My first thought: I’m finally going to discover what a Tier three samuran is like.

  My second thought: But it’s Windy, the only Pathwalker who’s never fully come around to my leadership.

  Even as I instruct Dusty to feed her chlorine-imbued water into some containers I pull out of my Inventory, I continue considering the matter.

  I suppose it’s not terribly surprising, thinking about it. She’s the oldest of the surviving samurans and her progress was already at eighty-nine percent before coming here. But I’d be lying if I said that I’d even considered the possibility of her actually Evolving. Not when it’s taken three months for Bastet to make just over twenty-four percent.

  Then again, Bastet hasn’t exactly been consistent with her progress. Sometimes she’s been stuck at a certain percentage for a while and then she makes three or four percent progress all at once. Something to do with making mental breakthroughs about herself and what she wants to be, apparently.

  So perhaps that’s what’s happened here. Windy made a small leap of progress after she got access to the den area and the Energy density within, but since then she hasn’t moved forwards at all. Maybe this situation was just what she needed to conceptualise herself in a way that catapulted her into being capable of Evolution.

  Either way, this could be a problem. Assuming she succeeds in her Evolution, of course – I don’t know what second Evolutions are like but the first is certainly not guaranteed to work.

  On the one hand, it would be great to have a Tier three samuran as part of our village, especially since no other village has one.

  On the other hand, this is Windy we’re talking about. The only thing holding her back from challenging me for leadership is the fact that I beat her in the first ranking fight and have held her Bond since then. If she becomes a Tier three, she’s almost guaranteed to be able to beat me in a one-on-one fight. As for the Bond, I remember from somewhere that the bigger the strength disparity is between me and the Bound, the more likely it is that they can break free – if they want to.

  That latter is one reason why I’ve been focussing on building the emotional bond between me and those Bound to me, not just the Bond created by my Skill. The more they see being connected to me as being beneficial, the less resistance they will give to my Bond, even if they surpass me in strength.

  I hadn’t thought it would be put to the test so quickly, though, and with Windy of all people.

  I sigh and look around. The other samurans have joined me in gathering around Windy, thoroughly distracted from their interest in Lathani by seeing one of their own kind attempting to reach the lauded second Evolution. Most of them are fully focussed on the shower of off-white sparks which envelop Windy and block her almost entirely from view. There are plenty of them – clearly she’s not going to have the same issues Fenrir did with not having enough Energy to do whatever the second Evolution requires. Over our Bond, I feel nothing but intense concentration.

  For a moment, I consider interrupting it – that could lead to a less-powerful Evolution and give me more chance of retaining control. I dismiss the thought the next instant, ashamed of myself. It wouldn’t even necessarily have beneficial effects anyway. It wouldn’t be guaranteed to interrupt her concentration enough to negatively affect her Evolution, and the attempt would just earn me even more ire than she already bears towards me. And even if it did succeed, how would damaging Windy’s Evolution actually help in the long run? It might mean that she continued to be under my control, but to what end? To be a weak Tier three?

  No, it’s unfortunate that she’s the first to Evolve, but I’ll just have to create some contingency plans. As I look around at the samurans, both River and Catch turn their heads to acknowledge my attention.

  Markus, what happens if Wind-whisperer emerges and is powerful enough to forcibly break the Bond? River asks in a message which is limited to the three of us, cutting to the heart of the matter.

  I was just wondering the same thing, I confirm grimly. What would the reaction be from the Warriors and other Pathwalkers? I ask in reply. They both send me uncertain wordless emotional responses.

  Pathwalker Wind-whisperer would probably call for a ranking fight, or at least challenge you, Catch ventures. If she beat you, that would be grounds enough to call for a full ranking fight.

  I think that Catch is right, seconds River with more certainty. And I think that that is likely to happen sooner rather than later.

  I nod, having concluded as much myself. However….

  In the original fight, I hamstrung myself by agreeing to only have one other Bound in the fight with me. But this time, what if I pulled in others?

  Do you mean non-People, or People? Catch questions me. Because if you intend to bring in other Pathwalkers or Warriors to face her….

  Yes? I encourage. They exchange glances and I sense an undercurrent of conversation going on between them which I don’t make the effort to listen in to.

  It would be put to a vote, River says finally. They might agree to it, considering everything you’ve done for the village. Part of the reason for why Wind-whisperer has been disgruntled lately is because she’s been finding fewer and fewer of our sisters willing to listen to her grumbling. Our other sisters might vote on something that all but guarantees your victory, simply because they do not want Wind-whisperer to be in charge, Tier three or not.

  It’s an interesting point, and one that I hadn’t considered. I was thinking that I’d have to essentially brute-force the whole thing since I’m not willing to have everything I’ve worked for be taken away by a grumpy Pathwalker who just hasn’t fully accepted the new way of life. But perhaps I’ve made more allies than I think.

  It would probably not be a good idea to involve Warriors, suggests Catch. To do so, even if very much within your right, would seem a little desperate. But if the other Pathwalkers stand with you, I suspect that even Windy will think twice about the challenge.

  Alright, good to know, thanks, I tell them both, feeling a little more settled. Ideally, I’ll be able to maintain the Bond which will prevent Windy from attacking me at all, if I don’t let her. But at least we have several contingency plans in place for if it doesn’t work that way.

