Serenity needed to get the bull’s attention. “HEY UGLY LOOK OVER HERE.” Insults sometimes worked, and they didn’t cost anything.

It didn’t work this time.

Fine then. He needed to do something drastic; trying to outlast it wouldn’t work unless he could get it to stop first. Serenity circled around behind the bull. It turned a little, but when it had to choose between watching him and continuing to send the waves towards Echo and Moira, it stopped turning.

It was always nice to force the enemy to make a bad decision. Either decision would have been bad for it, which made it even better.

Now that he was behind the bull, he didn’t have to dodge the waves. Serenity backed off a bit and gave himself a running start, then leapt onto the back of the sea lion. He didn’t aim for anything other than “on top of the center of mass”, because he just needed to distract it severely. He dug his claws in to get the bull’s attention and keep himself from falling off.

Falling off was not at all in his plans.

The bull ROARED, but this time it didn’t look like Moira had frozen; her bolts kept coming. That meant it probably hadn’t been the same ability, and the others were probably also not frozen.

Serenity found out what the ability was moments later as the sea lion bull started growing larger. He dug in with his foot-claws to get a better grip, and had to reposition himself several times as the holds he had kept getting farther apart. The sea lion roared continuously until he was twice the size he had been and started thrashing, trying to dislodge Serenity.

Serenity dug in deeper with his feet. They weren’t as flexible as his hands, and he didn’t feel like he had as good a grip. Even so, the thrashing didn’t do much to remove him. He simply hoped the bull didn’t realize it could squish him by rolling over. The sea lion was bleeding a lot by now.

Could a sea lion even roll over on dry land? Serenity didn’t know, and didn’t want to find out the hard way.

Whether or not they could, this one didn’t. Serenity hung on for dear life as the enlarged sea lion thrashed and bled. He slowly moved up the sea lion, one hand or foot at a time. He treated it like climbing a cliff wall, only worse since the cliff was trying to shake him off.

It felt like it took forever to reach his goal, but Serenity doubted it had been long at all. He freed a hand and gashed one side of the sea lion’s neck as deeply as he could manage. When that didn’t result in a massive outpouring of blood, he tried to claw deeper in the same spots.

This time, he nicked something important. Blood spurted out as the sea lion thrashed, and it wasn’t long before a very gory Serenity was able to climb off the stilled sea lion bull. He collected the bull’s core - it was the only one of the group to have one - and headed back to the others.

Echo insisted that he rinse off before anything else. Serenity walked to the entrance and used water from the kelp forest. By the time he was done, the sea lion cows he’d left his weapons in had disappeared and he was able to recover the weapons.

“Lancaster has two broken ribs and a break in one of the bones of his left arm. I’ve set them, but there could be internal injuries I haven’t found yet. The regeneration spells should handle all of that, but he’s not going to be up to fighting for a day or two. We can see what’s next - he can walk - but if it’s not the end of the dungeon, we need to either go back to the entrance or camp here.” Rissa glared at Lancaster. “I’m serious, if you push yourself you could make one of those broken ribs puncture something, and that would be a much longer recovery period. Don’t overdo it, don’t even try to get up without help. Got it?”

Lancaster nodded and Rissa turned to look at the group. “Anyone else hurt?”

Serenity shook his head. “Just some scrapes, maybe some minor bruises, nothing to worry about.”

Rissa nodded. “I’ll heal them anyway, you need to keep your energy for other things.”

“I have a twisted ankle. Maybe a sprain?” Echo reported softly.

That explained why Echo was sitting.

Rissa hurried over and checked the ankle. “Probably a sprain, but it’s not bad. I’ll set a regeneration on it, you’ll be fine tomorrow. Until then, I’d say you need a crutch but that’ll have to be a person in here.”

Moira denied any injuries, so Rissa cast a careful [Quick Heal] on Serenity. Like the last time, she swayed on her feet at the end of the casting. Serenity tried to get her to sit, but she insisted she’d rather go with him to see what was in the next room, past where the sea lions had been.

There was a doorway that seemed to be supposed to let into the aircraft cockpit, but actually let onto the core room for the level. Knowing they were done cheered everyone up.

The two chests contained a set of five crystals, another Cloak of Elemental Protection, and 28 Etherium. The cloak went to Moira while Echo identified the crystals.

