Gi stepped out of the dim cave where the Dungeon portal was held. Igna, the mountain and the city, towered above him. Its red craggy rocks jutted towards the ocean that filled the sky far above.

Light spilled out of the sky-ocean, illuminating the entire world. The Badlands just to the front looked desolate, but Gi knew that an ecosystem of other monsters lived there. A tip of one of the mountains in the distance was even home to the Spiked Eagles, one of the Sky Clans.

Igna housed seven tiers, if you didn't count the Underbridge which those above it rarely did. The bottom three were the Ground Tiers - The Commons, The Bazaar, and the Fort.

Above those, the Flight Tiers started.

They were all unreachable except through the power of flight and each was smaller than the last - The Breeze, The Sky, The Sun, and the Throne.

Only one clan stood at the very top - Queen Siht and the Fighting Drakes.

As Gi considered the work ahead of him, his new clan filed out from the Dungeon's cave. Each of them were long and lithe with brown fur and off-white underbellies. Otters that stood on two legs with paws that worked like hands.

Seventeen total had survived against the stacked deck of the adventurers even with two higher Staged monsters involved - Jalx who'd died leaving his already broken clan leaderless and Elizabeth who walked towards him now.

The monster looked more human than any type of monster. She had long blond hair that always hung about her shoulders like a drowned woman even when she wasn't fresh from the water. A leather jerkin with an excessive number of straps rested neatly across her chest.

Next to her was an even stranger addition. The rogue dwarf adventurer who'd attacked them in the Dungeon walked beside her amicably as though they'd been pals from the start. His face had also taken on that same lifeless and drowned expression as hers had.

Before Gi could ask more, Elizabeth interrupted. "Our business is complete. My clan is always open to the highest bidder."

Her clan? Gi thought. But she's always been an independent monster?

Four otters walked up as he watched her leave. Each of them one of his elites - Samba, the guardian type fighter who wielded a two handed mace and was as tall as Gi was even now as a Classer; Kumo, the agility type fighter who dual wielded rocks; and Wax and Wane, the twinned Clerics who almost mirrored his own powers.

He didn't know much about them yet, other than their skills, but these would be the otters to lead his army.

"What's next, boss?" Samba asked.

"We go find Tiria."

They left the cavern and moved around Igna towards its entrance proper. Before they'd even gotten close, a giant bridge appeared in the distance. It jutted up against the Commons and extended out over the lake into open air, not fit for a true port with the lake being hundreds of feet below.

They approached it and the lake grew larger as the river beyond came into view. On the other side of the river lay Myshk, the country that Igna was currently at war with. Myshk's lands were lush and green with towering trees and lines of moss that jutted up directly against the sky-ocean, leaving the land beyond full of shadows.

Excited to get back to his notebook and plan, it took longer than he wanted to get back to Underbridge and its small series of houses that were scattered in the shadows of the bridge. At the one closest to the lake, Tiria waited for them. Like Gi himself, her fur actually had silver streaks running through it that was a sign of her Unique Constitution.

Seeing them approach, a big smile crossed her face. "Poe! They're back!"

A dragonfly the size of a washing machine burst out of the door before quickly shrinking to the size of a fist, his large multifaceted eyes grew wide upon seeing Gi. "BOSS! YOU MADE IT!"

He fluttered back and forth across Gi's face, checking him out in every angle to see if he'd been hurt before flinging his body against his face in which Gi assumed was a hug. For him, it was just a giant insect body in his face.

"Good to see you too, Poe."

Poe unplastered himself from his face and started flitting around every single member of the clan. It was difficult for any of them to do anything but smile as Poe introduced himself individually to each otter there.

Tiria stole Gi's attention back to her. "From the new clan members, I'm assuming we made it."

Gi nodded, but his face was grave. "We did, but there was a cost. The adventurers were much stronger than we expected and there were six of them."

"How many did we lose?"

"Jalx and all but one of his Coastal Goblins and roughly half of our own."

Tiria rubbed at her cheek in a mannerism that he assumed she picked up from Gi himself. "I knew most of them from our time in Child Stage together. I should go check on everyone."

Gi hadn't considered that Tiria would know them. In fact, he hadn't asked a lot of questions about her time in the Child Stage. Now wasn't the time for that though. "When you check on them, can you get everyone settled in the encampment? I need an hour or two and then I'd like to address you and the Elites."

