Refurbishment

Ascended!
Imitation Poison Lung Dragon
Level 10
Melee Attack 35
Ranged Attack 15
Natural Armor 11
Speed 9
Weakness: Earth
Special Abilities:
Poison Bite - Each bite deals Melee Attack damage and poisons enemies for 10 Poison Damage/Per second.
Poison Veil - Immune to poison.
Draconic Awe - Melee attacks targeting you have a 10% chance of failure.
Lesser Hoard - 1 random, permanent item from each defeated enemy is placed at your spawn point. Can be looted only upon your defeat.
Poison Breath - Exhale poisonous gas in a 30-foot cone or launch a poisonous projectile at an enemy. This attack poisons enemies for 10 Poison Damage/Per second and the projectile deals Ranged Attack damage.
Amphibious - Can breathe air and water.
Change Shape - Magically polymorph into a unique draconic variant of a humanoid or beast that you have seen before and have spent time studying, or back into your true form. The form you take cannot be any stronger than your True form and you will revert to True Form upon ****. Equipment is absorbed or borne by the new form.
Cantrips: Mold Earth, Thorn Whip.
Spells: Fly, Entangle, Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind, Earth Tremor

How peculiar was that? You thought as you lazily yawned while laid spread eagle on the ground. Ascending provided you some spells that you did not even need to learn. The magic you were given followed a general theme that would fit your poisonous kind, Nature Magic and Wind Magic. Although the Earth Magic was out of place, you figured it had to do with the fact that you Ascended with knowledge of Earth Magic even before you could properly control Mana. Those days spent slaving away, attempting to mold the earth was worth it in the end then. Despite ascending to a form more suited for magic amongst the many different kind of Dragons, you concluded that you would not be casting so many spells this early. It also annoyed you that your stats had remained relatively unchanged but that was par for the course at this point. Sweeping your stat sheet to the side, you huffed as you shut your eyes, attempting to feel the mana that surrounded you. It was a cold morning as the wind blew over you, the trees slightly swaying in the wind. The gust began to speed up as you shaped the mana in the air to your liking. A barely visible white aura radiated from your being as a coat of invisible wind magic lifted you slightly off the ground. If you were reading your stat sheet correctly then...

You had lift off.

Your wildest dreams were finally true. With that you were rocketing through the air at speeds that would put a Firehawk to shame. At least, it felt that way, in actuality, you moved slightly faster than you ran. At least you could fly now. The sky wind flowing past as you soared through the air was liberating. You had finally accomplished something significant after so many failures. Now you could truly reap the rewards that you had so meticulously planned and prepared for. The sensation of flight was a milder version of the time you were sent flying after consuming all those Zephyr mushrooms. Not to mention, as long as you did not fly too high, the barrier should not be any concern. It was probably for the best, lest some random folk saw you roaming the skies and spread word of a new dragon in the Emerald Forest. Which while you did want the notoriety, you understood well enough that maybe you should still keep a low profile. You circled the top of your Lair, everything seemed so small and insignificant from your vantage point. Guess that was why the Firehawks had such a huge ego? Slazar was barely even a speck within your vision, was he waving? Turning, you headed over to the river to test out another ability that you had gained. You slowly descended upon the stream of blue until you were barely above the river, where you shoved your face straight in and attempted to breath. Your lungs were met with a sudden intrusion of liquid, cold and thick, yet you did not ****.

Now that water breathing was confirmed -however that worked- you flew through the forest itself to find any poor soul to test out your new breath attacks. It was time you redefined the pecking order around here. No longer will bears stand at the peak, this was YOUR forest now. Unless it was a Blood Moon of course, then the forest belonged to the grass eaters. As much as you despised Charon and his posse, you were still not sure if you could them on, especially if they ganged up on you. Right as you had that thought of ganging up on something, there it was, a lone deer lazily grazing, completely unaware of your presence. You flew up onto a branch and laid low, despite being larger and more conspicuous, you felt that you could still rely on good ol stealth tactics. Like you always had. You began to warm up your new throat, it was time to give your new body a test run. The acid built up within, much like it always did when you wanted to bite something. However, this time, you felt it form into a ball of sticky and hard fluids. This would surely work, would it not?As you reared your head back to launch your attack, the deer's head immediately jutted up and immediately took notice of you. Guess it would be alot harder to get the jump on things now. It was now or never, the deer turned to skedaddle, but your trigger was faster. Your jaw came loose and a ball of green concentrated poison flew past the treeline and struck true... on the patch of grass that the deer was eating. If only you were... faster? Yeah that was it.

