I tried regenerating my arm, and it hurt.

It's not like it's only flesh where my missing arm is supposed to be. Metal foundations are embedded in my skin, muscles, bones, and nerves. They are set in place to allow my shoulder to connect to the prosthetic seamlessly. It's actively hindering my regeneration attempts.

My death attunement doesn't do anything to it since it's metal, and metal can't really die. I could see it working out if I was attuned to decay or rust.

My best option is basically to remove the entire shoulder, collarbone, and a chunk off my back first to remove all the metal... which I've been slowly doing ever since 'settling down' in the village.

I've been doing it slowly and cautiously, letting myself regenerate the missing tissue after removing parts of the metal. I'm doing this as part of my 'training,' so I can't fully commit my time to it since I need to train other things as well.

My proficiency with the elves' language has significantly risen since coming here. My pronunciation and sentence structure are better... but I'm told I have an unmistakable accent. The elves find my 'accent' humorous in a way I don't understand.

As part of physical therapy, I spar against my patients. It's nearly impossible to land a single hit in melee combat and impossible if they commit to using range attacks. The elves love sparring against me because they don't have to worry about accidental deaths.

I'm glad they said that rather than something regarding how good I am for 'target practice.'

It helps me level my martial arts, and they can get their blood pumping. Win-win, although I wish I could win a spar. Sparring feels redundant since I have to hold back on 'technique.' It's not a fight to the death.

Once again, I am called to see the elder of the village. She propositions me for an "information-trade." Trading human knowledge for elvish.

In exchange for filling in a few tomes of information about geography, history, language, flora, fauna, technology, military tactics, arcane insights, and literature, they are willing to do the same.

Some of those items seem sketchy at best and would technically be treason at worst. But the more harmless things should be fine to trade away.

And I can cheat while they have to actually do all the work. My [Lexicon] skill lets me "pull" books from my library... although not literally. It manifests a 'fake' book using the skill of others to read. It doesn't actually take anything from my library in the mansion.

Holy shit.

Books I consume with my skill appear in my mansion. If it works, I can theoretically inform my beasts about my current predicament... However, that doesn't solve the issue of them being able to leave.

Maybe they can do something with my [Crossroads] since it's connected to my mansion, but they need permission to access the fractures within... Regardless, I use some of the parchment provided to write everything.

What happened since leaving the poisonous fracture, sketching faces of the people (at least the bald mother fucker), my time in the fracture (leaving out the elves), and my last will and testament.

I'm leaving half my stuff to my family and my other half to my tamed beasts. They can vote on whether they sell my stuff or keep it for themselves.

I wonder what happens to my mansion and if it can be inherited? Or my credits. I never did follow up on what happens to someone's credits when you die. I did kill some people - the Kens - and I didn't get their money, so it doesn't work like that.

Then, I used my skill to pull out some books that the elves would find interesting but not put me in any 'trouble.' ...I also have some books on learning the human language, so they'll be raring to go after being self-taught in a language, just like I was.

In return, I get copies of tomes they've managed to bring from their homeland. Elvish herb cultivation techniques, a bestiary of rare and elusive creatures, history of the elvish continent summarized v.4509, poems, and secretive plants.

All of them are very interesting to read. The first book about herb cultivation requires an area dense in mana and nature energy, which gives me an idea about how to use my herb garden and the green star I have rotting somewhere.

The bestiary mentioned Duchess' species and Prometheus' species. [Couatl], seen as snake-like dragons, aren't related to dragons beyond the fact that they are magical flying reptiles... and a very distant blood relationship. They are revered as holy carnations of a wind god, one of the five or six creatures among the "Draconic Incarnations."

There isn't much information beyond what I know or any more references to the other 'draconic' gods.

Prometheus was noted as an extinct species even before the fractures were formed. They were hunted into extinction by the dwarves for an unstated reason. Their entire evolution line is gone besides our little endling.

The other books are helpful, but I asked the village elder for anything related to taming that they might have. Since these elves tamed dozens of dragons, I imagine they have some way of artificially increasing the number of tamed beasts someone can pact with.

