It had taken nearly a week before Gregory started to show signs that he would awake soon, and definitely not perish because of the transformation. Scales were beginning to form on his body, his magic was changing into that of a dragons, and he was beginning to move.

Over the course of that week, the rest of the party he had come with had managed to make some very impressive purchases. The dragons were some of the world's best artisans, and the products that could be purchased from a dragon were the best anybody could get. Elise was a warrior, and she had managed to get a new breastplate and two new weapons. She got a longsword, and a double-headed war axe as well. Lily got a recurve bow with metal reinforcements. Alfred had gotten a full suit of heavy armor, with some minor enchantments to resist magical effects. The rest of the party had decided against any purchases, as the items were mostly high cost, and all the party members who did spend anything spent all the money they had brought with them.

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Over the course of this week, Xano had been doing everything he could to assist Gregory in getting through this transformation alive. He had been feeding him more mana than he thought a human could consume, but it was still nothing for the dragon. Of course, the dragon was surprised by what it saw of the scales that Gregory was forming. The hands were where his changes began, and there were obviously white and crimson scales on them. As the scales spread to his chest, he could tell that the chest area was a pure black like an empty night sky. Flipping him over, a narrow line of purple scales forming on the back were visible. It was rare in general to see a combination of the black and white scales, so the fact that this person had both colors made him very intriguing. From his scales, it could be deduced that Gregory would be a very powerful mystic part-dragon with powerful magics.

Xano was shocked at the revelation that Gregory’s scales gave him, but it was even more surprising that a part-dragon would have those color scales. At least the boy was beginning to wake up, which meant he would not be dying and his group would be able to meet him again soon. It was hard to know what kind of physical changes were all going to happen though. It was obvious that he’d grow scales, which was one of the possibilities, but he wasn’t sure what other changes he would encounter. Everybody that had become part-dragon was said to receive at least three dragon traits. As Xano was bringing Gregory to the palace to show him to everybody, he noticed that two horns were coming from his forehead, and that a tail was beginning to grow from him. Gregory form did not change very much, and he still had a human’s bone structure aside from the tail that was growing from his body.

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After he had defeated the dragon, it turned into a spirit form and began chasing after Gregory. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but it was definitely trying to consume him. Every time he thought he made some distance, the dragon was even closer and was on the brink now of catching him. His mind went into overdrive trying to find ways of escape, but he eventually just stopped running. The spiritual form of the dragon swept over him, consuming him before being absorbed by his body. His body began going through rapid changes after this; he grew scales, a tail, and horns began forming on his head. Leaning up against the wall, he saw in a puddle of water that his eyes had also undergone a change. The pupils had become slit, and the irises were a slightly deeper shade of green. One thing he was thankful for though, was that, aside from his eyes and the horns, his face had remained the same.

It was at this moment that he began to feel something different. It felt as if something was pulling him away from where he was, and then he remembered that he had been in his own mind fighting the dragon. It made sense now, he was gaining mana from the real world to assist in his transformation into a part-dragon. It seemed it had been successful too, since he had changed in his mind. Now he would just need to see what he looked like on the outside. Which of course, would happen almost instantly, as Gregory began to stir and then return to the world.

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Gregory opened his eyes, revealing the eyes of a dragon. His body felt much weaker, but his mind felt infinitely sharper than he was used to. It felt as if the world had been unlocked to him, and he would be able to learn everything. Gregory noticed, when he began moving, that the scales he had grown in his mind were growing on him now, but at a much slower pace. He felt around on his forehead, and noticed that the horns had also began growing. All of the changes he had experience in his mind were happening to his real body as well, though all at an extremely reduced pace. The tail was the only thing to have fully grown out now, but his ears had changed fully as well, now pointed and scaled. So far, the scales had grown only on his arms up to the middle of his upper arms, on the sides of his face up to right around the ears, and were beginning to grow on his chest, legs, and back.

As his consciousness continued to fade back into the real world, he became far more acutely aware of his surroundings. Even though he was aware of his surroundings before, it was nothing like it was now. He could see further, and with more detail, not to mention the broader spectrum of colors that were now visible to him. His sense of smell had become far more acute, and he noticed that he had a very distinct scent. It was his human scent, a scent that was very different compared to the others in the area. He could even pinpoint where the rest of his group was using this newly heightened sense of smell. His hearing was strong enough that he could hear the heartbeat of Xano if he casually focused, and could hear small sounds from a block away if he really focused.

As they moved, Gregory did his best to focus on the feeling of his bodily changes; the changes were definitely going very slowly, but it seemed that they went faster while he was asleep. It was hard to know now how fast they would go while asleep, especially since it was possible they had gone faster because the changes had just started. The dragon was still carrying Gregory on the crook of his neck, giving Gregory time to just think about what was going on.

