Awakening as a Red Dragon

"Roar—!" A colossal roar echoed from the distance. It shook the mountain peaks and made the earth tremble, sending birds and beasts fleeing in terror. Deep within the cavern, it also jolted a slumbering young beast awake, leaving it bewildered. "Hiss..." "What on earth is going on?" Lin Kai felt as though he had just awakened from a nightmare, his mind still groggy. Yet before him was not his familiar room, nor was there any high-tech gaming pod or its accompanying gear. In their place was a dark, warm cavern of hard rock, with a few stray gold coins scattered across the stone floor. "Where is this?" A splitting headache struck him as a flood of memories surged into his mind—memories of fantasy magic, mingled with his past life as a player. He only remembered taking a quest from a whale player to farm Hill Giant fingers, grinding away in Giant Canyon for over eight straight hours. In the end, his body couldn't hold out any longer, so he set his character to AFK and lay down to sleep, intending to jump back into the pod once he woke up. Yet the moment he opened his eyes, he was inexplicably in this godforsaken place—and his body felt distinctly bizarre. He pushed himself up with great effort and, instinctively walking on all fours, padded over to a nearby puddle. "A dragon?" The "beast" reflected in the water was covered entirely in fine crimson scales, with golden, slit pupils that radiated sheer ferocity. Its body, a little over three meters long, still held the awkward youth of a whelp, but many features already showed early signs of terrifying power: tightly packed, needle-sharp teeth, wicked talons, and thick, muscular limbs. Yes, this was a young dragon. And not just any dragon—it was a red dragon, the mightiest and most ferocious of all chromatic dragons. The scent of sulfur filled his mouth, and deep within his throat felt like a buried volcano ready to erupt at any moment, leaving Lin Kai thoroughly uncomfortable. Unable to hold it back, he sneezed, sending puffs of scalding steam and smoke billowing from his nostrils. A translucent blue light screen suddenly materialized before his eyes. *** **Young Red Dragon** **Name:** Cassius Claudew Norixius **Template:** NPC (10 years, 1 day, 18 hours until server launch) **Category:** Large Dragon, Lawful Neutral **AC:** 18 (Natural Armor) **Ability Scores:** Strength: 21 Dexterity: 10 Constitution: 18 Intelligence: 12 Wisdom: 11 Charisma: 14 **Skill Proficiencies:** Stealth +4, Perception +8, Hunting +2, Escape +4, Knowledge (Future) +4 **Damage Immunities:** Fire **Senses:** Blindsight 10 ft., Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 14 **Languages:** Draconic, Common **Actions:** Bite, Claw, Tail Attack, Fly, Breath Weapon (Fire) **Feats:** None **Challenge Rating:** 6 (2,100 XP) **Description:** *"A red dragon's powerful claws and fangs are enough to become any adventurer's nightmare. They frequently employ their fiery breath, formidable physical attacks, and magic mastered since antiquity. Never underestimate even a young red dragon, lest it become your lifelong nightmare."* *** "I transmigrated into Elezerg?" "And I became Brother Kai?" After staring at the information for a long time, Lin Kai—or rather, Cassius—finally sorted through his thoughts and grasped his current situation. He sank into the memories of his past life. *Elezerg* was a virtual reality game built upon the foundation of last century's Dungeons & Dragons. Its origins and publisher were unknown, yet it possessed technology that bordered on miraculous, claiming to construct a truly living world for its players. At its peak, its concurrent global player count surpassed one hundred million. From ordinary folk to social elites, and even titans of business and politics, countless people immersed themselves in it. Some spent virtually their entire lives inside gaming pods, stepping out only to eat and sleep. A gargantuan market had grown around this epic masterpiece. Every major patch could shift real-world economic markets, and legendary equipment could sell for tens of millions—a digital gold rush comparable to Bitcoin in the early twenty-first century. This drove hordes of people to throw themselves into the game, and Lin Kai had been one of them. And "Brother Kai" was precisely who he was now: Cassius Claudew Norixius, the first world boss of Version 1.0, *Storm over Anzeta*, an abhorrent red dragon who had forged a pact with demons from the Abyss. He had borne countless titles: the Cinder Flame, Wrath of the Mountains, Harvester of Player Lives, Nightmare of Novices. During the early days of the game, in the quest *Wrath of Winter*, thousands of fresh players had been tormented to utter misery by the red dragon's inferno, frustrated by their inability to strike the beast as it wheeled through the heavens. With an average of dozens of deaths