Location: Teyvat, Mondstadt Region, Dragonspire (Wyrmrest Valley)
Current Form: Lesser Dragon (Rank B+)
Status: Confused, Freezing, Hungry
The last thing Andrews Ragnvaldr remembered was the searing heat of a modern accident - twisted metal, screaming, and the fading beat of his own heart. He died with the weight of a thousand ancestors on his shoulders, a lineage of Emperors and Warriors stretching back to Rome and Feudal Japan.
Then, there was the Void. And in the Void, a voice.
"Confirmed. Soul compatibility: 100%. Ancestral Karma: Excessive. Initiating Reincarnation Procedure."
"Notice. Habitat selected: High Elemental Concentration Zone. Warning: Environmental Hazard 'Sheer Cold' detected."
"Acquiring Intrincis Skill [Cold Resistance]... Failed. Mana levels insufficient. Alternative: Acquiring Unique Skill [Predator]... Successful."
"Acquiring Unique Skill [Great Sage]... Successful."
Raiden gasped.
The air didn't fill human lungs. It rushed into something larger, stronger, and burning. He tried to cough, but instead of a sound, a puff of gray smoke escaped his lips.
He opened his eyes.
The world was white and red. Jagged peaks of ice pierced the sky, and glowing red crystals pulsed with an eerie, heartbeat-like rhythm. It was freezing - a bone-chilling cold that seemed to gnaw at his very soul.
"Where... am I?"
He tried to speak, but the sound that came out was a low, guttural growl. Grrr-krrr.
He looked down at his hands. They weren't hands. They were claws. Obsidian-black scales covered his forearms, shimmering with a faint, iridescent blue light under the snowy reflection. He turned his head - a neck longer than a human's allowed him to see behind him. A tail, spiked and heavy, thumped against the snow.
"Notice. Answer: You are in the Wyrmrest Valley, Teyvat. Current Species: Lesser Dragon."
The mechanical voice rang directly inside his head. It sounded detached, cold, and incredibly familiar to the anime he used to watch.
"Teyvat?" Raiden thought, panic rising. "Genshin Impact? And... a dragon? Not a human?"
"Affirmative. You have been reincarnated. Due to the density of your soul and ancestral bloodline, a human vessel was seemed insufficient to contain your energy. Dragon physiology was selected."
Raiden stood up. He was small for a dragon - about the size of a large wolf or a jaguar. He felt heavy, yet powerful. But the cold was getting worse. A blue bar in his peripheral vision was ticking down. [Sheer Cold].
"If I don't do something, I'm gonna freeze to death ten minutes after respawning" he thought. "Great Sage, how do I survive?"
"Answer: Your current caloric reserves are empty. You must feed to generate Mana and body heat. Recommand ingesting high-energy material immediately."
Raiden's stomach growled, a sound like grinding stones. He looked around. There were no animals. Just snow, ice, and...
The red stones. Scarlet Quartz.
And looming above him, the massive, fossilized ribcage of a colossal beast. Durin.
Instinct took cover. It wasn't the instinct of a human. It was the instinct of a dragon. He scrambled over the ice, his claws digging in for traction, until he reached a cluster of the glowing red ore near a massive rib bone.
It radiated heat. But it also radiated malice.
"This is Durin's blood," Raiden realized. "It's corrupted. If I touch this, I might go mad like Dvalin."
"Notice. Unique Skill [Predator] is available. Chances of successful analysis and isolation of toxins: 98%."
"I like those odds."
Raiden opened his jaws - which unhinged slightly - and bit down on the Scarlet Quartz.
CRUNCH.
It was harder than diamond, but his dragon teeth sheared through it. He swallowed the glowing shards.
[System Alert]
Material Detected: Condensed Pyro Energy / Abyssal Corruption.
Initiating [Predator]...
Dissolving... Isolating...
Corruption neutralized and stored in Stomach.
Pyro Energy converted to Mana.
A rush of warmth exploded in Raiden's chest. The Sheer Cold gauge vanished. The obsidian scales on his chest began to glow with a faint red internal light like a furnace.
"Notice. Skill Acquired: [Heat Generation]. Resistance Acquired: [Corruption Resistance]. Mana Capacity increased."
He felt good. In fact, he felt amazing. As Raiden finished his meal, the ground trembles.
From the snowdrifts, three bulbou, white shapes emerged. They had blank eyes and rotating ice shields.
Cryo Slimes
In the game, these were trash mobs. But here, staring at them from the perspective of a dog-sized dragon, they were threatening. There were elemental creatures, and they sensed an intruder.
One of the slimes jumped, aiming to crush Raiden.
"Move!" Raiden commanded his body.
He didn't just dodge; he scrambled sideways with surprising ability, his tail whipping out to counterbalance. The slime hit the snow where he had just been.
"Analyze," Raiden commanded Great Sage.
"Analyze. Creature: Cryo Slime. Composition: Condensed Cryo Element. Weakness: Pyro / Physical trauma to the core."
Raiden smirked - or tried to, his snout curling up. "I just ate a bunch of fire rocks. Let's see if this works."
He faces the slimes, took a deep breath, and tapped into the heat boiling in his stomach. He envisioned a flamethrower.
ROAAR!
Instead of a stream of fire, a glob of red-hot magma (digested Scarlet Quartz) shot out of his mouth. It slammed into the lead slime, melting through its cryo shield instantly. The slime popped with a hiss of steam.
[System Alert]
Experience gained.
The other two slimes paused, sensing the heat.
"Dinner is served" Raiden thought.
He lunged. He didn't use magic this time; he used [Predator]. He tackled the second slime, jaws wide, and eveloped it. The slime tried to freeze his tongue, but the [Predator] skill dissolved it instantly before it could do damage.
"Notice. Cryo Element absorbed. Skill [Cold Resistance] successfully acquired. Skill [Ice Shard] acquired."
The third slime tried to flee, bouncing away. Raiden chased it down, his four legs moving in a rhythmic gallop. He felt the strength of his ancestors - the hunting instinct of the Ragnvaldr bloodline - surging through this new draconic form. He pinned the slime with a claw and devoured it.
A few hours later, Raiden sat atop a rock, licking the frost off his chops. He was no freezing. He felt strong. He looked up at the peak of Dragonspine. The Skyfrost Nail hovered ominously in the distance.
"So," Raiden mused, his silver eyes glowing. "I'm in Genshin Impact. I have the Tensura system. And I'm currently a lizard."
He dug his claws into the frozen earth.
"First, I survive. Then, I evolve. And then... I think I'm going to have a word with Celestia."