Hadofi couldn't believe it was another dragon already. "Is this world full of dragons?!" he protested as he used the last two charges from his wand to again turn rock to mud. He swore at himself for being so free with it on his construction project rather than saving it. Beneath the dragon, the blood-soaked rock turned to mud, from wall to wall a hundred feet long and twenty feet deep. Quickly the dragon began to panic as it sank. The wet, sucking sound of mud pulling at its limbs as it devoured him like quicksand. The dragon's frantic thrashing sent sprays of crimson sludge splattering against the walls. If only he had saved two more charges, if only he could cast the spell to turn the mud back into stone. But the wand turned to ash in his hand and he didn't have time to mourn its passing.

  His eyes widened in panic as a fireball entered the cabin through the window and expanded inside to fill it. The sudden roar of flames swallowed the room in blistering orange, singeing everything and filling his nose with the stench of scorched wood and stone. He was surprised at how little damage it did, and decided he needed help. It wasn't a great time to test spells, but he needed more targets for the dragon to focus on, other than just him. Pouring his mana into his call, around the dragon five mudmen rose up out of the mud throwing mudballs with wet splats. The dragon thought little of their pathetic attacks, and ignored them. Now standing on rock again at the bottom of the pit, it sent another fireball into the small cabin, focused on killing the half-elf within. Hadofi tried to absorb the ball of flame or redirect it, but he was not that powerful. Another inferno erupted within the cabin and things inside ignited as the table and chairs burned with a crackle.

  Hadofi panicked, a quarter of his health was gone, yet he had not even damaged the dragon. Recalling a trick Badb had told him about a spell called Lightning Bolt that bounced off stone, if done right, the bolt could be used to hit the same target twice. The creature's movements in the mud had slowed and the creatures throwing mud seemed to be slowing it further. Two mudmen had thrown themselves onto the dragon and died like bugs on a windshield, the others were throwing mud like children. "What a fucking useless spell!" Hadofi screamed as he launched his calculated attack. The lightning struck true, it was so easy with the dragon being so slow. The crackling white energy lit the cavern in a stark flash, the sharp ozone smell cutting through the stench of blood. Hadofi ricocheted his strike and hit the dragon twice. With devastating effectiveness the dragon thrashed in the mud as the bolts tore through it, its roar turning into a pained scream. Somehow it still managed to kill two mudmen with just its claws.

  The dragon seemed frantic to kill the final mudman for some reason. It became obvious it was barely able to move, struggling to claw its way through the mud. "You killed my father!" it roared, voice thick with rage and grief, acid dripping from its jaws. "Now you will die!"

  Hadofi shouted back, voice cracking. "He attacked me first! Besides... he was too dumb to let live!" The next bolt of lightning from Hadofi hit the dragon square in the neck, but when it redirected off the cavern wall it took a strange bounce and missed the dragon on the second pass. The last mudman threw itself onto the dragon and the it couldn't move. It was sinking into the mud as though it had lost the will to live; it struggled to breathe but was coughing up thick globs of mud, the wet choking sounds echoing off the walls. Hadofi was confused, but he wasn't going to accept victory until he knew it was dead. Parallel to him, along the full length of the muddy pit where the dragon lay sinking, a huge wall of fire sprang into existence with a deafening whoosh as flames baked the cavern wall. Caught within the wall and unable to move while choking on mud, the dragon succumbed to its fate.

  Level up!

  Hadofi breathed a sigh of relief as he exited the cabin and watched the dragon disappear into its muddy grave. He channeled his magic into healing his wounds and took stock of the situation. The wall of fire had baked the surface layer of mud hard enough to walk on and burned away much of the smell of blood. Dragon bones and scales had also sunk into the muddy grave. He unsummoned the cabin to put out the fires, and resummoned it back fresh and new. Hadofi wondered where the black dragon's lair was, or how it knew he was here, but mostly he wondered where its treasure was. He shook off those ideas and tried to focus. The threat of the outside world seemed more real than ever, and he needed defenses. He calculated that it would take his golems more than two weeks to construct the first wall. It would block the cavern off with a two-foot-thick stone wall, breached only by a double door for passage. For now there weren't nearly enough blocks of stone, so the focus would be on making more, and cleaning out the bedroom area of any remaining dragon parts and debris. What could be burned was burned in the cabin's fireplace, scrap metal, scales and bones were tossed into the mud pit to sink as storage. The last of the meat was hauled to the cave entrance and Hadofi used magic to summon more mudmen and helped clean the bedroom and strip it back to its bare bones. The cabin was still the best place to sleep and eat and study books; he would need furniture and other goods for the bedroom, and means to get them here. As he lay down to sleep, he thought of Hebe's promise that the eagle tribe would visit him soon and he hoped that they had a way to help him physically and not just with papers and furs.

