The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop - Chapter 22 - A Reward & An Auction
Dragons loved mountains.
He found Cyvrosdyr sleeping atop one when he met the World Guardian on the northern continent. And he now stood before a city of theirs.
The fresh air and easy access to the skies were perhaps why? Dragons were flying creatures after all.
And spanning an entire mountain range, was Millennium Roost. The vaunted ancestral city of the local Time Wind dragon flight.
Dragons were ageless immortals. They could grow to be much older than any of the mortal races, even the long-lived elves. Consequently, the Time Wind’s main settlement which was situated on the Altazhar mountain range on the northern coast of the Republic, was the oldest known city for thousands of miles.
Dragon flight settlements in general were the oldest settlements on the continent. Since the cataclysmic Void Horror’s ascent thirty-thousand years ago which destroyed civilization on Inuan, dragon flight settlements were the first to pop back up. And Millennium Roost was almost twenty-five-thousand years old.
Dragon-made buildings were massive. It looked like entire mountains had to be mined to the ground to provide enough material for all of these dwellings. These structures could definitely fit dragons within them.
A key part of the architecture was that every single building in the settlement had an opening in the roof; meant to allow for dragons to enter or exit through flight.
As their griffins flew through the skies towards the city, Orodan caught sight of dragons of varying sizes. Some were flying about; a few were lounging on the ground, and he saw the occasional aerial spar and moments which looked like play-fighting between dragons. And he saw older and bigger dragons who were simply resting atop of various mountain tops. With the higher peaks and spires being claimed by bigger dragons.
Atop the largest mountain, Orodan saw something he thought was part of the geography, but upon closer inspection realized it was a massive dragon bigger than Cyvrosdyr. It took up almost the entire top half of the mountain and was wrapped around it. It looked as still as the rock it was sleeping on.
“That’s Kultuanir the Frozen Instant, probably the most powerful dragon of the Time Wind,” Arvayne explained from atop his own griffin. “He’s been meditating on the meaning of time since before I was born. There’s a chance he’ll still be sleeping even after I die of old age.”
“I’ve been reading about them, but do dragons truly take so long in meditation? When I met Cyvrosdyr the Eternal Winter, he too told me he’d been sleeping for millennia,” Orodan remarked. “What are they even meditating on?”
“Ah… unlike you or I, dragons tend to have a very slow rate of growth despite how naturally powerful they may be. They are an apex species, among the most powerful in our world once they reach Grandmaster-level in anything,” Arvayne explained. “Problem is, a World Guardian like Cyvrosdyr, even with the assistance of increased world energy absorption, can take up to ten-thousand years to reach Grandmastery in a single skill. Don’t boast about the natural talent of the mortal races to their face unless you want to offend them.”
That was ridiculous!
Orodan found himself feeling quite grateful for his own natural talent in comparison. Grandmasters of the mortal races could take a thousand years on average to become a Grandmaster. The talented ones might take half that time.
Dual-Grandmastery and triple-Grandmastery might take up to two-thousand years altogether, and by then the natural lifespan limits of most races besides the elves and dwarves began to come into play. Human Grandmasters tended to start passing of old age around three-thousand years. With their physical bodies weakening around the twenty-five-hundred year mark, combat also became unfeasible. Even with healing magic, enchantments and the like, nobody had found a method for true immortality that was widely available.
Dragons of course, could take ten-thousand years to attain Grandmastery… but they lived forever.
The dragon flights were notoriously silent on the question of whether there were any living dragons that were older than a hundred-thousand years. They refused to tell even the Grandmasters of other races such a thing.
Who knew if there was some monstrous old dragon that would view even Cyvrosdyr as a spoiled child? And if there was, where were they when the Eldritch Avatar descended?
Last time he fought it, Orodan had awoken after a full year to see everything in his sight till the horizon subsumed by the Eldritch. But maybe the Eldritch hadn’t reached everywhere?
Their griffins finally touched down onto the gargantuan landing zone, meant to accommodate dragons. The ground here was quite reinforced too.
Orodan had new clothes and weapons on his person, as everything had been disintegrated during his fight against the spider dragon. He felt quite dissatisfied with the new weapons. Sure, they were a sword and shield of excellent make. But they just weren’t his.
Upon landing, two dragon guards approached them. Lustrous metallic armor covered them from head to tail, and it looked expensively enchanted. Their claws were tipped with subtly glowing metal.
