Dragon God’s System

It turned out that I was a freak, at least to some degree. For one thing, I didn’t seem to be a shade of red like most of the other kobold wyrmlings. In fact, I had black scales, which would mean that I should have acid breath instead of ether breath. Oh well, it wasn’t that important. After all, it wasn’t as if I was reborn as a gnome. I shuddered just thinking about such an awful situation. I couldn’t imagine a worse fate.

I could make out what the newly hatched wyrmlings were speaking, sort of. “More shells,” a dark red-scaled wyrmling said imploringly as it looked around. Its clawed hands were outstretched as if to ask for money. When he wasn’t given anything, he stumbled toward the cave entrance, maybe looking for someone who would give him more food.

“Me hungry,” another dark red-scaled wyrmling said. After dragging himself back upright after falling down, he too made his way toward the entrance of the hatching room. 

“Feed me!” This came from an angry sounding wyrmling whose scales were a deep red that was almost black.

“Nice,” I thought to myself. “The first kobold who is even close to having the same color scales as mine had to be a jerk. Way to make us look good.” Sighing, I watched the other newly hatched kobolds for a few minutes as they stumbled, tripped, and fell as they made their way out of the hatching room after they finished eating their shells. None of them had wings. 

“Interesting,” I thought to myself. “So, I am special even here. As for the others, they aren’t trying to steal each other’s eggs to eat and seem friendly enough, except for that one guy. At least I think it is a guy. Still, I do have to admit that I am impressed. Kobolds who had just hatched were able to communicate with simple sentences.”

Eventually, I grew bored watching the exodus of hatchlings leaving the room and joined them, bringing up the rear. I only fell one time on the trip to the entrance of the hatching room. Towards the end, I was getting better at keeping my balance, but that might have been because I wasn’t fighting my tail and started to let my instincts take over. It was much easier to walk after that. 

As soon as I got closer to the cavern entrance, I saw some adult kobolds who were waiting with open arms to greet the newly hatched wyrmlings. They would pick one of the baby kobolds up and wait while the other adult kobolds picked up more wyrmlings. Similar scenes must have happened frequently by the way everyone was acting. 

For a moment, I waited to see if my parents would show up and pick me up. Then an ancestral memory bubbled up about kobold family life. Kobolds didn’t mate for life. In fact, kobolds rarely even knew who their parents were since the eggs were placed altogether. After the wyrmlings hatched, they would be taken care of communally. 

Most of the adult kobolds were wearing a tunic and breeches. Most of the shirts were variations of red or orange, although black was also a color that was quite prevalent. Their scale colors ranged from bright red to dark red to brownish red. While there were a few kobolds who were so dark they were almost black, these kobolds were definitely in the minority. 

Feeling like making a grand entrance, I tried to stand up as straight as I could. While it might not be much, every man, or kobold, wants that extra inch. Perhaps because of the structure of my legs, standing like that was a little painful. Maybe it had something to do with my double-jointed knees. 

A few of the adults spotted me as I drew closer and started pointing, “Wings! Wings! Yay! Einvaldskonungr has blessed us!” 

ACHIEVEMENT - STATUS UNLOCKED: TRIBE OF EINVALDSKONUNGR. By possessing wings, you have unlocked Status with the Tribe of Einvaldskonungr. You have gained the level three rank of Skörungr in this tribe. 

I paused after reading the notification. “Dang,” I thought, “that is a freaking long name, Einvaldskonungr. I’m sure there isn’t any overcompensation there, big name, small…mind.” A moment later, I regretted thinking that. I tended to be short on patience and understanding whenever I was feeling anxious.

“Hmm, Einvaldskonungr, wait,” I paused as I remembered something, then continued to organize the thoughts in my head, “I know who he is. Isn’t he supposed to be one of the gods of the kobolds, a giant red dragon? It’s strange that I know that. Maybe common knowledge can be accessed, but only if it becomes relevant. 

“Whatever,” I thought as I puffed up my chest proudly, suddenly remembering that kobolds with wings were considered to be blessed. That must be why I had a rank of three in the tribe. Of course, immediately after my pride swelled up, my foot caught on a small rock, causing me to fall face down once more. I hastily scrambled up and acted like nothing had happened as I moved toward the group of kobolds. 

Instead of picking me up like the others, they moved aside and motioned for me to proceed before them. “Nice,” I thought, “I’m the blessed one but I’m the only one that has to walk. Yep. Let’s see the blessed one fall on his face again. I’m starting to get the impression that kobolds have mixed feelings where kobolds with wings are concerned.”

I struggled to follow them on my shorter, wobblier legs. I resisted the temptation to use my wings as a counterbalance since I was sure that with my luck, it would only make things worse. Thinking about the wings, I hoped that they weren’t just ornamental and would actually allow me to fly someday.

ACHIEVEMENT - STATUS UNLOCKED: TRIBE OF GROENNEITR. By possessing wings, you have unlocked Status with the Tribe of Groenneitr. You have gained the negative level three rank of Andskoti in this tribe.

After the alert, I noticed that I had gained a negative status with a different tribe. Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and wondered how I had achieved that status. “Great,” I thought. “I haven’t even done anything yet. Why is there so much hate already? With that amount of negative status, I had to be an enemy of their tribe. I managed to make enemies with an entire tribe the day I was born. Maybe it is because I am one of the blessed ones in my tribe. Still, how does that make me an enemy to another tribe of kobolds? How do they know I exist?” 

We soon reached an older-looking kobold wearing fancy clothes. In fact, he was wearing enough jewelry to make a nobleman blush in shame. While I had noticed many of the other kobolds with a few pieces of jewelry, it was nothing in comparison. “Dang,” I thought to myself, ‘he has some bling.“ The most impressive thing about him, however, was the fact that he also had wings.

Next to the winged kobold was a green-scaled kobold with a crest like a mohawk between his horns. This mohawk extended all the way down his back to the end of his tail. More importantly, he also had wings. He also wore quite a bit of jewelry. The kobold was obviously someone important, but there was a slight difference in how he dressed compared to how the other kobolds were dressed. His sleeves were short instead of long and his pants seemed to be made of leather instead of cloth. 

Perhaps a kobold from another area, a trader perhaps? Was he the reason for my negative status rank? I was fairly certain he was and wondered what he had against me. Both of the bling-wearing winged kobolds inspected the newly hatched wyrmlings. The reddish kobold seemed pleased, but the green kobold obviously wasn’t. I wasn’t sure how I was able to decipher their expressions, but I could. Most likely, it could be attributed to ancestral memories. All the other kobolds seemed excited, almost as if they had more hands to share the work to make it easier on them.

Looking at the unhappy, green-scaled kobold, I could easily imagine him being a merchant who had come to a competitor’s store and was dissatisfied because the competition was doing well. “Dang,” I thought, “he is definitely giving off some untrustworthy gnomish vibes.” A quote popped into my mind, “Beware gnomish merchants, they tend to shortchange people.” 

For some reason, I knew that he and I would not get along together. I doubted he was a merchant since just seeing me created such a negative reaction from him. More than likely, he was a diplomat or spy and was scoping out the enemy. Had I just been reborn with the threat of a war looming on the horizon? I was starting to get an uneasy feeling about the future.