Word spread quickly, and everyone converged on their lakeshore home as soon as they found out Gift was hatching.

Unlike with Castiel and Fayriel, where their hatching had been a private affair, Alicia had wanted everyone to come.

The first issue with everyone coming along was that Gift's egg had been sitting on a cushioned pedestal in their bedroom, and they were weary of disturbing the little guy. And equally weary of having so many people in their private inner sanctum.

Thankfully, Syl was able to demonstrate her skill with manipulating the domain to a wide eyed Mira as she had Gift's pedestal lifted up onto the roof through a hole she created in the roof.

With that little issue sorted, they were soon gathering in the usual spot up on the roof.

The loungers and barbeque that usually occupied the rooftop were all cleared away for far more comfortable couches, as once again they realised the process of a dragon coming out of its shell would not be a fast one.

"It seems almost everyone is here, we are just missing Orril again…" Lilly said as she did a headcount.

"He's in his forge, best not to disturb him until he comes out on his own," Ester said from the edge of her seat where Saoirse was taking a seat and picking a blanket for the two of them.

"And I see there is another woman. This one is quite young…" Lilly said, raising an eyebrow in Kai's direction when she spotted Mira sitting with Syl.

"Yes, that's Mira. She's a prospective team member. But she'll be with us either way. At least until we can figure things out."

"You should know that Lycaster tracked me down at the inn," Temra grunted from where she was sitting in her chair, rocking back and forth. "He was waiting outside. Quite aggravated. Apparently, he will make sure his master has words with whichever idiot it was who thought you were worth his time. I don't think he was told who actually contacted his master."

"Anything we need to worry about?" Kai asked.

"Nothing I can't handle. I knew he was a little shit, but he was on the list, so what could I do? I'm glad to see Mira all cleaned up. Honestly, I had no idea how I was going to arrange for her to get back to this Mountain fellow. I've sent a communication to The Sage for some information. Just waiting for a reply."

"Actually, that's just on hold. We've just come to an agreement and thought it best to bring her into the domain considering her circumstances. I'm sure things will work out one way or another."

Mira fidgeted uncomfortably, knowing she was being talked about. Syl just wrapped her arm around her and started telling her who Lycaster was and what he had done in their last dungeon run.

"Is there a timeframe for how long this will take? Should I prepare another celebration?" Lilly asked Alicia and Syl.

"No… It took hours for Castiel and Fayriel to hatch, luckily this time we aren't anticipating a reaper braking this place open, and no one has to help establish anything as complicated as a bond so we are hoping this will be much faster."

"Then, if you will excuse me, I must be off to see to Leah. There is an assortment of different meals that should satisfy your guests secured in the stores, enough for a few days. Have what you will, and I will restock tomorrow."

"You should bring Leah. This is a once in a lifetime event, and I'm sure Gift will love to meet Leah and you both."

"She has had a long day. Those little foxes had her running all over the domain. How she has not managed to injure herself with all the things they get up to I will never know. In one story she told me, I thought she had broken her arm. But when I checked, she was perfectly fine, just with a dirty mark from when she had fallen."

"That will be part of Kai's influence on the domain, wounds, even broken bones, seem to heal within a few hours. Please, Lilly, stay for just a bit."

"Yes, Kai…" Lilly said as she took a minute to think it over. "Leah will have plenty of time to meet Gift when he is ready. Unfortunately, tomorrow I have to go explain to a feed merchant why I need several tons of high quality Orruk feed delivered to one of The Houses warehouses near the inner city and not the outer city where most livestock come in to and go out of the city."

Kai could feel Alicia's disappointment through their bond, but she kept her smile, her joy that Gift was coming back overwhelming her dismay.

Cillian tried to shuffle away from Kai, so he grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him down onto a couch made to barely fit two people.

"You sit there and think about what you've done. Maeve, keep an eye on the idiot."

Maeve's eyes went wide as she gave Kai a panicked, what are you doing look.

"But I haven't done anything!" Cillian complain

"Not yet. However you tried it with Lilly, we all heard about it. Now you have seen Mira. You should know you go bug eyed every time a new pair of legs enters the chat."

"I barely looked at her. And what do you mean, chat?!"

"Yeah, and everyone saw your tongue roll out. Mira is nineteen, for spirits sake. You're older than me, have some morals."

"Not by much," Cillian protested.

"Maeve, please talk some sense it your distant cousin. Make sure he knows he has much better options waiting for him," Kai said with a sigh as he threw a blanket over their laps. "Now get comfortable. We have no idea how long this will take."

Maeve was pale, her jaw slack when Kai left them both and walked back over to Alicia.

"You think that was smooth?" Alicia asked him when he had joined her.

