The time a writer reincarnated into a new world

by booklover123az

A sickly old man passes away with a few regrets. Reincarnating into a new world as an Archdragon he sets out into the new world to live his life to the fullest and to keep his promises. With a new life of danger and adventure he would use his new skills and his past as a light novel and manga writer to change his life and the world around him. R for sexual content later on.

5. Chapter 5- Companions

'Thoughts'

"Journal"

"Talking"

[Skills]

{Special moves/arts}

Words of the World

'Greatsage/Raphael'

I could no longer stay in that dark space in my mind, and with my strength having returned I opened my eyes.

I must have been asleep for several hours seeing how dark it was now, checking with my [parallel process], I knew the sun had set more than an hour ago.

I also noticed that I was laying on the ground not leaning against one of the Lesser dragons or rather Arch-dragons. Speaking of which, as I sat up I noticed both dragons were a few meters away, both had nearly doubled in size and were currently growling at something or someone I couldn't see past their new bulk.

I walked over to the two, I could feel their caution and defensiveness shift as I walked between them and placed a hand on both their sides. Their tension eased but neither dropped their guard, still they shifted to allow me to move in front of them.

"Ryuu!"

"Are you all right?"

"What happened to you?"

The exclamations came from the members of Silver Azaleas which was a bit confusing, they should have been far from this place escorting the merchants. Had they abandoned their responsibility to help me? How long had they been waiting?

I had several questions for them but I set those aside for the moment when I saw the strange expressions on their faces.

They looked at me with mostly confused expressions that quickly shifted, Val was eyeing me with some suspicion, her hand was rather close to her dagger. Her twin Elyon already had her longbow in hand and had an arrow notched and ready to draw and fire at a moment's notice.

Elasha was gripping her staff tightly and looked like she was struggling to keep herself still, her eyes shifted from my new arch-dragon companions and me. She looked mostly concerned and confused whenever she looked at me.

Ivy looked just as concerned as her but she seemed more curious than anything, her wide eyes shined with curiosity and I could practically see the storm of questions behind her eyes. She wasn't even holding her staff, instead, she had her journal and quill at the ready.

Saria was the one that surprised me the most, her expression after initial confusion and concern had changed into a blank expression that gave no hint as to what she was thinking. Still, her eyes were piercing as if she was trying to read my mind, her stance was tense, and with her hand on her hilt, it was clear she was ready for a fight.

The hostile stance made sense considering the pair of dragons at my side had caused the attack by the Earth Dragon. But what confused me was how their suspicion was aimed more at me, I took a step closer and raised my hand to try to calm them down when I caught sight of my arm, more specifically of the scales running along its length.

I was still in my hybrid form meaning there was no way to pass myself off as a human, I let out a sigh and mentally kicked myself for my carelessness. There was no point in trying to make up some excuse not that I could think of one that could be even remotely convincing.

"Well…it looks like I have some explaining to do. Could you put your weapons down, please? I promise I don't want to fight you guys." I gave them what I hoped was a reassuring smile and kept my voice calm. I was betting on the impressions I got from them that they would be willing to talk this out.

Saria answered, her voice just as cold as her eyes, "And what about those two?" I glanced back to my new companions who were still glaring at the team of elven women.

I felt for the bond between us and tapping into my new skill [thought communication], I sent them an understanding that the elves were friends and were not to be harmed. I also shared my belief that they wouldn't attack or harm me unless we attacked them first.

They accepted my belief and relaxed their stances, their watchful gaze was now neutral with a slightly detached curiosity.

With the bond between us, I knew deep down that they would not go against my wishes so I was able to speak with complete confidence. "As long as you don't attack us they won't attack you. I give you my word."

Saria kept on staring at me and my dragon companions, her stare stayed just as intense trying to discern if I was being truthful no doubt. Before she could give her approval or disapproval she was interrupted by Ivy.

As soon as I had given my word Ivy rushed over to me, she stopped with her face barely an inch away. Her eyes were bright as she started to let out a swarm of questions, "So are you a Majin? Some kind of lizard man? Why are those dragons acting loyal to you? Can you understand them? Wait if those are the same dragons as before…how are they so big now? Did they evolve? Wait, are you taller now?"

