Lillene

Enjoy!

When Serenity returned to Aki’s dungeon, he found Raz in his draconic form teaching a young woman about dungeon management. That had to be Nadia Davis, the niece of the helicopter pilot who’d taken him to the island with the Well of Souls. She was so intent on Raz’s lesson, something about difficulty curve models, that she didn’t even notice Serenity approach.

Raz looked up, so Serenity waved before he quietly walked away. He could guess what they were talking about, but he wasn’t in the mood for it; he was in the mood to be on the other side of a dungeon encounter. He hadn’t been on a good delve in months.

Serenity made certain he was far enough away from the duo to not interrupt Raz’s teaching before he spoke. “Aki? I know you were putting in some more dungeon levels in. Have you managed to get any that would be interesting to run for someone at my Tier?”

“For you?” Aki sounded amused. “Nothing that would give you a good fight, but the kobolds have been asking about you again.”

“Kobolds?” Serenity wasn’t certain what Aki meant for a moment before the note she’d sent him a while back. She had mentioned them, now that he thought about it. “You mean the ones from the Tutorial who somehow knew I was a dragon?”

“They really like you,” Aki agreed. “I’m sure they’d be happy to give you another feast. For a good fight, however, I don’t have one for you. Not only do I not have any floors even remotely hard enough, I’m not sure I can get any of my monsters to actually fight you. You might as well go play with the kobolds; they’re smart enough that they’d probably be willing to spar with you.”

“What?” Serenity barely realized he’d spoken. He shook his head. “What do you mean you’re not sure you can get your monsters to fight me?”

“You feel like you belong.” Aki sounded a little uncertain. “I can always feel outsiders, even Raz, though he is definitely one of mine and I can choose to have my monsters ignore him. You, though, you feel like you are one of my monsters, except that I don’t have any control over you. You’re not like the ones I lost control over; they were hostile and I knew it. You’re …” Aki seemed to search for words for a moment. “You’re more like a wall than a monster?”

Somehow, Serenity didn’t feel especially flattered. 

The only thing he could think of to do was to test it out, so he asked Aki for directions to her dungeon. Oddly enough, it was exactly in the direction he’d randomly headed after he left Raz’s tutoring session. That didn’t feel entirely coincidental, but it also didn’t seem like a bad thing.

Of course, it might have been as simple as the fact that the dungeon was located under the large building in front of him; he did seem to vaguely remember that Kerr had mentioned putting the Adventurer’s Guild building over Aki’s dungeon. Maybe there was nothing more coincidental than following a vague memory.

What was bad was that Aki’s suspicion was entirely correct. The monsters on her first floor completely ignored him. They weren’t afraid of him, they didn’t hide from him, and they didn’t attack him; even when he moved directly into their paths, they just went around him. When he killed one in a group, they reacted like the dead monster had died for no reason. 

Serenity couldn’t figure out how to get them to actually fight him. It was a huge disappointment; he’d looked forward to a fight. Even if he had to hold back a lot, it would have been fun.

Serenity continued through the dungeon, feeling sorry for himself. He was almost to the kobolds, having decided that it would be nice to see the little lizards again, when he realized that this wasn’t the only surprise of the day. He’d just spent several hours outside A’Atla and outside Aki’s dungeon and he didn’t feel drained at all. He hadn’t been keeping an eye on his mana; after the time in A’Atla, he’d mostly forgotten about his disability. Even so, he should have felt it the moment he went outside; he had when he first arrived on Earth, after all. There was nothing subtle about it. Why didn’t it hurt so much?

A quick check of his Status told Serenity his mana was full, but that didn’t mean much. He’d been in Aki’s dungeon for a while; it might have refilled on its own. He was going to have to go outside the dungeon to see what was going on. 

He could check another dungeon while he was out and see if he had the same problem there as in Aki’s. If he was lucky, this was a problem limited to just his own dungeons and Aki’s, possibly because she knew he was a friend. He didn’t really think that was the case, but it was worth checking. He could think of a couple of different reasons it could have happened, but whatever the reason was it was annoying. How was he supposed to support himself now?

Well, there was always the planetary tax. It was far more than he could bring in by fighting his way through dungeons. It was supposed to be used to develop the planet, but he was probably supposed to manage it, wasn’t he? That meant he was supposed to use some to pay himself. He didn’t really like that idea; he’d never enjoyed dealing with people, shopping, or investing. Perhaps Rissa would enjoy it? If not, he’d have to find someone else. He hadn’t set up a Planetary Manager for Earth yet, and he really should.

