Beastforged Bond B4 Chapter 35

I woke up feeling like I’d been pumled for hours with no end in sight. It was the worst feeling: weakness.

It felt like decades since I’d last been this weak, even though it had actually only been a few years. Years in which everything had been so much better.

Now I was weak again, my Gates drained, my head throbbing relentlessly.

“Adam!” Daniel’s voice rang out from the side. He helped sit upright before regarding from head to toe. “We were worried about you. How are you doing?”

“I… I guess I’m fine. Exhausted, weak, and feeling like a cruiser collided with my head, but I’m alive.” I tried to chuckle, but the throbbing in my head worsened. Grimacing and holding my head, I got up to check the surroundings. “We’re still in the valley.”

“Yes, we are.” Daniel nodded. “Our mission is not over yet. Scott’s been busy dealing with his Unicorn.”

“The divination beast survived? That’s great.” I grunted, halting in my tracks, and thoughts, when pain surged through one of the bonds. “What happened after I collapsed?”

The question was directed more at my Soulkins, but it was Daniel who answered.

“The Fiend survived and attacked you. It didn’t pay much attention to us and focused on you.” His serious voice carried a trace of jealousy. That surprised enough to study my friend for a mont. In the anti, he continued. “Your Soulkins erged to help. Aureus managed to injure the Fiend, but it took a lot more to force it into retreat. Scott is pretty sure it broke through to the Overlord-rank during the fight.”

He let out a sigh. “Nox was injured. He didn’t look good. Like, at all. If he’s still alive, you should give him a healing serum or return to the Bastion for a Healer.”

Inspecting my World, I found the Ferronox Mantis. Nox really looked like a ss. His exoskeleton was cracked in its entirety. Several heavy plates covering his body had collapsed, leaving the flesh beneath unprotected. Even his scythes were chipped. And that was just what I saw on a surface level. His insides looked even worse.

Nonetheless, Nox wasn’t dying. Lifesight made that fairly obvious.

I healed him!!

Sapsie announced proudly.

You did? I was certain I’d used up all of the Pond of Life’s nectar.

Of course. The family needs to be protected by all ans!

The World Tree sproutling stated matter-of-factly.

I created more nectar with my lifeforce~

Shifting my attention to my youngest Soulkin, the remark died on my tongue. Sapsie looked even worse than Nox. Lifesight revealed that the sproutling was barely hanging onto her life.

The tree was no longer a flourishing source of life. It had shriveled and looked as though it might collapse at any mont.

Wasting no ti, I used Nullblade on my right hand to cut my left palm. Daniel shouted sothing, but I was already summoning Sapsie into my left hand. Her shriveled roots surged toward my blood and consud it greedily.

It took a few seconds, and a lot of blood, but rejuvenation triggered at so point, and the withering World Tree sproutling regained so of its forr glory. As hard as it was to believe, I felt even worse than before. I had to forcefully store Sapsie back into the World just to make sure I wouldn’t collapse again.

Thank you, Sapsie. I will give you more blood later, after I’ve recovered so more.

Without my Gates, my physique was pathetic, and so was my natural regeneration. I really needed those damn Gates.

“What in the Rulers’ nas was that, Adam?!” Daniel shook violently. “You look like shit. No, even worse than that!”

“And you’re going to kill if you keep shaking .” I felt like vomiting and nearly did when my friend finally released .

“Why are you so weak? Just what is going on here?” he grumbled. I grimaced.

No matter what, Daniel never changed. Not really.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around that as well,” I said honestly. “But I learned sothing new while fighting the Spawns. The Elental Phoenix helped realize sothing, and that consud a lot of ether–most of the ether in my Gates, to be precise. I had to use almost everything to eliminate the Spawns.”

Daniel furrowed his brow but didn’t ask further. He knew about my Gates and all there was to know.

“In that case, settle down and focus on your Gates. And Nox.” He let out a deep sigh. “If you want, I can bring him to a Healer while you stay here, absorbing the Forbidden Zone’s ether. Scott is taking his ti bonding with the divination beast, so you should have a few weeks to recover.”

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I did have to recover a bit of ether. A massive amount, actually. The only good thing was that the linked Gates were easier to fill than others. They had been full once and were thus familiar with the procedure. But that didn’t change the fact that I needed even more now that I had to replenish them. All except one Wild Liferoot Gate.

“Maybe I should stay here for the rest of the year,” I joked, without a trace of jest in my voice.

If not for the serums and all the other things I needed from the Bastion, it might actually be better to remain in a Forbidden Zone.

“Actually, you don’t have to help with Nox. He’s recovering well. One of my Soulkins stabilized him and has been tending to him. But thank you.” I smiled at Daniel. “You are a good friend. I hope you know that.”

And I had to be a better friend – be more present and spend so ti with them instead of training all day.

“That’s nothing. After all you did to help with the World Aspect, that’s the least I should do.” Daniel waved dismissively, his ears turning red in embarrassnt.

