The Dragon of Roads - Road of Ascension
The crashing of trees upon earth signaled yet another of my many victories. I know it sounds arrogant to phrase it like that, for these particular trees can hardly fight back, but sometimes one has to phrase things in a good light to really appreciate one’s hard work and dedication for a task well done. I had even managed to line them up so one tree would knock down another, and I had a feeling this one would be a record.
Sadly, the fifth tree twisted as it fell and failed to knock down the next tree. Perhaps I had missed my calling as a lumberjack on account that it never came. I knew people who could fell trees with a single swing of an axe, yet here I had to take four or five to get them ready to topple.
By reflex, I moved my arm to wipe sweat from my brow, an overall fruitless task on account that I no longer perspire, but such habits were not unlearned overnight. I stood by as long, serpent-like heads snatched up the fallen trees, the quartet of them working together to strip the trees of limbs and bark before stacking them on a neat pile. Each black neck of the heads was easily as big around as the trunks of the trees I felled, which were some kind of fir with pleasantly straight trunks. These heads were not in fact snakes, but the four heads of my pet hydra, collectively known as The Boys.
Socrates, the leftmost, cautiously examined every tree for dangers, with efforts redoubled after the last incident with the Ragesting Wasps, so named for their calm and polite demeanor when a curious hydra pokes around their broken nest at the base of a felled tree. Diogenes, who pronounced his name wrong, took most things as a slight or a challenge, and, always ready to pick a fight, had destroyed the pesky wasps and a whole patch of trees in the process. However, being the youngest, he had some catching up to do in terms of maturity. Plato, their leader and the best behaved, kept his brothers in line and ensured they stayed on task, much to my appreciation. Aristotle, the rightmost, appraised each tree carefully for a few moments before going buck-wild on delimbing them. That one was either inclined to be passive or extremely enthusiastic in his undertakings with little middle ground.
Still, they performed rather well together, and the little tykes had grown into a force of nature. None of the local wildlife or monsters dared approach with a hydra around. To be fair, they also never approached when a dragon was around, but I currently maintained my human form. By benefit of my increase in age, I was now able to maintain my dragon form for eight hours a day, and sometimes I would do so to clear trees faster. One sweep of my tail could fell many trees at once, but I did not want to be observed doing so. Currently, I was almost at the border of my holdings to that of the nearby farms, and I did not need rambunctious farmers going into Berkerin spreading rumors of a mad dragon rampaging through the forest.
I had been working diligently for several months now to clear a path for and to indeed create a road from my new holdings at the northern mountain around Berkerin to the road that just sort of ends in that direction. Someone decided to just stop civilization there, and no farms or other settlements continued past where the current road ends. However, I had been paving the way for improvement, with my road being more than a mere dirt trail. I had dug out the path for the road with some new trusty Skills as part of my Blessing, [Greater Elder Dragon Emperor]. I filled that path in with proper layers of sand, rock, gravel, and other materials as shown to me by several helpful experts in such matters. They had taught me all about proper layering of materials, water drainage, inclines, and all manner of engineering techniques to build a road, and now I endeavored to put such knowledge into practice.
The stone bricks were initially the most difficult part. I had to carve them out by hand like some gods-forsaken savage until I finally unlocked a Skill to do it for me. Then I unlocked another one that allowed me to take stone of any size and shape it into bricks, including transmogrifying loose stone and gravel into it. Things really accelerated at that point, for I no longer had to take care in how I quarried out my stone blocks. Combine that with my new and specialized pocket dimension that could only hold stone, and I had completed more roadwork in the past month than the last six combined.
Similarly, I had also gained one pocket dimension that specialized in wood, and I could likewise shape any sort of wood into lumber. However, it still remained cheaper in terms of mana expenditure to keep the wood as log-like as possible, for a pile of splinters and sawdust taxed even my generous mana reserves when used to fuel such endeavors. These new logs would soon be sucked into their pocket dimension where they would remain in stasis.
Anything inside those logs that was not sufficiently like wood in nature would simply fall out, and so the pocket dimension could be used as a sort of sieve. I had collected a modest but steady supply of various metals this way from random boulders and stone from a quarry I had made, and likewise, these trees occasionally had a useful herb or seed that could turn a profit if sold to the right merchants. And indeed I had come to know these merchants as of late, and in doing so had made a respectable source of revenue from my various finds.
