Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

We entered the small house and were greeted with an interesting sight. In the corner of the room, a shadow lynx rested on a large fluffy pillow. After briefly raising its head to acknowledge our presence, it then settled back into its slumber. A gleamwing about the size of a parrot could also be seen sitting perched on the armrest of a couch.

“Please, feel free to sit down,” Gregory said, motioning to a pair of chairs opposite the couch. He then took a seat next to the gleamwing.

We complied and sat down in the chairs.

“Now, what can I do for you two?” He asked, trying his best to keep eye contact while occasionally glancing at the foxlings in our laps and the one still hanging over my shoulder. “And while we are at it, my name is Gregory, but most people here call me Greg.”

“I’m Luna, and this is Liz,” I replied before taking out the letter and reaching over the table to hand it to him. “Grahl sent us here to deliver this.”

“Grahl, you say?” He pondered, taking the letter and flipping it open. “Quite unusual for him to contact me.”

Greg read the letter carefully while stroking his bearded chin. “I see, I see,” he muttered, glancing at me. “I had heard rumors that Kaydossa had crossed the border, but I didn’t know if it was true or not. We don’t receive much news out here.”

“I’m afraid it’s true,” I replied. “But they have been pushed back for now, at least.”

“Grahl says that he requests my presence in the capital,” Greg said, putting down the letter on the table. “It also says that you can answer any questions I might have.”

“So he is pushing his work onto me?” I muttered. “I should have guessed that much.”

“Grahl has always been an expert at skirting work,” Greg chuckled. “But he can also be counted on when it matters.”

“Well, either way,” I sighed. “I might be able to answer some questions depending on what you are curious about.”

“The letter mentioned that Kaydossa had tamed gryphons in their army. Taming a gryphon is a tall task in itself,” Greg replied. “Do you happen to know how many gryphons they had with them?”

“I’m not sure of the exact number, but over one hundred at the very least.”

“Over one hundred, you say?” He asked with a surprised expression. “Are you sure? It sounds quite unbelievable, to be honest.”

“I saw them with my own eyes, so I’m quite certain.”

“I see…” he pondered. “Since you said the army had been pushed back, did they happen to discover any marks on any soldiers?”

“Didn’t Grahl write anything useful in his letter?” I muttered. “Their army was wiped out, and the fallen soldiers weren't in a state which allowed them to be inspected.”

“That sounds gruesome. And unfortunate. If we knew what kind of mark they had, we could have figured out how they tamed them.”

“Oh? Speaking of, I actually accepted Grahl’s request to deliver the letter for another reason,” I said, glancing at the marks on Greg’s arms. “I was hoping you could answer some questions about taming?”

“Are you interested in taming?” Greg asked, his demeanor visibly perking up.

“Yes, or rather, she is,” I replied, pointing at Liz. “Could you explain the basics?”

“Of course!” He chuckled, glancing at my foxlings. “But isn’t she already an accomplished tamer?”

“These ones are mine,” I said, patting Roxy on the head. “But I’m a summoner, not a tamer.”

“Oh, I see, I see,” Greg pondered. “But aren’t those spirit foxes? They are awfully small, though.”

“They can turn smaller or bigger,” I smiled. “It’s more convenient to have them turn small when we are around others. Some people become frightened so easily.”

“So they really are spirit foxes, and three of them…” he muttered. “You aren’t just any adventurer, are you? Most people would not have mana to have such a strong monster summoned for long periods of time, let alone three of them.”

“I might be a tad stronger than most,” I smirked.

“A tad, you say,” Greg chuckled, turning to Liz. “Well, either way, do you know anything about taming?”

“W-well, only that it involves a mark,” Liz said, slightly flustered that she suddenly became part of the conversation.

“Let’s start from the basics then,” Greg grinned heartily. “In short, you get a mark engraved somewhere on your body when you first form a bond with your tamed monster.”

He must be happy that he can talk about taming.

“How do you form a bond?” Liz asked, also glancing at the different marks on Greg’s arms.

“Basically, you have to earn the monster’s trust. When you want to train taming, it’s best to find one of these gleamwings since, even though they are monsters, they are rather docile,” he said, scratching the gleamwing’s head. “Trying to tame a hostile monster from the get-go will only get you killed.”

“How do you get a monster to trust you?” Liz wondered.

“For gleamwings, the trick is a herb called dewdrop. Gleamwings are more than happy to follow you around if you give them some dewdrops from time to time. If you can get them to trust you, a mark will eventually be engraved somewhere on your body, and a bond will be formed.”

“What about other monsters?” I asked, glancing at the shadow lynx. “More hostile ones.”

