âFâ¦Frostâ¦â
My tongue got all twisted up, âWhy are you here? Itâs so warm in Dragon City, whyâd you come down hereâ¦â
âDragon City is way colder than here.â
Frost coldly glared at me and said, âFollow me.â
âOkayâ¦â
â¦â¦
I followed Frost out of the small house and we went into the nearby forest.
Frost turned around, looked up and said, âYour growth in strength is indeed very frightening; Dalin was right when he said that you are a person that has potential, butâ¦â
She looked at the âwomanâ that I was holding and a bit of pink showed up on her solemn face, âBut can you just throw away the fake person that youâre holding?â
I quickly disposed of it into a nearby ditch, and felt extremely embarrassed, âThisâ¦This was just a temporary tacticâ¦â
Frost lightly hmphed, âSo I look exactly that that huh?â
âNo no, youâre a lot more beautiful than that Frostâ¦â
âIs that so?â
âIt isâ¦â
âHmph!â
She then said no more about it and instead deeply stared at me, âDragon Cityâs strength has to be constantly refilled. Now that youâre already strong enough, you donât need to follow Dalin anymore. I hereby decide that I will raise your rank to a member of Dragon City, and Iâve also arranged a new instructor for youâ¦â
âOh? Who is it?â
âJust follow meâ¦â
Frostâs body flashed, and in the next instant she appeared close enough to touch me. Her beautiful face was right in front of me. She smiled, grabbed my shoulders, and raised me up. Just like that I was being hauled while facing the sky, and she quickly started rock climbing. Damn, when could I do this?
Whoosh!
Suddenly, we passed through the Ice Spineâs peak and the freezing wind pounded mercilessly on me. Snowflakes as big as feathers floated in the air and we could see the Dragon Cityâs interior. But we were not going to Dragon City; rather she was heading towards the middle of the Ice Spine! There was a huge cave, and on the map, the area was blood-red. Frost was still hauling me during all this and with a bang, we dropped thousands of meters.
Tick!
System Notification: You have entered the areaââãDragon Tombã!
â¦â¦
I was pretty surprised and when I raised my head⦠right in front of me was an upside down enormous bony skeleton sitting in the middle of nowhere. The ribs were at least 10 meters long, and the bones were slightly glowing. The head was lying down on the ground sinisterly, separated from the body. This was the corpse of a huge dragon and an ancient one at that. Looking at the erosion of the bones, it was at least a thousand years oldâ¦
âFrost, this isâ¦â I said in a shocked voice.
Frost glanced at me and smiled, âYou probably guessed correctly. This is a dragonâs tomb, the place where an ancient dragon clan died. Most dragons that are near death will come here, and silently wait for their end. This area is still under our jurisdiction, so whether or not the dragons can return to here depends on us.â
âOkay, what do I need to do?â
Frost smiled, âItâs simple. From now on, you are one of the guardians of this dragon tomb. You need to guard these precious dragon bones and protect them from bandits or monsters that want to cause trouble. Alsoâ¦â
Frostâs smile seemingly had some ulterior motive, âAfter every dragon dies, they will leave behind their soul. In dragonâs tomb, we have no lack of dragonsâ souls and they are dream-like items that every warrior wants. So, you must guarantee the safety of this dragonâs tomb and guard this tomb well to allow the elder dragons to have peace. If anyone intrudes this tomb, you must immediately kill them!â
I nodded, âI understandâ¦Alsoâ¦â
Frost appeared as if she could read minds and smiled, âFollow me. Iâll show you your new instructor. He will teach new skills to you and also promote youâ¦â
âOkay! Iâll follow you!â
â¦â¦
A chilling wind passed through the dragonâs tomb and within the piles of dragon bones, I noticed a glow. In the skull of the huge dragon, I saw a round and dense colorful spirit. Without a doubt, that was the soul of a dragon. I wonder if you could eat it.
âWhat are you thinkingâ¦?â
Frost suddenly clenched her fists and glared at me.
I was faintly startled; did this woman know what I was thinking?
â¦â¦
âHmph, weâre hereâ¦â
In front of me, there was a house shaped like an oval and carved in rock. It seemed very cold and quiet. Next to the house, there was a martial arts practicing area. With weapons all over the place, this place emitted a strong aura. It must be a skilled person!
âKarl, weâre here. Come see your new disciple!â Frost said.
