The city of Valar within the borders of the Holy Empire is not a true city but a collection of nomadic beastkin be it escaped slaves or those who have managed not to be sold as servants among the Althaen Nations. Most of their population is catkin and foxkin.

Lykou

I can’t stop myself from eating. The taste is too good and my sudden hunger too great until I find myself amidst scraps of scaled hide and blood covered bones.

I glance around to find little remains of the creature but what I had to break and rip apart to get at the delicious meat. I frown, and only then does my hunger subside and my mind clears. I am covered in blood as I sit where the winged lizard once was. It’s gone, I ate the whole thing. But how? I don’t feel bloated or overstuffed. I touch my stomach to find it is just as it was before this strange frenzy. How could I have eaten so much? The creature was over twice my size.

Oddly, despite how I am worried over how I did what I just did I do in fact feel better than before. A bit sleepy but otherwise perfectly fine. Well, aside from that the leather tunic Alana gave me is ruined by the blood stains.

I check the sky to see that several hours have passed, and that it is near dusk only to have my thoughts interrupted by Kylana's voice.

“It’s about time you came back to you senses.”

I look over to see that she is sitting against a tree with a small pile of items next to her.

“How long have you been there?” I ask.

“A few hours, in time to see the second half of your meal.”

“Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Because you instinctually were eating the wyvern. Which means that it is something that your body knows it needs.”

I needed to gorge myself on that creature? Why?

“Come over here and help me carry your kills back, but leave the wyvern bones behind” Kylana says interrupting my confusion.

I walk over to her and am passed a sack that while heavier than it seems is lighter than I thought it would be as I can hear metal clanking around within it.

“You’re almost certain to pass the Rite of the Dark Moon” Kylana comments as she lifts a second sack over her own shoulder.

“Almost? Aren’t you the one who decides who passes?” I ask.

“No, Ragnor will declare a minimum acceptable level of return from the hunt before he knows who brought what. A single great bear may not be enough but as long as he doesn’t know you found and brought back scouts from the Holy Empire. . .”

“I thought you said a bear was the target at the start of this thing.”

“I did and that was a lie to push everyone to take the risk on large prey.”

“Well it worked.”

She nods and the rest of our walk back to the village is silent and the moon is high in the night sky as we cross the border of the circle of huts.

“Go ahead and rest” Kylana says as I yawn.

I nod and walk over and into Alana's hut. It only takes me a moment to lose my outer clothing and enter the bedding. As has become a habit I begin to meditate.

Gain: +175 XP Apprentice, +200 XP Woodsman, +50 XP Man-at-arms, +1200 XP Dragon Knight, +50 XP Spellcraft, +10 XP Evasion, +25 XP Bow, +25 XP Archery, +25 XP Ranged, +5 XP Dagger, +5 XP Melee, +15 XP Mana Control, +25 XP Climbing, +50 Tracking, +75 XP Hiding, +75 XP Stealth,

Apprentice 4-> 5 (+5SP), Dragon Knight 5->7(Keen Senses, Partial Recovery of Void Dragon Body), Spellcraft 0->1 (+1SP)

Lykou

Gender: Male

Race: Void Draconian?

Age: 10?

Strength 16

Intelligence 16

Mana Potential 10

Skills

SP: 347

Dexterity 16

Wisdom 15

Mana Potency 8

Languages

Titles

Agility 17

Cunning 14

Luck 17

Traits

Options

Endurance 15

Willpower 18

Perception 13

Magic

???

Vitality 15

Alertness 16

??? 1

Classes

Racial Class

Appearance 16

Charisma 12

Health 160/160

Mana 45/45

Apprentice has reached level 5. You now meet the requirement to opt into a higher class. Do you wish to do so>

Yes

No

I ignore the last screen that pops up to the side of the other two. What’s Spellcraft? And how did I get Dragon Knight to advance? I touch the word spellcraft to get a description.

Spellcraft

Similar to Arcana, spellcraft is the study of the structure of magic and how it works rather than what each individual magic is and does. In addition to being a knowledge skill this can also be applied as a craft as is implied in the name.

Understanding the construction of magic as opposed to the memorized theory of Arcana. I smile at just what I might be able to do with this. If I can learn more of the how of the structures in spells rather than copying memorized ones and enough control over my mana I could spontaneously alter spells to suit the situation.

This doesn’t answer how my odd racial class managed to advance though. What have of done that could have caused it? Now the hunting or magic, those don’t seem to be draconic. What sort of dragonny thing did I do? That wyvern looked kind of like. . . and I ate it.

I need to eat dragon-like creatures? Is that why I was compelled to eat? I need more information. Can I get it from this system?

I touch the racial class button on the main screen and then the only thing that it brought up, my Dragon Knight class and its current progress.

Dragon Knight - Void

A Dragon Knight is like the Dragon Disciple, one who seeks to become like unto a dragon. The main difference between the two is that Dragon Knights shift between their original form and that of a dragon, aside from a few minor changes, instead of slowly turning themselves into half dragons.

They are also subject to the instincts and biological needs of their dragon half once they have awoken to their heritage. By following these instincts and emulating their draconic ancestors the Dragon Knight becomes more like them until reaching the point that they become a true dragon.

This both helps and doesn’t, I have to act as a Void Dragon to improve but there isn’t a description of one included. Was eating that wyvern an instinctual action for a void dragon? I can’t come up with anything else that might have been, so I can only assume that it was.

