“You don’t have to be here.” Miria says as she looks over her face in the mirror.

  “I brought cake.” I hold up a box in my (currently human) arms.

  “I take it back, you have to be here.” She immediately drops her stuff and slides over to me in a way I’m pretty sure physics would frown on. She presses a finger on a metal ring around her left index finger for a moment. It beeps, then a subtle pulse of mana rings out from it. Barely sensible, but I can sense it nevertheless.

  “What’s that?” I ask curiously, leaning over to look at the ring.

  “A transmission ring.” She responds, sitting down on a chair in the corner of her frankly massive room. It’s like a damned palace all on its own. “I sent a message to autumn. She’d want some.”

  “Oh, ok.” I nod. “Mind if I ask you something? It’s the actual reason I came here, but I thought I might as well get someone else’s opinion on my baking. I’ve made cakes before, but never with human hands. It’s… easier. My claws don’t get in the way.”

  “Well, I don’t mind.” She smiles politely at me. There’s always been this ever so slight stiffness when she interacts with me. The only other times I notice it are when she's talking to Snowstorm or Aftermath. Kind of like how a cashier would act around the CEO of the company they work at. Weird, but I don’t think it’s my place to question being awkward. That’s, like, 14 percent of my personality. “What kind of cake is it?”

  “Carrot.” I respond, flipping open the container to reveal the cake. 2 layers, white with cream cheese icing and details in orange. On the top is a cute little picture of a carrot I made with hardened sugar.

  “Oh, this is adorable!” She smiles, leaning over it. I grin widely at her reaction.

  “Really? Thanks! I spent… I don’t want to say how long on it.”

  “Well, you did a very good job.” The way she smiles is almost motherly, and for a moment I think she’s going to pat me on the head or something before restraining herself, clearly remembering who I am again. That stiffness returns, but it’s a bit less than before. She’s more relaxed now.

  “What about a good job?” A voice comes from behind me. I turn to see a woman, human looking if not for her draconic eyes and the leaves that seem to be a part of her hair. She locks up as soon as she sees me. “Mir… you didn’t…”

  “Oh, whoops. Sorry, I forgot to mention, Abhor brought the cake.”

  “That is kind of important of a thing to say!” The woman, who I now assume is Autumn, the variant Forestry dragoness, throws up her hands in exasperation before catching herself. “Um… I apologize for my attitude.” she nods respectfully to me. There’s that stiffness in her movements too. It’s not just these two either. Every priest that’s in tier 3 or 4 seems to have that same… nervousness around me, and I don’t know why. I tried to ask one of them, but they just seemed to be surprised, then realized something, then sent me away, saying it’s “Fine” and it’ll “make sense soon”. Like, what’s that supposed to mean?

  “It’s fine.” I say, realizing I’ve let my thoughts drift away. “I honestly couldn’t care less about that. I lived in a cave. Decorum isn’t shit to me.”

  “Oh. That’s… good.” Autumn smiles awkwardly, rows of sharp teeth barely visible from behind her lips as she does so. 2 rows of teeth? Cool! I want multiple rows of sharp teeth! Hey Jim, is there a mutation for that?

  {Jim:Yes. Approximately 72 available options contain multiple rows of teeth.}

  Sweet.

  “Oh, Abhor?” I turn to Miria as she takes out 3 plates, forks, and a knife.

  “Yeah?” I pull out a chair to sit in, Autumn settling herself beside where Miria will sit in a different seat.

  “What were you here to ask me?”

  “Oh, yeah, I almost forgot!” I scratch the back of my neck as I chuckle. “I had a chat with Aftermath recently. Deep stuff. It made me want to ask you a question, since you are his champion and stuff.” Miria freezes for a moment, just processing what I said.

  “Sometimes I forget how you interact with Lord Aftermath. It’s… not exactly normal. Might I ask what you talked about, and why that led to you coming here with cake?” She asks skeptically. She cuts 3 slices of cake and plates them as we speak.

