A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

Scales of True Cold: Draconic energy production is majorly increased while in the presence of [Draconic Aura] or its variants, scaling with the level of this skill. While in possession of this skill and sufficient draconic energy, the scales of the owner will have their ice-aligned mana empowered into true ice. Enables a restricted [Scale Manipulation] as long as the scale has draconic energy, shedding the entire scale for levitational usage. Improves the natural [Drifting Snow Wyvern] racial skills and its evolutions or mutations

“In a way, it’s good! Though, it’s also extremely restrictive. Is the description telling the truth? You can only use it once?”

“Yes,” Shay said before all the scales on his right arm detached and congregated themselves into a long needle. He then had them retreat back onto his arm before he froze them, coating them in ice armor before they were shot at the wall, buffeting it like a shotgun pellet. “A variant of [Scale Manipulation], and an improvement in how my sister and I flash freeze the moisture around our body into armor. The improvement actually provides an advancement in how I can release the gas out of my body.”

Now scaleless, Shay’s naked right arm started to emit a white gas in a flamethrower fashion, as in, icy gas was released in a stream. He paused it for a moment before releasing it again, this time blasting the concentrated gas like an explosion in front of him, freezing some of my left foot.

“Y-Your Highness!” Shay jerked up as the icy sting of his liquid nitrogen-like substance wrapped my scales and toes in a blanket of ice. Thankfully, the true ice portion of his skill only worked on his scales, not his liquid nitrogen-like expulsion system he needed to create his normal ice armor.

As such, it was quickly solved by me snapping my fingers around it. Still, Shay looked like he just lost twenty years of his life in a flash as he fell onto his knees. His sister had to pat him softly on his back until he finally recovered, but, well, it still looked like he was drowning in a river of despair.

Anything I would say to him now wouldn’t work, I was sure about it. Accident or not, it happened.

Managed to value himself more, but he’s still too much the same. Oh, why are my ice retainers so dedicated?

“Hmm, nothing special, though. Unlike with us, he has to shed the entire scale, not a molted layer,” Rhekk commented as he was devouring the stir-fried rice with worm chunks—a quick meal I managed to make after dismantling the parts of the worm that wasn’t torched by my [Kargryxmor Style: Sky Sunderer]. “It’ll make him weaker. Nothing to be proud about, when some lesser dragonkin and dragonewt manage to learn [Scale Manipulation].”“Can you not be like that, please? It is worth mentioning, even with the detriment. I don’t like the restrictions, but the fact he managed to actually hurt the ice-aligned worm with a true ice attack means we have another option when we have to fight that mandril again.”

Draconic energy—pretty much just a dragon’s mana expended with their stamina—was necessary for many of the draconic-only skills like [Scale Manipulation] or [Draconic Aura] to activate. “Draconic” in the name was usually a good indicator that you might have to use mana and stamina to activate them, which was why most wyverns and dragonewts had [Dragonkin Claw], instead of [Draconic Claw].

Due to our relations to lesser and humanoid dragonkin, the latter two could also produce this energy, although usually to a lesser degree to the point they couldn’t obtain certain draconic skills. Some dragonewts could weave clothes using their scales, and some wyverns were blessed with [Draconic Barrier]. Shay and Beth were blessed with the latter, so I believed having access to [Scale Manipulation], albeit a weaker version, was still better for their defense since [Draconic Barrier] was incredible with [Scale Manipulation], making our scales portable shields.

Now, it was problematic that Shay would lose an entire scale for it, but I guess that’s why the skill was so restrictive. After all, it did say he could only produce a large amount of draconic energy while in the presence of a [Draconic Aura], which meant, he could only fight at his full potential with another dragon. Since healing magic accelerated the growth of his scales during a fight, the dragon also had to have access to healing magic.

In other words, I was one of the best candidates. A perfect skill for my second [Hestia’s Imperial Guard].

“It’s one option, but the real solution is your brother—Prince Nongramos. Father’s horns, with the blizzard covering up the entrance, it will be hard for him to find us unless we risk digging out during a blizzard,” Rhekk replied, his mood far more jolly than before. Thankfully, my little stunt had the positive effect I had anticipated. “Not to mention what your mother suggested. If we’re staying here, we need to really fortify our location. After all, if the mandril finds us before your brother, I won’t bet on us.”

Although I didn’t like the culture of power of the dragons, Rhekk was too used to it to somehow give it up, seeing how he kept mentioning that point when he had his dangerous moment. Despite my insistence to distance myself from the toxic—to me at least—expectations I was given as a princess of Iceskale, others wouldn’t. Rhekk was one of them, and I hoped he would after this trip, and to start that, cajoling him to act by confronting him with the hard truth and the fear of death was the way I predicted would work best.

