"Well, you've gathered a big family here, haven't you, Yuki? We all kind of love you." Said Benladann. "I am not telling you to get over it or something but… I want you to know that I see you as family and that you'll never be alone as long as you're with us."
"B-Benladann…" Yuki seemed filled with emotions.
"Yeah, she's right." Miranda said.
"I agree." Said Pekora. "Yuki, you're a very childish and annoying girl sometimes, but your personality still brings a lot of brightness to our lives. When everybody is gloomy, you're always the cheerful and a bit annoyingly childish one."
"…I feel like you're just criticizing me, but thanks." Sighed Yuki.
"Hahaha! She's a naughty girl but she's good at fighting, also she's good hearted." Said Tisha. "There's nothing more I need to consider you a sister."
"Tisha…"
"I guess you're a good beast companion." I said.
"Uwah, Drake- Eh? Beast companion?! Is that all I am to you?!" Yuki suddenly grabbed me by the clothes.
"Hahaha, I am just joking! Of course you're family. I see you as… erm, kind of like a daughter I guess? A big daughter. Benladra and Kate see you as their big sister more than an aunt, so make sure to be a good one, okay?"
"Uwah, those two little pups think that of me?" Yuki asked while smiling. "I-I guess there's no helping it, I'll be a good big sister."
"Good girl." I ended petting Yuki's head for a little while.
I felt like our bond had been strengthened quite a lot with that simple conversation, I suppose that's all we needed to connect with one another and feel better after the trials.
Maybe… was this also the intention of the Venerable? To surpass such emotional trials and then grow together even strongly as we talked about our own thoughts and what we had gone through? If that was the case, then the Venerable has really thought about everything, huh?
"Well, I had gone through a lot as well." Said Charlotte. "I ended finding my father, and fought him… He even used his Lightning Magic against me, I almost died. I guess my Trial was more like the one with Yuki, where battle was involved."
"Like mine?! I thought everybody had a peaceful one, it is nice to know someone else also just wanted to beat the shit out of someone." Said Yuki.
"Hahaha… Maybe." Charlotte laughed slightly nervously.
"You fought your own father? And… y-you killed him?" Asked Miranda.
"Yes…" Sighed Charlotte. "I had to; he was attacking me furiously. It was… a rather embarrassing trial now that I think about it. It was merely just my feeling of self-loathing personified into my father. My fear of being not loved by my father, or being thought as a failure had always been tormenting my mind deep down, when I completed the trial, I was able to slightly get over it… Although I have yet to truly realize what I should do now, I am beginning to get a guess that I might learn more if I stay at the side of Drake."
"I am glad you were able to complete your trial safely, I was quite worried, my slime seemed to have helped you at least." I said.
"Yes, I was able to hear your voice through the slime, it motivated me… Thanks to that, I was able to overcome the trial, perhaps. I-I even learned I could manipulate the ships through my power, such as being able to fire cannonballs made of magic- Oh! I also seem to have awakened Lightning Magic like my father…" Charlotte said.
"Lightning Magic!" I said in surprise. "That's one we haven't seen! Can you show it to me?"
"S-Sure! It seems that Lightning Magic is a specialty of dwarves, but I never had the affinity, my magic core was one of water attribute…" Said Charlotte. I had noticed a dragon mark on her, she most likely developed this power due to my dragon mark.
SPARK!
Suddenly, Charlotte summoned an enormous quantity of lightning, shooting it into the ceiling, the lightning clashed furiously and then stopped. I needed to see the lightning magic so I could later on imitate it through Spirit Creation.
"That's awesome…"
"R-Really? Hahah… I-It is just Lightning Magic though." Charlotte said shyly, as she seemed to blush a bit.
"Lightning element is very rare in this continent as well." Benladann said.
"Yeah, it looks super strong compared to other elements, I bet you can use it well atop your boat." Miranda said.
"I wonder if you can use it to powerup magic artifacts, a lot of them use Thunder Attribute Spirit Stones mined from the Continent of the dwarves." Said Rose, she began to slowly join conversations.
Meanwhile, I was concentrated into the palm of my hand, as I gathered my Mana into it and then created a Lightning Attribute Spirit, it had the shape of a typical thunder, and had two small eyes resembling dots.
"Thunder Spirit!"
"FOO!"
TRUUUMMM…!
Suddenly, a powerful lightning strike slightly less powerful as that of Charlotte was unleashed, the lightning flew into the ceiling, which easily reflected the powerful Mortal-Realm Magic.
"W-Wha…?! Can Drake copy elements or something?!" Asked Charlotte in disbelief.
"Ah, no, this is just my Spirit Creation Unique Skill, I robbed it off a nasty fox." I said. "It lets me create spirits of any element without restriction but seeing one in action really helps me at visualizing it better. Of course, the strongest ones cost divine power so I can't create them as leisurely as Mortal-Realm Spirits, but they're still strong on their own, huh?"
"C-Certainly…" Charlotte said in disbelief. "And nasty fox? D-Don't tell me…" She muttered.
"Ah yeah, the Venerable of Dreams is our ally." I said.
"Eeeeh?! I didn't knew that!" Charlotte asked in shock.
"Well, it wasn't as if we HAD to tell you or something…" Benladann said.
"Belle is the Venerable's Spirit." Miranda pointed at the pink-colored fox.
"Wow… Y-You people are really just amazing…"
