He calmly backed up from the edge of the forest and returned to hiding within the silver thickets. He knew very well that he had no chance in hell against this behemoth, so he would have to prepare to come back later for their fight. Would he even be able to win this battle within his lifetime?

He shook the negative thoughts from his mind and focused on what was ahead of him. He was more hidden now, but he could still see everything before him clearly. He was shocked when he saw three goblins break through the treeline and approach the Blue Moon Wolf, two blue ones and one purple one. The blue ones stood on either side of the purple and held its unconscious body up on their way to the wolf. After they got close enough, they tossed their kin as what could only be a sacrifice to a higher power.

Did they worship this wolf or did they feed it for their own safety? Since purple goblins were seemingly being sacrificed, that meant that he was probably safe from its allies finding its dead body and being on alert. He had time.

He wanted to wait around and follow the goblins back to their home, but he didn’t know how to properly navigate the terrain and he had nowhere to run if they caught him. So, he decided to quietly leave the area.

Exploring took a while, but discovered a few things.

One, there were trails throughout the forest. They weren’t wellkempt, but there were there nonetheless, which meant that one of them most likely led to wherever the goblins resided.

Two, the river forked into two directions the further up he went. The path to the right led him to a large waterfall with a cave behind it, said cave clearly being the home of the Blue Moon Wolf. It was littered with bones and carcasses, and there was even an altar in the shallow ends of the river. The second path took him to a similar waterfall, only this one didn’t have some huge cave behind it. Instead, there was nothing but white rock that looked more like crystals than anything else.

He was going to leave this area to find a cave he could call his own, but he noticed that a very small section of the mountain wall was purple instead of white. He approached it and his skill reacted.

‘Secret Area Found! First Finder! Double Points!’

He didn’t see his points anywhere so he assumed they’d be tallied at the end of the tutorial. He reached his hand out to touch the wall and found that it went right through, so he walked the rest of his body inside as well. The wall behind him once he entered was still purple, but it seemed to be a solid wall to the rest of the world because no light from outside managed to get in.

It was still well lit inside though. Beautiful rainbow crystals jutted from the floors and walls, and all of them gave off their own natural luminescence. Notifications popped up all around him, alerting him of the priceless materials he was surrounded by. The crystals were Rainbow Quartz, each of which was filled with multiple types of elemental affinities. Mythril and adamantium ores were embedded in the walls. It was a treasure trove, and this was only the entrance!

He trekked deeper into it, wondering how he should best make use of everything around him. He didn’t know how to properly mine any of this, or what to do with it even though he knew it was expensive and useful. As he traveled down the corridor, he noticed that it was opening up into a cave. The view was just as beautiful as the one from the entrance, if not more. The primary difference was the vastness of the cave. A waterfall fell from the center of the room, cascading over a swirling rock formation with Rainbow Quartz growing along the middle of it like it were some kind of…

He took a step back. That was a spine! A black dragon was curled up in the middle of the cave’s lake. He turned on his heel to escape before it woke up, but a wall appeared at the mouth and stopped him in his tracks. He froze in place, scared to even turn around and face the dragon.

Be not afraid. Came a powerful voice booming inside of his head.

Easier said than done. He thought to himself, without bothering to think that the dragon may have been able to read his mind. The way it exhaled sharply, though? He was sure it did.

“I take it you don’t want to kill me?” he asked sheepishly.

No, no I do not. I wish to present you with a task.

“A task?”

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‘Quest Generated! Defeat the Blue Moon Warchief!’

This gave him a lot of information he could infer. The Warchief was definitely not the wolf, which meant it wasn’t the hidden boss. Unless this area had two hidden bosses, which he doubted based off of the word usage of the System, then he had to be a regular boss or maybe even an elite mob. Someone weaker than the wolf, which seemed to be on a similar level of strength as the dragon before him. If the dragon couldn’t take this foe out on its own, what was the problem? Was it trapped here and unable to do anything about it? Was it barely a match for the wolf and the presence of support was a deciding factor in the battle? All he knew for certain was that the dragon couldn’t get it done alone, otherwise, it would’ve been done already. Or so he assumed.