  “Well, I wanted to speak to him in private after the games. I asked to chat with him privately, so we went to his space above the church.”

  “Oh, I heard you played capture the flag with some tier 1’s! That Ysolda chick got a Mid tier blessing, right?” Autumn offers, and I nod.

  “Smart lady. She deserved it.” I nod in respect. “Well, that’s not what I went to talk to him about, though.”

  “What did you go to talk to him about then?” Miria asks. She slides each of us a plate and fork. I stare down at the fork for a second, then take a bite of my cake. Damned small cutlery I forget how small my human hands are. Feels weird to use small forks and knives. It's a good cake, though. I’m proud of it.

  “About his feelings, then about my feelings.” I say, taking another bite.

  Dead silence.

  “...What?” I ask awkwardly as they just stare at me.

  “You went to talk to a god… about their feelings?” Miria asks hesitantly.

  “Most gods would execute you for that!” Autumn cries, throwing her hands up again. I’m beginning to see her throwing her hands up a lot. Maybe she just likes the mobility of human shoulders or something. I certainly do.

  “Well, he didn’t. And we both needed that chat.” I say, shrugging and smiling a little.

  “Wait, wait, wait. What does this have to do with me?” Miria asks skeptically.

  “I wanted to know if, maybe, you’d be willing to become more friendly with Aftermath if given a chance.”

  Another round of silence. I hate these silences. So awkward.

  “What?” Miria’s voice sounds like a squeak as she just stares at me.

  “He needs someone to be able to talk to, and he only really has me as a truly good friend. You’re in the best position to fill that role for him. That’s why I’m asking.”

  “I… I…” Miria and autumn exchange glances with each other. “What about the suppression of rank? He’s a god, and I’m only tier 3!”

  “There’s 2 fixes for that. First, spending more time with him will increase your aura resistance. Secondly, grinding some levels will do you good as well. Go out into the wider multiverse, kill some beasties, you know?”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I guess…” Miria still seems hesitant. “But…”

  “No buts.” I grin. “I just wanted to hear if you were open to the idea.”

  “I… guess…” She eventually nods. Autumn still looks very skeptical.

  “Oh, by the way, are you two dating?” I ask curiously. The sudden change of topic seems to give them whiplash as both stutter and wheeze for a moment.

  “Not… officially…” Miria eventually manages to say.

  “Well, go for it!” I give them a thumbs up. “I’ll be cheering you both on. Welp, I gotta go, see you again sometime soon!” With the answer I wanted, I fled from the room of the champion and her girl, victorious.

  <{(0)}>

  Miria no longer knows how she is supposed to feel. As she lies on her bed, considering what she's going to do, a certain dragon flops on the bed like a pampered dog.

  “What?” Autumn, in her dragon form, frowns as she notices the way Miria is looking at her.

  “Nothing.” Miria smiles. “You just remind me of a certain creature.”

  “Oh? What creature might that be?” Miria finds herself quite lucky for the stability of this bed, because having a ginormous dragon on it like her Autumn would have broken most other human beds. Autumn rests her snout on Mirias lap.

  “I think you know.” Miria says teasingly as she rests a hand on the offending snout.

  “Enlighten me.” Autumn smiles contentedly.

  “A puppy who forgets how big she is.”

  “Yeah. I don’t mind that comparison one bit if it means snuggling.” Miria runs a hand along the root-like horns of her draconic companion.

  “I’ve been thinking about what Abhor said… would you like to date officially?” Miria asks hesitantly.

  “I was ready this whole time. You were the one running in circles about it.” Autumn’s form shifts, and in the dragon's place, a woman lies on the life elf’s lap, smiling up at her.

  “I’m lucky to have you.” Miria smiles.

  “You’re right. You’re lucky to have me.” Autumn gives her a shit eating grin which is abruptly interrupted by the pillow Miria shoves into her face.

  <{(0)}>

  “It’s been quite some time since I’ve been swimming.” I comment as I sit on a big donut shaped flotation device.