Kai shrugged. "We both know Cillian won't figure things out, not without a push. And I'm not letting him anywhere near Mira."

"Why, I know for a fact she hasn't caught your eye. At least not like those two have," Alicia said, tilting her head towards where Niamh and Aoife shared a seat. "Any more thoughts about your suitors? They won't wait forever, Temra didn't."

Kai sighed, and ignoring to question said, "Temra was never actually interested in me. And Mira, she just feels vulnerable right now… best to let her settle."

"Making little sisters now, not lovers? I approve. And you don't have to worry, Syl's got Little Mira protected." Alicia smiled. "I think everyone's noticed Syl seems confident that it's going to work out with her."

"Good… After what Lycaster did this morning, I was ready to say fuck it and run a four-person team. It's not like we need the extra firepower. That, and we have both Castiel and Fayriel, and soon you'll have Gift. Those three alone will more than pad out our team."

Castiel cooed her agreement from inside his shirt, and Kai was once again left wondering how she had got in there.

She had grown a bit over the last couple of weeks. But he was beginning to second guess just how much. Every time she crawled into her favourite spot in his shirt, she was as small again, and possibly even lighter than the day she hatched.

"It's not about firepower. It's more about skill sets so we can take on a wider set of challenges. And unless I miss my mark, Mira will be able to do things we never could. Now come, I want to cuddle while we wait."

Kai took a seat on the couch that had the front and centre position nearest to the pedestal on which Gift resided. Alicia crawled into the space that remained, and he wrapped his arms around her as she adjusted one of the large, thick blankets that seemed to be everywhere.

Settled down, they waited.

The occasional wobble of Gift's black and gold mottled egg was the only indicator to most of them that Gift was coming. While to Kai, Syl and Alicia, Gift was lit up like a beacon through the bond.

Everyone settled in for a long night. Their long familiarity with each other made passing the time easy as they talked about anything and everything.

When a couple of hours passed by and everyone had been carefully introduced to Mira by Syl and she was leading her through a game of cards with the others in an effort to break the ice and pass the time.

It looked like Mira was struggling as she got used to reading the different cards.

However, as time passed, she got the hang of things quickly and it was soon obvious to Kai, Alicia and Syl that they needed much thicker playing cards if they were going to play games with Mira in the future as she could easily see what everyone had in their hands.

Next to Talious, there was a growing litter of Kitsuné as Sicily returned from her time playing with Leah, and she sat in the dragon woman's lap in her little humanoid form.

Talious carefully brushed out her long white and pink accented hair as the little girl explained all the games she was going to play with Gift.

The six other kits sat perfectly behaved, curled around one another next to their powerful babysitter.

Sicily's two brothers, the largest of the little group, not daring to make mischief as they long ago discovered the repercussions would be quick around their sister's caretaker.

Food and drink came and went without issue as Syl did the work of hosting the gathering while Kai waited with an increasingly anxious Alicia.

The food and drink Lilly always seemed to have ready and waiting for them in the domain's storage was eagerly consumed like they were having a casual dinner party.

"What if he can no longer become a bow?" Alicia fretted as she consumed some kind of fine pastry she liked from her time growing up in the palace.

"You really think Gift will give up that part of himself, he lives for it. Becoming a dragon wouldn't change him that much."

"But what if he doesn't have a choice? What if that is why it's taken so long?

"Stop with the what ifs, and think: Would it matter? Would you love him any less? Would it change who he was?"

"No… not one bit."

"Then hush."

Alicia said nothing as she snuggled deeper into his side. "This is why I love you."

Castiel's head popped up, and her body quickly followed from where she had been resting in their lap.

"This is it," Kai said as he felt what the little dragon had felt a moment later.

The bond pulsed.

Crack.

The quiet sound echoed across the open rooftop as everyone stilled.

The flare of light from the small core that orbited Alicia's own core above informing all those who could not feel their bond or see the bright flow of power from Gift's egg that, yes, they hadn't mistaken that little sound.

Alicia uncurled herself from her seat and slowly made her way over to the pedestal.

Crack.

There was a flash of light as the egg burst, motes of golden light sent to scatter all across the domain like someone had set off an impossibly large firework, the accompanying boom Kai expected utterly silent.

There on the pedestal sat a little gold dragon, his scales pulsing rhythmically with an internal light that slowly travelled from the dark root of each scale out to its tip where it peeked in brightness before fading to a deep black that seemed to absorb any light that hit his hide.

Alicia's advance slowed as both Castiel and Fayriel had appeared at his side, their little heads moving back and forth as they examined their near identical sibling.

If it weren't for the shifting light within his scales, Gift would have been indistinguishable from the other two young dragons in his shape and form.

Gift's golden eyes seemed to glow as he looked about at everyone gathered and then at his siblings.

