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‘Huh,’ His head felt fuzzy, but as his foggy vision cleared, he saw a black arm with little pentagonal scales shaped like a teardrop. The scales in his arm overlapped very neatly.

Twitch!

Two black wings in his back twitched as he felt pain in his head.

Argh!

His muscles clenched.

Crack!

The remaining shell cracked upon impact with the dragon’s black slithery tail.

Twitch!

The wings slightly fluttered, and the tail wiggled on the ground.

‘Wha’ When humans clench their muscles, they feel the tendons, spread across their body, getting tightened.

‘This’

Lucas remembered that feeling. But, now, in pain, when his muscles tightened, it felt uncanny. Humans have fours limbs. However, Lucas felt like he had an additional two around his back and one more. His tendons felt preternatural.

Argh!

His body quivered in pain.

The fibres insides his neck felt like they were being boiled.

Cough!

Drops of molten saliva dropped off his mouth. The dry land on contact with his saliva experienced a corrosive reaction.

Gasp!

Lucas gasped for air, using his ferocious mouth and black snout. His abdomen screeched and felt like a rain of sharp needles pierced upon it.

His body was trying to give a message that Lucas was yet unable to decipher.

The dragon’s slitted scarlet eyes abruptly opened. Its vision was clear as daylight.

Sniff! Sniff!

The dragon picked up the scent of its surroundings and discovered three distinct scents.

Thus, its body slithered behind. One of its paws stepped over the already shattered shell.

The dragon opened its maw and bit one of the shells with its sharp white teeth.

Crack!

Its eyes narrowed. The dragon ignored the shells and sniffed the ground. Its maws opened, and it bit off a chunk of soil.

Cough!

Its expression soured as it threw back the soil it just ate.

Disgusting! The dragon, with its four limbs, crawled around the cavern. It was hungry. Extremely hungry. It sniffed and slithered around, looking for food.

But suddenly, its entire body froze like the dragon had turned into a statue.

Twitch!

Lucas gasped for breath. Now, he had truly gained consciousness.

He crawled ahead; he did not ponder much about the change. Even crawling around with 4 feet did not feel weird. In fact, it felt natural. And, now, with his new state, he realized exactly what he needed to do.

Lucas had already considered many facts about his environment. At present, the only things around were rocks and pebbles.

As he slithered towards the exit, he started enjoying running with 4 feet. It felt comfortable and swift. Slightly excited, he dashed faster for a while.

Right after he exited the cave, his eyesight expanded. There was now a lot to take in.

The trees looked colossal in his view and obstructed his far vision. His head lurched left and right, looking at the new environment.

Sapphire grass spread across the wavery lands. Red maple leaves fluttered in the trees. Gusts of wind spread across the lilac bushes and navy rivers.

Sniff!

The scarlet color of his eyes glittered brighter. He slithered across the trees and hid under a bush.

Slightly peeking, he saw a beast feeding on another a bit far from the woods but near the river. From his perspective, he could see the beast’s wide blue back. The creature seemed to have wings as frontal limbs and had two legs along with a tail.

As Lucas observed, the wyvern suddenly turned its head. As their glares met, Lucas noticed that the only thing he cared for was the blood around the wyvern’s snout and mouth. As soon as he noticed the blood, his hungry rose over 1000 folds.

Both exchanged vicious gazes.

Like a vicious beast, the wyvern charged, flapping its wings. Lucas crawled back inside the woods.

Once the wyvern entered the woods, its flight path got congested, and its movements became comprised.

The wyvern roared. Its perceptive nose picked up Lucas’s scent. Meanwhile, Lucas circled and ascended above a tree branch. Lucas was in no way afraid. He lured the creature inside to prevent it from flying away in case of defeat.

In size, the wyvern was 5-6 times bigger than Lucas. But, with his eyes, Lucas could discern the difference in their endurance. The wyvern’s skin looked like a normal animal’s skin, while Lucas’s skin was made of sturdy black scales. Black breastplates protected his chest; his limbs also had an extra layer of shell. No shells covered his tendons; hence his mobility was not compromised.