  “You’re floating, not swimming, there is a difference.” Snowstorm points out as he splashes about. Me, Snowstorm, Miria, Evelyn, Autumn, Rosaline, Ysolda, and Bertram all had decided to live a little. By that, I mean we went to the pool! Fun, right? Riding on my connections with the literal god of these lands gives you a lot of leeway. I booked the entire massive water park. Hundreds of slides, some with the ability to spatially expand on the inside so that they can fit full sized dragons, as well as a big deep pool going a kilometer down at the deepest part. Some might wonder why it goes that deep. Well, when you have really high stamina and durability, you could swim into Marianas Trench easily. Gotta practice somewhere.

  What am I doing? I am in my demi form, on a floatie, drinking a smoothie with my tail in the water and living the best life. Or I was until Evelyn flipped my tube. Good thing I drank my whole smoothie quickly.

  Spluttering, I surface to find Evelyn laughing along with Snowstorm. Ysolda is chuckling in the corner and Rosaline is giving her daughter a thumbs up.

  “You total jerks!” I protest. “I wish I learned water magic first.”

  “Well, too bad for you, I did.” Snowstorm grins.

  “Wait, wha- EEP!” The pool opens up below me and I fall to the floor. Then the water closes and begins falling all around me.

  “Snowstorm, I swear by my life I will kill you-” The water swallows me whole.

  It takes me a good 20 seconds to get to the top, in dragon form, and tackle Snowstorm out of the water.

  “Hey, no rough housing in the pool area!” Rosaline calls. We eventually stopped wrestling. I managed to throw him back into the pool though, so I call that a win.

  Me and Evelyn ended up chasing Miria and Autumn around in the water, Evelyn on my back with a water gun, and Miria on Autumn's back holding the same. We end up in a battle for oceanic supremacy, myself being the battleship. This goes on for a solid half hour until eventually Miria and Autumn win, claiming they beat us with the “Power of love”. I’m pretty sure I saw Rosaline, Bertram, and Ysolda betting together. Judging by Bertrams smug look, I assume he won.

  “Hey, let's go down a slide!” Evelyn grabs my arm and drags me, in demi form, to the stairs up to the tallest tube slide in the building. The thing is huge, and it looks like something that would kill someone with a heart problem. In my opinion, it looks like fun!

  “I’ll take us up.” I drag her with me through the shadows and we pop up at the entrance to the slide. I’m pretty sure that the lifeguard had a minor heart attack when we appeared, but she got over it. Anyways, we grab a tube off the wall and set it down at the entrance to the slide.

  “Do you wanna go front or back?” I ask, grinning.

  “Front.” Evelyn climbs into the front of the tube, also grinning. I climb into the back and the lifeguard pushes us forward. This slide was labeled for tier 2-3 individuals. I wonder how they can make it enjoyable for people who can fly at mach speed- oh. OH, WOAH! The slide is spatially warped so that it moves faster on the inside than it should be able to, and curves in all sorts of wonky ways! It’s madness, yet it's fun! Evelyn is enjoying it too, if the screaming is any metric. Good screaming though, not the “I’m terrified” screaming. Well, kind of the terrified screaming, but it has a few laughs mixed in, so she is fine. When we get to the bottom, we are shot out into the deep pool like a cannonball. We nearly bowl over Bertram, who dives under the water at the last second before losing his head in a beach accident. What would we have told his parents if that happened?

  “Damn, you flew out of that!” Autumn grins. “Mir, we are so going on together! Gimme that tube!” Me and Evelyn forfeit our tube to the orange dragoness, who runs off immediately to experience G-force that we weren’t built to experience. Good for them.

  “Anyone want lunch?” I ask as I just bob around in the water like a buoy.

  “I could eat.” Rosaline nods, climbing out of the pool. “Where to?”

  “I know a place.” I grin.

  <{(0)}>

  “Is this a ramen store?” Rosaline looks down at the bowl in front of her plate.