As he screamed out during the last moments of the mandril fight, he was extremely proud of his clan and lineage. It was

“I will also have to practice, my lady,” Shay said after recovering from his moment of weakness. “Lack of scales won’t be as bad due to [Hoarfrost Scales] creating armor stronger than my scales, which is why I knew it would be best to use them more offensively during that last moment, my lady. As such, I would rather learn how to manipulate them better and also how to manage this.”

White gas kept blasting out of Shay’s arm to his chagrin, making me realize he was actually having a hard time controlling it. Meaning, those bullet-like shots he did on the worm were probably just accidents. A good accident, though.

“Back to training, huh?”

“Always, my lady. The fight with the worm and the mandril were … painful reminders that I am still not enough. Haaa, honestly, Bethlieranha didn’t out of the worm battle with major injuries due to your healing, but she still lost consciousness for a moment and that wouldn’t have happened if I had reacted better. Because I reacted too late, that led to her capture, leaving you open to the monster’s attack. I failed as your guard, Lady Hestia,” Shay admitted, causing Beth to frown, looking at her brother with guilt, though the latter did not notice, simply looking forward, at me.

“… Shay, it’s okay. Prioritizing your sister is just as important. I would be heartbroken if I were to lose either of you,” I replied, prompting him to nod, but I could see he was still not satisfied. “Honestly, the System deemed you worthy of [Hestia’s Imperial Guard], just like Tasianna. You never lost heart and kept fighting for me. Yet, I won’t ask for your full dedication, as your heart should make room for your sister as well, Shay. She fuels you just as duty drives you to train to become stronger.”

Shay sighed, shaking his head as his expression turned sour. “That is my duty, after all … I am your mother’s retainer and my sister’s brother. I was ordered by your mother to protect you, so seeing you or my sister in danger irritates me, especially when I feel too weak to do anything. My lady … you could have died against the Prince of Envy if your plan hadn’t worked. Your soul could have been consumed and we would have lost you forever.”

He lowered his head. It seemed his moment of selfishness also managed to open his heart more. Words flooded his mouth like never before.

“I admit, it was ingenious how you used the fact you have two personalities in your soul, Lady Hestia. Lady Hikari was the advantage you brought to the battle of souls, yet it still came to the bitter end of your parallel minds. They sacrificed themselves for you … That thought haunts me. Haunted me for that one year you were in a coma.” He held his hand out for a moment, grasping it lightly. He scowled as he continued. “Asterios … and the wyvern priestesses of Avitor Peaks—I remembered them telling us that escorting the ‘Granddaughter of God Kargryxmor from the Belzac Forest’ was a divine duty. Sacrificing our lives for your safety was paramount. To serve a true dragonkin was the highest honor we lessers could ever imagine. I held onto that fact ever since Her Majesty took us in.”

“Brother—”

“You nearly died against Her Highness, Bethlieranha,” Shay interrupted her. “You nearly died in Elyonda against that Ghorush. We can still not properly create a Territory, despite an extra year of training with Her Majesty. Don’t you hate all these painful moments as well? Being weak. To be weak where we were born was a death sentence, yet we managed to rise above that challenge. Yet, as we reached the outside world, we were defeated by countless people and our dedication to our task was tested. Not to mention, our duty as egg-siblings. My heart remembers every failure. I’ve etched those memories into me like needles and scars … yet, the moment I ignored them and simply strove for a moment of selfishness, I felt … true freedom. I felt freer than when we first took flight!”

Shay opened his clenched hand before forming a fist again, only this time with far more fervor and emotion. “I want to kill Ghorush! I wanted to kill that worm monster! I want to pay that mandril back for what it did to us! I wanted … to evolve so badly, that I took the kill from you, Princess Hestia. That last moment where you split the monster’s head wide open. The poison and flames were scorching it, and the ice breaths Lord Rhekkraxus released into its stomach weakened it, and I knew it was about to die. Yet I took it.”

“The Divine System adapts,” Rhekk said. “If this [Hestia’s Imperial Guard] title is triggered due to loyalty, then—that fairy of yours has it too, right?”—he asked and I confirmed it, prompting him to continue—“Yeah, exactly. From [Hestia’s Retainer] to an imperial guard. To be a direct guard, there has to be trust between both sides. That’s the trigger requirement for the title’s evolution, and in this case, instead of trying to defend Hestia, you wanted to charge forward, wyvern. Instead of waiting and reacting to somebody getting hurt, you want to make a change and hurt others before they can hurt your people.”

