181-190

"Get in formation!" I yelled out. We were able to get into position finally. My Gates of Faithylon were keeping the boss limited on its movements which will allow us time to begin clearing out the trash. "We got a lot of adds so I will be letting ten in at the same time. We need to wipe them out fast before the boss decides to use some kind of magic that we do not know of yet."

I was a bit worried. This was a dungeon, after all. I do not know how things will turn out. Things could change at any time, which could change our current situation into something worse. So instead of fighting only a few hobgoblins at a time, with me joining in, we can fight multiple with ease. "Everyone ready?"

I kind of feel like I am in one of the MMORPG raid things, only in real life. I guess if they ever made proper deep dive virtual reality games, they would definitely be something like this. "Ready, Boss!" I heard calls from everyone. I asked once more to make sure everyone was good before finally opening the barrier. Eleven hobgoblins charged in as soon as I opened the barrier. One more than I had wanted, but this was fine as well since I was joining the fight this time with Sally. "Kill!"-.

I charged forward as a volley of magic spells and arrows flew over my head and stopped the hobgoblins' advance. The barrier was plenty big enough for all of us to move around freely. And tall enough for the hobgoblins to still have a few feet of room above their heads. These hobgoblins all wore metal armor and held huge swords and axes in their hands as they swung them around trying to hit the members of my team.

"Steven, get the two on the far right!" I heard Sophie yell out. They were all fighting with everything they had, and after weeks of battles, they were all now refined warriors who deserved respect. They could easily fight head on against some of the kingdom's finest.

I wonder if the Dean would ever expect that the kids he sent out to take the final test were now veterans in battle far surpassing anyone at the academy. Even Hailey, the weakest of our team, had learned how to use the gatling fireball attack I created. And she had mastered it so well that she could now keep three of them up at the same time.

As I got near my target, My body twisted as I leaped forward and swung my sword, cutting off the arm with the weapon before landing on my feet and leaping forward once more and stabbing my sword in the hobgoblin's neck. With a bit of force, I swung my sword out, causing the head to fall and dangle to one side as the body of the huge hobgoblin fell to the ground.

It might seem like a gruesome attack, but I did not have time to care about finesse or clean cutting. I already started moving to my next target. Five minutes was all it took before all eleven hobgoblins were dead, and more were let in. We repeated our moves once more, but just as the last hobgoblin of the second batch was killed, I suddenly sensed extreme danger coming from below us. "Watch your feet!" I yelled out as orange circles began to appear on the ground. "Get out of the circles now!"

As soon as I said this, not even a second later, pillars of flames shot up towards the ceiling and broke my barrier from within. I had not made the barriers to withstand any attacks from inside, so they shattered into nothing. And it was lucky that I didn't because if I did, those flames would have filled the entire barrier area and roasted everyone alive. "Everyone okay!?"

"Faith, we don't have time to worry about injuries! Look up!" I heard Sei yell out. I looked up at the ceiling to see thousands of magic circles overhead. My head immediately shot towards the boss, who was giving us a creepy smile and then slammed his staff onto the ground. "No!"

Without even thinking about what to do next, my arm expanded and grew large, casting a shadow over everyone but myself. The ice magic rained down from thematic circles, piercing into my arm and body, causing me to clench my teeth. "Ah!" The pain was too much. I couldn't help but cry out. Everything was just too fast. No time to think, could only react on instinct. And in doing so, I revealed one of my biggest secrets.

Blood dripped down my back and arm as my hand returned to normal size. The ice attack seemed to be only a one time deal. But that did not change the fact that I was heavily injured just now, and to be honest, it hurt, it hurt a lot. "Faith!" "Boss!"

"Grace quickly, come, heal Faith!" I heard Sophie yell out. But I shook my head. "What are you doing! We are in battle. Get your asses back into formation!" 𝘪𝚗𝓃𝘳ℯ𝒂d. c૦𝓂

I yelled out as I clutched my arm and stood up as I whispered: "High heal!" My body glowed with a golden light as the wounds on my body began to heal up. I turned and looked at everyone who was looking at me in shock and yelled out: "What are you doing!?"

"Sorry, Boss!" Steven was the first to react, and luckily so because a hobgoblin was already swinging his sword at him. The battle was far from over. We still had the boss and ten hobgoblins left to deal with.

"Young Miss just now?" Sally came to my side and asked.

"I will explain later, but for now, we need to deal with the issue at hand. Keep on your toes and look for any orange spots on the ground." I let out a sigh of relief. At least I reacted fast enough. If my body was not as durable as it is, I would have suffered greatly from that attack. My health even dropped by half just now. That was how powerful of an attack that was. I have a feeling I will need full dragon mode for the last boss. So I will need to come clean about everything sooner than later.

No one had time to even care about my partial transformation. While Sally was curious, she did not push the issue anymore. After the last hobgoblin was killed, the boss was all that was left, and to be honest, I am still unsure if we can beat this thing. "Barriers are useless against this thing as it is able to cast its area of attack inside of it. We will all need to be on guard. "

"Faith leave barriers to me. I will protect those who can't move in time." Sei yelled over to me. Sei was a barrier expert so having her deal with them was perfect since she couldn't leave Adel's side.

"Alright! Sei, you are on barriers, Grace, you are on heals. Only heal those seriously injured. Everyone else, focus on the boss!" I gave out my final order before buffing my body and shooting forward. I planned to be the main tank. As soon as the boss saw me coming, it instantly surrounded me with magic circles.

I had no choice but to dodge out of the way as ice spears blasted the location I was just in. My eyes lit up, creating many magic circles around me. Ice spears formed and shot back at the boss.-.

