Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling Vol. 1

by Necoco

  Species: Potortoise

  Status: Normal

  Lv: 9/35

  HP: 28/28

  MP: 15/27

  …Ugh, it used Rest. You idiot, you knew it was going to do that! And you didn’t even prepare for it!

  I frantically grabbed hold of the potortoise and tried clawing at the gaps around the lid with all my might.

  Open up! If only you didn’t have this stupid lid! Come on!!

  A cracking sound split the air. One of my claws snapped off at its base.

  “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!”

  My loud roars echoed throughout the quiet forest.

  PART 3

  FOLLOWING THAT TRAGEDY, I tried various tactics to whittle down the potortoise’s HP. I nearly broke my teeth using Venom Fangs. Another one of my nails snapped and went flying when I tried Paralyzing Venom Claws. Everything I tried hurt. I cried.

  I tried covering the potortoise with tree branches and burning it with Baby’s Breath. That did damage, but not enough to stand up against Automatic HP Recovery. Every single time I hurt it, it recovered and undid all my progress.

  I had no tricks left. I tried everything, but nothing worked. Sometimes the potortoise would let out this noise like “Pttoooort?” like it was making fun of me. Crap. It really was making a fool out of me.

  I decided to make one last ditch effort. I picked the potortoise up and started walking. I’d already given up on ripping off its pot whole to use as a container, so now I was just after the experience points. That opened up my options a little. I’d already come this far; there was no way I was leaving without a victory. Walking away empty-handed at this point was too frustrating to think about.

  So even though I knew it was crappy of me, I had to do it. Don’t hold it against me. I just really needed to learn Human Transformation so I could get off the road to evil.

  I stood at the edge of the cliff I had crossed trying to escape the Taranturouge. I reached down gently and caressed the potortoise’s pot.

  I promise that your death won’t be in vain. I’ll grow stronger from it. So please forgive me.

  “Pttooort? Tooort?!”

  It must have sensed something, because its noises grew distressed. I shook my head and then tossed the potortoise off the edge of the cliff.

  “Pttoooooooooooooort!”

  It fell down, down, down into the deep chasm below. Its screams echoed off the earthen walls, overlapping as they traveled back up to my ears. Finally, the potortoise hit the ground and shattered, the rushing waters of the muddy stream below swallowing it up, silencing its death rattle.

  Farewell, potortoise. You were a formidable foe.

  Gained 36 Experience Points.

  Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 36 Experience Points.

  “Young Plague Dragon” Lv 14 has become Lv 15.

  The message announcing the death of my foe appeared, confirming more experience and another level under my belt. The moments after a difficult battle always felt weirdly empty. The potortoise and I each gave it everything we had, acknowledged each other’s strengths as we matched skills and wits, and then the time came to say goodbye forever.

  I turned my back on the chasm, ruminating on how harsh nature was, but at the same time feeling a sense of accomplishment, and the accompanying pleasant rush.

  Gained Title Skill “Dastardly King” Lv 1.

  Title Skill “Wrongdoer” Lv 2 has become Lv 3.

  I tried my best to make it a clean fight, but I’d had a feeling this was going to happen. All these title skills weighed heavily on my mind and I’d built them up a lot, but in practice they didn’t have much effect. Still, “Dastardly King” was a bit much. I mean, I wasn’t about to just walk away from the potortoise taunting me, was I? What choice did I have? I had a feeling I’d get some nasty title when I flung it off the cliff, but I did it anyway.

  I wanted the experience points. Doing all that work and having nothing to show for it was just too much. I realized that killing a creature without the excuse of self-preservation, and that I had no plans to eat, was a crime against nature. But it had to be done.

  I hurled it off the cliff. I got the experience. I had the thing I wanted, so it didn’t give its life in vain. Yeah.

  But I still kept getting awarded all these negative titles. My evolution path ahead was growing pretty obvious. It felt kind of like being unemployable because of a bad job history, or something.

  I really didn’t want to turn into a big evil dragon, though, so I would have to veer back toward the innocent path of love and light, the one where I could coexist with the humans.

