-Night. Nefiru POV-

After hearing the news, I felt inclredible excited and the fuzzy emotions were leaked by my tail which raised dust in the alleyway temporary being used as a Lair.

I was tired of looking like a stone statue of a dragon to the point of thinking to dye my scales, so a paint job would be awesome! I affirmed.

Erm... how does the color change happen though? Maybe it's the colors of these elementals that permeate the body, change something upon discovery, or an imprint on the body from a system that links you to that particular element and seems to be permanent or otherwise, this girl would have changed hers a long time ago. I stop my excitement and stare at the white hair on Shaila then realizing my curiosity she collects her long hair by the root and brings it to the front.

I'm inclined to believe it's a permanent automatic imprint since only the hair on her body and eyes that are glossy white, but not the nails or the skin...wait, does this mean her pubic region will have white hair too? I think it will when the affinity is as high as hers since the eyelashes are also white, but in the case of beasts should be their fur, claws, horns, and eyes, except the teeth. I concluded.

"Love the white hair, and I think you should keep it longer. However, in my case becoming a white dragon would make me too conspicuous, and maybe black or dark blue would be nice to hunt at night." I inform her while looking at the oily hair going around her neck and spread over the black dress covering her chest.

"Hehe. Thank you, I'll try to maintain it a little longer." She agreed after accepting the compliment.

...Perhaps they couldn't predict her high talent in Light affinity would bring that much trouble or would have dyed her hair before going to school. Though I doubt there are contact lenses here to hide her eye color, so she would be found out anyway, and it seems that when hair color signifies your affinity, dyeing might be a serious business. I suddenly realized that increasing her Rank would also put more worth on her noble blood and a typical plot to obtain her might appear eventually from other nobles.

Well, I'll just have to eat whoever tries to take her from me. I licked my lips feeling overprotective.

I probably won't find another loyal being willing to go inside my mouth after just meeting each other and even letting me use her body for magic practice... This is the literal meaning of belonging body and soul since there is no rejection when going inside her body with my magic, though it does give me a headache when the Spirit becomes bare... I recall the magic training in her body that she talked about to avoid clashes when probing other beasts that concentrate their magic inside their cores.

However, with higher spirit density, magic squeezes through smaller gaps, and it's like using a smaller net to hold more mana, but what if instead of just forcing it through holes, I make strings then twist it before slipping it inside the passages? I think of ways to improve magic practices.

"What about the affinities of your parents? Big Red is medium Fire talent while Green is medium Wind and I think you would still make it to Divine even with a medium talent...unless you get more than one affinity then it will get difficult." The little thing interviewed.

They even know the talent of my parents? Probably because father's color is not crimson or mother's is not bright green, but I would like to get some high talent to show off to them, especially my siblings who won't awaken theirs for years to come. I think back to my young self memories of them.

Sighs, are there no other dragons around here? I haven't seen another dragon fly through the skies since birth, and I thought it was because of the territory of Father, but there are no signs of them or even people here mentioning more dragons either. It would be nice to find a dragon as loyal as this girl, and it doesn't have to be a dragoness, but it seems I will have to travel far searching once I'm done eating every mighty predator back in that forest. Done lamenting the lack of dragons in the area, I pay attention to what she's saying and focus on increasing my Rank to become a mighty dragon in case there are fights over a mate since my body urges to be ready for a reason.

"Yes, you mentioned that light and water affinity are needed for a healer, but there is a price to having two affinities huh? Also, isn't Divine stage just seven ranks away for you?" I narrowed my eye interrogating.

"Hehe...reaching Divine is no easy task." She giggles running the fingers from her right hand around my eye. "Only a portion of beings cross the first obstacle into Rank 1, and many get stuck on the second wall of the world at Rank 7, then Divine is a great wall that most are unable to overcome, but having more than one affinity makes it even harder when people with various affinities usually have low to medium talents. However, by combining their affinities, a new magic is created, and even if they don't make it to Divine rank, at least they make a living, but it is rare for a creature with two high talents for the affinities." The girl explained while showing certain numbers with her fingers.

