Hydra had just fully read the description of Kurgal. Kurgal and Irina seemed to know what Hydra was doing and patiently waited for him to finish reading. They could only smile when they saw his face twitch a few times in surprise.
It was definitely easy to say that Hydra was surprised. While he just fought a legendary monster now deep inside this cave is divine dragon. Who would have thought that he would be talking face to face with a dragon at a mere level 32. He could only call himself ‘lucky’ in this situation but, right now the only thing he wanted to do was run away and hide under a rock and hopefully an insignificant human like him wouldn’t attract any more attention by Kurgal. His thoughts were soon shattered after hearing the next few words by the dragon.
“So boy you are the next owner of [Shadow Stealer]? Bring it out and let me see it.”
“Yes, I mean yes your Divine dragoness…?”
As Hydra fumbled over what words to use as respect towards the dragon he soon knelt on one knee and offered the [Shadow Stealer] in his palms before quickly replying to Kurgal again.
“If you so wish, you may use it as a toothpick, its sharp edge must work wonders for your magnificent teeth. I only ask that you let this one go peacefully.”
“Hahaha! You are an interesting one boy. But fear not I am more interested in eating meaty looking prey, or do you plan on getting big a meaty for me?”
“No, not at all, I’ll forever stay weak and small thus you won’t look my way every again.”
“Haha, young girl where did you manage to find such an interesting successor to the [Aether Bladist]?”
“Truthfully It was fate that brought us together your Holiness.”
“Now now, your family and I have known one another for a long time but this is the first time we have met. Let’s not speak formally as I am nothing more than an old dragon.”
“Thank you, in fact I am quite excited to have finally met you Kurgal.”
“Yes, your family has helped me for a long time. Even I was good as dead without your help.”
“No, we only helped a little. But I will tell my family what you have said, it will be our greatest honor.”
“Wow! Hold up! Irina…. You… who are you really?”
At this point the conversation had been carrying on normally and this normal pace was a billion times too fast for Hydra to keep up. He thought they knew each but it turns out they do not, and the dragon only knows Irina’s lineage. But, that means Irina’s background is not nearly as simple as he thought it to be.
‘Could she be royalty?’
As he could not help but wonder what her true identity was, the dragon spoke up once more.
“Ah. Now that you mention it, your appearance does not match your origins girl. Well forget about that for now boy. Now that you are here. You will embark on your journey of destiny.”
‘NO!’
Is what he wanted to say but how could he flat out reject a god like presence such as her. As he was staring straight at those terrifying pair of eyes that said ‘You can’t reject’, he mustered all his courage in his own eyes and said ‘ but i really really really want to’.
It might seem like Hydra was a coward but, that wasn’t the case. Hydra could tell a single glance that a quest from a level 999 divine dragon was not going to be easy. In fact it was probably so utterly impossible that he shivered at the just letting his mind wander for a millisecond.
Just as he was complaining to himself, the dragon continued with her monologue.
“Boy. You must go and journey to four places in this world. There exists the shadow cores you seek. Only when you find all of them will you be able to see what has been forgotten time. It would be too easy to tell you of the past myself however, you will be required to choose for yourself what is right or wrong.”
Just as she finished talking a window of doom appeared in front of Hydra.
[Find the Shadow Cores of the Ancients] (Profession Quest)You have found a lead towards your profession’s deep history. You will only be able to find out what has happened in the past and what will happen from now on when you find and absorb the cores through the [Shadow Stealer]. The moment you accept this quest, you will have the opportunity to be teleported to one of the locations that a core is hidden. Only one person can be teleported with the help of Kurgal. Therefore this quest currently can be declined, but once the character reaches level 100 the quest will automatically be accepted and they will have to journey to the locations with their own power.AcceptDecline
‘Oh thank the Bread God I can decline. But wait, what if this is a trap. I mean it’s a freaking divine dragon. Wouldn’t it get angry if I declined? Oh! I got it if I throw a piece of bread, decline and instantly go stealth. I should be able to buy myself enough time to hightail it out of here. As for Irina, I know the dragon won’t hurt he as they seem pretty close.’
