The next morning, Leigh is noticeably absent from Breakfast, though Dad does arrive first thing in the morning from an overnight hunting trip. Most of his haul has already been delivered in the village, but as he takes his seat he looks at me and nods.

“I left that uh, thing, you asked me for by the cellar door bud. Try not to make a huge mess?” I nod my confirmation through bites of corn porridge, and internally scoff at his aversion to anything I do with magic.

We continue to eat for several more minutes until Mom breaks the silence. “So, Sugarplum, your big day is right around the corner…” She teases, clearly trying to gauge my excitement.

“Yeah, Thanks mom.” I stifle a small laugh. “I don’t think as many people will show up as they did for Leigh’s party, but I’m more concerned with finally being able to level” I admit truthfully.

“Well, about the party.” Mom begins, picking up immediately after I stop speaking. “Your dad and I talked about it, and we both think you’re going to be pretty pretty busy after your levels come through, so we want to give you your gifts today if that’s alright?” She suggests softly. Since Mom and dad are likely the only people getting me gifts, and Leigh if she still cares for me that much, it doesn’t bother me at all.

“That’d be great Mom, Thanks!” I smile at her, happy to see her so excited.

Mom and Dad leave the table after we finish eating, and a few moments later they both return with a parcel in hand. Mom’s gift is relatively small and flat, it sounds soft when she puts it on the table. Dad had to get his from their bedroom, and carries in a large padded box that muffles any sound of the contents.

Mom hands me hers first so I quickly untie the twine holding the canvas wrapping on and toss it to the side. Folded up inside the parcel is a deep gray cape. I unfold it and immediately wrap it around my shoulders. The whole garment is a bit too short for a cloak, but comes just past my hips.

“I started making it a while ago, but having to keep it hidden from you meant that you outpaced my work. It still makes a good cape though, right?” Mom asks tentatively, clearly worried about my reaction.

I look over the garment once more, and notice a faint shimmer on the interior side. The embroidery itself was subtle, written in elvish, and only visible when reacting to mana. I’ll have to find out what magic she wove into it later. I’m curious how she did it without [Mana Crafting], another skill perhaps? The irony of a garment coming from Mom when she has a maxed out [Memory Weaver] class at level 75 is not lost on me.

“It’s perfect Mom, thank you.” I reply, getting up from my chair to embrace her in thanks. She seems almost saddened by this whole process. People always say children growing up is bittersweet, maybe for an elf with a half human child it's even worse.

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“Now bud, my gift comes in two parts” Dad interjects before I can take a seat back at the table, motioning for me to join him at the other end.

“This first.” He slides me a tiny wooden box, barely the size of my palm, that he’d kept concealed in his pocket. It separates easily, and inside on a loose bed of cotton sits a brass ring etched along its entire circumference with tiny symbols I can’t make out. I slip it on my right middle finger, looking over it curiously. I have a few theories of what it could be, but I’m not entirely sure why Daniel would be giving it to me.

“It’s a storage item” I knew it. “Barely bigger than a backpack on the inside, and it needs to be recharged if you use it too much, though it does slowly recharge a bit on its own.” Dad explains, slowly getting up from the table and pushing the larger box to the edge as he continues speaking.

“It has just enough room for you to keep your money safe from pickpockets, a spare change of clothes, some emergency food, and your real gift.” He smiles, pushing me into his chair and gesturing to the last box.

It doesn’t seem to open on the top, and instead two small doors swing out from the side, revealing a small folded red cloth with a massive black gemstone resting on it. Not a gemstone, an egg. A large black egg, it looks like polished obsidian and it takes me a moment to recall the story dad told me about his fight with a dragon many years ago.

It’s kind of small for a dragon egg.

I look up to dad and start to question him, and he interjects almost immediately. “That there is a genuine dragon egg. I’ve had professional use both [Appraisal] and [Identify] on it, it’s for real. I don’t have any of my dragon gold lying around anymore, but I figured a smart kid like you would find something to do with it. Keep it, sell it, whatever you want” Dad explains, his voice slowly growing quieter until he rests a hand on my shoulder and looks me dead in the eye.

“A lot of people died for that egg to make its way here, the dragon that laid it is dead too, if nothing else I want it to keep you alive. Okay?” He asks, though the question feels more like an order. I nod silently and look back to the egg.

Laying my hand on its side, there’s a brief feeling of stirring, and then silence. Disappointed, I flex my mana to refresh the storage ring, attuning it to my own energy, and quickly stow the egg inside. At the same moment the egg disappears, the small brass ring shrinks slightly and resizes to fit my finger.

“If you get to a big city you can pay an enchanter to Soul Bind that ring to you, or knowing you, you’ll probably figure out how to do it yourself” Dad smiles, ruffling my hair and pushing me out of the chair.

“I know you’ve got more things you want to get done today, go get 'em done and get some sleep. You turn 18 in two days” He laughs at me, and I look between Mom and Dad one more time before giving them my thanks again and practically running off to the cellar.

My last preparation. My third minion.