Daniel studied the dragon.

His once tiny frame had elongated, and his previously short and stumpy tail now wound around his feet.

“You look like the pictures of dragons I saw in books when I was a child.”

The dragon preened under his gaze, extending his legs out in a long stretch to show off his new size and sharp claws.

“Cinder,” the dragon’s voice said in his mind.

Daniel smiled warmly at his scaly companion.

“I hope you like the name. I wanted to talk to you while you were asleep.”

“Like,” the pleased dragon responded.

Cinder walked over to the body of the giant death-chicken and sniffed it.

Storing the chest of scrolls in his ring, Daniel joined the dragon by the monstrous bird.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Eat!”

Daniel considered it.

“I’m not sure if it’s good. I checked the others, and the meat smelled a little strange.”

“Good!” the dragon said insistently.

Well, he had his Lay on Hands spell. If it turned out to be bad, he could heal them.

Weighing his options, Daniel finally nodded.

“Alright, we can try a bit to see if it’s safe.”

Taking out his small skinning knife, he approached the giant body.

“I’m not sure if this tiny blade is up to the task,” he said.

Seeing the look on the dragon’s face, he relented.

This should be fun, he thought.

***

The meat wasn’t bad.

While he had lacked any sort of spices to make the monster flesh more palatable, it had been surprisingly good.

It had been a bit more gamey than a normal chicken, but he bet a little batter and oil, and it would have fried up delightfully.

Still, the meal pleased Cinder.

He had woken up ravenous, and while it hadn’t been a simple job to prepare the giant bird, the dragon appreciated his effort.

The dragon had returned to his shoulder and now curled around his neck in contentment.

“Cinder, good boy,” he said.

Reaching up, Daniel scratched the dragon under the chin.

“You are a good boy,” he confirmed.

It had been rather funny when he had tried to make a fire and couldn’t even light the junk he had pulled from the orcs’ packs to use as kindling.

He was a Fire Elementalist and couldn’t even start a fire; he had thought wryly.

Cinder had resolved the issue with a belch of flame.

Daniel had marveled at the dragon fire. It didn’t act like a normal flame, as it seemed to stick to what it had hit like alchemist fire, though thankfully without the sulfuric smell.

That had earned the dragon a cookie.

Foregoing the many messages he had ignored on his journey through the dungeon, Daniel checked his System screen.

System Points: 26

Daniel did some quick math, then went back and checked his System messages.

He had gained seven points, one for each room of the dungeon he had cleared, then another three for defeating the dungeon boss, and finally two for clearing the dungeon.

Twelve points! It was a tremendous amount!

No wonder adventurers were so powerful, he thought.

Another message caught his attention, and he opened his Title screen.

Dragon Guardian Tier 2

Passive Abilities:

Immunity to Fire 40%

Dragon’s Hide +2 Defense

He grinned at the dragon.

“It looks like I got an upgrade as well.”

Cinder made a pleased sound, almost like a purr, that rumbled through his body.

Leaning back against the wall of the boss room, Forge considered their next steps.

First, he needed to verify some things.

“Cinder, can you go into my body without having to go to sleep?”

The dragon didn’t bother to open his eyes to respond.

“Yes. Home.”

Daniel nodded in thought.

“Good. Because we’re going to be heading to the human lands soon and you’ll need to remain hidden.”

Cinder opened his eyes and stretched his neck around to look at him.

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“Why?”

Daniel considered how he should answer the question.

“You know how I killed the big death-chicken?”

Cinder looked over to where the remains of the monster lay.

“Yes,” he nodded.

“If we don’t kill the dungeon monsters, eventually there will be too many monsters in here and they’ll escape and kill people who can’t protect themselves like we can.”

The dragon nodded, accepting the explanation.

“Well, some people feel that way about dragons. They’ll worry that you’ll grow big and kill them like the dungeon monsters.”

“Cinder, good!”

Daniel scratched the dragon under his chin.

“Of course you are. You and I know that, but other people don’t.”

