After deciding to begin on the path forward for himself and those around him, Nitrian took matters into his own hands. He had a long and detailed build, and it was time to explore every nook and cranny of it.
Still, in his mansion inside his picket dimension, he took a deep breath and began focusing.
"Ok, I have the dragon heritage, and I even have two main elements as a dragon. I chose Water and Earth. Since I plan to gain fire from the Sunshine magic for the 1st mission, the one. I'll need credits for that.…" He says to himself and pulls out the company phone he has like all contractors.
It was a device that allowed him to interact with most of the benefits and facets of the company without much of a hassle. Such as his monthly salary of 10,000 dollars converted to 14,228,000 Won every month.
His current bank account linked to the phone said he had 683,744,000 Won(480,000 dollars) as it seems he was earning his salary this whole time just by existing.
"That's actually broken… aren't I just a rich kid now? Not even my parents, I'm just that rich myself." Nitrian was surprised as a devious smile found him.
Aside from that, his company phone can't be hacked, it self-repairs the moment it stops being observed and it teleports back to the user once away from the user or his subordinates for more than 15 minutes.
Cutting-edge equipment with high functionality that could not be used by others without his permission.
"Ok, right now, I don't have credits, the currency I need to buy stuff from the company andto earn those I need to capture and sell waifus and husbandos…
"Nameless nobodies unrelated to the story lore, basically complete NPCs have no value, but named ones might have some. Unfortunately, I don't know any hunters as the gates haven't appeared yet." He reflected on the situation trying to see what he'll be doing.
Pulling out the company stamp from his inventory and putting his company phone away, Nitrian looked at it.
Similar to a basic stamp that would be used on paper documents in shape, but different enough to have its unique flair as its texture had blue and brown scales mimicking his elements and draconic nature.
"Ok, I have this stamp, and if I manage to knock out or defeat someone important enough to be worth credits, I get to stamp them for 3 seconds and after 72 hours, they are loyal to me, and supposedly they don't experience any other changes to who they are...
"I want to believe it, but it feels off… Hmmm, I can't pretend I'm some moral saint now, I accepted working for the company and am in this situation in great part because this doesn't bother me as much as it should, I guess I must be a scumbag…
"I should be disgusted by these ideas, but I'm at best mildly uncomfortable with them, and I know I'll easily get over it once I start… So, let's leave this for after the gates become a thing." Nitrian was talking to himself as he thought about the situation and how he felt about it, his expression was a frown, and every word was slow, as he was trying to process them himself.
Shaking his head and letting out a sigh, Nitrian put his company stamp in his inventory and started taking a stroll through the mansion again to calm his head.
After 20 minutes of aimless wandering, he stopped and it was time to be focused once more.
He started by tapping into his dragon heritage.
This gave him access to a lot.
From those he began by trying to transform into a dragon, and it worked in part, he managed to manifest brown and blue scales all over his body, making his nails and teeth sharper while his eyes gained a draconic edge to them, but nothing beyond that.
His connection, control, and understanding of his powers could only take him so far, into an early form of partial transformation, a sort of stage 1 form.
Talking the a mirror, he looked the same, pink hair and purple eyes, dark skin, and a thin physique in his short 4-year-old body. The only differences were his eyes, scales, and nails, even his hair stayed the same.
"I'll never get fully used the just naturally having colorful hair, though my eyes are sick… Oh, I just noticed, I have heterochromia in stage 1 dragon form." He said as he noticed one eye was blue, and the other brown, though in this world his eyes were purple.
The observations didn't stop there as he looked at his teeth.
"So… Sharp… I remember I could also bind a target like I would with the stamp using my dragon teeth and biting them. That would be painful, I think I'm sticking to the stamp for that." He shook his head just imagining what it must be like to be bitten by such sharp teeth.
Moving on from that, he decided to try the other thing.
"Ok, I should be able to move between worlds in my dragon form, but that's only in the full version, so right now in stage 1 dragon form, I might be able to open some form of portal, cause there's no way I can move between worlds just like that." He concluded and still in his stage 1 transformation tried to open a portal, focusing and thinking about it.