Such money was typically for spending, and normally, one could say that all money was meant for such. However, as a dragon, I decided that some money obtained in certain ways, one coin at a time, was to be part of my hoard, or that is to say, my [Hoard]. My various jobs that I took as an Adventurer provided most of those tributes, and these days, I pretty much only bothered with the postings that could pay me a platinum coin. I always rounded my payment down to the largest denomination of coin, the rest going to a fund for a rainy day when someone other than me needed financial aid, but I had still collected a good sum over the past year and a half since the war where Berkerin was unsuccessfully besieged by the Theocracy of Ulsfarh.
That war, and my efforts in it, had found me rewarded with the uninhabited mountain to the north of Berkerin. The war caused a need for building supplies, which in turn led me to my current undertaking of harvesting resources. The harvesting of resources necessitated a road, because traveling through the woods every day grew tedious when roads were faster. I was already harvesting lumber, so it made sense to do so in a mostly straight line towards the mountain. I could hardly fly to and fro as a dragon if I wished to remain incognito, so hoofing it remained the only viable mode of transport. I had long since developed to the point where I could outpace and outlast a Geckodon, my preferred steed for transportation, in overland travel, so I literally ran back and forth from home to work every day.
The Boys had to be summoned to me, and when dismissed, they returned back to whence they came, which was typically to the guildhall where Chooka worked. She and I were lovers, and I had taken her as my official mistress. The Boys loved her dearly as their mother, even though she was a remnimi and they were a hydra, but they had imprinted on the two of us as she was there with me when The Boys hatched. The Boys enjoyed the exercise and any chance to spend time with their Papa, as they call me when we communicate telepathically. I am The Dragon of Roads, but in these days I did not go by such a moniker, nor did I have divinity, so Papa worked as fine for them then as it does even now.
Perhaps I should back up for a second and introduce myself to you, the reader. I am The Dragon of Roads, a demigod. My Divine Portfolio includes the Domain of Roads, of which my past self is currently building his first road. Yes, I am narrating my own story of my past self, but I think it works just fine if you learn to figure out which of us is talking. I do admit I am a little out of touch as to what mortal minds can comprehend, and you mortals only have one mind, so I apologize if my style of storytelling confuses you. It is called ‘artistic license’, and I have literally been issued several different licenses to be an author throughout the ages, so I am certified to say that I know what I am talking about here.
Anyway, I was building this road, and I had about a stone’s throw to go before I connected my new road to the existing dirt road. That is to say, a stone thrown by a petite gnome maiden who suffers from some form of muscular dystrophy and not some hill giant that professionally hurls boulders all day. I had just cleared the last of the trees in my way and then some, for I had found a good location to try for a new record to knock a whole bunch down in one go. I felt confident that doing ten in a row would unlock a new [Deed], which would come with some benefit in the shape of a Skill for my Blessing.
Speaking of Skills and Blessings, I had managed to unlock a Skill web from [Survival] for [Harvesting]. That transition is what netted me many of the delicious upgrades, such as the individual pocket dimensions for different resources and the abilities to recombine smaller parts into a larger whole. That brought my Skill webs to [Age], [Deeds], [Hoard], [Survival], [Social], and [Harvesting], each a separate realm to spend Experience Points to acquire new Skills from my Blessing, generally speaking. [Deeds] were unlocked only by doing things, and they often gave free Skills in the other webs. [Age] entailed most things to do with my draconic form and what it was capable of, such as breathing elemental attacks or the size of my body, and it is gated by time and growing older. [Hoard] depended on things collected, one at a time, each with their own story. [Social] is rather straightforward, concerning leadership, understanding people, my pets, most illusions, and all that jazz. [Harvesting] I had already explained, and pretty much everything else fell under [Survival]. [Social] and [Harvesting] had evolved from [Survival], and so I remained confident that I could coax a few more skill webs from [Survival] if I dedicated Experience Points to Skills related by a common theme. Surely someday soon I would get one for Traps, Illusions, Defense, Pets, or Perception, as those enjoyed the lion’s share of my Experience Point Expenditures.
