I was extremely anxious to go through the new spells with my bond-friend, so while I knew I probably should have asked her what she meant about her XP, it would have to wait until later. I sent the descriptions of the spells over to her. But then a thought hit me. I weighed the pros and cons of this decision for a moment before I opened up my full stat sheet to her.

  A notification popped up.

  You have offered to share your full stat sheet with your companion, and she has accepted. In return, she is offering to share her full stat sheet with you. Do you wish to accept?

  I immediately triggered my acceptance and was greeted not only by Cami’s stat sheet, but by another notification.

  By sharing your stat sheets, your bond has grown. You have reached the 7th level of the bonding process. As a result, you will now be able to see each other’s stat sheet at any time as part of your own. The range of your telepathy has also been increased to 2,000 feet.

  By sharing the secret of the dragon dream with your bonded companion, you have displayed a rarely shown trait amongst dragons—the ability to trust another. Your bond has increased to the 8th level. Your bond will now have 3% of your stats added to her own.

  Inviting your bond to help you make an important decision about your own development has caused your bond to grow. Your bond has increased to 9th level. You will now gain a 25% bonus to all DKP you earn, rounded up to a minimum bonus of +1 DKP each time. This represents the faster growth your human bonded is capable of, and is indicative of how her nature now influences you. The bond goes both ways. Each of you affect the other.

  Warning: Once you reach level 10 in your bond, it is irreversible and may only be ended by the death of either of the bonded companions. In order to reach the 10th level of the bond, your companion must first upgrade her class to Dragon Rider. She will still maintain her secondary class and, as a onetime benefit, she will gain all the stats she would have gained if Dragon Rider had been her class from the very beginning. Reaching level 10 in the bond will also affect your growth rate.

  Cami must have gotten the notifications, too, because she gasped and had that look like she was staring off at a distant place. I took the time to look over her status sheet. It wasn’t that bad, when compared to my human form’s stats, but we both needed to gain more power. I had the feeling that greater and greater threats were on the horizon.

  “Thank you, Nico! I knew the dragon dream was a big secret, but didn’t realize quite how big. Thank you for trusting me with that, and you must be ridiculously strong, because even that extra 1% of your strength makes it hard for me to stand up without jumping. Oh! Never mind, I can just look at what your strength is, for myself.”

  Cami looked cross-eyed for a moment. “Hmm… 340?! That is just crazy. I only gained three extra points of strength, but it makes a big difference at this level.” She poked me in the arm. “I bet if you gained a half-dozen points, you would hardly notice it.”

  I shrugged. “I actually gained 10 points recently, as well as 3 DKP for the battle. And, strangely enough, I gained a title which upgraded my Shape Change ability. Apparently, that was from casting a spell learned in my human form while in dragon form. I achieved a new level of synergy.”

  An idea occurred to me, and I hurried to share it with Cami. “The funny thing is, that some of the dragons in the dragon dream had titles, too. But I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Now, I’m wondering if ‘storm wielder’ was just something one of my ancestors called himself, or if it was a system title that came with perks.”

  Then I looked at the title I had earned again, but this time I knew that Cami was looking with me.

  Morfi Apprentice - You have displayed basic synergy between your forms. Gain an extra 5% of your greater strength while in lesser forms. The time it takes for all transformations is reduced by 50%.

  I had already tested it out and discovered that the partial transformation to create claws was something I could now do in just over a second. That would be useful in combat. Thinking about claws, though, reminded me of something I’d seen on part of Cami’s stat sheet.

  “Have you tried out your claws yet?” I asked.

  She grew pale. “Uh, no… I wasn’t able to… before. It was just something I had the potential for, but now, I guess since our bond increased, it feels like I could do it.”

  I was all excited. Something about her being able to get dragon claws seemed significant to me. It wasn’t just that it would help her defend herself better. No, I think it must be that because I was a dragon living in a human form all the time, it would make me feel better if a human—actually, if my human—were to display a draconic trait.

  When she hesitated, I asked, “Is something wrong?”

  Cami blushed.

  I frowned, shaking my head slowly. “Oh, you’re afraid that getting claws will turn you into a monster.”

  She reached out and grabbed my hand. “Never that. I don’t think you’re a monster.”

  “You haven’t seen me in my true form for a long time. Maybe you’ve just forgotten.” The words came out slowly, and it felt like they were being dragged out of me. I didn’t want that to be the case, but I feared it.

  This connection was really messing me up.

  “Never that! You were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I’m actually ashamed of what is scaring me, but… um… it looked pretty painful when you did it. I’m worried I’ll cry out.”

  Suddenly, it was like a weight lifted off of my shoulders. I couldn’t help but laugh, which caused the poor girl’s face to go from pale to red.

  “Don’t laugh, Nico! You didn’t see the expressions on your face when you made those claws the first time.”