“The techniques and tricks used are different from monster to monster,” Greg explained. “There is a nature magic spell called [Soothe] that can be used on most monsters. There are also different things that can help you, like kattnap.”

“What’s kattnap?”

“It’s a herb that is used when taming feline monsters like my shadow lynx,” Greg replied.

“I’d like to think myself knowledgeable about herbs, but I have never heard of that one before,” I pondered.

“It has no alchemical value and isn’t native to this continent, so it’s not something you would get a request to gather,” Greg said. “It comes from the Beast Nation. They apparently use it for recreational purposes there.”

Kattnap? Sounds more like catnip to me. That’s hilarious.

“Interesting,” I said, stifling a laugh. “So, how does one go about increasing the level of monster taming?”

“That’s a good question!” He exclaimed loudly. “Nobody knows for sure!”

“Nobody knows?”

“Most skills can increase in level by using spells or abilities connected to that skill, BUT,” he explained eagerly. “Monster taming has no inherent spells or abilities to use! So how can you increase it?”

“Uhm, by looking at it logically, earning the trust of the gleamwing would eventually give you level one monster taming, right?” I pondered.

Liz got dragon taming from earning my… trust, after all.

“That is indeed the most common theory! When you earn the trust of a monster, you will gain proficiency in monster taming. Acquiring level one is not overly difficult and is the prerequisite to be able to properly form a bond and tame a monster.”

“How do you level it up even further?” Liz asked just as I was about to ask the same.

“You will gain proficiency over time as long as you have a tamed monster nearby. Some researchers have also theorized that gaining experience together increases it at a faster pace, but it has never been proven. However, the difficulty of raising your level further increases by a lot for each level.”

“You said there are no inherent spells or abilities to use. Does that mean there are other abilities affiliated with monster taming that you can learn?” I wondered.

“Indeed there is! However, they are not learned like any other spells or abilities connected to other skills!” Greg explained, leaning forward and eagerly continued. “The abilities will come from the tamed monster themselves, depending on what kind of monster you have. For example, my [Bond] with my gleamwing gives me an ability that lets me see through its eyes for a limited time. Soaring through the skies is such an amazing feeling! It can also be used to scout from a distance.”

If only he knew that he preached about flying through the skies to a dragon. But that does make sense since Liz gains stats from me. Does that also mean that you can gain more abilities as you level up your taming? But I also have [Bond]. Does his gleamwing get anything?

“Does your tamed monster also gain abilities?”

“Some do, but it’s not so easy to know. It’s not like we can ask them,” he chuckled. “My shadow lynx over there started using an ability to bind enemies with shadows, which he had never used before. The logical conclusion would be that it came from his [Bond].”

“Can you get more than one ability from one monster?”

“Indeed you can! When I initially got my shadow lynx, I gained the ability to enhance my speed. Later on, I also gained a passive increase to my agility.”

So, there are even more reasons to increase Liz’s dragon taming than the increase in stats. If gaining experience does increase it faster, we should clear some dungeons.

“Do you need to do anything to learn the abilities?”

“That’s just it! Suddenly, you just know how to use them! It’s not like any other skill!” He grinned, almost unable to sit still. “Researchers have been stumped about how taming works for years upon years. It is truly one of the great mysteries! One theory is that it comes directly from the monster via the mark. Some more magic-sensitive tamers have been able to sense a slight connection between the mark and the tamed monster’s magic stone.”

I can pretty much confirm that theory since I can feel the connection, not to mention how I felt when Liz first received the mark.

“Circling back to the previous topic, why did you ask if any marks were found on the soldiers?” I asked.

“The color of the mark signifies the type of bond you have,” he explained, showing his arms, which had a green mark the shape of a lynx, a yellow mark the shape of a bird, and a gray mark the shape of a wolf. “Yellow marks symbolize that your bond is based on trust, while the green marks symbolize that your bond is based on loyalty. Or at least, that is the theory. In the end, trust and loyalty are quite close to each other, so It’s hard to know for sure.”

“How did they come up with that theory then?”

“Gleamwing marks are almost always yellow. This comes from the trust you build with them by giving them dewdrops. Meanwhile, this one,” he continued, pointing at the green mark. “My shadow lynx is extremely protective of me. He would lunge against an overwhelmingly strong enemy, even if he had no chance of winning the fight, all to protect me. It’s because of behaviour like this that the theory exists.”

“So a shadow lynx with a yellow mark wouldn’t do the same?”

“Not to the same extent,” Greg said. “Yellow marks place their trust in you but would not be prepared to throw away their life in the same manner.”

“Does that mean that it could run away if you would face something you can’t handle?”

“It is uncommon, but yes,” Greg replied. “Abandoning their tamer to save their own life can happen.”

