Bonded Summoner

Book 5. Chapter 10: Arrivals

“Here you are, Milord.”

Blood held a fork with a bite of steak, feeding it to Jake. Meanwhile, what felt like many hands pressed into his back and shoulders. She was giving him a telekinetic massage, as he sat down on her tail as his chair at the dinner table.

The steak was delicious, and he realized it was from some kind of beast he wasn’t aware of. It was not an auril beast, but was still filled with vitality and magic. The medium rare steak nearly melted in his mouth, the flavors immense.

Blood was wearing a low-cut black dress, her pale chest barely contained within. With the dress so tight, her slim waist proportions seemed unrealistic. Pale pink eyes stared at him, taking in every detail of him as he enjoyed the meal she cooked for him.

“Where’d you get this steak?”

Blood smiled. “I asked Valtor what his former masters ate. Can you imagine? The Eternum chef would make them this delicious food, but then not be given anything for themselves.”

Jake was currently on a mini-date with Blood. Especially as Fhesiah and Bloodberri started sharing their nights, it felt all the better to spend some one-on-one time together. Berri was currently sleeping, and even dreaming.

He asked, “What’s she dreaming about now?”

“She’s flying through the sky with you on her back cheering as Bill the stegosaurus languishes slowly on the ground, unable to–Oh, he just got eaten. I’m so envious. The girl has so much fun, awake or asleep.”

Jake chuckled. “And she does because you indulge her too. You’re a wonderful sister.”

Blood blushed. “It’s just so hard to say no to her. She’s like a whirlwind, it’s easy to get swept up in her.”

“You’re special too, and don’t you forget it. I’m so proud and filled with joy to have you as my Queen.”

She didn’t seem to know how to take the compliment as she blushed, feeding Jake more of the steak. Since Blood didn’t want Jake to serve her, he made sure to lavish her with praise and kisses between bites.

They did not have a ton of time thanks to the war, but Jake had taken to making just an hour or so each day for some special alone time. This had brought excitement to all the girls, and really broke up the monotony of fighting through Rifts, crafting, and training.

Tartarus was losing major ground per day now. The East and West Coasts were hit hard and fast after the storm by the enemy. But now, most of the largest groups of populace were well-defended, the Adventurers taking over much of the territory–at least on the East Coast.

Many beastkin died during the last push, and that had caused the Rifts to swell in an effort to recapture or cut off territory. However, Jake’s party simply moved too quickly. Splitting into two groups, they easily cleared over thirty of the small Rifts meant for a single party in one day.

Fhesiah and Tanda flew together in one direction, and Ophelia, Valora and Ira flew in another. Jake would then [Reverse Summon] himself and Bloodberri to crash either Rift in a hurry, sometimes moving through two or three of the smaller Rifts in minutes.

Sometimes, Jake wouldn’t even be called, the creatures too easy on their own. He would just continue his enchanting on Bloodberri’s back, inscribing as many spears, armor, and shields as he could for the beastkin.

The Hearthtribe and beastkin crafters were focused on enchanting arrows and javelins, for now. They were simply not worth Jake’s time. Even if they were reusable, the numbers the beastkin required were staggering.

It was mainly the monster dens Jake would be called for. These usually had both more and stronger enemies. Even if Ophelia could manage one on her own, it would take too much of her mana or risk her safety.

Blood finished feeding Jake with a smile, this being her choice for her date. He willed her to bring her beautiful lips in for a kiss. Kissing the giant woman was an odd experience. If he placed himself nearly eye to eye with her, he was unable to reach her waist.

If she bent down to meet him, he’d be enveloped in her chest as he was now. Jake could feel the passion, pride, and respect as she kissed him. Holding on to her waist, the two luxuriated in enjoying each other for a few minutes.

She was about to wrap him up with her tail to properly enjoy her prey when a communication request was received.

Blood hummed, as she fixed both their hair with a wave of telekinesis magic. “Kedrin and Trinity? Let’s see what they have to say.”

“You don’t mind? We can have them wait a bit. This is your time.”

Moving to their computer, she fixed his dress shirt and rearranged her tail beneath her so that Jake and her heads were at the same height in front of it. They had installed this conferencing system after they realized it would serve purposes like this one.

“No, this is good! We were hoping we would receive some more aid. I’d rather have talent interested in joining our cause than random Adventurers showing up and filling the slots, right? Since so many beastkin have joined the Framework and we used Mass Migration, there are not that many.”

Jake looked at her in her serpentine eyes. “Raise yourself up? This frame would look weird. You’re taller and bigger than me.”

“But Milord, you’ll look less lordly if–”

“Don’t worry about that, you’re my powerful wife–I love and am proud of your size. Besides, Kedrin is a dwarf, remember?”

She relented and rearranged herself so that her posture was much more natural. She was still taller and larger than him by a fair margin, but it wasn’t the nearly entire meter difference there was before. Perhaps, a result of him reaching High Human.

