This chapter has been proof-read by: AnthonyL

-------------------

We had been travelling for a while now and had almost arrived at the micro-kingdom of Niardo. We were on the side of the road, camping for the night around a camp fire. The sky was clear, the moon bright. A gentle refreshing wind was blowing through the foliage creating a relaxing white noise.

Irene was already asleep while mother and I were having a strategic conversation.

“So.. May I ask why we are going to Niardo?” (Kneeko)

“Ho, so you know this area?” (Anastaria)

“Well just a little. I came by here before going to Vennari” (Kneeko) I said voluntarily omitting most of the details.

“I see, well without going into too much details let's just say that I am going to retrieve a precious item.” (Anastaria)

Seeing that my curiosity wasn't satisfied she continued.

“Sighh... The leader of our clan is an stupid asshole. He enamored himself of one of this kingdom's princesses and gave away one of our clan's most important treasures to get her.” (Anastaria)

“Uhh? He bought the princess?” (Kneeko)

“Yes, he kept this a secret from the clan since the object he gave to the king is an object he had no right to give away. It is the Rokudan clan's property and he had no right to give it away. Even worse, the princess who was unaware that her father had sold her escaped.

Afraid that the clan would learn of what he did, Damyon (The Rokudan's clan leader) engaged mercenaries to bring her back but they all failed miserably. So now, our clan leader has lost our clan's treasure and lost his new wife as well.” (Anastaria)

“What an idiot... May I ask what is this treasure you speak of?” (Kneeko)

She looked at me with a faint smile which also contained sadness, then leaned forward a little before answering.

“Secret... Fufufufu*” (Anastaria)

“I see... So what is the plan? How do we get it back?” (Kneeko)

“Not “we”. “I” will get it back. You will wait for me in town while I ask for a talk with the king. Such a small kingdom wouldn't dare anger one of the 10 great dragon clans. Since the girl ran away, the payment should be returned. If not...” (Anastaria)

I could feel Anastaria's killing intent as she spoke. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck so I decided to change subject.

“Alright! I guess I should rank up now...” (Kneeko)

“Uhh? You speak as if you had control over it.. Fufufu*” (Anastaria)

Ho? So other monster don't ? That's interesting...

“I do, actually I had been waiting to finish my monster core hunt before doing so.” (Kneeko)

Anastaria seemed intrigued as I started pulling out the cores I had bought.

“I will consume the basilisk one, rank up then consume the others afterward. Since it's already been a while since my last rank up, may as well make the most use of my cores.” (Kneeko)

Monster coreSpecies:Frost Basilisk (Variant)Level:167Monster Rank:Medium highRarity:Very Rare

The Basilisk core was too big for me to eat in my human form so I showed my true form to Anastaria for the first time by turning into my Gardening Viper form. I made sure that she could see the stone on my forehead but once again she didn't mention it...

She had seen my wyvern form, so she had without a doubt seen it before but had never mentioned it. Very strange considering that was usually the first thing people noticed. Note to self: Mother is hiding stuff from me.

“Hoooo... Truly beautiful! You are the most beautifully colored snake I have seen in my long life. Is this your true species?” (Anastaria)

“YesSSsssSsSsss” (Kneeko)

“What kind is it?” (Anastaria)

“Gardening viperSssSsss” (Kneeko)

Her eyes got big and she almost fell on her back as I was coiling my 6 meters long body on itself.

“Gardening vipers have a nasty reputation! They are one of the most feared snakes in the world... My little Kneeko never fails to impress me.” (Anastaria)

“ThankSssSsss” (Kneeko)

I was now in a form where I could open my mouth wide enough to swallow the big Basilisk core so that's exactly what I did.

Level up! (X29)

“Woa! That felt amazing.” (Kneeko)

“I felt it as well. You gained quite a bit from that eh?” (Anastaria)

“YesSSss” (Kneeko)

“Doesn't feel enough to become a dragon though...” (Anastaria)

“I'm in no hurry, I don't intend to miss any opportunity to grow stronger to save you time... Mother.” (Kneeko)

“You mean to rank up as many times as possible before reaching dragon-hood?” (Anastaria)

“YesSSss” (Kneeko)

“Uhhmmm... I won't interfere with your growth, but I can't bring you home before you truly become a dragon. Let that be clear...” (Anastaria)

“Like I said, I don't know about you but I am in no hurry.” (Kneeko)

I said that for good reasons. Monsters can't get stronger the same way humanoids do... We can't go to libraries or guilds to learn new techniques and magics. Well it's not exactly accurate but when it comes to monsters, most skills are learned through heredity and rank ups.

