Gregory revisited the library now that he could learn more before being overwhelmed by the knowledge, and that so much more of the library was opened to him. As Gregory stepped foot inside the library, he willed himself to be located in the deepest portion of the mixed wisdom and perception area. To his surprise, the library actually brought him there. Reviewing the books in the area, they seemed to have mostly passive abilities that granted improved perception. Walking around, he found the Wisdom wing of the library, and found that the books there contained mostly skills that would improve his ability to output damage through wisdom. Considering he already received this, it made sense to study those books first. Until he found a book that was titled “The Legend of Dragons: A Dragon’s Powers.”
The book covered a variety of topics about dragons, mostly things that Gregory already knew. A few things were new though. He discovered that him being a true draconic variant race meant that he would gain the same skills as those of an actual dragon. It probably meant he would grow wings, and that he would be able to fire a magic breath attack of some kind. He also learned that there were some passive abilities dragons gained upon ranking up. Moving up to advanced would grant adaptive physiology, which gave dragons the ability to adapt to their surroundings to survive. The other ability they gained through ranking up was Unbreakable, which was attained at the immortal level, and granted total immunity to purely physical attacks, and high resistance to even magical physical attacks.
A dragon’s stat bonuses were also listed in this book for the base level of a dragon. Their strength and constitution listed as being 10 times less than a human’s, which made them quite fragile. Their INT and AGI were at a baseline of 10 times higher than a human. Their PER was at 15 times that of a human, making dragons very perceptive of their surroundings. Their WIS was the peak of the abilities, with a multiplier of 20 from baseline humans. It also mentioned that the stats improved further from ranking up. Only the advanced and elder level rank ups were shown, but they gave substantial boosts to power. Advanced increased WIS by another 20 baseline times, and PER by another 15. CON, AGI, INT, and STR all only gained 5 on to the baseline as a multiplier in return though. Elder had an improvement of 20 to WIS again, but also with the same gain to PER. It also had multipliers of 15 to AGI and INT, but with no gain to CON or STR as a downfall. Dragons stayed the most fragile race throughout their rankups, only gaining protection from their powerful scales.
Upon finishing the tome, Gregory knew that he would be better off advancing himself so that he would have the adaptive physiology and also help the rest of his party reach a level that they would also advance their races.
He left the library and headed back into the cavern. They were all awake by now, Alfred having woken them all up after Gregory left. Speechless, they couldn’t fathom what Gregory could have done to have advanced them so much. Although it mattered not now, for they all made up their minds to reach the next level and really push themselves to new heights.
As soon as daytime hit, they quickly moved out. Everybody in the party wanted to grow as quickly as possible, and wanting to see just what advancing meant. It was uncommon for most to ever advance, the difficulty only one part. It required a mental fortitude to break the level 100 barrier. Every time a person hit level 100, there was some kind of barrier or hurdle to cross that prevented advancing. It was why despite there being a large number of people at level 100 in non-human areas, very few were between levels. They felt now though, like they could break that barrier, cross that hurdle, and reach the advanced level with the boost that they got.
By the end of the second day after their massive boost to levels, only Gregory remained unadvanced. He only managed to reach level 87, and experience required continued to grow at large rates. The rest of the party were between levels 7 and 10 of advanced, and still seemed to grow faster than Gregory did.
This continued for another five days, before Gregory finally managed to reach advanced. It was against a group of king blade wolves that he finally gained the last of the experience required. The wolves were fast, had blades instead of fur, and were almost impossible to attack physically without very precise attacks from piercing or bludgeoning attacks. They were also very resilient to magic, almost entirely immune to raw magic, and being highly resistant to earth based magic. It took a few large-scale lightning based attacks and a few fire based spells to finally kill them. These wolves pushed the rest of the party to between levels 21 and 25, while Gregory only barely managed to push into advanced.
What Gregory gained from advanced was completely worth the wait, he was enveloped by his mana, his body changing further to become closer to a dragon. He grew large, scaled, leathery wings from his back. His face became like that of a dragon, it became completely covered in scales and grew out into a snout like a dragon’s face. He also gained the ability to breath raw magic, and any elemental attacks he had spells for. Gregory’s stat multipliers also inflated, growing by enough power in this one rank to match those of an actual dragon’s. His constitution and strength remained the same, his intelligence and agility grew to be 15 times stronger than a human’s, his perception jumped to 30 times that of a human’s at the same level, and his wisdom grew to be 40 times higher, pulling even further ahead as his strongest ability. To top it all off, he also received a boost to his mental stats due to the nature of how he finally ranked up.