He seemed to take note that he was the same size as both of them as they lept on to the platform beside him.

Gift tsked. "This won't do."

Suddenly his form started to shift, and he got larger, a vicious set of obsidian horns growing from the nubs on his crest, the smooth black developing sharp edges like a carefully knapped obsidian blade as they developed.

A black silky mane formed on his head just between the two main horns and spread down his spine to stop just before the limbs of his wings connected to a lean but muscular torso.

His chest grew deeper and more defined as flight muscles attached to the keel that was his sternum.

His long, broad arrow-head shaped ears split to form two pairs, each ear shifting independently of the others as they worked to pick up the curious sounds of all those witnessing his ability to transform.

Gift's powerful neck flared like a cobra's hood as he yawned, long needle like fangs unfurling from the top and bottom of his open maw to slot perfectly against his sharp powerful wolf like teeth before they once again fell back to rest safely in his mouth, protected in tough fleshy sheaths.

His lips curled in satisfaction as he flared his hood again and his scales flashed a rhythmic pattern that drew the eye and cleared the mind, leaving you confused about what you had just seen the moment Gift let his ridged hood collapse back into his neck.

An extra set of eyes cracked open behind his main forward-facing eyes, and they peeked about before closing once more to leave a barely distinguishable crease.

The sight reminded Kai of the time Trengor had looked at him with a similar set of eyes when he was masquerading as a dragon long trapped in a dungeon.

Gifts' body shifted and changed like this for a long moment as he took on and tested one physical trait after another, discarding many that made little sense or were cumbersome.

When he reached the size that he was before he condensed down to become an egg, he seemed to settle, satisfied only when a third central horn of obsidian grew out just above his brow.

The central horn reminded Kai of the pointed horn he wore proudly after he had absorbed that first form he had hunted of the horned rabbit.

"Are you done choosing adaptations that would make most dragons weep? Honestly, improved sight, hearing, venom and what I only knew to call mesmer scales after checking the ancestral memory," Talious said from where she now stood holding with an awestruck Sicily in one hand and in the other an equally awe stricken Alicia back as Gift got use to his new form.

"Not quite," Gift chortled as he tilted his head back and blew a plume of flame that bellowed out into the sky above in a concentrated stream of intense heat and light that was difficult to look at.

The plume ended in a splutter and a cough as Gift dropped his head and worked his jaw.

"You'll want to regulate the flow better, and make sure you have a good amount of mucus built up. You can still burn yourself. And never use your flame when you are dehydrated and your throat is dry," Talious instructed.

"Oh right, thanks," Gifts said with a nod as his jaw shifted slightly and he tilted his head back again.

This time there was a golden light that took a moment to intensify within his open maw just before a black and gold streak shot out of his mouth.

The shot that disappeared high above them reminded Kai of the arrows Gift would make when he was wielded as a bow by Alicia.

"You can do both?" Talious asked, sounding a little disgusted.

"Yes," Gift said proudly.

"I feel inadequate..." Talious tapped the stunned Alicia on the shoulder and leaned in. "Your little dragon lacks instinct. I will teach him what I can, but we might need to ask Atheos for some help so that he doesn't injure himself or others."

Alicia nodded slowly as she turned back to a grinning Gift. "Are you done?"

Gift tilted his head. "Not yet, Mom."

"What's left?" Alicia said curiously as she tilted her head to follow Gift's.

"I'm waiting for you to reach out your hand and take me up," Gift grinned eagerly

"Take you up?"

"Yeah, shoot me."

Alicia caught up and stepped forward, lifting her hand to gift just like she was raising an ephemeral bow.

Gift disappeared.

A familiar, intricate mesh of gold and black raced down Alicia's arm to wrap itself around her palm, where it stilled and waited.

Alicia's golden eyes sparkled as her hand closed and a magnificent bow grew from where she held Gift.

His bow form had also transformed from what it was before, becoming infinitely more complex in its elegant beauty.

As he grew, the black obsidian horn that now made up the risers moved to take on the form of a compact but powerful compound bow, which flexed and stretched as Gift seemed to once again adjust himself.

A delicate mesh grew from where Alicias held him, a faint glow spreading across the deep black surface as beautiful lacing organic patterns spread out and settled into the glassy surface of the bow.

"Draw me," Gift instructed, his voice loud and clear from the faint, almost invisible bowstring.

Alice pointed him up and far out into the domain as everyone instinctively took a step back, Castiel and Fayriel glancing at one another before they disappeared to join their bonds and watch from a safe, comfortable position.

Kai watched a black arrow that flared with golden light form the moment Alicia drew Gift.

Castiel popped her head out of his shirt so she could watch and warbled eagerly.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The sight was intense as it glowed with compacted mana to his mana senses.

