Bonded Summoner
Book 3. Chapter 3: Honor Duel and Recruitment

Jake watched as the two girls squared off to fight this [Honor Duel]. Ophelia looked excitedly around at the crowd, and Jake couldn’t help but feel she was really in her element. Her participating as an Honor Guard had given her an opportunity for glory that she hadn’t gotten to feel as much of up to now.

Jake was relieved that the chieftess chose to fight Ophelia. He had managed to bluff that he didn’t care one way or another, but the truth is: he felt absolutely exhausted. Allowing Hestia to use the nearly full amount of Divine energy in his vessel for the first time was nothing like their tests in the [Refuge], and left him completely drained. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ n0vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

It wasn’t only the Divine energy that was pulled through his vessel. The Goddess had used most of his mana, and over half of Ophelia and Bloodberri’s mana, along with Fhesiah’s Qi, besides. This strained him to the maximum, and he practically felt like a floating husk. He was at somewhere around half of his capability at this time, but he was getting better with each passing moment.

He wondered how the first Champion of Apophis had managed it, though perhaps the extra resources pulled through him were to blame for it. The champion used it over and over again in different ways, and he looked like he was ready to fight despite wounds all over his body. Jake just wanted to lay down and take a nap. He had barely eked out casting that group spell, drawing some mana from his armor’s storage. Still, he knew the act of showing his strength was important, so he put his entire focus on making himself not appear weak like he actually felt he was.

Still, Hestia’s spells had amazing results. Not only had it healed hundreds or thousands of beastkin, it had destroyed thousands of skeletons. Just a small flaming raindrop with her fiery divinity in it was enough to destroy what he had presumed were level 10 or 11 skeletons, or keep someone on the brink of death from dying. The beastkin did have healers, but it appeared to be more the out of combat sorts.

Jake had some expectations of summoning Hestia in the future, or if the other girls became champions, aiding their Goddess to accomplish more than they would otherwise. The idea that they could pull resources from each other and empower one had incredible possibilities, and he could see how significant their Hearth Bonds really were.

The goddess herself was infinitely better at using these resources than them, and providing them to her to use allowed her to accomplish something far beyond their capabilities. The first spell had used Jake, Ophelia, and Bloodberri’s mana, while the second used Fhesiah’s Qi. Even now, Fhesiah was furiously trying to digest what she learned from witnessing the two flames, trying to make them a part of her own.

He had looted the bone dragon, getting what he guessed were decent materials for crafting. He wasn’t sure when it’d come in handy, but he would keep them around for a while. It took several storage bracelets worth to absorb all the bones.

Jake looked on to the ravenwolf chieftess. She had features of not only a raven, but some kind of black-furred wolf as well.

She stood at about the same height as Ophelia, and looking at her build, he couldn’t help but feel she was similar to her. The ravenwolf woman was a little more lithe like a dancer, but otherwise she looked tall and very fit, and was wielding a spear that he was surprised to see: a crescent moon spear, or halberd.

While at the top of the spear was a standard spear tip, beneath that was a single blade that almost looked like a scythe in a half moon, the cutting side facing outwards. The blade and what held it to the shaft formed a sort of guard, and Jake thought it could work well to hook the enemy's weapons, but also allow the spear to be used as a slashing weapon. This weapon seemed to combine elements of a spear and axe, to be quite similar to a halberd.

She wore beast leathers and furs that were black like her feathers, and wings sprung out behind her back, but rested a bit lower than Ophelia’s when closed and not in use. She also had a wolf’s tail, and her hair was past her shoulders and looked feathery, with some wolf ears on the top of her head.

Jake saw that many of the people wore these leathers or beast hides and furs as armors. Because of this, it was especially difficult for Jake to tell what animal parentage many had, as combined with the fur, just which fur was theirs, and which was their clothing?

Not only that, but Jake was sure that he saw a few sheep beastkin near each other, and their wool were colors he had never seen of Earth’s sheep. There were blues and greens, and he thought he even saw a purple one in addition to earthly tones. This persisted for just about every animal, and so the beastkin people despite many having animal parentage that might be based on animals that were familiar on Earth, he realized they likely were completely different.

