Error…

  You have initiated an evolution of your race while not in your natural form.

  Calculating changes…

  The light was too bright for me to read the system notification, but I sensed what it was. The words pulsed into me, and it felt as my body thrummed in rhythm with them. I sensed the entire world around me. My awareness was growing on multiple levels. My senses expanded out to the walls and then into the hallway.

  They hit the outer wall of the dungeon and were resisted. For a moment, it felt like my mind had recoiled and was turning back in on itself. Then, this strange awareness burst through the magic wards and rapidly swept over the university. I felt the lives of all the students and professors as they slept or studied late into the night. I caught a glimpse into things that I had never wanted to see and couldn’t unsee.

  Yet it also went deeper. I could feel the lives of all the tiny animals that crept and crawled who also called this place home. Even further, my mind kept drilling down, until I was aware of even the tiniest insect. My awareness seemed to stop at the edge of the university. There were more wards there, but my mind didn’t automatically press past them.

  Do you wish to go wide or deep?

  I didn’t reply to the prompt immediately. Was the system asking me to guide my own evolution?

  Then, as though it was answering my query, I got an actual response. If I had one of those human calendar things, I would have marked this date down. The almighty and ambiguous system had actually responded to me.

  A part of me wanted to be suspicious. Were the gods influencing this? I didn’t think so; I felt a certainty from the Dragon Dream that the gods and the system were not one and the same. The gods could influence the system… but I didn’t think this was one of those times.

  It didn’t really matter, though. The pressure that was building up inside of me was too great. I had to move this process along or I was going to burst. Instinctively, I knew there would be no repairing that kind of damage.

  Normally, a dragon’s Mind Path can only go wide. It is an expansion of perception and of magical aptitude across all the permissible schools of magic. However, your combination of altered thinking patterns and human form allows you the opportunity to adopt a modified version of humanity’s adaptations.

  Humans are more able than almost any other race to specialize and go deeper. Since in this form you are truly human, though retaining the soul and mind of a dragon, you may adopt a path which will both go wider and deeper—although this will be neither as wide nor as deep as might have otherwise been the case.

  Choose…

  I liked the idea of doing something that no one else had done before. Perhaps if the pressure hadn’t made my head feel like it was about to split open, I might have taken more time to consider this choice. But as it was, I decided this was the best course.

  “I want to go deep.”

  No sooner had I spoken the words than my sense of perception pulled back. Instead of covering the entire campus of the university, it now only covered about a quarter of the campus. It was still a massive area, though, and my mind spun at all the input.

  Or I thought it was spinning. The truth is that I didn’t have the first idea about what true sensory overload was until the ‘deeper’ part exploded. My mind sank into the enchantments in the wall. I felt my mind racing along the course of each spell and ward. It was like I was a tiny pebble rolling along the branches of trees at speeds I could scarcely comprehend.

  Then my perception sank down into the ground. It was odd. Up until that point, my perception had been focused on the sky. Dragons always had a great sense of what was going on up in the air. We could taste our prey on the wind and feel the shifting of air pressures as a foe moved towards us. I’d missed it greatly, being stuck on the ground in a human form as I was most of the time.

  But now, my mind sank down. I didn’t just see the air, but I also saw the earth. It was like I’d burrowed down into the ground and saw into the first floor of the tower. Then I saw beneath the tower into a chamber long buried beneath it. This chamber was connected to a series of ancient tunnels which spread across the campus. My mind started tracing them.

  I felt vibrations in the earth as the old tunnel shook. Creatures were coming. Then, the sensation was ripped away from me as that which threatened to overload my mind completed. I had no idea how long I was insensate, but more notifications awaited me.

  Pact compatible path determined.

  Choose which schools of magic you will specialize in. Current spells in other schools will be maintained, but you will be unable to learn new spells from any school except those you choose. The sole exception to this is any invocation or necrotic spells gifted to you by extra-dimensional beings.

  In return, your number of available spells will increase, as well as other improvements specific to your chosen schools of magic. The narrower your selections, the greater the benefits. The broader your selections, the greater your breadth of knowledge, but the less focused will be your power.

  Abjuration

  Alteration

  Charm

  Conjuration

  Divination

  Enchantment

  Evocation

  Illusion

  Invocation

  Necromancy

  Shadow

  Summoning

  You may choose no less than three and no more than seven schools of magic. Evolution abilities and potential bonuses will be awarded based upon the number and specific schools chosen.

  Note: Dragons are barred from using Conjuration or Summoning magic, pursuant to the Pact.

  Barred… how could I be barred from using an entire school of magic by an agreement I had no part in? I seethed with anger, but again the pain brought me back to the moment. I had decisions to make.

