Before the dragon could eat a third coin, Daniel touched the gold and willed them into his ring.

The dragon now sat at the bottom of the nearly empty chest and looked around in surprise.

“Cookie?”

“No more cookies for now.”

The dragon turned to look at him, and Daniel was taken aback by how ridiculously cute it was.

Its large watery eyes looked at him with the saddest expression he had ever seen.

Feeling like a monster that had kicked a puppy, Daniel pulled out a silver coin and held it up for the dragon to see.

“You can have a silver. How’s that?”

He held it down to the dragon, who took it in his mouth and whipped it away, where Daniel heard it bounce across the stone floor.

The dragon gave him an angry look and stamped one of his tiny feet.

“Cookie!”

“You’re going to be expensive, aren’t you?” Daniel said, retrieving a gold coin and handing it to the dragon.

“Eat it slowly, that’s all for now.”

The dragon again laid on his back and took a bite of his new coin.

He really is expressive, Daniel thought.

The dragon, clearly happy with his ‘cookie’, took tiny bites out of the coin and seemed to savor the experience.

His own stomach rumbled at the thought of food, but there was one last item in the chest.

Daniel examined the thin leather-bound journal.

The worn edges of the book told a story of their own. The person who dictated their thoughts into this book was no academic, but a traveler.

Opening it, he scanned the first page.

It was a journal by someone named Trandaril.

“Sleepy,” came the voice of the tiny dragon.

“Okay,” he responded absently.

The dragon jumped up, and with a beat of his wings, flew towards him.

Expecting him to land back on his shoulder, Daniel nearly screamed when the dragon disappeared into his chest.

System Message: A Dragon Has Chosen You To Be His Mana Guardian! Do You Accept?

There was a lot to unpack there, but he willed his assent. He had already agreed to taking care of the dragon, so would do whatever was necessary to…

His thoughts broke off as he received a host of new System messages.

System Message: Dragon Bound!! 5 System Points Awarded.

System Message: New Abilities Gained.

System Message: New Class Unlocked,

System Message: Focal Point Achieved!! 10 System Points Awarded.

Daniel froze as he tried to make sense of the messages, but his head felt fuzzy. It was like trying to think through cotton.

Dismissing his System screen, he tried to center himself, but a tinny sound filled his ears.

His vision turned black around the edges as the sound became a roar of noise.

The cavern seemed far away, and he felt like he was falling down a deep hole, until finally, darkness overtook him.

***

Daniel woke. His back hurt and he spent several moments stretching from side to side to work the kinks out.

He stopped as the fugue of sleep finally wore off.

The journal he had been holding was nearby, and he picked it up.

His body felt strange, and he tried to think back to the last time he’d eaten. Sometime well before the dungeon, he decided.

Closing the lid of the chest in front of him, he summoned a meal from his ring and used the chest as a makeshift table as he ate.

He went through three of the prepared meals before his body stopped feeling out of sorts.

“It’s the new stats,” he said out loud.

The expected reply from the dragon was missing, and he belatedly remembered the dragon was now somehow inside him.

Disappointed, he was about to open his System screen when he felt something.

From deep within, he felt the warm presence of the dragon. A comforting feeling overtook him, and he smiled to himself.

Time to find out what being Dragon Bound was about, he thought.

Pulling up his screen, he looked at the changes.

TITLES

Dragon Bound

Status: Sleeping

Passive Abilities:

Immunity to Fire 100%

Empathic Connection

Dragon Guardian Tier 1

Passive Abilities:

Immunity to Fire 20%

Dragon’s Hide +1 Defense

Daniel stared at the stats. They were amazing!

It made a sort of sense, really. He had seen the tiny red dragon sit comfortably in the fire. With him now sleeping inside of him, he was now fireproof, as well.

The Empathic Connection ability was a bit of a mystery, but he figured it must have something to do with how they were connected.

The Dragon Guardian title, on the other hand, appeared to provide him with a means to protect the dragon.

A partial immunity to fire was pretty nice, but a Defense bonus? He had never heard of that. Actually, he had never even heard of a Title.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Best of all, his Dragon Guardian title was tiered; meaning he could increase it. Though he didn’t see a way to add System points to it.

Next, he checked his available classes and found a class he had never heard of, Elementalist.

It was listed under the Magic Classes, and while no other classes were available there, he was overjoyed to see it.

He could take a magic class!

It costs seven System points: more than double any of the combat or general classes.

Without bothering to consider his options, he purchased the Elementalist class.

System Message: Fire Elementalist Class Chosen! You Receive Two Spells.

