[- Get out…. Out…. Get out…]

Jack slowly groaned to Elicia. He was on all fours, his back tense and his Dragon King aura on full display. He seemed ready to pounce and rip her to shreds at any time.

As for Elicia, she was also on all fours, but she was doing her best to maintain composure.

- Fiiine…

Except she barely could.

After all, behind Jack stood a huge mountain of gold, and nothing but thoughts of quite strong hatred and greed stemmed from looking at the huge giant blocking her way to it.

Dragons love gold. They love it above everything else. And even if Jack and Elicia were previously able to maintain their reason, things were different now.

There was no more intensity-reduction mechanisms and interface available, unless both of them remembered to keep their access to Shabes’ Will (and therefore Game Interface) at all times.

And this was one of those times in which they didn’t.

Elicia slowly backed, soon entering the main hall. Still, Jack followed her.

They kept that tense atmosphere all the way to the Dragon King Lair Dungeon first floor, were Jack finally managed to clam down from his impulses.

Using his own will to connect to the Will of the World, Jack released his mind from the powerful grip of the Dragon Kings’ brain. Soon Elicia followed suit, as her own instincts calmed down - thanks to Jacks’ aura retreating.

Jack and Elicia looked at each other, their own emotions and pain clear on their faces.

[- I’m sorry babe…]

- No, it’s fine, you couldn’t control yourself...

In the end, a bitter feeling arose on their chests as they looked for a way to sit peacefully.

Jack and Elicia now lived together for a few weeks at a time, and then went to sleep separately from time to time.

The truth was just that they were amongst the unfortunate ones, even if they had quite some luck.

Controlling a Dragon body (or a Dragon Kings’!) was a difficult thing - what more to say with Jacks’ utter lack of Mind Magic related skills.

Indeed, he had been doing his best to master some of those, but no matter how fast he leveled up, how could he control his own dragon greed so easily?

Elicia had the same problem, even if her own greed was easier to defect. If it wasn’t, she was sure to have attacked him on sight of that big pile of gold, regardless of how big the level disparity between a simple Dragoness and a Dragon King was!

[- Can I heal you babe?]

- Please do, I’m almost out of mana already…

Jacks’ training consisted on finding high-level areas where he could use his spells and self-control techniques.

Mind Magic, Qigong and Neigong Training, polishing his Martial Arts to try and get skills like Warriors’ Heart and so on.

Unfortunately, he kept being quite lazy, so he would slack off from time to time.

As for Elicia, she did the same thing, but while using Jacks’ dungeon for training.

As for today… it was just an unfortunate event.

[- There babe, all patched up].

- Thanks honey… now, if you allow me…

Well, as much as a certain Dragon King falling asleep on top of his Treasure being called “unfortunate” could be.

- WIFE CURSING KICK! WIFE BLINDING EYE-POKING! WIFE KICK!

What happened next was a barrage of pent-up anger and sadness being released upon a certain (very unlucky) dragon king.

- Please don’t do it again…

Afterwards, Jack hugged a tear-eyed Elicia, his consciousness heavy.

And, in the end, he managed to endure a 66 hours’ long training session, until he finally got his Nature Magic level 30, unlocking the Body Transformation skill tree.

Now, once he reached at least level 30 on it, he would be able to change himself to human form, and then train human-like techniques.

Things like a swordsman’s Steady Steel Resolve and Oneness With the Sword techniques would show good effects on cleansing his mind and relieving him from his greed.

Working to avoid hurting your loved ones was the minimum proof of love someone would expect, after all.

And even poor ol’ Jack knew it.