Chapter 223 - Beneath the Dragon’s Eyes III

I woke up after a nice, long sleep, and had the urge to do a nice, big stretch and yawn.

I remembered where, exactly, I was, and immediately clamped down on that instinct. I looked down to where I should be, only to see dirt, some leaves that had fallen on me while I slept, and a few crushed berries.

I was still invisible - but in my carelessness, I’d left some traces behind. Crushed berries didn’t come out of nowhere, and now I was going to be leaking blue goo, which [Tracks-be-gone] was going to have to work overtime on, reducing the skill’s useful life.

Heck, thinking about it - traipsing through the garden with barely a care in the world was making [Tracks-be-gone] work extra-hard. A footstep on stone was erased in an instant, practically no mana used. Dirt footsteps?

Dirt impressions on the ground where I’d been sleeping?

Oops didn’t begin to cover it.

I checked that the coast was clear, that no elementals were near and like, looking at me, then I scuttled out from the bushes, carefully not touching any of the branches. I wasn’t fully successful, as not being able to see myself at all didn’t help with the finer points of moving around without touching anything. Still, minimal harm was done. Even as I winced after breaking a “branch” of the blueberry bush, I watched it knit and repair itself, the skill working hard.

I’d need to seriously consider a full stealth class for my 3rd class. Being properly stealthy was invaluable, although my current combination of sneakery was using three different elements at once. Mirage, Sound, and Wood.

Thoughts for another day.

However, thoughts for today - I had [Sneaking]. I was willing to bet I’d been offered an upgraded version, even if I couldn’t see the notification yet. I was going to try something crazy.

I was going to see if I could accept a skill that I hadn’t seen the notification of. After all, I’d technically gotten the new skill - I just hadn’t seen the notification.

I willed myself to accept the upgraded [Sneaking] skill - making sure I tried to get whatever one was best for the current situation - and took a quick peek at my status.

[Avoiding The Dragon's Eyes] met my eye, and I pumped my fist. Eking out little bits of survival, here and there!

I didn’t think anything else could easily be upgraded, but I’d take what I could get.

My level was doing good things to boot! Amazing experience here. My [Oath] was also skyrocketing, everything multiplying with each other in the most satisfying way.

I chewed my lips before coming to a decision. I’d been wearing [Tracks-be-gone] for a while now, and the more time I spent in the orchard the worse it’d be. I was going to be here quite a long time to boot, Lun’Kat’s injuries were extensive, and my healing wasn’t doing much. I took my well-abused backpack, slung it in front of me, and started looting, only hitting up trees and bushes in a direct line between where I’d gone to sleep, and the exit to the orchard.

Apples made up the bottom layer, followed by oranges and bananas - all fruits that I could eat whole, that wouldn’t leave evidence that [Tracks-be-gone] would need to erase. I wasn’t looking forward to eating the peels, but push was meeting shove and survival was paramount. I sprinkled the top with some softer berries. The entire time I tried to walk softly, to step in areas with harder, more packed dirt. Needing to dodge the occasional elemental was just the cherry on top. Fortunately for me, the dryad wasn’t around right now.

With one last look of longing at the stand of mango trees, and the forbidden, uneaten fruit, I left the orchard, vowing that I’d get some sort of repayment from Lun’Kat for her effectively denying me gastrointestinal bliss.

I made my way back to the main lair, where the sun was streaming in from the hole in the ceiling. The sun lit up the floor, slowly moving towards Lun’Kat.

Thinking about it - I hadn’t tried it before, but could [Wheel of Sun and Moon] work on indirect sunlight?

I snuck closer to Lun’Kat, and tried to activate the skill, focusing on healing her snout. I had no such luck.

I looked at the sun, slowly creeping across the floor. I refrained from sighing.

Being able to work on Lun’Kat twice per day was going to make this take forever, and dramatically increased the risk that she’d wake up, I’d get caught, roast Elaine, yada yada yada.

Of course, if I went and directly touched her, the same thing would happen. Dragon wakes up, Elaine-on-a-claw, Elaine-in-the-maw, and then I’d see what the afterlife normally looked like. Noooo thank you. If I was that suicidal, I would’ve let the Shluggoth eat me. I was here because I wanted to live.

No. I was going to do this the slow way. It was [Oath]-approved. She was being actively treated, she was getting better. I was here, and doing what I deemed reasonable to leave both patient and doctor alive and well in the end.

