Author's Note: Thanks for all the support everyone, I'm glad you continue to enjoy the story.
Lazy Kaloz: It makes me happy to see another new reader say they enjoy the story! Also thanks for pointing that break in continuity! I'll be more careful in my writing, or try too at least!
Without further adieu, enjoy the chapter!
Life of a Zero Dragon
Chapter 15: Potential of Two
A being of incredible power stood watching over the world of Kayla. The Map Maker didn't know what the current world itself was called outside of the continent, but Life of a Dragon's world was named Kayla, and so he will call it as such until corrected otherwise by any information gleaned from its inhabitants by the Players. He had slept rather peacefully yesterday, all-powerful god he might now be, it brought him comfort that he still had human limits.
But three days, three days had passed in real time from the moment he slept. After awakening, he had checked the current situation of the Players. Thankfully none of them died, relieving him of some stress, some of them had leveled a little more but it seemed that the leveling process slowed in this new realm, possibly an invisible conflict between Warcraft III's rules and the rules of this world.
The Kingdom and Fel Empire was doing just fine, what with their armies and nations it would be hard for the player hero to die in the first place or be at any serious risk, at the same time their Hero Altars are well protected from outside forces or creeps.
Meanwhile, the Dragon Slayer and Catcher were leagues away from one another and would not probably meet anytime soon. Both players were separated by at least two nations, one being in Albion, and other in Gallia. On the plus side, they were growing strong quickly and seemed to be helping the local NPCs in whatever issue they have.
Mercenary-wise, the Sorceress had reached the fifth hero level and currently made her way southward into the Desert. The Map Maker didn't know whether or not the Players could feel temperature, but from what he saw with the Dragon Catcher, they were affected but had some resistance to the elements.
Deciding to take matters into his own hands for a brief instant, he created a trigger that would enable once she reaches a certain point into the desert. This would create a Bronze Dragonet that would approach and offer to guide her to the Bronze Dragon Nest while also allying the Dragons and Dragon Allies NPCs to the Mercenary Player just in case.
Event:
A unit owned by Elizabeth enters Desert Region.
Condition:
Unit-type of Triggering Unit equal to Sorceress.
Action:
Set MercVariable to Sorceress.
Create 1 Bronze Dragonet for Player Gray (Dragon NPCs) at center of Desert Region.
Set TempDragon to (Last Created Unit)
Order TempDragon to move toward target Sorceress.
Wait 20 Seconds
Game Text to Player Group - Elizabeth and display text "Greetings human hero of Kayla, I've been sent to guide you through the Desert towards the Bronze Dragon Nest by the Maker. If you'll follow me I will lead you down a safe and quicker path."
Order TempDragon to attack-move toward region Bronze Dragon Nest.
Turn off (This Trigger).
That was a relatively simple trigger to get the job done, turning off the trigger doesn't mean that it stops at the moment, it merely prevents the trigger itself from happening twice. Still, it was the single creation action of the Bronze Dragonet that drained the metaphysical battery life of the World Editor from it's fully charged 100% to 88%. Though it is far more efficient in conserving energy than placing the unit straight into the world, it took the time to create the trigger.
Nodding in a pleased moment that he took care of the Mercenary Player, Elizabeth, he turned his attention to the Chosen Dragons. Asuna seemed to be some strange errands, but she was avoiding dangers so she's fine. Artos himself seemed isolated from everything, but he had some close proximity to the Dragon Slayer the further he journeyed.
The Map Maker was sure the Slayer would put aside his namesake to help a fellow player.
Alex remained in the safety of the Bronze Dragons but still remained a hatchling. With the Mercenary coming towards his direction they could team up and allow Alex to safely grow to the Dragonet stage. Cora Rune in the meantime seemed to be having some trouble finding a Dragon Nest to choose her element.
The Blue Dragons were nearby her location, but she had to journey north away from that cottage she stayed around so much. The Map Maker made a tiny trigger that merely told her the general direction and where to head to.
85%.
