Three loaves of bread and a spattering of curses as dense as any cloud of flour, Myles felt he was making good progress towards unlocking the Mana Efficiency Trait. He could already feel the drain lessening as he focused on using his Glutenmancy to support the ball of dough above his hand. He really was getting better and kept it from falling even when Kendra ‘accidentally’ dropped a pot onto the kitchen floor. Accidentally being a completely wrong term for what the woman did. Kendra consistently banged two pans together whenever Myles was deep in concentration in an attempt to extort more food from him.

Myles couldn’t blame her too much, but it was starting to be a bit annoying.

Will simply laughed, enjoying the effort both of them put into everything.

“It’s actually going to help,” he promised Myles. “Blocking out distractions is harder than you think.”

No. No, Myles knew how much it helped, but that didn’t mean he wanted to give up everything for Kendra and Will’s hunger. He would if he had to, but that didn’t mean he wanted to. Doughnut could only regenerate so much, and he was already attached to the little slime ball.

Together, the three left the home and went to get Lyna. After a round of knocking, then more vigorous knocking, then Kendra screaming for Lyna at the open window, there was no answer. They weren’t late by any means, so that meant one thing.

“She has no patience,” Myles sighed more to himself than to the group at large.

“No, but she’d kill for you,” Will said.

“She has,” Kendra reminded them both. “Her more than most, I think.”

“She really does like her work,” Myles laughed.

It was only a little longer before they reached the crossroads and turned down the road heading to the ruins and the more spacious area of Runner’s Plaza. Near the highpoint of the day, most of the other Runners were out on their hunts, diving dungeons, or running their shops. The rhythm of the grand dungeon had long since hit its stride by the tenth day, and it seemed the small group was one of the few outliers.

No one seemed to mind as they lingered, checked the board for any updates of which there were none, and then continued down the path, making small talk along the way. Kendra was surprisingly talkative compared to most days but stayed away from the topics Myles was more interested in. She talked so little of what she did before now, but she did talk about her family quite a bit.

“My older brother was an asshole,” Kendra began, continuing a conversation she and Myles had started yesterday. “Always picking on my little brother and blaming him for everything.”

“Really?” Though Myles had heard her talk quite a bit about her pompous older brother when she kept his attention split the other day. He already knew that Palmer Kessa was apparently some [Merchant] in Elli that dealt with highly empowered magical items… and wouldn’t give his family the time of day now that he was rich.

Kendra nodded, filling in the silence of their trip with the new story. “He kept pretending to be a monster under my bed when I was little before Sierra was born.” A grin crossed her lips as she continued. “I got him back though. The last time he did it, I filled a bag with ember pepper dust I got from the [Alchemist], threw it under the bed, and ran.”

Myles cringed as she laughed. He knew about ember peppers all too well thanks to his Taste Test training.

Recipe Recalled:

Blazing Isles Hot Sauce

Regional Dish - The Isles of Endless Sun

Serving of Two Cups (Recommended as 85 Servings)

Ingredients Needed - Ten ember peppers, four cloves of garlic, a leaf of basil, Salt to taste, Vinegar

Warning - Preparation should be done with ventilation, gloves, and a mask

He loved the spice, but he wouldn’t wish ember peppers on anyone that wasn’t prepared for them. Sure, powered ember peppers were a key ingredient in burning bread and a few other specialized regional dishes, but it was measured, mingled with other flavors, and handled properly. Seeing as it was also the main ingredient in most non-magical combat deterrents. It wasn’t that easy to get either. By the Pantheon, how had she not lost her lungs with a loose bag of the stuff?

She gave him a devious smile and began telling another tale of intrigue and revenge as they passed the home of the Warriors Three. Myles gave the home another look, not seeing the three on the porch as he had that first day. He was tempted to go knock and check on them before Kendra cleared her throat.

“Friend of yours?”

“They’re from the southern Kess, and I wouldn’t call us friends, not yet. They’re just fellow Runners.”

“We’re either friends or foes here,” Will reminded him. “If they’re willing to help us, why don’t you go see if they’re in. The more the merrier when we’re trying not to die.”

“We’re not jealous,” Kendra assured him as she made a shooing motion towards the house. “Go ask them, it’s not like they don’t have the same job we do.”

She wasn’t wrong, and that made it all the harder to swallow his fear and approach the house. Out of sheer habit, he took the entire place in. It wasn’t all that different from any of their homes with the exception of Myles. It was a bit wider, a bit taller, and had a massive front porch rather than a back one like Kendra had. The color was a bit different too and seemed to be built from clay rather than the stone of the others. Myles realized he was stalling, but he couldn’t help but surprise himself with the details he noticed now.

