I stared hard at the shiny new additions to my digits, half in awe and half in surprise. "So. Fucking. COOL! Holy shit, get your ass out here Scissorhands lets duke it out! Hahahaha!". I swiped my hands through the air, admiring the natural way my claws sliced the air apart. With my new strength and speed I felt invincible, like whatever other creatures out there wouldn't be shit compared to me. The logical part of me was screaming at my current idiocy but I was excited dammit. No one could fault me for that right? A heavy rumble sounded outside the cave and I whirled towards it to see a titanic snake head right in the way of the entrance to the passage I was within, staring at me with heavy contempt. "I'm sorry, I got too cocky." I reflexively apologized to the beast staring at me like a rodent.

"Fuck shit fuck whyyyyyy!", I screamed as I ran as fast as my new stats would allow, nearly slamming into the wall at every corner since I was unused to it. But that was a small price to pay to escape the slippery bastard that was even faster than me chasing me. The width of its body practically filled the whole passage so there was no going around, and its scales glowed with a light silver sheen, as if they were beautiful forged armor. Bladed spikes ran along it in a hexagonal pattern, with two rows on top, one row on each side, and two rows along the bottom, and boy were they sharp. They made my new claws look like butter knives with how they were effortlessly creating ridges in the stone around it.

[Silver Moon Boa, a rare and terrifying predator that typically hunts other predators nearing its own size. It will wrap itself around them and run its body along the trapped prey ripping them to shreds with it's blades, it is also a master of Moon Magic.]

That motherfucker is definitely bullying me! I'm so small compared to you big guy, go pick on someone your own size! "Hey I don't taste good snakey, leave me alone, Please!?". The Boa however disagreed, as when it looked at me it's eyes were filled with greed and desire. I shivered at look of them, seriously, its different if it's a cute girl but that's a giant murderous snake, completely different!

Even when half my mind was thinking these kinds of things I was trying my best to come up with a plan to live, it was all I could do really. I couldn't even see this thing's stats and levels, that was how much stronger it was than me. Bio Analyze apparently also couldn't penetrate the scales, since it was a hitchhiker on Analysis Eyes. I lunged forward as the wind from the Boa's jaws snapping closed on my previous location buffeted me. I rolled back onto my feet and kept running until finally making back to the chamber where I met Count Ugly the Rat and saw my salvation, the tiny little passageway I originally came from, there was no way that thing could make it in there. I would eat my boots if it could!

I whirled around to see what the snake would do next in hopes that it would give up on a small morsel like me, but I was bound to be disappointed. "No fucking way...", the Boa opened its mouth and silver moonlight began to pool up within, like it was charging up a damn laser. Was it planning to just blast it's way through the rock to get to me!? I couldn't let that happen, if I did then if the Boa didn't get me the debris would. I stuck out my hand and tried to imagine the same Water Blade that the wolf had used on me, hoping I might destabilize the magic it was making before it could use it. A whole 20 MP whirled through my new core and pooled in my hand in the form of a wavy arc of water that quickly took shape. It happened far more naturally than I had expected, but I was glad for the ease at this moment as I willed it to fire at the fake moon being made between the Boa's fangs. The pressurized Water Blade about a foot tall shot off at the speed of a train and reached its target quickly. The whole orb of presumably Moon Magic from its description wobbled and struggled to maintain its shape, until it finally settled back down and continued growing, the Boa seemed to have regained control after some strain but it wasn't enough and only bought a little time.

"Shit Shit Shit, what now?" My thoughts sped through my mind as fast as my Intelligence could handle trying to come up with a new plan. I was panicking as a wholly unheard of voice reverberated in my mind. Distract it first before destabilizing the magic once again, if you don't want to get blown to pieces that is. "What the hell? Who are you?" I spoke, even as my body acted out what the voice had told me. I pulled the disgusting carcass of my first kill in this world out of Storage, the Plague Rat while readying a new Water Blade. Even the Boa stared at it warily, as if sensing the sheer grossness of it even when focusing so hard. "Eat this asshole!" I threw the corpse as hard as I could by the tail down its throat, making sure to miss the magic which could just disintegrate it. I almost felt bad for it because as soon as it touched the esophagus of the Boa it began rampaging and throwing its body against the walls of the passage it was now basically trapped in since it was mindlessly chasing me. Water even seemed to pool in its eyes, like it was beginning the cry. Stop that! Snakes can't cry! I don't think. Actually I'm gonna chalk this one up to just how awful that must taste, laws of biology be damned. Anyways, with the Boa now having quite possibly the worst time of its life, I fired my new water blade at the magic that was falling apart even on its own since the owner of it was no longer paying any kind of attention to it. The forgotten magic was quickly remembered it seems since the Boa panicked even more trying to save it, but alas it was too late. I dove around a corner for cover as silvery light filled the passage and the Boa howled in agony with its entire mouth being cooked from within and it tried to reverse as fast as possible, severely regretting the life choices that led it to this outcome I'm sure.

I took slow breaths trying to calm my nerves and heart rate and leaned against the wall. "I'm so glad I didn't get hit by that.", I muttered watching the walls where the silver light had hit steaming and lightly glowing scarlet from the heat. I'm glad you didn't mess it up, that would have been the end of us as well. Alright with the snake dealt with for now, it was time to get a few answers from Miss Disembodied Voice. "So, who are you? And thanks for earlier with the advice, I was panicking a tad too much there." It is alright, there is no need for thanks, I was just acting in my best interests. That magic being unleashed would be a problem for me as well. Surprisingly forthright for a suspicious voice I suppose. And I was somewhat enjoying talking to someone other than myself for a change.

