As I was following Jingliu we finally arrived at the top of a little mountain that had a little lake with a tiny island in the middle.
'Geez Adepti really love their homes in high places huh' I thought to myself inwardly as we reached the mountain. As I kept following her we walked through a little path of stones that led to the little island that had a stone table and chairs. we sat down as I spoke. I also had Rika I her human who was regenerating her lost arm
"So each of us can ask a question but we can ask a question in return Sound good," I said as he nodded "You go first"
She nodded and said "were did you get that ring from" She asked
"I obtained it as a reward for helping out a village It seemed like the keepsake of the village chief," I said, well It's not wrong I did get it from helping Modstat but I can't tell her that so il just tell her half-truths.
narrowing her eyes she nodded and then it was my turn to ask the question "Are you an Adepti" I asked making her raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, you know our kind? usually, people would call us, divine beasts, Beastmen, monsters. But they have never called us by our true name, but to answer your question then yes I am an Adepti" she answered.
"Who are you?" she asked
"Hmmm, well I am many things but I would just say that I am a humble traveler who likes to collect cool stuff," I said as if that wasn't a lie. In my past life, I enjoyed gacha games a lot because I liked collecting cool items and characters. And I am no different in this life as I also like getting cool weapons and items from the system gacha.
"So a treasure hunter of sorts huh, and a traveler," she said as she went into deep thought.
"Are there more of you and if so how strong would you call yourself against them?" I asked.
Honestly seeing her strength all I wanted to know right was if there were any others of her kind to avoid as I didn't want to fight them at least not until I was strong enough.
"...yes there are more of my kind and if I had to compare my strengths then I would be ranked 5th"
'Shit 5th with that crazy speed!, even with my strength I was barely able to parry her attacks and I'm sure she didn't go all out' I said as I contemplated how weak I was.
"How did you manage to manifest your and erase time" she asked
"Um well that's a toughie, ... throughout my travels, I found this arrow or more like a key called a stand arrow. if you stab yourself with it it allows you to manifest your soul with a unique ability for each stand user" I said as it wasn't a lie just that the method in which I got it was twisted a bit.
"I see... do you have any more of the arrows" she asked curiously.
"Nope If I did then I would have probably used them to see if I can unlock more of my soul's potential" Yeah I would have definitely used them to see if I could upgrade [King Crimson] or get a new stand.
Hearing my words she looked disappointed "Pity I would have liked to study one of those arrows. it is rare to find artifacts related to the soul"
"Alright my turn, What kind of Adepti are you" I'm confident that she is a crane but knowing that there should have been more species before the archon war happened and erased them all from the map, I was just curious
"I am a heavenly snow Crane, My kind have great aptitude with ice and water Adeptal arts and we can control and create ice naturally without Adeptal energy as it is a skill of our bloodline, hence the name heavenly snow," she said.
Oh a heavenly snow Crane, I haven't heard of that before. wonder what other types of species there are. But as I was having such thought Jingliu spoke.
"Now for my last question... what are you?"
"Huh?, What am I?" I asked in confusion.
"Yes, what are you? I'm sure you are human but at the same time, you are not. including the fact that you can sprout out the wings of a dragon and you also give off the aura of one" she said as she waited for my response.
'Dam she's right what am I, when I gained the Eikon power of Bahamut I'm sure that it changed my soul or something.
'System what am I' I asked in mind?
[Host if I would describe what you are then I would say you are a living Divine Light dragon spirit]
'Divine Light Dragon Spirit?' I said in confusion.
[indeed host, originally the Eikons were separate entities that attached to a person's soul and lent their powers to them until they moved on to the next one. but in your case, you combined your soul with Bahamut and became a Divine Light dragon spirit or in simpler terms a high Ranking Light spirit in the flesh]
'Dam really' I thought inwardly as I didn't even know about this in the first place.
looking back at Jingliu I said "Well my case is kind of complicated I'm what you would call a living elemental spirit"
"Living...Spirit?" she asked in confusion
"Yes, a spirit is a being that-" Before I could explain Jingliu cut me off.
"Stop I know what elemental spirits are... It's just that I have never seen one have flesh... usually the ones that do are evil spirits that possess a dead body. but that's not your situation You have a real living body that hosts the soul of an elemental spirit" she said in amazement "And what are you a wind spirit, water perhaps"
"Nope I'ma Divine dragon Spirit"
"???" as I said that I could see the visible confusion on her face until she spoke "Light dragon spirit, those don't exist as far as my knowledge goes but that would explain the aura of a dragon that I feel from you"
"Well now that we have answered each other's questions I will be on my way out of here," I said as I stood up to leave as soon as I could.
"Hold on right there, although I might not have any animosity against you anymore. it doesn't mean that others won't and especially with that ring you probably won't survive"
"*Sigh* Then what do you recommend I do" I asked in annoyance
"I will take you to meet the king"
"Huh the Adpti have a king?" dam I didn't know they had a king, I thought they were all independent.
"Yes the King of Adepti otherwise known as the Monkey King"
"..."
huh did she say monkey king like THE monkey king? I didn't know he existed especially in this universe.
"... um is his name perhaps Sun Wukong" I asked in full curiosity
"You know about him" she asked as she looked at me in surprise.
"Well I read some ancient text I found and I remembered it talking about some Monkey King named Sun Wukong" I lied naturally as I couldn't tell her that I knew him from Journey to the West
"....I see, well then if you know about him then you should also know his... type of personality he has"
"Eccentric you mean" I aid back to.
"Ugh he is more than eccentric," she said with a face full of disgust.
"Do you not like him that much"
"It's complicated... he doesn't really care about being king and pushes his work onto us. although he has the strength to back it up and the ability to be a great king. he just doesn't want to do what he is supposed to do. and once you combine it with his annoying personality it is the worst Ugh~" As she was complaining she came back to her senses "*Cough* Apologies for showing such an embarrassing display"
"it's fine you must be stressed for having such a troublesome king," I said back to her
"thank you for understanding, but now follow me we have a long way to go" she said as she started flying in some direction as i just followed her.