Akiol got comfortable, it was the first time he ever sat in such a luxurious chair. Why not enjoy the experience?
The dragon also got comfortable, if a dragon can even be comfortable on a pile of gold coins and treasures.
The dragon rumbled, "I have not any experience with story telling. So I shall begin with how a dragon's life begins."
The dragon cleared its throat, it sounded terrifying.
"The origins of dragons have been lost even to us. As much as we honor our glorious past. We simply cannot recall how he came to this world. The only thing we do know is how we are born. A female dragon lays about six to seven eggs once in their life. This dragon is in charge of protecting the eggs until one of them hatches. After that the female dragon no longer needs to protect and could simply leave. However some choose to stay and watch."
Akiol felt like he was listening to the audio of a documentary. He politely remained silent however, he wasn't one to ask for death.
"When all the dragons hatch there is a battle. Only the strongest of the bunch got privilege to continue living. I, of course, was the last standing of my six kin."
The dragon snorted, Akiol had no idea why.
"At that moment a dragon could choose a name for itself. However if the mother stayed then a name would be given. My mother gave me the name Verhalakos. Such began the story of me."
Akiol leaned forward a bit. It was stories of past he liked, not the circle of life.
"A dragon hunts for the beginning decade of its life. At the ten year mark is when a 'Soul' is formed within the body. I do believe the human-kind calls this a 'dragon heart'. This soul defines the ability of a dragon's power. Along with the color of scales to match. Fire and ice is the most common. This is why many dragons are orange and blue. However my soul was a bit different. For I had heat, the essence of flame itself. This allowed me to triumph over the flame dragons with ease."
Verhalakos snorted again, Akiol started to believe it was the dragon's form of looking down on something.
"In my younger age I burned and pillaged, at a race to claim as much treasure than my rivals. However at most I could only attack towns. As much as I hate to admit it, the humanoid creatures were a lot stronger than I was back then. This was usually called the young-stage of dragons. Shortened to young dragon. With ignorance and large amounts of pride younger dragons pillage and kill, as I did."
"After I claimed a decent amount of treasures I spent the next two decades building my home, filling it with treasures that I have collected, artifacts to keep it undisturbed for centuries in the future. Many dragons fail at this stage, becoming trophies for the mortal kind. Using the heat I was born with I made my home at the top of this mountain. Succeeding in my quest I only wished to fill it with more treasure. So I attacked a city. I was gravely injured in the process but I had acquired what I wanted. This treasure you see here is the proof of my trials. After that I stayed here, resting among my trophies for as long as I could remember. Until you arrived of course."
Verhalakos sighed and looked at Akiol, "Since that story was much shorter than I had hoped to tell. Do you have questions to say?"
Akiol nodded, there was indeed a few, "First, you said a dragon's souls was the source of their magic, or something similar. Does that mean dragons only have one particular magic?"
Verhalakos nodded slightly, "Only offensive ones, we can use other types of magic as well, such as the kind I used to see if you were really a slime."
Akiol continued, "Does that also mean that a dragon could wield any type of magic?"
"This is also true, as I hold heat I have seen a few dragons with rarer abilities."
"You mind telling me?"
"Well there was a deep purple dragon who wielded gravity magic. A silver dragon who wielded time, and a gold dragon who wielded something close to light.
What caught his attention was the time dragon. A dragon is unmatched with its own magic. Which meant there was a dragon out there that had time at its fingertips! Or claws?
Akiol asked another question, "How come the villages and such aren't being attacked now? You made it sound like they were attacked a lot."
Verhalakos sighed at this, the dragon responded sadly, "They were in the past. However the humanoid creatures led a massive hunt for our kind. Many young dragon were slaughtered and now we number very few."
"Doesn't that mean you guys could die out?"
Verhalakos snorted at this. "Older aged dragons couldn't be beat unless some hero arises. We do not die of old age, however some of us do choose to give our bodies back to the earth. This is partly why this world's mana is so high."
Akiol asked one last question, "This might sound a bit rude so do forgive me, but how can you tell the gender of a dragon?"
Verhalakos rumbled, "A good question, a major difference is our jaw." They clicked their jaw. "Male dragons have a stockier jaw. Females have a slimmer one."
"So like the difference between an Alligator and a Crocodile huh?"
"I never made the comparison to the lesser kind. However it is accurate."
This meant Verhalakos was a male, another piece of information Akiol may never use but it was information nonetheless.
Akiol said, "Then I have no more questions.."
Verhalakos rumbled, "Then it is my turn to fulfill the requirements of our deal."
With that Verhalakos's eye flashed with a rune and a red flower appeared in front of Akiol.
Akiol held out his hands and the flower landed gently in them. The status was shown shortly after.
Akiol absorbed the flower, this meant he could complete the quest the witch gave him! In time as well for he only had a day left.
Akiol looked at the dragon and said, "I wish you a farewell. I do hope we may meet in the future."
Verhalakos simply nodded and said nothing.
Akiol used a teleport scroll to head back to Red Bush and it wasn't long before he found himself in it.
The first thing he did was head towards the witches hut. He had some items to deliver of course.