Dragons Just Wanna Have Fun…That’s All They Really Want

  Xeno opened his eyes to a magnificent view from high in the mountains. Exalting in the simple pleasure of being alive, he drew in a deep belly of air and let loose a magnificent spray of lava. He received a few kill notifications and thought, Ooops. Sorry, whoever or whatever that was. However, when he stopped, he didn’t look happy at all. He looked disappointed. That won’t do at all. I shall have to work on that.

  Taking a second deep breath he stopped just short of using his Dragon Breath skill. He then began tinkering with the different components of the skill and then released it. This time instead of the spray of lava, he released sharp edged shards of obsidian that flew out rapid fire with a much longer range than the lava. He drew in a breath again and this time after tinkering, he released thin shelled balls of obsidian with lava inside. His next skill adjustment produced a wide spray of white hot lava for close in work. Checking his alerts, he had been given credit for learning 3 new skills. He also noticed the integration announcement saying he could add a new affinity and train his current ones. While he was one of the few individuals in the multi-verse that knew that training affinities was possible, he also knew that it was so expensive, that it might as well be impossible.

  He scratched lightning off the list of possibilities. Dragons rarely run into a need to stun an opponent. Water was likewise ruled out. Wind was a possibility. He thought of several ways he could improve his flight skills with it, but that would amount to reinventing the wheel. He had thousands of years working on his flight utilizing the powers of fire and raw essence. Nature really intrigued him however. He enjoyed building and expected to do a lot of it in this new world. Working nature magic into his creations sounded like a fun way of exercising his creative genius.

  With that choice out of the way, he took to the air. Once again, he was not satisfied with plain ordinary dragon flight. He began recreating some of the skills he made so many centuries before. Several hours of flight later, he was nearly satisfied when suddenly he was struck in the side by something heavy and covered in lightning. Pulling out of the dead spin he had been knocked into, he quickly locked eyes with his attacker. A large raptor. Probably a refugee from a planet that had its essence mined out and could no longer sustain the large predator. It had obviously had some luck on this planet and had already devoured some natural treasures, because it was far stronger than any level 21 bird should be.

  “Nice to meet you, good sir. Would you prefer to be student or lunch?” Xeno asked, wanting to give the bird a choice at least despite suddenly being quite ravenous. The bird only screeched and dove at him again. “Lunch it is.” As the bird approached, Xeno blinded it with a wide spray of lava and snatched its neck in his maw. Having very high natural resistances even for a dragon, the bird's lightning had almost no effect on Xeno so he cooked it in his mouth as he slowly circled back down to the ground.

  After enjoying his lunch, Xeno stored the remaining bones in his dimensional storage and started working on a skill that all dragons had. Treasure Sense. The system for some unknown reason had blessed dragons with the ability to passively gain leveling essence based on the value of their possessions (not to be confused with cultivation or passive essence gains from absorbing essence neither of which increased levels). So treasure sense was a very crucial skill for dragons to level. However, treasure sense had also led to the demise of many over-enthusiastic young dragons who didn’t quite grasp the concept of some treasures having owners that you absolutely did not want to annoy by attempting to steal their treasure.

  Taking to the air and remaining low, Xeno began his first treasure hunt since before he built his academy. He almost immediately sensed a deposit of ores which he uncovered using his earth magic before putting that into his dimensional storage. He also picked up quite a few nature related items that after eating a few, he was able to increase his nature affinity up to 2%. However, his treasure hunting was cut short when he sensed an unfamiliar energy being bounced off of him and spotted 2 metal projectiles flying in his direction. Remembering a useful spell he had frequently used in air combat, he created a grid of the obsidian encased lava balls that proved to once again be very effective.

  Spotting the silver vehicle that had released the projectiles at him, he felt it was only fair to help its controller train his defensive skills. He released a quick burst of obsidian shards, only to discover he had underestimated the vehicle's speed. He adjusted his aim and released another quick burst. Oh. My bad. Its controller had no defensive skills at all.

  The vehicle was torn to pieces and began falling rapidly to the ground. Xeno moved to see if he could catch it and save the controller, but he saw the vehicle open up and eject what appeared to be a human. Questioning the sanity of the human who believed he could survive a fall from this height, Xeno quickly understood the questionable maneuver when a large piece of fabric expanded above the human. Curious about this planet's inhabitants, Xeno flew closer and slowly circled the falling man.

  “Hello, I am Xeno” he said and luckily remembered the effect a dragon’s smile had on humans unfamiliar with dragons.

  “Uhhh…I’m Josh. Nice to meet you, Xeno?” the man hesitantly replied.

  “Rather ingenious safety measure you have. I assume your race has not yet been able to create miniature propulsion systems for situations like this.”

  “We have, sir. But we have not been able to make them as reliable as a parachute.”

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  “What will you do once you reach the ground?” Xeno asked, genuinely curious.

  “Honestly, find some place to hide from you.” Josh said with a shrug.

  Xeno laughed. ‘Understandable. In my defense, I must say, I merely meant to return the favor of allowing you to work on your defense skills. I guess I should have known you wouldn’t have any yet only a couple days after integration. So I do apologize for destroying your vehicle. However, what would you do once you reached the ground if I had already left the area?”

  “I would begin my escape and evasion plan hoping that search and rescue would come pick me up.” Josh said, and then looked worried he had said something he shouldn’t have.

  “Ahhh…a tracking device of some sort. That would make sense. Say, this is awfully slow, would you like a ride to your destination?” Xeno asked.

  “I guess. That would be nice. Yes.” Josh said thinking, This is stupid, but who would pass up a chance to ride on a dragon?

