Outside Quartz City

  “I see.” Kallie analyzed the situation. What was supposed to be a routine inspection of the anchors holding the isnd had become something more.

  “I don’t know whether to call you lucky or not,” she hummed, seeing the trio in a snowy field, their blood staining the pristine white snow.

  The Thunderbird screeched, unleashing a lightning bst. It surged toward Kallie, but with a gentle tap of her staff, the lightning bent around her.

  With a tug of her mana, she lifted their bodies, bringing them over to her. Then she pulled out glowing red healing potions, opening each one and dripping the liquid onto their wounds.

  The potion glowed, spreading across their bodies, closing their bleeding wounds and fixing their burns and cuts.

  Kallie split her attention between them and the monster in front of her, scrutinizing it.

  “Oh? A monster Monster Tamer. I’ve never encountered one before. Considering you’re alone, you either have no tames, or you came here alone and would’ve won and consumed them if I hadn’t been passing by.”

  ‘It never even used its mana to fight them… That’ll be crushing for them to realize, but there are much stronger monsters out there than this simple thing,’ Kallie thought.

  The Thunderbird flew back, a ripple of mana shooting throughout the area. From the isnd descended two other elemental birds: an Ice-eagle and a Fmeraven.

  “I wonder why you went after them… You don’t usually attack weaker monsters in your territory,” Kallie mused, gncing at Martyn with an appraising eye, then Jade, and finally stopping at Amber. Everything clicked.

  “Well, this all makes sense then. Dragon-reted things tend to aggravate a titan-touched beast. Amber unknowingly became a beacon for anything smart enough to notice—and you noticed,” she said to the Thunderbird, who gred at her.

  ‘They’re not slowing down… Oh, I’ve heard of this before!’ She smiled as the two birds collided with the Thunderbird, causing a massive explosion.

  Once the fshing light died down, what stood flying was a three-headed monster bird the size of a wyvern. A blizzard picked up around them, and a dome of lightning emerged, encasing the area.

  “Fusion—an advanced skill that only appears after one’s bond skill surpasses level 5,” she said, looking at the group of floating bodies.

  ‘They never stood a chance.’

  The fusion roared before firing elemental beams at Kallie. With focus, she aimed her staff at the monster and spoke, “Fall.”

  The beams fell to the ground, exploding. The fusion shrieked, its body crashing to the ground and forming a crater, unable to stand.

  “I could kill you easily. Even on the isnd, your cores would be useful in making more golems for the kingdom, considering their shrinking numbers. But I’m not your opponent—they are. So you should at least be smart enough to realize when you’re about to die and when you’ve been spared. Run.”

  She released her spell, and the fusion monster bird shrieked, flying back up to the isnd. Kallie sighed. With Martyn, Jade, and Amber right next to her, she teleported away from the field.

  Quartz City Hospital

  It had been a day since the event. Martyn groaned, waking up. It took a second for everything to fsh through his mind.

  “Ha!” he gasped, sitting up.

  “Welcome back to the world of the living,” a familiar voice spoke.

  In the corner of the room sat Joseph. The red-haired man stood up with a frown, seeing Martyn’s frantic face. Joseph pulled out a scroll and wrote on it before putting it away.

  “I… Where’s Jade? And Amber?” Martyn asked, shaking his head.

  “Well, I’m fine, thanks for asking—even though you gave me a heart attack after finding out the state you were in. Jade is fine; she’s recovering. Amber’s healthy, but she’s in a state of shock. Something you won’t know is that there’s a difference in the bond between being unconscious and being asleep. While asleep, you still get access to the other through feelings, but not when you’re unconscious. Given all that’s happened, she probably needs some support.”

  “I… okay, I need to—Oof!” Martyn winced.

  “Yeah, you took a lot of damage. A greater healing potion wasn’t enough. I helped, but you’ll need time to physically recover. You’ve been out for only a day, in case you wanted to know.”

  “Why do I still hurt when you helped heal me?”

  “Because you need to learn that this world is bigger than this city, and pain is a great teacher. You need to get stronger faster if you want to live the kind of life you want—especially when you’re pnning to live on a floating isnd,” Joseph said, staring down at him.

  Martyn froze, his panther ears perking up. “How?”

  “Did I know? News travels fast when my responsibility is the only space mage, Monster Tamer. I doubt you’re aware of anyone following you, but someone has to be if I found out through my contacts. A floating isnd makes you an easy target—not just for monsters, but certain people who’d want you, like an assassin organization, for example.”

  That brought back another pair of unsavoury memories. Martyn stayed silent, clutching the sheets, while Joseph stood there, staring at him.

