Xavier stood on the ground of the dragons’ den’s chamber, the newly hatched baby dragon across from him.

  The hatchling looked different to its mother, the Elemental Dragon. Its scales were aquamarine and shimmered in the flickering light of the surrounding flames, but it also had bone spurs that protruded from different parts of its body. They didn’t look sharp, but something told Xavier that would change in the future as the dragon grew. Most of the spurs were along its spine, but it had some in the different joints of its wings and of its legs.

  Xavier took that moment to use his Identify skill on the dragon.

  {Level 0 - Dragon Hatchling}

  This dragon has only just hatched from its egg. It is close to defenceless.

  Dragons are somewhat unique beasts in the Greater Universe. Like Denizens, they can sometimes have the ability to change their race as they move up in grades. Usually, a dragon only ever turns into another species of dragon. As a whole, they are proud creatures, and believe dragons are the best form a being can take.

  This dragon may look like its parents, but it has the potential to change as it grows.

  And, given the chance, it will grow incredibly large.

  If you kill it in this state, you’re a monster.

  Xavier tilted his head to the side as he read the description. He hadn’t known that dragons had the ability to change their race or species type. That was definitely interesting. It made him wonder what Volkarin would do in the future—would he change into the same species of dragon that he was when he was alive?

  Xavier shook away those thoughts for now and focused on the baby dragon. He hadn’t anticipated it not being able to talk.

  However, if things proceeded to plan, that shouldn’t be an issue for long.

  Xavier and Volkarin had spoken about this day many times. When Xavier had been ranking up his Soul Sacrifice spell, along with his Summon Otherworldly Spirit spell, he had opportunities to speak with the spirit.

  Volkarin wished nothing more than to return to the land of the living. Xavier knew that the dragon held a grudge against certain entities within his universe—for the universe that the dragon had lived in when he had been alive was the exact same universe that Xavier was within, even if it had been some time since he had lived in it.

  Xavier had promised to help the beast gain him his vengeance against those that had betrayed him and caused his death. At first, Volkarin had not believed such a thing might be possible for Xavier to achieve. But as time passed, the dragon spirit had seen more and more in him.

  And even if Xavier couldn’t get his revenge, the dragon would do anything to return to the Mortal Realm. Anything to return to the land of the living.

  That was why he willingly agreed to the terms Xavier had set out.

  Xavier had learnt that weapons were not the only things that could be bound to one’s soul. Though Xavier did not have a beast summoning or beast taming class, all Denizens had the ability to do what he was about to.

  Beast companions were common enough in the Greater Universe, even if they weren’t something he had seen yet, and most beast companions were bound by more than just contracts.

  They were bound to the Denizen’s soul.

  One hundred years.

  That was what was in the contract—that was what Volkarin had agreed to. In the grand scheme of things, a hundred years wasn’t a very long time to be beholden to another. As a soul bound beast companion, Volkarin would—to a degree—have to follow Xavier’s orders.

  Xavier wasn’t sure how he felt about that. It almost felt as though he was gaining the beast companion as a slave, and that wasn’t why he had brought Volkarin back to the land of the living—he had brought him here to gain information from him, and because he had grown fond of the dragon.

  The wording of the contract had been settled between the two of them before, and Xavier had it written up and ready for the beast to sign. He approached the baby dragon and touched a hand to the beast’s snout. A puff of smoke billowed from the beast’s nostrils.

  Xavier initiated the contract.

  He couldn’t help but notice that the beast hesitated in signing the contract in return. Xavier didn’t want to have to force the issue, but there was nothing that this baby dragon—whether it held the soul of Volkarin within it or not—would be able to do to escape Xavier if he didn’t wish to sign.

  Would I force the issue?

  Fortunately, he didn’t need to find out. Volkarin signed the contract. Xavier felt something shift within him as the new contract was formed. He had grown an awareness of his soul, and it was clear something had changed within it.

  Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! The dragon roared in Xavier’s mind.

