God's Game – The First Inheritor

Summary: I was hyped when I learned I was getting Isekai'd, wondering what cool power I'd get to help me fuck shit up. Instead, I ended up an orphan in Italy, with no powers of my own to help me survive in the world of Devils, Angels, and Tits… But just because I wasn't sent to the world with power, doesn't mean I could obtain it after. 'Welcome to the Game.' SI/Gamer OC

II: The First Dungeon

The rest of the trip to Milan passed, thankfully, without incident.

I was confused why the teachers didn't give me a talking to for being out so late or missing dinner, but Rhea told me the System healed my body and took control. It remained quiet so as to not tip people off, which worked since I was quite Anti-Social, then headed to the room, showered to get the stench of blood off of me, and then told Emilia that I was going to have an early night before heading to sleep.

I mostly stuck to myself and kept close to the Hotel for the rest of the trip, I didn't dare leave or go too far again after being attacked by a Stray Devil and almost dying. Even if I now had magic, I was still considered 'natural' since I was only Level 7. To be supernatural, I'd have to hit Level 20 at least.

I also had no accidents with Emilia. We both followed the rules we established and didn't really speak that much besides occasionally saying to the other 'I'm going to the use the shower' if we were in the room together.

I let out a sigh as I got back to the orphanage, slipping my suitcase under my bed and running a hand through my hair as I took a seat on the bed. 'Rhea, the system responds to my thoughts, correct?'

But of course. After all, it would be a poor design choice if it couldn't respond to your thoughts. Then you wouldn't be able to access it in situations where you either cannot or should not speak.

I gave a slight nod as I lay down on the bed, thinking. 'Okay, the System is here to help me, I know that. What are my options for levelling up?'

There are several ways for you to Level Up. The first is to go about clearing dungeons. Dungeons will differ depending on your location, but there are always at least 3 dungeons per city. The second would be to simply defeat enemies, though I'm sure you knew that. The last would be the sparring system, where you fight with a comrade. You gain more experience the longer the fight goes on, that way whether you win or lose you gain something. Of course, you also gain more experience if you manage to win in the spar.

That was quite helpful, several different ways to level up… Wait, damn it! If I'd known about the dungeon thing back in Milan, I would have gone looking for one!

My apologies, I should have spoken up. But you were adamant to lay low and not go out too much after the incident with Zuggul.

I deflated at her words. That was a good point, I'd made the choice to not actively go looking or ask these questions until I got back to the orphanage where I felt safer due to the close proximity to the Vatican.

Would you like me to mark dungeons in the city on your mini map?

'Oh, deceased god, please do!'

Rhea tittered, before six blue markers appeared on my mini map.

'What the fuck? I thought you said it was three per city!'

I said at least three per city, Tony. The Vatican is the supernatural heart of the Church, as a result many dungeons are around. Secret hideouts of traitorous exorcists, horrible experiments they tried to bury, secret facilities and so on. You are aware just how corrupt the church is, even many of the angels in heaven are corrupt and simply abuse a loophole in the system in order to prevent themselves from falling.

… That made a frightening amount of sense. Honestly, the church had many examples of its corruption. Like how Diodora got into the heart of the Vatican, got healed by Asia, and then a bishop just 'happened' to witness the entire thing, resulting in Asia getting excommunicated.

It was painfully obvious that a lot of church members in the DxD Universe were corrupt, and only claimed to be part of the church as a cover for their twisted actions and choices. Despite how different this world was to my own, they really were similar in a lot of aspects. Namely that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

'Right, I should also start making plans… First and foremost, getting out of this orphanage and getting a proper home. For that, I need money. I'll probably get money by clearing dungeons and objectives and such, but I'll also need someone to adopt me… Hopefully Irene will be willing to do so when I summon her. I'd have you do it, Rhea, but I can't call you out until Level 60.'

Indeed, this is a difficult situation. But it is not impossible to deal with. The only dilemma is that, when you summon Irene, she won't have any form of ID. You'll need to provide her ID, or she'll need to know and be able to use hypnotism magic in order to adopt you without issue.

'One step forward, two steps back,' I sighed, running a hand through my hair. 'How do dungeons work?'

