Bonded Summoner

Book 4. Chapter 27: Hearthtribe Clans

The celebration continued, the many beastkin feasting, drinking, and dancing. After spending some time with the auril heroes and other elites and celebrating their victories and contributions, Jake went to go visit each of his girls. First, he went to spend some time with Bloodberri.

They were checking in on their teams, and Jake saw something he didn’t expect: spriggons.

Kids were practicing their various baseball skills and some of their martial arts in separate groups, and spriggons were running around helping them. Several followed Berri around like little ducklings, and she guided them to move equipment around or play with the kids.

Jake was surprised to find many of them playing the catcher, or even catch with some kids. Though, they didn’t appear very good at it.

“Jake! Look at how many spriggons and children are playing baseball now. There’s so many!”

He chuckled. “There really is. I think your love for the game is a little infectious. Oh, is that Rhia?”

Jake watched Rhia, the pink unliving armor, playing as well. She was swinging the bat as one of the older children pitched at her, and she hit one with a large crack.

“Yup! She’s already so much bigger, too. She’s so happy.”

Jake frowned. He couldn’t tell that she was bigger, really. Maybe a little? Still, looking over her with his Arcane Eye, he could see the energies within her armor were denser. As he had a moment to look over her magical flame of the unliving, he could see that energy she drew from the air was pushing energy into her armored body.

That kind of energy he hadn’t really seen before. He would need to spend some time with Amara later to have her describe their people more in depth. Looking at their flame in the center, he thought it was similar to a hearth.

Jake saw other Eternum around, as well. Various armors were giving instruction or helping the children. From his understanding, with them being filled to the brim with the life energy of just living on Highlands, there was a low risk of any accidents. When they weren’t starving, a casual bump into them would not result in them being drained to death.

Berri was moving around wearing her baseball outfit, congratulating the different children on their capabilities. Few were playing the actual game, not really having enough room to have many games going on at once. The batters were definitely hitting away from the party, and there was even a massive net setup to block off the section where they played.

He watched as the many kids and spriggons came to greet her, thanking her for her help. All wanted to show off their skills to her. She eventually took to the field and Jake watched as, like a regular baseball coach, she began hitting balls to have them practice fielding.

She had a big smile as Blood floated the balls with her telekinesis, and she hit grounders and pop flies all over the field, forcing the children to field them as if it were a game. Jake could tell all the kids were really into the game, and realized that these kids were choosing practice for fun over playing the other games.

There were still children playing similar games to the last celebration, the play fighting. There were also many children with their parents, eating and enjoying the live music, or otherwise just playing.

“You’re really having fun here, Berri. I’m happy for you.”

Berri smiled at Jake. “I really love this place. I can’t wait until we beat Tartarus off this world, so we can spend more time here. Traveling through the jungles and mountains is enjoyable, but seeing their smiling faces is wonderful. Also…”

She looked down at her own belly with a bit of longing as she rubbed it. Jake hugged her from the side, putting his own hand on it.

“I don’t think it’ll be too long now, Bloodberri. I know you’re going to be an amazing mother.”

She gave him a beaming smile, and hugged him into the air with ease. His body was once again enveloped in heaven, his large body still like a child compared to hers and pushed into her massive chest.

“I can’t wait! Oh, I wonder what our babies will be like…and…” She blushed, and whispered, “I can’t wait for you to breed me.”

Jake was filled with lust, both her own and his at the prospect, but he just gave her a chaste kiss on the lips, before she put him down. She waved at him goodbye, and so did the spriggons and many of the kids. It was time for him to go see Ophelia.

He found her at the dueling sands, fighting Longwei. A large crowd had gathered, and Tanda was in it, as well.

Longwei was clad in Valor, and Jake thought he saw an apparition of a tiger forming around him. He attacked with all his might, but Ophelia casually countered his attacks with her halberd. She was using some of Tanda’s auril he could tell, practicing using the energy.

A large crowd had formed up, the two likely having gone at it for quite a while now. She was instructing Longwei as they went, the two not truly dueling but enjoying testing their limits.

Tanda bowled into Jake, with a big smile on her face. “Jake! Look at her go!”

He chuckled. “She’s really something. Longwei is skillful with that glaive, but she’s on a whole other level. You’re not fighting?”

Tanda shrugged. “I just got here. Davonius and Avina are doing some experiments with Fhesiah, and they are doing some awakenings.”

“So? Did you want a bout with me?”

Tanda blushed, her ears flat on her head. “I-I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I think after that, I won’t be able to wait…”

Jake chuckled. She had avoided sparring with him on many occasions. Apparently, her mating instinct would shoot through the roof if they fought at all. He had practiced defending against her bow, and they had to stop. He didn't think it was too big a deal, but she had wanted to wait until he met the parents, so to speak.

