Location: Udyr Kingdom, Satriona Continent: Northern Snowy Mountains

《Shapeshift Complete》

《Modifications Complete》

His mass could not fully be contained in a human body so he had to enhance it a bit, but after a full transformation there he stood, a man standing at 6' tall, abyssal black hair going down his back and abyssal black eyes staring back at him and skin as pale as the mountains he lives within. Standing naked in the river he scrutinized his appearance until he was satisfied with the shimmering reflection within the water.

"Not too bad, the skin appears to be paler than I'd hoped for," he touched his skin along the nape of his neck, "But people among the snowy mountains of the north tend to be pale from the lack of sun exposure."

Now he needed clothing, he headed for the corner which contained clothing. There he found a furry black bear pelt woven into a cloak, black studded boots, paired with the same gloves and a black tunic, and black leather pants. However, he didn't find any of the clothes satisfactory or protective. All the clothing was either embroidered with gold or embedded with massive gems which weren't what he wanted to use, as it would take away from his hoard. And he'd stand out too much, and he didn’t know how dangerous the world was to his current self.

He walked to the edge of the river and stared deep into it, out the corner of his eye he saw it, Armor as red as blood coming from a fresh wound. As if heeding his call, the full plate Armor rose from the water, shining oddly with magical enchantments.

《Bind Lazarus Blood Armor (Magical Armor): Yes/No》

"Lazarus Blood Armor," he thought the Armor must've been a relic of old, forgotten by time "Yes."

《Lazarus Blood Armor, Bound! 》

《 Lazarus Blood Armor: Cursed magical armor devours wearers' blood to increase magical and physical resistance by 200%.

- Ability-

Blood Power: Sacrifice more blood for a 30% boost to all attributes.

He grabbed the armor from the river and wore it before wearing the bear pelt cloak over it. The armor's power was amazing as it grew with the user and he shuddered to think who created such fine armor. if more like it existed, to have some of these in his hoard would be most satisfying.

After getting dressed in his intricately made magical scarlet armor and cloak, he grabbed a silver longsword with a black dragon grip with its wings spread as the crossguard from the many weapons he had.

After all his preparations, he got some gold coins and jewelry. He devoured the rest of the griffin and headed out towards the exit, after days of being cooped up in his lair, he was itching to see the world.

He concealed his lairs’ entrance with the boulders and decided to put some trees around just for assurance. He then leaped down into the forest and headed south toward the city, he was determined to walk, as much as he could bring out his wings it would be too of an inconvenience to take off his armor and cloak.

"So, walking it was," he felt his face move, a familiar feeling that he remembered from his past life. "So, dragons use some kind of magic to speak, I wonder why I can speak normally now, definitely needs some investigation."

He had been walking for several hours before he noticed an odd phenomenon happening, every living thing around him seemed to be avoiding him. They seemed to be clearing a path and scurrying into hiding, the birds flapped away as fast as they could from the treetops and magical beasts ran west and east.

"What the hell is going on?!" his voice rang through the forest; he thought his human disguise was perfect. He used to be a human he’d know, maybe.

"What could it be?" he asked himself, his plan was to head into the forest and maybe get information from the magical beasts of the forest but it doesn't seem like that approach would work.

He contemplated his next course of action for several minutes before it dawned on him, 'Heart of the Abyss', he withdrew his aura back into his body. Life seemed to flood back into the forest after his aura disappeared, he almost kicked himself but before he could. He noticed concealed presences zeroing in on his position from the trees above.

《Heart of the Abyss has been retracted! 》

Movement in the treeline caught his attention, they must've concealed their life force because he didn't sense them until they were right where he was. Observing the space above he lifted his arms, in a symbol of peace.

"I mean you no harm," he shouted, in what he hoped to be an assuring tone, but nothing seemed to happen for several minutes.

"Who are you stranger?!" a voice questioned from the trees behind him, "Don't make any sudden movements either!"

