Rune was now at the ship at Hell’s Gate in Nerys. He and his group had teleported back, but, since it was so far away and since it was an area of uncertainty, they teleported several floors in the air above the ocean.

In the distance, they could see the ship’s mast and flag as it rose up out of the distance. They were far too far from the shore and water filled up the entire area. There were dark clouds above them and several people flailed about as they soon realized that they were falling.

Under them, the water rippled and churned around. Teeth rose up from the water and spun round in circles in a clockwise rotation. Then a second set of teeth appeared within the first and rotated faster than the first in a counterclockwise rotation.

Red eyes appeared under the murky surface besides the mouth. They were four eyes all the same distance from each other. The four eyes were placed on the four sides around the mouth and they were looking straight at the group.

There was something in the exact center of its mouth. It looked like a snake and it reached up out of the water several meters to try and intercept the group while they fell. It was grey and had a strange stinger on the tip. It wiggled around like a fish out of the sea, but it kept trying to go upwards towards the group.

Rune quickly reached forth and pulled out a new platform that he had made when he went back to the school. This time, it had all the functions of the last, invisibility and flying, but it could also create a protective barrier and had auto repair.

The platform was hexagonal and had six spikes, one on each vertex. They were each ruby colored with two gems of black and green color. The green was for Healing those on the platform, but only those deemed friendly by Rune for he didn’t want any unwanted people being healed. The black color was to affect the protective barrier. If the barrier was deployed, then the black gem would affect it with a dispel magic barrier around it that doesn’t affect those standing on it that the user deemed friendly.

This way, the people who are on Rune’s side, could stand on the platform and heal while not being affected by spells weaker than the barrier. If there was a spell stronger than the barrier, it would likely break in a couple more spells afterwards, but it wasn’t affected by any weaker spell. Not unless the spell was dispel magic on par with the barrier’s strength or it was destruction magic on par with the barrier.

Rouna, Elisa, Erin, Rena, Riika, and Hika landed on the platform with the large radio. They hadn’t fell too far at that point and the radio was practically undamaged. Riika sprawled on the platform and quickly sat up. Rouna had taken out her wings and slowly descended down to the platform. The rest landed gracefully.

Elisa was fetched from the palace as she was writing a very detailed report of the events that had occurred. Rune appeared in front of her and she fell out of her chair. Several maids around her had almost shrieked when they saw the blue light and Rune pop out of it.

Elisa quickly hushed the maids and got up. Her report was messed up due to the quill and the ink on it splattering over the whole paper.

“What do you want now?”

“I’m leaving. I think you have to come, am I right?”

She sighed a deep breath. She was currently wearing some casual clothes which looked like a loose gown. When she breathed out, Rune could see her chest fall and rise again when she breathed back in. She tilted her head to the ceiling and held her head.

Then she turned back towards Rune and started to speak in a sad and depressed tone. She was thinking that Rouna would do something to her again during the trip.

“Haaaahhh… Yes. I have to go…”

And so, Rune dragged her along on the trip, but at least she wasn’t a stowaway now. Rune was now aware of her presence being brought to Hell’s Gate.

The monster below them was still rotating and Rune was still falling. He got closer and closer until he reached the snake like thing.

When he had absorbed the Black Dragon, he had gained the ability to shapeshift into a Black Dragon and all of his Dragon forms could now transform from an Ancient Dragon to a Hierarch Dragon. Although unaware of it, those Hierarch Dragon froms were rank 3.

His White Dragon form now had six horns all curved towards the front and had permanent black glowing runes on them. Since he had gained a magic right eye, his right eye had a pentagram on it with black runes around it and the whites of his eyes were white. The pentagram itself was a light blue.

His wings were longer and he gained a longer wingspan than before. There were also two claws on each wings now so he could attack with them. Also, the thin wing parts could fold up into the thicker muscle parts that they were connected to.