Gregory’s adaptive physiology skill however was different from a regular dragon’s. Instead of only becoming able to adapt to the environment, he also became able to take on different physical forms. He could keep a form that looked like his most recent form, a form that was his most recent form but with wings, a form that was his most recent form with wings and head of a dragon, or a nearly human appearance. It was the nearly human appearance that Gregory took on. He had regular human height and fairly normal skin, but the horns of a dragon, pointed scaled ears, the tail, and he had purple and red colored lines running down his body where the scales would be; as if the lines were tattoos. This current appearance could probably be used in a human realm and not thought too much of, but he would need to see if any humans living in cities had combined race appearances first.
Looking at his experience required for the next level left him beat. He required as much experience for one more level as he had just gained from the last ten levels. Such was the curse of the dragons, though he did at least get two more class points, which he put into True Magic Initiate, bringing him to a very powerful level. This new class was more than just a magic class, but a class that brought forth the true might of magic. The next level was rumored to require True Magic Initiate at rank five, Warlock at rank five, True Revivalist at rank five, and Elemental Trapmaster at rank five. Warlock required five total levels between sorcerer and enchanter, with both being at least two. True Revivalist required Necromancer and Cleric to be rank five. Elemental Trapmaster required five total ranks, at least two in each between wizard and enchanter. The next rank was said to be True Magic Adept, and would give not only extra power, but other bonuses to all magic performed. The requirements for any later ranks were lost, only the names remaining, True Magic Expert, and True Magic Master being the peak of magical skill.
The gnome demonstrated to Gregory some use of enchanting, which Gregory found oddly enough to allow him to use his gamer class points on ranking up classes instead of just gaining new ones. It seemed that Tim was a skilled enchanter, and allowed Gregory to rank it up to four by watching his enchants. Gregory did this, and then looked at Caitlyn’s summons, which allowed him to get up to rank three in summoner. After Gregory did this, he unlocked both the Elemental Trapmaster and Warlock classes to gain. Only True Revivalist would still need to be obtained now before he could focus on training them to gain True Magic Adept. It was a class that really interested Gregory, and would likely be at a level that would separate it from just regular classes by a large margin. Even True Magic Initiate offered a large boost to his magical prowess, requiring a rank in all of the basic magical classes, and a rank five in at least two. Cleric was a class that nobody had trained above rank two, so Gregory used his Gamer feature to watch them and get it to rank two.
Despite being well on his way toward True Magic Adept for his level, Gregory still knew that he was too fragile to consider himself powerful in this world. Far too many times had he nearly died, and because he couldn’t protect himself despite all his magic. Magic was not all-powerful, as many knew, but dragons had a severe drawback in the physical department. It would take harsh training and long hours to bring himself to a respectable level, either that or lots of stat points. It was a hard decision to make, but he knew that it would be necessary. Of course, he had decided to plant the save stone now, something even the rest of the party agreed he should do. They also discussed which form would be best to take for him, and decided that the one closest to a dragon would be best. It allowed him free flight, a powerful magical breath attack, and full body scales for better protection.
During his free time, Gregory spent nearly all his time studying clerical magic. He wanted to perfect it, and do his best to improve it the natural way. It was a hard way to do things, but it was one of the only ways that most people who improved actually got stronger. Using class points was meant to be done as a backup, a way to speed up improvement, not as the only way. Most humans didn’t know this, but Gregory knew it now. After a few days passed, Gregory was more than surprised by how quickly he was leveling up. The rest of his group had reached up to the 80s in the advanced tier, but he had also reached up into the 60s. Through hard work, and improved use of his available magics, he was able to level at much faster speeds. Although, the save stone had literally saved his life twice the first day. It wasn’t until he better understood the way Arcane Warlocks teleportation spells worked that he was able to fully utilize them and make them a powerful asset to his leveling.
