I Received System to Become Dragonborn

Erend looked at his three Dragonborn friends for a moment after revealing what he had discovered. The excitement of finally having a possible lead was still present in the room, but Erend knew they had their own discovery.

Before they decided anything else, he wanted to know what the others had found during their own investigation.

"What about you three, did you find anything good?" Erend asked.

Sylven was the first to answer. He leaned back slightly before shaking his head.

"Not much. I tried communicating with the plants around the area, but most of them were far too young. They hadn’t existed long enough to witness anything important, so their memories were limited."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"I did learn that several different groups had attacked the settlement over the years. According to what the plants remembered, those attacks happened roughly every three or four months. Beyond that, there wasn’t much useful information."

Erend nodded before looking toward Aesa.

Aesa then explained what she had learned while traveling with the group of scavengers.

She had gathered information about the resources available around Valthoria, which materials were considered valuable, and which ones could be turned into weapons or useful equipment.

Most of it concerned practical survival rather than the mystery they had come to investigate, but it still gave them a better understanding of how the people of this world survived.

Finally, Erend turned toward Eccar.

Eccar shrugged. "I couldn’t find much either. I tried using my Earth Magic to sense things through the ground, but I can’t communicate with the earth like how Sylven can communicate with plants. There wasn’t much I could learn from it, so I didn’t find anything particularly useful."

After hearing all of their explanations, Erend smiled.

"You all did a good job. We didn’t know how long this investigation would take when we started, but now we finally have a clear direction."

He looked toward the others with renewed determination and continued, "We don’t have to worry about searching blindly anymore. We know where we’re going next."

Eccar, Aesa, and Sylven all nodded.

The uncertainty that had followed them since their arrival in Valthoria had finally been replaced by something of a clear destination-the eastern mountains.

The next day, the four Dragonborn prepared to leave the settlement. Their preparations were simple because they did not need much.

Before they could depart, Norma came to see them.

She approached with her usual calm expression and exchanged a few words with the group before eventually asking about their plans.

"We’re leaving," Erend explained. "We’ve found something that we need to investigate."

Norma looked at him quietly.

She did not ask what they had found, but the conclusion came naturally to her. Their sudden decision to leave after everything they had been searching for made it obvious that they had probably discovered something too important and too significant for her to know.

For a moment, there was a curiosity that flickered in her eyes. She could have asked what they had discovered in this world.

Instead, she decided not to.

Whatever Erend and the others were searching for was clearly something they considered important enough to leave the settlement behind this soon. Norma respected that decision, even if she still wanted to know what they had discovered.

"Then good luck," she simply said.

Erend gave her a small nod. "Thank you."

The conversation ended there.

When night finally came over the settlement, everything became quiet.

The inhabitants returned to their homes while the surrounding wasteland disappeared beneath darkness.

One by one, the settlement fell asleep.

The four Dragonborn waited until there was little activity left before quietly leaving their temporary home.

They moved through the settlement without drawing attention, slipped past the outer defenses, and disappeared into the darkness beyond.

Nobody stopped them. Nobody knew exactly where they were going.

Not long after, the settlement was behind them and the vast wilderness of wasteland stretched ahead.

The four Dragonborn continued into the darkness, heading toward the eastern mountains.

—

The four Dragonborn continued their journey toward the eastern mountains, moving steadily through the harsh wilderness of Valthoria. The farther they traveled from the settlement, the more hostile the environment became.

They first crossed a region where the land had become almost completely dry. The ground was cracked and hard beneath their feet, with almost no vegetation surviving across the vast stretch of barren terrain.

The heat rising from the earth made the journey uncomfortable even for them, while the complete lack of water or shelter made it obvious why ordinary travelers rarely ventured through the area.

They continued onward and eventually entered another region where the air became more toxic. The strange pollutants that had already existed throughout Valthoria for thousands of years grew considerably denser here.

Even with their extraordinary resistance, the Dragonborn could feel the difference. The atmosphere carried a heavy and unpleasant sensation that made breathing difficult.

Then the environment changed once again.

A thick mist began spreading across the land.

At first it only covered the ground in thin layers, but it gradually became denser until it obscured the landscape ahead. Visibility dropped rapidly. Even their enhanced senses had difficulty seeing through the strange mist, and continuing along the ground would only slow them down.

The four Dragonborn exchanged glances. There was no need to say anything. They had another option.

Their Dragon wings unfolded from their backs.

With powerful beats, they lifted themselves from the ground and rapidly climbed into the sky. The higher they went, the thinner the mist became until they finally emerged above it.

The journey immediately became much easier.

They flew through the clouds and kept their bodies concealed above the thick layer of mist below.

From the ground, their silhouettes were almost impossible to notice. The clouds provided additional cover and allowed them to travel without worrying about being seen by anyone wandering through the wasteland.

Their speed increased.

Instead of navigating through more poisoned air, barren terrain, and more dense mist, they could just fly over the worst of the environment.

The endless wilderness passed beneath them as the four Dragonborn continued toward the east.

For a long time, there was little to distinguish one part of the wasteland from another.

Then they noticed something on the distant horizon.

They narrowed his eyes and saw a massive mountain range had appeared far ahead.

The mountains stretched across the horizon for an enormous distance, their peaks rising above the landscape like a vast wall. Some of the peaks disappeared into the clouds, others stood dark and imposing.

They slowed slightly as they looked toward the mountain.

The eastern mountains had finally come into view.

—