The elder was pleasantly surprised that I was a tamer since none of their villagers were technically tamers. Rather than use a skill like I can do to keep beasts connected to me spiritually and in other ways, they literally did it the old-fashioned way.

They practically domesticated them over generations since these creatures lay a clutch of eggs every few years and rarely live to see old age.

But their taming exploits only extend to the claw-foots since they are one of the weakest creatures in the fracture that makes up for their weakness in numbers. Relative weakness and short lifespan, paired with their relatively fast reproduction cycle, make them perfect for the elves... while other creatures are more troublesome.

If I can tame a creature the village had their eyes on, they are willing to share some secret elvish techniques that elven tamers use... Which they can't use since they aren't technically tamers.

I tell the village elder I'm out of taming slots, but she clarifies that she doesn't care if it's 100% tamed. It just has to be submissive and receptive to elves. The risk-reward to tame the beast was never worth it for the village since the dragon is quite dangerous.

I ask about the dragon in question.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

~~~

I'm searching the jungle for the [Feathered Ancient Scythe-Claw Dragon]. Its nest should be somewhere around here, and I'd figure it wouldn't be hard to spot since it's over thirty feet tall.

It's a sometimes bipedal creature with long, sharp, scythe-like claws on its three robust fingers. It has a snout filled with sharp teeth with feathers covering its scales from neck to ankles.

And it's a herbivore. It has all the ingredients to hunt and consume the flesh, but instead, it uses its scythe-like claws to gather berries and greens. I imagine the elves want it for something related to that reason, but I didn't ask.

I eventually found the damn thing, and even with directions in its general area, it took a few hours longer than it should. It's nesting, which is convenient. That means it won't leave from this location except to find food... which the elves made me bring a bunch of.

I place the sack of melon-sized berries on the ground and approach the creature. I was briefed that it was hostile, even without any provocation. It abandons its nest and charges at me with frightening speed.

The thirty-foot-tall dragon causes the ground to slightly tremble as it rushes at me. It swings down with a clawed hand, but I roll under its legs and grab onto its tail like a koala.

The tail thrashes, but I climb onto its back before I can get knocked away. Its anatomy doesn't allow it to reach me. The most it can do is arch its neck and take bites at me, but I'm safe from its claws.

It's freaking out, trying to get me off, but my legs refuse to move. I keep spamming it with [Royal Decree] 's full of pain. I do this for hours.

If it moves a single twitch, I inflict it with pain until eventually it stops moving. I climb off its back, legs numb, and walk over to the bag. The dragon never strayed too far from its nest, not that it matters.

I go up to its head, which looks small for its body. I lock eyes with the creature. Its eyes are full of tears and resentment. It's asking my 'why' with its eyes. I use [Royal Decree] again, but I don't infuse it with anything.

I get the dragon to open its mouth and force-feed it berries. I take each one individually and shove it down its throat until it starts to swallow it. It doesn't have the energy to resist. Eventually, I ran out of berries. I dragged it over to its nest and left for the village restock.

~~~

When I returned, it was standing over its nest defensively. It looks at me like, "What are you going to do now." Infuse it with more pain. I don't need to touch it to do that. I didn't want to get trampled or sliced to pieces.

I only do it once, but it looks pissed.

I drop the bag and walk closer. It waits until I get within range of its freakishly long claws and attacks! I suddenly lurch forward to reach its wrist and [Cross Counter].

-2,021

-2,021

-2,021

The three scythes on its hand wrakes against my body, leaving me bloody. But some of its damage is transferred directly to the creature's thin wrist, breaking it instantly.

-4,230

The sound of the wrist shattering into many pieces is immediately followed by it roaring in pain. Its clawed hand goes limp.

It still tries to retaliate, so I infuse it with pain, exacerbating the pain radiating from its wrist. I ping it with hurt commands until it stops trying to attack me.