Now for Saito Hiraga…
From all the other players, Saito probably had the oddest location. It was a magical school of all things which sounded like it was ripped from anime or someone really liked Harry Potter.
The Map Maker zoomed into Saito's location, the Chosen Dragon Player was currently in conversation with the NPC, Louise Francoise Le Blanc De La Valliere. Oddly enough, she currently had a Ring of Protection + 1 in her inventory, her Stats page revealing that indeed, her Armor Rating has increased by one as long as she wore the item.
The Map Maker only assumed that the player had made friends with the girl, or wished to protect an ally. He didn't mind, it lightened his heart to know that the Player made something cherishable in this strange world.
Still, it appeared that they were being listened in on. The Map Maker briefly examined the eavesdroppers status page, whom unlike the pink haired teenager, had all the information readily available for reading. She did not have the best intentions for the Chosen Dragon and his newly made friend.
Something must be done.
Louise Francoise Le Blanc De La Valliere had little clue on how she actually managed to convince Tabitha, who turned out to be a Chevalier as well, to actually go through with coming with her. She even brought Erisdar, who she now values as a wellspring of information, to the side to really check with him to make sure she heard what Tabitha said was right.
He acknowledged what she had heard, and also said that it would be wise to know information of where Fouquet could possibly be.
This, Louise, agreed too. Louise's opinion of the Chosen Dragon continued to shift for the better with each passing day with him by her side. Erisdar had shown her, and explained, concepts and ideas that baffled her to the point it was hard to believe such things existed, yet here he was, with plenty of proof to back it.
The noble girl wondered why she had never heard of these things before, but that was for another time.
"Wait!"
Louise and Erisdar looked toward the direction of the sound while Tabitha continued reading a novel of some description. The Valliere girl's face instantly contorted into one of annoyance.
"What do you want, Zerbst?" Louise questioned with simmering frustration.
"Why, I want to join your little charade to retrieving the Staff of Destruction of course." The rather very tanned skinned, red haired, Kirche von Anhalt Zerbst stated.
Louise was not convinced.
"Don't give me that look, I'm sure Tabitha would enjoy my company," Kirche said, looking towards the small short-haired girl who continued to seemingly ignore her.
"Well…" Tabitha replied, but didn't finish her sentence in the slightest.
"See, she agrees." The robust women finished.
"No, no, no!" Louise denied it repeatedly, "You're not coming with us, I'll find the Staff of Destruction without your help, Zerbst!" She pointed accusingly at Kirche with anger laced in her voice.
Erisdar avoided getting into the upcoming conversation, instead opting to lay down in the grass and just stare into the open in thought. Louise couldn't help but feel like she was let alone with this frustrating character that belonged to her family's 'rival'.
Thankfully, the school secretary Ms. Longueville interrupted to an almost commonplace argument between the Valliere and the Zerbst. Stopping the increasingly angry argument from turning into an all out cat fight.
Erisdar raised his head as the Salamander the size of himself came into view, but the moment the creature came close he growled, causing it to step back.
"I think my familiar likes yours," Kirche.
'More like Erisdar would eat it if it comes too close' Louise thought to herself, almost finding a pleasurable sight at the image of her dragon familiar destroying the Zerbst's own.
"Now students, what's this I hear about trying to retrieve the Staff of Destruction?" Ms. Longueville asked, causing Louise to face her.
"We decided to retrieve it to restore the reputation of the Academy!" Louise replied proudly, her stance reflecting her voice.
"I'm going so that she doesn't take all the fame," Kirche answered.
"Asked," Tabitha replied with a single word.
Longueville hid a smile, "Well it's good timing, I so happened to be assigned in seeking out the Staff and I have a very good lead to where it's located along with Fouquet. I'm sure such prestiged nobles as yourselves will be very helpful in bringing it back to the Academy."
Saito Hiraga, also known as Erisdar by Louise, felt like something was currently off about the current flow of progress. It hadn't anything to do with the pink-haired tsundere of a master, but it was more revolved around Longueville herself. But he couldn't put a talon on what it could be about her that bothered him so.
