Book 12: Chapter 53: Dragon's Pride (2)

For a moment, Dyon thought that Little Rain was finally waking up. Ever since the little guy swallowed the Fire Sprite, he had been sleeping within Dyon’s inner world. The only time Dyon remembered him stirring slightly was when Clara awakened to her true Fire Spirit Constitution.

Back then, Dyon also thought he might awaken soon. But once again, he fell dormant without a single stir.

In truth, Dyon had given up on Little Rain maybe ever awakening within his lifetime. The sort of timeline Sprites worked on was inconceivable. Dyon saw Little Rain as a child, but the truth was that it had taken the little guy billions to trillions of years just to finally form a consciousness. If he was going through a similar process again, who was to tell whether or not it would take just as long again?

If Dyon thought about it, the volcanic ore core really was the perfect treasure for Little Rain. It encompassed both the minerals that he loved as a mineral sprite, and the aspects of fire that came from his new fire sprite identity.

Unfortunately, even after a few seconds of anticipation, there were no more stirrings from the little sprite. Dyon could only sigh.

The strength of sprites not only came from their age, but the strength of the elements around them. The Sprite Race was one of the strongest Hegemons on the Immortal Plane for a good reason. And unlike the half sprites of the mortal plane, they were true, full sprites. Their power wasn’t even comparable.

Little Rain would be a powerful helper to Dyon if he could ever wake up. But Dyon simply didn’t have the luxury to wait for the little guy. He had to keep pressing forward with the assumption that Little Rain would never wake up.

Dyon zipped around the core of Mount Volaire and eventually found the five cores of the mist glass ores.

Unlike Little Chibi, Reaper swallowed all five. It wasn’t through a mouth of some sort, but rather through that odd projected eye.

In a single blink, Reaper had already fused its broken blade back together and looked as good as new. But, Dyon could tell that Reaper, too, had fell into a state of sleep.

“Alright… I guess that’s it for this place… Maybe I’ll come back another time to absorb the rest of the two stars… For now, my body has had enough of that kind of energy.”

Dyon felt that it was important not to only gather as much energy as he could, but to also diversify said energy. How could it be possible to perfectly break away from the Heavens if his foundation was only built upon a few things? He had no choice but to become a master of all.

The only shame in this trip was that Dyon hadn’t found any fundamental runes related to Laws. Dyon only now realized that despite the fact Laws were just one step above Daos, reaching them wasn’t so simple… There was a reason Immortal Law experts had their name.

Such a reality was why comprehension facet Overlords were so rare.

**

Outside Mount Volaire, the signs of the eruption event ending was becoming clearer and clearer.

Of the dozen or so Immortal Saints of the desert bubble world who managed to enter, many of them managed to survive, but there were two who were strikingly missing. The absence of Skull and Roe didn’t matter much to Crystella and the two young men, but to the desert world Immortal Saints, it felt like an explosion in their minds.

“Miss Nightwell, there’s really no need to stay here any longer. It’s obvious that he overestimated himself and ended up dying. You know we can’t be late for that event… Our harvests already aren’t bad.” Tedric tried to persuade Crystella for the umpteenth time.

The hours ticked by and Crystella’s frown only deepened. Soon, the rumbling of the mountain settled down and the temperature began to slowly drop. It was obvious that the eruption event was over now.

Crystella sighed. “Let’s go.”

Just when Crystella wanted leave, a sharp oppressive aura caused her to freeze. In that moment, she felt as though her blood had coagulated, slowing to the point it solidified.

A shiver traveled down her spine as her grip wrapped tightly around the fan in her hand.

If she was in such a state, one could only imagine the plight of the others. Kywen and Tedric fell to their knees atop Crystella’s flying treasure. As for the Immortal Saints of the bubble world who had only waited around out of respect, they were greatly regretting their actions now, falling and tumbling down the mountain side before just barely catching themselves.

The man who appeared carried a fiendish aura. The whites of his eyes were instead more appropriately called blacks, the only color in his gaze being the yellow reptilian pupils that flickered with murderous intent. His hair swept past even his feet, flying behind him more like a cape than anything else. His skin was an inhuman shade of black, darker than even the most starless and moonless night sky. The only signs that it was skin and not a sheet of formed metal were the pulsing red veins over his bare chest and heart.

He stood nude in the skies without a care, but his mere presence alone was suffocating.

It was at that point that another presence appeared. He too was bare chested, though the lower portion of his body was covered by pants made of soft fabrics, and his hair was not nearly as long while his skin was a much more natural tone.

He yawned, stretching his limbs out as though to prove he cared even less than the previous arrival did.

“Oh, old lizard. You finally made it here. Gotta say, that look is good for you. Very scary.” Dyon held up his fingers in an “okay” sign.