With his breath attack sorted, and utterly stuffed after eating the three snake bodies, he considered finishing up his previous job. Clearly, descending his mental space allowed for utter dominance against bronze tier beasts, and putting it off only allowed his opponents to think up a trap.

Perhaps even inviting their boss from the node tree, in which case he’d have to run from whatever steel tier resided there.

With a bit more thought, he set off to claim dominance over the trees. First seeking out that rather annoying elk, and proving that it stood no chance. In a bit of overconfidence, he believed the enemy held no attack capable of killing him as well.

Approaching as before, he didn’t even bother conversing this time, instead giving a frank ultimatum. “Surrender and join us. Or we can find a new beast to take your place.” He didn’t want to waste time with the other beasts clearly preparing to strike at him.

In fact… they might be rushing over at this very minute as well. His Sky sight barrier showed that they all hung around their trees just a few minutes ago.

“You think it’s so easy to crush us? That reindeer was a fool, but we know better.” He merged with the spirit and took note of mana rushing towards the elk’s head and horns, all of it rapidly consuming mana.

“A psychic innate spell? Not bad,” he stopped walking forward as he said that. Instead switching over to his mental space as the spell neared completion and the mass of psychic energy barreled towards him like an arrow. It rushed towards his mind, currently protected by a lone building.

However, as he prepared to block it with an additional layer of mana, the fearsome looking arrow shattered upon touching his building’s wall. It blocked the spell without even the slightest intervention. Were his mental defences really that strong? This psychic spell was stronger than a Mental blast using 25% of his MP as well.

To think he blocked such a thing. Casually at that…

Once he left the space, the elk’s hostile appearance changed to concern. The dragon’s body and mind appeared in perfect condition and he began to wonder if the spell missed. Not that it mattered.

With a single step the gap between them closed, and the aura-infused claw rubbed against its furred neck. Even if made of ice-cream, the sharpness of aura allowed him to draw blood. Right then, the beast’s life remained in his hands.

“I surrender! I will join your lord.” A moment of shock passed with the elk speaking to save its own skin. It did not know if the offer was still on the table though… Had it just burned that single bridge thinking it could stall the opponent?

Lifting the claw away from the downed elk’s neck, he instead stomped down on one of its legs. The bone didn’t snap but he certainly heard a faint crack. That put its leg out of commission for a few days at least, and he felt the beast needed such a warning for the future.

But he also did so for another reason, as a few sources of mana ran at breakneck speeds towards the tree at the edge of his mana sense.

It was time to see which of the trees would receive new owners this week.

From what he knew, the node tree here had 9 connected mana gatherer trees, in other words 9 beasts he had to either force into submission or kill. And right now, three of them raced towards him with a murderous gaze locked onto their faces.

A sizable lynx with a white frizzle mane, its fur a sleek grey with streaks of blue and white scattered randomly.

The second was a girthy brown boar, its sharpened tusks looked dangerous but the strange green patterns all over its body interested him far more. Just what sort of innate ability did it possess?

And the last one, a one-eyed goat. Its mottled hair contained patches of green all over, but what stood out more, besides the closed eye, was its horns. Curled and speared, almost designed as mana focusers like the so-called ‘infamous race’.

“Excellent! You’re all here. I’ll ask once, will you surrender and join our lord?” He didn’t intend to play around this time, the attacks of three beasts absolutely could pin him down and kill him before dragging out the mental space.

None of the three even bothered laughing though, just running forward whilst activating their innate abilities. The boar filled its tusks with mana, the tips transforming into a reflective black coating, while the lynx suddenly had arcs of lightning jumping about on its fur.

He jumped away to stay safe and quickly cast Lava spear towards the boar, believing it least likely to dodge the attack. In just a few seconds, dodging the lynx’s rapid gain on him, he finished the spell and rushed down the boar in an attempt to stop it. However, attempting to strike it from the side did nothing, as though he pushed against a wall of bricks before rushing away.

Fortunately, its movements were so blatant that his aimed Lava spear struck directly.

The semi-solid spear of lava and flames slammed into the boar’s side, immediately causing it to squeal and roll about in the snow to cool off. Just from a few moments, he saw how the direct hit first cut through its skin and then burst into a magmatic mess to burn and dissolve its body.

If left untreated the boar would die… But as it poured mana into the green markings all over its body, not only did the heat rapidly disperse, but new skin and muscle rapidly grew to replace the wounded chunks. Bits of solidified lava fell out of the closing wound and in seconds it completely healed the damage.

At the extreme cost of losing most of its mana stores that is. No such ability is cheap as a bronze tier beast, but such insane recovery still impressed him. It explained why this boar earned a position at its mana gatherer tree.

All this time, the goat stood to the side and watched the three of them, only once turning to see the elk still lying on the ground with a fractured leg. But as the boar’s healing finally finished, it joined the battle, and the moment it made a move, his eyes immediately darted to see what it would do.

Mana rushed to its horns in two separate flows, this small distraction almost allowed the lynx to strike him. A quick roll away put him outside the attack’s range as an arc of lightning ran across the place he stood moments ago, even worse was the spike of ice which rose up from the ground at the same time.

None of these three beasts were pushovers, and it only illustrated how powerful that reindeer’s mutation was.

“This has been fun, but I don’t like the idea of fighting you three at once.” He didn’t just stand and announce though, already dragging out the mental space once more and dodging one last-second attack from the lynx. One hard tug changed it all though, a mountain appeared above them and immediately knocked out the lynx and boar. “Now we can talk a bit,” he confidently said.

The elk barely held on with its mental defences, but he didn’t understand that goat… How was it still alright?

