A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 15_A Draconic Rebirth

His prompt finally pinged him and David let off a happy laugh.

Lingering Regeneration (Focused Cone) learned.

David “Onyx” Manning - Otherworlder

Species: Lesser Dragon

Str: 25.5 (28.5 Jaw)

Int: 14

Speed: 10 (Flight Speed: 12)

Toughness: 16

Affinity: Life (5/5 Charges) - Fine Motor Control

Healing Breath (Fog) - 1 Charge Cost

Healing Breath (Focused Cone) - 1 Charge Cost

Lingering Regeneration (Singular Target) - 1 Charge Cost

Lingering Regeneration (Focused Cone) - 1 Charge Cost

Traits: 3/6

Condensed Musculature

Rupturing Jaws - Death Roll Ability

Thagomizer Defenses

Curiously, his life affinity didn’t experience an expansion this time. Perhaps the higher it got the more it required to expand it? He had spent the last few days trying to work his Lingering Regeneration into an area effect like his healing breath. Throughout the night he had cast his Lingering Regeneration on Red, Blue and his newly awakened carpenter Blue’Green. He was able to spread his breath over multiple kobolds at once but it felt like fighting against a flood once again. It was markedly easier though since he already knew how focusing his ability in a cone should feel.

Over the next few days David confirmed his suspicion that when a breath was spread over a larger group then the effects would be diminished. His cone of Lingerining Regeneration didn’t last nearly as long compared to when he used it on a single individual. David was thankful that the magic was consistent in how it functioned, that meant he could continue to experiment and make some hypotheses with at least some predictability.

The kobolds didn’t stop either as each of them began to tackle their new home construction in earnest. David had made a suggestion that they could use the plentiful amount of wood in the nearby forest in combination with carving out an adequate size chamber to continue farming their mushrooms. The concept of how mushrooms reproduce using spores was a bit lost on the kobolds so David simply sold it as a “magical” method that could be replicated using their current stock of mushrooms. While a small subsect of the kobolds worked with their moles to expand the caverns, Blue had taken the opportunity to collect herbs, and grasses in the local area. Blue was already chirping happily as she brewed and experimented using her Shaman class’s alchemist skills.

Red, Red’Blue, and White’Yellow had begun taking turns hunting with a small group and training the other kobolds. They had acquired a considerable amount of iron weapons from the orcs, and while most were too big for the little kobolds to use there had been a surprising amount of iron daggers strapped to each orc. These daggers were wicked looking blades that were longer than most would consider appropriate for a dagger. It just happened that these longer daggers were more like normal sized swords for his kobolds.

Blue’Green had also blossomed in use of their woodworking skills. The crude and barbaric barricades were slowly replaced by cleaner and more sturdy pieces of lumber and spikes. David had stumbled onto Blue’Green scolding one of the younger kobolds on technique as he was out stretching his wings. He decided to use the opportunity to impart some of his incomplete knowledge on the little kobold.

“Blue’Green you have been making good progress.” David rumbled as he approached.

“Master! Uh… Thank you! Yes! Blue’Green gets happy working wood.” Blue’Green bobbed its head rapidly at its words.

“Good. I have an idea if you are willing to experiment?” David questioned.

“Ohh. Parent elders have told of Master knowledge! Yes!” Blue’Green chirped happily.

“Good. There is a technique you should experiment with…” David struggled for a moment to try and explain the method in a way the kobold would understand, “Use fire to lightly char the outsides of the barricades then seal it with oils, or plant matter. It will create a barrier that protects the wood from the elements and should resist fire.”

Green’Blue opened his mouth, but closed it in thought. Before David could say anything else the kobold quickly thanked him then darted off. David let off a chuckle and hoped to see what he could do. David knew that back home ancestral humans used to use fire to char and seal it to create a protective barrier but it could also be used in hardening wooden spears. He hadn’t ever done it himself but he had faith that little Green’Blue would figure it out. If Green’Blue seemed adaptive enough David might be able to explain the concept of making joints and notches to construct housing and buildings, it was a form of carpentry that didn’t require any nails. Though like most of his ideas he had simply read about it in his past life and didn’t know the exact details that mattered.

After leaving Green’Blue, David decided it was time to do some scouting as he spread his huge wings wide and took off. The forest was virtually endless as David glided over its massive expanse. The small river near their new lair eventually fused with a larger massive body of moving water that cut straight through the forest. David’s nostrils tingled as his acute senses guided his eyes to a multitude of worrying things. He felt and knew he was being watched. The worrying thing was he was absolutely certain that he wasn’t being watched by just one thing.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

David caught the silhouette of a creature flying in the distance. As he tried to approach it, it turned away from him, and as he moved away it followed. He was absolutely certain that this thing was a Wyvern but it could be a giant bat-like creature instead. It had two massive wings, a thick tail, and a pair of hind legs. David couldn’t get any more details at this distance but he knew for a fact that this creature was fast enough that he couldn’t out run, or chase it down with exposing some of his abilities. The next best decision then was for David to simply ignore it for now.

