A Chronometric Defect

I'm underwater, down here. I can move now. I could fly up there, I suppose, but this looks so beautiful.

If I were human?

I'd never get to lay at the bottom of a dragon-made lake. Nor observe the brilliant sun washing over a nation-sized, dragon-made canyon, through the waters of said lake.

Of course, I'm the dragon who made both.

It's so peaceful down here. I re—

"AGHHH NOOOOO!!!!"

You just had to ruin it. Shaddup.

I mentally smack the bulb's shrinking Will. I've been absorbing its Will through Causal Conduit over the last few hours. It can fight with all the same abilities I possess, but it can't win against the sheer amount of Mana I can use against it. Since I effectively possess infinite Mana.

"YYAHHHHHGH!!!!"

It's funny, because that's exactly the same advantage it originally held over me. Er— not exactly. It had more than enough Mana reserves to fight me forever, but that's because I didn't know how to use Causal Conduit against it. If we were fighting on an equal playing field, then just like now, the result likely would've been my victory.

"Hyaaaag... Ahhh... Nuuuum..."

Or maybe it's because all its roots are severed. Regardless, I'd still win, since I have infinite Mana. Whoever or whatever graced me with perfect Mana conductors for body parts, I salute you.

I give a nice underwater dragon salute.

"Geyog... Blafh..."

My strange body and its abilities keep tripping up my enemies. I wonder if Origin is a feature of the Dragon God or Pure Evil? I mean, my lineage, not my previous name.

It certainly isn't Parasite. Reah, I got the Dragon God's lineage from those experiments, but where did Pure Evil come from, and how did the Dragon God bestow it? Was it the Dragon God? I must question everything. Learning requires questions, and anything unknown can be formulated into a question.

"rkx"

I don't have any leads. So, I figure, since I'm down here? Might as well learn how to merge my absorbed memories with those already contained within my Will. They aren't 'my' memories if I'm always searching through them. Same as when I was manually controlling my body, reah? It's inefficient.

Plus, there's so many bits of knowledge. There's even a few bits of research into creating artificial jobs.

Only a fool would pass up the chance to make themselves more intelligent AND more powerful. I see a chance to graft knowledge and power directly into my own mind and body, so I must seize it!

Dragons never give up their loot!

I can think of a few people who'd shudder at the thought of me becoming even more intelligent than I already am. Maybe I should let this new memory-merging ability slip to see their reaction. Hraha.

I recall the terrifying scene of my Origin's clear goo spread across the entire landscape. Hrr, no. I'll keep all this to myself. I don't want anyone realizing I'm such a freak.

In any case, I think back to my new memories of the Dragon God. He looked like a dragon. Well, no duh.

He was rather large. I'd say about 160 to 200 meters tall. Powerful, no doubt. His coloration was orange, like mine once was, and he also had black armor and spikes.

But these were not like mine. His black accents were, first of all, far less pervasive. I'd say 60% of my features are covered in the purest darkness. The remaining roughly 40% is my wing membranes, plus my red eyes.

Nothin' else. All my other coloration is gone. It only amounts to 40% because my wings are so huge. When I retract those, I'm closer to 98% spatial black.

"wa"

As I've gotten more powerful, it's as though my form has slipped from reality. I doubt I'd be too scary to people at this point. They'd probably look at me and think my appearance makes no sense. Their mind would be endlessly kept busy trying to comprehend empty blackness. Maybe after a while it'd build to a creeping sense of the unknown, but...

Oh, right, my red eyes. Nice.

I do an underwater dragon fist pump.

Terrifying dragon is terrifying. Rawh yeah.

Although, I've noticed I can 'see' my own features at the same time as seeing nothing. I sense my body as empty space, but somehow see every part of myself anyway. I don't get it.

A few of the people I've eaten recently could see my features as well. I should use my enviable draconic intellect— raha. That was easy. The commonality amongst them is high religiousity; dedication to religion.

Odd, considering I'm not particularly religious. I'mma dragon. Rawr.

Speaking of dragon: it's similar to a sixth sense dedicated to viewing myself. My dragon body. Are dragons vain? Obviously.

Rewh, when put that way; everyone should see the same view, shouldn't they? Then they can admire me so much better. As they should. I have oodles excellent ideas lately; it makes this dragon very pleased.

I write an Origin Program to show myself to all viewers in the same way that I can see my features. It gives everyone nearby a sixth sense which allows them to appreciate the many lines and features of my impeccible draconic form.

I'm no longer an empty, terrifying blackness. I'm terrifying AND stunning.

I decide to gaze lovingly upon my incredible dragon body.

...

...

Rah, I amaze myself.

...

...

Interesting. I can still see the empty blackness if I stare long enough. It's like I've become a well-defined emptiness. My body tricks my senses, but in a way that makes me want to admire myself as endlessly as the vastness of space.

Good.

...

...

Back to my earlier thoughts. The other difference between myself and the deceased Dragon God is that the Dragon God's black spikes and armor weren't an empty spatial black. They were mildly matte black. Typical dragon adornments. I've taken on that appearance to an extent, but it's not my true coloration.

