World Sphere - 184 - The Cat's Meow

Chapter 184: The Cat’s Meow

Beast Tamer Ardendale was brought up to my apartments with the beast core inscriber. The inscriber was a pale white-haired man with crimson eyes. He had youthful elvish features but did not strike me as any breed of elf I was familiar with. I greeted Ardendale with a handshake, “You got here much quicker than you thought you would. You have everything you need?” I asked the pair.

Ardendale laughed. “When I sent a message to Keothi detailing your white phantom cat, he made plans to meet me and get to your islands as quickly as possible.” My eyes drifted to the elf. Was he an albino elf as well?

“Thank you for coming, Keothi. Can you do the inscriptions today?” I asked, holding in my eagerness.

His red eyes scanned the apartments, giving me a creepy feeling. “No. First thing in the morning. But I will map their cores tonight if you bring them to me.” His eyes stopped on the door of the secondary bedroom where the cats were.

“Map their cores?” I questioned.

“Much like a tattoo artist, I need to plan ahead. One mistake, and I would limit what can be inscribed.” His tone was as flat as his personality.

I brought out Adrial first, signaling Kiara to wait in the room. The black cat hesitated on seeing the strange unfamiliar elf. She wasn’t afraid, just perplexed. I coaxed her forward. “Come here Adrial. This is the man who is going to make you stronger.” Adrial tilted her head and approached.

Keothi reached out his hand, and the skin was translucent, with his blue veins visible. His hand ran through Adrial’s black hair in stark contrast. “She is a strong one,” he said appreciatively. She will take the haste inscription well. He continued to stroke her head until the room vibrated with Adrial’s purr. The beast core inscriber let a smile form before his face returned to impassive. “I am done. The other?” There was a hint of anticipation in his voice.

He looked like an albino elf, and I was guessing his interest was in Kiara, and he was going to ask to purchase her as many had done before. I whistled, “Kiara, come here.” Kiara sauntered out of the room like a model, her hips swaying and tail in rhythm as her six legs brought her to us. I was sure she wanted to impress as much as her sister just had.

Keothi watched the cat approach and respectively put his hand on her large, powerful head. He smiled after a minute. “Another powerful creature, but not the one I am looking for. I will be done shortly.”

I couldn’t contain my curiosity. “What were you looking for?”

“I see you do not know of my race. I am a ghost elf. We live deep within the Sphere’s crust and rarely come to the surface. When we are not reborn as ghost elves, it is usually as a creature with red eyes and a pale body.” He said patiently as he worked on Kiara, who also started purring. “Although the spirit of a ghost elf resides in this cat, it is not my life mate.”

“How long have you been searching?” Aelyn asked from the doorway of the bedroom.

“Too long.” He sighed, releasing Kiara. “The Sphere is much larger than most people can fathom. I find two or three candidates yearly, yet my love eludes me. It is not her fault as she would have no memories of her past, but I long to be with her again.” Aelyn swooned at the love story as he spent the next hour answering Aelyn’s questions about his long-lost love, which he had been searching for over the last hundred-plus years.

At some point, being a gracious host had to end. “I am sorry you haven’t found her. We will get you settled, and you can work on the cats in the morning?” I ushered him out and had a guard take him to a room.

Ardendale remained behind. “He is strange but a good fellow. He might be the best beast inscriber in the Sphere. Shall we settle accounts?”

I groaned slightly as the scale of my ambitions was greatly outpacing my resources. After Ardendale left, Aelyn seemed quite amorous. A good love story would do that to a woman.

In the morning, with his aether replenished, Keothi began his work on the cats. He had obtained the inscriptions from an archive at one of the larger cities in the Sphere. The process was not quite as straightforward as I believed.

Ardendale explained as the ghost elf worked. “The process is very similar to how mages place spells in their aether matrix. Not only does the beast inscriber need to be much more powerful than the beast to overcome the defenses, but the target needs to be compliant. Last night, he was not just mapping the core but also subjugating the cats so they would not resist.”

