A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Nisha accompanied the older priestess as they left the catacombs under the church.

The gloom of a tragedy hanging in the air dissipated in the strong warmth of the sun, lifting the girl’s mood at the same time.

She did not want to speak about [Resurrection] or related spells at the moment, so the girl changed the topic.

“I heard that there’s beasts that live in the capital. Is that true?”

Asking directly about this matter after talking about danger and risks could serve to conceal her true motive in asking about beasts, even if her interest was the same nevertheless.

Miss Thana indeed interpreted her worry as a sign of insecurity from the incident at the hunting trip of the academy, and gave her a straightforward answer.

“You don’t have to worry about them.

As long as they leave the Wilderness and pursue a living in human territory, any beast capable of taking human form will not actively seek out conflict.

In fact, there are also some of them seeking refuge in the church. I can try to set up a meeting if you want?”

The old priestess had no qualms telling Nisha about this, the [Seven Stars Church] had always advocated peace and understanding, thanks due to their different halls and tolerance regarding their different gods.

Whether someone was human, elf or beast did not matter to the faith, everyone was welcome.

The fastest way to dispel any fears about beasts lurking in cities was to have contact them in person and reach mutual understanding, but Miss Thana also had to seek permission from the other party in advance.

Although there was no outstanding arrest order or hunt for beasts and the church would certainly protect them, the beasts concealed their true forms for a reason and it was not polite to arrange a meeting without asking for their opinion first.

“That would certainly be interesting, I would appreciate it if you can set up a meeting.

But I have a lot to think about, so I guess I will take my leave now.”

Doing her best to avoid giving away the true reason for asking, Nisha thanked the old priestess for her time and having answered her questions before saying goodbye.

She had a lot to think about now.

 

When the elf left the church, she did not have to call for her familiar.

The [Storm Trail Dragon Wolf] had noticed that her master moved further away, and promptly rushed to Nisha’s side.

As there was neither food nor a fight at the church, Little Lia had not been very interested in whatever her master was doing, but now the mood shifted.

Through their contract, the wolf felt the rising desire for violence and quickly hurried after the elf.

It would never understand why there needed to be so many conflicting emotions, if anything did not add up, just fight it out.

The familiar had no other expectations in life.

Nisha wanted to head for the arena first and see if there was a spot to sign up for the Arena League and have a formal fight, but halfway on the distance to the destination, she figured out that a supervised affair was not what she had in mind at the moment.

Changing targets, the dragon headed for the dungeon instead and retrieved her weapons and a hooded cloak from her [Inner World].

Adventurers were very contradictory in a sense, they had a great community and offered a lot of support for each other with little expectations for reward, yet they could also walk past each other with nothing more than a nod and speak less than ten words in a team that dove into the dungeon for as long as a moon.

Therefore, given that the elf covered her face with the hood of the cloak and avoided getting tangled up with other parties.

It should suffice to let her go dungeon diving as just another faceless adventurer.

Even the big wind attributed wolf trailing behind her would not attract overly much attention, plenty of teams brought an assorted group of familiars with them.

Wolves, birds, cats of all sizes and varieties, sometimes monstrous horses and other assorted small animals were a very common sight in the vicinity of the Guild building and the entrance of the Dungeon.

Compared to some of the more exotic elemental species, the wolf hardly attracted much attention.

If the familiar did not proactively show off the immense combat power in relation to its rank, Little Lia did not catch many stares, even though it eclipsed many of the onlookers in cultivation base.

A pretentious [Blazefeather Fawn] tried to intimidate the wolf in front of the Dungeon building, yet the familiar did not even bother with the weakling and shrugged it off.

Given that they were about to go dungeon diving, better fights were about to happen.

 

As soon as they went below ground level, Nisha retrieved her [Taurith Short Sword] and finished her preparations.

Thankfully the blade of her sword was fairly plain and did not hint at the true rank of the weapon or its value.

Nearly everything in the dragon’s adventuring ensemble was chosen because of its low key visuals and clandestine colour scheme, letting her blend into a crowd at any given moment.

The entrance of the Dungeon was crowded as always, plenty of groups entered and left the staircase leading to the first floor at the same time.

While it was rare to see solo adventurers, it was not unheard of either so no one bothered Nisha while Little Lia trotted behind her.

Perhaps the hulking wolf also contributed to the lack of conversation, yet the elf preferred it this way.

After the first branching paths took away from the constant flow of visitors, the elf and her familiar followed the main branch in the direction of the lower floors.

Since the last reshuffling of the floors and rooms, giving the explorers enough time to map out the paths.

The first and second floors had plenty of first ranked monsters and quite a few adventurers made their living by retrieving materials from them.

On the third floor, the crowd thinned as middle and late second rank monsters already offered quite a challenge for casual members, only those who took adventuring as their real profession risked their wellbeing in a fight.