Blood hummed. “You are larger and taller now, Milord. You must be over two meters? The disparity is not as large anymore.”

Jake chuckled. “Yeah, it’s now a little less like a child standing next to an adult, and maybe more like a short guy dating a tall volleyball player? Still, you might grow more all at once when you increase in Tier.”

Blood nodded. “I think much of our advancement is being held off for our evolution. Even our core didn’t advance as much as one might expect when we became Echidna’s Champion.”

The Framework and Divine seemed to balance these types of things, instant advancement versus long term. Bringing Blood and Berri into a perfect balance likely had a cost of its own.

They triggered the call, and Kedrin and Trinity appeared on-screen. Kedrin was wearing what Jake would describe as a mob boss business suit, which, to Jake, kind of clashed with his cyborg implements in his mind.

Trinity the black-haired elf was wearing some scholarly looking robes, a stark difference from what she wore at the masquerade ball.

Jake said, “Good to hear from you two. This is Bloodberri, one of my wives.”

Kedrin was the first to speak, “Well met, lass! Jake was far from a short one, but to think you make him look like he is. Your help with the contracts has been most helpful.”

Trinity had a smile as she added, “Well met, it is good to finally meet you Bloodberri. As you may have guessed, we have called as your recruits should arrive soon. The desire to craft with such unique resources was significant, and various fey races favor the world with such high life energy.”

Kedrin nodded. “That you paid for their trips and promised accommodations certainly helped. The list of benefits you provided went a long way to increasing interest. Many laborers and fighters were scrounged up, ole Kedrin here made sure to get you the talent you needed.”

Jake asked, “Any notables among those recruited?”

Kedrin hesitated. “W-Well, we don’t have anyone that compares to a Champion! But we do have a tribe of troll and orc warriors and tamers that were excited to go. Thanks to Trinity’s connections, we were even able to get some elven Adventurers interested. While she does only work with crafters, she managed to reach out and convince them to join.”

Jake knew that the trolls Kedrin was referring to were the lanky almost-human type trolls. Aside from being thinner and taller on average, having another shade of skin, and oversized canines, they looked mostly human. The orcs were similar to this.

Looking at the information Kedrin provided, it did look like there were many beast tamers among the two tribes. Jake had made clear what he wanted with any Adventurers for his guild–they would have to respect the tenets of it.

It appeared the orcs and trolls, many of them focused on using their tamed beasts to build, able to aid in infrastructure efforts. Jake imagined, with a few tamed dinosaurs, they could accomplish a lot.

Trinity added, “We did have many elves interested in joining for magical research. Otherwise, the fey races of various professions were happy to make Highlands their new home. That their lives wouldn’t be permanently tied, or the knowledge gained wouldn’t be hoarded using magical contracts, helped solidify their desire to join.”

Jake nodded. Many of the Guilds and magical research facilities present on various worlds within the Alliance enforced magical contracts on participants. Many involved in research almost resembled indentured servants, having to work hard for gains they could rarely benefit from–for the rest of their lives.

Working for Jake would look attractive, at least for a Tier 1 world. His guild would supply what they needed to advance their knowledge and skill, while hopefully allowing them to also improve their level.

Mages and magical researchers didn’t have to fight to level. If the mana density in the world was high enough, they could infuse their body, mind, and spirit with mana over time. Almost like cultivation, they would slowly rise in level as a result, taking many years.

Of course, fighting and practicing their magical might, gaining arcane insight and more would also progress them in various ways and thus their level would increase. Before the Framework, Tier 2 Magus and Tier 3 Archmagus would still rise up on worlds with enough mana density.

The Framework was just a more consistent means of progressing–by taking their power from Tartarus. Still, these methods could be combined. It was on the docket for Amara to research for the average mage that joins their Guild, though at a lower priority.

Blood replied, “We’ll make sure to take good care of them. Jake and Amara have worked hard to make Hearthtribe the leader at our Tier in Enchanting. Looking at what is sold on the Market, few can match what Lord Jake makes.”josei

Trinity held one of Jake’s spell rods, inspecting it with a smile. “Yes, many have wanted to work with the one that made these. The ones requiring Runic Magic to activate are still useful enough to be a great emergency option, even if it takes most of their mana.”

Kedrin chuckled. “So you should have a wide variety of Adventurers and crafters arriving, totaling nearly a thousand. Almost a hundred seasoned Adventurers, ready to join your Guild!”

By seasoned, Kedrin meant were approaching the peak of their Tier–people that would likely participate in the Raid or be capable of it.

There were many more in those joining, hundreds of various levels. Then, the non-combatant crafters would not be joining Jake’s guild–not directly. They would be joining his new Subguild, which would have different expectations and benefits.

