"He who stands as my chosen master… grant me a name, and by it, bind my soul in eternal covenant." A girl's voice spoke directly into my mind.
"Wha—!" I gasped. "Is that you, Verdra?" I asked, dumbfounded by the sudden voice echoing inside my head.
"Correct," the voice answered calmly.
"Uwaaah… this is kinda creepy."
"Just give me a name already! You irksome master!" the voice yelled straight into my mind.
"Don't scream inside my head, please!" I covered one of my ears with my free hand—not that it would do anything.
"Uuuuh… what a pain. Fine," The voice complained irritably. "let's skip the pleasantries altogether and just give me a name already, Yuu!"
"But I already gave you a name—Verdra, didn't I?"
The moment I said her name, our bodies shone with a dim yellow light for just a brief moment. The magic circles around my right hand began to shrink and spiral inward, slipping onto the back of my hand and leaving behind a red mark. Then, a notification appeared before my eyes.
< You are successfully formed a Draconic Contract. >
"Draconic Contract? What's that?"
"As the name suggests, a contract with a True Dragon—also, what are those floating texts in front of me?" another voice came into my head.
I ignored her question all together and voiced my honest reaction instead. "Wow! That sounds so freaking cool!"
"Yep. It's super cool indeed."
"Wow Verdra, I never thought we were on the same wavelength."
"W-wave leg? Whose leg was that?"
"By the way, Verdra," I said, ignoring her again.
"What?"
"Why are you suddenly talking inside my head?—Heck, I'm still confused by the fact that you can talk at all."
"I always could! Who do you think I am!? I just can't speak with my mouth like you. I can only talk telepathically with someone I've formed a contract with."
I honestly thought that she was some kind of pet item or something. I did find her inside a chest, after all.
"Who are you calling a pet!? Huh!" Her tone turned irritated.
"Wait—so you can read my mind too!? Please don't!" I begged.
"I'm not! You were intentionally trying to convey that thought!"
"Oh… my bad, I guess. But telepathy, huh… We really are on the same wavelength, in a literal sense."
"Again, whose leg was that?"
"Don't worry about it. Why don't we sit down? It must be tiring to keep talking while flying."
"Yeah, you're right."
I sat cross-legged on the floor, and Verdra came down and sat on my lap.
"Are you sure you're comfortable there?" I asked as she lay down.
"Yeah. I like it here."
"Make yourself at home, then. I also like rubbing your head—it feels nice."
"Do whatever you like."
"I've got a question, Verdra."
"What is it?"
"How did you end up inside a treasure chest? And why did you suddenly hug my face when you first saw me?"
"That… will be a long story. Where should I start…"
She began telling me about her previous master—an elven mage, and a very powerful one. He saved her when she was on the verge of death at the hands of the 7th iteration of the Epitome of Evil.
After a long, indecisive battle, they were forced to flee. Even together, a True Dragon and the strongest elven mage couldn't defeat it.
That day, her homeland was completely destroyed. Sadly, she became the sole survivor of the True Dragon race.
After retreating, they traveled together for a long time, searching for a way to end the 7th Epitome of Evil—the being that annihilated her race and now threatened all life.
Their answer came through cooperation with the dark elves, who had once sealed away the 6th Epitome of Evil.
They lured the 7th Epitome into one of many dark-elf underground research facility, deep within the Dread Woods. With the combined forces of Verdra, the elves, and the dark elves—and at the cost of his own life—her master successfully sealed it away.
"…I was tasked with watching over the seal until it stabilized. But by the time it was complete, the facility itself was sealed off from the world. Even at full power, I couldn't escape. I was trapped there… forever."
Depressed and exhausted, eventually, she chose to sleep—a very long sleep. When she awoke one time, she found herself in a corridor she didn't recognize. Monsters began attacking her while she slept, until she found a treasure chest and hid inside it.
When she woke up again… she saw my face.
"…Your face looked very similar to my previous master's. You even had the same black hair. I was so happy when I first saw you. I really thought he'd come back for me. But when I looked closer… you were human. And much shorter than him."
