[I'm back with my kobolds!] I called out through the mind bridge, formed as soon as I was within acceptable range. The mental bridge produced surprised static, before baldemar answered.

[These are your kobolds? How the hell do you even have kobolds?] Baldemar answered after a minute, clanking upstairs to meet us

[Kobolds follow the biggest and strongest dragon around] I repeated, as if stating a rule. "And Zyradon's got a vested interest in making sure that's me. Help me out with my plan, and your dwarves will be free from draconic threats and not even have to lift a finger]

"You're about to do what?" Baldemar shouted with disbeleif the second he came into view.

I telepathically told baldemar my plan, complete with a diagram or two, and saw a pang of stress shoot through his limbs.

"You're insane, but even if half your plan works the world's a safer place. I got carried away in making practise weapons, but the dwarves like axes and hammers more than anything serrated. I was thinking of selling'em, but I'm trading them to you for safety instead."

Baldemar lead us to the forge that was functionally his, and gestured to a pile. I looked upon it with awe, a faint glow emerging from the weapons- made of metal beaten to purification and tipped with serrated teeth.

[How did you get these? They look sharklike!] I praised, clapping my fin. The kobolds tested a few for weight, making a few practice swings

"My allies and I bumped off a firedrake in our first raid. Tier three if I remember right. Dwarves got a lot of the scales, but I was left with these."

[Does he have anything heavier?] asked Cinzek, mid-swing. I saw his damaged leg brought back to a mere limp, my silver heart the clear cause of this rapid recovery. I translated, and Baldemar's smile went wide. He drew something sharp and curved from a low drawer in his workbench, dramatically clattering it to the table. And with more care, a red gem, symmetrical from every side.

"I was planning on saving these for myself, but..." he admitted. "It's the right time to use'em. The fang-spears you can have, but bring what I make back when you've done your job."

[Sounds good! we'll pick it up in-]

A loud, rapid clanging cut me off. Baldemar was already using some of his scrap metal to fashion the two items together, poured acting as the binding between wooden shaft, red gem, and black-and-green tailblade. His arms moved like metal blurs, hammering together the metal before it had time to cool. He picked it up with his hands, and sparks flew as baldemar pressed the reinforced kobold glaive to the rapidly-spinning grindstone.

I watched him in awe. The whole process was over in not even five minutes, but I couldn't detect any hastiness in the process. As soon as my heads stopped spinning, they focused on him again. Baldemar performed strange gestures over the cooling glaive, something I easily recognized as mana clouding around the weapon. Letters that appeared hostile to me congealed from the mana-rich air, binding themselves to the glaive one by one.

"Well well, Let's see how we did." Baldemar said proudly, placing his hand in the steam of the glaive. His expression jumped indescribably within a second of casting a green glow over the new blade. And with some difficulty and more than a few facial expressions, he sent a character sheet into my mind.

Firedrake Shortspear Level 1/35 Sharpness: 15 (II) Conductivity: 58 (III) Control: 17 (II) Adaptability: 28 (III) Durability: 21 (II) Luster 15 (II)

I didn't know what all the numbers meant. Or what the words meant. So lacking better techniques, I simply asked.

"Sharpness is a number boosts to your strength. A giant with fourty strength usin' a club with zero hits just as hard as a knight with twenty strength wieldin' a sword with another twenty."

"Control" baldemar demonstrated, swinging the weapon around. "Now that's a bit more of a tough one. Somewhere between a weapon's speed and it's handling. If it's bigger than your quickness, then it's a boost; Either half of the difference or half of yours. If it's smaller than your quickness, then it's a penalty... unless your strength is big enough to make up the difference."

"Durability's just the weapon's vitality score. But if your strength is too far over it's durability, you start damagin' the weapon. And on a magic weapon, it's half the capacity stat. Other half's Conductivity, which is a flat boost to the mind stat... but only for the weapon's domain of magic. More than one domain and the bonus shrinks, generic mage staves being the weakest of all"

"Adaptability's... different. It determines a weapon's level cap, and every 10 levels, evolve into something new. And finally luster, all it dows is draw out bonuses from the weapon's material. A high-luster iron sword's going to be easier to repair. And more magnetic too, but mostly easier to repair. Only weapons that have capacity for magic have the last 3 stats, a common sword or spear's just got sharpness, control, and durability."

I stopped, feeling my brains digest this information. Mostly my left one, as I was certian my right was innumerate, but I felt it digest the basic concepts for use later. I felt it's brain grow in complexity, represented cleanly in my levelup.

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[Skill: Twin minds has risen to level 4. Mind bonus has risen to 7]

[How do you do all of this?] I asked, tone of awe in my voice as I played to his ego

"[Appraisal]. And [Master Blacksmith]. First one tells me the numbers of a creature or item, second... hoo boy."

I mentally wrote down this first skill, but the second I knew was a Mathias-distributed cheat. And of course, it was the one he bragged about.

"It makes everything about blacksmithing better. How strong the results are, how fast I make'em, how fast I level up, and makes the skills free. Hammer proficiency, fire resistance, and every kind of blacksmithing under the sun. I've already hit expert blacksmithing and advanced weaponsmithing. A chunk of those skill points I got from that big black burning bastard went to enchanting, so I could do that."

Baldemar gestured to the glaive, already wielded two-handed by Cinzek. I could see the awkwardness in his stance from here, and even without any Skill of my own could tell he lacked a proficiency skill. His class was [Commander] rather than anything direct, so I hoped he learned would ripple.

[We've got until nightfall. I seek to have my kobolds learn from your best fighters.]

