I woke up in darkness. There was no visible light around me yet I knew deep inside I was dead. I must have died from a heart attack or something. It doesn't matter now the only thing is why am I conscious in a void. As soon as i thought those words i heard a *ding* sound. What followed afterwards was information flooding my mind about all the accumulated experience points I achieved while I was alive. "Congratulations you have been rewarded 8900 points for living for 89 years as Anthony Harris. You are allowed to pick your next life species and skills. Or if you wish you could gain an extra 8900 points if you deem to allow a randomized choice which will use all of the points for the most optimal path." I wasn't much one for customization as I could care less what happens to me so obviously I choose the randomizer process and hope whatever happens I can finally leave this void. 

It happened so fast that I had no idea what had occurred. One second I was in nothingness and now I'm in some kind of cage and it feels incredibly cramped in here. So I did what anyone would do in my situation and started to struggle. Just like that I popped out covered in slime. Looking around I could see that I was in some kind of cave. Not only that but I just came out what looked like an egg. Further inspection of myself I looked to be some kind of reptile. That's when I felt the arms on my back or wings. Holy shit am I a dragon? Looking around the cave all there seemed to be was rocks and my shattered egg. On further inspection of myself my scales seem to be black. If it was dark inside this cave I couldn't tell if that means my scales are even darker than darkness itself. 

"Hello there little fellow."

Who said that? There was no one around me. 

"Don't be frightened. I am the core of this dungeon you are inside. I am talking to you telepathically. I am also something like your mother." 

Core? Mother? Dungeon? How?

"I am relatively new and just formed from the ambient mana inside of this cave. Gaia has blessed me with the ancient core of a dragon that was buried inside of me which I revived making you." 

Mana? Gaia? Revived? 

"Yes little one like myself you are also made of mana."

Calming down, I decided to rethink this situation. Obviously nothing is going to make sense anymore. I have died and been revived as a dragon. So what now I just hatched but yet I don't feel hungry like a newborn should. 

"How about we name each other? Maybe afterwards you could explore. You aren't imprisoned here with me. So how does onyx sound for a name?" 

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Onyx sounds decent. I guess I am covered in black scales. So where are you at? It would be easier for me to name you if I knew where you were. 

It was only then I saw that I was standing on top of it the entire time. A massive gold rock. I don't know how I knew it was the voice talking to me but I just did all of a sudden. 

Gold of this size could only be called precious. 

"Precious. I like that name, thank you Onyx."

Something akin to air started to flow deep inside of me at that moment. I could feel something marking my soul giving me strength I have never felt before. Not only that but Precious seems to start to melt underneath me. Slowly but surely it moved up my legs and started to cover me from head to toe. What is going on? Was it consuming me? But it stopped and I could feel that it was forming something akin to armor on me. Golden armor that fits my body completely. 

"It seems I'm no longer a core but a living armor of sorts. This is good as this dungeon doesn't seem to attract anything and is void of life besides the two of us. Let us be off to find out where we currently are Onyx."

I truly have no clue how Precious did what it did but moving with it on me wasn't difficult in the slightest. The cave had a rocky terrain but I didn't feel any discomfort as I stepped on jagged rocks. I smelled it before I saw the light as I found the exit. The problem was there was a massive boulder in my way. Maybe I could dig my way out. The stone gave way from my claw as if I was digging in hay. It only took me a couple minutes of digging through the boulder to make my way outside. Maybe it was due to Precious coating my tiny dragon claws that I was able to get out so quickly. 

It was nighttime outside with two beautiful moons in the sky. There was also a disc further beyond that looked ridiculously massive and beautiful as well. Outside the cave seems to be a forest covered in outgrowth and life. I could smell countless creatures which made me kind of nervous as they could be fearsome and possibly lethal to me. Remembering that i was covered from head to tail in golden armor i decided to swallow my fear and figure out where in this world i was currently at. 

"It's beautiful outside Onyx, maybe we will find other dragons like you somewhere." 

Finding others like me doesn't sound half bad. I wonder if there are humans on this planet as well. How would they react to something like me though? Maybe terrified as dragons are destructive and dangerous. Walking through the grass was incredibly easy and it seemed every time I would pass something it would make itself scarce. I walked for hours in this dense forest and everything I saw looked typical. A horned rabbit or a grassy looking boar. I mean they look slightly different. It wasn't until I saw goblins that everything seemed to feel like a dream. The goblins would be carrying horned rabbits over their shoulders but as soon as they saw me they would toss it over at me and run. Not one for wasting good food. I would obviously eat it and you would think raw meat would be disgusting but I enjoy the rabbit's flavor. 

"The goblins might ambush us. Be cautious from now on, okay Onyx."

Flexing my wings made me wonder how long it would be until I could start to fly or breathe fire. I am just a couple hours old. I am the size of a large dog, maybe three feet tall. Those goblins are maybe four feet tall but even so I ain't worried much about them ambushing us as I have Precious as protection. A couple of hours later I found what looked like a village with what looked like elves in it. At first they didn't seem to notice me as I walked inside of it. But as soon as I got in the center of the village someone spotted me and shouted. Everyone who was outside ran indoors and the village became a ghost town. Not one to intrude, I decided to simply just pass through. It was odd. I wonder why all the hunters weren't nearby. Irregardless it is none of my concern. Maybe they were in the tree and didn't attack me due to the fact I was a dragon. Not only a dragon but an armored covered dragon. The more I think about it the more I understand why they just let me pass through. Couple more hours of walking and I could see a clearing outside of the forest. To what looked like farm lands of some sort. Not only farmland but also a dirt road that leads to what looked like human settlement.