Dragon Sorcerer 2- Chapter 64 (Patreon)

Chapter 64- Straw Man Go Boom

Cami responded very quickly which was pleasing to me. I only had to wait outside the training area for a few minutes. The attendant who schedule the area seemed frustrated when I claimed one of the rooms and then didn’t start doing anything right away. Maybe, I should have but if this was going to be as spectacular as I expected, then I wanted an audience there for the first time.

When Cami did show up she was in a dark green leather armor. It both looked akin to what I’d seen human women wearing in that there was no mistaking her for a male but also would also offer some added protection, especially in conjunction with her Tough Hide ability. She also had the spear which we’d bought, well I guess it was her gold, but I’d been there helping her out. Daggin’s craftsmanship was impeccable and the spear made her look mildly more intimidating.

She seemed extra bubbly this morning as she was grinning from ear to ear and there was a spring in her step. She waved at her outfit and then spun around. “What do you think?”

I took an extra second to make sure I hadn’t missed anything and then smiled. “It seems suitable. I’m pleased that my companion is so attired. In a perfect world, I would have preferred blue, as it’s the best color, but…”

I let my words drift off. Her smiled faded some. She groaned. “You have no idea how hard it was for me to get Modessa to allow me to wear anything other than black.”

I chuckled at that. Thinking back, I don’t know that I’d ever seen the rogue in anything other than black or a charcoal gray. “She does seem to have a fixation for those colors.”

I wondered if there was something more I should say to Cami. I really had meant to move on past our previous difficulties. This bond was permanent and it offered a great number of advantages to me. I needed to make things work between us, but I just didn’t know what to say. Maybe I’d need to consider social skills sooner rather than later.

Finally, the silence must have gotten two awkward because Cami said, “You wanted to show me something?”

I grinned. “Yes, this is gonna be so amazing.”

Then I walked into the training room. The room I had selected had a variety of training dummies ranging from humanoid figures stuffed with tightly packed straw that were good for seeing how bladed weapons might cut into flesh, to stone figures covered with metal armor. The room itself had a twenty foot high ceiling and was a circle sixty-feet across. I hoped it would be enough to show me the limits of my new ability.

Of course, the first time, I was going to use it on a straw target because I was going for maximum effect.

The anticipation bubbled inside me like a cauldron of boiling water. I could feel the raw energy coursing through my veins, waiting to be unleashed. This was my birthright.

As I prepared to demonstrate my newfound power, I took a deep breath, and the taste of ozone filled my mouth. It was a familiar taste and scent. They made me feel as nostalgic as I’d ever felt. My mother had always had that scent around her. Now I understood why. She must have had an ability which generated an electrical field around her at all times. It wouldn’t have hurt me of her other children but caused that scent to be around her all the time.

My heart raced, and I couldn't help but grin as I locked eyes with Cami. She was suitably excited and for some reason I found myself more that a little happy about that. It made no sense so I focused again.

"Watch this," I whispered, trying to keep my voice steady, but excitement made it quiver.

I focused on the straw target, feeling the energy gathering within me. It was a sensation which I often felt within my draconic body – a storm brewing at the very core of my being. Yet, it was something that was missing all the time in my human form. I hadn’t even realized how much I’d been missing it until this very moment. I felt my chest swell as I drew in a deep breath, and then, with a flicker of nerves and exhilaration, I released the pent-up power.

The lightning erupted from my mouth in a dazzling display of electric-blue energy, crackling and sizzling as it tore through the air. The sound of it was deafening, like a thousand drums beating in unison, as the air around me seemed to vibrate with its intensity. The volume seemed far greater than when I was in draconic form, but maybe that had to do with the difference in my body now. The scent of ozone grew stronger, mingling with the acrid smell of burning straw and the unmistakable tang of singed flesh.

As the lightning bolt struck the straw target, it burst into a million brilliant sparks, igniting the figure in a conflagration of flames. The heat washed over me, prickling my skin. Even at thirty feet from the target, I saw beads of sweat forming on Cami’s brow.

I glanced back at the target. It was well and truly obliterated. The stone wall behind it had a dark scorch mark on it but was otherwise unmarked. Even as I watched the magic of the training room began to cause the mark to fade. Hmm… that was interesting, an enchantment which could even regenerate inanimate objects.

The straw target smoldered; its blackened form barely recognizable as the humanoid figure it had once been. The remnants of the straw crackled and hissed, sending tendrils of smoke curling into the air. I felt an intoxicating mix of pride, awe, and raw power. Images of what that might do to a real person went through my head. I immediately began trying to run the calculations in my head but decided that more testing was needed.

