To that end, I'd like to try merging my Origin with all of this planet's dragons. I think back to that gooey connection between my Will and the bulb's.

Unlike parasitization, that stuff shouldn't convert their bodies into more of 'me' but instead add a strong link between them and myself. I'm pretty sure it's what blocks the gods' sciolation. The god I ate sure seemed upset about it.

Of course, they might get access to my incredibly destructive abilities. I can't isolate their minds the same way I would with parasitization.

I should practice restricting which threads of my Origin can access my abilities. My goal being to make an Origin thread which contains no abilities at all.

I draw out an Origin thread and merge it into a bit of dust. The thread vanishes. I check the connection between myself and the dust. Indeed, that sticky, gooey, translucent connection appeared. Well, rhum. It was probably already there but now it's very, very obvious. It's best to do such tests on a non-living subject.

I use my senses to feel my abilities resonating within the connection. I try to block them and... They're gone.

image [https://timjames.net/data/acd/images/085.png]

It was that easy? I damn near killed myself against the bulb. Thinking now, I also risked my life against the human god.

Was it always so easy?

Why am I such an idiot if I've got so much Int and Wis? Worse, this is the second time I've asked that question. Hrr, I guess Int solely improves my mental faculties. It doesn't give me any additional insight unless I use those mental faculties properly. In short, I'm not acting as intelligently as I could. If I'm right, then that means Wis should be my capability for complex reasoning based on life experience. I'm not properly utilizing that stat either; I possess the combined experience of many thousands of sapients.

I'm lucky to have this powerful Origin. My dumb ass would be dead multiple times over without it. I don't know how often it can cover my mistakes, though, since my opponents are getting quite strong. I'll need to experiment more rather than trying to figure things out during a crisis.

As for this, though?

Pathfinder, find me the nearest dragon.

The room I'm sitting in shows a big red dot.

Well duh! Of course it does!

I'mma dragon!

"Rawr!"

Happy roar~!

Rokay, enough silliness.

Pathfinder? Find me all dragons.

The map zooms out. I see several thousand in this city's limits. Though I killed and ate many of my brethren, there's still a fair number alive. Which is promising.

It keeps zooming out such that I can see the entire map.

Red dots everywhere. There's even the one in the southern wastes, near my new city of Chronometria. I didn't decide that name— King Shridenia did. Well, it's alright; I enjoy the prestige. Though the name could've been a little less fanciful.

Speaking of which.

"What's this city's name?"

"Dragon God City, lord Chronomet."

Of course it is. Seems I'm following my forebear's naming patterns quite closely. He continues.

"Lord, do you want to rename it after yourself?"

"No, no. I am the new god of dragons."

"You are correct my lord! Everyone, praise the Chronometric Dragon God!"

"PRAISE THE CHRONOMETRIC DRAGON GOD!"

*thump*

"Rah, rarh! Rawreh."

Their praises seem to be getting longer. That makes me feel happy. Rah, stay focused.

I realize the map's still zooming out, so I Will it to go back to just this planet. That suggests more dragons exist on other planets? Good, I'll enjoy finding more of my kind.

I take stock of this planet's dragons by zooming in on my mental map. As I zoom in on the first dragon, I notice there's a lot of junk in the way, so I try hiding all nearby terrain and plants. Which works fine. Basically, the only thing that should be visible on my map in this mode are non-plant creatures and buildings. Except buildings apparently count as terrain according to my mental map, seeing as they too vanish.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Considering I can alter the map like I just did, maybe I can change that behavior? Mreh. It's not necessary.

Now just the dragon is visible on-screen. I briefly examine it, then zoom out. I subsequently examine a few more up close, rapidly zooming in and out on each one.

Hrr.

I zoom in. Yenim was right: most of these are only 40-60% larger than a typical kaizen. Your average kaizen is shorter than an average human, meaning these dragons are quite unimpressive. I'd say they average about 2.8 meters. I imagine some might only be as tall as a tall human. I zoom out. Not counting our impressive horns, of course.

I zoom in. The ones here in the capital, though. I zoom in further, my mind focusing on a particularly large one. She's almost as large as my size when I first evolved: approximately 4 meters.

My favored 20 meter form puts me well above all of them. I do sometimes pick other sizes, but I feel 20 meters is the proper height for a Demigod dragon such as myself.

She's more what I expected from a dragon. She possesses earthy green colored scales, grayish-yellow spikes, and similarly-colored horns. Far more normal compared to my colors— that's for sure.

Rah. Even her, hrem?

Their size. It's all so underwhelming.

Did the sciolation cause their bodies to shrink?

That's another thing I learned from the Defication Token.

