Master Of None

Since they both saw that Toro was losing his desire to burn everything to a crisp Walker and Ribbolt turned to each other having the same confused look Toro had for them. ”Boy how in the world can you use that skill?” 

”You know I can ask the same question, right?” Walker was equally curious how Ribbolt was not only louder then him but also had just used dragon’s intimidation. 

The two stared each other down for a moment before Walker finally gave in first, ”I am not limited to just normal skills, I can learn monster’s skills as well. It’s been a big surprise.” Walker could only imagine what other skills he would gain from the many encounters he was yet to have and started to think he should study up more on monsters skills to see if he could try to learn a specific one. ”And you? How can you use a monster’s skill, I know you don’t share the same system as me.” 

”That’s obvious ain’t it? I am a dragon tamer and have a skill that lets me borrow my dragon’s skills. I can even breathe a little fire when i’m angry enough.” Laughing at his obvious superiority Walker had begun to believe that both dragon and dragon tamer were equally arrogant. ”No more roars though, we stopped everyone from their work, getting them moving again can be a pain. As for the official introduction, the little fella here is Toro.” Little? Ribbolt really just called a bronze dragon the side of a house little? 

Seeing that they all were a bit shocked by his statement Ribbolt explained a bit more, ” you see the ore dragons like Toro are born and left in ore rich areas underground. They hatch and are left to fend for themselves. I happened upon his little nest and managed to unlock my system. I used a contract skill I have heard you’re able to use as well. Since I don’t have a mining or forging system my mothers side of the family told me to move on out so after feeding this little fella all the ore i could get my hands on we went on out in the world, I have gotta say, it’s much more relaxing out here, dwarven people don’t know when to rest.” Recalling the many times Ribbolt had been unable to sleep due to the insistent work mining or forging he was yet again thankful for his push to leave his homeland. The dwarves were commonly known as non stop workers always obsessed with forging something better, learning a new way to refine an ore, and many other forms of metalworking. 

”Well that explains the massive caverns, you probably brought some amazing tricks with you.” Gil chimed in breaking the two sided conversation having caught up with everything they had just happened. 

”Well it all started with feeding this one’s favorite snacks, as you can tell, from his scales he can’t get enough ores to make shiny bronze armor. Started digging when we joined the guild and has yet to stop. We managed to work out a good deal and set up a headquarters, add about forty years and here we stand.” The fact that Ribbolt had invested forty years in this was quite extraordinary, not to mention forge a deal with an entire kingdom and on top of that rise to a high enough standing in his guild to make it all happen. ”Now do you know what an ore dragon is? It doesn’t look much like you even know what that hatchling there is…” Wanting to argue this Walker was about to start listing off all the knowledge they had but a tug on his sleeve and a shake of her head Su made sure he kept his mouth shut. She wanted to hear what Ribbolt had to say so she could help Midnight in better ways as well and if Walker dragged them off topic it could be forever. 

It had been a wonder that Remey had also kept quiet the whole time but upon close inspection Walker saw that Remey was motioning her fist softly as if imagining she could break the bronze scales on Toro. She was off in dreamland. 

Seeing the unspoken communication going on Ribbolt was patient, but only for a moment. ”Ore dragons are a breed of earth dragon. They are often in large cave systems looking for natural ores to eat along with any other earth dwelling monsters. They don’t often head to the surface and their wings are much like those sonic bats. Better for hanging on to walls. Their scales will change with what ore they eat the most eventually changing their characteristics, you can see this is Toro who ate a combination of ores to develop bronze scales. This makes them much tougher than most dragons but they are more made for digging and crushing stone not so much attacking. What a dragon eats as it grows is incredibly important, if your hatchling consumes higher level monsters or a high amount of...Dark crystals?” Ribbolt took a guess at one aspect,”and bones it would seem. Interesting combination there. From what I’ve learned skeletal dragons rarely produce offspring maybe once every seventy five years at least’” 

This was new to them, knowing if Midnight was a more rare species could mean she would have an advantage in life, the simple fact that less people could know her weaknesses or what skills she may have. Walker had already known that what she ate could enhance her scales, he had some darkness crystals set aside just for her. He also did not know that higher level monsters could increase her growth as well. This was something he should ask at the adventurer’s guild, they often sold useless meat from monsters to tamers or other places to make use of it. Some very high level monsters even got made in to bait just to use it up instead of wasting it. 

”What are your thoughts on good training for skills? Should Midnight train differently than we may?” Walker knew Midnight might need more time to train than them since she had skills that none could help her with. Even if Walker managed to learn the ones she had then he would be behind her in understanding. However if he could glean more information from someone who had in fact trained with a dragon for years and years he may be able to help put together a good training plan. End of the day Walker was afraid that Midnight may fall behind due to her needing more experience points than them. If she could improve how she used her skills any gap in strength that developed could be overcome. 

”You’ll need to put her in her element, she should be completely immersed in what her affinities are. Any skills she has that relate to affinity can be increased through understanding. In Toro’s case the first time he breathed fire he burned every drop of mana in his body and passed out for 

a whole day.” The image of the giant bronze dragon in front of them being small and breathing fire enough to pass out was just too hard to imagine. But for Ribbolt it was just like yesterday. 

They two had not been able to do too much when they first formed a contract, Toro had been a small hatchling Ribbolt found while wandering the small caves only he seemed to be able to fit in at his small size. Since he had yet to unlock his system his parents and other family basically just let him wander off. He had dwarven blood after all and at some point it was assumed he would pick up the right pickax or see the right crafting technique to lead to his system unlocking. 

Once he found Toro they two had hid from each other but after Toro tried to use his fire to attack in fear and passed out, Toro had awakened finding he was still alive and some ore had been dragged over for him to eat. The sleeping Ribbolt lying next to him scratches all over his hands from polling the ore from the nearby rocks. This was the deciding factor to grow trust and respect, The two had roamed the caverns together for weeks before Ribbolt finally said he wanted to give a name to the small dragon. Upon issuing his idea for names the system unlocked and prompted the blood contract skill which the two agreed to immediately. Since then they had gone on many adventures. Losing the approval of his family was not the end for him but something that freed him from the chains every dwarf had astound them. They would work themselves to death always crafting, always mining, always trying to build, At the end of the day he was not a full dwarf nor a full human he was a tamer and he would make sure the world knew him.