CHAPTER 2 – FINALLY FREE! Or not?
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“Huh… Look at that. Not so bad.” The wanderer said with a smirk, mildly amused, while Dylan’s eyes were wide open. Half in surprise, half in confusion. After all, the power the wheel landed on was…

“Dragon…” Dylan tilted his head as he read the word on the wheel. “What kind of power is that?”

“Ha! What kind of power is that.” The wanderer shook his head. “Ok, let me ask you now because I was curious. Which one is the power that you wished for the most?”

“I’m not sure. I mean… It was one of the most interesting-looking ones. That’s for sure. But I was hoping to get something like Apocalypse, Destruction, or even Gravity… They sounded too damn powerful.”

“Well, they are. Offensively speaking, they’re strong.” The wanderer nodded his head. “But… They’re not the strongest or the most powerful ones on that list. At least not for what you will go through.”

“Huh? Are you sure? Because I for sure could swear that having the ability to bring apocalypse to the world would be an end-game power.”

“What would you know.” Snorted the wanderer. “Let me give you a small rush of learning.” He said after making the wheel disappear, leaving only the tabs with the powers’ names. “Let’s start with the easy-to-understand shit. The base elements. What do you think you could do with these?”

“Mm… I don’t know, have an insane mastery of jutsus from this element? And having a strong fire-power with said jutsus?”

“WRONG!” The wanderer said. “You’re too stuck-up. If anything, for you to understand, think of them as having freaking Logia-like powers.”

“Logia… As in One Piece Logia!?”

“Exactly as One Piece Logia.” The wanderer nodded. “Right, at the start it wouldn’t be too noticeable, but given a few years of training? You will have the full power of any of these elements, you would turn into those elements. And that’s not all. Those elements would be yours to control, you won’t ever need a jutsu for that element. Think of it like doing what Gaara does with the sand, but with those elements.”

“Heck… That would indeed turn me into a Kage without too much effort…” Muttered Dylan.

“Exactly. Now…” With a swing of his hand, the elements' tabs disappeared. “Onto the next round. Eyes would give you a special pair of eyes, which doesn’t make sense for me to name, but just think of them as something broken, you would be learning jutsus by looking at them just once. And your perception would leave any Hyuga or Uchiha crying for their mothers because of envy. Perfect control, as its name implies, it gives you perfect control of your body, and not just movement, it also includes your ability to mold and use chakra, and basically EVERYTHING that concern or goes on within your body. Pretty broken if you know how to make use of it.” He said as he shrugged.

“Everything… It would be perfect for Taijutsu and Ninjutsu…” Muttered Dylan. “Can it even help with Senjutsu?”

“Of course. I said everything. Learning senjutsu would be a piece of cake with perfect control. And that’s just the base of it.” The wanderer once again moved his hand and both recently explained powers disappeared. “Beasts… It’s pretty much broken too, more if you’re born as an Inuzuka.” quickly said the wanderer.

“Tch. Inuzuka? Are you kidding me? Those are useless! Like, really. If there was a useless clan in Konoha, it would be the Inuzuka.”

“Heh.” The wanderer smirked. “Maybe I should make you reincarnate there.”

“...” Dylan froze. “Mm… Can you continue, please?”

“Anyways.” The wanderer scoffed. “The Beasts cheat would give you a really great ability to bond with animals and animalistic creatures. Just so your tiny brain can understand it better, those snakes from Ryūchi Cave would adore you.”

“...” Dylan's eyes widened. After all, what fan of Naruto didn’t know the temperament of the snakes living in that place?

“And well, the other great thing is that you could increase the power of any beast linked to you. Without limitations. It is a really hard to train cheat, but, give it some time, and you could have an army of bijū-level beasts.” The wanderer shrugged.

“And Inuzukas have their ninken from a really early age… Given time…” Dylan muttered as he thought of the possibilities.

“Precisely. Next!” With another swing of his arm, Beasts disappeared. “Nature… Strong. Too strong. Mastery over any element would be at your hands, while not at the logia level, you could still use the elements as Gaara uses his sand. If that wasn’t enough, you’ll learn senjutsu as if you were learning to walk. Mokuton, Futton, Yoton, Hyoton, and any other mix of elemental natures to create an advanced element would be at the tip of your fingers with enough training.” The wanderer said, as Dylan was wishing to run the roulette again and get that power, he would be a literal god of Shinobi only for being able to use Mokuton, now add any other mix of elemental natures to it plus senjutsu to amplify it, and he’ll be invincible.

“Ha… Now, that leaves four more powers…” Dylan said after leaving his regret behind. “And Gravity is pretty much the only one that I can figure some of its capabilities.”

“Strong too. One of the main Forces of any Universe.” The wanderer nodded. “Flying is a piece of cake, and if you’re a training masochist, this is the perfect ability to increase your physical power in the shortest time. And only with that, you could probably make a name for yourself in the shinobi world. But we both know that’s not all that’s possible to do with it. Enough control, and help from your chakra, and you could create mini-black holes that would fuck over Kamui, one of the biggest cheats on that world. Space-Time abilities get fucked over with enough power. And you can create your own Chibaku Tensei and go around screaming pain this and pain that.”

