RUSTY

The morning sun had crept over the horizon of Midden, though only a hint of that change penetrated the hideaway. Chul began his daily routine. His nimble fingers deftly polishing a set of mismatched trinkets, a fork, and a broken bottle, using a dirty scrap of wool and a wooden bucket full of rainwater.

"Glum-dibby-doo," he sang to himself, “bottles and shoes.”

Singing seemed to comfort him, and it comforted Rusty as well. The hatchling had spent most of the last few days unconscious, abetted by regular draughts of the potions provided by Jiho, who was usually nearby whenever he woke up. But he had eaten a lot, and every time he woke, he had felt progressively less of the anxiety that had overcome him on the first day. Rusty wasn't sure what he had been upset about, though he remembered the feeling. Emptiness, and terror. Whenever confusing and upsetting thoughts entered his head again, he tried to push them aside. Jiho had told him that those feelings were a natural reaction to being born in a strange place, among a different species, and Rusty wanted to believe him. He watched Chul sweep the dirt floor with a twig broom, sending dust particles swirling into the air, imposing a sense of order on the hideaway. His eyes were still heavy from the last potion he had drunk.

The way Chul took care of his environment, even amid a dump, reminded him of something, but he couldn’t think of what. Not remembering didn’t bother him as much as it had before. He’d had a lot of strange dreams since he hatched, dreams about humans, mostly very boring ones, going about their daily lives. The faces were blurry, and they didn’t have names. They were only dreams, just like Jiho kept saying, and dreams about humans were no use to a young dragon.

“Hey!” Seok’s shout came from outside. “Are you guys awake? I want to show you something.”

Chul dropped his broom and hopped over to his companion, who was curled on top of a small pile of rags. “You ready to go outside?”

Rusty flexed his wings. He was still tired, but he wanted to see more of the junkyard. He liked it here. There were so many wonderful things. Chul had shown him his whole collection of treasures over the past few days, and it had awakened a hunger in him that differed from his hunger for the dead rats and rotten vegetables Jiho was always bringing them. He wanted to see what else was out there, and he wanted some treasures of his own.

The pair crawled through the tunnel into the open, under the morning sun. The smells of Midden were strong; rot and sea salt and a blanket of general fishiness over everything. Rusty had found the intensity of the odors disturbing at first, but now he rather liked them. It was the smell of home.

"Hey, Rusty!" Seok called, eager for the dragon's attention. With a grunt, he hoisted a sizable rock chunk above his head, straining under its weight. Muscles rippled beneath his green skin, as he wasn’t particularly bulky, but he was extremely lean. "Check this out!"

Rusty turned his gaze toward the display of strength, a flicker of amusement sparking within him. Though Seok's prowess was impressive among goblins, at least the goblins he had met so far, it was a lot less than he could do. Still, there was something undeniably infectious about Seok’s enthusiasm and his desire to please.

“Wow,” Chul said. “That’s really heavy,” and Rusty echoed his sentiment.

"Thanks!" Seok replied, grinning from ear to ear. He struck another pose, basking in their praise, and the rock thudded back to the ground, dislodging a few shells.

Chul glanced over at his companion. "Seok is a [Skirmisher]," he said. "Being strong is what he’s made for.”

"A [Skirmisher]?” Rusty asked. “Does he get into a lot of fights?”

“It’s his class,” Chul said. “Sorry, you’re so good at talking. Sometimes I forget you don’t know anything.”

“Jiho said to come see him at the den,” Seok panted. “I just wanted to show you that first.”

A thin mist of evaporating dew swirled around their feet as the trio made their way back to the gang’s main den, chatting about all the objects Seok had been picking up and putting down for training. They stopped at a pool of stagnant water, murky and clogged with mosquito larvae, to drink, and Chul splashed at Rusty playfully. Despite their vastly different anatomies, Rusty felt like Chul was his brother. Even if he was still a little uncomfortable around the other goblins, Chul’s presence made him feel safe and contented.

The gang was already talking about him when they arrived.

"Rusty's going to change everything for us," Jiho declared, his voice filled with excitement. "We'll be unstoppable with a dragon by our side, Sooji. Just think of the looks on their faces when they see!"

Sooji glanced around nervously, her brow furrowed in concern. "What if other goblins or, worse, humans find out that he's living with us? We don't need that kind of trouble."

"Trouble?" Jiho scoffed. "They should be the ones worried about trouble. With Rusty, we could even become chiefs of Midden again!"

Rolling her eyes at Jiho's grandiose schemes, Sooji shook her head. "You always dream big, Jiho, but you never consider the consequences."

As Rusty listened to their conversation, he wondered about his role in the future they were envisioning. He certainly wanted to help the gang, especially Chul. They were the only family he had in the world, but he was nervous about the prospect of meeting other goblins.

"There’s the dragon in question," Jiho said as they entered the den. "What do you think? Are you ready to embrace your destiny and help us rise to greatness?"

Rusty tilted his head, considering the question. He knew little about his own capabilities, but the idea of rising to greatness wasn’t unappealing. He’d seen a lot of junk on the walk over that he would have liked to claim for himself, and he imagined that if the gang all became chiefs, they could have as much stuff as they wanted, and a bigger den to keep it in.

