I wasn't expecting much of a difference, but this thing had gained four levels since I'd seen it last – and it wasn't that long ago. My paranoia intensified.

It hadn't joined my pit like the lizard, so why on earth was it following me?

Infact, it didn't seem to belong to any group at all! And this was the most suspicious thing of all.

I'd seen a creature similar to it before, but now I wasn't so sure. Those felines were moving in packs, so why wasn't this one with them?

Its fur was un-matted and fluffy, like something that was cleaned regularly. I knew cats were naturally clean creatures, but my alarm bells were ringing. There was no way something this small didn't have a pack or something else protecting it, and this was probably why it was so careless.

Either way, I didn't want to get involved.

The dark fae refused to leave it. She was sitting casually on its fur with her arms crossed and glaring at me.

[It's so soft. Why aren't you taking it?]

And get accused of kidnapping?

Its pack was probably nearby and I didn't want to get attacked.

Since my snakes were ready, I instructed them to climb on my back and I prepared to leave.

When the dark fae saw me flying away she reluctantly let go of the creature and joined me.

The feline could only watch as I rose into the air, it tried chasing us down, but it quickly lost sight of my figure in the mist.

[You're really bad.] The dark fae said in a huff. [It just wanted to play.]

[Have you ever known a feline to be friendly?] I questioned her.

The dark fae fell silent in thought. [Well, I've never known stinging monsters to not sting. And yet, they didn't sting you and you still haven't told me why.]

[That's different.]

I didn't think the carefree fairy would understand even if I explained so I simply focused on flying.

I took one last look below at the feline's tiny figure and it had already vanished. Until I was confident it was safe, I didn't think it was worth bringing it near my nestlings.

I accessed the atlas once more and saw Typhon's team was just about to return. The nestlings were in for a shock when they saw him, so I increased my speed to get there faster.

I wanted to be there to see their reactions!

I spotted Typhon's team just as they were about to reach the cave and swooped down over his head to fly past him to reach the cave first.

The nestlings on my back didn't recognize him and hissed threateningly, taking him to be a rival snake.

But soon enough Artemis's team recognized the other smaller snakes with him, and figured out who he might be. Then they began to marvel at his new form and the two teams started chattering away.

I left them to catch up and proceeded to enter the cave.

However, the scenery inside left me confused.

A brightly coloured bird flew past in a wash of scattered feathers, being chased around the cave by the water creature and Galahad, who didn't even notice me enter.

What was a bird doing in here?

But soon, I noticed another oddity.

There was a cluster of unknown eggs right by the entrance, and for some odd reason, they were snakes fighting others to keep them from being eaten.

What the heck happened while I was gone?

Have we been attacked by some monsters?

It was complete chaos, but I noticed other snakes lounging on every soft surface – even on my own perch, seemingly unconcerned with everything else around them.

None of the nestlings had noticed my arrival or Typhon's because they were all too involved in their own activities.

Someone seemed to have hunted because the feeding room was full of fresh corpses. There were snakes rushing around everywhere to look at all of the new rooms while some were eating, and even more were fighting in the improved pit.

Ophelia, who was supposed to order the group, seemed to have taken a day off because she was in the pit too. I couldn't understand anything they were saying so I was confused.

What the heck was all this crap?

Why did it seem like they were throwing a party?

I was glad the nestlings were settling in and claiming new spots for themselves, but I never said to go wild!

Typhon also looked around at the chaos in a very dissatisfied manner. He immediately hissed out an order that made every single nestling freeze on the spot, dropping everything they were doing.

The cave fell silent in an instant.

The bird squawked loudly in Galahad's grip and the water creature swiftly became scarce. Soon the cave regained all order, with the nestlings filing into orderly rows.

Typhon glared at each of them and they all trembled under his gaze, his bigger and more scary form only adding more to his already intimidating appearance.

Two snakes broke away from their position and stopped before me with their heads bowed. I recognised one as Galahad, and to my surprise Morgana was the second offender.

The dark fae buzzed around the snakes, seemingly taking joy in their misery as she stared at each of them before moving on to the next one in the line.

