Chapter 290: Miss Qi Deviation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 290: Miss Qi Deviation
I cupped my fists to my master one last time and set off.
I thought I should wait for Red Dragon so we could travel together, but my master said we would meet on the road.
Listening to my master has a way of making good things happen even in my sleep, so I figured I should just start walking as she said.
The four Tang Clan sisters who had come with me stayed behind at the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
Nephila saw me off, saying something about scoring points, though I wasn't quite sure what she meant.
I packed the food my master gave me, the provisions Tus and Pus and Chirpy had caught (which were mostly bugs), and even secretly snagged Baek Seol-hwa's dango before starting my journey.
The chirps of the parrotbill in the sky were forgotten.
The bugs of Tus and Pus were buried beneath the sand.
And no one paid such things any mind.
In an age where "Gerorong" had become a vulgar joke, a lizard walked the path.
“Gekgekek.”
I was in my original form, without using miniaturization.
Gigantification wasn't active either, yet I had grown into a massive beast, about twice the size I was when I first evolved into a Crushing Dragon.
It had always been the case to some extent, but now, even fairly large dinosaurs would sense my movements and hastily hide.
And for good reason.
“Gek.”
Status Window.
【Gomodo-Crushing Dragon LV50(-)】
HP: 32050/32050
MP: 24000/24000
I had reached the staggering level of 50.
Back when I was a gecko, I teetered on the brink of death with just 1 HP, but now my health was already in the five digits.
It felt incredible to have grown so much in just two years.
But there was one thing that bothered me: the symbol after my name.
It was a minus (-), not a plus (+).
It was obvious what this meant.
I had reached my maximum level but couldn't evolve yet.
It made sense.
My current race was a Mid-tier Dragon.
If I evolved from here?
I'd become a High-tier Dragon.
Since I was nearing the final stage, the system wouldn't let me evolve so easily.
I'd worried about this before. When I felt my leveling slow down, I started investing in the Gaegaek Cult instead of myself.
Now, however, I realized I couldn't be satisfied with my personal power as it was, so I was trying to improve both.
Still, there was no need to be impatient. There were plenty of ways to get stronger without having to evolve.
And I wasn't too worried about the evolution itself, either.
[You have reached the maximum level.]
[Evolution conditions have not been met.]
Even though these messages appeared, I wasn't the same lizard I used to be.
[「Dragon Eye」 is activated.]
My proficiency with it wasn't very high, but I at least knew when to use it.
Staring intently at the status window with the eyes of a dragon, not a lizard, the blue screen began to tremble.
Then, with a flash…
[Minimum Condition: Consume the inner core of a supreme-grade spirit beast.]
A new message appeared.
So that's what it meant.
'Eat a better inner core, and I'll let you evolve.'
Something like that.
A supreme-grade inner core, not just a top-grade one.
One might wonder where I could possibly find such a rare item, but I already had two.
The inner cores of the Bixi and Qiongqi.
Of course, the Gaegaek Cult was storing them, not me, but once they were refined, I could consume them right away.
That meant I could evolve immediately just by going back and eating the cores.
Of course, that didn't mean I planned to evolve right away. Consuming a supreme-grade inner core was, quite literally, the minimum condition.
For someone like me, who had always insisted on special evolutions, a normal evolution was unthinkable.
Of course, given my current stage, the options for a normal evolution would be incredible. But a special evolution would surely offer something even better.
To stand against Jin-ryong, I had to choose a species even stronger than the Crushing Dragon.
If things got desperate, I'd have no choice but to take a normal evolution, but since I still had some time, I could afford to consider my options.
Assuming I consumed the inner cores of the Bixi and Qiongqi, what options would appear?
First, the Bixi's most prominent features were its defense and its shell.
A spirit beast on par with a High-tier Dragon, with a shell...
…Could the Black Tortoise be an option?
I'd prefer to maintain my lizard identity, but the Black Tortoise was a different matter entirely.
As a descendant of Gomodo, would it be right to choose the path of the Black Tortoise?