Her questions were all done with no breath in between and fast enough to leave me needing a second to process them all, at least it felt like it, but was probably less due to my skills.

The last question caught me off guard as I realized she was right, I had grown and given where my head was compared to her's I must be around 144cm now which I could only assume my sudden growth must have been from my recent evolution.

But I had no time to wonder about that phenomenon as I found myself once again having that cute pouting expression aimed at me from Ivy. Her eyes glimmered with curiosity and excitement, it was such an endearing expression that I felt any resistance that I might have had crumbled away.

However, given I felt we would be in for a long talk I insisted we set up a small fire so we could talk. Even as the thoughts ran through my mind, the dragons got to their feet and moved quickly making Saria and her companions tense and ready their weapons.

Their tense expressions shifted to confusion as they watched one of the dragons grab a fallen tree and with a swipe of their claws remove the upper part with all the branches before dragging it over. Setting it down a few feet in front of the elves paying no mind to their weapons.

The other dragon knocked over another large tree before doing the same as its kin. Though it did break off a chunk of the tree and set the smaller chunk in the middle of me and the other log and then set it ablaze with a small puff of its firebreath.

Then it set the larger part of the tree in front of me before settling itself on my right while its kin settled on my left. Their heads were next to the log apparently waiting for me to take a seat.

I was just as shocked as the others watching the pair of dragons, 'Could their evolution have increased their intelligence?'

That seemed like the most probable explanation, if dragons gained wisdom and intelligence as they aged it was possible evolution had allowed them to grow smarter. It was something I would have to investigate in the future.

The group looked at me with unspoken questions that didn't unspoken for long since Ivy began another fast pace series of questions. That seemed to break the ice since the tension in the air dissipated and the other broke into a smile.

Once everyone was seated before the fire I started by explaining that I was not a majin, at least not that I knew off. The term majin was so broad it was only good for referring to beings with magical abilities but it didn't apply to all magical beings such as magical beasts like dragons.

I wasn't sure how to explain what I was without starting with the day I arrived in this world though. I made the beginning as vague as I could simply saying I had woken up in a cave and going on with my adventures since that day.

I described the fights I had since I arrived including my fight with the King Sea serpent, I even produced one of the massive horns it had on its head, each one was at least 165cm with the largest being 185cm with the bottom diameter being about 83cm.

That left them speechless for a short time before everyone started to ask questions as well, so after much talking, I ended my story with the recent events.

My battle with the Earth dragon, my interaction with the Fire dragon, my connection with the lesser dragons, my promise, and in the end my evolution into a unique monster called the Elemental Arch-dragon and the evolution of the lesser dragons.

By the end, it was Saria who spoke up with a question that left me puzzled and shocked with the implications, "So you're an otherworlder?"

Then it was my turn to ask what an otherworlder was, though by the very word I already had an idea. And so I learned that people from my world had been appearing in this world for almost all of history, with some being summoned to this world instead of accidentally crossing over.

By the end, I was fascinated by the revelation and utterly disgusted to hear that countries would willingly steal people away from their homes and families to serve as supposed heroes when really it was more like they were treated as living weapons.

It was a side of the Isekai theme that was distasteful if you stopped to think about it from the perspective of the people who are being summoned . But only now that I was in a similar position did I truly appreciate how horrible such a situation would be.

Even if I had been given a new life at the end of my own I still felt the pain of being pulled away from those I loved dearly. From that dark thought, another question rose, "Wait but they always show up as humans? And they either are summoned or just appear in a copy of their original bodies? They never die and reincarnate or appear as another species?"

The answer was that otherworlders always appeared as they were in their homeworld, same body, and appearance, down to their age. Never had anyone in the group heard of a reincarnation into another body that wasn't human making me one of a kind as far as they knew.

And in order to explain my question I ended up telling them about my death and a few things about my past. I didn't feel like telling my life's story and they seemed to sense that as they didn't pry any further into my past life.

'Hm…this is sounding more and more unbelievable. Somehow I reincarnated into a dragon body and managed to obtain all this power. But why me? Was it just dumb luck? What about that voice from before? The way it spoke made it seem like it was just observing me…'

I stared down at my hands trying to process everything, my last thoughts before dying had been about my family and the character I hadn't finished with my great niece and nephew.