The ones not wearing armor wore what Jake saw as Native American clothing made of hides and fur pelts. But instead of being tanned, there was a smattering of colors. Jake guessed that their tanning process, instead of washing out the color of the original beast, instead preserved it, their Auril energy somewhat persisting and keeping the hide alive and strong without rotting.

The chieftess had the characteristics that he saw of most beastkin. For beastkin, their face and torso looked exactly like that of a human, but their legs around the knee or arms past their elbow looked to match an animal, though they all had opposable thumbs with claws. For her, she had the legs of a wolf, beginning just below the knee, with almost exaggerated fluffy-looking digitigrade feet. Her arms and hands passed the elbow were covered with the same wolf-like fur, and her hands too had sharp claws.

The skin that Jake could see was muscled and dark tan, much more tan than Jake’s skin. Jake had seen her with his [Arcane Eye], and he was very impressed by what he saw of this auril so far. The beastkin people were all quite strong, brimming with vitality and energy.

Jake guessed that while they were strong, even the ravenwolf Chieftess who Jake could tell was the strongest, he couldn’t imagine was above level 6 or 7 herself if judged by the Framework. Most being level 0, stuck due to being held back by their Auril Heart not being awakened. It was hard for Jake to tell, but he thought that the chieftess would have given Ophelia a run for her money when she was around level 4 or 5, if she hadn’t had her core. A small percentage were level one or two, including the man Fhesiah had spoken with, her now returning. “How was it?”

“He’s really an armadillo beastkin! But he allowed me to inspect him with my [Divine Sense]. I have to say, this [Auril] really is similar to [Inner Force], a secondary path of cultivation some take. Usually the battle-maniacs, really. They would cultivate a manifestation of their battle spirit, and it was like their will itself would have a weight to it, that they could add on to their attacks.”

Jake could tell she was excited about this. She continued, “Of course, the energy is different, in that it is combined with their very life force. Not only that, but there appears to be some other connection, perhaps, to the world or spirit plane itself. It’s hard for me to understand, even with my divine sense.”

Jake nodded. Her divine sense allowed her to see things more deeply than he could see with his arcane eye. But to truly see through the soul and into beyond where the metaphysical doorway to their soul lay, it could truly harm another being. She could force her view with her monstrously powerful soul for their Tier, but not against someone that was part of the Framework.

She continued, “I can tell this world of Highlands is rife with this energy, and with enough research, I might be able to do something to help out, at least. It’s too early to tell, but I should be able to help with these Awakenings. I think this might have been at least one of the ways the goddess hinted at when she said we were uniquely suited to help. So I can’t help but feel I should put a lot of my effort into this.”

Jake was hopeful, and if she was successful, that would be excellent news. They had postponed the fight for a few minutes to allow the woman to recover further, as she was in fact almost at death’s door when she was healed by the Goddess. Her Auril Heart would take some time to recover, but Jake was impressed that beastkin didn’t need hours, only twenty minutes or so before they could fight at nearly full capacity again. This was after her own healer dealt with the remaining healing. She had taken a sort of snack and a drink of what appeared to be a tea, and was now resting with many of the other raven beastkin in her flock, he guessed her tribe.

He looked at the surrounding geography, now that he had time. There was a mountain that almost looked like it had another plateau on top, but there was actually a waterfall and river snaking down and through the plateau he now stood on. In the distance, he saw yet another large dropoff, a large forest in the valley below in one direction, and more mountainous terrain in another. The forest looked a verdant green and full of vitality, and Jake would compare it to images he’d seen of the Amazon rainforest, yet with even more colors. He could see other mountains in the distance as he spun around, and it was either river or lake or mountain or green valley as far as the eyes could see.

Fhesiah said, “I think that’s really a spring filling a lake up there, husband. I don’t think enough water could pool up there from just rain to cause a waterfalls and rivers to flow like that otherwise.”

Jake looked over to the mountain. He found this quite odd, while he knew springs came from water flowing upwards due to pressure as water flowed downhill into a sort of reservoir, they were several hundred feet in elevation from the valley. Perhaps, this was a result of this Auril somehow?