There was now a new page called ‘Spellbook’; on his System screen, and he excitedly selected it.

Somatic Spells:

Burning Blood Tier 1

Mana Spells:

Magma Tentacle Tier 1

He had expected to be able to choose his spells. In fact, he had specifically read a short journal of a Kingdom Battle Mage that had written about that very thing.

It had involved purchasing spell scrolls, spending points to bind them, and then learning to use the spells in combat.

Apparently, the Elementalist class was a little different. Still, he had magic; he thought excitedly.

He focused on his spells and got a bit of information regarding them.

Apparently Burning Blood gave him a passive regeneration and the magma tentacle allowed him to produce a tentacle of hardened flame.

He frowned at the descriptions. It was really light on details.

Having one mana-gate open allowed him to have a better connection to the System, and he knew someone without that wouldn’t even receive that paltry bit of information.

Well, if he wanted more, he would have to open a second mana-gate.

Checking his System points, he had fifteen points remaining. More than enough to open a second gate.

He debated it for a moment, but decided to wait until he could figure out his next steps. It might be more worthwhile to use his remaining points to bump up the tier of his spells, skills, or stats.

That could come later, he thought with a savage grin.

He had a spell!

Not really knowing what to expect, he prepared himself and cast Magma Tentacle.

He had been expecting to feel the drain that he had read about, that spellcasters felt when they cast a spell.

Casting spells required concentration and incredible willpower to be used effectively. However, his own spell seemed effortless to cast.

A thick whiplike tentacle erupted from his back and moved with his thoughts, acting like another appendage.

It was about ten feet long and seemed to be composed of molten steel. It blazed orange through what appeared to be black slag and moved with a fluidness he couldn’t hope to replicate with any of his other limbs.

He became aware of a spell timer, letting him know how long the spell would be active.

With a thought, he sent the blazing tentacle slamming into the ground in front of him.

It hit with a loud crash and left a scorched black mark on the cavern floor where it had impacted.

The spell lasted for thirty seconds and then faded away like it had never been there.

As the tentacle disappeared, he felt a wave of fatigue and he grit his teeth until the feeling passed.

“So, that’s what drain feels like,” he said aloud.

There was, of course, no response and again he felt overcome with a sense of loneliness, but the warm feeling of the dragon pulsed from within him, and he relaxed.

It looked like he would never be truly alone again.

***

Daniel stored the journal.

It had been an interesting read, that was for sure.

It wasn’t an actual journal, but more of a curated collection of thoughts and experiences from another Elementalist.

Someone had clearly removed information from the book, leading him to question what he was missing.

Though, the content within was still very interesting.

The spells that Trandaril had used differed completely from his own.

He had also been a Dragon Guardian, but his dragon was bronze, and he had received the Earth Elementalist class.

The information on the class was interesting, but the only thing that really stood out was that he would receive a random new spell when opening a new mana-gate.

The real benefit was the information on the dragon.

As he had feared, dragons ate gold coins.

They could and would eat other things, but gold, specifically System generated gold coins, provided dragons with the ability to grow as they slept.

Trandaril wrote in depth about his connection to the dragon.

Dragons didn’t have mana-gates. Instead, they shared the mana-gates of their guardians.

In effect, opening his mana-gates would both provide him with new spells, new tiers to his Dragon Guardian title, and grant new abilities to the dragon.

And then there was the best part. While everyone who opened their mana-gates lived longer, a Dragon Guardian’s lifespan was directly linked to their dragon.

And considering dragons were effectively immortal, that meant the Dragon Guardian was immortal as well.

Not that they couldn’t die. Killing either the dragon or the guardian would result in the death of the other.

Finally, there was the Empathic Connection.

The Dragon Guardian forged a dragon’s personality and values through their actions. Everything he did from here on out would subtly affect the dragon.

Daniel sighed. He was missing so much of the story. There was a gravitas to the writing, like Trandaril was building up to something, but the information was missing.

How exactly would him protecting the dragon save the world?

Also, he couldn’t just hide away in some cabin in the middle of nowhere.

Besides the dragon’s rather expensive diet, he would need System points to get stronger and to open his mana-gates.

Daniel closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose.

It looked like his original plan was still in effect.

He would join the Adventurers Guild.

Daniel stood. He felt amazing, most likely because of his Burning Blood ability.

With a thought, his new mace appeared in his hand.

Giving it an experimental swing, he grinned.

What better preparation for joining the Adventurers Guild was there than to cull a dungeon?

He looked towards the far side of the enormous cavern to where a dark opening led deeper into the dungeon.

Time to see if he had what it takes to be a real adventurer.

