“Well,” Aylin said, considering the question Sable had just asked. “People with classes are rare. So everything I know is hearsay. But the earlier levels are supposed to come fast, relatively speaking.”

[How fast?]

Aylin chewed her lip. “As long as you realize I’m pulling numbers out of my ass,“ she started, then cut off, blushing. “Er. Sorry. I mean, just know what I’m saying could be wrong. Might even probably be wrong.”

[You don’t need to give that disclaimer each time.] Though Sable did appreciate her studiousness to providing accurate information—and if not certain, making it clear.

“Okay. Then, for the first few levels, I’d figure a few weeks?”

[A few weeks?] That was fast to her?

Sable reconsidered. When a person had an entire lifetime to hone their class, a few weeks was nothing.

“Though, for you, probably faster,” Aylin said. “Way faster. A normal person can’t torch her way through dozens of powerful monsters in a few minutes. For us, each fight is brutal and close-matched, especially without a team—but a team splits experience. A dragon?” She snorted.

In Sable’s case, she could rain white-blue hellfire from above, melting droves of weaker monsters where they stood. Even Granite hadn’t been much of a problem, and that’d been before her massive stat debuff had loosened. When it came to farming enemy mobs, she’d be dozens time more effective than a ‘normal person’.

Unfortunately, as it stood, her notoriety debuff crippled that advantage. With an ongoing ninety-percent reduction to experience, it seemed pointless to focus on leveling. Though maybe she could make some progress, being able to kill most equal-level monsters with contemptuous ease. Her advantages and disadvantages might even out, or even leave her ahead of the game.

From what Sable could intuit, Aylin wasn’t aware that notoriety affected Sable. Just her hoard. Was that what most people believed? The hoard part would be more noticeable than reputation.

And speaking of that, had anyone ever stolen a dragon’s hoard to weaken it? With the debuff that came from lacking a hoard, it would be an effective strategy. Instant ninety-percent stat debuff. The thought troubled her. Maybe that was why Aylin had suggested ‘guards’ and ‘enchantments’ as one of Sable’s first goals. It was a glaring vulnerability.

Regardless, her brief questioning session with Aylin meant she had the information she wanted when it came to leveling. She hadn’t fully made her mind up on whether it was the ideal path to take, but she thought advancing notoriety was smart before trying to level. Only a single progression, though. Notoriety, she could tell, was going to require delicate balancing. The greater her reputation, the more people would want to hunt her. And the more powerful those pursuers would be. If she didn’t manage her reputation carefully, dragons would go extinct for a second time.

But each progression of notoriety also meant faster leveling. A valuable benefit, that. Possibly worth progressing despite the detriments. As Sable had said, a balancing act, one she’d have to think over carefully.

For now, she had to reveal herself in a small way, to lift the debilitating ninety-percent debuff. A meager beginning, as with her hoard.

How, exactly, should she tackle it?

[Are there human settlements?] Sable asked. [Or anything else, nearby? Besides your clan?]

Aylin relaxed at the question, which Sable thought odd. It took her a second to place why. Because if Sable was inquiring after other settlements, then Aylin assumed, perhaps, that Sable wasn’t looking to pillage her clan—that she’d decided to concede to that earlier request of hers.

It wasn’t why Sable had asked, of course. She was merely collecting options for handling her notoriety.

Though Aylin’s clan was safe, of course. Sable hardly intended to go ravage innocent settlements. But Sable couldn’t outright say that—to display her bleeding heart in such a manner. It’d make her look soft, and that was counterproductive to her goals.

She was a big, mean lizard, and everyone had to know it.

“Not nearby,” Aylin said. “There’s other clans, though? Stronger ones up north. Orcs further than that. And humans, too, east and west, though even with how fast you fly, it’d take a bit.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

[Orcs?]

“Settlements, but roaming bands too,” Aylin said. “More if you get near the humans. That’s why we stay away. Too much violence where those two are close to each other.”

Sable found that revelation amusing. Goblins were the peaceful race in this world? Or, more likely, humans and orcs were simply so violent that goblins—the weaker species—wanted to stay well and clear of it.

With orcs being brought up, Sable couldn’t help but ask the follow up: [And elves?]

“Elves?” Aylin blinked in surprise. “Um. What about them? Are they nearby?”

So they existed. That had really been her question, but now that she knew they existed, she was curious if they were close, too.

[Yes.]

“Er, no,” Aylin said. “Elves are way to the south, only found in pockets.” She shrugged. “Far as I know, at least. Nobody in the clan’s ever seen one. Just heard of ‘em.”

Interesting. Sable wondered how many fantasy races existed in this world. Was that the extent? Elves, orcs, goblins, humans? Somehow she doubted that.