Behind these two Orodan could see a larger dragon, standing on its hind legs, wielding a gigantic halberd which looked as though it could cleave a mountain in two with just the arc of its swing.
Orodan would have loved to spend a few loops testing himself against this draconic warrior.
One of the two approaching guards spoke with a respectful grumble.
“Arvayne Firesword, we bid you welcome. Our halls are always open for one of the Republic’s Chosen,” the dragon spoke. “Are you perhaps here to attend the auction?”
“I wasn’t even aware there was an auction today…” Arvayne muttered. “But why not? We’ve come to visit the treasure hall alongside my student Orodan Wainwright here.”
“Oh? So this is the child we’ve heard your kind go aflutter about?” the dragon asked. “Slaying a Grandmaster Dweller Worm when at the Elite-level is quite a feat, even by dragon standards. My brother here slew a Master-level one during his Elite ceremony two-thousand years ago.”
Of course, dragons were so monstrously strong that they too could jump a whole tier to fight. Such was the natural prowess of this apex species.
“Well, I slew a spider dragon recently too. We’re actually here to turn in its corpse for the bounty,” Orodan answered. And the landing zone suddenly went quiet as the two dragon guards before them didn’t dare to speak.
It was instead the halberd wielding dragon behind the two guards who approached with thundering steps. It spoke in a bellowing voice.
“Child, did you perhaps kill this spider dragon yesterday? Was it a fire breathing one?” it asked. “Did it use space magic as well?”
Orodan nodded his affirmation to all of these questions.
“…incredible. Elder Vantalomir will want to see you immediately,” the dragon spoke respectfully. “You… are only a human child? Have you perhaps reincarnated?”
“No, although everyone seems to assume this,” Orodan spoke truthfully.
“Monstrous…” the dragon remarked. “Come with me, you as well Arvayne Firesword.”
They were guided through the open pathways of the settlement towards their destination.
It wasn’t like a standard city full of the mortal races. The dragons weren’t as prolific and heavy in number as humans in their cities were, and consequently aside from seeing them fly overhead, dragons walking the pathways were rarer. It was mainly humans, halflings and the rare elf walking on the ground.
Orodan actually stopped and stared at her pointed ears for a while until Arvayne had to drag him away and the poor elven woman looked embarrassed herself.
How could he be blamed? Orodan had never seen an elf up close!
Their guide eventually brought them to a massive open hall, there was no roof and it led to clear skies above. There were splendorous statues of dragons lining the walls of this hall. There were also various displays of some very powerful and opulent looking treasures.
At one end of this hall, was the ground entrance, meant for the various flightless visitors. On the other end… was a massive dragon coiled around a golden spire.
Before Orodan and Arvayne could even approach, the dragon suddenly appeared before them.
Orodan didn’t even bother trying to use Observe. Arvayne had warned him not to as dragons were notoriously secretive about their personal affairs. And the usage of Observe was seen as disrespectful.
Paranoid mortals would often have anti-Observation items on them.
But dragons took this to another level, as almost all of them deeply valued their privacy. Many knew the Observation Resistance skill, and virtually all dragons had some kind of item which guarded against it. Some could even sense attempts at Observation and would deal with the offender appropriately.
“Vantalomir, you are as impulsive as ever,” Arvayne remarked casually as the dragon sniffed the man. The sight looking ridiculous, as the dragon’s head was larger than a castle.
“I smell the scent of something heinous and utterly foul upon you Arvayne Firesword… release it so that I may inspect it,” the massive gold-scaled dragon demanded.
“Very well, but you may want to get some distance. My protégé’s kill is rather large,” the old man cautioned, and the dragon obliged.
A flash of light was followed by the appearance of a spatial vortex. Out of this spatial vortex came something filthy.
The mangled and utterly ruined corpse of a fire spider dragon. In Orodan’s opinion it was hideous in life, but even uglier in death.
The pupils of Vantalomir’s eyes shrunk and the dragon hissed as though it was recoiling.
“Filthy creature! This… this is Yamalshuk the deceptive murderer!” the dragon exclaimed.
The dragon let out a keen roar which carried through the air, and then it looked at the two of them.
“Arvayne Firesword, were you the one to kill this abhorrent curse upon dragon-kind?” Vantalomir asked the old man pointedly.
“I did say it was my student’s kill did I not?”
This caused the gargantuan golden dragon to look directly at Orodan.
