*Bam*
With a strong impact, Chen Yu falls to the ground, but quickly rises with his guard up.
"Huff... Hufff... Where is this place?" Panting, he speaks while looking around.
Seeing the palace, he wears an expression of astonishment, feeling a breeze with the scent of flowers, leaving him stunned.
The place appeared like a paradise with rustic terraces, squares, and gardens filled with flowers. Looking at the imposing white palace above, a unique sense of majesty washes over.
"This symbol, was it that token?" Seeing the logo displayed at the top, he remembers the token that appeared in his hand.
Looking back, he observes a completely desolate scene, contrasting with the paradise in front of him.
An endless landscape of reddish land covered with some mysterious mix of gases.
Cold sweat begins to trickle down his forehead, as Chen Yu's instincts, honed over thousands of years, warn him of the danger of the place.
"What a magnificent place!" The aged voice of his spiritual avatar echoes in his mind.
"Chronos, do you know where this is?" Chen Yu asks, pressing his wound to stop the bleeding.
"No, but I sense a dense temporal energy here. It's a pity it's too aggressive to be absorbed." Chronos speaks with a clear sense of regret in his voice.
"That's probably why this barrier is here." Chen Yu touches the barrier that prevents him from leaving.
"Welcome to the Primordial Cosmic Bank, sir!" Suddenly, a male voice resonates, putting Chen on high alert again.
"A talking rooster?" Chen's mouth opens in astonishment as he sees a rooster dressed in a black suit with a red bowtie.
"A bank?" Doubt arises in the boy's mind and in the mind of the spiritual avatar.
"Yes, indeed. This is a recently created establishment that manages businesses in all worlds. My name is Gold, and I will guide you to the banker, the founder of this grand enterprise!" Gold speaks with a puffed-up chest and a confident smile on his face.
'Damn Draco, forcing me into this role!' Inside, the rooster curses the dragon.
Seeing that the boy is still on alert, the rooster says, "Relax, my dear customer. Saving you from that dangerous situation should be more than enough to confirm that we have no ill intentions, right?"
Chen Yu thinks for a moment and nods, relaxing his combat stance. Even if he wanted to resist, the prana within him has depleted, and his wound would start bleeding again if he moved too much. It's best to try to avoid confrontations.
"Come, let's go upstairs; the banker awaits us at the bank's entrance," Gold turns his back and begins to climb the staircase made of some shiny white stone.
"This place is incredible! But it seems very empty." Passing through the terraces with gardens, Chen Yu admires the impeccable place. However, he also suspects why a place like this is so empty.
"Thank you for the compliment. As the establishment was recently opened, we don't have animals to complete the decoration or guests yet. That's why the scene appears empty. You are, in fact, our first customer!" Gold explains with a smile, ignoring the suspicion in Chen's eyes.
Draconius and Gold chose not to create an air of mystery around the banker, such as wearing a mask to hide or making others think the banker has omnipotent strength. They were already well-hidden in the forbidden zone, and the dragon knew that as he grew stronger, others would fear him. So, there was no need to go to such lengths.
People searching for Draconius would hardly think that he went to the forbidden zone. After all, why would a cosmic god go to a miserable place full of destruction and horrendous creatures?
The image Draconius wanted to convey as a banker was that of someone open with strange powers, to the point that no one would want trouble with him. Similar to a magician, no one knows the secret of his tricks, so they are surprised and even respect him.
This was the dragon's plan to stay off the radar of his pursuers and set up a base that would protect him from these unknown enemies.
"What kind of business do you do?" Ignoring the pain and exhaustion in his body, Chen Yu asks while climbing the stairs step by step.
"Any type of business that doesn't violate the banker's ethics. Like any bank, we can securely store the client's assets for a small fee. Still, we can also sell items. Even the banker himself can provide his personal service in exchange for anything you have!" After finishing the explanation, Gold opens a sinister smile with his beak.
Chen Yu raises his guard, but seeing that the rooster has stopped talking, he continues to follow obediently while trying to replenish his prana for a possible battle.
'They are watching me, and they are very strong.' Arriving at the entrance of the palace and seeing the statues, he stops for a moment, feeling the intense gazes of the statues.