Saito lay against one of the sides of the wooden carriage, his face looking into the woods but his mind absent from the world. He chooses to completely ignore the ranting between his 'master' and the perverted woman, Kirche in favor of just appreciating the sights. It also seemed the girl named Tabitha followed suit in favor of reading, he wondered what exactly she was reading in the first place.
The Chosen Dragon's head shot up in alarm, something just came over them, something extremely powerful.
Tabitha noticed this, "Louise," She said, getting the Zero's attention. "Erisdar." She pointed toward his direction.
Louise pushed Kirche out of the way and looked toward her familiar, "What is it Erisdar? Did you spot Fouquet?"
He lay his day back down, but remained cautious, 'Could it be another Warcraft creep? Or perhaps something entirely new to Life of a Dragon? Whatever it is, I don't want to meet it as a Dragonet.'
The horse carriage stopped, Longueville exited while pointing toward a distant dingy household. "We've arrived."
Louise stepped off, looking at the place where Fouquet could possibly be at. "Erisdar," She said, gathering Saito's attention at his draconic name. "Scout it out, you can blink out if it's dangerous."
The Chosen Dragon nodded to this, it made sense since he had a reliable escape method.
While the rest of the Academy students prepared themselves, the first player, Saito Hiraga, hovered himself towards the worn down house. With every flap of his wings he drew closer, already he felt like something was wrong, such places like these were death traps in RPGs. But he knew Life of a Dragon Sequel to be challenging yet fair to both veterans and new players alike, so it is unlikely that death awaited him in such an instantaneous moment.
He glanced into the window, taking notice that it is clear of anyone being there. Still, experiencing in RPG gaming spoke caution to him. He could only briefly imagine what he would do if he never got into roleplaying, probably yell back and say everything is okay.
Saito entered the house through the window, as going through the door is easier to make a trap for. He looked around, examining the insides of the building. But it revealed nothing out of the ordinary. But just in case, he observed his surroundings one more time and spotted a rectangular shaped box.
The moment he grasped it, it vanished and he felt like he was holding something.
'Where did… Ah… I forgot that Dragonets have an Inventory now.' He thought to himself. The Dragonet focused on his Inventory and quickly saw in his mind a single slot that holds…
'The Staff of Destruction?' But before he could read its description he heard his master.
"Erisdar! Help!" A voice of Louise screamed from outside.
The Chosen Dragon activated his Blink spell instantly, disappearing and reappearing outside the household only to take a step back in shock at the gigantic earth golem before him.
"Crap…" He couldn't help but voice out loud.
"Fireball!" Louise yelled with her wand pointing a huge creation, an explosion of smoke smashing against the exterior of the golem. But it did little to scratch it.
A fury of fire and wind suddenly surrounded it, but the monster walked through it with little ease. The spellcraft of Kirche and Tabitha proving futile against the solid structure that made the giant earth golem.
'Probably high level, it may look like it took no damage but its health bar would show differently if I could view it. Unfortunately, that never crossed over to this world!' Saito thought as he felt the cooldown for his ability trigger off and he activated it once more, teleporting protectively in front of Louise Valliere.
Tabitha and Kirche were little ways, allowing him to talk to his master.
"I'll distract it, you keep casting those explosions!" Saito said to her while growling here and there.
"But they aren't doing anything, I can't do anything else!" Louise stated with hopelessness in her voice. "I'm a zero…"
He turned around quickly, hovering in the air allowing him to speak face to face to the girl.
"Listen!" He exclaimed, "I don't care what anyone else says about you! The only thing I care about this moment is you, and defeating the golem! You might not be able to cast regular spells, but damn you can cast some mean explosions! Now cast, Louise, cast!"
"Tch, fine!" Louise raised her wand at the golem and yelled with anger, "Fireball!"
