Chapter 111

The Once and Former Dragon King

The final six dragons were all odd to say the least. Yes, it was clear that each dragon had their own backstory, a way to get on their good sides. But Mallory and I were never truly allowed forward until we healed the lowest members of the dragon clan.

This was odd, as there was clearly one dragon that was far older than the others, this was the one with the wound that went straight through and destroyed its magical core. Worse, it had the blade that was capable of doing such an attack broken off inside of it, left to fester and then was further humiliated as it was chained to the ground. A bit much, but it was clear that the dragons not only personally punished this dragon for whatever crime it had committed, but that they then assaulted the beast, broke its core, and then broke off the blade capable of shattering a core, all before chaining the once mighty dragon down.

I saw all of this, and I felt I should know why, but figured as an outsider it was not my place to press. Instead, I went through, healing each and every dragon before me, until I was left with but one last dragon. To make matters worse, I already got a message informing me that I had apparently completed the main quest.

I was just on auto-heal, or at least that is what I referred to the condition as. You know that part of your day when you are pushing yourself as hard as possible, knowing that if you stop for even a moment you will not be able to get up again? Yeah, I was there, no, actually I was beyond there, which was why I almost missed the quest prompt that came up, letting me know I was complete.

Hidden Quest Completed: Blocked Passageway: You have found the reason why the great Lumina clan of dragons did now allow anyone to pass. By discovering that they had secluded themselves to die of the Blight, and healing them of their conditions, you saved them from a truly terrible fate. With the main nest of the Lumina clan healed, commerce will soon be able to continue between the inner and outer sects of the great tree Yggdraspirit. Rewards: Experience, Class evolution markers and Bloodline evolution markers (already complete), variable: a choice.

Experience gained: 1,500 / 1,500

Ding.

Level up.

Your Simulacrum Master class has risen to level 141.

This was my first time leveling after my legendary bloodline upgrade and let me tell you, I could all but feel the energy flowing through my blood because of the level. While I was now used to rapid growth in Attributes, particularly after gaining lots of levels in a row, to realize that this was my new baseline was humbling to say the least. With the level up, I also felt a slight surge of energy, causing my mind that had been near the brink of exhaustion suddenly spark to life, as I was now able to look around and see everything around me clearly.

I had healed an entire royal family of dragons, each having a different elemental force that they were able to easily harmonize with. I guess this should have caused problems for most healers, but I just adjusted to the frequency of their elemental affinities like it was second nature.

I had found the task enjoyable, as it helped me once again start leveling my Bloodline enhanced skill Energy Resonance Alteration, this was the skill that allowed me to take any one form of magic and alter it into another. Now I just used it to slightly modify my healing spells to be accepted a bit easier within the bodies of the different dragons. Again, something that thinking back on it, takes more time to explain than it took to perform at the time.

“You are truly a masterful healer, we find ourselves indebted to you.” The red fire dragon spoke, at least I imagined her being red, her aura was that of fire, and she was one of the youngest dragons, but also one of the ones that was clearly pampered by the others. If I had to guess she was the youngest daughter of the clutch of leaders.

“Oh, now you did it.” Mallory stated, standing up from her position and moving in to place herself between me and the mob of dragons. Again, the scales of power were so odd in this game, here we had physics that dictated that these two-to-ten-ton dragons should be able to crush Mallory, yet she had proven time and again by throwing a few of the more rambunctious guards around, that her Strength Attribute was no joke. Also, it was clear to all the dragons present that Mallory was not one to mess with. That or, for those that it was not clear to, or were exceptionally slow learners, I had to provide additional healing to. This worked out well for the two of us, as Mallory was the sign of absolute tyranny, while I was the benevolent helping hand that would come in once a lesson had been learned and brush away the minor scraped knee, or was more often the case, broken limbs, followed by sliced off tails, broken fangs, ripped off talons, and a few extra hearts had to be spontaneously created.

Seeing Mallory’s blood covered face tearing into a raw still beating dragon heart was more than enough to cow even the most steadfast of dragons. Even the chained dragon in the back, one who had shown no sign of movement at all had sparked to life and trembled slightly at the display Mallory put on. Fortunately, dragons are very hearty.

Also, I learned a lot about this Qi thing, namely a body without a heart loses Qi exceptionally fast. Also, once the Qi is completely removed from the body, the forces tethering the spirit to their body, or in this case the spirit to their spiritual shell is broken and they begin to fade away from this reality. Super annoying, especially when you try to grab the dissolving pieces of the spirit, knowing that you need to spawn a new heart in both the dragon spirit’s body, and the dragon’s dissolving spirit, simultaneously.

