Scanning the surfaces of the asteroids with his Worldsense yielded a lot of information, ranging from cavities in the rock to hidden pockets of minerals. The world of the Dao was nothing like the real world, and he wasn’t truly seeing, but he was more than able to parse the nature of what he looked at. For example, water, of course, was heralded by a larger concentration of Water related Daos, whereas obdurate stone was simply made up of conceptual Earth. It was at the finer levels that his skill began to break down, though, and he couldn’t tell apart smaller objects, save by their motion.

  Sam had learned a lot more about the nature of his floor from the various scientists and researchers he had freed from their prisons. The star sector he was in contained a few warring factions, ranging from the Blacktusks to the Dragonclaws, the personal faction of Abrinadus. The dragon himself was at the very peak of E Rank, but his extreme age, nearly ten thousand years, rendered him weaker than a normal being at that rank, even with his various racial bonuses. It was the first time Sam had been near a real dragon, and he was looking forward to the fight that was sure to come. Dragons were as sapient as humans, and just as intelligent, if not more so. They were considered to be one of the premier species in all of existence, and as Sam could see, they were present in more than one Multiverse.

  According to the stories of the locals, Abrinadus was similar to a traditional western dragon in shape, though he had four wings rather than two. True dragons generally had three genetic traits, denoting them as such, and depending on how many they had, their bloodline was purer. Having four wings was the most common among dragonkind, while the other two hallmarks, a set of eight horns, and telepathic sovereignty, were less so. The last of those was by far the rarest, and it allowed for dragons to force their will upon their lessers, turning them into thralls.

  Of course, Abrinadus was only a basic dragon, if such a thing even existed. Any one of the higher ranked ones would be too powerful for the Tower, at least at this stage. Not only did the two rarer genetic inheritances mark the beasts as more purebred than their lesser kin, they also made their bearers more powerful, granting them greater bonuses and multipliers to their stats.

  Little else was known about the dragon, who interacted with the world through those he hired from clandestine mercenary organizations. His paranoia was legendary, which certainly showed, given his highly advanced age. Unfortunately, it wasn’t matched by his talent.

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  As Sam ran through everything he had learned, he felt something shift in his Worldsense, finding a large opening within the strata of the planetoid he was skipping along. It was too large to be a cave, and too regular as well. Raising an eyebrow, he teleported down into its depths, finding himself falling into a dark expanse, lit by a few lonely, flickering lights. A faint, wispy atmosphere was present, strange for a seemingly empty asteroid.

  Nothing living was present, but as he swept his gaze around the cavern, he saw a few glints of reflected light from its base, more than a mile below. Frowning, he teleported to them. The lights came into focus, and revealed themselves to be glistening scales, attached to massive, disfigured hulks of flesh. Dragon-like in appearance, but in nothing else, they were gigantic, hundreds of feet long. Tattered, leathery wings were folded haphazardly over their bodies, some larger than others. Tumors covered them, protruding out from beneath sundered scales, leaking fluids onto the ground. To Sam’s horror, he felt a slight shudder as the flesh before him stirred slightly. It was still alive.

  More and more leaped into focus from the dark, coming into focus as he recognized what they were. All were nearly dead, but somehow, unable to die.

  Sam took in the full scale of the cavern, noticing dozens of the fleshy masses, each of them shuddering slightly as unimaginable pain wracked their immobile bodies. With a shudder of his own, Sam drew his hammer, resolving to put them out of their misery. Before he could do so, however, footsteps appeared out of nowhere, coming from his left.

  He looked over to see an armored figure stepping into the light, walking reverently past the dragons, ensuring that it did not touch them. With a quick pulse of Worldsense, Sam realized that the figure wasn’t even alive. It was some sort of golem, made entirely out of metal and dragonscale. In its hands, it carried a large mace, its end crackling with red lightning. Ten feet tall, it made for an imposing sight.

  “Intruders upon the master’s domain will be annihilated,” it said in a robotic monotone. “His projects must remain undisturbed.”

  Metal creaked as it tightened its grip around the mace, and with a sudden blast of air pressure, it shot forwards, far faster than Sam expected. A System notification appeared, but he ignored it, knowing that it was simply a new layer quest. Instead, he scanned the golem, even as he raised his weapon to block.

  Draconic Crypt Guardian(Elite)

  Level 227