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Chapter 28: A Moment of Weakness. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2020-02-03 05:54:48 +0000 UTC<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko] has risen from [Level 0] to [Level 2]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
<Acquired 1000 skill points>
<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Singing Lv. 4] [Dancing Lv. 2] [Accuracy Correction Lv. 5] [Detection Sensor Lv. 2] [Tracking Lv. 2] [Sundering Enhancement Lv. 2] [Piercing Enhancement Lv. 2] [Royal Etiquette Lv. 2] [Dismantle Lv. 7] gained>
Terra Wall! Terra Wall! Terra Wall! Terra Wall!
Calling out the spell [Terra Wall] in my head, I constructed four walls of solidified earth from the ground, surrounding Saori and me in a cube-like formation. Despite being in my dragonewt form, I easily tore off one side from the ground and threw it up in the air, having it land perfectly on the top of the remaining walls.
An impromptu shelter was just made with magic and brute force to protect us from the downpour.
“Urgh, thank goodness, I made it in time. A bit longer and the rain might have doused my dress.”
["Considering how often it rains in this forest, you really need proper clothing. That is more motivation to level [Mana Weave] and [Sewing] up faster!”]
A week has gone by ever since I received my new name. Saori and I have, in our pursuit to find the exit out of this forest, been mostly wandering around this forest, killing any monster we could find for experience.
When I had my first flying session above the forest’s leaf canopy, I memorized the different landmarks of the area, and I was periodically climbing up trees to see our current route. In this case, I decided to go towards the large gap or valley, since I remembered from the Belzac forest description that the swamp was even more dangerous than this area.
Still, as always, this rainforest was a real maze. We could walk for a bit and we would just trail away from our original direction and I would have to reassess our location again. Without a compass, or an idea what north and south was, made all of this more of an adventure than a “go to point A and then B” situation.
Now, the real question was why wasn’t I flying us out of this place, right? Well, the problem was my wounded left wing, which hadn’t recovered since the garm fight. Even with my healing spells, it wouldn’t change anything! The status ailment was called [Damaged Mana Paths [Left Wing] (Minor)] and ever since I had it, I couldn’t pour mana into my wings.
Which was weird, since I felt nothing wrong with that wing, like, I could feel mana inside it. It just felt as if it was disconnected from the rest of my body. Casting spells from that location was still possible, just it took longer to cast, but strengthen my muscles there was doable anymore. I just learned how to fly and I immediately lost the ability to do it semi-properly.
Life is unfair…
Anyways, by semi-possible flying, I meant using [Wind Blast] like a rocket blast to propel myself into the sky. It was just clumsy and not feasible long-term. Considering the last time I flew I also crash landed, I didn’t want to repeat it again. Falling from high heights was scary, even with [Draconic Barrier].
[“The rain seems to be very intense today.”] Saori pointed at how much sound was coming from our roof. [“I think we might as well make camp for today.”]
I nodded and took out our crude cooking equipment and some wood for a fire.
[“Hey, Saori,”] With how fierce the rain was pouring down, it was hard to hear me so I had to use [Telepathy]. [“About the clothes, I’m perfectly fine with a simple one-piece for now. Using [Telepathy], maintaining [Humanize Lv. 6], and using [Pyrokinesis] to create a dress is quite a toll on my mana, in fact, my mana recovery isn't enough to keep up with my expenditure.”]
The amount of mana I needed to spend to maintain my humanized form was directly dependent on which form I took. Each level of [Humanize] had a different form, after all. The higher the level, the more mana I had to spend to maintain it.
Normally, without the flame dress and [Telepathy], but [Humanized Lv. 6], I was perfectly able to regenerate any spent or missing mana without a problem. Still, if I wanted to keep up this guise without being naked all the time, I needed proper clothing.
Copying how I was developing a wood carving hobby, Saori bought [Mana Weave] and [Sewing] to learn how to moderate her new strength. Surprisingly, it was one of her past-time hobbies in her past life, so she was pretty good at it.
These two skills allowed her to produce strings of her own mana, which she planned to use as the fabric for any future clothing. As this mana fabric could be freely controlled by the wearer’s mana, we understood this might be the only clothing choice we had. After all, if we transformed back into our original form, 100% any normal clothes would be torn to shreds.
