Modessa frowned at me, but answered my question. “Yes, it is. I can’t even push my stats to their maximum.

  Lisella hadn’t mentioned that. Either she hadn’t known, or hadn’t thought it was important enough to mention. I wouldn’t have either, but for the sparring match with Edgar. The way that the anti-magic pulse had affected him physically had been unexpected, to say the least.

  I was curious if she had considered why that was. “Are you physically injured as well?”

  “No,” she growled—and for a human, it was an impressive growl. “That’s what makes this so frustrating. The pain is constant, but I could learn to bear it… I think. The pain when I try to use Shadow Step or any other ability is so intense that it makes me want to die. My spells fail and my abilities collapse. I am left helpless. All I have to rely upon is my level 20 stats, but if I can’t push beyond normal human limits, then I am truly helpless.”

  I nodded sagely. “Human limits are rather shameful to begin with. I can see how that would frustrate you in the extreme.”

  Cami had already stepped away from Modessa to stand next to me. I had taken it as a gesture of solidarity, but now she elbowed me in the ribs.

  “Not helping, Nico,” she sent telepathically.

  “I couldn’t help myself,” I sent back. “Besides, it’s true. You, of course, are an exception because you share some of my stats.”

  She gave me one of those looks that all human women seemed to have as an innate ability, and I couldn’t help but grin. “Fine, I just wanted to know if Modessa had any idea about why her physical stats seem to be impaired as well, despite not having any physical injuries.”

  The rogue shook her head. “I don’t think my stats have been impaired. Let me check my stat sheet.”

  No sooner did she say that, than she fell to the ground screaming in pain. Reflexively I cast Lesser Regeneration on her, but it didn’t make a difference. We couldn't do a single thing for her and had to wait until she seemed to regain control of herself after a couple of minutes.

  To say that the sounds of her wailing grated on my nerves would be an understatement. It seemed that torturing my enemies might not really be my cup of tea. Though what tea had to do with torture was beyond me—unless you were to pour piping hot tea down their nose while you held them upside down. It was just a human phrase I had heard. Oh well, I could always simply eat them.

  Cami on the other had was distressed about what was happening to Modessa. The emotional feedback from her ruined any enjoyment that the sound of the rogue’s screams hadn’t already driven away. Eventually, though, she sat back up.

  “Note to self,” she gasped, “don’t check my status sheet.”

  I nodded, but then shifted from petty mode to analysis. “Apparently, anything related to the system requires some connection to your soul.”

  The weight of that simple statement hit me. Modessa was too busy trying to dry the mess of tears and snot from her face to pay much attention, but Cami looked sharply at me. Our bond seemed to connect even more tightly.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked.

  We couldn’t exactly read one another’s minds, but it was close—we could definitely share thoughts. Still, I knew that wasn’t quite what she meant.

  “If you’re thinking that this would explain what has happened to the captive dragons, then yes.”

  A notification popped up before I could say anything else.

  Your Bond has increased to level 15. Shared desires, open communication, and growing power all work wonders for the Bond. You have gained the ability: In Sync.

  Under normal circumstances I would have read the rest of the notification, but I was in too much of a hurry. I had to see Matilda.

  Chapter 27 - The Ignorance of Dragon Riders

  I raced back to the university. The guard from Forlay who had followed me to the Dragon’s Lair forge wasn’t able to keep up with me, but that was fine. I didn’t intend to stop at the gate, either. This was too important.

  When the gate and its guards came into sight, a thought hit me. Was I doing what Modessa had accused me of? Was I unable to apply the right tool to the problem?

  Cami Check successful.

  I didn’t even know what that meant…

  For reaching level 11 in your Bond, you have gained an additional sense. It will only trigger once per week, but deepening your Bond will increase the frequency. This additional sense will allow you to instinctively recognize when your actions might be detrimental to your best interests.

  That was bizarre, but I was too focused to let it hold me up. I slowed my pace until I was merely walking.

  Diplomacy. That was the word for the moment. I forced myself to take a series of deep breaths. This wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. Who knew that personal growth sucked so much?

  When I reached the gate, I had to stand in line. It chafed at me, but I impatiently waited. It gave the Forlayan troop time to catch up to Cami and Sir Latham time to catch up to me. When he did, he was panting.

  Running in that armor couldn’t be easy. Of course, armor was just a human attempt to imitate dragons’ scales, so I couldn’t blame him for wanting to wear it. I was, however, glad that I had pursued human classes which didn’t require that I wear heavy armor. Clothing had been hard enough to adapt to.

  He got me through the gate without my having to wait long. Once we were past the guards, he said, “Was that a spell, or can you just run that fast?”

