Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The scary thing about the super death qi exploding ball wasn’t the explosion. Rather, it was the death qi that followed the explosion.
About a thousand square meters worth of flying fish beasts were gone in a blink of an eye. That wasn’t the end of it, though. Rotting essence formed in the air the sea. The death qi of a perfect skeleton was just activated.
The flying fish beast pack didn’t seem to be afraid. Instead, they continued to rush in the same direction as before. It probably had something to do with the geography. While death qi could stay in the same place for a while if it was on land, if it was in the ocean, the water would simply wash it away no matter how many corpses were generated. The ocean could wash everything away.
Still, Abel was not naive. He never thought that the super death qi exploding ball could hold the flying fish beast pack for too long. He just wanted to buy some time, so White Cloud could rest. After Flying Flame flew forward for a bit more, they finally got out of the super death qi exploding ball’s range of attack.
When the flying fish beasts rushed into the cloud of death qi, their flesh and bones melted away. They became dried fish that fell straight into the water. The ones behind continued to march forward. None changed their course, and that quickly created a layer of dried flying fish beast corpse. They were too fast but simple-minded. As their group mentality would have it, no matter what opposition was in the way, everything could be removed with their sheer number.
That might be true for most cases, but this was death qi that they were facing. This wasn’t some other form of energy. While a bit of death qi would be lost whenever a life was taken, more death qi would still be generated. The flying fish beasts didn’t know about this. If they just stopped moving, then the waves would’ve washed the death qi away in a few minutes, but they had no knowledge of death qi, and they believed that they could just keep carrying on with what they’ve always been doing. It couldn’t be helped, though. It was hard to tell if any spiritual beasts in these waters knew the terrifying power of death qi.
As the flying fish beasts entered the death qi, they continued to fuel this huge pile of energy, making it thicker than the shade of a thunderstorm cloud. Abel didn’t think that one super death qi exploding ball would be this effective. The flying fish beasts were terrifying beings that even top-level spiritual beasts were afraid of encountering, but their simple-mindedness led them to their destruction.
Two minutes passed. The flying fish beasts continued to rush in the same direction. It was becoming increasingly difficult to estimate just how many of them were killed during this period of time. The death qi went from appearing like a thin cloud to a shade of ink black. Finally, when the flying fish beast pack realized how dark this shade was, they knew not to keep rushing in the same way as before. They realized that it was best if they give up on their goal. The promotion qi was not worth so much loss on their side, so their leader decided to give up here.
Fortunately, however, the flying fish beast pack’s leader was at the back the whole time. The pack’s reaction speed was slower because of this, but this was exactly what prevented the leader from being ambushed.
The flying fish beast pack changed direction and went back. Rain fell. It sounded kind of sad, to be honest. There was no right or wrong in the ocean. Just like what Abel was doing, these creatures were doing what they could to survive.
Abel spoke through the soul chain, “Finally. Get some rest now, White Cloud.”
To his surprise, White Cloud was scared. It wasn’t capable of speech, but it was very easy that it just wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible. White Cloud was no ordinary spiritual beast, though. Whether it was its “invisibility” ability, its defensive barrier, or its teleportation ability–even if it wasn’t high in rank–it still had plenty of ways of protecting itself in times of danger. Most importantly, due to its body size, it was rarely scared ever since it was promoted to become a spiritual beast. This was the same even for Flying Flame’s dragon essence.
Still, Abel wasn’t going to give up on White Cloud here. At the same time, he wasn’t the type to run away from an opponent without seeing its face. After tapping Flying Flame on the back, he ordered it to accelerate towards White Cloud.
Then, as a white light flashed over, he changed into a full set of rune equipment. At the same time, he created an “ice shattering armor” and death qi armor in preparation to fight at any time.
“Sir Elder,” the battle command spirit suddenly spoke through Abel’s power of the Will, “There is extreme danger in the front. A powerful life essence has been detected. Please leave immediately.”
