A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Ultimately, the [Crazy Sea Monkey] failed to escape from the dragon‘s grasp.

Around the time when her familiar finished off the second lackey and only needed to spend some time to settle the last one as well, Nisha took action and. Raised her strength for an instant.

Shoving the monkey to the side, the leader lost its balance for barely an instance, yet that opening proved fatal.

Jerking up her knee, the primate opposite of her folded in half like a curled shrimp from the peak fourth rank blow in its stomach pit.

As it doubled over and screeched in pain, the elf's first blow shattered its neck along the spine and severed the nerves hidden beneath, while the second palm hit its back from behind and turned its heart into mush all at once.

Having two vital spots destroyed in an instant, the monkey leader did not even get a chance to retaliate before it passed away with grievance.

Perhaps pressured by the fierce means of its master, Little Lia did not spare any efforts either and used a strong [Storm Tear] to nearly tear the last survivor in half before running to her master, clearly begging for praise.

Although the early fourth rank underlings were too weak to compete against the elf in any form even when she only relied on physical means and forewent weapons, it would still interrupt or complicate the confrontation with the leader.

Nisha tossed one of the underling bodies towards her wolf as a reward and put away the rest inside her [Inner World].

Normally, the first few items harvested from monsters killed in the Dungeon had the best quality, just half a level below their actual rank, subsequent harvesting consecutively got worse in their condition.

In that regard, the dragon‘s space was similar to a cheat since it could support the spoils of war gained in this place for a long time and preserve their effects without any obvious degradation.

Nearly all the monsters ended up as food so far, supplementing Nisha‘s diet as the portions at the Dharnas estate were big enough for a young lady, but certainly not a young dragon mistress as herself.

Nevertheless, some particularly sturdy bones and other inedible materials of the third level had begun to pile up after they got gnawed on until no meat was left.

 

“Let‘s find some more opponents. As long as you do a good job, you can feast to your heart’s content this time.“

It wasn‘t only the elf who benefitted from the strong vitality contained in a fourth rank monster.

As a beast with a bloodline capable of resisting the erosion of the dragon bloodline, Accalia‘s quality was similar to the ferocious beasts of ancient times.

There were quite a lot of rare beasts that had trace of dragon bloodline in them, making them powerful and sought after, but that merely meant that their ancestors had relations with a lecherous male dragon before.

Only a scant few heritages were on the same level and could resist being tainted, making them extraordinary on their own.

Due to being a [Storm Trail Dragon Wolf], Little Lia had an extraordinary physique, bones as hard as metal and a hide as strong as iron.

With claws as sharp as human forged weapons, the wolf could slice up any meal into tiny bite sized portions and easily absorb their vitality by eating to bolster her own aura.

Although the progress was little and not quite noticeable after any meal, the small advantages accumulated over time and helped with cultivation.

To reach a higher rank, it was entirely possible for the familiar to do nothing but eat.

If it was not for the great divides between each three smaller levels, which required comprehension, a smattering of luck and a suitable opportunity, humans would fear ancient ferocious beasts, prehistoric monster bloodlines and gluttonous mutants much more.

The wolf relied on its master to make the breakthrough between the third and fourth rank, it was much easier to jump over the abyss after someone paved the way first and shared their experience.

Normal communication was quite limited to exchange these experiences, so they could only do their best to show the process of obtaining insights, as the actual content varied between people and not everything could be put into words.

But with a contract between the elf and the dragon, the familiar could still obtain the wordless inspiration that came with bridging the gap between ranks.

 

Little Lia was quite content with the reward and quickly made a fast meal out of the fourth rank monster, leaving the messy remains behind.

The elf summarized her experience with close quarter combat while she waited for the familiar to finish.

As the young mistress of the Dharnas family, it was not quite suitable for her to show off her strong physique and physically oppress her opponents.

She made some progress in the [Imperial Swordplay] so far and reached the level of [Free Flow], yet every bit of progress convinced the elf more that swords were not the weapon of her choice.

Although they were convenient, swords lacked heaviness to make use of her great strength and reach to play towards her advantages.

It was similar to her way of handling a bow, Nisha had great aim after being forced to learn to rely on her other senses when she had been blind and her arrows chased after her prey as if they had eyes, but the materials for a bow of her own rank were too fragile and could not handle her entire physical strength.

More than one bow snapped because she forgot to control her power, it was the range and convenience that led her to continue using bows and arrows.

In that vein, swords lost their advantages in the eye of the dragon as time passed, their convenience no longer as big as before.

Before the swords started to limit her strength rather than bolster it, Nisha had to switch to a better weapon, or rather a weapon type that suited her instead.

Seeing that her familiar kicked away the remaining carcass and eagerly rushed up to her to continue their Dungeon Dive, the elf put away the messy thoughts and led the way deeper inside the sixth floor.

The fight just now had lit up a fire in the depths of the dragon‘s heart, a small ember of violence that had been deliberately kept smothered for a long time.

Now that she had a chance to come out, it was not really possible for her to go back after a single fight, right?

