by increasing mana cost.
Abilities:
Defensive Nature
Creator of Currents – Creature’s Reflex stat increases at an increased set rate every level. Reflex stat cannot be reduced.
Strength – 11
Resistance – 220
Recovery – 56
Reflex – 101
Spirit – 51 (Poison)
Tamer Quest: Raise Bond Malachite to Stone rank 1/1
Reward: Bonds are imprinted on the spirit.
As Gaia read, she was starting to understand how powerful her bonds could become. Malachite had just reached Stone rank and he already had a way to fix his one major weakness which was his speed. He was actually faster than her now. She tried to go over to him to pet him and found he was already right in front of her. He was much bigger than she last remembered. He seemed to be her size now, she had to reach up to pet his head. Thankfully, that solved part of her problem of being blind as she could probably ride on his back at this size. She thought about the reward for raising him to stone rank and had a slight idea of what it meant. She felt their bond was deeper than before but didn’t know much more.
She was excited by all the new information and tried out her Living Silk Armor. She felt a warm flowing fabric spread from her right shoulder and created what felt like a kind of bodysuit. She tried messing with it and found out she could just think what she wanted, and it would do so. She ended up in a long silk dress, and was even able to make pockets in it. When she touched it, it was soft, but felt extremely sturdy.
She had forgotten that Aira and Teresia were there until Aira spoke. “It seems like you’re alright then?”
Gaia jumped and looked in her direction. “Yeah. Do you have any suggestions on what I should do next?”
“For now, lets go get you fully signed up in the League. I’ll take you there.” Aira responded as she took Gaia's hand and started walking out of the building.
“Can you help me get on Malachite’s back? I think he can go faster than me.” Gaia asked.
“Oh, and do you mind if we stop by the garden?” Gaia asked.
“Not at all.” Aira replied.
Aira just picked her up and set her on his shell. It took her a moment to sit comfortably. When they started moving, she fell straight off, as he was moving much quicker than she thought he could. They got her back on, and she was ready this time. They took off at a pace where she felt the wind blowing against her. They quickly stopped by the garden, and she got some fruits that she’d grown from Gregor. She tossed them in her pockets, and they started towards the guild. What had taken her hours to walk when she first went to the camp was done in less than half the time.
Aira helped her down and they walked into the Hunter Leagues building. She heard the hustle and bustle and kept a hold of Aira’s hand as they went to the desk. She heard a familiar voice and a gasp as Freya saw her.
“What happened?” She asked.
“She was blinded during the exam.” Aira responded.
“It’s actually partly why I’m here. Can you recommend a good group or person for her to join? I don’t feel right just sending her into a request alone.” She finished.
“Let me check.” Freya said as she walked away.
Gaia just stood there between Aira and Malachite feeling useless. When she thought about why Freya gasped at the sight of her. She asked Aira.
“Ah. Right. Well, your eyes are green outside of your pupils and you now have a few cracks with a green liquid flowing within them on your face. It’s definitely an odd sight.” She replied.
Gaia just imagined how that looked and agreed it looked odd but kind of scary when she thought of it. They waited for a few more minutes as Gaia pet Malachite to calm herself, as she heard a lot of people, but couldn’t tell where they were. Freya returned and asked to see her badge to make her an official Hunter when she heard Aira and Freya whisper to each other. They then asked her to make another badge as her Spirit had changed.
She obliged and her new badge was given to her. From what she heard Aira say her spirit was now mostly black and a sickly green spread throughout with a dark green shell and web design. She didn’t know how that actually looked but liked it. After her badge was made Freya took her over to the tavern and got them food.
She then proceeded to tell them that everyone she could place Gaia with didn’t want anyone else. She resigned herself to her fate and asked Freya to just give her an easy request for her first one. She went to look and found a request to kill a group of Goblins. She showed it to Aira who explained the details. Liv was useful as she could manipulate her webs and she raised the letters up so Gaia could read them through touch. Malachite also helped her by sending an image of what the goblins looked like, but she wouldn’t be much help with that.
Her screen popped up with the information on the request.
Request: Kill Goblins (Normal) 0/10
It also created a checkpoint on her map for the area the goblins were in. She also received another quest.