“You, human child… what is your name?” asked the dragon.
“Orodan Wainwright.”
“Orodan Wainwright… I have heard the mortals below occasionally whispering this name… are you perhaps a reincarnator? I cannot understand how someone your age would slay this filthy anathema. Did your mentor assist you? Or are you perhaps the host of an Avatar yourself?” the dragon asked curiously in a softer tone.
“He is neither of those things, old Vantalomir,” Arvayne interjected. “He is my student for a reason… he is simply that strong.”
Was that… pride? It felt oddly warming to know that the old man actually felt such esteem at being Orodan’s teacher.
“The flows of time around you do not lie. You are quite young from what I can see,” the old dragon muttered. “How have you done such a thing?”
“Allow a young man his secrets, won’t you?” Arvayne interjected.
Vantalomir the golden scaled dragon, grunted, but acquiesced. It would be frowned upon for a dragon to press someone for their secrets. Dragons took the concept of privacy very seriously.
Soon, two more dragons landed upon the open hall, behind Vantalomir.
One with white scales and an aura of healing that made Orodan feel at peace. And one with dark scales and a dominating aura of gravity that felt as though it wasn’t powered by mana.
“…then it is true. My brother’s Quest truly was somehow completed. Which of you is responsible for this?” the dark dragon with a powerful aura of gravity asked.
“That would be this young human here, the student of Arvayne Firesword,” Vantalomir spoke. “Orodan Wainwright.”
“I was not aware you were in the habit of taking on students Arvayne Firesword,” the dragon remarked. “Your kind tell me you are famously withdrawn.”
“Only when they exceed all known standards of talent and growth,” his mentor replied.
“Hmm… I have heard your name bandied about by the humans who come by. Where did you find this filthy abomination child?”
“In the deep depths near the western coast, from what some of the local monsters were saying, it had just moved in too.”
“Yes, this vile hunter is known for moving about through the deep networks under the earth. This allows its kind to evade the notice of the dragon flights. This one in particular… the nefarious Yamalshuk, has scurried about for thirteen millennia… until now,” the gravity dragon said. “You have slain a beast that has killed many of our kind through its cheap tricks.”
Spider dragons were ambush predators and known killers of dragon kind.
Many times, they would skulk upwards from the depths to ambush some poor dragon they sensed above. They would flee back down to the depths shortly after to avoid the terrible retribution.
Dragons who were quite large and preferred aerial combat, weren’t willing to pursue often. The terrain in the depths was a serious disadvantage for a dragon.
These creatures were the main reason why dragons stopped using underground lairs and instead preferred mountaintops. The threat of an ambush from a spider dragon was something dragon-kind was forced to work around.
Humans and the mortal races on the other hand, were well suited to delving the depths and hunting spider dragons. Provided the mortal was strong enough or brought a sufficient force along.
It was why the Republic had a strong friendship with the Time Wind dragon flight. Within the hundred and twenty years since its formation, the Republic sent regular expeditions into the depths to cull all sorts of dangerous creatures. Spider dragons were in this category.
Of course, a spider dragon at the Grandmaster-level was a ferocious monster that could evade notice and flee into the deep depths. Any spider dragon that had managed to make it to Grandmaster was undoubtedly notorious among dragon-kind.
Which made Orodan’s feat momentous.
“Well, I’m glad I killed it then,” Orodan replied. “It was a pretty good fight; I didn’t even know portals could be used like that… got torn apart hundreds of times before I finally got the hang of it and wore that dirty thing down.”
“Most impressive! Such an act of service is deserving of an appropriate reward,” the dragon announced. “I, Rosvedir the Unrelenting Burden, second elder of the Time Wind dragon flight, hereby grant you free reign to pick any one treasure you desire from the Grandmaster section of our treasure hall!”
“Any treasure… Orodan, you must not squander such an opportunity! Let me speak a bit on your behalf first to ask for something that would benefit you more,” Arvayne requested, and Orodan saw no reason to say no. The old man had acted in his best interests thus far.
“Arvayne Firesword, what would you ask on your student’s behalf?” Rosvedir queried.
“Venerable Rosvedir, my student may be one of the rare few on this world who is capable of learning to use the draconic arts. His reserves of energy are endless, and his body grows stronger by the day,” the old man spoke. “If any mortal could learn the energy-intensive arts of draconic magic channelling, it would be Orodan Wainwright.”
