“So,” I started our little meeting as we sat around a table together with refreshments at hand, “what is the best way to go about this? I have a lot of Experience Points and good ideas on how to use it, but I figured it would be prudent to hear your advice first.”
Nanu, looking pleased that her counsel remained in demand, launched into a lecture on the topic.
“I gave you the heart of the Count. At some point in the very near future, assume your dragon form and eat it.” At my raised eyebrow at such a seemingly barbaric suggestion, she smirked in satisfaction before she continued. “It will advance your [Age] by a noticeable amount, unlocking the potential to take new Skills that will be helpful. Additionally, it will reward a large chunk of Experience Points, with a little extra since this is presumably your first time doing it.” She raised her own eyebrow in turn, questioning my history with such practices. I nodded in confirmation, and she continued right along. “I believe that should stress the value of eating dragon hearts at or above your relative level of power, and likewise impress upon you the danger of being hunted for it. I have never heard of anyone succeeding in eating the heart of an Emperor, but that doesn’t mean it is for lack of trying.”
“What about your previous Emperor? He was your grandfather, was he not? What happened to him?” Nanu frowned at that, seemingly lost for a moment in an unpleasant memory before she composed herself to answer.
“That is one of the great and nagging mysteries that still haunts me. At the time of the death of Mehczeczi of The Secret Stalkers, I was deep within a hidden archive performing my routine duties. No communication could pass through the wards layered around it, so by the time I emerged, he was already dead and the rest of my flight in tatters. We did try to rally and protect one another, but it was all in vain. Any who knew what had happened were already dead, their memories having not made their way back to us, so something powerful both eliminated him and his guards quickly and prevented all manner of Skills and contingencies from triggering to keep us informed. Most of the time was spent running and hiding, but what little evidence we could gather did not point to another flight attacking us. Only a large crater remained of my former flight’s stronghold, so the bodies of the fallen were likely obliterated.”
I took her hand in mine to support her emotionally, doing my best to pass on my sympathies. Skull did likewise with Nanu’s other hand, and together, we sat there silent for a few moments while Nanu battled the ghosts that yet haunted her.
“You will want to invest more heavily in various pocket dimensions,” she continued suddenly as if nothing yet bothered her. “The sheer scale of what needs to be done will require you to be able to transport hundreds of tons of stone or other materials in a single trip. The more you can carry, the fewer trips we will need to make to the mountains. The fewer trips, the faster things go and the less exposed we will be. Worry not about Skills for combat, for I will be at your side at all times to protect you.
“To be technical, you will want Skills that increase the size and mana efficiency of things that have the ‘Non-Dimensional’ descriptor. You have a bad habit of using generalized terms for things, and while ‘Pocket Dimension’ is indeed a catchall, there are other types. ‘Extra-Planar’ would be like if you scooped up the city of Berkerin and its surrounding lands and moved it to another demiplane. Large in size and scope and capable of supporting life, but ultimately finite. ‘Non-Planar’ references temporary tunnels that connect things, such as a magical doorway on a plane that connects somewhere else on the same plane or another plane. It is very useful for traveling vast distances quickly, but such Skills remain outside of your capabilities at the moment. ‘Extra-Dimensional’ refers to temporary spaces that overlap reality without damaging it. The classic example is a deep pit for someone to fall into, which could even be placed on a wooden board and set down on the floor, despite a board not being thick enough to contain such a pit. Lastly, ‘Non-Dimensional’ refers to storage, where each object placed inside exists separately in a void and no time passes for it. I don’t want you to get burned by you taking a Skill that you think will be awesome but it actually doesn’t apply to anything useful. Been there, done that, would not recommend.”
Skull and I were both engrossed with her detailed descriptions, each of us making note of things like our lives depended on it, because, you know, they did.