  “I wish I had a spell to help me move faster,” I admitted. “That’s a very good point.” Then I started running in the direction of the exotic stables.

  Sir Latham called out to me to slow down. I caught myself. I could have simply ignored him, but since he was going to continue to follow me, I ran back to him.

  “Thank you for helping me get past the gate,” I told him. “I have tried to honor Lisella’s request and let you escort me around, but where I’m going is a highly personal matter.”

  He winked at me. “And here, I thought that you and Cami were an exclusive item. Well, far be it from me to stand between you and a lady friend. Where can we meet you?”

  I told him to meet me at Lisella’s building. I figured that I would need to speak to the adventurers after this. A moment later, Cami and Modessa caught up to me. The rogue was leaning on Cami and struggled to catch her breath. I was once again taken back by how weak she had become.

  Cami said, “We should come with you.”

  “You should,” I agreed, “but why does she need to?”

  Cami sighed. “You know why, Nico.”

  “Fine, but I won’t wait. If she can’t keep up…” I was about to say that she’d be left behind, but as I watched the pained expression on Modessa’s face I realized that being dependent on others like this must be hard for her.

  She needed to learn humility. That would be her penance for her previous attacks on me. I altered my words at the last instant, “…then I’ll have to carry her.”

  Modessa’s eyes bulged, confirming that I’d made the right choice. Without asking, I swept her up in my arms and started running across the campus. It wouldn’t do to let her ride on my back. That would have sent the wrong message; instead, I carried her like a helpless child.

  She seemed weaker than she had the day before. It was a bit of a shock to see how quickly she was deteriorating, but I pushed that aside as I ran. Cami easily kept up alongside me, and we soon reached the stable.

  We were immediately admitted, since all the guards had been commanded to give Cami access at any time. All the guards here were now imperial guards. After the attack, they had been increased.

  Cami must have noticed that, as well, because she asked, “Why are there so many guards here?”

  The officer in charge wore an insignia of rank, which I hadn’t bothered to learn, but I could still recognize the one who was dominant in any setting. “Lady Westfork, the order came directly from the Emperor. We are to protect the dragons from any monster incursion.”

  Modessa snorted but said, “That seems sorta strange, since dragons usually fight monsters to protect us.”

  I tensed at those words, but realized that given the Pact, there might be some truth to her statement.

  The officer shrugged and said, “I’ve never had the honor of speaking to the Emperor in person, but he sent a projected image of himself here through magic, so I have no doubt that the instruction came directly from him. His wording was a bit odd, though.”

  Cami asked, “Odd… how?”

  “He said something about the dragons having been through enough already.” The man shrugged. “I didn’t question him and am simply obeying my orders. Until we’re given the all clear, there will be 100 imperial regulars posted here at the exotic stables. Even the ones who are off shift and sleeping will be in or near the building, in the event of a surprise attack. I’m not going to fail my Emperor.”

  “Enough delays,” I growled, “I need to get upstairs.”

  Having already set Modessa down a short distance outside the building, I slid around the guards and headed for the stairs. Cami hurried after me with Modessa moving much slower. That was fine by me.

  When I got upstairs, I saw all four pseudo dragon riders were there. Terrel, the largest of them, was on his feet with a large battle axe waiting for me before my head even crested the top of the stairs. As he saw me, he relaxed and called out, “It’s just Nico. Oh… and Cami too.”

  Once I was upstairs, I saw that all the other pseudo riders had weapons in their hands—except for Will, who had a wand at the ready. The dragons were all in the wide open area behind them, including the new hatchlings.

  My connection with the youngest of the dragons grew stronger as I got closer. Except, I saw something amazing, they had grown once again. I had almost forgotten that their growth was connected to mine.

  Given the growth I’d experienced, added to the fact that we dragons grow faster in the early stages, they were all the way through the hatchling stage and most of the way through the wyrmling stage. They were practically whelps, already. Their size wasn’t out of line for their respective dragon colors, but if this kept up, they’d soon catch up to their mother in size.

  I walked forward, ignoring the humans who all seemed content to talk to Cami. Well, other than when I hopped the short wall at the edge of the pen and headed straight for Matilda. Then, Natalie called out, “Nico, stop. Keep looking at her. Don’t show any fear, but start walking backward. Matilda has been very testy ever since her rider was killed. We can’t vouch for your safety in there.”

  I scoffed and didn’t say a word. One of the other riders called out for their dragon to block me, but I heard Cami said, “Trust me. He’ll be fine.”

  Pretty soon, Will was saying, “Look at that… she likes him.”