Basic Contingent Summon Crystal (Sea Lion Pup) (Bound Item) (Temporary Skill)

Grants the ability to summon a Sea Lion Pup as a Skill. No summoning Path is required. May unlock the use of Summoning Paths.

Usable only by those who met the challenge that generated the Crystal.

Summon: This creature has no life unless it is summoned. Summons do not require food or other maintenance. When dismissed, it will disappear. The Pup may be summoned once a day.

Temporary Skill: If the Sea Lion Pup is killed, a Sea Lion Bull or Sea Lion Cow (20%/80%) will be summoned. The Sea Lion will attack the creature or object that killed the Pup. The Sea Lion will disappear when the creature or object is destroyed, the Sea Lion is killed, or the summoner dismisses the Sea Lion. This is the last Summon that can be performed using the Skill.

Echo picked one up. The crystal disintegrated in her hand and a small sea lion baby lay on her lap. She picked up the rest and started handing them out. As each person touched one, it disintegrated and a pup appeared next to them.

Nothing happened when Serenity touched his. He didn’t see any way to activate it, but he somehow knew it would work if he swallowed it. It wasn’t nearly as attractive as the level crystal, but at least it wasn’t repulsive. He shook his head and ate the crystal.

[Link established. Updating Summon]

He felt a click, like a connection was established, and his pup appeared. Serenity could see from its eyes and hear from its ears. He felt a young, inquisitive mind ask him if he wanted to play.

He sat down and played with his summoned pup while he figured out how to untangle their senses. After a few minutes, he was able to use either set of senses without being overwhelmed by the other. It was familiar and yet foreign, because he could control the body or ask the pup to do things. It would do whatever he asked to the best of its ability, yet the pup didn’t mind when he took over. Instead it felt like the pup was watching over his shoulder, trying to learn from what he did.

It certainly didn’t feel like a summoned creature that wasn’t real unless it was summoned.

Rissa set her pup to playing with Serenity’s. “They’re cute, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they are.”

“They aren’t as cute as you are in your other form, though. When are you going to let me pet you again?” Rissa leaned against Serenity, watching the pups play.

“Ah …” Serenity was sure he was blushing. He was also sure he didn’t want to have this conversation in public.

[Tutorial Great Dungeon Level 8 Complete]

[1900 XP awarded]

[1900 Core awarded]

Name: Serenity

Species: Essence Dragon Chimera (Hatchling)

Core: Unique

Progression: 27.4%

Tier: 0

Features: 3/10

True

Crystal

Link

Path: Battle Adept

Level: 28 (190/290)

Tier: 0, 0/100 Spent

Path History: Death-Eater

Condition: Hungry

Healing Available: Empty

Mana: 830/830

Stamina: 850/850

Might: 75

Agility: 75

Phys: 75

Understanding: 73

Will: 77

Mind: 73

Perception: 75

Luck: 71 - 168%

Essence

Pure (Innate)

Ev: 623 (Purified)

Essence Techniques

Chimeric Alteration

Claim Mana

Devour Mana

Purify

Resistances

Chemical: 137+10

Cold: 553 (53 active)+10

Curse: 263

Darkness: 277 (27 active)+10

Heat: 532+10

Light: 298+10

Pain: 1038 (38 active)

Pleasure: 26

Shock: 334+10

Sleep: 1

Unknown

Affinities

Death: 160%

Life: 14%

Mind: 30%

Arcane: 50%

Plasma: 42%

Liquid: 6%

Vapor: 14%

Solid: 17%

Energy: 40%

Void: 60%

Time: 58%

Space: 31%

Concepts

Death

Mind: 15%

Arcane: 78%

Plasma: 26%

Energy: 52%

Void: 25%

SpaceTime: 30%

Essence: 15%

Aspects

Essence: Growth (Bloodline)

Time: Nascent

Death: Damaged, Healing (Restricted)

Titles

Previous Supreme Existence

First of A Kind

Named

Ghost in the System

Aspect Pathfinder

Chimeric Heritage

Pure (Innate)

Essence Dragon (Bloodline)

Asura

Draugr, Sage

Godling

Human, Earth

Lich, Paramount

Vampire, Daywalker

Known Heritages

Sea Lion, Earth

Coin

102 Etherium