Additionally, it stopped using its innate abilities as well, having only partially filled the horns with mana. Unlike skills, a spell can be stopped partway with minimal dangers, but even so, that wasted precious mana…

While he looked towards the goat in surprise, its open eye changed to a shaking gaze. No longer vengeful… But truly mad with him?

It screamed out “You dare! You damn beast! Daring to use my lord’s power against me!”

Its closed eye opened.

A white flesh hid within, perfectly intact by all accounts. Only there was no pupil or iris, just a glowing pink light at its centre.

When the dragon peered into the fanatical gaze, he saw hints of purple within that, instantly informing him of the goat’s identity in all this. But he couldn’t afford to talk. As its eyes shook with loyalty and insanity, he knew it was ready to do anything to uphold its lord’s honour.

This wasn’t the dream realm trying to break through, not in the slightest. Nor was the nightmare subsidiary he originally anticipated, but rather the denizens of the terror. One of the weaker realms connected to the dream realm, and while objectively incomparable to the main dream realm… That did not mean he could withstand it.

From the eye’s blossoming power alone he sensed it held psychic elements several times that of the elk’s spell. This ability, blessing, or whatever the hell it was, granted the goat steel tier psychic attacks.

“Die you heretic! My lord will feast on your mind!” He barely even registered a beam of purple light escaping its eye and targeting his head, however it did not go perfectly as the goat expected.

A wave of golden light blasted outwards, the beam’s bright purple radiance instantly diminished to a weak, yet solid, glow. He barely had time to enter his mental space and cover his body in mana, in those few seconds his body floated in an empty void, but the lack of his mental space did not matter.

As his Mind palace slowed and weakened the beam, he prepared for its battering. The luminent beam easily penetrated through and appeared before his mind, colliding with the wall of mana he put up at the last moment.

His mind immediately felt the power, only barely holding its ground in the empty space. But the Mind palace protected him enough in the end, as after just blocking the remnants of the attack it dissipated into a fainter light before vanishing altogether.

He couldn’t allow it to release another one.

Still merged to the spirit, he leapt away and cast Ice bolt in a single word, seeing the goat easily dodge it. Preparing Wind slash, he rammed the beast, knocking it down but in clear danger as its head remained focused on his body. Psychic elements built up further and he was running out of options, an auric claw cut its neck, but no blood flowed out.

Only after looking in physically did he see the goat’s body filled with strands of purple veins, its blood vessels now solid strands of seeping veil shrooms!

Nothing appeared strange with his mana sight, but reality showed otherwise. If bleeding wouldn’t work as well… Then he could only think of one action while lying on top of the beast.

Both paws went for its eyes, using aura to jam his claws into them and utterly destroy them. The heavy squelches paired with the goat’s screams was not enough to stop him though, and at the same time, he finished the cast of Sword wind. Aiming towards the mush of bloodless white in its socket, the strange purple light remained… and focused on him.

He leapt away instantly, detaching from the spirit and empowering the Sword wind spell.

A burst of light shot towards him once more, brighter and thicker than the beam before. While his Mind palace weakened it once more with its golden wave, it remained glowing. He couldn’t block this, not with mana alone…

Such a drastic situation called for drastic actions. He immediately recalled the mental space, and jumped inside to see himself in the safety of the small brick building. But this was not enough, pink and purple light already dyed his space, completely overcoming the blizzard.

“10 points into Magic! Quickly!” Rushing the Nexus, he formed a cocoon of mana around himself for pure defence. He did not wish to look at the beam, feeling it approach his mind with every moment.

He could only hope it worked.

A single instant passed. The beam and brick wall collided, and the sound of collapsing stone filled his ears. He didn’t even have the chance to think as a powerful force slammed into his side, sending him skidding along the floor into the opposite wall, his mana barrier barely holding up against the barrage of this beam.

He tried to move more mana towards it, blocking the remnant dull light. But he was too slow.

It stabbed into the wafer-scaled representation of his mind, piercing through the outer layer and stabbing about halfway in before coming to a halt. He shook crazily, coughing and panting with no control. The beam continued trying to bore into him, but he finally grabbed ahold of it with more mana and finally crushed it. Leaving the mental space immediately.

On the outside, he saw the purple light inside the goat’s head sliced in half, and its psychic power quickly dispersed. However, that did not mark the end.

The goat fell to the floor, utterly dead, but its mana and psychic elements remained, gathering together in mid-air to somehow form an illusory door. With a heart-pounding thump, it opened to reveal a dainty hand scratching the frame, trying to push open the door more but utterly failing.

A recognisable aura forced him down. Unable to think or react, he merely laid there as such power kept him from escaping.

“Who dares kill my servant! You!” An aura like no other condensed above him, faint wisps of purple literally invading his body and causing him to shudder uncontrollably. Already so injured, he did nothing but accept the strange things passing through him. The voice behind the door spoke once more, creepily, No, happily… “I can seeeeee you! Littleeeee Dragon! Don’t you worry, eeeeeven if you stop me now, I’ll ensureeee it! I’ll-” The voice tailed off, still shouting and screaming as something pulled the hand back behind the door. As it finally closed, his heart stopped pounding in his head and instead was replaced with an instant nausea like every evolution thus far.

It vanished like that. The aura of a gold tier…

[Killed level 17 Black horned goat (Recast)! Received 5% EXP]

As his mind continued performing endless backflips, he grabbed the goat’s body and chucked it into the belt. And once merged with the spirit, he ran. Escaping home as fast as possible and throwing out a Frost shell before collapsing.

Name

Title

Nexus Aid Bonus II

Beginner’s Mind palace

Species

Dragon

Bloodline

Draconic palace Ice-cream

HP

23%

MP

34%

Level

20

EXP

11%

Unallocated Stat Points: 7

Strength

0

Luck

0

Agility

3

Growth

15

Magic

30

Mutation Rate

5

Today was a really shit day.