Unfortunately it wasn’t the only thing he caught a glimpse of as he soared over the endless forest tops. There were little figures dashing between trees behind him, and it appeared that each was humanoid shaped with bows or spears of some make. Clearly he and his clan were not alone. David opted to gain some altitude, the distant winged beast effortlessly flew up and maintained height with him. It was a bit eerie and frightening how weak of a flier he was in comparison but there was nothing he could do about it now. The higher he flew the more of the forest he could see and it appeared that in the far distance a multitude of roads cut through the forest. He had been flying east this whole time, and the forest appeared to continue as far as his eyes could see. North was much the same but South the forest ended in the far distance as it budded up against flowing hills. Small huts and buildings were embedded in the hillsides on the outskirts of the forest, and roads seemed to splinter off these clusters of buildings into the forest. David’s eyes followed these small, almost invisible roads as they cut through the forest attempting to trace their destination. Periodically they appeared to split off and stop near massive clusters of huge trees that broke above the average height of the forest’s canopies.

David hovered in the air as he watched his distant admirer and made a mental map of the area. His senses were going into overdrive with the new smells, sights, and his draconic desires were becoming rather strong. After calming down his urges he turned back towards his lair and began to fly as fast as he could manage. He turned away from his pursuer and stealthy breathed out a breath of Lingering Regeneration upon himself and then spurred forward. His admirer followed him still but seemed a bit more pressed to keep up with what had to appear like a desperate sprint from David.

As David neared the mountains by his lair he kept going forward and instead drove into the mountains, and then downwards to try and lose the creature following him. It had been maintaining its distance so as David dived down, around and then into some rock cover near the base of a nearby mountain it took a few solid minutes before he caught sight of it flying by none the wiser. It was much, much closer now and his senses tingled as he confirmed what he originally thought. The creature was around his size, much thinner, and had distinctive draconic traits. In fact David rather confidently concluded that this thing had to be a Lesser Wyvern. The Wyvern picked up pace as it realized it had lost track of him.

David’s trek home was a calculated one but he was able to stay low and dip back around the mountains towards the forest, and then eventually back to his lair home. He was greeted by the happy cheer of his kobolds as he landed with a heavy reverberating thud.

David’s voice boomed, “Be vigilant everyone. There are other Masters about and others that walk on two legs further in the forest.”

David’s warning caused a stir among the gathered kobolds but they quickly began to speed off to spread the word. David retreated into his lair and collapsed down into his cavern with a huff. Blue popped her happy head around the corner and David was quickly served mounds of red meat, fish, and some wild veggies. The latter didn’t taste very good but food was food and he didn’t want to insult Blue’s cooking. As he was eating a thought came to him.

“Blue! Please come here for a moment.” David rumbled out.

Blue poked her head around the corner again, “Yes Master?”

“Please bring me one of your eggs? I want to try something.” David asked softly. Blue didn’t question him and quickly darted off.

David had been considering his affinity more. His affinity wasn’t called healing, it was called life. That meant that while the application of it seemed to favor mending the living, he was curious if he could tweak the magic used to heal to accelerate life instead? The more he used his magic to heal the more he was convinced it empowered and accelerated the healing process. What if he could do the same process but remove the limiter that made the magic stop once something was healed? What if he could instead focus that magical energy into development, and accelerated growth of his kobolds? It was a bold and risky idea but the implications would be very rapid growth of his little group. His kobolds had proved to be vital and useful allies so more would not be a bad thing. He was already seeing the fruits of their hard labor as they dug out his lair more, built fortifications, and even fed him.

Moments later Blue returned with a large egg and placed it in front of him. She turned to him and stared at him for a long moment.

“Master. Please… Don’t damage my baby” She winced at the request, clearly half expecting to get punished.

David rumbled and let out a sigh, “Blue. Have some faith in me. Watch and see, okay? If you have any issue, speak up and I will stop.”

Blue simply nodded and David closed his eyes to concentrate. He decided to start with Lingering Regeneration and breathed it upon the egg. He watched the fog cling to the egg. Both Blue and David watched the egg and he noted that the fog wasn’t becoming depleted. He closed his massive eyes and began to focus on his fog. He felt the Lingering Regeneration slowly trickling its power into the egg attempting to refill its stamina. He focused on the principles of healing and twisted the effect of the Lingering Regeneration back to the rapid healing properties of his normal fog but with a twist. His mind tingled and he felt his mental fortitude being pushed to its extreme. He felt like he was fighting against an ocean tidal wave but slowly, utilizing his Fine Motor Control, he was able to use the healing energies to supercharge the egg by bypassing the usual healing’s stopping point. Since the egg itself didn’t need any actual healing the energies instead accelerated the very cells of the egg, and David felt something shift in his magic. As he began to pass out from pure exhaustion he felt a rush of success and a ping of his prompt. Darkness flooded his mind a moment after.

Life Affinity expanded. Rapid Growth (Singular Target) learned.