The two hundred or so gremlins that were, slain on the path to the boss proved nothing special. However, Kyrion’s staff proved better than he could hope as it was capable of extending an extra foot in with help from the vines and could restrain what he hit, making Jala, Issac, and Tiffany’s job much easier. What made it easy was that up until now, each group of gremlins they faced had a maximum number of five at once. Two of which could easily be taken out from a distance and the rest in a quick melee.

This, however, was a bit different. Kyrion and Tiffany found a weird stone in the middle of a ditch, surrounded by fifty or so stone gremlins and a single gremlin who wore a backpack. Kyrion’s senses told him it was stronger than the large gremlin they faced yesterday.

“Do you want to fight that?” Kyrion asked.

“Not without a plan. Do you have one?” Tiffany crossed her arms.

“Turn around and go home?” Kyrion offered.

“That’s just fleeing, we can take them, we just need a plan.” Tiffany eyed the boy.

Kyrion looked at the ruined houses and other debris. “I could plant a few trees.. Cause a landslide but that will take up alot of time and mana. Trees are greedy, I have a few seeds.”

Kyrion pulled some acorns out of his pocket.

“Why do you just keep acorns in your pockets?” Tiffany raised an eyebrow.

“Tiffany. Tiffany, we both know thats a stupid question that your not going to like the answer to?” Kyrion said with an oddly condescending voice.

“Just answer the question.” Tiffany crossed her arms.

“Squirrels.” Kyrion answered as though that was the end of the story.

“Elaborate please.” Tiffany waved her hand.

“Squirrels eat acorns, squirrels are helpful when trained. Squirrels are fond of mischief when the opportunity arises.”

“You train squirrels?” Tiffany asked with a bit of skepticism.

“I may or may not, know how to train squirrels, but do not assume every squirrel near me is trained.” Kyrion looked away as he marked out some places to grow the trees.

“Uh huh.” Tiffany was skeptical about that last part.

Kyrion planted acorns around the perimeter near some debris and ruined homes. He then infused each acorn with mana creating a link between him and the acorns. Next, Issac soaked the ground on top of them with water, a pretty generous amount of it.

“That’s all my mana. This should be done until they reach the source below.” Issac. Told Kyrion.

“Why would you spend all your money on this?” Kyrion squinted at the bird.

“You’re about to cause more trouble than you could possibly understand. Do you know what a dungeon is?” Issac asked, an imaginary eyebrow raised.

“Nope.” Kyrion responded unashamed.

“They are a type of spirit that forms when a certain mana threshold is met near a core from a deceased being. That being is reborn as a dungeon. What makes them different is the innate ability to call nearby spirits and integrate them into their ecosystem molding the world around them. You’re about to throw the ecosystem out of whack, among other things.” Issac blew on a loose feather that fell over its eyes. How it worked was something Kyrion didn’t want to know.

“So is that giant rock its core?” The boy asked

“Oh gods no, that thing is a spawner for gremlins, it pulls in mana from the environment and moldes them into gremlins. It’s probably a gremlin incubator at most. When it absorbs enough mana to create five to ten of those accused things then it does so all at once before it starts absorbing more mana.”

“So I may be creating tree gremlins.”

“Possibly. Destroying that rock should at least delay the process quite a bit.” Issac nodded.

“How do you know all of this Issac?”

“It’s inborn knowledge, monsters know other monsters.” Issac said bluntly.

“So Jala should also know this stuff. Why don’t you tell me this stuff before we end up this deep in gremlin territory?” Kyrion scowled at the bird.

“Oh that’s simple, you didn’t ask. Ask and you will receive. Remember we are here to help and don’t know everything you lack knowledge wise. Aside from common sense that is.” Issac reentered Kyrion’s core.

Kyrion felt a pull on his core as his body slowly replaced the lost mana. He didn’t let it fill up as he still had work to do. Using four of his affinities to fill up the scattered acorns.

Plant, water, and life made the trees grow strong quickly. However, it was beauty that reacted weirdly. Although this tree would normally grow green leaves, these leaves came in various colors and shapes. The only consistent thing about them was a pattern that resembled an eye. The tree was an otherworldly natural beauty. In a sense, it got your attention and held it, but there was something off about it.

Kyrion tapped out on the remainder of his mana, giving only a single command. “Encroach.”

The trees began to slowly grow, greedily absorbing mana from the environment. Their roots slowly surrounded the perimeter. Digging deeper, disrupting the foundation, and finding their way under the ditch. It took only a single command, and a majority of the gremlins would be dead.

Kyrion Jala and Tiffany retreated to the mansion and stayed there for an hour, letting Kyrion refill enough mana to resummon Issac.

The sound of a battle could be heard as the group made their way back. What they saw was surprising. The gremlins were killing each other, the ditch steadily filling with stone and locking them in place.

