I'm kind of interested in the results of the Magic Knight thread, so I'm going to invert the scenario and present it this way to see what people think. I'm also going to remove the BL element too. You were reincarnated in another universe as nobility, and your country is famous for its Dragon Riders. A single Dragon Rider is worth the strength of 10,000 soldiers, so it is sufficient to say that they are incredibly powerful. Although your kingdom is relatively small, Dragon Riders are capable of defending your country against many hostile powers. However, it is very challenging to raise a single Dragon Rider. Only nobility with a special bloodline can become one, and unfortunately you are the only noble born in your decade with the correct bloodline. Consequently, you have extremely high pressure to become a Dragon Rider to defend your country. If you fail to become a Dragon Rider, there is a 99% likelihood that your kingdom will get overrun by foreign armies. + + + There is actually a huge closely guarded secret about Dragon Riders. The method to create a dragon is to summon a human Otherworlder from another universe, and then get them to agree to enter a magical contract with the Rider to be their Dragon. However, the success rate is very low. Approximately only 5% of summoned humans are compatible with any given Rider. It is impossible to send the remaining 95% back to their original universes, and the energy cost of maintaining them without a contract is exorbitantly high (their existences strains some laws of physics). Consequently, the standard practice of your country is to kill any summoned human that fails to form a contract with a Rider so it doesn't drain all the mana from the Imperial mages. It is only possible for a Rider to form a contract with a single Dragon at a time. Multiple concurrent contracts are not possible. + + + Currently, you are in the phase of looking for your first Dragon mount. Your objective is to spend 1-2 weeks with the summoned Otherworlders and chose one that you have strong emotional compatibility with. If they agree to become your Dragon, then you will undergo a ritual and you will have your first mount. The remaining humans will all be terminated. A couple out of several dozen candidates have caught your eye: 1. Attractive Candidate This candidate is literally the most attractive person you have ever seen. You would probably have wet dreams about them. They have a bunch of merits, but their hot appearance is the main feature that catches your eye. 2. Intelligent Candidate This candidate is really smart, and you're awed by their wit and intellectual talents. You would never be bored with them. 3. Affectionate Candidate This candidate is really loving. They seem to really like you and are extremely dedicate to you. 4. Mature Candidate This candidate is experienced with life and wise beyond their years. They are adult-like in their demeanor. 5. Fun Candidate This candidate makes you laugh and is extremely fun to talk to. They always have something interesting to do. 6. Sincere Candidate This candidate is honest about their feelings, and they care a lot about sharing them transparently with you. 7. Skilled Candidate This candidate is really talented. They have a lot of skills and abilities, which may be useful in the future! 8. Understanding Candidate This candidate always seems to know what you are thinking. They're extremely easy to talk to about your problems and feelings. 9. Friendly Candidate This candidate is basically just like a good friend. You easily laugh, hang out, and share interests with them. 10. Ambitious Candidate This candidate has a dream they want to pursue. You aren't at the center of their life, but their dream is admirable. 11. Sunshine Candidate This candidate is like a ray of sunshine and they bring joy into your life. Watching them makes you smile. 12. Respectful Candidate This candidate knows your boundaries and never oversteps their bounds. They are respectful to your values. 13. Compassionate Candidate This candidate is extremely pure-hearted and warm. They extend a helping hand to everyone. 14. Strong Candidate This candidate has a strong willpower. Nothing gets them down, and they will always persevere. 15. Pensive Candidate This candidate is very thoughtful. They are always reflecting and considering the things that happen in life. 16. Quiet Candidate This candidate is really quiet. They're actually a bit hard to talk to. 17. Moral Candidate This candidate has strong moral values that they will not compromise on. 18. Flirty Candidate This candidate is a flirt and a tease! 19. Dependable Candidate This candidate is really trustworthy and solid like a rock. 20. Heart-Breaking Candidate This candidate has a really sad story that you really relate to. You really sympathize with them. 1. Which candidate would you choose to save to become your dragon? 2. How would you feel knowing that all the other candidates (that you don't choose) will die? 3. Suppose that you are romantically/sexually interested in one of your top candidates, but they don't reciprocate those same feelings. What now? 4. Suppose many or most of the candidates express hatred towards you from taking them away from their previous life in another universe. What is your response? Would you ever take an unwilling mount? If you failed to find a dragon in this group, would you be okay with your kingdom summoning another group of Otherworlders? 5. Suppose that the candidate that you feel the best connection with stubbornly wants to commit suicide because they hate this situation. What will you do?
