I immediately removed the two unknown items from my inventory. In my left hand was a small, smooth orb of gold and silver colourations. Veins of silver ran through and around the primarily gold stone. The filigree of the silver altered from moment to moment, appearing as a flower in one spot and a sword in another, before changing to a diamond pattern, then shifting yet again.

Under other circumstances I would have been lost in wonder at the sight of it, but the pain was too distracting. Also, in my right was a roaring beast.I flinched and dropped the second orb, which caused the sound to stop. This orb was larger than the first, and the colours changed from moment to moment. A kaleidoscope of intense magical energy was rumbling inside.

While I was definitely lacking focus right now, it was still fairly easy to tell which was which and I picked up the Aspect of the Dragon. “How the fuck do I use this thing?” Once it was in my hand again, the roar once again sounded. A mix between an atomic bomb’s blast, a tiger and a rocket engine, the call of a dragon resounded in my very soul. I realised the sound wasn’t actually audible, but felt through my magic.

While the Aspect was brimming with power, the Guidance Stone of Mastery felt completely inert. Too panicked and desperate to worry about that, I returned it to my inventory and concentrated on the draconic sphere in my hands. Please, please, please, I begged, please help.

Aspect - Dragon (Legendary)

Aspects are formed when ambient mana in an area becomes charged with a specific type of energy. If you have unbound attributes, you may permanently bind an Aspect to an unbound attribute.

Would you like to use the Aspect of the Dragon to bind an unbound attribute?

“Yes!” With my mind, my mouth and my soul, I cried out for relief. I couldn’t believe my luck as the torture disappeared like a switch had been flicked. The tears of pain which had been flowing became a flood of happiness. I rubbed my eyes to clear them and laughed out loud. I was glowing with energy. I looked at the orb in my hand, now vibrating with power. The world around me had frozen to a complete standstill, a leaf hanging in the air before me.

Despite that, the rumbling thunder of the dragon’s roar had never stopped. With my acceptance, it reached a crescendo which felt like a threat and a challenge all at once. I gripped the orb tighter. “Who do I think I am?” I replied. This frozen world was mine and the dragon’s. The questioning aura of the dragon magic only intensified at my refusal to back down. It asked why it should bend to me.

I had no idea what the arrival of the System meant for the wider world, and I hadn’t yet discovered what it had taken from me. In my heart, I knew it wouldn’t be nothing. The future I had planned for myself, the hard work I had invested in that path, that was definitely gone. My family, scattered around a different country? Who could say at this point.

I need to get home.

What I didn’t need was a ball of magic telling me I wasn’t good enough. Did all Aspects have an attitude or did I just get lucky? I wasn’t blind to the fact the Aspect of the Dragon was legendary quality, usually the highest in most games. Maybe I literally wasn’t strong enough for the magic to bind to my attributes?

I stamped my good foot. “My name is Grant Kaeron.” I almost stopped, embarrassed. Was I really talking to a magical dragon stone? Yes, yes I am. So do it properly. “My name is Grant Kaeron and I won’t die in this godforsaken System dungeon. I’m going to survive this place, survive the changes to the world and make a place for myself.”

The feeling of silliness didn’t abate, but I also could have sworn the orb had quietened, so I dove right in. “The System has given me a quest, and I’ll complete that, use the rewards to further cement my hold and use it to get even stronger. The world has changed and while others are still getting their bearings in safety, I’ll smash my way through this dungeon and claim my rewards.”

The words fell from my mouth easily but the truth I felt when saying them was surprising. I truly wanted this. I reacted quicker than most when the System first spoke because… I wanted it to be real. I wanted the world to shake, change and never return to the dull, grey, emotionless mess it had been yesterday. I might not know what was going on elsewhere, but I knew for sure it wasn’t boring. Nothing would be boring again.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The roar had dimmed with each passionate word. I had aimed to say truths which would align with my idea of a dragon. I needed to convince the magic to work with me, even just to fix my foot. Time was still as ice, which was the only reason I wasn’t screaming in pain still. My ankle wasn’t healed yet, it was a trick of the Aspect magic. Now the roar had become little more than a growl.

A dragon does not settle for safety. A voice, deeper than the core of the Earth, churned through my soul. My mana rippled and the change began. The river of my mana filled with crystalline pockets of power. A dragon does not settle for second best. I could feel the meaning in the dragon’s words. As they reverberated through my soul, I could feel the weight of the power behind them. A dragon does not settle.

