28

I was only sleeping about an hour before I heard the small door to the warehouse opened. It woke me up just enough that I became aware of the presence of multiple people. I switched to infrared so I could watch them without giving away that I'd woken up.

"What do you think Hawk?" Vernon spoke to the mage of the group, "We could get some trust from the people around here if we kill him can't we?"

Kill me? Please tell me more. I thought to myself.

"What happens if this plan of yours fails?" Hawk muttered, "He'll still be around to settle things."

"Please," Vernon smirked, "All we have to do is get the beasts master out of the settlement at the same time as Calen, and have a good reason to leave you behind to destroy the contract."

"Once the contract is destroyed the beast will go out of control while we're gone because its master is dead," Vernon smirked, "We come back, and save the day like valiant heroes."

"I don't like this whole plan of yours," Hawk frowned at me while I was pretend sleeping, "Calen is a cautious man. He won't leave the guild for just any bad guy."

"That's the one problem," he chuckled quietly, "It's a big planet. We just have to be patient. Something will come up eventually."

"Why did you want to have this little meeting here again?" one of the other two spoke up.

"With his master away we're alone in here," Vernon smirked, "People are scared of what this beast is capable of. None of them would come in here willingly."

"You picked this place because the beast would keep people away?" the same dude spoke again, "Are you out of your mind? What happens if that thing wakes up?"

I could see him pointing my direction. I was glad I could use my infrared to watch them without opening my eyes. I'm pretty sure that I know who was putting the guild leader in danger now. How stupid was this idiot? Did he realize that I was watching him?

By now he should know I have some intelligence. Did he really think I wouldn't understand him at all? Even if he thought I was asleep he should really show me more consideration. A simple enough plan really. He just wanted to lure him out, and leave him out there for the beasts.

The plan was going to fall apart quickly enough though. For one the beast wouldn't go out of control. That part would be one of the first things that went wrong for them. Then the leaving Calen behind in the middle of a very dangerous monster territory. I would have to strengthen my bonded for that part, but they wouldn't be able to kill Calen that way either.

I could accurately tell exactly how far my bonded were away from me so I could get there in an instant or pretty close to it. I shifted in my fake sleep. Startling the men in the room back to full awareness. The slow casual yawn as I curled myself up a bit tighter. They would probably leave now that they'd seen me moving.

I was really hoping that they would. I hated Vernon, and his guts. My muscles tensing up as I started stretching out in a slow showy manner. Letting them all know that I was waking up. Slowly, but surely.

My eyes peeked open gently before I widened them in a bit of a showy manner as if I was just now realizing that I wasn't alone. Growing at him for invading my space, and turning so that I was facing him properly. Not that I was all that worried about him causing me damage. They'd have to kill me in one shot, and that wasn't an easy thing to do. My armored skin was very difficult to pierce.

Let alone damage or kill me. I flared my big wings as I tried to draw attention to myself while surging forward to push them out of here a lot faster. Stopping at least twenty feet away. If I got any closer I might actually kill him instead of just threatening him. I snorted to myself as they moved out of the building slowly.

Vernon was the slowest to flee out of the three of them. After that day I didn't worry about Vernon so much. He wasn't strong enough to kill me so I didn't understand the confidence he had in my presence. He'd be allowed to kill me if I fought back, but that didn't make me any less dangerous to him. He came back a few more times in the following weeks while I was grinding away at levels with my bonded.

Making sure to strengthen my bonded whenever I got the chance. My focus was more on actually increasing my elemental affinities then actually leveling up. I'd go with my bonded, and two people actually willing to hunt with us every three days. After that I would absorb massive amounts of mana, and increase my mana capacity. Three weeks passed faster than I liked, but I didn't worry about it too much since Vernon's plan wasn't progressing.

My lightning affinity had advanced to the point that I was at level ninety-eight. It was the only elemental affinity I had that had managed to advance so far, and it was because I could still strengthen that element while I was working. The more I strengthened the element the more I wondered what would happen when the affinity hit one hundred. Nearly half of my big horns were colored by the color of lightning. Lightning was my strongest affinity by far.

I'd always had an easy time with that element. I didn't know why. My wings extended slowly as I thought about it all. I was allowed to be outside more often as people got used to my presence. Some noticed that I'd taken a liking to some of the children within the settlement.

I let them get closer than anyone else within the settlement. Instead of just sometimes allowing people close to me. Children never got growled at no matter how close they came, but the fear of their parents kept them from coming within thirty feet of me. They started playing a game with each other. Whoever came the closest was the winner of the game.