It was rare for the battle command spirit to make warnings with such serious tones. Abel didn’t say anything back after hearing this, but an “instantaneous movement” spell rune had already appeared in his left hand, and a “lightning” spell rune in his right. This was when he finally got close enough to see White Cloud, which was curling up its body as much as it could without dropping into the ocean.
At White Cloud’s front, a blue giant dragon was in the middle of the air. Its eyes were full of pride when it looked at Flying Flame.
“A young dragon? Most curious!” its voice echoed through the air, “And you were two-legged before. You’ve been promoted several times already, haven’t you?”
Of course, it’d be curious. Despite being classified by the other races as “dragons,” the two-legged flying dragon was inferior relative to the real dragons. They were pseudo-dragons, according to the narratives of the dragonkind. Of course, there were cases where pseudo-dragons became real dragons, but it was a very difficult process that would take up way too many resources–resources couldn’t’ be bought with gold coins.
Take Flying Flame’s perfect redstones as an example. Not even the intermediate magic gemstone was enough to trade for it. The perfect redstone was a strategic resource for all races on the Holy Continent. It was the single thing that could power up spell circles above large size, and many tried to monopolize it for their own benefits. It was even more extreme for the perfect gemstones because it was hard to find them on the Holy Continent. There was only a little on the large-sized magic stone mining pit, and just who would use such a precious resource to promote, what, a pseudo-dragon?
By the way, this wasn’t the main thing that shocked the giant dragon. It was shocked by Flying Flame’s age. It was hard to think that a pseudo-dragon could become a young dragon (not the age but the level) when it was only at the age equivalent of a human child.
Flying Flame felt scared when scrutinized so intensely by a giant dragon. Right now, every muscle in its body trembled nervously. It was too young and inexperienced to know what to do in the presence of a powerful giant dragon.
To ease Flying Flame’s tension, Abel gave it a light tap on its neck. At the same time, he used the soul chain to comfort it. This attracted the attention of the giant dragon. For starters, no human was ever seen to be a dragon’s back before. No, not even for an anomaly like Flying Flame. The dragons were very proud. They would do anything to destroy those who dared to disrespect them, and those who did they were all obliterated without exception.
Yet, there was a human that was sitting on a young dragon’s back right now. The dragon could clearly distinguish the master-and-servant relationship between the two.
“Petty human!” Blue dragon Emmanuel roared in rage, “How dare you challenge the great dragonkind? I, the great Emmanuel, will end you here!”
“Yeap. What’s gonna come, it’s gonna come,” Abel thought to himself. He’s been expecting this day for a while now. Ever since the day he formed a contract with Flying Flame, he had been expecting the day other dragons would find out. He just hoped that the day would come a bit later. That way, he wouldn’t have to care even if the giant dragons knew. He knew he was going to be stronger than the dragons eventually, after all. He had the Horadric Cube, the entire dark world, and resources so abundant that other people wouldn’t have imagined.
Yet, receiving one mission from the dwarves caused a major change to that plan. He was facing a giant dragon already. He didn’t think his current skills were enough to match it. He would’ve had a bit of confidence if he was doing this on land, but this was the top of the ocean, and the one he was encountering was a blue dragon with freezing elemental ability.
Abel tried to explain, “Great Emmanuel, you got it wrong! I signed the contract with Flying Flame in order to save its life. It was in grave pain when I discovered it!”
There was a glimpse of hope to not start the fight immediately. Abel didn’t want to antagonize Emmanuel, the blue dragon. Rather, he wasn’t qualified to match against someone as powerful as Emmanuel.
Emmanuel’s voice pierced through the sky, “Dragons aren’t to be slaves! If it’s death or slavery, then death it is!”
