Chapter 9: Exp

Through the history of this world, there have been many villains tried to bring harm to the Dragon of Origin. Being only Lv1 with all stats value at 1 while sleeping defenselessly without care to the surrounding, this important being is just as fragile as glass. Some tried to kill him, others tried to corrupt him which in turn corrupting the whole world. And in the time of need, a hero would raise and repel the evil force, threading many heroic tales revolving around the Dragon of Origin...

Being tired of defending him over and over, the heads of the religion of Origin established a secret organization whose purpose is to strengthen (read: lvl up) the Dragon of Origin. Why secret? Because this organization was allowed to use any thing from bloody rituals to dark magic. However, none of them has worked so far. Transferring Exp is nigh impossible.

Of course they has tried crude methods like pinning a weak monster near the Dragon of Origin or using his own claws to cut open the monster. The former couldn't work because this dragon has been sleeping like dead without even moving, so "accidentally" crushing the monster never happened. The later simply won't work thanks to how this world's exp system works.

However, recently the organization has found a ritual which was usually performed by a monster tribe on a remote island. At first, the ritual was simply a funeral method: The corpse of the recently deceased (monster) is put in the center or a magic circle. After performing the ritual, the corpse becomes light and disperses into the air.

An adventurers copied the ritual method into a scroll and brought it back to the land. The scroll's journey was a long story, but in the end, that organization got their hand on it. The first thing they thought of was, of course, using it to transfer exp. It was their first success. With a few twerk in the chant, the corpse would become light and flow into a target, giving said target a tiny amount of exp.

Another problem arose: the debates about the "impureness" of the monsters could "dirty" the Dragon of Origin. Of course there was no such thing, exp is exp; but the heads of the religion made a fuss about it. In the end, only a selected few could have the honor of "becoming one with the world"...

"You're such a bunch of fanatic!" Instead of commenting about the fact that I am vital to this world, that's what I scream out loud after hearing the men in shining armor - some sort of Holy Knight, explain their situation.

"How dare you say that?!" One of the knight retorts. Wait, an't I your subject of worship? Or am I mistaking? However I don't want to question him about that. Ignorance is bliss, I'd rather thinking they don't worship me but rather this world.

"Anyway, now that you're here, it's good that we don't have to come to the Temple of Origin to perform that ritual." Another knight says... So that's why he didn't bat an eye on the sight of his fallen comrade. They were going to be corpse anyway, so being killed by a wild monster was better than killing themselves, I guess.

"No, I'm not going to do it." I answer them, firmly, crossing my arms in front of my chest, closing my eyes while raising my head a bit. My pose is just a blush away from being "sulky". A 12m tall dragon being sulky is an interesting scene to see, but there is no mirror here and I don't have aura vision... Did it ruin my image in these Holy Knights' mind? I hope so.

"Ah.. you're so kind.. as expected of..." The knights kneel down and say. Huh, now they're praising me... Didn't they just shout at me previously? Probably they're trying to convince me to kill them, but their words give me chill so I ignore most of them. What a bunch of fanatic.

The brown wolf who is now sitting in front of me growls with two human legs in armor still sticking out from his maw. That knight stopped struggling after knowing my identity from the other two knights; but he is sure still alive as his feet occasionally twitch. I try to avert my eyes from his maw.

Now that I think about it, having a bit exp is nice, but I can't wrap my head around the idea of taking sacrifice.

"While you sleep, there is virtually no way to transfer exp." A knight explains although he didn't understand the wolf's growl. "But now that you're awake and if you don't want to do 'it' yourself, someone..." He glances at the wolf. "...can do 'it' for you." The knight tries to avoid saying something like 'kill us', I guess.

"How does it work? I thought there was no way to transfer exp?"

"You can share exp in a party. To form a party, you can register at the town... blah blah..." Another knight continues the explanation.

I don't know what I expected. It's so awkward to hear a cliché game mechanic here so I ignore most of them.

