The barrier around the mountain was lowered now that the egg was back, and the Dragons flooded out over the slopes and the surrounding forests, looking for someone to vent their anger and boredom on.
Cain sincerely hoped that there were no innocents in the forest at the moment, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. Thousands of Dragons had poured out of the city, and they would be swarming everywhere.
If the intruders were smart, they would have begun to run the moment that they saw the spectacle so that they wouldn't have to learn what it was all about firsthand, but you never really knew when it came to humans. Some of them might even try to approach an angry dragon to find out what it is mad about.
Death by trying to pet unpettable things was just an occupational hazard of being a human.
An hour after the dragons left in a wave, one of the black dragons returned with an overjoyed fuzzy hatchling and a terrified human in its claws.
The hatchling was a Swamp Dragon, which couldn't fly until it was a little more grown, and the way it had its tail wrapped around the human meant that they weren't strangers. Well, that or the Dragon had a personality like Luna and would cuddle anything that didn't run away.
"Mistress, I found this human trying to steal a hatchling." The dragon informed the Divine Black Dragon.
"Interesting. Set them down. I will ask the questions." She agreed.
The human was about to speak, but Cain clapped a hand over his mouth, signaling him to be silent.
"Little one, what were you doing with the human?" She asked.
The swamp dragon got overly excited, and the first few words were gibberish accompanied by hand waving, but then it got itself under control a little.
"I found a pet human as soon as I hatched, and he is going to take me to see lots of other mountains. He gives me meat and something called a hammock, which is up in the air like I'm flying while I sleep." The hatchling informed her, speaking Draconic.
"Where is your mother?" The black dragon asked.
"Dunno. She hasn't been back to the nest since I became aware. But now that I'm out, me and the human can go on an adventure." The Dragon insisted.
The dragons in the area were smiling at its exuberance, and it was clear that while the man might have stolen the hatchling from its nest, he didn't seem to have bad intentions for it.
"When did you find the human? How long after you hatched?" She asked.
"Three nights. I went down to the open part of the swamp to find better fish, but I found a human with fire and meat. He looked a bit frightened when I stole his lunch, but he didn't get mad or anything. At least, not after I offered him a fish to replace it."
Swamp Dragons' breath was a poisonous cloud, they couldn't cook anything without using fire magic or an actual fire, and the hatchling hadn't learned to do either of them yet.
"Does he know things you want to learn?" The Matriarch asked.
"He can use shadow skills to sneak up on the meat, and that is really cool. Look, I can do it now too." The little swamp dragon replied, then created a zone of darkness around itself.
"Not bad for a hatchling. I will approve of your match for now. Just tell any other dragon if he isn't treating you well, and we will take you back here to the city to finish your training among your own kind.
My guard will take you out to the edge of the forest, so you don't get hunted by the others. The humans have stolen many eggs from us, and we are hunting the thieves down."
"Thieves? I hate thieves. Especially seagulls. Fuck seagulls. If I see a thieving human, I will eat them." The swamp dragon declared.
"That's the spirit. Now, enjoy your flight." The Matriarch told him.
"She says that you've been deemed not an egg thief. They will take you outside the forest with your new owner, and you can continue your travels." Cain informed the terrified human, who had only heard a collection of roaring and huffs.
"Wait, my new owner? I thought we were partners." The cultivator declared as the black dragon guardian grabbed the two of them and flew away, leaving a room full of laughing dragons in their wake.
"You know, he's going to worry about that for years, thinking that the Swamp Dragon really does view him as property." The Matriarch laughed.
"If he doesn't tell it otherwise, it's going to view him as a pet, so really, it's not that much different," Cain replied, bringing another round of laughter to the room.
Tena and her instructor were the first to return to the main hall, smiling happily, with the Deity guarding her like a precious treasure.
"We found a loophole in the blessing that has been placed on her." The man declared proudly.
He must mean that they found a new class option.
"Let's see it then. The others are all out, and I could use some entertainment. One of the other Gold Dragons declared.
"Go on, show them the new skill." The old man urged Tena, who smiled at Cain, then abruptly transformed into a Golden Dragon whelp.
Cain took the time to check her status to see what the change was called.
[Name] Tena
[Class] Golden Dragonblessed
Not a bad choice at all, as Cain looked through her skills. She could transform into a Golden Dragon for an indefinite time, with the size being based on her age, which was based on her current human form, making her barely more than a hatchling in the dragons' eyes. She also had a large number of Light Abilities, as well as dragon form Combat skills.
"But can she fly?" The oldest of the actual Golden Dragons asked.
Tena gave a short hop straight up to give her wings room to cycle and began to slowly fly her way around the room, slightly wobbly and uncoordinated in the way of hatchlings everywhere.
"Impressive. Who gave her a blessing that would let her learn a skill like that?" The dragon asked, looking directly at Cain, who was an Ancient, but containing a Dragon's Core.
"Not me. Well, sort of me. But mostly as a result of the one who blessed me to be able to grant that blessing to others." Cain tried to explain, unsure how to do it without actually mentioning the pantheon of the Creators.
"Oh, the ones whose names must not be spoken. I understand now. It makes sense that their peculiar forms of entertainment would have been passed down to their Ancients.
But did you notice that something is happening to your Core?" The dragon asked.
Cain checked his logs quickly to make sure nothing had gone wrong.
The last message he had was [Quest Experience Gained. Core Integration Complete.]
"It looks like it finally finished integrating into my body properly. It was a gift from them, and I came to this world in order to merge with it and not upset the balance of the world that I came from." Cain explained.
"Integrate with a Dragon Core? What an interesting way to achieve Divinity. Did you know that this one was still damaged? No, of course, you did. The Matriarch must have noticed the first time you met. Do you think we should fix it for him, Divine One? Or should we wait for his patron to send him on a mission to do it himself?" The Golden Dragon asked.
"I will do it for him. I promised him I would if he found my egg for me, and he is the one that brought my beloved daughter back to me." The Black Dragon Matriarch informed him.
"Interesting. Can you do it here in the open? I think we all want to see what happens when an Ancient on the verge of True Immortality makes the Awakening with a Dragon Core in his body instead of an Arcane Magic Core." The dragon requested.
Cain could do that at any point now since it was a Class skill, and he met all of the requirements as soon as the core had been integrated with his body. The advancement would also complete his class, which should give him either a new class option or more skills for this current one, as had happened when he reached the Spirit Realm and unlocked the Immortal Awakening option.
It had been quite a while since Cain had considered advancing his own class, and at this point, he wondered where he could even go from here. He was far more powerful than any Spirit Rank being had any right to be, and the advancement to Immortal would let him use [Versatility] to bring all of his skills up another rank.
He could call on thousands of summons already, and certain skills were far beyond what was socially acceptable for an Immortal to show off. An army of Immortal Seraphim? That would likely offend more than a few light Sects if he used them as servants in public. It would be even worse if it were an army of demons.
"Would you like me to allow the advancement to complete to Immortality so that you can work on the Core without the restraints currently placed on it?" Cain asked the Matriarch.
"Yes, please do. I really want to see what happens."
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