(This chapter was uploaded on Saturday 12/October/2024 5:00 PM, timezone GMT+3)
('1), ('2), ('3), etc. means that there is some explaining for the thing in the chapter's footnotes.
"..." small moment of silence.
"Talking"
[Different Language Dialogue (Different from the language of the PoV)] (What language it is: Accent if necessary)
"He-" Someone was interrupted.
'Inner Dialogue'
{Skills' names, chanting, spell keys and spells' names}
(PoV)
(Flashback, including the text)
Don't shy from commenting on typos and/or inconsistencies. That and/or suggesting a modification to certain things that didn't make sense to you.
I hope you enjoy reading this chapter.
(Line Break)
(3rd person PoV)
It was early in the morning, when a certain tyrant of the ancient forest took a stroll to where it usually found its preferred prey herbivores.
While on its way, passing through section 7 of the forest, the tyrant's thundering footsteps halted as its mind felt a gaze. Although it sniffed its surroundings, the tyrant smelled no lifeform nearby it, nor did it see them. But the gaze still persisted.
In a confusion-induced discomfort, the tyrant decided to burn the area around it with its scorching fire breath. Unfortunately for it, the moment it opened its moth to breath in some air to use in the breath, it sucked in some special volume of air.
As its last inhale settled in its lungs, it plugged its windpipe and refused to open it. And as the tyrant started writhing in pain of suffocation, its lungs felt a stinging pain as blood started leaking into them painfully slowly.
Though unfortunately injured, the tyrant's lungs still functioned enough to fight back. And since fire breathing is punished, the tyrant figured out that it should not try that until its hidden enemy is defeated.
The tyrant could not roar with the blood it coughed every time it tried to. But what it could do was look around with its eyes, its very intact eyes.
And as luck would have it, it seems like its eyes were the next target, as an invisible attack reached both at the same time, injuring its corneas and irises, blinding it.
It gurgled on its own blood as it tried to roar in pain, only to have a slew of rocks and stones thrown into its mouth. The tyrant's life as the apex predator who prowls the lands of the ancient forest were threatened.
And just like how its suffering came, it went away. The tyrant was left crippled with blindness and shortness of breath, but it was alive and recovering.
Since its attacker left it alone as it fled back to its nest, relying solely on its senses of hearing and smell and its familiarity with the path it took, the tyrant decided to abide its time to recover and kill this invisible opponent some other time.
(In Astera)
"And that's what happened" Nephelont finished as he explained their mission's results to the person who was assigned to them.
"Then, what about taking a look at the Plesioth we caught for you? We managed to bring you two young Plesioth. Complications prevented us from recovering the rest" Their assigned handler guided them to the docks, where a Plesioth was getting butchered after the previous one was done.
"A strong monster in the vicinity?" Nephelont asked before eating the half-grown Plesioth, leaving the fully-grown one to Eucleia.
"Yes, actually. Plesioth, as I think you assumed by now, are quite big" The Ecological Researcher said.
Eucleia took a chunk out of hers and stuffed it down Nephelont's throat, nearly choking him.
[You also need it, Bunbun. Don't put yourself at a disadvantage just to make sure Clea's safe. Or did you forget? My arcanum isn't sealed here!] (Koine) Eucleia rubbed her neck on his before returning to her own food.
[Sorry, I forgot that. Years of getting used to you not using arcanum made me conditioned to prioritize you, my Clea] (Koine) Nephelont said as he mentally guided the growth to take the Plesioth's gills.
Slowly, both Nephelont and Eucleia felt their necks developing two sets of gills. Two pairs of gill slits were right behind the head while another two pairs were at the base of the neck, but not on the shoulder. While that happened outwardly, Nephelont felt his blood start flowing in a different pattern, accommodating for his new gills. Nephelont and Eucleia wriggled violently to shake off the itch covering their necks.
"Interesting! To think you'd develop them this quickly!" The assistant researcher said as he approached. He informed the pair of today's meeting with the Ecological Researcher.
