When I woke up, it was daylight with several hours left before nightfall. Since I had a nice long rest, I went ahead and created more dragonberries. Although I was planning on leaving as soon as night fell, I also wanted to leave the kobolds with a full stomach, even if it cost me all my spell points. I wasn’t too worried since I would always have the option of using faith points instead if an emergency occurred.

Since I was awake, I left the room. Despite being the meditation, or holy room, the kobold hadn’t tried to enter when they went to bed. That was even if they went to bed. I was sure that a lot of them were probably excited and were brainstorming the quickest ways to earn draconic points so that they could buy the draconic transformations. Not wanting to worry about handing out the dragonberries later, I left them on one side of the room. I knew that when the kobolds arrived for their meditation, they would discover the dragonberries and pass them out.

After that, I started creating more Twilight Contracts. By that time, it was almost dark. I probably should have made fewer of the contracts since I used a significant portion of my blood essence, which also reduced my health points. I would have to wait until I rested again to get those health points back. However, I was certain that I could fly home undisturbed the same as I had arrived.

The moment I stepped outside the room, one of the two kobolds who was guarding the entrance immediately ran off to inform the kobold tribe leaders about my waking up. The other quickly offered to lead me wherever I wanted to go, so I told him to start leading me toward the spot where I had provided most of the kobolds with the contract previously.

We soon reached the spot. By that time, the kobolds who hadn’t received the contracts had already formed a line, patiently waiting for me to arrive. Shaking my head, I smiled and started handing out the contracts. Fortunately, this time I managed to provide every kobold who didn’t already have one a Twilight Contract.

After that, the chieftain and shaman both asked me to stay. I was about to decline when I had a sudden idea. While I wasn’t sure if it would work or not, it was worth trying. Even if it meant staying in the city for a couple of days, I hoped it would save me a headache in the long run.

The kobold eggs were the problem. After I left, they would hatch, without the system. Although I could leave some Twilight Contracts, that would mean staying a few extra days to create more contracts. I was curious if I could give the unhatched wyrmlings’ my bloodline so that they would be given the system automatically.

When I asked to be taken to the hatching rooms, the kobolds didn’t hesitate even for a second. Once I was standing in the middle of a room full of eggs, I looked around, thinking about the best way to solve the problem. Unlike high kobolds, regular kobolds were actually cold blooded, which meant they didn’t create their own heat.

I hadn’t really noticed before, probably because I didn’t care, but I had also seen more fires located where large groups of kobolds gathered. This was true for the hatching rooms too. Like most underground caves, the average temperature inside was between 48 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit. Like many creatures that laid eggs, warmth was often necessary to hatch eggs.

While I could go wait until after I rested again and infuse the eggs with my blood essence, that wouldn’t be much better than just creating the Twilight Contracts and leaving them behind to be used later. Instead, I wondered if I could create some type of blood essence mist that would permeate into the eggs. My goal was to conserve my blood essence. To do this, I would make a few changes while unhatched wyrmings were growing inside the eggs.

Theoretically, it should be possible. Afterall, in my world, scientists had long ago started bringing extinct animals back into existence. It started in 2003 when an ibex, a type of wild goat, was recreated through genetic engineering. For decades, scientists experimented by making genetic changes within egg cells. If they could do that with science, I should be able to do something with faith points and my bloodline.

If I could make genetic changes before the kobold wyrmlings hatched, I should be able to conserve my blood essence. The closer they were to already being completely formed, the more it would cost. By the time they were ready to hatch, they would probably cost as much as a young wyrmling. Of course, even then, since they hadn’t matured yet, I should still be able to use less blood essence to make the changes.

While I thought about everything I had planned already, and my plans for the future, I curled up into a ball and sank into thought. I spent hours lying there, thinking about alternative ways that I could achieve my goals. I also tried to think about different scenarios to see if I was forgetting anything else.

Since I needed to affect a lot of eggs at the same time, I would need to aerosolize the blood essence into particles fine enough that they could permeate through the protective membrane of the egg sac. I could even assist the absorption of the vaporized blood essence by using faith points. This wasn’t a big issue since most bird eggs were covered with thousands of tiny pores. These pores allowed air and moisture to pass through its pores.

Because of that, I wasn’t too worried about transforming the kobold wyrmlings inside the eggs. Instead, I worried about the red dragon. While I really wasn’t emotionally attached to Einvaldskonungr, I felt a grudging urge to help him. Afterall, from what I could tell, he rarely bothered the kobold tribe since they were excellent providers of wealth for him. Sighing, I finally decided I really did feel compelled to do something about it.

Luckily, the soldiers had left at dawn and would need a couple of days to reach the red dragon’s lair. If I stayed still and rested again, I would have time to make changes to the kobold eggs and then catch up to the Viscount Landskyld’s soldiers. After making the decision, I actually felt relieved. Just to make sure, I sent a mental message to Alsvartr asking her to slow the soldiers down.

While I waited for my bloodline essence to recover, I watched in fascination as the faith points from my new devout believers. Actually, many of the kobolds were actually pious believers already. The chieftain and the shaman had turned into zealots. I was very pleased with the results and would definitely visit other kobolds.

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I frowned after thinking about that. I really needed to think of a way that I could spread the Twilight Contracts without having to visit the kobold tribes myself. There was no way that I would have enough time to visit them all. Even if I did, it would take forever. No, I needed a different delivery method.

I thought about the problem, but still hadn’t come up with a solution before I regained my bloodline essence. I then made changes to the hatching chamber I was in as well as the others. Then I quietly left the underground tunnels and started flying through the night sky after the viscount’s soldiers.