  Anyway, that wore me out. I’ll just hunt enough for a meal, gather some plants, and head home. I was still a little bitter that I hadn’t managed to get a pot. I didn’t mind keeping my stuff on the ground, but it really wreaked havoc on my interior design.

  Well…maybe I could make my own pot? I could find some clay, dig it up, mold it into shapes, heat it and bam! Crockery.

  I just needed something to fire it with; I was fairly sure it had to be a high temperature. Could I do it with Baby’s Breath, or would that just turn it to ashes? Guess I wouldn’t know until I tried.

  I had all the time in the world, so I might as well try to spend it on something worthwhile. After all, they were making pots in Japan all the way back in the Jomon Era. So why not me?

  I could put a rug down in that cave and line a bunch of pots up on it. Yeah, that sounded really good. I bet with a little effort, it could look pretty nice. Maybe I could make some paintbrushes and draw a design on the wall. All right, now I’m getting excited.

  It felt nice to have goals.

  As I retreated further from the cliff, I became aware of a rustling in the trees and bushes around me. Something was coming, and whatever it was, there were more than one of them. Just listen to the losers, trying to sneak up on me. Come on out and show yourselves already!

  “Raaaaaaaaar!”

  I let out a little roar to warn them off. So, would they run or would they come out? If they were the kind of monsters who stayed calm and had enough intelligence to wait so patiently, maybe this would be an interesting fight.

  The rustling in the brush stopped and everything went quiet. Then ten pots—no, potortoises—emerged from the bushes and headed right towards me.

  Talk about déjà vu.

  I quickly checked their statuses. Their levels, attack powers, and skills weren’t anything crazy. And none of them had their status screens bugged out like that slime from earlier.

  Were they out for revenge? Thinking back, that potortoise did have the Call Allies ability. That last scream it let out must have summoned all these guys. They weren’t very fast, so I could outrun them if I didn’t feel like fighting.

  Their shells were too tough for regular attacks, so my only recourse was to throw them off the cliff. The idea left a bad taste in my mouth and the promise of another uncomfortable title. My level would go up some if I tossed them off the cliff, but not a whole lot. It was way more efficient to just hunt graywolves.

  I know you’re all burning for revenge, but I have to bail on you guys. Sorry!

  PART 4

  I KICKED OFF THE GROUND, spread my wings, and gained enough height to make a good leap. I didn’t have time to play games with a herd of potortoises, so as soon as I jumped over them, I made a run for it.

  The ten potortoises pushed their heads out of their pot shells and glared at me as I sailed above them. Oh, so they do have heads. The last one only poked its arms and legs out.

  “Pttort.”

  “Pttooort.”

  “Pttort.”

  “Tooort.”

  “Tooort.”

  “Pttooort.”

  “Ptooort.”

  “Tort.”

  “Ptort.”

  “Pttoooort.”

  All ten of the potortoises made weird sounds as they watched me. And then a hazy, purple light started heading my way.

  G
ah, what was that? Magic? The attack didn’t seem very precise, so I edged to the right and then the left to avoid it. I definitely didn’t want to catch a whiff of whatever that was. What skills did they have again…? Was that Slow? They must’ve been trying to take away my speed.

  Oof, one of them got me.

  The light touched me and began to seep into my body. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but a strange discomfort began to spread. Two—no, three more beams of the light entered me for a grand total of four doses.

  Eugh. God, I feel sick. I have the weirdest sense of vertigo right now. Nothing around me is moving at all, even though I’m jumping… Or am I the one moving slowly? It feels like I’m pinned in the air.

  The potortoises began to pile themselves up into a ten-story tower right in front of me, until the one at the top reached my eye level.

  “Pttort!”

  It pulled in its arms, legs, and head and launched itself at me. Because of Slow, I couldn’t guard in time and took a heavy hit to my chest. Luckily its attack power was low and it didn’t do much damage. There was no reason to panic.

  That’s right, no reason to pan—Ow!

  It tackled me in midair, and as I fell towards the ground the ninth potortoise came hurtling towards me.

  “Ttort!”

