Su Cheng: "......"
It couldn't really be that bastard God of Contracts, could it?
She narrowed her eyes and sized him up.
Klaus was very sharp. He almost immediately sensed her displeasure and looked at her cautiously, "My Lady?"
Right now, he was still a bona fide child. His frame was thin, looking as if he never had enough to eat, completely undeveloped.
Su Cheng silently erased the images of pectoral muscles, abs, and a navel piercing from her mind. "I just suddenly remembered I have an awful friend by that name."
"Oh," Klaus revealed a sweet smile. "That is quite a coincidence. It means we are destined to meet. If I have the honor, I would actually love to ask you how that gentleman became your friend in the first place. I am willing to learn. As for the awful part, I will avoid it like escaping a sea monster."
Su Cheng crossed her arms. "Honestly, I am not sure if I can trust you. After all, you were just thrown out for using counterfeit money. And judging from your expression, you knew the money was fake."
"I wasn't sure," Klaus said innocently. "Well, I can only say I was prepared to face that possibility. It was the payout from a bet. I knew the other party likely wouldn't give me real money, but sometimes you accept certain deals because you have no other choice."
Su Cheng reached out and pinched his cheek.
Klaus: "?"
He looked a bit stunned but quickly adjusted his demeanor, continuing to beam a flattering smile as his beautiful big eyes gazed at her.
"So," Klaus didn't struggle at all, "is there anything I can help you with?"
Su Cheng looked at the bustling street. "...There are dragons in this city, right?"
"Yes," Klaus answered quickly. "The lairs of several ancient dragons are in the surrounding deep sea. I heard the ancestor of the water dragons is also slumbering at the bottom of the abyss."
Su Cheng did not speak.
"So," the child rolled his eyes thoughtfully, "do you want to admire the dragons' treasures? Or are you looking to find the dragons themselves?"
He deliberately used the word admire, which sounded entirely unrelated to stealing.
Su Cheng could not help but want to laugh. "Actually, I do want to meet the dragons—"
She deliberately showed a hint of distress.
Klaus pondered for a moment, then suddenly clapped his hands. "Ah, I know a place! The boss there is a dragonborn; he can definitely help introduce you!"
Su Cheng quietly watched him put on his act.
"However," he frowned, "it is also very troublesome. After all, they are the most ancient dragons. Even though they reside around Thetia all year round, many people can go their entire lives without ever seeing them—"
Su Cheng: "You mean you want money, right?"
Klaus puffed out his cheeks. "How can you say that? I also need to make the introduction for you..."
As they spoke, they walked through several winding, twisting streets. The surrounding shops became increasingly dense and crowded. Various old wooden signs covered in mottled carvings and hanging lamps were pieced together, clinking and swaying in the sea breeze.
Klaus stopped at the entrance of a shop and pointed. "The boss of this place is a dragonborn, but he doesn't like foreign humans. There is a magic array on this door, and he has a very bad temper. If I go in empty-handed, I will definitely be kicked out too."
Su Cheng pretended to think for a few seconds. "Oh, how much?"
"Hehe, just ten gold coins."
"?"
"That's not a lot," Klaus looked at her without a trace of guilt. "You also know that dragons are all—"
Su Cheng feigned a pained expression and handed him a pile of coins. "Is this enough?"
"Enough, enough!" The child beamed with joy. "Wait for me a moment!"
Saying that, he scooped up the gold coins and ran inside, weaving through the dim and crowded counters, nimbly dodging those precarious antique ornaments.
"Good day, sir—"
Klaus stood on his tiptoes and leaned over the counter, greeting the drowsy boss inside. Then, he put down all the gold coins, keeping only one in his pocket.
"I have paid off everything I owe you, with interest!"
He coughed lightly. "By the way, I'm going to leave through the back door of the shop. If someone comes in looking for me later, please talk to her for a bit if you can. Of course, if you don't want to pay attention to her, then forget it."
The person behind the counter yawned and stretched out a sharp claw to gather the gold coins. Just as he was about to speak, his expression suddenly changed.
The gold coins in his palm had turned into stones.
The most ordinary kind, the sort that could be seen everywhere on the streets.
Boss: "......"
Klaus: "......"
The boss slowly stood up, his massive, burly body leaning forward, revealing the fangs at the corners of his mouth. "Which lousy illusionist did you team up with to play me?"
Klaus opened his mouth and glanced back. The black-haired girl outside the shop waved at him, then turned and disappeared.
The child clutched his forehead. "Fine, I suppose I deserve this. And here I thought she was a fat sheep."
Su Cheng was strolling on the other side of the city.
Although she could no longer use the power of a God's Favored, she had taught herself some illusion magic. Not to mention, it seemed she had been blessed by some ancient god related to illusions.
Anyway, that Klaus had a strange aura about him; he definitely had the means to save his own life.
This was a residential area. Su Cheng walked among the warm stone steps, looking at the staggered white houses draped in flowers and the terraces stretching over the azure bay.
