To take a breather, Myron decided to do an overview. After checking in with Ylo and the Child - who didn’t have a name, and was not in fact sentient - something which caught Myron off guard even though he should have expected it.

It had seemed smart enough during the battle and before that, but it was probably a combination of its desperation, instincts, and Myron’s own need to personify the creature before him in order to justify the violence he would oversee.

Myron’s Status

Tier: Unearned

Level: 4!

Distributable Points -> 3

Path: None

Aether: 20/30

Bonds

Syl - Level 29, Emeramantis Queen - Plant/Metal Type

Mery - Level 7, Pygmaleon - Fighting/Water Type

Attributes

Explosiveness - 4

Might - 3

Tenacity - 4

Instinct - 6!

Focus - 9

Impact - 7!

Spirit - 5!

Clarity - 10

Skills

{P} Heart of Purpose (lv4)!

Bonded of Myron

Name: Syl

Level 29! Emeramantis Queen

Tier - Second

Type: Plant/Metal

Attributes

Aether: 82/82

Shield: 208/208

Strength: 50

Agility: 41

Intelligence: 18

Control: 31

Abilities

Tremor Sense {P}

Sprout *

Leech Seed

Shrieking Mandrake

Bind

Petal Blizzard *

Steel Claw

Rend *

Bullet Kick

Alloy Body *

Polished Sheen

Bonded of Myron

Name: Mery

Level: 7! Pygmaleon

Tier - First

Type: Fighting/Water

Attributes

Aether: 25/25

Shield: 40/40

Strength: 13

Agility: 11

Intelligence: 8

Control: 9

Abilities

Surge

Water Whip

Healing Soak

Hard Right

Headbutt

Growth all across the board. His Aether pool stood at a Limit of 20, making him confirm that indeed the formula for its calculation was his Clarity and his Spirit added together and doubled.

His attributes kept growing, though he could tell that they would require immense effort to continue improving. Yet with how his new life had been turning out so far, he seemed to not be lacking in challenges and obstacles to make him grow faster.

Syl had also gained a level and that was impressive as well as a sign of just how difficult the escape from Irnet, the Fire Pygmaleon that needed a good trouncing for mistreating Mery - if she lived through this battle that shook the land even now. Her skills had remained unchanged but her Attributes had certainly gotten a boost.

Then came Mery, who had grown twice in level since he last looked, which was before the battle to the death with old Crone. Nothing like a trainer with lacking restraint and little risk aversion to throw you into battles and make you improve at an astonishing rate. It seemed astonishing to him, and probably to her as she felt the constant changes in her body. Her strength having improved by a whopping 30%, and her intelligence more than fifty, as it seemed her current battle style that Myron was enforcing worked well.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

He felt a bump from her in their Tether, their Bond. He let the Statuses fade from view and took in her reprimanding gaze. “Not lacking in restraint, you didn’t force me into any battle. Stop thinking that way, Myron. I am responsible too, as much as you are. I want to help you too, I hear your thoughts as well. Syl probably things the same.”

Mery apparently turned into a savant of language since she last talked, Myron raised a brow and thought.

He turned to the Emeramantis with a curious gaze. Her antennae twitched. “She’s right. We can feel your worries and apprehension. Our Bond is open. More open than I would have expected for a new relationship, so we know what you fear, we know that staying in the back makes you insecure. I for one believe you have a knack for this. Not only do you have a very helpful skill, one that instead of the usual active skill with a very specific lens, helps in more ways than one can count. You are observant and quick to issue orders, your masterful use of images and feelings, and even words in case you have not noticed, through the bond allows us to react quickly and efficiently in battle.”

“I believe that in this battle, and the previous battle, and as far as I know - Mery can correct me - in your first ever battle, your use as a non-combatant tactician was crucial. Don’t play yourself down. This is a high stress environment, and you’re managing perfectly fine, even without sleep, without knowledge, with mere assumptions and quick reactions. If you want us to keep on fighting, then we will, that is what Aimon do. Not to mention… I want to shove me claws up that Choro’s ass until they come out of his Mouth… So I wish you’d fight him again.”

“I agree, with everything.” Mery said succinctly. “Let me fight more. I… Enjoy it.”

Ylo jumped in, the little sheep hiding behind the wool at her waist, clutching at the pink -the fluffiest cotton candy - wool that puffed out form that region. “Most Aimon do. I do. She does as well, despite how timid you see her right now, she’s a rowdy little one.” She added and Myron nodded in appreciation for the encouragement.

