Like a Dragon (5)
Vintage glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. A back ramrod straight with reverence. In his hand, a fancy fountain pen.
Scribble—
After writing for a long while, Skal finally spoke.
"No......"
Soon after, a wail filled the Rothschild mansion.
"This isn't it!!"
What had he been writing? No one would ask, even if they saw.
At this moment, every player was scribbling with one purpose in mind.
The only path to the Arcana Continent. Permission to use the access device from Hoyeol.
The declaration had been made at the Mage Tower's roundtable, but it wasn't limited to the tower's mages.
What mattered was a legitimate purpose, not affiliation.
Thanks to that, not just players, but even Arcana natives were suffering through unexpected creative torment.
For a brief moment, he tore at his hair.
Skal gripped the fountain pen again.
Even now.
"......Endure, Skal."
His competitors wouldn't stop writing.
But Skal was confident.
No one desired this more desperately than he did.
A greeting that would make the recipient faint if he read it.
Yet Skal placed the period with a grave expression.
Then he shifted his gaze to the quest window.
Dragon Knights' Assembly
📍 Witness dragons gathering on the continent to verify the 'great clan's' return. (Failed)
📍 Encounter the dying ancient dragon. (In Progress)
A dragon—none other—was dying......!
There might be countless ancient dragons in Arcana, but Skal had his instincts.
The class quest story was already unfolding in his mind.
'I save the ancient dragon in peril, our intimacy rises, and I finally mount a dragon for the first time....... It's obviously that kind of quest progression......!'
Of course, he had no idea how to revive a dying dragon.
But his immediate goal was simply to encounter the ancient dragon.
If he could enter the Arcana Continent via the access device.
It would mean massive progress on the class quest.
And one step closer to becoming a dragon knight.
"No player desires this more than I do, Lord Hoyeol......!"
He wasn't wrong.
At the same moment, one man was writing his access permit application with even more fanatic zeal than Skal.
But he was a senior mage of the Mage Tower, not a player.
Endless agony.
This isn't it. Nor this. This either......!
After shredding several sheets of parchment, Skal steeled himself.
"No need for fancy packaging."
Lord Hoyeol would see through it anyway.
Better to lay his purpose bare.
After all, hadn't Lord Hoyeol known something about the ancient dragon?
'He even knew the name Yunak Seus.'
Perhaps he could prove useful to Lord Hoyeol's endeavors.
With swelling anticipation, Skal carefully scribbled with the fountain pen.
Then.
"......?"
His vision flickered.
Skal flinched.
He'd just been writing—nothing about experience or levels.
No skill proficiency rise either.
Only one thing could sparkle like that: a quest.
Chills ran down his spine.
"......N-No way?!"
Had the dying ancient dragon perished?
Dark clouds gathered on Skal's face in an instant.
He steadied himself and checked the quest.
Then let out a sharp sigh.
"......Huh?"
Encounter the dying ancient dragon. (Failed)
It was a failure, sure.
But why a question instead of a scream?
Because the following message made it clear.
The ancient dragon hadn't died.
The Ancient Dragon's Final Flight
📍 The dying ancient dragon has resolved to burn its end for its kin's future.
📍 Witness the ancient dragon's final rebuke that shakes the continent. (In Progress)
"W-What?!"
He had no choice but to panic.
Just moments ago, it was dying, wasn't it?
While he'd been scribbling.
What the hell had happened......?
"For its kin's future? A rebuke that shakes the continent......?"
A new quest had appeared!
Wondering if anyone knew, Skal logged into the community.
"Nothing."
No difference.
Everyone was just churning bait about access devices and Lord Hoyeol's greatness.
No mention of the ancient dragon, even if he searched with fresh eyes.
'......It's a quest only for me.'
Dragon knight.
Because he held the dragon-related class.
Even if he didn't understand.
Even in the utterly alien real world.
A world quest had appeared for certain.
In that sense, Skal burned with even greater zeal.
"No time for despair."
Class quest failed?
Just succeed at the new world quest.
Skal glared fiercely and filled out the access permit application.
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss......
*
What a pity, Skal.
Things turned out this way......!
I checked the message before my eyes.
Mounts.
Even back when Arcana was just a game.
They were a crucial element for players.
The Arcana Continent was vast.
In cities with constant portals, mounts weren't needed, but beyond them, carriages or horses were essential.
No one had the time or stamina to run long distances.
'Mount rentals were no joke back in my day.'
That's why knight classes were popular among noobs.
Reclass to knight, join any order, and get a free horse.
Of course, as obvious as it gets.
Demon hunters had zero relation to mounts.
Just look at the Akkshan routine.
Demon hunters trained stamina daily.
With sturdy legs, why need a mount?
No need for long explanations—check the skill list.
Just Predator-Prey Relationship, Exorcism Ritual, Silver Mastery.
'No riding skills, obviously.'
So when Yunak Seus offered, I worried a bit.
What if I fell off...... no, crash-dragoned and lost a precious life?
But Skal's obsession with mounting dragons wasn't unfounded.
Effect: Proficiency in all mounts rises to maximum.
Duration: Permanent
Is this really just an achievement effect?!
