After the duel, we formed a single party and decided upon a private location.

  I teleported us to my secondary base; the floating island using the same long distance teleport spell I used to get to the Aysacar Colosseum. It was able to function as a party teleport to transfer a myriad of people with one mage.

  Really handy, right? I thought so too when I first got it, which is why I traveled all over— with Artena accompanying me for the majority of the time —to set up numerous teleport points.

  It was surprising, but there were no limits to the number of teleport points you could set.

  That’s why they’re so highly sought after by guilds, to the point of obsession.

  To make it worse, mages with said long distance teleport spells were few and far between.

  Thus came taxi mages, they earned tons of gold simply by dedicating their time to teleporting groups of people like some kind of public transport service. Apparently it was fine with the game devs since they utilized their skills as a means to an end.

  Since it was allowed, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't done the same. It was never so easy to make money before. To think the best mobs to grind was actually teleporting real people.

  Anyways, I ended up charging people items or rare loot rather than plain gold depending on how hard it is to reach the destination.

  But it’s a manic obsession… how many DM’s did I get asking me to join a guild or to be a personal taxi mage again?

  Though sometimes it's nice.

  I got a Fabled Ring— that is, a Fable-grade ring —for mages from some desperate warrior that wanted me to teleport him across the world in order to meet up with his girlfriend who just started playing. Now that was romantic.. and an absolute steal for me.

  I still have him added as a friend and ask for updates from time to time, teehee.

  Ah, I’m getting off track.

  The animation to my spell ended and I sighed at the appearing sky’s scenic expanse dyed a deep red and orange from the sunset. Some of the red mixed with the natural blue of the waning daytime sky to create splashes of purple. I set my teleport point here for this very reason.

  My manor house was elevated from the rest of the island so this spot overlooked the village which was red on the side facing the sunset and blue on the side facing us.

  The painting-like scenery before us stole the moment from everyone.

  Igny let out a whistle while the rest of us continued admiring the endless canvas in silence.

  Reluctantly looking away, I started walking to the front gates of my manor house that stood fifty-some-odd-feet away. The rest followed suit walking right behind me.

  This felt like an excursion to a vacation home or beach house with a bunch of friends.. not that I know what that feels like of course. That was simply the extent of my use for this place. Only I was usually alone.

  That said, the size of the island made it a little more than a vacation home. It accommodated an entire manor that included woods and two lakes after all. One large lake for public use that was closer to villagers, and one small one behind the manor house.

  The manor was supposedly self-sufficient and filled with non-player characters (NPCs) of mixed species, although mostly human.

  Many of the NPCs were servants tending to the manor house or its gardens, orchards, and so on. The rest on the other hand were simply residents of the village and cultivated the demesne. Aside from these, there were a few unique NPCs which I made myself.

  There was the high level dwarf appointed as the blacksmith, a high level dragonkin knight appointed captain of the guards, and one human mage who had the highest level of the three.

  I made him the village mage— I mean, every village has to have a mage in it. Right? He was the leader of the estate in my absence and would utilize his magic to take care of everyone. Sort of like a parish priest.. err, maybe more of a local doctor-leader-wizard-village chief-person-thing?

  Something like that.

  Hmm, were there more NPCs I made for this place or was it only those three? I honestly forgot already, it’s something I did in the span of a couple days when I first purchased this place.

  My wizard tower had unique NPCs too. Two elves, one male and one female. They were the first NPCs I made and were quite powerful; being high-leveled and well-equipped, they were on par with the lower to middle echelons of higher ranked players.

  Despite that, they were like my bodyguards for the most part. Except they usually only helped me pull mobs together. They tended to my wizard tower whenever I wasn’t traveling with them. Which is quite often nowadays as they would only get in my way in the most endgame of endgame content.

  Like Dragontain.

  But I digress.

  We approached the gates and they were opened automatically by guards as we neared, letting us pass by. And that we did.

  Before us was a large courtyard lined with marble paths. There were countless topiary decorating the path to the house along with a nice fountain at the center of the courtyard.

  “Why are we walking so slowly?” Igny asked, breaking the silence. “Your house is still several minutes away at minimum, which is stupid— you should have just set your teleport point right in front of the house or inside. Not to mention we have lots to talk about, don’t we? We should at least talk while walking, or else it’ll be forever until you tell us your little secret.”

  “I mean I guess,” I replied feeling a little miffed. “I was just lost in thought ok? But if you so insist, we can run to the house and talk.”

