Mornn
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Chapter 797 - Heavyweight
🕑 Added 2025-11-19 17:00:22 +0000 UTCBefore Sofia could even fully process what she was looking at, Dragon-Crowie had shrunk down to the size of a carriage and ran around the cavern with Bookie on his back.
Without a word, Sofia sat back near the campfire, and started munching on a random fruit from her reserves.
Sonia also kept eating slowly, her gaze following Crowie.
“You don’t seem too surprised,” Sofia noted.
Sonia finished chewing her bite and gulped down before answering, “I am. But my tolerance to weird shit is pretty high. And I more or less understand what happened? It’s not that weird, Liches do stuff like that, right? The crow-dragon combination is certainly not something I ever expected, though, gotta admit.”
“Not something I expected either. But I am pretty happy about it, I think. Crowie was already one of my smartest skeletons, just limited by his weak bones.”
“It’s that crow that stole all my arrows in the duel, right?”
“That crow exactly. Also won me the Tartaros duel.”
“Right. Yeah that bird was far from useless. Good asset to have. Definitely lacks the attitude of a dragon though. I wonder if he can really fight well in that skeleton,” Sonia noted, watching Crowie trip over his own front legs.
“Give him some time to get used to it. I’m more worried about what magic he may or may not have gotten. It looks like he’s got the draconic shapeshifting covered, at least.”
Sonia nodded, “Do you think he inherited a Dragon br– AH!” Sonia jumped back out of nowhere, pointing a drawn bow at Sofia.
“Oh… I forgot about that. Don’t worry it’s one of my summons as well,” Sofia said, reaching out to the Abereth that had just appeared behind her and giving it a spin, “Looks like a rod, spins like a top, likes to teleport next to me at random. Doesn’t do much at the moment but its aura does give projectiles 50% extra speed, so if your arrows go faster than usual it’s the culprit.”
“I see… Say… That thing is a relic from the Deep, isn’t it?”
“Sure is. Got it as a hand-me-down from the system in lieu of an active skill.”
“Is your class secretly Saintess of the Deep or something?”
“It’s Saintomancer but I guess at this point calling me a Saintess of the Deep wouldn’t be totally wrong. Still looking for a reliable way to return there.”
“Return?!?”
“Well, I’ve gone once, I need to go again for reasons.”
“... I’d ask more but I’d like to at least be remembered when I die,” Sonia dismissed, returning to her food.
“It’s not that bad, but sure. You were about to ask about the dragon breath, right? I’m curious too. Breath, no breath… Crow breath?”
“What would a Crow breath even be?”
Sofia chuckled, “If someone could guess that between us two it’s probably the bird beastkin, no?”
“I’m an Owl though, not a Crow. There’s only one Crow family I know of. They’re pretty rare. Crow-like features are more of an Avian thing generally.”
“Fair, I suppose? Did you know that crows are more or less the same in all hero worlds and ours, apparently? Weird coincidence.”
“Not any weirder than most races being human-based in one way or another. Shit, even dragons take human forms, just because,” Sonia continued.
“Here on Veliadren it’s the Fae ancestry explaining why a lot of races look like that. For the hero worlds however…”
“Fairies weren’t a thing in ‘my’ world,” Sonia said, fingers marking the air quotes around ‘my’, “as far as I’m aware, at least. But I’m a tenth generation hero descendant, so I only know so much.”
“Well… Whatever, at least for the dragon breath we can find out right away. Crowie!”
“CA CAWWW!” Crowie took a sharp turn, flinging Bookie away and running to Sofia’s side, shrinking further until he was about dog-sized as he reached her.
In the meantime Bookie unsummoned and re-summoned himself, reappearing next to Sofia before Crowie. He stared at Crowie with crossed arms.
“OORY!” Crowie apologized to Bookie for throwing him off; the vocalisation was strange, unpracticed, but he was clearly saying sorry, or so everyone guessed.
“Wait, you can talk?!” Sofia asked, completely taken by surprise.
