forbidden knowledge

Chapter 1 the beginning Part 3 the dragons bounty

After Raphael graduated. He immediately went home and headed to his room. The less people were watching the better. He then closed the curtains in his room. He didn't want to take any chances. Raphael then snapped his finger. This resulted in a dark purple portal opening. One that was exactly big enough to allow him to enter. Raphael then walked through the portal. The portal then disappeared. As if it recognized the reason why Raphael had taken such countermeasures.

Inside the portal Raphael could now see what type of dimensional storage he had. It was non other than his own mindscape. He could tell from images of himself reading in his past life. It also seemed to be bigger on the inside. Just then Raphael could see something that he had not intended to put inside his storage. It seemed the mind and soul of the Dragon still remained. Raphael then decided what to do about it. In theory any mindscape could be controlled in a similar way to lucid dreaming. Though only for the owner of the mindscape. Raphael then decided to test this theory. He then snapped his finger.

The mind and soul of the Dragon were then instantly absorbed into Raphael's mind and soul respectively. Raphael then learned why the Dragon was considered evil. Within the Dragon's memories was several times where it not only killed thousands of people. It also killed it's own family members and destroyed multiple countries all on it's own. Though these memories didn't change who Raphael was. He might not be a hero. But this was a bit much. If the Dragon really cared that much about it's horde then it could have just asked for money in exchange for providing protection.

Raphael then began to butcher the Dragon. Though taking care to remove the scales without braking more of them then necessary. After what felt like hours of work He was finished. He had plans for the scales. bones. and the blood of the Dragon. Though the meat of the Dragon itself was largely without any magical property's. All Raphael could really do with it was donate the excess dragon meat to a restaurant. Or perhaps he could sell it and gain more money. In the end Raphael decided he didn't really have a need for extra money. Besides. It wouldn't make that much of a difference to his already vast amount of money anyway.

Raphael then noticed that among the dragon's horde was an orange colored dragon egg. It looked ready to hatch within 2 years time. Though it seemed as if that time was paused within his mindscape. Raphael then went back outside his mindscape with the Dragon egg carefully in his hands. If this was correct then it would confirm at least 1 eldritch truth was correct. With the first step outside his mindscape He could notice the flow of time had continued from when he last walked in it. This meant the eldritch truth about minds was correct.

each mind contained a mindscape. Though normally a mindscape was finite in size. It normally was also 3 dimensional in nature. But inbetween the mindscape and the mind was an infinite sized world of both dreams and nightmares. In multiple ways it acted as a dimension of time. though it was a non physical dimension that wasn't directly connected to the mindscape. And it relies on time from higher dimensions to maintain it's existence. However. The world of dreams and nightmares wasn't 'real'. Not even anything from it or within it was 'real'.

As a consequence. This meant the mindscape was less 'real' than dreams and nightmares. In truth every mind was a nonexistent reality. An 'unreality' if you will. Those were the exact words on a page from the necronomicon. Raphael couldn't find any way to argue against it. This was just the multiversal truth about minds. Though it was puzzling why that organization didn't know this. If they knew. They could have just expanded the mindscape of each member of the organization. Then slowly adapt to knowledge that would mess with sanity. After that there would have been largely no real reason to make him join. Or even contain him for that matter.

Yes they would become anomalies. But they could do much better like that than if he was contained. And while Raphael knew that his anomaly was related to why his mindscape acted as a world where time. Even from higher dimensions. Stood still. It was easy to acknowledge that his mindscape had the properties of a multidimensional world. It's influence over the concept of time confirms this. This made Raphael wander just how powerful his mind could become.

Though he returned the Dragon egg back into his mindscape. After that he closed the portal to his mindscape. better safe than sorry and all that. Raphael then preceded to donate 75 percent of the Dragon meat to a local restaurant. Including organs such as it's heart. Some people out there in the world considered those to be delicacies. Though Raphael wasn't one of them. Next he had Gray help with the Dragon blood potions. Assuming nothing goes wrong all 50 should be ready the next day.

Next he asked Jared to use the Dragon scales to make him a wizard robe. Along with a Dragon bone wand and long sword. Jared accepted this request. Though requested the payment to be in the form of extra dragon scales and Dragon bones. And while Raphael had wanted to pay with money. He was curious what Jared would do with those resources. And either way. This was potentially going to help Jared's business. if everything required for it existed in his previous life. Equipment made of such exotic materials would easily be worth at least millions of dollars. 

As such. The potential equipment could gain the attention of local barons and counts. Perhaps even kings. Jared said that the requested equipment should be ready before the start of the next month. While most people would question asking a blacksmith to make wizard equipment. Jared preemptively learned his way around magic equipment and sewing before becoming a blacksmith. In certain cases it becomes necessary.

Such as sewing dragon scales to make a wizard robe. Or making sure a newly created wand or staff was capable of being used. Or repairing such equipment. He really was quite a unique artisan in this regard. For dinner Raphael cooked some Dragon steaks. When he was sure the steaks were ready to eat. Raphael put them on some plates for his family to also enjoy. But when he took the first bite of his Dragon steak. He found that the flavor was similar to beef But with a similar texture to pork. Though it was also fat free.

It made for quite a good meal that the entire family liked. Later that night Raphael went to bed and had an abnormal dream. In which he grew dragon like fangs and his skin grew almost unnoticeable scales. Though his eyes changed from having green pupils to dark purple pupils. But in the dream. He began to go on adventure after adventure. It was like some form of anime where the main character had some form of leveling system. He began to notice how his body changed.

Villagers never even remembered his green pupils or that he never had dragon like fangs. Soon enough Raphael had noticed it wasn't just the villagers. It was everyone in the town he lived in. And nobody else knew nothing about his existence. Eventually he was offered by the king to become an adviser. Though at the same time was said to be an enemy of every church in the world Just because they couldn't replicate the properties of his magic. Then Raphael woke up.

He immediately felt he now had Dragon like fangs. Though when he looked in the mirror. He could see all the changes. Though he almost didn't notice his scales. For now they were the color his skin was. But that could potentially change. And luckily he still had hair. However It didn't take long for Raphael to realize what he now was. Though still mostly human. He was now a Dragonborn that was very distantly related to dragons. This wouldn't mean much normally. However. It gave him a significant increase to his magic reserves. He was certain it was enough to create a planet or 2. The proportional strength of a Dragon of his age. And an equal lifespan to a dragon.

He knew what this meant for his family. There only human. He would likely outlive several generations of his own family. The only exception being his own theoretical descendents. It was functionally no different from being immortal. Although it could be undone. Raphael decided against it. Eternal life wasn't the reason why someone would outlive their loved ones. It was because the loved ones are still mortal. People die everyday. A longer life means someone will watch more people die. In this regard life wasn't the problem. death was. Even without immortality there was a chance people he knew could die each day.

After that thought Raphael looked out a window and could see the Sun was rising.