The Dragon's Fragment
Gunter had returned to the Blue Magic Tower.
“Huh? Senior. You’re already back?”
When he stepped into the lounge, Jo Difel and Casian were there. The two of them tilted their heads in confusion at the sight of Gunter returning so soon.
It wasn’t for nothing that mages hated missions.
Assignments that required leaving the tower usually took a long time. They offered plenty of merit points in return, so people went through with them while grumbling, but in truth, everyone preferred indoor duties.
“Don’t tell me you gave up on the mission and came back?”
“As if. I finished it.”
Gunter shrugged.
The mission the tower had given him was to make a name for the Blue Magic Tower in the city of Milberg. Originally, he should have been roaming the mountain range, diligently hunting monsters.
For Gunter, whose specialty was offensive magic, failing the mission was unlikely, but the standard approach involved spending a considerable amount of time living in the mountains.
“I caught some Extreme Martial God Sect members.”
“What?!”
However, from the moment he captured those cultists, everything else became unnecessary.
Although he had handed the captured cultists over to the Rodonos House, the mere fact that he had caught them was a tremendous achievement.
The Extreme Martial God Sect was an enemy of the continent and caused all sorts of problems. Moreover, the ones operating secretly across the continent rather than in Monster Land were experts at hiding, making them as annoying as cockroaches.
Capturing cult members earned far more merit points than killing one or two monsters.
“Whoa. Extreme Martial God Sect members… that’s amazing. What were they like? Are they really that strong?”
“Hmm… they were pretty strong. They kept firing advanced fire magic combinations without any casting.”
“That sounds tricky. How did you catch them?”
“Jun did.”
“Sorry?”
“Jun brought them in. Just suddenly.”
“?”
Every time Gunter recalled that moment, he found it absurd.
When the fight with the cultists broke out, he had been full of determination to show the dignity of a senior, yet in the end, he hadn’t done a single thing.
Lim Dojun had blocked several of the enemy’s attacks, and then the cultists suddenly fled.
-Senior. I’ve caught these guys. Let’s report them together and split the merit points.
-???
The next day, after a good night’s sleep, Lim Dojun had casually brought in the captured cultists.
He handed them over to the city guards, reported to the Blue Magic Tower, and even made sure Gunter’s name was included in the credits.
“Wow… Senior. What kind of luck is that…?”
Jo Difel and Casian looked like they were dying of envy.
The two of them had turned down Lim Dojun’s offer to join him because they didn’t want to climb another mountain, but now they were regretting it.
“Anyway, what are you two up to?”
Gunter glanced at what Jo Difel and Casian were looking at.
The pair, who had been in the lounge from the start, were completely focused on something.
A thick book, countless notes, and various scraps of paper.
In the middle of it all was an ancient sheet of paper that looked like it would tear if you even breathed on it.
“Ah. While you and Jun were away on your mission, I took on the task of organizing the ancient archives.”
To earn even a small amount of merit points, Jo Difel had accepted the job of cleaning the ancient archives.
It was a place packed with books and materials so old that no one could tell when they had first been stored there. Many of them were enchanted, so everything had to be cleaned by hand. It was an exhausting task.
While working surrounded by clouds of dust, Jo Difel had happened to pick up a single sheet of paper that had fallen from an old book.
“It’s a map written in ancient script. We’ve been trying to decipher what it says—whether it’s about a ruin or a dungeon, what’s stored inside, and its exact location.”
“I see. If it’s Casian, she should be able to figure it out quickly.”
Exploration and expedition majors were rare, but each one possessed exceptional expertise.
They could decipher most ancient languages in the blink of an eye.
Yet Casian let out a sigh.
“It’s not that simple. The language on here is from an extremely early period of ancient script, so even I had to look it up in reference books. But I still couldn’t make much progress, so we’ve been struggling with it for a while.”
Not all ancient languages were the same.
Some eras had well-preserved records, while others were so old that almost nothing remained. The characters from those periods had incredibly complex derivatives, making interpretation nearly impossible.
“Still, we’ve managed a rough translation.”
Casian showed Gunter the notebook spread out beside the map.
Gunter read the scribbled words.
“Dragon… Heart… Fragment… sealed? Maintained? Place?”
📍 Location: Unknown (Ancient Ruins Suspected)
📍 Contents: Fragment of a Dragon Heart (Sealed)
* * *
The Canyon of Frozen Snow, where he had gone to awaken the secret sense of the Blue Magic Tower.
“…You may go.”
“Thank you, Senior. I received a great deal of help thanks to you.”
“Don’t go around telling people about this.”
Cedric waved his hand dismissively.
He hadn’t actually done anything for Lim Dojun.
‘So this is what a true genius looks like.’
He used to think the stories of mages who had left their mark on history were somewhat exaggerated, but after seeing Lim Dojun, his opinion had changed.
It really seemed possible.
Despite entering the Canyon of Frozen Snow, the cold hadn’t affected him at all. He had instantly communicated with an ancient spirit and awakened the Frozen Sensation.
It was something no mage of this era could have done.
“May I take this spirit with me?”
Lim Dojun pointed at the butterfly still resting in his arms.
He had heard it was an ancient spirit and incredibly dangerous, but what he felt from it was completely different.
A tremendous sense of closeness had formed between them—so much so that they could roughly understand each other’s words.
‘This must be because I possess a dragon’s will.’