But the boss's barrier seemed to block everything. It was quite annoying. With a wave of my hand, the flame swords from my Gates of Faithylon all turned and began targeting the same spot on the barrier of the boss. I watched in anticipation, but the barrier did not seem to want to break at all. With no choice, I jumped into the air and formed foot holds under me as I launched myself at the area my flame swords were targeting. My arm grew huge once more as I smashed down on the barrier, causing it to suddenly shatter into sparkles of light. "It's down! Full on attack!"

Stepping on air one more, I shot forward towards the boss, who was now defenseless and swung my hand down at it with my claws gleaming under the blue light. But I guess I was celebrating a bit too soon…

<strong>*Boom!*</strong> 𝑖𝓃𝓃r𝒆𝘢d.＆nbsp;c𝘰m

The room shook as the area where the boss was standing sunk down. My claws were stuck in some kind of barrier that halted my advance. I saw the boss look up at me with an eerie grin and wave its staff. "Mana shield!" I quickly covered my body in a mana shield, only to be sent flying up towards the ceiling as a large spike of ice shot up from the ground and slammed into my mana shield.

Feeling my body slamming into the hard rocky surface caused me to spit up a mouth full of blood. I never thought this stupid boss would be so hard. Having so many shields was just nuts. "What are you doing to my Young Miss!?" I heard Sally suddenly yell out and a loud bang sound. I looked down to see Sally pushing down hard on her hammer that seemed to have rockets firing out of the back end of it as she tried to break the second barrier.

Melting the large ice spike that had embedded me into the wall, I let my body fall straight down as both my arms turned into huge dragon claws. The early incident made me realize that I could actually make my claws grow as large as I wanted. Before, I never really thought about it, but now I noticed that I seem to be able to change my size at will. Whether this worked in my dragon form or not is another story. But in a partial transformation, I can.

<strong>*Boom!*</strong>

Once more, I landed hard on the barrier protecting the boss, trying to give it everything I had. Sally had already had to move to avoid another ice spike. At this time, the boss seemed to be just playing around as it had not attacked anyone else since the first barrier was broken.

I had no idea what the others thought of me at this time. Nor did I care. If they stop talking to me once they find out that I am a full fledged dragon, then so be it. But I will make sure before I leave this place that everyone signs a magic contract forbidding them from releasing details about me. Because if others find out, I will never get to leave a normal life again.

<strong>*Crack!*</strong>

Hearing the cracking sound coming from the barrier made my eyes light up. A small hole as big as my head finally appeared in the barrier, but it was rapidly repairing itself. Not wanting to miss this chance, I sucked in a deep breath and let out a stream of dragon fire into the barrier filling the barrier up with my dragon flames.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

For the first time since the start of the battle, the boss finally took some damage! "Boss, hurt it! Keep hitting the barrier! Break it down!" I heard Adel yell out.

I gripped the barrier with my claws as I stopped my dragon flames and pulled hard on the barrier. More cracking was heard and then.

<strong>*Boom!* </strong>

The whole barrier shattered. Seconds later, a volley of attacks began landing on the boss, causing it to scream out in pain. It turned its head at me with a sinister gaze and waved its staff. It seemed to think I was the biggest threat. But before it could even cast a spell, Sally was right there to bash it in the face with her hammer.

"Keep attacking. We now have the advantage!" I shouted as I turned my Gates of Faithylon to strike the boss all over from head to toe. Our onslaught continued for almost five minutes when suddenly the boss slammed its staff on the ground and let out a blood curdling scream. The whole room suddenly turned red, followed by an ear piercing sound.

"<strong>SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!</strong>"

Everyone was forced to stop attacking and cover their ears. But what we saw next caused all of our faces to pale. A large black flaming monster slowly rose up from the ground….

A large black flaming bird stood over us and spread its wings out while giving off an ear piercing screech. "Appraisal!"

[Lower Black Flame Phoenix (Summon)]

[Level: 90]

[Health: 500000/500000]

[Mana: 100000/100000]

Seeing the stats caused me to frown. It was already hard enough to fight the boss, but now we had basically a mini boss to fight as well. "Faith, leave the bird to me!" I heard Sophie yell out. I turned and looked at the fox girl who was standing there with her sword in hand, staring at the summoned creature.

The look of determination in her eyes filled me with confidence. I let out a long breath as I yelled out: "Everyone, listen up! We will fight the boss. Sophie is in charge of the bird. Grace, you are in charge of keeping Sophie alive! Sei, you are still on barriers! Don't falter, and keep aware! Watch where you are standing in case of area of effect spells. And most importantly…. Kill this bastard!"-.

"Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!"

I heard the fighting spirit of my team and smiled. Everyone once again regained their composure and began our third assault on this stupid boss. I charged forward with Sally at my side. We both jumped through the air to get in position over the boss. But before attacking, I waved my hand and created another Gates of Faithylon, but this time, it was an ice version that was pointing at the summoned phoenix. I wanted to give Sophie as much cover as I could.

Once it was set, I turned my attention back to the boss, who looked up at me with blood shot eyes. It was definitely enraged. My guess is that it half expected to be able to rest. I am sure it never thought that we would leave one person to fight the monstrosity by themselves. But Sophie could easily use phase. No matter what that bird threw at her, she would come out unscathed.

But this did make my job slightly harder because I was acting as a healer for those fighting the boss.

As time ticked by each of our attacks were slamming into the boss, keeping it from being able to do much of anything. "Appraisal!"

[Boss Goblin Shaman]

[Level: 125]

[Health: 900000/1000000]

[Mana: 1000/900000]

It wasn't much, but we were getting somewhere. The only good thing was that it seemed that summoning the phoenix had drained its mana to almost nothing. This meant that the boss was basically placing all its bets on the summon. "Go all out! The boss has barely any mana left!"

As I yelled this out, I created large spikes of ice and stone in the air and slammed them down onto the Boss.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!"