As Hydra the thoughts were running through his head a million times per second he finally came up with a plausible plan. Hydra was just preparing to bring out the weapon of mass destruction when Irina, who had not talked to Hydra this entire time couldn’t help but think he was worried about them separating. While she not able to join him during the first quest it did not mean that she would forsake him. In her heart warm feelings arose at seeing how worried he was and she couldn’t help but speak out to him
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“Hydra! It’s okay, we will be able to journey together soon.”
“Wha..!?”
Hydra was too busy thinking of his own escape and all his surroundings had completely been forgotten by him. To his misfortune as he was bringing out the bread, he was surprised and stumbled forward. The bread from his hand flew forward and as Hydra was about to catch the bread, it passed through the window. Unfortunately Hydra’s hand also passed through the window. The problem lied there, he position where his hand flew through was exactly where the accept button was.
You have accepted the quest [Find the Shadow cores of the Ancients]
The divine dragon Kurgal’s opinion of you has grown!
“...!!!!!!”
Hydra stood there dumbstruck. As the dragon began to laugh.
“Good! You might be weak right now but you are a brave one!”
“Wait! Okay… Wait I need to a moment. I’ll just be right over there…”
As Hydra spoke the entire room was silent as Kurgal and Irina only stared and watched him run off towards the entrance disappearing from their sight for a few seconds. After hearing Irina speak he must have believed in her words and strove forward to his own destiny. She was happy to see that he was hesitant for her sake and happy that after she spoke he was able to resolutely accept the quest. Before Irina had time to finish sorting out her own feelings, they heard a loud noise.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“Oh, if he was that happy he could have just done that here no need to be embarrassed and run away. You found a cute one, Irina!”
Irina didn’t respond and could only blush. She too thought the current actions of Hydra was sort of cute. Not a lot but it was definitely adorable. Little did they know that the current feelings of Hydra was incredibly different from what they were thinking.
Hydra, who had now finally calmed down, returned only to see the smiles of Irina and what he thought was a smile of the dragon. Somehow that nearly burst vein in his head though as he really wanted nothing more than to leave this crappy hidden dungeon and be on his way. To him being a Core Gamer had nothing to do with all this stuff, as he could just farm in dungeon’s normally and find sort of rare gear that was enough as a start. But nothing worked the way he wanted it to, and he could only submit himself to fate as it was already too late.
“Okay. Where are the four areas that I might journey too?”
“The 4 areas that contain the cores are:
The Sky islands that I created thousands of feet above the land and at the summit of Mount Myriad. There the dragon clan is guarding a shadow core, but it should be no problem acquiring it as long as you show them the [Shadow Stealer].
Tortuga, the deserted island far in the eastern ocean. It will take some time to find this deserted island however, if there is no boat to sail back you might as well wait until you can get one first.
The City of Prisoners; Yorula! This is an underground city of the dead where the reaper himself looks after. Any criminals that are sentenced to death will be sent here.
The desert city to the south Heliopolis! The land where the god-kin roam as numerous as there are dragons.
Now boy. Which of these four would you like to be teleported too?”
“The Sky Islands!”
“Sorry you can’t go there yet! You are not strong enough to prove your strength to the dragon's yet. You must be at least level 200 first.”
‘Why did you ask me where I wanted to go then..’
As Hydra couldn’t help but grumble towards the instant rejection, he thought about where he would go next. He originally chose the sky islands because it sounded the least terrifying. He wasn’t an idiot and would teleport to a deserted island with no boat. He definitely didn’t want to go to the city of prisoners. The land of the gods was probably the next best choice from the looks of it he thought.
“Heliopolis!”
“Ah, sorry that one. I don’t feel like sending you there either.”
“Huh?!”
Before Hydra had the opportunity to retort her claims she spoke up again.
“I’ll just send you to Yorula!”
“Wait no!”
Teleportation to Yorula has been invoked!
Then while the facial expression turned grim on Hydra’s face. To Kurgal and Irina it was only seen as an unflinching attitude prepared for a long hard journey.
“Girl. I know you must have your reasons for not telling him your identity. But if you want his trust you should open yourself first.”
“I….You are right.”
“No need to fret young [Princess of the Forest]. You will have another chance….”
Irina, did not respond and only stared at the empty space that Hydra was once standing.
End of Volume 2