Hours had past since the last time either of the two had spoken. The dragon lay asleep on the shallow caves floor, puffs of steam exhaling from his nostrils. Sitting on a stone about ten meters away, Deja was meditating. Due to his lessons with the dragon, Deja had learned the basics of using his mana without the help of the system. According to the dragon, most people in this world had what was called a mana pool. Unlike his, which the system defined with a numerical output, the inhabitants could only approximate how much they had left, depending on how low they felt. Deja sighed. His abilities were amazing, but without a numerical output to tell him exactly how much he had left, he could at most use every skill once, before getting nervous and stopping. Deja leaned back from his sitting position, and stared at the ceiling above.
"I really am kind of weak without the [System], huh."
After this, Deja went back to meditating. However, if he had listened close, he would have heard an almost inaudible chuckle come from the dragon.
----------
Many days had passed, and Deja was finally starting to tire out. These past few weeks of constantly releasing mana had taken their toll on his body. As beads of sweat rolled down his face, his body finally gave out, collapsing him onto the cold stone floor. The sudden thud woke the dragon from its deep slumber. It swished its head looking for the source of the noise, until it noticed Deja laying on the floor.
"Well young one, it seems you have finally run out of mana. I thought you never would, just based off of how long you went without stopping." The dragon let out a small grin. "Even my mana capacity is only half of yours, and I'm supposed to be the strongest being in this realm."
Deja cracked a smile. "Well, I think that it has been proven wrong, don't you?"
The cavern shook with the dragons laughter. "HA! But yes young one, it has been proven wrong by you. A mere human at that. While anyway, I suppose you should get this back now."
Deja was confused. "Get what back?"
Right as Deja finished asking the question, a voice in his head rang out, finishing the sentence that had been a long time coming.
[-tood. {Blip} is ready for action.]
'[System]!'
[Yes?]
'You're back!'
[...]
----------
[So, I have been offline for how long?]
"Seven months. I haven't heard from you in quite a while."
Deja had stopped caring about the dragon hearing him talk to the system. Although it was weird talking to a voice in his head out loud, the dragon didn't seem to mind. In fact, it seemed as though the dragon could hear the [System] speak, nodding when the [System] made a correct assumption, and staying completely silent throughout the chat.
[Hmmm. Understood.]
"You know, I think it's weird."
[Hm?]
"You're a lot more, uhh, talkative than you were a month ago. You seem more human than you did back then."
The [System] Seemed to go quiet for a while, and to Deja, who had just heard it's familiar voice for the first time in several months, it seemed like an eternity.
[I... I believe its because of an upgrade. Even I am not entirely sure.]
"An Upgrade?!"
[Yes. A [System] Upgrade is most likely what made me like this.]
Deja grinned to himself, seemingly happy about this. He stared in to space, eyes glazing over as he thought of all the possibilities with updates, and then his eyes cleared and he snapped back to reality.
"Wait, did any other [System] Upgrades happen?"
[Not to my knowledge.]
"Well that sucks."
Deja let out a great sigh. He had hoped that his [System], like the ones he had read about back on earth, got more abilities and more game-like as time went on. However, it didn't seem like that could happen.
'Huehh~ What am I going to do. I overstayed my welcome on the island by quite a bit, and I'm also probably late to get back to school.'
[Incorrect. Time passes at a rate of 1:521, or in simpler terms, 1 week out there is 10 years in here.]
'The [System] is correct young one. However, a great spell cast on here stops the aging process from happening while on this island.'
"What the- How much of that previous thought did you here?"
The dragon let out a low grumble as he spoke. "All of it, young one." Deja let out a small sigh. Smiling and gently shaking his head, he realized that staying here probably wasn't the best idea for his mental stability.
[Deja.]
"Yes, [System]?"
[I have something for you.]
"Really?! What is it?"
[A new set of skills that I sense you will need sometime in the near future.]
"Interesting~ What are they?"
[The name of the skills are {Skill Log}, {Journal}, {Mana Conversion}, {Reincarnation}, and {Celestial Energy Manipulation}]
"That's... Quite a few, actually. What do they do?"
[The information is being transmitted right now.]
A short but explosive migraine hit Deja unaware, causing him to double over in pain, clutching his head. The headache passed, leaving Deja in awe of the new skills abilities. Deja let out a whistle. "Those are nice! I mean, I knew you were powerful [System], but I didn't know you had power over life and death!"
[There are many things that you do not know about me, Deja.]
"Huh. Anyhow," Deja turned to the Dragon. "I think it's time you told us about this orb that you created."
The dragon slowly nodded its head. Taking in a deep breath, the dragon turned around and put its large pranken against a deep indentation in the walls of the cavern. With all of the other various nooks and crannies in the cavern it was no wonder Deja had not noticed this minor hole. At least it seemed minor, until a massive passageway revealed itself to the two of them. Deja gaped in awe of the size of this passageway, however, it didn't seem like it was large enough for the Dragon to fit through.{AN: The [System] is in Deja's head and does not count as a being.}
"Umm, Mr. Dragon, How are you going to fit through that hole?"
The dragon slowly turned its head to Deja.
"Change into a different form, of course."
"Change into a different- What?!?"
Before Deja could finish his sentence, the massive dragon slowly shrank down to the size of a humanoid adult, about 6 feet tall post transformation. He was old, older than Deja had first thought, but Deja guessed that this 'Old Man' was still just a youngling in dragon years. He had a white beard that hung down to his waist, and a silverfish cap on his head, covering any baldness and hair on his head. A white cloak with gold accents seemed to be draped over him, hiding his bodies true state in its boundless folds. His eyes, that used to be golden slits, became white, and crackled with power. Deja's eyes drifted toward the ground, where the dragon's previously huge hind legs had morphed into human feet with sandals on. Deja let out a sigh.
"That was... Unexpected to say the least."
The dragon let out a small chuckle.
"Not many expect that. Anyway, please follow me."
The old dragon led Deja down a long corridor to a room full of chests, orbs, and a tinkerer table. In awe, Deja started to wander around the room, looking through the dazzling gold items. The dragon held a hand to his face and coughed to get Deja's attention. "The orb that you hold i one that will constantly improve ones constitution to mana, or ,in simpler terms, doubles your mana daily."
Deja's eyes widened at this last statement. This was, simply put, insane. The orb was so strong that he didn't even need to absorb mana anymore.
"Wow! I guess it was pretty hard to create something like this, huh."
"Quite."
"You know, I never asked your name, what is it?"
The dragon sighed and looked into Deja's eyes.
"My name is Ku'lthar"
(Pronounced Kool+t+air)