Drip, drip...
It sounded like water dripping somewhere nearby.
Elliot opened his eyes, but all he saw was pitch-black darkness. He couldn't even see his own hand in front of his face.
The silence around him was absolute, broken only by the sound of his own heartbeat thundering like an earthquake. That strange rhythm... definitely wasn't something a normal human heart would make.
He could also feel it his body was encased in a layer of solid rock. It wasn't just on him; it felt like it had grown fromhim, like a second skin, heavy, dense, and unyielding, almost metallic to the touch.
Yep, no doubt about it. He'd been transported to another world.
Worse, he'd turned into some kind of unknown creature.
Thinking back, his previous life wasn't much to write home about. Elliot had been just a regular coder working for a company that basically slapped new skins on old games. No car, no house, but he was mostly okay with his simple life. He'd even died right there at his desk, sticking to his post until the very end. A pretty boring way to go, really.
A wry smile touched Elliot's lips at the thought.
Given his job and hobbies, ending up like this wasn't that surprising, honestly.
Manga stories were full of people getting transported to other worlds in every way imaginable. Getting sucked through a toilet was practically a basic move. And let's not forget the famous trucks and buses classic delivery methods for would-be heroes.
So, him getting transported here? Really wasn't much to freak out about.
"Guess being sent to this world, in this form... means I'm not human anymore," Elliot muttered.
He felt strangely calm.
He'd already died once, after all. Could things really get any worse?
He wasn't too bothered about what creature he'd turned into either. People had reincarnated as slimes and still managed to do great things in other worlds, right? So, what was the big deal?
Plus, his gut told him that whatever he was now, it was probably a lot stronger than a slime.
Right now...
He could feel it. Power was building inside him, growing stronger bit by bit. Soon, he'd be able to smash through the rocky shell surrounding him and see the outside world.
He lost track of time, just feeling the power surge until it reached a breaking point. The rock shell encasing him couldn't hold him any longer.
CRACK!
Like a chick hatching from an egg, he burst out of the rock. A beam of light stabbed into the darkness, and in that instant, he finally saw his true form.
He was... a dragon.
But not any common type of dragon. His entire body was covered in jagged rock, with rough, prominent scales. The moment he was free, he felt an innate closeness to the earth, as if he was born directly from it.
He tentatively lifted his hand.
Or rather... his claw!
It was massive, easily as big as a normal human head. A heavy presence of earth energy lingered around it. He felt an innate power in every tiny movement, like he could shake mountains with a gesture.
Okay, obviously Elliot couldn't flatten a real mountain right now, but he had a gut feeling that once he reached his adult form, his strength would become truly immense. The kind of power no ordinary human could ever dream of.
Definitely not something a regular person could achieve.
[Ding! Self-awareness confirmed. Myriad Worlds Game System activated!]
Just as Elliot was trying to get a handle on his new body, a notification sound chimed right beside his ear.
Immediately after, a blue, glowing screen materialized in front of him.
Name: Elliot
Race: Earth Dragon (Young) LV 1
HP: 308/308
MP: 26/26
SP: 100/100
Attack: 52 | Defense: 215 | Magic: 18 | Resistance: 130 | Speed: 9
Skills: None | Skill Points: 100
Seeing these numbers, Elliot blinked. As both a game programmer and a hardcore RPG player, he knew exactly what this panel represented.
The basic stats were HP, MP, and SP Health, Mana, and Stamina. Standard stuff.
But 215 Defense and 130 Resistance, plus a huge 308 HP right at level 1? This clearly pointed to a tough, durable build. This race was made to soak up damage.
Still, based on his gaming experience, races like this could be a pain for opponents early on, but they often struggled later. Once enemies started getting armor penetration and all sorts of fancy skills, an Earth Dragon might just become a glorified punching bag.
On the flip side, though, in the early stages, this Earth Dragon race was probably going to dominate. Having such high defense, resistance, and health right from level 1 would be a nightmare for almost any other race to deal with.
"Huh, didn't expect it to be a game world," Elliot chuckled, genuinely amused.
A gamer getting dropped into a game world? It was like sending a veteran player back to the starting zone with max-level gear. This kind of world was practically tailor-made for him!
On top of that, starting as an Earth Dragon with stats like these meant the early leveling phase wouldn't be nearly as rough.
[You have 100 Skill Points available. Would you like to learn skills?]
Suddenly, another system prompt sounded.
Elliot snapped back to attention. Right, he'd been so focused on his stats panel that he'd completely forgotten about learning skills.
In any game, skill points were incredibly important usually a finite resource you couldn't just farm endlessly. Picking the right skills, especially early on, had to be done carefully.
"100 points should be enough to learn one decent skill," Elliot figured, nodding internally. He focused his thoughts: "System, show me what skills I can learn."
Almost immediately, the system responded. Another window appeared, displaying the skills available for 100 points:
[Appraisal]
Identify the properties of items. Ineffective against high-level items.
[Bite]
Lunge forward to bite, dealing damage and restoring HP equal to the damage dealt.
[Rock Strike]
Earth Dragon Talent Skill. Detonate the rock layer on your skin, causing high damage.
Note: Cannot be used again until the rock layer regenerates.
...
The list of skills available at level 1 was pretty short. Some looked useful for now but would likely become useless later learning them would be a waste of points. As for the talent skill, it packed a punch, but the restriction was too harsh for the early game.
Elliot looked through them one by one, feeling underwhelmed.
Ideally, he wanted an attack skill early on. With the Earth Dragon's naturally high defenses, adding a good offensive option would be like adding wings to a tiger, making him much more effective.
But just as he was about to give up hope, the very last skill on the list grabbed his attention.
[Earth Core]
Cause all nearby rock and earth elements to explode violently, dealing Area of Effect damage based on a percentage of your Max HP. You gain a [Jade Shield]. This shield absorbs incoming damage up to 150% of your Max HP. While the Jade Shield is active, enemies within its radius suffer a 20% reduction to all Resistances.
Seeing this description, Elliot's jaw dropped.
Wait a second... wasn't this basically the skill used by the character Zhongli from that game, Genshin Impact, back in his previous life?
He instantly recognized it. The 'Earth Core' skill (or Planet Befall, its ultimate version) was famously powerful in that game. It was ridiculously good, not just because of its short cooldown, but because it dealt damage and created a shield based on your maximum health.
The more HP you had, the stronger the damage and the tougher the shield became.
And this shield! Not only was it thick, but it also weakened all nearby enemies, lowering their resistances. It was the perfect all-in-one skill: damage, support, and defense combined!