Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

It took me a moment to get up and spit out the dirt that was in my mouth, again. The first thing I noticed was that the pain had stopped, meaning that I had basically stopped that growth coma dragons have when they eat a lot. I also noticed the normal pain was duller, probably because my resistance skill leveled up during this, which was the only good thing from that torture.

Anyway.

Sitting up I triggered [Genetic Dysphoria] and felt as countless red hot needles puncture every part of my body. It was better than last time, but it still locked me up in a silent scream. Silent because I literally couldn't scream as I doubt I had any actual lungs at the moment as my flesh, fur and bones became a goo-like substance before transforming back into flesh, bones and pristine white scales.

I was grateful I was impulsive enough to trigger the skill, else I probably wouldn't do it for various long minutes as I would be anxious of the pain, even now that I already had transformed back into my true form I felt a little anxious getting close to triggering the skill. But no matter, I wouldn't have to use it any more in this loop. I was planning to abuse their confusion about me again and study their books again.

I frowned. Maybe not on the bed, though. I thought.

I sat patiently waiting for the two coming here after hearing me fall a few moments ago, this time I managed to hear their words this time, as I hadn't wasted too much time before transforming back into a dragon and so I wasn't feeling the same amount of pain I had last time. I mean, I technically did, but it was earlier, but even so it wasn't the same amount of pain as my resistance skill is one level higher, and the healing mark was still on my chest, meaning my soul was being healed constantly, even if the process was slow.

"I think I see a wyvern up ahead… Or maybe it's a dragon? I don't know from here" I heard the knight's voice, barely a whisper. I waited for him to stop walking and then looked straight at him.

"Can you understand me?" The knight said the same question he asked before, but now I knew I could actually talk and not just make gestures.

"Yes. I can understand you" I answered. The knight seemed relieved, then turned towards the forest and said in a slightly louder tone.

"It's a dragon" He said. Now I had the context the elf girl gave me that I technically wasn't a dragon yet. I wasn't sure about the explanation about it yet, but I wasn't going to give myself pain to use [Knowledge Library] to know, at least not yet.

"Oh great. What would a dragon be doing in this place at this time of the year? It's not even new year for a month yet" The butler said again as he approached us. "Oh, that is new. A white dragon? And you said it is a dragon?"

"Yes" I cut the knight before he could answer. "I can confirm that I am indeed a dragon. Why?" I said, trying to put a little pressure on him to see if I could be invited to the camp faster than last time

He looked shocked for a few moments before recomposing himself. "Mister dragon, would you know the creature that killed a lunaspectra wolf in that direction, around thirty meters from here?" He asked me.

"Yes. I did. He tried to fight me the moment he saw me, so I had to kill him" I answered honestly.

The butler sighed at the information. "I see… Would you mind telling me your name? I rather not be disrespectful to you by addressing you without using your name"

Ehmm. How do I answer that? Just straight up tell him I don't have one? I feel like it will be weird if I just answer that I don't have one, even though it is the truth. I thought as I took a moment to think, but coming up with nothing and deciding I will just answer him without an actual response.

"You can address me however you'd like. I don't really mind what you call me" I said to him. He looked a little confused for a moment, but nodded nonetheless.

"Then at least allow me to introduce us. I am Mavi, current head butler of Henry Darnas of house Darnas. This is Gereth, one of our soldiers" The butler, Mavi, said to me. "We are currently staying in a small encampment a few minutes from here. We would like to invite you to visit it and to stay the night." He said.

"Okay" I answered, causing him to blink in surprise about how fast I accepted his invitation.

"Right. We have a low psychic field surrounding our camp to avoid disruption by the local wildlife" Mavi said, making a gesture for the knight to give him something, which I correctly guessed was the key medallion for the anti-monster field. "This medallion is a key that allows one to bypass the field's effect and allows entry to our camp"

He gave me the medallion, which I grabbed and looked up. It was the same one he gave me the past loop, so I knew how it worked. I held it with one of my hands as I waited for him to start guiding me towards the camp. Once we started walking I would have to hold it in my mouth as I couldn't walk on only three legs… Or maybe not.

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"Do you have anything I could use to place it around my neck? I can't actually walk while holding it" I asked. If they had any string it would mean I could just place it on my neck and walk with it dangling from it without me having to hold with my mouth like the past loop.

Thankfully they had. Gereth pulled a small string from his pocket that probably was for his bow in the event the current string on it snapped, but I didn't mind, and tied the medallion to it and then gave me the makeshift necklace, which I placed around my neck.

After that we walked towards the camp, and like the past loop, it went uneventful. We crossed the field and Mavi asked Gareth to guide me towards the elf healer, and soon enough I was inside the tent, face to face with the elf priest. She had placed the silencing spell around the tent just like last time.