"You could say many walls filter out people, but this is also an opportunity to make your way up slowly and having a single gigantic obstacle would be a lot harder, wouldn't it? Why is Divine so important when they are not demigods?" I voice out my doubts.

"True, if there was only the divine rank wall, then most short-lived races like humans would die before getting close to overcoming it, and I could accompany you for around two hundred more years with the lifespan of my current rank since it increases on each one. However, Divines don't even need a body for their soul, and they can manipulate life blocks to create the body they want which means when you become a Divine, you could even make a body like mine and we can be twin sisters!" She explained then teased while imagining me as a woman before giggling.

Life blocks probably mean cells, and I could make her a dragon body, but there would be a lot of complications for that to work like how to transplant a soul to another compatible body, though the right vessel could be made using her DNA as a base, how to keep the cells alive while building a huge dragon? Unless it's a small dragon, then help her grow up, and I would be like a parent! I fantasize what would it be like to be a dragon parent myself.

However, even if DNA can be manipulated like LEGOS, that sounds outrageous since we are talking about billions of pieces forming codes and could take many years just to find what makes her chest so tiny. I stare at her little chest barely noticeable over her black dress and her hair covering half of it.

It would bother me comparing this small chest to Liana's if I were in her position, and it doesn't matter to me since I'm not ditching my dragon body to become human again, but won't she get lonely without another person or experiencing love like a normal girl? It doesn't look like I can change back and forth bodies like on fiction since it has to be made cell by cell and the body probably will die without a soul, or otherwise, divines would be known for having a closet filled with bodies... I concluded from the information thus far.

"Shaila, if I wanted to be human I would have been born into one, and you could say it's my destiny to be a dragon." I lifted my gaze and stated before she notices my staring. "I also plan on seeking other dragons once I'm not a whelp, but won't you feel lonely?" I questioned her but she immediately shook her head.

"...Not all beasts leave their original body behind when they become Divines, but the ones that do, have their reasons and keep their animal features as reminders like tail, ears or horns." She revealed while touching my horn and pulling my ear. "I already figured you would want to be a full dragon and if it were possible, I would want to become a wolf too, but it will be alright since I'm not comfortable with people anyway." She shrugs then leans back on the wall.

I ponder what reasons could those Divines have for ditching their beast body since animals are usually proud of what they are.

Probably love for a humanoid, resource trade with people, smaller body that need less food or to wield armors and weapons made from humans or dwarfs, but I don't know how they compare to claws and fangs yet. In any case, humanoid divines explain the demihuman cat girl I tried to eat before...still want to eat her, and those demi humans are all descendants from a beast divine huh? I wonder what became of the kitty after our meeting.

"Demi-humans? Are there also Dwarf people that invent stuff?" I inquire for confirmation on the existence of the typical crafters.

"Well, they call themselves beast people and have their own tribes with talented individuals, but slave dealers or human supremacists call them demi-humans in a belittling way, though there aren't many of those kinds of people in our kingdom." The little girl scoffed waving her right hand around. "There are many races scattered around and the ones you call dwarf are known as Tinkers, though they sell their inventions for the rights to mine around like the volcano which poisoned our river." She sighs crossing her arms.

I haven't seen anything resembling a dwarf in this town, though there won't a need for their knowledge about armors or weapons since I don't plan on using them with a dragon body. I dismiss the idea of gearing up like a typical adventurer would in stories.

What I should be worry about is Ranking up, then secure a food source for growing up and prepare for next mating season, but I don't know anything about a mating season for dragons... Does each one comes into heat differently, a few at a time or we males have to wait for the females to come into heat, then find them? I decided to ask the girl that apparently knows more about dragons than me since previous attempts to feel my genitals back at the pen made my instincts kick in to inform me that my body would eventually be in heat and it was not yet time to use that.