  Xavier stopped himself from clamping his hands on his ears—it wouldn’t do any good when the voice was directly inside his head.

  Xavier blinked. “What the hell was that for?” he asked aloud, though he could have communicated the question telepathically if he wished. Now that the beast was bound to his soul as a companion, they were able to communicate with only their minds, in almost the exact same way as he communicated with spirits from the Otherworld.

  Though he couldn’t help but notice that there was something different about this method of communication. He could faintly feel the beast’s emotions as well. Xavier wondered if Volkarin had a sense for his emotions, too.

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  The baby dragon threw its head back and opened its maw. A very tiny, cute roar was released.

  I am alive! I live once more! The dragon turned its head, sniffed the air. Kill. I must kill! Wrench the flesh from the bones of my prey. Crunch their meat between my teeth as their blood flows down my throat. I have not felt true hunger in so long. I crave sustenance, young dragonkin. Why do you not feed me?

  Xavier raised an eyebrow. Volkarin sounded similar enough to how he usually did—the language and the bloodlust was certainly there—but there was a different quality to the tone of the dragon’s voice. A youthful giddiness that hadn’t been there when the dragon was only a spirit.

  The baby dragon jumped up in the air and flapped its wings, but the wings weren’t yet large and strong enough to bear its weight. The beast huffed in frustration then stared back at Xavier.

  Food? The dragon tilted its head to the side. Food. Now. Food!

  Xavier couldn’t help but chuckle at the dragon’s behaviour. It just so happened that he had prepared for this eventuality. Dragons liked to eat their meat as fresh as possible, and Xavier had plenty of beast corpses within his inventory, ones that he had stores there just moments after their deaths. The spatial storage kept them fresh. He had just gained a hell of a lot more as he’d fought the Rhinoceros Monkeys.

  He withdrew one of them from his inventory and put it before the baby dragon. He watched in mute fascination as the beast instantly attacked the corpse.

  Xavier wondered if it mattered what grade the meat the dragon ate was. In all his research, he didn’t know much about how to raise a dragon. He figured that wasn’t something he needed to learn, considering Volkarin could simply tell him what he needed.

  When the baby dragon lowered its head to rip the flesh from the bones of the beast Xavier had put before it, its teeth wasn’t able to penetrate the skin. The baby dragon was a Level 0 F Grade beast, whereas the Rhinoceros Monkey had been D Grade. Xavier should have foreseen that, but he hadn’t taken it into account.

  He ended up having to cut the meat for the dragon into bite-sized portions that it could devour without the need to chew. He had to imagine that was what the Elemental Dragon would have done of her hatchling, had she lived to see it hatch herself…

  The dragon ate from the corpses of three different beasts before it was finally sated. Xavier stood across from it, eyebrows raised.

  “Quite the appetite,” Xavier said.

  The baby dragon raised its head. Its maw was covered completely with blood, though it didn’t seem bothered by this in the least. The beast held its head high, looking as noble as it could manage.

  My apologies, young dragonkin. When a dragon is hatched, its hunger is unrivalled. Now that I am bound within this body, I am beholden to its biological needs.

  Xavier just smiled at the baby dragon. “How does it feel to be back?”

  Volkarin stretched his wings and craned his neck, looking from one wing to the other as though inspecting them. It feels very strange. The beast inspected his claws, and touched one to his teeth. This body feels weaker than I had ever imagined, and yet I feel more alive than I ever have simply because I have been deprived of life for so long. And I feel… I feel fragile. The dragon tilted his head to the side. Do you possess it?

  It took a moment for Xavier to realise what the beast meant. Then he remembered and took something out of his inventory. He’d picked it up from the System Shop the last time he had returned to the Staging Room, using his Time Alteration spell so as not to lose any time on the hundredth floor. What he withdraw was an item called a Companion Cube. It had a short chain that could be fastened to one’s belt.

  “I do.”

  The dragon nodded its head. Good. Good. Put me inside of it. This area is far too dangerous. One strike from any beast out there and I would be dead in an instant.

