Paul’s trip through the tunnel to the surface continued with the odd encounter of the one or other low ranking monster.

Good it’s only things I can beat alone. I would be toast if something bigger came up in this tight tunnel.

‘Hey, dragon! Any idea why there are only monsters now and not deeper in the tunnel?’

‘Call me by my name!’, Grimiora complained. ‘How can you still be so cold to me after all we’ve been through! You haven’t even told me your name in all this time.’

‘You’re right. But you never asked and who else would you be talking to? Paul Ray is my name.’

‘Now with the excuses!’, she playfully accused.

‘Okay, so the Stone Elementals probably aren’t that friendly to these monsters and that’s why they keep far away from them. Couldn’t you have come with that on your own?’

‘Well, I thought I better ask the expert, if I already have one with me.’

‘Even though I am pretty knowledgeable, I am no expert. Already forgot that thing about dragons and caves? I just know what I heard or read.’

‘Fair point. But what is up with that power you wanted to transfer to me? Haven’t seen or felt anything so far.’, he questioned.

‘Needs to overcome some threshold first, it seems. Give it a bit of time and a bit more monster-slaying.’

‘Disappointing. What do I even have you for?’, he bantered.

‘Obviously for the amazing company and infinite wisdom.’

When Paul started to become tired and already thought about finding a place to spend the night, the scenery changed. Instead of being dead-straight, the tunnel now started to curve and went up and down in elevation. The odd stalactite appeared and the ground got rocky and uneven.

‘Seems like the tunnel just leads into a natural cave system. The surface can’t be that far off. Do you want to go on until we have seen the surface, Paul?’, Grimiora asked.

‘I guess I can still go on for a while, I want to know if there really is an exit here.’

Soon he came upon other paths leading into his and soon he noticed slight movement in the air.

We really are close to the exit. Now I want to see it for myself before going to sleep!

Some anxious minutes of walking later he finally spotted a faint bit of light shining in. Stepping out of the exit he gazed at the setting sun dipping the forest around him in a red-orange glow. He had came out of a small entrance in a hill.

“Finally out! No more lantern light and eternal darkness. No more stale air and stinking monsters!”, Paul cheered.

Can’t wait to talk to people who aren’t an arrogant dragon and eat something that isn’t dried meat or old, hard bread. Too bad I can’t move on today. Can’t imagine that forest being fun at night.

‘Hey, you just thought something rude about me, didn’t you?’

‘No I did not.’, Paul contested.

‘Yeah...right. What time of year is it? Can you sleep in the forest?’

‘The cold won’t be the problem. More the things that lurk around in the dark. The cave should be safer. Actually, do you also sleep when I do?’

‘Not really sleep, but a meditative state. I still notice something's going on around you. I could actually wake you if something dangerous approached.’

‘Why didn’t you say that earlier? Would felt a bit safer sleeping in there.’

‘There really wasn’t anything going on, so I didn’t felt the need. And I hadn’t the impression you had trouble sleeping.’

‘Okay, but like, tell me relevant stuff beforehand, okay?’, he admonished.

Paul searched the cave for a concealed spot, looking out for potential inhabitants of any corners or other threats. In a spot he felt was safe enough, he set up camp.

Damn, I have some serious hunger right now. Must be all that fighting and walking I did the whole day. Glad I was the food carrier in the group and packed in extra. Oh. They probably don’t have much food right now, do they? Ah, they will be fine. Not like they were in the middle of nowhere. I just hope they don’t do anything stupid trying to find me and went home. Would be really dumb if I came home safe and they instead got injured. Hopefully they figured that I couldn’t have survived that fall. Argh, now I have a really bad feeling. Eric isn’t one to give up on something like that. And especially Joanna. Fucking again: no choice for me here. Staying where I fell down would have been equally stupid. Better hurry tomorrow.

‘Could you gleam something from what you saw of the forest? I don’t think the geography stayed the same for however I long I was sealed. Are we reasonably close to the road?’, Grimiora suddenly inquired, having sensed Paul’s brooding mood.

‘Can’t say for sure with the lack of light, but the forest didn’t look to thick or wild, so I think the chances are good that we can find the road to town sometime tomorrow.’

‘I’m really eager to see how the world changed in my absence. Or generally to see some civilization again.’

‘Me too. Me too.’, Paul replied in a somber mood, remembering what “civilization” meant around here in comparison to his old world.

‘Don’t be such a downer! Things are gonna be great with me around. Or at least more entertaining~.’

‘Not sure if your definition of “entertainment” and “greatness” coincide with mine.’

‘I’m sure there will be something we both enjoy doing. Or like, you doing and me experiencing. Next best thing, basically.’

