The wife of Que was a tall woman, being nearly the same size of sister ALexandria, who was far taller than the average human.

  After the long, silent embrace, the two parted, as the half-arachne expressed her gratitude.

  "Thank you for saving us from the mine. Without your help, we were unlikely to escape. We owe you a great thank you.

  If you wish, we can compensate you. Do you perhaps want one of his cubs?" she said calmly, pointing at the confused drop bear, unsure why his cubs were being offered away.

  "Aru?"

  "Don't worry. Thanks to the panda blood, the drop bears seem to develop a disinterest in their cubs, so you don't have to worry about it." she said, assuring them confidently to the confusion of the drop bear mutation.

  No one told me that?

  "It's fine, really. Que has already offered to sell us some of the bamboo already, which will be of great benefit to our small friend here." Sister ALexandria politely declined, and Richard nodded in agreement, thinking it was already too much that they were taking away this rare variant of bamboo.

  Besides, none of them were really looking for more companions. After all, they already had enough familiars. Though it had been a while, Richard still had two eggs in his inventory, one of which being a kaiju egg.

  He had chosen not to hatch it due to the pure consumption of a kaiju, which he did not believe he could maintain.

  Changing to a rare variant of a dropbear which fed on a rare form of bamboo was respectively, not a good idea all things considered.

  Thankfully no one suggested accepting her generous offer.

  Seeing that no one was accepting her offer, she went back to the discussion at hand.

  "My name is Octavia" she introduced herself politely as we reciprocated, each introducing ourselves.

  As she did, she observed each of us carefully, before commenting in surprise. "Huh, most of you aren't human."

  She turned to look at Que. "And you didn't take them to the stimulators?" Octavia asked, and Que shook his shoulders helplessly.

  "You know those are controversial here..."

  Olivia interrupted, choosing to object. "We came here to help as much as we can, so you may as well tell us everything. As long as it isn't downright unethical we're willing to listen."

  Richard nodded, as did most.

  Achil didn't nod, but he also didn't seem interested in general.

  Seeing their agreement, Que decided, with some reluctance, to take them to the stimulation room.

  Like most of the rooms they had encountered, it was a sterile white room. This had led to some curiosity on RIchard's part and he finally chose to ask.

  THe answer surprised him.

  "Kaiju bones!?" He exclaimed with interest and Que nodded.

  "The class 10 kaiju Dominion is known for his intense regeneration factor and use of bones often in combat.

  As a result one of our most common building materials are the bones of the class 10 kaiju dominion.

  We don't use it for everything mind you, but for battle type structures, it's one of the best, especially since it has a slight deterrent effect on kaiju.Not as much on normal monsters, but we don't see much of those in Australia "

  Powered by kaiju, built from kaiju, Richard couldn't help but think about how much kaiju it was.

  The building was practically a kaiju in its own right.

  As Que spoke, he spoke vividly,, his wife watching him affectionately as he spoke, playing with his hair a little.

  Looking at the small vials before him, Richard couldn't tell what was so unethical about them, so he turned to Que to explain what made these things so controversial.

  And indeed, the writer did not disappoint, as he explained.

  "These are stimulation potions that help stimulate the monster blood in a person. For most people, the best that it can really do is increase their strength, or bring out one or two extra features like horns or something, but for people with strong monster blood, it does something amazing.

  Why don't I show you instead of telling?" he said nodding to his wife.

  Octavia stepped forth, popping the vial and drinking it without hesitation. It was clear that this was not an uncommon procedure.

  She didn't even flinch as her body warped and morphed, the spider legs on her back painfully shifting downwards, as her human legs changed, transforming into an extra pair of hairy spiderlegs.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Two more stabbed forth from the front, merging to form a ginormous spider underneath her, encompassing everything beneath the waist.

  An extra pair of eyes grew above her other ones, all four of them having the same glassy texture spiders have.

  She was no longer a half arachne, but a full one.

  The giant empty spade made more sense, as she easily took up double the space she had before.

  "For monsters, or half ones, it helps them stimulate their blood. It doesn't work the same on everyone though. FOr some half humans, it'll allow them to become full monsters, but for others they'll become 97 or 80 or even 60 percent monsters.

  And for monsters, it can evoke more powerful monsters from their ancestors. Sometimes it'll have a great effect, and sometimes it won't do much."

  Hearing this Frodo couldn't help but ask. "Then what is the controversial aspect about this? There isn't really anything bad about this is there? Is it how it's made?" he asked cautiously.

  The church of Isis did have some rather controversial moments in recent decades, so of course he'd have some worries. They all did, as they all had ties to the church and to some extent understood this history, Richard better than the others.

  "Oh, no, it's not controversial in the federation. Nothing really bad about the way it's made. It uses kaiju blood to stimulate the monster genes in a person. In particular, it's a blend of multiple class 6 kaiju who have ties to the major categories of reptile, fish, mammals, birds, amphibians, and insects. Naturally compatibility is a factor because of this.