Speaking about [Mana Weave] and [Sewing], I had those skills in my skill shop, too, but they cost far more than it did for Saori! Talk about having an affinity towards something. Not like I could sew in the first place… I guessed that was the reason for the higher SP price.
[“Got it~”] she spoke without turning her head to me, still having enough spare focus to meticulously prepare our meal. [“However, I want you to look beautiful in it; majestic just like a princess from fairy tales.”]
[“Urgh, what?”] I scratched my head in confusion. [“I’m ok with the whole ‘Princess and Retainer’ roleplay, but I really have no intention to become a real one. I thought you would stop it with that joke?”]
Honestly, I could care less about what I wore. If it was comfortable and not too unwieldy to move in, then I was perfectly okay with whatever its design was. Simple and cute.
[“I know, I know, but I cannot stop imagining your potential!”] She was squirming around in excitement, joy clearing showing on her fur-covered face. [“The design, the colors! Should it be more gothic, victorian, or maybe we should add some 21 century flair to it? Oooh, ooh! Mixing them up could create something avant-garde! Don’t worry, Hestia, I will make you beautiful!”]
Am I supposed to be a dress-up doll for you?! I internally screamed.
[“… You might want to first get [Humanize], Saori. Sewing doesn’t look easy with paws,”] I retorted.
[“Sure, agreed, but [Humanize]’s steep cost of 700 SP means it will take a while for me to level up to afford it. There are far more useful skills I have to consider first, right now.”] Her previously wagging tail was now lying limp on the ground, showing how disappointed she was about her lack of SP.
[Hestia’s Retainer] allowed Saori access to my discounted SP cost blessing from my [Bearer of Kargryxmor’s Blood] title. [Humanize] would have cost her 1400 SP, otherwise.
I sighed, massaged my temples, and left the topic at that. Instead, I went ahead and organized some of the wood into a pile. Holding the two claws firmly together, I struck them against each other, just like striking a match against a matchbox, and a flame was produced without using mana.
This was the same process as using my [Spark Claws] move. Without mana, it was weaker and smaller, but it could still be useful for stuff like this. Practical and resourceful.
Once I finished the campfire, I walked over to the edge of the shelter’s entrance and opened my [Storage Magic] right in front of me, letting rainwater fall into it. We had enough water for an entire month, but I had mana and space to spare inside.
The place rained a lot and there were plenty of lakes and ponds to be found here. I just had to make sure to boil it to get rid of the germs, and voila, relatively clean water. The perks of being inside a rainforest, right?
After I collected enough water, I turned around to Saori, seeing she needed more time to cook. With nothing better to do, I decided to do some claw maintenance. Using my claws whenever I wanted did cause some wear and tear on their overall sharpness.
Ever since I first became a [Young Spark Fire Dragon], the feeling of dull claws was actually very irritating, almost instinctual. It was like an itch on your back you couldn’t get rid off no matter how much you scratched it.
I learned quickly during the first sharpening session, with the help of Manager mind, that the most effective way to do this was to either use my other claws or my jaw fangs. I couldn’t find an object hard enough to work as the grindstone at first, so I was quite surprised with how effective my fangs were. Almost as if they were made for this job.
The process was also pretty easy. Tightly grip the underside of the single claw with the back of the fangs, and then just slide them right to left and then repeat until they were sharp again. Like a grinding wheel. Easy.
I just needed to be careful if I did this in my dragonewt form. It was not a very pleasant experience when I first pierced the inside of my own mouth. As such, the best form for this would be a [Humanize Lv. 2], as it wasn’t too bulky as level one, but had tough enough fangs to do the job.
<[Humanize (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko]>
…Come to think of it, what are my claws made from? What are my fangs made from? I began to think after finishing the process on my sixth claw.
If I remembered my science classes correctly, the sparks caused by striking my claws and fangs together came from exposing a certain mineral to oxygen. Pyrophoric was the name, I believed. Unlike the term flammable, which just meant it could be set on fire, a pyrophoric was something which sets itself spontaneously on fire once exposed to oxygen.
If you take a flint or steel as an example, the pyrophoric is the steel, or to be more precise the iron inside it. Iron can spontaneously ignite in the air, causing those little fire sparks you see.
Animal nails and claws were composed of keratin, an organic matter. It wouldn’t just catch fire by being exposed to oxygen.