  Simon, their leader, said, “No, I don’t think so. It looks more like she’s afraid of him.”

  Natalie scoffed, “Yeah, right.”

  I tuned them out.

  Matilda locked eyes with me for a second before lowering her head. I looked at the other dragons, who were all staring at me now. They remained passive because of the collars, but seemed confused by my presence. I could resolve this easily if I was able to transform, but that would cause a different set of problems.

  My mind felt like it was racing. Competing instincts warred within me. I didn’t think I was ready yet for a full, public reveal. Too much was still unknown about the way the Empire would respond. I needed to grow stronger or gain more allies—likely both—before I could be sure about revealing myself.

  I stared at the collar on the closest dragon. He was the largest of the dragons here. Though only a runt of a green, he was still the largest of the domesticated dragons. I focused on the magic of his collar and looked to see if I could tell anything about it.

  When nothing was immediately obvious to me, I cast Identify. It struck me in that instant that I’d been a fool not to have tried using the spell on one of the collars before. Ruben said he had been given a couple by Serius to study. Maybe I needed to go see my minion about this.

  Dragon Bonding Collar (Rare)

  Durability: 194/200

  This collar will create a simulated bond between a dragon and a rider with the matching ring. Once the bond is formed, it can not be traded out unless one or the other dies. No further information is available.

  Hmm… the spell almost never told me that there wasn’t any more information. It gave what information it gave, but didn’t expand beyond that. This caused me to believe that there was more to learn, but my spell was simply too weak to discern that information.

  I cast it again and tried to pour more mana into the spell framework. It was only a level one spell, so there were some pretty tight limits on how much I could empower it. I pushed those to its limits and beyond.

  Your spell has been resisted.

  The green dragon let out a low groan. Simon, who must have been his rider, called out, “Hey! What are you doing?”

  Both dragon and rider looked a bit sick as I cast the empowered spell again. The result was the same, though.

  Your spell has been resisted.

  Cami held up a hand and said, “It’s okay, Simon. He’s just casting Identify.”

  Natalie asked, “Then why does Blade look so agitated?”

  Will added, “And Simon too. Are you okay?”

  I heard Modessa tell them that it was going to all be okay. She’d said she’d vouch for me. Cami repeated the same, but the riders started arguing with them. They might not be individually as strong as Modessa was normally, but the rogue was crippled and my bonded was outnumbered.

  I wasn’t going to give up, though. If I had to transform, I would. Cami must have known what I was thinking, because I heard her voice inside my head. “You do what you need to do, Nico. I’ll handle them. Trust me.”

  So I did.

  I put them out of my mind and focused on the spell again. This time, I tried to pour extra mana into the walls of the spell’s framework. None of my instructors had talked about magic like this although, to be fair, I hadn’t listened much in any of the few classes I had bothered attending. And since Lisella knew that I could see magic, she never touched on things like this.

  Rizal had probably come the closest to instructing me on magical theory. He had talked about how he felt the storm around him. That was the only thing I could think of to equate with what I was trying to do.

  I thought about my ability to boost the Tier of Cami’s spells as she cast them for DKP. If I could do that, perhaps the spell would become powerful enough. DKP wasn’t a renewable pool that I could access, like my mana. So, I kept focusing on the framework of the spell. It had a distinct pattern.

  My mind could discern that pattern better now. I understood it at a much deeper level. Divination had been one of the four schools of magic which I’d selected to specialize in as part of my evolution. If I couldn’t empower the spell enough, then I needed to reform it to enable me to do more with the spell that this Tier 1 spell would allow.

  As I strained, I felt something click into place.

  Do you wish to spend DKP to modify your Identification spell?

  Yes…

  How many DKP do you wish to dedicate to this endeavor? Note that success is not guaranteed and only a portion of the DKP spent will be refunded with a failure.

  Ugh… still, I needed this.

  It only cost a few points to elevate a spell for Cami, even less since my evolution, but somehow I didn’t think that creating a new spell would be that simple. Well, if one DKP could elevate a spell by one Tier, then I would spend a lot more.

  DKP wasn’t exactly easy to come by, but I needed this. With that, I gave the mental consent to drop 50 DKP into it.

  Spell modification underway.

  I saw the framework twisting into something far more complicated. It was like the scratch marks a hatchling makes on the shell of their egg was being turned into ornate human script. When the walls of the spell started to warp out of shape, I seemed to instinctively know it and pushed hard, forcing it to maintain the proper form.

  Then it snapped into place.

  New spell added to your innate spell list. DKP will be required if you wish to switch it out. Your intent helped to shape this spell.

  Breakdown and Analyze - Tier 6 spell