  ‘Come on. Get back up, get stronger. I need you too, please.’ Joseph’s face was calm as he watched Martyn. He’d seen many adventurers—young ones in his pce—face a normal outing turned into something unimaginable, facing a threat beyond them.

  The result ended in three ways: they’d give up, the reality of meeting death being too much; they’d try and bounce back, only to fail; or they’d come back stronger.

  Joseph had pns for Martyn and put a lot of hope into him.

  Martyn let out a sigh.

  ‘Damn it all…’ His mind whirred, and various things came to mind: Damien, Derek, the assassins, and the Thunderbird. Part of him knew more was coming his way after hearing Joseph. It was only natural. And if someone was watching him then it had to be another space mage.

  That thought made him recall that one time he picked up something through his spatial awareness near the dungeon.

  As his mind spun, various thoughts and ideas came to mind. He knew what he had to do.

  “We need to get stronger,” Martyn said, sitting up and stepping out of bed.

  “Good. And how are you going to do that?” Joseph asked, his shoulders rexing a little.

  “I have a pn,” Martyn stared him down with unshaken determination.

  “Good, because I’m going to make use of our deal. So get as strong as you can, all of you. You can only call yourself strong if you can mop the floor with that monster with moderate difficulty,” Joseph said as they stepped out of the ward.

  “It’s not dead?” Martyn asked.

  “No. Kallie, the one who rescued you, left it for you as a rite of passage. I’ll leave you to reunite with them; I’ve got business to take care of. Oh, and happy birthday. I don’t have a gift for you—I’m sorry—but I think you’ll be fine.”

  Martyn thanked him, watching him leave.

  ‘I forgot when my birthday was,’ he thought, focusing on his spatial awareness to find the girls. First, he went to open Jade’s room. As soon as the doors opened, she leapt onto him, hugging him tightly.

  Her body shook, and he felt her tears drop as she whimpered, choking between her words, “Y-you’re okay!”

  “I…” Martyn kept himself together, hugging her back tightly. “Yeah. I’m okay. I love you.” He walked into the room, closing it with his tail.

  “I love you more,” Jade nuzzled into him deeply, taking deep whiffs of Martyn’s scent. They stood like this for a while, Martyn also basking in her comfort.

  After a while, they separated, kissing each other tenderly. With deep breaths, they parted but still held each other’s hands. They left the room, moving over to Amber’s, but when they went to open the door, it was shut.

  “Amber?” Martyn called out. He unlocked it and opened it but felt her pushing back.

  “Martyn?” Her voice was soft and shaky.

  “Amber, let us in,” Martyn pushed the door.

  “No!” a desperate shout came back, and the doors closed shut. “Please, just not yet. I can’t face you.”

  ‘Seriously,’ Martyn wasn’t going to have this. With Jade’s help, they pushed the door open and walked in.

  Amber stepped back, her eyes glued to the floor. It didn’t take a genius to realize she had been crying. Martyn felt it through the bond—shame, regret, and relief.

  “Amber, look at me,” Martyn stepped up to her.

  Amber stepped back, not wanting to answer. “I’m sorry.”

  Jade followed Martyn, and together they cornered Amber, who was on the verge of tears. “We almost died because of me.”

  “Amber, that’s enough. None of us could have known the future.”

  Amber stayed silent. She summoned her status in front of Martyn. He was confused at first before reading her title and the bloodline growing within her. Everything made sense.

  “Did you know?” Martyn asked Jade.

  “Yes,” Jade nodded.

  “Since when?” His voice was low as his mind spun.

  Amber shook in pce. Despite her new form, she was still the same and didn’t want to upset Martyn. But she felt the pang of frustration from their bond and told him everything: what her pn was, why she didn’t tell him, and why Jade had nothing to do with it. And she waited.

  Whatever he said, she’d accept. If he was angry and didn’t want to talk to her.

  “You are amazing.”

  ‘What?’ Amber looked at him in surprise, and Martyn gave her a quick kiss before hugging her. Yes, he was upset, but it had happened, and nothing could be done.

  Amber choked, “Why?” she shook before wrapping her arms around him, pulling Jade in as well.

  “Because you made a mistake, you apologized, and you’re amazing. Because I love you, and you’re an idiot for thinking I’d hate you so much. Don’t get me wrong—I am mad, and you need to be punished—but I’m more happy that you’re alive,” Martyn said.

  Amber’s tail swished back and forth slowly, happy. She felt everything—his warmth, his certainty through the bond—and they stayed like that for a moment.

  “But I think this is a lesson for us all. We need to get stronger—much stronger than before.” Much to her reluctance, Martyn pulled back.

  They walked to the bed and sat down. “That title of yours changes a lot of things for us—mostly my pn.”

