"So… I really died?" Orion swallowed hard, his voice shaking as the weight of the truth finally hit him.
[Affirmative.] The system's response was immediate and merciless.
He sank to the ground, holding his head. The fact that he was dead was already too hard to accept, and the strange cave, the system… He felt completely overwhelmed.
This wasn't a story in a book. It wasn't a game.
This was real.
And it was terrifying.
Minutes passed before his breathing finally slowed. Orion wasn't stupid. Once the shock faded, he began piecing things together.
"So… let me get this straight," he muttered, staring at the system. "I die, get thrown into a whole new world, and now I have a system?"
[Affirmative.]
"… Figures."
"And based on every trashy isekai and edgy web novel I've ever read," he continued, eyes widening with hopeful excitement, "I'm about to get some absurdly broken abilities, right?"
The screen flickered.
[Analyzing host… Analysis complete.][Host has been granted three unique skills:]
Appraisal (B-Rank)
Odorless (B-Rank)
Flash Movement (B-Rank)
[Would the host like detailed descriptions?]
Orion's eyes literally lit on fire.
"HELL YEAH!!" he yelled. His voice was so loud that it woke up some of the residents of the cave.
"GRRRRRRR…"
A deep, bone-chilling growl vibrated through the stone.
Orion went pale.
[Do not worry, host. Your current chamber is too small for monsters in this area to enter, and the walls are too hard for them to break.]
He didn't question how the system knew that. Survival first. Curiosity later.
After feeling reassured, Orion started focusing on his skills.
"Now, where were we… oh yeah, the skill description."
A new system window opened before him.
[Skill Descriptions]
Appraisal (B-Rank) Evaluates the strengths, abilities, and information of targets. Fails if the target exceeds the host's understanding of the skill. Improves with use, better understanding of the skill, and increasing the overall power of the host.(Potential: SSS+)
Odorless (B-Rank) — Completely erases the user's scent and suppresses aura, preventing detection by entities with enhanced senses. Has similar limits and improving conditions to Appraisal. (Potential: SSS+)
Flash Movement (B-Rank) — Instantly moves the user across space. Current limit: 100 meters per use. Usable five times before cooldown. (3 hours cooldown)Power and efficiency increase with mastery. The host is also advised to increase his overall power. (Potential: ???)
Orion finished speed-reading the descriptions. He now had a general idea about all his skills. The potential of these skills made him giddy.
"Flash Movement with unknown potential? Even the system doesn't know how strong it can get?" He let out a breathless laugh. "That's gotta be beyond SSS+. That's… that's completely broken."
He grinned like an idiot, chuckling to himself like a psychopath.
Then he paused. Something clicked in his mind.
"… Wait. Aren't you supposed to show me my status window like every other system story?"
[Affirmative.]
"Then why didn't you show it earlier?!"
[Access to the status interface requires the host to say the administrative command: 'Status Open.']
"Wait, What!? Seriously… that's so cliché and embarrassing… I don't wanna say it. Just… show me my status."
[Permission denied, host must use the full administrative command.]
"… Fine," Orion muttered in a defeated tone.
"… Status open."
[Name: Orion_____]
[Race: Dragonkin]
[Title: Otherworlder]
[Class: None]
[Skills: Appraisal (B), Odorless (B), Flash Movement (B)]
[Physical and Magic Power]
{Strength: 10}
{Stamina: 10}
{Agility: 6}
{Vitality: 11}
{Endurance: 12}
{Mana: 10}]
"Dragon…kin?!"
His heart was pounding like a war drum, his whole body buzzing with excitement.
"I'm part DRAGON?! NO WAY—THIS IS INSANE!! I… I… I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!"
He practically jumped around, laughing and yelling like a maniac, unable to contain the excitement.
He ran his hands over his body, feeling dense muscle beneath his skin—solid, powerful.
"Oh yeah," as if remembering something very important, he checked under his underpants.
"… Holy shit. It got even bigger."
Satisfied beyond belief, he continued scanning his stats.
