~~~Lee~~~

"Great," Lee said, taking the stone staff from Bradley... whereupon it immediately dragged him to the floor. "Oof! Holy... how is it so heavy!? Never mind that. How do you carry this thing!?"

"You said to make it as dense as I could... and it's made from earth, so it's not that hard for me to carry."

"Damn!" Lee left one end on the ground and hoisted the other end until it was standing upright. "I almost feel bad for the monsters... Even lead wouldn't be this heavy!"

Bradley shrugged. "Technically, it's a type of stone now. I think. It's magic. I don't know how it works; I just use it."

"Well..." Lee frowned. "Huh, I don't know, either. But I think it will work for what I need. Now I just need you to give me all of your mana."

"Um, how do I do that?"

"That's the hard part, but I have a few ideas." Lee handed over a plate. "First, try dumping mana into this."

"Like this?" Bradley asked, and Lee could see mana funneling from his core, down his arm, and into the plate.

"Perfect. Now you only have to..." Lee frowned. "No, that's not working."

The rune mana battery was collecting the mana as designed, but it was tainting it. Something about the liquid mana in the rune itself...

Despite the setback, Lee was happy. It confirmed his theory. Partially. He wouldn't know for sure until he finished creating the item in question.

"Okay, next option. Just dump your mana into the air."

Bradley frowned and stood unmoving for a second before his mana started flowing from a hand, spilling out uselessly. "How's that?"

Lee said nothing as he focused Mana Mind on collecting every speck of the earth mage's mana. The trick was to catch Bradley's mana and hold it while also not collecting any other mana.

"Keep... going..." Lee breathed, desperately focused on his task, and Bradley blessedly did as instructed.

They both kept at it as Bradley dumped his entire core's worth of mana. Of course, Three only pumped more mana into him to replace what he spent. Perfect.

Three didn't send any mana to Lee. As intended.

Lee definitely had the harder task here because he not only had to catch the expelled mana but then had to funnel it into his own core. A core he was purposefully keeping at half capacity.

His last skill selection had shown him the option to partition his own core to hold elemental mana... So who was to say he couldn't do the same thing manually? No one. Because he was doing it.

Unfortunately, having an actual skill for it was probably the correct way to do things because it was ridiculously difficult to keep it partitioned... but Lee had a solution for that, too.

His liquid mana core didn't and probably couldn't hold non-liquid mana. Three only sent him liquid mana, but any mana he pulled in from the surroundings would automatically get compressed upon entering his core. Usually resulting in an absolutely pathetic gain, mana-wise...

But even a minute amount of liquid mana could do something. Like, for example, go into a rune.

Not a powerful rune. Probably not even a viable rune.

Once again, Lee had a solution. He created a charged rune in his rune soul storage. Those didn't need to be viable. They didn't even have to be a real rune. One thing they did very well, though, was hold liquid mana. Any kind of liquid mana.

So he did just that. Collecting Bradley's mana into his core until it became too difficult to control, then dumping it into a fake rune in his storage. It felt like a loophole, and one he was happy to exploit. At least until Bradley quit...

"I can't!" Bradley fell to his knees and clutched the hand he'd been expelling mana from. "Mana burn!"

Lee stowed away what he had, then looked at it while analyzing the staff. "Hmm." It was far from enough, so he pushed a hovering seat toward the man. "Rest. We can keep going once you recover."

"Is this really necessary?" Bradley asked while rubbing his arm. "The last staff you made for me was more than enough."

"It's a bit of an experiment," Lee admitted. "I don't know if it will work the way I'm hoping, but if it does... Well, trust me, it'll be worth it."

Mar was the only other person in the elevator room, and she was waiting for Bradley. She appeared, frowning, when he started dropping speed bubbles on her boyfriend.

They weren't having any luck finding a beast to bond with her, and Lee had only realized after the fact how hard it might have been for him to bond with something even if he'd learned the skill. Mar was being quiet about the failure but couldn't hide her disappointment from Lee.