Magic? Orodan didn’t see himself becoming some robe wearing weakling who hid on the back lines and slung spells from a distance.
But dragon magic? What even was it? Perhaps it could synergize well with his existing skillset. That spider dragon he fought was certainly powerful and not a coward averse to fighting head-on like a warrior. It used magic as well.
“While such a reward wouldn’t be out of the question, the energy demands are titanic by the standards of you humans. Even a hundred Arvayne Fireswords could not generate the amount of energy used in draconic magic channelling,” Rosvedir explained. “Even among our own kind, the channelling method we use in the Time Wind dragon flight is incredibly difficult to learn.”
“What if I were to show you how much energy I can generate?” Orodan asked, now intrigued by the prospect of learning such a unique skill not meant for his species. “If there is a device that I can pour energy into… I bet I can beat anyone over time.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Hrm… I am not opposed to this. We do have a trial that can measure how much raw energy you can generate. It’s a rite of ceremony for dragons at each stage,” Rosvedir explained. “But even if you set the mortal record and surpassed every other human who attempted it… it’s still no guarantee that you’ll be able to acquire the first level of Draconic Mana Channelling. It’s the System name for the skill.”
“Beat out other humans? You seem to have misunderstood me,” Orodan corrected. “I intend to beat out every other dragon who has attempted this test.”
The hall went silent for a second as the words echoed and were absorbed by the listeners.
“Outrageous! Do not make tall claims child! If you surpassed even the average Adept-level youngling in our hatcheries, we would consider you a prodigy,” Rosvedir reprimanded. “We will administer this test immediately, but do not make such boastful claims. Skill levels are one thing, but even young dragons who are fully grown at the Elite-level possess a quantity of mana beyond all but the strongest of humans.”
It was true.
Even his mentor would struggle in a competition of pure energy generation and endurance. A young adult dragon at the Elite-level had more raw mana than even the strongest of Grandmasters and Chosen Ones.
Dragons could launch attacks of terrifying destructive prowess. They could fight almost endlessly and throw energy-intensive attacks around like nothing.
Battle power was one thing, but the sheer amount of mana dragons possessed was another. It was why dragon enchanters and alchemists were so revered for the items they could create. They could empower something with titanic amounts of mana that the mortal races could only dream of.
While mortal crafters excelled in different aspects, such as fine details and innovation, dragons could push the upper bounds of an item’s raw power simply due to their natural gifts.
But Orodan still dared to attempt this and prove the dragon wrong.
Arvayne looked somewhat conflicted but said nothing, allowing Orodan to decide his own course from here.
“Child, your claims are absurd and something of the like has never been seen,” spoke the white scaled dragon who had remained silent all this time. A feminine tone was translated by the System. “In my twenty-five thousand years of life since the establishment of this dragon flight… I’ve seen less than a hundred mortals defeat a Master-level dragon at this test. Those mortals went on to make history, and one of them is now a God.”
Twenty-five thousand years old? Perhaps this dragon really did know someone who became a God eventually. Even if she wasn’t willing to say which God it was.
He would have to ask about the process at some point as nobody in the Republic seemed to know about how that occurred.
“Perhaps your confidence comes from the belief that you can beat a Master-level dragon in this test?” she asked. “Be warned that the records of Grandmasters of our kind are also on the rankings for this test. So do not speak too hastily.”
“I strongly believe, that I can beat even a Grandmaster-level dragon in this test. If I can go that far, will you teach me how dragons channel mana?” Orodan asked.
“If you can beat even the lowest ranking Master-level dragon in this trial, then I would teach you myself,” the white scaled dragon answered. “But if you are boasting and wasting our time, then you will leave with a treasure as thanks for your service.”
A fair agreement, Orodan thought.
But what if he really did beat even a Grandmaster-dragon’s ranking? What if he went even further?
***
They were allowed to keep the corpse of Yamalshuk, the fire spider dragon. It would be a nice piece to sell during the upcoming auction tomorrow. The dragons also wanted nothing to do with the dead body of the foul beast.
The test was held atop one of the wider mountains in the range.
The rock composing this mountain looked different from the surroundings. It looked sturdier, as though it was painstakingly reinforced.
In the center, was a gigantic red orb. Large enough that even the biggest dragon he knew could still lay an arm upon it comfortably without enveloping it.