"Agility's lower compared to other stats. Is it something to do with my dragonkin race?" he muttered." I've got Flash Movement. So I think I will be ok."
While testing his new skills and his strength inside the rock chamber, he realized he had to escape wherever the hell he was.
But when he studied his surroundings, realization hit him hard.
There were no entrance cracks. No tunnels. No sunlight anywhere. Just endless stone on all sides.
The only illumination came from faintly glowing mushrooms and green moss clinging to the walls like eerie lanterns.
If I want to survive, I have to explore. This place is massive, and there are monsters. I'm not ready to fight anything yet—but if I stay here, I'll starve.
"Sigghhhhh…" After a long, defeated sigh, Orion finally decided that his only option was to search for a cave entrance so he could leave.
Taking a slow breath, he activated a skill.
"Odorless," he muttered.
A warm, invisible pressure wrapped around his body, cutting him off from the world. His presence… vanished.
"SO, this is stealth."
Slowly, he stepped outside the narrow stone chamber.
The cavern swallowed him whole.
The ceiling disappeared into darkness. Massive stone pillars rose like ancient towers. Every sound echoed unnaturally loud.
"This place is huge…" Orion whispered." Did I wake up inside a dragon nest or something?"
Then—
"GRRRRRRRRR"A bone-chilling growl of a monster, and it was too close.
Orion felt weak in his leg.
He quickly hid behind a massive rock pillar, but the growl was becoming louder and closer.
"Oh god… no, no, no…" Sweat drenched his back. "It's coming right at me."
Come on, Orion, you got this. You are not a human anymore. You are a dragonkin now. You've got your skills; you can do it.
Orion came up with a plan. He would try to dodge this monster, but if he came face to face with it, he would fight.
After making his resolution, he slowly started to move in the opposite direction of where the monster's growl was coming from.
"THUD!"
He fell. The cave was mostly quiet, but the sound was enough to get the monster's attention.
He quickly got up and positioned himself behind another rock pillar, knowing the monster had surely heard the sound and knew his location.
"Why now, damn it… I've never been this unlucky."
From the darkness, something emerged.
Black scales. One massive eye. A maw filled with sizzling teeth. Glowing moss clung to its body, illuminating its monstrous form.
"A—Appraisal!"
[Lesser Cave Ravager — C-Rank]
Carnivorous. Highly aggressive. Hunts anything smaller than itself. Weakness: Eye
"C-Rank? This is only a C-Rank!? You're fucking kidding, right?, or maybe it's eye really is vulnerable" He picked up a small piece of stone from where he was standing.
"Okay.... here we go." He hurled a stone at its eye—but the monster shut it in time. The stone bounced off uselessly
Orion's stomach dropped.The Ravager roared, a deafening, bone-shaking sound that echoed through the cavern, and lunged at him.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he yelled, rolling sideways just as its massive claws gouged the stone where he had been standing. His mind raced—he had no real strategy, no experience.
Grabbing a bigger rock, he crouched behind a jagged pillar, barely keeping his trembling body from giving him away. The Ravager's glowing eyes tracked him like a predator honing in on prey.
Orion, wasting no time, used his Flash Movement toward a small stone-made chamber whose entrance was too small for the Ravager to enter.
After coming in front of the chamber, he crouched down and entered, but he saw the Ravager was also moving with unnatural speed.
"It's strong and fast… come on, it's cheating."
It came in front of the chamber entrance and tried to break in, but it was too big to enter.
The monster slammed against the entrance, roaring in frustration
Orion quickly started his next strategy.
He began looking inside the little chamber and noticed it widened the deeper it went.
After thinking for a moment and finding no hope of actually killing the monster, Orion decided to start moving deeper.
"System, do you have any advice on how to survive this hellish place?" Orion had stopped calling it a cave, because he had his doubts now.
[Negative. Host is on his own.]
"....… thought so."
Suddenly, the ground beneath him cracked. Loose stones shifted under his weight, and before he could react…
"AAAAHHHH!!"
He plummeted into darkness.