Thus Myron clapped his thighs and stood up with a groan as if he were an old man, though he felt fresh as a daisy, despite of everything that has happened.

“So, what will you do, Ylo?”

“I’ll head to the fight after taking this one far enough away.” The sheep looked up at her, not truly understanding, just feeling Ylo’s soft gaze. “I’m already running late, so I won’t dally any longer. Farewell, Fellow Believer in the True Pantheon, goodbye little Orc, and cheers to you Human. Didn’t expect I would ever say this… But good luck.” With that, they were both gone.

Myron took a moment and then turned to his two, trusted and only, but certainly trusted, companions. “So team. Do we go help that Fox?”

They nodded. “Right. I accept your comments, and I thank you. Our course has been decided but not our actions. If the situation does not allow it, we shall not engage. We simply don’t have the firepower with Ylo gone, and we can also expect a more vigilant watch this time around. We would just be dying, and while I want to save that Fox from the terror that is her life, I can’t sacrifice yours to make that happen.”

They nodded this time as well.

“Also, an important detail. If we save her… I will bond with her. Seems natural and we can use all the help we need. I also… Feel a bit for her. The orphanage wasn’t a kind place to be, especially when the story of their death became news to all.”

They looked at him, and he looked at them. Mery nodded but Syl looked at him, quizzically.

“That’s… Your decision to make?” She seemed unsure suddenly.

“Well, not really. We’re a team. You may be my Aimon, but I am your trainer. If you don’t want a new teammate for any reason, whether that be personality, or logistics, then I think we ought to have a talk about it. Each one defending a stance until a reasonable compromise, or a final decision is made.”

Syl shook off the foreignness of this conversation, to those sentences, she shook them off and calmed herself. “Very well. I do not believe there is any issue with taking a Third Aimon under your belt. With me here, we can financially support it. I only worry that you will need to run yourself ragged for the first couple of weeks, learning about our dietary and all other needs, in exercise, training, rest, potentially even their lust.”

“Specific Aimon may have libido’s that need to be accounted for. Dragon’s are known to be difficult about this.”

“Everything needs to be taken into account. Diet more than all the others as burn through a lot of energy just existing, imagine fighting and training. For that matter.” Syl raised a finger and scampered off.

The other two followed. They found Syl charring a piece of Boar meat with her naked arms over a bed of coals created by the Peacock Aimon - Cali. After a while, she gave the most well done piece to Myron. “For your sensitive human stomach.” She added before he could deny the special treatment.

Then she held two progressively less cooked chunks of meat out and Mery took the most raw. “For your two hard working Aimon.” She flashed him a smile.

“It’s First Tier Meat, so not the best for me. But it will do wonder for Mery and her future level ups.”

“No volume of First Tier meat will be enough food for you?”

“No, it can be enough. I just need to eat a lot, add some supplements and a bunch of leafy green, hopefully of the First Tier at least, and I can be satiated, or even better. It will just need to be a lot, and I mean a lot of food. To make up for the Density in Aether.”

“Do you have a preference to Meats and Vegetables of your Typing? If flora can have Type-specific Aether imbued into it.”

“They can. Anything and everything except humans can, though vegetation of a specific Type is rare and precious. But I don’t have a preference as I can eat actual iron or other heavy metals instead.”

“Huh, amazingly cool. Well, thanks for the meal, it was a home run.” Myron said. He thought briefly about steering the conversation back to the previous topic but decided against it. Syl had said her piece, all that was left from him was to prove that he could study up, and perform as a Trainer and caretaker of powerful; magical beasts. “After Choro?”

“After Choro.” The two of them chorused in response and the team of three departed, following after the clear trail the man on a Mission, to disrupt Taher’s operation, left.

A mission which he gave away all on his own. ‘Potentially on purpose’ Myron added to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

—— NSFW Starts Here ——

Taher stared out over the battlefield, breath harsh, short. while her scout was spread on the parapet before her. She moved her hips and he moaned, his legs growing weak and slipping, but she held him up. She pushed even harder, enjoying the way he quivered.

His wings awkwardly folded and half extended on his shoulders blades, pressured on the edge of said parapet while his arms reached over them and clung to the dry mud bricks to keep him steady. His beaked head flipped around, and he stared with his eyes upside down at the battlefield spread before him.

Their ally and the most terrifying force in the battle crossed its hulking arms before its face and chest, arms as big each as he was tall, and took the cutting blades of water without a budge. From below, the masterful Pygmaleon fighter appeared for a split second. The earth moved and and the mushroom like cap of the Yellow Tier bobbed as it begun to fall. Fire blasted it in the chin, insidiously slipping through its guard and rocked its head back with a snap!

