Prologue
(Inside the Draconis Village since the appearance of the eight new buildings. )
Drezo Regalia Special Announcement to the Residence of Sky City Draconis
The curse of the Dragon has been subdued.
Since the conquering of the Pyramid of Light, the establishment of the Sky City Draconis, and the appearance of the Dragon Prince, the curse that has riddled all dragon species has been broken. All Drezo Regalia species can now shift form from Dragon to human with one's own will.
"No way," the older generation of dragons cried out happily at the news given to them. "We can finally change without the time limit!"
The residents of the Sky City Draconis, especially dragon players, were thrilled. For something like this to happen would help them level up in hard areas a lot quicker than before, allowing them to catch up faster to the older generation players, but just when they were about to be jumping for joy, more messages appeared before them.
For all dragons, starting from level 200, leveling requirement will take three times the amount to level up. Still, for compensation, for each level up, the strength, speed, and magic of one's general dragon race will be accommodated.
The players groaned, not liking the handicap that they were given. To take three times longer for them to level up was ridiculous in itself, but it was understandable. Their Origin form gave them double the status boost, making them all formidable fighters that can rival high-level players, giving them the edge.
Still, messages continued to flood in front of them, informing them of many changes to come.
Caution! Since the curse has been broken, the caster of the curse has been notified. Caution!
Their thoughts became darker, from great news, to mediocre and finally to bad. The players didn't know how to feel through the fluctuating emotions that seemed to toy with them, making them tired constantly. Even still, they wearily read the red-flaring messages as if they were a sign of dark tidings to come in the future. Everyone knew that something was out there that caused them to be bound by a curse.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The thought of the demon prince that came and ravaged their past generations made them very weary, for they didn't know what the future would hold for the residences of the Draconis city.
Blessing of the Dragon Prince
Protection from the Dragon Prince and his Generals has gone into effect. The Sky Cities barrier has risen in leaps and bounds. There is a saying that the barrier shall stand until the last remaining Dragon Generals and the Prince still live. All monster classes lower than any of the Dragon General or the Prince will not be able to enter its Dragon's domain. Dragon Fear status effect has gone into effect towards Demons, Monsters, and anyone who deems to harm the Dragon Prince and his General. For all non-citizens, the effect of fear will be cut down to the minimum until one becomes a City citizen. The dragon prince does not force anyone to live under his rule, but when one decides to return to become a non-citizen and breaks away from the City, the Dragon Fear status effect will increase in output by three folds.
The residence life of Sky City has slowly but surely begun to change. Everyone saw the large benefits of new buildings, new lands, and even the blessings granted to the residence. This made Sky City one of the number one safe places to be. Every day, the Sky City would stay up in the sky except for four hours to recharge; barriers will not be down during this time. Monsters on land wouldn't dare to attack the City during that time, and sky monsters were less abundant than the land monsters, giving them less to fight against.
Not only that, the barrier was almost exactly like the Fire Continent barrier that kept the whole Fire Continent safe for thousands of years. To have something like that around a small budding city was very special. The other Kingdoms had been countering monster invasions since the barrier's collapse, making security much more complex than before. Lands were ravaged, towns destroyed, and only the larger cities could keep most of the monster invasion at bay.
This caused quite a bit of devastation to the Kingdoms around the Continent, making living everyday life a lot more difficult than before. This was especially true for new players whose beginning grounds were becoming harder to train due to the random encounters of high-level monsters that came bulldozing in and slaughtering them.
So far, only the big cities could protect what little beginners they had, but eventually, after the update, the news of a safe zone for beginners was quickly posted on the web, becoming a hot topic for old and new players.
More beginner players chose the new races that appeared in the Sky City, while others started their base city in the City of Elements, quickly quadrupling the number of residences in the Sky City. Business in the Sky City has thrived to the point where monster subjugation was becoming less of a threat while low-level players made their way to the City of Elements to set up their base.
Every time new lands are churned by magma magic, the residents of Sky City move to either cultivate the land or build more buildings to accommodate the rising number of people living inside the 'safe' zone. Naturally, prices quickly rose, and blacksmith, merchants, and other production classes quickly made their way towards the Sky City to compete for a space on the buildings themselves.
New buildings became more extravagant, fitting in with the natural scenery of the elven trees growing quickly that Zero had planted. The elven architecture quickly demolished the older buildings because of the lack of appeal and stating that the beauty of the Dragon can't be seen with such a crude method and had quickly but surely changed the Sky City. However, their allies, the elves, were so persuasive towards the dragon race that it was hard enough to say no when they pushed their thoughts on construction.
Even many Elves took residences on Green Island because of the abundant magic that the elves especially liked. At the same time, a handful of dwarves and blacksmith took their residency in the Fire Island. On the other hand, the trolls seem to congregate towards the Black Island territory, for the island reminded them closer to the home of its sandy and partially barren land.
What made the change even more reassuring was the Special Announcement throughout the whole server. The retrieval quest for the three kingdoms made it much more appealing for high-level players to flock toward the City to participate in a quest that could change the city life. For everyone anticipating the start of the next major quest to go into effect.