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Cale could feel goosebumps on his back. He couldn't believe he had such a close call. According to Eruhaben, if he had made one wrong move, taken one Ancient Power in a different order than he had… he would have exploded.
The others might believe he was completely calm, but Cale was absolutely freaking out on the inside.
But in that moment, Eruhaben told him:
"You can relax for now."
"For now?"
"For now, yes. Well – your body is currently a ticking bomb. You'll certainly blow up if your power of restoration screws up even a tiny bit."
Raon's front paw slammed down on the golden table in protest.
'No! Our Human can't die!'
Eruhaben, amused by the small Dragon's concern over a human, continued:
"But there is a way."
Cale immediately figured it out. He knew what the answer would be.
'...Is it earth Ancient Power? So, I really do need to go find this Super Rock.'
"The power of water in the necklace is considered as being a part of you, so you'll be fine as long as you go find a power with the earth attribute and create a balance in your body. All of the elements will balance each other if you collect them all."
"Human, let's go find the power of earth right away!"
Eruhaben scoffed. "Little kid, you need divine luck to find ancient powers."
"A great and mighty Dragon can create something stupid like divine luck! Do you not know about the might of a Dragon, Goldie?"
Eruhaben looked back toward Cale and asked.
"Why did she grow up like this?"
'I know, right?'
Cale did not know why Raon grew up like this either.
Then he realized something odd in the Ancient Dragon's phrasing.
"...She?"
'Who? Did he mean On?'
But why would Eruhaben suddenly speak about On, who was sitting quietly next to Cale this whole time? He wasn't even looking at her.
The others looked at the Ancient Dragon with equally perplexed expressions.
"Yes, aren't you the one raising her?"
"Hold on. Her?"
Cale's mind spun as a realization slowly dawned onto him.
"You mean Raon?"
"Of course I mean the little kid. Who else?"
'Raon is a-?!'
"Me?"
Raon asked, blinking, confused as everybody else.
"Yes, you- wait a minute."
Eruhaben stared at the little black Dragon for a moment, then at the rest of the group.
"You do know that the little kid is a girl... right?"
There was utter silence, as everybody's faces became completely blank.
"I'm a girl?!" Raon exclaimed, extremely surprised.
Eruhaben seemed even more surprised than Raon.
"You didn't know? How could you not know?!"
Raon said defensively:
"Everybody calls me 'he'! That mean I'm a boy!"
"Little kid, you are clearly a girl Dragon."
"How can you tell?"
Cale spoke up, honestly interested. How could one tell the difference? Raon never polymorphed. Perhaps if she had, they could have been able to tell before, but there was close to no knowledge available on Dragons. How could people even tell for Dragon children?
"Obviously, you can tell from the position of her horns. See how highly they're placed? They show without a doubt that you were born a female Dragon."
"...they do?"
Raon patted her head curiously.
Eruhaben let out a long, exhausted sigh.
Clearly, this group needed his help.
In the end, this shocking revelation changed… absolutely nothing.
Cale felt mildly guilty over the issue at first, since he was the one who first referred to Raon as a boy, misleading everybody else – as Venion probably never even bothered classifying the Dragon's gender, considering her an "it". However, Cale quickly got over it. It wasn't like it was his fault that he didn't know.
And it wasn't like there were a lot of people who knew about Raon, either. Most of them were already present when Eruhaben revealed her actual gender. Those who weren't there needed it explained only once, and after a fumbled mistake or two, everybody easily transitioned into referring to Raon as a "her" instead of "him".
Raon herself wasn't all that bothered by the revelation either. She merely asked Cale:
"Does it change anything that I'm a girl?"
"Of course not," Cale firmly replied. "You are still the same great and mighty Dragon."
It was obvious. Male of female, Dragons were still the strongest and scariest beings in the world.
Raon looked thoughtful for a while, before she asked.
"...So it really doesn't matter?"
"Do I treat On and Hong differently just because On is a girl and Hong is a boy?"
"No? I don't think so."
"Then naturally, I would never treat you any differently. No matter what."
The little girl Dragon seemed very pleased with Cale's reassurance.