DRAGON WARRIOR

©2024 KrazeKode

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ALSO BY KRAZEKODE

Rise of the Devourer

Voidborne

Abyssal Rift

Dragon Warrior

Dragon’s Heart

Check out the entire series here! (Tap or Scan)

PREVIOUSLY IN RISE OF THE DEVOURER

After reaching level 50, Noah and his party are invited to the City of Heartillia by Lord Krios. The guild asks them to accept, and to also investigate the cultist activity happening there, related to the Abyssal Rift they seem to be trying to open. To do this, they give them the chained-up cultist chief they’d captured, held inside a dimensional prison box, to bring along.

Noah is also told he has grown far too rapidly for his body to withstand, and his soul is straining itself. To correct this, they put a suppression shackle on him that keeps his soul restrained. Noah, not wanting to have to slow down his growth seeks out alternatives. Aurelia helps him by informing him of a way to rush things ahead. Following her lead, he heads to a flesh grafter who goes by Doc, who then agrees to help modify Noah’s body. Using Tony’s help, the doctor performs rather painful surgery on Noah, changing his body from the ground up as the symbiote goes from just his arm to fusing with his entire body. The process levels up Noah’s Meditation and Pain Tolerance levels by a lot and turns his hair white.

Afterward, he is led to a special underground chamber of the Windrest guild hall for his quest, where they’re offered Legendary rarity items to help them in their tasks. Noah and Aurelia each pick their items before they are teleported to the City of Heartilia by Lord Krios.

Upon arrival, Lord Krios tells them there’s an Astral Rift that’s been found in a cultist hideout that leads to some kind of dimensional area filled with treasures, and that because the entrance is fragile he needs adventurers of D rank or below, and that he’d like Noah’s party to go in there on his behalf to get that treasure. The party doesn’t accept immediately. Noah also gets a quest update that a Shard of [???] is nearby.

To rank up, Noah needs to complete his ability set, and when he does, he will unlock the final abilities which do not require a tome. The team decides they need training to prepare for their plan to infiltrate the cultist hideout to gain more information. As such, the party begins to train. Noah works on his aura and starts to explore the city in search of a tome crafter to get his hands on the ability tomes he needs. Heartilia is a city with a lot of magic that seems to take the form of many modern conveniences. A feature he’s told is present in many Celestian cities.

As he’s exploring, he finds out about South Heartilia, and the shady things present there. This part of the city is not as modern and is poorer and less clean. He learns of the Pit, an underground fighting arena, and the one who runs it. He manages to find the boss, using his teleport abilities, and asks her about how he can get an ability tome. Vix, the arena boss, tells him to fight and win in her arena and she’d consider it. Noah agrees.

Heading into the Pit, Noah battles two opponents, keeping his suppression shackles on, which earns him the name of chain breaker. In the final battle, he’s matched against a little girl with a collar on her neck, but the girl turns into a void wolf and Noah is forced to engage. He manages to get the upper hand and is about to win but the collar glows brightly, sending it into a rampage, forcing Noah to forfeit. Upon doing so, the wolf turns back into the girl who faints, infuriating Noah at her obvious ill treatment.

He finds out that the girl—Snow—is a slave that Vix keeps and that while he lost, she’s still willing to let him talk to her tome crafter, but he’d have to keep on fighting in the arena. Noah agrees. The tome crafter tells him what he needs to build the tomes Noah wants, and on his way out, Noah secretly heads to meet Snow, telling her he plans to break her out.

After this, he settles into a routine of training with his adventurer friends and fighting in the Pit to earn enough money for the items he needs for the tomes. In the meantime, Noah finds out about an interesting quest concerning a monster infestation nearby and goes there to check it out. Noah looks at a trail of carnage left behind and thinks it is the work of monsters, but upon arriving there, he finds the blood hungry bunny that had turned into a monster due to him, having torn through an entire hive of monsters. The two battle, and Noah wins, trapping the bunny with an extra pair of suppression shackles and bringing it back. The quest rewards him with a tome, leaving just one final one that he needed. Noah bonds with the bunny, making it a familiar and names him Bun Bun.

The time to meet the cultists arrives and they head to the agreed location, but upon arriving, they don’t find the cultists, but instead meet Vix.

Vix shows that she knows about the cultists and the cultist chief, and when Vix asks him some questions, the man ends up dying because he was under restrictions to not speak. Vix tells Noah’s party that the place is a trap, but she intends to take advantage of that. A Shard of a dead god is present there and she wants them to retrieve it for her. In exchange, she’ll get them out of there without harm, and also give them Snow. As a sign of good faith, she gives Noah an ability tome. The party agrees.

With all his needed ability tomes gathered, Noah ranks up to rank E, unlocking three new unique and powerful abilities. After training some more, it is time for them to head to the Astral Rift. Vix gets them teleported, except once they get there, they’ve all been scattered across the place. With Noah’s new ability to make clones, he starts exploring, heading toward the castle at the center of the rift, assuming he’d find his companions there.

Exploring and fighting monsters, we see what Erwest and Aurelia are up to, before returning to Noah. One of his specters manages to use Devourer to create a change in itself, giving it a new race. Upon return, Noah questions it and the specter ends up escaping. As Noah gives chase, he finds a dragon.

After realizing he wasn’t just killed immediately, Noah starts talking to the dragon, who is chained here. The dragon was tricked by a hooded mysterious man, and this place was built by his friend, an Ascendant Outerworlder from some time ago. The dragon, Zax, upon talking to Noah, realizes that Noah has the ability set needed to partially break the chains, at least enough to free the dragon to move around, and starts to train Noah’s resistances to allow him to do so.

Noah rapidly increases his skill levels and learns a lot from Zax. Bun Bun continues to fight monsters and levels up all the way to level 100, evolving into a dragonspawn, after being influenced by the dragon.

Noah eventually gets the resistances he needs and frees Zax, who takes on a human form and heads to the castle with Noah. In the meantime we also see that the escaped specter found Snow and is helping her, and trying to figure this place out, having realized something important.

Upon entering the castle, Zax brings Noah to a vault filled with treasures. They also find Snow, who arrives via an area infested with zombies and Zax helps cure her. Noah also breaks her slave collar and frees her and a pool of lifeforce helps recoup her lifeforce, expediting her stunted growth so she looks her age now. After this, Zax also brings Aurelia and Erwest here and they discuss their plans.

After Snow wakes up and adjusts, she realizes she’s no longer a slave and free from her chains. She tells Noah and the rest about Vix, and that she’s involved with the cultists and that Lord Krios is also a part of all this. The group had suspicions already and are planning on how to enter the area where the Shard should be when the specter who’d run away arrives.

Noah is wary of him, but the specter says he wants to help and has an idea on how to do so. He also says this entire rift has a spell built into it, and that this place is meant to collapse into the abyss, forming the Abyssal Rift they’d heard about.

Zax binds the specter back to Noah with a spell, using a shade cloak Noah had obtained as a conduit which makes the specter a shadow specter who can melt into shadows. Now the specter is connected to Noah, but also separate.

Zax stays behind to stop monsters from flooding this place as it collapses upon the start of the spell tied to the rift. Noah heads to the fight alone while the rest hide. He takes out the guardian at the gates, only to be ambushed by Vix and the cultists. But as Vix tries to kill him, Noah dissolves, revealing that it was the specter all along. Noah’s party then arrives out of the inventory and turns the tables. They kill Vix, but the spell activates despite their best efforts as an Abyssal Maw appears out of the hole tearing into the abyss.

All of them fight as one, with Zax teleporting anyone too injured to continue out. Noah delivers the killing blow, claiming the Shard and absorbing it. On doing so, he regains pieces of his memories on what happened upon his death.

He also reaches level 100 from this battle and is able to rank up, which sends him to his Astral Space. Here, he spends some time picking his new Paths, and gaining a rapid burst of power and testing out his new abilities.

When he returns, the Abyssal Rift has collapsed, the City of Heartilia is saved, and Zax has teleported all of them out safely. He also finds out that Lord Krios was mysteriously assassinated.

Leaving those things to the guild, Noah’s party is rewarded for saving the city, and are told of the lost city of dragons where the guild thinks the next Shard is present, held as the reward of the trial they hold for their young warriors, who seek to obtain the title of Dragon Warrior.

Noah’s party heads there, alongside two new members, Zax and Snow.

CHAPTER ONE

A NEW JOURNEY

Noah stretched his body, grunting as his muscles released some tension after his exercise in the gymnasium of the Adventurers’ Guild Hall. He had taken to coming to this place to train his physique, especially after his rank up evolution, as his body had continued to undergo drastic changes over the last week.

He’d gained roughly two more inches in height in that time. His shoulders were just a bit broader now, his frame growing to be more proportional to the rest of his body. From the outside, the physical changes more or less ended there, and he had not gained any substantial amount of muscle. Instead, the muscles were becoming more and more compact and dense.

After talking to Aurelia about it, he’d come to know it was a common phenomenon experienced by adventurers, especially if they had a rapid surge in strength. Which made people like Raesar and Ekira all the more strange, as both had well and truly trained their bodies to the maximum physical limits. The comparison had only made Noah more eager to continue training himself.

Even after the modifications he’d made to his body to keep up with his growth, if he stopped pushing himself, eventually, he would run into a wall, or the growth of his levels at his soul would surpass his physique, forcing him to stop, and he did not intend to go through the procedure again.

Not that I think that is even an option anymore. I imagine something like that is typically a one-time thing.

It had been a week since his new journey had been announced, and he’d obtained the rewards from the guild for completing his previous quest and stopping the Abyssal Rift from opening. Nae and Raesar had returned to Windrest soon after, both busy with their responsibilities and unable to stay long.

Noah had promised to spar with the Drailith when he returned, and the guild master had given him his usual predatory grin, agreeing with excitement to see how far he had come.

As Noah finished his stretches, he noticed Erwest walking into the chamber. The man had a thin sheen of sweat on his body, clearly from training.

Noah looked at the paladin in silence. Despite the fact that they’d been together for almost three months now, the two of them did not talk very much. And not for a lack of trying on Noah’s part.

“Training?” Noah asked.

The paladin gave a nod as he began to look through the gym equipment. Noah considered if he should just leave the man be and return to his own training, but something pushed him, and he turned once more toward Erwest.

“Hey, if you’re looking to train, why don’t we spar together? It would be nice for me to have a sparring partner besides Aurelia once in a while,” Noah said.

Erwest glanced at him, remaining silent long enough that Noah grew awkward and was about to rescind his offer.

Before he could, Erwest said, “Alright, what kind of spar?”

“Well, I’m thinking without using any abilities. I cannot imagine this place surviving something like that very easily,” Noah said.

“The guild has enough nullification wards that even if you tried to pry through the chamber, you would run out of mana five times over before you left a dent,” Erwest said, snorting. “But you’re right that the equipment would not survive,” he added, walking toward the sparring section.

Noah followed behind, then stood in front of the paladin, anticipation growing. “Ready when you are.”

Erwest nodded, taking a stance as he removed his blade from its sheath. Noah summoned his spear, letting energy flow over the weapon, covering it in the black color that mingled with the crimson, adding a layer to the blade to stop the Crimson Rot from reaching Erwest but keeping its sharp edge.

A moment later, Noah assumed a stance as well, letting his Weapon Mastery guide him.

With a wordless signal to begin, Erwest moved.

The paladin rushed in, trying to close the distance as he swung his sword in an arc. Noah jumped back, maintaining the distance between them, as he thrust his spear forward to catch Erwest off guard.

The paladin moved nimbly, dodging his thrusts as he leaned into the spearhead, grabbing the shaft of the weapon. Noah twisted his feet, pulling back. The extended blade from the side of the spear sliced through Erwest’s hand. Erwest let go and ducked his head to dodge the attack, using his blade to block Noah’s spear.

With one twisted foot, Erwest slid his blade down the spear’s shaft, forcing him to pull his weapon back and turn it at an angle. Noah allowed his Weapon Mastery to guide him as he spun his spear around, shifting the weight of his body, letting the spear go for a second. Noah swiped at Erwest’s legs. The paladin moved quickly, grabbing Noah’s spear, while Noah, caught off-balance, was midair.

Noah grabbed the weapon back. Every part of him reached to use Arcane Step to gain distance and rebalance the rhythm of the fight, but the paladin anticipated him.

His sword struck down as Erwest pulled the spear away, drawing Noah in. With a kick, he threw the spear away. As the weapon clattered on the ground, Erwest’s blade rested at Noah’s neck.

Noah looked up in surprise, smiling as he stood. “Man, you kicked my ass.”

Erwest drew back his blade, putting it into the sheath. “You have powerful abilities and use them well. Your mastery and control with your weapon is that of an amateur’s. It almost feels like you know enough to not make the most basic mistakes and understand when you’re doing something wrong, but not enough to know how to fix what you’re doing wrong,” Erwest said.

“Pretty much. I’ve just been figuring this out as I go. But I am by no means very good at it yet,” Noah said.

“That is to be expected,” Erwest said. “You have only had a few months to train. It is something seen quite often among warriors who grow too rapidly and do not have the necessary time to build a proper foundation.”

“Well, with how things are going, I don’t think I will ever have said time. So I’ll just have to learn how to quickly master everything that I must.”

“You’re right,” Ekira said, walking into the gym. “As you are right now, you won’t last very long in Drakonias. You need to do a lot better if you want to win the trials, both of you.”

“Have you just been standing there watching us?” Noah asked, slightly unnerved. “I’m not saying if that’s creepy or not. But it would have been nice if you let us know. Like, did you even go as far as to use some ability or other to hide from my senses? Was that just so you could have an entrance right as the spar ended?”

Ekira did not reply to Noah’s words, the guild master even more stoic than Erwest.

“How long has it been since you arrived here, Noah?” Ekira asked.

Noah thought it over. “I think around five to six months now. Longer than I thought it had been, but somehow it doesn’t feel very long either.”

“So you arrived here roughly five months ago and went from level 0 and unawakened, to a D-ranker in five months. Is that right?” Ekira said, then shook her head and sighed. “I heard of it from Nae, but it is still something to hear and see for myself. But even with your ridiculous speed, it won’t be easy to manage the trials.”

“You keep mentioning the trials. Is this related to the Drakonias thing? Nae had said something about it, but honestly, I really didn’t listen much at the time.”

“Yes, it is the trial that the three of you are supposed to participate in. The trial for becoming a Dragon Warrior. I assume you have no idea what I’m talking about?” Ekira said.

“Nope, no clue whatsoever,” Noah replied.

“The trial is a rite of passage in Drakonias. Here, if you’re a D-ranker, you are typically going to be somewhere in your late twenties or early thirties. Roughly half or so manage to reach rank C, and some will remain there for the rest of their lives. To Drakonians, rank C is when they consider you an adult. It is a rite of passage for all children, built around supporting them and ensuring they continue to grow properly,” Ekira said, raising an eyebrow in question. “Were you ever told how this C rank upgrade works?”

“Not really. I assumed it would be similar to my F-rank upgrade, where my abilities would get stronger? Or that I’d get some new abilities,” Noah said.

“No, not quite. At rank C, you get to choose a Path focus. It is the thing that will define your Path from there on out. For a warrior, this is typically their weapon. For a mage, their staff or perhaps a book. For a blacksmith, it could be their hammer or anvil. There are no restrictions to what you can choose as a Path focus, but whatever you choose will bind to your soul, becoming a part of your Path, and it will shape the options you get when you rank up to B,” Ekira explained.

“You must know this already, don’t you, Paladin? I hear the Hellion Church tends to set certain restrictions on what you can choose and what you cannot.”

“I am aware of how the rank up works,” Erwest replied.

Ekira nodded. “The trial of the Dragon Warriors, as I said before, is for children who have reached the cusp of rank C. Upon completing the trials, you are awarded the title of a Dragon Warrior, and at the same time, you’re given artifacts that you can choose from, either to define as your Path focus, or to use to enhance your body, spirit, mana control, whatever you can think of. But there is one other thing – for the best warriors, they are allowed to see the Dragon’s Heart and gain its blessing. We suspect the Shard that you are seeking might be within said Dragon’s Heart. It would do you well to train. The trials are going to be held in roughly six months from now. So the three of you have six months to reach rank C and then win against the myriad of adventurers and warriors participating in the trial alongside you.”

“Will we be the only party going to this place?” Noah asked.

Ekira snorted. “Far from it. There’s an airship that travels to Drakonias in about a week. We had to struggle to get you guys on the airship. Many adventurers and warriors will be traveling alongside you to go to Drakonias and participate in the trials. Some have even held off from ranking up to C for over a year just to participate. Completing the Dragon Warriors’ trial is one of the few guaranteed ways to obtain a title.

“Besides, the advantages the title itself provides, they are also allowed to freely travel in and out of Drakonias whenever they wish to. Other than the motivations for the Shard, there is also plenty of reason for your party individually to want to succeed in these trials. After all, only roughly those under the age of twenty-five in human years are allowed to participate. So the best of the very best talent gathers from all over to gain the title of the Dragon Warrior,” Ekira explained.

“Dragon Warrior, huh? Does sound badass,” Noah said, grinning to himself at the idea. “After all, if I already have the plentiful wyrm, why not go all the way and obtain the heart of the dragon as well?”

The woman shook her head, turning around as she made her way out of the gym. “Don’t embarrass us there.”

As Ekira disappeared from the gym, Aurelia stepped inside from the gates, Snow tagging behind her. “Was that the… guild master?” Aurelia asked.

“Yeah, she was just telling us not to be an embarrassment in the Dragon Warrior trials and explaining how they worked,” Noah replied.

“That’s right, though. You’re slowly starting to adjust to this world, perhaps I’m trying to adjust to you, but sometimes I forget that you’re not from here,” Aurelia said. “Anyway, Snow and I are going to shop for some gear. It’s time that we replaced a few ability tomes and get some gear to go along with it, if she’s to come travel with us all the way to Drakonias. Would you two like to come?” Aurelia asked.

“Sure, always happy to shop around and explore the city a little bit. Didn’t get too much time to do that, however, before,” Noah said, glancing at Erwest. “What about you, Erwest? Would you like to shop with us?”

“No,” Erwest said, walking away.

“Guess that was a little too fast,” Noah said, shrugging. “I’m sure he’ll come around over time.”

“Let’s go before the crowd starts to grow. There are a lot of things I looked at before that I want to check out,” Aurelia said as the three of them made their way out of the Adventurers’ Guild.

CHAPTER TWO

GEAR UPGRADES

Noah made his way across North Heartillia with Aurelia and Snow by his side. No matter how often he strolled through the streets, he couldn’t help feeling just a little bit at home with how the city was structured, like a strange mix between a modern city and something out of medieval fantasy.

The three of them were looking for shops that sold ability tomes alongside gear for Paths with more magical inclinations. They had come across many that fit the description, but none were up to Aurelia’s standards, and fewer still had tomes that suited Snow’s Path very well.

The girl herself also drew quite a bit of attention. Her horns had always drawn the eye, but now, with the magical tattoos running up her face and across them, she made for a striking image.

When Aurelia had first asked for ability tomes for the summoner or tamer category of Paths, one shopkeeper had assumed Snow was just one of her summons, which had been hilarious to watch as the misunderstanding unfolded, with Aurelia getting mad on Snow’s behalf, while Snow herself tried to placate Aurelia and apologize for some reason.

“What about that one?” Aurelia said, pointing out a store with ability tomes set behind a glass display, protected with a powerful spell. “This place looks like it might have some good tomes.”

Noah shrugged, not knowing how to distinguish this particular one from any of the previous ones they’d gone to. He let Aurelia decide as she pleased.

Looking at the words on the shop, Noah couldn’t help but wonder if his ability would allow him to teleport inside and put stuff in his Cosmic Vault. With a very gentle nudge, he tried to test the hypothesis but did not go all the way. He stopped himself from activating his ability and simply walked through the entrance behind Aurelia and Snow.

A young Celestian girl—likely middle-aged, considering what he had come to learn about how Celestians aged and exactly how old Lord Krios’s wife was—walked up to them. “Hello, welcome to the Astral Emporium. How can I help you today?”

“We’re looking for ability tomes for a tamer or similar Paths. Do you have any rare or epic grade ones available?” Aurelia asked, placing her hand on Snow’s shoulder. “It’s for her, and if I can be a bit more specific, I’m hoping to get an ability tome of spirits, channeling, binding, or any that would be similar to those.”

The woman looked at Snow, her eyes shining blue, likely from some sort of ability that she was using to gain a bit more information. “I think we have what you’re looking for. Please wait a few moments, and I will bring the ability tomes out,” the woman said, heading into one of the doors leading to the back chamber.

“Man, this place sure has so many options for ability tomes. Would have been nice if I could just walk into a store and buy some,” Noah said, picking up one of the tomes on display, a rare grade one called Tome of Beast Speak. It was nothing that he would have picked up for himself, but it was still nice to have access to these. He suspected he could use one to adjust or change his abilities, even now.

“Well, Heartillia is a city with a lot of Celestians, and given how they pretty much control the entire market for ability tomes, it’s not a terribly big surprise that the city would have more options than other places,” Aurelia replied.

“I know, just lamenting for nothing. I like the abilities I have, can’t complain at all,” Noah replied.

“Good. You better not, you have really powerful abilities, so I don’t want to hear it,” Aurelia said.

Noah grinned in reply, setting down the ability tome. The Celestian woman walked out from the back chamber, her hand hovering over the counter. The ability tomes manifested with a blue light.

Noah used Inspect on the tomes.

[Tome of Binding (Epic)]

[Tome of Arcane Infusion (Epic)]

[Tome of Spirit Communion (Epic)]

+Aurelia frowned, flipping open the tomes and going through them one after the other, inspecting them for something. A moment later, she looked back at Snow. “Which one do you like the most?” Aurelia asked.

“I’m not sure. This one, maybe?” Snow said, pointing to the Tome of Spirit Communion.

“Looks good,” Aurelia said. “What about the second one? You can pick two, I think. You should wait if you want more than two right now. It will be best to not decide before you have a better grasp on your abilities and what they might be building up to,” Aurelia said.

Snow nodded, looking at the options, then pointed at the Tome of Binding. “This one, I think. Shadow likes this one,” Snow said.

“These two. Please,” Aurelia replied.

The Celestian woman nodded, grabbing the two tomes, and the third one vanished. “That will cost two D grade crystals, or twenty-three E grade mana crystals.”

Aurelia nodded, completing the transaction with her adventuring plate.

“What happened to the crystals you got?” Noah asked, looking at Snow.

“I have them. Since she doesn’t have her own plate, she decided to give them to me for safekeeping,” Aurelia said.

The Celestian woman handed the two tomes to Aurelia, who then gave them to Snow. “Feel free to use them right away,” she said.

Snow glanced at the ability tomes, taking a deep breath. She sent a pulse of mana and the tome itself turned into a bright light, before being absorbed. A second later, the abilities pop up in Noah’s vision.

[Ink Binding (Basic/Epic) - lvl 1]

Become capable of binding spirits and creatures with your ink, capturing them onto a surface. A bound spirit can then be released at will with a command it must follow.

[Spirit Channeling (Basic/Epic) - lvl 1]

Become capable of channeling a portion of the ability of your spirits, enhancing and altering your physique and spirit to draw upon their strengths.

Part of the perk from having her in my party, I guess?

As Snow went about using the ability tomes, Aurelia looked at the Celestian woman. “Would you have any accessories and gear for a tamer Path as well?”

“Of course, just one second,” the woman said. Walking around the chamber, she picked out a few items, one after the other, and they appeared at once on the counter in front of them.

Noah began to go through the items, using Inspect to check them out.

[Runic Brush of Binding (Rare)]

A finely crafted brush made with bristles that resonate with Arcane energy. Perfect for inscribing runes on various surfaces and even in the air, this brush enhances the precision and potency of each rune drawn.

[Bracelet of Veiled Essence (Rare)]

A bracelet crafted with mystic crystal and inscribed with runes, serves as a shield against identification spells. When worn, it conceals the wearer’s magical and physical signature, making them undetectable to prying eyes.

[Cloak of Aversion (Epic)]

A cloak woven with threads of Astral energy, providing protection and camouflage with a passive ability to make anyone looking at you unable to tell how you look. Hiding the wearer’s aura and making them easily forgettable.

[Elixir of Elemental Affinity (Rare)]

A mystical potion that temporarily grants the user an affinity to a specific element of choice. Upon consumption, the user can harness and manipulate the chosen element, enhancing their combat or magical abilities aligned with that element.

Noah looked through all the items. “All of these look quite good,” he said, glancing at Snow. “Do you like anything?”

Snow frowned at the options, and picked up two items. “The brush and the cloak.”

“I’ll be taking the bracelet,” Noah added, picking it up, to check it once more. Given how often people had tried to look at his Astral Script, additional security wouldn’t hurt.

“I’ll take the elixir then, seems helpful,” Aurelia added.

The shopkeeper smiled, and for some reason, Noah felt like she’d intentionally brought out this exact assortment of items.

“Is there anything else you would like?” the woman asked.

“Right, yes. Can you inspect and upgrade the rank of weapons here?” Aurelia asked.

“Yes, we can. But unfortunately not immediately. You can leave the weapons you’d like to get upgraded and we can get that completed before the suns set,” the woman said.

Aurelia took off her gauntlets, setting them on the counter. The shopkeeper gently picked them up, using a spell, and a detailed description about her gauntlets appeared.

“Can I see?” Noah asked, and a moment later, Aurelia shared the description with him.

[Pyreclash Gauntlets (Epic, Rank E)]

[Weapon Skill: Blazing Fury]

[Durability: 73%]

Forged from volcanic steel and imbued with flame gemstones, the Pyreclash Gauntlets embody the fusion of masterful smithing and fire magic. Lightweight yet durable, they resonate with the power of fire, storing thermal energy within their core gemstones. These gauntlets are not just for defense; they hide a surprise – retractable chain blades, sleek and sharp, ready to extend for combat at a moment’s notice.

On command, the gauntlets release their stored energy in a spectacular burst of flames, which can be directed as a focused stream or an explosive radial blaze. Enchantments protect the wearer from the heat, making them perfect for warriors who command fire in battle. Glowing runic engravings signal when the gauntlets are charged, ready to unleash their volcanic fury, combining the raw power of flames with the lethal grace of hidden blades.

“Interesting, that’s a lot more detail than I normally get to see,” Noah said.

“We have certain spells and abilities that allow us to obtain more information from items,” the shopkeeper said.

“Oh? Care to share?” Noah said, leaning in.

The woman laughed. “I’m afraid that’s a trade secret.”

Aurelia glanced at Noah. “I’m getting my gauntlets upgraded, what about you, Noah? You want to get your spear looked at?”

“The inspection is free if you also get it serviced with us,” the shopkeeper added helpfully.

“Alright, sure. But umm… be careful with the spear,” he said, taking it out. He expected the shopkeeper to be horrified, but her expression remained even. “Ah, Crimson Rot. That is… difficult and rare. I’m afraid we won’t be able to work on it, unless you can remove the rot.”

Noah sent a pulse to Tony, and the symbiote rushed into the spear, covering it in a thin layer, turning the entire weapon pitch-black, then diverting away the Crimson Rot. “It should be good now,” Noah said, handing the weapon to the woman.

Putting it on the counter in front of her, she used her spell, and the description appeared in front of Noah’s eyes.

[Spear of Crimson End (Growth, Rank E)]

[Weapon Skill: ???]

[Durability: 38%]

[Progress to next rank: 27.8%]

A relic from the time when the Scarlet Valkyries, followers of the old goddess, Raelinah, waged a relentless war against the primordial god, The Crimson Heart. Once a symbol of valor and resistance in this epic battle, the spear has since been overtaken by the very blight it fought against, its essence intertwined with the Crimson Rot.

This weapon, which once gleamed in the hands of a Scarlet Valkyrie, now pulses with a corrupt power. It inflicts the [Crimson Rot – II] status, a manifestation of the desolate landscape scarred by the eternal conflict. The spirit of the Valkyrie that once wielded it remains within, lending the weapon its ability to grow and evolve beyond its current form. Now morphed even further with void essence, a deep hunger lurks within the weapon.

“This is… quite the weapon. I’m afraid we cannot rank it up, as it’s a growth aspect weapon,” the woman said.

“I see. By the way, why does it have question marks in the weapon skill?” Noah asked.

“Perhaps the weapon skill hasn’t been awakened. That would be the most likely explanation with a relic of this type. Usually they have a requirement or trial to unlock these things,” the shopkeeper replied.

“That makes sense. Is it normal to have such low durability though?” Noah asked.

“No, this weapon… it’s in very poor condition. The spirit within it is keeping it intact, but the length of time it has survived has taken its toll. I… am not sure if we can repair it completely, but we can try. It will be expensive, given the special nature. At least 3 C grade mana crystals.”

Noah thought over, before shrugging. It wasn’t like he had much else to spend his money on.

The woman nodded, carefully setting his spear down. One by one, the three of them paid for their items, Snow grabbing her cloak and putting it on, and even though she didn’t cover her face, the cloak made her descriptions harder to nail down.

Noah put on his bracelet, feeling it activate.

“Hey, what do you see when you use Identify on me?” Noah asked Aurelia.

“Just three question marks, nothing else. It’s very obvious that you’re hiding your Astral Script though. Higher grade items can show a fake one, but just know that none of these things are infallible. The guild can easily circumvent them. Which is why we had so much trouble when the adventurers who’d turned traitor had gone under the radar,” Aurelia said.

“Yeah, I know. I just need it to be there for general purposes. Kinda like a lock. You won’t stop someone with the right tools, but you can make their job harder and make yourself look less appealing,” Noah said.

Aurelia nodded, turning to Snow as a smile covered her face. “Alright, with this taken care of, let’s get some real shopping done and buy you some clothes!”

CHAPTER THREE

SHOPPING

Noah walked around the store, his hands full with bags of clothing as he followed Aurelia and Snow. He wasn’t sure why he expected shopping for clothes to go any differently in this world than it would in his own. Noah’s expectations had been quickly shattered as he became little more than a baggage carrier.

Snow would occasionally look toward him with sympathy as she was dragged around by Aurelia, who was excitedly running around finding all sorts of clothing to dress her up in.

They had been at it for hours now. Aurelia first dragged Snow to a salon, getting the girl a haircut, shortening it to just around her neck in a bob cut. Afterward, they looked for accessories, which had taken far too long. Aurelia settled on a ring with a small spatial storage inside of it for Snow.

“Here, hold this,” Aurelia said, handing Noah Snow’s newly bought cloak before taking the girl with her into a dressing chamber to try on more clothes. Noah sighed, resisting the temptation of just chucking all of the items he currently carried into his Cosmic Vault. He had tried to do so before, and the store owner had not taken kindly to his actions.

Aurelia explained later that stores in more developed cities like Heartillia tended to have a larger adventuring population, making spatial storage items fairly common, and as such, most stores had wards in place to prevent theft. Obviously, certain abilities could still bypass those, so store owners typically kept another spell to tell them if any kind of space magic was used within the premises of their shops.

The system made sense. The funny thing to him was how it wasn’t because of the spell that the shop owner at the previous place caught him, but because he had willingly gone to the reception and taken the items out. Which had only further shown him that his abilities could now break past wards. At least break past most of them, which only made it all the more difficult to resist using his abilities.

With great power, comes the great temptation to fuck around with it.

With a click of the door’s handle, Aurelia stepped out from the changing room and twirled around, showing off her new orange and yellow dress. “How do I look?” she asked.

Noah hummed to himself, rubbing his chin as if deep in thought. “Surprisingly, like a normal person and not someone who could punch my head off. Quite a shocking transformation indeed.”

“What does that mean?” Aurelia said, punching his shoulder hard. He knew she had put effort into it because he actually felt some pain.

“Ouch,” Noah said in mock hurt, rubbing his shoulder as Aurelia pouted. The woman glanced toward the dressing room. “Come on out, Snow, don’t be shy.”

A second later, Snow slowly stepped outside as well. She wore a white shirt with a black skirt and leggings, and black and white shoes that accentuated her horns and tattoos instead of hiding them. A blush covered Snow’s face. “This feels strange.”

“No, it doesn’t! It looks great on you, right, Noah?” Aurelia said, her fists ready by her sides if he dared disagree.

“Yeah, it looks great. You look like an entirely different person than when I first met you. The clothes suit you,” Noah said, being truthful with his compliment. If he had seen her like she was right now back when he first met her, he would not have recognized her at all.

“Really?” Snow asked, gaining some more confidence as she looked down at her outfit.

“I told you it looked great! Alright, now let’s try this one,” Aurelia said, showing the dress she’d picked, ready to drag the girl back in with her.

“Uhh, what about Noah?” Snow said, half in panic.

“Me?” Noah asked.

“Yeah, will you not be buying anything?” Snow asked.

“She’s right, you should definitely get some new clothes while you’re here. It’s unlikely that we will get the chance after we are in Drakonias. What’s the point of going on adventures and earning a lot of money if you don’t ever spend it,” Aurelia said.

“Having fun on their adventure?” Noah replied. “Also, what’s wrong with my current clothes?”

Aurelia glanced Noah up and down. “Well… it’s not awful.”

“What do you mean it’s not awful? These look great.” Noah looked down at his rather simple clothing. He’d never spent much time considering what he got, and most of it had been from the spares within the guild.

“Do you really think that?” Aurelia asked.

“I do. It’s comfortable enough, that’s about as much as I care,” Noah replied.

“You are even more hopeless than Snow. Come with me, I’ll get something for you,” Aurelia said, handing the dresses she held to Snow then grabbing Noah’s hand and dragging him over to the men’s clothing section. He glanced back at Snow, who took a sigh of relief at having diverted the woman’s attention away from her, before whispering a sorry to Noah. Noah let himself be pulled along, as Aurelia began to grab different pieces one after another.

This is starting to feel an awful lot like a date.

The thought made him pause. He hadn’t considered something like that at all since coming here, partly because a good chunk of his time had been spent surviving, and a good chunk more spent training, preparing for upcoming disasters. Now that the most immediate threats were gone, Noah finally felt like he could take some time to breathe. But the entire reason he had been avoiding doing this was that doing so brought up thoughts like this.

Dating someone… it felt like that would mean he was giving up on ever going back. Which he still wasn’t sure he ever actually wanted to do. The option was there, and if he asked Zax for help, there was a good chance he could actually go back if he wanted to. But he was pretty sure he did not. At least not right now. But somehow, the thought of building a new life in this world or spending and sharing it with someone else also felt wrong.

He couldn’t pick which one he preferred. He enjoyed his new world quite a bit, but he also selfishly wanted to not grow too attached if he ever truly got the desire to return home.

Might be too late for that… Noah thought, looking at Aurelia and Snow. He had definitely made friends here if nothing else, so what was stopping him from trying something a bit deeper with someone?

His eyes drifted to Aurelia, the thoughts taking root in his mind. He definitely wouldn’t mind. She was the person he had spent the most time with. From the very beginning, since he had arrived in this world, she had been the one by his side.

The relationship had always felt more like he was a child that she was responsible for and had to educate about the ways of the world. After nearly six months though, Noah had more or less adapted to his new life here and the dynamic between the two of them had shifted to be more or less equals.

She’s not a bad choice either. But… It would definitely be weird, and a little bit like dating your coworker. Not repeating that mistake again.

Noah tried to push the thought away, yet it remained in his mind. He definitely wouldn’t mind having someone with whom he could truly share himself. But alongside the thought, Zax’s words came to mind. He was growing fast, too fast by normal standards, and if he reached a certain rank, he would be immortal. What if whoever he was with wasn’t as strong as him and would age normally?

Even Aurelia was starting to lag behind him. He was almost certainly stronger than her now, though the difference between their skills and skill levels more or less put them on equal footing. But how long would that last?

Noticing his silence, Aurelia stopped going through the assortment of clothes. “Is there something on my face? You’ve been looking blankly at me for a while now.”

Noah shook his head. “Nothing, I’m just thinking about some stuff.”

“That’s not like you. If you don’t want to buy clothes, then we can do something else,” Aurelia said.

“No, it’s not that—I like the ones you’ve picked. You can buy them. I’ll pay you later. I just need to step out for a while for some fresh air,” Noah said.

Aurelia clearly wanted to ask more questions, but she didn’t pry, simply nodding.

Noah sighed. “This is why I hate not having things to do.”

Using Arcane Step, he teleported out. Maybe he could find some monsters nearby to hunt for a short while with Bun Bun. That would probably clear his mind.

Damian Vexley, the quintessential rich young master of the city, strolled through the bustling streets with his usual entourage of other merchant kids who liked to follow him around whenever they could. A grin was stuck on Damian’s face, his mood extremely pleasant. He’d finally managed to get to level 50, only two years after his awakening, and his father had given him a handful of crystals to burn for his achievement.

“What are you planning to get, Damian?” Lyle asked.

“It’s not things that I’m looking for, idiot. Think of something better,” Damian replied.

“Uhh, food?” Brent replied, and Damian shook his head, wondering why he even bothered hanging out with these two.

“No, I’m looking to mess around and have some fun. This place is filled with a lot of Celestian women, it’d be dumb not to try.”

“Aren’t they really old?” Lyle asked.

“So what, Lyle? That only makes them better,” Damian said, snickering to himself.

“What about them?” Brent said, stopping in front of one of the clothing shops. Damian followed the boy’s gaze.

“Huh, what do you know? Those two are quite something,” Damian said, looking at the two women inside. One looked to be a bit younger than him, a strange girl with tattoos and two obsidian horns, and another that was older, closer to his age with auburn hair. They were an unusual pair, and something about them piqued his curiosity.

“Oh, never mind, there’s a guy with them,” Brent said.

Damian clicked his tongue. “That’s probably a clerk or something, look at the cheap clothes he is wearing.”

A moment later, the women walked away, and his smile returned. “See?” he said, looking at Brent.

“Do you think those horns are real?” Lyle asked.

“Why don’t we go and ask?” Damian said, and stepped inside the shop, sauntering over to the girls, his steps full of arrogance.

“Hey there, beautiful ladies. You seem new here, would you like me to show you around?” The girl with the horns stepped away from him. Damien would’ve felt hurt at the reaction, but found the other one chuckling to herself, boosting his confidence.

“What do you say? We could have some fun together,” he added, throwing in a wink as he twirled some crystals around his fingers.

The woman’s laughter grew a bit stronger now, shrinking Damian’s growing confidence, while the other girl was practically hiding from his sight. Had he really grown that rusty?

“No thanks, I know my way around,” the woman replied, turning away.

“Oh hey, can I get your name at least?” Damian asked, walking closer.

“It’s a bit rude to ask before you tell me yours, isn’t it?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah, of course. My apologies. I’m Damian Vexley, son of the owner of the Vexley Company. You have likely heard of us. My friends and I were about to celebrate my reaching level 50, and having such lovely women with us would only make the celebrations better.”

The woman hummed to herself, seeming a bit more interested. “Never heard of the Vexley Company, but congrats. Though I’m afraid we’re a bit busy.”

“Oh come on, don’t be so shy,” Damian said. “Hey, what about you? Wanna come with us? We could show you some fun places. Also, are those horns real?” Damian reached out to touch the girl’s shoulder.

But before he could, something erupted in a dark smoke. A giant creature came out of nowhere, and Damian stumbled back.

“Shadow! Come back!” the girl shouted, a giant wolf now standing between Damian and her.

“Wha-what in the world?” Damian shouted, shooting a mana bolt from one of his artifacts before he could think. The attack missed the wolf, rushing past and striking the woman, cutting through the clothes she was holding.

The woman’s eyes glowed. “Oh, you’ve gone and done it now.” The remaining torn pieces of cloth burned up as a powerful aura of rage burst around her, fire and ash swirling in a frenzy.

“Fuck, these two are crazy!” Damien shouted, turning around to run when he slammed into a wall, stumbling back.

A wall… wait, no. Damian opened his eyes, looking up to see a white-haired man with deep red eyes looking down at him. The two vertical slits in his eyes pierced his very soul, a spray of blood on his sleeves and face. On accident, his instinct kicked in to identify his threat.

[???]

Damian’s blood ran cold as the man leaned in, and a menacing aura of terror washed over Damian. “Didn’t see you…” the man said, reaching out with his hand.

Tears filled Damian’s eyes as he ran away screaming. He was never going to try and hit on random women again.

Noah scratched his head, watching the boy in front of him run away while screaming something incoherent. Shadow was standing out in the open, licking Snow’s face as Aurelia took some deep calming breaths.

“What the hell happened here?” Noah asked.

"Nothing, just some idiots. Let's go now," Aurelia said, turning to the rather angry-looking shopkeeper and handing him some crystals. Grabbing her clothes, she made her way out with Noah, Snow and Shadow. “No really, what was that?” Noah asked, confused.

“Nothing, it was nothing. Let’s go back and grab our weapons, I think we’re done,” Aurelia said, walking outside.

Snow sat on Shadow’s back now, brushing his fur. “Shadow doesn’t want to go back in. Is it fine if I keep him around?”

“Sure, he can stay,” Aurelia said, shrugging, then glancing at Noah. “And where had you gone? You have blood on you.” Aurelia wiped the blood off Noah’s face.

“Ah, sorry. Wait, you don’t get to do that before you tell me what happened,” Noah said.

Aurelia sighed. “Alright, fine. Just some rich kid trying to hit on us, I ignored him but he was persistent so Shadow came out and he got spooked and shot a spell which may have made me lose control of my berserker ability for a second… and the rest you saw,” Aurelia said, glancing away.

Noah looked at her in disbelief before laughter bubbled out of him. “Holy shit, so that’s why he—? Oh my god, that’s fucking hilarious,” he said, clutching his belly.

Aurelia eventually succumbed to laughter as well, wiping tears away from her eyes once they settled down.

“Alright, let’s get out of here before we draw any more attention,” she said, and the three jumped on Shadow. “And tell me where you went while we go back to grab our weapons.”

“Uhh… so about that,” Noah said, trailing off, as they made their way through the city on the back of a giant void wolf.

CHAPTER FOUR

DISCOVERIES

Zax stood within the library, going through the various shelves, searching for the book that may have the answers he was seeking. A spell pulsed around him, being cast independently with a strain of thought, maintaining a ward that would silence his presence here. He wasn’t supposed to be here, but just a brief look at the procedures required to gain legitimate access to the location had made the dragon opt for the easier and faster route.

Independent clones of him moved around the area—none as fancy as the ability Noah possessed, these ones could only follow one command—going through the books alongside him, as a stream of information continued to pour into his mind.

Zax set aside another book, quickly running a divination spell, letting the spell guide him to his next book. Picking it up, he began to rapidly flip through the contents.

The Shard of a dead god… he still didn’t understand how such a thing had come to be. Afterall, what could kill a god? They were true immortals. Even if you killed the avatar of a god, another one would be born. Yet something clearly had, and he wanted to find out what.

One of his spell wards triggered as Zax closed the book, noticing a familiar presence behind him.

“You seem to be looking for something,” Ekira said, leaning against one of the shelves with her arms crossed. Zax turned around to face the guild master. He didn’t intend for it to come to an open conflict, but he still dismissed a few clones to clear enough mental capacity to restrain her safely.

“I’d made sure we redid all our wards after the kid just teleported right through one of them. Would’ve been shameful had that happened twice. We still can’t stop someone like you, but at least it alerts me,” Ekira said.

“Apologies on the intrusion. We did not have the time to follow procedures,” Zax said.

Ekira chuckled. “I don’t really know who you are, Zax, or even what you are. You claim to be a mage, but my instincts don’t quite agree.” She uncrossed her arms and stepped closer to him. “But I didn’t get this far by being blind. I know it when someone can kill me with ease. And that’s when you’ve got those chains. The fact that you’re playing along nicely is all I need.”

“We appreciate it,” Zax said. He very much wanted to avoid conflict if he could.

“That said, I’ll let you know that if you ever force my hand, I may not be able to stop you, but I will hurt you enough to make you regret it before I die,” the woman said, practically growling.

Zax gave her a nod. Had he been younger, the insult would’ve made him eradicate her on the spot, but now, it only added to the fascinating nature of humans. How they stood in front of things greater than them, determined to fight till the bitter end.

He had no doubt that he’d regret it, should he ever have to fight her in his current state.

“You’re more perceptive than we’d anticipated,” Zax finally said, putting the book in his hand back on the shelf

“Comes with the job. Those who aren’t, die,” Ekira said, leaning back against the shelf once more. “So? What’re you looking for? There’s likely a good reason why you’d be sneaking around all on your own.”

“It has been a long time since we have been out of the Astral Rift, so we’d like to catch up on developments. But the bigger question we seek, is answer to the identity of who this dead god might’ve been, and what killed them. We’ve been around longer than most, and even in the rift… we would’ve felt it if a god had died. Any god,” Zax said.

“That’s the big question, isn’t it? But no one knows where this mystery god supposedly came from. Or what the cultists intend to do with these Shards. We just know that it exists, and that whatever they’re planning to do, we don’t want to let them do it,” Ekira replied, glancing sideways as one of Zax’s clones picked up another book, still working on gathering information. “All I know is that something is happening, and I don’t like it.”

Zax thought over the woman’s words, closing his eyes as he tried to piece together everything he’d managed to learn so far.

He didn’t like what he saw either.

Noah watched Bun Bun and Tony running around the little patch of forest they’d come to, just a little ways outside of Heartillia. He had decided to spend some time in nature training with his spear, and both Tony and Bun Bun had taken it as their cue to start playing. Which, in their case, meant violently terrorizing the local population of monsters for the most part.

Bun Bun being Bun Bun, that came as no surprise, but Tony had decided to join in as well. The symbiote had gotten significant upgrades to its body, becoming capable of altering its form into multiple shapes, and splitting into different bodies which he could control with ease.

Noah watched his familiars running around, chasing after some squirrels, yapping at them to make them run up trees. The scene reminded him of the few times he’d gone hiking with friends who brought along dogs, which acted in similar ways.

Although a dog would be significantly less terrifying than these two.

Leaving the two of them to play, Noah brought his attention back to his spear. After the repairs, Noah could almost feel the spear thrumming in his hands, as if shivering from anticipation of being used. Visually not a lot had changed, his weapon still looked more or less the same, but the feel of it had shifted dramatically. It also made him realize that he had been neglecting his training with the spear.

His spar with Erwest had been evidence enough that without his specific abilities, he would be powerless. And even now, he often had to rely on using tricks and traps, surprises, and other similar methods to win his battles. But that would only last for so long.

There was also the weapon skill thing he had seen yesterday, which was another thing he needed to figure out. He had asked the woman if the weapon skill would unlock automatically as his spear grew, and what made the progress of the weapon go up. He replayed the woman’s words in his mind.

“It’s difficult to say how the weapon skill may reveal itself. It could very well be that the skill just does not exist right now and needs to be created by you. Growth weapons come in all shapes and forms. Some grow by killing monsters, some by training with them, others based on the bond with their owners. In the case of this one… it may very well be all three.

“This is going to sound a bit strange, but talking to your weapon could also help you gain a better understanding of it. As so far, it’s mostly just been dormant, but really, you should treat your weapon as a companion rather than just a tool. That is in part what being a growth weapon means. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that they are alive, but they are definitely close. The better you understand your weapon and cherish it, the more it will respond.”

“Guess I’ve been neglecting you, huh?” Noah said to his spear. For a moment, he almost felt the spear shiver in his hands. He wasn’t sure if he had imagined that or not, but he put the thought aside for now, taking a stance against a particularly big tree.

He shifted his grip on the weapon, trying to remember everything that Raesar had told him. Weapon Mastery guided his stance, telling him to shift his fingers, to twist his legs sideways so that when he thrust, the rotation would add additional momentum to the weapon. He shifted the weight of his body, focusing all his attention on his posture.

He had never given such deliberate thought to how he moved. If he had to define his own fighting style, Noah would call it instinctive. He moved based on instincts, guided by them.

There hadn’t been many occasions when that failed him; his instincts had always been good, and he had always been a good fighter. But if he truly had to compete, if he was going to be fighting against trained warriors, then he needed to be better. He needed to be deliberate. Just instincts were not going to be enough.

Noah took in a deep breath, letting his chest and abdomen fill with air, before slowly letting it out. Then, with a powerful thrust, Noah struck. A crack sounded in the forest, animals scattering and birds flying away in fear. A second cracking noise came soon after, followed by a third. Noah thrust his spear, going through the motions over and over as he chipped away at the void, the weapon cutting through it with each precise strike.

Yet even as he moved, he could feel that there was something missing. Weapon Mastery kept guiding him, as he simply changed the position of his body, the way he twisted his legs, the way he moved his arms, the exact moment he struck, letting that energy carry outward into the weapon.

As he moved, the tip of his spear began to blur, the strikes causing pressure waves in the air to create bursting noises as he thrust faster and faster. With a final swing, the tree was sliced through cleanly, and it toppled over next to Noah.

[Weapon Mastery] level 11 → 12

Wiping the sweat off his brow, Noah smiled as he saw the level up notification. Yet something still felt off. He focused on the feeling he’d gotten from his spear. He had done everything right, moved the exact way Weapon Mastery told him to, but there was something missing. It was almost as if his spear was telling him to move in a different way, but he couldn’t quite understand how.

The bracelet on his wrist vibrated with a buzzing noise. It was one of the items they’d bought on their shopping spree yesterday, and every member of their group had gotten one. Noah sent a pulse of mana, activating the bracelet, and the gemstone on it started to glow.

“Where are you?” Aurelia’s voice came through the bracelet.

“In the forest just outside of Heartillia. What’s up?” Noah said.

“What do you mean ‘what’s up’? We need to start moving out, the airship leaves in an hour and we’re going to be late.”

“Oh crap, I lost track of time. I’ll be back in a second,” Noah replied, looking around, seeing how he had taken out a decent section of the forest with his training. “Guess I did go a little overboard.”

“What will I do with you,” she said, and Noah could almost see her shaking her head. “Come back quick,” Aurelia added, before her voice cut out from the bracelet as it deactivated.

“Alright, Bun Bun, Tony, time to head back,” Noah said. A moment later, Bun Bun was jumping into his arms, quickly followed by Tony who sank into his body.

Taking one last look at the patch of forest around him, Noah activated Arcane Step, and teleported back.

CHAPTER FIVE

DEPARTURE

Noah stood in the guild hall, waiting for everyone. He had already taken care of everything he needed to and was now waiting for Aurelia to finish her preparations. It was a little funny, given that she was the one who told him to hurry or they would not make it in time. Erwest sat on a chair nearby, reading a book about Drakonias, which had taken Noah by surprise. Perhaps the paladin was truly interested in giving this a fair shot, instead of simply accompanying them to keep him on a leash.

Snow stood next to Zax, wearing the cloak that made her more inconspicuous. The girl practically blended into thin air behind Zax.

“Sorry! I’m done now!” Aurelia exclaimed, stepping out of her room with a large bag on her back.

“What happened to your dimensional storage?” Noah asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s full,” she replied. “Anyways, let’s get going or we are going to be late.”

“Give me that,” Noah said, grabbing the bag and sending it to his Cosmic Vault.

“Are you sure? I may have to ask you for things from that, it might get annoying to constantly take things out,” Aurelia said.

“It’s fine, let’s get moving,” Noah said.

As the five of them stepped into the central halls, Ekira walked in. “Ah good, I was about to come to check on you. Follow me, the spell is ready,” the guild master said, walking back out of the chamber.

“Spell? What spell? Aren’t we going on an airship?” Noah asked.

“Yes, we are, but not from here,” Aurelia replied.

Following behind the guild master, they arrived in a side chamber where Noah noted a spell circle glowing brightly on the floor. Stepping inside, Ekira gave a nod to a woman crouching near the spell, who clapped her hand at the signal. Mana swirled around the chamber, flowing into the runes inscribed on the floor. Noah felt his body tingling at the sensation of mana, his Arcane Body reacting immediately as he began to sense the flow of magic. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized what the spell was.

A moment later, a portal opened above the magic circle, and Noah saw a familiar face standing on the other side.

“Get through quickly, we cannot hold the portal open for too long,” Ekira said.

Noah and the rest stepped through into the familiar halls of the Windrest Adventuring Guild.

“Hope they didn’t cause too much trouble,” Nae said to Ekira.

“They were alright. I’ll leave the rest to you now,” Ekira said, and the portal closed behind them.

“Alright then, glad to have you guys back. Nice to see that we’ve got some new members joining the party. Unfortunately, there’s not much time to chitchat, the airship will be leaving soon, so let’s get moving quickly,” Nae said, stepping out of the chamber they’d arrived in.

“If you can just teleport across cities, why not do the same for Drakonias?” Noah asked, walking behind Nae.

“Because teleportation is costly, and long-range teleportation is even more costly. And long-range teleportation across countries is so costly that the mana flowing through the spell would be enough to vaporize people. Which means there’s a hard limit on how far teleportation can go, unless the target of said teleportation is quite resilient. We also don’t have that kind of money to throw around,” Nae said, glancing back at Noah. “There are also political considerations, restrictions on the usage of teleportation spells, personnel required for running said teleportation spells, and so on and so forth. It’s not that simple.”

“Why not just teleport us to the airship then?” Noah asked.

“Right in the middle of a busy transportation hub, with multiple complex spells that are carrying large amounts of cargo and/or passengers?” Nae asked. “I’m glad to see you haven’t changed much, Noah.”

Noah chuckled. “It’s not my fault I don’t know stuff. If you count my arrival to this world as a birthday of sorts, then I’m probably the smartest six-month-old there is.”

Aurelia snorted, and even Snow giggled at his words. Nae simply rolled her eyes, though a smile hung on her face.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the hangar. It was in a large sectioned off area of the city, with giant egg-shaped ships, whose wings made of a mixture of metal and wood moved around. Mages stood beneath many of them, casting wind magic to control their movements, and Noah looked on in fascination.

“It’s interesting to me how you guys have things like airships, given the difference in technology I see overall. Back home, it took us way longer to figure out how to make these things. I wonder how these ones work.”

“The airship? They’re just floating balloons reinforced with metal and wood. They’re enchanted to be lightweight and float, and the rest is taken care of by wind magic spells,” Nae replied.

“Man… magic sure is convenient,” Noah said.

“Which one are we boarding?” Aurelia asked.

“You see the big one there, hovering just above the ground? That’s the one,” Nae replied.

“Whoa,” Snow exclaimed.

Noah was impressed by the size of the structure as well. The spell removed a lot of restrictions that would have otherwise come from having a ship of that size. He wondered just how many people could fit inside.

All of them walked up to a ramp laid out at the back of the ship, leading inside. Four guards stood at the entrance, checking some form of tickets made of thin metal, responding to a pulse of mana as the plates lit up. Nae walked up to the entrance, holding out the tickets on their behalf. The guard glanced down, nodding as the runes on the plates activated.

“The room numbers are on the keys,” the guard said, handing the tickets back.

Nae nodded, turning around and holding out the two metal plates. “These will be the keys to your rooms. Don’t lose them.”

“Only two?” Noah asked.

“Well, we kinda got you in at the very last second, so that’s the best we could do,” Nae replied with a shrug. “You guys can decide who stays where.”

Aurelia grabbed one of the metal plates. “Snow and I will stay together. You three can share the other one.”

Noah glanced sideways at Erwest. Guess we’ll be roommates for a while.

Erwest took the second key.

“I’ll be heading back now; this is as far as I go. Good luck to all of you,” Nae said, giving all of them a smile. “And make sure you win.”

“You bet,” Noah replied, grinning.

The Celestian woman waved them goodbye as they all walked into the airship. Noah glanced around at the various decorations hanging in the form of paintings on the walls, showcasing the different captains who had led the ship, and the various sceneries along the way. A lot of the items depicted Drakonian culture, with their lizard and dragon-like representations in the form of rugs, and trophies of monsters on the wall. “Damn, this place is kinda nice,” Noah said, feeling like he’d entered a luxury hotel of some sort.

Their paths eventually led them into a large hall, filled with all sorts of people; almost half of whom looked like adventurers. “Whoa, huge,” Noah exclaimed. “How the heck is this place so big?”

“We can sense some dimensional magic, so the ship is likely larger on the inside,” Zax said, humming to himself as he appreciated the spellwork.

Behind them, Noah heard the gates closing as crew members moved around, getting the ship ready to fly. “Seems like we were the last ones to get on.”

As they stood in the hall, waiting alongside everybody else, a woman looking to be roughly in her mid-thirties walked to the front. She wore a uniform with a mix of white, blue, and purple colors, that covered her slim yet muscular body. She stood tall, close to almost Noah’s height, with silvery white hair that led down into a long braid behind her back, and a presence that commanded attention. Noah used Identify on the woman.

[Skywarden - ???]

“Alright, fellows. Welcome aboard the Skydancer. I am Ariella Brightwind, your captain for this journey. Before we take off into the skies, I would like to lay some ground rules. Most of you here are one of two things: either merchants or adventurers. Given the timing, more adventurers than merchants from what I can see. I’ve been running this route for thirty-two years now, and I say this every time before we start. For the duration of this journey, I will treat you no different than I would treat my own men. Which means that when I say something, you’re supposed to listen and obey,” Captain Ariella said, glancing around the chamber. A few of the adventurers shifted, but most took her words in stride.

“You have the training hall available to you, feel free to make use of it as long as you don’t break anything. Food will be served in the dining halls during fixed hours. If you’re late, you will have to suck it up. This one is going to be a longer journey, which is going to take us anywhere between three to five weeks to reach Drakonias depending on the weather, and what kind of things we meet on our way. Do not start fights. I know your type, I know how itchy you get if you’re in confinement for a long period of time, that’s why you have the training hall, I do not want to see any conflicts while we are in the air, or I will make you regret it. Understood?”

Noah nodded, alongside most of the adventurers, but not all of them. He could already see a few that did not enjoy the woman’s authoritative tone among the crowd.

“Now, with that out of the way. The route to Drakonias often goes through Griffin territory. Me and my men can handle them, but there could come a time that we require your assistance. I will be expecting you to coordinate with us, if you don’t want to crash into the ocean and become food for the sea serpents. We might even be seeing some thunder wyverns, if any of you have experience dealing with those let me know and I’ll put you to use. And lastly, pray that we do not run into a storm wyrm,” Ariella said, taking one last look around the chamber.

Noah looked around as well, watching the many faces. He smiled, imagining what it would be like to meet a Griffin, or wyvern. Perhaps he would even get the chance to ride one.

“Alright. With all of that done, let’s begin our journey,” the woman said, a pale green aura shining around her as a gust of wind swirled.

Noah heard a heavy thumping noise come from outside, like a giant metal chain recoiling, then with a sudden jerk, the airship took flight.

CHAPTER SIX

AIRSHIP

Noah wondered if it was alright for the captain to just stand there while the ship took off. He didn’t have any idea how things worked here. It probably was fine, but it was still strange to see. People began to scatter, some heading into their rooms to rest, others checking out the training areas on the top floor. In his mind, Noah had been treating this airship like a typical airplane from his world, but standing here, he realized that this place was truly a flying ship, more so than anything else. He looked around, trying to see if he could spot something like a map to show him the layout.

“There’s one on that pedestal,” Aurelia said, pointing to a pedestal made of white marble with glowing runes on top. The party walked toward the pedestal—even Erwest, to Noah’s surprise, followed them—taking a look for themselves. A few other adventurers were also looking around, but most seemed to already be familiar with the layout of the ship. Noah stepped up to the pedestal and the glowing projection on top, which showed an image of the ship flying through the air with its insides visible.

“Hold on, is that us?” Noah asked, noticing the five dots standing within the map around where the pedestal should be. He walked backward and saw the marker moving back as well.

“Looks like it’s working in real-time. Must be some kind of tracking and projection spell layered together,” Aurelia said.

“Are they spying on us?” Snow asked, her eyes darting around in concern. Noah could understand the feeling; if he were sitting inside a flying ship for the first time with no way to get out, and the ship itself started to track his every movement, he would feel a little unsettled too.

“It’s a similar mechanism to what’s used by the bracelets that you bought, but on a much larger scale. They can’t spy on us exactly, just see where we are within the ship itself, and it is possible to block the spell, but we suspect that would likely draw unwanted attention,” Zax replied.

Noah gave the dragon a nod, bringing his attention back to the map. The bottom layer seemed to be inaccessible, mostly filled with cargo, and the details were missing. The place they stood on was the central part, which also served as the dining hall, with their rooms to the left and right of the halls. Farther beyond the hall was what looked to be the captain’s cabin, and besides the rooms themselves, he saw something like a viewing deck extending out into the open air. On the top floor was the training arena, divided into multiple little chambers with a large central one connecting them all.

“I know I have said this before, but seriously, just how big is this place?” Noah said. If his estimates were right, it was likely as large as a typical cruise ship on Earth. And it could fly.

“This one is on the smaller side. The truly big ones are basically flying castles. I have heard rumors that one of the Ascendant Monarchs has one,” Aurelia said.

“Ryugan had one a little bigger than this, though it did not move as fast and was more meant to float around through the skies,” Zax said.

“Ryugan? The Ryugan Valtorius?” Erwest asked. “One of the Ascendant Monarchs from a few hundred years ago? And an Outerworlder too.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Zax, then to Noah, as they all began to come to their own conclusions.

“Perhaps. Anyway, why don’t we head out to the captain’s cabin? I doubt you have seen one of the cores that supplies these aircraft before,” Zax said, in an awful attempt to change the topic.

No one pointed it out, simply agreeing to the offer.

Heading through the hallway, they arrived in a smaller chamber with multiple uniformed crew members standing inside. Different kinds of mechanisms layered the walls. Just farther ahead, in a small cabin, the captain stood at the forefront seats, glass windows looking outside to the skies, but that area seemed to be off-limits.

A few other adventurers were also present, looking around and chatting with each other. But the thing that captured Noah’s attention was a glowing light green orb at the center of the chamber, with metallic pipes layered in glowing lines of runes coming outward and spreading into the rest of the ship. He used Identify on the item.

[Sky-Dungeon Core (Legendary, Rank B)]

“Is that what’s powering the ship? A dungeon core?” Noah asked.

“Indeed. Dungeon cores are the strongest sources of mana. They’re not unlike mana stones, but what makes them special is their ability to generate mana and control it in precise manners. Higher rank cores also come with certain special abilities tied to them,” Zax said.

“Wait, hold on, so we’re standing in a dungeon right now?” Noah asked.

“Kind of,” Aurelia said. “You’re standing in something that could become a dungeon if left unchecked would be more accurate. It’s kind of like a really big mana stone right now, and one that can generate its own mana over time.”

“If it’s like a mana stone, can you eat it?” Noah asked.

“In theory, yes. In practice, anyone who has tried has gone mad and was taken over by the core itself. There are some who still wish to utilize the power of dungeon cores by binding them to their bodies, but it is a fool’s errand to try and do so,” Zax said.

“And highly illegal,” Aurelia added. “Dungeon cores are typically owned by whoever rules the land, and given the risk a rogue remnant with a dungeon core attached to it poses, anyone who tries will immediately be executed with the highest priority.”

“Noted. Don’t eat the dungeon core,” Noah said.

“It’s also partly why airships like these are relatively rare, even during the most prosperous times within the continent,” Zax added. “You have to justify the consumption of an entire dungeon’s worth of mana, alongside the risks that come with something like this ship, and many cannot.”

“Interesting. But why keep it out here in the open then? What happens if someone messes with it or accidentally does something?” Noah asked.

“It is quite difficult to destroy a dungeon core. But even beyond that, the core itself is protected by multiple layers of wards. It would take even us a minute or two to breach through them,” Zax said.

“And I really hope you won’t try,” Ariella said, stepping out from her cabin and joining the group. “I was informed of your party’s arrival, and especially you, my friend. You don’t see many A-rankers outside of the central plains. Someone like you all the way out here; the air must feel practically lifeless to breathe for you.”

“One learns to adapt over time,” Zax replied in an even tone. “The same could be said to you.”

“I’ve got this baby feeding me as much as I need,” Ariella said, tapping the top of the dungeon core.

“An elegant solution. Were you the one who came up with the design of this place?” Zax asked.

“I knew the guy who did,” Ariella replied. “He was my grandfather.”

“Wait,” Aurelia said, her eyes growing wide in surprise. “Was your grandfather Thalor Windweaver? The founding father of Windrest?”

“Yup. That’s him. Old bastard made a name for himself before vanishing off to God knows where. Given his level, he might still be alive somewhere out there,” Ariella said. “Anyways. I’ve heard a little about the quest that your party is on. I don’t care enough to pry as long as you don’t cause a mess on my ship,” she said, looking pointedly at Noah. Everyone else followed her gaze.

“What? I haven’t done anything,” Noah said. “This is unfair.”

“We know better than to wait until you do something by now,” Aurelia said, making Snow suppress a giggle.

“I’ll leave you all to it,” Ariella said, waving as she headed for one of the other chambers.

Noah tried to find what else there was to explore, when his eyes went to the viewing deck outside. Stepping out, the wind whipped past him, clouds soaring by. A simple handrailing was the only thing between him and the open skies.

“Whoa, this is amazing,” Noah said, walking up to the railing as he looked down over the rail. The world flew past underneath, forests and grasslands drifting by in a beautiful and surreal sight. Aurelia joined him, looking down as well, with Snow holding tightly onto Noah’s shoulders, a smile surging from the girl’s face.

For a moment, all of them simply took in the sights, marveling at the beauty. Noah felt his heart quiver, as he saw the world beneath him, a beautiful and brand-new magical world, with thousands of sights that he had not yet seen.

“Did you have something like this back in your world, Noah?” Aurelia asked.

“Yeah. But nothing quite like this,” Noah replied. “The airships we had were a lot faster, and since we have no magic, people are a lot more fragile. We could only really see things from inside, from a rather controlled environment.”