  Martyn went on to expin that Kallie had saved them but let the Thunderbird live, which made Amber shudder even more when he mentioned his goal to go back up there and kill it. No one argued; they understood what it meant.

  “So how are we going to move forward? Should I eat the st bit of dragon meat and evolve?” Amber asked.

  “No. I have a pn that, if we do it right, will make us much stronger than people our level should be. We’re going to abuse everything we know and have learned,” Martyn said with a confident smile.

  He id out his pns for the st two months of the year—a pn that would abuse the system, their abilities, and Amber’s evolution.

  As he id things out, Jade jumped out of bed. “Oh! Amber, we forgot!”

  The Kobold girl cutely tilted her head. “Forgot what?”

  It took a moment before she realized. “Ah!” Quickly, they both pulled out boxes from the inventory.

  “Happy birthday!” They cheered.

  “Our pn was ruined; we had this whole thing for you,” Jade said. “But we still brought gifts.”

  Martyn took the boxes, his smile wavering slightly. “I… thank you.” He looked at them with sincerity. He opened Jade’s gift—it was a ball.

  Curious, he poured some mana inside it, and a colge of pictures of the time they spent together appeared: snowball fights, dinner, going out, and even shopping. There was more stuff in there—a heart-shaped neckce and a letter thanking and loving him for everything. But what hit home was a sentence.

  “Thank you for choosing me and making me a part of your family.” He read it aloud and choked halfway through before, turning to Jade with a loving smile.

  “Thank you, Jade. Right, yours?”

  He opened up Amber’s gift next. A ring instead of a neckce, a card that said “I love you, more than life itself.” and a jar of cookies.

  “I made those myself. I had Lisa teach me how to bake. With all the amazing food you make for us, I just wanted to give something back. Oh, it’s an enchanted jar, so there are more cookies in there than it looks. I had Donald help me with that.”

  Martyn smiled and took a bite of the cookie. It was sweet with a chocote centre, and as he enjoyed it, his mind wandered.

  Amber and Jade froze, feeling sadness and joy through their bond.

  “I… thank you for everything. You already know I’m an orphan, but uh, something I never told you,” he said, putting the gifts aside, “is that I was dropped off on my birthday. I never really celebrated after I came here because it always made me think why.”

  His eyes stayed down, not wanting to meet theirs. His ears flopped slightly. “I’m so grateful,” he chuckled. “You guys have no idea.”

  The girls hugged Martyn tightly, pushing him down onto the bed. “It’s okay,” Amber said, combing his hair.

  “We’re here for you,” Jade said.

  Martyn nodded, sinking into their warmth. He had run out of tears a long time ago, so he just enjoyed their presence—physically and mentally. It was hard to only think about loving them when they were in thin medical gowns, but he didn’t act on it.

  After a while, they sat up and he went on to expin his pn.

  For the next two months, they would do nothing but intense training. With the use of gravity magic, they were bound to increase some of their attributes. They would also abstain from increasing their Arcana, except for Amber.

  After two months. Entering the new year, Amber would be the first to level up, improving her attributes. Right after that, she would evolve into a Leviathan-kin, which would increase her Arcana tremendously, pushing them into the realm of the strong.

  “How high do our attributes need to be for us to be regarded as strong? Outside of skills and abilities, of course,” Jade asked.

  Martyn quickly listed what he recalled to be the world’s system of assigning ranks to powers:

  41–60: Dangerous to Lethal Threats [C] – Often regarded as the tipping point, with 50 being the benchmark.

  61–80: Lethal to Devastating Threats [B] – A requirement for knight commanders and captains is to be in this rank.

  81–100: Devastating to Divine Threats [A] – Most are below 90, but beyond that, one is comparable to lesser divines and celestial beasts.

  “Our goal is to reach peak C or low B rank levels of power,” Martyn said.

  Amber and Jade nodded as he went on to continue his pn.

  All of that work would bring Amber’s Arcana to an insane level. With their dual cultivation—Martyn and Jade would increase their Arcana drastically, giving the desired effect of increasing their other attributes.

  Once they reached Amber’s level of Arcana, Jade would evolve, increasing her Arcana even further, which Martyn and Amber would benefit from. Finally, Martyn would be the st to level up. Allowing both to benefit from him.

  This method was excessive. Just by lowballing the gains and improvements, they would reach the limit of C rank by level 3. That’s what Martyn estimated.

  But he was wrong. This would be much greater, accounting for things he hadn’t considered—things that would change their dynamic.

  Muddy Boots Inn

  Walking into the inn, Martyn was met with a surprise: cakes, balloons, and celebrations hung in the air.

  “What?” he said in surprise.

  “See, I told you they were with him,” Lisa said to Liz, Axek, and Cory.

  “Did you know about this?” Martyn asked the girls, who giggled with a smile.

