With my unexpected but not at all unwelcome Focuses out of the way, I could now access my Skill webs. Well, sort of, for I had to wait for a fancy display of Skills shuffling around as webs were remade. All the fanfare did look pretty, like parchment burning away as fresh webs were drawn quickly to make the new display.
The first thing I noticed while watching it all was how [Harvesting] was eradicated and replaced with [Material Arcane Science]. The Skills from [Harvesting] merged into the new Skill web, and I observed that some which previously had dead ends now had more to offer in their little pockets of isolated Skills accessed by some core Skill. For instance, one needs [Basic Forestry] to access the more advanced Skills pertaining to harvesting trees and the like, but those nodes are in their own group that are otherwise not connected to the main web, which is precisely how things have always worked.
The second thing I noticed was a lack of fog in these Skill webs related to my Focuses. I could see everything the web had to offer, although some individual Skills were unidentified until I unlocked them. I at least knew where they were, and those Skills were now few and far between. Before even a single Skill was purchased, I spent what felt like hours going over each and every one of them across all my Skills webs so that I could plan out how I wanted to grow.
Sadly, [Deeds] were lacking in some departments. Normal Skills provided knowledge and the capacity to do things, but [Deeds] gave wisdom and finesse as if you have done something a thousand times. So, while I could go hog-wild on [Enchanting], without the [Deeds] to back it up, I would most likely waste a great deal of time, effort, and resources making foolish things. While I already had the basic Skills, I decided to just dabble in picking up a few more to spruce things up so that I could eventually have a dedicated crafting session to test things out.
Skills can be tiered, with A leading to B leading to C, all doing the same thing but better. Sometimes, it raises the floor, perhaps so one no longer needs to concentrate on something or struggle, whereas others may raise the ceiling on what could be done, and both are needed. For instance, something like [Fire Resistance] may be the entry level Skill, with [Fire Resistance - Basic Shielding] raising the minimum temperature before one starts to take injury from fire. Conversely, [Fire Resistance - Basic Insulation] may raise the maximum temperature that the Skill can partially mitigate before it is completely ineffectual. Other supporting Skills, typically passive in nature, buff and support a main Skill, either making it more potent, easier to control, more efficient on mana, affecting a larger range, and so on. Ergo, I picked up the supporting Skills to my more basic [Enchanting Skills], but did not pick up the Skills that would grant me access to more powerful enchantments, which can roughly be categorized into tiers.
If only everyone could agree on what those tiers were, life would be better, which is a plague across most professions. Like, quantifiably being able to identify the potency and side-effects of a healing potion in such a way that every person and organization can agree upon is a pipe dream, especially considering the alchemists who make said potions are covetous of their craft and the trade secrets they discover. One [Alchemist] may have only four tiers of [Potion Making] in his Blessing, so he may label his potions across four tiers, whereas another [Alchemist] may have five tiers in his Blessing, and label his potions as such. To make matters worse, just because the second [Alchemist] has five tiers doesn’t mean both make equivalent quality potions at tier four if all else between them is equal.
My [Enchanting] has eight tiers, the last two of which were locked, which confused me at the time. These were not normal locks like on other Skills, which tended to require either an appropriate [Deed] or enough investment in Skills within a web to unlock them. Rather, these Skills, while observable in what they did, just could not be purchased. My Enchantment tiers, from weakest to greatest, are Lesser, Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Greater, Master, Imperial, Divine. Somehow, the big red flag of “Divine” went over my head as far as what I would need to unlock it and what my future held in store for me. All the clues in the world as to my inevitable divinity and apotheosis just remained inert in my ol’ noggin. For you readers who are a little slow, that meant I had to be a demigod to unlock Divine tier of enchanted goods. And I don’t mean you, reader; you are smart. It is all those other readers who are not as clever as you to understand these highly advanced matters.
With [Enchanting] Skills taken care of for now, I still had a great sum of Experience Points to spend considering all the murderfication I had handed out recently. Easily, all the Experience Points I had earned and spent to date were less than what I had available to me now. That doesn’t mean I would become twice as strong overnight, for higher tier Skills may have a linear progression on potency but an exponential increase in cost. A hefty tithe was paid to all my passive defensive Skills, ensuring I acquired every economically available Resistance under the sun, of which there are legions. Another dose was issued to attain more Skills for Perception, Detection, Stealth, Illusions, and Pets, as well as [Leadership] and [Flight Management] webs in general. Now down to about 60 percent of my remaining Experience Points, I could start unlocking my shiny new toys.
Starting with the [Spatial Manipulation] web, I gobbled up more dimensional storage, especially what I could economically purchase for the mana efficiency of using them, which was no small boon. I roughly halved the mana cost of storage and retrieval, both of which are sadly different Skills. I also doubled my storage and picked up a few more storage categories, specifically ones for ores, metals, and equipment (weapons, armor, clothes, tools, and the ilk). That would allow me to transfer all the loot from the dragon hunters out of general storage and into their more efficient and larger storage areas. With these Skills alone, I would be able to mine out tunnels approximately 25 percent longer due to my mana efficiency for hauling stone around.
