The Cave, her home. The new terms sounded appealing to Rue as she basked in the fire-heated stone in her cave. Life over the past few days had been the best a baby dragon in a new world could expect. Sleep, she had spent a whole two days asleep, and it had felt marvellous. Her body had settled and she felt more in control of her fire and motor controls. Whether this was from a facet of her species or from her too rapid levelling she did not know. Perhaps a combination of both. Well whatever had caused this nap, she was grateful. Stretching out her forelegs and yawning she investigated her cave to make sure no animals had taken residence and made sure to burn and non-blackened corners. This would mark her domain and stop many small pests from being able to claim it while she was away. For today, she would hunt.

She was over halfway to level 10 and didn't feel like chasing down a bunch of squirrels to try and break into the next level. Today she would hunt something larger.

Rue turned her long neck to inspect her body. She was a deep red colour, glittering in the morning sun. Her scale had grown from the tiny two-millimetre scales of a baby dragon in tiny armour plates that covered her limbs, back, neck, face and tail. Only her belly and wings had finer scales. Each scale was about half a centimetre in diameter and became very hard. Her boldly length was nearing the three feet mark and she felt that should she face one of the shiny humans maybe she had a chance. Well maybe one of the un-shiny ones, but she was confident in running away from the large ones.

For today she had multiple objectives on her agenda. Over the past few days and combat encounters she had used her wings to gain further manoeuvrability and balance, but she had never taken off. Her wing muscles had been growing in size with the rest of her body and they had grown to a rather impressive wingspan. When she unfolded them from her sides they billowed out a vibrant red and nearly 2 meters across from tip to tip.

As Rue stepped out from her cave wings spread she bounced up on her hind legs and let out a roar, this was much different to when she was but a 12-inch long hatchling. With the activation of her skill, the sound travelled for hundreds of meters and had taken on a much deeper tone with her increased size. Many creatures in the radius of the sound looked up and froze, some scampering off into their burrows and warrens. Many more felt challenged by this mighty roar, one such creature looked up. It was much further away than many of the creatures but it could still hear the sound, faint as it was at this distance. It was brown, currently blending in with the murky waters in the river, but as it heard the roar it freed itself from the murky depths and answered in kind. Its roar was not quite as powerful as the other but its meaning was clear. Challenge! The brown dragon began loping off in the direction of the sound, at nearly 3 feet long it ate up the distance, seeming to flow through the forest. Its camouflage making it nearly invisible in the undergrowth.

Back at the entrance to her cave Rue heard the dragon replying to her call and first came surprise, then nervous confusion, and finally excitement. The challenge would come straight to her. No hunting may be required to reach the next level, although she was pretty hungry. Hunting after the light spot of entertainment would be fine. She prowled the small clearing by her cave contemplating whether this was one of the hatchlings from her clutch. It would not affect the outcome of the meeting but raised some sentimentality in her. She stopped her prowling and waited for her challenger to appear.

She did not have to wake long as the Brown dragon came walking out of the wood and into the clearing, hardly making a russle as it stood in the clearing facing her. It roared to make its presence known, and she responded in kind. Both looked gleeful and energetic at the prospect of battle.

The two dragons were relatively even in size with only a few inches between them. They circled each other in the clearing, hissing and growling before the brown dragon had enough. It shot forward with supreme speed and slashed at Rue. deciding to test the dragon's power she did not dodge and decided to get in a blow of her own. She swiped at his form and as both of their blows connected she felt his claws scrape against her scales. He did not slice any of her flesh but the impact itself was still painful and jarring. Her claw, on the other hand, raked across his scales with determinable power, one of her claws slipped past his defence and left a shallow wound, merely a scratch but the impact itself made the brown dragon stumble to the side.

They went back to circling each other growling and posturing. It was Rue who made the first move this time, leaping forward and flapping her wings to gain extra momentum. She did a top-down strike with both her claws missing because of his speed but still nipping at his tail as it shot past her. No serious damage was done, but the exchange had once again been won by her.

