Dragging my unusually sluggish body outside, I was greeted by a jaw-dropping sight.

Gems and equipment radiating mysterious energy. Countless weapons and raw minerals. A field of black ore exuding both ferocity and nobility stretched out into the horizon and over the hills.

‘Could a place like this really exist?’

Mountains of gold, clothes and ornaments imbued with divine craftsmanship and energy, all dazzling in their beauty.

From the intricate patterns etched into gold coins to exotic weapons—everything overflowed with foreign charm.

“I’m not dead… Could it be I was taken to another country?”

As he trudged along, he examined his surroundings.

A golden goblet brushed his foot. An intricately inscribed artifact with unknown patterns. Ancient tomes. Items whose purpose was unclear. Mountains of golden coins stacked endlessly in every direction.

‘Even at a glance, these items are anything but ordinary.’

An overwhelming sense of wealth and power stretched beyond comprehension.

‘Who in the world owns this place, to have amassed such treasures?’

For someone who had lived his life isolated on an island, it was unimaginable.

Clink, clink.

As he carefully looked around, something caught his eye—not a weapon or a Gem.

A neatly carved stone stood upright, with heavy strokes of writing engraved atop it.

They were characters he had never seen before, and yet he could read them.

[To the child who never saw the light of this world. Though we may never meet again, may you be happy in that faraway place.]

A tombstone mourning the death of a young life.

‘This is… a gravestone.’

Only then did he realize this place had been created in memory of a departed child.

Surely, these unimaginable things had been buried along with the child who had died before they could even be born.

The imoogi clicked his tongue softly.

He reached out a foreleg, placing it gently against the stone, intending to offer a silent prayer.

‘Huh?’

For a moment, he thought someone else was here.

Where his outstretched arm touched the obsidian-like transparent stone, the reflection staring back was not his own.

The reflection he saw there… was not his own.

‘…Why does my face look like that?’

His forepaw was short and chubby.

‘…Since when were my toes this small?’

He lowered his head and saw his belly—round and pudgy.

‘…Why is my stomach so bloated?’

He turned around to find that his tail, once sleek and powerful like forged steel, now drooped behind him like a tiny lizard’s.

Something was terribly wrong.

‘What the hell is this!?’

His already large, crimson eyes widened in sheer disbelief.

Staring at his own body, his jaw dropped open.

‘Who is this?! Who’s this weird little kid?!’

A shiver ran across his entire body.

Still dazed, he pulled at his own cheek.

Boing!

Instead of the impenetrable black scales, he was met with soft, stretchy skin that snapped back into place.

‘Why… why is my body so tiny and squishy?’

With his stubby hands, he patted his waist and belly.

He moved on to poking at his stubby thighs and even his head, his face frozen in disbelief.

Plop.

‘I… I’m doomed.’

The imoogi collapsed to the ground, wearing the expression of someone who had just lost everything in the world.

—

‘This is supposed to be me?’

Once, he had wielded immense power and ruled over all things beneath his feet.

But not anymore.

The mighty divine beast of yesterday had vanished, replaced overnight by a powerless, fragile creature.

‘W-Wait. Let’s calm down and think.’

He hastily reassessed his situation.

‘Right. Reincarnation! That must be it—what I’ve only heard of in stories.’

The cosmic cycle of reincarnation, incomprehensible until one ascended to become a true dragon.

‘…As if.’

He clutched at his nonexistent hair with both hands.

Even to himself, it sounded ridiculous.

‘Does reincarnating while retaining memory even make sense?’

The imoogi shook his tiny head.

When he looked up, he saw soft light filtering through a ceiling.

‘Sunlight?’

He twitched his nose and basked in the warm glow on his face.

The gentle scent of sunlight filled his nostrils.

‘It’s warm…’

His eyes slowly shut.

As peace settled over him, his breath became calmer.

It felt as if he was breathing for the very first time.

A strange calmness spread through him, peaceful and pleasant.

As he released the tension from his shoulders, he felt strength slowly returning to his small body.

Lost in that sensation, he let his two front paws droop.

In the quiet stillness, the last bits of his pent-up emotion gently began to unravel.

Who knew how long he lay there, belly rising and falling with each steady breath.

Eventually, he opened his eyes.

His gaze was now steady and composed.

With his thoughts composed, he began to organize his thoughts.

‘First, let’s focus on what I can do now. There might be something useful around here. To start… I need to figure out what this place is.’

