BOOK 8. CHAPTER 1: HEARTHS AND EVOLUTION

Nessa blushed as they appeared on the bed within her private lake in the Refuge–her cultivation chamber. The crystalline home sat above the frozen lake, with shards of ice drifting along the surface. The Frostheart Cauldron bubbled, empowered by the Divine Hearth of the Refuge.

“Why are we in my bedroom? I mean…not that I mind.”

Jake smiled and hugged her smaller body to him from the side. “It’s just so that we can relax and not be disturbed. Plus, this is a pretty intimate process.” He pulled her into his lap and kissed her lips gently. She let out a sigh as she wrapped her arms around him, leaning into his touch.

He remembered the previous times he performed Hearth enchantments and created his Resonant States. As he found resonance with them with his technique for the first time and enchanted their hearth, they always wanted to show their affection. Their connection deepening was always a lovely moment.

Nessa let out a breath, and began to relax into his arms, resting her forehead against him. “So…what do we do?”

“Not to worry, I will take care of it all. I may have only known you for a month in person, but I think I know you well enough to do this.”

“You can…change things later, right? I’m still not so sure I…understand my own path well enough. Nana says I should have been pretty sure about it by the time I made my core, but…”

Jake chuckled. “I think it’s because you had our family in your sights you set yourself up for success. After watching you fight, you are definitely a mixture between a mage and an assassin. When it comes to my resonant states, I am often attempting to pick something that I can benefit from but also embodies who I’m resonating with. Here are the other girl’s states, so you can get an idea.”

[Fhesiah - Passionate Sage - Grants additional magic damage and control to self and allies, limits melee for self.]

[Ophelia - Loyal Guardian - Improves defensive spells and buffs, improves defensive aura at the cost of Jake being unable to cast offensive spells at all.]

[Berri - Radiant Saint - Improves healing spells, grants healing aura, at the cost of Jake being unable to cast offensive spells at all. ]

[Blood - Devoted Monarch - Grants additional effectiveness on control spells, and aura slows nearby enemies and causes push-back effect. Jake can only cast control spells, Ophelia gets enhanced offense and improved radius for Consecration.]

[Tanda - Empathetic Avenger - Flames deal more damage from allies lost or harmed, which carries to his aura. Lowers defense and increases attack.]

[Avalara - Harmonious Archon - Improves control of auril and nethril and draws it up from Highlands like her Sublimation. Aura enhances auril and nethril users, and Jake is limited to spells that contain life and death-related runes. Thanks to synergy with vengeance, Ophelia’s vajrafire magic or death energy from her tattoo is enhanced.]

“Wow, these states are both amazing, and sound really fitting! Though, Berri’s class…”

Jake chuckled at that one. He did think it was pretty fitting, but she was hardly selfless despite doing all the good things she did. “It’s not perfect, clearly. So I am looking for what might be fitting for you, but also something that I might use in battle by limiting myself and creating strengths that I can take advantage of. An assassin is not very fitting for me as a mage to use, or Ophelia to use with her Chosen Technique, and a mage is already covered by Fhesiah’s resonant state.”

He added, “While I could do something like Ice Mage, I feel like it’s too specific. I tend to want roles that have more uses or situations for them.”

“I…see. I’m not sure how much I can help with this… But I see you also have a virtue or…otherwise positive trait to go along with the class you have for each girl.”

“That’s right. It’s because I wanted this to link a bit to who each of them was as a person, rather than just a class, and to embody them as best as possible. In a sense, you are more than just a role, and I want the state to reflect who you are as a person in some way, as I find resonance with you.”

Nessa smiled. “I like that. So…I feel like you already have something in mind? I…want to hear it.”

“Of course, I’ve put a bunch of thought into it, and we’ve talked about the poison you’ve been developing. For you, I think the class of Justicar might be fitting, a class that upholds the law, a seeker of justice. It’ll be a role that deals additional damage to anything evil-aligned, such as demons or undead, and especially betrayers and tainted. In a way, it’s like an offensive version of Berri’s Saint role. Then, I’ll merely split the spellcaster role with Ophelia’s melee role for my state.”

“But don’t the Divine’s flames and lightning already kind of do this?”

