(Luca)

Lord Zack starts laughing at Braden's outburst, then sits up and gives him an amused look, which looks really weird because he's covered in gore.

"I was wondering how long that would take," he grins, then looks at Sir Nik. "Nik, I'm able to take on my Second Ascension Trial now. I'm honestly not sure what Big S has planned for it, but I'd prefer to take it on now than later, especially since I need to be as powerful as possible for when I act as a living distraction to the Dragon."

"What Dragon?" Gavin asks.

"The one that will come to destroy the City Barrier for Maelnor," Nik explains. "Zack's job, during the battle, is to keep it from doing so. A Dragon is more powerful than even the Ultimate Boss Monsters. We doubt even he could kill one."

Didn't we already go over this?

"I doubt that, too," Lord Zack looks at me. "So don't you open your mouth and say I'll probably one-shot it."

You probably will.

"You know," Lord Zack gives Nik an amused look. "Remember when Big S fanboy'd over me the same way Luca does and said I'd probably kill the Demon Kobold King by myself?"

Nik stares at Lord Zack for several moments, then starts laughing, and Lord Zack joins him. See? Even Big S knows what's up! He probably even agrees that Lord Zack will one-shot the Dragon and wipe out all of the King Monsters that show up to the battle by himself.

"Luca," Lord Zack snorts and rolls his eyes as he looks at me. "I'm not even participating in the battle, outside of the Dragon. So no, I won't be doing that."

He looks at Nik.

"Big S is asking if I'll do the Trial now, too," Lord Zack says. "Probably because of all the excess energy he has as a result of the, well, you know."

What does that mean?

"Alright," Nik says. "We'll handle your team. Do you know how long until you return?"

"Big S says it'll be around a day, at most," Lord Zack nods. "But a minimum of eight hours."

"Will do," Nik says. "We'll likely take your team home rather than taking them to do what you said you were planning."

"Alright," Lord Zack stands and stretches, then looks at all of us. "Nik doesn't want to take you deeper into the mines, as my Bloodpact will be rendered ineffective while I'm in the Second Ascension Trial, which means you will all be taking full damage. He and his team have promised to keep an eye on you, so if you wish hunt money slimes, feel free to, but do not go into the woods again. Also, they're willing to train each of you a little if you wish. Brandon's also agreed to help a little, Braden."

They knew Lord Zack had woken up. He was totally talking to them telepathically before he got ready for Ascension.

"Yes, Luca," Lord Zack rolls his eyes. "I was talking to them telepathically while Nik was talking to all of you, so that we could get that sorted out."

He collects his swords and knives and spear, sending them all into his Inventory.

"Okay!" He grins. "See ya later!"

He vanishes.

"Let's go," Nik says. "We can talk more on the way."

Sir Travis carries me on his back, because I'm still bad with stamina. Lord Normar told me that he was the same way, back when he was my age, and that he thinks it's something to do with our father's children who have a greater holy aspect than my twin brother did.

He says it took him years to have a greater stamina, and I'm not looking forward to that.

Once we're out of the mines, we're taken to the Dark Temple.

WARP TIME!

And no smack from Lord Zack for exclaiming that! Woo-hoo!

Oops, I did that out loud, and now everyone's giving me funny looks. Hehe. My bad!

Sir Nik and his team takes us to our house, where Gold is currently taking a bath. Why is Gold taking a bath here instead of at the Dark Temple? Max doesn't care, he just strips and starts washing up so that he can join his 'rival'.

Braden, Gavin, and I decide to join as well, and Lord Normar tells Nik he'll keep an eye on us, so the older-looking warriors leave while Normar scrubs my back. I scrub his back for him, then we climb into the bath.

"I thought you didn't like being around people?" Gavin asks Lord Normar after a few minutes of us all just soaking in the bath, Gold and Max playing with the wooden dog toy. Erm. Toys. There are now two of them. Strange. I thought we only had one? "Everyone always says you hide yourself and get embarrassed easily and stuff."

"Yeah," Lord Normar nods. "I'm like Luca. Only he doesn't have an issue when it's his team."

Or anyone around my age who Lord Zack trusts, because that means I can trust them, too.

"But you've been visible since the mines," Gavin says. "And are even bathing with us. Your face is really red, too, and not just from the heat. I was just wondering-"

"I decided to try to overcome my issues," Lord Normar says. "And supervising – yes, Max, you can invite Aurum over-"

"Yay!"

"-and supervising all of you while in the bath will help me," he nods. "Big Flame told me to. He said 'you're mentally and physically the same age as Luca, so go do it, it will help you', so I'm doing that. It's really uncomfortable. Zack gave me a pep talk before he left, though. He did that while he was talking with all of you."

Lord Zack is really awesome. He can talk with his mouth while having a completely different conversation with his mind. Oooh! That's why he and Nik were discussing stuff that they revealed they had already discussed! To give them more time to talk about something with their minds!

"Oh," Gavin says. "Okay. Did you really take on Dark Knight after Ascending?"

"Yes," Lord Normar answers.

"How come?" Gavin asks. "Aren't you holy? Like, really, really holy? Dark Knight seems like a major contrast to that."

"A Holy Class and a Cursed Class," Lord Normar says. "Normally cannot mix. This isn't just because they're contradictions, but because of how absolutely powerful the two become when combined. Nik, Travis, and Zack were able to take down a King Monster as a team. Three of the most powerful holies and curseds in all of the Boundary. Zack, with both, was able to solo one."

