While Gaia was unconscious and laying in the infirmary’s bed, she was back in the odd room with pillars. It was almost the same except the massive hole that had been in the ceiling was closed. The pillars were all the same aside from one seeming to beat rapidly and have cracks throughout. It was also smooth with small hairlike protrusions along the entirety. She was interested in the pillars change. She realized why the others had designs, it was because of her bonds.

  The ones with designs coincided with the bonds she currently had. This new one was odd as she hadn’t gotten a new monster egg. She didn’t know what it was, or why it was likely now one of her bonds, but whatever it was, they were bound. When she looked around the room with her Mana Field she noticed a few gashes but nothing large enough for the abomination to appear again. At least that’s what she thought before its voice rang out in her head.

  “Ah. I see you’re back. It looks like you’ve gotten stronger again. Good. I also feel there’s another bond. This one’s odd though.” She heard the Amalgamation’s voice in her head.

  “I see. You’ve surprised me. Absorbing a core and creating a bond. That’s new.” It stated a moment later sounding a bit impressed.

  “W-What are you? Why can I hear you?” She asked hesitantly.

  “That doesn’t matter. As for hearing me, the ring you have. I’m glad you kept it.”

  “I couldn’t get rid of it if I tried. Believe me, I did.” She replied angrily.

  “I’m sad to hear that. At least we can speak whenever you like now. Even outside of this sad little box.”

  “What is this place? I understand the pillars being my bonds. I don’t understand the rest though.” She asked the being.

  “This, is a representation of your spirit. It’s more of a mental construct than anything else, but since your body and spirit are one and the same, I could find it. After all, I was the one to gift you your class.” It stated.

  “What?!”

  “Sadly, that’s all for now. Time for you to wake up. Don’t forget to contact me through the ring.” It stated before there was silence.

  “What do you mean?” She yelled out at nothing.

  After a couple minutes of not receiving a reply she checked the room. All of the gashes were gone and healed. The pillars were the same as when she arrived and she realized the exit door was there again. She could have sworn it wasn’t there when she arrived but now it was. She just hoped it was her subconscious blocking it instead of that being having power over her spirit. When she walked through the door she awoke in the infirmary’s bed.

  She awoke and jolted upright which, was a mistake. Her body was extremely sore, her wounds had been healed, but her body had had many wounds. When she jolted awake her friends had woken from her gasp and then moan from pain. They swarmed around her bed to check on her. Stephanie was in the back and wasn’t saying anything as she felt guilty. She felt it had been her fault Gaia got so hurt since she was protecting her.

  “Are you alright?” Fergus asked as he gently hugged her.

  “You scared us!” Titania stated.

  “Whew, we were starting to get worried.” Griff stated.

  “I’m alright. A bit sore. Is everyone else ok?” She asked.

  “Yep. Just you getting hurt badly. Which, you need to stop doing.” Titania stated.

  “Well, I’m kinda useless outside of blocking and taking hits.” Gaia replied before realizing she’d said that out loud. She felt the entire room go quiet for a bit while everyone stared at her.

  “So that’s what you’ve been thinking. About what I was expecting.” Griff said.

  “Really? Do you really think that?” Stephanie asked incredulously.

  “I mean it’s kinda true isn’t it?” Gaia replied.

  “No. It’s. Not. You are incredibly important. Your mana field helps us discover hidden enemies, protects us from poison, and poisons enemies. Your vines help wear down strong enemies and none of that includes your bonds. None of which we’d have without you. Let alone the fact the rest of us likely wouldn’t have made a party or possibly even met!” Stephanie started.

  “Are you good at taking a hit and protecting us? Yes. But that’s not all your good for. Your presence helps us stay calm and we can focus on everything else while your conditions weaken all the enemies!” Griff finished.

  “You do a lot more than I think you realized.” Fergus said.

  Gaia just kinda sat there a bit dumbfounded. She’d never thought about all of those things. She’d always just thought that she should be able to do more. She always thought they believed she should be able to do more. They didn’t even expect or seem to want her to do more than she was. She was doing a lot for them that she didn’t even realize. She’d been stuck in her own head since arriving in the world and at first it was just surviving. Then it was surviving while getting used to being blind. Now she had people she could rely on and that she could and did help.

