Kael crashed face-first into dirt.
Not the cool kind of dramatic teleportation where you land on one knee with wind blowing your cloak...
No. This was face-to-soil, ass-in-the-air, full humiliation.
"Ugh… why did that ancient bastard throw me like this?" he muttered, pushing himself up with a groan. "Well, he did warn me."
Draven's last words echoed in his mind, making him grin. "Heh, that's even better. I'll deal with it here."
He then began to look at his surroundings, and the first thing he noticed was the silence, even though it was noon.
The second was the towering, sky-piercing tree ahead of him. It looked like the world's spinal column—massive, ancient, and pulsing with raw mana. Its roots stretched across the land like veins, glowing faintly beneath the mossy ground.
This place… wasn't normal.
The mana was dense and heavy.
It clung to his skin and coiled around his limbs like mist. Every breath was like inhaling storm-charged air.
But Kael didn't even flinch.
Because he could feel something inside him, something massive. His core. His mana pool.
It wasn't just deep… it was bottomless.
He could guess the reason for it, as he had basically absorbed the ancient dragon's mana for three whole years. It was bound to happen, but it still surprised him.
After all, he couldn't even sense it's true end.
"Dayum! I'm a walking nuclear battery now," he whispered, eyes wide with quiet awe.
Then, he focused inward and said, "Status."
A list of active and locked skills floated in front of him on the blue hologram.
---
[Unlocked Skills]
[Lightning Mantle (Rare)] – Cloaks the user in storm-charged aura, increasing speed and resistance to physical/magic attacks.
[Tempest Roar (Epic)] – A roar that disrupts enemy mana and weakens nearby beasts. Currently a weakened version.
[Draconic Regeneration (Rare)] – Passive regeneration. Restores wounds and mana over time.
[Storm Pulse (Rare)] – Unleashes a short-range burst of compressed lightning to disrupt attacks.
[Predator's Instinct (Passive)] – Enhances combat intuition. Danger response is near-instant.
[Beast Sense (Rare)] – Temporarily heightens instinct and perception. Grants the ability to detect nearby beast-class threats or prey within a 100-meter radius.
[Draconic Claw (Unusual)] – Transforms your hands into draconic claws.
---
[Locked Skills – Requirements Not Met]
Stormflame Annihilation (Mythic)
Sovereign Scales (Legendary)
Tempest Domain – Incomplete
Divine Will Fragment (Dormant)
??? (Corruption-Sealed)
---
"Damn…" Kael muttered, lips twitching into a grin. "Even the lowest skill is of Unusual Tier."
He casually ignored many more locked skills because they were tempting him a little too much.
Then, He flexed his fingers.
Lightning danced across his knuckles with a single thought. It wanted to be used.
Even now, Draconic Regeneration was working. The tiny bruises from the teleportation impact were gone in seconds. Muscles adjusted.
Mana naturally cycled through his body, faster than any technique he'd ever learned on Earth.
This body wasn't human.
Not anymore.
He looked down at his arms, lean but coiled with power. His skin was tougher now. Warmer. He could feel the blood flowing underneath, but it wasn't red anymore.
It was silver.
'Dragon blood, huh…'
He cracked his neck and stepped forward. The ground barely made a sound under his boots. Despite his weight, now higher thanks to denser muscle and bone, he moved like a shadow.
"Time to test more."
He activated [Beast Sense].
The world changed, and loads of information assaulted his mind. Dozens of signals. Heartbeats. Footsteps. The scurrying of claws, the flutter of wings. Everything was so clear to him.
He could even sense hostility, those faint spikes of bloodlust from creatures watching him from behind the trees.
Something was nearby. It was close. And big. A perfect target.
"Let's go say hello."
Following his senses, Kael weaved through ancient roots and thick undergrowth. His steps were quiet, but every movement released faint crackles of electricity.
Soon, he spotted his first prey.
A beast with a plated, rhino-like body. Grey stone hide, jagged horns, and glowing eyes. Its breath was hot and heavy, nostrils flaring.
It didn't know he was here.
He whispered, "Storm Pulse."
Lightning flared in his palms, condensed, humming like an unstable grenade, and he burst forward, covering ten meters in a blink.
His first strike slammed into the beast's side with a thunderclap. The pulse detonated, throwing it into a nearby tree, cracking bark and bone alike.
It roared in pain while staggering to its feet. Then the beast charged at him with rage burning in its eyes.
Kael didn't panic.
He let it come.
Right before impact, he activated [Lightning Mantle] and twisted, letting its horn miss him by inches. As it passed, he spun and slammed his elbow into the back of its neck.
The sound was sickening.
The beast crumpled, sparks dancing around its twitching limbs. Before long, the beast lost any signs of life and succumbed to death.
Kael stood over it, breathing lightly. His aura hissed and crackled like a living storm. He felt a strange warmth flowing inside him the moment the beast died.
He knew it was the Soul Power—the means to grow stronger in this world. Once you killed an intelligent being, you received a portion of their Soul Power, making your Soul Core stronger.
It wasn't something new to him, as back on Earth, the same formula applied. Though, the kills were mostly of the Corrupted Creatures.
He looked at his hands. No blood. No wounds. Barely even a scratch on his draconic skin.
"…Yeah," he muttered, eyes glowing faintly. "I'm not human anymore."
The rhino-like beast was at least of E-Rank, and he had dispatched it so easily, showing just how much a higher Tier Evolution and superior race mattered in this world.
He was just at F-Rank, but he was sure he could even fight against D-Rank monsters easily. It was mostly thanks to his bottomless mana pool and draconic body, though.
Those Rare Tier skills consumed too much mana, and if he had been just a normal F-Rank, he would've been drained dry after just one usage of any of those skills.
"Well then, time to continue practicing these skills. I need some time to get used to this ridiculously strong body too. I almost lost balance mid-fight."