A Chronometric Defect

Well, that was a crapshoot.

I just annihilated an entire town.

Do I need to work on my presentation?

I gaze down at my orange and black body. I raise my thick arm and examine its muscular outline. Even more black armor and spikes have grown upon my scales.

No, I don't think improving my presentation is possible. Maybe it was doable when I first became a dragon, but now?

Now that I look like this?

I knew I was getting bigger, but rawh. Am I changing too? I might be covered in more black than orange. Is my dragon body erasing my kaizen appearance from existence? Moreover, that's not the only thing that's changed.

I gaze over the delightfully huge set of muscles I've gained, feeling pleased by my new, more showy form.

These still snugly fit my body. I haven't turned into Godzilla— and I hope that never happens. I'mma dragon, rawr. I'm not a kaiju lizard. But why are my muscles so bulky? This hasn't raised my Str stat, has it?

Status.

Name: Pure Evil

Level: 72

Job: Dragon Acolyte (Pure Evil Variant, Ready)

Skills: Consume

Talents: Parasitic Body and Mind (Evolved)

Stats:

Str: 677

Sta: 738

Int: 878

Wis: 851

Free Points: 3550

Nope, it's exactly where one would expect. Though I seem to have more free points than all of my stats combined. Wrah.

Seems I don't understand why I keep adding more muscle. Does my physique affect my stats like my body's size? Or do my stats affect my physique? With all the black spikes I've added, I'll have to test my spellcasting ability. It'll be interesting if that also grows non-linearly.

Frankly, I don't understand what's going on. Why do my stats not match up with my actual strength? Plus, if my current roar's overwhelming power is any indication, my casting ability is indeed following the same exponential trend. But, again, I don't understand... My stats aren't going exponential at all. Could it be that free points add to all stats equally when they're not used? But then, why would I bother using them?

To add to my slightly lower Str stat? Why? I'm already ridiculously strong. To add to my high Int? Why? Is my goal to blow up the planet with a single spell? I mean, I can already do that with Gravity Singularity. Rawh, I haven't tested that hypothesis for obvious reasons, but... I mean, it's a singularity. Do I need to test it?

I don't get this at all. Just being physically larger isn't enough to explain the sharp differences between my stat panel and my actual power. I evidently haven't learned enough about this world's stat system to figure it out.

Rah, I got it. I'll check my job to see if there's another skip available. Maybe I can learn something there.

Status, Job.

Job: Dragon Acolyte (Pure Evil Variant)

Your body has transformed from mere kaizen into full-blooded dragon. Rejoice! For the dragon lineage within you has awakened. As a Dragon Acolyte, your lineal talents will further awaken as you gain stats and will likewise grow stronger as you level up. This job can be advanced to Dragon Mage at level 20.

This job can be advanced to Dragon Archmage at level 40 for a free points scalar. Skipping the previous stage currently has no downsides.

This job can be advanced to several options at level 80 for a free points scalar. Skipping the previous stage may result in less future choices.

Bonuses:

Perfect Body, Perfect Mind

Overmind

Alright. I definitely don't need to be a Dragon Archmage. Dragon Acolyte is already so powerful, Dragon Mage would be overkill, and Dragon Archmage? Hraw, maybe the solar system would explode. I do enjoy being ridiculously powerful, though.

I don't know what 'several ootions' means. I'm not about to select that one in case it locks in something useless.

So, a few more levels and I'll consider a new job... Even if there's multiple choices, level 100 has to be better than level 80, right? Or 120 if that's the next cutoff. I might as well wait. I'll wait 'til level 1,000 if these options still make me uneasy.

Why not? I don't need to min-max, so that's not an important motive here. As for the reason I don't want any mage-type job? It's extremely unnecessary. I could fix up Yenim before even eating anybody. What about now?

If I took the Archmage job? Hrah. Nope, I still can't think of what I'd do other than blow up the solar system. Why would I ever need to do that? Greh, there's no harm in continuing to wait. I can blast an entire town away with my voice alone. More strength is hardly...

Needed...

What?

More strength is ALWAYS necessary! I can definitely get more strength later rather than taking these scraps right now. Dragons never give up their loot. I'll gladly hold onto my loot, so I can invest it better later.

Oh...

Erh...

Yeah?

Dragons should always grow stronger.

I suddenly feel an immense wave of excitement at my declaration. It's as though I've uncovered a hidden aspect of my draconic psyche. Indeed, more power. That's what every dragon needs. More power!

If I have enough power, that simply means I'm not strong enough, and I should go find a way to gain more.

Yep, that makes perfect sense. Definitely.

It's not circular logic. It's dragon logic!

Rah, I've decided. This is a new branch of logic.

Under normal logic, A is followed by B. Under dragon logic, dragon gets stronger no matter what A or B are. That's simply how everything should work.

Yes!!!