  The group looked at Gaia as she sat there letting everything they said sink in. Then they watched as she started to cry a bit. She was extremely insecure about her usefulness. Now they told her that it was all in her head and she did more for them than she’d ever thought she did. It was a bit liberating. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Then the tears just came.

  She sat there until she calmed back down and then remembered the pillar she’d seen in her dream. She pushed her Mana Field out searching for something that she didn’t know. She found it to her right. When she felt for it she found a box and after opening it found an ant. It was huge compared to normal ants from earth. It was about three inches long and had large mandibles.

  When she noticed it, she was surprised as she felt the bond she had with it, but it felt different from the others. She put her hand down for it to crawl on and she realized why it was different almost immediately. The ant felt the exact same as her stone skin. It felt like it had been made from the same stone she was and seemed to have a deeper connection with her from the start. Her bond with the others was weak at first and got deeper as they leveled and ranked up together. This one felt just as deep as the others currently were and it was just made.

  “What was in the box?” She asked.

  “The core that was taken out from your wound.” Fergus stated.

  “That might explain this then.” She said before going quiet for a bit.

  There was silence for a minute before someone spoke.

  “That explains what?” Griff asked a minute later.

  “This little guy is now one of my bonds. I don’t know specifically why. I’m guessing because I absorbed part of the core and whatever mana it took from me birthed this guy.” Gaia explained.

  “I thought you could only get one from the eggs you get.” Stephanie said.

  “Same. Apparently not though. I’m just as surprised.” Gaia replied.

  “Well, what is it?” Titania asked.

  “Let me check.”

  Gaia pushed her mana to the ant and its Status came up.

  Name - ???

  Race – Pain Ant (???)

  Rank - Normal

  Level - 1

  Title:

  Core Hatched – Creature was hatched from a core that had been implanted. Species magic given.

  Skills:

  Bite – Creature bites an enemy. Has high chance to pierce armor.

  Phantasmal Spike – Creates a psychic spike that can be shot up to fifty feet. When struck target is dealt low damage and causes the Phantasmal ache curse.

  Abilities:

  Ants Constitution – Strength and Recovery stats are bound at the cost of reflex.

  Phantasmal Ache: Curse. Deals slight psychic damage over time as target feels pain radiate from the struck area causing weakness. Instances refresh when reapplied. Instances have a cumulative effect. Cleansing and Divine effects can remove the Curse.

  Tamer Quest: Raise Bond to Stone Rank 0/1

  Gaia was surprised by her new bonds skills and abilities. She was expecting it to have abilities like normal ants so the constitution ability and bite skill made sense. The Phantasmal spike was a shock even with the ant being a ‘Pain Ant’ as she just assumed it would cause more damage with attacks. She also quickly checked her status and noticed she had a new bound attribute. This one was bound to strength and just said Agony. She honestly didn't want to know how this one worked. She had read everything before remembering the little ant didn’t have a name. She thought for a while before deciding on Antonio. She giggled at the name which she thought was a bit funny but fitting. Everyone just stared at her as she giggled at the name, which they hadn’t heard yet.

  “What’re you laughing for?” Francois asked after a moment.

  “Sorry. Everyone meet Antonio.” She said as she held him out to everyone.

  Griff and Fergus just sighed while Stephanie laughed a little. The group stayed in the infirmary for a couple more hours until one of the healers checked on Gaia. They were told Gaia could leave and the group started out of the League when Freya stopped them to check on Gaia herself. When she was happy, she hugged Gaia before letting them leave.

  They made their way to the inn since it was just before sunset. They all ate together and got a different room for the guys. They didn’t want to stay in the same room after what had happened. When they all were relaxing in the room she finally asked a question that had been on her mind for a bit.

  “How long were we down there and how long was I asleep or unconscious?” She asked.

  “You were in the cell for about three days and you were asleep or unconscious for another three. We were starting to worry you wouldn’t wake up.” Fergus replied.

  “So, over half a week has passed since we were taken.” She said as she digested the information.

  “Yeah. They worked for a few hours to remove the core and then try and heal you after whatever that guy did.” Griff stated.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “A lot happened while was out. Did the guy get caught or what?” She asked.

  The group went on to explain how the killer was dead and what they’d found beneath the city while searching for her. She was shocked when they described the experimentation lab and the throne room with the tapestries. The report also made her shiver since it meant similar things were likely happening elsewhere. It did bring up a few questions though.

