Smiling, I followed the sound. I flew closer, taking care to avoid my wings brushing up against the walls, especially since they had narrowed the deeper, I ventured. Rounding a bend, I landed when I spotted a group of kobolds who had gathered. The diminutive reptilian beings busied themselves with various tasks, some sorting through scavenged items while others sharpened their rudimentary weapons.

I actually felt sorry for them once I saw they had no clothes on, except for rugged belts, and that their weapons were obviously made without the benefit of an experienced blacksmith. In fact, the only metal weapon was a sword that had seen better days and had been discarded or lost long ago. The other weapons consisted of a wooden stick, a sling, and a couple of bone daggers.

The kobolds were thin, even for kobold standards. It was evident that they weren’t getting enough food. This was also apparent despite the fact that the kobolds were obviously regular kobolds and not high kobolds. These kobolds had dog-like features, such as big ears and noses, at least for the most part. A couple of the kobolds had pug-like faces instead of a cross between the snout of a dog and a lizard. However, all of them looked more mammalian than reptilian. Even their tails were rat-like.

I did have to admit that they did have the typical high-pitched, nasal, hissing voice that high kobolds possessed. However, these kobolds seemed to have a speech impediment or accent that drew out “S” sounds. They also spoke a little more quickly, as if they were restraining their energy.

Since I didn’t really care what they were talking about and was there only to accomplish my task, I dropped the invisibility and moved forward. I half expected the kobolds to bolt away in fear. Kobolds, especially when surprised, were often skittish. Running away from an enemy when possible was often the safest option. However, once the kobolds saw my draconic form, they immediately dropped down on their hands and feet and started kowtowing toward me.

Each kobold seemed to be eager to overtalk the kobolds next to them with praises about how wonderful my scales looked, or how privileged they were to be in my presence. In fact, even though there were only a half dozen of them, the echoes of their praises echoed through the tunnels and made them seem much louder.

Instead of waiting, since I doubted, they would stop anytime soon, I interrupted them. “I have a great opportunity for your tribe. Please take me to the chieftain or the head shaman.” Unlike high kobolds, normal kobolds had two main types of leaders, the chieftains, who was often the strongest kobold, and the head shaman, who was the strongest spellcaster.

Their responses included, “Of courssse,” and “Yessss, gloriousss dragon lord.” I didn’t even try to understand them since they all seemed to want to talk. That was when the kobold with the sword hissed at the other kobolds, who immediately became quiet. “Thisss way please, oh great one.”

After dealing with the high kobolds, I was a little disappointed at first. I was even starting to regret my decision. However, since I was there, I was going to follow through. Afterall, not only would they benefit from what was about to happen, but so would I. Soon, other kobolds noticed us as we delved deeper into the tunnels. Each time another group of kobolds saw us, they started trailing behind, their whispering voices expressing their appreciation of just about every part of me.

After one particularly ugly mugged face whispered a little too loudly about how he would like to make dragon babies with me, I tuned out everything they were saying. I did glance at the one who said that long enough to see him get mobbed by the nearby kobolds. He squealed, “What did I sssay?” After that, all I heard were the shouts of “idiot,” and “gnome brained fool.”

By the time we reached the tribe’s center and were standing in front of a kobold that was noticeably larger than the other kobolds. Despite his larger size, I could tell that was also malnourished. Another kobold holding a staff with a skull on top of it stood next to the chieftain.

I was quite impressed by the sheer number of kobolds that lived under the human city. I really hadn’t imagined how many kobolds could survive. Apparently, the population of kobolds was vastly different from what I expected. It looked like the number of escaped or free kobolds exceeded the number of enslaved kobolds by a lot.

“Greetings my dragonkin,” I said to all the kobolds. With this, whimpers of joy and disbelief could be heard as every kobold dropped to a knee. Every head bowed, although not before I noticed tears forming in their eyes.

I then continued, “I am pleased to see you. I know that you were born in the darkness, far below the earth, and have been relegated to the bottom of the food chain in this city. However, despite being relegated to scratching out a bleak existence, you have endured and survived. All of this was done while having to fear being skewered by a passing adventurer who wants what is yours or enslaved by others who will work you to death.”

I could tell that my words were resonating with them. Many of them looked up at me and nodded before bowing their heads once more. Seeing that I was reaching them, I continued, “I have come to offer you a gift. With this gift, you can embrace your inner dragon and unlock the power and prestige of a dragon. I offer this gift freely because I wanted to acknowledge my mortal brethren and allow them a chance to thrive instead of surviving.”

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Every kobold eye was upon me. Although I heard sniffles and whimpers, no one said anything as the kobolds listened to me. I then summoned a blood bead and held it out toward the chieftain. “As the chieftain to this tribe, I will offer this gift to you first as well as the chance of purchasing one of the gifts of transformation for free.” Visibility swallowing his nervous excitement and fear, the chieftain stepped forward and took the Twilight Contract from me.