Meaning, my claws weren’t completely made from keratin alone, leading me to believe my fangs and teeth weren’t normal either. They must have something in them that was easily flammable, otherwise, physics would make no sense! Or this world's physics was completely different due to mana and I was just overthinking here…
… But, what if, right? I had also noticed a similar phenomenon with the scales claws to my claws. My claws weren’t the only body part being set on fire, but my scales, also. One spark leading into more and more small explosions, creating the fire claw as I fed it my mana. There was more to my body than I could see with the Profile alone.
So, if there was a sorta mineral like iron inside all of them. Wouldn’t they get used up the more I used [Spark Claws] or [Spark Fang]? Was my body naturally producing it through energy, or must I eat something to replenish it? Maybe, if I ate more of this stuff, my body would become stronger? Like a baby drinking milk to get enough calcium to strengthen their bones.
… Hold on, maybe my body could process stones! If I needed a specific mineral to increase the size and power of my spark explosions, maybe that specific mineral could be found in a single rock? I mean, this was a fantasy world, and I never tried eating a rock ‘cause, you know, it sounded stupid.
Should I eat this stone…?
My parallel minds were pleading me not to do it… but my body was telling me yes. More like, my brain was telling me “what could go wrong?”
Following my gut feeling, I picked up a nearby stone and brought it to my mouth. Opening it, I was ready to bite into it.
Well, itadiki…
… I froze. I sat there, motionless, mouth hanging and the stone already touching my teeth. Cold sweat slowly formed on my face. I swallowed my saliva and slowly turned my body to the side in a robotic manner. At the end of it, I was confronted by two, relatively, large, black, animalistic eyes, silently judging me.
It was Saori…
Blink. Blink. Our eyes were blinking, pouring rain sounds filling the air, no one was speaking. Staring each other down, I could feel myself being drenched in cold sweat, knowing nothing about Saori’s current thoughts right now.
I wanted to avert my eyes from her gaze, but it was difficult, my anxiety of looking-like-an-idiot made me unable to move. I wanted her to say something to get rid of this awkwardness.
Seconds began to count down, and those piercing garm eyes kept my body paralyzed.
Eventually, I realized Saori couldn’t speak to me since she was so used to me supplying her with mana. She didn’t have enough just yet to use [Telepathy] without me, but I didn’t want to move. I was a bit nervous she would call me out as an idiot at this point.
[“Hestia.”] Deciding to break the silence by using her own mana, Saori spoke. [“Is this… Uhm, well, experimenting?”]
I couldn’t speak proper words in my minor dragonewt form so I had to send her a telepathic message. [“…”]
But I didn’t know what to say.
[“I am not judging you, just saying. This dragon body of yours is weird and new, and I understand you want to experiment and test it. Like, I am still trying to get used to the sense overload of being a wolf.”] She began sniffing the air before rubbing her snout with her paws. [“Just, make sure you do not get a stomachache, alright?”]
[“… You’re awesome, thanks.”]
[“Why are you thanking me?”]
I didn’t elaborate on it any further. Just the fact Saori didn’t really care if I did something weird or crazy was already enough for me to feel better. Testing the limits of my body also included learning more about my biology. For example, the whole flying test could be called crazy, with how terrible I was at it at first.
Baby steps. With a wide smile, I nodded and then eyed the stone again. Oh, well. Itadikimasu. (Thank you for the food.)
Mhmph!
With a satisfying crunch, my teeth had no problem breaking a chunk off the rock. Inside my mouth, I could hear my teeth grinding and breaking the stone chunk into smaller pieces, crushing most of it into dust. It was very painful, to be honest. My teeth could handle it, but my gums were complaining like crazy.
The rough edges damaged the inside of my mouth and the taste was so horrendous, I just wanted to spit everything out. With every bite, it felt like I was doing something extremely wrong here.
[“It’s so coarse!”] I cried out.
The taste was so bland, it made it hard to even force myself to continue. The texture was unforgettable, in a bad way, and the dryness of the dust felt like torture on my tongue. Still, I endure through the pain and taste bud killing feeling, and swallowed everything. For science! I yelled in my brain, but I felt like crying.
Once everything was down in my belly, I ran out of our shelter and opened my mouth wide, letting the rainwater clean everything out. I spat like crazy, feeling like I just ate sand. I then threw the bitten-off stone as far away as I could in frustration. Never again.