I then force-feed it until I'm out of food. Before I leave, I look it in the eyes again and heal its wrist to where it's usable. I returned to get more berries.

~~~

Days pass. I make a point to visit it three times a day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It never learns, but it's never left injured except in mind and spirit.

I confirmed that it won't leave its nest, not because it's nesting, but because it already laid a clutch of eggs there. It guards three large eggs that look thin and fragile.

I returned to feed it in the morning but heard a commotion. The [Feathered Ancient Scythe-Claw Dragon] is surrounded by a swarm of little dragons half my size. They are similar in build to a claw foot but without the distinct claw.

[Tiny Ancient Egg-Stealing Dragon]

The Scythe-Claw is exhausted from my visits and is being attacked from all sides. One of the Egg-Stealers manages to sneak past and grab one of the eggs. It's nearly as big as it, but the little dragon tries to run.

It holds it in front of it and practically taunts the Scythe-Claw. Running around, dancing, distracting it.

The Scythe-Claw roars with more emotion than I've seen it show during my taming process. Using its cries as a signal, the rest of the Egg-Stealers rush in.

One of them keeps its distance from the rest, sucks for them. It doesn't notice me, so I kick it in the neck.

CRACK!

It doesn't immediately die, but it lays its limp as I look at the other dragons. I ran up to the dragon carrying the egg. It can't see me, but it knows I'm coming. I use a pain command, and it shrieks with distress and tries to run.

It tries. I kick off the ground and close the distance before it can pick up speed. I kick it in the cloaca and launch it into the sky. It dropped the egg as my foot impacted it, causing it to be projected into the air, too.

Well, that's a non-issue. I go underneath it and catch it. Any damage it would theoretically incur is [Martyr]ed instead. Holding the egg, I dash to the nest and kick the nearest thief in the leg.

The Scythe-Claw eviscerated a few invaders but couldn't stop one from getting close to another of its eggs. Instead of stealing it, it tries to dig in right there. Its teeth scrape against the shell as it seems to harden to an extreme in front of it.

That was my [Martyr]. Teeth marks appear on my chest, causing my 'nectar' to ooze out of my skin and splatter the nest's floor. The scent of my blood seems to revitalize the thieves as they seem more keen on prolonging this encounter. I ping it with pain rapidly and watch it squirm on the ground. The Scythe-Claw stomps it, and nothing but a smear of blood and feathers remains.

Then I noticed that one of the eggs was missing. I look around rapidly and see one of the many Egg-Stealers fleeing rather than approaching. I toss the egg up and summon my blade in the same motion. I throw the sword with my entire body and catch the egg. I kick another invader away as half of them try to swarm me.

Some of them try to steal the egg from my grasp while the others are attacking me for my blood. Kicking isn't enough to fend them off. I used my teeth to rip into the throat of one of these feathered reptiles. It was right there and convenient at the time. Sue me.

Their blood tasted disgusting, but the creature stopped being a threat once it was missing a throat. Something has to change before they notice the egg sitting next to a dead body out in the open, or I start taking too much damage.

I need to try something.

I stimulate my first energy to see if it would do something, and unfortunately, it does. The energy of [Taboo] is imbued into my body, exponentially increasing the strength of my [Forbidden Fruits] effects. And what was that effect? That's what turned my blood so delicious.

My ichor becomes dangerously sweet. My nails turn black, and I start dry heaving. The Egg-Stealers notice my vulnerability and ravage my flesh. They drink from the holes they ripped in my flesh. Then they stop.

Something in their body is instinctually telling them something is wrong with my blood. That it shouldn't be in them. That it shouldn't touch them. And because they are splattered in it and indulged in it, something is deeply wrong.

This unease is exacerbated as I start vomiting blood. My blood starts turning black, and my teeth turn the same color since it's stained in my blood. The Egg-Stealers flee the run. They remove themselves from the area as fast as possible, stumbling over themselves.

The rest are dead due to the Scythe-Claw's own actions.

I stop imbuing myself, and I slowly go back to normal. I think that was a diabetic attack or something. I collect the other egg and walk back to the nest.

The injured Scythe-Claw looks at me, awkwardly carrying its two eggs. I place them down next to the other one. The area has piles of shredded or flattened dragons from either the Scythe-Claw's claws or their feet.

I walk back to my bag and bring it over to the creature. For the first time since meeting each other, it lets me feed it without me "coercing" it.