Braun was losing his mind. Braun was losing his grasp on reality. What kind of bullshit was that???

He silently raged as his miserable floating head landed amidst trees and grass. The flight had been slow as he conserved his mana to not lose the support system keeping him alive, the nanite sphere wrapped around his head, which he carefully placed on the soft grassy ground.

Braun inspected the place, making sure that it was safe. After finding no signs of wild animals or monsters, he swiftly yet cautiously manipulated his zenithral power, and green sparks lit ablaze from his soul and out from his eyes and mouth. He burned brightly in the light of green flames, and his soul began to fundamentally change, a feat considered impossible yet was nothing more than a casual day for the reborn god.

The mark placed on his soul, one that stemmed from sources beyond mortal means, started to disappear as the ripples on his soul washed it away. It was just like the mark placed by Aegis’ divine artifact, Heavenly Promise, and the solution was similar as well.

While it was easy to do, the pain that came along with it was unbearable, especially for someone who hasn’t acquired the necessary adaptations to ignore spiritual pain. Braun winced and gritted his teeth, enduring the torture and suffering, before the flames slowly receded. He rested, taking a moment to gather his thoughts, before proceeding to deal with another big issue he was facing.

His body was missing. He was just a head with no torso, arms, legs, no nothing.

The bottom of his neck slowly turned a shade of black as he activated his ability to manipulate nanites. The latent draconic blood circulating throughout his skull reacted as well, affecting his flesh and bones.

Black tendrils slowly extended out of the bottom of his neck, and the nanite sphere keeping him alive mended with his skin. Braun closed his eyes, placing his entire focus on reconstructing his body. Flesh slowly sprouted out, spurred by his unnaturally fast regenerative capabilities, allowing bones, veins, and tissues to form at a visible pace.

Flesh and nanites slowly became one, with a layer of nanites conceived from each cell, fusing back with his increasingly draconic lineage. As his body grew and turned solid, becoming a cohesive mesh of organs, nerves, and bones, he could feel the boundless strength of dragons course through him, his dragon blood becoming the foundation of his newfound draconian physiology.

The black nanites then went on to reinforce every part of his body, further developing his physical attributes to a whole new level.

The absoluteness of metal, the mysticalities of draconian flesh.

And now I’m not even a human anymore. Braun slowly stood up, with the black tendrils and draconian flesh devouring the last bit of his humanity—his head, his skull, his teeth, his tongue, and his brain.

When the wave of black nanite-infused draconian flesh swarmed across his head and disappeared, Braun took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling of his new and improved vessel.

[Unique Skills Acquired: Nanite Immortality, Evolutionary Immortality, Ageless]

Ah yes, immortality. A power that many coveted, yet something he acquired so easily. Chuckling at the sight, Braun’s grin broke as he snapped.

“FUCK OTHERWORLDERS!” Braun slammed his fist against a tree by his side, breaking it with one blow. “FUCK THAT OTHERWORLD ALLIANCE!”

“If I see their fucking faces again, I’m gonna, I’m gonna!” He regained his cool. “I’m gonna run away and get my revenge once I’m a Divine Class eldritch horror.”

“Why bother fighting against an organization possibly under the control of the God of Shadows when you could just cultivate in peace and silence, right?” He talked to himself to soothe his maddening mind. “Yeah, I’ll just get my revenge later.”

…

A warm flame flickered inside a shadowy cave, illuminating its dark corners. Braun huddled all alone, naked and freezing. Cold winds entered from the entrance of the cave, further worsening his already bad mood.

“Status.” Perhaps seeing his growth would give the broken man a semblance of joy.

[Name: Braun Dolus]

[Class: Conman (Rare)]

[Skills: Killing Intent (Z), Lie (C), Deceit (C) …]

[Unique Skills: ???, Adapt Adapt…]

Tapping on the three dots of his unique skills, a list of all of his acquired unique skills displayed itself to him.

[Unique Skills: ???, Adapt, Ageless, Destiny Perception, Evolutionary Immortality, Evolve, Genius, Gun Armory, Gun Creation, Hero, Nanite Control, Nanite Creation, Nanite Immortality, Prodigy, Rapid Class Progression, Rapid Skill Progression, Transcend]

Sigh, it didn’t.

