Vigil for the Dying class ability has upgraded to level 3.

  Meditation has upgraded to level 4.

  Concentration has upgraded to level 5.

  We both experienced growth in our bond.

  Your bond has progressed to level 22.

  Then, just as Cami had, I gained some increases to my abilities. It was interesting to see that the system credited the gains to my monk abilities, but none to my living storm abilities.

  Soul Seer ability has upgraded to level.

  Meditation has upgraded to level 3.

  Make Me Whole has evolved to Restore Body and Soul and upgraded to level 3.

  Restore Body and Soul (Level 3): Restore Body and Soul will now restore damage to your soul just as it does to your body. At level three, the amount of damage restored increases by 30% and operates off of a base image of your soul which is updated daily.

  Your soul has partially evolved from Dragon Soul to a half-step Dragon Monarch Soul. The differences are difficult to quantify, but you will find that both soul-related abilities as well as those abilities related to your authority as a dragon monarch will be more effective. The level of increase will vary between 10% and 50% depending upon the specific effect.

  That notification was clearly the oddest of the bunch, but I wasn’t going to knock it. What excited me the most, though, was my update on the quest toward the Horn Evolution.

  The gains had felt huge at a 26% effective boost to my stats, but they were now colossal. Of course, these rewards didn’t come for free. Cami and I each painfully learned that they were their own individuals when we restored a dragon by granting them a soul. A little more than 80% of them chose to renew their oaths to me, and three quarters of those chose to take Sandumas as an extension to their names.

  Those dragons were the easiest to manage, at least for the time being.

  Even the mature adults treated me as a parent and, to my thinking, acted more like dragons who had yet to leave the clutch. They displayed unswerving loyalty, which led to fights with some of those who had not taken Sandumas in their names. Then there were those who refused to swear allegiance to me as a dragon monarch and flew off on their own.

  I had some of my loyal dragons confirm that they weren’t going to densely populated areas. The three that did wing their way towards human lands, I caught up to and killed. I would grant them a form of vengeance, but it would only come on my terms. They might think me unjust, but my might and the needs of the world as a whole outweighed their need for immediate vengeance. In the end, the compensation they would gain from a still viable world outweighed the emotional release they might experience from killing a few humans.

  The next most troublesome group were the nine freed dragons who wanted to return and form full bonds with their former pseudo-riders. Since that wouldn’t directly ruin our efforts to secure Scale Nation, I didn’t kill them—nor did I teach them how to form a bond. They were new to the Dragon Dream, so it would be some time before they worked it out on their own. Their magic had been awakened when we restored their souls, so they wouldn’t be able to use that as a triggering event.

  Without a deity to form the bond for them, they were going to have to establish genuine relationships of trust with their potential bonded riders. I figured that, for most of them, that would take months if not years. Sure, the bonds would provide them with more power and accelerated growth, but I didn’t feel they were emotionally ready for a bond. I might not have stopped them, but I certainly wasn’t going to help them.

  In the end, I let them go because they weren’t the most heartbreaking of the new dragons.

  That distinction was reserved for those who chose to attack us. There were only five of them, but each one I had to put down stung. The first two attacked me directly, as my soul was healing. They sought to defeat me while I was supposedly weak and claim my role as dragon monarch. I doubted it would be that easy; both were pathetically easy to defeat. The ten DKP I got for each served more as a reminder of my failure, than any reward for surviving their surprise attacks.

  The third was a little smarter. He waited until the next day, pretending to need time to process everything. When he did attack me, it was with both acid breath and magic. My immunities were too great for him to overcome and, despite the betrayal, it frustrated me when I had to bite down and crush his skull.

  The fourth and fifth were the truly dangerous ones. The fourth flew out and tried to attack my town, claiming that I wasn’t fit to be a dragon, let alone a dragon monarch, if I lived with the lesser races. Vox put him down without a word, and I was grateful to see how personally she took her responsibility of managing these new dragons. It was the fifth rebel that nearly made my heart stop.

  The final dragon who rebelled attacked Cami just as she was starting to work on the next dragon. I felt like the world moved in slow motion when I saw it happening. Still recovering from surrendering a tenth sliver of my soul that day, I could only watch in horror as he pounced on her.

  Interlude 8 - Scouting South

  Cami felt the air flee her body as it was blasted out of her lungs. She was sent flying across the ledge in front of Nico’s lair by the pouncing dragon. Her mind raced, trying to catch up to what had just happened.

  One of the dragons had attacked her. There wasn’t any other possibility.

  Time seemed almost to slow down as she tried to take everything in. The final two dragons awaiting a new soul waited patiently. Nico was there, but greatly fatigued after this tenth soul surgery of the day. No matter how much he tried to hide it from the others, the repeated soul surgeries were taking a huge toll on his body, mind, and soul.

