My First Dungeon Crawl

I continued rolling forward for a few more meters until I finally slowed to a stop.

'I'm so dizzy...I think I'm about to lose my dinner...No! A real man would never waste food made by a beauty! Although I guess I am a dragon now, on the inside I am a man!'

I collected myself and got back to my feet. I looked around me and saw a brick-laden passageway before me. There were lanterns attached to the walls at every few feet. The walls seemed to be carved into the cave walls making them look like some sort of art exhibit. Even the door that I barged into looked as if some sort of artisan had made it. 'What is this place? Some sort of gothic horror...'

I continued walking down the path in front of me. My claws tapping along the floor with each step I took. Eventually, I found myself at the end of the passage and it split into three other directions.

'Hmm. I guess this is where things will get difficult. I could either continue walking straight, take the left path, or take the right path...This is too frustrating! Why split into multiple directions when one path could suffice! Ugh!'

I decide to leave a sort of marker on the floor with my claws. I scratch an X in one of the tiles of the path that I took to get here. This way I could easily find the path that will lead me back home. This idea is genius if I do say so myself.

As for the path I decided to take, I continue to go straight. 'I doubt something's going to be waiting for me at the end, right?'

Soon after saying I found myself in front of a wall. 'Eh?...Eh?! After all of that, there's a wall this early on the path! Wait for just a second...' I noticed the wall had some weird symbols carved into it. They reminded me of runes one would find in medieval based video games. 'This is runes, right? Like those kinds of runes used for magic and stuff? That's awesome! Too bad, I don't understand what they mean.'

I started touching the runes etched into the wall. All of a sudden they started to glow.

'What did I just do? Something good I hope!"

The wall started to change shape and morphed into a small dragon. Now it looked like a rock sculpture of a dragon.

'Oh, look it kinda looks like me now! I wonder is it friendly?' I approached the stone dragon but as I got closer it started to reach towards me. I dodged the swipe of its claw just in time. 'Hey, that wasn't nice! I'll have you know, I was a dragon for much longer than you! That makes me your dragon senpai~ So show respect!'

The stone dragon looked at me for a second. 'Maybe it finally understood its place as my dragon kohai~' The stone dragon then tried to punch me again. 'Stap it, my fellow dragon! Aren't we brothers?! Et Tu, Brutus!"

I started to run away from the stone dragon back down the path I came but the stone dragon was hot on my tail. 'I can't believe I got turned away this early! I thought nobody lived here!"

-

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"I've been in hiding from the stone dragon for what seems like forever.

This stone dragon has been ruthless in his pursuit of me.

To whoever finds this letter, I hope a statue is built in my honor.

Signed, Jacob Armeyer the Dragon."

'Wow, these claws really are sharp! I easily wrote all of that without exerting too much strength.'

After my run-in with the stone dragon, I continued to run away. I didn't want to lead it back to my family so I turned onto the left path while running from it. It seems it hasn't found me yet so I've been lying in wait inside a room I found.

There were other rooms I found here, too. Each of them had simple furnishings inside of them. I had found this all strange, to say the least. It was as if people were living here at one point. Quite a few people at that.

I continued to explore the entire path as I got deeper I started to find other stuff like bookcases full of old books and some kind of alter. It was pretty creepy so I just tried to avoid it. I looked over some of the books, but they were written in some sort of strange information. But the weirdest thing of them all was the fact that I started to hear a strange voice in my head now and again.

[Location Discovered]

[Lore Gained]

These were the two that I could remember off the top of my head. I don't know what they meant, but every time I got close to specific places their names would pop up. Or when I tried to read the books I would hear the words, [Knowledge Increase] and [Language Unknown]. I tried to decipher what these phrases meant, but I couldn't come up with anything.

Of course, there were more, but I had no time to think about that all right now. I was still hiding away from the stone dragon which could come out from anywhere. After all, it was made of stone. It could be lurking in any of these surfaces. I wasn't about to just sit still and let it catch me off-guard.

'I have to face it myself...but how?'

'There must be something I could use against it? Something strong, something I've grown accustomed to enough to wield against it properly...' I looked around, but certainly, books weren't going to help me in this situation. I found myself almost all out of answers as I leaned my hand against one of the bookshelves beside me.

'Huh?...Oh! That's it! My claws fit all the requirements! Then, now I just got to get them to the stone dragon...'

I peeked out of the room I was in and looked around. 'No sign of it...'

I walked out of the room feeling relieved. Of course, I steeled myself for the eventual confrontation with the stone dragon. Putting myself in harm's way was still hard to do. After all, I could get hurt or worse: die. I had to avoid that at all costs. I didn't want a third life just yet. There's still so much to explore. Many things I have yet to accomplish in this new life. I wasn't about to let it all end now.