  No it has more to do with your empire's... cultural issues. "He said carefully, watching their expressions.

  Now Richard understood. After all, the romana empire, despite being better than most nations sorrounding it, still had a rejection of monsters.

  To be precise, it had no problem with monsters as familiars, but as people? As equals? There was still problems.

  There were still many problems, and the Isis temple was but one of many. Even now, it was not uncommon for the nobility to quietly hold underground auctions and sell races like the elves, skarpans, kobolds and other humanoid races.

  True dragons are easily capable of taking human form yet people didn't buy dragons for their human forms, but to display as dragons.

  Now they understood what they meant with controversial. A potion that brought out the monster in a person. Useful, but not necessarily well received.

  Que added something else. "After multiple uses, the stimulant is know to increase the potential of the user. For monsters it increases their connection to their ancestors. And for humans this effect can be permanently seen in the form of horns, tails, and other beastly features.

  Frankly speaking, it was not well received in the Qing dynasty, and was slightly better received amongst Americans, but for the most part, other nations don't receive it well.

  We were in talks with the dwarves about it in fact. They did not like it."

  Richard was really curious. "Why's that? I understand that most humans would not receive it well, but why would the dwarves?"

  Octavia snorted. "They despise their past." she said coldly, as sister Alexandria's face showed a look of understanding.

  Huh?

  Que showed an embarrassed look. "Well, they tried one, and they turned into a huge maggot. After that, they strongly rejected the use of it."

  "Even though it made them stronger." Octavia complained.

  Now he understood. The famous legend of old. It was said that dwarves were the descendents of large maggots, who once fed upon the corpse of a great god of stone, Ymir. It was said that because they fed upon this great god of creation, that these maggots took his form, become the dwarven race of today. Though they took great pride in their connection to sch a great god, the idea that they were maggots was often overlooked.

  It was also often used by the elves to mock the dwarves, with the elven belief that they were the favored children of their Goddess, who created them from her own very fruit.

  So a potion that confirmed their ancestry was probably not well received.

  "We stopped mentioning it in front of Romans after that, since it was controversial to say the least."he said, before finally choosing to ask. "Would you guys like to try it?" he asked patiently. sister Alexandria chose to ask curiously. "How long does it tend to last?

  "A few hours. Any more than that and it's likely a permanent effect, which for some is great. For others, bad."

  "Alright then. Do you mind if we take a minute to talk about it for a second?" the lamia requested, and the other two agreed, leaving the room for a second.

  Turns out the door had a second part that could be opened for situations like these.

  "You see how we can use this right? sister Alexandria asked once they left the room. Lysandre looked a little confused, but Frodo and olivia already had a light in their eyes.

  It took Richard a minute before he finally realized what sister Alexandria meant, as his eyes also lit up.

  "What do you mean by that?" Lysandre asked, causing Olivia and sister Alexandria to chuckle, and Frodo giving her an amused smile.

  "I know you're already used to having him back, but have you forgotten what Richard is now? Olivia asked.

  Finally Lysandre understood, showing an embarrassed look on her face.

  Indeed, Richard was no longer a man, and sister Alexandria and Achil were never a lamia and human respectively.

  They were monsters. Two dragons and a wyrms. Although Richard was fine with his new dragonewt form, his real form was a dragon, and his current form was nothing but an inhibition, holding him back.

  He could only exert his real strength in his dragon form, and the same could be said for Achil.

  For sister Alexandria it was irrelevant as a god like wyrm. Basically, it didn't really affect her performance as she could essentially dominate all her enemies.It merely gave her an escuse to exert more power before she was forced to exert her full power.

  Under normal circumstances, Richard would not feel as pressured to access his dragon form, but now?

  With a kaiju wave on the way? Size was good, and likely necessary. It's no wonder Octavia brought it up. ALthough arachne were a strong species, they weren't large compared to kaiju. But dragonewts? For them, dragon would likely be the closest equivalent to what Octavia had in arachne.

  And even though sister Alexandria wasn't guaranteed to become a wyrm, any form of an evolved lamia was likely connected to the serpent family. Large? Not guaranteed, but many serpentine monsters of the higher levels was huge. Titan python, continental serpents, orochi, the seven colored serpent, all great, huge serpents.

  She was likely betting on the stimulated bloodlines...

  "This is a great opportunity for you little Lysandre." sister Alexandria pointed out.

  Lysandre showed a complicated expression, which RIchard expected once sister Alexandria expressed this point. After all, her identity as a dragonewt and her father's former position as a great general had always had a complicated relationship.

  Becoming a dragon had all sorts of meanings to her.

  There was a reason he hadn't said it, nor Olivia or Frodo.

  Even with the conflicted look on her face, she still agreed to using the stimulator. Although it had a different meaning for her than it did for RIchard, Achil and sister Alexandria, there was no doubt it was important at this moment and reasonably an opportunity.

  After a few minutes of discussion, the group went to Octavia and Que, expressing their agreement.

  "Just in time.The commander just contacted me. We're going to go meet the leaders of mountain city now. "