I spent most of the night watching the dragon sleep whilst whispering conspiratorially with Panda. It was pleasant. Peaceful moments were getting harder and harder to come by these days. I had to enjoy them when I could.

Since embarking on the membership exam for the society, it felt like my life had been one mad rush after another. If I wasn’t fighting for my life or rescuing a comrade from the depths of a secret gang base, I was training like a mad man to make those things easier in the future.

I didn’t regret my choice to prioritise those things, but it was relaxing to take a break from it every now and then.

Of course, that break only lasted until sunrise.

Asmodeus awoke with a start, springing up onto his feet with widened eyes and flapping wings. His body hadn’t formed to a point where he could actually fly yet, it was more like a momentary hover before a slow descent.

He wasn’t very happy when Panda laughed at him because of it.

“Why are you watching me slumber?” he shouted accusatorily in his unnaturally deep voice. “Where are the servants? Have them prepare my breakfast. I’ll take a partially boiled dwarf with a side of goat’s milk, hold the pasteurisation.”

“We don’t have any servants,” I replied dryly, “… or partially boiled dwarves.”

“Hmm,” he said, considering my words for a moment as he brought his claws to rest under his chin. “Well, what partially boiled creatures do you have?”

“We could probably boil some fish?” Panda suggested, “we have lots of those.”

“Never!” Asmodeus roared indignantly, “I am a dragon, not a bear. I dine only on the finest quality red meats… if you don’t have anything else then I guess this panda will have to do, though it looks a little fatty for my tastes.” He said, turning to me as if his request was entirely reasonable.

“Did he just call me fat?” Panda asked in a higher pitch than normal.

“How do you feel about fried meat?” I asked.

“I am a dragon, we do not lower ourselves to such debased forms of cooking” he replied, lifting his head.

“I’ll tell you what,” I began, “let me give you one of Sally’s famous breakfasts and we’ll see if that’ll satisfy you.”

“The catonid can cook?” he asked, an air of genuine surprise in his voice, “when I was still but a freshly hatched lower demon their kind still licked their genitals as a form of grooming.”

“Just try it,” I said, trying hard to get the image of Sally doing just that out of my mind.

Fortunately for me, she was already hard at work on the breakfast preparations when we entered the kitchen. I thought I’d smelled the familiar wafting of bacon when I’d offered it to Asmodeus.

Bell was snoring, head resting on the same book she’d been reading the previous night, though now she was using it as a pillow at the kitchen table.

“My tomes!” Panda cried as he saw the crusted gleam of dried drool staining the pages. “That’s the last time I let you borrow my books, your membership at the sagely library is revoked, hand me your card so I can rip it in two.” He held out his paw expectantly as Bell was roused from her sleep by the racket.

She sat up lazily, her bee’s hive of hair sticking out at odd angles, a few stray strands stuck to her plump lips.

“I don’t have a card,” she said with a yawn, then she looked down and saw the residue of spittle on the book she’d been reading about dragons. “Oh no Panda, someone’s gotten your book all wet.”

“Why you little…” he growled but didn’t get to finish his sentence before Sally began placing dishes around the table.

I glanced at Asmodeus, who had demanded to ride on my shoulder so that he could “look down on the mortals”, and his twinkling, green eyes were locked onto the food.

“Smells good doesn’t it?” I said quietly to him.

“We shall see, human,” he replied aloofly, “we shall see.”

Placing him down on the table I watched as he hesitantly picked up the cutlery and began dissecting the fat from the edges of the bacon.

His precision was masterful, and when he finally deigned to put a piece of the sizzling, pink meat into his mouth, I thought his eyes might pop out of their sockets like a surprised cartoon character.

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“Well?” I asked.

“What is this miracle meat?” He replied, looking at me with hungry, glinting eyes.

“It’s called bacon and it comes from pigs,” I said.

“Actually,” Sally corrected, “this bacon comes from Havarian jungle boars. It’s pretty hard to get since the locals almost hunted them to extinction a few decades ago, but I know a guy.”

“I demand that we capture this bacon merchant at once,” Asmodeus replied animatedly, “this is a delicacy too rare to be sold to any common rabble. It must all be mine.”

“Um, yeah,” I said, trying to keep the amusement from my voice, “I’ll get right on that once we dock.”

“Speaking of docking,” Bell said, “are we nearly there yet?”

“We’ll be arriving within the hour,” Sally replied, despite being civil, she kept a cautious eye on Asmodeus the entire time we were eating.

“Is nobody going to ask why he can use cutlery?” Panda asked.

***

As the ship pulled into the docks amidst the beautiful, turquoise sea, I was awestruck.

