This world was changing me. Or maybe I have always been more messed up emotionally than I thought. I wasn’t reacting as normal person would do after discovering that they have been tricked into bondage. I was looking at Jena, transforming before my eyes, and I was feeling nothing. I wasn’t angry. Wasn’t upset. I definitely wasn’t happy either. I just watched and wait. I was also rational about it. I had been desperate to learn magic, still am, so I agreed to this without thinking things through. Now I was just waiting to see what happens next. And just go with the flow so to speak.

  Jena grew into the size of a big goat, in moments. The glow surrounding him intensified for a second and then it deemed. A dusty-brown and yellow baby dragon blinked at me and roared! A deep rumble filled the cavern and I giggled. To all that is honest in this world, I giggled. I couldn’t help it. The depth and volume of his voice did not match his appearance at all. He had lost his snake like appearance and he now had reddish brown tiny wing, tiny yellow spikes run along his entire back. His huge cat-like eyes sparkled. He was just too cute to have such a deep and commanding voice. I giggled some more.

  “Urgh! This is so frustrating!,” He said looking at his short forelegs. “Why are you giggling? Did you get your magic?” He eyes flashed red, then purple. Aww, the cuteness of it!

  “No, you look very cute.”

  “Don’t you dare ever say that! I am not cute. I am a fearless dragon! Roar-r-r!” I couldn’t help it. I cracked up.

  “Why are you up set? Isn’t this how you look?”

  “No! This is your fault!” He pointed at an accusatory finger at me and narrowed his eyes. Every blink changed the color of his eyes — red, then purple, the brown. He looked so adorable that I had to physically stop myself from petting him.

  “How is this my fault. You tricked me into bonding with you!”

  “Tricked you! Ha! Why would I trick you? If anyone was tricked, its me. I thought you were a mage who hadn’t activated her powers. Bonding with me should have activated them.”

  “So why didn’t it work?”

  “ I don’t know. Maybe you are a dragon kin without. I really hope not. Or you don’t have enough status points. It has to be status points otherwise why would you be summoned.”

  “Status points? What are those?”

  “Really? You know nothing? How is this possible?”

  “Summoned, remember?” This wasn’t funny anymore. The numb feeling was gone and I just felt empty. I had really hoped this was a step toward gaining my so-called dragon powers.

  “I remember! That was a rhetorical question.” Jena answered.

  “Now you understand rhetorical questions?” I glared at him and he glared back and grinned. I grinned too.

  “Show me your status.” He finally said. I was about to asked again when he wave at me and said, “I know! You don’t know what a status is. The voice in your head. What did you call it?”

  “The Ding.” I provided.

  “Yes, the ding. In this world we call it the System. It is the System that governs everyone through classes and levels. I can see on your face that you don’t understand. Do you have healers in your world?” Even though is deep voice sounded put out his voice was saying otherwise, he was smiling.

  “Yes, we do.”

  “How does one became an expect healer?”

  “They study to pass exams and then apprentice for a time until they can work independently. The more they work, the better they became.”

  “How do other people know their status? I mean how do others know that they are good?”

  “They have papers to prove their qualifications and references showing their years of experience.”

  “Here we don’t all that. We have status updates. The system records and rewards actions. If the actions line up with your class, say a healer then your healer level or status goes up. The status says what you can do and how well you can do it. I want to see your status to see why your dragon powers aren’t active yet.”

  “Okay, but who runs the system?” In my world a system like that? Corruption would ruin it in a minute. I can could image all the top government officials and their relatives reaching high levels while everyone else scrapes by.

  “We don’t know.”

  “What do you me you don’t know?”

  “Exactly that. Many people have made a career out of studying the system but we don’t know who is responsible. It just is.” The only comfort I got from that was that it was incorruptible. It’s seemed like a fair system. I can deal with that. Though having someone in my head is a bit weird. Can the system mind control me? Can it glitch like computers at home? Is it a version of Artificial Intelligence? I shook my head to dispel all the questions circling in my head. I can’t do this to myself. Solutions first and research questions later.

  “Okay, I have so many questions. But, first how do I show you my Ding?”

  “System. It’s the system not the Ding.”

  “I know but I like Ding and since no one owns it I can name it what I want.”

  “That’s fair. Since we are bonded now, we are linked. You can talk to me in your head and show me stuff too.”

  “Like telepathy? I thought I had no magic.” I interrupted him.

  “Do you want to understand the system or do you want magic right now.” I just looked at him and refused to answer. I didn’t see why it should be one way or the other. He sighed, “We are linked that’s why. So if you open you system and show me, I will see it.”

  “How?”

  “Just try, its intuitive. You will see.” I tried and he was right. Opening and sharing my Ding was so easy. I felt silly as I read my status. The name was right there:- Status Update. To my defense, its been a while since that ding had dinged.