We dragons possess unique bodies whose size grows in tandem with our power. Even if we solely gain Int and add zero Str, Sta, or Wis, the latter three stats will rise anyway because of our high Int. Raising one stat uncaps the rest; it makes them grow naturally to match our highest stat.

As if thumbing our snouts at the very idea of being constrained by our bodies, a dragon's entire body grows larger to accommodate our rising power. Since we don't need to compress our power, it thus becomes easier and easier to gain more. Our bodies help us benefit from a sort of dragon-only feedback loop.

As for other species? Their progression becomes exponentially more difficult as their power rises. Which is why all aspects of a dragon's body are treated as unique and powerful treasures.

Though we don't particularly enjoy being killed, I'd say being treated as a treasure past our deaths is probably a point of pride for all dragons. It's one of the many reasons we admire ourselves. At least, that's what my instincts tell me whenever I think about it.

Our pride, of course, is one reason dragons value family. Even a sciolated dragon still seeks to protect their most favored progeny. As for me? I want to protect all dragons. The entire species. Since I admire myself, I naturally admire my brethren. If I intend to view myself as the Origin of dragons, then every dragon must be my family member. Being a dragon means my logic must remain consistent and truthful.

Which makes it completely baffling that no draconic god has bothered to defend this planet's dragons. Or, it would be baffling, except there are no dragon gods in the human god's memories. It's clear that the self-proclaimed Dragon God wasn't really a god. Granted, the human god I ate was not nearly strong enough to interact directly with bigshot gods, but that only makes it weirder. Weaker draconic gods would likely parade themselves around him so he could gawk at their far greater prowess. Perhaps there would be 'reverence festivals' where dragons would give out minor treasures for the best praises or poems. Who knows? We dragons aren't exactly known for being low-key about our pride.

It's only understandable if they've been eradicated. Yet, when I consider how quickly dragons already grow, then add our many beneficial species traits—.

My eyes carefully trace my tough body and its many spikes. I raise my hand to lovingly examine my razor-sharp claws. I think fluently and adroitly with my godlike intellect.

...

Hra? Wait, the stats really did do something?

My thoughts are far more cogent. Not my internal monologue; that's simply faster. TWhich is to be expected when getting stronger. No, hrr, let's not go based on feelings. I'll try some complex tasks to confirm.

My mind solves multivariate physics equations like they're nothing. My already amazing ability to build huge three dimensional mental models has vastly improved. My consideration of complex ideologies resolves in moments.

Everything I try to do, mentally, simply works. It's so much faster than what I remember from two days ago.

Wrah!

Thaddeus' memories of the Dragon God weren't mistaken. Dragons really do get unreasonably smart as they grow.

It'll be downright scary if I keep gaining better mental faculties from this point forward. I'm only a Demigod, but the difference between my mental fluency and those possessed by the deceased human god are like night and day. Seems that gaining Int and Wis did have an effect on him, too, but it's not nearly as pronounced as what a dragon recieves. Wild.

Which only makes it all the more confusing.

How could these draconic gods possibly be killed? By the time the first humans became gods, numerous dragons should've already been gods who were several orders of magnitude stronger. Their power far beyond reproach. Draconic gods should easily rule above all other gods. Not merely because I'd want dragon gods to rule above all others, either. I do need to discount that fact since I'm a bit biased. I lovingly gaze at my sharp claws.

Ruh. Maybe I'm more than a bit biased. Perhaps a few quintillion metric tons of bias? Reh hreh.

To avoid getting distracted by my claws, I redirect myself to thinking about the Dragonblood Sigil.

Perhaps we were too hated? This is also baffling. Even the most boneheaded of draconic gods should see the follies of oppression since our bodies themselves forcibly raise our Int and Wis stats. Our brain and nervous system scales larger as we do, and these physical changes evidently aren't for show.

Actually— wait. My Origin itself seems to act as a nervous system. The Will is supposed to stem from the brain, but my brain's been taken over twice. And now my brain doesn't exist. I have no organs. None. Hrum.

How does that work? I don't know. Do all Demigod dragons lose their organs? No, they don't. The Dragon God was a Demigod according to the human god's memories and he still possessed a massive brain. In fact, Thaddeus knew the Dragon God's every measurement. The Dragon God's brain specifically evolved to handle its own increased size and density.

Then, am I different from all other dragons? Is this an effect of Pure Evil? It shouldn't be; I still had my brain after being eaten by Parasite, but I never checked again after that.

Who regularly checks to see whether their brain is missing? That's quite a strange thing to do, isn't it? Except now I'm regretting the fact I never checked.

I'm such a strange dragon.

...