13.2

"I can fix that if you'd like," I volunteered, "I can create some small openings at the top, and shrink the opening down so nothing dangerous can fit through the opening. That will work until we can manage to get a proper door."

"Yeah," Savannah nodded, "That'll work. Just make sure there are enough holes for the smoke to clear this cavern. It would be a shame to die from my own smoke."

I smiled tensely as I tried to avoid giving her the reaction they wanted only to find that was the reaction she wanted. Professional manipulation at its best even though I was expecting it. She was getting good at shielding her mind from me. My wings twitched as I crossed the cavern, and laid my hands on the wall. I'd used a large amount of my mana to make another lightning crystal, but I wasn't out of mana.

It didn't take me long to seal the entrance, and open up some holes at the top of the wall. I opened up over a dozen small holes. Well small to me. Savanah or the others could probably fit their arms into the holes if they wanted. I made sure to leave a small hole where the entrance was supposed to be to allow fresh air in as the smoke that had collected near the roof poured out.

The lower hole was the size of a human head. If I detected too much smoke or a lack of fresh air later on I would open up another few holes. The night was quiet. Not a single thing moved within the cave. There were some creatures that came to investigate the changes that had been made to the cavern.

I went to pull the two elemental crystals out of my bag only to find that there was only one of them. They'd fused into one slightly larger crystal. I snorted in irritation. Another thing I'd have to ask Regala about later. The questions were piling up.

I was really hoping that I'd be able to remember them all when I went back there. I stretched out slowly as I relaxed to the cavern floor. I hoped to move on to earth in the morning. I didn't think Bryce would argue with going back to earth, but I didn't know how fond he was of leaving his forge behind. I was pretty sure he'd have access to a forge when we got to the werewolves village. If he didn't have a forge then the wolves would gladly help him build one.

They needed armor too. They hadn't been allowed much contact with the human race. Therefore not many of them got the chance to do any custom ordering. I started picturing armored werewolves, and a smile creeped onto my face. I was glad that the others were sleeping at the moment.

Ethan would be laughing at me mentally while I pictured some seriously dangerous armored wolves. He'd tell Savannah, and she'd laugh about it. I smirked to myself. Ethan was getting close to her. Even if he didn't want to admit it.

I woke Savannah when I found myself yawning. I was ready to sleep. My wings stopped twitching, and settled some time later as I fell asleep. I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke in the morning I realized just how much I needed the sleep.

I stretched, and yawned. My long spine cracked as I stretched. I shook off the tired feeling that had sunk into my muscles. It was funny considering how much less sleep I needed. That stiffness that came from sleep must get to all living things.

I started striding through the cavern to reopen the doorway. My strides were surprisingly silent. I had been working on it for quite some time. I just didn't expect it to be so effective. Ethan was already awake, and he appeared to be well rested.

I'd have to keep on working on it as I got bigger. With how large I was bound to get there would come a time when no amount of sneaking would allow me to move silently in my true form. Unless I could lighten my own body using gravity magic. According to Regala I was already using gravity magic in some form whenever I took the form of smaller creatures. She said it even happened when I took human form.

It was still ironic that taking the form I was born with cost me so much now. I half chuckled at the thought. We spent the next three days at the cavern slowly shaping it into a workable base. Creating rooms not only for ourselves, but for a few of the lizardmen that asked to stay. Expanding the cavern slowly as we created pillars to support the roof.

Bryce was happy when we created a proper work room for him to forge in. I created a well supported cavern above the human rooms for myself to sleep in. Bryce used a mix of local cores, and local metals to create a solid door, and hinges. The lizardmen helped him hang it, and we made an unusual discovery in the process. Ethan could now understand the dragon language the lizardmen used as their native tongue.

We hadn't noticed it before because Ethan had always understood through me before. Yet he could understand them when I was focused on other tasks, and not listening to the lizardmen. This improvement phase lasted nearly a week before we had a properly set up comfort zone. Some of the lizardmen that came by had started learning human language. They communicated in a combination of broken English, and dragon tongue.

Using Ethan as a translator for the dragon tongue whenever I wasn't around. I celebrated the improvements they had made. Complementing their intelligence, and adaptivity mentally. I'd never admit it aloud. Boosting their ego too much might be a negative.

I looked at the slowly rounding out elemental crystal that was every single fused elemental crystal I'd made since I started making them. I was a little irritated that they kept on fusing since it made it almost impossible to tell just how many elemental crystals I'd made so far. She'd told me that I would be able to absorb the crystal, and advance my elemental fusion when the crystal became perfectly round. I growled at the stupid thing before tossing it back to my bag. The damn thing was useless to me until then.