"Hold," Gift instructed.

Alicia nodded, and the normal golden glow stopped growing in intensity and actually started to grow dimmer.

"Shit," Kai muttered as he felt something move through his bond with Gift and Alicia.

"What?" Talious asked from his side.

"They are drawing on my mana reserves, they… I think, yeah, they are pushing mana to me somehow. Making an exchange…"

"That shouldn't be possible, her mana would be toxic to you, your core would need time to convert it."

"I feel fine."

The normal golden yellow of Alicia's arrows dimmed completely as the arrow Alicia held ready to fire started to crackle with a new familiar blue and purple light.

"I think got it… Now!" Gift called.

Alicia released, and a streak a blue and purple shot off with a crack.

Gift's bow form faded in a cascade of golden embers as Alicia lowered her hands and clicked her tongue in disappointment.

Gift reappeared at her feet, his golden scales dimmer than before as he looked up at Alicia and over to Kai, his ears drooping sadly.

"Did you just try to warp space?" Kai asked before they could say anything.

Gift and Alicia nodded as one.

There was a blast in the distance as one of the far mountains was lit up in a blue, short live flash.

Gift sighed, "I got your mana through the bond… but couldn't warp space around the tip of the arrow."

Alicia crouched down and started scratching Gift just behind his ears. "I think there is more to it than just his mana."

Gift leant into the scratching, his razor sharp horns rubbing into Alicia but somehow not harming her in the slightest.

"Well, it's undeniable that he is a dragon," Talious said cheerfully. "Atheos thought this would be the likely outcome."

Kai examined Gift.

Gift Lv.10 ( Unlocked ) Primordial Dragon, Mature hatchling, Age: 0 ( Light and shadow aspect )

"Huh, I wonder what the unlocked means?"

Kai got another notification from his personal system

This dragon already possessed the full genetic code of a prime polymorph before integration with the Draconic code. This has unlocked the polymorphic abilities encoded within the primordial dragon's genetic base early. <error> allowing for uncommon… further coding for <ErRor> has unlocked other <error> this unlocked potential can be shared when-

Kai's head burned with a sharp and sudden headache as the notification he was reading buzzed and blipped away like it had never been there as the headache dimmed away.

He checked the notification again, focussing his intent on Gift, hoping he would get more information.

Kai got a feeling, and when he checked it, he heard a weird robotic voice he had not heard in a long time.

Have him share his form with the hatchlings when they are older and start to unlock the polymorph coding within them! Thanks to you, he has the genetic coding of the Alitarri, It will aid you against the…

Kai collapsed in a flare of pain, and he blacked out.

…

She watched the boy collapse as the bulk of her message got through into his personal system.

Perhaps she should have tried passing that bit of information through to Syl.

No, Syl was being watched more closely by the system than Kai was.

She was just lucky that it was a subroutine of the local system that caused the interference and she could shut it down before things spread back to a core system and was flagged for investigation.

Looking back down on the gathering within the spirit realm, she saw Syl glaring up at nothing; clearly her little sister still had a bit of System Authority left in her.

That needed to be fixed.

Luckily, the boy had a plan for that; it was just a matter of time now before her soul was repaired and the broken system connections were all wrapped up.

Oh yes… a system alert caught her attention.

She got to work applying forbidden knowledge patches to Kai to hide the information she had just shared from the system. She had to be thorough as he had an annoying ability of finding ways of explaining things he shouldn't be able to explain.

…

Kai rubbed his head temple as they sat in the back room of the guild waiting for the on duty guild managed to come see to them.

Gift, Castiel, Fayriel and Sicily explored the room as their patience grew thin.

"I dont know what to tell you, every time I try to explain it, forbidden knowledge kicks in," Kai said as he once again tried to reiterate why he blacked out last night.

The door opened, and, and the manager stepped in with a panicked look. "What happened, that idiot didn't do anything, did she?"

"No, we're here to register Gift as my familiar before we go on a dungeon run." Alicia said.

"Gift?"

"That's my name, don't wear it out," Gift said as he jumped up onto the back of the seat just behind Alicia. "We focus grouped Giftriel, but it didn't sound right, so we are sticking with good old Gift."

The manager wobbled. She looked like she was about to faint, but she managed to grab the door and steady herself.

"Another one? And it talks?"

Syl, Kai, Alicia, Ester, Temra and Talious all nodded as one, with Mira coming in with a nod of her own a moment too late when she saw what everyone had done.

To say the room was cramped was an understatement.

"But why come here? You can register new familiars at the guild hall, you didn't need to come here. Believe me, I'm up to my eyeballs in registrations. We've just had another influx."

Temra coughed. "You, however, already know the particulars of both Castiel and Fayriel, and we didn't want to have to explain things at the guild hall."