He had gained a hide like a shield that had chinks in it and partially layered on top of each other. There were about thirty larges parts making it up.

His White Dragon body had grown longer and more snake like, but still kept the western dragon feel. He also grew wider, but not wide enough for him to look overweight or disproportionate. However, his tail was now longer than his body and those chinked hide layers on his tail. Each layer of those scales were hard and durable enough to deflect any and all magic lower than C rank.

In that state, he had resistance to Ice magic and cold damage on top of his immunities that he already had. Although, when he absorbed the Black Dragon and the Blue Dragon, he hadn’t gained their resistances or immunities.

His head was in a more defined shape that  was like a trapezoid that had the smaller base on the top. He now had two layer of fangs on both top and bottom of his jaws and they each carried a frostbite effect. His claws carried the same effect and his bodily fluids while a White Dragon were colder than ice.

He transformed into it not knowing that it was different and he had a slight spasm when he tried to move his wings. He invoked [Physical Enhancement] and quickly tested out several movements before he touched the dark ocean with the monsters lurking inside.

He made a gigantic splash as he landed next to the creature and not in it. The creature was much larger than him and it was like putting a cat next to an adult man. The spectators above watched as Rune swam in the waters and disappeared from sight. Then, the water around the monster became a reddish color and a hue of dark red infected the surrounding area.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

One of its eyes stopped glowing and the snake like thing that was likely its tongue moved more slowly. A moment passed and another eye stopped glowing. The layers of fangs shuddered as more blood entered the water. The third eye went out and the mouth started to close and the tongue snake thing wiggled about lazily as blood filled the area for several meters.

When the last eye went out, it started to sink and the mouth closed, cutting the snake tongue off. Then it vanished and all that remained was the snake tongue which sank to the bottom of the ocean. The rest of it that had vanished, Rune had absorbed and a torrent of water came crashing into the now empty space. What the storage did was take out the object being absorbed and didn’t replace it with anything. Not even air. Instead, air and water or whatever was near had to fill up that place in its stead.

The White Dragon form that he had turned into surfaced in the red ocean and he gallantly rose from the sea after he had slayed the beast. At this point, he turned level 30 as the creatures in the ocean near Hell’s Gate were much harder to kill than those on Hell’s Gate and the ones in the sea gave much more experience points.

He gained a new skill from the Dark Paladin job and it was a magic called [Sinful Darkness] which allowed Rune to create a low hanging fog that was black. That black fog would be inhaled and would damage someone from the inside and would weaken them and cut their internal organs as if the fog were broken glass.

Also, for Rune’s job of Death’s Hand, he needed to kill at least 5,000 beings before it was completed. The completion of jobs would allow the skills and magic that one gained through it to be stronger, even if the max level for jobs was 5. It would also allow the user to gain the job choice of being able to unlock another job that was related to the completed ones, but much more powerful. Such as a Mage turning into an Archmage. The only maxed out job he had was Enchanter.

He flew up to the platform and turned back into a Human. He was soaking wet and started to use [Water Control] and the water on his flowed out and landed in the water below. Then he stood in the center of the platform and looked at the ship that was quite far away.

The platform shook for a little bit before moving as this was its second time moving with people on it. It was also much larger than before and Rune wasn’t sure how much the weight limit was, but it seemed fine as it glided over the ocean. The first time was when he first created it and he hopped on only to find that it was much faster than before and he had to compensate for it with accurate driving. When doing so, he was able to get a hang of it after three days inside the lab and he was exhausted afterwards.

The platform moved at a steady pace towards the large and grand ship that was anchored to the port of Nerys. Before, it wasn’t anchored at port due to the many unknowns surrounding the people, but it was anchored when they found out that the people there were good and trustworthy, despite fighting amongst each other with the Weiss and the Dunes.

When they reached the port, they found that there were two groups of people on the docks. They were yelling at each other and there were three people in the middle of the two trying to stop the conflict. They were Nya, Mya, and Henry.

