Author's Note: This chapter has been rewritten, enjoy everyone! And welcome new readers and those coming over from my Digital Human series!
Life of a Zero Dragon
Chapter 2: Awakenings
Louise Le Blanc De La Valliere could hardly believe she managed to pull off that miracle. She summoned a dragon, a rarity in itself, and of a breed not recognizable by the Professor or any of the other classmates. Louise carried the familiar into her private chambers, a cloth towel hung over her shoulder as she closed the door and sat down in the midst of the room. Her hands and arms were covered in sticky fluid from the hatchling's egg during its birth, but Louise focused her attention on cleaning the sleeping dragon of the liquid, she could wash away the yolk-like substance later.
"You're a bit strange looking," Louise commented as she rubbed the dragon hatchling down with the cloth. Her newborn familiar's body structured differed from the dragon hatchlings labeled in books, less slim and carried more bulk, with scales a dark grayish tint unlike anything, not to mention the wings were fully formed and the creature's snout more elongated.
Still, this oddity did little to sway the emotions the noble girl felt.
She had to resist the urge to envelop the sleeping newborn in a tight embrace, her excitement bubbled on the surface, occupied by a sense of extreme gratitude for answered prayers.
"Thank you… Thank you for appearing… Thank the Founder for giving me this…" Louise whispered under her breath, teardrops rain down her cheek, and she reflexively winced as one passed by the cut that had been made a half hour prior. Her familiar had injured her, but there would be no blame in its reaction, it had only been born and the feeling of pain was its first sensation… Its instincts likely caused it to lash out at the cause, that being her.
There were no telltale signs of its gender, Louise ideally wondered if perhaps it was too young and more obvious marks would show as it aged.
Louise froze for a moment at that thought.
Her wish had been granted, but it had come with the hefty responsibility of caring for a newborn dragon hatchling, a race of creatures that lived long compared to humans. It would be years, if not decades before her familiar was at least a juvenile unless of course, the species had a faster growth.
"Need to find a name for you…" Louise said as she finished cleaning all the substance off the hatchling. "Can't keep calling you dragon now… Mhm… A good name…"
A few options came to her, many of which were discarded quickly, the title this dragon would bare had to be worthy of the Valliere name, not to mention, easy to pronounce for her own convenience. She wasn't even aware of her dragon would be able to breathe an elemental attack, or when it would be large enough if it could even reach the size, to mount and fly through the air.
The thought of mounting on top a large dragon's back, soaring through the sky as she cast powerful magic, was quite a pleasant thought.
Her mind went through a dozen more names while she subconsciously washed her arms and hands with a wet towel brought over by a servant earlier for her personal use, Louise had dumped the cloth used to clean her familiar.
"Erisdar," Louise spoke the name out loud. "Erisdar, dragon familiar of Louise Valliere," An excitement grew in her chest, with this naming and the Contract completed, it marked not only the day where she gained a personal familiar but also the first time she successfully cast magic.
She collapsed on the bed, head turned towards the sleeping dragon she'd placed on a haystack, which had been pre-prepared for a common animal the day prior. Erisdar seemed quite comfortable on it, perhaps such large bundles of dry hay were commonplace for its nest of origin?
A sense of tiredness ailed her, she would think later, feeling too exhausted to even dress full out of her uniform, the only part she removed was her cloak before falling asleep.
"My familiar… Erisdar…" She spoke softly to herself before the world of dreams took her.
A young woman opened her eyes, sight engulfed with the man-made ice that created a rooftop of the igloo she found herself in. She sat upright, her hands brushing along her body and checking to make sure everybody part remained intact. The misty breath escaped and the chill within the structure kept at a steady temperature, the woman had noticed a key amount of differences from now and what amounted to an hour beforehand in sitting in front of a computer screen playing Warcraft III.
"Well, shit," Her voice was different, but the mannerism remained uninfluenced. "Either someone spiked my drink or I'm pulling off an Isekai."
She continued to check her newfound frame, physically speaking she felt fine, heck, even better than before this bizarre incident. Her apparel had a mix of brown and green colors, the former hue detailing the sturdy studded leather as her clothes and then later as the hooded cloak that wrapped around her in warmth. However, her body structure had drastically shifted from her original self, firm, fit, and toned to what amounted to the near-peak human performance from seemingly years of training, her only saving grace was that her mammary size remained larger in her old form.
