A/N: Hey! Sorry it's been so long, I was traveling for work the past couple of months and had no time to write. However, this next week or so I am off until my classes begin, so I'll be able to catch up with the story more and post more! Don't worry, this story is not dead and it will be finished, one way or another, no matter how long or not long it takes! Thanks for your patience! :)
It's nearly been a whole day since I hatched in the Fairy Tail guild hall. I decided to give my Gamers Body skill a little test and didn't actually go to sleep; I didn't feel tired at all, and didn't feel the need or urge to sleep throughout the night, so I don't think I need sleep. Awesome sauce! I haven't felt hungry since hatching either; guess I don't need food! I'll have to check if I can still eat though, eating's fun!
Most people in the guild woke up early that morning, heading home to get a proper rest. Can't say I blame them, last night was kind of crazy; not gonna lie, I was tempted to join in on all the fighting that happened, but I wanted to get a better feel for all of my current abilities before I actually fight, just so I know where I am on the power scale. I was really hoping that my Observe skill would be able to give me a good feel on that, actually; I spent most of the night using it on everyone and everything I could see, in hopes of leveling it up, but I've had no such luck. I did find out that if I used Observe on an object, it told me the name of said object; no description or anything useful like that, but hopefully that'll change in due time.
That morning when Natsu woke up, along with Happy, he took me to his and Happy's house, welcoming me to my new home. With it being so early in the morning, we didn't pass by too many people, but those that we did who noticed me stared at me for an uncomfortable amount of time.
Natsu and Happy's house, if it could be called that, was just as shabby and run down as it had been in the show. I'm ninety percent sure that it's never been cleaned before. Seriously, how does a guy with a nose as sensitive as his live in a place like this? Then again, they do spend the majority of their time at the guild or at Lucy's house…guess I know why.
As Natsu and Happy jumped into their hammock for a nap, I took my chance to slip out. There was a nice clearing I noticed that I wanted to use to really test my abilities. When I got to the clearing, I noticed old scorch marks on the nearby rocks and in the ground. Most of the nearby foliage and grass had been burned away; it seems Natsu uses this place to train.
Calling out my stats, I pulled up my runecaster skill.
Runecaster (LV 4/100, 54%)
Draconic Mastery - Novice
Tapping on the word 'novice' brought up this diagram.
Novice (0-19), Apprentice (20-39), Adept (40-59), Expert (60-79), Master (80-99), Legendary (100)
Novice was the only thing not grayed out. From the look of it, the numbers mark the level you need to be to have that certain proficiency. Right now, I'm on the lower end of the novice level. I've got my work cut out for me.
Tapping on the word 'draconic' brought up the entire alphabet and numerical system of the draconic language; it even gave me some kind of chart on the language's own kanji system; at least, I think it's a kanji system. Though it looked nothing like kanji, that's the only way I can describe it to myself. I knew everything here by heart already. Definitely a perk of being a dragon; it's impressive I have all of it memorized, considering my hatchling status.
Because I haven't been told or seen anything to tell me otherwise, I'm assuming that my gamer system won't be giving me any specific spells or skills that aren't from the perk trees. With that in mind, I began writing in the dirt. The way my rune magic works is fairly simple; I write down a word or effect, pouring mana in it when I want the spell to activate. I started by experimenting with basic words, like fire, ice, explode, heal, etc. These were the quickest and easiest to write out, but it still took time, and no small amount of precision to write correctly, especially in the dirt.
I wonder how complex the rune can be. Can I write a whole sentence? I tried it out; in draconic I wrote, "Have a golden apple tree grow right here" and poured some mana into the words.
…
Nothing. Looking at my stats, I definitely used the mana, but nothing happened. Will I be able to use things like that at higher levels? Or maybe writing basic sentences isn't how it works…maybe I have to know more of the 'kanji' stuff. Thinking about it, this runecaster magic is very similar to Levy's solid script magic, or Freed's enchantments. Levy's magic seems to be more basic wording, while Freed's magic is more complex.
You know, this world also has magic circles; I wonder…
I spent quite a bit of time putting together different magic circles of my own, and let me tell you, magic circles are complicated! I couldn't get any to work! Looks like I'll have to actually study them if I want to create my own. This eidetic memory perk is going to save my scales so much, I can already tell!
After my failed attempts at creating a magic circle, I began experimenting with draconic kanji. The way they were put together seemed extremely familiar to me…is it because of my study of Japanese? No, these characters and runes seem more like chinese characters (which I honestly don't know much about), and yet at the same time they looked nothing alike! Ah well, I'm sure it'll come to me.