True, I could learn new magic via skill books but most of these book are restricted by class, race, level and skill points. I couldn't learn a detox spell via a skill book because they are restricted to either elves, clerics, or divine magic and stuff...

There are a few skill book which are not restricted as much and will only need affinity with the element in question or a certain level or a certain amount of mana or even restricted by skill points only but usually these spells are shit.

I had kept an eye on the auction website and hadn't found anything interesting so far. The reason being that since they are lightly restricted, people learn the skill instead of selling the book. In comparison, if a warrior finds a skill book restricted to sorcerers, they are most likely to sell it for money.

There are other means of learning new techniques like artifacts and runes but so far I haven't come across any of them. It didn't really matter since I could learn new spells via rank up. If I keep killing creatures with fire abilities, I will most likely rank up into a creature capable of using fire to some degree... And after that being able to learn via skill books restricted to fire affinity.

My amphibious passive skill could be interpreted as water affinity but wasn't really that. It only allowed me to stay longer underwater. Right now my only magic is plant related. If you were to categorize it in the magic system, it would be a “clay” element magic.

Clay refers to the mix of 2 elements, earth and water. These were basically my magic affinities at the moment. My future rank ups would not only be about unique or rare variant, I would instead prioritize learning new magic affinities first.

For humanoids it is very different. They are born with an innate affinity and could expand these affinity by learning the closest elements to their original affinity. Example: A mage with water affinity could learn air or earth, and only then be able to learn frost or clay type abilities.

The magical classes had to learn things in order and couldn't jump from one to the other while monsters could bypass all of that... On one rank up they could learn shadow type abilities, then next rank up learn light based abilities even though they are both complete opposites.

Magic in Alterlife was overly complicated compared to other games but I enjoyed it a lot. Why? Because to be good at it, you had to use your head a lot. And using my head is what I do best.

Here's a basic graph of Alterlife's magic:

Spoiler :

Interestingly enough, this was considered a “basic” graph only... Runic and Arcane magic is where the fun begins with necromancy, divination, transmutation, evocation, abjuration, illusion, conjuration, enchantment, etc. And this is only the Arcane part of it...

From what I learned, the dragon clans weren't divided by elements but only by bloodlines and they have unique abilities and magic passed down through bloodline via the clan's ceremony. I was expecting a fire clan, a water clan etc. But that's not how it works apparently.

The clans come from the 10 original dragons, each had a different element affinity but since the strongest reproduced between themselves, keeping the affinities pure would have been impossible. For example: Anastaria and her dead male companion were from two different clans.

So Irene is a mix of these two clans. Female offspring would join the mother's clan, and the males the father's clan. In my case, since my “fake father” was dead, I was exceptionally going to be part of my mother's clan since dragons are raised by their parents.

As far as I know, there is no superior sex among dragons, so the females have as much power as the males. Like I said before, dragons value strength before everything else, so a powerful female would naturally have many potential sex partners. Harems weren't a thing reserved to males but instead reserved to the strongest individuals.

I still have no idea what skills the Rokugan clan have since Anastaria seems to want to keep it a secret until my ceremony so I simply pushed that aside and concentrated on getting stronger the same way I had done thus far.

Time to get things moving!

Monster Rank UP!Spiritual Wyvern (Unique)Frost Naga King (Very rare)Bolt Basilisk (Rare Variant)This wyvern is as close to a divine creature as a wyvern can be. This creature will show spirit classes how insignificant their faith truly is.A mix between a humanoid and a snake. As the king, all snake type creatures will be compelled to obey by fear of your icy wrath.The basilisk is the King of the snakes and the most poisonous creature on earth. Looking at it, according to legend, brings death. This variant also come with a shocking surprise.

+++

STATUS:

PROFILENAME:KneekoLEVEL:117GENDER:MaleMONEY:486G 37S 22CRACE:Gardening Viper (Very rare)MONSTER RANK:Medium LowHEALTH:2150STAMINA:600MANA:4190STRENGTH:635(M)INTELLIGENCE:404SPEED:22DEXTERITY:18(H)VITALITY:150 (+50)CHARM:40 (+40)LUCK:19 (+40)AGILITY:19RESISTANCE:125 (+50)(S)ENDURANCE:45SKILL POINTS:465FAME/INFAMY:-1670 (Mostly Evil)CLASS:-------------------TITLES:☑ King of the pond

☑ Toxic Powerhouse

☑ TycoonPASSIVE SKILLS:Amphibious (E)

Obscuro Poison (B)

Poison Resistance (B)

Viper Neurotoxin (A)ACTIVE SKILLS:Gardener touch (B)

Poison Spit (D)

Sad puppy eyes (B)

Tail Whip (B)

TerrorEyes (B)

Vines Hell (D)

Viper Bite ©