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Chapter 3: Looking For Realistate

  [You have learned the skill [Concealment]!]

  [You have learned the skill [Aura]!]

  [You have learned the skill [Physical Enhancement]!]

  Well, it seems that is all I can get for now. A shame. It took a bit of time and a lot of experimentation, but I got three new skills! During the testing, I managed to diffuse my Ether around my body and match it to the environmental Ether which netted me the [Concealment] skill. That should come in handy! The new skill should let me walk around without giving away my position to anything and everything around me. Now, I should mention that the [Concealment] skill is not [Stealth] and only hides my Ether signature. My footsteps still make the same amount of noise sadly.

  After getting the [Concealment] skill, when I took the same principle of manipulating Ether outside my body but flipped around to apply a strong pressure on a point, I got the [Aura] skill. With this I can get a minor boost to my magic resistance when wrapping the aura around my body, as well as apply pressure to monsters, much like my [Roar] skill. Both seem useful in their own right, but far too boring to be of any fun.

  Now, [Physical Enhancement] is a real joy to play with. Sure, it is a drain on my Ether stores, but locking down any leaks when I run it through my muscles makes that issue go away. Easy peasy. I can soak my body in my own Ether to reinforce anything from my physical strength to durability. I can even see a lot better when I run it through my eyes! Aside from my magic, this is my new favorite skill.

  Now, it is time to find a base!

  Yes, I desperately need to find a place to live. With the whole “falling asleep in place when you log out” system, I can’t just leave the game in the middle of a monster infested forest. Even I have to eat and sleep in the real world sometimes. Though, that is not exactly all I should be doing. I do have college classes to attend. It is only responsible to keep up with your studies. Not! I fully plan on playing this game non stop, aside from eating and sleeping, for the next week straight!

  Thankfully I managed to convince almost all my professors to let me only have to show up for tests this semester. I mean, the classes are so boring, a toddler should be able to figure them out. I only had to prove to them that classes like Differential Equations and Organic Chemistry would be a waste of my time since I can just spend an hour studying on my own and learn everything the entire course would have taught. As for the teachers that said no? Well, I will just skip their classes. Losing a fraction of a point for attendance won’t make my grade anything less than an A anyway, so why bother?

  Regardless of how boring college is, my point is that I don’t need to bother with all that stupid life stuff while I play! Now, I just need to find a place to settle down in. A base of operations, a command center, my home away from home. That’s right! A cave! Naturally as a dragon I should have my own cave. One to horde my wealth in and a place to slaughter haughty fools who come to challenge me. Muahahahahah! Come puny humans, I shall show you the face of despair!

  Cramming a boat load of my Ether into [Physical Enhancement] I push off the ground as hard as I can, leg muscles brimming with incredible power! Zipping to and fro I scour the mountain at lightning speeds! Or as fast as my tiny little legs can take me, whichever you want to believe.

  Now, I know that caves don’t just appear naturally all over the place, this may be a video game, but it prides itself on realism. But, that does not mean there are no monster made caves lying around! All I have to do is track down a cave with some big bad monster nesting in it and then slaughter the thing and steal what is rightfully mine.

  I will stand on the corpse of my enemy and plant my flag in the dirt while shouting. Huzzah! I shall claim this land for queen and country!

  …

  Well, anyway, off to find a cave!

  Several hours later…

  Fuck! This mountain is too fucking big! And why are there so many goddamn chickens?! The little bastards are everywhere. Eh, more Ether for me in the end, I guess. I have been looking all over for ages, but only just now stumbled upon a large rocky area with an actual freaking cave! Stupid thing was miles and miles away from where I spawned. Damnit game devs, you should always spawn dragons in caves. How could you miss such a crucial piece of game design?!

  I tried climbing a tree earlier, but realized a big ass lizard like myself is a tiny bit too heavy for the smaller branches at the top of a tree. I may or may not have learned the hard way. If a lizard falls in the forest and only a chicken is around to see it, well, let’s just say there are no more witnesses.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Whatever! I didn’t fall! I swear!

