Taming Destiny - a Tamer Class isekai/portal survival fantasy.

Awe is certainly one of the expressions, and one that Shrieks-loudly himself directs at me when he sits up gingerly only to find no pain, no limitation to his movements. He’s not the only one. The herbalist, who is probably the samuran who knows best just how difficult it is to heal a spinal injury, is almost as impressed as the lead Warrior himself.

A couple of other Warriors look a mixture of impressed and relieved; the rest of those currently watching also look relieved, though it’s mixed with other emotions like uncertainty or active discomfort. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because their top Warrior has been laid low, though they could have been rooting for Shrieks-loudly to have been permanently injured, for all I know.

Others are even less positive. Wind-whisperer is, of course, rather disgruntled – probably because I have made it through the whole gauntlet of Warriors without losing, heck, without taking significant injury. Wood-shaper seems just as discomforted, avoiding looking in my direction at all. She’s been almost as strong a voice against me, but she’s been more open to reason than Wind-whisperer; why she’s upset, I don’t know for sure, though I have some suspicions.

Bastet and Catch both have almost identical expressions of smugness. Bastet’s, of course, is far more obvious than Catch’s – though she isn’t a feline, exactly, she does their expressions rather well, and no one does smug like a cat.

“So, what’s next?” I ask since no one seems to be inclined to break the quiet that’s fallen around this little area. There is still plenty of noise: just because I’ve finished all my fights doesn’t mean that everyone else has finished theirs. But this is a small oasis of peace and quiet amongst the noise of battle. Or at least, it would be an oasis if the silence was comfortable. As it is, I push myself to my feet restlessly, putting out my hand to help Shrieks-loudly to his.

He hesitates a moment, then sets his big paw in mine. I raise an eyebrow at how his massive hand makes mine look like a child’s, but pull him up all the same. Fortunately, even though he’s heavy, I’m a lot stronger than I used to be and levering him to his feet takes little effort.

Either my question or the movement, or both, manage to jolt the rest of the samurans into motion. The Warriors, now the show is over, disperse to watch the active fights. The Pathwalkers remain. The herbalist moves around me to paint the new sigil on my back – well, the back of my armour anyway. There must be thirteen of the things on me now – even if I didn’t actually fight my four Bound, I still ‘won’ those battles, so Grubs-in-the-dirt was obliged to paint their symbols on me nonetheless.

“You may have made it through the Warriors without too much difficulty, but you’ll soon be facing a much greater challenge,” Wind-whisperer tells me with their equivalent of a sneer. Shrieks-loudly shifts slightly and I feel irritation drift over his link. I’m not surprised and can only think that if this is how she normally is, and it isn’t just because of my presence, then I’m surprised he hasn’t killed her or conveniently didn’t notice something attacking her when they were out in the forest.

“Yes, I am slightly concerned about Runs-with-the-river’s skills,” I ‘admit’, feeling satisfaction when Wind-whisperer clicks her teeth in anger. It’s probably immature of me to prod at her, but she’s really starting to get on my nerves. I’m frankly looking forward to meeting her in the ring – especially since, having declared that she’s not going to hold back, I won’t feel the need to do so either.

Still, I was hoping to have a break. I’ve just fought nine fights with very little respite between them, and I need some time just to chill before engaging in six more. Well, five – Joy is mine, after all.

“Oh don’t worry,” Wind-whisperer hisses at me. “It’ll be all over soon for you.” Apparently determined to have the last word, she turns and flounces off, her tail swaying more than normal in her annoyance.

“She’s afraid,” remarks a voice behind me, its tone flat without the influence of coloured spikes.

“Herbalist…” says Wood-shaper, her tone a mix between reproachful and hesitant.

“What? She is.”

“That doesn’t mean you should talk about one of our sisters in front of….in front of him,” Wood-shaper continues, still refusing to look directly at me.

“I don’t doubt he already knows it,” scoffs the herbalist, though she shuts up after that and just finishes painting the sigil. I don’t tell her that I didn’t in fact know that, though it makes a lot of sense now I think about it. Hmm, I wonder if I could use the knowledge….

Stepping back around to my front, the herbalist faces me squarely.

“The tournament between the Pathwalkers takes place immediately after the end of the Warriors’, so you have the time until then to rest.” She goes silent for a moment, gazing at me thoughtfully, her eyes flicking to Shrieks-loudly and back. I sense that she wants to say something.

“Come on, Herbalist,” Wood-shaper says and Grubs-in-the-dirt turns her head to look at her sister. “We’re needed at the other fights.”

The herbalist looks back at me, but the moment is lost and she departs with her sister a moment later. What was that about? I wonder to myself as I gaze at her back.

The shifting of my newest Bound next to me draws my attention back to other matters.

“How are you feeling, Catch?” I ask solicitously. Even before he answers, I touch his shoulder and channel healing magic into him. Searching out the areas which were not fully healed earlier in my stop-gap actions, I smooth away the injuries and knit together the broken flesh.