No, he needed to look at it another way; he was supposed to be Earth’s defender, as the Sovereign. That was, after all, the other role Sovereigns often took on. That was a legitimate role and one he was happy to perform; he could even convince himself that it was one worthy of pay. The thing was … how was he supposed to keep progressing if he couldn’t fight through dungeons? Combat Paths needed combat.

Were his Paths even combat Paths anymore? Incarnate of Death had combat abilities, definitely, but it was more focused on what he was than what he did. He just had to look at the confusing capstone ability to know that. On the other hand, the two Paths before that, Dungeon Deity and Magitech Abomination, were definitely not combat Paths. Maybe he could progress without fighting for a while.

He’d still need to find somewhere to practice. It was never a good idea to get rusty, and that was even more true if he was supposed to defend his worlds.

Maybe the dungeons on another planet would work if the dungeons on Earth didn’t? That seemed possible; he was in some sense affiliated with all of them both as the Planetary Sovereign and through Gaia. 

“DRAGON!” The high-pitched voice of a kobold pulled Serenity out of his introspection. This one was short and seemed familiar. Wait, could this possibly be the same kobold that brought him black shimmerfruit all the way back in the Tutorial?

He hadn’t gotten the kobold’s name back in the Tutorial, but he made sure to ask now. The boy was Uri Brightscale.

Kobolds knew how to throw a party for a dragon. These kobolds were especially adept; they’d dropped whatever they were doing at the first call of “DRAGON!” and thrown together not only a feast but a pre-dinner show. 

The show was a play, a surprisingly good one. Serenity would have to remember to come back with Rissa; she’d enjoy it and he’d enjoy watching it with her. Serenity didn’t recognize the name Oro Brightscales, but the story about a plucky young kobold, small but clever, who used her wits to overcome her size and save her clan was a story he knew would play well with visitors if they had the chance to see it. 

From the way the kobolds in the audience cheered every one of Oro Brightscales’s victories, large or small, Serenity could tell that everyone knew her story; either the play was performed frequently or Oro Brightscales was a kobold folk hero. Serenity leaned towards the second option. These kobolds were apparently the Brightscales Clan, so it made sense that a folk hero would be a clan member.

After the play, Serenity was led to a table filled with food that all emanated surprisingly strong and varied Death Affinity. It was clear they hadn’t forgotten him; in fact, to have that much variety they must have specifically looked for it.

Serenity made certain to dig in and obviously show his enjoyment of the food before carefully trying to hint that they didn’t need to go to that much effort in the future. He didn’t want to make them feel bad or like he hadn’t appreciated it, but he also didn’t want to make them work so hard to get Death-attuned variants when he could eat and enjoy other foods once again.

He wouldn’t know for certain until the next time he visited, but the kobolds were all thrilled at his obvious pleasure in the food and seemed happy to take notes on what else he wanted. The explanation that they’d done wonderfully but that he’d fixed his temporary issue and would like more variety next time seemed to have done it. They really had done well; he’d never had degot meat in a sauce made from black shimmerfruit and deathtouched dire limes, with a side of deathrice, but it was delicious. 

When the meal was finished, Serenity asked Uri, the young kobold who’d arranged everything, if there was anything he could do for the clan. He’d enjoyed himself, but he felt like he owed them something for their hospitality.

“Would you give me your blessing?” Uri seemed to shiver in place. 

Serenity couldn’t tell if that was hope or nerves; with his luck, it was both. He wasn’t going to say no if the kid really wanted it, but he was really uncomfortable with blessing people. “Why?”

“You’re a dragon! That means … I mean, I know Oro did it without a blessing, but …” Uri moved his feet against the ground; he seemed to be tracing a pattern in the dirt with his toe claws. “I don’t want to be Oro. I want to follow the other path, the path of dragons. A dragon’s blessing will help with that.”

Well, at least the kobold wasn’t asking for the blessing because Serenity was a deity! That made him feel better. This might be an attempt to influence future Path choices or evolutions; Serenity wasn’t certain, but from what Althyr told him a long time ago, there was some way for a kobold to become a dragon. “You’ll have to tell me what to do. Is there anyone else that I should bless at the same time?”

As it turned out, the answer was a resounding yes. More than fifty kobolds turned up for the blessing; Serenity didn’t think he’d seen all of them before but even if he had, he’d never have been able to keep track. 

The blessing itself was simple; all he had to do was say a few words and touch them with his magic and his aura. It had a feel somewhere between a ceremony and a celebration; as soon as each kobold made it past him, they moved into the area that was still filled with leftovers from the feast. Serenity was relieved when no one had any immediate reactions to the blessing; he’d half expected to see one of them turn into a dragon in front of him or something.

Lillene

Did Serenity just adopt a good fraction of the Brightscale clan without realizing it?

Maybe …

But at least he’s feeling a lot less annoyed about his dungeon disability!