He hadn’t even noticed he stopped before Kendra urged him on. “We're waiting, Myles.”

He cursed and walked up the stairs to knock on the door.

The knock boomed against the frame as Myles hit it with more force than he intended. The shock sent tingles through his nerves as he waited for a reply and knocked again. He thought he heard someone rummaging about inside, but after a few more minutes, nobody answered his knock. Myles knocked a final time, calling out for the three to answer as the last resort, but his efforts were in vain. If he wanted to check on the group, he’d have to come back later or go ask Sindra.

That name seemed to be a magnet for Ashra’s attention.

“We will not ask Sindra for anything we do not have to,” Ashra’s voice echoed across the connection.

Myles sighed.

He understood why Ashra didn’t like her, but it wasn’t hard for him to see the reasoning she had once he looked at everything objectively. Thinking in the long term really put everything into perspective. This was life now.

Maybe that and the absent Warriors Three was why he couldn’t help feeling a knot in his chest as he tried to relax.

Distracted, Myles retreated down the steps and rejoined Kendra and Will on the way back to his home. The sympathetic look he got from Will felt almost as bad as the stress, even if he didn’t say anything.

Kendra had no problem filling the silence with more stories as they walked. Myles was beginning to think it was how she dealt with discomfort when she started into a story about her original Class, one that surprised Myles.

“Is it that unbelievable?” she asked Myles, who had stopped dead in his tracks in surprise.

“Yes.”

Will laughed gently. “You can’t blame him for not believing you, Kendra.”

Kendra's face fell a bit as she turned to face the two. “What’s so hard about believing I was a [Mechanist]?” she accused. “Magitech is fascinating stuff, and I liked working with the gears and crystals that made the world run. Is it really that much different than where you were, Mr. Son-of-a-[Royal Baker]?”

Myles’s face fell slightly. He knew exactly what that felt like to be in that position. To like something, but to no longer be in love with it. “It just didn’t fit you, did it?”

The [Berserker] nodded. “I loved it, but when the work started coming in, it was just working then, you know? It just…”

“Wasn’t you?” Myles finished as she faltered. Kendra nodded. “Yeah, I know what that’s like.”

She remembered his story well enough it seemed. “I remember you saying your dad nearly disowned you for that.”

Myles winced slightly, but his feet never missed a step as he continued. “I’m glad he got over it before I left.”

Kendra stiffened slightly. Normally, Myles would have missed the tells of stress, but he caught her eyes water, her muscles tense, and… something else Myles couldn’t explain as anything else but scent on the breeze. Kendra didn’t miss it either and turned away, back towards the farmhouse, and didn’t miss a beat as she said, “Come on, we should get there before Lyna destroys the place.”

Myles was about to say something before Will stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head and waited a few moments until Kendra was out of earshot. “She won’t talk about it yet,” he said simply. “Not even with me.”

The [Monster Tamer] stared at the wizened man. That off-handed comment was the last ingredient he needed to break his silence.

“Who are you to her, really?” Myles finally asked. “You live together, your Classes complement each other too well to be by chance, and she seemed to trust you completely from day one. It’s not chance you two met, is it?”

Will just smiled sadly, waiting until Kendra was far enough away before he replied. “A grandfather’s got to look out for his granddaughter.”

***

If you are reading Shardking on any site other than Royal Road, the story is scalped/stolen. Please support the work on Royal Road or on Amazon.

***

Myles didn’t press Will for more. Whatever happened between him, Kendra’s father, and her wasn’t his business even if he felt the need to help. He was her friend and her team leader, not her family. Will seemed to appreciate that and spoke little more as they approached.

Of course, Lyna was there already, impatiently trying to swipe at Squishy. For its part, Squishy dodged easily as Lyna’s heavy maces tried to pummel it. As if sensing Myles’s approach, Squishy began to pick up the pace of its dodges.

“Stand still, you little…”

“Squishy does not stand,” Ashra said simply, smirking in her own way as she tilted her head slightly to the left.

Lyna stopped her attack to glare at the Monsterkin, and Squishy capitalized. In a fluid movement like an avalanche crashing down a mountainside, it swept up Lyna’s legs, binding them together, and pushing off the floor and into the air taking her balance with it. A moment later, Lyna came crashing down to the ground with a resounding thud.

