[Nightmare]

"Today's the day, Tinker." Helix announced with a smile as he held Tinker in his hands.

Tinker was Charlotte's soul beast.

It had been just shy of four months since arriving in Myriad.

During that time, Tinker has been the same puppy he was when Charlotte was bound to him.

Soul beasts in Myriad were extremely difficult to train and grow.

Unlike other animals, they grew alongside their soulmate.

The stronger a person becomes, the stronger their beast becomes.

However, strength increases are not instantaneous.

Once every four months, the soul beast has the [opportunity] to evolve.

During that time, the beast will absorb the power from its soul mate and grow.

Until then, the owner must [protect] their beast, which is weaker than they are.

In the case of Tinker, the pup couldn't even stay awake for longer than thirty minutes at a stretch.

Things would be different after evolution.

Charlotte had exploded in strength in a short period, and Tinker's first evolution would be remarkable.

However, at the fourth month mark, the group was set to leave back to Alzeria.

That presented a problem.

While the power of a soul-beast comes from their owner, their strength in combat comes from experience.

Charlotte was given a miracle opportunity to train with Tyrene and go on monster hunts daily in a prime location.

If the group left for Alzeria, she would be guarding Tinker, who would be powerful but inexperienced.

It was a sad situation.

However, Helix went through sketchy hoops to procure Liskaberry, a catalyst that could speed up Tinker's evolution by one week.

Today was the day that he would evolve.

"Are you ready, Charlotte?" Helix asked with a slight smile.

"What type of dumb question is that?

For someone so smart, you're a stupid, beautiful, handsome, charming sex god… what was I saying?" Charlotte grinned.

"You were telling me I was dumb and then courting me for sex.

I'm about it." Helix laughed as he set Tinker on the ground.

Over the last few days, the quiet, sleepy pup was restless in anticipation of his evolution.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes seductively at him.

Helix chuckled when he saw her gaze.

Then he shivered when he realized she burned the image into his mind.

He still saw it when he opened his item storage to take out the Liskaberry.

"Well, here you go." Helix announced as he unceremoniously threw the Liskaberry to the ground in front of Tinker's nose.

If a beast-trainer saw him do that, they'd probably have a heart attack and then assault him with pitchforks.

A single Liskaberry sold for about 1000 Alzerian gold coins on the market.

So the idea he threw the berry to the ground without a second thought would be sacrilege.

Helix risked his life for the berry.

So he did what he wanted.

In this case—what the Myriad Library told him to do.

"I'm so excited…!" Charlotte cried.

"Me too." Helix chuckled.

Marie, Riley, Elsa, Tilo, and Tyrene were all waiting on the other side of the door.

It was eerily similar to waiting for the birth of a child.

Helix found that awkward because he was the doctor presiding over the evolution process.

Tinker sniffed the Liskaberry multiple times.

It then started playing with the berry, popping it into the air with its paw and running around it.

The eight-pound, fluffy white puppy looked comical, bouncing around with the mythical golden berry.

"Is… that… normal?" Charlotte asked.

Helix shrugged.

"It can't hurt. The Myriad Library told me that the soul beast grows stronger by [discovering] the berry.

Discovering it in the wild makes it stronger, but a soul beast like Tinker couldn't [discover] this berry, so the Myriad Record allows simulation.

It's like… training for the future." Helix explained.

"I see… Why couldn't Tinker discover this berry?" She asked curiously.

"That…." Helix replied awkwardly.

"It's just in a zone that's too strong for Tinker.

Every zone is too strong for him.

That's what I mean."

The berry only grew in areas populated by [Warpshires], a hellhound from the abyss.

Another way of putting it was that the berry grew in areas surrounded by pure death.

When he captured the berry, his zone had Level 80 beasts [minimum].

Going into that area was nearly suicidal, even if Tyrene was present.

"Is that so?" Charlotte asked with a wicked grin.

"Yes." He reiterated with a playful expression.

His expression said: I know you can see this, so I'm not trying to hide it from you.

Please don't ask.

Explaining that he threw a 1000 Alzerian gold coin berry—which he entered hell itself for—on the ground would give her a heart attack.

She knew that Helix did something irresponsible to obtain the berry.

It filled her heart with joy, so long as she didn't learn how irresponsible it was.

After a minute of playing, Tinker finally got down to business.

He opened his little jaws wide, put his canines on the berry, and—

Sneezed.

