บท 11: First Assessment of Skills and Status

After a time enough to burn an incense (5 minutes) has passed, both the girls finally calmed down. Nervously, they asked their Master to go to the bushes for a moment. Tilting his head a bit, he want to asked back, but refrain himself after Celes told him.

[Both of their undergarment are soaking wet. So they are going to change it.]

[What!? Oh, okay. It would be rude if I pry any further.]

After he give his permission to them without asking anymore, both of them hurriedly tottering to the nearby bushes and hide under the shadow of the trees. After using his survival instinct to detect that there are no monsters and other threats in the surrounding area anymore and confirming with Celes, he turned his back on them and wait for them to finish changing their underclothes.

After the girls come back with refreshing smile after finishing their deed, they search for a safe area and begin to sit together in a triangle formation to have a thorough introduction about each other and informing Ranata about the general situation in this region in more details. It turns out that the two dragon girls are 4-star adventurers, which can be said to be the top powerhouses in the Town they will head to. That Town is called Karaban, and the quests there are usually ranked from 1-star to 4-star. There is rarely a 5-star above rank quest there. So, almost all of the 5-star ranked adventurers has moved out from that town to venture to the place with plenty amount of higher ranked quests. After knowing the general situation of their destination, Ranata instruct the girls to hold out their hand to him.

"Now, I will be assessing your power. I will take some of it a bit. But don't worry, I will return them back to you. So, don't resist."

"Okay." (Althea)

"Yes, Master." (Lumina)

Holding out their right hand while sitting cross legged, they are both taken by him. Althea is on the left while Lumina is on the right. Gradually, they felt something seeping out from their body through their hand and flows to their Master. Although they feel weaker and weaker as the time flows, both of them didn't resist and give up everything to their Master. After a while, the sensation stopped and Ranata let go of their hand. Feeling a bit of reluctant to be parted away from their Master, the two ladies looking at their respective palm and trace the remaining warmth left by their Master with a look of longing. Unaware of the feelings from the girls in front of him, Ranata closed his eyes and began to assess the skills he takes from them.

[From Althea: Draconic Majesty, Water Breath, Tenderizer, Fire Magic, Lightning Magic, Holy Magic]

[From Lumina: Polymorph, Cloud Walking, Mind's Eye, Water Magic, Wind Magic]

Then, he began to mix matching the skills to find the possible skills which can be born before trying to breed them. Aside from the original parent skills, two skills can also breed a hybrid skill if they are a good match. For example, Draconic Majesty and Leadership can give birth to a Draconic Majesty skill, Leadership skill, or make a hybrid skill known as Dragon Lord Hegemony. After a quarter hour has passed, he lists out the possible hybrid combinations along with Celes.

[Mind Control + Monster Tamer = Trainer]

[Mind Control + Leadership = Mind Link]

[Polymorph + Leadership = Transform]

[Draconic Majesty + Leadership = Dragon Lord Hegemony]

[Water Magic + Wind Magic = Ice or Lightning Magic]

[I understand about Ice.... But Water and Wind can also make Lightning?]

[Natural lightning are made from countless friction among the water drops in the cloud, which generate electricity then congealed together to become a thunder.]

[Oh, I see. So it's like that. Oh, Leadership sure is a leader, huh. He has made a harem with three other skills. Seriously, I am jealous with my own skill here....]

[.....]

[Trainer: Train other being to be a completely loyal and fully competent subordinate, to the level of fanatics. Effective on both monsters and humanoids.]

[Mind Link: Establishes linked network within you and all of your subordinates's mind. Function like a Group Chat Application. Each of the members linked through their mind can share information and even share their sense of sight and hearing to other members. Only the leader need to have this skill to tap others into his network.]

[Transform: Can alter the appearances of enemies and allies. Cost: 5 SP]

[Dragon Lord Hegemony: A superior version of Draconic Majesty. Improves overall status of the owner and all allies and weaken all enemies in their presence.]