While I couldn’t directly heal Lun’Kat right now, there were other things I could do. I slowly, carefully circled her, noting every injury I could see. Every cracked scale, every bent horn. The lightning scars and broken wing, the nasty cuts and missing claws.

For each injury, I catalogued it, then started to make a medical plan. How would I treat it? What was wrong with Lun’Kat? What would be needed to fix it? Each injury, each plan of action, I knew I’d be able to easily retrieve with [Pristine Memories].

I was maybe a quarter of the way through the process when the sun started to reach Lun’Kat. I stopped my diagnosis, and got into position.

Lun’Kat had shifted around somewhat, and her tail was now lower on Mt. Loot. It was enough for the sun to reach her sooner, which allowed me to heal her sooner.

I grabbed the first set of injuries I wanted to handle, and with my pre-made image, immediately blew through all my mana healing it. Without a moment’s hesitation, I sprinted - as softly as I could - over to the Arcanite pillar I’d used last night. I still believed that my [Scintillating Ascent] wings, being made out of Radiance, would destroy my invisibility and strip one of the tiny bits of protection I had. Sure, given Lun’Kat’s incredibly high level, it was probably more like a paper sign saying “Nobody is here”, but I never knew. Every little bit helped.

Then again, there was an argument for blowing my invisibility, and using my wings to fly. I’d be quieter, and faster, which would get me out of here sooner. At the same time, if Lun’Kat stirred, she might notice me as a result, especially with the great big glowing wings, saying “INTRUDER HERE!” Lun’Kat was probably the greatest illusionist in the world, and might be able to detect my weak invisibility that I had going for me.

I didn’t know which decision was correct, but I made it, and I was going to stick with it until new information changed my mind.

Knowing the little “trick” to it, how the Arcanite “resisted” and needed a little “twist”, I was able to pull mana faster this time, before running back over to Lun’Kat.

A combination of the sun moving slightly differently across the sky, my pre-planning and determination, and Lun’Kat’s tail being lower on Mt. Loot all in all meant that I got fifteen healing sessions in this time, instead of the two I got in last night.

Lun’Kat shifted three times while I was healing her. I didn’t let it bother me - she’d either see me, or she wouldn’t. I was dead if she saw me, and alive if she didn’t. I had achieved a state of serenity about it.

I didn’t draw mana from the pillar while she was moving though. Too risky. She might be able to feel me “tugging” on it, and wake all the way up.

Either way, fifteen rounds of healing later, and the sun’s light was too high for me to reach without flying. It was nicely on Lun’Kat though, and I started to hear dragon-sized purrs come from her as she bathed in the sun.

First she acted like a princess, now like a cat. It was hard to reconcile her with the living incarnation of terror and destruction I’d seen devastating the countryside.

Now that I was done healing, I wanted to make myself scarce. Which meant the main lair was out of the question. I’d love to see what she’d done with her herb and flower gardens, but the dirt problem was rearing its ugly head again. That, and I couldn’t possibly justify going there - it would solely be for my own curiosity. It didn’t help Lun’Kat at all.

No, sadly, tragically, if I wanted to help Lun’Kat I’d need to visit her absolutely massive library. Woe is me. I wanted to see if I could find some books on dragon anatomy, to study them and see if I could improve my healing speed.

I practically skipped to the library, staying all-too-aware that being too loud could break [Muffle], and that I was still deep in the lair of a dragon. I did throw the occasional [Sunrise] at myself, figuring that I should seize the moment to eke out every last level possible.

Still! A chance to legitimately look through a dragon’s hoard of knowledge! I was so happy I could sing!

Naturally, I’d memorized exactly which side-entrance had the books. I approached it, and slowed to a stop.

Did Lun’Kat guard her knowledge as fiercely as everything else? Were there wards and security on the books? Enchantments to stop bookworms from eating everything? Elementals dusting, and patrolling around?

Little spells to slap butterflies trying to eat the books, who wanted nothing more than to snack on some delicious knowledge?

I hesitated, looking around.

Inscriptions covered large amounts of Lun’Kat’s lair. Whatever they were doing, they hadn’t detected a pest like me yet. The doorway to the library looked just like every other side-passage in Lun’Kat’s lair. There wasn’t a layer of special Inscriptions or anything.

Was getting a chance to see Lun’Kat’s library worth the risk of getting caught and eaten? Couldn’t be riskier than covertly trying to heal A DRAGON!

I had to stifle a laugh, biting down on my lower lip.

HA! Of course it was worth the risk!