“A change in my mindset is what triggered it?” Shay was left befuddled, prompting him to finally go silent.

His sister, on the other hand, showed an even more strained expression. “Then… why didn’t …”

“Beth is something the matter?” I asked, but she quickly shook her head.

“N-no, nothing to be worried about, my lady. I was … stunned by how much more I had to train. Now that Brother is evolving, I must also find a way to reach the point of evolution to make myself useful. Woo! I should start!” Beth stood up and jumped away before she transformed back into a wyvern, flying off to the remains of the worm to continue the dismantling process. I couldn’t question her any further.

“A change of mindset is quite powerful,” Rhekk said, wistfully looking at Beth. “You saw it for yourself.”

“We know it for ourselves,” I answered for Hikari and myself.

Rhekk scowled, scratching his head as he finished his meal before scooping some more for his sixth bowl. “Yes, yes … your human side that led you to come to this world. Speaking of which, I should properly apologize to you for that. I… tried to belittle you. I won’t refute that.”

“So that apology from back then was a false one, huh?”

“Expectations, my lady. As your mother’s seneschal and chief retainer, my father has a duty to you as well, and that extends to his sons—Siegragxus and I. I had to say that, even if it was cowardly. Angering your mother is considered worse than being meek to my father,” he explained. “You know the gist of their relationships, but you shouldn’t forget that those two knew each other for a long time. They’ve spent a lot of time together. With how much your mother gushed about you when you were still sleeping, my father wouldn’t even dare to even chip one of your scales.”

I tilted my head. “The way you’re speaking—”

“You don’t have to think about it. It’s plain as day how my father felt about your mother, and my mother knows that well enough to accept it.”

I jumped a bit, stunned into bafflement as I realized the hidden meaning behind his words. Thinking about it, I couldn’t really tell that fact with how Uncle Alex treated Mom. I always thought of him as a loyalist to the end, similar to how other loyalists had acted around their leader or liege. Though … I guess Uncle Alex having, or had, feelings for Mom wasn’t such a farfetched idea.

“Father never told me about it, but I knew from how my mother avoided the topic that Father truly hated it when Empress Melloxtressa’s heart was stolen away by the emperor. You are your mother’s one and only daughter, so he could not hate you, though to learn that you inherited not an inkling of the icy might Empress Melloxtressa probably irritated him. ‘The future heir to the Dragon Ruler of Ice title isn’t even an ice dragon?’—Sieg and I disliked it as well, but, well, my brother’s opinion of you certainly shifted.”

“So he wasn’t too appreciative of me either, huh? Like-minded brothers?”

Rhekk nodded, causing my stomach to rumble. Not out of hunger, but out of stress as my viewpoint of Sieg changed once again. As I was frowning, even taking a huge bite to still my displeasure, Rhekk did the same. I guess we were both stress-eating now.

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“But, unlike me, Sieg valued bureaucracy a lot. Seeing you want to act like a princess, even if you didn’t have the qualifications to be our next Dragon Ruler of Ice, probably made him gamble on your future evolution. After all, we share the same opinion—the daughter of the two strongest dragons of Miononbolax must be the strongest claimant to the throne. Though, unlike me, he did not wish for a war with the south, even if some supported the idea to go to war against Inferno Nest, at least.”

“Well, I guess those are the same people who cheered when I came back from Inferno Nest.”

“Indeed …”

“Expectations are truly poisonous to the mind and body.”

“Indeed …” Rhekk let out a deep sigh.

“Yet, expectations were the driving point to my change,” Shay added.

I nodded. “Mom said the same thing. It might be a poison, but it is also a blessing. Without even expectations for yourself, how will you drive yourself forward? Pursue perfection to better yourself and your results? You have to know how to balance the poison with the blessing.”

‘Less it drowns you in the sludge of dread,’ Hikari reminded the two of us, and I nodded.

“Yes … that battle should be a good benchmark, and a boost in our confidence,” Rhekk stated. “At least, you know you can fight a rank A without your brother’s aide, albeit, you require a long time of preparations for it. How many different buffs did you apply to yourself? Father’s horns, I couldn’t even imagine myself doing that much damage to a rank A with one single strike.”

“Well, you don’t have an older brother who is an earth dragon.” I shivered as I remembered how bloody tanky Ryra was and how my last attack during our spar only managed to pierce his knee. That visualization allowed me to understand where I stood against another defense-focused monster.

“Can’t deny that.” He shrugged before snapping his head at me. “Are you okay?”

“Hmm? Yeah, sure. What do you mean?”

“I mean, your body and head are slowly moving around as if you were drunk.”

