<
The entity in the orb tested the words off of his nonexistent tongue, but found them suitable. <
Despite the calm, flat tone he was using, the relief that he felt from gaining some tie to his past dissolved some of the frustration that was plaguing him.
The girl in front of him smiled. It brought another wave of nostalgia forth in him and it was heartening to see the expression. It didn't quite match the warm intensity as the one from his memory, just different.
"Hello, Oz. My name is Jessa--" She pursed her lips as she bit off the end of her introduction. "Well, call me Jess. Jessie D is what my friends call me and you can call me that too."
Oz made a mental nod and answered, his voice warm. <
"Please, just call me Jessie. I'm no one special." The girl named Jessie waved off quickly before yawning, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth as she did. The feline beast widened his eyes as he perked up his head. 'Hey, child. Why you stop? Continue petting me.'
Oz heard the mental message from the cat, but refrained from making a comment. If the cat's bound cultivator made no sign of responding to it and, as an outsider, Oz didn't have the right to comment either.
Besides, the Multi-Tailed Cats are a proud beast species. The best way to gain their affection was to show them proper respect and that includes giving notice to their assumed hierarchy.
… Another bit of knowledge Oz knew inherently, but it was no closer to explaining who he was or how he got here. A true mystery that he was in need to solving.
"Crap. It's getting late," the purple-haired girl exclaimed as she glanced at the time. "I guess helping Mel would have to wait until tomorrow..." She turned to face the cyan core in front of her.
"Sorry, Oz," she said awkwardly. "Would it be alright if we continue this tomorrow? I know you have a lot of questions, but it's been a long night and I'd like to get some sleep... Is that cool with you?"
<
"Thank you for understanding," Jessie said. Then stiffly, she made a half-bow from her seated position on the bed. "If it's alright with you, I'd put you on the counter next to the bed."
Oz would have smiled if he could. It would have been unwise to have an stranger of untested loyalty in the same room where one was sleeping, even if the said stranger seemed to be trapped in a dungeon core. Maybe it was just like the girl said? It was a time of peace that such things that would have been common sense would no longer apply in this period.
Or maybe it was just the personality of the girl, Oz thought wistfully.
<
With that, Oz felt her hands pick up the orb and put him on the counter. To keep him from rolling over, she laid a pillow down for him to rest on as well. With a polite good night, she turned off the lights, returned to the bed, and unceremoniously dropped her head on the pillow like a sack of rocks.
Before long, gentle snoring erupted from the girl, much to Oz's amusement.
Truly, no consideration about her self-defense at all.
Oz chuckled lightly, but quickly stopped when the Multi-Tailed Cat eyed it with disdain.
'Don't get any ideas, core. This child is my ward and, therefore, under my protection,' it hissed at Oz.
Oz was surprised at the beast's reaction. The underlying meaning behind the words. It was common that the Multi-Tailed Cat's species saw themselves as the superior of a cultivating relationship, but the tone of paternal regard towards the girl caught Oz flat-footed... So to speak.
<> Oz directed at the cat humbly. <
The cat gave the sleeping figure a glance and, for a second, Oz could catch a glimmer of love and pride towards the recipient of the look. The look of a pleased parent when their child's good qualities has been acknowledged by others.
Yet, in that glimmer, was a touch of sadness as well.
The glimmer disappeared as it glared back at the orb. 'Yes, she is that. But all the same, a whelp that has not yet tasted the truth of this era and it is of my late master's desire to keep her that way. You will do nothing to jeopardize that desire. Do we have an accord?'
Suddenly, an aura rippled out from the beast. Oz could feel the cat was still restraining his abilities to keep the girl from waking up in a panic, but the fine control over his mana subsumed the ambient mana in the room and left the interior abuzz with his strength. It was well beyond the power of a Earth-level beast or even a Transcending one.
Oz was left unfazed, of course. With his mana-condensed 'body', this aura did nothing to him. Still it was a good show of force that showed this beast was not someone to take lightly.
<
The cat made no movements, just staring down the orb.
Then the aura receded back into the cat and everything returned to as it was.
He yawned and stretched out his back, purring as it did so, before curling into itself as it laid down at the foot of the bed to rest.
To him, the matter was over with and Oz just mentally shook his head.
That was surprising, Oz thought. But clearly there is more that he needed to learn about this time period beyond the brief summarization that Lady Dee has offered.
The beast and his cultivator were asleep now, judging by the gentle breathing in the room and Oz began to think.
It's been a while since he has awoken and yet the haze in his mind failed to rescind itself, leaving part of his memory locked in its mist.