  With their bond, nothing so vital could be hidden from her.

  Now, it seemed that another of the restored dragons was ungrateful. Was it really that much to ask that they pay respect to the dragon monarch who’d not only freed them, but who had restored them to their true race? Nico was quite literally turning them from animals into sapient beings with eternal souls. Their existence would take on a level of meaning that was impossible for them to comprehend before this.

  When she slammed into the rock wall behind her, time sped up again. Cami was immediately back up on her feet as the small white dragon charged at her. Enduranos was the name he had chosen for himself. He’d acted like the soul implantation and growth had taken a great deal out of him—which wasn’t uncommon—but had clearly planned his attack. He’d apparently learned from the fate of the others who had been quickly struck down by Nico when they challenged her bond mate.

  This one had thought that she’d be easier prey. Once upon a time, that would have been true, but she was no longer the simple human girl Nico had rescued from the farm. She was a demi-goddess and bonded to the best dragon in the world—the only living dragon monarch.

  She would see Nico sitting astride the world or die trying. And no twenty-five-foot-long lizard wasn’t going to stop her.

  He charged at her, but her soul spear, Dragon’s Truth, was out and in her hands in an instant. The soul space she shared with Nico made storing the weapon simplicity itself, even if it was never far from her reach. Since it was imbued with a bit of her soul, she had only to call for it.

  The spear quivered in her hands, venting its wrath at this dragon’s foul betrayal.

  Cami barely had to think, let alone to focus her will, for the spear to lash out at the dragon closing on her. It might be small and she might be far more durable than a normal human, but there she had no doubt what would happen if it got its claws on her. Massive jets of flame burst from the tip of her spear. Cami felt her skin burn, her hands blistering, the heat was so great.

  The sudden flame blasted apart the cool morning air, and the charging white dragon met an element he simply couldn’t endure. With a screech, he tried to avoid the flame, but his forward momentum carried him right into it. Cami pivoted off her back foot and allowed the dragon, now blinded by her spear’s flame, to run headlong into the stone wall.

  The resulting collision dazed the dragon but wouldn't stop it for long.

  Cami stepped up and thrust with her spear. The tip pierced the white at the base of its skull, sinking deep into its neck. Its scales were tough, but offered little resistance to her soul spear. The power of the legendary weapon was far more than the newly restored dragon could handle.

  When she ignited the fire in her spear, this time the dragon began to burn from within. It thrashed and shook, its body seizing as its brain literally boiled. Any other warrior would have had their spear ripped from their hands, but Cami's connection to her soul spear made that impossible. She hung onto it as she was bashed against the wall multiple times.

  Each time this happened, the dragon—its eyes blinded by the flame which had seared them and its body barely under its own control—came up short. It lashed out with tail and claws but apparently couldn't hear or see her, nor could it smell her. The damage from her weapon's attack had been too great.

  Bit by bit, its struggles grew less and less. The great vitality of the dragon slowly drained away as her spear damaged both its flesh and its recently restored soul.

  Nico started to move to help her, but she held up one hand, signaling him back. This dragon had attacked her, and she would prove to them all that she was not prey. Cami borrowed the Coul Seer ability from Nico and watched as the light of this dragon’s soul dimmed.

  Its connection to this world faded and, with one last shudder, the dragon's body dropped and lay still.

  Silence reigned upon the ledge as the other dragons there awaiting new souls all watched. Cami felt the rush of XP as it hit her system. Leveling up from killing a previously enslaved dragon didn't sit well with her, but it had attacked her, and she had only defended herself. And to the victor went the spoils; that was the law of strength.

  Cami felt Nico’s pride in her surge. It was a savage world they lived in and she didn’t have time to worry about a little violence. Instead, she stared at the notification that appeared.

  XP gained: 74,300

  Note: Bonus applied for fighting a dragon in single combat and prevailing, despite its surprise attack.

  DKP gained: +45

  Cami immediately applied the XP to her Elemental Valkyrie class. It wouldn’t have felt right applying the XP from killing a dragon to her Dragon Knight class. After quickly applying her free stats, she glanced at the gains.

  Strength: +2

  Agility: +5

  Durability: +3

  Mind: +5

  She also glanced at Nico’s notification for his growth.

  Your bonded has leveled her Elemental Valkyrie class up to 11.

  You have gained 10% growth in your age category.

  Age category is now Elder (52% to Ancient).

  New Size:

  Length: 98’8”

  Weight: 59,495 lbs.

  Stat Gains:

  Strength: +6

  Agility: +2

  Durability: +7

  Mind: +5

  Strength was necessary, she just hoped the rest of the dragons would fall in line and she wouldn’t have to do this again. Nico hadn’t expected they all would agree with him in the end, but he was giving them far more than their freedom—or rather, Cami amended her thought, we were… given how they were combining her ability and his soul.