Tamer Quest: Raise Bond ‘Liv’ to Stone Rank. 0/1
She decided to head out after lunch and asked Freya if they could find a trader that would make a seat for Malachite’s shell. Freya said she’d look and wished her good luck as she left. She climbed on Malachite’s shell with a bit of effort, and they set off in the direction her map indicated. Malachite thankfully followed the roads, but she didn’t even feel like he was running as the ride was smoother than the cars she had ridden in back on earth.
She started reminiscing about earth while they travelled. She had been Kaizer back then and never really had much going for her. She grew up as normal as she assumed you could. Showered with love from her family since she was the youngest child of three. She started school early and was smart enough to skip some grades. After that she was pretty average compared to everyone else in her grade. She graduated high school pretty easily and tried college but dropped out. After that she worked a dead-end job just to get by. Never really had a goal or dream. She always felt like an outcast though. She missed her family there and didn’t know what they thought happened to her, but honestly she preferred her life here. She had a few good friends she missed too but not many. She didn’t really have any plans for her future either. She had Malachite, and Liv now. She loved them both like family already.
She missed her family but wouldn’t really mind if she never went back. Even if she did go back, she wasn’t sure if she’d revert back or stay how she was now. Mostly, she was afraid to go back. Would they even believe who she was? Would Malachite and Liv come with her? If she did go as she was, would her new powers hurt them just be being around her? These kinds of thoughts made her not want to go back. So much had changed already. She was happy with her life now even with all the dangerous and bad things that had happened to her.
Gaia was brought from her musings as she noticed they were almost at the marker on the map. They proceeded into the area and soon Malachite sent that he saw the Goblins up ahead.
She climbed down from him and asked him to be defensive and draw them closer so Liv could try and deal with them. He ran off before returning with the goblins as she heard multiple sets of feet running towards her. She also heard some yells from them as they approached.
When they were close, she heard the footsteps stop with some thuds. She inched her way towards them and stumbled over one before realizing they were bound by some spider silk. Liv had apparently gone ahead and bound them. She had a thought and tried producing some web from her finger. It was thin but sturdy and she felt like her spirit had changed them through her mana. She checked the web through a screen.
Item: Toxic Webs. Inflicts Spiritual Toxin.
Spiritual Toxin: Condition. Deals low poison damage over time directly to the spirit. Instances refresh when reapplied. Instances have a cumulative effect. Curing and healing effects end the condition early.
She felt like it was an extension of her, and she could control it with her thoughts. So, she tried it on the goblin at her feet. Was it actually poisoned?
Goblin
Rank – Normal
Status – Inflicted with Spiritual Toxin
She was giddy as she read the screen. She could do something to deal damage. She wasn’t useless with her bonds. She wasn’t particularly powerful, but she could truly help them even if just slightly.
Her bonds quickly dealt with the goblins, and she realized all the souls they collected were distributed equally between all of them. This wasn’t overly helpful for her and Malachite but that meant they could hunt some higher-level monsters for more souls. They could get Liv closer to their level quicker that way.
They finished the hunt for the last few goblins. Soon after, they got hungry and she took some of the fruits from one of her pockets. She gave some to Malachite and Liv, then wondered if Liv even needed to eat. She did absorb the small fruit into her, which was odd to see but she seemed happy enough with that. Then ate one herself before they made their way back to Boundary and went to the League. Malachite stayed where she could touch him and lead her to the desk.
“Were you able to find the goblins?” Freya asked.
“Yep, we just got back from dealing with them. Are there any other requests for higher level monsters that are still normal rank?” Gaia responded.
“We have a few, how many are you looking for?”
“Can we take them all? I want to level Liv up.” She responded while motioning to her bond.
“Yeah, you can. Here’s the three requests we have.” Freya said.
The group made their way out of the city. As she was starting to realize, when she took requests from the League, quests and markers would show up on her map. This made it much easier for them to make their way to the locations, but she still had to rely on her bonds to truly find the monsters.
The first quest marker they went to was for a group of rat monsters known as mana rats. They were mundane rats that had absorbed too much mana and were mutated to be much bigger. Some had the ability to cast basic spells and were bipedal. Thankfully, most were just larger and stronger. She thanked all the lecturers from the camp when she was able to remember this information.
