Reco looked at me strangely. “What do you mean you didn’t know that the system is a gift to the humanoid races?”

Maladrain interrupted before I could answer, “History isn’t exactly the expertise of village girls, Reco.”

“Sure, but I feel like it’s pretty obvious. I mean, how else would skills and classes be explained?”

{I just thought that it was just the way things were.}

Maladrain laughed. “Well, I guess you know it isn’t, now. Honestly, only the gods know for sure what they made and what would exist without them, if anything at all.”

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

The conversation fizzled out since we had addressed most of the talking points, and I ended up back in my room.

I sat Cobaltio on my bed and rolled under the sheets with him. I let him snuggle with the [soul cussion] but avoided using it myself. I wanted to spend some time thinking about what I’d do the next day- the cushion would just put me to sleep in an instant.

Going to the Sanctuary was out of the question, it seemed since the priests would know I was an oathbreaker and would apparently be hostile. Being locked up for such a dumb reason...That also meant I’d need to tell Symantha I’d changed my plans...

I also needed to visit the [drake] tamer for Cobaltio, and there were many other places I wanted to see around the city, like the skill refinery...

As if my body had adjusted to falling asleep faster than it used to, I quickly lost consciousness in the comfort of a bed better than any other I’d slept in, bar the [soul cushion]...

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

End of March 3rd.

Beginning of March 4th

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Something was nipping at my ear. I quickly swatted at it, resulting in a “HEY!” being blasted into my eardrums. I snapped awake with a grunt of annoyance. Who was bothering my sleep!?

Beside me, Cobaltio was staring at me with a defiant expression. Remembering I didn’t sleep on the [soul cushion], putting our sleep schedules out of whack, I patted Cobaltio’s head apologetically. Sorry for swatting you.

I let my legs hang off the bed and faced the door, though I was too small to actually touch the ground. Before anything else, I began my morning stretches. I felt super tired...granted, I had avoided the feeling for a whole week, so I was probably just unused to it, but either way, it felt bad.

As I got my blood pumping, I realized something strange; an anomaly. I hadn’t seen a memory while I slept. There was only one good explanation behind that, and that was that the memories were linked to the [soul cushion] in some way. Maybe it was the ghost of its previous user communicating with me or something? I didn’t really care enough to question it.

After stretching, I grabbed my bags and pet and left the house.

When I arrived at the [drake] tamer, he was behind his house, rationing precious gems between three drakes, who each boasted a different color of brilliant scales that shined against the spring sun.

It was apparent that Harmony, the purple-scaled [drake] who’d ruthlessly attacked Cobaltio yesterday, was the largest of all the drakes. Upon sensing our presence, the [drake] growled and glared at us from the backyard. Two other drakes, one blue like cobaltio and another a yellowish-white(in descending order of size) stood their guard, though were less openly aggressive.

Gungur turned around in response to Harmony’s growls. “Hey,” he said.

I held my palm up in greeting as I walked into his backyard.

“Place your [drake] somewhere safe. I’ll teach you a bit about [drake] feeds.”

I nodded and placed Cobaltio beside his back door. He beckoned me over, so I walked up to him. I tensed under the pressure of Harmony’s malice-filled gaze.

“She’s under my [order] not to hurt you or your buddy, there’s no danger.”

Easy for him to say, but I saw that thing ruthlessly crush my pet!

He kneeled and pointed to the bowl below Harmony. “Harmony is an [amethyst drake], so I feed her amethyst.”

In the bowl was tiny crystals colored a brilliant purple.

“I buy the purest amethyst, but if you raised one, I’d suggest rougher stuff, since I doubt you’d have my sort of cash to spend.”

I had learned before I left the mansion what the slate’s small nook was for. I could string a string or chain through the hole to hang it from my pack for quick use. I had scrapped together a hold for it with some simple string. I unstrung it from my backpack with exciting ease.

Slates aren’t the most fascinating things for other people, but imagine if you found a way to talk to other people way easier, like telepathy! It’d excite you too.

Actually, I never mentioned it, but since I’m on the topic, part of the reason silent angels are trained to become [mage]s and not [priest]s is that a [mage] can easily become the [teleamant] master class, who can communicate telepathically.

I pulled my chalk from the side of my bag and began writing, {What do I feed Cobaltio, though?}

Stolen story; please report.

“We will get to that.” He motioned me over to the yellow [drake] next. “This is Hubris.” He then pointed to the [drake]. “Say hi.”

The [drake] timidly leaned its neck over and sniffed me with no apparent aggression. After judging me as unthreatening, it flicked its large snakelike tongue and returned to its upright position. Didn’t Cobaltio have a humanlike tongue?

Gungur scratched Hubris’s neck, causing the [drake] to nuzzle him and hum in glee. Then, he pointed to the yellow [drake]’s food. “Hubris is a [topaz drake], he’s got a diet similar to Harmony, but topaz is much more expensive in our region.”

I was told that monsters could consume as much food as they wanted without getting full, so they could be given food in bulk. Why was he feeding the [drake]s on a daily basis if he could just shove a year’s worth into their mouths? There was probably a pretty important reason he didn’t, so I asked. {Why don’t you feed them everything at once}?

“A simple question, a lot of answers. Before I answer it, the next one is Zweilous, and he’s a [cobalt drake].”

Clearly, he preferred to answer questions not as they came up, but as they were planned to come up. Maybe some people would have felt frustrated by it, but I liked lectures or at least was used to them. My old master made certain that was the case.

“Now, there are two types of [drake]s. There are gem [drake]s and metal [drake]s. In the wild, gem and metal drakes live side by side in a symbiotic relationship. If the two species copulate, they birth a roc. They are rare because their mother tends to kill them at birth.” He pointed to the [drake]’s food, which was a vibrant stack of blue cobalt sheets. “Metal [drake]s gain more experience the better refined their food. What have you been feeding Cobaltio?”

