Chapter 3

When I opened my eyes, I found that I was in a small wooden hut. It had a wooden bed and a wooden chair, that's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

(*Ding* William there are a few notifications that I snooze due to your circumstances. I would like to announce them.)

"Go ahead, Saphira."

(*Ding*

//// Rie has reached Level 11. The daily EXP provided changes to 600. Now she can speak out loud.

//// Space has reached Level 5. Summoning system and Guild system have opened. Now you can buy Dragon Farm Feed (medium) from the store.

//// Summoning system has opened. The first try will be free. You will have to pay 10,000 gold coins for the second try.

//// Guild system has opened. You are the guild leader, this position can't be changed. You can add 10 people to the guild right now. Guild members will not be able to betray the guild after they have visited the space once.

//// Store has been updated to accommodate guild related products. You have got a free premium lottery ticket for 'Guild-related products'. Please use it at your convenience. )

"Wow! Saphira is trying to become even more OP. Can you show me the changes in Rie in the form of numbers, something along the lines of stats?"

(*Ding* Yes, I can. Would you like to listen to it or read it yourself?)

"I would like to read it. I don't have a strong enough memory to remember something just by listening to it once."

Out of nowhere, a black screen flickered into existence. It had the previous and the current stats of Rie side-by-side, which made it very easy to compare them. But Saphira had outdone herself, all the stats that had changed had an exclamation mark before them.

I gave Saphira a quick thanks and started looking at the stats earnestly.

////

[ Name - Rie ] ![ Name - Rie ]

[ Species - Red-eyed War Dragon ] ![ Species - Red-eyed War Dragon ]

[ Level - 1 ] ![ Level - 11 ]

[ Rank - Null ] ![ Rank - Null ]

[ P. Atk - 2] ![ P. Atk - 30]

[ M. Atk - 0] ![ M. Atk - 5]

[ Def. - 1 ] ![ Def. - 25 ]

[ EXP - 50 ] ![ EXP - 600 ]

[ Skills - none ] ![ Skills - Fire Breathing (Active, LV-1) ]

////

"She sure has grown a lot. But I can't understand what these stats mean at all. Saphira can you give me some point of reference? And what does rank mean?"

(*Ding* Yes, William. The highest physical quantities an average Human male can achieve are,

P. Atk - 10, M. Atk - 1, Def. - 9. Rank goes from H to A and then to S. Each level has three parts. Like H has H-, H and H+. They are obtained by duelling other dragons or killing creatures. The more powerful the creature, the higher the increase in rank. Each rank provides a 10% increase in all the combat-related stats.)

"Damn! That means Rie can absolutely massacre a group of human thugs. And isn't this rank system way too OP for dragons? Well, I guess they ARE dragons. Oh right! Why is the status table so weird. I mean shouldn't there be Health, Strength and all that stuff?"

(*Ding* That's a higher level status table. I am not able to form it right now. I should be able to do it by the time space reaches Level 15.)

"So what should I do next? You gave me so much info that I can't even remember half of the notifications."

(*Ding* I suggest you meet Rie first, she has been waiting for a long time. After that, you should use the summoning portal. You can then use the premium lottery ticket and lastly, you should take a quick look at the guild features to familiarize yourself with them.)

"Shit! I'm really a stupid guy. I should have met Rie as soon as I had entered the space. Oh well, I will just have to make it up to her in the future."

William quickly ran out of the wooden house and he was greeted by a large prairie. He could see that one hectare (100m X 100m) of land was being used to grow the dragon feed. And right across the farm, the most beautiful Chinese black dragon was sitting there looking at him patiently.

'A REAL LIVE DRAGON!' It felt like a nuclear explosion had taken place inside his mind. Knowing about something and watching it was really two completely different things.

Her eyes were the deepest shade of black he had ever seen. She had no protrusion coming out of her body, just a smooth serpentine figure. That combined with the black metallic gloss made him feel like he was looking at the sharpest sword out there in the world.

William gave a deep sigh to calm down his bubbling emotions and walked towards the black dragon at a moderate pace. He was more than 500 meters away from her but during the entire journey, he never broke eye contact with her. Her eyes were black like so many people around him, but they seemed to be hiding something great behind them. William was completely sure that he could never get tired of looking at them.

The black dragon was still sitting where she had been. She hadn't moved an inch. Finally, William was close enough to touch her face. He slowly raised his arms and gently caressed her beautiful snout. He looked at her eyes again and said softly, "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, Rie."

But the dragon didn't reply back. She just sat there while looking at William with complicated emotions flashing through her eyes. As she had not opened her mouth for over a minute, William felt like she was unhappy about something. He gently kissed her head and asked again, "Are you angry about something? Tell me and I will help you solve it."

"Why didn't you come to see me when I was born? You didn't even talk to me once. I have seen in my inherited memory that parents are the first to greet their children. Space told me that I didn't have parents but I had you, so you should have been there when I was born. Do you really hate me, master?"

The voice of young girl full of grievances fell into William's ears. Each sentence by Rie made him feel like a hot rod of iron was being pierced through his heart. He could also see that Rie's eyes were starting to water. Realizing just how big of a mistake he had made, William felt like the biggest prick in the whole universe. Without wasting a single moment he covered Rie in a gentle but firm hug.

He gently whispered into her ears, "I don't hate you at all Rie. I really love you a lot. I know you won't believe me but what I said is true. I couldn't come here earlier because I made a big mistake. Don't worry though, we will be together every day from now on. "

"Really! You will play with me too? I flew around the whole space but I didn't find any other living creatures and I was so bored. I wanted to play a lot but I didn't have any friends. Maybe we can play all day long?"

For the first time in his life, William realized that he was not playing a game. He knew that he had made a big mistake by not considering the mental well being of Rie. He took a deep breath and promised himself that he wouldn't commit such foolish mistakes from now.

"Uh huh, I will play with Rie. Although I can't play with you all day long, I promise that you will have new friends very soon."

Rie gave a cute giggle totally unbefitting of her stature, wrapped her meter long body around me and said, "Master is the best. What should we play right now?"

William patted her head gently and said, "I haven't been here before. Could you please help me explore it. Maybe we can find you a new friend if we explore this place together."

"If that's what you want. There's nothing much here. There is a weird stone structure behind your house and that's it."

"Oh! Is that so? Let's take a look at it. I have a very strong feeling that we can find a friend for you there."

Rie gave me a doubting look and said, "But I really didn't sense a living aura there. Master my clan is the best at discerning life and death auras. It is really difficult for someone to hide from me."

I flicked her forehead gently and said, "What if your friend was in a different dimension and we had to summon it here? You should have confidence, but never be overconfident."

Rie looked at me curiously and said, "Ah, is that so. That is why I wasn't able to find my friend. From next time onwards I will check things more thoroughly."

Petting Rie's head William said, "Rie really is a smart child. She can learn things so quickly."

Rie looked at me proudly and said, "Of course, I'm the smartest. I'm already able to read and pronounce all the consonants in the dragon language."

William started walking back towards his wooden house to take a look at the summoning structure. He was really curious about what his first summon would be.

"Wow! Rie can already do that. I should give you a reward. What would you like Rie?"

"Yes, I want a reward! I would like.....like.....master what should I ask for a reward?"

"Does Rie like chocolates?"

"What is a chocolate master? I have never heard of it."

"You haven't heard of chocolate? I will definitely get some for you tonight. You will really like them."