Dragon Heart Chapter 3 (Original chapter Chapter 120)
The Next Day
Trade Road leading to Panadol Province
Knight-Captain Sir Miles of Guin, otherwise known as 'The Smiter', sneered genteelly as he and his squad of Knights of the Order of the Just Crusade cantered past some peasants tilling a field.
Sir Miles had little patience for peasants. He had been sent into the Church because he had told his father upfront that he would rather put the entire force of common louts to the sword than rule over them. As he had wanted, he was disinherited, banished and kicked off to the Seminary rather quickly.
"Knight-Captain, the horses need some water and food." His Second in Command, Brother-Knight Sir Alex of Zerorc said from his side.
"I am aware of that." Miles replied harshly. "There is a stream up ahead, about ten minutes away. We'll water and feed the beasts there."
"Sir." Alex nodded before falling silent.
Ignoring his men, Miles started to brood. His former Fief, Guin, was a snowy land in the northern reaches of the Divine Empire of Trusk. Small, unimportant, isolated…utterly boring, in other words. The only thing to do up there was to read the few books available, train to fight and listen to the priest preach. That was why Miles had joined the Crusader Knights; he had grown up a devout member of the Church of the One True God and was good at fighting. It was a natural case of a square peg going into a square hole, as far as Miles was concerned.
As the knights led their tired beasts to the stream and started letting them gulp down water, Miles took Alec and the Third in Command, Sir John of Treebury, to one side.
"As you know, we're heading to Panadol Province." He informed them grimly. "A Reincarnator is there and we have no clue where it is or what monster it is. Worse, we have to deal with the Order of the Huntress there."
Both men opposite him gained pinched faces. The Order of the Huntress was a female-only order of knights that glorified a female saint. That saint had gone on to leave the Empire and eventually rise to the heights of a Goddess…not that the Church would admit to the existence of deities other than the One True God.
Because of the direction that the saint had gone in (against the directions of the Church to not ever become a pagan deity), the Order of the Huntress was, by and large mistrusted by the Crusader Knights as a whole. This made the prospect of going near their central base of operations, Pandadol Province, something of an uneasy concept.
"What are we to do, sir?" Sir Alex asked grimly.
"Stay away from them as much as possible. The last thing we need is for our Holy Mission to be interfered with by those upstarts." Miles replied seriously. "I don't expect them to come near us either; they dislike us just as much as we dislike them, after all. But keep your guard up."
"Do we have ANY idea about what kind of beat this Reincarnator could be, sir?" Sir John asked. "Panadol is very big and there are only twenty of us. Searching the area will be almost impossible."
"I am well aware of that." Miles snapped. "Unfortunately, dispatching more than a squad of the Order of the Just Crusade without any proof of anything unusual is not permitted. We have to find any kind of disturbance to justify sending more troops into the Province, as I doubt the common soldiery will be willing or able to help us."
"Tch. Damn peons." Sir John scoffed.
"Quite. Now, let's get back in the saddle." Miles said seriously. "We still have two more days of riding to go through before we reach Kalvin."
With Taylor
Curtain Wall of the Former Imperial Seat, Malvin
Steady…steady…now!
The armoured skeleton was taken completely off guard by the basketball-sized lump of stone that struck it at the base of the neck, sending it tumbling over the parapet to land with the sound of smashing bones on the cracked stone paving stones below.
You have defeated the [Curtain Wall] Area Boss [Skeleton Captain]! The power of all skeletons is reduced by 30%!
Huh…OK, so that was apparently a thing. I had come out here after a good night's rest and had bounced a few plans around to take down that strong-looking armoured skeleton , or at least lure the thing inside the gatehouse proper so I could smash its skull. I hadn't expected to one-shot it though.
Still, what was even more interesting here was that, much like the few games I had played back when I had been human, each separate area of the walled city had its own 'area boss' that controlled the lesser monsters. Even more interestingly, that boss monster empowered the lesser monsters somehow. Take the boss down, weaken the small fry.
The only question was, did another boss replace the one I just killed after a certain amount of time passed, or was this a permanent weakening of the undead on the walls? On the off-chance that it was only temporary, I'd better start cracking some skulls while I still could use the advantage of the weakening of the skeletons.
Hmm? Wait, what was that noise?
[DING!]
You have gained a level! LV3-LV4!
You gain +2 STR!
You gain +3 DUR!
You gain +2 AGI!
You gain +3 INT!
Skill: [Scaly Skin] has levelled up! LV6-LV7!
Skill: [Rough Skin] has levelled up! LV3-LV4!
Number of slain enemies has reached the appropriate level. Title: [Undead Killer] has been granted.