  Humph.

  Anyway, standing before me is a big ol cave. A real heckin chonker. The opening is taller than some of the trees and a thick warm wind is flowing from within, smothering me in the moist air.

  Roarrrr!

  Yeah, it seems the occupant is not happy about the eviction notice. From the looks of it, I am dealing with a baulder, basically a giant bear covered in small spiky rocks instead of fur. Or maybe it would be better to compare it to a porcupine? Whatever the best comparison is, the thing is pissed.

  Towering over me, the beast’s piercing yellow eyes fixate on my position, its hot breath making me wrinkle my snout and let out my own [Roar] in response.

  Grahhh!

  A [Roar] that does absolutely nothing. Don’t look at me with those disappointed eyes! I don’t deserve this. My little chicken massacre while looking for your, I mean my, new cave should have gotten me enough Ether to at least make you flinch or something!! Honesty, why are there so many fucking chickens out here anyway?

  Roarrrrr!

  Yes, yes, I will get to you in a minute. My monologue about the now declining chicken population is more important than whatever claims you pretend to have to my cave.

  The rocky bear thing, or whatever it is, apparently loses its patience after seeing me unmoved by its attempts at scaring me off and moves in to crush me beneath its paws. Paws that are larger than my whole body I might add.

  Whoops!

  Running my Ether through my legs, I dart to one side to just barely avoid being turned into a lizard pancake. Take this! I immediately fire off a bolt of lightning at the beast’s left side. Not letting up, I make sure to keep moving while the flash erupts from above me and crashes into the monster’s stony flesh. I didn’t fire it from right in front of my face this time, see I can learn! A flash fills the cave and as the light clears I can see that it only manages to char and crack the stone a bit while monumentally pissing the thing off.

  The beast turns around and slams its paws onto the ground once again. This time, several spears of stone explode from the floor and try to skewer me. Shit, shit, shit! Pushing out my [Aura] and [Detection] skills I just barely manage to track and evade the spikes before they erupt. The flow of Ether easily gives away their position. Hmm, I should probably learn to conceal my Ether movements in the future.

  I dart in real quick and slash at the stone on the baulder with my long black claws. A flash of sparks flies out as my claws drag along the stoney hairs on its leg. Yeah, I didn’t think that would do much to be honest. Time for plan B! Sprinting my way between the creature’s legs I feel the sheer scale of the thing as I look up at the monster’s decidedly less stony underbelly. Perfect! Along the way, I discover that A: the monster is a boy, and B: my claws can cut through the creature’s non-stony bits with ease.

  Ragghhhghg!

  Hooo boy, that has got to hurt. Not taking any responsibility for my part in such an agonized howl, I quickly yank on the flowing blood and whip it around to smack the big lug in the eyes. Blood splatters all over its vision as it lets out a deep gravelly growl of pain and hatred.

  Bye bye ya big oaf, this is what you get for having the misfortune of being in my cave. Already back out from under the baulder, I stare straight ahead at the towering mass of stone as it tries to regain its vision, blinking rapidly to clear the blood from its eyes.

  Kame! Hame! Eat shit!

  I collect a large mass of Ether in my mouth and fire a lightning bolt bigger than any of the others I have fired before right into the monster’s face.

  [You have defeated a monster!]

  [Your maximum Ether has gone up!]

  It would seem that even a powerful monster like this can’t handle getting its brain cooked. The bigger they are, the bigger the target their dumb head makes. I think that's how the saying goes?

  Standing atop my prey, I let out a [Roar] of excitement. I am the king of the hill! Bow down mortals! I totally won against something so huge and got a big boost to my Ether as a reward. I really am awesome.

  Now uh… What do I do with your corpse? Because I certainly can’t move the thing on my own… Well whatever. That is a problem for future Vorpalia. I need to log out and eat something before I starve to death. The little flashing icon in my vision is getting rather annoying. I get it, I have been playing for 10 hours straight, stop reminding me!

  But first… I should look into upgrading one of my skills.

  That poor bear...

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