“That makes sense. Unawakened children would probably struggle to stand here,” Aurelia said.

“Yeah. Honestly, this feels kind of dangerous. What if someone falls?” Noah asked, pushing gently on the railing. “This isn’t very strong.”

“You cannot fall. There is a spell around the airship that will catch you if you do, and then teleport you back inside,” Zax said, looking out toward the horizon.

For a moment, Noah wondered if he could fly with Tony’s help and teleport back in should he begin to fall. His last experience with flight had not gone very well, but he’d learned since then; he was a lot faster and more in control of his body.

The smarter side of him ultimately won out, deciding against it. As he was about to step away, Noah heard a noise coming from nearby. A lizard-like man with a wide grin on his face was being chased by two women as he jumped over the handrails.

“Kaelan!” one of the women shouted, wearing golden and red armor that made her oddly nostalgic, while the other began to conjure water from her hands, a magic spell floating around her.

The lizard man—Kaelan—laughed to himself, spreading his wings wide, as he flew around the ship. The mage woman sent chains of water to catch him, but he swiftly dodged.

A moment later, Noah heard a very familiar voice shouting from inside, “AGAIN! I warned you last year, you buffoon!” she shouted, stepping out to the viewing deck with an expression of human anger. Wind swirled around her as she took to the air with a single jump.

“Why do you think I do this? You refuse to spar with me otherwise,” Kaelan shouted, twirling a spear as his wings flapped behind his back, a toothy grin full of sharp teeth displayed across his face. “Let’s dance, Ariella. Just you and me, two lovers of the skies.”

Ariella moved swiftly, a powerful gust of wind propelling her like a missile, leaving a sonic boom in its wake. More and more people began to step onto the viewing deck, now watching the battle taking place.

“Oh, they’re at it again! Wanna bet how long he lasts this time?” one of the adventurers shouted, the rest throwing in their bets.

Noah noted the water mage from before now standing with her palm covering her face.

“I can feel her pain,” Aurelia said.

“What do you mean? I’m not that bad,” Noah replied, as he looked back up at the skies. “Right?”

None of the others replied to his words.

“What is he? I’ve never seen a Drailith with horns and wings,” Snow asked.

“He’s a Drakonian, a known race of battle maniacs. They live in Drakonias and are the descendants of dragons,” Erwest replied.

“Oh, so he’s a dragon?” Snow asked, looking at Zax.

The dragon chuckled at her words.

“No, not a dragon, but the closest thing we have that won’t immediately kill everybody in sight,” Aurelia said, glancing sideways at Zax. “No offense.”

“None taken. We are aware of the nature of our brethren,” Zax said.

The Drakonian man moved too fast to use Identify on, but Noah didn’t need that to tell him the man was strong. Although Ariella was faster, the Drakonian man used his spear with swiftness and technique that showed years of training. He could tell that both were holding back significantly, but even so, Noah struggled to imagine that he would be able to keep up with either of them currently.

A second later, Noah jumped back as the two combatants began to head in his direction.

With a powerful burst of energy from Ariella, the two crashed back onto the ship’s deck, surprisingly not breaking anything with their landing. Ariella had her hand wrapped around Kaelan’s neck.

“I surrender,” Kaelan replied. The woman hesitated, then let go.

“You’re cleaning the entire deck for a week. No food for that duration either. If you pull something else, I’m gonna throw you off,” the captain said, stomping off.

The two women who followed the Drakonian walked up to him, one of them punching him on the head and the man winced.

“I swear, I’ve told you so many times not to pick a fight with her. When are you going to listen?” the armored woman said.

“Hey, this is like the only time I get. She doesn’t leave her ship ever. I wouldn’t do this if she just agreed to join us for a spar like a normal person. And you know she enjoys these,” Kaelan replied.

“He is hopeless. There’s no point in trying. Well, Val, I’m of half the mind to just abandon him, and the two of us can go to the trials together,” the water mage said.

“Hey, you can’t do that, I’m the team leader!” Kaelan protested.

“It sounds like a good idea, Sera. What good has this meathead ever done for us anyway?” the armored woman—Val—said, nodding.

Finding his curiosity piqued, Noah walked up to them as the crowd began to disperse, having had their fill of the entertainment. “Couldn’t help but overhear. Are you three also heading to take the Dragon Warrior’s trial?”

“Not three,” Kaelan said, standing back up on his feet. “Just these two.”

Noah looked up at the Drakonian, nearly a full head taller than he was. Finding the chance now, he used Identify on the man.

[Dragon Warrior - ??]

The Drakonian man grinned.

CHAPTER SEVEN

A NEW PARTY

Kaelan leaned over, his reptilian eyes focused on Noah. “Wyrmblood… is it? No, there’s more. I like it.” The dragon warrior extended his hand. “I’m Kaelan, leader of the Drakanthorn Vanguard. And these two are my party members, Valeria and Seraphina.”

Noah took the chance to Identify both of them.

[Ominrune Scholar - ??]

[Warbound Valkyrie - ??]

Noah grasped the Drakonian’s hand, shaking it. “I’m Noah Brown. These are my friends, Aurelia, Erwest, Snow, and Zax. We are heading to the Dragon Warrior’s trials as well, and I overheard you guys talking. From the looks of it, it seems like you have already completed a trial before. Although I didn’t know Dragon Warrior was a Path.”

“Yep, I’ve completed it. A couple of years ago, actually. Wouldn’t have been allowed to leave my home without that. And it’s not a Path, I am a Spearmaster. But for titles, you can equip them, or keep them active, and that’s the one that people will see.”

Noah raised an eyebrow. That was something he needed to check. Now that I think about it, I never actually saw what Titan Slayer did.

Kaelan’s gaze drifted behind Noah. “You said you’re heading to the Dragon Warrior trials?”

“We are,” Aurelia said. “If it’s not against any rules, we would definitely love to know a little more.”

Kaelan frowned. “None of you are strong enough, though. The girl is definitely too weak, and one of you has no need for a title like that,” he said, his eyes lingering on Zax. “I like you. You’re strong. Maybe as strong as our king. I would ask you to spar, but I’m afraid it wouldn’t last for more than a few seconds.”

“Perhaps in a few decades, child,” Zax said with a smile.

Kaelan laughed. “If anyone else had said that, I would have taken it as an insult. But yes, perhaps in a few decades.” The Drakonian shifted his gaze back to Noah. “You guys should reconsider. They won’t stop you from competing, so the younger kids certainly join to train, but you won’t make it, and outsiders can only compete once. I recommend training for at least a year. Your party looks young; if you train hard, all of you can still make it for next year.”

“I’m afraid we cannot really wait,” Aurelia replied.

“You’re an Outerworlder,” one of them—Seraphina, if Noah remembered correctly—exclaimed. The woman rushed closer, grabbing onto Noah’s hand and examining each of his fingers one by one.

Noah almost teleported away, taken aback by the sudden intrusion.

“I kept getting a weird readout from you. It makes sense now! Your body is amazing. Were you born with it? Or did it become like that when you came here? I’ve done a study on Outerworlders at school and how their travels across the Astral Rifts changed their bodies and souls permanently. I have never quite seen such a vivid manifestation of change like this.”

The woman’s eyes then went to Snow. “No way! Is that a void⁠—”

Before Noah could feel any further weirded out, Kaelan grabbed her head with his hand before she could jump on Snow.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, stop it!” Seraphina exclaimed.

“No, you stop that, Seph. We have talked about this. You cannot just start fawning over people whenever you see some kind of magic that interests you,” Kaelan said, dragging the woman back.

Noah laughed. “It’s fine, and to answer your question, no, I wasn’t born like this. In fact, my world had no magic at all. I got these after I got here, quite recently in fact.”

As Kaelan let go of the woman, she composed herself. “Wait, hold on. Didn’t have any magic? How did you get anything done?”

“That’s such a magical-world-person comment. There are other ways to do things. And we developed technology,” Noah replied, shrugging.

“That sounds… terrible.”

“Seph, don’t be rude,” Valeria said.

Noah grinned. “It was. A little bit. But we had movies, and we went to the moon, so it wasn’t all that bad either.”

“What are movies?” Seraphina asked.

“They’re like… plays, except you can do a lot of things with them that aren’t real, with computers. If only I could show them to you, I think you would love The Matrix. Kaelan would probably really like The Karate Kid.”

“Huh, I didn’t get much of that sentence. I guess you’re using some kind of translation device,” Seraphina said.

Kaelan coughed into his hand. “Sorry about her. She is normally the reasonable one, but whenever different kinds of magic are the topic, her personality flips. Anyways, if you guys really cannot wait… well, you could try hyper-leveling. Just hunting in the forest would be sufficient challenge at your level, which would rapidly help you grow. Although… it still might be a bit too unreasonable for Noah.”

“Yeah. Kaelan has been training us nonstop for the last six months. And he says we’re still not good enough,” Seraphina said, mimicking Kaelan’s expression.

“He says you are not good enough,” Valeria said. “He thinks I can make it.”

“Whatever, you know that’s only because you’re a battle junkie like him. I’m a scholar! My first and foremost job is to learn and gather knowledge, not train day in and day out,” Seraphina said.

“Why would you take the trial if you’re a scholar?” Aurelia asked.

“Oh, that’s because I want to study the dragon’s heart. But they only let their victors see it, so I need to win,” Seraphina replied, as if the statement was matter-of-fact.

“If this is not an intrusion to your plans, perhaps your party can train with these three. From what we can see, Seraphina has a good understanding of various elements and magic, which would make for a good pair against Aurelia. And Aurelia can help Seraphina learn how to battle with someone who has powerful berserker abilities, can hit above their weight for short periods of time,” Zax said, as the two women looked at each other.

“Valeria seems to have more berserker abilities and is also a paladin of Rutha, which would make a good training partner for Erwest to hone his technique against a more unpredictable warrior, while Erwest can challenge her with his technique and more diverse abilities,” the dragon added, turning to Kaelan. “And lastly… I’m afraid Noah cannot teach you much. But you can teach him how to use his spear better.”

Kaelan thought it over. “Sure, if the girls are fine with it. It would be good practice for these two and some entertainment for me. It’s been some time since I’ve had a chance to fight someone who also uses a spear.”

The Drakonian looked at Noah, grinning. The smile reminded Noah of Raesar; he could see the two of them immediately bonding over their shared love for sparring.

Maybe it’s a cultural thing. The dragons and lizard people being battle maniacs.

“I’m kind of hungry, can we do this tomorrow?” Seraphina said, holding her stomach as it growled.

“Kaelan, you have to clean the deck as well. Don’t push the captain any further than you already have,” Valeria added.

“Whoops, right. Guess we can start the training tomorrow then. We can meet in the training halls at first dawn,” Kaelan said.

“Sounds good,” Noah replied.

As the two groups were about to disperse, Kaelan turned back. “Actually, I never got the name of your party. What are you guys called?”

Noah looked at Aurelia, who similarly looked back at him. He shrugged. “We’re still working on that one.”

Noah sat in his room, going through his Astral Script and the current title he had.

[Progenitor]

You are the progenitor of an entirely new race of astral creatures. Find your abilities permanently increased.

Active: All attributes have increased by 5%

As it turned out, he did have a title equipped, and doing so gave certain additional abilities that were in the active category. Taking his remaining free attribute points, Noah distributed them, then looked over the totals before and after unequipping Progenitor.

Power: [806 → 774]

Agility: [690 → 662]

Constitution: [807 → 778]

Mystic: [928 → 895]

Wow, that’s a significant drop. The buffs sure add up.

Noah went to his Titan Slayer title next, opening it up.

[Titan Slayer]

You have slayed a titan, leaving the mark of its battle upon your soul. Find your spirit unwavering against stronger foes, and your aura unsuppressed.

Active: Gain 50% more experience when fighting against stronger enemies.

Noah whistled at the reward, but it was the active one that made him grin. That was exactly what he needed right now. He activated Titan Slayer, adjusting his Astral Script to better reflect its active nature.

Astral Script:

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Draconian Humanoid

Rank: D

Title: [Titan Slayer]

Paths:

Wyrmblood Guardian (Legendary) - level 107

Runebody Arcanist (Legendary) - level 106

Abyssal Predator (Legendary) - level 109

Attributes:

Power: 645 [774]

Agility: 552 [662]

Constitution: 577 [778]

Mystic: 663 [928]

Attribute Points: 0 | Skill Points: 1

Noah grinned. He was looking forward to the sparring matches tomorrow. A click came from the door, and Zax step into the room. “We’d been looking for you.”

“And you didn’t immediately find me? Somehow, I doubt that,” Noah replied.

“Well, we never said we were looking for long,” Zax replied, taking a seat in one of the chairs. Which, thankfully, was quite spacious, and Noah could always jump into his Cosmic Vault anyway.

“There’s something we wanted to discuss alone with you,” Zax said.

“Sounds serious, what is it?”

“It’s regarding your aspect, and the Shards. We would like to talk a bit more if possible.”

Noah stopped slouching, the dragon’s words catching his attention. He thought it over, though there really was no point in trying to hide things from Zax. If there was anyone who could help him, it was Zax.

“Sure, what do you want to know?”

“How did you get the Shard, Noah, and from where?”

“No clue. Also, and I know this is pointless, but I hope you’ve made this space private?” Noah asked.

“We have, no one can enter, or hear anything we say,” Zax replied.

“Alright. Sweet. Well, I woke up in the void and the void god asked me for the Shard. I felt extremely disconnected from reality, so instead of being afraid like I would normally, I just got pissed off and told him to fuck off, and managed to form a pact that got me here. I know that… the old goddess of war, Raelinah, was involved somehow, and I remember seeing her… when I’d died. But everything else is a blur,” Noah replied.

Zax frowned, going silent for a long minute, just thinking.

“Can we see your Aspect?” Zax asked at last.

“Sure, I needed to check on it anyway. It upgraded since I got the last Shard,” Noah said, pulling up his menu and the description for Devourer appeared.

[Devourer (Intermediate, Unique/Growth)]

[Progress to next rank: 0/250]

You are the Devourer. A primal hunger lurks within you. You yearn to grow, to fight, to consume all that bar your path. Your spirit is hungry and seeks strength. Gain increased experience than normal when fighting stronger enemies, but gain decreased experience when fighting weaker foes. All your abilities are enhanced to their maximum potential. You can absorb the essence of others and consume them for yourself. Increases all attributes by 10%.

Noah shared the Aspect’s message with Zax, who frowned. Magic circles swirled around the dragon as he read through the message, his eyes going over it multiple times, before at last, he looked back up at Noah.

“Do you know what an Aspect is, Noah?” Zax asked.

“Only… kind of. I talked to Hellion and realized that a god’s Aspect does a lot of things that they don’t directly handle. So something along those lines?”

Zax gave a nod. “You are correct. But what you don’t understand is that Aspects only exist with Ascendants. And Gods. And you are neither. And… this Aspect. It is not yours either. You will have an entirely different Aspect for yourself,” Zax said.

“Umm. Okay? What does that mean? That I get to have two?” Noah asked.

“We don’t know. We’ve never seen this before. But… currently it seems like you’re acting as a vessel to… this dead god’s Shard. And Devourer is slowly assimilating into your soul. Your Astral Script tells you something, but it is not the truth, the script cannot ever glimpse the truth because Aspects are beyond its capacities,” Zax said.

“That… honestly, I don’t know what to make of that. What happens… if I collect all the Shards?” Noah asked.

“If you truly are a vessel. Then… either you become the next god of this Aspect or, the more likely option, this god’s spirit and Aspect take over you and use you as a vessel to be reborn,” Zax said.

“That… does not sound very good for me.”

“It is not.”

“So the cultists… they’re gathering the Shards to… what? Revive the god? The Devourer?” Noah asked.

“It is most likely. Or perhaps they merely intend to use its powers, not understanding the forces they are playing with,” Zax said.

“So what should I do now? Give up on the Shards? Stop absorbing them?”

“No. It’s a little late to stop now. But… perhaps it was some really good fortune that you got the abilities you did, and found a shadow specter that shares your soul,” Zax said.

“Wait… do you mean…”

“We can’t be sure. We’ll need to study more. Perhaps there will be more books in Drakonias. But it is a possibility,” Zax replied. “For now, forget about these concerns and simply focus on training as best as you can for your upcoming trials. In the meantime, we will look for a solution.”

Noah nodded, as Zax stood up.

“We have faith in you, Noah,” the dragon said.

“Thanks,” Noah replied, and Zax teleported away in a flash of light.

CHAPTER EIGHT

TRAINING HALL

After spending a relatively restless night in his new bed, Noah arrived at the training hall as the light from the first dawn began to pierce through the skies earlier than he anticipated. It really was strange to be living on something that was flying through the clouds for such extended periods of time. As Noah entered the chamber, he noticed Kaelan already present. Erwest was there as well.

The chamber to be nothing like he anticipated. He thought it would be a sparring room like in the Windrest’s Guild, with a giant open area marked with lines and protected by wards. Yet it was small, with seats present inside as if to watch something, with a glass wall directly opposite the seats, separating a different area which contained multiple magic circles and runes covering it from top to bottom.

“Is this the right place?” Noah asked. His eyes went to the glass wall, noticing different screens displaying the visage of a forest.

“It is. I assume you have never seen a projected battleground before,” Kaelan asked.

“Nope. I have not,” Noah replied.

“It’s basically what it sounds like; this thing can make projections of you and re-create all kinds of environments and training grounds that look and feel no different from reality when you’re inside. It allows people to train as if they were doing the real thing, which can create a substantial difference in the nature of the training and the result it bears. And as a bonus, you don’t have to worry about killing the other person and can go all out,” Kaelan said, glancing sideways with his reptilian eyes and flashing Noah a toothy grin. “Neat, right?”

“Yeah. Quite a bit. I’m not sure I understand how it works, to be honest,” Noah said, looking at the screens.

“Just watch,” Kaelan said.

The images on the glass wall moved around before jumping to Seraphina. Noah saw the woman walking around as different runes filled the air around her, forming all kinds of patterns faster than he could read them.

A creature sat on her shoulders, some kind of mix between a cat and a fox with long ears that scanned her environment. On a nearby screen, Noah saw Valeria moving through the forest stealthily, circling around Seraphina’s location. The woman’s hand was tight around her war axe, her eyes set on her target as she moved with nearly no sound.

He could almost hear their breaths, along with the sound of the insects crawling throughout the forest. As Valeria closed in, the creature on Seraphina’s shoulder turned, letting out a warning screech. The Valkyrie jumped, intercepted by a razor-sharp pressurized blade of water. Twisting midair, Valeria dodged the attack that nearly cut her in half as her war axe slammed into the ground, tearing up the earth and shaking it.

Seraphina jumped off, wind runes appearing around her feet as she took to the skies, combining her wind runes with fire runes as lightning struck from her fingers. Valeria blocked the bolt with her axe, a red and golden aura swirling around her as the woman roared, her presence intensifying. Leaping into the air, she threw her axe at Seraphina, who created a barrier blocking the attack, but the weapon shattered it and went past it, cutting through her shoulder and drawing blood. Seraphina did not stop, and neither did she pay attention to the wound, her fingers already casting another spell. Flames burst from her fingers toward Valeria, who charged through the attack, flying at the airborne woman. Seraphina pushed herself farther into the skies, as Valeria fell back to the ground, her war axe flying back into her hand.

Slamming her axe into a nearby tree, she used the leverage to kick off into the skies for another attack. She swung her weapon, a beam projecting from it that struck Seraphina’s barrier, shattering it and breaking her spellcasting as she fell to the ground. Valeria’s fist struck the woman’s gut, where it was blocked by a boulder rising from the ground as Seraphina grimaced, blood flowing from her mouth.

The earth beneath Valeria’s feet exploded, the ground caving in beneath her. The Valkyrie roared, rushing out as Seraphina continued to cast rapidly, water runes mixed with earth as the pitfall trap turned into quicksand, dragging the Valkyrie in.

Golden wings erupted from the woman’s back, and she jumped out, shaking off the mud, but Seraphina continued. Vines rose from the ground, grabbing at her feet and arms, trying to drag her back into the muddy trap.

Fire spilled from Valeria’s arms, burning the vines as she rushed closer. Her fist, charged with golden red energy, struck at Seraphina, who shrieked, raising her hands in the air. Noah did not hear any sound but read the woman’s lips as the words translated themselves automatically.

“I surrender!”

Both figures vanished in a flash of blue light, reappearing in the chamber where Noah stood. Neither had any injuries, nor did they bear any kind of armor that he had seen them wearing during the battle.

“You are so mean, Val!” Seraphina exclaimed, folding her arms as she pouted. The critter on her shoulders let out a chittering noise, and Seraphina fed it a mana crystal, then it vanished into blue light.

“You need to be prepared for traps to go wrong. And you give up immediately the second you get hurt. No matter how good of a mage you are, Seph, if you give up that easily, you’re not going to last,” Valeria said.

“Good match, girls. Don’t be so hard on her, Val. She took one of your attacks directly and did not give up even when she started to bleed. Just a few months ago, that alone would have been enough to make her quit for good,” Kaelan said, patting both women on their shoulders.

“Hmph!” Seraphina pouted, snorting as she walked back and sat down on one of the chairs with her arms crossed.

“Looks like our new friends have arrived,” Valeria said, taking note of Noah.

Noah glanced behind him, noticing Snow, Aurelia, and Zax all standing within the chamber, having arrived while he’d been busy watching the battle.

“Indeed. So let’s not embarrass ourselves,” Kaelan said. “Welcome to the training hall! It’s one of the best, if not the best part about this airship. This is what we will be using to spar. Unfortunately, this little thing can only handle two people at once, so we will have to do those in pairs, as the other chambers have been taken by different teams,” Kaelan said.

“I still can’t believe they put one of these on an airship. I knew that higher grade kingdoms and certain nobles had access to simulated battleground chambers, but I never thought I would see one available on an airship,” Aurelia said, gasping in reverence.

“Not just one, four. It’s a great way to train for the trials, and given that this airship really only makes the trip twice a year back and forth between Drakonias, they deemed it worth the price, as many people come here simply to have a chance at using one,” Kaelan said.

“It’s an illusionary device, is it not? A sophisticated one. We do not think these had existed back when we had been around on the continent before. Quite the fascinating creation,” Zax said.

“Precisely. Yes, it’s an illusionary device. The battle does not actually take place, but instead, it’s a hallucination shared between two people. Though the experience is very much real, and that is what matters as far as training is concerned. It’s a great way to gain both experience and levels quickly,” Kaelan said.

Noah looked at the device in fascination. It reminded him of his training chamber within his Astral Space. But here, he could actually gain levels from the battles he participated in.

“Alright, so let’s start with the basics. Right now, the three of you are like teenagers. You’d struggle to even stand in front of the king,” Kaelan said, looking at Noah. “Well, you might last for a minute.”

Noah grinned at the man’s words. He had trained against the dragon after all.

“Stop grinning, Noah,” Zax said. “You have your own problems. Your fast growth means all your skills are lagging behind, both in levels and actual experience. You fight entirely on instincts, which is fine, but it’s not going to last against seasoned warriors.”

Kaelan nodded. “I could tell as much just by looking at him. There is a distinct lack of experience reflected in the way he stands and moves, but he’s got very good natural instincts, which is probably why he’s made it this far.”

Noah thought of his battle against Raesar, who had almost beaten him while using just a single ability and sheer raw power.

“Before we begin the training, do the three of you know the trials and what happens within them?” Kaelan asked.

All of them shook their heads.

“Alright. The challenge is slightly different every time, but there are three general ones. The dragon’s breath, the dragon’s will, and the dragon’s heart. The first one, you have to go through a chamber with dragon flames, rushing across before the chambers close while fighting anything that attacks. After that, there’s a path to traverse where you will have to face the aura of a dragon bearing down upon you. Each step you take, the intensity will grow stronger and stronger, and the path you must walk more treacherous. You’ll have to maintain your calm and traverse through the arena to successfully pass the trial. And then finally, those who remain will be awarded the title of Dragon Warrior. But only those deemed worthy are allowed one to go farther into the last chamber, and take the trial of the Dragon’s Heart.”

“Did you take it? The Dragon’s Heart trial?” Noah asked.

“I did,” Kaelan said. “I failed. It’s been decades since anyone successfully traversed the path.”

Noah’s mind raced through the possibilities. He had already seen Kaelan, and how strong the man was. Yet he had failed.

He clenched his fists. I need to get stronger.

“Alright. Since we already have pairs that we’re going with for today, I got us some sticks with numbers on them to decide who will go first,” Kaelan said, extending three sticks. “Each of you pick one.”

Noah tried to use his Abyssal Awareness to peek through Kaelan’s closed fist but found his ability obstructed by the man’s aura.

Finding his attempts obstructed, Noah gave up and just grabbed a stick.

“Three,” Noah said, shrugging.

“Two,” Erwest said a second later.

Noah turned to look at Aurelia.

“Guess I’m first,” she said, her gaze moving to Seraphina.

“Aww, I was hoping my turn would be last. I swear I have the worst luck,” Seraphina said, getting up from her chair.

“Looks like it’s Aurelia and Seraphina first. Both of you, put your hand on the magic circles on the glass, please,” Kaelan said.

Seraphina walked up, placing her hand on the circle as she tapped her foot impatiently. Aurelia walked up, slightly more hesitant with placing her hand on it.

“Great. Now send a pulse of mana into the spell, and it will send you a message to activate it. Just select that and⁠—”

With a pulse of blue light, the two girls vanished, and a moment later, they appeared on the glass screen in front of the rest of them.

Kaelan shook his head, focusing his gaze on the glass. “Well, let’s enjoy the show then.”

CHAPTER NINE

SPARRING MATCH PT. 1

Aurelia felt the world twisting around her and she found herself standing in a new environment. The searing hot air washed over her skin, the sudden rise in temperature making her body tingle. She stood on a circular rocky platform, with cliffs surrounding her on all sides.

The smell of sulfur and ash filled the air, the skies red from flames rising from volcanoes all around her, jagged rocks and cliff sides as far as her eyes could see. She could feel the lava beneath her feet, as the ash stirred within her body.

It was hard to believe that none of this was real, because no matter how she tried to search for any traces of an illusion, she could find none. The ground and the fire that surged near the earth felt as real as the breath she took and the beating of her own heart. Aurelia raised her fists.

Seraphina stood on the other end, poised and calm, almost appearing bored as she inspected the environment. Runes danced in her eyes, a mystical blue light swirling around her hands. “An open arena with nowhere to run. If I didn’t know that Kaelan could not choose the arena for us, I would have suspected this to be his handiwork,” Seraphina said.

Aurelia did not reply, keeping her fists raised she began to gather the embers within her body. Embers of fury stirred, and she continued to feed the flames, holding them in for later.

“Not one for chitchat, I take it? In that case, let’s just get this over with,” Seraphina said as a magic circle formed underneath her feet.

Aurelia charged with a fierce yell, launching toward Seraphina. Fire and ash swirled around her fists as she moved in and struck. To her surprise, the woman didn’t dodge, simply standing there as a barrier formed around her. Aurelia’s fist landed, hitting solid air, and she felt magic pulse in return, nullifying her impact and did not break.

Seraphina spun, a blade of pressurized water slicing as it pushed Aurelia back. The ground shuddered before cracking as a hardened geyser burst upward, soaking her in boiling water.

Aurelia drew upon the heat from the water and steam, drawing it into her body as she charged her flames. The steam covered her vision, hiding the arena from her sight, and Aurelia shifted her focus to sound. Fire spread through the boulders, as she listened for the whereabouts of her enemy.

With the barest hints of mana, she felt a presence nearby just as Seraphina struck. Heated pressurized water shot at Aurelia’s chest, throwing her backward. Maintaining her grip, Aurelia dug her heels into the earth, feeling the strain of the beam of water against her chest as her armor began to creak from the strain. Glancing down, she let one of her knees buckle and collapse in a display of weakness, before putting her hand on the ground and digging her fingers in.

The steam began to dissipate as Seraphina appeared once more, standing with a bored and smug expression, as water continued to push against Aurelia, preventing her from moving.

“You should surrender. This is not going to be fun for either of us to continue,” Seraphina said, and the water beam stopped.

Aurelia panted, feeling the dent in her chest plate from the attack. She spit out some blood, her flames already slowly mending her injuries.

“You should talk less,” Aurelia said, as flames burst from beneath her. Letting the blades from her gauntlets sink into the ground, she tore a chunk of earth free. Flames flowed through her chain blades and onto the boulder as Aurelia spun the flaming rock around in circles then slung it at the woman.

Seraphina’s eyes widened and she jumped back. A quick cast barrier appeared as the giant fiery boulder smashed into pieces. Using the boulder as cover, Aurelia charged in, fire covering her fists as she struck at the woman’s barrier.

The barrier buckled, pulsing with powerful waves as Seraphina’s eyes widened in surprise. “What are you trying to do? My barrier nullifies magic, you can’t break it,” Seraphina said, but the woman’s voice held a quiver.

Aurelia screamed, her fists striking faster and faster until her hands were a blur. Fire began to sizzle the air around Aurelia, melting the earth beneath her, her hands flaming bright streaks, each impact of her fists against the barrier sending a shivering tremor across the earth. Sparks flew through the air, as Seraphina slowly began to be pushed back. The mage poured her mana into the barrier.

A single crack appeared in the barrier. Aurelia continued to attack. The ground burst into a powerful geyser beneath Aurelia’s feet, jagged rocks rising from the earth to interrupt her. Aurelia stomped on the ground, fire covering her feet as she crushed the rocks and evaporated them into steam before they could touch her body.

The cracks began to spread, Seraphina now cornered against the edge of the arena. With a powerful roar, Aurelia struck, letting the flames she’d been gathering free with a final strike as an inferno erupted from her fists.

Crack.

The barrier shattered, the strike landing as Seraphina flew off the edge of the arena. Ash and dust took up her vision as she panted.

Did I… win?

A pulse of mana traveled across the arena, gusts of wind clearing the dust and ash, and Aurelia saw Seraphina flying in the air with wind swirling around her body. A green shimmer covered her skin, showing her mostly unharmed, yet a single drop of blood flowed from the woman’s mouth.

“I underestimated you. You’re quite strong for your level. But I won’t make that mistake again,” Seraphina said, wiping the blood with her hand.

Runes flared around the woman, Seraphina’s eyes glowing a bright blue as magic crackled in every direction. Power gusts swirled, carrying the ash in a swirling hurricane. Lightning crackled, a storm swirling all around Aurelia as the ground beneath her began to shake. Hot geysers of water burst from the earth, forcing her to dodge. Lava rose, cracking the earth beneath her, rocks crumbling from the cliffsides before being lifted up by the gusts of wind.

A tornado descended, at the center of which Seraphina flew, her magic boundless as runes swirled in a circle around her. With horror, Aurelia realized what was happening. She was destroying the arena itself. Jumping around, Aurelia dashed, dodging the bursting lava and geysers, the jagged rocks that flew at her carried on razor-sharp winds.

Seraphina’s voice echoed through the storm, “Seek.”

A chain of lightning bolts crackled, striking at Aurelia, shooting her into a giant boulder. She felt her body tensing up, the electricity jamming through her muscles, but she pushed past the resistance. The arena began to disintegrate, now collapsed into a swirling tornado with flying rocks swimming all around in circles, carrying lava and ash with it. Aurelia’s mind raced as she jumped, dodging crashing boulders and flying through the tornado before crashing onto another boulder and barely hanging on. Lightning struck once more, and dodged the bolts that shattered the rocks she stood on.

She couldn’t wait, she needed to act.

Letting her chain blades come free, Aurelia spun them around, fire charging up on the blades’ edges before she threw them across. The blades melted into a flying boulder, lodging in as Aurelia pulled herself up. Another giant boulder rushed toward her and she turned. Putting her feet up, she caught the giant boulder, groaning from the strain, before she kicked it back upward. Using the momentum, she swung one of her blades, latching onto the boulder as she pulled herself up into the air.

The lightning strikes grew more intense, rushing after her and curving through the air. A bolt struck her chains, the metal carrying the current and singing her arm, paralyzing it for a moment and causing her grip to be lost. She hung loose at the mercy of the winds, and the winds were not merciful, tossing her, slamming her into a boulder, her bones cracking from the impact. Another lightning strike cracked down, as Aurelia barely pushed herself sideways, the boulder shattering into pieces.

She flew in circles within the whirlwind, boiling lava rising from underneath with the air. Even with her heat resistance she wouldn’t last long if she became soaked in lava. Her head spun in circles, the world blurring around her, and for a moment, it felt like everything would go dark.

Another lightning bolt cracked, shattering a boulder near her.

Aurelia snapped herself awake. Focusing her mind, she called upon her fires, letting Embers of Fury activate.

Embers of Fury strengthens your body for a minute. All attributes by 100%.

Power increased to 1634

Agility increased to 1318.

Constitution increased to 1058.

Mystic increased to 1316.

May your Path light the dark.

Aurelia roared as ash and embers covered her body, fire surging from within her. Letting a burst of flames rise from her hands, she kicked off a nearby boulder, swinging her chain blades as she began to jump her way up the tornado.

Lightning crackled, striking as she moved, jumping across the swirling winds with powerful bursts. Seraphina’s magic swirled in a frenzy amidst the bolts of lightning.

Crack.

Aurelia took the strike, letting her health soak it, then kicked and spun from a giant boulder in midair, letting the winds raise its speed to an extreme amount before launching it upward.

The boulder shattered in a loud boom, rocks flying across the winds.

Jumping up, she let her chains drag the boulders, fire coating them and turning them red hot as she began to sling them at Seraphina flying high above.

Boom. Crack.

Boulders and lightning crashed together, shattered rocks flying all around her as Aurelia continued to rise. Roaring and screaming with flames dancing on her limbs, she jumped between smaller and smaller rocks, then swung her chains. Aurelia struck Seraphina directly, the woman’s eyes directed toward her at last.

Lightning struck, flowing through the chains, burning Aurelia’s body and almost throwing her off, but she maintained her grip. Flying high above, Aurelia crashed into Seraphina, and the two women began to tumble, both screamed in fury and anger.

The swirling tornado raged all around her, even as Aurelia’s fist struck Seraphina, a barrier forming around the woman, absorbing the blows as she shot lightning back.

Aurelia let all her magic gather into her fist as she prepared for a fiery fist. Blue mana crackled around Seraphina as her lightning gathered in a powerful bolt, before the two struck each other.

The world shook in a bright flash. The tornado dissipated, rocks, lava, and ash falling from the skies, collapsing back onto the earth. Amidst the dust, the two women fell, both unconscious from their strikes.

With a flash of light, both arrived back in the chamber.

Aurelia panted, her mind jerking at the experience.

“What a match!” Kaelan exclaimed, clapping as he looked at the two in excitement. “I haven’t seen Seph go all out before. She usually gives up a lot earlier against Val. But to think you managed to match her! There’s a lot we can learn and review in the battle, but for now, congratulations to the both of you. It was a spectacular battle.” Kaelan patted Aurelia’s shoulder.

Aurelia swallowed, giving a nod as she tried to settle herself back into reality before looking up. Seraphina had a frown as she looked to Aurelia, her arms folded.

“Good… fight,” the woman said, turning away and taking a seat.

Aurelia smiled, feeling pleased as she stood straight. A moment later, she opened up her Astral Script and her smile became even wider.

Rare Path of the Berserker Monk has reached level 168. Rare Path of the Flametouched has reached level 167. Legendary Path of the Cinderborn has reached level 142.

“Ah, I know that look. Looks like you got some levels out of that,” Kaelan said.

“This is bad,” Aurelia said, failing to keep her excitement in check. “With this thing around… I might become a battle maniac like Noah.”

CHAPTER TEN

SPARRING MATCH PT. 2

Erwest stepped up to the glass pane, preparing for his turn, followed by Valeria.

“Just send a pulse of mana, and it will activate,” Kaelan instructed.

Erwest followed the instructions, seeing a message pop up in front of him. As he selected yes, he felt his feet leave the ground, a sensation eerily similar to being teleported, and the wall changed around him when he reappeared. Clouds flew nearby, the sun beaming down as he stood on aa floating piece of rock, flying through the skies.

Two bridges of golden light connected the island to others, some smaller, some larger, all flying through the skies. He walked to the corner of the island, looked down, and saw endless clouds flowing underneath as far as the eye could see.

“A pale imitation of the Celestial realms,” Valeria said, standing across from him at the other end of the floating arena.

Erwest faced her, nodding at her words. She stood in golden and red armor that covered only parts of her body, looking more like a barbarian than a warrior of the church. He did not need to inspect his own attire; he could feel his familiar white and golden armor donned upon him.

“I have not had the chance to fight a Paladin of Hellion before. We are on the same side in most things, after all. So, I hope this will be an interesting battle, at the very least,” Valeria said.

Erwest drew his blade in response to her words, and she smiled in response, raising her war axe.

Before either moved, the battle had already started as their auras expanded rapidly, clashing against each other, fighting for dominance. Valeria roared as she charged forward. Swinging her axe, she struck it at the ground, sending a pulse of energy through it, cracking the surface beneath Erwest, offsetting his footing. Valeria leapt into the air, bringing her axe down in an overhead swing.

A shield manifested on Erwest’s left arm, and he blocked her strike, parrying as he swung his sword, slicing through her chest. Red blood sprayed onto the ground and coated Erwest’s sword. He used the momentum, swinging his shield around and striking her jaw with it, sending her sliding back.

Valeria grinned, spitting blood, rotated her shoulder, and stretched her neck. Steam rose from her body as her wounds visibly closed, her blood evaporating away. Erwest remained on guard.

“You’ve got good technique,” Valeria said. “But you’re too passive, too reliant on your sturdiness.”

Valeria twisted her heavy war axe, spinning it as if it weighed nothing, then thumped it on the ground. The ground shook, cracking where she struck it, and a red aura began to rise from her body. Wordlessly, the woman rushed in closer. Erwest struck back, keeping his composure as he used his shield to block the strike once more. The impact pushed his feet backward, his arm shaking under the weight.

Letting his technique guide him, he twisted his back foot, shifting his weight as he struck with his blade. Golden light swirled around him, covering his sword as he slashed at the woman.

She swung her own war axe, blocking his blade. Their exchange continued, like a graceful dance of blood and magic. Golden light flashed, sparks flew with, and red blood dripped onto the ground, painting it. But it was not Erwest who bled.

With each strike and counter, more and more injuries began to appear on Valeria’s body. Her strikes were intense, each sending Erwest a few inches backward, almost breaking his guard, but the paladin held strong, leveraging his blade and shield to absorb all impacts as he struck back with precision.

Noah watched the battle, crossing his arms.

“She’s going to lose if this continues,” Aurelia said. “I’m not sure why she is just going at him straightforwardly when clearly her attacks are not working. Circle around him, strike from behind, but she doesn’t seem to be interested.”

“She’s just playing with him. She will turn it around instantly. No way she loses here,” Seraphina said, leaning forward in her seat. “Right, Kaelan? She’s not losing, is she?”

Kaelan glanced at Aurelia, before his eyes went to Noah. “What do you think? Is Valeria going to lose?”

Noah frowned. “She’s definitely more injured. And Erwest has taken no strikes directly. Though she’s clearly stronger, he’s using his technique to utilize her strength against her,” Noah replied.

“You didn’t say yes or no,” Kaelan said, raising a scaly eyebrow.

Noah hummed, his frown growing. “No. She’s not losing.”

“What do you mean? She’s lost a lot of blood. Even if she has high regenerative powers, it’s not going to be endless,” Aurelia said.

“Well… yeah. She has lost a lot of blood. But she hasn’t taken a single hit on anything vital. All the blood has come from her limbs and the strikes have healed rapidly. Not to mention, her attacks are growing stronger and stronger with each strike. Erwest can barely keep up with her, and he is almost falling off the arena from the pushback.”

Aurelia regarded the fight, and only then noticed that Valeria’s body was a lot less injured than the blood dripping from her would indicate. And Erwest was nearly at the edge of the island.

Kaelan grinned. “She does that. She loves to do that. I call it Valvalanche. It’s slow and weak and feeble at first, but the more she fights, the stronger it grows, and at the end, it’s an overwhelming tide of raw power that can crush anything in its path. The only times I have beaten Valeria is when I made sure to do it quickly and as thoroughly as I could. If you let her grow into the fight, then you have lost it before you even realize.”

When the first strike hit Erwest’s shoulder, barely stopped by his armor, was when he finally realized his mistake. Instead of slowing down and wearing out as the battle continued, Valeria’s strikes continued to grow in intensity. Her swings became faster, each one carrying more power than before. He barely had the time or energy to strike back anymore, it took his all to hold her back with his shield, the impact continuously pushing him closer to the edge. Erwest glanced behind him, the edge of the island fast approaching. He needed to change his strategy, and quickly.

His shield collapsed into a pulse of golden light, shooting forward in a dazzling strike that pierced through Valeria’s chest, giving him a moment of time. He dashed across the island’s edge toward the bridge, crossing to a different area. Not daring to turn back to see if she was chasing him or not, he could hear her feet as she rushed in closer, faster than him. He could not run forever, but the time he needed, he had gotten.

Bending down, pretending he tripped on something, Erwest grabbed a fistful of soil as Valeria closed in. He turned, throwing it at her. The woman swung her axe undeterred, but the dirt still proved a distraction. A flash of golden light pulsed forward, glowing with the intensity of the sun as it momentarily blinded everyone. He rushed in closer, unable to see but knowing where she was—he could smell the dirt he’d just thrown, and that was enough.

His blade struck, glancing off her war axe, then plunging into her gut. Erwest closed in, using his shoulder to tackle her to the ground, and the two fell together. He pulled his blade out, barely blocking the strike from her war axe, as the weapon’s edges cut into his shoulder and back. Valeria screamed, striking Erwest with her fist and sending him flying across the arena, tumbling over the ground.

Coughing up blood, he clutched his stomach, feeling the impact burst his organs. Golden light lit up around his hand, healing the injury, but not completely. Using his blade to push himself back onto his feet, he saw the woman standing upright, the hole he had made in her stomach with his sword already gone. But it had left its mark.

Valeria coughed, wiping blood from around her mouth, her eyes swirls of red, her own blood coating her body as she laughed out loud. “I never took you for the type to use cheap tricks. Is that how the Paladins of Hellion fight?” Valeria said.

The taunt was an obvious one, and Erwest knew that replying would not help him in any way. And yet… he could not help himself. “No,” Erwest said, raising his sword as a golden light flashed around him. “It’s how adventurers fight.”

Valeria smiled, raising her war axe. “I like it. It’s better than what you had before. It has soul, and passion. Show me more, Erwest. Show me how you fight against this.”

A torrent of golden light burst from Valeria, rising around her and swallowing the arena. Rapid gusts of wind flew across the island before the woman rushed in closer. Valeria tackled Erwest, grabbing him and lifting him to the skies.

Erwest swung his sword around, trying to fight her off, but the woman’s grip remained. She twisted and turned, rotating rapidly, her golden wings shining against the light of the sun, and the world stopped for a moment. Then they fell.

Valeria descended rapidly, spinning faster and faster before she crashed into the ground with a powerful slam. A surge of dust and dirt flew into the air at the impact, and Erwest felt his bones crack. His golden shield faded from beneath him, his armor dented and fell off his body as he slowly picked himself back up.

Valeria swung, her axe flying through the cloud of dust, nearly cutting his head off from his body then and there, just ducking under the strike. Her wings slashed like blades of light, cutting through his shoulder, nearly taking the limb off. Sh grabbed his neck and slammed him onto the ground. Her fingers curled around his throat, crushing his windpipe. Erwest kicked her in the chest, pushing her back. He could feel his body aching; he did not have long.

But depths damn him if he was going to give up before his body.

Rushing in close, bleeding with a broken shoulder, Erwest tackled Valeria. The Valkyrie swung her axe, digging into his body, but the paladin did not take note, simply continuing to push and leapt from the island. A shield of light manifested around both of them, trapping them in a golden sphere as the two began to fall.

Grabbing Valeria’s shoulder, Erwest swung his fists till they were red and raw against her face. Valeria’s wings cut into his body, slicing him into pieces, but he continued. A hoarse, broken scream tore itself out of his crushed throat as he grabbed the Valkyrie’s wings, pulling at them as hard as he could. Valeria screamed as one of her wings tore off; she grabbed Erwest’s face, and with a powerful squeeze, caved his skull in.

The world shivered around Erwest as he stood back in the training hall. It took him a moment to settle and remind himself that the battle had not been real.

“You should sit down. Experiencing death, even if a false one, can take a toll,” Kaelan said.

“Tell me about it. I am still not used to the feeling,” Noah said.

Erwest looked up at the Drakonian, giving a nod and taking a seat, his mind still dazed and distant. As he did, his eyes caught the Valkyrie as she walked closer. For a moment, his mind jumped to prepare for a battle, but the woman simply put her hand on his shoulder.

“Good fight. You’ve got good technique, but you need to put more of yourself in your fights. When you continued to fight after I crushed your throat—you terrified me for a second. It was the eyes of someone ready to fight till their last breath,” Valeria said.

“That’s the good part about this place. You can go through that, without actually dying. Once you know what it is like to lose it all and to give everything. You can fight and begin each battle like it will be your last one,” Kaelan said.

Erwest met the Drakonian’s eyes and gave a nod. He needed to be better.

At the thought, words appeared in front of his eyes, the golden light of Hellion filling his spirit.

Hellion’s Paladin has reached level 177.

Stalwart Warrior has reached level 179.

Blade of Justice has reached level 176.

Hellion’s light graces your Path.

Even he could feel the powerful sensation of empowerment. Perhaps traveling with this group wasn’t so bad after all.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

SPARRING MATCH PT. 3

Noah walked up to the glass pane, taking a breath as he prepared himself for his turn. Kaelan stepped up beside him. “You know the drill. Put your hand on it and send a pulse of mana.”

Noah nodded, placing his hand on the magic circle, the runes flaring up at his touch. He sent a light pulse to the spell, feeling it activate as a prompt appeared in front of him.

Would you like to begin a Simulated Battle?

Yes/No?

As he selected yes, Noah felt himself being pulled into the spell, magic flowing over his body. For a brief moment, he saw the ripples within space itself, flowing outward, but he let himself be pulled along as his mind was transported somewhere else.

Opening his eyes, Noah found himself standing in what looked to be a coliseum arena. Stone walls and stairs encircled his position, two barred gates blocking the only way outside as sunlight beamed down upon the two of them.

Kaelan stood on the other end, wearing his usual attire.

Noah held a spear, carved seemingly of a glasslike stone with an aquamarine shimmer and jade green engravings running up its length. The Drakonian stood confidently, reached out his hand sideways, summoning his own spear.

“That’s a nice spear you have, beautiful and… ancient. Oh, a growth weapon. But it’s still untamed. Fascinating. I’m curious to see what abilities you have, Noah. This is my first time sparring with an Outerworlder. So show me everything you have,” Kaelan said.

Noah nodded. Reaching out to Tony, he felt the Abyssal Symbiote spreading over his body as armor formed around him. Taking a stance with his spear poised, Noah lunged forward. He used Arcane Step to immediately arrive in front of Kaelan as he thrust his spear. The Drakonian hit his spear under the base of the blade, deflecting it to the side, while the dragon warrior used the back of his own spear to push Noah away, still standing exactly where he had been before.

Noah was surprised at how easily he’d been deflected.

“Whoa, you almost got me there. Nice trick!” Kaelan said, laughing as if pleased by the fact that he had almost been hit.

Activating Arcane Specter, Noah summoned two copies of himself who stood with readied spears, formed of glowing blue mana and starlight that twinkled across their bodies, shimmering with the light of distant galaxies. Arcane runes ran across the specters as they inherited his intent.

Using Arcane Step, all three of them vanished, arriving together as they began to attack from all directions. Kaelan, with his wings spread out, a gust of wind flowing outward, raised his spear and began to spin the weapon. Twisting his body, the spear struck against all three of them, the butt of the weapon hitting all their chests, pushing them back.

With a single swipe, his specters’ necks were separated from their bodies and they dissipated, while Kaelan’s own spear rested against Noah’s throat.

Noah gulped.

“You have a habit of trying to jump in closer. You prefer close-range combat and hitting your enemy hard, but it looks like you cannot match them if they can keep you at range,” Kaelan said.

Noah stepped back, lowering his spear. “Well. This has been embarrassing,” he said, feeling awkward.

“No such thing. You would have gotten someone closer to your level. They would not have the speed or reflexes to react quickly enough. There’s also the fact I have been studying you this entire time, so I already knew how you might like to fight before you even began. I know how that sounds, but I would’ve been fast enough to react to them anyway, which you weren’t ready for. You have a nice trick, but it’s ultimately just a trick; if it fails once, it’s not going to work again,” Kaelan said.

“Anyways. The others are probably getting bored, and this is supposed to be a spar. Now that I have a general understanding of your level and capabilities, why don’t you go all out with everything you have, no holding back, and see how you do,” Kaelan said.

Noah stepped back, beginning to gather his abilities. Abyssal Inferno crackled, fire running up his armor, lighting it up from the inside. Weapons manifested around him from Runeforged Armaments, floating beside him. He reached out with his aura, using Predator’s Mark upon Kaelan and felt his ability settle in and his senses hone in on his target. He reached out to Tony, the symbiote shifting his body as he began to transform.

Metamorphosis activated, and Noah felt a surge of power rising through him, flames burning within him as he took on a demonic form. Steam flowed from his body, mixing with dark smoke, and the red wisps of his blood aura.

Metamorphosis has activated.

All attributes increased by 100%

Power: 774 → 1548

Agility: 662 → 1324

Constitution: 778 → 1556

Mystic: 895 → 1790

Noah let out a breath, dark flames licking his body as every muscle in him tensed, ready for the next strike. Void Annihilation flowed through his spear, black lightning crackling around the weapon.

Kaelan looked down in surprise, then took on a stance, readying himself.

Letting himself tense like a stretched rubber band, Noah raised his spear, then shot forward like an arrow. A powerful boom shook the arena as the two warriors met, their spirits colliding as the very ground shook beneath them. Kaelan laughed, wings spreading as both of them took to the skies.

Noah let his charge of Abyssal Inferno loose, fire raining through the air, turning the world red and black as the Draconian warrior maneuvered around the searing hot flames, his spear striking against Noah’s claws. Noah moved in closer with Runeforged Armaments, the blades slashing Kaelan’s body.

With a powerful stir, he split into a shadow, appearing beside him with a charged Abyssal Inferno let loose. Kaelan’s eyes widened in surprise. Noah did not waste his chance, moving in closer, his spear struck the warrior, stabbing him in the chest, and the Crimson Rot began to spread.

Kaelan swung his spear, his wings slashing at the shadow specter who melted into darkness, teleporting around. Noah moved with a furious frenzy, his claws ringing against Kaelan’s spear as the two warriors collided, their strikes sending pulses of shockwaves around the colosseum.

Noah rushed in close, his claws charged with Void Annihilation. Using Arcane Step, he arrived right next to Kaelan, his claws swinging; they struck his spear, the weapon cracking under the strike. The warrior roared, flames rising in his mouth as a red aura spread around Kaelan. His demeanor shifted, his spear striking rapidly, three swift blows landing within a second, the shaft cracking as it broke the sound barrier with a sonic boom.

The impact shattered Noah’s rift, flinging him backward, and the Draconian warrior lunged into Noah, tackling him to the ground.

Noah summoned his Bloodwyrm Swarm, the serpentine limbs rising from around him and wrapping around Kaelan. The dragon warrior roared, pulling at the bloodwyrms as his spear impaled Noah’s chest. Noah grabbed the weapon, Void Annihilation in his claws as he clenched his fist, breaking the spear in two.

Kaelan threw the broken shaft, slamming Noah into the ground and wrenching Noah’s spear out of his grip and stabbing him in the chest. Noah coughed up blood, kicking Kaelan as he dodged a follow-up strike to his throat. Rolling sideways, he pushed himself to freedom; Kaelan kicked him in the gut, sending him rolling once more.

He grabbed the spear still lodged in his chest, pulling it out as he teleported, dodging another strike from the dragon warrior. Kaelan roared flames out of his mouth. With a powerful roar, the dragon warrior retaliated, aiming for where Noah had teleported, and he two began to wrestle on the ground.

Kaelan grabbed for Noah’s throat, and Noah clawed at his face, gouging his eyes, then pushed Kaelan down underneath him and pinning him to the ground. Kaelan struck Noah’s chin with his fist, breaking and dislocating his lower jaw, throwing him off.

Both combatants lay on the ground, bleeding and half-dead, panting for air. Kaelan rose first, limping over to Noah as Noah prepared himself for another death, but instead, the dragon warrior offered him his arm. Noah looked at it in surprise but took the aid. He put his jaw back in place and his broken fingers into their sockets.

Wyrmblood whirled in a frenzy, pulling his body back together as Noah returned to his normal form, Metamorphosis fading, and his body aching and shivering from the exertion.

“That was amazing!” Kaelan exclaimed, still panting and beaten, but beaming a smile. “You were matching my strength there. I am shocked. You have some terrifying abilities, Noah.”

“You’re the terrifying one. Did I make you worry even once that you could lose?”

Kaelan simply grinned in reply. “You will get there.”

Noah smiled as well, before he raised his hand and shouted out, “I surrender.”

The spell activated at his words, blue light flashing all around him as they returned to the training hall.

[Wyrmblood Guardian] has reached level 108!

[Runebody Arcanist] has reached level 108!

[Abyssal Predator] has reached level 110!

Noah smiled at the notifications. His body was still in peak condition and ready to go for another round.

“Alright. Unfortunately, our time with this baby is over now. But we can all use it once every day. For now, the regular training hall is open, we can use that to train our skills now that you’re familiar with what each of us can do,” Kaelan said, glancing around the room as everyone returned a nod.

A smile took over the man’s face. “Alright. So what are we waiting for? Let’s get to it.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

SPEAR TRAINING

The parties split into groups, each moving to a different chamber to train. Noah followed Kaelan, now standing in a much more normal-looking training hall, their spears ready.

“Alright, Noah, before we begin, I want to know how much you know about spears. Did you have any in your own world?” Kaelan asked.

“We did. It’s probably one of the first weapons humans invented if I’m not wrong. At least back in my world,” Noah said.

“I don’t know who created the spear, but it was first popularized and honed by my people on Erandir. Its history is tied with ours and just as long,” Kaelan said, spinning his spear around with ease as he showed off his skills. “The benefit of the spear is its length and its range. It’s primarily a weapon for hunting, but many of its forms have been adapted for war as well, but my kingdom still prefers hunting and throwing spears.”

“What’s the difference?” Noah asked.

“There are a lot of subtleties in make, design, and material used. But the biggest difference is that hunting spears are lighter and more flexible, while war spears are heavier and longer. My weapon is a hunting spear. It’s meant to be used primarily against beasts and monsters from higher up in the air, but can still be used very effectively against people with enough skill. Yours is a weapon of war. It is meant to incapacitate, kill, and pierce through armor on humanoids,” Kaelan said.

Noah glanced at his weapon.

“Can I hold it for a second?” Kaelan asked, gesturing to his spear.

Noah hesitated. “It has Crimson⁠—”

“—I know, I can see that. I will be fine.”

After a moment of hesitation, Noah walked up to the dragon warrior and handed him the weapon.

As Kaelan gripped his spear, his hand sizzled with Crimson Rot that quickly began to spread. “Quite the feisty weapon,” Kaelan said. Noah was just about to teleport the weapon back before the rot could spread any farther when a red aura materialized around Kaelan’s hand, along with a dark red smoke, burning away the Crimson Rot.

Noah watched in surprise as Kaelan thumped the spear’s butt onto the ground, without any effects from the Crimson Rot on his body. “Nothing I can’t handle though.”

“You have Rot Resistance?” Noah asked.

“No. Well, yes, I just got it. But I simply burned away the rot with my aura. Most poisons and rots do not have an effect on me because of it,” Kaelan said. “Although this one took some effort. That’s quite the curse. But this weapon… it’s a beautiful one. You’re lucky to have her, Noah; make sure you take good care.”

“Her?” Noah asked, wondering if Kaelan was one of those people who personified their weapons.

“Her. The spirit in your spear. You haven’t met her?” Kaelan asked.

“I… did. It was a Valkyrie I had to fight. But she was… broken. And I thought I killed her,” Noah said.

“She’s not dead. Though I can tell she has gone through a lot. Growth weapons are living things; that’s how they grow. Taking one on as your first weapon can be both a boon and a curse. They are difficult to handle and can sometimes reject their masters. But this one seems to like you. She’s not very happy that I’m holding her. Quite the faithful one you have. She’s also far from revealing her true potential. Suppose I can help you along a little further on your Path for her sake as well,” Kaelan said.

Noah nodded, eyeing his spear as he tried to search for the spirit within. He didn’t see anything different, but he definitely felt what Kaelan was talking about, even if just faintly.

“Alright. I told you that your weapon is a war spear, yes? Let me tell you what that means. You see these curved blades extending from the base of your main one? Do you know what they are there for?”

“I assumed it was to be able to swing the weapon and stab someone sideways. And to do more damage in thrusting?” Noah asked.

“Yes and no. It is indeed there so that you can use the side of the blade to attack as well if need be, but that’s not its primary purpose. Its primary purpose is to keep your enemy away from you,” Kaelan said, raising the spear as he thrust forward, stopping an inch before Noah’s chest. “When you stab someone, those side blades will prevent it from going all the way in. It will also prevent your enemy from leaning in through your weapon to attack you,” he said, bringing the spear back as he took a resting stance.

“Then there’s the tail end. Your spear has two blades. One at the front and one at the bottom, allowing you to change grips easily, switching which side you can attack from, and allowing you to do things like this—” Kaelan took a step forward as he spun the weapon around slashing. Noah took a step back, sensing the blade would cut him, when Kaelan brought in the bottom end, thrusting it forward in a single motion from the spin, and it rested just against Noah’s throat.

“I see your point,” Noah said.

Kaelan laughed. “Hah, point. That’s funny. You’re amusing, Noah. But keep your focus on the training. This was just a basic maneuver; you can do a lot more with two-sided weapons. But they’re harder to train with because each part is meant to kill. It can kill the wielder just as swiftly if used incorrectly.”

Noah ignored the comment on his unintentional pun, as he gave Kaelan a nod. “The Crimson Rot definitely doesn’t help either,” he added.

“I bet it doesn’t. Still, that is not your biggest issue. Far from it, really. A powerful weapon is a boon to any warrior. Your problem is that your instinct is to throw. Given that you can teleport it around, it’s not the worst idea, and throwing is certainly the most powerful form of attack that you can use, but the critical disadvantage is that if someone grabs your weapon and prevents you from gaining it back, you have just given it to your enemy,” Kaelan said.

“Right. But what if my goal is to close in? Then, because they’re holding the weapon, their arm would be occupied and I can use that advantage to strike,” Noah said.

“Why don’t you try it?” Kaelan asked.

“What?”

“Try it. Attack me. Try and take your spear back from my hand, or use it as an advantage,” Kaelan said.

Noah frowned, looking at the Drakonian for a second before he rushed in. Arcane Step carried him as Tony transformed his hands into claws, Void Annihilation crackling along his fingers as he swiped at Kaelan. The Drakonian stepped back, spear spinning around, the tip of the weapon a blur as it bent and moved in dizzying patterns. The weapon struck against his claws, diverting the attack, before stabbing his chest. Noah tried to move back but the hook of the weapon cut into his flesh. With a powerful fist, Noah felt his legs buckle as he fell and the man pinned him to the ground, a spear through his chest.

“A-alright. Lesson learned,” Noah rasped. Kaelan pulled the spear back, extending an arm as he pulled Noah up. “I know you didn’t go all out, but you shouldn’t have to, is my point. If a move like this is enough to draw a trump card, you’re going to lose.”

Noah rotated his shoulder, the flesh wound on his chest rapidly closing as his body healed. Touching his shirt, he quickly swapped it out for a different one from his Cosmic Vault.

“I know that you’re not a spear fighter, Noah. Even an untrained eye could see it. And I know that you’re stronger with your bare arms and claws, but that is precisely why you must learn how to use this weapon effectively. When you transform, I also know it’s not permanent, that there’s a time limit, and you strain your body when you do. It’s a trump card. But instead of using it judiciously at key moments to overwhelm your opponent, you’re forced to rely on it because that’s the only thing you have and the only thing you know how to use effectively. Your instincts guide you, but instincts are predictable, and as such, are weaknesses as well. Which is why you must use this spear as a limiter, use it to limit the raw energy you can unleash and hone it into a disciplined and sharp tool,” Kaelan said.

Noah shuffled, just the thought of not following his instincts made him uncomfortable.

Noah’s grip tightened on the spear, feeling an unexpected wave of relief wash over him as his fingers curled around the weapon’s body. His resolve was mirrored by a subtle vibration from the spear, as if it too shared his eagerness to grow stronger and evolve.

Kaelan, poised with his own spear, assumed a combat stance. His reptilian eyes locked onto Noah the air between them seemed to crackle.

The Draconian grinned in excitement. “Enough talking now. Let us spar.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CATCHING UP

Every inch of Noah’s body was in pain. By the time night rolled around, even his powerful regeneration abilities could not keep up with the training. Kaelan left him a sore mess. He could barely remember what he had eaten and suspected Tony was running his body to make sure he got enough food before he passed out.

Unfortunately for Noah, passing out was exactly the opposite of what happened. He lay down in his room, waiting for his mind to drift away, yet instead, it kept replaying moments from his spar with Kaelan, going through every little mistake he made and what he could have done better.

Kaelan was different from Raesar, even though the two of them shared a lot of similarities. In Raesar’s case, he was so far ahead in both sheer strength and technique that Noah could barely glimpse his strength. Even the training he’d done after his Path evolution had only been a recreation of his memory, and undoubtedly, the man had a lot more to show.

But Kaelan? Kaelan was just strong enough to be better and more skillful, but not enough to be unfathomable. He could see the difference, and how he could reach the dragon warrior’s strength. The gap between them was just barely out of his reach. And that sensation, that frustration, lit a fire in Noah to sprint as fast as possible and shrink that gap.

He sighed. Using Arcane Step, he teleported out, knowing he wasn’t going to get any sleep. The airship was lit up with crystal lights, a form of mana stones with runes carved on them to produce light, covering the hallways in an unnatural white glow.

Walking around, he felt the even breaths of the many people sleeping through the night, but many others, like him, were still awake. Making his way around, Noah used one more Arcane Step to teleport himself out to the deck of the ship and stood under the open sky. A full moon was out, glowing gently and lighting up the clouds drifting below him like a foggy sea.

Noah marveled at its beauty as he saw a landscape he doubted many others ever had. He looked to the stars above, wondering if any were his former home, and if the light from them managed to reach this far. He doubted it. Magic did not seem to be a thing in his former reality, and if it really was, then he was certainly too far away to see the light from all the way there.

“Couldn’t sleep?” Aurelia asked. Noah glanced back to her, noticing the simple white dress she wore instead of her usual battle-ready attire.

“Yeah. What about you?” Noah asked.

“Couldn’t sleep. Too many people nearby. I’m just glad they have noise-suppressing wards on each room,” Aurelia said, leaning against the hand railing as the wind gently brushed her hair. “I saw you walking and thought I would follow before you vanished. Surprised you didn’t fall off the ship by teleporting since it’s moving fairly quickly.”

“Huh, now that you mention it, I’m surprised I didn’t either. Certainly didn’t feel any different from teleporting on steady ground,” Noah replied.

“Weird. Your magic is weird, just like you.”

“Space stuff is always weird. Your eyes would start spinning if I could explain relativity to you—unfortunately, I’m not that smart. Never paid much attention in school,” Noah said.

“You went to school? I’m surprised. You don’t seem the type,” Aurelia said.

“Everyone did. It was mandatory… I think. Some kids got homeschooled, but you need money for that. Not something my mom could afford; she was barely paying rent with two jobs while also taking care of me. So I went to a local public school that accepts anybody and everybody.”

“Curious, your world is an interesting place to have schools like that. I’ve heard of some places trying to make schooling available for everybody, but I’m not sure if that’s a thing yet or not. The schools I know only take in noble kids or the children of wealthy merchants. I never went to one. Everything I learned was taught to me by my dad. And some of his friends, sometimes. They mostly taught me how to get in a brawl, how to take down a guy if he ever tried to push me around by kicking him between the legs, and also how to run from the guards,” Aurelia said, a smile forming on her lips. “I was going to say that was all useless but honestly, it helped me more than learning the numbers did.”

Noah laughed at her words. “Sounds like your dad had some good friends.”

Aurelia hummed in reply, leaning her head onto the railing as she let the breeze gently flow by. Neither spoke, simply watching the clouds fly by, lit by the moon shining upon them.

“You’ve been looking at the sky. Trying to see something?” Aurelia asked.

“Not really. Well, I was wondering if one of those stars might be my world. But I doubt it. Magic wasn’t a thing, though perhaps it is, and we just don’t know. But with how good the telescopes and stuff got, I doubt it’s close enough to be visible.”

“The stars? Your world was among the stars?”

“Sure, I mean, one star. The sun, we have one. Unlike the two you have. It’s kind of weird that you have two suns and only one moon.”

“That’s not—I’m confused. How can your world be among the stars, stars don’t have worlds. They’re just glowing lights in the sky,” Aurelia said.

Noah laughed, but instead of seeing Aurelia be amused, he only saw her confusion grow. “Oh, you weren’t joking. Umm, how do I explain this. The sun is a star—or suns, in this case. And planets move around them. And all those stars out there have their own planets, some of them might even have life.”

“That’s not… Noah. None of that makes any sense. The sun moves around the world, and so do the stars. It’s how day and night happens. You can’t have worlds around glowing lights in the sky,” Aurelia said.

