Greed God chapter 173

April 3rd 2016 Brightedge City 7:00 PM EDT

Checking  my pouch, I easily found the Iron Dragon Cestus I was planning to use  for my bump to D rank. My physical body was strong as hell for an E  ranker already, but the Vital Tempest bloodline leaned more towards  inner power and I wanted to try to balance that. The Cestus would  massively increase my physical abilities so my body could keep up with  my magic, and should evolve my bloodline to something a bit more  balanced. I didn't want to lean too hard into the magical and lose one  of my biggest advantages as a dragon. I double checked the cestii to  make sure they were what I needed.

[Appraisal  function activated. Treasure detected. Iron dragon cestus- E rank. A  pair of battle gauntlets made from the fangs of a powerful earth dragon.  Set into black star iron, these brutal striking weapons amplify  physical blows by three times, and boast an absurd penetrating power  against mystical wards and armors. Despite this, they are considered  poor weapons due to the abnormal weight, which makes them a bad fit for  most noble bloodlines.]

They were perfect. The  magic penetration aspect would synergize with my current power well, the  weight and durability would reinforce my flesh, and the physical  amplification would dramatically boost my strength in combat. Not to  mention earth was still nominally part of the lifeforce vibe I went for  with my bloodline, and the combination should allow me to come out of  this with something on brand.

This next merge would cost  me a million points, but I was still over five million, so that was  fine. With how crazy things were getting I felt like I could use the  security of this transformation. Brightedge was going to get crazy and  some extra physical durability and power would be good insurance against  some of the things I would run up against. I wasn't going to be  kryptonian levels of power, but D rank should be plenty to stop almost  anything else one on one. Zee had been D rank herself and she was pretty  much top of ladder in terms of magical power, aside from Doctor Fate  and people like Raven.

I was slightly worried now that I  was back honestly. Unlike Gemworld, where the bloodline system was  coherent and pretty holistic, the real world was much more chaotic when  it came to power. You had people like Zee who were D ranked magic users  but human levels of strength, or Kara who were A rank demigods of alien  might who could lose a fight to a glow in the dark rock. If I wasn't  much more durable I could easily find myself killed by the random  bullshit of this world before I could effectively conquer anything.

Weighing  the cestii in my hand I considered where I should do this. It might be  big and flashy, and even if it wasn't I would probably be emitting tons  of energy. I'd planned to wait until I got back to earth to avoid  scrutiny, and if I wanted to keep that plan alive I couldn't find a  better place than the Palace. It was designed to isolate the inside from  detection and entrance, so no one should pick up my merge. Still, this  might be destructive, so I carried the weapon in my hands down to the  same training room where I'd first fought Waylon after his upgrade a  while ago.

Luckily the training room was empty. There was a  bit of wear and tear that made me suspect someone had been using it  while we were gone, but it was a big house and there were lots of people  staying here. It had probably been Jade or Barbie's dad or something.  The ring was still in good shape, so climbing up into the center, I  prepared  for my upgrade and then triggered my power, merging myself  with the Iron Dragon Cestus in a swirl of rioting energy.

Just  like last time, I felt my body melt into a cohesive blob of energy as  the cestus did the same, and its energy blended into mine. The sensation  of feeling changes in the energy that made me up went beyond the  physical, being positively indescribable for someone who spent so long  as flesh. I half expected to ascend to being a full dragon, but my aim  hadn't been that. Dragon status was down the line, I wanted to perfect  my bloodline before I transcended it. When I regained my physical form, I  reached into my pouch and pulled out the E ranked mirror from the  treasury.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Nicholas  Lord- D ranked Dragonkin of Primal Force. The possessor of the Greed  System, and a recently transformed dragonkin. A distant child of a force  of nature. An echo of a great song. Primordial might chained within a  mortal form. An unending torrent of ancient power.]

I  felt the shift in my nature even as I appraised myself, the differences  clicking into place. My power still encompassed the storm, but it  covered so much more. A volcanic eruption of life energy, a tsunami of  vitality and destruction. All force sprang from the origin, from the  primal. The first and strongest power. Life, death, destruction,  creation. I was all these things, a walking cataclysm bound in mortal  flesh.

I could feel the rioting strength inside me, and I  expected to have to separate it from the older magic of the tempest, but  I found that I didn't. Physical, magical, it didn't matter. My body was  as my will, merely an extension of the prehistoric might inside me.  Physical and magical action were no different from each other. Both were  an exercise of my unending strength.

Letting the scales  roll over me, my body transformed,  blazing green scales rolling over  flesh that increased in size and density. I could see plating of dragon  scale even thicker than before in some places, my new body made for  physical combat in a way my other never had been. I felt like a fucking  living hurricane right now, and it was amazing. Deciding I needed to  test this out, I reached through my brand and out to Amy, drawing her  toward the training room.