“The test is quite simple. Place a hand upon the orb and suffuse it with as much energy as you can,” Rosvedir explained. “Stopping ends the test. Removing your connection of energy from the orb counts as stopping, as does the lack of any energy going in. You have thirty minutes to generate as much power as you possibly can and feed it into the orb. All forms of energy are accepted, mana, vitality, soul energy, psionic power and so forth.”
Orodan nodded in understanding.
Before he started, his mentor approached him. “Orodan… you needn’t push yourself this hard for the sake of impressing the dragons. They’re willing to teach you even if you acquire a decent result. You don’t need to cut this loop short because you want to prove a point.”
“Old man… I’ve gotten a lot stronger in my ability to patch myself up. I also haven’t really strained Eternal Soul Reactor to the utter limit in a while, so this is also an opportunity for me to see just how far I’ve come after all this.”
Arvayne nodded and walked off to the area meant for spectators.
There were a decent number of dragons in attendance. Word of this test must have gotten around faster than he thought.
“Whenever you’re ready Orodan Wainwright,” Rosvedir announced.
Subsequently, Orodan put both hands on the orb and activated every single empowerment skill he had to its maximal value.
Death Rage helped bring his vitality down to a point where Dying Struggle activated and gave him a much needed physical and mental boost. Regeneration and Unyielding Vitality kept him from death.
The stage was then set for all his willpower and improved reaction time to go towards churning Eternal Soul Reactor as hard as he could.
He hadn’t used it to try and kill himself in a while, but with how hard he was now churning it, it might very well.
His muscles and organs began to nearly disintegrate, even as his monstrous vitality skills patched him up just as quickly. His eyes were luminous beacons and must have made him look like an Avatar.
If anything, people seeing Orodan’s current state might genuinely think he was calling upon divine power.
But the Time Wind’s test allowed for even this! It was just that even an Avatar’s energy generation wasn’t up to par with higher-level dragons.
But Orodan? He was a different beast altogether.
As his eyes glowed and burst, and his muscles and skin boiled and reformed… the orb began to glow.
It went from lightly shining, to now glowing.
He heard the roars of surprise and conversational noises from his draconic spectators.
The System translated their words almost instantly after.
“Crossing the rankings of Elite-level dragons in less than a minute?!”
“Monstrous! It must be divine power! But from which God!?”
There were more draconic voices crying out, but Orodan chose to ignore them and focus.
His body was beginning to near its limits on how much of his own soul energy it could take. Even if his Body Tempering had progressed a decent amount, he was still cycling a colossal amount of power within himself.
The only saving grace was that the orb was greedily absorbing it all. His body was the bottleneck that would cause him to die if he generated too much power. But the orb was easing the burden on his body.
But what if the orb’s absorption rate could be made faster?
Orodan then decided to force the issue.
He had never tried wrapping Weapon Aura around something so gigantic… but if he never tried, he would never know.
He quadrupled his mind and extended every bit of mental willpower out towards the orb.
It strained his mind beyond belief, and an incredibly painful headache began to form. But even as his nose bled, he managed to succeed.
He then demanded it pull energy from him even faster.
And it did.
The strain on his body was immediately alleviated as the energy was practically devoured by the orb. It ate his soul energy so fast that he was almost drained completely.
So, he felt safe ramping up Eternal Soul Reactor even further. Furthermore, he practically threw the accumulated reserves of Mana Black Hole and Vitality Black Hole into the orb as well, which caused its glow to temporarily spike.
Two more minutes passed, and the conversation around him erupted yet again.
Given how the conversation around him was increasing, he was certain he’d passed another threshold. But he couldn’t even make out the words this time as he was too engrossed in powering the orb. His vision was white from the sheer cloak of soul energy surrounding him.
He was practically hugging the orb. His quadrupled mind increasing its absorption speed while he kept increasing the generation rate of his mythical skill. It was a cycle, and if the orb fell behind… Orodan might just instantly die from being incinerated by the titanic amounts of soul energy using his body as a conduit to move to the orb.
His arms began melting off, and he pressed his head to the orb, desperate to have something in contact with it.
He kept generating energy, and the orb kept absorbing.
He didn’t know how long had passed as this went on, but soon the orb’s absorption rate began to slowly lower, which alarmed Orodan. Because his soul’s energy generation rate was still incredibly high.
Fatally high.
“Potions! Whatever you have that can heal!” Orodan roared, even if he couldn’t hear what was being said in reply.
Bringing Eternal Soul Reactor to a stop while it was churning this high was difficult. Last time it happened he had to spent multiple loops dying as soon as he awoke before he could get his own soul under control.
