The wooden wolves begin to break apart and fuse into a much larger creature, I swallow loudly, then use inspect

'LvL 20 Alpha Timberwolf' 200HP
This large monster is a last desperate attempt by a timberwolf pack to defeat an enemy that they can't fight as a group, it's much stronger than a regular Timberwolf and much harder to destroy, but it lacks the ability to surround prey or use tactics, vulnerable to coordinated fighters in groups.

Skills:
Crushing bite: it can crush a wooden log in its maw, and bones too.
Poisonous fangs: it severely poisons targets who are bitten.
Large Splinterclaws: getting clawed by this can leave nasty splinters inside your flesh, which are hard to remove and barbed.
Stomping dash: this creature weights half a ton, just by running you over it can crush you, beware of charges!

Weaknesses and resistances: Weakness to fire, resistance to bludgeoning damage, resistance to slashing damage, resistance to piercing damage, resistance to every other elemental damage.'

While I was inspecting, it was glaring at me, mom to my side, preparing her sword with fire again, but there was no clearing here, if I attacked with a large fire spell, the forest would start to burn, I decided to use a less dangerous spell, but I had to get really close so I wouldn't miss most of it

'Scorching ray' I used it triple casting.

MP:-60 (65/125)

Alpha Timberwolf has taken 18 damage 182/200
Alpha Timberwolf has taken 18 damage 164/200
Alpha Timberwolf has taken 18 damage 146/200
Missed!
Missed!
Alpha Timberwolf has taken 18 damage 128/200
Alpha Timberwolf has taken 18 damage 110/200
Alpha Timberwolf has taken 18 damage 92/200
Alpha Timberwolf has taken 18 damage
74/200

The Timberwolf was shot three times per spell, and three spells, each dealing 50% more damage, it did pretty good damage even if I missed a few of the rays, they just went up into the air or clipped a tree branch.

Mom was right about to stab it, I had to get close to be able to hit it so many times while triple casting, but after it had taken all those spells, it surprised me by quickly pouncing on me, I managed to jump back but it grabbed me in its maw before I had time to dodge once again and bit into me, I had expected it to charge at me, or pounce on me, sure, but grabbing me and shaking me like a chew toy...

I clawed at it but my claws didn't do much, I felt it starting to squeeze my sensitive tail base really hard while shaking me side to side harshly, if I didn't do something soon, I may end up with a fang stabbing me in my no-no area, which I wasn't gonna let happen.

Onyx has taken 15 damage! 129/144
Onyx has taken 18 damage! 111/144

I winced at first, then yelped at the pain, seems I was not immune to being shaken around harshly, and the teeth were starting to sink into my scales, I managed to move just a bit from the shaking, keeping my privates from being harshly mauled by wooden fangs, and made it grab onto my hind leg instead, which didn't have any really vulnerable holes a fang could find its way into, instead having the Alpha Timberwolf bite the thick scaled legs was a much preferable outcome, I was stabbing my claws on its plant tongue, to try to not be shaken around but the pressure on my legs was doing some damage.

Onyx has taken 16 damage! 95/144

Squirming and yelling in pain as my legs start to bleed, the pressure digging holes in my scales, muscle and even reaching the bone as the Timberwolf's wooden fangs regrow even after completely breaking off trying to hurt me more.

I decide to use triple firebolts from inside its maw, directly into the back of it's throat to try and get it to spit me out.

Alpha Timberwolf takes 15 damage 59/200
Alpha Timberwolf takes 15 damage 44/200
Alpha Timberwolf has taken 15 damage 29/200

Mom delivered the killing blow, cutting the head off at the base and stabbing the body, making both parts set on fire.

Critical hit! Alpha Timberwolf takes 25 damage. 4/200
Critical hit! Alpha Timberwolf takes 4 damage and it's dead.

I shakily step out before the head starts to burn completely, I didn't want burns on top of my wounds.
I get away from the fire, letting the dead monster burn to make sure it won't regenerate.

Alpha Timberwolf has been slain, your party earns 5800 EXP! Onyx has reached level 21(463/4599) Sylf has reached level 22(5241/5517)

'W-we did it!' I said weakly until the level up kicked in and my body healed fully, the pain gone and a sigh of relief escaping me.

'Good job son! But be more mindful of getting caught next time please!' Mom said in a scolding tone while approaching me and hugging me tightly.

'We defeated the timber wolves tormenting the Everfree, and most importantly, we made this city a safer place, while also leveling up to level 20! I feel so much stronger now!'

Suddenly I felt like most of those spells that I knew, but couldn't use before, for some reason suddenly became unlocked for me. I knew I could now I also had a lot more options in my HUD now, I had... Points to allocate? And a lot of other things, new tier available?! That explains the sensation... Now I can actually... Use tier five spells?!