“As for dragons and the peerage system, both male and female terms are used, but for the sake of simplicity, I will stick to the male terms. From top to bottom, you have Emperor, King, Prince, Duke, Marquess, Count, Viscount, and Baron. The nomenclature may change in a given flight, but few deviate from that structure. You can expect that the physical size of a dragon roughly scales up by half again each time you move up in tier, but the combat prowess of them is not so straightforward, even for those that do not specialize in combat. You handled a Count well, but a Marquess would probably defeat you. A Duke would be no contest in that you would die horribly. However, I will help train you in the ways that dragons fight so that you will be more capable of defending yourself.
“Flight doctrine is another matter, but the theories behind it would take many hours to explain, and so we can cover that at some later point. The abridged version is that as you grow in [Age], you will get more ‘currency’ of sorts to spend on them, ultimately capping out at some point. You could go for a ‘wide’ flight with many members, but each one is proportionally weaker, or a ‘thin’ flight, where you have few members but each of them is incredibly strong.
“Either way, you will soon be old enough to breed with a humanoid and produce your first female queen. Keep in mind that there are no accidental babies, for you must consciously craft the offspring before a woman can become impregnated by your seed. Typically, you will want to shoot for twins and also have a son. The Queen will be your [Broodmother] to pump out your Dragon Paragons so you can fill up your flight based on how much currency you have. It is a ‘race to the bottom’, as we dragons call it, for a dragon can only produce offspring at one or two tiers below them. Granted, when two dragons produce one offspring, one is the primary parent and the other is offering support. There is nuance to it all and how to go about matchmaking to create a versatile flight, but the end goal is to get all the way to Baron quickly. That will open the potential for your flight to have access to all Skills, such as the oddly specific ones.
“That goes hand-in-hand with Trait collection. Marquess, Count, and Viscount are best suited to it, so you will want a bunch of them as quickly as possible to be your little army of whores going around and banging everything that moves.” That tidbit elicited a hearty chuckle out of Skull and a wide grin from me. “With better Traits, you can rebirth the members of your flight to make them stronger or more specialized. The other dragon flights will only give you so much time to establish yourself before they start picking away at you, so you need to breed quickly.”
Nanu moved around the table to sit in my lap, apparently maximizing our time together to get in a little extra attention and affection while she continued the lecture. I kept the roaming of my hands tame but encroaching, all the better to tease her. It all seemed to be rather straightforward, almost as if I already knew and believed most of it and just needed someone to organize the information for me.
“As for current flights and politics, I will go over those now. They are typically stated by the name of the Emperor and the flight name. For instance, the one you learned of earlier is Ossimandias of The Bone Wardens. They mostly dabble in collecting bones and necromancy, but the [Paladins] were correct in that you stand to become his ally, which you certainly need. The flight that all others hate typically gets ganged up on and eliminated.
“The Count we fought was part of Karlenstein of The Blood Keepers. Karlenstein himself is rather agreeable, but he gives his flight too much free reign, hence why a lot of them are a bunch of dicks. They like to perform experiments on lifeforms, oftentimes unethically, and are more than a little snobbish about how ‘pure’ they are.
“Encrodecro of the Crypt Lords is all about seizing and guarding crypts, graveyards, and the like, for reasons I can only guess at. The Bloods and the Crypts hate each other since the Bloods like to raid tombs for bodies used in their experiments. While the Wardens are tentatively at peace with the Crypts, they both compete over similar resources, so tensions are high between all three.
“Synsinac of The Pact Sealers was antagonistic with my former flight, The Secret Stalkers. They are all about mediating and facilitating contracts, of which they get a cut. You will undoubtedly run into them or their underlings in all the contract work needed for supplies and land acquisition. Always read their contracts thoroughly for loopholes, for they can be cutthroat negotiators.
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“Bylo’selhi of The Equivalent Scales is a giant merchant conglomerate, and they have a finger in pretty much any pie out there. If there is coin to be made, they know about it and probably play both sides. There are so many layers to their business strategy and how they seemingly infight that even I cannot unravel what is truly going on.