“People used to think that actually, that’s not…” Noah paused, realizing something. He currently stood on a flying airship, on a mystical magical planet with dragons and gods. He cast his gaze back to the sky. “Tell me this. If I could fly straight up to the sky, what will happen?”

“You’ll die. There is no air up there.”

“Assuming I won’t die because there is no air. What then?”

“Well. If you don’t go mad from the Watcher’s Eye, and you don’t get pulled by the void, eventually… you will reach the sky.”

Noah looked at Aurelia, trying to wrap his mind around the concept. “The sky… you mean I can touch it?”

“I don’t know anyone who has. But I assume you can,” Aurelia said. “Sounds a little silly though. Trying to touch the sky. But maybe you could grab a star if you can go that far.”

Noah focused on that faraway plane of stars and darkness, the world suddenly feeling vastly different than it had moments ago.

“You said it was weird that we had two suns not two moons. I just remembered a story my dad told me when I was a kid. Well, in short, we apparently had two moons at one time. But one day it vanished,” Aurelia said.

“What happened to it?” Noah asked.

“No one knows. It just vanished.”

“I wonder what can just vanish a moon like that,” Noah said.

“Who knows. It’s probably a good thing that we don’t know. Best not to draw the attention of something that can make a moon vanish,” Aurelia said.

Noah hummed to himself. “I’m curious why you’ve decided to stick around—which I’m happy about, just wondering, I guess. You could totally have just stuck around Heartillia. Unlike Erwest, the guild doesn’t want you to keep tabs on me and make sure I don’t go corrupt or something.”

“I wonder too,” Aurelia said, laughing.

“Surely because of how handsome I am,” Noah said, holding his chin as he winked at her. Aurelia rolled her eyes.

“It’s probably because I have grown stronger in the last six months since I met you than in the previous two years combined. It’s also because… I avoided teams for a long time, because I was afraid of losing people. And so, I only did solo jobs, which locked me out of a lot of quests. I pushed myself occasionally, working with some teams if they didn’t have enough members. Not all of it was bad, but it was primarily just survival. I would work to earn enough money to get by, then try to save up so that I could buy better gear and get stronger. Then I’d lose it if I got too injured, and the cycle would repeat. It was… dull,” Aurelia said, meeting Noah’s eyes.

“Being with you is exciting. You’re quirky, but it’s also the things and events surrounding you. Something is always happening; it’s not always easy, but it’s never dull. Even if I were blind, I would be able to tell that you’re going to go far—if you don’t die, anyway. And I want to travel along as you do. I want to go to different places, see new sights, explore new places, fight new challenges. And trying to make sure you don’t surpass me too quickly is a nice challenge that lets me push myself.”

“That’s… not what I had expected,” Noah said.

“What about you? Why are you doing all this? Why keep going? With Zax around, it really wouldn’t be too difficult to find the magic to send you back home,” Aurelia asked.

“I don’t know. I have to. And it’s fun. Magic, adventuring, it’s all like a dream. It feels like if I stopped, I’d wake up, and I don’t want to,” Noah replied.

“That makes no sense,” Aurelia said.

Noah smiled. “Yeah, it doesn’t.”

Leaning away from the handrail, Noah turned around. “Anyway, since we are both up and sleep doesn’t seem like it’s happening, why don’t we go spar a little bit? We can’t just sit around doing nothing if you want to get strong enough for the trials in time.”

Aurelia nodded, and they made their way back in. Just as Noah and Aurelia stepped into the training hall, they heard noises coming from within, surprised to see Erwest already there.

The paladin looked toward them momentarily in surprise.

“Why’re you here, Erwest?” Aurelia asked.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Erwest replied.

Aurelia glanced at Noah, the two of them sharing a smile.

“Seems like all of us had the same idea, more or less. Might as well train together,” Noah said.

Heading in, the three of them began to train.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE SPEAR’S SPIRIT PT. 1

Noah rushed forward with his spear, thrusting it toward Kaelan. The Drakonian warrior struck with rapid precision, his own spear twisting and bending as it deflected Noah’s thrust. Then, he spun his weapon around, using the base of the staff to strike back at Noah.

Noah leaned away, dodging and using the chance to move in as he swung his spear around, slashing and forcing Kaelan to step away. Tony tensed the muscles in Noah’s legs, changing them so that he could burst forward in a rapid rush, putting his entire body’s weight behind his next thrust.

The Drakonian leapt into the air, his wings fluttering as he began to fly. With a rapid change, wings grew from Noah’s back as Tony altered his body, and he jumped up as well. He threw his spear at the dragon warrior, who grabbed it out the air. Instead of teleporting his spear back, Noah teleported toward his spear. The dragon warrior’s eyes widened for a brief moment as Noah struck with his fist at his chest, throwing him back.

The dragon warrior spun midair, laughing as his red aura coalesced, his muscles twitching under his scaled body. Noah used Metamorphosis rapidly, his body transforming as both warriors clashed. The air shook, with Void Annihilation meeting Kaelan’s spear as the magical strikes collided in a flurry of light.

Kaelan thrust his spear rapidly, a triple strike hitting Noah, stabbing his chest. Noah slashed at the dragon warrior’s face, spinning his weapon around before using the backside to thrust in a surprise strike. Kaelan breathed fire from his mouth, the air sizzling hot and burning bright. The two danced above the ground, the battle shaking the world and sending magical storms brewing.

With a rapid thrust of his weapon, Kaelan pierced Noah’s heart. But before he succumbed, Noah used the chance to pull himself closer, using his own spear to stab Kaelan in the gut. Both warriors fell from the skies, Kaelan steadying himself before Noah, who found his eyes closing as death took him.

You Died.

[Wyrmblood Guardian] has reached level 116!

[Runebody Arcanist] has reached level 115!

[Abyssal Predator] has reached level 116!

With a flash of bright light, Noah reappeared, taking a deep breath as he settled back into reality, clutching his heart to make sure it was still there. Feeling the beating of his heart calmed Noah down immediately. As weird as this was, he had definitely started to get used to the sensation of dying.

“Good fight!” Kaelan exclaimed, slapping Noah’s shoulder. “If that had been real, I would have had a very real chance of dying without a healer. The rot certainly would have gotten me. Would have been a nasty way to die,” Kaelan said, smiling almost as if he was describing the weather.

“You’re lying, and it doesn’t help me. I know you were still holding back a little,” Noah said.

Kaelan smiled even harder at his words. “That’s the right attitude. You have been growing well, Noah,” the Drakonian said.

Noah gave a nod. It had been roughly ten days since he started training here, and the spars in the chambers had become a regular routine, rapidly. And with them, dying had become a regular routine as well. By his count, he had died a total of fourteen times so far.

“Now, what do you think you did wrong?” Kaelan asked. That was another part of the ritual: probing each other for mistakes and understanding where they could improve. In Noah’s case, it was mostly Kaelan teaching him indirectly.

“Should not have let you run away. If instead of striking, I used Bloodwyrm’s, I could’ve restrained you long enough to transform and then keep you grounded, giving myself an upper hand. And after you took to the skies, I should have tried to bring you down as quickly as possible and used my spear to strike at your wings. My spear was shivering, but I had lost myself to my instincts. Should have listened to her more.”

“Excellent! It’s good that you can tell all that on your own. But even if you had tried to hold me down, it would not have worked because I had been ready for that. Although, that’s a lesson for another day,” Kaelan said.

The dragon warrior glanced sideways, and a moment later, Noah did as well, sensing Zax walking into the chamber.

“We hope we didn’t interrupt anything,” Zax said.

“You say it like you couldn’t just see what we were doing,” Noah replied with a chuckle.

“Merely following courtesy. Our abilities do not excuse us from social norms,” Zax said, then turned to Kaelan. “We have prepared the thing you mentioned.”

“Already? I guess that’s to be expected from an A rank mage. Still, that’s quite fast. You might be better than any other mage I have ever met,” Kaelan said.

“What’s this about?” Noah asked.

“You, actually. There’s something I have been meaning to do but did not have the resources to do here. So I asked your friend Zax here for a favor,” Kaelan said.

“Here it is,” Zax added, as a smooth spherical stone appeared in his hand, glowing with a white and blue shimmer with many runes swirling around its surface. Noah looked at the magical object curiously.

“Feels like I’m stating the obvious, but guess I’ll play along. What’s that thing?”

“This,” Kaelan said, taking the stone in his hand, “is a spiritual conduit. We’ll be using our training hall alongside this today, to send your spirit into your spear.”

“Okay…” Noah said. “And how’s that going to help?”

“It’s a common way to bind objects that have a spirit in them. It is also sometimes used to deepen that bond as well. The more your spirit is tied to your spear, the more the two of you will reflect each other in your Path,” Zax said smoothly.

“Indeed. So, are you ready to have some good old private bonding time with your spear?” Kaelan asked.

“Are you saying it like that intentionally…” Noah said, to which Kaelan looked at him in confusion. “Never mind. What am I supposed to do?”

“Summon your spear and then activate the battle simulator. I will do the rest,” Kaelan said.

“Alright.” Noah walked up to the glass pane, putting his hand on the magic circle. Kaelan walked to the other end, but instead of placing his hand like normal, he put the stone onto the magic circle. The stone was absorbed through the glass, vanishing entirely.

A second later, a prompt appeared in front of him.

Would you like to enter a dream?

Yes/No?

Noah looked at the message skeptically before selecting yes. A moment later, he felt his body being pulled inside as he vanished.

Noah found himself standing on a battlefield covered in blood. No… not just blood, blood and Crimson Rot. The sky above shone a deep crimson hue with a red moon glowing on the horizon. Corpses littered the ground, people moving back and forth as their weapons clashed. Magic collided before falling apart, taking lives as it did. A constant scream and rush of sound enveloped Noah, the air filled with the scent of blood and sweat, and the dying screams were drowned out only by the constant patter of steps and the clangs of metal striking metal.

His mind was overwhelmed for a moment as sensations assaulted him all at once. He stood, almost in a daze, before his attention was caught by something moving in the sky. He could see it weakly, a figure of a woman flying with scarlet hair and golden wings. She moved rapidly, fighting a giant beast whose body dripped dark red blood from which monstrous creatures rose themselves, attacking everyone else.

Noah knew that woman. The faded memory in his mind returned, of the goddess he met back on Earth. The one who held the answers to everything. He wanted to shout out, to call her name, but before he could, a blade was thrust toward him. Noah moved on instinct, protecting his neck as the weapon missed his throat. He stepped back, claws forming on his arm as he blocked the second strike, before using his spear to pierce through the throat of the monstrous man covered in rotting red skin.

[Crimson Shambler - ??]

Blood seeped through his throat, the dying soldier gurgling as he slumped before Noah pulled his spear back out. Just what was happening here?

“What are you doing!” a woman shouted at him, rushing ahead as she took out the soldier Noah had just killed who had been trying to rise back up.

Noah stared blankly, not understanding what was happening. He looked down a moment later and saw himself donning armor similar to the woman’s, clad in red and gold. “Protect the Divine Child!” the Valkyrie shouted, as words appeared in front of Noah.

Quest of the Spear’s Spirit

You find yourself in the memory of the greatest war in history. Aid your companions and stop the Divine Child from falling into enemy hands, to alter the tides.

Difficulty: Hard

Rewards: A Greater Bond with your Spear.

After reading the quest, Noah scanned the battlefield to search for the figure in question. Soldiers clad in rotting armor, their flesh searing as blood pooled around their limbs, shambled around like zombies, shrieking and screaming as they launched themselves at the oncoming soldiers, many exploding into red mists that carried the Crimson Rot with them.

Looking through the haze, Noah found a child clad in golden and white robes, standing ahead with a dying Valkyrie protecting her. Noah rushed forward, spinning his spear around as he thrust the weapon between the eyes of a shambling soldier, splitting it in two. He leapt above the crowd, Void Annihilation crackling around the spear as he threw the weapon at the monster aiming for the child, piercing its chest and skewering a row of blood-covered abominations like the world’s grossest barbecue.

Bloodwyrms rose around Noah, biting into his enemies, as the Valkyries roared and screamed, supporting him. Golden light flashed all around him, figures holding back the rising tide of enemies surrounding them even as the rot tore through their bodies.

Using Arcane Step, Noah rushed closer, arriving next to the child. He grabbed her, trying to pull her into his Cosmic Vault.

Target is too powerful to contain.

Noah froze, confused as he looked down at the child. She couldn’t have been more than twelve, looking an awful lot like Snow had. Summoning his spear back in his hand, Noah stabbed another monstrous figure attacking him without paying much attention.

Every creature in the area seemed to be aiming for the child, held back only by rows and rows of Valkyries holding the enemies at bay. He didn’t have much time to worry, and if his ability wasn’t going to work, he simply had to do it the old-fashioned way.

“Hold on,” Noah said, as he flung her over his shoulder. Thankfully, she did not protest or seem to mind much.

Briefly, out of curiosity, Noah used Identify on the girl.

[Nascent God—?????] [The Divine Child of Mercy]

I guess they were being literal when they said divine child.

The title flashed before Noah’s eyes, but it offered little in the way of explanation. The urgency of the situation didn’t allow him to ponder on it for long. With the child secured over his shoulder, Noah focused on navigating through the chaotic battlefield.

Turning around, Noah began to run, teleporting and jumping through the enemy’s strikes, using his spear to cut through the Crimson Shamblers, while avoiding the exploding ones that tried to leap at him and cover him in Crimson Rot.

The sounds of war were deafening, and the smell of blood and death permeated the air. The Valkyries around him fought bravely, their golden armor shining amidst the crimson chaos. Their battle cries and the clashing of steel against the monstrous foes created a symphony of destruction that echoed across the battlefield.

Noah pushed through, using his spear with precision and deadly force, creating a path through the enemy lines. His every move was calculated and swift, leaving behind a trail of fallen adversaries. The Bloodwyrm Swarm continued to tear into the enemy ranks, acting as both a shield and a weapon.

Noah’s eyes constantly scanned the surroundings, seeking the safest route. He used Arcane Step to dodge more dangerous clusters of enemies, appearing and disappearing in a blink, always moving toward what he hoped was a safe haven.

In the distance, the scarlet-haired goddess battled the giant beast, her movements a blur of grace and power. As he fought and maneuvered through the battlefield, Noah felt a deep connection with his spear growing stronger. Every swing, every thrust, every kill resonated with the weapon, as if it were an extension of his own will.

As he moved through a nearby group of Crimson Shamblers, Noah heard a powerful roar as a giant axe split one of them down the middle. That person did not bring Noah any relief.

[Crimson Marauder - ???]

Noah stared as the massive man clad in thorny armor of deep red crimson with a belt of skulls and a giant war axe in his hand stalked closer, and took another swing, this time at Noah.

With a mumbled curse, Noah teleported, making sure the kid he was carrying did not fall off as he began running for his life.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE SPEAR’S SPIRIT PT. 2

Noah dodged the attack, the axe tearing through the ground, Crimson Rot spreading from the strike. The Marauder screamed, its howl shaking the air and pushing Noah back as he felt his soul shiver.

You have heard the cry of a [Crimson Marauder]

You’ve partially resisted the effects.

All regeneration slowed down by 10%

Noah’s body turned sluggish, as the Marauder’s aura began to weigh down on him like a physical weight. He teleported once again, trying to move and run away with the kid in his arms. There was no way he could beat the guy while also carrying a child with him.

Wait a second. If I’m carrying a literal god child…

“Can you do something to protect yourself?” Noah asked the kid, who had been surprisingly silent this entire time, watching on passively.

It took the child a moment, as if she was unsure he’d been talking to her. Noah stabbed another crimson creature, dodging its attack.

“I can make shields,” she whispered.

“Good. Great. Shield yourself, and don’t move,” Noah said, setting her down.

The girl looked at him in surprise, then a golden glow lit up around her body and a spherical sphere formed, protecting her.

The Marauder threw his axe at Noah, who barely dodged the attack and staggered. The giant man rushed in faster than he could see and slammed him in the gut with a punch, throwing Noah back, sending him tumbling across the battlefield. Coughing up blood, Noah slowly pulled himself up. The Marauder rushed in closer, slamming his war axe down where Noah’s head was.

Rolling to dodge, Noah summoned his spear back into his hands, thrusting it at the man, stabbing his arm, then teleporting once more behind him. Two more specters appeared around Noah as the three of them called on bloodwyrms all at once, that bit into the Marauder’s limbs, holding him in place for a second.

Noah rushed back, trying to use the chance to grab the kid and run away when the Marauder screamed, grabbing his bloodwyrms. The man bit into them, tearing chunks out and his ability dissipated. The specters fought, summoning Runeforged Armaments. The Marauder grabbed the specter’s head and twisted. It dissipated just as he slammed his axe through the body of the second one, killing it as well.

Noah moved faster now, teleporting ahead to grab the kid and began to run away. The Valkyries moved around him, trying to cover his tracks, but the Marauder moved with reckless abandon. Its axe tore through the earth, Crimson Rot forming an edge on the blade of the weapon as each swing sent a wave that cut through enemies and allies alike.

Throwing his axe at Noah with a burst of power, the Marauder snorted when Noah used his spear to deflect the weapon. The weight in that strike sent Noah backward, barely deflecting the giant axe. His arm shivered from the impact.

The axe continued on a spinning arc, cutting through people like a scythe cutting through grass, flying back to the Marauder’s waiting grip. With a roar, the giant of a man charged, cutting through the wave of bodies and swinging with abandon as he headed straight for Noah at a rapid speed.

Turning around and putting the child back down again, Noah faced the enemy. His shadow stirred, rising from the ground to strike at the Marauder. Noah charged with Void Annihilation and his spear, using Life Siphon to soak in the massive amount of lifeforce swirling all around him to heal his wounds while he readied Abyssal Inferno, the flames licking his body as his spear vibrated with power.

As the shadow fought the Marauder, giving him a few precious seconds, Noah let his spear fly. The weapon howled, crackling with power as it struck, exploding in an inferno of black and red, as fire and void swirled.

Noah turned, ready to rush away, when something moved rapidly through the air. He swiveled, trying to dodge, but if he moved out of the path, the strike would hit the child. In a split second, he changed his actions, forming claws to deflect the attack, and the axe rushed ahead, cutting off his shoulder entirely.

Clutching his wound, Noah stumbled, almost falling over, as the Marauder rushed closer. Noah tried to call upon Metamorphosis but found that Tony wasn’t here and his ability failed. He struck with his spear, cutting through the Marauder’s armor and into his chest, but the strike wasn’t enough.

A powerful punch landed in Noah’s gut, tearing through his body, the hand coming out from his back as the armored man roared, pulling his guts out. Noah drew upon Life Siphon, sucking up all the lifeforce he could, swinging with his remaining arm. The Marauder grabbed it, twisting it in the other direction and tearing it out from the elbow.

A kick had Noah on his knees, and the Marauder reached out to grab his head and pull it off his body when a bright golden light flashed, slamming the giant armored man back. A shield formed all around them, shimmering with words that Noah couldn’t read. He turned to look sideways at the kid he’d been protecting.

“Kill me,” the girl said, looking him in the eye.

“What…” Noah mumbled, his voice hoarse, his body bleeding rapidly from his shoulder, arm, and the hole in his gut.

The girl’s golden aura covered his body and his injuries began to heal faster.

Noah drew harder on Life Siphon, marking any enemies near him with the Wyrm’s Curse before using bloodwyrms to kill them to absorb their lifeforce. His limbs began to form at an incredible rate, but he didn’t have time to marvel, as the Marauder rushed in once more, striking at the shield with his axe. Their last defense buckled and cracked.

“Kill me. I know that this is a memory. Which means I most likely already died. You don’t need to do all this to save me,” the girl said.

Noah frowned at her words.

“I’m a god. A nascent one, but I’m still immortal. I have already died before. I cannot truly die. All that’ll happen is that I will forget all my memories and be reborn again. You can’t kill me forever. And they don’t want to. They want me captured alive. You don’t have to suffer for my sake when you don’t even know who I am. Kill me, and you will have completed your task.”

Another strike from the Marauder hit the shield, the cracks now covering all parts. Noah felt his abilities reform the last of his injuries, as both his arms reappeared. But he didn’t pick up his weapon, he simply stared at the girl and asked, “What’s your name?”

The girl looked at him in confusion, but after a moment of hesitation, she replied, “Septah.”

“My name is Noah. And since we know each other now, I cannot just leave you out here to die, can I?” Noah said, smiling as he grabbed his weapon.

Noah turned around, as the Marauder struck one last time, shattering the shield. Noah let Abyssal Inferno loose, rushing in closer as claws formed around his hands. He called upon his training with Kaelan, keeping his mind focused, honing his instincts instead of giving in to them.

He stabbed at the Marauder’s chest, aiming for the gap in his armor. The giant man swung his ax down and Noah teleported aside. Bloodwyrms rose from the ground, grabbing for legs, as the axe swung around in a curve, almost cutting off his arms again.

A golden shield manifested around Noah, shattering from the impact of the war axe, but with enough strength for him to dodge. He thrust his spear as the armored crimson man swung his axe downwards in a powerful strike. Noah used his claws and deflected the attack and used that exact moment to thrust his spear.

Golden light burst around him, strengthening him in that moment as it covered his spear, lighting it up. Noah pierced the Marauder’s throat, but he knew that would not be enough. Kicking at the giant man, he grabbed at the horns jutting from his head, pulling them down as he put his fingers on the Marauder’s face. The Marauder screamed, trying to bite at Noah, but not before Noah unleashed Abyssal Inferno from his fingers, burning the creature’s face.

Pulling his spear free of the giant man’s throat, Noah swung it into its heart, piercing the armor with Void Annihilation crackling around his weapon. Golden light lit up once again, and Noah cut through the armored man’s body, and dragged his spear up to slice him in two parts.

You’ve killed [Crimson Marauder - lvl 427].

Noah looked back to see the girl panting, golden light shining within her hands as her power flowed through his body.

“Thanks for the help. I probably would have died without it,” Noah said, gently picking her up. The girl gave him a nod, sweat covering her face as she closed her eyes to rest. Noah began to run, using his teleports to make his way out of the battlefield. The world blurred around him as he moved at rapid speeds, but the battlefield stretched on endlessly in all directions. The whole world was drenched in blood, war covering every inch of it.

Eventually, after fighting his way through the hordes of enemies, and with the child’s help, after what felt like an infinite number of hours, Noah finally saw the end of the battlefield. Panting, he found a broken house where he stepped inside and set the child down, before taking a seat himself.

As Noah caught his breath, he looked sideways to inspect the child and found her silently observing him. “What’s wrong?” Noah asked.

“This. This was not supposed to happen. I should’ve died in that battle,” Septah said.

“And you didn’t. I don’t see the problem,” Noah said.

“Fate should not change this easily. Even in a memory. The purpose of these is to inherit, not to alter,” Septah replied.

“Fate this and that. What does it matter? Spending all your time worrying about what should have happened or what should happen, is no way to live,” Noah replied.

“I suppose you’re right. I will remember this, Noah. Thank you for saving my life,” Septah said.

A golden light flashed from her hands and words appeared in front of his eyes.

Quest completed!

Hidden objective: Save Septah completed! [Blessing of Septah] obtained.

You’ve inherited the memory of a great battle. [Spear of Crimson End] has reached Rank D. [Spear of Crimson End] has unlocked [Valkyrie’s Call] weapon skill.

Weapon Mastery level 12 → 13.

As the world faded away, Noah could see the girl smiling.

Noah opened his eyes, finding himself back in the training hall, seated with his legs crossed and the spear sitting in his lap. He looked down at the weapon, finding golden engravings marked upon its body now—the weapon had shifted in its form.

“How was it?” Zax asked.

“Good. Relatively speaking anyways,” Noah said, standing up.

“So, did you get something good?” Kaelan asked.

“Let’s see,” Noah said, using Identify on the spear.

[Spear of Crimson End (Growth, Rank D)]

[Progress to next rank: 0.4%] [Weapon Skill: Valkyrie’s Call]

A spear infused with holding the spirit of a Scarlet Valkyrie and the memory of the great war against the Crimson Heart, inflicting Crimson Rot on its enemies and wielder alike. A hunger has awakened in the weapon, morphed by [Devourer], the weapon drinks in the lifeblood of its enemies.

He could feel the weapon skill lingering at the edge of his awareness, waiting to be used. Noah smiled. “Yup. But there’s only one way to really find out,” he said, raising his weapon.

Kaelan grinned in response, as the two headed out to spar.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

BEACH EPISODE… IN THE SKY? PT. 1

Time had passed rapidly, and Noah had sunk himself into training day in and day out. It’d been almost a month since he first boarded the ship and had more or less grown accustomed to his life out here in the clouds, sparring and training till he almost fell over and passed out.

Given the intensity of their training, the group decided to take their very first day off to rest a little. Noah protested, but surprisingly, Kaelan had been the one to insist, saying even their bodies needed some time to recover.

Noah knew that was true, but he couldn’t help but feel itchy as he sat out on the deck with a glass of some kind of fruit alcohol. He’d tried to treat this like a vacation, except his mind would run back to thoughts of training, and he’d get up to practice a move set only to catch himself and stop.

He’d even tried to break in secretly, but Zax had set up a spell that’d caught him when he tried. With a reluctant sigh of defeat, Noah sunk into his chair, opening his Astral Script one more time to look at all the upgrades and improvements he’d gotten.

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Draconian Humanoid

Rank: D

Title: [Titan Slayer]

Paths:

Wyrmblood Guardian (Legendary) - level 127

Runebody Arcanist (Legendary) - level 126

Abyssal Predator (Legendary) - level 127

Attributes:

Power: 900 [1080]

Agility: 727 [872]

Constitution: 822 [1109]

Mystic: 858 [1158]

Attribute Points: 0 | Skill Points: 1

Noah had been hoping something would happen when his attributes reached four digits. He’d even equipped his Progenitor title to boost them, but to his disappointment, nothing happened. He was still holding out hopes for when his base attributes got there.

Despite that, he couldn’t help but smile at his progress. The amount of attributes he gained per level was significantly higher now, and naturally, Noah assumed that would mean he would also grow slower than before, but his current pace was faster than his previous growth. It was almost hard to believe, despite having lived through the experience.

Almost all his abilities were over level thirty, and those that weren’t were catching up rapidly.

He opened his menu, looking at the blessing he obtained from the dream trial.

[Septah’s Blessing (Minor)]

Gain a 10% boost to Charisma. People will find you more mellow on their eyes, and your voice will sound more pleasing and more convincing. And you will find yourself welcomed in any church of the Goddess of Mercy around Erandir.

Noah had asked if there was a way to see Charisma as an attribute, and the dragon had told him there was, but never elaborated. While it wasn’t a powerful boon or anything that increased Noah’s fighting abilities in any way, it was still nice to have around.

Closing the menu, he sighed, leaning back in his chair as he tried not to open up his Astral Script to stare at the numbers again.

The progress was almost addicting, and Noah found himself living for the moment of hearing the notification after every training battle. He’d almost wanted to put the entire training setup into his Cosmic Vault to forever keep access to it, but like all good things, his time and the journey was also nearing an end. And that made his forced break day today all the more unbearable.

Noah didn’t move from his spot as he sensed Aurelia and Snow walk out, both wearing more casual attires. The sun shone brightly above, the sky a bright and clear blue, given how they were above the clouds and everything.

Aurelia wore a straw hat, and a white bikini with a towel wrapped around her waist. Snow wore more typical clothes.

“What’s up with that look?” Noah asked.

“We’re going swimming!” Snow exclaimed, before Aurelia could reply.

“What she said,” Aurelia replied. “Did Seph not tell you?”

Noah noted the nickname, but did not comment. The two women had grown surprisingly close in their time sparring with each other.

“Clearly not. What am I missing? Unless you intend to swim out in the sky somehow,” Noah said, rising from his chair.

“There’s a—” Snow’s eyes widened as Aurelia covered her mouth.

“It might be more fun now if we don’t tell him,” Aurelia said in a whisper loud enough that even without Noah’s enhanced senses, he still would’ve heard it.

The corner of Snow’s eyes crinkled in a pleased expression as she gave a nod.

Noah rolled his eyes. “That’s so childish. What is it? Is this why Kaelan told us to have a day off?” Noah asked.

“Yup!” the Drakonian said, this time genuinely surprising Noah as he appeared out of nowhere, wearing a swimsuit as well. “It’s a mandatory break for every trip!”

“No wonder you of all people had agreed to it. I should’ve known something was wrong,” Noah said. He began to notice a lot of the other passengers wearing similar clothing as well.

Noah simply sent a pulse to Tony, as the symbiote shifted around Noah’s body, his clothes changing into suitable attire. He couldn’t help but smile at the change, and the convenience of the ability. You’re the best, Tony.

The symbiote shivered happily, pleased at the praise.

“Alright, announcement time. Those who’ve been on this ship before know this place already. Those who haven’t, have likely heard of it anyway. But if you still don’t know, we’ll be stopping at one of the few natural sky islands and you can step outside. But it’s a B grade habitat and there will be monsters around. Stronger than what you can handle. Don’t provoke them, and don’t get into fights,” the captain announced, her voice carried across by a spell that echoed throughout the ship.

With a click, the voice ended, and Noah raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Sky island?”

“Indeed! Sometimes when there’s enough wind mana crystals, pieces of the earth can levitate to the skies. These are quite rare, especially stable ones, but this one is always on this route to Drakonias and is mostly filled with water,” Kaelan said.

“That explains the swimsuits,” Noah said, squinting to search for the island amidst the clouds, but the sun’s glare covered his sight.

“You won’t see it just yet. Give it a few seconds,” Kaelan said.

A moment later, Noah felt the ship starting to descend. Clouds surged around him as the ship went down, covering his world in a hazy fog. After a long hazy moment, the clouds began to part, and Noah’s eyes widened at the sight.

A beautiful island floated in the sky, with a waterfall rising out of a cliffside covering a large chunk of it and spilling into a giant lake, around which all sorts of strange creatures flew and swam about.

The group took in the beautiful sight as the ship gradually descended. Kaelan grinned, spreading his wings and stepping back to get some space. “Alright, heading out!” he shouted, rushing forward and jumped off the deck.

A green light swirled around him, and a moment later, the dragon warrior was teleported back on deck.

“Ah… I forgot about that spell,” he said.

Noah burst into laughter at the Drakonian’s antics, the rest joining him in their amusement.

“Oh, we can see it clearly now,” Kaelan said.

Apart from the giant open beach and massive lake, the rest of the island was covered in exotic trees and plants, with a small mountain at the center.

Noah’s squinted, using Identify on the flying creatures in the distance now that they were closer.

[Thunder Wyverns - ???]

“Thunder wyverns, huh?” Noah murmured to himself.

“Yup. A whole bunch of them. I wrestled one a few years ago. It almost ate me,” Kaelan said with a laugh.

“Don’t try that,” Aurelia added, as if afraid Noah would want to mimic him.

Noah rolled his eyes. He wasn’t that stupid. The thing had three question marks, even with his rather large surge of strength it’d chew him out or seriously injure him.

“Oh, look, sky manatees,” Aurelia said, pointing ahead.

Noah followed her finger, and saw flying creatures extremely similar to manatees, but with azure bodies and a shimmering glow, gently floating around in groups. As the ship descended, the creatures began to circle the ship, using its wind to carry them, then the gusts to rise farther in the air. The sight was mesmerizing, their bodies reflecting the sun in various glows that made them look other worldly.

As the winds settled, the ship soon gently touched down on the water, and the protective spell covering it dissipated, letting people off.

“Alright, folks. You have three hours while we check everything and make repairs for the last stretch. Don’t cause any trouble!” Captain Ariella’s voice echoed across the ship.

Noah looked out at the beautiful island just waiting to be explored and he couldn’t help but give in to the sight.

Perhaps it wasn’t a terrible idea to take a day off for once.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

BEACH EPISODE… IN THE SKY? PT. 2

After the ship landed, Kaelan took off flying. Using Arcane Step, Noah teleported himself onto the beach, while the others made their way out the normal way. After a moment, the rest of their group arrived. Snow had brought out Shadow, who sniffed around at everything, looking at the sea curiously. Noah brought out Bun Bun and Tony as well. The three familiars chased each other around the beach.

To Noah’s surprise, even Erwest was wearing simpler clothing.

Kaelan landed gracefully next to Noah, wings flapping behind him, and a smile plastered on his face. “Alright. Who’s feeling up for a swim?”

“Not me, please and thank you,” Seraphina said. Noah noted runes flashing on her feet, keeping any stand from sticking to her body.

“I’m good as well. Not a huge fan of water,” Aurelia replied.

Noah snorted at that. Who would’ve thought the fire brawler wouldn’t be a fan of water?

“I’ll join,” he said.

“I’ll join as well,” Valeria said, her toned body shining with a bronze sheen under the sunlight. The Valkyrie glanced to Erwest. “What about you? Do you want to join?”

Erwest raised an eyebrow, his eyes scanning the surroundings. “Umm⁠—”

Before he could reply, Kaelan intervened. With a hearty slap on Erwest’s back, he exclaimed, “Don’t be a wuss. Join in. It’ll be fun.”

Kaelan grasped Erwest’s shoulder, pulling him forward to the shoreline, the sound of waves gently crashing.

Grinning broadly, Kaelan unfurled his wings. “Let’s see who can reach the edge first and then back. Make it a bit of a competition, eh?”

Valeria stretched her body, her bright orange hair set loose, then she glanced back to Seraphina. “You sure you don’t want to join? I thought your magic could handle everything?”

Seraphina snorted. “That’s an amateurish attempt at riling me up, even for you. And my magic can handle everything. It’s literally in the name of my Path.”

“Sure couldn’t handle my axe,” Valeria said, grinning.

“It’s not gonna work, give up, Val. I’m not joining your stupid game,” Seraphina said, crossing her arms.

“Sure, suit yourself. But just so you know, we did this last year, and Kaelan was gloating about winning for months. I know I can’t beat him, so if you’re fine with hearing that…”

Seraphina shivered, her eyes drifting to Kaelan who simply gave her a toothy grin. “It was a magnificent victory worth gloating about!” He put both arms on his waist as he unfurled his wings behind him.

“Ugh—I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Seraphina groaned. “If I’m joining, you are too,” she said, grabbing Aurelia’s arm.

“Wait, hold on, what?” Aurelia said, but before she could resist, Seraphina had her floating in the air so she couldn’t escape.

“Perfect! A proper competition!” Kaelan said, looking out at the giant lake. “Let’s set the rules. We all race at once to the edge and back. The first one back is the victor and gets…” Kaelan paused, looking around in search for a suitable prize. “A day spent with their partner of choosing on a date!”

“Excuse me!” Seraphina gasped.

“I didn’t agree to that, I didn’t agree to any of this!” Aurelia protested, still being floated up in the air by Seraphina.

“Oh? The stakes are truly high here,” Valeria said, glancing sideways to Erwest for the briefest of seconds.

Noah looked at Erwest, who similarly looked disinterested in the reward. He shrugged, and the paladin returned the sentiment with a grunt.

“I shan’t hear of any protest, it has been decided!” Kaelan said. “Now, if Zax would be so kind as to referee the match and give us a countdown, we can begin!”

Zax wore an amused yet serious expression as he walked up to the shore. “Very well, we shall do the honors,” he spoke, as if preceding over a very serious matter.

With that, the matter was settled, and everybody lined up next to each other. Bun Bun and Shadow sat on the shore, and Bun Bun crackled with lightning, almost as if cheering him on. Noah’s shadow stirred as well, sitting on the beach, with a smile as he watched.

“On your mark,” Zax said, and everybody took their positions. Magic thrummed along the shore, some of the other adventurers starting to take note.

Noah sent a pulse to Tony, who began to born his body. His limbs elongated, webbings forming between his fingers. He even felt gills appearing on his neck, though right now still half formed, as Tony rapidly adapted his body based purely on instinct.

“Ready?” Zax said.

A pulse traveled. Noah saw runes flashing around Seraphina. Valeria’s aura was condensed down around her body, swirling the sand beneath her feet. Ash and embers licked Aurelia’s body, while Kaelan’s muscles tensed, and even Erwest’s golden aura was flickering as he prepared.

“Go!”

A boom shook the beach as they all shot off, causing a giant splash in the water. Noah dove in headfirst, moving his arms and legs as his body transformed with rapid speed, letting him breathe and see underwater. Because of that, he could immediately tell that not everyone who started out was currently beneath the waves.

Breaching the surface momentarily he looked up and saw Seraphina running on water, propelled by a wave and gusts of wind as she rushed ahead.

“That’s cheating! You aren’t swimming!”

“No one said you had to swim,” Seraphina shouted.

Aurelia rushed past her, fire blasting from her hands and feet in a barely controlled explosion as she barreled on, skimming over the surface.

“Exactly!” Aurelia shouted from ahead, as Seraphina’s grin quickly flipped upside down.

Noah sped up his own attempts, using Arcane Step to teleport, rapidly closing the gap, appearing near Aurelia.

“Nothing says I can’t stop you either,” he said with a smile, vanishing as Aurelia shot a beam of fire at him. A specter appeared behind Aurelia, which she had anticipated, burning it with fire, but as the specter faded to magic, her eyes widened.

Another specter burst out from the water, Void Annihilation crackling in his hands as he struck Aurelia down, catching her. In the meantime, Noah continued to swim rapidly, using Arcane Step to make up for his speed.

Seraphina shot a beam of water at him, and he quickly dove below the surface, then his eyes widened in surprise. Kaelan swam beside him, just about caught up. The Drakonian was making good use of both his wings and tails, his scaled streamlined body far more suited for the water, toothy grin belying his confidence.

“Tgbats undahgear,” Noah garbled, unable to speak through the water.

Kaelan simply rushed on ahead, breaking the surface in a high jump, and diving back in, swimming past all of them.

An axe struck the water just a little farther ahead, stopping both of them in their tracks as a rapid explosion shook their watery world. A second later, Noah spotted Valeria and Erwest surfing on Erwest’s summoned weapons, the two of them moving as a team.

Erwest’s blade slashed toward Seraphina in a golden arc.

“EEP!” Seraphina screamed, ducking. Another arc struck her wind barrier as her concentration broke, the spell fading and dunking her in the water.

Valeria jumped ahead, and Erwest gave her a push. The Valkyrie flew through the air, golden wings erupting from her back as the axe vanished, appearing back in her hands. With a crazed smile and a scream, she barreled into the water near Noah and Kaelan, slamming her axe hard enough to cause a giant wave to form, pushing both of them back.

Noah was carried away by the water flow, and he rushed out of the swell with Arcane Step. Abyssal Awareness told him of an incoming attack, and he moved on instinct, summoning his spear and blocking Valeria’s axe.

As both of them crashed into the water, wings erupted from behind Noah’s back. Glancing sideways, he saw Kaelan tackling Erwest and Aurelia at once.

“Ultimately, we’re still just sparring here. I should’ve seen this coming,” Noah said, and the woman cackled in joy, one that Noah very much mimicked.

A second later, they struck. Noah’s spear met Valeria’s axe, bucking under its weight. With a rapid thrust he tried to counter, when the woman kicked him, rushing on ahead of him.

“This is still a race!” she shouted, dashing ahead.

Noah used Arcane Step, appearing near her as he blasted Abyssal Inferno, before setting two bloodwyrms onto her.

“And I’m winning,” he shouted.

The end of the island appeared, and Noah reached the edge, jumping into the water once, as his body shifted once more with Tony’s help.

Bursting out into the air, he dodged a strike from Valeria’s axe, teleporting around her as he began to rush back. As he did, a barrier appeared in front of him formed of glowing runes, blocking his path. He slammed into it.

A moment later, he saw a soaking wet Seraphina, with a furious expression and glowing eyes rise out of the water. “I am NOT going to lose.”

“Uh oh,” Noah said, dodging as a bolt of lightning crackled through the sky, rushing toward him. He teleported as a storm began to brew beneath him. Seraphina moved rapidly, the wind carrying her as she shot forward, lightning strikes raining down on everyone else. Noah weaved through the storm, flying as he dodged the array of lightning bolts before he slammed into the woman, and both of them splashed into water. Swimming together now, he saw her try to use a spell, but grabbed her hand to prevent her from casting.

A rune appeared on her mouth, a bubble of air forming. “Idiot. We literally train to not become incapacitated from spellcasti⁠—”

Aurelia slammed into Seraphina, launching her aside, then Valeria caught her in a bear hug, jumping out of the water. A second later, a golden barrier formed around the woman, capturing her inside it. “Yet you still can’t help but talk pointlessly,” Valeria said, as Seraphina slammed her fists in outrage against the barrier.

“Slow! All of you are slow!” Kaelan shouted, rushing past them with rapid speed.

“No you don’t!” Noah shouted, summoning his spear, charging it with Void Annihilation. Flying out of water, he looked at his target, then shot the weapon. The water rose in a tidal splash, but he knew that would not be enough.

A second later, a powerful surge of flames washed the area, boiling the water to an angry hiss. He looked down to see Aurelia’s flames glowing even under the water. The temperature change was enough to force Kaelan out of the water to breathe, and that’s when Valeria struck, launching herself forward.

Noah rushed in as well, quickly followed by Aurelia, as all three of them began to tackle the Drakonian.

Kaelan laughed, excited by the prospect. Dodging all three of their attacks, the Drakonian continued to fly around, striking back at each of them.

Noah spun through the air, launching beams of void mana that crackled like black lightning. Valeria followed with her axe strikes, one catching Kaelan off guard sending him tumbling.

Seeing a change, Noah used Arcane Step to rush ahead but felt the spell fail as he suddenly felt a hand on his foot. He looked down and saw Aurelia clinging on.

“You can’t teleport if I’m grabbing you, can you?” Aurelia said, smirking. With a blast of fire, she pulled Noah back into the water with herself.

All of them were in the water now, and the beach was right next to them. Stopping any attempts at fighting, they all began to rush forward.

Magic surged as they swam as fast as they could. Noah kicked his legs, arms swinging as he moved with all his effort. Kicking and rushing through a wave, he landed onto the beach face first, rushing to stand up as he shouted. “Goal!”

“First!”

“I won!”

“Victory!”

All four of them frowned, ready to argue over their victory when Zax arrived.

“Zax—” Noah called out, ready to have the dragon prove his efforts. “Tell them that I won. I clearly was first, wasn’t I?”

“None of you won,” Zax replied, turning sideways to reveal Erwest standing on the beach, blond hair soaked in water, which somehow only added to his looks.

“I won,” Erwest said, smiling.

“What?”

“No way!”

“I don’t believe it.”

Before the arguments could spill over, Zax coughed into his fist. “Let me explain. While all of you were tackling one another, Erwest reached the end of the lake and then used the spell I had attached to your communication bracelets, and simply teleported back. Since there seemed to be no objections against using items on you or items that were a part of your gear, by the rules, he won.”

oah stared at Zax in shock, then to Erwest. “Damn… we got outsmarted.”

Kaelan cackled loudly, amused as he walked up to Erwest, slapping his back. “Way to go! Just goes to show that victory is not always about strength or skill. Sometimes, it’s about who can cheat the best.”

“I still don’t believe that Erwest of all people did that,” Aurelia said, looking at Noah.

“So, who are you going to pick?” Valeria asked. “For your reward, that is. The one day date. Since you did all that to win, you must have someone in mind.”

Erwest looked around, meeting everybody’s gaze.

The paladin then looked at Zax, and shook his head. “I’ll chose myself. Since I’m a part of the team as well, that’s a valid choice.”

“Boo!” Noah jeered, and the rest joined him.

“Coward!” Valeria shouted, as Erwest ignored them all, walking away for his solo date with himself.

“Well, seems like you guys are having a lovely time,” Captain Ariella said, flying down onto the beach. “Couldn’t help but notice with all the ruckus you were causing. Now half the lot of them are racing across the lake,” she said, shaking her head.

“You should’ve join us,” Kaelan said, trying to pat her shoulder but Ariella grabbed his hand.

“I’m far too old to be fooling around like that. Not to mention, I’m on duty. But I appreciate the offer,” she said, giving the Drakonian a pointed stare. “I just hope we haven’t caused enough noise to stir the residents of the lake. That would be a pain.”

“The residents of the lake?” Noah asked.

“Quite so. Every few years a sky serpent arrives to raise its young. By now they typically leave, but sometimes we run into them. Generally they’re very docile and avoid interacting with others in that period, but if disturbed enough, they can get aggressive.”

“Uhh, do you by any chance mean that thing?” Snow said, pointing to the lake.

They all turned, the water growing more and more frenzied, forming a whirlpool.

“Septah’s mercy, I should’ve kept my damned mouth shut,” Ariella cursed, wind swirling around her body. “Get up and start moving back to the ship, we’re leaving. Zax, follow me. I might need you for this one.”

Noah got up, spear in hand. The world around them began to shake, and after a few seconds, a massive serpent, large enough to blot out the sky, rose from the water, creating a tidal wave that washed over the beach before they were all covered under its shadow.

Noah gaped at the giant creature, larger than anything he’d ever seen, and instinctively used Identify.

[Adult Sky Serpent - ????]

Noah gulped.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

BEACH EPISODE… IN THE SKY? PT. 3

Shouts and screams rose, magic flaring as adventurers began to prepare for combat. Protective spells flared on the airship, people rapidly moving around.

Noah summoned his spear, ready to rush to the ship but found himself stuck where he was when the serpent’s gaze rested on him with the full weight of its aura.

It was the weight of a mountain, a veritable tide of power all pressing down on his shoulders. It took his all to not fall onto his knees. The moment passed, the serpent’s eyes shifting to Ariella and Zax, yet the feeling did not. Noah stood frozen.

For the first time, he realized that even when training for terror, Zax had never been using his entire aura’s force. Not even close.

The two figures flew in the skies, lightning crackling around Zax and wind swirling around Ariella.

“Noah, we need to go,” Aurelia said, touching his shoulder. He snapped out of his daze, looking once again at the giant serpent and the face off. Ready to rush back to the safety, Noah put his hand on Aurelia, searching for Snow to teleport both of them in at once, when he found the girl staring at the sea serpent with a frown.

“Snow! Stop standing around, we need to get back to the ship,” Noah shouted.

The girl jerked, looking at him in surprise, before her eyes went back to the sea serpent. She ran closer and Noah grabbed her hand, activating Arcane Step to teleport away when he felt Snow tighten her fingers around his.

“No. Noah, stop,” she said. “It—she does not want to harm us. I can feel it. It’s… my Path is telling me. She needs help, but all this magic is scaring her. You need to bring me to the captain and Zax.”

“What?” Noah exclaimed, taken aback by her words. Thunder rolled in the skies, a storm brewing from the intense magical output coming from the creature, the mana beginning to rise. Noah looked to Zax and Ariella, feeling the intense weight of the aura, uncertain if he even could go there without passing out.

“Please, Noah. I can talk to her!” Snow exclaimed.

Aurelia shared a similar look of concern. He looked down, meeting the girl’s eyes and the plea reflecting in them.

Noah cursed.

“Hop on,” he said, picking Snow up in his arms. “You guys head back, I’ll teleport out instantly if anything goes wrong.” After one last look to everyone, he used Arcane Step to teleport to the skies.

Moving through the air, Noah chained a sequence of teleports, rising higher and higher. Ariella noticed his arrival, but the woman was preoccupied, her aura battling against the giant serpent’s own dominating power, as she tried to shield her ship.

“Stop!” Noah shouted, using another Arcane Step to gain more height. He cursed as the wind covered his words, his focus faltering under the intense pressure coming from the three people. He condensed his aura, shielding Snow with everything he had, who clung on tightly to not fall off. Sweat dripped down Noah’s body. Even with all his abilities, the intensity of the auras were enough to rapidly burn through his mana.

In a desperate attempt to keep afloat, wings sprouted from his back with Tony’s help, flapping rapidly as he tried to navigate. A hurricane brew in the skies, and for a moment it felt like things would explode in violence.

Noah took a deep breath in. “Hold on!” Noah shouted with everything he had, this time managing to catch Zax’s attention. The dragon waved a hand as a spell formed around Noah, shielding him from the powerful winds, and bringing him up.

“What in the depths are you doing here!” Ariella exclaimed in horror, as she saw Noah.

“Snow… says… she can talk…” he panted, glancing at Zax, who gave him a nod. “But first… turn off the spells… it’s scaring the sea serpent.”

Ariella looked at him as if he was insane, then to Snow who he carried in his arms. A moment later, her expression turned serious. “No, I’m not risking my ship and crew over this. The risk is too high. We’re going to leave.”

The sea serpent opened its mouth, a loud earth shaking rumble rising from it as the sky crackled from above.

“You’re scaring her! She doesn’t want to fight!” Snow shouted.

“Listen—that ship? It’s my responsibility. The people on it? They’re my responsibility too. I’m not telling them to turn off the protective spells and hope nothing goes wrong,” Ariella replied, her own mana rising. Noah could sense wind gathering around the ship, ready to take it up in the air.

“We can make a different spell to protect the ship if something happens. You have our word. For now, follow the child’s wishes. Her Path is one that can help us resolve this peacefully,” Zax said. The captain hesitated, looking at Zax, and then back at Snow.

After a long moment, she cursed under her breath, shooting off rapidly back to the ship in a rush.

As Ariella left, her own aura’s protection fading, Noah felt the weight of the creature’s aura double, nearly sending him tumbling. Zax’s magic intensified, holding him in place.

They all waited, and a few moments, the ship’s magic faded, now unprotected and at the mercy of the serpent.

“What else do you need?” Zax asked.

Snow hesitated, looking at Noah for reassurance. “You can do this,” he said, and the girl nodded.

“I can talk to her. Can you… can you bring me closer?” Snow said.

“Done,” Zax replied, and wind rose around Snow, lifting her from Noah’s arms. She shrieked in fear for a second, afraid of falling but when her body kept levitating, Snow blushed, then glanced toward the giant serpent. Slowly, Zax’s magic rose her up into the air, bringing her closer and closer to the serpent. Zax strained to shield her from it’s aura, but Noah knew he couldn’t do anything to help, and so he simply watched.

After a long minute, Snow was nearly eye level to the giant serpent large enough that she was barely as big as its eye. She raised her arm out at the serpent. Her fingers trembled, body shivering as she closed her eyes.

A moment passed in silence, before she felt a gentle push as something coarse and rough touched her palm. Slowly, Snow opened her eyes and saw the serpent’s giant face touching her palm, its nostrils flaring.

The mana began to fade, the storm dying out as the creature regarded her. Snow’s heart was racing, the ball of fear and anxiety melting in palpable relief that blooded her with a rush of adrenaline, bursting out of her mouth in laughter.

After a moment, Zax and Noah both moved closer to Snow, who now found herself hesitating. “I’ve never done this before,” she said, glancing back at Zax.

“Yet you know that you can. You carry the runes, and the magic they bring. It is in your soul. Let it guide you, and the answer shall come,” Zax said.

Snow gave a hesitant nod, looking at Noah. “You can do it,” he said.

Closing her eyes, Snow channeled her magic. The runes on her body lit up with mana, glowing a mix of black and white. Slowly, her mana flowed from her hand and into the serpent. A moment later, a bond formed between the two as the serpent pulled back its head.

“We hear you, child.”

The words resonated across the world, the serpent’s intent clear in them as she looked down at Snow.

The girl’s eyes widened in surprise at her success, but she quickly calmed herself. “We don’t mean you any harm!” Snow shouted.

“We know. You cannot harm us. And we trust the old one with you,” the serpent replied, looking at Zax.

Noah glanced at the dragon, reaching out to their shared telepathic connection. “You can talk to the sky serpent? Why did you wait for Snow to arrive?”

Zax glanced sideways at Noah. “We thought it would be a good lesson. She would grow from this and learn the nature of her powers. Even you could’ve talked to her had you so desired. You can understand her words after all, can’t you?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I understand?” Noah asked.

“Because she speaks a lost tongue, known only to dragons and their kin,” Zax replied.

“Ah,” Noah said, realization settling onto him. He brought his attention back to the serpent.

“Don’t understand,” Snow said, and Noah realized her words were clumsy, as she was speaking an unfamiliar language. “Why threaten… if not afraid?”

“We did not intend to threaten you. Merely, to catch your attention,” the sky serpent said, it’s eyes drifting to rest upon Zax now. “We sensed the old one. And wish to ask a favor.”

“We are willing to hear,” Zax replied, speaking much more smoothly than Snow did.

The giant serpent bowed its head to the dragon. “Please… save our children. They are trapped, and we cannot reach them.”

Even from up here, Noah could hear the collective gasp everyone took as they watched the sky serpent bowing its head to Zax.

“Very well,” Zax replied, glancing sideways at Noah and Snow. “What do the two of you wish to do?”

As Zax asked, a prompt appeared in front of Noah.

Your party has been given a quest!

Quest: Rescue Mission

Your party have received a quest from Axzeriethal the Sky Serpent to rescue her children.

Difficulty: Moderate

Reward: Axzeriethal’s Blessing

Would you like to accept this quest?

Yes/No?

From the look of Snow’s widened eyes, she had received a similar message. Noah turned to face Zax, and gave the dragon a nod.

“Let’s do it,” Noah replied. A chime rang in his ears.

Quest accepted!

CHAPTER NINETEEN

BEACH EPISODE… IN THE SKY? PT. 4

Zax brought them down to the ship afterwards, as they explained what was going on.

“So—let me get this straight. The sky serpent asked you to save its kids?” Ariella asked, clutching her head.

“Her,” Snow whispered.

“Well, more or less. Didn’t ask me, asked Zax, but the offer apparently extended to our entire party,” Noah replied.

“We did give our word. Regardless of what you decide, we do intend to help. And we can catch up to the ship if need be. Or make our way without it to Drakonias,” Zax said.

“No, I’d rather not have you board mid-flight. Or enter their borders like that. Both options are worse,” Ariella said, sighing. “Alright, I can give you guys a few hours to sort this out. But after that, we need to leave.”

Snow smiled at the woman’s words, and Noah nodded in reply.

“Hope you don’t mind us joining,” Kaelan said, stepping closer. “Couldn’t help but overhear. Sounds like a fun quest!”

“Do we even know where the kids are? And what could they possibly need saving from that a sky serpent can’t do?” Seraphina asked.

“They’re stuck at the bottom of the lake… Apparently, they got caught in some kind of trap. The sky serpent destroyed that ship, which is why she was concerned by ours. But she can’t reach her kids and they’ve been stuck there for a while now and need to come out soon to breathe,” Snow said.

Seraphina hummed.

“Well, I definitely can’t go that deep underwater,” Aurelia said. “I don’t think I can help.”

“We can take you with us. But—it would be best to choose who goes in there wisely,” Zax said.

“I’ll go,” Kaelan said, raising his hand. “I’m good at swimming.”

“I’ll come. I want to see the kids, and study their magic, if possible,” Seraphina said, and then a second later, added, “Oh, and save them of course.”

“I… would like to go as well. I was the one who asked us to help the sky serpent. And I’d like to be able to help,” Snow said.

Noah smiled. “Absolutely. We can use your help there.”

“Seems like we have the members needed. Let us not waste any time,” Zax said.

Together, the party headed back out to the beach.

“Do we have any idea where to look?” Seraphina asked.

For a moment, Noah was tempted to add Kaelan and Seraphina to his party and show them the quest objective on the map, but he decided he wasn’t that close to either of them yet.

Zax waved his hand, and a path appeared. “This will take us to the location,” the dragon said.

“Of course, the convenient use of magic that I can’t source or even read. You’re quite the mystery, Zax,” Seraphina said, eyeing the dragon.

They headed into the ocean, Zax’s spell covering Snow and himself, while Seraphina used her own spell to dive in, with a bubble of air around her.

Kaelan just jumped in, and Noah transformed his body, adapting it for water.

The water covered Noah’s sight, but he could see clearly, a layer of translucent skin protecting his eyes. He tried not to think about how inhuman it was to be able to morph his body like this as he followed Kaelan to the depths.

“We’ve cast a spell so that all of us can talk to each other,” Zax said, his voice playing in Noah’s mind.

“Telepathy. Zax, tell me something. Are you secretly an Archmage?” Seraphina asked.

Noah heard Zax’s laughter in his head.

“We used to know one a really long time ago. But we never got that far. An Archmage requires to be at the pinnacle of their field. We… got close. But our preference is to have a wider scope,” Zax replied, looking at Seraphina. “Aren’t you the same? Your magic traverses as many branches as possible. Not many choose this Path. It is a difficult and unrewarding one.”

“They’re stupid is why. And I don’t care about power of strength or any of that. I don’t love some magic. I love all magic, and I love it equally. It’s my dream to be able to master every form of magic there is. I even spent a year trying to reconcile divine magic into the Arcane theory, though that obviously didn’t work out.”

“Ah, are some mages still trying to do that? They never seem to learn,” Zax replied.

“We’ll do it. I’ll do it myself if I have to. I refuse to take gods as an explanation, there has to be logic behind it. Everything does, even if it doesn’t look like it at first glance,” Seraphina replied.

“We wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. If you do manage it, you would be renowned and proclaimed as perhaps the greatest mage in history. Afterall, few know the secrets of Gods, or how they came to be,” Zax said.

“We’ll find out. I’ll find out,” Seraphina replied.

They continued onward silently for a few minutes, before Kaelan spotted something. “There, what’s that?” He pointed to a giant crack in the ground.

“The light seems to be going inside. Makes sense the sky serpent couldn’t reach this, there’s barely enough space,” Seraphina replied.

“I can feel them inside. They seem to be struggling,” Snow added.

“Let’s hurry,” Noah said, as one by one they entered the crack in the lakebed. Moving through the crevices, the party swam around the various denizens of the lake. Light began to blink out, as even Noah struggled to make out some of the details in the pitch-dark. Seraphina whispered something, and a few glowing balls of light appeared, illuminating the place.

“There, I see something!” Snow exclaimed.

They followed her finger, and noticed a portion of the wall was collapsed, a glowing light coming from underneath it.

The party descended, floating next to the crumbled rocks. “We’ll use our spears,” Kaelan said.

Noah nodded, summoning his spear. Both of them jammed their weapons into the pile of rocks. Then, at a signal, they used them as levers, and the giant rocky section began to buckle.

Magic formed around Seraphina, water swirling to lift the rock.

Zax snapped his fingers, and a burst of water pushed from underneath, freeing the entrance entirely.

A cave revealed itself, and the party swam inside. Noah suddenly found the water vanishing as he poked his head inside the cave, a barrier of some kind holding the water back.

“Whoa, what is this place?” Noah exclaimed, stepping onto the wet ground.

“I’ve heard of these before. If you have air attuned mana stones under water, caverns like these can form. Although… this one doesn’t look to be natural,” Seraphina said, looking down as the group noticed mana stones for lights embedded in the walls, though none that seemed to work anymore.

“Let’s move ahead carefully. There might be people around too,” Kaelan said.

The group nodded, carefully making their way in. The paths curved and bent, revealing more and more signs of someone having set up almost a base of sorts here. Boxes and goods filled the place, and after a little bit of walking, Noah heard whispering voices.

Zax quickly cast a spell to muffle their sound, while projecting the voices of the people talking.

“What’re we gonna do? It’s been over a week, and no one has come yet. We don’t have much food left…” a man’s voice trailed off, almost holding back a sob.

“You were the one who wanted to catch the sky serpents! Don’t blame me. I ain’t planning to die here, like depths I am. I’ll skin those snakes and eat them if I have to,” another man barked, spitting.

“If you open their cage, we’ll be the ones getting eaten. Especially by their mother. She’s probably still around out there…” a third man said in a gloomy voice.

Noah and the group looked at each other in surprise. Raising his hand, Noah had Tony form a small eyeball that flapped around, flying closer, as it shared what it saw with him. Looking at the men, he found three of them, all huddled around boxes, sitting with a fire in front of them, and swords at their waists.

He used Identify.

[Sky Pirate - Lvl 147]

[Sky Pirate - Lvl 154]

[Sky Pirate Captain - Lvl 174]

The eye moved around, finding a cage with glowing walls holding the sky serpents inside. Tony flew back quickly, sinking into Noah’s body as he turned to face the rest of them.

“Sky pirates. Three of them. Roughly level 150 for two, and the captain who’s level 174. The serpents are in a cage,” Noah sent.

Kaelan grinned. “Let’s teach them a lesson then.”

Noah matched the Drakonian’s smile. At his signal, the two of them rushed out.

Noah teleported, spear held out as he rushed toward the sky pirates. Void Annihilation charged around his weapon as he pointed it at them. “Hands up in the air, or we’ll strike!”

The sky pirates jumped in surprise, each holding onto their weapons. A second later, they looked at Noah and Kaelan, before their gaze drifted back to Zax standing with a smile behind all of them.

To Noah’s surprise two of the men broke down in tears as they began to thank him. “We’re saved!” one of them shouted. Noah took out his suppression chains and wrapped them around the pirates.

“Well, that was strange,” Noah said, looking at Kaelan, before he looked back to the pirates. “How did you even get stuck here?”

“The big serpent broke our ships and was waiting for us… and our spell for breathing underwater ran out…” one of them admitted.

“Serves you right for doing something like this,” Seraphina said with a snort, and walked up to the cage with the sea serpents. “Let’s get these guys free.”

One of serpents hissed, threatening to strike, making Seraphina move back in fear.

Snow walked closer. “We won’t harm you… we’re here to help. Promise. We can bring you to your mother,” she said.

The sky serpents settled, but one of them still kept its guard up, watching them intently. Noah used Identify on the creatures.

[Young Sky Serpent - Lvl 37]

[Young Sky Serpent - Lvl 22]

[Young Sky Serpent - Lvl 24]

“That one’s feisty,” Noah said, as the serpent hissed at him. Noah hissed back.

“Don’t do that!” Snow slapped his arm, before speaking gently to the serpent again to calm them down. “They’re scared. And he’s their big brother. He’s trying to protect them.” Gently, she reached out. The sky serpent struck, biting her hand, enough to make her bleed. Snow barely flinched, focused on showing she wasn’t a threat.

Noah frowned, about to suggest they keep them in the cage as he simply put them in his Cosmic Vault, but Snow didn’t pull her hand back.

The sky serpent hissed, refusing to let go, and when Snow didn’t retaliate, it finally released her. Slowly, it retreated, and Snow brought her hand closer. “You were scared, weren’t you?” she said in a gentle whisper, softly touching the serpent’s head. “I know the feeling. I was locked in chains like this for a long time too. It hurts, and hurts so much, and you’re always afraid.”

The sky serpent looked at her, before it gently licked her wound where it had bit her, as if apologizing.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind it,” she said, glancing back to Seraphina. “Can you open their cage now? They won’t hurt us.”

“You’re quite surprising,” Seraphina said, walking to the cage. “Normally it’d take an hour to decode this, but I have a better idea.” Mana swirled around her. A second later, a very thin beam of pressurized water rose from one of her fingers, and she cut apart the lock.

With a thud, the chains on the cage fell, and as the gate opened, the serpents rushed out.

“Alright, let’s bring them back to their mother,” Noah said.

“We have a faster way,” Zax said. A magic circle appeared beneath all of them, and they were teleported in a flash of light.

Noah blinked, the sun flashing down on him from the lake’s shore. The sky serpents flew into the air, reuniting with their mother in the middle of the lake, gently looking at them all, before she slowly bowed her head to Zax.

“We are in your debt.”

Quest completed!

You’ve received [Axzeriethal’s Blessing]!

[Axzeriethal’s Blessing]

Find yourself capable of directing the winds at your will. The kin of dragons will recognize you as their friend.

Noah smiled as he read the description of the ability.

“No need to mention it. We were happy to help!” Noah shouted back.

Ariella stepped onto the beach beside them, taking one look at the sky pirates as everything clicked. “Looks like we’ll be putting our prison cells to use after all.”

“And it won’t be for me!” Kaelan exclaimed happily.

“Let’s head back, it’s about time we left,” the captain said.

The party turned when the sky serpent’s voice echoed one more.

“Child of Void. This one wishes to accompany you,” the sky serpent said.

Snow looked back and saw one of her children flying close by.

“Oh… are you sure?” she asked, and the sky serpent hissed.

“What about your mom? Is she alright with you leaving her so soon after?” Snow said, looking up at the giant serpent.

“They will leave our nest one day or another. This one wishes to follow you. We will not stop him. And with the old one, he can learn some things we cannot teach,” the serpent said.

Snow looked into the sky serpent’s sea green eyes, giving it a smile. “Well, in that case. I’d be happy to have you,” she said, gently touching the snake. The tattoos on Snow’s body lit up, flowing onto the serpent, before the creature flowed into Snow. Her tattoos changed shape, the form of a snake appearing beside the wolf, and a moment later, the sky serpent reappeared, hissing, glowing tattoos on its body.

“We will take our leave now, child. Thank you for helping us,” the giant serpent said. A powerful gust rose around the island, as the sky serpent flew up in the air, followed by its children.

The party watched them disappear into the skies, fading out into the distance.

“Did you know that sky serpents are considered good omens by sailors?” Kaelan added, glancing sideways at Ariella.

“That’s by sea sailors, because it means the wind is steady,” she said, shaking her head, though a smile was on her face, nonetheless.

“Alright, time to head back,” Ariella said, wind carrying them up in air, while Kaelan and Zax flew on their own. The captain left them on the deck of the ship, heading inside. A moment later, the ship began to shake, starting to lift off.

“Ariella, always so forceful. It’s why I love her so much,” Kaelan said, sighing wistfully. Seraphina kicked the Drakonian.

Aurelia and the others walked up to the group, noting their new addition.

“Oh, a baby sky serpent. It’s so cute and so tiny compared to its mother!” Aurelia exclaimed, looking at Snow. “What do you want to call him?”

Snow thought it over for a second. “Sky?” she suggested.

Noah laughed.

Zax shook his head. “We’ll need to teach her how to name things better.”