Grrr!

Lucas’s eyes narrowed the moment he saw the wyvern prime its wings to take flight. Lucas sunk his claws in the trunk and ran down.

The wyvern mid-flight saw Lucas running down towards it. Thus, it opened its maw, revealing its sharp blood-covered teeth.

Lucas circled the tree and matched the timing of his jump after circling. The wyvern had failed to realize that at that very moment, both the prey and the predator were on equal height.

When Lucas jumped, he targeted the prey’s neck. He sunk his sharp teeth in the prey’s neck. The wyvern, in pain, lost control of its wings,

It fell on its back to the ground. Lucas who stood over its chest felt no damage.

Lucas savored the chunk of flesh he had torn out of its neck. The blood tasted like sweet cranberry juice. The juicy flesh tasted like raw steak.

He had never tasted anything like it before.

As soon as he swallowed the flesh, a change occurred. The color around his spinal area, starting from his neck to the tip of his tail, changed from black to bloodred.

Lucas had not noticed it yet. Even if he did, he would not care for it, as the only thing he currently cared for was the mouth-watering flesh.

With his claws, he ripped the skin around the wyvern’s breast. And feasted upon the outer tissues. The wyvern’s rib cage broke like glass when confronted by Lucas’s teeth. Even the bones tasted delicious. The crunchy taste of the bones reminded him of the energy bars he ate as a kid.

After the ribs, his teeth sunk even deeper, feasting upon the lungs. Lungs tasted weird. They felt like tasteless sponges.

Not once did he ponder upon the fact that he was eating a creature.

He feasted upon every part, including the tail and the brain. Brain tasted more delicious than other organs. It had a similar flavor to scotch pancakes. Now, the only remaining thing was the heart. A desert, he saved for last. He held the heart in his palm. Surprisingly, for a big wyvern, it had a relatively small heart.

Inside his mouth, the heart exploded like sweet juicy gum. Indeed, it was worth saving for last.

‘Silence’ He roared in his mind. He found the robotic feminine voice incredibly annoying.

He cut her off. ‘I know what you are, yet still, I don’t care.’

Right before Lucas had faded consciousness, some information about the help he would receive was directly implanted on his brain. He knew what she was, but in no way did he have any intention to trust her or the warden who turned him into a dragon.

He who can give power with a flick of his finger can also take it back with a flick. Lucas could now achieve feats that are beyond any human. With just his eyes, he was able to discern the difference between his skin and the skin of his prey. If he tried, he could discern the rigidity and endurance of all things in these woods, from a little leaf to a big tree. Not only his vision but all of his senses had been heightened. And there were still many things yet to be discovered about his own body.

‘I’m not blind. I can see the texts on the screen. Hence, your narration is utterly pointless and futile. So, unless it’s of paramount importance, make sure I never hear your unappetizing voice ever again.'

This time the screen showed up without any voice narration.

Lucas feared not his lack of power but his lack of knowledge. An unknown world came with unknown variables. An ignorant person becomes vulnerable to getting manipulated by others. He lived his previous life, serving one man. Never again would he serve under anyone.

A true dragon never bows in front of others.

He ignored the screen.

Crumble!

The ground shook, leaves fell from the tree. His instincts screamed as he felt the presence of something powerful.

A dark shadow engulfed the woods. Lucas looked above and saw a colossal creature gliding up high in the sky. Lucas, with his eyes, could see its tough red scales and enormous wings. It was similar to the creature he just killed, just over 100-1000 times larger.

Swoosh!

Gusts of wind spread across the forest. Lucas’s eyes instinctively closed. Many leaves fell, but none of the trees broke.

Lucas opened his eyes after the breeze had calmed down. The colossal wyvern was gone.

He then realized he was truly small. Not just compared, to the colossal wyvern, even compared to the trees, he was small.