20) The nature of the Beasts [Necessity is the mother of cheating ]

  The deal that I and Malico, or rather Viola and Malico, agreed to was that eight more Ratlings would be allowed to join the one eyed elder Ratling in the outer corridor. And that they would stay out there.

  While I, or rather my Core, would be allowed to back away from the top of the stairs while I went and leveled up to acquire some ability to protect the Ratling.

  I would rather have held out for an arrangement that involved a lot less Ratling beyond the chokepoint of the shaft, but eight of them was the first suggestion Malico had brought up, and Viola had agreed to it immediately.

  Which I was not happy about.

  -Viola? Why?-

  The Fairy had rolled her eyes. -Agreeing to it without arguing projects strength Fell. Besides, between me, the Roaches, and Mr Fish. We can easily handle eight of the younger ones, and the old guy to boot.-

  She didn’t remember what the club did to my Summons, did she? “Viola. Do you remember what the club did to the Skeleton?”

  My Domain Guardian's eyes went wide. -Ah? ...yes. Of course I remember what it did, and I have a clever plan on how I can deal with it Fell. Everything is fine… How are you?-

  I’m doomed. Doomed I say.

  Maybe if I’m still up in the tower of Ascension, I won’t feel it when the Ratlings carry my Core off to who knows where.

  Won’t that be nice.

  If I come back to my Core and I’m blind from it being taken out of my Domain, I can just Level up again and wile away what’s left of my existence asking Unity whatever idle question might spring to mind.

  So, with my Core hidden away underneath a table and sitting in the bottom of a woven basket that Nictob had used for storing crumpled up sheets of scribbled out notes, which I had then Air Float to lay out on top of my Core, it was as hidden away as it could be.

  Short of the Earth Snake creating a hole for me to hide it in.

  ...Which I could put the Snake to start working at doing so, but right now I didn’t have any Summons with hands to move my Core around to a hiding spot while my consciousness wasn’t in it.

  Still, I put the Snake to work since a hidey hole was a good idea, and then I got a move on.

  “Blinky, level me up.”

  There was a moment of darkness, then once again I found my Core resting in the gray sand before the door of the Tower. Almost immediately, my Magic Pool began to visibly, even if slowly, fill back up in the Magic rich place of the Spirits.

  Is there a name for this place? An official one? It occurred to me that there was something I would like to know. And luckily for me, I had someone to ask.

  Moving myself along with Hover Aloft, and a burst of Air Jet to cross the great room inside the Tower, I brought my Core into position above Unity’s desk and lowered my Core down in the round hollow rest the ragged looking Liason had gotten from somewhere or another for me to set my Core into without it rolling around on top, or off, of her desk.

  Speaking of which, where had Unity gotten that Core holder from? Or her desk, stool, and the chair she had before that, which had been lost in a completely unavoidable accident?

  As the Liaison smiled toward my Core in greeting and began to speak, I interrupted her with my first question.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Unity. What is the place the Tower is at called?”

  The Liaison gave my Core a blank look before she answered. “I believe it’s called the Undesignated Space. It's more of a place for other places to be than a place of its own.”

  Hrm? Well, I guess Unity had answered that question about as best she could. Since the winged woman had only come into existence, as I understood it, as the very same moment that I got my first level in the Tier zero, Level one Child class, it’s entirely possible the Liaison had never actually looked outside the door to the Tower.

  “Where did you get all these things? The desk, the chair, and the Core holder?”

  The Liaison tilted her head to look down at my Core. “The desk and chair were waiting for me, for everything else I put a request in with the messenger Spirits.”

  Alright, that's getting somewhere. Maybe. “Who do they take the request to?” If it were to the Unnamed God, maybe I could get in contact with him that way. Or at least request a few useful things for myself, considering I might be able to take things from this world down to the mortal world.

  Or even just something to keep Unity entertained while she sat around waiting to be useful. But right now, I was letting myself get a mite too distracted from preventing a horde of Ratlings from rushing my library at any moment.

