AN: My apologies for the length of time that it took to put this post up. A lot has been going on in the last week and some change at my house that I don't want to go into. Anyway, we should be back on track now! :)

Chapter 40.3: Just a Game

There were few things that could cause Sonja to feel great emotion. One of those things was a good battle. The other was her draconic master. She had come to adore the tiny baby dragon. He was just the right size to hug and cuddle, and such a thing caused her to easily allow her cares to flow away.

Sonja stared up at the scaled head looming above her. Now Scott's draconic head alone was bigger than his hatchling form! A single thought entered her mind and refused to leave. "I want to ride you master."

"No." said Scott. He shook his head then sat up on his hind legs and crossed his forelegs over his chest. "Not happening."

Sonja grinned at him then batted her eyelashes. "Yes?"

"That would still be a no." said Scott.

The Valkyrie pouted at him cutely for a moment. "You promised..."

"When did I ever promise that?" he asked her, an incredulous tone in his voice. He did not recall ever promising to let her ride him like a horse.

"Perhaps it was merely a dream that I had, but it should still count..." she replied resolutely. Sonja placed her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders. "Don't the things that you say in your dreams count as promises?"

"In my dreams yes, I have no control over whatever kind of crazy is going on inside your head." said Scott before offering a predatory smile. He had wanted to seem friendly and cheerful, but if anyone but Sonja had seen that crocodilian response they might have died from fright. Gone was the absurdly cute hatchling. In its place was a creature who would have looked adorable had he been smaller, but at his size he looked absolutely terrifying.

Sonja huffed at him a little then shook her head. "I see. You do not wish to indulge my fantasies..."

Scott dropped down onto all-fours then nudged her with his muzzle. "How about I learn to fly first? I won't be anyone's private transportation on the ground, but I could see all of us flying together sometime."

The Valkyrie's eyes closed softly. A moment later gentle tears began to slip down her cheeks. They traced the curvature of her face and caused Scott to pull his head back in surprise. Sonja rarely cried, most of the time it had to do with his issues when a tear slid from her crystalline eyes.

"Thank you, master." said Sonja in a soft, and trembling tone.

"Hey, hey... What's this?" he asked, unnerved by her response.

She coughed once then opened her eyes slowly. "My apologies... It is just that riding a dragon is every little girl's dream."

Scott shifted to human form then reached out and placed a hand to her shoulder. "I'm a little weird about it, I guess. I don't know why I'm so reluctant to let you girls ride me around."

"No, no. Dragons are not horses. They don't accept just anyone." said Sonja, before she reached out and lightly stroked Scott's cheek with the back of her hand.

He stared at her flatly for a moment. "If you offer me a sugar cube I am going to bite you."

Her laughter filled the air for a moment before she slipped forward and wrapped her arms around him. "Speaking of riding my master and biting..."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Down girl."

"I thought that you might never ask." Sonja slid her hands down and gripped his ass cheeks. "I've been lonely sleeping by myself."

Scott closed his eyes then leaned forward and awkwardly kissed her on the cheek. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. You have returned." said Sonja softly before propping her chin up on his shoulder. "We can sleep together tonight."

Scott's eyes were already closed, but he closed them even tighter and nodded slightly. "Yeah... We can do that."

"Good." she said softly before hugging him close.

He took a deep shuddering breath then nodded again. "Yeah, good..."

It was the toughest battle he had faced to date; not fleeing from the scene. His few attempts at interacting with the fairer sex prior to the world going crazy had ended badly. Technically he had not been a virgin by the time that he had met Sonja, but that was an incredibly tenuously acceptable technicality. As things stood, he could barely even contemplate having intercourse without the ruination that was the end of his sister's life popping into his head in full gory detail.

He had discovered a workaround, his sight. If he simply closed his eyes, and did not look at the sex going on he could at least touch a woman in her most sacred of places without feeling like a disgusting sack of crap. He did not know why it was, but it was like he could avoid seeing the constant images of his sister's battered body if he simply avoided seeing anything at all. It was a promising, if poor method. He had actually managed to do a few small things with Sonja before he had gone to sleep the sleep of a growing dragon.