"Rise to greatness?" Rusty said. "I’m not sure if I will be that much of a help. I would like to start collecting some treasures of my own though, Chul showed me all of his. Lots of what you have is really nice. Oh, what’s that?"

A bowl full of broken glass had caught his eye. The pieces were all of different colors, and very thick. He sniffed them.

“Get away from those!” Sooji shrieked, the bright orange shock of her hair waving like the head of an exuberant broom. “Those are my special pieces!”

Rusty slunk away, shortly distracted by the wealth of other oddities available for examination in the den. Every corner was piled high with discarded goods that the goblins had gathered when they were out and about in Midden.

"See, Sooji?" Jiho said smugly. "Rusty's on board with the plan."

"Fine," Sooji conceded, her voice tinged with resignation. "But we have to be careful. The last thing we need is for anyone else to find out about Rusty."

"Agreed," Jiho nodded smugly. "That’s what I’ve been saying all along.”

“No, it isn’t,” Sooji snapped, “that’s the opposite of what you’ve been saying.”

Jiho ignored her. “We'll keep him a secret for now. But once we're ready, the Midden Tribe is going to be in for a surprise." He turned to Rusty; a smile plastered across his face. “As for you, little one. I think it’s time we found out what you can really do.”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What do you mean?” Rusty asked.

Jiho leaned in. “Have you chosen your first level skills yet?”

"Uh, no," Rusty admitted. Chul hadn’t told him anything about selecting skills, or what it meant to be first level. "I'm not sure how to do that, actually."

“We’ve been so busy,” Chul interjected.

“I thought his skills were locked,” Sooji said.

“What does he need skills for?” Seok complained. “Isn’t he strong enough already?”

"Ah, well, it's simple," Jiho explained, breezily talking over Seok. "They aren’t really locked. I just couldn’t see them before because you don’t have any chosen. You can access your own [System] screens by thinking about them. But if you haven't gotten the hang of summoning them mentally yet just say 'Hello Cruel World,' and they should appear."

"That’s a heck of a phrase," Rusty commented, his curiosity piqued. He took a deep breath and slowly spoke the words, "Hello…Cruel World."

In an instant, a translucent, sky-blue screen materialized before him, filled with information regarding his skills and abilities. It was a lot more extensive than the one Jiwoo had summoned with his [Identify] command, and the goblins gathered around to look, all except Jiwoo. The elder goblin was napping amid the refuse in his corner of the den. He grunted and rolled over.

Rusty blinked, focusing on the blue floating screen that had appeared before him. It had the same basic information as Jiho’s version, but the class skills section included a wealth of new details.

Trash Dragon Skills:

None.

Skill points available to distribute: 5

Available Skills:

Material Mastery (Trash):

Material Mastery endows the dragon with a heightened perceptive faculty, allowing for the innate detection, analysis, and interaction with various materials (Trash) within the dragon's immediate vicinity. Additionally, this skill amplifies the dragon's innate resistances to elemental or material types congruent with its own draconic classification.

Physical Mastery:

Upon acquiring this skill, the dragon undergoes a significant enhancement in its physical capabilities. Its scales become fortified while its teeth and claws sharpen. This results not only in amplified physical attack potential but heightened resilience to physical damage.

Movement Mastery:

Movement Mastery fine-tunes the dragon's inherent modes of locomotion, be they terrestrial, aerial, or aquatic, according to its elemental lineage (Trash). This skill offers modifications that optimize the creature's natural abilities, rendering its movements more efficient and effective in environments suited to its class.

Breath Mastery:

Breath Mastery gives a dragon its most iconic weapon, aligned with the creature's elemental or material lineage (Trash). The manifestation of this weapon offers the dragon a ranged attack option, diversifying its combat capabilities while reinforcing its alignment with its elemental or material class.

The screen flickered as they read. Jiho scanned over the section in a few seconds, stepping back to give the others more room. Chul sounded out the words as he went, proceeding with difficulty, and Sooji scratched at her sharp chin, deep in thought.

"Alright, Rusty. Read through the skills available for your class," Jiho instructed, watching the little dragon closely. "Let us know what you think, and I can help you decide."

"This isn’t too complicated," Rusty said, sitting on his haunches. “It’s all pretty general, though. [Material Mastery], [Physical Mastery], [Movement Mastery]…[Breath Mastery]. It’s a little weird to call them skills. None of these are things I can learn. It’s more like I’m picking out a superpower.”

"That’s one way of looking at it," Jiho mused, touching his hair. "Each of those options could provide valuable benefits for a young dragon. What do you think [Material Mastery] will do for you?"

"Uh... it grants me the innate ability to sense, analyze, and adapt to nearby materials," Rusty read. "It also enhances my resistance to materials aligned with my class. But I’m not sure how that applies to trash."

"Seems useful," Seok chimed in, flexing his wiry muscles. “But I think [Physical Mastery] would be better. That’s what I’d pick. If I was a dragon, I’d be an unstoppable killing machine.”

