-Daytime. Dragon POV-

Distant muffled sounds forced my consciousness out of dreams, becoming louder as if approaching until it feels like a stadium full of people suddenly came into my room and my ears start to twitch around in annoyance. The racket only got worse, then without opening my eyes, made an attempt to continue sleeping by tucking my head under the partially open left wing and block out the clamor of whatever human party is happening outside the beast pen, but my indulgence wouldn't be allowed.

My efforts to block the clamor of people shouting vehemently to make themselves be heard among the crowd proved futile and made me unable to keep the much-desired sleep, not just because I was lazy, but as it was the only time when migraines didn't torment my existence.

"NGRRUUu..." I grunted in a not too loud voice, feeling unusually heavy with a weird after-taste in my mouth and turned my neck to the other wing where it felt less noisy.

Hoping that grumpy actions would show the desire to continue sleeping to my captors, who often misunderstood my lack of activity or response as injuries to the head which called the healer, I try to ignore them, but as if not being the focus of their attention, my presence was ignored back. My headaches continue, despite the significant improvement over the last twenty or so days, and getting healed alleviated them almost entirely every time, but it returned to the usual after a while. Unfortunately, the healer eventually stopped coming since he was being paid for the service, but I was not in the mood to hurt myself just so they would call him again, and instead sought relief in slumber which didn't leave much time to explore the feelings of magic.

However, in the slothful life of sleeping and feeding, my back grew past the height of an average six-feet tall person already which is convenient to use as a unit of measurement, and it was one of the few good ideas the young-dragon-self had.

I hope they don't get mad for being a measuring tape...though I'm the one getting irritated here... Fed up with the irrational human behavior that keeps disturbing my peace, I reluctantly pull my head out of the wing and take a deep breath while facing the front with the head at a person's chest-high.

"GRHUAA__a?" I was preparing to do a Roar and opened my eyes to determine the target of my shout, but to my surprise, it was a rather bright place, different from the beast pen that housed me for many days.

Well, this explains the potent medicinal taste in my mouth, they drugged my last meal at the pen this morning and judging by the noise of many people coming in front, this is my big day, I'm finally getting sold. After spreading out my foreleg's positions over the wooden floor to stabilize my crouching body, I turn my head around observing the rows of vertical steel bars as thick as a child's arms connecting to the wooden roof and comprising my new enclosure that is slightly bigger than my body.

The cage is covered with a thick brown cloth that has some patches poorly sewn letting the warm light rays enter at an angle in which indicates the morning rising Sun and sniffing the air confirms the scent of almost a hundred people below my cell's floor level. However, the three humans at the same elevation in front of my cage smell deliciously familiar while some in the multitude of people feel downright wrong with an even scent of blood on them.

Hmm... They are pobably murderers or perhaps butchers and there are also little beasts smells far to my left...wolves and birds? There's also the scent from that kitty I tried to take before...the irony...note to self, don't try to steal from slave merchants because they might sell you in the future. I realize my leisure time in the pen will be ending with my sale soon.

I miss the pen already...it was quiet since there weren't any other beast next to mine, the sun entered from the right at a forty-degree angle, but sleeping in the back-right corner avoided morning interruptions, the humidity, and baths once a day were pleasant, as well as having someone to pick up your poop without needing to bury it. In short, it was cozy, and he, who is raised in the cage, yearns for the cage huh? I was supposed to be obedient, but acted spoiled instead, not listening to my captor's commands, begging for food all the time and stopping the Priest from leaving the cell until he used up all his magic to heal my head which caused the pink-haired woman to pinch the bridge of her nose stressfully.

Though there was no need to Drug me, it seems they were tired of such spoiled dragon and probably will rejoice once I'm sold, but at least they gave me a goodbye bath since I look clean and shiny, ready to be sold. I reminisce of the old place left behind while inspecting the current to determine if turning my body around was possible in order to avoid the noise, but looking the tail in the space between my body and the boundaries tells me it's highly likely to get stuck.

"UWHuu..." I sigh in disappointment, feeling like a dragon-sardine in a box, and desist my actions, bringing my neck back to the front.

I'm bored...I want to stretch and walk...hurry up and buy me! With nothing to do and forced to hear the shouting of humans on the other side of the covering, I started scratching the wooden planks of the floor with my claws while looking at the superposed patches on the cloth that only a child would be responsible for its disastrous stitches. It feels pleasant to scratch things...if they don't hurry, I'm gonna ruin this cage and if I'm supposed to be tamed...why am I even in a box? I continue to claw at the wooden planks creating splinters which have a delightful aroma while increasingly becoming frustrated from being kept out of the entertainment until my patience was at its limit, then took a deep breath again.

