2 The Game Begins

The whole world thrummed with a burst of power, heralding the start of the [Great Game]

I felt something indescribable click into place, and agony blossomed as the rules of the game turned me into a champion, and a [Priestess] of Kolra. Champions have much higher stats than normal people. They are stronger, tougher, faster, and smarter than normal mortals. They also have powerful unique abilities. Even the weakest champion is capable of defeating an army by themselves.

In that moment, every champion became much more powerful as they gained their demigod abilities.

Except for me.

Power I earned over the eons drained away, leaving me weak and exhausted. I was barely able to force myself back to my feet. Upon inspection, my worse fears were realized.

I had become a [Level 1 Priestess].

Just a few seconds ago I was a level 999 primordial dragon. At first I wanted to bellow in rage, but then I read the rest of my status screen, and slowly calmed down. My feelings were… mixed. Yes, I had lost a great many skills and abilities, and I was undeniably far weaker than I had been. However, my potential had never been higher.

This world may have levels, but it's abilities and stats that truly determine how powerful someone is. Every time you level up, you gain 2 character points. These points are used to increase your stats, or you can use them to increase the rank of your abilities, spells, and skills. Stats increase at the rate of one to one, but the number of points required to increase a rank doubled every time the rank increased. Rank 1 costs just 1 point, but Rank 10 takes a whopping 512 points. Mortals rarely reach level 50, so even if they are willing to sacrifice most of their other skills, very few pass rank 6. No mortal has ever passed rank 8 in any skill.

I had always gained double the normal character points when I leveled because I was a powerful creature. Apparently, being a champion also doubles the character points gained. Considering I had 8 character points waiting at level 1, they clearly stacked. I had been level capped, and hadn't been able to increase my ranking since before the rise of civilization. Now I could level up again. Eventually I'll be far more powerful than before.

I still had the most important of my draconic abilities, and I had several new demigod abilities. Many of which, like my body, were tailor-made for sex. My water magic had been reduced all the way down to rank 1. But, I retained my previous rank in all of my draconic abilities, and most of my new demigod abilities were rank 10.

Put into terms my old human self would have understood, [Skiing I] is the equivalent of beginner. Someone with that rank is ready for the beginner slopes, but not much else. By the time they reach [Skiing III], they are comfortable on advanced slopes. At [Skiing V] they have reached the Olympic level. At [Skiing VII] it's become a superpower. They put on a pair of skis in the summer, and snow appears on the ground in front of them. At the maximum rank of [Skiing X], they can ski uphill. Through a battlefield. Without snow. In their sleep.

As a primordial dragon, all of my stats started at 50. As a champion, I received an additional 50 point bonus to all stats. Considering that the range of stats for a normal human is 1 to 10, my minimum of 100 makes my weakest stat 10 times stronger than their maximum. Being a demigod also gave me 50 points to use in order to increase any of my stats. I spent one point in every skill, then split the remainder between toughness and will. As a priestess, they are my most important stats, and that's what I plan on focusing on first. Why did I spend a point in each stat? It was simple prudence. Most people stop at nice round numbers. I wanted to have just a little more in case I needed a tiebreaker against someone with a stat of 100.

I decided to save my character points for now. I need to have a better feel for my magic before I decide where to spend them.

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Name: Ciarra

Level: 1

Race: Primordial Dragon (Frost)

Gender: Female

Class: Priestess

Character Points: 8

Ability Scores:

Strength: 101

Agility: 101

Toughness: 124

Mind: 101

Will: 123

Special Abilities:

[Powerful Existence] - Character points gained on level up are doubled.

Magical Spells:

[Holy Smite I] - Holy damage to a single target. Range: Sight.

[Heal I] - Heal single target. Range: Touch

[Storage Magic I] - Spacial Magic capable of storing anything caster owns. Time does not pass for stored items. Range: 5 feet

[Water Manipulation I] - You control water. Range: 25 feet.

Demigod Abilities (Unique):

[Godling] - Has the potential to become a god.

[Champion of Kolra] - Character points gained on level up are doubled.

[Flesh Shaping X] - Permanently alter targets body. Range: Touch

[Empathic Scenting X] - All emotions cause subtle changes in body chemistry, and you can detect them all. Range: Special

[Empathic Sensuality X] - Share sensations with your lovers at will. Range: Touch

[Sexual Insight X] - You understand the most secret fantasies and sexual desires of your target, even things they have not admitted to themselves. Target: Sight

Draconic Abilities:

[Dragon Form VI] - You can shapeshift into a dragon at will.

[Dragons Breath VI] - Frost based breath weapon. Works in both humanoid and dragon forms. Dragon form greatly increases range and damage. Range: 25 foot cone.

[Tremorsense V] - You sense subtle vibrations through the ground allowing you to pinpoint it's source and likely cause.

[Magesense IX] - You sense the flow of magic around you.

[Dragon Armor X] - Your scales block all but the most powerful of attacks.

