I Received System to Become Dragonborn

The four Dragonborn were escorted through a series of stone corridors before being shoved into a prison cell.

The room was dark, damp, and filthy. Moisture clung to the stone walls, the stale smell of mildew and rust lingered heavily in the air. Thin rays of sunlight slipped through the narrow barred window high above, but they barely illuminated the cramped space.

The prison did not look like the clean and orderly streets they had seen upon first entering the floating island.

The heavy iron door slammed shut behind them.

Bang!

The deafening sound echoed throughout the corridor.

Several soldiers remained outside the bars for a moment, gripping their spears while glaring at the four prisoners with cold, suspicious eyes. Their expressions made it abundantly clear that they viewed the Dragonborn as dangerous infiltrators rather than ordinary trespassers.

None of the soldiers spoke.

After one final look, they turned around and marched away, leaving the four Dragonborn alone inside the silent cell.

Eccar let out a dry laugh before shaking his head. "Well... this certainly didn’t go according to plan."

Erend, Aesa, and Sylven could only respond with long, helpless sighs.

Apparently, their disguise Magic had been nowhere near as effective as they had hoped.

Their original plan had been simple. Blend into the local population, gather information gradually, and investigate the Dragonborn legacy without attracting unnecessary attention. Just like what they did in Leonora kingdom.

Instead, the very moment they stepped onto one of inhabited floating islands, an enormous Magic formation hidden somewhere within the city activated.

A piercing alarm had echoed throughout the island.

And then just moments later, crimson beams of light descended from the sky and locked directly onto all four of them, marking them unmistakably as intruders.

The guards had surrounded them almost immediately.

They had not even spent a full hour in this world before finding themselves imprisoned.

"So..." Sylven finally said as he looked around the cell. "What do we do now?"

Aesa folded her arms while examining the faint runes engraved across the iron bars.

"We obviously can’t just break out," she said. "That would only make everyone even more suspicious of us. If we force our way out now, gathering information afterward will become much more difficult."

She was right. Escaping this prison would have been effortless.

The entire cell had been reinforced with numerous Magic formations designed to suppress prisoners and prevent escape, but those enchantments were insignificant compared to the power possessed by the Dragonborn. Destroying the walls or teleporting out would require almost no effort.

The real problem was everything that came after that. If they escaped by force, every authority throughout Elyndor would immediately begin hunting them.

That would make their search for the Dragonborn legacy vastly more complicated.

Erend remained silent for a moment before speaking. "I think we should wait."

The others looked toward him.

"Someone will probably come to interrogate us sooner or later. That might be our best opportunity to learn something about this world and earn our freedom."

Eccar considered the idea before nodding. "It makes sense."

"We don’t really have a better option," Sylven admitted.

Aesa gave a small nod as well. "Right. We wait. Hopefully it goes according to your prediction."

With that, the four Dragonborn quietly settled inside the prison cell, patiently waiting for whoever would come through the door first.

—

Somewhere else, within the island’s administrative headquarters, a middle-aged man sat behind an enormous wooden desk piled high with documents.

His name was Lord Caelion Ardent, the Governor of Skyhold Bastion and the highest civil authority overseeing the island.

He sighed quietly as he finished reviewing another report before pressing his seal into the bottom of the parchment.

One document finished.

Another immediately replaced it. All of it was tax reports, trade permits, security assessments, and supply requests. The stack waiting beside him showed no signs of shrinking.

"Endless... " Caelion muttered under his breath.

Just as he reached for the next report, three firm knocks echoed from the office door.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment.

"Come in."

The door opened, revealing one of the island’s soldiers.

The young man immediately saluted. "My lord."

Caelion leaned back in his chair.

"What is it?" he asked with obvious exhaustion.

The soldier stepped forward.

"We’ve apprehended four individuals attempting to enter the island," the soldier said.

Caelion barely looked up.

"Smugglers?" he asked.

"No, my lord."

"Spies from another country?"

"We’re... uncertain."

That answer finally drew Caelion’s attention.

He slowly lifted his eyes from the paperwork.

"They triggered the Detection Array the moment they entered the island," the soldier continued. "The Array identified all four of them as foreign entities of this country. Their Magic signatures don’t match any territory recorded within our domain."

Caelion’s expression immediately hardened. "None of them?"

"No, my lord." The soldier hesitated briefly before continuing. "And... the Detection Array behaved strangely."

Caelion narrowed his eyes.

"Explain," Caelion said.

"The Array identified them as outsiders..." the soldier said carefully. "...but it failed to classify their Magic."

Silence filled the office. That had never happened before. Every known nation within Elyndor possessed recognizable Magic patterns that had been cataloged centuries ago.

Even foreigners from distant floating kingdoms could still be identified.

An unclassified Magic signature was practically unheard of.

"The mages inspected the Array several times," the soldier continued. "They confirmed that it isn’t malfunctioning."

Now Caelion was fully awake.

He slowly stood from his chair and walked toward the large window overlooking the floating city beyond.

"So..." he murmured. "Either they’re from a territory beyond our knowledge, or they’ve come from somewhere much farther away."

The thought lingered in his mind. Neither possibility was comforting.

After several moments of silence, Caelion turned back toward the soldier. "I’ll speak with them personally."

The soldier straightened immediately. "Yes, my lord."

Caelion picked up the dark-blue coat hanging beside his desk before fastening it over his formal uniform.

Whoever these four strangers were he intended to discover the truth himself.

—