I tensed as I sensed the aetheric weaves but trusted Keothi. “Could what he was doing shift the loyalty of the Kiara and Adrial to him?”

Ardendale commented, “Of course. He didn’t, though. I was watching everything he did. You do not need to worry, my friend. Beast tamers rely on reputation.”

Keothi stood from Adrial. His pale skin had rivulets of sweat. “It is done. Just like when she learned to use her phantom whips and chameleon ability, it will take time for her to master the haste. Do you want me to help her find it?”

I nodded and then quickly regretted it as Adrial leaped and slammed into the kitchen table and bounced into the wall. She hit the wall hard and shook her head. She then proceeded to dash across the room and failed to stop before crashing into the other wall. Kiara looked up at me as her sister tried to figure out how to adjust the flow of aether through the inscribed spell.

“Enough Adrial!” I ordered. She hung her head. “Don’t worry. We will go into the dungeon so you can practice.” She tilted her head to understand the word dungeon. Her tail twitched in anticipation.

As Adrial calmed, Keothi asked, “I have enough aether to do one of the inscriptions this morning. I should be able to finish the other two in the morning. Which do you want first?”

“The mind bond ability,” I stated. It was a tier-three ability and would allow Kiara to communicate. The other two abilities were the tier two hast like her sister, and the tier four confusion ability.

Keothi nodded, “You realize all the abilities you have selected only utilize 18 of 23 space on her beast core?”

“Yes. I wasn’t sure what else would be useful for her. I was considering adding a tier 1 and tier 3 ability later.” I replied.

Keothi nodded, “If you don’t mind me suggesting the tier three ability aether vortex. It will greatly enhance her beast core’s recovery. I happen to know the pattern for inscription as well.”

I thought, how convenient. I looked at Kiara as she looked back and forth between us, trying to understand what was being decided. “Let's do the mind bond first, and maybe Kiara has some input.”

The ghost elf nodded, “As you wish.” Keothi got to work, and it took him much longer to inscribe the tier-three ability. Kiara, for her part, was compliant, but her eyes kept coming to me. It took nearly four hours before Keothi fell into a chair. “It is done, but give me a moment before I direct her how to use it.”

A pressing headache overtook me. Something was trying to get past my defenses—and was winning. I struggled to keep them out but failed. A raspy young voice echoed in my head. A barrage of thoughts hit me with nonsensical information, and then my mind was penetrated. “Kiara, stop!” I fell to my knees. The tier three mind bond was a two-way street, and I could not resist her power. It was like she was rooting around in my head and searching. After I yelled, she retracted.

Keothi was on his feet, shocked but not concerned for my well-being, “She activated the ability herself. Smart cat.” He looked at me. “The more you resist, the more painful it is. The mind bond is used for allies to communicate over vast distances. It can only be established with one person at a time and needs to be sustained. I thought you were prepared.”

I winced, trying to let Kiara in, but I naturally resisted. She was searching my thoughts. Searching how to communicate. Finally, she said in my mind, “Storme. Stop. Struggling.”

It took me a few more minutes before I found the balance. I was not sure I was prepared for such a deep intrusion into my mind. This beast core version of the same mage spell was much different. The mage version was more of a mutual exchange. Kiara was more like a rampaging beast in the link. But the link did eventually settle. Keothi smiled. “Good. The first time is always the most difficult. Most people choose a lower-tier version of this inscription for the beast inscription. The tier three version has the advantage of almost infinite range within the Sphere and a smoother exchange of ideas.”

Ardendale voice rang in the room. “The phantom cat is still young. Barely two years old. She may not match your intellect.” I could feel Kiara sorting and interrupting the words and meanings of Ardendale, which was said through our link using my memories. She looked up at him and hissed her displeasure.

Keothi laughed, which seemed out of place on the pale elf. “Her intellect will grow rapidly. This is a perfect teaching tool. Tell her to break the mind bond. Although it does not take much aether to maintain, the inscription is new, and it cannot be active this afternoon when I finish.”