When you enter a dungeon, a barrier shall form. This prevents anyone from entering the dungeon from the outside, and anyone inside leaving. Once you enter a dungeon, you cannot leave unless you use a Return Stone. Upon clearing a dungeon, you will obtain a Chest that holds a random item, skill, or perk in it. The minimum rarity of the item is determined by the dungeon's level, with the lowest rarity you can get being Uncommon.

'Why is it so crucial that nobody is able to enter?'

Because, while the dungeon is marked by the game, it still exists within the real world and isn't closed off or left ignorant. If you start throwing around huge amounts of magic, it's going to cause a ruckus and people are going to hear it, and eventually the Vatican will get involved.

That was kind of annoying. I mean, on one hand I appreciated that, since it meant even my actions in the dungeon would have an impact on the world. But on the other hand, it would make it a bit difficult to go under the radar. Still, it just meant I'd have to be careful. In for a penny, in for a pound.

I shook my head. There was no use complaining, better to just suck it up and deal with it.

'Please highlight the dungeon with the lowest level requirements.'

Instantly, one of the blue dots on my mini map turned green. It was a dungeon that was actually about 5 blocks away from the orphanage, hell it was on the route I took for my usual run! That was kind of terrifying to think that something like that had been so close to the orphanage the whole time, that I'd passed by it without even thinking about it so many times.

'Granted, it probably has some magic barriers or something that makes it difficult to impossible for normal people to notice it, and probably to prevent the Church from noticing it too.'

Most likely, though I cannot be certain until you decide to head to the dungeon and find out.

I put a hand on my chin and thought before I sighed and got up, rotating my arms. 'Guess I'll go check it out. Am I allowed to bring people with me into dungeons?'

Of course, you are free to bring companions with you into dungeons. However, keep in mind that if there is a high enough level gap between you, then you will not receive any experience when they kill enemies… Ah, yes, now that you've returned home, it should be fine to start giving you your Daily Quests.

'What do I get from daily quests?'

Small amounts of experience, along with one or two stat points depending on the quest. For example, completely a long run as a Daily Quest will give you dexterity. Doing some studying shall grant intelligence or wisdom, and so on and so forth.

'How do I raise my luck?' I asked, walking out of the orphanage and heading towards the dungeon.

Gambling.

'… Gambling?'

Gambling. Or by obtaining great feats of chance for the first time. Such as flipping a bottle filled with some water and having it land standing up. Once is lucky, and twice is skill as they say.

Huh, that kind of made sense. I could deal with that.

'What about Vitality?'

Vitality is increased just by being healthy. You'll get rewarded points in vitality just by working out, same as you would in strength and dexterity. But increasing your Vitality with stat points is also a good investment for you; after all, more health is always good.

I gave a small nod, once again finding Rhea's words made sense, and I was grateful to have chosen her as my A.I to start over someone like Jalter right away. For all I knew, she might have been deliberately bitchy and vague to make things more annoying for me.

I am glad you chose me as well, Tony.

Ah, right, she could hear my thoughts.

I walked for about ten to fifteen minutes, keeping an eye on the mini map, before I arrived at the location. It was just a normal, large building. It didn't look out of place, or suspicious in any way. It just looked completely normal.

'Well, it would be a pretty stupid decision to make it look abnormal.'

I headed towards the building, trying to look casual as I did so, when Rhea's voice spoke up.

A warning has been issued.

You are about to enter a Dungeon. The minimum recommended level for this Dungeon is 5. Once you enter the dungeon, you will not be able to leave unless you clear the dungeon or use a Return Stone.

'Mandatory system warning?'

Yes, it was a mandatory system warning.

'Right, I'm going in then. Oh, and do me a favour? Keep all the system notifications turned off until I'm done with the dungeon, so I don't get distracted, unless it's a notification that's vitally important.'

Very well, I'll make sure you aren't notified unless it's vitally important.

I nodded and took a breath, counting to 5, before I opened the door and made my way into the building. I instantly felt a slight rush of magical power, likely the barrier that Rhea had mentioned forming to make sure nobody went in or out.

I quietly closed the door behind me, and then took a breath. 'Okay, first things first, I want to do this stealthily. I don't know what kind of stats the people in this dungeon will have, so I should be careful, try not to be seen… My magic is poisonous, so I'll try to get to a middle area of this floor, and then spew out a poison mist.'

