Chapter 16: Reflection

-Myyr Dragon – Growth Stage: (2/4) Myyr Young Adult-

– Growth Progress – 1,208/8,620 –

– New Ability Gained –

Dorian’s body elongated, his wings stretching and pulling out, his snout becoming longer, and even more draconic. His body morphed from its diminutive stature to a huge 3 meters of height, his body elongating to between five and six meters in length. His green scales seemed to take on a mysterious luster, shining even in the dim light of the cave.

His senses seemed to expand, his eyesight growing sharper, his hearing growing more powerful, his sense of smell stronger. The relaxing sounds of a moving river, the fresh scent of the water, the subtle gleaming of the dim moss. Everything around him came more into focus.

He also felt that it was now incredibly cramped in here now, his body smashing up against the low ceiling.

‘Ow! Ausra can I go back to being small?’ He mentally yelped, temporarily ignoring the other messages that appeared in his mind.

‘Yes, now that your Soul has fully adapted to this new form, you are able to morph into any forms you have grown. Reverting to a lower Growth Stage is also possible, but will require a constant suppression of your growth, and therefore will slowly drain you of energy.’ Ausra’s cool response echoed.

‘How do I revert to a lower Growth Stage?’ He asked quickly, feeling the rocky cave ceiling shift slightly. He was exuding a huge amount of pressure on it. If it collapsed…

‘Simply focus on your current stage, and will yourself to revert. Your Soul Spell Matrix will follow your commands.’

Dorian paused, and then put his focus on making his body small, willing himself to revert to the first Growth Stage of his current form.

A moment later, a light in his eyes flashed, and Dorian felt his body shrink in on itself. It took only an instant, and he soon had the appearance of his previous form, the Myyr Wyrmling.

“Whew.” He said aloud, stretching his back. He looked up at the ceiling, seeing a small layer of cracks on it.

“That doesn’t seem like a good sign.” He shrugged, and then quickly scampered out of the underground cave, just to be safe.

As he exited, he pulled up his Soul Status, checking on his condition.

Dorian – Soul Status

Soul Stage: Master Class (Early)

Health: Perfect

Energy: 94% (Draining at 1% per 47 seconds)

‘Hmm, there really is a significant drain in maintaining this form.’ He thought, rubbing his draconic chin. He stopped willing himself to be in the first stage, and felt his body automatically resume its now natural state.

That of a 3 meter tall Myyr Dragon.

‘Hey! I reached the Master Class! Awesome, I jumped past Sky Class! Dragons are the best!’ He noticed after a moment, doing a little celebratory jig.

The difference between Classes were extremely important in the 30,000 Worlds. For beasts that relied on their bloodlines to grow strong, this difference was a life-or-death statistic.

The Master Class was a dividing line between beasts. A single Master Class beast could easily crush several Sky Class beasts.

Among those that practiced Magic, once your understanding of Magic, and ability to use it, reached the Master Class, your Soul would evolve an innate barrier to protect your body.

For beasts with powerful bloodlines that naturally reached the Master Class, it was a bit different.

Master Class beasts evolved a certain level of intelligence, beyond that of regular beasts. Not enough to be fully aware in most cases, but enough to be able to sense and detect the Aura of other beasts, and form coherent responses to them. The Soul of a Master Class beast was much stronger than that of a Sky Class beast.

The reason all the Master and Grandmaster Class beasts had fled or hidden upon feeling the Aura Dorian released was due to that.

But the biggest difference between a Master Class and a Sky Class beast was a more subtle point.

Muscle and bone density.

In the 30,000 worlds, the stronger a being’s soul, the more powerful a body that being could contain or handle. For Wizards, this was apparent in the awe inspiring spells they could unleash.

For beasts that grew via their bloodline, this began to show itself as their physical body became increasingly more powerful. The cells in one’s body began to condense, growing tougher and more tightly packed, increasing in number. The higher the Class, the more and more apparent this was.

An incredible amount of strength and power could be concentrated in a single physical form, supported by a powerful Soul Spell Matrix. That was how the laws of this very different universe functioned.