All the while I did so, I meandered my way towards Teleportation-themed Skills. I had to take one, short-ranged [Blink], which is nice and all, but I had my sights set on something more potent. Sadly, no Skill allowed me to teleport from anywhere all willy-nilly, but there was a Skill that let me teleport between set locations, namely my shrines I had been building along the road, mostly at key locations or intersections. Again, another red flag that went over my head that the Skill oh-so conveniently worked with my existing shrines and encouraged me to build more. To be fair, I was not expecting that I would ever become a demigod, so I didn’t even bother to consider the implications of such boons. With a few more points to top it off, I could also take a handful of people with me between shrines, although allowing select individuals to teleport between shrines without me accompanying them remained too expensive, though I fully planned to return for those Skills later.
With my remaining Experience Points looking a little lacking compared to my ambitions, I finished with what I could acquire from [Arcane Material Science]. Fairly quickly, I snagged the [Intermediate Thermal Bottle], and not stopping there, the [Advanced Thermal Bottle], along with the juicy support Skills to make it cheaper to use. Not only would this increase my throughput of materials being melted down and refined, it allowed for increased complexity in what I could make with it and in what shapes I could create things in. For example, I could make steel ingots before, but now I could fashion a proprietary alloy of iron, aluminum, titanium, and carbon in the shape of a sword. I couldn’t make something overly complex, like a turbine for a jet engine, but single objects with simple shapes were permissible. Now, while that sword may not be as good as high-grade steel when forged by a proper [Blacksmith] or [Weaponsmith], it would work for practicing [Enchantments] and be well-suited to bring out the most they have to offer.
That would have to do for now, for while other Skills would allow me to take more sophisticated approaches to processing stone, wood, gems, oils, and other valuable materials, I just didn’t have the required currency to purchase them. At that moment, I started to understand the reputation for dragons to burn down peasant villages for all the practically free Experience Points, but I didn’t want to go down the slippery slope into villainy.
With only my emergency stash of Experience Points remaining, I finished that portion of managing my Blessing. However, a certain indicator informed me I had more to do regarding The Boys. Apparently, they had qualified for an evolution to their Blessing, which was far too early of an achievement, so I expected some strings had been pulled by the Titans. Last time I had evolved their Blessing, I had taken the Skill, [Evolve Hydra - Master of Many], but this time it was not so much a Skill of my own but a more mystical choice I needed to make on their behalf.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
From Hercules, I was offered [Scion of the Apocalypse], which focused more on their destructive capabilities. From my Hydra-related [Deeds], and indeed those from meeting the two titans, I attained increased knowledge of Hydra lore and history. Apparently, Hercules was tasked by the gods in shaping parts of the world, mainly to make lakes, ponds, and rivers. However, prophecies state that he will someday be resurrected and usher in an apocalypse. Present me knows that the gods do indeed dust him off every now and then when they need to reset the world, but past me didn’t know that level of detail.
From Heracles, I was offered [Herald of the New Age], which focused on utility and support. Apparently, whenever Hercules was tasked to terraform the world, Heracles followed right behind him to handle the finer details and to reseed life. Not that she could actually create life spontaneously, but she would reintroduce the flora and fauna of a region, especially for bodies of water. There’s been a cult or two throughout the ages dedicated towards her, but she was just as capable of terraforming as Hercules.
Now, you know me, I’m a sucker for more utility. While, [Scion of the Apocalypse] sounded cooler, [Herald of the New Age] appeared to offer more of what I wanted. Plus, I already can’t leave The Boys unsupervised for five fucking minutes without them getting up to mischief, so giving them more destructive power feels like a bad play. However, giving them more resources to be creative about how they go around skirting or breaking the rules also feels like a headache waiting to happen. That sounds like a problem for future me, so I mentally imagine myself smashing my fist into the metaphysical button of [Herald of the New Age] to confirm it.
With that taken care of and nothing else jumping out of the woodwork at me, I felt the growing excitement at trying out all my new toys threatening to overtake me. The implications of [Arcane Material Science] allowing me to work with inherently magical materials with my own magic as part of the refining and shaping process had me almost giddy with the anticipated rewards of such experiments. [Engineers], [Alchemists], [Blacksmiths], [Tinkers], and the like would kill to have such a Skill. Although, it does make me wonder what the other Emperors chose instead, for surely I am not all that exceptional in what Focuses I was offered. My enthusiasm tempered with the threat of unknown powers from my greatest rivals, I would need to be careful not to flaunt my new Abilities. Damn draconic pride, always meddling with my behaviors and attitude as it wants me to strut my stuff!
My meditations on my Blessing complete, I returned to the affairs of the waking world. As I opened my eyes, I found Nanu’s face mere inches from mine, a hungry grin upon her face that I would describe as “leering”. Internally startled, but outwardly cool as a cucumber, I passively observed her.
“Hello, handsome,” she called to me with her best creepy voice.
Unperturbed, I leaned into her, pressing my forehead against hers until our faces were as close as possible.
“Now we are both cyclops,” I replied back to her as I assessed my surroundings with a few [Overseers]. Skull stood right behind me, her posture relaxed but still attentive to her surroundings. I could feel the empathetic bleeding of her emotions that some manner of tomfoolery was afoot.