(In another dimension)
"Hmm? The main body gained another ability?" Nephelont's specter wondered as he saw the necks of the children develop unusual slits. "Gust, any idea?" The specter asked as he monitored Agni's training, a way to ingrain in her memory that she should not use force for certain things. 'Maybe if he was that type of person, but Fumi isn't that type of person'
"I think I vaguely could guess what this feeling is" Augustus said as he felt the gill slits with his fingers, his expression serious. "I feel the same feeling of suffocation from these as with my lungs. If my guess is right, these are the same type of respiratory organ as the lungs. But what are they? What are we able to breath beside air? Are these perhaps gills? That seems like the first thing one would want to think of, and it would mean that we are now able to breath underwater" Augustus let slip a monologue of analytic thoughts. He then abruptly stopped and smiled, uncharacteristic of him since he inherited Ais' naturally stoic expression.
"Dad is alive, right?" Thumper timidly asked while pulling on Augustus' sleeve.
"I have every reason to believe that he lives, indeed. Mother also lives with him, if he is moving around gathering abilities" Augustus said. He both liked and resented how their family dynamics worked. It was such that Nephelont and Eucleia could barely function if they were not sure of the other's safety and well-being.
"Huh? Haven't you been able to feel it, though?" Agni asked, puzzled. "If I wanted to, at any given moment, I could feel their presence behind the dimensional wall from all the way over here"
"Agni, less talking, more training. Or maybe I should spar with you?" Nephelont specter glared at Agni threateningly.
"Bring it on! Old man!" Agni welcomed it and was promptly stomped throughout their short spar.
"And y... you aren't even the.... real thing..."Battered and tired, Agni made her last statement before passing out.
"You are catching up, Agni. You will soon catch up to my main body" Nephelont's specter smiled as he balled a fist. 'Status windows are Falna-level cheats. I wish we had one like this world's own'
(Back in Astera)
(3rd person PoV)
[And why shouldn't we?] (Koine) Nephelont cocked his head in confusion. [We were playing just fine, like, a couple of days ago] (Koine)
[Clea doesn't want to act like an immature child. Clea believes that her regression to childish behavior was due to Clea's current physical age] (Koine) Eucleia pouted as she put her head on her arms, tucked away from Nephelont, embarrassed by her more childish thoughts, the ones she repressed, resurfacing.
[And I enjoyed our unfair chase, too] (Koine) Nephelont whined, indirectly teasing Eucleia about how she cheated using her arcanum. That did the trick, and she started running after him, vengeance clear in her eyes. This time, Eucleia did not use her arcanum and was unable to catch him until he ran out of stamina, making her also almost collapse like he did.
"Where are they?" Someone on a lower platform asked about Nephelont and Eucleia, who shrunk down as not to destroy the town during their chase.
"Here!" Someone besides them screamed, notifying the assistant researcher of the pair's location.
"Tell them to come over to the ecological research area!" The assistant researcher shouted back.
"Heard loud and clear" Nephelont said as he picked himself up with what little energy he recovered as he and Eucleia laid down.
[Bunbun, should I use my arcanum to recover your lost stamina?] (Koine) Eucleia asked, not wanting to let him be inconvenienced with the result of her outburst.
[If you want to. I wouldn't mind my beautiful wife lending me a hand] (Koine) Nephelont said, making Eucleia feel a bit flustered. In retaliation, she poured in an excess of her arcanum, giving him some overload of energy, an intoxicating comfort.
[Thanks. I would rather not receive this amount of it again] (Koine) Nephelont said, wobbling the first few steps before getting the hang of it and moving like normal.
After a short glide down the structure of the town, and shrinking to the point their weight had no consequential impact on the town's wooden platforms, Nephelont and Eucleia reached the ecological research area. There, they found the Ecological Researcher arranging some blank books and some substantial amount of ink.
'Extra questions, I guess' Nephelont thought.
"I want more information on how your manipulation of light works. Also, I'm curious about one of your claims, about being able to live with humans, though there are no records of any crystal-scaled dragons anywhere in the old world" The Ecological researcher corrected his glasses before continuing. "Of course, I would give you some things in return, the hearts of Mizutsune"
"And by that, you mean what? What type of monster is it? What would we gain from them?" Nephelont asked cautiously.