I gave a nod to myself at my plan, quietly making my way through the building, being sure to move very carefully and quietly, keeping an eye out for any parts of the floor that seemed noisier than others, and being extra aware of my surroundings. Thankfully, it didn't seem that anyone heard me, and I found my way to what seemed like a crossroads section. There were various ruined lockers around, some hanging open with the doors swinging back and forth.

Right, so I'd spew out the mist here, then quickly hide in a locker and, as quietly as I could, close the door in front of me so if anyone came running out, they wouldn't find me.

I took a deep breath, paying the cost for my magic. 'Venom Dragon's Mist!' I exhaled, a purple mist expelling from my mouth and filling up the first floor rapidly. I noticed my MP was going down every second I kept pouring out more mist.

That was actually very useful to know, it told me that I could maintain covering my hands in poison for around 30 seconds, with every hit counting as around 30 damage.

After 10 seconds of spewing out my poisonous mist, I stopped and quickly ducked into a locker, closing the door as quickly and quietly as I possibly could.

Only a few seconds later, I heard people beginning to cough and choke loudly. I soon heard the sounds of stumbling footsteps, but they all soon faded, accompanied by dull thuds.

I didn't dare leave the locker, staying there for a full five minutes. It took two minutes for the mist to disperse and fade away, but I still didn't dare move in case someone came to investigate. As they said, better safe than sorry.

After the five minutes passed, I exhaled slowly and carefully stepped out of the locker. Various bodies were crumbled on the ground, foaming at the mouth with their eyes rolled back.

I quickly looked away, taking deep breaths to calm myself. 'Focus on it later,' I told myself. 'Think, just think of anything else for now… The building is big, but that's probably just a disguise. The best places to hide, and most common, would be underground. There's likely some kind of underground bunker, I just have to find it…'

I carefully tapped my chin as I thought of what to do. Making a lot of noises and trying to draw them out was an option, but I wasn't an idiot. My HP was only 150, that meant I could only take minimal hits before I died, so going about this in a stealthy way was my best choice.

Granted, I could also be wrong about this place having a secret underground area. It probably did, but it might not at all.

For now, I would focus on filling every floor with mist, and then I could take my time searching for an underground area.

Nodding to myself at my decision, I slowly made my way up to the second floor. Thankfully, there were only three floors, so once I cleared this one out, there'd only be one more left.

Once again I quietly made my way through the halls, but this time I heard voices and quickly hid behind the first thing I saw- a sofa.

The voices drew nearer, and I was soon able to make them out. "… Almost done with their experiments," the first voice said- a male- as it came into focus. "Soon, we'll be able to raid the Vatican and take those Holy Swords for ourselves."

"Good," the second voice murmured. "'Not compatible' and 'undeserving' my fucking ass! Giving us cheap ass discount lightsabres, we deserve to use proper holy swords!"

"Yeah, we'll show those fucking bastards," the first agreed. "You're due to go down to see if the crystals work properly, right?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Which way was it again? I always forget."

"Oh, for fuck's sake, man," he sighed. "It's the red door on the first floor, loose tile. You remove the tile, the floor opens up to let you in."

"Right! Got it!"

The two voices gradually faded away as they left, and I let out the breath I was holding.

I managed to avoid detection, and I learned how to get into the underground base…

But why should I go into the underground base? I was fucking frail, and I wasn't stupid. My poison had worked great for the first floor, I'd just fill up the base with poison from the entrance, and then block it off to make sure they couldn't get up.

… But they mentioned crystals. As in, the same kind of crystals used in the Holy Sword Project? Did that mean they'd kidnapped kids from orphanages, or kidnapped natural holy sword wielders and extracted the holy element and killed them?

I hesitated… 'Rhea, are you allowed to tell me if there are ONLY enemies in a dungeon?'

Of course, I can. The system is here to help you, not hinder you. There are no non-enemies within the dungeon. Every living being within this dungeon is your enemy, there is no need to hold yourself back.

I let out a slight sigh of relief hearing that… Good, so I hadn't accidentally killed anyone innocent…

Killed… I killed someone... A lot of people… I'm going to kill more…

I shook my head, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. 'Rhea, why don't I have a Gamer's Mind skill?' I asked her. It was usually a staple in gamer systems, but I noticed I myself didn't have one and was curious as to why.