Myles clapped as Kendra and Will winced. From the ground in front of a bouncing Squishy, Lyna glared. For his part, Myles didn’t mind, and he continued clapping a little longer and a little slower than he should have. A finger was raised in anger, and Myles only snickered.

“Why aren’t you fighting with that thing?” Lyna asked as she tried to free her legs fruitlessly.

Myles commanded Squishy to return to him, and in an instant, the Halfling was free as the happy slime returned to its master like a proud dog. “Squishy is almost ready,” Myles explained as he walked through his plans for the slime to the nods of those around him.

By the time he had finished, Squishy was back around his chest, purring like a kitten as Lyna began to approach the situation as only Lyna would.

“You need to get me a Squishy.”

“Lyna, Squishy isn’t just some weapon. I bred it for this.” Myles had no intention to explain that this was an experiment rather than a plan, but it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Lyna persisted as she stared him down.

“Need, Myles. Need, not want. I need a weapon like that. I could shed so much weight if I had a metamorphic weapon like Squishy.”

As true as that was… “I’m not giving you my monster.”

“It doesn’t have to be Squishy. Couldn't you just breed more of them?”

Myles stopped as surely as if Squishy had bound him. Could he make more kinetic iron slimes for his team to use? Had Squishy been a lucky fluke? Could they even bond with the slimes as he had without the empathic link of a [Monster Tamer]? With a thought, he called out to the Support Team.

Testing needed to be done.

“I have an idea,” he explained looking seriously at Lyna. Then, Myles came to his senses, shook his head, and began looking expectantly at Kendra and Will. “I need a few volunteers.”

***

“This is the strangest thing I think I’ve ever done,” Kendra said as Medic spread out over her skin, moving from her extended arm to slip under her armor and across her body. Medic was spreading like a skintight shirt as it appeared to move out from her neck. It covered just enough to appear like a second, reddish skin as Kendra practically whimpered. The core slipped somewhere under her armor as she whined. “It’s cold!”

“Huh. Cold. Noted.”

“Noted?”

“Yes, noted. Now, quit whining,” Myles said, notebook out and writing out the details for his newest scheme. His notes were less than generous but kept track of their reactions well enough. The cold sensation among them was the strangest. To him, the slimes felt lukewarm. Squishy was strictly warm to the touch as well. He’d have to try binding each slime to each member of the party to see if the sensation changed based on Class, gender, and age. Just another note that made the list. “At least Medic isn’t actually wet. At least, not when I’ve harvested its mass. It’s more like gelatin.”

Kendra continued to complain, but it was much quieter about it now as she mumbled about not wanting slime in places it shouldn’t be. True to form, he was sure he heard a few curses come his way more than once.

Will was in the same pan it seemed as he shivered slightly. Topoff repeated the actions of its sibling and wrapped around the older man’s chest. Without armor, Myles could mark the progress his slime made as it ruffled the fabric of the shirt before the core moved to his back and the slime mass become Will’s second, pale blue skin.

Myles figured having his two supporters act as clothing would be a good way to keep them safe and constantly applying help as needed. Topoff’s aura would benefit Will the most while Kendra was constantly on the attack on the front line. Medic wouldn’t heal as fast as Will would, but it didn’t hurt to support his team that little bit more. He wanted to try using Squishy with Ashra, but she was firmly against the idea of leaving the little slime on the sidelines since he didn’t trust Lyna with that kind of power yet.

Then, something happened that he hadn’t expected:

Medic has bonded to Kendra Kessa.

Kendra Kessa and Medic have gained the Status Effect - Symbiosis.

Topoff has bonded to Will Rigs.

Will Rigs and Topoff have gained the Status Effect - Symbiosis.

Monster Training Attempt Successful!

A new Trait has been unlocked for your current and future compatible monsters via the Monster Husbandry Subskill.

Topoff has learned the Trait - Symbiote.

Medic has learned the Trait - Symbiote.

Squishy has learned the Trait - Symbiote.

Symbiote

Trait Type: Passive - Monster

Stage 1

Cost: None

Success Determination: Essence Bond, Loyalty to Tamer, Willingness, Species, Power Level

Effect: Your monsters have taken on a new level of flexibility and can now impart part of their abilities to an individual host of your choice. Once bonded to the monster properly, the individual and the slime gain the Symbiosis status. Symbiotes will stay bonded to their host until they have exhausted their natural limits or ordered by their master to separate.