It had been with them I designed the first skills I now possessed. It seemed I owed them much, for helping me get through the past few years and now for helping me to survive in this new world.

My musings were interrupted when someone cleared their throat, I looked up to see Saria staring at me, her expression had softened into a warm smile that was more like how she was when we first met.

"Well, I gotta say cutie you've been through quite a bit. Dying and reincarnating into our world, killing some seriously powerful monsters right off the bat as well." Her smile grew into a grin and she stared at me pointedly.

Her companions stared at her with deadpanned expressions on their faces, it took me a second to realize their reason. "...did you really just make a pun?"

Saria's grin grew wider and she nodded, not in the slightest bit bothered by how poorly her joke was received. Her behavior was almost enough to make me chuckle, almost.

"Putting aside any bad puns," Elasha said as she stopped giving her leader the stink eye. "I am glad you told us all this Ryuu, or would you like us to call you by your past name? I assume you didn't give us a name out of fear we might accidentally name you and endanger our own lives?"

It was a surprise that she had been able to figure that out so quickly, "Well you're right, I don't fully understand the whole naming process so it's better to be safe than sorry. So please keep calling me Ryuu."

They all nodded and Elasha continued speaking, "Alright then, I appreciate how much thought you put into not harming anyone. Though you have no need to worry, even if someone were to try to give you a name you would feel the process about to begin and you could easily deny it and there would be no negative effects on either party."

I smiled, relieved to have confirmation that someone calling me by the name I gave wouldn't activate the naming process and harm them. I chose not to tell them my original name though, not out of a lack of trust, despite the short time we had known each other I had gotten a strong feeling that they were trustworthy people.

Elyon spoke up next, out of the two twins she was the quietest, she seemed to be more the type of listening and learning rather than making a careless comment. "You said you promised to investigate what's happening to the dragons. Do you have any plans on what your first move will be?"

That was a question I had been wondering myself, the memories I had received didn't give me too much information or rather they gave me too much information.

I would need time to sort through everything. Even now my [parallel process] was organizing the memories and absorbing the knowledge and passing it along to me in a slow process, or not so slow, cause now that I paid attention to it I noticed that the flow of information was much faster and smoother than I thought.

Not only that, but the rate that [parallel process] was going was much faster than before. I could feel my skill being connected to [optimize], [muscle memory], and [sage].

The result was a huge leap in processing ability and all in all my skills felt different as if each had grown a little stronger and more efficient, I would need to reanalyze my skills later.

Elyon seemed to have taken my silence for confirmation of her thoughts, "I see…well if you don't mind me saying so why don't you consider becoming an adventurer? If you rise up the ranks to an A-rank you would have access to a lot of assistance and information like the magic library in Ingrassia at the HQ of the guilds.

Not to mention you should consider getting yourself some good gear. Though it's not easy to become such a high ranking adventurer, you need to prove that your worthy of such a rank by having some noteworthy achievements."

Her twin Valindra nodded in agreement as she added," My sis is right, it sounds like you're pretty tough but it would still be a good idea to get yourself a good sword in Dwargon. We know an amazing blacksmith, his work is well known all over the nations."

They both made excellent points, and I would be lying if I wasn't tempted by the idea of becoming an adventurer. It would be a dream come true to go on official adventures and considering I had already beaten two special A-rank monsters it would make sense to be an A-rank adventurer.

And the thought of getting access to actual magic texts and maybe meeting other magic users was amazing. Plus I might be able to meet other people from my old world, maybe even from Japan.

By that point in my thoughts, I was sold on the idea, but then I remembered a very important fact I was overlooking in my excitement. "That does sound like a great plan but I don't know anything about using a sword, really I don't have any experience with weapons. My knives are more for utility than combat."

Contrary to what I was expecting it was Ivy who spoke next, seeming to be thinking the same thing as the twins. "Oh no need to worry, Saria here is one of the best swordmasters in all the western nations. She may not be quite on the same level as the king of Dwargon or Hinata Sakaguchi. But she is still a true master of the blade and aside from those two she's never met anyone who can beat her with a sword."

