When Bieru and I return to Sergu's shop, the first sight to greet us is Sergu's yawn as she opens the door. She stares sleepily for several seconds after that, then yowls like a cat when she notices the bale of Shera Shera. Seems to be Koboldese for a shocked gasp. "Wh-wh-why do you have that?!" I tilt my head, but before I can respond she speaks again. "No wait! First get in here so I can wrap it up!"

She runs back behind the counter and starts digging around as we walk in. Just as I approach the counter she pulls up a sheaf of brown waxy paper. She lays a sheet on the surface and points to it. I set the bundle down, then she folds the paper around it before pulsing fire mana through it. The seams of the paper disappear, leaving it looking like a block of paper. She affixes a patch depicting a skull to the top, then heaves a heavy sigh. "Okay. Explain. Now please. No way you just found that much of this stuff growing in the wild."

After I explain the situation with some interjections from Bieru, Sergu slumps down on the counter and looks up with tired eyes. "I don't know how to express how bad this situation is. So I'll skip to saying this. Shera Shera, is illegal to own, and VERY illegal to cultivate." I stare back at her in silence. "It also has some more common names. 'Joker's Bait', 'Gambler's Grass', or other similar aliases. Like you said, it does normally repel monsters, but if you crush the leaves, or cut it at the wrong height, or even bruise it a little too much it attracts them instead. If they eat it they also tend to become addicted to it. Becoming more aggressive and searching for more of it. The preferred way to get rid of it is to burn it. Though the scent is supposed to be really unpleasant."

"Why the hell would Undra accept the idea of paying us with that then?!" I look over my hands for any traces of black grass stains, then heat them up with fire magic for a few seconds just to be safe. "For that matter, why is she growing it?"

"You probably put her on the spot too much with the suggestion. Plus, you mentioned an Alchemist friend, so she couldn't worm her way out of it without arousing suspicion, and would be caught for sure if she did give you some. I bet she's already harvested what she could and destroyed any evidence she couldn't take with her. Still, we've definitely gotta report this to the Guildmaster." She picks up the grass filled paper box and walks to the door. "I'll carry it. Alchemists have a better excuse than adventurers for something like this. As for her growing it, well."

She pauses briefly as Pendra, Bieru, and I follow her out the door. "I can't speak about her circumstances for certain, obviously. But she could just be after money? Or she has some use for it other than just selling it? I've never used it myself, but I've heard that if you mix it with the petals of a Visu flower you can make a potion that makes monsters more docile and easier to tame?" She seems to mutter under her breath a moment before perking up. "Ah! I'll send my teacher a letter. I'm pretty sure he got a license to handle Shera Shera about a year into my apprenticeship."

"You have a teacher? I kinda thought you were self taught with how you experiment with everything. Not to mention the Prodigy title." Her wings wiggle and she gives a happy chirp before charging into small talk about her teacher for the rest of the walk. She goes over everything from his favorite food, to his favorite potions, to stating that he was wrinkly when they first met, then stopped being that halfway through her time with him. The main things I actually take away from the conversation are that he is a Magi with dark blue hair, and that he has been an alchemist for over a century.

When we enter the guildhall I spot Crimson waiting in line at the back counter, carrying some animal over her shoulder. The other two are carrying a near identical, if slightly larger animal between them. The animals look like a cross between cows and deer, perhaps a bit closer to deer in size. I go ahead and scan the larger of the two animals for a blueprint. {Generating Blueprint: Autotéras-Bull Chole Type} Its strength and vitality are both twenty, its agility is fifteen, and the wisdom is at zero. Nothing too noteworthy. After settling that, I scan Crimson herself to see where she's at.

After that I spare a glance to the other two's statuses. As expected, neither of them have five levels in spiritual skills. "I need a minute. Go ahead and I'll catch up, okay?" Bieru gives a solemn nod, though Sergu seems uncertain. They head off towards the offices as I detour towards Crimson. "Could you leave that to them? I have something to tell you, though you shouldn't spread it around to the others before I have the chance to check their skills."

