Maintaining Relationships

Erin was still unconscious.

The entire room was silent.

The small purple dragon hatchling landed on Erin's head. When it touched his head, Erin's mental pain disappeared. The extreme aura from earlier disappeared from the room too. Everything was calm and peaceful again.

Erin groggily opened his eyes. He noticed that his upper body was lying on the dining table.

"..What happened to me?" He lifted himself up. Even though the mental pain stopped, he still felt a heavy feeling on his head.

Erin glanced around the room. He noticed that everyone was silently staring at his hair. Their eyes were full of so many emotions. There were even streaks of tears on Olivia's and Edward's faces.

'Is something wrong with my hair?' Erin lifted his right hand. He tried touching the top of his hair. Instead of feeling his hair, he grabbed onto a small squishy thing.

"..What the heck is this?" Erin's was weirded out. Something fell on top of his head?

Alfred twitched when he saw the way Erin was treating the dragon hatchling. Ron smiled awkwardly. Alice's face was blank. She could no longer feel anything after being shocked so many times today.

Edward's face was the most relieved in the entire room.

'So Erin did not die of overeating!' Edward felt relief that he could still eat a lot safely.

Olivia stopped crying but she was still sniffling.

Erin didn't notice the group's change in emotions. He brought down the thing he grabbed and looked at it.

"..a creature?!" Erin's dismay was evident. What was a live creature doing on top of his head?!

'..Perhaps' Many scenarios ran through Erin's head. 'Did this thing escape from the kitchen?'

Noticing his master's thoughts, the purple dragon hatchling looked wronged. Seeing that Erin still didn't understand, the hatchling lightly bit Erin's hand to get his attention. It then activated something inside of it.

"Ouch!" Erin almost tossed the small creature away. But a distracting display popped up.

[Name: Unnamed] [Level: 1,000]

[Species: Dimensional Dragon (Dual-Variant: Netherstorm, Lightning)] [Grade: Transcendent, Legendary]

[Affinity: MAX | Recent Changes: N/A]

[Primary Skill: Dragon's Breath (Multiple-Variants: Offense, Defense, Healing, & Utilitarian.]

[Secondary Skill: Dimensional Energy (Multiple-Variants: Teleportation, Spatial Space, & Unknown]

"..This is a dragon?!" Erin's eyes popped out. His voice sounded very confused.

The dragon also started to look tired. It crawled into Erin's shirt and hid itself.

'Erm?' Erin simply watched the hatchling make itself comfortable.

Fortunately, it was tiny and didn't impose too much.

Alfred wanted to facepalm. This dragon was obviously tamed!

Otherwise, it would have been extremely offended by the way Erin was handling it. A light bite was nothing. An angry dragon would have already burnt the offender to ashes by now.

"Oh?!" Olivia and Edward were no longer sad or bewildered. Their faces started gathering a lot of interest after Erin's words.

A glint shimmered on Alice's eyes. She's never seen a dragon before! Even though it was still a baby, she knew it would eventually grow up into a full-fledged dragon.

"Brother Erin, is it yours? Are you a Dragon Tamer?!" Edward's eyes shifted between the hatchling and Erin. The joy was evident on his face. Maybe Erin would let him ride the dragon after it grows up!

Olivia also looked excited! Her tears were no longer visible. The status of a Dragon Tamer was extremely high. Dragons were at the peak when compared to every other creature in the known universe. Their abilities were incredibly special. Out of a few hundred billion people, maybe one person could be a Dragon Tamer. Even then, this was merely potential, not a guaranteed chance!

"Alright now." Ron motioned the two children to calm down. "Erin, are you okay? Do you feel any pain or discomfort?" His voice carried concern. He was a lot more relaxed now that Erin's aura was fully under control again.

"I thought you were already awakened." Ron sighed. He sensed a similar aura before and assumed Erin was merely being low-key. He didn't think that Erin would suddenly awaken inside of a restaurant! It must have been quite powerful too if it knocked him out.

Relevant knowledge flowed into Erin's mind. To his pleasant surprise, he somehow understood Ron's meaning. An awakened person is someone who has unlocked their body's innate potential. Doing so would help them level up far faster than their peers!

