Ha! Pretty cocky for a wyrm. It probably thought that I was an idiot since I was just an egg. Well, I’d show it! This fight was as good as over. I’d slow it down, and then circle around as fast as I could. Since the darkwyrm’s body was so long, it’d take it a while to turn itself all the way around.
Putting my plan into action, I pulled my legs up into my shell and used Roll. The skill was Lv 2 now, so I could use it without slowing down, and even accelerate abruptly. My plan worked. The darkwyrm couldn’t keep up with how fast I was rolling. I took the opportunity to pick up speed and crash into its flank.
“Gchkkk!”
The friction of me spinning against the darkwyrm’s skin started to rub it away. I threw my weight against it and charged forward with all my might.
This wouldn’t be enough to drain its stamina, of course, but that was where the cliff came in.
I used my momentum to wrap the darkwyrm up around my spherical surface, and dove off the edge. We hurtled toward the ground, the centrifugal force of my spins combining with gravity to ensure the wyrm hit the ground first. I had Fall Resistance Lv 2, and it had Fall Resistance Lv nothing.
Please be enough. If this doesn’t do it, I’m out of ideas.
“Eghhhh!”
We crashed into the ground. The darkwyrm cushioned my fall, but the impact still rocked through my entire shell. The wyrm was stunned and curled into a ball. Blue-black liquid streamed from its mouth as it collapsed.
Oof, looks like I took a bunch of damage, too.
Maybe I put too much faith in Fall Resistance. But as long as I took the wyrm with me, it was worth it.
Unfortunately, my enemy began to rise unsteadily back up.
What? You’ve gotta be kidding me. C’mon, buddy, chill out! You’re bleeding from every orifice! Don’t you think you’ve earned a nice, long nap?
The darkwyrm turned its vacant bug eyes on me. Digging its heavy back half into the ground, it reared up furiously.
Huh? What’s it gonna do? It looks pissed.
“Gggchhkkkk!”
It let out one last horrible cry before falling back to the ground.
J-jeez, that scared me. But it’s dead…right? It’s dead for real this time?
Gained 12 Experience Points.
Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 12 Experience Points.
Whoa, good for you, Walking Egg. Way to go get that EXP!
Dragon Egg’s Lv has increased from 1 to 5.
Dragon Egg has achieved MAX Lv.
Evolution Requirements have been fulfilled.
I won! I won! All I actually did was run away, but I beat it!
I leveled up a lot, too. Was it due to the Walking Egg title skill? I was still a little confused by the title skills, but apparently they gained levels on their own, but passively boosted other things, too—and it seemed like Walking Egg was giving me a lot of experience points. The darkwyrm sure made an awfully weird noise when it died, way higher pitched than its other cries. Well, it was dead, so no longer my problem.
What now? Should I take the time to eat the wyrm? I’d chowed down on enough bugs at this point that this wasn’t going to give me pause. After all, I required lots of nutrition… Don’t underestimate the needs of a growing egg.
Maybe it was because I leveled up, but I could really feel my body inside of the egg beginning to take shape. A fragment of shell near my mouth cracked and flaked off, perhaps knocked loose by my fall. I could feel my teeth now. Gingerly, I closed and opened my jaw, chomping my teeth.
Yeah, I can move them!
Excited by my newfound dentition, I leaned over and bit into the darkwyrm’s back with a crunch. The wyrm’s bitter fluids seeped out and filled my mouth.
PART 4
AFTER I FINISHED my darkwyrm dinner, I checked my status. Hadn’t it mentioned something earlier about evolving?
Species: Dragon Egg
Status: Normal
Lv: 5/5 (Max)
HP: 5/9
MP: 5/5 (Max)
Attack: 5
Defense: 8
Magic: 3
Agility: 15
Rank: F
Special Skills:
Eggshell: Lv —
Divine Voice: Lv 1
Resistance Skills:
Physical Resistance: Lv 1
Fall Resistance: Lv 2
Hunger Resistance: Lv 1
Poison Resistance: Lv 1
Loneliness Resistance: Lv 1
Normal Skills:
Roll: Lv 2
View Status: Lv 1
Title Skills:
Dragon King’s Son: Lv —
Walking Egg: Lv —
Klutz: Lv 2
Just an Idiot: Lv 1
Wow, my stats just keep getting higher!
Since I’d hit max level, I figured I could evolve. But how? Evolution meant I could become something other than an egg, right? Some kind of actual creature?
Display Evolution Pattern?
The words popped into my head as if my mind was being read.
Man, Divine Voice. And here I thought you were just a heartless jerk. I guess you can be pretty considerate when you feel like it. All right! Let’s get outta this egg!
Future:
Baby Dragon Rank D-
Little Dragon Rank D+
Present:
Dragon Egg Rank F
History:
So, what, I had to choose between Baby Dragon and Little Dragon? How was I supposed to know which was better? I guess I could just go by stats and pick Little Dragon since it had a + next to its rating.
Little Dragon: Rank D+. A Small Dragon Species. Keep in mind, even a Small Dragon is larger than a Bear. Its Fire Blaze attack is feared by adventurers.
Oh, there’s a description. Man, you’re really cool today. Guess the hot part of your hot-cold personality is firing up, huh? I’m glad, I was about to die of loneliness.
Anyway, back to the Little Dragon. Sounded pretty good to me. Maybe I’d finally be able to take on some other monsters. Might as well check the other option, though.
Baby Dragon: Rank D-. Its tender flesh is exceedingly delicious, especially with sauce. Its claws and fangs are short and attack power is low. However, it has many potential abilities and many chances for additional evolution. Baby Dragons are often hunted by other monsters and adventurers.
Well, that sucked. This description might as well be a restaurant review. Nah, I wasn’t going to risk it. Little Dragon was the safer choice. I was barely surviving as it was.
If I evolved, I wouldn’t be able to rely on my tactic of pretending to be a rock so the other monsters ignored me. I was going to have to fight.
Get stronger.
Huh? I just saw more words in my head. Is that you, Divine Voice? Doesn’t sound like you. I didn’t know you could sound emotional.
Get stronger. Get stronger. Get stronger.
Get stronger. Get stronger. Get stronger.
What? What’s going on?
You have only one goal: to gain power. Otherwise, you won’t be anything but a common rock.
But I…expect more from you.
Don’t disappoint me.
Divine Voice…?
“Divine Voice” Lv 1 has become Lv 2.
Just now?
Following the notification of its level increase, the voice went silent.
It was freaky, in the same way coming across a glitch in a video game could be. A uniquely unsettling experience that wasn’t intended by the game developer… What should I do? Should I go for Baby Dragon after all? Divine Voice sure seemed to feel strongly about it, and to be honest, I was more afraid of it than the monsters. Divine Voice could get inside my head, and it appeared to have high expectations of me.
It told me to become powerful. Get stronger. Be the strongest. Well, if that was the goal, I might as well do the thing properly. Turning into a Baby Dragon would be the greater challenge, and I’d still be stronger than I was as an egg.
Time to make up my mind.
Whatever creepy entity Divine Voice actually was, it was all I had to rely on. Better to keep it on my side as long as I could.