'Hmmm, they speak common?' he thought, finding it weird as it wasn't their native language. He had a feeling the ‘people’ surrounding him were not human, they gave off the sense of a long-lived species.

《True Sight, Activated! 》

After activating ‘True Sight’, the world fell away and what appeared before him was a wireframe version of the world and he could see everything around him and every flaw of the world, they appeared as a crack in the ground, soft areas in a tree and also exposed vital areas of the people around him.

《True sight, Levelled up! 》

'By the look of it there only appeared to be six of them but they seem highly skilled at tracking and traversing the trees.' he thought, observing them moving around him, never staying in one spot for more than a few seconds.

"A traveler from the northern mountains." he gestured towards his warm attire, his cloak covering his armor. During such a sunny day he seemed out of place among the towering trees that made the air humid, however, his friendly hosts didn’t seem convinced.

An arrow whizzed past his head, he almost flinched but grabbed it as it passed by his ear. He studied it and found carvings that resembled runes.

《Elvish runic symbols discovered! 》

"Would you harm a mere human for passing through, a forest?" he looked towards the trees amusingly, "Not very inviting of the ‘noble’ elves."

There was an outburst of chatter amongst the trees. This took them back, no one had seen the elves in almost half a millennia after they were defeated and nearly wiped out and the last Elven survivors went into hiding. At least no one other than the powerhouses of the continent lived long enough to report this discovery.

"We'll ask you once more, who are you?! No human walks around with such an ominous aura, not even necromancers give off such a stench of darkness magic." the same voice replied but now came from directly above him, it was a feminine voice that carried authority and which demanded respect.

He looked up, spying something shimmer but only for a second before it disappeared.

"Fine," he clicked his tongue as he tried to buy time, he decided to introduce himself as courtesy to those who’ll face his wrath, "The name is Cain Fury."

Again, the voices burst out into a discussion.

"We do not know you, state your business here." the voice again in a perfect position to kill him, questioned.

"Information and passage, for a fee of course." he spit out knowing what their reaction would be, elves are such a proud race, he chuckled.

Three arrows flew towards him aimed for his head and heart simultaneously, he caught the arrow heading for his heart and tilted his head slightly and the two going for his head missed. The one in his grasp exploded sending him flying backward crashing into a tree, destroying it as he hit it.

'Explosive fire enchantment, reinforced with the wind' he noted with a tinge of curiosity. Might be helpful knowing enemy tactics in the future but attacking from a distance to him seemed quite cowardly, the dragon race was quite an arrogant and prideful race, no different from Elves. Dragons are also patient and wise, so he won’t make any rash decisions.

"You dare tempt us with something as insignificant as coins, we shall have your head!" the voice of a male elf coming from seemingly everywhere around him but he knew exactly where he was.

"I'm shaking with fear, your pride will be the end of your elf," he turned in a circle looking into the trees. Pride appeared on his face and his voice oozed with arrogance, "You have nothing, you live like animals. The conclusion you are animals!"

One of the elves launched themselves from the trees, anger streaked his face and a dangerously curved scimitar in his right hand. Cain smirked at how easily elves can be pushed, a weakness he'd have to tell them about.

"Such weakness," he stepped off his right foot and disappeared for a second before he reappeared with the elf’s head in his grasp in mid-air and followed by him smashing his head into the ground, releasing a sickening thud. "You only have yourself to blame for this."

《LV.42 elf killed》

《Mission objective: Kill 5 elves above level 40, 1/5》

So, you basically mean all of them. I’ll leave the captain, for information.' he thought while removing his hand from the elf's head, brain matter and blood dripping from his hand. He didn't feel pity or shame for what he'd done, just unbridled bloodlust and battle mania, quality of the abyss dragons.

Gasps of disbelief escaped from the rustling trees above, he disappeared once more but appeared as if he had never left and the surrounding trees crashed to the ground. Three elves came down almost landing on their feet when two were grabbed by their heads and smashed into the third painting the surrounding trees with blood and the bodies of the elves fell with their heads caved in.