An older turtle beastkin man approached the two warriors, a part of this city’s tribal council, Jake guessed. The older beastkin had a turtle shell on his back, like certain turtles who were ninjas back home. His outfit included a headdress that wrapped around and down his shoulders, that appeared to mix the mane of a lion and feathers of various birds in it. People bowed in respect as he crossed their path.

He spoke aloud from a safe distance from the two fighters. “A disagreement has caused disharmony on this Tribe’s lands. An Honor Duel has been called, for those to find harmony and come to an agreement in their dealings, the loser to be subordinated or sent away. The wager’s terms agreed and witnessed. Bow to your opponent in respect and honor.” The two women did, both showing determined looks. “Begin!”

Jake had removed the two buffs he had on Ophelia before they had finished squaring off earlier, and stopped his heavenly aura. While he didn’t think that these people could detect all the buffs applied to Ophelia, it went against the spirit of the duel. Ophelia didn’t use her floating shield as Jake still held it, only using the spear that she had made and Jake enchanted.

They had made a wing lance, now that she didn’t use it one-handed and was much stronger than before. While the previous spear was only a little taller than her, this one was taller by a few feet. The larger winged area and bladed spear-tip of the wing lance allowed Jake to fit inlaid hexagons around the cross-guard-like area. This allowed Jake to add the same interconnected runeword enchantments he had on his and Bloodberri’s armor, with a gemlike focus near where the tip changed into a spearhead.

The two blurred towards one another, one powered by black Auril, and the other the holy white of [Ride of The Valkyries]. Once again, Jake was impressed with the ability of Auril. That these people can accomplish this level of strength below level ten was amazing. While he didn’t think they were exactly a match for Fhesiah or Ophelia, let alone Bloodberri, the fact that this was a capability that nearly anyone in their world could awaken was something special.

All three of his women were of a rare race, ones that there were only thousands or tens of thousands at most in their original world of millions, with Fhesiah’s being of course even rarer than that. If Fhesiah could help raise their rate of awakening, they would be a formidable force.

The two women parried and stabbed, countered and twisted. Ophelia’s movements were minimal, her attacks methodical. She hadn’t filled herself with the power of her [Ride of the Valkyries], only using her superior attributes and skill. The Chieftess showed speed and skill using her auril, similar to how Jake saw Fhesiah increasing her parameters temporarily. She moved fast with flurries of her spear and attempts to hook Ophelia’s, but the Valkyrie was always a step ahead of her.

The ravenwolf woman was keeping up at first, but Ophelia parried a blow with her magically hardened wing, and scored a glancing blow on the chieftess, drawing blood. They continued their melee and two more cuts joined the first, and while the chieftess tried to utilize her wings covered with auril as well, her defenses were easily pierced by Ophelia’s enchanted spear and powerful stabs.

This appeared to make the chieftess realize that she was perhaps outclassed. She then took to the sky on her wings, and Ophelia grinned as she blurred towards her in response.

The ravenwolf woman quickly learned that this was a mistake, as Ophelia danced around her spear and slammed the shaft into the side of the ravenwolf woman’s chest. Ophelia’s speed and ability to change her momentum was simply hard to predict, and so the woman got knocked aside.

The chieftess had shielded herself using auril to soften the blow, but the momentum was still transferred to her, knocking her at an angle towards the ground. She landed on her feet and tried to dance away from Ophelia with spins of her spear and twisting her body, but Ophelia’s lance was like a chest-seeking missile, altering its path faster than the woman could move.

The chieftess yelled, and her Auril wrapped around her thicker than Jake had seen previously, and that enveloped her weapon. The scythe-like blade extended out into a much larger crescent moon, carrying the finality of death. There were some exclamations from the surrounding beastkin about manifestation, and now Jake felt like she was now the grim reaper, holding a wickedly sharp scythe ready to end Ophelia’s life. She spun and swung their crescent moon spear in a wide arc with all of their momentum from her quick movement, putting all her strength and power into the blow to meet Ophelia’s charge.

The sound of her spear meeting Ophelia’s was like an explosion. But Ophelia’s body spun around as she closed, and a powerful kick landed right in the dark haired woman’s gut.

