Author's Note: We have reached the end of volume 1. Sorry about it taking so long to update. I had a patron bribe me with a considerable chunk of cash to work on one of my stories almost exclusively for a while. I was so engrossed in that, that I forgot about updating here. I'll put out another update in a moment.

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When he awoke, it was night. The moon hung bright and full overhead. Every part of his little dragon body ached. "The hell was that?"

He checked his status then groaned. His body was wracked with stress damage. It would be quite some time before even he could heal the multitude of wounds.

"That nearly killed me, didn't it?" he asked thoughtfully. Had the dirt and rock been any thicker he would not have been able to find the strength to go on and push to the surface. His plan was reckless, but it seemed the best chance that he might have of ever getting out of that underground hell.

"Seriously, how do people sleep at night knowing all that shit is crawling around under them? They're one open sink hole away from hell." Blackthorne groused lightly for a time while he tried to regain the strength to sit up.

Strangely, nothing seemed to have bothered him throughout the day. One would think that an onion would have at least come along to nibble on his tail a bit.

Curious as to the reason why he was able to go unassailed during his forced slumber, he weakly turned his head and scanned the area. A laugh soon erupted from his reptilian lips. "You have got to be kidding me?"

The secret to his survival was an obvious truth. Monsters rarely went close to town. Practically a short jog away, the outer wall of the town of Ardent beckoned him. His small body hidden in the tall grass nearby, no one could have known that he was there.

He sighed softly then closed his eyes. "Maybe I should go to Earth to heal?"

Thoughts on how he lost consciousness suddenly arose. Why was he even in the dream world in the first place? Didn't losing consciousness count as falling asleep?

Blackthorne remained uncertain for quite some time after that. Were there special rules for that sort of thing, or did he just find one of the bugs in the program?

"Now that I think about it... This happened before, right?" Blackthorne slowly opened his eyes and gazed up at the moon. "I overtaxed my Midnight Shadow form and lost consciousness on Earth, but woke up there as well."

Exhausted, badly injured, and thoroughly confused, there was little he could do but allow himself to drift off to sleep once more. When he awoke, he was on Earth in his bed.

"Damn, this is no better," he groused.

Unable to move his body much, Scott stared at the ceiling. Convalescing sucked. The worst part of it was that he soon felt sleepy once more. His body was simply too injured to remain awake for long.

Scott fell asleep and awoke in the dream. Little time had passed. For a while, Blackthorne remained alert and ready but then sleep claimed him. A disturbing series of events took place. He ping-ponged back and forth between realities while his body tried to heal. Only capable of remaining awake for a short time with each transition, he soon stopped bothering to open his eyes altogether.

After a considerable amount of time passed a strange sensation overtook him. He opened his eyes quickly and found himself inside a beautiful garden. "The hell is this?"

His wounds no longer a concern for some reason, he sat up. What's going on here?

Scott looked around at the gorgeous floral display for a moment then stood up. There was something oddly familiar about the little garden, and even more familiar about its one created decoration. At the center of the garden stood a statue. Strangely, it was a jet black statue that shifted its design periodically. Each shift showed one of his three aspects. Though, the Midnight Shadow aspect looked sort of like a floating potato.

Drawn toward the statue, his feet carried him forward. Upon arrival at its base he reached out at touched it. A message screen appeared.

 

Welcome to your world-lobby, Scott Blackthorne.   You have violated an important social protocol. This may reflect poorly on your record during your performance review and recent legal issues.   It has come to our attention that you have utilized more than your allotted transitions between worlds for one day. This time you will receive a warning. However, in the future it would behoove you not to play with the transfer protocol. It is there for everyone, not just you. Your actions have caused minor issues within the local network.   Violators of this protocol pay [1] Gold Token for further access to both worlds. You currently have [3] Gold Tokens. After this warning, you will have to pay the fine with each future violation of the protocol.   Notice: The most likely cause for this warning to be granted is that the offender has received grave injuries while utilizing a self-created skill or ability. If the ability is not found in the system, and it generates an injury significant enough to cause the user to lose consciousness, they may bounce back and forth between worlds. We take no responsibility for that eventuality.   Typically, when rendered unconscious through injurious means the soul of the dreamer is held in stasis between worlds. When they awaken it will normally be in the most rested body to ensure mental stability. This safety measure may be thwarted when the situation is caused by unforeseen circumstances.   In the event that this situation applies to you, consider changing your log-in mode to [manual]. This change will prevent the situation from occurring again in most cases, though it is considered an immersion breaking method of world transfer. We do apologize if this lessens your experience in the future.   Manual Log-in: Mentally declare the term [World Transfer Menu Open]. A menu only you can see will open inside your mind. When prompted choose to log-in when you want to go to the dream world. Choose to [log-out] to go Earth. Your soul will immediately awaken in the opposite body, while your former body will fall asleep. Please note, it would be best to use this method in a safe location and while lying down.   You may change methods at any time, provided you are in your world-lobby.   Warning: Your body will no longer automatically awaken you to danger in the opposing world when log-in is set to manual mode. Further, when you fall asleep in either world you will not transfer to the other world unless you specifically state your intention to log-in or log-out while the world transfer menu is open.   Change to manual log-in mode?   [Yes | No]

