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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Douglasjm on 2025-11-26 19:19:53+00:00.

Synopsis:

Carlos was an ordinary software engineer on Earth, up until he died and found himself in a fantasy world of dungeons, magic, and adventure. This new world offers many fascinating possibilities, but it's unfortunate that the skills he spent much of his life developing will be useless because they don't have computers.

Wait, why does this spell incantation read like a computer program's source code? Magic is programming?

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Carlos stared open-mouthed at the vision his scrying spell was showing him. High enough in the sky above to look like a gaming miniature figure from the ground, the majestic winged creature flew with deceptively little motion. Its leathery wings, extending dozens of feet to either side of its body, mostly held steady, adjusting course with minor changes in angle and only occasionally flapping. Its silver scales shone in the sun, daylight reflecting off of them like they were metal. Each scale was tiny, and they fit together in a wonderfully flexible overlapping mesh. Its neck seemed almost like a particularly shiny snake as it bent in one direction after another, letting the creature's head look at whatever it chose without unduly disrupting its flight path.

Its four legs, two front and two back, were tucked in tight to its body in flight, but they looked strong and had sharp claws. A long tail lazily trailed behind it, fluttering in the wind of its own aerial wake. At the front, its head held a jaw filled with sharp teeth. Two slits for nostrils sat above the mouth, with a pair of eyes a little higher and farther back. All of it exuded menace and power, seeming to promise death to anything that dared oppose it—though that impression might have been influenced by the mana pressure it was exerting on everything in the area.

Carlos blinked a few more times, then snapped his mouth shut and shook himself. He turned to Lorvan, who was standing as straight and ready as ever in their little concealed hollow, and with a wave of his hand, he conjured an image of what he was seeing. "Just to make sure, um… Is that a dragon?"

Lorvan nodded immediately. "Yes. Do you still want me to attempt to fight it?"

Carlos hastily shook his head and waved his hands in denial. "No, no, I'm already convinced you'd be terribly outclassed. But, um, can you tell me anything about its capabilities and the best tactics for fighting it?" He looked around at the rest of the hollow and raised his voice. "Actually, that goes for all of you. Any information or advice for fighting a dragon?"

"Haha!" Haftel caught himself and settled into a grave expression. "Lord Carlos, with respect: Kid, any adventurer worth the name would give you only one piece of advice for fighting a dragon. 'Don't do it. Run. Run and pray that it doesn't care enough to bother chasing you.' Fighting dragons is for fools and, well, for nobles. If anyone here has the kind of advice that nobles give to their own, it would be only the royal guards."

Carlos stared at him and raised an eyebrow quizzically. "Wouldn't people just respawn? Even if death is almost certain, that seems a bit extreme."

"You really haven't heard?" Haftel cocked his head, then shrugged. "Okay, I guess this is your day to learn. If a dragon eats you, sure you'll respawn, but you'll be missing more than just one level. A lot more. And you'll be sore and aching in your soul for weeks. It's the kind of thing that can turn someone off of adventuring entirely. So, since you're apparently an unlucky bastard who has to fight one, make sure you win. And for that…" He shrugged again. "I hope Lorvan has something for you, and that all your noble… stuff… works out for you. Good luck, and all that."

"Thanks, I think." Carlos turned back to Lorvan. "So, got anything for me?"

Amber interrupted before Lorvan could respond. "You– you've at least heard that they can breathe fire, right?"

Carlos arched an eyebrow at her, silently reminding her that he was literally from another world, even as he pretended nonchalance in his answer. "Well yes, of course, but I don't know what parts of what I've heard are factual and what parts are just rumor and legend. Lorvan?"

Colonel Lorvan cleared his throat. "I can tell you the standard briefing that royal guards are given about dragons, but I don't know if it will meaningfully help you." He paused briefly for Carlos to nod his understanding, then started reciting. "Dragons are fearsome foes, fit only for nobles to fight at remotely equal levels. Even for reaper class creatures, dragons are exceptional, flying at the very peak. A force of royal guards may be a match for a dragon, but only if they both out-level and outnumber the dragon significantly. Dragons…"

___

While one of Carlos's minds interrogated Lorvan about dragons, another continued focusing on actually watching the dragon, so he noticed and reacted immediately when the dragon's serpentine head suddenly moved to look directly at his scrying sensor. He hastily withdrew his spell to a much farther distance, just in time to escape a grasping talon of essence that lashed out from the dragon and tried to grab the spell. He couldn't see the large intake of breath that immediately followed, but the sound that came next could not possibly be missed.

An angry buzzing rumble filled the air like a dozen crashes of thunder combined. The mighty roar echoed across the landscape, carrying wisps of mana with it, and Carlos almost shivered as the rumble pierced through his senses and into his mind. He felt a spike of what felt like pure distilled panic trying to hammer its way into his soul, but he was tempted to laugh when he realized his mental inverter was kicking in, transforming the actual effect into incongruous determination and resolve. Maybe I should even leave it be? Then again, it's pretty potent. Oof, Level 59, and feels more hard-packed than even the royal guards' souls. If I give it too much time, it might actually dig its way through the decoy layer to my actual soul. … And it might give the dragon a connection to find me by. My essence is still packed more strongly than this, but no point taking chances. He unceremoniously evicted the spike and outright dismissed his scrying spell, electing to instead just ask Purple to share his senses of the developments. Purple, for his part, had been hit more directly and comprehensively by the roar's effect, but had quickly shrugged it off and was busily skipping between various aether absorption paths.

"Dragons' roars strike fear into the souls of any who hear."

When Lorvan got to that point in his recitation, Carlos mentally checked it off. Yup, experienced that one already. Good thing my soul is so sturdy and resilient. He watched through Purple's senses as the dragon continued trying to track where all the aether was going, but Purple kept dancing one step ahead of the dragon's searches, abandoning and cutting lines just as the dragon found them. To any senses not tuned to the various forms of mana, nothing much was happening; the dragon flew in circles high above, craning its head in various directions and occasionally roaring, but that was all.

With no pressing need for immediate action, Carlos took a step back and started planning. "Alright, it seems clear that anyone not noble will be only a liability in this fight. Kindar… well, you can try if you want, but it will be a big risk for you. Everyone else, stay out of it. Even Esmorana—I wouldn't put it past this thing to track your wind techniques back to you and out-speed your retreat. Got it?" He looked around, and everyone nodded solemnly. He nodded back, then took a deep breath. "Now then, for Amber and I…"

___

Purple managed to delay the dragon with false leads long enough for Carlos, Amber, Kindar, and himself to all reach Level 49 after about an hour. They waited a few more minutes to let their souls settle and adjust for the new level of power, and then it was time to strike. Carlos felt not the least bit inclined to fight fair against a reaper-class monster 10 levels above him, and an old term from his gaming days had come to mind: "scry and die."

He and Amber recast their scrying spells for a direct view of the mighty scaled beast and immediately reached their mana through it to form blades of invisible force. The spells took form in an instant and flew for the dragon from either side, but the dragon reacted quickly. It rotated in the air and took the hits on its strongly-armored body instead of its relatively vulnerable wings. Carlos and Amber tried once more, this time from ahead and behind, but the dragon responded instantly and much more viciously. Its head shot forward on its long neck to let its deadly jaw snap shut on the forward force blade, overwhelming the spell with sheer power, and simultaneously its tail slapped down on the rear force blade with crushing strength. Both spells shattered before they could even try to cut anything, and Carlos winced in...

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