The carriage approached the forest, the wind became slow, and the sun shined hot. “This is as far as I can take you,” The driver said, “There is a village behind the forest, but going there means passing the dragon’s territory.”
Arad leaped from the carriage and looked at the driver, “That’s fine, you go back, and we will deal with the dragon.”
“I can wait for you here,” The driver said.
“No, you’re a big easy target. Come back tomorrow.” Arad replied, but Jack lept from the carriage. “Does the village have carriages?”
“Yeah, but they never traveled in the past months since the dragon appeared.” The driver replied.
“Then go back. We will grab a carriage from there. You don’t have to worry,” Jack said and then looked at Arad, “We might take a few days to set traps and struggle with the dragon. Two days are short.”
Aella nodded, “Jack is right. We will get back when it’s safe.”
Arad agreed, and the driver left, “I will come back in a week, hide if something went wrong, and I will pick you up.”
***
The driver left, and Arad looked at the forest, “Where should we start? This place is large.”
“We need to make some traps. Calling the dragon will be easy,” Jack smiled, pulling his small pouch. “Should we fight him in the forest or outside?”
“Outside, we don’t want to start a forest fire.” Aella replied, “And I can snipe him far easier.”
[I don’t tell you, but the dragon’s bite can pierce your scales. Be careful of confrontation.] Mom said, [Red dragons can’t dig to save their lives, so you can retreat to the ground if things turn sour.]
^Does that mean I can trap the dragon inside a cave?^
[The dragon’s claws will allow him to get out eventually. And you need the heart. There is no way around killing him,] Mom explained, [Let me give you another thing to motivate yourself, killing one or two very young dragons can help raise you into the very young category.]
^How should we start?^
[Jack left to lay traps, and Aella scouted the area. How about you go out to find the dragon’s minions?]
Arad nodded and walked to the forest edge, looking for slimes, dire wolves, or goblin traces.
The forest seemed calm enough, birds chirped, and he could see rabbits leaping in the distance.
^This place seems normal,^
[It isn’t. The air is dry, and the sun is hot. Take a deep breath, and you can get a faint hint of burned wood. All of those point to the existence of a red dragon.]
^How can the existence of a dragon make the sun hot?^
[All dragons are magical creatures, with mana flowing in their veins. Magic dragons have the most, but that doesn’t mean other types aren’t.] Mom explained. [Dragons influence their environment if they stay for too long. For example, a mountain housing a red dragon can become an active volcano, and a forest housing a black dragon can become a swamp.]
Something clicked in Arad’s head. ^What will happen where I live?^
[The first thing is that items that rely on dimensional magic will begin failing more often. Teleportation will also be compromised. The forest will seem darker at night, and people will find it hard to navigate.]
^What about animals?^
[They are affected as well. But they can get used to it.]
Arad stopped and looked a the trees, “Nothing is happening. It is getting on my nerves.” He scratched his head, “I can’t help but feel something bad is about to happen.”
[There isn’t anything fun about awaiting a fight with a dragon.]
^Look there, a slime,^
Arad spotted a small blue blob, a tiny slime rolling at the forest edge. ^Could it be one of the dragon’s minions?^
[Yes, but we can’t get anything from it,] Mom sighed, [Leave it alone, unless it’s a goblin that can lead us to the dragon’s lair, it won’t help.]
^How can you get a goblin to do that?^
[Smack him, and he will run back. Goblins are stupid.] Mom replied, [But keep your draconic form a secret till we face the dragon. It will help us if he thinks you’re a mere human,]
***
After hours of searching, Arad didn’t find anything, so he returned to Aella and Jack. “How did it go?”
Jack looked at him, “I didn’t see the traces of any dragon, but I laid some traps. Let’s rest for the night.”
They laid a small camp to spend the night. Arad will be the first guard of the night, and then Aella and Jack together since that give them a better chance if the dragon attacks.
After dinner, Jack slept in his tent, and Aella sat with Arad momentarily before retreating to her bed.
“The night seems quite enough,” Arad sighed, staring at the flames.
BAM! A massive being swooped in and snatched him.
“GAH!” Arad gasped, finding two claws piercing his chest as the red dragon flew into the sky, “Let me go! You bastard!” Arad growled. He couldn’t believe the dragon attacked him out of nowhere.
Strangely, the dragon opened his claws and let Arad fall from the sky, “This thing!” Arad screamed as he fell at an incredible speed.
^GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! GRAVITY! ^ Arad kept screaming in his head until his face smacked into the ground. BANG!
Arad gasped. The fall rattled his bones, [Don’t worry. Wyrmlings are resistant to fall damage. They are expected to learn how to fly.]
^It…^
Arad rolled, puking. Even though he survived, the damage was real, and he couldn’t stop it.
BAM! The dragon snatched the crawling Arad again. He was keen on dropping him to death.
“You lizard,” Arad growled. CRACKLE! He used void to generate lightning [Lightning Cloak], Zapping the red dragon before they could get high enough.
The dragon dropped Arad, who slid to the ground and screamed, “The dragon attack!”
Aella lept from her tent, pointing her bow at the sky, but the dragon was already flying away. It wasn’t willing to take them in a direct fight.
Aella pulled her bow and released three arrows, but two missed, and the third one bounced off the dragon’s tail.
At that distance, it was unlikely that Aella’s arrows would have enough momentum to pierce the dragon’s scales.
“Cheif, are you alright?” Jack rushed to Arad, who rolled on the ground, “Damn it,” His entire body screamed in pain.
“Is Arad okay?” Aella ran to them to check, but Arad seemed fine to her, bruised but alive.
Jack stared at the sky, “He didn’t even land. My trap couldn’t stop him,”
Aella looked at Jack, “I need to get closer, or my arrows won’t pierce him. We need to drop him to the ground first.”
Arad sat, growling, “I will punch the bastard down,” He stood. CRACKLE! Lightning crackled from his back, “I only need to touch him once, and I will roast him alive.”
[Lightning magic could damage the heart, don’t do it.] Mom warned him. The only reason they are here is to bring the dragon’s heart to Merlin, [I need to teach you how to fight dragons and how they fight.]
Arad sighed, Looking at Aella and Jack, “You two go to sleep. I will be the only guard from now on.”
[Dragons don’t need to sleep each night like other creatures. Adult red dragons stay awake for ten years and hibernate for another ten. You’re a wyrmling, so I don’t recommend staying awake for over a month.]
Dragons live 100 times longer than humans. Humans sleep for eight hours and stay awake for sixteen hours. A dragon would sleep for eight hundred hours and stay awake for sixteen hundred hours. That would be almost 33 days asleep and 66 days awake.
Arad stared at the star-filled sky. ^To beat a dragon, I must go back to being a dragon first.^
[That’s right, a dragon has many advantages over humans. For the time being, let’s only keep the humanoid shape.]
Arad sat on the ground, glaring at the sky with [Void Eyes]
[Red dragon’s fighting style changed from one age to the other. The very young dragons tend to apply hit-and-run tactics. They will strike and retreat as soon as they take damage.]
^Since I can’t fly, the first thing we need to do is prevent him from flying.^
[That’s true, but red dragons are powerful on the ground. Adult red dragons usually prefer to fight on the ground than in the sky.]
^That’s adult, not very young.^
[Exactly, a very young dragon who just learned to fly would be excited to use that advantage. And I bet that red dragon still hasn’t learned that he can do better on the ground,]
^I will use [Void walk] to jump on him mid-air and fight him there.^ 𝘦𝘯.𝘰𝘳𝘨
[Exactly, but beware his jaw. It will snap your head in one bite.]