Filled with a reinforced vigor, I ran down the passage as fast as I could. 'If the stone dragon wants to attack me, he must first manage to land a hit. Too bad, I won't make it easy for you!'

I found myself at the end of the left path, where the passage splits off into three other paths. The path that led back home, the right path, and the path where I first met the stone dragon.

Considering, I just left the left path without being attacked, I will mark it from my list. I won't be going back just yet so the home path will be marked off as well. Which leaves me with the path straight ahead or the right path. Obviously, I will be saving the right path for later as I am not sure what dangers may lie there. So, I'll be going straight ahead onto the path where I had first fought the stone dragon.

'Heh. If I am lucky the stone dragon will be down one of the other paths that I chose not to take. But If I am not lucky...'

I stop in my tracks. Straight ahead of me was the thing I hadn't hoped to see.

'Guess my luck is still pretty bad, huh?'

The stone dragon was waiting there as if it knew I would return.

I smiled or at least I hoped I looked like I was smiling. 'At least, one thing has stayed the same although I hate to say it.'

The stone dragon noticed my presence and ran at me with full force. 'That thing really has it out for me...' I readied myself as I waited for it to get close enough to me. As soon as it was close enough, I leaped into the air. Within a few seconds, the stone dragon broke through the floor with one strike of its claw.

'Yeeaarrt!'

I used my weight to add to my fall as I struck into the stone dragon with my claws. I smashed it down into the floor causing a crater to form under it. 'Woah! That was awesome! Eh...' The stone dragon lifted off the ground with me on it and started trying to flip me off of it.

'Sorry, pal! My arm's stuck! Stop rocking me back and forth! I'm really going to get motion sick from this!' The stone dragon continued to move around crazily, to my dismay.

'I have to destroy it somehow. I didn't really plan for after it took my attack because I thought that that one attack would have been enough! What can I do but tried to hold on for the ride...'

As I tried to think of what to do, I started to punch at the dragon with my other hand. Its hard surface against my tough scales. Even I knew I couldn't punch a rock for too long without causing permanent damage to my hands. But what else was there to do!

I started to gnaw at its head with my sharp teeth and claw at it with my hand. I saw the runes I found earlier carved into it. I decided to try and claw at those next. Once I swiped at it a few times, the runes were no longer legible and they started to lose their glow. Once that happened, the stone dragon started to morph again. It crumbled into dust as we fell to the floor.

'What the heck happened? Did I win? No, the runes back there...When I scratched them, they stopped glowing, and along with that, the dragon lost its power.'

[Level Up]

[New Stat Points are available! Where would like to place them, brave adventurer?]

"...Huh?"

[Level Up]

[New Stat Points are available! Where would you like to place them, brave adventurer?]

'I didn't need you to repeat the words back to me! Why are you showing up anyway?! I know that Goddess said she was going to send me to a world like Arcadian Records, but I didn't think it would be that it would include everything! That lazy Goddess can't even create her own world without ripping off of another!!'

No, there are more pressing matters to think about. Like, how can I accept the Skill Points? I'll just refer to those as SP starting now. As for the other question that comes to mind, how can I check my status now? I no longer have a keyboard and mouse to pull up the Menu Screen.

[Would you like some assistance, brave adventurer?]

'It just talked again! Whatever it is...I guess I should name it but what would be a good name? Let's see what about calling it the Heavenly Caller. No, that reminds me of that annoying Goddess too much... Next! How about the Velvety Voice since it sounds so nice~ Yeah, that's the one! Oh, and I can call it VV, for short! Alright, Vivi can you help me pull up the Status Screen or the Menu, if possible?'

[Of course, brave adventurer? Here is the Status Screen]

After saying that, a screen appeared in front of me.

'Wow! It even has my current stats and character Info as well!'

[Name]: None [Race]: Elder Dragon [Level]: 28

[Attack]: 275

[Defense]: 405

[Speed]: 150

[Mana]: 500

[Exp]: 108 needed to Lvl up

[Skills]:

[Defensive Scales]: Level 5 [Fireball]: Level 5 [Human Transformation]: Level 1

[Fierce Strike]: Level 1 [Sharp Claws]: Level 2 [Release Inner Ki]: level 1

[Roar]: Level 1 [Fly]: Level 1 [Fiery Strike]: Level 1 [God's Grace]: Level 100

[Swordsman]: Level 2 [??????]: Level -99 [??????]: Level Immeasurable