"Ancient Dragon?" Linley asked, puzzled.
"A dragon that's over a thousand years old is called an Ancient Dragon," Bavaria explained. "These dragons possess immortality and are nearly impossible to kill. Our tribe had several dragon-slaying warriors, but the dragons they hunted were only a few decades or a bit over a hundred years old, still young among dragons."
In Greece, dragons are generally considered mythical creatures. People often encounter centaurs, giants, and manticores, but almost no one has ever seen a dragon. However, it now seems that dragons are even more powerful than the legends, daring to challenge the gods themselves.
"This time we got really lucky," Linley said.
"Yeah, it was luck. The dragon was already badly injured before you ran into it; otherwise, you wouldn't have stood a chance," the system responded.
Although Linley knew the system was telling the truth, he couldn't help but argue back, "As long as I can get close to it, there's a chance. In this world, nothing is impossible."
"Ancient Dragons usually keep their distance and use magic. They won't easily approach their enemies, and they certainly won't swallow them before they're dead. Even a regular young dragon knows to kill its prey before eating it. This dragon was in such a hurry to swallow you because it was afraid you might lose your strength after getting hurt or pass it on to someone else. That's how you got the chance to kill it with the crystal dagger."
Linley asked, puzzled, "Magic? This dragon can use magic? I didn't see it use it."
The system replied, "You were already inside its stomach; it didn't have time to use it."
So that's it, Linley thought. Looks like he really was lucky. But then, how powerful must the Cardinal be to have severely injured the Ancient Dragon and forced it to flee?
What would Linley do if he encountered the Cardinal? The Cardinal wouldn't want to eat him, and Linley didn't have any weapons specifically to deal with the Cardinal, so wouldn't he be doomed?
Suddenly, Linley felt a chill as he thought of a question—since the Ancient Dragon was injured by the Cardinal and fled, could the Cardinal also be nearby?
Thinking of this, Linley wanted to leave immediately, but it was nighttime, and he couldn't navigate in the dark. If he ran blindly, he might encounter the Roman fleet. It was so dark that Pandora couldn't scout either. He decided to wait until daylight to send Pandora out to scout and then leave with the wind.
If the situation became urgent, he would have to abandon the commandeered ships and gather everyone onto the ships they brought from Dionysus Island to escape, as those ships had been modified to use triangular sails and could harness crosswinds.
For now, he decided to check the rewards. Linley opened the box and instantly felt much stronger; even his wounds began to heal.
The system prompted, "You have gained one thousand experience points."
Linley asked, "So I'm level twenty-two now?"
The system replied, "Yes, but this level has no practical significance. For example, you and a dragon might both be level one, but there's no comparison; even if you and a dragon were both level one hundred, you couldn't be compared."
"What level is that dragon?" Linley was a bit curious.
"It doesn't have a level because it doesn't belong to the system's classification. If you insist on giving it a level, it's probably around level 500."
"What, level 500!" Linley exclaimed in shock, "Do I need to reach level 500 to contend with it?"
The system explained, "Not exactly. You need to have the physical strength and skills of a level 500 to reach its level. As for contending with it, you've already defeated it. It's just an ordinary immortal, while you are a god; the foundations of the two are completely different."
Linley finally understood that this world was not a balanced online game; gods were far more powerful than mortals and ordinary immortals, even ancient dragons couldn't compare. He felt confident again.
What was a cardinal compared to that? As long as Linley mastered enough skills and spells, even the Holiness would be no match, let alone a pope or cardinal. He continued to collect his rewards and found two skill cards inside. One was Dragon Slayer, which increased attack and defense against dragons by 100% and also weakened dragon might.
This skill seemed very powerful, and Linley's skills could be shared with his followers. But the problem was that dragons were not common in this world. At least in Greece, they were very rare; maybe more could be found in the wilderness. Bavaria had only heard rumors of dragons, and their tribe's dragon slayers appeared only occasionally.
If this skill were effective against humans, it would be great, making it possible to fight two people at once.
The other card was Accelerated Healing, a healing skill that sped up wound healing through consuming large amounts of food.
Linley asked, "Can this skill also be given to followers?"
The system answered, "Yes."
Linley sighed, "Then my army would be invincible in the future! As long as they have enough food, they can keep healing indefinitely."
This skill would be useful not only here but also in modern society. For example, in a car accident, with severed limbs and heavy bleeding, just eating a few pieces of bread would heal the wounds and regenerate the limbs.
The system explained, "It's not as powerful as you think. This skill accelerates healing, it doesn't instantly heal, nor does it fully heal just by eating something."
Linley felt a bit disappointed, "Today's skills seem very powerful, but they are actually not very useful."
The system said discontentedly, "When have I ever given you useless skills?"
Indeed, it hadn't. Could it be that the Dragon Slayer skill would be very useful later on? There shouldn't be any dragons in the Holiness, and Linley's greatest enemy in the future should be the Holiness. Could the system mean not to fight to the death here in Greece but to move to a place with more dragons, so the Dragon Slayer skill could be useful?
Linley continued to rummage, and there was still a set of armor in the wooden box, including a helmet, breastplate, gloves, pants, and shoes. This was dragon-hide armor; wearing the full set gave the power of a dragon, not only immense strength but also the ability to temporarily transform into a dragon!
"Amazing!" Linley was overjoyed and immediately put on the dragon-hide armor, instantly feeling his body filled with strength and mastering the transformation technique.