Bonded Summoner

Jake finished plating his cooked snacks, and brought them into their living room. The girls were all gathered around their table, taking a sort-of break from training. They’d play some games later, but for now–

“Did you get the chips, Jake? I feel like I can really get my mind in the right place if I have my favorite snack…”

“I got them, Ophelia, don’t worry.”

“I made those! Jake showed me how to use the kettle thing.”

“Please tell me you made something with a little fire, husband.”

“Of course, Fhesiah. I’ve got your jalapeno poppers here, some spicy salsa for the tortilla chips, and the chicken tenders have a spicy dipping option, too.”

“Very good. Much easier to stomach this… studying if we have some snacks to eat, I think.”

They were gathering around to sort of group-think and learn more about the war in the alliance, and plan out their guild. To some extent they already knew what was necessary, seeing how some things worked on Ariminium. But they really didn’t understand the Alliance’s strategy.

They had a few books they purchased on the market that included a sort of primer that guild leaders would use for their base strategy. Then, there was a book that gave information about guilds and their add-ons. Fhesiah had been looking over the dossier that they had about the world of Highlands.

They began reading and taking notes, while snacking and having some light conversation. Blood prodded Berri to keep her focused, but she had one earbud in as she listened to some music. Ophelia and Fhesiah were engrossed with what they were reading.

Ophelia said, “I think I’ve found something important. So, when a world is newly contested, there is a sort of queue or maximum number of Adventurers that can head there, and it’s based on the number of residents in the world. This number increases with each added [Alliance Node] and [Headquarters].”

Jake nodded. So this meant that while Adventurers that traveled to contested worlds were helpful, the task to defeat the incursions and rifts was largely going to be more effective if the residents of the world initiated into the Framework and got involved, as while the Adventurers were limited, they were not.

Ophelia added, “The other significant thing is the Tier limitation. This is a Frontier world, deemed as Tier 1 in quality. The Rift’s challenges are set to this tier, but there is still a sort of balance against the inhabitants. If there are say no above level 20’s present in the world, then the rifts cannot be at that level. Perhaps this is why Alliance members leave if they feel they are impeding the world’s chances, to lower the challenge for the natives.”

Jake said, “Frontier World?”

Ophelia looked more over the book and found the information about this. “You came from the Fringe, which is the very edge of the Frontier. Even the week or so of travel kept us within the frontier at Ariminium. Apparently, further into what would be considered the center of the Multiverse, war is waged a bit differently, the worlds often a higher Tier. Rather than the whole world’s conflict carved out at a single tier, they would create zones or bubbles of influence, allowing different Tiers to participate.

The cities would be a sort of safe-area where other Tiers can mingle, but exiting the city and participating in a Zone below their Tier would be restricted, until a city was assaulted. This is what we will see at Tier 2 and above, typically. It turns out that Tier 2 worlds and above can also have what are true entrances to the greater labyrinth, a dungeon that leads to other worlds entirely, including those lost in the war to Tartarus.

Then, non-contested worlds, or these ones called Bastions, the inhabitants can contribute to a sector’s war with their personal Trials and even take on incursions from there. It appears that this is where things are the most stable for the Alliance, at lower Tiers anyway.”

Jake once again was quite surprised at this information. So, it very much resembled a MMO game, where contested territory would force people of different Tiers into different zones to influence the war in many ways. Then those from far away could still influence the war in some sort of dungeon-queue. This meant that people at all Tiers would be important in influencing the overall war effort, from everywhere.

Blood had been reading the book on Guilds and their fixtures. “It looks like there’s a mention of Mass Migration too. There are many worlds that are only Tier 0 or 1, and many races are interested in migrating to a Tier 1 Contested Frontier World as a community. The Framework subsidizes this somewhat, allowing them to easily travel to a world in order to bolster their numbers. This might be a way for us to bolster our numbers on Highlands, but it has a list of requirements.”