“Doesn’t that make the green mark superior?” I wondered. “Since they won’t abandon you no matter what.”

“It depends on your point of view,” Greg answered. “Any decent tamer wouldn’t want their tamed monster to die, even if they would lose their life themselves.”

“I see,” I pondered. “Will the mark always be the same color, or can it change over time?”

“It can. Most of the time, it stays yellow. If your bond becomes particularly strong, it can change to green,” Greg explained before pointing at the gray mark. “If your tamed monster dies, the mark will turn gray. This further strengthens the theory about the connection to the magic stone since that connection disappears when they die.”

“Oh…”

“You don’t have to look so glum,” he assured me. “My wolf died many years ago.”

“I guess it’s an inevitable risk that you might lose your tamed monsters,” I said.

“Indeed it is…” Greg said, seemingly looking into the distance for a moment before turning back to us. “Either way, those are the three usual colors.”

“What other colors are there?”

“Well, there is…” Greg stopped, his expression turning sour. “Black.”

“What kind of bond does that signify?”

“It’s the mark you get when you beat a monster into submission and then use a dark magic spell called [Subjugate] to enslave them,” he replied with an annoyed look on his face, clicking his tongue. “It’s a mark of disgrace, and any tamer who has a black mark should be ashamed of themselves. It’s no better than owning a slave.”

“That sounds horrible…” Liz muttered. “But both dark magic users and tamers are quite uncommon. Wouldn’t that make people that can use both even more so?”

“There are always unsavory types around,” Greg frowned. “There is an item called subjugation rod that allows you to use the spell without being able to use dark magic.”

That’s not surprising. Liz’s gloves also give her the ability to cast a spell.

“It’s also a dangerous mark,” Greg continued. “Since you forced the monster into submission, you don’t get any benefits from your [Bond], and it holds no loyalty to you. It only obeys because you are stronger. It’s not unusual for black mark monsters to turn on their tamers and attack them if they sense that they are stronger.”

“Do you still need to have monster taming if you use that method?”

“To my knowledge, you do, but I don’t know how skilled you have to be.”

“Having a hundred soldiers do the basic training and then use a subjugation rod sounds more plausible than finding a hundred skilled tamers,” I theorized. “Which means that Kaydossa probably has the means to get more of them.”

“However, gryphons are B rank, which would be hard to control for a normal soldier.”

“I have been told that Kaydossa doesn’t have an adventurers guild, and instead, their soldiers subjugate all monsters. It would not be unreasonable to think that they had trained certain soldiers for that specific purpose,” I said, thinking back on past events. “Or they used some other method that you don’t know about. Kaydossa has been up to some distasteful stuff lately.”

“It’s a possibility. Or rather, it might be the most likely scenario,” Greg replied, stroking his chin. “I will have to tell Grahl about it when I arrive at the capital.”

“That would be helpful since we had no plans to go back to the capital today,” I said. “And it’s better if matters related to taming come from an expert and not me.”

“You don’t have to be so modest,” Greg chuckled. “You seem to have a good grasp of it already.”

“You flatter me,” I smirked. “Going back to the subject. Is that all the different marks?”

“Well, technically, there is also blue,” Greg replied. “But in all my years, I have only heard of it twice. And no one has been able to figure out the difference between blue and green.”

“Oh? Any other unusual colors?” I wondered.

“I have never heard of any other colors,” Greg replied, eyeing me curiously. “Why do you ask?”

“Curiosity,” I smirked. “Good to know if I happen to come across one.”

So trust, loyalty, submission, and unknown. Then there is red, and well… I can guess what kind of bond that signifies.

I glanced at Liz, and when her gaze met mine, a faint blush appeared on her face.

It looks like she has reached the same conclusion as I have.

“Can the mark appear anywhere on the body?” Liz asked, glancing down at her thighs.

“Yes. It’s most common for them to appear on your arms or back, but some have gotten marks on other parts of their body. One of my companions in my younger days even got a mark on his butt,” Greg laughed. “In the end, it doesn’t appear to have any logic behind it.”

Maybe the logic is that the monster decides? If I could choose where to put a mark on Liz, her inner thigh would be my first pick.

“Thank you for teaching us about all of this,” I said, offering a warm smile. “It was a worthwhile trip, to say the least.”

“It was no trouble at all,” Greg replied. “It’s always fun to talk about taming. Feel free to come back if you ever have any questions. Or if you just want to come and show off what you tamed.”

Liz is already doing that.

“We will be sure to do that,” I smirked, looking at Liz. “Shall we get going before it gets late?”

We said our goodbyes and left the vicinity of the village before I dismissed my foxlings, much to their protests, and teleported back to Baruda.