Beastforged Bond

B4 Chapter 13

The elevator doors closed behind Bert, and Merlin caught a glimpse of Adam before they shut.The young man stood there surrounded by ether devices, a mess of ingredients, two reddish serums held in his hands. He was frozen like a Bloodbath Deer in domelight.

“He’s still scared?” Merlin furrowed his brows, meeting Adam’s eyes only for the young Blessed to become even more rigid.

Yet, as scared as he was, something about the boy was different. He was afraid, that much hadn’t changed, but he looked prepared. His presence was completely reined in, his muscles condensed to push forth with supernatural force at a moment’s notice. Behind all that fear, there was more.

It was almost like Adam was a beast that had been pushed into a corner, and he had yet to decide whether to strike out or to run. In a way, that was ballsy. For a young Blessed like Adam to believe he had a chance against him. Merlin smiled as he imagined Adam attacking him.

He was momentarily weakened, but dealing with a brat at the Expert Rank would be no problem. Even if Adam was strong enough to spar with Lea and in possession of a creature of myths, Merlin was confident.

That did not diminish how much he had learned to respect the young man. Adam was careful. Cautious. Determined. A confident and powerful warrior was hidden beneath that fear of his, the fear of getting exposed.

He chuckled, glancing at Bert when the Master Beaster looked up in confusion.

“Ignore me. I was just talking to myself,” Merlin said, which was enough for Bert. He turned back to his screens, his lips curled upward like they often were these days.

Bert enjoyed his time with Adam. That much was obvious, and Merlin could not hold it against him. Adam was interesting.

To walk around fooling scientists into believing the Elemental Phoenix was a Sacred Flame. Merlin shook his head. He wondered how Adam made that happen. The scientists were mad, some crazier than others, but they were not stupid. They studied Worlds, Soulkins, and whatnot for decades, if not centuries. Fooling them shouldn’t have been easy.

Adam was interesting, but so was the Elemental Phoenix. When Merlin first heard about the Emperor beast from his higher-ups, he was unsure what to do. He couldn’t compromise the mission by warning his nephew, let alone Adam. As for stopping the Rulers… Merlin was not strong enough. His higher-ups could have acted, but neither they nor the Elemental Phoenix were willing to leave. The reasoning was still unknown. All he knew was that some people were satisfied with the turn of events, which, frankly, didn’t make any sense.

They were supposed to protect the Pact. Their mission was to ensure nobody would be stupid enough to break it, yet the Council did exactly that.

Truthfully, their actions were not without reason. Mankind was weak. They had only survived so long thanks to the Pact. And now, to grow stronger, they broke the very protection that helped them retain a foothold on Razarn’s land.

Merlin shook his head. The Council was hard to understand at times. Their desperation did make sense, but they could have worked something out. Could have found a way to earn an Emperor beast’s favor. Adam made it happen, and so could have the Rulers.

Ruler Saphira wouldn’t have had to die. War with several races would have never started. All the Council had needed was patience and Blessed with Worlds the Emperor beasts deemed worthy.

His higher-ups were disappointed that the negotiations failed and that war was waged, but Adam’s bond filled them with joy. And, indeed, it was a joyous occasion.

Adam was the first Blessed with the means to become an Emperor. The Elemental Phoenix had chosen him–his World–over the Ruler of Fire. Did the phoenix know Adam would have to spend decades growing stronger, or was that a desperate measure?

Whatever it was, Adam carried power like no Blessed did. Merlin could see that Adam knew that. He saw something in the young Blessed’s eyes, but he couldn’t understand if he deserved it. Was Adam’s World really that great? Was his personality that much better, or was he just as greedy as the Ruler of Fire?

Merlin knew the answers to all of this. He researched all there was to know about Adam, be it his medical records from when he was a child, his rapid growth before the Grand Camp, everything noted about his achievements and actions in the Grand Camp, as well as all there was to know about phoenixes. And the hours spent researching were not wasted.

Merlin learned many helpful things. Very much so, even if it did not unravel much about the mystery clinging to Adam. He was powerful. Carried the potential to make it further than any human ever did. Yet, he was a catalyst at the same time. He pushed Daniel back to the right path and rekindled a fire in Lea that Merlin had thought was lost.

“How’s Adam doing? Is he a good student?” He turned to Bert.

“Adam?” The Master Beaster looked up. “Adam is doing great. He’s a smart one. Quick to catch up on my cues. I’ve been teaching him for what…I guess it hasn’t even been a year yet…And his Base’s efficacy has reached 100%. Basic Base, of course. Adam can already concoct some of the most common serums as well. Pith Potency, Lectarn Oria, and about half a dozen other serums. His healing potions and ether concoctions are not bad either. Just now, he concocted a new type of serum. We came up with the recipe together, to help his little Ferronox Mantis grow.”