 

 

The little dragon stared at the message screen for a moment, his body perfectly still. Soon, however, his eyes widened to a comical degree and he began to drool a little. "Oh, yes!"

Scott, Blackthorne, whatever he was supposed to think to call himself at the moment did not matter. The oddness of his situation led to a wonderful discovery! Though, it did seem to have its drawbacks as well.

"If I wasn't going back to a body riddled with injuries I'd throw a little dance party right now," said Scott with a chuckle. He stood still for a moment then approximated a shrug. The little dragon stood up on his hind legs, curled his forepaws into fists, then struck his arms out and swung them in a tight circle similar to churning butter. Yes, indeed. This moment was a cause for celebration, as per the 'cabbage patch dance protocol' practiced by trendy people in the late 1980s through the early 1990s.

He threw one paw behind his head and pointed outward with the other. His hips rocked forward as he cried out a nonsense noise, "Oeheet, Oeheet!" 

Not long after he made his choice, and showed-off his super sweet dance moves, he awoke back on Earth. His body was indeed still heavily injured. However, he had recovered enough to move a little. Scott glanced at his alarm clock then grinned. "That didn't take very long at all! Back to the dream with me!"

"Log-in," he decreed. A split-second later his eyes closed. A rhythmic snoring sound echoed from his tiny nostrils as the system took over his vital functions. Had he the strength to check his phone, or even the inclination, he might have discovered what the current date was before he made his decision.

While the dragon slept, a certain store manager chose to send him yet another text message, this time for a different reason entirely. Poor Ashton. Where was Scott indeed?

Blackthorne opened his eyes blearily as the rays of the early morning sun shined down upon him. Still heavily wounded, it took everything he had within himself to roll over and rise up on his paws. One thought continued to plague his mind. The items he brought back with him were all currently in his other body. Where did they go when he transformed? Did they go inside of him? Were they in another dimension? It was impossible to know the truth of that matter. All he did know for certain was that he needed food.

A softly rasping sigh escaped his lips after he checked his status. "It'll be halfway to tomorrow before all this heals enough to transform."

The little dragon did not dare step into town, nor did he have the strength to invade the grassland. Only his proximity to the walls provided him with the shelter that he needed from the onions, or possibly even a rat fiend. Though, he met only one of those little beasts since his journey began the memory of its breath attack remained fresh in his mind.

Idly, he pulled up a few blades of grass. Sitting around was lame, but at the moment so was he. The worst part about magical ability in this world was that it was tied to his life force. If only he could still use magic when he was injured! At least he would be able to train his skills.

Nothing better to do, he rolled over on his side and began to try his claws at crafting rings. The process... did not go well. His claws continually got in the way, and his stubby little finger paws were too thick for such delicate work. There was indeed something to be said for human digits after all. It seemed that all three of his core transformative aspects had something uniquely useful.

Another sigh, this one languid and filled with boredom, left his reptilian lips. There had to be something that he could do at the moment.

Idly, he reached out and lightly touched a blade of grass. The rainbow fire that radiated from it bespoke the life that it held within itself. "Too bad I can't just absorb that into myself... I mean I have that mana drawing power, and mana is just concentrated life force."

The more the idea rattled around inside his head, the more he felt a desire to draw the life out of the little blade of grass. He could not so, of course. Could he? Did he need to expend his own life force to drain the life from something else?

Several minutes passed while he contemplated the nature of mana, and how it worked. Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him. He reached out to the rainbow fire with his senses. "Just a taste... Just to see..."

Utilizing senses that he never had until his awakening as a dragon, Blackthorne willed the rainbow fire to come to him. Much like a magnet drawing metal close, the energy of the nearby plants began to slowly flow in his direction.

"Into the space above my palm, gather now as I call to you...." he whispered. No sense of creeping weakness rose up within him, nor did his strength return. The rainbow fire did flow to a small point that hovered above his paw, however.

His eyes widened slightly as a familiar connection occurred. "This... it's just like when I charged rings with my life force..."

Over time the feeling changed. At first it was a sense of tension, and then it evolved into a creeping weakness which stole through his body.