Huh…guess killing an Area Boss was worth quite the amount of experience.
As a result of combining [Tail Smack] with the use of loose masonry, the skill [Tail Catapult] has been created!
…what?
[Tail Catapult] (Instant) [LV1, 00.00]
While not used very often by the prideful Noble Dragons, some breeds have been known to use their tails as makeshift catapults, sending various items flying at their enemies to great effect. While an unpleasant surprise at relatively young ages, this skill can be truly frightening at the adult level and above, as it is generally used to uproot entire buildings and send them flying faster than any arrow.
- Allows the user to use their tail to smack any unattached object at a specific target.
- Requires ten seconds to activate.
- Requires an object to be used as ammunition. Largest object size: Basketball.
- Damage is calculated to be thus: Level of this skill*Level of the [Tail Smack] skill+STR.
Okaaayyy…this just got very weird. Ok, fine. Whatever.
Deciding that I should pay more attention to my current situation, I willed my Status Screen open.
Draconic Name: None
Common Name: Taylor Hebert
Species: Greater Dragon
Subspecies: Proto-Dragon
Growth Level (1/5): Hatchling
Level: 4
To Next Level: 10%
STR: 32
DUR: 38
AGI: 34
INT: 31
WIS: 32
LUK: ?
Looking at my stats, I observed that I was getting a bit heavy in the Strength and Durability department. Would that affect my Agility if the gap between them grew too large? I had no clue.
My eyes fell on the question mark where my luck should belong and I grew concerned. I was fairly certain that having no number there was either very good or very bad…and I had no clue about which option it was.
Shaking my head and getting dizzy for a moment (I was still not used to having such a long and flexible neck), I started to patter off to do some bone smashing. I may as well get a bird's eye view of the city while I fight.
Seriously though, for a city that was probably built with muscle power and a dusting of magic, this place was huge. It was almost the same size as Brockton Bay had been at its peak, excluding the remains of slums outside of the curtain wall, and the palace that rose above the centre of the city loomed like some kind of god protecting its sanctuary…or a dragon protecting its hoard. That analogy seemed a bit more appropriate given my species right now.
The point of my musing was that I really had to wonder what caused the rulers and people of this city to abandon it. Sure, it had definitely been sacked at one point, the corpses and all the damage to the curtain wall I could see and the gates proved that, but why would a ruler willingly abandon a city of this level of development? It made no sense.
Unless there was a very good reason of the magical nature, perhaps? It would explain why all of these undead were staggering around. In games, stories and films, dark magic or even an overly large amount of regular magic sometimes, was what caused the dead to rise. Were either of those a possibility?
Somehow, I had the funny feeling that I'd get to know that before my time in this city was done.
A Couple of Hours Later
Leaping down from a small fort built into and atop the wall, I rolled in the air before slamming my tail down on the head of what I was certain was the very last skeleton on the curtain wall. It had been surprisingly sparse in regards to skeletons; most of them were down in the streets below, but this still made the fiftieth skeleton I had smacked down atop the wall, not including the Area Boss and the ten before that.
With the sound of shattering bone, my tail ploughed through the skull of the undead warrior, with me landing on all four feet and almost posing proudly as the rest of the skeleton crumbled to dust behind me.
[DING!]
Congratulations! You have successfully slain the last [Weak Skeleton Warrior] on the [Curtain Wall of Malvin City]! For managing this achievement, you are given boosted experience!
Congratulations! You have cleared the [Curtain Wall of Malvin City] of all enemy forces! Do you wish to claim [Curtain Wall of Malvin City] as your territory? {Y/N}
Wait, what?!
[Tutorial Mode, Activated!]
Greetings, Reincarnated Being! As a being that has been reincarnated on Amaryllis, the tutorial system shall activate whenever you encounter a new aspect of the system on the world that is radically different from what you have had access to before! This is a bonus feature given to the top fifty reincarnates, of which you place at #1!
[Dragons and Territory]
When a dragon conquers a piece of land by slaying its inhabitants or forcing the previous leader to concede ownership of it to them, they claim it both physically and magically. By doing so, they imbue a part of their magic into the land, allowing them to extend their [Draconic Hoard Assessment] ability to it, as well as marking it with a magical 'spoor' that warns other predators and dragons away. This 'spoor' grows in power as the dragon itself does. In your case, the cave where you were born was automatically claimed as yours when your mother's body turned the interior silver.
Advantages: Once claimed, enemies that are weaker than you are will not enter your territory. You will be able to find treasure and valuables inside of that territory with great ease. You will also be notified of any intruders that encroach on your territory.
