Once Felix was done with the wand, he found Henry stoking the forge so he quickly refilled his mana to be sure he would have enough. Together, Felix lowered the hardness of the Starmetal and Henry molded and melted it down. Felix also helped increase the heat of the forge at Henry's direction which helped tremendously in melting the Starmetal down. They poured it out into the mold and poured the rest into ingots so it would be easier for Felix to transport. They worked for hours but neither of them tired as they worked.

Once it was all complete, they had around 360 ingots just from Felix's quarter along with his quarterstaff. Together they also did some finishing work on the staff until it was polished to an almost decorative degree. Normally, Felix and Henry wouldn't bother as the finish would just get damaged as soon as it was used, with Starmetal though, it may look like this forever. At least it should last until Felix fought something much stronger.

The staff was a little long for Felix but he was going to try and get used it to it as best he could. It was a 3 meter rod, about 3 centimeters in diameter with flat ends that were slightly tapered so they weren't sharp. The staff was a beautiful deep blue reflective metal and no matter how much Felix tried, completely unbendable.

Felix offered to help Henry turn the rest into ingots but he said he wanted to get some sleep and he would work with the wand on the rest of it. Felix would stop by in a month or so to see if he had finished the cannon but otherwise, he said farewell and activated the teleport back to his tower with his sprite in his arms.

When he arrived, he was happy to see the mana engine whirring away without so much as a tremble. He walked down into the tower with the sprite for the first time and was happy to find it didn't seem to react much to any of the materials in the tower. He descended into the sparring chamber and placed the sprite in the middle of the room.

That should be fine, there isn't anything in here other than the tower itself that it might eat.

Hey, I got an answer to the whole Dragon fiasco and it's a big one. Luckily it cost a grand total of a hundred credits since this is apparently something everyone just knows.

Big in terms of length or gravity?

Both I guess. So first, let me give the relevant background that you sort of know but I asked about to be sure. You are currently in the 256th universe to be integrated into the multiverse. A new universe is integrated into the multiverse every few hundred-million or so years. The integrations universes are kept isolated from the rest of the multiverse and no one is allowed in. Eventually, communication and people are allowed to pass through but it's gradual and very slow. Dragon's do not exist naturally as in they didn't evolve from something, there are natural born dragons, but we'll get to that later.

So the entire race started as a system evolution?

Exactly, or that's the common thought, not sure I agree but we can discuss that after. A dragon evolution is offered only once per integration to only a single individual that satisfies a bunch of requirements. No one knows the exact requirements but it's something along the lines of the strongest by a decent margin as well as being the best at something. All dragons have a theme or focus, examples are fire dragons, ice dragons, steel dragons. Each one of those was the predominant expert on that thing before their evolution, for you it would be mana. That doesn't mean the expert in the multiverse though, it means the expert in their origin universe before the end of the integration and they also have to be a prodigy. They have to be approaching the knowledge of the experts in the rest of the universe to some degree, when they were at the same age and level.

So there are 255 dragons?

No for two reasons. One, you didn't accept the evolution and it's offered once per integration. This integration won't have a dragon.

Wait really? It won't just offer it to the next best option?

Nope, that's it. Second reason, it's not always offered. This is how people know about the requirements, there are integrations where it wasn't offered at all.

How the hell would anyone know if it was or wasn't offered?

Apparently it's a huge event so it's announced when it's offered and whatnot.

So everyone knows I declined the dragon evolution?

No, it doesn't say who it was. You will be hunted down though, but no one will know who you are and they can't find you at all until the end of the integration which is pretty long.

Wait what? Why?

Have you wondered why nothing has draconic or dragon in front of it? Have you even noticed? Apparently being a dragon or comparing yourself to a dragon, naming an item draconic is not allowed. No one but dragons are worthy of the moniker. Dragons, and sentients trying to gain favor with them, will report, hunt down and sacrifice anyone who breaks that rule.

Really? That seems ridiculous.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Yeah. Anyone who they know declined a dragon evolution is also hunted down for thinking anything is superior to dragons. You don't have to worry too much though because the system will sort of protect you for the duration of the integration. It will make you impossible to identify in every way basically. So unless you tell someone you declined it, they won't know.

How long are the integrations?

Depends on how quickly the people level. In general it's a few decades to many centuries.

How high do they need to get?

Mid to high D grade apparently, but it varies. The system is just judging when the sentients seem strong enough to stand up on their own and defend themselves. Before that though, some communication will be allowed, gods for religions and tokens as an example.

So how many dragons are there?

Apparently it's hard to know for sure, but the estimate is about 50 give or take 10.

That's it? I would have thought there would be like 200. If it's close to one per integration, is it just not offered as often as I'm assuming?