I gleefully entered the library, looking up in awe. It was like a normal library, except everything was scaled up to be dragon-sized. The shelves, hallways, scrolls and books were all of a size for Lun’Kat to easily read - which meant they were nearly twice my size, and reinforced to boot. The world’s slowest ball of dust rolled through the hallways, a small, compressed cleaner, the winds being more like a puff of air.

Grabbing the most powerful elemental around wasn’t always the right call it seemed.

I had full confidence that I could pull a fairy, or a little mouse, and slowly turn the extra-extra large pages using my full body, one at a time, and read the words inside, drink the tasty nectar of knowledge, all while dodging the questionably alert sentinels.

I was being careful. I didn’t want to touch anything, not until I’d found what I was looking for. I was an unattended kid in a candy shop, told to only grab one bag of licorice. It wasn’t what I wanted to do, but it’s what I should do.

Yet, even as I scanned the titles of the books on the lowest level, two things jumped out at me.

The first was the symbols were completely unrecognizable. I knew how to read, but this was written with an entirely different alphabet. It might be the same language - unlikely - but I was screwed either way if I didn’t know the alphabet.

The second was the Inscriptions I’d be concerned about. They were written around the edges of every bookshelf, layers of some type of protection near the book. Lun’Kat had placed the protections practically on top of the books, instead of securing the entire library.

The third, naturally, were any elementals or other guardians Lun’Kat might have around.

Still. I was undaunted, and had nothing better to do. Then again, given the chance to browse a dragon’s library, I don’t think I’d ever have something better to do.

The titles on the books remained disappointing, and occasionally there’d be a stack of scrolls on the lower shelf. I tried to see inside of them, to check if they were worth risking the security system or not - for all I knew the ‘security’ was really just anti-bug, anti-decay Inscriptions - but they were either dark, or written in the same unknown language.

Up and down the aisles I went, searching for books that I could read. I’d take anything at this point, even if it wasn’t dragon anatomy!

Although, I really should be focusing on dragon anatomy. It was a little harder to justify why I was here, if it wasn’t to help Lun’Kat.

Then again - if I was going to die screaming if I was caught either way, why not read a few things to pass the time?

Row after row, book after book, and I was starting to despair that I’d find anything written in a language I knew. From what I’d gathered, I spoke a language I was calling “Creation” - the language all living things who’d been created on Pallos had dumped into their head. As Night had said, he’d been given a full language when created, and it was the reason the dwarves and I shared a tongue.

I would’ve expected the dragons to also have been born with the language, and assuming Lun’Kat’s moons weren’t hereditary, she’d been around almost as long as Night had. Yet, none of her books were in the language. The only thing I could think of, was that dragons had decided that they didn’t want to speak the same language as everyone else, and invented their own. Or maybe Lun’Kat wrote all her books in a cipher, that only she could understand.

Either way, as I hit the wall in the library, marking the end of the shelves - I had nothing to read.

Head low, bitterly cursing Lun’Kat out, I headed back to the main lair. No mangoes. No books. No fun way to pass the time. All this risk, and for what? A few measly levels?

I glanced at the open skylight on my way out. Moons were up, and I had some time before they made it to Lun’Kat. I continued circling her, diagnosing the last few injuries I could see, and coming up with a plan of treatment for each of them.

When the moonlight hit Lun’Kat again, I was ready. I managed to get five full sessions in, before the angle became bad.

I wandered over to the library, chowing down on my fruits and berries I’d liberated from her garden, finding a little side-corridor that didn’t seem to have elemental cleaners to sleep in. I cursed Lun’Kat as I drifted off to sleep, surrounded by a massive bounty of books that I couldn’t read.

The next three days went mostly the same. Wake up, check on Lun’Kat. Do a large set of injuries when the sun shone on her, do two smaller sets in the night when the moons peeked in. Explore the lair in-depth. I wasn’t going to get anything out of this, maybe I could make an illicit map, and sell it to someone? A map of her lair had to be worth something.

As I ran back and forth, from Lun’Kat to the pillar filled with Arcanite, I couldn’t help but notice the egg collection that she had there. From the large dinosaur egg, to the spherical Celestial egg, an egg near the middle I was sure was a Thunderbird egg, to the aquariums, rainbow eggs, red-gold, malformed, and oh, so many different eggs and creatures!

I wanted one. I’d been wanting a Thunderbird egg for ages, hunting and searching for one. Heck, part of why I’d followed Hunting was to try and get one. Now, there was one in front of me.