Tiria nodded, but Gi could tell that her mind was still on those lost.

"They're with Danna now."

She took a deep breath. "You're right. I know you're right. It still hurts though." She took another breath to steady herself. "Take all the time you need. I'll get everyone taken care of."

He laid his paw on her shoulder as he stepped past her and into the small house where he and Poe had first come to the Underbridge together after having been rescued by Jalx. Its small dirty interior with a rope bed, a single shelf, and puddle directly into the lake wasn't grand, but it had some charm to him.

He plopped directly onto the floor, pulling his notebook from his [Expanded Pocket] that was accessible through his underarm, and got to work.

A few goals were top of mind - the brand on his chest that demanded he go to war, the conversion of Igna, and the gold they needed to survive. That last one included both the gold needed for a tithe to The Faithful as well as the gold they'd need to feed and arm the clan.

To do that, he needed structure.

A vision from Danna came to him. Like all of his visions, it showcased her dopey human follower who she always used for her lessons and parables.

He was in a plush looking office. The desk was made of a polished hardwood and six golf trophies sat nestled on the low bookshelf behind it. The man at the desk wore a well-tailored grey suit that matched his dark grey close cropped haircut. The dopey follower's boss, as that's who this was, leaned back in his chair while tapping idly at his phone.

"You asked me to come in, sir?" Danna's visions often came with emotions and he could tell that the dopey follower was feeling stressed, anxious, and frustrated all at once.

The boss looked up from his phone with a smile. "Ah, Richard. Glad you're here. Can you give me an update on your team's progress on the new onboarding form?"

Stolen story; please report.

The dopey follower grit his teeth. "The one we received yesterday? The team is still reviewing the requirements with the business users. I believe they have a meeting today."

His boss sighed, shaking his head. "Richard, the C level is coming down on me hard for this. We need this done as soon as possible."

"We're working on it as fast as we can, sir. Our other responsibilities-"

"Other?" The boss interrupted and leaned over his desk to stare intently at the dopey follower. "There aren't any other responsibilities. This is your top concern."

The follower took a deep breath. "So you want us to ignore the customer tickets then?"

His boss laughed. "Richard, we can't ignore the customers. Don't be stupid."

It was taking everything that the follower had not to launch across the desk and strangle the man. Gi, personally, thought it would have been the best move. Danna must not be emphasizing The Father's impact with this vision.

"Then how do we do that, sir?"

With a sigh, like he was explaining something to an idiot, the boss replied. "We'll just have to dig deep. All of us are working hard here. Oh! I just had a great idea. What if we threw the developers an after hours pizza party - like a ticket party! That way it won't get in the way of their job."

The vision started to fade, but not before Gi got the reason that the follower was so angry. He'd supposed to have been off that day to go to the doctor with Danna for their child. He'd prioritized this asshat of a boss over his own family.

Gi felt like he was supposed to get two lessons from this - one, the importance of family and two, he needed to enable his clan so they could accomplish the goals he set.

Churning a little Aether into [Danna's Conduit], he thanked her for her wisdom and went back to his notes. Two hours later, he had everything he needed down. Tucking the notebook back in his [Expanded Pocket], he used the small access in the house to dive into the lake.

The light from the sky-ocean streamed down into the lake illuminating the thick kelp that was as big as Gi and extended all the way to the lake floor. The kelp forest as he called it was thick and full of shadows as he made his way down to the Encampment at its bottom. With his [Merfolk's Blessing] passive skill, breathing underwater was as simple to him as... well, breathing.

Gi stopped as something weak in the shadows tugged at him. The same sense that told him Elizabeth was dangerous showed a pitiful threat by comparison looming behind a kelp.

He smiled. This was a perfect Opportunity to test out his Domain, [Archbishop].

The Dragon Pikes, silver fish with claws that hung tightly to their bellies, darted out from behind the kelp where he'd sensed them, but there were only three.

Normally when Gi activated a skill, he needed to churn his Aether and send it to the right spot on his body. With the Domain, that feeling ended. He simply willed his summons to appear and they did.

His own Aether seemed to spread out into the water around him, but it didn't feel separate from him. It almost felt like his Soul had simply expanded and then within it, six summoned otters appeared.