[“This was a bad idea…”] Saori only looked at me, nodded to my words and turned back to continue dinner prep.
‘You know, thinking about it, our main source for iron has to be red meat, right?’
‘Yeah, we’ve been eating a ton of it.’
‘We don’t need to eat anything hard to get that source of iron to produce fire with our body.’
Hearing my parallel minds figuring out the real answer for my source of iron, was kinda embarrassing. I really was overthinking it…
The next day is gonna be rough…urgh.
Needless to say, I was unable to move and fight the next day. It was honestly the most painful shit I’ve ever had…
*******************
Having recovered from my stomach ache, on the next day our exploration of the forest continued. On the way, I had Saori scout for monsters. Considering her personal skill [Primal Senses] allowed her to have more developed senses to detect approaching animals, I thought it would be smart to help her train it up.
And I was right to do so.
<Venomous Forest Chameleon: A reptile monster that can hide its presence from other monsters to ambush them. Usually preys on weaker monsters, but will sometimes challenge stronger monsters, if it knows that its venom can harm it without giving its position away. The venom both inflicts damage and numbness. Rank D>
Up in the trees, camouflaging itself was a cow-sized chameleon. I couldn’t smell nor hear it, but once I became aware of it, my [Detection Sensor] started showing its signal.
I was pretty impressed with Saori’s sensory skill. I really earned it’s “Primal” name considering she was starting to become a better scout than I was. She was naturally gifted, and I could see her potential as a spy skyrocket. Stonks.
Due to the rank difference, I decided it would be best for me to take it out instead of Saori. Once slain, I began having fun dismantling its corpse, including extracting its venom for my collection. Saori was creeped out by it, but she just chose to ignore my smiling face. I couldn’t help it, honestly. Mixing toxic concoctions had become a little bit of a hobby of mine, and with how useful it would become one day, I just couldn’t care about her opinion on it.
Despite my enjoyment, I still made sure to carefully do my job. During one of the dissections, Saori reminded me of an important fact to survive in society. The age-old necessity countries would go to war for.
Money.
I was not sure if there was something similar to a dollar bill in this world, but the concept of currency had to exist, right? Regardless, we could always trade our stuff for goods and service, at the end of day. And we had to, since we needed lodgings, spices, and other amenities.
Now, it would be pretty bad if we couldn’t afford our stay in a town or city for the first couple of nights in an inn or hotel. As such, Saori suggested that I use my [Dismantle] skill to collect certain monster materials and store them inside my storage. Just like an RPG and selling monster loot for cash!
Courtesy of my early days, I had a lot of bones and claws stored. I used hides and furs for kindling or as rugs, while I ate anything edible. Now, though, I had to be as precise as a butcher to not ruin anything. It was more tedious, but I felt like an expert doing it.
Also, unlike the fantasy stories I read, there weren’t any “magical stones” or cores inside monsters. They were pretty much like any other animals. Well, except for slimes, since their nucleus could be considered a stone. A shame that another fictional cliché had to be debunked…
[“Alright, this is getting crazy again. I can’t make things out…”] Frustrated, I stopped in place and gave a long sigh.
Maybe I haven’t emphasized this enough at this point, but this forest was huge. Maybe even as humongous as the Amazon Rainforest. It felt like such a maze and we couldn’t walk a bit without checking our location. I was obnoxious.
[“Saori, I’ll climb up a tree to check our location.”]
[“Alright, but please be careful.”] She agreed to my suggestion before finding a spot to hide while I was away. We got used to this routine.
I looked up at a tree and evaluated if I could climb it in my dragon form. After evolving into a [Young Spark Inferno Dragon], I had grown to the size of a horse.
Most of that problematic “top-heavy” focused scale armor was now gone, having decided to spread itself through my body, rebalancing my weight. I was still extremely well armored in the front, but now my back had hard, resilient scale plating to protect it.
However, probably the most striking change to my appearance was the color of my scales. Before I evolved, my scales were pitch black with small tints of red here and there; now, my whole body had been recolored to the same crimson red my hair had in my humanized form. Saori called me much more approachable with this color, but still scary-looking ‘cause of all the scale armor.