And while Orodan didn’t care about death, ending this loop wasn’t something he wanted when the secrets to draconic magic were so close!
He was in a race against the clock. To wind Eternal Soul Reactor down below the unfathomably fatal levels he had it at before the orb’s counteracting absorption stopped entirely and all the energy within him had nowhere to go. The result would kill him.
He gained multiple levels in Soul Manipulation and Mana Manipulation as he converted as much as he could to mana and threw it all into Mana Black Hole’s reserves.
Glass hit his back and something wet spilled over him. This alleviated the damage he was suffering quite a bit. More potions of healing were thrown at him continuously.
Finally, as the orb stopped absorbing energy entirely, he was very close to dying outright when a warm healing light suffused him. It was stronger than the healing of the Favored Avatar of Ilyatana he had faced long ago.
Under the effects of the external healing and his own vitality skills he kept working. The extra breathing room gave his quadrupled minds more time to forcibly slow down the production of soul energy within himself.
Another minute passed, and Orodan felt like he was about to wake up in his hovel in Ogdenborough again.
Finally, he was practically a few pieces of glowing molten flesh on the ground when he passed the critical tipping point. His own Regeneration began to heal more of his body than was being destroyed.
From that point his soul began to slow down further and his body finally reformed, even if his eyes were still glowing.
The skill level gains in the relevant skills… were quite good.
If anything, the orb was an effective form of training.
The all-encompassing storm of soul energy surrounding him had also vanished, and Orodan looked around for the first time.
The spectator section was empty. The reinforced ground was decently damaged and scarred.
Every dragon had taken to the air, and his mentor Arvayne was atop the back of one, healing potions in hand. He would have to thank the old man for his good aim and quick thinking.
Beside him in the air was the white scaled dragon, her eyes emanating a golden luminance. Her healing had undoubtedly saved his life.
Eternal Soul Reactor was his bread and butter… but it was also one of his most dangerous skills. It ran the risk of killing him and forcing him to spend several very short loops bringing things under control till he stopped dying.
His own glow faded, and he smiled.
“How did I do? The orb stopped absorbing energy, so I at least passed the Grandmaster threshold, right?” Orodan asked.
The white scaled dragon remained silent for a while before speaking.
“Orodan Wainwright. You are the new record holder for the trial of abundance.
***
Rosvedir was quite respectful and apologetic towards him after the whole ordeal. It was almost amusing seeing the black scaled dragon of gravity look at him with regard.
“I must admit Orodan Wainwright, I have seen many things in my almost two hundred centuries of life. But a human claiming rank number one in our dragon flight’s trial of abundance, is truly ridiculous,” Rosvedir spoke. “Are you perhaps a dragon yourself? You cannot be an Avatar as they’ve tried our trial before and never managed to break past the Grandmaster-level rankings. You can’t be a reincarnator as I would have heard of your skill or Bloodline, and the tests have come back negative. Unless… you’re the reincarnation of someone from over two-hundred thousand years ago?”
“I’m not a reincarnator, nor do I have any Bloodlines that I know of. I also don’t think I’m a dragon either unless there was some passion in my ancestry that I’m unaware of,” Orodan replied.
“Ludicrous… it can only be a Bloodline at this point. The battle power of an Avatar possessing a Grandmaster Chosen is incredible, but it’s not their abundant energy reserves that give them this power. Even the strongest mortal Avatar in the world could not generate the energy you did. You truly are an absolute anomaly,” Rosvedir explained. “I maintain… that you are a dragon but do not know it yet!”
“Huh?”
“Your mannerisms are quite blunt and straightforward, your energy generation is titanic, and you tackle your problems head on,” Rosvedir described. “You can only be a dragon. This is the only explanation I can see. Although you’re rather small and your lack of scales will be a matter of much mockery.”
“Your antics are not as amusing as you think Rosvedir,” spoke the white scaled dragon. “I am Hymelrass the Everflowing Warmth, nominal head elder of the Time Wind dragon flight. I will be your teacher in the matter of Draconic Mana Channelling. Ignore Rosvedir. He indulges the younglings in the hatchery too much and it bleeds over to his mannerisms.”
On the contrary, Orodan felt that he quite liked the dark gravity dragon.
“When will we start?” Orodan asked.