The boss of the fifth floor might knock his head against the stone floor to kill itself in shame if it learned that it was not even considered a real fight after the elf made her breakthrough to the fourth rank.

 

Naturally, there were strong and weak encounters on the same floor, making it hard to guess what exactly a group of adventurers would encounter each time.

Most teams included a member capable of stealth and scouting, letting them go ahead to find a suitable path.

Even then, after the first boss room the walk traffic decreased a lot and Nisha was not afraid of being spotted at all.

Right before entering the underground entrance to the Dungeon, her cloak changed subtly and led gazes away from her.

By conjuring her manifestation, [Midnight], the elf was as hard to spot as a shadow in the night.

Normally, it would cost a lot of aura for a warrior to call out their Manifestation and make use of them, rendering them the ultimate moves for most who awakened a Manifestation.

Nisha, on the other hand, figured out that there was more to her two Manifestations [Midnight] and [War Flame], because neither of them drained her aura reserves as long as they were equipped.

The dark element cloak helped her with connecting to all shadows in the vicinity and she could use them as short range portals to move between shadows as if they were gates, whereas the bracelets embedded with red gems supplemented the strength of the user and injected the gathered flame aura into the skills and weapons of the user.

Neither of these active usages seemed to be the limit for the Manifestation, albeit the elf had not figured out how to excavate their potential so far.

It was during the last advancement in her cultivation realm that the dragon had a vision coming from her bloodline that helped her understand the two Manifestations better.

Although the principles she comprehended from the vision were not directly related to them, it was still possible to improve her control by applying the principles on [Midnight] and [War Flame] to bring out their potential.

 

“Stay aside first.“

Scouting another room, both the familiar and her master went through several combat situations in a row.

Because of the location of the Dungeon, most of the monsters that appeared inside either had the earth or water element, with very few exceptions.

The other elements only appeared as a combination with the two main elements, giving Nisha little chance to learn more about her own attunement.

By now, Little Lia got a little lazy as her belly was not far from being stuffed from all the monster meat.

Unlike the elf, who had a storage space to preserve her spoils of war, the wolf could only eat her share on the spot and do her best to digest as much aura as possible in the short term.

Their opponents ranged from multiple smaller enemies such as [Ferocious Crab Soldiers], which were less powerful than others at the early fourth rank, yet made up for their shortcomings with near telepathic teamwork and cooperation, to [Ocean Fish Ogres], which was a pair of fierce creatures that managed to make the wolf familiar fight close to its limit and bring out all of its strength to subdue them.

Nisha used the concealment of her Manifestation to scout ahead and came across a new situation.

Instead of a group, only a single big monster dozed off in the middle of the chamber.

Although it was not a boss, the aura she observed through her [Spirit Sight] was definitely at the very limit of the middle fourth rank, and likely indicated that the foe was capable of exerting strength above its cultivation rank.

Generally, the more individuals resided in a room, the less strength each of them had.

The Dungeon was quite fair in that regard, whether it was a random result of the natural rules or whether someone secretly controlled the rules from behind.

Because there was a high chance of encountering an early fifth rank monster on the seventh floor, it was not convenient for Nisha to descend another floor.

Generally, it was safe to scout ahead and get a general appraisal of the opponents without stepping into their room and engaging in combat, but this was not an absolute rule.

If they were unlucky, more than a few groups lost their scouts because the opponents were endowed with natural long range skills.

 

Little Lia did not object to taking a break and observing the fight, mainly because it knew that its master was an even more powerful beast than itself, so there was little danger and it became difficult to recoup the aura that it spent in each fight.

After resting for a while, the wolf would probably be able to take part in the next fight again.

Nisha rolled her eyes as she vaguely understood the thoughts of her familiar and no longer paid attention to the slacker.

According to her own estimations, the dragon put her own upper limit at the upper fourth rank without any special means.

Perhaps a suitable opportunity would allow her to leverage her own principles the girl comprehended or her Manifestations to injure an early fifth stage opponent, yet it was difficult to simulate if her strength was enough to bridge a whole rank.

So a monster above the middle fourth rank but below the peak was the perfect tool to verify her own guesses and assumptions.

Stepping into the room, the hot air brought by the elf as her battle intent erupted instantly roused the monster from its sleep.

The puddles around the room steamed and shook as violent fire aura and insidious dark mana mixed into the air.

With a sharp glare, the monster unfurled to its maximum length and swung its sturdy tail left and right.

Nisha had thrown an [Identify] spell at the scaly opponent right as she stepped over the boundary of the room and soon learned that the monster was called [Six-Legged Bane Lizard], a fierce creature that relied on its sharp claws and great speed to harass its prey to death.

From the hideous snout to the tip of its tail, it was probably as long as five adult humans, making it significantly bigger than the current dragon.

Suddenly awakened from its slumber, the big lizard was equal parts angry and confused.

Its instincts warned it, clearly picking up signs of oppression from the intruders, albeit the beast remained in the tunnel opening of the room and showed no signs of entering.

As a Dungeon bred monster, it knew that cultivators were treacherous and cunning, so it was quite wary of the wolf.