I also had a few more perks the one that seems the more important reads.

Before I could start to check and explore my new perks or anything, something popped in mine and mom's HUD

'Warning: level 20 reached, next level of Dungeon will start in 24 hours from now, Adept level dungeon, prepare yourself, you will not be able to exit the Dungeon until the area boss is slain.'

I felt my knees grow wobbly, my eyes unfocused and by excited smile morph into a worried frown, I looked up at mom, dreading her anger at having to risk her life for me again, but she was just looking worried, I didn't want to see her suffer for me, this time I will protect her better.

It was happening again.

'Sylf... This is my fault, my responsibility to bear, you don't deserve to suffer this again, do you want to leave my group? Disband our party until the dungeon is done? I will understand perfectly.' I said, simple and kindly to her. I didn't want to risk her life, but I knew I would probably not come back if I went by myself, if I fought by myself, at my age... I didn't have much of a chance, I was never the best fighter, I'm... A bit of a coward if I was honest with myself.

'No, not until you are old enough and strong enough to defend yourself, right now, even that Timberwolf almost ate you, had I not saved you, you would have gotten seriously hurt, I saw how it was squeezing your tail and what part of it, no way I'll let you go alone to die painfully, and you don't have any other ally than me for now son, once we do maybe... Maybe I'd let them go with you, but I would prefer if we all went together.' I felt immense relief at her words, honestly, if she decided she has had enough and left, I would have probably had no idea how to prepare, but as a group we had a chance.

'Then we most prepare mom, should we try to recruit Kari? But her cub has to have a home and someone to take care of first, even then I feel bad asking someone's else's mother to risk her life for us... Maybe we first try to find substitute parents?'

She looked very strong, but the risk of death was too great, yet no one else of our friends would be a good choice for helping us, our best bet was gearing up as much as we could, so we did that, but first we had a few ponies to talk to, I could see the farm from here, and my senses told me there were no more Timberwolves around, they had been wiped out of the western Everfree corner.

'Mom follow me, let's go talk to the Apples, maybe they'll want to think about our deal, specially after we explain the plight of Kari and Wishpaw.' I nodded and just jumped on the river, swimming across the strong current, Sylf swam as well. But it took her a lot more effort to cross and she had to swim for a lot longer to push past the current.

Once on the other side we were near Sweet Apple Acres, the river water had somewhat shook me out of my terrified stupor, I needed to get things done fast if I wanted to be ready for this Dungeon.

We reequipped our gear, saddlebags, we packed up the sword again to make it seem we still had everything with us, it would be inconsistent to have so much gear when we met them first and then suddenly have all of it disappear.

Knocking on the door thee times again, we heard a voice and not long after we saw the Apple Family approach the door, they smiled when they saw it was us, I waved and mom gave them a small bow.

"Hello everypony, we bring news! You see, we have managed to deal with the beasts that were stalking the edge of the forest, they will not get up again, but there may be more Timberwolves deep into the Everfree, we didn't venture very far, but rest assured we found the ones staying near the farm, they were death with." I let Sylf announce, while I nodded, but no smile was able to show on my face, I was still terrified, but I kept my face neutral.

"Oh that's great you two! We haven't been able to feel safe in our far for months now, always felt those green eyes looking at me while I picked apples, I feared they may just cross when I wasn't seen and ambush me in the fields, I gotta say, we as a family owe you a big one fer this!" Pear said with conviction and the whole family there nodded, smiling at us.

"Well... Now that you mention it, we may need you to do us a big favor, and help us foalsit somecreature... You'll probably freak out." They stared at me, confused, but unsure how to answer for a minute.

"And who is this critter we have to babysit for? Would ya just say it? We ain't no strangers to foals, we just need some specifics." Granny Smith wanted me to get to the point.

"It's... A manticore cub, the little one's name is Wishpaw, and she is very small, me and mom managed to save him and his mom from a huge pack of timberwolves, we pretty much exterminated the timberwolves, but the cub is small and vulnerable, I told the mother, her name is Kari, that maybe... We could come to a sort of deal, if she was to watch over your farm and protect you from any monsters, maybe you could help take care of the cub and keep the little one protected... But of course this is a lot to ask."

"A... Manticore?! You want us to have a manticore in our farm? Are you outta yer mind colt?! Manticores are more dangerous than Timberwolves! Absolutely not, sorry but that won't work, how can you even know the Manticore even wants this?" Granny Smith asked, furious and confused, it's like I expected, she was probably not gonna accept this, but I had to try... We may need this new ally, and if we could get the Apple family some more protection at the same time... It was not a bad deal.

