AN: So, this happened. :)

Chapter 37.2: The Dreams of a Dragon

The dawn had come, and with it had come the final day of preparation before Scott intended to clean house on the parking lot at Archer's. The sight of the city below had shifted already as the night terrors moved back and weaker monsters began to spawn.

Scott sighed a dragon's sigh. He had not managed to determine what was wrong with him. All he knew was that he desired food, rest, and solitude. He liked being high up in the air for some reason. This building was not nearly tall enough to sate that desire, but he accepted it as what was the best current location.

It was both strange and comforting to reside atop the tallest peak in the area while he stared out at the cityscape below. What was stranger still, was the crystalline blue screen that appeared before him not long after the coming of the dawn.

[Congratulations!]

We're sorry for the delay in proper character updates recently. The system has been a real bear. [Grrr! Amirite?] let me tell you a little of the good news that we have for you lovely people today!

Now that we have fixed a few issues, it has come to our attention that some of you wonderfully entertaining people are in need of well-earned upgrades! We will now calculate what has not been updated recently, and retroactively update you to suit your proper station.

--

Congratulations! Your professional title has increased in level!

You are now a Dark Page!

Congratulations! Your professional title has increased in level!

You are now an Esquire of the Dark!

Congratulations! Your professional title has increased in level!

You are now a Knight of Darkness!

Congratulations! Your professional title has increased in level!

You are now a Dark Baronet.

Congratulations! Your professional title has increased in level!

You are now a Baron of the Night.

Scott blinked slowly as the updates overwhelmed him. He had gone from a gentleman of darkness to a Baron of the Night. It was such a ridiculous level of upgrade that he could scarcely believe it. Though, now that it had been brought up he did wonder why his professional title level had not increased before.

"Was this all because the programmers are garbage?" Shara had mentioned how badly designed the updated code for the world was in her opinion. Apparently, the base concept used to change the world was one that was well designed, but basic to the extent that it needed to be updated to make it work properly in actual use. The gods in charge of the world updates were basically the divine equivalent of hack programmers.

He decided to check his new status as a lord of darkness. Was a Baron of the Night much stronger than a Gentleman of Darkness?

[Profession Title]

Dark Lord [Baron of the Night]

Level 6 [53.4576%]

Due to the fact that you own land and are associated with the powers of darkness and the night, you have been granted a title befitting a lord of your stature. You have grown beyond the rank of landed gentry, and worked your way beyond the class of minor nobles. You are now known to be among the lowest echelon of the major nobility of darkness.

Side Note: Increase your holdings and forces to rise in the ranks and become a true Dark Lord! Give ‘em hell, Scott!

+ 60% stat increase when fighting at night or in the dark.

+ 60% resistance against powers of the dark.

- 60% defense when in the presence of the powers of the light.

Dark attribute abilities are much easier to learn and use now. Specialty abilities will be twice as effective at night. This only includes racial and professional abilities, not general skills and magic.

As a Mahorela Abaivonin Baron of the Night you now have access to the Dark Novus, the power within you that is derived from the hope that you grant to others, also allows you to give life to new creations. See new information in your soul devouring section.

As a Mahorela Abaivonin Baron of the Night you now have access to more dungeon related creation items and a considerable discount on the purchase of such items.

As a baron with a castle, you are now entitled to create an army of darkness at your command. Please see dark army creation instruction manual.

As a Baron who owns both a major and minor city, along with both a castle and a manor house, you are now selectable as peerage of the dark realm. Please contact the dark goddess to see if she is interested in accepting you for such a prestigious post. You will need to become a peer of the realm before you can rise to the next level as a lord of darkness.

--

A small pamphlet appeared in the air then dropped to the ground. He picked it up and read the title. "My Dark Army Can't Really Be This Cute!"

Scotts draconic eyelid began to twitch. "This... the hell? What's with the name of this thing? Is it a manga?" He checked the author of the pamphlet and groaned a little. "Written by the beautiful and mysterious goddess of darkness."

"Shara... Seriously?" asked Scott. He shook his head to clear his mind of the nonsense running through it at the moment. "Man, what about these new perks and bonuses!" He certainly did not mind becoming stronger, but the sheer ridiculous nature of how much stronger he would become at night was mind boggling.

