Chapter 23: Lisa’s best friend

"Wait right here at the door, I need to prepare them for this." Walker's voice had worry in it and midnight sat quickly unsure of what was about to happen.

The door opened revealing his father, mother, and Lisa sitting at the table just about to start eating. The spot walker usually sat and had a plate waiting for him but curiously there was also a dish on the ground.

"Well? Where's this dragon the guards rushed to tell me about today? You didn't leave it at the guild did you? I was looking forward to seeing it again!" Garret said expectantly.

The frustration etched in Walker's face was tangible. He realized by going through the south gate earlier he had missed out on surprising his father at home. Well at least he could still surprise Lisa and his mother with how small and cute midnight was.

"Midnight! This is my family. Garret my father who you saw earlier, Hilda my mother, and my adorable little sister Lisa. Everyone, this is my new friend Midnight. Due to some unfortunate circumstances we've become bonded like family and we will be sticking together for a long time."

Midnight jumped in and ran to sniff and examine the new people feeling that it was safe to do so from Walker. Quicker than quick Lisa slipped from her chair grabbing the plate on the floor and placing it in front of midnight. The roast chicken was steaming hot and baked to perfection. The only feeling walker could notice from Midnight was ""food!"" Which made Walker feel like Lisa had planned this out to steal midnight from him.

With a small laugh " well if I don't follow their lead I guess I'll go hungry" walker went to his normal seat and began telling them of his first adventure. The feelings and descriptions poured out from him as his family saw how excited he was to see his party again tomorrow. The new skills were of only a small shock to his parents who he mentally prepared themselves for a huge shock just in case.

Dinner passed quickly and not surprisingly midnight took it upon herself to follow Lisa everywhere. Lisa seemed very happy with this development proclaiming midnight to be her new little sister.

"You know if she's your little sister that means you're not allowed to cry when we leave for a quest, she'll be looking at you as an example." Walker figured a bit of teasing was appropriate since he knew she might try to keep them from leaving the house tomorrow morning.

"I don't cry when you leave! You're just imagining it because you're jealous midnight is playing with me!" Lisa stuck her tongue out while closing her eyes.

"Please don't teach that face to midnight it's not as cute as you think it is." At this midnight gave a quizzical look while cocking her head curiously. "By the way don't you have some sewing to do? Don't you want to level up and make your new little sister something warm for the winter? Haven't you heard that dragons like to stay warm?" With this thought Lisa's eyes grew wide in realization. How could she let midnight go cold, the snow would get here soon after harvest.

"Fine I'll go practice but Only because I don't want midnight to get cold when you make her go out in the snow on quests!" Sticking her tongue out once more she ran off from the kitchen leaving behind a lost looking midnight.

"Don't worry she'll be back in the morning, now would be a good time to figure out where you want to sleep as well." After Walker said this midnight seemed to understand quickly and began walking towards Hilda's kitchen, a curious walker followed. Midnight curled up against the big stone oven. Walker knew if he so much as touched it he would burn himself but it appeared to be the perfect spot for midnight to sleep the night away. It had been a big day and it was understandable that she would readily sleep.

Following the lead walker found his way to his bed and almost before his head even hit the pillow he was fast asleep.

Curiously he didn't dream, he found himself within his mental archive. Walker thought this strange at first but immediately began to think. Well my body must be asleep. I remember going to bed and since this is just in my head I guess I can hangout here while my body rests.

The shelves were filled with an uncountable amount of books but as walker wandered and pulled out random books he realized most were blank. Some were full of things he'd said, he even happened across his conversation about his parties goals. The more he explored it however he noticed even previous memories from him searching for his system were present. He wasn't sure what this meant but was happy to be able to recall the attempts. Thinking of tomorrow's plans he looked at a book that had him wandering by the forge and he was curious what skills he might be able to acquire.

The temptations of unbreakable shields and Magic's swords would surely cause anyone to falter.

With these thoughts he drifted off to sleep...

'Daily quest:

Find the three struggling blacksmiths and assist them in their system quests.

Reward:

All around appraisal skill, party 3exp. each'

As the fog in his eyes cleared, Walker read the notification and smiled. Today will be a great morning!

Realizing he could hear a bunch of noise in the direction of the kitchen he walked out to see his party gathered around the table. Gil seemed to have really hit it off and was talking with Garret, while Su was cleaning off some of midnight scales with a rag. Remey surprisingly was talking to Hilda. "Finally you took forever, if miss Hilda hadn't offered to give me some bread to bring home with me after we go to the forge I would have left without you!" Remey was the first to notice walker but as he was about to speak." Moooovvveee!" Lisa ran past him with a handful of sandwiches, it looked like she had gotten everyone's breakfast ready while they talked. Well at least walker suspected his mother Hilda had made them and Lisa had only gone to gather them.

"Well I may be late to the party but it seems like a perfect time to eat and start our morning walk. We got a quest to do after all!" Walkers word brought everyone to attention since his party members had already seen the party notification that they would be helping the blacksmiths for experience .