"I'll be honest... I came up with the idea, you see, there is a spell that allows us to talk to animals, it's sort of not rare to find, but most ponies don't care to learn it, I talked with this manticore because we need her to help us with some dangerous mission, she is very strong and would give us an edge in it.
But because she has to take care of her cub, she can't help us, we need someone to look after the cub for a day or so, but who else would?"

"We never have seen a manticore before, but they being tame seems like a bit of a stretch, you know, I'm sorry but we will have to say no, I don't wanna risk my family having a wild Everfree monster here in our farm, and its final!"
Welp... I guess we are out of luck, we have no way of recruiting Kari... Damn, I shouldn't have trusted this ponies with my magic.

"Fine... But if you ever need us, don't count on our help, you have rejected to help us in our moment of need, I will not forget this, ponies." I sneered at then and turned around, walking out with Sylf next to me, the Apples were looking a me with concern, I had given them a look that promised nothing but suffering, even in my young and child like face, it was not mistaken for any other emotion than hate.

"W-WAIT! Onyx, please I'll do it!" Pear screamed as we were leaving the farm, Granny glared at her, but she didn't care, her husband joined by her side, and they approached us, running.

"I don't care what Granny says, I can tell this means the world to you, and you did as you had said and slain the Timberwolves, I can't see the eyes anymore and I can't smell them either, I've been near that area of the farm earlier today and I saw you and Sylf fighting them... I just can't let granny do this to you... And I really don't want you to hate us." She said with sincerity, I could tell she was not happy with her mother in law, my frown softened.

"Ah can't agree with my mom either, as much as I love her, she's a tad bit overprotective at times, ah apologise, she's as stubborn as a mule an' she doesn't see the bigger picture, she told us... That dragons live forever, compared to a pony, and even if ah didn't want to do this favour to you, would ah want mah family, mah descendants to have a mage dragon as an enemy forever? Heck naw! Ah want us to be friends, ah want our foals to smile and play together, I'll do this favor for you, but please don't hate us?" His words were filled with worry, he meant what he said, he clearly wasn't happy with my idea either but he didn't want me to become their enemy, I suppose if both of them look over the cub, at least for a few days, we could finish the dungeon and exit alive, my anger vanished completely when he said the words that came from his heart.

"I also have to apologize, you all are good, honest ponies, but this is a matter of life or death for me, and my beloved mother, you understand? I wouldn't be asking this of you if it was inconsequential, without Kari, we have a very high chance of dying horribly, and I really really don't want that... I really like being alive, but we can't escape this... It's hard to explain, and you'll have to take my word for it, but we will not be able to escape this confrontation, we just need more help to fight and survive." I said softly so only the two of them and mom could hear, my voice was shaky and I almost break down crying as I explained our situation, tears running down my snout and neck as I looked at them.

"Colt... You really mean that... Don't you? I can see it in your eyes, you are... really really scared, I've never seen somepony look so scared yet remain remotely calm." Bright Macintosh approached me and hugged me tightly, Pear joined in, then mom as well, I could help but start crying, sobbing and hugging the three of them as I let all my stress, terror and sadness at my situation out while holding them, I could hear mom and the others cry too, It was in a way... Very cathartic.

After all of this, I calmed down slowly and just cried for about half an hour, then I slowly blinked my eyes clear, looked up and smiled faintly at the ponies and Sylf, who had reassuring smiles of their own.

"I... Really needed that, thank you all, I'm so sorry for having gotten so angry at your family, Pear, Bright, even Granny didn't deserve my anger, I'm just... really desperate and trying to get any advantages I can get to survive."

"We understand, little one, you're going through something nopony your age should be facing, and you want more help to be able to make it, we want you to live too, let's go meet this miss Kari and her cub, shall we?" Bright nodded at Pear's words.

"Yeah we are ready colt, we could bring some toys from the foals but we should meet with them first and bring them here, I bet the towns ponies are gonna lose their minds!" I giggled a bit at that, the ponies of Ponyville really weren't very brave it seems.

Bright walked back to his mother, Smith Apple, and asked her to look over little Big and Applejack, she nodded

After our talk, we all headed towards the Everfree's edge, walking across the town once again, the ponies were definitively not happy to see us again, this time they just walked away instead of running in fear, for some reason us being with Pear and Bright made them calmer, if slightly put off by our presence, they did not dare to make eye contact however, choosing to look away when either me or mom looked at them in the eyes.

The walk was somewhat the same as from the train station to the Apple family farm, maybe slightly longer, but we got there
in about half an hour of relaxed walk, I stopped our group and approached the two ponies.

"Okay so, I will need to cast a spell on you to understand Kari, but you cannot understand the cub yet, he is very very little and probably doesn't know how to talk yet, even in manticore, understood? are you okay with me casting this spell? the effects will wear off by tomorrow, it allows you to talk to any animal unless its really really young." I explained to the ponies, they didn't show any signs of being worried about my spell, which was a relief.

