Reincarnated as a Dragon – The path of the Dragon God

“Whoa…” Henry couldn’t help but gasp in awe as he looked around the surroundings he suddenly found himself in.

Patch of grass and flowers as far as the eye could see, extending beyond the horizon, seemingly without a limit in sight. The sky was blue and bright like how it should be, complemented by the gentle and fluffy tenderness of clouds that drifted ever so slowly.

Chloe and Yula had similar reactions as their gazes wandered around them, taking in the vestal scenery.

It was simply a normal patch of land with all the grace and elegance of nature without a smudge of any impurities in sight.

Such a scenery was not something to be in so much awe of but Henry’s sense of tremendous wonder did not stem from the environment itself. Rather, it was how this epitome of nature came about that induced so much awe from Henry.

“What do you think?” Nadea asked.

“Where is this place?” Henry returned a question. “Is this place real?”

“It’s real.”

“Are these flowers and grass actually… flowers and grass?” Henry asked as he brushed his hand across the grass and the flowers.

“They are very much the real thing, Henry. Although it is made purely of divine powers, this realm is very much real. Aside from how everything here came to be, there’s no other difference from their… normal counterpart.”

The fascination on Henry’s face began to wane after he had finished taking in the refreshing view. “Is this my reward then? Is this supposed to be some kind of a vacation?”

Nadea giggled upon hearing Henry’s words. “Far from it, my dear Henry. This is something better, way better.”

Henry raised an eyebrow. “Something better than a vacation?”

“This is your permanent residence,” Nadea said. “If you wish it to be, of course.”

It took Henry a while before he was finally to piece Nadea’s meaning together. “Is this place… something like a pocket dimension?”

“Yes, it is. A subspace, you can also call it and it is now yours, this whole realm.”

“Um… Lady Nadea?” Yula called out hesitantly.

“Please, just Nadea will do.”

“When you said this realm now belongs to Henry, do we also—”

Nadea laughed out loud, interrupting Yula’s question. “Of course, sweetheart. Why would you think otherwise? Do you take me for some kind of cruel and sadistic god?”

“N-no… of course, not.”

“If Henry trusts you, then I trust you too. Henry’s friend is my friend.” Nadea was still tittering when she turned her gaze to Chloe. “You are included in the circle too.”

“Me?” Chloe blurted out. “But I’m just an outsider. I’m not Henry’s—”

“Not yet.”

Chloe frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Oh? Surely you can’t be this dull or insensitive, can you? You must have noticed the way he looked at you at some point, ya?”

Chloe then looked towards Henry, who was smiling wryly. “Is it true?” she asked.

“Yes,” Henry answered straightly. “But you already know it to be true, don’t you?”

Yula peeked over at the two with an amused expression.

“...How can I not?” Chloe said after some hesitation. “What kind of clueless idiot do you think I am?”

“In that case, things have just gotten a lot less complicated. But we can put that off for now. Anyway, Nadea, you were saying something about how this is my realm from now on.”

“Ah, yes. That is what I was saying. This realm is now yours and forever. You are free to do whatever you wish with it.”

Henry narrowed his gaze. “Are you not going to tell me anything other than that?”

“Hmm? Given the fiction you have consumed, surely you don’t need any explanation, right?”

“Maybe, but further confirmation wouldn’t hurt.”

Nadea shrugged. “Indeed, it won’t. Now, where do I begin?” she began musing, tapping her chin. Before anyone knew it, she had manifested a chair of thin air and was now sitting on it, swinging her feet as the chair was a tad too tall for her height.

Knowing this might take a while, Henry made himself comfortable on the ground just in front of Nadea.

Yula and Chloe did the same. They sat down on the ground near Henry.

Seeing how Nadea was taking a while with her thoughts, Henry decided to interject. “How do I enter and exit this realm?”

“To go in and out of this realm, you simply need to will it.”

“Will it?”

“Well, think. You just need to think of going into this realm and a portal will appear.”

“What about my wives? Do they have similar privileges?”

“Not similar but they can enter and exit the realm as they wish. However, they can’t give permission to others. Only you can.”

“Does this… ability have some kind of toll?”

Nadea snickered. “That’s the best part, it doesn’t. Well, it does but it is at my expense. You are using my divine powers whenever you enter or exit this realm. To mortals, the expense is a tremendous gulf, but to me, it is merely a drop in the ocean. So, you need not worry about expenditures.”

“This is nice and all but… what am I to do with this vast empty space? I mean, it’s good for a respite but… there’s nothing here.”

“Did I mention that you can bring outside objects into this realm?”

“You didn’t.”

“Well, now I did.” Nadea shrugged. “I know, this may not look like much but in time, I’m sure you can make it very comfortable and cosy. Yula has a knack for building and carving wonders, doesn’t she?”

Yula smiled radiantly but she turned her eyes away instinctively to avoid showing her blush.

“Any other questions?”

“Does this place have a day and night cycle?” Henry asked.

“It does, but it can be changed. You only need to wish for it and it shall change. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that you are the god of this pocket world. In case you haven’t noticed, the Murux count is quite high, even higher than Ulrum.”

“So to say?”

“You will recuperate faster and you will replenish your Murux quicker.”