I don't wish to speculate on the reasons for why my colors appear different to different individuals right now. As someone famous in my previous world said, "the mark of an educated mind is the ability to consider an idea without interpreting it as truth."

Or something like that. My human brain wasn't nearly as sharp as my draconic brain. This is understandable. It's not that humans possess weak minds, oh no no; it's merely that dragons like myself are too amazing. We're incomparable. But in order to be as brilliant as possible, I must draw upon the ideas and reasoning of humans. Other species, too, of course.

What fool would not use knowledge due solely to its source? Gems are found in the dirtiest of places, and gems are what we dragons seek most. What I seek most. Intellectual gems, in this case. Rhmmm. I need more of those.

Ragh? I'm getting distracted. Again. It's because I'm too impressive, isn't it? Raha hrah, that's the best type of distraction.

Now. As for the Dragon God's internal colors? His mouth, tongue, a few organs, etc. These were all displayed in The Purified Heavens and eaten as delicacies.

Blegh.

Blegh, I say, after eating a giant canyon into the planet.

"..."

But I digress.

Because of The Purified Heavens, I know his flesh color. Reddish pink. Again, he was a typical dragon.

I stick out my tongue.

I've got a pretty darn big tongue; dragons naturally have big maws relative to their heads. Thus, I can easily see my tongue flopping about my snout. Aaahayayaya.

It florps around.

Reh, spatial black. Even with my Origin Program applied, my internals have remained the same light-eating black color.

Of course, I knew they would. I only care about making my outward appearance visible to others.

It is, however, amusing. I'm a literal Demigod, and yet here I am fooling with my rather large forked dragon tongue. Underwater. Like a doofus.

I retract my tongue and grin toothily.

Status, Name.

Name: Chronometric Dragon God

You are Π||¿

Rank: Demigod

I suppose naming myself 'god' didn't immediately make me a god, but it seems I'm on that track regardless. Zeus, eat yer heart out. If ya don't, I'll soon eat it for ya.

"f"

Rewh, it's done! The bulb is dead.

I've consumed it and its immense power fully. Along with all of the landmass I ate. Talk about a big meal.

Status.

Name: Chronometric Dragon God

Stats:

Str: 2.8b

Sta: 2.9b

Int: 19b

Wis: 2.1b

These numbers? Ridiculous. They're based on my reformed body, not my original stats. What was I before? One point five? The bulb was over a billion times stronger than me. How in the hell did I beat that thing?

I think back to the clear goo. Eww. Probably that. I don't even know what that gross stuff is supposed to be.

Well, one thing I DO know:

The bulb had an inflated Int stat relative to its other stats. I suspect this has to do with its skill, Seeding.

A white seed appears in my hand. A bit of magic flits around my clawed hand for a short moment.

This seed doesn't perform mind control. It saps the Will of its host, and by doing so, it slowly gives the owner some fraction of the host's stats. Since it always migrated to the host's brain, it'd generally snag more Int than other stats.

The relative lack of Wis is interesting, though. This suggests the brain is raw Int, while Wis is the entirety of our bodily experience. We learn with our brain and live with our body. I like how that philosophy works.

I crush the seed. I see the magic yet again.

This damn thing is why the bulb grew to such an absurd size. I dread to think what would've happened if it ever grew from a bulb into a plant. Perhaps it was sated, and that kept it in its bulb phase. Perhaps I'll never know.

What I DO know, from the memories I've integrated, is that The Purified Heavens is solely responsible for this thing having grown to such a size. They've altered hundreds of millions, maybe billions of seeds, to change how much of each stat each seed can absorb. I mean— they've maxed 'em out.

Some sort of control spell jumps onto each seed as soon the seed is created. It seems automated; like one of Ainthia's spells. I create another seed, and watch closely as the spell jumps onto the seed. It sure is a strange spell.

Said spell alters the seed to dramatically widen the seed's potential throughput, but also blocks most of the seed's ability to drain stats. Hrum. What's the purpose of this? It appears almost contradictory.

Did they want to drain the Will but not the stats?

Can't be. The bulb wouldn't have grown so large if that was their intention. There must be another reason. I sincerely doubt everyone was clueless about this nation-sized monster. Sure, they accidentally created me, but I can't imagine they'd keep using the bulb's Seeding if they didn't believe it was under their control.

Leario is the exception rather than the norm in The Purified Heavens. He's a true pragmatist rather than someone bone-headedly seeking a selfish end goal. It's... Interesting, how Emperor Heavens promotes such horrid filth in his nation, yet he keeps the highest rungs of his leadership clean and sensible. He's the exact opposite of King Shridenia.

I glance back down at the tiny seed. It looks so very small in my grasp. Yet, this tiny thing could infect every living creature on this planet. Except myself, natch.

I know this seed changes the target's personality in bursts. The intensity of its effects depend entirely upon their strength of Will. Stronger Will, less effect. A strong Will doesn't stop the seed from draining their stats, though. The seed also can't steal skills or talents. It's not as strong as I am.

I crush the seed again. The automated spell flies off.

Causal Conduit can't steal abilities. Neither can the bulb's second talent, Causal Coherence.