As the continued venturing on, they saw something quite odd, a lone human was cutting swaths through the beasts before them. They were going carefully, but it seemed that they were far stronger than a regular human on this planet. Gregory understood this now from his team, and they all suspected that she was from the same place as Gregory. Gregory transformed to his nearly full human appearance, and then walked up to her. Inspecting them, she saw that Gregory was indeed a human, and saw that he seemed to be quite strong. This was Jessica, the human who had the absolute combat class. By reaching into this area, she had managed to obtain the level of Elder Human, and had flat multipliers of 15 on everything now. At seeing her, Gregory’s jaw nearly dropped. A level nine elder human, and one that was almost definitely from Earth. She smiled at seeing Gregory, looking at him as if she was seeing home for the first time in a long time. As soon as she knew what she was looking at, she made her introduction.
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“You must be from Earth, I was transported here by a teleportation circle inside of a human capital. I am pretty sure only a person from Earth would even consider becoming one with a race from here. I know humans here are overly corrupt, afraid of anything that overpowers them. I think it is really amazing that you have become a part of such an awesome group, it has such a variety of members. Even you add to the variety a bunch more because of your updated race. Mentioning that, shouldn’t you appear to be more… draconic? I read that the closer you are to a race, the more physical characteristics of theirs you assume. Even more so as you rank up from the base level. Oh, I almost forgot, my name is Jessica. What are all your names?”
The party quickly introduced themselves, as they wanted to give her time to tell more about herself. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have another party member, especially one as strong as her. Gregory decided to amuse her, and took on his most draconic appearance before responding to her questions.
“This is my currently most draconic form, I figured you’d rather see a human first though. The adaptive physiology I gained from becoming an advanced draconic human allowed me to adjust my appearance. I have a feeling that as I improve my ability with that skill, I will be able to take an almost entirely human appearance. My name is Gregory, and yes I am from Earth, as I know now you must be too.”
Again, Jessica smiled as if she was back at home. She was also amazed by Gregory’s appearance. She continued by letting them know of her wishes to become a transformed human.
“I’d really love to become a transformed race, but the library said that it was rare in the first place; nearly impossible if you have already evolved race. It is still possible I suppose, but I really doubt I could become one. I have also read that if I do, I’d likely remain at the elder level of race, but gain the racial modifier. It would only be possible it seems if it was my true race though, which I don’t really know what it would be. It would need to be one that would roughly match my natural prowess, which I am not entirely sure about. My original abilities were divided into a couple strong areas, but all substantially higher than a regular humans. My highest stats were definitely strength and agility, with constitution being a runner up.”
Elise immediately made the association, considering she was one of the beastkin of the party.
“It sounds like you would be a perfect match for a beastkin. If you’d like, I could perform the ritual on you, it would probably leave you somewhat vulnerable for a time though. It takes time for the transformation to complete, unless it is only a gaining of a race instead of a transforming of a race.”
Jessica’s eyes lit up at this proposition, she never imagined that she’d be able to grow in power so easily. Of course, it was uncertain that she would grow substantially in power, especially since she had already grown to being an Elder Human.
“Absolutely, if it gives me a chance at becoming that much stronger, I will take the risk. You would all be willing to defend me, right?”
Jessica was a very honest girl, probably about 23 according to Earth age. For her though,age was somewhat irrelevant, as it seemed she would make immortal level with relative ease. As Elise started the ritual, she focused her mana on Jessica. Elise then made a small cut on her arm, which Gregory immediately healed for her once she had filled a goblet with her blood.
“Jessica, you will need to drink my blood to finish the ritual. I have entwined my mana with your own to act as a primer, you will need the blood now to begin the transformation.”
Jessica cautiously reached for the goblet and brought it to her lips, before letting the blood flow down her throat. As she finished, she fell over, her body under stress from what would likely be a transformation. Gregory was able to tell something strange about this change, noticing that her mana was not becoming entirely like a beastkin’s. It was definitely the human mana that was changing, but not entirely to a beastkin’s. It seemed that she would becoming some new kind of race, probably due to her having reached the elder level already when trying to merge with what would be her true race. Atlas decided he would carry her, carrying her piggyback since it was the easiest for him.
