10 010 Spoils
"SB what are you doing?!"
Jumping off of my head he starts to expand before us. SB keeps growing bigger and bigger until he forms a massive sphere with his body which surrounds both Ventus and I in the nick of time. Just as he finished covering us, the wall of noxious smoke that the dragon expelled hits us and shakes SB but he holds stead fast. Allowing himself to be surrounded by more and more of the deadly smoke.
"What is your creature doing Silver?"
Ventus bewildered at the situation looks at me for any possible insight.
"There is only one possible explanation for what is happening."
With the most serious face I could muster I took a few moments to eliminate all the possibilities before arriving at the only real conclusion to our current situation.
I took a deep breath and gave the explanation.
"He clearly still holds a grudge from that time I made him obese and is now trying to obtain his revenge by consuming us."
Ven's jaw drops to the floor in sheer disbelief and shock.
"Are you kidding me! You have a psycho little slime that's going senile right now?! Now of all moments! You mean to tell me instead of helping us it's going to eat us!?"
With a great smile I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
"Relax I was just kidding...maybe....
Anyway I believe it's SB's skill.
As long as he is touching it's master, any attacks or skills that cause negative status changes are negated. Ive never seen it used like this though."
Looking around once more at the protective covering SB has provided I see the smoke start to be absorbed and dissipated within his body.
"Usually I have him sitting atop my head and he activates his skill as needed. Perhaps since we are in a party this is his way of protecting the both of us from the dragons poison attack."
Ven glared at me for the scare but replied immediately.
"Well I guess that's a relief that he isn't eating us."
Laughing at the situation I agreed and moments later SB was done with the job. He had changed back to his adorable blob slime form.
BLOOP BLOOP
Looking up at me from the ground his soulless abyss like black eyes stared at me deeply. It felt like he was looking beyond the physical me and into my very being.
This stare of his was almost akin to him saying-
"You owe me."
I shivered at the thought. Grabbing him from the ground I placed him atop my head again and looked back at the dragon. It's breathing had slowed down and it couldn't even muster the strength to raise its head.
"That surely must have been its dying attack just now."
Walking towards it I pulled out my sword as I prepared to slay it once and for all. Arriving at the head of the beast I plunged my blade deep into its eye and twisted it. The dragon let out a soft growl as the last of its life was flowed away from it.
Still breathing heavy I thought to myself that the deed is finally done.
"That should be enough to slay it."
The System seemed to agree with me as I was hit with several notices.
[Level Up]
[Sir Bob Level Up]
[Bonding Increased to 10%]
[Title Acquired- Dragon's Demise]
Excited for the progress and growth I was about to open the status menu when I realized something. Level ups are great for sure but at the moment there is something I have to do.
Looking at the dragon corpse I knew I had to harvest its scales, claws, horns, and above all else the most important organ, it's heart.
In my experience dragons, especially the ones who have lived centuries and millenniums tend to supplement their vitality with their enormous pool of mana. Hence their longevity, but once they die their body erodes quickly due to not being maintained with mana.
This is why it's important to harvest what you can from the dragon and supply it with a burst of your own mana to preserve it indefinitely for your use.
Glancing all over the dragon's damaged corpse I start sniffing out what the ideal items are to harvest so that I don't waste my time.
Scales for sure, it's fangs are perfect, the claws are too damaged to be of use, I've never used its horns but whats the harm in collecting them.
I can use all this to make the most amazing armor and I have to be extra careful when collecting the heart. Making sure to not damage it at all.
In my previous existence I stumbled upon a book which detailed a forbidden draconic ritual.
It's a sealing ritual that implants the heart of a dragon into the body of a human. This ritual was incredibly dangerous because if I fail I'll die but if I succeed, I'll have gained absurd power after becoming dragon-kin.
Lost in deep thought I don't notice Ven approaching me until she tapped my shoulder and brought me back to reality and away from my mind.
"Is it ok if I have a moment alone?"
Confusion quickly engulfed me.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm just going to step over there for a few moments."