The air was filled with the savory aroma of grilled fish and the sweet and sour scent of fruit.
In a daze, a peculiar voice pierced through the various noises and echoed deep within her mind.
It was not any human or elven language she had ever learned. It was ancient and complex, carrying a certain multi-layered resonance. Every syllable felt like deep ocean currents swirling and colliding.
It connected to her soul, the source of her spirit, creating an irresistible resonance with it.
And—
The corresponding meaning almost immediately surfaced in her mind, understanding what the other party wanted to convey.
This was a summons between dragons.
Su Cheng came to a satisfactory conclusion.
She actually knew early on that her flamboyant teleportation, even if it landed outside the city, would easily alert the powerhouses nearby.
It was just that even if they sensed it, they might not act immediately.
Furthermore, she herself could vaguely detect some unusual auras. It was just that because she had never interacted with water-attribute dragons before, she was a bit unsure for a moment.
Su Cheng stopped in her tracks.
The surrounding clamor seemed to be pushed away by an invisible barrier; everything became distant and blurred.
She turned and walked toward a high, protruding terrace, leaping down toward the boundless azure bay like an agile seabird diving into the ocean.
Then, she sank into the freezing seawater.
She felt a gentle force grab hold of her. The surrounding seawater began to spin, forming some sort of suction-filled channel.
Su Cheng was pulled toward the bottom of the sea.
The darkness lasted for only a brief moment before a moonlight-like silver-blue halo lit up ahead. She passed through a hazy water curtain and entered a completely new world.
It was a magnificent and spectacular underwater hall. There was no water pressure, and the air was cool and pure, carrying a crisp scent like melting snow.
The entire palace was not built by stacking stones, but rather hollowed out and carved directly from a translucent, light-blue crystal vein.
As a result, the main structure took on a bizarre spiral shape. Countless coral-like branches towered into spires, extending outward from the central hall.
A silver-blue radiance flowed slowly within the crystal walls, like countless glowing blood vessels.
Those massive arches were formed by the elegantly interlaced ribs of dragon beasts, supporting a dome that shimmered with iridescent light like the inner lining of a seashell.
And then—
Unsurprisingly, Su Cheng saw treasures scattered everywhere, though they were not piled up in a tacky, chaotic mess.
Those uncut gemstone clusters, resembling naturally growing plants, were heaped in the corners of the palace and beside the colonnades. They emitted deep blue, crimson, or emerald lights, their sparkling brilliance weaving together like starlight.
In the middle of the vast, empty hall sat a giant egg.
Su Cheng: "..."
The egg was about the height of a person, resting quietly in a nest made of white rock and seaweed. A bone-piercing chill seeped from the egg, and a thin layer of frost covered the nest.
The eggshell was a pale frost-blue, like a clear sky reflected in winter rime, with countless silver-white patterns drifting slowly across it like living creatures.
She could feel a familiar aura permeating from the egg, pulsating to a certain rhythm as if resonating with the entire palace.
Beside that dragon egg stood a person.
The person had silver-white curly hair that cascaded down past his knees, like moonlight spilling across the ocean's surface. His skin was a cold, pale white, so thin it was almost transparent.
His irises were very light in color, like an utterly unpolluted stream—perfectly clear and pure. Reflecting the crystals that filled the hall, they took on a hint of blue.
That face was incredibly beautiful, exuding an otherworldly indifference. When his gaze swept over her, it carried a hint of instinctive displeasure.
—In a sense, it was like looking at the child of an enemy.
Although there was no intense hostility, he was clearly unhappy.
"...Why did you come here?"
He walked out from behind the dragon egg. His robes seemed woven from flowing water and starlight, rippling with silver waves of light.
"Hello," Su Cheng greeted earnestly. "It is an honor to meet you, Your Holiness—"
The person before her was almost certainly the progenitor of the water dragons, although she had no idea what was going on with that egg.
Yet she couldn't help but feel that he looked familiar too.
"I want to go to the Ruins of Lightlessness," Su Cheng said softly. "You surely know that I am not a true dragon, otherwise I could probably find my way there quite quickly on my own."
The man looked at her thoughtfully. "Going to the Ruins of Lightlessness carrying the aura of those things?"
Su Cheng: "?"
A second later, she realized that the "things" he referred to were probably the Ancient Gods.
Su Cheng: "...Will that make the other ancient dragons want to hunt me down and kill me?"
He fell silent for a second. "No. Anyone capable of threatening you will be able to sense that you share the power of Caecilius. It is just that—"
He did not finish his sentence. "...Never mind, what does that have to do with me anyway."
The surrounding space suddenly twisted violently.
That magnificent and gorgeous deep-sea hall began to stretch and fold, then collapsed into a shrinking singularity—
Su Cheng did not feel the familiar spatial fluctuations; perhaps it was some unique dragon magic. The next second, she was standing on solid ground.
The dry, scalding air made it feel like being inside a furnace. Beneath her feet was rough, sharp volcanic rock, and as far as the eye could see was an endless expanse of black.