I may not recognize those names so I had no way to compare just how impressive those two people are but given the way Ivy spoke of them and the way the others were reacting I felt safe in assuming they were highly skilled. And if they truly were all that, then if Saria was nearly as good as them it seemed Saria was more formidable than I had initially thought.

Saria gave an embarrassed smile but I could see the pride swelling with the compliments of her companions. "Well, I wouldn't say that no one else is capable of beating me, there's an old ogre in the Forest of Jura who may not be able to match me due to his old age but his technical skill is still good enough to give me a challenge."

She patted the sheathed sword at her side and puffed out her chest, her breasts pressed against her leather gear looking as if they would spill out if she kept on pressing. "Still, I think we might be able to make a deal. I'm willing to train you in the sword but I gotta warn you, I won't be going easy on you." Her expression shifted to something likely intended to be ominous, but her grin was more than enough to tell she was thinking something mischievous.

The expression sent a shiver down my spine but oddly enough I felt something deep inside me become excited at the challenge. I tried to ignore the sudden urge to fight to ask, "That is a tempting offer, but I have to ask. Why make me such an offer? What do you want in return?"

I wasn't naive enough to just believe they would offer something like this for nothing, they clearly had an idea of what they wanted in return. Even people who seemed kind and generous could have hidden agendas I may not agree with.

The group glanced at each other before Saria spoke, her grin faded and she became serious once again. "Look Ryuu, the truth is we owe you. If you hadn't shown up and taken care of our dragon problem there is every chance we would have failed our quest and more importantly people might have died. My team would have been able to escape, maybe not unharmed but we would have escaped with our lives if we were willing to abandon the merchants and the other team."

I blinked in surprise hearing her use the name I gave them rather than her nickname for me, but I was also taken aback by the declaration that she would have abandoned the others. And her expression and tone said that she was deathly serious.

I should have been upset to hear she would be willing to do such a thing, but the practical side of me could acknowledge the logic behind such an action.

If they couldn't win then running was the most logical action, my father's words came to me, 'In war even honor will take a back seat for survival. It is a horrendous thing to say but it is true when they say it's survival of the fittest.'

This may not be a war like the one he had participated in but it was still a war for survival. The memories of the Fire dragon echoed in my head, scenes of brutal fights and acts of survival from other races as well as the dragons.

And perhaps it was also the changes I was experiencing in this new body but I couldn't bring myself to judge her or the others for what they were willing to do to survive.

"Don't get us wrong, we wouldn't be happy about it and it would have been our last resort. But still…thanks to you are all alive and well. And we believe in paying back our debts, so this is the least we can do." Ivy glanced at me with a worried look in her eyes as she tried to express her sincerity in her words.

I gave them a small smile and nodded to show I understood and held no negative thoughts about them.

Each of them smiled in return before Saria continued though she seemed a little nervous now, perhaps she was reluctant to admit what she would say next. "We have other reasons for wanting your assistance one of them being that we don't have a fast way of traveling long distance in a short amount of time aside from Ivy and Elasha's teleportation spell but it's a very draining spell with limited distance."

That made me raise an eyebrow, I had wondered if teleportation magic was possible and I was already wondering how exactly it worked and if I could use my skills to use said magic. But I also had to wonder exactly why they needed to move around so fast and why more normal forms of transportation weren't enough.

Surely there had to be magical creatures or special animals they could use, the horses the caravan had been using seemed to have greater speed and strength than their counterparts from my world, at least as far as I could tell.

Having no doubt sensed my questions given how preceptive she was Saria continued, "You see the elven population isn't exactly united. There are a few groups of elves, the dark elves such as myself and Elfrenda mostly live within the domain of the Demon Lord Clayman in the Puppet Nation of Jistarv, though I'm not from that nation.

The majority of the elves and high-elves live in the elven nation of the Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion, that's where Elasha is from. Then there is a small group of elves that live in the Armed Nation of Dwargon. And finally, there is a settlement of elves in the Great Forest of Jura, that's where Valindra and Elyon are from."

I remained silent taking in all the information, I wondered why the elves were so separated if they already had a nation of elves. Looking at how the group got along it didn't seem like their different nations of origin had any effect on how they got along.

After a few seconds, Saria continued her explanation, "Well we often get jobs from the different groups to provide assistance or carry messages. We still do jobs for the guild but the elven groups are our main concern. The problem is the distance between the groups can cause issues for us and there are few creatures that could provide us with the speed we need to go from place to place."

