Riley was able to tell the human village was up ahead. Using Blood Sense she was able to detect a large amount of weak signals all bunched up together. Gauging their strength most were not above level 5.

 

‘That's disappointing.’

 

Despite her human form Riley still had her desires as a dragon. She knows not to attack packs but if any strong humans left the pack and mysteriously died in the forest. Well… that was another story.

 

They walked to a dense group of trees near the outskirts of the village before Kira stopped. 

 

“My Village is just up ahead. Do you want me to show you around?” Kira said, fidgeting slightly.

 

Riley thought for a moment. She would want to in the future interact with humans more since they are a race of intelligent beings. It would be better to follow Kira now and learn how to act like a human than risk being exposed in the future.

 

“Sure. Seeing your...Village would be interesting and I hope you can instruct me on how to blend in better with humans.” Riley said.

 

“Awesome! Um, you're acting pretty human right now except for your lack of common sense and strange word choice. But it would still be good for you to find me in the future if you're going to visit so I can cover for you. Let's go to my house for now…”

 

They took a strange path that went along the outskirts of the village and passed by where the trees were thicker. It was confusing to Riley why they would hide. But she trusted the human.

 

…

 

Eventually they came to the opposite side of the village. There was a wooden house that looked slightly in need of repair and was halfway to being in the forest.

 

Kira opened the back door and had Riley enter first, then closed the door. They went down the hallway before stopping at one of the doors. 

 

“Grandma!” Kira Yelled. 

 

“I’m having a friend over. Don't enter my room.”

 

“Is it a boy!” came back a withered response.

 

“Noo!” Kira yelled while blushing.

 

*Sigh*

 

“You're fine. But let me meet them later.”

 

Kira opened the door and had Riley go inside again before closing it.

 

Once inside Riley stared at Kira with a blank expression. 

 

“Okay, I’m going to go over some rules you should remember when acting like a human. Also something to remember is you can nod your head for yes and shake your head for no. It makes it easier to communicate faster.”

 

Riley nodded but still kept the blank expression. She was not apathetic but rather thinking over the new words learned. Like Grandma or Friend.

 

“Rule one, humans wear clothes so you should never meet someone without putting on clothes first.” Kira gestured to Riley's current nude form.

 

“Rule two, you shouldn't let any guys grab or touch you.”

 

“Um...Rule three you shouldn't kill any humans.”

 

“I will not harm any humans in your village but is there a reason I can't kill other humans?” Riley said.

 

“Killing humans is bad.” Kira stammered

 

“Besides you didn't kill me, so it shouldn't be a problem to not kill other humans right?”

 

Riley shook her head. 

 

“I didn't kill you because you were a lower level than me. It felt...wrong. But I still have a desire to hunt high-level humans.”

 

As Riley said she didn't notice but her eyes changed back to golden slit pupils and her teeth became unreasonably sharp.

 

Kira became pale but she blinked and Riley's face was back to normal.

 

“Could you at least not do it around me?” Kira said in a whisper.

 

The silence stretched out before Riley spoke.

“I have an idea. If it works I can agree to not kill any humans you don't want me to. But I’ll need your help to test it and it will have to be done outside the village in my true form.”

 

“Okay” Kira said as she brightened up.

 

“Ah, but if you do get attacked and kill someone don't get caught because it's considered a crime if you attack first.”

 

Learning the word crime Riley was visibly confused that a race could have a set of rules that everyone had to follow but she quickly accepted it. 

 

“Um that's all I can think of for now. Wait here I’m going to look for something you can wear so I can show you around town.”

 

As Kira left the room to look for clothes, Riley went to study her new skills. While talking to Kira she felt some of her mana be used. It felt similar to what happened when she polymorphed, going off that assumption she activated Half-Dragon to see if the feelings match.

 

She changed in a way similar to Polymorph but without the blinding red light. The black of her hair seemed to get sucked up into two spots on her head before they grew out as horns. Her hair grew past her waist and was taken over entirely by the blood red color previously hidden by the black. Her eyes revered to golden slits and her teeth became sharp fangs. Red scales appeared on her skin in diamond patterns. They appeared the most on her legs, arms and face to serve as better protection. Her nails turned into sharp black claws and wings grew out from her back. Along with the physical changes there was another separate change.

 

[Race has been altered. Dragon Scales and Dragon Strength will function at 3/4th efficiency.]

 

Her strength was back from the passive skills. While this form would be good for combat it also had a constant drain on her mana. Riley turned off the skills and felt her strength plummet back to ‘normal’ levels for her human form.

