Then it hit me. Galbrecht had just gained a legendary class. Now that they were mates, she was afraid of becoming the inferior part of that relationship.

  Playing on that I’d realized, I said, “You know… with the power I could grant you, you could even keep up with Galbrecht.”

  Cami elbowed me in the ribs. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but it was one of the ways she’d said she would let me know I’d crossed a line and was violating some human taboo.

  “Enough of this,” Lisella said. “We aren’t trying to control you, but we aren’t going to become your minions… not now. Once you have completed your training and have a better perspective on things, who knows what might happen? You’ll probably find some adventurers who are interested in becoming your minions.” She shook her head. “I wouldn’t be able to do so, because I’m already sworn to Miseria.”

  I frowned. I had liked the idea of having a Princess for a minion. She was probably right—her goddess would not appreciate the competition. Then I smiled. Maybe I could find another Princess to claim as a minion.

  I was going to be traveling the world to meet other dragons, after all. Yes. I liked that idea.

  I liked it a lot.

  Interlude 1 – Impossible Tasks

  Liam made a beeline from the battle to go find Serius. He had a good sense of where his old friend might be, but wasn’t certain. There was so much he needed to do. The way Nico had been treated today made him realize that their time was much shorter than he’d thought.

  His father’s people should be on their way here. Liam would need their help to convince Nico about what was necessary. The young dragon could be very willful. Worse, his power was growing a lot faster than expected. Power and inexperience were a dangerous combination—at least it was in the mind of the half-elf.

  Tolston might not have known who it was that he was containing, but that didn’t really excuse his actions. While the Archmage might have been following the letter of the law, like Galbrecht had said… something was off. Hopefully, Serius would have some insight into what was going on.

  When Liam reached his friend’s chambers, he sensed the tingle of a magical shield. It wasn’t uncommon to find the shield in place, especially if Serius was engaged in some type of experiment. But it also was something the mage did when he was communicating with the human Emperor.

  Perhaps word of this morning’s events had already spread. The human leader had ways of knowing things he shouldn’t be able to. It was fascinating.

  When the bubble of magical resistance popped, Serius called from behind the heavy door, “Come in, Liam.”

  When he opened the door, the ranger saw Serius sitting in a chair sipping some hot tea. The half-elf came inside, closing the door behind him. His friend seemed disturbed. Liam had long ago learned, however, that it was best to let his friend express himself first.

  “That man gives me impossible tasks,” Serius muttered.

  “Emperor Castine?”

  “Who else? Now, I’m somehow to ensure that Nico is free to pursue his own path to grow without letting Tolston know what he is.” Serius leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. “As if the Archmage is going to listen to me. He forgets that my class is only one step away from his… I just haven’t found the right inspiration to push me into the Archmage ranks.”

  Liam had heard that complaint more than once before; he didn’t want to get stuck in it again. “Nico seemed to think that it might be time for him to reveal himself.”

  “Gods, no! He isn’t ready. He thinks he’s strong—and he is—but he lacks subtlety. The mere fact that he let himself get trapped this morning is proof of that. He trusts too much in his ability to see magic, not realizing that there will always be ways to circumvent that.”

  “Anyone can fall into a trap, Serius,” Liam retorted. “That isn’t proof of failure, but I will admit that he is inexperienced. His power is growing much faster than his level of experience.”

  Serius nodded, but then sighed. “Yes, and now I’m supposed to find a way for him to get more real combat experience—despite the ban on students doing any dungeon diving during their first two years at the university.”

  “I’m sure you’ll find a way. I only came here to report on what happened this morning.” The half-elf gave his friend a wry smile. “It seems the Emperor beat me to it.”

  “And, as usual,” Serius groaned, “he expects me to turn this mess into something acceptable.”

  Liam hid his smile as he let Serius rant for a bit.

  ____________________

  Cami was not happy. As she and Nico spoke to their mentors, something was nagging at her. She hated that they’d been caught in that trap. There had to be a way to prevent it. Her first thought had been that she needed to ask Modessa and Lisella about how to stop such a thing happening again, but something kept her from doing so.

  Nico rarely displayed any sort of weakness—certainly not in public. She needed to follow his example. She would have expressed the frustration she felt if it had just been the two of them, but not with the other humans here.

  Hmm… that was certainly a strange thought. It was almost as though she had thought about Lisella and Modessa—humans—as other than, or different from herself.

  No, she’d wait until it was just her and Modessa. She trusted her mentor, even if Nico didn’t. To her, the woman’s past explained most of the tension between her and Nico. Actually, she felt that was water under the bridge to Modessa. The way the rogue had leapt in today to defend them was proof enough for her.

