Chapter 39
Chapter 39
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Guardian Dragon's Nest (4)
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Boom!
The cave shook violently once more.
The iron door remained intact.
‘It’s not the entrance. It’s outside.’
Theo looked up at the ceiling.
‘Something’s happening on the cliff!’
Someone had clearly collided.
He had double-checked repeatedly that no one was pursuing him.
‘Or did they track me here after I vanished?’
That was possible.
After all, he had taken first place in the primary Awakening Ceremony.
Naturally, there would be plenty like Hyde’s gang gunning for him.
‘I’ve been away too long.’
It was time to head back.
“Something happening outside? The Awakening Ceremony?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“What a pointless endeavor. Driving children to their deaths... Well, thanks to it, I’ve had entertaining spectacles every year.”
Lordbroke chuckled softly, then pressed for an answer again.
“So, what’s your conclusion?”
“My answer remains the same. Lordbroke, I choose you as my reward.”
Drip!
Lordbroke’s movements halted.
Her face stiffened rigidly.
[You have selected ‘Ragnar’s Guardian Dragon - Lordbroke’ as your reward.]
[Title: Guardian Dragon’s Companion has been created.]
[Title: Descendant of the Founder has been created.]
[A spiritual link with Lordbroke is established. From now on, you can read parts of Lordbroke’s surface thoughts.]
Messages scrolled up one after another.
No more turning back now.
“...What in the world are you thinking? You’re no fool. Even with this chance handed to you!”
Lordbroke’s face twisted in fury.
“Or are you pitying me? Foolish! A selector duty-bound to stop a nameless lord, swayed by such sentiments—what good is that...!”
“We’ll find a way, won’t we?”
“What?”
Lordbroke flinched involuntarily at Theo’s calm reply.
“I’ll somehow find something to replace your shattered heart.”
“With what?”
“You said the Primordial Dragon’s relics are fragments of its soul, right? Since you’re the same kind of dragon, one of them might hold the answer.”
“...!”
“Even if not, chasing those relics will uncover various treasures or <mysteries>, and among them, there could be a substitute or something close.”
Pity?
Sympathy?
Maybe so.
Theo had seen his past self reflected in Lordbroke’s eyes.
But that didn’t mean he’d made a reckless, impulsive choice.
‘If I can stand with Lordbroke, I’ll gain a position incomparable to other successors.’
Just becoming the ‘companion’ of the Guardian Dragon who revived Ragnar alongside the founder Sigurd granted unmatched legitimacy.
Moreover, the treasures in Lordbroke’s nest were all exceptional, sure to aid his growth immensely.
“To the bitter end...!”
Lordbroke started to say something, then let out a deep sigh.
Her reformed expression mixed complex emotions.
“...You remind me of Sigurd, somehow.”
Then Lordbroke spoke again.
“Fine. You speak with such confidence, so I’ll trust you once. It’s absurd taking help from the son of the one who ruined me, but since you’re saving my life, you qualify as a companion. One condition, though.”
Theo nodded.
“I can’t leave the nest in this state. I’d lose mana and die in less than three months.”
Lordbroke smiled bitterly, raising her hand high.
A section of the library trembled, and a thick tome flew into her grasp.
“So until you find that ‘way,’ I’ll hibernate here. Take this.”
“What is it?”
“The grimoire <Amon>.”
“...!”
Theo received the tome from her with trembling eyes.
He never imagined encountering Amon here.
“You seem to know it? The one and only original in the world.”
“...I’m surprised it bears a demon’s name.”
“Demon? Ah, that’s how you know it.”
Lordbroke shook her head, continuing.
“Well, it did fall to rage and lose its ego later, so maybe that name fits... But originally, Amon was no such petty thing.”
Theo stroked the tome’s cover with his fingertips.
The supple texture felt good.
For a grimoire named after a demon, it emanated a reverent aura.
“Amon originally means ‘hidden existence,’ symbolizing all unseen things. Its other name, ‘Om,’ is the primordial sound that echoed at creation, a sacred vibration condensing all cosmic resonances—chanting it alone purifies the soul, they say.”
Theo’s eyes widened.
From Lordbroke’s explanation, it sounded less like a grimoire and more like a ‘holy scripture’ or ‘sutra.’
“Study this in the meantime. It’ll open your mind.”
Lordbroke tapped her forehead with her index finger.
Theo’s eyes widened instinctively.
He knew exactly what that meant.
—The brow chakra opens.
The human brain is the seat of the soul.
‘Opening’ it meant not just heightened cognition and judgment, but a connection to the vital energies flowing between heaven and earth.
In other words, spiritual growth.
A tremendous leap forward.
An elevation in <realm>.
The coveted boon every sword-pursuing warrior dreamed of.
‘This is why Heukseol chose this!’
The realm boost would have been immense power for their successor.
“Amon is the ‘soul’s sound’ and ‘truth’s vibration.’ It expands spiritual waves to awaken objects’ essences and hear the voices of latent thoughts within. Reach a certain level, and you’ll hear my voice too.”
...Soul’s sound? Truth’s vibration?
What were spiritual waves and objects’ essences?
Difficult terms, but one thing was clear.