She was sent flying, and Ophelia sped hot in pursuit, blurring through the air. The woman hadn’t even landed on the ground yet, but Ophelia attacked from above with her spear. The chieftess tried to block once again, but Ophelia pierced the arm holding her spear, and pierced her wing to the ground along with it. The ravenwolf woman screamed in pain, and Ophelia got in the typical mount fighting position, straddling her chest with her fists raised. This made it a challenge for the chieftess to use her feet or strength in her arms to fight back. She punched her face three times, with the dark haired girl unable to protect against it, before she raised them again.

“Do you yield?”

The woman squirmed, but couldn’t move her right arm or wing. Her left arm and wing were free, but the left wing was mostly useless, pinned to the ground as she was. Her face showed one of remorse and defeat. “I… I yield.”

“The Champion’s Honor Guard wins!”

The crowd had mixed emotions, but Jake thought the response was mostly positive, with many cheering. Some definitely looked on with a bit of resentment. Jake would have a lot of work to do in overcoming the preconceptions of Adventurers, and show that when facing the outsiders, Jake’s way and [The Framework] was absolutely the way to go.

Jake saw Ophelia cast [Renewal], while retrieving her spear from the woman’s body. The woman looked on in astonishment, as her face, arm, and wing were healed whole, even as the spear was being removed. Ophelia reached her hand out to the woman. “That was a good fight, you people are quite strong for your level. Let’s work together and become better, to defeat the invaders. Jake won’t let you down.”

The woman looked on at Ophelia in confusion, but took her hand for Ophelia to help her up from the ground. Jake decided to add on to that, “Ophelia is right. While you might feel you lost today, I will prove to you that you really won. We defeated that necromancer today, but it was only a small victory. Help me in earnest, and I will not let your people down.”

The woman frowned, and now that Jake was close, he gave the woman another look. While Ophelia had just pierced her arm leaving a hole, he found that there were many more cuts and holes on her armor, it was just barely holding up to provide adequate protection. The woman looked tired, like she had fought dozens of battles without much rest. Her face even looked a little gaunt, like she hadn’t had much food to eat recently. Jake could only barely keep himself from taking out his cooking supplies from his bracelet and making her something to eat.

She eventually sighed, but her expression took on a frown. “I will adhere to your desire, wanting me to help with spreading the word. To be clear, I am just going to help you recruit. I never agreed to you forcing anyone to join.”

Jake smiled. “I don’t know if that’s possible, but I wouldn’t force it on anyone anyway. It was part of our agreement, though, so that excludes you. What would you say your people’s main objection to joining the Framework is?”

She hesitated, and looked at Ophelia, looking to judge something from her. Ophelia smiled at her, and said, “Jake isn’t here to trick your people, or anything like that. He will only speak truth, but he just wants to make sure your people understand the importance of this, that he at least somewhat addresses you and your people’s concerns.”

The Chieftess looked conflicted. “It goes against the natural order. We are beings of Auril, the energy of the world beating in our very chests. That same energy is in the plants and trees, our rivers and oceans, and in our air. When we die, that energy returns to the world whence it came. Everything that lives follows the cycle of life and death. To join the Framework…it breaks that cycle.”

Jake nodded. “I can understand that. There are many aspects of this existence that are unusual, but I promise you that the enemy is one that it’s a necessary sacrifice in order to win, to protect the precious life in that very cycle. I’ll address it in my speech, but know that while you’re joining and breaking the cycle today, when the fight is won, you can return to this natural cycle if you want. The Framework allows it.”

Jake triggered his ability as a [Knight] to initiate someone into [The Framework]. He could only initiate a few per day, but he felt like this was more ceremonial than walking her over to the [Alliance HQ].

The woman accepted, and the Framework overlaid itself over her soul, protecting it. Jake saw a notification, and realized he hadn’t yet heard her name, most people just calling her ‘Chieftess.’ She said, “A…very strange feeling.”

“Welcome, Tanda. I know you are skeptical, but I think you’ll find that you can push your Auril Heart to grow much faster, as well as your combat skills. Training with my Guild, my Tribe, should help you build yourself up rapidly, aiding you in protecting your people.”

The woman reluctantly nodded.

