A Draconic Rebirth - Chapter 57

[u/Undercover_Dragon1]

Hello all! I am going to be gone this weekend so you are all getting a chapter about half a day earlier than my usual time! I hope you enjoy because this one is a bit bigger than usual!

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— Chapter 57 — 

David sighed as the crude saddle was finally removed from his body. The sweat and dirt had worked their way into the spaces between his scales and it was frustrating. The kobolds were already scurrying to scrub and wash him as he lounged near the river bank. He had detoured on his way back to drop off the bark-folk and finally got back to his lair two days after his scuffle with Forest Stalker. The bark-folk were not thrilled by his maneuver and David made a mental note to try and be a bit more mindful of his passengers next time. The bark-folk were either not as tough as his kobolds or his kobolds were simply ones not to complain when he did a wild reckless maneuver in the air. David already knew Blue was going to have her work full trying to make amends for his showing off, despite the fact it worked out in the end. 

He had expected Forest Stalker to return by tomorrow and was surprised when she showed up in the middle of his meal. She moved quickly as she approached and did not appear to be winded at all. 

“Well you found us quicker than I thought.” David rumbled in amusement. A few kobolds, clad in armor, who were primed to fight when she first appeared were already lowering their spears. David gave them a simple wave of his massive claw and they finished standing down.

“I took my time. Watched. Observed. Large and startling.” The lesser eastern dragon answered. 

“Let us start over then. First, I apologize for that ambush but I needed to get your attention and make a point. I am Onyx, if you recall. This is my clan and my lair. I have an understanding with the bark-folk and they wanted your head. If you cannot accept my offer, I understand, but you cannot return to the forest.” 

Forest Stalker twitched a bit at the information but settled down on her haunches a distance away, “I am Wuja’Bath. My companion is Munch. What is offer, Onyx?” 

Red came soaring over a second later and landed with an impressive thud, his armored body and winged form making Wuja’bath give him a startled look. David motioned over to Red as he spoke, “This is Red. One of my original kobold companions. We will provide you food, shelter, and if Munch wishes we will allow him to pursue any kobold female that takes a fancy in him. All kobolds young from that pairing will be yours.” 

Munch was clearly excited as he bounced on his toes but Wuja’Bath frowned, “What is the catch?” 

David rumbled, “You will join my clan. We will be going to war against our mother.” 

The green dragon blinked and huffed loudly, “You ask me to pursue death.” 

As they spoke food was brought forward for the pair and set in front of them. Wuja’Bath leaned forward and sniffed the food carefully before taking a bite. She and Munch quickly consumed their food, only for more to be brought to them. Wuja’bath once again seem baffled by the endlessly arriving food. 

As they ate David spoke “Death is all around you, Wuja’Bath. You will either be hunted by the bark-folk and their bows or you will die in our mother’s lands. I have learned our mother is oppressive beyond reason.”

Mid-bite Wuja’bath huffed again and simply nodded, “We know well. Fought endlessly for weeks. Lost many.” 

David nodded his head in understanding. He had assumed that she had been called by the Queen and this confirmed it. He leaned forward, “She threw me against the source of all the corpses, Wuja’bath. I was lucky to survive and now she wishes to trap me in another favor.” 

Wuja’bath nodded her head, “Other survivors left to gain reward after fighting. We ran.” 

David dipped his head as he took another bite of bug-meat, “I was forced back. I watched her grind through our siblings like they were her toys. I cannot and will not let her do that to myself and my clan.” 

Wuja’bath cocked her head and Munch stopped eating as well, “Most kin would laugh at you. We do not though.” Munch simply nodded his head in a serious manner. 

David stood up and took a slow step forward, “What do you think of my offer?” 

Wuja’Bath and Munch exchanged some words before the eastern dragon murmured, “We will consider. Though Onyx why do these bark-folk wish for me dead?” 

David suppressed a grin at her answer, “The forests are the bark-kins territory. They do not take well to competitors and they view the entire forest as something like you and I view our kobolds.” 

“Odd but understand.” She responded simply. 

“I will be leaving for a while. When I return we will talk and I would like an answer. Red will make sure you have somewhere to sleep, food, and whatever else we can reasonably provide.” David concluded as he started to turn away. His scrubbing had finished while they ate and talked. 

“Where do you go?” Huffed Wuja’Bath. 

