Erin took an elevator down to one of his starship’s secondary hangars. There were several planetary vehicles inside this hangar.
From large to small, there were different types of vehicles intended for different purposes. When the starship was inside a planet’s atmosphere, these vehicles could be used to transport passengers and cargo to and from the starship.
Unlike planetary ships, which could travel far distances alone, all of these vehicles primarily relied on the starship for control and navigation. As a result, they were usually utilized in-range of the starship. They would re-charge while stationed inside the starship’s hangars too.
This was a common feature in large starships. Although many developed planets had docking facilities, there would still be scenarios when a starship cannot land on the ground. Especially when visiting a more rural planet. These vehicles would fill in the transportation gap.
Erin casually selected one of the smaller planetary vehicles. It’s design was very open-air. He jumped onto the vehicle because its doors were low and there was no roof. The AI opened the hangar and released control of the vehicle to Erin. He exited the starship a short moment later.
The crowds of beastmen simply watched a tiny dot exit from the enormous starship.
This dot got larger as it approached the large stone plaza. This was the same plaza that had the broken dimensional gate on it. When it got close, many beastmen backed away and a wide, empty space formed on this plaza. Erin landed his planetary vehicle here.
As Erin jumped off the planetary vehicle, many of the surrounding beastmen were stunned silly.
“..Isn’t that a human?!”
“Why would a human venture so deep into the Beastman Universe?”
Many of the beastmen muttered out similar phrases. The term ‘Beastman Universe’ caught Erin slightly off-guard. He noted it down since it helped him identify the territory he was currently in.
“Goodness, that armor looks expensive!”
“Who cares about the armor! Don’t you see that starship?! It could probably wipe out planets by itself!”
“..Wait, the thing on his shoulder moved! I thought it was a decoration..”
“..Moved?” One of the wiser beastmen recognized the small creature. “Impossible..That’s a Dragon Hatchling!”
“Eh?!” A lot of the beastmen froze. Some of the smaller children started looking less scared and even glanced at Erin with adoring eyes.
“Does this mean that man is a Dragon Rider?!”
Many of the children had similar thoughts. There were many honorable stories told about Dragon Riders. Their legends were used to pacify children during troubled times. Thus, a lot of the beastmen children looked at Erin like they were seeing a hero!
“That’s why we are saved now!” A lot of children came to their own conclusions. “The Dragon Rider came to save us!”
Their words echoed throughout the crowds and garnered a lot of attention. Even the adults didn’t say anything because there really was a dragon hatchling on Erin’s shoulder.
Erin was pretty surprised. Not by the beastmen, but by his ability to understand virtually everything that they were saying. Even though he could not name the specific language that they were using, it was like there was an auto-translator at the center of his brain. He could understand their words in real-time.
At the same time, while maintaining a blank face, Erin was trying to gather as much information as possible.
‘Dragon Rider?’ The term was slightly different from Dragon Tamer. Erin determined that it’s meaning was probably the same though.
‘It seems like they react positively to this title. I’ll just go with it.’ Erin adapted quickly. This planet and people were all unfamiliar to him. Since the immediate threat was already resolved, he planned on learning first and then acting later.
While Erin was thinking to himself, the chatter spread throughout the entire crowd and quickly reached the beastmen scattered throughout the city. Although the plaza had thousands of people, it was almost full. Many others were still inside the city and were amazed by this news.
“Greetings, friends.” Even though Erin still wasn’t sure about the specific language, his brain automatically guided his vocal chords anyways. The words flowed out smoothly.
“I hope none of you mind my presence. Please rest assured that I am here to assist, not harm.” Since Erin wanted information, the easiest way to acquire it was by making friends with these people.
Despite saying this, many of the beastmen kept muttering to themselves. The chatter got incredibly vibrant. It seems that a lot of these people felt a lot more relaxed after knowing that the visitor was a Dragon Rider.
“Greetings, honored Dragon Rider.” An elderly beastman accompanied by guards walked out of the crowds. He was wearing a white robe with silver trimmings. The guards next to him were wearing leather-armor that was quite worn. Their weapons were even normal swords. Not a bit of technology could be sensed from their equipment.