“Ejnarri of The Star Harbingers is likewise a mystery. They seem to mostly be concerned with astronomy, prophecy, and the occult. I have no idea what they want, but they have plenty of assassins to make sure things go the way they want.
“Lastly, Bonpricha of The Eternal Pretenders and her associates are a bunch of hippies. They can make their imagination reality, and they seem to believe in fairies of all things, as if those existed. I have no idea if they are for or against the fey, but they generally do not meddle in worldly affairs. They are very dangerous in a fight though, so don’t mess with them.
“And that concludes my prepared lecture for today on dragons. I know it was a large information dump, so feel free to ask questions if you have any.”
Her lecture certainly left me with a lot to consider. In terms of friends and allies, I had an eclectic bunch to choose from. The Blood Keepers already had a reason to hate me, and given their unsavory practices, I was not keen on mending relationships with them. The Bone Wardens did seem like the logical ally since I would be working with them in the near future. The Pact Sealers and The Equivalent Scales felt rather neutral, for each seemed to focus more on opportunities and profits than grudges. The remaining flights with living Emperors were too unknown in motive and attitudes to properly assess how to handle them. That potentially left me with one strong ally, two loose allies, four unknowns, and one enemy. Overall, it did not seem to be a great foray into diplomacy, but for all I knew, I would be swinging for the fences to even have that good of relationships with the other flights.
As for my flight, I was leaning more towards the ‘thin’ variety. That would offer fewer personalities and ambitions to manage and it would limit that sheer amount of treasure I would need to satisfy all their [Hoards]. My flight was already out in the open, for seemingly every [Paladin] that mattered already knew exactly who I was. What if I ran with it, and instead of remaining in the shadows like other flights seemed to, my flight was very out in the open? Like, I have not once walked down the street and observed a dragon just sitting there counting his coins. Would it work, or was it a fancy form of suicide? Dragons were almost universally hunted, seemingly through proxies by other Dragons, but if I could give my flight legally protected personhood, then I may be able to pull this off. I would have to check and see what Skills I could get to swing that after eating the Count’s heart, and while it seemed foolhardy to plan the next couple millennia of my flight’s existence on what I could figure out in the next couple days, it seemed that Destiny offered me few choices but to do just that.
First things first; I excused myself from the table and hopped out the bedroom window. Once outside, I removed the Count’s heart from my general storage pocket dimen… er, ‘Non-Dimensional’ storage. The Boys, thinking it was snack time, started to amble over, but I waved them off. Looking hurt and betrayed with the crocodile tears in their eyes, they slowly waddled back to their ponds with lowered heads and dramatically flopped into it. I nearly strained myself from rolling my eyes too hard, but I had more important things to deal with than an entitled and mopey hydra.
I hunkered down and assumed my draconic form. Low to the ground, only small parts of my body could be seen above the fence around my house. Quiet as a cat’s foot, I gobbled down the Count’s heart, which surprisingly, tasted rather delicious. Feeling nothing different, I employed just as much haste and discretion in turning back to my human form. For any onlooker, perhaps all of twenty seconds had transpired to watch the scene, and even then, they would have had to penetrate through all my Stealth Skills. I did not fall into the trap of believing that none could or did, but at least the commoners snooping around probably did not notice.
Before I could even make my way back through the window, I felt a power well up inside me as if a great flame had been stoked in the coals of my heart. With quickened breathing forming the bellows, something great and powerful forged itself with me. My skin itched and crawled, as if thousands of bugs skittered across me. I nearly fell backwards out the window, I was so distracted and uncomfortable, but Skull caught me and yanked me in. My muscles tightened, feeling as though they would rip right off my bones, but despite the sensation, it didn’t exactly hurt. As the doctors would say, I instead felt some ‘pressure’ as changes occurred with me.
Nanu grabbed me and pulled me in close for a hug. I’m not certain if I needed it or if she just seized the opportunity to press up against me, but a good five minutes transpired before the sensation passed. Afterwards, she handed me a mirror, and looking at myself in it, my mouth opened in shock. The lion’s share of my boyish youth had faded, replaced instead by the maturity of a man closer to his prime. I had physically aged to appear about 25 or so years old, and the virtual years had been kind on me.
