"So… I really died?" Orion swallowed hard, his voice shaking as the weight of the truth finally hit him.
[Affirmative.] The system's response was immediate and merciless.
He sank to the ground, holding his head. The fact that he was dead was already too hard to accept, and the strange cave, the system… He felt completely overwhelmed.
This wasn't a story in a book. It wasn't a game.
This was real.
And it was terrifying.
Minutes passed before his breathing finally slowed. Orion wasn't stupid. Once the shock faded, he began piecing things together.
"So… let me get this straight," he muttered, staring at the system. "I die, get thrown into a whole new world, and now I have a system?"
[Affirmative.]
"… Figures."
"And based on every trashy isekai and edgy web novel I've ever read," he continued, eyes widening with hopeful excitement, "I'm about to get some absurdly broken abilities, right?"
The screen flickered.
[Analyzing host… Analysis complete.] [Host has been granted three unique skills:]
Appraisal (B-Rank)
Odorless (B-Rank)
Flash Movement (B-Rank)
[Would the host like detailed descriptions?]
Orion's eyes literally lit on fire.
"HELL YEAH!!" he yelled. His voice was so loud that it woke up some of the residents of the cave.
"GRRRRRRR…"
A deep, bone-chilling growl vibrated through the stone.
Orion went pale.
[Do not worry, host. Your current chamber is too small for monsters in this area to enter, and the walls are too hard for them to break.]
He didn't question how the system knew that. Survival first. Curiosity later.
After feeling reassured, Orion began to focus on his skills.
"Now, where were we… oh yeah, the skill description."
A new system window opened before him.
[Skill Descriptions]
Appraisal (B-Rank) Evaluates a target's strength, abilities, and basic information.Fails if the target is three ranks stronger than the host.Improves with repeated use and as the host's overall power increases. (Potential: SSS+)
Odorless (B-Rank) — Completely erases the user's scent and suppresses aura, preventing detection by entities with enhanced senses. Has similar limits and improving conditions to Appraisal. (Potential: SSS+)
Flash Movement (B-Rank) — Instantly moves the user across space. Current limit: 100 meters per use. Usable five times before cooldown. (3 hours cooldown)Improves with repeated use and as the host's overall power increases.. (Potential: ???)
Orion finished speed-reading the descriptions. He now had a general idea about all his skills. The potential of these skills made him giddy.
"Flash Movement with unknown potential? Even the system doesn't know how strong it can get?" He let out a breathless laugh. "That's gotta be beyond SSS+. That's… that's completely broken."
He grinned like an idiot, chuckling like a psychopath.
Then he paused. Something clicked in his mind.
"… Wait. Aren't you supposed to show me my status window like every other system story?"
[Affirmative.]
"Then why didn't you show it earlier?!"
[Access to the status interface requires the host to say the administrative command: 'Status Open.']
"Wait—what? Are you serious? That's so cliché and embarrassing. I'm not saying it. Just show me my status."
[Permission denied, host must use the full administrative command.]
"… Fine," Orion muttered in a defeated tone.
"… Status open."
[Name: Orion_____]
[Race: Dragonkin]
[Title: Otherworlder]
[Rank: E]
[Class: None]
[Skills: Appraisal (B), Odorless (B), Flash Movement (B)]
[Physical and Magic Power]
{Strength: 10}
{Stamina: 10}
{Agility: 6}
{Vitality: 11}
{Endurance: 12}
{Mana: 10}]
"Dragon…kin?!"Orion's eyes were locked onto his race.
He had always thought dragons were cool. To be part of a race related to them… it felt like a dream come true.
"I'm part DRAGON?! NO WAY—THIS IS INSANE!! I… I… I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!"
He practically jumped around, laughing and yelling like a maniac, unable to contain the excitement.
He ran his hands over his body, checking how it had changed. He could feel dense muscle beneath his skin—solid and powerful. He was taller now. His hair had grown longer, and faint hints of scales appeared here and there.
"Oh yeah," Orion checked under his underpants.
"… Holy shit. It got even bigger."
Satisfied beyond belief, he continued scanning his stats.
