[Beastborne: Tower of Blight] Chapter 33

Despite his recent rise in Levels, Hal still only had 35 Burden Points, or BP as it was shortened to on his status sheet.

With the spells he usually kept set, that meant he had 4 points to spare. With Spoil Shield only requiring 3 points, Hal was free to set it.

“Hold up,” he said to the others, who had finished bandaging their wounds and were heading toward the far set of doors. “We need a little bit of time before we can proceed,” Hal added, gesturing to himself and Val.

“What is this?” Elaise asked imperiously.

“I just set a new Beast Magic spell,” Hal told her. “I can’t use any Beast Magic spells for several minutes afterward, and I’m assuming Val can’t either.”

The other Beastborne shook her head, confirming Hal’s suspicions. It was too bad gaining a Monster Core didn’t negate that restriction.

He supposed that was part of how Beastborne worked, no matter what. Maybe someday he could find or acquire a way around it.

“Why did you set a new spell?”

“Because we both just got the Spoil Shield spell from that guy over there,” Val said, jerking her chin toward the disintegrating monster.

“We can take some time to rest,” Elaise said as if she were leading the group. Then she caught Hal’s eye and gave a sheepish grin. “If that is what you wish.”

Giel grunted. If that was in agreement, Hal wasn’t sure. Elaise glanced at the big lamora, as if expecting for him to elaborate further.

Once again, Giel did not.

After their rest, the last two rooms hardly took more than an hour, by Hal’s reckoning, but they were draining affairs. Fighting a large monster was much harder than a horde of the creatures, and the poison room still had lingering effects on their bodies.

“What is monoceros essence?” Hal asked. If it was what let Val walk through the poison, as if it was a clear spring day, he needed it.

“They are a very rare and powerful type of monster. Horrible creatures to come upon. Not at all like the fairy tales you might have heard on Earth.”

“What do you mean–wait.” Monoceros. Rhinoceros. “Are you talking about a Unicorn?!”

“Machi?!”

“No.” Val gave him a flat look. “And yes. Technically speaking, they’re called–what the hell?” Val patted herself across the armor until something squeaked, then squonked.

Silence fell over the group.

“...Komachi?” Hal asked tentatively. “Why aren’t you with Elora?”

“...Machi,” the pobul said in an unsettling deep and grave voice, as if attempting, in her own Komachi way, to intimidate Hal.

It had no effect.

Val reached in and pulled out the offending creature. “What is she… how did you get in there?”

Komachi was not entirely Komachi.

Hal stared. The pobul was made of some sort of shadowy stuff. Her eyes glowed with soft moonlight.

“Err,” Shadow-Komachi said.

He swept his senses through her, checking to see if she was a monster or some horrible trap, but couldn’t find anything wrong. As far as he understood, this was Komachi, just… thinner. As if her essence was stretched somehow.

Her dark as night fur rippled at his inspection. “So maybe the jig is up,” she said. “Machi wanted to keep an eye on Val. Also, Hal.”

Val set Komachi in her lap. “You were in my armor the entire time? You could have gotten hurt.”

“Yis,” Shadowmachi said simply. “Hurt? Nah.”

“I’m not sure that’s possible,” Hal said, reaching forward and poking a finger right through the shadowy creature. “She’s not entirely here. Almost like an astral projection but… well, shadow.”

“Umbral Projection!” Komachi said gleefully. “Machi special. Ordered it on the Home Komachi Network.”

“So not Shadowmachi, but… Umbralmachi?” Hal said. “Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.”

“Maybe you could teach that to Hermes and he could come along without getting hurt,” Hal suggested.

“Hermes?” Shadowmachi asked, tilting her head and wiggling her bear-like ears.

“You were asleep when I introduced him to Noth,” Hal told her. “I’ll make the proper introductions later if he hasn’t already said hello. He’s an oppa who…” Hal didn’t know how to phrase it. “I guess he got lost and wound up on Aldim? I offered him a place in the Guild.”

“Oh, dang! So you finally got an oppa huh. Gewd, gewd, no pobul musclin’ in on muh territory.”

“I don’t think the Shard can tolerate–I mean, entertain–another pobul.”

She glared at him, oozing sass.

Hal winked at her.

“Well,” she finally said. “Probably could teach him Umbral Projection. Anyway, I’m your get outta jail card if it comes to that. Might not one hundo percent work though!”

Val petted Komachi, even though she barely had any substance to her. “Well, I wish you would have made yourself known earlier, Shadowmachi. It’s good to see you again.”

Giel rumbled in agreement.

“Machi loves you,” the pobul told Val with a squeak, and hugged the young woman’s arm. Val sniffled.

Elaise watched with interest and a fondness that she only had for Komachi, but she did not intrude.

“As I was saying, they’re not precisely unicorns,” Val said. “They might resemble them. Four hooves, white glossy coat, and a single wicked horn that can shoot all sorts of nasty magic. They’re not unicorns, but you could be forgiven for thinking they were.”

“You killed unicorns,” Hal said. “Of course you did. Rinbast is evil.”

“Straight up bad guy,” Shadowmachi added in agreement.

“He… actually had a long-standing order not to engage any monoceros,” Val said, enunciating the word. She clearly didn’t like calling them unicorns.

So, of course, Hal would continue to call them that.

“So, unicorn-killer, what sort of essence powers do they have?”

