The feeling felt vaguely familiar. 

Being conscious, but also not conscious.

It was, seeing things in a new perspective.

The gentle itch of bone and muscle being aligned in different ways, the soft embrace of a sensation similar to water yet not quite, and… he couldn’t help but question what the third thing was. It felt important, and it felt like… him.

To understand even a fraction of it would be to gain immense strength.

The veins of the world gave him a push, and he awoke.

…

“GRAGH!”

The small frills on either side of his head stretched to the limit, his mind in brambles and thorns as he laid on all fours. The nutrient rich rock became pebbles under his claws. His breaths were quick and short, before becoming long and shallow.

And, just like after any workout he did, he ached all over.

Karn grunted and flipped onto his back. He took in the darkness once more. The other place had no light either, but the darkness here was not whatever that was. It was as if everything overlapped onto itself.

“Stay still. It is almost done.”

He didn’t have to see to know where Tarka was. Likely she had the bowl of dried powders, crushed roots, and animal marrow. It seemed to be what was called in the human tongue a ‘Supplement’ for faster and stronger growth.

“It seems I’ve figured out why you still lay fertilized eggs, undead sorcerer. I have no doubt that men unconscious like this are the perfect prey.”

“Your tongue is sharp, Karn. You know not what you say.”

They both laughed for a bit.

“Besides, I only did that one time.”

“...”

Karn decided to ignore the prospect of his soon to be deceased family doing that, as well as the prospect that he could have been that one time.

Well, not that he could blame her.

In sudden remembrance, he called out to her, “Tarka, I saw something in there.”

“Ho?”

His eyes became much more squinted. Why must she act coy? Her tone implied that she already knew what this ‘thing’ is.

“...Yes.”

“Describe it.”

“I cannot.”

“I see.” She paused her stirring, the only background noise the flippant brazier of flame she so loved. “The world of mana is strange, and once you harness it, you can even reach for things that are not there. The first change is always more mana seeping into your body, making the physically impossible possible, while the second empowers your core, your Magus Vein.”

The crackle of flame reigned dominant once more.

His joints popped whenever he moved them. His outside tissue seemed raw and new, while his scales felt as if he shed them for new ones. Most of all, no response came from his arms. He could move them, but it was if they weren’t there.

“And the third.”

“To tell you that would be to inhibit your progress forever. Know this however,” her tone changed, no longer the ‘hag’ he once called her, but a seasoned survivor of the dark, “it must never be taken from you, and to mess with it would have the most irreversible consequences. I cannot wield that power and neither can you.”

Tarka tapped her chin, “For reference, that fourth force you felt, the push, was the very planet we live on forcing you out of your trance. You are not strong enough to know of it yet, nor anyone you know.”

“Hoho? Even the dragon?”

“If a child held a boomstick, and an adult their bare hands, who would come out the victor?”

Karn frowned.

“Listen well, to be strong is good, but strength is nothing if you know not how to wield it.” A tough claw was pointed at him, “Stay as you are now, train to be able to use your upper most limits before getting stronger. To not do this is to cripple yourself.”

“You could just speak normally”

The bag of bones chuckled again, “I’m old, I get to sound that way if I want to.” She handed him a bowl of packed nutrition, “Here.”

Karn sighed, gripped the bowl, and forced the contents down his gullet. It tasted like pain feels, but even he could tell the effects of it. 

“Hummmm, I seem to be running short of ingredients. It’s been so long since I’ve had this issue. I’ll have to-”

“I’ll get them.”

Before she even got a chance to talk, he continued, “I said I’ll get them so I’ll get them. You’ve told me the locations, and I’m a scavenger, I’ll pick some up on my way around the next time I’m on duty.”

“And the gobs?”

“Road trip snacks. You’ve already told me the dangers, do you think I am not able enough to go?”

It was Tarka’s turn to sigh, “I suppose. I don’t think I could walk that far anyway.”

“Good.” His bones popped once more once he stood up. “Oh, and I think it’s about time I started gaining authority.”“...”

“Thankfully you have realized I wasn’t going to listen anyway. Besides,” Karn flexed his grip, looking at the even further fading mage veins on his arm, now a series of complex designs rather than simple squares, “I’m more than ready now. One ability is a chance, two is a slow climb to the top.”

Tarka again said nothing as Karn left her residence. She could only shake her head and give a chuckle only the elderly could give.

“That’s my spawn.”

---

Karn had a question.

A simple one, really.

Why are they all so stupid?

He wasn’t even angry anymore, he was honestly impressed.

One time he didn’t even need to ask them to turn traitor under him, they just followed the group.

Well, he didn’t specify he was going to betray the dragon, nobody would follow him in that case. He also didn’t  specify he was going to be a turncoat, but he did say he was going to make his own faction, and they were more than happy to join.