'They are alive, warning us not to cause trouble. This banker is not someone to mess with, not even in our prime.' Chronos's voice sounds in his mind, making him abandon any intention of defending himself. He trusts his avatar, who has gained consciousness as a brother, and the senses of a dragon, even if false, should not be questioned.
While they were conversing, a shadow began to cover Chen Yu.
"Welcome to the Primordial Cosmic Bank!" A powerful voice, sounding like a teenager, emerges in front of them.
Looking up, he sees something he will never forget in his entire life: a dragon of 5 meters with scales that seem to contain the universe and golden lines adorning its sacred figure.
One could say that this is the most sacred creature he has seen, but what he will never forget is the incredible, frightening aura he felt, causing him to faint instantly.
*PLOP*
"Customer?!" Suddenly, Draconius loses his smile like a deflating balloon and immediately rushes to check on his customer.
"He's alive." He sighs in relief, feeling the pulse.
"I knew this would happen." Gold shakes his head with a disdainful look at the boy who fainted just from feeling the aura.
"Am I too scary? My divine and draconic auras aren't even functioning properly because I'm weak!" Draco scratches his head but quickly picks up the boy and takes him to the sofa.
"Beginner's mistake! First, you are really scary, and second, can you please use the status check on the lad?" Gold puts a wing to his head while Draco is checking the boy.
"Hmm?"
[STATUS]
[NAME: Chen Yu]
[RACE: Human]
[AGE: 17]
[GENDER: Male]
[POWER LEVEL]: Spirit Manifestation Realm (Mortal-Stage 2)
[CLIENT LEVEL 1]
Note: A human blessed with immense talent, born with a dragon avatar of the time element! Highly recommended to hire as an employee!
"Dragon, now it makes sense. Well, I felt something strange in his body, but I will contain all my auras from now on." Draconius scratches his head, embarrassed for not checking the screen earlier.
"But I thought someone with thousands of years like him could withstand a bit of dragon aura. Now I understand why even the dragon gods knelt in front of my parents without lifting their heads."
"What do you mean thousands of years? He's clearly a kid who hasn't left his parents' house." Gold speaks with a doubtful look, Ignoring the part that Draco's parents are amazing.
"He really is thousands of years old. From his soul, I can see that he's not that young, and by the smell of temporal elements, I would say he is probably the legendary regressor of stories!" A light bulb goes off in Draconius's mind as he inspects Chen's body more closely.
Gold is taken aback by this discovery but quickly breaks into a huge smile and looks at the dragon with a grin, "You know what this means, right?"
"Absolutely." Returning the smile, the duo's eyes turned into dollar signs.
...
"Ugh... What happened?" Rising from the sofa while feeling a slight headache, Chen Yu wonders.
"Dear customer, the blood loss made you faint." A concerned voice comes from a 5-meter dragon dressed in an elegant suit and a top hat. Looking around with blurry vision, Chen Yu quickly remembers what happened.
"Was it that?" Still disoriented, Chen sits down, but suspicions linger.
"Have some of this tea we made while we talk." Saying this, the rooster who brought him to the palace comes with two hot cups of some brown tea and places them on the table, then leaves promptly.
'Sweet!' Seeing the cup in front of him, he takes a sip, seemingly fully regaining his consciousness and finally realizing who has been talking to him all this time.
"Th-thank you!" For the first time in thousands of years, Chen Yu feels panic, something he never felt even in the face of imminent death.
There was literally a being that looked like a god looking at him, But without the aura he felt before fainting because of his wounds.
The dragon gazed at him with so much concern that Chen seemed like a treasure chest— I mean, a beloved customer to him.
"Perhaps you'd be more comfortable like this." Suddenly, the dragon shines with a white light, dazzling Chen and making him close his eyes.
"Eh?" In front of him, there is no divine being as before; instead, there is a teenager of his age with short, straight black hair, a delicate face with sword-shaped eyebrows, and an aquiline nose that gives a supernatural beauty to the young man.
His eyes with two vertical slits reveal his draconic identity. One eye is a mix of golden and green, and the other is a mix of purple and red, making the pair of heterochromatic eyes mysterious and attractive.
Overall, the young man seemed relaxed with a playful air about him.
"Shall we start the negotiation?" The young man says with a big smile.