2: System

White lines formed in my vision, impossibly thin and curving at the corners. Blue light opacified into existence within, lighter at the top and darker at the bottom, but what I was most interested in was the white text of condensed information.

[Valerie, Phyllopteryx Hatchling (I)] read the first text box. I had no idea what a Phyllopteryx was- loads of fantasy creatures had complex names, but those names were evocative. This seemed like a medicine, as did loads of species invented by creative people. Keeping my name was a nice touch, and the hatchling part was to be expected- I hadn't been out of my egg for an hour. The (I) left me stumped. Did it mean Immature due to being so new? Immaculate due to taking no damage? Invited to partake in this divine competition? I tried not to let it worry me too much

[Level: 2/10] Aw heck. I didn't know how big of a jump in power existed between levels, but being 20% of the way to the cap and still this weak worried me.

"Maybe power exists independently from levels?" I mused, letting out a few bubbles of air in my attempt at speech. As if on cue, my stats loaded in as a measure of this power.

[Strength: 8]

[Quickness: 11]

[Vitality: 6]

[Mind: 15]

None of them surprised me. Small size and my siblings' style of evasive pack hunting required quickness, and our bites were enough to wear down a creature clearly above our individual weight class.

I didn't know how my values stacked up against an adult human, or even against a sibling. The mind stat was probably an artifact of my reincarnation, but

I wanted to be able to take a hit or ten. The red sibling's armor made me green with envy, and my vitality being awful was a slap in the face. But not nearly as much as my title.

[Titles: Useless] ...That was just plain rude. I sank in my coiled position, letting out a sigh and stirring up some of the same skyblue sand as I did.

[Skills: none] "yeah yeah, rub it in" i responded, swishing my tailblade like an annoyed cat. However, my hopes began to rise.

[Skill points: 2] This caught my attention! Maybe I could acquire some skills!

As soon as I did, a smaller window slid out from my main one. It sported white lines with curved corners, a gradiented blue background, and several things I obviously knew to be Skills.

But what I saw there wasn't nearly as interesting as what came below, on my main window.

[Fundamental Power: 1]. That sounded... important. Words like "Fundamental" don't get thrown around so easily, when "base" tends to work perfectly well. It gave no indication of what I could use it for, so I turned my attention to the right window. My small but widely-applicable list of skills stared back, four in all.

[Skill choices: Swim, Bite, Breath, Scent]

They had to do more. I reached out and thought hard about [Bite], a new panel unfolding from the top of my set. Words crossed it like a news-ticker, just slow enough to annoy.

[Bite: Improves the force and precision of biting with fangs, mandibles or teeth.] My forward-facing weapon... when I acquired the bravery to use it.

[Swim: Aids speed and control when moving underwater]. Mobility, cleanly and simply

[Breath: Increases oxygen intake and expulsion, allowing increased stamina recovery]. A useful passive at first glance.

[Scent: Improves sensitivity of olfactory receptors and clarity of information received]. That was unusually niche. It was a widely-available skill, I guessed, seeing as how my species didn't seem to hunt by smell

Looking at the Skills, one stood out. [Breath]. I could inhale more to get a big whiff of air, sustain my muscles for longer with the larger lungful, and even make use of a boost of speed by launching spent air out my gills.

The fact that I was a dragon was not lost on me in the least. Dragons loved their breath attacks, and the image of burning a swathe of foes with gouts of flame distracted me from my rigid System windows. "I wonder if I can inhale to suck blood out of a foe or even worse? Or while I'm dreaming, shoot air with so much force it counts as an attack?"

I reached my tail out to tap the Skill, when my tail awkwardly slipped mid-tap. Instead of selecting, I scrolled, to see two new Skills.

[Sword proficiency. Slightly improves skill with a sword. Unlocks weapon arts as level progresses] ...I didn't even have arms.

[Frenzy: Temporarily boost strength and speed. Quickly consumes stamina]

I knew a combo when I saw it. And while the stamina drain was concerning, fights between beasts of the wild were often decided in seconds, if not before they began. A tide-turner would be crucial, and a way to recover after it even more so. Without further thought, I tapped both with my tail. Both skills turned from white to yellow, and a small button formed on the bottom-right hand corner.

[Confirm?]

A pulse of acceptance flowed from my chest. Both skill points rolled like coins down a slope, slotting into the skill panel, and spitting out my choices. [Breath (I) Level 1] and [Frenzy (I) Level 1 ]

There was that (I) again. My eyes scrolled to my new skills, finding something else in the now-expanded window.

[Mutations: Copper Heart (1)] I paused, looking too long at this strange mutation. The rest of my siblings had more obvious physical variances, like tougher scales or more productive gills, but I had... a better heart? Copper wasn't that strong, but it was better than flesh.

I hope.

Looking back at my Character Sheet, I saw something change. Formerly white text was red, demanding my attention.

[Fundamental power: 1 (!)]

I focused my thoughts on it again, the news-ticker of an information bar slowly filling again.

[Fundamental Skills are slightly more powerful, slightly more efficient, grow more quickly, and grant more interesting evolution options]

That was a burst of information. Clearly a Fundamental Skill was a straight upgrade over a standard one, but which did I want? What were these "more interesting options?" My lack of knowledge was frustrating, doubled by its apparent permanency. I only had one fundamental power, and I had to make it count.