"Hey Shaila, do you know what will happen to me during a mating season?" I question her while feeling tired from holding back the weight of my head.

"You'll get very cranky... Hehe." Shaila giggles before pondering with a cute pose. "My brother told me the rumor that a Demigod Dragon is responsible for the mating season every 5 years, and the capability to change your gender. All mature Dragons go into heat at the same time, and the urges will drive you increasingly mad the longer it takes to find a partner which makes it unsafe for the defenseless." She happily revealed.

"IM NOT LAYING EGGS!" I angrily shouted through the bracelet making her wince.

"T-there are other options..." Shaila stuttered holding both hands. "We could apply for pairing with Dragoness up to Rank 6 from the Royal Sky Cavalry. The riders rent the dragons with their permission, and take care of the offsprings if you don't want." She explained a method with money.

Royal Sky Cavalry huh? That sounds like the air force of the country, and probably has many strong dragons like my parents... I affirm with excitement to meet military Dragons

"Umm... The other available choices in our kingdom are Plain dragons that are livestock, or wyverns which are a small subspecies of dragons, but the latter is not easy to find, though real dragons mixing with them..." Shaila said trailing off.

"That's demeaning..." I finish for her thinking of the previous idea.

Although my instincts should guide me through the mating season, it's better to spend the first one with tamed Dragons when I'm not sure exactly what to expect. Still, hiring their services may be expensive, but I could learn the language while we raise the children among other things like perfecting flying, ir how to take care of the scales. However, it might be too soon to predict what twists and turns life has waiting for me.

"Alright Shaila, you should get some sleep since it's almost midnight." I took my head off her lap to free her then she tries to get up but staggers and sits back down. "Legs numb?" She nodded at my question then I lowered my head in front of her. "My bad, get on..." I offer my head for her to climb on before getting up and started walking to the house.

Ah, now that I think about it, she must have her throat sore, but she didn't protest when I was asking things...sighs.... This girl is so abnormal as if I put myself here just to find her. A thought crossed my mind wondering if maybe Guardian had something to do with me being here.

We reached the exit of my enclosure and slowly looked at the horses on the right, then to the barracks at the front before turning left towards the closed wooden door with dim illumination visible through the gaps from perhaps the light of a candle inside.

Hmm... I'm not wearing a saddle even if it's for Shaila... Ugh, I felt like a horse there for a second.... I make a mental note to eat a horse alive later for making me think I'm one.

"Hey Shaila, I don't think I can take you all the way to your room..." I commented after reaching the wooden door that has a smaller door in the frame for people only and lowered my head for her to get down.

"Yeah... My room is on the third floor to the right, so I don't think Brother would want you scratching the wooden stairs since he nagged me about being costly to repair." She explains the difficult task while supporting her with my snout. "Also the last pet that pooped in my bed earned me a lecture from an angry maid." She cringed looking back at me.

"Dang, if I eat a horse alive, you'll get in trouble too?" She nodded in affirmation at my question while opening the door.

"Missing hunt?" She wondered partially inside on the door.

"Of course, I miss that exhilaration...it's ben days! To sink your teeth into a struggling prey in your claws feeling as you tear through the bone and muscle before crunching all for the sensation or the marrow inside. Anyway, I better move my room tomorrow before I make a habit of watching horses suffer while I chew on their limbs." I slurp my drool after elaborating

"Sounds scary~ Good night!" She waved from inside the house slowly closing the door with drowsy eyes.

"Oh, and I'm gonna be practicing magic tonight so don't wake me up so early okay?" I see her nod in confirmation before closing the door.

Well, time to tackle magic training in the Core until I change colors since I can't stand looking like this one more minute...actually scratch that, don't want to look pink and at the end how did Cores come to be? I wonder about the origins of the beast cores while heading back to my enclosure.