"RHOUAAAAA..." Roaring at the crowd beyond the cloth, immediately made them quiet while I became embarrassed, hearing only a few coughs within the silence, children crying and their mothers soothing them.

Oh shit...I'm kind of glad being covered by the thick cloth since they are all probably looking at here and those mothers are gonna use me to scare their children into obedience, aren't they? Probably gonna say something like "if you eat the food and become fat, the dragon will come for you." Recalling the poor times where my family discouraged me from eating food reserves, I pray not to get uncovered when the voice from the person in front sounded, and the crowd started laughing. Hilarious... I roll my eyes at the slave merchant in front who probably made fun of me saying I was cranky or in a hurry to be sold. I'm not seeking attention you douche, but I am cranky because you people don't let me sleep in peace and keeping me bored...being sold faster would bring me some form of relief since the whole situation feels stalemate.

I notice the scent of two smaller humans move to the each sides of my cage while fearing they might uncover the cage and send me through an emotional rollercoaster, but instead they just stood still at the corners. Ugh, I don't want to be looked at...it hardly feels like I'm a proper dragon with this gray color that I'm not sure how to get rid of and being stared at by hundreds of pairs of eyes will be uncomfortable. Although my parents did have their colors, only Big Red had fire breath, but maybe I'm too young to do that as well, or it has something to do with magic, and even the healer didn't look too affected by the collar when he was treating my head, so I'm just that weak...

Knowing it was a World where magic manipulation was possible, the first step was concentrating on feeling mana, but it took me days just to isolate the unique sensation and had to start over when my profound meditations were interrupted by the collar every time. It was extremely frustrating losing the hard-to-find feeling, then starting all over again, and at some point, I even pooped thunderously on the back wall right after the guy in charge of cleaning did his job...which made him a little mad, but as an understanding dragon, I didn't bite him when he threw the empty bucket at me, and just knocked him down with my tail a few times.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Eventually, I succeeded in acclimating to the sensation which forced myself to believe was like being submerged in water that has no temperature or wetness, and imagined virtual hands of awareness scooping it around the head, but the collar prevented me from doing that too far. The waves hitting my brain were made of mana, but they were as powerful as torrents of water interfering with control on the outside while producing a draining sensation inside my body and this was more intense closer to the collar which left only the place around the head tranquil enough to control. Leave it to humans to invent a ridiculous device that steals your own mana in order to control you while it also barricades the rest of the body, and can't do anything about it or even get close with awareness since it feels as uncomfortable as a garden hose aimed at the face.

The second step was manipulation to gather more, which was easier around the head since the soul is there, but once I tried dragging Mana into the body, it felt like squeezing maple syrup inside a sponge and lost control of the elusive energy causing most of it to scatter away every time. The range of my manipulation seemed to increase with practice and confirmed with the wall to be almost two-hum away from my head since its difficult to drag my Mana inside objects, which is probably how this collar is trapping it. The Mana gathered becomes mine but can lose control of it like when moving it through the body which feels uncomfortable or when the collar eats it during my sleep, and although I can still feel it there, can't control it with the disturbance, as if my hand was pulled away to take the sandwich.

The final step after perfecting control was, of course, producing magic, but there's a small problem, I have absolutely no idea how to go on about that...already tried everything imaginable, but mana doesn't turn into anything. It's possible to write with mana, but the thing is completely invisible...I even felt it going into my eye, but couldn't see it and feels weird when going through the flesh, like a small tug pulling at your insides, so, for now, I just try to increase control highly enough to compete with the collar or maybe overload it.

However, it seems I really need human knowledge otherwise who knows how long it's gonna take me to make magic by myself in the wild and I also have no idea how to remove this collar...it doesn't look like an amount of bashing that wouldn't kill me can take it off. Guardian said before this world has some support implemented for magic manipulation, but it only__ Pondering while trying to avoid the collar waves as per usual by twisting the neck to the left and my head slightly elevated was interrupted when the cloth that was covering my cage suddenly slides to the right, revealing the sunlight coming from the left at the perfect angle to shine right into my eyes.

"HISSSS!" Caught me by surprise by the sudden increase in illumination my eyes narrow quickly into thin vertical slits while retreating the neck to the opposite side of the enclosure making it rock with the abrupt actions.