Much better, thank you, he says with relief when I’ve finished.

“Up for more fights?” I check with him. Both he and Shrieks-loudly look at me with surprise.

You want…me to fight with you against the Pathwalkers? Catch asks slowly. I stare at him.

“Well…yeah. Either you or Bastet, case depending. Who else?” Catch turns to look at Shrieks-loudly pointedly. The big samuran seems to be thinking along the same lines as his smaller kin, incredulity mingling with surprise. “Oh, I see,” I tell them, my mind turning over the idea.

It should probably have occurred to me to use my newest Bound, the strongest Warrior instead of one who is an Unevolved samuran. Certainly, it seems to have been obvious to Catch and Shrieks. But as I think it over, I shake my head.

“No, I think it would be better to stick with the line-up as it is – unless you’re too tired to continue,” I say frankly, gazing at Catch. Both of them now send incredulity down the link at me.

I can continue. But…why? asks Catch, clearly baffled.

“Several reasons,” I tell him. “First, think about how it would appear if I swap you and Shrieks around. Shrieks, am I right in guessing that you did pretty well against the Pathwalkers last time?” I ask. Shrieks is staring at me with contemplation slowly replacing the confusion and surprise.

I did. I did not beat Honoured Shaman, but I won against Herbalist.

Well, that was useful to know – I decide to ask him what the order of Pathwalkers were last time, since that will give me my battle order for this time too, I would imagine.

“See. Now if I take him in to fight with me, what are the chances that they will assume my victories are due to my companion, rather than to me?” Arguably, the strength of a Tamer is in having strong Bound, so that shouldn’t make a difference, but I suspect it does. The samurans seem to be all about personal strength – they allowed me to fight with two of my Bound, but weren’t happy about that. And although it’s important that I win these fights, how I win is just as essential.

From the feelings that are filtering down the link between Shrieks and me, I suspect he’s in agreement with me over that.

“Then there’s the question of whether they’d consider it to be fair play to change which Bound I bring in considering how reluctant they were to let you be part of a ranking fight at all. There’s also the fact that I’d like to show them that the Unevolved are worthy of respect. Finally, and perhaps most practically, there’s the question of teamwork.” I turn so I’m looking directly at Catch. “You and I have fought together multiple times now, and we’ve sparred together too. We know how each other fights. Shrieks and I don’t.”

I turn my head so I’m now looking up at the mountainous samuran. “I’m not trying to cast any doubt on either your skills at fighting, or even fighting with others. I just don’t feel that leaping into a fight with the Pathwalkers is the right place to start our teamwork.”

I agree, rumbles Shrieks, taking me a little by surprise.

“You do?”

Yes. I am familiar with the problems that can result from two Warriors fighting together who are unfamiliar with each other’s fighting style. I do not wish to accidentally strike you or be burnt myself because we have misread each other’s moves.

Perhaps I forgot who I’m speaking to – a leader and trainer of others of his kind. Of course he’d understand where I’m coming from here.

“Alright, good. Then it’s settled. Bastet, Catch, you will join me for the final battles, so take the time to rest now. Shrieks, while we rest, tell me about what you know of the existing Pathwalkers’ fighting styles. Start with their ranking order, please.”

While listening to Shrieks, I focus on running my magic through my system. I heal any small injury which I had missed before, then focus on external parts of myself. Refilling my armour with my mana, I heal it – though don’t clean it since I’d lose all the sigils – and make small changes which I think might stand me in better stead in the coming fights.

Once he’s finished, I send him off to watch the rest of the fights – it’s what he wants to do and might offer me useful information for later too. Finally, I take the chance to look at the notification which has been nagging at me all this time. As I read it, my eyes go wide.

Congratulations!

You have advanced a Skill past Journeyman. Flesh-Shaping is now Master 1. You have achieved this feat by gaining an in-depth understanding of at least one aspect of your Skill.

You have developed an ease with manipulating healing and shaping energy within the body, as able to fix a problem as to cause it. You have noticed that the body carries information within it which offers a blueprint to restoring its constituent parts to full health.

Using previous knowledge about that which directs the body’s processes, you have understood that you may be able to change the very essence of the body – to heal or to harm. However, how to apply this knowledge and the consequences of doing so are still unknown to you. Equally, your understanding at present barely touches the depths of the possibilities. Advance your understanding in this area or significantly expand your understanding of other areas of Flesh-Shaping to advance this Skill further. Research and explore, but beware of unintended consequences of your actions.

The path to Sage is long and hard; do you have the will and inspiration to stay the course?

Close messages

So DNA manipulation is a thing, I think to myself. Though, even the message warns me against doing it without thought about the consequences. It’s interesting that I didn’t actually have to manipulate DNA to get the Skill to Master – is that because I was so close to ranking up that it only needed a little to tip into Master, or because DNA is such an advanced concept?

Either way, I close the message for now. It’s something to explore later – very, very carefully. But right now, I need to concentrate on resting and getting ready for the battles to come.