The last step.
Cale stopped there.
"Wow!"
Raon gasped.
"Human, it really is ice!"
The mana lights that Raon floated in the air shone brightly in the open area.
Cale saw a scene that reminded him of looking at a frozen lake in the middle of a winter night with the stars shining down on it.
'The ice is black.'
The half-transparent black ice sparkled like the night sky.
"Wait here."
"I got it, human!"
Raon answered energetically.
"I understand, Cale-nim."
Choi Han answered with a pure smile on his face.
Cale, Raon, and Choi Han…
The rest were all doing their own work or waiting at the Sichuan Castle Lord's study upstairs.
'The Dragon said for Raon and I to split it up, but…'
Cale had no intentions of doing that.
'I'll gather everything for now and go back.'
The three items the Dragon supposedly has…
The ring used by the Dragon Lord in Aipotu.
The crown used by the first Emperor of the last Empire in that world, someone who is said to have hunted Dragons.
The sword used by the Guardian Knight of the Dragon Lord.
'The owners for the items have been decided.'
The ring for Raon.
The crown for Cale.
The sword for Choi Han.
'But I have no intention of handing it over right now.'
Step.
Cale stepped onto the black ice.
Only his footsteps echoed through the silence.
He organized his thoughts in the darkness that looked as if it was surrounded by starlight.
'I'll put the three items in my spatial pocket bag right away-'
Cale made up his mind.
'I'll ask Eruhaben-nim or Sheritt-nim to examine them.'
How could he trust the items given by a Dragon from a different world and just use the items?
He could not blindly trust a Dragon who brought these items while telling a young Dragon to save the world.
He might be okay but he had no idea what innocent Raon or pure Choi Han might face while using these items of unknown origins.
'They both seem smart but they are quite dense and naïve at times.'
As a result, Cale would take all of the items but would ask ancient Dragon Eruhaben and former Dragon Lord Sheritt, two Dragons who had experienced more hardships of the world than anybody else they knew, to examine the items.
Cale stopped at the center of the cavity.
'Should I do it now?'
He was slightly anxious.
Team leader Sui Khan and Choi Jung Soo… He recalled a conversation he had with the two of them.
'Even if it is a Dragon, for her to have traveled through dimensions… Cale, she does not seem like a regular Dragon.'
'I agree with the team leader-nim! Hey, even the Hunters have to offer a lot of lives to use that karma to travel through dimensions. It does look like that Dragon gave up a significant amount of its life to travel to this dimension, but… You shouldn't take that Dragon lightly.'
Cale had then pulled the divine item out of his pocket.
He sent messages to the God of Death and Central Plains.
< Hey, I'm going to take this Dragon's stuff? >
For some odd reason, neither of them responded.
'Something feels off.'
Having that uneasy feeling was the reason Cale decided to have the ancient Dragon inspect these items first.
'If any variables arise, let's just destroy this basement.'
Cale had that thought as he exhaled to calm himself.
"Huuuuuu."
– Sluuuurp.
'Hmm?'
Cale flinched.
– Ah, sorry. I keep drooling. Slurp.
The Sky Eating Water could not stop licking her lips and gulped.
– Sluuuurp. I'm hungry.
The glutton priestess was showing the same reaction.
– …You can't even use this power.
The Sky Eating Water retorted back and the glutton priestess answered.
– I'm fine just getting a taste. Slurp.
– Really? Hehe, I'm super looking forward to the power I will get after eating that water. If things go well, the sky, that damn god bastard with my own hands, kekeke-!
'…These bastards are not normal either.'
All of the tension disappeared from Cale's body.
"Haaaaa."
Cale sighed before nonchalantly commenting.
"Maxillienne."
Maxillienne was the name of the owner of this tomb, the Dragon who wrote the book.
< The ice will melt the moment you say my name. >
The moment he said her name as she mentioned…
Craaaaaaack–!
The ice started to crack with Cale at the center.
"Mm!"
His eyes opened wide.
– Ha!
The Sky Eating Water let out a gasp-like laugh and commented as if this was extremely entertaining.
– Holy shit! This kind of motherfucking situation exists? Kekeke!
The ice started melting.
A half-transparent black water started shooting out of the cracks.
Cale got chills all over his body.
He had never felt like this before.
The Sky Eating Water started shouting.
– Fuck! This is so awesome!
No, she was cheering.
– Water of this kind of density exists?!
Cale looked toward Raon and Choi Han.
"Human!"
Raon extended his paws in shock.
Boom, boom!
A barrier appeared in front of Raon.
The stairs and the cavity…
A transparent wall appeared to block the area between the two so that Raon and Choi Han could not enter.
The shocked Raon and Choi Han… They tried to break the wall before stopping.
"Heh."