“He has that same innovative spirit I had in my youth, when I researched the Soilbacks and Craglings in the Oridon Mountains. Those were good times.” He smiled, though there was a hint of sadness in his voice. That sadness dispersed as he continued, “But Adam is nothing like me. While I followed my teacher like a mindless pup, he questions everything. He wants to know how every little detail works and asks questions even I struggle with. You have no idea how much I struggle these days.” Bert chuckled in amusement.

“Some questions are a little weird, but they make me question the recipes my teacher taught me as well.” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Now that I think about it, Adam pushed me to use Glacial Flower extract to spread the potency of pyromantic crystal powder throughout the serum. Using opposite elements in the same serum feels odd, but it worked. Exceptionally, if you ask me.”

Bert looked up to see Merlin staring blankly at him. “Uhm, yeah… Adam is smart. He’s still a little rough around the edges, but I have many years left to teach him.”

There was a shimmer in the Master Beaster’s eyes. He was excited to teach Adam, and maybe even to question the ways of the Beaster himself, prodded by Adam’s relentless curiosity.

“How is he compared to Daniel?” Merlin asked. The elevator doors opened slowly after a painfully long ride to the deepest parts of the Zerog estate, yet neither of them stepped out.

Bert turned to Merlin, one eyebrow raised. “You want me to compare them?”

“Why not?”

The Master Beaster shook his head, but answered anyway. “It’s impossible to compare them. They have different mindsets, for starters. Both studied similar material, but they digested it very differently. Adam learns faster, if that’s what you’re curious about, however, it would have been strange if it were any other way. I taught them in completely different stages of their lives.”

Daniel had been a child when he was first introduced to Bert. He did not have a beast augmenting his brain as severely as Adam’s Soulkins did. That didn’t mean Adam would ever catch up to Daniel.

Merlin’s nephew already had a decade of study and practice behind him, and he was beginning to learn how to concoct Advanced serums on his own. Setting aside the Advanced serums he had created with a Grandmaster Beaster’s help, Daniel was now approaching the leagues of true experts.

Chloe was mesmerized by her son’s growth. She praised Daniel as though there were no tomorrow. As impressive as it was for someone his age to concoct Advanced serums, her nephew still had a great deal to learn. Only one in every hundred attempts had been deemed acceptable, meeting the minimum efficacy of sixty percent. That was not much, yet it showed Daniel had what it took to become a Master Beaster. All he needed were a few more years of practice and thousands of hours of research to develop more creations.

Merlin shrugged and stepped out of the elevator once it became clear that Bert was finished with the comparison. He could have gone into more detail, but it mattered little that he hadn’t.

“Daniel has grown a lot,” Merlin heard Bert say behind him.

“He will catch up to his sister soon enough.” Merlin nodded in response as he walked across the massive floor, heading toward a towering, cylindrical glass container.

“He will?” Bert hurried to catch up. “Does that mean Grandmaster Heros helped Daniel evolve Coco? That’s amazing news!”

It was. Being a favored student of a Grandmaster Beaster came with its advantages.

, Merlin thought with a faint smile. If not for Bert, Dirk would already be dead. Merlin would have lost his beloved Soulkin–the same brown wyvern now floating motionlessly in the glass container before them. Dozens of tubes were embedded into the mighty creature, whose physical body no longer possessed the strength to move. It was beyond broken.

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“He’s still alive. His brain is intact, his brainwaves are regular. Most of his organs have recovered, but I haven’t removed the support devices yet. I don’t want to move Dirk too much.” Bert spoke in a low voice, his earlier excitement completely gone.

Even the slightest movement could kill Dirk. Still, Merlin felt relief. Dirk was alive. He had prevailed where most would have succumbed.

“You said you had a way to fix him. Some solutions you believe are feasible,” Merlin reminded him, referring to what the Master Beaster had mentioned in the message he’d received that morning.

“I do have a few theories that might work. Some are more likely than others, while a few rely heavily on luck and your Soulkin’s will to survive.” Bert spoke the harsh truth plainly. He had no reason to lie to Merlin. “You’ll have to prepare yourself for the recoil if Dirk doesn’t make it.”

The wyvern was Merlin’s only Soulkin above the Unblemished Rank. Dirk had been with him for decades, and their growth as a unit had shaped them into who they were. Still, Dirk was not Merlin’s only Soulkin. He possessed several Unblemished ones, though none of those bonds were nearly as strong as his connection to the wyvern.

Dirk was his everything.

“I’m willing to take that risk. I won’t waste precious time searching for suitable Guardian and Overlord beasts to hunt and subdue when there are ways to help Dirk,” Merlin said, pointedly ignoring the storm of thoughts thrashing within his bond.

Their connection flared, bombarding him with complaints and curses, urging him to bind more beasts and prepare for the worst-case scenario.

He responded calmly, placing his life on the line.