  “Here the issue Unity…” I laid out what had happened, my agreement with the four adventurers, and the Goblin invasion turned independent Ratling occupation of my front entrance, as well as the offer to find a solution to the death of his people or all of them throwing themselves at me, I had received from the one eye Ratling.

  “So, can you give me the Taming ability?”

  My Liaison shook her head firmly. “No, I’m sorry, but I cannot. It’s too far off the axis of what a Summoner is.”

  Hrm? “That seems to call out for some kind of explanation?”

  The winged woman leaned back on her stool while closing her eyes.”Summoners tap into a Beast core and make a copy of everything that is recorded about the Beast inside that Core. Cores direct all the possible changes Chaos might make to a creature into the ways that won’t kill those Beasts by comparing what the Chaos is trying to do with the image of the Beast inside of the Core.”

  Unity looked at my own Core. “What your class does is bind that image to you so that you can use it to Summon copies of the original Beast. Tamer’s Tame living being who don’t have Cores, and lend the Tamer’s class to protect those they Tame from Chaos as if the Beast were living extensions of themselves.”

  Holding her hands out as in comparing two things, my Liaison summarised her explanation.

  “Summoners bind Cores to their class, Tamers bind their class to other living things that lack both a Core and a Class. No one can twist what makes their own Class work to do two things that oppose each other.”

  Well… “So what can…”

  No. I can’t ask Unity that. Or at least she can’t answer. As a Liaison, my guide is only supposed to advise her clients, not tell them what to do. It is some sort of rule for anyone who believes they are ready to move on past their Child class.

  So I had to make my own decisions, no matter how frustrating it could be.

  I can’t Tame the Ratlings, or Summon them. How else can I keep them safe enough not try to get back into some other Tamer’s good graces by capturing my Core?

  “Can I make them my Familiars?”

  Unity shook her head. “They would need Cores for that binding.”

  Then she hesitated, and I asked outright, “What aren't you telling me?” The shabbily dressed woman shook her head. “I was going to mention you could have Viola bind them to your Domain, as she had done with the Goat, but that couldn't stop creatures in your Domain from developing Cores…”

  Unity looked off in the distance as if trying to figure something out, “At least not normally.”

  Hrm? “Go on.”

  My Liaison interlocked her fingers, and she laid her hands on the desk in front of her. “If you left your beacon on all the time, then all the Chaos in the area around you would flow into your Domain, and once inside your Domain, it would all head towards your Core. In Theory, as long as you kept your Magic pool drained, and your Beacon on, then you would absorb all the Chaos inside your Domain as quickly as it entered, so that no creature inside it would need to be protected from Chaos by developing a Core.”

  So… “That’s good, right?”

  Unity nodded. “But you would be stuck with them being unable to leave your Domain. At least not for very long.”

  Still, it would be a temporary solution. But more importantly, “What's this about binding a creature to my Domain. What exactly did Viola do with the Goat?”

  My Liaison held up her hand towards my Core. “It’s a way for creatures that belong in a Domain to recognize each other. And to protect them from any defenses a Domain can inflict on intruders.”

  Unity held up one of her hands towards my Core. “And while it’s less of a problem for you, there is a limit equal to one’s Spirit score for how many Denizens they can bind to their Domain. Fourtunetly your Familiar’s chosen only count towards the limit of her own Spirit score.”

  Oh, good. There was a limit to how many pets the Fairy could collect.

  While there were a lot of Ratlings down in the drainage tunnel below my Domain, my Spirit score was more than enough to take them all in. The question was, would this be enough to satisfy Malico?

  Hrmmm… “Quick aside, how many Familiar’s can I have?” My Liaison held up a single finger. Well, so much for that.

  I had been thinking of encouraging some of the Ratlings to develop Cores so I could make them Familiars, which would allow me to use them as Summons, or near enough.

  Ah well.

  So, what new class ability could I get that would allow me to do something with the Ratlings?

  Tamer’s share their class with their Coreless minions, Summoners bind Cores to themselves.

  But I am not just a member of a chosen race that got a class, I’m also a Core.

  There has to be some way to twist that around to get what I want.