My instincts were right. I was barely thirty feet from the building before it all came crashing down. I ducked, held my breath, and covered my face as a dust cloud exploded out, covering the surrounding area like a stifling blanket. Thankfully, I was a great swimmer, and could hold my breath longer than most people. By the time I needed air, a fair bit of the dust had settled. I still choked on the particles that lingered.

Coughing, I looked around, trying to get my bearings. The dragon was still stomping around on the other side of the city, so I wasn't in immediate danger. Then again, it was so big that it moved a helluva lot faster than I could. It had knocked over so many buildings, I guess one more falling wasn't interesting enough to draw its attention so it didn’t look in my direction.

I pulled up my map and checked my location. The beacon was set in a grass field in the southern part of the city, not far from the huge river. I had forty-five minutes to cover almost two miles. That was a ton of time, as long as I didn't run into trouble.

The thought barely crossed my mind when I saw something wiggling in the debris pile on the ground next to me. Instantly, the map disappeared and my sword appeared in my hand. It took me a second to realize it was a gigaroach larva, trying to claw out of the mucky dust that clung to its damp body. It was so thick, the monster could barely move. No, it was also missing a leg. The monster wasn't alone. Three other larvae rolled around in the clumped debris pile next to it, all semi-cemented in place.

I gripped my sword. I was pressed for time, but there was always room for some easy EXP. Especially after everything that I just went through. The larvae were so caked in mud created from their own mucus that I didn't even have to try hard to kill them.

[+7 EXP]

[+6 EXP]

[+7 EXP]

[+7 EXP]

It felt so good to finally get an easy win. I collected the drop orbs and flicked the gunk off my sword. With a sigh, I looked towards the west where the dragon was thumping around. As long as I didn't run into that monster, I would be okay.

I gripped my sword and started speed walking towards the beacon. Jogging would be best, but my legs – okay, my whole body – ached. Just going this fast was a chore. As I hiked through the deserted campus, I kept a look out for monsters lingering in the ruined buildings. I ran across a couple more injured larvae and nymphs and finally reached level eight.

Ria Moore

E Rank

Level 8

EXP to Next LV 84

HP 32/85

MP 38/98

Strength 15 (+2)

Magic 19

Constitution 15 (+2)

Agility 19

Perception 15

Intelligence 18

Abilities:

Regen (Limited)

Bubble (10 MP)

When I first got Bubble, I thought the 10 MP cost was steep, but now that I see how my MP was increasing at a higher rate than my HP, it made sense. I was definitely being tailored as a mage.

System? Are you the one making me a mage, or is it my natural disposition? I thought as I worked my way towards the beacon.

Since it was sentient, it should answer, right? If becoming a mage was the System's work, why? Was there a reason it decided I was a mage? Not that I really cared. Stronger was better, no matter which way that happened. But I admit, I loved the idea of being an awe-inspiring mage, wielding magic like a god. It just sounded fun.

A teal System box popped up, but it wasn't an actual answer like I was expecting. Instead, it popped up the Task list, displaying the Get to Level 50 task.

I paused, staring at the System's 'answer.' So, it meant that there was a reason I was becoming a mage, and that reason involved what happened the night that Mom died.

A sinking feeling twisted my stomach. What if I was totally wrong? What if the reward for that quest had nothing to do with how Mom died? The quest reward never specifically said what answers I'd get, just that it was an answer to a question that I desperately wanted. What if it was something else entirely? The thought filled me with sickening disappointment. No, that had to be the reward. Because I needed it to be.

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But first I needed to get home. I swiped away the System's message. That was enough dallying, it was time to get hoofing.

I was sure to keep a structure – or the pile of one – between me and the dragon. It was over a mile away, but I didn't want to risk it noticing me again. Being that close to its beaked mouth once was one time too many. I didn't have a lot of large cover options. Although there were broken houses and buildings along the way, I just didn't know if they were actually worthwhile. Was the dragon tall enough to see over them? Even so, I kept as close as possible to the structures. Occasionally I could hear a monster or two moving inside, but none of them came out to greet me. They were too busy hiding from the huge dragon romping around the city.

Finally, I got to a point where I didn’t have cover for almost a hundred feet. Not only was there a cracked street in the stretch, but the houses had long fallen apart and crumbled into a tiny hill. I hugged the corner of the dirty house I was hiding under and looked around. By now, I was used to the little earthquakes the dragon kept setting off, but they were getting stronger. Closer. Damn.

There were fifteen minutes before the roc got here. Although I hadn't been slow – my body was begging to take a break – it was time to speed things up. I squinted at the sky. From my hiding place on the southernmost row of buildings in the city, I had a clear view from here all the way to the Colorado mountains in the distance.

