Chapter 1172 – A Companion For Life

“Good, you’re here,” Nature’s Attendant said as soon as Jake and Artemis arrived. “I take it you’ve been updated on the state of things?”

“Just that we’re in the final stretch,” Jake answered, his gaze scanning the entire formation. Usually, the drawn lines were subtle, but now, everything was teeming with energy, all the runes and whatnot shining brightly.

He also felt that the entire ritual was currently in a state of semi-dormancy. Nature’s Attendant had delayed it as he waited for Jake and Artemis to arrive, but the moment he allowed the formation to fully activate once again, it would be like letting go of a fully drawn bow’s string.

“Precisely,” Nature’s Attendant nodded. “The two branches that will make up the bow are now as grown as they can be while under my purview. The only thing left is the final infusion, where you’ll create a connection with the bow. However, I will warn you that this is also the one and only point of failure in this.”

“How so?” Jake questioned as he observed the two sprouts that had grown into what could almost be called two small trees. Both of them had grown in a spiral pattern around one another, the two effectively merging into one, and with how they were bending over slightly, they had even grown into the shape of a bow.

“You need to be acknowledged by it,” the second-in-command of the Pantheon of Life answered. “I want to say that this shouldn’t be a concern, but items of this nature can be very fickle. Especially in this case, I have some cause for concern that I hope won’t materialize into any actual challenges.”

“Could you elaborate?” Jake questioned, really wanting to go into this with full knowledge.

“The ritual has gone a lot more smoothly than I anticipated, and the growth of the two plants exceeded my expectations, and not by a little either,” Nature’s Attendant sighed. “This tells me two things. First of all that the two are incredibly compatible with one another, and secondly that the energy they’ve been nourished with has proven to be highly effective.”

“Both of those sound like good things?” Jake asked, perplexed.

“Oh, they are. Assuming you manage to get acknowledged, that is,” Nature’s Attendant chuckled as he went over and stood in front of the two plants that had grown into the shape of a bow. “This bow does not contain sentience, much less sapience. However, it can be viewed as a living item, even if it doesn’t have a Truesoul. As with any other living being, it has instinct. And right now, I cannot predict what that instinct is telling it, only that from experience, the faster a plant like this grows and the stronger it gets, the more arrogant it also becomes.”

“So I’ll need to give my new bow a stern talking to and prove myself superior or worthy of wielding it?” Jake asked.

“That’s an oversimplification,” Nature’s Attendant shook his head. “Remember that this bow is formed from a set of Records, and those Records have colored and formed its instinct. You need to have an approach that’s suitable.”

Nature’s Attendant paced a bit back and forth as he kept looking at the bow. “Consider this. If I decided, here and now, to unleash my full aura and will upon you with the option to either submit and serve or die, would you willingly submit?”

Artemis looked a bit disturbed at the hypothetical, while Jake didn’t hesitate to answer. “I would tell you to respectfully go fuck yourself.”

Chucking, the old god shook his head. “As I would expect you to. However, seeing as your Records as well as the Records of an Apex Hunter are a huge part of this bow, I fear that it may adopt a similar instinctual response to you, where it would rather choose to wither and die than submit.”

Jake frowned as the god continued.

“When the ritual fully completes, there will be a brief window where the bow will have to fully merge with you once more. As I said, it doesn’t have a Truesoul of its own, meaning it will have to rely on yours. However, should it resist, it will not be bound to any soul and thus wither away with not even I capable of doing anything about it.”

“So I have to convince a potentially defiant and moody bow to join me willingly?” Jake now guessed.

“Or your first idea turns out to be the best approach. No one can tell you, as only you can communicate with the bow as it’s been tied to your soul from the very start of this ritual. I want to give you advice on how to proceed, but I truthfully have none that I can confidently stand behind,” Nature’s Attendant shook his head.

“Just follow your instincts, Jake,” Artemis chimed in with a comforting smile. “I think that’ll be your best bet.”

Jake slowly nodded. Artemis was definitely right. He also wasn’t going to ask about what the Pantheon of Life would do if the ritual did end up being a total failure. In that instance, Jake would have lost not only his old bow, but the Pantheon would also have lost a lot of resources and time invested. Failure wasn’t an option that he even wanted to seriously entertain when standing right in front of the finish line.

“I think that’s all I can say on that matter,” Nature’s Attendant also nodded. “Now let’s conclude the ritual. For this, I’ll need you to infuse energy as normal as I do the finish touches. At the same time, Artemis will attach the prepared string, completing the bow fully. Once complete, the window you have remaining to fully bind the bow will be rapidly closing, so try your best to succeed before that happens. We cannot delay if you find yourself troubled.”

“Alright,” Jake said. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. It also felt a little unfair that Nature’s Attendant had sprung this final failure point on him right here and now, but Jake could only guess the god had his reasons.

“Then let us proceed,” Nature’s Attendant nodded. “I will limit the energy flow, granting you roughly an hour to successfully be acknowledged, at which point Artemis will have to attach the string. Remember, once the string is fully merged with the bow, you will have seconds, not minutes.”

At the direction of Nature’s Attendant, Jake went into position. He would kneel and infuse energy into the formation circle around five paces from the seemingly fully grown bow, allowing him to observe it during the entire process.

“Ready?” Nature’s Attendant looked at Jake.

“Ready,” Jake nodded, and with that, the god started the last part of the ritual.

Power enveloped the entire area as Jake felt the draw on his power instantly. Jake responded gladly as he began to infuse the formation, the drain quite manageable compared to many of the other times he’d been sucked dry by this particular ritual.

It didn’t take long before Jake felt another massive difference between this time and all those prior. Rather than merely infusing the magic circle with energy, he felt himself truly merge with the formation, and he felt all of it at once… especially the bow sitting right in front of him.

As energy surged into the bow, something within it began to awaken. At first, it appeared less than pleased, but upon noticing Jake’s energy infusion, the bow greedily began to absorb as much as it could.

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Jake watched on as the bow began to glow as veins of his arcane mana pulsed all over the bow’s body. The two wooden branches hugged each other tighter than before as they merged even more, the seams between where the two types of wood met becoming harder and harder to see.

Not wanting to waste time, Jake sent a bit of his will towards the bow in an attempt to connect with it. However, upon noticing more than pure energy, the bow vehemently rejected the approach, Jake feeling its instant instinctual rejection of what Jake was trying to do.

Uncharacteristically, Jake didn’t push things but slowly backed off from the bow after this first rejection. He waited a little before trying again, this time with a subtle approach, with the result being yet another strong sense of rejection. This happened several more times over the next few minutes as the ritual rapidly progressed.