—You speak as if the choice is already yours to make.
I ignored the Heart Demon and continued my happy deliberations.
Wait, doesn't the Black Tortoise have another head on its tail?
Hmm...
That could be a problem.
My tail is longer than the rest of my body, so the moment a head appeared on it, it would be a disaster.
I might even lose control of my own body.
A shame, but I'd have to pass on the Black Tortoise.
—Again, who ever said you'd be offered the chance to become a Black Tortoise?
So that settled the Bixi option.
What about Qiongqi?
Simply put, Qiongqi is a winged tiger.
A tiger... could it be the White Tiger?
—Dream on. A creature of Wood, and you're thinking of the Black Tortoise and White Tiger instead of the Azure Dragon?
The White Tiger would be pretty cool.
But suddenly becoming a mammal felt a bit awkward.
I was already fully adapted to a reptilian body.
Hmm... What if I focused on the wings instead of the tiger aspect?
If I just sprouted wings in my current state, I'd basically become a Western dragon.
…Wouldn't that be the form that Gaechalgoatal suggested?
That was also something to consider.
—Hah, I should have turned this fool into an Earth Dragon when I had the chance...
Just as I was seriously contemplating my future…
Fwoosh!
I felt a familiar fiery energy and looked up.
Fwoooosh!
A red-haired woman plummeted from the sky at an incredible speed.
“Baby!”
Red Dragon flew toward me, a happy expression on her face.
Straight for my head.
Claaaaang!
“Geeeeek!”
I was happy to see her too, but why the hell did she have to hit me?
“Heehee, baby. Have you been well?”
There she was, a splash of cold water on my happy delusions.
I was about to get angry, but the moment I saw her face, I couldn't.
“Gerong….”
What magnificent growth.
She was already strong, but she seemed to have become much more powerful.
Powerful enough that if she fought Ak Bulhwi again, she'd have at least a seventy percent chance of winning.
She could even hold her own against Chodo and Taotie.
And as you can probably guess from me including Chodo in the comparison, I'm talking purely about combat power, not the pouch hierarchy.
Her firepower, in particular, was worthy of being called the strongest in the Gaegaek Cult.
If only she had been there during the fight with the Bixi and Qiongqi, the outcome would likely have been very different.
If she had continuously blasted them with fire from a distance, Qiongqi might have been able to handle it, but the wingless Bixi would have had no way to counter.
Having her join me was incredibly reassuring.
“Gerongrong….”
So reassuring, so very reassuring.
“You've gotten a lot bigger, haven't you? Looks like you've been eating well!”
Red Dragon beamed.
She didn't seem to be in a bad mood.
She must have heard from my master, so she probably knew where we were headed.
Still, it wasn't my place to bring it up first, so I decided to keep quiet for the time being.
“Gekgekek.”
You've been through a lot, Lizamone.
“Heh, it was nothing. I just went about my business and set a huge fire on my way out.”
I'd heard about it, but it was still incredible.
How could she even think of starting a fire in the heart of the Murim Alliance and getting away with it?
It was reassuring to have her as an ally, but facing her as an enemy would be terrifying.
“Hehe, I burned a lot of important things, so they should be delayed for quite a while. There's a limit to how much humans can do to fight a fire, so it might still be burning.”
I'd better be careful she doesn't burn up my Power of Wood.
“Oh, by the way, you were pretty amazing yourself, Divine Beast. How on earth did you win over the Shaolin? Those grumpy old monks saw me and just looked the other way.”
Shaolin saw Red Dragon and looked the other way?
This was encouraging news.
The fact that they'd let her go—a woman about to commit arson in the Murim Alliance headquarters, no less—must have meant they weren't pleased with the current Alliance. Plus, there was my connection with the Iron Head Dragon.
“And the Shaolin Abbot asked me to give you this.”
For me?
A reward for saving the Iron Head Dragon?
Could it be a Great Reversion Pill?
No, even a Small Reversion Pill would be nice.
I gulped, admiring the sight of her pulling the item from her pouch.
