Bonded Summoner
Book 3 - Interlude 1 - Ophelia - Training and Courtship

“You’ve gotten stronger.”

Ophelia said to Tanda, as the ravenwolf woman collapsed to the ground, filled with bruises and sweat, her auril energy working to restore her body.

She looked up at Ophelia with a lot of doubt, and a bit of despair. “What? I have, but how come it feels like you’re the one that’s so much stronger?”

Ophelia could tell that Tanda was much like her. Competitive and desiring victory. Unlike Fhesiah or Bloodberri, she would push herself for the sake of both pushing herself, and to win every battle, large or small. Those two would only give their all when they perceived it to be required, and that they cared about what they were fighting for. Winning in a spar was not one of those things, unless she wagered some of her time with Jake, and that wasn’t entirely hers to wager.

Ophelia laughed. “I’m mostly the same as I was, though I’m sure I’ve pushed quite a few skills forward since we last fought. It’s just that Jake had removed his buffs from me before we fought the last time. Since we’re just training, they are present.” She smirked. “I get even stronger than that, when I fight near him.”

Tanda frowned, but Ophelia thought she looked quite interested, her tail wagging. “His aura thing?”

Ophelia shook her head. “That too, but no. It’s this.” She shared with her the Valkyrie’s Chosen and Fervor abilities. “My race is one that devotes ourselves to our Chosen. I’ve chosen to become Jake’s shield, for life.”

Tanda said, “Wow, your people have some interesting abilities that the Framework recognizes. For me, it’s just Melee and Ranged Specialization, then Auril Manipulation and some sub-skills. Really, it has helped me move forward in the latter the most.” Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NƟvelFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Were you able to find skills for you to use?”

“There are some. I know a few of us were able to purchase an attack that expends some of our endurance, our stamina, for making our attack more powerful, or moving faster. Nothing specifically related to our auril itself.”

Ophelia nodded. “Those skills are mainly to aid in using your stamina more effectively. By the time you reach the advanced melee stage, your skill in expending more of your endurance to empower your attacks and movements will be more normal for you. I used to have [Charge], but it more or less disappeared from my menu list. I can do that without using the skill, now. You should grab one to help train that.”

“Power strike did seem fitting for my specialization, but I did see one that was more fitting for us. Mortal Strike. It doesn’t just cost endurance, but my own health.”

Ophelia nodded. “That’s quite a bit like my own abilities. Hestia’s flames are those of sacrifice, to heal others or attack with great power, I have to sacrifice my health, endurance, and mana. We’ve seen these abilities are quite powerful, that should give you quite the edge. Then, your Auril can heal you, right? Even though the power of the ravens is death?”

“Yes, auril energy still mostly acts the same way for me, it’s just when I manifest my spirit, the impact on the world is that which brings death. That is why I can’t be a healer, as manifesting my will, harms or brings death.”

“It seems to be a useful energy, but less versatile on an individual level than mana. At any rate, you would benefit in your melee combat from reducing your movements. You have too many tells, and facing a trained melee combatant: I would never use the scythe, or axe, whatever you want to call that blade, unless you were sure of an opening.”

Tanda blushed, and almost looked embarrassed at the usage of the weapon, perhaps due to their duel.

“It’s fine. There is a time to use the blade, as you don’t always face trained melee combatants, and the blade acts as a hook for those that are. So when you attack with it, you should make that your goal. Watch how I use my spear.”

Ophelia went through a flurry of thrusts and stabs, forward and backward movements, flapping her wings and moving side to side in small motions. She would pause for a moment, only for a powerful thrust to cut through the air in front of her a moment later. To anyone watching, they might be impressed at the speed of the jabs, but they would think the movements look simple; that what she was doing was easy.

But to anyone picturing themselves standing in front of her, they would have a hard time being able to tell what she was going to do before the spear was already piercing their body. By the time they realized the spear was in motion, there wouldn’t be much time to dodge or move their own weapon in the way for an effective parry. Most fighters would look for movements like the tightening of muscles, changes in grip, changing of the stance for allowing them to pre-emptively counter, but Ophelia would use that against them.