"Sure sugarcube, we are ready, use your spell when ready, right honey?" Pear asked and her stallion nodded simply, I casted the spell twice, thankfully it didn't use any mana.

"I don't feel any different... but lets try it out, where is this Kari manticore?" I gestured with my paw for everyone to follow me, and I walked across the bridge, guiding us into the Everfree itself, and right after exiting the bridge, we were greeted by a very large feline, who I recognized right away, I ran to her and started to nuzzle her fluffy chest, she returned the nuzzles and licked the top of my head again like lions did with their cubs, the little cub also approached me and began nuzzling me, making happy little noises that made my heart want to melt from the cuteness.

The ponies were not immune to this cuteness either. "Awwwwww! they're so cute together! look at how adorable the cub is! I want to protect him and pet him!" I smiled at her, turning back and facing the ponies, they approached slowly, while i gently caressed the two manticores reassuring them.

"Greetings ponies, Onyx has spoken highly of you, but its nice to see that he being truthful, you have come all the way here, outside of your safe territory to talk to me, and I respect that." Kari said in a serious tone, but then relaxed.

"So i assume you will help protect my little Wishpaw from the dangers of the forest, right? In exchange I will protect those you hold dear and your territory too." I interrupted, I wanted to ask Kari something important.

"Sorry but I really need to ask something of you Kari... Something really really hard to ask." She looked at me with concern and a bit of suspicion, which was really, deserved.

"Tomorrow at this hour, I will have to fight for my life in an unknown place, much more deadly than this forest, I will have my mom with me, and we will fight together, but... If we had another companion that would help us fight and survive, we will have... A better possibility to win, and winning is the only way I can escape from that place, it's the only way to survive. What I'm asking you is to become my companion and help me fight for my life, we all will protect eachother and we will make sure everyone comes back safe, but without you, our chances are... Not very good." I explained honestly, lowering my head and not dating to look her in the eyes, she was thinking for a minute after I explained.

"You knew of this, didn't you ponies?" They nod to her, she looks thoughtful and then continues.

"You will look after Wishpaw, right ponies? Will you feed him? Will you clean him and protect him from danger?" Kari asked, in a very serious tone.

"Yes we will ma'am, ah promise, he will be raised like part of mah family, we have two cubs of our own, so he will even have siblings to play with." Answered Bright, to which Pear agreed.

"I know things will work out okay, but if something happens to you, we will not abandon your cub, we would never, as a mother myself, I promise to take well care of your foal... Or cub in this case." This seemed to satisfy the manticore, who nodded, smiling slightly.

"I will trust you, I owe my cub's life to Onyx and Sylf, and I will not let them go through this alone and risk death, I will risk my life like they risked theirs to help us, so yes Onyx, you are lucky you found this ponies, because as much as I am indebted to you, I can't risk my cub in such a dangerous fight." I felt immense relief, and I agreed fully with her on this.

"I know, I would not even have asked if I was not able to help look after your son, you have all the right in the world to refuse to help, yet you are risking your life for me, I will repay you for this... I promise!" I will need to keep this promise, it's the least I could do for her.

"All I ask is to return alive, I have no real need for more than that."

Mother answered this time before I could. "My son... He is going to protect us, and we will protect him, I will protect you, and you will protect me, that is how we will survive, no one is priority, we have to cover eachother's weaknesses with our strength." I slowly nodded, this was what I should have said before.

The ponies slowly approached the manticore more until they were in touching distance, then sat down next to me, each one to one side, then slowly starting petting Kari's fluffy chest, I did the same, while Wishpaw was shyly hiding behind his mom, peeking around and looking at the ponies, then approaching slowly, and sniffing them, a few minutes of this made him confident enough to get closer still and nuzzle each of them on their hooves, it seems they had formed a bond!

"This ponies are very good... They have proven to me that there is kindness and love for others not of their kind in their hearths, they are doing their best, I couldn't be more glad to have met them!" I gently held them both in a hug, pulling them together as well and nuzzling between both their necks, my grip was a bit strong it seems, but they returned the hug, both putting a hoof over each of my shoulders.

"Now I think it's time for us to depart, I will leave Wishpaw in your care, I will feed him and then you can take him to your territory, once we are back, safely we will visit you, and I'll check on my cub, he still needs his milk, so please feed him once a day, or twice." Kari gently pulled her cub close and pushed towards her mammaries, the cub approached and started looking, quickly finding a nipple and starting to drink, while his paws kneaded on his mother's teats.

While this happened I stared with curiosity, wondering what it would taste like... But I of course was not going to do something so innapropiate, I was not even a mamma.