  “Do you know what the organization is or have any information? Is it a known organization somewhere or a new one?” She asked.

  “We don’t know and as far as the League knows it’s a new organization too.” Griff replied.

  “For the symbol we both found one in different areas so we think that might be the organizations symbol.” Fergus replied and described the symbol to her.

  “From the information we have, they seem to want the power of monsters for themselves and will use innocent people to experiment. They also seem to worship this weird monster king or whatever you want to call it.” Griff explained.

  “Do you mind describing the monster king you saw in the pictures? I don’t know if it will help but maybe.” Stephanie asked.

  Griff went on to describe the pictures from the tapestries and the monster king he’d seen. When Griff had finished describing it Gaia almost paled. The creature from the tapestries was eerily similar to the Amalgamation. It may not be the same but was too similar for her liking and she broke out into a cold sweat. If it was the same being, the pictures may depict when it became powerful enough to rise to power. She still didn’t know what the Amalgamation was after all. It might be this monster king after it got too powerful and was banished or something.

  She’d heard stories of such things from myths and legends on earth but this might be an actual example. The depiction Griff had seen and what she had were different enough that there was doubt the beings were the same. The possibility was disturbing for her to think about though. There was also the information that the Amalgamation was the one that had given her, her class. She started to explain to them about what she’d seen.

  They were incredulous that she hadn’t told them sooner and she didn’t really have a response to that. The only one she had was that she hadn’t thought about it until finding out the being might be connected to this cult or organization. The first time it had happened was when she’d just gotten her prosthetic and had to deal with the ring. Then she’d forgotten about the ring since nothing had happened until now.

  “My main worry is how the being from the pictures and the one I’m apparently bound to are so similar.” Gaia finished.

  “It is worrisome. Do you think it will lead to anything?” Fergus asked.

  “I don’t think so. We’re not even sure if the beings are the same. They’re similar but there are differences. I think we should still plan for the possibility though.” Gaia responded.

  “I agree. If they are different great if they aren’t then we’re ready for if something happens.” Stephanie added.

  “I think so too.” Griff stated.

  After they agreed to plan for the worst they decided to rest for the night. They agreed to plan stuff out the next morning. Then use the day to rest before getting back into requests the day after at the earliest. The girls returned to their room and got ready to sleep. Gaia’s bonds joined them causing the room to be a bit crowded but they enjoyed the comfort of their companions. The pair had pushed the beds together since neither was comfortable being at any distance after their ordeal.

  It caused the beds to turn into one giant cuddle pile. Stephanie and Gaia laid in the center of the large bed while Gaia’s bonds took up the rest of the space. Shadow was sprawled on her back in between the two who giggled at the large wolfs antic. Malachite was shrunk down and by the middle of Gaias back, while Liv was in one of the beds far corners weaving some clothes for Stephanie. Antonio was over by Liv since he was small and liable to be hurt if anyone rolled on him.

  The next morning the pair awoke to Shadow licking their faces. They quickly got up and Gaia herded her bonds. Liv took her usual place on Gaia’s head while Antonio crawled up her arm to her shoulder. Shadow and Malachite were both by her legs while they waited for Stephanie to finish getting ready. They went out a few minutes later and met the guys for breakfast. After eating they started to plan for if the Amalgamation and the Monster King were the same being.

  She’d finally told them what she called the being and they all thought it fitting. Their plans were more hypothetical than anything since they weren’t sure where this Cult, as they decided to call it, was. The group came up with a multitude of plans but stopped as they kept getting more and more farfetched. They couldn’t account for every possibility and just decided on three major things.

  The first was if they travelled anywhere, they would be on alert, especially if it was one of the towns that had been circled on the Cults map. The second was that everyone would go as pairs or all together wherever they went, outside of when in the League or the Inn. The third was that no one was going anywhere after it got dark unless the entire party was together. This was also in effect while in Boundary since they weren’t sure if all the cultists had been killed or left the city.

  By the time they’d finished hammering out these rules it was around noon. The party went out and had some food from the stalls before doing some light training. Gaia was mostly off to the side and practicing with her Mana. Just before they were done for the day she decided to check her Status. She was extremely surprised when she did. She had another slot in her ability copy skill, and had a bound attribute to her strength stat. The bound attribute was pain which was a bit odd as pain magic didn’t sound like it was an actual attribute.

