He was finally there.

After killing so many gosh darned slimes, and even finally managing to use rock smash to bash a turtles head in, Richard had managed to smash into level 10. His stats currently stood at:

[status]

Name: Richard

Species: Dragon (Hatchling)

Level 10 (evolution available)

Health: 200/200

Spd: 20

ATK: 30

Mana: 60

Skills: Scratch, Glide, Screech, Appraisal(lvl 2), fireball, rock smash, splash, vine whip, shock, icicle, stealth, heal, wind slash

Mana circles: 0

Points: 250

Skill Points: 0

[Inventory]

[Gacha]

[Shop]

Upon reaching level 10, the hatchling quickly put the points into [stealth] and [heal] considering how both of them would be extremely useful in the long run. He would’ve grabbed the [regeneration] and [camouflage] skills, but they were expensive at 10 points each, and while they were by no means as bad as the other later skills, they would probably have to be saved for later. Besides, stealth was a passive skill that allowed one to naturally evade the attention of lower-level beings. It wasn’t bad. Heal was sadly not only an active skill that required concentration, but whereas the other skills required maybe 5 mana per usage, heal required 5 mana per second of application. It cost more, likely because it did more. Ignoring all of this though, Richard could hardly contain his excitement now. Over the past few days, Richard had time to recall the one time he witnessed a creature evolve. It had been a salamander, bonded to a rider, and ended up evolving into a flame drake, perfect for riding. Salamanders are generally just natural salamanders that are of the fire attribute. They're not rare, nor all that impressive according to adventurers, and also according to what he’d read from books, drakes were considered the far less impressive, watered down relatives of dragons. But books varied greatly from experience and watching that drake admit such an aura, emit a roar of confidence, the beast had been absolutely domineering. And now Richard would get to choose his own evolution. “System, please show me the evolutionary options.” Requested the excited hatchling. The system responded, and although the voice always sounded monotone, he thought he could sense some anticipation from it(her?) as well.

[Very well then]

[Your options are as follows:]

[Kobold(reptilian)]

[drake]

[lizardman]

[wyrm hatchling]

[wyvern]

[flame dragon (hatchling)]

[water dragon (hatchling)]

[lightning dragon (hatchling)]

[rock dragon (hatchling)]

[ice dragon (hatchling)]

[wind dragon (hatchling)]

[nature dragon (hatchling)]

[wind draken (hatchling)]

[Nature draken (hatchling)]

[Ice draken (hatchling)]

[Rock draken (hatchling)]

[lightning draken (hatchling)]

[water draken (hatchling)]

[fire draken (hatchling)]

Almost immediately off the bat, wyvern, drake, lizardman, and kobold were not options for him and as he thought so they disappeared from the screen in front of him. All of them were downgrades from a dragon, and even if they offered greater mobility or immediate strength, in the long run it wasn’t worth it. Drakes couldn’t fly and wyverns run horridly. Dragons were the perfect mix of both. And while he was at it, the water draken and water dragon hatchlings both were scratched off the list. Water dragons are pretty dependent on living near water, with many even evolving sub-aquatic body pieces, as the few know had gills and half of them had abandoned arms for flippers. That alone would drop it out of the running. And if the legends he’d heard were true, the oceans were far more dangerous. No, water was out of the way. Having said that, while he could guess what the individual dragon hatchling types were, he had no idea what a wyrm was in the eyes of the system, or what a draken was. Though he had a hint what it was, there was a great deal of mystery surrounding the species. Drakens were completely unheard of in any of his books. “System, please describe to me what the wyrm hatchling option entails.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

[Certainly.]

[Wyrm (hatchling): wyrms are a branch off species of the dragons, whose bloodline has mixed with some of the great serpents of the world, producing an all-new, but related, bloodline. Wyrms abandon their appendages in favor of a serpentine bodies, and most abandon flight, though not all. Wyrms are powerful monsters, with potent venom and powerful muscles, resulting in wyrms being faster than they look. Wyrms are also excellent practitioners of magic, though you’d never know it the way they fight. They are also considered kings amongst serpents, with all serpents bowing beneath wyrms, with wyrms able to speed up the rate of growth for snakes under their command. ]

“Tempting” pondered Richard. He’d admit that the wyrm hatchling had plenty of benefits. Not only did it have poison, something he was lacking in his arsenal, it was also described as a great practitioner of magic, unlike the other hatchlings who all seemed to specialize in an element alone. It even described the wyrms ability to command snake monsters, and aid in their growth, which was a tempting ability to command, and monsters with those kinds of abilities were the most feared, like brood mother ants or goblin kings or even alphas in wolf packs. The real negative here is that it’s lacking limbs, which Richard quite liked having, and their bodies. They were clearly meant for physical combat and being up close and personal. Richard acknowledged he was a dragon, but he was also pretty sure he wasn’t adept enough to charge into combat without careful consideration. Dragons definitely had more bodily control, and thus better maneuverability. He still kept it in the back of his mind. The next elephant in the room obviously was: “System, what’s a draken? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one of those before.”