He still couldn't remember who he was. He could remember the history of his time in Raede clearly. The names of the nations there, the alignments of their governing parties, the drawn out borders between the nations as well as the subjected 'no-man's-lands' in-between. He could remember even the specialty trades of each of the towns in Raede as well as the level of prosperity in each of them, the strategic value of each of the settlements in case of capture.
Oz felt a cold analytical pressure regarding the last thought, but as he returned to the thought, the pressure quickly hid back behind the mist like a phantom before he could make sense of it.
Annoyance peeked out at Oz, but he rationalized another clue to his former identity. Perhaps he was once a military officer?
Then there was the other font of information in his mind – the vast store of beast engineering knowledge. He couldn't count the number of beast designs sifting through his mind's eyes, but he knew them all. The design to the implementation in the core engineering methods to the overall temperaments and behavior after they are created, it was all there.
He contemplated on the given clues for a while longer, but towards the time dawn was breaking through the buildings on the horizon in the window, he decided to stop his speculations. While he felt that he was close to the truth, the haze holding back the crucial part of his memories refused to give way. Without proof to answer his theories, he was at a standstill and there was a part of him felt indignant at wasting any more time on further guesswork.
Was that what his former self was like? Oz mused.
He brushed the questions regarding the past aside. After all, there were other just as interesting subjects abound.
It has been four hundred years since his time in Raede after all! For one thing, according to Lady Dee, beasts in Tyraede have crossbred with the creatures he was once familiar with from Raede, giving ground to whole new species of beasts! What would these creatures look like? How did they evolve from the beasts in Raede? How strong are they?
Also how has the field of beast engineering progressed in these four centuries? Would any of his knowledge prove useful to the Lady Dee anymore?
Excitement filled him. So many questions danced in his mind, giving him a direction. Oz became hopeful.
This growing passion towards beast-engineering meant something important – something that even the loss of memories could not hide away. He was a beast engineer and he loved the science behind it all.
Even if his past was hidden away from him, the present gave him motivation for his life's purpose.
He couldn't wait until Lady Dee wakes up, so he could continue asking him more about her – his... Their – new world. This time, instead of trepidation and the uncertainty of his past, he was looking forward to working on his future.
… Somewhere underneath the layers of haze in his soul, there was a sigh of relief.
In the morning, Jessie woke up to the familiar burden of Nexx curling up literally over her feet on the bed. She was surprised when she heard Oz greeting her so cheerfully. Despite the calm manner he was presenting last night, he clearly was not feeling too optimistic at his newfound situation. She was happy for him. Even more so since she didn't really know how to console people. That was a certain level of people skills that she never really caught on to.
Still, as pleased as she was to see Oz like this, she wasn't all that ready for ALL the questions he had about the current beast-engineering studies or about the modern beasts. While she was raised in a family that took pride in their line of beast engineers and she went to a prestigious institute that specialized in that field, she was ready to answer the initial questions that he had.
… But then, when the questions turned to things like 'have they ever got through the integrity problem on Tolemtyl's theory on gestation through core mana enrichment?' or 'how fares the school of thought regarding the four temperaments in the modern times?', to which Jessie had to reply weakly "Uh... Well... Let me go see..." before checking on her laptop.
After a while of searching through the web for the answers to the obscure questions Oz was bombarding her with, Jessie was getting too hungry to continue. "Maybe we can continue this another time?" She half-asked and half-pleaded Oz.
If Oz had a face, she had no doubt he would be pouting.
<
Jessie watched with astonishment as letters began stringing along in the search engine bar before a list of searches popped up on screen. Then the cursor moved without any input from the keyboard to the first link and an audible click from the speakers showed the link being selected.
Holy crap.
Oz cleared his throat and said in a matter-of-fact tone, <
Jessie gave off a surprised look before threw up her hands and shook them off as to ward off the apology.
"Oh, no! Don't worry about it, Oz! You've been so patient! It's no big thing! But!"
She bounced off her bed, making Nexx hiss at her from the sudden movement. She ignored him as he put his head back down to continue his sleep. "I'm going to do my thing real quick, get some food, and..."
A thought raced through her head, reminding her why she bound Oz, consequently waking him up, in the first place. "Can you help me with something later?" She babbled off quickly. "I need to make a beast for my friend who is about to hit Rank 3 in the mortal realm and I would appreciate it if you give me a hand... Err... You know what I mean."
The cyan color shimmered for a second.
<
"Perfect!"
Jessie clapped her hands and damn near skipped out of the room in good humor. She could hear Mel in the kitchen already, the soft scrapes of the hearty omelets in the flipping pan audible even over the other girl's humming.
The purple-haired girl was looking forward to a big breakfast. She could tell already it's going to be a long day ahead.