Ultimately, I saved my choice until I had more to use it on. I highly doubted these were my only skills, and if I could get my team to carry me to unlocking one that made my (copper) heart do a backflip, I could render it fundamental with ease.

Until then, I had to rely on my normal ones. My stomach was growling slightly, but I was not hungry for food as much as I was for power.

I swam out, seeing my crimson-hued tank of a sibling rising to join me. I saw no reason to stop them, and took the lead as we swam out in search of prey.

They likely could not speak, but hardly needed to. We swam up past the cavemouth and onto the shelf, scanning for prey. Small worms wiggled through the water, cyan streaks on their sides glowing like Halloween sticks. I watched them as if in a trance, not realizing any danger-

Until one stuck to me and burrowed in with former teeth. A trio of others joined it, much like how my siblings and I took down that very round fish, only further spurring me into action. I inhaled a deep breath and rocketed towards my sibling, dislodging a single leech on the way and knocking them out of their scan.

[Skill: Breath has risen to level 2] the system rewarded, my efforts paying off already

The red one turned, realized what was going on, and lunged past me, eliminating one with a snap of faintly-glowing fangs. I was almost certain this was the [Bite] skill in action the way it snipped through the leech. I twisted around, putting my other side in range, another suffered the same fate. Not willing to be completely a mere bystander, I awkwardly slashed with my tail, sawing one apart over a few seconds and letting it burst into a cloud of inky liquid.

[You have slain: lumen leech] the System noted before I chomped it down. It looked too small to grant me any EXP, but I was safe for now as we shared the leeches in their dying glow.

Long, four-winged birds flew dangerously close to the surface, one of them breaking into a swoop. I dove down to avoid being picked up when I saw it dive wide, spearing a long fish with an axe-like mouth.

A turtle, larger than us, grazed on plants in the shallows. The red sibling and I looked at eachother as one, indescribable expression spreading on our snouts. With first a nod from me, then from them, we barreled towards the shelled creature.

The turtle looked aside, hard head met by one of equal power. I could hear the sharp crack, not questioning who it came from as I made my move.

I darted forward, latching onto the back of the turtle's knee. My mouth was large enough to get a good hold, and after only a pause I shook rapidly. My wings churned the water as I thrashed side to side, strategy cut short as the turtle withdrew its leg. My head struck the rim of its shell with such force that stars spilled across my vision. Stars that obstructed that same shell from descending, pushing my head into the sand. I could feel my wing trapped, movement cut off from the fight. I struggled, slapping my tail on the ground and failing to straighten my wing. Even my own breath worked against me, sand sucking into my gills.

I lacked leverage. Lacked an angle to hit. And lacked patience.

Enough to throw me into a [Frenzy]

My muscles began to burn, forced past their safe limits. I curled back, hit from my sibling distracting the turtle just long enough to give me a way out.

My stamina was half-gone, but my options sure weren't. I flexed my wing back into place, planting my back half against the sand and pushing upwards with my front. The turtle rose through the water, extending its wounded leg for another weapon to use. The leg struck true, delivering its impact to my draconic skull and knocking me back a few feet-

But that was all I needed. The turtle reached a tipping point, falling onto its angular shell before my refocusing eyes. The turtle's belly was unprotected.

And that kill was mine.

I pushed towards it, spinning sideways and using the last quarter of my [Frenzy] stamina to slash my tailblade into its gullet like a pickaxe. I felt it sink in, sharply wrenched aside to a horrid aquatic roar.

[You have slain: Juvenile Komodon. Phyllopteryx Hatchling has risen to level 3. Skill point gained]

My crimson ally swam back towards me, scales cracked in several places from the fight. I looked with sympathy, placing a wing on the shell to pry off the leathery underbelly for the meat underneath. We dug in without fanfare, sibling seeming to need it more than me.

Turtle meat vanished quickly, swallowed by two growing squiggle dragons. We returned to our home cave to rest for the evening, and I returned to my central spot to rest and look over my Skills.

My list of choices had expanded in the recent fight. Swim, Bite, Scent, and Sword proficiency remained of course, but several new ones joined them. Critical Eye for detecting weak points and driving weapons into them, Dash for bursts of movement.

Realizing I simply needed a better melee attack, I chose [Bite]. The skillpoint rolled towards the list again, spending itself on power and potential. I felt my heart beat in my jaws, giving it a few test snaps and feeling the recoil of my fangs closing in on water.

I looked over my wounds, assessing if I could go for yet another hunt, and expected my state to be worse. Despite my awkward, side-eyed angle, I could only see one wound on me from the leech's scrape, flesh having closed over already.

"Does my species heal super quickly? I'd expect a better vitality..." I thought, realizing this did not extend to my siblings. The red one's scales were still banged up, replaced nowhere as quickly as mine.

I settled in to sleep, practicing with breath. Inhaling and exhaling through my mouth, gills, both at the same time, before trying different tricks. I attempted to pass air in through my mouth and out through my gills, making a constant stream of air. Reversing it took even more tries, punctuated by coughing and sputtering, but everything became just a little smoother once the System acknowledged my attempts.

[Skill: Breath has risen to level 3.]

The water grew darker, letting us sleep under the cover of the night. I closed my eyes, falling into an efficient sleep for another day full of promise.