Leo awoke with a ragged gasp as the power from the dreamscape crashed back into his body.

  He writhed on the ground, muscles locking as the storm inside him finally began to settle.

  “Leo! Leo!” a voice called desperately.

  It took a few moments to come to his senses as he felt his body finally relax. His muscles felt like they had been cramping for hours, like he was in a state of constant tension for the whole night. He groaned as he tried to move.

  “Leo!” the voice shouted, basically inside his ear.

  Leo’s eyes shot open in alarm, looking at his whole group staring at him from above. Their expressions varied from apprehension and worry to shock and relief.

  “Hey guys,” Leo greeted slowly, his voice croaking. “Any chance of some water?”

  Ashley quickly pulled a canteen from her storage ring, holding it for Leo to drink from.

  The water was cool and refreshing, sending a deliciously cold chill through his aching body.

  Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.

  “What happened to you?” Lena asked. “You suddenly started thrashing, crying out in pain. I didn’t know what to do.”

  “You gave everyone quite the scare, kid.” Bjorn added, “When we rushed over you were giving off an almighty heat, damn near burned my skin off touching you.”

  “It’s not something I should really discuss with so many listening,” Leo whispered, glancing past his friends at all the people who were watching him from a safe, but audible, distance.

  “Does it have something to do with your four?” Cecelia asked cryptically.

  Leo nodded, the movement causing a twinge of pain he masked poorly as Ashley started healing him.

  “You’ll have to come up with something plausible. It will be pretty hard to explain those eyes otherwise,” Cecelia said, smiling.

  “My eyes? What’s happened to them?” He patted his face, worried it wasn’t all that changed.

  Bjorn gave a hearty laugh. “They look like a disco is happening inside them.”

  A disco in my eyes… Disco eyes from a dragon god? Seriously?

  “I think they look amazing,” Ashley said, awed. Staring directly at him with her own vibrant emerald green eyes.

  “Thanks,” Leo muttered awkwardly, unable to meet her intense gaze.

  “Anything happen while I was out?” Leo asked. “Also, how long was I out?”

  “Nothing dangerous,” Cecelia began explaining. “All those who were on the verge of death have pulled through. It’s been almost four hours. We believed the Goliath had used some kind of curse or something on you to take you down with it. Which in turn kept us from sleeping much.” She gave him a tired look.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you guys. I promise I’ll explain what I can.”

  “That’s fine. I must ask if you perhaps timed your awakening and could have woken up to inform us sooner.”

  Confused, Leo looked at her.

  “The tutorial store unlocks pretty soon, think that’s what she’s implying,” Amy said, laughing. “Pretty sure she’s joking.”

  “Not like he would want to miss it, he would have come back from the dead if need be,” Ashley added, also laughing.

  “I wasn’t,” Cecelia said. Which only sparked more laughter.

  Leo rested his head back as the group enjoyed themselves, the tension and worry now fading under the joyous laughter.

  “Need a hand up?” Bjorn asked once things had settled.

  “Give me a minute,” Leo replied. “The system just dumped half a life story on me.”

  “I bet,” Bjorn said with a chuckle, standing.

  “Alright. We are meeting up in the courtyard. Come out when you’re ready, and prepare an explanation,” Cecelia said, already leaving.

  Leo gave a brief wave from his prone position as everyone moved off, everyone but Ashley.

  “Did you not want to go with them?”

  “I wanted to talk with you first.”

  Leo waited for her to continue.

  “I wanted to thank you for saving me, again. When I woke up, surrounded by corpses, hearing you scream… I thought the worst.” Her emotions started coming through a shaky voice.

  “They told me that you rushed in to distract that giant monster, almost dying in order to save me.”

  “That’s not exactly right,” Leo started saying, but then shook his head. “Okay, it’s kind of right. I was fighting in a way that was pretty reckless, which you’ve seen first hand. I’m going to try and change that now, which might mean less work for you.”

  “That’s good,” Ashley said, sniffing. “But still, thanks for saving me again.”

  She leaned down and kissed him gently on the forehead.

  Leo expected his face to heat up in embarrassment. Instead, a calm warmth settled in his chest. He simply smiled. “Anytime.”

  “I’ll see you outside when you’re ready,” Ashley said, now standing.

  “No worries, I won’t be long.”

  Now that he was relatively alone, minus the few onlookers and those sleeping off the battle from the night previous, he decided to look through his notifications.