I turned to Cami, who was staring at the obliterated target, her eyes wide with amazement. She looked at me, her face flushed with excitement, and then let out a whoop of pure joy.

"That was incredible, Nico!" she exclaimed, her voice filled with wonder. "I knew you were powerful, but that was amazing.”

I couldn't help but grin, sharing in her excitement. Her praise of me meant more than it should, but I supposed it was good for her to realize these truths about me.

Her voice became a bit meeker and filled with concern as she asked, “Did it hurt?”

I waved off the concern. It felt odd to do it in this body, but I’ve been spitting electricity for decades.”

She stared at me for a minute then. Something odd passed across her flat, squishy face. It wasn’t an expression that I could put my claw on. Before I knew it the question was out of my mouth, “Is something wrong?”

She still didn’t answer me right away. When she did her voice shook a bit. “Wrong… uh… no. Did you just say decades?”

I was confused by the question but replied, “Yes. I’ve been able to breath electricity since I was quite young at least the past forty years if not more. Most of my life really. It’s part of the birthright of a blue dragon. Although just between you and me, I’ve only been able to form a proper lightning bolt for the past few weeks. It definitely got stronger though when I

Her mouth opened and then shut again. She repeated the gesture a couple of times until I wasn’t quite sure if this was a new human expression I’d never seen before or if there was genuinely something wrong with the way her jaw worked. Finally, she managed to say, “Oh, I didn’t know that. From the way you spoke I thought you’d lived with your mother and siblings until recently.”

“I did. Well my mother gradually came around less and less, so the last time I saw her must have been close to a year ago, but that’s likely for the best.”

“I’m confused,” she mumbled, but I was able to hear her.

“Dragon mothers begin to see their offspring as competition. Adult blues don’t go out of their way to kill other adults, but young vulnerable dragons are sometimes killed before they can become a threat later on. There is only so much territory, although my memories seem to suggest that long ago there were far more dragons than there are now.”

“But you just said you’re fifty, how would you not be an adult.”

I chuckled then as I understood her point of confusion. “Oh, you’re mistaking age categories for age or the maturation process. At fifty, I was just about to reach the first stage of adulthood. That was why my magic hadn’t awakened until… well you know about that. Humans have such short lifespans that fifty years sounds like a great deal but realistically, a dragon could live thousands of years and if they live long enough to find their own lair then they’ll almost certainly live to be several hundred years old at the least.”

She shook her head. “So you’re still basically a teen-ager in dragon terms?”

I shrugged. “I never really gave it much thought, but I guess you could say that. But more importantly, didn’t you like that lightning breath. I can feel that it’s ready to go again if you want to see it.”

She nodded, but her mind was clearly on something else. I found that I didn’t care for this sensation at all. She was barely paying any attention to me.

The cool-down on this ability was clearly longer than in my dragon form, but I almost couldn’t wait for a chance to use this in real combat. I could imagine some monster trying to bite down on me, thinking me to be a fragile human. A quick bit of lighting into it’s open mouth should put down most anything. I chuckled as I realized just how spectacular that could be in close quarters combat with a human. I snickered, unable to hold back my amusement at the idea of an exploding human head.

I sucked in my breath to try it out on one of the stone targets, but then Cami asked me. “You bought this ability with DKP, right?”

I nodded. Why couldn’t she just go back to watching and cheering?

“Do you think I’d be able to get it too?”

I scratched my chin “Hmm… I suppose you might.”

I played that out in my mind. It was interesting. At first, I thought I didn’t like it at all. She shouldn’t be duplicating my awesomeness, but then I realized that the only reason she might be able to do it was because of being bonded with me. That meant anything great she did was simply a reflection of my own awesomeness. My mind wandered a bit then as I pondered if that was why humans seemed to be so keen on having children. Maybe it was because the children’s accomplishments were attributed to the parents. Yes, that made so much more sense than some of the gibberish that Lisella had been spouting.

“The more I think about it the more I believe you should try saving up DKP until you have fifty. That’s how much the skill cost me. Maybe we can find a way to go hunting outside the city. There must be something we can do. Twin lighting bolts from us would simply be too cool, Everyone would want to watch that.”

She still seemed distant but that cheered her up a bit I believe. She looked thoughtful, maybe she was imagining what a human head would look like as it exploded, just like I had.

Not wanting to stall any longer though, I sucked in my breath and blasted away at one of the stone targets. It shattered and pasted off a good quarter of the body. While not quite as impressive as the straw man, it was still very cool to see.

I turned to get Cami’s reaction, but she was staring at the ground. Rather than cheering she was mumbling. I couldn’t make out all of what she said, but I did catch the last part. “But fifty? Really? He didn’t think that was important to tell me?”