He didn't mention any of that; he only smiled and created another seat before sending it sliding over. "Stick close and keep your feet up."

It made sticking bubbles on them far easier inside the building, and there was no reason not to. He could speed up Bradley's recovery while also leveling Temporal Shift.

"What did Alejandro want?" Lee asked after touching the rune plate next to the door. His communication runes worked so long as they were far enough apart, or at least couldn't hear each other and create a feedback loop.

Jeremy answered from outside, his current bodyguard, and the one who'd dealt with Alejandro while Lee focused on his experiment. "Um, he wanted you to talk to the anubi about ranking up. He said they were being stubborn and refusing to keep any cores. Even the ones they earned from selling potions."

That explained why Jeremy had a bag full of cores... and it wasn't all that surprising. This was something he should have expected from the anubi... since he'd never explicitly told them to rank up.

Rax was the only one not in the potion workshop, since he spent most of his time with Saira these days. Lee didn't want to disrupt their work, which looked very delicate, so he sent Jeremy to fetch Trak.

"My lord!" Trak bowed as soon as he entered the small room. "How may I serve?"

Lee resisted the urge to take away Trak's bowing privileges. He also tried to choose his words carefully. "Trak, why aren't you using the cores? Did I accidentally give any orders to the contrary?"

"No, my lord." Trak looked at the floor. "I didn't dare to presume..."

"We had this talk already, Trak. You are family now, right?"

"Yes, my lord." Trak still refused to look at him.

Lee sighed at what he could feel from the anubi in front of him. There was still too much fear and hesitance. "Trak, I'm going to give you an order now, and I want you to obey it as well as you can. This order supersedes all other orders that came before and all that will come in the future, okay?"

Trak tensed, but nodded with his gaze on the floor. "Yes, my lord."

"I order you," Lee said. "All of you, to do as you please. You can do nothing if that's what you want, or you can do anything."

There were a lot of jumbled feelings from Trak, and Lee worried for a moment that he'd broken the anubi somehow. Did the oath not work this way? Could he not order people to do as they pleased?

Finally, Trak looked up and met his gaze. "Yes, my... my lord?"

"Whatever you want to do, Trak. Your whole pack. You never need permission. You don't have to wonder if I'll approve or agree. This is my permission and agreement with whatever you desire."

"I... obey?"

Lee smiled. "If you want to, right?"

"I... do not know, my lord."

Well, it seemed better... and there was another reason Lee wanted to get this thing sorted. "Your pack's offspring are going to be here soon, Trak. Even if you insist the oath is a good thing, I won't have them born into servitude."

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

It turned out that the anubi gestation period was dramatically faster than that of humans. They could be born any day now.

"So, Trak, do you want to evolve to E-grade?"

"I..." Trak blinked at him. "I would like that, my lord."

"So, what will you do?" Lee glanced at the bag full of cores but made no other move. He really hoped this would work...

Trak reached out, his movements hesitant as he wrapped a paw around the bag's strap. He lifted the bag onto his shoulder and looked up into Lee's eyes. "I will... take these cores, my lord?"

Lee shrugged. "Don't look at me."

"I... we will ascend." Trak turned halfway to the door. "By your leave, my lord?"

Lee said nothing, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible. Obviously, Trak could still feel his soul, so he couldn't really hide his feelings, but the anubi did eventually open the door and slip outside. He didn't even look that nervous.

Jeremy watched Trak leave, then glanced through the door at Lee and the blurry forms of Bradley and Mar inside the bubble. He seemed somehow more nervous than Trak... so Lee waved him inside.

"Don't worry about them," Lee said with a glance at the teenagers before shutting the door behind Jeremy. "How are you doing?"

"I... I'm good?"

The guy was almost as bad as Trak. "You've been helping out for a while now, and I barely know you. I'd like to change that."