Nacht and Lacht were at the front of their parties, the Dunes and the Weiss, and they were glaring at each other while spouting out the same words at each other. On the left side of the ship were the Dunes with their sand colored fur and hair. On the right side of the ship were the Weiss with their white as snow hair and fur.

Both sides surged up and down like small tides that tried to egg each other on. When both sides caught sight of the platform and the group that was on it, they turned to look in awe as if a deity had descended.

The moved towards them on the docks as far as they could without falling into the water below and Nacht and Lacht were at the front of it all. They waited until Rune landed the platform and the two rushed at him.

“Whose side is better? The Weiss or the Dunes?!”

They both spoke in unison as Rune had barely any idea of what was transpiring. Rune took a look at both sides, one at a time.

First, he looked at the Dunes who had sand colored hair and fur and wings. They made up the agricultural part and the merchant parts of the town. Although, some Weiss were found to be in those job sectors as well. They were ready to get their hands dirty to do what was necessary.

The Weiss had snow white hair and fur and wings. They handled the shops and the cafes and restaurants. There were some Dunes found in this job sector, but just a few. They didn’t like getting their hands dirty and preferred clean workspaces.

Both the Dunes and Weiss held jobs in the government area and they constantly opposed each other. However, there were many Dunes and Weiss who got along with each other just fine and they didn’t like to argue with the other.

Both sides were quite similar in their own ways and different in others. The different genes affected their personalities most of the time and thus why they were differently wired than the other. Mya and Nya had no problem with the other as they were both each other, but also different. They understood what one did and why they did so and they spoke in a unity unfound before.

Since Nya and Mya were the ancestors of Nacht and Lacht, the two leaders of Nerys also gained the same ability to speak in unity, although a hassle and a pain. They often expressed different opinions differently, but, when talking about the same subject, they spoke the same sentence at the same time. At first, they were scared of it as they were twins, but they soon realized that it was a part of them and that, however annoying, they had to live with it.

The only reason why the Dunes and the Weiss were fighting was due to an event several hundred years ago when a Weiss and a Dune, since they are both Sphinxes, but their fur color determined subspecies, argued about the best way to handle trading with other cities, towns, and villages.

One, the Dune, wanted to go there and set up a wandering trade caravan while the other, the Weiss, wanted to create stores that were nice and neat and stayed in one spot. The two disagreed and they soon had Sphinxes to back up both sides and, since the genes of the different colors affected thinking and personality a small bit, the Dune had Dune supporters and the opposing Weiss had Weiss supporters. The two sides fought against each other and, soon enough, no one knew why they were fighting and they thought it was something about the other trying to take full control of the government.

Rune had no idea of any of this though and he looked back and forth between the opposing sides. They all waited in anticipation at what he was going to say.

“Why is one better than the other? Aren’t you guys basically the same? I mean, you live together and do the same type of jobs as one another and some of you guys aren’t here because neither side is more important than the other.”

He started to speak more quickly halfway through due to all the evil glares he received from both sides. However, he was not wrong in the fact that they were similar in every aspect except that of which one liked neat and organized things while the other liked to do simple and, occasionally, chaotic things.

Neither side was right and neither side was wrong. It was all about perspective and Rune was an outsider who only knew what he had seen. Although, even as an outsider, what he had seen would be counted as the truth as no one absolutely hated the other and they only had fights about how they should perform certain tasks. If they could find the middle ground, then they could move past their petty differences and see the path of greatness.

After he said that, everyone on all sides thought about the time they spent together and how much alike they were instead of all the differences. Nacht and Lacht seemed to have made up with each other and were hugging each other while voicing their apologies.

Rune looked at both sides and tilted his head as he was confused. In no way did he think that what he said would have this much power and he believed himself to not be a very good speaker. He was unsure of what to do now and was questioning why they were making up.

In fact, they had made up because the root of their problems was such a petty one that they fixed it easily.