I am sure that the trials and tribulations of building a knightly order will help with that. She is going to have to deal with all sorts of problems from now on, especially once she starts recruiting. Solving those will help her in becoming more mature as well as strengthen her will.

In fact, if she gets busy enough with setting up the order, I may not have to sleep with her. I never really felt that she loved me, more that she wanted to tie me to her people. Other than her constant desire for adventure, Brightfire is really dedicated to her people.

Actually, I am fairly sure the Silverstream and Silverleaf added their names to that list for the same reason. They are all probably worried that once my promise is complete that the elves will lose my support. Then again, I never told them that I am technically already the elven king.

If I told them that, they would probably relax about me leaving, but they would also treat me differently. I would rather deal with their advances than to have them treat me like royalty. Besides, since I am not an elf I doubt they would believe that I am the elven king.

Then again, after everything we have been through, maybe they would believe me. However, I am not sure which would be worse, so I plan to avoid the whole thing. It can just be a surprise for them when we reach the peninsula, one Core can explain to them.

Albion says "Dad, can you help Nala?"

"Help her how? What's wrong?"

Albion says "She is the only one who can't talk."

"Oh, I see. With your help we might be able to do something."

Albion says "I can help?"

"Yeah. You are a sacred beast. Only you can help her become one as well."

Albion says "Please, dad. Show me how to help her!"

"Alright. Nala, come over here."

Nala obediently comes over and I scan her with my mana, she is currently rank nine. Although, it seems that she is currently stuck and can't make any more progress. That means that I need to help her reach the limit before Albion can help her become sacred.

So, I carefully take the fire god gem out of my pouch without touching it. As soon as I do, Mulan and Mushu come running over and start begging. It has been a while since they have had some, so I extract two energy to feed to them.

Once they have eaten the energy, they both go and climb into the fire pit to take a nap. Now that they are out of the way I extract another energy and feed it to Nala. Then I send my mana into her, the energy is already scattered throughout her body.

Using my mana, I gather up all of the scattered energy and focus it on her core. With me controlling the energy, Nala soon breaks through to rank ten and reaches the max. There is still some energy left over, which I hold in stasis for the moment.

Next, I talk Albion through how to send his energy into Nala's core to help her breakthrough to the sacred level. He has never done anything with his energy before, so it takes a while for him to get the hang of it. Once he does, Nala's core sucks in Albion's energy and the leftover energy from the fire god gem.

Her core even sucks up some of my mana, which is quite surprising, that normally doesn't happen. Once it has sucked up all the available power, a cocoon of fire springs up around Nala. Then the cocoon starts absorbing all the ambient mana from its surroundings.

However, there isn't much mana for it to absorb, the ship absorbs most of the mana around it. In fact, that actually makes it rather hard for everyone to recover their mana. Luckily, Lin and I are powerful enough to draw in mana from further out and we are the only ones who need it.

If there were more mages on the ship I would probably need to figure out something. As things stand, I can leave it and worry about it during phase two. As for the cocoon, Lin comes over and feeds it her mana until it is satisfied.

Out of curiosity I let breathe out a little fire towards the cocoon, which is sucks up. Since it worked, I let out more bit by bit until it stops absorbing the fire. This has never happened before, so I am really curious about how it is going to turn out.

None of the other beasts that I helped become sacred beasts had a cocoon. Not even my other kids went through this, so I am wondering how Nala is going to change. A cocoon suggests that she is evolving or changing somehow, hopefully for the better.

I will just have to wait and see what happens, breaking open the cocoon could kill her. Without knowing what is going on, there is no way I can know what would happen if I tried to interfere. It is better to wait and let whatever is happening finish, then figure out what to do next.

Albion says "Dad, what's happening? Is Nala alright?"

"I'm not sure, but I think she is. This has never happened before."

Albion says "Did I do something wrong?!"

"No, of course not. You did just fine. This is probably due to her race. I am pretty sure nothing bad will happen."

Lin says "I am sure she will be fine. Try not to worry, Albion."

"Whatever happens, I will figure out how to help her if she needs it. Right now, we just need to wait for the process to finish."

Albion says "How long will that take?"

"I have no way to tell. We will just have to wait."

My answer doesn't satisfy Albion, but there really isn't anything he can do. Albion lays down next to the cocoon and refuses to leave her side until the cocoon breaks. I am not inclined to force him, he is just worried about Nala, which I understand.

Luckily, a few hours later, the cocoon starts to fade away and reveals Nala. She has gone through quite a few changes, but other than that she seems to be fine. Her fur is now all red, with the stripes just being a darker red and she now has horns.

One is on the center of her forehead and is about seven inches long and slightly curved. The other two are on the sides of her head and curl around her ears, like ram horns. Surprisingly she didn't get bigger, in fact she is a bit smaller and leaner than she was before.

Also, her paws are covered in fire, but thanks to the enchantments she doesn't burn the floor. She now also has a cute little puff of flame at the very end of her tail. Nala is busy staring at herself and trying to figure out all of the changes.