Jake had a quick mental conversation with Fhesiah, Ophelia, and Bloodberri about how to focus his message best. Combined with what he had previously planned for a speech when he had a more willing audience, he was ready to give it.

Jake said, “Now that I won’t be interrupted… ” Jake then used his runic spell that enhanced his voice, and once again addressed the crowd, standing on his invisible stair a few feet off the ground.

“People of Highlands,

I stand before you today to speak about a grave threat that affects all those living on Highlands - the threat of Tartarus.

For those who may not be familiar, Tartarus is an invader that comes from outside your world, from beyond the stars. It is not a creature of auril like those on your world, and it has come to your world to consume everything on it, and give nothing back. It opens rifts with creatures from other worlds, and each of you it kills, it feeds on and becomes stronger. Tartarus wants to consume Highlands, strengthen itself in doing so, then move on to consume other worlds.”

He looked over the people, and he could see their skepticism. Perhaps, they heard much of this before, but Jake knew he had to make sure they saw the full picture.

He continued, “We cannot let this happen. It is a powerful force that has conquered countless lands and decimated entire civilizations. We must stand together and defend this world and others against this evil threat.

That is why I am calling upon all beastkin, even children, to join The Framework in order to help protect your souls, and your homeland. It is a duty we all share, and one that requires courage and determination.”

Jake could see that they certainly didn’t like the idea of adding their children. He would have to find a way to address their fears on this.

Jake tried to add his feelings, of how important it was for them to join and added, “I know that some may be hesitant to join the Framework. That it goes against the natural order, that it denies your Auril from returning to the world, removing you from the natural cycle of life and death. But I can assure you, that your enemy, Tartarus, is also outside this natural order. You can see by the creatures it uses. Just look at them.”

Jake gestured to the remains of the necromancer’s army in the distance. He continued, “It is only by joining that we have a chance to succeed against this abomination, as the Framework protects you from empowering the very entity that kills you.

It is not by becoming an abomination ourselves that we face Tartarus. The Framework allows you to return to the natural order, once you choose to do so. You can become stronger through the Framework, as my wives and I have shown you is possible.”

He could see that this struck a cord with them, as him and his wives did in fact show how powerful they were. He continued,

“Stand together with me and the Goddess Hestia, and defend your land against the threat of the outsiders. Let us prove that the beastkin are a people who will not be conquered, but will always rise to defend their world, to protect life. That if Tartarus comes to Highlands,”

Jake raised his gauntleted fist in the air making a claw, pushed his [Presence] and [Aura of Heavenly Flames] range to the maximum that he could. The thin shroud of his aura extended over the beastkin for over two hundred meters, covering thousands of of people. He shouted, “It will be met with teeth and claws!”

Many beastkin roared, the awakened surrounding themselves in Auril, and many clapping and shouting. Jake was giving his speech in front of tens of thousands, and he thought he had a mostly positive response, though for some reason, he thought those near him were a lot more excited. He thought many looked tired, and despite his words, many held doubts. Jake’s promises about the Framework were just words, after all. It would take a lot to accept that the Framework was the right path for them.

Jake continued once more, “We have won a victory here today, pushing back [Tartarus], but this is only the beginning. I welcome every person to join [The Framework], your soul to be protected from the invaders. Hestia is the Goddess of the Hearth, Home, Family, and the State. I was sent here to protect families, help your communities thrive, and remove Tartarus from your world.

My Tribe, my guild, [Hearthtribe], will focus on its members becoming stronger to protect families and defeat the outsiders, all over the multiverse. Not just here on Highlands.

It will do this, by establishing a community that spans the multiverse, becoming a massive Tribe. Whether it be by fighting, crafting, building, or teaching, everyone can contribute, and everyone can participate in the war effort in their own way and become strong, so long as they continue striving to improve and protect others. The Framework can help make that so, and we’ll begin by kicking Tartarus off of Highlands.”

There were murmurs among the crowd, and a woman holding a child’s hand that Jake guessed was under ten, that like many had previously helped to load arrows and javelins into barrels for the many ranged attackers, spoke up.

“I heard that children could join, but if they died, they could end up becoming a servant before being resurrected. I won’t accept my child being stuck with some monster!”

