Richard as well as the others rushed over to the center of the storm, finding a very familiar crab standing a distance away from a very familiar octopus.

Before Richard could rush over to Krackle, however, he was halted by sister Alexandria.

Richard gave her a questioning look as he watched the burgeoning storm, growing and darkening with every second.

"Sister..." he said worried as he looked at his familiar. Out of all of them, Krackle had been the most independent, and the one he spent the least time with, but that did not stamp out the sense of duty he felt to his familiar.

They were his responsibility after all.

The wyrm shook her head. "You cannot interfere; this is a heavenly tribulation. Any interference on our part will merely worsen the storm."

Heavenly tribulation? He'd heard it, yet he still didn't understand. Why was this storm coming for Krackle? Why did it feel divine? Why did he feel like the only one who didn't know what it was?

Atlas wriggled sluggishly, as if signifying that no, Richard wasn't the only one who wasn't aware.

Achil simply didn't care, merely observing.

Panda was the one who stepped forwards to explain. "Once you pass a certain stage, you face a heavenly tribulation, where the "heavens" test you by sending strikes of lightning down on you. If you fail, you die. Survive, and you pass a new rank." the squirrel's brow furrowed as he looked at the octopus standing at the center of it all.

"Frankly" he admitted, "for monsters it's usually not worth the danger of cultivation, mana based creatures don't need to cultivate. It's too dangerous usually, and many are often killed after ascending to the next level."

This did not make Richard feel better by any means, and it left him unsure why Krackle felt so desperate to grow so quickly.

"I don't get it." he admitted out loud. "I understand that Krackle wants to grow stronger, but weren't they already growing? Why does Krackle feel the need to grow faster?"

Richard didn't understand. He couldn't.

For him, the very fact that he had gone from cursed child to dragon had warped his perception, inhibited by the books he read.

He was B-rank. To him, that was strong.

The young dragon had grown so strong, so fast, of course he felt confident in his growth.

Not proud per say, but confident that it was good growth.

He wasn't like Krackle or Panda, who felt the true, primal urge as monsters, who did not feel that same jump.

To them, they had grown, but not grown fast enough.

The drake was a haunting memory to Richard, but acceptable. This world was dangerous, dangers like that were bound to show up. A reasonable danger, one that would be outgrown as he grew, something he was confident in.

Death was not new to him. He had already faced death, and a fate worse than death in some aspects.

As had Panda. Mammalian monsters were in fact, not meant to hatch from eggs, and the one the system had made for him had been made to replace his dying mother, and to save the dying demigod.

But for Krackle, it had been an upsetting moment, something to remind them why they needed to grow.

It lit the flame of desire for her, pushing her to take such a risk in pursuit of power.

Sister Alexandria gave Richard an indescribable look before sighing.

In some ways, Richard was indeed great, the way he worked carefully and steadily, but she could see Richard lacked that same fire. He had goals... but that was all they were. Goals.

He was too careful and wasn't able to understand that same drive nearly all monsters had.

"Just stay out of it." said Panda.

Richard understood that he wouldn't be able to truly comprehend Krackle's reasoning, and that he couldn't interfere, and could only support Krackle.

So, he gave a simple thumbs up, in hopes of signaling his support.

Krackle waived back in response, as gratitude came through their connection.

----------------------------------------

Krackle was ready.

Almost as if in response, the storm came down in its first strike.

The strike came down swiftly, as Krackle could feel the lightning burning all throughout their body.

It was a scorching, strong pain that was unlike anything Krackle had ever faced before.

If Krackle could scream, perhaps Krackle would scream.

All they could do is thrash helplessly and struggle against the first strike.

They could see master's face, full of concern and worry.

The concern filled Krackle with energy.

For master, Krackle defied the Heavens.

Come!

----------------------------------------

Richard could feel krackle's pain through the connection, for the cephalopod could not hold their pain back as it flowed through, agony beyond compare.

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Richard almost went over, determined to help, but held back, realizing that he couldn't help.

The storm was not something he could stop, something beyond his reach.

'Not even karkinos may stop the heavens'

The god crab could not defy the heavens either, nor would he.

Richard was just helpless to stop it, but he couldn't for it was something divine, something godly.

All he could do was watch as 8 more strikes came down in succession.

He felt helpless, merely forced to watch.

This was just how things were when it came to gods.

----------------------------------------

After an hour of the storm coming down, eventually the storm receded, perhaps satisfied, or simply finished with what it had done.

With the storm receding, Richard was the first to rush forward, no longer intimidated by the storm standing in his way.

Krackle looked ashen, covered in a fine layer of dust and dirt, formed from the scarred flesh of the octopus.

Blood could be seen splattered across the ground.

And yet, Krackle felt... happy.

'Krackle has grown! Krackle is stronger now!'

Richard felt relieved.

He noticed that despite all the visceral remains around them, Krackle themself seemed just fine, better even.

"Congrats, Krackle! I knew you could do it!" he assured his familiar, sending his reassurance to the octopus, and received joy in turn.

Panda snorted as he walked up and explained.

"Tribulations are dangerous, but it also strengthens your body if you survive. Now that Krackle is in the next stage, their power has grown greatly, and their lifespan increased."

Ah, lifespan. Richard hadn't really considered it, how long Krackle would live.

Richard felt shortsighted right now, having never considered how long any of his familiars would live.