“Your assistance has helped save many of us! Our tribe thanks you for your timely rescue!” The elderly beastman kneeled down and bowed his head to pay his respects. It was like he didn’t care if his white robe got dirty on the ground.
The surrounding beastmen were caught off-guard by the elderly beastman’s actions. Almost instantly after, the guards next to the elderly beastman also kneeled down and bowed their heads.
Seconds passed and the beastmen that saw this scene also started kneeling and bowing their heads. It seems the status of the elderly beastman was extremely high. Once they saw him on the ground, almost every other beastman didn’t hesitate to follow. Like a wave, everyone on the plaza began to kneel in Erin’s direction. The sight was very endearing.
If it weren’t for Erin’s intervention, they would probably be dead by now. The city that they were in was the last one standing on this entire planet. The enemies were ruthless and had already destroyed almost everything else outside this city.
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Erin watched all of this occur and felt his heart-strings being tugged a little. Being hailed as a hero made him feel incredibly good.
Witnessing this scene, the tiny dragon hatchling had a thrilled glint in its eyes. Though noble, dragons were also very prideful creatures. Since it was linked to Erin, it treated the honor that Erin received as its own.
Flying off from Erin’s shoulder, the hatchling started hovering over the crowds.
A notification popped up in front of Erin as the hatchling was still flying around.
[A new inherited memory has surfaced. Unnamed has acquired a new skill: Dragon’s Grace]
[Innate Skill: Dragon’s Grace (Two-Variants: Blessing & Curse. Variants will adjust based on the target’s intent. Targets with good-will shall be blessed. Targets with ill-intent will be cursed.)]
[Additional Notes: Target’s with Dragon’s Grace can be sensed by the caster. Though this sense can extend anywhere within the same Universe, it will be the most accurate within the same galaxy. The dragon will benefit from good faith. Furthermore, the visibility of Dragon’s Grace can also be toggled at the user’s will.]
‘Unnamed?’ ‘Dragon’s Grace?’
Erin forgot that he never named the hatchling. This was a major blunder on his part since it’s been over two months already. He planned on thinking of a name once he finished his business on this planet.
As for Dragon’s Grace, the description of it intrigued Erin a lot. He glanced at the hatchling and wondered how this skill would work.
Sensing it’s master’s curious glare, the dragon hatchling thought that it received approval. It got very excited and started accumulating its internal power.
With a valiant roar, an unusual energy burst from the hatchling’s mouth and quickly spread throughout the entire plaza. Seconds later, this energy reached every corner of the entire city! Even the buildings could not stop the energy from entering.
The energy was like a purple, lightning-infused mist. The hatchling made it so that the beastmen only saw a white, lightning-infused mist instead of a purple one. It was intelligent enough to understand that a purple mist would be misunderstood by these people. This was because purple mist and lightning were signs of a netherstorm creature!
Unlike normal lighting, the streaks in this mist were a lot smaller. As the streaks of lightning entered the bodies of the kneeling beastmen, virtually all of them started to emit a strange colorful aura. The beastmen scattered throughout the city also started emitting auras too.
Most of them also had a green aura emitting from their bodies. Some had a yellow aura while the few remaining ones had a varied red auras.
Erin witnessed this sight and was amazed. The hatchling glanced back at him and relevant information started to fill Erin’s mind.
The situation was simple, all of them had received Dragon’s Grace from the hatchling.
Green meant well, yellow meant neutral, and red equaled ill-intent. The intensity of the aura emphasized how strong or weak these intentions were. If Erin found the sight bothersome, he could even hide aura at will.
“..This? Isn’t this Dragon’s Grace?!”
A few of the kneeling beastmen were quite knowledgeable. Hearing the dragon’s proud roar, seeing the white mist, and feeling the immense changes inside of them were all critical clues. The most important part was the lightning within the mist!
Many of the beastmen that had no idea what was happening were clued in by these words.
