Dragon Sorcerer 3- Chapter 105 (Patreon)

Chapter 105- DKP It Is

Lisella moved till she was next to me. “No, I need to speak to my apprentice first, Headmaster. I’m sure you can understand given the circumstances. I will confirm with him if there have been any violations of university policy and then I will meet with you to discuss what happens next.”

“How dare you…”

Galbrecht cut the archmage off, “Careful what you say next. You may be the strongest of us here, but you already tried force and lost. You could have communicated directly with us. There is something off about all of this but I need time to meditate on it. For now, be respectful in how you speak to a grand priestess of Miseria and a princess of Forlay.”

Tolston’s face got red. For a moment, I almost wondered if he might pop like one of this little skin disruptions that the humans get. I think Cami called them pimples. Dragons are just blessed. Scales never have problems like that.

“Fine, I shall await you in my office this afternoon, Princess Forlay. Remember, we all serve the empire. It is for the good of it’s people that we are here.” Then he disappeared on the wings of a teleportation spell.

Lisella looked at me for a moment but didn’t say anything. She did, however, introduce Edgar to the others. They all chatted in the way humans did, while my mind was processing what would be the most valuable thing I could get from the archmage. Certainly, gold was always desirable, but as shocking as it was, I wondered if that was the best choice.

He was old for a human. I was pretty certain of that. And of course given his class and position, he might have access to powerful and rare magical items. Those might be a better reward than whatever amount of gold he could come up with.

Eventually, Liam left saying that he needed to let Serius and through the mage, the emperor know about what had just happened. Galbrecht left after hugging Modessa once more. Then Cami and I headed to Lisella’s apartment with our two mentors. I made sure to let them know that I’d need some food. All of the humans laughed, but I didn’t care. They could stress about other things. I’d worry about what was important.

It didn’t take long for Lisella’s servants to bring us food. While we waited Cami told them a great deal about our trip to visit Draconis without giving away the location or anything about the dragon dream. They two women practically sat on the edge of their seats while listening.

When the food arrived, I considered once again how useful minions could be. I definitely needed to add some more. I was gobbling down the food and listened as they discussed the best choice of rewards. It was interesting to me, the difference in perspective between Lisella and Modessa.

The rogue began with, “The choice is obvious. They should pick XP. That would almost get Cami to level 10. She’d gain access to 5thTier magic at level 9 and when she reaches level 10, she’ll gain double stat points. It would also benefit Nico. I don’t know exactly how close he is to another level, but he would gain 10% toward his next age category and almost another 10%.”

“That last part is exactly why they should choose DKP. They should hold off on Cami’s leveling until we figure out if it is possible to gain a legendary class in the dragon rider pursuit. That and she still hasn’t picked a second class, so she should be working on getting the best options for that as possible. The DKP gives them options that we don’t have. Also, they should save the 10% bonuses for as long as possible. At least from the way they have explained things, a bump up once Nico is an elder or ancient dragon would go much further.”

The two women argued about it for a while. I reached out to Cami mentally, “Why do they think they have any say in this?”

“They are our mentors. I know maybe you just went with that for the gold, but they do have more knowledge about classes and levels than either of us. Not to mention more fighting experience.”

“I’ll humor them for your sake, but what I really want to talk about is what we can get from Archmage Tolston.”

“Oh Nico, I hope you aren’t going to just accept some gold. You know you’ll get more gold as soon as you claim the lair,” Cami said with a mental sigh.

“I know. I already decided that if he has any really good magic items that would be for the best.”

“No, seriously… oh wait… you did?”

“Gold is delightful, but I am learning. Don’t think I’ll ever turn into a big fat lizard like that lazy red Draconis.”

“Never while I’m around.”

Modessa suddenly asked, “Are you two even paying attention or are you doing that mental talking thing?”

Cami shrugged but I said, “The decision has already been made. We will be taking DKP. I need to use most of my remaining DKP for my Mind Evolution, and we should get some more. We only got a small amount for surviving our first encounter with legendary magic.”

Cami nodded along as I spoke. We had been leaning that way although neither of us had spoken up. The Anti-magic Pulse has been the deciding factor. There were more options with DKP whereas XP was a straight forward path.

I glanced at the notification and read it off if only to shut them up.

You have encountered legendary magic for the first time. Resisting its effects and undoing even part of the spell has resulted in you gaining both XP and DKP. This is a one time bonus.

XP: +1000

DKP: +5

Rewards are matched for your bonded companion as well.

“Now can we talk about what’s important?”

“You mean whatever you can get from the headmaster by way of recompense?” Lisella asked.

“That, although something else has been weighing on my mind for a while now.”

