David towered over the three tiny kobold corpses laid down in front of him. They were down to thirty kobolds now. These three warrior kobolds were the only ones that David couldn't get to in time and it stung at his core. David had ordered their bodies wrapped up, preserved, and for their bodies to be brought with the group. The remainder of the orcs had retreated after their leader had fallen except for three that were captured by Blue. She had quite literally burned their ability to see out with her affinity, and Red subdued them afterwards. They used ropes, and twine they found on the other dead orcs to restrain them. In total they had slain ten orcs and then their leader. The fight would have gone poorly without Red, Blue, the Crusher Moles, and David himself. Their presence had tipped the balance hard in the other direction despite the massive equipment and side difference between the two species.

The troll corpse had been dragged nearby and it smelled absolutely foul. David knew he should try and see if he could get a trait. This regeneration might be worth it, but it might not? Either way intel was life or death in this world. Reluctantly he began to tear free large chunks of flesh and consume it. It tasted only slightly better than what it smelled like, which wasn’t saying much. He fought down his urge to throw up and was able to swallow enough that his belly bulged at capacity.

His prompt pinged him a moment later.

Giant Hill Troll slain and trait available.

Accelerated Healing - Your body rapidly regenerates and heals at super natural speeds. Your healing factor increases by a factor based on your toughness. The higher the toughness the faster even minor wounds will heal. For every 5 toughness your natural healing factor increases, reducing healing time by up to a full cycle. The more critical the injury the slower the healing factor increases.

Accelerated Healing trait available. Absorb Y/N?

David sat on his hunches and pondered for a long moment. David had already found a number of different traits. Some were hybrid abilities that offered attribute increases and abilities. Some were entirely focused on boosting a stat like his Condensed Musculature. This trait was clearly one in the entirely opposite direction. It was an ability that scaled off toughness and it could be very good with the right set up. If he was human it might take on average a week or two for a large scrape to heal on his body without any assistance. In his new dragon body his ability to heal was even higher than that of his old body. His toughness as it currently stood meant he would heal from a deep cut in about a day if he snagged this trait, which compared to his affinity’s capabilities was rather pathetic.

The troll seemed to regenerate before his very eyes during their fight, even if it was a bit slow near the end. David’s mind pondered and he began to do some math in his head. His higher intelligence made mathematics easier thankfully, one of the few noticeable effects. On the assumption the troll base healing ability was comparable to his own, and that other creatures functioned similarly to dragonkind then the troll probably had a toughness of around 25. It would explain his extraordinarily tough skin as well. It was a powerful trait but it had a counter he could already see. Ultimately the greater the injury the harder it will be to regenerate it. If he were to face another one in the future then he should aim to break or sever a limb to slow it down. It wouldn’t be able to heal fast enough before the fight would be over. Still though… toughness correlated to a creature's resilience to an attack, and the higher your toughness the less damage you would receive and with this trait you would regenerate faster too. A very nasty synergy and one he had no doubt other Dragons in this world had utilized.

With a sigh he reluctantly declined the prompt.

David rumbled over to Blue, “I want you to cut up and preserve as much of the remaining meat as possible. Only eat it in an emergency, I want to conduct some tests later.”

Blue nodded her head and gave David a rather disgusted look. David rumbled in amusement, at least he didn’t have to worry about them eating what remained. Next David had what remained of the orcs corpses piled nearby and the entire group settled in for the remainder of the night to tend to their wounds. David provided a hefty second blast of his healing fog for his kobolds to help their recovery. He planned to help stand watch during the day so he retired early while giving the watch to Red.

When he opened his eyes in the morning he let off a mighty yawn. He noticed a few kobolds curled up nearby him and a large, makeshift tent had been erected around him. He rumbled softly as he made his way out and spotted Red still standing watch nearby.

“Anything happen while I rested?” David rumbled.

“Master! No. All quiet.” He answered quickly. Red was squinting his eyes in the morning light.

“Go inside and rest. I will watch the camp.” David ordered. After Red reluctantly departed David made his rounds. The valley was as beautiful as ever and they had made it most of the way down the mountain before being attacked in the night. David’s eyes surveyed the battlefield and he quietly replayed the battle in his head over and over.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

After satisfying his own internal anxiety to do better next time he stumbled upon the pile of Orcs. His stomach grumbled, hungry again, and his mind peaked with a curiosity. What sort of benefit could he get from an Orc he wondered? His human side was partially disgusted by the idea of eating something that walked on two legs and somewhat resembled a human and yet… his stomach, and his nose were telling him something entirely different. He gave in and filled his stomach. David was almost certain that either Orcs did not have a trait or he had run out of luck when his prompt dinged in his mind as he finished off the last pile of meat.