“Your mentor tells me you also attend a human academy. Your training with me will begin in two days when classes at your academy resume,” Hymelrass explained and Arvayne who was next to Orodan nodded. “You will come here after your classes and receive tutelage from me in the art of the dragon. Also, your ranking in first place of the trial merits a reward. You will receive this later.”
Cryptic, but it sounded like a good arrangement to Orodan.
“In the meanwhile, I hear there’s an auction?” Orodan asked.
“Aye, we’ll be attending that to sell the corpse of the spider dragon you killed,” Arvayne spoke. “It’ll be a good experience for you to see some treasures and valuable items to get an understanding for what people want. Knowing what’s valuable and for what reasons is essential information to have.”
“I’ve never been to an auction… but why not? Maybe there will be some good training aids to acquire?” Orodan asked, thinking about similar items such as the endless gravity core that he had yet to swallow.
“You… I talk about a gathering of fantastical wealth, items and luxuries and all you think of is training aids?” Arvayne asked. “Forgive me wise dragons… my student is a bit single-minded at times.”
The old man was being melodramatic in Orodan’s opinion.
But the auction was something he was looking forward to.
Not only would it be the first time he attended one. But it was an auction held in Millenium Roost, the main settlement of the Time Wind dragon flight. Aside from the Novarrian Empire, the dragons were mostly neutral when it came to conflicts between the mortal races. As a result, auctions held in dragon flight settlements attracted goods, traders and people from all over.
Who knew what wondrous training aids from far off lands he might have the chance to acquire?
***
The auction was a bi-weekly event. And the Time Wind were the organizers as it was their settlement.
Humans, halflings and the rare elf or two were walking about the auction hall before the show began and any bidding could start. There were some dwarves in attendance as well, and Orodan guessed that they weren’t affiliated with the under-mountain kingdoms of the Dokuhan mountains where dragon slaying was a popular practice.
In typical dragon fashion, the building was gigantic and built to accommodate beings the size of mountains. The dragons had their own areas of seating on raised stone platforms surrounding a smaller arena style venue where the mortals would hawk their wares.
Sound amplification systems were present, and dragons with intimidating weaponry were guarding the venue with fierce looks in their eyes.
Nobody in attendance was stupid enough to try stealing or causing trouble on the Time Wind’s turf. Dragons were individually some of the strongest beings in the world.
“Young master might I interest you-”
“You seem like a man with expensive tastes, why no-”
Orodan tuned out the various merchants who were trying to hawk their wares as he walked by to take a seat at the front row alongside Arvayne. Their seats were reserved, courtesy of the Time Wind, and thanks to Arvayne’s reputation.
The ones hawking their wares weren’t anything too special. It was the items that would be presented during the auction that were the real treasures.
Perhaps it was his reputation, or maybe it was Arvayne’s, but nobody bothered them with attempts at socializing. He recognized a few sigils of noble houses from the Republic among the crowd, alongside sigils from nobility of the Eastern Kingdoms. He was certain he even saw the sigil of House Vedharna somewhere.
Soon, the chatter quieted down as the golden-scaled master of the treasure hall, Vantalomir approached the stage. His approach was no more than hovering his large head over the smaller arena sized stage.
He was big, but not quite as massive as some of the other dragons he’d seen. Though, still big enough to loom over the stage imposingly.
“Greetings, distinguished guests and residents of our humble abode. The Time Wind dragon flight welcomes all to another auction in Millennium Roost,” the dragon spoke. “I am Vantalomir the Splendorous, master of the Time Wind’s treasure hall… and I shall be your host to the treasures that shall be auctioned today.”
‘The Splendorous’ certainly suited the gold-scaled dragon.
“Now then, first on our docket, we have this powerful Grandmaster-level sword forged by a famed smith from the Eastern Kingdoms. An incredibly potent weapon capable of slicing through mountains when unleashed as the mana-based enchantments spew deadly spatial vortexes.”
“You could use a proper sword, no? Let’s bid on th-”
“No. I miss my old sword, this replacement won’t suffice,” Orodan answered bluntly. “One day, I’ll get good enough to turn my sword into something truly great at the start of each loop.”
Orodan thought Arvayne would sigh in disappointment or some other melodramatic gesture as usual. But the old man actually nodded approvingly.
“I agree, it’s best not to grow used to powerful treasures and weapons in battle,” the old Firesword spoke. “Better you rely on what you can produce and swing with your own arm.”
