Erin was completely stupefied.
The dragon in front of him was also stupefied.
Both Erin and the dragon silently stared at each other.
After a few moments of awkward silence, the dragon was surprisingly the first one to start speaking.
"..Human, how did you gain entry to my abode?"
"..If I told you I have no idea how, would you believe me?"
Erin stared at the dragon rather nervously.
Previously, he was inside an Imperial Academy starship heading towards the capital planet of the Dawn Empire.
Unfortunately, a fleet of several hundred pirate starships were actually bold enough to intercept the vessel that Erin was on.
Although the starship was owned by the Imperial Academy, it only had a few small knight ships guarding it. In fact, they were just there out of mere formality.
With how renown and powerful the academy was, almost every other starship would willingly make way for it.
Even though the Dawn Empire was only a tier one power, the academy in its capital planet was a branch from a superior empire.
By that regard, even starships owned by nobility had to respectfully concede.
However, never in their wildest dreams would they imagine pirates audacious enough to challenge the Imperial Academy.
Without being given a chance to fight back, the guard knights were quickly vaporized by countless plasma rays.
The pirates' weapons shifted quickly and immediately pointed directly at the Imperial starship. Before the commander of the starship could transmit a message for their surrender, the pirates' opened fire.
Witnessing this, even though many people on the starship knew that the pirates would get wiped out in revenge, a lot of them couldn't help themselves from letting out bittersweet tears.
How could they be happy with the revenge when they were about to die?
Erin was one of the youths on the academy starship who held similar thoughts.
As the rays hit the shield surrounding the Imperial starship, the sudden movement literally shook Erin to his core.
Like a prologue to death, all of the experiences that he accumulated throughout his life, had started flashing throughout his mind.
Unfortunately, memories wouldn't save his life. The shield would only last for so long.
Erin closed his eyes and braced himself for an imminent death.
However, the short burst of pain that he expected never occurred.
In fact, the shaking even stopped abruptly.
'Did the pirate's accept the starship's surrender?'
Erin consoled himself with such optimistic thoughts.
'Or did everything stop because I died?'
Erin's optimistic thoughts quickly became pessimistic.
Before he could think clearly, he felt a weirdly hot breath encompass his body.
It smelt like old, rotten eggs.
'..Why does the afterlife smell so bad?'
Was the first thing that came to his mind.
When he opened his eyes, what greeted his sight was a vast cavern with an enormous dark-red dragon at the center of it.
With how real his senses were, followed by the dragon speaking to him, he subconsciously accepted the fact that he was somehow still alive.
When Erin said that he didn't know how he got there, the dragon simply scoffed as its eyes were still looking at him suspiciously.
After letting out a powerful snort, the dragon shifted its body forward and lowered its eyes downward. There was only a couple meters between the two; with the dragon now face-to-face with Erin.
Surprised by his lack of fright, the dragon spoke up.
"..Although it's been five millenniums since I've been outside, I can clearly recall that your kind would normally cower and fear when confronted by my species. Some would even prostrate themselves before me."
The dragon sneered as he huffed out gentle flames.
"This is true." Erin muttered. "But I know that if you wanted to harm me, you wouldn't have given me any time to speak back."
A genuine smile formed on Erin's face. He thought that, unlike those vicious space pirates, at least this dragon didn't immediately burn him to death.
'Furthermore, dragons were assumed to have gone universally extinct more than thirty millennia ago. Perhaps you're merely a remnant soul.' This was a thought that Erin never voiced out.
"..Interesting." The dark-red dragon muttered. The saliva dripping from the dragon's fangs made it realize how hungry it was after several millenniums.
"But you're wrong."
The attitude of the dragon suddenly lost all cordiality.
"I just couldn't decide if I wanted you rare or medium-rare. I think I'll go with the latter."
Without giving Erin a chance to speak back, it started spewing out vast and enormous flames.
'..I spoke too soon.'
These were Erin's last thoughts before he closed his eyes and braced for death again.
However, to his bewilderment, the feeling of getting burnt alive never happened.
Instead, his face was hit by a very soothing, ocean breeze.
Opening his eyes once more, Erin was shocked at the scene around him.
He was on a small island in the middle of a vast ocean!
Most of the island was covered in green grass. Sunlight poured from the clear skies and accentuated the edges of the island.
Odd enough, these edges were covered in grass instead of rocks or sand.
Although there were a few trees and bushes on the island, there were so few of them that it didn't really obstruct Erin's view.
Looking around, he realized that there was literally nothing else on this island. The only good thing about this island was that it seemed safe.
