The journey back to the Black Canyon was quick. I remembered the path as if I had just walked it yesterday. When we were within fifteen minutes, I called Sanaa and Tenebris back to me. The last thing I needed was for some guards to think they were some kind of monster and attack them. Although it would give me a chance to test how strong, they were in comparison to other people. They both took up their positions on my right and left shoulders while I pulled Rex to a slow walk. A few minutes later, a pair of voices called out.

“Halt!” The first voice said.

“This is the domain of the Ifrit. Turn back. The second voice added just as the first finished.” I searched around for the voices, but couldn’t see anyone. I raised my hands in surrender. “Hello? My name is Darterrius. I have had business with the Matriarch and I would like to speak with her. I have also traveled with Zakia and her squad, if that helps.” There was a pause and the thought of getting filled with arrows or spears crossed my mind.

“Master, do we fight?” The bond between us conveyed Tenebris' anger and hesitation. I sent him calming thoughts but wasn’t feeling better myself. I was going to suggest just turning back when someone literally sat up out of the sand 30 feet away. When I got over the shock of seeing someone show up like the literal special forces. I realized that I was looking at Angalia.

“You survived?” My excitement faded as soon as I heard what she said. “Yes, I survived. Why wouldn’t I?” Angalia stared blankly at me for several seconds before waving us forward. I brought Rex up alongside her.

“Where did you get the lizards?” Both Tenebris and Sanaa dug their claws into my shoulders hard enough to drain four points of health. “Ow, Ow,Ow. She didn’t mean it!” When they released me, I considered drinking a potion to deal with the bit of pain, but decided against it.

“Can we eat her!?” Their combined voices caused a headache to build, and I shook my head, wanting both of them to stop talking.

“Please don’t talk at the same time.” I looked up and caught Angalia staring at me questioningly. I decided to be straightforward and honest. “My familiars and I communicate mentally.” They also don’t like being called “lizards”. They are types of dragons.

“I see, well that is good for you. I would not go around telling people that you have dragon familiars. There are people that would kill you to get something that rare.” Her dry manner of speaking almost made me miss what she said. She was probably right, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I had no intention of locking them away and I was going to need to head into civilization, eventually. I decided it was best to change the subject.

“Hey do you all have anyone good at alchemy? I came across a basilisk, some petrified people and some eggs. I would like to get them turned back into people. I don’t have money to pay for it, but I probably have some things I could trade for the potion or paste or whatever it makes.”

Before she could answer, we arrived outside the entrance of the Burning Cavern. Where we found The Matriarch and Zakia waiting. Both of them were clearly confused and surprised at seeing me. I waved at them while instructing Sanaa and Tenebris to stay on me.

“So you have returned. You have also become a Suzerain in all ways. Very impressive young man.” Shaurianna asked, with a hint of amusement in her voice. “It pleases me to know that a potential ally has become so powerful. You have already reached level 9.”

She hadn’t cast a spell. How the hell did she know what level I was? I resisted the urge to look up and search for some player indicator she could see. I decided against it and just laughed. “I have been through my fair share of battles. I reached my Place of Power and managed to complete a couple of quests. If you don’t mind my asking, how do you know my level?”

She and Zakia let out a pair of laughs before the matriarch replied. “I have a skill that allows me to know some details of people I look at. Though there is a spell that can be used on people for that. I believe you know Lesser Revelation.”

“Will you teach me the spell?” My excitement built like a kid right before opening his Christmas presents, only to drop when she spoke up. “Perhaps it will be difficult for me to share too much with you. The spells a caster knows are part of what makes them valuable after all. I am sure we can come up with a price for them.” She turned and headed toward the entrance to the cavern. “For now, though, you should come in. I imagine the heat is difficult for you to deal with? I will have someone draw you a bath and a meal. Then we can discuss business.”

She didn’t leave room for discussion, so I just nodded my agreement and settled in behind her. Angalia and Zakia followed behind me, and the guards continued their watch. They led me down a side passage and into a room that was much larger than the last one. This room was a master suite with a queen sized bed and a closet. I checked it and the disappointment hit me instantly. There were no clothes inside. Once the initial feeling had passed, I laughed at myself. There were no promises of free clothes and ultimately nothing was really free, was it?

“Are these people your friends?” Sanaa’s voice brought me back to the current moment. I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. “We are allies at the moment. I don’t think I have any friends in this world.” The thought was sobering.

