"My prince! You're awake! I must inform Her Highness!"
Before Caspian could say—or do—anything to salvage what he thought was an awkward moment, the old butler turned on his heel and hurried out of the room.
"…Okay then."
Left alone, Caspian quickly dressed himself in the largest clothes available in his wardrobe. Judging by the fit, someone had been updating it regularly—even while he'd been in a coma.
He settled on simple black slacks and a matching shirt trimmed with gold.
Letting the butler handle the formalities of announcing his recovery, Caspian turned his attention inward.
It was time to understand his power.
If he truly intended to become the Dragon King, then one truth from his inherited memories was unavoidable:
Dragons worshipped strength.
And he needed a lot of it.
"System," Caspian said calmly. "Show me the skills I gained after waking up."
[Affirmative Host.
Skills (Spells)
True Dragon TransformationCall on your dragon heritage to shift into your dragon form.
True Angel TransformationCall on your angelic heritage to shift into a powerful angelic form.
True Angelic Dragon (Locked)Call on your seven virtues bloodline and your royal dragon bloodline to combine, granting you a form of a creature never before seen in this world.
Weapon MasteryMaster of all weapons in existence.
Holy FireCombines your dense and powerful mana with your bloodlines to turn anything without sufficient mana defence into ash, while also being able to heal injuries if the user so chooses.]
"…Okay," Caspian muttered. "Not bad."
He frowned. "But why is that one skill locked?"
[Host, that transformation is highly volatile. It combines and elevates the strengths of both your powerful bloodlines and transformations into one.]
[The fact that your two bloodlines are opposites would cause you to be unable to make use of it properly until you become powerful enough to balance them.]
"Alright," he said with a nod. "Makes sense. No need to worry about that yet."
"Show me my status."
[Affirmative Host.]
Name: Caspian Drake
Age: 20
Race: Angelic Dragon (Hybrid)
Evolution Level: 0
Strength: 3,000
Endurance: 2,500
Agility: 1,500
Mana: 10,000
Bloodline: Drake – Royal Dragon bloodline, Seven Virtues Angelic bloodline
Affinities: Light, Fire
Skills: True Dragon Transformation, True Angel Transformation, True Angelic Dragon (Locked), Weapon Mastery, Holy Fire
[Shop]
[Missions]
Caspian stared at the numbers for a moment.
"…Hey, System. What's this evolution level thing?"
[That will be how you mainly increase your strength; there will be other avenues you will come upon, too.]
[As a higher race, you absorb mana from the surroundings passively, which in turn increases your overall power. While it is a slower method, with your long lifespan, it does not matter.]
[But evolution is where qualitative leaps occur, and it is the true indicator of power among higher races.]
[In this world, higher races such as dragons gain substantial strength through evolving, and each time they do, their level increases.]
[There are nine total evolutions in this world. No being has ever reached the ninth.]
[Each evolution requires the completion of three objectives.]
[Higher races are normally unaware of these objectives and often stumble into them. Luck plays a role.]
[Completion is announced when the world's voice acknowledges the evolution.]
[However, Host, with me, I can show you exactly what you must do.]
Caspian blinked.
"…Holy fuck. I knew systems were the best."
"Alright," he said eagerly. "Tell me about the shop. What can I buy?"
[The shop operates using Shop Points (SP).]
[One method of earning SP is submitting items to the system. Rarer and more powerful items grant more points.]
[Killing monsters is another avenue. However, missions will be the primary source of SP.]
[Shop:
Affinity Gem: Space (25,000)
Affinity Gem: Ice (10,000)
Draconic Greatsword of Doom (3,000)
Ring of the Phoenix (50,000)
Dragon Lord Armour (15,000)
Grimoire of Nuclear Magic (100,000)]
"…Holy shit," Caspian groaned. "Broke on Earth, broke in a fantasy world too."
Still, his eyes lingered on the affinity gems.
They were absurdly rare.
In this world, a person's elemental affinities were decided at birth. Some had none. Some had one. Geniuses might possess two or more.
Using magic outside one's affinity caused severe backlash.
Even forcing a spell through would yield a pitiful result—like comparing a grenade to a missile.
Affinity gems bypassed all of that.
Crush one, and the element became yours.
Even the dragons, who had hoarded treasures for millions of years, had only uncovered a handful.
Caspian possessed fire from his royal dragon bloodline and light from his angelic heritage.
Space or ice…
Tempting.
But before he could ask the system to display his evolution objectives, the door opened once more.
A woman stood there—radiant, ethereal, like a celestial figure torn from a fairytale.
Her lips trembled. Tears clung desperately to her silver eyes.
And then she spoke.
"M–Michael…?"