  The next morning, things seemed to be looking up. Hadofi had gotten a good sleep and had all his mana back. He was eager to get started and summoned six of his golems and twenty mudmen to start cleaning the cavern and finish butchering the last of the steel dragon. He still didn't even want to think about how to deal with the black dragon, and for now it was out of sight and he put it out of mind. He resummoned the cabin so that it wouldn't disappear and turned his attention to his new crystal ball, but unfortunately it could only be used to scry and see people, not places around him. He tried to use it to see Mars, but it didn't work, and again to see Badb, but again it didn't work. He tried to think of the eagle tribe, but he knew almost nothing about them, and it failed. He scoffed at the uselessness of something that allowed him to see only people he knew, when he knew no one.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Instead he would explore; the question was, to explore inside the mountain or outside the mountain? He would search outside first he thought; he wanted to try out the new eagle eyes while looking into the valley. Much like the day before, thick fog blanketed the valley below and giant eagles roamed the skies in small flocks, and the scent of pine filtered the air. Hadofi wondered if they were the eagle tribe that Hebe had spoken of, or if they were just birds. He put the eagle glasses on and was instantly shocked, and almost lost his footing. They allowed him to see two thousand feet as though he were only twenty feet away. Suddenly he came up with another game-breaking ploy. The spell of Clairvoyance did not have a range, but required sight to a place the spell. From there one could look around as though the caster was standing there. He looked for a break in the thick fog below and cast the spell the moment he found one. All of a sudden it was as if he was there; he took off the glasses and looked around. He could almost feel the chill of the fog through the spell, almost taste the wet pine and frozen earth. He could see a large moose, its hooves punched through the thin ice layer of what seemed to be a frozen bog. Moisture hung heavy on the trees with icicles and snow, and it was hard to see more than sixty feet through the fog and dense trees. The moose was over knee deep in water with each crushing step as it grazed on water plants, its breath steaming in the cold morning air. In the trees, a murder of ravens bundled together for warmth, many still sleeping until the warmth of the sun could shine its light on them, their black feathers ruffled against the wind. The bog was very alive with creatures, and thus must contain the creatures that would eat them. He would certainly never go hungry if he needed to hunt for meat. For now his magic box was stuffed full of everything he needed. He thought about taking some stuff out to create space for storage of other things. Then it occurred to him how to break the system even more. He cancelled the spell and donned the glasses once again, looking instead across to the other mountain. At around the tree line he cast the spell again, where a mink was eating a mouse; he looked around a bit but then used his glasses to look back at where he was standing. He looked up a bit higher and cast the spell again, it worked. He could view one place and from there he could view another place and keep casting the clairvoyance spell to view places in visual hops. He'd used up more than half his mana, and was getting a bit dizzy and disorientated by the time he stopped. The Dragon Horn was home to four different valleys, each with a wide variety of not just mammals and birds, but also reptiles and fish. From swamp and bog to forest and brush, the dense and lively area had no shortage of life. The most alarming things he saw were: a large yeti-demon twice the size of a polar bear, its roar echoing through the fog like distant thunder; giant eagles feasting on a buffalo, their wings casting shadows over the snow; and a large white troll out for a stroll, its footsteps sending tremors through the snow.

  For now he would head back and check on the progress of the workers and summon some more helpers while he had some lunch and considered his next course of action. After summoning back the mudmen and eating a meal of stew and fresh vegetables Hadofi smiled with eager anticipation. He sent a magical timer for thirty minutes and dove like a fish into the sea of rock that was Dragon Horn Mountain. With two thirty minute trips, and his sense minerals skill, he was able to identify the many layers of rocks and the resources available. They ranged from copper and zinc, to iron and coal. There was even some tungsten, gold and a bit of gemstone and even uranium. He wasn't sure how much of each and certainly didn't have the time to map out their locations. For now he was just trying to get a feel for things, and also to make sure the middle of the mountain wasn't the home to some god awful world boss or something.

  He sat down to dinner at his writing desk to make notes on all the things he'd discovered today. The lambchops were amazing and the mushroom mead brought back fond memories; he would miss Elea once all this goodies ran out. They wouldn't last forever of course. When he lay his head down, thinking of the eagle tribe's visit tomorrow, his mind drifted off to the cabin in the woods where this adventure had began. This night, as he lay in bed, it was Elea that came to visit him in his dream. Her white angel form, peaceful and serene, far more soft and compassionate than he had known her to be. She gave him a second magic box in order to complete her duty to him, ending her contract and freeing her to carry on, with whatever it was she did. Its contents were stuffed full with more meals and bottles of wine, beer and other beverages. He thanked her, and she hugged him sincerely, wrapping him in the warmth of a feathery embrace, saying she was sorry for all that had happened. She wished him luck, a long life, and sweet dreams. As she left, her hand caressed the dragon's egg with magic crackling from her finger tips, and the egg pulsed as magic infused its shell. "Happy Birthday." She said with a seductive smile, and flew off giggling sweetly.