We moved slowly through the rocky caverns that made up this dungeon. Cold water dripped from stalactites, each drop echoing in the dark.

Facing away from my pets, I guarded our rear. Vixen and Wumtug each carried one of the long wooden poles I purchased in town. They checked the ground for traps and pitfalls by tapping the ground in front of them.

Between [Tremorsense] and [Magesense], the world should have been an open book. Unlike it's weaker single-target cousin [Magesight], my [Magesense] sensed all magic around me, down to the most intimate of details. Even invisibility was just another spell for me to detect. My [Termorsense] was rank seven, so it worked in the air as well as the earth. Every movement I made and every step I took rippled through the world around me like a bat's echolocation.

Each tap they made should have been an explosion of information. Now, it was just sound. Entering the dungeon had blinded me, even if my eyes still worked.

Anything could be waiting around the corner. A chill ran down my spine. Nothing had attacked us yet, but this was a dungeon, so it was only a matter of time.

Darkness surrounded us, even with our lightstone. I watched for movement behind us, while the rest of the group faced the path ahead. Violet kept the light between us, protecting our night vision. She was doing a better job than I had expected.

"My Queen," Vixen said, "We've reached a large cavern. I can't see the other side."

"Watch your eyes, lightstone incoming," I said, pulling one from storage. I tossed it behind me, deep into the unexplored area.

The lightstone splashed to the floor. I was startled by the unexpected sound, and couldn't help glancing at the lightstone behind me. It glowed in a couple of inches of water. The chamber was huge. Because the light didn't reach the far walls, or pierce the shadowed ceiling, I still didn't know how large the cavern was.

I turned back just in time to catch a bullet of gooey green gunk in the face. Blinded, I hollered, "Slimes!", heart pounding in my throat.

I wiped a hand across my eyes, but it wasn't much help, so I used my skirt. I blinked the last of the mess away.

Several green slimes raced towards me, the largest of whom barely reached my knees. Slimes are slower than I remembered. I wasn't in any danger, but my heart still raced.

Wumtug ran past, charging the leading slime. He slammed his mace down, but it bounced off. He didn't hesitate. He just screamed his fury and pounded down again. Like a bubble, the slime popped. One down, three to go. I hefted my maul and stepped forward to join him.

Lightning crackled, and they all died instantly, along with our night vision. I'm so used to using physical strength that I forgot about my magic. We dragons rarely sit back and cast spells. We rend and destroy with our teeth, claws, and tail.

Violet said, "Ciarra, do you have more lightstones?"

"I have ten more," I replied.

Violet said, "Good. Spells will blind us when we need our sight the most, at least if we continue exploring like this. We can't hide from the monsters that live in the dark, so why minimize our light? If we had a half-dozen of them, a wizard's lightning bolt wouldn't blind us. At least it wouldn't blind us for as long."

Huh. She's right. The same argument works against the champion just as well.

"Good point," I said, and passed everyone a lightstone.

"Everyone followed the plan. Well done, Wumtug and Kitten, both of you did an excellent job attacking. Vixen and Violet, thanks for watching our backs." I said.

They had performed well. Vixen and I were far more concerned about the other champion attacking while we were distracted by monsters than anything else. Vixen kept her focus to the front, although that had meant ignoring the fight behind her back.

"Wumtug and Kitten, guard our backs. I have an idea," I said.

Standing next to Vixen, I pulled a couple more lightsticks from storage and dropped them into the water. I used [Water Manipulation] to carry three lights off into three different directions. I kept forgetting I had the spell. To the left, I discovered five grey slimes. Using powerful jets of water, I slaughtered them.

"Silver slimes," Wumtug said excitedly, taking out his glass vial. "Remember, Josiah, said to fill them to the halfway mark."

Nothing else moved within the range of my spell. As a group, we stepped into the cavern and added silver-grey ooze to all of our vials. We explored the cavern, but only found a few copper coins.

Three different paths continued forward. I chose the right one, but I wasn't ready to leave yet.

I pulled several barrels from storage and filled them with water. [Water Maniplation] could be powerful, but I needed a water source, and I couldn't control water inside living creatures.

We killed well over a hundred slimes before we were ready to camp.

Their coloring wasn't just for appearance. While all slimes spat balls of ooze, except for that, each color was different. Green ones were resistant to physical attacks. Wumtug said blue slimes resisted magic, but with our stats, Kitten and I could tell. Silver slimes lived in shallow water and were much faster than the other two.

In theory, a group without casters could outrun green slimes, and a group without melee fighters could run away from blue ones. Neither group could escape silver slimes, but both groups could kill them.

It's a reasonable test for someone planning on becoming an adventurer.

My group had no such problems. We took turns fighting slimes. Even Violet joined in by throwing rocks at them. While throwing sounded like a weak attack, it wasn't, not when you take into account how much strength I granted my pets.

Vixen was the only exception.

My perfect pet was always on guard. Disregarding these weak monsters, she kept alert, watching for the missing champion. I couldn't have been more pleased. Vixen had detected multiple slime ambushes before they attacked. She also discovered several traps before they could be triggered.

Being attacked with a fireball in the confines of one of the caves that connected these caverns would be an unpleasant way to wake up, so Vixen and I made sure we stopped for the night in a large cavern. I used my maul to break off a giant stalagmite and wedged it into the only exit.

I felt safe enough, although we wouldn't sleep without setting up the watch rotation.

Vixen kept watch while Wumtug and my pets set up camp.