Pretty soon, I ran out of room to write in the clearing. When I looked up and saw that there was no more room in the dirt clearing, I had to blink a couple of times. Wow, more time had passed than I thought!
I looked up to the sky to try and gauge the time by the sun; I'm no expert, but I'd say it's a few hours before noon. As I gazed up, I saw a few birds fly by. You know, I'm a dragon now…I looked back at my wings. I unfurled them slowly, fully stretching them out. I wonder…
I began flapping them; when nothing really happened except a bunch of dust kicking up, I started jumping while flapping. I was able to jump pretty high for my size while flapping my wings, but it felt awkward using them. After a few minutes of trying and failing to take off from the ground, I decided to climb up a tree, which was surprisingly easy with my talons and tail to help.
I climbed as high as I could. Because I was still so small, I was able to get to the top. I looked down and-holy crap that is freaking high! Wow, when did the trees here get so freaking big!?
I was beginning to rethink my decision before I felt a sense of calm wash over me; I guess Gamers Mind finally kicked in. Gosh dangit, I'm a freaking dragon, I can't be scared of heights of all things! Oh man, this really isn't going to go over too well…ah well, no sense in delaying.
I spread my wings, took in a gulp of air, and jumped! I began flapping; I was hoping to at least glide down, but I was definitely falling instead! Wagh!
Crack, snap, crash!
-10 HP
"Ow…" I groaned, getting back on my feet. That wasn't great. Geez, who knew flying would be so tough! And dangit, it looks like I take fall damage…
"Status," I growl.
Name: Kilgara
Age: 0
Race: Royal Dragon
Rank: Hatchling
Alignment: Neutral Good
Level: 4
Class: Runecaster – LVL 4/100, 54%
HP: 90/100 [Regens 20 per minute]
MP: 1400 [Regens 130 per minute]
SP: 100 [Regens 20 per minute]
STR: 13
END: 10
DEX: 10
INT: 56
WIS: 26
CHA: 50
LUK: 20
Points: 15
I put ten points into END. Ten percent of my health, the thing that keeps me alive, went down because I fell from a tree. I need more health. If that much damage is taken from falling a couple dozen feet from the air, how much damage would taking a hit from someone like Natsu deal? Natsu, Gray, Erza, and all the others are absolute power houses! Natsu literally becomes strong enough to destroy mountains in one move! Using his body heat! Then there's the different enemies they face that give even them a hard time! I really do have a long way to go…
Putting ten points in END brought my HP and SP up to two hundred each, while bringing the regen up to forty a minute. Not too shabby, but still not great, especially compared to my MP. Why is the calculation for that so high? Is it because I'm an arcane dragon? That would make the most sense.
I spent the next twenty or so minutes climbing trees and practicing gliding; I decided to save actual flying for later. Getting used to having wings, another set of limbs to control, was definitely going to take some getting used to. But I was still making remarkable progress! When nearly a half hour had passed, I was practically flying through the trees, pun intended! I was having an absolute blast! I wasn't exactly flying yet, but gliding and soaring through the trees like Tarzan without vines was still awesome!
I couldn't help the high pitched roar my newly hatched body screeched to the heavens! If mere gliding and jumping felt this exhilarating, I can only imagine what actual flying will feel like!
A light came into the corner of my vision. I pulled up with my wings as I passed by, landing on a nearby branch. Peering closely, I tilt my head in confusion. It's a portal. A gray portal. A quick use of Observe brings more questions than it does answers, in all honesty.
Common Dungeon
I sigh to myself. I think I can figure out what this means, but I'm going to be on the safe side here. I pull up my inventory, taking out one of my two pink tokens I got before I hatched, tossing it on the ground as I glide from the tree.
"Hello, Hello!" Katie pops out, giving me a huge grin. I notice that she's speaking in draconic, and is about the size of a toy doll right now, "What can I do for you?" She smiles, fluttering her wings to fly.
"First off, I'll say that this system has been difficult to get a read on!" I say, slightly exasperated.
"Well, duh!" Katie laughs, "It was designed for you to discover secrets! It's also designed to give you the most creative freedom with your abilities! It's fun!" She gives me a sly grin, "Did you only summon me to complain?"