  I thought about Lisella’s lessons. Those books had been so boring, but now I needed that information. If I gave up the wrong school of magic, then I’d be crippling my future build.

  First, Conjuration and Summoning… sure, I couldn’t use them, but I needed to understand what I was losing. Conjuration was, at the simplest level, creating a physical object out of raw magic. At least that was how it had been explained to me. As I tried to pull up any memories about it, I couldn’t find an instance of any of my ancestors using that type of magic. I did know that it was a popular school to have your minions train in.

  Summoning was different from Conjuration, in that it included calling already existing objects or creatures from other places—including other dimensions—to the caster. Summoning also included teleportation magic, which was more than a little annoying. Sure, dragons were the lords of the sky, but I had been anxious to learn teleportation magic, for the sheer convenience of it.

  I wanted to ponder why the Pact prohibited those two types of magic, but would have to work that out later. I decided the best thing that I could do was to eliminate the schools of magic I was least interested in. Of course, that presented its own difficulties. Dragons were hardly known for willingly giving anything up. The evolution required that I eliminate at least three schools—the question was which ones.

  Invocation was the school Lisella had talked about the most. And why not? It was often called Divine magic, but it was equally a way of begging for favors from the gods. My healing spells were certainly useful, and I would like to obtain more like them, but perhaps I could reach a deal with Miseria for a few of those. That would be nice. Regardless, I put Invocation onto the discard pile because any magic which required me to be beholden to a deity was not something I would accept.

  Necromancy was the next to go onto the pile. In contrast to invocation, Lisella had only said that it was banned magic. Thinking about the way the pact worked, though, it seemed likely that it was the most likely counterpart to the magic of the gods, and thus something which originated with the horrors. While there might have been some benefits to necromancy, its source and my lack of knowledge made discarding it an easy choice.

  That was when things got harder. I immediately put Evocation, Alteration, and Abjuration onto the must keep pile. That was my minimum three choices, but they were all essential to my ideal of what I wanted to be.

  Evocation would allow me the ranged damage that I needed, while alteration would allow for buffs and some debuffs. I expected that many of the best buffs and debuffs would be from either Invocation or Necromancy, but I’d already discarded them and the pressure in my head didn’t allow for me to second guess myself. Enchantment would be a good choice in that it could do those same things, but it was less a combat or on-the-spot magic, requiring much more preparation.

  I quickly realized that Cami’s trade class gave her some enchanting abilities, and that she was likely to gain more. It rankled me to be dependent upon another, but I should probably factor Cami into the choices I was making. There was no reason for me to do something that my dragon knight could do for me.

  That put Enchantment firmly into the maybe pile. As for Abjuration, it wasn’t so much that I felt a need for defensive magic, which was part of that school of magic, as much as for the fact that Abjuration was useful for defeating other types of magic. It stood to reason that powerful magic, rather than men in armor, would be the thing I’d have to worry about most as I grew into the higher age categories. The Anti-Magic Pulse ability I had gained had already proven its worth. I needed more of that.

  That left Charm, Divination, Illusion, and Shadow as the remaining options. The phantasms from shadow magic were clearly powerful, but I already had one spell from that school and didn’t feel enough connection with it to accept it as one of my choices. There was also the fact that the fewer schools I selected, the more powerful those schools would be for me.

  Illusion was a natural ability of dragons and one of the Pursuits that my testing had revealed, but I simply didn’t feel a need for it. I was already sick of hiding, so more hiding didn’t suit me. I knew there were uses for it, but either Cami would have to cover those, or we’d need to find other minions who could.

  Recruitment would be important in the future.

  It was that thought which prompted me to push Enchantment into the discard pile as well. I was down to two decisions. I didn’t really like the idea of Divination Magic. It was about gaining information, but I had already discarded a number of similarly useful options and I knew how useful Identify was. As much as it didn’t feel like the powerful dragon way to do things, I knew I would also need to be a wise dragon if I wanted to be an old dragon.

  I selected Divination as my fourth school. Just quickly as I did that, I also accepted Charm—for completely different reasons. I simply like the sorts of things I could do with charm magic. After all, I was amazing; didn’t the world need to know that? And what better way to show them than with powerful charms? Cami might not agree, but she was only human.

  You have made your selections.

  Mind Path evolution is finalizing.

  Calculating abilities and bonuses.

  Error…

  Evolution is being interrupted…

  Then there was a screeching pain. The light suddenly seemed to fade, and I was flung across the room. I felt a sharp pain in my chest and looked down in a daze. My back stung from where I had hit the wall, but it was the massive bruise which was already forming on my chest that caught my attention. My shirt had been ripped right off of me by whatever had struck me.