"Mizutsune are leviathans, water-inhabiting dragons, that have fins to direct themselves with underwater. Those fins provide Mizutsune with good underwater maneuverability" The Ecological Researcher explained.
[My Clea, how do we answer this? Do I tell him how our scales work?] (Koine) Nephelont consulted her. He was giving out information in exchange for a very useful utility to complement their new ability.
[Clea doesn't know. Clea thinks that it should be okay if they were only told about the superficial knowledge regarding light arts] (Koine) Eucleia said.
'Then, I think it's fine to tell him about how it works in very basic and vague terms' Nephelont thought.
"If it is light manipulation, we can do it by expending some energy inside our bodies. We infuse it into our scales to concentrate and redirect light as we please" Nephelont said.
"And what about your claim of coexistence with humans? How did your ancestor hide themselves so well?" The Ecological Researcher asked.
"Like this" And Nephelont obliged and showed him. Nephelont shrunk to the size of a normal human teenager to deliver his point. With Gwyn's aid, he projected his preferred clothes, the white set Eucleia made for him a decade prior.
...
*thud**crack* The Ecological Researcher's glasses fell as he was too stunned to readjust them into place. It was not that Nephelont appeared human that stunned the old man. It was because Nephelont was using his hands and feet perfectly as a human should, no awkwardness whatsoever. Meaning, this was no mere illusion. This was as real as the sapphire star was.
Due to energy consumption through projecting his clothes, Nephelont reverted back to his dragon form to not remain nude afterwards.
"And that's how our species wasn't so easily detected" Nephelont said with a smile that barely showed on his reptilian face.
"..." Eucleia felt envious. She wanted to be able to also bend light into clothing when it was needed. But even after trying so much, she still does not have enough mastery to care for every little detail like Nephelont does with Allen's help, a part of himself, thus him doing it without outside help.
"Sorry for the display" The Ecological Researcher said as he was handed a spare pair of glasses by his assistant. "Will you allow for a simple experiment?"
"?" Nephelont simply stared at him, awaiting further details.
"I want to check if you are any lighter with your size shrunk down" The Ecological Researcher said.
"It is. Short answer's that it is" Nephelont gave him the answer to that experiment directly.
"Definitely Elder Dragon-class. Changing sizes could have been explained by inflating your body. Some dragons and wyverns do that to certain parts of their bodies. But being able to change one's anatomy this drastically at will defies nature in many established fields of knowledge, like the question of where does the mass go when you change sizes, or where it comes from once you return to your original size. That also implies that as your size increases, your weight does too, infinitely. Being able to absorb light is also unnatural. Being able to control the wind is somewhat explainable through strong flaps of your wings. But now that I think about it more, the way you went about it couldn't have been simply a flap of your wings. From the notes, the person you retaliated against got a cut on the back of a gloved hand. Your species would likely be approved as elder dragons as a result of defying the known laws of nature, if only for the ability to manipulate winds finer than Kushala Daora, an elder dragon"
'Neither him nor anyone else should be told about the limitation of what wind we could manipulate, nor how we do it or why we are able to do it' Nephelont thought.
(End of Chapter)
Well, hello again, my dear readers
It's a bit much, but I want you to know that I had not released any chapters for a few weeks because I changed my diet, resulting in my brain objecting heavily.
Jokes aside, the sudden change, both because I want to limit my spending and to improve my health, made my brain come up with ideas slower. I also started to not be sure how to proceed. I had the ideas, even plans for volumes into the story. No, really. I have ideas up to at least 3-4 volumes after this one. And that's not to mention my ideas for the other stories. But the ideas I don't get now are the ones that relate to how to write the core ideas, the details if you may. I find my brain sluggish when faced with creating the smaller details that link the core ideas, what's commonly called 'plot'.
I don't know if my use of the term 'plot' was correct, but that isn't the only important thing. I also had a very persistent case of stubborn. I just insisted on thinking of the little details before writing... a wrong move. I really only needed to write random things and then look them over and trim them to shape.
Now that I'm done excusing myself in vain, we now move to the questions.
What do you think about this chapter?
Did I get some of the Ecological Researcher's character right?
This shift of Eucleia's personality is showing some parts of her childhood character. How do you think it is?
Be well, ladies and gentlemen.