I Received System to Become Dragonborn

Erend, Aesa, Eccar, and Sylven followed the man through the entrance of the metal building.

The moment they stepped inside, they were met by a strange sense of emptiness.

The interior was far larger than the building’s exterior had suggested. Wide metal corridors stretched through the structure and disappeared into the distance, high ceilings rose several meters above them.

The walls, floors, and support structures were all made from the same dark metal, giving the entire building a cold and artificial appearance.

There was almost no furniture anywhere.

There were no decorations, personal belongings, or any signs that anyone had tried to make the place comfortable. The building felt more like an abandoned facility than someone’s home.

The four Dragonborn walked in silence as the man led them deeper inside.

Despite knowing that someone lived here, Erend could not shake the feeling of loneliness that permeated the entire structure. The building was enormous, yet the man seemed to occupy only a small portion of it.

Eventually, they entered a much larger room that appeared to serve as the main hall.

Unlike the corridors, this room contained some furniture. Several metal tables and chairs had been arranged throughout the chamber. Everything was made from metal, from the frames of the chairs to the heavy tables standing in the middle of the room.

The man stopped and turned toward them.

"Sit anywhere you like."

Erend, Aesa, Eccar, and Sylven each took a chair. They sat beside one another while the man walked toward the opposite side of the table and took his own seat.

He looked at them with the same frown he had worn since meeting them outside.

For several moments, nobody spoke.

Then the man finally broke the silence.

"I know that you are Dragonborns as well. Like me," He said, his tone remained calm and businesslike. "I didn’t expect anyone to come here anymore. I thought the information about the Trial was no longer widely spread."

The four Dragonborn exchanged glances.

Aesa was the first to respond. "What do you mean?" she asked.

The man looked at her for several seconds. He then shifted his gaze toward Erend, Eccar, and Sylven before finally nodding to himself. His expression remained strangely emotionless.

"It seems you don’t know much. You only found some clues and followed them until they brought you here."

The man saw four Dragonborn exchanging glances with one another. There was clearly something important they had missed.

"You’re right," Erend admitted. "We only followed the clues we found and came here. We didn’t even know anything about the Trial."

The man nodded again. "I figured as much." There was a brief pause. "I’m impressed that you managed to find me. So, should I explain the Trial to you?"

He spoke as though he were discussing an ordinary task.

There was no excitement in his voice talking about this. No pride or passion there.

He was talking about something that seemed fundamental to the existence of a Dragonborn as though it were nothing more than a simple procedure that bored him.

Erend studied him carefully. "Before that," he said, "shouldn’t we introduce ourselves first?"

The man’s expression did not change. He leaned back slightly in his chair.

"What for? You came here for the Trial. That’s it. I’ll open the Trial for you. You can enter it, finish it on your own, and then we’re done."

The four Dragonborn exchanged glances once again. Something about this man was deeply strange.

"You don’t seem very happy," Eccar said.

The man released a quiet sigh. "No. I’m not."

He said it simply and did not offer any further explanation. The room fell silent again.

Erend watched him for several moments. There was something beneath the man’s detached attitude. Something he was deliberately keeping buried.

Erend finally decided to touch the subject directly.

"This world..."

The moment those words left Erend’s mouth, the man’s expression changed.

His entire body became stiff. His eyes turned toward Erend with a sharp and intense gaze.

"Why didn’t you stop the disaster that turned this world into what it is now?" Erend continued.

The man’s jaw tightened. His expression became solemn, almost angry.

It was as though Erend had touched something buried deep inside him. Something he had spent thousands of years trying not to think about.

The man’s eyes narrowed. "You know?"

His deep voice had changed completely. The calmness was gone. It had become cold.

"I know," Erend replied without looking away. "I saw the recording inside the facility. The place where they kept that green-and-blue liquid."

The two stared at each other across the table. Neither of them moved. The silence between them grew heavier.

Finally, the man closed his eyes and released a long, exhausted sigh.

Erend’s expression remained serious.

"So you know..." the man said. His voice had lost its coldness. The man lowered his gaze. "It was my fault. I couldn’t do anything to stop them."

For a moment, he seemed to lose himself in his thoughts. His expression became distant as memories from thousands of years ago resurfaced.

Then he suddenly returned to the present and looked at the four Dragonborn again.

"Well, now you know." His tone returned to its previous detached state. "Do you want to go to the Trial now?"

Erend immediately shook his head. "We should talk about this first."

His voice was firm. There was no intention of letting the subject disappear that easily.

"Why do you want to talk about this?" the man asked. His expression had become noticeably more angry, and the coldness in his eyes made it clear that Erend’s question had touched a sensitive subject.

"Because you could have saved this world," Erend said firmly. "You had the power to do something, but you didn’t. You only gave them a warning and then stood aside while they continued with the experiment."

The man remained silent.

He stared at Erend across the table while his expression tightened. For the first time, he looked as though he genuinely did not know what he was supposed to say. Perhaps there was no explanation that could make his actions sound reasonable. Perhaps he had already repeated the same justification to himself so many times that he no longer knew whether saying it aloud would accomplish anything.

After several moments, he finally shook his head.

"I’m helpless," he said. His voice had become quieter. "I was guarding the Trial. Because of that, I couldn’t use my power freely."

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