[Congratulations! You have acquired the Dragon system.]
[Congratulations! You have become the Incarnation of Destruction!]
An articulate voice echoed in his mind, urging him to regain consciousness slowly. Once fully awake, his gaze fell on an unfamiliar ceiling.
"Where am I...?"
A weak voice came from his lips, slowly scanning the place, seeing only white walls.
Noah tried to move a single muscle, but every cell in his body screamed in pain; moreover, he felt something connected to his left arm.
He turned his gaze to the arm connected to a tube and frowned, confused.
'How did I get here? Shouldn't I be dead?'
He doesn't know how he got here. The last thing he remembers is how that beast crushed his body and placed him on an altar; after that, his memory is blank.
The door to the room opened, and a beautiful, sexy woman entered, swaying her hips sensually and holding a tray in her hands.
"Ugh... Where am I?"
"Please don't move!"
The beautiful woman who had entered was Carol, the nurse in charge of his recovery.
Noah obeyed Nurse Carol's instructions and lay back down.
"Where am I?"
"You are currently in the hospital."
Carol responded calmly, approaching him with the tray
"So, how did I get here?"
"It was the Hunters Association team that brought you here."
Carol began to undress him while she answered, to change his bandages.
"The Hunters Association?"
"Yes, of course. The Hunters Association."
"Mmm, thank you."
Noah thanked the nurse with a weak smile.
"You're welcome. For now, rest and don't move around too much, or the wounds will reopen."
Carol smiled back at him and left the room after changing the bandages.
She did this very quickly, and it was clear that she was a professional at her job.
"Haa... So I'm in the hospital."
He finds it very hard to believe that he is alive after everything he experienced in the dungeon, where he saw the death of Adam's entire group.
'Ha ha... if only this were all a dream.'
Noah wanted to believe it was all a dream, but seeing the state he was in, he knew it was absurd to deny it.
As his gaze wandered to the ceiling, he heard the door open.
'Why did the nurse come back so quickly?'
This confused him because the nurse had just left, but she must have forgotten something. So Noah didn't think much of it.
However, it was not the nurse who entered, but two figures dressed in black: one with blonde hair and the other with black hair.
"Who are you?"
The two people who entered did not respond; instead, they took two chairs and sat down next to the bed.
"Hello, I'm Leon, leader of the special team of the country's Hunters Association, and this is my subordinate, Adrian."
The blond man introduced himself as Leon and introduced the black-haired person next to him as Adrian.
"...!?" Noah's eyes widened in surprise at this information.
He knows very well that only the strongest and most talented people in the country belong to the hunters' association's exceptional team.
And the leader of that group is standing right in front of him!
But despite his surprise, he noticed something that didn't add up.
Why would the leader of such an important team, a person who has no skills, come to see him?
Strangely, two such important people would come to visit him.
"What does the leader of this special team want from me?"
Noah asked cautiously; he didn't know what that person's intentions were toward him, so it was better to ask directly than to beat around the bush.
"I see, getting straight to the point, huh? Well, I don't like beating around the bush either. I'm here because I want to know what color the dungeon was when you entered and what happened inside."
Leon, with a slight smile, revealed the reason he had come to him.
Now, Noah understood why someone as crucial as Leon came to him. It hadn't occurred to him. If it was because of what happened in the dungeon, it was normal for them to come, since it was an unusual case.
Noah attended and began recounting everything that happened after entering the F-rank dungeon.
He also described the overwhelming strength of the enormous wolf that, in a matter of seconds, annihilated the entire group.
"And when I regained consciousness, I was lying on this cam." Noah finished, making sure not to omit any details.
Leon remained silent after hearing the story, finding consistency in the perception that the dungeon was F-rank.
"Thank you for cooperating with us. Take it easy."
After a moment of reflection, Leon got up from his chair and left the room with his subordinate, Adrián.
Leaving him alone again.
...
"This, Mr. Leon, about the story..."
"The story seems real to me, especially when you describe the strength of the boss monster. Although what baffles me the most is how he appeared unconscious outside the dungeon, and simply disappeared."