Like normal, they were completely white otters, but otherwise, it felt completely different. First, they'd appeared with weapons that had been stored in his [Expanded Pocket] for the dungeon run, one wielded a mace and another the Twinned Daggers of Slaying.

Secondly, they'd all been summoned with the generic grey robes that had been everpresent on his otters in the Dungeon. Had wearing the enchanted Robe for so long affected his species somehow?

His ruminating were cut short as the three Dragon Pike reached him. His summons with the mace and dagger tied up two while the other four swarmed on the remaining. One of them stopped the charging Dragon Pyke with its bare paws and the other three slapped a palm on the trapped fish. Each of them emitted a thousand tiny shards of [Divine Bolt], showing that they could now adjust his skills as well.

The Dragon Pyke, attacked from three sides, exploded in a fountain of gore and those four summons were immediately covered in a cloud of blood in the water. Gi realized that it was over kill to have them each team up on one. With a thought, he got them to split up to target the other two.

They followed his orders instantly. It felt like moving his own arm except instead of only having one good arm and another ruined by rampant Eldritch energies in the Child Stage, he had six.

The two melee weapon wielding otters held their own well, but they lacked some killing power in the water. One, using his own [Blunt Weapon] skill, struck against the Pyke several times, but even with its strength, couldn't kill it. The other had a strong weapon, but no skill using the small bladed weapons.

That didn't matter though as two otters swam down from above each enemy and another explosion of light turned into a bloody cloud of guts and scales.

It was overkill.

These types of enemies hadn't been a huge threat towards him in the later part of the Adolescent Stage, but now they were trivial. Even in an environment like the lake which hindered his Light aspected skills, he didn't have to get involved directly.

Since the Aether cost to keep his summons moving was practically nothing now, he kept them around him as he continued on towards the lake bed and into the heart of the kelp forest.

Maybe because the Pyke population had been hit hard by Gi's efforts or because he was now a group of six otters, no more attacks came from the Dragon Pykes. He swam to the top of the bubble and dropped down into the Encampment as he returned his summons to Aether.

Their bodies simply drifted into Aether and mixed back in with his Domain. Overall, he understood now why it was called a Class. A Job was something you put on or something you did. A Class was something that you were and Gi could feel that deeply at the core of his being.

The Encampment housed in the air bubble at the bottom of the lake looked much as he remembered. Several smaller domed buildings surrounding a larger one each of them made of the same red bricks.

Light from the Encampment Crystal in the center cast a blue light on the Encampment, making the buildings seem almost purple to his eyes.

The biggest difference from the last time he was here was his clan. Even with only twenty otters including his Elites, the Encampment seemed much more rife with activity. Some of the otters raced around the Encampment in the water while others lounged out on the red bricks, taking a nap after their time in the Dungeon.

Tiria had seemed to imply that they'd been in the Child Stage longer than he had so losing half their number had to be traumatic for some of them. Surely, Tiria would handle that, but he'd mention it to her anyways.

Gi approached the largest domed building, acknowledging a couple of his clan on the way. When he entered the Control, it looked as empty as he remembered. He knew the walls hid at least a small kitchen and some beds, but those were put away for now and his Elites all sat in a circle in the middle of the room. Gi made his way over.

Samba saw him first and the big otter gave him a simple, "Boss," in recognition. Wax and Wane stood up from where they lounged, curling around each other to do so. The gesture would have been odd with anyone else, but the two looked more like a pair of snakes ready to strike than anything else.

Poe started fluttering around Tiria who also stood while Kumo simply waited on the floor, staring intently at him. They were all odd, but if Gi couldn't trust them, the clan's ascent would be doomed from the start.

"Thank you all for waiting," Gi said, adjusting his other arm that hung in his robe like a sling. They each watched him expectantly and while Gi thought this would be more conversational, perhaps an announcement was better too. He continued.

"During my time as a slime, I recruited Poe and we conquered the Infant Stage, allowing us access to all the traits and skills we enjoy now. In the Child Stage, we struggled, but ultimately, we connected with Danna and pushed further in our faith towards her. This opened up the path for our Clerics."

Gi gestured to Wax and Wane and the two nodded enthusiastically.

"Finally in the Adolescent Stage, we found this Encampment and even stumbled into being a Ground Clan. The Dungeon was much harder than expected with six adventurers coming for us, but by the end, we routed them with only the might of all of those here. That was the true birth of our clan and the start of our history."

