AoP | B2 | Chapter 11: Forced Hatching (Patreon)

Sensing: Mid-Iron                        Talents: [restricted]

Manipulation: High-Iron              Seeds: [restricted]

Affinity: - Null

            - Darkness ~ Mid-Iron

            - Earth ~ Mid-Iron

Seth reviewed his aether attunement again, a smile on his face while sitting in the cave. Two more days had passed in the aether-rich environment, and now his Earth affinity had climbed to Mid-Iron thanks to the Essence. On top of that, the grooves of Iron Fists now felt smoother and more potent; if he had to guess, the spell’s quality was on the verge of turning Exceptional.

And yet he couldn’t bring himself to be satisfied as his gaze drifted to the large, mottled egg resting near the Heart of Brown-Peak Mountains. It pulsed steadily, absorbing energy, but remained stubbornly intact. Interrupting his thoughts, Professor Reat’s voice echoed from the tunnel entrance.

"Seth! We’re heading back to Trogan in an hour! So, begin packing it up!"

Seth sighed. Seems like Orwen was wrong. Four days wasn’t enough.

He pulled jerky and hardtack from his Endless Pouch and began chewing mechanically in the near darkness. 

'I didn’t think this expedition would be so boring,' Nightmare grumbled, jumping out of Seth’s necklace.

A small, hesitant thought echoed inside Seth’s mind through Link. 'Sorry…'

Colossus’s mental voice was clearer now, with less raw feeling, likely thanks to Nightmare’s constant prodding.

'Then just come out already,' Nightmare retorted impatiently.

'Can’t,' Colossus answered, a touch of frustration in his simple thought-speech. 'Told you. Shell too hard.'

'Hmm, he probably needs his mother to break it,' Nightmare mused before turning his glowing crimson eyes toward Seth. 'We should ask the overly cheerful man outside to crack it open for you.'

Seth rolled his eyes. 'No one is cracking him open.' He then paused, rubbing his face while considering the idea for a moment. 'Let me check my father’s encyclopedia. See if any beasts hatch by having their egg's shell broken by their mother.'

'We should ask him anyway. Even if you find nothing.'

Seth retrieved the thick, leather-bound bestiary and the small Lighter from Professor Reat’s class so he could use the flame as a source of light. As his fingers brushed the worn cover of the encyclopedia, something struck him: he had never used Intermediate Identify on it.

Not wasting a second, Seth cast the spell.

      The Encyclopedia of Beasts (by Rufus Elrod)

      Tier: -

      Grade: Epic

      -   Description: A comprehensive bestiary detailing numerous beasts, their habits, spells, potential, and known locations. Contains detailed anatomical drawings and behavioral notes.

Seth frowned. Rufus Elrod? A distant uncle? Grandfather?

Before his mind could begin spiraling, he shook his head. His father had deserted Draeria before being hunted down and killed by his own squad. Even if this Rufus was from my family, he’d probably try to kill me on sight. Either out of hatred for my father… or because of Kreytorus’ Legacy.

 Shoving the thought aside, Seth opened the bestiary, using the Lighter orb’s steady glow to illuminate the dense text and drawings. He began flipping through sections on reptilian and mammalian beasts, searching for specific hatching processes.

As he read, the large egg beside him suddenly shifted. A low, muffled, straining sound echoed from within the shell, followed by a clear thought from Colossus: 'Mmmmmm… trying…'

The egg rocked again, then went still.

An idea sparked in Seth’s mind, and he put his encyclopedia aside. He knew Colossus was extremely protective—the unborn beast had manifested a damn defensive spell while inside the shell. That instinct… It could be the key.

'Hey, Colossus,' Seth said, leaning toward the egg. 'Keep trying! You can do it. Push!'

'Can’t… too hard…' the beast answered.

'Imagine I’m in danger.' Seth pushed himself up and pointed toward the cave’s entrance. 'Imagine something is coming here, and you need to get out right now to protect me.'

'Huh…?'

Nightmare tilted his head, then a second later something flashed in his crimson eyes. He didn’t need Seth to elaborate—he immediately pounced.

'You don’t have to imagine it!' the direwolf growled through their bond as he slammed Seth to the ground. 'Come out and save him! Now!'

Nightmare’s massive paws pinned Seth to the ground, and without wasting a moment, he went for his neck with his jaws. Instantly, Colossus’s protective brown aether flared from the egg and wrapped Seth in a solid barrier.