Lee's little heart to heart with Jackson the night before had been a bit of a wake up call. Even if he thought Alejandro was overreacting, these people were potentially putting their lives on the line to keep him safe. He should, at the very least, know what they could do in case they did ever end up in a fight. Besides, Jeremy had also accepted the soul-link...

"Wha... what do you want to know?"

"First off, what can you do in a fight?"

"Oh." Jeremy relaxed marginally. "I can swap space."

Lee waited, then kept waiting. Finally, he asked, "What does that mean?"

"Oh! Like... I can swap two areas of space... Make them trade places?"

"You can teleport?" That sounded awesome! "Or is it an attack? Can you swap someone's head with a rock!?"

"No." Jeremy wilted. "It's not that useful... I can only move whole things. Or it doesn't work."

"Can you show me?" Lee couldn't wait to see this, but it was a little cramped in here already. Especially with the bubble around Bradley and Mar. "Can you swap people?"

"I can... do you want me to swap you?"

"Yes! Oh, but not outside the building!"

Mana surged inside Jeremy but didn't seem to go anywhere. "O..." his voice cut off abruptly, and Lee felt a lurch from his Mana Mind as he suddenly found himself right outside the door of the elevator room.

A few people flinched away from his soul when he appeared, so Lee quickly hurried back inside the room, taking his seat with him. "That was amazing! I didn't even feel it... and my plate went with me!"

Jeremy finally smiled. Just a little. "Thanks..."

Lee cast another bubble on the confused-looking teenagers. "So, how far can you teleport?"

"It's not a teleport. Teleporting is disappearing in one place and appearing somewhere else. It's more like trading places..."

"Who cares about the semantics!? That skill is badass! I can see why Alejandro wanted you as a bodyguard... but why not be a hunter? You'd be unstoppable. Just pop in, kill something, and pop out."

Jeremy's small smile fled as his mood dipped sharply. "I can't swap myself."

"I... shit. That sucks. Still..."

"It also takes around a minute for space to stop... wobbling after I use it anywhere nearby."

The guy was really bummed out now, and Lee felt a little bad about bringing it up. Not that bad, though. "Have you leveled it very high yet?"

Jeremy shook his head. "It uses a lot of mana, so... I haven't been... using it."

Lee dropped another bubble on Bradley, as he had been doing repeatedly since each one only lasted a second. The downside of speeding up time inside it. "You should have mana access..." Jeremy nodded. "So use the skill every chance you get. What if it lets you teleport yourself at higher levels!?"

"It's not..."

"Yeah, yeah. Not a teleport. But it is powerful! You know how much magic I've resisted that wasn't a direct damage effect? Did you struggle at all with swapping me?"

"No?"

Lee looked at Bradley, who was once again in real time and watching the exchange. "Can you swap them like you did me? Only try it while they're in the bubble."

Jeremy shrugged, waited for the slow bubble to appear around Bradley and Mar, then surged with mana, and they vanished.

With the bubble.

Lee could feel the bubble active outside the room. Both people still inside it. Space and time. "Your skill is legendary, isn't it?"

"No!" Jeremy denied it a little too vehemently. Plus, his soul told Lee he was right.

"Relax. I won't tell anyone! But... you have got to level it up!" Lee was already pacing when Bradley walked back in with Mar. He definitely wasn't considering murder, like last time. Mostly. I'm a good person, damn it!

"Lee," Bradley said. "How much longer do you think this will take? Maybe we could do it in the evening? Or evenings, if it's going to take a bit?"

It was indeed going to take a bit. Liquid mana was just too far from normal mana, and he would need a lot for what he wanted. "You're right, Bradley. But... I really want to get this done before the next invasion, so don't be a stranger tonight."

He said that right before dropping a speed bubble on himself and diving into his rune storage. After a bit of work and a few tweaks later, he popped into real time and dumped the weaker rune from before into Bradley's new staff. "Take this for now."

The new version was far better than the original, simply because the stone could hold more power without breaking, and it only made him want to finish the experiment all the more. But later. He had something else new and exciting to play with, er, learn about.

"Okay, Jer. Can I call you Jer? See if you can pull me out of a bubble without taking it along. Or more importantly, see if you can stick me into a bubble."