“They do, but you’ll find that the evil Divine are often like a mirror, their resilience to the holy Divine about equal. However, with the role, this should allow me to transcend that. And more importantly, this effect will carry into any spell that I use, even if it’s simple elemental earth or wind, or, thanks to my Presence, even my allies.”

“That does sound useful as a tool. So, that does sound like it reflects my role. Or…at least part of it. My poison does freeze, but it also burns things like tainted all the more.”

“Of course, it is not completely fitting. But I am infusing a demonic rune that embodies everything that you are, my understanding of you, and this role as best I can. All so that it properly connects to you and follows your path. I cannot use a dozen words to make your role embody everything, or that will dilute the meaning for when I create your state. Your lake is a big part of you, and I know your hearth gives off a feeling of home, and you defend others in combat too. There’s just no way to embody all of your capabilities and what makes you special with a single word, especially when all of us can do damn near everything thanks to our hearths. I’m just doing my best here.”

Nessa giggled. “Okay, I get it. So how about…the other part?”

Jake looked at the snake tail wrapped around his waist like a belt. “I don’t know, clingy might be just right?”

Nessa pouted. “That’s…not fair. Besides, Lia’s plenty clingy too!”

Jake chuckled. “That’s right. In the end, all of my girls are loyal, devoted, passionate…maybe a little clingy, and so are you. That’s just where each stands out more than the others to me, in a sense. And as mentioned, I didn’t want it to be all about fighting or combat, or I’d have chosen other things. I also don’t want it to be redundant, besides. A righteous or resolute justicar is basically the same thing, and a selfless saint would have been too.”

“I see…now I’m really curious what you’re going to pick. You have a tough job.”

“Especially since you didn’t like clingy. Now I’m really in trouble.”

Nessa narrowed her eyes. “I hope you’re not planning to use a synonym for clingy, like attached or embracing.”

Jake pretended to sweat a bit, tugging at his collar and letting out a breath as he looked away. Her tail tightened as her eyes narrowed further, and he laughed.

When he stopped, he said, “Because you’ve spent your life yearning, filled with a deep desire for love and affection, as well as justice, you value every moment that you fulfill that desire. I’ve watched as you spent time with me and your future sister wives, and even my children. At the tournaments on Aetheris,and in the fun that we’ve had here in our Refuge. You cherish all the affection and closeness that you can get, whether it be from me or your family, and thus, you seek it out at every opportunity. You hold an ambition for love and justice and will fiercely protect the things you hold dear now that you’ve found it with your lake or your serpent’s fangs.”

Following the bond, Jake sent his hearth flames, much more familiar with this task. He quickly created a hexagonal structure of runes over the surface of her hearth, placing the Cherishing Justicar, Nessa, in the center. At the same time, he also created the Resonant State, linking them together with the magic glyphs that Amara had taught him.

Over the last few years, he had enchanted, re-enchanted, and modified hearths hundreds of times. Even the Emberborn clergy in the second Tier had hearths now that he had enchanted and there were numerous beastkin clergy that received hearthvines. So Jake had worked together with many and even saw some of the long-term effects, both with his wives and with the people like the Eternum.

Because of his process, his goals were safely accomplished. He had wanted to reinforce what made his people special or protect them from their weaknesses and dangers, in the case of the Eternum and being controlled by the undead.

A few had made requests about traits and virtues they desired to be or have, and over time, it had slowly changed them. A floating armor wanting to have a little more courage to join the battle or intelligence to learn magic wasn’t the same as Jake forcing someone evil to be good or the reverse. He was certain it wouldn’t have worked unless they desired it from the bottom of their hearts.

Even without enchantments, short of ailments, when someone wanted something badly enough, they could change on their own. As Brother Zhuge would say, good thoughts and habits lead to actions with good results, and bad habits, excuses, and negative thoughts lead to weak actions and failures. All one needed to achieve their dreams was the will and the way, so Jake’s Hearth enchantments were like paving the road for them to walk.

In the case of his wives, it felt like it reinforced their positive traits, leaving little room for negative ones. For Ophelia and Tanda, he had even added ones to help protect them against the Asura and Diva Seals. Of course, the higher-Tier energy wasn’t able to be stopped by just that, but it was just one more line of defense, reinforcing their minds and souls against the seal’s insidious encroachment.