Out of pure instinct, Abel pulled the most powerful weapon that he had from his portal ring. It was his one-time magic cannon. However, before he could use it, he had to find a way to counter Emmanuel’s dragon essence. It was too powerful. The imposing pressure that was coming made it impossible to hide under the disguise of the transformation necklace. Still, his level fifteen intermediate wizard essence, his double-element head knight commander presence, his master alchemist presence, and his not-so-strong dragon essence could manage to face against Emmanuel’s dragon essence. He really wished that he could unleash more dragon essence, but after absorbing the dragon crystal, his body and spirit were transformed so that the essence could only stay in his spirit.
“Stop! Stop!” Emmanuel screamed as its tone became a lot more polite. Its eyes became fixed on the magic cannon in Abel’s hands. Abel continued to stare intensely at Emmanuel, but he didn’t loosen his grasp on the magic cannon. He was not pointing it away from Emmanuel, and that made it a lot nicer than before.
Emmanuel screamed as it slowly moved its body, “Don’t point that thing at me, I tell you! You are a member of the dragonkind. I just felt it! No one’s going to say anything if you have a pseudo-dragon as your servant! I saw it wrong, alright?”
Emmanuel was already cursing Abel in his mind. Abel was a human with dragon’s blood. As rare it was, there had been cases where powerful giant dragons could shapeshift into humans. Some of the “naughtier” ones had left offsprings among their descendants, but the possibility was so rare, at least on the Holy Continent.
Still, Abel’s dragon lineage was too thick. He wasn’t shaped like a giant dragon, but his body’s properties were similar in many regards. This was what resulted after absorbing an entire dragon’s essence. Neither the humans nor the dragons could fathom this because dragon crystals were not something to be absorbed. Even the dragons would just sniff the energy emitted, not swallow the entire core.
But Abel was a lad. He absorbed an entire dragon crystal by his will. Because of this, his spirit and body were transformed from top to bottom. That was not to say that he exceeded the limit of a human. Rather, since he was still a human, his physical attributes could only reach a human’s extreme. He did try various methods to break through his limits, but none was enough to match him against even a young dragon. To summarize the problem, he was a giant dragon that was forced into being human.
For Emmanuel, this made things very tricky. If Abel was really an enemy, it could try to kill him at a certain amount of expense (especially given how terrifying his magic cannon was), but his status as a “giant dragon” made having Flying Flame as a servant something that was not against the rules. Actually, even if he had a hundred pseudo-dragon as his servants, no giant dragons would have the right to comment, much less the right to kill him.
Abel seemed quite confused about all this, “Great Emmanuel, does that mean I’m not wrong?”
It was weird since he never thought of himself as a giant dragon.
Emmanuel’s voice became a lot softer, “No, of course not. What’s your name, by the way?”
Abel sheathed his magic cannon into his portal ring, “My name is Abel. Abel Harry.”
Emmanuel laughed and said, “Right, so Abel, the blue dragon. I don’t know how you became a giant dragon, but as long as we share the same lineage, we are of the same kin.”
Abe was even more confused, “Did you just call me Abel the blue dragon?”
So the dragon crystal belonged to a blue dragon. He did remember the times when he kind of figured it out. The crystal did contain a lot of freezing energy, after all.
Emmanuel looked a bit confused too, “So you don’t know your kin? Could it be… you haven’t opened your lineage yet?”
Abel explained, “I don’t know, Emmanuel. I’ve never interacted with a real giant dragon before. I’ve been living in a world of humans this whole time!”
Emmanuel tried to be persuasive, “Wha- that’s blasphemy! What’s so good about the human world? Come to the Dragon Depth! That’s real paradise for the dragonkind.”
Abel shook his head, “I’ll pass, I think. Being a human is pretty comfortable, so I think I’ll stay in the same place as I’ve been.”
Even Abel himself wasn’t sure if he was a blue dragon or not. He could tell that Emmanuel wasn’t joking. It did really see him as a blue dragon, and they were talking on equal terms. There was no deceit. Well, especially after he put away his magic cannon. Only he knew for certain that he was 100% human. That dragon crystal really messed him up, but that’ not really all that important at this point. He had plenty of statuses already, so it wouldn’t matter if he had just one more.
