The next two weeks passed in a dangerous, and sometimes boring, slog across the Wilds to get within striking distance of Brightgate as quickly as possible. Pax’s platoon, as well as every other rebel that could make it, had immediately gotten to work building a series of hidden bases they could use for their hit-and-run tactics against the empire’s staging city.

  The travel and building had been brutally exhausting, but they were finally within striking distance of completing the quest they’d all worked so hard on. It might even happen once dawn hit, and Pax could finish up the level in Taming that had been the choke point to their success.

  Fighting on the wall of the newly built rebel base, Pax toggled his Map of Knowledge for a few seconds in a way that had quickly become a valuable habit. The quick check showed the green dots marking his crew defending the wall around him exactly where he expected. Red dots were right up against them, marking the beasts attempting to break through to the juicy insides of the rebel camp while at the edge of his Map’s range, yellow dots encroached.

  Those would be more beasts, but his Map left them yellow until their actions proved them to be ally or enemy. Pax kept a steady trickle of mana to his Extrasensory Sphere, Ascendant Mana and occasionally Haste when needed, loving how the three abilities meshed with his Map to give him a live and accurate view of every part of the fight near him.

  He’d paid special attention to pushing his Ascendant skill’s ability to sense mana use in his vicinity, knowing the further out he could sense an attack charging before an enemy launched it, the better. The recent levels he’d gained in the skill had made him improve at a speed that was fast even for Pax.

  Their trip across the Wilds had given him ample practice integrating them to give him an unprecedented amount of information during both fights and traveling. Knowing they’d be fighting people during the war had motivated Pax to push hard and get in as much practice as possible. The last thing he wanted to do was stumble unaware, into an ambush with his crew.

  A red dot racing in toward Rin’s blind side caught his attention. Using his mana skill, Pax sensed the sudden gathering of a dense, brown energy that he recognized as earth mana. He immediately gathered his ice. Just as the beast shot a barrage of spines at Rin, Pax cast an Ice Mirror between it and her, deflecting them up and over his friend.

  Rin’s gaze flicked toward the Ice Mirror as the spell broke it into harmless shards. Thanks! she sent, before concentrating right back on her current fight.

  Pax took an extra moment to ensure there were no further dangers before focusing on the front line of their formation. Bryn, Tasar and Amil faced off against multiple beasts, one a shadowy beast that was a mass of coiled muscles that made Pax’s eyes cross trying to figure it out.

  As Amil struggled with it, Bryn flung the barely alive beast she’d been fighting back toward the crew of workers and crafters waiting behind them. They moved with a tired efficiency, quickly trapping the injured beast and dragging it to a cage where healers would do their best to keep it alive.

  Bryn moved in to help Amil with the weird creature with its writhing attacks. But the thing just wouldn’t go down.

  Amil let out a frustrated roar. Not sure if we’re going to defeat this one without killing it.

  Just do your best. Renewing your Overcharge. Pax cast his lightning spell boosting the frontline fighters. Enjoy!

  Amil’s thrilled shout of fresh energy made Pax grin. Then he felt a tug from up ahead to his left where Ember was doing her best to intercept beasts as they first crested the wall protecting the newest rebel camp.

  With another pull on both his magma and light mana, Pax sent her more energy. The influx boosted her power and size, a benefit of his newly leveled Primordial Golem Resonance spell. He was unsure how big he could actually make her since there hadn’t been enough of a break in the long fighting trek across the Wilds to spare the mana and time to experiment very much. They’d all been paranoid about letting their mana get too low when dangers could appear at any time day or night.

  But he hadn’t reached a limit yet. Sometimes, he fantasized about stuffing Ember with every scrap of mana he could summon before sending her to climb over Brightgate’s wall to single-handedly win the city from the empire by herself. It was an image that always made him smile.

  The sudden flare of light and heat from the boost got him exactly the result he’d hoped for. The blaze drew the attention of every beast within view, giving the defenders the chance to land flank and rear attacks on their distracted enemies.