The area they were in was a small farmstead by the forest. The mana rats had been terrorizing the livestock and were eating the farmers food stores. She rode on Malachite until they got to the farmers door and knocked. She got no response. She knocked again and called out that she was a hunter but there was still no response from the building. She asked Liv to check it out as she was able to fit anywhere a single one of her webs could fit through.
Liv got under the door and started scurrying through the building. She had no eyes but was able to use her mana to create an area she could see and didn’t find anyone. So, she went back to Gaia and relayed that through their bond. She wasn’t able to send words yet but could send impressions and was able to let them know that no one was there. She assumed no one was there because of the monsters and went to check her map when she felt something hit her side. She heard a scuffle to the side before Malachite sent a message through their bond.
“Found rat. Shot magic.” He hurriedly told her.
“Well, let’s deal with them.” She said.
Malachite shot off. She could feel Liv moving as she shot off poison. Before Gaia could even move, they came back and claimed it was over. She felt a bit sad that they dealt with it so quickly but decided to have them search the rest of the farm.
Her bonds moved in opposite directions to search the area. They were out and about killing some of the monsters as she felt souls come to her. When they told her the farm was clear, she felt something try to bite her arm but it bounced off some kind of barrier just around her skin. She quickly created some webs that wrapped around whatever it was. She felt the area around her for the mass of webs and found a dog sized cocoon beside her. Malachite returned then and killed the massive rat.
“All clear.” He said proudly through the bond.
Liv was also proud as she dealt with a few of them herself too. Gaia was proud of her bonds but felt useless as she couldn’t really fight. She was just the one that they followed. She felt more and more worthless the stronger they became.
They started towards the next request marker when she thought about probing the bond with Liv to see how she could see. She wasn’t able to find out much but did feel Liv pushing her mana out.
She tried to do the same, but nothing happened. She continued to push her mana out for about an hour but couldn’t feel anything happening. She decided it may be something Liv could do because of the type of monster she was.
They finished the request quickly as it was a group of Walking Gorgers and started towards the last request. This last one was to destroy a nest of Shadow Trappers. They are a type of humanoid monster that is lizard-like. They tend to be darker colors and use traps to catch and kill people. They are one of the hardest normal rank monsters to deal with as they could see in the dark and are one of the few intelligent monsters in stone rank. They arrived in the area and Malachite found a cave that could be the nest site.
“It dark. Can’t see.” Malachite sent.
“I think it may be the right place then. From what I was told in the lecture they prefer dark places and using traps. I think Liv will be the best suited for this hunt. I do want to try something though.” Gaia replied.
She took a few steps into the cave and started creating some webs. She used them to feel around the cave and found a tripwire a dozen feet in. She continued to channel mana into them and made them longer, they continued creeping along the walls and found one of the trappers. She grabbed its leg with one of the webs and pulled it closer. Liv used that time to wrap it up so it couldn’t move.
The trapper she had caught took an hour to die from the poison she made but died due to her own effort. She asked her bonds if they would allow her to try and deal with this herself. They agreed but were unmoving in at least protecting her. She also agreed but they proceeded slowly into the cave.
The tripwire she had found first caused spears to shoot out of the wall. She had Malachite break them and they continued in while she constantly had webs from her fingers following the floor, walls, and ceiling a few dozen feet ahead. They found a few more traps which were an arrow trap, a hole in the floor, and an ambush. She was able to trip the ambushers, and Liv bound them up. By this point they had dealt with ten of the shadow trappers, which was already more than the request said.
After a couple hours of slow progress, they reached a point where the tunnel opened up. She had Liv scurry in and get a number of monsters. By this point Liv was already at level nine and needed about two more monster souls before levelling up to ten. Their bond had also grown enough to share information. Liv had gone quite a way in when Gaia heard a panicked voice in her head.
“Help! Was found!” Liv screamed through the bond.
Gaia almost started running when Malachite lifted her over his head and ran. She could feel Liv’s fear and could even feel pain through the bond. She was getting angry at herself, for sending Liv in there alone. A minute later Malachite slammed into something, and Gaia was sent flying.