Emmanuel tried to be nice about it, “Oh, well, just suit yourself. I’m just saying, isn’t this body of yours a bit too weak? You need to sleep more. Don’t be like the humans. If you hug the freezing element magic stone and sleep for about a few centuries, it’d be very easy for you to break through your limits.”
Abel was a bit speechless from that statement. It took him several years to get to his current level. Emmanuel clearly had no idea what it was talking about. If he really decided to put a few hundred years into good use, he would’ve had the power to pinch Emmanuel to its death. Besides, what human would want to spend several hundred years sleeping? That was just ridiculous.
“No, but wait.”
If Emmanuel really considered him as a blue dragon, this meant that he might just share the same lifespan as a dragon. Actually, he wasn’t even sure how long a dragon was supposed to live. Still, according to rumors on the Holy Continent, a giant dragon would have an average lifespan of about ten thousand years. With that as the context, sleeping for several hundred years would really be the same as sleeping for a day.
Abel tried to shift the subject away from himself, “So why are you in the ocean, Emmanuel?”
Emmanuel smiled and explained, “Why, it is a dragon’s destiny to scout the ocean. Since the dwarves and the elves pay tribute to us, we have an obligation to protect all of the continents. If the powerful spiritual beasts of the ocean enter the continent, serious problems will arise. Because of this, the dragons have continued to guard the land so that the oceanic spiritual beasts don’t enter.”
Abel commented in admiration, “Oh. I thought that dragons stay in the dragon depth and keep their attention there.”
He would’ve never expected the dragons to be the protectors of the Holy Continent. He’s seen how powerful the oceanic spiritual beasts were. If any of them made their way into the Holy Continent, massive destruction was guaranteed to take place.
Emmanuel smiled, “This is not a hard job, actually. The oceanic spiritual beasts despise the land naturally, so they only cross the line on special incidents.”
Abel was finally starting to understand why Emmanuel was here. He was causing too much of a ruckus.
Emmanuel reminded in a friendly manner, “A word of advice to you, if I may. As long as you reveal your dragon essence, no spiritual beasts within these several tens of thousands of miles would dare to antagonize you.”
Abel said gratefully, “Thank you!”
With Emmanuel’s reminder, he wouldn’t have to use White Cloud’s invisibility any longer. This made collecting the resources in the ocean a lot easier. Of course, there wasn’t the need to do so yet. He wasn’t short on resources. Now that his strength was on a booming increase, it’d be a while before he had to find things to collect in the ocean.
At the same time, the promotion qi was starting to disappear from White Snow. White Snow let out a long shriek, and just when it was about to fly out from Johnson’s protection, the shriek stopped halfway. It just noticed that the blue giant dragon was here.
Abel quickly teleported to where it was, “Don’t worry, don’t worry. Here, I’ll give you a rub on the neck.”
“That’s a lot of contracted beasts you have, haha,” Emmanuel changed his body into that of a human, “Plenty of species there, if I may say.”
Slowly and steadily, Emmanuel, the blue dragon, became a blue-faced strong man that was approaching him. It was his first time seeing a giant dragon transforming into a human.
Emmanuel tried to exercise his limbs, “Not very used to this, actually. It has been several years since I changed into human form.”
When Emmanuel wiggled its neck, the movement was a bit fast for Abel to see probably. Actually, if ordinary humans moved their necks this much, the necks would’ve snapped already.
After taking a table and two chairs from his portal ring, Abel created a talking space on White Cloud’s back. White Cloud’s giant back was as stable as the ground. It was flying very steadily. It was almost like they weren’t flying at all.
Abel made an inviting gesture, “Please have a seat, Emmanuel, the blue dragon.”
Emmanuel made the same gesture, “To you as well, Abel, the blue dragon.”
Then the two laughed together. While it’s been a long time since Emmanuel’s lived as a human, the experience was no less strange for Abel, who’s never had the opportunity to talk face-to-face with a giant dragon before.