《LV.45 elf killed》

《LV.42 elf killed》

《LV.44 elf killed》

《Mission Objective: Kill 5 elves above level 40 4/5》

"Shall we continue?" he stared at the remaining two presences, he hadn't encountered the female elf, he needed to be careful not to kill her yet.

The elves seemed to be retreating, the female captain seemed to be heading back while the other elf covered her from behind.

"Got you." He muttered; Cain was thoroughly impressed by his battle prowess. He jumped into the cowering elf's tree, grabbed him by the head, and hurled him at the retreating female elf captain, hitting her square in the back and breaking the male elf’s neck. She fell from the tree she was on to a lower branch. Cain was crouching next to her before she could make sense of what just happened. Everything happened so quickly, in mere seconds an elite squadron was wiped out.

《LV.45 elf killed》

《Mission Objective: Kill 5 elves above level 40 5/5》

《Mission Objective: Complete! 》

《Reward: Appraisal Skill (LV.1) 》

He dismissed the prompts, before turning to the elf in front of him.

"So, will you talk now?" Cain grabbed her by her golden locks, looking into her emerald eyes.

She squirmed under his grip. "Never, monster!"

"No need to be rash," he pretended being hurt. "You attacked me, remember that?"

She looked away, anger and tears tinged her face.

"Fair enough," he said looking amusingly whilst looking at the massacre in the forest. "We got off on the wrong foot. You may address me as Cain, little elf. "

She looked at him in disgust, and spit in his face.

'I need information about the world dynamic. So, I’ll have to be patient, dragons are patient creatures.' he drifted in thought sorting what he needed to know calming his blood lust with reason.

He looked back amused. black flames burnt away the spit from his face, the elf seeing this and she knew struggling was futile.

"Vera." was all she spit out as if forced to say the word.

"Are there any more of your kind on the way?" Cain searched with his senses, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

"No," she turned away. "But there will be, when we don't report back."

"What was your mission?" he ignored her threat and tightened his grip on her hair before letting her fall to the ground. she slumped on the ground. She looked at him but there was no fear in her eyes, only anger.

"A couple of days ago someone claimed to have spotted a black dragon, our mission was to confirm this report," she said still glaring daggers at him. He almost felt pity for her now as he watched her clutch her knees, their mission was purely surveillance and they got wiped out, what a shame.

"What was to be done if there was confirmation on the sighting?" he asked, curious as to the current situation of his kind.

She looked at him confused as to what this has to do with him but hesitantly answered, "A rally of troops from the royal capital and a hunt was to be commenced on the foul creature that it is."

Her statement piqued his interest.

The next question Cain approached with care; he wouldn't want to appear ignorant in front of this elf just yet.

"Why are dragons so hated?" he asked, although he never intended to be so direct.

"Or was it fear?" he saw her face flinch at the last question.

"The other races don't hate dragons, but black dragons are foul abominations that destroy everything, there hasn't been one sighted in the last century," she said looking to the ground. "There are even dragons living within the capital, the castle is protected by a gold dragon, a legendary grade dragon. Black dragons fall into the same category, but gold dragons don't associate with them. "

"Sounds like you all just have it out for black dragons. " Cain scoffed, as he was about to go on his way the elf grabbed his cloak.

He looked down and saw the elf groveling at his feet.

"What is this about?" he asked curiously.

"Please sir kill me, you murdered my kin one body ought not to be a problem," she said, face still on the ground. "I can't face my clan with such failure, the elven people chose to seclude themselves after losing the war and we've made progress. My clan has yet to find our ground and our only hope has died with me if you will…" her voice trailed off into soft whimpers.

Cain looked at her, it would be a waste to kill her. She could be useful on his adventures through this world until he went back into hibernation, elves are known to live long lives.

"Serve me, little elf.“ he said looking directly into her eyes, "You have yet to find out the wonders of this world, join me and redeem yourself, grow powerful with me."