Stolen story; please report.
Such would have to wait for another day, for I was focused on finishing my road. Around the time I placed the final stone bricks into the road, a figure clad in black, macabre, full plate armor silently walked out of the forest and towards me. Unless such was the latest fashion trend, it could be none other than Skull, my bodyguard. Entirely and quite literally fearless, she remained a [Divine Champion] in service of Gulthar, one of the Dark Gods. He was all about Fear and Courage, so hooking his champion up with a dragon would do wonders for him in the future for causing both of those to happen in the countless souls I would encounter in my travels. However, she also served me as a [Dragon Knight], and being Dual-Blessed was indeed a rare and coveted feat. I am quite fond of her, and so is Chooka, so together we three remained in an interesting polyamorous relationship, which really was not uncommon in those days.
“Nice road,” she told me as she came right up beside me. “I am so glad you are finished. No offense, but this whole endeavor has been rather boring. Weeks can go by until something pops out of the forest looking for a fight, and even then, it isn’t much of one.”
I glanced over at her for a moment to acknowledge her before I finished the final touches.
“Maybe another war will start soon or a bounty will come out for a particularly dangerous monster,” I replied casually, not particularly bothered by her complaints.
“A girl can dream, I suppose,” she responded with a sigh.
Even with her helmet on, I could tell that Skull was bored out of her, well, skull. Our empathetic connection allowed me to sense all manner of things about her, of which she was in no way shy or bothered by such invasion of privacy.
“There, and done!” I exclaimed as I placed the last brick.
She pulled me in for a hug at that, for she remained always eager to show affection. She enjoyed fighting, feasting, and fucking, as she so eloquently puts it, and so I could understand why she would try to coax me to focusing on at least one of those things with her.
“I know this may seem hypocritical considering I just complained about how boring this all is, but shouldn’t you place some sort of marker here? Like, a sign post or a statue or something?”
I hugged her back, before withdrawing.
“You are right, as usual. I have just the thing in mind. I have been practicing my illusions, wards, and enchanting, so I think this would be a good test to bring them all together.”
And I had been practicing and even sought out experts to tutor me. I simply nodded my head as they explained all the magic theory that went in one ear and out the other. I simply acquired the related Skills, marched to the beat of my own drum, and figured out my own way to make it work. I developed my own rune language, each one a small and separate instruction rather than a large and complex one that was the style at the time. Like, why remember thousands of different runes that do complex things when I could just remember a couple dozen that can basically be used the same way letters spell words?
I found that I indeed had some natural talent for those distinct disciplines. Combined with my skills and indeed Skills related to creating magical traps, the whole kit really fit well together for a dragon to create a lair to house a hoard and keep out pesky intruders or lure them to their deaths. Even though I had ample training in direct combat and could perform adequately well at it, I did not take many Skills for that, so I tended to lag behind other Platinum Adventurers that specialized in such things. I tended to be more of a generalist and focused on using the right tool for the job rather than overwhelming force.
The right tool for this job would be a small obelisk of marble. I first cleared out the ground beneath where I would build it and filled in the area with the proper layers of material to create a stable foundation. I created a solid stone slab for the base of the whole area. With practiced skill, I imposed my own version of reality as my pocket dimension for stone opened in the air above where I would place the obelisk, and with a steady metaphorical hand and some concentration, I carefully worked the stone to the desired shape and placed it into location as I drew it out of that other dimension, almost like drawing a sword from a sheath or something I suppose.
I didn’t break the foundation, so I considered that to be a good start. The obelisk stood up to my height, and at about halfway between waist and chest, I carved out a little nook that would hold the main attraction, a small and magically animated baby dragon that would hold a coin I gave it. I carved the runes needed to allow it to detect people, to growl at them if they tried to take the coin, to chirp happily if pet, and otherwise maintain as lifelike an appearance and behavior that animated stone could offer. More runes provided warding against vermin and water so that it would remain uninfested and dry. A few more to keep it clean and to self repair from any small cracks that would develop over time, and I found myself satisfied with what it could realistically do without a dedicated mana supply.