She looked up and saw a sickly, murky dark red sky. Pitch-black clouds stretched across the distance, their edges trembling like burning flames.
They pressed down heavily overhead, obscuring most of the light.
It was extremely dim here. Countless steep, blade-like black cliffs stood jaggedly, utterly devoid of plant life. Only some minerals, twisted and crystallized by the high temperatures, clung to the rock walls like cysts.
A dead silence hung everywhere.
There was no birdsong, not even the sound of the wind.
Su Cheng also found the reason.
In this desolate canyon filled with the aura of destruction, a pitch-black mountain range lay stretched out—or, more accurately, a massive dragon as towering as a high mountain.
He lay half-curled, the curves of his spine and wing bones resembling the rolling ridges of a mountain range, resting midway up the high canyon walls.
He was simply too black. If not for those dark, ancient-tree-like horns on his head, it would be almost impossible to locate his head at first glance.
The dragon's colossal body remained motionless, with hardly any visible rise and fall of breathing, his eyes tightly shut.
Su Cheng could feel an incredibly familiar aura from him.
So she also knew that this creature was still alive.
"...I thought I wouldn't see you again."
She murmured softly.
That mountain-like body exuded a suffocating sense of oppression, like a black hole capable of devouring all light and hope.
However—
Su Cheng did not feel uncomfortable at all.
Perhaps because they shared the same source of power, she even felt a bit of warmth and familiarity.
She walked forward slowly, gazing at those dark, obsidian-like scales. Each one was larger than a carriage, their edges sharp and tightly interlocked, gleaming with a cold, metallic light.
—It was like the very embodiment of destruction and power.
And then.
Su Cheng saw
His eyelids lift, revealing a pair of eyes that seemed forged from the sun itself.
The irises were a bright color like flowing liquid gold, radiant yet freezing cold. Within them stood black vertical pupils that looked like abyssal rifts.
That blackness was so profound it seemed capable of swallowing all matter. It held no warmth, yet contained a certain chaotic madness; every contraction felt like the prelude to a loss of control.
She felt as if she could see the power hidden within, like a world-incinerating hellfire ready to sweep out and engulf the entire world at any moment.
Su Cheng continued to walk forward. "...It might sound strange to say this, but it seems we are friends in the future—"
The color and shape of those eyes were so familiar.
Yet that other person would never show such an expression.
"...The really close kind, and maybe even more than friends."
Su Cheng said, somewhat uncertainly.
The black dragon lay quietly in place, showing no reaction whatsoever.
For a moment, she wanted to explain everything between them—about how she wasn't a dragon yet possessed this power.
But then she realized that to explain it clearly, she would also have to explain why he would eventually become the leader of a certain mercenary group.
Was she supposed to say—
Hey, in the future, two shameless people will team up to defeat you, causing you to fall into a deep slumber, and then somehow you'll turn into a half-amnesiac dragon?
Su Cheng sighed with a headache. "Anyway, I read in some books that the dragons' Trial Gates can almost exclusively be opened by the Ancient Dragon Kings—"
In a sense, black dragons were the rarest because their progenitor was mentally unstable and practically incapable of hosting such rituals.
Meeting those eyes, Su Cheng forgot what she originally wanted to say.
That profound gaze from the ancient being seemed to pierce right through her, yet simultaneously appeared not to notice her at all, simply immersed in a chaos that boiled and churned like magma.
Su Cheng: "Did I disturb your sleep?"
Realizing this, she stopped in her tracks and tried to step back.
However, before her foot could fully plant itself on the ground behind her, a tremor ran through the earth beneath her feet.
A massive black shadow, thicker than her entire body, whipped forward and coiled around her waist with unerring, undeniable precision.
Su Cheng: ...
His tail was perhaps over a hundred meters long and incredibly thick, so massive that two people might not even be able to wrap their arms around it, yet it tapered off toward the tip.
The scales there were smaller and more supple, shifting nimbly with the contraction of muscle as the tail wrapped around her waist, loop after loop.
The grip was not particularly tight. She could hardly feel any sense of restraint; it felt more like a curious gathering and pulling closer.
She was lifted into the air and brought right before the dragon's head.
Su Cheng stared straight into those golden eyes.
The black dragon was actually still lying down, but His body was simply too colossal. His head was like a mountain peak, and as He drew near, He brought with Him a chilling, chaotic aura.
Ancient dragons, as the physical manifestations of a certain power, were strictly speaking not even biological creatures.
But He was sniffing her.
Su Cheng heard the faint intake of breath from His nostrils, followed by a rush of cold air brushing against her neck and cheeks.
She suddenly realized that when they interacted in human form, he had never done anything quite like this.
In those brilliant golden eyes, she saw her own reflection, a flush rising on her dazed face, her gaze a mix of bewilderment and thrill.
Every drop of blood in her body seemed to boil at the contact.
The freezing black scales rubbed against her clothing, the muscles of dragon and human pressing together in what felt like an intimate caress.
And then...
Something slid across her warming cheek, leaving behind a cold, wet sensation.
