Path of Dragons

Elijah dreamed of his puppy, Fremont, nipping at his legs as he read a book. The dog was a rambunctious thing, still untrained, and full of energy and cuddly love. Slowly, his rational mind intruded on the pleasant dream, telling him that his dog hadn’t been a puppy for years, that he’d been forced to rehome him when it became clear that the cancer was incurable. Doing so had been almost as emotional as when his oncologist had informed him that the treatments weren’t working. That he only had a few more months to live.

Gradually, Elijah’s memories distorted, and the puppy’s nipping bites became something altogether more painful. Punishment for the abandonment Fremont had doubtless felt at being left with a neighbor.

Suddenly, Elijah’s eyes fluttered open as pain lanced through his leg. He kicked out, but the pain only increased. Moreover, there was something digging into his arm, too. He spasmed, waving his arms and legs as he tried to dislodge whatever had assaulted him, eventually jerking himself free and clambering away.

His hands found scant purchase on the slippery rocks and gravel as he crawled away, and he vaguely noticed the steady lapping of waves. The unmistakable smell of the sea. The biting ocean wind.

That’s when his memories began to assert themselves. The plane. The cancer. The System.

Gasping, he pushed himself to his knees and looked around. As he’d suspected, he was on a rocky beach, but only a few dozen feet away, there was an incredibly dense forest. The sky was gray with clouds, and the steady sound of the waves, accompanied by a strange clicking sound filled his ears. He turned his attention in the sound’s direction, and his eyes widened at the sight.

At first glance, it was just a crab, little different from thousands of others Elijah had seen throughout his life. However, it differed in a couple of notable ways. First, it was a perfect example of a purple shore crab. Dark maroon in color, it had stout claws, which bore slightly darker spots. However, unlike its more typical brethren, which were usually only a few inches across, this one was the size of a cat.

Elijah scrambled backwards when he saw a dozen more of the creatures bearing down on him, each of similar size. But they followed; judging by the frayed edges of his pants – and the wounds beneath – the little scavengers had thought him dead, and they’d been feeding off of him.

More importantly, they didn’t seem all that enthused about losing their meal. The first few scuttled forward in a sideways shuffle, and when Elijah didn’t react, the rest followed. He reacted on instinct, kicking out with bare feet. Apparently, he’d lost his shoes at some point, though he didn’t have time to lament the loss. Instead, the whole of his attention was occupied by defending himself from the horrifically huge crabs.

He connected with the first, his foot hitting its incredibly hard shell. It did little damage, but the thing couldn’t escape the reality of its small size, and the momentum of the kick sent it sailing through the air.

But it also opened Elijah up to the rest of the crabs, which assaulted his legs with their oversized claws. Snapping, ripping, and tearing – it wasn’t long before his lower legs were a bloody mess, with ribbons of flesh hanging off in strips. A few of the claws had cut right through his muscle, stopping only when it reached the bone.

Elijah panicked, kicking out with renewed fury, but his Strength waned with every blow. Whether it was blood loss, his preexisting conditions, or simple fatigue, he didn’t know; what he did know was that he couldn’t continue in that manner. So, after he kicked another one away, he levered himself to his feet, then leapt, pushing off with all of his Strength.

He barely cleared a few inches.

But it was just enough that when he descended atop the closest crab, he felt the thing’s shell crack and crunch beneath his bare feet. The shards of shell pierced the soles of his feet, but he didn’t allow himself to stop, stomping down as hard as he could. Over and over, until the creature had been reduced to a slurry of shell, crab meat, and its juices.

Seeing the other crabs surrounding him, Elijah stumbled away, scrambling over the rocks as best he could. He left a trail of blood and bits of ruined flesh behind, but adrenaline drove him forward and into the trees. He glanced back to see that the crabs had descended upon their fallen fellow, and he sighed in relief.

Still, he kept going into the thick forest, only collapsing a few dozen feet in. Crabs wouldn’t go too far inland, so he felt like he was safe. Even so, the presence of the abnormally large crabs was a troubling thing.

But it was nothing compared to his ruined legs that increasingly refused to follow his commands. A few more feet, and he tumbled to the ground. Elijah dragged himself forward until, at last, he could turn over and rest his back against a pine tree.

Finally, he let himself relax, and in that moment, another block of text appeared before his eyes:

Congratulations for defeating your first foe. Status unlocked (accessed via mental command). There are many ways to advance in this universe, and killing is only one of them. Explore the System to discover your own path to power.

Elijah was both alarmed and relieved to see that his memories on the plane hadn’t been a hallucination. Relieved, because one of his most potent fears was losing his mind. He’d watched his grandmother descend into dementia, and those memories had stuck with him ever since. He’d experienced some mental decay during his treatment – a side effect colloquially known as “chemo brain” – and he’d have rather died than go through any more decline in his mental faculties.

After a second, during which he grew increasingly lightheaded, Elijah decided to distract himself from the pain by taking a look at his so-called status. When he thought of it, another box appeared. However, this one was divided into various categories. He studied it:

Name	Elijah Hart
Level	1
Archetype	Druid
Class	N/A
Specialization	N/A
Alignment	N/A
Strength	3
Dexterity	4
Constitution	1
Ethera Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.	4
Regeneration	7
Attunement	None
Cultivation
Body	Core	Mind	Soul
Unformed	Unformed	Unformed	Unformed

Below the status was another box, which said:

You have ten (10) attribute points to spend. Each level you gain will grant you two more points to spend as you wish. Upon reaching level ten and gaining a class, each level will come with an automatic allocation based on your class. Some classes will grant additional free attribute points. Choose well. All decisions have consequences.