Separation from a symbiote can result in accelerated fatigue for a period of time equal to the time bonded divided by up to half based on the species bonded.

Restrictions: A creature may only be bonded to a single Symbiote at a time. A bonded symbiote cannot act of its own will and is reliant upon its host, but it will resist actions taken to harm its master. If a symbiote becomes malnourished or mistreated, it may separate from its host. In this case, the host will be marked with the Unfit Host status until amends are made.

Status Effect - Symbiosis

Effect: All Attributes, Resources, Elemental Alignments, Status Effects, and traits are shared between the Symbiote and the host at a one-half per attribute point.

Status effect - Unfit Host

Effect: A symbiote has marked you as unfit. You cannot form a symbiosis with any monster, tamed or not, of that species for X days equal to the perceived severity of the transgression by the symbiote or until amends are made with the monster and its [Monster Tamer]

“Check your interfaces!” Myles grinned, having to keep himself from getting too excited.

He noted that as they did this time, he could see a faint outline of the interfaces. He couldn’t read it like he could his own, but he could see it now. A moment later, two interfaces opened for him to view.

Name: Topoff

Age: Stage 2

Sex: None

Race: Slime (Aethereal Regeneration)

Patron: none

Primary Class:

Aethereal Regeneration Slime

Novice

Brawn: 6

Dexterity: 7

Will: 14

Influence: 8

Soul Energy: 0/40

Mana: 0/60

Elemental Alignment: Energy

Skills:

Mana Meld

Traits:

Symbiote

Mana Regeneration Aura

Slime Regeneration

Core Soul

Soul Link: {Myles Chase)

Status: Symbiote - Stage 1

Name: Medic

Age: Stage 2

Sex: None

Race: Slime (Heal)

Patron: none

Primary Class:

Heal Slime

Novice

Brawn: 10

Dexterity: 9

Will: 9

Influence: 10

Soul Energy: 0/80

Elemental Alignment:

Skills:

Minor Heal

Traits:

Symbiote

Slime Regeneration

Core Soul

Soul Link: {Myles Chase)

Status: Symbiote - Stage 1

That meant…

“I have almost thirty in body now!” Kendra cheered. “And I have a halted, passive health regeneration. Whatever that means…”

“Nearly three hundred mana points,” Will said cautiously, “and it’s regenerating faster than I thought possible.”

Myles continued to grin. Oh, he had work to do later, but what did the stages mean? There wasn’t anything about it in the ability description. Focusing on the status also came up empty. It was something to look into later.

For now, he had other problems to deal with. Lyna was looking at Squishy, and in turn Myles, like an animal that hadn’t eaten in days. It was just a bit disconcerting.

“Myles…”

Myles looked to Lyna. She had been the one to give him the idea. It was only fair to give her a chance after dismissing her now that he knew it worked, wasn’t it? With a confident feeling from Squishy, Myles sighed and began reaching for Lyna before Ashra interrupted him.

“I would like to try,” the Monsterkin said. Myles eyed her suspiciously, but he couldn’t feel any deception in her words. “You did want us to work together.”

He felt more comfortable with Ashra having access to Squishy’s strength than Lyna at that moment, more for its own safety than the party at large. Ashra would protect Squishy as well as utilize it without the chance of danger.

“If you’re sure…”

“I am.”

Myles smiled to Ashra, responding across the link. Thanks.

“I would not want to see what would happen with that combination either.”

Lyna groaned, but Myles had already turned from her and held out his hand to the Monsterkin.

“I get the next slime.”

Myles gave her a noncommittal sigh, and Ashra grasped the extended hand in the way another Runner would at the forearm. For Myles, that made it feel strange. He couldn’t remember the last time Ashra had been so casual with touch, but she was acting more like a Runner, like a Beastkin, every day. Squishy had no hesitation as it flowed down his arm and onto Ashra. She didn’t flinch as she took the hand away, and Squishy spread over her exposed arms as its core moved to her back.

The reaction was even faster than it had been with the two other Runners.

Squishy has bonded to Ashra Snowpelt.

Ashra Snowpelt and Squishy have gained the Status Effect - Symbiosis.

Monster Training Attempt Successful!

Monster Symbiosis Stage 2 - Successful

New Monsterkin race discovered - Kinetic Iron Rabbitkin (Postulation)

Fusion Class unlocked - [Kinetic Striker]

Class Complexity Increased!

[Monster Tamer] Class increased to Apprentice 4!

