“That didn’t just happen,” I mumbled to myself, staring at the notification with a frown. I glared at Kabi, who actually blushed a deep blue.

  “Sorry,” he whispered, before grimacing.

  “Strange!” Again, the small voice echoed in my head at the same time a chirp came from the small compy.

  “Yep, you are Strange…” I added out loud, trying to figure out the other notifications that had popped up from the bonding process. The poor guy was now stuck with the name Strange, and he’d need to live with that until he leveled up.

  [You have bonded with Strange, Baby Compy. The bond provides each of you with a variety of benefits. As the bond grows, so does the connection.]

  [You have gained the following:

  Bonded Senses: You can use your bonded senses as an extension of your senses.

  Awareness: You can feel your bond at all times, no matter the distance.]

  “Where did he go?” asked Kabi, glancing around the table.

  The nearest light cast my shadow across the table, and there stood the little guy, the edges of him blurring into the limited light. Strange. I had to get used to calling him Strange.

  Kabi’s head twisted about, searching for him.

  “He’s right there…” I motioned to Strange, feeling the connection between us.

  Strange padded closer to the edge of my shadow and glared at the boundary, then up at me. He chirped.

  Kabi jumped. “I can’t see him.”

  “Can you feel him through your connection with me?” I asked, now curious about this entire thing. Strange must have gotten some benefits from me, too. The notification said he would, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. I knew what I got from him, but not the other way.

  Kabi paused and took a deep breath. Then his eyes narrowed near the location of Strange.

  “Barely, he’s barely there.”

  Strange stepped out of my shadow and the blurry edges tightened. He padded close to my hand, which rested on the table, then gave it a nudge.

  A feeling of hunger came from the little guy.

  “Food?”

  I chuckled and checked my inventory. We needed to get some food before entering the dungeon. Nothing remained of the meat. I still had a half eaten ration bar, but didn’t count that.

  “Let’s get some noodles, maybe you’ll like them.” Everyone liked noodles. It was something universal, right?

  Strange did not like noodles. He ate a little of them, but then stared at a vender with meat sitting on a grate over an open fire that spattered from fat drippings. A grumbling sound came from the little guy, but he waited patiently.

  I finished my bowl of noodles within seconds and thought about getting another. Thankfully, Kabi had paid for the first round.

  “Food?” asked Strange as he nudged the noodle bowl again, which was practically full.

  I snagged the bowl from in front of him and downed the noodles in record time, licking my lips afterward as they tingled from the spicy broth.

  “Let’s get you some meat.” I handed the empty bowls over and the chef winked at me.

  The meat was cheap, and only cost me a hundred credits, leaving me with a solid 2500.

  Strange inhaled the food as soon as I held it out in front of him, after letting it cool for a few moments.

  [Strange, Bonded Baby Compy, Level 21, Bonded]

  After food, he passed out in the sling as Kabi led me around the marketplace. Without a ton of credits to spend, I wanted to head back to the workshop, but Kabi kept glancing in each of the booths.

  Finally, he turned back toward the workshop with a frown on his face.

  “Okay, what’s up?” I asked as the crowd thinned.

  “I need another sword,” he grumbled. “I lost one during the attack.”

  “That’s easy enough, I have one you could use…” I snagged the poison sword from the Sword Spitter Forger dude. I pulled it out of my inventory and held it out to him.

  “Where did you get this?” He took it carefully, the frown still on his face.

  “From a dead Forger,” I said with a shrug. “They didn’t need it anymore.”

  “They must have stolen it from one of my people. This is made in our style of blades, yet the poison is out of place.”

  “I can’t help you there, but I’m going to work on some crystal work while we wait for Lenna.”

  I still couldn’t sense her within the dungeon, or reach her through the communication crystal.

  Once in the workshop, I snagged a table and pulled out the blob of explosive implants made of crystal I’d taken from the storage room.

  Time to figure out how they worked, and if I could replicate them.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  I mentally dove into the blob of crystal and got bombarded with a smack of runes degrading, along with various presences screaming. I quickly yanked myself out, huffing.

  That’d been rougher than I’d expected.

  I tried again.

  This time, I carefully peeked inside, my focus on the runes floating around that all were the same shape. Some were broken and fading as the seconds ticked by, while others drifted around still whole.

  It was the same rune I’d gotten for my explosive crystals.

  Nothing new there.

  The rest of the blob was a mix of various crystals wanting to not be there. It didn’t take long to untangle the mix into three different bunches. Forest, Fire and a small bit of Air.

  As I rose out of my focus and looked around, I saw that Kabi sat near the campfire, speaking to another Azura folk while holding the sword. Both seemed deep in a hushed conversation.

  A crystal suddenly appeared in the far distance, and I waited while it traveled closer. Eventually, Lenna appeared in the workshop's archway. She headed to my table with a big grin.

  “He’s in this world. Somehow, he’s actually here!” Her eyes landed on Strange in my sling before growing wide. “That’s unexpected.”

  I chuckled, wanting to explain, but didn’t get the chance before she spoke.

  “Strange? That’s the best you had?” she asked, with a grin.

  “It was Kabi’s fault, I swear. So Dengu’s here?”

  “He was, then he vanished, and now he’s in the dungeon. Though, he isn’t close.” Her head twisted about as someone dashed into the room.

  “Hey, I’m looking for someone…” His eyes landed on Lenna and I. “Lenna, I take it?”

  “Yes, did you find Dengu?”

  He nodded. “Yes, I can bring you to him.”