I told Kiara to let go of the link, and seemingly reluctantly, she did. The pressure of her presence left me. I may have overreached in choosing such a powerful ability. Tier three abilities in humanoids were incredibly strong as well. How would the white phantom cat receive and utilize the tier four confusion inscription?

“We never settled on your compensation?” I noted.

Keothi looked at Ardendale, who spoke for him. “I gave him a thousand gold just to come, but he would have come for free. A fair price for his efforts would be a thousand gold per tier inscribed paid in mithril. Mithril is more prized by the ghost elves.”

“Not a problem. So, I will owe him eleven thousand gold for the inscriptions we decided on and more if we do more.” I nodded, thinking I was getting a great deal. Keothi left to rest, and I needed to do so as well. Resisting Kiara’s mind bond had drained me. I retreated to my room and set a privacy screen, and I was soon asleep.

It felt like no time had passed when Aelyn set off my alarms and violated my screens. In fact, I had slept for nearly nine hours. Tier-three mind magic was powerful—and I needed to fortify my defenses. Besides my mundane defenses from hundreds of hours of practice, I had an aether fortress, which protected my aether core but didn’t extend to my mind.

“Do you want him to proceed without you?” Aelyn said, handing me a cup of tea. “Otto said this would help.” I nodded and inhaled. Otto was an alchemist I had recruited from the lowlands. My mind instantly cleared just from the fumes, and I sipped the tea gratefully. “Adrial is up in the training room, litteraly bouncing off the walls like a child. When she runs out of aether she waits and then continues. I think she wants to challenge you to see who is faster.” I coughed into my cup.

“I am creating monsters. But no, I want to be here for Kiara. I still want to ask Kiara if she wants the aether vortex or something else for a beast core inscription.” The tea helped a lot, and I was going to have to do some research for the mind magic defenses. Aelyn went to get the beast tamer and beast core inscriber.

I found Kiara sitting patiently in the living room, but the tip of her tail indicated she was anxious. “Do you want to mind bond again?” I asked. Almost immediately, I felt her trying to establish the link. I felt it out, making sure I knew where it was coming from, and let her in.

“More. Power. Now?” She asked in my mind.

“Yes, we are going to make you fast like your sister. Do you want that?” I asked in my mind.

Kiara didn’t answer immediately. “Yes. Faster. Good.” “Stronger. Good.” Adrial had been given a beast essence that made her stronger. Beast essences were physical changes to the phantom and didn’t need to be activated with aether. Kiara had received clarity of sight, which allowed her to pierce tier-two illusion magic. I tried to explain through the mind link the difference between beast essences and core inscribed abilities. The young phantom cat seemed to understand.

Aelyn returned with Keothi and Ardendale as our mental back and forth concluded. I told her, “You need to break the mind link so he can inscribe the next ability.” As the connection faded, I told Keothi, “She wants the haste inscription next. She is very competitive with her sister.”

He nodded and started his work on the inscription. When he finished, Kiara zipped across the room and did a perfect backflip off the wall. She had a satisfied growl as she connected again to me. “Stronger. Next.”

“That is not the plan. The ability I selected is called confusion. With it, you can make your opponent dazed and unable to act,” I explained for a few minutes as the others watched. Kiara needed a lot of convincing and only conceded once I told her she had more space on her beast core to select something else after.

When she broke the link, Keothi cocked his head waiting for the verdict. “She consented, I said. She is probably going to want some input in selecting the final imprints.” It was nearly six hours before Keothi was finished. He had some difficulty maintaining his concentration due to it being a tier four inscription and the complexity that went along with it. But it was successful.

I warned Kiara not to use it on anyone, and she seemed annoyed. She established the link again. “Power. Use. Now.”

“No. We will test it in the dungeon. You can get more power. There is an ability that will help you recover the energy needed to use your powers. Do you want that?” I queried the phantom cat, already getting accustomed to our interactions. Her confusion ability would easily tear my mind apart, too.