[Thermal Immunity X] - You are immune to all forms of thermal damage.

[Protected Mind VII] - You are highly resistant to all forms of mental attacks.

[Magic Resistance VII] - You are highly resistant to all forms of offensive magic.

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The [Great Game] just moved onto the next step, giving me two quests.

[Become Kolra's High Priestess - Part 1] - Travel to Gravestead.

[Path to Power - Part 1] - Join the Adventurers Guild.

I looked around the empty cavern that was my lair. Nothing here mattered to me anymore, other than the hoard I slept on. Stories from my human memories described dragons as sleeping on piles of gold, and I always assumed it was just another symbol of dragons greed. How little I knew.

Dragons sleep on gold for one reason. We are formed from pure creation energy, and that makes us very sensitive to all forms of magic. Gold is soothing. It absorbs stray magic, acting like a small magical battery, it insulates us from the tiny natural fluctuations in the magic field that covers the world. It's like sleeping in the country instead of the city. The country isn't quiet, and the night is still filled with noise, but it's the noise of crickets, birds, and the occasional animal. Not the blaring of a siren, or the crack of a pistol.

I only bothered to gather enough to sleep on comfortably. So, it was a small hoard. To my dragon side. My human side knew better. It was deep enough that I didn't feel the flow of magic through the earth when I laid on it, and it was wide enough that I could stretch out on it in dragon form. I'm over a hundred feet long, and the pile was about 10 feet deep. My hoard would probably overflow an Olympic sized swimming pool. I vaguely remembered something about how all the gold mined in my old world would only fill a couple of them.

Unless I was greatly mistaken, I was the one percent.

I considered it for a few minutes.

I already knew I was powerful enough to destroy kingdoms, and now I also knew I was rich enough to buy and sell them. My human side wanted to curl into a ball and hide away from the responsibility, but my dragon side wasn't fazed, it knew it's worth, and I clung to that assurance.

I used [Storage Magic] to create a dimensional pocket under the pile of gold, and watched as it flowed into nothing. After a few minutes, my storage was filled. I had planned on saving my initial character points, but I decided to spend six of them to upgrade [Storage Magic] to rank three. My newly upgraded [Storage Magic] was barely able to hold my hoard, but it was able to hold it. Thankfully it seemed to be based on volume, not weight.

Upgraded [Storage Magic I] to [Storage Magic III]. Cost: 6 Character Points.

With the gold safely stored, I decided that I might as well leave now. It's not like I had anything else to take with me. I dived into the water, my fading human instincts insisted that the water must be freezing cold, but now that I was a frost dragon, it felt comfortable against my skin. I swam along the tunnel. The underwater ice cave was beautiful. Daylight shone down on the iceberg, and filled the cave with a blue-green glow.

Once I reached the end of the cave, I used my retractable claws to climb up the side of the iceberg. I marveled at how easy it was. In my humanoid form, I was taller, and presumably heavier, than most women, but I was at least ten times stronger than an extreme bodybuilder from my old world. It felt like I weighed nothing.

After I reached the top, I dived down toward the water. My elegant dive suddenly turned into flight, when I shifted into my dragon form and spread my wings. After a few powerful strokes, I flew away from my old lair for the last time. I was looking for signs of civilization. A road, farmland, or anything else that might lead to a city.

I had two quests to complete, and a harem to fill.

***

I expected to find civilization after flying for a day or two.

I thought it was just a simple case of using the sun to navigate. It rises in the east and sets in the west. I didn't know where Gravestead was, and if you don't know where to go, then one direction is as good as another. The sun was high in the sky, so I thought that following it until nightfall was smart. I planned to keep it at my back in the morning, take a break while it's at it's peak, then follow it as it sets. I believed it would keep me heading in a vaguely westward direction. What could be simpler?

Only after I spent what felt like an eternity following the sun did I realize my mistake.

I must have been near one of the poles, because the sun never set. I don't know how long I flew in a circle, chasing the sun through the sky. The landscape was beautiful, but also monotonous, and I was entranced by the unchanging world around me. I flew in a half doze, like when I crossed an ocean.

Until I nearly fell from the sky in exhaustion.

I landed and shifted into humanoid form, still growling in frustration, I tried to ignore my hunger pains. I walked across the snow. At least I didn't need snowshoes. Controlling water is an extremely flexible ability, so I was able to use [Water Manipulation] to harden the snow underfoot.

I hadn't eaten anything since the morning my memories returned. Endless snow rolled in every direction, and I couldn't sense anything to hunt. No wildlife at all. Another mistake. If I'd stayed close to the shoreline, where life was plentiful, finding something to eat would have been easy. Instead, I hadn't eaten anything. How long has it been? A day? Several days? A week? Longer? The constant sunlight had destroyed my time sense. I still don't know how long I flew in circles.

Without a compass, and with few landmarks to follow, I didn't like my options. I knew travel would become a tedious process of flying a short distance, hovering in place while using [Water Manipulation] to make a tower out of the snow, then flying directly away from the line of towers, until I left this endless plane of snow.