There was a deep breath as he took in the world around him, and let himself dive into his senses, there was a calm as the disturbances all faded into the background giving way to a grand visualization of his destination in his room at home.
Nothing left standing between him and the first step to greatness.
Then silence.
The quit grew louder by the second as he stood and in time it set in.
"I can't do it at all… Such a bummer." Nitrian sighed before nodding to himself accepting that would have to stay for later.
From there, he decided to focus on the next thing.
"Dragon aura…" He could feel it course through him, in part due to his soul talent helping him.
Wanting to further this, he moved his focus inward, and he found something great.
A roar coursed through him, a warmth just like the one he felt when his memories awoke and just like before it burned through him, but this time once he became a star, something interesting happened.
Solid like a rock with water flowing, he became something more as the star collapsed, and the supernova left behind a neutron star, and yet it was not over.
The burning continued stronger and stronger until even that could not handle its power and became a black hole.
Growing larger and larger coming everything in its path, it was all-consuming with hunger mirroring his, it was as greedy as its user.
Flowing through him smoothly, like river water, a refined bloodstream limited and guided by a rock-steady path, unmoving and unwavering.
His elements complemented each other and only helped him reach balance quickly.
"So this is dragon aura, it's like having a second circulatory system, but this time I can feel it working, and I'm overflowing with it… Well, at least it feels that way, but I bet I'm not all that strong yet." Nitrian looked at his hands going from stage one to normal as his nails, and eyes returned to normal while his scales disappeared.
This was far from the end though.
"Ok, just two more things to check, first it's my fluids, I can make others stronger with them, but I can't test that even if I wanted to try, I would need to do it outside, so I will later. This leaves the elements… I have water and earth." He looked at his hand and focused on his hand using his dragon aura helped by his soul talent, and boosted by his inexhaustible talent, as he was good at it, and would not run out of dragon aura at all.
At first, nothing happened at all.
After hours of trying it didn't change, until he decided to change his approach.
Going to the kitchen he got himself a cup of water then pointed his hand at it, and used his dragon aura.
The glass shattered into pieces.
"Ok… I still lack control…" He sighed until understanding that.
From there he kept trying time and time again and broke a lot of glass that day.
By the end of it, he had little more than 6 hours left in there, and morning would soon come up outside.
"Ugrth!!!!!!" He was exasperated in frustration before calming down and feeling better after doing it.
There was a pause as he laid on the ground looking at the ceiling, and after what felt like an eternity like that but was a few minutes, he got up.
"I'll continue that stuff tomorrow, today let's just see what else I can do." Nitrian nodded to himself and then kept going.
The next things were his lures, talents, defenses, and misc perks.
Starting at his lures, just like his enchanting dragon fluids, they needed a target, and he would save them for later.
With that out of the way, he moved on to talents.
He could perform with great grace as he danced, and sang, as if he was bound to be great at these with refinement. Due to his performance talent.
(This will come in handy, even if I don't use it much, at least I can become a celebrity if I ever feel like it. Just imagine a collab with Hatsune Miku?! Enough to make a grown man fangirl.) Nitrian smiled at the thought of it.
The same was true for all his other talents:
Everlasting let him gain eternal youth at 25. No wrinkles no old age, no eternal child either. It would allow him to live at his best once he reached it.
(So, I'm semi-immortal, that's nice, no natural death. I should probably be feeling weird, but honestly, I never cared much for the immortality is a curse mindset. It's like they are afraid of being alive and just don't want to admit it.
(You already lost loved ones, you already find life tiresome, you already get super bored of everything, you already feel super lonely. Being immortal only gives you more of the same, then again maybe people just like knowing there's a way out and immortality takes that away, I won't force anyone to be immortal with me, but I will someday become a true immortal.) Nitrian thought to himself before nodding his head.