Strong. I'm looking for a dragon, not a human. They'll mostly be acting as a dragon so I want a strong dragon that won't let me down and will persevere. It also helps that the Strong dragon probably won't let the others dying affect them. Otherwise, I'd pick Talented if they stay human... but they don't?
My instinctual reaction upon seeing the title was: None of them. Let them all die. Meh, the Fun one? Sincere one? How much emotional compatibility can you have with someone you met for the first time? They are all faceless figures that are trying to appeal to me with one exemplar trait. If the nation is willing to “go off with their heads” with so many summoned humans. My neck isn't that secure either. It's unfortunate but I can not help them. Unreciprocated romantic feelings or an unwilling mount would just lead to my early death. I will try my best to avoid those candidates. They will all resent me to some degree. Hopefully the one I choose resents me less.
1. The skilled candidate 2. A bit sad but it's necessary 3. I will just move on i guess 4. I would apologize to them and try to explain my reasons. No i wouldn't take an unwilling candidate as a mount. Yes, it's better to just sacrifice them if it means i can save the kingdom where i am from. 5. Try to stop them from doing it and try to motivate them to live, if it fails then i will respect his decision and choose other candidate
I will rebel against the entire country after picking the best candidate based on combat(probably the skilled candidate). I will free them afterwards and help them seek asylum in order for them to help me take over the shitty country and drain the mana of their best mages. I will assume that the intellectual candidate has info about advanced technology and if so then I will use it to increase the tec level of the country after usurp the throne and claim it as my own while appointing the ambitious candidate as my right hand man(there's a chance of betrayal but I have a fucking dragon who cares). Edit: shit I forgot that after a certain point in time the otherd will be yeeted out of existence anyways because of a lack of mana. I didn't consider this enough
Rebelling is fine if that’s what you want to do in the end — although I don’t think it is realistic that you will be able to save all of them. It takes like uh... a nuclear reactor’s worth of energy to maintain a single uncontracted Otherworlder per hour, so it’s highly inefficient. As soon as you rebelled and the imperial mages cut the power plug to favor more important things, most of them would probably die within an hour. If you really hated the practice, the only real solution is to stop your country from summoning otherworlders in the first place, which also means no more dragons.
lol I just finished editing my comment about the flaws of my plan after you have responded. Whelp, guess I'll just pick one and accept my fate
Of all the different options, only those will be useful as dragons: Intelligent Candidate Affectionate Candidate Strong Candidate Skilled Candidate Dependable Candidate And someone in that world needs to propose the idea of trying to breed the otherworlders together in order to increase the chances of turning into dragons (something like a dragons farm or something rather than killing them and gambling on slim chances whether the summoned ones will compatible turning into dragons or not) 1. Which candidate would you choose to save to become your dragon? One of the useful ones 2. How would you feel knowing that all the other candidates (that you don't choose) will die? I am living with squandering idiots 3. Suppose that you are romantically/sexually interested in one of your top candidates, but they don't reciprocate those same feelings. What now? I am what now ? Let me get this straight, I live in a world in which people will kill aliens (these people most probably were raised to believe and regard that those summoned otherworlders are different specisies, like they are magical animals or monsters or something, anything but humans, they probably don't even see them as humans) if they turn out unable to turn into dragons, and you tell me I might develop romantic feelings for one of them? I am not into bestiality 4. Suppose many or most of the candidates express hatred towards you from taking them away from their previous life in another universe. What is your response? Would you ever take an unwilling mount? If you failed to find a dragon in this group, would you be okay with your kingdom summoning another group of Otherworlders? It is about time I take the throne and make new rules, first one, breeding dragons 5. Suppose that the candidate that you feel the best connection with stubbornly wants to commit suicide because they hate this situation. What will you do? Let them die, if they feel strongly about suicide then let them die otherwise they might commit suicide later at the wrong place and the wrong time and might put me in a bad situation or might cause my death, never get a sick mount
1. I would try to save them all as it is only right. 2. The most twisted revenge mangas and webnovels tell me betraying otherworlders is a bad idea. If I were summoned I would probably take the opportunity to backstab the country even if I was picked because I would likely hate them and not tell them that so more wouldn't be summoned and killed. 3. I don't blame them who would think of stuff like that in this situation. 4. If worst came to worst I could always choose the moral, strong, or ambitious one as they might take that mantle for selfish or heroic reasons. 5. Talk to them and accept their final decision.