Helix and Charlotte burst into laughter.

Sneezing was a god-given talent for the pup, so it was a perfect way to end this stage of its life.

Tinker was embarrassed by their laughter, so he summoned his resolve.

Once again, he opened his little jaws wide, put his canines on the berry, and—

Bit down.

The minute the little pup tasted the berry juice, he looked like a ravenous drug fiend bathing in the fountain of youth while snorting catnip.

It chewed the berry relentlessly, licked its chops, and then licked its paws.

He ran around to every place the berry touched, searching for juice, and licked the wood floor.

"Is… that normal?" Charlotte asked with bewilderment in her eyes.

"I… don't know. But I know one thing—I'm keeping that berry for myself next time!" Helix laughed.

After Tinker stopped licking, its little blue eyes started glowing.

"I hate it when something with biology starts glowing." Helix groaned.

He wasn't going to say [because it looks like it will explode], but Charlotte knew.

Every cliche light and web has people warning others to swallow things or they'll explode.

Helix knew that berry came from the abyss.

So the idea wasn't out of the question.

White-hot light poured out of the beast.

Suddenly particles started moving in the direction of the light.

The particles started glittering like it was a rainbow.

"I… Uh…. Guhhhhhhh…." Charlotte groaned.

"Charlotte, look at me!" Helix called out.

A kiss connected with her lips the second she turned.

Helix masterfully breathed a [small] amount of spirit particles from his body into her lungs.

Charlotte's body felt revitalized again.

"What…." Charlotte asked in a daze.

"Don't get distracted. Keep looking at that light." He instructed.

Charlotte complied, and soon she was feeling groggy again.

Helix turned to her again and breathed spirit particles into her.

"What… are you doing?" She asked in bewilderment.

"Cheating. That was the last time, though." He grinned.

"What do you—"

The room exploded with light.

Helix covered Charlotte's eyes by putting her into his chest.

She could feel his warm body pressing against hers.

Once the white light passed, he released her.

Then she looked at the floor.

"H-How are we going to get you out of the room!?" Charlotte cried.

Helix turned around.

"Oh fuck." He laughed.

They were in his bedroom.

The spirit beast, which should have been the size of a Labrador retriever, was the size of a small bear.

A more ample description was that it was the size of a mid-grown Caucasian Shepherd Dog.

However, its physical features were closer to a snow-white Pomeranian—with large, happy jaws.

"W-What happened!?" She asked as she fell to the floor.

"I thought you said it should be the size of a wolf at most!"

"Well… the thing is…." Helix laughed awkwardly.

"The growth system for soul beasts isn't fair.

Spirit beasts grow with an owner's strength.

However, they can only grow with the level of spirit particles they receive.

So people that are strong, but have low SP reserves, will always have smaller and weaker beasts.

So…."

Helix was scratching the back of his head in addition to laughing nervously.

"So…?"

"I researched and found that I could give you spirit particles to expedite Tinker's growth.

We… cheated. Ahaha."

Classic.

"What!?" Charlotte cried.

"How did you think…."

Helix winced.

"... up something so goddamn amazing!?" She cried.

Charlotte smashed her lips against his.

It only lasted a second before she turned around and started bonding with Tinker.

The moment her arms collided with him, a torrent of information passed through her.

It was like there was a link that was fully connected between them.

"Come in!" Charlotte cried out.

The door opened.

"Woah! What the…." Tilo cried.

"Helix helped me max out his growth potential!" Charlotte laughed with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah… I see that. He can't get out of the room, now…." Marie commented.

"I think we'll need to knock out the wall…." Tilo groaned.

"I'm sad that he can't ride in our caravan wagon." Riley remarked.

Charlotte's eyes trembled in indignation.

However, Tinker got up and dragged Charlotte over to Helix, breaking her concentration.

It was comical to watch.

Charlotte was not envious or hurt by the motion.

She was connected to Tinker on a deep-rooted level, so knew what Tinker was doing.

"Um, Helix. Tinker wants to say thank you for the Liskaberry and helping with spirit particles." Charlotte explained with wide eyes.

"I can't believe I know that."

Charlotte was bewildered beyond belief, but it made her incredibly happy.

Helix squatted on his haunches.

He looked Tinker in his sky blue eyes.

"Now that Charlotte can speak to you, I'd like to introduce myself.

My name is Helix Hellsgate Margrave, and I'm your father."