POV – Adam
It was hard to believe that all Blessed had access to so much detailed information. Every document, whether it was a video, technique, or information file, was a treasure trove. To me, and probably to everyone in the ninth sector, they were invaluable.
“Is it really fine to accept that?” I wondered, looking out the window to welcome the first rays of sunlight.
Aureus emerged from my World with a yawn. He scrambled to his paws on my palm and turned to stare at me with his vibrant golden eyes. Images of the earthen pebbles formed in my head alongside what felt like endless hunger.
“You little glutton,” I snickered, getting up from the bed. Aureus yipped relentlessly and forwarded fragments of the fight against the mature Bloodbath Deer. “I know. You saved me, and you do deserve it all. I shouldn’t be stingy when it comes to thanking my savior.”
A smile bloomed on my lips as I moved to the desk. I removed the tin box containing Aureus’ food from the drawer and fed the glutton.
The Soilback was hungrier than usual and finished two servings in record time, but the Soulkin wasn’t done yet. Aureus was still hungry.
“If you keep going like that, I’ll have to restock your food soon.”
It was unlikely that Aureus' appetite would decrease. The Soilback was still growing and in dire need of nutrients, though it was odd to see the tiny glutton devour food three times his weight.
My eyes lingered on Daniel’s chat and the documents I was downloading to the ether tablet he’d loaned to me, but I scrolled past the video files and other materials, looking for a link he’d dropped a few weeks ago.
I found the link, clicked on it, and regretted it instantly.
[Gaia’s Nutri Kibble – 300 Credits/1kg]
My face felt cold, and goosebumps spread across my whole body as my eyes locked onto the price tag. I glanced at the tin box, then at Aureus, and finally back to my phone.
“That—that has to be a lie,” I muttered, staring at Aureus. “You’ve been feasting on premium food, treating it like third-rate food. Why, in the names of the Rulers, are you eating so much when that shit is almost as expensive as our monthly rent?! Credits don’t grow on trees, you know?”
A pang of guilt washed through me even as I spoke the words, and I regretted them instantly. Aureus looked up, his eyes wide and twinkling. Emotions of sadness, genuine regret, and remorse struck me like a skytrain. It felt like someone had wrenched my heart as Aureus lowered his head. His scales clattered and his tail dropped onto the desk.
“Forget what I said. I’m sorry for being such an ass.” I lowered myself to meet Aureus’ eyes, ready to say more to make things right when Aureus jerked up. The Soulkin’s emotions were replaced with acceptance and joy, and he resumed his war with the luxurious kibble. Aureus scarfed it down and demanded a fourth serving, which I provided without a second thought.
One kilogram of kibble should have been enough to feed Aureus for a month—probably two, given the Soulkin’s size. Even a regular Soilback would survive a month with Gaia’s Nutri Kibble, according to the website’s description, as long as one added the meat of 1-Star Wilds to every meal.
I considered doing the same, but I found it too hard to believe that Aureus would be able to digest several kilograms of meat every day.
Should I buy one kilogram of Wagur meat to test Aureus’ limits?
That sounded reasonable, though I doubted it would be cheap. In the first place, Aureus was only eating this much because he needed the nutrients and ether to grow properly. Replacing kibble with Wagur meat wouldn’t help. Using better meat would work, which was bound to be even more expensive than Gaia’s Nutri Kibble.
“To feed you, I’ll need 300 Credits a month. 600 if your appetite grows, which it will.” I grimaced but nodded after giving it a second thought. While it was expensive—exorbitantly so, given my mother earned only 400 Credits—it was an acceptable price for a Blessed. For someone like me. Someone who earned 850 Credits from a single hunt.
My Soulkin’s appetite would hopefully result in a burst of strength. It would be even better if Aureus learned to wield his special trait without collapsing. That’d be the best. Regardless, it meant I would have to head back out to hunt fairly soon.
Either I would return outside, or Daniel’s teacher would sponsor me. The latter would be perfect, but I sincerely doubted a stranger would throw thousands of Credits at me for some lackluster data. I would have to figure things out on my own.
That meant I would have to grow stronger—even if Daniel wasn’t there to help me.
***
“What did you do?” Mom’s scream resounded in my ears. “Don’t tell me you sold your kidney!”
She trembled as she rushed at me, lifting my shirt to inspect my body thoroughly.
“Erm... Mom? I think a kidney is a little bit more expensive than 550 Credits.” I grimaced, pulling her away to cover my abdomen once again.
Dad kept shifting between the screen and me, his eyes wide. In the end, he decided to keep alternating. It was a sight to behold, and I would’ve enjoyed it longer, but I held back.
“I said I went outside,” I began, retelling the events while downplaying the danger I’d faced while fighting for my life. It didn’t look like Mom or Dad believed me when I shared my experience with them, but they didn’t say anything. However, their eyes told me everything I needed to know. Father was proud, whereas Mom was scared witless. Tears streamed down her face as she listened in silence.
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“So, instead of buying something for yourself, you transferred all your money to us?” Father asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he shared a look with Mom.
Clearly, they understood what I was doing, but so be it.
I waved my hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve ordered a batch of kibble for Aureus before transferring the rest to you. Aureus won’t starve, and it’s not like I need money right now.”
My mother’s lips parted, but I was faster and added, “If you feel bad about taking my Credits, you could help me with this.”
I retrieved Daniel’s tablet and displayed a large 50-inch screen showing several pages from one of Daniel’s documents.
