Chapter 12

Looting lower leveled dungeons wasn't as messy as higher leveled ones. The bodies just sort of disappeared, leaving small loot bags behind. I heard once you get to level eight or ten that you would actually have to dig through the dead bodies' pockets and stuff, and then the bodies would disappear. By the time we made it to the altar, we had everything collected. A dozen short spears, some javelins, several knives and daggers, and a short sword. I was hoping for a drop from the shaman, but he didn't have anything.

I used identify on the dagger on the altar.

Sacrificial Dagger Common "Anything good?" Fel asked.

"Nope. I think the best thing we got is the dragon scale," I told her.

"Hurry, use another potion," Myra said suddenly, cradling the baby kobold to her chest.

"What's the point? It's just a dungeon monster," Gavin said.

"Just do it," she hissed.

"Boss, can I get the rest of that potion?" Gavin asked.

I turned and handed him the half used vial, then I pulled the dragon scale out of my bag of holding. It glowed still. Why was it glowing, and why didn't we get the clear yet? I started digging through my notifications, distracted by Myra and Gavin's argument. I didn't see anything in there that would indicate why we hadn't got the clear. We'd already had the skeletons check the ruins and hadn't found any more... unless the baby wasn't meant to have been saved.

"It's choking."

"No, it's dying," Gavin said.

"Save it!" Myra demanded.

"I don't know, like, I tried healing it, and it's not wanting the potion, it's like, trying to die. You know?"

"I will not accept that," Myra said. "Morgan, do something!"

I looked at her cradling the baby kobold, with tears freely running from her eyes. I understood why she was torn, and I also understood Gavin's perspective. The baby wasn't meant to survive... but what had this ritual been about? The ritual, the blood, the baby that they were going to sacrifice.

A dragon's scale... Then it all came together for me. I put the glowing scale down on the altar, and took the now almost limp kobold in my hands and placed it on the dragon scale.

Its little eyes looked up at me for a moment. I met its gaze and took a deep breath, and held the scale up with one hand under it. I put my hand gently on the kobold's chest, and reached for my mana. Binding is a part of mana channeling, which is in the group of skills of mana control. I was low leveled at that, but how high could the kobolds be?

As my mana and magic flowed through both of my hands, I could feel the muscles in my body start to tremble. Somebody put something up to my mouth, and when the back of my head was flicked I opened it so a potion could be dumped down my throat. Then another one. Then a third. I'd felt whoever it was take them out of the loops on my belt. I still had my gaze locked with the tiny kobold's as suddenly everything was too bright, and my legs gave out.

"Grab him," Gavin called.

I was starting to slump. I was no longer holding the scale, but as I fell to the ground, I could feel the baby in my hands squirming. I made sure to protect it as the world went dark around me.

I WOKE up to a sore head and the sound of a fire crackling. I opened my eyes, and immediately closed them again. We were at the opening of the crevice, and the light was too bright.

"Oh, hey, let's see if it works," Gavin said.

I felt warmth, and then my headache cleared. I opened my eyes to see the group sitting around a small fire. Standing at attention behind them were my three human skeletons, and a small pile of loot and bags of coins.

"That worked. What happened?" I asked.

"You drew down your mana too low," Seery said, "and then you had too many potions too close together."

Potion sickness. I'd heard of it, but never had it. Four potions in an hour though? I winced. That was a lot of coin worth of potions.

"I didn't damage my mana channels, did I?" I asked Gavin.

"No man, you're all good. Just needed to wait it out until the mana was flowing full again. You got good regeneration, but nobody, and I mean nobody, purposefully draws down their mana to zero like you almost did.

It's like losing all your health. It could kill you. You left a few percent in the tank, so... you're all good."

"Wait, the baby—" Fel held me down as I tried to get up quickly. Her higher strength let her do that easily, and I was out of position and fucks to care to fight her on it. I hadn't realized she'd been cradling one arm to her stomach though. She held her hand out. Inside of it was a dragon, that could have curled up and fit in a teacup. It was even smaller than the kobold baby had been.

"It's not a baby anymore. Also it, um... imprinted on you."

"What?" I asked her. "What's that mean?"