Ah, but was that the best choice? It was a “unique” egg, so to speak, an individual egg marked in the collection. It vanishing would be as clear of a sign as any that I’d been around, and taken fair payment.

No, what was a little more attractive were the clutches of eggs. When there were dozens of eggs as a single “collection”, each one identical to the ones next to it? A single missing egg might not be noticed for years or decades. I’d be long gone by then.

There was a clutch of stone eggs, impossibly still viable. Plain-looking eggs, spotted, striped, eggs made out of wood, eggs that reflected the world around them. Eggs as blue as the sky, as hot as a volcano. Tiny little caviar in aquariums.

There were no large eggs in clusters. There wasn’t a point.

Sometimes, when I was bored between healing sessions, I reviewed the eggs in my mind, looking over them. Wondering.

I was looking for a companion, and, well, it was like I’d been offered a one-stop-shop for options. If I was told that literally every egg in creation was present, I’d believe whoever told me that.

Then, of course, there were Lun’Kat’s eggs. Clutched protectively in her grasp, Lun’Kat was always on top of them. Protecting them with her lair, her security, and even her physical body. Arguably the most powerful eggs in creation.

I did more than just lust over eggs. I did more than just daydream about riding the unicorn over hills and meadows. I spent significant time in the library, hedging my bets against Lun’Kat cracking an eye open and looking around. I used [Sunrise] now and then, grinding the level in a high-danger situation.

I did find a section with books written in Creation. They were my size, and high up on a shelf, behind solid glass. Quite a few more books, scrolls, steles, and tablets were in that section, and in my sheer boredom I looked at them, comparing the letters to each other.

There were at least a half-dozen different languages present, of which I only spoke one. Still, I didn’t have much else to do besides look at the books. Lun’Kat was getting more and more energetic and restless with each healing session, and I was resigned to my fate at this point. I didn’t like it, but it was inevitable.

The sun rose on what I hoped was the last day. Almost all of Lun’Kat’s injuries had been healed. The only thing left was her broken wing. Setting the bone was going to take huge amounts of mana, and was probably going to hurt as the bones shifted around. It was the first time in years I’d been wanting to use my old anti-pain skill, and I was mildly regretting ditching it.

Then again, it had been the right choice at the time. Just - not having it right now might be the death of me, which sucked.

Pain meant waking up, and I could only hope at this stage, with the number of injuries I’d healed, with the number of scars removed, tissue sewn together, and claws restored that Lun’Kat would recognize what I’d done, and show mercy upon me.

I got into position as the sun hit. With the way Lun’Kat was curled up, her injured wing was away from me, as far away as possible. With a quirk of magic, that didn’t matter - all that mattered was how close the nearest body part was to me.

I’d been saving the wing for last. Whether Lun’Kat had partially set it herself, or if it had only been slightly broken in the first place was irrelevant.  Either way, I didn’t think the bone would require large amounts of effort, but the tattered wings needed fixing.

I’d never studied a book on bat anatomy, and what I vaguely remembered was forming the basis of my image. I wasn’t expecting efficiency here. Just blood, muscle, scales, wings needed to be whole and hale. I did fix the broken bones first though, which only took a session and a half, the dragon blessedly not stirring through it. Lun’Kat - or rather, the flow of time and natural healing - had already fixed some of it.

The wings only took two more sessions, and like a proud painter, I took a moment to admire my work, my masterpiece of healing.

I frowned.

No, I wasn’t quite done, now was I? I’d fixed everything external, but for all I knew there were internal injuries, and Lun’Kat could be sick for all I knew. How was I just thinking of this now? I was a better healer than that. I was a dumbass.

I made a quick plan and review as I went to get another round of mana. I wanted to hit all the unlikely things first, before working on properly fixing her internals.

I decided to hit diseases first. Bacteria purge, I lost a few thousand mana. Basically nothing, considering the scales I was working on. She’d been almost entirely healthy. Virus? A hair short of ten thousand. Again, nice and easy. Prions didn’t cause my mana to flicker at all, and fungus was in the low hundreds. All numbers that were close to insignificant.

Poison though? Yikes.

Blew through a full heal, and part of a second one. Lun’Kat immediately settled down further, and a deep, rhythmic rumbling emanated from her.

She was purring. The poison must’ve been doing a number on her.

