Draconic Awakening

After searching the entire lower deck, Ragnar found no sign of life and finally decided to move on to the next. It was easier to find the staircase that led to the next deck.

Reaching the flight of stairs, Ragnar's eyes narrowed at the darkness that was at its depth. The next room was sure to not have a single shred of light. It appeared the further he went down the ship, the darker it would surely get.

For this reason, he immediately activated his Arcana, his eyes becoming able to peer into the darkness, and when it did, he began climbing down the flight with the hilt of the Duskrime tightly clenched in his hands.

He was cautious, knowing whatever had hatched from the eggs and their mother could surely be in the deepest depths of the ship.

Finally, his foot met with the deck of the ship and a loud creaking sound could be perceived echoing through the walls of the entire deck.

"Shit!" he gritted his teeth, knowing whatever was in here was already alerted to his presence.

The insides of the lower deck seemed to be a place that held mainly cargo: large boxes, some ancient statues that still managed to retain their being even after the centuries of dilapidation.

It looked almost like a treasure room, having many ornaments and paintings that surprisingly were still in top quality even after those years.

Whatever curse had befallen the realm did not affect this place in all of its cruelty.

Ragnar continued to go through the deck, walking past the various pillars of cargo and art, and as he did, something came to his notice.

This place—it was awfully warm. Not that warmth was bad, although this place managed to keep warm even without the slightest torch or fire going.

And this was unnerving.

The young Lord continued at a steady pace through the deck until finally he came to notice something dreadful.

At a pillar, resting on it, was a mighty realmbeast that seemed to resemble the offspring of a lizard and a rhino. It was as large as a rhino would be, having its armor plates all over its body, horns on its skull, and then a tail that had a club at its end.

This monstrous lizard was nothing less than a grade three Wretchborn, and as soon as he had noticed this beast, it had also noticed him.

The monstrous figure snarled and then charged forward at him at full speed. It was quite agile for its size and managed to close the distance between the two within mere seconds.

This fact on its own stunned Ragnar, who took a foot backwards and prepared himself for the first attack of the repugnant lizard.

It attacked with an obvious snap of its sharp rows of teeth at Ragnar, but the speed at which it came was more scary. Even though Ragnar was able to avoid the attack, he was barely missed by the fangs of the monster.

As soon as he reeled back from the first attack, the lizard beast was already attacking again, swinging its claws at him. This time, he blocked using his sword to parry the attack.

The collision of the claws to the Duskrime almost knocked his blade out of his grasp, his grip almost loosening.

"Damn this bastard!" he groaned, staggering back again to get some space between the two.

The lizard beast was quick and deadly, attacking continuously without rest at Ragnar—attacking with claws, its teeth, and even its tail as a club.

With the amount of force and the flurry of attacks it rained continuously at him, it appeared almost impossible for Ragnar to get a hit in.

After all, he had been on the defense ever since the start of the battle.

'What sort of monster is this? Is it even a Dreadling?' he asked himself as wounds started to build up on his body—from claw scratches to scars and heaviness in his body.

He wasn't going to last much longer in this current condition.

Taking another attack from the claws of the colossal reptile with the Duskrime, Ragnar opened his palm and out of it he shot a ball of fire at the beast. Not too big to put him in pain, but enough to create the distraction he needed.

The fireball crashed into the face of the lizard, stunning it with a small explosion of flames and smoke... This was more than enough time for the young Lord to land his fatal hit.

Ragnar tightened his grip around the Duskrime with both hands and dove in towards the monster with full force, bringing his blade at the shoulder of the monster.

To his surprise, the Duskrime tore through the armor of the beast like it was a hot knife through butter, tearing through it completely and leaving a very fatal wound on the beast.

The lizard jerked itself, trying to retreat back with a jump, but with the loss of control in the shoulder and the large gash, it did not go that far before collapsing onto its side, snarling and shrieking in pain.

The flames had burnt its face to a mess of pink, darkening flesh, and the gash in its arms running down to its back. This was surely enough to kill the beast or disorient it enough to land the final blow.

{Congratulations...}

{You have earned an ember mark}

The familiar message of the system confirmed his thoughts. He had killed the lizard beast and also received an ember mark in the process.

Ragnar could not help but smile in excitement as he summoned his stats from the system.

{New ember mark}

{Beatable Core}

He furrowed his eyes at the notification. "Beatable core, I've heard about things like this. But not much being read."

He then commanded the system to display more information, which it did within seconds.

{This core can be formed into different materials, such as: armor, sword, ropes, shields, halberds}

{Grade 3}

Ragnar chuckled and then stared at his shadows, the prisoner also jerking his head back in laughter.

'This might just turn out to become a very interesting hunt.'