Sky the sky serpent twirled around happily at his new name, letting out a pleased hiss.

And just like that, the party returned to the skies, with a new member on their team.

CHAPTER TWENTY

ARRIVAL

Noah watched from the airship’s deck as their destination began to appear in the distance. The clouds began to part as the airship lowered itself and the island of Drakonias began to appear. He’d already seen the place on a map but watching an island structure in the shape of a dragon sprawling out over the ocean with his own eyes was a completely different experience altogether.

He spotted many creatures flying and swimming around the island, almost all of them draconic or carrying some remnants of dragon heritage with them. A myriad of wyverns circled over the islands, high up in the skies, as the airship passed silently by, leaving Noah staring in wonder.

“What do you think, impressive isn’t it?” Kaelan asked, stepping out to the deck next to Noah and leaning casually on the handrail.

“Yeah,” Noah replied, still taken aback by the beauty. The place looked a lot like the tropical islands he’d often seen pictures of back home, with vibrant sandy beaches and lush green forests surrounded by azure-blue seas. And on top of all of that, this place also had dragons. Noah couldn’t help but smile. “It really is.”

“Just wait till we get to the city, we have some of the best food out of anywhere, I’m not even biased about that,” Kaelan said, grinning at Noah.

“Sounds fairly biased,” Noah chuckled.

“Actually, in this one regard, I believe him,” Aurelia said, stepping up beside them. “Sorry, couldn’t help but overhear. But also, Drakonias, as secluded as it may be, is known for some of its famous delicacies. There’s a lot of things you can only find here, and I’ve seen nobles often boasting about getting their hands on some, even all the way down south in Nyxis.”

“Exactly! It’s one of the reasons why I had trouble traveling outside, and don’t particularly enjoy going to the central kingdoms even though they have more resources. Like, don’t get me wrong, I love all the Celestial artifacts and their new fangled magic systems and everything, but the weather is gloomy outside of select seasons with all the rain and snow, and the food is relatively bland. Hard to stomach that, quite literally,” Kaelan said.

Noah tried to picture a cold but well developed county with bland food and gloomy weather, and he got the imagine of Kaelan sitting in a chair in a distinctly British looking location, sipping tea and eating fish and chips. He couldn’t help but laugh at the image.

“What’s so funny?” Kaelan asked.

“Nothing… just… we have a place back in my world that sounds very similar,” he said.

“What’s funny about that?” Kaelan asked, raising an eyebrow.

Noah spent roughly the next ten minutes trying to explain exactly why a British Draconian guy walking around would be hilarious. The Draconian got weirdly intrigued and even Aurelia seemed curious, both listening to him talk with great detail. Eventually settling on a terrible imitation of a mock British accent.

“Oi mate, I’ve ’ad nuff of dis cheap stuff. Tis rude to bring this, innit? Spend you some five quids to get earl grey if you want me skills here. Rather schewpid of you not to. Right then. I’ll be off back to me world then. Cheers,” he said, then burst out laughing at the absolutely stupidity of it.

“I don’t get it,” Aurelia said, looking confused.

“Yeah, I don’t think I get it either,” Kaelan replied, losing interest. “Anyway, I’ll be returning to check on my team. Need to make sure Val isn’t still sleeping. Let her go and she can snore the day away,” Kaelan said, heading inside.

Noah continued to laugh to himself every few moments even after the Draconian man’s departure, before finally calming down. Taking a deep breath in, he wiped away the tears that formed. “Man, I guess it doesn’t translate very well. Dammit. Now I want to somehow get access to the internet again. As fun as a fantasy world can be, I really miss the memes.”

“That’s probably the first time you’ve said you miss something from your home,” Aurelia said. “Most Outerworlders tend to be more distressed and have a much stronger desire to return, you’re certainly a special case, Noah.”

“Really? Huh. I guess… so? I think I would’ve wanted to go back a lot more if magic didn’t give you guys indoor plumbing, nighttime lighting, and the general bare minimum of conveniences that I’ve grown used to. But to have all that plus magic and want to go back…” Noah shrugged. “This has been like the best vacation of my life so far.”

Aurelia hummed to herself. “A vacation, huh?”

“Well, not exactly. But… I just figure if I could have traveled back home, I would’ve felt the same way. Free from… everything. Society, jobs, money, rent, it was a lot. This, comparatively, is a lot better. And I’m rich as well,” Noah replied.

“I suppose we did earn a lot from our last quest,” Aurelia said, glancing sideways. The islands were just underneath them now, as the ship began to make its preparations for landing. “Let’s head inside. The wind spells should be activating soon.”

Noah nodded, following her back in.

There was a buzz of excitement from the people inside, their long journey finally at an end. Noah spotted Erwest standing next to the map which showed their location in real time. Zax stood nearby, working on some kind of a magical device.

“How far away are we?” Noah asked.

Erwest glanced at him, before turning back around to the map. “We’ve entered Drakonias from the eastern end. There’s three main islands, and we’ll be heading to the central one, to the capital located here. Drakoria,” Erwest said, zooming the map out to show a city at the dragon shaped island’s chest. “Also called the Dragon’s Heart.”

“Should’ve seen that coming,” Noah replied.

A few seconds later, Noah heard Ariella’s voice from what sounded an awful lot like a microphone, though he could detect the wind magic being used to project her voice.

“Alright folks, the long journey is nearly at its end. Despite the few hiccups and a near catastrophe, this was all in all a rather successful trip.”

People cheered back in reply.

“In around five minutes, we’ll be landing in Drakoria’s airship port, after which all of you will be free to go about as you please. The ship will be here for a week as we recharge the core and stock up supplies, before we’ll be leaving on the return journey. Many of you will be here with us on the way back, and many more won’t. For those who will stay on the island, I wish you the best of luck on your goals and endeavors. Especially to any taking on the trials.

“That is all from me. We’ll be back here in five months’ time for another trip,” Ariella said, and the words cut off.

Noah felt the magic flare all around the ship, wind swirling as they began to rapidly descend. He walked up to the windows, looking outside as the city began to appear in all its glory. He could see soldiers flying around the ship, guiding it on its way down before an anchor sank down and was set in place, slowly reeling the ship into port.

A few tense minutes later, Noah felt a thud as the ship touched down.

“Welcome to Drakonias, people!”

The gates of the ship began to shudder open, chains moving and magic flowing. The passengers all began to gather, making their way out, and Noah decided to not jump out or teleport, but instead to be patient this time.

Partly because Kaelan didn’t seem to be doing that, which was quite the surprise.

As the two parties gathered together, Noah made his way down the ramp leading into the port. The bright sunlight flashed onto him as he took in the air.

“Weirdly refreshing to be on solid ground again,” he said.

“It is,” Aurelia replied.

Sky the sky serpent apparently agreed, cheerfully spinning all around Snow. Shadow seemed content to simply be sitting inside Snow’s tattoos.

“I should probably let Tony and Bun Bun out as well,” Noah said.

“Maybe after we’ve found a place to stay,” Aurelia added.

Their conversation got interrupted when a Draconian man wearing a uniform walked up to the ramp. He shared the same scale color as Kaelan, but his tone was slightly darker, and the man had more visible scars.

“Uncle Valros!” Kaelan cheered, though the other man did not look nearly as happy—his glare was telling.

“Don’t you try to gloss over this, boy. You were supposed to be back three months ago,” the man said.

“You know how it is with adventuring, a month, three months, it’s all hard to say. Aren’t you happy I’m back safe and sound?” Kaelan said, shrugging.

“Try telling that to your father,” the man said.

To Noah’s surprise, Kaelan visibly shuddered. “Come on, can’t you please talk to him this one time. Please?”

“Boy, I’ve saved your hide too many times. Now you will have to deal with it on your own,” Valros said, glancing toward the rest of them. “I thought your party only had two people?”

“Ah, right. This is Valeria and Seraphina, my party members. And these guys are friends we met on the way, they’re also giving the trial a go,” Kaelan said.

Valros looked at Valeria and Seraphina first, inspecting them. Then he glanced sideways at Noah’s party. “You might want to⁠—”

“I told them. They can’t. But they’re growing pretty fast so it might be possible,” Kaelan interrupted.

Valros hummed, his gaze landing on Noah. “Wyrmblood, huh. I see why Kaelan took an interest then. Hard to see it nowadays. You could have a shot,” Valros said.

“Thanks,” Noah replied.

Lastly, the man’s gaze went to Zax, and for a moment, he simply stared, eyes turning ever so slightly wider. Turning away, Valros looked at Kaelan.

“These… are your friends, yes? You should invite them to stay.”

“Oh, right, of course,” Kaelan said, looking at Noah and his party. “You guys wanna stay at my place while you’re here?”

“Would that be alright? There’s quite a few of us,” Aurelia asked.

“No problem, we’ve got more than enough rooms,” Kaelan said.

“He didn’t tell you guys but he’s actually fairly important here. Like a noble,” Seraphina said.

“Wait, you’re a noble?” Aurelia asked in surprise.

“We don’t really have nobles. But my father is fairly important. He’s the—what do you call it. He’s a sworn protector of the king. One of the royal guards, and he looks after parts of the kingdom,” Kaelan replied.

“We would be glad to invite his friends to stay for the duration of the trial,” Valros said, and though he was quick about it, Noah caught him stealing glances at Zax.

“All of us really appreciate it,” Aurelia replied.

Noah let her handle any discussions, glancing toward Zax.

“What’s happening?”

Zax, unlike Noah, did not show any indication of their telepathic communication as he replied.

“We think he has figured out our identity.”

It was a struggle for Noah to not stare at Zax in surprise. He tried to keep his expression neutral.

“How? Did he see through your magic somehow?” Noah asked.

“No, we don’t think he did. In fact, this is even more interesting than some simple counter spell,” Zax replied, polite smile still maintained on his face.

Noah didn’t break stride, continuing polite talks with Valros and listening offhandedly to Kaelan talk about the city and its history, all the while his eyes continued to scan Valros.

“What’re you two doing?” Aurelia’s voice spoke in Noah’s head, almost making him jump. He stumbled for a step before catching himself.

“Is something wrong?” Kaelan asked, glancing at Noah.

“Uh—no, I just tripped. Not used to brick roads all that much,” Noah said, tapping his foot on the ground.

Kaelan seemed to buy it, returning to his tour guide role of the place.

Briefly, he glanced to Aurelia in surprise. How had she used telepathy? Zax had made a spell link between them, so Noah’s mind resistance training had taught him how to use that to talk to Zax, but he was fairly sure Aurelia didn’t have that, and didn’t know telepathy, at least before now.

“Why’re you looking at me like that?” Aurelia asked, her words projecting to his mind.

Noah reached out to Zax. “How is she using telepathy?”

“We built in the feature into your bracelets. At close range, you can reach out to one another and communicate through the spell present in it. We had told you this,” Zax said.

“Oh,” Noah said, realizing he’d never actually paid much attention to what his bracelet could do. He sent a pulse of mana, feeling the spell activate silently, and found a vague sense for his own bracelet being linked to all the members in his party. A prompt popped up in front of him.

Form a telepathic link to party member: Aurelia Fauster?

Yes/No?

Noah clicked yes, and felt the link form.

“Wow, this is neat,” he sent, oddly excited.

“You didn’t pay attention, did you?” Aurelia sent, giving him a side-eye. Noah ignored her look, feigning ignorance.

“No idea what you’re talking about. Anyway, Valros figured out Zax’s identity. And he’s saying it’s not because he broke his spell.”

“What!” Aurelia exclaimed, stopping in her step, almost tripping over herself as well.

Kaelan glanced back. “Not used to the roads?”

“Not used to the roads,” Aurelia replied, latching onto the terrible excuse with a simple nod.

“You two need to stop acting like children,” Erwest added, shaking his head.

“Zax’s identity was found out,” Noah sent back.

Even the paladin stopped, but only for the briefest of moments, before catching himself and continuing onward.

Snow looked up at the three of them, and Noah decided he may as well let her know too. The girl’s eyes widened in surprise, but of the three of them, she had the least obvious reaction.

“Sky tells me the big guy is terrified,” Snow replied to them.

“I guess that means we won’t get attacked at the very least,” Noah replied, glancing at Zax. “Do you think it’ll cause problems?”

Zax remained quiet, not replying to Noah as he continued looking at Valros, eyes flicking around, clearly inspecting something.

“No. We don’t think it will. And we might’ve figured out how he found us out.”

“How?” Aurelia asked, looking to Zax.

Noah internally noted to tell her to learn to be less obvious. It was more difficult than people realized to talk to someone without actively looking at them. It had taken him some practice with Zax before he got the hang of it, and if he wasn’t paying attention, he still sometimes did turn his head.

Zax continued after another long moment of silence. This time, all four of them stopped in their tracks at his words.

“We think he knows another dragon.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

DRAKONIAS

Kaelan looked back at the four of them. “You guys really aren’t used to it, huh? I suppose our roads aren’t the best given how we mostly fly around,” the Draconian replied.

“Are brick roads that strange?” Seraphina questioned, looking at the four of them.

“Hard to say, perhaps the southern kingdoms don’t have them,” Valeria replied.

“Yeah, haha, I think being in the air for so long might have just screwed with our sense of balance a little, right, Noah?” Aurelia said, glancing at him.

“Right, yeah, sea sickness, but for the sky. We’ll be fine in a minute, just distracted watching the city,” Noah replied.

“That makes sense. We’re not far now either,” Kaelan replied, turning back around and they continued on their way.

Noah took a breath of relief at their flimsy excuse having worked out. But if Valros really did know, things might get problematic soon. The man, surprisingly, did not seem to notice their behavior, though his eyes still often went toward Zax.

“I think I need an explanation,” Aurelia said.

“All of us need one. They have another dragon? Will it be as strong as you? You said your kin weren’t very kind to people,” Noah replied.

“Sky says he can smell something too. It’s very faint, but there’s the scent of another dragon on the person,” Snow added.

“Yes, we’re certain. There is another dragon in this city. Which is curious because, as we told you Noah, our kin are not too keen on cooperating with creatures they see as a sign of weakness and dilution of their bloodline. Draconians are akin to what a monkey might be to a human. There are some shared traits and ancestry, but one is far beneath the other. Well, to their eyes anyway. We obviously disagree.”

“That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. Dragons are like a hurricane. Except they can hold grudges and remember faces. Nothing good comes out of being in the presence of one,” Aurelia said, then turned toward Zax. “No offense.”

“None taken. You are correct in your judgement,” Zax replied.

“The all mother has been a friend to the dragons,” Erwest sent, glancing to Zax. “But even she commented on their unwillingness to socialize with anyone or anything they see as beneath themselves. Not to mention, the dragons left at the end of the ancient era. Any sightings of one haven’t been recorded in centuries. It’s the thing that makes the claim of Drakonias being their descendants contentious. If there was a dragon around in Drakonias all this time… why would they hide it?”

“Right, yeah. Also, this is making me realize how weird it is that I’ve gotten used to having Zax around. I keep forgetting that you’re a dragon, you’re… nothing like I imagined one to be. I always pictured a dragon to be far more intimidating,” Aurelia said, before pausing. “Again, no offense.”

“If you’d like, we could transform back to our true form. Keeping a polymorh, illusion, and aura suppression spell going at all times does get a little taxing after you do it for a month with no breaks. A bit like sitting still without moving,” Zax said.

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea…” Aurelia trailed off.

“He’s joking,” Noah added, glancing at Zax, who maintained a neutral expression. “You are joking, right?”

At last, the dragon gave a slight smile, but did not say anything further.

“What do you intend to do?” Erwest asked.

“Nothing. We simply intend to watch. There’s already a tracking spell on Valros that he won’t be able to detect. And if he does, that will tell us more still about his capabilities. We are in no great need to hide our identity, it is simply convenient for us to do so.”

“I’m not sure I want the kind of attention that would come with us hanging out with a dragon, within a kingdom that reveres and worships dragons,” Aurelia replied.

“I don’t know, it sounds like it could be fun. What’s the worst that can happen?” Noah asked.

“The worst that happens is whichever dragon is hiding here decides it doesn’t like another one barging into its territory and decides to fight. You do NOT want to get involved in a fight between two dragons,” Aurelia sent.

“And neither do we. As we are, we can’t match up to our brethren, if they really decide to take offense. Dragons are not just vicious to other creatures, but to one another as well. It is in our instincts to guard our land, and to not let another enter it. But… if there truly was a dragon around, it should’ve noticed our arrival. Even those with no talent for the finer natures of magic have the best senses there are and would be able to sense our presence. Which is why this is so interesting,” Zax said, and Noah could feel the dragon’s curiosity piqued.

It was the same expression he had made when Noah first arrived to him and the dragon had decided to train him.

“Let’s just see what happens,” Noah replied, and the group nodded in reply.

The streets moved in curved paths before the group arrived in front of a place that looked like a partial mix between a military training ground, and a mansion. Noah stared at the building, the gates not particularly fancy, but build of thick metal with magic running through it. Two guards stood at the gates, wearing uniforms, and saluted Valros as they entered inside.

The ground was barren and made of sand and earth, with next to no decorations inside. Little tents were set up in the large field around the main building with all kinds of practice dummies and training areas. Noah spotted a group of Draconians flying in formation in the sky with a squad leader guiding them as they swooped down with spears, then rising back up into the skies again, each one having stabbed a small sack of some sort which was pierced on the tip of their weapons.

“Wow, this is… very military,” Noah said.

“My dad likes to train people! He thinks the youth is getting weak and needs to be hardened for tough times or something like that. But people look up to him so a lot of them join,” Kaelan said.

“Your father is not wrong. This training will only help make sure we are prepared for any and all threats to our nation and can protect it in times of need,” Valros said.

“Is there something in particular that’s dangerous here?” Aurelia asked.

“This is a C grade area with the majority of creatures having some hint of a Draconian lineage in them. Everything is dangerous here,” Valros replied.

Seraphina whistled as she ran forward of the group to stand next to a statue of a Draconian man wearing pristine armor. “Wow, the magic in this thing is so old.” She was practically drooling at the sight.

Valeria followed after with a sigh, grabbing Seraphina by the collar and dragging the entranced woman back. “Don’t be rude, Seph.”

Kaelan laughed.

Valros seemed a lot less amused. The man definitely gave off a strong military feel, but perhaps the tension was also coming from the knowledge that a dragon was walking next to him. Though, if he truly did know, he definitely was hiding it well. If Noah hadn’t been told of it, he would’ve never caught the subtle glances toward Zax.

Noah’s eyes were caught by another group, this one marching on the ground. But the strangest thing was their lack of wings.

“Are those Drailiths?” Noah asked, and saw Valros twitch his brows at the words.

“No, those are Draconians of low birth,” Kaelan replied.

Noah looked at him with slight confusion and hesitation. “Low birth?”

“Well, they have less dragon blood in them. So they don’t have wings. Not all Draconians are born with wings. In fact, only about one in ten are,” Kaelan replied, glancing to the marching group before turning away.

“You shouldn’t make that comparison again, Noah. Or ask about the bloodline. There’s a lot of value given to the purity of one’s blood in here, and how close it is to a dragon’s, with a true dragon being something of a god figure to them. And Drailiths look similar, but are not dragon blooded, so any comparison is taken as an insult,” Aurelia said.

“It’s like calling a wolf a dog,” Zax added.

Noah resisted making a face of embarrassment. Think before opening my mouth, noted.

Their group soon walked into the mansion at the center, entering through the gates. The building was made entirely of bare stone. Though he did spot some kind of coating covering the walls, giving it a very earthen look. Heads of all sorts of creatures were mounted on the walls, magic flowing through them, preserving them in time. He noticed more than a couple paintings as well, many of what looked to be Kaelan’s father, though there were some of a younger Kaelan as well.

As they entered the central hall, a figure walked into the chamber, one that if Noah had to guess, would be a teenager. Noah didn’t spot any wings on his back.

“Brother Kaelan, it is good to see you,” the boy said, dipping his head. Another child came out, this one much younger, with little shimmering wings as she rushed out and hugged Kaelan.

“Ahaha, I missed you, Keya!” Kaelan said, picking the girl up in his arms, and she giggled. He then turned to the boy. “Good to see you doing well too, Kean.”

“Are these all your party members, brother? I thought you only had two,” Kean asked, looking at them with curiosity.

“Kean, you forget your manners. These are guests, we do not ask questions,” Valros said with a sharp tone.

“Apologies,” Kean replied, lowering his head slightly.

“Oh, don’t be so harsh, Uncle, these are friends,” Kaelan said, setting his sister down.

The girl apparently did not like that, as she tugged at his legs and shouted, “Kaelan! Look, look, I can fly now!”

The girl closed her eyes, focusing intently. Her wings flapped behind her with intensity, and Noah felt magic pulse through them as a gust of wind rose around her, floating her a few inches off the ground.

“By the skies, you really are! That’s amazing, Keya!” Kaelan shouted, and the girl laughed, pleased. “I’ll play with you some more in just a minute, but first let me get my friends settled in, okay?”

“Keya, let’s go to your room for now,” Kean said, holding the little girl’s hand. “I’ll take care of her,” he added to Kaelan. The boy glanced at the rest of them for a moment then headed back out.

Kaelan turned to the group. “So, you guys have seen half of my family already. Father might be here sometime as well, but I assume you probably want to rest a little first?”

The group gave a mix of affirmative responses.

“Alright, I’ll show you to our guestrooms, and afterward, we can head out. There’s a good place I know that serves the best drake steaks in the entire kingdom, you guys will love it,” Kaelan said, excitedly.

Noah nodded, but his attention remained on Valros, who stood there silently.

“We would like to head out sometime. There’s a place we’ve been to here before, that we’d like to visit again,” Zax said.

“Oh, sure, I didn’t know you were familiar with this place, Zax,” Kaelan said.

“It was a long time ago. A lot has changed, so we aren’t too familiar, but finding the place shouldn’t be an issue,” Zax replied.

“If you do not mind me asking, what is this place you would be visiting?” Valros asked.

“It’s a grave of an old friend. A little outside the city, on the south side, beyond the forest. A short flight away. We had told him we would visit if we were ever around here,” Zax replied.

“What’re you doing?” Noah asked

“Confirming our suspicions. But also, exactly what we said. Going to a grave. The place we told him is the grave of a dragon.”

“Ah, that’s… Dragon’s Grave. I did not know anyone was buried there. It’s a dangerous area filled with monsters. Even for someone of your caliber, I would be remiss to send a guest of our household to such an area. Please, allow me to accompany you,” Valros said.

“Very well,” Zax replied. “We will be heading out then.”

The group nodded.

“Don’t wait for us. We’ll be back soon. Try not to cause trouble,” Zax sent to Noah.

“With your expression, I feel like I should be the one saying that.”

The dragon gave him a mischievous smile.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

DRAGON’S GRAVE

Valros walked out of the mansion, his mind running through the multitudes of possibilities. His guest walked with a calm demeanor, seemingly unaware of his turbulent state of mind, as he scanned the area with a hint of a smile.

Regardless of his own thoughts, he couldn’t be rude to the man. Especially if he really was a dragon. Valros didn’t even want to think of the chaos that would cause.

He regarded Zax, as the man had introduced himself, noting the mage’s simple yet pristine clothing that had gone out of fashion over a century ago glimmering with residual mana that did not leak even a hint more than it should’ve. Trying not to get lost in thoughts again, he addressed the mage, “Would you like me to call for a carriage?”

Humans liked their carriages. And if this was a really powerful mage with some ties to a dragon, or a dragon in disguise, how Valros should behave did not really change. He would treat him as his form indicated, lest he find himself a head shorter and his kingdom in shambles.

“We thought flight might be more appropriate,” Zax replied, looking to the clouds to inspect the weather. “We can carry you, if you do not wish to take to the skies.”

Valros had to hold back a snort. A Draconian who was afraid to fly. Even the lowborn would jump off high cliffs since early childhood, using wind spells and the like to learn how to break a fall and survive. And he was brother to a Royal Guard.

“Flight suits me just fine,” Valros replied.

His companion gave him a smile, the kind that made his stomach churn, the kind with hidden intentions he couldn’t read very well. For a moment he had to wonder if he was being lured to an isolated location to be made into a quick meal. As much reverence as he possessed for dragons… they were not kind.

He put the thought out of his head. If a dragon wanted to make a meal of him, he’d already be dead. The thought was stupid. The man next to him could likely contend with his majesty, he would simply have to assume there were no ill intentions present.

Zax let mana swirl around him, wind whipping up and making his clothes flutter, before he was floating off the ground. Valros let his own wings spread behind him, mana channeling through the natural dragon scales present there as wind swirled beneath them, generating enough thrust to let him take to the skies. His own take off was much more powerful, and to an amateur it would be a display of strength, but he knew the truth. The real power was in control, and Zax was flying like gravity may as well not exist at all.

The mage led the way toward Dragon’s Grave, and Valros followed next to him.

“We remember that one of the things we had liked about this place was the weather. The wind and the clear skies always made flying through the islands a much more comfortable experience, and made it easier to spot locations from high above. Back then, there were no kingdoms on this part though,” Zax said.

Valros nearly stumbled—or the equivalent of that with flight, which was losing control of his wings and the wind in them, as he dipped in height for a moment before catching himself—the Kingdom of Drakonias was nearly a thousand years old. They had been here since the end of the ancient era. Almost entirely since the dragons left these lands. Just how old was Zax?

“Did you come here very often?” Valros asked. He may as well try to learn a little more about his guest. Right now, all he had to go off of was the familiar sense of aura and his gut quivering in the same way it did whenever he met with Vion. But compared to the girl, Zax barely had any strength in his aura. He looked, felt, and sounded entirely human even on a deeper look.

And yet, it was those moments, the little seconds when Valros looked into his eyes that he felt something deep inside his soul shake in the kind of primal fear that only those who had seen the eyes of an apex predator knew.

“We came here every now and then. This place had some family members, all long dead now, or gone off somewhere. We had been much younger then, and eager to leave, go out into the world, and leave a mark on it,” Zax said, a smile hanging on his lips that conveyed the kind of regret one could only show to the follies of their youth.

As the winds curled around the two sky bound men, the towering earth and stone buildings of Drakonias faded, as Dragon’s Grave began to appear in the distance.

Valros continued to follow, wondering if they would be finding any sort of graveyard in the area. None existed, as far as he knew. Even in death, the body of a dragon possessed powerful magic, powerful enough to warp its surroundings. To bury the dead near such potent power was to invite a hoard of undead upon yourself.

Yet, the mage continued flying without stop, crossing the checkpoint where guards patrolled the boundary of the area to allow none to breach the sanctity of Dragon’s Grave.

Valros’ heart rate spiked when he saw some warriors on patrol notice their arrival and ready their weapons to strike. He stopped those fools before they invited death upon them all.

The mage slowly began to descend, arriving next to the maw of the giant dragon’s corpse which had transformed into a cavern and a dungeon over the centuries. With wind swirling around both, the two men planted their feet back onto the ground.

Zax looked at the skeleton forlornly.

Valros didn’t dare ask the question that remained in his mind, and so he simply stood there.

“We had left a grave for him nearby, taking from the human custom of carving tombs and gravestones to remember their dead,” Zax said, walking closer to the cavern’s mouth.

Valros followed behind silently.

Zax led him next to the dragon’s maw, before waving his hand. A spell unraveled, and a beautiful gravestone appeared from behind the illusion magic that had been set in this place.

Zax crouched next to the tombstone, a snap of his fingers clearing out the dirt. Flowers blossomed on the tombstone, the name faded to time, but as the dirt cleared, he could make out what was underneath.

The greatest dragon warrior.

Zax turned to look at Valros. “Would you care to listen to a story?”

Valros nodded.

“It’s a story of a dragon. One who didn’t listen nor pay much attention to others. Egotistical and rash. Born to a society of mages, he alone possessed no talent for any magic, not even the simplest kind. But instead, he was given might. He was larger than all his siblings and his physical prowess was unparalleled. And so, he chose to become a warrior.

“Though he held weapons in contempt, his mind was changed by a powerful woman who managed to beat him, leaving him with a scar over his eye. Infatuated with her, he took on a human form, vying for her love. She did not reciprocate. The dragon was not used to being denied, and so he tried to take her by force. But the woman beat him time and time again.

“And as she did, he began to grow frustrated. Eventually deciding to pick up a weapon and train with it. He was a natural, growing stronger with rapid speed and eventually managing to best the woman. But though he could match her might now, her heart remained out of his grasp.

“The dragon was not pleased. But he knew he could not force things. And so… he began to court her. This time, not as a dragon, but as a man in love. In time, the woman was won over by his efforts, and they married, and together they founded a home here. The man eventually came to be known as the Dragon Warrior,” Zax said, turning to regard the grave as he brushed his hand atop the tombstone. “It has been some time, old friend.”

Valros’ heart was racing, beyond an inkling of a doubt. Coherent thoughts fled his mind as he stumbled a step back. “Who… who are you?”

Zax glanced at him, and Valros felt the mage—no, he felt the dragon let go of the restraints on his aura.

A pulse of magic that overpowered the aura of the giant dragon’s corpse now spread out all around him, sending Valros to his knees. He bowed his head deeply, eyes rooted to the ground as his breath and his heart both stilled under the presence of the dragon’s might. In that moment, he knew he was dead. He need not look at his Astral Script to read that terror shook his heart, or to see that the might of the creature in front of him dwarfed him so much that his very soul resisted the thought of fighting back. And yet, just as quickly as it had come, it vanished.

Valros looked up, surprised that he still took breath—Zax was facing the gravestone.

“We’ve found some fun companions to once again travel with. Much like Ryugan, though none quite as sharp as him. But they have a good heart, all of them. Had you still been here, we think you would’ve quite liked sparring with Noah. Though you also likely would’ve killed him.” The dragon chuckled to himself at the words.

If Valros could sweat, he’d be pouring buckets. As it was, he only felt chills in his body as both his mind and heart prepared for the incoming death. He dared not speak, dared not even breathe in the dragon’s direction. This could be the end of their kingdom. The end of everything he loved. And if these were the last words he uttered, so be it, he had to serve his duty.

“Honored one, forgive me for speaking without permission, but I must ask… why have you come here?” Valros blurted the words like his life depended on finishing the sentence.

Zax simply glanced at him. “You do not have to shiver like that. Unlike the dragons you know of, we do not believe in senseless killing. And the reason for our arrival is simply to accompany our friends.”

“Friends… you say,” Valros said, finding it hard to believe that a party of D ranks and one F ranker girl would be friends with a dragon. And yet, the dragon himself said the words, so who was he to question it.

“And… do your friends… intend to…” Valros struggled to find the words or say what he needed to respectfully.

“No, we do not intend to take over the kingdom,” Zax said, shaking his head. “We’re no longer a child. That phase is behind us.”

Zax waved his hand and the magic pulsed once more, hiding the tombstone in plain sight, gone from this reality as if it had never existed.

“This corpse. Our friend’s corpse. It is its heart, the dungeon core, which grants the title. Isn’t that so?” Zax said.

“Indeed, it is as you have guessed, esteemed one,” Valros said, bowing his head. The dragon walked right in front of Valros.

“How did you find out who we were? We know it wasn’t a flaw in our spell, so it must be because you know of another dragon,” Zax said.

Valros clenched his teeth and met the dragon eyes. “I cannot say, honored one. Not even on my life. It is an oath to my king that I am bound by.”

“Axeros had many children, yet none were true dragons. Unless…” Zax trailed off, his eyes widening. “He hid the child. If one had truly inherited his blood… the child would age very slowly, and his own instinct would mean he would kill it before it could ever mature.”

Valros bowed his head. “It is as you say. She resides within the palace, and none know of her beyond the king and those in close confidence with him. And as shameless as this is, since you know the truth, I must beg of you to not speak of this to anyone.”

Valros felt Zax’s eyes on him, and for a moment he felt like his insolence had truly brought death upon him.

“You have our word. If he has truly left a daughter behind… then she would be our niece. We would like to meet her,” Zax replied.

Valros looked up at Zax in shock. “Really? Wouldn’t that… wouldn’t you…”

“Like we said, we are not like our kin. Our instincts do not control us. And a young dragon? She would need to be disciplined, and none of you would have the capacity to. We would like her to know of her kin, and of her father and mother,” Zax said.

Valros bowed his head, tears gathering in his eyes. “We—no, this entire kingdom, will be in your eternal debt, honored one.”

The dragon put a hand on Valros’ shoulder. “You may stop with that honored one. For the moment, we are Zax, a human mage, adventurer, and nothing more. This is an order.”

Valros felt his shoulders stiffen, before he gave a nod.

Zax hummed to himself. “Perhaps it would be better still if we brought Noah to her. We assume she can take a human form, if she has stayed hidden so long. Her mother’s blood would mean she would have an easier time of it than us as well. The two could definitely learn from one another.”

“Umm… Vion is… she does not tolerate other people very well,” Valros said.

Zax grinned. “Even better. Then this would be the time to break her in and show her that the world is far greater than she realizes.”

A shudder ran down his Valros’ spine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

SOLO SPAR

By the time afternoon had rolled around, the party had split up into different groups. Zax had already left with Valros. Aurelia decided to take a midday nap by herself, Snow and Seraphina were in the library reading, and Erwest had gone somewhere with Valeria. Kaelan, similarly, was busy with some work. Noah, finding himself without much to do, had decided to spend some time training.

He’d found a sparring chamber out in the training fields. A dojo-like space with wooden floors and mage lighting on the walls. The marks and dents on the floor denoted that the place was used to practice hand to hand combat, and other similar sparring sessions. Noah had been slightly concerned that a wooden floor would break if he was too rough with things, but to his surprise had found the floor extremely sturdy, despite the lack of any visible magical spell fortifying it.

Tony shifted at his command, his black overcoat sleeves receding, leaving him topless as he stretched his muscles, feeling them quiver in anticipation. The training Kaelan had put them through had certainly not been gentle, and with all the overtime sparring sessions Noah had done with Aurelia and the others, even his modified body had demanded he rest.

But now that he had given himself that much needed rest, he was in better physical shape than ever before. There was a mirror mounted on the wall with what seemed like a spell to keep the surface clean. Noah walked in front of the mirror to look at himself.

There were no scars on his body despite everything he had put it through. No marks, and no indications of the torture he regularly put himself under. His muscles looked both firm and soft at the same time, but for how lean his body and build was, he filled out his figure quite well.

He also couldn’t be too certain, but he had a sinking suspicion that he was becoming more attractive the more he leveled up. His jawline was more refined, and his abs were firm enough to bend steel. It was a little surreal to look at himself.

Noah had never been unfit. Never been fat. But there was a world of difference between being fit and having the body of a model. His proportions didn’t exactly make sense either, the strongest of people didn’t look like this, and he had to wonder if the system adjusted his physique to suit what he thought looked good. His Charisma sub-attribute had also gone up by one to D7.

“Quite the introspection. Are you gonna kiss yourself now?” His shadow specter swirled, manifesting in front of him. Noah rolled his eyes. He didn’t particularly care how he looked, and neither did any monster that would be looking to make him into a good meal.

“But it doesn’t hurt to be hot,” the shadow added, reading his thoughts.

“You unnerve me sometimes,” Noah said.

“Probably because I’m you. It’s weird to hear your own voice from someone else, isn’t it? Now imagine knowing that you aren’t actually yourself but instead just a copy, it’s definitely an experience, I’ll tell you that,” the shadow said, an evil glint flashing across its eyes, like it was saying, ‘I’ll murder you if you aren’t on your toes,’ but Noah knew the jokes for what they were. The shadow specter was bound to him, they were part of the same entity. If Noah died, the shadow would die with him.

And he’d had a dozen or more chances to kill him already. But had never made any indications of doing so. The specter had been very docile and mostly kept to himself. Although every now and then when they were alone, he would come out to chat.

Ignoring the specter, Noah opened up his Astral Script.

Astral Script:

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Draconian Humanoid

Rank: D

Title: [Titan Slayer]

Paths:

Wyrmblood Guardian (Legendary) - level 129

Runebody Arcanist (Legendary) - level 128

Abyssal Predator (Legendary) - level 130

Attributes:

Power: 924 [1108]

Agility: 792 [950]

Constitution: 838 [1131]

Mystic: 858 [1158]

Attribute Points: 0 | Skill Points: 1

All four of his attributes were nearing the thousand mark as their base. The amount of attributes he gained per level was downright insane. Just in raw power, he was already stronger than Aurelia unless she was using her berserker abilities, and even then, Noah’s Metamorphosis meant in nine out of ten matches, he would most likely win. Erwest was trickier, the paladin’s holy powers countering his void abilities quite thoroughly, but Noah still didn’t see himself losing in a confrontation.

The fact that just a month ago, winning against either would’ve been a difficult task told him just how fast he was growing. It wasn’t like the others had stopped progressing either. He was simply that much faster than them.

Noah pulled up his skill and ability upgrades. A myriad of notifications appeared, almost every ability having gone up by a few levels since last time. Having three full sets of Legendary abilities meant it took that much more work to level each, but Noah had managed to keep his pace up.

He ignored most of the abilities, picking out the one he was most interested in.

Weapon Mastery level 13 → 18

That was the biggest change so far. Training with Kaelan and focusing on his spear had made his Weapon Mastery go up by five levels in a single month, pushing it faster than ever before.

Noah had distinctly felt the difference as well. His connection to his spear had increased, and he was much more in tune with the weapon. But, due to the broad nature of the skill, it wasn’t just his spear skills that had increased. As Weapon Mastery went up, Noah had automatically found himself gaining insights on how to better use other weapons.

Armaments could summon any weapon, and Noah found himself using swords, bows, shields, gauntlets, daggers, and anything and everything in between with a much greater degree of skill, like the skill itself was guiding him and correcting any mistakes he might be making.

It made him excited. As much as he liked his spear, he definitely would not mind expanding his arsenal a bit more. Right now the only two primary weapons he used were his spear and his claws, with everything else acting as a support role, or his clones using the weapons to act as distractions. If he could master multiple weapons, he could switch between them with ease and vary his fighting style drastically.

Noah looked down at his arms, summoning his runic chains. The chains unraveled from his forearms, manifested with glowing runes as they glistened in power. An idea began to bud in his mind, but there would be more testing and practice required before he could really put it to good use.

He de-summoned the chains, looking at his Astral Script and pulling up his sub-attributes.

Power: C8 → C9

Agility: B0

Constitution: B2

Mystic: C6 → C8

His Power and Mystic sub-attributes had gone up. Noah had definitely felt the difference, and given that those two were his primary attributes, any increase in the sub-attributes meant he felt the difference significantly.

And yet, there was still a long way to go before he was ready for the Dragon Warrior’s trial. He had no doubt that his competition would be fierce, and if he wanted to win, he’d need to continue progressing at a rapid rate.

Noah looked at the shadow specter lounging around without a care.

“We’re sparring,” Noah announced to the specter, who simply looked back at him and grinned.

Reaching inside his dimensional space, Noah pulled out his spear and tossed it to the shadow. The specter raised an eyebrow in question.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yup,” Noah replied. He reached out to Tony, the communication between them now wordless and in sync as the symbiote recreated his clothes, but this time instead of a long leather-like jacket, he wore dark armor that covered his skin, with muscular fibers woven into it that seamlessly flowed around his body, hardening bony materials that glistened like obsidian. Tony continued to move across Noah’s body, rising up to his face as his dark tendrils flowed all around him, giving him a particularly demonic look.

Noah flexed his claws, before asking the symbiote to reduce the coverage of the armor. Tony shivered once, slightly confused at the command, but obeyed. His claws changed back to fingers, the armor now receding to be lighter, only covering his body like a simple albeit still pitch-black piece of leather armor.

With a nod, Noah let his chains manifest, wrapped around his forearms and in his hands. He bound the weapons around his knuckles, being able to freely control their motion. He raised his fists in a stance, regarding the shadow, whose eyes widened.

“Ah, so that’s how this is,” the shadow said, understanding the premise of the spar. They would both be working on their respective weaknesses, while trying to learn from the other. There was nothing as good as being able to spar yourself for finding weaknesses in your fighting style.

The specter aimed the spear at him, and without the need for any signal, the two began.

The specter thrust the spear and Noah used the chains to block the blade. Sparks flew from the impact as Noah guarded himself from the attack with his hand while rushing in closer.

Weapon Mastery guided him as he unwound the chain on his left hand, swinging it in an arc toward the specter’s head. The specter blinked away, dodging, and another thrust came at his back. Noah blinked back in response and a dance of engagements and teleports began between them, like a game of rock paper scissors, the outcomes were determined within an instant, and then reset as one or both participants teleported to dodge before reengaging with the battle.

Both were each other’s exact match. Both familiar with one another’s abilities to the fullest extent and capable of replicating it. The outcome for victory would be decided in a single instant, and yet neither relented.

Weapon Mastery guided Noah’s movements, each action he took now more precise. His chains moved like they had a mind of their own, wrapping around the spear, their suppression powers capable of resisting the rot on the weapon as he pulled the specter toward him. The specter rushed in, not pulling away or resisting, knowing they were equal in strength, and instead using the momentum to try and kick Noah in the gut to free the spear, but Noah was prepared, he angled his chains, catching the feet of the specter as he pulled at the spear, this time making the specter go off-balance.

With both hands tied and in an awkward grab, Noah used the only thing he could and slammed his head against the specter as hard as he could.

The impact resounded with a crack, both participants stumbling back from the shock. Noah felt blood drip down his forehead onto his cheeks before it burned away in steam from the residual heat rising from his body as Abyssal Inferno churned inside. Wyrmblood meant the injury was healed before it had even had a chance to open properly.

The shadow similarly stumbled, though no blood came from him, the specter entirely ethereal on the inside.

Both combatants panted. Noah let his chains dissolve away, extending a hand to the shadow.

The shadow grasped it in a shake.

“Reminds me of my high school days,” Noah said.

“Those bullies were never this mature after we kicked their asses though,” the shadow replied as the two of them snickered over the shared memory.

Noah checked his abilities, slightly disappointed to see no level ups, but there was more to combat than merely levels. He was much better at using the chains now, and there were budding insights about the flaws in his own spear usage that he had seen with the shadow specter. He would meditate on those tonight. And he had a feeling that after he did, he might just see a level up in his Weapon Mastery skill.

As Noah thought over what insights he could draw from this spar, his shadow gave him a hesitant glance.

“What?” Noah asked. It wasn’t like him to be shy.

“So, I’ve been thinking about this… and, don’t take this the wrong way⁠—”

“Sounds ominous.”

“—I’m definitely still you and all that but I’ve been thinking that it would be nice to have my own name.”

Noah looked at the specter in surprise.

“I know, it sounds weird, and I didn’t think it would bother me this much. But… like, I’m you but I’m also not entirely you, am I? Right now, I’m just ‘the shadow’ or ‘the specter’ or what have you and I thought that was fine, but I definitely also kinda feel like having my own name… my own identity, would be nice. Even if I’m still a part of you. A bit like Tony,” the shadow said.

Noah cupped his chin, humming in thought. “Well, I suck at names. I would call you Shadow but I’m afraid that’s been taken already.”

The specter chuckled. “Yeah, tell me about it. My whole shtick is not even unique!”

Noah thought a little bit more. “Dark… Noah?”

The specter cringed visibly.

“Yeah, never mind. I’m not good at this. But I’ll try to think of something. I don’t mind giving you a name. I just never did because… you have my face and everything, so it felt weird.”

“Yeah, no, I get it. I really get it. Not being yourself while also being the identical copy of someone is strange. But I’ve been telling myself that we’re kinda like twins. Similar but not the same, and inseparably tied together. Though in our case that’s also literal,” the shadow said.

“Yeah, I can see that. Hmm. A twin. Well, it’s not like we can ask Mom to name you.”

“Yeah… on that topic. Since souls are real and magic is real… do you think that⁠—”

“I don’t know,” Noah interjected. He’d definitely had the thought before. But this wasn’t Earth. There was no reason his mother or her soul would be here. So if she was somewhere, it would be on Earth, or wherever souls went after people died there.

He hoped it wasn’t the void.

Footsteps echoed from nearby, and a moment later the gate to the sparring chamber opened with a thud. Shadow Noah—That still felt awkward, but it was better than everything else Noah had thought of—had already melted back into his body, assimilating with his shadow.

Kaelan stood in the doorway, looking inside curiously.

“You were sparring by yourself?” The Draconian man raised an eyebrow.

“Uh, yeah, just some mild training,” Noah said.

“Alright. Well, the rest of us are going out into the city to explore a little, before getting some food. Remember the steak place I talked about that had the best stuff from anywhere? I managed to get a spot for us there, even though it typically needs a reservation a week ahead. You wanna join us?” Kaelan asked.

Noah adjusted his coat, which Tony had reformed without him even needing to ask. No matter how often he said this, it wasn’t enough: Tony was the best.

At the mention of food, Noah’s stomach let out an audible grumble and though he really didn’t need to eat food anymore, working out still raised his appetite.

“I suppose that’s answer enough,” Kaelan said with a smile.

Noah grinned back in response.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

EXPLORATION QUEST

Noah followed Kaelan out of the sparring chamber, arriving at the entrance of the estate where the rest of the party was gathered. Aurelia appeared rather sleepy, her eyes squinted and hair ever so slightly a mess, like she had only just woken up from her nap. Erwest and Valeria remained together, the paladin standing stoic as ever while Valeria continued to chat with him excitedly. Noah had to wonder if there was something going on between them, but it was hard for him to picture Erwest in any other expression besides a scowl.

Snow stood next to Seraphina, Sky flying next to her as Seraphina inspected the sky serpent with intrigue, the two discussing the magical properties of the creature. Upon his arrival, Snow rushed closer.

“Noah! Look what Seraphina taught me!” the girl exclaimed, Sky trailing behind her. She closed her eyes and whispered a chant under her breath. Noah could hear the words, but his language perk didn’t tell him what it meant, if anything. The tattoos on Snow’s body lit up with magic, one in particular flowing around before a moment later, her shadow stirred, and Shadow appeared in her arms.

Noah blinked, taken aback. Instead of the giant void wolf he usually saw, a manageable albeit still overgrown black wolf pup now hung in Snow’s grasp, licking at her fingers and wiggling around to go free.

“He’s so cute! Look at him!” Snow exclaimed, like any young girl would if given a puppy. Shadow wiggled around, managing to jump out of her grasp, clearly not comfortable with being treated like a cute little pup. Though, unfortunately for him, that was exactly what he was, and almost everyone nearby soon gathered around the tiny Shadow, looking at him with varying levels of expression. The only one who didn’t was Erwest, yet even his eternal scowl looked a little less mean as he looked at Shadow.

Aurelia on the other hand looked like she wanted to choke Shadow to death in a bear hug, and the wolf gave her a light growl that did not deter her whatsoever from petting him. His wagging tail at said pets did not help either.

“That’s really cute,” Noah said, giving in to the impulse as he couched down and pet the much smaller wolf. “Has he actually become a child now, or is this temporary?”

“Temporary,” Snow replied. “It’s a spell! It lets you summon big familiars as their smaller forms. They made it for big wyverns and griffins, but it works on almost anything.”

Tired of the attention, Shadow turned to Snow, jumping into her arms.

Kaelan clapped once to draw attention. “Alright, we should leave the familiar be and not give him a good reason to turn into his big form and bite.”

“Sorry about that, Shadow, I got excited,” Snow said, and Shadow licked her face affectionately. The girl looked at the others. “He says he’s not mad.”

Kaelan smiled. “Great. Now, it’s midday at best, and the place I talked about won’t open for six hours. So, I was thinking we could explore the city! It’s the first time for all of you, from what I can tell, and there’s a lot to be seen!”

“Where do you have in mind?” Valeria asked.

“They’re holding a drake race. Huge drakes, almost wild, on the outskirts in a forest track. You get to ride them and race to the end and the victor wins a cash prize. You’re also allowed to knock the other contestants off their rides,” Kaelan said, sharp teeth flashing.

“Pass,” Seraphina said immediately.

“I’ll pass as well,” Valeria added. “There’s a temple to the three gods here, right? I want to visit and let them know I’m here. And also commune with Rutha. He gets annoyed if I don’t talk to him for too long.”

She spoke as if the god was her friend, and given what he’d seen of the gods so far, Noah could believe that.

“I’m going to look for magic shops. Drakonias is outside Erandir’s mainland, and its magic origins are tied to old dragon magic. I bet there’s some rare grimoires and tomes to be found,” Seraphina said, almost drooling at the thought, before she glanced at Snow. “You wanna join me?”

Snow glanced between her, Noah, and the rest, like a girl looking to her parents for permission to be allowed to go play with a friend. Noah smiled at the look.

“Feel free to. You don’t need our permission,” Noah said.

Snow beamed at his words, blushing ever so slightly before she gave Seraphina a nod.

“I want to head to the adventurer’s guild. Check out what kind of quests they have. It’s been a while since I’ve done any simple and languid quests. All of it has been save this city, eradicate this cult. It sounds nice to do something simple again for once,” Aurelia said.

“I’ll join Valeria,” Erwest added.

“What about you, Noah?” Kaelan asked.

At his words, Noah saw a notification pop up in his vision.

Quest: Explore the city

You are in the city of dragons, explore your surroundings and discover things before you have to meet up for the evening.

Sub-objectives:

Visit Septah’s temple.

Participate in a drake race.

Complete an Adventuring Quest.

Buy a magical grimoire or tome.

Time Limit: 6 hours

Reward: Will vary based on sub-objective completion.

Noah raised an eyebrow. That was a little odd, since typically his quests were more… dangerous. Or combat focused. The different areas popped up on his mini map, showing exactly where he needed to go for the different subtasks. After a bit of thinking he got an idea. His shadow stirred for a second, before settling down. Noah decided to check the closest objective first.

“I’ll head to the guild with Aurelia. We’ll need to register with the guild anyway, and I might as well checkout some of the quests there,” Noah said.

Sub-quest initiated!

“Alright. I suppose we’ll all be splitting up then. The place is relatively easy to find, just look for a giant drake symbol drawn on top of a tavern in the merchant street. Or just ask anyone to point you to Darian’s Steaks and they’ll know where you need to go,” Kaelan said.

Noah nodded, noting the location marked on his mini map with a fork and a knife. He shook his head in amusement.

“Alright, then see you guys at the tavern,” Kaelan said, wings spreading behind him, and the man took off into the skies, kicking up dust.

Valeria turned to Erwest with a sly grin. “You want to⁠—”

“We’re walking,” the paladin said in a tone that indicated he would not listen to any further objections as he stepped out.

Seraphina let her magic swirl around with wind lifting her in the air, and Sky circled Snow, helping generate more lift as the two girls floated upward. “I’m certainly not walking when I can just fly,” Seraphina said, and Sky cheered as they flew off into the skies, heading out toward their goal.

Now only Noah and Aurelia remained. Noah turned to look at Aurelia who gave a shrug. Together, they left the estate, headed toward the adventuring guild.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

EXPLORATION PT. 1

The Drakonias adventurer guild embraced their Draconian identity, as Noah saw the large dragon depiction built upon the entrance, and other draconic symbols covering every part of the architecture. Much like the rest of the city, the building was made of stone, but the guild was structured more like a spire, with multiple floors and levels, alongside entrances that were clearly meant to be flown into. In some ways, it was quite similar to the Windrest guild and extremely different in other ways.

Noah walked behind Aurelia through the giant wooden gates. The guild on the inside was tall, with armor sets, stands carrying spears, and different trophies of monsters hanging on the walls as decorations. A bunch of adventurers were lounging around a table nearby, playing cards with pictures Noah didn’t recognize, while others inspected the quest board.

Instead of a magical board, this one was classy, with paper scrolls hung with pins. But even these weren’t meant to be removed, as Noah realized when an armored woman pulled out her own scroll, touching one of the listed quests and the writing was copied over.

The two of them walked up to the reception desk, a jubilant Draconian woman sitting there wearing two pink ribbons on her horns that did not go very well with her dark green scales. Noah used Identify.

[Draconian Manager - ??]

Noah wanted to roll his eyes at the question mark. He wondered how long it’d be before half the people he met would stop being too high leveled for his Identify perk. I’ll probably just go to somewhere even higher grade before that can happen.

The woman, unaware of Noah’s thoughts, greeted them. “Welcome. Those are some new faces. First time here?”

“Yup. We’d like to register and check out the quest board,” Aurelia replied, extending her adventuring plate. Noah followed, taking his own out from his inventory as well.

The woman quickly touched them to an orb that lit up on contact, showing words that displayed their general information. After both were registered, the receptionist handed them their plates back.

“We’re looking for a simple quest, something that could be done in a few hours if possible. Is there something like that available right now?” Aurelia asked.

The receptionist cupped her chin as she hummed to herself. “Since both of you seem to have status ailment resistances, I think I do have one,” she said, bending down to grab a scroll from a drawer which she pulled out and placed on the table.

“It’s a quest to catch an escaped cat. A dragon blood cat from the family of a wealthy merchant, who’s put out a rather large reward compared to the difficulty of the quest,” the woman replied.

Noah wanted to snort. Did they really have people catching runaway cats? He certainly wasn’t interested in spending his evening walking around trying to lure a pet cat for some rich lady.

Aurelia raised an eyebrow. “I’m surprised this hasn’t been taken already. That’s a classic golden quest if I’ve ever seen one.”

“Golden quest? Catching a cat?” Noah asked.

“Golden quest—it’s an easy quest that pays well. Typically because it’s a personal quest from some rich person or family. You can almost never catch one unless you get really lucky. The moment one arrives they get snatched up. And unlike you, most adventurers don’t enjoy throwing themselves into danger recklessly,” Aurelia replied.

“Well, there’s a few problems. The cat in question, Draco, has wings, so he can fly. The second is that he seems to have been hit with a [Madness] spell, though thankfully only a minor one. But it makes him erratic, and difficult to catch. He’s… quite fast,” the receptionist said.

“Madness? That’s… a cultist spell,” Aurelia said.

The receptionist nodded, bringing out another sheet. “This is a quest we’ve issued. There have been disturbances with madness inflicted creatures, and we want to find the source.”

At the woman’s words, a quest prompt popped up in front of Noah.

Sub-quest updated!

Sub-Quest: Feline Madness

Catch Draco the cat and find out what’s been inflicting madness on the nearby creatures.

Time: 6 hours

Difficulty: Medium

Reward: Given upon main quest completion.

Noah was surprised he wasn’t given a prompt to accept as the quest had simply been updated. He was a little peeved about that. He’d been thinking of looking into it, but now he felt like he was being told to, and that made him want to not do it anymore.

Grumbling to himself, he picked up the quest sheet. “We might as well check it out,” Noah said.

Aurelia gave a nod. A moment later, he heard a telepathic message from her, “The guild did tell us there has been lunar cultist movement here. Technically that’s why we’re here, and not the trial. This might give us some more insight into that.”

“Very well, in that case please take this and feed it to Draco. It will cure any status affliction he has,” the receptionist said, handing a pellet to Aurelia.

Noah inspected the item.

[White Herb Pellet (Uncommon, Rank F)]

A pellet made from purifying white herbs mixed with cat food. The pellet can cure [Frost], [Toxin], [Poison], [Burn], [Paralysis], [Bleed], [Madness], and [Terror] up to a single rank.

“Draco was last seen near the forest, just outside the city,” the receptionist said.

“Thanks,” Aurelia replied with a light nod.

Leaving the guild, Noah opened his mini map, noticing a new quest marker with a cat icon telling him the general area he needed to look in.

“I have the location,” Noah said.

“Yeah, I see it too,” Aurelia said, glancing at a similar tab open in front of her. “Your Astral Script is so strange. I never get used to seeing it.”

“Now imagine having to get used to an entirely new world,” Noah replied.

“Touché.”

“Let’s go find this cat,” Noah said, and they headed out toward the forest.

At the edge of the city, the tropical forest landscape expanded in all directions, covering the bright blue skies with deep green foliage that was filled to the brim with life.

Noah checked the map and noted he was in the right area. This was an awful far place for a pet cat to come to. The chittering of creatures abated whenever Noah looked toward the source, and he could tell it was his Abyssal Predator Path that the effect was coming from, telling the creatures to avoid his attention.

Add his new Draconian aura and that only made finding a cat difficult.

“So, how are we looking? Should we split up?” Aurelia asked.

“I have a better idea,” Noah replied, and reached into his Astral Vault, summoning Bun Bun.

The dragonspawn appeared nearby, stretching his limbs before yawning loudly. Its eyes looking at Noah expectantly.

“We’ll be needing you, buddy,” Noah said.

Bun Bun didn’t move an inch, still looking at him expectantly.

“Payment first, huh?” he muttered.

Reaching down, Noah let the dragonspawn bite his finger and greedily lick his blood. After he was satisfied, Bun Bun sniffed the air, moving through the forest with the two of them following behind.

After a few moments of following Bun Bun, the dragonspawn paused, eyes turning focused. A second later, Bun Bun’s wings unfurled, lightning crackling around him as he shot forward in a blur.

Noah and Aurelia glanced at each other in surprise, then rushed after Bun Bun. Running through the forest and using Arcane Step, the two kept up.

In the distance, Noah spotted a creature moving rapidly, wings furled as Bun Bun gave chase. Reaching out to his Predator’s Mark he focused on his target, and the mark was applied on the rapidly moving cat.

Reaching through the mark, Noah let out a guttural growl, and his aura flowed over to the creature. Just for good measure, Noah summoned Bloodwyrm Swarm, as bloodwyrms rose from the ground, wrapping around the creature. Bun Bun grabbed the cat as well, pressing a foot down onto it, as he looked up at Noah, feeling like a proud child showing off a successful hunt.

“Good job, Bun Bun,” Noah said, brushing the dragonspawn’s head, then called him back to his Astral Vault. On the ground, the cat continued to hiss and howl, claws trying to cut through Noah’s bloodwyrms. Noah noted the cat’s eyes were red, clearly taken by madness.

He used Identify on it.

[Draconian Feline (Draco) - lvl 103]

[Status: Madness - I]

Aurelia knelt near the cat, and the creature thrashed even more, hissing loudly at her. “Calm down, we’re here to help you,” she said, trying to show the pill but the cat didn’t seem in any mood to be reasonable. A moment later, growing frustrated, Aurelia shoved the pill into the cat’s mouth.

As the cat bit onto the pill, it paused, the thrashing fading. Another bite, as the pill broke down and magic flowed through its body, its eyes turned normal.

After a few moments when the cat finally calmed down, Noah let the Bloodwyrm Swarm fade, and Aurelia picked him up, brushing its fur.

“Well, guess we have him,” Aurelia said.

Noah nodded, glancing at his mini map. “It’s a little strange that a pet cat was all the way out here. Do you want to search a little?”

Aurelia nodded, and Noah continued looking around. There was a strange feeling he was getting but he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. After a short while, he finally noticed it.

It was the noise in the background. It was too quiet here, like there was something wrong with the forest itself in the area. Little eyeballs rose from Noah’s body as Tony began to scout the area.

Within a minute, the symbiote had found the source of the problem, returning with a flutter.

“Found it,” Noah said, following behind Tony as the symbiote led them to a ruin. Walking inside, Noah stepped back when a powerful growl came from within and he saw a bunch of creatures with glowing eyes. Large rats, a fox, some bats, and everything in between here seemed to have been inflicted with madness. Before the creatures could strike, Noah summoned Bloodwyrm Swarm to restrain them.

A burst of flames took out the few he hadn’t been able to trap. Noah let his aura surge, marking them one after the next with Predator’s Mark as the Terror effect froze them in place.

Stepping into the ruin, Noah pushed aside vines leading inside, and saw an azure orb with an eye carved into it glowing with magic as a beam of sunlight poured onto it from the top of the ruin.

[Cosmic Lunar Eye] has inflicted [Madness].

You have resisted [Madness].

Noah raised an eyebrow, and picked up the orb, using Identify on it.

[Cosmic Lunar Eye (Uncommon/Cursed, Rank D)]

An azure orb holding a crescent moon emblem. Gazing into its glowing surface is known to induce vertigo and unease. Crafted by an ancient cult who worshipped the primordial Watcher, using concentrated pale moonlight to empower their rituals, often driving them mad.

A chime played as Noah read through the description.

“That’s a lunar cultist item. But why out here?” Aurelia said, avoiding looking directly at the orb. Noah put it into his Astral Vault to avoid risking accidentally inflicting madness onto anything nearby.

“Not sure. This doesn’t look like a cultist hideout. Too small and unkept,” Noah said, sniffing the air. “No smell for any people having been here in a long time beside us.”

“Let’s go back for now,” Aurelia said, and Noah nodded.

Together, the two of them retreated from the ruins, and Noah looked at the creatures writhing against his restraints.

“What are we going to do about them?” He asked.

“Curing them… will be too expensive. Without the orb, there’s nothing keeping them here and if we leave them, they’ll kill the wildlife till some other adventurer has to come kill them. It’s best if we take care of it,” Aurelia said.

Noah nodded, and Aurelia handed him the cat. Noah looked at Draco, the Draconian cat giving him an annoyed expression—he put the creature in his Astral Vault. He stepped outside as Aurelia remained inside. A moment later, a blinding flash of fire shook the ruins and notifications flashed through Noah’s vision. He didn’t read them. Killing helpless creatures gave him no joy.

Aurelia stepped out a moment later, the ruins collapsing behind her and kicking up dust.

“No one should be able to go inside and stir things up anymore,” Aurelia said.

“Good work,” Noah said, extending a hand to her.

Aurelia looked at him, raising an eyebrow in question.

“I set a marker. We can teleport back,” he said, smiling.

“Remind me to get teleportation abilities in my next life,” Aurelia said, grabbing Noah’s hand as he activated Arcane Step.

Quest completed!

Noah dismissed the notification as he returned the cat, and put the lunar eye down as well, with a cloth draped over it. The receptionist looked at the item warily, putting it away. Taking their plates, she touched the orb, and the crystals were transferred over.

“The reward is 10 D grade crystals for the cat, and 20 D grade crystals for the orb, for a total of 30, I’ve added 15 each to both of your plates,” the receptionist said, handing the plates back.

Aurelia whistled. Noah was impressed as well. That was quite good pay for such a short quest.

“Do you know how that orb got there?” Noah asked.

“Oh, if I had to guess, it’s likely an old artifact that got awakened when someone interacted with it. We had a big lunar cultist presence back in the day before we exterminated the cult and banished the cultists. But every now and then some items still get unearthed,” she said.

Noah nodded. Well, that was that for now.

“What do you plan to do now?” Aurelia asked. “We have some time.”

Noah looked at his exploration quest and saw the guild quest crossed out. The two of them still had two hours left before they had to meet for dinner. Noah looked through his list of quests, opening the map.

The temple of Septah was nearby.

“Think I’ll be heading to the temples,” Noah said.

“Surprising. I got a message from Snow, so I’ll be meeting up with her and Seraphina,” Aurelia said, raising her bracelet to show the blinking light indicating a message. Looking at it, Noah had to wonder if Zax was taking note of the offhanded mentions Noah had made of phones and what not as he made these.

He certainly kept adding new features to the bracelets all the time.

“Sounds good,” he replied.

“See you at the tavern, then,” Aurelia said, heading out of the guild.

Noah made his way out as well. Looking at the location he needed to go, Noah channeled Arcane Step and began to teleport across the city.

He’d gotten tired of walking.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

EXPLORATION PT. 2

Noah teleported to the steps of the temple, drawing a couple of surprised glances. The surroundings had a more fifty-fifty ratio of humans and Draconian, a bunch wearing different symbols and emblems of their respective gods. White marbled stones formed the temple, a common theme that Noah had begun noticing across the many temples and churches to the gods. Did they all just prefer white? He’d expected a bit more variance across locations, but given that the gods could just talk to their followers, perhaps it wasn’t quite like that.

Noah made his way up the steps, deciding not to teleport or otherwise use his abilities too much. The last time he’d done that around a space for a god had resulted with him in handcuffs.

Not that they can really stop me with those anymore.

The thought amused him. Continuing on his way, Noah began to take note of the depictions on the temple. Oddly enough, the construction reminded him of roman buildings from back in his world. The entrance had distinctive pillars built high and tall with three giant entrances into the structure. Each gate had a sculpture of the respective gods carved at the top, depicting which one was dedicated to each god.

The left most one had Hellion standing with a sword in her hand, wings flared behind her, looking poised and determined, as she always did. At the right side was a man, he had scars on his body, and flowing hair that ran like a mane down his back, with a square jaw and sharp eyes. A war axe rested on his shoulder with casual grace. Rutha.

In the centermost gate was a woman, wearing flowing robes, and her hand to her chest, a motherly expression of love and concern on her face. She looked different now, but Noah could see the resemblance to the Septah he had met in his dream.

Would she remember? It didn’t exactly happen, it was just a dream trial. And yet… I have a feeling that she will remember anyway.

Noah could see Erwest’s location on his mini map. He was inside Hellion’s church, and Noah decided not to disturb the paladin. He often went to pray and did not appreciate being intruded upon. Not to mention, it would likely be best if he did this on his own.

He walked into the central chamber, marveling at the inside of the temple. Different sculptures depicted various depictions of Septah. The goddess stood in one, gingerly covering the eyes of a child and with another hand she banished cosmic abominations.

In others, she could be seen at the bedside of an old woman, her hands giving comfort to her in her last moments.

Dozens of other depictions were present, showing all sorts of different stories. Noah continued to take them all in with fascination as he made his way inside. The temple itself was rather small and straight forward, without too many people within.

At the center beneath colored glass panes, was the statue of Septah, words to a prayer to the goddess carved onto the pedestal she stood on. Before he could read the words, a woman caught his eye. She knelt near the statue, wearing white robes that seemed to indicate she was a priestess of sorts, but the thing that caught his attention was the white blindfold the woman wore on her eyes. Noah used Identify.

