Reincarnated as a Dragon Hatchling Vol. 1

by Necoco

  The black lizard just stared.

  I’m gonna make you regret underestimating me!

  It still had about half of its MP, which meant it could use Clay Gun a bunch more times.

  Is this really how things end for me?

  “Gsssh, gsssh…”

  The black lizard began to slowly approach.

  I’ll burn it to a crisp with Baby’s Breath! Wait, but if I don’t catch it, this is all meaningless!

  My mind raced. My head pounded. My body burned.

  I would jump on it and dig my claws in. I could do it. The lizard was absolutely underestimating me, looking at me with those patronizing eyes. I’d show it the difference between a dragon and a tiny reptile.

  I pounced.

  I did it!

  It seemed totally taken off guard.

  Did you finally hit your limit? Heh heh. I have Poison Resistance! I’m going to dig my claws into you and then you won’t be able to move!

  But before I could, I hit my limit. I lost consciousness.

  Am I…am I dead?

  A hazy vision of the forest slowly appeared before me. Gradually, the fuzzy outlines grew sharper and I came to.

  Wait, I don’t feel the poison. Was I reincarnated again?

  I checked both of my arms. They were still covered in bumpy black scales, the left one still slightly swollen from the poison. Yeah, that was my arms all right.

  So, what was going on?

  Something cool touched my wound. I rolled over to get a look. The black lizard was there, tongue hanging out, looking up at me. Wait, did it decide to cure my poison on its own? But why?

  Just a few moments ago we were fighting to the death. Well, it did have a title skill called Cunning. Maybe it decided it would work to its advantage to let me live? What was it planning?

  “Gsssh, gshh…”

  It rubbed its cheek against my face. Was it trying to show it was no longer a threat? A sign of affection?

  I pondered this, my mind still fuzzy.

  First, it used its Venomous Fangs attack. Then it ran away on purpose and lured me out…we had a rolling race…I knocked it into the air and caught it, pulling it to safety…

  Then it hit me. I saved it. Oh, now I get it. At least, that was all that made sense to me.

  I know you’re the one who poisoned me in the first place, but, well…thanks. I scratched the lizard’s chin.

  “Gssh, gssh, gssh! Gssh!”

  It rolled on its back to give me better access, letting out a pleased chirp.

  All right, all right. I’ll scratch you more. What a good lizard you are.

  “Kyuu, kyuu!”

  It writhed around, looking up at me with affection. I guess the lizard decided it wanted to be friends, or at least that it didn’t want to kill a guy like me.

  For a moment, I considered sinking my teeth into it and ending it—this guy would just get faster and more dangerous. But honestly, I didn’t want to. I think I felt the same as it did.

  I won the first round of our rolling race, but I’m ready for a rematch any time.

  I got up. My arm still felt a little strange, but not worryingly so. I was certain the swelling would go down soon.

  PART 7

  THE BLACK LIZARD was following me. At first I thought its home must be in the same direction, but it trailed me all the way back to my cave. It must’ve been really impressed with my Roll technique.

  Ha ha ha, I don’t blame you. Well, I guess I didn’t mind the company. Lizards and dragons are practically cousins anyway, right?

  “Gssh, gshh!”

  Was it just me, or was it being a bit too clingy? As we walked side by side, it stayed so close that it was awkward. It was a venomous lizard, so I was still a little nervous–who knows what it would do if I let my guard down?

  Wait, maybe it’s trying to pick up pointers from watching my Roll technique?

  On the way back to my cave, we ran into a pack of graywolves. I glanced over at the lizard, keeping the monsters in my peripheral vision. The lizard seemed to take the hint and pulled away from me. But instead of running away, it moved to help me surround the graywolves, who were clearly noticing that the numbers were not in their favor. And since I’d exhausted my supply of jerky, I wasn’t going to let all this meat get away. Plus, I wanted the Experience Points. I’d defeat them all, no matter what.

  We stared the graywolves down.

