Chapter 1 : The Blue Dragon’s Awakening

Dragon

A long, fictional creature, like a serpent with eagle’s feet, deer antlers, a lion’s mane, a pig’s nose, and whiskers.

This is the common depiction of dragons in East Asian history.

My current appearance was certainly similar to that of a dragon.

A Blue Dragon, to be exact.

Deep sea-colored scales that shimmered in the sunlight, antlers that seemed to be sharpened versions of deer antlers, sharp claws, and a white mane.

And when I turned my head, I could see a long body of about 80 meters and a white beard that was about a third of its length.

It was the unmistakable appearance of an Oriental dragon.

[Just why······]

Did this happen?

I couldn’t recall the last memory of my human life, as if I had been intoxicated with alcohol.

A month ago, when I came to my senses, the sky was below and the sea was above.

I struggled to avoid falling, disregarding any memories.

Only after making an emergency landing in the sea did I realize my appearance.

[A Western fantasy with an Eastern dragon. What kind of combination is this?]

It was truly strange.

There was a village nestled between the forest and the horizon, with Western-style architecture.

Although I had no knowledge of architecture, I knew it wasn’t Eastern architecture.

If I were to fall into another world as a Blue Dragon, it would have been more appropriate to fall into an Eastern fantasy.

Just as the protagonist of a novel cannot awaken mana in a martial arts setting.

But for some reason, I ended up in this place with this body.

[What should I do?]

Thanks to this, I couldn’t easily bring myself to move anywhere.

If I were a Western Dragon, I might have been able to protect a village and receive alchemy, but in my current form, I was nothing more and nothing less than a long, flying, strange creature.

If there were beings like Leviathan or Jörmungandr, they would be familiar, but if those guys had bad behavior, it would be better for me if they didn’t exist.

If my true identity reached the ears of those in power, through word-of-mouth comparable to 21st-century social media, I could become the target of the entire country.

A flying serpent nearly a hundred meters long? Even I would want to capture it.

The only good thing was that there was no trace of civilization except for the village near the forest.

As I said before, the forest stretched out in front of me.

Since the sun rose from behind me and set towards the great plains, it was clearly located in the east.

And behind me was the sea.

To be precise, the forest gradually rose in a gentle curve, then fell with a sheer cliff and met the sea.

And towards the deep sea, a huge, dark cloud that always thundered dominated the horizon.

Rumble.

Ah, that’s the sound coming from my stomach.

I was starving to death after being forced to go vegan—no, forced to fast for a month to get used to this long body.

[What should I put in this body?]

I was starving, but the elegant tone still flowed out.

It wasn’t like I could force myself to curse, so I just let it be.

More than that, I really didn’t know what to eat.

Western Dragons have the image of being perfect carnivores, while Eastern dragons don’t really have an image of eating anything.

Of course, with the image of Imugis and dragons, they look like they would be at the top of the food chain.

[······Hunting, perhaps.]

I glanced down at the forest and saw a small family of wild boars peacefully grazing on grass.

Squeal, squeak?!

[············.]

The creatures made eye contact with me and ran away without looking back.

I think I understand why they say to dodge sideways when a wild boar charges straight ahead.

Dragons, since their Imugi days, are like sages who have awakened after overseeing nature.

Even the family of that wild boar cub, I thought of them as beings I should embrace, and my appetite suddenly disappeared.

······Nonsense, I was just too lazy to chase them.

If I had a Yeouiju, I would have brought them here, but for some reason, the most important item was nowhere to be found.

It is said that a dragon that does not possess a Yeouiju will fall back into an Imugi, but for some reason, the appearance of the Blue Dragon remained.

However, I couldn’t find an item that didn’t exist, so I eventually gave up on finding the Yeouiju.

I tried to focus on understanding the current situation, thinking that it was somewhere in my body or that it would appear when I wanted it.

Back to the point, after witnessing the wild boar’s escape, I eventually turned my body towards the sea.

Thanks to practicing like crazy for a month, I became quite accustomed to flying.

I swam through the sky like water flowing and reached the sea, where a vast ocean spread out below.

Splash!!

The underwater world was beautiful.

Various coral reefs and colorful fish were playing. It was like a space where a mermaid would swim with her red hair fluttering.

Oh, right, red dreadlocks.

Anyway, there were many schools of fish moving around underwater.

These were my lunch targets.

Because I had no knowledge of fish, it took time to choose a group that seemed edible.

Finally, I found a group of ordinary blue-backed fish.

I spotted the moving school in the distance and crouched my body.

And when I released my body like a projectile, I sped forward, splitting the water.

In addition, by moving my body in a wave-like pattern, I moved towards the school of fish at an even faster speed.

Before they could even detect me, they disappeared into my mouth.

Only the fish that luckily escaped the first attack scattered in panic and left the group.

Even though I ate half of the school, which seemed to be several hundred fish, my hunger did not subside.

However, if I ate the remaining half and annihilated the school, it would be the same as cutting off a future food source, so I set out to find other fish.

[Hm?]

Soon I was able to meet other blue-backed friends, but they were under attack.

Something that looked like a black shark was emitting a red aura and attacking the innocent fish.

[Does the red poison pollute the seawater?]

The judgment was quick.

First, I quickly sheltered the fish that were fleeing towards me in my stomach and approached the creature.

The shark, about 2 meters in size, continued to hunt fish even though I was close by.