  You have formed a pact with Iskarion, The Last Tempest.

  You have gained the title: Stormforged Pactbearer

  You have gained the skill: Storm’s Guidance (Unique)

  You have received the item: Dragon Egg (Unique)

  You have bonded to: Dragon Egg (Unique)

  Your profession has changed to: Companion Bond - Dragon Egg

  Companion bond - Dragon Egg

  You have formed a soul-bond with a dormant Dragon Egg through a System pact. This bond replaces your profession slot and will evolve as the egg grows.

  Current status: Dormant

  The egg is unhatched. No profession bonuses or skills granted.

  Requires infusion of Essence bound mana to accelerate development

  Progression is influenced by compatibility of Essence mana, consistency of care, and environmental resonance.

  This companion is not a summon or tamed pet. This bond is permanent and evolves with your soul.

  “That’s a lot to unpack. I shouldn’t have said I’d be right out,” Leo muttered. He exhaled slowly.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The system had a habit of doing this, rewriting the course of his life in the space of a few quiet lines.

  He took it piece by piece. There was a new skill, so he checked that out first.

  Storm’s Guidance (Unique)

  A volatile force bound to your bloodline begins to settle. You learn to endure the storm without being consumed by it.

  Your storm no longer reacts uncontrollably to emotional surges, reducing the loss of control during heightened emotional states.

  During flare ups, the skill will help regain control.

  Active Effect:

  Call of the Storm

  Temporarily align with the storm in your blood and Iskarion’s guidance. For a short time you may tap into your storm directly, unleashing a powerful Essence surge.

  Unleashes a storm pulse of lightning and wind in a small area.

  Enemies caught in the storm pulse may be briefly stunned or disoriented.

  Cooldown: 24 hours

  Leo let out a low whistle.

  This skill was… perfect. Almost too perfect. Like someone had reached into his head, found his biggest weakness and just patched it with divine lightning.

  He tried to feel his storm, or his bloodline rather, and it was pleasantly quiet. No longer trying to burst out of him the moment his guard was down.

  It was the first time in his life he didn’t have to actively suppress it and he only now was feeling how much weight it took off his shoulders, like removing a set of weighted clothing.

  The active effect surprised him. Iskarion had mentioned granting him a way to control his storm but not an offensive one.

  A tickling sensation crept along his channels as he briefly started to activate it out of curiosity before subduing it. It could wait, and this was no place to test either of his new skills.

  Despite how exciting the prospect was.

  Next up was his Dragon egg or companion bond, he looked around to see if there was just an egg lying around but then thought it may be in his ring. He focused and tried to feel it.

  It wasn’t there.

  Leo panicked for a second, patting himself like he’d lost his wallet, before he calmed himself down and thought about it more rationally.

  It was sort of just absorbed into me in the dreamscape, Leo considered. I think I know where you are.

  Leo sat up in a meditative pose. His body was no longer complaining, the pain in his muscles slowly subsiding.

  He quickly found himself in his soul-space. The vast open plain that housed his Essences. The storm that threatened the skyline with its raging torrents was like a calm breeze on the mountains.

  Next to the orbs that contained his elemental prowess sat a solitary egg. Its everchanging rainbow stripes decorated its shell. It floated just above an ornate pedestal.

  Leo wasn’t sure how he carried a pedestal into his soul, but he guessed it was just a quirk of the System or his imagination.

  He approached the egg and gently placed his hand on it. The shell was smooth with a constantly changing temperature. It felt incredible. It wasn’t something he could remember ever feeling, like stone made of silk.

  As his hand caressed the smooth shell, he could feel it reach out to him. The feeling of hunger rushed through him. It was requesting something, longing for it. His mana. Leo concentrated on the connection between himself and the egg. Then looked over to where his Essences were sitting.

  Leo carefully tried to channel the strings of mana that were tailing off into the sky into the egg. All the strings moved a little at first, but then resisted. Frowning, Leo tried to take solely from his Fire Essence.

  The string started to move like before but instead of resisting, it flowed happily into the egg. Wrapping its warm, crimson mana around it like a cocoon. The egg seemed to eagerly drink it in with fervor.

  Leo felt the drain on his body and mana as it drank in all it could. For now he’d just let it drink its fill, hoping it was okay, it's not like the egg came with instructions. He’d consider whether or not to stop the flow if he needed to fight.

