They just watch as I open the mine entrance, head through, and then seal it behind me. As I am walking down into the mine I can hear the sounds of more boards being added behind me. Not that it would do much good, but it should ease their fears a little bit since they didn’t seem to recognize me.
I don’t mind, I know that my new form looks pretty scary, especially to normal humans. I should have shown up in my human or beastman form, but I didn’t think of it. It has been a bit since I was around normal humans who didn’t know who I was.
Well, it will confirm the rumors about a powerful beast living in here and should keep anyone from bothering the dragon. It has been a long time since I was last here, but I still remember the way to the cavern. I do have to shapeshift to fit through the hole into the cavern, but I return to normal as soon as I am through.
Seeing the dragon again is still something of a shock, his head is as big as my new body. He could still eat me easily, but at least now he would get about two bites out of me. His eyes open as I approach, but I don’t feel the fear that I did the last time I was here.
Dragon says “Welcome, Ash. You are here sooner than expected, but I am glad that you kept your promise. You are even starting to look like one of our young.”
“Thank you, I guess. It is good to see you again, I have a lot of questions!”
Dragon says “You always do! First though, why did you come physically instead of visiting my soulscape?”
“Well, one of the things I wanted to ask was for your help in learning how to use soul attacks and defenses in the real world. It didn’t seem like something I could learn in a soulscape. I want to be able to deal with the Controller.”
Dragon says “I guess that makes sense. Although, you are going to need practice before you face something that old.”
“It doesn’t have to be immediately, but I don’t like having such a threat beneath my capital. I also want her dealt with before the war. I don’t want a threat at my back. Besides, I want to free Kechara and Core, which leads me to another of my questions.”
Dragon says “Which is?”
“Well, I need to understand the spell you used and what it did to Kechara and her ancestors. When I remove the spell a lot of energy will be released and I want to know if I can use it to bring Kechara closer to being a dragon.”
Dragon says “You might be able to help her evolve further, but becoming a dragon is no easy task. Even as far as you have come, you might just be about halfway there. There is something different about dragons that no other race I have seen has.”
“What is this difference?”
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Dragon says “I can’t tell you quite yet. We have a few things to do first.”
“Oh, alright. Then we should probably do those now because a lot of my questions are similar in nature. So, what’s first?”
Dragon says “First, I need to get you closer to being a dragon. I had hoped you would get there on your own with your last evolution, but it isn’t close enough.”
“What do you mean?”
Dragon says “What is your race listed as on your character sheet right now?”
“Um, Celestial Lightning Beast. Why?”
Dragon says “We need to get you to the point that dragon of some type is part of your race.”
“You mean we are going to have to wait until I can evolve again?”
Dragon says “Yes, but since you kept your promise I am going to see if I can’t speed you along.”
“Alright, how?”
Dragon says “First, drink this, or do whatever you normally do.”
As he is speaking, the dragon raises one finger and pierces it with the very tip of his tooth. A huge drop of blood comes out before the wound seals up and it floats in front of me. The drop is about the size of a beach ball as it floats there and I reach out to touch it.
“Absorb!”
Absorb Activated: HP +500, MP +500, Str +200, End +200, Evolution Points +200!
For some reason, absorb only consumed about a quarter of the drop of blood, but still gave me the effects. What is the most surprising is that it gave me so many evolution points just from a bit of blood. Dragon blood is obviously a lot more powerful than I ever imagined it would be.
Dragon says “What are you just standing there staring at it for? Keep going!”
“Ah, right. Absorb!”
Absorb Activated: HP +500, MP +500, Str +200, End +200, Evolution Points +200!
“Oh, wow! It worked! Normally it will only work once for any given creature. Why are dragons so different?”
Dragon says “You would have a hard time finding an entire herd of creatures that could match the power in that drop of blood. Now stop wasting it!”
“Sorry! Absorb! Absorb!”
Absorb Activated: HP +500, MP +500, Str +200, End +200, Evolution Points +200!
Absorb Activated: HP +500, MP +500, Str +200, End +200, Evolution Points +200!
Evolution Points: 810/800
Evolution Ready! Would you like to evolve now? Y/N
“I am ready to evolve again from just one drop of blood!”
Dragon says “Good. I was hoping it wouldn’t take more than one. Go ahead and evolve, I will guard you.”
“Okay. Evolve!”
Evolution Beginning!
Calculating Sources…..
True Dragon: 100%
Calculations Complete! Beginning Evolution!
The last thing I see before everything goes dark is the dragon looking down at me and grinning. A dragon grinning at you can be a very disturbing sight, but in this case it is reassuring. I doubt that there is anything in this world that can harm me with him standing over me.
Stage 4 Evolution Completed! HP +5,000, DP +5,000, MP +5,000, All Stats +100! Movement Speed +35, Flight Speed +200!
Lightning: Greater Immunity → Lightning: Ultimate Immunity!
“Wow, that’s a lot of changes!”
Dragon says “Welcome back! How do you feel?”
“I feel pretty good actually. How long was I out?”
Dragon says “About three days.”
“Oh, that’s good. Normally my evolutions take a week or so.”
Dragon says “These caves are filled with elements that a dragon’s body needs to develop. That is probably why it took less time and it is why my mate and I decided to lay our egg here.”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
Dragon says “You look even more like one of our young now. Well, except for those feathered wings. What’s this?”
“What’s what?!”
Dragon says “Your wings have changed!”
I crane my neck around to take a look, but at first I don’t see anything different. It isn’t until I move my wings that I see what is new, there are four wings instead of two. It is hard to spot because the wings are narrower than they were, so that two wings are about the size one was before.