Unsure of what to do next, Erin sat down on the grass and let out a couple deep breaths.
After having experienced two near-death experiences subsequently, Erin's complexion started to look a little pale.
Although he considered himself fairly intellectual, everything that has happened so far was beyond his understanding.
Fortunately, even though he appeared in these new places, all the things he was wearing were still with him.
This included the amulet on his chest, the bag on his back, and the small metallic orb tied to his waist.
With a slight grumble coming from his stomach, Erin took out some rations from his bag.
Because of the risks involved with space-travel, it was common practice in the universe to conserve space in one's personal storage for storing rations and supplies.
Even more so for Erin, of whom was a stickler when it came to bracing for the mishaps of reality.
After eating, Erin had the sudden urge to relieve himself.
There was obviously no restroom on an empty island.
So after getting up quickly, he ran over to the closest bush before releasing a golden stream.
Since Erin was looking up at the clear sky, he didn't notice that the stream he was releasing didn't even touch the leaves of the bush he was in front of.
In fact, it evaporated into mere nothingness a mere centimeter away from the bushes' leaves!
The same second he finished, an angry voice reverberated in his mind.
"..I tolerated you when you first appeared. Even when you were eating, I was still reasonable."
"..It seems my kindness has been wasted. You are daring enough to relieve yourself on my back! Had you been more considerate and chosen the ocean, perhaps I could have tolerated you further. However, it is too late for second thoughts, I don't see it befitting of me to bargain with an intrusive mortal."
Right when the voice finished, the island rose slightly from the ocean and a giant turtle head broke through the surface of the ocean.
With an unusually long neck and an overstretched turn, it was now looking at its back and focused its angry gaze on Erin.
The fact that Erin still had his pants down actually heightened the giant sea turtle's anger.
Without giving Erin a chance to speak, the turtle blasted an icy breath from its mouth. If it hit him, it would likely turn him into a lifeless ice sculpture!
Stunned and bewildered, Erin closed his eyes to brace for imminent death.
However, unlike the fear that he expected to feel, he felt an ongoing sense of deja vu instead.
As if on queue, the moment of death never reached him.
He opened his eyes once more and realized he was in the middle of a grassy, green plain.
Fortunately, nothing on him was frozen, but his lower half suddenly felt a cold breeze. It seems his pants were still down.
So before he accidentally angered some unknown entity again, Erin pulled up his pants and cautiously glanced at the area around him.
To the east, he saw an enormous mountain range with an extremely tall yet narrow waterfall. The waterfall formed a small lake at the base of the mountain that was also connected to a thick river.
To the west, the thick river spanned over the horizon; cutting through a grassy plain.
Split by the river, the northern side looked like an extension of the grassy plains while the southern side had a large forest. Erin was on the southern side of the river.
With no beast in sight, Erin looked up at the skies in case a giant aerial creature decided to fly down and swat him to death.
Paranoid as he may seem, after the last two experiences, he thought that giant creatures were simply out to get him for reasons he couldn't understand.
Seeing nothing, he finally relaxed a little bit. However, as if on guard once more, he started stomping on the ground in case there was some sort of underground beast lurking.
For someone that was planning to take the Imperial Academy entrance exam, he looked like a complete imbecile at this very moment.
After nothing happened, he glanced between the river and the forest.
'Perhaps there's a beast lurking in one of them? Maybe there are beasts in both of them?'
Thinking that he was getting too paranoid, he calmed himself down without losing his guard.
Following that moment, like discovering water in a drought, several messages suddenly popped up in front of Erin.
[The Overseer is disappointed in you.]
[To better the odds, and to stop you from further wasting valuable lifeforce, you have been placed on a weak planet located in a backwater galaxy.]
[This is your third, and final, chance.]
Speechless, he finally understood why he was still alive. At the same time, he couldn't understand why he was being watched and assisted by such a powerful being.
'..What kind of messed up starting zones were those?!'
Was also a thought that traced through his mind. However, he subconsciously muttered it too.
As if noticing his ire, another message appeared.
[A gift will be given to you to ensure your avatar's survival.]
The clear sky above him was suddenly infused with dark clouds.
Traces of lightning could be seen scattering throughout the edges of these clouds.
Without giving him a chance to seek shelter, a giant lightning bolt formed at the bottom of the cloud and threw itself towards the ground that Erin was standing on.
Eyes popped wide open, Erin only saw a blinding dark-purple flash of light before the feeling of sharp pain knocked him completely unconscious.
He expected pain several times before, but he didn't expect it this time!