Aldred was glad that he finally leveled up after a while, and then he saw that his friends also leveled up and became more powerful than ever.
Stella and Sophia casted their healing spells, healing everyone. And when Mira was able to stand up, she used her divine spell to completely heal everyone.
Aldred looked around and made sure everyone was fine. "Are you guys okay?"
They all nodded.
"Where is the shield?" Mary asked.
"I don't know. The Forgotten Warrior said to defeat the guardian of the treasure and obtain the golden shield."
"Is it inside that egg-like thing?" Mareona pointed.
Suddenly, the vines that wrapped around the egg snapped. The gigantic, golden, transparent egg fell with a loud thud, and it opened itself revealing a smaller golden egg in the center.
Aldred approached it with his golden battle gear. As if it was triggered, the chest-sized golden egg cracked open, turned into mist, and then transformed into a golden shield in his left hand.
Boom! A powerful golden aura burst forth from him, and his whole body trembled with power. He had the feeling that the armor was more capable than this but his own power limited its strength.
This meant that it would still be helpful to him even if he entered Platinum Rank in the future.
Lightning crackled and it ran all over his body. Aldred roared and punched to the side. A bolt of lightning flew towards the wall and blasted it apart.
"Finally, with this our chance of survival will increase."
Suddenly, his Golden Battle Gear morphed back into a stick, and then it floated in the air. A profound change was happening as a mysterious diagram and symbols floated around the sticks.
Powerful golden aura and red aura mixed with each other, and it enveloped him before forming into his Golden Battle Gear again. But there was something weird. The gear now had a tinge of black and red, reminding him of his long sword—Soul Reaper.
That was when he figured it out. They had become one!
Aldred summoned his spear, and sure enough, his spear became longer, and now it had lines of red and black at the blue-runic spear head.
His weapon now had the combination of a spear and a long-sword. It looked unique and deadly. But, now that the weapons were combined, he wasn't sure what to call it.
It could use spirit attacks and lightning attacks… hmmm. It was hard to pick any good name. What about Phantom Doomblade?
"Aldred, what is that?" Bartrem asked.
"It's my weapon. It seems to be mixing with each other."
"No. I am talking about that." Bartrem pointed at the center of the egg.
There they saw a small girl wrapping herself with a beautiful snow-white pair of wings.
Slowly, she opened her wings, and stretched her body before she opened her eyes. Her golden eyes laid themselves upon them. It was calm and tranquil, but Aldred felt a tinge of sadness and loneliness from within.
And then it was filled with fright as the girl realized she was being looked at by many people. She scurried backward with her hands and legs.
"Wait, child. We will do no harm to you," Mira said. "Everyone, can you look away?"
Bartrem and everyone else looked away. They probably scared her because all of them were staring at her while she was naked.
Mary brought her clothes and dressed her up.
"You can turn around now."
When Aldred set his eyes on her again, she was like a small little angel with golden hair, golden eyes, and that twinkling eye lashes were heaven-like.
"What is your name, dear?" Mary knelt and asked her.
The small girl hesitated and seemed to be frightened. "My name is Krista."
"Krista, that's a beautiful name," Mary said. "Krista, can I ask why you stayed inside that egg?"
She shook her head. "Krista doesn't know."
"Do you have any parents?"
She shook her head again.
Both Mary and Mira looked at each other and glanced at Aldred. Aldred nodded.
"Krista, would you like to come with us?"
She hesitated for a few seconds before she nodded her head a bunch of times.
Mary and Mira carefully caressed her head, and she seemed to enjoy it.
"Are you hungry?" Mary asked.
She shook her head. That was when Mary heard the little girl's stomach growling.
Mary smiled. "Would you like to eat?"
Krista seemed to be too shy to tell her true feelings.
Aldred clapped loudly, bringing their attention to him. "Since we have a new family member, we should start a feast! Bartrem! Turn on the fire!"
Aldred summoned numerous grills along with some meats, vegetables, and fruits. There was also a lot of honey and even candies.
Bartrem and the soldiers started cooking and setting up the mat. Mary and Mira guided the little girl to approach one of the mats.
When they sat down, Aldred brought her a comb of honey. "Would you like one. It's sweet and soft, so it won't hurt your teeth."
She carefully looked at the honeycomb, and then slowly reached out her hand before grabbing it.
"Try it," Aldred said.
She took a small bite, at first her expression was ordinary, but then an explosion of sweetness washed her mouth, and she couldn't help but close her eyes and let out a small yelp of tastiness.
Aldred laughed. "Did you like it?"
Krista nodded and then hugged him. "Thank you, big brother."
Aldred was shocked when she hugged him like that. Especially when she called him 'big brother' it felt like she was really his little sister.
He smiled and caressed her head. For now, Aldred did not care about her background and whatnot, because at this moment, Krista was his little sister.
After seeing Aldred getting a hug, Mareona, Sophia, Ivette, Stella, Rachel, and Zafrina all offered her one candy after another.
They each get a quota of hugs from Krista. And their heart melted when she called them 'big sister'
