In a place of death and absolute darkness that lay deep beneath the surface of the world, a sight most curious waited any who might brave the wickedness of that place. A mountain of bones, once living beings but now they had been picked clean by an unseen presence. Little to no flesh remained anywhere within the confines of the pile, and many of the bones seemed to be half eaten or more as well.

A slight rustle, a rattle among the bones in the bone pile, soon caused one side of the pile to shift then fall away. A small cavern appeared within the pile, and from within it twin spots of hellfire leered menacingly from the depths.

The dark oppressive image soon fell away as a high-pitched squeaking noise drifted through the air followed by a loud yawn.

"Man, what's going on?" asked Blackthorne before he squeezed forward then broke free of the bone pile.

Movement was disorienting for a time as he did not recognize his surroundings. It was not that he was unaware of the fact that he was in the underground cave system. No, it was because he now saw it differently. In fact, he literally could see the cave interior. The world was awash in a silvery color that granted him a basic idea of everything around him. He could see rock formations, water that dripped from the ceiling of the cavern, even some of the tiny details of his own paw.

"It's... Isn't this how I see the world when I use echolocation to move around?" asked Blackthorne. Before he would only receive tiny glimpses of the terrain, but now he could see it as a continuous effect.

He snapped his teeth for emphasis, but the nature of what he saw barely changed. It seemed his echolocation ability was now always active.

The fact that he could see the world of darkness beneath the grassland was the first thing he noticed, but he soon discovered another interesting fact. His paws were a little different now. His forepaws looked more like oversized hands with wicked talons. Further, they seemed bigger. Meanwhile, at a glance a nearby rock formation that used to seem much larger now seemed considerably smaller.

"So, is it true? My first growth spurt?" he asked softly. The age category information did say that sometime within the first three or four weeks of his new life he would achieve his next age category. From hatchling status he would grow into an infant.

"I must have a ton of system messages to sit through. Better look at them before I try to head off to apologize to Sonja." Blackthorne took a deep breath then checked his status. Before he could see that, he was forced to wade through several dozen messages.

He released a low whistle, which would have been a somewhat comical sight for anyone who might have seen the dragon at that time. A lot had changed! He was level six now. Several of his skills had shot up dozens of skill ranks. His hit points were obscenely high, and his armor class was ridiculous. Three of his stats, the physical ones, had each increased by one point on their own.

Several updates informed him of the way in which his age category changed his basic talents and skills. His armor class, for instance, was now a baseline of twelve points and would increase by one and a half points for each level he attained. It was no wonder that he did not need armor when he was in his dragon form! His entire body had more resiliency than steel.

There were other bonuses. He learned that his new ability to see clearly in the dark was due to a form of synesthesia. His draconic senses could now interpret electro-magnetic waves and gravitic forces. Apparently, it was one of the primary pre-requisites for a dragon to be able to fly since their bodies were far too heavy for wings to carry them aloft like a natural beast. This sense combined with his ability to sense life force, and his echolocation sense to create a minor dark vision.

"If I spent my talent points to increase draconic senses I'll have true dark vision. Interesting," said Blackthorne.

As he read through that tidbit of information and wide smile spread across his leathery lips. "I have to try this out!"

He reared back on his hind legs, a process that was far easier now that his body proportions had shifted. Much like a baby first learning to walk, little Blackthorne had grown into a proper toddler.

An act of will which produced a feat of strength that defied the pull of gravity, Blackthorne threw his forepaws out sideways then closed his eyes. His wings flared out from his body even as a ripple of invisible energy washed outward from the core of his being. Dust, debris, gnawed bones; each of these things began to rise up slowly in the air even as Blackthorne also began to rise. It was a small thing at first, little more than lightening his load. Even so, he was soon able to lightly hover above the top of the plateau nearly a foot off the ground.

Exhausted quickly from his efforts, he floated back down into place then sighed in a satisfied manner. "Can't fly yet, even with bigger wings... but at least I won't have to worry as much if I fall from a high place."

His growth into an infant was only a slight thing according to all of the message windows. It basically solidified the ability he had from birth and granted it to him properly. His life force and armor increase was akin to how a hard-shelled crustacean began life with a soft shell. Soon that shell would harden, however. The growth into infancy had merely hardened his shell, so to speak.

His growth had changed his racial strengths and weaknesses slightly as well. In his human and dragon forms he would only take 325% extra damage from light based magic attacks. Though, his cloud of darkness form would now take 375% damage from the same source. His ability to resist illusions had increased to 45%.