That has more to do with Lord Zack being awesome than his Classes.

"While a Holy Class," he continues. "Is normally support, with some strength in the Classes such as for Paladin, Classes like Dark Knights, Blood Priests, and such are offensive Classes. Combine those two aspects with all of the Stat Points added in, and you gain a being who is far more powerful than ordinary. A being who can buff themselves with absurd stats, heal immense amounts of Health to allow them to continue fighting, and more. This is the same reason Zack took on Priest and Paladin, once he had Ascended and was able to. It wasn't to be contradictory, but because of the absolute power it would grant him.

"By becoming a Dark Knight," he explains. "I gain the ability to take more damage while simultaneously becoming able to utilize any damage I do take as a weapon. Some of the Skills will probably be beyond me, such as Dark Strike and Strike of Darkness, but others will be quite useful. Transfer Health and Transfer Mana are both locked to Cursed Classes. When I'm able to take on Demon, I will be able to forge Bloodpacts, which will only further help with my healing and buffing."

That makes sense. I bet he had a long talk with Big Flame before becoming one of his warriors.

Aurum shows up, and Max and Gold both hop out to scrub his back, Max taking over the scrubbing of the tail. I wanted to scrub a tail. Lord Normar stops talking, so I guess he's exhausted himself with that.

We finish up our soaking after awhile, and start drying ourselves and the tails. As Max dresses, he's standing close to me, his tail wagging back and forth. I pretend to accidentally touch it while putting my towel in the bucket for the dirty towels.

"Grar!" Gold makes a funny sound, then grabs my hand and Max's tail, making me actually touch it.

"Yay!" Max exclaims. "Oh, that be Gold. Hey! Luca be doing it now! Yay!"

Huh?

Lord Normar snorts.

"Luca," he says. "Max likes having his tail touched by his friends."

Really?

"Yeah!" Max nods. "Luca always allowed to touch tail!"

I thought only Lord Zack could touch it? You always keep moving it and stuff.

"Luca," Braden says. "Your expression right now is pretty amusing. Max has been hoping you'd just start stroking his tail for… well, forever. You can scratch behind his ears, too. I do it all the time."

Like this?

"Hehehe," Max giggles as I scratch behind his ears. "Luca being awesome!"

"Luca is being awesome," Lord Normar says.

"Yes, he is being!" Max nods. "Just like Boss! Boss be the most awesome!"

Lord Normar and I chuckle at Max's energy, then we finish dressing.

(Gavin)

Luca and Normar are going over head-bashing techniques using Gold and Max as test dummies. They're using their heels and staffs for it, and it's… amusing. Braden and I are playing chess while we watch, while Aurum sits nearby, calmly shaking his head every time Luca or Normar ask if he wants to help them.

"Aurum doesn't have Access," I call out after probably the tenth time. "A head-bash from you two would probably do some serious damage to him."

I think we all jump, Aurum included, at what happens next. Because suddenly, I can see a Status on him.

Aurum Level 0 Health: 20 Mana: 10

It looks like Lord Crystal of the System was looking and decided to connect Aurum to the System. But didn't Zack say that it took him a lot of energy and power to connect someone to the System? That he couldn't do it often because of that?

"Now you have no excuse!" Normar rushes over to Aurum.

"He hasn't had any Endurance training!" I call out.

"This will work as it!" Normar exclaims, then proceeds to use Aurum in addition to the other two beastborn as training targets.

It only takes me a moment to realize that they aren't actually hitting him that hard, despite taking out large chunks of Health on Gold and Max. Or at least, Normar was, Luca isn't quite strong enough for that. I suppose Normar is adjusting his strength, he could probably crush their heads in an instant.

So could Zack. To think that he is the Ascended here in the Boundary. Or one of them, as Normar apparently Ascended as well, and that he's about to become even more powerful. He really got lucky, too – the Crystals were talking with us on our way back, and told us that the fight against the horde earlier was the first time they had actually nudged Zack or attacks aimed at him during a fight. They couldn't do much, but they were able to save his life.

According to Lord Dark of Fire-

OW!

I told you to call me 'Big Flame'!

Sorry!

You better be!

According to Big Flame, the only other time they ever interfered directly for Zack was when Big Flame manifested a protective layer around Zack to save our leader from his own spell when facing the horde that chased him and Bryce last year.

And I was not aware that Big Flame was listening to me.

He doesn't respond, so I guess either he stopped or is intentionally ignoring me after I called him that. Sorry.

We spend the rest of the day just relaxing, and when it's time for bed, we notice Luca looking somewhat nervous. I am about to offer to sleep with him in place of Zack tonight when Max tackles Luca onto the bed. He's wearing his night pants, so I guess he's volunteering by force.

"Max be here!" Max starts tucking the two of them in. "No worries, Luca! Me will chase away all the bad dreams! If they no run away, they then be getting scared of Boss and go 'nooo! Run away!' and then run away."

That isn't exactly how it works, Max, but I can definitely see bad dreams running away because of Zack's presence. Actually, now that I think about it, Luca never does have bad dreams while Zack is actually in the bed, only when Zack isn't, and Zack does have psychic powers.

Has he been actually interfering with Luca's dreams to prevent the bad ones from showing up and bothering him?