The dragon, the size of a van, was lying on the floor of the cave. A black stone covered his whole body. It wasn’t smooth stone. It was full of sharp and rough edges, making it look like a cooled-down lava stone. Bright orange light and lava seeped through the cracks littering the black stone armour. Fumes of dark grey smoke kept rising from its surface, slowly filling the whole cave. The cave floor under his bulky body kept heating up, turning red from the heat. On his back were big black wings with a surface littered with red and orange glowing lines that kept branching and twisting like veins. Hot lava kept slowly dripping out of the dragon’s mouth as he drooled while being unconscious, slowly forming a puddle of lava under his head. On both sides of his head was a horn curved upwards that looked like made out of super hot iron, glowing in dim orange light. Each of them was longer than an arm of an adult human. Long claws that littered his reptilian fingers were also searingly hot, glowing in dim orange light.
Suddenly dragon’s eyelids opened up, revealing beautifully deep reptilian eyes. The dragon slowly stood up, making sure not to hit the ceiling of the cave.
‘This cave feels a little cramped now. I will probably have to either find a new one or dig out my own. Some nice volcano to live in would be best, but I don’t dare to fly through the continent until l get stronger, and I am sure that they are no volcanoes in Azerlisia mountains.’
Ding!
// Evolution completed!
All innate racial abilities levelled up.
Dragon Scales (LV 1) –> (LV 2)
True Dragon Breath (LV 2) –> (LV 3)
DraconicVitality (LV 1) –> (LV 2)
Draconic Might (LV 1) –> (LV 2)
Draconic Magic (LV 1) –> (LV 2)
Dragon Hoard (LV 1) –> (LV 2)
Fly (LV 1) –> (LV 2)
Dragon Eyes (LV 1) –> (LV 2)
New racial abilities unlocked:
Volcanic Armour (LV 1): An additional defensive layer that grows over the existing scales. Strong against piercing, slashing and magical damage. Absorbs blunt damage at the price of getting heavily damaged. To repair major damage user needs to shed his old armour and regrow a new one. Smaller damage will mend itself by leaking lava through cracks in the armour. Hardness depends on ability level and defence stat. The surface of armour is hot, causing fire damage over time to enemies in close proximity.
Lightning Horns (LV 1): Three superconductive horns that can easily gather electrical charge from a body or from mana to launch a powerful lightning attack.
All stats increased!
//
The small dragon realized something, his eyes immediately flying wide open in panic and distress. His body shook in fear as he slowly turned his neck to look at the floor. The single pouch of gold was lying on a stone that was glowing red from the heat.
He immediately breathed out in relief, sending a massive cloud of black smoke out of the cave, ‘How is this possible? Maybe elemental affinities have some different effects that the system couldn’t process numerically, so it avoided mentioning them. Winds were always helping me get where I wanted, always moving in a direction I wanted, and now heat ignored my treasure, keeping it safe. Is it possible that dragons have some kind of symbiotic relationship or dominion above the elements in this world?’
Vesuvius temporarily pushed back his doubt as he skimmed through the changes and carefully walked out of his cave, avoiding the ceiling and walls with a great effort to not collapse the cave on himself.
There was something he wanted to try that was making him feel excited. The dragon opened up his mouth, and a thick stream of magma erupted out of them like water from a high-pressure hose. Magma was brightly glowing, a light around it deforming as the air became super hot. The stream of magma hit a nearby cliff, splashing around it, slowly melting the cliff.
The dragon closed his mouth, watching with interest as lava flowed on the ground. It didn’t immediately vanish like flames; instead, a puddle of blazing hot magma slowly expanded like a marmalade. Immense heat radiated out of it, forming flames on its surface.
The dragon showed up his massive teeth covered in magma as he grinned at the result, ‘This definitely feels much more terrifying than flames. Even if the enemy survives the first hit, they will still get covered in hot lava that will keep burning them and slowing their movement. ‘
Vesuvius flapped his wings, his bulky body slowly lifting from the ground, and then he flapped his wings again, launching himself into the air like a rocket, leaving a trail of dark smoke behind him. His dragon heart was burning with an urge to find an adversary to test his new powers. He wanted to burn them into ashes and take their possessions for himself.
His flying speed slightly decreased even with his increased stats as his affinity with wind dropped significantly. Winds around him were still moving in the direction where he wanted to go; however, he felt like they weren’t so eager to do it. Before, they would change direction beforehand. Now they changed their direction too but only after him.
The dragon kept flying towards the peaks, wanting to find an Iceling Lizard to test his mettle with, confidence visible in his steady flight.
Vesuvius turned back his neck. A dark trail of smoke was following him, growing less visible with a distance from the dragon.
‘For fuck, sake, this must be so visible…’
Finally, his body pierced layers of clouds dirtying their pristine white colour with his dark and thick smoke.