Ugh, got too engrossed recalling my hotel life to notice when they untied the cloth, pulling it in one go, making me act like some kind of vampire dragon hating his nemesis, and generally the eyes become slits to protect the receptors from sudden light, but I didn't do it before it happened... I'm a failure of a dragon... Though the light was a nemesis even in my previous life where I was a night owl from working overnight shifts and playing games till sunrise... sometimes until lunch, messing up my biological clock, but as a predator hunting at night is only natural. I wait for my eyes to adapt while blinking and use the third eyelid to protect them from the dust that's flying around until it thins out enough to peek at the cheering people outside.

My eyes adjusted to the light watching the dust settle from the dirty cloth then looked at the black haired man in a black suit standing at a podium, saying something to the gathered people while pointing at me with his hand. My clean body has dust on it now...did you guys not have better cloth? After having the cover removed abruptly by the two children standing still on the sides, I confirmed to be the next item being showed off in the public auction where the bidding is about to start and observing the crowd below made my eyes open wide.

I-is this some kind of Japanese festival? So many people with many hair colors and even different combinations...they need shampoo though and baths for that matter since I'm probably cleaner and more healthy-looking than some of them. I cast my gaze over all those present with an open jaw displaying the rows of teeth, adult-human-size the smallest and notice their reactions don't look too disappointed to see me. Well, they look excited enough, maybe I'm not a disappointment of a dragon, and it looks like my annoyed grumble was the cue to make the salesperson show me off to the public huh.

Most people are black or brown haired, but I don't see any demihuman besides the ones in cages to the far left side of the plaza since the sweet smell of the kitty is coming from there...human supremacy? The fluffy ones were healthy when the younger me attempted to steal, so maybe they are just not popular in these parts since I also don't see anyone buying them to throw rocks or openly discriminate and nobody looks interested in the two human slaves standing on each side of my cell that are being displayed. I wonder how many of these ten year old kids would fill my stomach...maybe two or three, and it should be possible even to eat an adult now, but swallowing one would not be an easy task since my jaws don't open like snakes or my neck stretch so much either.

I slurp some drool making its way to the cage's wooden floor with dripping sounds and look at that overview of the thirty-meter wide plaza by some forty long until a street at the end going both right and left. The houses lined up on both sides of the square have lower stone walls until human waist then wooden planks above that with stone tiles of different sizes and shapes. The smell of the stinky river is coming from the left corner of the street, but no way in hell I'm jumping in there again and judging by the sun which is making a forty-five-degree angle, this plaza is oriented to the southwest, so the shortest route to the wild is probably from the right corner.

Hmm? What the hell...is my auction done already? While I was admiring the house structures and the colorful display of people around the plaza, a blond male around his twenties in light blue pants and shirt seems to have won the auction and is now exchanging talks with the merchant. I had to wait here while all other animals were selling before me since__how long was I here anyway? All the other pets were sold already, and I wish my owner had purchased them... to eat something later especially with the variety of different tastes...must be my imagination, or I have food issues.

I appraise my owner further finding a sword on his left side, dagger on the right, a bow strapped on his back and is holding an iron tube hum-chest-long with crystal gems on each tip almost the size of golf balls. Good, he seems to be a magician of sorts judging by that staff thingy, or rather why does he have so many weapons on him? It's not a good idea to be a jack of all trades and master of none...I tried before, and the moment you lose focus on something, it's hard to excel at it, but I'm more interested in his magic talents since that's what I need the most...besides the free food. His elegant clothes stand out from the rest of the people here so he must be either rich like the healer or a Noble since those must exist, and is he buying me as a Mount to look like a hero or something?

I watch their money exchange with impatience as it goes back and forth while people start to depart from the Plaza slowly while casting glances at me with greed then at my owner with disgust. It seems he's hated like some kind of tyrant boss noble that forces little girls every day, but I don't care as long as the ostentatious person has what I seek. However, this money exchange is taking too long! Invent paper money or better mathematics and are you sure you should be doing that in the open? Well, there are some guards around, and he probably loves showing off so hurry up so we can take a walk through town while going to your evil mansion.

They finished the money exchange and proceeded to my cage up in the stand where the two slaves next to my cage, unlock it then my owner received a black bracelet from the merchant and started talking to it while getting closer to me. Ugh, the collar orders have no effect on me, but it is an uncomfortable feeling nonetheless, and I should probably come out of the cage already. This is a little late but if the people from before knew I didn't listen to their orders, why did they sell me anyway? Well, I was cooperative...most of the time anyway.