[Status: Bleeding]

[Boss Goblin Shaman]

[Level: 125]

[Health: 500000/1000000]

[Mana: 1000/900000]

One attack like that was enough to drop its health by four hundred thousand. It seems as long as you get rid of its barriers, the boss is weak to all attacks. Everyone was attacking left and right. I watched as the attacks were quickly draining the boss's life. The boss was flailing about swinging its staff, trying to hit the melee, but luckily the boss was unable to hit anyone. Its aim was bad, and its movements were becoming sluggish.

[Health: 100000/1000000]

[Health: 60000/1000000]

"Take this! Mega Hammer!" Sally suddenly yelled out, causing me to look up. The rabbit girl was soaring through the air with a hammer ten times the size of the boss.

<strong>*Booom!*</strong>

[Gained 100000 XP]

A notification suddenly popped up in front of me. Seeing this, I let out a sigh of relief. But I did not lower my guard down yet. I turned to see how Sophie was doing but what I saw was a fox girl lying on her back, her chest moving up and down. Her hair was soaked in sweat all the way down to the tips of her tail with no signs at all of the summoned phoenix. "We…."

"We did it!" Steven shouted, causing cheers to fill the boss's room. We really did do it. I stood in the air, looking down at the half squashed boss and then at everyone else, and smiled. We defeated the odds. We survived what should have killed us. This sense of victory felt…. Amazing! i𝘯𝚗𝗿𝗲α𝙙.＆nbsp;c𝒐𝐦

The last thing I would have ever expected was to be tossed into an even more fantasy style setting. Dungeons and bosses. The feeling of victory when you take down the boss you spent so much energy fighting. But here we are, each one of us alive and well. While some had minor injuries, it was nothing compared to the thought of what could have happened.

I landed on the ground and walked over to the boss, that began to turn into balls of light and froze. My eyes lit up…. "Shiny!" I don't know what came over me, but as soon as I saw the glittering gem lying on the ground, my body moved on its own as I reached out and grabbed the shiny object and hugged it as if protecting my most precious. It was a blue gem, unlike anything I had ever seen before. "Appraisal"

[System Stone]

[Consumable]

[Gives one person a system.]

[Systems allow one to gain new skills by using skill points. It also allows one to gain status points upon leveling up and unlocks hidden potential.]

Seeing the information, I quickly stored the stone and took out a stone from my inventory that looked just like it. I hate to say it, but I was unsure of what to think about this stone. Luckily my attraction to shiny objects allowed me to pick it up first.

In a way, it was like the evolution stone, which I have not seen since that day. It made me worry that the wrong people would gain such systems and throw the current world power balance out of whack. I looked down to make sure there were no other stones, but other than some armor and weapons there was nothing else.

"Faith?" Adel came running up to me with a worried look. I pursed my lips and held the stone in my hand a bit tighter. "I am not going to take it away, I was just checking to see if you were okay. You have been firing off magic left and right this entire time, not to mention your arm…."

Hearing Adel's words and seeing how much she was worried, I stored my stone away and walked over to her, took her hand, and walked away from everyone else. Adel was my first true friend in this world, and I did not want to hide anything from her any longer. I sat her down and set up a barrier around us to isolate us from everyone else. "As you have seen…. I am not a normal demi human."

"I kind of figured that out a long ago." Adel said with a teasing smile. I just rolled my eyes as I continued.

"Adel, what I am about to tell you is something that is one of my greatest secrets. I am telling you first out of everyone else because you were my first friend and are also my best friend. I do plan to tell Sophie soon, and I will be forcing the others to sign a magic contract to seal their mouths about my transformation. But…." I went to tell Adel everything, but she reached out and placed a finger on my mouth.

Adel smiled at me as she pulled her finger back. "First off, you do not need to worry so much. I will protect you with everything I have. While magic contracts are good, with the right skills, they can also be broken. You will need to set up a blood seal contract with those who you do not trust. I will show you how it is done later. But this is a secret. Not many know that magic contracts are breakable if you find someone powerful enough to nullify it."-.

I smiled and nodded. "Then I will leave it to you to help me with that. But to let you know, I am what is called a Dragonic. I am half dragon, half demon. Although I was never originally like this. I once had the blood of my family running through me. But now, I am of a different bloodline that has not been seen since ancient times. 𝘪𝐧𝓷𝘳e𝑎d. 𝒸𝒐𝑚

"What you saw earlier was only a partial transformation. I can actually transform into a full pledged dragon. And I will probably have to on the next two bosses, which was why I decided to have everyone else sign a contract. I do not wish word of me being dragon to get out as it will cause many people to chase after me." I did not wish to cause the people around me to come under attack because people were trying to get to me.

"I see… Well, you can be sure that I will do whatever I can to make sure that no one finds out. To prove it, I will also sign a blood seal contract with you as well." Adel replied with a smile. I couldn't help but let out a sigh. Adel was always willing to go to such great lengths for me.

I lowered my head and fell into deep thought. I do not know if I should do this or not, as I don't know what it will do to her, but if the system stone works and Adel could begin leveling up and raise her mana, she may be able to live a long, long life as long as she increases her mana pool. I also know I can not keep this system stone a secret as others will also probably find them or already have found them. After all, dungeons are popping up everywhere now.

"Adel….." I reached into my inventory and pulled out the system stone, and handed it to her. "This is what is called a system stone. It is able to give one a system that allows them to grow stronger by killing monsters. As you level up, you will gain status points that you can then allocate as you wish. This means you can even raise your mana pool…. Umm… I am not sure of the risks. I am not sure if you will be harmed if you use it. But I do know that if people find these and begin raiding dungeons to gain more power, then the world as we know it will begin to change and change quickly. I…. I was born with a system, so I know how they work…."