Parents with weapons.

Jake heard a booming voice, “Looking for a fight, Champion Jake? I’ve been waiting a while for this!”

It was Seamus, and many of the other auril heroes were in tow, drinks in hand. Seamus was carrying what looked like a training battleaxe, and Jake could tell he was raring to go. Of course, for an auril hero, just an auril wood toothpick could be a deadly weapon.

He definitely wanted to test his mettle against Seamus. This was in preparation for the fight with Tanda’s father. He knew Timone was on another level, but Jake wanted to see how he measured up.

“Sure thing, Seamus. Let me get ready.”

Jake was wearing his tribal outfit, hardly good for a spar against a battleaxe. The hide armor and furs were common among the beastkin auril heroes, ready for a fight at all times.

He took out his training set of armor, which provided more like medium coverage. He had thick bracers and leg guards, and a chest piece that went easily over his head made of auril beast leather. Tanda helped him put them on quickly with a smile, as he took out his auril wood training spear.

It was all enchanted, but even with him pushing Runebound through the armor, he was certain that Fhesiah’s Qi-infused skin was much more resilient. Where his armor would get scratched, her skin would just deflect the blow. That wasn’t even considering her dragon-scaled hands when using her bloodline.

Still, Jake’s skin was not quite at that level. Combined with the runes and the Framework’s dueling protection, he shouldn’t be losing any limbs today. Hopefully.

They triggered the duel at the dueling pylon, Seamus’s face impassive, but the flicking of his tail and the movement of his lion-ears told Jake he was more than a little excited about the fight. The man was much larger than Jake, but Jake felt like he could compete with his strength.

He activated [Runebound: Unbound], the runes on his armor and training spear lighting up. The effect tried to carry over to Ophelia, but it was blocked by the dueling implements.

The auril hero did the same in kind, his body lighting up with golden light. It was nearly blinding, but Jake focused on the man with his [Arcane Eye].

Seamus gave a hearty roar as he swung his axe downward, and Jake met it underneath the beard of the axe, on the haft with his spear. He redirected the blow somewhat, and stabbed out quicker than Seamus could recover.

Despite Jake’s spear coated in mana, the spearhead was met with Seamus’s bracer filled with auril. Jake’s spear skid off, and Seamus swung his axe once more, in a diagonal swing at his chest.

But Jake was faster, ducking under his blow and putting his lower body into a powerful thrust this time, right at Seamus’s chest. Seamus only barely got his axe haft in the way, but Jake kept on the offensive.

Jake sped up, pushing his [Runebound:Unbound], sending a dozen stabs and slashes over just a few seconds. Seamus was on the back foot, hardly able to mount a decent offense. Jake had gotten a few cuts on Seamus’ body, him using auril to heal his wounds rapidly.

Seamus roared, his auril covering his body thickly in bright light. He shot a powerful beam of light at Jake, emanating from his entire body. But Jake was ready, having prepared a runic barrier the moment he saw the auril buildup with his [Arcane Eye]. He added another one to his hearth bubble, while preparing a runic cone of cold spell.

Jake increased the pressure on Seamus, and started releasing [Runic Magic: Cone of Cold] on him several times as he kept on his fierce melee offensive.

Blasts of powerful cold struck Seamus one after the other as he tried to counter Jake’s offensive, and he worked the power of the sun through his body. After being hit by three of them, he just couldn’t keep up and slowed to a near halt.

Jake got his spear at Seamus’s throat, and he surrendered the duel. The crowd that formed clapped and roared, happy to see their chieftains fight.

“That was really something, Champion Jake. We can’t go all out in the duel, but your technique is amazing. I need to get mine, but it’s been hard for me to pick…”

Jake smiled. He loved the idea of theory crafting about his new friend’s techniques.

“Well, you don’t have a true class yet, but a Paladin typically acts as a protector. Your blinding light can probably be used in interesting ways, or the heat increased for some cost. You liked to fight as a gladiator, so maybe something like Longwei’s style would be good for you. Becoming stronger as you take more damage, or the longer a fight goes on, the more it empowers you. If they can somehow enhance your light or powers as a paladin, that would be quite good if there’s something like it available.”

“I think I saw one like that! I’ll go for that. It’s just, there are so many choices, and I was thinking of closing up my shortcomings, my beam of light isn’t that strong…”

“Of course, shoring up your weaknesses is good. However, we rarely fight alone. Enhancing your strengths can accomplish the same thing sometimes. I think most auril heroes I’ve seen would benefit from going for techniques that make them stronger as the fight goes on, except those like Roxo, and maybe Rookard.”

The auril heroes all appeared thoughtful at this, but many were still just enjoying the festive mood, having a drink.