Even for a first-time feat.
Max proficiency in all mounts, permanently?
It was an effect to make eyes bulge out.
Yet, as always, I showed none.
"This view is not displeasing."
I stood tall on Yunak Seus's back, as ever.
As if it weren't the achievement.
As if mounts were always familiar.
"I thought I would never fly again."
Gliding once more—did it feel fresh?
Yunak Seus spoke in a voice thick with emotion.
I felt the same, though I didn't show it, Yunak Seus.
'I didn't expect this either.'
According to Skal.
Mounting a dragon was the dragon knight class's ultimate goal.
A vista only seen by completing the class quest fully.
Was the one I now beheld from Yunak Seus's back.
In that sense......
......How many steps did I skip?!
The reason I could leap ahead wasn't anything else.
'......Claudy.'
Yunak Seus's stubbornness is no joke.
No need to go far—look at 'that day' when fortune favored us.
Even as youngest High El tried to dissuade him.
He left only "worry not" and sought true death.
In that light.
'The Claudy halo outshines even the World Tree genealogy......?'
......Truly terrifying, Claudy family!
As I sighed inwardly.
Speak of tiger—or dragon—and it appears.
Yunak Seus politely asked me.
"May this lowly ancient dragon inquire after the Claudy name?"
My name.
Revealing it was no hardship.
I answered without hesitation.
"Lee Hoyeol. That is my name."
If you expected the horrific full name, you'd be mistaken.
Anyway......
He's not telling me to get off now that he's seen the wrong person, right?
'Complicated to explain, but anyway, both are me.'
Fortunately.
It was mere worry.
Yunak Seus continued in a satisfied tone.
"I shall not forget this grace, Lee Hoyeol Claudy."
......Hold on.
What did you just say?!
What kind of grotesque fusion name is that, on par with Grandfell Claudi Arpeus Romeo?!
It's Lee family Hoyeol, not Claudy Hoyeol......!
In that world.
In Korea, family name first, given name last.
So please, no more horrific names like Lee Hoyeol Claudy!
'But when to explain......?'
I wanted to kindly detail true genealogy over World Tree nonsense—what bon-gwan, dolimja means.
No leisure for that.
Suddenly.
My vision flickered.
An appearance message.
In a flash.
Whoooosh—!
A uncontrollable chill whipped through the dimensional rift, where only darkness existed.
No, not just aura.
Frost actually swirled before my eyes.
Proznax's chill transforms the area.
Indeed, dragons, kings of all beasts.
Turning even a dimensional rift into their parlor.
As darkness receded, an icy world revealed itself.
Atop a towering iceberg that had risen.
An ice dragon spread wings like a statue.
Peace, Enter the Ice Dragon's Snowy Mountain
Peace, huh.
I should rejoice.
But no time for that either.
Yunak Seus roared ferociously right away.
"Proznax!!"
Old acquaintances and kin, after all.
Better for Yunak Seus to enter first than me.
I retract my naive thought.
"Speak not my name, hypocrite, Yunak Seus!!"
No blood, no tears among you lot!
Thanks to riding Yunak Seus, I felt it.
My heart pounding uncontrollably.
These two dragons meant business.
Screeech—!
The blowing snow was bitterly cold.
Were it not for the eternal snowflower elixir consumed to open circles.
I'd have frozen solid already.
I spoke to High El, who struggled not to show it.
"Withdraw from here, High El."
"I apologize for being useless, my lord."
"No need for apologies. Well done."
Even innate spirit High El couldn't endure the chill.
To manifest such a brutal place himself.
Worthy of the grand title ice dragon.
But thanks to the frigid air.
A cooled head let me assess the situation.
First, no demonic presence in the dimensional rift.
Predator-Prey Relationship not activated.
'Power at half—nay, quartered.'
Caught in an ancient vs. ice dragon family feud like this.
Anyone would say it's Lee Hoyeol's head exploding in a dragon fight.
But.
"Cooler than chilling, indeed."
I spoke nonchalantly.
Thanks to Grandfell's unyielding pride?
Pride can't be ignored, of course.
"Is this welcome over, ice dragon?"
But underestimate not, king of beasts.
"Then 'tis the Mage Tower's turn."
Temper-wise.
The Mage Tower, second place intolerable, mages' lingering spite......!
Dragons unaccustomed to defeat and humiliation?
Mage Tower mages are the same.
After Dragon-Mage War defeat, what did the tower do?
Tremble eternally, deeming dragons untouchable?
As if!
Especially 'that one' I knew was utterly mad in this regard.
To him, an ice dragon?
Perhaps like gazing in a mirror.
In that sense.
Your weakness, ice dragon, he knew best.
One magic tome left in the Mage Tower library.
Thirty Ways to Fell the Ice Dragon
Its author: Senios of Eternal Snow.
I gazed at ice dragon Proznax and intoned.
"In the Dragon-Mage War ye deemed mere sport, the tower learned. Imperfect humans agonized, thrashed, crawled forward. And reached ye once more."
Then I drew the first way to fell the ice dragon.
"?!"
A message appeared.
Thawing occurs on Ice Dragon, Proznax.
"Doth it still feel a amusing sport?"