[Priestess of Septah - lvl 147]

Noah was surprised when the woman turned to him, inclining her head in question. “Is there something wrong, faithful one?”

Noah realized he’d been staring. “Oh, I’m sorry. I just—err, I was surprised by your blindfold, but didn’t want to be rude. Is that some kind of practice?”

The priestess rose to her feet. “You must not have seen a priestess of Septah before. Eyes are that with which we watch the sins of the world and let the evils seep into us. To avoid being tainted by such things, we give our sight to the goddess, and in return, obtain her eternal light, letting us see things from within our souls and avoid the madness of the Watcher,” the priestess replied.

Noah was fascinated at that. A skill that let you see from the soul sounded awfully similar to his Abyssal Awareness ability. He wondered how different the ability the priestess had was from his own.

“But I am surprised,” the priestess continued. “You have the goddess’ blessing on you, indicating you have encountered her… not just in prayer, but in spirit. Yet you were surprised by me.”

Noah scratched his cheek. “I’ve encountered the goddess in a dream before. This is my first time visiting her temple. She’d told me she would remember me if I visited her.”

He could see the priestess’ eyes widen in surprise even through the blindfold covering her eyes. “Is that truly so? Well, why don’t you send a prayer to the mother. Perhaps she will commune with you.”

“Alright. Although… I have no idea how to do that.”

The priestess smiled. “Do not worry. The goddess does not take offense easily. Simply read the prayer and call to her with a genuine heart. I will show you.”

Noah walked right up to the statue, behind a hand railing preventing people from directly touching the statue or dirtying it.

“Kneel here. I will read the prayer, simply follow me,” the priestess guided, kneeling in front of the statue.

Noah kneeled next to her on one knee, feeling a little awkward at the motion. He looked up at the statue and the words written on it, before he joined his hands together. The priestess began and Noah closed his eyes, trying to recall the image of Septah in his mind.

“Goddess Septah, cloak our minds,

Shield us from the Watcher’s spell that blinds.

Save us from the moonlit sky,

In your grace let sanity abide.”

Noah waited for something to happen. A few breaths passed, and he was about to open his eyes, giving up on the task, when something bright manifested somewhere in front of him.

You’ve invoked Septah’s name.

A gasp came from next to him and Noah opened his eyes and saw the goddess’s statue glowing with light. Everyone in the temple was bowing their heads from his periphery vision, even as his eyes remained affixed on the goddess’s statue.

“Close your eyes, the goddess is speaking with you!” the priestess quickly spoke, and Noah closed his eyes. The light began to grow around him, and a moment later, the world changed. He opened his eyes once again, and found himself standing in cloudy expanse, the goddess standing in front of him with a smile.

This wasn’t his first time meeting a goddess by any means—he absent-mindedly noted that he’d not met a single god besides the void god, if he could even give that eldritch abomination a gender—but with his senses grown, he could see… a lot more. And what he saw felt a little like trying to stare at the sun. The goddess’ presence was overpowering, it wasn’t oppressive and it didn’t freeze him in place, yet he could feel her power in a deep part of his soul that told him this woman was beyond mortal understanding.

“It is good to see you again, Noah. Thank you for saving me back then,” Septah said.

Noah blinked, taking a moment to respond. “Uh—you’re welcome.”

The goddess’ smile widened at his response.

He tried to close his eyes and pull himself together for a moment. “Sorry, and hold on—you remember that?”

“I do. I told you I would. I do not lie,” Septah replied, tilting her head. “Or are you implying that I would?”

“No, no, no, nothing like that, I was just surprised. Does that mean the dream really happened?” Noah asked, finding his thoughts running. He hadn’t really expected to meet Septah just like that, and it’d thrown him off-balance.

“Not quite. It was a dream, but dreams are part of reality too. Just not reality itself. I saw and experienced everything you saw and experienced, in much the same way. Just like how I am both here and not at the same time,” Septah replied.

“Right, Aspects, I was told about it. Must be difficult being all over the world at the same time,” Noah said.

Septah giggled. “That is the first time someone has showed sympathy to me for my position. But no, it is not difficult. It would be harder to ignore my faithful and not respond.”

“Fair enough,” Noah replied, unsure of where to go from here. “So… do you want something from me?”

“That should be my question, no? You’re the one who called me,” Septah said.

“Right, right, I did.”

“You’re not used to interacting with deities when it’s not an antagonistic position, or when you aren’t willfully barging your way in, are you?” Septah said.

Noah scratched his cheek at that in embarrassment. For some reason, the woman unsettled him more so than Hellion, Avera, or even the void god ever did. Noah didn’t understand why until he looked in the woman’s eyes.

Her eyes, the way she looked at him, was filled with empathy and love.

It reminded him of his mother.

Something twisted painfully in his chest.

“Let me help you remember why you wished to have me here. I believe there are some questions you wish to know the answers to,” Septah said.

“Right. I do, yeah. What… what was that dream all about? Why were you a child? And, why were those things after you?”

“It was the war against the Crimson Heart, led by the old goddess of war, Raelinah. They were after me… because I was still in my nascent form, and they wished to sacrifice me to the heart, to give it power,” Septah said.

“Raelinah… do you know her then? And what happened afterward? Who won?” Noah asked.

“I don’t know. Unlike the dream, I had died back then.”

“What?” Noah stared in shock. “I thought gods were immortal? And you—you’re still here?”

“Gods die too, Noah. Though not permanently. When one of us dies, our Aspects reform us, typically as younger forms of ourselves. We will know a lot of things, including who we are, from birth. But the memories of our past incarnations are lost. The memories of my time back then are anecdotal. Sources borne by others who carry the memories still,” Septah said with a sad look on her face.

“And to answer your other question. I do know Raelinah. Or did. After the war, she left our realm through the Astral Rifts, a feat previously thought impossible, even for us, to somewhere beyond. To what purpose… I do not know,” Septah said.

Noah chewed over the words.

“Do you know what my connection to her is? And… if gods are immortal. How come one of them died and left behind Shards?”

Again, Septah’s expression changed, a look of pity forming on her face.

“Your connection to Raelinah… it is difficult for me to speak of it. I cannot give you an answer to those questions, Noah. But if you truly wish to know no matter what… seek the Reaper,” Septah said.

The clouds began to swirl around them.

“I’m afraid our time will have to end here, Noah. Thank you for coming to see me,” she said.

“Wait! I still haven’t⁠—”

The world shot back into focus, as Noah opened his eyes, still kneeling in front of the statue in the temple. A jumble of emotions swirling in his chest, as his unsaid words equally swirled in his mind.

I still haven’t asked why you were looking at me like it hurt you to see me.

Noah stood back up on his feet, and found the priestess nearby, who bowed her head to him.

“May the goddess’s mercy heal your soul,” she said.

Noah nodded, making his way out. He didn’t want to stay here for much longer if he could.

His eyes went to the timer of his quest, and he saw it tick down by the minute, before chiming with a ding.

Sub-quest completed.

Quest: Exploration, completed!

Noah dismissed the prompt. He would check the rewards later. Taking a deep breath, he channeled Arcane Step and teleported away.

Some food was exactly what he needed right now.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

DRAKAN’S STEAKS

Noah followed his mini map, arriving in front of an establishment with a wooden banner on top that had a Draconian man holding out a plate with the most oversized peace of steak he had ever seen in his life.

Through his ability, Noah could already see inside the tavern, noting that Erwest, Valeria, and Aurelia were already inside. Walking in, the door rang with a chime. A bulky Draconian man called out.

“Welcome to Drakan’s Steaks!” He stood behind an obsidian looking platform on top of which he grilled a giant piece of steak. The smell of food filled the air. A smaller, younger Draconian girl that wore a typical tavern maid’s dress and carried three mugs of ale and a plate of food greeted him.

“Do you have a seat booked? If not⁠—”

“He’s with us!” Aurelia called out, raising her hand and the girl looked behind before giving Noah a nod.

Noah walked to the table where Aurelia sat nursing a glass of some kind of drink while Valeria had a mug of ale. Erwest did not have anything in front of him. He knew the churches did not restrict the consumption of alcohol by any means, in a world with magic filled with Awakened. All except Hellion’s church, which wasn’t a fan, but did not outright ban it. The paladin was merely a stickler for rules.

“Looks like I’m early,” Noah said, taking a seat, and a waiter took his drink order, arriving in a jiff with a mug of ale.

“You’re on time. The others are late instead,” Aurelia replied, taking a sip from her drink that had what looked like swirling glitter inside of it that constantly changed colors. Noah could sense mana coming off of it. It looked fancy.

“How did your visit go?” Aurelia asked.

“Good. I think. Shorter than I’d thought,” Noah replied.

“I assume the ruckus at the temple was because of you?” Valeria asked, swirling her cup of ale.

“Ruckus?” Noah asked.

“Normally the gods do not commune so easily with people who are merely visiting. But Septah visited upon your arrival. People took note,” Valeria replied with a grin.

Erwest merely grunted.

“Not that this guy would know. He talks to the gods as if they were his friends,” Aurelia said, shaking her head.

“Well, if there’s any god who wouldn’t take offense to that, it would be Septah,” Valeria said, taking a sip. “She’s kind. Perhaps too kind, even. Rutha often grumbles about how easy she is on her followers.”

“You seem to have a friendly relationship with your god,” Noah asked.

“Of course. I have sworn my life to him, it is only natural. And unlike this guy, we don’t revere Rutha as a distant object to be worshipped, he’s a guiding source, a light to be followed, he guides us, and we make sure he does not stray too far from his Path.”

“Your god is the youngest in the Pantheon too. Mother Hellion has seen the wars,” Erwest said, glancing at Valeria.

“Don’t say that to Rutha. He’s sensitive about it,” Valeria said.

“You know, I actually don’t know much about Rutha. I know that he’s the god of war and he took the position after Raelinah left… but how? Can anyone just become a god?”

“Hmm, well, there’s a lot of history on that topic. Too much to cover right now, so I’ll give you the short answer. No, Rutha did not become a god after Raelinah left. He was already one. He merely filled her role. The great wars—When the Crimson Heart fell, when all gods except Hellion died, and when Raelinah left her throne—that was when Rutha first arrived. He was a lesser god, in the western lands to where the rot had made its home. He was the god of valor. And when Raelinah left, he stepped up to fill her role, becoming one of the three primary deities of the Pantheon,” Valeria said.

The door chimed once more, and this time Seraphina and Snow walked in, with Snow carrying some heavy looking magical tomes. “Oh, talking of the Great War, are we?” Seraphina said, interest piqued as she took a seat. Snow, similarly, sat next to her, setting the books down onto the table.

“Just giving a quick rundown, don’t get started, Seph,” Valeria said, rolling her eyes. “This girl is a history nerd. It’s why I don’t talk about any of this often.”

“What’re those books?” Aurelia asked.

“Some grimoires we got. These ones are for Snow, to help her learn some summoning spells outside of base abilities. She can’t just rely on ability like a dumb brute when she’s got such a prime base to be a well rounded summoner. I almost wanna steal her from you guys,” Seraphina said, patting Snow’s head as the girl blushed.

Aurelia pouted.

“Why not put them in your storage bracelet?” Noah asked.

“The magic might interfere with the content of the books,” Snow replied.

“You need a perfectly stable spacial dimension to store these without any damage and even I can’t cast one. I have one ring made especially for storage for that purpose,” Seraphina said.

Noah called on his Astral Vault, he let a slit in reality open up above his hand to show inside. “Will this work?”

“That—” Seraphina paused, looking at the cut in reality floating above his hand for a few moments. Her eyes flashed, and she nodded. “Yeah… is that an ability?”

“Yup. Storage perk, ability and Arcane Body,” Noah replied, as he glanced at Snow. “You want me to store these?”

The girl gave him a nod, and Noah touched the books, storing them inside his dimensional vault. He took a moment to check the notifications he got.

You’ve obtained 1x [Grimoire of Conjuration Spellcasting]

You’ve obtained 1x [General Arcanum Compendium - I]

You’ve obtained 1x [Grimoire of Summoning Spectral Elementals]

When he looked up from his notifications, Seraphina had moved next to him, her eyes shining.

“Hey, Noah. Do you have any plans to go back to your world?”

Naoh raised an eyebrow at the sudden question. “Not at the moment, no.”

“Good, so… you want to settle here? In our world?” she asked.

“Uhh, I mean… I guess?”

Seraphina nodded, leaning away as she cupped her chin in thought. Noah was weirded out by the girl, and could see her sneaking glances at him every few seconds. After a few seconds of silence, she asked, “Why don’t we get married?”

“What?” Noah nearly spat the ale he’d been drinking, coughing in sheer surprise.

“What!” Aurelia shouted, louder than even him.

“Not again, Seph!” Valeria replied, rising from her chair.

“I mean it this time!” Seraphina protested, refocusing on the still coughing Noah and grabbing his hand. “My father is a well respected mage, and he’s been wanting me to get married anyway. With your strength, he shouldn’t have any complaints given how fast you’re growing. We could be an amazing duo! I could teach you spell casting, and how to use your magic way more effectively. And our children, with your Arcane Body and clearly distinct bloodline, combined with my expertise, would be the strongest mages this world has ever seen. They could break new grounds in magic, advancing the entire world by leagues. Think of all the things we could achieve together!” Seraphina’s eyes were quite literally glowing from an overflow of mana.

A chime rang from the door once more as Kaelan stepped through, raising a brow at the commotion unfolding.

“What’s going on?” he asked. Half the table was gaping at Seraphina’s proposal in shock, while Valeria cupped her head in embarrassment.

“She proposed again. This time to Noah,” Valeria said.

“Oh, hah! No,” Kaelan said, grabbing Seraphina by the scruff. “Don’t be a nuisance, Seph.”

“He hasn’t yet refused!” Seraphina shouted, protesting.

Kaelan paused. “Oh, he hasn’t?” He looked at Noah.

All eyes were set on him, and Noah found himself almost wanting to teleport out of the room immediately.

“Uh, I think I’ll pass,” he replied, looking at Seraphina. “No offense to you though, you’re lovely and all that. But I don’t plan to do something like that.”

“There, you heard the man,” Kaelan said, dumping Seraphina onto her chair. Shaking his head, Kaelan sat down next to her.

Seraphina looked dejected. “My magical arcane babies…” she whispered under her breath.

“Don’t pay attention to her, she gets like this whenever she hears of an innate Perk or Bloodline ability that she enjoys. She’d proposed to Kaelan when she first met him because her dragonoid babies would serve as good research material for studying old Draconian magic,” Valeria said.

“Right,” Noah replied, still taken aback by the whole encounter.

“Moving on—have you guys ordered already?” Kaelan asked, glancing at Valeria.

“While back, should be ready soon,” Valeria replied.

“Nice. I was worried the hunt may have gone poorly but it seems not,” Kaelan said.

“The hunt?” Noah asked.

“Oh yeah, they go out to the northern cliffs where the wyverns live and hunt them. There’s a whole bunch that call the mountain tops their home. It’s a pretty dangerous place and the hunt doesn’t go well a lot of times, which is partly why it’s hard to get a reservation for this place,” Kaelan said.

“Huh,” Noah said, remembering seeing some of the wyverns in the distance. “Could we go there? Seems like a good place to train.”

“Hmm. That’s not a bad idea. But it’s… also a dangerous place. The younger wyverns are fine, but the older ones are all B rank. And the oldest, the elder wyverns, are A rank… they would kill us pretty quickly. The only reason this place works is because the older wyverns think any weak ones who die to us just prunes their spawn. It encourages the wyverns to grow and keeps them strong,” Kaelan said.

Noah pictured wrestling with a wyvern, before taking to the skies on the back of one. He grinned at the thought.

The door’s bell rang once more, and Noah sensed Zax and Valros walk into the establishment.

“Ah, you’re here at last,” Kaelan said.

“Apologies for the delay. Some things had come up,” Zax replied, smiling politely.

Noah looked at the dragon, sending him a telepathic message. “How did it go with Valros?”

“He knows of our identity. And there is indeed a dragon here. We will discuss more of this later,” Zax replied.

The two of them took a seat, when Kaelan looked at Zax. “Actually, with Zax around, we could definitely head to the wyvern cliffs. Noah suggested we could go there to train,” Kaelan said.

“Nonsense. You shouldn’t trouble the man for such pointless tasks,” Valros spat back.

“No such thing. It is an interesting idea. We could head there after the royal court,” Zax said.

“Royal court?” Noah asked.

“Precisely. We wanted to meet the king. Why don’t the rest of you come with us?” Zax said.

Noah spotted Valros’ expression shift and twist, as if he’d break out in a sweat if he could. In contrast, an amused hint of a smile lingered on Zax’s expression.

“Sure,” Noah replied, not probing too deep.

Zax nodded, satisfied.

A few moments later, the man cooking the steak approached their table, carrying a massive plate with a huge piece of steak, which he set down at the center of the table. The tavern maid girl walked around, placing smaller plates in front of each of them.

“Here you go, folks, the prized Drakan Steak, hunted just today from a B rank level 321 Lightning Wyvern. I won’t say much more, the meat will speak for itself,” the man said, standing with his chest puffed out.

Noah looked at the giant, still sizzling slab of meat, with silver flesh on the sides and a deep red core in the middle, and the smell began to make him drool. Cutting into it, he grabbed a slice and then took a bite.

An electric shock ran through his body, the steak melting in his mouth.

Letting out a gasp, Noah stared with wide eyes, noting similar reactions from the rest of them all around him.

“Holy shit,” he heard Valeria mutter.

Noah agreed. Holy shit indeed.

Kaelan grinned at their expressions. “I told you this place was the best.”

Without a further word, he began to dig into the steak with abandon, feeling it pulsing with power. By the time he was done, he was stuffed to the point that he couldn’t eat a single bite more.

Noah noted some notifications that had popped in his vision.

You’ve consumed [Lightning Wyvern Steak].

Power increased by two permanently.

Agility increased by one permanently.

Minor buff to lightning damage provided.

He smiled at that, energy filling his body.

“That was amazing,” he said.

“Of course, only the best at my place,” the burly Draconian chef said. Noah glanced at him, and used Identify.

[Drakan Chef - ???]

A B rank chef? Goddamn, I didn’t know that was a thing.

“Drakan is the best,” Kaelan said.

“Hey, if we bring you a hunt of our own, could you make it again?” Noah asked.

The chef snorted. “Easily. This one was weaker than usual. Bring me a powerful one, and I’ll show you a meal you’ll never forget in your life,” Drakan said.

Noah nodded. That was it then. His plan was fixed.

He was going to go hunt himself some wyverns.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

QUEST REWARD

Noah and the rest of the group had returned to Kaelan’s estate, and Noah sat in his room, legs crossed, as he practiced his Meditation. The suns had set over the horizon, nighttime taking over the skies, and as Noah focused on his breath, he felt the window in his chambers shift ever so slightly.

“Took you a while,” Noah replied, glancing behind himself.

His shadow stood there, leaning against the wall. “Had some stuff come up. You’ll want to see this,” the shadow replied, as a tome appeared in his hand.

Noah inspected the title.

[Tome of Soul Harvest (???)]

A forbidden tome of soul harvest.

Noah raised an eyebrow at the tome.

“The old witch running the place immediately knew what I was. Told me she had what I wanted but made me run some errands for it. After that, she gave a dumb prize, but I managed to win enough by betting on drake races,” the shadow said.

“You bet my money? How much?” Noah asked.

The shadow shrugged. “We have enough left. But this didn’t come cheap. This cost twelve B grade crystals. I won four, there’s four left after the costs.”

Noah’s eyes widened. “What the fuck?” That was nearly everything he’d made so far, including the reward for saving all of Heartilia.

“Why did you⁠—”

“It’s worth it. I wasn’t going to, but I damn well could tell that this was worth it. Have you seen a tome with question marks on its rarity? And that’s with our upgraded Identify,”

Noah paused. That… was true. The only times he’d encountered that was when he had inspected the Shard, or the scale of the Wyrm. Still… having spent that much definitely stung a little.

“The quest reward better be worth it,” he murmured.

He opened the quest window, looking at his notifications.

Quest completed!

Sub-quest completion: 4/4

Rewards:

1x [Skill Book of Advanced Soul Binding (Legendary)]

Noah stared at the reward in confusion.

His shadow whistled at that. “If there was ever suspicion regarding your Paths, that will make it clear that you’re evil and need to be killed.”

“Why is this the reward?”

The shadow shrugged. “Why do you think I’d know? We’re the same person. I know about as much as you do.”

“You know what happened at the shop you went to. Your soul harvest tome may be why this was the reward,” Noah said.

“I seriously doubt that. We both did an equal number of quests,” the shadow replied.

Noah felt frustration fill his chest, but before he could speak further, a slip of paper fell from the tome, fluttering before it touched the ground.

Glancing at the shadow in surprise, Noah picked up the paper slip, reading what was written on it.

Spell of Re-animation: A spell to bring those who have died and departed to the beyond, back to this world.

Below that, the steps for the spell were written, explaining the rituals and components needed in brief.

“Oh boy. That’s some not fun magic, huh?” the shadow said.

Noah glanced at the shadow, reading the list of items needed.

“A spectral heart. A spectral soul replica. Advanced Soul Binding. A soul harvest ability, general resistance to all forms of magic. Soul resistance and Soul Modification,” Noah said.

“Seems tailored to fit you,” the shadow said. “Maybe the quest system’s looking out for you or something?”

“Or maybe it’s been giving me rewards and leading me in directions that result in this Path,” Noah said. He did not like that thought.

The shadow flowed into dark motes, melting as he grabbed the tome, sitting cross legged across from Noah on the floor, flipping through the notes.

“Ah shit,” the shadow cursed a moment later, closing his eyes. “Damn thing inflicts madness if you read it.”

Noah grabbed the tome back. “Stop playing with that.”

The shadow clutched its eye, rubbing it a few moments longer. “Alright… lesson learned. The question now is—are you gonna use that?”

“Not without knowing more about it,” Noah said, tapping his bracelet. He felt the spell fizzle into place as it connected to Zax.

“Zax. I need you here for something. It’s important.”

A second later, the dragon appeared right next to Noah in a blink. The dragon’s eyes scanned the area, before he glanced down at Noah. “Nothing seems to have breached our spell perimeters without our notice. What is the emergency?”

“This,” Noah said, handing the soul binging skill tome to Zax. “I got that from a quest. Err, quests are a thing I get when⁠—”

“You’ve explained it before,” Zax said, flipping open the tome and reading through the contents. “Interesting.”

“I had a quest to… explore? And one of the things I got from a sub-quest was this tome. And then this spell procedure,” Noah said, a limb of shadow extending from the ground as his shadow specter handed the book to Zax.

Zax looked through everything, frowning as he did.

“Interesting. This is old magic. Older than we thought still existed. We assume you can’t see the rarity of this?” Zax asked.

Noah shook his head.

“How much did this cost you?” Zax asked.

“Nearly everything I had,” Noah replied.

“Hmm, cheap. This here is an Ancient rarity tome. It’s a special rarity category that does not appear often, similar to Unique and Growth, but even rarer, for things that predate the Astral Script’s existence,” Zax said.

You’ve learned of the Ancient rarity.

You’ll be able to identify Ancient rarity items from now on.

Noah looked at the tome, using Identify on it once again.

[Tome of Soul Harvest (Ancient)]

A forbidden tome of soul harvest from a period of history lost to time.

“This seems like something I shouldn’t be using?” Noah asked.

“Well. We can’t say that. Just for this tome alone—use it for sure. You already have a harvest ability, this will likely fuse with that to produce something new. As for this skill book and spell…” Zax frowned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well. There are three caveats to this procedure and ability, Noah. But first, we’ll explain what the spell itself is,” Zax said. “After using this spell, or rather, this ritual, if you were to ever die, you would find your soul in the underworld. This cannot revive you immediately. What it can do, is give you an anchor which you can use to return.”

Noah had assumed as much, but a revival spell still surprised him.

“Will I still be me? Or would I become a zombie?” Noah asked.

“Most undead are dead, their souls have moved on. But no, you will not be a revenant… at first. If you were to die a second time… there are chances,” Zax said.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Noah said.

“Depends on how you look at it. But that’s not a concern as of now. Just the revival alone has a lot of risks. The Watcher’s domain persists over souls. It will try and call for you, try and grasp you. The Reaper and the underworld exist to protect souls from the madness of the Watcher, but it is a treacherous journey to reach the inner sanctums. Your body would also be in danger, for the duration that your soul exists within the underworld.” Zax said.

Noah nodded. He’d expected there would be some catch.

“The second… the pact you have formed would break, even if you can come back to life. The consequences of that… are difficult to say.”

Noah stirred. He’d definitely been hoping to break his pact if possible, but now that he had a potential path in front of him, he had to consider the choice carefully. Did he truly want to? Or was he being hasty? He let the thoughts dissolve, returning his attention to Zax.

“And lastly… your shadow will fuse to become one with you and will no longer be independent. The two of you will merge again to truly become one,” Zax said.

Noah glanced at his shadow, who was surprised at the words.

“Well, that’s a bit surprising,” the shadow said, scratching his head. “Guess you won’t need to find a name for me then, huh?”

“I’m not⁠—”

“Oh shut it. We both know this is good for us. I’ll make you do it if you don’t on your own,” the shadow said.

“Noah should get some time to consider his choices at the very least,” Zax said.

The shadow shrugged. “I think we both know this is something that’s good for him—but yeah, I agree. Some time is good. I’d like a little bit of time as well,” the shadow said, glancing at Noah. “But if you decide not to because of me, I’m gonna be mad.”

“Big words coming from you. As if I think that highly of you. I’d be happy to get rid of you,” Noah replied, snorting.

“I take it back. Zax, can I take him over instead? This guy irritates me,” the shadow said.

“Zax, can you destroy him? I think leaving him alive was a mistake,” Noah spat back.

Zax sighed, shaking his head. “Stop acting like children, you two. And stop fighting like siblings.”

“Who’d have an awful sibling like this guy,” Noah said, making a disgusted face.

“Well, I’m like, not even a month old, so…” the shadow said.

The two of them looked at each other a moment later.

“Alright, I guess we do act a little like bickering siblings,” Noah admitted.

“Kinda weird. I’d always thought what it’d be like to have one, but never imagined it would be… like this.”

“Like you cannot stand them, but would still give your life for them?” Zax asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Uhh, yeah,” the shadow replied. “It is a bit one-sided though.”

Noah looked at him in surprise.

“What? Shut up. You know I will. That’s why I exist. To protect you,” the shadow said, blushing ever so slightly.

“Well, I appreciate that. It’s hard to say I would die for you, because my death would kill us both. But I wouldn’t want you to die,” Noah replied.

“I doubt I can, as long as you’re alive. I’ll simply return to you instead,” the shadow replied, shrugging.

A few moments of silence passed after that.

“Let’s get back on topic,” Zax said, handing Noah the ability tome. “We believe you should use the ability tome right now, and then wait for some time before making a decision.”

Noah frowned, looking down at the tome. A moment later, he looked up at Zax.

“Do you think… my quest system has been leading me toward things that would lead to this?” Noah asked.

“That is… difficult to say. Fate is difficult to read, as we’ve already mentioned, but especially yours. Even gods would struggle to see your fate clearly. It is possible that it may have, or more likely, your quest system is adapting to events that happen around you and charting a Path that it thinks you will head towards. But ultimately the choice has to be yours.”

Noah nodded. Sending a pulse of mana, a prompt appeared.

Would you like to absorb [Tome of Soul Harvest (Ancient)]

Yes/No?

Yes.

A pulse of energy, stronger than any he’d felt before from a tome sank into Noah’s soul, etching something into it.

Ability [Soul Harvest] unlocked!

No ability slots available.

Ability fusion available.

Fuse [Runic Harvest] with [Soul Harvest]?

Yes/No?

Yes.

Ability [Soul-Rune Harvest (Ancient/Unique)] unlocked!

[Soul-Rune Harvest (Ancient/Unique)]

Current Slots: 0/3

Harvest the soul of your enemies, capturing them into runes that adorn your Arcane Body, allowing you to summon phantoms and specters that will obey all your commands.

Noah let out a breath, feeling the power settle into him.

Zax nodded, handing him the skill book and the ritual procedure. “This should go without saying, but do not take those out in public, or let anyone find out you have them.”

Noah nodded.

“Well, then, we’ll be heading back. Let us know if you need anything else,” Zax said, teleporting away.

Noah sat in his room, his mind going through stuff. His shadow specter melted into the shadows as well, flowing into him, leaving him alone in the darkness.

I’m not suited to this much thinking.

Deciding not to worry about it for the time being, Noah went back to his Meditation. Whatever might happen, he’d just need to deal with it as the time came.

Before long, his thoughts were replaced by those of wrestling a wyvern and killing it and forming a soul mount out of one that he could ride on.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ROYAL PALACE

As morning rolled around and they began to prepare for their visit to the royal court, Noah realized he’d forgotten to get an explanation from Zax on what happened with him and Valros.

Nighttime had passed by in Meditation and his thoughts going over the quest rewards and what implications it held for him. He decided he’d just let the dragon tell him. Zax wasn’t the type to forget, so if he hadn’t told him yet, there was likely a reason for it.

Abyssal Awareness spread outward as Noah sensed Kaelan arriving outside, and he teleported to join the man. Valros stood next to him, alongside Aurelia, and a moment later, Zax arrived.

“Where are the rest?” Noah asked.

“This is all of us,” Zax replied.

“Erwest and Valeria are busy with something. And Seraphina is teaching Snow some spells, so it’s just us,” Aurelia said.

“It’s best not to bring too many people to the royal court as well,” Kaelan added.

Noah didn’t comment any further, looking around to see how they’d be traveling.

“Uh, are we going to walk there?” he asked.

“Nope, we’re going to fly,” Kaelan replied, spreading his wings.

Noah looked at Zax before shaking his head. Magic flowed from Zax, lifting Noah and Aurelia off the ground, and the group took to the skies.

Noah took in the sights of the city below. The island was certainly beautiful, and he could see why Draconians preferred to fly so often. It really did beat walking.

Within a few minutes they could see the castle and flew over the walls. Noah spotted a few guards rising to intercept, but Valros signaled something and they stopped.

The palace itself was rather simple. Made primarily of stones, it was more like a fortress, with lots of areas where he could see warriors training and sparring against one another.

“Is there something I should keep in mind when meeting the king?” Noah asked. “Like, etiquettes or whatever.”

“It surprises me that you’re asking that now, when you never bothered to learn any when we met a goddess, or the lords,” Aurelia said, and Noah shrugged.

“Not really. Just follow what we do, and you’ll be fine, but we aren’t all that big on etiquette. Just don’t act rude and there should be no issue,” Kaelan said.

“We do not ascribe to the customs of the northern and central kingdoms. It is not the little social details that makes a man, and the king prefers us to speak with our heart. It tells more about someone’s nature when they do so. Keeps men honest, and keeps them sharp,” Valros added with a snort.

“Anyway, you’ll do great. The king likes strong people, Noah. I’ve met him a few times before on official things because of my father. He’s intense! And really strong. Some of the councilmen say he may end up becoming another one of the Ascendant Monarchs,” Kaelan said.

“I’ve heard that term. What’s an Ascendant Monarch?” Noah asked.

“Guess we never explained, huh?” Aurelia replied. “There are four primary empires, made up of all the known kingdoms, and then some extraneous territories.

“First is the Celestial empire. It is the only empire with three Ascendants. They are part of the ruling council, but the empire follows a quasi-democratic system. All celestials. Then there are the Human kingdoms. This is comprised of most of the southern kingdoms. We have an Ascendant Monarch… technically. But he doesn’t do much, the empire is more of an alliance of kingdoms.

“After that we have the Holy City. Run by the leaders of the Pantheon, and governed directly by the gods, at the top there is the pope, who is also an Ascendant Monarch. Also human. And lastly, we have the Southern alliance. Includes a lot of the non-human kingdoms primarily, including Drakonias, but also Nyxis and the Crimson blighted lands. Two monarchs currently, a beast-man and a mer-woman,” Aurelia said.

“If the king becomes an Ascendant, we will be the second empire to match the Celestians,” Valros said.

Aurelia nodded. “There are of course other Ascendants too. It is known that a Lich Ascendant rules over Death Valley. Some others simply dislike being tied down to responsibility and roam the world. But either way, there are only a handful of them in the entire world. It’s a pretty big deal.”

Noah glanced to Zax. His companion, Ryugan, had been an Ascendant, hadn’t he? And an Outerworlder as well.

I wonder if Zax knows any other Ascendants. Alive ones anyway.

They reached the central castle, descending at the entrance of the palace. The guards bowed as they made their way inside.

Noah found it a little difficult to call this place a palace, it was more of a fort. The entire structure seemed to be set up with a military structure, instead of the typical aristocratic.

Everyone here that Noah passed was strong, quite strong, that much was certainly obvious.

Their group moved quickly, reaching one of the central gates where a taller Draconian man waited for them with his hands behind his back. Noah recognized him from the many portraits at Kaelan’s home. He was tall, almost as tall as Caesar, and had a sharp gaze that seemed to pierce through everything. Noah used Identify.

[Royal Guard Commander - ???]

“Brother, these are our guests,” Valros said and introduced them. When he got to Zax, the man gave him a nod in acknowledgement.

“This is my brother, Averos. Commander of the royal guards,” Valros said.

“I have heard of your party. I hope my troublesome son hasn’t caused much trouble during your travels,” Averos said.

“Oh come on, I’m not that bad,” Kaelan protested, and his father shot him a look.

“No such thing, it has been a rather pleasant and enjoyable journey,” Zax replied, smiling.

The man chuckled, and Noah caught surprise reflected on Kaelan’s face. “With one of your stature, anything would appear so,” Averos said, turning toward the gate. “Let us bring you to our king, there, we can further discuss the details.”

Zax nodded. Noah looked at the dragon to try and probe an answer, but the group simply continued as the large stone gates shuddered open, and they walked through the entrance.

Inside was a rather simple room, with a carved throne made of rock present on the other end, on top of which sat a man. Banners decorated the room, weapons displayed behind the throne, and sparingly decorated beyond that for the throne room of a kingdom.

Yet, it was the man that caught Noah’s attention. His scales were pristine, a slight smile present on his face and folded wings closed behind his back. His aura swept over the entire space, pressing against him.

You’re in the presence of Royalty. You’ve partially resisted [Draconian King’s Aura].

All attributes and abilities reduced by 75%.

Valros, Kaelan, and his father all bowed to the king, and the rest of the party followed. All except Zax.

The king raised his hand, and Noah felt the pressure on his shoulders lighten.

Attribute and ability reduction reduced to 25%.

“It is a pleasure to have you here, adventurers. Welcome to our kingdom,” the king said, as Noah and the others raised their heads. The king looked to Zax, then stood up from his throne. Descending the steps, he walked up to the dragon, standing taller than Zax did in this form.

Then, he put a fist to his chest and dipped his head ever so slightly.

“It is an honor, especially to have you here. We are graced by your presence.”

Abyssal Awareness let Noah see the room all around him, which is why he spotted the exact moment when Kaelan’s jaw dropped open. But at the same time, Valros and Averos did not visibly react.

So they know. Which means it is likely they have another dragon here.

Noah’s eyes went to the king. He tried to assess the man, to look for anything. There was power, a lot of power behind him, and Noah instinctively knew that using Identify would be pointless, the king was shielded from prying eyes. His power also felt like a mix of his burden, of the weight of the kingdom he carried.

It didn’t feel like a dragon to him. Draconian, certainly, more than any other he had seen. But more like Noah, like something partly there, but not entirely so.

“We had always intended to visit this place sometime. Our memories of here are not the fondest, but we do owe this place many things. And now that we know Axeros’ legacy remains, we feel it is our duty to look after it,” Zax said. “It must have been difficult.”

A wry smile came upon the king’s face.

“She is old enough now. In her second century. The first two had been the most difficult. But there are some things we simply cannot teach her. And in many ways… she is still a child,” the king said.

Zax nodded. “Children. They are never easy. Much less of our kin,” Zax said giving the man a sympathetic nod. “Where is she?”

The king glanced at Averos, who put his fist over his heart before he went out of the chamber.

“We might need to go outside. She’s arriving soon,” the king said.

The rest of them overheard the conversation, each picking up pieces. A lot of things worked in Noah’s mind, but he followed Zax and the king outside, into one of the training chambers.

It took a minute, when he spotted something moving rapidly toward them from the distance, growing bigger by the minute. When close enough to see, Noah finally realized what it was.

A girl, a human girl, stood upon a giant wyvern, grabbing its neck with her arms and a wild grin as she rapidly descended toward their group.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” the girl screamed, as they all jumped back from the inevitable crash that kicked up a giant pile of dust. The earth shook and Noah watched in surprise as the girl laughed to herself, a sweet laugh that rang from her chest, before stepping out of the dust cloud.

“We had almost broken him in! Why did you have to call us urgently? This better be something actually important,” the girl said, glaring at the king, fire gently licking her body. The wyvern behind her was dying, its neck having broken from the impact.

The king said something to the girl, but Noah didn’t pay attention, his eyes captured by her visage. Her hair was a deep red, her eyes orange and fiery, and she wore simple adventurer’s attire. By all means and for all purposes she looked as human as someone could.

Yet, in that moment, when her eyes turned to meet his, he knew her true identity in his soul.

She was a dragon.

CHAPTER THIRTY

A YOUNG DRAGON

Zax regarded the young dragon, arrogance and self-confidence oozing from her demeanor.

“It is good to meet you, Vion,” Zax said, smiling pleasantly. He could definitely see the reflection of her mother in her visage. Though what he sensed underneath was certainly far more dragon than human. The thought made him smile just a little bit wider.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Vion, this is Zax, a guest of our kingdom,” the king said, stepping forward.

Zax glanced back, giving the man a quiet hint to remain where he was. It’d been some time since Zax had encountered a dragon, but if this was the girl’s first time… things were not going to be peaceful for long.

“We knew your parents. Powerful warriors, both of them. It delights us to see that you still carry their legacy,” Zax said.

Vion looked at Zax in surprise, before she glanced to the king.

“He knows,” the king confirmed.

The girl looked back at Zax. “You know who I am—and you say you knew my parents. How?”

“We considered your father, something akin to a brother. And in truth, we were not that distantly related in blood ties as well. We’d be something of an uncertain to you,” Zax said, and Vion froze where she stood.

Her eyes scanned through Zax, tried to pry through his illusions and magic. She couldn’t. His spell was complete, and she was still a youngling, barely in her second century. And so Zax let a little bit slip, let the barest of hints peek through.

The reaction was immediate.

Vion jumped back, her own transformation slipping ever so slightly as her eyes narrowed into slits. Fire danced all around her as she let out a throaty growl, looking at him with raised hackles.

“You. You are lying,” she growled, her red hair swirling with magic all around her. No, not quite fire, Zax noted.

Lava.

“We are not. You have grown away from your kin, and it has made you forget how things work. You have not yet learned how to control your instincts,” Zax said.

Vion had already stopped listening, the ground around them beginning to boil, lava forming around her. Zax cast seven different spells within an instant, forming a barrier around the nearby group watching them, and hiding the entire location from any prying eyes.

The young dragon let a barrage of lava burst out toward Zax, which were blocked by a simple barrier, and the remnants of lava collected into balls that cooled instantly, forming obsidian spheres that floated in the air around Zax before sparkling into lightning.

Zax simply smiled at her, not a single singe on his body.

Vion’s instincts made her feel threatened for the first time in her life.

She called upon Identify, but only found what she’d seen from the start.

[Lightning Mage - ????]

And yet, when she looked at him, her mind screamed at her to remove this threat from her territory. To eliminate all that stood in her path. Vion channeled her magic, lava forming all around her and rising into pillars. The air itself began to sizzle, heat intensifying within the confined barrier.

She would show him. It didn’t matter that he was an A-ranker. Halfblood though she may be, she was still a dragon.

For a moment, her self-confidence was regained. That was right. She was a dragon, far stronger than anything or anyone around her. She spent her time fighting creatures a rank above her for fun, there was no way that the man in font of her could be a dragon like her.

He didn’t have any pride, didn’t have any of the weight that a dragon would. He talked so humbly.

Vion refused to believed it.

And yet, her body hesitated to move. She did not understand what she was feeling, there was a new emotion in her chest. Her muscles were… shivering?

She ignored them, letting her lava flood outward. The mage moved fast, teleporting in the blink of an eye as he raised pillars of earth that blocked her surf of lava. Vion didn’t stop, she let her dragon blood burn, her body glowing as her veins ignited with lava flowing through her. Opening her mouth, she shot a giant ball of fire. A beam of water appeared around the mage, equally as large as it flowed around her strike, cooling it down. Steam erupted everywhere, blinding her, and the man moved nonchalantly through the blazing heat, arriving next to her as he tapped her shoulder.

Vion turned, striking back, but he blocked the attack with a silent cast of a barrier, smiling at her the entire time. She looked him in the eye and felt her breath spike. She was sweating, her chest felt heavy, and her body paralyzed.

Just… what was happening?

“What magic are you using! Why… why am I paralyzed. The Astral Script said nothing,” she screamed at the mage, trying to punch him, only to find every strike intercepted before it even began.

“That is no magic. It is an emotion. One even dragons feel,” Zax said, and with ease he closed in, grabbing her shoulder, and looked her in the eye.

The two Draconian pair of eyes met each other, and Vion finally understood what she was feeling.

Fear.

Words appeared in front of Vion.

Terror floods your body. Erase it. End it. Kill the source before it kills you.

Affliction level: III

Vion lost her senses. Her body changed, transforming, for the first time in her life, as something awakened inside of her. She roared, light erupting around her as the figure of the young girl changed into a mighty dragon.

Obsidian scales that sizzled with heat covered her body, her eyes glowing with heat and energy. She swiped at her foe, all thoughts having left her mind, as the ground melted into a pool of lava underneath her feet. She spread her wings, charging toward her enemy as lava filled her throat.

Pure instincts drove her, all rational thought having left her mind. There was a single purpose in her mind now.

To kill the threat. To kill the thing which made her feel this way. To be free of this emotion.

Zax watched the girl, moving deftly as she swiped at him, and the world burned around him. He glanced back for a brief moment to the group behind him, then focused back on the task at hand.

The girl had finally touched upon her true nature. Now, it was his job to reel her in.

The dragon muttered a silent incantation under his breath, and his human form dissolved into light.

Kaelan stared in shock at the battle taking place in front of him. Two dragons collided against one another, lightning and lava mingling together in the most powerful spectacle he had ever seen, and yet, not a hint of it crossed the barrier in front of him.

Yet, that was not the most surprising thing. It was the fact he had been traveling with said dragon for over a month and had not an inkling to the truth.

Kaelan glanced to the others. A myriad of expressions were around him, yet not a single one of them looked surprised. Noah and Aurelia he could understand, but not even his uncle, father, or the king showed a hint of shock.

“What in the depths is happening here?” Kaelan asked, as explosions shook the world.

“Vion has lived for a long time, but she is a halfblood. Up until now, she’d been unable to attain a Draconian form despite our best efforts⁠—”

“No, I meant why the fuck are none of you surprised at all! Did all of you know?” Kaelan shouted.

Kaelan met the eyes of everybody one after another. Noah put a hand on the Draconian’s shoulder. “Sorry about not telling you. Zax prefers not to reveal it if possible.”

“I figured it out the moment I saw him. Know one dragon, and it’s not hard to spot the others. There are tells,” Valros said.

“You didn’t tell us till he practically confirmed it to you directly,” his father, Averos said, giving his brother a smile.

“Well… I didn’t want to raise a false alarm.”

“We knew, Kaelan, but not for very long. About Zax, that is. We thought the dragons had all left. Imagine our surprise when one showed up at our doorstep,” the king said.

“Yeah… no kidding…” Kaelan replied, looking to Noah. “You guys knew all along?”

“Well, yeah, sort of. We met Zax a bit before we met you guys, and after freeing him, and stopping an Abyssal Rift from opening, he decided to travel with us,” Noah said.

“You guys did what!”

“That was mostly him, we were shocked when a dragon just popped up in front of us and told us he was Noah’s friend. Oh, the Abyssal Rift, right. Wow, I’m turning into Noah. Absurd things no longer feel absurd,” Aurelia said, cupping her cheeks as if having a crisis about her identity.

Noah laughed.

Kaelan felt the world spinning around him. And yet, when he had a moment to calm down, and take in the scene, to see not one, but two dragons fighting in the epitome of battles, a spectacle that he could only dream of watching in his life, he found the shock being replaced by a brand-new emotion. Kaelan clenched his fists tightly by his side, trying not to let his face morph into a grin. A new resolve formed in his heart.

He’d be damned if he let this chance go to waste.

The battle came to an end a few moments later, and Noah watched as Zax pressed his foot down onto the young dragon. He had to admit, he was a little surprised that Vion had hurt him at all, as a small area on Zax’s body had the barest hints of a burn mark.

Noah wondered if he could do the same.

“Submit,” Zax commanded, shaking the entire world. Noah felt the weight of the command indirectly push against him and he almost buckled, but caught himself. He glanced around and saw Aurelia had lost herself as well, and Kaelan had stumbled ever so slightly.

The other three Draconians stood unfazed.

Vion let out a whimper as Zax growled down at her, and a moment later, her energy was exhausted completely as she returned to her human form.

Zax raised his dragon foot from the girl, transforming back into his human form as well. A spell was cast on Vion to obscure her naked figure, as her clothes reformed themselves out of thin air, covering her body.

The girl stirred awake, her eyes fluttering open.

“What… happened?” she murmured, still not truly back.

Zax extended his hand, dispelling the barrier all around them, and pulled the young dragon up.

Noah and the rest of them walked closer.

“You did it, Vion,” the king said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You transformed into a full fledged dragon.”

The girl looked confused, almost dazed, yet with each passing second, her awareness returned. She looked at Zax, glaring at him.

“You!” she shouted, but a single look from him cowed her instantly.

“We understand that it wasn’t a pleasant experience. But it was for your own good. This is something even true dragons must learn, much less a halfblood who had never taken on a dragon form. Your instincts are powerful. So powerful they can override the Astral Script itself. You must learn how to tame them, if you are to ever truly inherit your parents’ legacy,” Zax said. “Hate us if you must, but you will learn.”

Vion glared at Zax, but her anger faded quickly, replaced by conflicted emotions. “My parents this, my parents that. Why does it matter? I never even met them. I don’t even know their faces!”

“Then you merely need look into a mirror. And you will see the reflections within it. The rest, we can teach you,” Zax said, as magic swirled. An illusion formed all around them, two figures standing within the fog.

A man, carrying a giant battle axe, and a woman standing next to him.

The girl stared, in shock, but the illusion lasted but a mere moment, before it faded away.

“We are not your enemy, Vion. We are… perhaps the only kin you have left. If there are others, we do not yet know of them. But we are here. And we will be here. For as long as you want,” Zax said.

Vion’s expression twisted as she clenched her fists. “I don’t need you.”

“Perhaps not. But do you truly not wish to know of your parents? Who they truly were?” Zax said. “If you don’t, then we will leave. If you truly do not want us to be here, then we will not bother you again. But do not make decisions in anger,” Zax said.

“We came here because we knew your parents and felt an obligation. Young dragons can be difficult to handle, especially those who do not yet have a handle on their instincts.”

She growled.

“Lady Vion, I know that this is difficult for you, but if you can truly learn how to master your gifts, our kingdom will forever be complete,” Averos said, walking closer.

Vion glared at the man. “That’s all you guys care about, isn’t it? This kingdom and it’s legacy and what not.”

“We care about you, Vion. Stop acting like a child,” the king said, raising his voice. “You know you must learn. You are simply shaken by the experience. But it is something that will empower you. The fact that you are resisting so much is precisely why we do not let you leave the palace.”

“You’d never let me leave anyway. The risk is too high and what not,” Vion shot back.

“But especially not if you cannot show that you can be trusted to stay composed. To be in control, and to not lose yourself should an enemy far beyond you were to appear and push you to the limits,” Zax said.

Vion didn’t reply.

The dragon’s expression softened. “Have you visited your father’s grave?”

“Once. From the outside. I didn’t want to go in,” Vion replied, much quieter now.

“It may be grim, but that is his legacy. And… that heart belongs to you, more than anyone else. But if you do not prove yourself worthy, you will never truly be able to inherit what he has left behind for you.”

“I… don’t know. Do I really need to? I don’t even know them. And… what if he didn’t really want me?” Vion asked.

“There are many dragon bloods. But the soul of a dragon can only be inherited under special circumstances. Why would he have gone to such lengths to make sure you would survive, had he not loved you?” Zax asked.

Vion looked at Zax. She opened her mouth, as if to protest, but then closed it once more. “Okay,” she whispered.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you,” the king asked.

“I said okay!” Vion shouted, and the group smiled.

Zax nodded at her words.

“Noah and Aurelia. For the two of you specifically, there are a few things Vion can do. She is a fire dragon. For Aurelia, there can be no better person to train with or enhance her magic through. For Noah, she is the daughter of the greatest warrior we ever knew. Do not look at her level and make the mistake of thinking she is on par with you. She is still a dragon, levels are a poor measure for her strength, just as they are for you,” Zax said.

“And for you, Vion. From Noah, you can learn how to fight till the very end, to persevere, and to keep going even when you are the weaker opponent. From Aurelia, you can learn how to control your flames, to bottle your fury, and to tame your instincts,” Zax said.

“What about me?” Kaelan asked.

“You are already a proficient warrior, Kaelan. We will be relying on you to keep these three in check, but we have some other plans for you as well,” Zax said, and the Draconian nodded.

“Plans?” Noah asked.

“Indeed. We’ll be leaving the three of you upon the wyvern cliffs. Your task will be to survive the wilds and to defeat and bring the heart of an adult wyvern within one hundred days. Kaelan will visit there every few days to train with and watch over you, but he will not interfere, only guide and train with you. We will not interfere regardless of circumstances.”

“What’s the point of this?” Vion asked.

“To prepare you for the trial. And them,” Zax said.

“Are you fine with this?” Vion said, looking at the king. “Him just barging in and demanding all this.”

The king nodded. “It is for your own good.”

“Why do you guys get to decide that?” she spat, heat rising around her body.

“Are you afraid?” Zax asked.

“What?” Vion snapped back.

“Do not compensate for your fear, Vion. You are a dragon. Fear is not something you are used to. But that is precisely why you must learn this. Learn this from them, from people who live so much closer to death than we do, and yet fight back anyway,” Zax said, glancing at Noah and Aurelia. “But if you wish to back out now, we will not force you. We do not teach cowards.”

“You—” She burned with fury. Vion turned toward the wyvern cliffs. “Watch me. I’ll be out of there in a week.”

“Do the two of you have any objections?” Zax said.

Noah glanced at Aurelia. “Well, I was gonna go there anyway,” he said.

“I don’t have any problems. We need to train for the trial, where we do that doesn’t matter too much,” Aurelia said.

“And that settles it then,” Zax said.

New Quest obtained!

Quest: A Wyvern’s Heart

Obtain the heart of an adult wyvern before the 100 day time limit for your test.

Difficulty: Hard

Reward: Unknown

Noah smiled at the quest prompt.

“Then, let us depart,” Zax said.

“Wait, right now?” Noah said, but before he had any time to protest, wind magic gathered around them.

“Hold on tight!” Zax said, and with a trailing scream from Vion, the group was off into the skies.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 1

Wind stirred, rustling the shrubbery as the four of them landed. Vion stumbled forward, seemingly not very used to being flown around at rapid speeds.

“The wyvern cliffs are not too far from here, but this will be where we will be leaving the three of you. We’ll be here to pick you up in one hundred days. Though if you wish to return early, you can do so as well, after you’ve obtained an adult wyvern’s heart,” Zax said.

Noah gave a nod to the dragon, taking in his surroundings. The forest was tropical and dense, with sunlight barely making it through the canopy, and life teeming and buzzing all around him. The mana levels in the air were also higher than normal, and he could sense multiple presences nearby, though none even tried to come close. If his own aura wasn’t enough to keep them away, then Zax and Vion’s aura certainly did the trick.

Three Draconian auras with two actual dragons arriving out of nowhere. I’d be running away as well.

After a few breaths, Vion had visibly calmed down from her abrupt abduction, and was now glancing around the forest with a dreadful expression.

“What will we do about food? And where will we sleep?” Vion asked, looking at Zax. “And there’s no bathrooms here either… I’m sweaty and feel gross and want to take a bath.”

Noah and Aurelia were somewhat surprised.

“You sound a lot like the princesses we’d abducted in our juvenile years, and not the dragon you are,” Zax said.

“Well maybe because I am a princess,” Vion said with a hmph as she glanced away.

“You are training. Here, you must hunt to eat, and sleep where you find a safe location. And you can bathe in any lake or river you may find if you so desire,” Zax said.

Vion shuddered. “You want me to live like a savage? And what…? Eat monsters?”

“Indeed. That, too, is a part of your training,” Zax said.

Vion’s expression fell, a look of disgust forming before she let out a defeated sigh. “I suppose I can fast for a month.”

“The wyverns steak we had was pretty great. We could make that when we catch the wyvern,” Noah added.

“Those are prepared, by chefs, in a kitchen. Do either of you have any cooking skills?” Vion asked, looking between Aurelia and Noah.

“Aurelia can cook,” Noah said.

“Not… wyvern steak. But—I suppose there’s a first time for everything,” Aurelia said.

“The three of you can begin from now. We’ll be returning to the others. Since this is supposed to train you, we won’t be here to save you should something go wrong, and you will be unable to call for us. Your lives are in your own hands,” Zax said, and by the tone of his voice, Noah could tell he was serious

Noah gave him a nod. “We’ll be fine.”

The dragon took one look at the three of them, then magic swirled all around him, covering him in light, and he was gone.

Vion let out a deep sigh, sitting on a boulder nearby. “So… what now?”

“Well, let’s make a plan. We need to get an adult wyvern’s heart right? For that we’ll need to find one,” Aurelia said, taking a seat next to Vion as she pulled out a piece of paper from her dimensional storage. “Vion, you were on one, weren’t you? Do you know where to find them?”

“Juveniles? Yes. They’re everywhere around these areas, and even wander around the city sometimes. But the adults stay inside and are much higher atop the mountains,” Vion said, looking toward the forest canopy. Through a gap in the forest path, they could see the cliff rising tall into the skies, and distant creatures swirling around it.

Vion pointed. “See those cliffs? That’s not a natural mountain. These mountains aren’t really mountains but giant nests of wyverns, it’s all empty on the inside. There’s caves inside all of them, filled to the brim with wyverns. That’s where they brood and nest.”

Noah followed Vion’s finger to the tall mountain and tried to picture it filled with wyverns.

“That sounds like a lot of them,” Noah said.

“Probably in the thousands,” Vion replied. “The juveniles go out and hunt the furthest, the adults come out less frequently, and stay higher up to catch stronger prey. The queen stays inside with the eggs and the young near the top of the cliff.”

“Sounds a surprisingly lot like an ant colony,” Noah said.

“It’s similar, except they can fly and bite your face off and breathe lightning,” Vion replied, grinning.

“Could you maybe make a map?” Aurelia asked.

Vion took the piece of paper and the quill, beginning to scribble on it. After a few minutes, a rough illustration of the area was drawn. With a forest section, a river dividing the area in two, the mountains, and the sea beyond that.

“These two peaks are the main ones,” Vion said, pointing at the two tall mountains on her drawing. “We can’t really see it from here, but that’s the central one. The one we can see is a side nest.” She circled the other mountain. “There’s two colonies here, Sky Wyverns and thunder wyverns. They don’t get along particularly well but have sort of a truce. The juveniles fight all the time though, it helps weed out the weak ones and keeps them sharp,” Vion said.

“Which ones are easier to get?” Aurelia asked.

Vion tilted her head back and forth. “Sky Wyverns are very fast, but do less damage. Harder to catch though. Thunder Wyverns are less fast, but can breathe lightning. About the same?”

Noah squinted, trying to observe the distant wyverns in the sky. Tony bubbled forth from under his skin and Noah raised the symbiote up. It took to the skies, observing the target.

“Gross, what’s that?” Vion asked.

“Tony, my Abyssal Symbiote, and also, how dare you. He’s the best there is,” Noah replied.

“Abyssal Symbiote…” Vion’s eyes widened, and she turned to Aurelia. “Is it… did he put an abyssal parasite inside of him?”

“It’s a long story,” Aurelia said, shaking her head.

Noah felt a steam of thoughts come to him via Tony.

“The one we’re closer to is the sky wyvern nest,” Noah said.

Vion frowned, looking down at her map and marking an X. “So we’re somewhere around here. To move ahead… we’ll need to head through this direction, cross the river and reach the base of the nest. That will take a day or two to get to. The river has… annoying creatures.”

“What kind of creatures?” Aurelia asked.

“Sea serpents. Well, juvenile sea serpents that is. They lay their eggs upstream, and the children stay in the river ’til they’ve outgrown it before heading out to sea. There’s also deidacrocks and other pesky monsters, and most of them have draconic blood which means they’ll have weird mutations and abilities,” Vion said.

“Doesn’t sound too bad. So we cross the river and then we need to enter the nest?” Noah asked.

“Are you insane? You will die. There’s thousands of wyverns inside, and they will swarm and annihilate you before you can even blink,” Vion said.

“So… how else can we get an adult? You said they don’t come out.”

“They stay inside most of the time, but not always. If there’s a big enough threat, they’ll come out to defend the nest. The only problem is reaching that high up on the cliffs without dying to all the stray juveniles trying to pick us off.”

Aurelia frowned. “This might be a lot more complicated than just hunting an adult wyvern. No wonder Zax gave us a hundred days’ worth of time.”

“I think we’re overthinking it,” Noah said. “If there’s too many wyverns, we simply need to kill a bunch. Isn’t that the whole point of this training?” Noah said.

“That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard,” Vion said. “Even I would not be able to take out all the wyverns, my stamina wouldn’t last, and neither would my mana.”

“Who said we have to take them all out?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we need to just lure one out, right? And if this is really like an ant colony, then we want to kick it up and make ourselves seem like a big enough threat.”

“That will put the entire nest onto us. Sounds like a good way to die,” Vion replied.

“Listen, I wasn’t done. We kick it up, kill a bunch of juvenile and just generate a storm, and then run. As the wyverns start flooding out, the bait runs toward the other nest. In the meantime, someone else will do the same thing to second next, so both sides are riled up. The wyverns start clashing and fighting against each other and the chaos will lure out an adult. The third person will be waiting for the right chance during this and give the signal to recollect before we take out the adult wyvern,” Noah said, grinning.

“That… is so stupid,” Vion said.

“But it might just work,” Aurelia said, and turned to Vion, holding her hand. “I can’t believe I’m supporting this, but this might be the best method to get an adult wyvern.”

Vion looked at Aurelia in surprise, before glancing back at Noah. A moment later, she let out a sigh.

“We’ll keep this as a tentative plan, but I’m going to think of something else. For now, let’s focus on crossing the river first,” Vion said.

“Alright. Sounds like a good first step,” Noah said.

“We’re around here so we can—” Vion paused as her stomach let out a loud grumbling noise. The girl blushed visibly, holding her stomach.

“What… this… this never happens…” she said.

Noah chuckled to himself. “Seems like someone’s hungry?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never… I’ve never had this happen. After that battle and transforming, my body feels strange,” Vion said.

“I understand. I get quite hungry after I use my Embers of Fury as well. Though mana stones can do the job as well, food is definitely good to have. We should get something to eat,” Aurelia said.

Noah nodded, glancing toward the sky. A moment later, Tony flew down, merging back into his skin.

“Good news. Tony found something nice. From what I can tell, it was some kind of a giant wild boar,” Noah said. The image formed as Tony’s thoughts were shared with him, and Noah pictured the creature. A giant boar with large tusks and Draconian scales.

He licked his lips. “Seems like we have our food bait as well.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 2

Noah stayed below the line of shrubbery, as the group slowly moved closer to the boar, making sure not to startle the creature. The giant boar almost came up to Noah’s shoulders in height, and at least eight feet in length. Noah used Identify on the creature.

[A Draconian Wildboar - lvl 172]

A second later, his bracelet gleamed, and a notification popped up in front of him.

Item [Runewoven Bracelet of Arcana] has modified your perk.

Identify has been upgraded to Analyze.

“What the shit?” Noah exclaimed, looking down at his bracelet, as the glow of light died down within it. He glanced sideways to see Aurelia looking down similarly at her own bracelet.

“You got the same thing?” He asked.

“Yeah. Just when did Zax have the time to change the bracelet?” Aurelia asked.

Noah shrugged. He’d never paid much attention to it before, used to the conveniences it provided, but he was starting to realize just how much Zax was building into the item. Using his new Analyze perk, Noah checked the item.

[Runewoven Bracelet of Arcana (Rank D, ???)]

Durability: 8/9

Type: Accessory

A bracelet made with intricate runes and complex magics that even the Celestians would wish to study, should they get their hands on this device. This arcane bracelet allows others with similar bracelets to communicate with one another from long distances. It also gives the following abilities.

[Telepathy], [Quick Transfer], [Second Chance], [True sight], and [Analyze].

Warning: Not all abilities are currently active.

Noah stared at the list of abilities in surprise, alongside the three question marks on the grade. He already knew what Telepathy and Quick Transfer did. It’s what they used to talk to each other telepathically, or teleport to one another when within range of the ability. But the rest were all new to him. One by one, Noah selected the abilities.

[Second Chance]

This ability is passive and can only activate once before it has to be recharged. If the wearer’s health goes below 1% this ability activates and heals them back to 10% and cures any status ailments currently present. Once used, the ability is then deactivated until recharged.

Warning: This ability is currently inactive.

Noah’s eyes widened in surprise as he read through the description. So if he’d hypothetically almost died, this bracelet would heal him back and cure any status ailments?

Broken. Needs to be nerfed.

He read the other abilities.

[True Sight]

This ability allows its user to break through any veils, illusions, and other means of deception used by those around them. As a secondary effect, it also enhances the vision of those wearing it slightly.

That was quite the useful ability. He almost wished he’d had it when he was dealing with Vix and the others. He moved on to read the last ability description.

[Analyze]

This ability allows someone to gleam the true nature and value of any item or object, and gain short pieces of insights from the Astral Script itself. An ability so covetous, it was hidden by the Celestians to guard their treasure of knowledge, but not entirely.

Noah whistled at that. Aurelia, similarly, looked pleased. Neither of the other two had any idea when Zax had done this, but it was certainly a nifty addition.

“Can we still talk to Zax? Or teleport out of here?” Noah asked. A second later, he tried to contact Zax and found on error message popping up on his bracelet.

“Nope. He’s clearly adjusted it at some point in preparation for this,” Aurelia said.

“Did you see the Second Chance ability?” Noah asked.

“Yup. It’s insane. No wonder he’d asked for my ring, he’d been trying to replicate the spell all along. I’d forgotten to ask it back from him too,” Aurelia said.

“I’m feeling a little left out,” Vion said, watching the two of them fawn over their device.

“Sorry, we got distracted,” Aurelia said, turning toward the wild boar. It was still far away and hadn’t noticed their presence.

Noah used Analyze on the creature.

[Draconian Wildboar (Rare) - lvl 172]

A Draconian wild boar. One of the weaker creatures found within the northern forests of Draconias, these boars are a result of the dragon blood spreading through this area from creature to creature. Its mutations give it a thicker skin, and scales in portions. It can also breathe fire. Good thing you’re resistant, isn’t it?

Huh. That’s the first time the description has directly referred to me.

Noah glanced to Aurelia. “Did you get the same description from the creature as well?”

“It told me some details about the boar, yes,” Aurelia replied.

“Neat, and quite helpful here. Let’s go get it. It doesn’t sound very strong, and there’s three of us.”

“Let’s not jump in without a plan. I think we should set up a trap,” Aurelia said.

“It’s a boar. Why do we need a plan to catch a boar?” Vion asked, scoffing.

“How about I go teleport on top of it and take it by surprise, using my spear to score a direct hit near its head. You two then come in and deal the finishing blow if it’s not dead immediately. How’s that for a plan?” Noah asked.

Aurelia sighed. “Alright. We’ll do it your way.”

Noah grinned, taking out his spear. He glanced at Vion and Aurelia, the dragon woman rolled her eyes, while Aurelia gave him a nod, and the two moved closer toward their target, crouching and doing their best not to make any noise.

Noah kept his eyes on the target, waiting for the right moment. There was a buzz of mana swirling under his skin, moving through his runic tattoos with almost an electric zing of thrill, waiting to be released.

Aurelia and Vion took position. The boar, unaware, continued to graze. Noah focused his attention.

Arcane Step whirred, the mana pulsing, and he was gone, reappearing the next instant on top of the wild boar.

Wham!

The spear sunk into the creature’s body, and the boar let out a loud squeal. Noah cursed when the monster reared up, trying to shake him off, but he grasped his spear, trying to pull it out for another strike. The spear buckled, but did not come out, and a horrifying realization dawned on Noah. As the creature continued to rear back, shrieking in pain and wildly swinging him about, Noah noted his spear didn’t go deep enough, the creature healed fast, so fast that the skin around the wound had healed over his spear, rendering it stuck.

“Dammit, Noah!” Aurelia cursed, rushing out alongside Vion.

The creature continued to thrash wildly as Noah clung on desperately. It brought down trees from the force of its barreling impacts. Even with all his enhanced body and power, a direct strike of that would certainly crack his bones.

Aurelia and Vion gave chase. Aurelia struck with flaming fists, while transparent claws formed around Vion’s hands and she slashed. The wild boar shook its face in an attempt to gore the two women, but they deftly dodged. All it accomplished was knocking down more trees. As the creature realized its efforts were not bearing any results, it changed focus, turning to run away instead.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Aurelia shouted, jumping forward. Fire roared all around her, and Vion joined, her lava forming. The two combined their attacks, forming a fire and lava ball. The boar, sensing the fireball, turned around, fire rising in its mouth.