Jake nodded. “You can pay the price for your child in that case before they’d become a servant, but I will do one better. I am claiming this [Alliance HQ] for Hearthtribe, and anyone under my protection I will prepay the fee for your children myself. Those that die fighting in a contested world have no fee. So unless this world is lost, something none of us will allow, you will be resurrected to rejoin the fight without having a chance of becoming a servant.”

Jake would need to add many fixtures to earn that feature, but he found that there was a massive list of things he could accomplish. Just like his [Refuge], he could expand and add various facilities and features that helped Guild members, or even those with access to the Alliance HQ. Many of the features were within his reach, thanks to his massive harvest of Conquest Points and auctions selling various materials from the [Fortress Assault], along with his spell rods and other funds he earned raising his [Enchanting] skill.

“So how about it? Who here wants to join [The Framework]? As a Noble of the rank of Knight, I can only add nineteen more people today. Those that I cannot add, they will need to head over to the [Alliance HQ]. Join us, and become strong enough to defeat the outsiders, to protect your families and others.”

Jake saw that a mass exodus began, and he thought that a fair percentage, though much less than half, of the people might actually be heading towards the Alliance HQ, or where an Alliance Node was located. A few people stepped forward, and Jake saw Fhesiah smiling wide, as she looked at some woman. Jake couldn’t tell what manner of beast parentage she had, but she looked fierce, both in her expression and her stocky build for a woman and holding a poleaxe. He could tell her claws were particularly vicious looking, and he thought she might have what looked like Celtic war paint on her. A few of the beastkin had this, but it was rare.

She said, “I will join. Your strength is your proof.”

Several others nodded, and they lined up. He learned that the woman was named Bria, and that she was a badger beastkin woman.

Jake quickly found that there were a lot more than nineteen that were wanting to join, so they directed to move over to the [Alliance HQ] after Jake ran out of his initiations. It was located in their main plaza in the center of the city, and the plaza was absolutely massive, currently with many trading food and goods.

The same people that followed Jake and many more joined his Guild, Jake giving another speech to those that joined. He found that many of them were those that had just come of age, and were starting their clans. In total, he did end up with hundreds joining, though nearly all of them were unawakened. Jake learned that a large percentage of beastkin awakened not long after they came of age, though it could happen later or even earlier in life, depending.

Jake gave a small speech about what would be expected of them, that they would want to check the guild menus and arrive to what was going to be his guild headquarters. They would train together each morning for the coming weeks, until he or his wives felt they were ready to take on incursions or rifts. He would provide a sort of dorms for them, but it was their choice on whether they wanted to use them or not.

They would likely have to solve the awakening problem before he would push them to take on incursions besides their two beginner or tutorial ones. However, Fhesiah was optimistic that she would have something within the week that should aid them at a minimum.

Jake found and spoke with the turtle beastkin council member that officiated the Honor Duel.

“Can I meet with the current council? I know it’s a lot to ask, but there are a lot of things I need to do for this city. It would help to ensure I have permission to enact some of the changes that are needed.”

The turtle beastkin man had an amused smile. “Didn’t you say it before? Right of Conquest? Three of us five directly witnessed the Goddess descending, and how bad things were before your Clan blazed in and destroyed the enemy army. I will put forth the motion to make you a member of the council for now, but you may become Chieftain in time.

It’s a little unorthodox as you are not an Auril Hero, but that badger beastkin’s words were true: your strength is your proof. We need strength to protect us and maintain the balance, this is why we venerate it so, the strongest leading us in home and in battle. We do not abide tyrants and those that harm and destroy families and tribes, but so long as your actions match your words, you shall not have anyone challenge your authority. All those strong enough to challenge for other reasons are gone, after all.”

Jake frowned. While he did say conquest, he had mostly said it to stack the arguments on his side, he hadn’t truly thought that it fully applied here. Jake had just wanted to set his opponent, the Chieftess, on the back foot. It was a rule for tribes helping out in war, that for their assistance there must be payment, the spoils shared, or there would be reckoning. Jake thought the man’s amused smile was that if he had spoken up earlier, the Ravenwolf Chieftess wouldn’t have had any grounds to even challenge the Honor Duel at all, but he could easily be mistaken.