  She waited impatiently for the conversation to end, telling them about all that had happened since before she and Nico had left the university. Both adventurers were suitably impressed and possibly jealous that she had not only obtained a legendary crafting class, but also that she had created a soul weapon.

  It hadn’t saved her from Tolston’s trap, though.

  If Nico was the powerful one in their relationship, then she needed to be the one keeping an eye out to avoid such things. It was that awareness which helped consolidate her ideas about the type of specialty she should take as her second class.

  Perhaps she had been too quick, before, to reject Modessa’s suggestions. It wasn’t that she wanted to be a rogue, but she did want that suite of detection abilities. Now, she just needed to find a class that would give her potent ranged damage with magic and excellent mobility, in addition to those detection abilities.

  She chuckled at that thought as she considered Modessa’s reaction when she told her mentor what she wanted. That wasn’t asking too much, was it? Nico really was rubbing off on her.

  Once their meeting ended, Cami followed Modessa back to their training area, while Nico headed back to his room to sleep. He had barely made it through Lisella’s instructions about what his schedule would be tomorrow—oblivious to the admonishment not to be late for the meeting with his storm mage tutor.

  The rogue was quiet as they crossed the quad.

  Then it dawned on Cami why she was so quiet. “Thank you, by the way.”

  “For what?”

  “Jumping in to save us. I don’t want to take for granted that you almost died.”

  “Nah, I’m tougher than that. Don’t believe everything a wizard says. They think they're all that and a bag of chocolates… especially that one. Sometimes they forget that rogues are good at countering wizards. It was my own stupidity that led me to rush in before I had a real opening.”

  “Still, it must have been scary.”

  Modessa grinned at Cami, and then winked. “Nah, I’m the scary one… the blade in the dark. I will say this, though. It hurt worse than that time I got stung by a blighted scorpion. I would have been a sitting duck if it had just been me trying to take Tolston out. But sometimes, when you have a team, you know you can take chances. That’s the way you know if you really have a team—they step up and cover you when you’re exposed.”

  Cami thought about that for a moment. “I’ve been going about this all wrong. I need to have both ranged damage and a way to counter magic. Detecting it is one thing, but being able to counter it? That would be amazing.”

  Modessa snorted. “So, essentially… you want to combine an evoker with a diviner and throw in some rogue type skills, along with a healthy dose of counter magic?” Modessa’s voice conveyed the level of difficulty she thought that would present, but Cami missed the edge of sarcasm.

  Her young mind was racing ahead to the possibilities.

  “Yeah, but I should also be able to buff, Nico.” She paused as she thought for a second. “Oh, and I need to have decent mobility so I can get in and out of combat with powerful creatures like dragons and that baloth thing we fought.”

  Modessa stared at her apprentice. “Basically, you want some super rare legendary class that I’ve never heard of.”

  Cami nodded enthusiastically.

  Modessa muttered under her breath, “Kid’s already got a legendary crafting class so good that if her primary wasn’t a dragon rider, the university would lock her up in a workshop and not let her come out until she’d perfected her craft.”

  The rogue’s eyes lit up. “How about this? If I can find you a class that does all that, then you’ll make me a soul weapon.”

  Cami almost agreed right away, but then she thought for a second. “But you already have to help me find the best class possible for me, as my mentor.”

  The rogue smirked. “Looks like somebody is growing up.”

  Cami grinned.

  Modessa asked, “Then what do you want for a soul weapon?”

  It was Cami’s turn to wink at her mentor. “I think you know what I’ll want.”

  Modessa’s face went pale. “You wouldn’t ask that of me?”

  Cami shrugged, causing Modessa to groan. “You really are spending way too much time with that overgrown lizard.”

  ____________________

  Galbrecht felt more alive than he had in a long time. The touch of his goddess had rested on him, but it wasn’t like when she had made him into her avatar. That had been a great honor, of that he had no doubt, but he expected it had also been much more powerful than he was now… but this power was his. He knew that Miseria was pleased with him.

  He shook his head. To think that the final step for him breaking into a legendary class had been so simple. He’d known the requirement for a while, but hadn’t understood it. The system message he’d received after meditating on what he yet lacked had seemed impossibly vague, and his goddess had ignored his every plea to explain it to him.

  Heal yourself

  That was all he’d been told. It seemed like such a simple instruction, something which he had done dozens of times in the midst of battle. It was part of what it meant to be a paladin. Still, no matter how many times he used Lay on Hands or various self-healing spells, none sufficed.

  He had begun to think he was irreparably broken in a way that he couldn’t understand. Then it had come to him. When he’d seen Modessa struck down, he realized the depth of his love for the rogue.