It took me a few hours to organize all the files and videos Daniel dropped into our chat, but I was already benefiting from it. Splitting everything into sections such as [Training], [Information], and [Techniques] was helpful; however, it wasn’t enough for me. I separated everything into multiple subsections and prioritized what needed my attention and what could wait for a few days or weeks.
Nothing was unimportant, but history lessons were considerably lower on the priority list than the diet plan centered on reinforcing a Blessed’s physique—to temper the body, even if one’s physical soulshare was so low it barely existed.
“If you’re worried about my well-being and the dangers outside, the best you can do is support me… right?” I asked, trying my best to sound confident.
Daniel’s talk about my physique got me initially interested in the documents, but it was even better than I’d anticipated.
He researched a lot for me. I grinned, ready to go all-in—as long as my parents were willing to help me. After all, I was an atrocious cook. The chances of my burning everything were far higher than the odds of making a meal that still had any nutrients left.
Mom snatched the tablet out of my hand and rushed to the kitchen. I caught her ripping the fridge open while her head flicked from the holographic screens to the fridge’s insides. A heavy groan escaped her lips.
“We have nothing. Nothing!” she cried and turned to my father. “Grocery shopping. Now!”
I was about to follow Mom as she rushed to the door, snapping at my father to hurry up, only to receive a dismissive wave from her.
“Work out, refine your world, or study the dangers outside. Your father and I will take care of your meals. You, on the other hand, better focus on...” Mom made a few notes on her own phone and returned Daniel’s tablet to me. “...on all that stuff there to increase your chances at survival. If you get yourself injured like your fool of a father, I will beat you black and blue!”
I snorted and had to suppress a full-blown laugh when my dad glared at me, all while Mom stared at me like she would actually whip me if I got injured. It would surprise me more if she didn’t bawl her eyes out the first time I returned home with a scratch.
Dad was still glaring at me as they departed in a hurry, leaving me alone with Aureus.
It was hard to tell what Mom would do with their new fortune of 550 Credits, but I highly doubted they would use it for their intended purpose. However, at the end of the day, it was no longer my money. My parents could use the Credits as they pleased, be it for infused vegetables, nutritious Wilds meat, or a well-deserved spa day.
I returned to my room, sat down, and resumed studying instead of refining my World or working out. Rather than following my gut feeling and the instinct to refine my World with ether, I studied a tome called Blastor Refinery.
Daniel had found the perfect technique for me. It was truly ideal—if not for the fact that it was a children’s book.
The tome turned out to be filled with more vividly colored images and voice recordings than actual text. Yet, as embarrassing as Daniel’s choice was, it was probably the right one. After all, the book was designed to help Blessed children refine their strained Worlds without endangering themselves or their Soulkin.
It was a technique that all newly advanced Blessed were encouraged to learn to refine their World and strengthen their bond with their first companion—to get used to ether, to learn how to wield it properly, and to acquire the first snippets of a technique that allowed a simple fusion of ether and soul energy.
The images were vivid and lifelike, conveying everything I needed to know. Combined with the deep and soothing voice resounding in the back of my mind, I began the refinement process of my World.
***
I only had to refine my World twice to meet the requirements stated at the end of the tome, but I waited until the third day to verify that I was ready for the next part. I closed Blastor Refinery Volume I and moved on to the second volume. Although it was still a children’s book with various vivid images, the second volume contained a lot more words. Even the images were not as childish as they used to be.
The content also differed from the first volume, and it took me a few rereads to recognize a pattern. The first volume was like a simplified, highly secure method that allowed children to refine their World safely. The second was still relatively safe, yet it pushed the child to perform more complicated tasks to refine their World with greater results.
“A guide through childhood,” I mused, refining my World using the expanded technique of the second volume. It wasn’t perfect, but my ether control was already greater than what was demanded in the second volume. My ether control wouldn’t be a problem until the fourth or fifth volume, though I doubted I would reach that point anytime soon given the restrictions recommended by the author.
My World was still small—smaller than that of the average child who would use the second volume of Blastor Refinery, from the looks of it. Curious, I put the second volume aside and flicked through the third and fourth volumes. The third volume was for older children, whereas the fourth was aimed at pre-teens. No more vivid colors flowed through the pages, which were now filled with dense text, detailed images of Worlds, and explanations of more profound refinement techniques.
To my great misfortune, I did not possess enough ether or soul energy to perform any of those techniques, even if my ether control was on par with—or possibly even superior to—the requirements mentioned in the first few pages.
But that was all the more reason to push harder. If my World was the issue, Aureus and I would have to work even harder to grow it. We had the means to improve, even if it would take time. Nonetheless, my World was nothing like it used to be. It was now large enough to fit Aureus when just a month ago, it had been the size of a grain. My existence as a Blessed with a strong bond to my Soulkin had changed my growth forever. It had changed my odds, and I would be a fool not to make full use of it.
Aureus was mostly satisfied with that as well, since it meant the little glutton was given permission to go on a food-orgy. That is, Aureus was allowed to eat as much as he wanted, as long as I didn’t need his attention. Chatting with my Soulkin daily brought us closer. I told Aureus all about my childhood, everything I went through, and filled the glutton’s curious mind with everything he wanted to know.
That included various hour-long explanations of the theories and hypotheses revolving around the research of special traits, and various other things that could help us grow closer and stronger. In the meantime, I… well, I gave my utmost to improve, and so did my parents, who ended up spending 150 Credits over the course of three weeks. And it was all for groceries—for my meals.
Couldn’t they buy anything for themselves? I grumbled inwardly, even though my heart felt warm at the love I received.
I shouldn’t have given them so much money. Next time, I’ll just repay our debts without their notice.