1 Chapter 1 Learning.

Aleph Valence, a seventeen year old boy is unpacking his preowned deep dive capsule he ordered but it was bigger than he thought it would be as it was as big as a bed in his tiny apartment. Luckily he usually slept on a rolled up mattress since he could not afford a bed so the space wasn't too bad although the capsule could work as a bed it was a little hard but he could always lay out the mattress inside so he could keep the table and chairs.

"if I had gotten a bed I would not have room for the capsule…" I thought mumbling as I was thinking about the requirements for the collage to require virtual capsules was odd but they had some courses that required it and deep dive virtual capsules was getting standard after their first appearance in the world. After running the clean setup software install I noticed I got a free game that came with the capsule and was thinking of trying it out before classes starts tomorrow so I laid down inside and started it up and closed my eyes as the door closed.

I open my eyes inside the character selection in the game called Immortal Realm that was one of the new games that just came out so I went true the race options and there was a much more than I thought as besides human there were elves and dwarfs that had popular crafting perks and was easy to play. The demon race was more battle oriented as orcs and shamans that gave a sturdiness perk that boosted battle stamina and general resistance but was not favored by half of the world.

I kept looking as none of the races that was listed first was not really something I wanted as I was going to play as a mage but stopped as a dragon-kin race came in my view that had a magic affinity that gave a natural kinship towards magic. I clicked the dragon-kin and saw several options pop up from a human form with small horns that had 10% kinship to some sort of egg that had 100% kinship with all sorts of varieties of dragon shapes between. "then what will happen if I go with the egg that give full blood affinity… do I become a dragon?" I thought amused at the sight of me in dragon form crawling over a mountain scaring the crap out of my enemies chuckling a little.

I clicked on the egg as it was the best option then selected mage class and I saw my vision blurred as a screen with skills popped up showing the first selection of passive skills and found one that I liked called [Immunity: makes you immune against harmful stats] and selected it. when window closed I found myself in a dark but dim red glowing place and I was curious where I was as I could not seem to be able to move. Crack!

I fell flat on the ground that had a hard surface but it didn't hurt as my eyes adjusted to the light but gradually saw I was inside a large cave so I tried sitting up but glanced back at my but doing an awkward yoga pose with a dragon's tail swaying gently to the side and I thought it was going to be tough being a dragon but I could sway my tail naturally. I got up on my feet and tried walking a little but ended up wobbling awkwardly so I had to change my way of thinking when it came to walking so I thought about how dogs walk and after a little bit of practice I managed.

After practicing walking and running for a little bit I got a messaged. [Personal Quest: Hunt 0/1 Worm] I looked a little awkward at the quest knowing where it was heading so I walked up to the cave entrance and saw there was an open field or grass area where big worms as large as me were either sunbathing or eating rocks so I looked over to one at the side that reached out its scary round mouth at a tree and I heard crackling sounds as it wiggled a little and saw a big chunk of the three got ripped away.

I sneaked up at its back side trying to have the mentality of a dragon but the size of the worm slowly eating the tree made me feel small like if a human walked up I would probably look like an ant to them. I carefully sneaked closer and pounced at it as I bite where its "neck" was to see if I could get a critical bite but, the worm fell to the side wiggling with a chunk of its neck gone but was still alive. I swallowed a little hard thinking this was a more difficult quest than I thought but felt a chuck slide down my throat making me glance a little awkward at the worm wiggling to stand up.

I shrugged my shoulders a little and used my paw to swipe at it and felt my dragon claws teared into its flesh making it wiggle in pain but it only left four "deep" gashes in the big worm as my claws were not large enough to cut into any vital parts so I just bite into it as a dragon got to eat and the taste wasn't that bad as it reminded me faintly of smoked ham with a hint of three. I kept tearing into the worm wiggling on the ground holding it down with my paw casually looking around at the other worms wiggling around doing their thing ignoring their friend struggling as I kept eating for a long time.

I bite down at the worm but felt a bump, bump beat so I directly ripped it out but regretted it as my view got covered in a mist of red and was stunned as I saw the amount of blood that was being pumped out as I only got a little piece of the hearth. I sighed silently as "hold" my breath and dived into the pool of blood and got a bigger bite of the hearth and tear it out like a wild beast as I pulled up my head and tossed it up in the air a little before I Chomped! Into it when it fell down but that only gushed out.