I was not going to tell her about my infinity mana or anything like that or how I came from another world since even if that is the case, I was still born on this world, making me a legitimate resident of this world. But letting her know that I do have a system will at least allow her to understand that I am not lying to her about this. However, it is hard to prove it.

"A system stone, huh?" Adel reached out and took the stone from my hand. As soon as she did, a blue screen suddenly popped out of the stone. "Ah!?"

I quickly moved to sit in front of it so no one else could see it. The screen had a simple sentence with yes or no buttons. It read: "Use Item?"

"This didn't happen when you touched it?" Adel asked as she looked up at me.

"I think it is because I have a system of my own. So I guess I wouldn't be able to use it." This was the only solution I could think of as to why it did not ask me if I wanted to use it.

"I see… well… Since others will probably find such things themselves, I do not wish to be left behind if the world as we know it will change so…."

"Wait!" I yelled out as I went to try to stop this stupid, impulsive princess, but I was too late. Her finger had already hit the Yes button, and the stone glowed before turning into a stream of blue light and entering Adel's body. Her body glowed blue for a brief second before returning to normal. "Adle! Adel!"

"I…. I see many numbers in front of me…. A thing called HP and MP….. Words such as strength and vitality and a bunch more things…. Is this the system thing!?" Adel asked in a somewhat excited voice. But as for me, I felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest! I mean, yes, I gave her the stone in case she wanted to use it, but I figure she would test the thing out first on someone else before actually using it! I do not know if Adel is crazy or what, but really….

"Faith, are you okay?" Adel asked in a concerned voice. I looked up at her and shook my head as I yelled! "Not with you giving me a heart attack!"

Adel pursed her lips and reached over, flicking me on the forehead. "Now, do you understand the things I go through when you do things that make me worry to the point that I feel like I might die?" 𝘪𝑛𝓃𝒓𝐞𝙖d. ᴄ𝒐𝑚

I really couldn't argue with her when she puts it like that. I mean, I did cause her a lot of issues these past few weeks. But still for her to go ahead and hit yes without even much less than a second worth of thought. It just did not seem like her. "Adel, even if that is the case, why did you hit yes without even considering what may have happened to you?"

"Hmm? Well, as I see it, it was either me or some poor soul who would be killed after. I would rather test it out on myself than on some citizen. Plus, what if these things are rare? If you have a system and are able to really gain such great power, then I want to be able to do the same. Other kingdoms will probably be doing such things as well. Except they will test it from the start and see if it is hazardous to the royal families. But if I can get a head start and use my time in this dungeon to really grow more powerful, then the Gravos Kingdom will have a head start. And I will be the one to lead it in this new era." Adel's words made sense, but I still did not like how she used the stone without hesitation.

"Well, tell me if you feel off or anything. If you start having strange thoughts or do not feel like you are in control of your body. I will stop time for you until we figure out a way to cure you. Or I could even reverse time to when you did not have it." I could only do so much. If Adel really had an issue with this new system where it tried to control her or something, the only way to keep her from destroying herself or others would be to stop time for her or try to reverse time for her until the point where she did not have a system.-.

"This is the reason why I did not hesitate to use it. With you here, what could go wrong?" Adel said with a smile. "Faith, this menu thing says I am level 89 and have 440 status points. What should I put my status points in?"

"Hmmm, you are mainly more of a support mage type, so I would think intelligence and mind should both have 150 points. The last 140 should be vitality 70 and agility 70. This vitality and agility will allow you to take more hits and also make you faster. In the future, put two points into intelligence and mind and then alternate your other point between agility and vitality." I figured for a support type character this was the best way to grow stronger. She did not need strength since she did not use a sword. But now that she could raise mind this meant she could live a lot longer. At least, I think anyway. As long as her mana pool increases, her lifespan will also increase.

I hate to say it because it sounds like I am using Adel as a test subject, but if this works out, I will probably try to farm dungeons to get more system stones for my family…

While this brings more risks as they will need to fight monsters, if it allows them to live longer, I think some of the risks are worth it, especially with how strong my Mother and Father are. That is, if they do wish to expand their lives. I would not force this upon them. It would be up to them to use it or not.

"Okay, done!" Adel said with a smile as she stood up and hopped up and down a few times. "I do surprisingly feel lighter."

"How much mana do you have now?" I was curious to just how much her stats were raised.

"Mmm, it says 3400. And my health is 2300," Adel answered. I pursed my lips since I do not know how good the mana part was. But I do think her health might be slightly too low. I guess this just means I will need to keep a closer eye on her. "If there was a teaming system like in games…." I mumbled, but as soon as the words left my mouth, a window appeared in front of me.

[System Notification: Team Window Unlocked!]

[You can now form teams and share XP between team members.]

I face palmed as I looked at this, but it was definitely a good thing. I just never thought it would actually have such a function, but this does make me wonder just how connected this system thing is to the system I was born with. Were the dungeons and other things also related to the system as well?

I do know one thing, and that was that everyone was gaining passive levels while gradually gaining boosts to their stats without a system. Once they get a system, they will also gain all the status points they would have gotten for each level they gained while in this dungeon, just like how Adel did. At least, I think anyway.

Since there is no way of knowing, for now, I guess I should test out this team function now that I have it. I sighed and softly spoke: "Team Adel."

"What!?" Adel cried out in shock as another window popped up in front of her. "Faith, what is this team thing?"

"It allows us to team together and share experience. In other words, you can grow stronger without having to do much of anything. What other things it may do, I don't know yet. Just hit yes for now, and we can find out."

Adel nodded and hit the yes button. I got a notification that she had joined my team and saw a new set of HP and MP bars appear at the top left of my peripheral vision. "What is this crazy health!? 37250!?"

