Author's Note: As always thanks for all the support you've given me for this story! On the other note, Life of a Dragon Sequel v2.1 had been released few months ago. I forgot to mention it in the previous chapter. It featuring new content, fixes, new environments, buildings, items and even a brand new Dragon choice! Skeletal Dragons!
What will this mean for Life of a Zero Dragon? Well, I'll have the story's map 'update' in the future to include new possibilities for our protagonists.
Now enjoy the story!
Life of a Zero Dragon
Chapter 14: The Effects of Items
Like a predatory animal hunting its prey, the Chosen Dragon Erisdar felt uneasy of his surroundings, as if something was coming this way. In this academy of magic, there was only one such force of unmatchable presence. His little pink haired so-called master, Louise Valliere.
Why only Louise Valliere? Because it was far easier to roll off the tongue and mind, seriously, who gives a child like six middle names?
Nobles and their titles…
"Erisdar!" The voice of Louise screamed out as the door to her room slammed open, the proud noble girl stomped into her own room while staring at the dragon half her size.
Erisdar held a confused expression, a slab of cooked meat hanging from his closed jaws, the meal provided to him by Siesta a few minutes before Louise had entered the room.
"What is this!?" Louise held forward in an open palm, a Ring of Protection plus one.
Erisdar simply gave a deadpanned expression before continuing his meal.
"Don't ignore me, I'm your master!" She said in annoyance.
He continued eating anyway.
"Ugh, why did I summon a dragon like you?" The young mage questioned in frustration, sitting on the bed and examining the object gifted to her by the Princess half an hour ago. "Sorry," She finally said after a full few minutes.
The Chosen Dragon swallowed the remains of the steak, before heading towards the door and closing it with the end of his tail. Then, he spoke.
"Louise, you may be my master but you don't control me," Erisdar said.
"Huh?" Louise was surprised, the atmosphere around him had changed strangely. "What you mean, you're my familiar and a familiar does what the master says."
"A slave does what a master says," Erisdar stated. "I'm a dragon, a creature of incredible magical power and intelligence. Summoned or not, I'm not going to just give away my freedom. Even if you cared for me as a hatchling."
Louise Francoise blinked, 'What is he talking about? I've cared for him and treated him well didn't I?' The girl thought to herself.
"Louise," Erisdar began once more, "You've cared for me and I appreciate that, but can you stop bragging about you being my master all the time? It's very childish. We're partners in this world aren't we?" He questioned, thinking back to the Role Playing Games that held summons that Louise had no knowledge of.
"Partners… That's…" She trailed off, was Partnership it really so bad? Erisdar is something akin to a Rhyme Dragon, only much stronger perhaps. So he's very smart, and he doesn't complain too much. "I guess we can be considered partners, as long as you remain my familiar?" It was something she was secretly afraid of, he's intelligent, he can make his own decisions… Erisdar could leave her… Then she'll be Louise the Zero all over again because the only proof of her magic left.
"I'm fine with that," Erisdar said. "It's my job to protect you, right? Partners do that too."
"And gather reagents," She corrected absently.
"Well, I don't know about your reagents but I'm knowledgeable about other items," The Chosen Dragon replied, pointing a talon at the ring in Louise's hand. "Like that Ring of Protection, you have in her palm."
"I knew it was called that… I came here asking that."
"I'm aware… Do you want to know more?"
She looked at the sitting dragonet, his wings folded and all four paws touching the ground. "Yes, it… It's like it told me its name when I held it."
He nodded, "Items do that, well, now they do, it's complicated. But what I'm saying is that all items have a description tied to it that tells you exactly what that particular item does. Some items are incredibly powerful and hold their own tie-in histories." The non-elemental dragonet explained.
Louise nodded and motioned for her familiar to continue.
"It gets hard to explain, some items increase stats-"
"Stats, sound dumb," Louise commented.
"Please don't interrupt… Just, stats are very important. They tell you what you're good at physically. Strength values your overall health, the amount of damage you can take before death. Agility revolves around speed while also increasing resistance to physical attacks. Then their Intelligence, which affects how large your magical reserves are and how quickly it restores itself."
"Intelligence sounds like the strongest," The pink-haired girl said her opinion, "It's about magic so it should be."
"That's your opinion, but what I'm saying is that there are many items that improve either of the three stats," Erisdar said, proud of his knowledge he gleaned from experiencing the Warcraft III universe. "Some items focus elsewhere, like increasing your speed alone or protecting you from attacks by-"
"Increasing resistance to physical attacks," Louise finished as she caught on to what he was referring to, the Ring of Protection. That is a very handy object and valuable, with such a ring mages didn't have to worry about things like arrows, musket balls, or blades in battle any longer.
"It increasing your 'Armor' rating, which is a term for how resistant you are." Erisdar finished, "Doesn't make you invincible, though, remember I said resistance, not invulnerability."
She nodded, "Agreed, only a fool would mistake that." Louise Valliere replied.
Erisdar strangely chuckles like as if he had done that particular mistake in the past. Then he got up and walked forward to the girl, hovering his paw over her hand before closing the girl's fingers over the ring.
"Keep it secret, keep it safe," He stated with a small grin, "Always have it on, items like this can't be stolen unless you willingly drop it somewhere or give it away. At least, that's what the items are supposed to be like."