“Tell them.”

“I will. But we need to start small. For now, we’ll only tell a few good people, and once they know you’re a good dragon, we’ll tell everyone else.”

“Sad,” Cinder said, resting his head on Daniel’s hand.

Daniel unwrapped the dragon from his neck and cradled him in his arms.

“Don’t be sad. No one knows you yet. And you know what? They don’t know me either.”

Changing tactics, Daniel placed Cinder back on his neck and stood.

“There are no dragons in the cities. That makes you special. We just need to show them how special you are.”

“Special?”

Daniel nodded as he made his way past the body of the dungeon monster and out of the large room.

“That’s right. You and I are going to save the world.”

The dragon said nothing for a moment, seeming to consider his words.

“How?”

“I don’t know. But you and I are going to figure it out together.”

Daniel scratched the dragon’s head as he walked.

“And to do that, you and I have to get stronger.”

***

While it had taken him days to reach the boss room, it only took a few hours to reach the enormous cavern where the dungeon started.

Sitting down by the remains of the fire, Daniel tossed some of the wood he had collected in the various dungeon rooms.

“Light it up, Cinder. It’s time to spend some points.”

The dragon craned his neck out and blew a stream of fire at the small wood pile, bringing a pleasant warm feeling to the cold cavern.

“Good job!” he praised.

Other than selecting the Bar Mace as his Warrior Class’s specialized combat skill, which was free, the only points he had spent while in the dungeon were for his Elementalist Class.

He had been prepared to purchase or upgrade a skill, but between his added strength, healing, and tentacle spell, he hadn’t felt the need.

Daniel opened his System screen.

“Are you ready? I’m going to open my second mana-gate, and from what I’ve read, it should affect you as well.”

Other than the few times he had curiously flown around the rooms of the dungeon, Cinder seemed to prefer riding on his shoulders.

At this announcement, he disappeared into Daniel.

“Can you see my System screen?” he asked.

“Yes,” the dragon confirmed with excitement.

“Alright, here goes.”

Daniel spent the ten points to open his second mana-gate and once again the rush of power filled him.

All too soon the feeling faded, and he excitedly checked his System log.

System Message: New Spell Gained!

System Message: New Ability Gained!

Opening his Spellbook, he checked out his new spell.

Firebolt: Launch a bolt of fire up to 100 feet.

Surprisingly verbose, he thought.

The secondary effect of opening another mana-gate was a closer System connection and with that, it seemed he would get a little more information on the specifics of his spells.

The spell having a range listed, was interesting, and he wondered what information would be available once he opened more.

Next, he checked his Abilities.

The journal had specifically stated he would get only one spell per mana-gate, but he wouldn’t complain about an extra ability.

Pyromancy: Control flames within 20 feet.

Dismissing his screen, Daniel focused on the fire.

It was like someone had removed a barrier from between him and the flame.

He could feel it. The way the fire danced with the breeze and the fire’s desire to consume.

It also appeared different to him. He could see a blue light radiating from the outer flame.

He understood the fire completely. The blue flame was the hottest part, where it was no longer feeding off the fuel, and was pure heat energy.

Holding out his hand, Daniel willed the flame to leap from the fire and into his palm.

He studied the flame. He was missing something. There was more to the mystery of fire to reveal.

With a thought, he dismissed the fire from his palm.

“Cinder, did you get anything?”

In response, the dragon appeared in front of him.

Cinder turned his head towards the open cavern, extended his neck, and breathed fire.

Even without his new understanding of fire, he could see the difference in the quality of the blast.

What had once been a tiny stream of fire was now a powerful torrent that sprayed out of the dragon’s mouth in a cone of destruction.

“Wow! That’s incredible, Cinder!”

The dragon turned and slunk over to him like a cat.

“You?”

“I got a new spell. Want to see me try it out?”

Nodding vigorously, the dragon watched him intently.

Daniel focused on the spell and cast it out into the cavern.