For the sake of accuracy, I'm going to forget about the previous poll, and think of them all as women. 1. Which candidate would you choose to save to become your dragon? Looking at their specs, number 19 would be a good pick. However, I don't really trust any of them since they're all technically slaves bound by no magic. I'm not a good judge of character so chances are they are secretly plotting against me. Even if they aren't, I would likely be paranoid about them the whole time, thus lowering that compatibility score thing. But I do have to hope that keeping a slave who's obedient will work out properly for me. 2. How would you feel knowing that all the other candidates (that you don't choose) will die? I don't really have too much sympathy for them, given they are from a different world entirely and have nothing really to do with me. They're just slaves. 3. Suppose that you are romantically/sexually interested in one of your top candidates, but they don't reciprocate those same feelings. What now? I'm actually very good at moving on once I've been rejected (or when I perceive that such is the case), so I would do just that. I would act in a way to get them to like me however I can, but in the end they're just a slave. 4. Suppose many or most of the candidates express hatred towards you from taking them away from their previous life in another universe. What is your response? Would you ever take an unwilling mount? If you failed to find a dragon in this group, would you be okay with your kingdom summoning another group of Otherworlders? I would brush off their statements and ignore them. There's no way I'd take someone with me who openly declares they will kill me. Rather, I'm surprised that any country has actually had any success with this process... As for summoning more, I don't really have a say in any of it. If I don't find someone to pick, then more will be summoned. Can't be helped, but they're just slaves after all. 5. Suppose that the candidate that you feel the best connection with stubbornly wants to commit suicide because they hate this situation. What will you do? Bye bye, there's no helping it. They're just a slave after all, and nothing will change that.
Since I can choose from 20 candidates, you’re saying my nation summoned around 20/0.05 = 400 otherworlders at once despite being a small nation? And 380 have already died because they weren’t compatible. That death rate disgusts me so I don’t think I have a good reason to protect this nation. Also, judging by isekai patterns, an isekai hero (probably one of the otherworlders my nation summons) will probably reform/take over it sooner or later because it's a sacrificial empire with evil leadership. Therefore, I’ll definitely escape (with my friends/family if and only if their chances of escaping alive are high) when I find a suitable dragon and maybe betray it (help another nation attack it), moreso if I judge that my dragon is in fact the isekai hero who is destined for greatness. I don’t trust my nation’s word on this matter, after I escape my nation, I will try to look for sources of information from other nations. Assuming other decades are similar, I should have some more experienced predecessors then. Got to plan my escape (and maybe betrayal) carefully. 1. If the combat strength of the dragon remains around the same no-matter which candidate I choose, and assuming the dragon can turn back to human form whenever or can speak to other people (in human language), I’ll transform 2 or 7 (intelligent/skilled candidate) into a dragon but try to keep the others alive. If I can't keep them alive without seeming suspicious to my nation, I'll just let them die. 2. It's my nation's fault, I don't like it, but I don't feel responsible. If my dragon dislikes my nation, I would be more motivated to betray it after the escape. 3. there are plenty of fish in the sea; as a dragon rider I think I can attract other girls who either like strong men, or like flying in the air more easily. 4. & 5. at least one of them must want to live (even if they become a dragon) right? If 2 and 7 (intelligent/skilled) both want to die, I'll pick 19 (dependable), if 19 also wants to die, I'll pick 4 (mature), if 4 also wants to die, I'll pick 9 or 6 (friendly/sincere) since they are probably less likely to betray me, if 9 and 6 also wants to die, I'll pick 1 (attractive)... If none of the 20 want to live, I’ll try to convince the intelligent/skilled one to be my dragon for a short while, see my world, and then let them commit suicide after we escape our nation as part of the contract. I'll get as much intel about the otherworld's more advanced sciences/business methods as possible before she commits suicide, so I can live comfortably as a none-dragon rider after my dragon commits suicide in other nations.