"Your files are flagged, so they would have handled things discreetly. At this rate, I'm going to get demoted to being your personal handler.

"Is that a demotion?" Talious said in mock confusion.

The manager paused under Talious's gaze.

"I'll see it done, but it will notify the association again. I've already been delegating the complaints I've been getting. As if I can do anything about you delaying your visit to them. The higher ups say it's part of registration and should be handled bey registration."

"Oh, them," Talious said as she leaned back to look at Temra, "is tomorrow good?"

Temra nodded.

"You can let them know we will be along tomorrow. They have an important dungeon run booked today. Hopefully, they will be registering their team composition by the end of the week.

The manager glanced at Ester and Mira.

"Good choices… you should know that the Lycaster boy reported an assault. He was given a warning, and we extended his tin probation."

"Should you be telling us this?"

"No…"

"Well, thank you for your time. We have a long day planned."

They stood in line as they watched another group enter the dungeon.

"Any reply from Omeg?" Syl asked.

"Yeah, he isn't doing well finding a party. As I thought, he is not that driven when it comes to adventuring, and the guild has a keen eye on him considering his race. He should be coming around the inn mid day today," Temra explained.

"We should still be in the dungeon. You okay showing him around?"

"As long as you can let him in, it shouldn't be anything I can't handle.

"Doesn't matter where we are, we can let people in. Though we haven't tested having people leave the domain to join us in a dungeon yet. Everyone's so busy at the moment it's hard finding a willing test subject."

"The fact that Castiel and Fayriel pop in and out without issue tells us things haven't changed since the first dungeon we ran with Alicia," Kai said thoughtfully.

"The system makes exceptions for familiars, and we have never been at a dungeon's capacity to actually test things. If you want, we can try some things at the end of this run. As we have five members now, we can test if it's possible to break the usual capacity by having someone join us."

Kai nodded. "It will be good to know what we can and can't do with dungeons before we make any assumptions in a dangerous situation."

"At what point does the system not count them as familiars? If they have a higher level than us?" Alicia asked as she absentmindedly traced the black and gold mesh on her hand with a finger.

Syl shrugged, "I can't remember. But there is a limit. Luckily, the capacity of dungeons increases with their level range. So by the time they are counted in their own right, it shouldn't be an issue."

"Next!" the guard on duty called.

They each stepped forward, and each of them let the guard check their tin guild badges.

"Yes, I see your booking right here… You three are near your tally, a good run today should give you enough points if you complete some related Guild commissions. After that, you will just need to wait out the month," the guard said, gesturing to Syl, Alicia and Kai.

"Already got a copy of everything we need to look out for," Alica said, patting the breast of her leather armour.

"Good. Now, you're about halfway there," the guard said to Ester, and she nodded.

Then the guard eyed Mira. "You're nearing the end of your month, but you lack anything on your tally. At this rate, you may see your probation extended or your guild writ retracted."

"S-s-sorry," Mira stuttered apologetically.

"No need to apologise, Just making sure your team knows. Now, everyone got the right gear?"

They nodded.

Syl pulled Mira closer to her. "I've already discussed what will lie ahead if she wishes to join our team permanently after today."

That seemed to satisfy the guard as she smiled before continuing, "Considering the tally of most of your members, I will forgo checking through your gear. But only if those three can affirm they have personally verified that the gear of all members meets the minimum expected of a Guild affiliated adventurer."

"We do."

"Good, now good luck, wait over there. When the amber light turns green, you need to enter immediately. Do not dawdle."

They waved goodbye to Temra and Talious as they stepped up to where the guard indicated.

Sicily's ears wilted when she was reminded she couldn't join them.

The light above the portal turned green, and they all stepped forward, with Kai taking the lead.

You are entering a dungeon: Entry level limit 5+ / 5 party members.

Party members: Kai Lv.13 ( Primary -Bound- Familiar: Castiel Lv.10 ) Sylph Lv.13 ( Primary -Bound- Familiar: Fayriel Lv.10 ) Alicia Lv. 13 ( Primary -Bound- Familiar: Gift Lv.10 ) Mira Lv. 16 ( Multiple contracted spirits detected - within dungeon limitations. ) Ester Lv. 14

They stepped out on the other side of the dungeon portal at full alert.

Kai slapped a wide temporal distortion down to encompass the immediate area. The pace of time sped up as fast as he could manage without putting an unnecessarily high drain on his mana reserves.

The result was that everything outside that altered pocket of time was slowed to a crawl. The dust in the chamber that had been drifting through the light rays from the windows above suspended motionless while the dust within his bubble continued on its way, slowly bunching up when it drifted to the permitter and started to slow down.

"I feel inadequate," Ester said as she stepped up beside Kai.

