Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 2: Awakening II

“Are you good to go now or do you need to do something else? You came here for the wyverns right?” I asked and pointed at the remains scattered across the cave floor.

“Yeah but only for one.”

“Go ahead and take the magic stones if you want. You can see the other three as a bonus.”

“But you were the ones that killed them!” Liz protested.

“It’s fine” I said and waved my hand at her, "Don’t you need the magic stones as proof of subjugation?”

“Technically not, my guild card registers subjugations but I don’t know if they were killed close enough for it to do so,” She said and looked over to where the wyvern remains were scattered. “Is it really okay if I take the magic stones? I only need one.”

“As I said, it’s fine. Take them all,” I waved my hand dismissively towards her as I looked up through the hole at the top of the cave.

Hmm, now then, I guess I will go to the town and register as an adventurer. Hopefully I can fly through the ranks this time. I remember that one time when they absolutely refused to let me skip any ranks, forcing me to go out into the forest and kill goblins day after day. Speaking of rank, what kind of system are they using now?

I turned to Liz, who was crouched over a wyvern corpse, stabbing it with a small knife. “Hey Liz, what’s your guild rank?” 

“I’m rank C.” 

My guess is that it’s somewhere in the middle but still best to ask. I have seen pretty much every possible ranking system over the years. Letters, numbers, letters and numbers, letters with pluses and minuses.

“Is that high?”

“The ranks go from G to A. C ranks are considered veteran adventurers. B ranks are veterans of exceptional strength. You can’t progress to B without doing harder quests or subjugations. A ranks are strong enough to have a national interest. Above those there are also the special S, SS and SSS ranks but it’s almost impossible to advance to rank S unless you are crazy strong. Normal adventurers see A rank as the peak to aim for.”

“Are there any S ranks now?”

“In this country? I think you can count the number of S ranks on your fingers. I’m not sure but I think there might also be one SS rank unless he retired.”

“So no SSS ranks I take it?”

“As far as I know there has never been a SSS rank,” Liz said as she walked over, having collected the magic stones.

Hmm, guess I will go to the adventurers guild for now and see how hard it is to advance through the ranks. If it’s doable, I will push my rank then gather up some funds so I don’t have to bother with my economy for a while. Procuring some maps and knowledge of the current borders is also a good idea. The political situation is also worthwhile to ask about. Don’t really feel like traveling to a country only to walk in on a battlefield. Better write this down with my [Note] spell, otherwise I would probably forget before I leave the cave.

[Note] To-Do List:

• Register as an adventurer
  • Push my rank to SSS
• Gather funds
• Buy maps over the continent 
• Information about any possible wars or political tensions between countries

I cancelled the [Note] spell and the floating display in my vision disappeared, "Are you ready to get out of here?” I asked Liz, who was putting the magic stones in her magic bag.

“Yeah I’m ready to go. I would prefer to get back to town before it gets daAAAAAAAH!” Liz shouted, looking like she remembered something.

I almost jumped back at the unexpected yell. “What’s wrong?”

“Those assholes left me here as bait!” Liz half shouted while looking like she was about to start fuming.

“Oh yeah, I vaguely remember hearing the voice of someone other than you when I woke up” I tried to remember, guess I wasn't dreaming after all.

“We came here to kill a wyvern but when four of them showed up a guy named Julius stabbed me in the leg so he could use me as bait while they ran away.”

“That doesn’t really sound like something a party member would do.”

“We aren’t a real party. I just partied up with them for this quest. Normally I wouldn’t even go near people like that but I had no other choice.”

“No other choice?”

“Yeah the real reason I wanted to come here was to look for my friAAAAAAAAAAH” Liz shouted again.

“What now?” I jolted.

“Mira!” Liz shouted, starting to look around the cave.

“Mira?”

“My friend Mira was reported missing after a wyvern supposedly grabbed her. I wanted to come here to make sure but considering it was that asshole party that abandoned me that reported her missing I don’t know if I can believe it anymore.”

I’m starting to think this one is just as much of a scatterbrain as I am.

“Hmm, well if she got grabbed they would probably have taken her there,” I said and pointed at an alcove ten or so meters up, "Give me a moment.” 