  The biggest of the group, the boss, sniffed the air suspiciously. Maybe it realized the massive difference in our abilities. Or maybe it could smell that one of us was a huge walking ball of venom. The black lizard had the special skill Poison Belt, after all. If it bit them, they’d die for sure. I had Poison Resistance and even I nearly died when it bit me.

  I needed to end this before they could run away.

  “Raaaaar!”

  “Gsssh!”

  I let out a roar and the black lizard joined me. I charged the pack and the lizard fired Clay Gun. Beset on both sides, the graywolves began falling one by one.

  “Grrrr!”

  They knew it was all over, but the graywolves had their pride. The boss leapt towards me, and I spun to avoid its Bite attack, landing a strong Dragon Punch on its unprotected neck.

  My fist impacted bone with a dry crunch. The wolf boss’s body made a shallow arc in the air, then hit the ground, limp.

  “Aroooo! Arooo arooo!”

  Now that they had lost their boss, the remaining two wolves split up and ran away. I glanced over at the black lizard. It nodded.

  All right, let’s try a combination attack!

  I went after the wolf that broke right, and the black lizard shot Clay Gun to the left–no, both the left and right! It hit two of them at once!

  Wow, it would’ve been fine if it had just taken one… I guess the more the better.

  The pellet knocked the wolf in the back of the head and it went down, body twitching and spasming. I landed on its back and grabbed its neck.

  Meanwhile, the black lizard showered the other wolf with Clay Gun pellets until it was dead. Bruises and gashes covered its body. Wow, that was pretty grotesque. Still, it’s a useful technique, at least against the small fry.

  Gained 114 Experience Points.

  Title Skill “Walking Egg” Lv — activated: gained 114 Experience Points.

  Just a few minutes later, seven graywolves had been reduced to a pile of meat. I wasn’t sure why they kept trying to attack me; they must’ve really believed that their numbers would make up for their inexperience.

  The meat was good, and the experience points were pretty substantial, so I was grateful for their idiocy, but I was also sort of afraid I’d end up hunting them to extinction.

  I remembered seeing them running away from the Little Rock Dragon. A pity to think that the next time I evolved, they’d take one look at me and book it. Annoying, since they were the monsters I most wanted to hunt.

  The black lizard perched its little body on top of a graywolf’s corpse and clamped it in its mouth, doing its very best to carry it. Hey, I’m a little worried you’ll lose your balance. I need to take multiple trips anyway, so you shouldn’t push yourself.

  “Gssh, gshh!”

  I mean, if you really wanna carry it, I won’t stop you. Makes it easier on me. Honestly, the graywolves’ timing was perfect. I’d completely run through my supply of jerky, and wolf was a good snack when I was feeling peckish.

  Since we’d come this far, I wanted the black lizard to taste the jerky, too. And I still needed to feed the poisoned batch to those red monkeys. The lizard, a poison specialist, had also shown up with perfect timing. Now I could get as much poison as I wanted. I’d dip the jerky in the lizard’s superior venom and then I’d really get those stupid monkeys. After that, they’d never come steal my jerky again. I would know—after being poisoned once, I definitely didn’t want to go another round.

  My two fancy sculptures welcomed us home.

  “Gssh?”

  The black
lizard, who had been walking right beside me, suddenly stopped. Maybe it was surprised to see my sculptures?

  Still, it got over its surprise quickly and followed me inside.

  PART 8

  AFTER OUR BATTLE against the pack of graywolves was over, the lizard and I rested inside my cave. It appeared much more relaxed now, and looked around curiously. After wandering around a bit, it poked at the carpet with its front leg and looked up at me.

  “Gssh?”

  Did it want to lie down? Its status condition was still Bleeding (Slight), and it had carried a huge slab of meat larger than its own body. It must’ve been even more tired than I was.

  “Rawl.”

  I made a sound that meant “Go ahead,” then gestured towards the rug. It seemed to understand.

  It stepped on the rug gingerly, seeming to enjoy the softness. Then it curled up on the blanket and closed its eyes, letting out a contented little “Gssh” noise.