I tilted my head as he said that, only to suddenly feel the pull of gravity grabbing my right shoulder. Fortunately, before I fell flat on my face, Shay managed to grab me and my bowl of rice in time, helping me sit upright.

“The after-effects of [Battle Frenzy (Moderate)], my lady,” Shay stated, confusing me. When I asked him how he knew that, he pointed at my tapping tail. “The signs are there, my lady. While you spoke with Lord Rhekkraxus, I noticed you were being more agitated than when you cooked the fried rice. The emotions are getting to you, and I should not remind you that your body still isn’t supposed to be used to the moderate stage. Your mother and the Divine System warned you to train!”

“Nonsense! I didn’t feel anything until now!” I argued. “Hikari was more affected by it since her mind had barely started her [Battle Frenzy] training, but she didn’t act any differently once the fight ended. Maybe I’m just hungry.”

“Maybe. You did expend quite a lot of energy during the fight, and your solar core is still leaking. Maybe all these factors are affecting your body in a bad manner. Maybe my assessment is wrong, but regardless of what the reasons are, the truth of the matter is that you didn’t notice that your body was shaking, my lady. Nor did you notice your own [Battle Frenzy] signs, similar to whenever your urge to fight grows. Saori and Tasianna taught us well enough; I would not make this mistake, my lady, so I request that you receive my warning with an open mind.”

“Sheesh, you really are talkative today, Shay. First, you scolded Rhekk like he was some naughty kid, then just now.” I sighed but nodded in the end.

“Let’s leave the talking for later,” Rhekk agreed. “The important point is that we now have an understanding. I’ll help you get to the peak, Princess Hestia, and show my clan that I can put aside my own feelings and handle it like a true Thalaxarus.”

“Ha, you should be doing that more for yourself, but if I guess that ‘spite’ portion of my lecture made more of an impact on you. Here.” I pulled out my subspace runes and opened the portal. “Take a bath in the hotspring and actually clear up your mind. Shay will help you. Shay, can you tell Svena, Lorena, and Haati that I need a bath? Prepare it to be performed here, since I can’t enter.”

“Yes, of course. Sister!” Shay called, summoning Beth back to us. “I’ll help with Lord Rhekkraxus’s bath. I want you to make some preparations for Her Highness, all right?”

“Of course!”

Once the three entered the [Room], I laid down as I wasn’t sure if what Shay had said was right or not. I even had Hikari check-up on our body, but aside from our leaking core, nothing seemed different from before. Was the problem really [Battle Frenzy]? I really didn’t understand anything right now, making me wish I could ask my doctor if something was wrong … Then again, I could probably ask him to enter the subspace through Mom.

Regardless, I now had to wait … I had to wait for a while, in fact, as Svena had some bad news for me.

“Her Majesty had used the bath and we were in the middle of cleaning the hotsprings … I truly apologize, Your Highness!” she bowed deeply, causing me to feel even worse.

In the end, I soothed her worries and told her to take her time. I wanted a bath, but I didn’t want it to be rushed for my sake and decided to use the waiting time to eat and play around. Maybe that would get me away from any potential [Battle Frenzy] annoyance. I could test it out tomorrow, anyways. Time, after all, was on my side since I needed to wait about a month for my core to regenerate.

Since the twins and Rhekk would need a bit longer, I decided to check up on the subspace, as Svena also had no news from Tasianna and Vifi. Maybe they got stuck in an avalanche like us and were trying to find a safe space to settle down, or something. All I could do was hope.

Kitchen, restaurant, and even the inn are being used. Kinda surprised the restaurant was being used by the alliance members as a place to gather and talk about things. Damn, I always keep missing stuff without being able to enter the subspace! I complained to myself, also testing if I was still dizzy or not, but I couldn’t really tell. Everything felt … normal. At least, that was what I figured, but both Rhekk and Shay noticed my shaking. Was I not aware of my own body and perspective?

The training rooms are clean as heck. Man, Svena, Lorena, and Haati just keep things clean even if I can’t use them. Man, honestly, am I paying them enough for this? Urgh, not like I know since Ellaine takes care of that part.

“Haaaa … What am I doing? I can at least … Well, I guess make some new spells but I’m not even in the mood for that. Maaaaaan, I want to sleep on a damn bed already. A month up here, in the damn cold. Baths are cold. Sleeping is cold. Feet are cold! Everything, cold! Maaaan, what would my sweet, fluffy be—Huh?”

When a shadow suddenly loomed over me, prompting me to shut up and look up at the portal, my eyes widened when I saw a humanoid stone man gaze down at me. Its figure was exactly that of a human, but as I said, the “person” was made out of stone, lacking any semblance of human flesh or organs. Its eyes were dull grey, with only its chiseling and shape accurate enough for me to distinguish them from his brows and nose bridge.