That was comforting, at least. Elijah had no context for what the numbers on his status page really meant, but he suspected that threes and fours weren’t high. Most of that could be attributed to his disease, which had sapped his muscle mass like nothing else could. But the one point in Constitution was more than a little troubling.

Obviously, he knew what Strength and Dexterity were. One represented physical power, while the other was probably representative of his coordination. And Constitution was likely tied to his body’s durability. Regeneration was self-explanatory as well, and he felt certain that it governed his ability to heal. That it was his highest attribute was both comforting and a little disappointing.

Comforting because it meant that, if he managed to survive for any length of time, healing quickly would almost assuredly prove invaluable. Disappointing, though, because his other attributes were so low.

Even though he had a good idea what each category meant, Elijah focused on Strength, which brought up a new box:

Strength: Determines physical might.

That was in line with Elijah’s expectations, so he quickly moved on to the next attribute:

Dexterity: Determines coordination and reaction speed.

Again, that made perfect sense, given the word’s definition. However, what was left unsaid was that, between the two of them, they represented a much larger concept. Strength wasn’t just about lifting heavier things; instead, it described explosive movement as well, which in turn would determine how quickly he could cover ground. However, without coordination, that ability would be useless. With both high Strength and Dexterity, he would be able to move incredibly quickly. But if either of them lagged behind, his speed would suffer.

Next, he looked at Constitution:

Constitution: Determines the body’s stamina as well as resistance to physical and magical damage.

This was the third piece of the puzzle and confirmed that all three of the physical attributes worked together. Strength gave him power. Dexterity gave him coordination. And Constitution would give him the capability of harnessing those attributes to their fullest effect. Without it, he could easily envision a scenario where he quickly ran out of stamina. Or one where his body simply couldn’t endure the strain.

He would have to keep that in mind going forward, lest he grow lopsided and incapable of using his attributes properly.

Ethera: Determines the size of the pool of energy used to empower magical spells, skills, and techniques.

Ethera was the first of the attributes to truly surprise him, but the description was as straightforward as he could’ve asked it to be. As was the case with the numbers representing his attributes, he had little context for what it really meant, though. If he ever got a spell, skill, or technique, he would be able to experiment and find out more. So, he moved on to the final attribute, Regeneration:

Regeneration: Determines physical healing as well as Ethera recovery.

This was another surprising attribute. In addition to the effect he’d suspected upon reading the name, it also determined how quickly his pool of Ethera regenerated. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it would be incredibly important, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine a scenario where he had a huge pool of available Ethera, but once he used it all, it might take him an eternity to regenerate it.

With a sigh, Elijah leaned back, staring at his status screen. As he did so, something nagged at him, niggling at the edge of his awareness, like he’d forgotten something very important. Then it hit him.

He hadn’t chosen an archetype, but there it was on his status screen. Druid. The System had chosen for him.

With focused thought, he found that he could cycle back through his notifications, and as he did, he found the moment he’d dreaded:

Due to failure to choose an archetype within twelve (12) hours, one has been chosen for you. Choice made due to compatibility.

Then, there was another notification informing him that he was now a Druid, whatever that entailed. The decision had been taken out of his hands, but for some reason, Elijah wasn’t upset about it. In fact, it felt entirely appropriate. Perhaps the System knew what was best for him after all.

On his status sheet, Elijah focused on his archetype, and yet another table opened before his eyes.

Archetype: Druid The druid is the defender, ally, and cultivator of nature. Features bonuses to natural Regeneration, Ethera density, and One With Nature. Required Aspects: [Scholar], [Nature]
Spells
Touch of Nature	Harness the power of nature to heal yourself or an ally.

This notification was the most welcome one he’d yet seen, and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. However, just because he had the spell didn’t mean he knew how to use it. And given that he had precisely zero experience with magic – or Ethera, as it had been called – he didn’t like his chances of figuring it out. Still, given the state of his legs – and his body in general – he felt certain that Touch of Nature was the key to his survival.

First, though, he decided to use his free attribute points. With his body ravaged by cancer, he felt that there was only one choice. He wouldn’t get such an influx of attribute points anytime soon, so if he was going to fix himself, he needed to do it now. Even then, he wasn’t entirely certain that it would work. Was the damage already done? He had no idea. But until he felt like the cancer was gone, he would continue to invest his attribute points appropriately.

At first, he considered investing them in Regeneration, though that just didn’t feel right to him. That attribute was already pretty high, and he was still dying. No – if he wanted to make it through the cancer, investing in Constitution seemed like the better option.

To that end, he flicked his mind at his status screen, mentally willing it to add his free points into the Constitution attribute. Once he was finished, a new box of text appeared before him:

You have spent your free attribute points. Would you like to make this allocation permanent?

Elijah hesitated. If he was wrong, he was probably sentencing himself to death. So, even though he felt confident in his reasoning, he mentally retracted the attributes until only one had been allocated. Then, he confirmed it, bringing his Constitution up to two. He didn’t feel that it made any difference, so he added another. Then another. He kept going until he reached five points, only stopping because he finally felt something changing.

Suddenly, his body clenched, his every muscle going taut. It only lasted a few seconds, and when his muscles finally loosened, he felt better than he had in weeks. Probably better than at any time since he’d begun his treatments. That was all the confirmation he needed before slamming every free point into Constitution.

That was a mistake.

A strangled groan escaped from between Elijah’s lips as he went completely stiff. His body trembled with exertion as he felt vitality flood his body. Blessed, agonizing life. Minutes later, when he went limp, he let out a long, quivering sigh of relief. His body was still weak, but it was a natural weakness, not unlike he’d felt after spending a couple of hours in the gym. It was a far cry from that feverish lack of Strength he’d felt for the last few months.

Was he certain that the cancer was gone?

No. But he had reason for hope. And sometimes, that was enough to change a person’s entire outlook on life.

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