  I brought my laughter under control and said, “Okay, fine. It did hurt a fair bit the first time—but it was much easier after that. And since I got the title, I’ve tried it a few more times. Partial transformations don’t seem to count as one of my three per day limit, so I’ve practiced a bunch. It is actually pretty easy.”

  She grimaced, but then held up her hands, glaring at them.

  The nails of her fingers were so flat and… well, pointless, really. I never understood this about the way the gods had made humans. Even a good claw would have made them so much more effective as hunters. But no, they had to be soft and squishy in just about every way.

  I saw the strain on Cami’s face, and then her fingers transformed. Scales grew from her wrist down to her fingertips, and then her nails disappeared to be replaced a moment later by thick, strong claws. The pain on her face made me feel protective, but I knew she needed to master this on her own, so I sat back.

  Eventually, when she sucked in a deep breath, I knew she’d done it.

  Within a few seconds, she was practicing swinging her claws through the air. “This is so cool,” she squealed.

  “Good to be a dragon, isn’t it—or at least have dragon claws.” My confidence came through in my words, and Cami nodded in eager agreement.

  After we discussed transformations a bit further, I decided at some point I'd need to tell her about the orc with wings—but there was no reason to get her hopes up now. And, of course, I REALLY wanted to pick my spells.

  I’d been patient and encouraged Cami, but it was Nico time, now. We discussed it. I picked Airy Water first, since it was one of Temulara’s conditions for the gift. And then we weighed out the various options.

  I kept wanting to choose Primal Senses, because I missed my keen senses while not in my dragon form. Cami argued that I wouldn’t be able to keep it up all the time, and that there were other spells which were more important—necessary, even.

  “Don’t you want Wizard’s Eye? Think about it. We’re going to need to be able to spy on people when we get to the university. It seems like the best choice for that.”

  “Hmm… I do like the idea of keeping tabs on anyone who might oppose us. We will want to rise to the top of the university. None shall stand against us.” I chuckled as I had visions of us crushing the other students.

  Her eyes got wide at that. “Uh, yeah, and we’ll want to make sure no one figures out who you are.”

  I’m sure what she said would work too, but I had started to envision the university as a place that encouraged competition between its students.

  Unfortunately, that was all my available spells for 4th Tier, so I had to give up on Ferocity. Oh well, I still wanted some of the others. Looking at the ones that were left, it was easier to rule out what I didn’t need than what I did.

  “We can discount Soul’s Light,” I declared.

  “What? Won’t that be necessary for fighting the horrors?” Cami asked.

  “Uh, I think they’re pretty rare and I don’t really like the idea of a spell which might damage my soul. Besides, I haven’t met anything yet that a good lightning bolt won’t handle. Yeah… that decides it, I definitely need, Call the Charge.” I added that one to my list.

  After talking it through further with Cami, I agreed that Path of Frost was a spell likely to be useful to me now. Though, I admitted that I didn’t like the idea of fighting from the back row with other spell casters. Of course, I then changed my mind and chose Adoration of the Fearful.

  I mean, what was the point of having Dragon Fear if I couldn’t use it in creative ways. I just knew there were going to be moments at the university where I’d feel the urge to make someone bow to me. I actually shivered in anticipation while Cami just shook her head.

  She opted not to learn that spell from me. Based on my limited knowledge and what we could figure out, sorcerers were even more limited in the number of spells they could learn, and she didn’t want to have to expend DKP later to change out a less useful spell.

  Frustratingly, I wasn’t able to share what had become my most useful spell, Lesser Regeneration, with her. The only conclusion we could come to about it was that this was because the spell belonged to a specific goddess’ domain.

  “By the way, I think I may be responsible for calling Temulara down to you,” Cami said out of the blue as I was reviewing my stat sheet once more, while toying with the idea of whether or not I could safely test out Call the Charge on board the ship.

  That got my attention. When I looked over at her, she explained about the temple in Cloverdale and how the two old priests there had taught them about all twelve gods. It was the only reason she’d had the opportunity to learn to read.

  “I don’t think you did anything wrong, but we should probably be careful involving the gods moving forward—at least until we figure out what this pact is, and what they’re hiding. Who knows what they might be keeping from us. Besides, we need to focus on figuring out how to turn you into a dragon rider—that will give both of us big upgrades.”

  “I thought you were unsure about letting anyone ride you,” Cami said.

  I rubbed at the back of my neck, which suddenly felt hot. “Um… I’m not going to lie. I like you more than anyone I’ve ever met, and I’m still not completely sure about it. But my mother taught me that if you’re going to attack, you don’t start and then stop halfway. You either attack, or you don’t. I’ve decided to go forward with this bond, so I guess that means I’m all in.”

  She smiled. “That makes me happier than you can know.”

  I laughed in response. “You just want to ride me.”