Jake found this detail quite interesting, as he understood that Earth was a Tier 0 world. Most likely, the inhabitants that wanted to participate in the greater multiverse could potentially be interested in this feature.

Fhesiah said, “I found something interesting about this new world. It is quite small. Much smaller than your Earth, husband.”

“How small?”

“Well, there’s one main landmass, and it’s probably only about the size of your North America, maybe even smaller than all of that. There’s an ocean of course, but it covers roughly the same percentage as your Earth.”

Jake frowned. As far as he understood it, you couldn’t get that much smaller than Earth, otherwise it couldn’t possibly have a magnetosphere capable of blocking the Sun’s radiation, among other problems like holding a stable atmosphere for breathable air.

Fhesiah shrugged at his thought. “They probably have a different kind of Sun, or perhaps their unique energy type persists on the world and is what blocks that radiation. Their planetary core could even be different, able to create this magnetosphere. Things are different with Qi, too. There are even planar worlds that your knowledge of physics would deem impossible, after all.”

This was an interesting revelation. If there was a highway built and a car, they could drive across the whole world of Highlands in only a few days, just like traveling across the United States or Europe. Jake looked over at Bloodberri. While they might not have roads, he had an all-terrain-snake already. This would help their party be able to make a significant impact. Ophelia or Fhesiah could possibly fly across a large portion of the world in a single day if they had to.

Fhesiah said, “This beastkin race is also interesting. There are reptiles, mammals, and even avian beastkin of various types. All of them have similar features in that they have the claws, feet, tail, and ears or horns of what they call their [Beast Parentage], but are otherwise human-like. Each of them, their [Auril] acts somewhat differently as a baseline, but many also have manifestations based on their parentage or their desires, a truly varied ability.”

Jake found this to be quite interesting, that their species were so varied. There could be thousands of different types, all with different abilities meant that as warriors, they could end up being quite versatile as a force.

“So Jake, what species do you want for number four, or is it number five? I’m partial to the catgirl, or they would call it a cat beastkin, I guess? Your people seem to be strangely fixated on this creature, and I can’t help but feel the same way after spending so much time on the internet.”

Berri said, “Oh! But what about a snake beastkin girl? Or some kind of dog beastkin. That way, I can have a talking dog play baseball with me!”

Fhesiah replied, “The dog beastkin has some merit, but snake beastkin? I think Jake has more than enough snake-girl to handle.”

Blood narrowed her eyes at Fhesiah. “Now, what is that supposed to mean? One cannot have too much snake-girl. Are you saying that we are too big for Jake?”

Fhesiah looked a little helpless. “Well no,” she laughed awkwardly, “I didn’t mean it like that…”

Blood just gave a huff and looked back to her reading, and Ophelia watched the exchange as entertainment happily as she crunched on her kettle-cooked chips. Jake sighed and shook his head at the exchange. Of course, picking their last party member would be more based on merit and compatibility with their family than anything else.

Not only would they have to fight in high-stakes battles with a lot on the line, but be willing to stand up for and help others. Then, they would have to get along with this family. While Jake felt like his girls got along well enough, and Jake with them, his haven could come crashing down easily with the wrong person joining their party.

They continued reading and uncovering how the Alliance waged war at the lower tiers leading into the higher ones, and thought they had a pretty good picture when they combined it with what they had learned from what they saw in the world of Ariminium.

They needed to come up with a plan for the war, in addition to designing their guild.

Ophelia said, “I think winning the war can be summarized simply. We need to close the rifts, deny the enemy any conquest, and retake what was lost, before proceeding to capture the remaining map and win the Raid. We’re lucky that this is only a Tier 1 world, as on Tier 2 worlds, there are many more anomalies and even entrances into the greater labyrinth to worry about.”

Jake said, “Of course, but even with the smaller world, we can’t really be everywhere at once. If it was just closing rifts, this would be simple for us. Instead, we not only have to spend time traveling, but we also need to take back what was already lost. Then, the world is mountainous. It takes a long time to traverse, though I can count on Bloodberri to keep our speed respectable. They are already close to a loss. Can we really impact a world from just what we can reasonably reach? It’s a race against time.”

