Chapter 78 Who is playing who?
Translator: Tchu
Editor: Amaranth, iballisticbunny, Superposhposh
“……I need to return to the Sacred Tomb!”
When she replied, the voice within his mind suddenly became dignified.
“We dragons are higher existences, and our life cycles are completely different compared to you puny humans. When a dragon dies, we seek for a soul burial, and it is only after our souls return to the sacred tomb that we can obtain our true peace. Our soul is the only thing of significance, our mortal body is actually unimportant to us.”
After pondering for a moment, Shaar questioned her, “In other words, you dragons wouldn’t actually care if someone were to peel off your skin and rip out your tendons?”
The dragon’s voice instantly became annoyed, “You bastard brat! If you dare to do such a thing to my noble body, I ……”
“What are you going to do?” Shaar curled up his lips and said full of disdain, “Are you going to jump out of that stone and bite me?”
“…………” Angered by this unreasonable hillbilly, Dora stayed silent for a minute before slowly saying, “In order to escape Darwin’s treacherous hand, I used a minor spell when I was on the verge of death. Ah, if it happened in the past, that spell would’ve never deceived Darwin. However, since he turned into a human, he lost all of his magic sensitivity. I used most of the power from my soul to cheat Darwin’s eyes, and shrank into a small, concentrated mass in order to escape in your magic crystal. However, my current strength is still very weak, and I can only continue to exist within this magic crystal. Once I leave, my soul would quickly dissipate. Therefore, I am unable to flee from here and return to the Sacred Tomb using my own strength. Otherwise, I will most likely dissipate in an instant, becoming a wandering loose soul with consciousness, unable to have peace ever again…..”
Sacred tomb?
Stroking his chin, Shaar couldn’t help but grow some interest in this matter.
The Dragons’ burial tomb? Wouldn’t that mean that in this tomb there would be many dragon……Corpses?
Shaar, who had already tasted the benefits of a dragon, naturally knew that a dragon’s body was chock full of treasures. Ah, if he could find the tomb of the dragons, even if there were only a big pile of Dragon bones, then……
However, Shaar immediately reminded himself—Since dragons care so much about this Sacred Tomb, then wouldn’t it be heavily guarded? Among other things, even if there were only a few dragons guarding it, with his set of skills, his fate would definitely be to be turned into a midnight snack of the dragons if he went there……
“The tomb that you talk about will surely have a catch. If I really go there, I would probably die without even knowing what happened.” Shaar shook his head repeatedly, “I’m not going to get tricked.”
The voice in his mind continued to bewitch Shaar, “If it was some other fellow who dared to go to the sacred tomb of us dragons, naturally they won’t be able to come out alive. The tomb has a powerful and ancient three-headed dragon as its guardian. When it died, it received the blessings of the dragon god, and was able to restore its mortal body. Its flesh won’t rot for thousands of years, which is almost equal to having eternal life. Its power is incomparable; however, the Dragon god limited it by forbidding it to ever leave the tomb, even for half a step. Even if the fellow was a human Saint-level master, they wouldn’t be a worthy opponent. However, if I lead you and go to the Sacred Tomb, because my soul has the dragon mark imprinted on it, the guard won’t attack you. Therefore……”
Hm? This was actually a good trade……
“However, why do I feel like you’re lying about something?” Shaar gave off a hollow laugh, “So according to you, as long as I bring a dragon, I’d be able to go to the tomb and do whatever I want?”
“Of course not!” The voice in his mind replied, “the Sacred Tomb is the holy land for us dragons. A living dragon, even if it is the Patriarch of a clan, wouldn’t be allowed to enter! Each dragon can enter only once they are dying. Once inside, you can get your own tomb and slowly wait for your death. If a dragon died outside, the soul force of our race is strong enough that it can be separated from our body. Our powerful souls, using its own power, have the capability to return to the tomb by itself……”
“Hm, if you say it like this, then what you say is probably the truth.” Shaar thought for a moment and laughed, “I can actually seriously consider this. Once this war is over, maybe I can set aside some time to help you on this trip……Ah, however these advantages you talked about, you must stick with your end of the bargain.”
“Of course.” The dragon in his mind replied to Shaar, satisfied, “I can teach you some of the Dragon martial arts right now! Hm, although your mortal body can’t be compared to us dragons, it is still much stronger than that of an ordinary human. Strengthened by my Dragonblood, you can barely display some of our fighting techniques. I can teach you a few dragon spells as well, to let you use some low-level dragon magic. You can use this magic to bless the Dragonscale and increase its defensive powers ……”
(Humph, despicable human. While you can go to the tomb with my soul inside your magic crystal, once you lose my soul protection anymore, the guardian of the tomb will rip you to shreds!)