Oh, that's so perfect! I'm so amazing for thinking this up.

I feel like there's something wrong with my thoughts, but I decide to brush it aside. Incredible dragons like myself can't be wrong about how much power we should possess.

That's just silly.

I mentally shift gears while trying to ignore whatever was... Bothering me. It's nothing.

So, those 26 levels? That didn't happen because the townspeople were high-leveled. It happened because there were a lot of them. It took several minutes for me to Devour all my spoils despite them being lined up so neatly.

On my one clawed hand, I feel bad.

I JUST said I'd seal my roar earlier today. A few hours later, my newly enhanced roar wipes a small town off the damn map. It literally doesn't show as a town on Pathfinder.

Nothing is labeled on my mental map, of course, but there's not even a visible sign of buildings. The whole area looks like a field of slightly organized rubble with the occasional lopsided square.

No, I didn't go wrecking the buildings! I had no need.

My roar leveled them like a blast wave.

Well, okay. There was ONE building which had two walls standing. Unfortunately, I stumbled like a moron and fell, crushing the last standing building into oblivion. Is that a bad omen?

It happened because my foot sank into the soft ground. I'm too damn big. Looking at a clawed footprint the size of a shed or small house... MY footprint? That really puts things into perspective.

My increasing size is becoming a matter of great concern. Great, in the sense that my dragon body is quite admirably huge, but also mildly concerning.

This town gives me a pretty good idea of what to expect going forward. I'm gonna need to be preemptive so I'm not forced to end unnecessary lives. I should've done something instead of stand there and chat while that guy readied himself to stab me.

I bend down to grab the mid-sized tree in front of me. I try to pick it like a large flower.

*krak*

Grawhhrh. I have no problem doing exactly that. I toss the tree off to my side.

*krshh*

If I'm this friggin' big, how am I going to interact with humans?

Actually, greh. I'm not human.

Should I continue trying at this point?

I spread my wings and take off.

On my other clawed hand?

I learned a good deal of important information from him. I mean, from eating the dragon hunter. I gained his memories, or so it seems. I guess that's a thing I can do. Which... Makes sense after Aitos. I was worried he'd become a part of me when I realized he wasn't as dead as I'd hoped. But no, I was able to kill his remaining mind and Will without any issue.

Which means I got all his memories. They're not within a separate Will I need to browse through, as I do with Aitos. Though, I still can't access them in the same way I do my own memories, so I guess it's not that big of a difference.

In any case, the dragon hunter wasn't bluffing; he knew a wide range of things. He must've honestly been a scholar.

His original assignment was as a dragon hunter in the regional capital, Tengerii. His sword, the one I broke, was the same one he used while he was stationed there. They all use these as standard-issue equipment for some reason.

He retired, though, and moved to the little town I recently leveled. Not because he became too old. He retired because his team members were far stronger than him, and because he wanted to protect his hometown.

As for why the townspeople behaved so uniformly to my arrival? Except for a few villages, every single residence within this nation, rawh, empire, lives under a strict 'dragon eradication polity.'

That's right. The government itself, the 'polity,' is based around eradicating all dragons. Extermination. They evidently love collecting dragon hides. That, of course, must include my unmatchably wonderful dragon hide. Am I like a trophy?

No, no. Ragh. Stay focused. Stop praising yourself for just a moment, Pure Evil! Gregh.

As I was saying, the empire is awash in dragon materials.

Their flag is a decapitated dragon head. Not a print, nope. It's a custom-knitted flat weave made of real dragon flesh. They stitch our tissues into the general shape of a decapitated dragon head. It even has real dragonscales sewn onto it. I guess they use inscriptions to make it lighter, otherwise their disgusting flag should be much too heavy.

I also know that their guard and military armor, in the regional capital at least, is made mostly from dragon bones, tissues, and scales. Their important buildings, nobles, and even some lesser destinations?

All dragon-decorated.

How many dragons did they kill to gather so many materials?

Honestly, though? I'm not too concerned about my safety.

Most importantly, I learned how the silver dragon statue pinned me down. I got this valuable information directly from the dragon hunter's memories, so it must be accurate. The silver encases a sigil written in dragon blood— specifically one which locks down lineages. They call it the Dragonblood Sigil.

That's... Not a description of how it works, unlike the clear-cut naming scheme of most sigils. It's also not a sigil contained within my draconic inheritance. Which is odd, since my subconscious still insists I know every sigil.

I honestly know nothing about this one. It's so strange. Why do I still feel I know them all? Something's not right with my mind, but I just... I can't quite put my claw on what's wrong.

Nevertheless, the Dragonblood Sigil suuucks. I'll need to do a lot more testing to defeat it.

Which means I can't stop the Dragonblood Sigil right this moment. But that's fine. I'll likely have it defeated long before I face any actual threat from the empire. I know how smart I am, so it'll be—

I'm praising myself. Again. Graaaagh.