They all looked thoughtful about this, then Ophelia said, “Well, what about recruiting some of those Avian beastkin? They can fly around and recruit towns and get them to where they can hold off well enough against the Rifts, giving us a little more time.”

Jake said, “Some sort of envoy perhaps, but how can we get them to recruit for us, when the Alliance failed to recruit many successfully where they even had their headquarters? It appears we’ll have a hard time convincing them to join us in the first place, let alone convincing them enough to have them go around recruiting others for us.”

Fhesiah flashed her dossier. “That’s easy! Just beat em’ up.”

Jake just stared at her blankly. Is she really suggesting…

She snorted. “No, but also yes. They have a number of dueling traditions, the strong revered. We just have to have one of us duel the strongest of them to be willing to listen, though, we can’t necessarily just challenge them without having grounds to do so, in order to make them your subordinate. Dueling can be how one might obtain subordinates, usually between two men or two women. But a duel between a man and a woman usually starts courtship or even jumps straight to marriage when the man wins.”

Jake’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “What’s the bit about the subordinates?”

Fhesiah said, “It appears within a tribe, they form various clans. Usually, the young that come of age challenge one another to have them underneath them. There are many kinds, from those that craft, to those that hope to move out and look for greener pastures and start their own tribe somewhere; to explore their frontier. There are many untamed lands on their world. Either way, they all train to fight, and so dueling traditions guide how they form these clans. A clan is like an extended family, that all works together for a sort of goal.”

Jake was surprised that even the crafting specialized beastkin valued strength so much, but found it interesting that they grouped together in these clan structures. Blood became very interested in the idea that children would be fighting.

Jake said, “The duel for courtship seems a bit odd?”

Fhesiah smiled, “Well, the women are many here. There’s around three females to every male, and the men are a bit more likely to awaken their Auril Heart, for some reason. The women definitely value a man that is strong. Apparently, this is quite the warrior race. All beastkin train to fight, even mothers or those that focus on a trade skill of some kind, though it’s a little strange. It appears they don’t really fight each other, other than sparring or duels. The world is harsh and filled with danger, and they mostly train to face the Auril Beasts that reside in their world. The beasts can grow to be quite huge, so large two-handed weapons are the mainstay, as well.”

Jake found the fact that they don’t fight one another to be the most interesting. Usually, resource scarcity leads to more conflict, but these people somehow circumvented convention regarding this. Perhaps their values, morals, or traditions somehow prevented this.

Jake said, “So, an envoy, potentially by dueling them. Get them to pass along a focus on getting their people ready to do incursions and form teams to close rifts. Incursion victories lead to fewer rifts spawning, and closing rifts prevent assaults against their villages. The tough part is convincing anyone to initiate. Does that dossier give any details about that?”

Fhesiah said, “It didn’t. But it did say that their culture and customs are tied to this auril energy, that is present in nearly all things in their world. They are in tune with the nature of their world, very different from your people of Earth, Jake. It could be that the Framework doesn’t contain Auril, or that they are not liking the idea of becoming effectively Immortal. Any number of things really, as they could see the Framework as evil, just like Tartarus.”

Ophelia said, “Fhesiah was in the same position in terms of using the Framework itself, in that it doesn’t have or use Qi for everything. These people could have similar sentiments, but I think if we focus on Tartarus being not of their world and lacking auril, that should put them in the right mindset? It’s a tough thing.” She paused, and Jake could feel a little heartache from her. “Each person that dies that isn’t initiated, they’ll be dead for good. We really need to find a way to convince them to join, Jake.”

He nodded, and he could feel the importance from her over their bond. The idea that many people would die if Jake’s party failed to convince them was weighing on her. They would have to find a way to build rapport with them, and make them feel like Jake’s party was on their side and could be trusted to have their interests at heart. Then, they may be more willing to join, whatever their reason for refusing to might be.

