Dark..
So dark..
Can"t even see anything even if I widen my eyes to the limit..
I don"t know how long I"ve been in this state..
But I"m slowly starting to recall..
Something about fighting something..
I remember I was scared to the point of crying..
What was it..
Ah, that"s right..
I remember now..
I died.
But wait, why am I conscious?
If my memory serves, I killed the dragon..
Right?
I must have let go of my consciousness after since the adrenaline that rushed into my head disappeared..
But even though I should have fallen off the cliff..
I can still retain my thinking..
Strange..
Well, not that it matters..
What does though, Is grasping the current situation..
I"m in a black s.p.a.ce..
It"s like an endless void..
And, no matter how much I try..
I can"t see a thing..
Wait a freaking second..
Did I go blind?
No, no, no..
This is just conjecture..
*Fuuuuu*
Anyway even if I did go blind..
It might have been a good thing..
I could become like those blind OP-MC"s in those novels I used to read while I had free time in my previous life..
Like sensing the sound waves due to heightened senses..
Or wearing cool sungla.s.ses while doing martial arts..
Yep, I"m running away from my problems again..
This is starting to become a habit..
(sigh) Anyway..
I have to find a way out of here..
Wait a minute..
If I can"t see, maybe I can gather aura into my eyes again..
Yosh, let"s try it, shall we?
I sense the aura around me and at the same time inside of me..
I try to move the aura through my veins simultaneously guiding it into my eyes..
It"s pretty hard to do..
Strange, I thought I mastered doing this a while ago..
But there"s something different about it..
Like there is a considerable amount going to each of my different colored eyes..
Notification
You have learned the skill [Aura Eyes] Proficiency 0.00%
Notification
Dragon"s Aura has been a.s.similated into body - Beginning to unlock 2nd Scripture
Huh? Is that why I"ve been sensing stronger aura?
Still I don"t fully understand..
Second Scripture? The heck is that?
Suddenly a blue window appears yet again clearing my dilemma..
Aura Gift
Divine Skill - 10 Scriptures of Aura
First Scripture Unlocked:
Enables you to use Aura Magic but disables any other magic
Second Scripture Unlocked:
Added skill: [Aura Absorption] - Enables you to absorb aura from stronger enemies after they have been slain
Remaining Scriptures - Locked State
Effects: +1000 AP, -200 LUK, +100 MP, +60 INT
Oh, how convenient..
Still.. if these windows are still popping out..
Does that mean I"m still alive?
It does, doesn"t it?
Wait, who am I saying this too..
Well, it"s fine..
Anyway.. now that I used [Aura Eyes], I can see now..
I seem to be in a maze..
This maze looks to be filled with stairs and doors..
But it"s strange.. The stairs and doors are sometimes inverted and looks like those paradox stairs..
Wherein.. if you climb upwards.. you find yourself going down..
Still can"t get a proper picture..
Hmm.. lets see.. This familiar scenery reminds me of a certain anime from childhood about monsters coming out from different cards.. Ah, it"s nostalgic..
So, I start to walk to one of the stairs..
I reach a door while climbing up? or was it down?
It doesn"t really matter anyway..
And the thing I found when I opened the door was..
*DRUM ROLL*
Nothing..
It"s locked dumb a.s.s..
I say to myself mockingly..
Okay, let"s calm down first and recount what happened so far..
I gained a skill and unlocked a scripture? What"s next..
Then as I looked around.. I noticed..
That if I look at a door with one eye..
The doors change color..
What"s with this..
Can this be a flag?
Okay, lets try it..
I close my left eye and focus aura into my right eye by covering the other..
I feel like a chuuni..
No, no I"m getting derailed again..
My red eye glows in a ruby-like light..
I see countless doors emitting strange green-light..
I sense faint auras from them..
But this is not what I want..
I want to find the exit..
(sigh) Let"s try the other one then..
I close my right eye and cover it with my right hand and gather aura into my left eye..
The sapphire-like glow of my right eye emits a faint light..
Ah, found it..
There"s a single door that is showing a deep purple light..
It might as well have been hanged up with a sign written in bold letters "EXIT"
Anyway.. time to go..
I think I feel little regret leaving so early..
There is too much mysteries in this place..
I don"t even know if I can come back again..
Well, I"ll cross that bridge when I get to it..
I put my hand on the door handle and push..
It"s not opening.. even when I try to pull it..
Am I stuck here?
Wait, let"s solve this by using aura again..
I gather aura into my palm and turn the handle..
*Click*
Haha, It opened.. I"m a genius! Just call me Mr. Problem-Solver..
I try to enter, but the purple light blinds me and I disappeared..
Hmm?
I open my heavy eyelids..
My body feels like brand new for some reason..
Even though I just fought a dragon..
No fatigue could be sensed..
I feel so refreshed..
But that didn"t last long..
"Oh, You"re awake?"
I find a man..
No this is not a BL love-story..
I mean when I woke up..
I was in a bed..
No, don"t get delusional..
I said this ain"t that kind of situation.. is it?
He looks to be a lean-bodied man with flowing silver hair cut short with red and gold streaks at the ends..
It seems he is a normal guy if you look at him from afar..
But when you"re this close..
I can tell..
This guy is hiding unimaginable strength in his body..
It"s faint but, I can sense a sliver of his aura and it"s too d.a.m.n strong..
It"s like his power level must be over 9000.. or something like that..
Anyway, I have to say something..