Doing so would end up restraining most of your emotions, and the system was aware of how dangerous that could be when the system saw the state it put Elohim in. To put it into context, a lot of decisions he made during the Old Testament were made because Gamer's Mind was strongly affecting him. It was only when he realised what it was doing to him and turned it off himself, that he finally turned into the more benevolent figure you know today. As a result, the system deemed Gamer's mind irrelevant and unneeded. Many other people are able to adjust to killing without the need of a skill like that and decided the user should be able to do just fine. However, it is possible to develop skills later on that act in a similar way.

That made a great deal of sense when she put it like that… It would make things a bit more difficult for me, though knowing I could develop skills like that at a later time gave me a great deal of relief. But, for now, I'd just have to focus on clearing the dungeon now and worrying about the deaths I was causing later.

'You're preventing unnecessary deaths later on,' I told myself. 'That's all. Kill one to save a hundred…'

It was Kiritsugu's style of thinking. It wasn't necessarily wrong, just not applicable in every circumstance. It was just the thought process I'd have to use to help me keep a clear head right now. I was saving lives down the line by doing this.

Maybe… Probably…

Who was I fucking kidding? This was a Level 5 Dungeon for a reason.

'And I'm starting to circle back to negative thoughts. Head in the game, Tony,' I thought to myself, slipping through the floor and finding the more 'middle' part of the building that I could find.

Once again, I checked around for a hiding place and found a pile of boxes that would provide good cover to hide behind. I nodded and decided to do the smart thing and get behind cover before using my magic this time.

Once I was behind cover, I took another deep breath and began to expel my mist. This time, I held it until my MP ran out to make it last for as long as possible, so it lasted about 30 seconds before my MP ran out. As a result, the mist was thick, it was hard to see even my own hand in front of my face.

Then the coughing and choking began anew. I quickly covered my ears and closed my eyes, not wanting to see or hear anything while this happened. Just because I had resolved myself to doing this, didn't mean I wanted to hear it.

Moments later, all sounds faded away, and I blinked in surprise. 'Rhea?'

There's no need for you to hear this. You have resolved yourself, and that is enough for now. You're doing very well.

'… Thank you,' I told her, uncovering my ears and basking in the blissful silence.

It took six minutes for the mist to fade away this time, and I had no doubts everyone on the floor was dead. I got up and moved on.

Clearing the third floor also didn't take very long, another 30 second mist dispersion took out all of the enemies there, and I headed back to the first floor. I still didn't relax, making sure to be careful as I headed to the room with the red door, looking for and soon finding the loose tile.

I removed the tile, and the floor opened up, revealing a set of stairs that went down.

'Right, here we go…!' I took another deep breath, before I spewed mist straight down the stairs.

This time, the coughing and yells started much sooner, and I backed up, spewing the mist and filling up the room. A man in priest robes stumbled up the stairs before collapsing, foaming at the mouth and eyes rolled back.

Out of the basement behind him came a young man in priest robes, wielding an exorcist blade. He looked around frantically for the source of the mist, before he whirled around and spotted me.

"You!" He coughed hard. "You little bastard!" He began to charge at me, lifting his sword, but his coughs became violent as he fell to his knees, grasping at his throat.

I stopped spewing the mist and acted as fast as I could. I lifted a hand, letting my violet poison coil around my fingers and form into claws, before I clashed out, ripping through the soft flesh of his throat.

Blood squirted in a violent display as the exorcist gasped for air, falling to the ground and writhing, before he fell still and stopped moving.

I took deep breaths, trembling and tense as I looked at the display in front of me. I didn't dare relax, not even for a single moment, ready for the next person to come out of the basement…

You have successfully cleared the Dungeon.

I paused as I heard Rhea's voice, staring at the screen in front of me. "… I'm… Done?"

Yes, you are. You can relax now; the danger of this place has passed.

I responded to that the only way I could.

I ran over to the corner of the room and threw up as the weight of everything I had done slammed into me at once. I held onto the wall for support, taking deep and gasping breaths as I let out my breakfast and lunch, trembling.

Easy now, deep breaths. It will be okay, just take deep breaths.

I followed her instructions, slowly taking deep breaths, also closing my eyes and counting to ten to help calm myself.