  “Excellent, give me one second.” Xeno flew a small distance away and then flew under Josh. Hovering momentarily, Xeno lowered his head to absorb some of the surprisingly little shock of Josh’s landing on his neck. The man pulled on some straps and the parachute floated away. Xeno created an essence shield to protect the man from the drag of the winds passing over his body.

  “So which way should we go?” Xeno asked and the man pointed. Xeno felt a wet drip on his back and smelled a faint whiff of blood. “Are you injured, Josh?”

  “Just a few scratches from when you shot me down. I should be fine” Josh replied.

  “I’ll fix that up. It may sting a bit, but we’ll have you as good as new in a second.” Xeno said and directed essence to the man and identified the injuries. He then washed the wounds with pure essence, flushing out contaminants and foreign essence. Once satisfied, he began the quick knitting pattern criss crossing the wounds and creating the pathways for his patient's natural recovery to expedite the healing. Josh felt warmth and then what felt like being jabbed with thousands of tiny needles and the pain was gone. He looked at the exposed flesh of his arm and his wound there was completely healed.”

  “Thanks, Xeno. Can anybody learn to do that?”

  “Yes, once they have essence sight and essence manipulation properly leveled.”

  “Essence sight and essence manipulation?” Josh asked.

  “Ahhh. Yes. Newly integrated. Can you feel the essence in your body?”

  “The warm little bits of energy?” Josh again asked.

  “Yes. That is essence. You’ll learn much more about it eventually, but for now, pay attention to what it does while using skills and spells. You’ll get essence sight eventually. Once you level essence sight enough, you’ll begin recognizing the components of your skills and spells and begin to be able to manipulate them.”

  In the far distance, Xeno could spot what appeared to be a large compound of structures and assumed it was where Josh was wanting to return to. However, he also felt a much stronger energy pass over his body similar to what Josh’s projectiles had used. Xeno dove and landed behind a mountain.

  “Josh, does your base have protections against airbound intruders?” Xeno asked.

  “Oh. Krap.” Josh turned white as he realized what he had almost led Xeno into. “They’ll be scrambling more jets. You’ll want to get out of here.” Josh hopped off the dragon’s neck and stepped away.

  “Probably a wise choice, I would enjoy a good scuffle, but I don’t wish to kill any of your people.” Xeno thought for a while. “Spread the word that if your bases would like to communicate with me, they could paint a large sign or something with my name and friend. If I see them, I’ll stop for a chat if I have time.”

  “Will do, but I don’t know if any commanders will be wanting to invite a dragon into their bases.” Josh said with a shrug.

  “Their loss. Oh, Josh. I may be the only dragon on this planet, but let them know that if there are more, not all will be friendly. Some may try and enslave you. Some will just eat you. Others may just take everything of value you have. So use some caution.”

  “Thanks Xeno. And thanks for the ride and not eating me.” Josh said with a smile as powerful engines could be heard in the distance.

  Xeno nodded and flew away, staying low to the ground. A few hours later he found a promising looking spot and built a small fortress that blended into the mountainside for him to spend the night in. The next morning he weaved enough traps and triggered spells into the fortress to ensure that his first major “possession” continued providing passive leveling essence for a little while at least. Maybe I could hire some of the natives to protect my creations.

  The hunter sniffed the winds. He could sense dragons in two directions. He had been ordered to eliminate all dragons on the planet, so he headed toward the one that felt closest. Flapping his shadowy wings he rose into the night sky. Taking shelter in subterranean hides, it took him several nights to approach his first target.

  From the shelter of a shallow cave the hunter watched. His first target was a few mountains over building a ridiculously elaborate fortress. The fool was even growing trees and flowers around it. The hunter never understood why some dragons wasted their talents on crafting. They had lost touch with their souls and the ravenous desire to kill and conquer. Their cowardly hearts seek comfort instead of power. The red and tan dragon with the tiniest specks of green in his scales wouldn’t even be a challenge.

  As night fell, the hunter made his move. The weak red was outside of his fortress working as the hunter moved from shadow to shadow. Approaching the red from behind, the hunter launched itself and summoned a powerful blade of shadow essence to finish the battle in one blow. However, as his blow struck, it rebounded and his arms were turned to dust by immense flame. His blade was destroyed.

  The red calmly turned and said, “Young hunter, didn't anyone ever teach you not to carry treasure when your prey is a dragon?”

  As he met eyes with his prey, the hunter realized this was not a foe he could vanquish and shadow walked behind a large tree. Starting to expend essence to regrow his arms, he looked for a means of escape. He saw an opening and felt the deep shadows of the underworld in a cave nearby. Roots exploded around him and forced him back to the shadow realm as he made his escape. The opening to the underworld closed just before he got there and shards of obsidian exploded all around him as the dragon took flight behind him.

  The hunter took flight in the night sky, knowing if he could survive long enough, he would easily outrun a red. Looking behind him, his eyes opened wide. The red was engulfed in flame and catching up to him quickly. Desperately he looked for another escape. Diving at a reckless speed he headed towards another opening to the underworld. When it closed, he shadow walked into another entrance on the other side of the ravine and ran for his life. Behind him he heard the ground slam shut then felt it open wide as the monstrous red continued to chase him. He took wing again as he dove into a deep chasm then scrambled into another chasm, running for his life. He changed course frequently and finally hid behind a waterfall dense with shadow essence and waited. But the red had given up pursuit. The hunter sighed in relief and decided to bring an army when he next went after the red…if he decided to go after the red again.

  Xeno was annoyed. His prey had escaped, but he knew better than to chase a shadow dragon too deep into the underworld. His essence was low, so he sealed the passages in the area and made his way back to his fortress where he weaved many trigger spells and traps before settling in to recover. One thing bothered him, why would someone send a hunter after him. Who had he angered in the last 100,000 years?