"Ah, Yes.. thank you for saving me.. My name is Orion, Orion Fullbringer.."
"It"s no problem.. I saw you floating down a river a while ago.. What happened to you anyway?"
"Huh, a river? Ah, yes I was fighting a dragon and fell into the river I think.. Oh, and thanks for treating my wounds.."
"Hou.. a dragon huh.. it seems like I shouldn"t judge a book by its cover, eh Orion-kun?"
He raises an eyebrow while grinning at me..
I feel cold sweat gathering on my back..
He"s not surprised that much from hearing that a child was fighting a dragon..
Might I have met a weird person?
Save me someone! (Dareka, taskete!)
And where did he get that quote from?
"Anyway.. You can call me Arc for now.. And what did you mean wounds? You were healthy as can be when I found you.."
What, did I get healed by someone before I got here? Whoever you are, thank you even though I don"t remember you.."
"Well, it is rare that someone fights a dragon nowadays.. haha"
"Haha, yeah..Don"t you doubt me?"
"Oh, It might seem strange to others.. but not to me.. I can feel it.. from you.. untapped potential.."
"Is that so?"
This is bad.. am I in danger here?
"Now that I look at you.. It is interesting finding out your true ability.. So here I go.."
It happened so fast..
I couldn"t react to it..
If I had to say in sequence of what happened..
First: He released a dreadful amount of killing intent..
Next: He drew a red sword out of nowhere..
Finally: He moved at instantaneous speeds towards me and swung it to my neck..
But stopped 1 mm from decapitating me..
I lost strength looking at the opponent in front of me and sat disgracefully on the ground..
I"m just like a child that"s throwing a tantrum..
That got scolded by his parents severely..
Wait.. I am a child..
No, this is not the time for a tsukkomi..
I find myself sweating bullets wondering what to do next.. scrambling at a nonexistent opportunity..
Isn"t this guy stronger than a dragon? How did he find me anyway?
As various panicked thoughts invaded my head like a whirlpool of emotions..
The dread stopped as if it was a lie..
"Hmm.. So that is the level at what you are now.. Sorry got a little excited there and showed half of my power.."
That was half?! What would have happened to me if he came at me seriously?
I shudder at the thought..
"Ah, It"s fine.."
I slowly catch my breath and stand up.. I can strangely recover from these situations really fast nowadays..
"Hou.. To even still talk while I released my killing intent at you.. I"m amazed.. Maybe there is value in tra-"
*GROWL*
"Ah.."
"Kukuku.. Are you hungry? Well, it"s not strange.. your clothes look like they"ve been out in the open air for days.."
I think that when my fear disappeared, something else replaced it..
This is so embarra.s.sing..
"Haha, don"t think about it too much.. Wait there, I"ll make something real quick.."
He goes to the direction of what seems to be a kitchen?
This scary old man can cook?
*Fuuu* I think nothing can surprise me anymore..
20 minutes later..
"Delicious!"
"Haha. I knew you"d like it.."
What is this.. this heavenly food that tastes like a feast for the G.o.ds..
The texture and heat from this meat and skin is softer than a pillow..
The soup fills you with unimaginable relaxation..
And the fish makes you feel like you"re submerged in a nice, cool, refreshing lake..
It makes everything I"ve eaten till now, yes, including my past life.. seem like bland crackers..
I"m so glad to be alive...
While I was munching with reckless abandon on the G.o.d-like meal..
"You know, if you want.. You can eat this everyday from now on.."
I almost spit out my food from what he said..
But I don"t dare do such a sacrilegious act towards this meal..
It"s disrespectful..
"What do you mean?"
I say with food filling my cheeks like a squirrel..
"Oh, going back to what I was saying before.. I want to train you.. I love finding potential and refining it to its limits.. It makes me feel that I can help a worthy opponent in the future grow.. and it alleviates my boredom.."
"Train? Me? And wait isn"t the main reason you"re doing this is cause you"re bored?!"
Honestly, I"m scared of training under this man.. he might be even worse than Nee-san..
Which reminds me.. I hope Nee-san is safe.. also dad..
Nope I don"t have preferential treatment to Nee-san over dad..
That"s just your imagination running wild.. (Kinosei2x)
But just as I"m arguing with my inner self as I always do..
"Hou, you caught me.. I just want to try my skills against someone worthy to keep up since I"m free anyway.."
"I"m free anyway.." Those words sound like a bored man to me..
"But do I really look like someone like that to you?"
"Of course.. ah, but you"re hesitating right? How about this.. I can make you meals of this level during your training days with me.. how about it?"
"I"LL DO IT!"
I said so without thinking..
What can I say, the stomach is weak..
Well, I can"t take it back now..
I can see him enjoying this..
"Excellent, well then.. we"ll start training tomorrow!"
"Ah, wait, one more thing.."
"Oh, What is it, my disciple?"
Huh? What"s with the disciple? I"ll beat you up old man!
I force my inner thoughts back into the abyss where they belong and speak in a questioning manner..
"You keep saying worthy opponent and something like that, but what does that mean?"
He makes a surprised face and it turns into an indifferent smiling face in a second..
Don"t think I didn"t catch that..
"Oh, it"s not something you need to worry about for now..*grin* But maybe it"s time to let you know a little about me.."
"?"
"My true name is Arcveil Ryuugal Deucarion, Former 1st Progenitor Dragon King.. You can call me "Master" from today on wards, Looking forward to training you, Orion-kun.."
This world just keeps getting stranger and stranger..