CHAPTER 608: CHAPTER 407: EVEN IF YOU ARE A DRAGON_2

Once you lose a battle to Hawkwood, you have to listen to him chatter on with a slew of negativity-laden lines!

At first, he thought it was nothing, but hearing it repeatedly is simply torture. There’s even a collection of quotes from Hawkwood circulating among the Fran Guard, which people would glance at when feeling overly excited.

After reading it, no matter how high your enthusiasm, it will be extinguished, and you’ll obediently lie in bed at night contemplating life.

The only fortunate thing is that after listening to Hawkwood’s chatter, you can leave the Painting World...

Klan was idly playing with his nails, trying to block the other party’s negative energy from affecting him.

Aside from the negative lines, Hawkwood would occasionally share some interesting intel, like peculiar locations and names, certain character legends, or tales from the Fran Undead Team, seemingly completing the personas of the Undead Team members from a side perspective.

The chance of encountering this intel is quite low; one might not come across it for a week or two, but when it does appear, it’s interesting. To this day, people haven’t found any repeated information.

This intel is a psychological redemption for everyone forced to listen to his chatter.

Klan counted on his fingers, calculating the time, reckoning that the chatter should be ending soon, right?

Sure enough, Hawkwood stopped his chatter. Klan closed his eyes, ready to return to the real world for a nice restful sleep, but then the other party’s tone shifted.

"Do you know about the Immortal Ancient Dragon?"

"Huh?"

Klan was taken aback, then realized that he was fortunate to hear the other party sharing information, and quickly listened attentively.

"Ancient Dragons were beings existing before the emergence of the Primordial Flame. Their bodies are indistinguishable from rocks, hence they can withstand darkness."

Hawkwood’s fingers unconsciously rubbed together, a little detail indicating his inner agitation.

"In the era when the Flame arose, a great war erupted between the gods and the Ancient Dragons, and naturally, the eventual victors were the gods. However, not all Ancient Dragons perished."

"Not only did they not perish, but even the faith in Ancient Dragons was passed down. Those who pursue the path of the Dragons yearn to become them, to gain mighty power, and...."

"And?" Klan prompted with a question.

"And they wish to utilize the dragon-transformed body to endure the darkness after the flame extinguishes."

"Flame extinguishes?"

Before Klan could inquire further in his shock, Hawkwood suddenly rummaged through his pocket and took out a peculiarly shaped stone.

The stone was exquisitely carved with a dragon’s head.

[Dragon Head Stone]

[A stone imbued with the power of the Immortal Ancient Dragon, required for the secret ritual of dragon faith]

[It can transform a human head into a dragon head, capable of emitting a dragon’s breath, and the transformation effect can only be undone by death]

[Those who walk the path of the Ancient Dragons can therefore obtain a complete form similar to them, and the secret ritual of the Dragon Head is the first major hurdle to becoming an Ancient Dragon]

"Although it’s an incomplete Dragon Stone, would you like to experience the power of a dragon?"

Looking at the Dragon Head Stone in his hand, Klan swallowed hard and, as if under a spell, nodded his head.

.....

Sain Dungeon, Lake Lienia, Academy Gate Town.

"Dal, brother, thank you for sparring with me. Your bounce-back technique is really strong; teach me next time, won’t you?"

"Mutual appreciation."

An unexpected duo appeared here—it turned out to be Dal and Fingerley, both drenched in sweat from serious training, with contented smiles on their faces.

Having stayed in the Crusade Team for a while, the two had become familiar, and Fingerley wanted to witness how the techniques of the Fran Undead Team performed in human hands, so he sought out Dal for a duel.

He couldn’t help but be impressed; the opponent’s technique was indeed quite strong.

"After that incident, how are the Dark Moon Swords doing now?" Dal asked.

"Everyone is quite optimistic, I suppose. I don’t know the specifics," Fingerley shrugged, "After all, the ones who took the Dark Moon Oath didn’t really replicate a Dark Moon Knight Order. Unlike you leading these people, everyone is living their own lives. Speaking of which, didn’t you all go to a very distant place to crusade against the Demon Clan? Can you tell me about the battle situation?"

Dal shook his head and sighed.

"That group of Demons was stronger than expected. Fortunately, we launched a full-scale attack, or there would have been considerable casualties."

"That’s truly a blessing in disguise."

"However, a small group, or maybe just two or three demons, managed to escape."

He frowned and said, "At that time, they had already reached the kingdom’s border and then fled to the neighboring Warrior Country. When we pursued, we encountered the army of the Warrior Country."

Fingerley blinked, "And then, you didn’t start a fight, did you?"

"No, they stopped us from proceeding further. We had no choice but to provide the possible direction of the demons’ escape and then returned. It was such a pity."

"That’s indeed..."

Before Fingerley could finish his sentence, a girl in a Fran Guard uniform suddenly ran over, shouting:

"Something bad happened! Klan’s been captured as a monster!"

"Hmm?"

Soon afterward, the Royal City prison.

"Your person will be brought out shortly, please wait a moment," the Guard Captain of the Royal City said with a pained expression:

"I must say, you adventurers, it’s all fine if you mess around, but turning yourselves into monsters to scare the residents is really not okay. Luckily we spared him this time. What would you have done if we had truly mistaken him for a monster and killed him?"

"I’ll make sure to deal with them strictly." Dal could do nothing but apologize now.

First apologize, then assess the situation, and if the guards were intentionally causing trouble, he would make a fuss about it.

Fingerley leaned against the wall beside him, smiling at Dal’s earnest demeanor, and thought to himself:

Turning oneself into a monster? How weird must it have been to frighten the guards? It’s probably just these guys using it as an excuse for ransom. I don’t believe the guards’ words.

"Da da..."

Footsteps approached from the prison, and Fingerley, while saying, "Here, they’re coming," craned his neck to look.

If Klan didn’t look frightening, he would have a good argument with the guards.

The first to come out was Klan’s body, just an ordinary Fran Guard uniform, a normal human structure, nothing noteworthy.

Fingerley’s interest immediately waned, feeling it was uninteresting.

However, as Klan’s weirdly twisted head emerged from the darkness, he instinctively burst out with an expletive.

"What manner of monstrosity!"

Klan’s head, now perhaps could be described as dragon-like.

But what kind of dragon looks so scrawny, dry and skinny, like a lizard instead of a dragon?

It was rather ugly, to say the least.

"Brother Dal!"

A pitiful Klan threw himself into Dal’s arms, sobbing about his experiences of the day.

After listening from the side, Fingerley summarized:

"You mean... Hawkwood was just being polite, and you took it seriously and insisted on experiencing that Dragon Head Stone thing?"

Klan sheepishly nodded.

Fingerley’s mouth twitched, muttering to himself:

"It’s exactly what I’d expect from adventurers."