  At least the majority of them seemed to understand.

  __________________________

  Rizal sighed. Thus far, their scouting mission had gone on for almost two weeks. The desert wasn’t an ideal location, but he figured that was okay. Nico’s lair was on an island and storms would be plentiful there. Still, he had the skills necessary to survive here. Survival wasn’t the problem.

  What he didn’t know was if he could survive any more displays of affection between the Dragon Emissary and his beloved Dragon Shadow. The level of PDA the two tormented his with was beyond ridiculous.

  The former storm mage, now a Dragon's Mage, knew the two only by reputation. But the reputation he'd heard—that they were the most serious and skilled of adventurers—clashed with the reality he’d been forced to live through. In person, these two were entirely different from what he’d expected.

  They seemed more like love-sick children than seasoned adventurers. They were constantly making faces at one another, kissing, hugging, or touching one another in ways that made Rizal feel anything but comfortable. If he had to watch Galbrecht pat Modessa's backside one more time… or, heavens forbid, slap it… he thought he might lose his sanity.

  The fact that they were on an important mission together only made it more complicated. Rizal felt the trust that Nico had given to him and he was not going to let his former student and now Dragon Monarch down. Fortunately, when he had to concentrate on his magic, he could ignore the other two and their shenanigans.

  It was Rizal’s magic that had carried them upon the winds across the ocean to the southern desert. They’d flown over this barren land, across rocky and sand-covered wastes. As they got further south, they began running into various tribes. The three of them landed anytime they came across one of these nomadic villages.

  Galbrecht did his best to negotiate with the different tribes on Nico’s behalf—that is, if the fiercely independent desert nomads didn’t attack them on sight. For the most part, as soon as they found out that Galbrecht represented a dragon, and a Dragon Monarch at that, negotiations quickly soured and battle began.

  None of the natives stood any chance. All three of the exalted minions were powerful, each with legendary classes and more. The benefits that came from serving Nico made them each stronger than any group of tribesmen. Together, they were a terror to behold.

  Galbrecht had insisted that they cause as few fatalities as they could. Even though Modessa quickly jumped from shadow to shadow, stabbing or slicing one warrior after another, she mostly sliced them behind the knees or across the back of their heels—hamstringing or severing their achilles tendons. Not even the greatest fighters could stand when their calf muscles, bereft of a bony attachment, suddenly rolled up into themselves

  As for Rizal, he was willing to adopt the same tactics as Galbrecht. The Dragon Emissary simply defended against the tribesmen until they realized they had no chance of cracking his shields. While doing so, Rizal got to experiment with different types of magic.

  He'd sent out swirling whirlwinds to wreak havoc among any of their formations or chains of lightning that cut down the tribesmen by the dozens. When possible, he limited his attacks to non-lethal strikes. But these were Nico’s enemies, and he had already decided that following the blue dragon was humanity’s best hope for the future.

  It always ended the same: the warriors ran. The few who didn't run would lay down their arms and stayed to listen as Galbrecht proselytized for Nico, just the same as if he were a god.

  After the fortunately brief fight at the most recent village, his fellow exalted minions were playing smoochie face again. Rizal had finally had enough. With a snort of disgust, he asked, "Can you not wait until you get to your tent for that? Or is it too much to expect you act with decorum until night falls?"

  Modessa giggled. "Where's the fun in that? Half of why I let Brechie paw at me like this is because it embarrasses you so. You should see the look of horror on your face."

  Galbrecht laughed. The man seemed like he was less than half his age whenever the two of them played like this. “What’s the other half of the reason?” he asked his companion—one hand still planted firmly on her ass cheek.

  Modessa winked up at her lover. “What can I say? Big, strong men in armor do it for me.”

  As Rizal simmered, little bits of electricity discharged from his feet into the sand, creating veins of glass in a starburst around him. His comment wasn't enough to deter Modessa; if anything, it made her laugh harder.

  "Well," Rizal grumbled, face still heated, "if you can keep from disrobing here on the sand, let's at least figure out what we are doing next. So far, we've marked the map where the three dungeon outbursts are, and we managed to slaughter a few hundred helpless tribesmen."

  Galbrecht held out his hand at that point to cut Rizal off. "Hold up. They are hardly helpless, and we only attacked them after they attack us first. You can’t help it if your electric storm sometimes did more than just stun them into submission, and some foes were too dangerous for Dessa to disable. And it's not like some of them haven't joined us. I've probably recruited at least five hundred."

  Rizal rolled his eyes. The former paladin was overoptimistic—hopefully so, at best.

  They’d gathered three—maybe four hundred—warriors under Nico’s dragon banner, and he didn't know how many civilians along with that. This was not very promising as far as a future army went. And if Rizal understood Nico’s plans, he would need an army to fight the horrors and the monsters they were unleashing.