Body tune-up gave him the prime conditions for his physiology. His body was healthy, fit, with genes at their absolute best at all times. All genetic defects and all those small little problems are no longer problems for him, he's the perfect specimen of his kind biologically.
(I'm kind of like Ben 10, no? Didn't the Omnitrix make him into the prime version of every alien? Yes, I'm sure it was that.) Nitrian smiled at the thought.
Not to mean he could not get sick because of this, just that it would be very hard for it to ever happen.
Athletic, and martial arts gave him a natural physical aptitude for all sports. The prior made him able to move fluidly and according to his own movements, while the latter allowed him to move fluidly according to the movements of others.
(I would have a field day in Baki, will I even go there? It's more likely I end up in Dragon Ball or worse a Chinese cultivation manhua! I'm not courting death senior, this disciple was simply too blind to see Mount Tai… Hahaha! That would be kind of funny until I got one-shot cause I looked in someone's general direction the wrong way.) Nitrian shook his head shivers down his spine.
Wild made him natural in the wilderness. Be forests, a savanna, a desert, under water, a glacial tundra, all those are places he adapt to, and find his way through, no place on earth was too much for him.
(Solid Snake style? Do I get a box as well? Gotta fully blend in.) He chuckled to himself.
Soul made him naturally gifted with supernatural energies and mystical arts. Be it mana, Ki, Chakra, Nen, or whatever other energy system, was present in a world, he would be able to accomplish them with enough practice.
(Every man who watches anime, worry not, I will master all of them, and use these forces as the overpowered weapons they are, no power system will go untouched.) Nitrian promised himself.
Communication allowed him to be a social butterfly. Able to read the room, body language, facial changes, see-through lies, and so on, his understanding of others would just keep growing to extreme levels.
(I am? I don't know, I still feel half-brain-dead when it comes to social stuff. Oh well, in time I'll see.) Nitrian nodded.
Administrative makes him a corporate adept. Organizing, logistics, bureaucracy, and all that stuff, from corporate lingo to taking care of everything else in any faction or group needs, that's him.
(Is that why my room is clean? Back in my old life, I was something of a gamer, so my room had… imperfections… Ahem, for the lack of a better word, but it's good now.) He concluded.
Blessed makes higher beings take more of a liking to him. Gods, Devils, and anything in between will be more likely to take an interest, a double-edged sword that could guarantee him blessings and a lot of headaches.
(Oh my… This is going to both get me into and out of so much trouble… Just thinking about it… I hope the Monarchs and Rulers don't come for me. It will be bad… I mean atrociously bad.
(There's no way I can become strong enough to beat them if they start paying too close attention, I don't have a broken leveling system like Jinwoo yet… The Patrons better give me my own…) Nitrian sighed.
Land makes him one with the environment. Any surroundings he's in can be understood and used, as he feels a connection to the space around him.
(Hmmm… I feel like this could be very helpful, a lot of energy-based and spiritual abilities rely on these types of connections, so maybe this can help me grow my abilities...) Nitrian started to think before deciding to try it out next time.
Psychic allows him to develop psychic abilities at the prodigious level. Mind reading, telepathy, telekinesis, and all those other espers things? Well, he's an esper too.
(Like Mob or Tatsumaki? Psychics in fiction can go crazy, I'll have fun with this.) He nodded to himself.
Science and Engineering allow him to be a total tech master. From understanding the scientific implications to building a machine that shows it, he can do it all, like a true polymath.
(I'm smart? I mean, I guess I have a lot of knowledge now, but I'm still not fully adept at applying or even understanding all of it, so I still have a long way before I can make full use of these.) Nitrian thought to himself.
Covert makes him a natural at the ways of the underground work of crime. Stealing, cheating, lying, and so on. A sly spy from the underworld, there is never a low-too-low for those with means.
(That's perfect, to fully rule everything, I'll need both sides, the legal and illegal over my command, the hero and the villain.) He smiled at the thought.
Aesthetic completes his artistic side with drawing, painting, designing, and so on. The second side of artistic to the performance talent.