Nanu blinked in surprise until realization finally struck her as to what I was on about. With our faces so close, our view of each other made it seem as if the other had only one big eye instead of two normal-sized eyes. Huffing in displeasure, she pulled away from me and flicked a gold coin to Skull.
“How did you know he wouldn’t jump with fright from being so startled?” she half-whined to Skull as she lamented the loss of such precious treasure, even if it was not part of her hoard.
“Eh,” Skull replied noncommittally as she shrugged her shoulders, “I am eternally connected to him, so I can sense his emotional state and know him rather well by now. I knew he would not freak out.”
Nanu just huffed at the reply as she pulled away from me and crossed her arms. She maintained the pretense of dissatisfaction for only a moment before dropping it completely and moving on.
“So, now that you are done with your Blessing and the flight is officially established, are you ready to finish your two King eggs?” she asked as she stood up and offered me her hand.
Stifling a groan of dismay, I accepted her hand as she pulled me up, but a sigh did still manage to escape. “It’s just one damn thing after another, isn’t it?”
Nanu placed her hands on my shoulders in comfort as she consoled me. “I know it may seem like that for now, but trust me,” she paused for effect as a new grin adorned her face, “the damn things will start overlapping soon enough.”
I snorted in agreement with her joke while Skull chuckled lightly, the three of us commiserating by virtue of the veracity of Nanu’s claim.
“Well then,” Nanu announced as she withdrew her hands from me and clapped once for emphasis, “shall we?”
We made our way to what seemed to be a large support column in the center of the house. A mere four feet wide and square of shape, the stone column secretly stored a most valuable treasure. Sucking a few of the stones on one side into my pocket dimension, I revealed my clutch of eggs, two of which were rather large, about three feet tall I would say. The remainder were a little bigger than ostrich eggs, but all were leathery rather than hard-shelled like bird eggs. Each displayed a riot of colors, as if a resplendently fabulous unicorn had eaten a rainbow and vomited it back up on the eggs. The colors changed with an observer's position with respect to light sources, and the eggs appeared sparkly and slightly metallic.
Nanu and I had already gone over everything I needed to do. My two precious King eggs, each one housing a Dragon Consort, remained safely inside the enchanted cubby that provided them with the right amount of heat for incubation. With my new knowledge of runes and enchantments, I outwardly frowned at my past work. I had been proud as a peacock when I had made those enchantments, but now I only felt a degree of disgust at how shoddy they were. I made a note to fix them in the near-future.
I channeled my primordial and draconic power as an Emperor, an instinct so refined within the core of my being that it came to me as naturally as breathing. A droplet of golden light condensed at the point of my right finger, and I gently let it fall onto the first large egg. As the droplet of my unadulterated mana landed upon the egg, it seamlessly merged within it as the egg’s exterior rippled. Soft golden light shined out from the egg, not enough to be blinding, but enough to be clearly visible.
“Tamadora,” I whispered to the egg as the light faded.
Tamadora had been designed with the Templates of Adult, Broodmother, Educator, Spy, Succubus, and Therapist. She would be the mother of my remaining two Kings and all my Princes. Her role in the flight would be to gather Traits while also collecting intelligence on current events. I envisioned her as an oiran or geisha who entertained men and women while covertly discovering state secrets. She would also raise and care for my offspring, and so it remained imperative that she possessed the desired ethics and personality to ensure the members of my flight would conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. Something about my nature made me want to be hands-off about childrearing , and so I opted to outsource that role to her.
Repeating the same process with the other King egg, I uttered his name as well.
“Kaisadoro.”
Kaisadoro would be in charge of administration of my empire and handle the daily affairs of what civilization I would carve out of the world for my own. I had bestowed upon him the Templates of Administrator, Adult, Ambassador, Incubus, Multipotentialite, and Statesman. He would be the Prince Charming of myth, seemingly perfect in every way, yet aloof enough that people would want to chase him. He would be knowledgeable about everything and be able to converse with anyone on any topic, not to the depth of a scholar on the subject, but enough to talk shop. He would be the most interesting man in any room and people would endeavor to earn his favor.
This was not to say their names were written in stone. All the names of the True Dragons in my flight would end in at least “dor”, the gender-neutral suffix. “Dora” would be for females and “doro” for males. Considering dragons tend to be a bit fluid on gender, that allowed for them to have easy name changes without having to come up with a completely new name.
Both would be born as fully formed adults, which gave them a boost out of the gate but lowered the ceiling on their power. Someday, I would remake them, removing the Adult Template, such that they would need to go through childhood, at which point such an experience may be a nuisance for them, but such sacrifices would need to be made. I do not have the luxury of waiting for them to mature naturally and start collecting Traits and creating eggs to grow my flight.
I had no idea what Blessings they would end up with. A lot of fuzzy math and pseudo-science could try to predict Blessings based on their Templates, but at best, one could eliminate Blessings that they would not get. Each egg still needed time to mature, and certainly, the other eight whelp eggs did as well, so I replaced the wall for the night to secure my precious eggs in their little sanctuary once more. I could only hope that my budding flight would survive the storm that was to come.