Gi's eyes locked on each of them, every last one of them eager in their own way. He didn't know them well yet, but each of them clearly wanted to grow the clan and telling them they were at the base of the mountain only encouraged them to climb.

"What does the future look like?" Gi's oration became smoother as he got more comfortable and he only paused to take out his notebook. "With Tiria and the three Gang Otter Elites, we will have four Halls in our clan."

He turned to Kumo first. The intense dual wielder looked ready. "Kumo, you will lead the Hall of War. Those with skillsets like yours will be our Hunters and they will go forth and crush our enemies."

A wicked smile grew on Kumo's lips as though he'd just gifted her a bloody corpse and it was exactly what she wanted. Disturbing, but good for what was to come.

"Wax and Wane, you will lead the Hall of Conversion. Those with skillsets like yours will be our Inquisitors. Your goals will be to convert monsters to Danna by either the word or the claw. Together with Kumo, you will represent Danna's Realm of Strength within our clan and you will both be her agents out in the world."

Wax and Wane started excitedly whispering to one another, each finishing off the statement of the other as they quickly wrapped around each other. Gi turned to Samba next. The big otter looked up at him curiously without the same fervor that the others had and Gi felt this placement would be apt.

"Samba, you will lead the Hall of Defense. Those like you will be our Templars. Each of them ready to stand and defend our clan if the time should arise, but that won't be your only task. You will be in charge of ensuring all of our new clan members are trained and prepared for whatever task is assigned to them. You will be the heart of our clan."

Samba nodded slowly and Gi felt as if the burden of leadership fell across his shoulders as he watched. Next, he turned to Tiria. She'd always been eager and diligent, looking at the clan with the brightest eyes. Now with everyone here, that fervor practically shined from her.

"Tiria, as my Subgenitor, you will command the Healers and the crafters. You will be in charge of building and infrastructure and coordinating the various Halls towards our unified vision. Together with Samba, you will represent Danna's Realm of Family."

One first to her womb and the other behind her back, she bowed forward, giving him the sign of the Mother. "As you will, my Progenitor."

"Any questions before I assign your first goals?" Gi asked and Poe popped up excitedly.

"What about me, Boss? What do I get to be in charge of? I'd be a great like mandible of the clan or something, right?"

Gi chuckled. "You're our wings, Poe. I've got a special task for you that we can discuss later."

None of the others had any questions so Gi continued. "Tiria, once you have a plan, brief me on the needs of the clan. Otherwise, continue managing our finances. We have a week until the Seasonal Meeting where I'll owe the Faithful their tithe."

She nodded. "Rocky hasn't come back with a buyer for the Twinned Daggers of Slaying yet. Even if we make the hundred gold in time, we'll need funds for the clan as well."

Gi sighed. "I've got some ideas on that, but that will be my goal over the next week."

"Of course."

"Kumo, I need you to talk to Captain Mesano and figure out what the details of my brand is. What constitutes helping in the war and what are the requirements to satisfy the brand. I also want you to plan an excursion for our Elites. We need to get everyone some levels and hopefully figure out how to ascend as Classers."

"Oh! Oh!" Poe shouted. "I know this one! Progenitors have to do the tasks to ascend to the Individual Stage. Other jobbies in a clan either have to reach level thirty OR they can reach level ten with a Unique Constitution. And THOSE just require a catty list."

"A catalyst?"

"Yeah, a catty list."

Smirking, Gi patted Poe between his wings and the dragonfly looked pleased. "Good work, Poe. Kumo, have a plan to get everyone here to reach level ten. I believe the catalyst piece should be simple, but I'll look into that."

"Samba, think up some ideas of the best way to train, but I'd like to introduce you to a crab that I think would be able to help us."

"You got it, boss."

Last, he turned to the twinned otters. "I'm open to your ideas of how to handle this from a word of mouth perspective, but I'll also want a list of every otter that has [Concealing Light.] Weakening our enemies and making ourselves strong will make worshiping Danna the obvious choice."

He looked back out to the leadership of his clan, feeling very satisfied with how far they'd come. Are you proud of us too, Danna?

"Does everyone know what they need to do?" Nods and affirmations echoed from his leaders. "Then our ascent begins now."