And Jake had feared he lacked desire because of his Void Bloodline. He still thought his desire outside of what his Bloodline coveted was less than most men, but he felt that the enchantment to reinforce this in his hearth had certainly helped. At the same time, it was difficult to fully attribute it to that. He was sure that at least half of his desire still came from his wives.

It was why accepting Bree, Sati, Ruby, and Yona was not only something he agreed to but looked forward to and embraced. Otherwise, he was sure those girls and his wives would have had to fight ten times as hard for his affection and acceptance. He would have stubbornly refused to divide his attention for his stronger bonds any further than they were already.

Jake thought of all of these things as his hearth flames blazed through his bond and into her hearth, and he reinforced what made Nessa special. Her resolve and righteousness, her determination and swiftness. Her desire for justice and value of the law, and her sheltering, adoring personality. Then, her purity and seeking of the truth, and her yearning and treasuring of her home, her lake.

When she fought, she would take out her enemies with viciously cutting, venomous attacks while providing sanctuary–protection for her allies. Her divine trait would protect her family from illusions and help them seek the truth, while remaining elusive and evasive herself.

Water and the cold were her weapons and allies, bringing a brand-new element to Jake’s party with her Frostheart Cauldron. Her alchemy and poison were like a side gig so far, but she wanted to improve them further. He enhanced their deadliness and enchanted the cauldron further to aid in her control, helping pave the way for her path.

The runes burned in the patterns Jake worked out, and he connected them to his resonant state and a new hexagon in his Hearth which connected to Nessa’s bond. Over time, following what he had learned from his Hearthian Bonds, he would stabilize the bond and the hexagons using her brand of Hearth Mana. He would use constructs to create the special scaffolding, reproducing what he saw on his current bonds.

Then, he would likely add his own form of a meander, fractal, or similar pattern to saturate and thus strengthen it further. Essentially, he would build something that looked a lot like what Hestia had already made, using the current ones as a means for comparison. However, he knew that this was a poor copy at best, the Divine Glyphs having aspects that he couldn’t replicate.

The hearthian bonds themselves included something else, in addition to her special Divine Scripts, and he would need to fully learn what that something was to make true Hearthian Bonds. Still, he could feel that the construct he created around the bond improved the strength of it as it was completed, so he knew he was heading in the right direction.

As the enchantment was complete, Nessa’s joy was palpable as she kissed him fiercely. Her tongue swirled around his, much like her tail and arms snaked around him. Their hearth bond increased, their connection becoming more intimate, and her core even grew to its next level as a result, as it was empowered. Later, he may alter her hearth-core further to make it look more like their hearthian cores, but he knew he was not yet ready.

He now had the resonant state of the Justicar, which would cause his spells and Ophelia’s melee attacks and vajrafire to deal additional damage to evil-aligned monsters and creatures. While Tartarus did use these types of creatures plenty, they did not represent all the monsters that it used. Then, his aura would also apply bonuses to the same, making his allies’ attacks even more worthwhile.

They continued their kiss for a moment before Jake pulled back. “I take it you liked that?”

“Oh yes, it does feel wonderful. I can feel how much you paid attention to me. And I do feel stronger, too! Like I can do anything. Maybe…well, we’re already here, aren’t we?” She looked around, happy to see the bed beneath them.

Jake chuckled. “I do believe they will be a while longer. We can enjoy ourselves for a bit.”

***

Finished with their fun, Jake and Nessa teleported back to the lab, where Fhesiah and Bloodberri were working. Berri’s face was scrunched up, and she had her hands balled into fists by her sides in the center of the lab. The girl’s snake bulk was coiled on top of Fhesiah’s cultivation mat.

Pedestals were placed near her, with a wide-open space away from the many cauldrons and pill furnaces. It seemed many of the tables had been pulled back to give her some more room.

Berri groaned. “Hnng….gnununu…”

She stopped, catching her breath, and her eyes opened.

Jake sent some hearthflames, cleaning off the blood from her lips. “Berri…you had a little…blood on your lips.”