  Right now there’s also something else I can do: level up.

  When choosing the stat points to level up, there’s only one real option. I’m most concerned about losing control of the Bond and there’s only one stat which will help me with that: Willpower.

  Fortunately, these days when I level up, I don’t produce any of that putrid stuff any more. I do sweat a bit, but that’s easy enough to clean out of my clothes with Flesh-Shaping. Besides, with all the fighting, there have been far worse things soaking into my clothes than just a bit of sweat.

  Levelling up to twenty also brings something else: my next Skill choice.

  I glance at Windy and Lathani, and see both of them still fully involved in their Evolution. Deciding that I have enough time to check the Skills out, I call up the screen.

  The Skills from my first ever choice are still there, and their benefits are even less advantageous now than they were. With my far-greater mana pool, either I’d end up vaporising my opponent or messing up the Skill if I took Stun. I’m slightly tempted to choose that, just to see what would happen, but dismiss the thought – there are far better options there.

  Track not being one of them, of course – my reasons for not choosing that one originally have just become more compelling as I’ve got more experienced and Bound more creatures. Why have a tracking Skill when I can just lean on Sirocco’s eyes or Fenrir’s nose to find what I’m searching for? And that’s disregarding Inspect which is like Track on steroids.

  Bond Eyes and Bond Ears remain useful, but a waste of Skill points – I’ve worked out how to do it already for myself. Bond Puppet also remains interesting, but not with my style of managing Bound – each of them playing their individual parts works far better than me trying to become a puppet master. And I’m not interested in pulling back more from the front lines than I already have.

  Which leaves the three new choices as my best options for this particular round. And a thought-provoking choice it is. All three have their advantages and disadvantages. I need to work out which is most valuable for me and my general style of strategy.

  Sympathetic Bond is valid for both Tame and Dominate Bonds – an advantage. It primarily allows me to use my Bound’s special Abilities like Bastet’s Fire Breath or Sirocco’s Change Size. I wonder whether it would work on the Pathwalkers’ Abilities too – it seems likely. The downside is that it’s only, it seems, when they are also using the Ability.

  And though it’s possible that they could use mine in time, it doesn’t start with that benefit. Plus, the indication of use being contingent on resources and intellectual capacity indicates that this is no cheat Skill. However, I can see it being pretty powerful if I had one or two powerful companions who attacked an enemy with me – we’d be able to enhance and multiply each other’s attacks. Imagine if both Yells and I could enhance an attack from, say Dusty. It’s certainly a strong and enticing option; whether it’s a good Skill for me, however, is another question.

  Just the name of Parasitic Bond makes me inclined to reject it. I easily recall the parasites I pulled out of several Pathwalkers – I have no intention of becoming like one of those. However, I look at the description anyway, and find myself more tempted than I thought I would be.

  The advantage of this one is that it applies to both special abilities and physical characteristics. I have to guess that this might be like Bastet’s or Sirocco’s wings, or Fenrir’s venomous teeth. However, there are two major disadvantages to it. First, that it only applies to Dominate Bound; second, that by using the physical characteristic of one of my Bound, they are robbed of it. Does that mean that if I grew Bastet’s wings or Fenrir’s teeth that they would lose the characteristics entirely, or just be unable to use them somehow? And what if I took their ability to breathe? Or to eat? Or to see? Even just taking their teeth or claws would risk them not being able to protect themselves in a fight.

  I can definitely see why these two Skills are named the way they are – in many ways, they’re opposites. One is about working in partnership; the other is about selfish benefit.

  The third is quite different. Transformation only applies to physical characteristics, but is a mimicking rather than a borrowing, unlike Parasitic Bond. The thing that makes me more than a little excited about this one is that it ‘synergises’ with any other transformation magic I already possess. While it gives the example of Earth-Shaping, it’s more the question of how it synergises with Flesh-Shaping that interests me.

  Although I’ve played around a bit with the ways Flesh-Shaping can affect my body and potentially give me advantages, I’ve never done anything too extreme, worried about what might happen if I get it wrong and then can’t turn it back to the way it was. But if I have an actual Skill showing me the way….?

  I hesitate for another moment between Symbiotic Bond and Transformation. Then, deciding to trust my gut feel, I pick the latter. My Bound already benefit from each others’ special abilities with the daily perk from Tame. This time, I want to see if I can benefit myself a little.

  Opening my notifications, I’m reminded of something else exciting when I see the message waiting for me.

  I can’t help it – as I close the message, I pump my fist into the air with excitement. Lava magic? How cool is that?! And my Fire Affinity actually helps with it a bit too! Though, considering how much I was struggling with mana-consumption if the affinity reduces the mana required, exactly how heavy is this ability normally?

  I pull up my status screen just to see how it’s all looking post-level up.

  The two new Skills are there, and I’ve made some progress in some of my other Skills, most notably Fire-Shaping which is now halfway through the Initiate ranks. I also note that the Energy for my debt has gone up by three percent – a profitable kill for sure.

  Most importantly, my Willpower is close to reaching three digits, thanks to my recent level up and the bonuses to it I get. As I close my screen and eye the ball of off-white sparks whirling around Windy, I can only grimly hope that it will be enough.

  here!

  here!

  here