‘Status’

Name Gregory Jeffrey Drake

Age 19

Level 5

Class Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, Enchanter

Unique Class Gamer, Master Scout, Arcane Warlock

Race Human/Dragon

Title Fearless, “Outnumbered, not Outgunned”

Health 34/34

Stamina 67/67

Mana 7500/7500

CON 15(0+5)

STR 8(3+5)

AGI 30(25+5)

INT 105(100+5)

WIS 170(150+15+5)

PER 115(100+10+5)

FTH 15(10+5)

LUK MAX

Passive Skills Life in a Game, Passive Luck, Reverse Engineer, Multi-Casting(N5), Observant, Skinning(N1), Filleting(N1), Barrier Vision, Photographic Memory, Cloth-Working(N1) Armorer(C/L)(N1), Repair(C/L)(N1), Clothier(C/L)(N1), Embroiderer(N1), Metal-Sewing(M-A)(N1), Dragon Scales, Dragon’s Body

Feats The Wise One, Perceptive, Lucky, Kingslayer

Traits Trained, Educated, Boosted

Debuffs N/A

Active Skills

Riftwalker N/A[10M,10S]

Flare Novice 9(23%)[10M]

Bolt Novice 3(37%)[10M]

Slice Novice 8(46%)[10M]

Flame Engulfment 3(27%)[20M]

Identify Novice 2(17%)[N/A]

Healing Novice 1(0%)[20M,10S]

Self-Healing Novice 1(0%)[30M,10S]

Mana Bolt Novice 1(0%)[10M]

Mana Sphere Novice 1(0%)[15M]

Mana Manipulation Novice 2(3%)[VARM]

Homing Mana Sphere Novice 1(0%)[75M]

Homing Mana Bolt Novice 1(0%)[50M]

Expanding Explosive Mana Sphere Novice 4(0%)[1000M]

Spiraling Mana Javelin Novice 2(19%)[700M]

Spiral Mana Bolt Novice 5(4%)[20M]

Stealth Intermediate 1(0%)

Portal Walker N/A[30M]

Enchanting Novice 1(0%)[VARM]

Stat Buffing Novice 1(0%)[VARM]

Defensive Buffing Novice 1(0%)[VARM]

Damage Buffing Novice 1(0%)[VARM]

Teleportation Novice 1(15%)[VARM]

Chrono Shift Novice 1(0%)[VARM]

Gravitas Novice 1(23%)[VARM]

Unspent Stat Points 44

Unspent Trait Points 7

‘Status’

‘Seems that I still have the levels from defeating the mobs, but that they gave less levels for having defeated them. Probably because I am partly dragon now, and that makes it easier to fight the mobs. As a human, the battles I won against large numbers were tough when going against them. I probably lost most of my levels, because I am no longer the same as I was before, and there are certain things that are different because I am a dragon. It would be ridiculous anyways to keep my levels gained as a human, because everybody mentions that humans gain levels at a vastly improved rate. Another thing about being part dragon now, is that my potential power has skyrocketed from where it was before. The real question is though, why did certain stats drop when others didn’t? Maybe I can’t lose certain bonuses. That would explain why I gained drops to certain stats, and others remained the same. I probably can’t lose access to the library of the ancients, which is why PER and INT stayed the same, and I probably can’t lose as much WIS because it is my “primary” stat now.’

After Gregory had finished looking at his new status, he craned his head to look around. He spotted the castle, which they had almost made it to now. He was able to hear voices from inside, something which his previous level of perception hadn’t allowed. It really was visible how much his abilities had improved on an overall scale. Xano stopped for a moment to speak before getting to the palace doors.

“Gregory, you have made it alive it seems. You are becoming part dragon, and you will probably make a very fine one. We are already proud to see that you have become one of us, and you have surpassed our wildest imaginations. It seems certain stats took some pretty serious drops though. Your physical power and levels of health and stamina will be severely reduced. However, you have gained the full benefit from our increases in wisdom and perception it seems. You also gained a good boost to intelligence, less than most races, but still much better than it was.

While your actual AGI has improved, the amount of stamina is affected by your CON, and both CON and STR dropped by five times their original potency. You only have a fifth of the health you would have as a human, and only a fifth of the stamina as well. You will regain health at the normal rate though, and you will regain stamina at a rate improved by ten times. You are also now ten times faster than you were for the same level of AGI now. You have greatly improved in power overall, but you will need to be very careful if you want to stay alive. Leveling up will still help though, so make sure to level up as quickly as you can for now.”

Gregory moved to sit up on Xano’s neck. His robes were lying down next to him, and he put them on as quickly as he could. They got into Aurum’s throne room shortly after Gregory had finished getting dressed, and then he leapt down from Xano’s back. Aurum investigated Gregory carefully, amazed and surprised at the new appearance of this person that had been human until just today. It wasn’t long until the rest of the group Gregory came with arrived at the throne room, and Aurum decided to make an announcement.

“We are glad to welcome Gregory into our family, but please realize that he will be much more frail until he gets up much higher in level. You will need to do what you can to keep him safe, since he will not have much resistance to attacks and be very easy to kill without protection.”

They all looked at him, immediately noticing the differences about him. Not only had they seen the physical changes immediately, but they also noticed a change in his stature. He looked stronger now, less afraid of potential dangers. Despite being at risk, he showed no fear in his eyes.

Elise spoke up, letting Aurum know their feelings.

“Thank you, Lord Aurum, we are deeply grateful to you for everything. You have helped Gregory, and, by extension, all of us to a degree. We hope to remain allies, and that we can stay friends for a long time.”

Aurum replied to them all, letting them know the plans he had in store.

“Certainly, I would be honored to remain to friends with you all. By the way, it is probably best to stay for a bit, Gregory will need to train before he leaves, otherwise he may be in too much danger in the outside world. Now, why don’t you all get some sleep, it will be a long day tomorrow.”

At this, they were all shown to their rooms. Gregory collapsed onto his bed, exhausted from the mental strain he had been going through all this time. The rest of them went to sleep, but were still excited from seeing that Gregory really seemed serious about wanting to help bring peace to all races.