“CAAAAW!” Crowie answered, nodding his dragon head up and down.
“Crows can generally copy sounds quite well, even without any magic,” Sonia explained, “Maybe if he’s smart enough he can learn to speak properly given enough time. Seems to understand properly already.”
Crowie continued to nod without trying to speak again.
“He always understood well, always lacked the organs to make any sound, though. But enough getting distracted. Crowie! Since you’re half a dragon now, show us what you can do. Did you get a Dragon breath?”
Crowie continued to happily nod his skull up and down, and when he looked around, his head moved sharply left and right, really looking like a bird stuck in a dragon skeleton. At Sofia's question, he turned around and took some distance.
Pareth jumped in front of him, standing a few meters back with his shield raised, an approbating gaze encouraging the ‘dragon’.
Crowie braced himself, and opened his mouth.
Only a weird gargling sound came out.
“AAAARRLR!”
Sonia’s expression showed a rare smile, while Sofia struggled to hold her laughter in, not wanting to hurt Crowie’s feelings. But Crowie didn’t give up, his skull trembled, he opened his wings and tried again.
What came out was another gargled bird noise, but this time, Sofia noticed some magical fluctuations. “You almost have it! Try again!” She encouraged him.
Crowie prepared himself, claws digging into the ground, he seemed to breathe in some air, his head rearing up and his thoracic cage expanding. Clumps of magic started forming in between his ribs, swirling inside, and when he breathed out with a violent caw, the magic all spewed out from his mouth in a concentrated stream of fluffy white tufts that looked like a shower of dandelions.
The harmless-looking white clumps flew straight for Pareth’s shield, hitting it with seemingly no impact, and simply all sticking on it.
It looked like nothing, but Pareth suddenly let go of his shield and jumped to the side.
The shield fell to the ground with a deafening bang, digging a small crater in the ground and making the cavern shake.
Crowie stopped breathing with a satisfied caw, dawdling up to the shield to observe his creation. Meanwhile, the few fluffy white clumps that had missed the shield landed softly on the ground one by one, before they each dug themselves into the ground creating a series of smaller craters.
Are these…
Sofia jumped out to the closest crater, prodding the fluffy white thing at the bottom.
It felt like a ball of sticky cotton, firmly attaching itself to her dragon scale armor, each silky white tendril wrapping around her finger. Just like this, she could already feel herself being pulled down.
She was astonished when she tried pulling her arm up, not only was the single white ball super sticky, requiring a great deal of force to give up on either her finger or the ground, but when the ground finally broke enough under the thing allowing her to pull it up, she could finally feel its weight.
What the hell! This must be at least half a ton!
There were hundreds stuck on Pareth’s shield, which now perfectly explained what happened.
“So… The dragon of heaviness? I don’t even…"
Crowie seemed to shrug at the question, he apparently did not know any more than she did.
“Any other spells?” Sofia asked.
To this Crowie nodded, and tried to cast a spell, before suffering a bone-breaking backlash that forced him to the ground. Sofia’s aura quickly patched him up, but she stopped him from trying again. “Calm down, take things slowly. No need to hurt yourself.”
Crowie answered with a short caw, before trying again. It took him thirty seconds to properly form a weird-looking magic array in the air, before the spell resolved, and everything in the cavern started floating up.
Weightless?
“It’s the dragon of weight!” Bookie excitedly said, swimming in the air toward Crowie, but barely moving at all.
“There goes my fire,” Sonia commented, watching the burning logs, and ash spreading out in the air.
Sofia turned around in the air, “Weren’t you already done cooking?”
“I like the heat.”
“Well, sorry. Speaking of, since storage items won’t work down there, any recommendations for the backpack?”
“Up to you, there are a few things we might need along the way but I’ve got those already, if anything bring an empty pack or two to carry the stuff we find. Oh, and a sealing jar about a head big for the leyline seed would work nicely.”
“The alchemy jars?” Sofia asked, “I’ve got a few actually, need to empty one, then.”
