Roge was, surprisingly, the first one awake, rolling out of his hammock and going outside of the wagon due to the heat. It wasn’t too uncomfortable for the dragon, but he did find it a bit warmer than he’d been feeling before. Outside, even with the wind from the caravan still moving, it still only felt like a mildly chill day, making Roge smile widely at the effects of his new cold resistance.? ? He quickly pushed his aura resistance out to envelop his friends, knowing that even with it, it would be frighteningly cold outside for them. With the skies being so clear for him, Roge could clearly see the moon setting in the east, the sea barely visible as it reflected the bright pink light. Fields of grass expanded out in each direction, though off to the left of the caravan, he could see the forest quite a bit in the distance. It was rather peaceful, the refreshing wind blowing his clothing around as he just sat and took in the scenery. ‘Couldn’t get this type of view anymore…’ he thought to himself, looking up at the maze of stars in the sky. He could practically see every star, the shape of the galaxy perfectly visible to him, as well as every color of each star. He’d only seen the night sky he was used to in the city, as the light pollution was still a lot. But with how sparse the area was, the light pollution didn’t seem to travel too far, and he could easily get a beautiful night sky during their travels, it was just too cloudy the previous night.

  “You enjoy stargazing?” Hops whispered, joining Roge on the front seat to the dragon’s right and immediately frowning. “Did it warm up or something?”

  “Yes to the first. The… place I was in almost never had views like this due to too many lights.” Roge then smiled, barely holding back his laugh. “And no, I don’t think it’s gotten warmer. You just have your cold resistance increased by forty.”

  “That explains it. Means my comfortable temperature has gone down a little bit.”

  Roge shook his head at Hop’s words, having known he could ask the elf about it. “So… how to you calculate that stuff? I got an… odd effect that makes my ‘Cold’ temperature negative fifty Celsius.” He sighed at Hops’ bug-eyed look, waving his claw to up the temperature by a degree with his [Ice Magic]. “Do you guys have Fahrenheit here?”

  “No idea what that is. What’s your weakness to heat again?”

  After Roge relayed the information, Hops quickly did the calculations, the kingdom having apparently gotten enough info from different abilities, to know the ranges. Roge also knew the conversion to Fahrenheit, which he explained to Hops as he did his own math on the journal. As Hops explained it, his ‘Cold’ temperature, or negative sixty four degrees Fahrenheit, was when he would need more than a light jacket. Roge compared it to feeling like the temperature had dropped below forty, with the ‘Hot’ being ninety for the average person. His Hot was apparently around sixty degrees Fahrenheit due to his heat weakness, Roge sighing as he realized that spring would be quite bad for him.

  “So if I don’t want to go around with an ice making enchantment, I’m going to need to find more fire-aligned plants? Because that’s the thing that’s lowering my weakness to heat.” Roge shook his head as he looked at the seventy four weakness. It would take a *large* amount of plants to do it.

  “Basically. From what I’ve heard, you rent out the cold suit every year, as it mostly wears out by the time fall comes around. But with our expertise, we should be able to make one of our own.”

  “Oh! So like if I added icing to my clothing?” Roge excitedly asked, already planning his cold outfit.

  “You’d need something more powerful, so something based in cold lightning would work best, and is what you started using.”

  “Wouldn’t that shock me?” Roge asked, confused.

  “You can modify it with your intent so that only the cold portion comes out.” Hops waved that concern away, moving right next to the dragon with his journal. Roge had to lean away from the heat coming out of the elf’s coat, wondering if he could increase their resistances to the point where he didn’t need them. “So what else did you find out?”

  “Finally going to tell him about me?” Alton’s voice rang out, startling Roge as he glared at the minotaur sitting on his left side. He didn’t seem to be fully present, as Roge could clearly see through his form. ‘At least he can now know what’s going on…’ Roge mused, turning back to Hops and freezing in place. The elf was clearly looking at the taller minotaur in confusion.

  “Who… is that? And why do you need to tell me about him?” Hops asked.

  “I uh…” Roge stumbled out, taking a moment to center himself. “It’s the minotaur the snake was impersonating. Apparently, he came along for the ride when I took my Form back,” Roge explained, looking back at Alton, who had a big grin on his face. “And considering I didn’t want to lock him in my new hoard for the whole trip-“

  “You found a way to manifest him. Got it,” Hops interrupted, now looking curious instead of shocked. “It’s going to be a bit awkward though, if everyone can see him.”