—Even after leaving, he could converse with Lordbroke.
And that meant one thing.
“Then from that point, I can truly borrow Lordbroke’s power.”
Borrowing Lordbroke’s power meant receiving the same boons as founder Sigurd.
In other words, becoming a ‘true’ Dragon Lord!
Thump thump thump!
Since ancient times, Dragon Lord was the seat every Ragnar swordsman coveted after Sigurd.
Theo’s heart raced wildly, as if the path lay open before him.
“Calling me by name already? Cheeky companion.”
“I thought companions could use names. If it bothers you, I’ll go back to ‘Guardian Dragon.’”
“Never mind. Just hearing it makes my arms itch.”
Lordbroke waved it off dismissively.
“You’re right. Once we communicate properly, you’ll gain the same privileges your founder did. The ‘dragon factor’ dormant in your blood will awaken.”
The founder’s power.
Theo clenched his fist.
“Of course, my recovery comes first. Remember, I told you—I have at most two or three years left.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make it happen.”
“Hope your skills match your bold words.”
[Acquired ‘Grimoire - Amon’ as additional reward.]
[Check the contents inside the book for usage instructions.]
[Gained massive experience.]
[Level up.]
Lordbroke clapped loudly.
Clap!
“With this, I declare the primordial covenant complete. Let’s get along from now on.”
The solemn Lordbroke’s lips curved into a faint smile.
“My new companion after a millennium.”
Her voice brimmed with playfulness.
And.
Flash!
Theo felt enveloped in light, then a twisting space sensation hurled him to another area.
Before the light filled his vision, the last thing Theo saw was Lordbroke reverting to her true form and entering hibernation.
Just before his eyelids closed.
Her two golden pupils seemed to gaze somewhere else.
Somewhere like a distant past.
* * *
Whoooosh...!
Theo appeared on the cliff above the Guardian Dragon’s nest—the exact spot where he’d clashed with Hyde’s gang.
Like a dream.
Theo thought absently.
Meeting the Guardian Dragon, becoming her companion, obtaining Amon. All felt distant, like a dream.
But the grimoire in his right hand proved it all real.
‘Get it together. Reviving Lordbroke means plenty to handle.’
Especially finding a Dragon Heart substitute required utmost caution.
Since Kyle had taken Lordbroke’s Dragon Heart, discovery would end badly.
Clap!
Theo lightly slapped his face to refocus.
‘First, find the nearest safe zone from here.’
The secondary Awakening Ceremony scored hunted beasts over a fortnight.
But a hidden ‘other’ test lurked.
Completing it required gathering as many totem types as possible.
‘Direction... southwest?’
Following the Dragon’s Heart’s sharp senses, Theo scanned surroundings.
Snowstorm half-obscured them, but bloodstains and battle traces dotted the tundra.
Traces of the shocks felt from Lordbroke’s nest.
Theo crouched, touching bloodstained soil with his index finger.
‘Battle ended mere ten-odd minutes ago. Nine? No, ten involved. Three factions: five, four, one.’
Drawing on past-life experience, Theo swiftly inferred events.
Two similar-sized, skilled groups clashed, ensnaring a nearby lone figure.
The issue: that one matched both factions in prowess.
Hence the massive clash.
The lone one overcame numbers briefly but fled gravely wounded.
‘That one headed to the totem site. The other two pursue.’
Grasping the situation, Theo moved swiftly.
Targeted appearance meant they hunted him.
Strike while they were chaotic.
Moreover,
If Theo’s guess held, the pursued was a familiar examinee.
* * *
“Hah, hah, hah...!”
In a cave impossible to find without knowing the terrain amid the snowstorm.
Ray Ragnar leaned against the wall, pressing her left side wound.
Blood gushed from it.
“Hnng!”
Sizzle!
Her hand paled whitely, ice encasing the wound and staunching the flow.
[Ice White Kidney].
One technique her master taught to treat her Nine Yin Blocked Meridians.
“Whew...!”
Ray finally caught her breath.
Exhaustion brimmed from battles and pursuit.
Without scouting this totem cave beforehand, guarding against scent-drawing beasts would’ve been madness.
“That child... how did he... endure this... all this time... in such situations...?”
Ray now found Theo miraculous.
Even she fatigued against nine.
How had Theo coped, targeted from the secondary Awakening Ceremony’s start?
“Nothing must’ve... happened to him...”
Ray closed her eyes gently.
The exam field’s top issue among examinees: ‘Where’s Theo hiding?’
Worried, Ray moved solo.
Then encountered two factions.
The Gyo Dragon Society crew.
And Plum Palace trainee swordsmen.
Gyo Dragon Society chased Theo obviously.
Axion’s orders, surely.
Unfathomable: why Plum Palace trainees bore ‘killing intent’ toward Theo.
Despite rumors of the Plum Palace Lord wanting him as disciple.
So Ray collided to divert them from Theo.
These wounds stemmed from that.
‘Before they find that child, I must find him first.’
To repay the childhood debt.
Rest briefly, then move.
As Ray thought and closed her eyes—
Slash!
She wildly swung the sword at her feet.
Crack-crack!
Instantly, ice blanketed the cave interior.