(I got that artistic touch now. Nice, I used to be pretty meh at this kind of thing in my past life. If I ever need it, I'll aim to make high-class art and sell it, though, with the money I already have and my contractor salary, I might as well just do it for the craft of art.) Nitrian decided in his mind.
Finally Inexhaustible makes sure his supply of energy is endless, not his output or storage only the supply.
Like a cup of water that never run out of water, the cup does not get bigger or become a bucket, and the water inside the cup is never enough to cause a tsunami, it's still a cup of water, but you can keep drinking from it endlessly.
(Ok, so I never run out of stamina or anything, but I still need to train and get stronger so I have a higher pool with infinite supply, and better output, got it… It's like if I have 5 mp, even if that 5 mp never ends, it's still just 5 mp, I can't cast a crazy spell with it even if it doesn't end.) Nitrian concluded as he nodded to himself.
He tested each one of them, and he found himself naturally gifted at them, but not instantly the best, just like other perks everything he has started from zero, but he has boosts that give him a heads up over everyone else, not born great, but born to become great.
Following that was the penultimate one, defenses.
It started with body defense which made him able to greatly resist and develop immunity to any disease, virus, pathogen, poison, radiation, and so on he survived. Getting sick once was enough to almost guarantee the same sickness would never be able to affect him again.
(Ok, so I'm not getting sick easily or poisoned, that's great, maybe I should poison myself… No, at least not now.) He decided in his mind.
Wild defense was the addition to the wild talent, while that allowed him to adapt, this allowed him to resist any harsh climate such as glaciers or deserts.
(Good, I can move around without worrying too much. This plus Wild Talent means I'm good.) He nodded to himself.
Meanwhile, environmental defense is the last piece of the puzzle making it so he can survive the vacuum of space or the deep oceanic abyss or any other
hazardous space.
(So it's three of them working in synergy, that's fantastic, it helps add another layer to my defenses and survival abilities.) He smiled quite pleased.
Stress defense makes it so he can't be fully overtaken or overcome with stress, a support to his will, helping him keep together, though it won't strong him from breaking if he's not strong enough.
(Is this why I can stay calm? However, I got stressed trying to master the dragon aura though… I guess they aren't perfect, I was never too stressed, to begin with so, I don't feel much of a change.) Nitrian commented in his mind.
Destiny defense, fate is an odd thing, and in verses of stories they are manipulated and waived by the plot and such other forces, but he can resist the pull and in time will be able to negate it.
(That's reassuring, I'm sure I'll enter a verse where bastards will try to mold my fate, but I won't allow me, not fully, just like I plan to do with the patrons, in time, I will overcome it.) There was a soft smile knowing he had this brought to his face.
Mind defense protects from mind reading, Mind control, and other mind-based unwanted influences.
(Perfect! I will need this a lot throughout this journey.) Nitrian could almost hug his past self.
Polymorph defense resists and with enough use negates immediate transformation effects.
(Hmmm… I didn't even think of this, I'm happy I picked it. It's not that common, but being turned into something else would be frustrating, to say the least.) He nodded to himself as he thought.
Wyldscape defense adds to that and protects from continuous transformation effects, such as cursed lands and so on.
(kind of similar to the last one… I guess this one is more geared towards curses, places with odd effects on you, and so on as opposed to someone just transforming you.) Nitrian concluded.
Fatality defense resists insta-kill moves, such as insta-death, soul-based moves, and so on.
(This is kind of overpowered, no?! I can survive soul attacks, and moves, well, If they aren't too powerful, if I understand my abilities all of them seem to scale to me and I'm not very powerful right now, but I will be.) Nitrian clenched his fists.
Corruption defense resists metaphysical corruptive effects. It stops the incomprehensible from dismantling him in one go.
(This is very overpowered, this way outer beings won't destroy me just by existing or making me crazy or something like that.) A sigh of relief escaped his mouth as a breath he didn't know he was holding was finally let go of.
Possession defense resists getting his body highjacked by others.