I froze up as I noticed a human lady holding a basket looking shocked at me holding her fingers on her mouth as blood dripped down from my mouth and ripped hearth so I just gulped it down and looked a little worried at the lady wearing a simple summer dress looking awkward at me but glancing around the area but looked over towards the cave. [Personal Quest: Hunt 1/1 Worm. Complete] I got the quest complete but I kept my eye on the lady glancing worried at me.

'Hello… your child have hatched…' she called out into the air and looked around at the sky but there was no response as she looked back at me but her form started to wiggle as a smoky black mist formed around her that kept expanding so I ran towards the cave to take cover but glanced back at a dark blood-red dragon appearing as the black smoke vanished. Crack! I fell down on my but a little confused as I looked at the cracked dent in the wall but my confusion of running into the mountain wall faded as a big red dragon head came up at my side looking at me.

I would say I froze stiff but the mere size difference made me cower as I laid my head lay flat on the ground with my tail curled up towards my cheek but wasn't long enough to cover my face as I probably looked like a curled up kitty. The red dragon lady moved her head halfway into the cave that only had some dried up bone structure but they way she leaned back glancing sad at me told me otherwise and I felt I should have looked at the bones more carefully but I was pretty sure there was nothing there.

The red dragon lady gently laid her head down close to me but didn't move even when I moved my head a little and I had no idea what to do in a situation like this but the blood I was covered in was starting to get sticky so I lifted my head a little and glanced worried at the dragon head laying at the side looking calmly at me so I carefully licked my paw a little but awkwardly heard crunching sound as I chewed gravel and dirt but saw the red dragon lady slowly moved her tail to my side and I felt a faint surge from it but looked at a bubble of water forming but it hovered in the air like nothing. 'hey Lily I heard you… call...' I heard a lady ask making me glance over at a lady that looked almost like her twin but there was clear difference as this lady had light brown hair as the red dragon had long black hair.

The other lady looked quietly at me glancing worried at her but she slowly walked over to a rock and sat down and I knew I could not stay like this as the red dragon lady called Lily didn't seem like she was going to leave and the other lady kept glancing between me and her. 'should I morph too?' the lady asked whispering to Lily. 'no… let him get used to seeing humans.' Lily whispered calmly back as I glanced between them but slowly stood up walked nervously over to the hovering ball of water so glanced over at Lily calmly looking at me so I turned back to the hovering ball of water.

I carefully patted my paw to see if it would collapse but it only made my paw wet so I sniffed at the water to see if it was safe but felt a sweet smell that made me lick it and I felt my body instantly sucked up the nutrient so I just stretched my head up drinking from it but felt myself being pulled up from the light current and I tried swiping my claws to make it burst but looked baffled around. "I can breath underwater?" I thought stunned as I felt my body still breathing so I paddled like a dog to swim up but it was slow so I thought about how alligators swam by wiggling their body from side to side as I looked at my tail but saw the other lady walked slowly towards Lily glancing a little amused at me.

'does he live here?' she asked quietly to her. 'I think so… there is a pair of dragon skeletons inside the cave and the mana is completely dried out even from the rock walls Hilda…' Lily said quietly as lifted her head to let her walk past her and she looked sad into the cave before looking back at Lily. 'want me to seal it?' Hilda asked quietly to her. 'Mhm… I keep an eye and see if he reacts or not.' Lily said quietly to her and I glanced over at Hilda calmly holding out her hand and I saw rocks grew out until it was sealed shut as I glanced at it but saw Lily looking at me so I looked back at her and since I was a little higher I could see she had a pair of wings on her back.

Lily giggled softly as she looked at me but moved her wings a little so I swam to the top like a crocodile and peeked my head out of the water and looked at her wings so I looked at my back and saw I had wings too of course but I couldn't figure out how to move them. Lily moved down do her side and I got gently pushed down to the ground and saw the water bubble shrank and vanished. '… arg.' I tried to ask if I could swim some more but speaking as a dragon was different. 'play later okey…' Lily asked softly as she moved her big dragon nose up and nuzzled gently against me.

I fell gently on her front foot or paw that was surprisingly warm and soft even if dragon scales had a game lore about being the hardest material one could get but it felt like normal skin to me but felt Lily gently sniffed at me. 'he is around sixteen, seventeen…' Lily said quietly as she glanced over at Hilda smiling a little worried at me as I glanced at her. 'n-no… no. now claws, you understand…' Lily said calmly as she looked at me as she moved her head at me but stuck out her tongue and licked my paw that had my claws sticking out a little and I saw Hilda took a couple of steps back.