“Do you trust them?” Tenebris asked as he did a slow circle around the room. I considered his question for a moment before nodding. Yes, I do. I don’t see why they would want to hurt me, but I don’t think they are going to risk their own safety for me. Then again, I guess that’s how all relationships start, right? As long as we continue to have reason to like one another, we should get along.”

“That sounds hard.” I chuckled was about to reply when there was a knock at the door. I opened the door and found a young girl holding a folded set of clothes and towels. The clothes were a pair of pants and shirt, both were black and red. The shirt had literal frills going down the front. While the pants were a bit more like hammer pants, which was certainly a choice. The young girl, who couldn’t have been older than 12 or 13, looked up at me, smiled politely, and then handed me the outfit. “When you are ready, we made a bath for you. If you go down to the end of the hall, the first room is for men, the second for women and the third is mixed. I would suggest going quickly if you want to get the warmest water.

Once she finished her message, she turned and ran off down the hall. I watched after her for a moment before grabbing everything. I looked over at my familiars. “You should stay here. I don’t know the policy on familiars in the bathing area and I would hate to lose relationship points due to a misunderstanding.” Neither seemed especially interested in joining me, so I just left them to their own devices. I stripped down, wrapped the towel around my waist, and made my way down the hall.

When I made it back to my room, I found a plate of food and both dragons munching on something. The thing they were eating looked a bit like a crab and a snake mixed together. It had the hard outer shell of a crab on the long serpentine body. The meals were still steaming, so it must have just arrived. I got dressed before sitting down in front of the steaming bowl. It was a soup with light blue broth and the most colorful vegetables I had ever seen. There were onions that were the colors of the American flag, something that looks like a small garlic bulb that was a orange color and lastly yellow noodles. The noodles were thin enough that they looked a bit like strands of hair. I placed a hand on the bowl, which brought a notification up.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

You have found: Bowl of Desert Drake Gumbo Details: Increase resistance against dehydration by 5%.

Item Rarity: Uncommon

Item Quality: Fresh

Weight: 20oz

I smiled as I wafted the smell into my face. I had to get the recipe to this. Thoughts of mom’s gumbo entered my mind, and I realized that I could remember exactly how she made it. I could even remember the way each of spices smelled as they went into the pot. “Could I make things from earth?” I searched my thoughts for things that I had either seen being made or things that I had read about. There wasn’t much about technology, but there were more than a few recipes. I was just about to start writing things down when my stomach growled in protest. “Let’s do that later.” I said out loud before grabbing the bread I and dipping it.

Once we finished our meals, they took up position on my shoulders, and they brought us to Shaurianna. She was seated in a room that looked a bit like a study only instead of chairs there large smoothed rocks. There was a stream of lava going through the middle and instead of books, there were scrolls. The room was also very hot, something that the boots they gave me before just barely managed to deal with. I did my best to keep my facial expressions neutral as I took a seat.

“So Darterrius, you have managed to accomplish quite a bit. Will you tell me about your place of power? What do you intend to do with it?” Shaurianna didn’t take her eyes from the scroll she was reading until she finished speaking. The embers going through her hair trailed as she adjusted her seat.

“Um, well, right now, it’s just untamed land. I want to build a city there and a country ideally. Right now, though, getting stronger is my main goal.”

“Is that right? You seem to have placed quite a few points into Charisma. Not that I mind.” Her gaze made it clear what she meant by that, but I decided to ignore the comment. Thankfully, she didn’t let the moment turn awkward. “A leader being good at dealing with people is important, but I hope you haven’t sacrificed too much of your growth for it. If you don’t mind my asking, what is your Charisma stat?”

“20, I pushed it there not too long ago, actually. Is that considered high?” I raised an eyebrow in question as Tenebris lowered his head into my neck. He let out a low hissing sound that sounded a bit like a warning before an attack. It was thanks to our bond that I knew it wasn’t threatening. If the noise threw the matriarch off, she could hide it very well.

“Hmm, it can be considered high. Levels are a bit hard to average since different people spend their time doing different things, but most people are around levels 5-10. If you are a particularly gifted artisan, you probably get around fifteen toward the end of your life. Bounty hunters, classed warriors or other such people can get much higher. The fact that you are level nine in such a quick amount of time is shocking.”