"Hey, before we wander off to sleep. I need to check a few things." said Scott.

"Oh? Such as?" asked Sonja.

"My status for one, and I'd like to get a few plans made for training. You already started the militia, but that doesn't mean that the leadership doesn't need to get a few levels." he said.

It was a good point, and she said as much. "I suppose we can take a nap later... Not much later, though. If you please."

"I do so please." said Scott with an amused expression.

"Good! Shall we go awaken our slumbering companions?" asked Sonja before she squeezed his ass again.

"Uh, Yeah." replied Scott with a grunt. On the way down from the roof of the apartment building he checked his status.

Status

Name: Scott Blackthorne

Race: Mahorela Abaivonin

Title: Baron of the Night

Level: 12 [Infant] Skill Points: 87

Vitality: 344[344]

Weapon Attack: 187[187]

Durability: 278[278]

Natural Armor: 24

Speed: 103[103]

Spirit: 582[582]

[--]

Scott blinked then stared at his status information once more. "It's definitely a major upgrade, but I'm surprised it isn't higher considering my overall growth." If he considered that by level and skill upgrades, most humans at his level would be lucky to have fifty points in any stat; and only well-trained people would have over one hundred points in anything, he was obscenely gifted. Still, he had grown to the size of a tour bus. Surely his weapon attack would be a bit higher than what he saw, if nothing else!

"What's so bad about it?" asked Sonja.

Scott looked his status over again. "I barely have more points in my weapon attack stat than an expertly trained human warrior at my level."

"Are you an expertly trained human warrior?" she asked him critically.

"What? No. I'm an amateur at best." he said with a frown. He looked to her. "With your help I've been getting better, though."

"There you go. You're a mage. The fact that your raw physical attack is anywhere near an expertly trained warrior of the same level says a lot for your natural abilities as a dragon."

"I suppose... I mean, it is about two or three times what I would have probably had as a human since my swordsmanship is a secondary ability." he admitted.

"Most of it is your raw draconic power, though."

"Absolutely." he said in agreement. He then mentioned, "I'm about five times higher in spirit than most... Though, I'm still garbage in most of my stats compared to you."

Sonja laughed beautifully then bumped him with her hip. "Of course you are. You're an amateur. You've come a long way in a few months of training on my world, but you're still green. You only use one weapon as well. Cross-train and specialize if you care about weapon status."

Scott accepted her advice and took it to heart. Her obscene stats for her level were due not just to her Valkyrie racial bonuses, but because she was a warrior. Her ability to attack physically was superior to his by a good degree, but that was because she had totally devoted herself to that task. His true strength was in his spirit, not his claws.

"Actually, I have a lot of skill points to work with. I haven't spent any recently since I wanted to save them up for eventualities with the system upgrades. I should probably take a few that would allow me to develop my weapon attack and speed." said Scott. The only stat that was lower was his natural armor, and that was something that he could only upgrade by gaining a level. It was equal to his level multiplied by two. Though, it only applied when he was in dragon form."

Sonja tilted her head toward him. "What sort of skills are you thinking of acquiring?"

"Well, for starters it is difficult to use weapons in dragon form. I figured that if I focused on developing unarmed combat skill, it would transfer over. Other than that, I need things that upgrade weapon attack and speed."

"Ah, I see. You can start doing things like running to increase your speed. Unarmed combat is a good idea in general." said Sonja. She then brought up something else. "You mentioned wanting to learn to dual wield weapons, as well? A while back, I mean."

They walked down a flight of stairs while they discussed his thoughts and soon they were on the floor where Shara and Ashton currently slept. Scott said, "Yeah. That would allow me to increase both weapon attack and speed, right?"

"True, it would. You could also increase weapon attack faster by developing two-handed weapon skills." said Sonja.

Scott rubbed his chin. "So, I need to see if I can acquire the running skill, dual wielding, two-handed weapons, and unarmed combat. That's forty points if I make them all secondary skills."