It also popped a tangential question into her head. Something she’d been wondering about. [And dragons. Do we have an … alternative form? Similar to your appearance?] She wanted to say humanoid, but that implied human, and she wasn’t sure what the proper terminology would be. Bipedal?

Aylin tilted her head. “Uh. Yeah? Stories talk about how dragons can go around in half-dragon form. That’s not something you have, yet?”

[Not yet,] Sable said.

The fact it did exist was a burden off her shoulders. She didn’t mind being a dragon, for now, but knowing she could eventually have fingers and hands again came as a great relief.

She was getting side-tracked, though. She had practical matters to address. This discussion had started so Sable could start planning for her first advancement in notoriety.

[Does your clan have maps?]

A plan percolated in the back of her head. She’d asked after other settlements, but if she were to reveal herself, a goblin clan would certainly be the easiest. It ought to earn some reputation, and not the sort that would spread rapidly, with goblins being small, reclusive, and seemingly unimportant.

And as with Granite and her hoard, she might be able to kill two birds with one stone.

She might have to engage in the tiniest amount of pillaging. But only for much needed resources.

“Maps?” Aylin asked hesitantly. “Yeah? I think so.”

***

Aylin had always hoped to someday venture out from the clan. Not many legendary warriors lived their life in the same isolated corner of the world, after all, and so she’d seen it as an inevitability. Especially in her case. She didn’t even have parents or family to be missing. Some friends, sure, but only a few. She’d never fit in great. Hence her frequent brawls … and constant disciplinary punishments.

So, she’d had no great hangups over leaving home and venturing out with Sable. Not that she’d had much choice. And while she was loyal to the people who had raised her, and didn’t wish them ill, she wouldn’t say it was any great ordeal to leave them behind, either. Maybe that was callous, but it was the truth.

Though, robbing her clan … that didn’t sit wholly right with her. At the same time, Sable had given her an order. She didn’t know her mistress’s plans, but whatever they were, Aylin had no right to question her. At a guess, she needed the clan’s maps for some tactical purpose.

For being less than a day old, Sable clearly had a strategic mind. In fact, she was shockingly intelligent. Where had all her knowledge come from? How did she know the things she knew? How could she even speak, for that matter?

Were dragons just born with language? Though, she communicated with a telepathic link … maybe that had something to do with it. Could she understand Aylin’s native tongue if she didn’t have that link?

Returning to the clan, early from her hunt and empty-handed, was going to draw some questions. Ones Aylin wouldn’t be able to fully answer. Fortunately, she only needed to get past the guards, who, while they would recognize Aylin, wouldn’t care enough to stop her and force answers out. They’d let the Elders handle it. Aylin had a reputation for being unwieldy, so that helped.

The clan’s stockades came into sight, peeking through the forest. Tall and sturdy, each of the posts comprising the wall was well-maintained and thoroughly fortified. While the Rustling Woodlands weren’t especially dangerous—as far as the world at large went—defenses against monsters were always a necessity.

As Aylin had predicted, she received some flak from Skraatch, one of the younger warriors posted on gate guard duty. In the end, Aylin deflecting, he shrugged and sent her on her way. He obviously had no reasons to be suspicious. How could he know she’d been enlisted by a dragon?

At the reminder, she tried not to fidget. But it was hard to keep her nerves completely in check. She sent a fervent glance up into the sky, seeking out Sable, who she knew was there, somewhere. She saw nothing. An empty expanse of blue. Sable was so far up that Aylin couldn’t see her, even trying to.

Taking a deep breath in, she headed for the Elders’ houses. Robbing them shouldn’t be hard. Sable was about to provide a very chaotic distraction, and in the resulting mess, snatching some scrolls shouldn’t pose much difficulty.

The call to action was pretty easy to make out.

A bestial roar ripped through the air, shocking even Aylin, who had expected it. Aylin was by no means a timid girl, but that noise. It pierced her like a spear, freezing her solid. The primal reaction of prey—and everything was prey to whatever had made that ear-shattering, monstrous noise.

The clan erupted into chaos. Even the Elders burst from their homes. Elder Gneaxhi hobbled out, looked up at the sky at a dragon circling the clan, then paled, gaping upward for several long moments, his brain failing to understand what it was seeing. Then he cursed and set off, shouting commands as he went. Commands which, reasonably, went ignored.

Aylin slipped into his home, no one paying her any mind. She didn’t know where the maps were, but she had more than enough time to rifle through the various Elders’ houses. Dragons made great distractions.

And worst case scenario, even if she got caught, she had Sable for backup. That was some pretty hefty reassurance.