Jake realized that nearly every religious person on Earth would say no to something like the Framework, unless their own God appeared and asked them to join, he supposed. They would need a lot to go against their current faith.

Fhesiah shook their head. “It appears they have no real deity, other than the auril energy itself. They definitely venerate the energy itself and its influence on their world. Still, this dossier doesn’t have everything. The Alliance only managed to create three headquarters despite flooding the place with Adventurers, and they didn’t make it very far from the supposed landing point. We can probably reach the two branches within a day from the landing point.”

Jake realized that this was another interesting detail about the war, in that a HQ would spawn in defense of the world when Tartarus invaded.

Fhesiah said, “It appears Highlands at one point had three HQ’s, and many Alliance Nodes. I guess they start with one HQ, and they would have to bring nodes out to towns and villages?”

Ophelia said, “It depends on the size of the world, and Highlands was not large enough to receive a second or more at the start. You can see it as both Tartarus and the Framework arriving on the world at the same time, and then building up steam in a sort of race; the two evenly matched at first. Tartarus does appear to get a slight advantage in terms of being able to expand over the conquest map rapidly immediately, but the Framework gets to recruit the populace that already exists, and the natives can act against Tartarus’ expansion without integration, if they are effective.”

Jake somewhat understood this. It takes a massive failure of recruitment and losses of life to fall behind so rapidly, like Highlands did.

Jake said, “We just don’t know enough about what is going on to make our plan any more concrete than that, in regards to fighting the war or convincing the natives to join us. What about our guild?”

Berri was now excited to have something to add, “Oh! I got one. How about [Bases Loaded], or [Home Run]?”

Blood replied, taking over her excited features with an almost annoyed expression, “People won’t know what baseball is, silly. Besides, Jake’s guild is supposed to be about raising warriors and protecting people against the outsiders, baseball shouldn’t be a part of that.”

Berri looked a little angry, “Shows what you know, sister! I knew you didn’t always pay attention to me. Of course, the guild should play baseball! Don’t you remember one of the tenets that Hestia said: to enjoy. Playing sports like baseball is one of many things that people do to bring communities together, to enjoy and to train. It builds comradery and even helps grow leaders and potentially win the hearts of the natives. We would want people that join to play sports such as baseball to build these positive behaviors. Right Jake? I’m right, aren’t I?”

Jake and the rest of the girls were shocked into silence. There was a lot of merit in this idea that Jake had not considered, and he knew that on Earth’s history, baseball was even used to build a relationship between the United States and Japan. Of course, baseball wasn’t enough on its own to save that relationship, but it did a lot to bring American culture to Japan. He was also reminded of how sports had long-since been used as a tool to build comradery and even nationalism.

“I… yes, it’s a great idea and you’re right. You put a lot of thought into… this.”

Blood gave Jake a blank stare. “You have no idea.”

Jake frowned. “Shouldn’t I have a pretty good idea, though?”

Blood shook her head. “Nope. You probably only get one out of three of her baseball thoughts. She filters them for you, afraid that you will get sick of baseball. I get them all. I mean, I like it a little bit too, but… It’s kind of torture? You can’t blame me for tuning you out from time to time, sister.”

Berri clapped, ‘jumped,’ and danced around, “Yeah! Baseball! I wanna see the talking dogs play baseball!”

Jake continued, “We’ll definitely have to think about that and how it could be implemented. Right now, my main concern is how to reward the right behaviors we desire in our guild, without breaking the law of balance. It’s clear that any reward that increases personal power directly will penalize them when they enter an incursion, or when they enter a rift’s [Challenge], or their own personal trials. Thus, we can’t give Credits or CP, and I’m not even sure the latter is possible with the exception of world contribution allotment. I suppose that could be a possible reward, is that we could use their goodwill to decide who we ‘funnel’ the contribution of the world to.”