I heard Adel cry out. I guess she could see my stat numbers for health and MP… which means… "And what is this weird sign where it says, Mana?"

Adel looked up at me with a questioning gaze, causing me to sigh once more. "Le'ts just say that I don't ever have to worry about mana….

Adel pursed her lips. "No wonder you can cast so much all the time. With your health and all the mana you have, you are basically a walking fortress…."

"I actually can't deny that, but as you saw earlier, I am not immune to harm." Earlier, I was hurt pretty bad. If myself or Grace did not have high heal, I would have been in a lot of trouble, I could also have died. But to save the lives of those near me, I was willing to take the risk.

"That is true. I thought my heart was going to stop earlier." Adel said with a bitter smile before changing the subject.-.

"We should not announce this system thing just yet. If we get more, we should give them to Sally and Sophie. They are the closest to you besides me." Adel once again was thinking more on my behalf than anything else.

"If we get more, even if it is only one, we should give it to your fa…." Adel quickly interrupted me.

"No. He is unable to move freely as King. How would he have time to level up? If you wish to give one to the kingdom, it should go to Lance. Although I do hate saying it, and he will probably take the idea of you giving him anything even if it was a nerdal poop as you showing your love to him, he is set to be the next King. And he has been doing quite well on learning things." What Adel said did make sense. The King really could not move around as he wished since he was the ruler of the kingdom. If he went into a dungeon and spies from a hostile kingdom found out, they would use the chance to kill him and blame it on a dungeon. But if I gave it to Lance, who was set to become the next King, then while he was still free of the role, he could level up and gain enough strength to fend for himself. However, he would probably need to run a lot of dungeons.

"That does make sense. Alright, if we find another, it will be saved for Lance. Do you mind giving it to him to save the hassle it will bring if I give it to him?" I know I was pushing my troubles onto Adel, but I really did not want to give Lance the wrong idea.

"Yeah, I think it is best that I give it to him too." Adel readily agreed.

"We should go and explain things to everyone else and get the contracts done. I do not know when I will need to use my full dragon form just yet." I did not like the idea of having to do these contracts, but I wanted to be safe rather than sorry. A lot of things seemed to be set in motion, and I am not sure what the future will bring, so it was best not to add more trouble to myself.

I removed the barrier around us, and Adel and I walked over to everyone else who were standing around a big pile of items. It was all the items that spawned after the boss died. "Anything good?"

"Boss, we are not sure. They seem strong, but I am not sure who should get what." Steven replied. "Sophie said we should wait for you so that you can decide."

"For now, we will just leave them and distribute them after I finish speaking." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly before continuing. "As many of you have seen, I am not a normal demi human. In fact, I am a dragon." I decided to keep the demon part a secret for now since I do not know exactly how demons were looked upon in society. I only told Adel because of how close we are. "But because of this fact, I must ask everyone here to please sign a contract with me to never speak about this to anyone."

"Yes, Faith already has enough issues, and as the Princess of this kingdom, I am not allowing anyone to say no. The contract will be a blood seal contract. It means you will die if you ever reveal anything about Faith. I myself will also be signing this, so you are not the only ones. If any of you refuse to sign a contract, well…. I am sure losing your life in a dungeon is a common occurrence." While I did not agree with openly threatening everyone, I guess there was no other way around it.

"Princess Adel, I think you think too lightly of us. Each and every one of us owes Boss a life debt now. She really saved us at the expense of her own safety. We could have all died right then and there, but she risked revealing who she was and even risked her life for us. How could we say no?" Leo's words made everyone around him nod. I was glad to know that everyone was agreeing with him. I really did not wish anyone to come to harm just because I was trying to keep my identity a secret. 𝐢𝚗𝚗re𝐚𝚍 𝘤𝘰𝒎

"Then even better. For those who do not know, a blood seal is actually quite simple."Adel looked over at me and grabbed my hand. "Faith, cut your thumb to draw blood and draw a magic circle with the runic inscription that states what you are forbidding them from doing, using your blood. and in the core of the equation add the following runes…."

I nodded and bit my finger before doing as I was told. It was actually a simple thing. I just wanted them not to tell anyone about my secrets. If I generalize it like this, it will cover every aspect. I finished writing the magic circle and then showed Adel: "Is this good?"

"Yes, this will work and covers a broad range, so yeah, this will work well. Okay, the rest is simple. Faith will infuse the bloody magic circle with her mana, and then everyone will then drip a drop of mana infused blood onto it. It will then bind you to the contract." I was quite surprised at how simple the process was. But now I understand why blood seal contracts and magic contracts differ. Magic contracts can be written by anyone, and as long as find someone strong enough, you can break the seal that enters your body. But the blood seal is different and is infused into a single magic circle drawn from the blood of the one owning the contract. It is basically a special magic spell that will send out a signal if someone tries to betray you. That signal would then kill the person instantly since they were linked to the seal directly by blood.

𝐢𝚗𝚗re𝐚𝚍 𝘤𝘰𝒎

I watched as everyone walked up and dripped a drop of blood onto the blood seal. Each time it would glow slightly before dimming once more. Once everyone had finished, Adel continued: "Okay, now say activation word, and it will start the end of the binding process. But everyone should know that it is slightly painful."

I looked at Adel with a look that said couldn't you have said that earlier!? But I guess if she did, someone might have chickened out. I sighed and looked at everyone, and asked: "Are you ready?"

"Boss, do it! We can take it! This pain will be nothing compared to what you had to take when you saved us." Steven spoke up first. He was already gritting his teeth, waiting for the pain. It was so obvious how tense he was even before he felt anything making his expression kind of funny to the point that I almost laughed.

"Yes, Boss, Steven is right. We can take this." Even Hailey was saying the same thing. I closed my eyes and as I said: "Seal!"