Warriors that weren’t able to practice magic followed a similar route to that of beasts, growing their body forcibly through constant training and stimulation. While they wouldn’t be able to reach the peaks that certain powerful bloodlines could, they could still reach extraordinary levels.

Dorian felt at his body, feeling a strength in him that he hadn’t felt before. He looked down at his now several inch long claws, tapping them together.

CLINK

The resounding echo was powerful, and felt threatening. He felt a strength in his body he hadn’t felt before, as if he could casually smash an entire tree into wooden shrapnel with a casual blow. He had become far stronger.

He then looked at the wings on his back, his eyes lightning up.

Naturally, as if by instinct, Dorian stretched them out, feeling as if he had an extra pair of arms attached to his back. A cool breeze washed over his wings as they expanded, growing out several meters longer than his body.

He frowned as he looked at this. As a student who studied aerospace engineering, he knew very well that a wingspan of this size could never support his 3 meter tall body.

‘Ausra, can Myyr Dragons fly?’ He queried.

‘A Myyr Dragon is one of the weaker Draconic bloodlines, and is incapable of extended flight. Gliding and other forms of temporary flight are possible.’ Ausra responded cooly.

Dorian shrugged, accepting it as it was. His eyes gleamed, however at the thought of obtaining a form that could soar through the skies. What human wouldn’t dream of such a thing?

As he came to terms with his body, he focused on the last mental notification his Soul Spell Matrix had sent him.

– New Ability Gained –

Ability: Lesser Emerald Flames (1/3)

Description: An Ability unique to several draconic breeds, the ability to unleash powerful green flames that burn with abandon, particularly effective in melting metal. The flames are aspected to the being that released them, and cannot damage oneself. This Ability grows in mastery.

What exactly were abilities?

According to Ausra, Abilities were a power unique to beasts with unique or powerful bloodlines.

The bloodline of a beast, and their respective Soul Spell Matrix, were inherently tied together for almost all creatures. Some creatures had unique abilities they gained due to the makeup of their blood and Soul Spell Matrix.

These abilities were very similar to Magic Spells. The source of each was identical, from one’s Soul Spell Matrix. Wizards, however, had to practice very hard to maintain their mastery of any specific spell, learning and understanding more about how Magic worked.

An Ability, on the other hand, was completely natural to the being that held it. The complex symbols and energy used functioned automatically, meaning even the least intelligent beast could operate it.

Some Wizards had made it their life’s work to uncover more about the Abilities of beings that held them, to uncover the secrets of the universe. Ausra didn’t have any specific information on how they had progressed, but said that it was entirely possible for a Wizard to mimic an Ability, if you studied it and learned about it long enough.

‘Ausra, it says this Ability grows in mastery? What specifically does that mean?’ He felt as if he could guess, but wanted to be certain.

‘Some abilities are tied to the growth of your physical form. As you grow stronger, the Ability will grow alongside you as your body and soul become able to handle its stronger and stronger form.’ The genie replied.

He nodded. That was what he figured. The stronger his body, the more powerful Abilities he’d be able to handle.

As he took in his recent growth, Dorian made sure to not let down his guard, keeping a careful watch on the surrounding valley. He saw at least a hundred of the once tall trees were bent or folded, the shockwave from earlier breaking them.

He decided to take a few moments before he left, analyzing the past few minutes.

He felt like an idiot.

He’d been so excited upon obtaining that powerful Aura, he’d thought he was invincible. After all, such a powerful Aura should make any intelligent being flee in fear, right?

The answer to that seemed to be a resounding no. Just because he had a trump card didn’t mean it would always work. Relying upon that to save him was foolish.

He’d let down his guard in a valley he knew was dangerous. Sure, it had seemed safe at the time, and he’d only had a single encounter with intelligent humans before, but that was no reason to leave himself open.

Starting a fire in the wilderness created an obvious smoke trail. He’d started singing as he relaxed, feeling as if he was truly safe.

He needed to remind himself that this was not earth. He could not act like he was just a regular human out on some camping trip.

Powerful creatures existed here, beings that could crush him like a bug.

His eyes hardened as he nodded his head sharply. He was extremely lucky to have survived this time, and the odds of that happening a second time were slim.