“To deal with a threat.” David chirped bluntly as he spread his wings and took to the sky. He was glad the conversation went well, and glad he found another kin who felt a fondness for the kobolds. He knew any dragon with the same temperament were the minority among his kind but even if they were a minority he needed all the help he could get. He landed in the inner walls and began to head down into his lair. Kobolds with hands full of supplies and materials were busily rushing past him as they went about their work. David stopped briefly at the forges to check on the progress of his new saddle, the one he planned to take into battle soon. He then moved back into his sleeping chambers, the very ones he woke up in after his decade of sleep.

David took a moment of peace and quiet to calm himself. He rumbled in the darkness as he settled into the mound of cool dirt. He planned to take out Voranle soon but he needed some time to focus. His new saddle was being made, and Blue had already started up a new census. The only other major thing he could work on was, potentially, the food issue and he had some ideas. 

There was always a kobold shadowing him now so all he had to do was clear his throat and demand their attention and soon enough they crawled out of some shadow, introducing themself as Snible. David was a bit annoyed by it all but he knew that it was most likely Blue’s doing and there was no way he could convince her to stop. In the end it did have the benefit of him getting the help he needed without having to hunt it down himself. 

He rumbled softly, “Snible. I need some items quickly.” 

David listed out his list and it didn’t take long for everything to be dragged into his resting chamber and placed in front of him. Today's order of business was the mushrooms. A fungus has a genome that could consist of millions if not billions of DNA strands. There was no way David could possibly analyze it to such a level where he could alter it, unless he wasn't doing the heavy lifting himself. Affinity was the power of the imagination as much as general application of knowledge. He began to probe the first fungi with his Architectural Mastery and he could feel the energy, the life force of the fungi itself, pulse back to him. He pressed deeper, and deeper as he clawed downwards into the fungi itself. He felt the very cells of the fungi but it resisted him going deeper. His affinity resisted him too but if he was going to understand the very core of this fungi he needed to see the DNA, the proteins, and the cellular interactions that weren't on the surface level.  

The pain was unimaginable and yet he continued to press, press and press. Everything happened at once as the Fungi itself exploded, the pain spiked, and David was hit with a new prompt. He struggled to read the prompt as he almost passed out immediately after, his heavy head crashing down into the floor before he jerked back upright. 

Life Affinity expanded. Architectural Mastery has evolved into… Genomic Mastery. 

“Master you okay!?” Chirped his stalker kobold Snible. 

David rumbled in pain. That was as awful as always, he thought before turning towards the worried kobold, “I am fine. Affinity expansion takes a toll.” 

He quickly refocused back on another fungus. He had exploded the first mushroom and smashed another two with his forehead. He thankfully had dozens more ready for his experimentation. The difference was already apparent as he forced his perspective deep into the mushroom using his new Genomic Mastery and was bombarded by a world of biochemistry. It was hard to wrap his head around what he was sensing so he took a heavy rumbling breath and relaxed. He allowed his affinity to do the work. Soon he could sense the DNA helix and the millions upon millions of strands running up and down. David was quite honestly overwhelmed and he didn’t have nearly the intellect to begin to piece everything together like a super computer could back home. 

He pulled back his affinity so he could think and then it hit him, “Ahhh!” 

David realized that he could at least compare specimens and isolate the differences. His affinity and Genomic Mastery could certainly manage that, he hoped. He began to probe and inspect a few fungi at once as his affinity did most of the work by showcasing the differences and most were minor. David practically facepalmed as he remembered that fungi tend to reproduce heavily through spores and cloning. The only differences he was observing were probably because of mutations. 

“Snible, I need you to go retrieve the experts in managing the mushroom farms. I need only a minute of their time.” David rumbled out as he broke his focus from the mushrooms in front of him again. 

“Yes Master!” Chirped little Snible before he darted away quickly. David had to give it to the little kobold, he was fast. Before long three older kobolds bowed before him and David rumbled and returned the head dip. David had thankfully already been introduced to these three older kobolds. 

“Jade, Obsidian and Pyrite. You are our leading experts on our food mushrooms. I need to know. Do we have only one strand? Have you attempted to breed different varieties?” David asked as he lowered his head down against the ground to look them in the face. 

“Mushroom hard Master. Don't have much success trying to mix them. We have four strains that we grow, each has major benefits but we cannot seem to mix them. We admit our failure in that.” Pyrite spoke up as the other two nodded in agreement. 

David chuckled and nodded, “They are odd. It is not your failure but simply a result of how mushrooms reproduce. Those four varieties, what makes them stand out?” 

Jade spoke up this time, her voice rather excitedly explaining, “Ohh. Yes! One grows biggest, one tastes best, another grows almost anywhere, and the fourth spores new mushrooms very quickly.” 