That was the most exhausting healing I had to perform for this quest, and the worst part it was completely unnecessary. No wait, the worst part was that Mallory wanted to try it again, as she got full experience for killing the dragon, and thus wanted me to let her train the dragon again for more experience. That is when I just stared at her. Now I am not quite certain what it was, whether it was my third eye, which I forced to blink at her once, but Mallory quickly got the point that I was not amused by that comment, and then mainly kept to the sidelines to watch. So her getting up now, much mean she also saw the quest completion notice. Though I mostly tuned her out, especially as she was at the part of, “now she will be insufferable…”

“Master healer,” the fire dragon continued to speak, her words somehow carrying over Mallory’s statements. “Please choose which of us you wish to bond with, and we will bless your classes to forever be proficient with our own magic.”

I normally would have joined her bantering, but I was met with a new system message that I had not quite expected.

Class Evolution Markers Obtained: You have healed the Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Holy dragons. Choose one to bless you and forever alter the destiny of your classes Void Healer, and Simulacrum Master.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

That was the final portion of the quest I was allowed, which I believe also was part of the variable component of the quest, which meant that the reward offered was based on which dragons I healed. Of course, I was not particularly interested in any of the base elements, they were fine if you a druid, but I felt they were all sort of primitive. Maybe I’m just a magical snob, I would have likely argued against such a thing in the past, though I now fully realize that the elements are not for me. They are too violent, too chaotic at their very essences, that is why the only magical category that would work at all was Holy. But again, I just got Holy magic as a class that was available to use freely from my Bloodline, getting more of it so quickly, well it felt like it was a waste of a perfectly good class evolution. While they would tie into my bloodline, I felt it would have been too quick, that I was just beginning to see the capabilities of Holy magic.

It was at this point that I realized that the early quest completion, the fact that that there was still one more dragon left to heal was yet another test. This was also the test that I had been looking for, a chance to fully use both my third eye, that would allow me to zoom in with my Angel’s Sight to microscopic levels without getting intense migraines. Additionally, this would let me know what would be available with my reaching of floor two hundred, which we were now finally in the home stretch of reaching. We were clearly in the 190s of floors, and I thought this might be floor 195-ish, but I could be wrong. They all look like giant rings around an ever-increasing tree that stretches forever upwards into the sky.

The doctoral degree that I was offered this time to reach floor 200 offered none other than the ability to perform Magical Enchantment Surgery, which I have been thinking would be the ability to alter, heal, and recreate magical cores within people. But there might be more to this line of thinking and the only way for me to truly understand what I am capable of is by pushing myself.

“I am not finished yet.” I state, cutting off the fire dragon before she can force me to choose one of these five options. While I likely will choose Holy over the last one, as I can even now feel the all too familiar taint of corruption on his body. I can’t help but feel the need to personally complete this quest.

“Wha?” The other dragons all ask.

Even Mallory looks at me with a bit of confusion on her face. At that, I point off in the direction of the sixth and final dragon, arguably the largest of the dragons, but also the one that is the worst off. Even now, despite being ravaged by the Blight, he seems to have enough innate resistance due to his disgusting magical residue that remains on him to keep the Blight at bay. The whole fight fire with fire idea, or in this case, fight corruption with greater corruption. Still, they are patient, and I feel that I might have a few things to learn from this person. First, what can cut through both a physical body and a spiritual core, the metal alone has to be extremely interesting. Never mind the fact that this dragon, and likely ex-dragon lich was bound due to their oppressive nature.

The fact that he, and the chained dragon is a male, was a master of Spirit magic, might also be what calls me to him. I feel for him, I truly do, I personally would hate for my core to be shattered, but I could also see why a Lich, especially one here in the spirit realm would be essentially a God among mortals. That is why I decided to go at it from that angel.

“I see that there is still one last patient.” I say pointing towards the once dragon lich.

At my pointing the entire nest of dragons begins to stir, as panic and anger wash over the dragons present.

“You don’t know what he is.” The fire dragon hisses.

Hearing that, I turn back to her and open my third eye to stare directly at her. I assume this would be intimidating, not certain if it is or not, but the dragons all stop talking. This is what I wanted, so regardless of whether seeing my third eye open and flash with some innate power is frightening or not is nearly impossible to tell. What is clear is that I have been given the chance to say my piece, which I fully intend to act upon.