Fhesiah was lounging in the air now with her book, laying on an invisible couch. She said, “That will probably only get the top people involved, and power should matter there just as much as the ‘doing good’ portion of things. I think the best you may be able to offer is privilege and fame.”contemporary romance

Jake thought this was a little dubious. The guild was supposed to be one where people fought to protect and help others, more than just earning CP and Credits. Are privilege and fame what these people really sought?

Fhesiah snorted at Jake’s thought, “Of course they do. People will always seek to be above others in some way, we just have to offer an array of privileges and fame to capture everyone’s drive.”

Blood added, “This book has details about various fixtures available for a guild. We can add privileges for housing and special training grounds. It sounds like we need a way to track things outside of CP earnings, and it looks like there are some add-ons for your Guild, available at Guild HQ and Nodes that can track all sorts of activities. At the very least: crafting, teaching and training are not a problem to be tracked, and they can reward them with something called guild points.”

Ophelia said, “Training is definitely important to be tracked. Preparation is an important tenet of the guild, and it also builds that same comradery that Berri brought up. The stronger can lead others to improve their skills much more rapidly, potentially above their tier with enough effort. We may have been willing to take more time before entering our Trial, if we were already a part of the multiverse.”

An image of how the Guild would work was taking shape in Jake’s mind, one that would sort of reproduce what their family had accomplished, but across a much wider scale and community. They would reward goodwill such as rebuilding towns and villages, or helping people like refugees by providing ‘humanitarian’ aid. They would reward this with privilege and fame, though the privileges were not concrete yet.

The guild would prepare both themselves and others for weathering the storm of the outsiders, and grow through comradery in training or preparation, combat or protection, enjoyment and goodwill.

Fhesiah said, “Wait a minute, I thought enjoyment was supposed to be my tenet, but the snake got her piece in there somehow. Well, here’s my idea: a perk will be matchmaking.”

Jake was confused. “Huh?”

“Matchmaking. Three girls for every guy in the world of Highlands, and the girls like guys that are strong? How about high contributors in both CP and the other tenets, or pillars, get extra assistance to get matched up?”

Jake thought this was a bit weird of a perk–

“Weird huh? You mean you wouldn’t have worked hard to do all sorts of good to find a wife, Mr. Lonely? And there’s no way that your women helped motivate you to be stronger and do more, be better, is there? You don’t think that forming units similar to your own might not be effective?”

Jake supposed that she had a good point but…” You’re wanting our guild to be like a strange harem… fighting guild? Well, the ratio is good for the beastkin to make sure men can find potentially several wives that would possibly do what you say, but as the guild spans the multiverse, can that really persist?”

Fhesiah said, “But didn’t Blood say already how we can keep that up? Mass migration! I’m sure we can keep finding races with the higher female to male ratios, enough to keep the guild from becoming a sausage fest. It’s perfect! Besides, I never said the matchmaking had to have the same ratio as your party, just that it works well enough, and we’re proof. Girls could start their reverse harem parties, or they can just find a match and duos can join other duos or trios, as guild teams should be able to trust one another to act in each other’s best interests.”

Jake thought about the implications of what the crazy demoness was offering for their guild, their Hearthtribe to become. Her idea had merits, but he would take the idea a lot more seriously if her nostrils weren’t flaring and her words sounding a little too excited. Once again, Fhesiah had proven that she was like some kind of dirty old man trapped in a woman’s body, lusting over the idea that there would be countless women in the guild.

Jake shook his head, and he now felt exhausted, for some reason. “I suppose… we can sort of see how it might work once we understand the beastkin a little better first, so we’ll sort of table the discussion of that guild feature for now…” Hopefully forever.

“But alright. We got the makings of a guild that will take an approach that not many others will. By creating benefits without Credits or CP, we will curve behaviors towards ones that both helps and protects others, but also win the war. I think crafting is something that all our members should do, as it both gives them advantages and allows them to contribute anywhere in the multiverse, along with helping those of lower Tiers be better prepared for their Trials.

Then, guild members will help deny Tartarus progress by rebuilding or defending and giving aid, as well as help to recruit both to the guild and to the Framework. They will train themselves and prepare, and they will take on their Trial. So, what are we going to call ourselves?”