“Goodness, there’s lightning in the mist!”
For the beastmen, lightning was a sign from the heavens. Since it was visible yet not painful, they quickly misinterpreted this mist.
“Heavenly! The dragon is actually a heavenly creature!”
“I’ve never seen a heavenly creature in my life before!”
“Why would such a majestic Dragon Rider come here?!”
“Foolish! Do not question the actions of a powerful one. Clearly he desires to sow his kindness into our Universe! It is a great blessing that he’s chosen our planet to be one of the redeemed.”
“Redemption!”
Many of the children heard stories about Dragon Riders saving planets before. The saved planets were often nicknamed ‘redeemed’ because the people on these planet’s were given a second chance at life!
“Kind! This Dragon Rider’s mercy knows no bounds! Not only did he save everyone, he even let his dragon heal us!”
For those in the plaza, almost all of them were blessed by Dragon’s Grace. Its effect was surprisingly strong. A lot of the beastmen felt mentally and physically healed! Many of the ones who once had troublesome ailments were healthy again!
“Honored Dragon Rider.” The elderly beastman lifted his head with tears in his eyes. “Although we are of the Ursidae Tribe, our status is too low. We are undeserving of such grand treatment!”
The elderly beastman was touched by Erin’s actions. The planet was basically destroyed. Most things of value were gone now. With how powerful this Dragon Rider looked, along with the fact that he had such an incredible starship, the elderly beastman assumed Erin was well aware of this.
Even then, despite knowing this, Erin still ordered his dragon to heal everyone!
This was more than kindness, it was benevolence!
Erin smiled. He had no idea what was going on. Erin was simply letting the hatchling do whatever it wanted.
It would have truly been awkward if the hatchling decided to suddenly wreak havoc. An irony given that Erin took a great risk earlier when he decided to wipe out all of the hostile forces.
If it really tried to do the former, Erin would have forcefully recalled it before apologizing. It would also make it very difficult for him to acquire the information that he wanted.
Thankfully, the dragon hatchling’s actions were to heal these beastmen instead. This might make Erin’s goals more achievable.
“Not a problem at all. My respects to you, elder one.”
Erin bowed his head at the elder beastman. Erin’s humble attitude won the hearts of a lot of nearby beastmen. The select few in the crowds that had yellow auras slowly started seeping out green auras instead. However, a few light red auras became several shades darker.
Erin noticed these changes but didn’t say anything. Since the auras were useful to him right now, he didn’t bother hiding any of them. Based on the information that the hatchling sent him earlier, these auras were only visible to the two of them anyways.
“I assume you represent these people?” Erin glanced at the elder beastman with white robes. “Would it be possible for us to speak in private? I have a secure room on my starship where we can talk. You may even bring your guards.”
“Certainly, honored one.”
The white robed elder didn’t even hesitate. As both a leader and elder, he was one of the most knowledgeable beastman on this entire planet. After experiencing a heavenly ‘Dragon’s Grace’, he knew for a fact that this Dragon Rider had a good moral standing. Heavenly creatures never associated with immoral people.
The dragon hatchling landed back on Erin’s right shoulder and appeared very proud of its work. All of the beastmen misunderstood a netherstorm creature for a heavenly creature! It didn’t look like it planned on correcting this misunderstanding at all.
Erin sensed the hatchlings intentions and smiled. As long as it was favorable to him, he didn’t mind.
Erin notioned the elderly beastman to board his planetary vehicle. Under Erin’s kind gaze, two guards also respectfully followed. Once everyone was on, Erin drove the planetary vehicle back to his starship.
Many of the beastmen in the crowds saw this and looked excited! The fact that one of their highest leaders was invited back onto the Dragon Rider’s starship held great significance! It meant there were possibly going to be negotiations.
Even though the hostile forces were destroyed, a lot of people were still scared that hostile reinforcements would soon arrive. Their only dimensional gate was currently broken too. If the Dragon Rider left, then they were doomed!
As long as their leader made the necessary concessions, they believed that the Dragon Rider would be kind enough to help them escape.