Mature Content Warning: Graphic language in my author rant. I also refuse to answer any negative comments regarding it because I am honestly tired of this crap. Thank you.

Author's Notes: My departure for the weekend is slightly delayed so I managed to write up another chapter segment. Before we begin, however, I need to address a few things that have come close to making me take this story down from this site altogether. I have no issue with complaints or negative criticism. I find them highly useful and constructive if they are about the story and certain things that I might have missed. However, I do not like personal attack against my character based on a story that I am writing.

There is a lengthy rant that follows. I put it in a spoiler tag, so I don't offend people that would rather just read without my half-restrained annoyance and growing frustration ruining their fun.

Spoiler :

I do not take kindly to insinuations that I am 'trolling' people, or 'don't know what I am doing, or deliberately misleading people. This damned story was plotted out MONTHS ago, MONTHS AGO. Every major and minor revelation. Every plot point. Damn near every conversation.. MONTHS AGO.

A few reminders so that I don't have to repeat myself... repeatedly, about things that should be obvious. Only 11 days have passed during this story. Further, I plotted this story out MONTHS AGO. Remember how I said that?

I already know where everything in this volume at least, is going to go. I tested out the 'game system' repeatedly and it is not imbalanced or broken. Period. It is extremely balanced and focuses entirely on effort versus reward.

Yes, a simple garden variety human can undergo extreme hell-like training and be able to defeat mythic monsters and lesser gods if they can survive long enough to reach that level. Most would have trouble just fighting another normal human being a few levels higher. The harder and more successfully you train, the stronger you are. Everything follows this rule. A lazy demi-god can get killed by an extremely well-trained human.

The MC is a hatchling, a BABY dragon. He is also low-level at this time. Comparing what he is now to what he would be as an adult then blatantly acting like I misled people is like complaining that infant Bruce Wayne can't drive the bat mobile or take out the entire Justice League just because his adult version has done so.

Yes, there are plenty of creatures human and otherwise who can hand him his ass on a platter. Further...

No, Sonja's stats are not extreme uber epic beyond the pale. No, the one who beat her did not need to be some uber superhuman endboss of evil incarnate with a billion stat points. Normal skill progression and leveling dictates that he could have easily been some level 30 guy who trains excessively and has good equipment, or a level 50 scrub warrior with decent gear. You know.. levels.. skills.. those things that let people NOT BE CRUSHED by monsters?

She can be equal to a level 30 human warrior at level 10ish, but that doesn't mean that some level 40 town guard could not have beaten the snot out of her. The same is true with the MC. He has base stats several times higher than a human could possibly have at HIS LEVEL, but a single town guard could gut him like a trout.

It irritates me when people act like I've ruined the story, or insinuate that I am some sort of lying scumbag, just because the main character who has only had 11 days of real world time, and roughly one month of active dream time, Can't be so much more powerful than everything that lives. He is not an epic level 700 monster that blots out the sun. He works retail and has been struggling to learn the basics since he did not grow up in a fantasy world.

I am TIRED of this sort of thing coming up, repeatedly. If you do not like this story and it offends you so damned much that the MC has to actually WORK for what he gets. For both our sakes, STOP READING IT. That will allow others who do enjoy it to do so, instead of me getting annoyed and frustrated to the point that I just take down every story that I am writing on this site altogether and only release it on Amazon when they are done. I get this so often from so many different directions that I have begun to wonder why I bother to even continue to post an update.

If this offends anyone, good I am highly offended myself right now and sleeping on it overnight did not help.

Chapter 18.2: Basic Training - Valkyrie Booty Camp

Time had passed while they trained and worked to help Blackthorne develop his basic skills. Throughout the night they had hunted and once Sonja had gone to sleep, Scott had taken a step outside of town then headed back into the deep grasslands.

He did not need to sleep in this world unless he was injured or extremely tired. His body in this world received plenty of rest when he was awake on Earth. He was uncertain how that worked, but he had accepted it.

His sword mastery had risen five levels due to training and another level during their long hunt. At some point, Sonja had assured him, simple training with wooden dummies would only allow his skills to advance at a crawling pace. While fighting monsters did not increase it as fast at the moment, it would be consistent at least.

His training now did not focus on the blade, however. While his training instructor slept, he opted to practice his magic.

Another jolt spell flew from his fingers and an onion screamed out its death cry. In order to train both his dark magic and his heavy armor skill, he had opted to head out into the wilderness and kill onions and other weak monsters in the area.

Over a dozen of the large orange looking monsters raced toward him under the light of the moon. He never unsheathed his sword. He would not allow himself to use it. In order to train his defensive abilities he had to avoid attacks or take the hit. Heavy armor worked best by taking and deflecting hits, so, he had to withstand the force of his opponent’s blows.