Then I turned to the chief shaman and summoned another Twilight Contract. In addition to that, I also summoned a copy of the Book of Life and a copy of the Book of Death. “As a spiritual leader of the tribe, I have gifts for you as well. You too, can choose one of the Gifts of Transformation. As for these books, they are my holy text.” I then handed him the Twilight Contract and my holy texts.

As soon as the shaman took the books and contract, I pulled another bead of blood out of my divine realm before offering it to another kobold. None of the kobolds rushed forward or caused a fuss. If it had been humans, I would have feared a stampede. However, these were kobolds, who knew how to act.

While creating my holy texts, I had taken enough time each day to create the Twilight Contacts. However, I couldn’t create too many each day since I had to sacrifice my blood essence and needed a day to recuperate. Because of this, I completely exhausted all of the Twilight Contracts I had saved before all the kobolds received one.

Realizing that there were more kobolds than I had expected, I spoke again, “I have traveled far, and would like to create more of these gifts so that every kobold can share this gift. I will return to this spot after I rest and give the rest of the tribe the gift. Do you have somewhere that I may rest while doing so?”

At that point, I could tell that the kobolds would do anything I asked. Of course, this had been true ever since the two leaders of their tribe used the Twilight Contract and suddenly grew wings and exhaled blue flames. Even their scales had changed color to a deep, dark red, almost black appearance.

While I had known wings were a symbol of status, they weren’t actually as useful underground. I had forgotten just how important wings were to kobolds. Apparently, breathing flames was almost as important. It was something dragons were known for doing. While I wasn’t sure how useful the dragonbreath would be, I could certainly understand their decision.

It wasn’t the usefulness that mattered. It was the prestige the fire breathing gave the two leaders that mattered instead. Afterall, everyone was getting wings and they needed something that marked them as being even more draconic than the other kobolds.

As for not everyone getting a Bloodline Contact immediately, there was some understandable disappointment. Those kobolds who had been given the contracts were ecstatic while those who hadn’t looked dejected. However, despite being sad, they were still hopeful. After hearing that I would create more so that they could have one made them more than willing to do whatever I needed.

I was quickly ushered down the tunnels into the kobold tribe’s holy room, the place where they meditated on becoming one with their draconic heritage. One reason I could tell was by all the carvings that completely covered the room from top to bottom. They were even carved into the stone floor.

Since I still needed to rest before creating more Twilight Contracts, I thought I might as well use my spell points to create dragonberries with the Dragonberry spell. Unfortunately, I ran out of spell points before I was even halfway done. Not wanting to only give the dragonberries to some of the kobolds, I created the rest using faith points. I didn’t doubt that the kobolds I was giving the dragonberries to would soon provide me many more faith points than I was going to lose.

By the time I was finished, a great procession of kobolds, led by the shaman, approached me. The kobolds around the shaman were carrying woven baskets filled with “food” and bags upon bags of coins. While he tried to offer them to me, I politely declined and told him to save the food for the tribe. As for the coins, they could be used through the system I had given them.

After that, I told him to give the dragonberries I had created to each member of the tribe. Even though they weren’t high kobolds, or even draconic kobolds, I still felt a connection to them. They embodied a lot of amazing qualities, and I wanted to make sure they were given a chance to overcome the limitations that life had currently placed upon them.

The kobolds retreated in confusion. Apparently, my refusing the coins was out of character for a dragon. However, I didn’t care. They probably needed the coins more than I did at the moment. In fact, I would end up getting the coins anyway since they would probably use them to buy things through the Dragon God System.

After they left, I decided to rest. There wasn’t a whole lot left to do and I needed to sleep anyway to restore my spell points. Before that, however, I started to think about visiting every kobold tribe that wasn’t ruled by a dragon. I also wondered what I should do about those kobold tribes that were already ruled by a dragon. Should I offer them some type of contract? Would that start a fight with those dragons? I was pretty sure no dragon would appreciate me “luring away” their minions. I also wondered about how I could allow kobolds who lived far away from me to gain access to the contracts.

Because of these thoughts, it took me a little while to fall asleep, even with my new nightly habit. Right before sleep, I would pull up my faith point information sheet and stare at it, slowly watching as the faith points gradually grew. It was very soothing to see the faith points slowly increase as I slowly started drifting off to sleep.

While I knew that I really didn’t have to sleep, as a dragon, I still enjoyed sleeping, although I wasn’t sure why. Something about it was just soothing to me. Unless I really had something important that I needed to do, I would still go to sleep every day. Before I could figure out the reason why, my eyes closed, and I fell asleep.