Since ancient times, scientists had considered human dreams as a reflection of our subconscious mind. So this was perfectly expected that someone would see something very pleasant in their sleep soon after achieving something that made them happy. 

Mateo Ramsay had received his Bachelor's degree in Culinary Arts just a day before, so he completely deserved to enjoy himself a little bit. Even if it was just a dream, but his parents didn't berate him at each of their rare meetings for choosing a "wrong" career. Maybe it wasn't real, but his beautiful girlfriend didn't leave him for a lawyer, someone with way more potential than a twenty-one-year-old cook. In this illusory realm of his unconscious mind, Mateo could enjoy his life, accepted by people for who he was. 

Unfortunately, the sunlight that fell on his eyes made his body understand that everything good couldn't last for long. People sometimes experience this strange state of knowing that they are just dreaming, that they are about to awake, but that they still don't want to. 

Only someone who really didn't want to return to their reality could understand this feeling of trying to cling to the dream, trying to get your mind to fall asleep again, and ignore its biological clock that tells your body to wake up. 

For better or worse, when Mateo opened his eyes, what greeted him wasn't his apartment back in the University's dorm. He wasn't in his simple, cheap bed.

As soon as Mateo realized that he lay on the vast grass field in the middle of a forest of giant trees, he closed his eyes again. It seemed that his attempt to fall asleep again made him wake up in another dream. Or else, how could he explain the fact that alongside the trees as tall as skyscrapers, almost as large mushrooms could be seen here and there? 

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And yet, with each passing second, the young man felt more and more awake. He opened his eyes again, only to see that nothing changed. The warmth of the sunlight from the above and the softness of grey grass underneath hinted to him that something was seriously wrong with his current situation. 

With anxiety and urgency, Mateo raised his upper body, taking a sitting position. Wearing nothing but his Hawaiian boxers, he studied his surroundings with eyes wide open. 

He was on the clearing about a mile in radius, a black mountain stood a few hundred meters away from him, and the forest of truly titanic trees and mushrooms surrounded the place. In the blue sky, two suns - one yellow, one white - shone through pinkish clouds. 

"What the actual hell?" he whispered to himself, not even hoping to get the answer. He didn't expect that something would actually give him a hint in the form of holographic messages. 

Ding!

Greetings, Traveler! Congratulations on being the seventh person from Earth to arrive at El Dor Elan! 

Perks received: [Accelerated Language Comrehension], [Enhanced Mana Tolerance IV], [Seventh Traveler]

A pleasant but robotic-sounding feminine voice read the text inside of his head so that he didn't even need to read it... which he did anyway, just in case. 

"This is some real bullshit," he said, almost shouting, overwhelmed with emotions. 

His frustration didn't last for long, as a loud noise similar to thunder resounded behind him from the side of the black mountain.

He turned his head unconsciously, and now, with enough time to scrutinize the details, he realized that the hundred-foot tall thing he mistook for the mountain was something else. It was a fucking large black dragon, and the sound he just heard was its snoring in sleep. 

Note for the future, Mateo thought as cold sweat covered his back. Never talk to yourself like some kind of psycho and, definitely, don't yell at imaginary voices in your head!