When my eyes adjusted back to color finally accounting for the flash bang of magic that abruptly rained from the sky . all I could see was a massive ravine about 16m in radius where the prison used to be. Zhils fire danced menacingly inside of it resembling the stairway to the underworld. The raging flame was spreading from out of the hole and continued to burn everything it touched, it was slowly engulfing the whole landscape. The sky was tinted black from the sheer amount of fire that was accumulating. It was a beautiful sight for sore eyes, the flickering taking after the innate chaos that filled my being. It was a shame that essence wouldn't stack so I was stuck as evolving into c rank.

  In the span of one floor I went from rank d- to c. Was SSS rank not as much of a challenge as I thought it to be or maybe… there was a type of glass ceiling that I just wasn't aware of. Did the acquiring of Exp get disproportionately harder per rank? Or was my combat prowess just that much higher? So many questions. I’ve noticed that every time I gained more experience body changes slightly. It was often very subtle but I always noticed it. So many secrets where coming to light i might need to keep track of all of it. I might have to get used to looking one way today and another tomorrow. Only one way to find out .

  Confirm

  3 MORE SKiLLS? That was literally unheard of. No hum- oh that's right im not a human anymore. I might be the only human turned monster in history, so I had nothing to reference off of. In addition all the new skills sounded incredibly useful so i gave that to my good fortune.

  Turning over to Zhilsiza to see how my favorite walking ctrl Z was, only to see that he was consumed by a white light. It wasn't bright , no not in the slightest but it covered the frame of his body imitating his form. I could sense immense magical energy coming from it , but if you were drunk you probably could just mistake it for a marble statue of a goofy looking dragon.

  Was he … evolving?

  The white light seemed to speak to me. I don't know what it was but I felt compelled to walk towards it. Entranced by the illusionary snake tail. I slowly made my way to the ghostly silhouette of Zhil. When I got an arm's length close to it I placed a single finger on it , which was enough force to crack it. Like an fragile iceberg piece by piece the white began to shatter. First the tail, then the wings, then the paws and lastly the head.

  When Zhil emerged it was like he had aged 5 years. Where dragon years like dog years because he looked a lot older resembling much more of a dragon adolescent? Anyway from what I could see he was much more proportionate with his head no longer looking like an oversized. scaley pit but a tiny proper dragon .By tiny dragon i meant the size of a gem small truck. His once baby wings were now about 1.5 the times of his main body .His tail also matching that in length was covered in rougher looking scales . I was only rank c , how much bigger was he going to get?

  "You're looking much more draconic than usual , how do you feel?" I asked the preteen dragon

  "I feel as I should , I've gained some abilities flight and lesser elemental resistance. "

  flight? Couldn't he just flap his wings, err ok. Elemental resistance sounded staggeringly overpowered. Flight didn't have to be explained but elemental resistance seemed wayyy more important.

  "I am quite pleased if I do say so myself. Did you gain some new abilities Alioth?"

  From master to Alioth I guess with evolution he was getting more confident . Not that I could stop him though let's be real Zhilsiza was 300tons of pure muscle.

  "Yeah I got Heal, Empower and summon. "

  Whipping his newly transformed tail sending cracks through the ground he said "Heal? How is that possible only priest and clerics should have access to those skills?"

  I wanted to be shocked but since I really had limited knowledge of most of the world all that I could muster was "meh, it be like that".

  They do say ignorance is bliss. Watching a dragon raised his scale filled eyebrows was comical in a way.

  "What skills did I get? Why thank you for asking " I heard Gabla say to us without us asking.

  " I got assassinate and shadow partner" she said with such a cheeky smile. I would know since I was personally pinching them.

  Gabla was probably the only thing keeping me from noise diving off the deep end , rather then taking the baby steps I am now.

  She was the be head patted at all cost.

  Gathering together we tried to exchange skills to better accommodate , but Oolia wasn't having it.

  " hey before anything happens me first!" She said while busted through our circle huddle.

  I wanted to check my summons but even I realize that we've been here too long and. I mean we just nuked the prison, I really doubt the monsters that inhabited the area weren't aware of our presence. Strangely no one came to check on the portion of the town that was missing .

  "Were being watched " Gabla said while pulling on my shirt

  "Zhil can you get us out of here? We needed at least a few moments before we did any large scale attack , we needed to prepare. "

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  As I was saying that a silver light shined from the corner of my eye . It could really be one thing , but I physically couldn't react fast enough . Oh for christ sake a even faster blur came and left with me in hand. Oolia proceeded to drop me on my ass without regard for said ass.

  "Either we fight or run choose now motherfucker" Said one angsty bird

  Ehh I wouldn't argue with Oolia usurping my leadership position the very moment she got a chance .I looked at our pursuers and it turned out to be 3 of them a short and armored yellow eagle , a tall and feathered red woodpecker dressed in makes attire , while the last one looked strangely like Oolia. I remembered the whole ordeal with the goblins and decided not to be a bird bigot… meaning I won't assume anything. Given that we are dramatically unaware of the scope of our new abilities , along the fact that I needed to bond Oolia ,the decision was easy.

