She widened her eyes, her breathing became heavy. Her hands instinctively snatched the baby dragon into her arms, flipping him around and checking him.

He hadn’t fully recovered, just a little bit more. Cassias froze before he squirmed in her embrace. He swallowed. "It’s really me. I still can’t take the human form right now..."

"You finally regained consciousness." Zerra heaved a sigh of relief. It felt as if a huge boulder had been lifted from both her shoulders.

She clutched her forehead, taking some deep breaths. "Cassias... I really don’t know what I would do if you never regained your consciousness again."

Looking at her stressed face, his heart sting. The awkwardness of waking up and finding himself in the baby dragon form was gone. He used his claw to reach for her arms, rubbing it softly.

Zerra turned to him again with narrowed eyes. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

He stopped what he was doing. His claw instinctively reached for the back of his head, a sign of nervousness.

"Okay..." he trailed off, blinking innocently at her.

"Don’t you think we should address how we call each other first?" Cassias fiddled with his short claws in front of his chest. Zerra had set him down again after he was done doing a medical check up on him.

He had his head lowered, looking toward the ground, but he occasionally was sneaking a glance at her expression. She suspected he did it on purpose. After all, she also found him so cute in his current form.

"What do you mean?" She pretended not to understand.

"You should call me Kaz... I know you already see the memories, right?" He lifted his head, studying her expression.

"Are those memories true? Since when did you notice my presence? Did you do it on purpose to show me those memories?" She asked a few questions in one breath, her gaze was filled with complication.

"You have a lot of questions." His voice was soft. "Call me by my nickname first and I will answer you." His eyes were twinkling, big and round as they stared at her.

"Kaz." She didn’t hesitate to call out his name, earning a low chuckle. She became a little embarrassed, letting out a snort before crossing her arms across her chest.

"Alright." He didn’t tease her further. His tone turned more serious, making her turn her head again toward him. "Some of the memories are true, but the way some events unfolded might be different." He shook his head. "After all, it had been such a long time since they happened."

"I noticed your presence the moment you entered my sea of consciousness. And yes... I did show you some on purpose the instance I noticed you could see them too." He easily admitted it.

"Are we really connected in the Celestial realm?" She asked in a daze, clutching her head which was growing more painful and uncomfortable. "Why don’t I remember?" She gradually hissed in pain.

Some foreign images abruptly flashed by, and amidst Cassias’ panicked shouts, she gradually lost her consciousness.

It didn’t take long for her to wake up, less than an hour. A baby dragon was clutching her hand anxiously.

"I am fine." She shook his small claw.

The baby dragon tilted his head and let out a few small roars. She was startled. With doubt, she called his name again. "Cassias?"

He didn’t respond, merely staring at her. She bit her lip and tried again. "Kaz...?"

The foreign memories invading her head might be the pieces she had forgotten, right? In Cassias’ memories, every time she reincarnated, she didn’t remember her previous lives.

The dragon cub didn’t respond, merely sitting there while munching on a basket of strawberries. She sighed, noticing the lack of response.

Cassias’ state should have been temporary for now. He couldn’t wake up for long. The baby dragon’s claw was still wet with strawberry juice, but she lifted him up, flipping around. She did another check on him, to make sure the brief conscious state didn’t exacerbate his condition.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be the case. She heaved a sigh of relief.

The baby dragon tilted his head in confusion. She flicked his little horn gently and began to channel the wood power on him again.

She didn’t know how long she had done it, but this time, Cassias didn’t show any sign of waking up. As if his consciousness had fallen into a deep slumber. Exhausted, she laid down.

For the next few days, her routine was the same, helping the inner tribe members in the plantation field and killing any mutated animals straying there.

She hadn’t visited the Tribe Leader again, unable to make sense of his unusual request.

Cassias hadn’t woken up again during this time, as if that one moment of consciousness had taken all his strength. Zerra was also very regretful. Unfortunately, she had passed out due to pain instead of conversing with him further.

There were still many unanswered questions.

However, the past few days weren’t without a good improvement. Her parents finally showed signs of waking up. Although they only opened their eyes for a moment, it was enough to make her feel relieved.

"Mr. Gideon helped more people to awaken their abilities." Jasmine had a joyful expression on her face, shedding her earlier gloom because of the death of a family turning into zombies.

Zerra was a little interested. "How did he do it?"

Jasmine blinked. "I heard people had to gamble with it. They had to be bitten by mutated animals. It’s either they will turn into a zombie or awakening an ability. So far, they all have awakened abilities."

She seemed to guess the thoughts in Zerra’s head and added, "It’s the people’s own request. Most of the inner tribe members are brave souls. Originally, Mr. Gideon didn’t want to take such a risk, but they insisted."

"Now, even the outer tribe members who heard about it want to try too."

Zerra nodded. It was indeed such a big risk. Since it was their own decision, Mr. Gideon was just helping them.

However, this case made her curious about the researcher’s ability. Did he awaken a mental ability like Cassias? Only such people could increase the possibility of people passing the vulnerable state between ability awakening and zombie transformation.

"How is Amar?" She suddenly became curious about this man. He had already awakened his ability when he got bitten.

Jasmine’s expression turned gloomy again. "He... got bitten again."

Zerra was taken aback. He got bitten again?

"His condition became more serious now. Originally, he almost recovered. The certain mutated animal with high intelligence seems to hold a grudge against him." Jasmine furrowed her brows.

She only hadn’t come out for a day and so much had happened. Her parents had called out her name in a brief consciousness. She also felt that Cassias was close to waking up again, hence, she had focused on their treatment.

Zerra said some things to reassure Jasmine’s heart. The latter just shook her head and changed the topic.

"How about you, Zerra? Did you finally get the map from Tribe Leader?" Jasmine asked worriedly. So many things had happened and she almost forgot about this matter.

Zerra had told Jasmine to change the way she addressed now that they had become a little more familiar with each other. She pursed her lips and didn’t explain much. "The Tribe Leader is currently making a copy for me."

Jasmine nodded and didn’t ask anymore. She left after a while.

Zerra took the baby dragon from her inner space and channeled the wood power into him again. When she was doing so, she was always hopeful he would wake up again. Unfortunately, she was often disappointed.

Watching the baby dragon putting his claw in his mouth, wearing an ignorant expression, she still asked absentmindedly. "Kaz, should I take the Tribe Leader’s offer? But the world is changing and I don’t know if I can protect an additional person."

"He will give me a map so we can go back to the Capital but I have to bring along one of his inner tribe members." She sighed, mulling over the odd request. Did it count like not putting all eggs in one basket? But they were talking about a person here!

"Zizi," Cassias suddenly called out in his deep voice.

"Kaz!" She was delighted when she heard the voice. "You are finally back."

He hummed in contentment. "I can maintain my conscious state once a while now... around one hour each time."

"Really? That’s great!" She was so happy that she grasped the baby dragon and flung him into the air, catching him back the moment he fell down. Meanwhile, Cassias, who didn’t expect what she would do, nearly suffered a heart attack.

His face became a little stiff and he forced a smile. "Yes..." he muttered a little dizzily.

Zerra pretended not to notice. It felt satisfying that she could finally take revenge on him. Since he treated her like a pet, did he think she couldn’t do the same? Hmph!

Then, she remembered about her parents’ state. "Kaz... do you know when my parents will wake up?"

She brought out the two fluffy foxes from her inner space.