If you can fell the Blue Moon Warchief I’ll grant you anything within my power.

He had full intentions of milking this for everything that he could and he was sure that the creature could hear all of his thoughts, so he went ahead and spoke them aloud. “I would like to help you, seeing as I am aiming for the neck of the Blue Moon Wolf, but I do not have the strength to take on a warchief. I barely managed to defeat one regular goblin.”

After a brief pause, the dragon shifted from its resting place. A strange black glow enveloped the man and he was pulled by the force, all the way into the space that the reptile had opened up for him in the middle of the rock he laid on. He tried to keep his calm, but suddenly having no control over any of his body was more than just a little unsettling.

The water is extremely pure, which is why I’ve made this cave my temporary residence. Meditate here and allow your body to absorb the water’s magic. I have a multitude of skills that I can pass on to you, so pick whichever one you feel would help you win this battle.

As he was granted this permission, a screen showing him a list of skills, ranging from control of elements from what seemed to be every discipline he could imagine, appeared in front of him. Water, fire, wind, lightning, and even more fanciful things such as darkness, gravity, time, and creation; all of it could be seen. On top of that, there were tons of physical skills and active attacks that admittedly sounded cool. Storm Caller? Solar Destruction? Void Cannon? He smiled to himself as he imagined holding out the palm of his hand and releasing a laser beam strong enough to take down any foe.

He didn’t want to start off with something like that though. There was no telling what he would run into and something like that would limit him to only a handful of possible routes to follow when he took on an enemy. Instead, he scrolled past all of it, though he did linger for a moment on Creation Magic. It seemed like it was obviously the strongest magic since it was the last one listed. Nevertheless, he moved on. His eyes eventually landed on two skills, True Dragon’s Physique and True Dragon’s Heart. The Physique was what he had been looking for, a passive body strengthening skill that would make it easier for him to rely on his physical capabilities. But, after seeing the Heart, he wasn’t sure which would be more beneficial for him to choose. If he gained the Heart then it would apparently give him the mana pathways of a dragon, which he figured would make him able to use almost any element as long as he trained himself in it.

That was ultimately the problem, though. Magic would only be useful in the long run, and he didn’t know how much time he even had to finish these quests. He resigned himself to a future of possibly only being able to use a handful of magics before picking the Physique.

You could’ve chosen any of the attack skills and been powerful enough to destroy anything in your way. Why didn’t you?

“Honestly? It wouldn’t be any fun. I’d have to mimic a power forever. I’d rather make a custom build.”

The cave shook violently and suddenly, causing him to buckle his knees and place his hand against the dragon’s scales in an attempt to stabilize himself. A thunderous echo filled up his brain, making it impossible for him to even form any thoughts. Crystals and rocks alike fell from the higher walls and ceilings in the cave for a few terrifying moments before it all subsided.

I haven’t had a laugh like that in centuries, boy!

“Okay, please don’t ever laugh again. Sharp exhales out of your nostrils only going forward.”

Take another skill. Consider it a reward for bringing me joy.

His head still hurt from the laughter, but he wasn’t going to second guess an opportunity like this. It was a no brainer for him to choose the Heart skill, that way he’d be able to train himself to eventually be as powerful as a dragon in terms of magic. Or maybe it’d even give him the magical strength to begin with and he just had to learn how to master it.

Take your shirt off and lean against me while you meditate. It’ll make the next part easier.

He didn’t know what was happening, but he listened to the obsidian dragon without question. As soon as he sat down and pressed himself back into his scales, he felt a rush of energy surge into his body. It relaxed every part of his body, even his mind, and allowed him to enter a sort of half awake state immediately. Before he even knew it, his eyes were closed and he was fast asleep.