Rue slowly dragged her foggy mind back to reality. The last moments before she rested coming back to her mind. There had been food and energy, it had healed and caressed her wounds making her whole again. She remembered, yes the dwarf, he had helped her and nourished her. That was a worthy deed.

‘No, he was…’

A small voice, full of spikey emotions surged to the from of her mind, but it was pushed down, soothed out of her mind by a wall of foggy clouds. In true dragon fashion Rue languished on the warm stone floor. Her passive heat output had kicked back in and no longer did she feel the lethargy of reduced stats. She was whole once more. Everything was fine, everything was good. She was no longer trapped, no longer starving … ‘TRAPPED!!!!’

She flicked her tongue in annoyance over the mushy pain building in her head.

She felt for the notifications and allowed them to flow into her mind. She had been lazing around for long enough, and she loved getting stronger. She would check what the system was telling her then check out her new home, and a potentially new den.

Ding! You have [Become Lokgrod Redminer’s] familiar…

Ding! [Familiar Link] established…

Ding! Lokgrod Redminer’s [Beastmaster skill] activated…

Ding! [Beastmaster] +[300%] Growth rate bonus…

Rue looked at the first two messages and her mind seemed to gloss over them, she could feel the link, like an invisible thread that ended with a warm fuzzy connection a few feet from her head. Her sleeping master. When she looked at the messages in her mind two strange buzzing feelings started in her mind. One feeding her warm and pleasant emotions, the other…

‘Good dwarf, kind dwarf friendly dwarf, good master’

‘Raaaaaa, break free, imprisonment, foul creature...

The feeling of unease broke through. And she had the desire to break something, the emotion was stilled almost as quickly as it came, however. And her mind returned to peaceful thoughts and she breathed out a hot breath. Why worry about it, she was safe here.

Why think about such unpleasant things when she was sitting on a nice warm stone with delightful rewards waiting for her to give them attention. The second set of messages said a 300% bonus to her growth rate, with this and all of the food she had received and the care that had been given she could feel her body had expanded. She had been close to four meters before but now she had passed that threshold and could feel an energy build within her chest. There was pleasant and warm mana feeding in from the link to her master and it was fuelling her body, growing it expanding her limits.

It was a pleasant feeling, not noticeable to the eye but she could feel the mana in her body working.

Ding! [2/2] Conditions Met For Species [Maturation] : Requires [4+ Meters] & [Lv 20]

Ding! Species Maturation [Dragon - Youngling] => [Dragon - Juvenile]

Ding! Species Maturation [Red Dragon - Youngling] => [Red Dragon - Juvenile]

Ding! Level Cap Increased [Lv35]

Ding! [0/2] Conditions Met For Species [Maturation] : Requires [8+ Meters] & [Lv 35]

Rue felt power flow into her as the cap on her level was increased, a bit of disappointment at no longer being able to level her core but the new levels would make up for that with the attributes they provided. She would have to level and grow even more now, keep increasing her power for her and her master.

‘Grrrr’

Ding!

Rue perked up, another system message so soon, really the boons were just falling into her maw, and she would not refuse free gifts. What was the saying… never season a gift goat? It was a weird saying but her draconic knowledge insisted it was true.

Ding! For [Resisting] ‘good kind, good master’ and other [m*i** altering] skills +[Resistance : Me**al [1]]…

Ding! Intelligence Check…Failed [67%]/[100%]

The feeling in her mind kept buzzing happiness at her when she tried to read some of the messages. But more skills were always good, right? What did this one do?

Resistance: Mental [1]

Through exposure and strength of will, you have resisted the effect of mental compulsion to at least some degree. Mental compulsion will now be [5%] more difficult and must succeed a successful intelligence check.

The whole description of the skill seemed to blur through her mind, it helped her resist certain things, that as good. It must be like her scales skill that protected her from fire.

‘Never Submit’ – ‘no, good, calm kind’

The other voice in her head had returned but now it was louder, still drowned out by the positive thoughts but now nearly audible. They were fighting for her attention, each one spearing her thoughts with conflicting emotions.

Rue turned her mind away from the topic of the system messages and the new skill, it was giving her a headache. A soon as she stopped thinking about the skill the feeling faded. Well, at least it was no longer a banging headache. Her new home was pleasant and warm, and perhaps she should just go back to sleep.

Ding! You have claimed [Librarium Of Eternity] as your new [Den]… Updating Den Sense…

Ding! Ability Evolution Den Sense [1] => Den Sense [2]

Den Sense [2]

You have an instinctual sense for the direction of your primary [Den] and [Territory] Gain a vague sense of creatures within your territory.

Rue felt multiple splotches in her mind, feeling the layout of her new territory and the many creatures were currently inhabiting the area. It was like she could feel every creature pressing down onto her mind with a light touch, letting her know it was there and where it was.

Rue lay down and began to examine the layout of her new den with her mind, she flowed along the stone corridors and through solid wooden doors. The rooms lack details or color and only gave her a vague sense of stone and steel with intermittent wood she could explore just fine.

She passed the time like this for a few hours exploring natural tunnels, dwarf-made rooms, and weird rooms full of wood and paper.

It was after a few hours of this that she got a new notification and the emotions started roiling in her head.

Ding! Ability Evolution Resistance: Mental [1] => Draconic Resistance: Mental [2]

Ding! Intelligence Check…Success [81%]/[80%]