Investigation and Discovery
A month later after the fight.
"Haaahh!"
I whack away the monster that was advancing towards me. The monster in question was a spider that was a dark blue colour with large fangs that dripped with saliva and hairs growing from its abdomen. It was slightly smaller than me. Big in comparison to spiders I used to know, but still smaller then me.
Although you may think that this spider would then be super tiny, I have grown a lot in the last month. Dragons apparently grow quite a lot in their early life but eventually hit a point where they need to evolve to grow further.
Anyway, back to my fight. The spider glared at me with its multiple red eyes while there was some distance between us. It suddenly shot some poison saliva from its mouth. I quickly jump backwards avoiding its spit while also firing off a fireball towards it.
It tried to dodge as I did, but a few of its legs were grazed by the fire.
"Screee!"
It shrieked out in pain and using that loss of focus as an opportunity I ran towards it. I then wrapped my body in flames and dived into it.
"Kyuuuuu [Flame Impact]!"
I put all of my body weight as well as a fair amount of mana into the flaming tackle, so it does a lot of damage to a bug monster like this spider. Upon making contact with the spider it takes a bunch of fire damage as well as damage from me hitting it.
"SCREEeeee…"
As it lands from being sent flying from my flaming tackle, it gives one's last scream before passing away.
"Fufufu, another one down…"
I had spent the half the month once again training in the courtyard. Since defeating the goblin, Mother put me against a few different types of monsters. This was in order to test if I am allowed to go down to the plain between the forest and city walls, were mother fought the ants.
These monsters included a slime type monster, a strange white rabbit with red eyes and a horn on its head that used electric magic, and a monkey that had greenie brown fur, murky yellow eyes and small but sharp claws. They were various degrees of difficulty to defeat, but I did beat them all and was finally allowed down into the plain which was where I was defeating the spider.
There were often lower level monsters like this that came out into the plains. The ants that came crawling out of the forest before were quite unusual, as Giant Ants like that do not often come into this area. As do not the giant army of smaller ants that came stampeding out, so mother thought it was quite unusual.
---
Five days ago.
"So Mother, if it is usually weak monsters that come out of the forest and onto the plains, why did that massive army come out and attack us?"
"That is a good question my Alicia, in the coming days I will investigate that very question. Most powerful monsters have learnt to stay away from this area because I am here. I cleared out all the monsters that were originally roaming the castle and city ruins. Since then nothing stronger than the type of tiny monsters that I had been bringing to fight you had dared to come near, until those ants of course."
Although she was going to investigate, she didn't seem that concerned about it. Why would she? I mean she completely decimated the ants easily last time. I guess she just wants any start ups to know who the ruler of this territory is.
"Sooo, for the next couple of days I will let you continue to go down to the plain in front of the city walls and destroy any monster that comes out. As I said there should be nothing that you could not defeat coming out onto the plain. But on the off chance, if something does come out that is a lot stronger you should now be able to sense if it is dangerous, you just have to try and resist the urge to fight it."
---
Back to the present.
What she was talking about was a skill I was given in the last couple of days [Sharp Senses]. It was a skill that fledgling Dragons gain a while after they are born. It allows me to sense if there is a strong being nearby.
Nothing that came out of the forest as of yet had given me the sense that I could not defeat it, so I juts continued for a while to defeat anything that came out.
Eventually the sun was starting to set so I started to head back to the castle. On the way I decided to look at my improved status board…
---
Alicia Valensca
Race: Fledgling Flame Dragon
Level: 9
Vit: 1000 MP: 800 Str: 75 Spe: 90 Sta: 90 Int: 40
Titles: [Princess of the Mountains] [Tiny One]
Divine Protection: [Dragon God Xerxes]
Class: None
Element Affinity: Fire (Strong)
Active Skills: [Flame Element Magic: Level 2] [Feisty Roar: Level 2] [Princesses Command: Level 1] [Territory Boost: Level 1] [Body Strengthening: Level 1] NEW!
Passive Skills: [Flame Element Resistance: Level 10] [Dragon Vision] [Flame Dragons Bravery] [Dragon Regeneration] [Sharp Senses]
Status Effects: [Small Build]
Affiliation: Queen of The Mountains Territory [Position: Princess]
---
As could be seen my attributes have grown quite a lot, partly because of my body growth and partly because of my hard work.
My [Flame Element Magic] skill increased by a level making it a bit easier to control and manipulate my magic.
My [Feisty Roar] increased a level making it louder, I hoped it would become more intimidating as the level went up.
Finally, I obtained a new skill that strengthened my whole body [Body Strengthening], it would be useful for both defence and for when I am using my super cool new [Flame Impact] attack!
As I reached the gate to the castle, I recognised Mothers silhouette flying towards me.
"AH! ALICIAAA HELLOOOOOO DID YOU MISS MOTHER!"
Mother flew down and picked me up, although I was a bit bigger Mother was very strong and tall even in her human form. She could easily lift and cuddle me even now.
"M-mother hello, how was your day of investigating?"
"Fufufu that can wait till a bit later first I need to refill my Alicia energy, huuuuu…"
Haah, I suppose she can do what she wants for a bit. I haven't seen her all day so I suppose having a cuddle and stroke isn't too bad…
After the usual stroking and cuddling, Mother began to tell me about what she had done and seen today.
"Ahem, right then today I went to look around to see if I could track were the Giant Ants that escaped our fight had run off to. I picked up a trail followed it to a cave in one of the mountains in our range."
Hmmm, so they have a base nearby. Now we know that Mother could easily wipe them out if they became a problem. There must be a reason she did not do so straight away, I shall keep listening.
"Now inside that cave must be the boss, the one controlling those ants who got them to try and attack us. A Colony Queen. She must not have been a Queen for very long though, a Queen who has been in that position for a long time would have had a much bigger army then the one we saw that day..."
As Mother carried on talking, I began to go into my own world.
So we are dealing with a new Queen… she sounds like she could be strong… I doubt Mother would let me fight such an opponent though considering how much she loves fighting as well…
"… Soooo as there would be no benefit or challenge in me fighting the Queen, I shall have you fight against her as your first big challenging battle."
…
Turns out I was wrong…
Awesome!
"REALLY MOTHER!? YOU MEAN IT!"
I excited run around Mother and rub my face against her to show my gratitude. She giggles at my excitedness and picks me up.
"Now Alicia, this battle will be the hardest battle you have faced so far. As such I will give you sometime to again get stronger, I'll see if I can abduct different types of ants in order for you to practice. I'll be overseeing your battle of course, but you need to be very careful, she will be a tough opponent for you at your age..."
Although Mother kept talking all I could think about was being able to fight my strongest opponent yet. Since I came here the fights have so far been soooo much more fun compared to in my old world, and that's saying something because I loved fighting in my old world.
"… So starting tomorrow we shall start a more advanced level of training and come up with a plan of attack. I hope you are ready hehe."
"Of course! I won't let you down!"
"That's my girl." Mother said with a proud smile.
However, for today at least that would be all. But tomorrow begins the countdown to the subjugation of the Ant Queen!