Braun was fucking depressed. Just the mere thought of the tragedy made him groan aloud and wept in tears.

He had lost EVERYTHING. By everything, he truly meant everything.

His wealth, his house, his future, his goddamn hopes and dreams! The plan he had for his century-long life had been built on the cornerstone that he had continued to live as Braun Dolus. He would continue to practice till fifteen, dominate at the academy, build his fame and glory, become a powerful adventurer, build his business empire, and die as a legendary human before moving on with a new identity to explore the rest of Arte.

Then, he would try to find ways to explore the multiverse while leaving behind his clones in this world, to continue acting as the god behind the scenes while his main body traveled across the infinite cosmos.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Now? Now that plan was fucking gone!

He doesn’t have the money anymore to continue living a carefree life as a normal child, he had lost the business empire he planned on creating from the foundation of his family’s magical shop, and many more!

Braun was a rich kid no more; he was an orphan. He had become an orphan twice!

He stared at the figurines of his family, holding them tightly.

“My dear money, may you all rest in peace.” Braun kept the figures safe in his body as he plunged his hand into his stomach. His nanite physiology allowed him to have a slime-like body, so, he could store items in his body without problem.

For a while, he wallowed over the thought of his destroyed life, before finally calming down. His stomach growled, and while he could forever erase his need for food now that he was part nanite, Braun still wanted to enjoy the pleasures of life.

That’s the whole point he was living a carefree life in the first place in Arte. If he was serious about speedrunning to godhood, it would have taken him less than ten years to do so.

As someone who had become a fearsome True God in just four months, he had the confidence to repeat the same.

So, urged by his hunger, Braun activated his storage ring and pulled out a couple of items. A pan, oil, seasoning, and most importantly, wyvern meat-

Wait.

A spark of genius flashed in Braun’s eyes as he stared at his hand.

He was a dragon. While he may be in human shape and infused with nanites, the only reason he looked like a human and not full-blown draconian was because of the nanites.

If he just extracted the nanites that kept his draconian flesh humanly polluted…

The flesh in his forearm grew uncontrollably large, with the extreme vitality of dragons overflowing out of his hands. Gone was the human meat, replaced by the heavenly dragon meat.

He had infinite dragon meat at his disposal!

This realization had caused a depraved grin to form on Braun’s face as he chopped off the growing tumor-like bump on his forearm. The bleeding on his hand was quickly healed by a swarm of black nanites and was covered in a layer of flesh. The tumor though? It was still there!

He cautiously grabbed the horrific-looking tumor of dragon meat and sniffed.

The scent… It was THE scent.

Saliva dripped down his mouth as he barely kept his cool. He oiled up his pan and began to coat his own flesh with seasoning.

I’ve fallen to a new low. He wanted to feel helpless about it, but he honestly didn’t give a damn. He was a cannibal, so eating his own flesh was just the natural next step.

Upon touching the pan, the familiar, saliva-oozing scent of dragon meat wafted in the air. His stomach grumbled out of pure greed and his sadness disappeared by a huge margin, replaced by joy.

While his future may have disappeared, dragon meat had graced him in its presence.

I guess creating synthesized dragon meat or creating my own dragon farm is not a problem anymore. The young boy skillfully handled the dragon meat, displaying the genius of a True God.

[Cooking (E) -> Cooking (D)]

He activated Lie and Deceit, letting his underpowered cooking skill be a bit closer to its original power. With the cooking skill, the meat transcended its natural levels and underwent a qualitative change under the care of a fake chef.

As he did so, Braun felt his mastery over his conman class deepening, giving him a newfound understanding of his class.

To con not just others, but to also con the world, such is the way of the conman.

Perhaps in five years, I’ll have mastered my class and reach Epic Class. Braun assessed in his mind. Although after conning the otherworld alliance, Uncle Dwobug, and my parents, my mastery did gain a huge boost.