Monster Lore Information Unlocked - Monster Symbiosis Monster Lore Information Unlocked - Fusion Class For successfully creating three different monster fusion links, you have unlocked a new Class Path for the Journeymen rank [The Path of Fusion] and the Class Path Skill - Fusion. Your basic stats have improved.

Myles didn’t know what to say as he took in the information. He’d heard of Paths before, but they weren’t common in trade Classes like [Baker] unless you were heavily specialized. Those paths were things like [The Path of Sweets] and [The Path of Savory], but he pushed that to the back of his mind as he turned his attention to the growing knot of fear that was flowing from Ashra and was struck dumb.

What had he done?

The Monsterkin had changed drastically in the moment he’d been distracted. Her snow-white fur had bled silver and gave her the appearance of wearing something like woven chain armor. Her arms had no fur left and instead were layered with snake-scale metal with each layer growing stronger and thicker as they reached her hands where they became liquid metal. The way Ashra was examining her own hands and fur, the weight of all of that didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest.

“What has happened to me?” Ashra got out as she felt his attention, but her focus wavered as her dread rose like the tide. The heat of her emotions was like nothing he’d ever felt before. The pure dread was worse than when he’d felt her mind for the first time, worse than when she feared death, worse than her fear of his demise, and it only grew deeper as she struggled for a harbor in the storm of emotions. “Myles, what has happened?”

Myles could feel her fear through the connection as she tried to rub the metal from her arms, her fur, and began growing more erratic by the minute as Myles tried to explain what had happened to the best of his ability, but it did little to calm her. Ashra kept asking, kept pleading to make it end, and repeated his name over and over again.

Myles tried.

He reached out to Squishy and ordered it to separate from Ashra, but he couldn’t feel Squishy’s influence the same way he felt Topoff and Medic. At his order, those two instantly separate from their hosts and stood at Myles’s feet.

Squishy was nowhere to be seen or felt as Ashra began pulling at her fur and scales.

Soon, his worry began to rival Ashra’s.

By the Pantheon, what have I done?

The feedback loop was building as Myles pulled on every connection he could for assurances, trying his best to filter out his own fear from Ashra’s, to stop the building dread knot from taking hold. A fleeting thought told him to order Ashra to calm down. They could figure it out if they both just calmed down.

“I cannot, Myles!”

Yes, she could. He knew she could. She was Ashra.

“Ashra, it’s okay. We…”

Then, the link snapped closed like a trapper’s cage, shattering Myles’s link like a dropped hard candy with the force she pushed with. His mind reeled as the others looked on in wonderment, confusion, and fear at the scene before them.

His hand went to his head, and Medic wrapped around him without an order as he reached out again.

“Ashra, we can figure this out! Please, let me help!”

Despite Myles's attempts and promises to make things better, Ashra couldn’t fathom anything else.

“I cannot!”

“Ashra, please.”

There was no way to describe the emotions that came with that connection as Ashra cried, “I can’t!”

With those words, Myles felt his mind crack like the crust of an over-baked loaf of bread.

Due to overwhelming trauma, your Soul Link to Ashra Snowpelt has been blocked and temporally shivered for your protection.

You have obtained one stack of Temporary Soul Shivered.

Your base stats have been reduced.

Bonuses Stats from your Empathic Link to Ashra Snowpelt have been removed.

Temporary Shiver will be adapted to Soul Shivered if the trauma cannot be resolved within seven days.

With a wail of grief, confusion, and fear, the once Ambush Rabbitkin fled, and Myles struggled to stay standing as his head throbbed. His mind blanked, and the world shifted underfoot like an earthquake had struck.

As he fell, his mind flickered.

Another flicker passed, and he heard the others yell.

Flicker.

He felt arms around him, but the faces didn’t register. His focus struggled to keep watching Ashra vault into the air, trailing destruction in her wake as she lept and landed like a meteor, sending up branches and chunks of wood as she plummeted through the forest roof until she was lost in the forest.

“Ashra!”

His senses were an echo of what they were as he tried to follow and nearly landed on his face, but someone caught him again.

Flicker.

Now, unknown hands were gently placing him on the Plain’s floor. The hands were soft, and the words were worried, but his mind wasn’t with them as his mental endurance came crashing down around his final thoughts. He’d managed to touch her mind one last time, and the last impression Myles got was a simple one.

Ashra wanted to get help at the only other place she knew of for it.

Ashra was going home.

Myles's last conscious thought was just as simple— he had to be there for her.

It’s what friends did.