[Congratulations you have defeated 5 Champions, for reaching this milestone additional rewards will be provided once next phase is unlocked.]

[Congratulations you have leveled up]

Level - 80->81/150

HP - 1720

Mana - 2340

Agility - 204->208

Strength - 159->161

Constitution - 171->172

Intelligence - 230->234

Wisdom - 201->204

Violet shivered with the fresh influx of stats that she gained from that level up. Where before she would gain 10 stat point per level, now she gained 14 per level, a small but noticeable increase.

Next she focused on the notification about the Champion beast Protocol, it had been a while since she had last thought about that. And strange to think that she had already faced and defeated 5 potential champions, each fight had been a true challenge. Forcing her to utilise her abilities to the greatest extent that she could.

From the very first champion when she was still a weak hatchling, to the flame drake that nearly claimed her life. Each one had been a test of her skill and determination, but she had prevailed each time. Even Luna was now included in the Protocol, if Violet remembered correctly she should have been credited for 3 victories, assuming that each participant gets an equal claim to the victory.

And based on how Violet has been listed as having 5 victories, she is inclined to believe that to be the case.

Now Violet just wondered what this additional rewards would turn out to be. Earlier messages said that the next stage would start once 100,000 participants were left. That seemed like an incredible number, yet was only ten percent of the original number of participants. Violet did wonder how many were currently left, saddly though it did not seem like the system was willing to provide such an answer. "Stingy system" she muttered to herself.

"Hmm did you say something Violet?" Came Luna's tired voice.

Quickly snapping out of her contemplations Violet quickly moved over to her companion after quickly storing the corpse of the infernal goat. "No nothing don't worry, how are you feeling?"

It felt like a silly question given that Luna looked to be in quite the sorry state, her clothing was torn in several spots. Nearly every bit of her exposed skin held burns, from only mild burns that were comparable to a weak sunburn, to truly vicious looking burns that weeped a sickly puss. Violet instantly felt bad for asking the question, she could easily feel the intense pain that was slipping through their bond, even with Luna trying to surprise the feeling.

With a slight grimace Luna replied, her voice sounding a touch horse. "Iv been better, but I should be fine, could you give me a hand to get back to the camp, we do still need to look after the others whilst they are unconscious. And when Susan wakes up she will be able to get me all fixed up."

Then Luna paused and gave Violet a piercing glare causing the dragon to tense up slightly. "Don't think I don't know how badly hurt you are aswell! I saw you cough up blood after using your breath skill, plus you like like you have been half boiled yourself!"

Violet squirmed slightly under her companions intense glare, clearly she was not a fan of Violet ignoring her own wounds. Not like Luna wasn't doing the exact same thing right now though, still Violet chose to be the bigger beast… and ignore her companions hypocrisy.

Regardless Violet quickly transformed back to her humanoid form to better be able to carry Luna. She even remembered to put on a dress after transforming!

So the now extremely pink skinned dragon girl bent down and picked up Luna in her arms, cradling her against her chest. Luna did seem to get slightly pinker too when she was picked up, a brief wave of embarrassed joy flashed through the bond at that action which just brought a smile to Violet's lightly cooked face.

It only took a minute for Violet to bring the two of them back under the massive roots. Once back under cover the dragon first set Luna down by the fading fire atop the abundant furs with evident care, her movements were slow so as to not exasperate her companions burns. Then once settled she passed over a cup filled with cool water sourced from one of the many rivers of this region.

Only once Luna was situated comfortably did Violet then turn to look at the two newly minted companions.

They were both still unconscious, collapsed besides each other with Susan resting on Rhyana's side. They both seemed to be fine, with steady breaths and content expressions.

Happy that they were both okay, Violet returned to Luna's side and settled down to rest. The two companions relaxed in each others presence as their natural healing, along with Luna's passive healing skill, slowly fixed them back up.

Their visible burns and scrapes healing at a prodigious rate. Luna's burnt and blistered skin slowly loosing its aggressive colouration, her breathing becoming more relaxed as her body slowly repaired itself. It was no where near as fast as possible if Susan was tending to them, but given her current state, that did not appear to be happening any time soon.

The day continued on, soon it became time for dinner so Violet emerged from their fur cocoon to begin preparing food for them all. She hoped that the two fresh companions would wake up soon, so she prepared a large meal for for all four of them.

Around the time that the hearty stew she was cooking was being left to simmer, did the two began to rouse.

Subdued groans escaped from both of them, clearly the bonding process had not been as… easy? Painless? As when Violet and Luna bonded, or maybe it was just as bad, Violet was quite unsure, she had been asleep when she received the skill. Whereas Luna had gained it thanks to selecting her class, so the situations were slightly different to what was happening here.

Still neither Violet or Luna spoke up, happy to remain in the background as the two new companions explored their new bond.

Susan came to awareness with the delightful smell of cooking food, her nose twitched and she felt her stomach growl slightly. But she then felt a strange phantom hunger, she blinked in surprise. She knew that she was slightly hungry herself, but why did she feel like she was both slightly hungry, and simultaneously ravenous all at the same time. It was a truly confusing sensation.

She then began to notice more strange sensations, their was a foreign feeling of lingering joy and determination, phantom feeling from both the floor and having a comforting weight resting against her side. Yet when Susan looked down she noted that nothing was leaning on her.

It was then that she took note of the system blinking at her with an awaiting notification, deciding to see what it was saying she pulled the notification up.

[Congratulations, you have successfully forged a bond of equals with - Adolescent Lightning Dragon, Rhyana.]

She suddenly sat bolt upright, almost falling down from her pertch on Rhyana's side. She read and then re-read the notification, then looked it up on her status page to confirm.

A smile threatened to split her face as she saw her new skill. A companion bond with a dragon was a thing of legend, it was something that had not been seen in the kingdom for a very long time. It was normal for a Bond of Subservience to be formed with dragons, never for a Bond of Equals. Yet it was spoken of in legends, of the powerfull few who gained a dragons true trust, of the feats that such individuals inevitably achieved.

She, a former slave from birth, could now be counted amongst the few figures of legend. She held the unabashed trust of her only true friend. That simple fact meant more for Susan than she ever imagined.

For so long she had nothing, having lost her parents at an early age, living under the chain she never had any true friends. Such she had been somewhat friendly with some other slaves but never anything substantial. To know that she finally had someone that truly and completely trusted her… it meant more to her than she had words to express.

It was then that she felt the mental presence of Rhyana… her companion, yet this was not like her normal telepathic communications, but it felt like her voice came from somewhere deeper. Like she was being spoken to from within her very soul, as opposed to a voice in her mind. It was also accompanied by emotions, vauge they may be, yet they came through all the same.

"Why are you crying Susan? Are you alright?" The words were accompanied by a sense of worry, this only caused the blind dogkin to cry all the more. Yet these were not tears of saddness, but tears of joy.

Susan leant down and brought the dragons head into her chest in a deep hug. "I'm just happy. Really, really happy." And with her mental words waves of unadulterated joy washed through their bond to envelop Rhyana, easing her worry and bringing a smile to her own face.

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