Chapter 303: Wings
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 303: Wings
“Hm? What do I think?”
I spoke to the Flame Dragon.
She was the first one I had to ask about what to do with the inner core.
Not only was she the strongest member of the Gaegaek Cult, but she had also finished off the Ice Dragon with her own hands, giving her every right to claim its inner core.
“Hmm… I don’t know. I don’t think I need it.”
“Gek?”
She doesn’t need it?
Don’t tell me she became some kind of sage after evolving.
But still, this is the inner core of a Profound Realm spirit beast.
“I ate a ton of elixirs and inner cores while I was staying at the Volcano. It’s not like I could have brought them all with me anyway. Oh, I did bring a few Purple Spirit Pills. I’ll share them when we get back to the Nest.”
Could you not say that like you just brought back a few snacks?
As expected of Lizamone.
To think she’d snag something as precious as Purple Spirit Pills and munch on all the elixirs and inner cores while staying at the Volcano and the Murim Alliance.
I don’t know who she takes after, but what an excellent pilfering habit.
“Besides, I haven’t gotten used to this new state yet. Unless you’re an incredible lizard like our Divine Beast, a powerful inner core can be like poison. Especially for someone like me who just went through a metamorphosis.”
“Ge-ek.”
Is that so?
I suppose I’m the odd one out for eating so many inner cores. For other beasts or spirit beasts, it’s something they might get to eat once in a lifetime, if ever.
Still, Lizamone went through the most trouble, so I think it’s only right to give her a proper reward.
After I defeated the Thunder Bird, I saw the Ice Dragon fall and passed out in relief.
Butchering that massive spirit beast and carrying me all the way to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was all her doing.
She must have used up most of her internal energy fighting the Ice Dragon, so even just flying must have been exhausting.
“Gek gek.”
“Hm? Oh, right. I was going to tell you about those spirit beasts, but I forgot for a moment.”
The spirit beasts?
“I didn’t have that hard of a time. You know that Dragon Pearl you carry around? It did all the work.”
“Gek?”
The Dragon Pearl?
You mean the fox marble?
Vwoom.
What did this thing do?
“I was wondering how to deal with them when it suddenly went shwaaak and sucked them right up.”
Sucked them up?
Guseuli absorbed those massive spirit beasts?
Well, this little guy did swallow Gongbok whole once, so I guess it’s not that strange.
Ever since then, Gongbok has been trapped inside the fox marble, taking turns with Guseuli to use that body.
But if it swallowed the Ice Dragon and the Thunder Bird this time… does that mean their consciousnesses were added to the bead?
No, I don’t think so.
In Gongbok’s case, he was swallowed along with his inner core. In their case, their bodies were absorbed after their inner cores were removed.
The inner core is the organ that can be called the source of a spirit beast. Without it, they couldn’t maintain their sense of self like Gongbok.
They just became a meal for Guseuli.
Even without their inner cores, we’re still talking about two Profound Realm spirit beasts. The internal energy inside Guseuli must have increased quite a bit.
And since it considers me its master, I can see it as my own power increasing.
Of course, if it hadn’t absorbed them, their remains could have been put to good use.
But it’s a thousand times better for Guseuli to have swallowed them than to leave them behind for someone else to claim.
Even for Lizamone, carrying all of that back would have been impossible.
“It was so much easier since it absorbed everything but the inner cores.”
“Gek.”
Still, what’s hard is hard.
She still had to drag her exhausted body to bring me to the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.
“Actually, I didn’t do that either.”
“Ge-ek?”
Then who did?
“Remember that Wyvern?”
Ah, right. There was that guy.
“The moment I showed it the inner cores of the Ice Dragon and the Thunder Bird, it prostrated itself. As if that wasn’t enough, it slammed its head on the ground and pointed its feet to the sky, bowing…”
The Wyvern was fated to obey us.
I had fed it a bit of my Hair Loss Poison and tricked it into thinking it was Gu-poison.
In a situation like that, what happens when we demonstrate the power to subdue both an Ice Dragon and a Thunder Bird?
What could it possibly do if it didn’t listen?
“Hmm, speak of the devil, I see it over there.”
Over there?
I looked where the Flame Dragon was pointing.
There was a massive carriage, and for some reason, the Wyvern I saw back then was wearing a bit and bridle.
“Khh… To make me, the ruler of the skies, do such a lewd thing…. To pull a… a carriage… and carry humans?”
It muttered to itself, looking strangely satisfied.
Looks like you found a good job, buddy.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult finally has a Dragon Carriage.
