As soon as they realize what I am doing, they return to their normal forms to get pets and scratches. I actually end up giving them attention and playing with them until the caravan stops for the night. Kirito only naps for two hours and joins in just as soon as he wakes up.

  He is definitely being more active and for longer, which should be a good sign. After setting up the cabin and sitting down to dinner, I decide to do an experiment. I take out his normal meal and also set out a similar amount of cooked meat to see which he prefers.

  He now seems to have his full set of teeth, so I don’t think he will have a problem with it. He sniffs at both, then takes a bite of the cooked meat and then devours the rest. He obviously prefers the cooked food and I make sure that Asuna notices what I did.

  I don’t want to get in trouble again for changing his diet and not telling her about it. Mulan rushes through her dinner and then runs out to see if Lizzy wants to hunt again. She even tells me she can handle opening both gates herself and that I don’t need to worry.

  I spend some time playing with Kirito and Asuna until Kirito runs out of energy. Once he starts showing signs of being tired, Asuna puts him in his nest and pets him until he falls asleep. Then she takes him with her into her room and I head to mine with Sero, Kreno, and Bella.

  Since Bella is involved I shapeshift into a female human, but to my surprise she tells me not to. Kreno doesn’t say a thing, she lets Bella take charge like they had this planned already. Then again, they had plenty of time to talk in the carriage and easily could have discussed it.

  However, I have no problem with Bella taking charge and I can’t wait to see what she has in mind. She quickly has everyone get naked and starts directing the action with Sero in the middle. For now, Kreno is just sitting off to the side, watching and enjoying the show.

  Bella keeps her contact with me to a minimum and just has us both focus on Sero. This continues until Sero is exhausted and then Kreno gets the same treatment. Kreno absolutely loves being the focus of our attention and she lasts longer than Sero did.

  In the end, Bella actually hits her limit first and I end up going another round with just Kreno. If I didn’t know better, I would say that Kreno is trying to match what Damona could do. She doesn’t quite have the stamina that Damona does, or the experience, but her trying is quite fun.

  Once she is finally asleep, I eat some dragon meat to fill my belly and then check on Mulan. They haven’t returned yet, but I am able to use a scrying spell to check on them. When I see that they are still hunting, I send Lizzy a message to remind her to make sure she gets enough sleep.

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  She promises me that they are almost done and that they will return to rest soon. I want to meditate and work on my core, but decide to wait and keep watch until they return. I wouldn’t want to be out of contact if they ended up needing help, but they return a few minutes later.

  Once I know they are safe, I enter my meditation and start working on my core. As long as nothing happens, I should be able to reach the next rank before the night is over. I am really excited to see what is going to happen, is this rank the last or is there more?

  Core Upgrade Progress: 100%

  Core Upgraded! Rank 19 -> 20 (Max)

  Upgrade Benefits: HP +1,000, MP +1,000 Int +100, Wis +100, Evolution Points +100!

  It’s strange, it says that I am now at max rank, but I can feel that I can still do something. So I keep working on my core, it feels different from before, but something is happening. I am not sure what it is, but I can’t give up the chance that it might be another path to becoming stronger.

  At this point, I really need a new path to follow, I already lost the ability to level and rank up. Without a new path, I am down to just using Absorb and Devour to gain strength. Those will only work if I can keep finding new, stronger things to defeat, which won’t be easy.

  I can probably find a few more things inside the mountains to help me get stronger, but that’s it. I am seriously worried that I am about to reach the limit of what I can do to get stronger. Despite nothing appearing to change, I keep working on my core until the girls start to stir.

  Core Integration Progress: 1%

  Core integration progress? What does that mean? Integration with what? Wait, maybe that means that my core is going to integrate with my body like a dragon’s? If so, that might just be how I can make my core strong enough for it to handle the gold’s essence.

  That sounds like it might be the case, but I won’t know for sure until the process completes. At least it gives me something to work on and hope for the possibility of more strength. For now, I end my meditation and go to greet my women as they wake up.

  That thought makes me realize that at some point I started to think of Bella as one of my women. We haven’t discussed it, but she has been interacting with me a lot more than I thought she would. I should probably find some time to discuss it with her and see what she thinks of how things are going.

  I will do that if the chance arises, but for now I relax and enjoy our morning fun. When we are done and head out to have breakfast, Mulan regales us with how her hunting went. Apparently, Lizzy went a little hunt crazy, but thanks to that, Mulan gathered a lot of essence.

  It is probably enough to do a couple more experiments, but I decide to hold off for the time being. I would rather wait until we have enough to do all the experiments that we can think of. Besides, I haven’t thought of anything new to try yet, so it is better to wait instead of wasting materials.

  Mulan is a little disappointed, but she agrees with me once I explain my reasoning. While we are talking, Asuna takes care of feeding Kirito with no problems. I am glad to see that he is starting to trust others to feed him, but also a little disappointed.

  Although I really shouldn’t be, I am not going to have time to take care of him all the time. In fact, if it wasn’t for this trip, I probably wouldn’t have had as much time to spend with him as I have. Then again, without this trip I would never have encountered him, so I can’t complain.