  “A ramen restaurant.” I corrected her. “I’ve only been here once, and I don’t need to eat, but the man running the restaurant is a tier 2 and he puts some good buffs on them. The beef ramen gives a temporary strength increase.”

  “I ordered the octopus balls.” Snowstorm shrugs. “I’ve never been one for noodles.”

  “Weirdo.” I say flatly. Funnily enough, Miria, Evelyn, Bertram, and Ysolda all nod.

  “Go look in a mirror, you little-”

  “Language.” I say, giving him my signature shit-eating grin.

  “Like you do any better.” Evelyn points out, digging into her own bowl of pork ramen. Since me, Evelyn and Bertram all ordered ramen, we got our orders first. We do not have the courtesy to wait for the other’s food to arrive before eating. It’s too good of food to care.

  “It’s been a while since I’ve been a part of something like this.” Rosaline comments. She has a gentle, almost melancholic smile. The waiter arrives with the next wave of dishes, which are for Snowstorm, Rosaline, Ysolda and Autumn. Rosaline and Autumn both got these dishes with very thinly sliced beef that you use chopsticks to dip into a sauce before eating. Ysolda got a sushi plate, and Snowstorm got his octopus balls. I’m going to make a joke about that later. Ammunition for the gun that is being an annoying sibling.

  “When was the last time?” I ask between bites of my noodles. I ended up using a fork to eat my ramen. Chopsticks were too hard. Respect to those who use the sticks.

  “I think it was when Evelyn was 13.” Rosaline responds, picking up a thin strip of beef with her chopsticks and lowering it into the shop. “Me and her father took her to a seafood restaurant after she got a 100% on her math test.”

  “Nice.” I give Evelyn a thumbs up and she blushes.

  “It wasn't… it was easy, and it’s not something to celebrate.” She protests.

  “Oh, shut it, princess.” Bertram grins. “A 100 is a 100. Plus, no reason to turn down good seafood.”

  The conversation at the dinner table continues much like this for a good hour and a half. Miria gets her dish, which I'm pretty sure was the most expensive dish on the menu, and chats with Rosaline, Evelyn, Ysolda and Autumn about going to the megamall in the city some time. Meanwhile Bertram and Snowstorm are debating about whether a Beetle or 3 centipedes would win in a fight. Meanwhile, I’m just sitting here, smiling. Sometimes I just wish days like these would never end.

  <{(0)}>

  Many, many miles away, in a megacity of technology and humanoids, a storm is rising. People are preparing. Weapons are forged, soldiers trained, all for two purposes. To hunt, and for war.

  {Checkpoint 2 has been set}

  Name:Snowstorm

  Level:50/150

  Age:16

  Titles:Frostbreaker, knowledgeer, study master, Tier 2 evolution, Humanify FREEZE

  Strength:150

  Durability:150

  Speed:150

  Stamina:150

  Intelligence:172.5

  Essence:1,009

  Class:Frostbane boxer(Epic)

  Soul weapon:Frostbane gauntlets

  Species:Frostwing demi-wyvern

  Skills: Heat vision(low)Uncommon, Greater enhanced intelligence(medium)Rare, Enhanced knowledge intake(medium)Uncommon, cold resistance(high)Rare, photographic memory(Medium)Rare, swimming(low)Common, split thought(Low)Rare, body temperature reduction(Medium)Uncommon, ice mana manipulation(medium)Rare, Mind magic affinity(Medium)Uncommon, heat shift foundation(Low)Uncommon

  Techniques:Swimming(D), Mana manipulation(C), Mind mana manipulation(D), Ice mana manipulation(C), Mana claws(C), Ice spear(C), Iceout(D), Icicle hail(D), Mind bridge(D), Ice mana barrier(C), Heat shift(D), Mana bolt(D), Mana sense(D), Mind mana manipulation(D), Illusion mana manipulation(E)

  Mutations: Knowledge intake stomach(B), Multi-Mind system(A)