The tree was pretty thick, but it seemed impossible to climb. My weight and the sharpness of my claws would just cause me to slide down, cleanly slicing the wood. This tree might just be made out of butter at this point. So, I decided to humanize and use [Wind Blast] as usual to rocket blast myself up in one go.
<[Humanized (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko]>
Once I was close to the top, I grabbed onto a branch and parkoured myself up into the canopy.
Ahhh, how I missed being up here.
The streaming wind of fresh air above the thick foliage of tree leaves made me breathe in deeply, enjoying every single bit of this amazingness, once again. The sight, the sun, the breeze; everything that made this experience unforgettable for me.
… How much it stings that I can’t fly anymore.
I just learned how to fly, I just learned how amazing it was to join the birds in the sky, and I just learned how captivating the world could be. Standing on a tall building, gazing down onto the streets of New York… it couldn’t be compared to simply soaring up into the sky. The amount of freedom.
It annoyed me. My strong desire to fly and my acceptance of my inability to do so; these two conflicting feelings were in constant discord, struggling and clashing to rise above the other. This inharmonious state was festering inside me.
“A Sea of Trees ♫
The shimmering emerald of this world… ♫”
I unconsciously sang that song I hummed during my first real flying experience. I could feel my eyes become watery, my body desperately wanting to release this overflow of emotions by crying, but I forced it all back inside.
Even now, my parallel minds were pouring mana through my broken wing, but anything I did was futile. Trying to fly with only one functional wing was impossible, no matter how much of a band-aid [Wind Magic] and [Aerokinesis] was. I couldn’t properly balance myself. I had to reluctantly accept that my flying days were over for now. Maybe I would outgrow my wounds, but for now, I was a crippled dragon.
I shook my head and sighed deeply, remembering why I came up here in the first place. Looking at the horizon, it seemed we were actually making good progress towards the canyon but were slightly moving to the swampy area.
…
… Hargh, I’m unbelievable. Why am I being mesmerized by this sight, again? Argh, whatever! My chest is starting to hurt, so let’s just release all these unnecessary emotions!
I breathed in deeply, gathering as much air as my lungs could take. I then let it all out.
“Don’t let your light flicker and dim. ♫
Put up a smile and never give up. ♫
Hope will not die this soon. ♫
Remember that this is the life that you have chosen! ♫”
I let all of it out. Singing has always been my escape when it came to frustration and stress, and my voice was thundering through the sky. My pent-up irritation rained down onto the forest, drowning out all other sounds. With my voice, unconsciously powered up by [Draconic Roar], I saw three leaves flying away like in a storm!
“My broken wings set yourself free. ♫
Rise from the ground, oh…♫”
‘ORIGINAL MIND, LISTEN TO US!’
“Bwuahhhhie!” Roaring like she just used [Draconic Roar] herself, parallel mind #2 made me shriek in terror
‘Look down! Saori is in danger!’ She called out, forcing me to snap my attention down to the ground.
“Wroooo!”
A wolf-like cry for help and numerous blinking signals, enough to be considered a small herd, were sending me into a state of panic. Fear drowned out my confusion and adrenaline pumped through my veins, sending me into a state of intense focus with only one word repeating over and over again.
Protect!
“Saori!”
Jumping from tree to tree, I pursued the signals. After I identified the one signal that looked to be Saori’s, I had my parallel minds cast all my buffing spells, while I accelerated myself by blasting [Wind Blast] behind me, breaking anything that stood in my path.
Once I was close enough, I jumped and dive towards the ground head first, [Humanize] activated already. Once the blue mist disappeared from my view, my muscles tensed up as I identified my first target to kill!
<[Various Spell Buffs] inflicted on [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko]>
“Kraaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhh!”
Letting out a loud roar, my open mouth crashed against the neck of one of the approaching monsters, slamming it onto the ground with a big thud. Promptly, I snapped my mouth shut, dragging some earth into my mouth and completely removing the monster’s neck in the process.
<Experience has reached a breaking point. [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko] has risen from [Level 2] to [Level 3]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
<Acquired 500 skill points>
<Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Draconic Fangs Lv. 1] evolved into [Draconic Fangs Lv. 2]>
Blood was streaming out of the monster’s head and torso like a river, but I couldn’t care less, as I had to make sure Saori was okay. I looked down, noticing Saori had trouble standing and shielded her with my wings before looking at her Profile.
