Once the pants situation was resolved and Echo finally stopped laughing, everyone gathered around Serenity. Serenity was examining what little he could see of himself.

First of all, he didn’t have a tail. He was grateful for that; it meant there had been no surprises when putting pants on.

His chest was covered in scales that seemed to shade from deep blue to deep purple, depending on where they were. When the light caught a scale just right, it seemed outlined in silver and there were occasional silver flecks.

The scales extended down his arms to below the elbow. Past that, the scales became less and less common until there were none near his wrist. Where there weren’t scales, his skin looked normal except for the flecks of silver, similar to his scales.

His hands looked normal, except that they had claws that each shaded from deep blue to deep purple instead of fingernails. They were short and thick and did not curve much, but the inner edge of each was sharp and they came to a wicked point. Serenity couldn’t think of an animal that had claws quite like them, but with the flexibility of his fingers he thought they’d be quite useful.

He ran his hand over his face, and it felt human, other than his ears, which seemed longer and came to a point. His first thought was elf ears, but on second thought they seemed more like Vulcan ears.

His mouth seemed normal - well, as normal as it had been before anyway. His teeth felt strange to his tongue, more separated from each other at the top and slightly sharp.

The lack of scales on his face and hands was hopeful, as was the fact that his arms hadn’t changed color. He hadn’t liked it as Vengeance when he’d picked up a black-and-white coloration from the [Wielder of Death] Path. It probably didn’t matter too much what color his scales were; they were scales, after all. That was already very obvious.

There were a couple of things left to check. First, he wanted to make sure he didn’t have wings. He stretched his shoulders and turned to look.

His hopes were dashed. It took him a moment to realize that he was looking at feathers, because he hadn’t expected his wings to have feathers even if they existed. Serenity took a good look at the feathers. As far as he could tell, they looked like ordinary bird feathers, but the shaft was deep purple while the plumes were silvery on the underside with deep blue and purple patterns on top. As he moved them, he realized that how much of each color showed depended on how he held his wings.

He extended his wings and found that the wingtips extended a couple of inches past his claw tips. They were going to be hard to hide, and he’d have to have his armor custom-altered. Even off Earth, winged humanoids weren’t common - and at that size, there was no way he’d be able to fly without magic, so they weren’t even helpful.

As he moved his arms, his wings tended to also move. He could control them, but it was like controlling different fingers on the same hand; they tended to move together unless he specifically moved them separately.

There was only one more thing he could check right now, and that was his feet. They looked different. The toes also had claws (or maybe talons?), and the entire foot seemed different. He tried to stand. It felt natural, but it looked like he was standing on the ball of his foot instead of his full foot.

It felt natural to use his wings for balance.

In fact, everything felt natural. Serenity had expected that there would be some time required to get used to being different; there had been each time he’d changed Species in the past. Even though the wings were definitely going to be annoying, he was comfortable moving, and didn’t feel like he was going to have a hard time adjusting to the changes.

Serenity couldn’t seem to stop smiling. Somewhere inside him, a very young Thomas was dancing, repeating “Dragon” at the top of his lungs. Dragons had always been his favorite. Possibly second to dinosaurs, but really, what were dinosaurs but dragons made real?

There was a long silence as his friends watched Serenity examine himself until Echo spoke up. “So, pretend I’m Doyle. What’s the other half?”

It was obvious what she meant. Serenity grinned wider. “Dragon.” He looked less human than he’d wanted, but that didn’t matter for the moment. He didn’t feel like a stranger in his own skin, and that was far more important than how he looked.

“Big change.” Rissa stepped up to him cautiously, then ran her hand over the scales on his upper arm. “I- They’re smooth.”

She wrapped her arms around his chest. It was a bit awkward with his wings, and she ended up with her hands meeting behind his neck. Serenity felt her shaking a bit, as though she were crying. He folded his arms and wings around her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” She tightened her hug. “You’re here and you’re safe. Nothing’s wrong.”

 

---

 

It was most of a day since they attempted to take refuge in a building, and they’d all needed the downtime. They hadn’t even opened the chests yet.

Each of the two chests held a shirt, a pair of pants, and 6 Etherium.

Runed Armored Clothing Set (Shirt, Pants)

This clothing seems normal, but it is made of mana-enhanced materials and is lightly enchanted. A Minor Shielding Rune has been woven into the cloth.

Enchantments: Minor Clothing Shift (The appearance of the clothing can be altered in minor ways once a day), Minor Self-Repair (Absorbs ambient mana to slowly repair damage)

Rune: Minor Shielding (This rune can be activated once every 72 hours to produce an ablative Rune Shield. The Rune Shield will last 10 minutes or until sufficient damage is dealt. Both parts of the set must be worn for the shield to activate)

They gave the armored clothing to Rissa (because she clearly needed it) and Echo (over her objections that she shouldn’t get special treatment) and split the Etherium.

