Chapter 40 - Recovery

[First things first, keep an eye on that dragon.I will get that egg. It belongs to this little one. Gaia, please monitor her as I feed the puppy some blood.]

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I didnt wait for a response as I placed my finger on the spiky tip of the bone wings. I brought my finger to its mouth and softly opened its mouth. A few drops of my blood fell into its mouth and I physically felt its body jolt. Its tongue tried to lick my finger so I placed my finger by its mouth.

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Gaia: Vital signs have stabilized and are steadily climbing. Your blood is healing the damage the starvation caused but is not feeding the young organism. I have found a small stream flowing north. Both of you could use some liquid.

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After walking to the stream, I used my Geomancy to form a cup out of a rock. I placed a quarter sized piece of Storinum at the bottom of the cup and placed it in the stream. After half an hour of adding water into my Storinum Cup, I drank water until I was full. I was still letting the puppy drink my blood to heal it but Gaia stopped me 5ish minutes ago saying that it was now completely healthy minus its thirst and hunger for food.

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I used my Tk to cheat at fishing and pulled fish straight out of the water. After the fish died... something strange happened. I could FEEL the bones within the fish call out to me. I reached for the bones with my hand and my back flared out in mild pain. It was like I was in a trance. Every bone in the body of the fish pulled itself out of the body and disintegrated into dust. The dust moved to my back and started drifting in a ring shape. I felt my body perk up while Hades started roaring in laughter.

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Hades: ANOTHER ONE!!! I AM NOT ALONE ANYMORE!!

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[Hades... what IS this? I just dusted the fishes bones]

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Hades: That was a variation of the 1 skill every Skeleton monster has. Bone Control. Each monster that has a body made of bones can perfectly control them. As far as I know, I'm the only monster that has that has the variation named Bone Dust Control. You are the second one to ever exist.

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[I just... Bone Dusted the fish?]

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Hades: Yes. Our skill variation is a mix of the skills Bone Collector and Bone Control. We can claim the bones of creatures we kill and use them as we see fit without a limit.

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[That's something to test out later. Gaia, can I feed the puppy this raw fish? I know it's part dragon and wolf but can it eat this safely?]

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[My research has shown that monsters hunt and eat shortly after birth. You are safe to feed the young organism the fish.]

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I brought the now boneless fish to the puppies nose and let it smell it. It instantly opened its mouth and chomped the open air. I fed it 6 fish and I Dusted the bones of the fish I caught. I made a fire and ate a few fish myself. I'm not sure if it's the fish here or what but they taste amazing.

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Gaia: User, The life sign of the parent of the young organism is failing.

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[The hell? Already? She really was holding on to watch if the puppy would survive. Let's go and loot her. This little one deserves her egg.]

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The puppy has fallen asleep with its stomach bulging a little. Once the 4 of us sneak back to the dragons area... Gaia let out more drones. Gaia has hundreds of ant sized "Bugs" watching the dragon. Its mana was evaporating at an unbelievable rate and its breathing was shallow.

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Hades: [THAT BEAST!! IT WASNT JUST WATCHING THE PUPPY DIE... IT WAS COUNTING ON IT!!]

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[Huh? What do you mean?]

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Hades: [The egg. It wants to be reborn. A dragon can return to a hatchling if it has an egg from a failed hatchling to return into. It is a form of heresy for a dragon to inhabit an egg that isnt its own but that egg IS hers. She isnt dying right now, she is making a mana body within the puppies egg to take over her mind.]

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[How can I stop it? This dragon doesnt deserve to be reborn.]

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Hades: [Stop the transfer. steal the egg and this time... keep it. Give it to the little one. Its hers to begin with.]

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[Hers? The puppy is female?]

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Hades: [She is.]

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[Well... we will pick a name for her later. Let's first rob a dragon for real.

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...

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How do we do that? The dragon can still just fart in my general direction and I'd die.]

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Hades: [Her focus is completely on transferring her mind into the new body. She should be in unimaginable pain but we dont hear a sound other then her breathing. Go and grab the egg like you did earlier. If you grab it when shes almost finished... you will kill her mind. With her mind dead... the body will follow.]

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I grow a shit eating grin on my face.

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[Do you think I'll get her bone dust?]

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Hades: [Unholy crap... I didnt think of that. Yeah... I think you will.]

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[Then let's go.]