  She checked the abilities her bonds had and decided to hold onto the extra slot for a while before taking a new ability. She would have taken Antonio’s current ability if she could actually hurt something herself, but she couldn’t. She would hold onto the open slot until she found one that would be more suited for her. She was excited to see the changes but focused on Antonio when she felt him create an odd semi-transparent spike above him. She could see the mana congealing into the shape and a moment later it was shot forward and hit the ground. He seemed to be practicing his aim with the spike.

  She decided to create a small ball of webs for him to fire at while she continued practicing herself. He stayed on her shoulder the entire time and seemed content enough to practice. The party returned to their room when the sun started setting and once again told stories for a bit. They relaxed and joked with each other until they headed for bed. The next morning they all ate before heading for the Hunter’s League.

  They arrived at the League and walked up to the reception desk. Today it was Brunhilde again and she showed them their allotted requests. The one was a dungeon request while the other was an escort request. The first was for what they believed was a small dungeon found an hour into the woods to the west while the other was an escort request for the farmers bringing their crops to the city. The escort request was to and from one of the farming villages so it would likely take half the day. The dungeon request was allotted for today and tomorrow so they wouldn’t have to stay overnight outside the city.

  They took the escort request and made their way out of the city towards the farming villages. Malachite had Stephanie and Gaia on his back while the group sped towards the villages. They arrived at the specified village about an hour and a half later. When they arrived they found a farmer with his cart waiting. They walked up to him and asked if he was the one who made the request.

  “Yes I am. We have a few more carts that will be ready in about half an hour if you don’t mind waiting.” The farmer said.

  “Alrighty. We’ll wait by the entrance. Do you mind if the two of us ride on the carts?” Gaia asked as she motioned in the direction of Stephanie.

  “Not at all.” The farmer stated.

  The group waited at the villages entrance while the farmers finished loading their wagons. They decided on having Gaia on the third cart, which ended up being in the middle, and Stephanie in the very back cart. Fergus was in the front most cart while Griff, Malachite and Shadow ran along side the caravan. Liv was with Gaia as usual and Antonio was with her as well.

  They set out when everyone was in place and Gaia immediately put up her Mana Field. It was large enough to cover all five carts now that it was able to reach out a little over a hundred feet. They started the three hour journey to Boundary around ten in the morning and didn’t run into any monsters until an hour in. Fergus was the first to spot something since he was in the front. He saw a few stone rank slimes. They weren’t strong monsters but were annoying since they took less damage from physical attacks. These were slimes that couldn’t rank up into plasmids for some reason. They were stronger against physical attacks and were larger making it harder to strike their core. When one’s core was struck they quickly died making them easy monsters to kill, if you could strike the core quickly. Otherwise, one needed to cause it to shrink from attacks until they could attack the core.

  Fergus could see a total of three slimes. He fired an arrow which struck it but quickly lost its momentum when it passed the outer wall of the slime. A moment later the arrow had dissolved. He called the caravan to slow while he fired a few more arrows using his Gust shot skill and killed one with three arrows striking it in success. The slimes had started towards the caravan but one was slowed by some webs Gaia sent out when it came close enough. The other was killed by a palm strike from Griff that caused the slime to explode. The one Gaia had pinned was slowly being poisoned by her Spiritual Toxin but she had Antonio fire one of his Phantasmal Spikes at it.

  The spike hit it but nothing happened so she had him fire a few more. His condition hit and the slime started quivering. She had him fire a few more and after a minute it seemed to lose its cohesion turning into a puddle as its core rolled over the liquid. A moment later it dissolved and left behind a few items. When Stephanie reached it, she hopped off the cart and collected the items. It had dropped its core, a small chunk of slime, and a stone core.

  The other two had dropped similar items, but Griff had collected them before they continued. Gaia could barely sense the items with her Mana Field. They had some Mana in them but they felt more like embers you would see floating from a fire, rather than the small fire she’d sense from monsters. This made it hard for her to sense the items, but she could only do so thanks to the effects of her blindfold.

