In the morning, during breakfast, I break it to the kids that I will be leaving for a few days. Haku takes it well, Ekard not so much, he even throws a fit at the table. When that doesn't work he runs off, probably to find a place to sulk.

Kechara says "Don't worry, dad, I will find him."

"Sorry, Kechara. I will make it up to you!"

Haku finishes his breakfast then comes over and rubs against my leg until I pick him up. Then he gives me a hug for a minute before running off to find his brother. Asuna and I go looking for Zamart after we are done eating, we find him still in the library.

"Zamart, please don't tell me you stayed up all night reading and forgot to learn the spell?"

Zamart says "No, no! I learned the spell!"

"Good! Do you know how long it will last?"

Zamart says "Well, I haven't tested it out but I would guess an hour or two."

"Good, that should be enough time for me to fly down the mountain."

Zamart says "Should I cast the spell now?"

"Yui, anything I need to take care of before I go?"

Yui says "No, everything should be fine. Have a safe journey!"

"Alright, Zamart, go ahead."

Asuna stands nervously as Zamart casts the spell, when the spell is finished she slowly starts to shrink. When the spell finishes Asuna is the size of a house cat and so adorable it is painful. I pick her up in my arms and start petting her, it is impossible to resist her.

After nodding my thanks to Zamart I head for the tower's main entrance. Since I don't know how long the spell will last I can't afford to waste any time. As soon as I get outside the tower I bring out my wings and start flying down the mountain.

Asuna squeals in joy as soon as we are in the air, she is super excited to be flying. While I am focused on flying she is trying to look at everything at once and not miss anything. As I fly I continue petting her, trying to keep her from moving around too much.

The mountain is so huge that even two hours might not be long enough. So I fly hard and try to cover as much ground as I can before the shrink spell wears off. Asuna just enjoys the ride, the view, and of course the attention I am giving her.

It isn't like I blame her, the scenery is truly impressive, but I am jealous because I can't enjoy it. That is unless I want to crash into a tree or rock, the winds on the mountain are unpredictable. Thanks to that I have to pay complete attention to my flying, or else suffer the consequences.

Asuna says "Daddy, this is amazing!!"

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"So, I take it, you like flying?"

Asuna says "Yes! Very much!"

"That's good, this would be harder if you were scared."

Asuna gives me a smile and licks my face before going back to watching the scenery pass. We are about three quarters of the way down the mountain when I notice Asuna's weight increasing. I instantly backwing to reduce my speed and start looking for a place to land.

Once I spot a place I head straight for it, I can feel Asuna getting bigger in my arms. Unfortunately, Asuna's weight increases too fast for me to reach the spot I was aiming for. Her increased weight pulls me down faster than planned, causing me to smash through a tree before crashing to the ground.

By the time I pick myself up Asuna has returned to her normal size, she doesn't look injured. Just to be safe I throw a healing spell over her then use the cleaning stone on both of us. Luckily, the snow is fairly deep so it cushioned us when we crash landed.

Touching Asuna so that I can walk on the snow like she does, we start walking down the mountain. In some places the snow is waist deep on me so having Asuna along proves very useful. When we reach the base of the mountain we stop for lunch and Asuna keeps a tail touching me so I don't sink.

She is very happy with the food, especially since I have some things the tower doesn't. It is obvious that she sees all this as a great adventure, but it makes me feel bad for leaving her cooped up in the tower. The tower is great for people, especially mages, but not so much for mana beasts.

I need to find another option as soon as I can, for both of them, although Kechara is a bit better off. After all, she flies around the mountain regularly to maintain the barrier. So at least she can go outside and fly around, but Asuna can't do that.

Unfortunately, the portals aren't big enough for them to go through to Illium either. At least not now that they have grown so big, another reason I need to get the items for them. All this goes through my head while I am eating, I haven't even tasted my food.

Asuna on the other hand seems to be really enjoying her food from what I can see. I am glad to see that she stops eating to look around every few bites, staying aware of her surroundings. Once she is done eating I clean up everything and get ready to set off.

Asuna says "Daddy, do you want to ride me?"

"Are you sure I can? I am pretty heavy!"

Asuna says "I'm sure! I'm big and strong now!"

"Alright, we'll give it a try."

So I carefully climb onto Asuna's back, trying to find a place where I won't hinder her movement. It would be much easier if she had a saddle, but I try my best riding bareback. For a while it works, with me pointing the direction, until Asuna stops, panting and wheezing.

"I knew I was too heavy! Here drink and catch your breath!"

Asuna says "Sorry, dad. It's not that you are heavy, I'm just not used to running for so long."

"That's because there is no room to run around in the tower, I'm sorry for that."

Asuna says "Don't be, dad. I love living in the tower with Kechara!"

"For now it is the best option, but someday I want a home for all of us."

Asuna says "That would be nice!"

"For now I think we are going to need some help."

'Summon Mount!'

When Lizzy appears she is curled up and instantly sinks deep into the snow. From the angry snort and unhappy hiss I am guessing she was asleep when I summoned her. As she stands up and tries to shake the snow off I take a few prudent steps backwards.

Lizzy says "Did you have to summon me here of all places?"

"I thought the cold didn't bother you?"

Lizzy says "It doesn't hinder me, that doesn't mean I like it!"

"Sorry to have disturbed your sleep!"

Lizzy says "I thought you were hiding in the tower? What's going on? Hello Asuna!"

Asuna says "Hello Lizzy!"

"I was not hiding in the tower! Right now we are heading for a meeting with the Ox tribe, then we need to find a mana beast to save Myria."

Lizzy says "Save Myria? What happened?"

So I quickly fill Lizzy in on the experiment and everything that happened with Myria. Then I explain to her about the idea of using the heart of a mana beast to fix things. As I am explaining things I notice that Lizzy doesn't have her saddle, which will complicate things.