Rolling your eyes, you gave chase, peppering the poor animal with continuous fire. Granted you missed every single one, you would have to work on your aim. Speaking of aim, you knew that you had an alternative breath weapon that would not require it. Swooping down closer to the deer in a manner reminiscent of a Firehawk preparing a dive attack, you swapped from a hard fluid to a more gaseous poison. In a fly by, you sprayed the forest in a green gas, navigating upwards to loop around. When you turned back, you found the deer slowing down with an unsteady gait. You would have to test out how much of a dose you would need to actually get the job done. For now though? You gently lowered yourself before the deer with hunger in your eyes. The deer stumbled about before eventually bumping into your larger frame, obviously intimidated by your domineering pose that you had previously practiced. You flashed a row of pearly white teeth, kept that way by the poison constantly expelled from your mouth. Another boon of being a member of the esteemed Poison Dragon family. The deer could only stumble backwards as you fell upon it, what a lovely morning meal.

You spent the rest of the morning flying about and memorising the layout of your home from a bird's eye view. Carefully, you ensured no NPCs or annoying Heroes caught sight of you as you flew about. You were also eager to test out your new ability called Change Shape which would let you become another creature entirely. It would be great to blend in amongst the masses and to fool the Heroes into letting you join them for your own nefarious means. The wording of the ability feature also mentioned that you would have your own unique body instead of copying the appearance of a creature that you saw. So while you would still require a spell or potion to truly duplicate the appearance of someone, you could still reap the benefits of looking like a humanoid. You wondered if you could still impregnate people in your new form? Last thing you would want is to spread the seed of another creature instead of your own, despite it literally still being you of course. Is this starting to get confusing? Perhaps. You will just have to go find a doctor or something to better explain how sex works when you change your form. Anyways, you had just finished observing about fifty different humans pass by on the main road throughout the morning, both Heroes and NPCs. Considering you have had plenty of prior interaction with humans and have gotten very intimate with three of them, this should be easy enough...

You entered your lair, having some difficulty trudging through all the vines and bushes. You were all too eager to put your new body to the test and now you had no clue how to turn back. Giving your improved magic a try, you easily altered the ground to your liking with your learned magic. A simpler path towards your Lair was carved for your more... Human frame. Of course, you had to continuously cast the spell over and over again but it was the only way unless you wanted to get more thorns stabbed into your shins. You were careful to move the earth behind you back into place too, last thing you needed were Heroes finding a path into your lair. When you finally arrived, you broke the through treeline and revealed your Changed Shape in all its glory. You were completely nude, standing at about 5 feet tall much like your true draconic form. You might have been taller than that actually but you did not have a method of calculating the exact height. Stretching your arms as you always did when you were in your True form, you gave yourself a once over, especially your crotch region. Much like your True form, a little over half a feet long, with an appropriate thickness to match. The only thought that came to mind?

Nice.

All the physical activity you did as a Dragon gave your Humanoid form some mass and muscle. Your skin was slightly tanned and your general complexion was as olive as some of the dried up plants around here. It felt slightly odd to walk about on two legs, you have done it before of course, although not to this extent. The feeling was akin to an out of body experience, similar to that when you had those odd nightmares. Although you could still feel everything as you normally did too, it was hard to put to thought and then to words. You made your way over to the Grand Tree passing by something on the ground. A sudden realisation had hit you when your deft human fingers were able to manoeuvre and pick up that nearby bucket of water that Slazar had left lying around. Humanoid hands were actually pretty useful, better at precise things that your clawed dragon hand struggled with. As you made your way to the ever busy Slazar who seemed to be sorting your hoard, you peaked into the water bucket. There it was, your reflection, it was unnerving truth be told, to be in another body besides your own.

