Lindyss frowned and turned her head towards the Kim Hajun, who was walking alongside her while shivering with his teeth chattering. “Are you sure you’re a prophet?” the cursed elf asked. “You seem awfully underprepared for someone who can see the future.”

Kim Hajun took in a deep breath. He had obtained a Heart of Fire, but his mastery over it wasn’t enough to keep him warm in this dreadful weather; at least, he was skilled enough in it to prevent himself from freezing to death. “I didn’t see the three of you inside of my prophetic dream,” Kim Hajun said, mist visible in the air from his breath. “Quite frankly, you’re ruining my knowledge of the future.”

“The power of prophecy is fickle,” Lindyss said and shook her head. “Even dragons don’t have a complete mastery over it. If I were you, I wouldn’t rely on it too much.”

Kim Hajun nodded. His eyes lit up, and he pointed straight ahead. “There. It’s the Temple of the Frost Lord.”

“Temple of the Frost Lord, Constitution of the Lightning Lord,” Tafel said. “Does the title of lord mean anything special in the tower?” She stood on her tiptoes and walked ahead. A pyramid made of blue ice blocks gradually came into view; despite the blizzard, there wasn’t any snow on the structure.

“Lords are gods,” Kim Hajun said. “They can sense you when you say their true name, so to prevent themselves from being bothered by us, the lesser beings who haven’t even become explorers yet, they attach Lord to their respective domains for us to address them as.”

“Oh,” Tafel said and looked at Vur. He was carrying Garlic and Ginger, both of them tucked under his left armpit. The front half of a golden puppy was sticking out of his chest, and perched on its shoulders, there was a fairy queen, Stella. Tafel turned her gaze back onto Kim Hajun. “Are the gods strong?”

Kim Hajun’s lips slipped into a grimace, but he quickly fixed his expression. “If you can climb to the very top of the tower, the one hundred and first floor, theoretically, you’ll have gained enough strength to stand side by side with them. As for whether they’re strong…, in my dream, the tower was destroyed despite the gods trying their best to prevent its destruction.”

“Not that strong then,” Lindyss said and nodded. She turned towards Vur and smiled. “Maybe you’ll get to eat another god.”

Another? Kim Hajun blinked. “Pardon me for asking, but … where exactly are you guys from? What’s the name of your world? Perhaps I’ve heard about it before.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Erde,” Lindyss said. “We’re practical people; Erde is an ancient word for ‘the ground.’”

“Erde,” Kim Hajun muttered. “Why does that sound so—” Kim Hajun’s voice came to an abrupt halt as his eyes widened, his body stiffening. Chills ran down his already cold back. “The three of you are from Erde? By any chance, do you know the Tyrannical Dragon Monarch?”

“With a title like that, you could be talking about Vur,” Stella said and chuckled. “Give us a name.”

Kim Hajun furrowed his brow. “I think his true name is … Volearden?”

“Huh?” Lindyss blinked. “Volearden? Are you sure?”

“Do you know him?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lindyss stroked her chin. “Not personally, but I’ve heard that name come up in some elven records. He used to be very active during the dragon and phoenix war. According to the records, he was ambushed and brutally killed by phoenixes who desecrated his corpse such that nothing was left behind, not even a single scale. That was one of the turning points of the war actually, when more dragons chose to get involved. The phoenixes denied killing Volearden, but you know how it goes; history is written by the winners.” Lindyss’ eyes shifted onto Vur. “He was also Vernon’s grandfather.”

Vur blinked. “Dad’s grandpa?” Vur blinked again. “My great-grandpa?”

“That can’t be right,” Tafel said. “If Vur’s great-grandpa entered the tower long ago, shouldn’t he have opened a passageway back to Erde from the tower? Hyeonnam Tokki said it was easy enough to return home if you’re strong.”

Lindyss shrugged. “Maybe it isn’t him, or Hyeonnam Tokki was lying and we actually can’t go back.”

“No,” Kim Hajun said and shook his head. “As long as you become an explorer and have enough money, you can return to your homeland whenever you want. I want to say it’s just a coincidence that a dragon from Erde is named after someone you know who had gone missing, but … what are the odds?”

Vur shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Is Volearden on the ninety-first floor with the rest of the dragons? We’ll ask him when we get there.”

“He should be,” Kim Hajun said and nodded. “But, then again, it’s not like I’m monitoring dragon movements. If he isn’t there, please don’t take it out on me.”

“You had a pretty big reaction when you realized Volearden was also from Erde,” Lindyss said, raising an eyebrow at Kim Hajun. “What did he do in your prophetic dream that left such a huge impression?”

A bitter expression appeared on Kim Hajun’s face. “For a while, he locked me up and kept me in captivity.”

“What’d you do?” Stella asked. “Dragons generally don’t target things unless they get annoyed at them. Or if they’re hungry, but they don’t imprison things when they’re hungry.”

A large sigh escaped from Kim Hajun’s mouth. “I was in a group, and we happened to bump into Volearden while climbing the tower. He … said I gave off a horrible smell. He also said to prevent any dragon in the future from ever having to have their nostrils violated by my scent, he’d lock me up.”

Vur leaned towards Kim Hajun’s direction and took a few sniffs. Stella raised her head, observing his facial reactions. “Well?” the fairy queen asked when Vur was done sniffing. “What’s the verdict?”

“He doesn’t smell horrible,” Vur said, his brow furrowing, “but his scent is unpleasant.”

Kim Hajun frowned, but he resisted the urge to raise his arm to sniff his armpit. Did he really smell bad to dragons? Why?