Chapter 12.1 – A Dragon Joins the Adventurers' Guild

After we arrive in the clearing, Nina detaches from me and sets down her travel pack and quiver.

"Uh…Nina, don't you need those arrows for your bow?" (Mizuki)

She looks back at me, surprised, then waves dismissively.

"Oh, no, I can make as many of those arrows as I want. Those are just for show." (Nina)

As if to demonstrate her point, she holds her hand down by her side, and the earth rises to meet her hand. It takes shape in the form of an arrow like those she bought, and she nocks it in her bow.

I can't help but feel a bit of surprise. So, she can just make as many arrows as she wants on the fly? That would make the bow an incredible weapon for her. She looks back over her shoulder at me with a fierce smile on her face.

"Ready to see what skill I got from our contract?" (Nina)

Do you even need to ask? I smile and nod at her approvingly.

She turns back to focus on her bow and takes aim at a tree. She draws and releases, and the arrow goes screeching towards the tree, then…it turns!?

The arrow makes almost a ninety-degree course correction and slams into a completely different tree. However, instead of stopping, the arrow goes shattering through the tree and continues its rampage deeper into the forest until it's out of sight.

I turn back to Nina, dumbfounded. She's wearing a smug grin, and I can sense her satisfaction. Well, she earned it.

"Nina, what in the hell did I just watch?" (Mizuki)

Nina giggles excitedly.

"Do you remember when we fought, and you slammed me into the ground with that crushing invisible force? I think I acquired something similar after my contract with you. Now, I feel like I can change objects' movements or make them heavier or lighter." (Nina)

Aha! So, she gained a kind of intuitive version of my gravity spells. She must have altered gravity around the arrow to shape its flight path, then artificially inflated its weight before impact to generate that absurd damage I saw. Truly a terrifying skill for an archer. Seeing this reminds me of another question I had for her though.

"That's very impressive Nina. I was also curious, why didn't you get any armor from Percivil? Aren't you more susceptible to damage in that human body?" (Mizuki)

Nina makes a surprised face, like 'oh, you didn't know?'.

"Kind of, but in this form, I also have the ability to change how strong and durable my body is. I can enhance it to the point that I'm almost as strong and durable as my dragon body, but I'm more agile. It's not like those magic spells you use, though, it's just how I am. I also heal injuries pretty fast like this – it's just this form's natural regeneration." (Nina)

Huh, well that's kind of nifty. I guess this is another one of those mysterious divine abilities that is part of what the god of her old planet did to her ancestors.

So, between her equipment, magic affinity, Elder Dragon skills, and contract perks, she can use fire, water, and earth attacks, dark-class gravity attacks, body enhancement, and self-healing, all without incantations. That's almost as robust as me – truly impressive.

I look back at Nina in amazement, but she seems to be focusing on something in the clearing. She points over to the boulder I melted in my first training session.

"Hey, Mizuki, what happened there?" (Nina)

"Oh, do you remember that attack of mine that almost killed you when we fought? That's from the first time I tried using it." (Mizuki)

She begins inspecting the rock curiously, then turns back to me with a confused expression.

"Mizuki, this looks quite recent, though?" (Nina)

Oh, yeah…I guess she doesn't really know much about my old world or when I got here.

"Well, that's because it was. I only arrived on this planet a week ago, and I only learned that spell a day or two before our fight happened. Honestly, if you had fought me a couple days sooner you would have easily killed me. I didn't even know how to use magic until the day I practiced that spell there." (Mizuki)

Her eyes go wide in surprise, and I sense a swirl of emotions from her.