You had deep green eyes, it seemed like the forest itself was present in those two beady balls. Your jawline was strong and sharp rather than flabby, that was good for young men right? Your nose was pointed and had the same size as some of the acorns that you would eat when desperately hungry. Your ears looked normal for a human, the earlobe hanging freely. Your eyebrows were pretty much similar to that of an average human, not too thick at all. Your forehead was covered by the most striking thing about about you besides your lovely eyes. Long spiky hair stood curving backwards save for two bangs that curved downwards, covering said forehead. They were black, with a hint of the same forest green that your eyes had sprinkled throughout. For all intents and purposes, you thought this with as much humility as you could, you were pretty built and handsome. How old did you look? About early twenties? You could easily fool anyone with how uncannily human you looked. Infact, you fooled Slazar so bad, he immediately brought out his longsword the moment he notices your presence. Well, at least he was loyal, could you even speak common in this new form of yours? Well, only one way to find out.

"Who are you!? This is the Lair of Master Dragon! Slazar will not hesitate to-"

"Ree, relax. Fool. They. It. Is. Me..." You trailed off as you struggled to form the sentences in your mouth. This was completely new for you, would he even understand what you were saying? Let alone comprehend the meaning of your words?

"Er...? Master Dragon? Is that you? I am unsure if this is a trick or-"

His words are cut off as you continued your approach, bucket in hand. Slazar stares uneasily at you before sheathing his longsword and scratching at his head. His eyes suddenly dart downwards towards your groin as you pass by. A blush begins to form on his face when he realises you are completely nude and he tries to avoid staring. He pretends to return to his work as you continued towards the Grand Tree. Ignoring him, you let him grasp the situation at his own pace, crouching before the woman tied to the Grand Tree. Nancy is fast asleep when you suddenly jolt her awake with your soft touch to her nipple. She is annoyed and out of it before her vision focuses on the attractive man before her. Confusion obviously overtakes her as you shift a few strands of hair out of the way of her face. Perhaps you were a Hero, here to rescue her? That thought was immediately cut off as you begin to wash her body with the bucket of water in your hands. The cold seemed to stung on her bare body. When you were done, you placed a single gentle hand on her belly.

"Ow, ower, our. Child. Will. Grow. S- strong." Were the only words you were able to muster as you stuttered through the sentence. She simply glances up at you in utter shock before her mouth moves.

"Holy shite, lad, yer that dragon feller? Wha- When- How did you do learn such high level magic?" She questions you, if only you knew how to answer. It was just dragon things.

"I-"

"An' why do ya look kinda cute when yer not a tiny scary dragon?"

"..."

"..."

"Silence. Wench." Those were the only two words you could manage through the sudden awkwardness.

You were still in your Human Form, despite getting help from Slazar, you were both still at a loss on returning to your True form. In order to let you blend in better in humanoid society and honestly just for your own "common decency" as Slazar put it; he had taken the liberty to make some clothing with the two pieces of horse pelt from your Hoard. It was nothing too extravagent, nor decent quality. It took awhile, but when he was done with the sewing process, you received some roughly sewn brown pants and a thick black shirt. Better than nothing you thought. Since you had no idea when you would turn back, you decided to spend some time doing something productive. So for now, you were just going to practice using your human hands. WIth the knowledge of the entire layout of the Emerald Forest, along with your improved magic control, you had decided to make a map of the forest with Mold Earth. Scratched into the dirt was a general idea of the important places within the Emerald Forest and the entire layout. You leaned back to properly appreciate the work of art before you.

(Rough Map of the Emerald Forest)

Slazar mentioned a method of passing through the barrier surrounding your home, it was time for him to spill the beans. Jogging over to the Kobold, you found him working on some sort of contraption at your hoard of items. Looking over his shoulder, you are made aware of a plethora of new stolen goods from all of your previous kills, you seem to have forgotten to check your Hoard recently. You were extremely busy on ascending so who could blame you? Either ways, you began to survey all of your new equipment, an iron axe, a single platinum coin, five Potent Emerald Crystals, an Emerald Pelt, A singular Fang of the Emerald Serpent, and finally five Firehawk feathers. You tilted your head slightly and gave Slazar the side eye in irritation as he had taken some of the items without even consulting you. In his hands was an odd combination of the stolen loot, shaped in the form of some sort of totem that one would offer to the gods. The Emerald Crystals served as a base, wrapped in the Emerald Wolf's pelt. In the middle stood the Singular fang of the Emerald Serpent, surrounded by the feathers of the Firehawks and wrapped together with thread from the Bard's short shorts. Annoyed that he would dare harvest resources from your Hoard, you nip at his collar with your two fingers and suddenly yank him over to your map along with the totem. He lets out a surprised yelp as you do so before he is face to face with your map.