“Yeah, anything to contain the seed, it’ll probably melt through most mundane things like a hot coal dropped in snow, a thick mithril box could work as well.”
I’ll just empty one of my explosive candy jars. Should do.
While Sofia started to organize her pack, the skeletons played around with the current weightlessness. The spell lasted a good ten minutes before everything suddenly dropped back down, as for the white fluff, it showed no sign of disappearing so far. Crowie wiped them off from Pareth’s shield with a swipe of his paws, they reacted to him like they were actual cotton balls, just flying away at the lightest touch.
The atmosphere was light as the group prepared to enter the forbidden layer.
Comments
Mánalėikr
TFTC thanks so much and stay safe :p
Peter Smith
It has occured to me that the deep is a perpensicular dimension that is superimposed across all of reality. Time does not function properly there, space does bend properly, and the threads of fate do not bind those who enter. Also we know of four lords of the Deep Uncle Edrezaketh, Papa Aphenoreth, Auntie Ormoncleth, and Uncle Orator (i forgot his name and was too lazy to look for it). We know that orator and Aphenoreth came from the death of time. If we assumed that each Primal Lord split into their opposing concepts similar to time I could see Ormoncleth and Edrezaketh being from Space. Ormoncleth is everything, while Edrezaketh is nothing. Continuation vs Cessation. Expansion Vs Consolidation. While Ormoncleth is about being everything and everywhere Edrezaketh is about being here in this place and only there. It's why Edrezaketh and Aphenoreth can return people from annihilation, because they aren't truly annihilated, they just aren't anywhere else right now. Just like how Orator can see and set the future in motion by affecting the present specifically directing the future by affecting the present Aphenoreth is about affecting the past while directingobserving the present. Two sides of the same powere, they both can do the same thing just have to do it from opposite directions. Which leads me to Looming. If we assume Looming is essence aspect of Fate, then i could see Fate as being a Deep Lord that has beeen exiled from the Deep to prevent them from Returning the Lost Lords. Fate is the cyclical chronicles, when someone is fates to do something it means that unelss something changes the cycle will continue. A powerless flower in a desert is fated to die unless someone acts upon it by watering it. Fate is the metaphysical aspect of action and force. An object at rest has the potential to move according to the shaped mass and density of it's existence, by destabilizing it's current cycle of action you change it's current action. A sphere on a flat surface will roll, a hanging object will fall, blasted object will shatter, and a heated object will soften. If Fate were to die i would assume that they would split into the aspect of Chaos and Direction. Not Order Direction. Chaos is the active potential of a creations existence, it is the possibilities available when affected, Order is the recognition of that potential, Order is a lesser aspect of Chaos as Order requires Chaos to exist, while Chaos requires a possibility to exist. Direction however is the angling and refinement of potential to affect a change, it's the metaphysical vectors of possibility within the most likely of reactions. Chaos is the infinite possibilities of where a ball in can ne when it starts in a plinko game, while Direction is the obstacles within the game that prevents the ball from suddenly appearing in the middle of sun when you start playing. If Fate dies im pretty sure that Sofia will ending becoming the Lord of Chaos while the System would end up becoming the Lord of Direction. Also, i would like to state that i am 90% certain that the Electric Seraph that Sofia released from Sun's Laboratory has become the base for the system's growing sentience. The only thing we have tleft for it to properly wake up is for Sofia to find and return Jin. Also knowing how Aphenoreth and Orator work, Orator probably had Aphenoreth "Delete" Jin's family from earth, and the only reason why anyone on Veliadren knows about them, is because the only person who would have needed to remember would have been Jin himself. Meaning that they were leading up to Sofia's existence this entire time. Which is why i adore that despite setting everything in order to create sofia they still give her the right and freedom to walk away at any moment. Sure she has to earn the extras aspect of her blessings, but her failing is simply her not getting a reward. Her life is not on the line, her existence is not threatened, her family is not in danger, and most importantly she has every opportunity to turn around and live a simple life, and so they reward her for choosing to keep going. Sure it's technically manipulation, but it's manipulation in the same aspect as paying a retired pentioned janitor for throwing away their own trash. And i mean that in it's exact comparison. She is already doing what she is being rewarded for, she is quite literally triple dipping in rewards for her chosen actions. She is growing strong enough to be free, which is the only thing she is searching for, she is being rewarded for completing the missikns her family is giving her at the same time, and finally her family is being actively protected by all of the Deep lords, and those who weren't as well protected are being given a chance to come back while being the active voice and adopted sister of a Goddess of the deepest love. Honestly the only way she could even remotely be getting anything more would be if somebody makes her a planet that worships her as their sole supreme goddess and automates everything for her so she doesn't even need to be aware of its existence.