  Okay, they’re way too heavy! What the heck do they eat?! Agh, here comes number eight!

  “Argh!”

  The seventh.

  “Ergh!”

  Then the sixth, fifth, and fourth. I ended up getting tackled six times. The damage incurred from each of them was small, but a chain of ten attacks still packed a punch. I hit the ground on my back, face-up. The potortoises immediately set on me with the full force of their weight, one after the other.

  Ow! Ow! That really hurts! I’m sorry! I apologize for my actions, so please knock it off!

  I used Roll at its fastest speed to try to escape from the herd. I was still affected by Slow, so it wasn’t really that fast, but I still managed to put some distance between us.

  Crap, they’re still circling around toward me. I’m just too slow right now.

  I switched off Roll and shot the potortoises a nasty look.

  Let me check their statuses again. They’re not still shooting out Slow, are they? That magic is way too dangerous.

  Species: Potortoise

  Status: Normal

  Lv: 10/35

  HP: 24/30

  MP: 19/29

  Species: Potortoise

  Status: Normal

  Lv: 7/35

  HP: 16/24

  MP: 13/23

  At least Slow seemed to cost 10 MP. They could all hit me with one more each, but nothing after that. I was beginning to feel like my normal speed was returning. Don’t hit me with more Slow! Give me a break.

  Wait, why was their HP so low? They had Automatic HP Recovery, so I doubted they already had that kind of damage when we started. I checked the other potortoises’ statuses, and their HP was all over the place. About half of them hadn’t taken any damage at all.

  Oh wait, I think I know what it’s from. Fall damage? That would make all the different levels of HP loss make sense. The ones toward the bottom of the tower wouldn’t have taken much damage when they fell.

  Potortoises were tough, but they were also heavy. They had high Physical Resistance and Magic Resistance, but they didn’t have Fall Resistance at all.

  I’ve finally found their weakness. I didn’t have to throw them off a cliff; I could use their potential energy, their own mass, against them. All right, let’s try it.

  I stopped, raising my arms slowly as I watched the potortoises’ movements. They pounced on me from three directions. The first one hit me from the back, another from the side. I endured the hits, planting my legs and bracing myself for the last attack I knew was coming.

  The third potortoise tackled me head-on, but I was ready for it and snatched it up with both arms.

  “Pttoort?!”

  The potortoise flailed, but I didn’t let go. Instead, I kicked off the ground as hard as I could and leapt up into the air. I spread my wings to increase my momentum.

  “T-toorrt!”

  The potortoises were stunned for a moment, then quickly started reassembling their tower. I had to admire their teamwork. The potortoise on top jumped at me, but only managed to graze my leg. Sorry, guys. You are now unfortunately one tortoise too short.

  I was so high up now that the potortoises couldn’t reach me. I blew Baby’s Breath downward, propelling myself up high like a rocket. Looking down at the tower from my vantage point, the potortoises seemed much smaller than before. I must be pretty high up. Maybe I accidentally used Breath Rocket or something.

  I spun around in the air, using my momentum to throw my captive potortoise at the tower. With that mass from this height, I had a feeling the force of gravity would hit them pretty hard. Wait…what was the force of gravity in this world? Was it the same as on Earth?

  Gained Normal Skill “Meteorite” Lv 1.

  Meteorite…? Oh, I guess I got that skill after I knocked the turtle away when it was jumping at me. My strategy turned into a skill, huh?

  “Pttooooort!”

  The potortoise I threw towards the ground knocked into the side of the eight-story tower, destroying it. Each of the pot-shells cracked, the flesh inside tearing apart and scattering all around. Oof. That was pretty gross.

  Gained 306 Experience Points.

  Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 306 Experience Points.

  “Young Plague Dragon” Lv 15 has become Lv 22.

  Whoa, that’s a big jump. Apparently getting an enemy to use Call Allies and hunting the group is a good way to get experience after all.

  Special Skill “Fly” Lv 1 has become Lv 2.

  Hopefully that will help me fly a little better. Oh, wait… One of them survived.

