Some times later:
POV Vesuvius:
The dragon was lying curled around the top of a massive mountain, his long black tail wrapped around the tall rocky mass. Strong winds loudly howled around him, moving with the clouds of black smoke in the air.
‘I need to end this battle decisively. I need more power to end the vampire forever. For now, I dissuaded one potential enemy from joining the war.’
The dragon grudgingly grinned, already imagining the shock the vampire would get the next time they met.
‘Only three levels to my second evolution, and I will be able to evolve two times in one go, plus I will evolve all of my powers at once and surprise the vampire with my large power jump, instantly overwhelming him.’
Vesuvius turned his eyes towards the text floating before his eyes as he decided to evolve one of his important scaling abilities.
‘The change will happen under the hood, so there will be no obvious change if I don’t unleash my full aura.’
Ding!
//
Evolution options:
[Draconic Elements of Might] —> [Dragon Elements of Might] – (Natural Evolution):
Description: The elements of a dragon and their unrivalled strength interlocked together in perfect harmony.
+1.75 STR scaling; +0.125 STR scaling per ability level;
STR also affects the intensity of all elements belonging to the dragon’s domain at a 25% effectivity
All physical damage will also cause random elemental damage.
[Draconic Life Fire of Might] —> [Draconic Aura Fire of Might] (Special Evolution) :
Description: The strength and flames linked together, empowering each other, allowing the strength to affect the intensity of the dragon’s flames.
It allows using the lifeforce to reinforce the muscles giving a steady boost in strength over a long period of time depending on the amount of used lifeforce.
As they are both linked, this power also boosts the power of flames.
+1.75 STR scaling; +0.125 STR scaling per ability level
STR also affects the intensity of flames and flames-derived elements at a 25% effectivity
All physical damage will also cause fire damage.
[Draconic Mana Fire of Might] —> [Draconic Explosive Mana Fire of Might] (Special Evolution):
Description: The strength and flames linked together, reinforcing each other.
Allows using mana to enhance muscles to gain sudden explosive bursts in strength at the cost of muscle damage and mana.
The damage to muscles and the boost depend on the amount of mana used.
As they are both linked, this power also boosts the power of flames.
+1.75 STR scaling; +0.125 STR scaling per ability level
STR also affects the intensity of flames and flames-derived elements at a 25% effectivity
All physical damage will also cause fire damage.
Bonus option:
[Draconic Thermal Fire of Might] —> [Draconic Bydiredctional Fire of Might] (Special Evolution):
Description: The strength of a dragon boosts their flames, but this connection works in both directions allowing the flames to improve the dragon’s strength.
+1 STR per 100 degrees of celsius of the temperature around the dragon (Warning, can go into negative values!)𝓞𝑣xt.𝐜𝒪𝐌
The dragon’s strength will rise together with the outside temperature of their body.
+1.75 STR scaling; +0.125 STR scaling per ability level
STR also affects the intensity of flames and flames-derived elements at a 20% effectivity
All physical damage will also cause fire damage.
//
Vesuvius quickly ogled all of the options, his mind exploding in excitement as he imagined all of the possibilities brought by these powers.
He stopped at the first option, his eyes already shining in contentment, ‘Just expansion of my current power to all of my elements. It would give me an insane versatility, that would work well with everything. It is good, but let’s continue.’
The dragon’s body shook as he read through the more options, making him realise how amazing this one ability was.
‘The second option is similar to the technique of aura knights. That would work great with me being a dragon and having an insane amount of vitality, but at the same time, the third option looks even greater as a short burst of power is better than smaller long-term enchantment in a battle. As for the muscle damage with my regeneration powers and my defence and durability stats, it shouldn’t be a problem.’
Finally, the dragon’s eyes stopped at the last ability.
At first glance, it looked worse than the previous two options, but the more he thought about it, the more powerful it sounded, ‘Technically speaking, if I set myself on fire, burning my mana to fuel it, that would boost my strength, and that would boost my fire intensity creating a loop. But how would that work with my potential future ice power.’
Vesuvius felt his heart pound imagining himself just burning in the middle of the battlefield, using his power to set his body on fire with the flames just growing stronger and stronger for as long as they burned or he ran out of mana.
‘At the same time, it can be affected by outside influences allowing them to stop it by extinguishing my flames or cooling me down. There are many weird powers in this world that could counter it or, even worse, turn it against me if something goes wrong.’
The dragon’s eyes dangerously glowed, lightning striking across the sky around him as his mood changed, ‘Wait, can’t I use my domain and nuclear body to fuel the flames on me for an unlimited time while resting outside of a battle? Wouldn’t that cause my flames just to keep constantly growing in intensity?’
The glow in his eyes was turning brighter and brighter as he felt like everything was slowly connecting, his love for creating builds resurfacing from the depth of his heart, ‘That would normally be a hassle, but I have my horns with sub brain, so I wouldn’t need to even care about it.’
‘My breath is currently purple, close to blue, so it should have around more than twenty thousand degrees. If I spat it on myself, that would be a huge boost in power.’
The dragon closed his lids, his breathing and pulse calming down, his rationality returning back to him.
‘No, I need more time to think about this. It wouldn’t be good for me to make a rushed decision. The last option is beyond powerful, but it is at the cost of possible counters or interruptions. It is a great power but with lots of potential vulnerabilities. Even though my domain should help to contain the heat to prevent any collateral damage around me.’
(AN: Yup, here is another poll. Vote in the paragraph comments to decide.)
POV Tania:
The woman in a vine red and black dress made of heavy cloth stood on top of a tall tower. Her eyes waved in the wind, and her eyes burned in anger as she looked down.
The traces of blood and burning were everywhere, with everything in a mess. Destroyed houses littered the streets.
‘Why? They weren’t just content with taking what was mine and my master’s. They also intentionally damaged it.’
A crowd of people stood down on the square under the castle. She turned towards them, her voice ringing through the town, sounding crystal clear and gentle yet carrying terrifying anger.
“Bring all the traitors! No one that supported thieves and vandals deserve any mercy!”
The crowd retreated back in fear, their eyes turning towards the figures chained on top of the seared black walls.
The figures were all gagged and covered in wounds and burn marks, with their eyes dilated in terror.
Tanya looked down at the traitors standing on the walls, her heart burning in anger.
“You! I was always good, lord, but you have betrayed me the first opportunity by joining and helping the occupant army!” her voice turned hysterical, her eyes flaring in a fury, an aura radiating out of her body, the temperature of the air around her rising.
She raised her fist into the air, and a group of armoured kobolds immediately approached the traitors from behind, each carrying massive metallic hooks fixed towards a metallic chain that rattled behind them.
The prisoners started to shake, wiggling in their chains, making Tanya smile. There were two groups that the dragons and their related races most hated: thieves and traitors.
The traitors had terror in their eyes, they wanted to beg and scream, but their mouths were muffled.
“In the name of the Vesuvian kingdom, I, the new administrator of the newly conquered provinces, sentence you to a slow death! Execute them!” she waved her downwards, and the kobolds immediately pierced the prisoner’s shoulder with their hooks, hooking them on before pushing them down from the walls.
They fell, rocking in the chains, hanging only on the hooks stabbed through their shoulders, the muffled noises of pain resounding through the square that turned dead silent.
Finally, she turned back towards the crowd of people with a smile on her face, “My citizens, from this time on, a new era of prosperity without corruption and useless bureaucratic overhead begins. You, the working people of the Vesuvian kingdom, will live better under the rule of our new king!”