“What did you plant?” Tiffany asked, disturbed by the scene.

“Just some white oak acorns. I know the leaves are weird but this shouldn’t be possible.”

“Just drop the debris.” Tiffany told him.

Kyrion connected his mind to the eight trees and gave them the command. “Destroy.”

A good number of gremlins started self-destructing, quickly filling the lake to the point where none of the gremlins still inside could escape the fallout that occurred. Building brick, boulders, and other plants began falling into the hole, crushing them into a fine paste. At least that’s what should have happened.

The center of the ditch was unharmed by the falling debris, along with a small gremlin wearing a backpack. Although, before, Kyrion may not have paid any attention to the accessory, now the boy saw that the gremlin was holding the bag wide open.

“Huh… I must be an idiot for not realizing this sooner.”

“What do you mean?” Tiffany pulled out her rapier, ready to fight.

“Thats a practitioner rank backpack gremlin, in terms of natural power and endurance it’s weaker than the thing we fought yesterday though not by much, what makes it dangerous is what’s in the backpack. What we don’t know could be used to kill us.”

“Should we leave it alone?” Tiffany asked.

“This should be easy.” Krylon cracked his knuckles.

“Where is this confidence coming from?” Tiffany seemed concerned.

Kyrion stopped and started to think. “I don’t know. Shouldn’t keep us from beating this thing though.”

Jala looked at Kyrion questioningly. “You do seem a bit different now.”

Kyrion shrugged before planting a foot into the ground and pushing forward at great speed.

The gremlin, shocked, aimed its backpack at him, and a shaped stone spear came flying at him.

Kyrion kicked off the spear midair and pushed towards the gremlin even faster.

The gremlin panicked as the boy seemed to gain speed and put the backpack in between the two. As a result, the open end faces the human cannonball.

Kyrion tried to do that wind step thing that he did against the gremlin yesterday to get out of the way when he realized that he didn’t have access to wind mana at the moment. His eyes widened at the realization as he punched himself into the bag.

Tiffany watched in horror as Kyrion entered the bag, vanishing from sight.

Issac was the first to laugh, the gremlin was second to laugh, and somewhere in the dungeon, a certain master was also laughing.

Tiffany charged forward towards the gremlin rapier poised to strike. Jala rode on her shoulder, summoning wind mana.

Issac followed slowly behind, using tentacles made from water to knock aside any flying boulders that got too close to Tiffany.

The gremlin retreated while summoning a flurry of stone spears in an attempt to skewer its enemy.

Tiffany dodged them with ease and moved in to stab the gremlin from ten feet away, shooting out an arrow of light that hit the gremlin in the chest and left behind a mark.

“Ah!” The gremlin squealed before firing out a ton of giant boulders.

Tiffany dodged most of them, Issac caught the strays with tentacles made from water, and Jala sent a wind blade at the creature’s legs in an attempt to slow it down.

The two groups exchanged ranged for a few minutes, neither group willing to approach.

A wind blade cut deep into the creature’s left leg, and it began to bleed profusely.

Tiffany used the opportunity to close the distance and deliver a shot from her rapier into the creature’s eye.

The gremlin took a few steps back, screaming in pain and falling down a slope.

After rolling back to its feet, it grinned wickedly and opened its bag, firing an entire one-story house at the two.

Tiffany flinched as the thing came at them and she was already committed to moving forward.

Jala covered the two in a pink mist as they crashed into it.

The gremlin laughed in glee as it eliminated two of its enemies.

A tendril of water wrapped around its torso, locking it in place as Tiffany and Jala reappeared behind the gremlin and stabbed through the creature’s neck.

The gremlin’s body flickered for a moment as it reappeared sixty feet away, the wound in its neck quickly healing.

“I’d ask you what that was Jala, but I don’t understand you.”

A soft voice spoke. “Don’t tell Kyrion I did that.”

“You can talk? And why not?”

“He shouldn’t mess with that power right now, it’s dangerous and he is a wildcard.” The fox looked at Tiffany with a withering glare.

“I’ll keep the fact that you can actually talk a secret as well. Is there a reason behind that?”

“It’s to mess with him. We should be fighting though.”

Tiffany smacked herself on the forehead and locked onto the gremlin that seemed to be having trouble with its bag.

Issac slapped the gremlin with a whip made from water, and the creature fell back and rolled towards one of the new trees attempting to put it into its bag, when a root shout out of the ground whipped it for its trouble.

Tiffany ran towards, and Jala began to fire wind blades at it, mostly cutting off the path it was traveling, but on occasion, one would hit head-on and leave behind a minor bleeding wound.

