POV RadiantHero:
A player with a bright nametag: RadiantHero, walked out of a damaged building with a sign having a rune on it. His plate armour made out of polished steel with brass decorations was glittering as it reflected bright sunlight. His long blue cape flapped behind him, townsfolk quickly clearing out of his path. His head, without any helmet, revealed a young man with shoulder-length blonde hair held by a hairband in a ponytail.
p He was frowning, causing all of the civilians around him to look away.
‘Multiple dead people on the crime scene with multiple people witnessing suspects in mantles and dragon-shaped masks running out of this place.’
He hurried his steps, his metal boots clanging on the paved stone road as he walked through a clean main street. Large multiple stories tall stone buildings grew from both sides of the road, throwing their shadows over the street.
The street was bustling with people around stalls lining the street. Everything was loud, with merchants hawking their offers.
‘I will find these criminals who kidnap people from their homes and show them justice! There were lots of talks about people in dragon masks causing trouble in this county… Mostly in North Azerlisia, that should be my next destination.’
RadianHero clenched his fists in metallic greaves, metal scrapping against other, ‘Despicable scumbags! They think that they can cause havoc just because this is just a game… it might be just a game, but these NPCs are too lifelike, they may also be sentient data-based lifeforms, and these scumbags are causing trouble here.’
POV Vesuvius:
The giant dragon was lying on the stone floor. His smooth and shiny scales crackling in electrical sparks and were covered in bright glowing runes. The small elf stood on top of the dragon’s large back, carefully carving a large rune. The dark smoke rising from the dragon avoided her, flowing along her sides.
‘Damn this all. This is such a humiliation!’
Vesuvius was hoping for it to end as soon as possible, hardly controlling his rage from the humiliation of someone crawling on his back. It was one of the greatest shames and taboos for any dragon, similar to having someone ride a dragon as an animal.
The small elf was sweating from the oppressive aura radiating out of the dragon, trying not to tremble not to break the rune that she was carving. She finally made one last stroke, and all of the runes covering the dragon’s scales, claws, and even his horns and spikes ignited in bright white light. They all pulsed in sync and radiated horrible magical energy, mixing with the dragon’s aura. Their light intensified and illuminated the whole cave, turning it into white as if the sun rose inside.
Alesia quickly jumped down from the dragon, her legs collapsing under her as she fell unconscious from exhausting her magic.
Tiny runes glowing in a colourful combination of blue, orange and white littered almost all of his scales, with a few large ones glowing in white light, covering large swatches of his back, crossing over multiple scales. The largest runes were engraved on the membranes of his massive wings, glowing in the bright green light, wind surging around them.
Lots of smaller runes crackling with electricity were engraved in a spiral pattern around his long curled horns, lightning around the long horns crackling even more violently than usual, throwing bright blue sparks and tendrils in all directions. The minor white glowing runes littered each of his claws and spikes.
All the runes on his body formed one large pattern, looking like abstract art, their magical energy resonating in one tune.
Magical energy kept flowing between his blood and the runes, elements creating violent storms of fire and lightning, immense power radiating out of his body.
In the meantime, Vesuvius felt as if he had entered a hot tub, all cells in his body pulsing, magical energy in his body spreading.
Then in an instant, the runes’ light dimmed again, turning the cave dark again.
Ding!
//
You gained a title: [Runic Body]
Conditions: Have at least 50% of your body surface covered in runes.
Effects: Unlocks a new unique evolution path; Increases effects of all runes positively affecting the user by 25%
//
The glow of runes increased once again, their magical power growing at a visible rate. The large dragon moved, his rune-covered body creating a beautiful light show of colourful lights in the dark cave.
With magical energy around him calmed down, Vesuvius felt as if he was born again, his whole body feeling fresh and comfortably warm.
His large reptilian eyes, still glowing in magical white light, fell upon the young elven girl sprawled on the hard stone floor. He moved towards her, claws on his legs easily digging into the stone under him, leaving behind large holes and scratches as he walked, unused to their increased sharpness.
He slowly stretched his large blazing hot arm with large claws covered in dozens of glowing runes, slowly pulsing in the dark cave. His massive hand enveloped the small body of the elf, her blonde hair in a mess.
Careful not to squish his arm and turn her into a blood paste, the dragon walked towards the bearskin, still lying on the floor. Alesia bounced up and down in his large scaled hand without waking up.
The giant dragon’s hand slowly descend down, carefully lying the elf on the bearskin, his bright reptilian eyes giving her one last look before walking out of the cave chamber, his claws scratching along the way, creating sparks and his tail waving behind him.
As he walked, magma poured out of his scales, flowing around them and covering them in a layer of blazing hot liquid, slowly reforming his volcanic armour.
‘It is still not time to show my enchanted body to the world…’
Vesuvius grinned, ready to test his new power in a dungeon while thinking about more weird possibilities like engraving runes into his bones even though he knew how painful that would be, but that premise of more power caused him to grin.
‘No, that is a stupid idea; Alesia isn’t a surgeon… That could end very badly.’
(AN: I am not sure if I will release the bonus chapter today as I have a bad headache. So maybe I will delay it to tomorrow. I will see if the pill will work and decide on that.