Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews guys, I'm really into writing this story! Now, to answer some review questions. But first I'll like to say that I NEVER do something without a reason, that includes to why Guiche suddenly made a duel with little Louise out of the blue.
Thorfaxdragonkin: Maybe, there might be a malicious dragon or two. It could be a Chosen Dragon (Player) or an NPC Dragon gone rogue. Thanks for the support!
JEJP Bengtzone V2: Perhaps, perhaps. We shall see. As for the orbs, yes, many Warcraft 3 items as well as Custom Items from Life of a Dragon Sequel with make appearances over time. I believe I already PMed concerning Warcraft Lore. Thanks for the support.
PhantomWolf (Guest): I purposely made Guiche's dual like that for a reason explained in this chapter. Thanks for the support!
Riddi Scott: Same answer for Wolf, thanks for the support!
Life of a Zero Dragon
Chapter 4: Strange Thoughts
The following day, Louise Valliere found Guiche Gramont outside in the hallway. At first, the earth Mage only briefly glanced at her, but the teenage pink haired girl wanted an explanation. Alongside her, walking on all four, Erisdar curiously looked at where his master was going.
"Guiche," Louise began. "Why did you suddenly declare a dual at me like that?"
Guiche Gramont looked to her and opened his mouth to reply like it was expected, but then his face contorted in confusion.
"I don't know… It was like some strange force had overcome me. As if all the sudden I stopped thinking of my noble self and just had to take action against the dragon that is your familiar."
Louise eyes widened before narrowing, "What you mean some strange force, it looked pretty clear you were in control of yourself!"
Guiche raised his hands in defense, "I'm telling the truth! One moment I was falling down from my… The incident with the girls, to the ground… The next all I could think about was fighting your familiar."
"That makes no sense," Louise crossed her arms in disbelief.
"I swear upon my title as a Gramont, I didn't have any intention of putting the blame on you. Think about it, you weren't even in the crowd, you were pretty out of the way in a manner of speaking."
'It's true,' Louise couldn't help but think. 'I was not even in plain sight because I was paying attention to Erisdar.'
The blondie boy bowed, "Please let me make it up to you in any way. A noble should always keep himself in control and I must atone for my mistake regardless."
"Well…" Louise took a glance at Erisdar who looked to her oddly once again. "There is something you might help me with…"
The Map Maker frowned, he hated playing god. But he had to test some triggering on something just in case it didn't function. Not to mention, out of all the Players, Saito was in the safest place.
But that was also bad, the moment Saito left he would be incredibly vulnerable unless he's higher level.
So, the Map Maker had viewed the school's abilities. It appeared the Saito, or Player 1, had made allies with the NPC nation, Tristan.
It might be because of the pink haired teenager, Louise Valliere.
The Map Maker discovered early he could view full detailed descriptions of the NPCs by 'double-clicking' them. Though strangely enough chunks of information were blurred out on different NPCs than others.
Louise Valliere happened to be one of those blurred info characters.
Getting back on track, the Map Maker created a simple trigger by making a tiny region.
It goes as follows:
Event - Unit owned by Tristan enters (Test Region)
Condition - If (Level of Entering unit) equal or less than 5.
Action - Order (Entering unit) to attack unit (Saito Hiraga).
Turn off this trigger.
The Map Maker has paid close attention to what occurred.
First off, it appeared that these native NPCs had a small resilience to World Editor triggers. But it wasn't enough, it only delayed the triggers purpose with time.
For example, the blond teenage 'Guiche' activated the trigger, so he was the Entering Unit. The trigger was supposed to make him attack Saito immediately.
Instead, a short dialogue leading to a duel in which the trigger than fully activated occurred. After the initial attack, the trigger ended like usual and Guiche returned to his senses so to speak.
Still, it did its purpose. Guiche had unknowingly helped the Map Maker know more of his limits while aiding in Saito gaining a level and increasing his chances of survival.
Even if it was against his own will.
Which is why the Map Maker hated having done that.
But it was necessary.
Normally a player with a hatchling wouldn't worry about dying, they would get free resurrections across the board until they reached level 7. At this point, they only had one free resurrection before it was permanent.
But the Map Maker didn't want to let the risk of seeing if the Revival Triggers even worked.
He trusted the Altar buildings more than his triggering at the moment. The Altars were powerful Hero reviving constructs that all other players outside of Dragons and the Mercenary had. As long as they had it they could revive continuously upon death if it did take time.
Why not just spawn items like gear and experience gifting tomes?
Well, for one he's not stupid enough to make the natives go crazy over the strange appearances of items possibly stronger than any magical artifact they have ever encountered.
Two, he tried spawning items near a player. But he kept getting the error sound.
There was something blocking his access to physically implant objects in the world without having to use the editor's energy in large quantities. The max range is ten miles to a player hero, and that's nearly useless if he can't even communicate with them.
The stronger the object, the more energy. He spawned a copy of the Slayer's Sword level 1 on an island, it took down battery life by 10%.
And that's generally a weak item.