<Effect: [Poisoned (Minor)]>
She’s poisoned!
Due to [Thought Acceleration], to the outside world it would seem like I only took a glance at her Profile before using [Modest Heal] and [Cure] to heal her. Seeing me occupied like this agitated the surrounding monsters, prompting them to attack me, believing I was off-guard.
But I already let my guard down before. I will not do it again!
In the time it took those monsters to being their attack, my parallel minds already finished assessing the situation. I even knew what my enemies were!
<Poison Spitting Chameleon: A chameleon that has evolved from a [Venomous Forest Chameleon]. Instead of using its tongue to inject its venom, it shoots them out like a projectile. Groups up with other chameleon type monsters to form hunting packs. Rank C>
<Belzac Trickster Chameleon: A chameleon that grew up in the Belzac forest that uses its unnatural abilities to trick and kill prey. It can spew out smoke from its giant smoke sac under its head and uses poison to kill its prey. Groups up with other chameleon type monsters to form hunting packs. Rank C>
<Long-Crested Ambusher Chameleon: A chameleon with a ball of muscle at the tip of its extremely long crest. Instead of poison, it uses its rock cracking crest to strike at ambush targets. Groups up with other chameleon type monsters to form hunting packs. Rank C>
<Armored Poisonous Chameleon: A chameleon that possesses sturdy carapace to protect itself from predators. Instead of developing its stealth ability compared to other chameleons, it uses its poison covered armor to protect itself from any potential aggressors, crippling anything foolish enough to do so. Groups up with other chameleon type monsters to form hunting packs. Rank C>
These monsters were the evolved versions of those chameleons we killed a while ago, evident as there were a few of those [Venemous Forest Chameleon] among the herd. Despite being C ranks, their stats weren’t worth mentioning, probably ‘cause their threat came from being poisonous ambush predators who worked in groups. Still, they were the size of bulls, making them a threat to me.
[Prediction] was already warning me before I could finish healing Saori, snapping my head around to an [Armored Poisonous Chameleon]’s charge. I twisted my body around, timing my counterattack with its assault. I slammed my left front leg against the chameleon’s head, shoving it right into the ground.
With my claws having pierced its scales, I pulled it up from the ground and smashed it right back down, over and over again. Like a ragdoll, I dragged his close-to-death body around, flailing it to intimidate the other chameleons.
Still, without fear, they continued their attack by spitting out poisonous shots. I constructed a [Terra Wall] to block it. While I was immune to toxins, Saori wasn’t.
A [Long-Crested Ambusher Chameleon] began jumping from tree to tree, flanking my defense before pouncing towards me while readying its main weapon, its long crest, to strike me. I planned to use [Flame Spear] to kill it but my incantation was interrupted, as the still-alive chameleon under me struggled and bit into my leg.
Despite its appearance, it was far heavier than you expect, and due to almost negligible size difference, it placed its weight into its attack and pulled my body down, preventing me from attacking its companion. It then swung its tail at my head, slapping it to the side with a dull sound. Having distracted me long enough, the other chameleon sent me flying away. Fortunately, in the process, my claws tore off the armored chameleon’s throat.
<Experience has reached breaking point. [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko] has risen from [Level 3] to [Level 4]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
<Acquired 500 skill points>
All attacks were blocked by my barrier. I didn’t take any damage outside of losing some mana, but it couldn’t prevent me from fighting back against the laws of physics.
Controlling the air using [Aerokinesis], I made it shift my body around, helping me recover from that attack’s recoil. At the same moment, a large cloud of smoke began spreading through the area, covering me and blocking my eyesight.
This trick would have been fatal if I didn’t have [Detection Sensor]. Annoyed, I fully spread out my wings and blew away all the smoke using [Aerokinesis] to support me. Some chameleons then shot poison spit at me, but I wasn't paying them any attention, instead, I swung my neck around, searching for Saori.
She’s… she’s not here?! Where is she?!
I had my parallel minds widen the search area, finally finding her signal being dragged around by a different one.
Something kidnapped her!
With my interest in this group of chameleons having vanished, I began making my way towards Saori's signal, however, it seemed the chameleons wouldn't allow me to do so freely. The chameleon with the long crest, once again, readied himself to strike me, and swung its flail-like crest at me, believing it could take me out while my focus was somewhere else.