  “Happy birthday, mate,” Cory said, dabbing Martyn up.

  “I brought a gift,” Axel said, handing Martyn a wooden sculpture of a gryphon. “Made it while training in the forest,” the hunter said with a small smile.

  “That’s fucking amazing,” Martyn said, turning the sculpture around.

  “I didn’t bring anything… fuck,” Cory said.

  “That’s fine,” Martyn shrugged.

  Lisa and Liz came to wish him a happy birthday, and their small celebration began. The rest of the day was spent pying board games and arm wrestling, which Cory was confident in—only to be beaten by Amber.

  “What the fuck,” he couldn’t believe he lost. Then he did a double take on Amber. “Wait a minute, you look different!”

  “She evolved, idiot,” Liz said, rolling her eyes. “You weren’t going to win,” she smiled as Axel handed her some coins.

  Then it came to Martyn and Amber, and she happily let him win.

  “This game is rigged.”

  “Just get good,” Jade smirked and Liz chuckled at Axel’s pouting face.

  Then came the drinking competition, which Liz and Lisa stayed away from. Martyn came first, then Axel—surprisingly—followed by Cory, Amber, and Jade.

  Martyn smashed mugs with Axel, becoming drinking buddies.

  The party continued for a while and, after some time, ended naturally with the fall of night. They said their goodbyes and left promising to adventure sometime in the future. Liz, with a wave of her hand, magically cleaned the area.

  “Hope you had a bst,” she smiled.

  With a ugh, Martyn nodded. “Yeah, I did. Thank you.”

  “No, don’t thank me—thank them. They pnned all of this,” Liz said with a chuckle, pointing to the drunk Jade and Amber.

  “Martyn~ I want you to hold me!” Jade whined.

  “Yeah, I will,” Martyn went over and picked her up. The goblin girl giggled, kicking her feet.

  “Now kiss me,” she ordered. With a roll of his eyes, he happily obliged. “More,” she demanded, and he kissed her again.

  “What about me?” Amber came from the side, tipsy but able to walk. She poked him on the cheek and smiled, giving him a peck on the lips.

  Together, they went to bed. Martyn gently id Jade down, and Amber wrapped her arms around him.

  “I don’t deserve you,” Amber said with flushed cheeks, nuzzling him. “You’re too kind to me. I made a mistake and got us hurt. Please remember to punish me, okay? I won’t feel right if you don’t,” she said.

  “Don’t worry, I will,” Martyn said, combing her hair.

  Amber let out a cute purr before gasping. “Oh! I have a secret, but you can’t tell Martyn! Promise me!”

  ‘Oh?’ He nodded.

  With a flushed face and a cheeky grin, Amber whispered something into Martyn’s ear—something that made the Panther-kin smile. After that, she fell asleep in Martyn’s arms, with a happy smile he went to bed with the two at his side.

  LesserCodex

  [Martyn, Level 2 (2,301/2,700), Css: Monster Tamer, Points: 0, Titles: 5, Skills: 18]? [Mana: 960/960] [Strength: 33] [Agility: 32] [Vitality: 34] [Arcana: 40] [Psyche: 34]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (4) Agility (6) Muscurity (4) Swordsmanship (4) Basic Magic (5) Strong Mind (6) Soulbond (3) Monsterous Talent (3) Biology (3) Appraisal (3) Cooking (4) Fast Healing (2) Spatial Awareness (4) Inventory (4) Extrasensory (2) Space magic (3) Iron gut (1) Tinkering (1)]

  Titles: (C) Adventurer, Bookworm, Space Mage, Sage, Breacher.

  [Amber, Level 2 (2,302/2,700), Css: Knight, Points: 0, Titles: 5, Skills: 9]? [Mana: 984/984] [Strength: 38] [Agility: 36] [Vitality: 36] [Arcana: 41] [Psyche: 38]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (4) Tough Scales (5) Fast Healing (4) Spear and Shield Mastery (4) Focused Mind (3) Water Magic (4) Linguistic (4) Physicality (3) Extrasensory (4)]

  Titles: Leviathan Descent (71%), Bonded, (C) Adventurer, Water Mage, Monster Girl.

  [Jade, Level 2 (2,300/2,700), Css: Bcksmith, Points: 0, Title: 4 Skills: 7]? [Mana: 1,000/1,000] [Strength: 33] [Agility: 31] [Vitality: 32] [Arcana: 40] [Psyche: 31]

  ? [Skills: Mana Veins (5) Tough Body (4) Iron Gut (5) Tinkering (3) Archery (2) Enchantment (2) Fire Magic (3)]

  Titles: Artisan, Bonded, (C) rank adventurer, Fire mage.

  [colpse]