[Krackle would theoretically live for 80 years, bar any obstacles]

80 years? But that's so little!

[It would be less if Krackle found a mate. Octopi monsters, like natural octopi, die upon mating.]

oh.

Richard felt awkward, because although he knew about this octopus fact, something he had discovered in the books at the temple, at the most obscure corner.

And yet he hadn't even considered applying these biological facts to the familiar next to him.

What about Panda?

[9000 years. Human demigods lifespan varies depending on many factors, but for monsters, generally demigods will live for millenia]

A weight that Richard did not realize was there dissipated.

Richard locked eyes with Panda.

"What're you looking at?" he snapped.

"Nothing." Richard quickly responded.

[Not that it matters.]

'Pardon?'

[Have you forgotten the familiar contract spell you used?]

Richard had not forgotten it actually.

But why did this matter?

[The book of oaths is a contract specifically developed by beast tamer cultivators who live in the north pole, seeking to increase their lifespans. One of these is by hitching their lifespan onto their familiars.

All who are bound to the book of oaths share the same lifespan. Whoever lives the longest essentially determines how long all connected would live. once this person dies, the book connects to the next longest living being in question, who now acts as the lifeline.

This all becomes irrelevant if the owner dies of course.]

What?

Why wasn't he told about that?!

[The system encourages you to ask questions specifically for scenarios such as this. ]

[Also, you are the longest living creature in the contract.]

Richard... wasn't sure how to deal with all of this.

On the bright side, it meant he didn't have to worry about any of his familiars, since he, as a dragon, would live for 10000 years.

[Anyway, now that Krackle has broken into the foundation establishment stage, they can live up to 160 years, if they stopped cultivating here.]

Richard asked about what he thought more important.

"What about his stats?" Richard asked, noting physical differences that his familiar had undergone.

Like the crystals emerging from his suckers.

[...]

[Unfortunately, the system is not currently able to properly record cultivation levels, and is still preparing to do that.]

Richard raised his eyebrows. "When will you be able to, then?" he asked as he noticed that Krackle's beak had also changed into another crystal-like substance.

[Unknown. Currently, ignoring your familiar there are few "cultivators" in the system, mostly by chance.]

[The system currently has no plans to incorporate cultivators into the system, due to their... eccentricity]

Richard's eyebrows crinkled. "Couldn't you just calculate the states and incorporate them into the mana stats?" cultivation or not, the stats should still be stats, descriptions about the estimates of strength.

[No. attempting to measure qi and mana on the same stat page rarely works out well.]

Richard sighed. "So basically, I can't measure Krackle's states using the stat page?" he asked. It was weird how the system page was unwilling to just place the stats of qi into the system.

He could still estimate, by observing Krackle's strength firsthand, but still, it was a weird issue the system had.

[Correct]

[For now. When the system begins incorporating the familiars, the system may begin incorporating stats]

"Fine. Has Krackle's species changed?" he asked, observing the changes.

On one hand, he could just use appraisal, but given the system was showing him nothing regarding Qi, who knew whether it would show him any race changes in regards to qi.

[Those are merely physical changes.]

[Until Krackle's bloodline begins inhibiting their evolution, Krackle will not evolve as a spiritual beast. Octopulse is a mid tier monster, so currently, he will likely have no problem until he needs to form his golden core.]

[Assuming you don't evolve him until then of course, which will then elevate his bloodline, which should increase his bloodline potential]

Too much for Richard, he merely turned to Krackle instead, to congratulate his familiar on their efforts instead.

Too much had happened today for Richard, and he just wanted to settle down for the day.

----------------------------------------

At the encampment of the two paladins and the student Galileo, another silhouette appeared. Galileo was already on guard, but Copernicus and Scave were expecting this man.

"Yo."

"Devy, good to see you again!"

The man, dressed in dark green armor with small highlights of purple swatted the hand of Copernicus. He was a tall man, towering even, double the height of Galileo's master. He also wore a dark black helmet, which only served as a stark contrast to the man's red eyes.

"I told you, my name is Devis of the Statum family." he said as he observed the dissipating storm.

"Ah, a tribulation." he said as he watched, annoyance swelled on his face. "You complained for nothing." he complained.

Copernicus rolled his eyes. "Come on now, you were supposed to be here days ago."

Devis glared at the paladin. "And I would've been, were it not for one of your paladins going rogue." he said coldly staring down Copernicus.

"There's no proof." Copernicus denied.

Devis harrumphed. "No evidence? He traveled to a random outpost in the middle of nowhere, and the temple of Jorvus Mars starts receiving reports of murdered beastmen, and festering resentment between humans and non-humans, as well as signs that the church of Isis are involved." He glared at Copernicus.

"Well!?"

Copernicus got up as his presence became different from what Galileo usually saw, no longer laid back, but murderous even.

"What are you insinuating?" he said through gritted teeth, his presence scaring Galileo off.

The two of them were staring each other down with looks that could kill, no stamp out life with such intensity.

It was thankfully interrupted by Scave.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen" he announced, as he separated the two of them, carefully dividing them with his hands.

"We can discuss these things later. The churches sent us here to investigate something else, hm? Why don't we put this matter aside for the moment, yes?" he asked in a friendly voice. Devis sighed. "Sure, lets get this done quickly, I have other matters to attend to."

Copernicus calmed down as well, though his casual laid back appearance was not quite as laxed.

Now that Devis was here, they could set out to locating the dragon.