Joe accepted the party invitation sent by Belstak and immediately received a text-based message from him in the HUD of his CGS.

Joe, I don't know how to navigate these tunnels. I don't want to make an undignified mess in this cavern, can you assist me in getting out of here?

Without even replying to his message Joe used Backtrack to get down to the cavern to help out the young dragon.

“I didn't even think about that issue, Belstak, sorry. I'll use magic to take you outside now, as the circuitous path through the tunnels isn't quick.”

The young frost dragon was a little startled by the sudden change from cavern to bright morning sun under the open sky. Belstak used one of his wings to shade his eyes from the bright light.

“Ack! A little more warning would have been appreciated. Although I have plenty of memories of the sun, this is the first time these eyes have seen it, and it's a little bright,” Belstak complained.

“Sorry, I didn't know how urgent your current need was, so figured expediency was better. I'm used to day old creatures not having any control over their bowels. Besides, you ate a ton of food yesterday. No idea how much of that needs to come back out.”

“I am not having that conversation, Joe. It's unseemly,” Belstak asserted.

“Yes, good point. You take care of what you need to and I'll make us both some breakfast. How would you liked cooked venison sausages?” asked Joe.

“Mmm, yes, that sounds delightful. It looks like I can track your location on my map, so I'll come to you when I'm done. Sound good?”

Joe agreed and half expected the dragon to flap his wings and fly off to the forest, but instead Belstak just started walking. Considering he was not even a day old, he probably couldn't fly yet, so Joe shouldn't be too surprised.

Joe teleported back to his cabin and immediately began cooking up a couple of kilos of venison sausage from a chest with Preservation cast on it by Ferrite. He didn't know how hungry Belstak would be, but wanted to make sure there was at least enough food so he could get a couple of bites in before the dragon ate the rest. In fact, before Belstak showed up at his door Joe skewered a cooked sausage with one of his claws and popped it into his mouth, just in case Belstak was as hungry as he had been the previous day.

I'm outside your door. The meat smells delicious, Joe received in his HUD.

Joe opened the door and invited Belstak to enter as he piled most of the sausages on a plate. “Where do you want me to set this plate? I don't want to make more assumptions,” Joe asked.

Belstak pointed to the table and after Joe placed it down Belstak rose up on his back legs and leaned on the table to start eating. Joe cleaned up from his cooking and ate another sausage himself while waiting for the hungry young dragon to finish his meal.

“Thank you very much, it was very good,” offered Belstak.

Joe took the empty plate from the table and cleaned it off as well before sitting down at the table himself. “Is it alright if I discuss a few things with you?”

“Certainly. Your curiosity is to be expected,” Belstak replied.

“Thank you. First, I assume you have the CGS interface v3 like I do. All of the rest of the townspeople have v2 and it's too soon for them to upgrade again. You seem to have yours from the start.”

“Yes. In my ancestral memories I remember the physical Guidebooks that the humanoid species had. That would be unworkable to one such as myself, so the CGS gave me an option that works much easier. I tried to connect to Ferric first, but it told me he was ineligible due to an interface compatibility issue. I'm glad you were available. I'm still learning everything I can do with this.”

“What is your class?”

“I have not picked one yet. Normally I understand it's a matter that must be addressed immediately, but due to my unique situation as the first of my kind with access to the CGS it has granted me a dispensation so I have until the end of the week to make my choice. I'm not entirely sure yet what choice I wish to make.”

“Do you know why your people lost their sapience?”

“As near as I can tell it wasn't something that affected existing dragons, but whatever did occur made the next generation all hatch with the lesser intellect. I don't even know who would have done such a thing, as our kingdoms were on good relations with the humanoids as far as I could tell.”

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“I've read a couple of books about dragons from a library and there was nothing about them once being intelligent and having kingdoms. How long ago did the change happen?”

“I couldn't say. Dragons are long-lived and after we lost our intelligence we didn't keep track of the passage of time as it didn't mean anything any longer.”

“What do you want to do with yourself now that you're aware enough to make that choice?”

“Is it too lofty a goal to wish to return my people to what they once were?”

Joe chuckled gently at Belstak's response, “Not in the slightest. I don't know how you'd go about it, though.”

“That object in the cavern, the mana diamond. If we bring other dragon eggs to it then they'll undergo the same transformation that I did. Maybe if enough of us are awakened we'll have enough collective memories between us to figure out what happened and find another way to reverse it.”

