For a brief moment, the world around Isaac changed dramatically. The figures around him were distorted, colorless, and deaf. No sound, no temperature, nothing. Isaac felt like he was in a vacuum, it was the same feeling he had felt when he left Earth.
Then everything went back to how it was before. With the feeling of touching air, the sound of drops falling from the ceiling, Isaac felt like he was coming back to life.
His surroundings had changed drastically. From the luxuriously decorated hall, he was now in a damp, cold stone cave, the smell of which was unsurprisingly different from the rose scent of the Palace.
He didn't know where he was and hastened to erect defenses around him. A golden barrier immediately formed around his body, creating a perfect semi-sphere. With his defenses in place, he began to analyze his surroundings in more detail.
Aside from the raw appearance of the place, the walls were covered with a sheet of metal, like powder sprinkled on the rock surface.
Isaac wondered why bother to do this when something occurred to him. So he activated his mana vision to confirm and his eyes widened slightly.
The metal seemed to absorb the mana, or at least some of the mana, that came from inside the cave, preventing it from leaving the area.
It was the same principle as his combustion chamber in the mana reactor.
Isaac was intrigued and curious as to what this metal was but could not continue his research. Why did they install a metal that prevents mana from circulating?
The answer was obvious: Someone wanted to hide what was in this cave. Or maybe it was a prison?
As he continued his observations, noises suddenly caught his attention. Puzzled, he turned to their origin before widening his eyes.
Isaac couldn't believe his eyes. In front of him were two headless corpses in black coats with blood running to the ground creating a scarlet pool on the rock.
He took a few steps back, frightened and sickened by the scene before his eyes.
Beside were a lady and a… priest? In front of the lady were four other people in black clothes armed with daggers in front of two dragons whose fangs were covered with blood.
- "Frix! Do something" the lady yelled.
- "What do you want me to do? I'm a Cardinal, not a mage damn it" replied Frix. "The teleportation rune, quick!"
As the Queen Mother and Cardinal turned to walk towards said rune, Isaac entered their field of vision. They both froze immediately.
- "What ..." said the Cardinal with surprise.
Who was the character in front of them? They had never seen him before. At the moment, they didn't have time to ask the question, they had to leave.
Just as they were about to advance towards the rune to flee, the voice of the blue dragon rang out again, this time happy and impatient.
- "The compass! You have the compass, don't you?" said the voice.
Isaac was taken by surprise and stood still for a while before pulling himself together. He grabbed the compass in his sleeve and pulled it out before looking at the direction the needle pointed.
Unsurprisingly, the latter was pointing directly at the dragon in front of him. To be sure, Isaac began to walk around the two beasts to observe the movements of the needle which continued to point straight at the dragons.
- "Is that it? Your present?" Isaac said.
Isaac raised his head in the direction of the two dragons. He was as excited as he was disgusted by the two cadavers on the ground. He swallowed hard as he saw the corpses again and shifted his gaze back to the two dragons.
- "Brother! Look! The compass !" said a voice.
- "I know, I have eyes" answered the other voice.
The two beasts watched with attention Isaac who looked at them with equal interest. The three of them totally forgot about the other people around them and stared for a long time.
Taking advantage of the distraction offered by Isaac, the Cardinal, the Queen Mother, and their minions fled to the rune of teleportation. Noticing their meal go away, one of the dragons prepared to dash forward to stop them when Isaac came to concentrate his mana in his voice and aimed it at the two dragons.
- "Don't move" he announced.
They suddenly stopped all movement, giving the humans time to teleport and disappear.
- "My meal! No!" a voice complained.
They turned to Isaac for an answer or a reason which he soon gave them. The latter came to dispel the mana in his voice, allowing him to speak normally.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
- "Do not kill them, please. Not in front of me at least" he answered, looking with disgust at the corpses on the ground.
The two dragons immediately understood.
- "Mother told us that some humans are disgusted and terrified when they face death the first time. It will go away after you see a few corpses" answered a voice.
Isaac on his side sighed. They were just beasts. They only had their instincts to guide them and tell them what to do. Of course, murder was normal for them.
The concept of murder was foreign to them. After all, humans are just prey, cattle, for such powerful beings.
It was what he thought. He had no intention of berating them for the two deaths they had caused. But if he had to educate them, then he would teach them the morality of their actions soon enough. But now was not the time, for now, he had to make sure of something.
Isaac looked at the compass and inhaled lightly.
- "Do you know this compass?" he asked.
The two dragons looked at each other for a moment then, after a few seconds, turned to Isaac and walked slowly forward. Isaac just raised the power of the barrier surrounding him as a precaution, which didn't seem to go unnoticed.
- "You don't have to fear us," said a voice.
- "We already saw this compass" resumed the other voice.
- "How?" asked Isaac.
