Chapter 4: Last Call

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Last Call

The seventh gem was dark blue, so deep it looked black. When Jared pulled it out, the air in the void turned damp. A faint sound drifted through the dark, like waves breaking on a shore he couldn’t see.

[Dragonfish (SSS Rank)]

[When summoned, everyone in the vicinity is pulled into a pocket dimension made entirely of water. The master is swallowed by the Dragonfish, which handles the threat alone. Primary trait: indestructible, with no vulnerabilities.]

Jared read it slowly.

"Hold on," he said. "I get swallowed?"

"Yes."

"By my own beast."

"For your protection."

"And I’m safe in there?"

"Entirely."

"Can I breathe in a fish?"

"You’ll be fine."

"That’s not a yes."

"It’s a very confident maybe."

Jared tilted the gem. A long, silver shape flickered inside, dragonlike face and fish in the body, calm and ancient. "What about everyone else in the water? The people who got pulled in?"

"That depends on whether they’re enemies."

"And if they can’t swim?"

"Then they’ll learn or die."

"That’s dark."

He stared at the gem for another moment. ’Indestructible. No vulnerability.’

"I’ll take it," he muttered, and pocketed it.

"It’s not like you have an option."

The eighth gem was long and thin. It was black and green.

[MountainSnake (SSS Rank)]

[As large as a mountain. Fires smaller snakes carrying poisons of varying combinations. The master can control the smaller snakes telekinetically. In the master’s hand, each snake becomes a weapon. The weapon combination is random.]

Jared frowned.

"Random?"

"Yes.""Sword. Bow. Spear. Whip. Anything a weapon can be."

Jared shook his head, though the corner of his mouth twitched. He eyed the gem again. ’A mountain of snakes. I’m going to have nightmares for a year.’

"Your enemies will, not you. Correction. "

He dropped it into his pocket with the others. It rustled faintly, as if settling in.

The ninth gem was a damp, mossy green. It smelled faintly of wet leaves and old bark.

[SwampGorilla (SSS Rank)]

[Matches its master in height. Serves as armor. The master can take swamp parts from the gorilla and wear them, increasing strike power or releasing plant gases. Gases can be combustive, laxative, or freezing. Their properties know no limits. Plant manipulation is limited to the gorilla itself.]

Jared read it twice.

"I’m picturing a battlefield and the enemy suddenly running for the nearest bush."

"That’s the idea."

"I’m going to feel so bad using it."

’I’m absolutely going to use it.’

He pocketed the gem, shoulders shaking slightly with the effort of not laughing.

Then, for the tenth time, he reached into the dark.

The last gem was rusty brown, flecked with copper and gray.

[AntBeast (SSS Rank)]

[An upright ant capable of shrinking and growing, up to the height of a skyscraper. Consumes matter. Its stomach functions as both a storage room and a chemical laboratory. What it eats determines what it fires or produces: blasts, materials, and unique metal alloys. The most common reaction is an explosion.]

Jared stared at the brackets.

"The most common reaction is an explosion."

"Yes."

"Is that a design feature?"

"It’s more of a tendency."

"What if it eats something that doesn’t explode?"

"Then it produces something else. Metal alloys. Useful materials. Sometimes a very large amount of foam."

"Foam?"

"It’s a rare outcome."

"It’s probably going to blow up my house someday."

"Very likely."

Jared sighed and tucked it away.

Ten gems sat heavy in his pocket. A dragon, a cat, a wolf, a turtle, a sun, a toad, a fish, a mountain of snakes, a gorilla, and an ant with a chemistry degree.

He stood very still.

The silver seam shimmered in the air, still wide open. No more gems drifted in the dark behind it. The pocket dimension had gone quiet, as if it had given everything it had.

"That’s ten," the guide said.

"It’s a record." The sphere pulsed, soft and a little stunned. "I’ve been doing this a long time. We haven’t had one like you in a while. Ten lucky draws, ten SSS Rank beasts. The odds on that are beyond ridiculous."

"I’m lucky?."

"You are." "SSS ranked draws are rare be it talents or beasts"

"I think we are done here."

"Good. About time."

He meant it as a joke.

"We’ve taken quite a bit of time," the guide said. "Let me tell you the last thing before you go. It’s important."

Jared straightened.

"In the world you’re entering, a beast that isn’t used will devolve."

"Devolve?"

"Regress. Lose rank. The world isn’t kind to beasts. They can’t evolve, ever. Whatever rank a beast has when it’s bound is the highest it will ever be. A C Rank beast will always be a C Rank beast, at best. But it can devolve. It can slip to a D Rank. Then lower."

Jared frowned. "What causes it?"

"Neglect. Disuse. If a beast goes unused for long enough, it begins to regress."

"That’s cruel."

"It’s the rule of the world."

"No, it’s cruel." His voice came out harsher than he meant, flat and clipped. "They get stuck in a crystal, forced into a contract, and then punished for not being used enough? That’s not a system, that’s a trap."

"It’s what it is."

’The beasts didn’t choose that. They chose to live. Nobody told them there was a catch.’

Again, Jared was being naive, if he continues like this he’ll have to learn, the hard way.

His hand drifted to his pocket without thinking. Ten gems pressed against his thigh, warm and quiet. He felt a strange, unwelcome tug in his chest.

"I’m not letting that happen to mine," he said gruffly. "Not like I care. I just don’t want to waste them."

"Of course."

"I mean it."

"I’m sure you do."

"Don’t be smug."

Jared snorted despite himself. Then he cleared his throat and asked the question that had been gnawing at him since the wheel.

"Hey. Is there anyone else like me in that world?"

"Like you?"

"A transmigrator. Someone from another world, who got a second chance and a cheat. Someone as special as I am."

He winced. "Not that I’m special. I mean someone similar. Is there anybody else?"

The guide said nothing.

"Hello?"

"We’re out of time, Jared."

"That’s not an answer."

"It’s the only one I have."

"Then tell me. Is there someone else? Because if there is, I’d like to know who I’m competing with, and if I’m going to..."

"One last thing," the guide said, cutting him off. Its voice was gentle, but the door had closed. "To monitor your beasts. To keep track of what you have, and what you’ll lose if you aren’t careful. You’ll need it."

"Hey, answer the question!"

The sphere began to glow brighter, spilling warm light across the void. It grew until it filled everything, until the dark was gone and the edges of Jared’s vision burned white.

"Good luck, Jared."

"Wait, I’m not done! Is there anyone else?"

A rush of wind pulled at his clothes. The ground, or what passed for ground, fell away beneath his feet. He felt himself stretched thin, pulled in about ten directions at once, like thread pulled through the eye of a needle.

"Wait!"

Then everything went silent.

Jared’s eyes snapped open.

He lay on his back, staring at a ceiling. His heart was hammering, his chest rising and falling in fast, shallow breaths. A pale shaft of morning light fell across his face.

He didn’t move. He didn’t dare.

’I’m alive again. I’m somewhere different though. This is a bed.’

Slowly, he turned his head.

A small, quiet room. A desk by the window. A closed door.

Then he saw it.

A translucent panel, glowing softly, hovering in the air above his face.

His eyes went wide.

[Transmigration complete.]