Orc slain and trait available.

Strongest Shall Rule - The biggest, baddest, and strongest shall rule. That is the way of nature! If you are the strongest around you exert a dominating aura. This dominating aura can twist many to your command, while at the very least causing those strong of will to be weary and more accommodating of you. If you find another that is stronger than you, you recognize their strength and will feel a strong need to follow or at the very least accommodate their needs till the time comes to overthrow them.

Strongest Shall Rule trait available. Absorb Y/N?

Huh. David stared at the trait. This is something entirely new as well and “dominating aura” sounded fantastic. David decided to categorize this new type of trait as a leadership style trait. David could envision using this trait to draw hordes of orcs to his banner but based on what he had seen of orcs he didn’t think they were good for much besides war. If you were the biggest baddest around then this trait was amazing but if you weren’t it also hampered you. He knew for a fact that both the Worm and the Mountain were more powerful than him. If he had this trait he would feel inclined to accommodate them or out right serve them? What would that look like? Would they simply eat him? Would his own internal logic fail him? David had a very bad feeling about this trait. It felt like it led down a path that would remove some of his own will and choices from the mix as he tried to dominate and then overthrow others. He wasn’t opposed to dominating other creatures but he wanted to be in control and he refused to give that up.

He didn’t regret declining.

As the day dragged on he used the opportunity to scout around more. He was getting used to his wings and flying in general. He wasn't fast enough to catch anything else he saw in the air, be it birds or otherwise. As night approached the kobolds began to wake up and David used the opportunity to sneak in a second nap. After waking up a few hours later the makeshift campsite had been disassembled and his little clan were all eagerly standing at attention waiting for him.

“Master. We are ready to leave when you are!” Blue cheerfully chirped out to him.

“Good. What are we going to do with the prisoners?” David shifted his eyes to the two remaining orcs, the third having apparently died from its injuries during the day. After a quick consideration he rumbled out again in his dragon speak.

“I don’t think we can trust them, Blue. They would probably work for us but we couldn’t truly trust them.” David recalled the trait they possessed. If that was their very “essence” then he knew he could control them but he didn’t want to have to fear them trying to overthrow him or any of his kobolds in the future.

“Red will fix.” Red chirped in as his spear flashed before David could respond. The back of each Orc’s head was split open and they collapsed forward in a heap. It wasn’t what he had in mind but he supposed the Geneva Conventions did not exist here did they? Holding back a sigh David simply offered Red a reassuring nod and took to the sky.

The rest of the journey was completed with the moons still high in the sky. The moonlight illuminated the forest in front of the group and the rich smell of tree sap, running water, and the fresh air was invigorating. David had mapped out a few potential areas before they finished their trek down and they had settled on a nearby cave. It was small, but at the edge of the mountains and forest line. The water that ran down the valley also formed into a river nearby for water and food.

The Crusher Moles and their riders got to work and the results were quite impressive. The very rock itself seemed to crumble as the moles rolled and wiggled their forward limbs against the stone surface. The pair worked on expanding the cave and adding more tunnels as the other kobolds organized their supplies.

“Red. Did you recover any of the orcs' weapons?” David asked curiously as he walked up to a nearby tree.

“Yes, Master! Here…” Red dragged out a bundle of weapons. There were a few spears, daggers, a shortsword, and a handful of rough looking axes. They all appeared to be made of iron.

“Good. Those are axes and can serve more than one purpose. Grab it and come here.” David rumbled and watched as Red picked up one of the heavy axes and wandered over.

“I know you know what wood is but trees like this are where we can harvest higher quality material. We can use this to build furniture or fortifications. Let me explain…” David spent a few hours explaining the basic concept then helped Red fell a few trees. Using just an axe, and a poorly made one at that, to process the tree was difficult work. Red and his endless endurance made quick work of the trees though. Red was able to fell a few on his own and then split the logs in half to create workable boards. David was no carpenter but he had a basic idea of how wood was processed and hoped his little kobolds could handle it from there.

By morning the cave had been expanded enough for David to rest inside, and there were enough side chambers for the kobolds to comfortably store their stuff and rest themselves. Red had also made a very rough, but workable barricade using sharpened sticks and boards along the entrance with the help of one of his older offspring, Blue’Green. The barricade wouldn’t stop anyone or anything seriously planning to attack them but at the very least it would delay them enough for everyone to wake up.

A few of the warriors had also caught a deer-like creature sleeping nearby in a meadow. They had confirmed there was food around at least and with a heavy, tired rumble David closed his eyes. He was glad that they were able to get settled and would begin to scout their new home tomorrow.