Jessica sleeping as she was, more unconscious than asleep though to be honest, brought the party some semblance of peace. It was relaxing to know that the party was strong enough that they could bring along a person that was completely unconscious without worry of getting her killed. It took two days for her to wake back up, time that got all members of the party aside from Gregory to level 100 of Advanced, and got Gregory to level 98 of Advanced. His multi-casting abilities had made him much stronger, and his continued use of the temporal and spatial magics gave him a huge advantage in leveling. As she began to wake, there were only a few changes, though her race had changed to become a True Beastlike Human. She took on the full stat bonuses of the beastkin class, but did not gain physical bonuses from claws or better balance from the body’s form. Jessica grew a fox-like tail, and ears, and also grew longer and sharper canines than she had previously. Her eyes also became very fox-like, becoming amber in color with a more slit pupil.
As she began moving, Atlas set her down so that she wouldn’t be as confused upon waking up. Still, waking up with a tail was quite a shock for her. She leapt up fully alert when she noticed it, looking around her. She could tell that time had passed since the process was started, though how much she was unsure of.
“How long was I out for? You have all grown so much, but this place is definitely a quick way to grow stronger, so I am not going to question too heavily on it. I never really asked before, but could I come with you? I hate having to travel alone, and it would be way more enjoyable to know that there are at least other humans around here.”
Elise sighed, the group she had formed to travel only had intentions of reaching level 100. When they reached Advanced, she was overjoyed. Having a person that had reached the elder level along, and nearly being there themselves was unbelievable. This was even more impressive considering they were traveling alongside a being who was basically a dragon in human size, and a girl who was now basically another beastkin with a mostly human appearance.
“Yes, we had intended to bring you with us anyway once you woke up. We think you would be a great addition to our group. At least until we get back to normal civilization.”
Jessica jumped with joy, and then quickly began giving thanks.
“Thank you so much, I am so glad to not need to travel alone anymore. Oh, I also retained my Elder level, it seems that did not get lost upon the transformation. It says I am an ‘Elder True Beastlike Human’”
The party was shocked, but did not let it show too much. They wanted her to feel welcome and at home. Knowing that they would likely fall over from knowing of her strength would probably make her feel left out.
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In the meanwhile, the other three humans who had managed to make it above level 50 also showed major improvement. Sean had put so many under his control, nearly all of humanity on this planet, including a few beastkin and dwarves he found on the outskirts of the territories, that he gained a World Leader Title. This was complete with enough experience to push him up to level 100 of the Advanced level. With the five class points, he dumped them into the paladin class, until it reached level 5 and wouldn’t take anymore class points. He then decided to put the remainder into berserker, bringing it up to level 3. He swung his sword and found it infinitely lighter, as if he had gained immense power through the level ups and class improvements. To his surprise, he found that his knowledge of combat took the largest spike from the class ups, and that his actual stats were heightened through the rank up to advanced.
On top of his skills, Sean gained an even more powerful ability, the ability to move people up to a level that is at least 100 levels from his own. On top of this, he could grant people fully under his control with classes, up to whatever level the class he wanted to teach them was at for him. It made it easy to grow an army of men that could push the bounds of humanity and be a threat for nearly any that opposed him.
‘I wonder if this will make me strong enough to control even Gregory now. He may have grown stronger, but this new power feels overwhelming. I doubt even he could stand before me as I am now.’
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Eric on the other hand had just focused on leveling solo. He reached up to Elder, but found experience lacking after that level. There was just no challenge for him anymore. Even killing unique groups of creatures gave little to no levels. His race was his only comfort, Elder Grand Elvish Human seemed like a very powerful race, one that would set him above any that looked down on him ever again.
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The glutton, who had a name of Hadley, was mostly focused on doing what he was doing before. He just wanted to eat, and eating is what he did. He consumed everything in his path, gaining the experience a creature had gained instead of killing experience pushing him farther at a much faster rate than any could have imagined. He had reached Elder Human, and continued moving forward at a breakneck pace. Though, he had actually ended up losing substantial weight. Hadley had been transformed from a large man who could barely move upon first being transported here, to a man that was in fairly average shape. He wasn’t thin by any means, but had very little left on him in terms of fat. He could move easily now, and keeping clean was also much easier with his new physique.
In fact, with his new physique, he returned to Earth after reaching the elder level, wanting to see if he would rather live here until such time as the two worlds did merge. He liked Earth, the moderness, and gaming especially. Being able to live a fantasy life was incredible, losing the weight he did lose was the best, but he wanted a last hoorah before he would be away from gaming forever just as badly.
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