A Dragon's Curiosity

Whenever the dragon usually rested for the night, her mind would stay active and the incarnation of her mental strength roamed her [Inner World].

For the first time in a while, Nisha slept soundly and did not keep up her mental awareness, sinking deeply into a dream.

The shackles on her body had been broken down and her advancement safely concluded, which led her entire body to relax and rest from the exertion.

Deep in her dream, the elf floated in a similar monochrome space, but there was no longer a peculiar attraction guiding her.

Rather than a foreign space, it was closer to a mental landscape where the elf was the ruler of all changes.

Spurred by the third drop of blood essence, a gloomy creature crawled out of the void, lurking behind a veil of concentrated darkness.

It was covered in warped scales, twisted into sharp spikes that gleamed with a dangerous light.

Due to its nature, the large lizard had degenerated and had bony wings, incapable of flight.

Wary of being exposed, the shadow dragon skulked forward and curled up to avoid the sight of others.

If it was startled at all, it would brandish the long and sharp claws dripping with poison.

As a hunter in the dark, the beast was not a fighter or capable in combat.

Once the unaware victim it stalked was careless and failed to notice the threat hidden nearby, the shadow dragon would pounce and go straight for the kill with poison claws and fangs, injecting lethal venom straight into the neck or chest of its prey.

A straight fight was foolishness in its eyes, since a single opening was enough to decide the life and death for it.

Instinctively, Nisha recognized the dusky creature as the representation of her darkness attribute.

If she was born with a single attribute, the hostile and dark beast might have been her current appearance.

Nevertheless, she was not dissatisfied with that outcome.

As a hunter, she acknowledged the effectiveness of striking out of the shadows and stalking prey.

She did not deny that part of herself.

As the dark dragon coiled into a ball and hid in a shadow, the colorless world lit up with a fiery glow, driving away the subtle shadows that appeared with the first beast.

Like the sun rising in the morning, a fierce flame heralded the arrival of another dragon.

Roaring with fierce fighting intent, another creature proudly entered the space.

Compared to the first one, this lizard had pride etched deep into its bones.

The elf could not imagine that anyone could convince it to lower its head, not even when threatened with death.

Sauntering forward, the stocky build of the beast was quite different.

Heavy armor plates covered the orange skin of the dragon, whereas the muscles beneath them made the beast bulky and threatening.

Rather than hunting from the shadows, the fierce dragon refused to back down from any challenge, meeting any challenger head to head.

A spiked and similarly armored tail swayed behind it, a devastating weapon that the fire dragon would not hesitate to use in an all out brawl.

While it still had heavy and sharp claws - suitable to pry apart an enemies’ armor and gouge their flesh - it lacked the venom and spiky teeth.

Nevertheless, that did not mean it was not less lethal in a fight than the shadow dragon.

The armor and muscles complemented a perfect physique, while the spiked tail represented a devastating weapon, giving the beast a complete set of abilities.

Furthermore, the intense fire burning inside it worked similar to a blazing furnace.

With fire coursing through its veins, it feared neither fatigue nor wounds, as resistance only excited it more.

Raising its head, the fire dragon roared with delight and spread its wings, showcasing the leathery wings inherent to dragon bloodlines.

Whether it was land, water or the air, no battlefield was inconvenient for the beast.

Once the howl subsided, it breathed in deeply and released a [Fire Breath], spouting a huge gout of flame.

Much the same as the shadow dragon, the elf acknowledged the second appearance as a manifestation of her fire dragon heritage.

This was another future that would have been possible if the dragon had only a single talent in an element.

Compared to the shadowy hunter, she felt more proud about the unyielding confidence and mighty build, acknowledging the aspect of her being.

Each dragon aspect occupied one side of the monochrome space, snarling and posturing against the other.

They each represented certain aspects pertaining to their element, making them almost opposites.

For Nisha, it was a great opportunity to practice introspective and accept that she had elements that she had yet to explore and accept as herself.

As she wondered how to reconcile those diverging aspects, the elf noticed that golden lines split from her dream body, at first fine silken threads, then in increasingly thick strands.

Since two of the three elements that she was adept in already appeared, the girl did not need to guess which of the three manifested now.

Life energy generally displayed itself as a bright white light, whereas death energy turned dark and wispy - quite an overlap with light and dark elements.

Even so, when both distinct variations combined, a rich golden color unique to the life and death element was generated.

With each strand that left her body, the two aspects got dyed in a glowing sheen, drawing closer to each other.

Neither the proud fire beast nor the shadowy hunter resisted the pull, although they glared at each other.

What one of them considered a strength was the weakness of the other and vice versa.

Seeing their distinct distaste for each other, the elf suddenly thought about the two concepts, [Midnight] and [Solar Flare].

They belonged to different elements and covered different principles, yet their contrast worked similar to the distinction between the two dragon beasts.

As incompatible as they were, a faint connection existed between them nonetheless.

Suddenly, a spark of inspiration came to the girl.

This time, she had neither the guidance of a mysterious inheritance nor the support of natural laws turned into runes, but the underlying insight still existed inside her mind.

From the contrast between great force and returning to nothingness, a great power originated.

Due to the golden threads, the two dragon silhouettes eventually merged into a single entity, complementing each other's strength and compensating for the weaknesses.

