Looking around at his surrounding Anthony noticed that he was on the edge of a large and towering cliff. It had to be at least 20,000 feet in the air, and he was stunned at how easy it was to breathe while he was so high up. He was laying in a splendid nest constructed with whole trees that were carefully wedged together. Surrounding him were many eggs. They were withered and dying, aside from a few outliers that were resting away from the group. Anthony was right in the middle, and his egg seemed to be larger than the rest. Looking again up into the sky he noticed that the morning sun was waking, and enormous rain clouds loomed in the distance. In Anthony's vision, lightning essence coursed through each cloud, giving it life and depth. It was as if it was breathing, gently flowing in the sky.
"What did you mean by evolving?" coming back to his senses, Anthony decided to explore the system more thoroughly. A status window appeared in front of him.
[[Name: N/A
Level: 0
Species: Variant Dragon Hatchling(Fetal Dragon Egg)
Gaia Power: 12001
Gaia Shards: 1
---
STR: 10
AGI: 5
INT: 100
DEX: 2
VIT: 40
LCK: 20]]
Taking in the large amounts of information that bloomed in his view, Anthony noticed a few things about his 'status'. The first thing that confused him was his name. He knew very well that he had a name, and that was Anthony, but the system said that it was not available. He also noticed that the species 'Fetal Dragon Egg' was grayed out and that the species 'Variant Dragon Hatchling' was highlighted. Another message appeared below his status window.
[[Evolution is when the host changes from one species to another. The system gives the host the ability to utilize evolution and catalyze the process. With sufficient Gaia Shards, the host can evolve into an organism along his evolutionary tree.]]
Anthony was absorbing all of the information. He wasn't very sure yet as to how to make use of such knowledge, however, as he was still a little perplexed about his current situation and unwilling to accept his fate. Anthony was trying to make sense of everything. How was it possible, in the first place, to see all of these windows and panels. Even the system seemed strangely advanced, to the point where he couldn't even imagine something like it existing, at least not in his old world. He decided that it was useless to remain in a mood and groan about everything. Subsequently, the system prompted another message.
[[If the host obtains sufficient power and knowledge from an external bloodline he could, in time, switch to another evolutionary tree. The system, however, does not recommend that the host changes bloodlines until he can escape the shackles of this small continent.]]
This message sparked his interest. Could this mean that he could potentially become anything given enough time? Anthony wasn't very sure what entailed evolution just yet, but thinking about all of the stuff that the system was saying that he would be able to do made him excited. He was a little confused about the second part of the message, though. Did this mean that this world had other continents, just like his old home? This prompted another question, as well. Was he really on a different planet? If so, did the system mean that there was a way home?
Another thing that bothered Anthony was why the system would recommend against changing his evolution tree. Why would it prohibit something that sounded so mystical? As if reading his thoughts, the system then replied opening a new window.
[[The Gaia stone that the host had fused with previously had granted him the bloodline of a Variant Dragon, which is much less restricted to possible evolutions and also has much more potential compared to a lot of what this continent he was on could provide. This bloodline can bring many more benefits and, as such, the system recommends that the Host remains on his current evolutionary tree for the time being.]]
A few questions were born in Anthony's mind. He was wondering what the system meant when it said that his current evolutionary tree was less restricted in his evolutions. Other than that, he felt that the system's response made a lot of sense. He himself wouldn't really want to be restricted by a bad evolution that prevented him from growing, or something similar happening. Anthony moved on to the other parts of the status window and asked about his Gaia Power.
"Hmm, System, what is Gaia Power?" he asked.
[[Gaia power is the unit of energy that is involved with all life and magical essences in this world.]]
Anthony was very interested in Gaia Power. If it was involved with everything about this world then it must be very important. He decided that he would most likely use it very often. Another thing caught his attention about Gaia Power—and that was how much he had.
He questioned the system, "Is the amount of Gaia Power I have a lot?"
[[The host has a total of 12,001 Gaia Power. Compared to the race with the highest potential for Gaia Power—The Fein Druids—the host is indeed well endowed in this respect. A creature of this race that is at a similar age would have approximately 2000 Gaia Power. ]]
"So much!?" Anthony was bewildered. When he first saw his Gaia Power in his status window he thought at first that he had a large amount, but then considered that he could just be looking at it with a narrow world-view. He knew nothing about this place and how Gaia Power worked, so that was all that he could assume. What the system had told him, though, made him rethink all of that.
[[The reason for the host's large reservoir of energy would be due to the Gaia Stone that he had fused with earlier.]]
"That makes sense, I guess," Anthony still didn't know much about this foreign object that invaded his body, or spiritual body at least. This worried him a little bit, but aside from the initial pain he felt when he awoke inside of the egg he was still sitting in nothing bad had come from it so far. This doesn't say a lot to him though, as he had just awoken. He was satisfied with the system's explanation on Gaia Power and moved to Gaia Shards.
[[Gaia shards are the basis for evolution and in normal creatures must be created through the condensing of enormous amounts of Gaia Power. For the host, however, Gaia Shards can be obtained through obtaining the essence of other Monsters or completing quests administered by the system.]]
"Quests?" asked Anthony who was slightly confused, "Can you produce quests?"
The system replied saying that it can create quests when sufficient requirements have been met. It will also offer quests to the host when the system deems that it would be necessary or important according to the host's situation. The system also informed Anthony that he could view the quest menu along with other menus that the system contains by saying their name or thinking about opening them.
"Alright then, um, quests," said Anthony.
Suddenly the status window was pushed to the back of his mind, and a new menu appeared in his thoughts. It displayed a list of quests that were all locked and grayed out along with another window that was empty. At the top of this window it was labeled 'Current Quest'.
