25 Full Recovery.

(Work sucks ass, though I did buy a PS5 and Elden Ring so it's good for something)

The morning after the small get-together Mark had, Rias opened her eyes with no headache to speak of. She did pass out drunk however she had no hangover. She was almost confused about that, but Grimnar who she was sleeping on rolled on top of her.

The big three-headed dog had enjoyed his stolen beers well and had passed out as well. Rias tried to squeeze out, but Grimnar was ungodly heavy. Though, Rias somehow, lifted him off her and set him on the ground.

Grimnar opened his eyes on all his heads when he felt that. He shot a glare at Rias for waking him up before he jumped up on the couch where Mark was. When Rias realized what she did she was confused.

'Did I just do that?'

Grimnar weighed way more than he looked as he was ungodly dense. Yet she had managed to lift him no issue off herself. Mark spoke up from the couch making her look over at him.

"I can see you are confused about how you lifted him off you. Remember that pomegranate I gave you? Well, that was pure Life Energy, and then mixed in with the several beers of Necter you drank all that gave you quite the upgrade.

Not just in Demonic Power, but also in your physical abilities."

Runeas who was resting her head on Mark's lap yawned waking up.

"In simple terms, you got an upgrade."

Rias got off the ground and sat down on the couch. She first looked around for Ares, Athena, and Hestia, but found no trace of them.

"No wonder I felt a little weird after you gave me that pomegranate. Though, I did not expect it to be this exaggerated?"

Runeas had a simple explanation for that.

"Let's look at the facts, you are a pure-blooded Devil with two Bloodline abilities, and from the look of it, you have a partial grasp of both. Those treasures simply reacted to that and your considerable talent. Which to be honest you are not making use of fully."

Runeas knew that Rias trained only for an hour or two a day which was honestly more than most Devils, but she could do better. She had the talent to reach the level of her brother Sirzechs if she just dedicated herself, but she was young.

She had her hobbies and not everyone was a maniac about training like Mark, or forced to fight in a war like Runeas. As for Rias when she heard that she felt that she should put in more time to training.

"I understand."

Mark sighed as he rubbed the back of Grimnar's neck.

"I noticed how you are very nervous yesterday. How did it feel to be around gods?"

Rias shivered.

"I felt like I did not belong among any of you. Ancestor Runeas is a First Generation Devil, you just evolved into a true Dragon, and those were gods while I am just a school girl. I felt unworthy to be in the same room as any of you."

Mark was never one to hold back his words.

"You were not. But, what matters is what you do to make up to be worthy. You need to find a goal that will drive you to pursue power. My goal is to become a Heavenly Dragon that surpasses Ddraig and Albion. What is your goal?"

Rias thought about it as she did not have a goal. She was only 16 and for a Devil that was nothing. She wanted to enjoy her youth for a while like a regular human, but Mark had a point. She needed a goal for her long life to pursue.

One that would keep driving her to higher levels. She felt like she just understood something that she had been either not seeing or ignoring. She got up and gave Runeas, Mark, and Grimnar a big hug.

"Thank you for your wisdom. The two of you, but I should get back to Japan. I will be late for school."

Runeas smiled.

"You have been out cold for several hours. I think you missed a large part of the day already."

Rias looked at the big clock on the wall and saw it was already 4 AM in the middle of the night meaning it was 5 PM in Japan. She realized that she had skipped school to get drunk.

"I MISSED A DAY!"

Mark nodded.

"One day is not going to kill you and you drank some good treasure. When else will you get that chance? I think that was a very good reason to skip."

Runeas had to agree.

"I mean school isn't beneficial to you so don't mind the small things."

Rias sighed as she had forgotten the ages of Mark and Runeas. Mark himself was 58 while Runeas was several millennia old. They would not see the point in school when they both did not seem to care about that.

"I mean, your not wrong, but I like school."

Mark shrugged.

"If you find it fun keep doing it. No one is telling you to not go, but I would not do it myself."

Runeas also shook her head.

"I am good."

Rias only went to school as she loved Japanese culture. Mark personally saw it as a very stuck-up one which is why he left Japan in the first place. He was not about to be bowing to random people only those he respected and stronger than him deserved that respect.

Rias got up and looked for her shoes which she had taken off when she got drunk. When she found them she dismissed herself.

"I better go back to Japan before my friends worry about me."

Mark nodded as he popped open the last beer he had saved.

"Alright, take care."

Runeas took the beer from his hands and took a sip before she gave it back to him.

"Best wishes."

Rias sighed as she teleported away. She liked both of them, but at the same time, it reminded her of how much younger she was than either of them. But their words did stick with her, being in the same room as several strong beings did that for her.