I nodded as I filed that information away. It seemed like my actual level wasn’t all that special, but the rate of growth was. I needed to keep it up if that was the case. If I was going to start a country, I would need to be my own nuclear deterrent. “How many attributes would the average person get on level up?”

“Five though that can be changed through certain encounters. Potions and other such things might give boosts to certain attributes as well.”

Five? That meant that I was almost half again as powerful as someone at my level. I should win any fight with someone at the same level as me. That assumed everything else was the same, of course. I made a mental note to keep track of any chances to boost my attributes. Thankfully, she started to speak, keeping me from revealing just how distracted I was.

“Now, what was that about a basilisk? I contemplated whether to show the ring on my hand. I wasn’t sure how rare the item was, but I also didn’t have much of a choice. I put my hand in my lap and willed one of the large eggs to come out of the ring. When it appeared I watched the Matriarch’s eyes, but she gave no signs of being shocked. I decided to pull two eggs out just in case.

I found 21 people who had been turned into stone. I suspect there were more, but they might have already been destroyed. I would like to use the eggs to turn them back. I am not sure how long they were stone, but no one should be trapped like that. Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t have currency to trade, but I have killed some animals that I think had gold claws.”

She looked me up and down for a long moment before nodding her head. “I can make the needed paste, but two eggs won’t be enough for 21 applications. You would need at least twice that many. Ideally, you would have five with a bit extra. I can guarantee ten applications with what you have provided.”

I nodded slowly before placing the first two eggs on the ground. I then pulled out three more from the ring and placed them on the ground. “I have one more not sure if you all need it for anything, but if you want it in exchange for the paste, I wouldn’t mind the trade. If you want more, we can negotiate that.”

Shaurianna nodded before gesturing to one of her guards. A bald Ifrit woman in leather armor and two scimitar like blades stepped forward. She collected two of the eggs in her hands and then left. “Why do you seek to help these strangers? It’s possible that they know the location is a Place of Power. They might lead their people back to you.”

Sanaa let out a hiss at the idea and I scratched just beneath her frills to calm her down. “Maybe, but I can’t control what other people do. I can only control myself and I won’t let anyone suffer like that. I don’t even know how long they were there. What if they had kids? Wives, husbands? If my wanting to help them leads to a conflict tomorrow, I will just need to be strong enough to deal with it.”

There was another period of silence during which the guard returned for the last three eggs. Once we were alone again, Shaurianna smiled as if she had just made up her mind. “I will help you. I won’t need a payment, so I would suggest you keep the basilisk egg in reserve. A basilisk could make an interesting pet at worse, you could probably sell one in one of the nearby cities.”

At the mention of a city, I sat up. “Would you be able to send someone to take me to one of those cities? I want to start recruiting settlers. If not, I would accept a map and Rex, if you don’t, mind me keeping him.” She laughed and leaned back in her seat. “Rex is yours. I have no interest in taking back a gift freely given. As for your request for a map. I can provide a spell that will do it for you. I can also ask Zakia if she is interested in taking you with her. Though if I can offer a suggestion. I would focus on gathering valuable beast skins. It will be difficult to accomplish anything without money. I imagine you will need to pay for building materials, food and everything else you need to build up a human settlement.”

I nodded along with her. I had several things, including the metals that had to be valuable, so I didn’t think I would struggle in that respect. Then again, you never had “enough” when it came to money. The idea of learning a new spell was exciting. “I would be greatly appreciative if you teach me the spell and can speak to Zakia for me. What beasts do you recommend for their value?? Should I aim for the rarest animals? Or is there a more optimal choice?”

She hesitated for a moment before giving her answer. “You are an interesting person. I am not sure which animal would be ‘optimal’ but generally the most rare creatures will have the most valuable body parts. They also tend to be the strongest." I gave her a smile before nodding. She continued. “It will take me a day to get the paste ready. You are welcome to stay here for that time or you can go out and hunt. I will give you the spell whenever it is most convenient.”

“Well, if it is alright with you, I would like to stay here. I would like to take some time to raise my cooking skill? I would share any food I make with you all.” I didn’t get to finish the thought before she started laughing.

“You want to be a cook? A magician, leader and chef? I must admit you are the most interesting human I have met in at least a century. Go on. The chefs should be still be in the kitchen area. I have a bit of work in front of me to get this done.”

I decided to leave her to it and head down to the kitchens. My mouth watering at the idea of making some of the food my mom could make.