The forest around Rue was still smoking over a week later, the fire had yet to be fully quenched. A brief day of rainfall had stopped its spread on the fifth day but still, it had burned uncountable trees and animals. Rue had been picking up the leftovers from newly burned animals to feed herself but tried to stay in the centre of the flames. It was far safer there and she had glimpsed groups of humans and other creatures outside the flames. Many of them were using magic to either control the fire or put it out with water. The river had been a natural barrier that the fire didn’t seem to want to cross. The few embers that flew over the wide river not finding purchase on the moist bank, but the fire had spread far in other directions.

Rue had initially started the fire out of sheer anger, usually, she would never have done this. Animals ran from flame and she needed to eat, burned corpses tended to be dry or mostly charcoal, not tasty at all. What she had not realised was that her flames didn’t just steal Xp from animals, it did so from any living organism. Her Devourer of Flames had leached the very essence of everything it burned, and although she didn’t get as high rewards for burning animals and plants indirectly her magic was still influencing a large portion of the blaze. It was raking in skill upgrades and core levels and had soothed her anger towards the ill rewarded fight.

Ding! Devourer Of Flame Leached [1] Xp From [Birch Tre]

….

Ding! Devourer Of Flame Leached [1] Xp From [Pine Tre]

….

Ding! Devourer Of Flame Leached [1] Xp From [Rabbit]

….

Ding! Devourer Of Flame Leached [20] Xp From [Deer]

The messages just kept scrolling in the back of her mind. It seemed anything she would get 0 xp for killing normally would still grant her one from leaching, but larger animals would not grant her the full amount. Whether that was due to being far away or a limitation of the skill it did not matter. There were a lot of trees, and she had burned a lot of them.

Ding! Ability Evolution Devourer Of Flame [1] => Devourer Of Flame [2]

Ding! Ability Evolution Dragon Breath [4] => Dragon Breath [5]

The skill levels were very welcome and affected both skills immensely. She could feel the pressure that Devourer of Flame imposed on her mind and it made resisting it much easier. Every so often she would still find herself enamoured with the urge to burn everything in her surroundings. Many times she did give in to the urge both out of necessity and desire. With surroundings comfortable warm she was not incurring any penalties, especially with the upgraded skill.

Devourer Of Flame [2]

You live a life of brutality, the lesson learned, to burn everything in your path with all-consuming flames. Let your desires run free and your flame consume all. Let your enemies fear the incineration of all they know for the mere thought of slighting you. Gain significantly more [Xp] from enemies that burn to death by your [Flames]. Any living matter burned by you will be leached of its [Essence] by your flames. Increases power of fire and fire-based [Skills/Spells] all their effects within [20] meters by [150%] both beneficial and detrimental. Incur significant penalties when environmental temperatures fall below [25°C].

Dragon Breath [5]

Racial ability, allows expulsions of magically created [Butanol] from glands near the stomach. Storage of [Butanol] increases with vitality +[10%]/10 Vit. This can be ignited via [Fire Magic]. [Mana] can be used to increase [Volume] and [Temperature] of flames. Can grant flame [Magical] properties based on desire. Magic effects scale with intelligence +[10%]/10 Int.

Both the skills had become significantly more powerful with the temperature requirement of the Devouring flames skill lessening. The mental pressure to succumb to the flame was strong but she was resisting it. With time hopefully, she would be able to conquer the skill, controlling it fully.

She checked in on the Xp she received over the last week.

Ding! Xp earned From Devourer Of Flame +12876xp

Ding! Xp earned From Devourer Of Flame +6189xp

Ding! Xp earned From Devourer Of Flame +9012xp

Ding! Xp earned From Devourer Of Flame +17978xp

Ding! Xp earned From Devourer Of Flame +9195xp

Ding! Xp earned From Devourer Of Flame +8167xp

Ding! Total Xp From Skills +63417xp

Ding! Core Level Up… +15 [Core Point]

It was as much Xp as if she had massacred a lot of level 30 creatures, yet this had so far been much safer and easier to find. With this added power she would be able to find stronger monsters to hunt. It would have been better if she got Xp from far away, but she only seemed to be able to get it within a certain distance of herself. She had burned down miles of forest, too much to account for this. Rue looked over her hard work and let out a satisfying puff of fire and curled her tail.

With the sudden influx of core points, she decided to go on a spending spree and to see what her level 20 core had unlocked.

Upgrade

Description

Price

Stat Points [10]

Grants you 10 Stat Points

1

Skill Point [1]

A skill point allows you to upgrade a skill, increasing its effects

3

Core Upgrade

Allows sub-race to evolve from [Red Dragon]…

CLv50

Ruby Skills

Description

Price

Heat Vision [1]

Allow for you to sense all forms of heat, vision based on temperature.