‘Well, I hope so.’

And with that Paul, turned off his magical lantern, crawled into his bedroll and went to sleep.

Paul awoke to a choking sensation the next morning. His brain muddled with sleep and the lack of oxygen, he made to kick off whatever was crushing him. Noticing that there was no attacker to shake off, he made to struggle out of his really constricting feeling gambeson. Fiddling with the buckles in panic, he miraculously gained enough clarity to turn on his lantern.

Fucking hell, what in damnation is this!!!

Finally getting rid of his armor with the help of the light, the panic-attack-like sensation only let off lightly. Hurriedly making to getting his shirt off, he only noticed something was very wrong when he finally stared at his bare chest and could finally breathe freely.

Breasts.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Completely speechless, he pinched himself to get out of this bizarre dream that his strained psyche had decided to cook up for him.

It’s not a dream.

‘What is this?’, he voiced with an emotionless tone.

‘Ohh, you see, remember the the matter of the power transfer from yesterday? Seems like you just needed some extra time and rest for it to start.’

‘Yes. Power. Why do I have breasts?’

‘Ah, that. So, souls and their power are linked together and souls always influence the current vessel they inhabit. And as your now usable power largely stems from me, it is only natural that that would have an influence on your appearance. Or sex in this case, as I am unmistakably female.’

‘Didn’t I tell you yesterday to tell me relevant stuff?’

‘Is that really that relevant to our survival? I just noticed it when you were asleep and I wanted to have a little surprise~ for you when you wake up. Kinda forgot about the clothes though.’

‘YOU…!!!’, Paul wanted to explode, but a sudden thought stopped him.

Would his friends still be able to recognize him when he returned? Would his parents? Actually, if just this little of a power transfer already changed him this much, what would be if this so called “soul-merge” would be over? Wouldn’t he be someone completely different? His experiences in this strange world had already changed him, but wouldn’t this be accelerated now? Would he just stop caring about those he considered important to him? Wouldn’t he become some fire-breathing monstrosity? Couldn’t this change mean that he had no place anymore in any society in any world?

The frustration about his helplessness in just being thrown in some dangerous world, his hopelessness about finding a way back and finally his loss of control over his own body in the strike of fate that was meeting Grimiora, that he had suppressed until now, bubbled over. Tears started streaming from his eyes and sobs echoed in his corner of the cave. The at first quiet noise crescendoed in ear-piercing wails and he flailed around wildly like a little child. After he eventually ran out of tears to cry and strength to hit the the cave walls, his belongings and the ground, he fell into a fitful sleep in his own tears and snot.

A while later he awoke again.

‘I am so sorry for what I did. I was incredibly insensitive. I should have told you. I am sorry.’ Astounded by the sincerity and amount of guilt he could feel from her, he could only manage a weak ‘Okay...’.

Without any real thing to do except sit around, Paul started mindlessly packing up his things in silence.

‘Again, I am sorry. But it seems like you needed that. From the start you seemed really emotionless talking about things that should be rather personal. Like your world and family and such. I think you probably know that, but suppressing your emotions is really bad for you. Even for a dragon. (Maybe that hormone thing wasn’t such a great idea after all.)’

‘Hmm.’

Having shoved his things into the backpack, he trudged towards the exit.

‘You’re right. Of course. Thank you for at least apologizing. I know suppressing your emotions is bad, but I can’t help it sometimes. Especially when the people in your group start searching stability by your side. Can’t be unsure or anxious.’

Stepping out into the light, he could at least smile at the sunlight and the calming breeze blowing.

“It’ so nice.”

Jumping at the unfamiliar sound of his voice, he was immediately reminded of what had just happened.

I will have to face it. And I would prefer here rather than in between the townspeople and my friends. Guess there is some good in being a couple days away from proper civilization.

‘Yeah, so, I know you don’t want to think about it, but I don’t think humans have changed so much that you can just walk around like that. As much as I would prefer it.’, Grimiora commented

‘I was just about to do something about it. Geez.’, he sighed

Looking down on himself, he had to agree that even in his old world, walking around like he was currently would have amounted to social suicide. He was still walking about with his opened gambeson and shirt.

Can’t really close my gambeson with my...ample bosom. Ouch, that kinda hurt to think.

Instead he tried to close up his shirt as best as possible, removed the padded jacket and took out the cloak he still had in his pack and tried to look a bit more decent. Well, that had been the plan, had he not been distracted by the various features of his new appearance.

Hey, I have a sixpack now! Crazy how toned I look. Wait, why are my pants so short?

Besides the muscles, his height had now increased to over two meters, had eye-pleasing curves and an general Amazonian warrior like look.

