Sophie returned Garadia, Lone, and herself to their bedroom as soon as she was satisfied with hugging the fluffy Dragon baby.
Lone placed the curious Garadia on the sheets before he summoned Kyuubi. Naturally, the tiny Foxkin was sleeping peacefully. Lone carefully put her down next to Garadia. "This is Kyuubi, your older sister."
Garadia slowly walked around Kyuubi and sniffed her. This continued for a few moments until she finally settled down and curled her soft and fluffy body around the tiny Foxkin. Feeling this new warmth, Kyuubi, still asleep, cuddled Garadia, surprising the baby Dragon.
Both Lone and Sophie could tell that Garadia was quite intelligent despite only having just been born. Such was the nature of Dragons, so they expected her to treat Kyuubi well and equally despite their differences.
Watching his two adoptive daughters interact like this warmed Lone's heart and brought a smile to his lips. Sophie wasn't much better. She was struggling very hard to not squeal out from how cute the two girls were being.
Lone took this opportunity before Sophie began questioning him to use Clicker's power on Garadia and view her status.
Status Name: Garadia Sex: Female Age: 0 Level: 32 Species: Dragon Rank: H Race: Purebred Elder Radiance Dragon HP: 30,430/30,430 SP: 1,810/1,810 MP: 1,008,200/1,008,200 Basic Stats Strength: 302 Vigour: 3,043 Dexterity: 123 Agility: 276 Vitality: 181 Luck: 5,000 Secret Stats Might: 17 Charm: 32 Magic Power: 100,820
'As expected of a baby Dragon born directly from a Primal Essence... She almost has as much MP as Eolande, and she's only at H-rank... Speaking of which, did she skip the barrier at the peak of I-rank? Either that, or it was trivial to her... It could also be that her soul remembers breaking that barrier in the past before her death...' Lone was having a field day with his thoughts.
'Still, what's 'Might? I've never seen that stat before,' Lone thought as he activated Clicker's power once more.
Might Grants the host the ability to wield the language of magic and use it to command lower lifeforms. Effects will vary depending on the stat's number.
'That's kind of insane. Will Ythmagobla have that ability too? He never used it in his first assault, so maybe he doesn't have it?' Lone was worrying that this powerful stat was a gift granted to all Dragons. Shaking his head, Lone decided to move on and began pondering over Garadia's rank and level.
He knew that Dragons grew to be SSS-rankers very quickly, Lone had read as much. The slowest recorded Dragon to reach SSS-rank was an Iron Dragon, one of the weakest Dragon races, and even for this particular one, it only took it ten-years to reach the rank which would take most Humanoid species centuries to obtain at the fastest speed.
Of course, Lone was also aware that Garadia was being boosted by the world tree, Elestia, passively, which explained how she was levelling up.
Lone was fully intent on treating Garadia like a daughter and showering her with as much love as he gave Kyuubi, but still, he couldn't help wondering how soon it would be before she was competent in battle.
Sophie finally stopped staring at Kyuubi and Garadia with affection once the baby Dragon had dozed off in Kyuubi's embrace. The short girl turned to Lone and tilted her head in confusion. "So... I'm really happy that we got a pet Dragon that's really fluffy... but, um, why? And why did that Primal Essence seem so nice?"
Lone took a seat beside the infants on the bed and sighed lightly. "She isn't a pet, she's our new daughter, Garadia, a Radiance Dragon."
Sophie placed herself next to Lone and listened patiently as he explained everything that had happened in Radiance's pocket dimension as well as everything that she had told him.
Tears were spilling out of Sophie's emerald-coloured eyes in no time after having heard the full story. "That's so sad!"
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Sophie immediately scooped up both Kyuubi and Garadia and cuddled them both. As usual, Kyuubi remained asleep, however, Garadia was startled awake.
The Dragon looked around in a panic momentarily before she noticed that her slumber had been disturbed by the strange Human that had hugged her earlier, so she closed her eyes again and got comfortable as soon as Sophie placed the two babies on her lap.
"I can't believe that stupid lizard! He murdered something so cute!" Sophie was furious. "Lone, you have kill him for harming Garadia! That's an affront to all things fluffy and he needs to be punished!"
Lone chuckled at how adorable Sophie was being. "Your reasoning is strange. It's funny actually. Ythmagobla thinks that Garadia, the old one who was far stronger than this reborn one, is still alive."
"What an idiot. How can you not know that you killed somebody? All the more reason to punish him!" Sophie really was the Pope of the Fluffy Church no matter how Lone looked at her. Such passion scared him a bit and made his tails quiver slightly.
Lone moved onto the other side of the sheets and laid down. He and Sophie were still in their sleepwear, after all.
"He was in a berserk state under the control of Clicker's powers. Something like me when Void or Sky took control of my body," Lone loosely explained before he pulled Sophie and the children down into his large arms.
"Anyway, I'm exhausted. Radiance used a lot of my mana and almost all of my remaining stamina, so let's sleep, yeah?" Lone suggested as he lightly kissed his Fiancée's head and closed his eyes.
"Mmm," Sophie happily agreed.
Within their loving arms, Garadia felt something strange. Naturally, as a Dragon, she could understand everything that Lone and Sophie had been saying. So she had heard Lone's explanation of Radiance to Sophie. The baby Dragon couldn't remember her past life. Her soul had been retained, however, her memories hadn't.
This was an entirely new life for Garadia. Normally, even under very special circumstances, for a being as mighty as a Dragon to accept a mortal as their equal, it took an incredible amount of luck, fortune, goodwill and many other factors.