Blood sighed. “Oh dear. Sorry that you had to see that, Milord. Berri is…strangely really good at this, and it’s quite difficult, so…anyway, how… unusual it was not noticed by someone else.” She narrowed her eyes on Faye.

Fhesiah shrugged. “I saw it, but it was just funny to me, so I failed to mention it. Jake isn’t that grossed out by it, you know?”

Blood huffed. “Hmph. You know how I feel about this. Whether our lord is grossed out by our eating habits or not, I prefer to be immaculate for him. I may fail to mention tomorrow evening with our dear husband.”

Fhesiah pouted. “Aww, c’mon, it was just a little joke! I’m working my tail off for you and him doesn’t that count for something?”

Blood turned away, and Jake was forced to watch Fhesiah practically beg on her knees for Blood’s forgiveness.

Nessa looked concerned about their fighting. “Shouldn’t you say something?”

Jake chuckled and shook his head. “This is between the two of them, but also, it’s a bit of a game for them both. Blood does like a good cause to have some fun in the bedroom. They both seem to enjoy it a lot more that way.”

Nessa’s eyes widened, her face taking on a deep blush. “O-Oh. That…is surprising.”

Eventually, Blood forgave Fhesiah, having grabbed onto her horn and gotten her even more excited about tomorrow night.

Jake decided to ignore that the conversation happened. He asked, “How’s it feel so far, Berri?”

Berri said, “I think I’m close. I’ve already started making one and shifted the other one a little.”

Jake frowned. “Making one?”

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She shrugged. “Just felt like it was right. Our body seemed to wanna make one on its own down in our tail. Also, if I can make one, I can definitely transform one, right?” Berri took a deep breath, then went back into her stance, once again groaning as she continued her task.

Nessa covered her mouth as she stifled a laugh. Berri looked ridiculous as she did it, but as Jake watched with his Umbral Gaze, he saw that it was quite effective as flesh and vitality gathered at that central point from the rest of their body. It did look like an organ was starting to form.

Fhesiah was also helping, coaxing her organ’s growth with her instructions over their bond and stimulating it with her flesh-shaping skill to help her improve. Blood was trying to help as well, but Berri’s instinctual approach was simply more effective.

Jake suddenly asked Fhesiah, “Just how many did she eat?”

Fhesiah chuckled. “She had about twenty, plus a bunch of other material for her body to use. I even had her eat a few nethril hearts just to be sure.”

Nessa frowned. “Isn’t that gross? Like undead flesh?”

Nessa didn’t know as much about nethril yet as the rest of his group. Faye shook her head. “Actually, the nethril creatures, while they carry death energy, they aren’t like zombies–at least not really. Ava can explain it better, but they are more spiritual beings than physical. More like eating a ghost or wraith, I guess? But that’s still not right.”

Blood spoke over their bond, her sister too focused on what she was doing, and her mouth too busy groaning to speak. [They didn’t taste like much, but it was a bit like liver and mushrooms, kind of.It lacked the vitality of an auril heart, to be sure, but there was also a…taste of the past. Difficult to put into words.]

Suddenly, the second heart had made its connection to the veins and started to beat at Berri’s command. With a gasp, her blood became turbulent for a moment, until the proper rhythm was found between the two.

In the end, she had made a heart and altered her other one. They both looked exactly like an auril heart taken from one of Highland’s dinosaurs. It seemed she had reproduced, with Fhesiah’s guidance, a system of hearts that somewhat mimicked an octopus. A branchial heart pumped blood into her lungs and humanoid upper body, and the systemic heart pumped the blood to the rest of her snake body, accelerating the blood flow.

From this detail alone, her chimeric constitution trait had already improved, the strength and constitution it provided increasing by a few points. When she had over three hundred of each, a few points were nothing, but it was still a gain nonetheless.

Berri eventually recovered her breath. “Wow! That helped a lot. I wonder why echidnas didn’t just have two or three hearts to begin with?”

Fhesiah shrugged. “Not everything is an advantage in all situations, having an extra heart will probably make you require more sustenance and breathe more air and mana to get much benefit, among other things. And maybe the goddess wanted the race to have some room to evolve and transform, or who can guess what a Divine was thinking? Even Bree would only be able to speculate, no doubt.”