Mustard heaves the larger animal over his shoulders and Crimson passes the smaller one to Onyx. Crimson and I walk off to an empty corner of the room and I explain how Spiritual Evolution works. By the time I've finished there is a commotion from the stairs. Granzine, Marel, and Bieru come running down quickly, with Sergu and Pendra sort of drifting along after them.

The Guildmaster's gaze sweeps across the room, settling on the two of us, before fliting around to other adventurers. He seems to shake his head at most of them, but settles on a rather large woman. About eight feet tall with blue skin and golden hair pulled back in a bun. Her outfit looks like a black pantsuit of all things, though it's tight enough in places to see that she is pretty buff even for her size. She has a large dark wood club cinched to her waist.

He takes a deep breath, then shouts. "Anima! You're with us to deal with this! Oleain! Would you like to take an emergency quest today?" The golden haired woman turns to look at him, at which point I spot the golden horn at the center of her forehead. "I'll explain the details on the trip."

She looks thoughtful, then responds in a surprisingly soft voice. "I suppose that would be fine. Emergency quests mean premium pay, yes?" He snorts then waves his hand, which gets a smile out of her. Granzine leads the group of six out of the building, but then gestures for Bieru and I to take the lead from there. His gaze drifts to Crimson with a furrowed brow, but doesn't object. Suppose she's weaker than the other combatants, but not so low as to rebuke? Huh, how strong is, Oleain?

During the jog back to the Shera Shera farm Granzine explains the circumstances leading to the emergency quest, as well as the intent of the quest. Destroying the crop, capturing Undra if possible, and dealing with any monsters that show up. We travel in silence for a while after that, until Oleain runs up next to me. "I noticed you staring at me earlier. Were you, perhaps wondering how an Oni Demon Hybrid came about?" I shrug in response. "Oh, well. You see, my mother is quite fond of large men, and my father is of cour-"

"Okay! I think that's enough of that story." She has an impish smirk on her face and titters at me. "Honestly I was more wondering about your clothing style. As well as your Club Savant title. Though I assume that's similar to the Guildmaster's Axe Maniac."

"These old rags?" She swipes at the hem of her shirt as if sweeping away dust that isn't there. "Quite a common style back in Astreanon. Or, anywhere else in Duransil really. Though getting them in my size was a tad bit of a hassle. As for the title, it is as you said similar. Though I have two Club related advanced skills instead of one." Her hand settles on the handle of her club. "Perhaps I'll get to use them today?"

I am curious about what those skills might be, but figure it'd be rude to ask if she didn't say herself. So, I just hum slightly in response. There is some other small talk as we travel. I take a moment to check out my new level in deep scan. [Deep Scan: An advanced form of Scan, reveals System observations of the target. Level 1: Scan 10, Investigation: Search the recorded knowledge of the Races, or request an explanation from the System, for information about the target. Level 2: Codex: Bring up the Scan or Deep Scan results from any previously observed target, Great Scan Range: All Scan skills range increased to 1000 Meters. Level 3: Historia: View the former evolutionary status of a target, as well as their current total level, Omni-Scan 1: Access to all basic scan skills at base level]

Great, now I have to learn about all the kinds of Scan. I check my own status, now my level is listed as 10(20). Guess, my level one Machine Soul status was treated as equal to my level eleven Automaton status? Well, that could be useful either way.

After we enter the valley, we come upon a loose wall of random monsters hanging out a ways from the farm. Granzine speaks up. "As expected, she damaged some of the Shera Shera. We'll need to fight our way through to burn the field, but keep your eyes out for any clues as to whether this Undra woman did it on purpose or on accident." My gaze drifts past the wall of dozens of monsters to the field itself.

There are several dragons, in the field. Rolling around in the black grass. Some of them just look like lesser dragons, but there are four stand outs. A normal looking dragon easily twice the size of a lesser dragon. A brown rocky creature with underdeveloped wings about two feet taller than a lesser dragon, but far bulkier. An elongated, almost serpentine blue and green reptile that looks like a cross between an eastern and western dragon. Lastly, a dragon even taller than the bulky one, but with a similar build to the lesser dragons. She has a gray and black coloration, and a distinct black starburst scar on the left wing membrane.