"When it was awake, it literally would try to bite and scratch and fight to get to you. Myra tried keeping it away, but she had to get her hand healed when it went insane. We thought at first it was going to attack you but...

um... it just wanted to protect you."

I took the baby dragon in my hands. She was a dark, dark green, almost black, unless you were in the direct sunlight. She had a ridge of spines that stood up from her back. Her tail was mostly that of a lizard, but as long as her body, and very thin. The bones of her skull looked delicate. Her head was maybe the size of my thumb. She was very warm, and suddenly I felt something almost thrum in my chest as I held her up to my face.

That thrum happened again when the dragon breathed in its sleep. We were connected. I could feel it. I looked up at Myra. "I'm sorry," I told her.

"For what? I just wanted it saved. I wasn't trying to bring a baby kobold out into the world, I just can't..."

"We get it, and you're not wrong," Gavin told her.

She was red in the face, and he looked slightly down. I remembered their argument from earlier.

"How long was I out?" I asked them.

"About an hour. When the angry lizard there ran out of steam, it zonked.

Fel insisted on carrying you up, but I didn't think a dude like you would appreciate that, so I had your skelly dudes carry you and our stuff up, while Fel carried the 'zard. Oh, and Fido loves to play fetch."

"Ok, I'm going to try to stand up. Not sure why I feel like my stamina bottomed out too, but if I crash—" "I will catch you," Fel told me.

I got to my feet shakily as everyone else who had been sitting stood.

Fido looked at me, its head tilted.

"Would you mind if I call on you in the future?"

The bone dog shook its head.

"Good boy. Until next time," I said, motioning to his head and drawing my hand down to the ground, pulling the vestiges of my mana out of his body. When the skeleton fell apart, I put my right hand over him, stored him in my bag of holding, and turned to the loot. "Anybody want the weapons?"

"We're saving trash loot?" Seery asked.

"I'll take it to the orphanage if nobody wants it."

"Do that," Gavin told me. "We already poked through everything and sorted coin purses out."

"Oh, ok." I put my right hand over the armor and weapons and stored that. "Everybody got their coin already?" I asked as the small bag of coins was left at the skeleton's feet.

"You got it, bone daddy," Myra said with a snicker.

I almost crossed my eyes at that one, then stored those as well.

"I know I said we could do a bunch of runs today, but I'm not sure I can," I told them, feeling awful.

"You know, I'd like time to just... go through notifications and decompress from this. It wasn't scary like I thought it would be, but it was...

exhilarating," Felicity told me with a grin.

"Same, man. And maybe stop by my favorite shop on the way back and see if they got those primo mushrooms back in stock."

Myra smacked his stomach. "We have school tomorrow. You can't be tripping in classes!"

"Might make history a little more bearable though," he said with a grin.

"You're just trying to start that fight back up, Gavin. For once, just...

gahhh." Myra stomped out of the crevice and into the daylight.

Seery and Gavin looked over at Fel and me with a touch of embarrassment, and followed after her.

"Catch you later," Gavin called over his shoulder.

"One last thing," I said, turning to the three skeletons. "You three have wrought vengeance upon those who did you a grave injustice. Go now, and may your rest be eternal." I made the same motion as before, pulling the mana traces out.

"That's creepy," Fel said, shivering as the bones collapsed in piles.

"Eh, it's all theatrical," I told her, then started walking.

"Wait, what?" she called.

The dragon squirmed as I stepped out into the sunlight. She really was a deep, dark green color.

"I don't have to do the creepy hand motions or words," I told her.

"You're such a dick head, you know that, right?!" Fel asked as she ran up next to me, bumping my hip with hers.

"Yup," I told her.

ONCE SAFELY AT OUR DORMS, I did a quick wash up and got in line for a late lunch at the cafeteria. I stocked up on bread and dried sausage more than anything else, and took the food back to my room. I was glad there wasn't a repeat of the incident, and that I hadn't run into Zeke. Not with what I had sleeping in my pocket.

I got back in my room and locked the door behind me. I could hear Fel's snores from her room, and I had to smile. Whenever that girl sat down and things were quiet and calm, she'd zonk. I don't know why, but every single time it happened like that. I got the cask out of my storage and put it on the small table across from me, and filled a tankard.