***

Daniel breathed out slowly, trying to calm his racing heart.

It had been three days, and he was operating on far too little sleep.

“Alright, Cinder. We’re at the dungeon boss. This is what it’s all about. By killing the dungeon boss, the dungeon will reset and stave away any possible chance of an overflow,” he said as he readied his mace.

At least one of them was getting some sleep, he thought.

The dragon was still inside of him.

In his journal, Trandaril had referred to this as his ‘soul space’, and considering their connection and how the dragon learned, the name made sense.

He peaked around the corner of the stone archway that led to the final room.

There, a beast awaited, and it was huge!

Daniel had been unimpressed by the wingless birds that inhabited this dungeon. Or at least he had been until one of the foot-tall beasts had run at him faster than any creature that looked that ridiculous had a right to.

The creatures had looked a bit like chickens, bipedal with fat little feathered bodies.

However, their beaklike mouths were shaped all wrong. Their mouths would open, revealing a row of jagged teeth.

To add to their deadliness, their feet had talons with a larger middle claw they could use with great effectiveness.

The death-chickens had gotten progressively larger as he had moved further into the dungeon.

Daniel had debated on sleeping before tackling the boss, to fully recover his Lay on Hands spell, but his food supplies were getting low. He needed to finish this quickly.

Taking one last steadying breath, he dashed out from his position and into the room.

He had waited until the monster had its back to him as it paced back and forth in the large space.

“Just like we practiced,” he said through gritted teeth.

He charged the monster’s back and struck the base of the tail with all his System augmented strength.

His mace’s blunt edge sunk into the creature’s flesh as it thudded against the thick feathered tail that dragged behind the monster.

He felt the bones within break with his strike.

The monster roared, and the twelve-foot-tall death-chicken swung itself around toward him.

Daniel hadn’t stayed still. Using the force of his swing to make a 180-degree turn, he had sprinted back to cover.

“You see, Cinder? They’re enormous for birds, but they still have hollow bones. Helps them move so quick, I suppose.”

He listened to the monster approaching and, as it led with its head around the corner, moved underneath it and swung his mace with both hands at the creature’s knee.

This time, he heard a crack as the monster roared in anger.

Daniel ran further into the room, then turned and watched.

The monster attempted to turn, but its leg gave out. It toppled to the side and its oversized head crashed to the floor.

Mace in hand, he charged forward and thrust the point of his weapon with all his might into the creature.

The beast flailed once, then lay still, finally dead.

“See Cinder? The dungeon taught us how to deal with the boss monster by providing us with smaller dungeon beasts to practice on.”

“You start with a strike to the tailbone, so that it can’t use it to balance itself and leap at us with its claws. Then you take out the legs to bring them to the ground. And once on the ground, you can finish them,” he explained as he wiped his mace off on the giant chicken’s feathers.

Daniel stored his weapon and inspected the creature. He was missing something. While being unable to move the monsters’ bodies into his ring, he could harvest them for meat.

Not that he had eaten any of the bird-like monsters. The meat had smelled strange, and he had no way of knowing if it was poisonous.

Ignoring the problem for the moment, he looked around the room.

Once again, his mask proved its worth.

He could clearly spot a section of floor that differed from the rest.

It was something he wouldn’t normally be able to make out in the dimly lit dungeon, but his paladin’s mask allowed him to see everything, like he was outside on a sunny day.

He checked the area carefully for traps before using his mace to wedge out the stones that concealed the treasure.

It was another chest.

He had found two others as he had cleared the dungeon, both hidden, but obviously designed to be found with the right abilities or skills.

He found gold and gems in the first chest, and the second chest contained strange crystals and a jeweled dagger.

Finding the dagger had been a mixed blessing.

He was pleased to get something interesting, but angry with himself for forgetting his task of delivering the elf’s cursed blade to the priests of KRAM.

There was nothing left to do about the situation other than to find them, apologize, and hand over the dagger.

Giving the new chest a once over, he opened it and stared in fascination.

Inside were six scrolls.

Taking one scroll out and opening it, he was unable to glean anything meaningful other than it was magic.

The common wisdom was that they were spell scrolls, and as far as he knew, completely worthless to him, but probably very valuable.

“What do you think, Cinder? Should we sell them or save them?”

“Hi!”

Not expecting a reply, Daniel jumped and summoned his mace back to his hand.

He turned and spotted the dragon, but what he saw shocked him.

Now about the size of a cat, the dragon sat snickering at his surprised jump.

He stored his mace and inspected the dragon.

“Well, you’ve gotten big.”

“Thank. You,” the dragon replied.