(Humph, this stupid dragon. Does she really think that this uncle is so easy to trick? Alright, let’s see who is playing who in the end……)
A human and a dragon started to grind their axes……
※※※
In order to prevent Shaar from doubting her, this dragon immediately handed two Dragon spells to him.
These Dragon spells were, of course, pronounced in the Dragon’s language, and the throat of a human was unable to form the syllables necessary to speak the language. Since a dragon was born with a different kind of body structure, their vocal chords were different, and their pronunciation was complex and strange. Even a small sound, needed a shock to be sent throughout the several corners of their nasal passage and throat. They also had to cause a resonance in the nasal passage – Studying this language was impossible for humans. Even for a human with the highest talent for language would never be able to learn the Dragon tongue.
Therefore since the beginning of time, human magicians were never able to use Dragon spells.
However, apart from this, there was another more important reason.
“If magic only depended on the chanting of incantations, then such an explanation would be barely plausible. However, amongst humans, some magicians have enough power, and upon reaching a master level they would be able to use magic without chanting – you humans call it ‘Silent incantation technique’ and it doesn’t need a chant incantation. It is enough for that person to chant the spell in their mind. Even so, humans are unable to use Dragon spell magic. Because of this, it can be said that Dragon Magic doesn’t have much to do with the Dragon language. Besides not being able to speak the Dragon language, the most important reason is that only the Dragon race is able to use Dragon magic. This rule was created by the gods of creation, and so consequently, the soul imprints of dragons and humans are different. In order to use magic, it must first resonate with the soul first. Therefore, humans are naturally unable to use Dragon magic.”
“I can split up my soul imprint and share a little with you by putting it inside a magic crystal. I can’t give you much, since my own soul force is currently very weak. This little dragon soul imprint should be enough to let you use a little bit of Dragon magic. Although you still wouldn’t be able to use the majority of the Dragon spells, it would be sufficient enough to produce a strong defense that resembles my real body when you wear a Dragonscale. Although you can’t achieve the same power output as my main body, at least you’ll have some resistance against normal magic.”
This was actually a good idea.
Shaar remembered Tatara’s explanation as to why the Dragonscale was easily pierced through previously. It was because it had lost the connection to the dragon’s body, and therefore the Dragonscale had lost all of its magic resistance.
However, there existed a condition: When the dragon gives Shaar a small portion of her soul, he needed to use a magic crystal as a carrier.
However, where would Shaar actually find a magic crystal? Thinking for a moment, Shaar tapped his head and took big leaps while returning to his ruined tent. Going through the rubble, he dug out the bag from the magician that was incinerated by the dragon, and found several sparkling stones inside.
Following the dragon’s instructions, Shaar took a transparent magic quartz from the bag.
A mass of blue light quickly emitted from the pendant, with a small piece separating from it, slowly pouring into the transparent magic quartz. Very soon, the magic quartz turned green, with a hint of black.
Shaar said with an unhappy tone: “So little… You only gave me a tiny bit a moment ago? Can’t you give me a bit more?”
The very weak and tired dragon voice replied angrily, “Stupid human! What do you think a dragon soul imprint is? A Dragon’s soul’s strength is very powerful compared to you humans, and even this small amount nearly filled up your magic quartz! A little more and I am afraid that the crystal would explode!”
Shaar pinched that green quartz very unsatisfactorily, “Alright, I will believe you just this once.”
“Now, I can teach you a set of special martial arts technique……”
Shaar somewhat disagreed with this idea, “Ha! What martial arts? What, do you want me to learn to claw with my fingernail, bite with my teeth? Or would you want me to sweep with my tail? This uncle doesn’t even have a tail!”
The dragon’s voice trembled with fury in her mind, “Idiocy! Sheer stupidity!! You ignorant bastard, if other humans heard that they could learn our Dragon race’s secret techniques; they would go on their knees to beg for it. You bastard ……”
“Alright, alright.” Shaar’s voice immediately became a lot nicer and laughed a few times, “Tell me about it, are there some other martial arts? The way of fighting between a dragon and human differ a lot, right?”
“……”
After being silent for a while, the dragon’s anger gradually subdued and replied, “It differs a lot……However, there is a powerful combat technique that suits you humans ……No, better said, this powerful combat technique originally belonged to you humans. It has just been lost in the world of humans. But for us dragons with our long lives, we still retained the knowledge of this technique.”
“Oh?” Shaar was full of curiosity again.
The dragon race unexpectedly retained martial arts for humans?
“……you, have you ever heard of the ‘Dragon Knights ‘?”