You scratched at the vague drawing of the barrier and asked for him to explain himself, what exactly was the plan here? Slazar stared blankly at your masterpiece of a drawing, seemingly unsure of what to make of it. It did not help that communicating verbally was difficult due to your own terrible speaking skills. Rolling your very human green eyes, you stood up and dragged him over to the "front" so that he would stop reading everything upside down. His eyes darted hastily to each location until it landed on the barrier that you were pointing at, drawing his full attention to it. His vision loomed over the drawing of the barrier before slowly inching towards the totem in his hands. From what you could tell, he seemed to be hesitant to speak, shyly looking to the ground. Reaching out, you **** his chin upwards so that you were both eye to eye, on relatively equal terms. With that little push, the totem is lifted up before you; This was his answer?

"This is it, Master is strong enough to achieve not only an Ascension but to become a Boss Monster." Slazar stated matter-of-factly. The words were heavy upon your ears as a sudden thought that you had not even considered hit you all at once like a hammer to the skull. It was so obvious and yet you did not even stop to think of it, if only you were smarter huh? Luckily for you, there was a devoted follower willing to come up with clever schemes for you, ones that were beyond your meager intellect. Well, meager until you kept levelling up of course. Charon was capable of passing the Barrier, thus it should be possible for you to do so too. Although, you were unsure if the Emerald Serpent could leave the barrier, let alone her lair. You were snapped out of your thought by the sudden pull of your pants. Glancing back, Slazar was attempting to pull you over to the Grand Tree, Totem still in hand. Wait a minute, how exactly was that Totem suppose to make you a Boss Monster? How does a Boss Monster even go about becoming a "Wanderer"? Only one way to find out.

Letting the Kobold pull you along to the most prominent feature of your Lair, he set the Totem down before your two captives. The Firehawk was pouting as she dangled from the vine connected to the Grand Tree. While she could have easily singed off the restraints holding her, it looked like she had resigned herself to staying here. Perhaps she knew that none of her brethren would accept her after the hell you put her through. Nancy looked bored out of her mind, as per usual. Although her mood did seem to lighten up when she notices you, for some reason. Slazar's breathing was heavy as he pulled you before the Tree, seems like he was pretty anxious to perform this whole operation. Giving him an encouraging grunt, you thought it would be best to let him try whatever it was, he has not failed you yet. Even if he did, you liked him well enough to give him a second chance. Not that you would ever admit it. Having receive the go ahead, he pulled out his dagger with shaky hands and pointed it to the sky. A single ray of light from the midday sun reflected off of it towards the Totem, causing it to glow a deep green. It does in fact get in your eye slightly, but you let him have his moment. The two behind you are completely still now, curious as to what on earth was even going on. Thankful for the quiet and attentive audience, the Kobold began to turn the blade upon himself, his hands quivering. Your eyes widened as you could barely even register what was happening.

Slazar had stabbed his own hand.

"AH! URH- HEAR ME, SHE WHO STANDS ABOVE ALL. GRACE US WITH YOUR PRESENCE AND HEAR YOUR HUMBLE SERVANTS INSIGNIFICANT REQUEST!" Slazar screams out loud, motivated by pain and religious vigor. The afternoon skies begin to darken despite the rising of the sun. You took a step back, slightly unnerved by his sudden madness.

"YOUR MOST DEVOTED FOLLOWER SACRIFICES HIS OWN BLOOD AND PROVIDES AN OFFERING. IN EXCHANGE, PLEASE, WE BEG OF YOU TO BLESS OUR UPCOMING CHAMPION!" He continues in anguished wailing as he drives the dagger deeper, dripping the blood onto the Totem. As he does so, chains begin to shoot out of the ground, ensaring you with an all too familiar sensation. Slazar then approaches you.

"MY GLORIOUS QUEEN, BLESS THE CREATURE I OFFER MY BLOOD TO WITH THE POWER TO RULE OVER OTHERS. AND TO MAKE HIM AS MUCH A WANDERER AS MYSELF!" He proclaims as the chains drag you onto your knees from a standing position. Slazar finally seems to finish the Ritual as he forces your jaw apart with surprising strength, not of his own making. Droplets of his blood is forcefully fed to you.