The green dragon stopped and sat a few yards in front of Isaac as his brother continued to walk to the right.
- “Contrary to popular belief, dragons are not born when they hatch. We are born on the day we are laid. The egg gives us a layer of protection and suspends our growth until our mother orders us to hatch" replied the green dragon.
The blue dragon sat down in his turn then continued the speech of his brother.
- "The fact that we are in our egg in no way prevents us from feeling, seeing, and listening to what surrounds us" he continued.
Isaac looked at the compass questioningly and frowned before he understood. He looked up at the dragon.
- "Did you see it while you were still in an egg?" he asked to confirm his hypothesis.
The green dragon nodded positively in response which only created more questions for Isaac.
- "When? Where? Do you know the Administrator? Where is your mother? How did you get here?" he asked feverishly.
The two dragons were taken by surprise. Their interlocutor was quite lunatic. He seemed to change his behavior as if he was changing his clothes. They spent no more time on it and answered the questions one by one.
- "We were born a very long time ago, according to one of the Cardinal who visited us, about 300 years" replied the blue dragon.
- "As to where, we don't know. I vaguely remember being born in a cave underground. A cold and damp place, but that's it. But I remember that very well." said the green dragon, pointing the compass with its snout.
Isaac looked at the compass again.
- "I'll show you," said the blue dragon.
Isaac didn't understand what he meant by that and didn't have time to retort. Without warning, the world around him suddenly disappeared. Everything went black and white, he was now in a huge cave.
The cave would have seemed normal if it hadn't been for the huge creature standing inside. A dragon easily measuring over a hundred feet tall was standing in front of what looked like a ball of light.
Around, white-winged figures were hovering in the air as if waiting for a signal.
- "A few years after our birth, an army killed our mother," said a voice from nowhere.
The vision suddenly changed and showed the lifeless body of the huge dragon that had sat proudly moments earlier, alone in the cave.
- "To protect us, mother cast her last spell so that we are not discovered. The army left but we found ourselves alone, unable to hatch. That is, until he arrived" resumed the voice.
Their mother's body disappeared and instead, a man appeared. He was tall, slender, and simply dressed, his face was blurred, but the hallmark that caught Isaac's eye was his pointy ears.
The man walked slowly towards the egg before leaning forward before speaking slowly in a voice he recognized immediately: It was the voice of the Administrator.
- "Poor little ones… to have to see your mother die in front of you. You must be afraid," said the Administrator with pity.
He sat up straight, then took the famous compass out of his pocket and placed it delicately on the surface of the two eggs.
- "You will excuse me for the intrusion but I will grant myself the right to order you to hatch… but not now" he resumed. "Your mother was a good friend, so for her, I will make your eggs indestructible!"
The cave suddenly changed and a familiar landscape appeared all around. Isaac was quick to recognize the place: The Garden of Origins.
- "When you feel this compass again, your eggs will hatch automatically and you will be released. After that, you are free to do whatever you want" finished the Administrator.
Once his speech was over, the Administrator enchanted the eggs and inscribed numerous runes on their surface before being satisfied.
- "Here it is! Now a little something for you Isaac," he said.
Isaac gaped and was surprised. Was the Administrator talking to him through a souvenir?
- "These dragons are not the gift I want to give you. I can't take care of them right now, there are too many people who want me dead right now. Taking them under my wing would be signing their death warrant therefore, I would like to entrust them to you. Their mother was a long-time friend, I have known her since she was born. Protect them until they are mature enough to fend for themselves" he finished.
Isaac was surprised by this request. He felt mostly manipulated. Did the Administrator have everything planned from the start? This memory was 300 years old! How could he have predicted that Isaac would be there 300 years later?
- "Just a word of advice... Don't go near the Draconic Empire. Now let's move on to your gift" he resumed before suddenly placing his hand on Isaac's forehead.
- "What…"
Isaac barely had time to formulate the beginning of his sentence when a sudden pain shot through his body. He was ejected from the memory and rejoined his body before falling to his knees moaning in pain.
His body was burning as if a fire had been lit inside, Isaac could barely breathe. The pain was barely bearable, much less than what he had felt when he came back to life, but it was still excruciating.
As he contorted to the ground, a golden window appeared.
[System] You have unlocked the title [Contortionist]
[System] A system lock has been released by
[System] Modification of your mana circuit… completed
[System] Rerouting mana vessels… completed
[System] System lock unlocked successfully
[System] Skill Unlocked: Circuit Manipulation
[System] You now have the ability to manipulate your mana circuit and expand your vessels outside of your body.
[System] Conditions met.
[System] You have reached the required threshold of
[System] You have reached the required threshold of
[System] You have reached the required threshold of
[System] You have reached the required threshold of
[System] You have unlocked the unique title [Grand Archmage]