Jake watched as Longwei and Ophelia had finished their friendly duel, Ophelia preening at the praise of the crowd. Tanda was quick to join her with a congratulatory hug, and they walked over as Longwei recovered.

Ophelia nearly blurred at Jake after that, him catching the speedy valkyrie’s hips. She kissed him on the lips, surprising him. He realized she was on a bit of a high from getting good fights, and she didn’t even blush when she caught his thought.

“I saw your fight too! Seamus is pretty strong, but you dealt with him well. Want to fight me now?”

Jake chuckled. “You really want to? I'm not sure that I’d enjoy getting beat down in front of everyone.”josei

Tanda said, “No way! You and Ophelia have great fights. I love to watch! Besides, it’s really close between you two. It just…depends on what rules you use.”

Jake could in fact beat Ophelia when he used all his tools at his disposal, but their usual training spars and things did not include him using his summoned pets. She usually dealt with them easily anyway, often making them not worth the mana. They were only worthwhile if he had them summoned and regenerated his mana before the fight started.

He had gotten an edge over her a few times with them, but she had found a strategy that worked well against them: bathing them with the flames of Hestia. Only Bree and Ainora held up well to the flames, and both would scoff at him when he merely summoned them for training or spars. Apparently, they only wanted to be around when he was fighting the enemy.

Even the stag gave him a disapproving look, leaving him to only be able to use his weaker beasts for training and spars. While the badgerdillo had gotten bigger as Jake leveled, the thing simply couldn’t keep up with Ophelia’s speed. It would take a few blows for Jake and help distract her somewhat, but that was it.

Kevin the Naga and Peter the stegosaurus were his main combination, but quite weak to Ophelia’s fires of Hestia. Locking her down was a huge challenge, as her sacrificial barrier made her like a flaming hamster ball that couldn’t be stopped. And that was aside from her shield being able to fly independent of her and shoot him with spears of flames.

It was like she was his perfect counter. He wasn’t good enough to beat her in melee, and her defense and speed was too high for him to best her with spells. As soon as he could cast Tier 2 spells on his own, he thought that would change, though. For now, he still needed group spells to accomplish this.

That was, until she could too. Ophelia snorted. “If you would just remove Divine Reinforcement from me while you kept it, you would beat me, no problem. We should really practice without it. It’s too disorienting when you remove it, but what if something happened? We need to be ready.”

That was why they didn’t spar without it. It was too effective at helping them improve their skills for training purposes, and too disorienting at suddenly being so much weaker and slower in comparison to another, that Jake rarely removed it.

“I guess…let’s go see what Fhesiah’s up to.”

Ophelia and Tanda both grabbed onto Jake’s arms, the trio walking over to where the alchemists had a station setup. They were showing off their capabilities, and trying to draw more people into taking up the trade.

There were a number of people laying on cots, going through their awakening visions. But Fhesiah was actually on a stage, and there were many gathered around to view her giving a speech. There was a sign that indicated Hearthtribe was recruiting crafters, so Jake guessed that this was what her speech would be about.

She stood next to her special furnace, which she floated some herbs into along with her Hestia’s Torch lighting it aflame, heating it up. Dave wandered around in the background, moving various resources into different cauldrons, as Avina did the same.

“Ladies and Clanmen of Highlands, behold the path of alchemy! Within my humble furnace, witness the dance of raw elements as they fuse and transform, unveiling miracles. Alchemy grants us the power to shape reality, to create pills and tonics, or even transmute metals. But its essence lies deeper—the pursuit of truth itself. In the path of alchemy, we unravel the mysteries of existence, opening doors to infinite possibilities.”

While she spoke, different colors of smoke exited the furnace, filled with the vitality of life. Her flame flickered, creating sparks of green and blue. She motioned to it with a smile, showing her concentration as the innards became more chaotic, the furnace shaking.

Within a minute, she slapped the top of the furnace, and a powerful aroma and smoke exited it, resulting in a colorful pill. The audience clapped, many of them able to recognize it. It was one of the top quality pills that Hearthtribe members had access to, that would rapidly bring the one who consumed it closer to the next level, especially when combined with combat and consuming auril beast meat.

Fhesiah continued, “Cast aside mediocrity and embrace the creative force within. The power to create lies not in the hands of gods, but in the hearts of those who dare to believe. Embrace the boundless realm of alchemy, where the pursuit of truth and the wonders of creation intertwine. Will you heed the call, embarking on this journey together? Let us unlock the mysteries and unleash the extraordinary.”

The crowd clapped some more, and Jake saw a lot of the reptile beastkin especially looked interested in this. Perhaps it was her flame, but Jake realized that Fhesiah was a lot more passionate about this than before.

At the same time, he understood it. The path of alchemy perfectly aligned with her path as a dragon with the flames of creation. By focusing on it to help the beastkin, she had found a true passion for alchemy, something she hadn’t found in her ‘first life.’