  For a moment, Pax felt strange to be fighting on top of a wall again, defending against another endless beast wave as if the empire hadn’t changed one bit. When they’d left the base two weeks ago, he’d envisioned executing hit-and-run attacks ambushing empire caravans or sneaking inside cities for clandestine attacks on critical supplies or troops.

  Instead, he was doing something very similar to his first shift on the student wall back at the academy. It was more than ironic. At least this time, they were innovating the process to help strengthen the rebel forces.

  A triumphant cheer from behind him let him know they’d trapped another beast for the Tamings planned once the nightly waves finished. They’d all been working hard to finish outfitting this hidden base, with him and his people focused on perfecting the recent additions to the walls geared to trap instead of kill beasts.

  Pax couldn’t wait to complete the last few Tamings needed to finish the last part of their quest. The flush of excitement at finally reaching the goal that had once seemed impossible pushed away the tiredness that made him feel sluggish after a full night of manning the walls.

  Today. Today’s going to be the day I finally level my Taming, everyone.

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  Yes! Amil’s cheer made Pax’s smile widen further.

  About time you finish up so the rest of us can help with Tamings again instead of you hogging all the points for yourself. Rin’s laughing sarcasm had an underlying tinge of excitement.

  Completing the quest today will be epic, Tasar said.

  Pax looked at the back of the warrior, whose spear jabbed with skilled speed, not missing a beat. Yes. It will, won’t it?

  Well, get busy Taming then. Amil threw an impatient look over his shoulder at Pax. It’s almost dawn already, and I’m pretty sure most of the cages on the wall are already full. I’m sure they’d appreciate you emptying a few, right? Some of our people are already there waiting, right?

  Surprised, Pax glanced at the cages lined along the back edge of the stone wall and saw Amil was right. The rows of cages that had seemed so plentiful last night to prepare for that night’s experiments were now full of writhing and injured beasts. The early light of the emerging sun lit them up much better than the flickering torches had, making the scene look like a dangerous nightmare.

  Deciding Amil had a good point, Pax hurried back toward where Tyrodon oversaw the cages on the back section of the wall. Excitement filling his tired legs with fresh energy. Behind him, he left a scattering of protective Bulwarks behind him and decreased the mana he was sending to his Windscale Shroud, Extrasensory Sphere and Haste to the bare minimum.

  Taming the beasts wasn’t completely free from danger, but with them inside cages, he didn’t need to be as cautious as he had been holding the wall.

  I’m getting to work. Call out to Titus or Langley’s crews if anyone gets into trouble. Pax glanced back to reassure himself the more senior crews in their platoon were close enough to help if needed.

  Pax winced when none of his friends bothered to respond to his redundant advice, considering how much their platoon had perfected their coordination over the weeks fighting their way across the Wilds. The only crucible they hadn’t tested themselves against were actual empire troops.

  Apparently, the rebellion leaders had given the older leaders strict instructions to keep Pax and his friends away from empire encounters as much as possible. Beasts were fine, and even encouraged, considering the desperate need for more companions to bolster their ranks. But enemy soldiers were too much of a risk for Pax’s crew now that the rebellion leaders had recognized their value.

  Pax understood, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. At least the number of trained Tamers continued to grow. The sooner they could finish doubling the rebels’ forces, the better. Especially now that they had an actual wall to set up cages and trap beasts instead of just racing across the Wilds with little time for Taming efforts.

  Sadly, Pax was still the only one able to unlock a mage’s minor element in minutes instead of weeks, so he hadn’t been able to delay completing that part of the quest more than a day or two. The mages in the first rebel platoon they’d rendezvoused with in the Wilds had insisted he give them the same advantages the mages back at the base had received.

  Pax had, however, earned enough points with all the mana work he’d been doing to improve his Ascendant Mana Integration up to level 3 just before completing Part 1 of the quest. What a rush it had been to bounce almost immediately up to level 4 when he received the quest reward of an extra level to his mana skill. The fourteen leveling points he earned for going from level 2 to level 4 all at once had also been a welcome bonus.