Disadvantages: Once you grow beyond a certain point in power, the 'spoor' from your magical claiming will start to be obvious to someone looking for it. That point varies depending on the location that you are claiming and its background ambient magic. For the entirety of the [Malvin Imperial Valley] that point is: Adult Dragon, LV35. Additionally, enemies stronger than you are will remain undeterred by your magical presence and will be able to enter your territory.
I took a moment to absorb this. OK, so dragons…were territorial bastards, apparently. That actually jibed with the fantasy novels that I'd read, such as The Hobbit. The added aspect of magically claiming an area was a new one, but from what I could see, the benefits outweighed the possible disadvantages. Besides, I already had one territory already, according to this.
Just about the only thing that gave me pause was my 'mother' in this life. When had she been captured? Had she been an adult when men had made her a cash cow, or had she been raised in captivity? If the former was correct, then I shouldn't do this, as it was painting a target on my back when I wasn't strong enough. If, on the other hand, adult dragons were considered too tough a prey to capture alive, then this was a good idea.
Ho-hum. Decisions, decisions…ah, screw it. I didn't know what the heck claiming this wall as my territory would do for me, but I had killed one of the three strongest parahumans on Earth Bet with nothing but bug control. If these pissants wanted to come and try their hand at capturing me, I'd just have to show them exactly why I had become a warlord in my past life.
Resolved, I mentally willed 'Yes' to the system.
[DING!]
Congratulations! You have successfully claimed the [Curtain Wall of Malvin City] as your territory! You have gained experience!
You have gained a level! LV4-LV5!
You gain +3 STR!
You gain +1 DUR!
You gain +3 AGI!
You gain +1 INT!
You gain +2 WIS!
Skill: [Scaly Skin] has levelled up! LV8-LV9!
Skill: [Rough Skin] has levelled up! LV5-LV6!
Level Cap Reached! Upon your return to your lair tonight, you will undergo Growth from your [Hatchling] state to your [Baby] state!
Huh…so the Hatchling state was only five levels? Would the level counter reset, or would I stay Level 5, I wonder?
Leaving that aside for the moment, it seemed like going out and bashing more skeletons to death would be a pointless thing to do now that I had reached the level cap. Even gathering treasure would be a waste as I couldn't gain more EXP. Back to the cave it was.
Later
Unknown Location
My eyes flickered open…my human eyes.
Jerking awake fully at that realisation, I looked down at my body and blinked in shock. There it was, my body as a human from before Scion had ripped my arm off, from before Panacea unleashed the [Queen Administrator]. But…it was also transparent.
Looking around, my jaw dropped. I was floating in a pillar of light, somehow suspended above a planet of some sort. Just what the heck was going on? The last thing I remember, I had laid down to sleep and undergo Growth. The next thing I know, I floating buck naked in the air.
Peering at the planet beneath me, I could tell from a glance that it wasn't Earth Bet, or any of the Earth analogues that I'd fought above during the…was it four days?...that I'd been Khepri. So then…that being the case, this was in all likelihood Amaryllis.
The pillar of light that I was in stretched down to a continent that looked like a five-pointed star that had been cut in half right down the middle, save for a small (for a given value of 'small' when one is talking about a continent) part near the tip of the uppermost point. The pillar actually seemed to come from the right-hand side of that divide, in matter of fact.
OK, so that's where I am…what does the rest of this planet look like, I wonder…?
I could see three other landmasses aside from the continent I was on; to the east was a large archipelago forming a spiral pattern, to the west was a crescent moon shaped continent and to the north was a continent vaguely shaped like an eye, with an inner sea wrapping around the inner 'continent-island'. There may have been more that I couldn't see.
What I could tell though, was that none of these continents were natural shaped; someone had shaped them, or rather…something had shaped them. Considering that this world had bloody dragons, could it have gods too? If so, I really didn't want to attract their attention.
Another pillar shot up from the star-shaped continent, this time from the other half of it. As it happened, I could feel myself being drawn down to my body again. With darkness closing in, I memorised the location of that other pillar's emergence location. If I found a map in my explorations, I could see what was around there.
Then the fog of sleep claimed me.
The Next Morning
Taylor's Cave
Yawning, I woke up and stretched my body. That had been a very weird out-of-body experience.
[DING!]
Congratulations! You have successfully undergone Growth! You are now a [Baby] Dragon!
You gain STR +5!
You gain DUR +5!
You gain AGI +3!
You gain INT +5!
You gain WIS +5!
Skill: [Rough Scales] has levelled up! LV6-LV7!
Skill: [Scaly Skin] has levelled up! LV9-LV10!
Skill: [Night Vision] has levelled up! LV2-LV3!