My D  ranked wifey showed up within a few minutes, and when she saw me she  gave an appreciate squeal. "Oh you look so intimidating!" She proceeded  to disprove that particular claim by speeding across the room and  hurling herself onto me, her D ranked body slamming into mine with  absolutely zero reserve. At least she proved I was stronger, because I  didn't even twitch at the impact despite the power behind it.

I  grinned and gave her a squeeze as I put away the mirror. "I've  officially reached Marquis level, same as you. Thought I'd see if you  were interested in a little sparring. I've still never seen you fight,  though I know that you're pretty good at it. You used to do the combat  thing all the time during your travels right? I'm curious to see what  you can do now that we're at the same level."

Amy  was one of my strongest assets on earth, along with Emerald, but I'd  yet to assess either of their combat abilities. The other girls were all  E ranked but Amy and Emerald were powerful D ranked nobles and had been  for literally years. They weren't just strong, they were trained,  though Emerald's ability lent itself more to non combat. Beast taming,  plant growth, that sort of thing.

I'd  heard a lot about the Amethyst magic, but I'd never seen the so called  strongest house in Gemworld in action (outside the bedroom) since I was  going to have a kid with that magic at some point (probably a few at  this rate) I wanted to test things out for myself. This would be my  first time fighting a real D ranker too, and I couldn't help but be  excited about the possibilities.

For  her part, Amy looked ecstatic. "That's a great idea! I don't have any  supplies for permanent crafting really, but we can make ourselves  simulacra that work temporarily even without imbuing the magic into a  stable Amethyst structure. It's a bit power intensive, but much more  versatile anyway. It might be a bit destructive though. Are you sure you  want to do this here?"

I  just shrugged. "It's a training room, we're training. The house will  protect our fight from drawing attention remotely too, which is  something to worry about on earth. I know you haven't been using much  magic so it hasn't been an issue, but be careful not to go all out when  you're out of the house unless you have someone else there watching your  back." The last thing I needed was some evil sorcerer cabal capturing  her after she was worn out fighting an army of amazons or some shit.

We  headed up into the ring, which was a bit ripped up along the top from  my ascension, but was structurally fine Amy took up her position across  from me, nearly bouncing on her toes. She was wearing a pair of purple  yoga pants and a black tank top, and her hair was up in a ponytail. She  looked like she was going to a fucking zumba workout, not a battle, but I  was hardly going to let her take me off guard.

"Alright."  She said cheerfully. "Just let me know when you're ready to start ok?  But you should know, I'm pretty fast, so be careful when you start the  match." I found it faintly amusing that despite her protestations of  worry she was completely relaxed. I wasn't too worried anyway, my  reinforced body should be pretty durable even for D rank, my current  bloodline should be pretty much at the peak of the rank in both enduring  and outputting force.

I  shot her a grin "Alright. G-" I didn't even finish the word go before a  fucking train car sized pillar of glowing Amethyst energy smashed into  me at an upward angle and sent me hurtling up into the air off the  stage. It was jarring, and a total shock, but it wasn't enough to throw  me for long. The pillar chased me up into the air for a second hit, but  my wings snapped open and beat once, sending me slicing toward the  ground as it went right over my head.

As  soon as it missed the pillar shattered, raining shards of Amethyst  light into the air and creating a field of hazardous obstacles for  flight based maneuvering. If I'd still been what I was I'd have used  some kind wind magic, but I could be more direct now. I flapped my wings  with a sharp crack and dove at where Amy was standing, ignoring the  shards of light. As I did, I imbued Primal Force into the dive, sending  myself blurring forward as a green comet of energy.

I  twisted my wings slightly, sending myself corkscrewing as I dove at  her, but before I even hit, a dome shield of condensed Amethyst energy  blazed into existence. My strike shattered it on impact, but more  Amethyst grew from the cracks so fast I could barely perceive it,  bleeding off the force of my blow even as it tried to consume me. Amy  wasn't a stranger to combating stronger enemies. She had experience with  dealing with powerful impacts it seemed.

I  used the remaining force to shove myself back, breaking free of the  grasping energy constructs, and landed lightly on my feet, holding up my  hands to stop. With barely any lag time, the constructs shattered, this  time into dust, which floated down over the training ring, highlighting  my blonde bride like she was on a victoria secret runway, sparkling  lights drifting around her angelically. She gave me a cherubic smile  that I returned with my own wolfish grin as I cracked my neck. "Alright.  You made your point. I'll start taking this seriously. Again." This  time, I was gone before the pillar of energy hit me. I wasn't going to  let the same trick get me twice, but I had a feeling she had plenty  more. I couldn't wait to see them all, even if it took all night.