"Since you're my companion, you'll be gaining a few abilities Nila. One will make your quality Epic, another will grant you Bonded Forces. They're Greater Golems, normally from your species group, but Dark Elves don't have Golems, only Supporter Class summons, so I'm not sure what you'll be able to choose from.
"It seems I can pick from Dark Fae in general, so I've got some options. If I can change between them, then I'm not too worried."
"I can change the type of my Drakes, so you probably can?" Laura shrugs and Nila nods her agreement.
"Why not Winged Wolves or a Dark Phoenix?" Maude suggests, calling out one of each.
Cain quickly adds them to his listing before asking "How did you do that? Are you a Summoner?"
"Oh no dear, I just have a stable token. With the portal nearby, I'm close enough to call animals I have stored at the stables near my house. It's a little luxury of holding a high Rank in Underwood."
Kone is staring intently at Nila and mouthing the word 'Puppies' over and over, like a subliminal message.
"Alright, for now, Winged Wolves it is." Nila caves, calling out all eight of them. Kone runs over and hugs her, before doing the same to every wolf in turn. Puppy isn't the word for these things, they're eyes to eyes with Misha and must weigh three hundred kilos.
"She's a Beast Lord, and a huge animal lover. Don't worry, she'll calm down once she gets her fill of fluff." Cain explains, making Maude laugh.
You guys seem like a fun bunch, but I need to get back to my duties, and I'm taking this one with me so he doesn't flee again." She waves, dragging the old Royal Guard with her.
"I do believe we got what we came here for, and more. How was the fashion shopping?" Cain asks.
"Fairly productive. They didn't leave any patterns behind, but there was a fair assortment of clothing, beyond the fancy suits and dresses we found at the rental shop." Misha says, looking pointedly at Cain who is still wearing the black suit with a matching flat cap.
"What? You think I should change to white before we head out into the bright sunlight?" He jokes and Misha rolls her eyes at him.
"They're all interchangeable, you could do something like Kone has picked." Vala suggests, pointing at the bright orange shirt and dark brown leather pants on the Beast Lord.
That's when Cain notices something new on Kone's hip that looks suspiciously like a revolver. "Is that what I think it is?"
"Almost. It's a magical artifact that stores up to six spells and activates them when you pull the trigger. But I don't have much for offensive Ranged magic right now, so it's mostly decorative." She confirms with a frown.
"What about [Boulder Toss]? It is the Earth Magic equivalent of [Meteor] but it flies forward from you until maximum range or until it hits something it can't knock down. That might be suitable to your weapon." Nila suggests.
"It's better than empty for sure. If it doesn't work out we can always try a new spell next time." Kone says optimistically, handing over the magical artifact.
The charging processs seems to take much more mana than any spell Cain has seen, dropping Nila to nearly half mana and lighting up only one of the six chambers. He quickly calls for a Mana Totem and asks the Primordial Shamans to do the same, creating an intense field of mana regeneration that refills Nila to full mana in under five seconds. By the time she's finished adding a charge, her mana pool has been topped off again.
Once the charge is complete a delicate line of script in the Gnome language appears on the charged chamber. All six are the same, so it's most likely the spell name, or a hazard warning. But it gives the artifact an elegant look, like it was engraved with fancy gold decorations.
"Hopefully I won't need this any time soon, but I feel better already with it charged and on my hip." Kone says, placing the weapon back in is holster.
"Is it time for our beach vacation now? How about we fly the remainder of the distance, since we've found something good already." Cain suggests.
"On what though? The Wolves might not do well under the desert sun, the Shamans don't fly nearly as fast as they move on land and we don't have enough Dragons to carry everyone else." Misha asks. Laura looks unhappy, clearly expecting Cain to ask her to call out Drakes, and she's already voiced her opinion on the smell of having everyone spend all day on a Drake.
"If our beloved Shamans can forgive me, I'd like to swap them for Dragons. You remember that Ice Dragon dungeon boss we faced to get the Ice bow?" Cain says.
"The defective one that never freezes anything? Yeah, I recall. That thing was huge, nearly fifty meters long if you count the tail." Misha smiles and the Shamans nod their agreement that such a thing would be a great mount. Laura looks intrigued, having not been Summoned yet at that time, and surely an ice dragon won't smell like Drakes do.
"Oath Breakers, can you take us all outside? Once we're there I'll switch things up."
That's all the prompt they need, and in seconds everyone is outside, looking at a freshly rebuilt granite gazebo covering the entrance portal to the underground city, again securely barricaded off from the surface world. Cain releases the Shaman he is merged with and then the rest of them before calling forth the Epic Ice Dragon, now a Legendary quality Summon.
If anything, it's grown even larger than when they saw it last, either because of quality or level. Two huge Ice Dragons, each over sixty meters long when stretched out, stand looking around the area before spotting Laura in her shimmering opal Dragon Form, now nearly twice the size of the average horse, long and sinuous with large wings glowing in a rainbow of color under the harsh desert sun.
"Oh Em Gee, she is adorable. Can I keep her? I swear I'll feed her and treat her well. Come over here lovely girl, let me polish your scales, you're all dusty." The closest Dragon cries in a high pitched falsetto.
"You found another weirdo." The Oath Breaker says deadpan, as if that doesn't include him.
Laura is giving Cain a desperate look, praying for help, and he decides to intervene before it becomes a fight between Dragons.
"Hi, I'm Cain. We were hoping you could give us all a ride to the coast." Cain says and the newly Summoned Dragons both turn to look at him.
"Oh my. You have amazing fashion sense, just a touch of eyeliner and a trim and you would be perfect for court. But where are my manners? I'm Danni, at your service noble Duke."
"We would appreciate it, we're headed north to Assah, I've got a map if you need."
"That's fine, I know the way from here. All aboard and let's get up and out of this insufferable heat." He calls before they both lay down for their passengers to board.
Cain dismisses everyone but his companions and the Dragons, Laura returning to her Pixie like humanoid form and joining the others in waving goodbye to Drazzit before Cain merges with all the extra Oath Breakers. The Companions all reluctantly agree to merge with their clones, other than Su, who prefers to stay as one person at all times.
There's an arched section of scales at the base of the neck in front of the wing joint that serves as a saddle, but Cain pulls a collection of silk ropes from the Guild Bank and makes simple harnesses anyhow.
"Good call, those ropes smell of Succubus and herbal oils. It's very pleasant." Danni says as Cain ties the harnesses. That's not a phrase he was expecting to hear, and he decides it's best not to think about what they were being used for last. He will buy Lickity some soft new ropes if he needs to.
A simple loop for every waist is enough to hold them on the Dragon, though Danni assures them they would be fine just relying on his magic to hold them in pace. With them all securely aboard, the Dragons take off, rising quickly to just above the sparse cloud cover, where the scorching heat has faded to a light chill.
Not enough to be unpleasant, but enough that a coat is a good call, like riding motorcycles in the spring. In fact, riding a Dragon is a similar experience, except you just ask it to change directions instead of having controls. The same breeze on the face, not fully mitigated by the wind magic the Dragons are using as they race through the sky at incredible speeds.
Riding on a Legendary Dragon is an amazing feeling, with the added bonus of having a good excuse to hold Misha, who is seated in front of him, all day long.