Too long don't read em all. The kingdom cant be an absolute existence, because i as the "only" dagon rider has political power influence the outcome of the country. I just summon the otherworlder, if not the right one. Let them leaves, if they want to come home. They beed to fill the requirements, i had a lot of problems to find my ride already. I can help if the kingdom prosper and i had a high seat in the kingdom. Possibly the king, cuz i had a dragon if i were successful. And they can helo me to be the king for faster way of coming home. If not, don't make mess with me or dead. Easy
Seriously? This complicated, why not reverse engineer the magic and summon youself as dragon then use object as anchors? Bamm, dragon version lich
Oh, I feel uniquely qualified to weigh in since I've watched all three "How to Train Your Dragon" movies Assuming there's no realistic way to overturn the status quo and change the system, I'd pick a "loyal" candidate. Because whether or not the dragons might commit suicide, there's nothing in the scenario that stops the dragon from eating me So maybe "dependable" is the most important thing. Whatever/whoever you wanna do -- bestiality, Braveheart Mel Gibson, @Ai chan -- can come after.
I don't understand if nobody reads all the specifications of the story or if everyone's just trying to be an a**hole. I mean, in this particular scenario, you'll be pressured to protect your homeland, the place you were born and raised. You're also nobility in a feudal setting, so you've probably been raised into a very hierarchical and etiquette ruled society. Of course, I would feel terribly sad and guilty for the otherworlders that were sacrificed and summoned. But I also think the kingdom would try to cover up this as much as possible since the main aspect for the compatibility between a ride and knight is the emotional link so if they become completely unstable and doubtful it would make this worse. Anyway, even though there's a "dependable" character, the "friendly", "affectionate", "heart-breaking", "understanding", "sincere" and "pensive" candidates would sway me more. I wouldn't go down with this if I knew they would all die so the mages and the king better be some old sly foxes that can convince me not to kill myself knowing that I can end the dragon rider bloodline. In the worst case, I would try to convince my chosen ride to be with me until we can stabilize the kingdom frontiers for a while, maybe have the population revolt by themselves and then, eliminate all the records of the dragon summoning ritual later so that other people won't have to suffer again.
1. Which candidate would you choose to save to become your dragon? 19. The Dependable Candidate. 2. How would you feel knowing that all the other candidates (that you don't choose) will die? Disgusted. We kidnap people from other worlds to benefit ourselves. 3. Suppose that you are romantically/sexually interested in one of your top candidates, but they don't reciprocate those same feelings. What now? I'll do my best to appeal to them without lying or manipulating them. Maybe I'll fail, maybe I'll succeed, but I won't try to win them over with false promises. 4. Suppose many or most of the candidates express hatred towards you from taking them away from their previous life in another universe. What is your response? Would you ever take an unwilling mount? If you failed to find a dragon in this group, would you be okay with your kingdom summoning another group of Otherworlders? It's perfectly natural for them to hate me. I would feel the same in their position. I would put my feelings aside and concentrate on trying to find the mount I need in order to complete my objectives. I wouldn't take an unwilling mount unless they had already chosen me to avoid death and I thought they had the potential to be cultivated. 5. Suppose that the candidate that you feel the best connection with stubbornly wants to commit suicide because they hate this situation. What will you do? They have every right to choose how they live and when they die. I'm looking for a candidate to help me and my fellow like-minded dragon riders to overthrow the rule and establish a new order. I want to live, but not on the back of slavery. If I'm so gifted and capable I can find a better way.
From the way the OP says it I think they need to manually kill the candidates rather than being able to just stop, which could mean the power to maintain them is a set amount of the mages' mana pools rather than a constant drain of mp. If that were true I could tell the mages they selfishly took from another world now deal with the consequences. Besides maybe they will have descendants who are dragon potential or introduce better technology which can benefit the country as it sounds like the mages wont be much help afterwards anyway. Of course it might just be that it is a drain and they kill the candidates before the mages die with them.