Nihility [ Isekai • Dragon Evolution ]

I woke up a few hours later with cramps all over my body. I stretched over and over until all that was left were small sore spots.

"I need to stay in a better inn next time I am in a city" I said out loud to no one in particular.

I left the inn and judged the time of the day based on the position of the sun in the sky… I gave up halfway through it as I had no idea how to actually do it. The sun appeared to be near the middle of the sky.

[Mathematical Cortex] started to act and tried to do the reading, but then stopped after measuring it from more than 32 different angles. Only after I combined with [Knowledge Library] asking it in which cardinal direction I was looking at, which was southwest at the moment, did [Mathematical Cortex] recalculated my direction and the angle on the sun, which was 79º degrees from the horizon, and then it started to calculate the time based on a 12 hour cycle and the 180º of movement of the sun. I stopped it manually after it had calculated that each degree of movement was equal to 4 minutes. Knowing that it was close to midday was enough for me, I didn't need a digital clock, yet.

I then started to walk towards the northern gate. While I walked, I checked if I had grabbed the money pouch. I became anxious when I couldn't find it anywhere. I even opened the money pouch to see if it was inside it, and then it hit me.

I groaned as I kept holding it firmly in my hand. I couldn't believe I had just searched for it while holding it, it reminded me of all the times when I couldn't find my phone and I turned the lantern app on my phone on to look for my phone.

Luckily no one else wanted to rob me, at least no one I could see. I checked if I was still holding the pouch every couple of minutes. You never know when people could literally have a steal skill making them able to rob other people in plain daylight. At least those two muggers I had met during the night didn't have any problematic skills. I seriously doubted they would be bandits if they had any real skill.

After around an hour of walking, I arrived at the gate and found Farahio waiting for me while he read a book. I approached and when he noticed me he made a gesture and the book vanished.

"What happened to your book?" I asked. It wasn't the first time I saw someone pulling something out of thin air and putting it into there and I was curious. Maybe I could use it to store items and stuff so I wouldn't have to keep holding them everywhere. Maybe I could buy a bag, but I doubt it would fit my true form.

"Hm? Oh, it's a space ring I have" He showed me a blueish crystal ring on his index finger. I could almost sense something on it, but it was too weak. "Allows me to store items and other stuff. Pretty handy"

"...Do you know where I could get one? Maybe in other forms as well?" I said. I wanted a space ring badly, but I didn't know what would happen to it when I transformed back into a dragon. Would it fuse with my flesh and be stuck on the inside of my finger? My dragon hands were bigger than the ones from my current body, after all.

"Well, they do make other shapes, but rings are usually the more basic and cheaper. Still, the cheapest one is a couple of platinum coins" He said. I had calculated the amount of money I currently had, and unfortunately I still lacked at least 4 gold bars for me to afford it. It was a lot of money, and if the cheapest one was a couple of platinum coins, I didn't want to see the more expensive ones.

"Oh… Yeah… Nevermind, then" I said. I hadn't given up on the idea of having a space ring, I just needed to learn how to code my own using my [Magical Programming Language].

"By the way. Would you prefer to walk to the next city, where we could find monsters lurking in the plains and forest searching for prey and we could vanquish them and increase your level?" He said it like we were going on an epic adventure, before turning monotone and saying the next part. "Or do you prefer we go by transport wagon?" He pointed at a small shop near the gate.

The sign above it said "Valkhin's Transports". There was a stable next to it with horse-like creatures. I said horse-like because they looked like a horse, if a horse had two heads, eight legs and an almost reptilian-like tail.

"How long each?" I simply asked. Farahio grumbled a little before answering.

"Three days by wagon. A week on foot" He said.

"Then there's your answer. I said I was hurrying because I needed to find my friends. Those four days could be the difference between finding them alive or dead," I explained. Farahio looked like he was disappointed, he probably wanted to see me in combat to study me. A fact he quickly confirmed.

"I wanted to see you in action. How can I study you if you just stay seated in a wagon all the time?" He grumbled.

I just shook my head and we went to the building. As we entered we heard a bell ringing right above the door, warning the attendant that there were possible clients entering the store. Right on cue a dog woman walked over to us wearing a little red and green dress.

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"Welcome to Valkhin's Transports, where the only limit is the sky" She said with a smile. "How may I help you?"

"We are looking for transport to Dorarma, and possibly a boat to Kairus" Farahio said.

"Let me check. You can wait in our waiting area right here" She pointed to a cozy looking sofa with a small table in front of it with what looked like cookies and some type of liquid in a jar. After Farahio went and sat down on one of the sofas, I followed him, sitting in another sofa while the attendant went behind the counter looking for the answer to Farahio's question.

