As soon as the festival ended, Ka'z was carried deep into the colony temple and placed atop a large stone altar stained dark from centuries of rituals. The surface was cold, uneven, and surprisingly uncomfortable for something meant to house the race's prophesied savior. To make matters worse, his meals consisted entirely of dead worms and insects piled beside him, still covered in bits of dirt and dust from the tunnels. Nearby sat a cracked wooden bowl stained by years of use. That miserable bowl served as his water container.
Unfortunately, even that was not the worst part.
Mounted directly across from the altar was a crude wooden carving of a dragon's head. The craftsmanship was so terrible that Ka'z genuinely struggled to determine whether it was supposed to be a dragon, a lizard, or some unfortunate victim of a woodworking accident.
The longer he stared at it, the more he regretted his decision.
'If I was a bug, at least I wouldn't keep my memories and have to suffer like this.'
Ka'z inwardly lamented as he lay on the altar.
He felt less like a savior and more like a sacrificial offering waiting for someone to light the candles. The thought made him wonder if this could be considered luxury for a kobold messiah, what exactly did ordinary kobold hatchlings have to endure?
'It's no wonder their mortality rate is quite high.'
Despite being a failure throughout most of his previous life, there was one thing Dennis had genuinely excelled at.
Gaming and Entertainment.
If something caught his interest, he could spend hundreds of hours researching every detail until he knew more than the average expert. Ironically, that obsession had ultimately attracted the Greater Kobold's attention.
As the thought crossed his mind, a familiar translucent panel appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Ka'z]
[Race: Kobold]
[Aether Core: Ash][Low]
[Bloodline: Draconic Lineage]
[Bloodline Tier: High]
[Bloodline Purity: Dormant][5%]
[Soul Stage: Awakened]
[Status: Healthy]
[Skills]
[Passive Skills]
[Name: Beast Translation]
[Description: Allows you to speak and understand beast language]
[Bloodline Skills]
[Name: Dragon Constitution]
[Description: Grants stronger muscles, increased mana reserves, faster healing, higher resistance to poison and diseases and stronger bones and scales]
[Name: Dragon Eyes]
[Description: Allows you to perceive Aether and mana density and hidden magical phenomena]
[Name: Draconic Wisdom]
[Description: You possess photographic memory and are capable of memorizing things in one glance]
[Name: Dragon Scales]
[Description: Temporarily hardens scales]
[Name: Dragon Translator]
[Description: You can speak and understand Dragon Tongue]
[First Task: Survive Infancy]
[Reward: Unknown]
'Okay, I will admit it. Five percent dragon bloodline gives quite a lot. This is definitely not a bad starting point.'
While Ka'z barely understood the meaning behind terms like Aether Core, Soul Stage, and Bloodline Tier, the descriptions attached to his abilities were straightforward enough. Compared to most reincarnation stories he had consumed in his previous life, this was a fairly generous beginning.
Yet one thing continued bothering him.
[First Task: Survive Infancy]
The wording felt strange.
Suspiciously strange.
Most systems gave quests like slaying monsters, becoming stronger, or conquering kingdoms.
His first objective was simply surviving.
'Why does it make surviving infancy sound like a major achievement?'
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he soon discovered the answer.
Life as a kobold hatchling was essentially riskier than a game of Russian roulette.
It demandes one percent skill, ninety-nine percent luck.
The colony itself was built inside a sprawling underground labyrinth dug over generations by countless kobolds. Narrow tunnels connected small chambers filled with crude huts, fungal farms, storage pits, and communal sleeping areas. During his entire first year, however, Ka'z never left the temple altar.
He spent most days trapped in crushing boredom. His only consistent source of interaction was the colony's High Priest, Tong'a.
Tong'a was an elderly kobold with a permanently hunched back, faded scales, and enough wrinkles to make dried fruit look youthful.
Somehow, despite looking one bad breeze away from death, the old priest possessed a strange charisma that made him surprisingly popular among members of the colony. Female kobolds frequently visited the temple to seek blessings, guidance, or spiritual counsel.
At least that was what Tong'a claimed.
Ka'z quickly stopped questioning it.
Watching the old priest hump female kobolds in the presence of the Lord while he remained trapped as a helpless infant created a very specific kind of emotional damage.
His source of entertainment often became a source of suffering.
After all, even a shriveled kobold priest seemed to have a more successful romantic life than Dennis ever managed as a human.
When he was not enduring endless boredom, he was enduring the colony itself.
Floods regularly swept through sections of the underground tunnels after heavy rainfall, drowning supplies and collapsing chambers.
Food shortages occurred so frequently that they seemed less like emergencies and more like seasonal traditions.
Predators occasionally discovered entrances to the labyrinth, forcing the entire colony into hiding while the colony warriors desperately fought to repel them.
Once, an enormous tunnel serpent breached the outer chambers and devoured six kobolds before being driven away.
Another time, a cave-in buried nearly an entire mushroom farm beneath tons of stone.
The colony survived crisis after crisis through sheer stubbornness.
Among all of this, Ka'z was ironically the safest individual in the settlement.
When floods came, he was evacuated first.
When food became scarce, he was fed first.
When monsters attacked, warriors formed defensive circles around the temple.
The prophecy ensured his survival mattered more than anyone else's. It was a privilege that made him uncomfortable.
While ordinary hatchlings died from disease, starvation, accidents, or predators, Ka'z enjoyed protections few others received.
The disparity became impossible to ignore.
As the months passed, he gradually realized just how desperate the kobolds truly were. They were not waiting for a savior because they were foolish.
They were waiting because they genuinely had nothing else.
By the time his first year drew to a close, Ka'z understood something important.
The prophecy had not appeared during a prosperous age. It had appeared at the exact moment the kobold race was running out of chances. And that realization frightened him far more than the worms, the floods, the predators, or even the terrible dragon carving hanging above his altar.