(Definitely useful, though I wonder just how some of these work…) He nodded once again.
Paradox resistance resists time manipulation and forced teleportation, in other words, space-time changes.
(Another perfect one, I mean what if someone time travels to get rid of me young? This could happen in the solo leveling verse.) Nitrian wanted to give past him a trophy.
Addiction defense prevents him from becoming addicted to anything.
(Ok, this is also very useful, it's not that common but there are some crazy drugs in some stories, this way, my insane biology allows me to indulge a bit.) He nodded a devious smile coming to his expression.
Creature defense stops wild creatures from attacking without a proper reason.
(The amount of powerful pets and overpowered creatures I could tame just off this one is crazy,) Nitrian thought to himself.
Trace defense, allows him to leave no traces behind for others to find.
(Ohhh, I can't easily be followed, but it doesn't exactly cover up my presence, so I need to still be careful.) Nitrian sighed.
Drain defense allowed him to not be drained by others.
(Another perfect one, those than power stealers, vampire types, drainers, and energy manipulators are all way too dangerous, I'm happy the company-based abilities can't be stolen, copied, and so on, but this keeps me even safer.) He clapped for it.
Information defense resists the analysis of him and his abilities.
(Huh, I'm free from being completely exposed easily thanks to this. Beautiful.) He thinks about all of it and internalizes it.
Once that was all over, finally the last bit came.
The miscellaneous perks were all that was left.
Universal calibration allowed him to enter the version of the world that best suited his tastes.
(Ok, I knew that. It's part of why this world has some changes.) Nitrian nods.
Universal calibration II made it so he could make 10 changes to the world he was in.
(The second reason, I made these choices to things convenient, unfortunately, I could not alter the main plot things, or things too tied to it. So anything directly and sometimes indirectly related to the Monarchs and Rulers was a no, among other minor limitations.
(I still made things easier, Norma being my mom, Norma being in Korea, my dad and his involvement with a secret project, meeting Jinwoo's family, among a few other minor strings I pulled to make it work well for me.) Nitrian then continued.
Sexual calibration makes the world semi-hentai in logic, as smell, and cleanliness are not a problem, and any damage that would take place due to sex does not. Anatomy works differently allowing for things that would otherwise be impossible.
(I needed to have things properly ready in case I ever needed it. Ahem.) He chuckled to himself.
Time savers keep him well-groomed at all times.
(Have to save time on baths and all that.) He nods.
Fertility calibration allows him to control who gets pregnant or not by his seed.
(Pregnancy is a lot of commitment, but only when fully ready, it's not because I want to cream pie with no consequences.) Nitrian smiled to himself in a devious way.
Fertility calibration II allows him to control whether they have twins or not.
(I choose this... Huh, I mean, sometimes it might be for the best, it's like I want to try something like this in the future, nothing like that.) He coughs to himself.
Metal shift using a physical copy of a story, he can copy and paste the logic and laws of said world into the one he's in.
(Oh yeah, I chose this for the hentai ru-, I mean for the missions, some missions require things I can't do without pulling a few rules from another story.) Nitrian then moved on.
Meta shift II allows him to reapply effects already applied to previous worlds as well as turn said effects on and off.
(It's easier to do a lot of things if I can do this, very useful. No other reasons, obviously.) He nodded.
Exit stage, allows him to track how much progress he has made in any given world.
(I'll look at it later, it must be less than 1% right now, no use in seeing it right now.) Nitrian smiles.
Normalcy makes it so people won't question his relationship arrangements even harems and so long as he doesn't push it.
(Hehehehe! Ahem… I mean, a whole ability to help me blend into every new world.) He clapped his hands.
Then from there once he was done, there were only 4 hours left until he had to leave and it was morning in the outside world.
(I'll have to train all of it from now on. Outside I'll test the lures, and my enhancing body fluids, and the days after this will be spent training here.) He decided.
With that, he left his pocket dimension and went back to his room.
From that day on, his path started toward a top so high there was no reaching it, and yet still, he would.