"I guess my daggers are stronger, after getting the blood of a god on them," mused Stella, checking out the black daggers. The blood that had been on them seemed to have soaked into them.

"It wasn't a full god, only a lesser god," said Joseph, looking at the sleeping dragon.

"I'm glad to be out of that bubble. It was getting boring."

"It was boring five minutes into the nine years," said Joseph, rolling his eyes.

"Well, your dad will probably be wanting to talk to us, and I can only imagine what your mom will think. After that system announcement, everyone is going to wonder who we are. At least your mom doesn't have the system, so we don't have to worry about that."

"I wonder if one of us had died, if NURKONG wouldn't have sworn vengeance on us."

"Probably, he's an evil god. If one of us had died, he probably would have just declared it on the survivor."

CURE MADNESS.

"That should deal with any issues the dragon had with the almost possession. I imagine it was having some pretty nasty nightmares. It seems that it is maintaining the balance of magic in this area. If it had fallen, or succumbed this whole area would have died, just like the wastelands have."

Stella glanced over at the dragon curiously, "That's amazing. What do you think a dragon would taste like?"

Joseph swung his head around to look at her. She laughed at the look on his face.

"Stella, dragons are friends, not food!"

"Alright, alright, I get it."

Suddenly, one massive eyelid opened and turned in their direction. They watched as the pupil tried to focus on them. It looked so tired and sleepy, they both wanted to yawn. Joseph could feel mana emanating from it. It must have two or three levels of mana enhancer, instead of the one he had.

(SHAVIST! AHHH! NOW YOU HAVE ME DOING IT! I ALMOST HAD EVERYTHING TABULATED, TOO!)

(BAHAMUT, THE GOD OF DRAGONS, HAS WATCHED YOU RENDER AID TO ONE OF HIS CHILDREN AND PROTECT IT FROM DEMONS, AN EVIL GOD, AND A BLOOD THIRSTY FEY.)

(YOU ARE AWARDED THE TITLE: DRAGON FRIEND AND GIVEN BAHAMUT'S BLESSING.)

The dragon stared at them for a few moments, before apparently dismissing them.

"FOOD," it spoke, and a giant chunk of meat appeared in front of it.

Joseph looked at the oversized meat, thinking it reminded him of something out of a cartoon. He couldn't imagine what kind of creature it could have come from.

It sat up heavily, as if still half asleep, and grabbed the meat. Sitting on its haunches, it half closed its eyes as it took a huge bite. Swallowing and licking its lips, it looked around the destroyed cave before taking another bite.

The overlap of mana enhancer, from both the dragon and Joseph, was causing the mana to become visible.

"I'm glad you made me full ancient fey," said Stella, watching the mana mist swirl around itself. "That would have killed me nine years ago."

Licking his lips as he watched the dragon chow down, Joseph turned to Stella, "Are you hungry?"

"I could eat something," she said, having watched the dragon, too.

"FOOD," he said, envisioning a drumstick covered in a sweet honey glaze and cooked to crispy perfection. He honestly wasn't sure what FOOD would have sent him, but the drumsticks that showed up were perfect. He wasn't sure what animal they came from, but the meat was so tender it all but melted in his mouth.

Stella took a bite of hers, and her eyes seemed to glow in delight, "This is delicious!"

"Thanks, I think I should teach this recipe to Stu."

The dragon began to speak, but it was in an ancient tongue that Joseph didn't understand.

GIFT OF TONGUES.

"-are you in my domain?" asked the dragon.

"An evil god was trying to possess you and a group of demon worshippers was corrupting the mana in this place. We killed him and fixed it." Joseph took a stab in the dark and hoped that he was correct in what the dragon was asking.

"Ah, thank you. My god says that I should give you a gift."

"Can you teach me how to transform into a dragon? I have several shapeshifting spells already."

"I don't know a spell to turn into a dragon. Do you know a spell to turn into a human?"

"Yes, of course."

"Why, when you are already human?"

"I was messing around." Joseph shrugged, and the dragon looked thoughtful.

"I turned into an ancient fey too, but Stella says I looked weird," he added.

"You do," said Stella, licking some of the glaze off her fingers.

"Come on Stella, I would look awesome as a dragon," he said, turning half towards her.

"Only because all dragons look awesome, I still think you look ridiculous when you aren't you."

"Can you teach me the.. no, that won't work. Dragons don't draw runes, and I didn't invent a spell to hear dragon speech perfectly. I just went to the rune world where I didn't need it. Do you ever shed scales?"

"Of course."

"Ok, when you shed scales, just collect them and bring them to me, please?"

"That's what you want?"

"Yeah. I'll make an outfit out of them. It'll be awesome. A big robe so it can fit all of my enchantments."

"That will be fine." The dragon looked over the two of them, curiously as it finished the last bite of meat, then stretched and lay back down.

"Ok. Stella, let's go hunt down the rest of the demon worshippers. There were several sites sending corrupted mana this way. Now that I'm here, I can head upstream and find them."

"You just don't want to face your mom yet."

"There is that, too."

(YOU HAVE BEEN AWARDED 781 LIFE POINTS FOR NEW SPELLS.)

(YOU HAVE EARNED THE TITLE: ADVANCED MAGE.)

(MAGICAL DETECTION RANGE HAS BEEN INCREASED TO 10 YARDS.)

(MANA TERRITORY ALLOWS TOTAL CONTROL OF MAGIC WITHIN THE MANA TERRITORY.)

(SPELLS CAST BY OTHERS MUST HAVE YOUR CONSENT.)

(YOU MAY STEAL, OR ABSORB, SPELLS OF UP TO 10 POINTS THAT ENTER YOUR TERRITORY.)

(YOU MAY FREELY CHOOSE NEW TARGETS FOR SPELLS THAT ENTER YOUR TERRITORY.)

(YOU HAVE LEARNED OVER 700 SPELLS, EARNING THE TITLE: MAGE ADEPT.)

(DUE TO INCREDIBLE FAMILIARITY WITH WIELDING MAGIC, THE TIME TO CAST SPELLS HAS BEEN GREATLY SHORTENED.)

(YOU HAVE INVENTED OVER 10 SPELLS THAT HAVE NEVER BEFORE BEEN RECORDED, EARNING THE TITLE: THAUMATURGE.)

(YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE FUNDAMENTAL BEHAVIOR OF MANA AND MAGIC ALLOW YOU TO LEARN AND INVENT SPELLS FAR MORE QUICKLY.)

(YOU HAVE REACHED THE ADVANCED LEVEL, OR HIGHER, IN OVER 20 RUNES, EARNING THE TITLE: RUNE MASTER.)

(YOU HAVE BRAGGING RIGHTS FEW IN ANY REALM ACHIEVE.)

(OTHER TITLES YOU HAVE EARNED, THAT WERE INFERIOR TO GRANTED TITLES, OR PROVIDED BONUSES WEAKER THAN CURRENT ABILITIES, WERE IGNORED.)