Blackthorne leaned to the left to avoid the leaping assault of one overly large onion then quickly lashed out with his fist when another came toward him through the air. He had no unarmed combat skill but he intended to learn it. Blackthorne had realized something crucial during his training with Sonja.

The Valkyrie had not said anything specific, but one off-hand remark from her had settled in his brain. She had to be careful when she wielded weak swords. She was strong enough to break them when she used them.

He had taken that information to heart. Would there come a time when he was simply too strong to wield a weapon? He was a dragon, as well. Unarmed martial arts practice would be a good thing to learn. At the moment he chose to only learn to use his fists and to practice his footwork.

His attacks were not that strong, but he mostly used his fists or feet to keep the onions back while he chanted his spell. This kept them from dying quickly and allowed him to finish each monster with a few casts of his spell.

This manner of fighting was difficult, but he felt like he had learned a lot. The onions could hurt him a bit with each attack, but when the damage started to pile up he would begin to kick and punch his way through them then race outward from their position reach a point outside of their influence. He also did this if one of their biological attacks managed to hit. He could resist them most of the time, but he still had to deal with that disabling attack now and then.

Tiny arcs of dark lightning shot out of his fingers as he finished casting his Jolt spell once more. An onion screamed in the darkness then hopped away, momentarily confused and afraid.

“I need to train more. This thing is little more than a Taser to most monsters.” Sure, he could kill a zombie with it in one or two hits, but they were weak to magic. He did not want to gain levels right now, only increase his skill.

From everything that he had heard from Sonja, race level influenced how quickly skills could be learned. However, it also set the modifiers for skill-development in regards to difficulty, rather combat abilities needed to be used against opponents of equal or greater level to develop at a steady pace once a certain minimum is meant.

A higher race level meant that he could train his skills faster, but he would have to fight monsters of a similar level to make use of that. Given how low his skills were compared to even an average human of his level, he would have started to have a severe problem soon.

“Cry for me!” cried out a pumpkin sized onion. A wave of debilitating force washed over Blackthorne flinched and felt his vision start to blur. He had not received the full effect, but he did begin to cry.

“Shit!” he ran away from the area for a moment and then waited for the onions to catch up to him. As soon as they did, he ran back through them to their original position. He continued to play tag with the handful of remaining monsters until the effect wore off.

As he ran back and forth, his conjured wisp floated along with soft murmurs and moans. It illuminated the night, but gave off an eerie illumination that made the entire battle feel more like a scene from a horror movie rather than a typical fight.

Scott called out his spell in order to shock his closest opponent then felt several onions slam into him from multiple directions. His equipment deadened most of the damage, but he could feel the impacts through his armor.

He drew on the mana of the grassland and began to cast his spell again. He continued to hold mana as he cast, and as soon as he finished blasting one onion, he turned and began his spell again. He had done this several times that night. As his ability to generate mana and to sense it had increased, he could draw a little more mana from the environment. An increase in his spirit as a result of the skill increases helped even further.

Before he had started to train in earnest, he could cast only once per jolt spell. Now he could manage two, sometimes three casts per mana draw. At the rate he was going, he might even be able to safely learn one of the weaker spells from his book in another week or so. There were not many spells, it was more theory and ceremonial conjuring than actual spells, but there were a few to work on.

The vitality cost for anything but his weak basic spells were quite a bit higher. His innate dragon magic spell was the most basic thing that he had for that class of magic and it required several times the vitality of jolt. Wisp cost slightly more.

Spell-work, according to the book, was dangerous. When you first learn a spell there was a high chance of doing it wrong and that could be a problem. A weak spell might only injure or curse the caster, but a stronger spell could outright kill the one who miscast. That was one reason why skill points were vital.

Once a spell was learned to a moderate level of mastery, the caster could learn it as an official spell and cast it without issue. Any spells not on his official spell list would have a very high chance of failure if his concentration slipped in any way.

Blackthorne span to the left then launched a strong, but far from skillful, punch that caught a flying onion dead-center. It was knocked back and landed with a hard thump, but had received little damage.

Several more onions slammed into his chest and thighs and he weathered their attacks before he launched another series of punches and kicks. Another jolt spell flashed out and he finished off one of his attackers.

Three quick impacts told him that the onions had taken offense to the death of their compatriot, but he chose to disregard their anger. Instead, he offered them a chance to join their companion in his stew pot.

The battle dragged on for the better part of an hour from its start to its completion. In that time Blackthorne had only fought and defeated fourteen of the large orange colored onions, but he had gained two things of vital importance. His magical skills in general had increased by one or two levels, and he had finally gained another level of skill in armor. He chose to check his skills and stats to see how everything had changed.