"Never fight an upper-crust dark lord in the dark, I guess?" asked Scott. No wonder he had so much weakness to light! It was not such a big deal at the moment, as he would only fight with the same capacity that he would if he were around level thirteen normally, if his stat upgrades from skills were not counted. What happened if he made it to a much higher level? At level fifty he would have damned near level eighty stats at night by default! Hell, at level seven he could fight and defeat a level twenty boss monster solo, and that was without too much extensive training! "Overpowered as fuck, man..."

Scott smiled slightly. Good. He needed all the power that he could get. If he trained hard, he might actually have a chance against some of the truly hellish and overpowered monsters now.

He spent a little time checking through his information and reading his pamphlet. His bright red eyes gleamed as brightly as the burning red sun of dawn. "Oh, yes. This will do nicely."

The dragon had plans to make. Soon, his surprisingly cute army of darkness would rise up. Well, if he could figure out the system properly. "Wonder if giving a portion of my power to my generals is wise?" He could always just kill a few more monsters at night and use the souls to empower his people.

"Either way, making my own monsters sounds fun as well... I just need to increase my level first." he said thoughtfully while he checked through his information. So many new abilities had popped up, but the information regarding how they worked was quite scarce.

"Well, why not try it? Let me check that monster creation blurb again." said Scott.

Phantasmal Egregore

By using the souls of the departed and the crystallized essence of memory from those who have passed beyond, you can create the Dark Novus, a power to create life anew. Albeit, a mere shadow of true life. You may also combine these monsters through experimentation. However, the Dark Novus cost will be greater.

Current available monsters.

Screaming Onion

Zombie

Giant Scorpion

Fiend Rat

Goblin

Leaper

Scarvulf

Tentacle Fiend

Human

Dire Wolf

"Wait, human? I can make people?" Scott reared his head back and stared at the screen in confusion. That was just disturbing, though the part where he could combine parts to create hybrids. Not only could he create humans, he could create onion people at that. Curious, he checked a few of the entries for further clarification.

Phantasmal Egregore: Human

The semblance of man forged from the Dark Novus and life essence of a lord of darkness. Unlike a natural human being, these creatures have no true will of their own and come with a shelf-life. They do, however, have a limited pre-programmed personality due to your lack of power and skill. You do not have the power and skill to upscale your creation.

Cost: 25000 Vital Essence | 3 Medium Dark Novus

"Twenty-five thousand?! How the hell can anyone have so much vital essence?" he asked the empty air. There had to be a trick to it, somehow. After he spent a moment considering his options, his eyes lit up. "Well, there might be a way... Better check with something less intense first." He opted to check on the cost of creating the weakest monster that he knew about.

Phantasmal Egregore: Screaming Onion

The semblance of a fiesty onion forged from the Dark Novus and the life essence of a lord of darkness. These creatures will look and act like a normal screaming onion found in the wilds. You are both powerful and skilled enough to create true screaming onions. You are both powerful and skilled enough to upscale this creation.

Cost: 210 Vital Essence | 1 Small Dark Novus

Scaling Cost: Increase base level of screaming onion by one per additional 150 vital essence used. Will require an upgrade to 1 medium dark novus in order to upscale.

"Now, this is more like it." Scott could theoretically create a screaming onion at any level that he wanted so long as he had the vital essence and a medium dark novus.

The word dark novus continued to pop up, so he decided to look into it further to see exactly what the process of creating it entailed. After reading through the information blurb his eyes widened slightly. "So... Damn. I just picked those things up on a whim." Scott transformed into his human form then concentrated for a moment. Within the palm of his hand little green fragments of crystal began to appear. Three tiny crystal fragments, items he had picked up at the graveyard because the shiny little things had caught his attention, were in fact the memories of the departed that he needed.

Scott had dozens of those things sort of hanging out inside of him. The other thing that he needed was soul energy, which he would find in abundance at the parking lot. His special abilities doubled at night. Each one of those rotting bastards counted for twice as much soul energy as before, if he fought them at night. Of course, he would do so. They would be higher in level at night! Between his increased stat bonus and the doubled special capacity, he would be an idiot to take them out during the day.

He had plans to make, and more thought to give to his current abilities. It seemed that rising in professional status had vastly improved his current racial skill set. It did make sense when he considered the fact that he only had his current racial heritage because of that profession.