The next moment, before it fell, from within the monster stepped out the actual Aimon. It was - He gasped and snapped his beak shut. His eyes swiveled to the King who looked down at him, both figuratively and literally.

Taher laughed boisterously, like a man taking a maiden for loot would. A dirty laugh that made his face heat up even more. But he did not utter a word of protest. To see her laugh was better than what had been her mood before she grabbed a hold of him.

She covered his eyes and begun to move with greed. The whole thing was dirty, inappropriate, and clearly at the wrong time. The battle of the century that would dictate the future of this entire operation and Taher’s career in general was happening right below these walls of dried mud brick, and here she was, taking out her anger on her Aimon, not giving a single order, not bothering with the battle at all.

The only protection Taher currently had was in the form of her King, her stud, and the main man of the breeding facility she was trying to build. The reason she had ever gotten the attention of the First Prince, why she was able to get those papers with the Emperor’s seal on them. The King Gashelle, who took his job seriously, despite the arrogance he had been showing lately.

“He fucking died. Somewhere out there, to the East. Died. Died. My Jackolan, my sweet boy… Was killed and the one responsible is nowhere to be seen.” She ground those words out. Jackolan were rare Aimon, and one she had paid a very steep price to get just of this mission. Their noses where great, their speed greater, but those jaws where the most impressive. Now none of that mattered. As he had been killed, having done nothing but waste her money.

The massive mushroom construct of the Yellow Tier Aimon loaned to her by the First Prince begun to disappear in large chunks that floated up to the sky. The Nimble Aimon that had used that gigantic creation to little effect jumped to and fro, dodging and delaying, keeping its opponents busy while taking little damage.

With its Passive ability of Toxic Touch, it’s opponent’s where running out of time, not to mention that with three of her Aimon keeping all the First Tier grunts busy causing casualties left and right, the fight was decidedly in her favor.

The only thing stopping Taher from sending in these other two in and finishing the fight was the looming threat of a Trainer that had allied with the wild Aimon, or more probably and most certainly, the Trainer sent here by the Good Duke Oakenshield to fuck up her operation and thwart the First Prince’s plans.

She squeezed hard, her nails digging into her Aimon’s flesh. His wings rose from under him and he lifted with a flap from the wall where he lay. They covered her in their soft plumage of dark gray. He gasped into her ear and moaned. He was a good little boy, the Pyrobill.

She let him drop to the ground and he rushed to get himself under control. She sighed and shook off the shivers. “What done is done. I can’t change, just get revenge. I’ll fuck this whole place up till there is nothing left. This will be the perfect breeding ground for your brood, Lief. She spoke to the Gafizzel, whose eyes glimmered with pride and hunger.

Then, just as her frustration had been absolved, or more aptly put doused, a change shook the battlefield. She dug her nails into the parapet and stared, wide eyed.

Blue blood leaked from wounds on the five limbs of the Yellow Tier Mushroom Aimon. He grunted in pain as he swayed while standing. All five of his heads at once, each one trying to grasp the other as if to fight the pain.

“Goh, Heat Sense, now.”

The Pyrobill stood and pulsed with Aether. His eyes alight with flames. Down on the battlefield fire belched out from the Pygmaleon with red hair and seared the fungus flesh of the Yellow Tier. It grunted, taking the Super Effective hit with little damage.

“There!” Goh pointed and took flight. “Stop whatever it’s doing.” She ordered and Goh took flight. Down on the ground a hornet with blazing chitinous armor opened its wings and folded in its many legs. The Waspedo took flight along with Goh straight towards the hidden enemy. The First Tier Aimon on the ground redoubled their efforts at the urging shouts of their Kings and Queens. The Pygmaleon took an enormous hammer of wood to the skull and was pushed into the ground, both her legs broken to shards all for the shake of landed a massive thunderbolt, aided by the natural lightning frothing at the fire clouds above. Taher growled with rage at the Stateep. Those electric, woolly monsters had too much fire power.

The Third Tier Aimon yelped in pain the center of its will like body composed of five brains that worked in unison charred black. But it scoffed and stood, free of whatever had been working its brains into pulps. A cloud of foul purple mist spread from its mouths and all enemies had to disengage lest they melt to the bone.

“I guess the one who interfered and killed my little pup finally showed up. Was about damn time things heated up a bit.” She ground her teeth, and dug her nails into the mud bricks. She focused for the first time on the battle before her. Taking control like a trainer should, only an hour after the conflict had started.