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  Status Update

  Name: Anesu

  Mutupo: Dragon

  Bonded Companion:

  Name :- Jena the Dragon

  Bond Level: locked.

  Bonded relics: 1

  Jena Dragon lair

  Base Attributes

  Strength: 2

  Dexterity:1

  Constitution:1

  Intelligence: 5

  Wisdom: 6

  Charisma: 7

  Class: pending

  Abilities: Pending

  Minimum base attributes thresholds required for awakening

  Good luck!

  “How are you not dead?” Jena’s big eyes looked bigger as he stared at me. I don’t think I will ever get over the flashing headlights. They were adorable.

  “What do you mean?” I was confused.

  “Your strength is 2, Dexterity and Constitution are both 1. Tell me how are you not dead?”

  “I don’t know what you mean. I don’t even understand what the status updates mean. Later on, even how they affect my not dying. Explain this to me like I am a child because I am a child when it comes to knowledge of this world. ” Jena looked at me for a long moment and nodded to himself. He seemed to come to some decision.

  “Okay, we are going to do this together. We will have to do this together and do it right. Strength, dexterity and constitution are indicators for your physical body. How flexible, how far you can see, how healthy or how strong you are etc. The others, intelligence, wisdom and charisma indicate your mind and emotional health. These are things like fear, decision making or even how you interact with others.”

  “I with you so far. First three indicators for the body and the last three are this.” I pointed to my head.

  “Right,” He agreed and continued, “Your base attributes are so low that unlocking any of the dragon powers would quite literally kill you. Your body is too weak. Any dragon power you try to use would tear your body apart. Now here is the catch. Dragon kin abilities awaken only when intelligence, wisdom and charisma cross a set threshold. While your body is fragile, the System won’t allow you to level up your mind. What I don’t understand is how are so weak? How old are you?”

  “Eighty-seven.” That brought him short and he looked puzzled.

  “Did you look like that in your world?”

  “Of course not. I was an old woman.”

  “Ah… I see the issue. The system spent everything it could to improve your base attributes, but at your age the gains are limited.”

  I bristled.

  “No, no — this isn’t your fault. If you were younger, those same increases would have been enough to push your stats past the threshold. Then all you would’ve needed was study and training to raise your mind.”

  Jena started humming to himself, eyes closed — rocking himself on his back legs. He was thinking. I gave him a moment then asked.

  “Jena, correct me if I am wrong. I don’t totally understand what is going on but I think I have a grasp on my situation. So here is what I think you said. The first three are my physical body and the others are my mind. They all work together to unlock magic for me in balance. My body is weak, so my magic is locked. But why is your magic locked?”

  “Because we are linked.”

  “So?” I looked at him blank.

  “So if my magic unlocks it affects yours as much as your emotions are already affecting me.”

  “Wait, what? You can feel my emotions? I thought the body was for you to access human emotions — abstract emotions not my emotions. Are you in my head right now?”

  “What is it with you and bondage? I can’t read your mind and neither am I in your head. I am magically bound to you which gives me access to human empathy. You are a conduit, a link. We can use that link for communication, accessing emotions or magic.”

  “Ah,” I saw it now. The system was blocking him just as it was blocking my mind attributes.

  “Ah, indeed.” Jena said. “Not to worry! We can overcome this. We have to improve your physical body first and when the system allows, we will work on your mind too. Actually this might not be a bad thing. This might allow you to have access to a lot more class options that you would have had. I can even guide you to build a better core.”

  “Really, how so? I assume classes are like jobs.”“

  “Classes are closer to advanced skill paths than fixed jobs. A healer can also be a herbalist, a cook, or anything else they’ve trained in. The more varied your skills are before your class system unlocks, the more class options you’ll have when it’s time to choose.I’m fairly certain Cook, Baker, or even Innkeeper will be among the classes available to you.”

  “I don’t see how?”

  “You are going to be doing a lot of that while training.”

  “I will be cooking?”

  “You are planning to eat right? And you don’t have magic. So you cook.”

  “We have food in here?”

  “Yes, I assumed you saw it when you did your through inspection earlier instead of getting on with important issues. We will talk food later but right now we start training.” There was food. That was a relief.

  “Hold on, you mentioned a core. What is it? Did you mean my soul?”

  “Simple answer is, it is the soul of your power. It’s easier to show you than explain. But you are not ready until we fix your physical body.”

  “But —.”

  “No, buts! Anesu we need to train. Let’s go find what we need.” Jena flew off the desk and made his way out of the library area.

  I sat there for a moment and mouthed, “we need to train.” I frowned. Never have I ever uttered those words in relation to my body. I really hoped Jena was looking for an magical item that would transform me into a strong woman. Surely that possible, right? I was an 87 year old woman who has instantly transformed into a forty something woman. Putting a little muscles shouldn’t be too hard. Right?