You are being summoned to another world. As per the terms of your acceptance this is non-voluntary.
Do you accept the transfer?
Yes / Yes
Default option of “Yes” selecting in 15 seconds.
“Oh crap.”
Between the time it took me to read the message and realize what was about to happen I only had time to think one thing. Damn, gonna miss all those webnovels.
----------------------------------------
“Hey, Tiamat here. Yes, your personal goddess talking to you is a thing now.
Since there’s less interference from a certain you-know-what in this world I can finally talk directly.
Alright, I could tell you were bored of life there. So, I saved up my influence points (sorry about the bad couple of weeks on your end) and signed us up for the “Summoned to Another World” service”
As of this moment I have no sensations. I’m trying to see but I can’t perceive nothing. Trying to think about the missing sensations like touch and hearing just make me confused and scatterbrained. So, I hold onto the words I can feel in me from Tiamat. Around me swirls a torrent of being; relief at feeling her more than ever, concern about what I left behind, confusion about my own feelings over the worldly attachments to my family that I don’t really like but also like because it’s my family, excitement about the future.
“Hang in there. Your reincarnation is about the start. You’re my only follower here so I’ll always be with you. Maybe think about finding me a construct? Pretty pleeeease. Anyway, in all seriousness here it comes.”
Analysis of source world life has revealed compatible classification system for [World Tree] entity system: institutionalized education.
Designation: Game Programmer
Resultant class: error, not found.
Error recovery: Field of influence: Information Science
Resultant classes in field: none
Error; no class
Error recovery: Trait of influence: Analytics
Resultant classes in trait: none
Error; no class
Error recovery: Beast races featuring trait of influence: Dragon
Race changed to Dragon
Variant circumstances detected: House of Tiamat
Race changed to Chaos Dragon
Determining world arrival method for race in pre-designated world [Amit]: beast companion summoning.
Arrival commencing.
“I’m gonna be honest here. I chose the cheapest world summoning service I could to get the fuck outta there. So, you can blame those errors on me. But it’s cool that you’re a dragon now, right? I know you love dragons. This is cool, right? Right?”
Mmm, I think it’s pretty cool, sure. But I’m not sure about this beast companion summoning situation. Gah!
Suddenly I have bodily sensations again. It’s dark, a little cool, and kinda cozy in a tucked in bed kinda way.
(muffled laughing)
(muffled)”Alright, calm down class. There’s nothing wrong with a bird companion. Emily, let us know what the race is so we can look up what the hatching procedure is.”
Title Gained: Lonely
The only member of a species in the world, whether the last or the first.
Effects: Wisdom +10% Charisma +10%
Wait, I’m the only dragon in the world?
(muffled)”I see ‘Dragon, unknown variant’. Mr. Ellingsworth, what’s a dragon?”
(muffled)”I’m not sure. Maybe a bird from the Wild Continent? It’s still largely unexplored.”
Wait they don’t even know about dragons. Blasphemy. Tiamat what’s up with this world?
“I know, right? What self respecting magic world doesn’t have dragons?”
That… wasn’t the kind of response I was expecting. I’ll have to ask her what’s her whole deal later. I wish I could hear better. Ooooh, I’m in an egg, aren’t I? Sorry about being slow on the uptake. Between the cozyness and the sudden world change I wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders.
(muffled)”Well, how do I care for it?” Emily sounds kinda down about dealing with me.
(muffles)”Billy, pay attention! Sorry Emily. Since we don’t know the specific circumstances for the hatching we’ll just have to treat it the best we can. Most eggs need air and warmth. So I suggest a heating artifact and a breeze artifact or however you can best manage that. Maybe even try to cast a warm breeze yourself occasionally incase it needs to absorb the spell-mana.”
Suddenly my whole world tilts and bounces a bit. I must be being carried. Oi, Emily try to walk a little smoother. Don’t shake the baby… egg, whatever.
I can hear muffled voices occasionally as time passes but it’s too quiet through the shell to understand what’s being said. Actually it’s kinda a nice bit of brown noise. I’m actually getting kinda sleep-
----------------------------------------
Thunk
Ah, huh, what?
“Goodmorning.”
Who? Why is it so dark?... oh right.
(muffled sniffling)
(muffled)”Are you crying? What’s the matter- oh, I see.”
(muffled)”*sniff*Six years *sniff* all my classmates making fun of me for not being a noble. *sniff* I wanted to show them. *sniff* I wanted to be a vanguard, mom. Not a scout. *sniff* I wanted to be like great-grandma. *sniff*”
(muffled)”There there dear. I’m sure you’ll make a great scout. Can you at least tell me what kind of bird it is? Maybe it’ll be really pretty.”