  "Run"

  Again feeling myself being lifted by Oolia's sharp talons along with her also gave Gabla a piggy back ride ,she made a break for it. While running she said or rather screamed "UNSUMMON THAT DRAGON " she said this a few times in a span of seconds before I could even ask why. Talk about fasting talking jack.

  "his big lizard ass is near impossible to miss , everyone on this level has sharp eyesight"

  That may be true but there was literally no way in hell I was going to take orders from Oolia . she was the least trustworthy out of everyone I knew . EVER . But before I could just flat out say no Zhilsiza replied "it's risky but she's right I , don't know why you would run but if you're making that decision then commit, worse comes worse you resummon me"

  Say less , I suppose this wasn't the type of situation that I could afford to second guess my team, no matter how untrustworthy. With just a though Zhil faded into the ether. I was surprised our enemies were just watching us. But due to Zhils absence they were suddenly emboldened. The yellow started first -I AM-

  Anyway the whole world started to manifest into a smeared assortment of colors. Since I was caught off guard my mouth was left agape flapping in the wind. Cotton mouth here I come , Holy cow the Oreo bird was fast , mustering all the strength in my body I looked back to see our enemies keeping up a few paces behind us. This was no good due to the extra weight of me and Gabla, might not make it. Assessing my options I remembered I had just gained an Empower spell . I wasn't quite sure if the spell worked for people that were outside of the party but i decided to use it anyway.

  "EMPOWER" I shouted

  No I didn't have to say the spell name out loud but it might give her a hint that I just cast it. That alone could be the difference between life and death. With the spell taking effect she almost stumbled because of the increase in speed.

  "Dude.. this... is like.. drugs.."

  words to live by

  we lost sight if our adversarial pursuers .She ran through the city until eventually we were on a cliff/edge of ,well everything. This was the last bit of land and beneath us endless ocean. So this is what they meant by water levels rising.

  "Hold your breath" she said while taking the plunge of faith. Hey wait a second wasn't this all too casual .

  Plunk

  we hit the water like stones ..

  I reached for my mouth considering I didn't get to properly hold my breath but then noticed I didn't need to breath. Looking at the hole in my chest it looked like i had no organs, I wondered what else changed about myself.

  please let me still have my Weiner. please let me still have my Weiner. I prayed to Eldritch

  We went deeper and deeper into the apparently boundless ocean for about 1 minute and 30 before

  Plop

  We arrived at a underground cave.

  Dropping me and dumbing Gabla , Oolia said " OK now we have some spare time first off how do form this contract."

  Pushy as always but what did I expect. Though I couldn't fold like a cheap briefcase. I needed to assert myself a little.

  "No first off we exchange skills and information about ourselves and about our pursuers that is the optimal battle strategy " I made sure to sound like I was keen that I was correct, you know the fake it to you make it strat. Not giving her time to punch a hole in my argument i summoned Zhil.

  "No. No .NO. I refuse to cooperate until we form the contact, that is the sole reason I saved your hide earlier. If you don't want to then we can just see which one of us kills you first me or the people above ground."

  Bluff as fuck

  yeah right I didn't believe her on bit. She wouldn't even harm her only source of hope.

  "You aren't that stupid " that's all I would say

  we still needed a piece of a strong monster in order to bind us and looking around there were none.

  A crazed look flashed in her eye. This bitch was really crazy I forgot about that. But before sparks could turn into flames

  Gabla said "OK we can do the contract but because of your inpatients we might have to improvise"

  "You know I'm starting to like you goblin shit "

  Did she just call Gabla goblin shit? A frown appeared on my face, I wouldn't stand for that .Gabla actually meant something to me much more then this annoying ass bird. I regret not killing her but since she was part of our escape plan I guess she is a necessary expense.

  "Watch your mouth bitch"

  "What did you say?

  Silence fueled " our tension .Your already annoying and I can barely tolerate your presence. Your making me just want to end you."

  "Hahha…HAHAHAAAHAHA" Maniac filled laughter echoed through out the cave

  "Do , You , Understand , Who , Your , Dealing , With" As she spoke she only got more and more furious with each word.

  "None of that will be necessary " Gabla said a little cautiously " now Zhil buddy this might hurt a little but we're going to need one of your scales. You see the golem core that we used way back when was oodles weaker then you are now. You even though you are a summon , you still are a monster and a scale would act as a good substitute"

  evaluating the situation he silently groaned but said "fine"

  " ok so here's the deal Alioth, Zhil , you and me exchange info , then i will help you Oolia. We don't need to be so hostile to each other since we're inevitably on the same team. Then right after we will do the ritual. Don't panic everything will be ok" Gabla said in a reassuring manner

  Wow she really did have a way with words that i didn't share. She knew how to deescalate a situation

  picking up gabla , Oolia sat with her like she was a stuffed animal. Rubbing on her head in seek of stress release

  she said "ok fine. maybe i was being bitchy ." Oolia said

  "First of t-t-thank you for considering me , I've always wanted to leave this floor. "

  gabla must've gotten a third skill in secret she 100% changed the atompshere just by being cute and respectful.Let me follow up to reinforce her efforts.

  "Forgive me for lashing out , you a valued member of the team and have saved me numerous times at this point.Here accept my party request and once we look at each others skills we will help you out i promise. "

  acccepting my request we sat like a square facing each other.

  now that i could get a proper look we all compared skills and stats.