Yes, he might die if something happened to Dirk, but it was that very danger that forced the wyvern to push himself further. To survive no matter the cost. If not for his own sake, then for the man who meant more than his own life.

For Merlin meant everything to Dirk as well.

“What do you have to offer?” Merlin clenched his fists, praying the Master Beaster had some sound solutions.

“We do have a few options,” Bert said, his lips pressed into a thin line.

“But?” Merlin motioned for the Beaster to continue.

“But every option carries its own set of dangers,” Bert added. “We can focus on major repairs, stimulate mutations, or push Dirk to evolve.”

That didn’t sound too bad. Certainly not bad enough for a “but.”

“What’s the issue?”

“The issue is that the repairs would only restore Dirk’s body. We cannot repair his beast core just like that. Maybe, if Dirk hadn’t forced the breakthrough, we would have managed, but he’s an Overlord beast now, and his core looks even worse than before. Even if we focus on repairing his body, I cannot promise that he’ll be the same as before. He may never be as strong as all the other Overlord beasts.”

That was not acceptable. Looking at Dirk’s massive, curled-up body and how much it had shrunk over the last ten months, Merlin clenched his fists. The wyvern’s wings were still shredded after all this time, the once majestic pair of leathery wings now miserable as they clung tightly to his thinning body.

Not even the nutrient infusions the wyvern Soulkin was given were enough to stabilize his condition. All they did was prevent certain death. Even then, it required a variety of half a dozen serums that had to be pumped through Dirk’s system by several ether devices. The tubes inserted all across the wyvern’s body existed for a reason. They kept him alive.

My core.

Dirk’s deep, billowing voice reverberated through Merlin’s mind.

“We have to fix his core.” Merlin shook his head, prompting Bert to move on to the other options.

“I have been examining Adam’s Ferronox Mantis for a while now, which made me think about Aureus, Adam’s Earthheart, if you remember, as well as Dirk’s situation. While not exactly the same, my research over the last two years and the past few weeks has led me to believe we can stimulate Dirk and trigger a set of mutations. I have a few ideas, which will require further research once you and your Soulkin come to a decision, but I am fairly sure we can fix Dirk.”

Bert looked deep into Merlin’s eyes, hinting there was more.

“Since you do not wish to induce mutations that only repair the wyvern’s body, but also fix his core, we would have to push the mutations in a certain direction. We may have to awaken a trait, one very closely tied to the Life Aspect. Possibly only life-attuned… if you’re lucky.” He sighed deeply. “If the trait is tied to the Life Aspect, your World will shatter as soon as your soulshare transfers the trait. Your World will not be able to attune to it. Dirk would survive, his core repaired, but–”

“I won’t die,” Merlin cut in sharply, then relented when Bert regarded him intently. “I guess the mutation solution is less dangerous than the evolution.”

The Beaster only nodded.

No. I won’t accept that!

Dirk growled, resisting the thoughts of acceptance forming in Merlin’s mind. He resisted so vehemently that his curled-up body stirred. Blood oozed from his wounds and spread into the liquid in the tank.

“Stop moving!” Merlin yelled, his heart distorting in fear.

Your death is unacceptable. I may die, but you will live!

Dirk thundered in Merlin’s head.

The towering man sighed deeply. “What about the last option? The evolution?”

He had no high hopes. Dirk was a brown wyvern. His racial limit had long since been used up. If not for their bond and all the resources they had pumped into Dirk over those decades, he would have never even reached Late Guardian Rank. That he had advanced to Overlord was mind-boggling, but it did not justify an evolution. After all, evolutions were rarely seen at the higher ranks.

They happened to younger beasts at the lower Ranks more regularly, but evolution strands rarely developed at advanced age, let alone after a beast’s racial potential had been used up for dozens of years.

Yet, something about Bert’s smile sparked hope. It was the kind of smile that inspired it.

“You think it’s possible? Are you serious?!” Merlin’s hair stood on end.

“Yes… and no, if that makes sense to you,” Bert said with a grimace.

It didn’t. Not in the slightest.

“Dirk might die in the process. To be blunt with the two of you, he probably will die.” The Master Beaster spoke calmly as he retrieved a core thrice the size of a regular Overlord’s. It emanated immense power, enough to flood the entire underground laboratory.

“Chloe asked me for a favor. She asked many people for favors over the last few months.”

Merlin could barely hear the Beaster’s voice. His attention lingered on the core and the terrifying pressure it emitted.

“That is…”

“A dragon’s core. Fully intact, yes,” Bert nodded. “I do have a barrel–although small and only the size of a bucket–of blood from the very same dragon as well.”

The Beaster did not hold a young dragon’s core. That was the matured core of a dragon that had reached Peak Overlord Rank. It might as well have been at Monarch Rank.