Seth pretended to struggle, shoving at the direwolf’s chest with both hands, trying to feel anxious—to sell the act. Nightmare's jaws closed around his neck, and the fangs’ sharp tips plunged into the brown aether barrier.

'No!'

Colossus’s egg began shaking violently, rocking back and forth on the stone floor. Through the Link, Seth felt the beast’s panic swell—a desperate, primal instinct to protect surged through their bond.

Nightmare pressed harder, his teeth sinking deeper into the straining brown barrier. Almost immediately, a web of fissures spread across the egg’s rocky surface. Then, a loud crack echoed through the cave’s chamber, followed by another.

Before Seth could react, the egg exploded. Pieces of the thick shell shot outwards in every direction, slamming against the cave walls, and at the same time a torrent of Earth-infused aether surged forth, propelling Seth’s Lighter orb away and kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

Nightmare released Seth’s neck and stepped back with a low growl of satisfaction. Seth coughed, waving a hand before his face, trying to peer through the nearby dirt in the air. As the dust slowly settled, his eyes widened, locking on the creature now standing where the egg had been moments before.

It was unmistakably a scorpion, yet Seth had never seen anything like it in his father’s encyclopedia. It was nearly three feet tall at the shoulder and stretched almost six feet from its head to the base of its multiple tails. Its body was a fortress of interlocking, stone-like plates that mimicked the rugged brown rock of the mountainside.

Eight thick, powerful legs supported its heavy frame, each ending in sharp points that dug effortlessly into the cave floor. Two enormous claws hung open at the front, flanking multi-jointed mandibles that clicked softly. Curled menacingly over its back were not one, but three segmented tails, each tipped with a dark stinger.

It wasn't bones back then in the Desert of Misery, Seth realized. But pieces of an exoskeleton.

He reacted on instinct, activating Intermediate Identify.

      Colossus (Young Three-Tailed Giant Scorpion)

      Potential: Gold Tier             Rank: 13 (Mid-Copper)

      Affinity: Earth

      Bonded to [Seth]             [...]

      Strength: 14                        Arcane Power: 16

      Toughness: 26                    Well Capacity: 35

      Agility: 10                          Regeneration: 20

      Spells:

       - Desert Aegis [Silver〜Epic (Crude)]

       - Quartz Armor [Iron〜 Rare (Crude)]

Gold. The word basically slammed Seth, stunning him. Not Silver, like Nightmare. Gold.

Before Seth could even begin to process what he'd seen, Colossus scuttled forward with surprising speed for his bulk, positioning himself between Seth and Nightmare. A thick armor of rugged, quartz-veined rock flowed over his carapace, covering his whole body in an instant.

'Stay away!' Colossus yelled to Nightmare through Link.

Seth quickly placed a reassuring hand on the scorpion’s stony shell, which felt rough and hard. 'It's alright, Colossus. He was only doing it so you'd come out.'

'It’s…' the scorpion began, hesitating as his hostility softened under Seth’s touch, '... not nice.'

'But it worked,' Nightmare retorted, shaking residual dust from his dark fur.

As the tension eased, Seth focused back on the Intermediate-Identify’s panel in the corner of his vision, finally taking in the scorpion’s full stats.

Almost immediately, he blinked. Those starting attributes were incredibly high for a newborn beast. Twenty-six Toughness? I guess arthropods undergo more development within the egg, compared to mammals like Nightmare.

He then focused on Colossus’ aether attunement and his spells.

      Sensing: Low-Iron                    

      Manipulation: Peak-Copper              

      Affinity: Earth ~ Peak-Copper

      Desert Aegis [Silver〜Epic (Crude)]

       - Creates a protective zone with a 20-foot radius around the caster for 5 minutes.

       - Grants bonus Toughness equal to 15 + 3% of the caster’s total Toughness to all allies within the zone, including the caster.

        - Potency, duration, and radius increases according to Earth affinity and spell quality.

        - Consumes 80 uniums

        - Cooldown: 30 minutes

       Quartz Armor [Iron〜Rare (Crude)]

        - Encases the caster in stone and quartz for 2 minutes.

        - Increases Toughness by 5%.

        - Potency increases according to Arcane Power, Earth affinity, and spell quality.

        - Consumes 20 uniums

        - Cooldown: 4 minutes

That’s absurd. Seth shook his head, passing a hand through his hair. A flat fifteen-Toughness boost on top of everything else. That gives him almost fifty Toughness total for the duration, which means he 'll be practically invulnerable to any Copper attacks.