He would not let this mistake happen again.

Dorian sighed, rubbing his head. Or, well, attempting to. His claws appeared to be much sharper than his scales, and he accidentally stabbed himself. At least his regeneration seemed to have bumped up slightly thanks to his upgrade, the wound closing up and starting to slowly heal.

Why did all those humans and Vampires try to attack him, anyway? Or, rather, try to capture him. Till the fight unfolded, none of them seemed to want to actually kill him.

How did they even find him?

His eyes flashed as he remembered that Wizard that had seen his Red Salamander form. Perhaps he led them here?

But what about the Vampires?

As Dorian was pondering this, trying to decide where to go from now, a flash of white light caught his eyes.

He spun around, a snarl on his face as he readied himself to flight, his eyes glinting.

Floating in the air before him was the transparent figure of an old man with a long, white beard.

“Excuse me, young dragon. Could I have a moment of your time?” The elderly man’s voice was calm and soothing as he held his hands out, standing still and not moving.

..

Hundreds of miles away, Lord Hadrion of the Black Lightning Department was gazing in Dorian’s direction, a small frown on his face. He stood upon the southern wall of the great capital city Obsidia, looking out at the world around him. The enormous river bordered the city off to the east, while a large, relaxing grass plain flowed in other directions.

“What do you reckon that was, Larah?” He said, motioning to the distance.

A large, gleaming pillar of lightning had shot into the sky, attracting his attention just moments ago. This pillar held a very large amount of natural energy within it, enough for him to notice it, even at such a distance.

Larah Consta, his Grandmaster Class Fate Wizard companion, shrugged, her plain face devoid of emotion as she responded,

“I am not certain, but it almost certainly has to do with one of our own. I’ll look into it. We should have a few of my Wizards in the area. ” The woman sat down, directly on the outer stone wall of the city, her hands waving out in front of her. Light seemed to glow from her eyes as she focused, concentrating.

As the leading member of the Department of Fate among all the Fate Wizards that had come with them, Larah was the absolute leader among them. She had a unique grasp of Fate Magic that was at the peak of the Grandmaster Class.

Fate Magic was an incredibly obscure type of Magic, but also one of the most useful. Any qualified group or team of Wizards would have among them a Wizard studying Fate Magic, without fail. It was part of why the Fate Department was one of the largest and most widespread of the 108 Departments, having members on teams with every single other Department.

Hadrion stared at the lightning as it fizzled out, his eyes calm. That was definitely a spell of some sort, and had a very strong resemblance to the the Lightning Magic: Requiem Above.

He sighed. Time was running out, unfortunately. They probably didn’t even have a full day before members from the Darkness Department and Sundering Department arrived. The headquarters of the Black Lightning Department was on a planet close to this outer world, but so too were the headquarters for the Darkness Department and Sundering Department.

If he could successfully capture whatever caused the disturbance in Fate here on his own, he’d gain a very large amount of merit within his Department, and subsequently be heavily rewarded.

Unfortunately, Fate Magic, even for the best Fate Wizards, could be a damned difficult thing to unfold. They’d manage to pinpoint the disturbance in Fate to somewhere within a thousand miles of here, but the exact location was elusive. He’d already spread his men out as far and wide as they could go, but had yet to find anything.

The bright beam of lightning magic to the west, however, was incredibly intriguing.

“I’ve established a connection through Fate with one of our own in the area… They’ve found the location of the disturbance in Fate!” Larah’s voice contained, for once, a hint of excitement.

Hadrion smiled, clenching his fists. It seemed they wouldn’t be too late after all. Larah’s next words, however, cooled his enthusiasm.

“It’s apparently at least a Lord Class Beast, and a very powerful one.” She continued, and then stopped, stuttering.

Hadrion turned his head, waving for her to continue.

“What manner of beast is it?” He frowned gruffly. A powerful Lord Class Beast. That could prove troublesome, especially if it was at the peak of strength. His last battle with a Lord Class beast had been an extremely tough one that wiped out an entire mountain range, and that beast hadn’t been one at the peak of Lord Class.

“It… uh, it appears to be… a green scaled baby Dragon… that likes to sing and dance?”