Soon, they were all settled with their ice cream, and the Black Avatar silently watched the group interact, while the shop filled with customers from a dozen different Sects.

Most of them seemed to be trying to make friends with Karl, and he wanted to know why.

"Branch Leader Karl, a quick question for you. How long will that... watcher... be working the counter at the shop? My acolyte was too frightened to enter."

"He’s scaring off customers? That’s not right, he should be good with them. His job is literally customer service. Is it the form?"

"It is definitely the form."

"I can likely give him a mask or something for the tentacles?"

The Supreme Ranked visitor chuckled. "I don’t think that it would help for anyone who has been to a world with Ancients before. Those things cause generational trauma when they get ideas about improving the world."

Karl sighed. "Dammit. They’re so good at their jobs, though. Even the craftsmen compliment them on their work ethic. I thought that for sure it would be the Dark Elves that were scaring people."

The visitor shook his head and smiled. "There is some guy named Swag or something hitting on the Priestess. I think that took some of the scary factor away."

"Divine Swag God 2, but spelled with symbols?"

"Yeah, that’s it. He’s probably going to end up seriously injured, but he doesn’t seem to mind. The Acolyte I sent shopping told me that he had just come to the Guild Store after he was kicked out of a clothing shop."

Karl sent a thought to Rae, who laughed. "[He tried to convince the clerks to model a collar for him. Just the collar.]"

Yeah, that wasn’t going to end well for him, and he had likely gone to the shop for healing potions before remembering that there were more elves to hit on. The Moron wouldn’t have gotten the name if he ever learned. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

While they were sitting and explaining the city to the new arrivals, Nyan came in carrying Geoff, the Divine Lightning Dragon who had been regressed to child sized to recover from his injuries.

"Oh! That’s where you all went. We were going to go back right away, but the bunnies at the Warehouse told us that you were all here in town."

"You know these people too?" The Black Avatar asked, seeing another small Divine Lightning Dragon.

"That’s Nyan and Geoff. He was regressed to a smaller body to recover from damage to his Immortal Spirit. They both work with us, teaching the hatchlings in the Orphanage the Darklight Host runs."

The Avatar nodded, knowing where Karl meant.

"The Soul Rebirth Technique really does work wonders on early-stage Immortals. I must say that I was shocked when I was informed by one of the other Avatars that the members of your Guild had mastered such an obscure technique."

"It was Lotus, actually. Before she was even Immortal."

The Black Avatar looked impressed. "I have underestimated your skills with healing, little Priestess. Congratulations on finding the path to one of the greatest healing arts."

Geoff looked shocked. "Wait, it’s a legitimate thing? We thought that it was just the Green Dragon messing with us because she likes cute things."

The Avatar grinned at him. "I can’t rule that out. But it really is one of the most powerful ways to regenerate soul damage. Only in true youth can you properly grow the base for an Immortal Spirit. If you wait too long into adulthood, you will never reach the same heights.

Once upon a time, that was the reason for the bias against dragons and humans born in the mortal planes.

Now, it’s just elitism, even if it’s still true that mortal born dragons are often centuries or millennia behind their Immortal Realm peers, and that’s not even to mention their Divine Realm peers."

Geoff looked a little embarrassed. He was also centuries behind his Immortal World peers at this point, as his power level had been reset when he had been temporarily killed.

But that was all part of the process of healing.

Apparently.

"There are actually Sects that treat the technique like a reroll. You see, it’s easier to gain skill points at the start of your life, when you are just beginning your growth. So, some will spend the time to teach many skills, kill their disciple and reset them to childhood, so they can start their class progression over from nothing, but with a bunch of added skills.

It’s an excellent way to make apparent Elites for competitions, if they only test bone age and not soul age as well," the Avatar explained.

Karl laughed. "There is always someone trying to get ahead, isn’t there? Just a little bit of a cheat, knowing that they can exploit the rules and bring a disciple who would have passed the age limitations back to childhood for an important contest."

"And, it’s more humane than the so-called Demonic Cultivators, who sacrifice others to grant extended youth and faster growth to their disciples.

Honestly, that needs to be renamed. Even the Demons are embarrassed to be associated with them."

Karl nodded. "The Demons value true strength, not borrowed or stolen strength."

That comforted the Avatar a little, Karl knew the ways of the various species better than the dragon had expected. But then, nobody had warned him that the Avatar of the World Dragon was neither a dragon nor a human.

He didn’t know what Karl was, but it was certainly neither of those.

Looking more closely, he suspected that Karl had started with mixed blood, and it had simply mutated as he gained physique altering skills and inheritances. Now, he was something that wasn’t quite anything.

Not like the mage beside him, who had clearly been human at one point, but had taken on much of the bloodline of the Stonefur Divine Fox.

A little more, and she would likely be able to use Holy magic innately, just like the actual Stonefur Divine Fox that was playing with the Spirit Bear cub.