Anyhow, they can't stop me from casting magic if I level up my Wis. I learned this from querying Aitos' memories while I was trapped. That is, before I blew up the town. But it doesn't stop there; Int is spell strength/stability, while Wis is Mana regen/capacity. This is basic stuff, aside from the 'spell stability' portion of Int.

After chatting a bit with Aitos, I've realized my inability to cast transference magic on myself is due to a lack of Int. Which is because transference magic distorts space. But, it isn't only spatial. It's temporal as well. Rawgh.

I need a lot more spell stability, and that means I need a lot more Int.

Aitos said that in order to transfer something around my size with my own magic, I'd need roughly 70,000 Int. I told him I got way bigger. He cursed profanities at me. Then, he wryly asked if I was a newborn Apocalypse Dragon.

I decided to play coy because I find it amusing and... Reh, actually? I'm not sure. Maybe I am? I don't think he'd find that answer even slightly amusing.

My power set is worrisome in this respect. I possess the lineage of a so-called 'dictator of reality' plus a talent which absorbs even more power. These two abilities put together do sound exceptionally apocalyptic.

I'm scared to test the limits of my Devour talent. Normally, I love testing everything, so I can find the best ways to use my abilities. I'm genuinely afraid I'll find that it doesn't have any limits.

If I truly have the strongest possible lineage backed by the strongest possible growth talent, what might—

My other talent, Chronometric Fixation, flits into my mind.

Scratch that: two absurd growth talents.

...

Cripes.

I don't even slightly understand how Chronometric Fixation works. It might be a lot worse than Devour.

After all, it somehow involves fate. At least I have control over whether or not I Devour someone.

Reh. Probably?

Whelp. Let's disregard unimportant things like accidentally causing the end of the world.

What can I do about it? Que sera, sera. Ahara, I liked that song in my previous life.

As for Wis, I wouldn't be hesitant to drop free points in that stat if I needed more Mana regen. Except my Mana regen is effectively infinite. I feel I'd be wasting stat points by leveling up Wis.

I mean, infinite Mana regen... +5?

Cool? But why?

...

Back to the empire, though. My last concern is their religion. It states the empire was founded by the slayer of the Dragon God. Yes, that one. The one whose lineage I likely possess.

Well, probably. My status is cryptic as always. It says the Dragon God is my 'Related Fate,' whatever that means.

Did I say that was my last concern? It's not. Another concern is this empire's name. 'The Purified Heavens.' It's pointlessly flowery as empire names sometimes are. Sure, whatever.

It also directly contradicts my own name.

Isn't this begging for a Me vs. Empire holy war? I could be faffing off in the middle of nowhere. They might decide to bring their entire military, guards, and their trained citizenry out there. Merely to chop my head off.

So, let's say I fight 'em. Of course, I'd win, but that's beside the point.

Am I supposed to slaughter a million people? Ten million? A hundred million? The dragon hunter didn't know how many people live in this empire, but... It's huge. Plus, nearly every space between cities is filled with towns and villages. A hundred million citizens might be a low estimate based on the size of the landmass it occupies.

I was lucky I turned up in the main defensive city of the nation of Shridenia. The south and west regions of Achiton are mostly uninhabitable wastelands filled with monsters. Particularly the west. Which means less people to potentially fight.

That said, Shridenia is an official protectorate under The Purified Heavens, so they aren't allowed much in the way of military forces anyway. Achiton was a bit unique in that respect due to the nearby wastelands. It turns out the guard captain... I've finally learned she's named Yenim from dragon hunter's memories. Good job, dragon dunce. Ragh. It turns out she's famous for running an unmatched city guard, even when compared with other nations' capital cities.

The difference is that most nations have far larger militaries. Despite the power of Yenim's enviable city guard? It was eradicated when a real army invaded.

Herein lies the crux of my most pressing problem. There are some nations whose forces rival The Purified Heavens. They're smaller, but they're similarly militarily powerful. However, all of the top ten most powerful nations, except one, take the same stance toward dragons. Many also have the same anti-dragon religion. They're not quite as radical about it— but a few do share The Purified Heavens' dragon hunting policies.

If I'm being frank, a lot of these countries are allied with, protectorates under, or unofficial client states of...

The Purified Heavens.

This is bad! If almost the entire world wants to kill me, am I supposed to flee forever? I look down at my ridiculously overgrown body. I can't even hide!

Besides, a dragon should never flee or hide. Every time I think of that, my draconic instincts drive me to go fight. Fight who, exactly? I have no idea. Whoever I pick would probably keel over. I haven't met any heroes so far.

Or. I don't know. Would the dragon hunter count as a hero? He survived my roar while everyone else exploded or died.