"So. Why are you here?" She asked, just like last time. I swear, if every loop after this one becomes just a repeat of actions and dialogs I will go crazy. I didn't get isekaied to a fantasy world just for it to become a game I keep reloading the save and everything is the same.

"The golden pendant you're wearing, or I guess it's not a pendant anymore. The symbol on it, it's mine" She started repeating herself after I didn't say anything for a few moments. Does it count as repeating herself if the last time she said it was on the past loop and technically never happened? Doesn't matter.

"Oh. Yes, I know. You told me that already" I cut her before she could continue. "Basically, I'm in a time loop and we had this conversation before. This is our third meeting, actually. The second one you explained the stuff about your pendant and told a few things about people from the church of time and loops. The first time… You drank something from that cabinet and basically went into coma"

She looked at the cabinet I pointed and smiled, then started laughing hard. "Oh. I can imagine. You must have caused some serious mess if I chose to drink that rather than dealing with whatever was happening" She said between laughs.

I thought for a few moments. I guess I could see it. When she woke up there was a knight knocked out cold on the floor, me on the bed (while using her pendant) and shoutings coming from outside. Yeah, I can understand why she would choose to drink until she passed out.

Seeing that I agreed with her assessment she burst out laughing even louder. "Sorry. Sorry. Just what did you do to make me drink a sleeping potion?"

Oh. It wasn't actually alcohol? Or maybe it was, but made into a potion to fall asleep? I don't know, I'm not an alchemist. Shaking my head, I answered. "It wasn't actually me. An elf girl appeared in Henry's tent and when the knights tried to capture her she just threw them around like they weighted nothing"

She frowned at my answer, but before she could say anything else Henry came bursting through the tent's door walking with a confident smile while looking straight at me.

"Oh, sir dragon from the Myriad Palace. I am Henry Darnas, currently representing Duke Darnas at this encampment. How may I honor you?" He said in a loud voice. And just like last time, the silencing spell was broken as I could hear the people outside the tent again.

"I would like to speak with you about that next time" The elf priest said, and the emphasis on the "next" word meant she wanted me to speak about the elf girl in the next loop. Or it was what I assumed. I'm not a telepath.

"Master Henry. I asked for you to wait as I hadn't finished explaining" Mavi, having entered moments after the young noble, said, but was ignored and started to speak.

"There's nothing to explain. An esteemed guest from the Myriad Palace came into this encampment and we will do our best to accommodate him. After all, the house Darnas is always happy to offer its supplies and personnel to the Myriad Palace" He dismissed the butler while staring at me. Well, now was the time for me to use the same lie to get what I need.

"I'm currently on a self learning journey. I'm studying how humans use magic and would like to know if you had anything that would enlighten me in this subject" I said.

"Of course" Henry said. "I have various books on that subject in my tent. Would you mind staying the night with us? That way you can use the time to read the books we have on the matter"

"Sure" I answered.

Then, Henry and Mavi guided me towards his tent where he showed me around and then gave me the two books he had given me the past loop. I accepted them and when they left I sat up on one of the chairs, placing the book "Foundations of Magic" on the table next to it and then opened it back on the last page I could remember I had read, but then shook my head and went back to the start of the chapter, the one after the chapter teaching how to get [Magicule Manipulation].

The chapter was called "The Nature of Magicules" and explained in a very complicated way how magicules interacted with the world around it. I had to stop and reread the same paragraph at least ten times before I understood, at least a little.

It basically said that there were magicules in everything in the world. The air, the earth, every object had different levels of magicules, because each material could hold only a limited amount of magicules before it got saturated. The same was for the bodies of living creatures, they had a gigantic difference in the amount they could hold and even that could be increased the higher their levels were. It also said that every living being produced magicules passively and released them to the environment, this process being called Aura. And these magicules that are released in the environment have something called "mental residue" and if I understood it correctly it's like a small part of your mind is copied into it, not your actual mind, but like an echo of thought or emotion, and that magicule can bond together with other magicules and cause changes to the world.

The most common way it happens is by monsters forming from this mass of magicules, but other types of alterations can also happen, but the book didn't go into much detail.

It also explained that magicules can gain what is called "elemental charge" by being in proximity of something releasing this type of energy… Yeah, I still didn't understand much, but it was a start.

I then spent the entire night reading and rereading the book, trying to understand more and then I sensed a small vibration not in the air but somewhere I couldn't actually place. When I turned around I saw the elf girl just popping out of thin air near the back of Henry's tent.

"But why the number fourteen?" She asked, not noticing me yet.