Kyrion had fallen into a pit with no natural color. Everything here was a shade of black, white, and gray. However, the mana here was strong, and Kyrion could feel some of his stores refiling quickly.

Inside the place lie various interesting items, equipment, and architecture. Kyrion pulled out his sack and began piling in anything he found interesting, and in a matter of minutes, his sack had looted almost everything he wanted here.

Every now and then, a stone would shoot up from a pile and out of the area.

“Human.” Said a deep voice from inside the area.

“What was that?” Kyrion jumped in surprise.

“Human!” It repeated.

“Time to get out of here,” Kyrion whispered, looking for a pile of stones, and started running towards it, the voice slowly getting louder.

“Yes, human this way!” Kyrion stopped planting his feet on the ground and began to turn around when he noticed that there were chains on the ground here around what seemed to be a circle.

“Please don’t run, I need your assistance.”

Kyrion’s left eye twitched as he heard the plea. “Why would you need my assistance?”

“I need someone to break these chains and free me from here.” The voice said.

“You sound pretty strong yourself.” Kyrion replied, getting closer.

Suddenly, twenty or so boulders began flying up rapidly, revealing a powerful lizard-like figure chained to the ground.

“My strength is sealed and these chains make me much weaker and force me to obey the great one.”

“So what are you?” Kyrion aked.

“I am an earth dragon.” Said the big lizard.

“You seem to be a bit small for a dragon.” Kyrion rubbed his chin.

“I am a young earth dragon.” The small dragon replied.

“How young.” Kyrion raised an eyebrow.

“A decade.” The small dragon seemed shy.

“That’s old.” Kyrion crossed his arms matter of factly.

“Why do you think that’s old?” The dragon’s voice raised in pitch a bit too much as it was dumbfounded.

“It sounds old. Two whole digits.” Kyrion discovered a weakness in the dragon's visage.

“My savior is an idiot.” It grunted its voice returning to its deep pitch.

“Yeah yeah, why does the almighty dragon need a nine year old child’s assistance.” Kyion emphasized the child part a bit.

“I only have a year on you… Most who make it here do not survive the fall and those who did don’t tend to live long.” Its voice started light before pausing and returning to the deep pitch.

“Ah, it did hurt a little.” Kyrion sat down to rest a moment.

The dragon nodded in understanding.

“So what do I get for helping you?” Kyron pulled out a notebook, pretending to write things down.

“My thanks?” It seemed puzzled by the question and didn’t notice its voice slip register completely.

“Favors are nice and all but you’re a dragon can’t you offer something more?” Kyrion rubbed his fingers like a debt collector looking for money.

“I am a broke dragon at best, I don’t have much to give. I could become your spirit. It would just take a brief contract.”

“Nope, don’t need any more spirits. Not now at least, already have four, well three.” Kyrion shrugged.

The dragon’s eyes glowed red for a second, disrupting the black and white by quite a bit. “It’s a shame. You do have the mana for it. We could do a master-servant contract then, dragons have a strict code of honor. If I must serve you until I die, then I will.” It offered.

“What is a master servant contract?”

“I don’t become one of your spirits but you gain the ability to call for me so long as I am on the same continent. Your body is enhanced by my magic and mine is enhanced by yours. I will not be able to willingly do you any harm.”

“Interesting, is it like having a free spirit core?” Kyrion rubbed his chin some more.

“Possibly…”It answered.

“Just going to ask, are you a girl?” Kyrion looked deep into the dragon's eyes.

“Girl? Why did you ask that?” The deep voice seemed shocked by the question.

“Just my luck. I had a hunch that was the case. The gods must be messing with me.” Kyrion held his head with both hands.

“Why do you say that?”

“Too many sisters, too many female friends, I need a dude friend to hang out with. You know to do dude stuff with, like fishing, and pranking. We could even talk about dude stuff.” Kyrion punched the circle on the ground causing the world they were in to shake and break the outer line of the spell.

“I could pretend to be a boy if you want.”

“That would just make things awkward.”

“What do dudes even talk about?”

Kyrion froze and began to think. Kyrion actually didn’t know, Noah was about smithing. Nico had books, while Damian loved fighting. Everest had a fondness for fashion while his master seemed to have eyes on other pursuits..“You know, I really don’t know what dudes are supposed to do together. Maybe train?”

I’m strong, I'm sure we could train together.” The dragon watched as the baby-faced boy casually ripped chains that even she, a dragon, couldn’t tear off.

“If so, how did you get stuck in here anyway?”

“I was an egg when it happened, the first thing I knew when I woke up was that I was here and that I couldn’t leave. Memories of honor and devotion are ingrained into my kind however.”

“I see.” After removing the final chain, Kyrion took a step back eyeing his carnage on metal.

“I swear on my spirit to serve you until death and beyond my body is but a tool for you to use as you see fit. Do you accept my meager offer?” The dragon said humbly.