“Don’t think like that. I gained a lot more in return for helping you with the World Aspect. If anything, I owe you.”

Daniel clearly did not agree with that, but he knew better than to start a discussion. We both knew that the discussion wouldn’t lead to anything.

“What now?” he asked instead. “Do we stay here with Scott until he’s bonded with the Unicorn, and then what? You ntioned staying as a joke, but maybe that would be for the best.”

That was a good question–one I didn’t have an answer to. Recovering was my priority. After that… I had a lot of other things to do. The Forbidden Zone was not safe. Nowhere in the wilderness was as safe as the Bastion, or so it would be if not for the Ruler of Fire’s presence. One mistake from rlin Zerog’s team, and Raffael Torch would know about and the phoenix.

Staying away from the Bastion would be a safe call. The problem with that was the mandatory conscription. The reserve team training was no longer an issue. That only left with the Beast Temple’s business and the Rising Foundation. The latter was the least of my concerns, yet it was also sothing I wanted to continue. As for the Beast Temple, officially, I was still working there. Unofficially, I had more than enough contribution points to take it easy for a while. Months, if not an entire year.

That was how long I could stay out in the wilderness without anyone noticing. Theoretically.

“My head’s killing ,” I groaned. All the possibilities filled my already throbbing head with even more pain. “I will think about the next step tomorrow… or the day after… or next week.”

That said, Daniel left. He returned to Lea, who stood by the side, covered in bandages.

***

I spent the next few days resting and refilling my Wild Gates. My focus was on the Gates, but it was not feasible to neglect my World or Soulkins either. Hence, most of my breaks were spent refining my World and chatting with my Soulkins and friends.

Scott was sowhere in the Forbidden Zone, playing cat and mouse with the divination beast. I asked him if he needed help, considering I had Lifesight, which worked a little better in this particular situation than his divination trait, but he snapped at and told to stay away from him and the divination beast under all circumstances.

He was unnecessarily harsh, but anxiety was getting to him. That much I understood. I, too, would be anxious in his situation. The divination beast was the first and only Guardian beast that t his criteria, after all. Losing the beast or its trust would an that he had to start searching anew. Maybe he would find another divination beast in a few years, but his growth would have stagnated during that ti. His best years would have been wasted. Not that it mattered with a World as massive as his, but if Scott dreamt about surpassing the Rulers, he would have to keep growing. Stagnation would make him complacent. It would inevitably lead to disaster.

That was also why I could not stop. If I did, the consistent growth I’d attained over the course of more than ten years would decrease drastically within the first few months. It was possible to regain that sa growth, but it would take even longer than it had the first ti. And that was not sothing I was willing to risk.

So I focused even more on my World. For myself, but also to gain the strength needed to protect my family and all those I held dear. After all, the Ruler of Fire was only one of many threats. The Spawns were dangerous, and so were Fiends and other ferocious beasts.

The Spirits.

Aureus added, which the Elental Phoenix heard and took to heart.

The Spirits are not your enemy, Adam!

Volix chirped hurriedly.

Are you sure about that? Adam drained the energy from your father’s Mark and crushed it. Not only that, but he also took the energy and created his own Mark using what was left of your father’s Mark.

Aureus responded near-instantly.

And then there is that part about Adam stealing his offspring. Although I do have to say that Volca’s offspring is at fault for that. That offspring thought it was a good idea to force himself on Adam.

The Elental Phoenix chirped angrily and erged from the World, flapping his mighty wings. Aureus followed suit a mont later. He shot into the sky, his body’s gravity decreased to the minimum. The two sacred beasts squared off in the sky above the Serash Valley, their emotions, thoughts, and opinions oozing from their bonds.

They struck all at once, forcing to weaken our connection temporarily.

“What is going on up there?” Lea and Daniel rushed over.

“Don’t worry about them. Let them fight.” Honestly, it had been a long ti coming. As much as Aureus and Volix had in common at tis, their relationship to the Spirits was nowhere near the sa. Truthfully, I was not sure what to think about the Spirits either. It was obvious that they had their own agenda.

My incident with Volix–the day the Elental Phoenix was possessed by Volca, who then guided to one of the Devourer’s Spawns when I was lost and alone in a Forbidden Zone–made that clear enough. So did my encounters with Thyria, the World Tree, and Sapsie. The sproutling was not at fault, but she too hoped that I would rescue her mother from the fragnted dinsion she’d been sealed in.

That was emotional manipulation of the worst kind, even more so now that my bond with Sapsie was growing stronger. She was childish and all, but Sapsie was also loyal to , as well as her mother. She wanted to help her before it was too late, and I found myself feeling more and more inclined to do the sa.

Not now, but in the future. And I could only hope that I would be doing the right thing at that ti, that I’d be strong enough to take care of everything when the ti ca.

One more reason to grow stronger, I thought, my attention lingering on the Earthheart and Elental Phoenix as they clashed, their shouts and screams no more than muffled noises in the back of my mind.