Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

The message was the first thing in my mind when I opened my eyes, which is quite fitting if I were to say so.

Staying still so as to not draw attention to myself I looked around. I was in what looked like a small medical tent. There were a few beds next to the wall near me and I saw knives, scissors and a manual saw hanging on a metal cabinet. I also noticed I wasn't inside the cage anymore, which was nice.

When I tried to move, I felt something on my chest and when I turned to see it I saw a small golden pendant with the symbol of a small flower on it. When I noticed it, I also noticed it was filled to the brim with the same energy that was keeping the out of control temporal energy inside my soul at bay. I appraised it and asked [Knowledge Library]

[Vida's Pendant]

[A pendant from the Church of Life. When charged with magicules, it converts the magicules to a small percentage of Vida's divine energy and provides continuous healing to those who wear it. Each pendant is linked to a priest of the church and so will stop working if separated from the linked priest for too long]

So, this is like a regen potion, but instead of being a potion is a pendant? I see.

I lift my head and look around. At the far wall I saw a person with white robes engraved with golden symbols sleeping with their head on a wooden table with their backs to me. Don't they fear I might be a wild animal and attack when I wake up? I literally could cast one waterjet spell and pierce him…or not, considering everyone I saw from this camp was so high leveled compared to me. I probably would only massage him, even if I poured all my magicules on the spell.

"Guards! There's an intruder! Stop being incompetent and come deal with her!" The voice of the young noble echoed through the camp. Oh, I guess I slept the whole night. This loop is basically over now. I guess I'll just enjoy being on this bed for a while and train my [Magicule Manipulation] while I'm at it.

The moment I tried to take control of all my magicules in my body, I felt a small tinge of pain. I guess I still wasn't able to use my skills to their full capacity as my soul was still hurt…

Decreasing the area I was working with to a small sphere the size of my paw lessened the pain to the point where it was a small bother, but one that I could easily ignore.

I pulled the sphere out of my body and tried to put it on top of my paw, but wolf physiology was getting in my way. I thought about it for a moment and decided to throw caution to the window. I triggered [Genetic Dysphoria] and immediately regretted it.

I felt pain flare all across my body. Not in my soul and not exactly in my body, somewhere in between, like the connection between the two. I felt as the pain traced a complex structure of veins in my body that passed through every cell in it before realigning itself as my body turned back into a dragon and left me panting on the bed.

"Guards, I want that intruder executed for the crime of insulting a noble and invading noble property! I want her dead right this instant! You better move your asses before I tell Father to fire all of you!" the young noble voice rang once again, but I didn't care. And apparently neither does the priest as they are still asleep on the table.

Whatever. I waited for the pain to recede before readjusting myself so I would be lying on my back and then pulled a small amount of magicules from my body and made it rover over my hand.

I looked at the pale blue gas-like cloud of magicules floating over my hand almost in awe. For all that matters and all the magicules I saw since coming here, I never had actually stopped to just observe it, to admire it. I honestly felt like a child as I held literally magic in my hands.

Try asking any kid if they would enjoy having magical powers and they would 100% agree with you, and that was me at the moment.

I watched as the nebulous haze of magicules danced around in my control. I compressed the sphere and the magicules got closer and closer together, increasing the opacity and starting to be visible to the naked eye, and I mean without the use of [Magicule Detection], it was just a wisp of blue in the air without it, and with it it was like a small candle light of pale blue.

My amazement was cut short by a knight entering the tent, not through the opening, but through the wall. It tore through the fabric, hit the metal cabinet where the knives and saws were and fell to the ground. The priest finally woke up with the mess the knight did and looked back towards the fallen knight, and then looked at me before looking back at the knight. And then they did a double take and looked at me again.

The priest was another elf woman, this one was clearly older than the one that sent the knight flying, and was looking at me with wide eyes and her mouth was almost hitting the floor from how open it was. Since I had already lost control of the magicule cloud I was holding due to the surprise entrance of our dear friend knight, I just gave her the vulcan salute and nodded my head at her.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes and then looked at me again, and then at the knight, and then to the tear in the fabric of the tent, where one could hear more knights being thrown around by that elf girl, and just lost it. She walked towards another cabinet, opened it up, took a glass vial filled with a green liquid, took the cap off and then drank it with one swing of her hand.

Then, the priest walked towards one of the beds and just passed out on top of them… Wut? Now it was my time to stare at the priest with an open mouth. What the hell did I just watch? Did…Did she really just said "fuck this shit I'm out" and drink a sleeping potion or whatever?

Still incredulously I jumped to the ground before climbing the other bed and poking the elf priest with my finger… no response. She really just went out cold after seeing me and the other knight. What kind of priest is this?

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Just to be sure, I climbed down the bed and went to the bottle that was now on the floor. I grabbed it and smelled it.

I immediately threw it away. It reeked of alcohol and there was enough in it to make me dizzy with just a whiff on the empty bottle. She literally drank herself into an alcohol coma after seeing me just chilling on a bed. How insulting is that?!

Anyway. I went back to the bed I was using and laid down on it again and started to create shapes using my own magicules. I was halfway through forming a cube when someone entered the tent and shouted.

"Priest, we have been attacked and have woun…ded….?????" The knight who entered lost the urgency as he took in the scene in front of him. A collapsed knight on the floor, a dragon on one of the beds and next to him the priest he is looking for, in a coma no less.

