Chapter 88: Life Is About Balance

Karl started with the easier parts, the increase in the quality of the two spaces, and the addition of simple grass to the ground. Instead of the short grass that Hawk liked, it was longer grass. Rae liked to hide in the long grass, and Thor liked the way that it tickled his belly scales. No judgment. Then Karl left Thor's mostly empty, as all the other plants in the space were going to be food products. The power density of both was increased evenly at the start, but after a few hours, Karl began to experiment and found that Rae required much more power in her space to relieve the strain on his mind. Her species was the more powerful of the two, and her power was growing more rapidly as well. The side effects of that could be problematic later, but the short-term benefits would be huge. By the time the sun came up in the morning, Karl was no longer feeling the drain of the two monsters on his mind, and he was beginning to feel an influx of energy instead. Each of the three had a different feeling to it. It was difficult to describe, but Karl likened it to the feeling of wind in his hair, grass under his feet, and a comfortable blanket. He briefly stopped for breakfast in the restaurant downstairs, which had amassed a huge amount of meat, blood, and magical plants to restock his pets, then returned to his meditation. If he ever returned here, he would owe them a huge favour for helping him out with the feeding duties, as he now has weeks ' worth of food stored for everyone, and someone had even found him another strength stone to mix with the blood for Rae. That was a winning combination, according to the Bloodbath Spider. The extra energy in the blood was helping her body form, which was improving the feedback, which in turn was restoring Karl's body and increasing the quality of her home. It might not look like they were getting much done, but the three monsters were undergoing a massive strengthening. Even Hawk was getting in on it now that the other two had stabilized. The three spaces seemed to feed off each other and the monsters within. That helped the others grow as much as it did Karl, and hour by hour, they were getting further ahead of him on the strength scale. It didn't feel like a problem, as long as the strength of the Beast Space held up, it didn't matter how strong his own body was. It was improving, though. He was stronger than before he had arrived, if not by much. That news was a massive relief to the others at dinner that evening. Seeing Karl recovered and glowing with power assured them that they had made the right choice in bringing him here and letting him bond both monsters. There was a short-term setback, but now they were ahead and still gaining. "Do you think that there will be any long-term damage?" Alice asked as Karl finished his dinner and prepared to go back to meditation. "Not really. There will be a definite reduction in maximum growth speed, with three spaces to enhance instead of two. I will be spending most of my spare time in meditation, with little time for anything else until they are full-grown. But after that, the extra space means that what I can provide will be split three ways, and it will be up to the feedback from the monsters to progress. Until I reach the higher side of Commander Rank, that shouldn't be a big issue, as their natural growth will provide a significant portion of the strength growth we need. But after that, it's going to be a hard grind, and then I will either have to find another way to keep us growing or find a fourth partner with even higher potential to pull us all up. I'm not even sure that will be realistic, though. You saw what happened this time. Even if I prepare, how much strain will an Overlord or Royal Rank monster cub put on my mind? They're even more intelligent than these three, or so I have heard, and their energy requirements have got to be immense." "So, you're saying that your class will have a minimal impact on the growth of the monsters beyond their adult peak?" Alice asked. "Not quite. It will have a much larger impact on the ones with lower innate potential, and then after that bonus from the early growth phase ends, we will be looking at years and not weeks or months, to move up a rank. I can't guarantee that it will hold forever, but with the scaling once Hawk was full-grown, and the power difference between the levels that is described in the textbooks, I would say that making Commander would be relatively easy, but it might be pushing it to make Royal before graduation, and then Monarch by age twenty-five. Of course, a new pet, a new technique, or even just a better understanding of how to leverage resources for growth could shorten that considerably." Alice laughed out loud, drawing the attention of the others in the restaurant. "Don't let the others hear you call Royal before eighteen years old, a slow progression rate. Even I'm more than a little jealous, and I'm still a young maiden." She reminded him quietly. Karl was fairly sure that neither of those words applied to Alice anymore, at least not from his perspective. But who was he to argue with herself-assessment? Daniel tapped the table to get everyone's attention. "We will be heading out in the morning. Karl has recovered enough to return to his regularly scheduled classes, and the pets are both bonded and growing smoothly. That completes the conditions of our outing, and the Colonel will not be happy if she finds out we decided to take a little vacation after the job was done." There was no doubt about that. Colonel Valerie had a bit of a human side, but it was hidden deep under her adherence to rules and regulations.