She did not want to be an outlier, she wanted to be an equal among them. She remembered the words that Runeas told her that she was wasting her talent. Well, not any longer.

Then she was gone, Mark drank the rest of the beer and tossed the bottle in the garbage. Runeas got her head off his lap as Mark got up and stretched out his body a bit. His joints all cracked while his muscles bulged a bit. His blood surged strongly through his body and his nerves were firing like lightning.

His mana flashed through his body causing him to radiate a powerful aura for a few seconds. And more importantly, the energy of the Nectar in the beers along with the Life Energy he had gathered all surged through him.

\He then restrained that power and exhaled pure red smoke.

"I have recovered."

[While you got most of the benefit, I also feel my soul healing. Guess making some divine friends pays off.]

Mark nodded.

"Yeah, well those were some of the calmer Greek gods, though Athena is a little iffy."

[The medusa story?]

"The medusa story."

That was a story where Poseidon raped Medusa who was a priestess of Athena in her temple. As punishment Athena turned Medusa into a monster, so one more reason why Mark was still not very pleased with most Greek gods.

Mark turned to Runeas who from the look of it had also gotten up with him.

"What is on the planner today?"

Mark thought about it as he was back to his full strength and Ddraig's soul had stabilized. Meaning he could safely get back to training which he still had to continue. He had a few more items he would use to gain even more power than before.

'I still have that egg right?'

Mark pulled out the huge egg from his second spatial ring that had been paid to him by Poseidon. When Runeas saw the egg she was surprised as Dragon Eggs are uncommon.

"I think that is a very pure-blooded egg."

[You're right. I don't know much about Water Dragons but for Red Dragons the size of the egg matters. I had no parents and was birthed by mana so I would not know.]

Mark held the egg carefully with both hands as he thought about how to hatch it. However, just as he was about to place it in his bathtub, the egg began to draw in his mana like crazy. Mark allowed this as the blue and black egg started to take on a reddish-purple shade.

After a few minutes of this going on, the egg stopped drawing out his mana and began to shake. Mark set it down on the floor and was about to crack open the shell a little, but was stopped by Ddraig.

[Don't help her. This is her first trial as a dragon, if she cannot get out of the egg she forfeits her right to live. That is dragon law.]

Mark nodded and only watched as the little dragon inside pushed against the shell. After several hard shakes, big cracks spread on the egg. Mark leaned over the egg as a large piece fell off to reveal a small blue-slitted eye.

"Welcome to the world little one."

The dragon pushed up and removed the top of the eggshell with a hard shove. As the egg was very large the little dragon inside was already as big as a large dog. They all watched as the dragon crawled out of the egg before she began to eat it.

This was her first meal after coming into the world which was also a sign she had passed her first hurdle. Mark saw how her body was covered in mostly dark blue scales while a few black scales stretched her and there.

[I see, this is a hybrid Mark. She is part Black and Blue Dragon. This is why she was taking longer to hatch, she just needed more time and a powerful source of Dragon Mana.]

Runeas kneeled looking at the small dragon.

"She is truly beautiful, what are you going to name her?"

When the dragon finished eating her eggshell she walked up to Mark and began to climb his leg. Mark watched her climb until she crawled up to his face. She rubbed her face against his making him smile. He held her in both of his hands on her back like a puppy.

Mark ran his hand down her snout as he thought of a name.

"Celestine."

Mark signed a contract much like the one he signed with Grimnar with his new Dragon. The moment the contract was complete Mark felt the connection to his soul form, but no big evolution occurred.

[What did you expect, you caused the evolution while she was in the egg.]

Mark pulled out one of the many vials of purified Sea Essense which caused the dragon to become excited. He opened the vial and poured it into her open mouth which caused her to instantly fall asleep after.

He kept her in his arms as she slept for a little while. Grimnar walked over and sniffed her as he felt his position challenged. He would have to show her that he was the senior among the servants of their master.

Mark laughed as he looked at the three-headed dragon dog.

"I am not replacing you bud. Here, look after her like a good senior. It is time for me to get back to my training."

Grimnar reached a paw up to his center head like a salute. Mark placed the dragon on the back of the dog before he looked at Runeas.

"I will be busy again now that I have stabilized."

Runeas nodded.

"You know what, it is time for me to train as well again. That old hag has one point if you keep training all day and I just sit around what does that make me?"

Mark instantly answered.

"Lazy?"

Runeas kicked his leg hard.

"Yes, now come on, you train in your area and I will be in my area."

Mark shrugged and along with her entered back into his Time Formation Bounded Field. It was time for him to get back to work and Runeas finally got motivated to train once more. What was the world coming to?

(Celestine Image)