I cut up some of the dried sausage and set it aside, then ate. Bread, cheese, and sausage, washed down with ale. It wasn't that I was normally a day drinker, but I needed some normal stuff to happen before I went through all of my notifications. I felt my pocket squirm, and it wasn't long until the little dragon poked its head out of my left breast pocket.

"There you are. Do you want to come out? Are you hungry?" I asked her.

She crawled out of my pocket and stepped onto my hand when I held it up to her. I placed her on the table near my plate.

She took a couple of steps towards the large hunk of dried sausage, so I rotated my tray so there was a smaller piece I'd already cut up in front of her. She looked at me and then back at the food.

"If you don't like that, I put some fresh meat in my bag of holding," I told her.

She reached forward and pulled the slice of sausage off the tray and started to rip into it. With a smile on my face, I opened my notifications back up.

....XP earned. Dungeon Complete.

You have reached Level 4!

You have reached Level 5!

+4 Unassigned Attribute Point(s) +4 Unassigned Skill Points +1 Class Skill Point – See a Class Trainer You finished the ritual of ascension for the purest hearted kobolds to ever have inhabited a dungeon. You now have a life bonded companion.

Due to you finishing the ritual and the life bond, your companion has a death affinity and you both can share your mana pool like a soul bonded couple can.

Due to circumstances and events, your use of mana control has gone up +2 I pulled up my status sheet.

Morgan Lovecraft Level 5 - Necromancer Strength - 10 Dexterity - 8 Constitution - 10 Intelligence - 12 Wisdom - 14 Charisma – 13 Skills:

Unarmed Combat – 2 Identify – 2 Mana Control – 4 Herbology – 4 Harvesting – 4 Potion Making – 7 4 Unassigned Stat Point(s) 4 Unassigned Skill Point(s) 1 Unassigned Class Skill Point(s) Equipment Without Stats:

Bag of Holding (Medium) Spells:

Level 1 Spells -Cause Wounds - Touch - Causes necrotic damage Death Bolt - Ranged - Orb of necrotic damage Mark of Death - Ranged - Marks a Target and prevents stamina and health regeneration for a short period of time.

Level 2 Spells -None Learned Level 3 Spells -Animate Undead - Animate a body to do your bidding for up to 24 hours mana dependent.

Undead Summoning - Summon an undead spirit. Most common are Specters, Ghostly Skeletons, etc.

Life Steal - Damage caused with this spell active is returned to the caster as healing energy.

Life Siphon - Same as Life Steal but can be used on group members.

Only half as effective.

Death Speak - Perform the ritual and the spirit will speak with you for up to two minutes.

Level 4 & 5 Spells – None Learned I put all four stat points into intelligence, knowing it'd expand my mana pool. I had a feeling I would need that until my companion grew. What if she started using my mana? I had to be careful, for both of us. I'd worry about my physical stats later. I also had to figure out whether or not I should keep her a secret.

"Hey girl, do you have a name?" I asked the baby dragon as she pulled another piece of sausage off the tray.

She stopped and looked at me, her head tilted. "How about I call you Emmy, because your scales are a beautiful emerald color."

The dragon walked up to my hand and head butted my finger, then pushed her head under it and... pet herself until I got the hint and ran my finger from her head down to her tail. She wiggled when I repeated it, then went back to her sausage. I used identify on her.

Emmy – Emerald Dragon (infant) Life Bonded Companion of Morgan Lovecraft Level 1 I got a piece of raw meat out of my bag of holding and cut off a corner of it, and put that on the tray. Emmy walked that way, leaving the dried sausage piece half eaten on the table, and started tearing into the raw meat.

She used her front claws to hold the piece in place as she made adorable growly sounds. I chuckled, and even though she was right in front of me, I finished off the portion of food I cut up, leaving a portion behind for Fel.

I had spells to learn, and a million things to do with the last half of my day, but I wanted to lay down. I waited until I could see Emmy slowing down on the big square of meat. I had a small bowl in my storage, and filled that up with water, putting it on the table near her. She sniffed it, then waddled over to it and started drinking. It was funny, she'd seemed so skinny before, but now her sides were bulging.

She turned to look at me and just let her feet go out from under her.