Skill: [Draconic Vision] has levelled up! LV1-LV2!
As a result of your growth, the skill [Glide] has been created!
As a result of your growth, the skill [Growl] has been created!
[Glide] (Active) [LV1, 0%]
The wings of a newborn dragon are weak and frail. Until they reach the next stage in their growth, they are ground bound. Once they reach the Baby Stage, however, their wings become stronger and more resilient, allowing them to glide on the air currents. This is not actual flight, it has to be said, and at the Baby Stage there is a limit to how long a dragon can glide for. Still, it opens avenues that were not available before.
- Requires the user to have some degree of height.
- If gliding where there is little to no wind, the user can glide up to ten meters.
- If gliding where there are air currents, so long as the user does not try to glide against the wind, they can glide for up to two minutes.
- If you are carrying something that weighs ¼ of your bodyweight, you cannot glide.
[Growl] (Active) [LV1, 0%]
The throat of a Newborn Dragon is only capable of chirping and squeaking. As this is about as intimidating as a newborn puppy, it has no effect. Once the dragon ascends to its Baby state, however, the noises emitted by the dragon can strike fear into those who hear it.
- Has no effect on enemies with no minds, such as undead and golems, or those who are being controlled by others via a spell.
- Also has no effect on those who cannot hear it.
- When used, has a 1% chance to paralyze any enemy that hears it for 5 seconds.
Blinking at the multiple screens that had popped up even as I woke up, I decided to ignore them until after I had eaten. The rush of eating gems seemed to wake me up as well as a cup of coffee had previously.
Attempting to stand, I stumbled before looking down and blinking in shock. Whereas before, I had been around about the size of a large Jack Russel (not including my tail), now I was about the size of a Great Dane, again not including my tail. My legs, neck tail and wings were longer and thicker and I felt as if the small vestigial horns on my head had grown longer too.
My scales had also changed from their original pure white colour; now they were edged in random colours ranging from black red and green to blue, yellow pink and cream. All of the colours of the gems I had eaten, in fact. Interesting…
It took me only a few minutes to get myself accustomed to my new body size. I had to start clawing out the back wall as I was now a bit too wide to get into the thin opening I had used previously. No fat jokes please…
Ahem. Anyway, once I ate breakfast, I turned my attention to the screens. The stat bonuses and skill upgrades were very useful, as were the new skills. I could think of a couple of different ways to make use of [Glide] at any rate; [Growl] was far less useful due to the fact my enemies were all undead and thus immune to its effects.
'Status!' I thought, summoning my window forth again.
Draconic Name: None
Common Name: Taylor Hebert
Title: [Defiant] {+}
Species: Greater Dragon
Subspecies: Proto-Dragon
Growth Level (2/5): Baby
Level: 1
To Next Level: 0%
STR: 40
DUR: 44
AGI: 40
INT: 37
WIS: 39
LUK: ?
I blinked. Now it was showing my title…and a button to the side of it. Curious, I mentally pressed it.
Available Titles:
- [Defiant] (Currently Equipped)
- [Undead Killer]
- Randomly import a title earned from your previous life? (Y/N)
After checking that my [Defiant] title was exactly the same as it had been before I reincarnated, I decided to see what my [Undead Killer] Title would do for me if I equipped it.
- [Undead Killer]: You have successfully managed to slay over a hundred undead inside of a week. With this title equipped, you are granted immunity to [Fear of the Undead] and your attacks deal +5 extra damage against undead.
Huh…so it was the number of undead that I killed inside of a certain timeframe that netted me this title? Interesting. I'd swap it out later, once I decided to go and collect the…five pieces of treasure that I could sense in my newly acquired territory. For the moment though, let's see which title I get by selecting option three…
Randomising…selected! Title: [Warlord] Acquired!
- [Warlord]: You have made yourself a warlord, in charge of the military and civil duties of controlling a city, county, state or country. You gain +10 to the effects/durations of any [Civil] or [Military] skills you employ, as well as enjoying a boost of +20 to any Reputation gains with any citizen of your territory owing to the way in which you acquired your territory in the first place, but any [Diplomatic] actions you undertake with other governments suffer a -10 penalty to them.
Title Import now locked until you reach [Juvenile] state! For more information on Titles, advance to that stage!
Huh…so it's a useless title then. No way was I gonna let myself get suckered into running a government or military in this life. How would I anyway? I'm a goddamned dragon for crying out loud!
Sighing at the waste of a title, I closed my windows and decided to go treasure hunting. I swapped out my [Defiant] title for [Undead Killer] and trotted out to start searching the walls of the city of Malvin for valuables.
