Light exploded before him.
So bright that Zen had no choice but to shut his eyes.
Then—
Darkness.
Not the empty darkness from before.
This one felt… heavy.
Wet.
Cold.
Zen opened his eyes.
There was no light. No up. No down.
He realized he was suspended in liquid.
And yet—
Why am I not drowning?
The fluid flowed through him, not into his lungs, but into every part of his body.
It seeped through his skin like nourishment.
"System… where am I?"
No response.
He tried again.
Silence.
A faint unease crept into his mind.
Don't tell me the system disappeared after reincarnation…
As he thought that, the liquid around him began to thin.
No—
It was being absorbed.
By him.
Zen felt his body changing. Expanding.
Strength filling him from within.
What was once a small form began to grow.
When he first became aware, he felt no longer than a handspan.
Now—
He was enormous.
The space around him felt tight.
This feels like… a womb.
Then suddenly—
The liquid vanished completely.
Zen instinctively pushed forward.
Something soft and thin blocked his way.
Without thinking, he tore through it.
Light poured in.
He crawled out—
And froze.
Before him stood something so magnificent, so incomprehensibly vast, that his mind went blank.
A tree.
If it could even be called that.
Its bark shimmered in hues of violet, gold, and emerald.
Branches stretched endlessly into a sky that did not look like any sky he had ever known.
He stood on one of its branches—
And felt smaller than an ant clinging to the side of a mountain.
His chest tightened.
He slowly turned his head to look behind him.
What he had torn open…
Was a fruit.
A massive, peach-like fruit hanging from the branch.
Realization struck him.
"…I came out of that?"
His voice trembled.
He looked back at the impossible tree, awe flooding his entire being.
Is this…
The Tree of Life?
Zen stood frozen on the colossal branch, heart pounding.
The air felt different here. Thick. Ancient. Alive.
A strange weight pulled at his body.
He looked down.
And his breath caught.
What he saw was not skin.
Not hands.
Not anything human.
A long, serpentine body stretched beneath him, covered in golden scales that shimmered like molten sunlight. Each scale overlapped perfectly, like armor forged by the cosmos itself.
His limbs had transformed. Muscular legs ended in sharp, clawed talons. His spine rippled as he flexed, long and sinuous, coiling with a power that felt innate—as if this had always been his true form.
He lifted a clawed foot. Movement was effortless, natural. Too natural.
His gaze traveled upward.
A majestic head, long snout, and curling horns framed a pair of flowing whiskers that trailed like silk in the air. His eyes burned with intelligence, wisdom, and authority.
He lifted his serpentine body, letting it undulate along the branch. His tail coiled behind him, balancing with perfect precision.
Zen's mind went blank.
He did not feel fear. He did not feel confusion.
He felt… right.
As if every limitation he had ever carried for a hundred years had been a cage he never noticed.
A strange instinct rose from deep within his chest.
Without understanding why—
Zen opened his mouth.
And roared.
The sound was not a cry. Not a shout.
It was a declaration.
A deep, ancient, universe-shaking roar that echoed across the endless expanse. The colossal Tree of Life trembled.
Leaves rustled violently. The air itself seemed to bend in recognition.
Zen froze after the roar.
His eyes widened.
"…That was me?"
Silence followed.
Then slowly—
A smile formed on his draconic face.
Calm. Measured. Grandfatherly.
But his eyes…
His eyes burned with the ambition he had buried for a lifetime.
"So this is what power feels like…"
He stretched his golden body along the branch, undulating, coiling, letting the energy of the Tree resonate through him.
At that moment, Zen understood something without being told.
He was not just a dragon.
He was the first golden dragon.
And somewhere, deep in the laws of this newborn universe—
That fact mattered.