"Can we not talk about the height stuff? That's a sensitive topic," I protested with a strained smile.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you," she apologized softly.
"He had black hair too… What was your master's name?"
"Verd."
"What!? That's the name of the Savior of Mankind!"
"I don't know what people call him nowadays, but yes. He did saved the world."
"Then… that means you're at least 2500 years old?"
"Probably. I think I slept for a very long time."
"And your master was named Verd… It's kind of funny I named you Verdra."
"I was really happy when you did."
"What name did he give you?"
"He… didn't."
"Why?"
"He just called me 'Miss Dragon." A True Dragon can only formed a contract with a human male, so… he wasn't my actual master."
"So technically… I'm your first master?"
"Yes."
"Hehehe… somehow, that makes me happy," I said with a sloppy grin. "You're a really strong dragon, right?"
"Well, yes. But I'm feel much weaker now. Like… thousands of times weaker."
"That explains your recklessness earlier—and your absurd Lv cap," I muttered. "But how did your Lv drop all the way to Lv1? I thought dungeons couldn't reduce Lv."
"I'm really curious about this 'Lv' and 'Dungeon' you keep talking about. What are those things, exactly?"
"You don't know anything about dungeons?" I asked.
"No. There's nothing like that in my memory."
"That... makes sense. The earliest records of dungeon appearances only date back about 1500 years." I rested my hand on my chin. "This is a bit hard to explain, and I'm not exactly an expert either, but to put it simply—dungeons are underground structures that spawn monsters indefinitely. When you kill those monsters, they disappear and drop useful items."
I paused, then added, "…Oh, and by the way, this place was also a dungeon. I think it was turned into one around the time you mentioned being attacked in your sleep."
"I see. That explains why monsters suddenly started attacking me back then."
"Yeah, that's probably it. As for your other question… Lv is a system that determines someone's—or something's—overall power. Monsters have Lv too." I ran my fingers through my menu page. "Let me make this easier to understand."
I granted her access by enabling her status view from the party menu.
"Do you see anything unusual in your field of vision?"
She shifted her gaze around before stopping. "…There are some vertically arranged dots in the top-right corner."
"Try imagining that you're touching them."
"Okay—woah! What's this?" Her voice was filled with confusion.
"What do you see?"
"It says, 'your status page.'"
"Touch it."
She poked at something invisible in front of her with her tail.
"I see the name you gave me at the top… and a bunch of random numbers. What are these?"
"That's your status page. It shows your overall power and abilities."
"Wow!" She stared at it in awe. "So people nowadays could do things like this?"
"As far as I know, only I can. Most people need an item called a Soul Slate to check their status, and even then, it's nowhere near this detailed."
"So this is your special power, then? I can see it because I'm in a contract with you?"
"Not exactly. You can see it because you joined my party, and I granted you the access."
"How kind of you," she chuckled inside my mind. "So what are these… Vitality, Strength, and all that?"
"They're—"
I explained everything as simply as I could.
Vitality represents stamina and maximum Hp—I told her Hp was something like a person's life force.
Strength represents physical power.
Mana represents the maximum amount of mana someone can hold at any given time.
Intelligence represents brain capacity— including memory capability.
Agility represents how fast someone can move their body.
Dexterity represents precision and refinement—whether it's magic, swordsmanship, smithing, etc.
"…You gain exp by killing monsters, and skills are special abilities people possess. Got it?"
"More or less. It's very convenient to be able to see your limits using a bunch of numbers."
"Yeah, it is—ah." I suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
"I think I figured out why your Lv reset to 1."
"Hm…?"
"My Lv just dropped by 1. That means this dungeon can decrease Lv—unlike any other dungeon I've been in."
"So because I was trapped here for so long… my Lv dwindled all the way down to Lv1?"
"Most likely. Well, this is a problem. I can't rest here for too long unless I want my Lv to drop even more. What a troublesome dungeon."
"So… are we killing monsters now?"
"No. I need some rest first. We'll head out early tomorrow morning. Hopefully, the Minotaurs have already respawned by then."
Before going to sleep, I checked my status page.