  “They can’t,” Roge said, shaking his head. “I think the ash I gave you is letting you see and hear him, because the skill specifically says only I should be able to do that.” Roge sighed, rubbing at the base of his horns. “I wish things like this would get explained out…”

  “Not possible to know every combination of effect,” Hops chuckled, looking over at the minotaur and giving him a smile. “Name’s Hops, by the way.”

  “Alton. Hoping we can get me my own body soon,” the apparition replied, looking up at the night sky and letting out a sigh. “At least I can talk to people now. That snake kept me locked in the back of his head while he used my intelligence…”

  “Rough man,” Hops said, fiddling with his coats and making the heat lessen a bit. “So any other abilities I should know about?”

  “Can shapeshift into the animals in my hoard,” Roge started, going over the various screens he’d gotten. Eventually he got to the new druid skill, the elf looking very excited by the prospects.

  “This is going to make getting items so much easier!”

  “SSSSHHHHH!” a voice rang out, Roge and Hops quieting down. They’d apparently woken up the same guard from the previous day, the glare they were giving the two pinning them in place.

  “Welp. I’m going to see what the shapeshifting is like…” Roge muttered, moving back into the wagon and taking a seat in the corner.

  ~~~

  It turned out to not be too difficult, Roge first experimenting with his [Wild Forms] effect to see how it worked. It didn’t change anything on his [Status], thankfully, but it did give him new abilities he hadn’t had before, including the ability to fly. It wasn’t that quick, as he apparently didn’t gain the fairy’s attributes and kept his own. That made him put his free points into agility to get it up to twenty, knowing it was a smart investment, as he could now fly up to forty kilometers per hour. He felt better having the fairy wolf form to use, the puppy like form taking some time to get used to.

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  Being shrunken down to the floor had its advantages, sure, but walking on four legs and swooping through the air took some time to get used to. Thankfully, borrowing the form he’d taken didn’t cost much mana, and his regeneration was high enough that he actually couldn’t tell how much it used. He even had a new ability, though only while in the form, which he was excited about.

  He obviously didn’t use it in the wagon, but he was curious how it would work during combat. He wouldn’t really use the form during combat due to it now being able to hold his wand, but he was curious at how useful it would be as a one off thing to get him out of the way and distract the enemy.

  He was still playing around with the puppy body when he was suddenly lifted up by a pair of large paws, Sean turning him around and giving him a questioning look.

  “Yip!” Roge tried to speak, but the only thing that would come out was dog-like noises, causing a smile to stretch across the lion’s face.

  “Having a bit of an issue there?” he asked, all while Roge tried to wiggle out of his grasp. Thankfully, Sean only held on for a moment longer, and Roge could hop to the floor, where he swiftly transformed back into his normal form.

  “Not funny. And how did you know it was me?” Roge asked quietly, all while Sean tried to keep his laughter quiet as well.

  “Your wings were blue and green, while your fur was a sapphire color. Knew it had to be a new effect you received.” Sean opened the back curtains during his explanation, the sky brightening significantly with the approaching sunrise. Roge hadn’t been aware he’d been playing around- er… getting used to his new form for several hours, but he had to have. He also hadn’t noticed the caravan having stopped, the wall of Jadedwater clearly visible to the north.

  “Is that… jade green stone…?” Roge asked hesitantly, baffled at the expensive looking defensive structure. “How did they afford that?”

  “It’s not actually Jade,” Hops said, the elf moving past Roge to hop down off the back of the wagon. “It just looks that way when mined from the local quarry.”

  “Looks very beautiful in the morning,” Marge cut in, hopping down after Roge disembarked. “Honestly, I take some trinket home with me every time we visit. The craftsmanship of the city is unparalleled.”

  “Wow…” Roge muttered, following the group as they started walking towards the city. He had just noticed the various etchings in the walls, showing different designs and murals, all carved into the stone. “Wish I could do that…”

  “Well…” Sean hummed, Roge giving him a narrow-eyed look at his guilty face. “It was another reason why we came out. We were going to see about getting you a week-long apprenticeship with one of the artisans when we came back from the kobold quest.”

  “That… sounds awesome!” Roge crowed, rushing ahead of the group to look at the walls in more fine detail. “Maybe I could make the things I craft look less… homemade. Could also sell things for better if they look nicer.”

  “Ha! Pay up,” Hops shouted, holding his hand out to a disgruntled Sean. “Bet him a silver you’d love the idea of making something look nicer.”

  “And I thought you’d think it was a waste of time and not want to do it,” Sean said, tossing the coin over to the elf.

  “Well… I do think it’s a lot of time to spend. But I think I can make more money if I do it…” Roge sighed as he turned away form the carvings on the wall, just then noticing the people going in and out of the town giving him odd looks.

  “Don’t mind them,” Alton spoke up, making both Sean and Marge jump in alarm.