"""""Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"""""-.

I watched as everyone fell to the ground in pain. Even Adel was curled up on the ground, her brow full of sweat. Only Sally was still standing there, but she was barely holding on. Sophie and Sei were also in bad condition as well. But I think out of everyone, Grace was suffering the most, her whole body seemed to be drenched in sweat.

The magic circle on my hand, as soon as I said the activate word, had risen into the air and began spinning. It glowed brightly before shooting a beam of bloody light at everyone. It was only after the beam of bloody light hit them did I notice that their brows eased up, and their cries of pain had stopped. The magic circle then slowly lowered back down to my hand before merging into my skin and disappearing without a trace.

"Is it over?" I whispered as I looked at everyone.

"That was worse than I thought." I heard Adel mumble as she slowly and unsteadily crawled up from the ground. "To think the blood seal would be that painful. My father made it sound like it was not that bad."

"Wait, so you have never seen it performed before?" I asked, feeling slightly shocked. Just how willing was this girl to throw herself into these things!?

"I have not witnessed it. My father always made me leave the throne room when a blood seal was about to take place." Adel, oh Adel. Please realize that your father was just trying to keep you from seeing such a scene! I mean, seeing people curled up crying out in pain is not something a girl her age should be seeing in the first place. Just watching it from the side was painful!

"So this means we are now Boss's underlings?" Steven asked with a wide grin.

"Huh? No! You are not slaves!" I yelled out. Why did it seem like he wanted to become my slave!?

"But we are now bound by the seal, never to betray you in this lifetime! That means we are now your underlings! The Dragon squa… Ouch! Damnit, Amanda, why did you hit me!?" Steven yelled out while holding his head. Thank you, Amanda! He was saying embarrassing things just now!

"You are bothering Boss. We can decide on a name later on once Boss gets used to it." Wait, you too, Amanda!?

I hung my head. Why are people deciding things on their own without asking me first? "Not bad! You already have your own mini army." Adel came over and hugged my arm. I could only shake my head. I am wondering if this was something she had planned from the start or not. Because for them to suddenly start talking about this seems to be a premeditated event.

I sighed and sat down on the ground. They could do as they pleased. They all seemed happy. "Anyway, we need to make plans for the upcoming floors below. If there are weaker versions of the shaman goblin on the floors to come, we will end up having a harder time, unlike before."

"Boss, what if we made a two strike plan for them? If they use barriers like the boss just now, we can have you and Sally destroy the barriers while we take them out." Leo suggested.

I thought about it for a moment and nodded my head. "This might work only if they have much lower health. Our next boss is probably going to have many min bosses around it. If I remember correctly, it was called the Goblin Chief. After that is the big monstrosity that is protecting the core of this dungeon, it is called a Goblin Ancient and has the ability to speak. And well… It seems not all there in the head."

"Faith, will you use your full dragon form on these two bosses?" Sophie asked.

I nodded my head as I answered: "More than likely. My dragon form is much more powerful than my current self. Although, I am not sure how well I will be able to fight in it as I have never used it for fighting before. I only tested a few things out since I have been able to transform."

I hated to say it, but I really was not sure how good my fighting ability would be when fighting in my dragon form. I kind of wish I had more practice with it than having to just throw caution to the wind and use it. But if I can make use of it and overpower the bosses, then it should work out fine. At least, I hope.

"Either way, I am sure as long as we work together, we can overcome all odds." Sei spoke up while pumping her fists. She was the oldest here so she had been calm this entire time but now she looked more fired up than ever.

I shook my head and glanced at everyone. But as my eyes passed by everyone I noticed something wrong. "Grace are you okay!?"

I ran to Grace's side. She was curled up like a caterpillar, holding her knees. Her entire body was soaked in sweat, and her skin seemed overly hot. Just touching her skin caused my hands to burn. "Grace! What's wrong!?"

"So hot…. So hot…." Grace mumbled out weakly. I turned and looked at Adel, who was staring at me in confusion. I have no idea what was going on, but she was fine seconds ago but now….

"The blood seal!" This is what came to mind. Grace was perfectly fine all the way until this point. But now, she seemed to be burning up from the inside out. I quickly turned to Sei, who was a black knight. If anything, she would know about this more than anyone. "Sei!"

Sei frowned slightly but still walked over and began looking at Grace. "Faith, use ice magic to cool her body. It seems that the blood seal has started Grace's bloodline awakening."-.

I did not need any more words as my eyes lit up, and I spoke the activation words. "Ice Coffin!" A spell I basically created on the spot using the ice spear runic equation. It is a simple spell that encases the target in ice instead of striking through them. But I made sure to leave a section of it open around her face so she could still breathe. After that was done, I looked at Sei for more answers.

"She needs to keep her body as cool as possible. The issue is that a blood seal transfers a small amount of your blood into the person's body. This blood then merges into their bloodstream and flows down to their heart. Once they go against the blood seal, the blood will expand and destroy their heart, effectively killing them. But there are times when the blood seal will have an effect on a person. Like in this case, Faith, your blood triggered something in Grace's blood, and I believe now she will awaken to her bloodline." Sei explained, but her expression was not good.

"What are you not telling me?" I asked. With how much pain grace was in, it seemed something was wrong.

"Your blood is in conflict with her bloodline. This is causing her body to heat up due to the battle that is going on inside her. If she is able to overcome this, she will definitely get stronger, but…." Sei stopped talking as if she did not wish to continue.

"But what!?" I kind of already know the answer, but I needed to be sure.

"If she is consumed, she will die." Sei finished while letting out a long breath. Sei looked pretty worried about this. "Right now, she is showing signs of losing the battle."

