Day 309

  As the reality of what Isaac had discovered settled in, the worm attacked. A set of stone spikes shot out of the ground, aimed directly at his wings. Isaac started to evade them, but more came out of the ground, too many to count.

  It was trying to get him to land.

  As more of them came hailing down on him. Isaac started to use mana blast on the few that he couldn't dodge. The blast of mana seemed to shatter whatever mana the worm used to hold the sand spikes together.

  But there were still too many.

  In a split second, Isaac decided to dive down, which was a mistake. The worm came speeding out of the sand, its teeth chomping down on one of his arms. trying to destroy his ability to fly.

  Pain shot through Isaac; he saw his own blood for the first time. Rage consumed him, and a strange, but familiar power surged from within. With his left clawed hand, he formed the sigil of fire and bit the worm back.

  The worm seemed surprised that his bite got through its hardened hide. And it was more so when the fire came. Isaac used more than half of his mana pool in this, and he hoped that this attack would affect him as much as the worm.

  The quick exchange of attacks had only taken a few seconds, and Isaac and the worm were still in the air. But as they hit the ground. They turned into an azure fireball as Isaac’s sigil got its mana. The worm tried to run, but Isaac bit and held it in a vice grip. The fire cooking the monster from the inside out.

  The sand around them started to turn into a red molten liquid as they struggled, and the worm started to get desperate as the seconds ticked by...

  But at last it did something Isaac did not expect. A stone spear shot through itself and right at him. The shock and pain made him lose his grip and the worm wriggled free. More than medium cooked, but, powered by its mana, it dived into the sand.

  ‘shit’ was all that Isaac could say. Where the hell did that thing go...

  Scanning over the sands, Isaac couldn't see or feel it now. It had disappeared completely from his senses...

  A magic aura, however, appeared in his magic perception, and his head swiveled to the places, blasting the place with a mana blast. Something there died...

  You have defeated worm (younglin—

  What?

  That wasn’t what he had been fighting, was it...?

  He didn't get the time to read all of it as two more appeared, ‘what the hell is going on’. As the question rang in his head, more appeared, and some started to swim above the sand.

  Flapping his wings, Isaac's started flying upward. Pain came with the task, but distance was what he needed. It, however, looked like he had found his new enemy to fight.

  As he got higher, the worms started to screech. and more, and more surfaced on the sand. There were at least a hundred of them down there.... if not more. Some even bigger than the one that had surprised him.

  And he was already exhausted from the previous fight...

  It wasn't a hard decision... but It wounded whatever dragon pride Isaac had, ‘I need to retreat for now. ’ However, it was a start of something he could fight more and a curio to explore.

  Day 339

  Isaac had returned home after his journey of exploration had ended. And the Desert was too dangerous for now, the worms too numerous, and as he had figured out the hard way, a hail of stone spears could hurt him. The memory made him wince internally.

  But he had started renovating his lair, it was now bigger and looking way nicer. With magic helping him, it was getting there. It also made him see that the more he used the type of magic, the easier it was to do.

  Isaac’s lair now had a grand entrance that led down to where he had first woken up. On the walls leading down, where writings of places and monsters he had hunted, it was a nice past time. It helped ground him more.

  At the end of the long tunnel, he had cleared the place and smoothed the ground, and in the center was a small hill of mana stones now. The air was practically humming with mana... it was a very comforting feeling for him in truth. And as Isaac had found it, the mana in the air helped him grow and heal.

  Further back was his to-do list. And so far, he was getting there.

  Leveling was still a goal, and so was his next evolution.

  But...

  The mysteries of the world bugged him. Why was he here?

  He was the first dragon, which was nice and all, but shouldn’t there be more?

  The question gnawed at him each time he slumbered. Luckily, he had dreamless nights.

  On the plus side, he had gathered enough knowledge to start making his own magic system, and that almost made his tail wag.

  As he could see it. All magic, of any form, had it’s own sigil, all from fire, water, air, and earth.

  And each sigil in turn made it easier for the user to use and bend magic to their will. That was the current theory... but as it became more and more clear, there were more sigils out there to be found...