The first talent, Causal Conduit, bridges the 'cause' part of causation on one object to the 'effect' on another. It's a talent which redirects the universe's law of cause-and-effect. It's doubtlessly a powerful ability.

I could place the two ends of this talent in a stream bed. The stream would still flow. Except, the area in the middle of the two ends of this talent would no longer considered part of the water's path.

It'd look like the stream was cut in two, yet the water remains flowing, somehow. The water wouldn't even TRY to fill the gap, unless more water seeped through the soil. When said water flowed downhill again, it'd be swept up in the rushing current on the other side of the 'effect' portion of Causal Conduit.

That's pretty damn cool, but it's even more useful. Never mind using it to break an enemy's body.

What about what the bulb did on my chest? It altered causality, a basic law of reality, so that my power would flow into its body. It made me into its power source.

Then, it had another trick. As the polar opposite of Causal Decoherence, Causal Coherence doesn't alter the rules of reality: it makes them rigid and unchanging.

That's why nothing I did was able to break Causal Conduit. The bulb's power drain ability became a law of physics which couldn't be violated. I wasn't trying to remove a power theft talent from my chest. I was trying to remove the physics LAW which stated:

'Chronomet must always become weaker while the bulb must always become stronger.'

How very annoying!

I was able to fight it since my Origin counters this talent. Except, it also got access to my Origin. For a short time, I was confused about how I should fight it.

It's good to know my Origin is so incredibly antithetical to Will invasions. With this, plus a trifecta of causality talents, I wonder how others would even fight me anymore?

I make another toothy dragon grin.

They'll probably drown me in raw power as I did to the warp bug. If that happens, so what? Clearly my Origin can murder them anyway. Though, I shan't get conceited. Who knows what else is out there.

Aight. Dragons are cool, but enough of me being cool. It's time to act cool. I orient myself vertically on the lake floor.

I then scale my body up, up, and up. I rise out of the water, standing on the canyon floor, and... I keep growing. My wings drizzle behind my back, so I shake them off with a high-frequency vibration. I keep growing, and growing, until my head's above the edge of the canyon.

I continue growing.

My chest rises above the canyon edge, then my torso, hips, knees, and... My ankles. Even my claws become large enough to poke above the curved edges of this deep canyon.

Soon enough, I'm a country-sized dragon.

I gaze out over the horizon.

...

...

MY horizon.

I speak.

"Beings of this land, and of this world. I am the Chronometric Dragon God. Repent upon your ill Wills— or choose to live in ignorance. You may do as you please. Just know that from this day forward, I'm watching every one of you. All shall be judged accordingly."

My body rapidly shrinks down.

Yes!

I nailed that performance harder than I did the warp bug. It helps that dragons are epic to begin with.

Me especially.

*shroooosh*

Millions of liters of water rush back in to replace what I'd displaced moments ago.

I decide to admire my claws and armor while back underwater. Hrem, I need to make more time for self-admiration. I've become too powerful to ignore my incredible self. Well, I've been impossible to ignore ever since becoming a dragon, so— rawh, proves my point. I do require more attention.

I flex my dexterous hand. I watch the empty black void move at my command, as though spacetime itself is becoming my sole divine providence.

Perhaps it is!

I raise my arm and feel my firm muscle.

Ah, no. That's my amazing armor.

I flex my normal-ish bicep.

It... Expands. A LOT.

Reh... What?

I poke it.

Unsurprisingly, it's rock hard.

I relax my arm again. Its appearance goes back to normal; decently muscular but not so absurd.

I rap it with my hand, balled into a fist.

*tok*

*tok*

Rh. Felt weird.

Still hard, though.

Hrr.

I try to flex my whole arm.

It bulks up to an obscene degree.

I relax my arm. Decently muscular again.

Rhem, this isn't how muscles are supposed to work.

Am I... Shoving more of my body's stats into my arm when I flex?

I check my Origin Programs.

Hruh. That IS how it works— I'm shifting more of my internal structure into the area where it's needed. According to the program, this only happens when the amount of force needed exceeds what the available structure can provide. In fact, it doesn't need to change in size at all, that's merely a method of conserving Mana usage.

I didn't explicitly design these programs; I told my Origin to code what I wanted and the programs created themselves. Somehow. These details are not what I'd expected. But, I don't see any reason to change them too much. It'd look even more unnatural if my body didn't shift at all whenever I exert effort.

I decide to check the program again. Reading the code, there's a cap on the expansion: it won't allow itself to get in the way of my body's movement. Which explains why I have full range of motion even when it bulks up so much. Rah, I know! I'll edit the cap so that it looks like I'm flexing my muscles more naturally. I might be a strange dragon, but I can still mimic the outward appearance of a normal dragon. Biologically-speaking, anyway.

I watch the code change according to my Will. Perfect.

Reh? Wait. I can read this code?

...

Must be like the sigils. I decide to ignore that.

Hrrrrr. Now...

How much force am I exerting to make a fist?

I roughly grab a nearby underwater rock.

It turns to powder before I can test.

Rawah. My question is answered.

I'mma powerful dragon, hr?

And I'm underwater.

...

"BRAWRP!"

Raha!