David slumped forward in pure exhaustion as he laid out in the front of his lair. Kobolds were still lined up and groaning after freshly being healed by what remained of David’s affinity. The corrosive breath of the Wyvern had dove into the depths of the cave and almost all of his kobolds who remained hidden were injured. There were a few close to death but David was able to get back to them in time. In the end he only lost two of his precious little kobolds, one of which was White’Yellow. Red’Blue, White’Yellow’s direct kin and the next best fighter besides Red himself, stood vigil over the bodies. Red’Blue had been trapped below when the fighting started and David could tell it was tearing him up. The muscular warrior was holding back a torrent of emotions and David debated about approaching him before he was beaten to it by Blue. Blue offered a warm smile to her child and stepped up to him to offer him some quiet kind words.

David would trust Blue with handling her children’s affairs and shifted his eyes back to the corpse of the Wyvern nearby. The kobolds that weren’t currently recovering had already begun to strip the Wyvern apart on his orders. They had been rather bashful at first but David had reassured them that this “Master” was not one deserving of their devotion. The bones, scales, claws and teeth were all valuable resources for tool making or experimentation in the future. David was certain that dragon material had to be a higher quality compared to most creatures and the kobold’s seemed to echo his thoughts.

He had two matters he needed to attend to though. The Wyvern had to have some traits for him to pick from and he had got an unusual notification after Red had taken out the other Wyvern, and since then Red has been curled up inside the freshly vented caves below. He wasn’t waking and it was worrying even Blue. David called forth the prompt again and offered a sigh as he stared at it, he was uncertain if this was something he needed to ask about or not.

Bonded Kobold, Red, has become a Dragonslayer. The essence of his kill has seeped into his core. Evolution commencing.

Blue seemed somewhat clueless to what was going on in general so David decided to let it play out. An evolution wasn’t a bad thing, in fact, in the case of himself it was a really positive event. He was under the impression that only dragons changed and evolved like that, could that mean kobolds are actually related to dragonkind? A dragon somewhere at sometime created them or perhaps they have always been alongside dragons from the start? Maybe they are a very rare evolution of dragons? David wondered if there were those with answers out there.

Before getting too lost in thought David shifted his focus back to the nicely stacked piles of Wyvern meat in front of him and began to eat. He ate till his stomach almost burst and then an all too familiar prompt pinged him in his head.

Corrosive Lesser Wyvern slain and traits available. Please select at most one.

Carrion Sensory - Your sense of smell becomes so acute you can pick up smells from ten times your current capacity, especially that of death. Your stomach also becomes further reinforced to eat carrion that would be lethal to most. Your toughness as a result of your reinforced intestines and stomach increases by 2.

Carrion Sensory trait available. Absorb Y/N?

Lightweight Reinforcements - Your body becomes lighter as your muscles restructure themselves but doesn’t lose any toughness or strength as a result. The bottom of your feet become padded to such a degree that almost all sound is muted and you can fall from extreme heights without dying. Your speed increases by 4.

Lightweight Reinforcements trait available. Absorb Y/N?

Keen Eyes - Your eyesight becomes so sharp and acute you can spot things from an impossible distance. Your eyesight is tenfold more effective. Your eyes are so acute, and sensitive that your brain adapts, twists, and grows to account for all the new information. Your intelligence increases by 2.

Keen Eyes trait available. Absorb Y/N?

Magical Pores - You gain the ability to open or close your magical pores at will. The process of opening or closing them takes ten minutes of concentration. While open you regenerate your affinity charges at a ratio correlated to your maximum charges. You completely recover all charges during a full morning cycle, and full night cycle. While your pores are open you are more vulnerable and suffer a -2 toughness.

Magical Pores trait available. Absorb Y/N?

David took a long moment to process everything. He had four choices this time and three of them were unique ones he had never seen before. A lot was starting to make sense. This Wyvern was clearly set up to scout based on these traits, and it explained how it was able to pick up on David so fast in the area. Both Keen Eyes and Carrion Sensory were extremely good. Keen Eyes seemed like the better choice for the traits passive but Carrion Sensory had the toughness increase that might benefit him more in the long run. He had already decided to hold off on Lightweight Reinforcements, definitely since this was his second time seeing it so it must be rather common.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

It was a toss up between the two scouting abilities and then there was the third unique one on offer. He had seen a blue glow on the Wyvern and he just remembered seeing the same glow on Ambass! He had no doubt that this Magical Pores trait was what they shared in common, especially after reading it over.