Abel said after Emmanuel, “So, according to the customs of the humans, Emmanuel the blue dragon, we’ll have a drink together. Do you prefer wine or juice? I’m sorry, but that’s the only two I offer here.”
Emmanuel said nostalgically, “Juice? Ha, ha! Give me some liquor, alright? It’s been a while since I’ve had my last drink.”
Abel then took out two crystal cups and one bottle of red wine from his portal ring. The red wine had been synthesized once by the Horadric Cube. Emmanuel was a new friend. Of course, he was going to use the best to treat it. This wine did have some special effects, but that was no concern for a blue dragon of ten-something meters long in body length.
After filling the cups, Abel gave one away and took one for himself.
“To fate,” Abel raised the cup.
Emmanuel did the same, “To fate.”
Emmanuel took a sip and began to savor it. It closed its eyes when it did so. After a few seconds, it looked at Abel in a strange manner.
Emmanuel said praisefully, “This is better than any red wine I’ve ever had in the human world.”
Emmanuel was a freezing element blue dragon. Naturally, it had a natural liking for all sorts of liquor. Fine wine was one of them, but because of all of the mission that it had to do, it never really got the chance to apply for good liquor.
Yep. Applying for good liquor. With the dwarves and elves paying them tributes, the giant dragons had the privilege of demanding things from the two races. Since they seldom entered into the human worlds (pretty much the same for the elves and dwarves as well), they couldn’t communicate with the other races on equal terms. The main reason for this was because of the difference in their life force energy. If they accidentally unleashed their dragon essence, disasters would only arise.
This way, the dragons made their own rules designated for no other than themselves. If they were entering lands that were outside the dragon depth, they must receive an invitation first. Also, they must be very strict in that they shouldn’t influence the other races. The dragons were strong, but that was only on the Holy Continent. The strong ones of each kind were not on the Holy Continent, so unless there were enough tributes paid by the elves and the dwarves (or if it was a case of emergency), the dragons would’ve never gone into the Holy Continent themselves.
Abel laughed as he saw how much love Emmanuel had for wine, “My wine is the best, I guarantee it! Come, come. Let me show you some other good one I have.”
He then took out a barrel of the grandmaster’s wine from his portal ring. After opening the lid, he poured a cup for Emmanuel.
Emmanuel’s eyes shined when it took a sip, “What wine is this?”
Abel smiled and replied, “It’s good, ain’t it? This is the grandmaster’s wine.”
Actually, he’s never thought about how much trouble this would’ve caused to the elves and the dwarves. All the troubles would’ve gone to their way while he got to keep all the goods.
Emmanuel couldn’t help but look towards the barrel, “It’s great! Great! This is the best in the world, as far as I’m concerned.”
Abel couldn’t help but smile at that. He then pushed the barrel towards Emmanuel.
“I don’t have a lot of gifts on me right now. If it pleases you, you can keep the whole barrel to yourself.”
“That’s, ha- ha ha!” Emmanuel slapped its chest proudly, “Abel the blue dragon, you have my words. If there are any enemies you have in the human world, remember to count me in your fight!”
Honestly, this barrel only weighed 5 kilos in total. If Emmanuel were returning to its giant dragon state, all this liquor wouldn’t have been enough at all. Of course, it knew how expensive this grandmaster’s wine must’ve been. As a creature that has been alive for about several thousand years, it could tell that the liquor was not only delicious but could also be an excellent health supplement. That was not to say that one barrel was not enough to satisfy it. One barrel was good enough already, and it’s made up its decision already. Once it got back, it would directly demand the elves and dwarves to supply grandmaster’s wine regularly.
If the elves and dwarves knew what Abel was doing now, they would’ve drowned him with words of condemnation. As the only producer of the grandmaster’s wine, he had to make sure that he was giving it out to a select number of people. For the dwarves, he reserved it for just the dwarven wizards. “Regular” dwarves would’ve only heard the name of the grandmaster’s wine, but none of them had actually seen it before.