It took about 5 minutes before I finally was able to calm down, but I didn't dare turn around and see the results of what I'd done. Instead, I spoke to Rhea, "Is there… Anything I should go down there to collect…?"

No, all items of relevance will be automatically looted and placed into your Inventory.

I took a breath and scooted around the edges of the room, facing the wall, before I made my way out and closed the door behind me. "R- Right… Give me all the notifications you were holding back please," I told her as I made my way down the hall, taking a seat on the worn down sofa.

Accumulated Reward Notification
You have levelled up x5
+9 INT, +4 WIS, +2 LUK
Through a special action, you have obtained the skill [Sneak]
[Sneak] Levelled up x2
[Poison Magic Proficiency] Levelled up x4
[Venom Dragon Slayer Magic] Levelled up x6
Due to usage of Venom Dragon Slayer Magic, you have obtained the Trait [Dragon Seed]

Dungeon Rewards
Loot

+7 Exorcist Blades
+3 Exorcist Guns
+8,000 Euros
+1 Holy Crystal
+5 Gacha Tokens (Common)

Dungeon Clear Rewards
You have levelled up
+1 Dungeon Chest (Common)
+2000 Euros
+5 Affection with Church Members as [Not Yet Known]

"What's with the 'not yet known' stuff?" I asked Rhea, slightly blown away by the amount of rewards I'd received. They were all very useful, though I had no plans on using the Gacha tokens. I'd prefer to only use uncommon tokens at minimum. I was also surprised I'd obtained the Dragon Seed right away.

As you have not yet joined the Supernatural world, nobody knows you've done this, and so they don't know how to refer to you. Once they know your name, or what to call you, then you will have affection with them but only as that person. So, if you were to put on a disguise and obtain the affection as 'Leonardo,' then they will obtain affection with you while you are Leonardo, but you will be at 0 affection as Antonio.

I gave a small nod of understanding, as her words made perfect sense. I opened up my inventory and looked at the Holy Crystal to see just what it was.

Holy Crystal (Rare)
A crystal composed of the Holy Element, extracted from those with potential and condensed into a crystalised form. Using this item will grant the user the perk [Holy Sword Wielder (Fake)].

I shook my head, deciding not to use the Crystal. Not right away, at least, because I might pick up a Holy Sword Wielder perk at some point through affection gains or through dungeon clearing.

"Open up the Dungeon Chest please."

Opening Dungeon Chest…

You have obtained the Skill [Aura Suppression]

If that was what I thought it was… I quickly opened up the skill, wanting to be sure before I jumped to conclusions. I'd check out the sneak skill while I was at it, I might as well since I had the menu open anyway.

Aura Suppression – Level 1 – Uncommon
A skill that represents the user's ability to suppress the aura they give off.

-1% of any supernatural aura leaking from the body

+1% chance of people brushing you off as a normal human

Sneak – Level 3 – Common
A skill that represents how well the user is able to hide.

-3% noise made while active

+3% chance to be undetected while active

Okay, those were very good skills that complimented one another very well. I'd have to work on maxing both of those out as soon as possible, they might be essential for my overall survival.

Next, I opened up my traits to see the Dragon Seed Trait.

[Dragon Seed]
You have delved into the ancient lost magic of the Dragon Slayer. But all power has a price, and the power of the dragon has taken root within your body. And, eventually, you shall become a dragon.

Converts the blood and body to that of a dragon over time. The more magic is used, the faster the transformation occurs. Minimum expected time until Dragonification: 5 years.

I gave a small wince as I got to the end… Five years? In just five years, I'd become a dragon? I mean, I didn't mind becoming a dragon, but the issue with it was that it wasn't exactly conspicuous. I'd prefer to stay as a human for the moment, or at the very least learn transformation magic and obtain enough magic to keep it up indefinitely so that I didn't have to stay as a dragon. It should be possible too, I remembered from 100 Year Quest that it was mentioned all dragons were inherently compatible with transformation magic or could transform to some extent. It was either obtain that or get Dragon Antibodies.

Side Quest Assigned: [Dragon or No?]

Side Quest: Dragon or No?
You have obtained the power of Dragon Slaying Magic, but it comes with a steep cost: the eventual transformation into dragon. And now, you have a choice to make. Do you allow it to run its course and become a dragon, using transformation magic to retain your human shape? Or do you work hard, and find a way to halt it?