“And that’s not all…” Muttered Dylan.

“Indeed. But you get the gist of it.” The wanderer shrugged. “Now… Spirit is a tricky one indeed, an attribute that could pretty much evolve into a concept by itself… One of its best tools it’s the ability to make use of a special fire called Spirit Fire, but that’s not all it can do. You can get an idea if you take into account that Susanoo is a spirit-like power. So, yeah, you get the gist of it. It would give your chakra a special characteristic that would increase its properties, as well as allow you to use other abilities outside of ninjutsu. It’s, with enough mastery of it, one of the strongest powers. But it takes a lot of creativity and mastery to make good use of it.”

“Would it allow me to use Susanoo?”

“Yes, something similar. But that’s not its best advantage.” Said the wanderer, much to Dylan’s doubts. “Destruction and Apocalypse…” He muttered as the tab for Spirit disappeared with the Gravity one. “These two are ambiguous concepts, but as with any concept, the power they offer is, in itself, broken. And kid, let me tell you when it comes to wreaking havoc, these two would make your life easy as fuck. Apocalypse, if you get to master it, gives you access to a flame that could turn off Sasuke’s Amaterasu as if it was a simple candle. Destruction, well, its name can give you an idea. The power to destroy reality itself. It’s what you should aspire to if you get this power.”

“...” Dylan thought for a moment, before sighing. “That’s disappointing… Now I really want one of those… Anyways, what’s even a concept? You mentioned the last two were concepts, but what’s the difference with the other powers?”

“That’s not for you to worry about.” The wanderer shook his head. “Not yet, at least. Now. This leaves us with one.” He swiped his hand as a single tab remained with the word ‘Dragon‘ on it. “What do you think, this can give you?”

“A dragon for me to tame?” Dylan tilted his head. “Maybe a fire breath?”

“Ha… What do you think a Dragon is? I swear people should stop using wyverns as freaking Dragons in fiction… It’s even hurtful now!” Muttered the wanderer with a scowl on his face. “Look, kid. I’ll make this easy for you. My power reached a level where I could kill gods like ants because of that word you see there. Of course, it’s impossible for you to do the same, as the base of our powers would be extremely different. So don’t get your hopes too high yet.”

“...” Dylan looked at him with an incredulous look. Obviously not buying whatever the wanderer was trying to sell to him. “What’s so special about it, anyway?” But seeing that he was already trapped with that power, learning more about it wasn’t that bad. If it wasn’t for the impression he got from the other abilities, he might have thought about those stories where dragons were beings of immense power. He wasn’t an idiot, but too much has happened in a really small span of time, at least according to his perception.

“Idiots, idiots everywhere… I need vacations after this…” Muttered the wanderer, not soft enough for Dylan not to hear him, which caused the latter to have a twitching eyebrow. “Look, kid. I don’t want to keep wasting my neurons with this talk, so I’ll give you a quick summary. Great combat adaptability, masterful control, high vitality, high resistance to pretty much a lot of stuff, great strenght, and high energy levels, and I will allow you to hold two attributes. I’m not going in deep about what these are, but they will be random, or at least, somewhat random, they will pick you up by themselves. I’ll also make another change to the world that will be beneficial to you, and somewhat interesting.”

{That sounds broken…} Dylan’s widened after hearing the list of benefits. But a small doubt was still inside him. After all, he gave an ever shorter briefing for the rest of the abilities, especially the last two. And Gravity alone would make most of those things he mentioned, useless. “What are these attributes about?”

“Ha…” Deciding to ignore the thoughts of the ungrateful bastard, the wanderer just snapped his fingers. “I said I won’t tell you.” As he spoke, uncountable wisps of light showed up around them, surrounding them while towering towards an unending ‘sky’. Dylan could swear that the mere amount fell like millions of small wisps of light, of a multitude of colors. What he felt more intriguing was the feeling they gave. He could barely take a hold of these, but he felt happiness from some of the lights, and anger from others; some of the lights made him feel hopeful, while others exuded a terrifying amount of viciousness; some were filled with goodness, while others were down-right evil, causing him to shudder when his eyes passed through them.

“...What are… these?” He muttered as he lost himself, looking at the infinite amount of colorful wisps.

“Those are Dragon Souls.” Said the wanderer. “Each one of those is a representation of a singular dragon out in the infinite multiverse, from the past, the present, and the future. Each one with its own characteristics, and its own attribute. I’ll allow two of them to fuse with your soul, as that’s what’s required. 

“...Why two?” Dylan was still slightly dazed from all the souls around him.

“Well, in reality, one could do. But that’s the most basic requirement for the process, so let’s push it up to two, consider it a gift from me.” The wanderer smirked. “Besides, with your low IQ, you’ll probably die with just one before you can reach your peak.”

“...” This time, Dylan just ignored him completely, as he was more focused on the souls. There was something calling him, something inside the hurricane of souls surrounding him was calling him.