They saw the smile on Cale's face.
The black water turned into many strands as it shot up.
Cale was standing at the center. He saw the chills on his arms and started laughing.
It could not be helped.
The Sky Eating Water started laughing as well.
It could not be helped.
– Pwahahahah! This is crazy! This water is life itself!
Cale's whole body was tingling.
However, it was not a bad feeling.
Unlike Raon, Cale could not feel the mana in the air.
However, he could feel the immense aura filling this area.
It felt as if he was inside a lush forest.
Or at the beach with the cool breeze.
Maybe it was the feeling of stepping out of the shadows to feel the warmth of the sun.
He could not explain it, but he could feel nature or perhaps life at this moment.
– Ha! The Dragon's mana got mixed into the water! Ahahahaha! That's a relief!
The water was relieved.
– As I expected, this is not mana!
The Dragon's mana, the Dragon's corpse… This thing that everything had melted into was just water.
If the mana could not mix with the water and existed as a separate entity, it would be very bad for Cale, who was not a mage, to take it in.
– Kahahahaha! It's water! Just plain H2O! The flow of time has made the mana's will and the corpse's will all disappear and just remain as life force! Kahahaha!
The Fire of Destruction mumbled after hearing the Sky Eating Water shout.
– Her eyes have rolled over.
He then flinched before continuing to speak.
– …Cale's eyes seem to have rolled over as well.
– Sluuuurp.
The glutton priestess slurped again.
– …Leave me out of this.
– Hyung-nim, me too.
The Fire of Destruction and the Vitality of the Heart stopped talking.
The Sky Eating Water then shouted.
– Cale!
Cale lowered his head after hearing her voice.
The water that was shooting up as if it would fill the entire cavity…
He could slowly start to see the bottom of the pretty deep lake.
Three altars.
Three items on these altars.
The moment Cale saw them…
"Huh?"
Cale subconsciously let out a confused sound but he soon had to snap back to his senses.
– You bastard! Why are you suddenly acting so baffled?!
The Sky Eating Water scolded him.
Cale flinched.
'…Was she always like this?
I do remember her swearing a lot, but…
Anyway, she helped me snap out of it.'
He then looked around.
– It's as I expected.
The Sky Eating Water was calm now.
– It is trying to disappear.
It seemed certain that these liquids remained sealed in the ice for so long in order to protect these three treasures.
The treasures maintained their form without any damage at all.
Now that there was no need to protect these items anymore…
The half-transparent black water tried to disappear.
A small portion had already dissipated into the air.
– Let's get started.
Cale extended his hands.
Chhhhhhh-
The water shooting up stopped.
Water started to gather in Cale's hands.
This was a transparent water different from the black water.
However, this was not regular water either.
– Put your will into it.
I'll put my will into it as well.
Water that held the will of both Cale and the Sky Eating Water…
Pssss—
The black waters suddenly started to lightly shake.
It looked as if they were shaking in fear.
Cale slowly closed his eyes.
He then started to imagine something.
– Your imagination and my imagination are the same.
The potty-mouthed water gently chuckled as if she was amused and Cale opened his eyes.
The water in Cale's hands had changed shape.
A chain.
The water chain that flowed out of his hands moved around like a living creature and started to surround the area around Cale.
The Water of Judgment.
The existence that had once been tightly bound by a chain at the bottom of a lake revealed its existence and became the Sky Eating Water.
The chain could be a source of fear and loathing for the Sky Eating Water because of that experience, but it would make things complicated if something aiming for the skies had a source of fear like that.
– Kekeke.
She could not hold back her laughter.
– Let's eat it up!
Cale nonchalantly commented after hearing her shout.
"That was always the plan."
The chain started moving.
Chhhhhhhhh—!
There was no hesitation in its movements.
The chain grabbed one of the strands of black water shooting up.
Pssss—
The black water tried its best to get away. However, the chain tightened more around it. It resembled a snake trying to suffocate its prey.
– These black waters are trying to return to nature right now.
Now that the will of the Dragon was gone, this immense power had no reason to remain here.
No, this great meal had no reason to remain here.
– So let's take it.
Another chain shot out of Cale's hand.
The black strands of water started running away.
Chhhhhh–!
Chhhhh-
The two different colors of water were chasing and being chased.
However, there were not many areas for the black waters to escape.
Even a large cavity had its boundaries.
Boom! Boom!
The black waters slammed into the wall and exploded.
A portion of the water was quickly turning into water vapor to disappear into the air.
However, the chains did not miss those openings and attacked them.
"Did something happen?"
Choi Jung Soo, who approached with a concerned voice, dropped his jaw in shock after seeing where Raon was pointing.
"Damn."
The way Cale was smiling and swinging his water chain everywhere…
He seemed quite excited.