Split Objective
-Learn Transformation Magic and allow the Dragonification process to be completed
-Find out how to develop Dragon Slayer Antibodies and apply them to yourself

I accepted the quest without issue, free rewards were free rewards after all, I just had to decide which one I wanted to do. I'd likely try and find a way to develop the antibodies anyway for Irene's sake, she was always horrified upon becoming a dragon, it was a key point in her descent to Insanity.

'Is there anything else I should do here…' I mused to myself, opening up my inventory and looking at the Companion Gem. It would certainly not be a bad choice to summon out Irene here, but would she be willing to help me? She might try to kill me for all I knew.

Companions who choose to not help you are returned to where they came from. Should they attempt to kill you, it will be classified as refusing and they will be returned to their world. However, the gem will be consumed.

I hesitated, before I took a deep breath. In for a penny…

I pulled the Gem out of my inventory and crushed it in my palm, a light unleashing from the gem and floating in front of me before it formed into a body and face I knew very well from watching Fairy Tail, a face that looked confused as she looked around.

"Where am I?" She finally said as she looked at me. "Who are you?"

"My name is Antonio Bianchi, but feel free to call me Tony," I told her. "As for where you are… You might want to sit down and suppress your magic power, because this is going to sound crazy."

"I'll stand," she said curtly, crimson energy surrounding her hands. "Now, tell me where I am, or else."

I took a deep breath. "What's the last thing you remember?"

She glared at me.

"Please, just humour me, it's vitally important."

Her eyes narrowed. "… I was… Fighting?" She frowned. "Yes, fighting with Belserion against Acnologia… It was a hard fight; we were losing and then…" Her frown faded as her face paled, the crimson energy fading from her hands. "… And then Acnologia hit us with his breath attack… And everything faded away… I… I died."

"Yes," I nodded at her words. "You died."

A dizzy look appeared on her face as she sat down. "H- how am I here?"

"I have the power to summon forth beings from other worlds," he told her. "In the event that person is deceased, they are granted a new body, and then are given a choice."

"A choice?"

"Yes," I nodded. "You can choose to stay here and work as my companion… Or you can choose to go back. Should you choose to go back, your memories of this meeting with be erased, and you'll be sent back to the exact moment you left… In your case, you'll go on to whatever afterlife awaits you."

"So, work with you or die," she muttered bitterly.

"Believe me, I wish I could send you back alive, but that's just not how it works," I shook my head. "I am sorry."

"What do I get out of this, besides living?"

"Information," I said immediately. "While I can't send you back to your world, I've been able to observe a variation of it in which you live. I can give you information about what happened to you in that timeline, so you can at least know how you would have ended up if you'd survived. I can also give you information about the consequences of Dragon Slaying Magic."

"Consequences?" She asked, looking at me. "What do you mean? What consequences?"

I hesitated, not sure how she'd take this, but pressed on. "… Dragon Slaying Magic has a price. The first time you use Dragon Slaying Magic, something develops within you known as the 'Dragon Seed.' It is nurtured by using Dragon Slaying Magic. And it eventually turns the person into a dragon."

She froze in place. "… W- what? I'm going to… To turn into a dragon? I'm going to… Th- there has to be a way to stop it, there must! I don't want to stop being human!"

"There is, please take a deep breath and just let me talk."

She hesitated but took a deep breath, doing her best to calm down, before she nodded at me.

"As I said, I've observed a timeline where you live, and many years down the line the dragons discover how to prevent the process known as Dragonification. And that is by sealing themselves within the Dragon Slayers they teach and using their magic to spread what is known as an 'Antibody' through them that prevents Dragonification from taking place. Now, we don't have a dragon that can help us out with that. But eventually I might be able to find a world with someone experienced enough in magic to take a sample of Dragon Slaying Magic, and then use it to create an antibody to prevent us from turning."

"I… Yes, that works… Wait, you are also a Dragon Slayer?" She asked. "Who taught you?"

"I'm self-taught," I told her, which technically wasn't a lie. I'd used a skill orb, which I earned, so I technically had taught myself. "I use Venom Dragon Slayer Magic. I'm pretty young and pretty frail, so poison works best for me to fight until I learn how to fight."

