When he felt the wind run across his body, Adam opened his eyes quickly, only to be met with a wide image of a completely green forest. He looked around, but saw nothing unusual.'Was he messing with me?' he thought when he saw there was no one there. Even so, he didn't lower his guard and took a few steps forward; in any case, he had no idea where to go for now.'Am I really in another world? It looks… the same as the previous one.'
Honestly, he didn't know what to expect. Adam simply started walking while observing his surroundings, looking for some clue as to where he was. The system hadn't appeared again for him to ask for help, and he didn't know how to summon it either.So he assumed, on his own, that maybe if he completed the mission to survive, the system would appear.
As he walked, he decided to look at his hands and legs. They were white and far too soft, as if he had never made the slightest effort.To his surprise, he noticed that unlike before, he was much shorter. He looked at the ground, trying to calculate his height, and apparently he was barely a little over one meter sixty.
'Fuck, just what I needed,' he thought ironically at the bad joke. On top of that, he could instantly tell that this body had no training whatsoever. It was thin, too thin to be a man, which made him worry about whether this body could withstand the strength of his former self.
He approached a somewhat sturdy tree and touched it first with his palm, as if analyzing the trunk. 'Let's see…' he said to himself. Then, with his right arm, he pulled back and, with a quick movement, slammed it against the tree, only to feel unbearable pain throughout his entire wrist.
"Shit…" he muttered as he looked at his injured hand; he probably had a broken finger. 'This body…' was nothing like what he was used to. That blow should have shattered the tree and instead caused him pain he wouldn't even have felt before.
'The statistics the system showed me are just for show… even if it says I have 100 endurance, this body doesn't seem to understand it.' It was stupid if he thought about it, but he simply sighed while looking one last time at the tree stained with his blood.
"I have to train this body so my stats actually make some fucking sense."
He returned to his aimless walk. There was nothing, not a single animal. That put him a bit on edge; he felt as if something were following him. In the end, he stopped in front of several bushes, from which came a sound similar to the groan of a large animal.'A boar?' he thought, without giving it much importance. He walked with firm steps toward the bushes and, when he was about to part them, an animal the size of a puppy shot out straight into his chest.
Adam reacted instantly and put himself on guard, trying to get rid of that thing, but it was useless. His body didn't respond the way he wanted and he ended up falling on his back. The animal on top of him began to move in circles over his chest, sniffing him all over.
"J-j-just stay still for a second!" he said while lifting the small animal with both arms. To his surprise, it weighed more than it looked. But when he got a good look at it, his eyes widened. It wasn't an animal he had seen before. It had two small wings on its back and a short tail.
"A-a dragon?" was the first thing he thought upon seeing it. It was just like the ones he had seen in novels. They were almost always beasts of gigantic power, but this one appeared in a forest that didn't look dangerous at all. 'I don't remember the novel having dragons…' he thought.
He clicked his tongue as he sat down on the ground and looked at the small dragon, which was licking his face. Even if he wanted to push it away, he didn't have the strength to do so. 'It's strong,' crossed his mind that maybe the system was referring to this dragon he had to survive, but he hadn't seen any kind of hostility from it.
"Maybe the system exaggerat—" he didn't finish the sentence, as he rolled across the ground together with the dragon when he felt an attack from behind.
When he looked, he saw several armed figures. 'Bandits?' he thought with annoyance. Then he set the dragon down on the ground and told it to move away, but it ignored him and stayed close."BOSS! We found a dwarf around here!" one of the bandits shouted while looking at Adam, who frowned, annoyed.
At that moment, a tall, burly man appeared, with a longsword in his hand. When he looked at Adam, he smiled maliciously. "Well, look what we have here. Are you from the Shadowend house?" the man asked with the same smile.
Adam remained silent, staring at him. It was clear that this was what the system was referring to. Then he thought about that surname the man had mentioned; the system had said that was his new last name, so he assumed they must be close to his home.
He lowered his gaze when he felt something grab his leg. When he looked, he saw it was the dragon, which had latched onto him while watching him and letting out an adorable whine.
The bandits, upon seeing the dragon, were left in shock. None of them could take their eyes off the animal. The boss was the first to react. "Is that… a fucking dragon?" he took a few steps forward, putting Adam on guard. "HAHAHAHA! Boys, today is our lucky day. With this discovery, we'll go down in the history books by proving the legend was real," he exclaimed with total enthusiasm.
His men also shouted excitedly, and then they all looked at Adam more intensely. "Kid, if you give us the dragon without putting up resistance, maybe we'll let you go," the boss declared, named Vorren.
Before Adam could respond, the system screen appeared once again.
[Tamer System]
[Notice: Mission modified.]
Survive the bandits ➜ (0/8)
[Reward: +50 XP and additional information about your statistics + a new friend]
[Punishment: Death]
Upon reading that, a slightly twisted smile formed on Adam's face. 'It didn't say anything about whether I want them alive or dead,' he thought while looking at his injured hand, somewhat numb. He had been in much worse conditions, so this was nothing. And what better way to test his statistics in this new body.
"What if you come and take him from me instead?" Adam said while looking at him attentively, keeping the same smile.
Vorren could only grit his teeth at what he considered the stupidity of the boy in front of him. "As you wish. Boys, kill him!" he ordered, as they all lunged at once.