  For a creature that had managed to survive so long in the wild, it was awfully trusting. Falling asleep in the lair of another monster was leaving itself vulnerable. Your Cunning Title Skill is shaking its head in shame.

  But I supposed I had earned its trust. We had a man-to-man battle of strength, and at the end we recognized each other as worthy. There was no reason for it to be suspicious of me, or vice versa. The black lizard must already understand that.

  I cleaned the graywolf meat, separating out a portion to grill and eat now, from the part to dry and preserve. I put the bit meant for jerky into a container and covered it with salt and piperis, mixing it around.

  Yeah, that looks good. In the morning I’ll knock the salt off and string them up on a bare branch.

  I brought a pot of charcoal and the meat to be grilled over to the entrance to the cave. I wouldn’t risk a stray spark singeing the carpet. I didn’t want to be cooped up here with a bunch of smoke.

  I should probably build a fireplace and a chimney sometime soon. Although I wouldn’t want to make a mistake and have a rock fall on my head or something. I’d like a desk and a chair, too. Maybe some more statues.

  I had clay left over from the claybear, but probably not enough to do all that. I could thin it out with regular dirt, but then the quality would drop. And if I wanted it to match the rest of my stuff, I should try to have some standards.

  There was another reason I didn’t want to thin out the clay, though.

  Alchemia’s Magic Soil: Value B+. 500 years ago, an alchemist named Alchemia gained the Demon King’s power despite being human. He used this power to create magical clay.

  By shaping the clay into the form of beasts, he brought forth many monsters into the world. Most were subjugated and returned to the earth, but some can still be found in the Borderlands.

  Apparently the claybear was a rare monster. And since the clay itself was magical, I thought it was better to not to thin it and risk reducing its value and quality.

  No, I wanted more of the good stuff. I wondered how hard it would be to find more of those bears.

  I’d have to hunt a lot of them if I wanted a fireplace, a chimney, a desk, and a chair, but I’d gained a steadfast ally in the black lizard, so my chances weren’t bad. I think I’ll go grill it up some meat while it’s sleeping.

  I left the cave and glanced around. The monkeys weren’t here today.

  Now I had a stock of jerky, plus the poisoned version stored in the back of my cave. I was prepared to teach the thieves a lesson. That’s what they get for stealing my stuff in the first place.

  I scattered charcoal on the ground and lit it with Baby’s Breath to grill up the graywolf meat. Making good charcoal took some effort, so I was being pretty stingy with what I had.

  I went back inside to put salt and pepper on the grilled meat. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if I was eating better than the humans in the village. The aroma stirred the black lizard out of its slumber. It opened its eyes, drool dripping from its mouth. All right, come on. You can have some, too.

  The lizard threw a glance at the meat and then walked to the back of the cave.

  Hm? You’re not gonna eat it?

  It went up to the pot where I kept the special batch of poisoned jerky intended for the monkeys and touched it with its front leg, its eyes glinting as it turned back towards me.

  Huh? You wanna eat that? But you’ll die.

  But now that I thought about it, its description had said that this lizard ate poisonous things to strengthen the venom in its body. It also had the Resistance Skill Poison Immunity. Guess I didn’t have to worry.

  I ended up letting the black lizard have all the poisoned jerky I was going to give the monkeys. I’d have to cook up another batch at some point, this time using my new friend’s venom—that would be plenty to torture those thieving monkeys. But I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I said no to those puppy dog eyes.

  The lizard even used the special poison I’d made with the boiled down mushrooms as sauce.

  As I watched it happily wolf down the poisoned meat, for some reason my grudge against the monkeys no longer felt so intense.

  Wait, was that poisoned sauce actually good? It was possible that the longer I let it sit, the less poisonous it got. That was a thing, right?

  I dipped a finger into the poison. Before I could lick it, my finger began to burn. Then it started turning white.

  Resistance Skill “Poison Resistance” Lv 4 has become Lv 5.

  “Raaaar!”