Furthermore, the strong life force of the golden bands added its own peculiarities to the final iteration.

Inside the unknown space, the shadows and fiery clouds subsided as the image spread its wings.

It was neither as prideful as the fire dragon nor as averse to being in the open as the shadow dragon, yet it still carried itself with undeniable dignity.

Sleek and mighty limbs gave the compact body a robust feeling, while the long tail lost the armor and kept a bone tip.

Teardrop shaped scales covered the entire body - rather than fortified armor plates, the flexible shape gave comprehensive defense without sacrificing mobility.

Nonetheless, the tip of each scale arced upwards into a sharp point, signaling everyone that it was not a soft persimmon to be stepped on.

On its back, two large leathery wings swayed in the air, ready to lift the dragon into the air with ease.

The claws and teeth gleamed with a pearly sheen, deadly yet beautiful weapons of death.

Instead of being coated with poison, only two canines retained a poison channel.

Strong paralytic poison - suitable to incapacitate prey and opponents - lost most of its lethality but gained more utility in more diverse situations.

On top of the dragon head, ivory white horns split into four sections and curled around its head, adding a regal disposition to its dignity.

Starting from the base of its neck, the golden threads turned into a weaved band of bright life threads and dark death fibers, creating shining pathways that travelled along the body and limbs of the dragon.

They looked condensed and solid on the surface, but as the ruler of the space, Nisha observed how the interaction between the light and darkness hidden in the bands extended new lines of power, connecting to each piece of scale, each blood vessel and each bone inside the body, empowering it and changing it for the better.

Rather than basing its body on the characteristics of a dragon from the life and death element, Nisha borrowed the bloodlines of her other two elements and layered her own attributes on top of that.

Finally, the elf gazed at the eyes of her mirror, which had been shut until now.

She did not have to guess what they looked like.

Just as the dragon had guessed, her counterpart opened its eyes and revealed two dark pupils, with a golden ring running around the iris - they were Nisha’s own eyes!

As soon as she looked into them, the girl awoke from her dream.

Outside, the sun began to rise already, it was morning.

Nisha laid on her back and stared at the ceiling in a daze for a moment.

After her advancement to the fourth rank, an unexpected incident happened midway - thankfully, the entire adventure still concluded safely.

Especially the restriction that had appeared on her body without rhyme or reason, it gave the dragon a new mystery to solve, albeit one with scarce clues.

Stretching her hands and letting a big yawn escape, Nisha stood up in one fluid motion.

It was only afterwards that she noticed how fluid the motion was and how effortless.

Normally, the transformed dragon did not act clumsily or slowly at all, it would not be an understatement to say that she was one of the more athletic students at the [Royal Academy].

Her strength was greater than any of her peers and she was faster than the warriors of the same rank as well.

Even so, Nisha never experienced this feeling of connectedness and balance, where she was in control of every single muscle in her body.

Prompted by the newfound control, the elf balanced on the toes of her left foot, then she bowed down at the same time.

No matter how she moved, her body always remained in harmony and did not even come close to tipping over.

With the restriction on her body, she never experienced any discomfort, yet the elf could not believe how she ever felt at ease under such limitations.

It was as if countless threads had bound her body before, making each movement a little too short or far to achieve proper equilibrium.

But without the hindrances, her moves yielded twice the result with half the effort, a wondrous sensation hard to describe.

While moving through the different forms to confirm the situation of her newly advanced physique, it finally dawned on Nisha that the surroundings were somewhat odd.

Before starting to break through, she sat on her bed to meditate.

Now that she looked at the room closely, hardly anything was left of the piece of furniture.

Although a few splinters of wood survived, the bedding and most of the wooden frame got entirely annihilated while the floor and the wall where the bed stood had deep grooves carved into them.

The elf did not realize that she woke up on the ground, which made her quite puzzled about what had happened to her resting place.

Upon closer inspection, the damage to the wall and floor had distinct patterns to it, with long splatters eating away at them.

Inspecting her clothes, the dragon finally figured out the cause of the destruction.

When her flesh split apart under the stress from the restriction fighting against the [Dragon Force], blood spurted out.

Mixed with powerful fire and dark energy, the mana and aura destroyed the surroundings until it ran out of power and dissipated.

Looking around, Little Lia had long evacuated into a corner of the room and underwent a round of advancement of her own, with a potent aura surging through her fur.

She left the wolf to her own devices and retrieved a new dress and garments from her [Inner World], quickly dressing herself up.

Quietly closing the door to avoid startling the door, Nisha caught a maid cleaning the corridor outside.

“There has been a slight accident in my room. Please get someone to clean up later.”

Carefully maintaining a neutral face, the girl managed to avoid giving away the true state of the situation she described.

“Yes, young lady.”

The maid bowed and was blissfully unaware of  the task she just accepted.

Nodding her head, Nisha left the building and then the Dharnas estate, heading towards the Dungeon.

It was time to test her new cultivation base.

Meanwhile, the maid finished her current chore and entered the young lady’s room.

Upon seeing the mess in the corner of the room, her chin fell on her chest.

“Oh no. No way I’m cleaning this up alone.”

After finding her voice again, she strongly shook her head left and right before leaving to find Galan.

It was better for the head butler to worry about this instead of herself.