  Xavier had considered that. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the beast companion was now soul bound to him, there wasn’t a way for him to share Mastery Points. He couldn’t funnel his Mastery Points to the dragon like he could to his soul bound weapon, Lost Bone of a Dead God. The beast also didn’t gain Mastery Points simply by being in the same party as Xavier, though that was something that would change in the future.

  The Companion Cube was a spatial storage device, but it worked completely differently to that of a Storage Ring. Living matter couldn’t be placed inside of a Storage Ring, but it could be put inside of a Companion Cube.

  The Companion Cube had been startlingly expensive. Xavier had had to spend a great deal of his spirit coins in order to obtain it, but it was worth it. The soul binding contract, along with this cube, were the only reasons he would be able to move the dragon between different floors of the Tower of Champions.

  He had learnt that a Denizen couldn’t bring a beast companion that had been obtained outside of the tower into the tower, as this could give a Denizen an outside advantage that other Champions did not possess—why this applied to beast companions and not items or spirit coins, Xavier wasn’t sure—but if a beast companion was obtained on one of the tower floors, then they were able to take that companion into the tower.

  It was a loophole Xavier was glad for, and it was another reason he was glad he was able to find a vessel on this floor. If he had somehow managed to find a vessel outside of the Tower of Champions, he would not have been able to bring Volkarin with him everywhere he went.

  Xavier held the Companion Cube in his right hand. It was small enough to sit easily within his palm. He couldn’t help but shake his head at it. All he could think was that putting a beast inside of this thing was a lot like how Pokémon worked.

  Gotta catch ‘em all… he thought to himself with a chuckle.

  Xavier was about to activate the cube when the dragon spoke in his mind.

  Thank you, young dragonkin. Volkarin looked at him with an expression Xavier couldn’t quite read. There was an intensity in the beast’s stare that he had never seen before. You have done me a great service in returning me to land of the living. I promise, on my honour, that this is not something you will regret.

  Xavier wasn’t sure why the dragon might think he would regret this. “I’m glad to have you here. We can gain much from each other.”

  The baby dragon inclined its head in a nod. Of that, I am now certain. You are not the first Denizen to summon me that has said they will bring me back. Over the years there have been thousands. Many of them had been lies, sweetly spoken from the mouths of snakes. But I knew when you claimed to wish to bring me back that you were not lying. Still, I doubted you, and for that I am sorry. I do not think I will ever make that mistake again, Xavier Collins.

  Xavier blinked. It was rare for the dragon to use his actual name. This, more than anything, showed that he was sincere. Not used to exchanges such as these, Xavier felt slightly uncomfortable. He was eager to get the dragon trained and levelled up, but that wasn’t something he would be able to do on this floor.

  Finally, it’s time to leave this place.

  Their conversation concluded, Xavier activated the cube, then touched it to the beast. The beast had to physically touch the cube for it to be able to enter it. It couldn’t do it from a distance—that option had been available, but it had been more expensive than he could afford. It was something he would have to upgrade the cube to in the future.

  The young dragon entered the cube. The Companion Cube had a small time dilation field within it, so while the dragon was inside barely any time would pass for it. The cube also dramatically reduced the weight of the dragon, which was good as he now couldn’t put the cube into his Storage Ring.

  He hung the Companion Cube off his robes’ belt and gave it a tug, satisfied it would remain.

  Xavier felt an immense sense of achievement as the Companion Cube hung from his belt. He had done so much since entering the hundredth floor of the Tower of Champions. He had moved up in grades, chosen an amazing new class, obtained a soul bound weapon, gained spells that took him down several different paths to power.

  And now, he had brought Volkarin to the Mortal Realm and secured himself a soul bound beast companion.

  Not only that, he had defeated enemies that he simply shouldn’t have been able to defeat.

  Once again he had achieved the impossible.

  Now, all he needed to do was obtain his reward for the Elemental Dragon’s Hunt Quest, say his goodbyes to Felicia, and finally move on from this floor.

  Accidental Champion!

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