Fhesiah went on to talk about more aspects of alchemy, in a much less flamboyant way. There were some alchemy students there, and Jake knew that she had given many talks similar to this one. She explained how they make the pills for the beastkin, and how those with auril can aid in the process.

During her talk, several beastkin laying in the cots awakened, their auril sparking in their chests. The beastkin roared, and even those far away from the arena clapped and celebrated.

She finished giving her talk, prompting Avina and Davonius to take over. Jake was somewhat surprised to see Davonius a bit bigger than before. It had only been a week, but apparently he took Fhesiah’s admonishment seriously.

Davonius was now striving to become stronger, and Jake knew it wouldn’t be long before he became an auril hero too. He wondered how his manifestation would change as he did.

Avina too appeared to be stronger, especially looking at her with his [Arcane Eye]. He guessed she was already hitting level 8. Jake thought it would be important for most beastkin to hit level 9 and prepare their bodies for minimum a week or two before taking on the Trial, or maybe even longer without combat if they could. Without it, they wouldn’t be able to hit level 10 within the Trial. It was not a requirement, but it would give them every advantage if they could.

Fhesiah came over. “Ready for the next event, husband?”

Jake looked at her in question, “You got more going on? This already surprised me.”

She shrugged. “I don’t need to sleep, remember? This is something Blood and I planned, mostly. Hearthtribe’s Guild Point system is nearly complete, finally able to afford the last pieces we needed. Let’s grab something to eat, and announce some of the first Clans for Hearthtribe.”

Jake looked at her dubiously, then he realized he hadn’t had much more than a snack while he had a mug of the Highland honey wheat. Ophelia noticed she had been distracted from her own hunger during the fights, and quickly headed over with Tanda to get food for everyone.

Food was in abundance this time, so there was no long line to wait in for delicious auril beast meat. The two girls also picked up some extra snacks, as Jake walked over with Fhesiah back to the dueling sands.

There, many Hearthtribe were gathered, with their own banners. A decent-sized crowd had formed, with hundreds interested in joining strong Clans. Joining a Clan wasn’t just about finding or joining a mate, but also creating extended families.

They would share in many aspects such as child-rearing and things such as dinners and communal activities, but were not all directly related to spouses or mates. They would form a larger team than a single familial unit, and they would accomplish larger goals as a result.

Fhesiah’s goal for the day was to showcase the top contributors, and award them both recognition and top equipment—stuff that Jake had enchanted himself. Next, she showcased the top clans within Hearthtribe and those that had accomplished the most in the different aspects, the humanitarian aid that Blood, Valtor and Ophelia had done best to keep track of–something that would be a lot easier after today.

But her biggest pride for her matchmaking was an unsung heroes category. These were men or women without mates or clans, and yet still managed to accomplish a lot. When it came to beastkin, women were certainly most attracted to the strong or those that were strong at duels.

However, fighting Tartarus was not about being best at beating another beastkin in a one on one duel. There were different types of strength, and by bringing these people to the forefront to be recognized, they could more easily find mates, clans, or further motivation to continue their efforts.

They handed out dozens of enchanted amberwood spears, bows, and glaives enchanted by Jake himself, the perfect weapon for taking on their Trials in the near future. They celebrated new families and clans formed, as well as new extended family as strong clans found new members.

Joining the big feast with the auril heroes later, Jake sat having a few more drinks with his wives. Berri had finished her activities, joining the rest of them with several spriggons in tow. They jabbered as they played all over her snake body, and Jake thought he heard plenty of mutters of her name.

Tanda chuckled. “Did you see that mouse parentage with the cow? When they stood next to each other, the difference in heights almost looked like Jake and Bloodberri!”

Fhesiah was all too proud of herself. “I was surprised that little tamer had been doing so well. I guess he had a powerful companion, some kind of large lizard that he could ride since he was small. He and his tamed ally have done quite well in the incursions.”

Berri giggled. “These little guys are so cute. Look what this one had, Jake!”

She showed him a wooden statue, that appeared to be an auril plant. But from the looks of it…

Ophelia chuckled, as she enjoyed her auril beast meat. “I thought it was Echidna at first, but that’s clearly Bloodberri, isn’t it? It even has black flowers on one side, and white on the other.”

Blood added, “These creatures have certainly taken a liking to us. I do believe that this is what Echidna wanted, offering us to be her Champion. The reptile parentage beastkin appear to resonate well enough with her, as well. There are a number of clergy-based classes joining from them by the day.”

Jake chewed on that information, as he enjoyed more brew and auril beast meats. They enjoyed their family and community for a time, thinking about what was coming next. He could tell Tanda could hardly wait, but they would be meeting her parents soon.