{Chunks of cobalt.}

“And I assume he’s been attaining about 1 or 2 exp per?”

I nodded.

“You can increase that to 5 through some basic refinery. In Hannem, we have numerous refinement facilities for ores. They charge 1 gold every 10 pounds. Lonstead has a better cobalt refinery, down east.” He motioned to Cobaltio, who was absently stacking small stones to ease his sentience-driven boredom. “Strange [drake],” Gungur noted. He kneeled beside Cobaltio, placed his hand on the small [drake]’s head, and scratched it gently. Cobaltio didn’t react much to the gesture but instead looked to him with a curious, questioning look. “Not a stickler for scratches?” the man said contemplatively. He shrugged it off. “I’ll give you a lecture to help you care for him. First, I’ll put away these three.”

He led his three [drake]s into their stable, then walked back into his house. Not long after he did, a large, metal wall moved up, revealing an opening into the room where he’d treated Cobaltio the other day.

“Like my garage?” He asked with a pinch of pride as he pulled a rope pulley system, lifting the wall.

I nodded, taking a guess as to what a garage was supposed to be.

He nodded at the garage door, “Drakes can walk into the room with that door. Go ahead and place your [drake] on the pedestal.”

I moved Cobaltio to the platform, and, surprisingly, he began to roll on it like a cat in catnip. “[drake]s and [dragon]s love pedestals, don’t ask why,” Gungur said. “First, let’s check his health.” He began prodding around Cobaltio’s body, keenly observing his physical condition. Every once in a while, he’d make a grunt of surprise, but otherwise kept quiet. A few minutes later, he finished. Then looked to me, “First, why does he have opposable claws and the tounge of a human?”

I shrugged.

“Second, he’s in very good condition. Whether you know it or not, you’ve kept good care of him. I would be concerned with a few things, though. His teeth are rough because he ate hard chunks during his first few weeks, you haven’t fed him much recently, and he’s exerted his legs too much. Growing [drake]s like him don’t have fully developed muscles, so I suggest easing up on him just a little. If you’re traveling with him, carry him.”

I nodded, taking in all the information.

“Thirdly, I didn’t mention it earlier, but I’ve heard of a [dragonborn] before.”

I perked up and wrote on my slate, {Really?!}

He nodded.

After he didn’t explain further, I pressed him. {Where did you hear about [dragonborn]?}

“Hmm, I think it was in some ancient text from before the age of gods. Classes didn’t exist back then, so...it’s probably some lost piece of language.”

What nonsense...?

“‘The Dragonborns in Zaskina were beyond saving.’ that’s all the text said on the topic. Moving on, I’m going to teach you about some basic [drake] biology and how to care for this guy. You should write this down on paper.”

I fished paper and writing utensils from my bag.

“First, [drake]s usually achieve adulthood at the age of three. Keep that in mind as you raise him. He should be fighting condition within a year.

Second, make sure to feed him half a pound of cobalt a day if you can, depending on the refinement. When a [drake] goes without food for a few days, they’ll go into a ‘conservation mode’ of sorts where they use less energy on daily activities, and generally become a little more slothful. This hampers their ability to grow.

Third, take him to a vet every three months. Strange cross-breeds tend to be more susceptible to disease. I can recommend you one in the capital since you said you mentioned you were going there earlier.

Fourth, [drake]s like eating different foods on occasion, just like animals and humans. Once a month, have him eat some spinach or something. It helps strengthen his digestive system too.

Fifth, his teeth will begin falling out soon and will be replaced with his adult ones.

Sixth, monsters live as long as they are provided the necessary nutrients. Don’t forget to give him water too. Monsters don’t need much, but I’ve seen too many dehydrated pets in my day.

Seventh, he needs healthy competition, so make sure he gets exp and fights on occasion. Be sure to play with him as well.

Eighth, that [drake] is heat-blooded like a dragon, meaning he unconsciously uses magic to keep himself warm. I don’t know much about dragons, so I can’t say more than that.

Ninth, I would give you more instruction on how to deal with his behavior, but he behaves entirely different to a [drake], apparently has sentience, and is [deaf]. I can’t help you in that department.

Tenth, unscrupulous people may try to take him from you if they know what he is. Also, keep him away from the Sanctuaries of Seraph, they’ll murder him on the spot.

And eleventh, if he has a [legendary class] available, as you said, that means that he is a relevant factor in the world’s flow. It also means that some god out there wants him to succeed...”

He crossed his arms as if chilled, showing for the first time that he was a little uncomfortable. “Saya, right? You should sell him to a noble. You’re in over your head with this little guy.” He threw his arms up. “But that’s up to you.”

I shook my head, {I’ve already lost a lot because of him. Even if I had more to lose, I won’t lose anything more.}

His mouth bent into a smile. “That’s the spirit of a good [drake] tamer and the pride of a [dragon] flier. If you ever struggle with him, don’t forget to rely on others for help. Now, stay here for a few minutes.” He walked back into his house.

For about three minutes, I sat on the platform, with Cobaltio resting by my side, until he finally came back out of his house, holding four letters. “Each of them are letters of recommendation. One for a vet in the capital, one for the nearby refinery, one for a supplier of cobalt in the capital.” He also placed a small sack on the platform beside me. “That has very well refined cobalt. One small chunk should be good for a day.” I peered into the sack, revealing about thirty pebble-sized, vibrant-blue chunks. “Anything else, Saya?”

I shook my head.

He held out his hand. “Nice meeting you then.”

I shook his hand and smiled, thankful for the advice.