Peter Smith
So interesting thought i had. What if the entrance to the deep is found wihin the blackhole at the center of veliadren. And the reason nobody is aware of it, and more importantly that the world isn't straight up devoured like it should have long before the system, is because uncle Ed is the seal blocking the entrance. the statue of him has 7 arms, but what if he has a hidden 8th arm. Not truly hidden, just plugging the hole to the deep. It would also explain why people finding their way into the deep is a problem, not becuase they are "walking" past Uncle Ed, but because they keep using the windows and holes in the walls to do so. It's also why sofia and co are safe while doing so because they aren't sneaking in theough the windows, they are using the backdoor, and the only reason they cna enter is because they've been given the key. It could also be why sofia is such a big deal to Looming. Because Looming is the Lord's enemy in the same way Time was, and because of the path Sofia is taking she can take Uncle Ed's place as the door guard, without needing to actively seal herself away. Ed is sealing the entrance using annihilation to remove all memory and access to the entrance, while if sofia conpletes VPPV she is technically everywhere at once, meaning she could guard the door without physically remaining there.
Wensber
Thanks for the chapter!
Matt Grayson
Almost 800 chapters, and still funny as hell!
Tejing
Sonia took all that pretty well, on the whole. Cool that he's got the shapeshifting down. Can't afford to have Crowie not be cute. That would be a travesty. :-) I wonder if he can level it up to the point that he can look humanoid? Will he look like an avian, maybe? Weight manipulation magic is an interesting one. Sounds like the kind of thing a smart crow could do interesting things with, once he gets some more practice. Honestly, she probably doesn't even need to bring a container. I expect a Lumian bone container would do fine for a leyline seed, if mythril is good enough.
Mornn
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
OmniGlitcher
In fairness, we also have pigs and chickens on Veliadren.
E
Guess we wait and see if the fluff gains weight or makes what it comes in contact with gain weight. Maybe Pareth is about to go around looking like the Michelin Man.
The Arcane Emperor
Does Crowies dragon magic only make things and objects heavier, or does it also manipulate their mass? The latter would be very broken, if used creatively.
Mornn
That's a criminal remix, I approve.
Cyclone001
Making Pareth Heavier through that spell... seems unlikely to provide the hp stat boost, but if it did, Pareth would now be immortal.
Tom Asciola
Also, humans and crows being the most consistent convergent evolutions is crazy work
KazukiNero
Going to get one of those "You wondering how I ended up here" gag.
Sky
He's going to lift you up, he's going to pull you down. He's going to fly around and hurt you~
Dan N
Well Crowie always did bring a certain gravitas to the party... now he also gets to lighten things up for everyone!
OmniGlitcher
Thanks for the chapter! Huh. Weight Dragon. Gravity dragon? Neat anyway, should be fun to play around with. Interesting beastmen lore, we don't actually know that much about them beyond just human with animal features. I am really curious where this ancestry stuff is going.
Alexander Andrews
Gravity Dragons sound terrifying...
Tom Asciola
Crowie is going to be incredible
Ceasar Salas
Thanks for the chapter!
No Name
"The atmosphere was light as the group prepared to enter the forbidden layer." -> Let me guess: Next chapter starts mid-action, the group having gotten themselves into a huge mess of a situation.