"No, I wanted to get confirmation on that," I pointed at the portal, "What is it, and how does it work?" I'm not entirely sure how much info one token is enough to get me, so I add, "Please don't leave out any details."
"Oh, you've already found your first dungeon! Not bad!" She praises, "The way dungeons work is different from what you normally know. I'm sure you've noticed that you don't have the I.D. create or escape skills; this is because you actually have to find dungeons in the world itself! Each dungeon portal will take you to a separate dimension and/or world."
She flies above the portal, "Here's how dungeons are ranked, from least to most difficult," She waves her hand.
Common, (gray; recommended level 1-20)
Uncommon (green; recommended level 25-45)
Rare (blue; recommended level 50-75)
Super Rare (pink; recommended level 80-100)
Epic (purple; recommended level 110-200)
Legendary (orange; recommended level 200-400)
Mythic (red; recommended level 400-1000)
Divine (gold; recommended level 1000+; warning, you will always be under leveled)
Apocalyptic (black; you will always be severely under leveled)
"The colors listed are the colors of each portal. I'm assuming you already know what the recommended level means!" Katie beams at me, "In total, there are anywhere from five hundred to one thousand dungeons in a world. It's completely randomized, but also based on the size of said world! The only set numbers are mythic, divine, and apocalyptic dungeons," She holds up her fingers, counting them out as she lists the numbers, "There are seven mythics, two divines, and one apocalyptic."
Katie points down to the gray portal beneath her, "Only you, The Gamer, are able to see dungeon portals. The only exceptions are people you add to your party."
"There's a party system? How does that work?" I blurt out.
"Uh-uh~," Katie smiles slyly, waving her finger at me, "That's entirely new info I can only give if you spend your other token."
"Gosh fetchin' dangit!" I pull my other coin out of my inventory, twisting the coin in my claws, "That's all the info on dungeons?"
"One more thing," She tells me, "When your Observe skill is more powerful, you'll be able to see more info on the dungeons when you use them on a portal. Oh, I should also tell you that it's possible for you to get the I.D. Create and Escape skills, though the chance of that happening is very slim, and if you do get them the rewards you get from those skills will pale in comparison to the rewards you get from 'natural' dungeons."
"Good to know…" Okay, now for the party system. Do I really want to use my last token for this? Oh, what the heck, this info could be pretty important.
"Tell me everything about the party system," I held the coin out to her, "Please."
Katie smiles at me as the coin disintegrates in my talon, "The Party System is Charisma based. For every ten points in your CHA stat, you can have one member in your party." So I'm able to have five party members right now.
"When in a party with you, members get 75% of the XP you obtain, and vice versa," Katie continues, "As I said earlier, they will also be able to see dungeon portals. There is nothing stopping them from going into a portal on their own," She looks me directly in the eye, "Remember how I said dungeons are in separate worlds and dimensions?" I nod my head, "If a party member is kicked or removed from your party while in a dungeon, they will not be able to return through the portal. Understand?"
"You're saying they'd be stuck there permanently?" I tilt my head.
"Yep!" Katie beams, "Now, to add or remove an entity to and from your party, all you have to do is invite them, and they'll have the option to accept or reject it! If you choose to do so, you could also use mana to force someone into your party, and they'd never know!"
"Wait, I can force someone in?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"Yep!" Katie smiles at me, "Have you not taken a look at your racial perk tree yet? It'll probably help answer some questions you have."
"...Of course there's a racial perk tree," I slap myself on the snout, "Anything else I should know?"
"That's all on the party system!" Katie waves, "When you get more tokens, feel free to call on me anytime!"
She vanished, as if someone flicked a light switch.
I pull up my status. After a second or two of giving it some thought, I tap on my race title, Royal Dragon. Sure enough, it pulls up yet another perk tree, this one having to do with various traits and abilities unique to royal dragons; part of the tree was unique to arcane dragons. And just like the others, some I could purchase with the right amount of points, while others had prerequisites I had to meet along with the points. Looking through some of these, it seems that some of the perks could relate to all dragons, such as one called 'Swift Flight.'
Currently, I only had three perks: Blindsense, Darkvision, and Arcane Manipulation.
Arcane Manipulation
As an arcane dragon, you have a seemingly unnatural control over magical energies, and are able to perform feats that would normally be impossible to most magic users. You are seemingly only limited to your imagination and the arcane energies available to you.
Wow…not gonna lie, this seems almost too O.P! I love being a dragon! Although right now I'm pretty weak, I can tell.
