Vesuvius was flying towards a snowy peak of a mountain. The surrounding temperature was decreasing with each flap of his wings. The dragon’s body pierced the clouds. Around him was nothing except for a blue sky and the white snow-covered peaks. Air was getting thinner, but it didn’t increase the effort needed to fly as it was counterbalanced with the stronger wind currents that Vesuvius used to glide.
His altitude was finally enough, so he started to glide horizontally towards the nearest peak. Normally he would have to care about the direction wind currents moved, but thanks to his wind affinity, they were extremely accommodating, moving where he wanted as if they could read his mind.
Finally, he reached the peak of the mountain and landed, causing the surrounding snow to disperse.
Ding!
//
You gained a title: [Mountainer I]
Conditions: Reach the tallest peak of the mountain range!
Repeatable: The title will upgrade with each tallest peak of each unique mountain range that the user conquers.
Effects: +3 to all stats
//
The dragon’s teeth showed up as he grinned, ‘Exactly as in a game. Well, it’s much easier to do when you have wings. Bonus isn’t much, but as any experienced player knows, any free stat point is a good stat point.’ He looked around, enjoying a beautiful view of the cloud-piercing peak under him, ‘Also, this view was worth it.’.
“Creak!” The sound of something walking on the snow came from down; the small dragon quickly flapped his wings and jumped down from the peak. He flapped his wings, stabilizing himself in mid-air. There was a tall, two-legged humanoid. Its whole body was covered in beautiful snow-white fur. However, most people would run from its imposing size that almost reached a one-floor building and its disproportionately big hand with fingers ending in long claws.
Its beautiful amethyst-like eyes fell on the small dragon levitating in the air.
“Groarrr!” its mouth opened wide, showing its long and sharp teeth.
Vesuvius used analysis to confirm his suspicion.
//
Analyze result:
Species: Lesser Azerlisian Yeti
Level: 15
Danger level: very dangerous
//
‘Exactyl what I hoped for!’ The title was only a secondary objective for his visit to snow-covered peaks.
Yetis were feared monsters due to their powerful arms with sharp claws that allowed them to easily move through mountains, easily overpowering their prey with their sheer physical might. Most of the time, when players spotted them, it was already too late due to their enchanted fur that allowed them to easily blend with the surrounding snow.
However, to Vesuvius, who could fly, had fire affinity and could see through their illusions, they were just free walking bags of XP.
‘I am their perfect counter, countering each of their strengths!’
Yeti kept looking at the dragon flapping his wings. Then it looked at a massive boulder under its legs. It grabbed it and lifted it high above its head before throwing it at the dragon.
Vesuvius made a sharp turn to the left, avoiding the boulder that fell down from the hill creating loud banging noises as it kept hitting cliffs along the fall.
‘I wasn’t expecting this. It looks like they are capable of ranged attacks too. Well, these massive boulders are too slow to hit me anyway.’
Vesuvius opened his mouth, sending a stream of fire toward the yeti. Yeti put up both of its hands in front of its head to shield it from flames.
A stream of flames hit the yeti, turning the surrounding snow into water. Flames kept surging around the poor yeti, slowly burning away its magical fur.
Vesuvius stopped breathing fire as he ran out of breath. Flames immediately vanished, revealing a puddle of water with a furless yeti covered in ugly burns standing in it.
Yeti dropped to its knees, surviving only thanks to its strong constitution. Its breath was ragged as it visibly trembled and suffered.
“I will free you from your pain!” the dragon spoke with a sign of pity in his deep and otherwise cold voice.
He opened his mouth, and a magical circuit quickly formed inside. Soon a ball of fire started to form inside, glowing brightly. Finally, the circle flashed and vanished, causing a searing hot, condensed fireball to shoot out of the dragon’s mouth. It flew in a straight line towards the yeti that was too weak to move as it kept looking towards its incoming doom.
“Bang!” fireball hit the yeti and exploded in a flaming explosion, melting all snow in its radius.
[+150XP]
‘Soo much XP for such an easy fight. The world really isn’t fair…’
The world really wasn’t a fair place. Yeti was strong, yet he couldn’t put any fight against a weaker opponent. Vesuvius knew that he won so easily only because he was the one who countered the enemy, but he also knew that the next time sides could flip with him getting countered.
‘I really need to reach level 10 and evolve. The only way to survive an enemy that is countering you is a brute force or luck.’
He looked through the mountain, looking for more yetis to hunt. He didn’t notice any, as even if he could see through the illusion, their fur was still snow white, easily blending into the snowy surroundings.
He stopped flapping his wings as he glided around the mountain peaks, enjoying every second of the beautiful panorama full of white peaks surrounded by clouds and a clear blue sky.
His wings already felt sore after a time he spent flapping them during the fight with yeti in thin air, ‘This way, I will be lucky if I could hunt two more before needing to return.’
Something moved in the snow, and Vesuvius immediately registered that movement with his keen sight and changed direction by tilting his wings, gliding towards his next target.