per player, mountains of charred corpses piled high—among them many who would later become renowned pro gamers. In the end, the players had only triumphed through sheer human wave tactics and suicidal assaults. That glorious battle record had earned Cassius his immortal nickname among players: "Brother Kai." Even by Version 4.0, when the level cap had risen to 20, some players roamed the Astral Plane, took mercenary contracts across dimensions, and traversed the multiverse. Yet the legend of Brother Kai still lingered across the community: the tale of a red dragon whose masterful technique in roasting human flesh had crushed countless experts, reducing them all to piles of cinders. *"Brother Kai's barbecue, unmatched under heaven."* *But what point in the timeline is this?* "Roar!" Another deafening roar outside the lair shattered Cassius's train of thought. The immense pressure permeating the air made even the young dragon's heart shudder. Suppressing the urge to flee, he trotted to the mouth of the cave and cautiously peeked out. High in the distant sky, a colossal red dragon beat its massive wings, whipping up violent gales as it glared down at the ground below. That had to be Cassius's current birth mother. Judging by her massive body, well over twenty meters in length, she was a mighty red dragon in the prime of her life. "Half-human, half-elven mongrel, begone from my domain!" "Who do you think stands before you?" "You face the most favored spawn of Her Majesty Tiamat, ruler of Cloud Peak, the noble and mighty red dragon Acrania!" The red dragon's tone brimmed with arrogance, a pride inherent to her bloodline. Standing fearlessly on the ground against the colossal dragon was a warrior clad in dark gold armor. Her face was indistinct, veiled beneath a faint shimmer of light. Only the tips of her pointed ears betrayed her half-elven heritage, and her slender frame vaguely indicated that she was a woman. With her sword resting behind her, she spoke in a calm, resolute voice: "Vile dragon, so bloated with hubris, yet blind to the doom that marches toward you." The half-elf stared up at the dragon in the sky, her words ringing out like iron strikes: "You pillage ill-gotten wealth and slaughter the innocent. Your deeds have shattered the justice and order of this world." "No matter what deity stands behind you, those of us who uphold our sacred vows will make you pay the price you are owed—with your life!" This was a paladin's Oath of Vengeance! With that, the half-elf drew the silver blade from her back. In the sky above, the red dragon let out a snort, unleashed a piercing roar, and folded her wings to dive straight down. Her gaping, terrifying maw looked ready to tear the puny half-elf to shreds. A torrent of blistering flames erupted from the depths of her gullet, the terrifying heat warping the very air around her. *It's Rhea, the Blade of Twilight,* Cassius realized, finally connecting this scene to his own questline. **Main Quest: Wrath of the Cold Night** *[Ten years ago, the mother of the red dragon Cassius Claudew Norixius was slain by the wandering half-elven paladin Rhea, 'the Blade of Twilight.' The young red dragon fled in panic and went into hiding deep within the Anstica Mountains, biding its time for vengeance against humanity.* *Now, having forged a pact with an ancient demon from the depths of the mountains, it has become the 'Cinder Flame,' laying waste to city after city. Leading an army of evil, the fell dragon will tear down justice and order, reducing the entire Northland to ashes!]* And right now was that very battle between the red dragon and the paladin—ten whole years before the players' arrival! To Cassius's eyes, that distant half-elven paladin was a full Level 20, right on the threshold of entering epic territory, and blessed by divine favor to boot. She was an indisputable, world-class powerhouse. An adult red dragon had a standard Challenge Rating of only 17. Even if its life tier touched legendary heights, it stood little chance against a divine-favored paladin—an existence practically running on cheat codes. What was more, the renowned "Blade of Twilight" had long since advanced into epic status by Version 4.0, serving as one of the key NPCs in the Elven Kingdom main questline. It seemed his newfound mother was practically doomed. The young dragon shook his head. He had no time to ponder further. Flapping his immature wings, he bounded and scurried back into the depths of the cave, preparing to pack up and make a run for it. Of course, before a wandering son left home, he would have to "claim" a little startup capital from this ready-made mother of his, fair and square. *Praise Tiamat, this is a red dragon's hoard after all.* *Let's just hope it's not too pathetic...* Cassius exhaled a puff of sulfurous heat, shook his body gently, and stretched his somewhat stiff wings.