Kai looked about the empty room. "What why? You have seen me practise this on and off for weeks now."

"The list of party members, Ester, level fourteen, blank. Everyone else has familiars. Who knows just how many spirits Mira has?" Ester said as she waved a hand to little Mira as she appeared from the portal behind Syl.

"Don't worry about it. In the wider multiverse, almost everyone with an ounce of charisma ends up with something at some point," Syl said as she looked about.

"And here I thought we were Special with a capital S," Kai joked.

"It's usually just a consequence of living so long. But I'll grant you this; it's usually a contract of some kind. Outside of dragons and other special creatures, bonds are rare. Nevermind an octuple, interlaced bond like the one our special boy Kai created."

"There's always one of the Kitsuné from the domain… or a horned rabbit. If you're really desperate, an orruk is certainly an option."

"The only Kitsuné within Ester's level range is Sicily, and we all know she is taken," Gift hummed.

"What about one of her brothers?" Kai suggested.

"Spirits no, Sicily skipped a generation when it comes to her brothers. They keep coming into my workshop and replacing my tools. Nearly brayed one's skull open on a project I was working on when the mischievous little shit realised pretending to be a hammer was not as funny as he thought," Ester said as she walled the perimeter of Kai's temporal distortion.

"You want me to add access limitations to your workshop, its an easy fix. Would have done it already, but it's never come up," Syl said as she floated up to look about.

"Nah, they're annoying. But I kind of like how they break up some of the monotonous tasks. Keeps me alert during some of the longer stretches." Ester grinned as she rubbed the back of her neck with her large yet dexterous rune-worked gauntlet. "Theres this new one, a deep orangy-red and black one. Wee little thing. He just sits by the forge and watches me work. I think he has a fire or heat aspect, he finds it comfortable…" Ester trailed off with a thoughtful look.

"Well, there you go," Alicia said as she walked the perimeter opposite Ester.

Ester waved the suggestion off. "The little guy's barely got hair on his belly. That and his parents keep coming to check on him. They apologise profusely each time I see them, but I tell them little Caleb is no bother."

Esters went back to scratching the back of her neck as she gave it more thought.

Kai left her to think as he did his part scanning the room.

There should be nothing of concern. They already knew this dungeon started in a safe room from the Guild issued guide Temra had them study.

But they wanted to establish best practice with the easy dungeons as many higher-level dungeons lacked a safe room and often loved to throw something at those entering them foolishly.

Rifts were another story altogether as they never had a safe room, so to speak, and were unpredictable every time you entered them.

"All clear?" Syl asked the group.

"Clear," they all intoned after they were satisfied with checking the room from the safety of Kai's time distortion.

Only Mira didn't say anything.

She should have said something; she had been briefed.

They all turned to look at her.

She looked back nervously.

"Mira, what is it?"

"N-n not clear?" She said, pointing off into the room.

"You see something?" Alicia asked as she spun to look at the wooden pew Mira was indicating.

The safe room they had entered through was some kind of small Chapple. With two rows of four pews facing a small altar with a lecturn in the centre, it had clearly once been used for some kind of preaching or other activity where one stood and spoke to a small gathering.

The room was dim. Beams of light crossed the dark interior from plain, cracked and broken glass windows above. Easily long abandoned, by all the cobwebs and the dust both drifting and settled.

Mira shook her head. "I c-can't see anything. But one of my f-friends says there is something hidden under that stone over there."

Syl beamed, and she flared into her cyan wisp form and shot into the ground where Mira had indicated.

Mira gasped upon seeing Syl transform. She gasped again when Syl reappeared, humanoid again as she placed a sealed crate onto one of the pews.

She popped the lid to reveal ten large potion bottles that gleamed with traces of mana.

"High quality mana and health potions. This must be to help people in the dungeon. Did anyone else see this with their mana senses?"

They all shook their heads.

"That crate must keep the mana contained…" Ester trailed off thoughtfully as she studied it further.

"Good catch. How did your friend find it?" Kai asked as he turned to Mira.

"He is an earth spirit, he felt an un-unn, an unusual void and went to investigate."

"Great work, Mira. Not even out of the safe room, and you are proving your worth. Any other adventurer would have had to pry up the floor to find them. Not many would waste the time. I'll make a note, and we can sell the information back to the guild. Add the potions and the grate to the loot we will register. They will want evidence of the find."

"Can I have the crate? If I can figure out how it works, I might be able to do some interesting stuff," Ester asked as she ran a finger along the rough wood.

"Ask Mira, it was her friend who found it, the crate and potions technically belong to her as she isn't a full party member yet… Not that we didn't agree to share everything anyway… but we can all agree this is hers right?"

No one needed to answer that one.