(muffled)”Analyze said dragon. Mr. Ellingsworth hadn’t even heard of it. *sniff*”
(muffled)”Hmm, me either. Well, if that’s the size of a baby it’s going to be a big bird. Mmm, we might have to remodel your room later. We’ll have to start saving now.” She says something else but I can’t hear through the shell. “Well, how do you hatch it?”
(muffled)”Warm air.”
(muffled)”Well, come on. Show me what our little mage can do.”
(muffled)”--- Steady Flame --- Blow”
Oh, I can feel the temperature rising. That’s quite pleasant. And something else. A mild tingling sensation.
Dorororororo
What’s that? Why is my egg shaking?
“Hahahaha”
What, what’s going on?
(muffled)”Ahh, quick catch it before it goes off the table.”
(muffled)”What was that? Why did it start shaking? And what’s with these purple flecks? Those weren’t there before.”
(muffled)”I think it’s ok dear. Maybe the heat or your mana caused a reaction. Why don’t you start on your homework while I go make a bassinet for it.”
“Aww, cute little baby dragon in a bassinet. I hope it’s got lace and ruffles.”
Don’t say that. It might happen. What was that rumbling, anyway?
“I’m not saying. You’ll find out eventually. Hehe”
Suspicious.
----------------------------------------
Turns out there’s not a whole lot to do inside an egg. That tingling sensation never quite went away but it’s too mild to really feel right. Every time I focus on it it slips and I can’t feel it anymore.
Eventually I’m lifted and placed down again before another spell of nothing. Then, I’m lifted again and there’s a gentle swaying motion. I must be being carried in a basket. It’s quite nice I’m starting to feel slee-
----------------------------------------
When I wake up again it’s pleasantly warm and there’s a very steady white noise filling my ears. Do I have ears? I try to move my head near what I think are my hands and my whole body shifts a bit. Am I suspended in liquid? How am I breathing right now? Whatever.
I can feel my claws on my head but only a dull pressure in my paws where my claws attach. Guess I’m not going to be feeling small details any time soon. Back to sleep, like a good dragon.
----------------------------------------
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Ah, quick! Get up, gotta go to… nope. Still a dragon. Hurry up and shut off the alarm, kid.
THWAK
(muffled)GROOOAN
Are the dead rising? Are there undead here? Hope I get to use magic. Kinda lame dragon if I can’t use magic.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
My whole world spins a bit before I settle towards the bottom side of my egg again. Come on Emily, I just woke up. Is that any way to say “goodmorning”?
(muffled)”No change, huh.”
(muffled)”--- Steady Flame --- Blow”
Ahh, yea. That hits the spot. Nice and warm and a bit of tingly.
Vrrrrrrrrr
There’s that shaking again. I wonder why my egg is doing that.
“Pfft”
Hey, seriously. Why do you keep laughing every time this happens?
“Nope, not telling.”
Suddenly the tingling starts fading and the shaking stops.
(muffled)”Hmm, a mana reaction? Guess I know what I’m doing after school.”
I hear, or maybe feel, steps walking away before it gets quiet again. Hmm, well now I’m awake, my body feels kinda fuzzy, and I have all day to do nothing.
Hey, Tiamat. Any chance we could get some cable in here?
“Nope, they only have radio. Maybe you could tell me a story like you used to?”
I’m not in the mood. You know I’m only good at making up short stories to fall asleep to. Oh, I know. Let’s talk about you. So, how come I can talk to you directly now but before I could only hear scattered whispers?
“Pretty simple really. Gods gain influence based on their followers’ belief and they can use that to affect the world. However, influence cancels influence so whoever has more gets the final say. As you know, in our old world we had several, capital G, you-know-what’s waving their dicks around so I could only do weird things they didn’t care about. Honestly, I’m kinda impressed you were sensitive enough to notice those kinds of things and keep belief in me. Anyway, here there isn’t a competing belief system to get in the way so my less counts for more. I still can’t overcome a person’s belief in their self and reality but with a much more malleable reality due to magic I can change more. Like, right now I’m just an ambient psychic-mana wave tuned only to you. My range is about five feet so even if someone is looking for psychic-mana waves it’s unlikely they’ll notice me. We should probably work on some encryption later on when you have more mana for me to work with.”
Wait, so I’m sending out a psychic-mana wave that is your side of the conversation? Why couldn’t you do that in the old world?
“Simple, you-know-who said humans can’t produce mana and used influence to suppress it. That’s why all you ever got was vague feelings and some simple thoughts. Anything bigger got identified and disrupted. What better way to keep all the profits than to remove the opposition?”
What a dick. So, does that mean you could cast any magic with my mana?
“Nah, your own self belief gets in the way. But once you learn something I could be given the ability to cast it if you felt like it right.”
So, how come you can make the psychic-mana wave?
“You discovered telepathy in your old world you just couldn’t exercise it properly because of the influence interference.”
Damn, I knew humans were psychic.
What a dick. Thanks for bringing me here.
