PSTH: Chapter Forty-Five (Patreon)

Not sure I love this new Tamer Consortium rules update. With a maximum of four Primals per person for any fight, it means that any Tamer who has five, six, even seven or eight bonds is somewhat punished for having so many. Sure, it allows for a bit more strategy for them, where they can build multiple teams out of their team, but it still feels like it’s just bowing to people who are too stupid to go out and collect as many Primals as their spirit can handle without damage. I don’t believe them that the registered Tamers wanted this change, either. Maybe the low ranked ones did, but they’re totally lying about the higher ranked ones wanting it to ‘have a stronger relationship with their primals’ or whatever. Thinking I might boycott the Consortium’s forums unless they reverse this rule change!

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Post on a tamer forum from a user who continued to participate in the Consortium’s forum for fifteen more years, despite the four per battle rule never being revoked, 431 Modern-Era

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As the battle ended, a rush of essence flowed through Scales, Hex, and Zale, and I felt Zale working to shunt the essence toward Hex and Scales. He was already level eighteen after all, higher than either of my other two companions. A whisper of power slipped into Scales’ core, and he immediately condensed another layer, before shunting the flow of the essence into Hex. It was impossible to move the entirety of incoming essence to someone else, even with all of us connected through my bonding magic, but the vast majority of it still funneled into the dark and toxic Primal. Her cyan eyes began to glow brighter as the whirlpool of essence brought her up to level fifteen. It continued to envelop her core, rapidly pushing her through the levels, until at last she too was brought up to level sixteen. 

As she did, her core touched on a new part of her spirit, where the moves that Primals innately learned with levels were, and I felt a new spell start to etch itself into the bridge between her anima and pneuma. From feel alone, I could only tell that it was a toxic spell of some sort, but thankfully I’d done research on her species. At level sixteen, they unlocked Poison Needle, a ranged spell that shot filiform needles of toxic mana at an opponent. They weren’t especially powerful, but they cost little enough anima, and had a low chance to create a short lived pneuma-consuming poison. 

The vortex of essence cascading in from our victory faded then, and with some effort, I activated my ousia sight to see if Scales' weave was starting to shift. I thought a few points where the flows were knotted might have re-tied themselves in a new way, but it certainly wasn’t the dramatic rush of power that I’d expect from him reaching his second stage. That was… fine. Scales would get a new move, Aqua Fin, at level seventeen regardless of if he reached his second stage or not. Fifteen might be the standard level for an evolutionary leap like this, but it was known to happen a level or two early, and as many as five levels late. 

Still, a part of me couldn’t help but be concerned. What if there was some structural flaw in his ousia, and he was never able to reach his second stage? Would an essence-focused doctor be able to fix that? Was it even possible? Would– My thoughts cut off as Lisa Ruth walked forward, a broad, happy smile on her face. 

“Well done there son,” she said, clapping me on the back. Within my ousia sight, I could see the absolute masterwork of weaving that she’d made her ousia weave into. River might have spent months working his way up to rare, but it was clear that Lisa Ruth had gone well beyond that. If she were a Primal, I’d have put her at legendary. 

That thought brought a new one, and I turned and glanced over to where the small audience was. I’d already seen River and Laurel, of course, but Gawain? I shouldn’t have been surprised by what I saw, and yet… I was. His essence structure, the weave of his ousia, was an absolute mess. I couldn’t discern much of anything about it, other than the fact that it was complicated. I wasn’t sure it was complicated in a good way. It just as easily could have been complicated in a way that was weakening his overall power, rather than improving it. I thought I might have spotted a prosthetic or implant, and around his eyes I was almost sure he’d had something that could sync to his augpad implanted, but even then it could have just been an unusually messy protrusion around his eyes. I couldn’t really say. 

Well, I hadn’t really expected it to resolve things. Gifts were one of the countless aspects of the ousia weave, but I only had a baseline ability to analyze it, and I didn’t know anyone who could see gifts without a scanner, let alone use anything other than a mystic jewel to upgrade them. I let the topic go, and let Lisa Ruth pull me into a hug. We turned and took some pictures for the camera, before she clapped her hands. 

“Now! I owe you an imprint disk. Do you know what you want?” 

“Not exactly,” I admitted. “Ten levels ago, I’d have been tempted to get Aqua Fin, so Scales had a move that he wasn’t paying entirely too much anima to use. Or maybe an ice spell of some kind, to give him a bit of elemental coverage. But now? I don’t know. Funny enough, both Zale and Hex have better coverage with their moves than Scales does right now.”  

She glanced over my Primals and stroked her chin. 

“Have you considered Enhance Defense, or maybe Healing Mist? Both are spells that your Sharmond – I assume that’s who Scales is – will learn in time. Level…” 

She patted her pockets and pulled out her augpad. I did the same and pulled up the information on Sharmonds – they learned them at level fifty-one and twenty-four, respectively. 