Maybe I shouldn't judge this world's structure based on fantasy logic. Maybe some people are simply better at their jobs.

Exactly like in my past life.

Though, then again, I exist. Perhaps the physics I'm familiar with don't apply here. Maybe someone has a talent that specifically kills me. Like those anti-demon skills in those fantasy books I'd read.

Am I a demon? No, I'mma dragon. Rawr!

...

Oh, right. Those books also had anti-dragon skills and weapons. I must've blocked that out of my memories.

Fiction always has a counter to the so-called 'evil monster.'

It makes me want to roar with anger! There should be no counter to dragons! We're too awesome for silly things like counters. Dragons must win every time!

I nod my dragon head.

Except, there's the Dragonblood Sigil. It proves counters to dragons do exist. Damnit.

I think back to the neon blue sword. Was it... Hra, no.

If my roar could shatter it, then it probably wouldn't penetrate my scales, to say nothing of my chest armor where the dragon hunter was aiming. His sword was obliterated by my roar, while my chest armor and scales were entirely unharmed.

My body would definitely win against that sword.

Greh. I suppose that doesn't consider my eyes, though. They're also not harmed by my roar.

Maybe they're rubbery? In which case, a sharp object might cut them.

Hrh. I can reform my body with my healing spell if I injure myself. I think It should be fine?

I lightly poke my eyeball with the point of my claw.

*tik*

Against my expectations, my claw is stopped dead like it hit a solid steel wall.

I press harder.

MUCH harder.

*krrrrrr*

My claw's razor-sharp tip slides against my eyeball, but it's not doing any damage.

What... What in the... What the hell is this? How can an eyeball be so stupidly hard?

Wait. Does this mean I didn't need to kill anyone? Crud. It would've been good to know this a few minutes ago.

Well, that assumes there's no anti-dragon spell involved. I could tell there wasn't any spells on his sword. It was merely some... Unusual glowing metal. It didn't even have any inscriptions.

Now that I think about it, that sword's blade looked similar to a radioactive metal. I check the dragon hunter's memories. Yep, those are radioactive. The symptoms of excessive exposure fit perfectly. Weird choice for a sword.

Erh, might I be harmed by radioactivity? I have no idea. I'm not too keen on trying it because radiation is nasty. That's also why I didn't use Gamma Laser to test my defenses. But! I'll do it anyway.

I cast Gamma Laser on my arm. The beam easily slices a cut. The cut then heals itself almost instantly.

Okay. Gamma Laser cuts like butter, but there's no lasting damage. Good to know how quickly I heal. Apparently.

...

Rah? Why was the little guy holding a radioactive sword bare-handed? No wonder he looked so thin and weak.

The heck were they doing with a radioactive sword, anyway?

Hraa. To kill a dragon... Do they stab us with radioactive swords so our body's healing—

I check the dragon hunter's memories.

Wreeeeeh. No way.

They use the sword to inject radioactive material into our torso specifically to give us radiation poisoning. Our bodies then heal incorrectly until our innards melt. That's more fucked up than his memories of what dragons do to humans, which also ain't pretty. Hragh. This? This needs to change. On both sides.

Uragh. I shake my dragon head.

...

Anyhow, the sole top ten nation which doesn't share The Purified Heavens' anti-dragon animus is... Interesting.

Number two in power ranking, at least according to dragon hunter, is the Dracon State. Yup, Dracon, as in 'draconic.'

These mad lads are totally fine with pissing off the entire world. Which, while incredible, has allowed The Purified Heavens to rally 'the entire world' against them.

They've made a stable society around coexistence with dragons. Domesticating 'em, specifically. Using dragons as labor, as hunting dogs, and a few specially selected ones as an aerial military.

As the, evidently, sole sapient dragon? I appreciate their forward thinking.

Oh, also? They. Are. STRONG!

Just as we dragons are. Again, their land area and citizenry are not as plentiful as The Purified Heavens. Their military strength, at least defensively... That's another story entirely. Dragon hunter believed they could withstand an attack by any four countries simultaneously.

Including The Purified Heavens itself.

The problem for Dracon State is logistics. How does one move dragons around? We're not elephants they can whip when we don't listen. In fact, we'll probably bite their heads off— literally. Assuming they can make a whip which hurts a dragon.

I look down at my amazing scales and my spatially-black armor. Well, maybe they could make a whip for a dragon somewhat less majestic than myself.

...

Okay. I simply MUST admire myself for a moment.

...

...

Rawh. I'm so amazing.

...

Now that I've been sufficiently pleased by my own appearance, I can focus back on Dracon State. Hreh.

Rather than relying on mobility, Dracon State has much infrastructure built around maintaining their draconic coexistence. High infrastructure costs make it difficult for them to expand. They similarly can't move outward one city at a time, because that quickly draws the ire of their neighbors. They're truly holed up.

Like a slumbering dragon.