It appeared Tanda understood this, and her jaw dropped. “How… How do you do that?”

Ophelia smiled at her, satisfied that she could tell what was special about her movements. “Practice. Jake told me about the boxers and MMA fighters of Earth, and how they would spend a lot of time in front of a mirror. Training your body to accomplish this takes a lot of practice. But you can implement some takeaways from this right away.”

Ophelia spent some time with Tanda, guiding her on this methodology. She added the twisting and dodging that she learned from the enemy champion. The no-tell attacks were just a tool in the tool belt of a warrior, a piece of the whole. Refining her movements to minimize them while bringing out the most power was also aided by the Framework, once she made that her goal.

Tanda was once again exhausted, but she had a beaming smile on her face. Ophelia could tell that she learned a lot in such a short time.

“As you add auril into your muscles, the difference these movements make is even larger. Since you can fly, you can still do your powerful dive attacks against larger enemies, too. In Tier 1, you should be able to get a [Technique], and it should influence the way you fight significantly. But believe me when I say that this is a powerful path. I often have to face opponents larger and stronger than me, and this allows me to hold my own.”

Jake walked over, waving at her and Tanda.

“Hey, Ophelia, Tanda. Sorry I’m a bit late, it took me a while to wrap up what I was working on. Bloodberri had a surprise project for me. I finished enchanting what we talked about the other night, Tanda. You want to try them out for me?”

Tanda looked quite excited to try them out, and Ophelia watched as the two did their trials. Jake learned that the Nordic runes once again simply didn’t work with Auril, even with the amberwood. Both Tanda and Jake lit up, engrossed in their discussion. Ophelia watched as Tanda’s tail increased in speed, and Ophelia laughed.

Tanda looked over worriedly. “W-What?”

“Nothing, Tanda. So, the demonic runes were a minor success, and the ones with their language, what you’d call a medium success, Jake?”

“Yeah. It looks like it really works, but I can’t help but feel they’d be better if I used something more compatible with auril than the runic ink, which works best or is even extracted from mana. I suppose that’s likely true for Fhesiah, too. The demonic runes had just worked well enough that I hadn’t thought of it. Still, using compatible materials seems required, as the beastkin language symbols didn’t work at all on our metals.”

Ophelia thought on this. To make something for Fhesiah to be optimal, she’d have to add Qi to her smithing somehow? She would have to do a lot of trial and error to make something, as it was cultivators that made such items.

Tanda held both the crafted spear and her crescent moon spear in her hands. “The effect is good, but my dad’s spear is still better. It was handed down from the ancestor.”

Ophelia said, “Can I look at it? It looks like metal, to me.”

Tanda said, “Sure. It is. It was crafted long ago, before the world was wounded. Auril-infused ores could be dug out then, but we haven’t dug any out since. Without auril being dense enough, even those ores present deteriorated. We don’t really mine much anymore, the materials now useless compared to our woods from deep in the jungle. Only forged metals like this one kept their strength, but even this has deteriorated somewhat over the years.”

Ophelia inspected the crescent moon spear, and she could just feel the energy of death inside. It felt a lot like Tanda’s auril manifestation. The metal was sturdy, easily competing with the peak of their tier 1 weapons. Knowing this, she felt like it truly might be possible to infuse auril energy into her metals, she just had to find the right way to do it. She handed it back to Tanda.

“Thanks, Tanda, truly an amazing weapon. Jake, you had wanted to try the javelins and arrows too, right?”

Jake started. “Oh, that’s right! Yeah, we gotta do that. That’s the most important test, to me.”

Jake handed Tanda a javelin, “Here, fill it with auril and throw it. Let’s see if the auril sticks around a little better or not.”

Ophelia watched as she filled the javelin with the black auril of ravenwolves. She threw the javelin at a training dummy, and it pierced easily into it, the back end still holding the black aura for a moment, before it disappeared.

Jake pumped his fist. “Yeah! I got it!”