The toughness hit would hurt but the benefits were exciting to David. Ambass, and perhaps all Faerie Dragons, was focused more on using magical affinities so Magical Pores made sense. It also made sense for a Wyvern focused purely on scouting and speed. David lucked out catching it how he did. In an extended battle in the air he wouldn’t have been able to catch him easily and would have been worn away by that relentless corrosive gas that kept recharging. David shivered as he thought about it, what a nasty combination. This just confirmed his worst fear though, that there were clearly smart dragonkin out there that planned out their traits. Was this Wyvern the norm or an abnormality?

David really, really wanted one of those scouting traits but he felt in his gut that the Magical Pores was a difficult one to find, and he could see the immediate benefits when it came to his kobolds. He shook his massive head and swore that he would find one of those scout traits again and then accepted Magical Pores in his prompt. He then began to scream out in a violent roar. His body felt like a thousand needles stabbed every part of his exposed flesh and it refused to stop. He thrashed around in pain and before long his body began to give off a soft blue glow. The needle pain was replaced by the burning sensation of hot fire or energy being pulled into his veins. It was bearable but extremely uncomfortable. His poor kobolds looked around in alarm and quickly came running to his aid as his status window appeared before his sight once more.

David “Onyx” Manning - Otherworlder

Species: Lesser Dragon

Str: 25.5 (28.5 Jaw)

Int: 14

Speed: 10 (Flight Speed: 12)

Toughness: 16 (14 w/ Magical Pores active)

Affinity: Life (6/6 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

Rapid Growth (Singular Target) - 5 Charge Cost

Traits: 4/6

Condensed Musculature

Rupturing Jaws - Death Roll Ability

Thagomizer Defenses

Magical Pores - Magical Spores Open/Close

He began to give off a warm, soft blue glow that contrasted against the black sheen of his armored body. He let off a relieved huff and turned to his kobolds, calming them down. He could feel the magic seeping into his body at a constant rate and it felt different. His “pores” were open by default and he decided to keep it that way as he planned to experiment later.

After his meal he attended the funeral held by Blue in the evening. White’Yellow and another smaller kobold’s corpse were laid out for all to see. David was conflicted and grieving about the entire situation. The time they had spent together was short but they all had been like companions, no children, to him. David rumbled and offered a large sigh as he reflected upon his other life. He had lost his sisters in a car accident when he was still a teenager and the grief he felt now was comparable in some ways to that but more muted. Had he become used to loss or perhaps was it this world? He hadn’t really had time to consider it but if he had the choice to return would he? Could he? He wasn’t completely sure. If he was still five years old running around on the playground with his friends the answer would have been a hard no, being a dragon was a fantasy come true. The reality was that being the creature he was meant dealing with terrors, hardships, and loneliness that was hard to describe. He shook his head to break himself out of thought as the ceremony neared its end. He needed to focus on the now and survive. He and now his kobolds were in this together so he had to do the best he could to survive no matter the challenges or losses they may suffer.

As he peered over and made eye contact with Blue she motioned to him that it was his time to speak. He stood tall and proud as he opened his large muzzle. His eyes took in the sight of the dozens of kobolds gathered and began, “We were attacked but we fought back and won. Unfortunately, we will always be attacked. We must continue our path forward by preparing to the best of our ability. I cannot do it alone and you cannot either. Our greatest strength is each other and so raise your heads high because we will not falter. Tomorrow is a new day and we will keep pushing till the day comes that I, or any of my kobolds, will not have to fear what may become of their loved ones.” As he finished he let off a loud roar and the mass of his kobold’s joined in.

The next morning all of his kobolds were energized and seemed to be in overdrive. David attends to the eggs and uses his breath to force one to grow and then hatch. The population now climbs back to 33. His magical pores are still wide open and he can feel the subtle stinging of magic being pulled into his body seconds after expending his charges. He should be topped off by the end of the day and be able to push another egg to hatch then. In a few months the kobold’s numbers will have doubled and whoever challenged them would be in for a surprise. Red was still hibernating, and by midday Blue was already chirping happily as she ran to show David a large chunk of copper they had just melted down from ore.

“Good. Now time to make some tools. Have you ever heard of mold casting Blue?” David grinned to himself as he recalled watching documentaries on how ancient bronze civilizations created tools and weapons using preformed molds.

Blue’s head cocked to the side, “No. I am afraid I have not, Master.”

David chuckled as he made his way out of the cavern with Blue following behind, “Then let me explain it to you. We will need some kobolds willing to learn first…”