“Thank you, Council Member?”

“I am Elder Grayson. It is a pleasure to meet you, Jake Hart of Hearthtribe. Your assistance saved the lives of many of our people, and I can’t thank you enough for that. These are tough times, and frankly, even if that Necromancer never showed up today, many of our people would be facing death through starvation. The lack of food will force many to try to tame the wilds soon, going against their own clan’s goals, and even if it would disrupt the balance.

Tonight we will have a feast, where we will do our best to celebrate our victory. Really, it is the best method to try to feed the many refugees where we can, as many want to hunt and earn their own keep. But at a victory feast, they will not turn food down.”

Jake nodded, somewhat understanding this, knowing many people turn down charity due to their pride. A victory feast will not be seen as a handout. Plus, Jake knew that they more than earned it, seeing many beastkin involved with the fighting indirectly, even children. When Jake was in the air, he had seen thousands upon thousands of tents outside the palisade to the west, he guessed these were the refugees.

Jake said, “I will see if there’s something that can be done about the food, though the war is important as well. I had heard that all beastkin can fight, so any that integrate into the Framework and take on incursions can supply their own food, the Node will sell it for a pittance. The big thing will be for them to sell their trade goods at the node, such as beast hides and auril plants. If you can get word to the refugees that they can earn food in this way, it would go a long way towards allowing them to solve their own problem. Perhaps, combined with this feast, it will give them the strength they need to fight the dungeon and take what they need, what they lost from it, back for themselves.”

Grayson frowned in thought, but nodded, “I think I might be able to work with that. The refugees barely brought more than the clothes on their back, so I doubt they will have much to trade for food, but this should reduce the burden on our plateau somewhat.

Your speech did address our people’s fears and problems with joining the Framework somewhat, but there are others. So? Will you join us at the feast tonight?”

Jake nodded, “I’ll do my best to be there. Our goal is definitely going to be to close as many rifts as we can by then, but we should make it back.”

Grayson added, “Excellent. The council will meet with you during the feast; we will call upon you. If you don’t mind, one piece of advice?”

Jake looked on with interest. “Yes, elder?”

Grayson said, “The Framework translates your speech into our language, but if you listen, you’ll realize that our speech follows the beat of our hearts, the notes of our voice creating a song. You are saying the words, but you are not singing a song. Your speech was both off-key and off-beat. Still, we could feel your desires and emotions in the songs of our own hearts, perhaps even aided by that strange magic of yours. Otherwise, it would have been a complete failure.”

Jake was shocked into silence. The Framework had been translating for him, and when he took the time to actually listen, he realized that he could really hear the difference in how Grayson talked, now that he had pointed it out. The syllables in the language followed a timing and flow that reminded him of a rap or a song, and Grayson’s appeared to be steady and thoughtful. He would have to pay a lot more attention.

Grayson once again gave his amused smile, “Just wanted to make sure you were aware. Almost none of the adventurers were, though we had a few realize. It will take some time for you to get used to, no doubt. With that, I will take my leave. May your claws be sharp and your climb steady.”

Jake tried his best to mirror or follow this beat, “Thank you, Elder. Take care.”

Jake wasn’t really sure what to say to what he was sure was amounted to ‘safe travels,’ but judging by the amused smile of Grayson becoming wider, it was probably not that. Fhesiah interrupted Jake’s musing.

“I had noticed that their speech followed a certain cadence, but to imagine that it was following their hearts like some sort of metronome is surprising. Still, how interesting. I think if we arrived without the Framework we’d have noticed right away, but since it makes things easy for us, it’s lazy of us to just rely heavily on it. We’ll have to be more careful.”

Jake shook his head at what he must have sounded like to them, but thanks to this, saw that Ophelia had been talking quite a lot with the raven chieftess. Tanda had a frown on her face, but there was a smile on Ophelia’s. They were talking about the fight and the war, in general, and Jake thought she was detailing parts of his plan and finding out things that the beastkin people would need.

Ophelia had found a sort of kindred spirit, the warrior woman a leader of her people, her flock. Jake knew that Ophelia had somewhat hoped to be a lot like this woman appeared to be. Jake also realized the woman was somewhere between Jake and Ophelia’s age.

