The Spider Queen

Chapter 144: Blood Bond

The atmosphere was silent for a moment until one brave girl at the back raised her hand and attempted to answer the teacher’s question,

“A blood bond is what allows us to take control of our pet.”

“Hmmm,” Professor Ward went silent for a bit as she waited for anyone else to volunteer.

Unfortunately, every other student seemed content to just look at her with blank expressions on their faces, so she decided to just continue.

“At an extremely basic level that is indeed the purpose of the blood bond, but your answer leaves out a great deal of information.

It was very common for students to enter this course with little understanding of the true nature of the blood bond as most would have just assumed that the basic knowledge on the virtual net was enough.

“The link between a beast cultivator and their combat pet is indeed called a blood bond but that is only due to the fact that blood is the initial binding agent between the master and their pet.”

“Truthfully, the bond will eventually get strong enough to bind the souls between the two parties which will enhance the abilities of the combat pet and even in some cases lead to an evolution.”

“The blood bond is both a cultivator’s strength and a crippling weakness. The soul- like nature of the bond allows the cultivation levels of both parties to accelerate rapidly but….”

Professor made sure to stare deeply into each student’s eyes before giving out a stern warning,

“Your combat pet is not a simple animal that can be easily replaced. The death of a combat pet can cause a backlash that can damage your soul directly.”

“It can take years before that damage is healed and some never fully recover.”

Squeak! Squeak!

Moon covered his ears in fright as all this talk of death had scared him. 

All he wanted in life was to live with his mommy in peace and eat lots of food.

Maybe one day he would even get strong enough to chase away that annoying princess who kept taking away his mommy’s attention.

“Are you able to hear the thoughts of your pet yet?” Sophie whispered to Luna.

Being able to mentally send commands to your companion beast will a sure sign that your bond had increased to the next level.

Sophie had not reached this step yet as she could only vaguely perceive Moon’s feelings when he was experiencing strong emotions or mood shifts. 

“I can communicate with Blackie’s middle head but the other two just ignore me,” Luna confessed with a pout.

Blackie was a triple headed hell hound that was significantly stronger than other pets in the legendary tier but was very difficult to control.

Each head had a different personality which gave Luna quite a few problems when dealing with him.

The left head was goofy, happy, and loved to eat raw meat while the right head was quiet and for some reason…. 

A vegetarian.

The middle head’s personality could be summed up with one word…. 

Troublesome. 

“Don’t worry I mean at least you can mentally talk to one of your heads. All my lazy frostwing bat wants to do is eat and eat and eat,” Sophie comforted her.

“I have no idea how he turned out like that.”

Luna giggled softly and was about to reply when she felt the penetrating gaze of the teacher, so she quickly shut up.

Professor Ward opened her storage ring and pulled out a large stack of manuals,

“Now for our first class, I will be providing each student with a specific meditation method to perform with your pet.” 

“The meditation method given to you has been chosen based on the elemental type of pet that you own and will strengthen the blood bond.”

“I expect each student to at least be capable of linking their minds with their combat pet by the end of the month or you will be disciplined.” 

Professor Ward checked the files on her wristband to make sure that she had correctly matched each student with the appropriate mediation method.

She gracefully walked around the class while handing out the manuals to their respective new owners.

Sophie received a thin book with a mediation method called the ‘Ice Yin Transformation’ while Luna received a copy of the ‘Flame Hellspawn Sutra.’

Sophie eagerly flipped open the pages of the manual and frowned instantly.

Well…. there goes a portion of her resources.

The Ice Yin Transformation mediation required submerging both herself and Moon into a pool of frostrite crystals.

The energy contained within those crystals would be absorbed by the pair and flow into the blood bond to give it a frost characteristic.

Elite students were naturally given much more resources compared to those in the regular class but even still…. 

Frostrite crystals were not cheap!

If she followed the recommended frequency of twice per week that meant that she would have to use a bathtub’s worth of frostrite crystals at least eight times a month!

“Maybe I should get Cleo to do some bounty hunting missions with me,” Sophie muttered as she mentally calculated the cost in her head.

Yes, it would only take a simple communication call to her father to get the resources sent from the outside, but Sophie did not want to burden him.

The duke never complained but Sophie was well aware of how expensive she was to raise, and she was extremely grateful to her dad.

That was a big part of the reason that Sophie wanted to stand on her own two feet in university and slowly become more independent. 

As the heir apparent to a dukedom, it was important for her to follow in her father’s footsteps and make him proud.

Many nobles would be waiting for her to make a mistake to disparage the duke for choosing a hybrid as his heir and Sophie refused to even give them the chance.

Professor Ward calmly observed the faces of the students who were now in various states of shock and despair.

It was not that she intentionally chose methods that were expensive, it was simply because most students who attended a first-tier university like Zrudread University had bought high class combat pets.

Naturally, the mediation methods required to improved them would need significantly more resources.

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(Unknown Planet- Project Rhat’ets)

“Please… no…. kill me…”

“KILL ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

A gut-wrenching scream echoed throughout the underground building as not even the sound damping walls could prevent the cries of pain.

“Please continue to inject the mutation agent into his blood stream and combine it with the new Insectoid blood sent in from the frontlines,” a cold faced doctor in a lab coat ordered.

The higher ups had not been satisfied with the results shown by the project so far which caused the scientists to be under a great deal of pressure.

Doctor Valenna was now placed as the head of the research team and it was under her leadership that new discoveries were being made everyday.

Human and Insectoid DNA was not as genetically incompatibility as initially assumed so the failures of these hybrids produced could be attributed to other factors.

So far, no high tier Insectoid had been captured alive which meant that the project had to use the genetic material from low tier Insectoid species.

This had all changed when a brave general managed to extract a vial of purplish blood from an unknown Insectoid commander during a skirmish.

Doctor Valenna calmly observed the unfortunate man strapped tightly to a metallic table while tubes connected to his arm delivered dose after dose of the mutagen. 

He was nothing more than a common thug captured from a pirate crew so it was unlikely that anyone would notice him disappearing.

Most of the test subjects in the facilities were taken from similar groups of criminals or political prisoners. 

Suddenly the man’s arm began to swell and bulk up as his veins turned a deep shade of purplish red.

Rip!

Two crystalline wings sprouted from his back as his hands transformed into two long pairs of scythes.

“Urghhh….”

The man could no longer speak coherently and the only sound that came from his mouth was a dull groan.

Doctor Valenna recorded some notes on her tablet with a sadistic grin on her face.

This was the first step on the road to perfection.