The final boss fell, and another purple loot chest appeared, along with a System Notification floating in the air.

{Dungeon Clear. Hidden Quest enabled.}

Everyone in the group saw the quest information pop up in their own interface at the same time.

{Group Quest: Find an appropriate home for the orphaned Spirit Bear. If successful, the chosen caretaker will receive a special class option. Group Members will be rewarded based on the suitability of the pairing.}

Remi hissed in pleasure. Surely, it would give them good things now. Perhaps specialty plants that Spirit Bears liked to eat?

She could use some new plants.

Karl opened the Tiny World now that the Dungeon was officially complete, and waved for Ophelia to join them as he grabbed Lotus and turned her to face the dungeon.

That was all he needed to do.

The moment that she saw the baby Spirit Bear, her eyes lit up with joy, and she leapt out of the Tiny World to grab and cuddle it.

The little bear laughed as it wrapped her in a hug and rolled around on the grass with the petite cleric. She was just the right size for hugs, an even better fit than the fox girl had been.

Ophelia joined them in the space and shook her head in dismay.

"You know you’re not getting that bear back, right?"

"We were kind of hoping that you were looking to adopt? I know it’s sudden. But that little girl needs a new home, and we’ve got a quest to find just the right placement." Karl explained.

Ophelia watched the pair playing in the grass, and slowly smiled. "I suppose that adoption is a good choice. Eventually, we can teach it how to transform into a humanoid as well. Then it will be able to join the hatchlings at school.

Or, it can start in bear form. They’re all in dragon form anyhow."

"Perfect. Now, we just need Lotus to actually read her System messages so that she can complete the binding, and we’re done."

Ophelia chuckled. "Give her five minutes, and she will start to slow down enough to notice what else is happening. She’s been busy making new barbecue recipes this morning and hasn’t gotten her daily dose of hatchling cuddles."

The Elders laughed at the Mythic Priestess. She had clearly just advanced to Mythic as well, they could feel the instability of her aura. But she seemed to be perfectly paired with the bear, so if nothing else went wrong, they should get their reward.

Sure enough, about five minutes later, Lotus noticed that she had a message.

"Permanently adopt the bear? FEE! Can we have a baby bear? I promise to take good care of her."

Ophelia gave her an indulgent pat on the head. "I already talked it over with Karl, and it’s fine. We will adopt this bear as our very own."

The little bear looked up at the large brown furred Werebear, and then rolled back onto its feet to sniff at her. She smelled safe, nearly the same as the little Priestess. That was a good sign.

Of course, part of that was just Lotus’ scent rubbed off on Ophelia, and the rest was that they used the same bath products.

But the little one wasn’t thinking of that.

{Quest Complete. Calculating suitability of the pairing.}

Lotus squealed with joy before going still as she entered the Class Change screen, and the System brought up its update.

{Suitability Calculated} 105 Percent

The Elders chuckled at the system message. That was their assessment as well.

The Spirit Bears should be perfectly peaceful most of the time, relying on the fact that no natural predators could hurt them to live their lives in peace. And this super happy Priestess turned chef had married a Werebear.

So, not only was she taking it in, the bear was getting adopted as a member of the family.

Lotus came back to her senses and grabbed the little bear to spin it in happy circles.

"Look at me! I am the Beast Master now!" She giggled.

"Oh, Gods no." Dana sighed.

"Does this fall under All Things Are Pets, or If Not Friend, Why Friend Shaped?" Thor pondered.

"It really could be either. Possibly both." Elder Alix noted.

"Well, it seems like life is about to get interesting. Should I prepare for Lotus to start trying to adopt a dozen new beasts?" Ophelia asked.

Karl shook his head. "No, it’s one per Rank, so she’s not going to get another until Immortality. That’s only two adopted fluffy children. I’m sure that you can manage that."

"Oh, that’s not so bad. She has plans to start a whole farm just for fluffy things, but I think that now she’s got an adopted daughter, I can distract her from it."

{System Reward Calculated}

A chest appeared in the air as the System Message notified them all that the quest was complete.

Elder Alix tapped the box, opening it, and a new System Message popped up.

{Bonuses for Quest Completion are automatically distributed. Bonus for Quest Acceptance, choice of recipient, and suitability of recipient applied.}

Karl, Dana and Elder Kushal all cheered at the same time, while the other two Elders stared at the items in their hands. They had both received identical amulets of [Limited Invulnerability] {Physical Damage}. Unlike the regular spell, the amulets ignored 20 percent of the wearer’s life worth of damage. But only physical damage.

Still, an item truly worthy of its Peerless Grade status.

However, it paled in comparison to what the others had received.

{Skill Book} [Summon Spirit Bear Tyrant] Epic Grade Summoning ability. Summons one Spirit Bear Tyrant to protect the caster.

"Oh, this is most excellent. And it’s a new one that the Skill Repository does not have." Elder Kushal mumbled. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Remi looked up from the armful of bamboo shoots that she had received.

"Oh, a new summoning. That’s going to be so much fun. I wonder why you got it but not the other two?"

"I can’t use summoning skills." Elder Socrate replied with a shrug. "My class is a bit more specialized, as I was focusing on my Alchemy skills when I chose it."

He was still Shaman adjacent, but not a purely shamanistic class that could call on a Spirit Bear. Alix, on the other hand, was an Avenger, an advanced form of Paladin. He was also not the sort that could summon bears.

Elder Kushal sighed. "Now, we need to decide who will give up their copy to the Repository to be copied, instead of learning it right now."

"Fear not, I have a skill for that. You can use yours, and the Repository can purchase Dana’s as I will teach her the skill through our Soul Bond."

Elder Socrate rolled his eyes. He knew perfectly well that Karl could just teach her the skill anyhow. He had a skill for it. In fact, he could teach Kushal as well, and let the man sell his copy to the Repository.

"Don’t be stingy. You can give Dana’s copy to your Guild’s Blue Dragon, and Kushal can sell his to the Repository. Just teach them both."