  ~~~

  After explaining once again what happened, the group of five moved on to the church building, it being a good bit smaller than the construction in Centerville. “Jadedwater is mostly a port city, so it’s not too big,” Hops commented, Roge barely paying attention as he looked to the various art pieces and carvings around them. “But it should have what we need, including the Hall of Gods. That’s where we’re going to see about getting Sean a God-aligned class or skill.”

  “Why not just get a normal healing class?” Roge wondered, finally paying more attention to the elf.

  “Because every God-aligned light class only uses healing,” Hops replied. Roge let out a sigh at that, honestly torn at the idea. On the one hand, Sean would be in no danger of radiation poisoning and could continue on without the worry that the light mana would kill him. On the other hand, Roge wasn’t sure how well he trusted the church and gods. ‘What if he turns into some kind of fanatic…’ he thought to himself, barely recognizing that they’d entered the church building until a voice called out near him.

  “Welcome adventurers!” the female voice called out, it belonging to a woman in blue, flowing robes. It almost looked like she was dressed in water, her aquatic-looking skin leading to that impression as well. She was around Roge’s height and had a wide, welcoming smile on her face. The dragon was distracted, however, by the fact that he swore she looked like the fish people from the legend of zelda. He was so distracted, that the woman got right up to him before he noticed, the dragon feeling anxiety creeping up on him.

  “My name is Priestess Shelia Rogers, but most people call me Shel. And who are you my Lord?”

  “Uh… Lord?” Roge squeaked out, looking to his friend for help.

  “He’s not nobility,” Sean cut in, looking a bit saddened as he explained. “He was disinherited.”

  “Oh! I’m so sorry, sir,” she said to Roge, who was looking at Sean in curiosity. “My question still stands. Is there anything I can help you with?”

  “We came to get him a scan,” Sean stated, placing a hand on Roge’s shoulder. “He had a run-in with a doppelganger snake on the way here and-“

  “Wait I thought we were here for your class?!” Roge shouted out while pulling away from Sean’s touch.

  “Oh that’s quite terrible.” As she waved off to the side, most of Roge’s attention was on Sean, who looked embarrassed while Marge, Hops, and Alton all gave the lion glares.

  “I thought it would be best if we didn’t say anything in case-“

  “Are you kidding me?! You know what… whatever,” Roge grouched, sighing as he saw the people in full plate armor walking towards them. His anger felt white hot in his chest as he took a deep breath. Feeling the old sting of betrayal always upset him. “No need to strong arm me into it. Where do we need to go for the scan?” he asked Priestess Shel, wanting a bit of time to calm down so he didn’t explode on his friends.

  “Oh! Um… Right this way, sir,” she stuttered out, giving Sean a confused look and guiding Roge to a nearby room.

  ~~~

  “Why didn’t you tell him beforehand?!” Marge loudly whispered, dragging Sean off to one side. “Did you not say anything to him?!”

  “I thought he’d refuse if…”

  “And you didn’t think to let us in on this plan?” Hops asked calmly, crossing his arms and giving Sean a dirty look. “I didn’t think you’d take him immediately to get scanned.”

  “There wasn’t really any time to say any-“

  “No! The perfect time was when Hops was going off on his tangents on the way here! Not right as soon as we enter!” Marge rubbed her muzzle as she sighed. “How is Roge going to trust you now? We’re trying to keep as little as possible from him and you spring the fact that you weren’t sure on him…?”

  “I’m sorry…” Sean muttered, sighing as he ran a paw through his mane. “I didn’t think he’d get that angry…”

  “He clearly doesn’t like to be lied to. So don’t. And apologize to him when he gets out,” Hops commanded, letting out a loud sigh as he looked to the room Roge just entered. “If he gets out. Jeez, they’re going to preach to him so hard…”