“Stronger. Next.” She said firmly.

“She wants to get stronger but does not want to wait for a beast essence,” I said helplessly to Keothi.

“Let me talk to her,” he said confidently. It took a few minutes before Kiara established a mind bond with Keothi. She tilted her head side to side as they communicated back and forth for long minutes. Finally, Keothi blinked rapidly. “She will consent to the aether vortex ability, but it will be tomorrow as my aether is depleted. She also wants a silent aura, which is a tier-one ability. She has not yet decided on the last two points on her core. But she will wait to get stronger with a beast essence. It really is the best option.”

I nodded, a little relieved. Adrial was already a monster with her enhanced strength and now speed on top of it. The tier-two haste inscription doubled the phantom cat’s speed. It also reinforced their bones, ligaments, and joints when it was active like my lightning reflexes spell. One of the big differences between a beast core inscription and my spell matrix was the cat’s inscription would not level and evolve over time like my spells. So, at least, I would always be faster than the two cats.

I spent my time waiting for Keothi by working with Remy and Isla. The construction plans for the Dungeon Academy were progressing rapidly, and we needed to set up stone imports or contract dungeon-harvested stone. I also had to pay for and house the dozens of expert builders from the lowlands for the three months it was projected to build the Academy. Sana Velin was down in the Sadian Empire recruiting builders in their major cities for the next few days, so at least I didn’t have to deal with requests from more coin.

The Academy structure was six stories tall with two subbasements, and I had made the foolish suggestion to make it completely out of aether-hardened stone. This would add to the cost but make the structure extremely defensible if the city was ever attacked again. The Progenitor Dungeon had blood marble, but I was unsure how aesthetically pleasing it would be. The blood marble did enhance certain magics like healing, though. Remy was explaining how he was forecasting the rising costs of stone based on trade growth in the islands when Keothi returned to finish his work with Adrial.

I gladly stepped away from spending more money. I produced the mithril coin for Keothi. “Thank you. Kiara also decided on her last inscription, if you have it. She wants to be able to heal herself.”

Keothi nodded. “That was one of the suggestions I gave her. I do have the tier two healing inscription with me. It is a good choice if she plans to see a lot of battles. My suggestion for her was longevity, but other means exist to extend your phantom cats’ lives. They are just adolescents now, but they usually only live about fifty years.”

“I have been slowly training them in dungeons,” I explained. “She has rarely been injured, though, and I can heal her if needed.”

Keothi nodded. “It is as she wants. I will tell you she has no memories of her past lives but knows she lived a number of lifetimes among my people. When her time is near, I will ask you to take her to one of the cities. It will increase the likely hood her next life will be among us once again.”

“If that is what she wants. I will make it happen.” I reassured the elf. He added the inscriptions for mask sound, aether vortex, and self healing to her beast core. Keothi left with Ardendale, but they were going to spend some time on the islands before leaving. I also tasked Ardendale with collecting beast cores for me. Kiara was dead set on a strength enhancement. For Adrial, I told him to find a good tier-two ability around healing or constitution. Adrial loved to fight.

Kiara was anxious after they left. “Test. Fight. Now.” She requested. We went up to the training room at the Shiny Platinum to collect her sister. We found Adrial darting around the room, testing herself against three delvers, Sammie, Namira, and Hadrian, while others looked on. Adrial skidded to a stop on seeing us, purring loudly.

“Test. Sister. Now.” Adrial said. She stepped forward and growled a low roar of challenge. Adrial cocked her head and returned it. Then, Adrial charged using her enhanced speed. Kiara didn’t move. Three bounding steps later, Adrial’s body crumpled as her mind was assaulted. Kiara calmly jumped into the air as Adrial’s body skidded under her.

“Kiara!” I scolded. “Don’t use your mental attacks on your sister!” The half a dozen jaws of the delvers in the training room hung open in shock. Kiara extended her neck, taking in the adulation. She didn’t realize it there was a healthy dose of fear mixed in.