“I know full well what he is, or rather what he was. He was a tyrant lich king. One who was so powerful that even after a decisive blow was struck on his core with a hidden strike from behind using an enchanted blade that could cut through flesh and spiritual cores, he was still deemed to be too much of a threat. So rather than letting him be set free, you sealed him away in dungeon that was made by using the natural shapes of the great tree to block him from sight. Once there, you also chained him and bound him to suffer away for eternity. I see all that, I also see that he is now a patient in need of healing.”

Hearing my words, the other dragons looked stunned for a moment, before they almost all began to move and grumble silently to themselves.

“Can she be trusted?”

“Was this her plan all along?”

“Clearly it was, look she too is likely one of the Lich King’s disciples.”

“SILENCE!”

A booming golden voice shot out from the yellow dragon, which was clearly the choice for Holy magic. The golden wave of energy did have a magical effect to silence anyone affected by the spell, being as it was an area of effect spell, I just dispelled the portion that was coming towards myself and Mallory, while I let it ripple over the other dragons. Now that the golden grandmother of the dragons had spoken, everyone remained silent, even after the yellow rays of energy washed off their scales.

“Little one, you do not know of what you ask.” The Holy dragon began.

Hearing her begin, I raised my hand, palm up to get her to stop talking. At this, a number of dragons clearly got annoyed that I would speak this way to the grandmother of this nest, but I pressed on before it could be drawn out too much.

“I fully do. He was likely a tyrant to you all. Even now I can see the way the residual darkness that tainted his soul now makes it so he dies a little slower than others who suffer from the Blight. But the thing is, while you all might be okay with letting him slowly rot and suffer away like that, I cannot. My conscience as a healer will not let me walk away after knowing of this one’s fate. I will heal him. Call it justice for the fact that you never could deliver the killing blow despite having had ample time to do so before now. Call it whatever you want, but he is alive and suffering and I will fix that.”

I pause, letting that sink in.

With my words the Holy dragon visibly looks cowed by my words, her muzzle is dropped lower than my face, a sign of supplication. This is all so fascinating, as I feel I am learning so much, though I know I will likely need to reflect a lot on what I have learned here later on, to gain the full benefit of everything.

“You are wise beyond your years, little one. You may heal him, but only of the Blight, so that we may prevent its spread.”

At that I shake my head, “I will heal all of him, his core and all.”

Rumble!

If dragons could gasp they would, instead so many dragons all listening in, they let out what sounds to be the distant rumbling of thunder.

“I will heal him completely. I will remove the metal from his body, seal his festering wounds, and even give him back his core.”

“You will not!”

KABOOOM!

Speak softly but carry a big Mallory.

Within a second, Mallory summoned her Reaper’s Scythe, and slammed the butt of the scythe down with a deafening thud that sent ripples of force out pushing back many of the dragons that had been getting closer to me. Fortunately for me, Mallory’s body protected me from the major force of the strike. Additionally, Mallory had transferred into her glowing battle armor, a sign she was ready to go to battle again.

Seeing Mallory let everyone realize, that there might be worse things than just letting me speak. Nodding to Mallory I continued, “I will repair his core, but I will make it so he can only use his Spirit magic for good. That if he so much as casts one destructive spell or attempts to control or cause any of you harm with his powers, he will feel his core shatter into so many pieces that he will wish I left him alone.”

By the end my voice was booming, I was using my full-on Acting and Narrator skills to portray this role. I was going to be the all-powerful healer, who would grant a repentant tyrant one last chance to live a life that could provide value.

With that, there was a brief discussion, before we were ultimately allowed back to see the chained dragon.

During our walk back, Mallory tapped the side of her temple. This was our signal for me to mentally reach out and communicate with her Telepathically. A brief second later, our minds were connected and we could communicate without fear of having the other dragons listen in, or be aware of what we were discussing.

“That was so cool. You were like a complete badass out there.” Mallory began, then mentally she showed how I looked. Tiny me with four wings holding up one tiny palm to the giant dragons without an ounce of fear.

“Don’t tell me that is how I now look?” I asked, realizing that I was now smurf blue and solid green eyes with a vertical eye and wings. Honestly, I am just glad I can’t look at myself in a mirror now, as this game hates me.

“What? You are so cute.” Mallory began, and before I could protest, she pressed on, “so can you do all that?”

“Heal the dragon yeah.”

“No, I mean, can you make it so his core will shatter if he so much as casts one evil spell? That sounds pretty amazing, not going to lie.”

At her over dramatized retelling, I realize I might have a problem. “You know, I might have over promised on that one…”