  His hand caressed the egg a bit more, he already felt connected to it but didn’t know if the bond went both ways yet.

  He hoped it did.

  Time was ticking and he didn’t want to make Cecelia any more grumpy, so he left the soul-space.

  Leo's vision returned to the half destroyed, blood covered building. More people had stopped watching him, opting to head outside where there was going to be some sort of meeting or gathering for the tutorial store to unlock.

  Speaking of.

  Tutorial store unlocks in 9 minutes

  It had crept up on him before he realised. The possibilities of what it could hold was exciting, especially due to him having so many Store Credits. But there was still time to inspect his title, one that sounded pretty cool, if he did say so himself.

  Stormforged Pactbearer

  You did not inherit the storm. You earned its trust. The last of the stormbound saw your will and chose you. Not as a weapon, but as a partner. Your path is your own. But now, the skies will remember your name.

  +10 Will, +10% Will

  Slight resistance to fear and mental disruption

  Recognised as a Draconic Pactbearer

  It certainly felt ominous, but also welcoming. Words he didn’t know the true meaning of littered throughout. Words like: Stormbound, Draconic Pactbearer. They held such power, but didn’t explain why.

  The bonus to stats and mental resistance was more than welcome, even if Will wasn’t really a stat he had any idea what it did.

  Iskarion said it wasn’t about mental fortitude, but of course didn’t mention the real use for it, Leo rolled his eyes. What is it about these god-like entities and being so ambiguous?

  It was no use trying to figure that out now. There were more pressing matters ticking down in his periphery that held all of his curiosity. Standing, he decided to take a look at his stat page, wondering how it looked with everything now.

  Name: Leonidas Hawkins

  Level: 17

  Race: Human (F)

  Class: Pugilist

  Companion Bond: Dragon Egg

  Health Points (HP): 400/400

  Mana Points (MP): 303/310

  Stamina Points (SP): 369/370

  Stats

  Strength: 52

  Agility: 69

  Endurance: 37

  Vitality: 40

  Toughness: 26

  Intelligence: 31

  Wisdom: 24

  Will: 42

  Free Points: 4

  Bloodline: Bloodline of the Elements

  Essences

  Fire (F)

  Fuel The Fire (Uncommon)

  Ice (F)

  Frost Lance (Uncommon)

  Lightning (F)

  Voltaic Reflex (Common)

  Earth (F)

  Stoneskin (Common)

  Titles

  Bloodline Originator

  First Blood

  Dungeon Delver I

  Stormforged Pactbearer

  Class Skills

  Unarmed mastery (Common)

  Refined Mana Strikes (Uncommon)

  Powerful Haymaker (Common)

  Iron Repetition (Common)

  Echoing Talon (Uncommon)

  Race Skills

  Multiversal Polyglot (Unique)

  Identify (Common)

  Storm’s Guidance (Unique)

  All his stats had gotten quite the boost, but his Agility had skyrocketed above most of his other stats. It suited him quite nicely. The stat would likely be the main focus for him going forward. It was a little skewed, he did admit, but the way of fixing it wasn’t an easy one.

  Likely something my Profession would have done before I accepted this pact… Oh well. It was going to kill me if I didn’t.

  It was interesting that the Storm’s Guidance skill was listed under his Race skills, he’d have assumed it would have been listed somewhere else, considering Iskarion’s race. The thought of him secretly being a dragon was quickly discarded.

  Although Natalie sure could roar when she was angry. The memory lit up his face.

  After satisfying all his curiosities, or at least, those he could, Leo prepared himself for the day. He brushed off any dust from his clothing. Any nicks or tears it had gotten during the night had repaired themselves, making it good as new.

  Someone had kindly cleaned all the blood from his hands and face while he slept, but he still needed to take a trip to the river for a bath. It had been a while, and the scent of dead ants wasn’t very pleasant.

  He stretched his body in sweet delight, rolled his shoulders, then made his way outside to where the others were waiting, ready to shop.

  Whatever waited beyond that doorway, he would meet it calmer than before.

  Dreadspire: The Weakest Druid

  Dreadspire was a single-player game designed to break the unbreakable.

  Eryndor Leafshade, he found himself trapped in the body of a druid, the weakest playable race in Dreadspire.

  Dreadspire proves that no one was ever meant to win.

  Only the strongest may ascend

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