With that in mind, I look back at the dungeon portal. I'm only level four, but with my new knowledge on how my rune magic works, I have more confidence in my combat ability. I approach the portal, cautiously poking my head through. Oh, I think to myself as I look around, I can handle this easily!
The portal took me to a place that, once again, reminded me of New York city after an apocalypse. The sky was a dusky red, and the air smelled of death. I'm back in that undead dungeon Katie took me too!
Quest Added!
Common Dungeon, Undead
Defeat all the undead
Rewards:
1,000 XP
1 gacha token
I smirk as I hear bones creaking toward me, with zombies moaning in the distance, "Let's do this."
Even for a level four hatchling, this was almost too easy. Even though STR wasn't my best stat, I was easily able to cave the skulls of the skeletons in with relative ease. I didn't bother wasting my mana on them. The zombies were a little trickier to take down, but I was able to do it. They were slow, so writing my runes on the ground was plausible, but it was still taking too much time for my liking. I had a couple of close calls when ghouls of all things showed up. Those actually took me off guard, though I guess they shouldn't have. It's an undead dungeon, after all; there could be ghosts here too.
I jumped up, bashing another skeleton's head in. I turned, ready for another fight, only to relax when I saw nothing but bones and corpses. Did I take everything down already?
Level up!
Boss Fight Initiated
Oh dear. The ground began rumbling slightly; sensing something behind me, I turned around. What I saw made me wince. I really don't like zombies, "Observe," I cringed.
Hulking Zombie
Race: Undead
Oh geez. I quickly write a runic circle in the dirt, pumping it full with my remaining mana as I leapt back, using my wings to propel me even further. I roared as loud as I could, prompting the undead Hulk to let out his own roar as he charged forward.
As soon as the massive zombie stepped on the circle, the area around it exploded. The heat made me close my eyes for a split second. Fighting in this dungeon has taught me that the most effective tools against undead are light and fire, and nothing combines those two more perfectly than a nice explosion. Something tells me that Natsu and I are going to get along just fine.
The zombie staggers a little from the impact, but other than that, it isn't all that fazed. Drat, I poured my remaining mana into that attack hoping it would be enough to end it! Although the undead monolith was on fire, it continued straight towards me; I jumped back from its first swipe, slashing the thing with my own talons. I may as well have thrown a spit wad at it; my swipe made contact with its arm, but that same arm, completely unfazed, immediately proceeded to backhand me!
Wham!
-100 HP
I was sent flying, the painful way.
OW! I'm sorry, what!? How strong is this thing? If I hadn't put those points in END…I'd be dead.
Dead…again. Memories of being shot in the chest filled my mind. Dying filled my mind. I was just reborn. There's no way I'm going to let a common dungeon kill me! I ain't dying to a zombie of all things!
After I landed on the ground, I quickly scuffled to my feet; this thing was big, around eight feet tall and bulky with undead muscle. Compared to that, I wasn't even big enough to fill its hand. Even so, this will not be my end!
I narrowed my eyes; this thing…I can't remember ever feeling such anger in my life. I sucked in a large breath, before I let out the loudest roar my small body would allow. As I roared, a light appeared in my vision; a deep red light, almost the color of crimson blood. The light hit the hulking zombie, completely obliterating where its body was hit.
I stopped roaring, breathing heavily. The light had disappeared, and the creature before me had a large hole in its waist and hips, making it collapse to the ground, its legs completely useless. Did I just…
Racial Skill Unlocked!
Arcane Breath
As an arcane dragon, you are able to utilize pure arcane energy in the form of a power breath. As a hatchling, the damage this power breath does is equal to the amount of mana you pour into it.
Awesome! A part of me was expecting this to come later as I aged into a wyrmling, but this works fine too!
Putting the new skill aside, I brought up my MP, keeping watch on the zombie out of the corner of my eye, which was still alive and using its massive, uneven arms to drag its way towards me.
HP: 120/200 [Regens 40 per minute]
MP: 0/1450 [Regens 140 per minute]
SP: 200 [Regens 40 per minute]
My mana must have regenerated some, or it regenerated when I leveled up, because wow! Just looking at the hulking zombie, I was able to tell that I did some major damage! Awesome sauce!