Speaking of mana, I carved out a nook in the back for a S.M.A.R.T. crystal. Such relates to a broad category of said crystals, each one with different specifications for what they do, what tolerances they can handle, and what environments they can endure. More specifically, they are “Self-sustaining Mana Accumulating Relays/Transformers”. This one was designed to absorb ambient mana from the environment, transmogrify that mana into my own mana signature, and deliver it to the various runes carved in the obelisk, all done in a way that can be maintained indefinitely provided I did not overdraw power. Ambient mana could wax and wane, so I threw in a few more crystals that were far cheaper and acted as batteries to store excess for times of want. Satisfied, I created a backplate of marble to hide the little mana generator I had constructed in the base of the obelisk.
“Alright, here we go.”
Skull took a step back. She remained fearless, but also prudent, for Gulthar has little love for carelessness in the face of danger. Her vote of confidence cast, I rolled my eyes as I channeled my mana into the construct, priming the pump so to speak to kickstart the whole thing.
It took a second, but the runes glowed with a soft, pale light, and the little baby dragon statue animated as if alive. Illusions created the pleasant cries of curious affection as the dragon accepted the platinum coin I handed to it while it playfully cuddled around the coin and guarded it jealously, if not effectively. One good blow from a hammer would surely shatter it, but it lacked any true sentience or sapience, so it would not balk at trying to fend off an attacker way above its weight class.
“Aww, it’s so cute!” exclaimed Skull as she moved in closer to examine it, her arms tucked in close as her balled fists rested on her chin. She shook back and forth slightly at the waist in adoration, which really clashed with her terrifying image of death and destruction that her black armor gave off. The zweihänder clipped over her back did nothing to dispel the illusion that she remained an absolute terror on the battlefield. “And so feisty!” she continued as she withdrew her hand from it. The little guy had bit at her impotently as she reached for the coin, for it lacked the strength to pierce flesh and draw blood, much less magically-reinforced armor blessed by a god.
“This is a lovely little shrine, don’t you agree?” she asked innocently, not understanding the implications of her words.
“Indeed, it is a lovely little shrine,” I conceded like the fool that I was. It was too late, for my younger self said the very words that gave it legitimacy! Unbeknownst to all present, I had already set in motion the very first act of forging my godhood. How could I have known that such a harmless little symbol of my existence would lead me down that slippery slope to divinity?
It was at that moment that some strange power overcame me. It flowed over and through me, and it felt good and right like nothing else I had ever experienced before. Skull grabbed ahold of me in concern, for she could feel the raw magical energy bleeding into her through our connection as power overwhelming crashed through my veins. The sensation only lasted a few seconds, but I knew I needed this, that whatever had happened had taken one small step to completing me in some way I never knew I required.
“Are you alright?” Skull asked with calm but still apparent concern. No tinge of fear could be found in her words, but she remained ready to act, to follow any order I would give her.
“I feel amazing!” I responded as I looked over my person. I felt stronger, more alive and vibrant, as if I could fight any army single handedly. “I don’t know what that was, but I feel certain that I need to make more of these. Something about it felt so… right.”
“I see,” Skull said flatly, clearly not fully understanding or appreciating the full implication of my words, but resolved to follow me nonetheless. “How about we head home for the day so you can check if your Blessing has changed any in peace and comfort?”
“That is a good idea, as usual,” I admitted. Going down the rabbit hole of checking on such things in the wilderness remained a rather distracting endeavor, and such carelessness would not embody the tenants of wisdom. Checking on one little thing could easily devolve into several hours of also seeing what else was now available or would go well with some new acquisition.
“Come, Skull! We depart.”
Heeding my word, Skull slid into my shadow, her entire body disappearing entirely as it stretched into nothingness. There she would remain on our journey home, for I outpaced her by a sizable margin. Not that she herself was a slug or anything, but I possessed speed that surpassed most as I quickly devoured the distance between us and home.
Today had been a good day with an excellent new discovery. It also served as a marker for my divine insight, for with that first symbol of my divinity branded into creation, I now have the means to look back in time to see the stories and perspectives of those whose paths cross my own. I had no way of knowing that fate had already conspired to draw people towards me, but now I will share their perspective from time to time.