"Mira?" Ester asked, her eyes big and pleading as she refused to take her hand off the crate.

Mira looked at Syl, but Syl just looked away. This was her decision to make.

"We share everything. You can ha-have the c-crate if no one objects."

"Great," Syl said as the crate disappeared with a glance. Either way, Mira gets the credit when we report the find to the Guild, and it should add to her low tin tally.

Mira was staring at the spot the crate had been in confusion.

"Why is your tally so low?" Kai asked Mira.

He was genuinely curious. He was already convinced Mira would be invaluable on this dungeon run. Surely people would have jumped at having her on their party once they learned she had a spirit with her that could help find buried treasure.

Mira fidgeted and dropped her head. "I c-couldn't understand the job boards or the c-commissions…"

"And you couldn't read any of the party requests for dungeon runs," Kai finished for her.

She nodded, her shoulders slumping in shame.

Syl stepped behind her to wrap her arms around her shoulders. "Don't worry, we can fix that… whether you want to join us or not, I know just the thing. But I do hope you'll join us."

Mira didn't say anything in reply.

Kai could see her internal struggle. She really wanted to go back to her Mountain Spirit. Even if he had banished her.

"Right, quick reminder. This dungeon's task is search and destroy. The theme is ruins, an abandoned city to be precise. No set map as it randomises on every run. We need to find the artifact that destroyed the city and switch it off or destroy it. There will be a guardian/boss and a lot of patrolling dungeon spawns. Orcs' to be precise, the big dumb feral ones. Any questions?" Syl asked after giving everyone the quick briefing once again.

"Any loot priority?"

"As everyone here is trusted, no kid gloves. If it aint nailed down and it looks valuable, or you just like the look of it… take it. I've set up a separate storage area in the domain just for this run. The stuff should auto sort and be time locked until we check it out later, so have fun."

They nodded and started to remove all the things that weighed them down.

Coming into the portal, they needed to have a certain level of equipment carried on their person somewhere. This meant potions and other medical supplies, a small survival kit, and even some rations.

In their case, all that stuff was kept in their very basic spatial storage satchels they used to hide the use of the powerful domain storage they had courtesy of both Kai's and Syl's Soul rings.

They didn't need these decoy storage satchels with such easy access to the domain storage. So Ester, Alicia, Syl and Kai all unburdened themselves by putting them away along with anything else they didn't actually need.

Mira, who had not yet had her access to the advanced party system action unlocked, gripped her bag as watched Kai store his decoy gauntlets only to then let his dark iridescent dragon scales roll up his arm in their place.

She actually squeaked when he glanced her way and flexed his now clawed hands. The feel of the tough yet flexible armour was far superior to anything he had worn before or after.

"Is that why your arm's looked different?"

Guessing the girl had always been able to see there was something different about his arms compared to the rest of him, Kai nodded.

"Gift from a divine dragon… a growth item that physically fused with me."

"A divine dragon?"

"Yeah, Trengor. He destroyed the first pair I got to make a point, or test me. Not sure which. If you have any growth items, never let a god destroy them. It's agony."

Mira nodded wide eyed.

Ester chuckled as she stood there in nothing but her armour.

The pack she had slung on her back and the belt of fast acting potions she had slung on her hip now stored, she made a point of summoning one potion after the other from the domain for them to float for a second in front of her before she then dismissed them again before gravity could take effect.

"I could have done with access to this level of storage skill when I was doing solo dungeon runs. I have to touch everything with my storage device, and the space is limited. Life saving essentials only. But this." She paused to grab a small dull brown potion that seemed to glow. "Stamina drain general antidote potions? You have everything."

"Just the essentials. We donated our basic bitter supply of potions that Kai got from the tutorials, and Temra secured replacements. Stuff for almost every situation…" Alicia said as she glanced off to the side. "We only have three of those, so put it back."

"You should practise summoning items to hand. I got the knack of it with weapons, but it took a while," Kai said as he summoned a knife to hand then dismissed it.

"But he could never get his armour to fit right when he tried to equip it right out of storage," Syl said with a smile. "Kai, can you double check Mira's new armour? I don't think it's the best fit, and you have the armourer skill, might as well use it."

When Kai looked Mira up and down, he could tell something wasn't quite right just by the way she was standing.

He approached Mira, and she tensed but didn't actually back away.

"Relax, I'm just going to check the buckles and ties."

Mira hadn't really had a preference when they went shopping for her replacement gear. And due to the confusion, they had opted for gear tailored to young men, boys if he wanted to be accurate.

It was serviceable but, at the same time, probably not the most comfortable of armour sets.

Still, leather and cloth were forgiving, and things could be adjusted.

He tightened a few ties and adjusted a few buckles.

Mira relaxed as he went.

When he did his last walk around, something still didn't look right.

