A Chronometric Defect

"They weren't always dumb animals, you know."

Rah? What?

"Elaborate, please?"

"The Dragon God gave itself the 'God' title around the time it became a Demigod. Much like you did. All Demigods possess the right to rename themselves."

Hruh?

I renamed myself after gaining the rank of 'Immortal.' But, wasn't I already immortal before I got that rank?

No, my age was infinite, not my lifespan. How do I—

I suddenly recall when Aitos used his status spy inscription. Was his inscription accurate?

Is something truly wrong with my status panel?

Thaddeus still hasn't broken eye contact with my metallic red, slitted dragon eyes. It feels like he's watching my strength continue to tick up. He's even showing slight excitement. Why is he so weirdly happy that I'm getting more powerful? Is it related to his goal of creating a new god?

My draconic instincts are making me feel immense pride at this acknowledgment, which is making it difficult to focus on why his emotional discongruity bothers me so much. I want to push it all aside; to solely revel in his awe toward my immense strength. Except the absolute disgust I feel toward this man is getting in the way. I can't enjoy his reverence.

Instead, I feel a need to defeat his plans. Could he be doing something with the seeds? Tampering with that spell? But how? I don't know enough about this situation to act on his odd behavior.

He continues.

"Most dragons were exceedingly smart; some amassed intellect far beyond the capabilities of us humans. They used this to oppress us, control us, and enslave us. Even though their raw might was not unstoppable, their knowledge of warfare made them far too strong. The Dragon God was not particularly smart for a dragon... Until he became a Demigod. From that moment, his intellect and power grew leagues beyond every other dragon. Dragons— who were already superior to humans in every objective way, except for magecraft. All of humanity believed hope itself was lost."

Which infers I'm not solely gathering knowledge. My mind itself is indeed getting swifter. It also means I may be the only spell-slinging dragon in the entire universe. Well, if the gods haven't sciolated every other dragon, then I may be able to find another. Who knows?

Still, this is important information for my sense of self-worth! It's impossible for me to feel too valuable. A deep and endless sense of draconic pride wells up from within.

I may be a limitless dragon. I puff out my chest a bit.

"You're saying the gods stole their minds."

"Yes. Then, the Dragon God was killed."

"Was killed. Your empire didn't kill him?"

He looks annoyed that I noticed.

Sorry, I'm indeed smart.

Hraw.

"No, we did not. Could not. It was too powerful. Even after it lost its sapience, it still retained enough of its intellect to trounce a human. Never mind the fact we couldn't so much as scuff its scales."

I also feel a vast sense of pride for my deceased brother.

Your power remained glorious even when your mind was incapacitated.

"Who killed him?"

"We don't know. That man was never seen before or after."

Then it was a god. Duh. I don't need to be a super-smart dragon to figure that one out.

"So, why do you want to kill the gods? They eliminated your mortal enemy's strongest asset. His mind."

Garne interjects.

"Chronomet."

He pauses for a moment, then continues.

"The gods sciolated millions of dragons when only one dared to take a single step into the realm of deification. Imagine if a human took that same step."

Rugh. I almost recoil at his example.

That is quite the brutal response. Never mind me being pissed off about my own species. If what they're saying is true? The gods may have already done this on other planets, or perhaps to other species upon this planet.

"So you intended to kill the gods with... Flora?"

It doesn't seem like the most foolproof plan.

"Mindless, which meant double protection against the gods' sciolation. It also possessed the right talents— it was the best possible choice. Until you came along."

Surprisingly, I feel only pride and no disgust.

Garne sure can make this dragon happy.

"Rawh. Why thank you."

I continue.

"What if the bulb devoured all life on this planet after ascending? Wouldn't that be worse?"

"A risk we considered; we have a method to control its seeds directly. All of them."

Rawh, finally. He must be talking about the automated control spell. Great.

I hold out my clawed dragon hand.

"I'll be needing that from you, then."

"Oh. Uhm, sure. Just—"

Garne's complexion turns white. His body whips almost instantly to face Thaddeus.

"THADDEUS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I refuse to bow to a dragon. Since I must die, I choose to die with my dignity intact."

Garne turns and waves his hands at me wildly.

"Chronomet, stop him! He's activated the—"

I think I know what just happened.

Thaddeus smiles widely.

How creepy.

"You destroyed the control method, didn't you?"

His creepy smile distorts a little. I bet he's annoyed that I figured it out.

"I hope you enjoy the stats of billions, Chronopet. Kill the gods, won't you? For me?"

Chronopet? Was the insult necessary?

"I don't need those stats, you incorrigible madman."

He smiles even wider.

Regh. The world doesn't need this nutcase— no matter his intentions.

I instantaneously consume him, swiftly absorbing his memories. I then search for and find the 'control method.' It's a rather complex inscription. However, for the first time in my short dragon life, I'm stunned into dropping my tooth-filled jaw.

The inscription was bound to the bulb's seeds via that rapid-cycling automated spell, which was invented by Ainthia. I've just realized, that yes, I do have that spell in my memories. The whole thing. I didn't connect the two before because the spell's appearance morphs after it's been deployed and activated.

Thaddeus' many mages cast this spell on several million seeds. Under normal conditions, the spell jumps around to each new seed, normalizing every seed's basic parameters. However, when incited by the control inscription, they'll jump to non-conformant seeds until every seed's parameters are updated to the new value that was input via the inscription.

That's fine. I can easily make such a spell. I can also rebuild the inscription which reprograms these rapid-cycling spells. The thing that has me stunned, though, is that the connection between the seeds and the inscription is—

It's protected with a secret key.

Rawh, okay! Standard security practice, right?

No. No. No. Not at all.

Ainthia developed this spell and the control inscription, but she didn't set the key. Only Thaddeus' Antigods Team leader, who developed this plan, only he had the key. His underling mages still apply his version of the spell today, but they also don't know the key.

Which is because Thaddeus.

I mentally stall out.

Thaddeus had the Antigods Team leader flayed to death for farting in his presence.

All records?

Burned.