Immediately the box opened, the screen changed, and all his soul shards went from a million down to zero. But it didn't stop there—his surroundings changed into an entirely black void, but somehow he could still see.
And there he saw it, curled on the ground, massive and domineering—an undead dragon. Its entire body was made of bones and nothing else.
"What is happening?" Jake asked.
[That box you touched—well, it seems it was a special opportunity set by that goddess. I wondered why she let you have a million soul shards off the bat, but this seems to be the reason.]
"What? I still don't understand what you are saying," Jake said.
[Your soul shards were taken by the system so that you stand the chance of summoning the undead dragon—one of the greatest undead that exist.]
Jake's eyes lit up when he heard that, and he was about to be overtaken by joy, but then he recalled that the system said "stand a chance," and not "definitely get the dragon."
"What do you mean stand a chance? Does that mean there is a chance that I'll not get it?" Jake asked.
[Well, you see....]
"Who dares approach me?" the dragon suddenly spoke, its voice booming within the void and making the air shake. A flame lit in the eyes of the dragon as it looked at Jake, moving its head a little to face him.
"You, a puny human, stand before me with the intention to summon me?" the dragon asked.
Jake was already scared at this point. He could feel some sort of killing intent coming from this dragon, and that made him cautious.
But Jake recalled the fact that he had died once, and this was a second life, so if he had the chance to actually summon a cool dragon, then he would give it his all.
"Yes, I wish to summon you," Jake said.
"I see. Still, you are far too weak a being to battle me physically, so if you can resist me mentally, I'll become your summon without question," the dragon said.
Jake didn't know what sort of duel that entailed for him, but he still decided to go with it and give it his all.
"Fine, so how do we do—"
Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a splitting headache.
"Arghhhhhhhh!" He cried out in pain. He slowly tried to open his eyes through the pain, and what he saw made his heart tremble. He looked down at his feet, and he was above a never-ending ocean of blood.
He could see the skulls and bones floating in the blood—body parts and more. The blood boiled, bubbles popping in it.
Jake felt his stomach churn. He looked around and tried to move, but then he realized that he was chained to a metal cross, and he could only move his head.
"What the hell is happening?" Jake asked, trying to shake himself off the cross, but nothing was happening.
[It is a mental attack from the dragon. I don't know the context of the attack or how to avoid it, so keep your attention sharp.]
"You seem fine after seeing such a scene. A normal being would be scared and traumatized by this sight," the dragon's voice sounded.
The dragon appeared in front of him, flapping his wings as he flew over the ocean of blood.
"It does make me feel unsettled and scared, to be honest. But since I was born, I was put through one hell after the other, and because of that, my reaction to extreme things has waned over the years.
The sight of this blood is beyond disturbing, but my mind has grown to not panic. I guess that's the only benefit I got from a life of bad luck," Jake said.
"Hmmm? You speak as though you have lived two lives," the dragon said.
"I have. And in my last life, I was pushed through so much bad luck because of a cosmic error. My mind is my strongest attribute," Jake followed up.
"I see. Then if this sort of mental attack is nothing to you, I believe you possess the kind strong enough to be my master," the dragon said and vanished. The scene of the blood ocean started fading.
[You know, I find you intriguing. You hated the idea of killing humans, yet you didn't flinch at the sight of blood.]
"That's because death is not what I'm scared of. It's me taking the life that I do not want," Jake said.
[Still confused, and I have a mighty processor.]
Jake returned to the clearing in the forest, and a system interface came up in front of him.
[You have used your soul shards to summon the undead dragon. Do you wish to bind your summon? Y/N]
Jake looked at the screen, and without hesitation, he selected yes.
A purple magical circle formed underneath him, and also one in front of him that kept growing in size until it was large enough for the massive dragon to come out of.
The undead dragon rose from the magic circle, its head bowed to Jake as it came out.
"My allegiance is to you now and forever, master," the dragon spoke.
The circles shined brighter before slowly going down. Immediately, Jake felt a connection between him and the dragon.
[You have contracted your first undead: 1000 soul shards, 10 stat points, 100 EXP, Undead Skeletons, Command Undead, Death Sense.]
[Level up: 2 stat points.]
"What the hell is all this now?" Jake asked, looking at the screen in confusion. All these were new concepts that he had no idea of.
[Well, these are your rewards for summoning your first undead. You got more soul shards, stat points to add to your own stats, EXP to make you level up and unlock new summons and skills, and you gained a new type of undead to summon—the skeletons.
As for the last two, those are your skills. You can check their description. Also, try checking your stats screen. I'm going to sleep.]
'Something is seriously wrong with this system, there's no doubt he is' Jake thought before turning back to the screen.