Hmm, why do I feel so sleepy all of a-
----------------------------------------
Yep, still in an egg.
“Sorry about that. You passed out because I used all your mana to talk. So, snarky remarks are best.”
Best, riiiight. Hmm, well if I used up my mana by you talking then that must mean it’s a finite resource. How do I get more?
“Dunno. You absorb a bunch when Emily casts her heat magic on you. Other than that, dunno.”
Sometimes I wonder why I worship this goddess.
“I heard that.”
Whatever, I’ll just go back to sleeping.
----------------------------------------
Vrrrrrrrrrrr
Mmm, yeah. That light shaking, that pleasant warmth, that tingly feeling creeping over my body. That’s the way to wake up.
The tingling and shaking, I guess you could call it vibrating, keep going for a while. Maybe ten minutes before it starts fading away, though the tingly doesn’t quite go away.
(muffled)”Ha, ha, ha. This is going to take a while. All my mana and just a small change. I hope you appreciate what I’m doing.”
Oh, I do Emily. I have a feeling I won’t hatch without the mana. I start playing around with my focus on the tingly sensation in my body. I can sort of move it around to different parts of my body. Not that I can notice any kind of effect.
(muffled)”Hmm, that sounded kinda mean. I should practice for when you hatch. Hello, I’m Emily. I wanted to be a vanguard but we’re going to be scouts instead. Not that I’m mad or anything or disappointed in you. I mean- *sigh* Maybe I should think of some names? But I don’t even know if you’re a boy bird or a girl bird. Hmm.”
What a sad world. To not even know the grandeur that is the dragon species. That’s the second time she’s mentioned this vanguard and scout business. Are we going to join an army? Be adventurers?
Oooh! I want to learn crafting. I could be a crafting dragon. Screw stereotypes.
(muffled)”Alright, let’s do this again. At least I’m training my mana pool. --- Steady Flame --- Blow”
Ahh, yeah. That’s what I want.
Vrrrrrrrrrrrr.
“Hehe.”
Nope, not listening. Just enjoying the feels.
----------------------------------------
Emily kept at it for quite a while but at some point I fell asleep again and woke to the white noise. My whole body is practically bursting with energy and I don’t think I can sleep like this. It’s obviously mana and with just a tiny bit of focus I can move it around my body. It doesn’t seem to have any effect but it’s kinda hard to test when you’re in a tiny ball.
Hmm, Tiamat, any idea what I’m supposed to do with all this mana?
“Not really. Why don’t you try something from one of the stories you read. Both cultivation and mana cores seem possible.”
Ooh, good idea.
I am a beast after all, so a mana core would make sense. Its placement might make a difference so my options are heart, brain, liver, stomach. Liver and stomach seem kinda boring. Heart would probably increase my physical abilities. But if this world doesn’t have dragons do I even need it? Then again are dragons even peak existences on this world? Ahh, who am I kidding. I’ve always been smarter than average and I would love to boost that ability. Min-max to the limit.
First, I try to get a feel for all the mana in my body. This turns out to be quite challenging as I’ve never been good at meditating. So, I change my plan. I go through my body systematically and pull the mana from each part into my head. After I’ve been through every part, I can still feel something separate from the mass in my head. Right! I have a tail now. I’ll pull that mana too. Tail-core? No, focus.
Now that all my mana is in my head I try to condense it down into a ball. This is actually quite easy. It almost feels instinctual. After a certain point it starts flaring up and losing shape. I keep my focus on the small space inside my head and redirect any outbursts back into the ball as I slowly keep shrinking it down.
After a while, it starts feeling less like a tingling sensation and more like a pulsing. I try to hold the pulses in place but nothing I do stops them. Each pulse is bigger than the last and I can feel it spreading through my body. Finally, it hits my four feet and the tip of my tail all at once and a big wave travels backwards from the end into my head.
Donnnnnng
A sound like a gong goes off and I forget to keep the mana in place but it doesn’t move.
(muffled)”Huh? Wha-? Zzzzz”
It’s still sending out pulses and they still bounce off the edges of my body and travel back to the core but no more gonging happens.
Wonder what that did?
Whatever, now that the tingly sensation in my body has calmed down I’m going back to sleep.
----------------------------------------
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
THWAK
Ahh, another day in the egg. Come on Emily, take me to school or whatever. I may be an egg but I’m dying to start my adventure.
(muffled)”Mffmble.”
“She’s fun in the morning.”
Yea, can’t say I was ever much of a morning person.
Oop, I’m being rotated again. Baby’s first adventure?
(muffled)”I can probably finish today.”
Yay!
(muffled)”But after school.”
Tease. Just skip. Isn’t your baby dragon more important than a single lousy day at school. Doo EEIT!
…
Nope, she left.
I’m not really in the mood to think up new magic experiments so I guess I’ll practice my only other skill; sleep.