“Thanks, Kedrin. Those willing to follow the tenets of the guild are valuable. The beastkin outnumber them, but with many of your recruits being Tier 1, they will be helpful. You’ll continue to look for more?”

They both gave affirmatives, and they worked out a few more details. The new recruits would be arriving within a day, and they would be on the lookout for additional talent. They ended the call, and Blood smiled.

“It won’t be too much longer until we’ve won. If it weren’t for the two Greater Rifts, we would force the Raid in about three weeks.”

Jake shook his head. “There should be enemy Champions lurking about now. They will either be at the Greater Rifts when they spawn, or attacking a large population center.”

“Valtor said the Greater Rifts are imminent; that they cannot be stopped. They will spawn, and then we will have at most one week to assault them before a Tier 2 Boss will continue to spawn from them until cleared. We have kept the two locations scouted, even if it’s a challenge. But it’s strange, there are reports of static on the communicators and the sound of buzzing in the air.”

“That is alarming, Morwen’s last report said the same thing. But we’ve captured some of these locusts, and they are just normal, nothing even Fhesiah or Ira can sense. We haven’t caught sight of anything controlling them?”

“Nothing. We must be careful, as this enemy appears beyond our ability to detect. They might be combining some obfuscation with foresight. Aisling says we should commit to the East, and leave the West to her husband and our allies. Mysticus and Zorina agree, whatever plot they are cooking up isn’t good, but fighting on two fronts in this way appears to benefit us.”

Jake sighed. “I guess we’ll just have to count on our allies. Maybe if we clear one, we can force the Raid without clearing the other? If we make enough progress this next week…”

Blood smiled with pride. “You have empowered the beastkin far beyond what the enemy could have predicted. If not for the Greater Rifts, they would now win on their own. While we are clearing thirty of the small Rifts per day, together, they are accomplishing similarly. Thousands are successfully running Incursions, slowing down how fast the enemy can spawn them.”

“It’s all our hard work, we’ve all been working around the clock. You girls have really accomplished a lot.”

“Of course we all worked hard. But we all followed your cues, your guidance. You had a list in your mind of what you wanted to be accomplished, and we aligned them in our minds as important. That’s not to say we weren’t smart enough to see they needed to be done on our own, but our goals simply would have been prioritized differently if not for you.”

“Hmm…well, I’ll gladly accept all the credit on your behalf.”

She chuckled. “As is your right, Milord. Now where were we? Oh, yes.”

Her snake tail quickly wrapped around him, pulling him into another kiss. It was filed with affection, her desire to bring Jake pleasure with every peck and movement of her tongue. She moaned as his hands began roaming her body, causing her to redouble her efforts.

Blood was very different from her sister.

But then her eyes fluttered, before she pulled away.

Beri sighed. “Aw, that was a dream? W-Well, this is a good way to wake up.” She stared at Jake’s lips with a smile.

Blood rolled her eyes. “Of course it was a dream. Bill can’t die forever! I won’t even get into how you can’t fly to the moon.”

“Y-You don’t know that. Maybe some day!”

Jake nodded. “It’s true. Some day, I bet she will.”

“Y-Yeah. I bet Jake will make me able to! I know it. You’re the best!”

Now Jake was kissed by the other snake sister, her kiss filled with passion and need. Her love was unrestrained, wanting to taste and feel every sensation. They played around for a while, before their time was up.

Jake sighed. “Just a little bit more hard work, and we’ll have a lot more time for fun.”

Berri swayed in place, almost bouncing her body. “You’re going to enchant more Eternum now? I know Rhia can’t wait!”

Jake nodded. “I had decided on one test per Eternum. After Falcor’s enchantment, I realized he had a lot more leeway than I understood. The second set of corrupted went well.”

Blood said, “Still, what a strange skill. To be able to influence their soul like that is no small thing.”

“It’s a special set of circumstances. They are a rare people born with a Hearth. I can’t inscribe runes on their soul, only the metaphysical doorway to it.”

Blood asked, “What about the Emberborn? Are they not similar, with a cold flame in their chests or heads?”

Jake shook his head. “Something about them is different–despite being cold flames that appear to sit on the metaphysical doorway to their soul. It makes me wonder more about the hearths in our chests. Clearly, Hestia has made something truly special, and so did that crazed Lich that made the Eternum.”

Ophelia and Tanda entered the room, carrying Jake’s new shield. It was a replica of her own shield, which Jake hoped to enchant to store the duplicate Hearth inside. He doubted he’d accomplish it any time soon, but that was his goal.

His valkyrie wife held it up with pride. “I finished it! Jake, it seems Valtor finished the prototype airships. They are working on enchanting them now, and could use your help.”

It looked like he now had some more work to do at the HQ. He knew they were working on making the blimps larger, but also more manpower-propelled to increase their speed.

Fhesiah was working on changes to their body tempering room, preparing for each of the girls to go through their unique situations. Clan Hart was busy as always.