CHAPTER 2 - ROEG-HIAM THE MIDNIGHT

Here is where Roe's knowledge from his old life and his new life intercepted. During his past lifetime many companies harnessed electricity from the sea's waves and now he could too.

Finding a deserted stretch of beach Roe quickly dove into the water. The effect was immediate, starting at the point where Roe was and spreading like a ripple, all of the waves in the ocean vanished. Those on the Ocean or by the shoreline noticed, but by the time they tried to alert others the winds had created fresh waves.

'Dragon Rule 13: Transform!'

Roe's body went through a metamorphosis, he was no longer the tiny cute baby dragon. In its place floated his adult self. What was once chubby was now sleek. For dragons which could look like anything the true measure of age was their Mana reserve.

Roeg-Hiam's Mana reserve was now as deep as an ocean, literally. To other dragons he would seem an adult.

'Dragon Rule 5: Atmosphere!'

With this rule Roe no longer had to worry about breathing so he swam along the seafloor planning his next move. Using a wide combination of Dragon Rules to observe the people on ships and the shoreline for several weeks. At first Roe felt like a creep, he’d never thought of himself as a voyeur but the more he watched, the more he felt like he was watching a TV show.

'Were the people of my old society just perverts?' He wondered.

Roe pushed those thoughts aside and focused on more relevant things. Over the next few months he quickly learned a few languages and came to understand the political and economic circumstances of many a Kingdom.

Kingdoms, now that was a shocker. The technology of this world was archaic, literally medieval but thanks to magic professions like Wizards, Sorcerers and Alchemist living conditions in this world were comparable to his old one.

As Roe became more comfortable he would stop at a port city and use transformation magic to walk amongst the people. He experimented with different species, skin tones and clothing styles, using as many combinations as he could think of. His goal was to find out how people reacted socially. He was disappointed to find Prejudice was as strong in this world as it was in his old one. But rather than skin tone it was via species that the discrepancy was greatest. In the majority of Kingdoms humans, dwarves and Forest elves were treated the best while the wide variety of beastkin were treated abysmally. Giants, Ogres, Trolls and Drow were feared and avoided. As for people's opinions on dragons that was a mixed bag. Although everyone was very respectful when they spoke, the basic opinion of most males was that dragons were there to steal your money and your women. The opinions of most females was that Dragons were handsome lotharios coming to whisk them away from all the drudgery.

Roe had no idea which of these was the norm. His Dragon Lore told him a Dragon’s life revolved around their Harem and their Horde. His small fortune could hardly be called a Horde, he had no Females.

'Hmm, it seems I've acquired a new goal.'

Roe pondered this while sitting at a curbside café, enjoying both a fine tea and glorious sunset. His musings were interrupted by unexpected guests. 3 women and four men walked up to his table, they were quite eye-catching. Aside from the fact that they were on average at least 3 feet taller than most people, their skin appeared to be made of marble and they were glowing a golden radiance. This was the first time Roeg-Hiam had laid eyes on Gods but he knew them well. With 7 of them They could fight a Dragon Lord.

It was an open secret that a Dragon Lord was more powerful than a God but the Gods had numbers on their side.

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Roe gestured, an invitation to the seat opposite him and the lead goddess shrank down to a respectable 5'11" and sat, the others remained standing behind her still on their guard. Roe wondered how they would react if he activated Dragon Rule 12: Domain, would they attack? Gods had Heavenly Planes where they were the law, in the Mortal Plane they were more limited. Dragon Lords on the other hand had Domain, once active no matter what plane they were on within a particular radius they took control of time, space and could cancel the workings of others, whether miracles, magics or ki attacks. This made Dragon Lords OP as fuck.

Gods used Raid team tactics to counter this advantage. Some Gods would remain outside the domain to cast healing, buffs and long range attacks while others melee.

"Greetings Dragon Lord, I am the Goddess Zuriel. I do not recognize you in your human guise. What is your name?"

"Roeg-Hiam the Midnight ." Dragon Lore told him; adding a descriptor of one's colouring was proper etiquette. That descriptor became the name of your house, Roeg-Hiam didn’t want to be confused with another black Dragon so he chose his name carefully.

Roe's reply caused the Gods to exchange curious looks, none of them recognized his name.

"You must be newly awakened... Congratulations."

"Thank you."

“As a newly awakened Dragon Lord, you may be unaware but you are breaking our Sky-fall Treaty by being here in the God Lands.”

"… My apologies, can you educate me before I go?" Roe asked.

“Ok, I’ll tell you how the Gods saw it; The Star-Beast War began when 15 Dragon Lords crashed from space to this world many eons ago, the Gods tried to repel the invaders but the Dragon Lords were mighty. In the end hundreds of Gods died just to kill two Dragon Lords.

Win or lose our world would be ashes before the war ended, and while the Dragon Lords could go to another world, Gods are tied to their world. So we sued for peace.

Much to our shame, the Dragon Lords were… affable. If we had tried to talk first, over 100 Gods would still be alive." Zuriel sighed heavily before continuing her narrative

"In the end we came to a treaty. The continent was divided. The larger portion was kept by us Gods and the smaller one by you Dragon Lords."

"I truly meant no offence. I'll be leaving now." Roe said as he stood to go.

"It's okay, this happens occasionally because of the unique way your species matures." Zuriel said as one of the Gods behind her handed Roeg-Hiam a golden scroll.

Roe took the scroll and unfurled it. It was a deed and coordinates to a territory in the Dragon Lands.

"So you Gods still manage the Dragon Lands?" Roe asked as he put the deed away.

"It is a thankless job and, no offence but you Dragon Lords are not the most organised lot." Zuriel said with a bright smile.

Just thinking about himself, Roe would disagree with her, but he hadn’t met the other Dragon Lords to make an accurate assessment. He returned her smile and departed through the crowd that had grown around their impromptu meeting. Roe noticed that many men looked at him warily, some holding their wives and daughters tighter while many women, including quite a few wives and daughters sent him lusty glares.

Back in the ocean, continuing his travels, Roe concluded that the gods tracked him by going to the centre of the negative zone that Dragon Lords generated to stop scrying. While it did stop the Gods from seeing what you did, it also made it easy to place where you were. A double edge sword. The territory the Gods granted him also served a dual purpose, not only a way to appease him but also a cage in which to keep him.

He wanted to explore all the lands. He wanted to build a fortune. He now also wanted to build a capable harem. Either way moving around was a necessity. Not to mention an empty land was boring and developing it was hard work. No, he needed to stay hidden from the Gods so they couldn't nag him, then he could take root anywhere for as long as he liked hassle free.

Roe had a plan but needed money to pull it off.

'Money may be easier to get than people think.' He thought.

For a few months more Roe followed the shipping lanes using Dragon Rule 11 Sense Roe found and looted wrecks along the seafloor. His haul was impressive. Easy wealth being the key to freedom, he was now ready to create a secret identity.

***

Zuriel was working in her Heavenly plain when she felt the fluctuations of her sister Asturiel.

“I heard you met a new wyrm.” Asturiel said.

“That’s a slur, sister. You know better than to use those.” Zuriel replied. Nearly 100 elder gods had fallen in the Star Beast war, promoting her to a position of leadership which forced her to look at the bigger picture. Some other gods like her sister still held bitterness in their hearts.

“Every few centuries one manages to survive to adulthood, adding to their numbers.” Asturiel complained.

“We hunt those we find before maturity and should another conflict arise we are better prepared and they now have much to lose. They value their horde and harems. Bear with it sister, time is on our side.” Zuriel comforted.

Asturiel pouted. Zuriel was growing comfortable with Dragons’ presence, she wanted to control the Star beasts.

Astruriel saw them for what they were, an unnatural species in the environment of their world and she wanted them gone.