A fireball, about the size of a snowball, flew from his hand in a straight line before fading away as it reached the limit of its range.

Cinder had watched the small ball of flame fly across the cavern before turning back to him, a large saurian grin on his face.

“Okay, it’s not as impressive as yours, but it went a lot farther.”

Cinder made a snorting sound but followed it up by flying up and wrapping himself around his neck.

The dragon hugged him warmly, letting him know he was only kidding…well, mostly kidding anyway.

Daniel considered his remaining sixteen points.

He could open a third mana-gate, but that would require nearly all his banked points. And while it would provide him with a new spell, and Cinder with some kind of upgrade, if he was being honest with himself, his spells were lacking in power.

Daniel spent six points raising his Magma Tentacle spell to Tier 2, then did the same to his new Firebolt spell.

Checking the spell descriptions, he noticed they remained the same.

Deciding to test Magma Tentacle first, he cast the spell.

He was quite pleased when two tentacles formed from his back at double their previous length.

Now a full twenty feet long, he didn’t just feel the difference in the tentacle’s flames, he could see it.

While before it had been the bright orange of molten steel, now it was the blue of the hottest flame.

He struck the ground with a tentacle and watched as the stone cracked.

Focusing on the second tentacle, he dimmed the heat until it appeared to be made of black metal slag.

Daniel summoned a sword from his ring and tossed it as high as he could.

His tentacle whipped out and grabbed the sword out of the air and slammed it point first into the cavern floor.

The tip of the blade struck with enough force to gouge a chunk of rock from the cold stone before shattering into pieces of jagged steel.

He looked down at the broken sword and grinned.

Worth it, he thought.

“It looks like the spell lasts a full minute now,” he told the dragon.

Now knowing what to expect, he dismissed the spell and prepared himself for the drain.

Fatigue hit him like he had completed a sprint at full speed, but he forced himself through it, and after a moment, he felt normal.

“Remind me to increase my Willpower skill before I raise any of my spells to tier three,” he said.

The dragon nodded seriously at the request.

“Thanks, buddy. Now let’s see how much my Firebolt spell improved.”

***

Daniel had lost track of time during his stay in the dungeon.

Upon exiting into the surrounding hills, he was pleased to see that it was light out.

It had taken him a few minutes to realize that the sun had indeed set, and it was night.

Realizing he hadn’t taken off his mask since he’d received it, he gingerly reached up and removed the mask.

Instantly, his vision darkened, and only the waning moon provided any light.

“Cinder, can you see okay out here?”

The dragon stopped in his sniffing of the various plants and turned to him.

“Yes?”

Not entirely confident in the dragon’s response, he let it go.

Originally, he hadn’t been willing to let the small dragon travel with him in the forest and wanted him to return to his soul space.

Cinder had insisted he’d be fine, and after he verified the dragon’s scales had received an upgrade along with his fire breath, had allowed it.

“Just stay close,” Daniel said as he returned the mask to his face.

He could once again see clearly.

“I wonder if this is how kobolds and goblins see the world,” he said to the dragon.

Daniel attempted to orient himself. He needed to head north, staying well away from Barda.

An idea struck him, and he summoned Polto’s map to his hand.

The map now only showed a tiny area.

As he was near the map’s target, the view had shrunk and no longer showed the forest.

Daniel poked and prodded the map, but couldn’t figure out a way to change its target.

Giving up, he stored it and angled his path to what he assumed was the west.

If the mountain was behind him, he should be heading in the right direction.

He knew there were a few miles of hills to travel before he reached the forest, and once there, the map should have an expanded view that he could use to plot his way north.

Eyeing Cinder’s folded wings, Daniel silently wished for his own means of flying.

Trandaril had never mentioned wings in his book, but he could hope.

Sighing, he broke into a slow jog, and Cinder took to the air to fly along beside him.

“It’s a big world. So, if you see anything you have a question about, let me know,” he told his companion.

“Yes!”

This should be an interesting trip, he thought.