“Mm… Some already made their decision, I see…” Muttered the wanderer as he could sense all the souls around him. {What’s going to be, kid?} He thought while grinning at the different souls that decided to merge with this human.

Soon, two lights shined brighter than the rest. One of them shone in a bright deep blue light, while the other shone in a light sky blue; almost white; color. A second later, the lights shot at high speed toward Dylan, entering his chest and fusing with the manifestation of his soul.

{Mm… Well, not bad I guess… I think the others were too proud to go with someone who couldn’t lift a curse.} Thought the wanderer as he looked at Dylan, who had his eyes closed, as he relished the feeling that the fusion was causing him. It was pleasant, that was for sure, like being submerged in a calm lake while being caressed by a slightly warm wind. “It feels great, right?”

“...Yeah.” Without opening his eyes, Dylan only answered. “It’s… amazing…”

“Well, congrats, I guess.” The wanderer shrugged. “You got chosen by the Abyssal Sea Dragon and the Sky Dragon.”

“Huh? Abyssal Sea Dragon and Sky Dragon…? Are they powerful? They sure sound like it…”

“Mm? No, not at all. Well, technically yes, they’re strong. But only if compared with a normal elemental Dragon like a Wind Dragon or a Water Dragon. Inside those elements, there’re others that I would simply consider monsters. Curiously enough, three of those got slightly interested in you at first, but not enough to pick you.” Finished the wanderer as he looked up at three shining lights, before chuckling. With a swing of his hand, all the wisps disappeared, as if they were an illusion. But Dylan knew they weren’t. The feeling that still embraced him was enough proof of that. “Though…” Continued the wanderer. “I guess they’re not bad at all, their temperament isn’t bad. Not like you will be able to contact them, it’s just a connection made to your soul for you to inherit their power. Still, their power would be easier to control, and will respond better to you at the start.”

“Well…” Said Dylan after finally deciding to proceed, he would prefer to keep enjoying that calming feeling that the merge of souls produced, but digesting the strange guy in front of him, he knew that sooner or later it would be time to move forward. Better now than later. “Now what?”

“Now? Originally I was thinking whether to play the roulette again, for the show, letting you select where to start, or whether to just drop you with some RNG to decide your starting point and all that stuff.”

“...” Dylan frowned, slightly worried. “...And what did you pick?”

At Dylan’s words, the wanderer’s mouth widened in a smirk that made Dylan’s back feel a creeping chill running up his spine.

“Option number three, of course.” Said the wanderer with his chilling grin. “Though don’t worry, you will be completely ‘legal’ in that world, if you know what I mean. After all, you need a background. Everything will just be completely randomized, from what village you’ll start, to what point in time, to what family or clan, or even if you have someone or not. Everything. Will. Be. Random.”

“No, please…” Dylan, who still had some fear of depending on his luck, could only coward in fear. “Let me at least pick the hidden leaf! Please!”

“Nope. Sorry kid, but hey! This way it would be more fun!” Smirked the wanderer.

“...” Dylan could only pale. “I’m fucked…”

“HAHAHAHAHA!” The wanderer’s laugh fell like a roaring thunder over Dylan’s desperation. “Maybe? Or maybe not? Who knows. But hey, at least you don’t have that nasty curse anymore, right?” He smirked.

“...” At his words, a little bit of color came back to Dylan. “...That’s right… and I got a cheat, a powerful one, so maybe… I won’t have bad luck?”

“That’s the spirit.” The wanderer said with a grin, as he clapped once. “Now, Bon Voyage!”

Dylan’s blacked out. The next moment he opened his eyes, he felt his perception shift. He was laying on his back, looking at the dimly lit night sky with a full moon shining on the small clear he found himself.

“Mm? This feels peaceful. But what am I doing in a forest?” As he muttered to himself, he slowly sat up. And it was then that he saw. Corpses were littered all around him. He was the only one alive in a field filled with more than a dozen of corpses. “...I don’t like how this looks like…” And if fate was mocking him, the memories from the body he now had came flooding into his mind.

“ARGH!” An intense headache consumed him. The pain of years of memory filling his newly awakened brain. And more than the pain itself, what more damaged him was the actual memories. “...I’m fucked… I’M FUCKED!” After all, from what the memories told him, he was truly, and utterly fucked. “WHERE IS MY NEW GOOD LUCK!? YOU SHITTY GOD!” He shouted towards no one in particular. And thankfully, there was truly no one around to hear him. No predator, no enemy, no one. He was alone in the middle of the clear. The wind softly caressed his face as the leaves rustled around him.

Before you ask. Yes, DRAGONS AGAIN! I said before, I love those goddamned creatures. Since I was a child, they've been interesting to me, all the myths and legends, as well as fiction stories that have them, have been a must-read/must-know for me. So yeah, if you don't like it or feel that it is too cliché, well, I understand. Thanks for reading and giving this FF a try! Also, any feedback will be well received! Also, what do you think ended up being his starting point? Any speculations?

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