<<< Status >>>

Name: Scott Blackthorne

Race: Mahorela Abaivonin

Title: Gentleman of Darkness

Level: 7 [Hatchling] Skill Points: 88

Vitality: 155[155]

Weapon Attack: 77[77]

Durability: 112[112]

Speed: 61[61]

Spirit: 259[259]

>>

<<< Skills >>>

Primary

Dark Magic Level 13

Conjuration Level 3

Mahorela Abaivonin Magic Level 1

Mana Sense Level 13

Mana Manipulation Level 5

Metamorphosis Level 4

Secondary

Heavy Armor Usage Level 4

Sword Mastery Level 10

Ring Mastery Level 1

Tertiary

Synergy Level 6

Jewelry Crafting Level 5

Enchanting Level 4

Mystic Chemistry Level 1

>>

“Hmm...A long way to go, still.” Blackthorne closed down his information windows then collected his spoils of war. He found two large vita stones, but little else besides onion chunks.

“I think I’ll train here for a while.” he said.

Blackthorne chose to start with conjuration, as his dark magic skill was a bit higher. He could not train his current dragon magic without something to cast the spell on, so he was limited in that regard. Either he would need to find more undead to fight, or he would have to wait for the zombies to respawn properly. That would take at least a month, if not longer, of time in this world.

Of course, that type of magic was racial in nature also related to his age and level so there was a possibility that he would be able to learn something new at some point soon. In a way, it was like how a monster learned magic. Their level increased and they gained a new ability. He could learn more spells, but he currently had no access to any sort of Mahorela Abaivonin magical knowledge other than what any of his kin would learn naturally.

Blackthorne dismissed his wisp then immediately conjured it again. The act of having it remain active increased his skill slightly, but conjuring it up and dismissing it increased his skill further. If he wanted to be able to safely summon higher grade creatures, he would need to increase his spirit and conjuration, so this was a good way to start in his eyes.

For the better part of an hour, he wandered the grassland. He would draw vitality from the grass and use it to create mana. The mana was just enough to summon his wisp. Three of his magical skills were trained simultaneously by working in this manner and he had soon increased his levels once more.

Conjuration could not be learned as fast as dark magic, but he had still managed to increase his level twice and acquired another level in both sensing and generating mana. His spirit stat increased by twelve points once more and his smiled. He would need to take a break from magical training, as he could feel a headache start to form.

“Time to find meat for my pot.” he said lightly. He took his sweet time while searching for prey, if he rushed out it might be a problem since he wanted his headache to clear up a bit first.

His next opponents were a group of leapers. The wanna-be Jurassic Park rejects hit a lot harder than the onions, and did so with greater frequency. They did not have any particularly special skills other than their leaping attack, and despite their greater attack strength they were actually safer to fight than the onions.

Blackthorne caught a leaper mid-leap then span with it and threw it against one of its friends. The impact did little damage, but it was fun! He started to do that as frequently as he could. His armor limited him slightly in regards to range of motion, but he moved with enough strength and agility that he could manage it at times.

Damage piled up as he took multiple hits, but that was fine. The attack strength of the leapers was higher than an onion, but neither was good enough to do much to him now that he had his new armor. They were great opponents for learning to dance and weave through battle, though he did need to find humanoid opponents soon if he wanted to develop his defensive and offensive melee combat skills to a greater degree.

He eventually defeated his leaping lizard foes and carved up the bodies for parts. Blackthorne frowned afterward. What should he do now? If he continued his magical training at this point, it would lead him to develop a debilitating headache that might make it impossible to do anything, much less train.

“Well, let’s take a break and eat.” he looked around then noticed a small hill that rose up out of the grassy plain.

He smiled at the landmark then headed toward it to have a seat. No monsters appeared within his range of sensing life energy so; he relaxed and took out several sandwiches and a hunk of seasoned meat. Blackthorne devoured his meal then allowed his transformation to lapse.

The little black dragon looked up at the moon then sighed happily. He was a little tired, and his head hurt, but at this rate he would be able to develop his skills to a reasonable level soon.

Many thoughts crossed his mind. How long would it take before he grew? Was Sonja sleeping? Should he continue to wait for reallocation before he spends his skill points?

Blackthorne thought of many things and a few of those many things still confused him. Still, life had certainly become a lot more interesting in recent days. He felt a wistful sigh rise up inside him, however. There was one thing that he did need to come to terms with in the near future.

“After my skills reach the minimum, I really need to try and get Sonja home.” he said after a moment. She was a good girl at heart and she deserved to be with her people.

***