“The dragon reigns above all.” I spoke the words in tandem with the magic of the Aspect. They weren’t the commandments of a higher power, but my own firm choices in view of the world I now faced. This was how I would now live my life. The mantra wasn’t fully realised, but I felt the power resonate as I spoke alongside the dragon now within. The System was a nightmare, and I had no doubt that lives were being reaped in their thousands.

That wouldn’t be me. I would not just survive these trials, I would thrive.

The magic began to settle, a less traumatic process than I was expecting honestly. I would have put up with anything to relieve the pain in my ankle, so I couldn’t help but be grateful to the System for giving me a break for once. If the Aspect hadn’t been a good fit, or if it had rejected me, I doubted I would be feeling so content.

Attribute bound - Mental/Dragon

The veil of weird time displacement fell and the happy smile was quickly wiped from my face. My ankle was still shattered, simply binding with the Aspect had not been enough to repair the damage. What it had done was show me why I was so damaged, and give me the tools to fix it.

In my haste to get out of the way of the scorepion’s football attack, I had not just drained all the mana from my ankle, I had shattered and destroyed my actual pathways. This was why my mana recovery had been damaged too, as the circuit was broken. Repairing the pathways was going to be fairly simple but it was going to hurt the whole time.

I briefly considered hauling myself to Clive’s, but it was hardly any more comfortable there than here. Better to just get the work started as soon as possible. My new level of understanding was due to the fusion of the Aspect of the Dragon with my Mental attribute. It wasn’t quite the same as having new knowledge, like when the System placed a memory in my mind.

My new capabilities were simply… what they were. Knowing my capacity in this regard was as simple as knowing I could blink. Focusing, I started gathering the newly formed crystals within my mana stream and sending them towards my broken ankles. Into each crystal, I infused my intent to heal my wounded ankle. Formless, my mana would slowly fix the issue, but now I could consciously direct the process.

I lay back and did my best to ignore the incredible itch in my leg. There were many, many more possibilities with my mana, both the unattuned energy and the draconic crystals. I fiddled with my control of the crystals. Moving them from place to place in my body was more difficult than controlling the river, but I soon had the crystals moving as fast as the river had before. In relation, my authority over the river had improved by leaps and bounds.

My foot was still completely ruined, but I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. More possibilities continued to come to mind. Mana could be infused into items, right? My staff was able to hold more than I could give, but what would a draconic mana filled stone do when thrown? I was excited to find out.

“Oh, right. While I’m here…” I removed the guidance stone from my inventory once more, planning to give it another examination to discover its meaning. Except, things had changed, hadn’t they? The dragon’s roar returned in my soul and a choral chant seemed to come directly into being. Was that the sound of Mastery?

Item - Guidance Stone of Mastery

Guidance stones are sometimes called the lesser variant of Aspects. Each Aspect has a set amount of spaces to absorb a Guidance Stone. They can only be used by Aspect wielders.

Use Guidance Stone of Mastery? This will consume one Guidance slot from your available Aspects.

“Absolutely yes,” I said, opening myself to the energies of the stone. It didn’t matter how many slots my Aspect had if I only had the one Guidance Stone. The world didn’t stop like with the Aspect, but instead a System message appeared. Oh, that… wasn’t what I expected. I had pictured a fireball.

Skill Unlocked - Weapon Mastery (Dragon)

There is no perfect weapon, only a perfect wielder.

Weapons Mastered - 0/3

I was shocked at the lack of input from the System after the skill was unlocked until I actually picked up the staff laying nearby. Once my hand found the weapon, another prompt appeared.

Would you like to commit the staff to Weapon Mastery?

Ah, so I wouldn’t be learning how to use every weapon at once. I would need to be picky, but there wasn’t a better option available to me at the moment. I accepted this last prompt and all the techniques and limitations of the staff surged into me. I had been using it as nothing more than a club or bat, but there was so much more to the versatile weapon.

I took the time to slowly go over the information the System had provided me, making sure there were no obvious inefficiencies in the lessons it had given me. I didn’t for a second think it had taught me everything there was to know about the staff. What the skill had done was give me a true foundation, like I had trained for years. Now the smile which appeared on my face was there to stay.

Those damned scorepions wouldn’t know what hit them.