POV Vesuvius:
A bright light erupted within the darkness, brightly pulsing and glowing within the glowing cave of the dragon’s mouth.
A single semitransparent circle with a smaller square in it pulsed and glowed, the magic letters revolving around it.
The air swirled and rippled around it as if some invisible vortex was sucking up all the light and air.
‘Test number six,’ Vesuvius quietly thought, and then a stream of blue and gold fire rushed up his throat.
In a split second, it reached the miniature portal spinning in his mouth, vanishing into nothingness as if it had never even existed.
It was like a water pump, but it sucked in the fire instead.
In the distance, flames burst out of the curve in the space, washing over the black stone, melting it, and turning it into a puddle of magma.
The flames surged, flowing through the portal like water through a pipe.
Vesuvius carefully observed the portal, watching as miniature cracks spread through the more sensitive parts of the circuit as the ultra-hot flames kept licking it, ‘It is not perfect, but it is in an acceptable state…’
The breath sizzled out, submerging everything back into the darkness and silence. The magic lens melted into particles of light, leaving behind only the wide open mouth of the dragon.
The dragon stared at his work with pride. It was his first spell that was useful for something. His eyes pulsed as he ogled the curves and lines of the magic letters in it.
‘Well, I mostly just smashed two spells together, but it wasn’t easy. And there are still lots of issues. The portal will shatter if I unleash a more powerful breath attack. Also, I can’t move while using it as it is a portal with a fixed location. Creating an even more resistant and mobile portal will be much, much harder.’
The entire space shook as the dragon burst into laughter without any warning, his eyes crackling with lightning, “Hahaha, this is just the beginning. I finally see why the wyrms pursue their magic with such zealotry!”
He saw the full potential of his magic, and now he wanted more. He already saw the concept of his next creation, the amalgamation of even more spells smashed together.
‘What if I connect the autonomous spells circuits with my portal lenses… I could fill the sky with spells that would hit enemies from impossible angles without me even doing anything… Maybe I could even interconnect the portals to merge or split their attacks.’
His pulse became faster as he got an even more insane plan, ‘What if I can use portals as shields?’
It was such an insane concept but surprisingly used commonly by space-attributed mages.
An image of a massive bolt of sparking blue mana heading at him flashed before his eyes.
The next second, before reaching the dragon, a portal opened in the projectile’s path and swallowed it. The bolt vanished, leaving nothing behind as if it had never existed.
‘That could work… I have already reinforced my portals by repurposing the lense circuit and using the draconic mana and letters to withstand large bursts of energy. So my portal shields would be even more effective than the typical ones. But it would fix me to my place, as my portals aren’t mobile.’
He even started to regret not risking it and grabbing the space evolution when he saw all the applications and potential the space element had.
If he had space affinity, he could simply use his domain to bend the space around him to his will, solving all the issues without effort.
‘No, suck it, system! I will get that power even without your help! I will study space magic and transform my body and soul by myself!’ For some reason, he felt the determination spill all over his mind.
He wanted to show the system and the AI or whatever was behind it that he could break it.
‘Evolution without using the system to evolve… insane, but if it works, I will break this game forever!’
The dragon spread his wings, sending waves through the smoke swirling around them. His eyes brightly shined, and the lightning crackling through his body intensified with the strong determination filling him, ‘Time to finally find out what the hell was with the warning.’
He was ready to confront the ancient wyrm, maybe even the fallen dragon and the dragon god if needed, ‘Someone of them must know something… And If they are unwilling to tell me, I will keep looking for someone who will give me the answer!’
POV ???:
The Elves gathered around a single road leading through their forest town. The trees, as tall as castle towers, towered above them, with bridges and wooden houses built on their tops.
‘Why are they here?!’ A few elven players stared with worry and fear at a small group walking up the road.
The black armors of metal, covered in neon-red runes, contrasted with the surrounding greenery. Amidst them, a single being in armor was decorated so richly and opulently that it made him look like a grand, heroic general, attracting everyone’s attention. The majestic crystalline wings crackled with lightning on his back, and his long armored tail waved with each of his steps.
The players quietly whispered between themselves, “Aren’t they from that newly formed evil kingdom? I thought this was a faction aligned with good… why are they allowed to be here.”𝑂𝑽𝐿xt.𝗇t
Between them, a single female player looked at the forest around her, ‘Why do I have a bad feeling about this…’
This version was full of terrors, the demons appeared in the west, and a dragon appeared in the northeast. And now evil monsters were sending delegations to peaceful elves with doubtful motives.
She joined the elves because they were peaceful, and she loved nature, but now the high-ranking officials from the evil draconic kingdom have appeared, making her nervous.
“Shit, I heard they brought an army with them…” Her terror became even worse as she kept listening to the whispers around her.
With panic, she opened the forum, almost losing her mind, when she spotted the post titled #Diplomacy.
There was only a single screenshot showing smoke with fire, lightning, and golden eyes glowing within it.
There was a green forest in the background, the forest where they currently were. Green skull icons that marked them as allied bosses floated above each pair of golden eyes.
Her palms sweated, thinking about what would happen if the things hidden in the smoke were unleashed, ‘What the fuck are these things… to be considered boss-level monsters, they must be dangerous.’
POV Vesuvius:
The lightning split the sky in half, accompanied by an earth-shattering rumble and blinding flash of light. The huge black dragon appeared in the sky, with the dark clouds spreading out and obscuring the sun.
Even more lightning bolts struck across the sky, and powerful winds rose, making the clouds spin and rotate like a hurricane.
“Tell me! Why can’t dragons control space elements? Why?” The dragon roared, magic pulsing in it, carrying his intent and thoughts in a form understandable only to the kin of the dragon god.
The storm intensified even more, and a lightning bolt struck. The dracowyrm manifested from the bolt of lightning, with arcs of electricity sparking and dancing on its black, metallic scales.
“Dragons are nature and life! Space is space!” The old wyrm’s words sounded confused, its eyes flashing with lightning. Vesuvius felt the wyrm was as oblivious as him, its ancient eyes showing that it didn’t understand his question.
‘It is like my question didn’t even make sense to them. It is like it was such a ridiculous concept for the ancient wyrm they can’t even wrap their head around it.’
“Why is it like that? Who said dragons couldn’t take one different element? When a dragon falls and demonizes, isn’t it the same as taking on the space element?”
“No, when a dragon falls, their fire becomes a variant of hellfire. When a dragon ascends, their fire becomes holy fire. Fire can’t become a space no matter how much you twist it and change it. They will always be separate.”
‘It is not much, but there is some logic behind it. But it is still not the bottom of the barrel.’ Vesuvius felt like the wyrm wasn’t enough.
He needed to move up the command chain to get more information.
The dragon flapped his wings again, and lightning crackled around him. The world once again turned into a blur as he accelerated, turning into nothing but a dot on the horizon.