"That took it all out of you and now it's nap time?" I asked her.

She just stared at me and made a chirping sound. I picked her up and headed to the couch. I laid down and kicked my feet up and put her on my chest. She circled my chest three times and then laid back down, curling up so her head was facing mine. I don't know who started snoring first, but I could feel her warmth on my chest and a thrumming, almost inaudible purring. Then I let myself just fall asleep.

I WAS CONSIDERING dinner options when there was a knock at my door. I got up from the couch and walked past the big bedroom. Fel must already be awake and off somewhere, because I didn't see her. The bathroom door was open so... did she lock herself out?

"Coming," I said.

"No rush, Mister Lovecraft," a familiar voice said.

I grinned, then unlocked and opened the door. "Come in," I said.

"Eep!"

"Your pocket just 'eeped 'at me," Samantha said halfway into giving me a hug.

"Oh yeah, sorry." I gave her a one armed hug, and then a kiss. "Come on in, and I'll introduce you."

"Ok..."

She closed the door and walked over to the couch, and I rubbed my pocket with the tip of my finger. Emmy made another chirping noise, and crawled out. I picked her up and put her on my other palm where she stretched and yawned.

"What the...?" Samantha said leaning closer.

I could feel it when she used identify.

"It's been hundreds and hundreds of years since anyone's heard of a dragon sighting, and now you have an infant? A new hatchling? How?"

I explained everything and she had this surprised look on her face the entire time. Since it was an instanced dungeon, I told her what level and what the name of the instance was, so she could see if it could be repeated.

"But she's not a dungeon monster," Samantha said.

"Nope. I got a little bit more information than the system is generally known for. Since I completed the ritual, burning up my mana and stamina, she became a part of me, I guess?"

"Like a soul bond?" Samantha asked.

"It said it was similar to that, yes. We share mana pools, or can share from. I'm not quite sure how that works yet."

"What's she eat?" Samantha asked.

"Meat, but I think she prefers it raw... Emmy don't bite her."

Samantha jerked her finger back.

Emmy turned to look up at me. "She's my girlfriend," I said. "Be nice to her."

"I'm your what?" Samantha asked.

I looked at her, realizing what I'd just said out loud. "My good friend?

My teacher I admire a lot?"

"We'll work on that. What are you doing for dinner?"

"I was debating that. I honestly don't want to eat in the great hall. First week in and I've already almost gotten into a couple of fights and duels. I also think I should probably apologize to Zeke."

"What happened there?" Samantha asked.

"He broke up a fight another guy was starting. He was being kind of shitty to me, so I flipped him off. In retrospect, he was probably making sure he seemed fair to everyone. I didn't start it or fight back either so... I was pissed I got yelled at too."

"Ahhh, gotcha. Good thing you didn't fight back. Unsanctioned fights and duels are reprimanded harshly."

"What if it happens outside of academy grounds?" I asked her.

"The academy won't care then."

"Ok, so I'm pretty safe here, but disliked. It's a free for all outside the academy, but nobody really knows me..."

"Who says you're disliked by everyone?" she asked, scooting next to me.

I kissed her again until Emmy started using her nails to crawl up my shirt. As we broke the kiss, Emmy crawled up my shoulder and stared at Samantha.

"Do you want a kiss too, little one?" Samantha asked.

I could barely see Emmy out of the corner of my eye even with my head turned, but she turned her head to the side, and Samantha leaned over slowly and put a kiss on top of the dragon's head. She sat down, and started thrumming and wiggling.

"She... likes that," I told her.

I could hear the thrumming in my chest, even though she was on my shoulder. I took Samantha's hand and put it over my heart as she started petting Emmy with a finger. Her eyes got wide. "I don't know what this means," she said.

"I mean, she makes this humming, thrumming vibration and sound when she's happy, but I can feel it over my heart, whether or not she's close to it. I also get a sense of her emotions. I... that wasn't what... this is new."

"And she probably felt your emotions, which is why she's not being a little snot to me anymore," Samantha said. "So really, I'm just your teacher that you really, really admire?"

"Who's also crazy sexy and hot enough to light the world on fire?"

"We'll still work on that. Let's go get some food," Samantha said as she stood.

I followed her out and left Emmy on my shoulder.