"You sound like something could change that," Louise said.
"Well with everything happening who knows?" The dragon chuckled, "Oh, by the way, did Henrietta talk about the theft of something called the Staff of Destruction from the Academy's vault?"
"What!?"
Saito Hiraga felt that perhaps his pink haired, teenage, flat-chested, petite master had a bully problem at school. Sure he was a little slow on the intake but even he could notice that the bully problem tore apart at Louise's self-confidence and gave her a constant need to prove herself. It was perhaps the very reason she wasn't freaking the hell out when he explained the many mechanics of Warcraft III's influence in this world.
He didn't understand why exactly her peers mocked her, though, Louise soaked up explanations and information like a sponge and from what he knew, her academic grades utterly destroyed the competition. But time and time again he would catch the whispers in her direction, or most predominantly, the name calling when she failed a spell.
Louise the Zero.
Saito felt like an idiot for not realizing what that name truly meant when he first heard it when accidentally transporting himself inside the classroom that one time. But if there was anything he did know, is that she's been striving through this bullying for nearly two years already and that he marked her first magical success at spellcraft.
Not to mention, he's the only thing keeping her from being expelled due to what the teachers call sheer incompetence in mage spellcasting.
He couldn't help but grin, they were fools. They call him a slow learning back home but he knew there were many ways to cast magic in Life of a Dragon that didn't involve having the spells in the first place.
And from he knew of Louise, apparently the Warcraft System recognized her as a Hero class.
Otherwise, the Ring of Protection she now wore wouldn't give her its bonus, as units cannot use items after all.
Now where was he? Ah, yes, watching Louise do a bit of a foolish moment right now as the hidden inferiority complex gets to her. All the while going behind the excuse of because she is a noble.
Nobility doesn't grant you VIP access to everything.
"Headmaster, I'm responsible!" Louise exclaimed.
"Incorrect," the Headmaster Osmond said, "You were in the Medical Wing during this time and even if you were, the thief, Fouquet, has a whole day ahead of you."
Louise bit her lip in frustration, "Can't I do anything to help in the search events?"
He shook his head, "You should just stay at the Academy and continue your studies, Ms. Valliere."
Saito turned his head, looking at the teacher Ms. Longueville that was currently going through a small stack of papers. But strangely looked back now and then to Louise.
'Strange…' The Chosen Dragon player thought to himself, he walked up to Louise and nudged his head against her leg to get her attention from trying to convince the Headmaster. He tapped his talon against her shoe three times, a little code they came up with to indicate he had something to tell her.
"Very well, Headmaster, I'll drop it," Louise said.
Osmond nodded, "Now off you go."
The girl and her dragon familiar left the room and went down the hall to a more isolated location, looking around to see anyone they then entered an empty room and closed the door.
"What is it Erisdar? Can't you see I'm trying to help bring back the Staff of Destruction?" She questioned the human-turned-dragon.
"That's great and all, but the Headmaster won't allow that," Saito replied, "You'll have to do it by yourself or with others. I mean, I can easily search for it with my Blink ability because it allows me to travel quickly with short teleportations, but I can't fight well as a non-elemental."
"Right, no element, you said something about that earlier…" Louise trailed off, it seemed to irk her when she mentioned no element. She crossed her arms, fingers tapping on them as the girl expressed a thoughtful look.
"Doesn't someone else have a dragon for a familiar? Pretty sure I saw a type of blue dragon when Siesta was 'caring' for me." Saito Hiraga stated with a sarcastic remark of caring.
"Tabitha?" Louise said questionably, "She is the top spellcaster in the class and does have a grown dragon, does her dragon grow- No, you said only Chosen Dragons have that ability."
"How about we just ask?" He replied.
"Hopefully, Kirche isn't with her, she tends to talk to Tabitha now and then." Louise Valliere finished.
Meanwhile, outside of the doorway…
"Interesting… So the dragon can talk… Which means he might be able to use the Staff of Destruction because of the Gandalf runes, I'll have to plan this right but I might be able to use some… Assets in my favor." Ms. Longueville grinned, quietly stepping away and making her way back towards the Headmaster.
Unknown to them all, the Map Maker watches… Events are about to change...
Current Status:
Chosen Dragon Player 1: Saito Hiraga - Alive - Dragonet (Agility) Level 6
Chosen Dragon Player 2: Alex Storm - Alive - Hatchling (Strength) Level 2
Chosen Dragon Player 3: Asuna Godiva - Alive - Dragonet (Strength) Level 5
Chosen Dragon Player 4: Artos Archway - Alive - Dragonet (Agility) Level 7
Chosen Dragon Player 5: Cora Rune - Alive- Dragonet (Intelligence) Level 7
Dragon Slayer Player 6: Celdrahil - Alive - Slayer Level 7
Dragon Catcher Player 7: Rosina - Alive - Catcher Level 8
The Human Kingdom Player 8: Aylmer and Abigail - Alive - Royalty of Human Kingdom
The Fel Empire Player 9: Grom - Alive - King of Fel Empire
Mercenary Player 10: Elizabeth Loyal - Alive - Sorceress Level 2
Observer Map Maker: Map Maker - Alive - The World Editor