I Reincarnated As A Dragon With A Devourer System

The bodies lay motionless on the meadow. The wind continued to rustle the tall grass as the metallic smell of blood spread along the path.

Noir stared at one of the bodies for several seconds.

"..."

His gaze slowly drifted down to the bandit’s motionless hand, then back up, then to the next corpse, and finally to the last one.

They were all human. Well... dead humans. Which, technically, still counted as human.

"What a dilemma."

The young dragon rested a claw on his chin as he began to think with genuine seriousness.

Until now, he had only devoured monsters—creatures whose first reaction upon seeing him had always been to try to make him their dinner.

He had never tried using Devourer on a human before. Although he hadn’t fought many of them either, this was the first time he had killed so many.

However... he felt nothing; he had expected some reaction, since he, too, had once been human. Perhaps, now that he was a dragon, that barrier of morality had disappeared?

But honestly, it was better this way; after all, he had accepted his life as a dragon and wasn’t going to hold himself back just because he used to be human—as long as he didn’t lose himself and remained Noir.

...Everything will be all right.

The young dragon pushed his thoughts aside and focused on what he had to do now: to devour or not to devour.

Besides, it’s just that... the opportunity had never arisen.

’Will it work?’

It was a surprisingly important question. Noir looked back at one of the corpses.

’It would be a good opportunity to find out.’

His reasoning seemed flawless. Very scientific, very logical, and very befitting of a dragon researcher.

The golden sphere slowly appeared in front of his face, emitting a small flash, then another. And finally, it began to spin around the corpse.

Noir narrowed his eyes.

"What?"

The sphere flashed again.

"I just want to see what it tastes like."

Another flash, as if in disagreement.

"It’s research. Chrysola told me to experience everything; this is just one part of it all."

The sphere remained completely motionless.

"Extremely important research."

Noir cleared his throat; he couldn’t believe he was trying to convince even a damn sphere that only brings him more problems than solutions. Besides, he’s only going to try it on one—what’s the harm?

The small sphere slowly descended until it was positioned in front of the corpse. Then it looked back at Noir, then at the corpse, and once again at the little black dragon.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

The sphere emitted a much longer flash of light.

Noir let out a sigh.

"I’m not saying I’m going to start eating people every day."

He paused briefly and looked at the body again.

"I’m just... curious."

Because he really did have it. If Devourer worked on humans too... That would completely change how his ability functioned.

He could gain entirely new information. Maybe abilities, maybe magic, maybe... he didn’t even know what was possible. And that was exactly why he wanted to test it.

Not because he was hungry.

His stomach was still full thanks to the monster he had devoured the night before; he didn’t need food.

Just answers.

’Besides...’

Noir tilted his head slightly.

’They’re already dead.’

They weren’t going to complain that he didn’t eat them—he had taken their lives himself, and it was up to him to decide what to do with them.

Besides, they were bandits; just a few minutes earlier, they had tried to murder travelers and had probably killed more than one and committed many far worse crimes.

The young dragon breathed slowly.

"Just one test."

Noir bent down toward one of the corpses and began his experiment.

[The unique Skill Devourer has been activated.]

***

After devouring the human, the young dragon waited for the status windows to appear; he had felt only a slight improvement—nothing more.

For a few seconds, absolutely nothing happened.

Noir waited for the notification windows to appear—or at least for the events to be recorded in the encyclopedia.

One.

Two.

Five seconds.

Ten.

"..."

Nothing—not a single window appeared in front of him; there were no notifications, messages, or abilities—absolutely nothing.

"..."

The young dragon tilted his head slightly.

’Is that all?’

He waited a few more seconds; still nothing appeared. Finally, Noir let out a small sigh.

"It doesn’t seem to be working."

The golden sphere emitted a faint flash, almost as if it had expected exactly that outcome from the very beginning.

Noir looked back at the spot where the corpse had been lying.

"Well..."

He rested a claw on his chin.

"At least I’ve checked it out now."

It had been a simple test. Now he knew something new about Devourer.

Monsters granted abilities.

Humans... didn’t. Or at least these humans didn’t seem to contain anything the system considered useful.

’Maybe he only gets information from magical creatures.’

That was the most logical explanation. After all, so far, all the abilities he had acquired had come from monsters with some special trait.

Stone scales, movement among the shadows, resistance to poison, increased strength and mana reserves—all of it had been directly related to the creature he had devoured.

And those men were just humans, and apparently, that wasn’t enough. Perhaps a human with a special or unique trait would do, but he had no way of knowing.

Noir nodded to himself.

"Problem solved."

He had no reason to try again. His curiosity had been satisfied; he didn’t even feel disappointed. On the contrary, he preferred to know the limits of his ability as soon as possible.

It was better to find out now than in a truly critical situation. A few meters away, Arlene watched the scene, completely confused.

The young woman opened her mouth slightly.

"...What did you just do?"

Noir turned his head.

"I was checking something."

"Check... what?"

"Yes, it was working."

Arlene waited for an explanation.

It never came.

"..."

The half-human decided that, for her own sanity, it was best not to keep asking questions. Every answer the dragon gave only led to two new questions.

The coachman, on the other hand, had been completely motionless for several minutes. He didn’t know whether he should thank the dragon for saving the carriage... or run away. In the end, he chose the third option: to say absolutely nothing.

Noir took a small leap and climbed back onto the roof of the carriage.

Uki followed him in a single bound. The wolf immediately settled into his usual spot before yawning.

The golden sphere rose slowly until it was floating next to Noir.

The young dragon gazed once more at the vast meadow stretching out before them.

The wind continued to rustle the flowers.

The meadow turtles kept moving slowly in the distance, completely oblivious to the battle that had just taken place.

It was curious.

The world carried on as usual. As if a few corpses meant absolutely nothing.

"..."

Noir smiled. He was becoming more and more convinced that this world was vast. And he had barely begun to explore it.

Down below, Arlene climbed back into the carriage. She brushed the dust off her clothes, adjusted her hat, and took one last look at the spot where the fight had taken place.

Then she took a deep breath.

"We can continue."

The coachman reacted as if waking from a long sleep.

"Y-yes!"

The reins tightened once more.

The horses resumed their pace.

The wheels creaked once more on the old dirt road.

Little by little, the scene of the battle faded into the distance.

Silence engulfed the meadow once more.

And the carriage continued toward the horizon, where new cities, new races, and new mysteries awaited the young black dragon.

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