"Feeling hungry, little Onyx? You... Could try some if you want, just don't bite." I shook my head, this was totally silly and wrong, I shouldn't be staring even, I guess I was transfixed, and unused to see something like this.

"No no, sorry I just feel... In awe of such a tender and sweet moment, acts like this make me think that life is wonderful and deserves to be protected at all costs." There was silence after that, as we all laid down and relaxed for a while the tiny manticore fed, after he was satisfied he stopped and let out a little burp.

"It's time to go with the ponies, my precious... They will be with you for a little while, I promise it will be safe..." Kari said softly to her cub, who seemed a bit confused, but he approached the ponies, obeying his mother and, as he had already lost his fear of them, he was able to interact with them more, including allowing them to pick him up and even allowing them to carry him around, he was very sleepy after drinking his mother's milk, so he quickly fell asleep on Pear's back.

"Good, he is asleep like he always does after eating, take advantage of that and carry him to your nest, he will be fine as long as he has someone to stay with and to care for him, he also needs someone to lay next to when sleeping, like he is right now, thank you ponies, I will come back to him soon and you won't have to worry, but if I don't, remember, he needs to eat meat to survive, like all manticores, fish or other animals work too."

After she finished explaining, we said our goodbyes and let the ponies go back to their farm, while we stayed in the forest, and started to set up camp for the day after finding a clearing that had good space, we had brought tents and even sleeping bags, pots and pans, even ingredients to cook food, some vegetables and even butter.

We had enough provisions to last us a week or even two if stretched, and I had lots of old meat and even vegetables stored in my inventory, wild animal meats, foraged animals from the rivers, and even some meat left from my distant vacation to the east coast, tho only one or two animals left from that, even after years and years it was fully fresh, fresher than meat from Canterlot's market.

It took about half an hour to set everything up, all the camping trips I had gone to with my friends helped me really know how to build a tent, even a few tents were no issue, we had one large tent instead, that was long enough to fit all of us inside, despite how large my two companions were.

We started to gather firewood, getting dry branches and dead grass, then simply dug two holes in the ground with my trusty garden shovel I kept around, it was useful for me since it's smaller size made it easier for me to use without having to balance it.

Once the holes were dug I made a small hole connecting both of them, for air to flow.
I added the dry grass and branches to one of them, and made a flame on my palm, then dropped it on the dry grass, setting the pile on fire, the fire grew naturally from that point, then I placed the pot over the hole with the fire, air was able to enter from the other hole next to it and flow into the flames, I placed a knob of butter in the pot, then added the various meats I had stored and prepared, letting them sizzle and develop a good crust, then added veggies cut into chunks and added salt and pepper, stirring so the meat and veggies all mixed together.

What remained was the add tomato sauce and water, then I covered the pot and let it cook while I went to lay down and relax for a while, I had two females next to me, a canine and a feline, both of them much bigger than me and just relaxing and probably asleep, it was late evening after all.

Kari the manticore has joined your party!

While they slept, and the food cooked, I took my time to look over my inventory, stats and information, the bestiary was more complete now with the new creatures I scanned, Manticore, Timberwolf and alpha Timberwolf were now added, but what interested me more was my own status window and attributes, I had gained a few new perks, and if I checked my list of known spells I could see now I had access to a few more!

I could access now the list of spells I had learned from the first dungeon, I had bought from publicly available spellbooks, and the vast majority I had copied and learned from the restricted section of the Canterlot Royal Library reserved for war mages and royal guards.

Telepathy: allowed to talk to others directly to their mind / Innate to companions.

Shield: blocks small proyectiles like bows and crossbows, as well as attack cantrips and magic missile / Cantrip

Prestidigitation: small temporary effect / cantrip.

Fire Bolt: small flame bolt that can set enemies and flammable objects on fire / cantrip

Ray of Frost: small, can slow or freeze enemies / cantrip

Produce Flame: tiny, can set flammable objects on fire / cantrip

Shocking Grasp: requires touch, effective against metal armor or wet enemies / cantrip

Slow falling: prevents falling damage by slowing the fall / cantrip

Detect Magic: magic items, objects or creatures are highlighted even when hiding behind walls / tier 1

Detect Good and Evil: fae, aberrations, demons and celestials are highlighted even when hiding behind walls / tier 1

Frost Paws: sends icy wind in a small cone in front of the user's paw / tier 1

Ice Knife: sends a freezing projectile that explodes on impact in a small area, can cause slowing or freezing of targets / tier 1

Magic Missile: sends 3 seeking projectiles that deal force damage, using more mana increases the number of missile / tier 1

Witch Bolt: electric bolt that deals extra damage to wet or metal targets / tier 1