Once he deems enough has entered you, he pulled back. Nothing happens as Slazar faces his back towards you and bows before the Totem. He begins to speak softly, you are unable to make out any of what he says. Once he goes quiet, the chains release and begin to wrap around the Totem before it curls into itself. It continues to do so, reducing in size until it seemingly disappears into nothingness, the sky returning to its original colour once the totem is gone. Like as if the insanity that just occurred was but an illusion. Snapping out of your trance, you hurriedly glance about in confusion and mostly terror. What in the hells was all that? You just wanted to figure out how to leave! Scanning the edges of your lair, you realise the surrounding forest around your lair has been pushed further back, giving room for grass to grow. And grow it did, to about the height of your knees. Your hoard had disappeared too, concerning but to be fair, there was barely anything of value there, for now. Slazar is standing up now, grinning from horn to... other horn? He seems to have returned to his original pathetic Kobold self, that was good. You asked him what had literally just occurred but he remains smiling dopily, ignoring your questions. In anger, you rush over and held him up by his collar. Shaking him about, you were quick to let him know that he should never perform any acts of insanity like that ever again without giving you a warning. Granted you sounded quite weird trying to be intimidating with one word sentences. Slazar did not really seem to care. You quickly hop and turn on the spot to check if your prisoners were still there, only to get the biggest shock of your life so far. The Grand Tree dwarfed everything.

It has went from zero to one hundred ever since you awoke earlier this morning. However, this humongous tree was the most alarming incident of all that has occurred so far. It stood tall and strong, the width would put even an ancient dragon to shame. The Grand Tree stood taller than all the other trees around it. While it did not reach up into the clouds, there was too much of a height difference between the Grand Tree and the trees that were not grand surrounding it. Surely a tree suddenly growing to **** sizes would draw attention like no other, that would be another headache. If you had to guess, the ritual was the cause of all this madness. At the base of the Grand Tree, a hole could be seen carved into the dirt connecting to the roots of said tree. Letting go of the little kobold in your hands, he ran over to the Horses nearby in an attempt to calm them down. They seemed alarmed by the sudden change in everything, which granted you were too, so fair enough. This was honestly no place for horses, you would have to figure out how to accomodate them better in your new lair. You placed a hand on your hip as Slazar get flung into the nearby tall grass from one of the panicked horses. He had attempted to grab the horse lead of the black stallion, only to be rewarded with a terrible kick to his armoured chest. Could be worse honestly.

You had just learned the layout of the Forest and now your Lair looks completely different from before. Hopefully only the Lair has been changed, otherwise you would have to redo the map. Glancing about, you find your map on the ground, utterly illegible due to the growth of the Grand Tree's roots which had covered most of it. Well, it is what it is. Surveying the area, you got a gist of what the new Outer Lair area was like. First of all, massive Grand Tree in the middle. Second of all, empty space with sparse instances of grass that surrounded said tree, followed by tall grass all the way to the edges. Third of all, the edge was nothing but thickets and hard terrain, a wall of tangled brush bristling with thorns, ready to cut up anyone who got near. Fourth of all, there was a weird fog that only seemed to surround your lair and nowhere else. It was not that thick and did not go too far out from your lair. You tried testing for poisons but from what you could tell, it was just fog, nothing odd about it. What was odd was the fact that you noticed some odd roots and vines from within the fog. While it did not react to you, it did react to any of the critters you brought into the fog to test for poisons. It would spring out to wrap around and capture the poor beast, although it would never kill them. After a while, it would release them away from the lair, although there was only one instance where the vines did not insert them back into the wild. It was for a particularly aggressive wolf, you had to pry him out of there and toss him out yourself. These plant traps seemed to react only to anyone you did not consider friend, trapping and releasing neutral creatures. Now for hostile creatures? You would need to test it out later.