"Is there anything I can do that will help with this? If I am the cause, then I will do what I can to help her. I do not want Grace to die because of me." I was staying as calm as possible but inside, my mind was a mess. If she dies because of me, what will I do? Grace is one of my friends. She had stuck up for me even when she did not need to. I don't want her to be harmed in any way. But now…. But now, because of me, she is going through all this suffering.

"There is a way, but it may put a strain on your body. You will need to keep injecting her with mana to allow her to gain the strength needed in her blood to finish awakening and push your bloodline back for the time being. Once she fully awakens, she will be able to merge with your blood and completely finish the blood seal." Sei explained. I needed no more words to know what I needed to do.

I sat down behind Grace with my legs on each side over her ice covered body and opened a spot big enough for my hands in the ice block. As soon as I did, the part of her clothing that was exposed to the air suddenly burnt to a crisp, revealing her now red back. I took a deep breath and placed my hands on her bare skin, ignoring the burning sensation I was feeling, and began injecting my mana into her body.

If it was mana that she needed, I could give her as much as she wanted. I have plenty to spare, after all. I slowly streamed my mana into her body, lacing it with a bit of ice element. I was hoping the cooling sensation would be able to help relieve some of the pain she was going through. It was not much, just a trace but did not wish for Grace to suffer.

"Faith, you will need to do this until she fully awakens…. If you use up all your mana…." Sei had a worried look on her face. I understand that she is worried, but even if I did not have infinity mana, I would still do what I could to help.

"Sei, you don't need to worry about Faith," Adel spoke up for me. Which I was grateful for as I could not lose my concentration. It was not easy trying to spread my mana throughout Grace's body without harming her. "If anyone is able to last until grace awakens her bloodline, it is Faith."

"It's not that I do not believe you, but this could take days. No matter how many people we have, it would never be enough. We won't be able to …." Sei was cut off by Adel. 𝒊𝓃𝗻𝘳𝘦𝐚𝐝 𝒄o𝓶

"Sei! You have been serving my father since you were young and have done many missions that allowed you to see a lot of the world. But remember one thing. In this life, there are things that can not be explained. Faith is someone you just have to believe in, no matter how outrageous or impossible things may seem. I mean, have we, not all survived to this point down in this deep dungeon with powerful monsters that could easily kill any one of us? Faith has the power to deal with everything on her own, yet she has not once complained about how slow we were moving. Not to mention she has helped not only me but you as well grow stronger, has she not? With everything that she has shown, why are you second guessing her actions now?"

"Grace, hold on! Please fight! Don't give up!" This was all I could say. I could not do anything else but keep injecting a steady flow of my mana into her body. I could only hope that Grace could make it through this. Otherwise, I will need to deep freeze her body until I figure out a way to help her.

As the hours passed, I stayed steady and firm as I continued injecting Grace with mana. No matter how tired I felt, I forced myself to stay awake, knowing that if I faltered even once, she might just die. Sophie, Sei, Adel, and Sally all stayed at my side, not leaving me once. Everyone else would keep checking in on me to make sure I was okay while scouting the surrounding area. They were afraid of any monsters appearing out of nowhere. Even with the barrier up, they wanted to keep watch just in case. It had been ingrained in their daily habits to check their surroundings, which made sense since we have been doing it for a while, day in and day out.

"Faith, it's been three days. Are you okay?" Sei asked in a worried tone. I could see she was worried about my well being. While my eyes were droopy due to lack of sleep, there was nothing else wrong with me. "I am fine. It's thanks to you that I can still eat and drink, so I am okay. Just tired is all."-.

Sei smiled softly at me as she put her hand on my head and rubbed it. "As long as you are feeling okay. If you need a break, let me know. I will take over. I may not look it, but I do have quite a bit of mana."

"Mmm… Thanks, Sei." Sei is like an older sister. She worries about me and is even willing to suffer along with me. Out of everyone, she is the only one who has stayed awake this entire time. While the others slept, she would talk with me quietly. That is not to say that the others did not try to stay up as well. Adel and Sophie made it a day and a half, while Sally made it two days. Only Sei has stayed up this entire time. I am not sure if she feels partly responsible for what has happened since she knew more than Adel about blood seals or what, but it did not matter, what happened still happened. No one knew that Grace had a bloodline in her that would clash with my own.

So no one can be blamed for this, really. All except for me, who wanted this contract in the first place. But even if I did not have anything to do with this, I would still help Grace no matter what to save a friend who I hold dear.

Two more days passed when Grace's temperature finally lowered. I quickly removed the ice that was encasing her body, causing her to fall back into my embrace. Her eyes were closed, but she seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Sei walked over and checked her pulse, and let out a sigh of relief. "She will be fine. Whether or not her bloodline was awakened or not is another story. We won't know until she wakes up. So for now, you sh…."

I didn't get to hear the rest of Sei's words before I passed out….

"Hmmm?" I looked around to find myself in an unfamiliar bedroom. "This place is?"

"Your Majesty, are you awake?" A voice rang out at my side. I turned to see Grace standing there. "Grace?"

"Is there something this humble servant can do for you?" Grace asked with a smile. But I was very confused. Why was she acting this way? I, for one, know I am not the kind of person to go and enslave my friends. So why was she acting in such a manner? "Grace, why are you calling yourself a servant?" 𝓲n𝗻𝗿𝙚𝘢𝘥.＆nbsp;𝓬𝚘𝒎

"If I am not a servant, then what am I? Your Majesty, are you not awake yet? What will the citizens think if they see their Queen half asleep and mumbling crazy things?" Grace sighed as if she was exhausted from my actions. But I was now even more confused because she was calling me Queen and saying something about citizens. But now that I am taking a good look at her, while she is definitely the Grace that I know appearance wise, just about five years or so older, she also has two sets of horns and a small white halo on her head.