[Ice Magic: Conjure and manipulate Ice element and cold attribute. Can freeze enemies summon blizzard, etc.]

After that, they began the process to breed the skills. To breed a skill, first they need to choose 2 skills to be parents skill. Then, they need to feed 1 other skill to each of the parent skill before they can breed. Copulating took a lot of energy anyway. In this case, the energy to copulate is gained from the skills feed to the parents. In other words, to give birth to a skill, one need to select which skill to be its parents then sacrifices two other skills in order to make the intended skill.

[Skills to feed, huh.... No problem, I have stocked a lot of skills from the monsters earlier.]

After fighting off 100 Kobold in all varieties, 13 Dire Weasels, a Fang Wolf and a Brain Fiend, Ranata has stacked up 99 unused Darkvision skills, 7 Monster Tamers, 12 Survival Instincts and 12 Wind Magics. Those are more than enough for his need right now. So, without hesitation, he began to breed all the skills they will need. After an hour has passed, he finished making all the skills they will need. Now, its time to distribute them. He also plan to bestow some of his status to them to balance their overall strength.

"I am finished. Thanks for the waiting. Now, give me your hand."

Stretching out their right hand without hesitation, both the girl's palm are grasped by Ranata. Power flows to their body. A pleasant feeling and a sense of euphoria washes over them as they both closes their eyes and enjoy the feeling and reverberation. Not only their power returned back, now they feel even more powerful than before. It's like they are reborn again in this world. After it's over and they opened their eyes, now they see the man in front of their eyes with even more awe and respect.

They felt as if they found a sense of belonging and homecoming under His wing.

They felt like their roots are there, in Him.

Even if the Earth crumbles, He will stand for them.

Even if the Heaven falls, He will cover for them.

Like daughters in the loving embrace of their mother, they found safety and warmth just by being with Him.

Silently staying like this, they woke up from their stupor after an incense time later.

Their Master then knocks on their consciousness via Mind Link. At first they are surprised, but they also feel happy for they now feel an intangible but vivid connection with their Master. One which connect their minds. Now they feel even closer than before. In this short moment after their first contact, their relationship has been build up and now it felt like they have become a life time companion for a very long time ago.

Ranata inform them of their new power and skills, and asks them to try it out later to get accustomed with it.

They are surprised once more, but after remembering the sense of strengthening from earlier, they believed it and are eager to try it as soon as possible. With that, they concluded the end of the first meeting of their covenant and stand up to resume their journey to the Town.

And now for all of their status and skills distribution:

[Avadhi Ranata – Human]

[HP 743/714]

[SP 332/399]

[STR 152]

[CON 212]

[AGI 221]

[SPI 164]

[Skills: Skill Breeder, Darkvision, Leadership, Survival Instinct, Predator Instinct, Intimidate, Mind Control, Mind Link, Dragon Lord Hegemony, Monster Tamer, Trainer, Transform, Water Breath, Cloud Walking, Tenderizer, Mind's Eye, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Wind Magic, Ice Magic, Lightning Magic, Holy Magic, Shadow Magic]

[Althea - Gold Dragon]

[HP 495/500]

[SP 155/200]

[STR 120]

[CON 115]

[AGI 150]

[SPI 120]

[Skills: Draconic Majesty, Darkvision, Water Breath, Polymorph, Survival Instinct, Predator Instinct, Intimidate, Tenderizer, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Wind Magic, Ice Magic, Lightning Magic, Holy Magic]

[Lumina - Silver Dragon]

[HP 385/500]

[SP 200/200]

[STR 120]

[CON 115]

[AGI 150]

[SPI 120]

[Skills: Draconic Majesty, Darkvision, Cloud Walking, Polymorph, Survival Instinct, Predator Instinct, Intimidate, Mind's Eye, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Wind Magic, Ice Magic, Lightning Magic, Holy Magic]