"Why don’t you head off and deliver the axe to Ophelia in person? Tian can bring you to the spot, and I’m sure that you will enjoy the surroundings," Karl suggested.

Rue wasn’t certain what she meant, but Tian handed the rapier to Karl, and then transformed back into a fox before jumping into Rue’s arms and bringing them both to the Tiny World.

"He seems enthusiastic," Nerissa joked.

"I don’t think he wanted to remain in humanoid form any longer. He’s been thinking all day about getting Lotus to give him a bath and a massage, and now that the weapon for Ophelia is done, he has the perfect excuse to stop working for the day."

The Clan leader laughed. "Oh, to be young again. At least he managed to complete the request for your customer first."

Karl decline to mention that now that Tian had the skill, he could use it as well. So, there was no fear of not making the deadline just because a young fox was a distractible creature. It certainly did make Karl’s life easier now that he had more people to rely upon, though.

And, he could now give Runic Blacksmithing to more members of the Guild, as he could distill it from regular Smithing and Runecrafting.

In fact, it was even easier now that his own skills had advanced to [Ancient Runeforging].

The skill was incredibly powerful, and simply combining lesser skills was no longer an issue at all. In fact, Karl suspected that he could actually combine ones that he didn’t know, as long as he had a good enough description of how they worked.

He would have to experiment with it later, but for now he would keep the two Clan Leaders happy with answers to whatever else they were worried about.

Rue had been taken away to the Tiny World, the other two Supremes had new weapons, and there wasn’t anything visibly wrong at the moment, so Karl had high hopes that he could get back to work.

But the chance for him to simply relax was not going to last long.

He could feel Lotus’ aura destabilizing, either in joy or despair. Bringing a Supreme Ranked weapon to Ophelia must have triggered something in her partner, as the little Priestess was definitely going to reach Immortality in the next ten minutes.

Dana smiled. "I think that I know what happened. Ophelia taunted Lotus by stealing her fluff, and used the axe to buff her speed until Lotus couldn’t catch her.

Every hit increases agility. You don’t actually have to do damage. So, if she just keeps poking Tifa with enough force that it would usually cause one point of damage, it counts, but the Spirit Bear Tyrant is immune to Physical damage."

Dana was watching the whole thing through Tian’s eyes, but the little fox was laughing too hard to provide a coherent explanation, and Thor wasn’t close enough to see the situation and translate.

"Oh, that’s just devious. I would have never thought of using it that way. Is this what they call a trauma induced advancement? I’ve heard that many people actually break through ranks in moments of great stress. Could this Lotus have broken through due to the trauma of losing her bonded pet?"

Dana laughed at Clan Leader Nerissa’s question. "Most definitely. Just not being able to touch the little bear would be enough to stress her out to the point that she would forget that she could simply call it back into its beast space.

A Beast Master’s bonded partner can’t actually be stolen from them by conventional means, so the little bear likely thinks that it’s all a hilarious game."

Through his laughter, Tian managed to pass a message.

"[Ophelia has both me and Tifa.]"

So, Ophelia had stolen not just her bonded partner, but she had all the available fluffy things.

And right after Lotus had been promised that she could bathe and brush Tian.

"Well, if it works, it works. As long as she manages to complete the breakthrough, that’s one more Immortal for the team. Then, we will have not only another Beast Master, but a highly capable healer to add to our team.

She was a healing specialized Green Dragon Priestess before she changed classes, and she’s got the [Tree of Life] ability."

Nerissa whistled in appreciation. That was an incredibly powerful healing skill, and now she knew exactly who was advancing to Immortality, as Karl had brought Lotus to the Immortal World to help with healing and resurrections after the attack.

The other healers would be glad to have her in the Clan.

Her technique was already becoming the standard for resurrections in the New Home Merchant Clan if the target had lost their physical body, as it gave the Immortal a fresh start, costing them time but allowing them to correct any mistakes they had made in their growth.

The healers loved it. The combat instructors and Skill Library Elder loved it.

Those who died and returned as children absolutely loathed her and the healers who so joyfully threw them back into the hell of their childhood with every fibre of their beings.

The healers didn’t see what was so bad.

But they weren’t bullied children with little talent, the healing classes were always valued. So, they didn’t live through the same struggle for resources, the bullying over rankings, the intense competition.

It was an entirely different experience, and one that the warriors were not eager to repeat.

If Lotus had known how infamous she was among the Warriors in the Clan, she would have simply laughed. In her not so humble estimation, the warriors brought it on themselves most of the time.

Besides, boys were rude and smelly to begin with.

They weren’t like Tian. If every male were like Tian, the world would be better. Soft and fluffy and gentle, and so bad at scheming that everyone around him saw through it before he had even finished forming his plan.

In fact, he was so bad, that he would even ask for help with his plots from Opal.

Opal.

The drama addicted Fae who only wanted the most entertaining outcome for her fictions. If anything, he should have been asking Cara or Rae. They would have at least helped him properly.

Lotus was completely lost in her frustration at Ophelia running away with both the bear and the fox when the storm began to form, and she finally realized that her tribulation was starting.

Now, it was only a matter of time before she was fast enough to catch Fee again.