~~~Trak~~~

He'd heard the stories, so he knew what to expect from this process. Despite that, it wasn't something he'd ever expected to see for himself. Sure, there was always the slim chance that their masters would someday desire a stronger workforce... but it had never happened in his lifetime.

Trak stood in that evolution void for an unknown length of time as he simply reveled in the feeling of a dream come true. This was the promised reward of his sacrifice—his family's sacrifice. A chance for the future... and this was but the first step. A giant step.

He touched the orb.

[Servant Alchemist](E-grade Anubi)

It took a long time, but you have pushed to the next grade. Ascend at your master's bidding.

You have served multiple masters throughout F-grade. Keep serving.

You found freedom and rejected it. Remain a servant.

You have used your class in service to multiple masters. Serve better.

You have survived by keeping your head down and obeying orders. Stay down as you ascend to a higher grade.

Traits: [Servant Alchemist]

Trak stared at it in surprise. He'd expected worse—a servant was better than a slave. It would even make him a better alchemist. This was good. Great even! His gamble had paid off. Not only was he about to reach E-grade, the first in his pack's living memory, but he wouldn't be a slave!

He turned away from the orb and looked at the second one. Something he hadn't thought possible... two choices. Perhaps this second evolution would be the one he'd expected? An option to evolve as a slave.

Trak reached a hand out... and stopped. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see it. He didn't want to live his life as a slave. He wanted to be free. He wanted his children to be free. He wanted them to hold their heads high. At this moment, he wanted nothing more than for his children to never know the feeling of lowering their heads...

This place he had sacrificed everything to find would give them that chance. All he had to do was ask. His lord, Lee, would allow it. His lord practically demanded it...

There was a chance that his children, all future children, could live their lives without ever knowing what it was to grovel before another. What would their evolutions look like if he took that route?

Drivia, would you forgive me? Would such a life for our children and their children be worth the terrible price I forced you to pay? He knew what his heartmate would say. She would do anything for their children... and he wept for the knowledge that she would never know the truth.

Trak howled into the void until the bitter feeling faded back into the bearable ache he was learning to live with. Then he reached out to the second orb.

He wanted a reminder of what he was fighting for. What all the sacrifices had proven...

[Anubian Archon](E-grade Anubian)

You have spent a lifetime on your knees. Until you finally stood up.

You have served multiple masters throughout F-grade. But only to survive.

You swore your life and pack in perpetuity to a chained god. He rejected the oath and instead named you free.

You swore your pack in servitude to a chained god. He accepted your oath but ordered you and your pack to obey no masters.

You willingly linked your own soul to the soul of a chained god. A soul that desires nothing more than for you to stand tall at his side.

Stand up as the Anubian Archon and never kneel again. Become a ruler in your own right as you ascend to a higher grade.

Traits: [Archon]

I... Trak couldn't understand. This was... it had to be a mistake. He looked at the trait.

[Archon]Anubian Archons once stood at the summit of their world. Before the fall.

There has not been an Archon for millennia. Until now.

As an Archon, all lower Anubian races will know you on sight, and they will rejoice. A new era has begun.

As an Archon, you no longer lead a Pack. You lead a Clan.

As an Archon, you are the pillar that elevates your Clan. In turn, your Clan empowers you to ever greater heights.

Effects:

+1000% Effectiveness of All Base Attributes

+1% All Base Attributes for every Clan member per pack in your Clan

Trak didn't know how to react. He recalled his lord's... Lee's words. About dreams. About daring to dream those impossible dreams.

For the first time, he realized that perhaps those dreams were not as impossible as he'd thought. Drivia... Indrax... wait for me. Because I will come for you! No matter what!

Evolution to [Anubian Archon](E-grade Anubian) has begun.