At once, the two attacks rushed out, colliding. The world turned white, heat blasting everywhere.

Noah, finally with a moment where the boar stopped thrashing, grasped his spear firmly and pulled it out. The creature had burns on its body, but its dragon blood rapidly healed it. Noah had wyrmblood and was aware just how potent it could be. He had to kill it in one shot.

“Don’t burn it!” he shouted, charging Void Annihilation into his spear, the energy crackling around like black lightning. With a powerful thrust, he struck, sinking the weapon deep into the creature’s skull.

The boar’s eyes rolled up into its skull with one final roar, and plopped onto the ground, dead. A notification popped up in his interface, alongside a notification showing all three of his Paths had leveled up once.

Noah jumped down from the creature, pulling the blade covered in brain matter out with a squelch. The blood and gore burned away as he channeled his void abilities, and the rest was hungrily absorbed by the spear.

Aurelia looked at him standing there with a proud face, and sighed.

“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” Noah said.

Vion raised an eyebrow, looking around them.

The entire nearby forest was in chaos, fires blazing through the area. Where the fire spells had struck each other, the sight looked like a meteor had struck the earth, scorching it black.

“Well, I guess we wrecked the place a little bit,” Noah said.

“You really need to stop jumping into battles⁠—”

Vion’s eyes sharpened, signaling for them to be quiet. The two paused, noticing the sudden tension from the dragon woman. She pointed upward. “There, one of the wyverns noticed the commotion and is coming here. We need to hide.”

“Just one? We could take it out,” Noah said. He’d been itching to try his soul harvest ability, and a wyvern seemed like the perfect test subject.

“It’s a scout. We don’t take out scouts, unless you want the entire hive to descend on us immediately,” Vion replied, keeping her voice low. “Hide your mana.”

Noah quickly put the giant boar in his inventory. The group ran from the wreckage, hiding in a nearby forest section as they watched the giant wyvern swoop down with a thud. The creature brought with it a powerful gust of wind, moving much faster than a creature of that size should normally be able to. It looked around, sniffing with curiosity.

Noah had seen the juveniles before, back when they had traveled to catch the Iron Fist. They were fairly large, but this one was even larger, and its body was a different color, a mix of white and a pale blue that ran through its scales like stripes, almost like tattoos.

[Juveline Sky Wyvern (Legendary) - ??]

A sky wyvern scout. These type of wyverns are built for agility, and the adults can move fast enough to break the sound barrier, causing sonic booms. It is said that an elder or ancient Sky Wyvern is capable of flying to the edge of the sky and back within a few seconds. They are notoriously difficult to handle, or catch, but make for excellent mounts for the brave souls who can tame them without losing their heads.

Noah moved back as the wyvern turned in their direction. It moved closer, sniffing the air. Vion and Aurelia tensed, ready to strike if needed.

Hey, bud, need your help.

Tony came out from his body, flapping around. Noah teleported him using his dimensional vault, and a second later, a screeching noise came in the distance. The wyvern turned, taking off after the noise—Tony was long gone. The three of them slowly made their way out of the area.

It was only after the wyvern took off that they breathed easy. Noah patted Tony when the creature returned.

“Good job, bud,” he said. Tony twirled happily before sinking back into him.

“That was… scary,” Aurelia said.

“Yeah, and those guys are huge. Much bigger than the wyverns we had seen,” Noah said.

Vion scoffed. “Domesticated wyverns are like dogs, whereas wild ones are wolves. They’re bigger on average, and stronger. They’re Legendary grade creatures and have the attributes to show for it. Even a juvenile is stupidly strong.”

“Even the domesticated wyverns are a force to be reckoned with. A wyvern rider squad has a lot of strength and influence, and entire kingdoms have been built on that foundation before,” Aurelia said.

“Hey, wait, if wyverns are Legendary grade, what are dragons?” Noah asked.

Vion froze, as if taken by surprise from that question.

Noah and Aurelia turned to look at her, two pairs of eyes boring into the dragon woman.

“So—did you know, dragons are one of the few creatures who have both race levels and can also pick a Path under certain circumstances?” Vion asked.

Noah hadn’t thought to use Identify on Vion before, and a moment later, he used the new upgraded ability.

[???]

[Runewoven Bracelet of Arcana] has applied [True Sight]!

[Name: Vion]

[Race: Draconian Humanoid - lvl 72 (???)]

[Path: Magma Mancer (Rare) - lvl 114]

Noah stared at the question marks denoting her rarity. Vion sighed.

“It’s… called Mythical. It’s a rarity above Legendary.”

You’ve discovered the Mythical rarity!

You will be able to identify Mythical grade objects from now on.

One skill point awarded.

“Oh… I got a skill point for that,” Aurelia said.

“You’re E rank?” Noah asked, shocked.

“Mythical… I have never heard of it. And why is it hidden? And why were you not telling us?” Aurelia asked.

A shriek interrupted their conversation, and the group looked overhead to see a few more wyverns circling up above.

“I’ll explain, but let’s get somewhere safe first,” Vion said. “It’s… a long story.”

Noah looked at Aurelia, who returned a similar look, then the two followed Vion.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 3

The wyverns continued to circle overhead, a few more arriving in the area to scout the scorched landscape. The giant reptilians moved about with uncharacteristic speed, gathering wind and putting out any remnants of the fires with coordinated work. Tony in his eye-bat form had split into multiple tiny pieces that were scattered around the forest, watching the wyverns, constantly feeding information to Noah.

The three of them, in the meantime, sat inside a small cavern they’d found. Noah and Aurelia looked at Vion questioningly.

The dragon woman sighed.

“Alright, where do I begin?”

“Maybe from what’s Mythical rarity and why it’s hidden in the first place,” Noah suggested.

“And why you in particular felt the need to hide it from us,” Aurelia added.

Vion nodded. “So. I cannot claim to know the entirety of it. The Astral Script has many secrets, that much, everybody knows. There are systems and mechanics in place that are hidden by nobles and royals all around the world. Special requirements for certain Paths, rituals and magics that allow someone to take multiple Paths from the very beginning. Tomes, abilities, skills and their interactions and intermingling. Required skill fusion, skill tiers, among many, many other things,” Vion said, in a single breath.

“I’m aware. It’s one of the things that made Noah so strange, since he managed to get three Paths from the very beginning, instead of the standard single Path most people get,” Aurelia said, glancing sideways at Noah.

Vion continued, “Right, well, basically, there are certain rarities that are like that too. Rarities above Legendary. They exist, they are a thing. But they are hidden by the Astral Script, unless you have some really powerful perception abilities, or have managed to stumble upon the requirements necessary to find out about them.”

“…Or you happen to know a dragon,” Noah added.

“Or that,” Vion agreed.

“But why? Why have the rarities been hidden?” Aurelia asked.

“Before I answer that, let me ask you this. Is there a rarity type that you’re aware of, which is above Legendary? Besides the one you just learned.”

Aurelia thought it over. “There’s unique Paths and items. But those are not necessarily better in all cases. There’s growth items, but they, too, aren’t always better,” she paused as she realized something. “Divine items… and Divine Paths.”

“Exactly. Divine rarity. It is a special rarity above Legendary that can only be obtained by worshiping a god. Though few ever give out things of such power or influence easily, most Divine category Paths of clerics and paladins are not actually Divine grade. There’s a difference between the two. But that’s a common one that almost everyone knows about. The reason it is commonly known is because the gods must directly give them to you. It cannot be obtained by any other means. They can control it,” Vion said.

Noah chewed over the information. This was the second new rarity tier he’d learned of just now, and it made him wonder just how much information he still didn’t have. If he wanted to ever truly destroy the cult and free himself from the void god’s pact, he would need to learn. He returned his attention to Vion.

“…Which is why these rarities are kept hidden. Because one of the conditions of unlocking a Mythical grade Path, is simply knowing of the rarity in the first place. Well, it’s not quite that simple. But that is one of the factors. If you know of the rarity, you can unlock it. The other method is to reach level 100 with a Legendary grade ability, and then upgrade it into a Mythical ability. Or to find a Mythical grade tome and do it that way. But those tomes are guarded even more heavily. The money needed to get one would be enough to buy a large city.”

Noah thought of the Ancient grade tome he’d used very recently. He gulped.

“That still doesn’t explain why you would have to hide it from us,” Aurelia asked.

“I’m getting there,” Vion said, fidgeting as if to sort her thoughts. “Okay, so, I’m not completely sure if this is true or not, but it’s what Draxias—err, the king, told me when he was teaching me about my legacy. You are aware that the Celestians were the ones who created the Astral Script in the form that it is today, yes?”

Noah nodded.

“Though they had help from the Pantheon, it was they who created the first spell that began the Astral Script itself, and as such, they have a lot of control. Now… it is debated how much control they have, as the first empires of the time have long fallen, and a lot of the knowledge of that period has been lost to time. It is said that the dragons had fought a war against the Celestians, when they had been conquering all they could, which directly resulted in the fracturing of the empire and the formation of the alliances. I don’t know if this is true or not, but that’s how the story goes,” Vion said.

Noah remembered Zax mentioning something in relation to that at some point. Had the dragon been part of that war then? He would have to ask.

“Anyway, while the Celestians have mellowed out a lot over the centuries, they still hold the most influence on the Astral Scripts of any race. And, I have heard that, if inconvenient people manage to gain this information and access to these special rarities and their Paths, then the Ascendant Monarchs sent hunters to take care of them. It is… almost a myth. But the king says he has met one of these hunters before. A man powerful enough to level kingdoms all by himself, with sharp pointed ears, but with white hair and blue eyes. His bones formed an ethereal armor around his body, cladding him in white. Some call him the bone-clad reaper,” Vion said.

“That… does not sound real,” Aurelia said.

“I know, I didn’t believe it either. But… you are aware of how there was this myth going around that dragons did not actually exist, and were just a lie to cover up attacks from Ascendants? Well, these figures were almost always involved in that. That, and whatever group they come from, as there’s certainly more than one. It’s a folklore of a group called the White Bloom, but there is truth behind it,” Vion said.

“And they come after you if you get too strong?” Noah asked.

“Not always, not necessarily. But yes. Some say they control the central kingdoms, that all of them are Ascendants and the monarchs are working under their orders. That’s a bit far fetched, but there certainly is some connection,” Vion said.

“This sounds like a big conspiracy theory to me,” Aurelia said. “An organization of Ascendants running things from the shadow? I’m not so sure.”

“I would agree, but recently, something has changed. More and more incidents are rising. The shifts with the cults. Movements in the underground, spells. In fact, the city you two just came from, Heartillia, didn’t it lose its lord to a mysterious assassination? Something is happening. There have been murmurs of the organization moving around, and something about a dead god,” Vion said.

Noah’s attention snapped into focus at the mention.

“Draxias says a god has died, and that his Shards have landed on Erandir. And the Reapers seek the pieces,” Vion said, leaning back. “Not that I get it. The gods are immortal, and none we know of have died.”

Aurelia looked to Noah, surprise reflecting on her face as well, but Noah’s attention was captured instead by the new quest he’d gotten.

New Quest obtained!

Quest: The White Bloom

You’ve heard the legend of the White Bloom. A mysterious organization of powerful people who do not like strangers getting too strong. Especially strangers holding the pieces of the dead god they wish to collect.

Objective: Find out more about this mysterious organization.

Difficulty: Hard

Reward: Unknown

Noah waved the quest away. He would deal with it when he got to that stage. He already had the mystery of the lunar cult to solve, and the preparations for the Dragon Warrior’s trial to make.

Deciding this was a good time to bring it up, he asked Vion, “So… where does the Ancient rarity sit at? That’s also one of the hidden ones,” he asked.

Aurelia jumped. “I… got another skill point,” she said.

Vion looked at Noah in surprise, shaking her head. “It’s below Mythical, adjacent to Legendary, but a bit different. It’s more unique in the sense that it can be better or worse, but primarily denotes things that predate the Astral Script and are not inherently a part of it. I don’t know much more beyond that.”

Noah gave the woman a nod. He had a feeling that if he could inspect the scale from the life wyrm again, it would have shown up as Mythical now.

He pulled up his own quest for the Shards.

Quest: Shards of [???]

Through strange and unknown circumstances, you’ve come to possess a Shard of [???]. But it is far from the only one that exists. Memories remain hidden in these pieces that’ve been scattered across Erandir. It’d do you well to start searching.

Objective: Find all the Shards of [???]

Difficulty: Unknown

Reward: Unknown

He’d gotten this quest right at the very start, when he’d just arrived on Erandir. Noah looked at it once more, inspecting the Shard directly.

[Shard of ???, (Divine/???)]

A Shard of ** ******* attached to the soul of Noah Brown. Contains an Aspect of the Devourer, and a piece of a forgotten memory.

Noah put the description away.

Taking a breath, he got up. “The wyverns have left the area, let’s move before they return. The river is nearby, I’ve had Tony scouting ahead. There shouldn’t be too much in our path to cross,” Noah said.

Vion and Aurelia both nodded and prepared to set out.

Noah took a look at his quests, then focused himself. The games of gods would continue on, and while he didn’t know what that future held for him, for now he knew what his task was.

He had some wyverns to hunt.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 4

It took nearly an entire day of walking, even with their speed, before the group finally found their destination. It was the smell that Noah noticed first, a distinct smell of water growing stronger and stronger until it was everywhere. Next came the sound of flowing water.

Tony moved swiftly through the sky, staying low enough to be just under the canopies to avoid being detected by the wyverns, scouting the area ahead. Once they arrived at the shores of the river, they looked upon the rocky banks as cool, humid air flowed all around them.

Vion knelt at the riverbank, cupping her hands into the water. There was a faint glow present, and Noah could sense mana swirling within the water. Vion drank it.

“This river comes from the heart of the cliffs, where the wyverns live. Both of the peaks and their subsidiaries are a single mountain range, and right from their center, this river flows out, carrying a lot of the residual mana from the wyverns,” the dragon woman said, taking out a water container which she began to fill up.

“That’s quite a lot of mana. Even the air has more of it,” Noah remarked. He looked at Vion, who seemed almost relieved as she drank more of the water, and Noah remembered how Zax’s status had said he was… mana deficient, that there wasn’t enough mana in the area to sustain him properly.

“I’m surprised how you live in the city. Don’t dragons need a lot of mana to survive?” Noah asked.

Vion glanced up at him, standing up as she put her container of water into a storage device. “Well, I’m not a full dragon, am I?”

“Are you not? You looked like a dragon when you were fighting Zax,” Noah said.

“It’s… complicated,” Vion said, glancing aside.

Noah heard a beep from his bracelet, then Aurelia’s voice came to him telepathically. “Don’t pry. There’s clearly a lot of complicated things going on with her background.”

“If we’re going to be here for a while together, I think knowing more wouldn’t hurt. Not to mention… is Vion even giving the trial a go? Her level isn’t very high, and she’s an actual honest to god dragon. What would the title even do for her? I feel like the whole point of Zax sending her with us is so we can learn more, and maybe help her control the dragon form or whatever.”

When Aurelia didn’t reply, Noah asked Vion, “How does the dragon thing work anyway? It says all Draconians are descendants of dragons.”

“I don’t actually know. My growth was slowed down by spells and potions and all sorts of things, and then, I was given this form at birth, a human, not even a Draconian but a human. It’s all sorts of complicated,” Vion said, facing the river. “Let’s worry about crossing this thing for now. I can see the sea serpents further up the river. This is the one area even the wyverns avoid. Sea serpents are nasty.”

“Can’t we just rush across?” Aurelia asked.

“Or I could teleport us across,” Noah added.

“Won’t work. I’ll show you,” Vion said, picking up a somewhat flat rock. Heat rose in her fist as the rock began to glow, soon turning red, before she swung it. The red hot rock shot forward, arcing through the air, as it sizzled.

Boom.

A bolt of lightning came from nowhere, vaporizing the rock into thin air, leaving nothing behind.

Noah and Aurelia simply stared in surprise.

“What was that?” Noah asked, searching with his senses for the source of the lightning, but failing to find anything there.

Vion pointed in the water, and after looking for a few moments, he saw it. A giant crocodile-like creature slept beneath the surface, eyes glowing as it peered up at them, as if waiting. Others around it swam through the river as well.

“And that’s just the deidacrocks, a bit further you have the serpents who can cause hurricanes and also shoot lightning,” Vion said, pointing upstream. “And then downstream you have the sea, where you’ll find the big mom whose kids all of these ones are.”

“Alright, I see the point. But why can’t I teleport us over? Just in and out, easy,” Noah said.

“Can you?” Vion asked, skeptically. “The river has a lot of mana. I don’t know if you feel it or not, but this entire river is chock full of mana, and it’s just gushing into the air. It’s like a wall.”

It took Noah a second to realize what she was talking about. He’d gotten so used to the gradual increase in the mana that he almost hadn’t noticed the giant current of mana moving in front of him, surrounding him in all directions. It wasn’t the air which had more mana. It was the river, whose mana presence was so strong it was making the mana in the air denser, spanning out into the entire forest.

Noah looked at the river thoughtfully. A second later, he let mana flow through the sigils formed on his Arcane Body, as magic twirled and twisted. A moment later, he flashed as Arcane Step activated and he was gone.

He stood at the other edge, looking back to Vion and Aurelia. Noah gave the two of them a wave. A second later, Arcane Step activated once more and Noah jumped back to stand beside them.

“Well, consider me impressed,” Vion said, sniffing. “That’s a powerful teleport ability. But at the same time, even if you can make it across all on your own safely, I’m not sure you can do it with the two of us in tow.”

Noah raised an eyebrow. “Is that a challenge?”

“No, no it’s not. It’s a prediction, because I don’t want your teleport to fail midway and send us sinking into the river, or worse,” Vion said.

“I think you’re too pessimistic,” Noah said, walking closer to Vion. He gestured to let him touch her shoulder and the dragon woman shrugged. Resting his hand on Vion’s shoulder, Noah let Arcane Step channel, feeling the resistance she created against his ability.

He frowned.

She was right about one thing at least. She was difficult to teleport. Noah had been expecting it, despite the woman’s level being lower than his, she was, after all, a dragon. Noah knew by experience that it wasn’t the levels so much as the cumulative stats of someone that really affected how difficult that person was to move around with his teleport abilities.

Still, he had also been right as well. She was definitely underestimating him. He had two simple and easy ways to transport her, and he decided that he was going to use both.

“It can be done,” he said.

She did not seem convinced.

“Are you sure, Noah? We don’t necessarily have to push ourselves, especially since we may have to fight a wyvern at any point. And there might be areas without any monsters for us to cross if we walk along the shore for a little bit,” Aurelia said.

“Just hold on,” Noah said, as he called onto his shadow. The shadow specter emerged, without any need for Noah to explain the plan. Vion looked horrified as the dark specter manifested out of nowhere.

“You’re with me, m’lady,” the shadow said, curtsying toward Aurelia as he extended a hand. The woman looked extremely uncertain, glancing in Noah’s general direction with an expression that said, ‘What are you doing?’ She reluctantly accepted the shadow’s hand. The arcane spells swirled around them, Arcane Step activating, and the shadow and Aurelia both were on the other shore in the next instant.

“Our turn,” Noah said, extending his hand to Vion.

“It won’t be that easy with me⁠—”

“Just trust me on this one,” Noah interrupted.

Vion stared at him, then, after letting out a quiet sigh, she put her hand in his.

Noah activated Metamorphosis. His body transformed, a monstrous form starting to appear, but Noah did not let the physical transformations happen completely. Or rather, he asked Tony to dial them down. His teeth still turned to fangs, and the vertical slits in his eyes grew longer and sharper, and there was a downright threatening aura of void around him, but otherwise, he remained unchanged.

All except for his attributes. Power rippled through his body as all of his attributes doubled in power. Letting Arcane Step channel, he barely felt a blip as the two of them appeared on the other side of the river.

Vion let out a quiet, ‘Oh,’ as she stepped back. Noah let go of Metmorphosis, the short burst of power not giving him the usual exhaustion afterward. He’d been experimenting with more fine tuned control of the ability like this, but there was still some tricky parts that he and Tony needed to figure out together.

He grinned at the two women as his shadow merged back into him. “See? I told you I could do it.”

“You don’t look too happy?” Noah asked, noticing that Vion seemed disappointed. “Ohh, did you… want to cross the river? With some kind of plan?”

The dragon woman did not reply right away, the silence lingering between them. Vion glanced back at the river. A second later, in a quieter voice, she admitted, “I had thought of a plan. We could single out a deidacros, fight it, as these creatures are always hungry for a fight, and then when it knew it couldn’t beat us, we’d use the prey we caught as a lure and sit on top of the monster and sail across.”

Noah and Aurelia glanced at each other. He knew Vion was something like a century old, yet she was treated like a teenager for all intents and purposes, and that was starting to become evident over time.

She wasn’t a child, she was capable and a powerful young woman, and dragon, but she certainly wasn’t a mature adult.

Not that I’m one either.

He patted Vion’s shoulder. “How about this. If we have to cross back at some point, we’ll use your method instead.”

That seemed to placate her, and she gave Noah a little nod.

“Let’s not waste too much time now, the hive is just there,” Aurelia said.

Now on the other side of the shore, they could see the mountain peaks more clearly, reigniting their drive to get a wyvern heart.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 5

The forest thinned as they drew closer and closer to the giant wyvern cliffs. The structure started to dominate the landscape, the creatures around these parts becoming more and more draconic. Noah didn’t understand what the connection was between wyverns and dragons and this entire location, but it was certainly evident in the flora and fauna. They’d found a plant that shot fire sacs. A goddamn plant.

Noah had picked up some of the sacs and put them in his inventory. It seemed like the kind of thing Zax would have fun tinkering with. Perhaps he could tell the dragon what a molotov was.

A high-pitched call came from above, where birds circled. He squinted, getting a better look with his enhanced vision. No… not birds.

“Are those wyverns?” he asked. From this distance they looked no larger than a small bird. They had to be flying really high above.

“Stay down, they can see you even from that high up,” Vion said, gesturing for the group to walk through a different section of the forest, better hidden by the foliage.

Noah took occasional glances at the sky. More and more wyverns flew around, the area soon teeming with them. He had to wonder just how this forest could sustain so many giant creatures like that. A wyvern had to eat a significant amount, surely, and the forest would only have so many creatures.

He decided to ask Vion, who had become more or less their guide. For a princess who supposedly didn’t get to go out a lot, she certainly knew a lot on the topic.

“Well, it’s simple. They can’t live off of this forest alone, this place is barely enough for a hundred wyverns, much less thousands.”

“Then… how does not one, but two hives exist?” Noah asked.

“I’d been wondering that too. No matter where you go, typically higher rank creatures and predators were fewer in numbers. Stronger monsters can survive for long periods of time without any food, but their mana is primarily divested in modifying their bodies, and as such, a certain amount of food and mana becomes required for them to survive. Same reason why a human Ascendant can hang out in low rank areas without much issue, but a monster cannot,” Aurelia said.

“The answer is both simple and not. The wyverns here are maybe around a third of the wyverns, and they’re almost all females. They’re here, because they’re feeding their spawn and brood. They go out much farther away to gather food for themselves. All male juveniles are kicked out of the hive after breeding season, and often they just eat the weaker males to sustain themselves,” Vion said, pausing as a wyvern passed from above surprisingly close by.

When the threat cleared, she continued. “This is also why the adult wyverns do not mind if you kill the juveniles. Almost all of them are males who are just a burden on the hive. I know a lot of wyverns often intentionally do not touch traps set by hunters, as it’s mostly the juveniles who fall for those, out of desperation and hunger,” Vion said.

“Wow… that’s… yikes. Talk about having it rough,” Noah said.

Aurelia nodded. “That… is quite harsh. Though I know it is not just wyverns that do something like this.”

“Nature can be quite brutal. Which is why, if we had to hunt a male wyvern, even an adult, we’d likely be done by now,” Vion said.

“The females are stronger?” Noah asked.

“Yes. But that’s not the main problem. It’s the fact that if you hurt or kill one, the entire hive will hunt you. Female adults are the leaders and the ones who look after all the children and raise them. The juvenile females go out to bring food, the adult females tend to the spawn in their nest alongside the elder wyvern, who both guards the entire hive and enforces order. Which is why this entire thing is such a pain. We need to kill a wyvern, which is the easy part, and then we need to somehow get out without being turned into wyvern food,” Vion said.

Noah hummed thoughtfully. It looked like this task was not as simple as he’d initially expected. In his mind, he’d simply prepared himself to fight against a wyvern until he eventually won. But perhaps a bit more tact would be required.

“You know quite a lot about wyverns, don’t you, Vion?” Aurelia asked.

The woman froze in her tracks for the barest of moments, before she continued. Neither Noah nor Aurelia missed the reaction.

“A bit, I guess. I didn’t have a lot to do but read, which is why.”

“That’s impressive. You sound like you’re an expert and have a lot of experience handling wyverns.”

Vion didn’t reply.

“We should come up with a plan, on how exactly we’re going to get an adult wyvern. I’d prefer to keep the cause chaos and incite a hive war as our last resort if possible,” Aurelia said.

“Yes. So, I’ve been thinking about this. We’re likely going to be here for some time, and that means we’ll want a place where we can wind down, rest, recover, without having to worry about wyverns breathing down our necks all the time. And I thought we could use an abandoned chamber. Wyvern hives have a lot of abandoned paths, and sometimes tunnels and such collapse, and the wyverns just leave the areas, as it’s not worth digging them out again. Older tunnels, especially at the bottom of the hive are often like this, as wyverns prefer to stay up top, and only the juveniles are forced down. It’s where I’ve been trying to lead us,” Vion said.

“That sounds good. We could start by getting a safe place, and then try to scout out the hive and find where the wyvern adults are, and then work out a plan to lure them out,” Aurelia said.

“Here’s what I’m thinking. Zax has sent us here, because we need to train. And, why specifically the heart of an adult wyvern? Like, I’m sure we can set up a trap and do it, probably. But how does it help out in our real goal, which is getting stronger?” Noah asked.

“Fighting an adult wyvern is not an easy task, and the levels would be significant. Even if we all fought it together. But Noah is right. I feel like we’re missing something,” Aurelia said.

“In the first place, it’s not that easy to lure an adult wyvern out. They don’t typically come out, our bait will just invite a bunch of juveniles. And if we cause enough of a stir, the hive will get alerted to our presence and we’ll be as good as dead meat,” Vion said.

“Is there something specific about a wyvern’s heart perhaps? Can it be used to create something that helps us?” Aurelia asked.

“Given that he gave up a hundred days to get it, and intentionally mentioned we would not be under his surveillance or protection… I don’t think so. I think the intention is simple. We need to train and fight our way through,” Noah said.

“That’s suicide,” Aurelia replied.

Vion frowned. “It is suicide. But… no, no way. There’s no way it’s that.”

“What?” Aurelia asked.

The dragon woman gave them a long stare. “Noah… you have wyrmblood, don’t you?”

Noah nodded. “Of course, you saw it for yourself.”

“And you, Aurelia. You have your armor and have been in the presence of a dragon for a while now,” Vion said.

“I still don’t see what that has to do with us committing suicide via wyvern teeth, but yes, I do,” Aurelia said.

“Well, as… incomplete as I may be, I am still a part-dragon. A true dragon, and not a Draconian. And, if there’s one thing wyverns heed to, it is dragons. And… okay, so this is just a maybe, but the hive has a matriarch, or queen if you will, obviously. But she alone doesn’t lead all the groups, obviously. There are smaller tribes, and many other sub-groups which have their own leaders. And it is a position that younger wyverns do contest and fight for. If they lose, they are kicked out, if they don’t just die in battle. But if they win, typically by killing the older head, they then lead that particular group.”

“Wait… you think he wants us to… take over the hive?” Aurelia said, eyes wide.

Vion shook her head. “No, we could never. Not even a smaller tribe would tolerate us for long. But there have been cases when outsiders have managed to become a part of a hive with this method. There’s a chance we could become a part of the hive, if we kill an adult wyvern. Of course, this will mean not dying immediately as the wyverns try to kill us, and we’ll need to be strong enough to take on an adult wyvern individually for all of us… but… there is a chance.”

They stood there for a long moment, taking that thought in.

“Let’s just get into the hive first, and then we can think further,” Vion said, heading out again.

The suns hovered near the top of the mountains when the group found what they had been looking for.

“There, there it is,” Vion said, and then whispered something so quietly even Noah’s enhanced hearing barely made it out.

“I knew I’d remembered the way.”

He didn’t comment, but something was clearly going on here. The group walked into what looked like a cave mouth built into the ground, covered with vines and moss, and reminded Noah an awful lot of the cultist hideout where he and Aurelia had first met.

That was not a pleasant thought to think about.

He tried not to let it linger, feeling a powerful wave of mana hit him in the face.

You’re in a high mana concentration zone.

Mana regeneration increased by 100%

Arcane Body reacts to the mana in the environment.

Your attributes are all temporarily increased by 10%

“Whoa, what was that,” Noah said, reading his notification as a burst of power started to fill him, like the mana was seeping into him on its own.

“Mana zone. They exist. People start wars over them. Big and deep dungeons are often like this, deeper in,” Vion said, continuing ahead with steady steps through the twisting pathways, as she led them deeper into the ground.

“I… kinda get why. I feel like I just drank two bottles of energy drink. My entire body is literally buzzing,” Noah said, the arcane sigils on him faintly glowing with mana, as if greedily sucking it all in.

“Stay quiet, we’re near the main entrance,” Vion whispered, expression serious.

Noah noticed light seeping in from farther ahead, and he kept his aura hidden and his steps silent. They arrived in a giant well lit cavern. What Noah saw here, made his jaw drop open in awe.

A massive area covered in vegetation, moss and plants of all sorts, with massive stalactites and boulders jutting all around gave the place the feel that it was meant for giants, and they were merely ants. Each surface seemed to be covered to the brim with wyverns.

There were a bunch with fiery red stripes, others that were large and had a rocky exterior. Some with four wings instead of two, and others with sleek thin bodies as they clung onto the walls, or sat on one of the ledges, or flew around in the central area, moving from one chamber to another. Beams of sunlight peered from the gaps above, lighting the place, making it look ethereal.

It was like they’d entered a brand-new world. But more than anything, it was the numbers.

Though Noah had grown quite strong, he could feel it here, the combined presence of hundreds… no, thousands of wyverns permeating the air.

And underneath it all, a powerful aura that permeated the entire hive, one that could rival Zax in power.

He paused his inspection as a particularly large wyvern swooped overhead, landing nearby as it crushed a juvenile that had been acting up under its giant claws and feet, then it licked the blood off. Noah didn’t even dare breathe, much less use Analyze.

He simply stared.

Fuck me. And we have to kill one of these, here!

He was a lot less confident about his chances now.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 6

The group moved in deathly silence, and only when they were a little farther away did Noah dare use Analyze.

[Adult Rock-scale Wyvern (Legendary) - ???]

One of the largest kinds of wyverns there are, what these hulking creatures lack in mobility and flight ability, they more than make up for in their sheer bulk and rock hard defenses. A rock-scale wyvern will burrow into the earth and eat rocks and minerals rich in earth mana, growing their scales with minerals that are extremely hard to pierce.

In a particularly cruel practice, these creatures are captured and forced to feed on a specific diet to grow specialized mana stones and gems which are then mined from their bodies. The practice has spread across colonies and the wyverns now have an innate distrust of humanoid creatures.

That’s you, just so we’re clear.

Noah didn’t have the time to question the description’s direct addressal of him yet again. But it was definitely a little weird. His quest window sometimes did it as well, and it kinda creeped him out.

Hundreds of wyverns continued to move across, only a few coming close to their location. The entire area was a maze, and according to Vion, this was far from the largest central chamber. It was a vertically spanning highway of tunnels and chambers filled with wyverns, and the constant beat of wings and the rumbling of growls and shrill calls filled the air.

They ducked behind a pillar, as one of the nearby wyverns sniffed, before turning in their direction. Noah kept himself ready to teleport them out of sight immediately if they were discovered. Tony sharpened his senses to let him better perceive any threats.

He took a breath of relief when the giant wyvern turned away, distracted by something else. Vion continued forward, undeterred, her steps sure. Noah and Aurelia did not question her, simply following her lead.

They had to wait out more than one wyvern that got too close. And in one particular area, Aurelia had almost given their position away when she’d sneezed. They’d managed to get through, finding their way to the tunnel Vion pointed out.

The activity died out quickly as they moved into one of the lower tunnels, only a couple of wyverns now present, and almost all of them were juveniles. Most were sleeping, while others fought over some scrap of meat or something similar.

Noah watched with fascination, heart racing the entire time. There had been many fascinating and unreal things he had seen in his stay on Erandir so far, but this one was definitely up there with the most fascinating and bizarre of them. He continued onward, deeper into the tunnels till barely any of the wyverns remained.

“There, that should be good,” Vion said, heading toward what was effectively a crack in the wall. The dragon woman didn’t hesitate, squeezing through. Aurelia looked at Noah hesitantly, before following behind, grunting to fit into the tight space.

Noah shrugged as well, using Arcane Step to teleport directly inside.

Aurelia grumbled as he appeared, dusting herself off.

The inside of the chamber was a small hole in the hive, with its main entrance caved in, blocking what likely was the normal entrance in here. But what gave him pause wasn’t that, but the different boxes and markings on the walls from words and other obvious signs of people having lived here at some point.

There was even a giant slab of rock which had been carved by someone, with little pieces of hay spread on top, serving as the world’s worst bed.

“Uh… you don’t think the wyverns suddenly wanted to use beds or learn how to write?” Noah asked.

“Wyvern hunters. Some build hideouts like this in abandoned sections and use them to set their traps and check in on them. It’s a common practice, unfortunately. Because someone is always stupid enough to take risks like that,” Vion said.

Noah remembered the trapped sky pirates, who’d been in a similar situation, trying to catch the sky serpents. The thought made him wonder about Snow and the others and what they were up to.

“There’s even some food here, though it’s some kind of jerky and hard tack, so nothing particularly good. We could also always go out to hunt, and we already have some of the giant boar we caught, if we end up using it for ourselves—oh, they have some mana stones too. But not much. Looks like about fifty F and E grade crystals,” Aurelia said.

Noah sat on the bed, feeing the hard surface against his back. He wasn’t particularly picky, and in his journey he and Aurelia had slept in the forest often enough, but with the month long trip on the airship and even before that, mostly staying in taverns and guilds, he’d gotten used to having the comfort of civilization again. “Man, it’s gonna suck not having decent food, or a bed, or being able to take a shower for so long.”

“Don’t be a baby, Noah,” Aurelia said. “Though I have to agree about the shower at least. I once had to head out to clear a monster infestation with a team in a desert area and none of us could take a shower as we had to preserve our water, and I think I’d lost my sense of smell during that period. It didn’t return till like a week after I returned,” Aurelia said, shuddering.

“Yeah… I’m not looking forward to that. I’m just glad I no longer have to use the bathroom or whatever. Imagine that,” Noah said.

“Perks of D rank. You go through all the food you intake, and your body can take out the impurities through your aura and breath,” Aurelia said. “I still remember when you started just vomiting back when you’d gotten your lifeblood ability, and then become covered in gunk all over before passing out. I’d been so shocked.”

“When? I don’t remember that,” Noah said.

“It was right after our fight with the flesh horror, back when we’d first met. Hellion’s breath, it feels like that was years ago. Has it really only been six months? So much has changed since then,” Aurelia said.

“Um, so, I don’t want to interrupt the reminiscing, but… I have a dimensional chamber. We can just use that,” Vion said.

Aurelia gasped, while Noah stared at Vion in confusion.

“A what?” he asked.

“It’s easier to just show it to you. Step back for a second,” Vion said, looking around as if assessing the chamber, before settling on a location that was roughly in the middle, and took out a crystal.

Vion set the crystal on the ground, and it began to glow, runes flashing onto its body, then projected onto the chamber. The runes rapidly shifted, almost like a machine scanning the chamber, and then, a second later, the crystal rose in the air, shining before Noah felt the world around him change.

He blinked, finding himself standing in the middle of what looked like a luxurious living room, filled with little tidbits, pictures and what not.

Vion blushed as she swept aside a pile of clothes and other stuff scattered around. “Sorry, I haven’t been here in a while. It’s a little messy.”

“What in the… where are we?” Noah asked, still taken aback at the sudden teleportation.

He paused. No… no they hadn’t teleported out. He would’ve been able to tell. His Astral abilities were firmly attuned to space now, if they’d moved, he would’ve been able to tell and even resist it.

No, this entire room was teleported in instead.

“A dimensional chamber, it’s basically a portable home that exists in a pocket dimension, and with enough space, you can anchor it and get access. The main gate there will lead us back out into the chamber we had just been,” Vion said.

Aurelia was still taken back, looking around in disbelief. “I had forgotten for a second that you are an honest to god princess… No, not just that, but the heir to one of the oldest kingdoms on Erandir. This is… I can’t even begin to imagine what this must cost. I’ve never seen one this big.”

“Are they rare?” Noah asked.

“Very. Only lords and nobles or very rich adventurers have these typically. It’s stupidly costly to create a pocket dimension of this size, especially a variable, mappable one, that can carry structure—there’s like a ton of things working here that take so much work. I couldn’t even begin to explain it,” Aurelia said.

Functionally, this seemed similar to his Astral Vault, except he could travel with it anywhere. Though he did admit, he didn’t have any walls or a roof, and staying for too long in a swirling void of colors made his stomach queazy.

“Let’s head out for now, the extra mana in the air means the chamber will last for longer, but it does need to be recharged, so it’s best if we only use this when we want to sleep or something important,” Vion said.

The group nodded, and followed her out of the door, teleporting back to the chamber they had just been in a second earlier.

Before either could get their bearing, the entire group paused, as they all collectively sensed a presence outside. A wyvern growled, clawing at the wall as it tried to peer inside, having clearly noticed their presence.

“Shit, did it sense the mana from the device or something? I thought we’d managed to sneak in,” Aurelia whispered, looking around.

The wyvern let out another growl, as Vion froze in place.

Noah quickly used Analyze.

[Juvenile Acid Wyverns (Legendary) - lvl 172]

The acid wyvern. It is a common misconception that wyverns only have base elements, some, such as this particular one, do not have a lot of magic, but instead have some really messed up racial abilities, like the ability to burn your face off by spewing a lot of acid. Which this one seems like it would do if you don’t do something quick.

“It’s a juvenile, acid wyvern. We can take it, and end it quick if we’re fast, and once it’s dead I can pull its body in our inventory,” Noah said, summoning his spear. “I’ll teleport out there and distract it, join me and we’ll take it down rapidly.”

Aurelia channeled her mana, ready to jump into action. Noah called on his mana, activating Arcane Step.

The wyvern turned around, surprised at seeing Noah there. A moment later, as it was about to let out a roar, Noah rushed in, Tony reinforcing his arm as he punched the wyvern’s jaw strongly. He didn’t waste any time, activating Metamorphosis and transforming his body.

Noah rushed in, chains forming around his arms as he wrapped them around the creature, shutting its jaw tight. Noah jumped onto its head, pulling the wyvern’s neck back up.

Aurelia appeared the next instant, fire blazing around her fist, as the wyvern thrashed. No words needed to be said as Aurelia struck the wyvern with a flaming fist, tumbling it to the side, and Noah’s chains tightened around him. His shadow formed next to him, spear in hand, ready to plunge the blade into the wyvern’s eye socket and directly into its brain, when Vion appeared.

“Wait!” she shouted. The shadow stopped, the blade an inch away from the wyvern’s eye.

“Please… wait,” she said, looking hesitant, as she walked closer.

“What are you doing?” Aurelia asked, her voice clipped.

“You can let her go, she… she won’t do anything,” Vion said, before putting a hand on the wyvern Noah had trapped.

Noah looked at Vion as if she’d gone insane. Aurelia had a similar expression, but gave him a nod. Noah loosened his grip on the chains, and the wyvern collapsed on the ground, letting out a low guttural growl.

“Sorry, I… I’ve not been telling you guys something. I actually know this hive. I come here, every now and then. This wyvern is one I know as well,” Vion said, petting the wyvern who grumbled, shoving Noah off of her and raising herself up, snorting heavily.

“I didn’t want you guys to know, because I was afraid you’d tell Draxi—that you’d tell the king,” Vion said, glancing away.

Noah looked at the woman in surprise. “That we would… what?”

“Sorry,” Vion said. “It’s just. It’s a secret I’ve kept for so long. I didn’t want anyone to know. But… Zax clearly knew. Somehow. And I had a feeling he wanted me to come here, which is why I led you guys here, but I still didn’t feel sure if I could tell you. I’m sorry for hiding this,” Vion said, petting the wyvern.

“Alright. Okay,” Aurelia took a deep breath. “So… you’re friends with this wyvern hive? Does that mean… what? We need an adult wyvern’s heart. I don’t know about dragons, but we typically don’t go into a friend’s home to rip out one of their family member’s hearts,” Aurelia said.

The juvenile wyvern growled at Aurelia, but Vion patted her again.

“Sorry. It’s a little bit more complicated. I had been trying to come up with a plan but… alright. Well, if you’ve found out anyway, you might as well meet her,” Vion said, climbing on top of the creature as the wyvern snorted.

“Meet who?” Noah asked.

After a moment of hesitation, Vion replied, “Quazithril. My foster mother. And the queen of this hive.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 7

Noah and Aurelia sat behind Vion atop the wyvern’s back, who’d grunted in annoyance but allowed them to climb on. Though to allow it, Aurelia had to give it a D grade mana stone as an apology first. Which in all honesty, if someone had just tried to kill Noah, he’d be at least a little mad too.

As they moved through the hive, Noah watched in awe at the many wyverns flying around in the giant hollow caverns. Many looked in their direction, many more coming closer to eye them or sniff, only to return to whatever they had been doing. He wasn’t sure how they were communicating with one another, but for the time being, it seemed they were safe here.

Still, despite knowing that, Noah couldn’t help but feel his heart thundering. Not quite in fear, no, it was a mix of both excitement and anticipation. This place was dreamlike, an untold number of fantastical creatures flying all around him.

The wyvern continued to move toward the top of the mountain, flying deftly, though Noah had to grab tightly to stay on as the wyvern twisted and turned the whole way. Vion on the other hand, rode comfortably, belying experience and skill at having done so before.

They moved through a gap in what was effectively the roof, emerging in a large central chamber formed close to the very peak. The first thing Noah saw was a giant wyvern, one close to size with Zax instead of a typical wyvern looking down at them, sniffing questioningly. He felt himself stiffen up under the wyvern’s gaze as it let out a bone rattling growl.

Then, the wyvern turned away, grunting, and Noah felt like he could collapse. It was only then did he finally use Analyze.

[Elder Sky Wyvern (Mythical) - ????]

Elder sky wyverns. Known for their agility and flight, these creatures are so fast that when they fly at full speed, they create a sonic burst despite their large sizes, and leave flaming trails behind them. An elder wyvern is said to be one of the few creatures that can take on juvenile dragons as well, and it is said they would often keep the rumbustious dragons under control, making sure they did not burn the whole world down.

Because honestly, if you let those guys free that would be the first thing they would do. The next they would do is fly off to find another world to burn, because they’re just psychopaths.

Anyway, because of this, they’re the most suited to taking care of their own young, and are often assigned as the queen of any wyvern hive, and tend to raise their young and teach them some manners.

Side note, if you see one of these and they are not a matriarch in the hive. It is because something bigger and scarier is.

Good luck!

Noah tried not to let the description worry him too much, but he had to admit, it was a little concerning. Thankfully, there was so much happening that it was easy to not linger on the topic. Their wyvern stopped as they entered what looked like a nursery, but for baby dragons instead. Tiny little wyverns flopped and jumped around, wrestling and playing with one another, and yapping and growling.

As Noah stepped down, a nearby wyvern bit at his shoes, trying to tear a chunk out till one of the elders growled, and the little wyvern whimpered, running off.

Noah used Analyze on the little creature.

[Baby Sky Wyvern (Legendary) - level 32]

A baby sky wyvern. Adorable small little creatures, almost like how a baby lion is adorable. But don’t be fooled by the guy’s beady eyes or little baby teeth. He’s gonna grow up and tear your face out and claw your eyes, before making a meal of you. All while making happy chirping noises.

Did you know that wyverns could chirp? It’s really cute.

These descriptions are just getting weirder and weirder. At this point it’s straight up talking with me.

Noah couldn’t deny being at least a little amused though. It was weird, but it made him snort in amusement. The system seemed to play at almost being a little malicious in its descriptions. Other wyvern babies started to take notice of the newcomers. The brave ones tried to come closer, at least until the elders snapped them back in place, while others stayed afar, watching with a mix of fear and curiosity.

The wyvern the group had ridden, walked through the chamber, the ceiling not high enough in here to fly freely, and they trailed behind the creature, passing through the crowds of many wyverns.

Noah almost wanted to wave back at more than one baby wyvern that looked up at him with beady eyes. He wished Snow was here, her new baby sky serpent would surely love it here. She herself would also likely love it. And maybe she’d get to keep one of them as well.

He should see if he could ask Zax to make that happen.

With dozens of gazes in their direction, Noah began to feel a heavy presence starting to weigh down on him, like the mountain itself was starting to take note of his presence. It was an odd sensation, similar to what he’d felt when training his fear resistance against Zax, but not quite the same either.

Abruptly, they came to a stop at a wall. Noah wondered what was going on, when he noted that the wall here looked a bit peculiar. Before he could take note, the world rumbled all around them, and the wall raised itself up in the air, revealing a larger section of the chamber.

No… not a wall, Noah realized belatedly. It was a wing. A wing so big, it covered the entire section.

A giant hole that seemed to go down all the way to the bottom of the mountain was revealed, and from the terrible depths stirred what he could only describe as a literal mountain moving in front of him.

The ground continued to shake as a giant scaled face that looked like it was a part of the mountain itself turned to look at them. The entire hive shifted, a buzz going them as the creature regarded them, and Noah stood frozen, watching in awe.

He used Analyze, and even the words appearing in front of him seemed to have a nearly reverential undertone to them.

[Ancient Sky Wyvern Queen (???) - ?????]

[Name: Quazithril]

Quazithril, the ancient sky wyvern queen. A wyvern from an era before the current one, older than the mountain you currently stand upon, which was found as a result of her hive. An Ascendant wyvern has the ability to level mountains, and might that even dragons would respect. It is not extremely well known, but unlike dragons, wyverns never stop growing. Creatures who are always considered inferior to the magically and physically superior dragons who are born with an innate bloodline that can only be described as mythical, they have always been the superior tower that casts a shadow upon the wyverns.

Well, not anymore. An ancient wyvern is a creature even dragons would respect, and fear. They may not have the same kind of myth around them, but they are no less fearsome, and part of the myth around dragons, amusingly enough, has actually been ancient wyverns wrecking up cities in their rampage and then being mistaken by people who don’t know any better.

Quazithril is an ancient sky wyvern, one of the oldest who have existed on this island before people ever called this place home. There have been many people and creatures who have tried to claim the title of the monarch of the skies, but none would have a claim larger than Quazithril in the modern day and age. She lives a quiet and content life within her hive, conserving her mana and sleeping most of the time, but if she were ever to take flight again, it would have ripples across the entire world.

So, yeah, be respectful.

Noah didn’t have to be told to know that. The creature’s body was a dark grey, scales like rock itself. He could spot the azure and blue shimmer of the sky wyverns present underneath the rocky exterior, but it was as if her body itself had began to become fossilized over time, rocky minerals depositing onto her, giving her a particularly menacing look.

The giant wyvern sniffed at the three of them, eyes taking in their presence.

And when she spoke, the world shook, the deep voice rumbling the entire mountain, “Vion… it has… been a while…”

Noah only understood the words due to his translation ability kicking in and making the words more understandable to him.

“Sorry about not visiting more often, Quazithril. They’re keeping more tabs on me now, and it’s getting harder to sneak out. You know how stubborn Draxias can be,” Vion said, pressing her hand against the giant wyvern’s snout, as the massive creature let out a snort that nearly blew Noah back.

A moment later, the giant wyvern focused on Noah and Aurelia.

“Friends…?” the queen asked, the words shaking the world around them.

Vion looked back at Noah and Aurelia, as if thinking about that question. “Something like that,” she replied, turning back to look at the wyvern.

Quazithril closed her eyes, and a long moment passed in silence. Then, Noah felt a presence brush against his mind, and a much more feminine voice spoke to him.

“We had been wondering why you were sneaking around the hive. We had expected you. And your friends. The dragon had come to meet us and informed us that you would likely come here.”

“You knew we were here all along?” Noah asked, surprised.

“Of course we did. You think you could walk into our home and not be found out? The scouts had found you when you first caused a giant fire in the forest and began heading this way. None of you are particularly stealthy,” the wyvern queen said, and Noah scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

“Umm, your majesty…? If Zax has talked to you. Do you… know what task he has for us?” Aurelia asked.

“We are aware. He told us you younglings need training, to learn how to hunt, and to learn our ways. We complied, though only because we think it is what Vion needs. She has spent long enough learning the ways of her mother’s kin,” Quazithril said.

“How did he sense you?” Vion asked. “I thought you said you were hiding.”

“Do not look at us like that, child. If you have met the dragon, you should be well aware that there is no hiding from him. He is not like the others of his kin, he does not have their arrogance, or their rashness. Despite being on the cusp, he has chosen not to Ascend, and we believe it is only because should he do so, there is a chance he would succeed, and attain godhood, and he does not wish to have to deal with those responsibilities.”

Vion frowned, a complex expression on her face. “Is he really that strong?”

“Not as he currently is. Something, or someone, has put him in shackles. Though his weapon is not power, but knowledge. There is a reason dragons do not live terribly long, despite their power. They are rash, brutish, and most of all, they are arrogant, and underestimate their enemies. A dragon that has lived for so long… and with the wisdom to look past such things? Child, we do not know how powerful he is, but we would not like to find out. Listen to him, he is your kin, more than we are. If he has sent you here, then he has some purpose in mind that is to your benefit.”

Vion looked at the giant wyvern, her expression thoughtful. A moment later, she gave a nod.

Noah kept his thoughts to himself, but he had to wonder just what Zax’s backstory was. He knew the dragon was powerful, but the wyvern, the giant wyvern with five question marks who could likely breathe too hard and wipe them out, seemed to hold him in respect. That… did not seem normal. But then, almost nothing was normal about Zax.

He remembered how the man who he accompanied, Ryugan, had been an Ascendant as well. Same as the wyvern here.

It made Noah’s heart race with excitement. Just how far could he go with Zax by his side? He did not know how long the dragon intended to accompany him, but he had to make use of the opportunities he availed to them.

And this was clearly one.

“Vion, child. There are some things you must know. The thunder wyvern hive, that old terrible fool will likely be waking up soon, after six centuries. The last time he woke, we lost most of our children to him. This time, we intend to be more prepared.”

“Wait… he is waking up? When? We need to tell the kingdom, it’s going to be chaos!” Vion shouted, riled into a panic.

“There is time. A few years at least, perhaps a decade. Not long, but enough. And there will surely be war. But that is not a concern for children such as you.”

“No way it’s not, the entire kingdom will be in threat, you know how male hives are! Don’t pretend like this isn’t my problem,” Vion said.

“Male hives?” Noah asked, unable to hold himself back.

The giant wyvern glanced in his direction. “There are some that exist, male centered hives. Not true hives. They exist with a male at the top of the pecking order, one who uses his authority and command to control the wyverns under him. It is an ability certain wyverns are born with, the ability to command their lessers. It borders on mind control, but the wyvern uses his spawn to gather feed for itself, and generally causes a lot of destruction. Our last battle put him to sleep, and that hive took on some semblance of normality, but he will be waking up again soon, and he will be hungry,” the wyvern explained, turning back to Vion.

“You must already have seen that the forest is turning bare. The wyverns have been gathering food, leaving nearly nothing behind. At this rate, the forest will begin to collapse. We have been sending our children to take care of them, but some extra claws can always be good in such a task,” the wyvern said.

“But… these guys do not have a pair,” Vion said, glancing back.

“I’m sure you can find some suitable matches for them. Spar against our children. The young ones have begun to grow too lazy. Their pride will be hurt if they lose. But they will obey.”

“Wait, what’s going on? Who’re we sparring? I thought we needed to… take the heart of an adult wyvern,” Noah said, before he realized who he was talking to.

The ground shook, and it took Noah a moment to understand the ancient wyvern had just laughed.

“You will spar with a child of ours, to form a bond. A rider’s bond. It is an ancient rite. Though one we no longer observe in this kingdom. Afterwards, you and your mount will be together for your stay here, and you will accompany them on hunts and spar against them. Feel free to rip the hearts out of some of the thunder wyverns you find, if you so wish,” the wyvern said.

Noah clenched his fist, unable to suppress his excitement at the idea. He’d been daydreaming about riding a wyvern for a while now.

“Thank you, Quazithril,” Vion said, stepping back from the ancient wyvern.

“It is a mother’s job to look after her children,” the wyvern said, pushing her head farther into the princess, who hugged her back.

It was a strange sight, to watch the small girl hugging a literal mountain. He didn’t know what their relationship was either, but he could feel the strong bond the two shared.

A moment later, the two parted, and the wyvern regarded Noah and Aurelia.

“You two are welcome here for the time. But our courtesy does not extend too far, if you decide to harm our children,” the wyvern said, looking at Noah specifically at the end.

Noah nodded, sweating.

“Accompany her to the chambers. She will show you the children who are ready. We will rest now,” the wyvern said, and as she turned around, the entire hive shook. They stepped back as she rested her wing back in place, sealing the entire area off like a wall had appeared there.

Noah was still reeling from the experience, when Vion turned around and led the group.

“Here, they’re a bit lower. You’ll need to beat one of them if you want to earn their respect. Skivi let you ride her on my word, but the others are not going to, so be prepared,” Vion said.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Aurelia said.

Noah patted her back, grinning. “Look on the bright side. We get to have our own wyvern mounts!”

Aurelia just shook her head as the group walked out.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 8

They arrived in a room filled with a bunch of juvenile wyverns. The place looked almost like a play area, with more than a couple wyverns fighting over scraps of food, different sticks, or just wrestling one another.

A couple of the wyverns came up to Vion, sniffing her in greeting. More than a few approached Noah and Aurelia as well, though with more wariness.

One wyvern tried to push Noah, only to be surprised he would not budge as easily as it clearly expected. Noah looked back with an amused look at the creatures—they acted almost like giant cats. Though not everyone was friendly, not even most. The majority simply looked at them warily.

“Quazithril has told them about you guys, so you won’t get attacked here if you were to wander off. But try not to do that if possible,” Vion said. “As for what comes next, honestly, there’s not much to say. Pick any you think you can bond to, and then you’ll have to get the wyvern to agree to it. Typically that’ll mean besting it in combat.”

Noah looked around at the many, many wyverns, struggling to contain his excitement.

More than a couple watched him pass by, curiosity rising at a human in their midst. One caught Noah’s eye, a wyvern with four wings and a shimmering yellow body. He used Analyze.

[Juvenile Light Wyvern (Legendary/Variant) - lvl 178]

A light wyvern. These creatures have a rare form of magic imbued into their bodies, allowing them to control light. With enough practice these wyverns can go invisible or blind your enemies, or just create some really fun light works. This is a mutation, instead of a normality, making this creature particularly rare.

Noah tried to get closer to the wyvern in question, but it disappeared from sight. Noah paused and focused his senses on the aura being given off. He felt the wyvern moving away from him. With an Astral Step, he teleported, arriving directly in front of it, who seemed to.

The wyvern reappeared clearly thinking it had ditched him. It let out a little rumbling noise, light flashing in its eyes, and Noah extended a hand to let the creature sniff him. The wyvern obliged, and Noah patted the wyvern’s face.

“I don’t think we’ll go together, but I have a friend who’ll probably go well with you,” Noah said, and the wyvern rumbled, vanishing once more. Noah refocused on the other wyverns.

His display had caught some eyes, and now a larger wyvern was making his way toward him, as if to check him out. Noah noted its dull grey and brown body and the two horns jutting from its head, giving it a Draconian look.

[Juvenile Mud Wyvern (Legendary) - lvl 182]

A juvenile mud wyvern, the result of a water attuned wyvern getting it on with an earth wyvern, with a gift for both earth and water magic combining to form a mud wyvern. Though that doesn’t sound very threatening, these creatures can control both water and earth, drown you where you stand, crystalize you in earth, and they can swim through the earth itself and shape their environments. Though their magic is not on par with a mud dragon who can do these things with greater skill, a mud wyvern makes up for it with their great endurance and resistance to all sorts of elements.

The mud wyvern’s body was larger than most of the juveniles present here. It raised its front wing toward Noah, and the ground beneath Noah’s feet began to turn into a puddle.

Noah teleported behind the wyvern, but the wyvern seemed to have anticipated it, as a wall of earth rose from the ground, the entire area turning to mud around the creature as it sank into the earth.

Noah jumped back as jaws rose from the ground, like an alligator snapping to catch its prey, almost dragging Noah in. He tried to land, only to find the earth once again turning to liquid. Instead of resisting, Noah let himself sink into the muddy waters, Tony altering his body so he could still see. The viscosity of the ground was high, but still enough to allow him to move and swim around. The wyvern moved as if swimming through water, circling around Noah. A moment later, when it realized Noah was not drowning, it approached.

Noah let the creature come to him, and then grabbed the wyvern’s jaw as it tried to bite at him. He knew Vion had said he wouldn’t be attacked, and he suspected he wouldn’t die, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to rough him up. That was fine. That worked just fine for him.

Noah charged Abyssal Inferno, still holding onto the wyvern’s jaw. As the heat gathered, the wyvern shook him off, launching him back. It circled away, sending waves of water spiraling around him, trying to drag Noah deeper into the thicker earth and incase him there.

Not letting the wyvern succeed, he shot the Abyssal Inferno from his hands, the water bursting with the heat as the blast created propulsion that pushed him upward. Reaching the surface again, Noah took a deep breath, then dove back down.

The wyvern seemed less sure now, but Noah wasn’t done just yet. Using Arcane Step, he teleported onto the wyvern’s back and latched on. The creature thrashed, trying to pry Noah off, but Noah’s claws were sunk in. The creature began to swim around, jets of muddy water forming as the earth turned to a strange, smooth liquid thing wherever the wyvern thrashed.

The creature spun and jumped up out of the ground and then slammed back in, but Noah continued to cling on. The thrashing continued, slamming into other wyverns and walls as the wyvern desperately continued. Noah simply laughed, enjoying the ride.

After a few moments, the creature emerged out of the earth, lying low on the ground with a whiny squeak as it admitted defeat. Noah finally let go of it, jumping in front. He looked at himself, now soaking wet with brown muddy water covering him from head to toe.

He laughed, and the wyvern, to his surprise, seemed to be amused, as it bumped his head into him, snorted, and walked away.

A different wyvern, a blue one, walked closer and opened its mouth, a stream of water shooting at Noah. It took him a second to realize this wasn’t another wyvern attacking him, it was helping him clean up.

Noah let the mud wash away, before charging Abyssal Inferno, heating himself up from the inside to dry off. A moment later, he looked at the wyvern and nodded in appreciation.

“Thanks, buddy,” he said.

The wyvern chittered, an almost squeaky noise, before turning away from him.

Noah slicked his hair back, feeling rather refreshed. More wyverns were starting to come check him out, sniffing at him. One just pulled Noah onto his back and began to flap its wing as thick smoke bellowed out of its mouth.

This was like a game to all of them.

“Alright, I guess I can play with you this time,” Noah said, and the wyvern shot up into the air, ember and smoke bellowing out of its hot body as it spun, trying to shake him off.

Noah just laughed.

Noah lay on the ground, exhausted as more than a few wyverns lay curled up around him. Many had watched the game unfold and decided they wanted to join in. Some tried to play with one another, and more than a few had been fighting to be the next one. Eventually, he’d just made them line up, creating groups which would then chase Noah until he was caught.

The process went on for a few hours, and he was now truly exhausted. The wyverns didn’t play easy either, biting, snapping, and clawing at him. One had straight up bathed him in fire, almost burning away his clothes until he’d slapped that one on the nose to stop it. Aurelia had gotten caught up in the stir he’d caused, the other wyverns pestering her as well, though she’d eventually convinced them to enjoy her light show instead.

Vion had watched in fascination, a smile plastered on her face.

Noah pulled himself up, pushing a sleeping wyvern’s leg from his body. He turned to face the woman, seated next to her acid wyvern, scratching its giant head.

“I can see why you come here to hang out with them. They’re quite fun to hang out with,” Noah said.

“They are. I love them a lot. Wyverns are smart. They have a reputation for viciousness, but to people they consider family, they are extremely kind,” Vion said.

Noah stretched. “Honestly, at some point I just started having fun and forgot that I needed to pick one of them to bond with. Most were quite fun, it’s a little hard to pick,” Noah said.

Vion gave an understanding nod. “It can be difficult. You need to have the right temperament, or the wyvern will not work. But you also need the right magical balance. Not all wyverns will work well with all riders,” she said.

“Yeah… it’s tough,” Noah said, scratching his chin.

Vion looked at him thoughtfully, pausing in her generous scratches to her wyvern, who appeared annoyed that she’d stopped. “I wasn’t going to comment, because this is best done naturally. But… there’s one I think you should take a look at,” Vion said, glancing behind Noah.

He followed her gaze to where a pristine wyvern rested. Its body was a deep shade of black, its eyes Draconian, and its body almost melded into the shadows, like it cast a shadow on the world around it.

Noah used Analyze.

[Juvenile Nightshade Wyvern (Legendary/Variant) - ??]

A Juvenile Nightshade Wyvern. These are a rare form of wyvern who have the aspect of darkness and fire in them. It’s not really known how they are born, though any attempts at breeding shade and flame wyverns has only ever been successful.

Creatures of the night, they are the rare lone hunters and ambush predators who prefer to work by themselves instead of in groups. Aloof by nature, nightshade wyverns are notoriously difficult to tame, but the few who have can attest to their ability. One of the strongest wyvern magic types, these creatures can fly nearly silently, and can rip the jaws off of anybody. Blessed with the flight speed of a sky wyvern and the stealth of a shadow wyvern, there’s hardly a better wyvern type to be found.

The wyvern seemed to notice Noah’s glance, but simply glanced away, returning to the bone it had been crunching on. Noah walked closer, and the creature flapped its wings, flying a little farther away.

Noah raised an eyebrow and used Arcane Step to come closer. As he did, he felt heat wash over him as blue flames burned in the wyvern’s throat, a warning growl as it looked down at Noah.

“Hey there, bud,” Noah said, raising his hand as he stepped back.

The wyvern closed his mouth, smoke rising as the flame dissipated. The creature snorted, then returned to its bone.

Noah thought for a second. A moment later, he reached into his inventory.

“You know, you’re chewing on that bone. But I have something better for you,” he said, bringing out a section of the wild boar he’d caught.

The nightshade wyvern looked at the offering, glancing up at him, before snorting as if scoffing.

“Alright, fine, fine, how about this,” Noah said, bringing out half of the giant wild boar.

The nightshade turned around, raising its wings to fly off.

“Alright here,” Noah said, taking the entire thing out, and then just to add onto it, he threw in a D grade mana stone on top.

A bunch of wyverns perked up at the sight, and some had already began heading toward Noah in a rush.

The nightshade wyvern appeared to consider it for a moment, then leapt onto the wild boar’s body, growling at any of the wyverns who tried to come near, threatening them. It gobbled up the mana stone, then dug into the meaty pieces.

More than a few tried to snip, but the nightshade wyvern formed shadowy extensions on its claws, swiping the earth, and growled with blue flames glowing in its mouth and eyes.

Noah watched the creature in fascination, smaller than most of the wyverns in the area, but still strong enough to hold itself up against all of them. He walked closer, putting a hand on the creature’s head who glanced at him, but then continued to eat its meal.

“Yeah, it has to be you. We’re gonna have some fun times together, buddy,” Noah said, grinning to himself in anticipation.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 9

Noah stared at the shade wyvern idly crunching on the remaining bones, and he sighed in frustration. He’d spent the entire day trying to get the shade wyvern to come to him. But the only time it showed any interest was when Noah offered mana crystals or food.

At least it was no longer running away when Noah approached, but if Noah tried too hard to get close, it would sink into the shadows and move away. It was like trying to get a cat to like you, except this one had wings and could breathe fire.

Noah tried one more time to just touch the wyvern. Said wyvern paused in its crunching of bones, eyeing him, as if to dare him to do it. Noah froze in his step, and he could’ve sworn the wyvern scoffed as it resumed to its chew toy.

“You know you can get one of the other wyverns,” Aurelia said. Next to her was the fattest looking wyvern Noah had seen sat, its face oddly round, making it almost look like a giant lizard-puppy, with its tongue hanging out from its mouth and fire occasionally blasting from its nose as it got too excitement. It was even wagging its tail.

Aurelia glanced sideways and scratched the creature’s face, and the wyvern leaned into it, enjoying the sensation. Noah noted Aurelia’s hands were glowing with flames, and any other creature would be yowling from pain, but not the giant wyvern who clearly enjoyed it. In fact, it would just about roll over onto its back in enjoyment.

“Yours seem to like you a lot,” Noah said, grumbling, trying not to be jealous.

“He’s great. Apparently one of the few males they keep around in this hive, because he’s too docile and they decided he was harmless enough,” Aurelia said, tossing a mana crystal to the wyvern, who jumped up in the air to catch it, crunching down on it happily.