"Why is it always dragons?" I growl and clench my fists. "Why do I have to fight them? Can't I just tame them?" I have a vague sense of the others turning to look at me. "No I think I read something about dragons being difficult to tame. But the conflict between us is getting a little ridiculous! Is this what they call fated enemies?" My body is trembling. "No, I won't accept it! Even if it is fate, I'll overturn it!"

My vision latches on to the darkly colored dragon. I feel an odd rush, reminding me of adrenaline. Though that doesn't make sense. I register Bieru saying something, but don't grasp the meaning behind her words in the moment. "Dragons? Damn, I woulda put money on slimes. Oh well, maybe next time."

Everything seems to take on a slight purple hue, especially the parts of my own body I can see. [Tame Monster and Command forcibly evolving. . . Success, Unique Skill Draconic Dominance Obtained] All of the dragons jolt and turn to look in our direction, then some of the lesser dragons fly away. The gray and black dragon seems to meet my gaze, then roars in challenge.

I sprint forward faster than I've ever moved before. "Guess we're starting then! Looks like Anima's got the most troublesome one. Oleain take the Earth Drake, Marel go for the Lesser Lindwurm hybrid! I'll take the proper Dragon. Bieru-" After that I don't really hear much else.

The gray dragon braces herself, rears back her head, and focuses mana in her throat. The mana feels odd, but I don't care right now. Then when I'm about ten meters away she leans forward and exhales a roiling dark mist. It's much slower than force breath, but it spreads outward as well as blowing forward.

I charge through the middle of the dark cloud, which seems to almost fizzle off of the purple aura covering me. A few streams of it manage to get through the aura to touch the metal of my body, dying it black wherever it contacts. When I come out next to her head, I uppercut the bottom of the large creature's jaw. Her mouth snaps shut and her head jerks upwards. There is also a loud cracking noise.

Her right foreleg swipes towards me, claws extended. I shove out a mass of mana and use an abbreviated chant. "Mana shoot forth, magic missile!" The hasty spell seems to grab a bit of the purple aura, taking on a slight tint of the color as it shoots towards the incoming limb. Though the spell feels crude compared to the same thing with a longer chant.

The spell cracks the scales on the dragon's paw, a purple mark is left behind and blood oozes out of the damaged flesh underneath, causing her to step back with a limp. She draws another breath, this time the mana feels normal, so she's probably going for force breath. There is a sudden beam of light aimed for her eyes. She winces away, missing the aim of her attack, blowing a noticeable chunk out of a cliff face on the side of the southern mountain.

I lunge in and punch the dragon in the center of her chest. There is another cracking noise, then a metallic clatter? That draws my attention to my right hand. My own armor plates broke from the force of the last two punches. I can't tell about the skeleton underneath, but the mana threads are holding together. The dragon coughs and staggers away again, her wings starting to unfurl.

I retrieve my sword from my soul, the purple color spreads along the blade as well. I wield the sword in my left hand, and jump towards the scarred wing. It pierces through the wing with rough feeling resistance, then my momentum widens the wound significantly. She jerks away before the blade can cut clear to the edge, but I doubt she'll be flying away soon.

I twist and slash at the dragon's left hind leg as I land. The blade bites into the scales, but doesn't seem to reach the flesh beneath. Her tail whips around to slam into my waist, causing another audible crack and launching me through the air. I land in a jumble twenty meters or so away. When I recollect myself, the dragon is building up for another breath attack. There is a black haze surrounding her, almost seeming to sap the luster from her scales as it moves towards her head.

When she launches the attack, I throw my sword into the center of the exuded cloud, then dash to the side. There is a pained whine, but the breath keeps coming. While still strafing to keep out of the dark stream I build up mana. I shape it into a javelin of mixed raw and light mana. "O light and force, pierce the veil of darkness and crush all resistance!" I stop, raise the mana up with my damaged right hand, and cast it forward as I shout, "Photo-kinetic Bolt!"

The invisible mana becomes a large arrow of purple light and streaks towards the dragon. The darkness seems to recoil away from the spell, which impacts the dragon's neck just below her head a moment later. Then there is an eruption of sound and force akin to a concussion grenade that shatters the dragon's scales and sends her head reeling back. Meanwhile the purple light seems to be clinging there and wrapping around her neck.