Blood left Kyrions face as she made that promise. “Umm…yes?” He accepted, causing a chain to materialize and wrap around his core before fading away. He gripped his chest and grimaced.

The young dragon’s form began to change as Kyrion watched in awe and pain as the light burned his eyes. Finally, the dragon shrunk, taking on a human form with a shell made from rock covering her body, and the light faded.

“Master as a warning I now require clothes.” She said from behind a boulder.

“What happened to the cool dragon?!” Kyrion felt heartbroken.

“I lost that form it seems.” The dragon said bluntly.

“Maybe I should have just asked for a ride.” Kyrion mumbled.

“Don’t you like this form? It’s like yours, which means I can protect you from anywhere.” She said stoically.

“The muscles, the scales, the wings, and fearsome gait, it’s all gone.” Kyrion fell onto his knees in despair.

“No, I can’t change this shape.”

“Couldn’t you at least be, you know, taller than me,?” Kyrion asked, raising his hands up and down.

“I’m sorry, master, I will find a way to turn back on my own. Please just het up.” The dragon seemed worried for her master’s sanity.

“Don’t worry about it. My mental image has already been destroyed.” Kyrion pushed off the ground and snapped to his feet before walking away.

“Where are you going?” The dragon asked.

“There was a house nearby with a whole bunch of girl clothes. Since I don’t wear girl clothes, I ignored them. So I’m taking you there.” Kyrion sighed.

“Thank you, master.” She said, bowing her head.

“Call me Kyrion, please. What’s your name?” Kyrion had begun tapping his chin.

“I don’t have one.” She responded.

“Huh, Ceres then,” Kyrion responded a bit too quickly. His eyes went wide before they seemed to glaze over a bit.

“How long have you been thinking of that name?”

“It’s the name I would have given my daughter.” Kyrion said, his voice deeper than it had any right to be. The boy slapped himself in the side of his head in confusion.

“What do you mean?” The dragon asked, confused.

“What the abyss did I just say... I’m nine. It must be something else.” Kyrion shook his head a bit.

“Are you ok?” Ceres eyed her new master.

“Let’s go.” Kyrion held onto the side of his head as they entered the house, and Kyrion dropped his new friend off before taking a seat in a chair. Slowly blood began to leave his nose, and he passed out.

A boulder hit Issac hard, forcing him back into Kyrion’s core, to regenerate.

Jala was pouring all her mana into wind blades while Tiffany darted in and out of melee range, dealing critical blows that could have dropped an average soldier in one hit.

Another house appeared from the creature’s bag and went hurtling towards Tiffany.

Jala jumped in front of the projectile and covered Tiffany in the same mist before a loud crack could be heard, and Jala returned to Kyrion’s core.

Tiffany reappeared behind the creature and stabbed it where its brain should be, removing its second eye.

The creature turned around and began recklessly firing houses in her general direction.

Tiffany danced around the creature. Finally, putting it out of its misery with a slash from her rapier to its neck. For a moment, the sword had grown an edge from white light. Right after, a core fell to the ground along with its backpack.

The fight was over, and Tiffany had to find a way to get Kyrion out of the bag. She fell back, breathing heavily.

Kyrion walked out of the first house, shot out, and approached the incubator in the center of the ditch. His eyes and sclera were as black as night, where whips of pure white seemed to move about. His red hair started to turn black at its ends. He placed a single hand on the odd stone, and black mana left his hand pouring into the stone, causing it to disintegrate. A large glob of raw mana lay there before being absorbed by the boy. Increasing the number of wisps in his eyes.

The boy began falling to the ground. His master appeared from out of nowhere and caught him. Concern marked Gamodren’s face, which was a rare expression.

Tiffany approached the duo with worry on her face. “What the abyss was that?”

“A power he shouldn’t have access to. The mana he absorbed didn’t enter his body. The question is why is he storing mana somewhere else, and was it him doing it, and does he know.” Gamodren eyed his student before he layed him down on a cloth and started dragging him back to the mansion.

A purple-haired girl left the same house and ran towards the fallen Kyrion. “What have you done to my master!”

She threw a wild punch at Gamodren.

Gamodren, a gentleman, incapacitated her without making physical contact and placed her next to Kyrion on the same cloth.

“Kyrion. What have you done? I’m going to have to take a more active role it seems. Good news is you all have proven strong enough to fight on your own. This will just be to keep events like this from occurring.” Gamodren sighed as he removed the black growth from the boy’s hair.

“What? Who? Huh? Master?” Tiffany began.

"No no no." Gamodren started.

Tiffany’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she passed out where she sat. Her brain finally took as much as she could that day.

“Now I have to carry you too.” Gamodren sighed.