I used a partial [Shift] and sprouted wings.

“Woah!”

“Cool right?” I said and spread my wings. “I’ll be right back.”

I flew up to the nest and peaked over the edge, "Nothing seems to be here,” I muttered to myself. I inspected the nest more thoroughly but could find nothing that could be even a bone from a human.

“There is no sign of any human remains in this nest. I also can’t spot any sign of blood around the cave other than yours and the wyverns. It’s unlikely she was grabbed here,” I said as I landed next to Liz.

“So what does that mean?” Liz said, looking up at the alcove.

“Either she died somewhere else or she isn’t dead. In both cases your so-called friends are lying.”

“So she could still be alive?!” 

“It’s a possibility.”

“What should I do…” Liz muttered to herself, seemingly lost in thought.

“How about asking the guys that left you here?”

“You make it sound so easy. How will I even catch up to them? And even if I did, they would probably try to silence me after what happened,” Liz said with a frown.

“You do remember I’m a dragon right?” I said and quickly moved behind Liz, swooping her off her feet and catching her in my arms, princess style. 

“Wha-”

“Hold on tight now, I wouldn't want you to fall.”

“Are you going to carry me while you fly?” Liz asked with a face full of worry.

“Would you rather walk out of here?” I asked and tilted my head.

“I have never flown before.”

“You will be fine.”

“Can you catch up to their horses?”

“An easy task. Who do you think I am?” I asked, puffing out my chest.

“Now that I think about it, who are you?”

“Huh, what do you mean?”

What do you mean ‘who am I’? I’m the one that saved your life? Did you already forget? Did you hit your head or something? 

“You never told me your name. Do dragons even have names?”

Oh, right I guess I never did. Don’t blame me, okay! I’m a certified scatterbrain. Now that I think about it, I never could focus on anything for long back when I lived on earth. That I was able to focus so much on my magic research after I reincarnated here is nothing short of a miracle. Or maybe my stats helped? My Intellect and Mind stats are through the roof after all. Without my [Thought Acceleration] ability, which lets me process things at ten times normal speed, everyone around me would probably think there was something wrong with me. Having a ten second internal dialogue per second that passes is a godsend for people like me that like to overthink and overanalyze everything and everyone. 

It would be a nightmare if I couldn’t turn it off though, it's annoying enough that I trigger it subconsciously. I'm grateful that it triggers if my perception picks up on an incoming attack so I have time to react, not that I think there is anything that could hurt me. It’s also handy when I need to have an internal debate but I don’t have time to think things through the normal way. However, sometimes it triggers at the worst times, like when I was lying on my bed at an inn waiting for them to start serving dinner. I thought I waited for half an hour but it was only three minutes because I didn’t notice my skill trigger. Wait, I’m doing it again! What was it, Liz asked me something? Uhm, damn, she is looking at me. Okay [Thought Acceleration] is active so at least I’m not standing here, looking like an idiot. But damn, what was it? OH! Right, my name.

“You can call me Luna,” I said, feeling my cheeks heating up from embarrassment. 

“Luna?” She looked at me with a quizzical look.

“Yes, is there something wrong with Luna?” I shot the same look back at her.

“No, no, it’s a pretty name just… It doesn't sound ‘dragony’?”

“‘Dragony’? Is that even a word?”

“Like, when you think of a dragon you think of this super strong massive monster. When you think of Luna you think of a cute girl. It doesn’t really sound like a dragon name”

“But… I am a cute girl?” I said, batting my eyelashes.

She didn’t seem amused at all. “Sigh, you know what I mean.”

“Okay then,” I sighed, " I am the Imperial Heavenly Sky Dragon Lunastrasza Zamorios, Queen of Dragons. Would you prefer to call me that?”

Liz stared at me in silence for a brief moment. “ Luna is actually a great name for a dragon.”

Well she caved quickly. But honestly, wouldn’t it be weirder to call me Lunastrasza? At Least Luna fits my human appearance.

“Good, ready to fly then?” I said and grinned.

“As ready as I can be I guess,” She said and slightly shifted her body and squeezed her arms around my neck.