Ophelia said, “We’re going to be starting on Highlands, and Hestia did say that she wanted the beastkin to be the backbone of the guild. They are focused on these Clans, and Tribes. Perhaps we should use that?”

Fhesiah said, “Oh, I like that. I like the sound of Clan Hart or Clan Hearth, but Tribes are certainly the bigger one with many Clans underneath? Then, instead of Matchmaking, we simply give those that earn enough of the guild points the right to start their own Clans. We can have different Tiers, and those that are subordinates under each.”

Jake said, “For what goal, though? Do we really want Clans to boss around subordinates within the guild?”

Fhesiah, “Definitely. Clans can compete in many different ways, chasing different goals that earn them Credits, CP, and guild points? Those that excel in both earning CP and one or more of the tenets which earns them guild points will get the right to start their own Clans. We can force those at the bottom of the pecking order to join a Clan of their choice. If they need to duel as part of their culture, we can help facilitate that.

Odds are the Clan heads that earned enough CP would win anyway, no? If they didn’t, then that would show that the winner was probably the stronger one and should lead the fighting, anyway. Then, these offsets some burden of managing this large number of people. People can form their Clans, and the strongest and best at what they do would become larger and larger, managing more and more to accomplish their goals of contributing in the war the way we and Hestia want. Then we only deal with the Clan heads.”

Ophelia said, “I think it should be Hearthtribe. It fits us and our patron Goddess, as well as the beastkin.”

Fhesiah added, “It’s even close to their special organ, the auril heart. I like it.”

Berri sniffed. “It’s ok. I still think Bases Loaded is better. The feeling of anticipation, the weight on your shoulders as you’re at bat trying to bring victory to your team. The eyes of thousands, of millions all to witness that single moment. It can’t be matched.”

He wryly smiled at how into the idea she was. Jake was mostly on board with the Hearthtribe name, though. “What about you, Blood?”

Blood said, “I think it’s fine. That means you’re Chief of the Tribe, right? Your Clan of Clan Hart would be the one that guides these other Clans?”

“That’s right. I guess it’s mostly unanimous then.” Jake purchased the guild, naming it Hearthtribe. He now had access to a guild menu, allowing a dizzying array of options. Really though, in order to do anything special, he needed a Guild Node, which cost CP. This could then be brought to a village to be an Alliance Node, but also could also be attached to an Alliance HQ. He saw that he had more than enough for many of them.

The Wiki now had a new section, and new things were available for purchase. There were so many addons that Jake had no idea where to start. Looking over them, he couldn’t really discern whether he wanted many of the addons, or if they were worth the price. Many options were unavailable, but he wasn’t sure what would be worth saving up for and what wasn’t.

Blood said, “I can look over these for you, Milord. When Berri is driving our body and focused on that, I can still access the menu. I can let you know which I find important and make a priority list. I’ve been playing with spell-forms and trying to recreate some kind of telekinesis with it, but this will be another thing to work on.”

Jake thought there was a lot of merit in this telekinesis idea for Blood. She could use it while Berri drove to manipulate the surrounding area. It certainly would be convenient for her, even being able to ‘throw’ baseballs for her.

Ophelia said, “I can help with that, too. I sometimes have a bit of downtime in smithing, as well. That way, Jake can keep focusing on his other preparations.”

Jake looked over at Fhesiah. He realized with cultivation she too would have plenty of time, but perhaps studying was a busywork that she wouldn’t be interested in. She hid her face behind her fan as she lounged in the air, but he thought he caught her smirk. He realized that she probably had a lot of surprises in the works, and they were important in their own way. This was in addition to her alchemy, which was paramount for her personal progression. Jake knew that her surprises likely would be dual purposed, somehow increasing her capability while also increasing her enjoyment.

With that, everything was mostly decided. Their Hearthtribe would really shake things up across the multiverse, one way or another.

done.co