"Or," Sooji interjected, shooting a glare at her cousin, "you could choose [Breath Mastery]. Breathing fire is the most dragon thing there is."

"Right," Chul said, grinning down at Rusty. "But I think it would be super awesome if you could fly. Maybe [Movement Mastery] could help with that?"

“Don’t be stupid, Chul,” Jiho said. “There’s no reason to believe Rusty will be able to fly if he takes that ability. Or breathe fire. He isn’t a [Fire Dragon].”

“But he’s got wings!” Chul protested.

“Look more closely,” Jiho exhaled a long-suffering sigh, “all of a dragon's skills align with its draconic type. Rusty is a [Trash Dragon]. We may not know exactly what that means, but dragons all have different types of breath weapons, like acid and lightning and poisonous gas, so he certainly will not be breathing fire. As for movement, it might just make him more balanced and agile on unstable mounds of junk. It’s the same problem with [Material Mastery]. What does it mean to be a master of trash? A [Fire Dragon] might be immune to fire, but what good is it to be immune to trash damage?”

The goblins bickered back and forth, each supporting their own preference for how Rusty should advance. Rusty, for his own part, remained silent, reading, and rereading the entries for each skill, and thinking about what he wanted most, the only thing he’d come to want, in his brief life. The gang continued to debate, their voices growing louder as Jiho continually shot them down. The only positive things he had to say were about [Physical Mastery], where at least the outcome would be both predictable and useful.

"Enough!" Jiho shouted, cutting through the bickering. "Rusty, it's your decision. But I hope you’ve been listening. You can always choose other skills later, but for now, [Physical Mastery] is the obvious choice."

“How do I make the selection?” Rusty asked.

“Use the same command phrase that summoned the screen and then tell it where you want to put the points. It’s that simple.”

The hatchling took a deep breath. He knew what he wanted, even if it wasn't what the others expected. As Rusty looked at the floating screen, he could feel the weight of the decision pressing down on him. It was literally the first actual decision he had made in his life, and it might affect everything that happened going forward. Chul, Sooji, and Seok huddled around him, still making small comments about why their individual ideas were the best ones, not waiting for him to make his choice.

“Wait,” he said. “How many points am I going to get after this? Can I change my mind later, or will I be stuck?”

“You can’t change your mind,” Jiho said, “but you get five points to spend at every new level, so you can always try out the other skills later. That’s why it’s so important to get the best advantage you can now, with [Physical Mastery], and not worry so much about what you might be missing out on. We don’t know how long it will take for you to advance, but Midden can be dangerous. You need to be tough enough to survive.”

Rusty nodded; his decision was made. If he was going to get five more points at every level, he didn’t have to worry so much about spending all of these in one place. "Hello Cruel World," he said, “assign all available skill points to [Material Mastery]."

The screen blinked, reloading its content to reflect the change. There was a moment of silence as the goblins stared at him in disbelief. Jiho's face had contorted into a mixture of shock and frustration.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "Why would you choose that? [Physical Mastery] would have made you unbeatable!"

Rusty met Jiho's gaze, unflinching. "I know it might not seem like the best choice to you," he said, "but [Material Mastery] should allow me to navigate the junkyard better. It will help me find the treasures I want."

“Treasure?” Jiwoo frowned, having been awakened by the bickering. "What has Chul been telling you? You're a [Trash Dragon]," he argued. "Having an affinity for trash won't help you survive."

"Maybe not," Rusty conceded, his tail flicking back and forth in contemplation. "But it will help me understand my surroundings better. I like the idea of always knowing where my stuff is."

Chul beamed at Rusty, patting his snout just behind the horn. "I think it was a perfect decision," he declared. "You should trust your instincts, Rusty."

The others grumbled, insisting that their individual suggestions would have been superior. Seok and Sooji were soon shouting over each other, continuing to debate whether a breath weapon or sharper claws were what made a dragon a dragon.

"Shut it!" Jiho snapped, silencing them once more, though he was plainly as annoyed as they were with the outcome. "It's done. We can't change his choice now. Let's focus on moving forward."

A rumble of hunger echoed through the group, beginning with Jiwoo’s growling pot belly in the corner.

“What are we going to do about breakfast?” He demanded.

Jiho eyed Rusty thoughtfully, a sly smirk appearing on his face.

"Alright," he said, clapping his hands together. "If you're so keen on using your ability to explore Midden, let's put it to the test. I know where we can find a big fat dump beetle to eat, but we'll need your help."

Rusty nodded, responding to the light of excitement he saw in Chul at the suggestion of a beetle hunt. He wanted to show that his choice had been worthwhile, though he wasn’t sure how it was going to help them find a beetle, exactly. Regardless, there was bound to be a wealth of enticing treasure to be discovered in the junkyard on the way. As soon as the System had updated according to his decision, he had begun to get fuzzy feelings in the back of his head about the objects around him in the den. Some of them were more valuable than others, though it wasn’t clear to him how that value was quantified. Why did the bowl of glass shards stand out to him more in his mind than the individual toy soldiers in Seok’s corner, for example? Whatever the reason, he was eager to amass a collection of his own.