—————————————————
Name: Yanagi Yuu (Human)
Lv: 47/97
Vitality: 94
Strength: 94
Intelligence: 480
Mana: –
Agility: 141
Dexterity: 240
Brain load: 11%
Currencies: 38200
Skill: Basic gaming features | Cryokinesis (Lv3) | Draconic Contract (Verdra)
Draconic Contract associated skill: Pyrokinesis (Lv1) | Electrokinesis (Lv1) | Draconic Contract contract's telepathy
Cryokinesis (Lv3): Ability to manipulate cold and ice through the power of mind. Lv3 effect: Range Increased (Short) | Cold resistance (Low)
Pyrokinesis (Lv1): Ability to manipulate heat and fire through the power of mind.
Electrokinesis (Lv1): Ability to manipulate electrical current through the power of mind.
Draconic Contract Telepathy: Ability to speaks telepathically with the dragon in contract with.
—————————
Low cold resistance from Cryokinesis Lv3… hopefully that'll stop me from freezing my own hands when I freeze some monst—
My train of thoughts stopped as new text appeared—something that definitely hadn't been there before.
"…Um, Verdra. Why do I suddenly have a new set of 'Draconic Contract' associated skills?" I asked, my expression blank.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? Sorry." She stuck out her tongue playfully, like she was saying 'tehe,'. "When we form a Draconic Contract, you'll get a fraction of my power, and I get a fraction of yours."
"Wait, seriously?" I immediately checked her status page.
—————————————————
Name: Verdra (True Dragon)
Lv: 32/3401
Vitality: 410
Strength: 410
Intelligence: 162
Mana: 410
Agility: 379
Dexterity: 379
Remaining Mana: 410/410
Skill: True Dragon Supremacy | Draconic transformation | Draconic Ecdysis | Draconic Contract (Yuu) | Fire Magic (Lv10) | Lightning Magic (Lv10)
Draconic Contract associated skill: Ice Magic (Lv1) | Lv up Recovery | Human Transformation | Draconic Contract's Telepathy
Ice Magic (Lv1): Ability to conjure Ice through the use of mana.
Human Transformation: Ability to transform into a human form.
—————————
Her stats were absurdly high—it was honestly scary. And that '???' skill I'd seen earlier… so it was the Draconic Contract—
"—You can use Ice Magic now!?" I exclaimed, lifting her up to face level by her sides.
"Pretty much, yes," she replied directly into my mind.
"This is huge! I can use your ice instead of buying bottled water!"
"There's a problem, though."
"What is it?"
"Could you put me down first? This position is kind of awkward."
"Oh—sorry." I set her back onto my lap. "So what's the problem?"
"I don't know any incantations for Ice Magic."
"Then there's no problem at all! I can teach you. Even if I'm not a mage anymore, I still remember all incantations up to Lv8."
"That'll be great."
We spent hours that night testing our new abilities, and I taught Verdra the incantations for Ice Magic.
Pyrokinesis worked just like Cryokinesis—I couldn't create fire from nothing, but I could maintain it even after the source went out.
As for Electrokinesis, I could only generate a very small current by manipulating the natural electrical current in my own body. It was far too weak to be useful in combat—at least for now.
"It's pretty late. I think I'll go to sleep." I glanced at the time—11:32 PM.
"You can tell the time?"
"Yeah. From my menu page, you can see that too on your status pag—huuuaah…" I let out a long yawn.
"Go ahead and sleep. I want to practice a bit more."
"Alright. See you tomorrow."
I lay down, rolled around for about 10 minutes, and then fell asleep.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I slowly opened my eyes, rubbing them with the back of my hand. Still groggy, I scanned the room—until my gaze stopped on something—
—or rather, someone?
"Huuuaah…" I yawned. "Verdra…?" I propped myself up for a better look.
"Yes? So you're awake. Morning," she said.
…She spoke out loud?
Wait— Didn't she say she couldn't talk with her mouth?
As my vision cleared—I immediately turned my face away. "Y-you're Verdra, right?"
"Of course I am. Who else would be in a gloomy place like this?" she replied, squinting in annoyance.
"R-right…" Still refusing to look at her, I asked, "Why are you naked?"