Tanda was excited, and jumped into the air. “Wow! That’s really incredible. To think my people could use bows and javelins with this!”

Jake nodded. “That’s right. And it only takes someone around 10,000 Credits, to be able to have all the knowledge and equipment necessary to reproduce as many as they want. Though, I think I can just build up a library and still adhere to the law of balance. We’ll buy those right away.”

Ophelia added, “I might have some luck transferring the essence of auril beasts over into metals, but my first few attempts had failed. I think I’ll get it, eventually.”

Tanda frowned. “You’re working on making equipment for the beastkin too, Ophelia?”

Ophelia smiled at Tanda. “All of Clan Hart is. Bloodberri is working on the auril beast hide leathers to see what she can do with them. I’m working on infusing the remaining auril or auril enhanced creature bones and claws into magic metals, by sort of combining them. Then Fhesiah is working on trying to improve your rate of awakening, as well as making leveling more reliable.”

Tanda was dumbfounded, but Ophelia continued, “Enchanting, so your people can have improved equipment, is not all of what Jake is doing. He prepared to install a Gondola to help the children and weary across the mountains, and he even made a tool for mass removal of the blight. This was so people in villages attacked by the undead don’t lose their homes or their harvest.”

Tanda looked over at Jake with a bit of awe. “And you did that in just one or two days?”

Jake said, “The Alliance is something else. It’s not fair to attribute what I’m doing to just me, though perhaps the enchanting is fair. But gondolas are present on Earth where I’m from, and it’s hardly an original idea.”

Tanda frowned in thought. “What is that, by the way? How does it move people across the mountains?”

Ophelia responded, “It’s like that elevator you guys had at Life’s Haven, we heard. It’s just, instead of going up and down, it mostly goes at a low incline or decline across a canyon or otherwise. We should be able to cross almost a kilometer this way.”

Jake added, “I’m a little worried about the flying Auril Beasts you’ve mentioned, but it has some safety features where if it falls, it should release a sort of air-bag and parachute for the thing to not result in death. But I don’t know, you can’t protect against everything, and those things actually seem quite rare, at least in this area. I hope a bird doesn’t see it as a boxed lunch going across a gorge or canyon, but I think it’ll be foreign enough to a creature for it to be avoided.”

Tanda nodded, looking thoughtful. “I think I get it, but I’ll have to see it. You’re right in that I don’t see that many of the auril birds in this region, they do tend to favor our coasts, or where it’s warmest near the equator. What powers it across? We used farm animals or strong awakened at Life’s Haven, but to cross hundreds of meters seems like a major challenge.”

Jake said a little too happily as he wiggled his fingers, “Magic.”

Tanda was frowning in confusion again, and Ophelia snorted. “You can be a real dork sometimes, Jake. He means mana. He enchanted the motor, so the gondola thing propels itself.”

Jake said, “You pay an awful lot of attention to when I’m alone in the room playing with my pen. Anyway, thanks for your help, Tanda. I’m going to go talk to some guild members, and see if we can get some of them on the path of enchanting, cranking out these javelins, arrows and other weapons as quickly as possible.” He turned to Ophelia. “We’ll leave in under an hour.”

Jake walked away, heading off to a large grouping of people training to give a speech.

Tanda was perplexed. “How could you pay attention to what he’s doing, when he’s alone in the room?”

Ophelia responded, “That’s our Bond, from Jake being a Summoner. We can hear each other’s thoughts, and somewhat share each other’s senses and emotions. So while I’m hammering away in the smithy, I can still hear his mind going a mile a minute trying to come up with ways he can help the beastkin.”

“This bond sounds interesting. He had said his four bonded wives were as one, this is what he was referring to? It sounds similar to us beastkin. When we’re around others, we find harmony with our hearts, and we move as one. One family. One clan. One Tribe.”

“That’s really neat. The auril heart seems very special.”

