Sitting amidst an orchard and a pen whom he had emptied of its sheep, Vainqueur glared at Murmurin’s volcano, a dark, fuming place even under the bright sunlight.

What kind of atrocity the lich was planning deep in his dungeon? How long before he spread knowledge of this dark, horrifying spell to the outside world? Vainqueur seethed at the thought, simmering with anger.

Although he heard Manling Victor and the new werewolves minions approach, Vainqueur didn’t even bother glancing at him, entirely focused on the mountain. “Your Majesty?” minion Victor called. “Your Majesty, are you alright?”

“Where are the kobolds?” Vainqueur asked.

“I sent them to recruit new minions.”

Good. More fodder to throw at the lich. “Minion Victor, you are now my military advisor,” Vainqueur told him, “I would have promoted you to general, but command of this operation is too important to delegate. I will oversee the war against Furibon myself.”

“The war, Your Majesty?”

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“Yes, minion, war. This is war, against an enemy willing to cross any line into depravity. So you will gather all information about this dungeon, every trap, and every defender, every way to break this magical barrier, every way to return my hoard to normal, and then you will give me strategies to validate. You will also research ways for me to become a wizard stronger than Furibon, who is evil and must be destroyed.”

“Dragons can be wizards?” Croissant asked.

“Dragons can be anything,” Vainqueur clarified.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this…” Manling Victor hesitated. “But Your Majesty’s choice of taking levels in the [Wizard] class will be very suboptimal. Let alone the fact it will take you at least fifty years of study to become anywhere near Furibon’s level.”

“Fifty years is the length of a nap to me,” Vainqueur clarified, resolute in his choice. “I told you, minion, that I would destroy that lich, even if it takes me centuries.”

“Yes, but wouldn’t it be faster and easier to just recruit a professional wizard? I already asked Savoureuse for her contacts, and that way I would live long enough to see the lich defeated.”

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“Your Lizardkin ally Savoureuse may be of use, and look reptilian enough to please me,” Vainqueur agreed, happy the minion shared his resolve. “But I can smell she serves another monster lord, and I will not rely on another’s minion to win this battle.”

“You remember her?” The minion seemed shocked. “Holy… Your Majesty is not fine.”

“A dragon is not poor, Manling Victor,” Vainqueur told his chief of staff. “My gold is sick, and so I am. Only gold and revenge against Furibon, who is evil and must be destroyed, can cure me.”

“Technically sir, only your gold is ‘sick,’ the silver, jewels, and magical items are fine. So the hoard is not totally gone, most of your assets are just… frozen.”

“A dragon’s hoard must have gold in it!” Vainqueur replied angrily. “Or it is not shiny enough!”

Having no hoard worth bragging about was a fate worse than death to Vainqueur, and he refused to suffer through it.

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“I’m just… you’re being so intense and serious about it, Your Majesty, it’s scaring me a little.”

“Furibon took everything that was precious to me!” Vainqueur ranted, the strength of his booming words making Victor fall on his ass. “I am the great calamity of this age! I am the apex creature! No one mocks me and lives! My reputation will be in tatters if word of his cruelty spreads! So if I cannot blast his fortress the proper dragon way, then I will do whatever it takes to destroy him!”

Furibon had made Vainqueur feel like a pauper, and for that, he had to die. Or become deader.

Vainqueur would also learn how to break that curse of lead, in case another Furibon rose up after he had destroyed the current one.

“Your Majesty, I have thought about the problem, and if I may, I think there is an easier solution than working years on becoming a wizard.” Manling Victor rose back up. “There is a spellcaster-class called [Witch Hunter], which specializes in killing spellcasters and demon worshippers, and they learn exorcisms highly effective against both. With enough levels in it and Charisma points, you should be able to break the barrier.”

While Vainqueur stubbornly sought to cover his rear with magic, the idea of a class dedicated to destroying Furibon’s kind appealed to him. “What has my natural charisma to do with canceling a barrier?”

“The potency of [Witch Hunter] Perks is based on Charisma, and from what I gathered Dragons have lots of it. Must be the scaly charm.”

It suddenly occurred to Vainqueur that he never cared about what those points did. He stopped looking at the mountain, focusing intently on Victor.

As expected of his chief of staff, Minion Victor explained without Vainqueur having to ask. “Health Points represent your lifeforce, health, and longevity. The more of them, the longer you live and the slower you age. Special Points power magical abilities. Strength is strength, Vitality increases your constitution and endurance. Skill handles your dexterity and skillfulness; Agility represents speed and reflexes. Intelligence is intelligence. Charisma influences willpower and charm. The more you have it, the more you get laid. Finally, the more Luck, the more randomness favors you.”

“So the higher the Charisma, the more willpower I have?”

“It also improves the use of certain spells and abilities. Since it represents willpower, [Witch Hunters] can use their Charisma to dispel magic or rain holy judgment on their enemies.”

Vainqueur checked his current stats. “Menu.”

Vainqueur Knightsbane

Level: 14 (Noble 8/Gladiator 6)

Type: Dragon.

Party: V&V.

Health Points

,615

Special Points

Strength

Vitality

Skill

Agility

Intelligence

Charisma

Luck

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