  Most of his friends had done something similar. The double level up for all their mana skills had helped them in almost everything they did. It still amazed Pax that their society of mages had let mana skills fall so far out of favor.

  Well, except for the Inquisitors.

  The thought made him stop for a moment. Was that it? If mana skills were crucial to Interrogation skills, maybe they made it a point to criticize them to keep them out of general use on purpose? It would make even more sense if mana skills helped people resist Interrogations?

  Pax shook his head as a host of other ideas tumbled into place. Did that explain his ability to withstand some efforts of Interrogators? His legendary skill had obviously made an enormous difference when doing mental work with his mother. It stood to reason it would help with all mental work, including resisting the skills of an Inquisitor.

  That prompted another random thought. How would he hold up against Inquisitor Evergreen now with his latest levels in his evolved and combined legendary mana skill? Pax would never hope for an encounter with the Inquisitors, but if he fell afoul of one now? He had to admit he felt a lot less afraid. Maybe they should be afraid of him now?

  “Are you finally going to Tame some beasts and free up a few cages?” Tyrodon’s words pulled Pax out of his thoughts, making him blink at the scene of trapped beasts ranging between comatose and enraged.

  “You know, I’m not the only Tamer around anymore.” Pax shot Tyrodon an apologetic shrug and pulled out his supplies despite his objection.

  “For this section, you are.” Tyrodon waved at the U-shaped arrangement of cages. “Our other Tamers are working in teams on the rest of the wall, but we saved these so you could earn the last points for level 5 before you complete the quest for all of us.”

  Pax nodded, fully present in the moment again. They’d been working toward this for so long, he almost couldn’t believe it was time. He made a quick check of the numbers before getting started. He didn’t want to mess this up by a few points after everyone’s efforts to make the numbers work out right.

  ***

  Crew Quest: Part 2: Help rebel mages and warriors Tame adult beast companions - 97/100 (+16)

  Reward: +1 level for each crew companion and +1 to the Taming level for each crew member who aids in this process, along with a bonus choice from all possible system evolutions for the skill.

  Universal Beast Tamer Level 4 (Rare) - 378/400 (+54)

  ***

  He blew out a breath and focused. This was going to be close. Once he Tamed the third beast this morning, he’d complete the quest. But he had to earn 22 points in his skill before doing that or he’d miss out on the free Taming level in the quest reward.

  That many points wouldn’t have been much of an issue when he’d been new to Taming adult beasts. But now, with his accumulated experiences and his two additional levels in Ascendant Mana, Taming wasn’t as challenging. Based on the few he’d squeezed into the last two weeks, he expected he might earn five or six points per Taming.

  Thankfully, he had a friend who’d helped him brainstorm a solution last night as they’d finished setting up the cage system on the walls. Pax pulled out the last of his Taming gear from inventory and shot a grateful smile at Tyrodon. “Thanks for coming through with the best way to do this today.”

  Tyrodon flushed and looked down. “Thanks. But we all figured it out together.”

  “Well, doing as much of the Taming as possible without actually completing any of them until I get my fifth level was a brilliant suggestion.”

  Tyrodon flashed him a smile. “Maybe I just want my next level, too, and am tired of waiting for you to get things done.”

  Pax chuckled. “Well, then. Let’s get our companions and candidates over here and get this done. Maybe we can all get our rewards before breakfast is served. What do you think of that?”

  Breakfast? Talpa was suddenly by Pax’s leg, aiming a pleading look up at him.

  A finger of Whisk’s jiggling body popped out from under Pax’s armor as he sent a matching plea for food.

  Not until we finish our work. Help me with these Tamings, and you’ll not only get an amazing breakfast, but both of you will level up again. Think of how much stronger and bigger you’ll be.

  Why are you waiting? Talpa nudged his leg and swatted at the bag of Taming tools making it jangle.

  Laughing, Pax got to work.