However, on this starry night, Lone, Sophie, and even Kyuubi had all earned special places in Garadia's heart. Rare was it that a Dragon saw a mortal as a friend, but seeing them as a family member? This was a first in all of history.
Even Ythmagobla didn't view his generals as his real children and merely used that as a term to please them.
For another person to be appreciated as a family member by a Dragon, first, the Dragon had to admit that they were equals, and that was merely the first step. Radiance's guidance on top of the unfiltered and pure love of Lone, Sophie and Kyuubi had reached the baby Dragon's heart.
A Dragon would do almost anything to help its friend, so it was a wonder what one would do for a person it saw as its family.
Lone really did have to thank Sophie for her incredible high luck stat. After all, if she hadn't stumbled across Her Highness and Al'ka four months ago, then none of the events at the eastern world tree would have ever happened.
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Lone was woken up by a wet feeling on his cheek. Before he opened his eyes, he took a guess at the origin.
'I can think of three possibilities. One, Sophie didn't drool on my tails for once and instead targetted my face. Two, Sophie decided to lick me in my sleep. She's started doing that recently... Three, Kyuubi drooled on my face after crawling on it in her sleep.' As frightening as each of these options were, none of them was the correct answer.
Peeling his eyes open, Lone could see the fluffy and feathered Radiance Dragon, Garadia, sitting peacefully on his chest as she stroked his face... with her tongue.
"So it was you, huh? I wonder if being licked by a Dragon is a worthy bucket list goal..." Lone grumbled as he sat up and hugged Garadia. Looking to his right, Sophie was curled into a ball with Kyuubi in her arms.
"I wonder what Darren would say if he saw this? That loser would be shocked out of his mind, I bet," Lone joked self-mockingly as he referred to his pre-Altros self. Shaking his head and clearing his mind, Lone woke up Sophie and the two of them got prepared for the morning.
After enjoying a nice bath, Lone and Sophie dressed themselves and fixed their hair. Lone took care of Kyuubi's needs as a baby before he happily placed the snoozing girl on his shoulders.
Naturally, as a lover of fluff, Sophie's head became the home of Garadia. With some very unique usage of barrier magic, she had made her head a very comfortable place to lay down on for the baby Dragon.
Lone and Sophie soon found themselves in the dining room being stared at from all directions. In particular, most eyes were on the fluffy creature atop of Sophie. Garadia felt very shy and a bit threatened by all of the gazes coming her way, so she decided to hide from everyone by covering her head with her paws adorably.
Lone could tell where this was going. "To oversimplify, yes, that is a Dragon, no, she isn't dangerous, no, she isn't a pet, she's our new adoptive daughter. Any other questions?"
Breena simple nodded her head as she dug into her breakfast. Of course, she was aware of Garadia as soon as she was born. Since Breena was always in Sophie or Lone's shadow, even when they slept, she happened to get summoned to the pocket dimension along with Lone. As an interesting note, despite Lone's new Ascending Might skill, Breena felt no changes in how she looked at Lone.
Eolande just sighed heavily and muttered, "The common is extinct, the uncommon is common, and the rare is also common. Even the poor unique cannot be spared by his evil touch. Legendary encounters happen to him at least two or three times a year... When will I ever get used to this nonsense?"
Rachel wasn't well studied, so she was unaware of Garadia's significance. She was more concerned by the fact that she suddenly wanted to ask Lone to train her again. Swind did know, but he didn't care. He fully trusted Lone and his amazing abilities, so suddenly becoming the father of a Dragon sounded about right for Lone in Swind's opinion, so he continued to cook breakfast.
The Demon Princess had her jaw hanging open while Eko was struggling to not foam at the mouth. Fep's eyes were sparkling like jewels. "You never cease to amaze me, Lone. Where on Altros did you find a Dragon?"
"In my bedroom," Lone smiled mischievously.
Fep's smile cracked a little bit at Lone's deceptively honest answer.
"T-That's what you want to ask him?!" The Demon Princess shouted. She then turned away from Fep and looked right at Lone. "How did you get that thing to act so comfortable around you two?! Also, where's its parents?! Did you steal it?!"
Lone felt like teasing the young teen who only recently began to open up to his group after his and Sophie's training.
"To answer your questions in order, I adopted her, inside of me, no, she was gifted to me." Lone then grinned.
"Inside of you...?" The Demon Princess' face went pale. "Y-Y-You ate Dragons?!"
'Fucking hell. The poor girl is about to pass out from all that blood in her head,' Lone thought.
He gently patted Sophie's shoulder. "Soph will explain. Either her or Breena. I have somewhere I need to go. Also," Lone said as he directed his voice at no one in particular in the room, "Letty, Don't tell the King or anyone about Garadia, okay?"
With just her head popping out of the ceiling, the overweight Fairy had a serious expression on her chubby face. "You... Sometimes I have to wonder if you're really a Foxkin or a secret god of old. Y'know, like a sneaky tenth one that somehow didn't become a Primal Essence."
Letty was there during the first attack. Most of the outsider keeper's under her care were killed in the fighting, and she had personally witnessed Ythmagobla kill Garadia. She knew nothing of souls so she couldn't confirm if this Garadia was the same one from before, but Radiance Dragons hardly grew on trees, now did they?
Lone shrugged. "Just don't tell anyone. She won't be involved in the battle tomorrow. There's no point in getting anyone's hopes up."
"Okay," Letty replied. "I can do that much for you since you healed my brother."
"Thanks." Lone waved his hand behind himself before he left the outsider mansion and made his way towards Elestia's dungeon alone.