Opening my eyes I see a ceiling far away with a bright source of light in the center. I can see! I blink my eyes rotate my head and look at a dragon laying on a pile of gold coins, I stare, the dragon stares back, this continues on for a few minutes. I realise at the back of mind that I feel no fear yet again, this time I do not fight whatever removed my fear. The dragon is beyond anything I have seen back home, its size, its movements and its slow breathing are mesmerizing to me. I can feel the dragons presence in a way I can not describe, is this related to magic?

"Beautiful."

"Yes, this is my property, a fine collection for one such as young as I am."

"No, I meant you."

"You..." I notice the dragon opens his eyes a bit wider, shifts a little on the gold pile.

"Thank you. That is first time I hear that from a human."

I sit up and continue looking at the dragon. "So, you have removed my fear for us to have a conversation?" The dragon nods. Nodding is yes? Good... Is body language here similar to back home? Why?

"Yes I am casting a spell to dampen your fear by an extreme degree." Alright, I hope there are no side effects.

"You appeared out of nothing in my home, without any [mana] fluctuations, just one moment nothingness then the next you materialized before me. I would like to know your side of the story."

"I have not the slightest clue how I got here, if it was not you then who?"

"That is the question, only something beyond my capabilities could do such a thing."

"Wait, how can you tell I am telling the truth?"

"A spell to see through lies. Furthermore I feel no inner mana from you, all I see is a human with no magic capabilities."

"Magic." I mutter to myself... My mind keeps spinning around to accept what is before me.

"What now?"

"Tell me where do you come from in detail. How do you live without magic? Why do you not have magic? You spoke multiple languages before, are you a scholar? Clean hair and body, fine clothes on your person, are you a noble in your lands but I do not sense arrogance from you..." The dragon stops its barrage of questions and is embarrassed by its over enthusiasm or at least I think so.

I stare for a few seconds before answering: "I come from Spain, Europe, Planet Earth, 3rd planet from the Sun, the Sun is a sole star our planet orbits. We live very well without magic, as far as I know there is no magic from where I come from. I am an average student in my 14th year of study, in my country over half of the people have similarly clean hair & body. I am not a noble, social classes based on titles died almost a century in our past." The dragon stares at me with keen interest, I feel like we will have a long conversation.

A few hours later, I find out that I have been disrobed, inspected and cleaned after previously pissing myself. While this dragon finds out that magic is not necessary for a civilization to prosper or even to exist. By describing and concentrating on a few images of modern society in my mind, the dragon was able to comprehend and understand concepts from my world (skyscraper, airplane, car), in exchange the dragon shared information about this world with me.

Not much to my surprise the surrounding kingdoms are in what many would call a medieval era with some appearances of modern conveniences thanks to the help of magic, mostly mages, royalty and nobility have such privileges. Magic is almost everywhere in this world, even small mammals may have it in some form, for example enhanced body or senses, while larger and more powerful creatures may directly use innate magic spells. The percentage of sentient beings like humans, beastkin and elves who wield magic is less than 10% of the population. The system used in these lands to rank mages is from rank 0 to rank 4. The dragon for example is a peak rank 3 mage, he can cast many rank 3 spells with much proficiency. Judging by the power he described, I can infer such spells are on the scale of modern warfare are similar to large caliber guns like artillery, 30cm ship cannons, maybe a bomb of a few hundred kilograms. Rank 2 is on a scale more comparable with the main armament of any modern MBT (Main Battle Tank) and RPGs while rank 1 spells are similar to a hand grenade or an automatic rifle. Rank 0 spells provide close quarters combat utility, as an example rank 0 mages can often use minor body strengthening. The king of the dragons is said to be a rank 4 existence with no more information given to me, I can only guess that enters into the area of weapons of mass destruction like MOAB and tactical nuclear devices.

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"Stagnation due to magic hindering the advancement of technology, a concept often brought up when talking about magic fantasy worlds like this one."

"Stagnation, yes it is clear now that advancing, improving of what we have is held back by what is thought to be the pillar of civilization. Magic and those who wield magic push back any kind of advancement that threatens their power. Just the existence of magic removes motivation to solve problems when a spell can be used to fix it. Your people studied the laws of the world beyond what people here can even comprehend, even I am having trouble coming to grasp with what you have told me." The dragon lets out a roar that sounds like a laugh, the whole cave trembles, but with my fear missing it is only annoying as the sound beats uncomfortably on my chest.

"The knowledge that you hold is a threat to the balance of this world." Another laugh follows, the dragon is clearly very happy with this new found knowledge thanks to me. His words make me think... My mind fails to grasp some concepts in my present state, I wonder if fear would be good to have as some parts of myself have lost meaning and are missing.

"Thank you for something truly interesting. I wonder what should I do with you." The dragon looks at me intensely.

"I would like to return home."

"Aaaah, fear removal spell, your mind is very different now and does not even comprehend the situation you are in, but removing the spell you will be back to your previous state..."

I think for a bit and understand I can die by the hands of the dragon and many more possible ends of my existence in my current situation. Is he threatening me or just informing me? "Can you remove the spell, I will try not to pass out."

"We have no other choice as having a conversation with your current state is less than appealing, I will reduce the spells power over time while we continue our conversation."

I feel some parts of myself return, when I look at the dragon I feel apprehension, now I can really understand the words of the dragon. I am at its mercy, in a world with no clear way of survival. I do not have much of a choice here, I need to increase my chance of survival and to find a way home, leaving is not possible right now as a non mage I would not get far. I see a solution... learning magic from him. Such an opportunity will not present itself again, the dragon itself does not seem hostile.

"Will, you teach me magic?"

The dragon lets loose another laugh, I fall onto the floor and look up at the dragon. "Human, are you making demands now?"

"In exchange for the knowledge that I have shared and will share in the future I believe this is reasonable exchange."

"Yes it is, but what is to stop me from just forcing you under my will?"

Nothing of course, then why am I still free?

"Nothing but you have not done so in the hours we have spent together. So, will you teach me?"

"Ah, yes, you are lucky to have met me and not my brothers and sisters, some of them would just burn you to a crisp for daring to appear in their cave."

I nervously gulp, then calm down and smile. "So you are an eccentric dragon?" I am met with laughter again.

"Yes, I am, we dragons hoard knowledge and wealth. We are awfully prideful at most times and thus lack wisdom in some cases." The dragon lets what I think is a sigh. "I will teach you magic human, in exchange for knowledge and your company."

It seems the dragon is quite lonely, more importantly I will learn magic and now I have hope for my future. I just realise that we still do not know each other's names after talking for hours, am I just as eccentric as this dragon?

"My name is Anton Ippolitov."

"Alright, Anton lets begin." What about your name?