The awakening is closely linked to one's potential profession. Normally, the type of awakening varies. It relates to the type of profession that a person has the most affinity with.

Awakening a stronger physique usually led to one becoming a better knight. Awakening either pure mana or a variant of it would normally mark someone's future success as a Mage. In Erin's case, upon awakening, a Tamer would naturally summon a fated creature.

"My apologies for the misunderstanding." Erin knew that Ron meant well.

"It seems I've awakened my talents as a Tamer."

Erin thought back to Darwin's words earlier.

'...You're going to be a G*d D*amn Tamer or I will f*cking devastate your balls and end all of your future generations!! F*ck secondary profession. You have a f*cking talent for Tamer."

"..."

Erin's face twitched. He silently looked at Edward and Olivia.

There was a hint of pity in the depths of his eyes.

'I hope neither of them ever inherits their father's language.'

The two children didn't even realize they were being pitied by Erin.

Ron noticed that someone was approaching their room.

The shadow werewolf's barrier was inside of the room. So the people outside did not notice it at all. Ron had his shadow werewolf remove the barrier since Erin's aura has fully stabilized.

Knocks rang on the door and the waiter from earlier politely entered.

"Greetings, honored guests. I hope that none of you are too stricken." The waiter looked around and noticed the dried tears on the children's eyes. He assumed that they were panicking just like everyone else in the world. The waiter didn't notice the hatchling because it was still hiding in Erin's shirt.

"Fortunately, our restaurant was one of the first to receive the great news! The disaster has completely disappeared! Please rest-assured. I will be informing the other guests now." The waiter said this before promptly leaving for the next room.

"Disaster?"

Confusion was in everyone's eyes.

The shadow werewolf's barrier was now gone. All their communicative devices started to connect back to the intergalactic network.

Because of the immense traffic, the network's response was rather slow. This is extremely rare with how capable the network normally was. It was mainly because many of the network's devices on the planet have damage. All due to the netherstorm's earlier energy drain.

Notification messages popped up on Ron's, Alfred's, and Alice's communication devices!

Alice was the first to open her device. She looked down at the countless unread messages. Most were from her parents, friends, and classmates. She opened her father's messages first.

[I just arrived back on the planet. Where are you?]

[I don't sense your device at all. Did you escape the planet already? That's good!]

[The situation is pushing the worst possible scenario. I've used all the planet's emergency energy to temporarily open all the dimensional gates. The netherstorm is draining this energy too fast!]

[I've forced your mother to leave the planet without me. Meet her as soon as you can.]

[An accident happened and the passageways have lost stability. I hope this message gets sent out. If this is my last message, remember that I've always loved you and your mother. Don't feel sad about my death. Although I couldn't save everyone, at least a quarter of the planet has managed to escape. This is my fate as this planet's Guardian.]

Alice's face contorted between different emotions. She read through her father's messages slowly.

[..The netherstorm disappeared. All the dimensional gates are now functioning again. There is still some chaos, but far more confusion. Don't return yet, I am unsure if there are any lingering dangers.]

Similar messages popped up on Ron's and Alfred's devices. Ron received messages from acquaintances. Alfred received many messages from his fellow clan elders. It seems Darwin was still asleep after fainting. Otherwise, the children's devices would have many notifications too.

Ron, Alfred, and Alice were fairly knowledgeable. A netherstorm would steadily steal energy from its surroundings. In such an event, awakening would be very rare. So everyone didn't even connect Erin's awakening to the netherstorm.

They assumed that Erin's immense appetite for spirit food was the sole catalyst.

Not even in their wildest imaginations could discover the real truth!

They would not believe that the netherstorm was actually summoned. Nothing could explain how a tiny dragon hatchling brought such an catastrophic event!

'Perhaps Erin's unconscious state during his awakening was due to the netherstorm?'

Similar thoughts lingered in both Ron and Alfred.

If the netherstorm was draining the planet's energy, then it probably took a heavy toll on Erin's body.

During an awakening, a person's body is like a beacon of energy. This is why Ron asked if Erin felt any pain or discomfort earlier. An incomplete awakening would be very damaging on a person!