The next item was a glowing staff which was introduced as being an excellent conduit for lightning mages. A piece of trash in Orodan’s opinion. That he disliked mages didn’t influence his opinion at all.
The following sequence of items were all various mage-related weapons and items. From spell focuses to magic robes. Orodan had no interest in such things.
The item after the mage sequence however was interesting.
“This contraption we have here is a very advanced model of the vaunted dwarven magic rifles. Its magic shot can allow an untrained peasant to kill even an Adept! And in the hands of a powerful marksman with relevant skills? Who knows what it can do?”
The bidding frenzy immediately began on the item. Frankly, Orodan didn’t understand what they were so excited about. Most of the bidders he saw were civilians.
“How powerful can that thing even be? Novarria tried introducing those to the militia of certain towns, didn’t they? Don’t think it went too well,” Orodan remarked and Arvayne nodded.
Black powder weaponry was strong… until the Adept level.
Adept warriors were more than tough enough to withstand the shots of repeater rifles while entirely unarmored. And even marksman rifles with slightly more sting weren’t anything too special. Adepts could react to and dodge the shot, and unless it was a repeater rifle… the weapon was slow to load. In comparison, an archer or peltast at the Adept level who could launch twelve to fifteen attacks a second, was considered superior.
Additionally, the speed of the shot didn’t really increase with skill levels. And neither did the weapon receive any benefits from the Physical Fitness skill. Black powder weapons and crossbows were inferior to a weapon that also utilized the strength of the body as a multiplier.
The Novarrians discovered quickly during their trial run of the weapons that monsters with tough hides were quite resilient to the guns. Any basic level of sturdy armor also rendered the weapons quite ineffective.
Admittedly, there was some theorizing that arming cheap and untrained militia en masse with them might lead to some benefits. The idea was quickly shot down after the first field test. It was a monster hunting expedition where a single Adept-level monster managed to get into the formation. The untrained militia suffered serious casualties until the accompanying Adepts responded.
Orodan speculated that the weapons might be good enough to kill an unprotected mage, even of the Elite-level. Given that most of them slacked in their physical training. Also because pure mages were often a bunch of cowards with little combat instinct and slow reflexes. But that was also Orodan’s bias against them talking.
But magic gunpowder on the other hand. He hadn’t heard of such a thing.
“The dwarves supposedly use magic rifles nowadays,” Arvayne spoke. “Admittedly, the ability for this toy to allow a child to kill an Adept is a big improvement over the standard black powder model.”
Orodan found himself agreeing.
If a civilian could kill an Adept with a single shot by catching them unaware… then the weapon might be worth quite a lot.
A fat merchant from Karilsgard ended up winning the bid to buy the weapon. He looked to be discussing ways to reverse-engineer the technology already.
Orodan wished him luck. As dwarven technology was said to be notoriously difficult to dissect and examine. And even then, anything that reached an auction up north in the Time Wind’s territory was likely a pathetic design that the dwarves had allowed to get here.
After the sale of the gun, the next dozen or so items auctioned were all various magic trinkets focusing on storage with no features that truly interested Orodan.
Spatial rings, amulets of dimensional storage and bags of holding were useful… but not currently relevant to Orodan who was more focused on learning skills than hunting things and collecting massive amounts of resources. For now, at least.
A few more disgustingly opulent treasures came forth, but they were either meant for mages, or something Orodan wanted to make himself eventually.
But one particular item that came forth, did interest him.
“This lasso was made by a dragon enchanter from the Sapphire Gale dragon flight. It’s powered by a soul energy enchantment and is worth an exorbitant sum! The creator is a good friend of mine. Throwing and getting it around a foe will result in them receiving any sort of elemental damage the user desires as long as the wielder has enough power to provide.”
Death Rage and Eternal Soul Reactor flared; his vitality immediately dipped down to the threshold where Dying Struggle activated. None of the other bidders stood a chance against his reaction speed.
He shot up…
…and placed the first bid.
“I bid my corpse of a fire spider dragon! I need that lasso to train my resistance skills, damn it!”
The auction hall went deathly silent and Vantalomir gave him an annoyed look for being so loud.
Next to him the old man could only sigh and mutter.
“…why are his training methods so unhinged?”
Unhinged?
Could the old man not see the gains that could be made by swallowing the endless gravity core and using the lasso upon himself at the same time?
Perhaps he needn’t have declared it so loudly. But this…
…this was just an opportunity to engage in some more proper training!