The imoogi plodded along on his unfamiliar little feet.

‘Fancy swords. Places brimming with strange energy. Magical tools and talismans… maybe? Some of these are cursed.’

As the heir of the Black Dragon, he had high resistance to darkness and curses, so he was safe. But for others, just touching these things would drive them mad.

‘What a twisted sense of taste.’

While some items were indecipherable, others were so familiar he could tell at a glance.

‘A curse that turns you to stone at a glance. Unimaginative.’

‘One that traps you in eternal starvation… a classic.’

‘Lose your voice in exchange for your legs? Not quite a curse.’

‘A potion that turns you into something else entirely… or one that makes you look like someone else? Now that’s interesting.’

To others, these might be life-ruining artifacts, but to him, they were little more than toys—amusing trinkets.

He found himself casually appraise the items one by one, assessing their worth.

‘…Not that I find it particularly interested, but still. This is surprising.’

He glanced around at the mountain of objects.

‘For someone who manages a place powered by yang energy, their tastes are oddly dark.’

He considered another possibility.

‘Or maybe these are sealed away.’

Anyone who collected this much cursed, dark-affiliated stuff usually had done just that.

‘Oh? What’s this?’

After wandering around for a while, he spotted a Gemstone large enough to fill both arms and his eyes lit up.

‘Strong, pure darkness…’

He reached out and hugged the black Gem tightly to his chest.

The Gem, filled with darkness—the very essence of his power—made him lift his head.

His mouth hung open.

‘A mountain of treasure?’

A staggering heap of Gems rose before him, towering like a mountain.

His tail wagged unconsciously behind him.

‘I hit the jackpot!’

With all these weapons and treasures, regaining his strength was only a matter of time.

Shrrrk.

He climbed up the mountain of Gems with a few grunts, picking up random ones to inspect their power.

Then suddenly, the spot beneath his foot gave way, throwing him off balance.

‘…!’

Flailing his limbs, he tried to regain balance but ended up rolling backward.

Even if I fall, I’m not letting go of this gem!’

Even as he rolled like a snowball, he clutched the extra-large black Gem to his chest with all his might.

Tumble, tumble—thud!

He finally stopped after several meters, trembling from the momentum.

Just as he tried to recover from the dizziness—

Zuuuung!

The air twisted overhead.

‘…! What is this pressure?’

A massive, powerful presence was emerging—he could feel it in his bones.

‘Even at my peak, I might not have had the edge over this one.’

His pride stung, but his judgment was cold and precise.

He instinctively knew—it was the owner of this place.

He planted all four feet on the ground and raised his head.

Muscles stiffened from tension, and his tail rose.

‘No need to cower. Whoever this is, I’m… the divine beast, the imoogi!’

His eyes blazed with fighting spirit.

As he glared into the air, the spatial rift widened—and a colossal figure emerged.

Boom!

Boom!

Just two steps made the earth shake.

The mountain of Gems collapsed under the tremor.

The creature, endlessly tall and entirely golden, dominated the space in an instant.

Inhaling sharply, it exhaled a gale that nearly swept him away.

‘So that’s how it is, huh.’

Even before the being that eclipsed the sky, he stared unblinking.

To assert himself, he took a deep breath and roared with all his might.

“Kyuu! …Huh?”

‘What?’

Instead of a fearsome bellow, out came a squeaky noise.

‘What was that sound!?’

He’d imagined a thunderous war cry.

But all that came out was “kyuu.”

The golden creature—no, golden giant—opened its blue eyes and looked down at him.

[You… who■ are you?]

Compared to the colossus golden creature, the imoogi was but a tiny speck.

Yet here he was, clutching a magic Gem bigger than his head, wiggling defiantly as he called out to the golden figure.

“Kki… kkyuu!”

‘Damn it!’

He only wanted to say his name, but all that came out were snorts and squeaks from an underdeveloped voice box.

“Kkyuuuuuu!”

‘This is driving me insane!’

He shouted out of frustration, but only managed to make it worse—he wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.

Completely drained, he flopped to the ground.

The golden creature watched him silently, then slowly turned its gaze to the shattered egg he had emerged from.

[That egg…?]

The fragments cracked from the inside, the leftover fluid.

Seeing it, the golden being swallowed hard.

[Could■ it be, you’ve hatched■… from Black Drago■’s egg?]