'no claws… that is bad manners.' Lily said calmly to me so I looked at my tiny paw. 'maybe he doesn't know how to retract them… see, do like this.' Hilda said calmly as she folded her fingers down to a loose fist so I looked carefully over at Lily looking calmly at me but she reached out her back paw and stretched out her claws that looked sharp as a sword but relaxed her paw like she was holding her fingers together so I did what she did and felt my claws retracted making my paws relax as I didn't even notice I was that tensed up and just put my paw down at her foot.

'there you go…' Lily said softly to me and licked my back almost pushing me flat so I just laid down glancing a little awkward at her but she looked a little puzzled over at Hilda that quietly giggled softly as she walked calmly up and petted her cheek. 'there you go mamma…' Hilda said smiling teasingly to her.

'n-no, no…' Lily said quietly to her but she glanced worried at me glancing tired at her as the warmth from her paw was relaxing. 'd-don't fall asleep…' Lily said quietly looking a little worried as she gently poked her nose at me so I just curled up ignoring her and closed my eyes and only glanced tired as Hilda carefully lifted me up to let Lily morph into her human form. 'here you go mamma…' Hilda said teasingly to Lily that pouted a little firm at her forcefully handing me over to her arms but Lily glanced a little worried at me resting my head on her shoulder.

'h-he barely weigh anything…' Lily said quietly to her. 'he probably just lived on those waste worms so he gain weight once we give him real meat…' Hilda said smiling calmly to her. 'y-your saying we just take him from here…' Lily asked looking a little worried at her. 'do you see any other dragons here… honestly.' Hilda said sighing to her and just picked up her basket and started walking up the path of the mountain and I just glanced at them picking herbs and roots along the way until we came to a flat area and I saw Hilda made the basket get sucked into her ring before she morphed into a red dragon.

I looked curious at her giggling amused as she glanced at me as Lily placed me down on the ground and morphed into her dragon form again but stretched out her wings sighing a little relaxed as she stretched out elegantly like a true dragon lady but looked puzzled over at Hilda pouting a little to her. 'what?' Lily asked calmly to her. 'I was going to try and have him fly with me before you started showing off…' Hilda said a little sulky to her but she just flapped her wings and flew off. 'I w-wasn't showing off…' Lily said quietly as she glanced at me sitting on the ground glancing awkward at her.

'come…' Lily said softly as she lowered her wing down in front of me so I got up and checked my paws before walking carefully up her wing to her back and Lily just gave a gentle nod towards her neck so I waked up and laid down flat at her neck. 'if you start sliding off don't sink your claws into my back but just lay flat… you understand.' Lily explained calmly to me so I laid my head down to let her know I understood and she giggled softly as she gently flapped her wings making me lay as flat as I could as I felt a suction in my stomach.

I glanced carefully around as Lily slowed down as she flew next to Hilda. 'I wasn't trying to show off sister…' Lily said smiling a little worried to her. 'and you say you don't like children but you hug all his attention…' Hilda said glancing sulky at her as she kept gliding in the air and I saw there was an awkward silence as Lily kept silently gliding straight as Hilda glanced a little sad at her. 'listen… I didn't mean like that…' Hilda said quietly to her. 'its fine…' Lily said plainly without even looking at her but she flew over Hilda and tilted sideways making me slide over and fall down on Hilda's back.

's-sis…' Hilda said worried but got cut off as Lily flapped her wings making her dart forward at high speed making Hilda glance worried at me sitting confused at her back but I just curled up tight as I felt memories of my real life came to mind how I never got adopted but was lucky enough to afford my own apartment from the stipend and saved up for months to get a second hand capsule. 'y-you okey…' I heard Hilda asked but I just ignored her as I closed my eyes.

After a long flight Hilda managed to catch up with Lily. 'its getting dark so we should find somewhere to rest.' Hilda said quietly to Lily that glanced worried at me. 'okey…' I heard Lily say quietly back to her and they flew over to the nearest mountain and landed at a cave outcrop so I just jumped down and walked over to the side of the outcrop and laid down glancing back where we came from and I could not even see the mountain anymore but saw Lily walked up smiling a little sad at me but I just closed my eyes. 'sorry… me and Hilda fight like this all the time…' I heard Lily said but I just stood calmly up.