The thing was, it came from inside my [Room], not from the outside, and this stone man somehow resembled something from the past … Something that was similar to this creation.

Oh! The gnomacotta warriors!

Exactly! Those stone soldiers the Earth Elemental Emperor created for its gnomes to possess. Those earth-aligned lesser fae entered and became part of the humanoid rock man, acting as the soldiers for the EEE when it was being used by the demonkin to create an anti-dragon weapon.

Though, unlike those stone men who were designed to be the “perfected” form of what the EEE wanted from the dwarves, this stone man was … a human. Chiseled, Greek-statue-like, and … naked. W-whoever created these things also—hack, I couldn’t say!

“At least chisel some stone robes or something, you ass!” I snarled as I slapped my face, trying my best to forget what I had just seen.

After massaging my temples, I turned back to the stone man, only to see a black slime suddenly exit through a crack on its right leg, wrapping itself around the stone man’s torso. Wriggling and stiffening itself, it somehow managed to transform itself into a skirt, well, a kilt was probably more apt to call it.

It then took a step forward, leaving the subspace and moving to the side, before bowing before me. My confusion only became worse when I saw what else was behind that stone man—even more naked stone men! … Oh, and they immediately got “dressed” when different colored slimes formed a kilt around their hips.

In any case, they all left the [Room] and did exactly what the first stone man did. As they didn’t show any hostility, I just left them to act first, but I guess I was starting to turn delirious when I saw the stone men simply ignore me and start wandering around the chamber. Interestingly enough, the moment one of them stood still, their arms began to glow.

Black, orange stones started to form around that stone man’s arm, looking like scales or small molten rocks as a yellow sheen dyed over their grey arms. The man suddenly punched the ground with both fists, although to no effect as the soil around here was too tough. However, seconds later, steam began to appear from the ground and it started to melt.

‘That’s some hot fire-aligned mana!’ Hikari noted using [Mana Eyes], telling me it was similar to the level of intensity like in Inferno Nest.

Inferno Nest? How?

The stream of stone men from my subspace might have stopped, but who created these things and why were they allowed to exit my subspace? Even if the statues weren’t alive, the slimes wrapped around them were designated as living beings by the System. I even double-checked and noted how all of them were rank E [Puppeteering Slime]s.

So, why? Why were a bunch of slimes inside my subspace? Did Shoyi somehow reproduce, or, multiply? Was this all its babies?

… Well, speaking of the devil, Saori’s toilet waste-cleaning slime did appear behind the portal once all the stone men started wandering around, doing whatever the heck they were doing. Considering Shoyi did have multiple smaller waste-cleaning slimes under its commands, my theory did have some merit.

Though, oh, I couldn’t be farther from the truth when another being appeared—Gravy. The small monster room catalyst I had left behind in my subspace to gather mana so I could create a monster room with. The little being had been absorbing mana for over a year and had enough to create some monsters, similar to a dungeon master summoning monster, but I’ve been neglecting that fact mostly since I had no idea what sorta monster I wanted my monster room to have.

The easiest answer was, naturally, a bunch of strong stuff to power level my party members, but that wasn’t exactly economical. As such, I just left that idea hanging around.

“Gravy? Did you do this?” I asked, prompting it to nod. Before I could say anything though, the catalyst’s small golem body picked up a round, perfectly smooth stone ball and began pointing at it. “What? What are you pointing at? Wait! Are you trying to tell me something? An orb … Hold on, are you trying to tell me that I should find a perfect rock?”

It shook its head before motioning with its arm. It raised the ball in the air and grabbed it with its other arm, pulling it away.

“Huh? Are you talking about my [Storage Magic]?” I guessed, prompting it to nod. “Then you want me to take something out? All right, then stop me once I have the correct item. My catalysts. A magma stone. Ore. Meatballs. Uh, a toy ball—wait, do I even have something—okay, forget it, you didn’t nod. Uhm, oh! My crystal of the di—”

It shook its head. Well, that was easy.

After taking the [Crystal of the Divine System] out of my storage, it immediately shot out a blue screen in front of me, surprising me when words started appearing on it.

“Huh? Gravy?” I stared at the small golem in wonder. “I-I can read it, but are you actually talking with me? Is this really you?”

I was shocked into silence. The words were legible, and if it spoke the truth, this was indeed Gravy. Though, how was it able to speak? It never did this.

When I asked about it in a daze, lines began to appear on the blue screen again.

… Absence, huh? Uuuuuuuuuh …

“Long … Uuuh, ahem! R-right, okay, but what do you mean about my last order?”