When you returned, Slazar had already begun gleefully skipping ahead of you and into the cave, forcing you to keep up with his pace. The horses had been pacified and were busy helping themselves to the rich tall grass in the area. It was time to see how your Inner Lair looked like, at least it would be, if these five brown golems were not in the way. Slazar was able to slip past them, but you were still too big, even in your human form. You were still ready to throw down despite being in your weaker human form. Rushing towards the golems you yelled for them to move aside as you threw a sloppy punch. In an odd turn of events, they seemed to listen to your threat and allowed you safe passage. The golems parted to reveal the entrance to the cave while you were still in the middle of the punch. You were unable to stop your momentum in time, sending you tumbling down the passageway from the cave entrance. Slazar is waiting for you at the bottom already inside of the main area of your Inner Lair. He beams a smile at you as you are face first against the floor of your glorious lair. Good for him, he seems to be taking all of this pretty easily considering he just summoned a portion of some Beast god's power to alter reality. He informs you that those were Dirt Golems and that the five of them were provided by said Beast God to do your bidding. They were formed from the remnants of the Potent Emerald Crystals and will listen to your every whim, performing it to the best of their abilities.

As you laid there in pain, a sudden sting is felt in your brain as you feel animalistic magic coalesce inside of you. You begin to receive random visions of places all throughout your forest, from the point of view of what seemed to be multiple animals. You shake and contort on the ground as you grasp your head. Slazar bends down and begins to cast healing magic while chanting some odd prayer which lasts for about five minutes. Why does it seem like he just knows more than he is letting on? By the end of your ordeal, you are sweating and panting like you had just finished railing a woman. Every time you blink, you swear that there was something there besides darkness. Upon fully closing your eyes, you are able to observe the forest through the point of view of many different rodents and birds. Slazar takes a step back and lets you know that what you were experiencing was probably a lesser version of your Lair's unique ability, the Supernatural Link. As a lower level beginner boss, you shall gain access to many different Lair Actions that you may perform whenever you pleased as long as you had enough mana and were inside the Lair. This just seems to be one of them, besides the odd Fog, the thorny walls and the root vine traps. Slazar also mentions that as the Dragon Boss of the Emerald Forest, you would receive a few boons which include being connected to the denizens of the forest.

Putting the pieces together as you got back up onto a knee, you realise that the ritual required you to Ascend so that you would be strong enough to become a Boss Monster... Which would let you travel anywhere as Slazar specified that you were to become a wandering Boss Monster... Which also ended up turning the place you considered home into a "Dungeon"... Which will attract a ton of Attention... Got it, surely that would be a worthy trade-off, if only you were smarter. Your train of thought is ended abruptly as you accidentally bump your head into the wooden root roof of the cave. That was right, you were much taller now ever since you ascended and Changed Shape. Why would it give you a Lair that was much smaller than the actual boss... Did the Emerald Serpant not also have a Lair too small for her? Taking it all in, your "Dungeon" was basically just a straight corridor from the cave entrance leading to the final boss room- your room. The contents of the room were all the loot that formed your Hoard, the rest of it was empty. Well, since you were a human right now, it would be wise to use some of the gear from your Hoard. You proceeded to pick up some of the weapons along with fifteen gold coins, attaching them to your being and placing the coins in your satchel. Looking around your empty Inner Lair, there was nothing but a wooden roof with stone walls and floors, oh and a metal door too... What? You attempted to turn the latch to get the door open, only to realise your fingers were too large. Luckily, Slazar is able to pull it open for you, albeit with some difficulty due to his height. He will have to fix that door later. As you suspected, upon opening the door, you found that your captives were in there. Their limbs and neck bound by powerful roots and vines to the walls. Besides that, it was nothing much besides an empty room with an odd machine in the middle.

"Oh Master Dragon! This was even better than I could even imagine, thank the Beast! You should be able to store hostages and items here safely. Oh- and you should be free to leave this zone anytime you wish." Slazar stated confidently as he inspected the metal door. You stared at him, completely dumbfounded from his nonchalance at this whole situation. You wanted to inquire so much more! How do we prevent Adventurers from getting in! What, who, WHY DID THAT RITUAL WORK, HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT IT WOULD? Was this the only way? You tried to speak but as you opened your mouth, you suddenly feel your body snap and magic began to swirl around you. The next thing you knew, you were back in your Draconic form, still unable to speak without an Echo Scarf. Besides, Slazar had already stepped out of the room to begin cleaning up and plans at "redecorating" the place. Whatever that meant. Guess you can get your answers later at your own time, once you can speak proper. Or maybe it will just come to you normally, who knows. Rolling your eyes, you made your way to the captives. Nancy who is fast asleep stirs slightly as you shift some of her hair to the side to get a better look at that pretty face. She seemed to actually be at peace for once, a slight smile forming across her face. Turning to face the Firehawk, she was almost motionless, save for the slight up and down of her chest. It looked as though she was enjoying a lovely dream, was there something keeping them satisfied?