Berri smiled and was swaying in place as if hyped about her success. “Okay! What’s next? Is it time for me to take the potion yet?”

Fhesiah was still looking over her new organs with her Divine Sense. “Just about. Let’s bring Ava and Tanda in, in case they can help.”

Tanda and one of Avalara’s lesser avatars appeared, and Ophelia came to watch as well. They took seats with Jake and Nessa, who now sat on stools off to the side of the central area, one of the many lab tables next to them.

Bree wanted to help but knew it was best to stay out of it because of her restrictions.

Knowing it would help her find connection to Avalara, Jake found harmony with her and entered the resonant state of the Archon. This granted him an increased control and power with life and death energy or magic, his presence causing a similar effect to Tanda and Avalara’s Sublimation. The auril and nethril in the room increased, and the Hart family all tried to join and become in sync, allowing them to assist.

And Fhesiah was prepared. The orbs that held their energies for the Voidborne Soul Harmonization technique now held some powerful life energy. It was one that he would use for tempering with Ophelia and Tanda, but he would sometimes use it with Bloodberri. For her chimeral constitution, they would often use opposing elements of whatever they could find to help improve it.

Ophelia and Tanda did not actually need those orbs, they were just what helped jumpstart the technique, or enable them to do it when one of the two was not present. Nevertheless, Fhesiah had distilled dozens of numerous concoctions for their tempering, giving them many options.

Fhesiah placed the life orb on one of the two available pedestals, its energy entering the formation and being drawn toward Bloodberri.

Berri took the Elixir of Boundless Life, drinking the contents with a smile. The dense energy went down her throat and into her belly, and latching onto the energy with her will, she drove it toward her shaped and changed heart with her Expert Energy Manipulation. While the energy had a sort of physical component, it was certainly a powerful energy, a metaphysical concoction.

The heart continued to beat, sending the immense life energy throughout her body, and the family sent auril along their bonds into Jake, and Jake into Bloodberri. There was some difficulty infusing the body and having it fully permeate it, but it seemed to eventually take to it throughout her huge body. The Elixir of Boundless Life was a sort of binding agent of a higher power, and it slowly transformed them to strengthen the body’s life affinity, its ability to hold the energy.

And some of it certainly seeped into their hearth core, being drawn into the swirling holy light. It matched the life energy, and only a small amount ended up being drawn into the darkness portion. Because it wasn’t as simple to say that life was light and death was dark, let alone life was good and death was evil. Like yin and yang, each was a part of the greater whole, and contained some elements of the other.

Fhesiah was watching with her Divine Sense. “There! You should try to make your connection to the world now, to Avalara–awakening your Auril Heart.”

Berri and Blood nodded, and then they both did what they could to try. With her powerful Tier 2 spirit, Berri made the connection to Avalara with ease, and then allowed the auril in the room along with the immense life energy to permeate their body even further.

The systemic heart merely enhanced this, sending the metaphysical energy through it. However, rather than being happy, Berri and Blood were frustrated, and Jake noticed a problem too. Blood did not connect in the same way as Berri.

Berri shook her head. “No…wait. This feels wrong. I think…give me the other one too, Faye-Faye! We need nethril too, or it won’t be right!”

Fhesiah’s eyes widened. “What?! But you were successful! To do that is–”

Berri interrupted, “I know it’s scary, but it’s not right! Blood can’t connect.”

Blood frowned. “She’s right. This…is not right. Auril is life, and it joins her holy light well. But…”

Bloodberri swayed in place with their tail swirling beneath them, and the two began to use their Twilight version of their Technique. Rather than the bronze-like energy forming within their body as the light, dark, auril, and monstrous energy mixed–the darkness and nethril was rejected, sequestered away from the bright-green mixture. It required balance, which was something their hearth had more or less maintained automatically for them.

Blood frowned. “This…is not good, this is worse than before.” She hesitated. “But if we try to add the death, it will tear us apart. The two are opposites, like Fhesiah’s flames were.”

Berri said, “We won’t mix! Just follow me. There’s enough life energy left, but we must hurry and use it now. I feel it!”

Jake and the rest of the family were concerned, but they didn’t have any means to help, beyond being able to provide energy. The elixir had actually taken care of most of the hard work, and should have been a tremendous success.

