Lord Of Beasts

’Complete Link: Spark.’

Ethan activated the skill while Spark hovered high above the transport van.

For a brief moment, nothing happened.

Then his consciousness was ripped out of his body along with the mana cost.

{Cost: 3 MP.}

That was practically nothing, especially when compared to the mana already required to keep Spark summoned. The real cost would come afterwards, as he recalled the note under the skill description.

{Note: Causes severe mental and physical strain.}

Not that it stopped him.

Ethan’s perspective suddenly shifted.

His body disappeared from his awareness. His arms, his legs, even the familiar rhythm of his heartbeat seemed to vanish along with it. Everything that had defined him as a human was suddenly gone.

In its place was something impossibly small, light, and burning.

Ethan had become Spark.

The little firefly-like beast was almost impossible to distinguish from a floating ball of fire. Its tiny body remained constantly shrouded in flames, with flickering fire forming a miniature corona around it.

Now Ethan wasn’t simply looking through Spark’s eyes; he was experiencing the world through its entire body.

There was no familiar weight to his limbs, no solid ground beneath his feet, and no lungs filling with air. He simply existed as a tiny creature of flame suspended in the night sky.

Ethan instinctively moved.

Spark shot forward.

’Holy shit!’

The speed was incredible for a beast with such low physical stats.

Without realising it, he propelled himself with fire just like he did with Flame Flight.

He then activated Flare Drive, and the flames surrounding Spark erupted violently. His tiny body became a streak of fire that tore through the sky, moving so quickly that the world seemed to blur around him.

Everything appeared different through Spark’s senses.

The world was painted in strange, flame-like hues, with heat, energy, and mana standing out far more clearly than they ever had through his human senses. It was almost as if someone had taken the normal world and placed another layer over it, one made entirely of fire and energy.

Ethan slowed before accelerating again, keeping up with the vehicle that contained his body. He twisted through the air, banking sharply before shooting upward, and that was when he noticed something else.

Mana.

He could sense it so deeply he could practically see it.

It wasn’t merely an abstract energy he knew existed. Through Spark, it felt almost tangible. Every living thing seemed to possess a presence, and the stronger the mana signature, the more prominent that presence became.

With Spark’s senses, Ethan could detect those signatures even from a considerable distance.

He had essentially become a living mana radar.

His attention immediately shifted toward the transport van below.

Several signatures were inside.

One belonged to himself, another to Kaela, and one to Elara.

His own signature was decent, but compared to the two A Rank Titled beside him, it was almost laughable. Their mana signatures were immense and dense, radiating a level of power that immediately separated them from ordinary Titled.

Then Ethan noticed a fourth presence.

He paused in midair.

’What the hell?’

It was Mark.

’He’s definitely changed.’

There was mana inside his body.

A lot of it.

Yet Ethan couldn’t properly gauge how much.

The energy seemed sealed away, compressed deep within Mark’s body, where even Spark’s enhanced senses couldn’t properly reach it. It was there, unmistakably powerful, but inaccessible.

Ethan stared down at the vehicle.

’It’ll probably come out when he next rampages.’

He wasn’t sure whether that thought made him want to laugh or sigh. Considering everything that had happened earlier, probably both.

Still, Ethan didn’t dwell on it and couldn’t resist playing around.

He spent the next few minutes flying through the air in Spark’s body, testing his speed and experimenting with Flare Drive. The sensation was completely different from controlling his own body, and Ethan quickly found himself enjoying it.

He could move in ways his human body simply couldn’t.

Ethan climbed higher into the sky, then plunged downward before pulling up at the last second. Every movement felt natural, almost instinctive, as though Spark’s body already knew exactly how to move itself.

Then the transport van began slowing.

Ethan looked down to see that they had arrived.

Watching the vehicle come to a stop from several dozen metres above it while simultaneously knowing that his real body was sitting inside was an incredibly strange experience.

’This is trippy as fuck.’

He finally decided that he had experimented enough.

Ethan ended Complete Link, the connection snapping instantly.

Spark returned to being an independent summoned beast, while Ethan’s consciousness slammed back into his human body.

His eyes opened.

For a moment, he could only stare ahead in amazement.

’It’s definitely a B Rank Skill.’

The possibilities were truly endless.

He could fight through his beasts, scout through them, move with their bodies, and experience their abilities from an entirely different perspective. Spark alone had already shown him just how powerful Complete Link could become, and that was only one of his beasts.

One which was currently one of his weakest.

That’s when the backlash hit.

Ethan’s entire body seized.

”Urgh...”

The physical strain came first.

It was brutal, almost comparable to the exhaustion caused by Partial Assimilation. His muscles felt as though they had been wrung completely dry, every limb heavy and unresponsive. Even breathing seemed to require effort, feeling almost unnatural.

But that was only the beginning.

The mental strain followed, and it was worse.

Far worse.

Ethan’s head throbbed violently as his mind struggled to readjust to being human again. He had spent only a short amount of time inside Spark’s body, yet returning to his own senses felt strangely disorienting.

’I guess nothing is free.’

Eventually, he forced his eyes open, and he immediately felt a little better.

Elara was looking down at him.

Her beautiful face was framed by silky blonde hair, while her crimson eyes softened the moment they met his. Ethan realised his head was resting comfortably on her lap, and he couldn’t have asked for a better pillow.

Elara smiled.

”Good morning.”

Her tone was unmistakably sarcastic.

Ethan blinked before grinning.

”Can’t a dude have a nap?”

Kaela immediately interrupted.

”That wasn’t a fucking nap.”

Ethan glanced toward her while Mark added his own comment.

”And can you two stop with the flirting?”

Ethan smirked.

”You’re both just jealous.”

Kaela snorted while Mark rolled his eyes as Ethan remained lying on Elara, who didn’t seem to mind.

Just like that, the four of them fell back into their usual banter. Whatever strange things had happened over the last several hours, at least some things hadn’t changed.

Eventually, they climbed out of the transport van and made their way toward the aircraft waiting for them at the airfield.

The jet was every bit as luxurious as Ethan had expected. Its interior was spacious and comfortable, with wide leather seats, polished surfaces, private sections, and enough room to make the transport van feel like a cramped box by comparison.

Ethan looked around.

’I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this either.’

But in the role of an Enforcer, which he had fallen into, he was sure this would become his norm.

’With a plane like this, we’ll be back in no time.’

Ethan took his seat.

And without even giving himself time to settle in or appreciate the luxury, he suddenly lost consciousness again. His head fell back against the seat while the others stared at him.

”Seriously?” Kaela muttered.

But Ethan was already gone.

This time, however, he wasn’t going back to Spark, but to the Griffling he had summoned alongside the aircraft.

’Complete Link: Talon’

And it wasn’t long after that Ethan experienced something that made his previous experimentation feel insignificant...