“Right,” she continued. “I know there’s value in teachin’ them a spell they won’t learn on their own with a disk, at least so long as their spirit is compatible with it. But there’s also an argument for those. Enhance Defense might cost more anima to cast, but it’ll provide the benefits of both physical and magical defense in one spell. That would let you replace both Anima Bubble and Boost Scales, and next level Aqua Fin can go in the free slot.” 

“If it’s a spell he typically doesn’t unlock until level fifty-one, then is there any real chance he can even cast it? He’s not exactly an anima-focused Primal in the first place, paying a ton of anima is going to drain him fast.” 

“Ah, it should be manageable,” Lisa Ruth said, waving her hand dismissively. “It’s got about thrice the cost of a single Boost Scales. Nothing unmanageable.”

“There’s… definitely some value in that,” I admitted. “Not having to worry about taking the time to cast two spells for complete defenses is valuable, probably worth the extra cost. What about Healing Mist? It’s a restorative, like Restore Shell, right?” 

“Yes and no. It does restore the shell, but where Restore Shell heals a lot all at once, Healing Mist is a continual healing effect, albeit a much weaker one. Good way to give Scales some more longevity in a battle.” 

I glanced at Hex and Zale, trying to think if there was anything that I thought would be a good idea for them. Hex had a pretty comprehensive natural moveset, and while I could have gone for a higher level spell like Toxic Jaws for her, she would learn that in time. And she did have a toxic attack now. What about Zale? Normally, I’d have thought that for such a powerful Primal, using Pneuma Bite was a bad idea. It was the most bland, basic empowered attack possible, using null essence to just slightly empower the pneuma. The only real benefit was that it was incredibly easy to cast, meaning that basically every Primal in the world could access it. But Zale was a null Primal. Meaning he was able to get full use of the spell, and not have to pay the cost of casting a spell that wasn’t of his essence type. More than that, he was best served by a simple spell. 

Either one of them could potentially have used some additional type coverage by taking something outside of their native spells, but I wasn’t sure that it was worth abandoning what they already had. No, they weren’t in need of a spell now. I turned to Lisa Ruth and nodded: I’d made my decision. 

“I’ll take Enhance Defenses,” I said, and she brightened. 

“Great!” she agreed. We spent a little more time going over details, before she reached out and bestowed her Councillor’s Crest. I studied my tamer card as she did, watching as my rank rose. Two crests. It might not match someone like Vince, or most professional Tamers, but it was a solid start. 

I tucked my augpad away and turned to go meet up with my friends. And Gawain. Was Gawain a friend? I didn’t know what he was exactly, and now that the battle was over, I was starting to wonder exactly why he was here. 

“Good job!” Laurel said, grinning. “I knew that you’d go for the Hex and Zale gambit – it’s a pretty predictable one. Even still, it’s cool to watch Zale go from this slow, staggering titan to basically a superhero.” 

“It was interesting,” Gawain said, which I thought was his way of agreeing, but I wasn’t sure. “There have been a handful of gift neutralizing teams that have shown up to tournaments before. It’s usually a gimmick that gets hard countered the first time they come across a team that isn’t strictly reliant on gifts, but some have managed to place well or win.” 

“Gee, thanks,” I said dryly. 

“I thought it looked cool,” River said. “That’s really more important than strategy.” 

I swore that I could see Gawain’s jaw physically clench at River’s offhanded dismissal of strategy, probably because he couldn't actually argue with it, at least not fully. There was a substantial number of people who watched tamer duels and tournaments not for the intricate strategy and delicate balance of skill and power, but for the spectacle. There was a reason that flashier teams tended to have an easier time attracting public attention. 

“Speaking of Gawain,” I said, only for Laurel to cut me off with a raised eyebrow. 

“Nobody said anything about Gawain.” 

“Oh, shush. Speaking of Gawain, why are you here?” 

Gawain blinked in surprise, and perhaps even a little bit of something else, though I couldn’t tell what it was. 

“To fight you. We fought after our first Councillor, and the video that we put up on it performed fairly well, especially for a pair of tamers without a proper following yet. I thought it would be good for us to fight again now that we have two Councillor Seals.” 

I had to immediately bite back a response about not following him around like a lost puppy dog, and realized I was still a bit irritated about his attitude on the tour. I tried to let it go, taking a deep breath and nodding. 

“I enjoyed fighting you before,” I agreed. “I just didn’t expect you to stick around for that purpose.” 

“It’s good for analytics,” Gawain said. He opened his mouth as if he was about to add something else, then shut it, before speaking again. “And it’s not like a few days is going to really make a difference. I used the time to train with Troublemaker.” 

River, Laurel, and I all perked up at his use of Troublemaker instead of Galling. Gawain rolled his eyes and gestured to Laurel. 

“When do you fight Lisa Ruth? I wouldn’t mind fighting you either.” 

“I’ve got a slot tomorrow,” Laurel said, before a mischievous light entered her eyes. “Say, since we’ve got a bit of time, how about you come along to the hotel we’re staying at? They’ve got a great lunch, and reasonably priced as well…”