Fhesiah sighed and handed over the elixir, and drew out the death orb onto the pedestal, the energy being drawn into the formation, preparing it for Bloodberri’s usage. The life energy was already starting to deplete, and was effectively within their body.

Now, the death energy from the orb was pooling up, ready to be drawn in.

Blood drank the [Elixir of Endless Death], the energy then pooled in the other side of her chest as more flesh-material gathered. As it filled her body, there was certainly a clashing between the two energies, wrecking havoc everywhere it touched with tiny explosions that tore their flesh. But Berri held on to the life energy to keep it from encroaching the paths for the death energy as it restored their body, and Blood did the same for the death to keep it away from the life.

It was touch and go at first, their body getting torn apart by the two energies touching. Jake and Ophelia both used their Renewal abilities, restoring some of their lost flesh and healing them. It was a painful procedure, and Jake could tell it was dangerous, as one might expect.

A third heart eventually formed, one inside her chest on her right-hand side. New veins formed next, connecting to the holy light and dark hearth for both branchial hearts, and then followed along new pathways created from the immense amount of energy within them.

Avalara helped where she could, able to guide them on how these special veins should be shaped. Thanks to the clashes of the two energies, it appeared some residue was left behind, and this combined with the energy from the orb and the elixir.

Rather than flesh veins like one might find in a human, what formed were crystalline in structure, more spiritual or metaphysical in nature as the nethril energy combined and hardened with the various energies. Ava’s battle avatar certainly had no difficulty using auril and nethril at the same time, so she knew how to make things work.

Berri had pulled the auril and life energies away from certain areas, and Jake could see what she was doing, as she was trying to reinforce the areas within her upper body and the muscles throughout even her snake area. As the Nexus, Jake supplied each of the girl’s auril and nethril stored in their hearths, flooding Bloodberri with all their resources they required for their own usage.

Blood then filled the opposite areas with the death energy, following the special, metaphysical veins they created. These outlined certain areas in their body, and Jake could see their plan.

Blood was covering their scales and bones with death and nethril, and then everything else was filled with their life energy. They drew in the energy from the orbs on the pedestals, and continued their efforts as Blood continued creating a system of veins using the magic of the elixir.

Seeing that the energies were running out, Fhesiah handed over one pill she had refined after the other, using materials granted by their dungeon run and the numerous beastkin flooding the dungeon. Meanwhile, Jake, Avalara, and Tanda all continued doing their best to have auril and nethril permeate the room and bond.

The nethril heart and the system of crystalline veins created, it began to beat, trying to find its rhythm. With Avalara’s help, it easily connected with Blood’s spirit, awakening them as a nethril warrior.

The energies from the elixirs and Fhesiah’s other concoctions continued to suffuse their bodies, reinforcing the special pathways, flesh and muscles, scales and bone, within. Eventually, they received a notification from the Framework, indicating that both their chimeral constitution and their new organs had been upgraded and created successfully.

Ophelia frowned as she tried to scan Bloodberri with her own magical senses. “It’s so strange, those pathways you created along the bones and through the scales feel so different from normal veins.”

Blood nodded. “They carry the nethril within them, and help our body store it. As one might imagine, pumping blood through something hard and meant for support and defense would be a poor idea.”

Ava said, “It’s because nethril hearts do not pump actual blood. Nethril is more spiritual than physical, and so are the bodies of the reborn. What usually gives the nethril beastkin their sturdiness is the vitality contained within the bones from their first life, such as the thick marrow. The nethril crystalline structure reinforces this, usually created over a considerable period of time.”

Three hearts now beat in Bloodberri’s body, and Jake was a bit shocked by the result. The auril remained within her flesh and muscles as it was pumped through the bloodstream and body, but the nethril pathways carried along her scales and bones, especially dense through her draconic horns.

Berri beamed. “I could feel this was the right thing to do. And now look! We have the power, sis! Mwahaha!” They both drew on their power, their body glowing green and black in their respective locations. Her normally golden scales and her horns and scales gave off a dark, ethereal haze.

