"Are you Level 100 yet?" Nathan asked Keith.

"Not yet," Keith answered. "Why?"

"What Level are you?"

"Level 96, why?"

"Make sure to hit Level 100 before this ends," Nathan told him. "Stop having Splashy merge into you, you keep drawing on his power too much for it to count as a challenge for you to kill things."

"Jealous?" Keith asked.

"You've gained 22 Levels," Nathan said. "I've gained more than that. No, I'm not jealous."

Though he was, if he were fully honest with himself, jealous of the others. Since they weren't as skilled as him, they earned more Experience. All of them, save for Samantha, were higher Levels than him.

Keith was the first to discover the secondary Points Earned and Points Held threshold – 25,000 in 1 Challenge and at one time. Nathan discovered the third, which was 100,000. Both added in more of the regeneration decreasing potions, as well as an additional Food Restock and Item Drop into their shops.

Nathan purchased all ten of the new regeneration decreases he could have for each and used them, boosting him tremendously, in his opinion. Now, he recovered nine Health every ten seconds and eight Mana every second.

It meant he would be able to take on some tougher Challenges than the Recommended Level. All of them could, except for Samantha, who was fuming over it, even with Nathan's promises that he'd take her in for a 200-day Survival Challenge once she gave birth, Optional Challenges turned on.

He knew it was the pregnancy hormones taking effect, as she was much more reasonable about it before getting too far into the pregnancy. At the moment, she was sleeping on the air mattress they shared, courtesy of a sleep spell from Ichtvar.

She'd probably rage when she woke up over having it used on her, but Nathan was tired of hearing her complain about not having the Levels they all had. He was going to take her in just so she could binge a lot of Levels. A 200-day trip would definitely work for that. As long as she kept up the daily fights and completed each Challenge, she would acquire the Levels needed to handle the harder waves.

Nathan looked over at Samantha, then back to Keith.

"Go hunting with William once Michael, Mitchell, and Elise return," Nathan told him. "We only have three more days, and I'm not turning on Optional Challenges next run. We're leaving the deaths to our familiars, and leaving only for the facilities and supply runs."

"Why?" Keith asked.

"Because I'm not asking Ichtvar to knock her out five minutes after she wakes up through the entire thing," Nathan answered. "That's just cruel, and she does need some exercise, so sleeping all day with the baby isn't the best idea. If we aren't going out killing shit, she's not going to complain as much. So get those last four Levels, you need to be able to do four Challenges before we return."

"Alright, alright," Keith stretched. "I'll do it. "What are you doing?"

"Cuddling Samantha," Nathan stripped down to his boxers and walked over to the air mattress.

He climbed onto it, slid one arm under the pillow, the other across Samantha, and Keith began to wonder if he'd fallen asleep or was just resting like that.

The two of them lay there for a few more hours before Samantha woke, and she was pissed, though having Nathan cuddling her calmed her – only a little. It took her a few minutes to realize that his right hand, the one draped over her, was resting against her baby bump, rather than on the mattress or one of her boobs.

He was breathing slowly and evenly, and it took her only a few more minutes to realize that at the end of each exhale of Nathan's, their son kicked.

Listening to Nathan's breathing and feeling their baby's kick at the end of each exhale calmed Samantha down, and she admitted to herself that she may have been a little unreasonable before Ichtvar cast the spell on her.

Almost an hour passed as Samantha listened and felt father and son acting in tandem, and she knew that Nathan was probably asleep. At least, until his hand began to slide upwards. To her surprise, it didn't stop at her breasts, sliding past them and up to her face.

Before she could ask what he was doing, she felt him pushing something into her mouth. A piece of chocolate.

"Really, Nathan?" She asked, only to find him shoving the rest of the piece into her mouth.

"Yes," he responded.

"The baby was kicking in tune with your breathing."

"He's a smart baby," Nathan whispered. "Now shh, and eat the chocolate."

"Why are you feeding my chocolate?" She asked.

"I forgot to put strawberries into my Item Box when I put the chocolate in."

Samantha laughed, turning over and looking into Nathan's rich, blue eyes. He reached up and put a piece of chocolate into his own mouth, chewing slowly as his hand returned to her stomach. The baby kicked again.

"I think he likes it when you're touching there," she told Nathan.

"Ichtvar told me," Nathan said. "That children of demigods are able to sense the auras of demigods, and even identify their demigod parents' instinctively."

"That's… interesting," Samantha said.

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"Indeed."

"Where are Keith and William?" She looked at the other players, and Nathan rolled his eyes. "What?"

"You go from our baby to those two lovebirds," he scoffed, then climbed off the air mattress and quickly changed.

"Lovebirds?" She asked. "Nathan, they aren't in love."

"That's what they want you to believe," he muttered, and she smacked him on the back before pulling on a top and joining him in the kitchen. "What are you doing? Go sit down."

"I'm helping you cook."

"I've got it," he shoved another piece of chocolate in her mouth as she attempted to protest. "Go sit down and relax. Stressing yourself isn't good for the baby."

"You want me to stop exercising, too?" She asked.

"No," he answered. "A healthy body makes for a healthy baby. Now go sit and relax while I make dinner."

"Fiiiiiiine."

"What are you making?" Michael asked as Samantha left the kitchen.

"Something edible."

"We make edible food!" Elise protested.

"Mostly because I've been helping," he glared at her. "Didn't you burn the pasta?"

"The first time I tried making it!" She protested.

"That's why you make sure to stir the bottom of the pan," he said. "So you don't burn the pasta. You also overcooked it."

"The first time!"

"The first four times."

"No, I didn't!"