While the others took care of the chests, Serenity had some notifications he hadn’t looked at, and they were starting to get annoying.

[Great Tutorial Dungeon Achievement Awarded: More than 95% of total damage dealt by a single person (Solo Clear)]

[Reward: 1 item, 10 Etherium]

[Great Tutorial Dungeon Achievement Awarded: Cleared Dungeon level in less than 20% of the average successful completion time with no deaths. Solo contributor]

[Reward: 1 item, 10 Etherium]

[Great Tutorial Dungeon Achievement Awarded: Solo clear of Dungeon Level Boss]

[Reward: 1 item, 10 Etherium]

[Great Tutorial Dungeon Achievement Awarded: Killed Dungeon Level Hidden Boss]

[Reward: 1 item, 10 Etherium]

[Great Tutorial Dungeon Achievement Awarded: Solo clear of Dungeon Level Hidden Boss]

[Reward: 1 item, 10 Etherium]

[Claim Rewards?]

Cloak of Minor Disguise

This cloak is designed with the adventurer who may have to walk in the civilized world as well as the wilds in mind. When worn, it can alter the appearance of clothing or armor to match the wearer’s desired clothing. Only clothing or armor can be altered, and only the appearance is affected.

Enchantments: Minor Self-Repair, Minor Disguise (armor and clothing)

Elemental Armor

This armor is made from tanned minotaur leather, reinforced with adamant-infused steel. It is specifically designed to be adjustable to accommodate wings and a tail if needed.

Enchantments: Minor Self-Repair, Minor Self-Cleaning, Minor Elemental Protection (increases all Elemental-type Resistances by 10), Minor Magic Resistance, Minor Durability

Claw Stone

This type of stone is used by many species to maintain their claws or talons. It can be used to sharpen or blunt the claws or talons as required.

Enchantments: Reinforce claws (increases claw hardness and durability)

Naginata

This polearm is constructed of adamant-infused steel.

Enchantments: Durability, Sharpness

Basic Quick Belt

This belt was designed to allow warriors faster access to their weapons, but it has since been used for many different types of storage. An item that is held in one hand may be placed against the belt and it will be shrunk into a patch. The item may be retrieved by touching the patch. The full weight of the item is distributed across the belt when stored. Stored items will not be damaged as long as the belt is intact. Taking off the belt will remove all items from storage. A maximum of four items may be stored at once.

It was a lot to get at once, but he could see that all of it would be useful. The cloak might even be able to hide his wings. Maybe. Sort of.

The claw stone made him sigh. A slight regret at how it made him feel inhuman warred with the joy of being a dragon.

[Core connected]

[Please choose XP/Ev/Core distribution ratio]

[Default is an even split]

Serenity thought for a moment. An even split sounded good, but right now he needed the XP and Core progression more than Ev. A new Path or species evolution might get him out of the bind he was in; Ev wouldn’t.

50/50 XP and Core, no Ev.

He’d have to remember to change it back later.

[Title Awarded: First of A Kind]

When did that happen?

First of A Kind

You are the first True Crystal Chimera and the first Essence Dragon. Your Paths shall shape the future of those who follow in your footsteps.

First Essence Dragon made sense, Essence was new. First Chimera, however … no, it didn’t say first Chimera. It said first True Crystal Chimera.

Voice? What does it mean “first True Crystal Chimera”?

[Exactly what it says]

That doesn’t answer the question.

[You are the first Chimera with a True Crystal for a Core]

His Core did say it was Unique. Still.

What does that mean?

[That is for you to find out. You are the first]

How helpful. Serenity doubted the Voice knew absolutely nothing, but clearly he was supposed to find out on his own - and it probably did have a lot of gaps in its knowledge.

You gave me the crystal, and clearly intended me to use it.

[Yes]

Are you ever going to give another out? Doesn’t make much sense to give out a title for first if there isn’t a second.

[Granting another True Crystal during your lifetime would invalidate the uniqueness of your Core. The only person allowed to make that decision is you]

Serenity wasn’t sure what to do with that. He was unique and original. Was that a good thing?

He shook his head and moved on to the next notification.

[Hidden Quest reward for Trial Dungeon Quest conditions met]

[Reward: Path Quest initiated]

[Path Quest Stage 1]

[Goal: Survive to Exit the Tutorial without violating your chosen Path]

[Reward: Catacomb Key, Assistance in healing Death Aspect]

[Penalty for Failure: Death and possible return as Undead or discontinuation of Path Quest]

Serenity blinked. As failure penalties go, “you lose the quest or die” sounded bad, but when the goal was simply to survive, having the failure penalty be death seemed mild.

Why was that even a quest? Was it more about keeping to his Path? That would explain the “or” failure penalty; a Path quest chain was always lost if you deviated from the Path.

It seemed like the Voice was offering him healing for virtually no effort. There was probably a trick, but on the other hand the Voice had been very helpful.