1 Chapter 1 Part 1- A Peaceful Life Comes to an End

Race: Human

Name: Ludger Folles

Level: 41

Condition: Bleeding-Severe

Crippled-Severe

Exhausted-Severe

Status

Hp -221/706

Mp 312/312

Physique 102/228

Vitality 200/320

Agility 62/178

Intellect 107/157

Resistance 92/112

As I lay dying on the floor I could hear the Demon's laughter as it made fun of how weak I am. I don't have any special OP skills, equipment or magic; in fact I'm just barely above the average adventurer.

I made a living hunting off the higher ranked monsters in the Venichi Woods; which was commonly known to the people of the Dungeon City Messia, of the Vandia Kingdom as the Beginner Woods. Most of the monsters that lived in the woods were weak but on a rare occasion one would evolve making it too difficult for newbies to fight and so the guild would pay guys like me to go in and subjugate it. I never ended up making a party because the money I could make with that was enough for me to live for a few months in the house my parents left me and when I was really strapped for cash I would offer to guide the rookies through the woods and act as a sort of mentor for them offering advice on survival when they went out in the wilderness.

Sure I could of risked my life exploring the Dungeon, looting treasure and slaying strong monsters but there was just no reason to risk my life for that, I had no real ambitions like becoming a hero or anything and I have no one left to try to protect.

But right now I was just fighting with an arch demon called Vendril. For some reason when I went out to the Beginner Woods to subjugate a bird monster known as a Garuda; which is a [3*] monster that can use minor wind magic and a ranged feather attack, I came across a new cave in the woods that I had never seen before.

Needless to say I went in since the guild would pay big for any new information and it was possibly a new dungeon, except it wasn't. That's right that cave that had appeared, turns out this arch demon had made it to lay low after it was wounded by a hero in a fight that took place on the other side of the mountain range to the south. Of course I stood no chance; the "fight" was over in one move by him, since me walking into the cave had startled him and he tore off both my arms and launched me into the wall.

After I had managed to gasp out a "what?" which was about the most I could do while I was recovering from the shock and impending doom, Vendril decided to go on a long monologue explaining all this before he couldn't hold in his laughter anymore which brings us to the current situation.

Honestly I have to say I'm impressed that I have survived for this long with how big the gap in power was, he had to be on par with a dragon the way I see it and this "hero" that wounded him must have been even more impressive.

As I close my eyes to try to drown out Vendril's coarse laughter I can see the small red bar labeled [Hp] flashing in my mind and quickly reaching the negative max, this is the first time I have seen it do that though I know that once you reach zero you become 'wounded' and start dying for real, beginning to gain negative [Hp] until they reach the same amount as your maximum [Hp]. Never did I think that I would die due to someone else's mistake since I mostly worked alone and it was a hero's fault no less, so much for the defenders of humanity and all that nonsense, well I hope that the hero learns just how costly their failures are not to say that I want the weight of my life to hang over them for forever but knowing that I died because of someone else's mistake definitely leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. 

My conscious slips away as I am lamenting over the fact that I never got to hold my future wife in my arms.

"Welcome Ludger Folles."

A voice? but didn't I die?

"I'm glad to see that the start of the reincarnation process is going well, how do you feel?"

What? 

before I'm able to reign in the shock that question escapes me.

"I know you are confused but if you remain calm I will try to explain the best I can."

…

…

The voice that I heard apparently was the Goddess Miluna; from what I remember she was pretty popular in the Ragalen Empire as a deity that housewives would pray to but I don't know much more than that. Apparently she is reincarnating me because of the circumstances of my death, she told me how she felt responsible since she sent out a rookie hero to kill Vendril and that if she had sent out the usual hero instead that would have never happened. 

I shrugged off the remnants of bitterness that I still felt and told her that it was fine, she was taking responsibility for it by reincarnating me with not only my memories of my previous life but a divine blessing and the ability to choose what race I wanted to reincarnate into. After what felt like days of thinking I came to a decision… 

I want to be a dragon.

As for the reason… well I can't say that there is much of one, the dragon race is not only the strongest but it is also one of the rarest and they have all sort of innate abilities like being able to transform into a human, having a powerful magic aptitude and some are even said to even said to evolve into beings like gods and have entire religions devoted to them.

I know it sounds like a choice that doesn't suit me like "That same Ludger that spent his whole life like a turtle never leaving it's shell wants to not only become a monster but one of the most sought after monsters for elite adventurers" well you're right it isn't a choice the old Ludger would make. But the old Ludger died while living like that turtle for 24 years, even if I didn't risk my life everyday like the other adventurers I still ended up dying, in a place like the Beginner Woods no less. Thus the logical conclusion was, if I wasn't strong enough to swim against the current that moves the world then I will just have to find a way to survive while swimming with it and the best way to do that is to become someone strong, stronger than a hero, stronger than Vendril and stronger than all the people that will try to kill me.

When I told all that to Miluna she giggled and muttered something like "This is why I love Humans" and I can't help but think that she was making fun of me but I don't mind she is a goddess after all. Then she began to chant in some language I didn't know and in my head I heard her voice "I shall grant your wish, I look forward to seeing how strong you become." that was when my consciousness faded.