Chapter 8 - Just Call Me Lucky

The next day I wake up and after a few minutes of readjusting to my bodies lack of a fourth limb I stood up and started to practice walking, I used a tripod method that after some getting used to I was able to get a decent pace without to much weirdness.

After making my way slowly as to not tumble n fall I made it to the eating area of the cave, as soon as I enter I can feel the atmosphere just plummet when I find that all of my siblings and my dad n mom all turning to look at me

With a look of sadness Gaia walks over to me

"brother i could have brought you your food you didn't have to get up."

"Gaia listen do not look at this as a sad thing, just look at this as another challenge that your runt of a older brother has to overcome to be the best." I say this with a swell of my chest and turn to look directly at Aurum giving him an obvious challenge "Even if I am the weakest right now I will not stay that way and you all will acknowledge me as the eldest."

You could see the rage physically build within Aurum as he failed to try and hold his tongue but after those last words he stood up and yelled "You will never be the strongest or the eldest the powerful will rule and the weak will surrender and cower, you may have a few days to rest but after that we will all have the same training, father has deemed it necessary that we all train together so prepare runt because once we are out in the wild you will either conform or WE will leave you behind." Him and the rest of the followers get up and leave all except Gaia and ofcourse our parents.

"Mom, Dad I understand the need to have us all train together before what we know is going to happen, happens, but why do you allow that bag of hot air to act like he's the boss around here."

My mom and dad look at eachother then look at me with a confused look in their eyes.

"Vexsus he may be your younger brother however currently he is the strongest amongst you and as a race dragons have always followed the law of strength, the strong lead while the weak obey. If you want to change that then you are faced with a long and challenging road."

"I understand dad and I vow to be the strongest it may take me time but I know that with enough training and perseverance I will achieve my goal, all I ask is that you Gaia follow me not just as my brother but also my equal even when we reach the top."

"Brother it would be an honor to follow you, I vow to become the strongest alongside you and share in your many glories, aswell as your many gory battles." He then turns and leaves toward a room that was built after Aurums attempt at killing me with a fireball that was later turned into a small training room.

After I finished eating and idly chatting with my parents I stood up and decided to go outside, and with my father in tow for protection as I needed to practice and learn what else this new world has in store for me, we travel a little bit into the woods to a small clearing and my father clears a few more trees with his massive tail widening the clearing even more, after that I decide to test out a thought that I had when making the fire. I take a deep breath and after feeling a warm sensation in my throat I exhale and out comes a cloud of smoke with ash and embers all through it, I continue to do this until it becomes second nature to me then I hear a ding in my head but shortly after I realize that without thinking I have filled the entire clearing with smoke. after a bit I hear a woosh and see my father swinging his tail in one giant sweep and instantly clears the smoke just with wind created from that.

"Boy I believe that you have great potential see dragons have usually first show off a breath that relates to their species but there are some rare cases where that isn't so take your grandfather the elder for example my mother told me that when they were growing up and it came time for them to train, the elder showed off a strong poison mist breath that killed off a rampaging Fire rhino that was threatening to destroy our families garden, also depending on which elements you are able to utilize you can eventually create a pseudo breath attack, even you mom who is blessed and excels at using healing magic can create a healing mist breath but your smoke breath is great for obscuring your enemies vision and can create a good distraction."

I wasn't shocked that dad was able to think what I was about my breath I was planning on using that and combining the obscuring with my shadow strike I am also wondering what the 0/10 referred to next to it in my system but moving that to the side of my mind I focused on my breath If I can breath smoke with ash and embers through it in a large puff shouldn't I be able to create more of a focused stream or one giant puff, using that thought process I concentrated and using my breath attack I closed my mouth until there was a small opening and then with a slow but powerful exhales I was able to somewhat accomplish what I wanted resulting in a stream of smoke with more force then the fog like smoke I would normally breath out, I heard another ding so I told dad that I needed a break using my stamina as an excuse and upon sitting down I closed my eyes and opened my system only to be shocked.

(Vexsus)

Dragon hatchling (variant dragon)

Hp 120

MP 0

Stamina 120

Str 3

Vit 4.5

Spd 2

Dex 1

Con 1.5

Shadow strike 0/10

"New" Smoke breath 0/10 -> 0/20 - using your dragon bodies natural ability able to produce a smoke breath capable of causing obscured vision over an area and small amounts of damage upon being inhaled.

"New" Smoke Stream 0/10 - using knowledge of another world able create a concentrated stream of smoke capable of causing blindness and causing small amounts of damage upon being inhaled.