The fourth floor was quite familiar to Nisha, she had spent a lot of time hunting for food on this level.

Early to mid third rank monsters were just enough to fill the dragon’s stomach, though they were not really enough to fill her up.

Meals at the Dharnas mansion had meat from higher ranks, but the portions were not enough for the beast, so she supplemented her diet with prey from this floor.

Little Lia did not decline small snacks either and fought the confused monsters that assaulted them on a little travelled path on the third floor, not letting her master take action herself.

As a reward, she quickly tore through the bodies and hurried up to catch up afterwards, lest the wolf was left behind.

Nisha had a stash of monster meat stored away in her [Inner World], it was fine to let her familiar take a quick taste.

Usually, she would have stopped on the fourth floor for hunting, since the area was fairly spacious and had plenty of rooms to hunt anonymously.

Sadly, mindless slaughter was not enough for the dragon anymore so she took her familiar and entered the stairway down to the fifth floor.

 

Unlike the previous levels, the fifth floor only offered opponents at a static rank, the late third rank.

As the last step before the first great divide in cultivation, it was a test of courage, strength and wit to challenge an opponent at the same rank for a party.

Without sufficient training and proper gear, there were bound to be losses if engaged rashly.

Instead of an expansive network of tunnels, a scant few rooms all led to the same destination, and the feature that distinguished the fifth floor from the previous ones.

Every tunnel ended up in the same room, the entrance of the boss room.

Only by defeating a mighty foe at the peak of the third rank were dungeon divers allowed to go beyond the first great wall.

Because the floor as a whole was rather small, Nisha avoided hunting there, or frequent visitors might start to recognize her.

There was just not enough space for many parties.

At the very end of the floor, a single room many times bigger than the other ones dominated the last challenge.

To earn the right of delving deeper, a party of adventurers had to face the guardian inside the boss room, a powerful monster ready to tear them into pieces.

A stone door reinforced by the endless magic of the Dungeon itself blocked the entrance and exit, a feature not seen anywhere except boss rooms.

It was not restricted to Leandar’s Dungeon either, every single one on the continent had the same structure in place to prevent the unworthy from plundering the riches deep below.

Once the boss was attacked or enough people entered to make the boss threatened, the entrance would close and the battle started, which lasted until either side completely perished.

In case the adventurers prevailed, they could continue their journey, whereas the boss monster enjoyed a mighty feast in case of victory.

“Come on, we need to line up.”

Nisha arrived at the entrance of the boss room and estimated the wait time.

Around four to five parties already waited for their turn to enter, given the number of people present.

Nudging her familiar, the elf found a place at the back and sat on the ground with her back against the damp wall.

It was hard to estimate how long the actual wait was going to be, as each party had a different pace while fighting.

In case that a high ranked cultivator came through with their group, they could end the guardian with a single blow, whereas a group on the cusp of promotion might fight a life and death struggle to find an opportunity to break through.

 

Fortunately, the line shrank rather quickly, two groups entered while the elf stared at the stone ceiling, anticipation for violence building as emotions swirled within her mind.

Another party took their place in the queue behind the elf and one of their party members wanted to call out to the lone figure beneath the hood, yet he was rebuffed by a lazy glance from the wolf curled next to them.

Even without a deliberate display of might, the prestige of a fourth ranked beast drowned his desire to strike up a conversation and pushed him back to his own party.

Everyone present was an adventurer and knew how to take care of themselves, so it was none of their business how big or small a party was.

Nisha appreciated the quietness and spent the remaining time until it was her turn sorting out her emotions, whereas Accalia gathered more wind aura around her paws.

Most of her abilities changed together with the wolf’s bloodline after breaking through to the fourth rank, the thick tufts of fur just above the ankles essentially acted as a reservoir for miniature storms.

Given sufficient time to store power, Little Lia was ready to erupt with peak fighting strength at any time.

On top of that, [Storm Steps] allowed her to soar short distances by stepping on air itself, increasing the familiar’s combat strategies by adding a vertical dimension to her combat capability.

While the fur around the ankles always flowed with wind and passively accumulated wind to stir up a storm, the efficiency was better when the beast focused on charging up.

The dignity of a fourth rank beast overflowed and turned an ordinary wolf into a majestic creature, triggering the faint sense of alarm in other humans that normally stays dormant.

Nisha kept her eyes closed and only moved forward once another party moved into the boss room, which she kept track of with her [Spirit Sight].

To her astonishment, the stone door at the entrance also blocked out her special means of observation, obscuring what happened inside.

Eventually, no one stood between the dragon and her next goal, the depths of the Dungeon.

It was time to challenge the first guardian, and overcome the boss room of the fifth floor.

Rather than scared and worried whether she could pass the test, Nisha looked forward to the next floors, eager to find the limit of her fighting prowess and find a suitable match to go all out in a no holds barred fight.