  The caravan continued on with the group running into a few more monsters that came from the Shimmering Forest and a few that just spawned in front of them. They dealt with all of the monsters pretty quickly and let Antonio get a few hits in to help him rank up quicker. The main monsters they fought were a group of giant Grasshoppers called Giant Locusts and a group of Bug Bombers that spawned over them. These were large ladybug like monsters that exploded like a bomb when they got close to something or died. A few of each were bound up by webs from Gaia or Liv for Antonio to slowly kill while they travelled.

  None of the monsters were higher than level twenty in the stone rank making the fights swift and easy. They arrived at Boundary’s gate after only about three hours and fifteen minutes. They had planned for an extra two hours each way to be safe. They didn’t expect it to take that long but planned it just in case they came across a stronger monster or group of monsters that required them to have the caravan back up.

  They were let through the city’s gate quickly and the farmers went about their business while the party split up to guard each farmer. No one expected any trouble in town but there was always the chance that something could happen. No one had any real issues aside from someone harassing the farmer Stephanie was with. The perpetrator was dragged off by the city guards with a broken arm and likely a few ribs. He’d tried to extort the farmers crops while Stephanie was with him, she’d told him to leave and he had attempted to punch the farmer when he realized he wouldn’t get his way. Stephanie had swiftly moved the farmer behind her and brought her arm around to smack his side.

  Then the man had a broken arm and ribs before being dragged off by the guards. The farmers were done with their trades a little after two thirty that afternoon and the group started out of the city. The caravan had their wagons filled with the necessities their village needed but were about the same weight allowing them to move just as fast. In their return trip to the village the caravan only came across one group of monsters. It was a group of mole monsters called Crystal Diggers. They were about the size of a person with crystal like claws allowing them to burrow through the group easily.

  The party were able to deal with them quickly since Gaia sensed them when they entered her Mana Field which extended into the ground as a sphere around her. The Diggers dug up only to find Griff waiting over one of their holes while Fergus fired arrows at them as they breached the grounds surface. Stephanie shot two with her pre-loaded muskets and Gaia bound one up with her webs as Antonio struck it with his spikes. He also bit it a few times when he crawled over to it. His Phantasmal Spikes were much stronger than his bites though so he used it unless something was within biting range.

  Stephanie picked up the items that were dropped by the Diggers. These were mainly parts of their claws which were good to blend with metals for sharper weapons. They reached the village on time and after helping the farmers unload their cargo from the wagons said goodbye before traveling back to Boundary. They arrived just before the sun set allowing them quick entry and they went straight to the Hunter’s League to get their reward. They received forty-five cores since they had four fights and were given five for the basic escort. Escort requests could be lucrative or extremely wasteful depending on how many and how hard the fights were.

  If there were a lot of easy fights they could be lucrative but if there were a few or really hard fights could be costly depending on what items were used or needed. The same could be said for the dungeon request they were planning to take the next day. If they had a lot of easy fights with the one hard boss fight at the end it could be well paid. If there were a lot of strong monsters in the dungeon they may make less than what they spend on needed supplies. They went to the inn for the night since most shops were closed.

  The next morning they prepared to take the dungeon request. This request was from the League as it was a new dungeon that had formed due to the Mana Torrent. They had a scout reach it but there was a level limit. It only allowed for people under level fifty in the stone rank to enter. The scout had a strong analyzing ability that had shown them the requirements to enter. The League was giving them each a low grade healing potion and a low grade mana potion of stone rank.

  The healing potions were concoctions that people with Alchemist classes could make. They healed the body quicker and with less strain than healing magic, but were hard to concoct. They also weren’t able to be used for a time after taking one as they would have no effect. For example, one could take a low grade stone rank healing potion about once an hour. When they got to higher ranks the grade of a potion would be more important.

  The same went for mana potions which were basically just potions that filled one’s mana reserves. When one was imbibed it gave the drinker a jolt of mana that allowed them to continue fighting for a little longer before running out of mana. These were much more expensive than healing potions as they required mana dense materials to concoct. After being given their potions, the party set off to the new dungeon. It took them an hour to reach the dungeons entrance which was in the middle of a small forest to the northwest of Boundary.

  It was a cave that was partway into a hole in the ground. It had sloped bottom from ground level down to the entrance. Gaia could sense the mana emanating from the caves mouth with her Mana Field and it just stopped at the caves entrance. It was like there was a solid wall of mana right at the caves edge that her mana couldn’t penetrate. The group made sure they had everything ready and took their first step into the dungeon.