Cali Port was huge, much bigger than Havar had been. Glass skyscrapers dotted the coastal skyline contrasted with medieval stone walls which bordered the sea itself.

From what little I could see from the bow of the ship, the city seemed to be set out in an old-fashioned ring formation of varying sections of wall.

Naturally, the docks were located immediately outside the outer ring and were a bustling hive of trade activity. We pulled up to a wooden moor and Sally tossed some rope over the side to a group of lycanids who began tying it off.

The dock was massive and I counted at least fifty vessels in the immediate vicinity, ours was among the smallest.

As we stepped off onto dry land, Sally tossed a bag of coins to the worker who had caught her rope.

“Anything happens to my ship and I’ll come back for that,” she said, flashing him a fangy smile.

He grimaced back at her, that was until he looked inside the bag and began grinning instead.

We followed her hurried march through the docks, twisting and turning as busy workers rushed around completing their business.

I didn’t have a lot of experience with sailing, so I was a little caught off guard at how still the ground felt beneath my feet.

After a while at sea I’d gotten used to the feeling of waving movement below me and my muscles had adapted to counter it as I walked around the ship. I’d barely even noticed it at the time, but that sudden absence was weird and I felt slightly off balance. The ground was too still.

“Where are we going to in such a hurry?” Bell asked as we marched behind the hurrying catonid.

“To the society building,” she replied, “we need to report this new development at once,” she glanced over at Asmodeus who was obliviously taking in the sights from his position on my shoulder.

Surprisingly, his weight didn’t tip me off balance or hurt much at all. He was only the size of a chihuahua, but I had still expected some kind of trade off from carrying him like that.

I guess my improved strength stat must have been compensating, or perhaps it was my agility? It was hard to know for certain but either way, I was sure it had something to do with the way the system altered my physiology.

We made quick work of traversing the docks and soon found ourselves staring up at the huge stone wall that bordered the town. It was even bigger in person and I found myself wondering if I’d be able to climb it Assassin’s Creed style.

Joining a queue, we stood before a large, iron portcullis that barred entry into the city itself. A group of lycanids led by a heavily armoured svartalf stood guard, processing people as they came to them.

“They sure run a tight ship around here,” I said absently.

“This is the continent,” Sally replied with a shrug, “they have to prioritise security procedures when so much money is at stake, not to mention the average level is much higher here than it was on the islands.”

“Their levels are laughable,” Asmodeus said with a tut, “it took me less than one hundred years to become a demon lord, yet these people spent twice as long just to reach jade. It’s pathetic.”

“Maybe keep the demon lord stuff to yourself buddy,” I said, patting his head, “we don’t want to freak people out, they might try to take you away.”

“Let them try!” He roared, earning us some worried looks from the others in the line. “No one here is more powerful than I.”

“That may have been true when you were the big scary giant dude,” Bell said, “but now you’re a baby dragon with barely a fraction of that power.”

“A fraction is all it takes,” he replied indignantly, lifting his head to the side.

“That’s what she said,” Panda sniggered.

We stood bickering idly for a short while as the queue whittled down. It was surprisingly fast; Cali Port must have much more streamlined processes than we did back on Earth.

Upon reaching the front of the queue, Sally flashed her silver rank ID card at the guards who peered back at her, seemingly unimpressed.

“Remember to walk on the left newbie… and watch out for the protestors, they’re violent,” the svartalf said in a bored voice before allowing her through.

I practically willed Sally to ask about these violent protesters but she simply scowled and nodded grimly. Did she know something about this already?

The svartalf said the same thing to Bell, then it was my turn.

I showed her my card as the others did and she seemed to be moments away from waving me through, until she looked up.

“Is that a dragon?” She asked.

“He’s my familiar,” I replied.

“And the Panda?”

“Him too.”

“You’re listed as a skirmisher on your ID but you seem more like a beast tamer,” she said contemplatively, “have you changed classes recently?”

“No?” I asked, “I didn’t even know you could change classes.”

“Make sure you get this updated,” she sighed, “go on through and keep to the left.”

I rejoined the others and we wandered through the busy portcullis entrance. I wondered what she meant by keep to the left, she’d said it to all of us.

More importantly, I’d had no idea that you could change classes. I was certain that when I’d made my initial selection it had said it would be permanent.

“Panda?” I asked, “can you really change classes?”

“That was the first I’d heard of it,” he replied with a scowl, “but I can look into it for you. Maybe there are some local books with knowledge on the subject.”

We continued onwards as I thought about the implications of class changes. There was still so much I didn’t know about this world.

Dropping off the pavement, I stepped out into the road idly… and almost got flattened by invisible oncoming traffic. Something passed me at such a ferocious speed that I felt my skin ripple.