  “.. Nah, let’s just talk here,” suggested Igny. Though it sounded more like a command.

  Kenta and Thenaraz shrugged as I glanced at them for their opinions.

  Artena shrugged too. “I don’t mind,” she said. “We don’t need to go inside to talk.”

  Just like that, we plopped ourselves down on the marble path and sat in a circle as I recounted my experience. I ended up omitting some.. minor details like how the Dragon Monarch’s voices sounded like my late parents and the emotional moment I had.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “So yeah. I walked into some cave in Dragontain, fell for several minutes as the floor randomly disappeared, and found myself in an entire underground world of dragons,” I summarized.

  “And from there you ran into some kind of event where the dying raid bosses gave you dragon eggs?” finished Artena.

  "Yup."

  “So you finally got those dragon eggs you wanted,” said Kenta. “Congrats!”

  "Thanks!"

  “Let us see them,” said Igny, motioning hurry up with his hand.

  “So needy,” I joked while rolling my eyes.

  “It would be cool to see one in person though, Celia,” Thenaraz added.

  “Okay okay! I was gonna show you guys anyways.”

  I opened my inventory interface and let out a confused “huh?”.

  One of the eggs shook slightly every two or three seconds.

  Is it hatching?!

  My heart racing in anticipation, I brought it out and awkwardly set it down on the ground. It was big, okay? A lot bigger than when the Monarchs held it in their hands. They were nearly double or triple the size from then.

  “Wow,” mumbled Artena as she stared in wonder. "It's big."

  "That's what she said," Igny stated without hesitation. He slipped Kenta a smirk who stifled laughter with an unrelenting smile of his own.

  "That's childish Igny. But that is what she(Artena) said," Thenaraz stated neutrally, the corners of his lips curled up ever so slightly.

  As Artena gave Igny the stink eye, I rolled my eyes and spoke. "The egg.. it was shaking in my inventory. Does that mean it’s hatching?"

  Despite how long I’ve played this game and despite being an ascended, there were still things I didn’t know. As for ‘pet eggs’, this is my first time having one in Adventuria. I didn’t really try to get one until recently.

  Artena shook her head 'No' at my question, but Thenaraz was the one to respond.

  “That simply means it’s ready to hatch,” he said.

  “Ready to hatch?” I repeated after him.

  “Mhm. To actually hatch it, you need to imbue mana into it by resting your hand on the egg and chanting [Gift of Life].”

  [Gift of Life] huh..

  Despite its cool name it’s a pretty low level spell, almost everyone has it including non-mages.

  I knew it had another use, but to think it was this… how fitting.

  [Gift of Life] was a basic healing spell all players knew. It was a heal whose basic function scaled with your mana pool and it gained additional effects depending on how much mana was used.

  So, I guess, it could actually be one of the more powerful spells depending on how much mana you had. Sure enough it was one of my most commonly used healing spells I'd use if I somehow got hurt.

  "Well, here goes nothing…"

  I rested my hand on top of the egg and chanted, "[Gift of Life]."

  A healing green glow and warmth surrounded the area as iridescent particles began flitting about.

  "This is..!" Artena exclaimed.

  The particles started swirling. They swirled slowly at first, but quickly picked up speed and gathered around the egg, buzzing with energy before vanishing into it.

  The green glow faded and I watched, silent and with a bated breath.

  One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Five seconds. Ten seconds…

  "Oi, nothing's hap—"

  Just as Igny lost patience, the egg fissured with a loud crack. It fractured at the top and lines snaked out. Piece by piece, the shell fell away. Bit by bit, little by little, until the top of the egg gave away and fell, leaving a gaping hole.

  Out came the little head of a newly born dragon monarch.

  “...Hey, aren’t dragons supposed to be scaly?” Igny asked.

  I sighed as I glared at Igny. “Did you not listen to my recount of what happened? I told you, the Dragon Monarchs were fluffy and full of feathers. Not all dragons are lizards with wings you know. There are all kinds like—”

  “Yeah yeah my bad,” Igny cut me off. “But if all that happened to you as a special event, what triggered it? Was it because you were a dragonkin and the first person to find the new raid bosses?”

  I faltered as I didn’t know the answer. “.. I’m not sure.”

  I noticed my baby dragon struggling to climb out of the shell— tearing off bits and pieces of the shell as it tried —and hurried to lift it out.

  “If so, then it’s simply an extremely rare and lucky occurrence. It’d be impossible to re-create or even find our own race evolutions,” said Artena. “Meeting unknown conditions and being the first ones to discover something like a raid boss? That’s not something you can just re-create or put effort towards achieving.”

  “Maybe it has something to do with the countless dragons Celia had slain leading up to it?” suggested Thenaraz.

  My face lit up as he mentioned so. “Oh! That could be it! I didn’t get a title or anything beforehand, but when I met them they called me ‘Dragon Slayer’!”

  “Now we’re getting somewhere,” said Igny, before he continued speculating. “So it has to be in a location related to your race, and likewise with mobs slain.”

  “How many dragons did you kill at Dragontain until that point?” Kenta asked.

  “Oof. I must’ve killed around fifty thousand?” I answered. “I dedicated my time on Adventuria to grinding for the eggs for months. So whenever I wasn’t doing anything with you guys, I was at Dragontain.”

  Igny swore and lay flat on his back. Everyone’s mood seemed to deflate a bit.

  “But looking back at it now, it was definitely worth it all. I mean, the loot was good anyways, but the stat buffs and unique skills I got… If skills had grades, these would be Fabled without a doubt. I mean, I can literally turn into a dragon now! Though I didn't get to try it yet.”

  “Fabled skills..” Kenta muttered.

  Everyone seemed to get lost in thought as they stared at the skies and daydreamed of the possibilities nearly endless as the universe itself.

  Kenta, a human; I don’t even know where to even begin wondering what he’d get. What would he evolve into? Human v2.0?

  Thenaraz, a humanoid spirit; what spiritual or heavenly abilities would he get? No doubt he would get angelic wings and evolve into a holy spirit race or something.

  Artena, an elf; What’s the next level from an elf? A high elf? I assume she’d get something nature-y. Hmm, if some type of transportation method was a constant factor in all of these, then instead of wings she’d get.. a mount?! That’d be a sight to behold with how rare, or practically nonexistent they are.

  Igny, a night elf; Would he become a high elf as well? Err, I find it hard to picture him being the same race as the mature, beautiful and elegant high elf image I formed in my mind for Artena.

  In any case, I’m sure their imaginations are going crazy with the possibilities as they knew themselves better than I did. In the meantime, my baby dragon was craving attention as I cradled it like a big puppy.

  Well, I say cradled, but it’s more like I clumsily held him up as he fumbled about. It was thanks to my high strength stat that the would-be-cumbersome task of holding the baby dragon was quite easy.

  What are your stats lookin’ like, little guy?

  “[Analyze],” I muttered. A little window popped up detailing the little guy’s status.

  Wew, as expected of a Dragon Monarch. His level one stats are impressive. But.. ‘Awaiting ‘Name’’?

  “I have to give him a name..?” I mused. “I guess that makes sense, though I thought other people named their pets only because they wanted to.”

  Hmmm, a boy's name.

  A dragon’s name.

  A dragon boy’s name.

  A boy’s name..?

  Uhh, boy names are… Igny, Kenta, and Thenaraz.

  Ign—ent—araz?

  Ignentaraz! Igny— mmm, no. No nicknames, just Ignentaraz. Nice. Super cool. It's perfect!

  “Oh wow, am I a genius or something? I came up with such an original name so easily,” I uttered in awe of myself.

  I’m amazing.

  I set Ignentaraz down and he seemed to be happy with his new name.

  “Huh? Did you say something?” Igny asked, freeing himself from his daydream.

  "Uh no," I replied.

  "Say…" started Igny. "You got two of these eggs right?"

  "No," I stated firmly. I shook my head and crossed my arms resolutely. "Nuh uh. I know what you're going to say and it's not happening."

  A weird, painful tightness formed in my chest. It was extremely uncomfortable, irritating me to no end.

  What's this feeling?

  "What? No chance at all?" Igny huffed.

  Ugh you're so annoying Igny.

  I was feeling irritated and restless, as if desperate for something. This overwhelming feeling was unbearable.

  "You really think I'd just give you my other precious baby I worked so hard for just like that?" I lashed out, irritated.

  "Well.. kinda— Celia?!"

  My legs gave out and I collapsed forward as my UI started flashing red.

  {WARNING: Low Oxygen}

  "Ign-y… Can't— br--the," I rasped, weakly pounding my chest.

  I clawed at my throat, I felt like I was suffocating.

  I need to log out!

  "Celia!!"

  What's.. happening?

  I felt a strange fatigue wash over the rest of my body as I grew weaker and weaker.

  "It hurts.. Chloe, Uncle.. help."

  An abrupt ending to my day, the world faded to nothingness.