The dragon rolls over, flailing and scratching at the band of light. During her flailing, my sword flies out of her mouth alongside a spray of blood. I run over and retrieve the weapon, then jump onto the dragon's head and thrust the blade into her right eye. The eye itself makes an odd crunching noise, then the metal squeals against the bone of the eye socket as it slides deeper. The dragon twists her head abruptly, snapping off about half of the blade and tossing me aside.

The dragon writhes for a few more seconds before slumping onto her side and coming to a stop. The purple light around her neck seems to sink into her body, and the aura around me fades away. My head suddenly feels clearer after that. What's going on? I was, angry? No. Greedy? The dragon's spiritual presence suddenly disappears, then part of her chest crumbles into dust and a large gray egg with black speckles and a purple band around the middle falls out and rolls a short ways away from the remains of the body. "What the hell?"

〈Evo-lution?〉 A cute voice rings in my head. "Sapph?! Haah? Did your telepathy level up? And you can evolve now?" 〈Yes!〉 The blue color of her skin and hair and the black color of her dress and wings blend together, leaving her looking like a dark featureless silhouette. Her vague form grows larger before the obscuring color starts to flake away.

She is now about a foot tall with the same general fairy-like appearance, but now her skin is a flawless, almost eerie white. Her eyes have black sclera with deep blue irises and no pupils. Her wings and dress are now mostly black with geometric, gem based patterns on them. Strangely, normal scan doesn't show any results now, but the Deep Scan results send a chill through my soul. [Lesser Fae-Jewel Pixie: A small member of the Fae Races, possessing great magical potential and the ability to attach fragments of its soul to gemstones to preserve its life in emergencies, must remain within a certain distance of at least one of the gemstones bearing part of its soul]

"Ehhum. . . You're not gonna try to get me to make any deals, are you?" 〈Parent.〉 "Yes, but does that mean you won't?" 〈Parent? . . Mama or Papa? Neither? Hmmuu.〉 "Oh, you're looking for something endearing to call me. Well. I'll just not worry about that then. Lemme know if you come up with something." I shake my head and turn my attention back to the egg, and the corpse beyond it. The text glitches, but resolves as. [Soul Binding Curse Dragon Egg: An egg filled with Draconic Force representing the rebirth and spiritual co-assimilation of a Curse Dragon] [Curse Dragon: A dragon that evolved due to a deep grudge rather than through leveling up. Because of the warped nature of its evolution, it has inferior physical abilities, but possesses the ability to curse others]

"Oh. These black marks are a curse? I'll need to ask how to deal with that. . . Ack! How's the situation with everybody else!" I finally look beyond my own little corner of the battlefield just to find that everything else is already over. In fact, most of the others are staring in our direction, at the egg specifically. I feel an odd melancholy when I look at the corpses of the other dragons across the field. I shrug and shake my head. "Sorry, apparently I can turn dragons I beat into eggs now? . ." Why didn't I get a blueprint for scanning it? And there was something about, a new unique skill?

I bring up my status and find a new resource just after VP. DF 40/100. Then look further down to the unique skills. [Draconic Dominance: The unshakable will to make dragons into one's allies, specialized in combating, taming, and enhancing dragons. Level 1: Draconic Force: Grants DF energy equal to skill level times one hundred, DF can be restored by converting ten units of SP for one unit of DF. Draconic Force responds automatically when facing dragons in combat, when active it doubles all stats. DF is exhausted at a rate of one point per five seconds, or when directly invested into attacks upon dragons. Dragons weaker than the user's base status will be intimidated, dragons defeated while the user is filled with Draconic Force will be reborn as allies. The amount of DF invested affects how quickly the rebirth process proceeds. The effects will be somewhat suppressed when facing Draconic Races, due to System interference]

Bit vague about that last detail, but with luck I'll not have to test it out. Flag raised? I chuckle awkwardly, then pick up the egg. "So uhh, are we about done here?" Crimson waves at me, somehow looking smug despite the expressionless face and being the only one here more injured looking than I am.

"I did it! Do you have my other body in your warehouse thing?" She evolved too? Without having her body die even. I take the Shadow Steel body out of storage as she runs over, which gets a strangled shout from Bieru. Oops. "Okay, now how do I switch over?" It's just kinda natural, isn't it?