Her elven body glowed, and Jake could feel the might contained within her body. It was like the herbivore dinosaurs, in that a permanent strength and defense permeated her body from its constant heartbeats. It actually reminded him of the stegosaurus, Bill–

“Don’t you dare think it!” Berri narrowed her eyes dangerously on Jake.

Jake coughed. Even after all these years, her unhealthy hatred of that creature remained. “Of course, nothing like that. Perhaps like the triceratops I saw then.”

Berri sniffed. “Better. That’s like what Bree chose, right?”

Bloodberri then used their twilight Technique, and this time, the several energies actually combined because they could find the right balance. Jake’s impression was that this was a qualitative improvement, the energy within them allowing them to become even stronger and more dangerous. Filling the monstrous twilight flaming energy into their axe, the extended, bladed edge was huge and dense.

Nessa had gotten to spar once against Tanda and Ophelia with their Asura and Diva seals. It had hurt her confidence a little, but it gave her a goal to shoot for, and her competitive spirit was filled with determination. “Wow! They feel so strong now. Is that… I guess, it’s not at the level of the Asura and Diva seals, but it feels very strong.”

Jake nodded. “Auril is still not a higher tiered energy, but those two are borrowing it in a sense. However, this auril and nethril energy is actually Bloodberri’s now, and they are combining with their twilight energy and monstrous constitutions. Let’s look at what the Framework says.”

[Echidnean Fortitude]

[Effect: +100 Strength, +75 Constitution, +35 Wisdom]

[This being is stronger and more resilient than others, due to having a monstrous size and a chimeral constitution that improves power and fortitude. Their body and bones have been woven with auril and nethril into their very beings, increasing their physical and spiritual durability and strength. In addition, this being has incredible fertility, enabling them to rapidly reproduce with enough sustenance.]

Berri beamed as Jake read that last line. It was her favorite status item, the Framework itself recognizing how amazing she was at making babies.

[Trait: Pseudo Auril and Nethril Beast Hearts]

[A legitimate auril and nethril heart have been created, but the user’s biology lacks the Celtic Origin. Their monstrous nature already stores an immense amount of mana threaded through their beings, preventing it from storing and regenerating auril and nethril through body and their heartbeats at the equivalent amounts. This pseudo organ cannot grow the spirit, restricted to maintaining the body’s vitality and bones and scale’s spirituality instead.

Benefit: Stores and regenerates auril and nethril at about 25% the amount of a similar level beastkin or auril beast. Attributes have been increased accordingly.]

Jake frowned. “After all that, they are just pseudo versions? With the text, I suppose it makes sense. The message about the growing the spirit, I suppose that means she won’t be able to level through pills and eating auril beast meats like Tanda and other beastkin can?”

Fhesiah said, “Hm, that is a bit of a let-down, but it does make sense. It’s still an excellent result that we could obtain the organ of our people’s species. 25% of each, combined with what they already had in their hearths, is quite good. And now, look. They should be able to become auril and nethril heroes, right? And even learn sublimation?”

Tanda nodded. “This is good! We’ll have to practice together a lot more!”

Blood smiled. “That all sounds excellent. Does this mean we can also do this for Milord?”

Fhesiah was proud of their success, but she frowned as she scanned the room and her Menu in thought. “Maybe. That took…almost everything we earned. Totally worth it, but…now, I don’t think we have enough to do anyone else if anything crazy like that happens. We have a few more of those same elixirs, but in order to be sure… we need to stockpile resources again.”

Ophelia said, “Yes, but…isn’t there a bigger problem with this? What about…her ability to touch important things, like our kids?”

Tanda shook her head. “Worry not. That should be fine.”

Wanting to see for himself, Jake looked over her scales with his Umbral Gaze. He frowned as he touched Bloodberri’s scales. The deathly energy began to react to his touch slightly, but remained within. The scales were infused with the deathly energy, but it didn’t leak out at all, it seemed. As a test, he handed her a living, auril plant. It did not drain or wilt at all like when he handed it to an Eternum.

Flexing her will, Blood sent a thin haze of the energy into the auril plant, the ethereal smoke drifting into the plant through her hands. The plant did decay when she sent enough of it, but it appeared that it was quite resilient to the effect.