Then again, he asked the boomstick fodder, so of course they were going to join.

Fifteen kobolds under his command certainly wasn’t a bad number, but he was positive that he wasn’t the first to have this idea, and thus others had more. Not only that, but they weren’t all going to be the weak, simple minded ones he had currently under his command. No, he had to start asking some more capable individuals.

Still, fifteen kobolds in just above a torchspan. Quite crazy, in his opinion, though maybe his rippling muscles and taller height helped convince them. The bigger and stronger you are, they say, the more dragon blood you inherited. He’s even heard rumors that within the upper echelons reside kobolds with wings.

Now, the new question was where he should look for the more advanced ones. He considered himself high-low tier, and the sixteen he has are all low-low tier.

…

sixteen?

…

He’s not even going to question it anymore.

Still, the only way to recruit them would be to find them, and to show his superiority. With a society so heavily based on power, if he were superior to them then they would practically have no choice but to follow. Even for him, that instinct would be hard to suppress.

The group, impressively enough, continued to follow him until they came back to the sleeping chambers where he resided. When it got close to time for them to sleep, he would also recruit everybody else within the cave. It would become his base of operations.

Of course, he wasn’t going to just leave the seventeen kobolds like they were. No, the eighteen of them would need to be put into groups. One of the only kobolds that he respected talked about humans and their ‘tactics’. Thankfully, he bothered to pay attention. After all, just their ‘formations’ make them a much more formidable force.

Getting to his own corner of the cave, he uncovered a dirty tarp.

Two rings of silver, a beaten bronze ring, a necklace of some sort of metal he didn’t recognize with a highly accurate drawing of a bunch of humans in it, a shoulder piece he was able to sneak away, and…

A gift. Yes, a gift from his parent. It is fortunate, rarely any kobold bothers to remember who their child is, and because his parent did, he was given a gift. A pickaxe of good size and of good make. The material is likely that of ‘steel’, and it was big enough for even him to feel the deep weight of it, and to make a snug fit over his shoulder.

“Now, to organize you. LINE UP!”

Sadly, the line was just about what you would expect from a bunch of kobolds, but it works.

He started carving into the wall with the heavy pick, each etching into the stone in the patterns that kobolds so loved. He points to his stone-words.

“Now, I did it in the very basics. A portion of you will be fighters, a portion slingers, a portion scavengers, a portion guards, and a portion on break. You will do your job if you have one, and if you are not active you will practice your job, though the second part only applies to fighters and slingers. The twenty of you will change jobs every one hundred torchspans.” He flicked out his tongue, tasting the ashy scent in the air. It has already been fifty eight torchspans, and since curfew is at sixty, he might at well dismiss them. “Sleep for now until the morning. I will assign the twenty four of you then.”

They nodded and started dropping to the floor in random places. It seemed in the top right corner they were already starting a sleep pile. Reminds him of when he was a kid, which was, admittedly not so long ago, but it still reeked of deja vu. 

Now, to think of a way to get into contact with a better army.

Searching is slow and boring, not even guaranteeing a good find. Not only that, he doesn’t know how the lower hierarchy has been constructed, and as such could run into trouble. Plus, he might accidentally seduce a female, and he hadn’t really had a hankering for mating yet. He’d do it when he felt like it.

The worst would be if a female tried to seduce him. He’s heard of more than a few female kobolds with a harem of men, and even so much as witnessing that was at the far end of his list. He rather deal with male kobolds, since they always seemed to be the stupider ones. His intellectual advantage was something he didn’t want to lose yet.

He didn’t feel like scouting out festivities either. They either ended up as stupid rituals and bowing and stuff or a total bloodbath.

Bloodbath…

Wait.

How would you find strong people?

How would you find capable people?

How would you find people without searching?

If Karn recalled correctly, he remembered something about humans bringing slips of paper called ‘bounties’ which gets put up in buildings of wood called ‘mercenary dens’. They get paid in shiny treasure in exchange for doing a task. And the one they came with happened to talk about either clearing or investigating this place.

It was always hard to read one, considering they were in the ‘common’ tongue, but he learned enough to get the gist, while the rest he overheard after they finished getting information out of the prisoner. Recently wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last people would seek a reward for the slip of paper. Still, there is a consistent rule each time a ‘bounty’ paper is found on invaders.

For the next few days, attacks become much more likely.

Karn couldn’t help but smile.

Kobolds are also quite the adaptable creatures, especially early on. They always come away from hard combat improved.

Good footsoldiers to collect, as well as more powerful pawns to gather.

His smile turned into a feral grin.

Time to talk to Urbelt. He had a few favors to call in.

Time to head to the front line.