Her hand brushed along the strands of long hair within the hood and came across normal ears. Her sight briefly gazed upon a large bow with embedded runic markings along the shaft, a whisper echoed in her thoughts.
Rosina's Bow, Level 1.
There was only one answer.
"Well, guess I'm Rosina now, so where's the part when I get my own- Oh wait, I'm a female protagonist, crap, when's the last time I've ever seen a female character be the lead in this genre that wasn't Studio Ghibli?" Rosina complained to nobody and decided it was time to leave the confines of the igloo, grabbing the weapon as she did, the quiver and arrows were already wrapped around her.
The 7th Player, Rosina, and thereby, the Dragon Catcher, stood upright and stared into the snow-filled valley before her, the cold wind breeze fillowed her cloak and the white flakes fell gently from above. Her eyes glanced over the tall cliffsides, it took her a minute to recognize the terrain but it became clear after the allotted time.
"Huh, I'm in Life of a Dragon Sequel?" She questioned, looking forward toward the only pathway available to her. "I can probably grab a few tomes and items if I'm lucky, though I'll rather not test the viability of whether or not I can fight like a Warcraft III Hero."
Did Hero Abilities even function? Did they even exist?
Rosina felt that they did, as she could vaguely picture her own abilities and attributed in her head, like a mental awareness of the spells available. As of now, she could select between three Hero Abilities, each offering their own unique benefits.
Frost Arrows would suffice.
As she imagined the choice, she felt her lone point for her current 'Level' dissipate; the knowledge, description, and cost of the Frost Arrows appeared into her head.
While she could have chosen the healing spell, Rosina thought that being able to slow her opponent's movements while doing additional damage would prove more valuable, one would think anything living in this cold environment would be resistant to the effects, but Warcraft III's magic system doesn't play that way.
"You got to be kidding me.." Rosina trailed off in irritation, but her tone held in it a hint of nervousness.
She had walked not but ten meters and already a duo of white-furred wolves half her size made eye-contact, these vicious beasts lacked the cautious intellect of their real counterparts, but made up for it with burning persistence to never falter in attempting to eat their target alive despite any injuries inflicted upon them.
As was the nature of monsters, or mobs, in Warcraft III, and by proxy, Life of a Dragon Sequel.
So much for avoiding to test her capabilities.
The wolves bared their fangs and rushed at the Dragon Catcher. Rosina barely recalled raising the bow, her left hand gripped the bow as her right pulled back an arrow on the weapon's string, like ingrained muscle memory that allowed for quick reflexes, it appeared the character's lore and traits bled into the body, that or it was the gameplay mechanics acting through her… She didn't know.
Whether or not that was the case mattered little in the current situation, as she felt a drop of mana, her internal magical energies tied to this Hero, fade away and imbue the arrowhead with blue light, emitting potent frost magic. As Frost Arrows had an Auto-Cast functionality, the Dragon Catcher needn't to manually activate the spell for every shot.
She released her hold on the string, barely having recognized the fact that every movement had been like an automatic process as if Rosina was used to this.
It did make sense, considering this was a character body, not her original self.
The imbued arrow soared through the air and pierced through the snow wolf's hide, blood poured out from the wound as the frost magic spread itself, coating the outer layer of the creature with a blue tint and slowing its movements considerably.
Rosina launched a few more arrows in quick succession, none of which were slower or faster than the first. The first wolf fell before it could reach the Dragon Catcher, but the second opened and close its jaws over her left leg.
A burning sensation of pain coursed through her mind before it strangely numbed itself, the endurance of a Warcraft III Hero coming into play as she shifted her bow's aim right to the wolf's skull and shot an arrow into the brain, killing it and causing the jaws to release themselves.
She grasped her bleeding leg, while the pain at numbed it was still present, like a background feeling that informed her that her Health was not at full hit points. Her hands pulled at the leggings to reveal the skin and wound, then paused.