For a netherstorm, other than mass energy absorption and destruction, anything was possible! This is their first time ever hearing of a netherstorm forming around a planet though!

To them, it felt like a giant iceberg somehow made its way to the middle of a barren desert. That's how bizarre the event was!

Since it was gone now, everything was fine.

Outside the restaurant, peace was barely maintained. There were still people exiting the planet in case the netherstorm returned. Authority figures were inspecting many areas. They were searching for any lingering damage that could create instability.

Several minutes passed and many messages were exchanged. During this, Alice re-assured her father that she was safe.

"Alright. It seems the dimensional passageways are stable again. Let's return to the auction house." Alfred said to the group.

The Clover Clan was a special customer to have its own dimensional gate in this restaurant. When they leave, the bill for the food would simply be charged to the Clover Clans' account. Alfred would pay by compensating the difference to the clan later. He could already feel the pain in his bank account.

The group returned to the auction house without problems. Alfred even triple-checked the gate before they entered.

Although the atmosphere felt chaotic, many auction guards were maintaining order. There were no difficulties and the group went to floor 350.

After sitting down, Alfred had some staff bring in tea and beverages.

The group sipped on their drinks while checking the intergalactic news.

Erin checked on the tiny dragon hatchling lying inside his clothes. He saw that it was fast asleep. Edward and Olivia wanted to see the hatchling but were kindly denied because Erin didn't want to wake it up.

Time continued to pass.

After another hour, a dimensional portal formed. Alfred's Dimensional Rhinoceros, little Rhin, had finally returned.

The thing that concerned Erin the most was transporting all the treasures.

He picked treasures without reading the descriptions. Thus, Erin wasn't sure if the dimensional treasures he selected would have enough space. From the list of 3,500 treasures, there were over 300 dimensional storage treasures. Erin prioritized other treasures and had only selected 53 dimensional treasures.

Fortunately, his worries about not having enough space was for naught.

The biggest of the treasures was a ring that had the spatial dimensions of an ordinary planet! Whereas, the smallest was a bracelet. It had the spatial dimensions of a standard continent.

These exceeded top-grade dimensional treasures! Almost all the universe's population didn't have access to treasures of this quality. Such treasures were almost always in the core treasuries of powerful factions.

Alfred wasn't bothered by this. His own spatial treasure had a size that could hold a mega-planet! It was an artifact that he acquired by pure luck on a dangerous exploration.

Erin equipped the ring with the largest dimensional space. Alfred's beast then transferred all the treasures over.

Erin gave Alfred the Ancient Cyber Credits in response. It was only the amount that he had displayed earlier. Erin secretly had 90% of his credits remaining. Alfred was completely unaware of this.

Satisfied that the trade was smooth, Alfred also gave Erin a special token. This token's material was dimensional platinum! It also had a Clover symbol engraved on it.

This special token was only given to benefactors of the Clover Clan! It meant the wielder had contributed significantly to the Clover Clan. Even if the wielder was not part of the clan themselves.

Erin gladly accepted this token. He then glanced at the children and remembered their necklaces earlier.

"How much space do your necklaces hold?" Erin casually asked Edward and Olivia.

"Our necklaces? Mine can hold three large starships." Olivia answered proudly.

"..Mine can only hold two." Edward looked a little defeated.

"Oh, how about you?" Erin nodded and then turned his head over. He was staring straight at Alice.

"..Me? Mine can hold ten large starships." Alice's answered. Olivia heard this and made the same defeated look Edward had.

Erin looked through his dimensional treasures. He took out three things: two bracelets and a ring.

He handed the bracelets to the two children and the ring to Alice. He didn't bother with Alfred or Ron since he knew they were quite powerful. They probably had treasures far better than the ones he was handing out.

"Okay. You three can use these instead." Erin said.

The two bracelets had the storage space of a continent while the ring could hold two continents!

Erin wasn't familiar with this new universe. He wanted to maintain the relationships that he already established. Real friendships were very important to him. He only gave them gifts because he knew they weren't being fake.

Besides, he noticed the important things earlier. Although they were envious, none of them were greedy for his wealth! This touched Erin a lot. Had he been unlucky and met ill-natured people, Erin would probably be robbed blind by now!