A few of the avian beastkin men and women joined Jake’s guild in a showing of solidarity, but Jake learned many were from their own villages, and would be leaving to head back to them. Many raven beastkin joined, and it was almost reluctantly. Not nearly all of them were awakened, but Fhesiah had some hope in extracting this Auril from plants or creatures, and distilling it down to a concoction. How she would be able to do that when it didn’t survive much outside of their body or the plants themselves, he didn’t know.

Bloodberri was talking with some children, who looked at her with great interest. She had pulled back the hood of her armor, dulling it into little more than a robe with plates near the shoulders and neck area, letting her hair down and exposing her face. She had a bright smile on her face, as she showed the kids her giant maul. Many gathered around, and Jake was happy to see her in her element.

Jake bought various fixtures and features for his Guild, the combined cost adding up to a large chunk of his Contribution Points and his available funds. But Jake knew this was fine, as he would earn massive amounts of them closing Rifts and re-conquering lost cities, and he had certainly earned plenty from killing the Necromancer and his army. He made sure to keep his promise to the woman, buying a feature that acted as a sort of bank for restoring children or anyone that didn’t reach level 1, dying without contributing enough to the multiversal war.

At this point, only a few children had joined, but Jake found the price was quite low for him; reviving a hundred children was only a single T1 credit, and really, none would need to be if they properly defended Kenwodi. He thought of Ophelia and her situation, and realized if someone had done the same for her, her life would have ended up very differently.

Jake had said he would claim the [Alliance HQ], but it was more like he attached his Guild to it. It still functioned the same to anyone, and more Adventurers could still show up. Still, his being the only guild at this location, gave him prime real estate for advertisement and even allowed him certain benefits. Since there was no contention with other guilds, he could now do things like collect a portion of the fees, and make changes to the building. He triggered taking ownership as no guilds remained, and a section of the building now led to his new guild facilities.

For now, he made sure to have a massive dorm, an armory, kitchen, training grounds, crafting rooms, and school. When he added things, they appeared in waves of light like his refuge, though some had a sort of countdown timer until they could be implemented. The dorm was what Jake knew of a longhouse, where many beds sat in a long room with thick curtains on tracks to section or partition off different areas, allowing families to have a somewhat private area. His dorm could accommodate thousands, having multiple levels. He only added enough dorms for a few hundred, for now.

Jake knew many of the beastkin slept in tents or a sort of teepee, but some, mostly the established families in the city, had houses. At this time, the climate was quite temperate, but he knew that there were harsh winters on the way, the elevation of the plateau’s high enough. He thought people might flock to his dorm when the weather got poor.

Blood said in his mind, “I found that there is a fixture that allows us to travel better, the [Refuge to HQ Portal]. What it does is that it allows us to have our portal to where we are in the world, but also have one that leads back to the HQ, allowing our refuge to act like a bridge. That means we can travel during the day, rest in the Refuge at night, in the morning do activities in the HQ, then go back to resuming our travel. Apparently, this is only available when our guild ‘owns’ the HQ like we do.”

Jake replied, “That’s great, thanks, Blood. That was an excellent find.” Jake would think that this mechanism would actually be perfect for moving people across the continent, but had learned that he was quite restricted on the number of people that could visit his Refuge. Uninitiated could not enter at all, and he was limited to a certain number of initiated having a right to enter per day. Still, he could probably ferry along important people if it came down to it.

Blood said, “You’re welcome, Milord. There are some other fixtures for you to peruse.”

Jake was provided a list, and he saw that many were cheap. Some just enabled things for his guild, and he thought many of them were fundamental. There was one that enabled a sort of guild-wiki, and another that created the sort of guild-template that he learned about from Antonius. There was a strange one that Jake wondered about.

“What is this, the [Debt Contracts]?”

“That’s somewhat a significant one for this world starting out, Milord. I’ll explain it to you later.”

Jake sent a mental nod, they would have a lot of travel ahead of them over the coming weeks. There was plenty of time to look over all the add-ons and discuss their merits.

The [Alliance HQ] and Guild squared away, Jake would have to plan. He had a war to fight.

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