I handed everyone a plate of forest drake, and we ate in silence. As delicious as this is, I would like more variety. None of the fights had been difficult, but I wasn't safe. I wouldn't be safe until I killed the other champion.

After dinner, I had Wumtug relieve Vixen while I reviewed my pet's status updates.

Kitten has earned a level. (Level 3)

Kitten has earned a rank. [Ball Lightning I] has become [Ball Lightning II]

Violet has earned a level. (Level 4)

Violet has gained the skill. [Throw]

Kitten has earned a level. (Level 4)

Kitten has earned a rank. [Magic Missile I] has become [Magic Missile II]

Kitten has earned a rank. [Ball Lightning II] has become [Ball Lightning III]

You have earned a level. (Level 6)

You have earned a rank. [Holy Smite I] has become [Holy Smite II]

You have earned a rank. [Water Manipulation IV] has become [Water Manipulation V]

Vixen has earned a level. (Level 6)

Vixen has gained the skill. [Alert]

Vixen has earned two ranks. [Alert I] has become [Alert III]

Vixen has gained the skill. [Trapper]

Vixen has earned a rank. [Trapper I] has become [Trapper II]

Vixen has earned two ranks. [Sneak I] had become [Sneak III]

Why are we leveling so quickly? Gaining new skills and ranking up shouldn't happen so often either. I can't believe I've already reached rank five in [Water Manipulation]

I projected the thought to Kolra, and her mental reply was instantaneous, "[Powerful Existence] does far more than doubling character points. Experience is multiplied. New abilities are more likely to be granted, and the same goes for ranking up existing abilities.

"It's the one special ability that every champion shares. If any of you were to stop leveling, you would soon become easy prey for the other champions."

Do the other gods realize I've given the ability to all my pets? I mentally asked.

Her mental grin was savage. "No. They have no idea how powerful your pets are. When [Flesh Shaping] was approved, we hadn't created that skill. Then, when we finally came together to design [Powerful Existence], every deity saw it as a way to ensure that the world couldn't interfere with their champions."

I laughed. This is going to be fun.

Her response wiped the smile from my face and brought an angry snarl to my lips. "Don't be a fool. You are unique among champions. All of the gods know who you are, and that makes you a target. Do you think you'll fight them one at a time?

"Grouped or not, the game will limit both sides to six combatants inside dungeons. It's not a limitation you can wiggle around. The more they fear you, the more they will ally against you. It has already begun.

"Not all gods bothered to have worshipers on the game world, but most of them have a champion in the game. Last time there were 835 champions, and the game took two and a half centuries to finish. We expect this one to be larger, and to take longer."

Stunned, I stared off into the distance. Hundreds of champions? That's a problem.

"My Queen?" said Vixen, glancing at me with concern, "Is something wrong?"

With a sigh, I gave her the bad news. "Kolra said their last game had over eight hundred champions, and this one should have more. Even worse, they have already begun to rally against us."

"I'll need to advance my plans," she said with a grimace. "I expect to have a spymaster waiting when we return to Kolra's temple. Assuming she did agree to my offer, she will already be looking for other champions." Vixen's eyes flashed, "I'll kill them all!"

"A spymaster?" I asked.

She blushed. "It was supposed to be a surprise. The beggars guild has little power or money, but they know everything that happens in the streets. Champions should be easy to find. The beggar's guild, and especially their guildmaster treated me well, so I had the bishop take a letter to her, and promised gold and free healing to the guild for taking me in when I was a child. But I also asked her to become your spymaster. I promised her that any beggar that swears to become one of our spies would receive gold. It's a ready-made network just waiting for someone to take advantage of it."

"My perfect little pet," I said, and pulled her into my lap for a kiss. "I'll reward you properly when I can give you the attention you deserve."

My perfect little pet wouldn't have survived long enough for me to find her if it wasn't for the beggars guild.

"Introduce me to her when we get back," I said.

I summoned an uncut diamond from my horde and considered it. The priceless jewel filled my cupped hands. It didn't look like anything special, and most people would see an unusually thick piece of broken glass, but it was invaluable. That was fitting.

"That can't be what it looks like!" said Violet from across the fire.

"The dwarves of Kinathor once gave it to me as part of a peace offering. If the fools had just stopped attacking and fulfilled their contract, I would have been happy to leave.

"Kinathor's Heart is the largest uncut diamond in existence, at least according to the dwarves.

"It's a gift for your old guildmaster. One perfect uncut jewel for another."

Tail wagging, Vixen smothered me with kisses.

Violet's scent seethed with outrage. After a few moments, she went to the far side of our camp and leaned against the wall. She wept alone, but she would learn.

After a long while, Vixen took the first watch. Wumtug would take the second, and Violet the last.

[Content removed per request.]

Spoiler: Spoiler

Short version: Ciarra plays with Kitten, but limits herself to little things. Mostly binding Kitten in place with her wings and tail, and tickling. She chooses to wait for Vixen before doing anything more - something that shows the hedonistic dragons her true feelings for her foxkin.

The full scene is available here: https://storiesonline.net/s/20605:217492/chapter-15-ciarra-the-cold

[Continued scene...]

Kitten purred, as she melted into me, her bliss filling the air with the aroma of vanilla.

Our bodies ached with unrequited passion. Once I hated that feeling, but things were different now. I would drink my fill of Kitten time and time again. I savored every moment because I knew I would not be left wanting.

Eventually, we both fell asleep.