Surviving the Beastworld

Conditions

Hope you enjoy!

"What are they?" Ahi asked, going still.

"One, I'm going to take other mates. You're going to have respect that and the mates I choose. If you can't handle me taking other males, then I'll end things now. I'll give you a chance to voice your concerns, but otherwise you'll need to be respectful and not cause any problems with my future other mates."

I paused for a moment to let the words sink in before continuing, "The second condition is that we have a trial period and if things don't work out, there'll be a clean break. The trial period is so we can get to know each other and see if we'll be good mates.

"If either one of us decides being mates won't work long term, we'll break things off with no consequences and vow to keep each other's secrets if any are shared. We can decide on a time period for this trial period, but those are my conditions."

It was a little messy since I'd kind of rushed this, but hopefully the conditions would be good ones. The first one was to help keep drama among mates at a low, as well as weed out any possessive sociopaths.

Don't get me wrong, a jealous man can be hot at the right time. But one that's constantly on you for meeting another's gaze is creepy. I don't need that kind of problem in this life.

As for the second, well it was mostly for me. I needed time to know about the person before moving into a big commitment like being mates. Having a trial period would allow for that time while also making sure if things didn't work out, nothing bad would come of it.

"Is the trial period like a guardianship?" Ahi asked after a moment of silence.

"Kind of, I guess." I replied, hoping we were talking about the same thing. "The trial period is a courtship with no promise of becoming mates. You'll be treated the same as a mate, but if I find myself not liking you or you lose interest, we can end things with no hard feelings."

"I see..." Ahi mused. "I guess this trial period would be good for getting my mark closer to your heart."

Was that his conclusion to my second condition?! It gave him time to get closer to my heart. I mean, he wasn't completely wrong, but that wasn't why I made it a condition.

Not that I was going to burst his bubble....

Instead, I asked, "Does this mean you're okay with my conditions?"

"No." Ahi said, making me freeze.

Please don't tell me he was against my first request. He was just starting to grow on me, but no matter how much he did, there was no way I was breaking that rule.

Guess this is what happens when you rush through things. I should have waited a bit before deciding to give Ahi a chance. Perhaps a few days....

"I don't like the idea of having to share you with other males. It goes against my very nature as a feral." Ahi explained. "A big part of me wants to keep you to myself, but I understand your condition. Females don't live long with one mate, especially in the winter months.

"I won't make the mistakes of my ancestors because of my jealousy. However, I'll only accept your condition if you promise to only take elemental beastmen. You'll need strong mates to protect you and I won't accept anything less than an elemental beastman, unless they're a priest or healer."

His words made me a little speechless. It was quite rare to find someone so self-aware and honest about their flaws and honestly it was kind of hot. Still, I needed to think his words over.

I wasn't sure what an elemental beastman was exactly. Sure, I could guess they were strong beastmen and Ahi was likely one himself, but I still didn't know what it entailed. Did they have some elemental power and how many stars did they have?

Were they rare because that too would limit my choices. I wasn't planning on taking many mates, but there needed to be some variety.

I planned to find a healer beastman, but that was crossed off since Ahi didn't care about their level. However, I wanted to also get a winged beastman for emergencies and the elemental requirement could affect that.

Realizing I would get nowhere without learning about what an elemental beastman was, I asked, "Can you explain what an elemental beastman is?"

Ahi gave me a strange look, almost surprised by my question. Not that I blamed him. This was probably basic knowledge, but at that moment I didn't really care. I needed knowledge of this world if I was ever going to get anywhere, even if it meant asking stupid questions and looking dumb.

"Are you a sheltered female?" Ahi murmured. "No, even a sheltered female would know about elemental beastmen. It's such basic knowledge..."

"I was a very sheltered female so I probably lack a lot of knowledge." I winced, hoping the bad excuse would work.

Ahi gazed at me like my words were fooling no one. A few minutes later, he sighed, "Maybe one day you'll tell me the truth, but I guess you have your reasons."

I stayed quiet, deciding not to deny or acknowledge the truth of his words.

"An elemental beastman is a beastman that gains an element type power after gaining their fourth stripe." Ahi stated. "Not all beastmen gain a power however. Only the strongest do."

"Stripes?" I mused, a little confused. "But you don't have any stripes."

"That's because when you gain your element, the stripes disappear and become a marking on your body." Ahi explained. "The stars around the mark show your level as an elemental beastmen. Four stars is the highest level you can gain as a beastman."

I nodded my head in understanding.

So, basically there were eight levels of power. The first four are achievable by anyone, however the last four are only achievable if you gain an element. Taking elemental beastmen would limit my choices, however there was still one thing I needed to confirm.

"What are the chances of a beastman becoming an elemental beastman?" I questioned.

Ahi was silent for a moment before answering, "Perhaps 5 for every 50 beastmen you meet. But even then most won't make it past the second star."

Okay so the odds weren't that bad. Well it depended on the amount of beastmen around, but I figured there'd be quite a few. Still, I wasn't sure if I was ready to promise only mating with elemental beastmen.

"I don't know if I can make a promise on taking only elemental mates, but I'm willing to keep the requirement in mind." I said, wanting to be honest. "I can, however, promise to only take mates with stripes under the approval of my other mates."

It was a bit of a compromise, but hopefully Ahi could accept it.

"I guess that's fair." Ahi mused after a moment of silence. "Females rarely acknowledge their mate's approval so that promise will be enough for me."

I smiled. "Guess that means you accept my conditions to court me and potentially become my mate?"

"It does." Ahi nodded, returning a smile.

[Courtship Unlocked]

[1500 Coins]

[22 Loyalty Points]

The system notifications suddenly popped up, reminding me of its existence. And it seemed that my guess on this being a romantic system was right. But I didn't dwell on it too much. It was starting to get late and I needed to rest for tomorrow's adventure in the jungle.

***

Chapter 8 will come out next week Friday (26 July). Also thinking of adding a power system chapter to explain all the rankings, but will probably do that in the near future.