“Well,” Clive said, “it is possible that if Jason ever reached diamond rank, his familiar would attain the full strength of a sanguine horror. Of course, it would still be under his control, thus would be unlikely to scour all life from the planet.”

“I actually think I figured out what they wanted the horror for,” Farrah said.

“And you’re only telling us now?” Rufus asked.

“Well, I've been going over that book from the sacrifice chamber,” Farrah said. “As it turns out, you can get a non-summoned sanguine horror as a familiar. First, you have to make the thing, which they did. Or we did, whatever, but you start by making the thing, and then you have to starve it. It starts at bronze rank, that’s how it was when we fought it, but it goes down to iron rank if you leave it long enough.”

“Can you do that with other monsters?” Jason asked.

“No,” Farrah said. “The sanguine horror comes with the inherent ability to shift ranks, which normally means going up, but down is possible too.”

“There are other monsters like that,” Clive said. “They’re all quite rare, though.”

“Very,” Farrah agreed. “So, once you have your sanguine horror, and you’ve starved it down to iron rank, you get the right essence and awakening stone and then hope you get a familiar bond essence ability. There are no guarantees, of course.”

“Which essence and awakening stone are best?” Clive asked.

“For top reliability,” Farrah said, “according to the book, a blood essence and an apocalypse stone are what you’re looking for.”

“That’s exactly what I used,” Jason said. “Why bother with all the big chamber and the sacrifices when you can just get one? Are the made ones better than the summoned ones? Do I have a defective familiar?”

“The actual sanguine horrors would be the same, in terms of abilities,” Farrah said. “The difference would be the same as between any bonded familiar versus a summoned familiar.”

“Which are?” Jason asked.

“Bonded familiars survive, even if the essence user dies,” Clive said.

“A summoned familiar won’t survive the death of the summoner,” Farrah agreed. “It also can disappear into the summoner's body, which bonded familiars can't.”

“That’s alright then,” Jason said. “I’d hate having to carry Colin around in a bag or something.”

“I still can’t believe you named an apocalypse beast Colin,” Rufus said.

“Well if you call your apocalypse beast Gorgos, the Enslaver of Worlds, then people are likely to start questioning your intentions,” Jason said.

“That’s actually a good point,” Farrah said.