"However..." The knight looks at the wolf again. "I think you'd prefer a master/servant status with a monster."

"I will do it." The wolf immediately growls in respond.

Oh cool, a Wolf pet.

Chapter 10: Servant

It's funny if you think about it. The two... wait, three knights are plotting their own death. What a bunch of fanatic! (Third time's the charm).

The wolf doesn't seem to have problem with being my servant though, but he demands the 'contract' to not bound him to my order. He said something about following me because I am interesting, not because of my identity as the Dragon of Origin... Hmm... An't I the one who is supposed to say "I find you interesting so I'm following you" here? I came to (and created) this world to seek fun in the first place.

"Having a giant wolf following me is a bit standing out..." I mumble. Having a giant wolf as servant is cool though, but I don't like being the center of attention.

"Said the 12m tall dragon." One of the knight says in a sarcastic tone. They use a different measuring system but I'd just convert it to metric for your own convenience. Sorry if you use imperial system.

Why did I, someone who doesn't like standing out, make a huge dragon as my body? First, I like dragon, dragon is cool. Second, I was the first being in this world so I couldn't know that I was this big; there wasn't anything else for comparison. I blame the Deities for making the world's scale smaller than I expected.

"Hey! You're the one begging to be my exp!" My late retort comes.

"I will write a simple magical contract using the paper and pen that we planed to use for the ritual." The knight seems to ignore my complain. He says as he casually walks pass the huge wolf without fear to the campfire where their backpack is. The wolf looks cute when he sits like a huge dog and not mauling people though. Also, the men in shining armor claimed themselves to be "Knight" but where are their horses? Or Knights in this world don't always ride horses? I need another serious lesson of common sense here.

Before I could voice my doubt, the knight returns with a parchment and a quill-pen. How old-fashioned! Should I teach them about modern paper manufacturing and ball-pen? Nah, it has nothing to do with me anyway. I'm a dragon, I don't need paper and pen! I will write on rocks with my claws! When my Atk is high enough to scratch rocks, of course.

He swiftly writes something into the parchment using my foot as table. They don't have any respect toward me at all, do they? The other knight explains to me how magical these 'pen' and 'paper' are, but I ignore it all while screaming in my mind. I don't care! I'm a mass of moving magic here!

The wolf leans his head to side and curiously looks at the scene. He looks even more cute like that, the knight's legs sticking out from his maw look like a chew-toy. He keeps looking; does he even know how to read? I doubt it.

Soon, the knight finishes writing and hand me the tiny parchment (compared to me). Another thing I need to learn: Reading and Writing. I hope they come as bonus with the exp from the knights... Am I seriously thinking of killing them? Where is my remorse?! Just a moment ago I was afraid of blood and now I'm going to kill people for exp...

"You put a drop of your blood here. Just a tiny drop. And place the parchment on your servant's forehead then chant..." The knight explain this and that and I do what he instructs me to do. Poking my finger with their sword, I drop a "tiny" drop of blood on the parchment, ending up painting it red. Magic that involve blood is pretty dangerous, the knight could have easily manipulate me who doesn't know a thing about this world to sign a blood contract with him, and I'm not having doubt at all. I seriously believe he is a fanatic who just wants to "become one with the world".

"Err, let's see... Under the witness of the Goddess of Life..." Why should I pray to a deity born from my mana? Well, thinking of a new chant is a bit troublesome so I'd just use the chant the knight gave me. "...I, the Dragon of Origin..." The Knight said that I shouldn't use the name Unknown to chant, so I use my title. "...bind the soul before me..." I say while holding the contract against the wolf's forehead. He closes his eyes as the contract shines in the color of my blood. "...to my soul..." The contract sinks into the wolf's head then a colorful stream flows from that point into my arm. It seems the stream has Earth element as it turns my arms Brown. "...even death can't tear us apart." What? Am I marrying the wolf?

After the stream of light ceases, the wolf's status appears in my mind.