Dragon-chan’s first five years as a Dragon

Chapter 2: Dragon-chan's first five years as a Dragon

After drifting in and out of sleep for an unknown amount of time, I noticed that it was getting brighter. I looked for the source of the light, and found that light was coming in through some cracks in my egg. I realized that it was finally time for me to see the new world, so I hesitantly pushed my head against the spot where three cracks fully bordered a section of the shell. I felt it give a bit, and so I pushed harder, and after ramming it a few times, it broke off. I was surprised to find the other side of it was a massive eye in a scale-covered head... a Dragon's head... until I remembered that I was now a dragon. Was this my new mother's head?

I threw myself at the hole where that bit of shell was, and the cracks spread further. After what felt like hours, I was able to crawl out of a hole barely big enough for me to fit through. Almost instantly, I was picked up by human hands, and I heard some voices speaking in a language I couldn't understand.

"LOOK, IT'S A FEMALE, AND SHE'S healthy AND LIVELY!" (The human male holding me)

"Calm DOWN MY love, SHE MUST BE hungry, WHY DON'T you LET HER eat SOMETHING?" (A female voice from a direction I couldn't look due to the way I was being held)

"OH RIGHT... SORRY dear, SORRY Nene. I HOPE TO BE A father you CAN ENJOY being AROUND" (The first voice)

After a little bit, I was able to understand a word here and there... is this an effect of the "Fast Learning" skill? I don't know that I'd be able to make the same sounds with my draconic vocal cords even if I did know the language, but... being able to understand what they are saying is a good thing.

Fast forward five or so years, and I've learned a lot. I am a princess and heir to the Drachen Empire... An empire that spans a whole three islands. It used to cover most of one continent and half of another in addition to the three islands it still covers, but my grandfather decided that it was logistically unfeasable to have an empire that large, and so about seven centuries ago he decreed that any territories, be they as small as a single village or as large as a full dukedom, that wanted to leave the empire could do so, and over the next three centuries, every single territory we had left, save for the three islands we have now. Therefore, by about four centuries ago, we had more or less dropped off the map, and by the time I was born, most countries thought our empire had completely ceased to exist at some point.

Those islands are part of a chain of 14 islands, but they are the only three that are not infested with Behemoths (basically, monsters the size of a large building). However, not having any Behemoths means that they are filled with large numbers of other monsters that may not be as strong, but are still plenty strong and much more plentiful, as well as being faster breeders.

Therefore, to deal with this infestation, while other countries have adventurer's guilds that have being 13 years old as a requirement to join, ours have no age restriction, you just need to be able to kill, in 1v1 combat, a Goblin, a Wolf (the monstrous kind: more aggressive, faster, and with razor sharp claws and fangs), and be able to escape from or kill an Orc. In the game, Goblins and Wolves are listed as E rank monsters, while Orcs are C rank, and that holds true in other countries. This means that the level of F rank adventurers here are on par with the upper portion of E ranks in other countries. No, I do not know this because I'm an adventurer, I know because I studied it as part of my training to be a better ruler.

Officially, I can't be an adventurer, as I am still unable to really shift into a humanoid form... Right, I should mention that my family (well, my mother's side) is a special kind of Dragon that can shapeshift... once they get to have enough mana to do so, usually around age 8-10... and then it takes a lot of time to learn how to move around in that form... often not being able to pass as human very well until age 20 or so. It sounds like a lot of time, but remember: We are Dragons, so we live for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years, unless something happens to us. This means that a century for us is like a year for a human, and so 20 years old is like a 10 week old human. If you think about it like that, being able to pass as a human child (like, a 15 year old) at that age is nothing short of a miracle... but there's something more miraculous than that. You see, today is a special day, as I, age 5 and a half years old, just shifted into a human form for the first time. I know the way a human body should look, act, and feel, as well as how to move it, thanks to my memories of being a human on earth, but I'm going to hide my skills at shifting... I want some degree of freedom. I want to be an adventurer!

A week later, I've "borrowed" (stolen with a plan to return it soon after) a cloak from a servant's child, grabbed my year's worth of pocket money (which is about the same amount as a year's expenses for a house of five), and snuck out of the castle in human form. I explored the city, went to a second-hand shop, and bought a cloak, as well as two sets of leggings, shirts, underwear, and a pair of boots for myself. I put one of those sets on and the other into my Dragon's Hoard, went back to the castle, returned the cloak, shifted back to my original (Dragon) form after I put the rest of my clothes into my Hoard, ate lunch, and snuck back out as a fully clothed human. Now, it's time to register as an adventurer... Wait, where is the guild? I don't even know what it looks like... That's a flaw in my plan... and how will I fight? Hand to hand, like I sometimes did in the game? Magic? Let's try those out in an abandoned building, then worry about getting to the guild.

"{Earth Wall}!" (Nene)

A wall of earth rose from the ground, and I used it as a target.

"{Fireball}!" (Nene)

The wall became scorched black where the fireball hit it, and parts seemed to have been turned to glass... I wonder if there was sand mixed in with the earth?

"{Icicle Javelin}!" (Nene)

An icicle speared the wall, leaving behind a hole twice the size of my fist.

"{Water Jet}!" (Nene)

A stream of water hit the wall, blasting another hole in it.

"{Wind Cutter}!" (Nene)

Nothing seemed to happen when the wind blade hit the wall, so I moved on to testing out my hand to hand combat skills. First, I punched the wall lightly, to get a sense for how hard it was... but I realized that the wind blade sliced the wall such that when I hit it, the top half toppled over. Let's try that with an undamaged wall.

"Wait... Can I cast magic without saying anything?" (Nene)

To put that to the test, I imagined a wall of earth rising from the ground, but said nothing... and it worked! Next up, punching it. I hit it lightly again, and this time, I felt the feedback that told me I could punch it with my full strength without hurting myself, so I did so... and I punched a hole in it... and I bruised my knuckle on a stone that was hidden inside.

"{Healing light}" (Nene)

After casting the most basic healing spell in the game on myself, my hand stopped hurting. I wondered if I should buy a pair of gauntlets, but then remembered my mother could shift parts of her body without changing other parts. I tried it for a few minutes, and was pleased at being able to make my arms turn into human sized and shaped arms that were covered in a Dragon's Gold-bordered Purple scales, with hands either tipped with claws or not, at will. I used earth and water magic to create a small pool of water, and used the reflection from that as a mirror as I tried to manifest a pair of cat ears. Half an hour later, my golden eyes were looking at the reflection of me wearing what looked like a full set of Dragonscale armor under my clothes, and I had a pair of functional cat ears on top of my head, the fur on them the same amethyst color as my hair. Pleased with my disguise, I erased any signs I had been using magic in this building and left to learn where the guild was.