I look at my ever-increasing store of SP and give a mental smile, it’ll be helpful when I hit a road block but that is not yet. I also dismiss the pop-up on the side about swapping Apprentice for the next tier, I haven’t finished all of it yet and there has to be something at its tenth level. Otherwise it would end earlier though I don’t know what it is.

I dismiss the rest of the screens before falling deeper into meditation and latch onto a memory as it drifts past my semi-conscious mind.

I find myself sitting at a table, with a small pile of books in front of me. A ball of dim magical light floating above the opened book as I continue to read.

. . . can be increased if the subject is artificially subjected to mana poisoning either by injecting pure mana or mana that was previously harvested and stored from the subject without contamination.

The subject must be subjected to the moderate level mana poisoning for months before the subject begins to adapt to hold the higher mana levels. There are three limitations to this beyond the high risk of physical degeneration. First is that the subject's natural mana generation does not increase as shown by all subjects, second that the increase in the mana pool will slowly degrade to its original amount again shown by all subjects that survived the initial mana poisoning, and lastly the physical degeneration is permanent and will slowly kill the subject even after the mana pool has returned to its original size as shown by subjects 19, 21, 23, 24, 25 and 26.

Rare cases of success were found after repeated testing, leading to the conclusion that mana reinforcement of the body can offset and even overcome the physical degeneration among some races. Aside from dragons, demonic, angelic and elemental creatures that have strong connections to mana in their physiology augmentation of the mana pool through induced mana poisoning . . .

My reading is interrupted by a whisper in my ear, “my mate, how are you doing in your reading?”

The me within this memory turns and smiles at the silver-haired woman before answering, “it’s interesting even though I can’t use mana myself.” As the sentence ends I frown and the silver-haired woman.

She presses her body up to mine while giving me a hug, “don’t be like that. Your family’s magic is much stronger than anything I’ll ever be able to cast.”

“Thanks Kythia, but they do have different weaknesses and restrictions. You can cast spells in situations that I even if I can create more extreme effects.”

“Are you going to come to bed?”

“No, you know I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off you if I did that. Not until we. . .”

I find my speech cut off as the silver haired woman kisses me and somehow moved herself into my lap. My arms wrap around her and enjoy each other’s’ touch. The memory ends after a few short moments.

The rest of the night is spent reviewing the last few days but while not as interesting it does still help. I wake with less 'sleep' than I usually do, but I should probably be present for the end of the whole challenge of the Rite of the Dark Moon.

I stretch a bit and feel somewhat stiff. When I pull my shirt back on it also feels tighter than it was before. Assuming I was simply mistaken I exit the hut and hour before dawn and walk over to where many of the pack are gathering.

No one says anything as I pick a spot to sit though Kylana is giving me an odd look. Ragnan smirks at me in mocking triumph as he enters the village though he has several bandages on his body, specifically both his arms and his left leg. He has a limp as he walks slowly towards his father.

Other than him, three of the five other boys that were involved are here. “The remaining prospective hunters failed and died in the attempt, five of seven returned but not all will have passed. Those who have not hunter the equivalent of a great bear or more are dismissed. You have failed and may try again in six moons” Ragnor says with pride and two of the others grumble and leave.

Once the two who did not pass have left Ragnor begins to speak again, “those who have confirmed the kills declare them.”

“Two brown bears and a deer” one female whose name I do not know declares while standing behind one of the boys that is always following Ragnan around. He is injured though not as much as Ragnan is.

“A honey bear and a brown bear” Analais declares before moving next to Ragnan. Who immediately stands taller in pride though I am unsure what a honey bear is, at least it is not what I think it is.

“A honey bear and three intruding scouts from the Order of the Silver Blade” Naliya declares before walking over to me. So, the honey bear is that bear that looked similar to a grizzly bear. I wonder what the differences between them is or is it just a different name for the same creature?

Unlike the previous two declarations my kills cause the other two that passed to frown. Ragnan in fact speaks up to call it a lie as he says, “there is no way that he killed. . .”

At least before Kylana cuts him off, “I retrieved the equipment of the scouts myself. They are his kills.”

“How? He is uninjured, I do not believe . . .” Ragnan begins before Naliya cuts him off.

“Archery and the magic your mother is teaching him.” Naliya interrupts.

“The boy raises a valid point, archery may be enough when there is a single enemy but that is not what is claimed. Show the magic you used against them or lose the claimed kills” Ragnor says with the slightest of smiles.

I do not immediately respond. So, since his son calls me a cheater I have to prove my innocence. What is to keep him from repeatedly doing so? I’ll have to make sure to keep proof for the next test but for this one it will have to be enough for me to duplicate that wave of fire I used.

I turn to a direction that there is not anyone close to me and ignore Ragnan as he yells something about I can’t ignore him and Ragnor. A wave of loose mana exits according to my will as I move my right hand forwards to give it some direction before shaping the initial part of a flare that is fire once more allow it to go wild.

A flash of heat and light fills the area before my hand, consuming a large patch of grass as the fire spreads through the whole area that my mana had reached. When I turn back to Ragnor he holds a neutral face and says no more though I smile inside at the disbelief from Rangan and the smile on Kylana’s face.

Who is in fact the next person to talk, “The Rite of the Full Moon will begin in twelve nights, all three of you are approved to participate.”

Kythia walks up to me as the rest of the relatively small group disperse and she asks, “how did you do that?”

"I'll tell you when we train later today" I answer.