I grabbed another set of mana, and started working on her internals. My images were terrible. I imagined healthy organs of all sorts, then tried to twist the image to be dragon-shaped organs, with a rough approximation of what they should look like. I then applied the “heal” concept to them, instead of having more specific fixes in mind.

I’d never appreciated until now just how hard it was for regular healers. They needed to try and heal without a good image all the time. It helped explain why I was so many cuts above other healers. Forgetting stats for a moment, I could heal three, four, ten people with the same mana they needed to heal one person.

Well, the shoe was on the other foot, and I was more determined than ever to spread my Medical Manuscripts around.

I finished the sixth round of healing Lun’Kat, noticing that finally, I hadn’t used all my mana. I smiled to myself as I lazily jogged over to the pillar of Arcanite, planning on topping myself up before I took flight, and got out of here. The lair was entirely silent. Dreams of freedom, of flying through the sky were dancing through my head, as I felt a powerful rumble behind me.

Hang on. Silent? Lun’Kat wasn’t purring anymore?

I froze, hearing Lun’Kat get up, Mt. Loot shifting and turning as she moved.

Why?! Why now?! Why couldn’t she snooze for a few more minutes!?

A flash of heat erupted behind me, and I closed my eyes, making peace with my fiery demise. However, flames didn’t wash over me. Instead, I heard soft padding, and rapidly rising heat heralded another blast of dragonfire, and ripping, tearing, and swallowing noises followed. Lun’Kat was raiding the fridge after a long nap.

I took the opportunity to slip behind the pillar of Arcanite, hoping that I’d be hidden from casual view if Lun’Kat could see through my [Invisibility with Eyeholes] gem. Heck, I blew the second one just in case. It was no time to be frugal.

I stared at the eggs in front of me, tempting me. The ones in the front of the collection were within arm’s reach. I’d just need to reach out to grab one.

I used all my willpower to keep my hands to myself, to refrain.

Still, some soft padding later, a few big gulps of water, more soft padding, and the purring noises started back up.

I peeked around the corner. Lun’Kat had migrated to her bed, her real overly furred, extra-luxurious bed, and settled down for what looked to be a “good” sleep. She hadn’t noticed that she’d been healed. She probably just thought she’d slept off whatever injuries she had at long last, and was getting some more sleep in.

Or maybe she did notice, and assumed someone she knew had done it. I dunno what was going through her mind. I didn’t particularly care, I just wanted to get out.

My eyes wandered around the lair, immediately noticing a change. Her eggs, three perfect dragon’s eggs, were now in a brazier, flames merrily playing around them.

I licked my lips. I wanted one of those eggs. I could see it now. [Dragonrider] Elaine. From the looks of it, dragons were immortal to boot. I wouldn’t need to worry about my companion aging and dying on me, like Night’s had.

I clapped my head with both hands.

Stealing a dragon’s egg was moronic. Catastrophically, absolutely, obscenely retarded. There weren’t enough words to describe how much of a bad idea it was. Lun’Kat would probably stop at nothing to get her babies back. I wouldn’t mess with a bear protecting her cubs, I’d imagine Lun’Kat would be worse than a momma bear.

Still, my greedy little heart wanted something. I’d been denied books, written in another language or locked behind glass. I’d been denied mangoes, with too much evidence left behind after I ate one. I’d gotten nothing but heartache and grief, and blown tons of expensive gems. I’d lost my last mementos of Magic. I’d done what would be incredibly expensive healing for anyone else. I could’ve charged a king’s ransom for what I’d done, and Lun’Kat could easily pay it.

I totally deserved a little something for my healing. I wasn’t about to go rummaging about Lun’Kat’s lair, but, well. She hadn’t noticed the mana I’d used to heal her, or the food I’d needed to eat to keep healing her, or the library I’d checked through to see if I could improve my healing speed on her. An egg as repayment was just part of healing. Healers needed mana, food, knowledge - and pay.

Her entire egg collection was right in front of me. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking and ruminating over what to grab. The little red eggs, with golden cracks running through them were in the front, in a place of honor. They had to be extremely valuable to make it ahead of everything else, to be in the top nine eggs. They were also a clutch, which meant one or two eggs vanishing might not be noticed for quite a long time, if ever. The original owners might not be looking for them, if they knew a dragon had them.

I impulsively reached out and grabbed one of the eggs, almost dropping it in surprise.

It was hot.

I activated [Scintillating Ascent], and quietly, quickly, made myself scarce.

Besides, there was one last dumb reason I’d picked this egg in particular.

Red was totally my color.