Awakening in the Dragon Hunter's Ruins
How long had I been unconscious in the dragon hunter's ruins? The moment I opened my eyes, a refreshing sensation washed over my entire body. It felt like I'd slept for days. When I looked up, I saw the dark cavern ceiling and my companions' faces instead of the sky.
"You're awake. You okay?"
"How long was I out?"
"Thirty minutes."
"You woke up quicker than I expected."
"I thought you'd be down for days."
"Ugh." I rolled my body up with a grunt, stretching as I checked my condition. An incredible freshness enveloped me, as if I'd undergone a complete rebirth. The sensation of having stepped into an entirely new realm made me examine myself with curious eyes. Arash pointed at my body with a strange expression.
"You should change your clothes first."
"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I definitely look worse than a beggar right now."
My body had returned to perfect condition, but my armor was in absolute tatters. The white ceremonial suit Rohan had given me was now completely dysfunctional, reduced to rags. I was actually impressed that the elraid's water droplets and the crystal spider's crystals kept regenerating even after taking that attack, but the fabric had gone far beyond any recoverable state.
"Guess I need new armor."
"It held out until your body could be reconstructed in the flames. I'd say it performed its duty as armor admirably."
"Reconstructed?"
I switched into the baby Nepentula armor from my inventory while contemplating Arash's words. Sure enough, my body had improved dramatically. Both my mana reserves and physical capabilities had risen so much that comparing them to before I fainted almost felt unfair. As I marveled at this first-time experience, Neon—who'd been extinguishing the flames with a tired face—explained.
"The mystery of the ruins and the mystery of the fire dragon mixed together and caused an abnormal phenomenon. It's something you'd normally see in the South, but here it was triggered by the two breaths colliding."
"And that phenomenon reconstructed me?"
"It should have burned everything to ash, but the mystery inside you, Argo, used the anomaly to reconstruct your body instead."
That made sense. When I checked my mysteries, the experience points from defeating the Golem Drake were gone. It must have all been consumed in the reconstruction.
"Fire symbolizes destruction, but it also carries the meaning of purification and rebirth. That's how this was possible."
"How did you know that? Never mind. Must be a North thing."
Neon, who was putting out the flames with ice magic, looked surprised for a moment before nodding in understanding. Hey, why does he treat the North like some monster-infested wasteland? People live here too, you know. While I grumbled at his attitude that would never understand even if I explained, Adela, who was standing beside me, held out a small orb.
"Here."
"What's this?"
"Golem Drake's core. Loot."
The core was tiny. Given the creature's size, I'd expected something as big as my torso, but it was just a small marble.
"When you think about it, it's pretty amazing. How can something like this even exist?"
"Ancient technology really is alien in many ways."
To think such a small core had powered a five-meter golem for hundreds of years. It was a technique modern golem school mages could never hope to replicate. I stared at the core intently and muttered.
"Maybe the ancient civilization theory the scholars talk about is actually true."
Until now, I'd assumed they literally ground up hero-level mages to create these things. Most ruins discovered in the North were trials and gifts prepared by heroes for their descendants, so I'd thought everything that emerged from them was some kind of human miracle, like the pyramids. But seeing byproducts that could never be reproduced with current technology sometimes made me wonder. Maybe this world had a fallen ancient civilization too, just like in novels or games.
When I shared the thought with my companions, slightly embellished, Neon looked intrigued.
"The ancient civilization theory has been around for a while as a hypothesis. It stayed a hypothesis because there was no clear evidence, but seeing this core... it does suggest something existed in the distant past."
"The problem is that no information turns up even when you look for it. I was interested in old records too and searched everywhere, but I couldn't find anything from before the Great Opening no matter how hard I tried."
I nodded at Arash's words. There definitely seemed to have been something, but the lack of information about what it was remained the problem. Whether we searched ruins, scoured ancient libraries, or dug through venerable family archives, there was simply no relevant information to be found. There were traces of civilization before the Great Opening, yet no decisive evidence. Historians periodically tore their hair out trying to fill in those blank records, but progress remained painfully slow. If even the most renowned scholars couldn't find anything, I wouldn't discover new information just by looking now.
"It's a shame, but it can't be helped. Let's focus on exploring the ruins for now."
"Agreed."
"Fire's all out. We can head inside."
Perfect timing. Neon had extinguished every flame in the cavern. Since it was magical fire that didn't produce toxic gas, the air would return to normal once the heat dissipated. His face was pale from using so much mana as he drank a mana potion with obvious effort.
"Whew. I feel alive again."
"Good work."
"Thanks to that, I got to use Fourth Circle magic to my heart's content."