'It’s normal,' Nightmare grumbled, picking up on Seth’s thoughts. 'He has a Gold potential. He’s supposed to annihilate pretty much everything until he reaches that Tier.'

Seth frowned at the direwolf’s dismissive tone—until he caught the edge beneath it: jealousy. Of course. Colossus having a higher potential was bound to ruffle Nightmare’s ego. That pride of yours is clearly too damn big. 

Nightmare didn't respond to Seth's thoughts that time, so he spun around to retrieve his Lighter, which had rolled near the wall during the explosive hatching. When he turned back, Colossus had cautiously approached Nightmare and was inspecting the direwolf with undisguised curiosity, tilting his blocky, armored head.

'Where your… pincers?' Colossus asked.

Nightmare grumbled. 'I don’t have pincers.'

'And your… shell?'

'I don’t have one either,' Nightmare answered with a sigh, clearly finding the interrogation tedious.

Colossus tilted his head even more, his mandibles clicking. 'How you protect you? And protect… others?'

'I attack,' Nightmare retorted, baring his fangs. 'I don’t protect.'

The moment the direwolf opened his maw, Colossus instantly recoiled, shifting into a defensive posture with claws raised and his three tails poised.

His protective instinct is really something, Seth thought, stepping between them again.

'Alright, alright,' he said mentally, patting Colossus again. 'This is fun, but now that you’re hatched, we have to leave. We need to go back to the academy.' He looked down at the large scorpion. 'And because you’re so strong… well, I probably won’t be able to bring you out much once we get there. It would cause too much… um, chaos. '

Colossus’s armored head slumped slightly. 'Okay.'

Suddenly, the scorpion jolted back up and his multifaceted eyes locked on the Heart of the Brown-Peak Mountains resting on the altar. 'Can I bring… that inside?'

'No, you can't—' Seth began before pausing abruptly and looking down at his teardrop necklace to cast Intermediate Identify. 'Umm, actually...'

      Twin Teardrops Necklace (???)

      Artifact / Necklace

      Tier: -

      Grade: ???

      Effects: 

                    - Conceals Link, bonus attributes, and core.

           - Cannot be identified by someone who doesn’t possess Link.

           - Provides two adaptive domains for bonded arcane beasts and resources.

Seth brushed his fingers over one of the two smooth, bluish stones that hung from the leather cord. "Bonded arcane beasts and resources," he murmured aloud. "Essences are pretty much resources."

But those things were meant to be left where they formed and revisited—allowing others to also train in their aether-rich aura. And Orwen had mentioned Drack's Earth affinity; the grumpy Crusader would definitely want to come back here. 

Taking it would be selfish. And once removed from the altar, its power would start to fade anyway.

'We can't take it,' Seth corrected himself. 'It belongs here. To be shared with others.'

Colossus seemed to deflate, understanding the answer even if he didn't pick up the nuances behind. 'Okay.'

Tearing his gaze from the Essence, the scorpion turned his massive body to face Seth, but in the brief moment, he misjudged the space. His armored tails swung wide, slamming hard into the base of the stone altar.

CRACK.

The sharp sound echoed off the cavern walls like a bone snapping. The altar split at its base, lurching sideways as the Essence tumbled free.

Colossus froze, all eight legs locked stiff. ' …Oops.'

Before Seth could react, a deep, ominous rumble vibrated through the floor. The ceiling groaned, dust raining down as the cavern trembled—something vital in the mountain had been shattered.

Seth’s eyes widened. Shit.

_____

Small announcement.

Before you hate me: I realized a bit late that Seth mistaking bones for exoskeleton pieces was a little far-fetched. So I changed the description of the carcass in the Desert of Misery so he no longer assumes those are bones.

I think the result works pretty well on Royal Road, two out of twenty guesses were actually “three-tailed scorpion” !

Sorry for that!

Anyway, time to power-level Colossus now! Drop in the comments all the things you’d love for Beast #3. You know it won’t be right away, and it needs to fill a role in the party (healer, air transportation, etc.). I already have one in mind that fits the story, but if one of your suggestions feels better, I might switch it... without telling you, obviously! Don’t hate me if I don’t, ahah.

If people are interest to see some art (AI for now) of Colossus, I can share the book cover #3 in the comment section. He's on the cover!