Joe nodded at Belstak's suggestion. “I guess that means you're going to help us protect this town?”

Belstak was taken aback at the phrasing of the question and thought about it for a moment, “Yes, I guess if the presence of that source of power were made known everyone would want to take it for themselves. It will be a few years until my body is mature enough for me to put up a substantial fight, though.”

“That's okay, that's where the CGS comes in. Your class could help fill in the gap in the meantime.”

Belstak thought that over and gave a nod. “Indeed. I will ponder the choices I have and decide which one best fits my goals, then.”

With that Belstak went on his way, leaving Joe to get back to his morning chores such as tending to the Thessal Leaves in the greenhouse. After that Joe spent some hours working on designs for a communication device. He spent most of the time just examining the manachlorian patterns for his Karmic Bond spell, feeling like something there would provide the answer.

After most of the day drawing the patterns and trying to figure out how to adjust them Joe reached a breakthrough. His Sense Manachlorians and Read Aura abilities both reached Rank 5. He could now understand what parts of the patterns were what and how to tweak them to do what he wanted in his schematic. His Schematic Drafting skill went up to level 8 by the time he had a preliminary design complete. He gathered up all of the raw materials he would need and arranged with Melanie to have the smithy the next day or two to make the prototype.

Joe knew that this design would need to be enchanted as it would be for emergency communication and you didn't want to wait to charge up a magisteel circuit in an emergency. Joe cast Imbue Metallic Object and used his Advanced Imbuing ability to set some mana aside for his Illusary Rendering spell, which he used to guide his crafting. First he made some glass discs and smaller shallow glass domes. After that Joe started making a couple of tablet-sized metal plates. He pulled wire from magisteel and then started carving the patterns into the tablets and filled them with the magisteel wire. Joe coated the tablets with more regular steel, with connection points for some of the wire to go through the top steel plating. Next came indentations for the glass discs and domes, one of each on each of the tablets. Under the dome he placed a lens taken from an oraculasaurus eye. At the bottom of the tablet, under the location of the larger disc he had two small boxes made of quartz crystal. Each part of the tablet was connected to its opposite counterpart on the other tablet. The domed lens on one was connected to the larger glass disc on the other, and each quartz box was connected to the other one of the other tablet. Each connected part had a Karmic Bond pattern linking them to each other.

Also, because it was made from glass and quartz Joe put a Deflection Field pattern under the whole thing to keep it protected from damage. In the end it did take two days to complete both tablets and a he had fed a lot of mana into the devices. Despite being two physically separate objects they were connected magically so his single Imbue Metallic Object worked on both at the same time.

W- Created new arcane device!

T- Obtained enchanted items!

You have received CWEST experience for creating a bonded pair of Arcane Communication Tablets.

Strengthened Arcane Communication Tablets (Very Rare). These bonded tablets allow instant audio and visual communication between them regardless of distance. A button is located between the audio boxes to make a sound emit from the paired device to alert the other owner of the intent to communicate. Another button is present at the top to toggle on and off the transmission of the audio/visual connection. A low level protection enchantment is placed on each tablet to ensure they do not break from normal wear and tear.

The description was exactly what Joe intended, so it looked perfect. He also gained a level in his Arcane Gadgeteer profession which provided both a new ability and spell. He also gained a level in his Illusory Rendering and Imbue Metallic Object spells. Focus, Meditation, and Mana Channeling also went up a level each.

Test Pattern (Rank 1), Active. This ability lets the user test the output of a manachlorian pattern without needed to physically manifest it. This ability can be used on a visual representation, whether real or illusory, of a pattern, or on a physically created pattern. Regardless the result is only known to the user as the results are sent to their Guidebook.

Key Attribute: Intelligence

Transmute Material (Level 1). This spell allows the caster to temporarily transform any non-living material to another type of material. The output material options are based on the spell's level. That maximum volume of material that can be transformed is 10 centimeters per spell level, cubed. The spell lasts for 1 minute per spell level. The current material outputs available are: Softwood (any).

Mana cost: 500 mana per casting

Illusory Rendering (Level 5). This spell allows the caster to recreate any schematic they have designed as an illusion in front of them. The caster can manipulate the illusion to overlay any part they are working on to ensure it matches the schematic. Overlaying parts while crafting improves their quality and the speed with which the caster makes them and the overall compatibility of the design as a whole.

The caster can alter the design from its original state while it is being represented in illusion.

Mana cost: 5 mana per minute.