Henry was well aware his self-healing abilities were already quite absurd. He still remembered the time he suffered heavy injuries while learning to fly. There was a large gaping wound with his broken bone jutting out, but his wounds mended themselves completely in just a few hours. He couldn’t imagine how much more broken his self-healing abilities had just gotten.

“Should you ever find yourself on death’s doorsteps, this place will fix you right back up immediately,” Nadea explained further.

“That sounds too good to be true.”

“This is a realm created using divine powers. You should be expecting no less.”

“Can the terrains be changed?” Yula asked. “By Henry, I mean.”

Chloe looked towards Yula as if the latter just spouted something utterly nonsensical. “Don’t you think that's too much to ask for?”

“Is it though? When it comes to construction games, isn’t changing and manipulating the terrains a staple element?”

“This is not a game, Yula.”

“I know I know, but you can’t deny the quest and rewards kinda make it feels like a game. And now we have this.”

Chloe stared at Yula for a while before rolling her gaze and sighing in resignation.

“What about intruders? Is there a chance for there to be… uninvited guests?” Henry asked as if he did not hear the exchange between the two girls.

“If there is, it can only be a god with authority equal to mine or higher.”

“What about the time flow here?”

“There’s no change to the time flow and that’s something you cannot and should not change. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you the risk and consequences of messing with time.”

Henry nodded. He had read a lot of stories that involved characters dabbling in the manipulation of time and all of those stories did not have a good ending. At best, it was only bittersweet.

“Anything else?”

Henry hung his head in silence for a while, tilting his head side to side. “Can I give permission to enter this realm to just anyone?”

“Yes, you can. I don’t think I need to tell you this but… do be responsible as to who you choose to give permission to.”

“What happens if I allow someone to enter but I don’t allow them to leave?”

The ominous question drew the frowning stares of Chloe and Yula to Henry.

“What the fuck, Henry?” Chloe blurted out.

“That sounds—” Yula’s frown turned into a faint grin. “—fun.”

Chloe bounced her gaze between Yula and Henry as her frown deepened. “You two are not right in the head.”

“I’m sure you will make good use of this gift, Henry,” Nadea said, tittering.

“I sure will.”

“Any more questions?”

“That will be all… for now.”

“Splendid,” Nadea cheered and hopped off the chair that was much too tall for her. As soon as her feet touched the ground, the chair disappeared into a puff of smoke. “Now, on to your next rewards.”

Henry raised his brows. “There’s another?”

“You think this is all you deserve?”

“...I don’t know but I do think this is already a lot to give.”

“Just the contrary, my dear Henry. You stop an impending crisis that has plagued many worlds. Contemplate that.”

“Hmm… If you put it like that, it sure sounds like a huge deal.”

“It is very much a huge deal, Henry. Worlds would have collapsed if you had failed to stop him.”

Yula was snickering behind Henry. “As expected of my fated lover,” she muttered gleefully under her breath.

“So, what’s the next reward?”

In a blink of an eye, Nadea was in front of Henry with only a few inches between them. Not only that, she was even floating above the ground, being at eye level with Henry.

“Oh, my…” Yula murmured in anticipation.

Henry did not perceive Nadea’s sudden movement until she was right in front of him but he was not perturbed as he didn’t sense any malice from her.

“This might sting a little,” Nadea said and gently tapped on Henry’s forehead with her index finger.

Then, Henry felt a great surge of power within him. The feeling was akin to when he consumed a Murux Core but this one was far greater than all the other moments. Though there was no immense pain from suddenly receiving such a tremendous amount of power, it did make Henry stagger and disoriented.

“What did you just—”

“Why don’t you find it out yourself?” Nadea snapped her fingers and a few straw dummies appeared a good distance away.

Henry stared at the target dummies and cracked his knuckles by just flexing his fingers. He swiped his hand across the empty air in the direction of the target dummies.

In the next moment, the upper halves of all target dummies slid off their lower halves.

“What the fuck?”

“Wow!” Yula clapped. “Awesome! This is space-type magic, isn’t it?”

Nadea nodded. “It is, indeed. Well, Henry, what do you think?”

“From what I know about space-type magic, aren’t they very… how shall I say it…”

“Overpowered?”

“For the lack of a better word, overpowered.”

“You’re a demi-god, Henry. You’re on your way to becoming a full-fledged one. This much is nothing. Also, there’s more to this new power of yours than just… cutting across space and time, but I’m sure you already know that.”

“I feel like I’m being groomed here.”

“Oh, don’t make it sound so… negative. It’s a good thing. Well, maybe not. But worry not, you’re still thousands of years away from becoming a god.”

“How reassuring.”

“Anyway, that’s everything. I think I have taken your time long enough. There’s a feast waiting for you, if I recall. Be seeing you, Henry.”

Before Henry could respond to Nadea’s farewell, he found himself on the street of a cul-de-sac along with Yula and Chloe. Nadea was already nowhere to be seen.

“Wait, she’s just gonna leave us here?” Yula asked. “How are we going to get back to Ulrum?”

“I can take us there,” Henry said.

“Ooh?”

“You can?” Chloe widened her eyes. “Since when?”

Henry smirked. “Since just now,” he answered.