"So who are you? My name is Aura, I just got here a little bit ago." Yes I noticed, I didn't call out earlier because there was no merit to it, but you have proven useful with your... particular methods. "Really? Thanks for the compliment, I did my best really.", I chuckled and scratched my head and pulled my hand back after it hurt. Damn, right, claws. Can't do that anymore. I... see... The voice seemed slightly exasperated, but that was none of my concern as I continued. "So who are you?" I finally asked the big ticket question. I... am Safiel. "Oh that's a pretty name, nice to meet you Safi!" I had gotten a bit excited in my joy of something not immediately trying to eat me, but who could blame me? S-Safi!? I-I suppose that is fine then. Could you come back to where you first appeared? I'm near to that place. I'd like to meet you in person if possible. The voice was still in the same tired tone as before, but I thought I could feel some tension and nervousness being badly hidden within it. Strangely enough, I felt I could trust this stranger at least a little as I made my way back in the dark towards my first waking up point in this world. "Sure, that works for me.", I said in a slightly strained voice as I could feel myself leaving the influence of the mana ambient in the air. Going back to not having something necessary to you after just gaining it was torturous to say the least and put a great strain on my new core, so I ran my MP throughout my body and core. It helped alleviate the symptoms somewhat, but I had no idea who could possibly live in such a terrible place.

I finally made it back to where I had started, and looked around in vain, as it was just as dark as I'd remembered and I was only navigating by hand and Analysis Eye. Turn to your right and put your hand against that wall. I heeded her instructions and placed my hand on the wall lightly wondering what this could be for, when an odd feeling I could only describe as a veil lifting occurred and I could feel a wood texture against the skin of my palm, and shifting my hand revealed a metallic door handle which I promptly turned and opened the door. The door opened to what looked to be an old but tasteful study filled with as many books as it could hold, but that wasn't what held my attention. What had my undivided attention was the Western Style dragon sitting near the back of the room, its head reaching to my full height when craning its neck. Beautiful silver and white scales adorned it and it had twin horns reaching to the skies atop its head. But most striking of all were the eyes that glowed a soft silver with the same magic circles and circuits as my own.

♦ ♦ ♦

She had been alone for as long as she could remember, her and the skeleton of the man who had stolen her away in this accursed room. She was a young dragon by anyone's standards, a mere 20 years old. Not even past a whelp to an adult dragon. But she had never had another conversation partner for all these years besides herself and the books that kept her sane. She had never met him when he was alive, but by reading the diary here she pieced a few things together. The skeleton here was the former owner of this study, an alchemist.

He was obsessed with the way to gain eternal youth, and was ostracized by his fellow humans for his inhumane experiments and descent into madness. In his research, he eventually came to the conclusion that what he needed was the egg of a dragon. More specifically, he needed the unhatched fetus of a dragon as an ingredient. However, when stealing away the egg of a young Moon Dragon, he failed to notice the engravings on the eggshell. This proved to be his undoing, as when the time came to extract his ingredient, he cracked the outer shell of the egg and triggered the curse the parent of the egg had used as a last defense mechanism. The Alchemist caught by surprise, succumbed quickly to the curse but the damage was done.

The eggshell broke, but miraculously the baby lived, yet was incomparably weak from being born prematurely. Dragons by nature are creature of mana first and foremost, so it didn't help that the area the study and workroom was in was so utterly devoid of it. Certain alchemical recipes had certain requirements of the ambient mana content, as did the one the mad alchemist had devised, so the only mana in the area was the controlled mana in the workshop. She had rationed that mana for years, but it had run out to fuel her growth about 2 years ago. She had survived on the mana in the preserved ingredients for now, but they were quickly running out as her needs grew. Because of her environment, she was essentially suffering from extreme malnutrition all her life so she was very thin for a dragon, and constantly exhausted. The only reason she was even alive was because the life force of dragons was inherently strong.

She had taught herself to both read and speak after years of trying to read the books here, dragons luckily had a racial skill for learning ancient languages so she started there and translated the rest of the books from that point. That was where she learned how to use the magic tools to communicate telepathically and disable the stealth function of the door.

Now why didn't she just leave if the environment was so terrible for her you ask? The answer was that she couldn't. There was a barrier keeping out invaders and preventing ingredients from leaving in case of theft. And while she could use the tool to prevent Aura from being marked an invader, an ingredient couldn't change its own status. And she had never seen anyone else in all these years using the detecting magic tools except when Aura appeared. despite what she had said about there being no merits to talking to him earlier, the truth was that she had been so frazzled that before she could reach out after finally writing the script of what she wanted to say, he had already left without her noticing. She despaired and thought her only chance of survival and companionship had left. Wallowing in self pity she was awoken from her stupor when rumbling sounded from outside the study and the detectors showed her what was going on.

The man she had seen earlier had appeared again, this time with some giant monster chasing him. Watching him panic so much had hurt her heart, so while she had no combat experience, she knew enough about magic to help him she thought. Luckily, it seemed to work, and she heaved a sigh of relief. She may have tried to sound cool (By her own margin) and calm when speaking to him, but in reality she was pacing and reading off the sheet of possible responses for any situation she had written out earlier. She didn't want anything to go wrong here, and admittedly she may be just a smidgen nervous. She nearly had a heart attack when already given a pet name by the outgoing Aura though, but she didn't particularly dislike it. The script Safiel the script! She then threw out the bomb she had been worried about this whole time, inviting him here and trying to obtain his help so she wouldn't perish soon. She just hoped she would be able to speak normally to him...