"What in the world…?" Rosina muttered as she stared at the slowly healing wound, the injury had already clotted and dried, stopping any further blood loss. It did not restore itself, but it did regenerate at a snail's pace.
Health Regeneration… She's a Hero now, it should be expected.
"Alright then… I think it has been clearly shown that I'm in the map now," Rosina said to herself, glancing up. "I guess I should try to head too… Winterfall? Yeah, that's the closest town in Life of a Dragon…"
She stood back up and took a step, the injury did not worsen and the pain did not hinder her.
"This is going to take getting used to…"
He had never enjoyed much concerning his previous life on Earth, but as Celdrahil, the Dragon Slayer, he had been given a miraculous opportunity to live as what amounted to a power fantasy, though, not as significantly more strong than the opponents he would likely face if this continued to indeed be Life of a Dragon's world.
Celdrahil didn't mind this change, he actually sought to benefit from it as much as possible. His old life was boring, mundane, and lacking joy outside of the small snippet gained from endorsing himself in fictional video game settings. But this was different, at last, a chance to experience something far greater.
It has been roughly an hour or so since Celdrahil had awoken in the valley which served as the starting zone for the Hero. Unexpectedly, but most fortunate, the Warcraft III's gameplay mechanics has carried over. His primary means of attack lied in his Artifact Item, an upgradable weapon that provided additional stats in Strength and Damage output.
Strength. Agility. Intelligence.
Those were the three Attributes that made up a Warcraft III Hero's physical and magical limitations, the higher they were, the more powerful the Hero, and vice versa.
Strength gave his increased endurance, in gameplay terminology, his Health Pool, or Hit Points, would be larger, and his Health Regeneration Rate be ever-so-slightly faster.
Agility revolved around defense, more durable Armor Rating and miniscule additional increments in both Attack Speed and Movement Speed.
Finally, Intelligence, the art of mana, or magical energy, identical to Strength in function but replacing Health with Mana.
His character's body, Celdrahil, had Strength listed as the Primary Attribute. A Primary Attribute represented which one of the three Attributes would improve more so when 'Leveling Up', and which Attribute would be a means of increasing the Hero's natural damage rating.
A golden light flashed around his body for a brief moment before dimming back to normal, this display indicated the Hero 'Leveling Up' to the next Level.
Celdrahil cleaned his blade of blood in a near-instinctual motion, the Gnoll monsters on the dead at his feet, the sole reason for the earlier light show.
"Wonder what is beyond the Valley?" He said to himself as he noticed the valley's end.
A dim yellowish hued light engulfed his vision for a brief moment, following the sudden display came the realization that his body felt refreshed, the pain had vanished. The young man opened his eyes and sat upright from what appeared to be a throne. He blinked and glanced towards the nearby figure that stood over him with a concerned expression, the man was dressed in a robe typical to a wizard cosplay, the man's hand was cast over him like he used magic.
"What happened?" He spoke.
"It seems my Heal spell worked," The man spoke. "My King Aylmer, I'm pleased to see you awaken."
"Aylmer…?" That name was the old given name for the Kayla Kingdom's Warcraft III Hero in Life of a Dragon Sequel.
His eyes looked down at himself and he noticed a radical difference in body structure, luckily, his facial features were not too dissimilar from his real world appearance, but he surely not as toned and physically developed as he now apparently was.
"I have no knowledge of what had come over you, in all my years as your and your sister's caretaker, the sudden burst of magical energy had never been anything like I've seen," The man replied.
"Marthan," Aylmer spoke, coming into the realization that he was now this character.
He had no clue what was going on, but the Caretaker Marthan, a unique unit within Life of a Dragon Sequel, had just spoken about a particular individual which had Aylmer greatly concerned.
"Yes, my liege?" Marthan questioned as to his King's shift in tone.
"You mentioned my sister, Abigail?" He asked for clarification.
Marthan nodded, which only served to put a tinge of fear in Aylmer's mind, "Princess Abigail, if I recall, currently playing around the castle grounds while under the protection of the 10th Legionnaires."
Shit.
That was the lone thought in his mind.
