The First Legendary Beast Master

While the others were explaining what Matilda had told them, Karl noticed that Cara was in the process of sneaking away.

She had opened a portal from the Tiny World to the Chaos Plane, and vanished through with an assortment of loot from her space.

That was new. She never took her loot out of her space unless she was giving gifts.

[Karl, I need to go back to the lightning mountain.] Hawk insisted.

[Oh? Ready to face tribulation?] Karl asked.

[I need to release some old power.] Hawk agreed.

Rae looked up from her web. Silly beasts, her goddess already recognized her innate status, there was no need for her to get struck by lightning to advance. She just had to finish brewing this bath, and she would be ready.

Fermented Immortal Octopus ichor with a dash of Supreme seasoning and some Titan blood was just right.

But it took time.

Nyan looked around the room in panic. "I feel something moving in the Chaos Plane. We need to close the door."

She rushed over and slammed the door, then locked it and looked around fearfully.

"It's still here."

"That's the Chaos Badger. It's fine. She's just gone to see a guy about a thing."

"That is not comforting."

Dana laughed. "You will have to get used to that with Karl. His idea of what is fine is not the same as most people. When you spend as long as he did being virtually indestructible, you forget about threat assessments.

But if it is her that you're feeling, then it's not a real problem. She's just stretching her legs, and the Chaos Plane is her home turf."

Plus, Dana could read Cara's thoughts, and the badger was making a five-dimensional monument to something that really shouldn't exist in any reality.

Just trying to comprehend her thoughts was giving Dana a headache, but it was giving Karl insights into Chaos. Many things were possible that didn't seem to be until the influence of the Chaos Plane was factored in.

Then, they became both impossible and highly probable at the same time.

But more than just giving him insights into the Fundamental Rule, it was also giving Karl insights into how to rearrange his Power Matrix without greatly increasing the difficulty of creating new points.

If he moved some of them to the fifth dimension, then cloned them all into the fourth dimension, where time was malleable, he could double the number of points in his power matrix while actually decreasing the difficulty.

"So, Nyan, what does everyone do for fun here?" Karl asked, distracting the cat from her panic about Cara playing in the Chaos Plane.

"They're really quite boring. Most of them just study and practice, or talk about studying and practicing. Then they want to know how to get money for more resources, and where they could find the resources they would like to buy.

You two seem like you'll be more fun than that. At least you've got a relationship, and you didn't devote your life to the path of the virgin cultivator."

Dana laughed. "Well, we do a lot of studying, and crafting, and such. But there is more to life than just studying."

Nyan nodded eagerly. "Did you know that there are some that don't even eat at the cafeteria because they think that the luxury of decent food is too much distraction from their path?

How can you think that Immortality is worth it when you live like that?"

Before Dana could answer, the disruption in the Chaos Plane caused them all to freeze. Whatever Cara was doing in the Chaos Plane was so extreme that it was causing ripples in the Immortal Worlds, and none of them knew if they extended beyond this room.

If she was causing disruptions in the entire Clan compound, countless people were going to be very unhappy with her.

But nobody came pounding on their door. And despite Nyan going to hide under the table, nothing in the room actually moved.

It just felt like reality warped a little.

Dozens of times a second, for ten minutes.

Then, it stopped and Cara came out of the Chaos Plane, looking inordinately pleased with herself.

She was Immortal, that much was clear. But that was not why she was looking proud of herself. Her advancement ritual had managed to tie a portion of her mind to the fourth dimension, allowing her to watch the flow of time at will.

[I thought that would be Opal's special skill.] Dana noted dryly.

Cara mentally shrugged. [It helps with the visions. I can see so much more now. I saw Matilda doing it and I finally figured out how.

The cat is about to start crying, by the way.]

Dana pulled Nyan out from under the table and hugged the catgirl, who immediately began to purr.

"It's fine, the issue is resolved. Nyan, meet Cara. Cara, this is Nyan, she volunteered to show us around the Clan."

Cara shifted into humanoid form before Nyan turned around, so what the cat saw was not a Chaos Badger, but a small girl with a white stripe in her black hair over a scarred face. Wearing cargo pants that had been turned into overalls for additional storage, with a tank top underneath.

No, it was a sleeveless hoodie, as it had a pocket in the front. But the hood was full of cupcakes.

"You're... a lot to take in."

"Thank you. Would you like a cupcake? They're freshly baked by the Nature Priestess."

Nyan instinctively took the cake, then fumbled with it, as the entire thing was hot, except the top, which had been frozen so they could apply icing right away.

"How did you make cupcakes evil? What is this trickery? Oh, never mind, the temperature balances out after a couple of seconds."

Cara nodded. "They're quite good. Would you like to take a walk around the compound? These two need a bit of alone time to get settled in."

Nyan smiled. "Sure. Where is your room?"

"I share this one. Don't worry about it, I'm bonded to Karl, so I have a separate space to rest in. Now, how about we go see the flower gardens?"

Dana put her foot against the door.

"You might not have been paying attention at the time, but Matilda said no outdoor chaos and shenanigans until we've got our Immortal Spirits stabilized and fully formed."

Cara sighed, and then took out a pot of tea.

"In that case, let's have a snack here, Nyan. They can go to the bedroom. My friend Opal has some questions for you. Is the rumour that you also took on three men in the arena true?"

Dana bonked the badger on the head and gave the butterfly a mental warning to behave.

"Alright, change of topics. Fashion. Sister Rae will join us soon, and she's going to want to know how everyone here likes to dress."