Dragon Gods Reign

[Dragon peaks]

At the same time as Neandra was basking in the after-feeling of her ascension, the group of dragons around them slowly dispersed. Many of them had become motivated to train again upon witnessing Neandra’s display, no longer choosing to solely rely on aging to become more powerful. Though at the same time, they all knew that ascending was a dream far off for them simply due to the ridiculous difficulty for dragons to do so.

Though this would undoubtedly not last long as many of them will quickly grow bored of it again. But the few that wouldn’t may emerge as a powerful force of their generation, quickly rising in power at a time when Darganth could use it the most.

Thus he was watching this with a satisfied smile, thinking about how this may very well have been the best moment for Neandra to ascend. Her own strength profited as well as the fighting force he would have available for his future plans. Even if it wasn’t a direct help against the primordials, sometimes numbers had their own advantages.

“I never expected that I would need to train seriously before leaving this universe.” Neandra said as they watched the last of the gathered dragons flying away.

“Need is a strong word, but yes, none of us predicted that.” Venrie said.

“With the current state of my mana need fits rather well. I doubt I could use more delicate spells with any amount of reliability.”

“Oh, I smell an opportunity.” Jennia said with a grin when she overhear this.

A moment later Yldra understood the meaning behind her words and a smile also crept onto her lips. Mischievously glancing at Neandra, she didn’t even hide that she was planning something. When her eyes met with Yldra’s, the two instantly came to a silent understanding.

Neandra was meanwhile watching this with an amused smile, already smiling in anticipation of their attempts. Giving both a challenging grin from time to time, she even did her best to spurn them on.

Watching their banter with a slight chuckle, Darganth waited for an opportune moment to turn to Neandra.

“I’ve meant to ask for some time now but did you already think about how you want to continue your path now?” He asked her.

“Not really. I’ve always been stuck on how to ascend, the after was left for when it happens.” She said.

Hearing her answer Darganth nodded in understanding. Compared to the jump from the fourth rank to the mythical rank, fewer people continue their planning past ascension. This was mostly due to the lack of knowledge regarding it, at least among mortals, as well as the perception that it was far more random.

But this perception was extremely far from the truth, with those who poses the knowledge necessary even taking it into account when carving their path through the mythical rank. Building upon the foundation the first four ranks offer them, they utilize the mythical rank as a stepping stone to ascend with as many advantages as possible.

From the decision to pursue magic or aura or both, as well as with what investment in each, to what aspect of their respective power to grow and how much, all had a purpose. This ability to see and utilize these possibilities to personalize one's path through the mythical rank was what showed a large part of one's potential.

Where others would simply learn any aura technique, they would create or get one that harmonized well with their augmentations. Maybe they would even train as a mage until the mythical rank to enchant their body with permanent effects to even further increase their power or just to cover a weakness.

Then, after ascending, they could use the combination of transcendent mana and one or more elemental energies to create a mana type that works perfectly as energy for them. Though these were limited in the percentage of the mana pool they could fill, they would still vastly empower the attacks they were used in.

And all of this can vary drastically in scope and complexity, making it rare for two mythical ranks to be exactly the same. Even in cases such as vampires where many choose to focus on utilizing blood magic while forgoing the rest of the water element, there were still enormous differences. A single different enchantment or other small differences could result in a massive power difference.

Luckily her lack of consideration for this wouldn’t hinder Neandra thanks to her plan being to one day achieve the guardianship divinity for Wyverns or maybe even lesser dragon as a whole. Though this meant that she couldn’t form a divinity to further enhance her proficiency in her chosen path, it also meant that changing it now wouldn’t delay her main goal.

While all ascendant beings could do this in theory, it was better to simply continue working towards building a divinity. Even if it wasn’t possible to form an energy that supported them or other problems emerged, having a divinity was still better than not, and adding onto the time to create one was rarely worth it.

Explaining some of these matters that she didn’t know about to Neandra, Darganth and the others made their way further inwards and upwards.

“Did I understand that right, Vunreon’s multiversal will doesn’t help with ascending, then helps with forming a divinity whether I want to or not, and then expects those that did to fight for it?” Neandra asked in disbelief.

“Against outsiders, but yes. And apart from special cases like yours, this is a great deal that few ascended would reject. The normally monumental task of forming a divinity becomes easier and Vunreon revives you under most circumstances while you only have to help defend it against outside incursions.”

“Still, I dislike being forced into someone's service like this.”

At Neandra’s words, Darganth let out a sympathetic laugh.

“I think similarly, it's why I made a deal with its will to not automatically include dragons. And I would do so again even though this led to the low number of dragon gods.” He said.

“I take it that I can’t get a similar treatment while it still matters for me?” Neandra asked.

When Darganth denied it with an apologetic look she only sighed at the situation. Seeing this, Allaire spoke up in an attempt to lift the mood again.