“I believe it is, after meeting many adventurers. But what you have with Jake appears to be quite special in a different way, both the bond and as a Valkyrie. Still, that Jake is a strange man. Is he some kind of herbivore? I know he already has the three, or four mates, but I cannot feel any desire from him for me. Is he not attracted to beastkin?”

Ophelia laughed. “What do you mean, herbivore? I don’t think him being attracted is a problem at all. We, uh, keep his desires fulfilled pretty well? But I had felt the same way when I met him. Why, you want him to desire you?”

Tanda looked at Ophelia in thought, and she frowned in confusion. “Herbivores are men that don’t eat the meat in front of them; not interested in women, when there’s three for every male, they are sort of looked down on. I don’t know? He is so very different. His body exudes power, and even the abundance of life, like our auril heroes. I can feel it, and that part is very attractive in a mate to us beastkin. I know he could beat me in a courtship duel, but his lack of knowing our customs, and his lack of desire… My heart seems interested, but my mind says it could never be.”

She scoffed, and scratched her ears and hair in frustration. “What changed, for you to end up together?”

Ophelia chuckled. “Well, I had to let him know mine. That was like a switch flipped in him, and then I could really feel his desire. He’s weird, like that. It’s like he’s a 0 or a 10 with things, there’s little in between. The things he enjoys or devotes his time with, he puts his everything into. Fhesiah even said she had a hard time seducing him, until she crossed a certain line. What custom has left you so frustrated?”

Tanda frowned. “He didn’t even sing his clan’s goals to me. He only talks about the guild or tribe, or the war effort. To start courtship, we try to find out more about the other person, but first the male with a clan would sing his clan’s goals. I suppose you could consider it like the man singing his dreams? I’m clanless, him with mates already, so it should definitely be him to start. Sometimes a woman will approach a man without a mate, but it’s usually just hinting that he should sing his song. For a male with many mates, it’s almost seen as wrong to preposition them. The man should know how many women they can protect and support.”

“Well, you’re right in that Jake isn’t aware of this custom. But he has learned more about you in a more human way. He’s also stated his clan’s goals, just indirectly, talking about his Tribe, or guild. His clan’s goals are one and the same, other than the desire to have children with us girls, eventually. Then, he’s learned a lot about your people, and you. He just hasn’t outright asked you, or told you, these things in that context. This is the problem, for you to be interested or know where you stand, with him?”

Tanda frowned, her ears flat on top of her head. “It’s not just about him saying the words. My people are in tune with our hearts and our voices. Our custom is the man will sing the song of his dreams for family to the woman, and if her heart stirs and starts to beat in his rhythm, she knows they’ll be able to find harmony in their life. Then, if he shows his strength, she knows he’ll be able to protect her, and bring prosperity to their clan– their children and extended friends and families.”

Ophelia gushed, “Wow! So it’s like you listen to your heart, literally, huh? That’s really romantic! I love that!”

Tanda was taken aback by how enthusiastic Ophelia was at this custom, Ophelia’s eyes sparkling. Ophelia added, “Still, how does facing their father fall into that? I heard about this.”

Tanda said, “Oh, that’s because a lot of the showing of strength in the courtship duel is about potential. Usually, courtship duels happen among beastkin around the same age. But sometimes, either an auril hero or just an older, stronger beastkin might try to court the younger female that came of age. For them, it’s not really fair for them to just crush the younger female, so they often duel the father to prove their potential, instead. Still, they sing their song first. And it’s not just about winning the fight, in the end we do just follow our hearts. If the man does a good enough showing and the father approves, or our heart is moved, that’s enough. ”

Ophelia said, “I had wondered about that, that sometimes happened with Valkyries too! The strongest would beat up all the men, ending up without a mate, or maybe the strongest dad would just crush all potential mates. There was a real danger of the best Valkyries becoming spinsters!”

Tanda laughed a little awkwardly. “Right… Anyway, I suppose it’s pointless to talk about this much now. The war is of major importance, I have learned a lot from observing the war map. I have decided to drive forward recruitment even further now that I know I can count on Jake and the Alliance now, and I will be gone for a few days.”

