I immediately bend down and try to cover my 'face' with my claws. However, a dragon's body structure wasn't made for that pose: I can't cover my entire face! I want a dragon-sized hole to hide in now.
"What did he just say?"
"I think he wanted to eat us..."
"Why did he say that?"
"How should I know?"
Their gossips make me want to disappear right now. Not dying and leaving this world, but simply disappear! Darn Personality Leak! But why was that bare-handed fighter okay when my wolf eat his companion?...
Then I suddenly remember how the rock-headed knight punched me to near death when I tried to chomp him. So the people of this world only want to be my exp but not my food, eh? Aren't those the same thing?!
"Do you want to be eaten?"
"I don't..."
I CAN'T BEAR THIS ANYMORE!
"I'm sorry! Stop gossiping about it! Forget it! Go away!" I shout a string of words, silencing the crowd.
"Why are you acting like that?" The high priest says, jest could be heard in his voice. "Last time I check, you don't even care about this world."
"But... it's embarrassing! There are so many people here, and I can't hide!"
"You just demand sacrifice, and now you act like that..." The priest sighs.
"Haha, is he whining? He is just like a kid!" The gossips continue.
"No, he is a dragon, so it's a hatchling! A whining hatchling!"
Why is this world so cruel to me? If you hate me, I can ignore you. Watching them get mad because they are ignored is Fun. If you hurt me, I can fight back. The thrill of fighting is Fun. Or if you are too Strong, I can just get to another world. But this world... they keep me to worship me and embarrass me at the same time! And if I hit them, they enjoy it!
["Heh, hatchling..."] Even that impudent wolf is laughing at me!
I take a deep breath. Calm down, me. Keep my mind clear, me... Do they really enjoy being hit by me? Hmm, they only want to be my exp.. to be a part of the world. So how can I exploit that? First, I have to understand their way of thinking. But since they are laughing at me, I have to make them afraid of me first.
I remove my claws from my face and straighten my back. This cage is a bit small, so my intimidating pose might not work, but it's worth a try.
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The crowd falls into silence. Origo turns his head left and right, glaring at them. The black dragon, sitting in the dark. The only light source was the moons' reflection from the lake behind him. All high and mighty, he looks down on them. No one dare to say a word.. because they can feel the tension from beads of sweat rolling down the knights' forehead. The Lv60 knights don't fear a puny Lv6 dragon, however, even their high priest are standing solemnly beside the cage, so they don't dare to move. The priest, on the other hand, knows how serious Origo's negative emotion can affect the world.
"Are you all done laughing? Now can you explain to me, why they are okay to be my exp, but not my food?" Origo speaks like growling.
The town folks stay silent. The knights stay silent. The high priest looks back and forth before realizing Origo is directing the question at him.
"Ah.. no one said it's not okay..." As the high priest says so, Origo's face is full of confusion. He opens his eyes wide, raising his non-existence eye-brows. He returns to his previous self; so much for an intimidating pose,
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"Eh.. what? Then why did you say that I misunderstood something?"
"Because you was about to give out the highest form of reward to all these people." The priest answers with a sigh of relief.
Did I jump too quick into conclusion again? This is.. still embarrassing!
"Wait! You wanted to bring us to heaven?" Suddenly someone near the front exclaims. After that, the crowd starts being noisy again.
"Oh no.. we just laugh at the Origin Dragon!" "Please eat..."
"STOP! I will! Just don't mention it!" I try to interrupt noisy crowd. Their fanatics words used to make me feel gross, chill, nausea, etc... But now it embarrasses me even more.
However, instead of stopping, they only listen to the words they want: "I will", and start making a big ruckus, trying to overwhelm the knights and get to my cage. Before, the knight only had to block a relatively small entrance. But now, a yard full of people is swarming against eleven human-sized barricade. The knights are like unmovable objects to the average town folks, but they are simply unable to block everyone.
"Well, you just made a big mess." The priest says as he watches the people barging against his light barrier. It holds, but some people started using 'weapon' and even magic on it. Glutton gives a soft growl as he flies up and out of my sight. That darn wolf! I shouldn't have revived him.