  It was the first potortoise that jumped at me. The one I batted away with Meteorite. It was still alive on the ground, slowly trying to escape. As soon as it realized I’d spotted it, it began to tremble. The effects of Slow had mostly worn off of me by now.

  I went after the potortoise and grabbed it, doing the same jump, wing, breath rocket combo to get into the air, then used Roll to toss it to the ground.

  Take this—Meteorite!

  “Pttoooooooort!”

  The potortoise hit the ground, its shell splitting open. Its innards popped out, bloody and mangled, and its eyes were frozen open in shock.

  Gained 36 Experience Points.

  Title Skill: Walking Egg Lv — gained 36 Experience Points.

  Cool, I leveled up pretty good. Time to check my stats!

  Species: Young Plague Dragon

  Status: Normal

  Lv: 22/40

  HP: 58/116

  MP: 43/113

  Attack: 105

  Defense: 91

  Magic: 95

  Agility: 93

  Rank: D+

  Special Skills:

  Dragon Scale: Lv 2

  Divine Voice: Lv 3

  Grecian Language: Lv 1

  Fly: Lv 2

  Dragon Scale Powder: Lv 1

  Dark Type: Lv —

  Resistance Skills:

  Physical Resistance: Lv 3

  Fall Resistance: Lv 4

  Hunger Resistance: Lv 3

  Poison Resistance: Lv 3

  Loneliness Resistance: Lv 4

  Magic Resistance: Lv 2

  Dark Resistance: Lv 2

  Light Resistance: Lv 1

  Fear Resistance: Lv 1

  Normal Skills:

  Roll: Lv 4

  View Status: Lv 4

  Baby’s Breath: Lv 3

  Whistle: Lv 1

  Dragon Punch: Lv 2

  Disease Breath: Lv 1

  Venom Fangs: Lv 1

  Paralyzing Venom Claws: Lv 1

  Dragon Tail: Lv 1

  Bellow: Lv 1

  Meteorite: Lv 1

  Title Skills:
>
  Dragon King’s Son: Lv —

  Walking Egg: Lv —

  Klutz: Lv 4

  Just an Idiot: Lv 1

  Infighter: Lv 4

  Pest Killer: Lv 3

  Safety First: Lv 1

  Liar: Lv 2

  King of Evasion: Lv 1

  Protective Spirit: Lv 4

  Itty-bitty Hero: Lv 1

  Wrongdoer: Lv 3

  Calamity: Lv1

  Chicken Runner: Lv 2

  Mr. Chef: Lv 1

  Dastardly King: Lv 1

  Sweet, my attack power finally broke 100!

  I still wasn’t satisfied. I had to get all my stats over 200 at least before I could take on the Little Rock Dragon. God, I hated looking back at all these sketchy title skills. Did I really actually do anything to deserve the title Dastardly King? And now my Wrongdoer skill was up to Lv 3. How far did it go, anyway? What happened when I maxed it out? Did I just die?

  Skills have a max Lv of 10.

  O-oh, hey. It’s been a while, Divine Voice. I guess I’ll just confiscate this potortoise meat. It sucks I didn’t get any of the shells. They’re all broken.

  On top of that, the many bodies were stuck with pieces of shell too small to dig out. Even the most intact were cracked or crumbling. It was difficult to sort out the shells from the meat. I wasn’t sure about using the pots if they still had half a tortoise stuck to them. Sorting it all out didn’t really seem worth it. I’d just have to make a pot from scratch with clay.

  I chose the shell that was in the best shape and put all the salvageable meat inside to carry home. Guess it was turtle soup for dinner tonight. Sounded pretty delicious. Now I’d just gather up some plants that seemed edible. Vegetables were important to a balanced diet, after all.

  I wondered if people’s meals centered around grains in this world. I wished I could make some rice gruel to soak up the leftover soup broth. Maybe I could find some rice, or something like it.

  I tossed the rest of the meat I tore off of the shells inside my pot and started for my cave. I was covered in blood and probably looked pretty grotesque. Nothing to be done about it.

  I froze as I heard heavy footsteps approaching me from behind.