Eying her tail as she tried to tuck it out of the way, Kai knew what was wrong.

"Just a sec," he said as he pulled free one of his shorter focuses and made a spectral blade that was just a few inches long and pulling her tail to the side so he could see better, he cut out more space for her surprisingly muscular tail to lie more naturally where it came out of her rear.

She squeaked at him when she saw the blue glow of his blade, but he was done before she pounced away to hiss at him.

"Is that better?"

She stood straighter in confusion and then looked round to chase her tail for two turns. When she stopped, her tail swished about freely, and she lowered her head, "much."

Syl walked over and smacked Kai on the back of the head.

"What!"

"Two things. First, don't touch her tail without permission. You just sexually assaulted her grabbing it so close to her ass. Second, I know it wouldn't actually cut her, but she doesn't, so you should have warned her about the blade and what you were about to do."

Kai's heart sank. "Shit, Mira, I'm sorry. I was focussed on-"

"N-no, this, this is much better. It doesn't pinch and I have full movement." Mira said, her tail still swishing back and forth as she talked.

"We will find a good beast Kin tailor when were out of the dungeon, get some stuff that fits better… Kai should come," Syl said thoughtfully.

The swishing of her tail stopped immediately as her ears dropped, and she glanced at Kai.

"He's clueless, but he is also the one with all the armour skills. Besides Ester here of course."

"I haven't worked with beastkin before. I know that the feline ones typically like a wider range of movement, but that's not saying much because all their kin like that… best take Kai, though I will come and give recommendations on what runes and enchantments I can add if you want?"

"That would be appreciated," Mira said, not sounding all that confident.

"Don't worry about him Mira, he's already thinking of you like a little sister," Gift hummed from where he now sat on the lecturn. Castiel on his head, between all his horns, and Fayriel pinned at his feat.

"What's this about?"

"We were waiting for permission to come out into the open. Fayriel couldn't wait."

Fayriel yipped indignantly as he vanished from below Gift's grasp and appeared on his mother's shoulder

"Sister?"

"Right," Ester said, her voice taking on a muffled sound as the plates of her helmet slid into place, "Spirits I love that. Lets get started."

They all agreed one after another.

"I'll take the front, Kai's my second. Mira, your in the middle, do you have those Golems ready?" Ester asked as she moved to the edge of Kai's temporal distortion where it was closest to the door that led out of the room.

Mira tapped her satchel and moved forward to catch up with Kai.

"Alicia, you're the rear, and Syl… where the fuck did Sly go?"

"I'm right here, Just invisible to all but Kai."

"And me," Mira said cheerfully.

"No I can still see you," Alicia said, looking straight at Syl.

"Oh that's knew, must be the bond. Ester guess your the only one now who can't see me when I adjust my form. Use your party interface to track me… matter of fact have it track everyone."

Ester paused for a moment then cried "A hah!" As she pointed to Syl's floating form. "I got it, this is going to be so useful in a fight."

"Oh we fought in a torn veil once, weird mist that blocked pretty much everything from sight. Good times," Kai joked.

"You weren't using a bow," Alicia said as she lifted Gifts new compound bow form to make her point.

"Anyway Syl, You do stealthy magic shit where and when you need to?"

"That was the plan."

"Collapsing the distortion," Kai called as the dust in the room that had seemed immovable started to drift again.

"Lets have some fun," Ester said as she gripped the long handle on the door and froze as a piece of parchment appeared in front of her.

She immediately shoed it away and turned to Syl as she gave her a look that Ester couldn't actually see.

"Sorry, still getting used to internalising the use of my personal system."

"Did you see the notification, because we all got it?"

"Checking," Ester said as her head stilled. "Oh!"

"Didn't see Mira get the system prompt… have you already given her the personal system talk?" Kai asked before he could stop himself.

"No, didn't want to overwhelm her. Besides, why would she get a written notification, she can't read… yet. But I did actually ask, and she gets audible notifications only she can hear."

Mira confirmed that was the case with a nod.

"You'll be surprised how up to speed she is. She was taught to access her core and level by the pre system ghost of some noble commander from millennia ago that happened to reside with her on the mountain… So no waiting for her to cleanse her core Like Ester and Alicia. But she will need to stop to cultivate her mana when it comes to levelling up."

"That's- that's surprisingly convenient."

"Almost like she was meant to be," Syl said warmly.

"Everyone happy to continue?" Ester asked as she pointed to the entry portal in the middle of the room. "We could leave?"

"I'm good," Syl said, drifting forward.

"Me too," Alicia said, her eyes glimmering.

"I can do this," Mira said firmly, with one hand ready in her satchel.

Kai double checked the notification, and he could not help but smile. He was sick of all the low level tin dungeons.

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