Looking back on that trip, I know that the memories from my past life as a dragon hadn't had time to fully integrate. My human memories were overriding my dragon instincts. If I had followed my instincts, I wouldn't have needed a compass. I only needed to pay attention to my senses. Without references, I wouldn't have know which way was north, but I would have been able to fly in a straight line easily.

Exhausted, I buried myself in the snow, trying to block out the sun, anything to get some sleep.

Intermittent snuffling and digging sounds slowly woke me from my restless sleep.

For a moment I was confused, then strong jaws chomped down on my side and ripped me from the snow, shaking me like a dog with a chew toy. Another mouth closed on one of my legs, growling and yanking. In moments I was buried in fur covered bodies, biting and ripping at my flesh, like a pack of dogs fighting over a toy. I belatedly recognized their scent. Logic told me it was just a pack of [Winter Wolves]. Hardly dangerous to me, even in my weakened state.

But, my human side gibbered in terror.

Slowly, one simple fact was recognized, even through the panic that filled my mind.

Nothing hurt.

I unsheathed my claws, and sliced into my attackers. Two died in moments. Like many RPG's, stats meant everything, and I was the biggest and baddest around. Five of them, and all were bigger than I was. Pulling free was still child's play. All that biting and clawing didn't breach my scales. Intellectually, I knew that I could stand there all day and they couldn't hurt me.

They pulled away, suddenly wary, now that the scent of pack blood filled the air.

Priestess magic, also known as holy magic, was new to me, so I decided to try out my new attack spell. I casted [Holy Smite]. My hands were wreathed in a golden glow as I whispered the short chant, then a ball of golden energy flashed from my hand into one of the wolves, killing it instantly. The sudden savory scent of raw meat made my stomach rumble.

The two remaining creatures turned and ran. My instincts screamed in warning. Never let an enemy live. Don't give them a chance to learn from their mistakes, or they might come back in the future. So, I gave into my bloodlust, and chased after the fleeing pair. I was faster than them. Without slowing down, I chanted [Holy Smite] again, aiming for the one of the right. The spell hit, and I was left with a single surviver. Drawing close, I lashed out with a kick. The beast slammed into a rock with a yelp of pain. It tried to craw away, even though it's back was obviously broken. I kicked it in the head, putting it out of it's misery. No reason for it to suffer needlessly.

You have gained a level. (Note: Experience limitation of one level per event triggered.)

Provision problems solved, I was much happier as I dragged the corpses back to my camp. I used my claws to butcher them, and wrapped most of the meat in one of the winter wolfs hides. The bundle of fur wrapped wolf meat was reasonably easy to carry. Especially once it froze solid.

I was a bloody mess, but I couldn't do anything about that. Or could I? Something tickled at my memory. As a frost dragon, my [Water Manipulation] was also able to control temperature. I didn't care if the water was cold, I just needed it to be liquid. So I used my spell to gather and melt snow until I had enough to soak in. I didn't have any soap, but at least I was able to get the worst of the blood off.

Thinking about the fight, my biggest surprise was that [Winter Wolves] died with one cast of rank one [Holy Smite]. While they are not especially powerful, they are not weak either. I finally decided that it must be my stats that made the difference. The higher your mind stat, the more damage your attack spells deal. My mind stat is ten times higher than the best starting wizard, so my attack spells should hit ten times harder than their attack spells. At least I thought that was how it worked. It wasn't like the gods left a manual. I just had a short line of text on the mind stat saying that it increased the effectiveness of magical attacks.

I enjoyed a breakfast of raw wolf meat, then continued on my journey.

After what felt like weeks, I finally started seeing scattered trees. More importantly, the sun sometimes touched the horizon. I decided to stop flying around, especially in full dragon form. Gathering more information before I attracted attention seemed the smart move. So I continued my journey on foot.

A few days later, the deep snowbanks I had been traveling over simply ended. Not gradually, but in a hard line that stretched as far as I could see in both directions. The icy tundra I had become so familiar with simply ended, and a forest began. I stepped back and forth across the line. Although the temperature on both sides felt comfortable to me, I imagine anyone else would find the forest much more pleasant. Like a cool day in fall instead of the freezing cold of an arctic winter.

I wondered what the story was behind it. An archmage? An ancient artifact? Another primordial dragon? I knew it wasn't part of the game, so I decided that it probably didn't matter anyway. Prey was much easier to find, and I no longer went to bed hungry. Now that hunger wasn't a problem, I really started to enjoy the trip. Especially because I was completely immune to insect bites. If a pack of [Winter Wolves] can't break my skin, what chance did a mosquito or ant have?

Less than a mile after entering the forest I finally found a road. I decided not to travel directly on it. I still didn't have any clothing, and didn't want to attract attention, so I came up with a different plan. I traveled along the edge of the woods, deep enough to hide, but close enough to see anyone traveling on the road before they saw me.