As I made my way down the mountain, I tested out my [Glide] skill and it was really relaxing. I'd have to practice it so I could at least mitigate the stupid weight restriction though.
When I found the first treasure in one of the wall forts, I was lucky that there was a small, as-yet intact and not rotten, bag next to it, carry the treasure, a golden ring with what looked like an elephant engraved on it, in it. Satisfied, I scurried off to find the others.
In quick succession, I found a silver candlestick, a bejewelled dagger, a fine necklace and was now approaching the site of the last treasure. I had started at one end of the wall and traversed the entire length of it, including all of the little forts and turrets that it had on it. Seriously, this was one impressively strong wall; even several hundred years (at best estimate) after its construction, with several holes in it as large as Buicks, it was rock solid. I had to give serious kudos to the builders for their skill.
If my 'Hoard Appraisal' ability, which also seemed to have 'Hoard Locator' tacked onto it, was right, then the last fort in front of me held the last piece of treasure on the wall. Once it, and the rest of my loot, was safely in my cave, I could start exploring other parts of the town…such as the slum area in front of the wall. Sure, the likelihood that treasure would be in there was approaching impossible, but 'capturing' the area outside would give me at least one area where I could fight any possible invaders without having to worry about damaging nature or destroying housing that was actually decent looking.
Hey, I was planning to acquire the rest of the city as my territory, so I didn't want to destroy the houses inside it unless there was any other choice! And those slum houses out there looked as if a stiff breeze would make them collapse like a house of cards!
Unfortunately for me, I was confronted with an annoying instance: a locked door, no windows large enough for me to squeeze through and no convenient holes in the wall for me to enlarge.
Examining the door with a beady eye, I noticed one part of it that seemed to just be…weaker…than the rest. Don't ask me how, but I knew. Backing up a bit, I decided to give my [Skull Bash] skill a test drive.
Mentally activating it took a moment, but I noticed it working almost as soon as the twenty seconds required for activation. I then lowered my head and ran at the door, slamming into it with a crash. The wood was cracked and dented in slightly at the point of impact, but not by much.
Repeating the action three more times finally spawned a skill, but it wasn't the one I thought it would be.
Congratulations! As a result of repeated actions, the skill [Charge] has been created!
[Charge] (Active) [LV1, 0%]
While generally preferring to attack from a distance with flame and magic, dragons are usually fairly resilient against such attacks from their fellows, so close combat it generally the main avenue for inter-dragon warfare. For any dragon of a sufficiently large mass, a headlong charge is the best way to get into close combat with their opponent, with the possibility of damaging them as well.
- Requires a running start.
- If successful, deals the targeted enemy non-elemental Bludgeoning damage equal to STR X2.
- There is a low chance to inflict the [Knockdown] effect on the target so long as they are not a heavier weight than you are.
- This skill is affected by the power of [Skull Bash].
Well…that's a thing. It probably did more damage than a headbutt, so I'd run with it. Damn…I just made a pun…
Cringing at the unintentional bad humour, I then resumed my assault on the door, breaking through it in the end.
Skill: [Charge] has levelled up! LV1-LV4!
Skill: [Skull Bash] has levelled up! LV1-LV4!
Huh…got a lot more EXP for that than I thought I would. Funny that…
Pushing through the wreck of the door, I peered around inside the fort's entryway and blanched…at least I would have were I capable of it.
Unlike the other forts on the wall, this one was clearly intended for something other than stationing troops in. The entire interior was dominated by a massive machine made of a silvery metal that looked like mithril did in cartoons. It looked like a giant clock, with various jewels studded across the massive face.
Oh, and there were about a dozen desiccated corpses lying scattered around the room dressed in the crumbling clothing of what I could assume to be mages. Their throats had been slit and they had little in the way of weaponry on them.
Shit. Presuming that this machine was some kind of magical defence mechanism for the curtain wall and that these presumptive mages were the ones who operated and maintained it, it was easy to deduce that they had been assassinated prior to the assault on the city. By someone they trusted no less, as the door had been locked, meaning that they had let someone in, that person or group of people had then killed the unwary mages, and the group had left, locking the door behind them on the way out.
Things are getting really interesting here.
Ok, so. Dragon Heart Chapter 3 for your pleasure. I have a lot of writing to do for my main stories, so this will be the last ficlet I write for a while. Seriously, I really, really wish that my muse would calm down and stop giving me ideas. It's worse than Piccadilly Circus during the rush-hour in my mind at the moment!
For example: AI!Taylor, Cultivator World!Taylor, Deity!Taylor, Keyblade!Taylor…gah, there are so many stories I want to write and I can't write them all! Alas, life is cruel.