[Draken: Drakens are a rare ancient species connected to the dragon bloodline rarely known due to appearing very similar to other dragons. Unlike dragons however, their wings are mostly vestigial, mostly used for shielding themselves or gliding short distances. Drakens are far stronger than dragons and their elemental magic is purer. Their scales are also tougher, with the side effect of being slower than dragons. ]

“That would be tempting, but they can’t fly.” Mused Richard. It’s true that he hasn’t flied yet, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to, it’s just that he’s had plenty more to do, and with so much on his plate, he hasn’t had a chance to yet. Even the wyrm had the potential to fly one day. Draken would be stricken from his list sadly, as being slower was also an issue, a sit left him more open to attacks, and likely encouraged close combat, similar to wyrms. Looking at the hatchlings, it was pretty obvious what they were, but he thought he should ask. “System, give me a description of the lightning hatchling.”

[Lightning dragon (hatchling): lightning hatchlings are hatchlings attuned to the element of lightning, and are on the road to becoming lords of the tempest. Being attuned to lightning results in them being good at lightning attacks. Gains the ability [charge][lightning pulse] and [static]]

Richard understood from reading this that the hatchlings seemed to be gifted skills upon evolving into their chosen path. This was a far cry from draken hatchlings and wyrm hatchlings, who seemed to be left with no skills offered for free. He came to two conclusions in the end:

1. As a dragon hatchling, evolving into another hatchling was the natural path, and thus provides skills naturally

2. Wyrm hatchlings and draken hatchlings need no skills, as one is a better mage and the other has stronger elemental force. In other words, both could be more malleable and thus do not need skills. The system is a supplement after all, and doesn’t seem to exist for normal creatures. Not without some major implications Richard wanted to think about at least.

After some serious thought, Richard decided that wyrm hatchling and all the draken hatchlings were all off the list of options. Even if they theoretically ended up stronger than the dragon hatchling, but ultimately, they lack the mobility a dragon has. So now Richards found himself with six options that all required some thinking.

Fire and ice both left his list of options through the fact that both were more innately destructive. Technically, all of them would end up being more destructive the more powerful the monster one becomes, but in the immediate frame of time, the fire and ice attributes would be a bit more explosive in terms of reactions. And the plant element went out to the trash far quicker, considering that fire serves as a strong antithesis, and probably a common one too. He was left with electricity, rock, and wind. Poor water had been thrown out earlier. He ultimately decided to throw out wind, because it wasn’t… flashy.

Of course, he knew to a certain extent, if he wanted clean and deadly, wind would be the better option, but Richard felt attracted to lightning, especially because of how flashing could blind enemies. At least that’s what he told himself. It was clear he just liked how flashy lightning was. Rock would’ve been problematic anyway as the moves it offered were harden, roll, and earthspike. While earthspike could be useful, the other two are clearly meant for close combat. After spending his whole life hobbled, not only was Richard unprepared to take blows, he was unskilled in close combat. So he took his paw and tapped the [lightning dragon (hatchling)] option and immediately froze up. The evolution had started immediately, and a painful sensation had started traveling through his body. Not nearly as bad as he had been cursed mind you. However he’d spent the last few days in what could be considered a safe haven of slime, so he had forgotten for a time the pain he had gone through. His body groaned as his bones changed, stretching themselves as he grew and changed, and Richard even felt something growing out of his skin. His blood boiled and even his organs shifted and grew, some larger than others. Most hatchlings would’ve acted worse and even drawn more attention to themselves, leading to their death in the wild often enough. There’s a reason so few mana-generated hatchlings ever survive where they spawn. Thankfully, not only was Richard (mostly) safe, he wasn’t moving, just firmly holding himself in position as he evolved. Any other creature wouldn’t be able to tell he was evolving were it not for the rapid changes going through the still body. In about a minute Richard had finished his evolution and felt great. In fact, he felt greater than he did before. In fact, he felt so great, that he felt ready to try something new.

So, the world threw him for a spin and Richard went flying into the side of a mountain.

…

The beast had traveled at a moderate speed, not too fast, not too slow. As it traveled, it discovered this area was only filled with the weak, and even the beast it smelled didn’t seem that strong.

Then it started changing.

At first it wasn’t too alarmed. All things grow stronger over time, this wasn’t any different. But then the change grew more, with the mana in the area increasing greatly, and the beast knew it had to move quicker. If it missed it’s chance it may never have another opportunity to take down the predator when it was weak. It started charging, moving as fast as it could, with the beast in question coming into sight. Its body shuddered as it recognized what the creature was, and it’s will became even stronger. A dragon. Every creature in the land knew of them to a certain extent, an innate terror of the sight. Even the stupidest of beasts, like this one, knew of them. It had to die NOW. The creature flung itself at the hatchling, to end its reign before it began, barreling into it headfirst.