He kept staring at the scene in front of him, looking at me and then at the priest and then back at me. Well, I don't want to be mistaken for someone that attacked the priest or something, so I made a gesture of someone drinking with my hand and then mimicked passing out, before looking at him again.

He just kept staring right at me, without as much as a reaction. I think I may have broken him, oh well, bad for him. I went back to training [Magicule Manipulation] with the few minutes I still had, I didn't know when that feeling would come but as I wasn't feeling it, then the end of this loop must be a while still.

I kept ignoring as another knight entered the tent, basically pushing the other one aside before shouting at him.

"What's your problem, squire?! We have wounded here. Priest we need assis…tance?" And another one breaking as he takes in the scene. Or so I thought, because he took a few seconds to read the scene and then pull a sword and was right on top of me. If he wanted me dead I wouldn't be able to resist which served as both unnerve me and calm me down, I don't even know how I could feel two opposite emotions at the same time.

Anyway. With the knight's sudden move, it froze me up and I lost control of the small amount of magicules I was controlling, and I wasn't stupid enough to pull more as I was sure only the sharp end of the blade pointed to me would be on my head if I tried.

The knight put his fingers on the priest's neck, checking for a pulse. Relief appeared on his face when he found it, then he focused on me. Of course I was not going to wait quietly while the knight came to the wrong conclusions and, I don't know what could be worse than throwing me in one of those cages at the moment… Maybe taking off the pendant keeping the pain from the soul damage at bay? Whatever.

I carefully pointed my hand at the bottle of alcohol on the floor. The knight looked at it with a side eye before moving carefully over it, squatting down and picking it up, all the while the sword kept pointing at me. He got up again and I mimicked the action of drinking it, and pointed at the priest. The knight looked at the priest, then at the bottle and then sniffed it. He immediately grimaced and threw the bottle over his shoulder and then relaxed.

"We should have checked her stuff better. I don't even know how she managed to get this bottle of Elgerian Liquor hidden" The knight said as he shook his head, then looked right at me. "Who are you. You obviously can understand me and communicate"

Should I answer him? It wouldn't really matter anyway, as this loop was basically over anyway and it's not like I can actually do anything about it, which still annoyed me. I needed to get these loops over with and find my old friends…

I paused. Old friends? Really? I knew we were friends when I was still Marcos, but there wasn't anything saying we stopped being friends. I mean, usually the friendship stops after one of the friends dies, but I don't think regular rules applies when both parties were isekaied, do they? I need to reach Leo and Alex and ask them, because I'm lost about it right now.

"Hey!" The knight shouts, bringing me back to reality, as well as rebooting the other knight which is taking his leave quietly, I pretend not to notice. "I asked you a question"

I sighed. Whatever, I'll just answer him. I pointed at the cage I saw on the ground and then at the pendant in my neck.

"You're the young lord's wolf?" He asked with suspicion.

I frowned. I really don't like being called someone's pet, but it's not like I can actually correct him, I can't speak properly after all… Or can I?

I made a gesture for him to wait and pulled [Magical Programming Language] up and then I wrote a simple code that would make speaking with others easier.

soundtest = {

connect UserMind;

Phrase = "Yes. I was the wolf. No, I'm not anyone's pet";

FrequencyPattern = generate Pattern.UserMind.Voice(Phrase);

Air = absorb Air(Volume = required);

vibrate Air(FrequencyPattern);

release Sound to Environment;

}

I didn't really know if it was going to work, but I needed a way to communicate with others that wasn't using mimes.

As I casted the spell, the knight tensed and prepared to strike me down at moments notice if I tried anything funny. The spell took form and started to produce a sound that sounded like it was passed through 500 layers of text-to-speak before sounding like someone was speaking with their vocal cords tied together, but it was possible to understand, just barely.

"Yes. %¨#$¨was $%¨&* wolf. No. @#%¨$!%¨¨¨&$ pet" the spell spoke with its broken voice, but the gist was understandable, thankfully.

"So you're a shapeshifter?" He asked me. I was going to answer yes, but then I paused. I was Technically a shapeshifter, yes. I had [Genetic Dysphoria] that made it possible to shapeshift, but that was a skill, it was part of me, yes, but not me. I was a dragon. That mental conversation I had with myself on one of the earlier loops when I accepted that I was no longer Marcos already made me accept that. So I answered with this truth.

"No @#$¨¨$shift @#$¨%¨# dragon" I frowned. I needed to rework this spell if I wanted to talk with people eventually. Or I needed to actually learn how to talk without being a bunch of weird noises.

"You're saying you are a dragon and not a shapeshifter?" The knight asked, which I nodded. "Uhmm. This is awkward. I never really met a dragon in person before, only read about in reports"

The knight looked around one more time, finally remembering what he came to do in the first place. "Right. Sir dragon, would you mind helping to heal our wounded?"

I thought about it for a moment, then looked at the passed out priest and then at the pendant over my neck and then accepted. I would use the opportunity to learn how to code healing magic for myself, and what better opportunity than to deal with some minor injuries? The elf girl didn't hurt anyone with anything more than a forceful push that threw them to various places, so I would mostly heal broken bones.

I spent the next minutes trying to code a few healing spells but ending up falling short on actually healing them. The spells usually filled them with my low magicules but didn't heal anything, and before I could change tactics I was running through the forest in the night.

The sudden shift in perspective threw me so off balance I fell down and hit my face on the ground