He'd been thrilled about breaking through to the next circle recently and had clearly been practicing hard. Leaving Neon to rest on the floor, I headed down the passage leading deeper into the ruins.
Near the entrance lay Laserdon, covered in blood. The creature was licking its wounds, completely focused on recovery.
"You alright?"
"Kuuung."
From the look on its face, the answer was no. The way it glared suggested it was in considerable pain. Well, considering the massive difference in size, just charging head-on had been impressive enough.
For the injured comrade, I pulled out every stamina potion left in my inventory. Using them all would be an insane loss, but there was no point calculating costs when treating someone who'd fought beside me.
When I sprayed the potion on its wounds, the regeneration speed increased noticeably. Laserdon's greatest strengths were its high physical ability, toughness, and regenerative power. Adding the stamina potions on top of that let it recover in no time.
Seeing Laserdon finally make an expression like it felt alive again, I let out a small laugh.
"That good, huh?"
"Kuuueong."
Now that its wounds had healed, it seemed in a much better mood. It pushed its snout forward, showing affection. I patted it appropriately while waiting, and soon the others—including the recovered Neon—gathered around.
After confirming everyone was present, I led the way inside.
The interior passage wasn't long. Since the final trial had already been cleared, there was no need to create anything more elaborate.
The reward chamber we reached was far more magnificent than I'd anticipated.
"Is that... dragon bone?"
"...It appears so."
"Good heavens. A necromancer would lose their mind seeing this."
"Dragon bone...!"
In the center of a massive chamber the size of a sports field crouched a dragon bone. The dragon mounted on the dais was easily dozens of meters long. The walls were embedded with stones that emitted a soft glow, and behind the dragon, various items were displayed. But what caught the eye most of all was the dark sword-spear displayed within the dragon's embrace.
Overwhelmed by the chamber's atmosphere, we approached the center with caution. Passing between the long rows of pillars, we reached the dais. I quietly read the inscription carved upon it.
For the greatest dragon hunter.
We will remember him. His great achievements shall be recorded here.
Lest we forget the one who shone in the most chaotic of eras.
It was a deeply meaningful inscription. After reading it, I examined the walls. The mural of the dragon hunter—who was presumably the master of this ruin—was indeed painted there. Much of it had been heavily damaged for some unknown reason, making it difficult to examine in detail. Still, I could make out two groups of dragons facing off against each other, with a figure holding a dark sword-spear standing on one side. Something significant must have happened.
"Dragons, huh..."
Come to think of it, I'd never actually seen a dragon in this world. Records about them were easy to find, and young dragons weren't uncommon, but that was it. There hadn't been any records of dragons appearing for the past several hundred years. In fact, there were no activity records at all except from the Great Opening period. I glanced at my companions to see if they knew anything.
"If the mural is accurate, it means dozens of dragons were active at once."
"What era had that many dragons active?"
It seemed they didn't know either. Neon and Arash—who usually handled the thinking for our party—fell into thought for a moment before moving closer to the dragon again.
"Waang."
Munch, munch. I did my best to ignore Adela chewing on the dragon bone beside me and focused on the dark sword-spear. Perhaps due to the influence of the mystery, it maintained a perfectly smooth appearance. It radiated such keen energy that a single hair placed on its edge would be sliced cleanly. Entranced, I picked it up.
It fit perfectly in my hand, as if it had been prepared just for me.
"This is a fine piece."
The grip and balance of the sword-spear once used by the dragon hunter felt excellent. It was heavy, sharp, and responsive. The mana conductivity was outstanding as well. I was smiling in satisfaction at the overall excellent feel when Adela approached.
"Not eating the bones?"
"They're too old. Most of the genetic information has been lost, so there aren't any useful abilities left."
"That's too bad."
Adela stared at the dragon bone with disappointed eyes before shifting her gaze to the sword-spear.
"Does the sword-spear have any special abilities?"
"Special abilities?"
"Yeah. You said equipment used by powerful heroes becomes special by absorbing mystery and karma, right?"
I had mentioned that. Adela's eyes sparkled with curiosity—she'd remembered my conversation with Veil Edenberg surprisingly well.
Indeed, perhaps because it had belonged to a being on the level of a dragon hunter, the weapon did contain special abilities. However, unlike what Adela seemed to expect, it didn't shoot beams or have any flashy effects.
"If you were hoping for something that shines brilliantly, you'll be disappointed."
"It's just a normal weapon?"
"Not exactly. The effect of the karma dwelling within it is actually quite simple."
But precisely because it was simple, it held the most powerful effect. The greatest ability granted to the sword-spear was 'Immutable.' Unless a force exceeding the karma it possessed was applied, it would never bend or break. Just that single property made the weapon's value incomparable to anything else.