Before I can think of a way to explain Bieru runs over. "I can't believe you have a warehouse for bodies! Part of your first Unique skill probably. But still, that is insane! You could store a ton of extra bodies and just keep fighting even when they get destroyed!" She sighs and turns to Crimson. "And I think I can help you with that." With that, she shoos me away.

I walk over to Granzine to see what I should do. To start, we drag the corpses of any useful monsters, the ten dragon corpses among them, away from the field, then set it ablaze. During that I scan everything for partial blueprints, once I've scanned the fourth Lesser Dragon from the lot I get a new message: {Completed Blueprint Composed from Partial Blueprints: Autotéras-Lesser Dragon Type. Stats set at the average of the sources of the Partial Blueprints: Strength 68 Vitality 62 Agility 54 Wisdom 52} I also got full blueprints from Crimson's two kills, a Troll with strength and vitality of thirty, but agility and wisdom of fifteen and eight respectively, and a huge turkey like bird called a Dire Fowl, with surprisingly balanced stats in the mid twenties.

We also take a closer look at a bloodstained patch with scraps of cloth scattered about in front of the barn. The Guildmaster thinks that is falsified evidence of Undra's demise, though none of us can determine that conclusively either way.

While we wait for the fire to do its job, I stop to look over my body. All the armor plating of my right hand and forearm is gone. The front plates on my torso are all cracked, with my robe seemingly in tatters somehow. Even the metal of the plates on my legs is warped and cracked lightly in places. There are several burn like black marks streaked across my chest, face, and right shoulder, as well as some on the mana threads within my right arm. "Apparently doubling my stats makes me too strong for my magic iron plates? Why was the underlying 'tissue' fine? Because it was benefitting from the stat boost? Guess I need some way to make the armor count as a proper part of my body."

I have some ideas for that. The parts of me that seem to count as alive are all what I'd call 'Arcane technology' whereas the plates don't involve anything of the sort. So embedding technological systems into them should do. But I don't know what sort exactly to go with. Or I could just try to make my armor from my Neo Metal slime, since that should surely count. "Suppose I'll sort that out later. For now, anybody know how to deal with curses?"

Marel is the one to speak up. "There are a few ways. Generally you can just wait it out for normal curses, though that dragon seemed like it had a specific type of curse to me. So you'd need to make sure your own feelings aren't feeding back into the curse for it to go away over time. So you should have somebody check it out with Medical Scan to figure out what it is."

". . . Medical Scan you say? Is that, a normal ranked skill?" His eyebrows furrow, then he nods. I hum, then use Medical Scan on myself. [Status Condition: Curse of Vanity] "It appears to be called the Curse of Vanity. Looks like I can only get the name as is." People are staring again. "Deep Scan level three has the effect Omni-Scan, which let's me use any normal scan skill."

Bieru raises her lighter skinned right hand and waves excitedly. "Oh! I know that one! The Curse of Vanity is caused when someone proud of their looks receives some damage that mars their appearance and dwells on it too heavily. It makes the victim less attractive to others. And the emotions that cause it to fester are thinking of oneself as overly attractive regardless of the curse, or self-pity about one's scarred visage."

I sigh and bring a hand to my forehead. "What's the point of a curse like that?" I shake my head. "Never mind. It's meaningless to me, at any rate." I wave the hand as I move it away from my face. "Now then, how do we get all of this back to town?" By the looks of things, many of the non-dragon monsters ended up fleeing after the fighting started. Given most of them never got close to the field that shouldn't be a problem. But even then, six about horse sized lesser dragons and four larger evolved or dragon related monsters, plus several other creatures, is still a lot.

"Right, uhhh. I'll run back to get the boys out here to start the disassembly on site? Bring a few carts too." Granzine stretches his legs a moment, then breaks into a run. "Keep the area secure at least till the field is done burning!" While we wait for him, I retrieve Crimson's old body, and the group discusses loot with Marel.