She looked pointedly at the two dragons on either side of me, they didn't seem to be paying much attention to the conversation but I could feel their interest through our bond.

They may not understand what the words meant but I could feel the information passing through me into them, the bond we shared giving them the emotions and impressions they needed to understand in their own form of communication.

"So you want me to join your team and provide transportation in exchange, you'll train me to use a sword? As well as helping me adjust to this world?" The deal seemed pretty fair, I could learn and see more about this world, learn how to use a sword which honestly was a dream come true, and more importantly, I would be able to prepare and gather information as to what could be happening to the dragons.

Still, before I could give them an answer I had to check with my new companions. Knowing that they were not wild beasts most considered them to be, it would be wrong to make an agreement without their consent.

They were already vaguely aware of the discussion even if the details weren't that clear. But with some more careful communication, they fully understood the offer and both gave me feelings of acceptance.

It seemed that they would both follow my will, the sense of loyalty I felt from both of them was a little overwhelming and left us with no doubts about their obedience.

With those feelings, I accepted the offer much to the delight of the group. Saria did mention we would need to wait until I was registered with the guild in Dwargan before I could register as a member of the team.

Despite that, the group welcomed me with a few claps on the shoulder and hugs. Despite my new height, I was still short enough for Saria and Elahsa to press my face into their chests. Though this time it was just for a brief moment I still found myself enjoying the embrace, just a little.

Perhaps it was the happy environment or the memories I had during my evolution but I didn't feel as guilty as before, a welcome relief.

After the welcome came a rather difficult question, "So what are we going to do with the dragons? They can't exactly go into Dwargon with us." It was Elyon who pointed this out, I had been thinking about it as well once I had accepted the deal.

I had some ideas that I thought would hopefully allow me to keep them close by and hopefully keep them safe while boosting my reputation. I asked a few questions if there were any people who could tame beasts, both mundane and magical. As well as how powerful dragons were seen among the guild members.

As it turns out Beast Tamers were very rare, though most were actually summoners who formed contracts with magical beasts or monsters. They could summon the monster to fight with them but if the summoner wasn't strong enough the monster could break free and go out of control. A member of the guild in a branch of the Ingrassia guilds is able to summon a lesser demon being one of the most noteworthy summoners.

As for dragons, they were treated as exceptionally powerful monsters, even the Lesser dragons were considered to be at least A-rank threats. With that information I gave them my idea, I would give the others and anyone who asked a story that would also explain my background.

I would tell people that I am an otherworlder who possessed the unique skill [converter] as well as the skill [bond]. In a world where such things weren't that uncommon, it would be a good way to cover up why I had so much power.

And using those skills I was able to defeat the Attribute Dragons and tamed the Lesser dragons who helped me in the fight causing them to evolve into Arch Dragons. My unusual hair and eye color would just be explained as a result of my exposure to all the magicules when I was transported into this world.

It was agreed my story should be good enough for most people, though I would only tell the story if I had to. I could even use my original name with my story. So long as I rejected any attempts to name me, but I rejected the idea.

I wanted to leave my old name behind, clinging to it would be the same as clinging to my past life, something I would never have back, and longing for things that were impossible to have could keep you from seeing what was in front of you. A lesson I had learned before but one I had needed to remind myself of in this new world.

With all the details discussed we prepared to leave, I snapped my fingers to put out the fire like before using sound waves and I noticed that it was even easier than before. I didn't even have to think about it to activate my skill.

I switched back into my human form and in order to catch up with the rest of the group we all climbed onto the dragons' backs. With their new size, three people could fit behind the base of their necks though it was a bit of a squeeze. I could have just flown myself but one of the dragons, the one who had flown during a forming twister, nudged me with their snout again and again.

Examining the bond revealed she wanted me to ride on her back, and with how much she wanted to carry me I felt no reason to deny her. Ivy and Saria rode with me, Ivy in front of me and Saria behind. I felt my face heat slightly once seated, I could feel Saria's ample breasts pressing against my back, and even though their leather armor, I could feel both the girls' body heat on either side of me.