The mysteries of the human body were truly profound.
What Red Dragon pulled out was a book.
“Geek….”
Unfortunately, I couldn't read the books of this world.
It was all Chinese characters. I might be able to recognize a few, but I couldn't fully comprehend the text.
See, at most I could only make out the characters for... Buddha's Palm?
Why could I read that?
And Buddha's Palm?
“Geeeeek!”
Why is the Buddha's Palm showing up here?
Just as demonic arts had techniques like the Black Killing Demon Palm, Shaolin had the Buddha's Palm.
“The Iron Head Dragon, was it? The abbot said to give this to him.”
The Iron Head Dragon wasn't officially a member of Shaolin, yet they were handing over such a precious manual? And from the abbot himself? What on earth was he thinking?
—Oh, the Buddha's Palm. Quite impressive.
Even the Heart Demon in my mind whispered. It seemed that even to a being versed in all sorts of demonic arts, the Buddha's Palm was something special.
I was a Divine Beast, after all. It would be nice to have a technique like that, not just demonic arts.
As I thought this, my grip on the manual tightened.
“…Baby?”
“Geek.”
I hadn't even realized I was doing it.
The Shaolin Abbot asked her to deliver this. I shouldn't be the one to read it.
“Hmph….”
Red Dragon hummed, looking at me.
“If you ask me,” she said, “shouldn't a precious secret manual like this be delivered in person?”
She was right. It was no exaggeration to say that a manual for a technique like the Buddha's Palm was directly tied to a sect's very survival.
“So why would the Shaolin Abbot entrust this to me?” Red Dragon asked in a suggestive tone.
“And do you really think that Iron Head Dragon fellow could learn this? Mmm, I doubt it.”
This woman...
“Shouldn't the person who needs it—no, the lizard who needs it—be the one to use it?” she purred.
Trying to tempt me with that silver tongue of hers!
—I agree. A martial art like that isn't something one can learn just by wanting to. When a fortuitous opportunity presents itself, you must seize it.
“Besides, if you want to pass it on to the Iron Head Dragon, wouldn't it be better for our Divine Beast to learn it first and then teach him himself?”
What devilish whispers.
No, I wouldn't fall for it.
I was a noble Divine Beast.
I would not succumb to the devil's temptations.
—That's right. No matter the reason, it is wrong to covet what belongs to another.
See? I could even hear the voice of an angel, opposing the Heart Demon.
...An angel's voice?
[「Dragon Eye」 is activated.]
Looking at the world through the power of the Dragon Eye, I saw the form of a wicked demon.
A Spinosaurus in flowing robes.
This had to be the demon.
—Hui, you can do it! Don't be fooled by their words!
I turned my head to look toward the angel.
The angel who was cheering for me, encouraging me not to give in to temptation.
“Geeeeeeeeek!”
Kuaaaack!
Why is that the angel?!
“Baby, what's wrong all of a sudden? You look like you're suffering from Qi Deviation.”
It wasn't just 'like' it; I might have actually been suffering from it.
No, but what the hell was that blue dinosaur?
With the long claws... A Therizinosaurus?
But why was it wearing clothes?
And a school swimsuit, of all things!
And what was this 'Miss Terry-chan'?
—What do you think? It's your Heart Demon.
But you're my Heart Demon.
—...Surely you don't believe I'm this bizarre creature with a sail on its back?
Then what is it?
—Just as your subconscious created my form, that thing is also a product of your subconscious. If I weren't here, that would have been your Heart Demon.
“Kkeeeeeek!”
I screamed.
What a horrifying sight.
—Hui, you mustn't give in to the demon's whispers!
said Miss Qi Deviation, her eyes sparkling as she pressed her long claws together.
If that's what an angel looked like...
I'd rather side with the demon.
I gently hugged the book Red Dragon had offered.
Iron Head Dragon, I'm sorry.
I'll pass it along after I'm done reading.
“…Baby, why didn't you just say you wanted to read it from the start?”
“Gekgek.”
Just be quiet.
This way, my conscience won't prickle.