"I can arrange that, the guard's been fixing to fight something ever since I've been arming them up. And Throulyn needs to get better at healing."

[Sounds good! Kobolds, we're training all day.]

My goal was clear, and we were free to... for back of words, level grind. Baldemar directed us to another part of town, familiar set of spear-armed guards scattered around a break in the walls. I waved, and when the dwarves reached for their weapons I reached out for the mind of the toughest-looking one, covered head to toe in steel.

[Skill: Mind magic has risen to level 4]

Mind magic crept closer and closer to it's evolution point, just as I hoped we all would.

[Don't stab us! we're dwarf sympathizers, we want to train with you]

[Ah, you're that weird little dragon] The shield-dwarf spat, disdain for my genus clear. [Very well then, we'll beat ye to an inch and hope ya learn.]

I was unafraid, watching the kobolds square up with a speardwarf each. I chose one of the two dwarven defenders, bowing my heads in respect. When the commander-dwarf shouted a battle cry, it was on. Spears stabbed, kobold weapons flailed, and Khirc's shield blocked with a flash. A tense moment passed as the dwarven soldiers assessed my allies, untangling from their positions and pointing my allies around with gruff barks. Croc, Drox, and Chec seemed to get the worst of it, told to strike and repeartedly slapped into stance. Khirc blocked strike after strike with her shield, green flashes bolstering it and her against the oncoming tide of pronging. Yet oddly, Cinzek was nowhere to be found. He didn't seem to be the type to slack off or hide from trouble, so where-

A tower shield hit my face with a clonk, returning me from my ponder. Unafraid of a mere shield I lunged forward, alternating my snaps and bites, striking from different angles and varying up my timings to confound his defenses. All around me, kobolds sparred educationally, raising their skills and confidence. Sometime in the next hour, two kobolds returned- Cinzek and Cilgris. The latter took a minute to magically skip the last part of her recovery, draining the healer's mana reserves in the process. She picked up the polearm, testing it's heft in her hands, and made eye contact with another speardwarf. As I fought, something in my heart stirred, taking their precieved peril as real- and allowing it to keep me replenished. I eschewed any training to dodge and block, letting my hydra flesh soak the damage and bounce back from it with flexibility. While I only got a few hits in past the dwarf's kite shield and chain-and-plate amror, my attempts were many, enough for several increases before the dwarves broke for their aftenoon meal. While I was distracted, someone had rolled a cart out, lined with plates of impossibly large meat slices and orange-capped mushrooms, and mugs of refreshing-looking brownish purple liquid. Out of fear and respect, we didn't approach until the dwarves had their fill, dashing in to scavenge when the larger beings were done.

"There will be no more of this under my rule" I assured the kobolds, to a wave of happiness. While I waited for them to take what they needed, I looked over my messages.

[Lacerating Bite 3 -> 4. Stamina cap 3 -> 4. Twin minds 4 -> 5.]

[Mind bonus increased from 7 to 9]

My skills had risen, but I needed to spread some power. My skill list looked a bit taller, new additions to the list always buried beneath the old. But the newest one looked ripe for the choosing.

[Leadership. Very slightly increases the coordination of beings in your Army. Shares gained EXP.]

After that meal, training resumed with greater intensity. And while the dwarves showed laziness from eating their fill, my kobolds keeping their survivor's reflexes. Combined with the trickles of revitalization, I saw mroe of their hits land. More sword, axe, or polearm strikes hit armor. But the true game-changer was a crimson flash from Drox's axeblades. He knocked a dwarf over with a roar, hacking in an unrelenting torrent at his shoulderplates, and would have started on his flesh had my shield-bearing opponent not tackled him aside. Throulyn patched him up, awarding a rest to my kobold and assigning one to her opponent. The afternoon's training bled into evening, letting the day guard disperse for the night guard to take over.

[Lacerating Bite 4 -> 5. Rapid Healing 4 -> 5! Frenzy 3 -> 4. Leadership 1 -> 3. Stamina cap 3 -> 5!]

More levelups were always welcome, doubly so if they reached their peaks for advancement. However underneath my System messages, I saw another.

[Training day finished!] it read, happily expanded to show the improvement of my kobolds.

[Chec, Soldier learned: Sword proficiency, Endurance up]

[Khirc, Defender learned: Sword proficiency, parry]

[Cilgris, Halberdier learned: Combo strike, Advanced polearm proficiency]

[Croc, Fighter learned: Dual-wield, Axe proficiency, Dodge]

[Cinzek, Commander learned: Leadership, Polearm proficiency, Fire magic]

[Drox, Fighter learned: Advanced axe proficiency, Dual-wield, rend, frenzy]

I took a second to read this, as the kobolds crowded around me. Knowing how few Skills they used against me, this day of training had bolstered their chances

We trudged back to Zyradon's cave, to plan our upcoming raid and hunt something to eat on the way there. Cinzek surprised us once again with using a thrown flame, using it to scare a large-horned creature into charging headlong into our weapons. The thing fell in seconds. I took the brunt of it's attacks, absorbing it's trample and grasping it's back legs with my lacerating bites to slow it down for my kobolds to wear down.

[Your party has defeated: Hillock ram. Experience shared between your forces.]

A dinner of nicely-cooked ram later and we arrived at zyradon's cave. I approached him, and bowed my head in reluctant submission.

"I have trained myself, and drummed up desire to fight within these kobolds. They seek to accompany me"

Zyradon laughed with pride. "My queen already knows how to rule. I allow it!"

With little fanfare, we were off. Flying towards another dragon's cave with a plan of insanity, a lot of potential to bleed, and a burning desire to topple tyrants.

To topple two of them.