 

With Kira still being gone Riley looked around the room. Humans lived in the same place but seemed to divide their dwelling by family and then further by individual leaving a ‘room’ or personal nest for their use.

 

There were many new objects for Riley to poke at. Most things in the room were places to hold items. Like something that houses clothes or a thing that holds small items. The only object Riley was confused about was a soft fluffy rectangular object in the corner. 

…

 

Kira came back holding many different types of clothing and found Riley laying face down on her bed.

 

“What are you doing?” Kira asked.

 

“I am testing the abilities of this object.” Riley said, her voice muffled from talking into the bed.

 

“What is it called?” 

 

“This is my bed. It is a place where humans sleep.”

 

“I see.” Riley turned over so she could talk better.

 

“It is definitely a better place to rest than my nest.”

 

 “I’m glad you like it but please get up. I have some clothes for you to try on.” Kira said, as she grabbed Riley's arm to lift her out of the bed.

 

…

 

What followed could be described as heaven or hell depending on who you asked. Kira ended up dressing Riley in new clothes for an hour. 

 

“So did you end up liking any of the clothes?” Kira asked. 

Riley was currently in a sleeveless red one piece dress that did not go past her knees.

 

“This one is fine.” Riley said with a frown.

 

“But all of the others felt too restrictive.”

 

“Hehe. Sorry. All those clothes were my moms. My clothes would not fit you and we only kept most of her dresses.”

 

“Would you want to go look around the village now that we found something for you to wear?” Kira asked.

 

Riley shook her head.

 

“Remember that idea I had. I found out the uses of one of my new skills so we should be able to test it here instead of going back into the forest.”

 

“Okay…” Kira said as a bad premonition took over her.

 

“What did you need me to do to test your idea?”

 

“It's simple.” Riley said as she partially activated Half-Dragon.

 

Her eyes reverted and her teeth grew sharper. 

 

“I just need to take some of your blood.” 

 

Kira backed away from Riley. 

 

“And why is that again?” Kira asked.

 

Riley narrowed her eyes in thought.

 

“I don't know how you humans do it but I am a creature that needs to drink blood to get the energy my body needs to survive. I usually do that by killing my prey but if my idea works I promise not to kill any humans you don't want me to.”

 

While what Riley said was true it wasn't the whole truth. The dragon felt a strange instinct to hide her ability to grow from blood. Her body did need a constant supply of blood mana to function but she could get that from her passive mana regeneration. The dragon's instincts compelled it to hunt instead of remaining ideal. Its desire forced it to continuously drink the blood of stronger prey to grow. However, that might not be the only way to grow.

 

“Now do you want me to cut you with my claws or use my teeth?” Riley smiled like a predator.

 

“Which one hurts the least.” Kira asked. She was definitely feeling like prey with Dragon Fear activated.

 

“Hmm. Teeth it is then.” 

 

Riley quickly grabbed Kira's arm and lifted up the sleeve of her clothes. She put her mouth near the wrist and made sure only her canines bit into flesh.

 

“Eep” 

 

Kira made a noise from the pain but Riley was focused on what she was doing. She knew draining ⅓ the blood in a creature's body would kill them but she never tested what happened if she took less blood. If she didn't take enough blood her idea might not work, if she took too much it could harm Kira. She decided to take ⅕ of her body's blood and went to deal with the second issue.

 

How to draw out the blood. She modified her usually forceful method of directly pulling all blood in the area towards her and instead made the blood flow faster in the entire body. This new method would be safer and less painful but it took longer and had the added effect of making Kira's body heat up.

 

Kira's breathing got faster and she started to feel light headed. Her body started to heat up. Instead of starting in her chest or arm, her face is what heated up first. The feeling of having another girl suck on her arm gave her a very conflicting and embarrassing feeling. However that was a good thing since it distracted her from the pain. The pain was actually less than she expected thanks to Riley's consideration.

 

…

 

Just as Riley finished draining the amount of blood she needed Kira collapsed. Riley caught her and moved Kira to the bed. Riley gathered her blood mana around the wound and used Lifeforce Conversion to heal it. Kira didn't notice her wound closing because of how exhausted she was.

 

“Sorry.” Kira said, still breathing heavily.

 

“I think I’m gonna postpone showing you the village for today.” 

 

“It's fine. I didn't expect that feeding off you would have this effect. Next time I can try to take less blood if my idea is correct so you have more strength after. I will come back tomorrow to see if you are better and you can show me around then.” 

 

Riley turned and started walking towards the door so she didn't see Kira mouth the words ‘Next Time’.