Whatever had occurred had brought himself, as well as his sister, who had been sitting next to him at the computer at the time he was beginning to play Warcraft III, into the world of Kayla, the very planet that host the fictional setting in Life of a Dragon Sequel. He would have likely panicked if not for that because not his mind was concerned for the wellbeing of his younger sibling, already the clock at begun ticking.
Abigail suffered from a genetic disease that would slowly kill her if not for a monthly treatment, there was no known cure, it had manifested itself when she reached the age of six and remained a looming presence over her. They had been fortunate enough financially to deal with it, but now, in the new recent incident, time was no longer on their side.
"Something has occurred within the Kayla Kingdom, how fares the treaty between us and the Dragons?" Aylmer noticed a distinct accent in his words that implied nobility, did the Hero character he now inhabited fuse with him?
"The Treaty has recently expired, but there had been no signs of dragon activity," Marthan explained. "Likely they will keep to their territories, as well as the Xarian Elves."
Aylmer nodded, "Give me a synopsis of the Kingdom."
"Very well, first we have the Capital…"
Saito Hiraga awoke on a haystack feeling refreshed, his mind checking his condition instantaneously, he could feel the inner well of magical energy, mana, currently filled to its maximum capacity. His legs felt somewhat awkward and having two additional limbs, wings, on his backside made for a foreign sensation for his previously four-limbed human mind. He decided to avoid testing out them and figure out how to walk with his now quadrupedal body.
He stood up, which wasn't difficult, it felt like crawling except without any awkwardness of against the knees. The hatchling's foot stepped forward, his body weight swayed instinctively, keeping him upright as he slowly moved each appendage touched the ground forward towards an aimless destination.
Surprisedly, Saito quickly adapted to the bodily change of movements, he theorized that perhaps the dragon body came with muscle memory?
Now that he has a decent ability to move, Saito focused his attention on the surroundings. It was the interior of a bedroom, like that of a small apartment, but it lacked modern commodities and not to mention Air Conditioning. A familiar young teenager girl slept on the single bed, snuggled in the sheets comfortably, her skin was pale and long hair a bright pink, likely dyed that way.
He recognized her as the same person that helped him earlier with escaping his egg prison, but also the one that caused him harm, engraving the strange marks on the top of his paw.
Saito Hiraga tried to speak, but all that came out was a gumble animalistic sound, "Gwargh?"
It might be due to the age, did a dragon hatchling's voice not develop until a later stage? If, and if, this body was the same character like in Life of a Dragon Sequel, then he'd grow into a dragonet upon reaching Level 5. Likely this was the case, he seemed to lack a gender identity, and growing to dragonet provides him the basic male or female choice.
What an odd feeling to be without a gender.
He brushed aside the blinds of the window, sunlight beamed in and cast upon the bedside, causing the young teenager or preteen girl to stir from her sleep. Her eyes opened, gaze set on Saito, then pushed herself upright.
"A dragon…?" Her tone was drowsy. It took her a near full-minute to understand her own words. "That's right! A dragon! My dragon! My familiar!"
A familiar?
Oh no, he wasn't some magical girl's talking stuffed animal!
"Rawr," He responded with a high-pitched animalistic sound typical to baby creatures.
So, he really can't speak after all.
"Young dragon!" The girl stood up from the bed, the sunlight glimmered off her near crystal white sleeping garments. "You've been summoned as the familiar of Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière, and as such, you need a name worthy of it!"
That's a really long name, he'll just call her Louise Valliere, much easier.
"Your name is Erisdar," She stated factly. "My familiar for life!"
… She's got to be kidding him...
Current Status:
Chosen Dragon Player 1: Saito Hiraga - Alive - Hatchling (Agility) Level 1
Chosen Dragon Player 2: Unknown
Chosen Dragon Player 3: Unknown
Chosen Dragon Player 4: Unknown
Chosen Dragon Player 5: Unknown
Dragon Slayer Player 6: Celdrahil - Alive - Slayer Level 1
Dragon Catcher Player 7: Rosina - Alive- Catcher Level 1
The Kayla Kingdom Player 8: Aylmer and Abigail - Alive - King Level 1, Princess Level [Error]
The Lakor (Fel) Empire Player 9: Unknown
Mercenary Player 10: Unknown
Observer Map Maker: Map Maker - Alive - The World Editor