Alsvartr encountered the soldiers while I was flying. Ever since I became a minor god, I had discovered that I could focus on individual believers. However, I could only concentrate on one other place at the same time. Splitting my senses was much harder than I had expected.

As for my familiar, she did a great job. I watched as she harassed the soldiers, making it impossible for them to rest. She used the Greater Invisibility spell and combined that with the Sonic Blast cantrip. The soldiers never knew where the attacks were coming from. Because of this, they were panicking. It was odd, how a single invisible enemy who was attacking with a cantrip was able to unnerve trained soldiers so much.

I did have to admit, Hyggiandi was teaching her well. She didn’t keep attacking. Alsvartr allowed the soldiers time to calm down. Then, after the soldiers felt safe again, she would unless a much more powerful spell, such as the Cloudkill. While she wasn’t able to cast the spell too often, one advantage of the spell was that it lasted a long time.

Alsvartr really had become a powerful ally. In fact, because I had to pay additional experience points to level up, she was actually one level higher than me. Being a powerful spellcaster who specialized in darkness and shadows attacking at night made her a fearsome opponent. I even started to wonder if she really needed me. Of course, I knew that she did. Afterall, she didn’t have my abnormal amount of spell points.

She continued to torment them until dawn. After that, I told her to retreat to somewhere safe and rest. I wanted to give her a chance to recover her spell points before the big fight. Of course, that was if there was even going to be a big fight.

By the time I caught up with the soldiers, it was late in the day. I had long since used the Invisibility spell to ensure that they wouldn’t notice me. Another reason was because the soldiers were close to Einvaldskonungr’s lair. The soldiers made no move to rest though.

Instead, they started advancing forward, apparently planning on attacking the red dragon before nightfall. I was surprised since the way forward was growing more mountainous. Like most red dragons, Einvaldskonungr preferred that his domain possess a high perch, which meant the red dragon’s lair was on, or under, a mountain peak.

In fact, to most male red dragons, the higher the peak, the better the location. This was because they believed that their domain encompassed all that they could see. The further they could see from their mountain top, the more satisfied they felt. It was a mark of status. If dragons existed in my previous world, only the most powerful red dragons would have attempted to claim Mount Everest as their territory.

The reason was because on a clear day, they would be able to see over two hundred miles into the distance. The smaller the mountain, the shorter distance the dragon could see. This meant those peaks weren’t as valued by the red dragons. If I had to compare it to something, I would compare it to the size of a diamond in an engagement ring. The size of a male red dragon’s peak was very important.

Of course, this mostly applied to red dragons. Other dragons had their own preferences. As for the red dragons, they would often bask in the sun at the top of the peak and gaze down upon their domain, content in the knowledge that they owned everything that they could see. Just like rich humans loved their penthouses in the big cities, red dragons loved their views. Even female red dragons preferred a big peak.

While red dragons primarily focused on the view, they also had other preferences. They liked living in, or near, volcanoes, hot geysers, or other areas of geothermal activity. Red dragons drew comfort when they were surrounded by intense heat. What humans might consider dangerous gasses might be seen as a comfortable and relaxing sauna.

Unfortunately for weak young dragons, they didn’t always get what they wanted. Many of these red dragons had to settle for other locations. Many of these dragons dwelled within dungeons where they could sleep in a lair that possessed some type of heat source. Most red dragons also liked to live in large caverns or cave systems that reached deep underground and received geothermal activity.

Of course, such caverns weren’t always available. That was probably why kobolds became one of the red dragon’s favorite minions. In fact, while it was true that most dragons had kobolds who served them, some dragons preferred other races. The reason why kobolds were the most popular subservient race was because of their ability to fawn over the dragons, their ability to create the ideal lair, and their ability to gather natural resources for the dragon.

Despite being the ideal servants for dragons, kobolds often had to live separately. One reason for this was because dragons didn’t like others hanging around them while they slept. Also, the kobolds would eventually need to move to other locations to uncover new natural resources to offer the dragon. The last factor was that just being near a powerful dragon was dangerous. That was because dragons were connected to nature, and their mere presence over a long period of time would start to change the environment.

For example, Einvaldskonungr hadn’t been too powerful as a young dragon. Because of this, he hadn't been able to claim the best lands. However, over time, he modified the land to suit his wishes. One of the ways he did this was through the kobolds. Long ago, he had ordered them to create a huge underground cavern. Because the mountain peak wasn’t high enough, he had the kobolds start depositing the excavated rocks on top of the mountain to make it taller.

He even had the kobolds create passages for lava to flow through so that he could bask in the geothermal energy. Not only was this comfortable to him, but he was also about to use the geothermal energy to grow more powerful faster than he would otherwise be able to improve. This went on for decades.

By the time he grew older, just his presence was enough to change the land. In the beginning, he was able to absorb some of the geothermal energy. Once Einvaldskonungr grew older and more powerful, his presence started creating changes in the environment. That was one reason why there were frequent small earthquakes in his territory. Even toxic gasses, geysers of magma, heated pools, or elemental openings to the Plane of Fire were sometimes created.

I hung back, watching them, trying to decide what I wanted to do. While I could immediately attack the soldiers, that wasn’t an ideal solution. I could easily imagine Einvaldskonungr emerging from his lair after hearing the conflict and deciding that I was an unwelcome visitor, despite the fact that I was fighting the soldiers. I wasn’t sure that the red dragon would even need my help. However, I was about to find out.