Thunderwave: pushes back and deals thunder damage, any loose objects nearby will be pushed too / tier 1

Speak to Animals: allows speaking to animals unless they are newborn / tier 1

Blur: causes you to become blurry and harder to hit by attacks, requires concentration / tier 2

Heat Metal: heat targets armor or weapon to red hot, the target suffers penalty to attacks, requires concentration / tier 2

Enlarge/Reduce: changes your body size, requires concentration / tier 2

Hold pony: restrains a creature up to large pony size, requires concentration / tier 2

Knock: unlocks a simple lock, multi locking systems only have one of their locks affected / tier 2

Acid Arrow: fires a projectile that explodes in a shower of very strong acid / tier 2

Locate Object: locates an object you are familiar with, 10km range, works better with your own objects / tier 2

Misty Step: very short range teleport for beginners / tier 2

Scorching Ray: sends 3 flaming bolts at once, can burn targets, can be upcasted at higher mana cost / tier 2

See Invisibility: allows you to see invisible creatures nearby, requires concentration / tier 2

Silence: creates a 10m radius sphere where no sound inside can escape, size can be changed, requires concentration / tier 2

Copy Book: allows you to scan and copy a book at the same time, without using any ink and without opening the book you are scanning / tier 3

Scan Metal: you use your magic to detect the density and properties of the inside of a piece of metal, does not work on anti magic metals / tier 3

Counterspell: uses mana to stop a spell being cast, only works on the same tier of spell its used as, can be upcast. / tier 3

Dispel Magic: dispels a spell of the same tier already in effect / tier 3

Fireball: fires a flaming sphere that upon contact with a surface or target, explodes in a 6m radius dealing fire dmg / tier 3

Catnap: causes willing creatures to fall asleep, partially recovering their HP, stamina and mana upon waking up / tier 3

Flame Arrows: enchants a quiver so all the arrows inside it deal fire damage and set targets on fire / tier 3

Gaseous Form: turns you into a mist, able to fly and pass through the smallest of holes, requires concentration / tier 3

Glyph of Warding: creates a proximity trap on a flat surface, with different possible effects / tier 3

Haste: cast this spell on a willing creature, granting it super speed, when the spell ends the target becomes stunned, requires concentration / tier 3

Lightning Bolt: user fires a long range beam of electricity that goes in a straight line, hitting anything in its path / tier 3

Water Breathing: user or target can breathe underwater / tier 3

Dimension door: user and one target can teleport to a place they can see, within 30m / tier 4

Ice Shield: creates a shield of ice that makes you resistant to fire damage / tier 4

Greater Invisibility: allows you or a target to become invis. with their gear, and even attack while invis, concentration / tier 4
Ice Storm: creates freezing cold storm in a 6m radius circular area that deals bludgeoning and cold damage and freezes targets / tier 4

Wall of Fire: creates a wall of fire that is up to 20m long, it can be a straight line or can be a circle up to 6m in radius, with up to 30cm in thickness, enemies trying to go through take extra damage, requires concentration / tier 4

Resilient Sphere: encase a target in an almost indestructible sphere, where no attack or spell can reach them, but the target can breathe normally, requires concentration / tier 4

Cone of Cold: a 18m long cone of freezing air erupts from your paws/maw dealing cold damage and freezing targets, creatures killed by the spell will become ice statues / tier 5

Far step: medium range, can teleport you to a place you see within 50m / tier 5

Telekinesis: gives telekinesis equal to an unicorn the color of the telekinetic aura is the same as the color of your spirit, this spell uses no mana for smaller tasks, can be empowered with training / tier 5

Cloudkill: creates yellowish green cloud of deadly poison that is denser than air, and can be controlled by the user, targets inside this cloud get severely poisoned even if they don't breathe it / tier 5

Now I could use much stronger spells, even if it meant it would cost me a lot more mana, but the good thing was I had new perks too! And now, looking at them, this was really good!

Magic Blood: your unique blood's latent potential for conducting magical energy is begining to awake, but it's not fully realized yet, you add your Intelligence stat multiplied by 2 to your mana pool.

True Potential: Your Constitution is added to your HP and stamina.

Geophage: your addition of gemstones to your diet allowed your body to adapt to eating a larger variety of minerals, now you can consume different gemstones and even metals, thanks to your immunity to poison, you can now consume any heavy or radioactive metals, and not get any negative effects from them.

Dragon Bones: your bones are hardening as you grow in age and consume different minerals, your limbs are harder to break and your leverage is stronger, by you weight slightly more. To increase bone density, do more exercise. Current weight: 85kg

Dragon Scale: your scales begin to harden as you grow in age and consume different minerals, your scales are harder to cut and pierce, to increase your scales resilience, consume a higher variety of gemstones and minerals, different areas of the world will have different types of gemstones and other minerals that will provide different benefits.