Ava spoke up from her stool, “Nethril is a deathly energy, but it is not precisely the opposite of life. It is more of a spiritual energy, embodying a rebirth or second life, echoes or memories of the world. It is the song that has been sung, a counter-balance to the abundance of life that is auril. Nethril brings death and decay, by culling the excessive growth and bringing conflict to the world. It wears down the spiritual nature of auril, weakening and breaking the physical nature of it down much more slowly. An auril plant is very resilient, and with a supply of auril it will grow even in a desert, ultimately transforming it into a lush forest. Nethril is gathered within areas like this, to prevent its rampant growth, to preserve the other side of life.”

Tanda added, “Even auril creatures can survive just fine in areas steeped in nethril, they simply find it a challenge to truly thrive. The energy seems weak, but it is stronger when added with a manifestation. It’s why my Avenging Strike is so powerful.”

Blood formed a thicker haze of the energy on her draconic horns, and then Jake could definitely feel the power of rot and death. The haze drifted over the plant, and then it was destroyed quickly. He knew with his time with the energy that he had been challenged to create a density quite at that level, even if he had been able to control it.

Jake tried to think about how this fit into what he knew about the beastkin’s world. While old areas grew larger, or new nethril-infused areas appeared on Highlands, the nethril beastkin appeared to mostly slumber in their special environments for the last several years. Only the insects and beasts, or similar, have been active by leaving it, and they were strangely just as active, if not more so, in the fall or winter. Perhaps, it was that their ethereal bodies were not all that held back by the season.

Jake realized, “So, the nethril beastkin are kind of like a check or balance? But the beastkin are already nature’s stewards on Highlands, aren’t they?”

Ava nodded. “Remember how nethril was forced to wane, thanks to the taint of Balor? It was a necessary culture shift of the beastkin, to take their place to become nature’s stewards for the last thousand years. Before the Death God, there were only a few dozen cycles where the beings of nethril awakened. The treants also often slumbered for years, even decades at times. The nethril beastkin were similar in this, like certain species of locusts from your Earth.”

Jake knew that some only spawned every 13 or 17 years after they feasted on crops and multiplied, before laying their eggs the final time that year within the ground, to emerge within that special time. And since the Death God had really started culling everything, the nethril beastkin likely had no reason to emerge. Removing the nethril from the areas, they had entered an even deeper slumber.

With what Jake had learned about their past, the insular beastkin before they evolved enjoyed the paradise of the immense life force Avalara provided. They sang songs and lived in their little villages, praising the Celtic Divine. The Nethril versions of themselves were like a sort of afterlife, that would continue watching the world and protect the paradise, following the will of the gods.

Tanda gasped. “Oh! I get it now. Because we were all forced to transform, things have changed among all the nethril beastkin and creatures. They are echoes or memories of us, so they will seek to maintain the balance of nature even further than before, but also…won’t they seek out the taint to destroy it?”

Ava smiled and nodded. “That’s right. When there is a threat to the balance, they will awaken from their slumber. Just as the beastkin have been stewards of nature and the balance, reborn beastkin continue those same efforts, standing even against the beastkin themselves if necessary. Of course, now that nethril beasts and more will be around, they will prevent overabundance and more on their own.”

She added, “They also listen to my song, allowing me to guide them. I am preparing them for the conflicts to come. To direct their efforts against the true enemy of the balance: Tartarus. When they are young, their corpses newly reborn, they are creatures of instinct and habit based on their memories. The same can be said about the nethril beasts and insects. Once they’ve risen in Tier, they start to have a sentience and sapience of their own, and they’ll be able to join the Framework. And it is quite helpful that the Emberborn can help direct and protect the younger ones too, potentially guiding them and allowing them to grow and join, to help earlier than that.”

“Servants of Arawn, huh. They can work together with the penitence seekers, and become stronger as they go from the great enemy.”

“It’s clear Arawn and the Celtic Divine wished for them to join us on our world. To help them guide the nethril beastkin young. They really set us up for success.”

“C’mon, I’m too excited to talk about this longer. Let’s go test it out! I wanna fight Lia and Tanda again!”

Nessa asked, “Are you sure you’re ready? Doesn’t your body need to recover some first?”

“Pssh. I’m tougher than ever! Let’s go!”