Given its size, it would be much faster than any carriage pulled by ordinary horses.
Plus, it had the irreplaceable advantage of being able to fly.
“If you want, Divine Beast, we could take it to the Nest, but I thought it would be better to have at least one creature with flight capabilities stationed here.”
She was right.
He served as a messenger under the Ice Dragon, so as long as we’re sure we have a leash on him, using him like this is for the best.
“Our side has me, and that little white bird too. She’s still small, but she could probably carry a few wolves.”
So she’s met Chirpy.
“By the way, Divine Beast, why have you been tapping my thigh this whole time?”
“Gerong.”
“You want me to pick you up?”
“Kkerong.”
As if she was used to it, the Flame Dragon grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and lifted me up.
“Gerorong.”
It’s nice how everyone has their own unique characteristics.
Just look at this pouch full of fire energy.
I wouldn’t even mind becoming a roasted lizard.
“Huuuhm… But our Divine Beast still can’t fly?”
“Gek?”
The Flame Dragon gently touched my shoulders.
“I haven’t seen that many dragons, but you don’t have wings, Divine Beast, so you can’t be the same species as me, right?”
“Gek.”
That’s right.
Technically, the Red Dragon and Ice Dragon have six limbs, while I have four.
“Then that means you’re a dragon from around here… but your body shape is more like ours.”
Of course, that didn’t mean I was an Eastern dragon.
They were long and slender.
The Snake Queen or Gongbok would be closer to that.
“The dragons here can fly without wings, and we fly with wings. But our Divine Beast… hmm, why can’t you fly?”
The answer is simple.
Wasn’t Gomodo called a dragon of the earth from the start?
And Jin-ryongs are dragons of the sky.
Why would they be called dragons of the earth?
Because they can’t fly.
“Ge-ek.”
Why must you rub salt in the wound?
“Hey, who cares if you can’t fly? Like you said, you can just ride on my back.”
“Gek gek!”
Right, there’s no need for me to fly.
If I ride on the Flame Dragon’s back, that’s as good as flying.
“…Hmph.”
That little scoff is suspicious, but let’s not point it out for now.
“And who knows? Maybe you’ll sprout wings when you go through your metamorphosis, Divine Beast.”
Sprout wings.
I’ll know for sure when I eat the refined inner core and see my evolution options, but there’s a high chance an option for a winged Western dragon will appear.
If I choose that, I’ll become a Western dragon.
But I don’t want to choose that.
I’m no Eastern supremacist, but an Eastern dragon was a much better choice than a Western dragon.
And since I carry the fox marble around like a Dragon Pearl, going the Western dragon route feels a bit off.
An Eastern dragon might be one thing, but how could a Western dragon carry a Dragon Pearl?
“Well, you know, there are some dragons that carry a Dragon Pearl and have wings.”
Huh?
Did she read my mind?
“Ge-ek…”
I glanced at her cautiously.
I had unintentionally bad-mouthed her kind right in front of her.
“Eh, it’s fine. Everyone’s like that, really. Our dragons also think they’re far superior to your kind of dragons.”
I wanted to call them winged lizards, but I figured a wingless lizard like me had no room to talk.
But there are winged ones among the Eastern dragons?
“Gek ge-gek?”
Now that’s something I’m curious about.
Aren’t Eastern dragons supposed to boast sleek, scaled bodies?
But wings?
“What was it again? They say a dragon grows wings after cultivating for ten thousand years?”
Cultivating for ten thousand years?
“They say they’re not wings like ours, but wings made of feathers.”
I frowned.
Feathered wings?
How could a dragon have wings like that?
It’s the end of the world.
“They call it a Yinglong, but of course, it’s just a legend. How could anything cultivate for ten thousand years? I can’t even wrap my head around it.”
Ten thousand years is an incredibly long time.
To put it simply, ten thousand years ago was a time when there were no traces of what could be called human civilization.
If a dragon had lived since before then and truly became a Yinglong after ten thousand years, it would be a being you could literally call a god.
…But in this world, it’s not entirely impossible, is it?
This is an age where ancient dinosaurs, for whom ten thousand years is a blink of an eye, are still alive. Wouldn’t it be possible for at least one dragon to have cultivated for that long?
Nah, no matter how I think about it, how could a feathered dragon exist in this world?
It’s a world with dinosaurs, but it’s more like they haven’t gone extinct for tens of millions of years, not that they’ve lived that long.
Let’s just think of the Yinglong as an old folktale.
…
Suddenly, a memory tried to surface.
I think some really ugly bird told me it would make me feathered wings.
Well, it’s probably not important.