Apparently there was a period where they were hunted down for the glory.

Oh… That sucks.

Yeah.

Well that's annoying. I always thought dragons were cool. Just because I don't want to be one, doesn't mean I don't want other cool dragon things. A dragon staff would be cool.

Dragon scale armor?

Oh yeah. You know, a dragon familiar was one of the familiars I wanted to look into.

Yeah, that was on my list. That's why I doubt the race was started by system evolutions, dragons existed in my universe and we didn't have a system.

Yeah, that one doesn't add up to me either. So what about natural born dragons? I take it two dragons come together and have a baby?

Yeah exactly, issue is dragon is such a powerful race, they are typically hunted down. Then they are either used as forced familiars or trained from a young age to be obedient soldiers. The current dragons just all came together and basically agreed to never have kids.

Woah, they're basically oppressed because of how strong they are.

Yeah and there just aren't enough of them to fight back in a meaningful way.

Damn, I'm pretty happy I didn't choose that race then. I take it not all dragons start at A grade then?

No, minimum is B grade, remember? Yours was just particularly strong. They also aren't always Arcane or Legendary, it depends on the focus. Apparently the lowest rarity every recorded is Epic.

What's the highest?

One of the Gods was a Legendary then evolved to Divine. Exact stat numbers aren't something anyone has apparently.

So mine was pretty good then.

Yeah I mean, mana is a pretty broad all encompassing area of focus.

Does the focus do anything?

You get racial traits apparently. Also the scales are an impenetrable defense against that focus area.

Man I really liked the idea of a little baby dragon familiar though. Then we train up together and eventually I ride it.

Felix was picturing him and a little red dragon traveling through the cosmos fighting and exploring together. He was so lost in thought, he jumped and hit the ceiling when he felt something hit his leg. He was pretty sure it was just him and Grim in the whole tower, but when he looked down he saw a tiny black dragon no bigger than a basket ball looking up at him.

[E - Uncommon] Matter Sprite (Lvl 27)

Felix calmed down quickly and examined his familiar. It was made entirely of obsidian giving the entire dragon a glassy finish. There were no scales and looking closer, no specific details. The sprite had taken the general shape of a dragon with none of the finer details, like a blurry representation of a dragon.

Huh, guess it's finally awake now. Why's it so… blurry?

It doesn't know what a dragon looks like, it just got the impressions of one from your thoughts. It probably also doesn't have precise enough control over matter just yet.

We should probably get it to change then huh? Given that I don't want to be hunted down and sacrificed on sight for having a dragon-esque familiar.

Yeah… Probably not a great idea to leave it like this.

How do I get it to change?

You know how you can feel the connection to my soul? Try to focus on your connection with the sprite and communicate intentions through that. You won't be able to speak to it, it doesn't understand any languages, but you should be able to convey intentions.

Why don't I have to focus to speak to you?

Because I'm doing all the focusing on the connection to make it easier on you. You hadn't ever had a familiar before so figured I would make it easy.

Oh… Well thanks. Wait, what form do I try to tell it to take?

You gave it a panther body so that should work, it won't be able to be much bigger than it is now though.

So it's going to be a mini panther?

You could make it a cat, they should be similar enough.

So it's going to be a black cat… as my familiar… I'm a witch.

Felix focused on the intent that dragon form was dangerous for now and that a small cat was much better. The familiar stared at him for a minute then proceeded to parade itself around the floor with it's chest out in an overly dramatic way. It ran around, flapped it's wings and mimed breathing fire everywhere. Felix got the intention both from the charade and through his soul-bond.

I know dragons are cool, I agree.

Felix tried to convey the complex thought that other people wouldn't like it and the familiar seemed to sulk and tilt it's head in confusion.

I don't care what they think either, but if we ever leave this universe, they may try and kill us for it.

The sprite sulked briefly before it's body began to morph and reshape itself like goo. It would have been slightly disturbing had Felix not found it so cool. It shaped itself into a small black cat just as Felix had imagined. It's irises were the light blue color of the flower Felix had used to bait it and it's fangs and claws seemed to be made of Ekronian.

Felix reached down to pet it and found that it's fur was incredibly soft, he was expecting it to be wiry like the alpha panther's, instead it was silky. Where the dragon form had been blurry, the cat looked just like a cat would except that it was a little more muscly like a panther and it's eyes were a little too big. Felix's mental image of a cat was closer to animated movies and cartoons than to that of a real cat and that ended up influencing it's final form a little.

The familiar opened it's little mouth and roared, which came out more like a meow before it began walking around the room getting used to it's new form. At first it tripped a few times but after a just a few minutes it was prancing, leaping and bounding around the room. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .