Alright so I’m going to start slowing the story down. And you might not get a fight scene every chapter. So instead of a lot of fast paced action all of the time, its going to be more story with less fight scenes. If you don’t like it, well, just leave I guess.
Oh and most of my chapters I try to make over 2000 words, and sometimes it may not look like it, but that’s because I make long paragraphs. And the way I write it makes more since to not interrupt the flow of the paragraph by hitting ‘enter’ right in the middle of it.
Hope you enjoy chapter 4
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Since the incident at the Naga tribe village rumors have spread about a dragon wreaking havoc in the village. Some people say that the dragon was helping kill the bandits who were ransacking the place. Others believe that the dragon is part of the bandit group and had a falling out, resulting in the massacre of the bandits. However one thing is for certain, a large flying animal that is a species different from others has appeared in the west of [Mazef Continent].
It has been a month since the village incident, and the trio is hiding in a cave on the base of a mountain. It took a couple weeks to fully recuperate and settle down safely. Valexii’s wounds are healed and she is slowly growing her wings, but still unable to fully use them. She helps hunt for food for the three of them, while Xaramax stays with Nikki.
As odd as it may sound, there is a reason for this. As of now, Xaramax knows that Nikki is dead weight. Nikki cried for almost a week until Xaramax had enough of it and decided for her to train so she can get stronger. Though her eyesight hinders her progress, she is starting to learn from Xaramax a variant of Muay Thai combined with Krav Maga.
When Xaramax was Jacob Ryder, his sensei would sometimes show him Krav Maga after classes were over for the day. His sensei learned Krav Maga several years ago but never got to chance to use it and wanted to pass the knowledge down to him. The reason his sensei didn’t get the chance to fight using that martial art is because of the main focus of it.
Krav Maga is a martial art used by the military in Israel, based off of Judo, Akido, Boxing, and focuses on ending the fight as fast as possible. It is also a very lethal style of fighting that centers on maiming or killing your opponent. Counter-attacks are targeted at spots that would get you banned if you were using any other type of martial arts at a formal competition. It’s a style where anything goes: eyes, groin, neck, you name it. Basically the perfect type for this world where killing is commonplace.
Muay Thai also involves bouncing on your feet most of the fight which fits with Nikki because since she is blind, she has to rely on the sounds reverberating as a sort of sonar. Clicking her tongue every now and then also helps. Normally this could take humans decades to completely master, however she is a Naga which has snake ancestry in her body. Even though her senses aren’t up to par with Valexii, it is still a substantial boost towards her training progress.
Nikki is not the only one gaining from this either. Xaramax is learning to get accustomed to his new body. After a month of gorging on animals, his human form is now exactly like how he created it to be in the first place. With his increase in strength he is learning to control it more accurately. He trains daily with Nikki, creating different tools and teaching her the variant martial arts hybrid he now names ‘Muay Maga’. He never stops hearing how ridiculous the name is every day.
Their cave is filled with different exercise tools such as jump ropes, medicine balls, punching bags. How did he create the punching bag you may ask? The hide of animals stitched together with dirt packed inside. When Xaramax was human before and had been bullied, he had to learn to sow since showing ripped clothing would result in beating from his father. From then on he sowed continuously for years and can put professionals to shame.
The needle used now is from a type of porcupine in this world that looked like an exact copy of what he needed to make stitch the bag together (lucky coincidence I suppose). Furthermore, sowing helps his strength control. A few days and pin cushioned fingers later, he finally got accustomed to using the needle. Also the materials to create the jump rope are vines from the trees in the forest surrounding his cave. As for the medicine ball it’s the same with the punching bag.
Another thing to note is not just Xaramax’s human form growth but also his natural dragon form. His length and wingspan is close to the size of an F-14 Tomcat fighter jet.
{A/N: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/F-14_Tomcat_VF-31.jpg here is an even better pic representation, wings are not deployed however (I think that’s the right term): http://www.n2prise.org/Photo7/f14acag78romanosm.jpg}
He also tested whether or not armor put on in his human form would stay on him after he went to dragon form and back again to human form. Conclusion: Yes in fact it does. He can take his ‘dragon outfit’--which is what he named the special coat and other clothes that came with him when he transformed--and replace them with the armor, and the dragon outfit will shimmer out of existence like pixels. Once he takes the armor off he can either stay in his birthday suit or command with his thoughts to materialize his dragon suit.
All of this would have been embarrassing if someone saw him. His sister doesn’t count because she doesn’t find humans attractive and also Nikki can’t see. He could walk around naked as the day he was born and no one would care. Technically he already does that in dragon form, however it wouldn’t be wise to chance upon an adventurer that sees a young adult streaking around in a cave teaching a blind girl to punch him. Unfortunately the adventurer’s last sight would be exactly that before he gets eaten by said streaker. This obviously sounds like an elaborate tall-tale that is just a warning. Yeah, of course it didn’t happen…
Anyways, the rigorous training carried on for longer than expected. Xaramax knew that since Nikki was blind it would last for a long time, however after her first month of groaning, complaining, and occasional wallowing in sadness, she started to really train with all of her heart and soul. Sometimes when Xaramax would scale the mountain with her, she feel out those extra few footholds, climb, then stop. Anything he threw at her both figuratively and literally, she would take it all and interest. Her favorite saying that Xaramax muttered to himself one day was, “We are like a similar version of the Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon.”
To Xaramax, time was something he had plenty of, so while he was also busy teaching her, sometimes he would meditate, going over his hereditary memories to find a way to use magic like the previous dragons. Obviously most dragon’s main element affinity would be fire. Though in his memories there are variants of dragons like the Colossal Earth Shattering Dragon. A mouthful of a name, but deserves the ‘Shattering’ in its name. It mastered the earth element at a higher level than any other species of animal. Unfortunately the Lava Titan Dragon was larger and practically ate the other dragon. Admittedly the humans have a pretty good reason to fear dragon.
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It makes you wonder, why did they go extinct? It’s doubtful anything like the mysteries of the dinosaurs going extinct was similar. Xaramax’s hereditary memories show nothing about why they went extinct. He never thought to ask the ancient dragon voice, and if this world is anything like the medieval ages on Earth there will probably be little to no records on what happened. The only guess he has as to why there are no memories is that the answer is not ‘unsealed’ or ‘unlocked’ yet for him to see. Reason being, if he knew why, he might poke his nose into business way beyond his level of strength. Like an adventurer who finds out his parents were killed by the demon king, or some other cliché like that. It sparks his curiosity and adds to the small list of ‘why to get stronger’.
Back to the magic at hand, he knows he is the first sub-species dragon of his kind. While meditating he enters his body with his mind and finds his mana core. The mana core for a dragon (in dragon form) is located in the chest, between the front legs. In human form it’s located across from the heart. In other beast humanoids it would be above the stomach in the chest or sternum. Right now Xaramax is in human form since before he died when he was human, sitting in lotus position while meditating was second nature.
Anyways when he is inspecting his mana core, it reminds him of the yin yang symbol. There are two sides however one is fire and the other is water. Both are equally opposing each other, and for some reason a black circle is outlining them. It seems like darkness attribute is covering both fire and water. Triple-affinity mana core. Meaning he can work with all 3 attributes naturally without spells. Well it’s not like dragons will ever lower themselves to use half-baked magic attacks made by humans who have to say fancy words before firing. Arrogant creatures remember?
Xaramax then goes to Valexii, who is now as big as a boa constrictor and has a full pair of beautiful onyx wings, and explains to her magic and give her tips to see if she can figure out how to use it. If people compare Valexii to the [Polareuse] beast ranking system that goes from F to SSS, she would be C rank. Her only magic which is innate, can make her adjust her size albeit not very much. Anaconda size but no more than that. Xaramax would be B rank a month right after the village incident.
Now however, the trio has been living in the cave for 10 years. During these 10 years all three have been training non-stop. Xaramax during this time also taught Nikki (sometimes Valexii) all the core school subjects that would make teachers on this planet look like elementary students. From there Xaramax would blend lessons from Earth with knowledge of this world together to teach her properly. Now Nikki is 18 years old and can almost fight toe-to-toe using ‘Muay Maga’ against Xaramax if he doesn’t use magic. If this was scaled for rank as an adventurer with the Adventurer’s Guild (F to SSS) she would be a B rank. The harsh training definitely paid off, and she has not only matured psychologically but also physiologically.
Her body is no longer small and fragile with no curves. Now she is still skinny but lithe and toned and her skin is even more perfect with a light tan and no blemishes. Her arms and legs are muscled, however you can’t tell unless you look closely. To most guys she would still look like a kind of fragile girl but that is far from the truth. There is enormous strength under her perfect body. Her breasts have also grown to a D-cup and her butt is amazing too. She now gives off a mature vibe instead of a scared girl demeanor. The scales still appear on her, but now they give off a very faint violet hue just like her violet color hair. Most likely men she will meet will go jump off a cliff if she told them to. Well that's an exaggeration.
Over the years she has also decided in her heart that she wants to spend the rest of her life with Xaramax, because she sees him as her savior and also the one who didn’t turn his back on her. Xaramax finds himself waking up with her attached to him all of the time, and is really helpless on what he can do. No matter what he says she won’t listen. He even tried going to sleep in dragon form, but would wake up with her sprawled out on his back or wings like it’s some kind of king sized mattress. After a while he just gave up on trying. Even Valexii gave up trying to help separate her.
Throughout these 10 years there were some times when Xaramax thought she might be a good woman to mate with. His decision now, after the amount of time spent is that he will ultimately mate with her, however he should gather more people as a force so when he is doing something else, the egg would be protected. To do this he has to leave the cave with the two first and build such a force.
Now that the trio have sufficient strength to hold their own, he decides the are going to see if there is any news in tribes, or maybe the human kingdoms where he can find some potential mates or areas that are occupied by monsters or others that could be used to revive the Dragon Clan.
Okay so if there is a lot of people who do either martial arts and think I did a disservice or really messed up then I'm sorry. This information is based on what I have seen and heard from my grandfather who was an avid martial artist in both Muay Thai and Krav Maga. This is mostly paraphrased from his experience, me watching him, and some internet to check what I was saying the best I could. Anyways, thanks for reading this chapter and comments are welcome :D
Review notes!!:
Spoiler :
Notes again:
-No learning from Nikki since he has the knowledge from the ancient lizard already! I think I said that in the notes earlier too.
-His interest in Nikki is no longer wishy-washy! He wants to do the deed with her but feels that he should wait for a more realistic time. "Realistic time? He had 10 years!" you may say. Yup he had ten years, but they were spent training like hell, to get Nikki to where she can stand toe-to-toe with Xaramax in his human-form. Meaning she is no longer dead-weight! She has her uses!
-"What?! Your not going to go in-depth even more on what they did those 10 years?" No, I'm not. If you didn't already forget, this is a reincarnation story at the beginning. Time-skips are expected! 10 years isn't stretching it! He has a dragon life-span! Nikki also has a prolonged life-span I should add. And so does Valexii. End of rant.