And I could see a brown speck against the blue backdrop, getting larger. I could almost make out the roc's wings flapping. Double damn.

I peaked around the corner of the house towards the dragon yet again. It was back in the university campus, shuffling around and knocking over buildings. No, that wasn't exactly it. There was something that I noticed while traveling.

The dragon's movements weren't exactly random. It was like ... it was looking for something. Sometimes I could almost hear it sniffing, like it was tracking.

Another thing I noticed was – the dragon looked weird. I was too scared and distracted staying alive to see the differences when I was up close to it earlier, but now that my mind had calmed down and there was space between us, I finally saw it.

All dragons had a triangle head, whether they were eastern or western dragons. This one had a triangle shaped head too, but it was blunt at the tip, almost like someone had squashed the nose in. Also, it didn't have a snout with teeth like all the other dragons – I knew that from first hand experience – it very much had a beak-like mouth. Nor did it have actual teeth, it looked like papillae – fleshy stalagmites to keep food in a toothless mouth. Almost like ... almost like a turtle. I wouldn't have thought of that animal if I didn't see the dragon's back. It was discolored, a darker shade of mud, and armored scaled looking. Like a shell. Granted, I never got a close up view of it, so I could be wrong. That wasn't the only oddity. Its feet and legs were stubby, instead of long with distinct toes. Frankly, the monster looked like a child was drawing a turtle and changed it to a dragon halfway through the process.

No, don't think about that right now, I scolded myself. There wasn't time to get lost in my thoughts.

When I was sure that the dragon wasn't facing my direction, I ran across the clearing as fast as possible. Part of me wanted to glance over my shoulder to make sure the dragon didn't see me, but I was too focused on sprinting over the uneven terrain. There wasn't anything to hide behind, but there was still junk hidden in the long grass. If I wasn't careful, I could easily trip on something and twist my ankle. I was already at a physical disadvantage, I didn't need another one. I dove behind the half ruined house at the end of the stretch and whipped around to peek in at the dragon.

It was at the south corner of campus. It was just standing there, like a horrifying statue. It faces south, but its blunt nose was up, nostrils flared. Like it was smelling something. What?

Suddenly, my System popped up a title bar for the dragon. I didn't think I was close enough to access one, and I was too distracted when its head broke through the Science Initiative building to read the title bar – I was trying not to get eaten. But I guess I had stared at it enough to finally prompt the System to title the monster.

I froze at the sight of its name. It wasn't 'land dragon' or something of the sort. No, it said [Unknown Lv 55].

Oh, my god.

Unknown?! Just like that horned monkey unknown? How was that possible? Was this just a new type of dragon monster? The world was huge and people were scarce, it could simply be an un-categorized dragon. But I couldn't help thinking about the oddities of it ... and comparing it to the weirdness of the unknown horned monkey. They both had unnatural deformities.

I needed to tell Uncle about it. Once could be an accident, but twice …? If there was something wrong, he'd know what to do. And if these were natural, then Hunters need to know there were unknown variants in wilds that were more dangerous than the original species.

Since the unknown was distracted, I turned and ran towards the beacon. I was close, it should just be in this field a little farther ahead. Once I got there, I needed to figure out how to make the roc approach, even with the unknown dragon in the city.

A sting of disappointment grew in my chest. I came to this place to get pyrefly wings for Micah and I was going to leave empty-handed. I doubt there were even any pyreflies left in the city. And if there were, by some miracle, I didn't have time to get them. I'd have to come back another day, when an unknown dragon wasn’t tearing apart the city.

I slowed down and stumbled a little as I went from crumbling blacktop to uneven long grass. In a daze, I stared around the large patch of weeds. This was the place. I know the roc landed in this location just hours ago. The plants in the middle of the field were still flattened, some even upturned from the roc's claws as it leapt in the air to leave.

But ... where was the beacon?

In its place was a giant hole. It didn't look like the beacon had been smashed. I couldn't see a battered metal pile hiding in the tall grass, nor were there any signs that the dragon had been over here at all. No, there was just a big dirt hole. Like the beacon had been forcefully dug out. What the...?

But if there wasn't a beacon, would the roc even come here? What do I do now?

Helplessly, I turned and looked at the roc in the sky, getting closer and closer.

A bright light flashed in the bottom of my gaze, like sunlight on metal. Instantly my gaze was attracted to it. It took a second to understand what I was looking at because the figures were so far away, but as soon as I realized what they were, my stomach went cold.

Sky, Pepper and Scott were running through the wild brush at full speed, while Scott carried the roc's beacon on his shoulder.

*****