  Kabi stood up from near the fire. “We will all go.”

  This time, traveling through the marketplace didn’t take long. We approached the area near the entrance to the dungeon where the Forest tribe had been held.

  Guards again flanked the doorway leading to the room.

  Lenna picked up the pace and raced ahead of the person guiding us that way. The two guards parted to let her through.

  “Dengu!”

  The raptor stood in the back of the room, away from the doorway, but his presence moved as Lenna spoke.

  Kabi went to talk to the guards, along with someone in robes, while I continued toward the archway.

  Lenna's arms wrapped around Dengu’s neck, her head resting on his side.

  [Dengu, Bonded Raptor, Sharp Talons, Level 58, Friend.]

  A nasty-looking scar and metal limb attached to the shoulder that I had healed as best as I could. It hadn’t grown back.

  Instead, a mechanical limb with a wicked talon graced the area, with leather straps wrapping around his body. It reminded me of my brothers work, maybe with some input from Hammy.

  “Alpha!”

  I smiled. “My friend, it's good to see you.”

  He rushed at me, then stopped in front of me, staring at my chest.

  A chirp came from the wrap, and I realized Strange shivered violently in the sling.

  “Bonded?” asked Dengu.

  “Yes, this little guy is Strange.”

  Dengu lowered his snout close to Strange and sniffed. “Family of Alpha, my family.”

  Strange stopped shivering and chirped once from within the sling. Though he only barely peeked his head out.

  Dengu nodded, then glanced up at me with his bright yellow eyes. “You found Lenna.”

  “Of course. I hope everything is fine at Lakeside?” I asked, wanting to ask more but at the same time knowing I needed to focus on the present.

  He nodded again. “Yes, the portal from Scary One brought me here.”

  “The portal to the Sisters is up and running?” I grinned, wondering who else would take a shot at traveling to the highly ranked world. “That’s awesome!”

  Noseen must have finished work on the portal, but it felt like that hadn’t taken any time at all.

  “We’ll need to catch up on how everyone is doing.”

  The robed figure stepped into the room with Kabi, and his presence washed over the area. I resisted rolling my eyes and turned to face him just like everyone else.

  “You have been given access to challenge the dungeon. Whatever rewards you earn are yours to keep, but Dengu cannot exit the way he entered.” He glared at all of us, then stomped out of the room. The guards followed him.

  “That was weird,” I mumbled as Kabi approached.

  “Hello Dengu, I am Kabi.” Kabi bowed toward the raptor, who sniffed him. “I follow Alex.”

  “Alpha,” said Dengu, bobbing his head. “Is strong.”

  “Everyone is here now,” said Lenna in a rush. Her eyes kept going to Dengu’s mechanical limb. “Though, we should rest before we head into the dungeon.”

  “I could sleep in a real bed for a night, day, whatever it is,” I agreed.

  In the dungeon there wasn’t a sun, since it was all underground. Time felt off as well.

  “A brief rest would be good, and I can catch up with Dengu,” said Lenna.

  It didn’t take us long to get back to the workshop, or for Dengu and Lenna to sit near the fire, quietly sharing their stories.

  I wished I could hear the conversation, but it took place within their bond. And I had to admit, it was their conversation to have, reconnecting after this time apart.

  Strange couldn’t take his eyes off Dengu.

  “It seems like Strange likes Dengu,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Strong predator,” echoed inside my mind.

  “Will he grow that large?” asked Kabi, also watching the raptor.

  “If he grows like the rest of his species, no. I’ve only seen them as tall as my knee.” I pulled out the crystal piles and tried to come up with something to create. The need to keep leveling my profession knawed at the back of my mind. The gap between my class and profession needed to be closed before I approached level 200. While I was only at 76 and 61, respectively, I felt the pressure, even though I still had plenty of time. I needed progress.

  I set the fire crystal ball in front of Kabi. “Can you make this glow?”

  He frowned. “How?”

  “Just focus on it, like you would a rune.”

  He picked it up and concentrated on it, yet nothing changed with the crystal. Finally, he set it back down.

  “Nothing.”

  “Alright.”

  That meant he could only use passive things, like the communication crystal for messages. The energy came from the crystal itself, not the user. Lenna might be able to use something I created, but she hadn’t tried to use crystals yet, and I wasn’t sure she would.

  Noseen's suggestion of getting runes that could help my class came to mind.

  Maybe I could create something besides weapons to help me in battle. The burning knuckles around my wrist had come in handy more than once. Plus, I already had my spear and the knife. Both were already pretty perfect for my fighting style.

  The healing crystal, communication crystal, and my inventory, plus the soaring crystal gave me plenty to work with. The recording crystal still sat blank, and I pulled that out. Going through everything I’d learned so far about crystals could be important.

  Plus, I had the time.

  Instead of trying to figure out how to do an image, I just started speaking into the recording crystal, covering everything I’d tested and tried so far with mixing crystal types. I also discussed the slave collars, and the various forms of implants I’d discovered.

  It took much longer than I thought it would to get through everything.

  [You have leveled your profession.]

  [You have leveled your profession.]

  The notifications surprised me as they popped up and I closed them, wondering about why I’d gotten experience for recording the knowledge.

  Kabi played with Strange with a rag that the small dinosaur kept attacking. It reminded me of tug of war.

  Strange dropped the rag as soon as I glanced at him and padded closer to me.

  “Alpha, food?”

  Hunger rolled along the bond, and it made my stomach growl. That wasn’t good.