1

Mana Manipulation [1]

Allows you to manipulate mana on an almost instinctual level. This allows for the formation of spells, charging of reservoirs and sensing mana inside your body but outside your core.

3

Mana Sense [1]

Allows for the sensing of mana outside your body, this can be used with mana manipulation to manipulate your mana once it leaves your body.

3

Mana Borne [1]

As a creature born to naturally use mana it is part of you. Increases intelligence’s effects on mana pool by [100%].

4

Hibernation [1]

You have slumbered in the depths of the earth. You can voluntarily enter hibernation while underground and close to a heat source. This will increase your growth rate variable to the power of the heat source.

3

Flaming Brutality [1]

You fight with the flames, using them to shield and to kill. The surrounding temperature will affect your strength. For every 10°C Above 0 increase effects of strength by [2%]. For every 10°C Below 0 decreased effects of strength by [2%].

6

Magma Scales [1]

Your scales, red like magma align with your ruby core. [Scales] become [Immune] to fire. Heat that would have damaged your scales is absorbed as mana with [20%] efficiency.

6

Hereditary Dragon Knowledge [1]

Knowledge passed down by the generations of dragons for the betterment of dragon kind. Allows you to see the history and share some knowledge from your ancestors. For each level in the skill gain access to one more generation of knowledge. Living ancestors can connect and share knowledge should they be willing.

10

Mana Flames [1]

Mana is a form of energy. With fire being the process of converting fuel to energy you can skip a step. Convert mana into pure fire with an efficiency of [50%].

20

There were new skills and one of the old ones had been taken away, but for what reason? She didn’t know what to do with most of her points but decided that intelligence was a necessity. Both to control her new skill and defend against other magic such as mind control. Rue let out a hiss thinking of what the bugbear and shaman had tried to do to her. She used 6 of her core points to get 60 stat points then put 30 into intelligence, with the ten she had left over from before it sat at well over a hundred. Then she added 10 to dexterity and 20 to vitality, benign faster and harder to kill was never a bad thing. This would even out her stats and make her much harder to influence both mentally and physically. As the new stats took hold she felt a cooling surge in her mind as the devouring flame skill was pushed back and calmed down, restoring more of her control that she realised had been lost. It was like lifting a film of red-tinted glass from her eyes. The skill had only a small effect on her temperament now, and it was acceptable. At the same time, she felt her sense grow stronger and her scales tingle. The vitality reinforcing her flesh, bones and scales. This caused and itching sensation and she stretched to feel her limbs.

It was then as she was basking in the glory of increased power that she was interrupted. Standing amongst the smouldering stump’s of trees and blackened rocks Rue saw a group of flying creatures.

In but a moment they had descended on her with lightning speed, their speed so fast she had barely seen them until they were upon her.

Noe had been living for days in the darkness, curling it around himself while he navigated the tunnels deep underground. He subsisted off his reserves but was growing increasingly hungry. He had decided to foray into the human-occupied tunnels he had fled from. Hopefully, the humans would not have posed guards or be searching that area.

He crept along the tunnels, stealthy and silent not interrupting a single drop of water from the moist walls as it pattered onto the floor. He could feel the darkness ebbing as he found his way closer, his hunger increasing at the smell of prey. He could smell the despair and fear of the humans and creatures kept down here in the dark. He crept closer, the now faintly illuminated tunnels growing darker as he approached. There were no light sources but there was a difference between the darkness here, and that of the tunnels deep beneath the earth.

Noe followed his senses, smelling a captive in the cell ahead and sent out a wave of dark to smother the cell. He saw the face of the human, gaunt and hopeless. He could evidently not see the difference between regular darkness and true dark but he sensed something was wrong. His already open eyes seemed to gain some life, the stimulation causing him to move ever so slightly.

His eyes were open wide, scanning hopelessly in the dark as he clutched his rotten sheet closer to his body. Noe approached and pawed the bars. The human must have heard the scraping sound for he let out a soft whimper. Noe repeated the action and the man shut his eyes tight curling up into a ball. Noe felt a flow of something leave the human and enter into his body, it soothed some of his body, not relieving his hunger but reversing the effects and feeding his body energy. It was such a small amount of relief and unfortunately would not actually satisfy his hunger as he had hoped. He would need to feed still.

Noe could only put his head through the bars and the human was still out of reach of his jaws. He focused his mind and sent his will at the human, making sure to keep quiet, intensifying the fear. It would take some time, but the human was mentally weak. In time his meal would come, walking on its own two legs.