Dragon City

Will woke with a headache. A light flashed in his eyes like an alarm clock, but it was a status screen instead. Will waved off the flashing light.

"Nisha, how do you feel?" Will asked

"Bigger," she said.

Will looked over and saw his black leopard, which now resembled a large black spotted tiger.

"You are bigger! How did that happen?" Will asked his headache increasing in pain.

"I don't know? But the mana is very dense here?" Nisha said.

"Argh, that explains why my status window is flashing so much," Will said rubbing his temple to lessen the pain. It felt like there was a tumor pressing against his brain.

"It seems I've arrived too late. Here drink this tea. It should help," the priestess comforted.

Will quickly drank the tea and felt the pressure on his body disappear.

"Thank you, can you tell us what is going on?" Will asked.

"The mana in Dragon city is very dense. With every breath, your body draws in more mana. It's likely, that your body has never been exposed to this much mana. It may take a couple of days to get used to the environment. Cloud tea helps people tolerate the mountains' dense mana effect," the priest explained.

Will looked at his flashing status screen:

Race: Human

Rank: 3 (Earl)

Title: Lord of Games/ Gaia's Champion

Class: Merchant

Sub Class: Spellsword Knight

Attributes:

Constitution—82

Strength—85

Dexterity—77

Intellect—92

Charisma—17

Ranks Skills: Management (87), Diplomacy (74), Accounting (91)

Class Skills: Appraisal (100, 100), [Radar]

Abilities: Master Swordsmanship (7, 75), Master Terramancer (11, 75), Gaia's Blessing (multiplies your spell strength x2), Journeyman Blacksmith (37, 50).

Will's terramancer ability had risen three points since he arrived. That meant if he stayed here a month, he'd advance to grandmaster mage rank.

"Your wrong, with each point, it increases the amount of time to increase in rank takes long. It would actually take you five years to rank up to grandmaster. But if you fight in the arena, you might decrease that to around 2-3 years," the priestess explained after reading Will's thoughts.

"Can you not read my mind," Will asked politely.

"Thoughts are private, "Nisha agreed.

"You came here for a dragon core, you shall not receive one if you are unworthy.

While you are here, you'll have no privacy. If you want a dragon core to save your master, you'll free present yourself to examination," the priestess said.

"If that's what it takes to help my master, then I permit you to read my thoughts," Will said politely.

"You are but a bug to me. I merely need to seat you away. Since when does a dragon need a human's permission," the priestess said changing into her towering dragon form.

She released but a fraction of her aura, which was enough to send chills up his and Nisha's spines.

"Forgive me I misspoke," Will apologized.

"It's better to know your place now, than outside this cave. Not every dragon is as nice as I am. Now let's start the tour," the priestess said.

Will never realized how small humans were, living in a human city. Humans, elves, dwarfs, and beastmen were similar in size.

Beastmen we're usually the tallest. The tallest beast me were Bearmen and Tigermen with the tallest just 3-meters.

Elves were the second tallest, the tallest was the king who stood around 2.5 meters. The tallest human Will saw was around 2.1 meters tall. And the tallest dwarf was around 1.6 meters tall.

But dragons towered tens of meters tall. Will thought it might be easier to measure dragons in stories than meters.

The moment Will and Nisha step foot into Dragon City, a land where even the smallest cave was bigger than all his houses combined, he realized how tiny humans were. To scale, Will was roughly the size of a tick on an elephant.

The priestess led Will down grovel roads as wide as half a kilometer in width. On the mountain plateau, the road led to massive caves, the priestess introduced Will and Nisha to several old prominent dragons. The most frightening was Dracul the Destroyer.

Dracul was an abnormally gigantic dragon, which reminded him of a balrog. The dragon had massively large sharp horns. Jagged razor-sharp shark teeth spikes doing down his spine, and a large spiketail.

"Thank you for the morsels priestess. Please tell Mother Tiamat, I am honored by her gift," Dracul grinned showing off his sharp crocodile fangs.

"These are guests, not a snack. Your father is considering gifting them his core," the priestess said.

"What!" Dracul roared setting his cave ablaze.

"You dare insult Mother Tiamat's guest!" the priestess said using her aura to protect Will and Nisha from the flames. But she could not protect Will and Nisha from the sweltering heat. Will felt like he was being barbecued.

Quickly, the priestess cast ice magic and put out the flames.

"These interlopers dare take what's not theirs?" Dracul said casting [Dragon Fear].

"They take nothing. Your father is considering gifting it to them. This has consequences beyond your understanding. The Goddess Gaia has given Mother Tiamat a vision!" the priestess said.

"Goddess Gaia?" Dracul said stopping the spell.

Will and Nisha were thankful as they were paralyzed by fear.

The spell [Dragon Fear], put its victim in a nightmare state. The nightmare was equivalent to experiencing the night terror of being eaten alive, burned alive, over and over again.

"Dracul why don't you see your father. He's asked to speak with you," Tiamat said walking in, in human form.

"Mother Tiamat!" Dracul exclaimed in surprise, as everyone bowed upon seeing her.