"Let us in!" "We have to go!"
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Why don't you stop them?" I yell at the priest.
"Our job is to protect the World, and in turn, You. The civilians are non of our concern. Further more, Leveling you up would save us some trouble."
"I am going to be swarmed to death!"
"Aren't that what you wanted?" He says with a smirk. Annoying!
"Stop joking! I knew you wouldn't let that happen.. but the embarrassment... Arghh!"
"Promise me to let us protect you and stay out of trouble. Or you are going to wake up everyday swarmed by people like this!"
"What kind of threat is that?!"
"A threat that specifically works on you." The priest says and raises his staff. The barrier walls slowly fades away. "Tick tock!"
Ah, what a mess (the world included) I threw myself into... Ever since I woke up, I've been using magic to solve every single problem. But this time, because of the magic Sealing Forge, I fell into a big problem. What should I do now? Cast more magic and make a fool out of myself again? Brute force probably won't work, just look at everyone here, their levels are all higher than me, not to mention their numbers. Simply enormous...
Speaking of enormous, I almost forgot I am six times taller than average human, meaning I'm around two hundred times bigger... Can I really.. gulp.. them all? No no, that would be my last resort! I won't let my past's personality leaks over more! For now, let's try to talk myself out of this. Okay, a roar!
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A loud and long roar echoes across the town. Origo just made his best effort. At least it worked. The town folks stop to look up at him. He coughs a few times, not because he wants more attention, the previous roar did that job; but in turn it hurts his throat a bit.
"Well well well. Greedy mortals, are y'all?" His words stop everyone from thinking of charging in. They hold their head low, whispering between each other.
"Are we.. greedy?" "I simply don't want to miss this chance..."
"Did you.. change your mind?" A human on the front raises his voice and asks. His voice is timid in front of the giant dragon, but if someone compared their level, this solemn scene would become funny.
Origo ignores that question. That surprises the priest. He thought he could exploit the dragon's emotional weakness to manipulate.. no, that's a blasphemy; to have him accept the protection. But now he is like a different dragon.
"Well, first of all, my name is Origo..." That introduction stirs up the town folks in the back, however a growl brings them back to silence. "As you all see, I am the Origin Dragon..." He presses the back of his claws on the innermost barrier between the cage's bars. His claws immediately turns white. Although this was a pointless act, he did that to dispel any possible doubt. "I know how you treat being.. uh.. my exp.. as.. uh.. an honor..." The town folks can swear they see his face turns red saying so, but they just think of it was an illusion from the red moon above. "And.. um.. is your heaven..." Origo closes his eyes, hardly squeeze out those words.
"I see! You are shy!" One person suddenly exclaims despite the silence. Again, that stirs up the yard and Origo's growl becomes softer and softer as they understood him.
"I am sorry! I don't know your feeling." "We are sorry!"
The yard is filled with apologizes. Even the knights join that. The high priest frowns. He didn't expect this. It ruined his plan.
"That's good that you all understand. From now on, please don't... um... treat me like.. um.. or worship me..." Some people let out sounds of dissatisfaction at Origo's words. "... at least in front of me."
"Then, what about..." Someone says.
"Didn't you hear what he said?" Someone else interrupts.
"About that, I... um... I can.. um." Origo mutters with his eyes closed.
"Can we touch you?"
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On that night, I realized something. The inhabitants of this world are pretty nice when they don't act like fanatics. Maybe that speculation was from my other personality leaking over, but it'd make my life easier from now... at least in this town.
There were a lot of people and I had to interact with them all nights. They came in group, each group only had a few minutes. Further more, no one above Level 20 are allowed to stay after touching me. Usually they simply touched my feet. I don't mind that because they are small. But some of them wanted to kiss my feet. Disgusting. I voiced my complain and no one dared to do that again.
Also, there was a boy tripped and fell on my leg. I lost a whole 1 HP from that! The knights almost executed him. They really don't care about civilians, huh? At least the kid was tasty... just kidding!
In the end, I fell asleep... Why do I have to see that darn deity whenever I sleep?!