I picked a cookie up and ate a small bite of it, testing the flavour. It was a little dry and didn't have much flavour.

"I don't recommend the food and the drink from these places. They're usually made with cheaper ingredients and made to last a long while in an unrefrigerated environment. The one you ate probably sat there for days. The same with the tea. It's made to last, but doesn't have any flavour to it" Farahio explained to me. I just finished eating the cookie, as it would be bad manners to return something I already had placed on my mouth, but didn't try to get another one nor did I move to try the tea, trusting Farahio's words about them.

After a few minutes of me having multiple streams of thoughts thinking about how to approach creating something like an inventory where I could store my items and failing to do so, the attendant returned with some papers. She sat on the sofa opposite to Farahio. Pushing the cookies and tea out of the way, she placed the papers on the table.

"While we don't make a single trip from Flamecrest to Dorarma, we do trips from Flamecrest to Vellstrom, from there to Ironvale, then Eldenmire and from there to Dorarma" She explained, tapping each paper as she told the names of each city mentioned.

"What about Kairus?" Farahio questioned.

"We currently aren't offering travel by boat in our packages, but we can recommend another transport company that primarily deals with boat travel" The attendant explained.

"And how much to Dorarma?"

"This travel plan" She said as she pointed at each of the papers on the table. "Is 2 gold coins per person, total"

"What about security?"

"We employ five guards at around level 25, and if there are reports of stronger monsters or bandits in the area we enter in contact with the hunter's guild to post a quest for extra protection"

Farahio nodded and, with a twist of his wrist, gave the attendant 4 gold coins which she happily accepted.

"Thank you for choosing Valkhin's Transports. The next wagon will depart in approximately 2 hours" She said. A timer popped up in my vision counting down from two hours. "Here are your travel forms. Make sure to present them to the driver when entering the wagon or else you will not be able to ride it, so make sure you keep it somewhere safe"

"Thank you" Farahio said. The attendant bowed and then moved to a couple who had just entered the store.

"Here" I said, placing two gold coins on Farahio's hand. He looked at the coin strangely and then at me. "Paying for my share of the travel"

"You had gold coins with you?" He asked. "I thought you were piss poor"

"...What? Why would you think that?" I said. Not denying him, because I actually was not so long ago.

"Look at the clothes you're wearing. Those are rags wore by orphans"

I looked at the clothes on my body. While they were cleaner than most out there, thanks to my washing spell, they had seen better days.

"I just didn't have the opportunity to buy proper clothes for myself, yet. And I doubt I would find any that would fit"

"Aren't these able to fit? Just go to any cloth store, they will have this size"

"Well, yes. It does fit, for now, at least. It won't fit forever"

"You're worried because you'll grow? Wear them until they start to get too tight, then buy new ones"

Farahio was getting more and more frustrated as the conversation dragged.

"Let's just say that while they might fit me now, they wouldn't fit in a few minutes if I chose to use certain skills" I said, refusing to elaborate more.

"... I see. A transformation type skill" He said. Huh, apparently there are more skills like [Genetic Dysphoria]? "But still. If you have this kind of money, you better wear something with a higher quality than these rags you call clothes"

Farahio then got up and held me by the arm, dragging me out of the store. Even though my status were halved, he dragged me like I weighed no more than a piece of paper. I wondered how high level he truly was

[??????????????]

Farahio stopped mid step.

"Did…Did you just try to appraise me?" He asked.

"Uhmm… Yeah, sorry. I was curious about your level" I said. Farahio just sighed.

"First of all. Appraising someone without their permission is just rude. Second of all. Asking people about their levels and skills like this is even ruder. You might not have noticed but while I stated my desire to study you, I did not asked you about your level or skills outright"

"...Sorry" I said again. Though, once I got more levels I would start appraising everyone again. I had not a single drop of regret.

"I feel like you aren't… You'll learn when you try to appraise someone who doesn't take too kindly to being appraised like I did. Now let's go. You need new clothes before we can leave this city"

Like that, I was dragged to various cloth stores, trying to find something that would suit me. It wasn't until the third shop where I was forced to wear a white shirt with white pants. I tried to protest, but Farahio cut me off saying it was the best we had found… I had my doubts, and I found the clothes awful. They added too much contrast between my black fur and the white fabric.

After we, read: I, paid for my clothes, we went back to the stable where the wagon going for Vellstrom was already waiting for the final minutes to depart. Showing the driver our papers, we got inside and sat on one of the empty seats in the wagon. Everything indicated an easy trip…except for the buildup of temporal waves I could feel coming from the near future. Something was about to happen and I wasn't sure when exactly.