"Yes, Mother!" Dracul said walking out of his cave.

Will watched as his wings spread open and he took off down the mountain.

"I'm sorry about. I should have given you immunity from [Dragon Fear] when you arrived. She said casting a spell over Will.

Once again, his status screen blinked. When his status screen appeared, Will saw a new edition:

Race: Human

Rank: 3 (Earl)

Title: Lord of Games/ Gaia's Champion

Class: Merchant

Sub Class: Spellsword Knight

Attributes:

Constitution—82

Strength—85

Dexterity—77

Intellect—92

Charisma—17

Ranks Skills: Management (87), Diplomacy (74), Accounting (91)

Class Skills: Appraisal (100, 100) [Radar]

Abilities: Master Swordsmanship (7, 75), Master Terramancer (11+1, 75), Gaia's Blessing (multiplies your spell strength x2), Journeyman Blacksmith (37, 50). Immunity to [Dragon Fear].

"Thank you, Mother Tiamat," Will and Nisha said in appreciation.

"I'd like to invite you to a banquet with Perceval. Please come to my cave at high noon," she said.

"Thank you, we look forward to meeting Sage Perceval," Will said not sure how to address dragons.

"Sage is appropriate. That honorific conveys the translated necessary respect. Xing'er you may continue the tour," Tiamat said walking away.

"Priestess, could you please teach me to say greetings in dragon tongue?" Will answered.

"No, it's not possible. Humans do not possess the capability to speak out language. You humans use your tongues to speak, our language is guttural and communicated telepathically," the priestess said.

The priestess continued introducing Will and Nisha to more residents.

When they came to the lower mountains plateau, Will saw an actual town. There were shops, grand houses, and in the center the largest arena he'd ever seen.

The priestess took Will to see an old alchemist. The woman looked like an old witch, with her long green pointy hat.

"Welcome Xing'er, William vont Ballard and Nisha. Goddess Gaia, how long has it been since I last saw humans? Ten thousand years? A hundred thousand years? I don't remember. However, the stench you humans give off… I will never forget it," the old witch smiled.

"I guess we could do with a bath?" Will said, Nisha.

"You can use mine, and I'll give you soap for free," the alchemist said.

Will and Nisha were taken to a back room, where a tub with hot water was magically filled for them. The old witch added some herbs and grass to the mix as well.

"Are you sure, you're not using us as ingredients for a stew?" Will asked half-joking.

"No, I want your gold, not to eat you," she grinned predatorily.

Will knew that look, that was his look. She and he knew both knew that a one-sided deal was about to happen.

And Will was right, the bath was divine. Will knew he make a killing selling the soap and bath herbs back home.

"How much," Will asked after they were cleaned and given new clothes.

"500 gold for the bath and clothes," the old woman said.

It was a bit pricey, but dragons were a race that coveted gold as much as Will did. Will paid for the bath clothes.

"How much for monthly deliveries to my house?" Will asked.

"Mother Tiamat has restricted these goods to only her children. But she's made an exemption for you and your family, only!

I'll give you herbs for free while you're here. After you return home, I'll sell you the mana enhancing herbs for bathing and sleeping for 1,000 gold a month. But that's not important. Because I have something you need," she smiled.

"What do I need?" Will asked.

"A spirit fruit and an Earth Dragon's core," she smiled wickedly.

The priestess's eyes widened in surprise.

"What do I need them for?" Will asked.

"To increase your power! Magic is stored in both. By eating them your mana pool, and your spirit beast's mana core shall gain a tremendous amount of mana!" the old alchemist smiled predatorily.

"Okay, how much for both items?" Will asked.

"Why don't you tell me how you value increasing your mana pool?" the old witch asked.

The first rule in negotiating was never to set the price first. Usually, Will tried to turn things around. But he was a guest and needed the dragons help, not the other way around.

"I don't know, 5,000 gold," Will cringed.

"Don't insult me! Try again," the old alchemist said.

"25,000 gold," Will said breaking the second rule of negotiation, never bet against yourself.

"The discount price is 10 million gold," the alchemist said angrily.

"Why would you assume, I have 10 million gold on me? That's more than my kingdom's treasury!" Will shouted back angrily.

"You can use teleportation magic. I'm sure you have a dragon's hoard hidden somewhere," the woman smiled greedily.

"250,000," Will said.

"Do you want this or not?" the woman asked.

"1.5 million, final offer!" Will cringed.

"Two million and it's yours!" the woman said anxiously.

For two million, my family down to my great, great, great-grandchildren ought to receive a free lifetime delivery of herbs," Will shouted angrily.

"Great Grandchildren and we have deal," she stuck out her hand.

"Fine," Will said leaving to visit his vault. When he returned, he handed the witch the money.

"I'm broke now," I hope you're happy.

"We both know power is the real currency," the woman smiled.

Will sighed, he hated to admit it, but she was right. He learned long ago, that in this world might makes right.

As helpful as money could be, it was nothing in the face of absolute magical power.

"Alright the tour is over, let's head back to Mother Tiamat's cave for the welcome banquet," the priestess said.