The other three rode on the other dragon's back and setting aside my embarrassment I gave the dragons the okay to fly. The initial jump into the air caused some of the others to let out shouts of surprise, Ivy being one of them, she leaned back pressing me closer to Saria. Saria on the other hand let out a shout filled with excitement.

The dragons flapped their wings quickly rising several dozen meters above the treeline giving a good view of the ground below. Thanks to the light of the moon and stars there was plenty of light to see and once we leveled out Saria was able to point in the direction they had traveled from.

The night was calm with barely a breeze allowing the dragon to fly smoothly, thanks to my enhanced senses I could pick up on everyone's reactions. It seemed that after the initial rush they were quickly adapting to the feeling of flight.

For me this new form of flying was a little odd due to me being used to flying under my own power. It was relaxing to allow another to do the flying for me, though it didn't give the same feeling of freedom.

There wasn't much talk as even with the calm night what wind there was made it more difficult to hear each other's voices. At least for the elves, I could still use my skills to project my voice over the sound of the wind and hear their responses as easily as if they were speaking directly into my ear.

That was how I got the rest of the story of what happened after they left, as it turns out they spent several hours shifting from jogging to walking to resting but not stopping. They ended up covering enough ground to catch up to their original schedule and then some. In the end, once they were sure they had gotten enough distance the group ended up finding a decently hidden clearing not far from the trail they had planned to take the rest of the way.

That was when Saria and the group made the choice to return to look for me, it had caused an argument between the three groups. The merchants not wanting to lose their strongest guards, though it seemed like the leader of merchants Clive Hathaway had wanted to allow the elven group to go. But he had to think of the safety of the group as a whole and their merchandise. The Bladed Brothers group remained neutral but they had shown concern for my safety.

The end result was to allow the elves to leave but they must return before sunrise or else they would be reported to the guild and would likely be dropped in rank or receive a hefty fine for breaking their agreement.

Learning what they had risked in order to find me and make sure I was safe warmed my heart and reinforced my view of the team of elves. Even if they couldn't have made me the offer they had I would still have been tempted to travel with them for a time.

In the short time I spent with them I had no desire to go back to the isolation I had been living in, it was due to staying busy with my research and keeping track of my thoughts in my journal that I hadn't noticed how lonely it was. 'Though I suppose I'm not alone anymore am I?'

I glanced around at the elves then I felt for the new feeling deep in my chest, the bond felt like a gently vibrating cord leading to the two dragons. From it, I felt their constant companionship, a gentle warmth that made me smile whenever I tapped into the bond. I could feel their happiness for the bond as well, I might have been able to shut off the connection or restrict it but I had no desire to lose the feeling.

Finding the group wasn't difficult, using my [Magic Sense] along with [Sound Manipulation] I was quickly able to pick up the sound of a crackling fire and human voices. Thanks to [Sound Manipulation] I could ignore any sounds that weren't what I was looking for so there was no danger of being overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, when we landed next to the clearing I realized I hadn't thought about how the group would react to two Arch-dragons landing next to their camp. Needless to say, there was a lot of shouting and weapons drawn.

It took quite a bit of time to calm everyone down enough to explain, once I was able to get them to listen I gave them a shortened version of the fight. I kept out mentions about what was happening in the dragons' domain, I didn't want to cause a panic and so far there had only been one incident.

By the time I was done everyone was staring at me with open looks of shock, they glanced over the two Arch-dragons who were calmly resting where they landed showing no signs of aggression. They even allowed Ivy to gently pat one on the snout with little more than a slight puff of air from their nostril. They both seemed to have taken a liking to the elves, probably because of my own feelings.

Saria then took the lead after I finished my explanation and personally assured them the dragons were not an active threat and in fact were a great boon. After all, even the fierce monsters from the Great Forest of Jura would hesitate before attacking a pair of Arch-dragons. And given we would be passing on the outskirts of the forest it meant we should have a much safer journey.

That seemed to ease some of the tension, seeing how she was able to have such an influence made me wonder if Saria was well known. The others seemed to put a lot of faith in her words even the merchants were put more at ease. I made a mental note to ask her and the rest of her group more about themselves.