Eventually, the creature noticed me and began to attack me.

However, its teeth couldn’t pierce my scales.

I grabbed the creature with my right arm, which had been splitting the water, and crushed it in an instant.

Then, the creature’s dark red blood and entrails began to scatter in the blue sea.

I had filled my stomach moderately, and as I was moving my body to fly above the sea, I passed through the part of the seawater mixed with the creature’s blood.

[·········?]

What is this······.

I immediately turned my head and drank a little of the seawater containing the creature’s corpse.

[······Just where does this taste come from.]

It looked like it would be poisonous······ but it was terribly delicious.

Right now, all I ate was seawater mixed with blood, but it tasted like the cola spray sold at old stationery stores.

In short, it was a very addictive, sweet, and salty taste.

I instinctively searched for creatures similar to this one.

But even though I led my huge body and dived deep into the sea, I couldn’t find any creatures that looked similar.

I hope it’s not something like an endangered species.

If it is, I’ll have to somehow farm it.

That creature was that delicious.

When I came up to the surface, the sea air filled with saltiness entered my lungs.

For reference, my body doesn’t have any restrictions on breathing underwater.

It was information I accidentally learned as a result of falling from the cliff every day to practice flying.

With my stomach full, my mind cleared and I felt at ease.

As a result, I naturally started thinking about my future goals.

[What am I supposed to do with this body?]

I thought about it for a long time, but the answer was simple.

Live.

Survive.

Whether I was human or a Blue Dragon now, survival was a fundamental goal.

Just because I wasn’t human didn’t mean I couldn’t die.

Having transformed into a mythical being, I had to live even better than before.

[And what else should I do?]

Dragons are mythical beings.

Myth, god, religion.

I need to create a force that supports me.

This is directly related to my survival.

Humans have done many things throughout their long history.

This world will not be any different.

The fact that there is only one village in this remote area is proof that humans are not weaker than other creatures.

If they were at the bottom of the food chain, they would have been more clustered together.

Therefore, I needed a human force to support me.

And it needs to be a fairly large force.

That way, if an opposing force ever arises, there will be a group to help me.

There is a big difference between an individual and a group.

Just as a lion, no matter how strong, cannot handle a pack of hyenas alone, no matter how great the Blue Dragon’s abilities, it is difficult to deal with humans.

That’s why I had to create a force that would follow me.

[The first meeting soon calls for the second and third.]

Then how do I create a supporting force?

I haven’t run a cult, but the first impression is important.

If I’m identified as a monster of the East Sea in the first impression, there’s no such thing as friendship.

I have to be very careful and take over the village near the forest, which is my first target.

As I was organizing my thoughts and preparing to fly over the sea, I heard a familiar yet unfamiliar sound from the top of the cliff.

······Human footsteps?

I hurriedly tucked my body into the sea and looked up at the distant cliff.

“Wow!! It’s really the sea!”

On the cliff of a forest full of coniferous trees, on a cliff high enough to frighten any adult, a young girl of about five years old was standing with a smile.

“Rachel, Rachel!!”

Rachel’s mother, Sophie, was in a state of panic.

While she was briefly dealing with village affairs, Rachel, who had been playing at home, disappeared.

She asked the neighbors who were usually close by and even the village guards about Rachel’s whereabouts, but the answer she received was always “I don’t know.”

“Sophie!”

“Honey!”

“Rachel’s gone?!”

A young man with a bow on his back and a sword at his waist entered the house and hugged Sophie.

Although not as much as Sophie, the first witness, his face was also covered in cold sweat and panic.

“I left the house for a moment······.”

Rachel’s father and Sophie’s husband, Jonan, was one of the hunters in this village.

So he had learned the skill of tracking animal traces.

Jonan told Sophie to report to the guards and began to examine Rachel’s traces in the house.

A daughter who he could confidently say was more lovable than any other child.

It seemed that she had been reading a book just before she disappeared, as the fairy tale books in the study were pulled out haphazardly.

She wasn’t kidnapped.

The traces were too clean for that.

It would be more accurate to say that she went out on her own.

“·········Wait.”

While examining the study, Jonan discovered a commonality among the pulled-out fairy tale books.

They were all fairy tales about the sea or fish.

With a glimmer of hope, he examined the map hanging on the wall of the study.

Below the seemingly normal map was a small chair that Rachel often used.

“···No, Rachel.”

No.

Not that sea.

Rachel was in danger.

“Jonan!”

“Captain!”

“You said Rachel disappeared!”

“Yes, it seems she went to see the sea······.”

“Damn it, what are you doing?! Hurry up and get out! If we’re any later, we’ll die too!”

The captain’s face, usually relaxed, was filled with anxiety.

Jonan knew the reason well.

In a few weeks, the “Red Moon” will appear in the world.

At the same time, monsters affected by the Red Moon will appear all over the world.

The presence of red monsters had already been confirmed in the forest a week ago, and villagers were prohibited from entering.

In addition, additional guards had been placed in the village through the mercenary guild.

Rachel crossed that forest to see the sea.

And that sea was a more dangerous place than the forest where the red monsters emerged.

A place that spews storms and lightning every day, and where the presence of red monsters is observed.

That was the characteristic of the “Dark Sea” adjacent to this village.

“Please······ Please just stay alive, daughter.”

Therefore, Jonan could only pray.

May Rachel be safe.

May nothing happen to her.

And he lowered his head and fell into the sea as if diving.