Godspawn Ascendant [LitRPG, Epic Progression Fantasy]

Nic tilted his head to the side as he watched Eira prance through the air, a gesture I could only guess came from curiosity as his dark helmet hid all other expressions from my view. Eira seemed to enjoy the attention. She exuberantly bounced off unseen hills and veered around the curves of the training arena's walls. Eira threw her head back, flowing mane dancing behind her like an elegant, white curtain twisting in the wind. She danced and twirled around our heads, releasing excited chirps and trills as we watched her.

"It's an interesting specimen," Nic said.

"She."

"What's that?"

"Eira is a she."

"Oh." Nic shrugged. "She can definitely aid you in battle. Once bonded to you completely, this etherea of yours can become an extremely useful tool."

Eira weightlessly pounded her hooves toward me and unsuccessfully tried to nudge at my hand to pet her. I obliged, of course, even though my arms flew through her like I was trying to pet empty air. She still seemed to like it, though, and performed two flips of delight.

"Completely bonded? How do I do that?"

"Just by taking care of her, spending time with her…"

Eira approached Nic again, doing more flips along the way. He hesitantly reached his own hand out and waved it through her impalpable form. I heard a slight, muffled chuckle come from his helmet.

"It's been a long time since I had a familiar," Nic continued, "and he hadn't been an etherea."

Interesting. More facts about Nic's past life.

Nic wasn't one to overshare–or share much at all–about his life and experiences. I wondered what type of pet he had, what he could do, or even what his name had been. But, knowing Nic, it was unlikely he'd provide answers to any of my questions, so I decided not to press for further conversation about his pet.

I shook myself out of my thoughts and realized Nic was still talking:

"Once a familiar is bonded to a Solomon clone, their stat sheet should show up along with yours whenever you cultivate. She will also level up, and her levels will come to your mind as they happen. If she's like my old pet, she won't have Tiers like you and I or a significant amount of Soul Strength, but her level-ups will be important to pay attention to. She might even get Skills."

I stood straighter. "What types of Skills? In what ways will she help me in battle?"

Nic shrugged and turned to face me. "There is no way of knowing exactly what type of fighter she'll be, but I can teach you one useful thing–something that only applies to a Solomon clone when it comes to familiars."

Eira galloped over to me and remained immobile above my head, seemingly just as interested in the discussion as I was.

"She will attract and use a lot of essence on a regular basis, especially when casting her own spells. You should learn to recycle her essence streams as often as possible. And in a pinch, draining Eira of her current essence stores can aid you in many ways."

"Drain her?" I glanced at my pet, who met my eyes intently with her large, glowing ones. "Will that hurt her?"

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Nic shook his head. "No. In fact, it may help strengthen her. The more often she has to draw in her own essence, the better she'll become at doing it."

Nic stepped another foot away from Eira and me. "Why don't you try it now? Like most people, Eira should always be subconsciously attracting essence streams into her Soul. Call her streams to you."

"But…" I trailed off, staring at my hovering pet.

"You are accustomed to seeing the essence streams you draw in," Nic finished for me. "That is a great advantage Solomon clones have, but it can also prove to be a disadvantage at times. You can't always look for the essence that exists around every corner, behind you, in your peripheral vision… You also need to subconsciously draw in the streams that are close but unseen. Don't always rely on waiting for the ones visible to your eye."

Eira cocked her head to the side and studied me in anticipation. My eyes scanned her entire coat as I searched for… well, I didn't really know what I was supposed to be searching for.

"How do I do it?"

"It is quite simple once you get used to it," Nic said with an encouraging nod. "Most everyone else, those who are not a perfect copy of Solomon, do it this way. While seeing the actual streams and calling them to you from both near and great distances is more convenient and oftentimes provides you with more essence than the average person, taking in what is near and what you can't see simultaneously will increase your essence stores significantly."

Nic folded his arms tightly over his chest. "I've talked about this quite a bit in class. Are you even listening to my lectures?"

I pulled my lips into a thin line and shifted my gaze to my feet. "I didn't think anything in your class applied to me."

An awkward silence is about a million times more uncomfortable when you can't see the face of the person in front of you.

Ten more seconds passed before Nic sighed and said, "Just… just try to imagine the essence streams that are coursing through Eira's Soul. Similar to how you imagine directing streams to your core when cultivating."

That suggestion made everything make sense. I kept my eyes on Eira, who also maintained eye contact with me. I pictured blue threads, all entangled in a glowing mess of river-like paths that pulsed through Eira's transparent body. I pictured the image so well that I felt I could almost see it in reality. The blue threads intertwined within her glowing limbs and underneath her translucent coat; I could even almost see a blue hue emanating from her majestic antlers.

The next part was effortless. After barely a thought to call the essence streams over to me, I felt a warmth that flowed over every inch of my body. I directed the streams to enter through my skin and travel into my Soul to store away for later cultivation.

And I took it all.

Eira's head drooped forward once the warm feeling of essence pouring into my Soul stopped. Her eyelids fluttered from a sudden onslaught of exhaustion, and the iridescent light radiating from her form faded. She began drifting from her floating position, teetering precariously just above my feet. I outstretched my arms toward her in a panic, forgetting for a moment that I couldn't actually touch her and help her.

"Is she going to be alright?" I hollered in a panic.

Nic waved away my words. "Yes, of course. Just give her a second or two–she'll recover quickly."

Just before I thought Eira would surely hit the ground and fade away completely, the etherea reared her head back and leaped high into the air, so high her ghostly antlers poked through the tall ceiling.

"She can replenish her essence stores very quickly," Nic said, head craned upward to watch the happy dancing of the etherea. "Though her new stores aren't as extensive as what she had before you drained her, even a small amount in her Soul will bring her energy back."

"Now," Nic clapped his hands together and whipped his head back down to face me, "are there any changes to your stats since our training session last week? New Skills? Have you reported to an android to check on any change to your Soul Strength?"

For a man who didn't like me to ask him questions, he sure liked to throw a plethora of them my way.

I rubbed the back of my neck and chuckled. "About that…"

I had quite a bit to catch Nic up on. The caverns, my accelerated advancement to Tier 7, my mound of stats I was trying to get through… And no, I hadn't had a chance to report to the androids that scanned for our Tiers and Soul Strength. It worried me to allow the knowledge of my quick Tier advancement and abnormally high Soul Strength (thanks to being a Lord Solomon clone) in any system, including a non-human android.

Nic tapped impatient fingers along his thigh. "What did you do, Rayden?"