The boy continued to cook and let the smell of his dragon meat wash away his depression. His mental fortitude, forged from the four months of being hunted down by Aegis, had allowed him to overcome his sadness, and the boy slowly focused on his plans for the future.

Now that he had lost everything, he could do anything.

Of course, he had to focus on developing his conman class, but besides that, he had a lot of things he could do.

He could steal another person’s identity and attend the Pendragon Royal Academy, slowly uncover the conspiracy behind the Otherworld Alliance, uncover the corruption of the ten divine gods, and go on from there.

Or maybe he could he act as an orphaned child in the nearest town, get adopted by a rich noble family, become a duke, and overthrow the rule of the Pendragon Royal Family. Becoming an emperor didn’t sound that bad, and a conman emperor sounded like a lot of fun.

Heck, he could pose as a hero and spread his legendary tales all throughout the central lands. It’s not like he was lying since he had the Hero Unique Skill, as damnable as it was. Braun fancied the idea of a unique, wacky hero, like the Merchant Hero.

“At least I still have plenty of money in storage.” Braun recounted the hoard of gold coins he had managed to stash before exploding the town; some came from his own house, some from Uncle Dwobug. “That should keep me afloat for a while, but looking like a child would do me no good.”

“Ah, I also have to worry about my own appearance.” He groaned. “It’s like creating a whole new character in an RPG game all over again, but with added steps before I could start actually playing since I have no official identity for the empire.”

“Do I really have to take over another person’s identity again?” Braun sighed. “This is going to be another Lucas Hum incident.”

He really didn’t want to do another Lucas Hum. He was too lazy for that. Perhaps he could just forge his papers well enough? It’s not like this world has advanced enough technology, right? And even if it did, he was a master of artificing! Ten years of living with an artificer made his knowledge of magical technology develop quite well.

Oh, it seemed his meat had finished cooking; he could tell because his cooking skill gave him an intuition of when his food was cooked to perfection. If he was a rare class chef, he would sense more with a lower-ranking cooking skill, but conmen can’t have it all.

“Hohoho…” Braun licked his lips and put the pan away from the fire. He just needed to cut himself a piece and—

An intruder.

He narrowed his eyes and turned to look at the entrance of the cave. Braun had already placed an illusion on the entrance of the cave so no monsters would wander in, but it appeared that a wandering bear with nothing else to do had found its way into his temporary house.

It sniffed the air and smelled the wonderful scent of Braun’s meat, perking its eyes to locate the source of the smell.

“A bear…” Braun mumbled. “A bear!”

A blast of his memories back on Earth resurfaced in his mind, and a dream he had long thrown away made his heart thump loudly.

Bears… He could have a pet bear!

No, not just a pet, a friend! A bear friend! His partner in crime!

A vision flashed in Braun’s mind, a wondrous future full of excitement and thrill.

Braun and Bear, the famous adventuring duo!

“Ror…?” The bear approached the paralyzed child, sniffing at the dragon meat, salivating endlessly.

“Bear…” Braun patted the bear on the head, his overflowing charisma allowing him to touch the cute brown bear without it backing away. “From now on, you’re Bear!”

“Ror?” the bear was confused.

“And I’m Braun!” the young boy pumped his fist. “Together, we’re Braun and Bear, BnB!”

“Ror? Ror…!” the bear, influenced by Braun’s excitement, also roared to show his approval.

“That’s the spirit!” Braun laughed and clawed a piece of the dragon meat. “Now, eat well, my partner! From this moment henceforth, we’re brothers bonded by my blood!”

The moment Bear bit into the meat, his eyes expanded into the size of countless stars.

“ROR!” Bear was unable to believe the heavenly taste that dulled his taste.

“Yes, ror!” Braun cackled like a madman. “Ror and eat, Bear! Become a draconian like me! Become an overpowered fucking beast!”

Zenithral flames and nanite swarms streamed out of Braun’s hands, drilling into the brown bear’s body.

“Together, BnB shall take this world by storm!”

And hence, a disaster was born, a result created by a depressed child’s absurd vision of the future, where man and bear intertwine to become one.

Like nanites and draconian flesh, they too shall become one greater whole!