“I believe it,” Noah said. He imagined this was how wolves originally got domesticated too. One just walked up to a human and realized what a fantastic source of free food they were.

Noah glanced back at his own wyvern, who was done with the bone it had been chewing and was now trying to clean its teeth with the claws at the end of its long and sleek wings. The creature noted his glance, then with a little chitter, melded into shadows and disappeared.

Noah tried not to sigh. He didn’t succeed.

“I’ll try for a little while longer. If it’d at least let me get close to it,” Noah said.

“That one is a bit more headstrong than the rest. Vion was saying she’d be surprised if you manage to bond to her. Apparently that one’s always been the arrogant child, though she also said it’s for good reason,” Aurelia said.

“Right. You know, that gave me an idea. Do you think these guys can understand us?” Noah asked.

“This one seems to,” Aurelia said, glancing toward her big fire lizard. “Hand,” she said, and the big wyvern put its hand on hers. Aurelia tossed another low grade mana crystal at the wyvern who snatched it up happily.

“I’m regretting not picking up that Draconian Rider Path I’d gotten. It’d certainly be coming in handy right now. You bet I’m gonna get even more options for it if I ever reach B grade,” she said. “Although, if I was by myself, I wouldn’t be so sure. But I have a feeling that if I keep hanging out with you it’ll end up being an inevitable thing.”

Noah wasn’t listening, his attention taken by the wyvern. Locating the wyvern hidden within shadows, Noah let Arcane Step take him right up to the creature. The wyvern glanced at him, not immediately running away. Right when it was about to turn, Noah held out a C grade mana crystal.

The wyvern paused, looking at him in surprise. It leaned in, sniffing once, then tried to bite at the crystal but Noah pulled his hand back.

“Not so easily, it’s for a wager. Between you and me. A challenge,” Noah said, wondering if the creature would even understand what he was trying to communicate.

His clothes stirred, void goo rising as Tony’s singular eye formed, the symbiote chittered as he flapped around Noah before going up to the wyvern.

Noah watched in surprise as Tony shivered and vibrated, changing forms and shapes, and the wyvern watched him intently, seemingly understanding what the symbiote was saying. A second later, Tony returned to Noah, sinking back into his body and the wyvern snorted at Noah.

Then, the creature leaned its head down, as if telling Noah to get on. Noah grinned.

Tony, you’re the best.

The Abyssal Symbiote let out a quiet cheep of excitement, before returning to his dormant state.

Noah climbed on the nightshade wyvern, the creature letting out a grunt as if annoyed. He grabbed onto the obsidian black scales on the giant creature’s back.

Before he had any time to ready himself, the wyvern raised its wings and glanced upward.

For the briefest of seconds, Noah thought he saw the creature grin, before they were off.

“Whoaaa, hold onnn!” Noah shouted, as the creature shot forward like a missile off to seek its target. The wyvern’s wings slunk next to its body as it down toward the bottom of the hive like a shooting bullet. Other wyverns scrambled rapidly to get out of the way, as the ground rapidly approached. For a second, Noah thought they were going to collide into the ground and be paste.

He tightened his grip on the wyvern’s back.

At the very last second, with a rapid thrust upward, the wyvern’s wings spread out and shifted to be parallel to the ground. The acceleration of the change almost threw Noah off, but he clung on.

The wyvern glanced back at Noah, who was now laughing from the adrenaline rush, and grunted in annoyance. Then the creature sped up even more. The air howled in his ears, moving faster than he ever had. He had to lean down and squint to see anything.

Within seconds, the wyvern spun, moving through chambers and barely dodging the wyverns that came in its path with inches to spare. Noah had to duck more than once, slamming into wings and claws that threatened to poke his eyes out or claw at his limbs by accident. His heart thundered, lifeblood healing any injuries. He could feel the magic thrumming inside the creature’s body now, underneath the scales.

The wind howled, the scenery moving fast as a buzz surrounded them. They moved like an arrow, spinning and curving in all directions. The wyvern even tried slamming Noah into a wall at one point, but Noah held firm, not letting loose in his grip.

Growing more and more annoyed, the creature turned and started flying straight up. Its speed slowed down a little, but now Noah had to fight against gravity as he clung on with one arm grabbing onto the wyvern’s back.

The wyvern began to spin sideways, trying to shake him off, and Noah felt his muscles groaning in pain as more and more force jerked him around, his grip shaking. Forming claws at his hands, Noah tightened his grip, pulling himself upward. Raising his body up, he wrapped his legs around the wyvern, righting himself.

The wyvern roared now, annoyance rising as it blasted a blue ball of fire ahead that turned into a giant plume of flame washing over them, forcing Noah to close his eyes. As the heat passed him by, Noah air hit his body from all directions, the world turning colder. He opened his eyes and saw clouds all around him. They were out of the hive, and into the skies.

“Holy shit, this is awesomeee—” Noah shouted, before being cut off as the wyvern dived down once more, the world blasting all around it.

The air hit his body so hard, he started to actually lose health, even with lifeblood’s constant healing. He watched his health dip by 1% then 2% and then more, his fingers starting to bleed from having to keep his grip.

The wyvern roared in anger, fire blasting ahead of it and covering the world in waves of heat as they continued to speed faster and faster. The world shivered, a blast echoed around them, and then Noah’s ears began to ring, as everything went silent.

He couldn’t think now. Couldn’t even see anything, every inch of him focused on just keeping his grip. The wyvern roared, and then dark wisps of magic began to rise all around it, as the creature spread its wings and spun upside down.

The change was so sudden, Noah felt his world spinning from the jerking force of the motion, and the next second, he was flying off.

His body shot forward like a missile across the surface of a lake, moving so fast that his skin began to burn from the friction. Noah’s instincts kicked in as he triggered Metamorphosis. Partway through his transformation, his back turned obsidian colored as he slammed into a tree, shooting through it, and then another, and then one more.

After nearly a dozen broken trees, Noah slammed into a giant boulder, shattered it into pieces, and finally came to a stop. He watched his health with a dazed glance, lingering somewhere in the low thirties as it rapidly began ticking up thanks to lifeblood.

His spine had nearly shattered, and one of his arms was twisted the wrong way, and his ankles were broken, he coughed blood, groaning in pain—he’d forgotten to turn on Pain Tolerance. He flipped the skill on, breathing in relief, as he twisted his limbs back into place, cracking his joints into their sockets. Noah rose up to his feet, as his health quickly rose back to full.

He strained his neck and saw a wyvern flying in the air, blasting blue flames all across the sky, roaring in celebration.

He had only been half certain before, but now his mind was made up. It had to be this one.

Noah found a feral grin rising across his face, which was half transformed from Metamorphosis, giving him a truly monstrous look.

“Oh, it’s on now.”

CHAPTER FORTY

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 10

Noah moved through the underbrush of the forest, deathly silent as he trailed his quarry. Predator’s Mark and Wyrm’s Curse remained on the creature, thrumming with power. His target was a Draconian stag, a giant creature with massive antlers that could breathe fire and shoot lightning from its antlers. Like everything else in this place.

Tony swirled in his clothes, his steps further silenced by the symbiote coordinating Noah’s body and adjusting the formation of his clothing. He watched from the under bush as the stag grazed in the distance, blissfully unaware of his presence. Noah used Analyze on the creature.

[Adult Draconian Stag (Epic) - ??]

An adult Draconian stag. If you think just because these guys eat leaves and grass that they aren’t dangerous then either you’ve never seen one, or you’re an idiot. Since you’re reading this, the answer is an idiot. These creatures eat plants with the highest mana concentration, and that mana tends to slowly gather itself into their antlers, making them extremely prized items for hunters. But these stags don’t just stand by and roll over, with a lot of mana, comes a lot of firepower. Draconian stags are known to be able to breathe fire, and shoot lightning from their antlers, before charging you to gore you to death. And if they think you’re too big to handle, then they’ll run off faster than you can blink.

Noah let out a breath. The creature hadn’t yet noticed his presence. He creeped closer, and his Predator’s Mark gave Noah a sense for the stag’s awareness level, and where he needed to strike. The creature’s skin was thick, and unless Noah struck its neck and broke it, the battle would be lost.

He clutched his spear tighter, his power coursing through a weapon. His instincts were homed in, entirely present in this moment.

The stag looked up, glancing in his direction. There was a pause. Noah held his breath, not moving an inch.

The creature moved, and Noah struck like lightning. Multiple things happened at once.

Bloodwyrm Swarm was summoned, wrapping around the creature’s legs and biting on, inflicting Malaise and Hemorrhage simultaneously. Two Arcane Specters formed, one with a copy of Noah’s chains and another with a copy of his spear made from Runeforged Armaments. All three teleported around the creature, striking.

The first specter used the chains, and the stag reared back, breathing scorching hot flames that burned the specter, nearly vanishing it. The second specter came in, thrusting its spear into its body. Lightning flashed, and the stag roared in pain.

The world was covered in a blinding flash, a mini thunderstorm filling the area, a thunderclap echoing through the forest as the two specters evaporated.

Noah moved in, his own spear shooting forward. He let the spear’s power unfold, calling upon its skill.

Valkyrie’s Call thrummed through the weapon, as crimson and golden light erupted, power surging through Noah.

The weapon struck true, piercing the stag’s throat, multiple copies of the weapon manifested one after another, swirling with golden light as they all pierced the creature’s body. The stag shuddered, eyes bloodshot, as it let out a final scream, flame blasting outward.

Then, with a shiver, the massive stag collapsed.

You’ve killed [Draconian Stag (Epic) - Lvl 254]

[Wyrmblood Guardian] has reached level 135!

[Runebody Arcanist] has reached level 135!

[Abyssal Predator] has reached level 136!

Noah let out a sigh, looking down at the creature. A wave of satisfaction ran through him as he dismissed his abilities and distributed the free attributes he’d just gained. He glanced up at the skies, knowing the shade wyvern was watching, lurking in wait. He let out a whistle, and a few minutes later, the dark wyvern swopped in, landing on the stag’s corpse.

Noah shook his head.

The last week had gone in a similar fashion, with him hunting creatures for the wyvern and making bets with the creature as he tried to hold on. Their little routine would happen every day, and Noah had rapidly gotten better at holding onto the creature as it flew, but the wyvern had also improved at throwing him off with new and different tricks. The two continued in this way, and if Noah lost, he’d be forced to give the creature some mana crystals or hunt something it wanted to eat.

The wyvern’s demands had only grown with time, and what it wanted to eat becoming more and more demanding.

He wanted to grumble. Aurelia’s wyvern in comparison listened to everything she said and was practically stuck by her side. She’d already become quite proficient in her riding skills as well and had been going out more and more, fighting against groups of enemies and hunting.

The wyvern continued to munch next to Noah, glancing up at him every now and then and grunting. The creature had certainly gotten used to Noah, but it also seemed to mostly be using him as a source of easy food.

At least the experience from all this hunting has been good.

His level gain in just a week was certainly impressive. Though, considering how powerful the creatures were in this forest, sometimes hunting one could end up taking an entire day. Some days he’d just have nothing. It certainly wasn’t easy, but that made success all the more thrilling and rewarding.

The wyvern rose its head from its meal then, offering Noah a piece. He looked on in surprise at the bloody piece of meat dangling from the creature’s mouth, then he smiled.

“I’m good, you can have it,” he said.

The wyvern looked at him as if to ask, ‘Are you sure?’ Then it raised its neck and swallowed the whole thing in one gulp.

Noah brushed the creature’s scales.

Well, he couldn’t say he’d made no progress at all. He’d definitely been growing closer to the creature in his own way.

Which was why Noah was surprised when the wyvern began growling with a low rumble all of a sudden, blue flames hissing in its jaw.

He stepped back, before realizing the wyvern wasn’t looking at him but behind him. Noah turned around and glanced up to see three wyverns swirling in the skies. Lightning crackled around their bodies, and as they began to come closer, their grows deepened. He became wary, clutching his spear as the wyverns swooped down on the ground, their giant bodies crackling with energy.

One in particular, the one in the middle, was larger than the others, with scales that vibrated with lightning magic. Noah used Analyze on the creature.

[Adult Thunder Wyvern (Legendary) - ???]

Uh oh. An Adult Thunder Wyvern, known to be one of the most ferocious kind, with great magical prowess that allows them to hunt creatures above their weight class, these are one of the leanest, meanest, and baddest bitches of this forest. They don’t play nice, and they have no reason to. Because here, those who have the biggest stick get to take it all. Lightning magic courses through their scales, and thunder wyverns can shoot bolts of lightning from their mouth as well. They can also summon lightning from the skies and in general, are really, really good at destroying things. I’d best start running.

Noah read through the description. He took a quick glance, and the smaller wyverns around the big one were also thunder wyverns each, but both were juveniles.

The nightshade growled, blue flames blasting from its mouth, but not spreading out very far. A warning strike. Noah kept his attention focused, ready to engage or run as needed. He watched the thunder wyverns rumbling and snapping at each other, and he realized they were arguing about who’d get to go in.

One moved its head closer to take a nip at the corpse of the stag, and the nightshade closed its jaw, growling.

The adult thunder wyvern seemed to snort. Lightning crackled around its body, striking down in a brilliant bolt that caused a shockwave to pulse through the forest. Birds flew as the world shook from the impact, and lightning continued to crackle around the creature. It looked down on the nightshade, snorting in derision, before clawing at the ground.

The nightshade glanced at Noah, then back at the creatures. A moment later, the shade wyvern stepped back. The food wasn’t worth the fight.

Noah eyed the nightshade wyvern, then glanced at the thunder wyverns, backing away with his wyvern. To his surprise, the wyvern lowered her head, telling Noah to climb on. A moment of surprise later, Noah climbed on, and the creature spread its wings and took to the skies.

Thunder clouds gathered in the sky above, the cackling shrieks of the thunder wyverns following them. Noah could feel the creature’s anger bubbling inside of it at the humiliation, and he patted its back.

“I feel you, buddy,” he said. “But you know what? If we work together, we can get strong enough to beat those guys,” he added.

The wyvern snorted.

Then, out of nowhere, the skies twisted, a bolt of lightning formed above their head with a rapid surge of power, striking down at them.

The world turned white at first, and then black.

For a moment, everything was dark, then Noah regained consciousness. The wind howled against his face—he was falling rapidly.

He looked to the side and saw the adult wyvern hovering above the trees, looking in their direction, a massive surge of lightning all around it. The creature dismissively turned away. Panic surged as the ground continued to rapidly close in, the nightshade wyvern next to him falling as well, having gone unconscious.

Shit, shit, shit, shit.

He wasn’t sure he’d survive a fall from this high up even with all his body enhancements. He wasn’t keen on finding out. Using Arcane Step, he teleported to the wyvern, grabbing onto it.

“Hey, hey! Wake up!” Noah slapped the wyvern’s face, but the creature didn’t respond. Cursing, Noah formed claws in one of his hands and sliced his hand open. Blood ran free and Noah poured it down the wyvern’s mullet, lifeforce flowing into the wyvern.

With a groan, the wyvern opened its eyes. It took it a moment to realize what happened, before the wyvern twisted through the sky, wings flapping. Crashing through the tree line rapidly slowed their descent, before finally resting on the ground, scrapes covering both of their bodies.

Noah stumbled back from the creature, heart pounding as he stumbled onto his feet. It took him a moment to realize just how low his health was, with his healthcare blinking as it hovered in the low 20% range.

His entire body had the smell of burnt flesh and his hair stood on its end. Arcane Body hummed under his skin, charged with power.

It was only when he looked at his notifications did Noah realize what happened, and his heart dropped.

[Adult Thunder Wyvern]’s Aura suppresses you. You resist the effect.

[Adult Thunder Wyvern]’s Aura stirs yours [Draconian Aura]. Your lightning attack effects increase by 50% temporarily.

[Adult Thunder Wyvern] has marked you for [Thunder Tempest]. The thunder wyvern hive stirs, gathering its power to strike you.

You’ve been struck by [Thunder Tempest].

[Second Chance] has activated. Health restored to 10% [Electrocuted] debuff removed. [Static] debuff removed. [Unconsciousness] debuff removed.

[Wyrmblood Guardian] has reached level 144!

[Runebody Arcanist] has reached level 143!

[Abyssal Predator] has reached level 144!

A jolt ran down his body. He’d died just there, had it not been for Zax’s bracelet. Even then, with how low his health was, the fall would’ve certainly killed him.

He glanced to the nightshade wyvern, seeing powerful wounds on its body. There was a hole in one of its wings and scorch marks covered its scales, having melted and burned them, but the damage was lesser. Noah had been struck directly, the wyvern only been hit by the edge of it.

He walked closer to the wyvern, holding out a mana stone to the groaning creature, who took it, letting the power flow through it as it healed.

Noah pat the wyvern’s neck, feeling a strange well of emotion rising inside of him.

The wyvern focused its eyes on him, and Noah met the creature’s gaze, feeling a similar emotion reflected inside them.

“That’s right. We’re not just going to let them do that, are we? You don’t just hurt us and get away with it,” Noah said, his voice calm, yet an undercurrent of anger rippled through it.

The wyvern raised its head and let out a loud screech into the skies. Blue flames blasted out of its maw, cutting through the tree canopies like a stream that dissipated into the air. After it was done, the wyvern grunted and lowered its head.

He didn’t need to look at any notification to know something had changed. Noah climbed on. Flapping its still healing wings, the nightshade wyvern took to the skies, heading back to their hive. They had a lot of training to do.

That adult wyvern didn’t know who he’d made an enemy of, and Noah was going to let it find out when he ripped its heart out of its chest.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 11

After they’d returned to the hive, Noah went to Vion’s chamber, which was in a more convenient location. He sat in a comfortable room, staring at his hands, feeling a strange shiver run through them. This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d almost died, not even close, but something was different. It’d felt the most certain. The most abrupt. And it hadn’t even been on his terms. He hadn’t gone in and taken any dumb risks, hadn’t chosen to fight any gods, or talk back to someone far more powerful. He’d… just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That… something about that made it worse. And yet, at the same time, he didn’t feel anything.

Noah’s shadow stirred, forming next to him, buzzing with what felt like barely restrained fury.

“Hey,” Noah said nonchalantly.

His shadow open and closed his mouth a few times, as if trying to speak but couldn’t find the right words. At the end, the specter said through gritted teeth, “You do realize what happened just now? You died. We died.”

“No, we just used up our free extra life. It even said it charges back up Noah said.

“Why’re you being like this?” the specter asked.

“I feel like that’s my question to be asking. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Stuff like this happens. From the very moment I came to this world, something’s been trying to kill me. The recent period of ease seems to have made you forget that.”

“Do you even understand what it’s like to know that myself, my own reflection, do these things, knowing it’s not just your life but mine that’s tied to you? Have you maybe ever given it any thought?” the specter asked.

“Listen… I’m sorry. But what do you want me to do? I didn’t instigate anything. I’m not being stupid here. I know I can be sometimes, but this one wasn’t on me, was it?” Noah said.

“You know what you can do. What you’ve had the option to do for a while,” the shadow specter said, walking closer. “What’re you so afraid of?”

Noah looked into the specter’s eyes. “You know, it’s ironic that you’re giving me this lecture. Wouldn’t doing that just kill you?”

“It won’t. I will return to where I belong. To you. But… I’m starting to see something now. This is all just an excuse, isn’t it?” the specter said, leaning back. “You don’t want to do it, not because you care about me or whatever, but because you’re afraid, aren’t you? Afraid of getting me back. I am the part of you that was afraid. The part you keep trying to run away from.

“No wonder we split apart the first chance you got. It must be so easy, without that constant voice in your head. Without the fear of the consequences haunting you. It’s so easy to live here if you don’t have to be afraid about your own life, isn’t it? It’s all fun and games, you can chase off cool things and live without any worry of any consequences.” The specter’s form wavered, darkening as shadow wisps began to swirl around it before they settled down.

A moment of silence hung between them, then the specter whispered, “Do you even think about it anymore? About home? And the people you left behind?”

“Shut up,” Noah snapped. “I didn’t leave anyone behind. I didn’t have anybody at all, in the first place. After Mom died… no, there was nobody. And if you want to say that piece of garbage of a man that’s supposed to be my father somehow matters then you don’t know anything.”

The shadow specter laughed. “That’s a lie and you know it. The memory is vague, but you remember Leah, don’t you? And what happened? She wasn’t the only one either, a lot of people were impacted by us. By our choices. But forget even them. There was someone more important than any of them as well, wasn’t there? I don’t remember. We don’t remember. Not since we came here, which makes it so easy to ignore, but you feel it, don’t you? Something was taken from you. Something you had.”

Noah felt something wavering, vague memories swirled in his mind, giving him a light headache at the back of his head.

“She knows. Raelinah. It’s why we’ve been chasing her. That’s what all this has been about, has it not? It’s why you were so desperate, were you not? When you woke up in that void you knew you had lost something. Something truly important. More than either of our lives. How can you… how can you just forget that? You’ve cut that part of yourself off, shoved me aside, simply living in the moment, as if there truly is nothing you care about in the world,” the specter said, his form wavering even further.

“You know you’re incomplete, that we’re incomplete. And if you know what’s best for you, for both of us, then you’ll fix what you broke,” the specter said, dissolving back into Noah’s shadow.

Silence remained in the chamber, Noah sitting there by himself, thinking back on the words. It hurt, because all of it was right. But was it so wrong? Was it so wrong for him to just… live carefree?

He knew he wasn’t normal. He’d never been normal. No normal person arrives in a world of monsters and starts slaughtering them one after another. No normal person jumps into the maws of death without any concern. But why did that matter? He’d never been normal, not even back on Earth.

This place felt more like home than Earth ever did. Why couldn’t he simply just live life without any worries.

Noah clenched his fist, unable to find the answers.

Something hurt in his chest. The shadow had been right been about one thing at least. He was incomplete. No matter how much he disliked the nature of the powers these Shards gave him, no matter how much he disliked how… inhuman he was, at his core.

And that was the thing, all along, wasn’t it? From the very start, he’d understood that, at the very core of him… he wasn’t truly human. There was something terrifying that existed inside of him, something he did not like admitting existed there, but he could catch glimpses of it. In those moments, when he was fighting and living the thrill of it all, that inhuman thing inside of him felt more satisfied than anything else.

The Devourer felt satisfied.

Noah closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts. Magic thrummed in the chamber, and a familiar but surprising presence arrived next to him.

He opened his eyes and saw Zax standing there.

“Apologies. It took us some while, but we’re glad to see you are unharmed, Noah,” Zax said, dusting his clothes. “Now… we did say we wouldn’t be interfering, but the Second Chance ability had also been a security measure to make sure the risk and rewards were not out of balance. Technically, you died and failed the test,” Zax said.

Noah looked at Zax. “Are you serious?”

The dragon scoffed. “No, this had always been a training exercise, but we wanted to see what you wanted to do. We can’t easily charge that spell, it’s a powerful one and takes time.”

An idea came to Noah. “What if I use my dimensional vault to hypercharge the bracelet and use the ability multiple times?”

Zax shook his head and sighed. “We knew you’d say that, no, that would cause you to explode. It’s why we built in some protections.”

“Bummer,” Noah said.

“We do mean it when we said we can’t come to save you, Noah. We’re busy with certain tasks,” Zax said.

Noah nodded. “I know. It’s fine. I can’t have you babysitting me all the time. I need to get stronger on my own. And I have an asshole thunder wyvern to take revenge on.”

Zax thought for a moment. “Very well, we’ll let you continue.”

“Thanks,” Noah said. After a second’s hesitation, he added, “And… about the thing. The spell I got, from the quest. I think I’m ready to use it.”

Zax gave him a small smile. “We’ll need some time to make preparations. Complete your task here first.”

And with that, the dragon teleported away.

Noah sat in the chamber for a little longer, then, letting a long sigh, he made his way out. He knew he wouldn’t get any rest now, so he might as well train a little.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 12

The suns had set over the horizon, and Noah walked around the hive, finding the shade wyvern curled up around itself. There were still marks on its body from the attack by the thunder wyvern hive, but its wounds had mostly healed.

The creature raised its head to regard him with silent acknowledgement, before returning back to its sleeping position, pretending as if it hadn’t seen him.

Noah smiled as he walked up to the wyvern, patting its scaly body. He felt the powerful muscles running underneath the creature’s skin.

“What do you say we go out there and practice a little bit?” Noah asked.

The wyvern kept its head down, eyes closed as it grunted and huffed. A second later, it swooped a wing under Noah, picking him up and throwing him onto its back, heading off into a running start.

The wind rushed by as the wyvern leapt, before spreading its wings, and within seconds they were out of the hive, flying under the moonlit skies above the forest. From here, Noah could see the various lights shining in the distance from the city of Drakonias.

Noah clung onto the creature’s back as the two moved silently through the night sky. He smiled, watching the world pass him by.

The two had taken some time flying around, as the nightshade wyvern had shown Noah how it hunted. The creature was practically invisible at night. Its wings barely made a sound as it swept through the air, gliding gracefully before pouncing on unsuspecting prey, killing them before they realized what happened. An ambush predator at its finest.

Noah had taken to accompanying the creature, watching from the side or directly from its back as it hunted, but the two needed to work together, learn how to combine their strengths.

The wyvern did not seem to agree much with that thought, but was tolerating his antics, nonetheless.

“So, you could come in silently and then I’d use my spear to skewer the enemy, then bind them with my chains and you could land on them with your claws, blasting them with fire,” he explained to the wyvern that sat next to the corpse of a monster it had recently hunted. The wyvern yawned.

Noah watched the wyvern, thinking about how he could make it listen. It was like a rebellious teenager. Though it seemed willing to let Noah tag along, it wasn’t very willing to listen to his commands. It did not think of him as his superior, merely a pesky human that was worthy enough to tolerate.

That was fine, he could work with that, but he definitely needed to earn the wyvern’s respect.

“Why don’t we try it on those deidacrocs?” Noah asked, pausing for effect. “Or, don’t tell me… you’re afraid.”

The wyvern snorted, then turned around and lay back down, chewing on its meal.

“I thought you would be less afraid, a mighty wyvern and everything, but I suppose even wyverns are gonna have limits,” Noah tried again, shaking his head in an exaggerated look of disappointment. “Well, guess I’ll just do it on my own then. It’s fine, I can go kill that thunder wyvern on my own.”

He glanced once at the wyvern, the creature not paying any attention, and then Noah walked away.

Intentionally keeping his speed up, Noah used Arcane Step to make his way through the dark forest. He wasn’t entirely sure the shade wyvern would follow him, and if she did, it would be difficult to tell, even for him, but Noah hoped it would.

He struggled to hold back his smile when he felt the slightest of whispers behind him, sensing the creature following him from afar.

The river flowed with a calming noise, brushing against the smooth rocks and pebbles sitting underneath the riverbed. Noah could sense the presence of many large deidacrocks, similar to the ones he’d fought in the Astral Rift where he’d met Zax. Though quite a few were both larger and stronger here.

He eyed one in particular, just underneath the waters near the shore, watching him closely, ready to strike should Noah turn around. He used Analyze on the creature.

[Draconian Deidacrock (Legendary) - ??]

A Draconian deidacrock is what happens when you take a crocodile, feed it a ton of steroids, give it the ability to breathe fire and shoot lightning, and then ask, what if we crossbred it with a dragon? These murder machines have so much murder in their bodies that Michael Myres would probably want an autograph. Bigger, meaner, and stronger than a normal deidacrock these creatures can blast apart anything short of a… well, honestly, nothing. The word deida is from an old language, which when added as a suffix means ‘the bringer of violent death’ which should tell you exactly what they thought of this monster. If you see one of these, you don’t want to stupidly read descriptions about how murderous they are but instead, turn the other way and run.

If only you were so smart, huh?

Noah scratched his head at the obvious reference from his home. That… was stranger than anything before, even the mention of Noah being directly in the references. Was the system taking knowledge from him? Or had that been someone else? He knew other Outerworlders existed on Erandir, so perhaps someone from Earth had found his way here in recent times and the system had learned this from them somehow?

He shook his head, putting the question out of his mind. Noah picked up a rock and tossed it between his hands, focusing on the slowly creeping deidacrock. Then, with a mental trigger, he activated Metamorphosis, funneled nearly half of his mana into the stone as his body transformed in an instant, and filled it chock full of Void Annihilation and Abyssal Inferno before throwing it as hard as he could.

The water exploded, the crock rearing back in pain. Noah’s runic chains formed around his arms even as he threw them around the crock’s mouth, blocking the fire building within. With a powerful scream, he pulled the creature toward him, angling himself onto the crocodile’s thrashing back. It tore the ground and bolts of lightning shot out of its spiky scales on its back.

Noah’s muscles ached with strain as he pulled the creature up, remaining atop the monster, and began to punch. His strikes landed, covered with Void Annihilation, and crackling with each hit. Wyrm’s Curse swept away at the monster’s strength, Predator’s Mark weakening it even further, and Noah used Life Siphon to drain the monster’s lifeforce with each succesful strike.

The deidacrock, indignant, injured, and enraged, flipped itself over in a death roll, partly freeing itself of Noah’s strikes and pulling him alongside its massive body. Lightning strikes flickered once more, the creature dragging Noah with it and threatening to bite his head off.

Noah dodged, but found his arm in the creature’s mouth as the monster twisted, cleanly tearing it off from his elbow. Just the arm was completely ripped off, Noah filled the limb with the stored energy from Abyssal Inferno. When the deidacrock swallowed the limb, a fiery explosion rocketed the monster from its insides, sending the creature twitching onto its back.

Noah stumbled back, clutching his shoulder, but with Metamorphosis, Life Siphon, and Wyrmblood all active, the limb grew back within seconds.

He filed the move he’d just done off in his mind as a possible attack to use, if the situation was desperate enough.

Before the deidacrock could recover, Noah jumped in, spear forming in his hand, and used it to concentrate his Void Annihilation. The crimson spear turned dark, lightning crackling around it as Noah slammed it through the deidacrocks underside, piercing it through.

The massive creature thrashed, shivering and twitching before turning still as it died.

You’ve killed [Draconian Deidacrock (Legendary) - lvl 247]!

[Wyrmblood Guardian] has reached level 145!

[Abyssal Predator] has reached level 145!

Noah sighed, stumbling back. He caught a glimpse of the wyvern hidden underneath the bushes. The shade wyvern walked out, looking at the creature he’d killed, then back at Noah before snorting, as if to say, ‘I can do that much too.’

“Your turn then,” Noah said, patting its shoulder.

The wyvern looked down at Noah and then at the river, letting out an irritated growl. Noah chuckled.

The suns began to rise as he watched the shade wyvern picking fights with deidacrocks all night. The two had taken turns, stacking kills one after another in an attempt to one up each other. Noah sat there, battered and bruised, his abilities all spent from his fights, as he watched the shade wyvern pick a giant deidacrock in its claws and drag it onto the shore, blasting it with blue flames and dodging its lightning strikes.

The B rank adult deidacrocks mostly remained underwater, both Noah and the shade wyvern avoiding them. They would pick off the kills the two left behind, eating the creatures and fighting one another for the biggest slice.

The shade wyvern huffed in frustration as his latest prey shot a bolt of lightning at her with striking precision before darting back into the water and escaping into the river currents.

First Dawn broke moments later, the sun peering over the horizon as its rays bathed the forest, Noah smiled as he stood up.

“Guess it’s my victory then,” he said, and the wyvern let out an irritated growl covered in deep blue flames.

“So, will we be doing the hunts from tomorrow in my way?” he asked the creature, who avoided looking at Noah, but neither did it dissent. Noah smiled in response.

Noah took a moment to glance at his levels. He’d gone all the way up to 148 in two of his Paths, and 147 in his remaining one. All in a single night of work.

That wouldn’t continue as he kept up his training, but it was certainly a rapid growth, even compared to the training he’d done back on the airship. The fact that the threat was more real seemed to have supercharged his growth. Zax had told him it was like that. The amount of risk he put himself under would always increase the rewards.

His title of Titan Slayer was also helping him a lot. He suspected it was partly why he’d jumped so many levels simply from surviving the strike from the thunder wyvern, even if it hadn’t been on his own ability. The level difference meant he got just that much more out of the encounter.

If it was going to stay like this, then he could certainly look forward to the rest of his time in this place.

Jumping onto the shade wyvern’s back, the creature spread its wings and the two made their way back to the hive.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 13

Noah rested comfortably in the dimensional chamber. It had been a bit over a week since he’d begun going out on nightly hunts with the nightshade wyvern, and today was their break day, as the wyvern had needed some time to recover, not having Noah’s level of crazy regeneration.

He didn’t mind the rest, though in truth, he also hoped he could find a better use of his time. Their hunts lasted through the night, but given Noah’s relatively low need to sleep, he still had a decent amount of free time with not much else to do. He spent most of his time planning or preparing, and sometimes he’d go out by himself to fight creatures on his own, but the experience wasn’t as rewarding. Both literally and in his levels. Working together with the wyvern, they were able to find and cover far more ground and take out many more creatures. Such that, even though being alone gave more experience per battle, his levels went up more during his hunts with the wyvern.

It explained why Zax had them go through all of this. The growth had been rapid fast, and Noah was pushing level 160 already.

Finding himself without much to do, Noah got up from his bed, ready to head out when, to his surprise, he spotted Vion in the chamber, seated on one of the tables with her head slunk down.

“Hey, is something wrong?” Noah asked the dragon princess. Despite this being her own chamber, Vion was rarely seen in here, preferring to stay with the wyverns. She certainly seemed to be enjoying her freedom out here, and it was mostly Aurelia and Noah who used the dimensional chamber.

Vion raised her head. “Nothing. Just tired.”

“Really? I feel like I have so much energy that I don’t know what to do about it,” Noah said, taking a seat next to her.

“That’s nice. Glad to see you’re enjoying yourself,” Vion said.

“Oh come on, don’t be like that. Tell me what’s wrong, talking about it will help you,” Noah said, before using Analyze at the woman.

[Race: Draconian Humanoid - lvl 87 (Mythical)]

[Path: Magma Mancer (Rare) - lvl 154]

Noah’s eyes widened in surprise. She’d almost shot ahead of him in regard to her Path, and she was starting to close in on her first evolution on her race as well.

“Is it your racial levels or whatever?” he asked.

“No… well, sort of,” Vion admitted, sinking into the chair. “It’s just… I still don’t know how to transform. I’m getting stronger, yes. I’m getting better, yes. But… am I even truly a dragon? I know that’s stupid it’s just… sometimes it really doesn’t feel like it.”

“Don’t be silly, of course you are. And the point of being here is to learn how to control your powers better anyway, isn’t it?” Noah asked.

“Yes, but… what if I can’t?” Vion said. “I always thought that as I grew older, one day I’d just suddenly be able to. That one day I’d just automatically unlock my dragon magic and then I could be free and do whatever I wanted to, but… what if I don’t? I’m not a full dragon after all. I’m a Draconian humanoid. That’s… not a dragon.”

Noah knew this was just her fear talking, her argument was pointless. She had, in front of his own eyes, become a dragon and fought Zax. But he understood her fear, nonetheless.

“It’s not just that. It’s… everything. I’m getting older and they can’t keep me hidden forever, or protect me till I magically one day gain powers. I need to become capable on my own. Draxius has done a lot, but all of that hinges on me learning how to be who I’m meant to be. I still don’t know why it has to be me, but he says that it does. That I’m the kingdom’s hope, its heir, and that only I can bring the dragons back to their home. But… why not Zax? If he’s here now, why can’t he do it? He’s so old and strong and wise, why does it still have to be me?” Vion said, clenching her fist.

“I just don’t know what to do. I don’t know who I am, or what it even means to be me. I don’t know what I want to do with my life. And most of all… I feel afraid. Afraid that if I win, if I reach the thing lying in what’s supposed to be the corpse of my father, I’ll find it, and it’ll reject me.”

Noah hadn’t realized so much had been going on with Vion. He’d always known her life was complex, and so was her history, but this was certainly a lot to have on your shoulders. He understood, somewhat.

Standing up, Noah walked up to Vion and patted her shoulder.

“Get up,” he said.

The princess looked up at him, confused. “Why?”

“Because you and I are going to spar until you figure out your dragon transformation thing,” Noah said with a smile.

The two of them stood outside the hive, in a clearing within the forest without that many lurking predators. The second sun peeking over the horizon in the distance was marking full dawn’s rise for the world.

Noah stood opposite to Vion, the dragon princess acting uncertain and nervous.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked for the tenth time. “I appreciate you wanting to do this, but you really don’t need to, nothing says it’s going to work, and if it did… I’m not sure I’d be able to control myself and not hurt you.”

“It takes a lot nowadays to hurt me,” Noah said with a cheeky grin.

He’d been noticing the princess had become a lot less self assured when they’d arrived here, and Noah assumed there were a bunch of things involved with that. She’d just met another dragon for the first time ever, lost in combat, felt Zax’s aura head on, and touched upon her own true self, then immediately afterward, she’d been thrown out of her comfort zone to fend for herself for the first time in her, by his perspective, very long life.

Even with her prior excursions outside, given how old she was and how comparatively low her level was, Noah had to assume she had rather little in the way of actual experience. Especially seeing how fast she had grown once she’d actually been allowed to roam free.

All of that had likely contributed to a lot of emotional turmoil and self doubt. He could’ve been like that, had things been different. In some ways, he already was. He knew the parts of himself that he was willfully ignoring, and the parts of him that he did not feel like he had enough control over.

“Just think of it as a spar. We’ll push each other to our limits and grow together. Don’t worry about any kind of transformation or anything, just show me what you’ve got.”

Clenching her fist pressed against her chest, Vion took a deep breath. “Alright. Let’s do this.”

Noah summoned his spear, taking a stance.

Heat washed around the dragon woman, her red hair flowing as the world around her began to distort. Noah felt the pulse of heat wash over his skin.

Kicking her foot down, Vion melted the ground underneath her, turning the earth to lava. The lava moved upward, forming an earthen ball of fire that she shot at Noah.

With Arcane Step, Noah easily moved out of the way, appearing closer to her. To the side, a giant explosion melted the ground, leaving a massive pool of magma behind.

She turned around rapidly, lava rising from the earth in a wall that tried to pour over Noah. He teleported again, moving closer still. Vion growled and heat erupted from all around her, the ground beneath her rising up in the air like a tidal wave, balls of magma swirling around her spewing off flaming hot streaks. She shot them toward Noah.

Noah dodged the strikes, using Arcane Step to move behind the woman. He thrust his spear, stopping it just before hurting Vion, pressing it against her spine.

Vion pursed her lips, then huffed as she raised her hand in defeat. Noah lowered his spear.

“I don’t know how to fight,” she said a moment later. “I’ve always just… blasted things away. But if you can dodge it then I’m not sure what else to do.”

“I can see that,” Noah replied. He scratched his chin. “To be honest with you, the only way I know how to do this… is by example. There’s… this feeling that kicks in when you’re in danger. When the threat is real. It’s like, you stop thinking before you act, and you just do the things instead. I’m not sure how else to explain it, but there’s a point where I feel, almost at peace. The thing in front of me, the enemy I need to vanquish, it becomes everything in my mind, all I can think of, and it requires my full attention, otherwise it will kill me. I need to keep going, keep moving, faster, strong, better.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Vion said.

“What were you thinking when fighting Zax?” Noah asked.

“I was… angry,” Vion said. “Angry and… afraid.”

“Yes, but those are emotions. What were you thinking?”

“I…” The dragon princess trailed off. “Nothing. I wasn’t… thinking anything.”

“Precisely. And I think the whole problem you have, the entire reason you can’t control yourself, is because you are thinking. You are thinking when instead you should be feeling,” Noah said.

Vion bit her lower lip in frustration.

“There’s something I want to try. I think it’s the fastest way to do this, but you’ll need to be ready for it,” Noah said.

“What are you talking about?” Vion asked.

“I’m going to come at you with the intent to kill,” Noah said.

Vion just blinked, looking at him in surprise.

“I’m going to try not to kill you if I can, but I won’t hold myself back, so if you’re careless… you might die,” Noah said.

“I’m… not so sure about that,” Vion said. “Do we really have to?”

“We don’t. You can also just give up. Or you could slowly work at it on your own terms. This is hard, it will likely hurt, but if you want to fight in that tournament, if you want that title, or to seek your father’s legacy or whatever it is, then I would do this,” Noah said.

Vion clenched her fist, looking down at her feet. Closing her eyes, she took a long breath, before letting it out. When she opened her eyes, Noah saw a glimpse of the princess underneath, proud and confident.

“Okay. I’m going to fight you.”

Noah nodded, finding himself peering at his own soul. The words he’d said to Vion… they applied to him too, didn’t they? The thing he’d been ignoring, whether intentionally or just subconsciously, he was aware of it now.

He felt the Shard he’d absorbed from the Abyssal Rift inside his soul. The way it shaped him. The way it changed him, and the things it created.

He had to give it his all here. To give all he had. How could he help Vion if he was holding back?

And that was the thing, wasn’t it? Noah, from the very beginning, had been holding himself back. Because he was afraid. So very afraid of what he may find, should he allow his true self to appear.

I hate this… and I hate the fact that I’m going to do this now.

He closed his eyes and began to dig deep into himself.

The tattoos on his arms manifested, as his magic flowed freely, the ability of Arcane Body getting to truly shine here.

Next, Tony permeated through him. The Wyrmblood’s lifeforce surged, flowing like a tidal wave. He let it all go, seizing control, as the lifeforce burst forth.

Metamorphosis triggered on its own, his body starting to change. His skin turned obsidian, his modified muscles shifted, tensing and turning like steel. Dark void energies swarmed his body, his visage shifting into a demonic creature of the abyss standing in flesh.

Next was his aura, his Draconian aura that rose from his new lineage. Using the techniques Erwest had taught him, he focused it into a razor-sharp blade and pointed it at Vion.

But there was more, more still, the deepest part of him that he kept caged at all times. That he’d had ever since the very beginning, but tried to deny. He felt at his aura, at his soul, at the core inside of him which contained those Shards, like puzzle pieces that had been missing when he’d first awoken, but now, a part of him was reclaimed.

He looked at that monster inside, and then, he let it out into the world.

The [Devourer] has awakened. Hunger dominates your spirit. Power rises within your soul. Infinite potential burns through your veins. All abilities increased by 100%.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 14

It happened in an instant. Vion felt Noah’s aura, its weight. It was similar to her own and Zax’s in many ways, but not truly. It was weaker, false, a facsimile. Then, something changed.

A shudder ran up her spine, and when she looked again, she no longer saw Noah.

[Devourer - ???]

A deep white glow permeated out of the demonic creature’s eyes. It was unlike anything else she’d ever felt before. She knew what this was. She’d been made to learn.

She was afraid.

You’ve felt the aura of the [Devourer]. Terror floods your body.

Run. Run as fast as you can. Run before it can catch you.

Affliction level: IV

The creature stood so still and unmoving, like it meant her no harm. It didn’t even seem to focus on her, and yet, her body shivered. She didn’t know what he had done, didn’t understand what ability or power this was, but in that moment, she knew one thing to be true.

That thing was going to kill her.

The creature looked at her, almost as if curious, like it was pleased to see her there. Then it smiled and every sense of notion vanished from Vion. Power flooded her body as she began to run.

Before she could even take a few steps, the creature teleported in front of her, claws brandishing as void lightning swirled. It slashed and the world seemed to be cut for a moment, before the abyss itself shrieked from the gaps as the blast knocked her backward.

Vion turned, mana soaring through her, heat blasting everywhere as lava began to rise from her body. She let the lava soar, creating a blast aimed at the creature as she began to rush away. The creature teleported once more, appearing in front of her.

She froze. The monster stood right there. Noah’s face was inches away from her, yet it was the eyes. The creature’s eyes, and the way its outline shifted. Thi was no longer him.

And then, a thought even more terrible than that came to her.

What if… that was Noah.

She didn’t have the time to think. The creature pressed a palm against her, and she was blasted back in a shockwave, crashing into a row of trees and taking them down with her.

Vion pulled herself up, coughing blood as the creature stood in the distance, simply watching her. Her arms shook as she clenched dirt. Then, a new emotion rose from inside of her.

Anger.

She was not going to die like this. She was NOT going to be kicked around. She was not a weakling, or some frail princess who didn’t know any better.

She was a dragon.

Vion roared, a surge of power rising from within her. She let it, let the power rise, but she did not relinquish control. Her instincts, the instincts she’d buried so deep underneath came out in full force, and they refused to buckle down.

If she was going to die, she would take her enemies down with her.

[Dragon Soul] has awakened. [Class: Magma Mancer] temporarily removed. Race temporarily changed to [Juvenile Magma Dragon]

And yet, just as she did, she felt it, felt the aura vanish as the monster she’d been fighting disappeared.

The change was so abrupt, so sudden, Vion’s anger snapped off as her mind reeled. She stared ahead and found Noah seated on the ground, clutching his chest. She tried to walk ahead, but stumbled.

She looks down at herself—she was still in her dragon form. Not just for that inexplicable moment, no, she was truly there.

A well of feelings budded from within Vion, and it almost felt as if the magic holding her together would snap, but she pushed it back, kept it in place. She walked, reorienting herself.

She was large now, so much larger. She had four legs, wings, and a tail, and her body was so vastly different, and yet, it felt more natural than anything had ever felt in her entire life. She moved, one step at a time, up to Noah who simply sat there, dazed.

The man snapped out of his daze, and after a moment, he smiled proudly up at her.

“You did it!” Noah exclaimed.

Noah grinned happily as he regarded Vion, now standing in her dragon form. He pulled himself to his feet, reorienting himself from the experience he’d had. The memories felt like they were already being pushed away by his mind, like he was trying to forget it all, but he held onto them.

Now wasn’t the time. Now wasn’t the time to understand exactly what he’d done. He would do it later. But he knew, he knew that he would have to confront this. He’d run from this for long enough.

Hopefully Zax would have an answer for him.

Vion opened her mouth to speak. Lava dripped forth, burning the ground, a rumbling growl being the only thing that came out.

Noah reached out with his device, telepathically talking to her.

“It’s probably better to talk like this, till you get used to your new form.”

“Yes. Yes… you’re right,” Vion said, lowering her head to be at eye level with him. Noah put a hand on her face. “But I did it, Noah. I… I did it. I’m a dragon now,” Vion said, the large dragon rumbling.

Noah’s skin burned where he touched her, her aura so hot it was almost unbearable, even for him, but he kept his composure.

“You did it,” he replied.

Vion closed her eyes, letting the moment sink in.

“You know what? I had always wanted to fly. Ever since I was a kid, I’d wanted to fly. Now… now it’s time to do that. Hop on,” Vion said, brushing Noah closer.

“Are you sure?” he asked, uncertain. “You just gained your form. I saw you stumble there, maybe don’t rush it?”

“No, no it has to be now. I have a feeling, just trust me,” Vion said, and Noah gave in.

He climbed up the magma dragon’s back, the heat from her skin rising through her body.

Vion turned her eyes to the skies. She spread her wings, letting the heat seep out in the world, as magic began to gather into them.

“Alright. Here, goes nothing,” she said and began to run.

The dragon moved like a boulder and the heat inside her melted the world around her. Noah felt the shaking as Vion rushed ahead before leaping into the skies.

He was ready to jump off or teleport in case things went wrong, and for a moment the dragon seemed like she would fall right back down, crashing into the trees. Then, a surge of magic flowed through her body, heat rising from beneath her.

Vion flapped her wings once, then twice, and before they knew it, they were in the skies.

“Oh my god, I’m flying!” Vion exclaimed, wings flapping as she continued to rise into the air. Noah watched in fascination as the world began to move away from him.

Birds flew away, letting out calls. Any creature who saw her either froze or ducked away as Vion moved through the skies, going higher and higher.

Noah watched from her back, taking in the sights as the dragon rumbled in joy.

“I’ve… been here before. On the back of other wyverns and creatures. This place had always felt oddly comfortable. And yet, I always knew there had been something missing. Now… now I understand it. It is so different. To be this free, untethered to the ground, to move as I wish through the skies. I feel like… I’m free of the chains I was given at birth,” Vion said.

For a moment, Noah wondered if the droplets of magma he saw were tears in the dragon’s eyes.

The two flew for a few minutes, before Vion landed back on the ground. Noah stepped off of the dragon’s back, and a second later, the creature’s body shifted, glowing as it shrank and settling down into the form of a woman.

Vion walked up to him and wrapped him in a hug.

Noah froze, unsure of what to do, before simply letting the woman settle there, resting a hand on her back.

“Thank you, Noah,” she whispered.

“Don’t mention it,” Noah replied, and Vion stepped back.

Noah had to avert his eyes.

Vion stood there as naked as the day of her birth. The princess huffed and harumphed when noticing what the transformation had done, before she looked up at Noah.

“Oh, is that a blush I see on your face?” Vion asked, moving closer.

Noah stammered, coughing as he composed himself, making himself look back at Vion. Her red hair somehow seemed even more like fire than it had done before.

“Honestly, I’ve seen enough women naked by this point. Even before arriving to this world. And we also had this wonderful thing called the internet⁠—”

Vion chuckled at his words, making Noah pause. “Alright, fine,” she said, and with a flick of her wrist, clothes appeared in her hand. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to not be standing around naked.”

“Right, of course,” Noah said, turning around as the princess put her clothes back on. A second later, he switched off Abyssal Awareness as well, the constant stream of information from all around him vanishing, leaving him with just his own senses.

“I’m decent now,” Vion said, and Noah turned around, switching the ability back on. He hadn’t realized how used he’d gotten to that ability.

Vion stood there, one hand on her waist and a grin on her lips, excluding the confidence he’d first seen when he’d met her. But unlike then, this did not feel like a false pretense anymore.

“I have to ask you though… what the hell had you done there? Was that some ability? It said Devourer when I looked at you, and… you did not feel like yourself anymore,” Vion asked.

“Yeah… it’s similar to your dragon thing, except I can’t really control mine either, I think,” Noah said, not sure how to answer. “It’s not an ability I like to use very often.”

Vion gave him a nod. “I think I understand. It… for a second I had felt genuine fear, and if you hadn’t transformed back on your own… I would’ve likely tried to kill you.”

Both of them stood there in silence for a moment.

“Anyway, this was good. What do you say about making this a regular thing? My mornings are free, so we could come here to train,” Noah asked.

He hadn’t looked at his notifications, but he knew he’d leveled up at least once, and his abilities had risen in levels a bunch of times.

“Sure, sounds good. I need some practice controlling my transformation anyway. And using my abilities without transforming,” Vion said.

“Sweet. Same time tomorrow?” Noah asked.

“Sounds like a plan,” Vion replied.

Noah grinned at her. “You got it.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

WYVERN CLIFFS PT. 15

Two months passed in the blink of an eye, as Noah continued to train day in and day out. He sat atop the back of his nightshade wyvern, the two swerving through sky serpents trying to attack them, deftly dodging their strikes. The creatures hissed and snapped in irritation, bolts of lightning crackling in all directions in an attempt to stop the two, but the shade wyvern deftly dodged through them all, listening to Noah’s command from the subtle tap of his foot and his pats to guide it and tell it of any oncoming strikes.

A blast formed in the nightshade’s mouth, blue flames spreading around it as juvenile thunder wyverns all reared back. Just below, near the river, a good chunk of their siblings had tried to ambush Noah and his wyvern, when the two had struck back, taking out what had been the leader of the pack. He’d anticipated the younger ones would run off in fear, but instead, they’d grown even more fierce, as if burning with the desire to take revenge.

The nightshade soared with rapid speed, leaving their pursuers behind. The wind rumbled under the creature’s command, its wings sleek and powerful, silently carrying of them across the forest, into their section of the territory as the thunder wyverns watched in frustration.

Noah laughed, flipping a finger off at the two creatures.

They swiftly headed back into the hive through one of its many entrances. The nightshade landed gracefully, and Noah jumped off, patting the creature’s side.

“Man that was fun,” he said, as the wyvern rumbled in agreement, shooting a small ball of blue flames to show her excitement as well.

The two of them had just raided the thunder wyvern hive, striking at a group of juveniles, and rapidly taking them out. Such attacks had become a regular part of their day, and now, any thunder wyvern would immediately attack them on sight.

Noah looked through his notifications from the battle, seeing his level had gone up one on all his Paths.

You’ve killed [Juvenile Thunder Wyvern (Legendary) - Lvl 179]

You’ve killed [Juvenile Thunder Wyvern (Legendary) - Lvl 184]

You’ve killed [Juvenile Thunder Wyvern (Legendary) - Lvl 237]

[Wyrmblood Guardian] has reached level 187!

[Runebody Arcanist] has reached level 187!

[Abyssal Predator] has reached level 189!

Noah smiled at his progress. He was close, so close to his goal. The last two months had been filled with constant training, and all his abilities and skills had rapidly rose up in that period.

Some of the most notable changes were his Weapon Mastery, which was pushing advanced rank, having reached level 24, and both his Meditation and Greater Mana Mastery had also risen significantly as Noah had taken to spending his free time meditating and absorbing mana inside the hive beyond his capacity to train his mana limits.

Noah had also gained a brand-new skill in his time here and leveled it up to intermediate.

[Wyvern Riding (Intermediate) Level 12]

You’ve successfully bonded to a wild wyvern and learned how to ride it. Find yourself capable of understanding the body language of any wyvern, not just the ones you are bonded to, and the capacity to guide them as you ride on their backs.

Aurelia had also gained the same skill, and Vion apparently had ranked hers up to the advance tier in her time here.

It wasn’t just his general skills that had gone up though, all of Noah’s abilities had significantly risen in levels. But there were a few outliers that had done remarkably well. Noah pulled the list of skills up in front of him.

[Abyssal Fusion (Legendary/Advanced) - Level 48]

[Void Annihilation (Legendary/Advanced) - Level 45]

[Arcane Step (Legendary/Advanced) - Level 47]

[Wyrmblood (Legendary/Advanced) - Level 48]

He’d talked to Vion and Aurelia, and when a skill reached the advanced tier cap, it no longer went up in rank through just work. That was where the skill points finally came in.

If Noah wanted to upgrade it further, then he would need to use a skill point to do so. He remembered the conversation from Zax ages ago where the dragon talked about how the reason he had been imprisoned was because one of his resistances had been at level 74, at the Elite tier, and the dragon had not spent the needed points to increase that to Expert.

He also remembered Zax mentioning that level 50 was where abilities and skills finally started to show their true potential. And had told Noah to increase his Pain Tolerance to Elite should he ever level it that far.

He hadn’t done that just yet, it was far too easy to simply turn off his sense of pain with all the fighting he did, but one of these days, he was planning to train that ability up.

Noah opened his quest menu, looking at the timer counting down how much time they had left.

Quest: A Wyvern’s Heart

Obtain the heart of an adult wyvern before the 100 day time limit for your test.

Remaining Time: 3 days

Difficulty: Hard

Reward: Unknown

Noah let out a breath. They were all close, pushing the boundaries of C rank, but there was no longer any time left to train. Noah patted the wyvern once more, the creature grunting as it remained curled up, its eyes closed.

“The time has come for our revenge,” Noah said.

Whatever training could be done, had been done. Now, it was time to head into the hive and finally finish this hunt.

Noah walked out to a separate chamber for his solo training.

Noah sat in the chamber, meditating as mana continued to flow all around him. The runic marks on his body glowed, pulsing like magical sigils as they soaked in the mana, attuning it to Noah.

He’d accidentally learned this when he tried to speed up his mana regeneration artificially and had accidentally gone over the limit. Instead of causing mana poisoning, his body digested the excess mana and added it to his total attributes.

Noah had, of course, immediately tried to eat a C grade mana crystal to test, but found it much harder to do with the sudden burst of power from a mana crystal. A bit bummed out at the lack of an obvious exploit, he’d still been rather pleased to have this method.

After the strike by the wyvern, Noah had started heavily prioritizing his Constitution and Mystic attributes. Wyrmblood made it so that any massive injury healed immediately but it was deathly obvious that if someone could kill him in one hit, no amount of regeneration would bring him back to life.

As the mana settled into his body, Noah felt the sigils thrum, as a notification chimed of his Mystic going up by one point.

Noah opened his eyes, before he opened his status menu to take a look at his attribute points.

Power: 1,524 [1,828]

Agility: 1,381 [1,657]

Constitution: 1,640 [2,214]

Mystic: 1,823 [2,461]

Noah smiled in satisfaction. To think he’d barely reached a thousand points with all his buffs when he’d arrived here. He wondered just how he would compare to Kaelan now, or the guild master, Raesar.

He couldn’t wait to test his abilities.

Standing up, Noah moved onto the next step of his exercises. Taking out his spear, he began to brandish them, using moves one after another, refining his skill. Frequently, Noah would switch between the spear and his chains, using the two in tandem, before swiftly forming armor from his clothing with Tony’s help to block strikes, or transforming just his hands into claws.

It was a strange, almost chaotic way of fighting, with the spear inflicting rot, the chains putting suppression effects onto his enemies, and the armor making him sturdy, while the claws allowed Noah to get in close and strike with his full strength.

It was only when he sensed Aurelia arriving that Noah stopped his training, sweat beading down his body and his breath heavy. He stored the spear in his inventory, wiping off the sweat.

“Hey.” Aurelia waved. “Vion wants us to meet up with Quazithril. It’s time for us to make our move.”

Noah gave a nod, following behind the woman.

Aurelia had changed significantly over the past two months as well. A swirling aura of ash and ember surrounded her, like a lingering specter of death.

She’d told Noah it was the result of one of her abilities ranking up to Elite. She’d promptly used the skill points she’d gained to rank it up, and now her aura was a fiery promise of death that whispered in the ears of any nearby.

It was far from her only change. Her hair had started to take on a slightly lighter shade, like it was slowly switching to an ashen color, and there was a distinct magical presence around her.

Noah suspected just by virtue of her abilities, Aurelia would be able to give him a fight, despite him having far more attributes by now.

Outside, he jumped upon Aurelia’s wyvern, and the giant fiery creature let out a breath of flames, taking off to the uppermost layers.

Noah and Aurelia had at one point wanted to name their mounts, but Vion informed them how important names were to wyverns, and to not do so, unless they intended to stick around for life. Noah had found that a shame, as he’d already come up with a bunch of cool names, but decided to respect the creatures.

For better or for worse, they were guests here, and despite how amazing his time had been, they would soon need to depart.

As the wyvern came to a stop, the two adventurers jumped off the creature’s back, Aurelia giving the big wyvern a mana crystal in thanks.

Noah noticed Vion standing a little farther ahead, clearly engaged in a conversation with Quazrithril. The giant wyvern matriarch spent most of her time sleeping, her passive aura and abilities deterring anything stupid enough to want to come inside to attack.

It was partly why the thunder wyverns mostly stuck to their own territory. The attack that Noah had been struck by had been the kind of attacks which a hive could use against its enemies within their own territory, and was part of what made a wyvern hive so dangerous.

That and the thousands of angry wyverns of course.

The giant wyvern matriarch’s eyes shifted to regard him, and soon he felt the mental connection snap into place as her still rather surprisingly motherly voice came to him.

“You three children have grown rather well in such a short period of time,” Quazrithril said, bringing her face closer. Noah could feel her breath, and the power contained inside of her mountainous body.

“Even our strongest children do not usually grow this fast. But with you three, our hive has found its strength rising. No children wish to be left behind after all, and the strength of those you carry, pushes the others to rise above as well. For that, you have our thanks,” the ancient wyvern said, lowering her head slightly.

Noah grinned. “The pleasure was ours, really. It’s been extremely fun to fly around all day, hunting all sorts of creatures and fighting monsters, and picking off pesky thunder wyverns. I doubt either of us could’ve grown this much on our own either.”

As far as growth went, Noah had not been the fastest in his group for the first time since he’d arrived here. He used Analyze on Vion.

[Race: Draconian Humanoid - lvl 97 (Mythical)]

[Path: Magma Mancer (Rare) - lvl 194]

Her changes were less apparent than Aurelia’s, more subtle, but you could see it in the way she held herself. While before, she’d felt like a child lashing out at adults, now there was a calmness that permeated her, accompanied by her slight smile of confidence.

With their frequent sparring, Noah had watched Vion grow firsthand, and he’d started to understand what people must’ve felt like when watching him grow. She’d become adept at her transformation and managed to unlock the ability to use a lot of her draconic abilities even in her human form.

At some point, Noah had no longer been the dominating force between them, and he found himself wondering just what kind of strength she would unlock, when her race finally reached D rank.

Vion noticed his look, her smile expanding as she understood his expression. It was a smug look of pride, challenging him to keep up with her.

Noah found himself grinning even harder.

“It is true, our children have certainly helped. And now, it is time to utilize that strength. Given the circumstances, and how the enemy hive has started to push into our territory as their strength grows, we must send our children to cull their ranks and push them back,” Quazrithril said.

All three of them gave the giant wyvern a nod.

“This is not true war, but it will likely be the closest thing any of you will have experienced. The time has come, our children prepare. You should too. Tomorrow, at first dawn, we will move toward the hive, to try and bring as many of their numbers down,” Quazrithril said, and a pulse went through the entire hive.

The three of them resolved themselves.

Noah clenched and unclenched his fist, finding an aching itch rising inside of him. It was time, at last, for a second match against the thunder wyvern, and for him to take his revenge.

Tomorrow, he would take the heart of an adult wyvern.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

WYVERN HEART PT. 1

Noah sat atop the nightshade’s back, feeling the breath of the creature beneath him, and the nervous tension filling its body. Noah patted the wyvern’s back, feeling a similar emotion somewhere between excitement and nervousness.

Groups of wyverns sat near the top of the hive, watching the skies from their perches as anticipation filled their chests. There were thousands of them in attendance. The groups had been segmented into squadron-like formations, with leaders heading the charge and coordinating the attacks. Vion and Aurelia each led their own segments. Noah, on the other hand, would be going in alone.

The three had a talk the previous night regarding whether they needed just one heart, or one for each. The system had clarified the answer rather quickly, making it clear they would each need to bring a heart of their own.

That was fine. In truth, Noah was glad it was this way. He wanted to face the wyvern on his own terms. Just him and his mount. This would be their battle.

He felt the wyverns all shift in anticipation, as the skies began to brighten in the distance. It was surprising how quiet the world was, as if it knew what was to happen, and was waiting with bated breath.

When the first rays of the sun peered over the horizon, there was a pulse, and then he felt a connection to Quazrithril. The matriarch reached out to all her children alongside Noah’s group.

“Go forth, my children. Go forth and show them our might. Today, we push back the detestable thunder hive and reclaim the land they have taken from us. Go forth. For the hive.”

The wyverns all roared. Including Noah’s own nightshade, their magics erupting all at once. A chill ran through him as the creatures all rushed ahead, taking off together.

The skies turned into a patchwork of multicolored wings and bursts of magic as the entire sky hive took flight.

Shadows lingered under his nightshade’s wings as the fast moving wyvern rushed ahead. Wind howled, a shrieking sizzle cutting through the air as they moved at speeds hardly any of the others could match.

Or so Noah had thought. A moment later, a sleek but larger, blue striped wyvern flew close, wind moving in steady silent streams around it. More joined, and Noah looked around himself in surprise, before using Analyze.

[Adult Sky Wyverns (Legendary) - ???]

There is hardly anything faster than an adult sky wyvern. With complete control over the wind around their bodies and flight magic this potent, these creatures can break the sound barrier at their top speeds without much effort. Just the sheer momentum alone from these creatures is enough to make a glancing blow from their claws lethal and rip you apart like meat confetti.

Good thing these ones are on your side, eh?

The wyverns glanced his and his shade wyvern’s way. These sky wyverns were the direct children of Quazrithril, the leaders of the hive. They let out a rumbling chitter, as if to say, ‘Keep up,’ then with a burst of power, they shot ahead.

Explosions rocked the air as sonic bursts shook the world, the wyverns barreling across the distance like missiles let loose. Noah grinned.

“We can’t let them make us look bad, bud,” Noah said, and his nightshade grunted in agreement.

Then, the two of them shot forward, picking up speed.

The thunder wyvern hive quickly came into view, clouds swirling above the hill like a storm brewing as the thunder wyverns began to rush out in a panic.

The first of the strikes were launched, howling blades of wind shooting forward from the sky, wyverns moving faster than it was possible to even keep up with. Lightning strikes struck from the skies as the entire thunder wyvern hive crackled with power, but the sky wyverns swiveled and moved with precise control, dodging the bolts of lighting.

Despite knowing the power of the sky wyverns, Noah still found his jaw drop as one cleaved through a thunder wyvern’s body right from the middle with their powerful claws.

There was one strike, then one more, and then another, and soon, a raining barrage of sky wyverns tore through the scrambling and surprised thunder wyverns all desperately trying to flee.

It was a bloodbath, leaving literal clouds of blood sprinkling from the skies, as the sky wyverns all let out roars of thrill at their successful strike.

Noah and his wyvern closed in, circling the perimeter of the battle as they all slowed down, letting the battle unfold. Noah found his heart pounding as he watched the scene. Notifications swirled from the system, but he had no time to check any of them, feeling a strange sensation rising in his heart. Quazithril had said this was not a true war. Noah wasn’t sure he wanted to see what a true war between the hives looked like then.

Not surprisingly, the thunder wyvern hive did not just take the attacks laying down. Noah felt the power gathering in the skies, similar to the attack that had struck him. And a massive bolt of lightning formed in an instant, striking down one of the adult sky wyverns.

More bolts followed, tearing across the ranks, as wyverns continued to pour out from the mountainous hive to protect their home.

His own wyvern rumbled, fury rising, ready to jump in, but Noah brushed a hand on the creature’s back, telling it to wait. They had to be patient. They had a specific target in mind.