That night with everyone so exhausted I offered to take most of the watch, I pointed out I could just rest in the wagon the next day. Not that I needed the sleep, I felt even better than I had before the fight. No doubt my evolution had some serious effects on my body and skills, really I would have preferred to stay in one place for a few days to test out what I could do.

The others seemed tempted but refused my offer, I could guess some of their reasons and I couldn't blame them for being hesitant to leave their protection to me given my new companions.

Saria once again stepped in and offered that her team would take up watch duty that night. That once settled them down and after a quick meal during which time everyone kept watching me and the dragons who seemed to have gone to sleep.

Once the meal was over everyone turned in for the night without much talk, it was clear they were exhausted after the events of the day. 'Funny, I was the one who did all the fighting and they're the ones who seemed so tired.'

I chuckled and set myself to analyzing myself and my skills. I learned my lesson and I planned to do a daily analysis and keep track of it in my journal. I planned to cipher it, though I doubted any of them could read Japanese, it never hurt to be careful.

Thanks again to [Thought Acceleration] and now [Sage] and [Optimize] which apparently could be used even outside of a fight, my analysis went far faster and smoother than ever. Thus, I was now an Elemental Arch-dragon and I had obtained several new skills even the skill I had previously possessed seemed to have evolved a little as well.

Mystic Hydra:

Elemental Master: Control over all attributes the user posses

Multicast: Multiple spells can be activated simultaneously without the need for an incantation.

Magic manipulation: Ability to manipulate and interfere with all magic within range.

Magic avatar: Creates avatars from magic to assist in directing or casting magic. One is assigned to each attribute the user possesses.

Cancel Elemental attack

Cancel Melee attack

Cancel Negative effects

Cancel Magic attack

Spatial effects resistance

Ranged Barrier

Dragon Aura

Multi-Elemental Breath

Plasma control

It seemed most of my resistances had evolved into the cancel stage which from what I could gather meant a greater form of resistance. [Spatial resistance] included both the spatial and gravity effect which made sense, [Barrier] must have come from learning to use the barrier spell, [Dragon Aura] was an intrinsic skill I unlocked with my evolution.

Normally an attribute dragon would have the effect of manipulating the area around them passively with their aura. But since I had multiple attributes it seemed like I could select the one I wanted before activating it.

That would certainly be useful in a fight, just standing around could burn, freeze, crush, shake, blow away, or strike the area around me with lightning. Just add a barrier for personal protection and most opponents would have a hard time reaching me.

[Plasma control] seemed to have been achieved when I developed the use of plasma as an attack which gave me much greater control over the dangerous state of matter. 'Good, the barrier was enough to control that much plasma but too much and that small barrier wouldn't be enough if only I could reinforce the barrier more.'

That's when I remembered Ivy mentioning barrier magic could be given different effects, I decided to give it a try. I created a barrier with the skill and tried to apply my [Cancel Elemental attacks] resistance to it, I felt it succeed and then decided to create another. I continued the process until I had a barrier for every resistance I possessed around me.

Notice, multilayer barrier skill successfully acquired.

That was convenient, now handling the barriers was much easier and I could adjust how much power each one had to reinforce them. I didn't have any way to test them out for the moment but it was nice to know they were active and with a little force of will I managed to decrease their size till they fit like a second layer of skin.

I spent the rest of the night keeping watch while examining and experimenting with some of my skills, at least the ones that I could use without waking any of the sleeping members of the caravan. In that way, the night went by quickly and by the time it was morning I had done quite a bit of work.

I helped out with packing things up and once everything was ready and my dragon companions were up we started to follow the path on the edge of the forest. My dragons flew high above us, high enough that they could be confused for birds during the day.

Despite the distance I always knew where they were, our bond making it feel as if they were by my side at all times, and with a day of walking and talking with my new friends I felt a lot more comfortable with this new world I found myself in, I still had a lot to learn and plenty to do but at least I wasn't going to be on my own, not anymore.

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Hey everyone sorry for the delay, I was on vacation for several days around thanksgiving and I didn't have the chance to write. And with Christmas coming up and a possible new job opportunity I may not always be able to stick to my 1-2 week posting. Sorry in advance, anyways, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, if you do please leave a review it would mean a lot to me. Once again I wasn't to thank singular ash for editing this chapter. Thanks everyone and I hop you have a great day!