Remembering the machine in the middle, you approached it, finding that it was already running. You attempted to interact with it and accidentally opened up its sheet. It was called an "Auto Preserver", and judging from the wall of text beneath its description, it seemed to be an important "Dungeon" item for evil creatures such as yourself. Apparently it was created by some god of machines that was obsessed with perfection and collecting stuff. There was a bunch of backstory regarding how these machines were deployed throughout that god's library of unique and exotic creatures. The short of it was that it would keep creatures within its effective area alive, automatically feeding them and tending to their every need through magical means. What a convenient tool to have. Looking about the sheet, you realised that it was powered by a pool of mana which was almost depleted. A timer of about one hour was also present, as well as a button labelled "Refill". Without sparing a second thought, you immediately clicked the button, completely maxing out the timer bar. As you did so, you felt a great portion of your mana drain from your being, about three-forths. The timer now showed a duration of about a week, if you got your calculations right. Well, that was more than enough time to mess around with the nearby Cities. You could already feel your depleted mana slowly regenerating naturally as you made your way out of your Dungeon.

Leaving the safety of your hole, you find Slazar admiring the view of the Grand Tree, muttering something about treehouses and patched holes. Once he notices you, he informs you that while he had not intended it, the Almighty Being has seemingly added him as a second creature to your Dungeon. Which would explain why he is able to leave and enter said Dungeon, considering the two of you were already in a party initially. Although, since he was the second creature to be added... That would make him a Boss of sorts? Or he was actually the creature that contains the key to enter the Dungeon? You were not sure if it was intentional or by chance, but Slazar mentions that the god he summoned provided you with a Dungeon that required a special key to enter. The two of you were still unsure of how it worked exactly as new Boss Monsters rarely popped up due to how unclear the method of making one was. From your combined understanding, no creature would be able to enter your Lair normally without the key that would drop from a specific creature (Slazar) associated with the Dungeon (Grand Tree). Since Slazar was literally the only thing connected to you, he was made the Key Monster of sorts as well as a Sub-Boss Monster despite his below average strength. If you had to give your Dungeon a difficulty grade, it would be F tier. You were going to have to do most of the heavy lifting in protecting this Dungeon huh?

Slazar's character sheet corroborates the previously discovered information as a few new things can be found. His name and title have been slightly altered to fit his new role, "Slazar Level 7 Cleric (NPC) (Key) (Boss)". Since he was kicked out of his old home, his new home location is now labelled as the Grand Tree... Was that the name of your Lair/Dungeon? Guess if you believe it is hard enough, it seems to become reality. As you were still perusing his character sheet in search of anything new, you hear the shifting of dirt and looked up to see Slazar shutting the entrance to you Lair with the roots of the Grand Tree and the Dirt Golems. Well he seems eager. Guess that confirms it, he is the Key to enter this place, hopefully you will not always require him if you wish to safely leave or enter this place. Slapping his character sheet away, you approach Slazar as he gives you a few firm nods of excitement. It was high time you saw more of the world. Tossing him onto your back, you used your remaining mana to slowly lift yourself off the ground. You were unable to see his face but he must have a mix of fear and excitement from the fact that you were giving him a flight test. It was still an odd sensation, you felt that you should be flapping your non-existent wings or something. You could also feel that the amount of mana required to fly slowly was lower than the amount you could naturally regenerate. Things were finally looking up, It was high time the two of you broke through that Barrier.

"This was much faster than running or leaping from tree to tree," you thought to yourself as you lifted yourself across the sky at a decent pace. When the winds blow with you and not against you, your casual flight speed so casually outsped your casual running speed. Your loose features, furs and whiskers, fluttered majestically in the wind as you made your way up the river. It was an easy decision to head for Preheaven first, you had met stronger Heroes coming from Deltaplere. You have to start small first, you know? It did not take long for the barrier to finally come into view. You wasted no time as you began to speed up and barrel towards the barrier in about a forty-five degrees angle. The two of you braced for impact as the Barrier got closer, fear slowly creeping in as you approached. It was so palpable that Slazar began to scream out loud as you got about ten metres within range. You closed your eyes, just in case this was about to hurt, only to realise that nothing happened at all within the next ten seconds. Opening your right eye, you realised the truth of the matter. You were now able to pass through the barrier without any resistance. The area beneath you was abound with grass and rabbits at first, before transitioning to a crop field of what seemed to be wheat. A large sick grin formed across your face as the first building that came into sight was a barn of sorts.

