(2) How Stupid Can I Be?

Canaat Mountain Range.

Roar!

Roar!

Roar!

Occasional dragon roars can be heard throughout the mountain range as it were spreading tremors throughout the landscape. In this mountain range, all varieties of dragons could be seen, although most of them are just lesser dragons and wyverns, it has created an extremely oppressive atmosphere for a white-haired, tanned skinned humanoid male with a surprisingly dragon-like tail that has extended from his back.

"Dragons."

The humanoid male muttered slowly while he grimaced as he looked at the reptiles gliding in the wind and crawling on the earth then to the obsidian black tail laced with golden streaks that is connected to his lower back. The reptilian tail that can be considered as an extension of his spinal cord looked absolutely lifeless as it laid down on the ground, seemingly trying to showcase the perfect representation of the humanoid male's emotions currently, detached, or specifically, suppressed and controlled.

"Why do I feel so empty? I was so excited during my first reincarnation, I even once dreamt of carving a path for humanity while being the luminescence that lights the tunnel for my kind. Once betrayed by the vey beings I vowed to protect, I fell into despair as all negative emotions rushed towards my psyche."

"I feel like my reincarnation this time is totally forced, planned and manipulated. Is this why I am feeling empty? My life has not been in my hands from the very beginning?"

Hahaha!

Hahaha!

Hahaha!

Extremely loud self-deprecating laughters came from the humanoid male after his monologue of his current situation.

"If it weren't for my soul having survived two journeys across the void and having refined my soul to the highest level possible in my previous world, I would not have sensed it."

Sigh!

An audible sigh of defeat filled with indignation, powerlessness and helplessness came from the humanoid male as he stared blankly at the sky.

"No matter what heights I reach or how powerful I become, I'm only a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things. A disposable pawn for the truly powerful."

As negative emotions start to rush towards his psyche, he heard another annoying robotic voice inside his head.

[Notice. Emotions are suppressed under the effects of the Unique Skill, "Unmoved Sage".]

Roar!

Before he can even process what was going on, an angry dragon's roar was heard behind him. The humanoid male didn't care about what was happening to his surroundings and just stood there motionlessly while staring blankly at the sky, as if he's waiting for his demise to descend. However, even after several minutes, the awaited attack of the dragon didn't happen, but suffocating silence returned on the mountaintop. Looking back where he heard the dragon's roar, the humanoid male was left dumbfounded.

A headless white and blue dragon corpse was presented right before his eyes.

Trying his best to figure out what occurred, he caught sight of his own tail dangling in the wind while blood is dripping from it. The humanoid male immediately reached a realization and muttered in an emotionless voice and a deadpan look on his face.

"How stupid."

Due to how things swiftly went out of his control, he forgot that he was constantly fighting for survival at his previous world that allowed his instincts and battle experience to rise to inhumane level. Despite acquiring a new body, his instincts and battle experience were already engraved on the depths of his soul. His newly acquired tail could be considered as a part of his body and thus was influenced by his centuries-old instincts and moved on its own to deal with the threat. He kneeled beside the dragon corpse and studied it and his tail for a few moments.

"How convenient, I can move my tail with just a thought. I was busy running for my life that I didn't even consider that. Sigh! And this should be a lesser dragon. If memory serves me right, a few days ago when I was running away from these beasts, someone said that I can consume a core and disguise myself as a lesser dragon. Although I have so many questions about that voice, I need to survive this predicament first."

Without any shards of hesitation, he immediately dissected the dragon corpse carefully until he saw the closest thing to a core that he can possibly imagine. A diamond-shaped gem with green patterns that was surrounded by blue and white lightning was held in his hands. Holding the dragon's core in his palm, he was hesitating if he can really consume this so-called core given its appearance.

'I have no choice! It's either I die consuming this thing or be eaten by these overgrown lizards. I will always choose the former anytime.'

Gulp!

After some moments of hesitation, he directly gulped the dragon's core and braced himself for the impending pain. Contrary to his expectations, there wasn't any excruciating pain that assaulted his body, only a slight jolt was felt throughout his body. After the anticlimactic moment, he began to scrutinize his body when the monotonous voice resounded in his head again.

[Notice. Consumed a lesser dragon's core with the element of wind and lightning under the effects of the Unique Skill "Polarity"]

[Confirmed. Extra skill "Shockwave"... has been acquired.]

[Confirmed. Extra skill "Gust"... has been acquired.]