I smirked as I used my wings to propel myself up and back, dodging another swipe the half dead-undead launched at me. I flexed my claw; it was time to test something else. I focused on the ground beneath me. With my blindsense also active, I was able to "see" the area around myself without needing my eyes. I took full advantage of this to focus on the earth beneath me. I stomped the ground, copying a tactic I remembered from the show. As soon as I stomped, a boulder twice my size flew up from the ground; I launched my fist at it, sending the boulder flying with surprising speed right at the head of my enemy. The hulking zombie's head was crushed on impact. The rest of the undead body fell limp.
Quest Complete!
Common Dungeon, Undead
Defeat all the undead
Rewards:
1,000 XP
1 gacha token
Level Up!
Oh, that's satisfying. A gray portal appeared in front of me. I pulled up my inventory; the gacha token was in there. Next, I pulled up my stats.
Name: Kilgara
Age: 0
Race: Royal Dragon
Rank: Hatchling
Alignment: Neutral Good
Level: 10
Class: Runecaster – LVL 10/100, 62%
HP: 200 [Regens 40 per minute]
MP: 1700 [Regens 190 per minute]
SP: 200 [Regens 40 per minute]
STR: 25
END: 20
DEX: 10
INT: 68
WIS: 38
CHA: 50
LUK: 20
Points: 40
Absolutely beautiful. Oh, I love it. My mana goes up by leaps and bounds! How much has it already increased by? A couple hundred at least! And then there's my strength stat. I'll probably never have to spend a single point on that stat. It'll continue to go up no matter what! I love the Corded Muscle perk!
As for the points…hm. I haven't been able to train my stats the old fashioned way, which kinda sucks, but it is what it is. The question is, do I want to use them on stats, or spend them to get a perk from one of my skill trees? I pulled up my Runecaster skill tree. I scrolled over to a perk that would actually have been quite useful. It cost ten points, but I feel like it'll be well worth the investment.
Mana Ink
Grants the ability to write and cast runes with mana. Runes can now be written on any surface, including air.
This will be so useful! My days of writing in the dirt are finally behind me!
Next, I pulled out the gacha token from my inventory. I wouldn't describe it as a token, it looked more like a small bronze rectangle with 'G.T.' engraved in the middle. How does it work? I tried using observe.
Gacha Token
Of course. Okay, well, let's see…I used the "Katie Tokens" by throwing them on the ground, let's try that. I threw the token on the ground. Nothing happened. Drat. I picked it up, taking a closer look. There was a seam down the middle of the metal bar…I wonder…
I grabbed both ends of the bar, and snapped it, which was surprisingly easy!
You have obtained a small pile of gold!
A pile of gold coins and bars twice my size appeared out of nowhere! I was instantly mesmerized…it was so pretty…gold is such a good color…
I will forever claim that it was my draconic heritage that drove me to snatch up every single coin into my inventory as fast as draconically possible.
With my new gold sitting in one of my inventory slots, I walked through the gray portal, satisfied with a good day's work. And it was still only morning!
Natsu woke from his nap a little later than he intended. He couldn't exactly bring himself to be all that upset though, it was a good one! He stretched his body, rolling out of his hammock.
"Yo, Happy," He woke his blue friend, "Time to head to the guild."
"Aye," Happy yawned, rubbing his eyes as he stood on his feet.
Natsu was about to head out the door, before he stopped. He looked around, confused for a second. Was he forgetting something…?
Kilgara!
Natsu whipped his head around, glancing all over the place, "Happy!" Natsu cried out, "Where's Kilgara!?"
"Huh?" Happy blanked, "You mean it hasn't even been a day and we already lost him!?"
"Crap! Gray'll never let us live this down!" Natsu started sniffing the air, "We gotta find him fast!"
"Forget Gray!" Happy panicked as he flew around the house, "What do you think Erza will do!?"
Cold fear washed over the fire dragon slayer, "Kilgara!" Natsu and Happy called out, "Where'd ya go!?"
"Hold on," Natsu sniffed the air again, "I think I got him! He's…outside?" Natsu and Happy shared a look before they both booked it out of the house, nearly tearing down the door on their way out.
Natsu followed the scent; it wasn't terribly old, quite recent in fact. The scent trail took them towards a training spot of his. Natsu paused in the clearing, looking around, only to tilt his head in confusion. Kilgara was definitely here, his scent was lingering quite a bit. That wasn't the only thing there though. The ground was covered in strange symbols, some of them forming circles of sorts. There were even small pillars of melting ice dotted in places, along with patches of strange smelling plants.
"Natsu," Happy said, looking around at the ground as he hovered, "Did you try practicing writing? No offense, man, but you should practice more, I can't read any of this!"