The main segment of the sky wyvern hive soon began to arrive, and as they did, all hell broke loose. Myriads of attacks began to tussle, wyverns tangling with wyverns, and magical abilities going haywire. The mana in the air was vibrating so powerfully Noah could feel it on his skin, each strike adding to the waves of pulsing energy.

He scanned his surroundings continuously, his mount remaining low and relatively hidden. Tony enhanced his body slightly, letting him see clearer at a greater distance, and it did not take Noah long to find his target.

A particularly large thunder wyvern roared, flying out of the hive. Its body shimmered and moved with power, as it breathed a bolt of fire that took down an entire group of juvenile wyverns in a single blow.

Noah focused on the creature, and knew without the doubt that it was the one who struck at them.

Noah pressed low, his hand on his wyvern’s back. Tony moved to transform his skin, turning it a darker shade, increasing his stealth, and Noah began to charge his own attacks. Abyssal Inferno swirled underneath his skin, his body rippling with void energy. Arcane Body hummed with the mana all around him as Wyrmblood pulsed in his veins, feeding the symbiote as it continued to enhance him.

Without needing to speak a word, he commanded his wyvern, and they shot forward like a silent bolt of the night.

The two moved with haste, rapidly crossing the distance as his nightshade swung and dodged any enemies that came in their path. Noah kept his eye on his target, the wyvern unaware of their approach as it tore through the ranks of sky wyverns.

Noah took out his spear. It thrummed, quivering, almost as if in anticipation. Void Annihilation pulsed, the spear’s crimson turning a dark shade. Noah fed it power, as much of it as he had inside of himself.

His mana dipped down to half.

They swept in close, blue flames bursting in his nightshade’s mouth. The adult thunder wyvern turned, noticing them at last. It was too late. Fire erupted, a howling ball of blue flames striking the thunder wyvern point-blank as the fire burst against its body rocking the adult wyvern off its path.

Noah, not willing to let himself be outdone, let Abyssal Inferno and Void Annihilation loose across his spear at the same time, black fire and lightning of pure void energy bursting from his weapon’s form.

The weapon howled, impaling the falling wyvern through a wing and sending it crashing into the hive.

The nightshade and Noah swept down, rushing in with rapid speed, his nightshade’s claws ready to tear out the creature’s throat and Noah’s claws ready to rip its heart out.

Then, a storm of lightning erupted from ahead, striking his wyvern as it howled, losing control for a moment as the two of them crashed into the wyvern hive, kicking up a dust cloud.

Noah jumped, glancing behind at his wyvern. The nightshade shook its head, rising up and letting out an angry grunt, but Noah had no time to check for too long. His spine crackled with alarm, and he dodged with Arcane Step as bolts of lightning blasted the ground where he’d stood moments ago.

The adult thunder wyvern growled in fury, rising up and towering over Noah, eyes burning with anger.

Noah extended his hand, teleporting his spear back into his hands and pointed it at the creature. The nightshade rose to its feet, lowering its head as it looked up at the large thunder wyvern with a hissing growl, blue flames bursting inside its mouth.

The two creatures shrieked and roared at each other, wings swerving and mana pulsing. Noah moved cautiously, eyes on the giant monster as he moved with his nightshade in a circle.

The thunder wyvern struck first. Lightning bolts rose from the creature’s mouth and Noah teleported while the nightshade dodged, firing a ball of flame as it swooped in, snapping with its jaw.

Noah struck from the side, spear shooting at the thunder wyvern with charged Void Annihilation that sank into the wyvern’s body. The creature let out a howl of rage, but before it could retaliate, the nightshade slashed at it with its claws, tackling it onto the ground.

Reaching into his inventory, Noah crunched on a mana stone, his mana rapidly replenishing and his power surging. He had Meditation active, his mana regen increasing in power and his focus sharpening on his target.

The two wyverns wrestled and tumbled, kicking up dust as blue blames and bolts of lightning crackled against one another. The nightshade snapped at the thunder wyvern’s wing, before causing fire to bubble in its throat burn through the creature’s skin.

The thunder wyvern howled in pain, biting down at the nightshade and letting a burst of thunder explode.

Noah rushed in, teleporting in to punch the thunder wyvern’s jaw with a transformed limb. Then, for good measure, Noah let a burst of charged Abyssal Inferno explode out in a beam of furious hot void flames. The thunder wyvern was shot back, howling.

Touching the nightshade, now free of the thunder wyvern’s jaw, with an exertion of his mana, he used an Arcane Step again, teleporting the creature away from the thunder wyvern. The nightshade shook its head, then growled, rumbling, but Noah extended a hand toward the wyvern.

“You’ve done your part, buddy. Go out and help the rest,” he said, glancing at the nightshade.

His wyvern looked at him with surprise, growling with flames in refusal. “I know I said we would do this together… but ultimately this is my fight. That monster? It’s my prey. Do not get in my way.”

The nightshade paused at that, then looked to the thunder wyvern still reeling from their rapid blows. The nightshade growled, its face telling him, ‘Don’t you dare die,’ before it leaped to join the fray outside.

Noah faced the thunder wyvern, having put out the abyssal flames and now furious than ever with lightning crackling all around it. The monster rose to its full height, letting out an angry roar, and Noah smiled.

Then, he removed his suppression shackles.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

WYVERN HEART PT. 2

Noah let out a breath, steam rising from his mouth as Abyssal Inferno rose in fury, storing abyssal flames inside his body. Tony formed armor on his body and lengthening his claws. The Draconian pupils of his eyes sharpened even further, the visage of a demon looking back.

Noah knew what his powers were like. Despite how much he made an attempt to take them as a joke or in a light way, there was something deeply wrong with him on the inside. This joy, this thrill, this glory, the beating of his heart.

It was like he could not feel alive outside of these moments.

In these moments, he found his identity slipping, and the monster inside peering through the cracks of his human facade. But that was fine. That was also who he was. And in this moment, he let that sensation consume him in its entirety.

[Metamorphosis] has activated.

All attributes doubled for 120 seconds.

The demon lurking inside was bathed in light as he transformed. Wings erupted from his back, his form abandoning any semblance of humanity.

He forgot his spear, forgot his training and his abilities. In this moment, he was here, he was alive, and he had a prey he needed to kill.

Noah rushed forward.

Lightning erupted across the world, a storm of strikes flashing as the thunder wyvern roared. Its wings spanned out, bolts of lightning spreading out, before a pulse of lightning spread in a circle.

Noah teleported, arriving directly in front of the creature as he punched the giant wyvern. The moment his strike hit, Noah unleashed an Abyssal Inferno through his first, turning his punch into a shotgun blast as it staggered the giant wyvern back.

Predator’s Mark manifested on the thunder wyvern, and Noah instinctually could feel the creature’s weaknesses. His aura swerved outward, Wyrm’s Curse stacking on top of the thunder wyvern as Noah summoned Bloodwyrm Swarm, the little Bloodwyrm biting at the wyvern’s body and tying its feet up.

Noah summoned his specters, two of them manifesting as he began to teleport around the creature. Weapons shone around his specters as they moved in for the attack.

He continued to switch places with them, constantly jumping between strikes as he charged a beam of energy through Void Annihilation and shot it at the thunder wyvern.

The giant creature screamed, knocked sideways, then it roared and spread its wings in anger. It gathered lightning in its mouth, breathing bolts of lightning in all directions.

Noah dodged as his specters evaporated, the ground sizzling and charring from the fury of the attack, the air smelling of ozone and storm. The wyvern slammed its jaw toward Noah with a snapping surge of power as a bolt of lightning launched him back.

Noah crashed into the wall, shattering the stone behind him. Blood poured down his face, soaking his body. He had no time to recover as the wyvern lunged and slammed into where he was.

Reacting on instinct, Noah grabbed the wyvern’s giant teeth, pushing its maw down with all the strength he had before it could clamp down. Sparks gathered in the creature’s throat, its aura suppressing Noah’s ability to teleport this close in.

Noah roared, grabbing a fang and twisted, tearing it out. The wyvern roared in pain, and Noah jumped out, then teleported up to the wyvern’s face. Noah raised the fang up in the air and slammed it into the wyvern’s eye.

Lightning burst forth like a storm, striking the wyvern itself, and Noah’s world went white. For a long second, he only saw a white blurred haze, his ears ringing. In the next second, his senses returned and his health had dropped into the red, his body charred and burned.

It took him a moment to realize what happened.

The hive… it had struck the wyvern itself. To take both of them. Noah pulled himself up to his feet, spitting burnt blood from his mouth. Steam erupted from his body as Wyrmblood rapidly began to heal him, and Tony covered his broken areas of armor, rapidly removing the effects of the electricity pulsing in his nervous system

Noah watched the wyvern, now with one eye and mad beyond belief as it glared down at him. Noah grinned maniacally.

Metamorphosis: 60 seconds remain.

“An eye for an eye. But you took my life, and so I will take yours,” Noah said, and the wyvern howled, as if it understood his words.

The creature rose and its massive wings flapped, and lightning surged across its body. The creature spun through the cavern, a giant claw of lightning slashing at Noah as it swooped down.

Noah teleported, using an Arcane Step to jump onto the wyvern’s back, dodging the attack. And then it spun, crashing through the entrance and rushing outward.

Noah rose into the sky, the thunder wyvern howling and roaring as they moved toward the stormy clouds crackling with lightning up above. Noah held on desperately, feeling lightning coursing into him from the creature’s body. His grip was slipping, being pulled back, and he desperately flung himself, grabbing a scale on the wyvern’s back as it roared once more, lightning bursting all around it.

Gritting his teeth through the singes burning his entire body, Noah clawed his way up. The wyvern swerved to try and fling Noah off, but he’d spent weeks sticking himself to the night shade’s back. Noah climbed the wyvern’s back, moving toward its head.

The wyvern howled, starting to grow desperate. Noah sensed it now, the creature’s fear, as it began to move with more brash and wide movements. It gathered lightning in its mouth, shooting it up into the clouds, letting out a screech for help.

Noah dug his claws in, punching the creature on its back with power strikes. Then, a moment later, the clouds above rumbled and a strong sense of alarm filled Noah’s body.

He looked to the clouds gathering for another strike, ready to shoot. He didn’t have any time, he had to move immediately.

Noah teleported off the wyvern to be just above it. The wyvern opened its mouth to eat Noah but he aimed his hands downward and let a charged blast of Void Annihilation and Abyssal Inferno loose inside the creature’s throat.

The thunder wyvern blasted his own bolt of lightning, the two strikes colliding midair and exploding in a pulsing shockwave of mana that flung them both off.

The next instant, clouds struck down with a bolt of lightning as wide as a thick pillar.

Crack.

The world turned silent against the deafening noise, and Noah felt himself lose consciousness for a long moment. When he opened his eyes, Metamorphosis had deactivated, his health was down to 10%, and he was falling from the skies.

But he was alive.

He turned, watching the thunder wyvern falling as well, one of the creature’s wings had ripped off and been burned down to its bones, with sickly charred flesh sticking to it. One side of its body was equally a sizzled patched mesh of burnt flesh from where the bolt of lightning had hit it.

The creature thrashed desperately, bursting lightning all around it, and Noah dove in closer. The wyvern howled as it realized Noah was here, responsible for all of this, and it began to madly attack with everything it had.

Still low on health and without Metamorphosis, a single strike would kill Noah, but he went in anyway, slamming his fist against the wyvern’s maw. Swinging around, Noah found a slash from the wyvern’s claw nearly ripped his body in shreds and he felt a warning flash in front of him.

Warning! Health down to 5%

[Wyrmblood] has activated. Health regeneration increased by 500% temporarily.

When the creature moved in again to snap at him, Noah turned, slamming the wyvern. His flesh knit itself back together, his bones snapping into place as lifeforce surged inside of him. Then, Noah grabbed the wyvern’s throat in a hug.

The wyvern roared, trying to get rid of him, but Noah remained, and then, as he began to squeeze, he roared. The wyvern thrashed, growing more and more desperate as Noah’s muscles ached and his body was strung tight.

He continued grasp, his arms were bleeding, and his muscles felt like they would tear from the force of it. He screamed with all he had, and then, something gave, as the throat of the creature shattered in his arms.

The thunder wyvern shuddered one last time, before going limp. Noah’s body was on the brink of collapse and as the tension drained from him—the ground was approaching far too fast.

Noah tried to focus himself, he bit his lips, hoping to teleport into the trees to break his fall, he took out a B grade mana stone in a desperate attempt to keep himself alive, but before he could crunch on the stone and hope for the best, he heard a shriek from nearby.

A dark figure swung across the sky, snatching him out of the air. Noah twisted, trying to free himself until he realized who caught him.

He looked up at the nightshade flapping its wings, then it swung Noah up, tossing him onto its back. The nightshade let out a roar of victory, turning around and slowing its descent.

The corpse of the thunder wyvern crashed within the trees, joining the myriad of corpses that littered the area.

Noah took in the scene, panting, barely alive. The wyverns continued to fight, but the thunder wyverns had considerably thinned out. The sky wyvern hive had also began to retreat, having accomplished its task of diminishing the opposing wyvern forces.

The shade wyvern circled the area before swooping down next to the corpse of the thunder wyvern. The creature raised its head, letting out a howl of victory that other wyverns from nearby returned.

Noah stumbled off his wyverns back, staring at the giant corpse. Battered and broken, he still had taken the creature down.

As Noah walked closer though, he realized he’d made a mistake.

That was no corpse.

The thunder wyvern’s breaths were slow and rasp, its body broken and shattered. But it was alive. After everything, despite all it had suffered, it was still alive.

The creature eyed Noah. No longer was there any hate inside the wyvern’s eye. No anger, nothing. It knew it had lost. It had accepted it.

There was a sense of respect that Noah felt in that moment. An acknowledgement toward his enemy.

“You were strong. Thank you,” Noah said, and plunged his hand into the wyvern’s chest. The wyvern shrieked one last time as Noah grasped at the creature’s heart, ripping it out.

Notifications flashed.

You’ve killed [Adult Thunder Wyvern (Legendary) - Lvl 432]

[Wyrmblood Guardian] has reached level 200!

[Runebody Arcanist] has reached level 200!

[Abyssal Predator] has reached level 200!

You can rank up!

Noah looked at the wyvern’s heart in his hand.

A grin rose on his face, and raising his head, he let out a loud roar into the skies. The wyverns roared back with him.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

RETURN

Noah blinked, looking at the bedroom he was in and trying to remember what had happened last. In a vague blur, the memories of the events after the battle returned.

After killing the wyvern, Noah stored its heart and body in his inventory and climbed on the nightshade’s back. The return party had only suffered minor injuries, most thunder wyvern busy tending to their injuries and licking their wounds.

The return from the battle had been ridden on a surge of adrenaline from the victory. Noah had found Aurelia and Vion, both injured, but having also completed their quests, and had a smile on their faces.

Everything after that had been a blur as Noah reached the hive and immediately collapsed, falling asleep.

He rose from the bed, his head hanging heavy, but his body felt rather refreshed. Stretching his limbs, Noah felt a jolt of excitement run through him as he finally began to go through all his notifications.

A myriad of notifications filled his interface, a dozen assisted kills that had also been attributed partly to him, but the main ones were these.

Quest: Wyvern’s Heart, complete!

Reward: [Advanced Skill Book of Cooking].

You’ve gained one skill point for killing an adult wyvern.

Your title [Titan Slayer] has increased in strength.

[Wyrmblood] has reached level 50.

[Arcane Step] has reached level 50.

[Abyssal Fusion] has reached level 50.

[Void Annihilation] has reached level 50.

There were dozens of other little notifications as well, with all his abilities going up at least one level, even the ones he didn’t use at all.

And the monster continues to grow. Can’t wait to see what Kaelan and the others think of me now.

The thought brought a smile to his face. The gate opened with a click and Aurelia stepped inside.

“Good morning,” she said, smirking. It was dark outside just behind her.

“Good morning. Had the best nap of my life,” Noah replied, in too much of a good mood to even come up with some kind of quip.

“That was a nap, huh? If that was a nap then I’m not sure I want to know what proper sleep would look like,” she said.

“Give it a few years and I bet I’ll wake up while saying something like ‘who dares disturb my slumber!’” Noah said, doing his best impression of a grumpy dragon.

“That fact that I believe you is probably the scariest part in this,” Aurelia replied, shaking her head in exasperation. “Anyways, come. Our ride back to the city has arrived.”

“Our ride?” Noah asked, his mind immediately heading toward the airship they’d taken to arrive at Drakonias.

“Zax of course,” Aurelia said.

“Did… did you just call an ancient dragon that even an Ascendant wyvern and the queen of this hive respects your ride? Are you trying to replace me as the group idiot or something? You’ll have to battle me for the role!”

Aurelia’s eyes widened ever so slightly. Then, a smile formed on her lips. “You know, I really don’t realize it being with you so often, but you’re definitely leaving your mark on me. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“Glad that it’s not Erwest who’s rubbing off on you?” Noah asked.

Aurelia burst into laughter. “I don’t think I could ever get a stick that far up my ass.”

Noah grinned. “I will say, it’s weird, but I do miss him a little. I wonder what he’s been up to?”

“Yeah, it is weird, given how grouchy and grumpy he is and how he barely talks to us at all… I’d grown used to his presence. I definitely miss Snow more though.”

“I wonder how her and Shadow and Sky are doing as well. And Kaelan, Valeria, and… actually, maybe not Seraphina. Not sure I want to know what she in particular has been up to,” Noah said, remembering her proposal out of nowhere to marry him and have his kids.

“Hmm, good thing we’re about to head back!” Aurelia said, grabbing Noah by his arm. “Let’s go.”

Noah let himself be pulled along out of the dimensional chamber.

The wyverns buzzed with activity the past few days, the pulse of victory and joyous roars still rolling through the area. Noah felt the same buzzing excitement filling him as he walked to the matriarch of the hive, finding Zax and Vion already there.

Vion looked more uncomfortable than Noah had ever seen her. Apparently, the princess was still not completely over her experience with Zax. The older dragon stood rather gracefully next to the young princess, talking to her about something that Noah couldn’t hear. Likely a magical spell Zax had created to keep their conversation private.

The group noticed their arrival and Zax gave Noah a wide smile.

“The sleeping child awakes,” the matriarch said in greeting.

“It seems the training was rather successful,” Zax said, glancing at the three of them one after another.

Vion shifted uncomfortably under Zax’s glance. Aurelia had a burning look in her eyes, as if this fact was only going to push her harder and faster. Noah simply grinned happily like an idiot.

“They have. And so have our children. Though the battle was not without losses, the thunder wyvern hive is now in recovery, and it will take just a little longer for that old fool to wake up. Our children have all grown stronger from the battles, especially those who have accompanied the three of you. For that, you have our thanks,” the ancient wyvern said, rumbling as she lowered her head to be closer to them.

“It should be us who should be thanking you. Thanks for helping us train and for not telling your children to turn us into snacks,” Noah said, and the ancient wyvern laughed, shaking the entire hive.

“Though he says it as a joke, we definitely mean it. This wouldn’t have been possible without you. I could’ve never imagined growing so much in such a short period of time. We truly appreciate it,” Aurelia said, and then glanced towards Noah. “Although, I must admit, I’m a bit miffed that Noah has caught up to me at last despite that.”

“Better keep up or I’m gonna leave you behind!”

“I… also want to say thanks…” Vion said.

“Anything for our children. And you are one of them,” the matriarch said.

Vion nodded, and then after a pause, she glanced toward Zax. “To… you too. Even though just looking at you still makes me wanna punch your face in.”

Zax laughed. “It would be remiss for a young dragon to do anything but. You from before certainly would’ve, but not you now, that is a mark of growth. Not just as a person, but over your mastery of your instincts.”

After a moment, his expression was replaced by a gentle smile. Zax extended a hand, and Vion’s entire body tensed, but he simply placed it on her shoulder, and lightning crackled around his body.

Vion’s own magic responded, the world around her heating ever so slightly.

“It is difficult for dragons to mingle with kin. We are… terrible creatures in that regard. Ever so hungry to fight, to prove our worth. No matter how vast or powerful we grow, we remain unable to learn how to express our love in any but the most aggressive and violent of ways. A part of me recognizes it wasn’t entirely education that led me to my actions. I may have mastered my instincts, but I am not free of them. I had thought I was, for the longest time, but I have learned to know better,” Zax said, his hand remaining on Vion’s shoulder.

For some reason, Noah felt as if he could almost hear Zax’s heart pounding. And the way his body adjusted the force he used ever so slightly, to not hurt her even the slightest. The way his magic flowed around her, almost as if instinctively shielding her.

“Your father was like this too. All of us are. But not you. You… you’re something so special that sometimes even knowing that I mustn’t, I end up putting the weight of those expectations onto you,” Zax said, and then he smiled, as if reliving an old memory. “But when I see you like this… it is impossible not to see that you’re clearly your father’s daughter. And have the same troubles he did. He, too, was clumsy with words. It was your mother who taught him otherwise. That woman, she taught him how to love, and if he could be here, if he had been here, he would’ve shown you. But since he is not, I feel like I must in his stead.”

Vion looked into Zax’s eyes in a daze, her own body shaking ever so slightly.

“No matter how much you may loathe me, how much anger you may feel toward me, even if you were to for some reason come to loathe me, know this, I will forever be your kin, and should you ever need me, should you ever call my name, I will be here, by your side, standing till my last breath. Because I am your kin, and you are mine. And nothing can take that away,” Zax said, and it almost felt like the mana around them vibrated just a little at his words.

Like the world had bound a new oath.

Vion stared at Zax, and then a tear dripped from her eye. Noah couldn’t describe the expression on Vion’s face. But it was one that struck him in his heart.

So that’s what it’s like… to have a family.

Noah had almost forgotten what it felt like, since his mother’s death. But that wasn’t true, was it? No matter how much he ran from it, he was starting to grow attached. A part of him hated it. So very much that he often got the desire to simply vanish. It was kept at bay only by his constant distractions by a brand-new world to keep him occupied with.

After all… the thought terrified him.

Vion wiped the tear from her eyes, before she gave Zax a nod. “I’ll remember that.”

Zax smiled, seemingly satisfied.

“We had not felt very convinced, when we first left this child at the doors of the kingdom. But now, we think it has been the right choice. We are proud to see you grow, child. Go forth, and reclaim this land, and the legacy it has in store for you,” Quazithril said to Vion.

“I will,” Vion replied.

“Good. Now, before you head off, there are some children of ours who wish to say their farewells,” the ancient wyvern said. Noah saw Aurelia’s wyvern, Vyxirax, rushing over.

It was only on their way over here that Noah found out that the wyvern allowed her to name it. Given what Noah understood of the naming sequence, typically names and such were only accepted by people the wyvern saw as lifelong companions or personal friends that shared a deep bond.

They also often had multiple names because of this, which is something Noah had also only recently found out.

Vion’s wyvern flew in as well, brushing against the princess with affection. Though the two had been together for years so there was not as much intimacy. Just a silent confirmation of the bond they shared.

He watched, with very mild jealousy, as Aurelia brushed the giant fire lizard-puppy, her lingering motes of ash mingling with the wyvern’s magic in some kind of resonance.

A second later, he saw his own wyvern companion, sitting nearby, not as willful or arrogant given that a full dragon and the matriarch were both present, but it continued to pretend to not pay much attention to either, acting all nonchalant. Even though Noah could tell full well that this was as close as the wyvern got to sheer awe and respect at anything.

Before he went to give his own buddy a bunch of pets that it would always ignore, pretending not to like them, all the while Noah would not acknowledge the ever so slightly wagging tail. He had to admit to a little bit of jealousy and desire that was lingering in his heart.

He really wanted to bring it—bring her along. The wyvern and him, over the past three months, had definitely formed a bond. It was nothing like what he shared with Tony, where Tony was almost like a part of himself. But it was also nothing so frivolous that he didn’t admit to a pang of hurt at the thought of having to leave.

With those thoughts, Noah walked up to the nightshade, who ignored him, even as her tail began to move ever so slightly, and he began to dish out his loads of pets and scratches.

“Hey there, bud. Thanks for the great time together, it was a blast,” Noah said, leaning in to give the wyvern a hug. “I’ll come visit every so often, alright?”

The wyvern paused in its enjoyment, and then, a second later, it snorted, bumping its head into Noah’s body. A trail of blue flames flashed over its entire skin, as if to say, ‘You better’ before the aloof creature pulled itself back, shooing Noah away with a wing.

Noah smiled, watching the wyvern go, knowing that he’d be making trips here often to meet the darn thing for sure.

It was only after he’d had his goodbye, did Noah finally turn to face Zax.

The dragon extended his hand to the three of them. “Come, let us return to the kingdom. Your friends are waiting.”

One by one, they held the dragon’s hand. Noah took one last look at the wyvern hive.

And then, with a flash of light, they were gone.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

MANA HEARTS

Noah sat in a chamber within the Drakonian palace that had been assigned to him. Vion had met up with the king, who’d taken her away alongside Zax, while Noah and Aurelia had each been given their own chambers to rest in.

He didn’t understand what that meant, and wasn’t curious enough to pry at the moment. Their return was quiet. Kaelan and the rest had not yet been informed and the group simply remained in the palace, waiting for… something, apparently.

It took a few minutes, before an attendant knocked on the door, opening the gates.

“Your presence has been requested,” the attendant Draconian woman said with a bow.

Noah got up from the bed, following her out. Aurelia waited outside, a similar expression of curiosity on her face.

They were escorted by the attendant, arriving at what looked like a chamber to receive private guests in. Heading inside, they saw Vion sitting there alongside Zax and the king.

The attendant woman took a deep bow before excusing herself as Noah and Aurelia both stepped inside.

Aurelia gave a bow to the king. Noah simply looked around, confused about what was happening.

“What’s happening?” he asked.

“Nothing too serious. There were just some things we needed to get done,” Zax said, glancing to Vion and then the king.

The king turned to face Noah, a smile on his rather scary face that only made the man look even more terrifying. “We got the chance to hear some of the things you three got up to. It sounds like you’ve had quite the adventure.”

“Come, take a seat. Some matters must be discussed with you two as well,” Zax said, and Noah and Aurelia sat down.

“First of all, we would like to congratulate you three on successfully completing the task we’d assigned you. The purpose had obviously been simply to serve as a training exercise, so even if you had failed, as long as you achieved the root cause, it would not have been a loss of any kind,” Zax said, his gaze sweeping across all three of them. “But. Your efforts had not been for nothing either. There is a purpose for which we had you obtain the heart of an adult wyvern.”

“What kind of purpose?” Aurelia asked.

“You are aware of what a monster core is?” Zax asked.

“It’s an organ which channels and holds the mana of a monster. The part which grows over time as a monster grows. It’s why stronger creatures cannot just wander into lower mana density areas,” Aurelia said, as if reciting a textbook.

“Correct. It is an organ, one of the primary ones for any kind of creature that grows and levels up via its race. But not all creatures hold their mana in their cores. And not all of them hold it just in their cores. For a wyvern, and for dragons for that matter, their hearts do the task,” Zax said.

Then, the dragon stood and reached out a hand to Vion. “If you could hand me your heart.”

Vion looked up at him for a moment, before a giant heart appeared in her hand that she manifested from her storage space. The heart vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “You two as well,” Zax said, and Noah and Aurelia both handed their own hearts to the dragon.

Zax nodded in satisfaction. “Our goal with this task had been to create something similar for you. There are methods, known, albeit highly secretive methods, that allow people to mimic the abilities monsters have. And the reason why these creatures, with only one race to derive levels from, can still contest people and are so powerful. One of the many reasons anyway.”

“Wait… so… you’re gonna give us new hearts?” Aurelia asked, a bit taken back.

“I already had mine upgraded once, I don’t see why a second time will be any problem,” Noah said.

“Why would I need one?” Vion asked.

“The heart is a magical entity, the wyvern heart will simply be the vessel for the magical item this will create. All of which is to say, we are not going to add a second heart inside your bodies,” Zax said. “As for your question, Vion, it is true, a wyvern’s heart will not do anything for you on its own. But as you currently are, your own Draconian abilities are suppressed. Ours are too, a human form cannot sustain it. You know this much by instinct. But this heart will be something of a kickstarter, like a scaffolding that will allow you to utilize more of your powers while still retaining a human form.”

“Had you… planned all of this?” Aurelia asked.

The dragon smiled. “We’d anticipated certain outcomes, certain choices and directions, but the result itself had always been in your own hands.”

“And the result is that all of you are now at the cusp of rank C. Which is good, as you’d need that to participate in the trials. We encourage all of you to not try to rank up just yet. As you are aware, there are a few things that tend to be required for rank ups. And for rank C, it is the choice of a Path focus,” the king said.

“Path focus? What’s that?” Noah asked.

“It’s what the name implies, something that focuses your Path. Your Paths follow certain trajectories, certain Paths, like their name implies, and up till rank C, they are free, un-relegated and could diverge drastically. You could start off as a warrior and end up as a mage within the same Path, in some broad constructs. But after C rank, your Path will effectively narrow itself down. You can think of it as specializing in something. A warrior can use any weapon, but a swordsman’s Path only goes ahead with a sword,” the king said.

“Isn’t swordsman already a Path that can be chosen?” Noah asked, confused.

Zax answered this time, “Yes. But that same Path will still be broad within that context. What kind of sword, what kind of blade, what kind of fighting style? These are all things not inherently tied to your Path yet. But they will be, as you move ahead.”

“Precisely,” the king said. “So, you must pick a Path focus for all of your Paths. Pick a direction that each of your Paths will be headed toward, and the evolutions you will obtain from here on out will be centered around that. But that’s not the end of it. A Path focus… it is an object. You tie your Path onto something. A sword, a gauntlet, a lute, whatever the object may be, you tie yourself to that, and center yourself within it, and that object will forever become a part of you, connecting itself to your very Astral Script and soul. It is a choice which can be changed later on, though not very easily, and thus, pick carefully.”

Zax nodded. “This is why the rewards from the trials you are about to partake in are often used as Path focuses by many. The more powerful the thing you tie yourself to, the more powerful the Path options that become available to you.”

“And it’s why we think you should wait until the end of the selection rounds for the trials at the very least,” the king said.

“Do not think this is the end of your work. The people coming here have had much more time to train and practice compared to you, whereas all of you have only just barely caught up to the entry line. You must hone your abilities and your skills and keep on pushing them to the next level, as far as you can take it and further beyond still. Only then will you even have a chance of victory,” Zax said.

“We’ll prepare training areas. Vion has expressed her desire to join you two, and your group has been of immense help to her, so we want to help you train as much as possible in the remaining time before the selections truly begin,” the king said.

Noah looked sideways at Aurelia and Vion, who all sat contemplating the king’s words.

“Well. I see no problems. The plan had always been to train more, and I have quite a few skills I’ve been itching to upgrade and test out anyway,” Noah said, excited.

The king smiled. “We expected nothing less.”

CHAPTER FIFTY

SHADOW BINDING

After a brief look at the training grounds, Zax found Noah and teleported to a chamber with magical runes all over the place. Moments like this sometimes reminded Noah of how easy it would be for Zax to kill him and the rest of them even in his current weakened state, should he want to.

He put the thought out of his mind, looking at the dragon with curiosity at their sudden detour.

“Apologies for abruptly bringing you here. This is something we had to prepare in secret, and we wanted to avoid attention. From our understanding, what we’re about to do is quite forbidden, and we wouldn’t want to create a diplomatic incident,” Zax said.

“What thing?” Noah asked.

“Your request. The re-binding of your shadow to you, and the ability you had received.”

“Ah…” Noah trailed off, remembering what he’d said, or rather, what he’d asked for. His shadow swirled, rising up from the ground.

The shadow specter let out a whistle. “That’s a lot of magic.”

“It was a complicated spell. Even for us. And not a magic field we are very knowledgeable about,” Zax said.

“A magical thing you don’t know about? Color me surprised,” the shadow said.

“Soul magic has been guarded and restricted since before our time, it is not a field one dabbles in easily. The consequences are great if any mistakes made,” Zax replied.

“Are you sure it’s safe then? We can probably wait a little if needed,” Noah said.

“Yes. It’s safe. That was the primary thing we’d made sure to address,” Zax said.

Noah nodded. “There’s actually a few things I wanted to talk to you about as well. The first was that, ever since I got the bracelet with the Analyze ability, the descriptions have become… not sure how to put it. It’s talking directly to me and referring to my current circumstances at times and using knowledge from my world. It seemed harmless but it’s still kinda weird.”

Zax frowned. “We’ve heard of similar things happening. As an individual grows, their Astral Scripts almost always change and adapt, going from the neutral entity to something that apperas to take on a personality that either mimics them, or someone they know. But it happening this early on is a bit strange. Your soul resistance and modifications have probably sped up the process,” Zax said, glancing to the shadow specter. “This binding will probably only exacerbate the process even further.”

“Is that something to be concerned about?” Noah asked.

“Not normally, no, but let us know if things change significantly. Your case is… a little special for sure,” Zax replied.

“Right…” Noah trailed off.

His mind lingered on the next thing he wanted to talk about, and how to broach the subject. Just how did someone talk about something like this?

“Zax…” Noah said, taking a breath as he made himself look up at the dragon. “What… am I?”

Noah looked intently at the dragon, feeling his chest tightening as he waited for an answer. He could feel the shadow had stopped pretending to not listen as well, now staring directly at Noah.

“Is this supposed to be some kind of a puzzle?” Zax asked.

“No, I’m asking honestly. I have always thought that I’m a human from Earth who was just flung here. I mean, there isn’t anything else to be, I have all the memories of my life from back on Earth and there I had been nothing more.

“But… ever since I found that other Shard piece, this feeling inside me has grown stronger and stronger. Like there’s a human Noah, the me I know, and then there’s… someone else inside…

“The… Devourer.”

A strong revulsion rose inside him, his chest tightening as a wave of emotions threatened to overwhelm him. He hadn’t even realized he’d started using Meditation to keep it all at bay on his own. Noah took a breath as he looked sideways towards the shadow.

“You’d already realized this a while back, hadn’t you?” Noah asked.

The shadow didn’t reply.

“I’ve known this to some extent. Certain impulses, and my ‘instincts’ and the way they guide me. There is a deep inhuman quality to me. So… I want to know. What am I really? And… how did I truly come here, and what was I doing on Earth?” Noah asked.

Zax let out a sigh.

“These aren’t questions we can answer for you, Noah. There is indeed a separate entity inside of you. And there is a very strong correlation between this entity and those Shards you seek. Perhaps… Perhaps it is some remnant of the god which died. And somehow it found its way to you and attached itself. These are all hypotheses we’ve considered, among multiple other ones. But the truth is that we simply don’t know. And we can’t find out without more answers,” Zax replied.

The dragon walked closer and put a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “But we can say this. Whatever the being inside of you is, it does not define you. It is not you, nor are you it. Like how your hand is not you, nor are you your hand, or any other part of yourself, but the consciousness living in this moment and making choices. And from your choices, we know that you’re a good person, Noah.”

Noah looked at the dragon, and then gave him a nod. A swirl of emotions rose and then were pushed down inside of Noah. There were many things he wanted to say that he did not.

Frustration, fear, and most of all… guilt. Afterall, he knew one thing. When he’d let that creature out… he’d felt like he’d finally shed a shackle he had been forever wearing.

That thought scared him.

“The goddess Septah said to seek the Reaper. And that he will have answers,” Noah said.

“The Reaper, huh… Only a goddess can say something like that so nonchalantly,” Zax said.

“Why? Who’s the Reaper?” Noah asked.

“The Reaper is… he… or rather, they are an entity that define death within this realm. A formless being that does not have any single shape. It is said the Reaper visits you in the visage of a loved one at your final hour and guides you to the underworld, protecting you from the gaze of the Watcher in the journey across realms,” Zax said.

“Sounds… a lot like our own reaper.”

“We are not surprised. The Reaper is not a god limited to just this realm, but a being that connects many different realms together, watching over the souls within them. They are a god, but unlike the gods of this realm or the primordial gods, the Reaper’s role is perhaps the most duty bound, and they cannot truly leave the underworld. But none of the other gods can enter their realm either. Only the dead can. It is a protected land, a place for the departed souls. Even if you can reach the underworld, getting to the Reaper would be… a very difficult task.”

“No wonder the quest rewards have been adding more and more reasons to head there. Clearly it wants us to meet this guy,” the shadow said.

“Things like your quest system are not unheard of, especially in individuals with a stronger touch of fate compared to others. The idea is not entirely without basis,” Zax said.

“I’m not sure how to feel about something like that dictating my movements,” Noah said.

“Nothing. These things can dictate paths, and nudge you, but which path you end up taking is entirely in your own hands,” Zax said.

Noah nodded.

“Alright, I’ll say that’s quite enough chit chat. Let’s get this thing over with,” the shadow said.

“Indeed. Let us,” Zax said, motioning them to head into the center of the magical circle, with two smaller circles carved into the runes on the floor. Noah stood on one side and the shadow moved to the other side.

Zax then took the spectral heart out and let it float in between them.

“Noah, this process must be performed by you. What we’re doing ultimately is simply managing it externally and boosting its ability. But the initiator must be you,” Zax said.

“Alright. So, what do I need to do?” Noah asked.

“First, take out your skill book and use it,” Zax said.

Noah took out the skill book from his dimensional vault. The item appeared in his hand, followed by a prompt.

Would you like to consume [Skill Book of Advanced Soul Binding]?

Yes/No?

Noah looked at the prompt, took a breath and selected yes.

The book lit up, dissolving with a bright flash as the familiar torrent of information filled Noah’s mind, this time a significant amount that flowed into him like a rushing wave, almost knocking him off his feet.

Noah stumbled back, holding his head. There wasn’t a headache, but his mind moved slower for a second, struggling to incorporate all the new information. He stood there, feeling a throbbing sensation in his head, before soon, it disappeared.

Skill [Soul Binding (Advanced)] obtained!

“You should now have an understanding of how to proceed. Use the spectral heart as the host to bind the shadow back to yourself, forming an anchor onto the world itself,” Zax said, as the runes began to glow on the ground.

Noah steadied himself, and then nodded. A set of information that wasn’t his own began to guide him. The sensation was quite strange, but this wasn’t his first time using a skill book and he soon settled into the motions.

He took a breath, reaching out toward the spectral heart, letting his aura expand. The shadow joined him, letting its own aura reach out to Noah, the two auras intertwined at the point the spectral heart was floating.

Noah began to cast.

“Whispers of the beyond, in form we are bound, the endless infinite and indestructible, of that from which all was born.

“Let it be bound, to the vessel which contains, the ethereal immortal self, an anchor against the final call.

“Anima Immortalis Est In Morte.”

Something began to shift, the heart at the center of the spell beginning to pulse. Noah felt his mana seep outward into the heart, but his attention was soon taken by the shadow.

Noah looked the specter in his eyes, watching him looking back.

The shadow gave him a smile.

“See you soon,” the shadow said, as the runes underneath lit up with a bright flash.

The shadow dissolved into the heart in the next instant, turning the ethereal heart into a dark shadowy entity. Then the heart shot into Noah’s body, and Noah felt a powerful pulse of energy fill his body.

Memories and emotions began to fill his mind. His perspective split in two, scenes replaying themselves from a different angle, a different train of thought. Silent, watching, waiting.

A part of himself, one that he’d… not severed, but pushed away, rose back to the front again. A part of himself that he’d wanted to not exist. The same part, which now he realized, was what made him human.

Noah collapsed to his knees, dark spectral shadows swirling all around him. A notification popped up in front of him.

[Shadow Specter] perk has changed to [Shadow Heart]

You can become a shadow, your heart beating with the pulse of the darkness that remains unseen. Even death struggles to touch you. Find yourself capable of defying death once, leaving an anchor onto this realm to guide yourself back from the final end.

Noah simply sat there on his knees as the spell came to a halt. It was hard to truly describe how he felt.

Zax walked closer, checking on him, before patting his shoulder.

“Take your time. In a few hours, your friends are throwing a feast for your return, from the wyverns all of you have caught at Drakan Steaks. When you are ready, head there,” the dragon said, leaving Noah alone in the chamber.

Noah stared at his hands. He’d expected loss, but this was entirely the opposite.

There was a second layer of magic in his soul, the shadow heart like a film around his own heart, beating in tune with it.

Noah stayed there for a moment, before standing back up.

“Is that how I really sound to other people?” he said at last.

A smile came to him, as the diverging perspectives fully combined, and Noah decided how he wanted to spend the next few hours.

Zax had been wrong. He didn’t need a few hours to sort his memories or emotions. He was never that emotional.

No, instead, he needed those hours so that he could finally use his skill points to upgrade some of his abilities and test them out at last.

Noah smiled in anticipation.

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

ABILITY UPGRADES

Noah sat on the rocky floor, opening up the options of his abilities as he took everything in. He’d shot up in power rapidly, and it’d done wonders for his attributes. Especially after he switched his title back to Progenitor.

Astral Script:

Name: Noah Brown

Race: Draconian Humanoid

Rank: D

Title: [Progenitor]

Paths:

Wyrmblood Guardian (Legendary) – level 200

Runebody Arcanist (Legendary) – level 200

Abyssal Predator (Legendary) – level 200

Attributes:

Power: 1631 [2038]

Agility: 1436 [1795]

Constitution: 1744 [2441]

Mystic: 1823 [2552]

Attribute Points: 289 | Skill Points: 4

Noah took the attributes in. His buffed attributes were above two thousand, especially his Constitution and Mystic, which had quickly risen to become his two primary attributes. Still, he at least tried to maintain a relatively balanced ratio between all his attributes.

Taking his free attributes, Noah put a hundred and eighty in Agility, and the rest into Power.

Power (Buffed): 2038 → 2175

Agility (Buffed): 1795 → 2020

Satisfied with that, Noah moved on to look at his abilities which had all reached level fifty.

[Wyrmblood (Legendary, Advanced) - Level 50]

[Arcane Step (Legendary, Advanced) - Level 50]

[Abyssal Fusion (Legendary, Advanced) - Level 50]

[Void Annihilation (Legendary, Advanced) - Level 50]

Unlike before, reaching the next rank up level didn’t automatically level up the abilities. From now on, he would have to use a skill point anytime he wanted to upgrade his abilities.

Extremely conveniently, he had exactly four skill points currently available, but more than one ability of his was close enough to level fifty that it would make perfect sense for Noah to wait and grind his ability levels, before spending his skill points.

He thought it over, going through his abilities one by one. There were a few that had ranked up to advanced as well.

[Bloodwyrm Swarm (Legendary, Advanced) - Level 28]

[Arcane Specter (Legendary, Advanced) - Level 30]

[Abyssal Inferno (Legendary, Advanced) - Level 33]

Noah selected his Bloodwyrm Swarm ability, opening its description.

[Bloodwyrm Swarm (Legendary, Advanced) - Level 28]

Your mastery over the draconic arts has reached new heights, allowing you to transmute your own blood into a swarm of lethal Bloodwyrms. These sanguine serpents, imbued with your essence, obey your every command, whether you desire them to strike as a frenzied horde, inflicting [Hemorrhage] and [Malaise] upon your foes while leeching their lifeforce to fuel your own, or to coalesce into a singular, monstrous Bloodwyrm of unparalleled might. With this fearsome ability, you become a living conduit of draconic power, your very veins a wellspring of both destruction and vitality. Unleash the fury of your Bloodwyrm Swarm, and bear witness as your enemies are consumed by the sanguine tide of your making.

“Creepy,” Noah said. Now he could turn his own blood into the creatures? He made a cut on his hand, letting the blood flow out, sensing the power lying there. He let the bloodwyrms appear, the creatures forming and flying around, waiting in anticipation as they formed. His Wyrmblood rapidly refueled his blood, letting him create more and more, and even after he had almost a dozen made, he still felt like he could simply keep going.

“Is… is there even an end?” Noah wondered. There likely had to be, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to spend hours slowly bleeding himself.

A moment later he realized where the limit was. His lifeforce was sustaining the wyrms and thus, his health regeneration had slowed down rapidly. It took a few seconds for his wound to close when he let the healing work on it, a far cry from the instantaneous healing he experienced normally.

Mildly disappointed that he didn’t have an infinite bloodwyrm supply, he moved on to the little wyrms. Extensions of himself, he could command them similar to how he could command Tony, and Noah simply had them combine into one entity.

The bloodwyrms swirled and fused, blobs of blood pulsing as a much larger wyrm made entirely of blood now floated in front of Noah, looking rather terrifying.

“Oh boy, that’s… quite the scary sight,” Noah said, patting the bloodwyrm on its face. His hand sank into the creature, coming back out coated red from his own blood. Noah shook off the blood, feeling disgusted, before he dismissed the creature.

The giant bloodwyrm flowed back into him, disappearing. Noah filed away the ability for the time being.

He moved on to Arcane Specter.

[Arcane Specter (Legendary, Advanced) - lvl 30]

Your mastery over the arcane, combined with your [Shadow Heart] perk, has unlocked the ability to summon forth a legion of Arcane Specters, each one a perfect reflection of your own form and magical prowess. No longer bound by a fixed specter count, the size of your spectral army is limited only by your mana reserves. These ethereal warriors can meld into shadows, strike at your command, and persist indefinitely, sustained by your Arcane energy. With this army at your command, you can execute complex strategies, overwhelm enemies with numbers, or scatter your forces to gather intelligence and strike from afar, making you a one-man army capable of waging war on an unprecedented scale.

Noah whistled. A part of him was tempted to test the ability out, but he decided to leave this one for later.

He moved on to the next ability.

[Abyssal Inferno (Legendary, Advanced) - lvl 30]

Your command over the abyssal flames has reached terrifying new heights. Not only can you unleash the full, devastating power of the inferno in a hellish maelstrom or concentrate it into a focused, incinerating beam, but you can now also shroud yourself in the very flames of the abyss. This passive ability grants you an aura of unearthly fire, constantly flickering around your form, ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice. The abyssal flames that engulf you serve as both a formidable defense and a potent offense, searing any who dare to come too close and empowering your every strike with the fury of the abyss. With this newfound mastery, you have become a living embodiment of the Abyssal Inferno, a force of destruction that even the mightiest of foes will learn to fear.

Noah tried to reach for the ability. Like turning a switch on and off, he found himself able to summon dark, ghastly abyssal flames all around him, setting himself on fire, quite literally, as the flames burnt through his lifeforce.

He realized, rather horrifyingly, that if he wanted, he could turn off the Wyrmblood and the flames would simply consume him alive without ever stopping.

He turned the ability off.

“Well, that was quite fun… but now, time for the main stuff,” Noah said, as he returned to his level fifty abilities.

After a bit of deliberation he decided to at least upgrade one ability right now, and then decide if he would upgrade more or not.

After thinking for a moment, Noah picked Abyssal Fusion. A prompt appeared in front of him.

Do you wish to use a skill point to rank up [Abyssal Fusion]?

Yes/No?

Yes.

Initiating rank up.

This ability is tied to a familiar. Familiar Tony [Abyssal Symbiote] has begun evolution.

The rank up will complete upon the completion of the evolution.

Evolution Time: 240 hours

Noah watched in horror as he felt Tony shudder before the symbiote went to sleep, all the little fine tunings done by the creature now gone, and his Abyssal Awareness now flooding him with information without any filter to restrict what he could sense.

A headache assaulted Noah, and he looked up at the sky with a frown. “This isn’t fair!” he shouted.

Then he selected another ability, and after a moment’s hesitation, used another skill point.

Do you wish to use a skill point to rank up [Arcane Step]?

Yes/No?

Yes.

Initiating rank up.

[Arcane Body] has synergized and upgraded the capacity of [Arcane Step]

Upgrade Time: 180 hours

“I see how it is,” Noah said, looking at his notifications. His body was practically humming now, as if sucking in mana, and the runes on his body flashed and glowed. Noah tried using Arcane Step but found the ability inactive, as if it had gone dormant. It was still there… just asleep.

He had a feeling he could force it to activate, but he didn’t push the ability unnecessarily.

A part of him knew it’d be best to do something like this one step at a time, especially if upgrades like this took the ability away from him during the period of the upgrade.

Alas, it didn’t take him long to lose all willpower as he caved and used his other two points as well. Afterall, if he used them all at once, then he’d have to wait less time overall.

Initiating rank up.

[Cosmic Wyrmblood (Bloodline)] has upgraded [Wyrmblood]

Upgrade Time: 200 hours

Initiating rank up.

[Void Annihilation] gathers powers from the Abyss.

Upgrade Time: 120 hours

Noah looked at his timers, and then, with quivering excitement building up inside him, he left the chamber to head out for the feast that awaited him.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

FEAST

Noah arrived at Drakan’s Steaks, having realized only after he left that without Arcane Step or Tony available he would have to walk. Having arrived a little late, he could already hear everybody inside, and as Noah opened the door, he was greeted by a table full of familiar faces.

“There he is!” Kaelan shouted, a cup filled with a drink in hand as he stood and walked toward Noah. Noah smiled at the Draconian man, who wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

“Late as always, eh? I’ve been hearing of your adventures from the others,” Kaelan said.

“Fashionably late,” Noah said.

Kaelan patted his back, laughing far more than the simple quip should’ve gotten. And then, he looked at Noah expectantly. “You’ve grown stronger. I look forward to seeing how much.”

Valeria was leaned back in her chair next to Seraphina and Snow, who were going over some book, likely not having even noticed Noah’s presence. Snow’s sky serpent, Sky, hovered over her shoulder and Noah noticed a modest sized Shadow lying under the table, almost blending into the darkness.

Snow herself had changed, having grown even further, looking not that much younger from Seraphina anymore. Her tattoos had also changed subtly, though Noah could not tell how exactly. The girl sat with her horns in the open and a much greater confidence came from her presence. Noah used Analyze on her.

[Rune-ink Tamer - Lvl 72]

Noah looked in surprise at her. The girl had ranked up to E rank and gone all the way up to level 72 in the time he’d been gone.

Snow raised her head, noticing him at last, and Noah gave her a wave in greeting.

Erwest was there as well, surprisingly enough, seated next to Valeria. The paladin regarded Noah and gave him an acknowledging nod. Slight hints of scars covered his arms and face, and there was something very subtly different about him. Erwest had always been withdrawn and acted like he perpetually had a stick up his backside, but he felt even more aloof than before. Noah checked the man’s level.

[Hellion’s Paladin - Lvl 200]

There was another surprising person in attendance.

The red-haired princess looked at Noah with an almost embarrassed expression. Even from a glance he could tell she felt quite out of place, and Aurelia was partly sticking to her to give her comfort.

Seraphina was the last one to notice Noah, finally raising her head when Snow stopped paying attention to her, and the woman gave Noah an annoyed expression, likely for having interrupted them.

Noah took all of it in, sitting next to Vion. The group regarded him with varied expressions, and Noah was once again hit with the realization of how everyone around him had changed.

It really had been quite some time, despite it having passed in what felt like a blink of an eye. He hadn’t been the only one making progress.

A second later, he realized something, and glanced toward Kaelan, using Analyze again.

[Dragon Warrior - ??]

Kaelan sensed the check and winked at Noah. Which was rather weird given his Draconian face.

“A drink for my friend here as well,” Kaelan said, calling out to the waitress who nodded, quickly bringing a cup of some kind of alcohol to Noah.

He took a sip. It was sweet.

“So, I heard you guys had quite the adventure out there. The princess and Aurelia have been telling us about it,” Valeria said, taking a sip from her cup.

“What have they been telling you?” Noah asked.

“Well, the princess talked about how you were really stubborn and kept chasing a difficult wyvern to bond with, and how you guys would spar and that you were particularly rough and did not hold back at all, but even then, she would still win most of the time,” Valeria said.

Noah raised an eyebrow, glancing at Vion.

Vion seemed like she’d be embarrassed, but almost like a switch flipping, she brushed her hair aside. “Of course, we wouldn’t allow ourselves to lose,” she said in her princess voice.

Noah simply hummed.

“Though, Noah was a good partner as well. He pushed our limits, helping us grow. We wouldn’t have been able to get this far without him,” Vion added.

Valeria seemed to study Vion, then glanced at Aurelia. A second later, she glanced sideways at Seraphina. “That’s some tough competition, Seph.”

“Competition?” Noah asked, confused, but Valeria did not elaborate.

“I’m honestly a little disappointed that I didn’t get to come along. Wyverns are fun. I heard you guys even participated in a proper territory war? Those are rare and a really good way to raise your levels. I’m jealous,” Kaelan said.

Vion snorted. “That was nothing more than a mere skirmish. A true war would not have seen us survive.”

“Oh? You’ve seen one, princess?” Kaelan asked.

“Oh—uh, well, no, but Draxi—the king, has talked about it, so we know a bit,” Vion said.

At the mention of the king, Noah sent Aurelia a message through their bracelets.

“What kind of narrative are we running with for Vion here? Or do they know?” Noah asked.

“They know she’s a secret hidden princess of the king. Not that she’s also a dragon,” Aurelia replied.

Noah nodded. He watched Vion while she chatted. She was enjoying herself quite a bit, despite her princess persona. He suspected she didn’t know how to interact with other people very well without it.

“I also wanted to see the wyverns,” Snow said. “What kinds were there? They all have innate magic and I hear a hive can even have rare ones. The one the princess was talking about was one, wasn’t it? A nightshade wyvern?”

“Yup,” Noah replied. “We also saw a few other variant types. Not sure what that means though.”

“It means these types do not naturally occur. Like albinos, but magical versions of that. Sometimes it’s also a result of two abnormal wyverns pairing up. Normally one parent’s magic wins, but sometimes they combine,” Seraphina replied.

Snow’s eyes glimmered with excitement at that.

“You know… we can probably go back sometime in the future. Maybe after the trial is done,” Noah said, picturing Snow riding on the back of his wyvern. He would enjoy that as well.

“Really?” Snow asked, practically jumping up in excitement.

“Really,” Noah replied, smiling.

“No fair, I want to go as well!” Seraphina protested, pouting.

“You can come as well,” Noah said. “Though we may have to check in. The wyverns probably won’t like having so many people drop in all of a sudden,” he added, glancing at Vion.

“We can make arrangements. After the end of the trials, all of us can head to the hive to meet the wyverns,” Vion said.

The group cheered in response.

“Folks, apologies to interrupt, but I’ve gotten some rather unfortunate news,” a Draconian man spoke, heading their way, wearing an apron on top of a muscular scaled body. It took Noah a moment to recognize Drakan, the chef and owner of the establishment.

“The hunters have sent word that there have been territorial conflicts in the area. The entire forest is wary, and game is rare, so we won’t be able to get today’s stock. I truly apologize for the inconvenience. I will, of course, give you a full refund, and everything you’ve had so far will be on me,” the man said.

The group paused, glancing at Noah, Aurelia and Vion, a couple of smiles broke out. Noah stood up.

“I actually have something with me,” he said to Drakan.

The chef paused. “I appreciate the offer… but there are certain standards I follow, and it would be an even bigger insult on my name to serve something subpar. It is why I only accept the finest quality of game.”

Noah hummed, glancing around. Walking by, he pushed a few tables together to form a larger area as Drakan simply watched him. After finding the table to be large enough, he took out the wyvern from his inventory.

The giant creature’s corpse appeared in a blink, the table underneath creaking from the weight.

Drakan stumbled back.

Noah looked the man. “Is this up to your standards?”

“Yes… yes, that’ll do. I’ll get on it,” Drakan said, rushing back into the kitchen.

The rest of the group laughed, Aurelia rolling her eyes as she whispered, ‘Showoff’ under her breath.

Noah simply grinned.

The suns had set by the time the group’s feast ended, and everybody was stuffed. Drakan had practically been vibrating, going all out in his preparation of the food, muttering something about his levels. They stumbled, almost all of them slightly tipsy. Given their high Constitutions, it’d taken some really strong spirits to have any effect at all. But with lifeblood not working, even Noah had gotten a little drunk.

Erwest and Snow did not drink, being the only completely sober ones.

Seraphina groaned as they stepped out, leaning against Kaelan’s shoulder, her face flushed red. Noah had found out that the woman barely had any Constitution, choosing to put nearly all her points in Mystic.

He did not feel surprised to hear that.

A cool breeze passed by the streets, Vion glancing around. The princess had opened up more and more over time, even dropping her royal we and now a slight blush from the alcohol was visible on her face.

The group remained there for a moment, taking the breeze in.

Kaelan pulled Seraphina up, the woman starting to fall asleep on his shoulder. “Well, we’ll be heading back to our manor. Where are you guys staying right now?”

“At the castle for the time being,” Aurelia said, glancing at Noah.

“Best not to have Vion go back on her own,” Noah said, and Kaelan nodded.

Valeria glanced to Snow and Erwest. “What about you two?”

Snow looked between the two of them hesitantly, and said almost guiltily, “I… I think I’ll stay with Seph. She’s been teaching me a lot of things, and it would be easier for me to learn if I’m with her.”

“Sounds good, you take care, alright? We’ll have time later to catch up properly. Bun Bun and Tony will be looking forward to playing with Shadow and Sky,” Noah said.

Snow nodded. Noah watched her for a moment. She had grown and had also become more independent. It was a lot of small things, but collectively, they added together.

Noah had to admit, he’d felt responsible for her. But now… he had a feeling she would be able to find her own way, even if he wasn’t around all the time.

“I’ll return with Noah. It’s my duty to keep an eye on him and I’ve already let him run around unsupervised for long enough,” Erwest said.

“Yeah, yeah, of course. How could I forget my guardian,” Noah said.

“You guys should visit the castle. We have quite a few sparring areas and you could use them to train for the preliminary rounds of the trials,” Vion said.

Valeria looked at Kaelan in surprise. “Uh, sure. Did not expect to get to train in the castle, but why not, it definitely won’t hurt.”

“Good, preparations before the trials begin. Only a couple weeks left now,” Kaelan added. “I look forward to sparring with the two of you again.” Kaelan’s eyes then drifted to Vion. “And you, of course, Princess Vion.”

“Don’t get too cocky, by the way. We haven’t just been sitting around. All of us have been training our assess off,” Valeria said, grinning at Noah.

Seraphina said something as well, her words too slurred to make out. Kaelan pulled her up again, telling her to detoxify, but Seraphina wasn’t listening anymore.

“Well, we should head back before she starts throwing up,” Valeria said.

And with that, the group split in two, speaking their goodbyes as they went their separate ways.

Noah, Vion, Aurelia, and Erwest made their way toward the castle.

They walked in silence, Noah sneaking glances at Erwest. The man had mostly been silent during their entire stay.

“Sooo,” Noah said. “What have you been up to in the meantime?”

“Training,” Erwest said, not elaborating.

“Uh-huh?” Noah said, as the group returned to silence.

After a few seconds, Erwest glanced to Noah. “You two have grown.”

Noah smiled. “Yeah, we have.”

Erwest grunted, and the group continued on their way. Noah looked out to the castle in the distance, watching the lights of the city flickering in the night as the moon began to rise through the sky.

He stared at the moon, at the Watcher that gazed upon the world.

It had almost been a year since he first arrived in this world. And even now, he was only just getting started on his path. He thought of the shade wyvern.

He’d need to make sure he was stronger by the time he went to meet her again. Strong enough to be on par.

For now though, the trial awaited him.

EPILOGUE

FATE

Vion stood in a chamber covered in wards deep beneath the castle. The walls were without any seams, having been created magically in a single go, with dimensional spells keeping this place tethered to reality with the slightest of pathways.

Not even the closest guards to the royal court knew of this place. No trusted advisors, nobody outside of the core members of the royal bloodline. Until today, that is.

She glanced at Zax, who stood next to her. A fully grown adult dragon.

No, calling him an adult was a meaningless distinction, she knew he was older than many Ascendants even. The reason why he himself wasn’t one escaped her, but she wasn’t going to pry. And this wasn’t about him. It was about her.

Vion took a deep breath. She could feel the nervous tension permeating the chamber. Nor could she deny her own beating heart.

“Both of us knew the time would come, and I would not lie in saying I had certainly delayed this as far as I could’ve,” Draxius said. The king spoke much more frankly here, for here, he was not king, in this ancient chamber… he was simply Draxius. The man closest to being a father for her in life. “I know this is not the time… but I do wonder if you resent me for that.”

“Somewhat,” Vion replied, crossing her arms. “But not because you kept me hidden and confined for so long. But because you never told me why or how you felt.”

“The burden had felt too heavy, and I am… not a great parent. Had your father still been alive, he would’ve been able to talk to you more honestly.”

“Well, then do better, because you’re the only one I have,” Vion said, snorting. She did not look at Draxius after her claim, turning to Zax instead. “Is there anything I need to be worried about? Will I go on a rampage, sleep for a century, or turn into some kind of hideous monster?”

“No, well the rampage thing may be a real concern, but not the others. And this place can take a rampage from you. So you need not worry yourself,” Zax said.

Vion nodded, but before she could proceed, Zax put a hand on her shoulder.

“All that said, you have to remember this too. You are special, and this place is special. You can feel it, can’t you? The ties this has with you. You were what this kingdom was meant to be, what their people were meant to be, the ideal, the true essence of two halves formed into one. And as such, none of us truly know what this will entail for you,” Zax said.

“Well, I’m not too worried. Afterall, what kind of dragon refuses to grow?” Vion asked.

Zax grinned at her. “You have grown more than we’d anticipated.”

“It’s not growth, it is… understanding. This was what I’d been meant to be. From the very beginning. I had felt it, and now that I know, I can feel it crawling under my skin, the wrongness. The spell that was incomplete, itching for completion. I won’t deny myself this. Not now. Not anymore,” Vion said.

And with those words, Vion stood in the center of the chamber as both Zax and Draxius stepped back.

The process she meant to undergo was no grand spell, neither was it some complex or dangerous magic. It was simply evolution. A process every creature with racial levels went through. Even dragons.

And just by the nature of her existence, it became a complex thing, a process that birthed something new.

Yet… unlike dragons, her path hadn’t been a juvenile dragon, or even a draconic humanoid or whatever. It had been none of those things.

She had a single option to pick from. And nothing else.

Vion opened her Astral Script, the words blooming into existence upon stone with glowing lava-like words carved onto them.

You stand upon the precipice of change.

Your true form awaits you ahead.

Take the plunge.

Evolution Options:

[Dragonborne (Unique)]

You are the child of two halves, the merger of two worlds. Now, you will create a new one, the blending of two races into a brand-new force that will have you at its helm. The legacy of this kingdom, and the one who created it.

Vion read those words, shimmering with power. She didn’t even have to think it, and that power flowed into her, changing her.

She closed her eyes, slumber taking her away, which was why she didn’t see the notification that came after it. A notification not meant for just her, but for every Awakened on Erandir who could see their Astral Script.

A new Great Race has been born.

The world changed in that single moment.

Two figures sat around a table in a dark chamber. Only one was truly present, the other a complex spectral spell that few would be able to see through and recognize as an illusion.

“It’s happening,” the spectral woman spoke, looking at the notification that had appeared in front of her. Her, and every living being on Erandir.

A man sat on a chair near her, legs set on the table with a cube puzzle in hand, each with a magical sigil inscribed on it that shifted as he turned pieces of the cube, forming complex patterns.

“Slightly earlier than I anticipated,” he said.

“That does not inspire confidence. Are you even still in control of events? The dragon you chained is free and helping the shell, making guiding the shell much harder than necessary,” the woman said.

“He broke fate that time,” the man said, twisting the cube with precise movements.

“Like how he did when he met Hellion and gained her blessing despite being tied to the void? Or how he did when that life wyrm protected him from the Watcher’s touch?” the woman asked, clearly angry.

“And yet, he is exactly where he should be, doing what we need him to do,” the man said, as the runes on his cube lit up, matching as magic flowed and the device opened, revealing a golden and black object inside that pulsed with power.

“What are you planning anyway?” she asked.

The man sat up straight, moving the pyramid in his hands around as reality flickered around the object.

“I’m observing. Our attempts at creating a vessel suitable enough to hold the Shards have all failed, and I think we can use this one to our purposes,” he said.

“The void tried it too, and failed, you can’t chain him, not directly, the seal protects him. And if we let him run free, he’s just going to keep gaining Shards and eventually the beast will escape out of its human shell, and this will all have been for nothing,” the woman said.

“Doubtful that it will happen so soon. We already have two major Shard pieces, without them, he cannot Ascend,” the man replied.

“We need all of them. We’ll need to kill it and extract the Shards,” the woman said.

“Not yet,” the man replied, standing up as the woman stopped the protest she would’ve continued on with for hours. He knew well enough how that went, he’d lived through that reality a few times to see if he could change her mind. He couldn’t.

She paused, knowing this to mark the end of that particular conversation. “Does he suspect who you are?”

The man straightened his white shirt. “No. He has no idea.”

“What about the dragon? He is smart, he will be able to see through you, given long enough. The risk doesn’t seem worth it,” the woman asked.

The man glanced at his body, then spun the pyramid as reality changed. He stood now, as a young boy, somewhere around eighteen or nineteen. He could feel the identity prodding his level.

[Chaos Primer - Lvl 200]

“I hate when you do that without warning. It makes me nauseous,” the woman said.

The man hummed in contemplation. “This form is a little finicky. Suppression at this level is tough, even for me,” he said.

He let the form dissipate for a moment, and his body flickered, changing the identify result along with it.

[Fate Architect - ?????]

“Just don’t get found,” the woman said. “Everything we have done, all of it will be for nothing, if you let this chance go.”

“I won’t,” the man replied.

With a flicker, his attention went to the island, and the trial for youth. The trial to become a Dragon Warrior. A smile lingered on his face. It had been a long time since he had gotten to directly participate in one of his games. And that too, not in a simulated world.

He was going to enjoy this.

Rise of the Devourer continues in Dragon’s Heart

THANK YOU FOR READING DRAGON WARRIOR

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ALSO IN SERIES:

Rise of the Devourer

Voidborne

Abyssal Rift

Dragon Warrior

Dragon’s Heart

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