I was shocked that now only did my breath attack get registered within the system it also leveled up and I gained a variant of it which opened up my plans of attacking in the future but before I became content I forced myself to get back to training and up next was creating smoke but instead of exhaling at once I held it in as my cheeks started to swell and at my limit I unleashed it all at once and next second I was flying backwards as a powerful orb of smoke exploded from my mouth to slam into a tree and splinter it. Dad rushed over and after picking me up and looking over me looked at me with shock before finally asking what just happened.

"Vexsus what was that powerful blast of smoke you just used I could feel heat emanating from it but there was no heat, it even had enough power to destroy a tree."

After the initial shock I smiled as yet another ding rang in my mind before looking up to my dad and after laughing for a bit. "Dad I thought that if I can create a concentrated stream of smoke what would happen if I held it in my mouth and then using a powerful blow, exhaled it all out at once, what resulted is something I'm gonna call Smoke blast but it looks like even though it has a lot of power I cannot use it without a stronger body or else I would just be a ragdoll using my own power."

My dad looked at me in shock and then at the tree and back at me for a few times before he got a look of determination and I could swear I saw a lightbulb go off in his eyes and he told me to just rest while he experimented using what he saw from me. He first used a normal fire breath then closing his mouth I could see the wide cone of fire get tighter and tighter as the range increased exponentially and I could tell that it was almost flamethrower like but in a tight straight path that was able to burn through trees causing them to topple after a circular hole was burned through it in an instant. With a smile on his face he then looked at me and then his cheeks bulged, Knowing what he was going to do and the destruction he can cause I stand up and scream "Father don't you are to powerful if you used that skill here you could cause a massive explosion that would put us both at risk." Hearing that He nodded and then aimed upwards and after a bit more I saw his stomach tighten and next instant A huge ball of almost Pure white flames appeared and zoomed off into the sky before exploding and covered a giant area of sky with flames before they dissipated. He instantly looked down and with a serious expression he picked me up and then jumped into the air and started to speed away towards the direction of home.

a few minutes of getting assaulted by the wind whipping against my face we finally landed and I hear a loud yell coming from my mom shook my entire body as she came running out of the cave followed by their children.

"What in the name of the Gods happened what was that explosion just now? Are you ok? what about you Vexsus?" Question after question streamed out of her mouth before we all spotted a dragon speeding towards us, when it came closer I was able to recognize the dragon as the Elder, my grandfather.

"Solace, what happened are we under attack? where are the enemies?" Questions streamed out of Elders mouth just as fast as mom but having a different tone, where as mom was worried about us Elder was worried that we were under attack but letting them run out of breath my father waited then calmly spoke. "Me and Vexsus were out training and this little rascal showed great promise and even surprised me in showing off a few new skills that all dragons could learn from, also his breath attack is smoke it is mostly used as distraction and obscuring vision but he went and showed that instead of unleashing our breath with an open mouth if instead we exhaled through a small opening we could create a concentrated beam of our breath with a huge boost in power and range in exchange for how wide it is initially." He smiled at the looks of shock from our family then before any body was able to speak he help up his claw and drew the attention towards him again. "That is not the end as after he rested he showed off another ability that was explosive in power and he even destroyed a tree with it, He inhaled but instead of exhaling he held it in then after a while of buildup he unleashed it all at once and what happened was a giant ball of smoke that slammed into a tree but because his body is weak in comparison to the power he was blown backwards. Then that leads me to the explosion just now I was able to imitate what he did and what occurred was the Fire blast that I created by holding in my flames till max buildup. Even I was shaken when I let it loose my body was slammed downwards into the ground from the power alone."

They all looked down at me then back and forth between me and my father, they all had shocked expressions and I could see that they did not expect someone like me could not only have a variant breath but also discover something that I thought was common knowledge especially to dragons who are feared for their breath attacks.

"HOW!?, I refuse to believe that this little runt was able to figure out something that drastic as to change how we fight." Of course the one to say this was a golden boy who thought he was all that, How could someone as weak as me create something as powerful as different methods to use our prized abilities as dragons, Fed up with his attitude I decided to try out my new breath and the next second they all saw my cheeks swell up and before my dad could shout No and stop me I unleashed my new skill Smoke blast and sent it slamming into Aurum and while I was flying backwards I could not help but smile and laugh loudly as I saw that pompous Ass being blown backwards as well.

Stamina 120 -> 140

"New" Smoke blast 1/10 - by holding in a breath attack and allowing buildup, able to unleash a highly concentrated blast of smoke capable of causing large amounts of damage and ensuring blindness as well as lasting effects.