The man stared blankly at the sky. He could not understand how his spell got reflected out of a sudden. It was a meteor. How could someone even do that?

A gigantic flaming rock went directly at them. There wasn’t much any of the others could do to stop it. The only one with a chance was the white-bearded man.

He did not have much time before it hit him. The man drew a few blue-colored symbols in an attempt to cast a magic barrier. But without time to properly strengthen the spell, it would not hold the meteor.

“Damn it. Should I fly and leave? No, there’s not enough time.”

It was impossible to flee using his flight spell. The meteor was big enough to cover a large radius. With his speed, it was impossible to escape.

With that in mind, the man tried his best to create the best magical barrier he could. The other mages helped him by creating weaker barriers to help in a layered defense.

But it was not enough. The meteor came crashing, destroying all of the barriers as if they were paper.

It hit the ship, destroying everything and killing almost everyone instantly.

“He– HE DID IT!”

No one could believe what Arthur had just done. Wisa saw him falling from the sky and quickly jumped to catch him. In the crew’s eyes, Arthur was a savior.

They knew their survivor only happened because of him. Everyone was grateful for what he did.

Wisa let him go and gave him a cloak to cover his body. Some parts showed after his clothing burned. No one could believe Arthur did that. They had many questions to ask, but seeing how tired Arthur looked, they did not. It was not the time to bother him with curiosity.

Both enemy ships got destroyed. Everyone died except one person, the white-bearded man.

He barely survived the impact. All his clothing was ragged, and he also had burning marks all over his body. It would not take long before he died, but he still wanted to do one thing.

“Bastard. You can absorb spells, but if it’s fast enough, will you be able to?”

.

The man was on the brink of death and tried his last move. He did not only use mana, but his vital essence to cast a spell.

He got up from the piece of wood and drew symbols made of blood in the air. Then, a bloody bow formed, and he grabbed it.

“Mystic Life and Death Bow. Die with me, bastard!”

The bow shot a mystical arrow. It was fast. The Mystic Life and Death Bow was a high-tier spell that used the caster’s life to cast it. Usually, the mage wouldn’t die after using it, but the man was almost dead after the meteor attack.

Arthur was happily chatting with the rest of his group, unaware that a deadly arrow was going directly at him. No one could sense it, not even Wisa. It was a spell far beyond her level of power.

“So, where should we head next? There are a lot of places for us to go.”

Arthur asked them with a bright smile, but then something hit him. It was a red-colored arrow, and it stroke directly at his heart.

His health points dropped from 240 to 230.

220…

210…

In a few seconds, he would be dead. And Arthur was no longer inside the ship. The impact of the arrow sent him flying into the sea.

“What? ARTHURRR!” Each one of them yelled in despair. Arthur was happy seconds ago, and now he was gone.

Wisa jumped after him, but the arrow’s impact was so strong it sunk him deep in the sea. She swam and tried her best to look where Arthur was, but it did not happen. Wisa couldn’t find him.

She returned to the ship with teary eyes and said, “he’s gone…”

They all went to their knees and cried.

Jane did not tell them, but she felt when their link broke. Arthur was her familiar, after all. It meant he was no longer with them.

~~~~

Arthur’s health points dropped to zero. He was dead. Arthur’s body sunk deep into the sea, and he lost consciousness. The dream of exploring this new vast world was over. There were many things he wanted to do.

Then, something extraordinary happened. Arthur’s wounds started to heal, and a message appeared.

[Ding]

[Unlocking Hidden Bloodline]

[Changing Race from Human(F Rank) to Dragon(??? Rank)]

Arthur had no idea all of this was happening. An eggshell formed around his body, sealing it for any predator who tried to harm him. He hit the bottom of the sea, where he laid and rested.

All of his body was changing. It got stronger, and faster, and all of his senses heightened. Arthur did not turn into a full dragon yet, but his body was no longer human. He was beyond it.

The liquid inside the eggshell was responsible for healing his wounds and changing his body. The sea moved the eggshell along with the waves, and Arthur traveled without knowing it.

~~~~

Six months passed. Arthur had yet to wake up.

A small ship from the island of Lhendora sailed the sea. Only a few people were inside of it. These men were responsible for getting fish for their people.

They threw a net, catching many different types of fish. But amongst these fishes, a strange egg laid. It was of dark color and had mysterious patterns around it.

“Look, Dad,” a kid yelled. The boy had no more than nine years old. He was fascinated by the strange creature egg they caught. It was big, and certainly, a rare creature would hatch from it.

“Oh, my. It’s a beast egg. Should we throw it back into the sea?”

“No, please, Dad. Let me keep it?” the kid begged his Dad, and in the end, he got what he wanted.

“All right, but you’ll take care of it.”

“Yeeeeyy!”

After they got enough fish, it was time to return to the island of Lhendora. The kid stayed close to the egg the entire time and even tried to talk with it.

“Hi, I’m Rauk. I- I hope we can become friends in the future!” Rauk hugged the egg in an attempt to keep it warm.

The island was a bit far, and it would take them two days to get there. On the way, Rauk talked with Arthur about many things in his life. Including the fact that he wanted to become a warrior and earn money to help his family. It was not easy to live on the island of Lhendora. They had to fight every day for their survival. Rauk’s Dad had an important job inside the island. He was the one who brought fish for them to eat. He and his men went to the sea every week to supply the island with food.

~~~~

“You’re finally back, my dear,” Rauk’s mother was waiting for her family to return. She was called Kayara.

Ior, her husband, hugged her as soon as he saw her.

“Oh, my love. I’ve missed you so much. Rauk is okay. And in his first time coming with us, we got a good fortune. We got tons of fish, and even a mysterious beast egg.”

“Really? I knew my boy was lucky. Come here, Rauk,” said Kayara.

Rauk hugged her as well and asked for help to bring his beast egg to their house.

It was heavy, and there was no chance a kid like him could carry it. Ior and his men used an improvised stretcher to move the egg to Ior’s house. The island was big, but only a portion of it had houses, so Ior’s house was not far from where his ship anchored.

Everyone on the island saw the mysterious egg and got curious about what could possibly hatch from it. They had never seen anything like it before. Maybe Lhendora would finally get a beastly protector.

After passing through many houses, they finally reached their destination. Ior’s house was not big, but it was the place he could call home. The house was made fully off the wood they got from the island and had decorations made of flowers and other plants.

Rauk asked them to put the egg inside his room, and so they did. Inside a small room with only a bed and a desk, stood a mysterious black egg.

~~~~

Days passed since Arthur was inside that house. Rauk made sure to wrap some things around the egg to keep it warm and talk to it every day.

Then, Arthur finally woke up. The moment he woke up, his head ached and the memories of what happened returned to him. Even the things that happened while he was unconscious inside the egg.

Arthur could not move yet, but he could still inspect his system tab, and that made him shocked.

[Name: Arthur Willians]

[Draconic Name: Placidusax, the Eater of Worlds]

[Rank: ???]

[Level: 20]

[Health: 2320/2320]

[Mana: 0/x]

Attributes:

[Strength: 60]

[Agility: 30]

[Vigor: 30]

[Wisdom: 30]

[Charm: 40]

[Free points: 0]

“Damn, I’m overpowered now, huh.”

“But, wait. What are those skills?”

[Draconic Void Step: An art created by the Dragon Neldror. Allows the user to step inside the shadowy part of the Dream Realm.]

[Draconic Burst: A skill that focuses the mana entirely on the dragon’s legs, increasing its speed by a large amount.]

“Aren’t these the techniques grandpa Nefion taught me? What is happening…?”