  She threw her hands in the air. “Can you blame me? Not all of us get to fly, but now I’m going to get to fly and on the back of the world’s most gorgeous dragon.”

  Her enthusiasm pleased me a great deal. I’m certain it had nothing to do with her flattery.

  Stat Sheets - 3

  Nicosandumas

  Race: Blue Dragon

  Maturity: Adult (3% to Mature Adult)

  DKP: 2

  Length: 31’8” Weight: 12,303 lbs.

  Base Speed: 10 mph on land/128 mph in the air

  Stats:

  STR: 330

  AGI: 38

  DUR: 34

  MIND: 18

  HP: 340

  Regen Rate: 34 HP/day (53 with Cami)

  Immunities:

  Electricity

  Sleep

  Paralysis

  Resistances:

  Magic- 40%

  Physical Damage: 14.5%

  Combat Proficiency:

  Armor Rating: 32

  ATK: 26

  DMG: 2-12+14 (claws), 2-24+21 (bite), 2-8+13 (wings), 2-12+21 (tail)

  Critical Strike: 17%

  Racial Abilities:

  Breath Weapon 1: Spark storm 100’ x 10’ (12-48 damage)

  2: Lightning Bolt 300’ x 5’ (18-108 damage)

  Sprint: reach a maximum land speed of 80 mph for up to 30 seconds or maximum air speed up to 226 mph for 1 minute.*

  Sound Imitation/Ventriloquism*

  Dragon Fear 1

  Project Image (10% real)*

  Shape Change 2*

  Fabricate 1*

  Soul Space 1*

  Manipulate Sand 1*

  Concentration 3*

  *- These abilities can be used in either form

  Companion Bond: Camille Westfork

  Level: 9

  Benefits:

  Empathic Connection

  Bond Telepathy 2000’

  DKP bonus: +25% (minimum +1)

  Titles:

  Morfi Apprentice- +5% Str in other forms, -50% transformation time

  Mana: 180 points

  Regen: 1 MP/minute. (4 with Cami)

  Innate Magic Spells:

  1st Tier: 2/6

  Force Darts

  Identification

  2nd Tier: 2/6

  Lesser Regeneration - Miseria

  Adoration of the Fearful

  3rd Tier: 2/4

  Weave the Wind

  Call the Charge

  4th Tier: 2/2

  Airy Water- Temulara

  Wizard’s Eye

  HUMAN FORM

  Nico

  Apparent Race: Human

  Apparent Age: 18

  Class: Monk/Sorcerer

  Level: 8th/7th

  DKP: 1

  Height: 6’3” Weight: 201 lbs.

  Base Speed: 10 mph

  STR: 102

  AGI: 38

  DUR: 34

  MIND: 18

  HP: 280

  Regen Rate: 34 HP/day (53 with Cami)

  Armor Rating: 10

  Immunities: Electricity, Sleep, Paralysis

  Resistances: Magic- 30%, Physical Damage: 0

  ATK: 23

  DMG: 1-8+13 (punch), 1-10+13 (kick)

  Critical Strike: 5%

  Monk Fighting Style: Dragon

  Monk Abilities:

  Rapid Movement

  Flurry Attack 1

  Stunning Fist 1

  Meditation 1

  Stillness

  Pure Mind-Pure Body

  Make Me Whole

  Evasion

  Mana: 180 points

  Regen: 1 MP/minute. (4 with Cami)

  Innate Magic Spells:

  1st Tier: 2/6

  Force Darts

  Identification

  2nd Tier: 2/6

  Lesser Regeneration- Miseria

  Adoration of the Fearful

  3rd Tier: 2/4

  Weave the Wind

  Call the Charge

  4th Tier: 2/2

  Airy Water - Temulara

  Wizard’s Eye

  ______________

  Name: Camille Westfork

  Race: Human- draconic bloodline

  Age: 15.8

  Class: Dragon-bonded sorcerer/mage

  Level: 6th/1st

  DKP: 6

  XP: 4128/7000

  Height: 5’4” Weight: 116 lbs.

  Base Speed: 6 mph

  Dragon Bond: Nicosandumas-

  Level: 9

  Benefits:

  Empathic Connection

  Bonded Telepathy- 2000’

  Bloodline: Claws

  Spell Share

  3% stats

  Mentor: Modessa Lonerat

  STR: 23

  AGI: 29

  DUR: 19

  MIND: 35

  HP: 190

  Regen Rate: 19 HP/day (53 with Nico)

  Armor Rating: 10

  Resistance: All Damage- 6

  ATK: 6

  DMG: 2-4 (non-lethal)

  Critical Strike: 1%

  Skills:

  Tough Hide 2

  Meditation 2

  Concentration: 1

  Rapid Cast

  Spell Swap

  Mana: 350

  Mana Regeneration: 3 per minute (4 with Nico)

  DBS Spells: