Dragon Child: The Journey Begins

Chapter 30

It's coming closer.... closer.... closer...  Ew! It touched me! Strange. I thought it would burn more.  Strangely enough, though, it's just a bit, for lack of a better word, slimy.

And now it's tasting my arm. Hey wait a minute! My arm! Give it back!

I put my foot on it to help pull my arm out. However, it seems I made a bit of a mistake here.  For example, now my foot is inside the slime too.

Great, now what? It's making me a bit unbalanced.  It's not like I want to hurt it. It was just doing what slimes do. No need to punish it.  So I was thinking of using some kind of gentle magic to extracate myself from this situation.

I could just teleport myself to another location. However, to do that I need to remove my arm and foot first. I don't have teleporting quite down yet, so I tend to bring along anything I touch.  That includes anything that's currently ingesting me.  Also, it doesn't help that this collar thing is messing with my control of magic.

And, all of a sudden, the slime is leaving me. Well, it wasn't suddenly, more like super slowly.  Can't this slime move faster?

Although, I'm slightly curious as to why it's letting me go. Am I not delicious?  I feel a little offended.

Dragons are supposed to be the most delicious thing to eat, according to humans.  Now, I know I'm not a true dragon, per say, but that deliciousness should have rubbed off on me a bit, right?

Wait, what am I even thinking about?!

"Strange."

What was that? Who's talking?

"Who's talking?" You know, I'm just going to go with that fact that I repeat my thoughts out loud.  Just don't tell me a secret,  I might blurt it out uncontrollably.

"Strange human."

There it is again.  Is it one of the denizens talking? But it seems more like it's coming from all around, and from no place in particular.

"Why is your mana so strange?"

Hmm, a new word came out. What's mana?

"What's mana?" And there I go again. Really, you should be used to this by now. Who am I even talking to, anyway?

"Strange, to have such strange mana and not know what mana is."

"Listen, it's rude to just call me strange over and over again.  I will have you know, mysterious voice, that I am a perfectly normal dragon hatchling. Well, technically I'm human, but I was raised as a dragon and that's what I identify as. Perfectly normal with no strangeness involved.  Hmph." I believe that it is very important to let mysterious voices know where you stand.

"Dragon?! Dragon's mana! Yes, I feel a dragon's mana!"

Hmm, it seems unnaturally excited about dragon mana. If I'm to be honest, although I was raised a dragon, I'm not a true dragon. That means my mana, whatever that is, is probably human. This mysterious voice is probably feeling Umbra's mana! I could get its help to find her!

"Excuse me, mysterious voice. Now, I'm pretty sure you're not talking about me. But there is a real dragon in this dungeon. I'm not saying I'm not a real dragon, but physically speaking, I'm technically a human. That being the case, I was hoping that you might be able to find her. The dragon, I mean. She's my precious little hatchling and you seem to be able to sense where she is." That sounded polite enough.

Honestly, though, I am not sure I can trust the mysterious voice since I'm not sure what's even speaking, or where it's coming from.  And although I really want to know what mana is, I think my priority should be Umbra. You see, that's what being a parent is all about. Eh, who am I even trying to convince?

But then, I really want to know what mana is too!

"Also, what is this mana you where talking about?" That didn't offset what I had asked before, did it? What if it will only answer one question and that's the question it answers?  Then I will never find Umbra!  She's too good at hide and seek.

But I really want to know!

What's that? You want to know where my priorities went? That's not important right now! What's important is finding out what mana is.....and finding Umbra. Of course that's important!  Ahem.

"Strange human.  I will tell you. Mana is magic. Mana is different for each creature.  Although all creatures in this dungeon has the same mana signature,  as they are all made from me."

Made from the mysterious voice? What does it mean by that?

"What do you mean by that?" Should I feel apprehensive speaking with a disembodied voice? Some how, I'm not though.

"I mean what I said. They are made from me.  They are the parts that protect my heart."

Somehow, I get the feeling I know what the voice is. Although I'm not sure where it's speaking from. I suppose it makes some sense, considering it has a heart.

"Are you, by any chance, the dungeon itself?" I had to ask. The suspense is killing me!

"I am."

Whoa! I was right?! Wait a minute. Something seems strange about this.

"I never heard from the others that you could talk." Yep. That's what's wrong. I mean, if it could talk, why didn't the humans talk to it first, instead of attacking the creatures?

"You are different."

Eh? What's that supposed to mean?

"So you talked to me because I'm different?  Why didn't you talk to other humans then? Wouldn't your heart be safer if you told them about yourself?" It just didn't make any sense to me.

"I am a dungeon. I need the mana of creatures who enter me in order to get stronger."

"How do you get mana from others? Isn't it inside of them?" I think I'm just getting more and more confused here.

"I can copy the mana of monsters who enter me.  They have little intelligence,  so it is easier. Higher life forms must agree first. Humans will never help a dungeon get stronger. Thus, the only way for me to obtain their mana is for them to die to my creatures.  However, if they die, I cannot copy their essence, it will only increase my own mana.  That is why no human creatures will be found as a dungeon monster.  At best, we can bring back a copy of their corpses. But doing so will bring a calamity, so most dungeons will not do that."

I feel like I just learned a lot in a really short time. My head kind of hurts now.

And I must say, it makes sense to have to ask permission from a higher life form before you copy them. Imagine a bunch of me running around in this dungeon! It's a bit scary!

"If you copy the mana from a higher lifeform, will it be the same as the one you copied?"

"It will not. It will be as if a newly born creature.  It will have the intelligence,  but must learn first. And they would be able to leave the dungeon more easily,  becoming a dungeon's eyes and ears in the world. I wish to copy the mana of the dragon, but I must first get its permission ."

"Wait, you want to copy Umbra?! She's just a baby! You would need both hers and my permission." I need to immediately make boundries to protect my baby.

"Very well. May I have your permission?"

Well, it's very polite. "I'm not sure. I will have to talk it over with Umbra first. Speaking of, do you know where she is right now?"

"I know everything within this dungeon. It is me, after all."

"Really?! Where is she? I've been looking everywhere for her!" Thank goodness! I now have a sure fire way to find the little brat...I mean, the precious little princess. I would never think of her as a brat! Stop looking at me like that! Ahem.

"The other humans have found her. They are attacking right now."

Whew! The dungeon really found her! I'm so relieved!

. . . . . . .

Wait. WHAT?!