You Are What You Eat

AGAINST ALL ODDS AND REASON, I WAS RIGHT.

It’s been a few days since I crossed the portal, and in that time, I have confirmed that eating from the dragon does empower me; and not only physically.

Raw strength aside, do you know what else I acquired?

That’s right, baby…

Magic!

Increased muscle strength is one thing, but being able to conjure up a fireball is an entirely different beast. By the end of day 2 after feeding on the dragon, I started to feel a strange sense of intuition about the magic energy flowing from the runic circles.

By day 3, I was able to tap into it. At first, all I could do was pool the raw energy in my palms like water. But with some experiments over the few next days, and a lot more dragon meat in my belly, I gained the ability to manipulate the elements.

Fire, earth, water, wind… you name it. I can control all of them by now, and I’m confident my magical abilities will continue to grow every day. I haven’t munched down even a hundredth of the dragon’s corpse.

The fucker is what, at least fifty meters long from head to tail? Got no clue how many tons of meat that is, but eating the entire thing will take years at this rate.

Fortunately, the meat won’t spoil.

Thanks to the innate magical abilities I’ve inherited, I can somewhat understand what the magic circles in the chamber are doing. In short, they’re keeping the dragon’s corpse fresh, so lucky me can take his time eating it one bite at a time.

This raises several questions, of course: Who inscribed those magic circles? Who built this temple? Who brought the dragon’s body here, and why?

I’ve been speculating for days, without trace of an answer. It’s clear the dragon was killed in battle, but I have no clue why anyone would want to preserve it.

I mean, sure, I’m absorbing its power by eating from it, so it’s only natural someone else would want this power for themselves. But why didn’t they eat it right away? What’s the point of keeping it here, sealed away for God knows how long?

Whatever the case may be, I don’t have anyone here to pester with questions. So with nothing better to do, I’ve kept myself busy with experiments, and more succulent dragon meals.

The hypothesis goes that I’ll gain more and more magic as I keep eating from the guy, so I’ll bide my time and keep munching at it. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll absorb some of its knowledge too while I’m at it.

* * *

AFTER ONE MONTH OF EXPERIMENTS, I HIT A BREAKTHROUGH.

I failed to inherit any of the dragon’s memories, but my innate mastery of magic has grown so much that I can fully understand not only the magic circles in the chamber, but also the extent of the dragon’s power itself.

In short, the dragon I’ve been eating was an absolute beast.

I don’t know who killed it, or how, but this scaly bastard must’ve been capable of felling entire nations when it was still alive. At the moment, I only have a small fraction of the dragon’s power in me, and I know for a fact I’d be able to break out through the front door if I wanted to.

You know, the 30-meter tall door? I’m confident I can melt it, no problem.

Aside of manipulating the basic elements, I’ve also learned how to teleport short distances, set up barriers, do scrying magic, and lots of other stuff. I grew more amazed at the dragon’s powers each day, until I figured out how to use a gamechanger spell.

Up until now, the inherent limit of my growth has been the size of my stomach. Even if I stuff myself, I can only eat so much dragon at a time, and ingesting hundreds of tons of dragon meat would take me several lifetimes.

That was until I learned how to polymorph.

Oh yes. That kind of polymorph. I can shapeshift into a small dragon now, exponentially increasing my size, and consequently my stomach’s. Gone are the days when I could only swallow scraps at a time; now I can devour it in the hundreds.

Needless to say, I immediately feasted on the dearly departed lizard, and the pace at which I absorbed its powers increased a hundredfold. The surge of power did threaten to overwhelm me, but my own draconic resilience pulled through.

Whoever this dragon was in life, he was no chump… and neither am I. There’s still a wealth of power ripe for the taking, and I intend to claim it down to the last of it.

* * *

ANOTHER MONTH LATER, the dragon was gone.

I ate it all, down to its very bones, scales, fangs and claws.

Now, as I sit alone in the middle of the chamber, I feel as if I’d been born anew. Although I shifted back to my human form, after everything I’ve gone through, this feels more like a facsimile.

The cold reality is I cannot be called human anymore. I’m still similar to the person I used to be, yet at the same time, I am much more. I have achieved an intrinsic understanding of magic so profound that I’d humble any sage this world has to offer.

I’m short on practical experience, certainly… but all it takes me now is to simply see a spell to understand it. Take the magic circles in this chamber, for example. Back in the day, I had a feeling they were used to preserve the dragon’s flesh. In that regard, I was only half right.

Preservation was an important function, but their true objective was to magically modify the dragon itself to make it suitable for consumption. Specifically, these magic circles are what allowed me to absorb its power to begin with. Without them, eating the dragon would’ve simply nourished me, but given no empowerment.

In other words, whoever created this temple, interred the dead dragon inside and rigged the magic circles to enchant it, probably intended to claim the dragon’s power for themselves.

That was until I swooped in like a rat, and shamelessly ate the treasure from under their noses. Needless to say, well… they’ll probably want to kill me for it.

And that’s fair, honestly.

Judging by the runes in the magic circles, I’m guessing the cultivation process took centuries, if not millennia to complete. That would explain why no one came to check on me for months, because the chamber was sealed and supposed to be left undisturbed for a ridiculous period of time. So when the rightful owner of the dragon’s corpse finally drops by, boy oh boy, I’m sure they’ll be pissed!

Having said that, I have no intention of getting killed. My life on Earth sucked, but there’s a whole new world outside for me to explore, and I won’t let the chance slip by. If it comes down to a fight, then I’ll defend myself. I’m plenty strong by now, so I should be safe… but I do have one glaring problem to contend with.

I have the strength of a dragon, right? That’s cool and all, but my power came from a dead dragon. This means someone killed it. So, strong as I may be, I shouldn’t be complacent with myself. I don’t understand the power levels in this world, and playing my cards wrong could cost me everything.

Ideally, I’d want to find a town, and blend in with the locals while I learn the ropes and gather intelligence… but that’s easier said than done.

For starters, I’m completely naked except for a loincloth I managed to improvise.

While I did arrive with a cozy set of clothes back from Earth, stupid old me forgot to strip before trying my hand at shapeshifting. As it turns out, clothes don’t like it when you transform into a dragon while still wearing them, so I currently look like a caveman.

Furthermore, I don’t know the local language. It would be so convenient if the locals spoke English, or at least any other Latin tongue, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I can probably use magic to communicate via telepathy, but I haven’t had the chance to actually experiment with anyone. Someone might get hurt if I botch the spell, and I’d rather avoid having a bounty on my head over an accident.

All in all, I doubt strolling into town right after finding civilization would be a good idea. So for now, I’ll focus a much more simple objective:

Exfiltrate this temple, without being found.