"Hey!" Natsu cried out indignantly, "This wasn't me! I don't know what this is!" He looked around more, his gaze settling in the direction of some trees, "Kilgara's scent goes that way," He pointed, "Come on!"
Natsu ran through the trees, Happy flying right behind him. Natsu craned his head upward; Kilgara's scent was in the trees…the scent was also getting stronger. He picked up his pace before stopping at a small clearing.
"Somethin' wrong, Natsu?" Happy questioned, looking down at his pink haired friend.
"The scent stops here…" Natsu sniffed some more, just to make sure he didn't miss anything. He looked around, trying to find any signs of where the small dragon went. If he really did lose him…Natsu was getting angry. Angry with himself. Why hadn't he taken more measures to make sure Kilgara didn't wander off? Erza really was going to kill him…Lucy wouldn't be happy either. Even though it hadn't even been a full day yet, Natsu could tell Lucy had taken a liking to the baby dragon. Kilgara seemed to have gotten attached to her too, if the way he clung to her shoulder the night before was any indication. Not to mention he lost a dragon! A freaking dragon!
Before Natsu could take off again in his search, he heard, quite suddenly, a small squeaky roar behind him. He turned around quickly, only to spot the black dragon that he had been looking for. Kilgara tilted his little head, giving off a faint squeak.
"Ho, geez," Natsu sighed in relief, "Where have you been, little guy? Ya scared us half to death there! Where did ya come from, anyway?" Natsu looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, "In any case, c'mon, we've gotta get to the guild." He held out his arm, which Kilgara promptly leapt up to, crawling to rest on his shoulder.
With that, Natsu smiled as he, Happy, and Kilgara made their way to the guild he loved.
Geez, that gave me a bit of a shock! Going through the portal to run straight into Natsu, almost literally! In any case, after he found me, he took us over to the guild hall. Everyone was there, except Gray, happily hanging out with one another. It seems no one in Team Natsu was terribly eager to take on some jobs yet. They must still be resting from their fights with the Seis.
Natsu was happily sipping away at some fire whiskey, sitting at the bar laughing animatedly with Elfman. Lucy was over at the Request Board with Levy and Wendy, debating over who Wendy should team up with. Meanwhile, I was happily scarfing down some meat on a bone! It was the classic kind you always see in anime and manga, I was ecstatic! It was so tasty! I was also very happy to confirm that even though I don't get hungry, I can still eat!
"Oh my," Mira smiled looking down at me while she addressed Natsu, "It seems your little friend here eats just as much as you. I'll be right back," She went over into what I assume is the kitchen.
"Ha ha!" Natsu laughed, "You and I are gonna get along just fine, Kilgara!" He leaned back on his elbows.
"Yo Natsu," Gray suddenly came up.
"Hm?" Natsu turned his head, "Yeah, what is it?"
"Where ya been man, haven't seen you for a while," Elfman stated.
"While I was out, I heard something," Gray said, his eyes closed before he opened them, "Crazy!"
Okay, nope! I decided right then and there to put a stop to this. I've given it some thought, and though it may end up ruining my foreknowledge, I was not just going to go along with canon, at least not all of it. I have no doubt that there would be some things I'd never be able to stop, such as the war with Alvarez or Acnologia, but I'm not going to let everything slide. For instance, this whole charade Gray ends up doing with that Daphne chick. There are so many better ways to go about this.
I leapt from my place on the bar and smacked Gray with my talons, more so using my knuckles to try not scratch him. I learned from my time in the undead dungeon just how sharp these claws of mine really are.
"Ow! What the heck?!" Gray cupped his cheek. I wasn't strong enough to get him to stagger back, but it turns out I scratched him up regardless. Oops. Everyone turned in our direction to see what the commotion was. Natsu just stared in shock for half a second before he pointed at Gray and laughed.
Gray opened his mouth, but before he could get his words out, I roared and squeaked as much as my small body would allow.
"What happened?" Lucy came up, Levy and Wendy right behind her.
"Natsu! Control that freaking thing man, it's going insane!" Gray rubbed his cheek which was a little bloody.
"Wait, Kilgara did that?" Lucy asked, looking at me, "But he's been so sweet…did you do something, Gray?"
"Of course not!" Gray exclaimed as Wendy came up to him to heal his cheek, "I was just trying to talk to Natsu-"
As soon as he brought that up, I roared again! I went up to Gray; let's see here…how can I get them to understand what I'm trying to say?