"Are you going to check and see?" she asked.

"Yeah, hold on." he said, before calling up his skill menu and options. The first thing he did was check his skill list.

Skills

Primary

Dark Magic Level 37

Conjuration Level 8

Mahorela Abaivonin Magic Level 6

Mana Sense Level 31

Mana Manipulation Level 34

Metamorphosis Level 29

Secondary

Heavy Armor Usage Level 26

Sword Mastery Level 27

Ring Mastery Level 1

Tertiary

Synergy Level 11

Jewelry Crafting Level 5

Enchanting Level 21

Mystic Chemistry Level 1

[--]

"Definitely need to move Synergy and enchanting to primary or secondary. They both count as magical skills, so they could be primary. That's forty points though if I move both of them. I'd have seven points left if I did that and added the other skills." said Scott. He checked to be certain that he could acquire the four skills that he wanted. They were all available. He had done enough dual wielding weapons and running around to generate the possibility of the skill, and two handed weapon skill was like unarmed combat. Anyone could learn those skills.

Scott rubbed his chin then glanced over to Sonja. "Have you been able to increase your skills or level at all since we met?"

"I have increased my skill levels slightly, but otherwise no." she admitted with a hint of regret.

"We need to correct that. We've got enough people in the faction now that we can have others do the night watch operations. We four should start hunting and leveling as much as possible when we aren't trying to run this refugee camp." said Scott.

"I'm all for that!" said Sonja exuberantly. She then asked, "Have you decided to follow your training plan?"

"Yeah. I can use the last seven points to specialize in longswords, great swords, grappling, and dark fire." said Scott. It was time to start developing himself more specifically. He would need the skill points in the future, and the extra stat points as well. Scott made the choices that he wanted and then checked his skills once more.

Skills

Primary

Dark Magic Level 37

- Dark Fire Level 1

Conjuration Level 8

Mahorela Abaivonin Magic Level 6

Mana Sense Level 31

Mana Manipulation Level 34

Metamorphosis Level 29

Synergy Level 11

Enchanting Level 21

Secondary

Heavy Armor Usage Level 26

Sword Mastery Level 27

- Longswords Level 1

Two Handed Sword Mastery Level 1

- Greatswords Level 1

Dual Wielding Level 1

Unarmed Combat Level 1

- Grappling Level 1

Ring Mastery Level 1

Running Level 1

Tertiary

Jewelry Crafting Level 5

Mystic Chemistry Level 1

[--]

"You should check your status. Your stats have probably increased a little." suggested Sonja. Scott did as suggested and noted a few small changes

Status

Name: Scott Blackthorne

Race: Mahorela Abaivonin

Title: Baron of the Night

Level: 12 [Infant] Skill Points: 0

Vitality: 378[378]

Weapon Attack: 194[194]

Durability: 278[278]

Natural Armor: 24

Speed: 105[105]

Spirit: 617[617]

[--]

The most noticeable differences were in vitality and spirit, other than the fact that he had spent all of his skill points. By moving synergy and enchanting to the primary tier, he had acquired the bonus stats he would have earned had they been there all along. "Not bad! Got a more than thirty point increase in vitality and spirit, and a few points in weapon attack and speed."

"Good! Train your new skills and you'll see a great deal of difference in your stats." said Sonja, a soft smile on her lips. She was proud of her little dragon. "Get your new skills to properly match your current level and you'll more than double your weapon attack!"

"Hey, yeah... and my vitality will rise about the same amount..." said Scott. He had known that his skills would increase his stats, but he had chosen them mostly for their utility. Most of his new skills held a great deal of promise. Once all of his new combat skills reached level forty he'd end up with two hundred forty more points of weapon attack and vitality.

His new training path seemed promising due to that fact. At the moment he leveled fairly quickly compared to a normal human, at least when he actually hunted level appropriate monsters and focused on skill development. Eventually, he would level more slowly than a human, however his skills would still increase at their accelerated rates. Basically, the more skills he had to work with at that point, the more he could stay ahead of the faster leveling people of the world.