"Bonding with the ancient guardian beasts?" Lord Ursa repeated before asking. "Are you crazy?"
"Rude!" Taurus replied once again while Lord Ursa continued. "No one has ever been able to bond with ancient guardian beasts; they are some of the oldest beasts in existence, and their pride would never allow it."
"Sorry, but the ancient guardian beasts?" John asked before adding. "How are they different to normal beasts of the wild?"
"The ancient guardian beasts are beasts of the wild that help watch over the wild and protect it," Lord Ursa explained. "There are a fair number of these beasts, but for this conversation I'll only speak about the five main ones, each of which rules over a continent.
Bengal - White Tiger Empress of the West, Tumble - Jackalope Queen of the Centre, Ashenor - Immortal Rebirth Phoenix of the East, Bahamut - Sky Dragon Emperor of the North and Kurma - Guardian Twin Turtle of the South.
"I've heard of them," Mel said in surprise as her eyes widened in realisation, prompting John to ask. "You have?"
"They're all world bosses, and even to this day no one has been able to defeat them," Mel explained. "I believe the last group that tried was from one of the largest guilds on the Uzdrord continent, and they tried to take down Bengal. However, the fight was over in less than ten minutes, and they all spent the next twenty-four hours reevaluating their life choices."
"Foolish mortals," Lord Ursa said with a sigh while shaking his head before looking back at Tarus and saying, "Which is exactly why this idea is so idiotic and ridiculous. There is a reason no one has ever bonded with the ancient guardian beasts- no, wait, let me rephrase: no one has ever attempted to bond with a primordial."
"Why not?" Mel asked curiously.
"The ancient guardian beasts are not only the rulers of their individual continents, but they are integral to the natural order of the world," Lord Ursa explained. "They each have two main responsibilities: first is that each beast watches over and rules one of the five continents to ward off evil and negative energies; next is that each of the five represents a season and embodies one of the five major elements to help maintain balance."
"But there are only four seasons, right?" John asked, prompting Lord Ursa to say. "Tumble - Jackalope Queen of the Centre maintains the balance of the other four. But because they are so integral to the workings of the universe, they can never be bonded with, first because we have no idea how it would upset the balance and second because if, by some miracle, they actually managed it, they would be far too powerful."
"Are you done?" Taurus asked as Lord Ursa finally stopped speaking for a moment before she added. "I never meant for young Vincarna to bond with the actual guardians; I meant for him to bond with one of their offspring."
"Oh… ohhhhh," Lord Ursa replied. "That's actually not such a bad idea."
"Right," Taurus said proudly. "Bonding with one of the guardians' offspring would give him greater benefits than bonding with a normal beast of the wild; also, he might earn the trust of the guardians themselves, something not easily done even for the gods."
"So basically you want me to bond with a dragon, phoenix, tiger, turtle and a rabbit?" John asked as his eyebrow twitched.
"A jackalope," Taurus replied. "There's a difference."
"Isn't a jackalope just a rabbit with horns?" Mel asked while tilting her head, to which John shrugged before asking. "Why can't I just bond with another beast of the wild as well as the offspring of the guardian beasts?"
"Because it would damage your soul," Lord Ursa replied. "Every druid has a set number of beasts they can bond with, depending on the strength of their soul. For example, young Dream Star's soul here is naturally stronger than yours, which would allow her to bond with more beasts. Also, there is the fact that bonding with the offspring of one of the guardian beasts would naturally take a heavier burden on your soul than bonding with another beast of the wild."
"Think of it like choosing quality over quantity," Taurus interjected. "While Dream Star is able to bond with more beasts than you are, your beasts' quality would balance out that difference."
"Wait, my soul is weaker than hers?" John asked as he glanced at Mel, who was giving him a smug grin.
"Everyone's soul is different, as it's affected by multiple things at your birth and throughout your life, such as your race, lineage, hardships and so on. It's not bad having a weaker soul; it just means that if you want to catch up to her, you will have to work harder," Lord Ursa replied.
John nodded before asking, "So what, can I just find any white tiger or jackalope to bond with? Also, something tells me they're not exactly common."
"While theoretically you could find any old white tiger, since their family lineage all originated from Bengal, I would advise against doing that," Taurus answered. "Your best bet would be to find a direct offspring of the guardian beasts, since that would give you the greatest benefit, as every new generation loses more and more of the guardian beasts' strength."
"So what? I have to find one of the guardian beasts and say, 'Hey, Bahamut, I'm the Warden, and I'd like to bond with one of your kids, please?"
Mel chuckled before saying, "Somehow I don't think that's gonna work."
"Yeah, probably not a good idea," Taurus replied.
"Then what?" John asked.
Lord Ursa and Taurus looked at each other before Lord Ursa said, "Honestly, we don't know."
"Come again?" John asked.
"I'm afraid the chances of meeting one of the descendants of the guardian beasts are already rare, let alone a direct offspring of one. All we can do is hope the fates smile upon you and allow you to meet them," Lord Ursa replied.
" These fates keep coming up a lot recently," John said with a sigh before asking. "You're a god, right? Can't you at least point me in the right direction?"
"Gods have rules just as mortals do," Lord Ursa sighed. "It is forbidden to tell you exactly where to find what you need because that would ruin the purpose of the journey. The best we can do is advise you to use your guidance spell."
John sighed and scratched his neck while saying, "I guess that's why it has such a long cooldown, since it goes against even the rules gods have to follow."
"Gods capable of prophecy are already rare enough, let alone spells that grant humans that power. "You're fortunate Ursa's blessing granted you such a gift," Tuarus replied before glancing at Lord Ursa and suggesting. "Why not make it a quest? Perhaps that will improve his chances of the fates smiling upon him."
"Sounds reasonable, but a quest must come with an appropriate reward and bonding with the offspring of the five guardian beasts is no easy task," Lord Ursa replied.
As the pair of constellations were trying to think of a suitable reward, a notification suddenly appeared before John, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.
[Class Quest notification.]
[Class Quest: Bond with the five. (Epic)]
[Lord Ursa and Taurus have tasked you with bonding with a direct offspring of each of the five guardian beasts.]
[Class Mission Goals:]
[Bond with a direct offspring of Ashenor - Immortal Phoenix of the East: 0/1]
[Bond with a direct offspring of Bahamut - Sky Dragon of the North: 0/1]
[Bond with a direct offspring of Bengal - White Tiger of the West: 0/1]
[Bond with a direct offspring of Kurma - Guardian Turtle of the South: 0/1]
[Bond with a direct offspring of Tumble - Jackalope Queen of the Centre: 0/1]
[Quest success reward:]
[Upgrade your class ability Primal Transformation to Enhanced Primal Transformation.]
[Quest Failure punishment: None]
[Do you accept or decline the Quest?]
[Accept] [Decline]
"Err, did you already give me the quest?" John asked as he finished reading through the notification, causing the two constellations to look at him while Lord Ursa shook his head and said, "No, we're still trying to think of a suitable reward. Why?"
"Because I just got the quest, and the reward is to upgrade my Primal Transformation to Enhanced Primal Transformation," John replied.
"It must have been Tijuana; it seems she favours our suggestion," Lord Ursa said with a smile, while Taurus asked. "Enhanced Primal Transformation, what's that?"
"I have no idea," Lord Ursa replied while shaking his head, just as Mel received a quest and said, "Oh! I got a message from Silver Oracle."
"You mean the princess?" Elder Ascal asked in surprise, causing John to realise that the seven elders had been present the entire time, listening in.
{Damn, I was so focused on the conversation that I completely forgot about them.}
Mel nodded to Elder Ascal's question as she read through it, just as John himself received a message from Sarah.