Her wand lit up brightly, and something tiny shot out of with incredible speed, impacting against the right shoulder of the golem, blowing it apart and causing it to stagger backward due to the sheer force of the explosion.
Louise had a facial expression of shock, "I-I did that?"
"Yes you did, that was amazing!" Saito yelled, "But don't stop, keep casting! Show it! Show it your potential! Prove them all wrong!" He felt sorta inspiration, but he had to act too! There's only so much Louise could keep using her explosions before her mana ran dry, or Willpower, whatever it's called!
"I can't believe I have to step in for this!" Another voice, eerily familiar, shouted as a cloaked figure came into view on top of the unblown right shoulder.
"Is that Fouquet?" Louise questioned while keeping her wand raised.
"I think so," Saito answered, "What's she doing?"
Fouquet waved her wand while whispering some sort of incantation, then suddenly the Golem's blown up left shoulder started to repair itself!
"Damn, regeneration. We've got to counter that by doing as much damage as possible as fast as possible!" Saito yelled while activating his Blink and appearing near the legs of the golem, his Gandalf runes glowing on his paw as he also used his Fast, Very Fast attribute ability. He moved with inhuman speed, clawing and slashing all across the knees of the earth creature.
"Fireball! Fireball!" Louise continued to chant, each explosion racking harshly against the Golem, suffering great damage but repairing it all the same. "Erisdar it's not working, it's recovering too quickly!"
"We have to defeat Fouquet first then!"
A flame reached upward at the hooded figure, but Fouquet used the Golem's hand to block it with ease.
"This is harder than I thought," Kirche said, strangely from up high.
Tabitha whistled loudly, making Saito glance towards the sound find her in the sky riding on top a blue dragon, well, a kind of blue dragon he assumed. It looked much different than Warcraft or Life of a Dragon's own dragonkin.
Erisdar teleported quickly out of the way of being smashed, appearing next to Louise once again who breathed heavily from the lack of stamina.
"Got anymore plans?" Louise said in between breaths.
"I have the Staff of Destruction, we can try using that on her but we need a distraction."
"You have it, where? I don't see it," The explosive mage replied.
Saito 'clicked' on the metaphysical icon of the Staff of Destruction within his Inventory, causing it appear. "I can't use it, I don't have hands. So you'll have to use it instead." The knowledge of how to use this Rocket Launcher came rushing into his hand, he had little time on why he knew how to use it and more focused on a quick explanation to tell Louise how.
Louise nodded, grasping hold of the item and desperately trying to understand how to use it as her familiar explained in a hasty matter.
"I got it!" Louise said as she held the 'Staff of Destruction' on her shoulder.
"Look out!" Kirche yelled from above on Tabitha's familiar.
"Dang it!" Saito yelled as she tackled Louise out of the way, the Staff of Destruction dropping on the ground, a giant golem's hand smashing on top of him.
"Erisdar!" He heard Louise's scream through the pain he was experiencing.
His vision blurring…
Darkness enveloping him…
'No… I can't… Not this way…' He thought to himself.
"Chosen Dragon…"
'Not… Yet…'
"Death will not have any hold on you this day…"
He felt his body's pain start to fade… His vision recollecting quickly as the light of the sun came back.
He hadn't died yet… Merely, he was close to it. Something interrupted it.
"Aid will come forth, you have but one shot, Chosen Dragon… Defeat it… Defeat the Golem, Saito Hiraga..."
"E-Erisdar?" Louise's voice was heard.
He opened his eyes, his entire dragonet body giving with waves of blue mana, brightly illuminating the surrounding area as Saito stood on all four paws. Mystical currents of magical energy radiating off him.
"Show the world, your potential!"
A new skill in his abilities.
Chosen Potential.
All requirements met.
Release it.
In that moment, the energy around him converged together over his draconic body. He roared, and it followed suit devastating shockwave of powerful magic, blowing back everyone before a royal blue beam shot forward and blinded everyone.
Current Status:
Chosen Dragon Player 1: Saito Hiraga - Alive - Dragonet (Agility) Level 8
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