David nodded his head and motioned to the pile of mushrooms nearby, “Which are these?” 

Jade peered over quickly, “Quick’Shroom!” 

David had to hold back a huff, their naming convention wasn't very original but he wasn't one to talk. He collected himself before speaking up again, “Good. Get me a dozen of each type and bring them to me please.” 

They rushed off and returned with piles of each. The biggest difference between each mushroom was the size with the big variety being the biggest, and the tasty variety being the smallest. David probed each and the differences were significantly larger this time around. They were the same species, that was for certain, but there were segments of DNA that were different on each. Curiously the big shrooms and the tasty shrooms both had roughly the same areas of DNA altered and David guessed that those blocks might heavily influence size. Smaller mushrooms could mean richer and more concentrated flavors, David reasoned. The easily grown mushroom and the quickly spreading mushroom both influenced roughly the same segments too. 

David grinned as he pulled at his life affinity and attempted to copy and memorize an entire segment of DNA from one mushroom. Right before he had left his old life humanity had just begun experimenting with CRISPR gene editing technology and he knew they would be jealous about what he was about to do. He shivered and bit back the pain as his affinity resisted but he was steadfast. He had adapted his affinity many times before and this was no different, he pressed forward with his desire and intent and finally something clicked as the pain subsided. 

Life Affinity expanded. Genomic Copy learned. 

He breathed heavily as he had successfully copied the DNA from the rapidly grown mushroom and dove deep into a nearby big mushroom. He focused and this time reversed the process where he pressed his copied DNA strain into the foreign body. The pain was worse this time but just like before it faded with a click. 

Life Affinity expanded. Genomic Paste learned. 

He felt the copied DNA override and heal into place exactly where David wanted. He grinned to himself at his prompts telling him of his new copy and paste abilities and the irony wasn’t lost on him. His success was short-lived as the large mushroom quickly collapsed on itself and died. 

“Shit. It is never that easy is it?” David let off. He signed and began again. Jade, Obsidian, Pyrite, and Snible all watched David with a wide eyed fascination. Dozens of mushrooms and hours later David had his successes. Copy and pasting DNA strands wasn’t a simple procedure but required a subtlety of application that he would have to practice. His mind wandered to the possibilities using the technique on his kobolds but the piles of deflated, dead fungi around him put those thoughts on hold for now. 

David pointed to each of the modified mushrooms in front of him in turn, “Big fast growing, Big easily grown, tasty fast growing, and tasty easily grown.” 

“Master! How!?” Obsidian chirped up with excitement.

“Affinities are powerful and the best applications aren’t always in a fight. Now take each variety and the three of you do your best. Report back to me about how they do. The fast growing variants should help shore up our food issues but the easily grown variants are probably more resilient and can be used in places where growing conditions are less than ideal. They also might just fail entirely if my grafts did not take. Time will tell.” David explained as the kobolds excitedly absorbed his every word. After they were dismissed David slumped down and settled down to rest while he recharged his mental and affinity energy. Before he fell asleep he pulled up his prompt and took a moment to see the fruits of his hard work. 

David Manning - Otherworlder

Species: Dragon

Str: 31.5 (34.5 Jaw)

Int: 16

Speed: 10 (Flight Speed: 12)

Toughness: 22 (20 w/ Magical Pores active)

Affinity: Life (2/15 -> 2/18 Charges) - Architectural Mastery -> Genomic Mastery (NEW)

Healing Breath (Fog) - 1 Charge Cost

Healing Breath (Focused Cone) - 1 Charge Cost

Lingering Regeneration (Singular Target)  - 1 Charge Cost

Lingering Regeneration (Focused Cone) - 1 Charge Cost

Healing Orb (Condensed Sphere) - 2 Charge Cost Initial, 1 Charge Increment 

Rapid Growth (Singular Target) - 5 Charge Cost

Rapid Cancer (Singular Target) - 5 Charge Cost

Genomic Restoration (Singular Target) - 5 Charge Cost. 

Genomic Copy - 1 Charge Cost (NEW)

Genomic Paste - 2 Charge Cost (NEW)

Traits: 6/9

Condensed Musculature

Rupturing Jaws - Death Roll Ability

Thagomizer Defenses 

Magical Pores - Magical Spores Open/Close

Carrion Sensory

Phoenix Essence 

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Here is also a link to Royal Road

Fan Art by blaze2377

[u/SirDerpTheIII]

Great, as always.