The First Legendary Beast Master

While Cara and Nyan discussed fashion for Rae's benefit, Karl sat down on what passed for a sofa, but more closely resembled a huge beanbag chair.

He would take this opportunity to rework his Power Matrix while the thoughts were still fresh in his mind, and while everyone else was distracted. Technically, Dana wasn't distracted yet, but when she heard all the things that Rae was planning to dress her up in, she definitely would be.

It happened every time.

The first thing that he had to do was to reorganize the existing positions of his formation so that it made sense from a fifth dimensional perspective. That was going to be... interesting.

All that he had to go on was how Cara appeared, now that her expanded senses had improved Karl's own. However, he had only been able to perceive the difference for a few minutes.

What he needed was another dragon. Well, he had a bunch in the Tiny World, though they weren't Chaos Dragons.

The closest that he could get was to try to blend Nachtia's presence with Cara's but while envisioning Matilda's dragon form. It took more work than he expected, but when he finished, the mana flow from the Immortal World was as good or slightly better than it had been.

That should be a sign that he got it right. Or close to it.

If he happened to meet another Chaos Dragon, he would be sure to memorize their appearance so that he could tweak the positions. But at this point it was more about his own visualization of the Power Matrix, as it related to his understanding of the Fundamental Rules, than the actual appearance.

A few more tweaks attuned the matrix more closely to both the Mana Manipulation and Chaos rules, and Karl felt the mana flowing into him improve exponentially.

The change had revealed a hidden flaw in his original matrix. It was like a flat drawing of a dragon, missing a basic dimension. Now that he had addressed the issue, it was beginning to flow as usual.

Then, he focused on Cara's understanding of the fourth dimension and duplicated the points.

They seemed to fall right into place, existing in the past, present and future all at the same time, as if it were only natural.

Strangely, that didn't appear to change his mana regeneration rate at all, but it was having a profound effect on the mana quality he got after filtering the power through the Matrix.

It was still Immortal Power, but somehow more pure, and less restrictive. It responded exactly how he wanted it to without the need to put the same effort into forming the skill through the System.

Eternal Lightning became as natural as breathing, nearly a passive skill that refreshed itself from his mana pool, but still active in the back of his mind and able to be adjusted, unlike passive skills that were active all the time.

The entire process had been deceptively easy, leaving Karl to wonder if this was how things were supposed to be at the Immortal Rank.

Dana's voice swearing at him for upsetting her power balance told him otherwise.

"Sorry. I should have warned you when the adjustment was made. I hope that I didn't interrupt anything major."

Dana shook her head. "No, just an argument about formal wear. Letting Cara advance first was a mistake."

Cara's grin always looked a bit evil with the scars on her face, but she was definitely trying to look innocent at the moment.

Trying and failing.

Karl shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be fine. If Cara would wear it in public, it shouldn't be too terrible."

Nyan laughed, and Dana shook her head.

"Did you finish your Power Matrix realignment?" She asked, changing the topic.

"I did. It's much better now. Mana flows more smoothly, and the refinement level of the Immortal Energy is better. The impurities in it are mostly gone now, and I don't have nearly as many issues activating skills with the change in power."

Karl explained the details with a directed thought, unwilling to spill all the details in front of Nyan, no matter how friendly the catgirl was.

"You should sleep, or meditate, possibly unpack? I don't see luggage or storage rings, but that doesn't mean much. I will return to my room, and come get you in the morning for breakfast, to help you get used to the routine here." Nyan insisted suddenly, jumping to her feet as if she had just remembered something.

"Alright. We will see you soon."

That would also give Karl the chance to check on how Hawk was doing, as he hadn't dared to keep a portal open from the Tiny World back home when there was another Immortal in the room.

She might put on an innocent and clueless front, but nobody made it to Immortality without at least stepping on a few bodies.

Once the door was closed and locked behind her, Karl immediately extended his senses to make sure that nobody was looking in on them, then opened a small viewing portal back to the Tribulation Mountains, where Hawk had gone to undergo his trial.

The storm was already forming around him, but Hawk had filled the whole area with fire, overwhelming the storm and constantly burning away the clouds.

Dana's amusement at the fact that Hawk had actually altered his Immortal Tribulation to eliminate the chance that it would rain on him flowed through the mental link, and Remi began making her own plans to set the stage for her advancement.

If Hawk got to set up a little piece of the Fire Elemental Plane for his tribulation, she could make her own Naga Swamp scene.

But her thoughts gave Hawk a great idea. He didn't know how to Portal, but Cara did, and he knew where the Plane of Fire was. He didn't want to advance there, he was a Dark Flame Phoenix, not a pure fire elemental being.

But opening a portal would let much more element rich mana flow into the region and warm it up enough that he shouldn't have to deal with any more clouds.