Many changes in that regard had occurred. His magic would be slightly stronger as well, though he would still be unable to learn light based magic. He was a creature fundamentally bound to the primordial element of darkness. Unlike what pop-culture references would have one believe, elemental darkness was not evil. It was a necessary aspect of existence. It was an equally opposed force opposite of the light. One represented an energetic visible force, and the other was mysterious and calming existence. Light heralded the beginning. Darkness was its inevitably end, and yet these things worked in a cycle which sustained all of existence.

"I really need to start making accessories that resist light damage," said Scott. Of course, he did not even know where to start. The alchemist knew of a few synergy recipes, but nothing of that sort. He could ask the local armorers but he was a synergist. Asking them would be akin to asking them to stop feeding their children. He could out produce them any day of the week and that was becoming obvious. Even now they were a little concerned whenever he entered their shops to sell his goods. Sure, he offered them valuable sales items but what would stop him from opening a shop in town and becoming direct competition?

Eventually, he was able to see his status directly. Blackthorne's jaw dropped and his eyes bulged outward slightly. "Are you kidding me? Am I a player in this game, or did you confuse me for an infant world boss?"

STATUS

Professional Title: Gentleman of Darkness

Name: Scott Logan

Dream Form: Blackthorne

Race: Mahorela Abaivonin

Age Category: Infant

Level: 6

Ability Points: 26

Talent Points: 2

Skill Points: 154

Life Force: 289/289

Armor Class: 21 [0]

Strength: 20

[+7]

Agility: 15

[+4]

Vigor: 19

[+7]

Intellect: 16

[+5]

Charisma: 21

[+7]

Luck: 16

[+5]

"The best part of this is that my growth period doesn't officially end until I use my ability points. My age category growth gave me ten extra points as well, so I have options," he said thoughtfully.

"Won't gain experience as fast as before either way, but any stat changes I make will be retroactive... right?" Blackthorne nodded to himself. "That's what I was told, anyway."

His biggest decision would be in where he should invest his talent points. Draconic senses would cost him one point, and that one was a given. Improving that talent would make it easier to detect electromagnetic waves, life force, sound, and gravitic variables. It would be easier to hover and see in the dark, basically. It might even make it easier to draw life force from further away and turn it into mana. That did mean that his other point would have to go into his draconic mind, body, or soul talents. Each would grant him an additional modifier point among other minor increases.

His mind and soul talents would increase his intellect modifier and charisma modifier respectively. Both were tempting as one would mean stronger spells and magical resistances, while the other would guarantee five extra skill points per level at minimum. The retroactive bonus would also increase his skill points by a good bit as well.

The body talent, however would increase his modifiers for three attributes and grant him another twenty life force. There were other boosts that came with it such as an improved physical framework.

In the end, it was truly a choice between body and mind. The soul boost would be great but highly focused on one aspect. The mind boost promised major immediate improvements, but only a slight continuing improvement. His body talent called strongly to him. It meant extra life force, damage resistances, and all manner of boosts. Just like the other talents, his age category would influence it as well. There could be a hidden bonus in there somewhere.

"There could be a hidden bonus?" he asked himself as the thought occurred to him. Blackthorne lowered his eyelids as those words percolated through his head. There surely would be hidden bonuses. There were before. Stuff the system did not directly clarify had led to changes within him that were quite beneficial.

He eyed his soul talent once more. Strength of the soul, willpower and the ability to command, were all amplified by charisma. He would need a lot of it going forward if he intended to learn higher capacity spells, especially the conjuration school.

"I already received a solid physical boost just for growing up a little, but what will happen if I have a higher grade soul?" The extra modifier would be useful, but something else about that talent drew him. Most of his life, there was a certain helplessness to his existence. No matter how he struggled, he often failed.

"Eventually what I am will become known to the world. People will come for me." Blackthorne closed his eyes. There were many kinds of strength, but all of them required the force of will and courage needed to use them. As much as he wanted to increase the power of his rockin' dragon bod, he needed to strengthen his soul. Who knows? Maybe a stronger soul would let him resist those damned voices better. What was willpower, if not the ability to ignore the shitty voices in your head that want to make you fail at life?

"Is that the key? Gain enough willpower to tell those voices to fuck off?" It was appealing, truly. The size of his muscles would never change that, but what if he developed an iron will strong enough not to fall prey to the twisted memory of his past? It had seemed to help some, admittedly. The voices were not nearly as strong most of the time after he became a dragon and drastically increased his charisma.

Blackthorne slowly nodded his head. From a pure mechanical standpoint, draconic body was the better choice. From a developmental standpoint, draconic mind was best. From the standpoint of a man turned dragon who struggled to cast off the darkness of his past and live with a mind free of twisted memories? He decided to choose draconic soul with no further hesitation.