"Agility's lower compared to other stats. Is it something to do with my dragonkin race?" he muttered." I've got Flash Movement. So I think I will be ok."
While testing his new skills and his strength inside the rock chamber, he realized he had to escape wherever the hell he was.
But when he studied his surroundings, realization hit him hard.
There were no entrance cracks. No tunnels. No sunlight anywhere. Just endless stone on all sides.
The only illumination came from faintly glowing mushrooms and green moss clinging to the walls like eerie lanterns.
If he wanted to survive, he had to explore. The place was massive, and monsters lurked everywhere. He wasn't ready to fight yet—but if he stayed put, he would starve.
"Sigghhhhh…" After a long, defeated sigh, Orion finally decided that his only option was to search for a cave entrance so he could leave.
Taking a slow breath, he activated a skill.
"Odorless," he muttered.
A warm, invisible pressure wrapped around his body, cutting him off from the world. His presence… vanished.
"SO, this is stealth."
Slowly, he stepped outside the narrow stone chamber.
The cavern swallowed him whole.
The ceiling disappeared into darkness. Massive stone pillars rose like ancient towers. Every sound echoed unnaturally loud.
"This place is huge…" Orion whispered." Did I wake up inside a dragon nest or something?"
Then—
"GRRRRRRRRR"A bone-chilling growl of a monster, and it was too close.
Orion felt weak in his leg.
He quickly hid behind a massive rock pillar, but the growl was becoming louder and closer.
"Oh god… no, no, no…" Sweat drenched his back. "It's coming right at me."
Orion wanted to run away. He figured that if he put enough distance between himself and it, the monster wouldn't be able to track him down with his Odorless skill active.
But if he happened to come face to face with it… he would fight.
After making his resolution, he slowly started to move in the opposite direction of where the monster's growl was coming from.
"THUD!"
He fell. The cave was so quiet that the sound of his fall echoed through it, drawing the monsters' attention.
He quickly got up and positioned himself behind another rock pillar, knowing the monster had surely heard the sound and knew his location.
"Why now, damn it… I've never been this unlucky."
From the darkness, something emerged.
Black scales. One massive eye. A maw filled with sizzling teeth. Glowing moss clung to its body, illuminating its monstrous form.
"A—Appraisal!"
[Lesser Cave Ravager — C-Rank]
Carnivorous. Highly aggressive. Hunts anything smaller than itself.
Weakness: Eye
"C-Rank? This is only a C-Rank?! You're fucking kidding me, right? If this thing is just C-Rank, then what do A-Rank or S-Rank monsters even look like?"
He picked up a small piece of stone from where he was standing.
"Okay… here we go."He hurled a stone at its eye, hoping it would damage the monster enough to make killing it easier later.
But the monster closed its eyes just in time, and the stone bounced harmlessly off its eyelids.
Orion's stomach dropped. The Ravager roared, a deafening, bone-shaking sound that echoed through the cavern, and lunged at him.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!" he yelled, —he had no real strategy, no experience.
The monster slashed its claw into the pillar where Orion was standing. He leapt sideways to dodge.
His mind raced—he had no real strategy, no experience, and every second felt like a lifetime.
Orion quickly got up and hid behind an even bigger rock pillar. That's when he spotted a small crack in the cave wall.
Wasting no time, he activated Flash Movement, toward the little crack
After coming in front of the entrance, he crouched down and entered, but he saw that the Ravager was also moving with unnatural speed.
"It's strong and fast… come on, it's cheating."
It came in front of the entrance and tried to break in, but it was too big to enter.
The monster slammed against the entrance, roaring in frustration.
Orion quickly started his next strategy.
He began looking inside the little chamber and noticed it widened the deeper it went.
After thinking for a moment and finding no hope of actually killing the monster, Orion decided to start moving deeper.
"System, do you have any advice on how to survive this hellish place?" Orion had stopped calling it a cave because he had his doubts now.
[Negative. Host is on his own.]
"....… thought so."
Suddenly, the ground beneath him cracked. Loose stones shifted under his weight, and before he could react…
"AAAAHHHH!!"
He plummeted into darkness.