Taking my shirt off, I could see that my muscles were lean and toned to be on par with Skull’s, if not better. That maneuver certainly garnered no complaints, for their eyes devoured the sight before them with unrestrained greed. Whereas before, Nanu came up to perhaps just an inch shy of my height, she now measured to about three inches shy. As like the last time this happened, my boots were too snug, but I felt vindicated in how I had already prepared for such an eventuality by having available to me a whole range of larger boots already made by my own hands.
“My, you have certainly grown in such a short span of time. I wonder what else has grown,” Nanu stated brazenly as she positioned herself to remove my trousers. Yet insatiable, I accepted that this is who she was, and perhaps how all dragons were, as she and Skull half-guided and half-carried me back to the bed. To be fair, I was just as perpetually hungry for the indulgences of the flesh, I just at least had the dignity to pretend I had better things to do than stay in bed all day with a lover or five.
Speaking of lovers, a sudden realization hit me. One lover was common, two was understandable, but at three, one hesitated to not call it a harem. Had I unwittingly man-whored my way into some cliché? Oh no, here comes the slut-dragon to seduce all the women in town and add them to his collection. As we woke Chooka and once more began our nightly bonding rituals, I idly wondered if this is why the trope exists for why dragons were wont to capture princesses - sexy, horny, lonely princesses that spent their days imagining what a bad dragon would do to their bodies.
Such musing would have to wait, for the three of them, especially the very real Princess, distracted me from thinking about anything but them. My stamina issues, while not completely resolved with my older form, certainly were decreased to almost a negligible amount. However, it was not a lack of desire or ability that brought a halt to my escapades with the only woman left who still had it in her to continue, but a need to examine my Skills and see what I would do with them.
With Nanu still stubbornly clinging to me like a leech, I drew forth a comfy floor pillow from my dimensional storage and sat down upon it. Seeing the change in my demeanor, she moved as if to depart to give me space, but I caught ahold of her and left her nestled in my lap as I sat cross-legged on the pillow.
“Stay with me for a while, for I need to reflect on my Skills and want your company and guidance.”
Astonished by my slightly deeper and more masculine voice, I took a moment to try speaking a few silly things to test it out, much to the amusement of Nanu who laughed as I held her in my arms. My vocal range surprised me, for I could hit both the low and the high notes if I took the time to sing one of those complicated songs. Perhaps I would serenade Chooka later after some practice, assuming the attempt didn’t kill me with embarrassment. She would absolutely love it, so I made a mental note to practice.
Skull entered into my shadow, which from her description, provided her with a world unlike ours. She could move about freely, but ultimately remained tethered to me. It allowed her to wander about and see around corners, to listen in to people unawares, and to strike with certain Skills without much fear of reprisal. Most importantly, it was in that realm where I could also manage her Skills, at least for her second Blessing, [Dragon Knight]. Still a fledgling Blessing, having been granted to her not even two full years ago, she had grown quickly in its use, but still mostly relied on what she had from [Divine Champion]. I hoped to change that soon enough by providing her with more utility and flexibility.
Fortunately, dragons have a good number of Skills to induce fear in people, and by extension, Skull’s Skills as a [Dragon Knight] reflected that. Mechanically, the way those Fear Skills interacted with those of [Divine Champion] allowed her to ‘double dip’ so to speak in her attempts to induce fear. By the time she fleshed out her kit, few would be able to stand before her without trembling in their boots, provided she had cause to terrorize them, and perhaps that unique combination had been the intent of Gulthar all along. Not to mention that [Dragon Knight] offered a great deal of the protective properties of dragons, she would be a veritable ‘brick shithouse’, as the saying goes.
Relaxed, content, I focused on my Blessing and my Skills, delving deeper into the mysteries of what it was to be a dragon.