The brown tried something different this time, seeming to realise it could not win a straight-up fight its scales gained a lustre that had not been present before and seemed to almost glowing with an earthy light. This time when he engaged Rue and they exchanged blows her claws slid ineffectual off his hide and he did not seem to feel the impact of her strike. His claws moved towards her and connected, despite Rues best efforts to avoid them. The hardened claws swung with almost irresistible force, and although her scales prevented and flesh wounds the sheer force from the blow knocked her to the side and unbalanced her. The earth dragon kept its wings close to its body and moved with precision and speed.

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Under the onslaught, Rue could only wonder what level this dragon was.

[Brown Dragon Lv10]

The dragon was one level higher than her, this should not have made much of a difference. Brown dragons must have simply had higher vitality and natural defence. Either that or it had a defensive ability, whereas she had an offensive one. Perhaps it was time to test this out.

Rue leapt up and flapped her wings causing the dragon to momentarily retreat, she then took a massive breath in and landed opening her maw towards the dragon. She flexed her breath muscles and ignited a torrent of flame, her largest attack ever towards the dragon. The pillar of flame was over 6 meters long and scorched the earth with its passing. Despite the dragon's speed it could not avoid the torrent of flame and let out a high pitched hiss of pain. As the fire died down, her breath exhausted, Rue looked at the devastation. The dragon was still standing but looked to be partially cooked. It was lowering its head in submission and this stopped her from firing another breath at the dragon. It was clear that its impressive physical defence was no match for heat and flame.

It gave a low growl of submission and turned away to walk back into the jungle. Rue reared up and gave a mighty roar, she released a spew of flames into the air to celebrate her victory. The waste of fire not even seeming frivolous in the heat of the moment.

Rue lowered herself back onto all four legs and winced, this fight had been her most painful one yet, although no external sign of injury was visible she was battered beneath her scales. Bruises and tears in her muscle impeded her movement, the dragon had battered her and although they would not prove fatal they would require some rest to heal. She curled up in her cave, hunting would have to wait for a few hours while she recovered some stamina and replenished her fire.

Ding! Territorial Challenge Won!

Ding! For defending Your Newly Claimed Territory +91xp

Ding! Level Up … [Stat Points] +5

Ding! Species Maturation Point Reached [Dragon - Hatchling] => [Dragon - Wyrmling]

Ding! Species Maturation Point Reached [Red Dragon - Hatchling] => [Red Dragon - Wyrmling]

Ding! Stat Points Allocated For Species [Dragon - Wyrmling] +6 {S2 V2 D1 I1}

Ding! Stat Points Allocated For Species [Red Dragon - Wyrmling] +6 {S3 V3 D0 I0}

Ding! Ability Evolution [Fire Breath] => [Dragon Breath]

Ability evolution? She would have to read the description of it. This seemed not to come from the combat itself or a special action but from her red dragon bloodline, what did it change?

Rue also noticed the messages looked different this time, there was more information. She could tell what stats came from what species traits. This was probably another effect of her increased intelligence stat. Rue idly wondered if other dragons bothered increasing it. Many of her brethren had not appeared to give much thought to thinking, except that one. Did he have a name?

Race

Level

XP/Growth

Stat Points

Dragon [Red Dragon]

10

50/130 [-1 /pd]

5

Strength

Vitality

Dexterity

Intelligence

51 [+5]

47 [+5]

35 [+1]

27 [+1]

Ability

Effects

Roar

You have learned to let out a mighty roar from your throat, you will find it easier to intimidate opponents and prey. Increased effectiveness against opponents below your level. When combined with fire increases trauma.

Identify

Tells you the basic [Species] and [Level] of targets. Can appraise targets up to [30] Levels higher than you.

Dragon Breath

Racial ability, allows expulsions of biologically created [Ethanol] from glands near the stomach. This can be ignited via [Fire Magic]. Expending Mana the fire can be enhanced to have Magical properties. You gain Further resistance to [Heat] and [Flame] attacks and damage.

Den Sense

You have an instinctual sense for the direction of your primary [Den] and [Territory]

Rue looked at the changes and was satisfied, a short nap and she would go hunting some prey…

and test her new Dragon Fire...