‘As nice as being like, 2.05, tall is, I think this is gonna create some slight problems.’

‘What? Yeah, you have to get new clothes. What’s the deal?’

‘I’m gonna stand out like crazy! Almost no one was as tall as I was previously, but now it’s even worse! And a woman nonetheless. And new clothes are expensive.’

‘Were humans always that small? I thought you were on the smaller side actually with your 1.83.’

‘That was considered reasonably tall even in my world. With the average here being around 1.68 for men, I’m basically off the charts now.’

‘Well I previously also had a humanoid form, that one was around 3 meters I think.’

‘How the hell did you interact with any humans that way? You wouldn’t even fit through the door of most buildings. Oh. I think that applies to me too now.’

His skin colour hadn’t changed much, still being a rather pale tone. What however had changed about his skin, was how smooth and perfect it looked.

‘Is that gonna persist or am I going to shrumple up any time soon? Also, hasn’t it grown yet or do I really have no body hair?’

A quick glance at the place Paul wanted to find the least between his legs, also revealed nothing resembling body hair.

‘Your skin? Nah, if anything it’s gonna look better in the future. And no, no body hair anywhere. Thanks to your weird ideas of beauty.’

‘My ideas? I didn’t really want anything of that.’

‘Maybe not, but as I told you, my previous humanoid appearance was different. You look way more like a human now. I mean, I had scales and a tail, so that from was pretty dragon-like looking. Your soul is still in your body and that resulted in an effect on your appearance.’

‘So basically, my ideas of what looks good got mixed into my appearance?’

‘Yes. Also one of the reasons why I didn’t predict you reacting so shocked about your change.’

Speaking of hair, Paul now decided that it was time to face the one thing he feared the most in this, frankly ridiculous, situation: his new face and voice. Getting out the pocket mirror he carried with him on bigger adventures for shaving, he took a look at his brand new visage. Staring back at him was a face that on a good day he would describe as striking and beautiful and on a bad one as fierce and intimidating. Which was mainly caused by his features being rather more sharp and focused than cute and calming. Staring back at him were two azure blue eyes with vertical pupils like a snake, which seemed to be glowing even in the light of day. Resulting in a rather piercing gaze even he had to turn away from.

With how I usually am in the mornings it’s only a matter of time until I give myself a heart attack by glaring at myself in the mirror.

His eyes not being the only blue thing, his shoulder-length hair ranged from a royal blue at some places to a deep indigo at others. On closer inspection, even his eyebrows and eyelashes were a shade of dark blue.

“Well if I didn’t stand out already with my height, I know for sure that will do the job. Oh, seems like I found another thing to draw even more attention to me.”, Paul said, as a shudder went down his spine at his new deep, melodious voice, which felt to him like a bit of magic went naturally into it. A quick test revealed an impressive vocal range. It also reminded him a bit of Grimiora’s voice.

Great, I can finally take up voice acting! Or singing actually. I have a feeling I ain’t gonna find many job offers around here for the first one.

“Is it just me, or is my new voice actually deeper than my old one?”

‘Your old one was kinda high for a man, but don’t worry, your new one still has an unmistakable female charm to it. Even if it’s a bit deep for female human.’

‘Always the things I want to hear.’, Paul chanted with a wry grin. Which revealed another change: His teeth were now sharp and pointy and his canines at least twice the length of before.

‘Oh, you saw it. Yes, even in human form a dragon needs proper fangs!’

‘Wait, what about a dragon form? Kinda sounded like that’s a thing.’

‘Right, I should tell you relevant things. So, yes. Dragon form will be a thing. It would normally be the standard and the humanoid form would come later, but with our unique situation and you having been a human that will come when you reach a threshold in power. I will tell you if it’s any time soon.’

‘As we are already on topic: What’s with the “soul-merge”? Will anything else happen? Besides this, I mean.’

‘I don’t know for sure, but it should result in a gradual access to each other's memories and thoughts. It should stop when we basically have the same memories. When thinking we would have two internal voices instead of one. So basically normal thought but with a second opinion or viewpoint.’

Suddenly, Paul facepalmed.

Can’t believe I didn’t check that first.

‘What’s up?’, Grimiora asked in a confused tone.

Name: Paul Ray(+ Grimiora)

Strength: 11(+20)

Dexterity: 13(+20)

Endurance: 10(+20)

Magic Power: 5(+20)

Magic Control: 7(+20)

Magic Concentration: 4(+20)

Skills: Basic Swordsmanship lv.4; Basic Fighting Instinct lv.2; Basic Light Magic lv.2; General Repairs lv.3; Mathematics lv.12; Driving lv.6; Painting lv.1; (new)Flame of Destruction lv.10