I looked across the room and saw my reflection in the large mirror that covered a good chunk of the wall. I was kind of shocked to see that I looked much older. Even my proportions had grown, which kind of made me happy. I have been worried quite a bit about the size of a certain area on my chest. Although this was definitely a dream, and this could just be me imagining the perfect me, I had to say I was quite cute.

"Your Majesty?" Grace called out to me once more. I still did not understand why I was dreaming about being some kind of Queen, but, well, I will just play along for the time being.

"Sorry, I was still half asleep." I slowly crawled out of the big comfy bed and stood up. I went to stretch only to find myself suddenly standing there naked and Grace holding the nightgown and underwear I was wearing in her hands. I blushed and quickly jumped back onto the bed and wrapped myself in the blankets. "Wha!? What are you doing!?"

"What else would I be doing but changing you, Your Majesty? Why are you acting like this is two hundred years ago? Your Majesty, you must really be asleep still." Grace chuckled as she placed some clothes on the bed. And then walked over to me and pulled on the blankets, ripping them right off of me. "Now, please allow me to do my job!"

And within a matter of minutes, I was wearing a white dress with a red cloak with a fur collar wrapped around my shoulders. Grace then pulled me to the mirror and began brushing my hair, getting all the bed headedness out of it. Within thirty minutes, I was completely redone, and to be honest, I have no idea who the person is in the mirror staring back at me.

After having my makeup and hair done, Grace placed a beautiful silver crown on my head. It was not overly extravagant, but it was still very pretty. "Grace, you said two hundred years just now. What year is it exactly?"

"Your Majesty, are you okay? You have been acting weird all morning…." Grace gave me a worried look causing me to sigh. I mean, what can I say? Right now, everything felt too real to be a dream, but it still felt like a dream. It made me wonder if this was a secret wish I had deep in the deepest parts of my heart. Did I wish to become a ruler of some kind?

At Grace's question, I could only let out a dry laugh and scratch the back of my head: "Maybe I am getting old and forgot?" 𝙞𝑛𝓷𝓇𝒆a𝑑. 𝙘૦𝗺

Grace shook her head as she said: "Your Majesty, who are you kidding? You have infinite mana. The only ones getting old are those who are not connected to you, which reminds me. You have a meeting with the Council Of Elders today."-.

"The Council Of Elders?" I was even more confused than I was before. I knew nothing of what was going on, but now I had to meet a council of some kind. I sighed and looked out the window of the balcony. Only then did my eyes grow wide in surprise. Tall skyscrapers, flying carriages, and floating shops filled the sky. A large dome barrier covered the entire city that seemed to span for many, many miles.

"What!?" I ran to the window and looked outside. The city was so futuristic looking that I was completely surprised. It was nothing like the world I have lived in the past twelve years but more of a mix of Earth and this world's technology.

"What are you so surprised about? You built this city from the ground up after the great war. Your Majesty, please have breakfast. You have a full schedule today!" I turned to see Grace looking at me with a bit of helplessness. I could only nod as I seemed to be causing her to have a hard time. I followed her out of the room and out into a red carpeted hallway.

While the hall had many things that looked expensive, it did not seem overly decorated. Things were kept very simple. Pretty much how I would go about it if I were to decorate things. On the wall were many pictures, some people I recognized while others I did not. It made me wonder just who these other people were.

When I arrived in what Grace called the dining hall, I was met with a small table with some already prepared food set out for me. It was nothing too fancy. It was basically something Annie would make for me every morning. Simple yet nutritious. It made me wonder what had happened to Annie. But when I thought that this seemed to be two hundred years in the future, I can only guess that she had long passed away.

But seeing only one plate of food made me realize something. "Grace, are you not going to eat with me?"

"Your Majesty, we go through this every morning. Please realize you are no longer a normal person. You are the ruler of the Cyrilia Empire. If you do not act as you should for a person of your position, then what will everyone else think?" Grace scolded once more. I could only sigh as I ate my food. I had to say it was quite tasty. But as I ate, I looked up at Grace, who stood at the side and waited patiently.

"Umm… does anyone else live here?" I asked while pursing my lips. I mean, two hundred years in the future, I kinda wanted to know how I turned out.

"Your Majesty, I will cancel the first part of your schedule today so you can see a doctor. It is not good for you to be so forgetful. You have rejected every advance from every suitor since you were young, so why would anyone but servants be living here?" Grace's reply made me purse my lips. Sorry for not knowing about the past two hundred years when I have yet to live that long! But Did I really go two hundred years without falling in love once?

While I know I always say that this is the way to go, I was kind of surprised. But I guess when your only suitors are your best friend and people you find to be idiots, I guess this is also possible. But in a way, I still feel depressed. Did no one find me attractive enough to try to push ahead and try to win my heart? Was I really that out of everyone's line of sight when it came to love?

Sighing, I put down the fruit drink in front of me and stood up. But as I did, the world around me began to spin as things grew dark. I heard Grace yelling out to me, but soon my eyes slowly opened to see the familiar sight of the dungeon I had been in for a few weeks. "What a strange drea…"

In front of my eyes was a familiar figure but, this time, much younger. This was the Grace I remember but on her head was a set of horns and a white halo. I was actually second guessing myself as I reached out and grabbed one of the horns. "Its realm….. But how!?"

"Master…." Grace knelt down and suddenly bowed her head to the ground, causing not only me but everyone else around me to stare at Grace in surprise. I looked at Sei, the only one I knew that might understand what was going on, but she only shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. She did not seem to understand what was going on either.

"Umm, Grace, why are you calling me Master?" I asked in confusion.

"Because you are my Master, why else would I call you Master?" Grace's head tilted to the side as she stared at me with a look that said: "Isn't it obvious?" But I really had no idea what was going on!