----------------------------------------
Thump
Wha? I’m awake. I’m awake.
Oh, is something going on?
(muffled)”So, you think it will hatch?” What is presumably Emily’s mom asks.
(muffled)”I think so. The purple specks are almost completely covering it now.”
(muffled)”Have you thought of a name?” A deeper voice, that must be Emily’s dad.
(muffled)”I haven’t decided but I thought about it a bit. Maybe Verity or Angelica. Something regal.”
Uh oh. I never even thought to check. Am I a boy or a girl dragon? I move my forelegs a bit to try to feel between my rear legs but I don’t encounter any resistance. Haaa. Maybe it’s inside me? Like a dog. Or maybe I am a girl. Maybe this is a gender-bender reincarnation. Sigh. I’m not overly caring about that kind of thing but I’m not sure if the benefits *cough*orgasms*cough* are as apparent for dragons. Oh well. Wait! Maybe Tiamat will tell me.
Hey, am I a boy or a girl?
(muffled)”--- Steady Flame --- Blow”
“I think it will be more amusing to watch you figure it out.”
I can pretty much feel the tehepero.
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrr
There goes the shell again.
Three rotations of Emily’s warm mana-filled breeze later I suddenly see, actually SEE, a light coinciding with a small crack noise. I think that was my shell breaking. The breeze stops.
Guess that’s my cue.
I put my all into stretching out. All four of my legs brace against the shell, my tail uncurls and pushes me up, I stretch my head and start pressing against the light…
Crack!
GAH! The light! Retreat!
My head pops out of my shell for a second before I fall back to adjust my eyes for the first time in my life.
“Aww, where’d it go?” Mom asks. Should I consider her my mom? No, grandma asks.
“Come on. You can do it. Nothing scary out here.”
Ok, eyes are adjusted. Hatching attempt two is a go.
This time I only use my rear legs for support while my forelegs and head/neck work to enlarge the hole. The shell is a little stiff but I make quick work of it and flop out of the shell. Everyone is quiet.
I get control of my head pretty quick and manage to look around. Emily (young teen with pixie cut blond hair and librarian half-moon glasses on a gold chain) is up front looking at me. I can’t quite figure out what her expression is. I was basically a hikikomori in my last life so that’s expected. The parents are in the background but they’re pretty fuzzy. Must be my eyes aren’t fully developed yet. Or I’m near-sighted. How embarrassing would that be? Near-sighted baby dragon.
Hmm, judging by the relative sizes I’m probably the size of a juvenile cat. Huh? What’s that heavenly smell? I focus on my nose and learn that I have a pretty darn accurate sense of smell. But sorting through all that info can wait. I need to find the source of this aroma.
Sniff. Sniff.
It’s the shell!
Ok, new goal. Eat that shell. Legs don’t fail me now.
Legs failed me. I only managed to hobble-crawl-scoot my way over to the shell but I made it.
Munch.
Ooh, this is awesome. Like if you combined electricity with lemon sorbet and caramelized sugar.
Munch. Munch. Munch. Clack.
Aww, it’s all gone. I wonder if Emily will give me something else to eat. I look back over at her and this time I can recognize the emotion; confusion.
“Thaaat’s not a bird.”
Oof, that shell is settling weird in my stomach. Gotta burp.
BLAAARP
Instead of burping I release a purple beam of destruction right into the basket in front of me. A cylinder the size of my head in the basket, and the table beneath it, was vaporized, leaving the edges smoking.
Oops. I back away as best as I can. Maybe, they won’t think it was me?
“Heh, awesome.”
Ahh, good Emily forgives me on the basis of coolness. I’ll need to remember this loophole for future wrongdoings.
She approaches and carefully extends a hand to pet my head. Which I allow because she has already begun to realise the awesomeness that is dragons.
“Hmm, what am I going to call you?”
Her hand makes its way to the underside of my snout and she scratches lightly.
Purrrrr-!
I jerk my head away from her hand.
Nononononononono, that shaking!
“Pfft. Hahaha”
Nonono, that vibrating.
“Hehe, cute.”
Emily reaches towards my head again but I avoid her hand like a master martial artist while I deal with this problem.
Ok, problem 1: I purr when I’m feeling good. Problem 2: purring is an undignified action for a dragon. Problem 3: everything that has made me purr has felt really good. I mean when she scratched under my snout I could feel it all the way to the tip of my tail.
Haaaaa.
I give up and just hang my head in shame. Of course Emily is there in an instant and scratches under my snout. I resist as much as I can but eventually I just melt.
Purrrrrrrrr.
“I’ll call you Calamity.”
Birth and bonding complete. Access to the [Beast Companion System] is now available. As your sentience is rated at or above [Self-Aware] your mode has been set to [Manual]. [Beast Companion System] commands may be prefaced by [BCS] for ease of use.
User entry point command: [BCS] Help