"You can teach yourself dragon slaying magic?" She asked me, tilting her head.

"It's rare, Dragon Slaying magic- in your world in the current timeline- is considered an ancient magic, all but lost. It is possible to learn it from a book, but it has the same results eventually: Dragonification. However, all dragons can transform to some extent. So, if one were to learn transformation magic, they can regain their human forms."

She let out a soft sigh. "Well, at least there's an option… How long does Dragonification take?"

"For me, it will take about five years. For you? I'm sorry, I don't know," he shook his head. "In the timeline where you live, you're able to hold back the transformation for a number of years, only forcing the transformation to be completed yourself when someone attempts to cut at your pregnant stomach to prove you aren't pregnant."

She looked at me in horror. "Why would someone do that!?"

I winced. "After you began the process of turning into a dragon, you were locked up as an enemy of humanity. You were pregnant at the time, but you used magic to hold the pregnancy in place so that your child could be cared for properly. When your execution was scheduled, you pleaded to not be killed for the sake of your child. To prove you weren't pregnant, as you'd been locked up for many years, the knight attacked to cut open your stomach. Fearing for your child's life, you sped up the transformation yourself and turned into a Dragon."

She took a deep breath, putting a hand on her chest to prevent herself from hyperventilating. "… I wish that I could say you were lying, I truly do. But I've been using magic on you to see if you're telling the truth, and it hasn't once pinged me that you're lying. So, I believe you."

I slumped in relief when I heard that.

"You mentioned summoning me from another world though," she pointed out. "That means this isn't my world at all, right? What's different about this world?"

I paused, wondering how to put this. "This is a world where Magic is considered a myth," I told her finally. "Supernatural beings exist, like magicians, angels, devils and such, but they are all in hiding, and keep magic a secret from ordinary people. Without magic, technology has thrived instead, replicating many things that specific Lacrima can do without the need of magic."

"That's… Impressive," she nodded, looking slightly marvelled by that, before focusing up. "Why did you summon me?"

I took a breath. "This explanation might take a while, so bear with me on this one, okay?"

She nodded, putting her hand in her lap as she prepared to listen.

"I've known about the supernatural in this world since I was very young. Knowing about the supernatural world, I wanted to become a part of it. So, I trained, and I trained hard, but I had no magic to learn in order to help me along, and I'm an orphan, I can only escalate my training so much without access to money for better training gear. Eventually, I was attacked by a stray devil, a monster that has lost all rationality and only wants to feed on human flesh and increase their powers. It ate my legs, and I was saved by two exorcists- monster purifiers to put it simply- who believed I was too far gone and left me to die after praying for me."

Irene stared at me in shock and did something that surprised me. She pulled me into a hug and rest my head on her chest, stroking my head. "I'm so sorry that happened to you," she murmured. "It must have been terrifying… So very terrifying…"

I felt stunned by her kindness, the warmth she was giving me. I knew Irene was different in her youth compared to when she was older, but this was incredibly different.

"Y- yeah, it was," I told her, enjoying the warmth of the hug. "A- Anyway, as I died I obtained a strange power that healed me and gave me a chance to become part of the Supernatural. I learned Dragon Slayer Magic and acquired the means to summon you. I chose to summon you for a few reasons, one being I was kind of… Hoping you'd be willing to adopt me."

She froze and looked down at me. "What?"

"It's so I can get out of the orphanage," I told her quickly. "It's not a bad place by any means, but… It's not exactly the best place to become a supernatural, especially with the home base of the Church in walking distance from my home. I was… I was hoping you'd be able to adopt me, so that I could get out of the orphanage, and then you could help train me?"

"For what purpose do you want to be trained, beyond coming part of the 'supernatural' world, as you put it?"

"A lot of nasty stuff is coming to the world," I told her. "I've seen a timeline of this world where things get really nasty. I want to do my part and make a difference, and hopefully prevent tragedies and deaths that don't need to happen."

+20 Affection with Irene Belserion (Halved due to Anti-Social)

The notification caught me by surprise… Did that mean…?

Irene stared down at me for a while… Before she nodded. "Very well, I will help you."

I felt my body relax. "Thank you."

She only smiled. "Now, how would I go about adopting you?"