Spark Flame Veil. Activate!
My internal body temperature began to heat up, causing the very air to catch on fire. From my observation, it seems like tiny particles, probably the pyrophoric I mentioned before, were being released from the inside of my scales, swarming around me using my mana as an anchor.
I wasn’t using a ton of my mana in this process but my Stamina, on the other hand, decreased at an alarming rate the longer I had it activated. Still, in the split second I activated this skill, sparks of fire blocked the chameleon’s attack. Anything inside this veil was lit on fire, including the forest.
Fuck off!
I ignored his wails of pain and simply used my tail to slap him away. I then cast [Flame Explosion] to reduce its body to ashes, leaving nothing for the insects to feed on.
As the other chameleons kept being persistent about killing me, a couple of [Inferno Blast] was needed to end this farce. My System was making “bing '' sounds, indicating I had leveled up.
The stream of words entered my mind, but I couldn’t care less about them. The forest was burning and dying around me, but I couldn’t care less about it. All I could think about was that I was about to lose my only friend.
<Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Spark Inferno Dragon, Hestia Atsuko] has risen from [Level 4] to [Level 8]>
<Attributes have increased due to level up>
<Acquired 2000 skill points>
Saori, I’m coming!
I re-casted [Haste], although it hadn’t expired yet, and started to run with all my strength towards the location of the signal. There was no time to lose.
I'll rip the head off from that damn lizard if it harmed a single hair on her fur!
When I arrived at the location of the signal, I saw two bodies lying on the ground. One belonged to a, now dead, [Poison Spitting Chameleon] and the other was a black garm.
[“Saori!”]
Identify!
Name: Saori Segawa Level: 20 Race: Young Garm
Age: 1 Month
Status: Health: 331/731(+422) Mana: 0/316(+160)
Strength: 489(+278) Intelligence:189(+137)
Vitality: 299 (+171) Wisdom: 305 (+186)
Agility: 571 (+306) Stamina: 81/491(+204)
Effects: [Mana Stress (Minor)] [Arcane Fever (Modest)] [Poisoned (Minor)]
Skill Points: 2050 (+1350)
Skill: Magic skills and related:
[Arcane Mind Lv. 1] (New) [Mana Control Lv. 2] (New)
[Dark Magic Lv. 3] (New) [Cast Revocation Lv. 1] (New)
[Mental Stability Lv. 1] (New) [Mental Warfare Lv. 1] (New)
Physical skills and related:
[Mana Strike Lv. 1] (New)
[Enhanced Claws Lv. 4] (+2) [Enhanced Fangs Lv. 4] (+3)
Senses and movement skills:
[Primal Senses] [Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 3] (New)
[Evasion Lv. 3] (New) [Acrobatic Lv. 3] (New) [Prediction Lv. 3] (New)
[Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 2] (New)
Resistances:
[Physical Resistance Lv. 2] (New) [Pain Resistance Lv. 2] (New)
[Poison Resistance Lv. 1] (New)
[Arcane Corruption Resistance Lv. 2] (New) [Fire Resistance Lv. 1] (New)
[Earth Resistance Lv. 1] (New) [Wind Resistance Lv. 1] (New)
[Dark Resistance Lv. 1] (New)
Stat growths and related:
[Health Recovery Lv. 1] (New)
[Mana Recovery Lv. 1] (New) [Stamina Recovery Lv. 2] (New)
[Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 2] (New)
[Enhanced Mana Growth Lv. 2] (+1)
[Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 2] (+1)
[Enhanced Intelligence Growth Lv. 2] (New)
[Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 2] (New)
[Enhanced Wisdom Growth Lv. 2] (New)
[Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 3] (+2)
[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 3] (+2)
Others:
[Identify Blocker Lv. 1] (New) [Identify Lv. 2] (New)
[Mana Weave Lv. 1] (New) [Sewing Lv. 1] (New)
[Royal Etiquette Lv. 1] (New) [Cooking Lv. 4] (New) [Dismantle Lv. 1] (New)
[Telepathy]
Magic List: Dark spells:
[Dark Bolt] [Dark Tendrils] [Shadow Dash]
Title: [Belzac’s Successor] [Otherworldly Reincarnator] [Hestia’s Retainer]
Arcane Fe-Fever?!