I sniffed Gray, making it visibly obvious what I was doing, before I let off a small hiss, which sounded surprisingly intimidating, especially for my size! The sound I gave off reminded me of an aggressive snake.
"What's its problem?" Gray asked, his brow raised while he held up his forearm in a defensive gesture.
"Looks like he doesn't like the way you smell," Natsu laughed, "Can't say I blame him!"
"Hey!" Gray shouted indignantly.
"Don't worry, Gray," Wendy smiled as she healed his cheek, "I don't mind that you smell all flowery!"
"Thank you We-wait, flowery?" Gray raised an eyebrow as he stared at Wendy.
"Huh?" Natsu inhaled through his nose for a second, "Dude, are you wearing perfume?"
"Of course not!" Gray shouted, "I don't wear perfume!"
"Gray, there's nothing to be ashamed of," Levy nodded sagely, "Perfumes can have many wonderful scents."
"Been spending too much time with Blue Pegasus?" Lucy smiled, bringing her hand up to hide her laughter.
"Guys!" Gray cried out, "I don't wear perfume!" He let out an exasperated sigh, "Anyways, Natsu, I was trying to tell you-"
I roared, interrupting him again. I then began looking around, snarling. If I remember right…I bolted straight for the door.
"Hey! Kilgara, where ya going this time!?" Natsu cried out as he chased after me.
"Natsu, wait!" Gray cried out, growling to himself. He took off after us.
"Huh?" Lucy blinked, before sighing, "Come on, we better go after them before they destroy half the town."
I ran through the streets, weaving through people. Many of the people I passed jumped out of the way, some even claimed that I was some kind of lizard monster that got loose. Rude.
I kept running, searching for the scent of cake or bread, or other signs of a bakery.
Natsu is hot on my heels and catching up, but I found what I was looking for. I made a sharp turn, bolting down an alleyway. Sure enough, there was Erza, and a hooded figure. The first we see of these weird golems Daphne has.
I roared as I charged forward, leaping with my wings, propelling myself straight into Erza's attacker! I rammed into him just as he swung his sword at Erza.
"What?" I heard Erza say, before I put all my focus on my target. I slashed at the neck of the creature, which I could sense; I was able to sense the flow of magic through the artificial body. My talons didn't make contact with the creature, as he had leapt back, but I did manage to slash off the cloak it was wearing. Sure enough, standing before us was one of those weird lizardman-like golems. I can't believe Daphne has the gall to actually call this thing a dragon, or dragonoot, or whatever.
"What the heck?" I heard Natsu behind me as his fists lit on fire, "Erza, what's going on?"
"I'm not-" Erza stopped as I let out an angry growl. I was not going to be letting this guy go, and I sensed something just barely. I breathed in deep, then let loose my arcane breath. The red beam of light hit the weird lizard guy straight in the chest just as a magic circle activated under it. I was able to sense it. The activation of magic; I could sense the magic that was being cast!
Racial Skill Discovered!
Arcane Sense
As an arcane dragon, you have the innate ability to sense magic around you. You are able to tell when magic is around you or being harnessed around you. You cannot innately tell what kind of magic you are sensing immediately, only your experience will tell you that.
I could feel it…I'm almost certain that the magic being used by this thing just barely was a form of teleportation or requip magic. Natsu's fire magic was now the only thing I could feel active at the moment. I turned my head towards him, and quickly memorized his magic. I can't believe it. A skill like this in a world teeming with magic is going to be so useful! It almost seems overpowered, but I sure as heck ain't complaining!
I looked back at the remains of the golem. It had fallen to the ground, with a smoking hole in its chest now. It was then that Gray, Lucy, Happy, Wendy, Levy, and Charla caught up with us. I couldn't help but feel pleased with myself. I roared at the golem once more, before turning to face the others.
"What's going on?" Gray asked; his eyes widened at the sight of the lizard golem. He must recognize it. Daphne must have told him her plan and shown him.
"This…thing attacked me," Erza said, requiping her sword away, "I was fighting him off before Kilgara…showed up."
"Hold on, look!" Levy pointed, and I could feel what she was pointing at! I jerked my head, just in time to see a magic circle appear; it was the same one that I stopped the golem from fully casting! Someone else was casting it!
"NO!" I roared in draconic, pouncing on the golem's corpse. I don't have a way to stop this thing! The spell activated and I found myself disappearing with the lizard golem.