"Oh, that's pretty cool," reflected Anthony. He was coming to like the system and thought that it seemed to be a very practical and useful tool. The system's apparent sentience had bothered him a bit, though. Could the system possibly turn on him or disappear in the future? This was a very concerning thought. Anthony decided that he should be more careful and restrained when communicating and interacting with the system.
Bringing back the status window, Anthony looked at the next thing in his status, which was his actual stats. He found most of this normal, except for the outlier in the list which was his intelligence. While thinking about this Anthony had noticed that his way of thinking had become much more clear and logical, and assumed that the Gaia Stone was responsible for this feat. He didn't think much more about it and continued on.
"System," started Anthony, "can you display a list of the other menus that you have?"
[[List of system menus:
Status, Skills, Quests, Evolution Tree, Map, and Shop.]]
The system displayed a small window showing each of the current menus that Anthony could access. He started with opening the Skills menu.
[[Slash Lv1
Bite Lv1
Growl Lv1]]
Seeing the few options he had, Anthony felt that he was fairly weak at the moment. The only skills he had were the ordinary slash and bite attacks, and they were also only at the first level. He comforted himself a little, thinking that knowing three skills when he was just born could actually be decent given his situation.
He was a little moved by how weak he was, "I must become strong enough to protect myself here, who knows what kind of creatures exist in this world."
Calling the system again, Anthony opened the evolution tree. The system replied by displaying another vibrant panel.
[[Variant Dragon Hatchling (Fetal Dragon Egg)
Evolution options will be displayed when the host has obtained sufficient Gaia Shards.
---
The host is able to evolve to future evolutions if enough Gaia Shards are acquired. De-evolution is not possible at the host's current stage. ]]
The evolution tree showed many options that appeared past his current stage. There seemed to be an endless amount of them and he couldn't even begin to comprehend the size of it. It flooded his entire vision, and he had to limit it to only the next few evolutions to avoid giving him a headache. He silently cursed the system for being so inconsiderate.
Anthony was a little intrigued by the idea of de-evolution. At the same time, however, he didn't really see the point of it. Why would he want to change from a stronger form to a weaker one, it just didn't make sense to him. He continued on with his exploration of the system and opened up the next menu, the Shop.
The shop displayed a couple of options in them. He was a little disappointed to see that right now the shop only had medicinal materials and a variety of potions. In addition to that, however, there was a darkened list of items that seemed to be locked. Seeing all of the locked options in many of the menus Anthony wondered if he needed to upgrade the system in some way.
[[Some of the system's functions can be upgraded through the use of Gaia Fragments, which can be obtained by the condensing of many Gaia Shards.]]
"Did anyone teach you manners, system?" Anthony found it unsettling that the system could just read his thoughts like that and shook his head. The last menu that Anthony opened was the Map.
The map illustrated the current area he was in, and had an option for expanding or minimizing his view. When he zoomed out he saw a rough and undetailed map showing an enormous continent that was showered with vague landmarks. (AN: tinyurl.com/MapOfGaia)
Without a ruler that marked the measurements of the map, he couldn't be quite certain of the size, but if he had to guess he would say that it was around the size of all of the eastern continents on his old planet combined. Thinking of his home made questions come into his mind, "will I ever be able to go home?"
He decided to ask the system his thoughts but was met with a familiar yet disappointing prompt.
[[System Authority is insufficient to access this information.]]
"Dang it," Anthony cursed to himself in frustration, "What does that even mean!?"
Instead of giving him an explanation, the system replied with the same message. Almost letting out a defeated cry, Anthony controlled himself and decided that he should take a break from exploring the system.
He tried standing up and found it surprisingly effortless to get on his feet and use his muscles. Astonished at how unnaturally accustomed he was to his new body, he excitedly walked out of his nest. Carefully climbing over tens of withered eggs, Anthony arrived at the ring of healthy ones and popped his head above the boundaries of the nest. He was facing a deep and homely cave that was illuminated by the crystals that chained together throughout its interior. Turning around and going back through the blanket of eggs Anthony peeked his head over the edge of the cliff he was on. Thousands of feet below him lie a vast sea of woods and trees, along with lonesome mountains that broke the serenity of the ancient plants that governed its territory.
While Anthony was speechless at this amazing sight a dark figure flashed past his head and crashed onto the ground with a loud boom, almost causing him to fall off the cliff. It seemed to be a massive white dragon, overflowing with the essences of wind and sun. They writhed around its majestic body and formed magical formations that produced an unfathomable feeling of power. The dragon's head lowered and investigated its nest. She found a lonesome baby dragon sitting at the edge of the nest with a startled look in its eyes.
In an ancient yet effeminate tone, the Dragon's voice entered Anthony's mind, "You have awoken, my child."
The voice was filled with indescribable love and a sense of wisdom.
"A name, then," the dragon said, "you will be called Protos, the firstborn."
A notification appeared in the mind of the baby dragon who was at a loss of words. It announced that a change had been made to his status and that his name had become Protos.
One would most likely be scared out of their minds if a massive dragon breathes down their neck, but Anthony was unusually calm, and instead felt a comforting aura radiating off of the beautiful and magnificent dragon in front of him. He couldn't really describe this feeling, but it was as if he was home, being loved and protected by his family. This was Anthony's mother.
"I am Aetherium," she said, "Come little one."
A magical gust of wind and heat manifested itself beneath Anthony's feet. He ascended into the air and was carried onto the head of the dragon. Aetherium rose from the ground and her wings folded together, producing an amazingly powerful gust of wind to throw them into the sky. Everything seemed to be disrupted by the strength of the wind, except for the nest which was protected by some sort of barrier that was constructed of wind and heat formations. The pair of mother and son flew down from the cliff and descended into the woods.
This would be the start of Anthony's first adventure in the Continent of Gaia.