She hit the ground and rolled before stopping at a wall. She could hear Malachite snapping at something and could barely feel her bond with Liv. She crawled in the direction indicated by her bond with Liv. It took what felt like an eternity but was likely only thirty seconds to feel Liv beside her. She picked up her bond and could feel that she was in tatters. What normally felt like silk in a spider's shape was unravelling, and some parts were missing.
She thought about using her healing magic but remembered the poison attribute and was worried. She didn’t have a choice, her bond with the little mass of silk was quickly fading. She forced her mana into Liv through their bond and tried using it to heal her. She felt the bond grow a bit stronger and pushed more mana through their bond and cast a Healing Shot. It was the only healing spell she was able to use quickly. It sent a small amount of healing magic in an arrow towards the target and heals them.
She felt her bond strengthen more. She checked on her through the bond and felt she was going to be alright but was unable to fight for a while. She put Liv on her shoulder and sent out some threads towards Malachite who was only a few feet away. She felt a large set of legs and she felt a surge of fear. When she moved the webs upwards, she found the outline of a large bipedal lizard that carried a couple weapons. This was the stone rank variety of Shadow Trapper known as a Shadow Warrior.
These were much stronger and more intelligent. They were rare in nests with only Shadow Trappers. They used their strength and speed to force attention on them while the trappers fired projectiles at the enemy. They were one of the most dangerous monsters as they were never alone and always had either other warriors or shadow trappers with them to pick off groups of enemies.
Gaia started to form webs and search the surrounding area for any trappers. She searched as wide an area as she could and couldn’t find any other monsters. She checked on Malachite and breathed a sigh of relief as he hadn’t taken much damage. He was quick and sturdy enough to dodge and take the occasional hit when he couldn’t.
She brought her webs back in and started to use them to wrap multiple strands together. She then used it to entangle the warrior's feet. She sent Malachite a signal and he bashed the monster knocking it over. She tried to wrap more webs around its legs and get its arms but couldn’t as it started ripping the strands when they got around its arms. She instead put her mind to holding this monster and inflicting Spiritual Toxin. The longer she held the creature the more she felt it weakening.
Malachite was using the time to bite and bash the monster. As this was happening, she felt like something was wrong. She didn’t know what it was until an arrow hit her. It didn’t deal any damage but made her realize she’d missed some of the trappers. She couldn’t unwrap the warrior as she was afraid it would be able to hurt them more. She just stayed where she was and made Liv move under her armor.
The arrows were coming more and more frequently as she realized more trappers were firing arrows at her. She trusted in her defense and just concentrated on keeping the warrior in place. She stood there being peppered by arrows until the damage had exceeded her defense stat. The Warrior was able to get back up when her concentration broke and threw something that cut into her leg just before her armor finished covering her. Malachite still held most of the monster's attention, and she was able to refresh her Toxin one last time. It died soon after as Malachite bit into its neck when it staggered from the Toxin. By the time the Warrior had finally died, the arrows had finally started to truly hit her and she had a couple arrows in her back.
Malachite swiftly ran and killed the trappers. Gaia limped her way to where the Shadow Warrior died and surprisingly found a couple items. From what she could feel they were a large axe, sword, and some kind of belt. She didn’t know what any of them did but took them as Malachite made his way to her. He bit off the arrows shafts and gently laid her on his back and took off. When they exited the cave, she felt a cool breeze and thought it might be getting into the evening.
She was slowly bleeding but thankfully her Living Silk Armor kept all of the blood in, so she didn’t really notice the pain until she stopped moving. She was also grateful that she didn’t bleed on Malachite as she wasn’t entirely sure if her blood was poisonous. The armor had fixed itself, it had no tears or holes and formed around the broken arrow shafts sticking out from her back. It was also wrapped around the items so she couldn’t drop them. She was able to continue like this until they reached the League building and Malachite just sprinted straight in. He went up to the first person he saw that he knew. He found Titania.
“Whoa, what’s going on?” She asked.
“I need some help. Do you know if a healer is nearby?” Gaia strained as her armor changed to show her face.
“Yeah. Follow me.” She replied swiftly.
They made it to a room where a healer laid Gaia down and asked her to drop her armor. She did and passed out as the healer removed the first arrow.