  Ow, ow, ow! It hurts! It burns!

  I kicked the pot and screamed, completely taken aback. The black lizard caught the pot before it toppled over. Apparently it really wanted that poison. As a sauce.

  Ahh, it’s getting worse! It burned me and now it’s getting worse! How can anyone eat this?

  “Gssh.”

  The black lizard climbed up on my shoulder and took my finger in its mouth. The pain vanished. It had cured the poison.

  Aw, what a nice lizard. I thought I was going to die.

  Chapter 7:

  The Double-Headed Monster Twinheads

  PART 1

  “GSSH, gssh…”

  The sound of light snoring drew me out of a hazy sleep.

  “Gssh…”

  The black lizard dozed right by my nose. Its tail gently petted me in its sleep.

  Wow, this lizard has terrible sleeping habits. It was the day after it followed me home, and the little creature had been clingy the whole time. I’d tried to move away from it since one lazy nip could kill me, but it insisted on sleeping like this.

  I was pretty sure it had fallen asleep on the opposite side of the cave. How in the world had it survived out in the wild? Did it try to snuggle up to other monsters

  in their caves? I wonder if it dug a hole in the ground and slept there. Maybe I should dig one in here?

  I didn’t want it to knock over my pots in its sleep. I worked so hard gathering and drying and crushing all that piperis, I couldn’t risk it getting mixed in with the poison. I’d pretty much gathered the carnivorous flowers to the point of extinction by now, so I didn’t want all that salt to go to waste, either.

  Maybe I needed to make something for the black lizard to sleep on, too. A bed with a fence around it or something. A baby’s crib.

  I looked at its sleeping face. It was practically clinging to the carpet, drifting deeply and peacefully. No wonder it was so comfy, if it had been sleeping on bare earth this whole time. Its scales weren’t as thick as mine.

  After the lizard woke up, we went down to a nearby lake to drink. I checked both of our statuses to see how we were, health-wise.

  Species: Young Plague Dragon

  Status: Normal

  Lv: 33/40

  HP: 149/149

  MP: 143/143

  Species: Venom Princess Lacerta

  Status: Normal

  Lv: 20/35

  HP: 110/110

  MP: 131/131

  No negative status conditions, and our HP and MP
were full. The black lizard had even gained a level, probably from when we fought the graywolf pack yesterday.

  The Little Rock Dragon had a title skill called Final Evolution, but there was no sign of anything similar on my lizard friend’s skill list. It could still evolve.

  I really needed to get moving on that, too, so I could be done with this Plague Dragon form for good. If the lizard and I worked together like we had yesterday, I’d level up in no time.

  Unfortunately, neither of us had recovery magic. That would open up so many more possibilities as we fought together and act as insurance in a worst-case scenario. If only I hadn’t chosen this evolution path, I might have finally learned Rest.

  Every time I went through the forest and found a new plant, I’d used View Status. Today I located a patch of some colorful grass. I ran over and picked some.

  Rainbow Clover: Value F-. Clover with rainbow colored leaves. Used to transfer MP to a member of the same species.

  Hmm, this would really brighten up the space around my home and give me something nice to wake up to every morning. When I have more free time, I should come back, dig up a bunch and transplant them.

  A favorite food of darkwyrms, who will often completely devour an entire patch.

  Huh, in that case, I’ll need to figure out a pesticide first. I could work with the black lizard to develop a poison that only kills bugs. I glanced over at my new friend, who blinked at me curiously in response. Despite our language barrier, it seemed to sense my high hopes and gave me an enthusiastic “Gssh!”

  Oh, a four-leaf clover!

  I wasn’t going to do anything with it, but I went ahead and picked it out of habit from my previous life. I wasn’t even sure if it was considered good luck in this world.

  Blue, red, yellow, white, and a shiny gray. If I transplant all of these, I can make a colorful garden of rainbow clovers! Then I bet I’d get a whole swarm of darkwyrms to happily visit my house. I have a feeling they’d really have a blast.