It takes ten minutes in his time for it to recover at least 1%. He dares not see what happens when it's battery life reaches 0% at all.
These reasons are why he's focusing most of his attention on the Chosen a Dragon players, he spotted the Mercenary Player in the Human Kingdom so 'she' should be safe from native nonplayer characters.
He had to differ the Players and the natives of this world, using NPCs as a term helped. He in no way likes to mess with other beings. If the other players hadn't come into this world as well, he would have left the natives alone and tried to find a way back by himself.
Again, he hates playing god.
Ironic considering he does it on a virtual screen, but that was it, it was virtual.
Now he doesn't know what's real or not, so best to treat it all as real until proven otherwise.
"Huh?" He said as he noticed something, "Oh no… Oh no, no, no, I got to get that player out of there!"
The Chosen Dragon player 2 was in danger.
The Mercenary, Player 10, also known as Elizabeth Loyal had done some research of her own while investigating the Human Kingdom town of Arcantis. Not only did the town itself now appear like a full thriving living community, but it also appeared like a town and now a small little square of man-made structured on the map.
She had been cautious as first, it was a Mage city with magic everywhere. But the 'NPCs' so to speak had been aware she was a 'Hero'.
They didn't speak of the term 'Hero' like a hero of a story, but more of a clarification of a power person, or a person with the potential to be incredibly powerful.
Elizabeth had initially thought that the units would follow the Warcraft franchise way of speaking and interacting, but they were different.
Sure they still sounded like Warcraft 3 units when they spoke, but they didn't repeat or have a set number of lines. Not to mention the lore.
The Lore.
It wasn't Warcraft 3 lore, Life of a Dragon Sequel had its own set of lore. The Human Kingdom wasn't the Alliance just like the Fel Empire wasn't just feel orcs from the Horde. Dragons were not like Dragons in World of Warcraft though they share the same Warcraft 3 models and had similar but not identical abilities.
Many elven models for the humans were replaced by human counterparts, and if a Warcraft equivalent couldn't be found, custom human models replaced it instead. There were few exceptions.
Sorceress happens to be one of them.
So it was really strange for her to be a 'high elf' in a human city yet still be called human.
The Mercenary Player guessed that high elves do not exist in Life of a Dragon lore, but a shoot off of the night elves did. She had no clue where they went as they and the forest they guarded simply vanished from the world, or at least, moved from where it was supposed to be.
But Elizabeth Loyal wasn't the map maker, so she wouldn't know every detail.
"Miss Loyal, Prince Aylmer would like to have words with you." A Knight came up riding upon a horse, completely armored with plate and mail.
"The Prince?" The mercenary player responded in a questionable matter, did that mean other players were sent into this world as well?
"Yes, he was quite insistent you come. You said you might recognize the word, Warcraft?" The Knight said to her.
A player.
"Lead the way Knight," She said, "But, by chance do you have a horse?"
The dual with that blond teen yesterday, Guiche, had given Saito Hiraga lots of information. Not only that but Louise's conversation with him in the hall also gave him snippets of what could potentially influence from Warcraft 3's custom map, Life of a Dragon Sequel, bleeding into this new world.
He was a Hero, a Chosen Dragon, with leveling and abilities tied to it. A hatchling couldn't carry any gear because they didn't have 'inventory slots' until they grew to Dragonet, which in human terms, means child for a dragon.
There could be a potential influence from the map taking slight control of people's actions when it concerns him. After all, the Warcraft map was an RPG type, which means it must provide challenges for the players growth. So is it possible for the game to be changing parts of the surrounding area around him to give him the adventure required?
'Ugh, this is so confusing…' Saito thought in irritation, 'This doesn't even account for Louise yet, I never was good with theories in school.'
The non-elemental hatchling lay on the hay pile within Louise's room, his eyes struggling to stay awake.
'With all the events going on it makes time seem like it passes by very quickly…' Saito continued to think, 'Why am I also feeling attached to Louise all the sudden too? I hardly know the girl yet… She feels like a mother…'
'Bah, I'm probably overthinking everything!' He moved his head and closed his eyes, drifting to slumber a few minutes after.
After all, what are the chances of something bad happening when he's a dragon?
Current Status:
Chosen Dragon Player 1: Saito Hiraga - Alive - Hatchling (Agility) Level 2
Chosen Dragon Player 2: Unknown - Alive - Hatchling (Unknown) Level ?
Chosen Dragon Player 3: Unknown
Chosen Dragon Player 4: Unknown
Chosen Dragon Player 5: Cora Rune - Alive- Hatchling (Intelligence) Level 1
Dragon Slayer Player 6: Celdrahil - Alive - Slayer Level 3
Dragon Catcher Player 7: Rosina - Alive- Catcher Level 2
The Human Kingdom Player 8: Aylmer and Abigail - Alive - Royalty of Human Kingdom.
The Fel Empire Player 9: Unknown
Mercenary Player 10: Elizabeth Loyal - Alive - Sorceress Level 1
Observer Map Maker: Map Maker - Alive - The World Editor