“How? Where?” Merlin’s eyes grew wide, realization dawning. “Grandmaster Heros? Did he provide the core and blood? How did you do that? Wait, you said Chloe asked for a few favors. Did she do that? But that doesn’t explain how she did it. This is invaluable. Did she empty the family vault?”

“I don’t know what she did, but Heros provided the core and the blood. He also doesn’t want to be involved in this mess and says we will fail.” Bert shrugged. “I, too, believe Dirk’s chances are low. Or… they should be, if the core and a barrel of blood were all we had to work with. Alas, we have a well-preserved dragon heart.”

At this point, the Master Beaster could no longer contain his shit-eating grin.

“Where in the Rulers’ names did you get that from?”

A dragon’s core was somewhat useful. It could be consumed by creatures with a draconic bloodline to strengthen them, though the increase in strength depended heavily on compatibility and bloodline potency. Various restrictions applied, and it was far more likely for a beast with a thinning bloodline to sustain damage from consuming a dragon core. That was how potent they were.

A dragon core was also impossible to turn into serums. It had to remain intact to retain its draconic properties. So while it was incredibly valuable, Grandmaster Heros didn’t truly need it. Even dragon blood was more valuable–or would have been, if most dragons weren’t enormous creatures. The dragon the core once belonged to must have been the size of a skyscraper, carrying tons of dragon blood. Sparing a barrel the size of a bucket was still a generous gift worthy of a heavy favor, yet it paled in comparison to the heart.

“Adam gave me the heart, along with a lot of other resources. You see, that kid doesn’t like freeloading. Like, not at all.” Bert chuckled and shook his head. “As smart as Adam is, he’s a fool at times. He really thinks he’s exploiting me. I don’t think he understands how happy I am. Every Beaster would be overjoyed with a dedicated apprentice like Adam, yet here he is, paying for his own goods for… honestly, I don’t even know how to price some of the ingredients he sold me. They’re that valuable. Such as the dragon heart.”

“Oh… I get it now.” Merlin felt as though he’d been struck by a skytrain, but he nodded slowly. “Ruler Kazriel’s belongings. The storage ring.”

Adam had a dragon heart in there? And if there was a heart… did that mean the rest of the dragon was stored there as well? What else did Adam have hidden in that storage ring?

Merlin swallowed hard. That kid really had far too many treasures on him. One mistake, one wrong word, and half the Bastion would be after him. Be it for the Emperor beast or his wealth.

“Exactly. Adam had a bunch of things stored in there. Unfortunately, the heart isn’t perfectly preserved.” Bert behaved as if it were nothing special, as though it were completely normal for a young man to own a dragon heart and various other priceless treasures. “You might not know this, but it’s impossible to preserve a dragon heart perfectly. Not even the greatest spatial treasures allow for such a feat.

“The dragon heart loses some of its greatest potential with every day that passes after the dragon’s death. Adam panicked a little when he found out about that.” Bert laughed again. “Anyway, that’s also why he was so willing to give me the heart. It’s too potent for him to use. At least, I hope that was his reasoning. If he gave it up for no other reason than to pay for a tuition that doesn’t even exist…”

He shook his head. “Back to the topic. I can concoct a lot of serums using the dragon heart and dragon blood. I’ll use the heart alongside some of the most advanced serums to elevate Dirk’s condition and increase his chances of a successful evolution. We’ll expand his potential and might unlock a few traits, but they should remain in tune with your world’s restrictions. Then, once everything has settled, we’ll jumpstart the evolution using the dragon core and an Apex serum.”

“You can concoct Apex serums?” Merlin raised an eyebrow, then shook his head. “No, forget that. Are you sure it’s fine to use the dragon heart? Adam will need it at some point.”

“We have something much better planned for his Ferronox Mantis. Nox is so desperate he’d just consume the dragon heart outright and die from its potency. A Monarch-ranked dragon heart is definitely not something an Unblemished beast should ever touch.”

Monarch! I want to evolve. Grow strong enough to break the chains!

Dirk was more than ready to evolve. The prospect overwhelmed him, yet it also filled him with boundless joy.

Merlin chided his Soulkin, though his thoughts were just as turbulent.

“You said he might die,” Merlin pointed out.

“Evolving is never easy,” Bert replied with a nod.

“Neither is breaking through with a broken core,” Merlin countered, only to be immediately rebuked.

“That’s true. But evolving after a forced breakthrough is not something you should take lightly.” Bert sighed. “Still, don’t worry too much. We won’t rush anything. We’ll move slowly, prepare Dirk thoroughly, and make sure his chances are the best they can possibly be. Even so, you both need to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Dirk might die.”

Merlin shook his head.

“No, he won’t. Dirk will rise and shine. He will evolve and become a dragon himself.” Hope, long absent, returned in a tidal wave, filling both Blessed and Soulkin to the brim.

“I hope you’re right. I sincerely do.” Bert smiled.

Then the planning began.