11.3

It was a peaceful walk across the guild. No one seemed to care. I'd become part of the guild. A regular. Something common.

It was exactly what I wanted. Now all I had to do was try, and make this a reality everywhere. My tail twitched as I waited for Bryce to open up the front wall. Once the wall was opened I could see the mobile forge on a hand cart. It was a very large hunk of metal, and stone.

I waited for him to roll it out before picking it up by the lifting straps, and debating on where to set it on my back. My spines made finding a good spot difficult. I set the forge back down, and debated on how I was going to make this work. Bryce seemed to realize that something was wrong when I put the forge down.

"I forgot about those spines," Bryce went into the back room to get some padding.

Big heavy mattress type padding, and a bunch of straps.

"We'll strap it on tomorrow," I stopped him before he started trying to figure out how this was going to work.

I picked up his mattresses, and straps. Dropping them on my back, and picking the forge back up again. It was heavy, but I could handle the weight. I carried the forge all the way back to the warehouse, and set it just inside the doors. Dropping the mattresses next to it with the straps.

I yawned as I walked over to my corner of the warehouse, and curled up. I was hoping to sleep this time. I placed my wing over my head so I'd be able to ignore what was happening within the warehouse. Savannah was going to talk with Bryce for a while. Ethan slid off my back, and down under my wing.

{I'm not a pet Ethan,} I debated on growling at him as he stroked my neck.

{Nope,} Ethan smirked, {You're a big bad dragon, and you're letting me do this anyway.}

I huffed out a bunch of sparks. He was right. I didn't plan to stop him. It didn't hurt me. Nor did it bother me all that much.

Ethan was just comforted by my presence. The same way he'd always been. I didn't care for it. Ethan knew that, and didn't care. I settled into a deep sleep.

I would be glad when I finally woke. I woke up around two in the morning. I stood slowly stretching as I woke myself up. Nearly knocking Ethan off my leg. I couldn't remember when he'd laid down on my leg.

I ignored his startled discomfort. He was the idiot that fell asleep on my leg. The others had fallen asleep later then myself. I didn't want to wake them before necessary. I could chill on my own for a while.

I wouldn't need much mana for a while. I went out into the night. Closing the doors as I left the warehouse. Jumping into the air, and gliding away from the settlement. It wouldn't take me long to succeed or fail to create a crystal.

I landed, and relaxed in the grass. Flaring my wings for no apparent reason as I began concentrating lightning mana into a single point. Surrounding my ball of lightning with my wings seemed to help me control the lightning as I concentrated it into one place. I poured on the power. The lightning fought, and tried to break free of my control.

I pulled my wings in a little closer. Overlapping them as I concentrated the lightning. Forcing the lightning into a smaller, and smaller point. My wings trembled from the effort. I forced more power into one place, and it suddenly turned solid.

The golden crystal sucked all nearby lightning mana to it. I had to cut off the mana supply as the crystal tried to suck it all up. I'd never felt something draw in mana like that before. I caught the crystal before it could hit the ground. It was a jagged thing.

All angles, and lightning sparking from within. I debated on absorbing the crystal. Now wasn't the time. Regala had said I would need over a hundred of these. The real question was how was I able to control the lightning better with my wings wrapped around it.

More points of control maybe? Was that it? I didn't know for sure. I'd have to experiment with it a bit more. I'd wait to absorb the crystal for now.

I jumped into the air. Clutching the crystal in my hand as I flew back to the warehouse. Landing on the ground outside of the warehouse as the first rays of daylight lit the horizon. I splayed out on the ground in front of the warehouse, so that the maximum amount of surface area would be exposed to the light. Rolling the elemental crystal around in my fingers as I looked at it.

It didn't roll very well since it had a jagged structure. I didn't have to wait long for Savannah, and Ethan to join me outside. They started handing me their luggage. It wasn't much, but I could handle the weight a lot better then they could. We'd be able to move faster with me hauling it.

We waited on loading up the mobile forge until Bryce woke. Ethan used his telekinesis to hold it in place while Bryce working on strapping it down. Anger made my scales want to stand on end. I didn't know why having a human that wasn't mine crawling all over my back made me so angry, but the fact that I gave him permission to be up there was the only reason I didn't throw him off like the pest he was. My talons dug into the pavement.

It was difficult to keep myself from acting stupid. Bryce slide down my scales, and signaled Ethan to let go. Ethan let the weight fall on the straps. Easing it onto my back. I couldn't allow my back to be angled while walking with this thing was on me.