Dragon Muscle: you have a big potential to grow muscle and that muscle is extremely dense and strong, but you must train yourself to be able to reach your potential, training will increase both your strength and constitution, while giving you extra power to your melee attacks.

Hybrid Mind: your preserve some human part in your brain that lets you see things from two different perspectives at once, that of a silver dragon and that of a human, you are not limited to being lawful good, you have potential for great good and great evil.
You still enjoy the same things other silver dragons do, like fine dining, socializing, protecting others comes as second nature to you and you, yet you also crave power, fortune and knowledge.

Multicast Adept: your accuracy with multicast spells improves by 20% and you can multicast from further away without missing... as much.

This was honestly amazing! All if this new skills were extremely promising, and they even hinted at how I would be able to grow stronger, and how I was just barely starting to develop, maybe this was just the start... But I wanted to see if Sylf and Kari had something similar, I needed to check their status window too.

Sylf known spells

Light / cantrip
Prestidigitation / cantrip
Ray of frost / cantrip
Firebolt / cantrip
Shocking bite /cantrip
Blade ward / cantrip
Absorb element / tier 1
Burning fangs / tier 1
Frost fangs / tier 1
Magic missile / tier 1
Protection from Evil and Good / tier 1
Shield / tier 1
Gust of Wind / tier 1
Scorching Ray / tier 2
Shatter / tier 2
Counterspell / tier 3
Dispel Magic / tier 3
Protection from Energy / tier 3
Elemental Weapon / tier 3
Remove Curse / tier 3
Fire/Ice shield / tier 3
Stone skin / tier 4
Ice Storm / tier 4
Wall of Fire / tier 4

Class Ability
Second wind: restores 40hp by sheer will.

Sylf knew a fair amount of combat spells, but the rarely used them, as she could not use offensive spells while holding her longsword, only self buffs, she could not cast using her paws either like I could, her spells also were much weaker compared to mine.

She had new perks it seems as well, which honestly I was really excited for too!

Black Wolf Soul: you stay strong in the face of overwhelming terror, you can no longer be paralyzed into inaction because of fear.

Fighter's Spirit: you add your Constitution multiplied by 2 to both your HP and your stamina.

Long Stride: your long legs and agile frame allow you to move at an exceptional speed, you are able to outrun most creatures and flee from most fights, your attacks are also 20% faster and you are harder to hit.

Multiattack Giant: you can attack faster in the same amount of time at enemies who are larger and slower than you, even imprecise stabs and slashes will not miss, unless the target has a weapon to parry them.

Her new perks were amazing, she was becoming an expert in armed combat... Maybe I should start using melee sometime, when I'm a bit older and I can actually reach further.

Now it was the time to check Kari and see what she could do.

Kari's Perks

Multiattack Prone: you are able to stab with your stinger continuously at targets that are on the floor, taking advantage of their vulnerable state.

Crushing Leap: you can jump high into the air and come down with your claws and weight, dealing high damage and knocking enemies you land onto prone, leaving them vulnerable.

Long Stride: your long legs and agile frame allow you to move at an exceptional speed, you are able to outrun most creatures and flee from most fights, your attacks are also 20% faster and you are harder to hit.

Beast's Resilience: Your Constitution multiplied by 2 is added to your HP and your stamina.

Dense fur: resistance to bludgeoning, resistance to fire.

Feline Instincs: extremely resistant to fall damage, even if the wings are unusable, advanced darkvision.

Lion's Heart: immune to being charmed, fear or terror can't cause paralysis.

Class Abilities

Lion's Fury: you emit a loud roar that rallies your allies and demoralizes your enemies, you are overcome by fury and your melee attacks deal more damage, you also take less damage from all sources.

She was pretty impressive, from my understanding she seems more like a berserker type of fighter, which is awesome too, she will be a great addition to the team, I had to plan a battle strategy based on our team...

Mom would be at the front, using her sword to cut down foes, Kari would be on the middle, ready to defend either me or Sylf if either of us was overrun, and she would be attacking enemies that were left vulnerable either by mother or myself, while I would be in the backline, protecting both of them with precision spells, helping take enemies off balance and to distract them, not letting them focus on only one of us.

This seemed like the ideal plan, now it was time to allocate all of those points from the level ups, I felt once I did that, I would become much, much stronger in every way.

