Chapter 468: Trust, and Bond [Bonus 4/5]
There were several ways to build trust.
The first was blood. People naturally trusted those who shared their bloodline. A son trusting his father. A daughter trusting her mother. It was instinctual, printed into their very DNA.
Naturally, every norm had its outliers, but the principle held for most people.
The second was bonding through shared experience. Time spent together, getting to know each other, building familiarity. This method grew even stronger when the time spent was meaningful.
Helping someone in their moment of need. Surviving a traumatic experience together. Going through something that neither party could have faced alone. That was the strongest foundation of trust Moon knew.
The third way was the weakest. Trust through testimony. You boarded an orbital trusting that its pilot was skilled, believing the word of the company that hired them. You trusted a stranger because someone you knew vouched for them. It worked, but it was shallow. It could crumble the moment it was put under a real test.
Unfortunately, Moon could only offer the turtle the third kind.
He wasn’t its blood. He had killed its mother. And they had shared no experiences together, no bonding, no hardship overcome side by side.
Moon activated Beastmaster and summoned Mirage.
The white steed materialized in the bedroom, his hooves landing softly on the wooden floor. His ears swivelled as he took in the unfamiliar surroundings, his nostrils flaring at the various scents. After a moment, he relaxed. The room smelled like Moon. This was his master’s territory.
Mirage neighed softly and pressed his head against Moon’s chest.
Moon smiled, wrapping an arm around the horse’s neck and rubbing his mane gently. "Hey, partner."
After a few seconds of welcoming the horse, Moon pulled back, turning Mirage’s attention toward the table where the turtle egg sat in its container.
"Mirage, this little one over here is reluctant to accept a bonding contract. The same kind we share, you and I." Moon spoke carefully, making sure each word was clear. "Can you share your experience with it? Help it understand that it’s safe?"
Mirage looked at Moon. Then at the egg. Then back at Moon.
<Explain...safe...>
"Yes." Moon nodded, pointing toward the egg.
He knew how it sounded. A horse explaining the benefits of being a tamed beast to an unhatched turtle. If anyone else were in this room, they would have questioned his sanity.
But Moon had no other options. Blood relation was impossible. Shared experience needed more time to flesh out, time he didn’t have at his disposal. And his own mana, gentle as it was, could only communicate so much through a shell.
Mirage was different. He was a beast. He spoke a language that the turtle might understand on an instinctual level that no human could replicate. The emotions, the sensations, the feeling of what it meant to be bonded, Mirage had lived it. He could convey that experience in a way that Moon’s mana never could.
And Mirage was no ordinary beast. His intelligence had grown sharply after his evolution and the constant consumption of powerful beast meat Moon provided. He could understand complex instructions, reply with words through their bond, and read situations with incredible awareness.
Mirage walked toward the egg slowly. His hooves clicked against the floor with each careful step. He lowered his head until his nose was nearly touching the shell.
Then he went still.
Moon watched in silence. He couldn’t hear what Mirage was doing. Whatever communication was passing between the horse and the egg existed on a frequency that humans couldn’t access. Beast to beast. Instinct to instinct. A conversation without words.
Minutes passed. Mirage didn’t move. His breathing was slow, his eyes half-closed, his entire focus directed at the small life inside the shell.
After five minutes, Mirage lifted his head from the shell and stepped back.
He looked at the egg, then at Moon. Moon waited for Mirage’s verdict, which came in a gentle nudge with his head towards the egg.
Through their bond, Moon felt what Mirage was trying to convey to him.
"You convinced it?" Moon’s eyes went wide in surprise. "Really?!"
He almost yelped like a little girl. The feeling Mirage was conveying left no room for doubt. Whatever the horse had communicated to the small turtle inside the shell, whatever instinctual language had passed between them, it had somehow worked.
The deal was done. The turtle was ready.
Moon didn’t waste a second. He placed both hands on the egg and activated Beastmaster. His mana flowed out gently, inviting the turtle for the contract.
This time, the egg responded stronger than ever. But still, Moon could feel that the turtle was at the final step.
Moon turned towards Mirage, asking for his help. "What do I do, partner? I thought it was ready."
<Protect...>
"Protect...?" Moon muttered under his breath, turning his head back towards the egg. ’Is it asking for assurance?’
Moon took a deep breath and said, "I promise to protect you like my own, and help you in growing to become formidable being in the future."
After saying that, the turtle’s heart stopped beating for a moment. Then, as if rejuvenated, its heart finally at rest, the turtle’s heart began beating again, accepting the contract Moon was offering.
Moon felt the turtle’s presence reach out and meet his mana halfway, wrapping around it, accepting it, pulling it deeper. The bond threaded itself through Moon’s consciousness, a new line of awareness settling beside the one he shared with Mirage, albeit it was smaller, and quieter.
Within a minute, it was complete.
[You have formed a bond with Supreme-Rank Jade Turtle (Unhatched).]
Moon stared at the notification. His hands were still on the egg, and through the freshly formed bond, he could feel the turtle’s heartbeat as if it were his own.
A Supreme-Rank beast. Bonded to him from before birth.
Moon looked at Mirage, who stood beside the table with an expression that could only be described as smug.
"Thank you, partner." Moon said quietly, rubbing the horse’s neck. "I owe you one."
Mirage neighed softly and nudged Moon’s shoulder.