Cami said, “Nico, don’t ask them if they want to be minions.”

Modessa snorted, “Minions?”

“That wasn’t what I was going to bring up. What I really wanted to talk about was how much longer it is going to be viable to hide my identity. The villagers to the north are very welcoming. You all have adapted. I have taken steps to protect myself and it seems like we have support from the emperor. Even your uncle has invited me to visit Forlay.”

“He what? He didn’t tell me?”

I shook my head. “For as much talking as humans do, you seem to skip over some of the most important parts.”

Lisella said, “I might have been open to you revealing yourself before today, but Galbrecht is right, something doesn’t add up. I think we should wait until you have your second class and have gained a bit more strength.”

“For once I agree with the princess. You saw that even having us as mentors isn’t enough to stop all threats. You either need to become much stronger or get strong backing. I don’t want to push you more into the princess’ camp but perhaps you should consider forging a more formal alliance with Forlay. That would give you both extra protection.”

I shook my head. “I need to be able to fly free.”

Lisella asked, “How would you rate yourself compared to us? I know you don’t like revealing too much information, but how strong do you think you are compared to a level 20 adventurer?”

I smiled for a second. The urge to transform and show them just how strong I had become surged through me, but I ignored it. That was a childish impulse. I might be young, but I had to be wise. “I am confident that I could win against any level twenty that I’ve met so far. I don’t know about Tolston, his spell was much stronger. Speaking of which, I need to learn some new spells.”

“Yes, you do, and if you want to take a class related to the church of Miseria, I’ll get you the rest of the spells you need. I’m sure we can even get you an epic class. But, I got the impression that wasn’t what you wanted. If not, I’ve got a storm mage prepared to train you.”

“That can start tomorrow. I need some rest. Being this amazing isn’t easy, you know? But what do you think we can get from Tolson?”

Modessa waved her hand. “No, before that, I still wanna know what this is about minions?” She focused in on Cami who’s face grew red. “Is this something he’s been planning?”

She looked at me but I shrugged. “I have nothing to hide regarding this. It is a good deal for the minions.”

Then Cami explained about Daggin and Ruben. We had already agreed that we wouldn’t tell them about my choker which protected me from the one thing that scared me more than death.

Modessa looked at me. “I can see why he’d like the idea of having humans running around doing things for him, but I can’t figure out why they would. I mean you said that Ruben got some valuable crafting ingredients but were kinda vague about it. And that doesn’t explain why Daggin would want to.”

Cami started to speak again, but I put my hand on her arm. Some things were better out in the open. I was already starting to chaff at having to hide my true nature. Something about meeting another true dragon and seeing that there were others like me living free had affected me… well not quite like me. A red could never compare to a blue after all.

“Minions enter into a contract to serve and not act against their dragon and the dragon agrees not to intentionally harm them. In exchange the minion gains an extended life span and bonus levels.”

The two adventurers looked at each other. Lisella was the first to speak, “How much extra life span?”

“It depends upon the age of the dragon. Right now it’s only 20% but once I reach the great wyrm age category, it will be 200%. The same applies to the levels. Now it’s only two, but then it will be seven.”

Modessa said, “Wait, you’re telling me that if someone agreed to become your minion that they gain two levels? What if their at the level cap?”

Cami said, “Don’t let him fool you. He really wants more minions, but you gain effective levels. It doesn’t change your class or grant you new stats, spells, or abilities. But it makes it so everything you do have is treated as coming from a level 22 rather than a level 20.”

Modessa whistled. “It might not be the same as gaining a legendary class, but it is still a big deal. Not like I’m ready to start bowing to Nico or anything though.”

“I don’t demand bowing. Kneeling is quite sufficient.”

Modessa groaned but didn’t reply. Her interest caught my attention. I would have expected her to be the last to take it seriously. I had thought that Lisella might be interested because she really wanted me to look favorably upon her goddess and her country. Then it hit me. Galbrecht has just reached a legendary class. Now that they were mates, she was afraid of becoming the inferior part of the relationship.

Playing on that I said, “You know with the power I could grant you, you could even keep up with Galbrecht.”

Cami elbowed me. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but it was one of the ways she said she’d let me know I was violating some human taboo.

“Enough of this,” Lisella said. “We aren’t trying to control you but we aren’t going to become your minions now. Once you have completed your training and have a better perspective on things, who knows. You’ll probably find some adventurers who are interested. I wouldn’t be able to because I’m already sworn to Miseria.”

I frowned. I had liked the idea of having a princess for a minion, but she was probably right. Then I smiled. Maybe I could find another princess to claim as a minion. I was going to be traveling the world to meet other dragons. Yes. I liked that idea a lot.