“Let’s not talk about that for a bit, you’ve just ascended. If that doesn’t call for a celebration then I don’t know what does.” She said.

For a moment Neandra didn’t react to her words before her lips slowly curled up.

“Once we’re finished here, gladly.” She said.

“Great, then let’s not idle any longer.”

Prompted by Allaire’s words their group turned to the high mountain slope they still had to cross. Ignoring the constant gazes on Neandra on their flight up, they continued their path.

It had taken only a few minutes for it to spread what happened during their encounter with the initial group of dragons, leading to even the most reclusive dragons to temporarily leave their lairs. But as Darganth was present few actually approached them, most instead choosing to follow their flight with reverence while some even knelt.

By the time they came close to Batoim’s lair, they were accompanied by a bit over a dozen solar dragons that flew around them in formation. As it didn’t hinder them, Darganth let them continue. On the other hand, flying as part of what was essentially a parade, with him at the helm would allow them to brag so he didn’t want to unnecessarily antagonize them.

When their procession reached Batoim’s layer these dragons broke off and flew towards it. Landing next to their leader who was already waiting for them, they turned to their humanoid forms before gathering behind him.

Initially not intending to stop and meet with him, Darganth changed his mind when he noticed Enilla standing there too. Following after the solar dragons, Neandra and Yldra copied his actions and also change course despite not directly understanding why.

As they landed, Jennia quickly noticed her mother and a beaming smile formed on her lips.

“Hello, mum.” She said, walking to her for a hug.

“Missed me little one?” Enilla asked, returning the hug.

“Yup.”

Taking a step back, Enilla smiled toward Darganth and Allaire before her eyes wandered over Yldra, Neandra, Venrie, and Sarkia. For a moment having the urge to give Darganth a questioning look, she stopped herself as she saw that Jennia had no problem with them.

“And, did anything interesting happen?” She instead asked.

“Definitely, though I could have done without some of it.” Darganth answered.

His words piqued Enilla’s interest and before she could ask, he continued.

“Potential threat to the whole multiverse, I think you understand why. But more importantly, there are things directly connected to you that happened.”

Intrigued by his words, Enilla raised her eyebrows. Just as she was about to inquire further, she felt Jennia releasing the hold she had on her presence. Momentarily irritated, she took a few seconds to realize why she did this.

As soon as she did, her eyes widened in surprise as she felt it to have changed to that of a full dragon-hydra. Momentarily not knowing how to react, it didn’t take her long to settle on being happy for her.

“Congratulations.”

“It never really felt deserved but still, thanks.” Jennia answered.

“But it is, my help doesn’t change your perseverance. And what husband wouldn’t give his wife all the chances he can.” Darganth said.

Smiling as she caught the detail in his words, Enilla’s thoughts wandered to the expression Vorthos would make and she couldn’t keep herself from laughing.

“Right, you’ve already met father, how did it go?” Jennia asked.

“Hard to formulate. I no longer want to punch him as soon as I see him, so progress? But I’m still far from forgiving him so I can’t wait for his reaction when he learns what a wonderful daughter he pushed away.”

“And he’ll deserve every second of it.” Allaire said with a laugh, snuggling herself at Jennia and whispering in her ear.

Seeing the two hatching plans in between them, Darganth used the opportunity to turn his attention to Batoim and the other solar dragons. During the entire reunion, they had been respectfully standing a few meters away, some having lowered their head in a slight bow while others stood straight.

“So, you’re the de-facto leader of dragon-kind on Ikrus?” Darganth asked.

“Yes, your highness.” Batoim replied.

Studying him for a few moments, Darganth found the result rather disappointing. Not just did he mostly rely on his age to grow more powerful, but he also wasn’t an ascended being. Even though the social difference between them and the dragon gods was larger than the one between ascended beings and gods in other species, they were still above mortal dragons.

The reason for this was that ascending was exactly the same for dragons as for other species, with the requirements following the same criteria based on innate potential and so on. Only when forming a divinity existed the disadvantage of not receiving Vunreon’s aid.

“So Irsyr didn’t even make an exception for you, huh?” Darganth thus asked.

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter. Here I don’t need to be an ascendant and before I leave this universe I can simply ascend.”

“Sensible but still, I must applaud your discipline to keep to that.”

“I’m honored.”

“Well, sadly talking about stuff like that isn’t why I’m here. But if I’m already meeting you I can directly give you a quick rundown of my plans as I’ll need your and your kind help.”

“I’m all ears. But how about we move it into my palace, I think it would be a better place for such discussions.”

Accepting Batoim’s idea with a nod, their group followed him. Luckily Irsyr’s teleportation blockage only affects the Loci clan's peaks and teleportations across the canyons so they did not need to walk or fly around the entire mountains.