None of the snakes dared to lift their heads to look at her, even when she came close to their faces. Eventually she got bored and turned back to settle down on my head again.

Typhon soon got an explanation out of them and conveyed it to me.

Firstly, the bird was apparently a gift for me from Galahad and his team.

I stared at Galahad who looked away with a mischievous face, and then at the bird in question. It was brightly coloured with short fluffy feathers and a rounded belly. It squawked loudly as it stared at me, before settling down on one of the furs.

It looked more like a harmless chick than a predator. Did he mean for me to eat it?

[What am I supposed to do with a useless bird?] I grumbled and the dark fae replied eagerly.

[Let's keep it, it is so soft!] She said as she flew around it, examining the bird.

Of course she would say that.

As for the eggs, they belonged to Morgana and her team, and she had brought some back for me to sample. Unfortunately, some of the other nestlings wanted to eat them too so she got into a scuffle to keep them for me.

Honestly, I wasn't really bothered by any of this. I was too exhausted to deal with it, and all I wanted was to take a long nap.

And so, I instructed the team captains to summarize their adventure and recap everything back to me. It was the main reason I sent them out after all.

I was interested in the things they had encountered in their adventures and I applauded Morgana for bringing back a specimen for me to see directly.

As for the bird...It was useless, so I gave it back to Galahad to get rid of, not at all interested. Only after hearing his report would I know if it was safe to keep or not.

When Typhon relayed him my thoughts, Galahad immediately withered like a limp leaf, his sadness palpable. I felt a little bad, rejecting his 'gift' like that, so I decided to appraise the bird to see if it would be harmful to keep.

However, when I used [Appraisal], an alert flashed across my system window.

[You are currently in a penalty. All system skills and their derivatives will be inactive for the penalty duration. [Time Limit: 168 Hours]]

What the hell?

168 hours? Wasn't that a whole week? I checked my stats immediately.

--------------

Name: Aurelia [LV19 Small Cerastes]

Specie: Cerastes Vipera

HP: 440/440 Defence: 454>230

MP: 397/397 Intellect: 273

SP: 470/470 Magic: 362

Attack: 516 Agility: 605>385

Skills:

[Rugged Scales:LV10] [Rapid Strike:LV8]

[Venom Rain: LV4] [Grip:LV9] [Leap:LV8]

[Heat Sense: LV10] [Heat Sphere: LV5]

[Stealth: LV10] [Poison Synthesis: LV5]

[Shadow Shroud: LV4] [Scent: LV8]

[Buoyancy: LV5] [Steel Skin: LV10]

[Heat Seeker: LV4] [Silence: LV10]

[Poison Fang: LV10] [Bite: LV10]

[Detox: LV4] [Overeating: LV1]

[Deadly Poison Attack: LV4]

----------------------------

Titles:

[Apostle] [Coldblooded]

[Commander] [Hero] [Trickster]

Unique Skills:

[Devour] |Not Available|

[Area of Authority]

Magic Skills:

[Poison Magic: LV4] [Shadow Magic: LV4]

[Poison Manipulation: LV4] [Shadow Manipulation: LV4]

----------------------------

Resistances:

[Paralysis Resistance: LV6]

[Impact Resistance: LV9]

[Cutting Resistance: LV5]

[Poison Resistance: LV7]

[Pain Resistance: LV9]

[Heat Resistance: LV2]

[Mental Warfare: LV5]

[Dark Resistance:LV4]

[Wind Resistance: LV6]

[Shock Resistance: LV9]

[Faint Resistance: LV6]

[Pain Mitigation: LV4]

[Rot Resistance: LV2]

----------------------------

Experience Points: [2882]

--------------

No No No! It was so wrong!

My defence was down, so was my agility. And where were my beautiful skills?

My skill list had become so short. How cruel!

Where were my attributes? My [Devour]? My [Coercion]?

Even [Mind Chain] was gone!

And my newly gotten [Flight]?

Poofed - like it never existed.

"Sensei! What have you done?" I screamed at him in fury.

How could he do this to me!