Val narrowed her brown eyes at him. “Unicorn–monoceros–are nearly impervious to any sort of poison or toxin. I’ve already tried it on this dreaded Blight, doesn’t work. It seems to be specifically poisons, not corruption. That being said, when splicing their essence, you become nearly immune to any sort of poison, just like they would be. It’s a very handy essence. I wish I had some of their spells, but I was lucky enough to survive my encounters with my life and limbs intact.”

“Why did Rinbast order you not to engage them?”

“Because they’re wild beasts that will go to the ends of Aldim to destroy anybody who messes with them. If I hadn’t managed to kill the lone monoceros, it would have hunted me until either one of us was dead. You ever hear those stories of tigers attacking hunters? It’s like that, but a thousand times worse. They can shoot all sorts of spells from their horns, and their white coats are resistant to magic. You have to get up close and personal.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad,” Hal said. “Especially not for being immune to poison at the drop of a hat.”

“You would say that,” Val grumbled. “Most Beastbornes don’t have proper fighting skills beyond what spells we can use or the essence abilities we have. You’re…”

“Unique? Gifted?”

“Weird.”

“Thanks.”

“Hey, I’m learning that maybe your ideas aren’t all bad,” Val told him, making a conciliatory gesture. “What’s really nasty about a monoceros is that they’re able to inflict you with Silence.”

“As in, no casting magic?” Hal asked.

“Yeah. Nasty stuff, and for a Beastborne that only has spells, that’s a death sentence. Can’t cast a spell, can’t build Strain, can’t do anything. You’re a sitting duck.”

“At least essences work, right?”

“Yeah, but they’re not all that good without their spells, are they? Besides, some Monster Attunements count as spells.”

Hal had forgotten all about that. Since his Beastborne had changed and evolved so much, he hadn’t needed to select Monster Attunements, which were a sort of essence-based Perk system.

His Beastborne powers allowed him to gain the bulk of a monster’s powers, scaling them based on the current Rank of his monster essence.

Of course, Val didn’t have a Monster Core, so she didn’t experience Beastborne as it was meant to be experienced.

I really wish I could fix her Monster Core, Hal thought with growing desperation. The more he dwelled on it, the more it bothered him how messed up it was that she didn’t have one.

It was such a profane injury that even a Kindred was appalled by it.

He had nearly died without a Monster Core. Without him, Brightsong would be gone. He was sure of it.

What dark, twisted future would come to pass if Val wasn’t at her true fighting potential?

Val deserved better than to be crippled like a beast of burden because Rinbast deigned to summon her to this world through a portal and steal her Beastborne’s Monster Core through unknown means.

He couldn’t be sure that was what Rinbast had done, but Hal suddenly felt so furious at the damage done that it was effectively the same result.

Then, something changed. A radiant force passed from the Manatree to Hal, echoing into his Spirit.

His fury evaporated at the Quest offered to him by the Shard itself.

New Fusion Quest: A Core for a Lady

Though you have often gone above and beyond for your allies and closest friends, you have kept those known as Kinslayers at arm’s length. After seeing the half-life Val is living, the struggle she is going through, you have decided to help her with your whole heart. Should you choose to persist down this path, you will be able to create a Monster Core for her, rebuilding her Class to mirror your own, and in doing so, healing a piece of yourself.

Objectives

●       Collect 10 [Greater Monster Cores] from enemies Level 50 and above.

●       Collect 50 [Lesser Monster Cores] from enemies Level 40 and above.

●       Collect 100 [Monster Core Fragments] from enemies Level 30 and above.

●       Additional objectives available.

Rewards

●       Monster Core recreation.

●       Shard Level Enhanced.

●       Additional rewards available.

Two major Quests one after the other?

That was incredibly unlikely, especially considering both looked to be very difficult and long Quests. Gaining cores from monsters wasn’t as easy as simply killing them.

Often, the way a monster was killed destroyed its core. On top of that, Hal’s Core Tap allowed him to replenish his Spirit by destroying a monster’s core before it died.

He would need to stop doing that, which meant he would have to ration his Spirit more than ever before.

But wouldn’t it be worth it to help Val? She’s practically your sister.

Hal didn’t disagree, but he wished it didn’t require so many cores. Even if he was careful in dispatching every enemy they came across, the odds of getting all the cores required from killing every monster in the Tower were pretty slim.

I’ll do it though, Hal said. It would be worth it just to have another Beastborne around that isn’t going to die horribly because she’s missing not only her Khaeros but her Core as well.

While the Quest would be difficult, what mattered was that it was possible. If he had to create a Beastborne’s Monster Core from scratch like the immortal Kindred did, he wasn’t sure when his capabilities would ever be up to the task.

When Hal came back to his senses, he found Val staring intently at him. “What is going through that mind of yours?” she muttered quietly.

Hal could see she wanted to say more, but in the present company, she wouldn’t dare to utter a single word about their unique origin.

How odd must it be to see another version of yourself–as the opposite gender–and realize that for as alike as you were, you were still two distinctly different people?

Val could never fathom the life Hal lived, and Hal could never understand hers. They were so close, yet so distant. At times, they acted like the closest siblings, and others like total strangers.

From moment-to-moment Hal never knew how to treat her, though he tried to treat her as he would prefer to be treated: like family.

Family that, for the most part, was raised and trained to kill people like you. Renegades who didn’t submit.

Hal banished the thoughts. He grinned at Val. “Just a birthday gift for somebody,” Hal told her.

That only further confused her, and Hal couldn’t help but laugh.