[Notice. Universal shapeshift has acquired the properties of a Lesser Sky Dragon.]

The voices quieted down after mentioning all those information. He was too engrossed on listening to the information that he failed to discern that it was 2 different voices that resounded in his mind. One was the voice of world and the other one was his other unique skill, of course there was no way that he could learn about it right now.

'When I was still in my soul form, I heard that I acquired a few skills and right now, I acquired another two skills. I wonder what these skills are, this world seems more magical than my last world and I don't know if that's a good thing or not.'

Glancing at the remaining carcass of the lesser sky dragon, he thought to himself.

'Let's see. So, this is supposedly a lesser sky dragon, let me see if I can transform into one.'

'Transform!' After shouting in his mind, he waited for a few moments, but to his disappointment, nothing happened to his body.

'I shouldn't have known that it won't be easy. How do I activate these so-called skills? The voice in my head only said that I can transform but it didn't mention on how I can accomplish it. I guess I will explore these things on my own.'

He wanted to explore these so-called skills and familiarize himself with it. He planned on finding a cave abode first and stay there for the time being, he wanted a cave abode as it was his practice in his previous world and it's both relatively safe and dangerous because of its narrow space and single point of entry and exit. But as soon as he took his first step, black smoke emerged from his foot and enveloped his whole body. The black smoke lingered on his humanoid body for a couple of minutes before disappearing and a totally different creature emerged.

A golden-white serpentine dragon with a length of almost seven meters is floating in the air. One surprising thing about the serpentine dragon is its tail, its obsidian black dragon tail.

[Confirmed. Extra Skill "Wind Manipulation"... has been acquired.]

"Yet another skill that I don't know the use of." the dragon opened its hugs jaws and said in a low and husky voice. After knowing that he was floating and could somehow move in the air, he started to turn around and scrutinize his newly acquired form.

"The lesser sky dragon doesn't have this appearance. This is an eastern style dragon in my original world and the dragon earlier is of western style. Why is there such a huge difference? And why is my tail of different color?"

The dragon contemplated before coming into a realization.

"I see! I remembered earlier that I only acquired the properties of a lesser sky dragon, meaning the essence of being a lesser sky dragon is what I obtained, and it wasn't necessarily the appearance of the beast and I retained some of my own characteristics. If I could make a guess at the other things that I acquired, it should be the skills and the aura. This world is getting more and more fascinating."

After familiarizing himself with his dragon form, he immediately flew towards the horizon in search for a cave that will serve as his home temporarily. Unbeknownst to the dragon, his aura is not that of a lesser sky dragon, but of an entirely different being and the reason that he has only encountered one courageous dragon is because of his unconsciously leaked aura that had scared all the rational dragons away that were chasing him a few days earlier.

After constantly flying and searching for a few hours, the golden-white dragon finally spotted a cave located at the foot of a mountain. He flew down the mountain, stopped at the entrance of the cave and reverted back to his humanoid form.

"So that's how it is. I only need to simultaneously think about the skill and my preferred form." He said while caressing his chin.

And to confirm his speculation, he did just that and returned to his dragon form then reverted back to his humanoid form again. He did this again and again until he was satisfied and could perform the transformation as easy as his breathing.

"At least I already know how to use one of my skills. I will continue to pile up these small victories." He said in a smug voice as he walked towards the cave.

Staring at the interior of the cave that's covered by a blanket of darkness. He slowly approached the entrance to make sure that there's no monster inside that could ambush him, after making sure that there's no monster inside, he started to enlarge the cave using his tail by chipping away the rock formation. After an unknown number of hours, he was finally satisfied and sat on a lotus position, a mannerism that he carried from his previous world. Having the chance to finally inspect fully his body and soul, he took his precious time in inspecting every fiber of his being and what he discovered left an expression of immense shock on his face. With his mental fortitude, he could already completely conceal his emotions even without the suppression from his unique skill "Unmoved Sage". But at this moment, his shock was so great, it was unprecedented in his entire 2 life of reincarnation. Even when he learned that the 4 sovereigns of his previous life were all transmigrators just like him, he had never been so shocked before.

His body and mind were trembling!

His mind was quaking incessantly, he was staring with wide opened eyes, looking at the entrance of the cave, he appeared like he was in a daze. But it didn't last for long as another voice resounded in his head.

[Notice. Emotions are suppressed under the effects of the Unique Skill "Unmoved Sage]

He couldn't help but praise this timely help as he inspected his body and soul once again.

Immense shock.