Or perhaps it was because his body was gradually transforming into that of a dragon.
According to legend, dragons had commanded countless spirits. It was probably for that reason.
“No. It’s not simply because it belongs to our tower. If that spirit leaves the canyon, it will die.”
Cedric shook his head.
“It has dwelled in this land for so long that it has completely fused with the earth itself. The canyon is a sanctuary that allows the spirit to exert its full power. Having merged with this place over such a long time, it cannot survive outside for long.”
-Flutter flutter.
The spirit flapped its wings as if to confirm his words.
In that motion, Lim Dojun could sense its regret at not being able to go with him.
“Then there’s nothing I can do.”
Lim Dojun left the canyon, remembering the day they would meet again.
Cedric returned to his duty as a watcher, and Lim Dojun rode the drake back to the city just as he had come.
‘Now I just need to return to the tower.’
He had expected it to take at least several more days, but it had ended faster than anticipated.
After arriving in Milberg.
He could take the warp gate from here back to the Blue Magic Tower in Bellangs, but before that, he stopped by the Rodonos House just in case.
He had handed over the Extreme Martial God Sect members and wanted to check whether they were being properly managed. He also wanted to see how well they were settling in.
After all, he probably wouldn’t be coming here for a while.
“Oh. You came at just the right time.”
When Lim Dojun visited, Olivia greeted him as if it were perfect timing.
“You’re not going to ask me to do something again, are you? I’ve already paid off my debt, so from now on I’ll be expecting fair compensation.”
Lim Dojun spoke first just in case, but Olivia shook her head as if that wasn’t the case.
“We can handle most things with our own strength now. The Extreme Martial God Sect incident was an exception. The rest we can manage on our own. The reason I wanted to see you is because I have something to give you.”
“Something to give me?”
“Come inside.”
Olivia led him into her office.
-Thump.
“!”
The moment Lim Dojun entered Olivia’s office, he immediately understood what she meant.
The fountain pen lying on her desk.
His entire body’s blood seemed to boil, and every nerve in his body was drawn toward that fountain pen.
-Thump thump.
“Last time, when you destroyed my necklace, you asked me to look for anything that gave off a similar energy. So I went through every miscellaneous item that came into our trading company.”
Olivia had worn a necklace containing dragon bone for a long time.
Thanks to that, although she didn’t know exactly what it was, she had become able to distinguish the aura that dragon bone emitted.
Remembering Lim Dojun’s request, she had examined all sorts of objects even while busy.
In truth, she hadn’t expected much, but by pure coincidence, she had found one.
“What do you think? It’s faint, but this fountain pen gives off the same energy as my necklace. Is this what you’re looking for?”
“…….”
Lim Dojun approached the fountain pen as if possessed, and Olivia handed it to him.
-Crackle.
It shattered into pieces and turned into smoke that was absorbed through his nose and mouth.
Dragon's Body
Current Dragon's Body Ratio: 2.02%
“Ah…”
Lim Dojun felt a profound sense of fullness spreading throughout his body and a satisfaction as if his soul were expanding.
From across the room, Olivia muttered in disbelief.
“You did the same thing last time. I’d better never bring you anything valuable again.”
It was fortunate that it had only been treated as an antique fountain pen. If it had been expensive, it would have been quite painful.
Although Lim Dojun was her benefactor, as someone now running a trading company, she couldn’t ignore the account books.
A few times might be fine, but if it happened every time, it would definitely take a toll.
“Haha. Thank you so much, Lady Olivia. It was exactly what I was looking for.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“If you happen to find anything like this again, may I ask you to save it for me?”
“…I’ll have to pray that it’s nothing too expensive.”
Olivia grumbled but nodded as if it were only natural.
* * *
-Vwoooong!
After passing through the gate, Lim Dojun arrived back in Bellangs.
This trip to Milberg had yielded a great deal.
‘The Extreme Martial God Sect, the Frozen Sensation, and unexpectedly, even my Dragon’s Body ratio has increased.’
His Dragon’s Body, now in the 2% range.
His physical condition had clearly changed.
He clenched his fist tightly.
Although Lim Dojun was a mage, the power boiling inside his body was immense.
At this level, he might already be comparable to a knight or higher, even if he wasn’t entirely sure.
Of course, he had never actually fought a knight from this world.
‘It’s about time I started preparing to obtain the next cultivation method.’
However, as his Dragon’s Body ratio increased, the rate at which his body was stiffening had risen sharply.
Even now, he could feel his left ring finger becoming slightly stiff.
He needed to prepare countermeasures immediately.
He currently possessed 7 achievement points.
Lim Dojun estimated that once he reached around 10 points, something related to healing injuries or curses would appear.
But he couldn’t keep riding drakes forever, and earning large amounts of achievement points wasn’t easy. Therefore, he needed to obtain a higher-level cultivation method.
‘Once I enter the secret arts, I should qualify to receive a higher cultivation method.’
From what he had heard, there was a supreme cultivation method passed down only to the Tower Master.
If he could prove that he was worthy of becoming the future Tower Master, he would be able to receive it without issue.
In that case, the immediate task was to enter the secret arts.
Putting off his report, Lim Dojun returned straight to his training room and took out a book.
The Blue Magic Tower’s secret arts, which could only be learned after mastering intermediate magic and the Frozen Sensation.
His goal was to master the secret arts in a single day.