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  There could be a Sigil of gravity or one of space, even one of time... How much mana each would need was another question, but... he just needed the right perception skill... and time, so could he unlock the Sigil... maybe... it was all still theoretical.

  Isaac sighed as he was just done engraving the start of the first Sigil he had found. The Sigil in question was getting its own wall in the main room. Now, Isaac just needed to start finding the others. The worms had given him a glimpse into the Sigil of Earth. And now it was just down to repetition and time.

  The rest would come.

  Day 360

  For the last days, Isaac had been looking for magic, and he had found it.

  He had found what he had thought, at first glance, was a water elemental— sorta. But as a fight had started, it had ended quickly when he had seen the fish inside the moving water that controlled the water mana motes.

  The fish had used its sigil of water liberally, and so, given him a good time to see and get a feel of the sigil. It was surprisingly easy.

  The earth Sigil had just come to him... it was like any normal “casting” and then bam!... the Sigil had been there. It was... weird, but it had come to him as just an understanding of stone, rock, and the earth. It felt very natural.

  And the air one... he hadn’t made any progress toward... and not in the lack of trying... but it was very much his fault... as most of the flying monsters and animals close to where he lived.... were very much not living because of him.

  He still tried the pure practice route, but he hadn't used it much, and the last day he stuck more to what he knew.

  But as time and progress in the new sigils had melded together, he was still leveling in skills and killing monsters for food.

  He had progressed a lot in his levels and other skills for his effort.

  Congratulations, Mana Bite has reached the evolution point. Evolve, and the skill will grow with you.

  You have leveled Mana control to level 10

  ...

  You have leveled Mana control to level 13

  You have leveled Evasion to level 8

  You have leveled ?Arcane Sight to level 10

  ...

  You have leveled ?Arcane Sight to level 15

  You have leveled Arcane Focus to level 8

  ...

  You have leveled Arcane Focus to level 11

  You have leveled Dragon Fear to level 6

  You have leveled Mana perception level 10

  You have leveled Arcane Dragonfire to level 10

  Congratulations, you are now a Level 14 Arcane Dragon youngling.

  ...

  Congratulations, you are now a Level 19 Arcane Dragon youngling.

  He also had gained achievements for the Sigil’s, too.

  Congratulations. You are the first Arcane Dragon to form a Earth Sigil. For taking your first step in mastering the depths of the earth, your {Arcane Earth Attunement} has increased. And additional evolution paths have opened for you.

  Congratulations. You are the first Arcane Dragon to form a Water Sigil. For taking your first step in mastering the flows of Water, your {Arcane Water Attunement} has increased. And additional evolution paths have opened for you.

  It was good progress in levels, skill, and magic... and won at the end of almost a year here in the world of Veern... what more would be in store for him...

  Day 364

  Isaac was in a panic... sluggishly soo... he could feel his next level was so close that he could almost taste it... But what had him in panic was that magic was disappearing from the world... and with a growing sense of dread, he had realized too late that there weren’t any more spawns of monsters... and ambient mana was diminishing or less than normal... and it looked like he would enter his dragon sleep on his Spawn day... birth day. He wasn’t sure what he could call it, but it didn’t matter.

  Sluggishly, he made a plan to seal himself in his lair... that would be the safest bet.. his dragon nourishment was above two-fifty.

  And as day 364 ended and a new year started... Isaac got the notification for a level up as he hunted one more monster.

  The sleepiness doubled, but he made his way to his cave this time. And darkness and growth fueled his mind.

  And a notification appeared that he didn't see.

  A God has entered the world of Veern.

  Isaacs stats

  Arcane Dragon: youngling ~ Evolving

  Level: 20

  Dragon nourishment: 249

  Mana nourishment 2nd stage: high~

  Mana pool: 359/ 359

  Skills:

  Mana Bite level 20~ { Awaiting evolution }

  Arcane Claws level 20~ { Awaiting evolution }

  Mana control 13

  ?Arcane sight level 15

  ?Arcane focus level 11

  Evasion level 8

  Mana perception level 10

  Arcane Dragon fire level 10

  Dragon Fear level 6