She points over to the underground area we were hiding in earlier. I think I know what she plans on doing so I nod and let her wander off.
Turning back to the task at hand I begin harvesting the precious materials from the corpse.
With the unreal edge of the sword I make short work of gathering everything. Half way into the job I start to get a weird feeling deep inside me. Anytime my being tells me to do something I comply. It's never failed me and is constantly saving me from a mess of things.
This time it was telling me to collect the dragons eye as well. It's strange as I never heard of any use for dragon's eye but my gut instinct is never wrong so I decided to harvest the undamaged dragon eye along with the other materials.
Once the work was completed I laid everything on the ground at my feet.
I now had to do the final task of infusing my mana and vitality into the materials so that they don't erode away like the rest of the corpse was doing.
Spreading my hands over them I closed my eyes and allowed my mana to flow from me to them.
A gentle flame appeared in each hand and I ran it over each individual item. Successful infusing a bit of me into everything.
Once this last step was done I tossed everything into the dimensional space for safe keeping. I was satisfied of my hard work.
Glancing over in Ven's direction, I noticed magic circles were gathering and illuminating the area around Ventus as she was in the middle of a chant to cast a spell.
Well I guess this means I have some time because she still isn't done so why don't I check out the progress I made with the level ups I got from this fight.
With much excitement I Opened the menu and immediately my jaw dropped at the massive increase of stats that had occurred.
[Player Name- Em]
[Status- Sealed]
[Title- Dragon's Demise]
[Level- 52]
[Health- 310 + (1000) + 12%]
[Strength- 66 + (600) + 12%]
[Defense- 62 + (100) + 12%]
[Mana- 72 + (600) + 12%]
[Dexterity- 61 + 12%]
[Allocatable Stat Points- 90]
[Equip- Deathly Touch: Deaths Favor]
[Skills/Abilities- Mana Efficiency: Divine Aura]
I jumped 45 levels with that fight! That's absurd. The longer I looked at it the more I couldn't help but smile. My old strength was coming back. This was good considering the task that laid ahead of me.
If I continue to progress at this speed then the only issue now would be getting a full set of quality equipment and better magical spells. With the materials I harvested the equipment shouldn't be too much of a hassle. I just need a good enough blacksmith to handle the work.
The real challenge would be acquiring more powerful spells and magic because honestly as useful as basic magic is, I can hardly call myself a magical swordsman if I don't know anything more than the basic elemental magic.
To acquire more powerful spells I need to either purchase them, make them, or find them in ancient texts.
Looking back at my menu one more time I moved through the information and I pulled up the description to the title.
[Title- Dragon's Demise]
Given to the one who conquered the pinnacle of magical beasts. +12% all stats.
Well that explains where the +12% on my stats was coming from. I scrolled over to SB's status page to check out how much he leveled up.
[Pet- Sir Blob]
[Class- Slime]
[Rarity- F]
[Level- Max]
[Bond- 10%]
[Abilities- Sanitatem]
[Evolve to continue leveling]
He's max level already! Well that's good I guess? Now he can help out more somehow? I don't know but he is maxed out for his current rank. I need to find out how to evolve him so that SB can continue to progress with me.
Since not enough information was displayed, it meant I would have to find an information broker around town who could help me. That however is something for a different time. I began hearing footsteps coming in my direction and turned around to find Ventus approaching me again.
As she arrived I spoke not holding anything back.
"How are you holding up after burying them?"
Momentarily our eyes met as she shook her head from side to side. Tears stained her beautiful face. Streaking down her unblemished cheeks, she looked down towards the ground avoiding my gaze.
"I'm doing as best as I can. They were my family for the last five years you know. We had gone on countless adventures and I never thought the day would come where I would have to bury them myself. I just-I just don't know what I'm going to do now. They were all I had."
Ven was choking back soft sobs as I pulled her in for a hug. This isn't normal to my behavior at all but I understand loss. Perhaps I understand it too well considering the magnitude of people and things I lost simply trying to survive the betrayal of the ones I used to love. Pulling her closer to me I whispered softly into her ear.