  She was rude, abrasive, and could be difficult to live with at times, but he couldn't help himself. He simply loved her. It turned out that he loved her more than anything else. He’d felt both rage and yet an odd completion, as though his accepting her before hadn’t been complete.

  That probably shouldn't have been such a surprise. He had ignored that part of himself for years—love had simply taken a lot more time to bloom in his heart. But the rogue was sealed into his heart, now, and to think that all it took was a dragon playing inadvertent matchmaker… and an Archmage nearly killing his beloved.

  As soon as the depth of his feelings had locked into place, he’d been offered his new legendary class.

  Divine Paragon - You represent more than any other the embodiment of your deity’s focus and will in this world. You know what it is to heal both the body and the heart. You know that healing sometime requires a scalpel to first cut away infection, and other times is a soothing balm.

  Divine Paragon is a Legendary class.

  At each level, you will gain:

  Strength +6

  Durability: +6

  Agility: +3

  Mind: +6

  Stat gains will be doubled at level 21, 25, 30, and every 5 levels thereafter.

  You have reached level 21.

  You have gained the following benefits:

  Divine Resistance (+50%) - You have resistance against attacks or powers of other divine beings or agents.

  Healing (+100%) - All your healing spells and abilities are now +100% more effective than before, and all healing you receive is automatically +100% greater.

  Divine Stillness - Impose a moment of inaction on your foes as they feel the weight of the divine presence of your goddess. All hostile spells, abilities, potions, and regular attacks are stilled. Some will completely fizzle, while others will merely be delayed. This will affect even legendary level spells and powers. The duration will increase as your level does.

  The newly minted Divine Paragon pulled up his stat sheet.

  Name: Galbrecht

  Race: Human

  Age: 49.9

  Class: Divine Paragon

  Level: 21st

  XP: 142,456 / 220,000

  Height: 6’4”

  Weight: 239 lbs.

  Base Speed: 9 mph

  Stats*

  STR: 206

  AGI: 68

  DUR: 376

  MIND: 52

  HP: 3760

  Regen Rate: 75,200 HP/day**

  Mana: 720

  Mana Regeneration: 5 per minute

  Skills:

  Divine Strike

  Divine Smite

  Divine Grace

  Aura of Courage

  Aura of Righteousness

  Divine Health

  Mercy of the Goddess

  Divine Bonding

  Chosen of Miseria

  Divine Guidance

  Lay on Hands

  Cure Disease

  Banish Evil

  Divine Stillness

  Cleric Spells**

  Tier 1 (4/4)

  Tier 2 (4/4)

  Tier 3 (4/4)

  Tier 4 (3/3)

  Tier 5 (3/3)

  Tier 6 (2/2)

  *Stats are modified by gear.

  Galbrecht didn’t bother going through his spells, but it was nice to see that his abilities were still all in place. When he glanced at their descriptions, it was clear that his class evolution had not fundamentally changed any of them, though it had increased almost everything about the abilities.

  Cooldowns, activation times, and mana costs—if applicable—were significantly lower. Range, duration, area of effect, and number of targets had generally increased. It was impressive. Suddenly, he realized the genuine difference it meant, having a legendary class. But more than that, by reaching level twenty-one he had taken a leap forward.

  That wasn’t what bothered him, though.

  He had sensed a presence during the battle… no, perhaps a ‘presence’ was not the right way to think about it. There had been a taint, a taint that stained the world around Archmage Tolston… something which was not natural.

  Galbrecht didn’t know what could have caused the sensation. He’d activated his skill, Divine Guidance. His skill wasn’t like the equivalent skill of a cleric, which would allow a high priest or priestess to ask their goddess a specific yes or no question. Instead, he got generalized impressions. In many ways, his skill was superior, because it pushed him in ways that he might not even have known to ask about.

  The sense he got at the time, was that he needed to rely upon the past. That had led him back to the temple, and the archives held within it. When he sat down, he felt a slow tug leading him towards a couple of different tomes.

  Galbrecht sighed. He could sympathize with Nico on this front. Studying, research, and book learning in general was not his forte. Still, the feeling that the answers he sought were in these history books wouldn’t go away; he had to push through.

  ___________________

  Tolston stalked back to his office in a rage. Everything had gone wrong. The worst part was that he knew it was his own fault. He had rushed in and pushed harder than he’d needed to. It had been a while since he’d been this nervous. He was trying to walk a very fine line.

  By the time anyone became as old as he was now, they tended to have a very good idea of who they were. The Archmage defined himself by a number of things. He was one of only two publicly known holders of legendary classes in all of Taliea. That, combined with his highly productive career as an adventurer, were the things that most people knew about him.