"The Guild of course takes a cut, given that this was a quest from the institution specifically. But basically, each person can keep about eighty percent of each of their kills." Despite that statement, he seems willing to barter about how things are managed. For instance, Bieru and Crimson both trade away everything from their own kills for materials from the Dragon Granzine killed. Bieru askes for one of the wing membranes to make a leather fan, and Crimson asks for a pair of fangs to have me or Goibniu make into knives. In a similar vein, alongside the egg, I decide to keep the leg bones from the Curse Dragon to try and make into swords and sell the rest.

Once the butchers arrive, they set straight to work. There are only four of them, but they can break most of the monsters down individually. They work in pairs for the larger creatures, eventually all working together to take the full sized dragon apart. During the trip back Marel approaches me. "So, any updates on that light source you were working on?"

"Ehh. I got it to technically work. But they don't last as long as I'd like. Probably still doing something wrong. Care to check it out?" He hums thoughtfully, then steps back to converse with Granzine for a while. When we reach town, he follows Crimson and I back to the workshop, with everyone else heading back to the Guildhall. After entering I grab an ESC and one of my simple light bulbs. It's little more than a sealed glass flask with copper prongs sticking out of the end leading up into the hollow portion with a tungsten filament connecting them therein. I simply connect the bulb to the wires coming off the battery, the magic components simplify the process by only transferring an appropriate amount of energy.

The bulb shines with a harsh light, casting vast shadows from those of us standing nearby. "Well, it's certainly bright enough. How long does it last? And what causes them to stop working? . . Does the tungsten melt? Seems like it's putting off some heat."

"Yeah, they burn out pretty fast. Had one last about six hours the other day. But having to change em out after every night would be, ah? . . . Burn out. Is it just a matter of taking the air out of the light bulb?" I unplug the bulb, melt a small hole in it with a bit of fire mana then surround the bulb with wind mana and come up with a quick chant. "O Wind, suck away all air. Vacuum Shell."

Once the spell is complete I patch the hole with another piece of glass. Then when the spell ends I plug it back in. The light is a bit less harsh now. "Well, I'll leave that running to see how long it lasts, then start planning an electrical grid." I look to Marel, who is staring at the bulb. "Shouldn't stare right at it like that. Hm. Anyway, while you're here, how much would a bit of silver cost? About enough to make a ring I could place in the floor and sit in the middle of. Or maybe two of them? One for mana one for spiritual energy. Right."

"Huh? Oh. Uhmm. If it's just the metal, a few silver coins could get you an ingot. So, ten silver for two and a half ingots at a crude guess as to how much you'd need. But, you know, you should start building more of your own mercantile connections instead of always going through me. I've got enough work with the guild most of the time."

"My own connections? Yes, suppose I could make an Automaton or two to act as merchants and, oh! I should make a train! No better way to handle the acquisition and transportation of materials than building my own trade route!" He's staring at me with wide eyes. "Ah, right. I'll have to build a model for that to explain too. Fun idea though. Maybe a tad bit troupey, but should be worthwhile." How to go about it though? Should the train itself be an Automaton? No, I could use this as practice for my control mechanisms for the eventual Mecha bodies. Need to work out extra power sources too. "Ahhhhh~ I think I'm about to be very busy figuring things out a while. And polishing my craft. And also, who do I talk to about learning to work with dragon bone? Am I bouncing around different subjects too quickly?"

"Kind of, yes. Calm down. I'll ask some of the smiths around town to see if anyone would like to teach you. Hopefully they'll buy some of the dragon materials from the Guild while I'm at it. And maybe I'll send letters to my family back home to begin planning for a new trade route." He has a glint in his eyes as he turns away to leave the building.

Chaos_Sinner777

I have a MIGHTY NEED for dungeon core stories. . . Which is why I took a break from writing there. But I think I'm satisfied for now. Probably. Hopefully I can write my own stories some more. Might put Mythic Monster Typhon on hiatus soon though. Also, I decided to accelerate the timeline on getting into those unique skills. Didn't intend to introduce Draconic Dominance till chapter thirty FFS!! Not to mention I intended to have Anima use both Command and Tame Monster a bit, but nevermind that. Lol. Also the "Mirror" one is being dropped for something else I think would be more interesting. Lastly, exactly 100K words baby! You know, for the story as a whole, not the chapter. That'd be crazy.