"If you'll allow me, I'm here. Walk with me, grow stronger alongside me and live out the greatest adventure you can. I may not be them but if you stay at my side, one day you can come back and share your adventure with them. I'm sure that will put them at ease."
Accepting my embrace Ven buried her face in my chest and let the tears flow. Moments went by like this before she spoke.
"Thank you for all you did. Thank you for helping kill the dragon and avenging my friends. It's because of you that they are able to rest at peace! I'll never be able to repay that debt so allow me to walk beside you to grow strong enough to protect those I care about!"
I smiled and gently pulled away from her.
"Of course. Come on now, pull yourself together alright? We still have to get our hard earned loot that was being guarded right?
Wiping her face she gave me a renewed and determined nod.
"You're going to have to lead the way to where the dragon came from. I don't see it around here."
"Not a problem. I remember where it is at."
Invigorated, she took the lead as we walked a few minutes to the area where the dragon had come out from.
A massive square stone slab was floating above the entrance to the hidden space.
As we entered we were surprised to find a set of stairs leading all the way down. Taking them, we began our descent.
Looking around I was quite surprised at the architectural construct of this hidden space. The walls appeared to be made out of smooth luminous stone. It provided a soft light in this massive area.
What was perplexing was how the stones on the wall were engraved with mix of crude and sophisticated pictographs. I didn't know how to read whatever language was inscribed on the stones we were passing but I was captivated at the story they seemed to tell.
A formless darkness overtaking the land. All manner of magical creatures coming against it. Elves, dwarfs, goblins, beast men, and dragons. Corpses strewn about. The entire world plunging into deep darkness. A warrior rising from the death of everyone. Leading a group of dragons. A new attempt against the darkness. The forming of a seal. Finally, what seemed to be the seal being activated but the rest was scratched off from the wall.
I'm guessing either the dragon down here got bored or if this area was discovered it didn't want anyone finding out what came next.
It was Ven who broke the silence between us as we finally approached the bottom of the stairs and were faced with a massive door. Etched even more beautifully than any of the stones we passed on the way here.
"Should we turn back around ? There is nothing here but more drawings. On top of that I don't see a way of getting past this or opening it."
I shook my head at her.
"We have to figure it out. Dragons are notorious for hoarding treasure right? So far we haven't found any, not even a single piece of gold. Clearly the dragon was guarding something and that something has to be behind the door. Something valuable enough to warrant a dragons protection should be worth our trouble. Don't you agree?"
Looking a little confused Ven responded.
"I guess but how do we get past this door?"
I turned to the door and began my investigation.
Examining the door didn't provide more information to the story on the walls but instead seemed to give vague instructions on how to open it.
It had a picture of a dragon, a sword and an eye.
In the middle was a oval shaped slot. Almost like... could it really be? I gave it a moments thought before I shouted in excitement.
"No way- I think I figured it out!"
Man am I glad I listen to my instincts.
Excitedly I pulled the dragons eye I harvested earlier from my dimensional space and inserted it into the orifice that was on the door.
Was this it? Will it work? For a moment nothing happened then suddenly the door started shaking and began rising up ever so slowly.
After several moments of wondering what was behind the door our curiosity answered. Looking into the room that was being illuminated by brighter stones was a raised miniature platform in its center. It almost looked like an altar of some kind. Upon it were two chests waiting to be opened and looted.
A wonderful sight for any adventurer.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw movement and noticed it was Ventus who was jumping up in down in excitement. Almost like a little kid who got the present they had been asking for.
"You did it Silver!"
I laughed for a moment after seeing her reaction. I was giddy as well for having figured out the door and seeing this treasure in front of us.
It took several moments for Ventus to calm down and for me to get my emotions under control again.
Once we were back in gear I spoke.
"Come Ventus let's see what is so great that it needed a dragons protection."
With a nod of affirmation we walked into the room holding the treasure.