Blackthorne released the energy gathered until that point. He watched as it slowly drifted back to where it originally came from. Blades of grass which had begun to droop now became erect. The light brown color that began to show within their stems and blades soon turned green once more.

A few minutes later the tension and weakness left him. He took note of the effect then considered the obvious. Could he cast a spell with that energy? Was the mana that he could concentrate into one spot enough to cast even a simple spell?

"There is definitely not enough to change forms, and casting a spell might reveal me to an onlooker," he said softly. "But what of synergy?"

Could it be done? If the energy that he could gather would allow him to synergize items then he could work toward making vita grass. It might be enough to speed his recovery.

Once again, he began the laborious process of drawing mana. Once the weakness began to steal through his body he grasped two blades of grass and tried to combine them together.

"Holy shit, really?" he asked incredulously. Next to no effort was made. The moment he willed the combination, the mana flowed between his hands then drew the blades of grass together like it was the simplest thing imaginable.

Concerned, he checked his status. His wounds were no worse than before. Blackthorne could scarcely believe the truth. "Maybe the combination of my synergy skill and the fact that I have a mana skill allows me to combine simple things easily?"

He looked to the smaller blade of grass. It was not vita grass, but it was definitely one step better than the standard grass and far larger than it should have been. Once he felt recovered, he tried to use mana to refine the blade of grass as usual. He received a different result!

Blackthorne held the tiny little grass seed up to his eyes. "Are we being serious right now?"

Utilizing mana, a much stronger form of life force and thus a more potent energy, he was able to take a drastic short cut on the road to crafting vita grass. The tiny seed atop his claw was a vita grass seed. In truth, it was even more potent than the adult grass. Were he to eat it, the seed would allow him to regenerate two points of light wound damage over the course of thirty minutes.

He could not direct the wound-healing in any way, but if he were to get rid of all of his light wounds it would ease his suffering at least. He ran the numbers then sighed. "Gotta wait at least two hours before I try it, or I could just make myself worse. Stupid wound system."

His injuries were such that were he to heal his light wounds, the fewer overall injuries would cause his damage totals to break through the wound threshold. He would literally make his situation worse by healing his wounds, since the grass seed was not strong enough to heal anything directly beyond a light wound.

"Oh for a system where I just heal hit points and the wound fades away," lamented Blackthorne with a chuckle. "At least there's hope now, though."

There was no way that he would not lose track of such a tiny seed, but he did not care. He could always make more. Instead of concerning himself with the loss of something so minor he decided to see what else he could do with mana.

It was daytime, and he was too close to town to risk anything flashy in his current form. However, that did not keep him from utilizing mana to try further grass experiments. He tried combining multiple blades of grass first, and then refining them down. The result was the same grass seed. Whether its quality was better or not in some hidden manner remained to be seen. In the end, he could not tell.

Minutes, and then a few hours passed. The sense of weakness from use of mana took longer, and longer, to pass. A serious headache began to make its presence known.

Blackthorne lightly rubbed the space between his eyes then sighed. "Guess there's a limit to its use that I can't see on my status."

Speaking of status, he checked his then nodded. "I can at least get rid of my light wounds now..."

He made a few more grass seeds and ate them one by one. After the fourth seed, he found that the tension and sense of weakness which came from using mana did not recede quickly. He took that to mean that he had used it enough for now.

All around the little dragon lay dry cracked earth and dead grass. As though someone had poured herbicide on a circle around of grass around him, he was the soul living thing among the brown and yellow stain.

"Six hours, at least," he said softly as his wounds continued to heal. His light injuries faded away over the course of time, but his deeper wounds would require another few hours before they could heal to the extent that his life force would regenerate.

After a time he began to feel bad for the grass that he killed. Upon making the decision not to lay among the corpses of his mana experiments, he weakly crawled a short distance away to hide among the cool green grass.

"Hey..." he said softly, "The headache is letting up a bit..."

Blackthorne took note of the rainbow fire that surrounded him then saw that tiny bits of it, an amount so small that even he could scarcely see it, were flowing in his direction. The grass seemed fine, despite the loss. It was possible that the amount of life taken from it was not enough to matter.

He marveled at the idea of it. Was this because he was using mana and that took some indefinable bit of energy from within himself, or had he always done this and just now noticed it?

"Maybe this is the secret of my draconic regeneration?" he asked the grass curiously. "I'm constantly drawing an infinitesimally small amount of life from the world around me, not enough to hurt anything, but enough to bolster my wound regeneration well beyond my vitality modifier..."

The grass offered him no sage advice, but even so, he felt better lying amongst its cool green blades. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep. The shift between worlds no longer automatic upon falling asleep, he began to dream a normal dream for the first time in many days.

... Sleep well little Blackthorne, sweet dreams.