"You did," Samantha told her. "Nathan, the baby wants something fruity."

He threw an orange at her, which she caught. They both knew that had he thrown it at what he could, and not with his pre-System strength, she wouldn't have caught it. She barely managed to catch it then. Being pregnant with his son did affect her reflexes, a lot more than she'd expected.

"Seriously?" She asked.

"Yes."

"You had that in your Item Box just in case?" She asked.

"Yes," he answered. "Now shut up and let me cook."

An hour later, everyone was seated at a table, eating the chicken and rice that Nathan had made, smelling the apple pie he'd put into the oven. After dinner, William and Elise washed the dishes as Nathan played with Legos, enchanting the pieces as he constructed the dragon.

"What's the dragon going to do?" Samantha sat next to him, only to find a container of blueberries being set in front of her. "Nathan, he's not craving them right now."

"Sure he isn't," Nathan finished enchanting the brick, then fixed it into place.

"So what are you enchanting the dragon to do this time?" She asked.

"Fly," he answered.

The last three dragons all flew just fine, and the last one even floated in place, the first of his flying creations to not need to be in a state of constant motion until the enchantment ran out.

"And breathe fire?" She asked. "You haven't made any of them breathe fire yet."

"It's not like with the cards," Nathan told her. "I don't have any fire mana crystals, which I would need in order to make it breathe fire."

"What's the difference between it breathing fire and it flying?" She asked.

"The type of magic involved," Nathan answered. "There's no magic being emitted out of the item while flying, nor in the defensive magics worked into it. For it to breathe fire, it projects magic out."

"But when you were doing the ships," she said. "You had the figures moving around and the ship shooting cannonballs."

"The enchantments also didn't last long," he shook his head. "And the cannonballs were pieces of plastic I already had. They were shot with magic, but they themselves were not. And for someone not craving something fruity, you sure went through those blueberries fast."

"What?" Samantha asked, then looked at the container of berries.

The empty container.

"Oh-" she found herself cut off as another piece of chocolate was pushed into her mouth. She chewed it and swallowed before speaking again. "Will you stop doing that?"

"Doesn't chocolate make women less moody?"

Samantha almost snapped at Nathan before realizing he was completely serious in that thought. Nathan genuinely thought that giving her a lot of chocolate would keep her calmer during her pregnancy.

"Nathan," she sighed. "You can't just keep shoving it in my mouth. Especially not randomly."

"I think the baby likes it."

"He likes the chocolate, not you shoving it into my mouth," she told him. "And he likes fruity stuff even more. Jeez, I'm craving it right now."

"He's hungry," Nathan shrugged, setting another container of blueberries in front of her. "Here. Eat up."

Nathan then pulled a card out of his Card Box and activated it, removing a bundle of chocolate bars. He set that in front of Samantha, then returned to his enchanting.

"Can I have a piece?"

Samantha looked up to find Ichtvar floating in front of her, looking at her expectantly.

"Not going to ask Nathan?"

"He ignores me when he's focused on his enchanting," Ichtvar said. "I could probably set his hair on fire. Or nip at his ears. By the way – don't do that, he'd probably smack you."

"I know," Samantha told him, offering up a chocolate bar, which the phoenix took into one of its talons. "I've never seen you actually eat chocolate unless Nathan is feeding it to you. How do you eat with your talons?"

Ichtvar tilted his head in thought, then shrugged, bending his legs forward and up while moving the tips of his wings in front of him. Swiftly, using the tips of his wings and moving the chocolate bar with his talons, Ichtvar unwrapped it, then tilted his head forward and took a bite.

"Like that," he said after swallowing. "Any other weird questions?"

"No," she answered. "But I do have another question – do you go through the whole, bursting-into-flames-reborn-from-the-ashes thing?"

"Yes," he answered. "But only when I die or choose to die. I'm unable to do the latter while contracted without my contractor's permission. Doesn't mean I can't just kill myself, but that's a different story and will probably result in me losing chocolate privileges with Nathan for awhile."

"Do you gain any benefits for being reborn?" She asked.

"Several," he answered. "I retain all of my previous power while still gaining the growth spurts during adolescence that all magical creatures and people acquire. Even you all gained some boosts to your magic while going through puberty, despite not having awakened your magic."

"Doesn't that mean you could just keep dying over and over to increase your magical power?" She asked.

"Well, yeah," Ichtvar said. "But it's not beneficial to do that. It takes a few years to return to adulthood, for instance. If we die before then, we lose all of the power we gained during that birth. In addition, the less time that's passed between births, the longer it takes for us to recover. We also acquire a bigger growing time boost the more power we gained in our last birth."

Ichtvar puffed up his chest.

"I have proudly lived for fifteen centuries without dying," he boasted. "That's my longest streak, and is unusual for a phoenix. Most only go a thousand years before dying to collect a new boost."

While that was true, the real reason Ichtvar hadn't let himself die so he could collect on another growing-time boost was because it wouldn't be easy to collect and eat chocolate as a hatchling, not until he'd grown a bit.

"What happens if someone scatters your ashes?" She asked. "Before you're reborn."

"Ha!" Ichtvar laughed. "As if that would stop us from being reborn. I once had my ashes scattered and submerged in water. Still here, as you can see."

"What happened?" Samantha asked.

"The ashes of a phoenix are special," he told her. "They always return to each other, and always form up into an egg. The longer we've lived in the previous birth, the faster that happens and the faster we hatch out of it. If I were to die right now, I'd likely be born again in a few minutes.

"Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go share this chocolate with Sparky," Ichtvar flew off.

Nathan gave Samantha an incredulous look.

"How does a storm elemental eat chocolate?"