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We sneak closer to the dragon. According to Hades... the actual sight wasnt pretty. The dragons scales have mostly fallen out, there is blood EVERYWHERE and right in the center of the dragon blood pool... is my puppies egg. The sent of iron was thick in the air.

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Hades: [She is desperate. She forcefully shed her scales to draw blood her out to speed up the forming of her new body. Her mind is fractured between the 2 bodies. Take the egg. Shes finished.]

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[Can she hear us if we speak outload?]

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He nods so I ask Gaia to speak for me in my voice. I need this piece of crap to know what is happening and that it's all due to her choices.

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G "Hey Dragon. I'm back for your daughter's Inheritance. I was informed that your trying to use her egg to be reborn and that you sabotaged her chances from the beginning to achieve your goal."

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Dragon: Indra... None of your... Business. Leave before I... kill you and that... mixed breed.

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G "It is my business. Your daughter is now my companion in this world of monsters. I will right the wrongs she cant yet in her place.

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Hades: [She has sped up the transference. She is trying to finish even if it limits her potential later on. You dont have much time.]

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G "Trying to speed up the transfer huh? Dont worry. It wont work. I wasn't a monster before I got to Purgatory but I will embrace the title to finish you. Your daughter will have her egg... and I will have your life."

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I use a speck of Storinum to steal the egg back. The dragon's body roared loudly before it slowly sunk to the floor.

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[Thank you Gaia for being my voice. Each scale you see. Eat them. Once I remove the bones and flesh, can you make use of the dragon hide to make me some shorts? I'm not a fan of my wildly flapping in the wind...]

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Gaia: Understood User.

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I walk to the mouth of the dragon body with the puppy in my arms. I held out my arm and blueish dust gushed out of the dragons mouth. The dust entered my arm in my palm kinda like a reverse Kamehameha. the 4 spikes in my back started to ache again before they split open. The back of my head ached too. After absorbing every speck of dust the body had, my Orb pulsed behind my back. I felt dust leave my body from the area my spikes were and it formed a circle of dark blue dust hovering around my Orb.

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[This feels weird... but in a good way.]

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Hades: You have awaken to your monster form. Your horns are a nice touch by the way.

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Horns? I reached up and felt 1 horn that goes around me head to both sides of my face. It came out from the bone plate on the back of my head.

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Before I could admire my new horns... the dragons now boneless body started to bloat.

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Hades: So she was being literal when she said her body housed all her treasure. The body is going to explode in riches... lucky dog.

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Before the body popped, I threw my now named "Treasure Orb" into the mouth and had it eat all the riches within. Turns out that the dragon body had no blood or organs inside. The dragon hide was all that was left. Gaia finished eating the scales and "Ate" the hide. Half an hour later, she gave me shorts made out of the dragon skin.

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Gaia: I used the entire amount of Blue Dragon Hide and the strongest scales to make these shorts. They will auto adjust to your size and protect your... "Willy" from flapping in the wind. I couldnt make a shirt due to a lack of material.

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... A gigantic dragons hide was only enough to make me shorts?! Dafuk kinda sense does that make?

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Hades: Hey kid... put the little one down. I think it's time she gained her inheritance. Just place the egg infront of her. Her instincts should take over.

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I gently placed her on the floor. She looked sniffed around trying to find something or recognized her... "Mothers" sent. She started to growl and thrash around. I sat on the floor and placed my fingers in my mouth. I let rip my best NYC whistle... which ended up sounding like a deflating balloon. She turned her head to my direction and I made her egg appear in my hands. I placed it on the ground and watched.

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She instantly pounced on the egg smashing it to pieces. She Roared? Howled? Barked? ... some kind of a mix of the three as she turned her egg into powder.

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Hades: Remove your glasses. She needs to look into your eyes. She is looking for you.

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I take off my glasses and open my eyes. I'm still blind so I'm not sure what she is looking for... until I saw them. Orange eyes looking straight at my Dark blue ones. As I looked at the Orange eyes... i heard her in a childish voice. I will never forget what she said to me.

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Puppy: Leader. Life Savior. Alpha. Family. My name is Iris and I will follow you always.

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Iris fell asleep on the spot in the center of the egg dust.

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Hades: The puppy is absorbing the egg pieces. She looks to be ok

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[Iris. Her name is Iris. Let's wait till shes finished and get out of here. I need to start my training with my DKA. I've wasted enough time getting side tracked.]

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We leave the bloody field once Iris finished with her egg.

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Wait... how is there blood if the dragon had treasure as its innards?

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Must be Magic...