"Our human is laughing similarly to when he dumped a bunch of money into the lava in the past!"
Cale naturally couldn't hear Raon.
He was busy binding and capturing these black waters.
And his hands finally stopped moving.
A total of eight pillars…
No. Eight black waters tightly bound by chains.
– Ah, this is making me go crazy!
The Sky Eating Water didn't know what to do.
– This is so exciting!
Cale listened to her voice as if it was background music before moving his hand again.
Eight pillars all headed toward Cale.
It looked as if eight large waves were about to crash into him.
Cale just quietly watched.
At first, he had this kind of thought.
'I'm supposed to eat all of this? I feel like my stomach will explode as I drink?'
The ancient power sighed in response.
– Who said we will eat all of the water?
She then gave an extremely simple answer.
– We just need to eat the core.
In other words, only eat the essence!
Chhhhhhhhhhhh-
The eight pillars struck Cale at the same time.
His whole body started to get wet.
It could not be helped.
Cale closed his eyes.
Chh—, Chhh—
The chains started moving.
No, they disappeared.
The transparent water mixed into the black water.
The strands of water started shaking.
'It's coming.'
Cale could feel the roaring auras in the water surrounding him.
A water trying to eat the other water running away.
Cale opened his eyes.
He was inside water but it was not hard at all for him to open his eyes.
What was surrounding him was-
– It's over.
Only the Sky Eating Water.
Instead, Cale could see eight dense drops of black water in front of his eyes.
– Cale.
The Sky Eating Water calmly spoke.
– If I eat this, the seal will be completely gone and I'm certain that my original powers will get stronger as well.
To be honest with you, I cannot even fathom how much stronger I will get.
She continued to speak.
– Of course, there won't be an issue with your plate. I'll stop absorbing it if I feel like there will be an issue.
Cale nodded his head.
The eight drops of water started moving.
They split into two groups of four and crawled up his arms.
Finally, they stopped around his shoulder at the clavicle.
They then seeped into his body.
"—!"
Cale's eyes opened wide.
'Jackpot!
It's not painful at all!'
His whole body was full of energy.
'What is up with this?
…Is it okay for this to not hurt at all?
No, is it okay for it to seep into my body so naturally?'
– This is weird. Why are you not coughing up blood?
As even the Sky Eating Water was confused…
Cale could not see it, but four black water drops appeared on both sides of his clavicle as if they were tattoos.
At that moment…
"—!"
Cale's jaw dropped.
'Holy crap!'
The water pillars surrounding Cale subsided.
The three altars with the items…
Cale landed at the center of the triangular formation of the altars and blankly stood there.
"Cale-nim!"
"Human!"
Now that the barrier was gone, Choi Han and Raon urgently rushed toward Cale. Choi Jung Soo did so as well.
Of course, he was mumbling something else.
"…What is up with the look on his face?"
Cale raised his head at that moment. The two of them made eye contact. The moment Choi Jung Soo flinched and awkwardly smiled…
"Oh, jackpot."
That was all Cale said.
"Human, you're wet! But you are fine and didn't even cough up blood! Didn't you say that you were going to eat a Dragon's Tear? Didn't the ancient power say that it was going to get stronger? So why are you fine? This is good, this is great, but this is weird!"
"…Are you hurting internally, Cale-nim?"
As even Raon and Choi Han, who heard about everything in advance, asked in confusion, Cale just said the following.
"Wow, jackpot."
Raon and Choi Han flinched as well at Cale's bewildered appearance.
Cale didn't care and just blankly stared into the air.
The Sky Eating Water was mumbling in a dazed voice in his mind.
– …Seal 347 percent removed...
No.
The Sky Eating Water corrected herself.
– The seal that was 53 percent removed had the remaining 47 percent removed.
In addition...
…My…offensive strength became 300 percent stronger. No, it actually feels like I got some abilities?
Cale and the ancient power mumbled at the same time.
– Holy shit.
"Holy shit."
They then commented at the same time.
– Dragons are great and mighty.
"Dragons are great and mighty."
It had been a long time since Cale got a power without any pain or a single drop of blood.
It was similar to when he first gained an ancient power.
Naturally.
"I don't know what is going on, but that's right! Dragons are great and mighty! I, Raon Miru, am also great and mighty!"
Cale just quietly nodded his head at Raon's proud remark.
He was fully agreeing with Raon.
Raon flinched at Cale's reaction and Choi Han's face became even more confused when…
"Uhh, mm."
Choi Jung Soo hesitated before pointing to the three altars.
"Should we pack up the treasures?"
Three flashy items were sparkling brightly from the light of Raon's mana lights.
—
Translator's Comments
Yes, Jung Soo, focus on the important thing.