She added, “I have delegated some of my flock to visit the smaller clans and tribes scattered across the wilderness, to make them aware of what is happening and unite them in the nearby villages. Also, what Jake said about my Tribe being targeted has gotten me worried now, as rifts have sort have spawned in that direction, as well. I need to get people to move to the larger towns or villages with nodes as soon as possible, both to be integrated but also to aid in the war effort. We must unite the tribes, and fight as one. For me, I’m headed home.”

Ophelia frowned. The distance to Harmony Peaks was somewhere over a thousand miles, and Bloodberri would certainly take a full day of travel and then some to be able to arrive. That was even if she could somehow fly over all mountains and canyons, an insane possibility. “Several rifts spawned to the north, that far? Are you sure we shouldn’t come?”

Tanda shook her head. “It’s too far, and in the time it would take for you to travel, you could be closing many rifts more and making more progress. My people should be closing them soon, I think. Still, I will monitor them as we head there. Plus… My clan-mother… She sent me a cryptic statement.”

“Your clan mother?”

She sighed. “Aisling, one of my father’s mates, the only one that survived. She’s a crow parentage that gets dreams and visions of the future. In combat, she has a small foresight that comes and goes. Most of the time, it’s not enough to act on, but in others, it can allow her to land a surprise killing blow, or completely throw off the enemy. She said I should focus on my goal, once I’ve decided on it. But that I should let my allies continue theirs until a major revelation, or I, and even the beastkin race as a whole, would be weaker for it in the long run.”

Ophelia frowned. “That’s awfully vague, but also specific? And ominous?”

She laughed nervously. “She’s also a bit playful, and normally I would be worried she was just messing with me. But when she’s serious, even my dad would stand on one foot if she told him to. She made it clear she was serious, and she’s never broken her word on that for a laugh.”

Ophelia thought she understood. “If anything changes, just send us a message at a node, and we’ll rush in a hurry. I might be able to fly Jake in a pinch much more rapidly, arriving in a handful of hours. Well, I’m really glad you’re on our side, Tanda. For what it’s worth, I think you would be a great fit for Clan Hart. That is actually the most important thing for Jake, in finding a future party member, and mate.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. If Jake thought you wouldn’t get along with one of his bonded wives, or be able to fight alongside us, then it wouldn’t matter if you were a literal or figurative goddess. He wouldn’t be interested or desire you one bit. I think you have what it takes, and I’m rooting for you.”

Tanda blushed. “Thanks? I… Will think on it. It does sound like harmony and balance is quite important to him, so that does match both my goals and my people quite well? It’s just…”

Ophelia gave her a challenging smile. “How about this, why don’t you meet him half way? I think you’ll find he’s more than willing to go out of his way to make his future mate satisfied, with whatever customs you might have. But you have to express your desires, or your interest, first. If anything, you are just work colleagues now. That’s the way he sees you. You were even antagonistic of him at the start. Now, he’s not a complete dunce and can probably tell you seem interested, but if you’re only interested in him because of his strength, doesn’t that just mean he can sweep any beastkin woman off their feet? Jake is already one of the strongest on this world, if not the strongest now. If you’re only attracted to him because of that, doesn’t that just mean any strong guy would do?”

Tanda looked a little frustrated, her voice coming out in a near growl. “That’s what hearing his song is about! They prove their heart, before they prove their strength, usually. There are certainly beastkin woman that only desire strength in their mate and will just submit to the first male that can beat them in a courtship duel, but it’s definitely not all, and it’s not me!”

Ophelia smiled. “Well, he doesn’t know that, but it certainly feels like that from his perspective. He’s still learning, he’s only been here a couple of days? Still, I’d tell him for you, but I want you to go through the challenge I did. I had to wait weeks, and he didn’t move until I did. It’s only been two days for you, don’t you think you’re too much in a rush? That said–”

“Great, I made it in time! I made this for you, Tanda!”

Ophelia saw Bloodberri speed over, arriving next to Tanda. Berri had a beaming smile on her face, and she held out a complete set of black leather armor.

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