Points to allocate: 42 Points to allocate: 0
STR 19 / 0 / 19 STR 19 / 0 / 1 / 20
DEX 10 / 1 / 11 DEX 10 / 1 / 9 / 20
CON 17 / 0 / 17 CON 17 / 0 / 7 / 24
INT 12 / 10 / 22 INT 12 / 10 / 10 / 32
WIS 11 / 6 / 17 WIS 11 / 6 / 5 / 22
CHA 16 / 2 / 18 CHA 16 / 2 / 10 / 28
Total 85 / 19 / 104 Total 85 / 19 / 42 / 146

As soon as the process finished, I felt a surge of power flowing into me, my blood felt both hotter and colder at the same time somehow, energy was flowing through me like never before, I felt like I could freeze an entire lake with my magic and still have enough to reverse and even boil it until it was dry.

I became more aware of my surroundings, my perception became sharper, I felt like I could move much faster, and more precisely than before, my awareness of my own body, every muscle fiber, every nerve ending, every organ and bone, even every scale, all becoming somehow fresher, like I had woken up from the ideal nap and was craving some action and fun, every part of my being felt like it could take more punishment, I could even go longer without blinking, like... my eyes were less susceptible to drying out, or getting damaged.

What surprised me was the fact I felt more confident as well, like as if I was extremely used to talking to ponies, and even felt like conversations with royalty or nobility would be an everyday thing for me, it was hard to describe exactly how it felt, but it was like having more awareness of others enough to know exactly what to say.

I had a smile on my face, despite everything, now I felt like things would be okay in the end, I had a plan, and dinner was ready!

"Mom! Kari! dinner's ready, come and eat!" I announced loudly in the door of the tent, while i grabbed 3 plates from the bag of supplies, a metal ladle and I served each a big portion of stew meat and seafood stew, the smell was delicious and really my maw was drooling, but I knew I had to wait for it to cool down.

"Coming! we were having a little nap, oh? that smells wonderful son!" Mom said as he exited the tent, Kari exiting shortly after, with a face full of curiosity and hunger, she eyed the plate hungrily, her maw was drooling too and it looked pretty funny, and a bit terrifying.

'Hungry, aren't you Kari? but you must wait for it to cool down enough, or you're gonna burn your tongue!' I said placatingly, she gave me a look of slight indignation, like it was my fault the food was too hot.

'But cub... why did you heat the food on the fire? that is why it's hot, so what is the point of that? I'm really hungry... feeding my little one makes me get really hungry quicker, but I'd rather not get burnt so we will have to wait.' She sat on the ground in front of her bowl, that I had laid on top of a rock for her.

"Oh! I know a simple spell that would make the food cool enough to enjoy, here it goes." I snapped my paws, making a loud sound that sounded more like a gunshot, damn, were always my toes so strong? Kari and Sylf jumped at the noise, and stared at me with a small frown.

The spell did its job, cooling down the food to a point it would not hurt anyone, around the same temperature as body temperature for a mammal, that way it was warm but would not bother Kari, who was unfamiliar with cooked food clearly.

"Hey, you scared us! Please don't make such loud noises without warning son... but, the food is ready now? Oh, thank you, nevermind about that sound you made, lets just eat!" Then we ate, enjoyed the meal, it was not bad, not ideal, but it was tasty, filling and hearty, calming the three of us down enough so we could fully relax in the tent.

We laid 2 portable mattresses next to each other, I laid in the middle, completely surrounded by a giant cat and a giant wolf.

'Hey you two... you should check and allocate your points, uhh... Kari, I should explain some things first.' I then proceeded to explain to Kari exactly what the system was, I told her it was a magical power I had and could share with others that fought with me, that would empower them if they were my allies, I explained how she could choose what to make stronger, and explained what each stat meant, in the end she understood perfectly and I let her choose, but I explained she would need a lot of constitution to remain alive longer, and strength to be able to hurt our enemies more, more dexterity to be able to dodge and to be able to attack faster and more precisely, and the other stats increased some resistance to some magic, gave increased ability with magic and increased self awareness and the ability to convince others, all three which which for her, weren't that important, maybe with the exception of Wisdom that would allow her to know how to take care of her cub better.

Meanwhile, mom already had assigned the points she had, and she was asleep soon after, when I finished explaining everything to Kari, we both cuddled and soon after fell asleep as well, tomorrow would be the day that decides our fate, we either win, or we die, horribly.

Author's Note

If you wonder how Onyx managed to convince Kari and the Apples to do what he asks, he has high charisma for a reason, but even that was not enough to convince Granny Smith, she called him out on his shit immediately, she knew he was hiding something, and didn't want none of it, but the look he gave Bright and Pear made them realize they would be making an enemy out of him if they didn't help him there, and Kari was immensely indebted to him and Sylf, as they had saved her cub from the timberwolves, they could not have done much to Kari herself, but a single timberwolf can kill a manticore cub easily, if separated, this doesnt allow Kari to go and kill the timberwolves without losing her cub, which she REALLY didn't want to.