“This is amazing! I’m flying!” Rex exclaimed loudly.

Idea pointed out, the two of them were currently experimenting with the modified dragon collar.

With the help of the Rift Institute's Central Computer (RICC), Idea Seven had modified the enchantment, basically reversing the direction of the resonance. Now, so long as Rex poured mana into his own core while wearing the collar, the dead dragon’s core on the collar was forced to emit a powerful anti gravity field. This had the benefit of being less disruptive for Idea, who still struggled to keep his systems fully operational whenever Rex used magic internally, as would be normal for the anti gravity spell.

It was also much easier to use, as the tricky spell was still beyond Rex’s ability to maintain for more than a few seconds on his own. It was basically a wearable wand; a tool that aided quick casting of one particular spell.

“No way! Watch, I’m flapping my wings!” Rex spread his underdeveloped wings and moved them feebly, causing him to briefly bob upwards before acquiring a bit of rotation that made him float helplessly on his back as he continued to fall gently to the ground.

“Um, so what do you think about some growth hormones or something? Get these weak flappy things on my back to work properly?” Rex asked. Karla, watching the dragon struggling to right itself as it drifted downwards from ten feet in the air managed to resist the urge to giggle.

Idea replied sternly.

“What about jets? Give me some thrusters!” Idea was silent for a long moment, prompting Rex to say, “Well?”

“Ha ha.” Rex said angrily, recognizing that Idea was actually teasing, a rare occurrence that would have been impossible for most AI.

Rex finished drifting to the ground and with the air of offended dignity that would have made a cat that had missed a jump proud, quickly scrambled to his feet and assumed a haughty pose, head raised high. “You just don’t appreciate how awesome I am.”

Karla rushed over to give Rex a hug. “I recognize your awesomeness,” she told the prideful hatchling, still struggling not to smile. She had been receiving Idea’s communications too, so though she did not understand all the words, she knew them well enough to find it humorous how they bickered.

Rex gave Karla a return hug by resting his head on top of hers. “Thanks.” he told her.

It had been a month since they’d escaped from Rueban’s clutches, and they had crossed an inhospitable mountain range together. They’d had to work together to hunt, make furs for Karla, and had grown stronger and better coordinated as teammates. They’d also both managed to raise their levels to 10. Karla’s primary weapon continued to be a spear, so Idea had used his nanotech to attach Nightshade’s dagger to a wooden pole reinforced with metal strips to make it sturdy. Karla had even learned how to infuse her own mana into a spear strike, a move she called “Power Poke,” just to annoy Rex who’d wanted it to be named something a bit more impressive.

Rex for his part had grown a bit, becoming about 160 pounds, and now stood as high as Karla’s shoulders when he walked. He had also become stronger and more agile thanks to practice hunting and fighting. The extra levels had given him a larger mana pool and he could now cast many low level spells with relative ease. His strongest attack spell was “lightning bolt” but it required him to sit on his hind legs and concentrate for about fifteen seconds while immobile, gathering mana into a brightly glowing blue ball between his palms, which limited its usefulness in combat. But, since it was an external spell, at least it didn't cause Idea any problems when Rex used it.

Now that they had finally made it to the lowlands, they were officially within the borders of the Republic, and nearing their destination; a frontier town where Sixxy’s spying had confirmed an adventurer’s guild could be found.

Sixxy asked, having grown comfortable with talking so Karla could hear after RICC had conveyed permission to do so. Sixxy had become a bit of a marksman with her special aerial bombardment, much to the disgust of the rest of the group, but it required a bit of preparation and would only be able to hit one of the two targets.

“Ugh, no.” Karla replied, shuddering in revulsion, “Let’s talk to them, see what they are doing out here."

Rex nodded, but was inwardly nervous. How would they react to seeing a young catgirl and a dragon hatchling out at the edge of the Republic? Sixxy had shared an image of the two, and they were armed with bows and swords. Were they hunters? And perhaps more interestingly, they were also beastmen, two wolf eared men with tails, grey hair and fur.

Idea suggested, moving Rex’s arm to hold up a single claw, Karla obediently pricked herself with the claw on the side of the neck. There was probably a way to speed that up, Idea thought to itself. I should maybe make robo-fleas preloaded with an antidote that can be ordered to bite Karla at a moment’s notice.

They were currently camped in a small clearing, by a small fire. The sun was starting to set, they had camped early so they could do some tests and cook some rabbits they’d recently hunted. Likely the two wolfmen had simply followed their noses to the campfire, so they were not surprised to see Karla when they broke through the trees. Their eyes did widen when they saw Rex though.

“Dragon!” one shouted, surprised, reaching for his bow.

“Wait!” Karla said, standing in front of Rex with arms outstretched, “He’s mine, I bonded with him as as soon as he hatched. Trained him myself.”

The two wolfmen frowned at the catgirl, but relaxed a bit, keeping their hands away from their weapons.

“We heard talking. You with your family, girl?” The other wolfman asked. They were both middle aged and a bit scrawny, but they looked confident and looked like they knew the forest well. Probably hunters then, Idea decided, given that they were both carrying a pair of pelts on their back, held in place by the same wide leather harness that secured their bows and quivers.

“I’m by myself.” Karla admitted easily, “I was talking to my dragon. I sometimes pretend he can answer me by speaking his replies in a different voice.” She added, somewhat less convincingly.

The two hunters glanced at each other, “Mind if we share your fire? We got travel rations and tea. You could tell us how a little girl like you ended up here with only a hatchling for company.” The older of the two men, who looked similar enough to be brothers, asked.

Karla tensed. There was something in the way they said that that suggested they didn’t believe her story. Did they think there were more people nearby hiding? Karla shrugged and replied, “Sure.” She was confident that she and Rex could handle two hunters if they decided to get aggressive, and she had questions of her own for the two men.