After the fight, Kivas could be seen staying at the crumbled ruin, soaking in dense rain. The torch kept on burning with zeal even when exposed to water. In fact, at one time when Kivas sank into the bottom of a deep river, the torch's fire kept on doing its thing as if nothing had happened.
'For those big and destructive creatures to form a hunting pack, either that there is a unique resource, or there was an even bigger beast in this forest.'
Even though Kivas had long retired back then, he was still a former soldier regardless. His instinct was forged to not only deal with the situation with gusto, but to also carry out things that benefit the best when it comes to results.
There was also that trait of discipline, but that value didn't really change Kivas much as he had disciplined himself the moment he lost his parents in the hope of giving his sister a little better life.
It was an old memory of an old life, if he were to correlate the fact that his consciousness had lived until the dying state of his former universe. He didn't plan to forget them nor let it affect him negatively, but he sure was grateful that his memory is all still intact.
'I guess I have been taking this cycle of mine as some kind of joke after I died on my very first try…'
Due to the realization that he won't be able to fully die no matter what, Kivas felt like he had slightly deem his survival is nothing but the result of his luck. Only after the ten death streaks did he realize that he was not putting his full effort.
All of the pain when he died was vivid, and it was not less agonizing than when he was a human. But at this point, Kivas had been quite detached from the concept of his own pain. If he were not to realize his lack of effort, then maybe he would experience another thousand deaths and he would not change much. After all, physical pain is nothing but a coping mechanism to soothe the pain from inside.
'Still, that was fun.' Kivas opened his claw, trying to hold the falling droplets. 'Being in another world is fun, no matter how harrowing the situation is.'
Kivas was either a battlefreak or a hippy for thinking like that, or was it the water from the rain that managed to enhance his mood.
Whatever was happening, Kivas felt like he was back in his youth again. His happier version of youth.
There would be no people judging him, there would be no chaining part-time done after hours and hours, there would be no obligatory homework and studying to get a scholarship. Amidst all of the bad things he encountered so far, everything was new.
'Speaking of new things.' Kivas put his sight onto his torch. 'While the light of the sword symbol on the torch handle has diminished, I can see it trying to absorb gold particles. Maybe I'll get the chance to use it again.'
Knowing that counting subconsciously is his forte, trying to determine the cooldown duration of the spellcard would be vital for his survival.
'And now! I have two purple orbs!'
He grabbed one of the purple orbs amidst the rain, disintegrating it until it reformed into two floating panels made out of thin flame.
The first one was his usual and beloved [Blight Expansion], the second panel of [???] had the symbol of the face of a chinese long-dragon covered in black and animated smoke coming out of its scales.
Kivas, who had always been more curious than a cat, knew which boon he would choose.
'THE COOLER ONE OF COURSE!! IS THERE EVEN THE NEEDS TO DEBATE ABOUT THAT!???'
As the second wind chime was triggered, the chosen panel finally revealed what the black dragon was all about.
-Boon of Constitution-
[Xuanlong's Constitution: Black Water Scales]
-The depth of truth is obnoxious. Would thou dare to defy what is in the right? They are the color of vengeance that many once feared. The fluttering black smokes from the crevice between each scales, are only visible when the repercussions are near-
As the converged golden orb hurled itself to Kivas, the surrounding area was covered with black mist.
It was a moment later where it's revealed that Kivas donned the ferocious black scales all over his body. The scales were variant in size. The one on the front area was relatively smaller and tighter, while the scales on the back and the tail were bigger and curved to the outside, leaving an exhaust crevice where all of the fluttering ink-like smokes were expelled.
As for his arms, the claws were covered with one big protective scale in each finger, with its end far protruding from the joint, creating the same exhaust crevice like the scales on the tail and the back. On the elbow part of each arm, were the same kind of covering scales but bigger. Unlike other scales, the exhaust part on the elbow was dimly glowing in violet.
'This is better than I thought, actually.'
With every movement that Kivas made, the exhaust leaves a trail of fluttering black smoke. Kivas didn't really know what the smokes do but he hoped that it was only aesthetic and didn't prevent him from socializing if he happens to found non-hostile mobs in the future.
'Then again, the black long-dragon represents vengeance…'
Regardless, he was happy with how the boon turned out. He even did the strong arms pose to commemorate the cool new appearance that he had gotten.
Until he noticed that scales boon didn't actually work when he was still having no constitution for the inner part of his body.
'I'm doomed…'
It might be the rain that kept on staying that Kivas hadn't felt any exhaustion. But surprisingly, he didn't feel the same choked feeling of not being able to absorb moisture from his scales. No, he was sure of it. The new scales didn't affect the moisture absorption. It was still the same as if Kivas had his slime outer layer.
'Who would have thought that something as obnoxious as the constitution of the dragon linked with vengeance and catastrophe was the best starting boon out of many I've tried.'
The best early boon was actually the one that gave him wheels, but Kivas didn't want to admit it.
'Wait, every boon has a requirement before being thrown into the drawing pool, and I've never seen this one before. Just what kind of harsh requirement is there to be able to unlock this!??'
The requirement is harsh alright.
Kill 3 dragons simultaneously, all dragons must be higher than lower species.
Kivas thought that it was the case, but being too humble to himself, he deemed that the requirement is to meet three dragons instead of killing them. As to why it was the Xuanlong's Constitution that had this requirement, it lies on the fact that no mere reason would drive a person to kill three dragons at the same time.
Well, it seemed like Kivas proved that wrong.
Without knowing the world outside of his torch's illumination, he didn't know that the sun had risen on the horizon, bathing the lives near the land and far away.