  When I looked up, I saw a twelve foot tall troll standing in my room. Next to it was the oni we had encountered on our way to the school, along with three were-tigers. Shadows coalesced in front of me and both Cami and Modessa materialized. I didn’t know what was happening.

  Just then, Cami shouted, “You won’t get him while I’m still breathing!”

  It was a bit overdone, but I appreciated the sentiment.

  The oni, however, only laughed. “We were going to fix that problem, too. You simply made it easier by both of you being here at the same time.”

  Interlude 4 – In the Tunnels

  A short time before…

  Tolston sighed. Now was the moment of truth. He’d moved Nico into the room in the headmaster’s tower. It was the only way he could think of to be sure that the dragon turned young man would be in a designated place. Of course, then he’d gone and done one better.

  He could only make three signature crystals per year at his current level. Although, assuming his new patron came through, he’d have all the years he needed to continue leveling and learning skills. The ability hadn’t seemed all that impressive at first. After all, he already had his signature spells and the crystals couldn’t give him more.

  But for non-wizards, they were a godsend. Tolston had quickly learned just how much other mages would pay for those crystals. It didn’t matter if they were a spellsword, a paladin, or a shadow blade, they all benefited from having a signature spell which they could cast faster with less of a cooldown for a lower mana cost. Those who gave it some thought quickly realized how much of an advantage that could be.

  Thus, the sale of those crystals for the last ten years accounted for a significant slice of his wealth. It would be worth losing this year’s crystals, though, if it gained him immortality—which was the prize he’d been promised.

  His aides reported back to him that neither Nico nor Camille had left the room. He had made sure that only two chairs had been placed within, and then Camille had left instructions that they weren’t to be bothered. Because of this, the boy’s furniture and such had been placed haphazardly out in the hallway.

  Tolston smiled as he cast a teleportation spell, whisking him away to where the monsters hid in the tunnels beneath the university. What had begun as a hidden storm cellar turned out to include a series of tunnels created more than three hundred years ago—though none of them were documented on any of the official architectural plans.

  He knew better than to ask how the Lich King knew about the existence of these tunnels. The answer was all too apparent. With great age came great wisdom and vast knowledge. Yes, Tolston thought to himself. He was very much going to enjoy immortality. He only felt the tiniest of twinges in his conscience at turning over the dragon and the girl to their fate.

  __________________________

  Nan’sedoh was glad when the human Archmage appeared. The man was a fool who didn’t understand who his actions ultimately served, but that was fine. Ultimately, they both served the purpose of the true masters of this world.

  Tolston said, “I’ve got them secured in a room. They haven’t moved and are almost assuredly rushing to use the signature crystals I gave them. Youth are so predictable. Unless they have used some type of teleportation magic to leave the chamber, they will still be there. Camille isn’t high enough a level to do that, but I don’t know about the dragon.”

  Nan’sedoh snorted at the man’s ignorance. “Dragons can’t use teleportation magic.”

  The human’s eyebrow arched. “How do you know that?”

  “My kind were fighting the scourge of dragons long before your petty empire was born.”

  “Whatever, just do what you have to do and then leave my school or I’ll kill you myself. My only instruction was to find a time where you could target the dragon and his girl. As distasteful as that may be, I’ve done as my Emperor commanded.”

  The oni simply stared at the human for a moment before barking orders to some of the assembled monsters in his own harsh language. They broke up into groups traveling down different tunnels until only a troll and three were-tigers remained with Nan’sedoh.

  Tolston reacted with shock. “What are you doing? I told you where they are.”

  The oni laughed. “Yes, but we’ll need some additional distractions to ensure that his minders don’t show up. There will be more than one monster attack tonight.”

  “No,” Tolston snarled, “I didn’t agree to that.”

  “I don’t care what you agreed to. It’s too late to back out now.”

  The human’s eyes grew wide and then he disappeared under the power of another spell. He was, no doubt, going to do something foolish, but it didn’t really matter. He was meant to kill the foolish man if the opportunity arose, but his real target was the dragon. Now, they’d have a taste of revenge.

  __________________________

  The room was cold, the magic-infused stone walls were unlike anything she had grown up with. Cami mused about how far she had come in what amounted to less than a year. The future was bright, and she was excited to see what came next.

  She sat quietly, keeping her vigil over Nico. He was at the center of all the changes in her life, and she wouldn’t let any harm come to him while she was still alive. He could be immensely frustrating, though, and dinner had only driven that fact home. It was nice to be the center of attention, but Nico had struggled with the way Terrel had treated her.