When Noah lost consciousness after being torn apart by the enormous wolf, his body appeared outside the dungeon.
The conditions in which he appeared were disastrous, a danger that no human who had not awakened as a hunter could withstand; shortly thereafter, the dungeon disappeared as if it had never existed.
Leaving only Noah's battered body, who was unconscious at the time.
"For now, we must be on the lookout for more irregularities like these."
"Yes, sir!"
...
Alone again, Noah reflected on everything that had happened in the dungeon and the deaths of the group.
"I feel very strange right now..."
Noah feels very strange when he thinks about the deaths of Adam's group members because he knows that their deaths are, in large part, his fault.
Because if he hadn't thrown up at that moment due to nerves, there might have been a chance that the outcome would have been different. But even though he knew that...
'I don't feel anything...'
Although he feels guilty in his mind, his emotions are quite the opposite: there is nothing but indifference and guilt, as if his whole body had blocked out the emotions that had overwhelmed him at that moment.
He didn't understand what was happening with his thoughts; they weren't familiar to him, but rather like those of someone completely different.
Ding.
[You have unread notifications]
A clear voice echoed in his mind.
Noah slowly looked around for the source of the sound, but there was no sign of anyone.
'Where is that voice coming from?'
At that moment, he was utterly alone in the place where that voice came from. But just as he looked ahead, he saw a window floating in front of him.
"What the hell?!"
Noah couldn't be more confused now, staring at the floating window that looked like something out of an online game.
He raised one of his hands to touch the translucent blue-tinted window, but his hand passed through it as if it were a hologram, which confused him even more than he already was.
"If it's like those online games I've seen, then how is it possible to read the messages...?"
He began searching his memory, trying to recall how notifications were opened in the online games he used to watch when he was about 15 years old.
"I think it was... opening the notification tray. Ahh, I don't remember well."
When he uttered the word "Open," the floating window immediately disappeared and was replaced by two new windows.
Ding.
[Congratulations! You have acquired the Dragon system.]
[Congratulations! You have become the Incarnation of Destruction!]
Noah kept his gaze fixed on the windows suspended in front of him, unable to comprehend the magnitude of what he was witnessing.
'Dragon System, the Incarnation of Destruction?'
He wondered, feeling overwhelmed and confused as he read the two pop-up windows.
While he is distracted trying to process this absurd situation, another window appears.
Ding.
[To access the Dragon system, say 'Status Window'].
Unable to avoid it, Noah decided not to think about it anymore and accept this absurd situation with a long sigh.
"Status Window."
A window appeared that was utterly different from the previous ones and contained more information.
[Dragon System]
Name: Noah Mori / Age: 20
Title: Incarnation of Destruction, Chosen by the Dragon that Gnaws at the Roots of ■■■, Nidhogg
Affiliation: Destruction.
Level: 1
Race: Dragon
[Skills]
Root Regeneration, Root Scales.
[Statistics]
Strength: 3 | Stamina: 4 | Dexterity: 3 | Vitality: 4 | Energy of Destruction: 1
[Points: 0]
[Dragon Store]
[Quests]
'Missions? Points? Dragon Shop? What is all this? These are my stats and abilities. Also, I have no mana.'
Noah finds it very difficult to believe what he's seeing; what you're seeing is too surreal.
After finishing reviewing the status window, he decided to focus his attention on the descriptions of the two skills that appeared.
[Root Regeneration]
Ability Type: Passive
Destruction Energy Required to Activate: None
It can regenerate quickly by consuming roots, allowing it to heal wounds and recover more rapidly from physical damage.
[Root Scales].
Ability type: Active
Destruction energy required to activate: none.
A layer of scales is created on the skin that absorbs physical and magical damage.
'Hmm... These abilities are awe-inspiring.'
'However, I will first use the Root Regeneration ability to heal my wounds.'
Noah, having already accepted the absurd situation, wanted to know whether the "Root Regeneration" ability really works as described.
With a dark expression, he grabbed the small plant that was on the table near him, picked it up, and looked at it.
Without thinking twice, he pulled the plant out of its pot and ate the root.