Diving downwards, you got in closer to the barn, Slazar barely holding onto your horns. Your mouth begins to salivate as you begin to imagine all the new bounties and pleasures you will run into here. Oh, the booty and food you will find in your newly expanded horizons. As you got in close to your destination, a horrible pain runs through your stomach region, followed by the booming sound of a rifle shot. You roared out in pain, if you were a Lesser Poison Dragon, perhaps you would have lost control and plummeted to the ground. No, you were a Boss Dragon, even if you were a faker attempting to imitate a real dragon. Steeling yourself, you see him in the corner of your peripheral vision, along with many more people. Turning on the spot easily due to the your tube-like body shape and lack of wings, you dive-bombed towards the four fools that dared attack you. The rest of them readied their bows, it did not seem like their first rodeo. With precision, you skillfully duck below the first two arrows and then barrel roll to the side to avoid the last arrow. As you did so, the rifle wielding Elf readied his rifle again. His finger begins to pull on the trigger only to be halted by Slazar casting Hold Person on him. In that moment of opportunity, you prepared to blast them all with a breath of poisonous gas. Of course, you still needed more practice to judge the appropriate distance and the speed of gas release. Before you could even open your maw, you crashed into all four of them.

Slithering back to your feet, your eyes darted about to find Slazar. From the looks of all these folk, they were farmers who merely wished to protect their crop from the many monsters that roamed nearby. They made one mistake though, you were not just any monster. Your eyes finally paused on some disturbed wheat crop behind them, looks like Slazar was sent flying a little further. Alright, lets do this one more time. You reared back on your hind legs, converting the poisonous saliva and other fluids in your throat into a gaseous state. The rest of the fools were already getting back up and drawing bows, whereas the rifle wielding man was still lying down motionless. He seems to have taken the brunt of the crash. Before any of the farmers were able to release their arrows, you blasted them with a thick cloud of green gas. They hack and cough as they drop to their knees, losing grip of their bows. You stand proud as the fools wheeze and hit the ground. Strolling on by, you leave them to their fate as you head over to where Slazar was. He was already pulling himself off the broken wheat crops and tearing out his longsword from the ground, before realising that you had already dealt with the hostiles. With your faithful assistant back, you proceed to have a look around the farm as Slazar stayed on the lookout. The barn is full of the typical farm animals one would imagine, horses, cows and pigs. None of them really captured your attention, so you proceeded past the barn towards the main farmstead. Stopping at a nearby well, you take in the view of multiple different tall cylindrical buildings that seemed to produce most of the farm products. The one that stands out the most is the main farmhouse, surrounded by cottages that served as accomodation for the workers.

The most desirable thing here would clearly be inside the main farmhouse, women. As you made your way over, you could already see a few eyes peering back at your through the window blinds. It was not long before you were right at their doorstep. You took a look at the shoes that were neatly stacked outside of the door. They consisted of what you would expect, boots to wade through mud and some average covered shoes for normal day to day life. The most exciting prospect was some pointed smaller shoes that were slightly raised at the back, the kinds that a young lady would wear to a ball. Well, that answered that burning question. You leapt up the steps and rammed your shoulder into the front door, it buckles slightly but still stands strong. As you did so, you could hear high pitched screams from within, not sure how many or who exactly they came from. You took a few steps back, ready to try again, a door will not deny you your conquest. As you were about to lift off again, you hear the distant sound of Slazar screaming. You turned back to see nothing, only for the Kobold to pop into existence before you while panting heavily. He informs you that a platoon's worth of guards from Preheaven along with a party of Heroes were making their way here. Word really gets around fast huh? You immediately grabbed Slazar's collar in your jaw and decided against fighting that many people with just your twosome. You shall just have to live and try again another day. As you flew off, you could see the fools rush into the village, healing and cleansing the farmers of their poison status condition. Hmm, you had a plan.

(Nine days to the next Blood Moon)