âOuchâ¦â
Stone doors opened, and an old geezer came out. He was sitting on a wheelchair since both of his legs had been cut off. A longsword was held behind the wheelchairââ
ãGuardian of the Dragon Tomb - Karlã
Level: ???
Description: Karl. An extremely talented swordmaster that has traveled throughout the continent defeating enemies but in one large battle he lost both his legs. Losing his movement, he could only research deeper into swords and after becoming dragonâs tombâs guardian, his strength has increased significantly.
â¦â¦
âAh Frost, long time no seeâ¦â
The wrinkles on Karlâs face looked like they could fold a person to deathâ¦He smiled, âI never would have thought that after all these years, Dragon City would still remember a half-person like me.â
Frost gave him a huge smile, âKarl, how could Dragon City forget you? Look, we found a talented young person to be your disciple and also join you as a guardian.â
I walked up, and cupped my fists, âGood evening instructorâ¦â
Karl stared at me for a while then said, âThis little guy doesnât look like anyone special. Frost, you randomly gave me some trash bronze, and want me to turn him into some gold?â
Frost covered her mouth while laughing, âNot at all, you just havenât seen what he can do. How about thisâ¦You! Show us some moves!â
I nodded, unsheathed my sword, and performed a few moves. It was a style where you attack while defending, and you could go forward or retreat. As long as my sword was unsheathed I would be invincible. This was a nameless style that I made myself, and under the stare of Karl I felt that my skills were shameful compared to hisâ¦
âOh?â
Karl thought for a while and said, âLooks likeâ¦Itâs not bad. You arenât too bad. Boy, from now on you are my discipleâ¦â
I proudly said, âI would like to experience your skill, or else how can I call you my master?â
âFine!â
Karl smiled, raised his hand and unsheathed his sword behind him. With a bang it penetrated a huge rock! Damn, using qi to drive the sword, this old guyâ¦That was a stage that I could never reach; also, even about the qi, I had never seen anyone in reality that could use qi with a sword. That was really incredible.
I stepped up, put one knee on the ground with my sword, and said, âInstructorâ¦ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Karl put his dried up old fingers on my shoulder and smiled, âOkay, hand over 100 gold coins, then youâll become my disciple. Also, in the future you will be a silver-rank warrior!â
âOkayâ¦â
I confirmed and handed over 100 gold coins to him, and immediately after, I heard a ringââ
âDing!â
System Notification: Congratulations! Youâve been successfully promoted to the next rank and receive the title of âTomb Guardian of Dragon Cityâ. All skills can go beyond the previous maximum level 4 and now the highest they can go up to is level 7. Hidden resistance +10%, hidden attack damage +5%, new skill ãFencing Specializationã!
â¦â¦
Very nice, I got the second promotion. It was pretty easy, but that promotion fee of 100 gold coins was too high! What a ripoff!
âOkay, my mission is complete now; Iâll be taking my leave.â
Frost lightly laughed and disappeared elegantly out of the Dragonâs Tomb. Karl looked at Frostâs shadow and snt a cold glare, muttering, âLuo Linâs dog, hmphâ¦â
I was shocked but I still walked up and asked, âInstructor, do you have any new skills you can teach me?â
All coldness in Karlâs eyes disappeared and he smiled, âOf course, but itâll be a bit expensiveâ¦â
âSureâ¦â
With a whoosh, a window appeared, and 3 skills were available for me to learnââ
ãFierce Ice Blade LV-1ã(A-rank): Condenses ice on the sword to attack the target, causing large damage and also slows the target down. Level 1 raises attack damage by 2%, ignores targetâs defense by 1%, and slows for 1 second. Consumes 30 MP. To learn this you must pay 300 gold coins and 3 points of charm. Cannot be learned together with [Ice Blade].
ãFlame Blade LV-1ã(B-rank):Condenses fire on the sword to attack the target. Level 1 raises attack by 3%. To learn this you must pay 10 gold coins. Cannot be learned together with [Ice Blade] or [Fierce Ice Blade].
ãIce Bladeã(B-rank): Condenses ice on the sword to attack the target. Level 1 raises attack damage by 2%, and slows the target for a short amount of time. To learn this you must pay 10 gold coins. Cannot be learned together with [Flame Blade].
â¦â¦
I thought for a while. Even though there seemed to be a chance that I could learn two of the skills, in reality I could only learn one out of these three skills. [Flame Blade] and [Ice Blade] were both normal skills, you needed to pay 10 gold if you wanted to learn them, but this [Fierce Ice Blade] should be an original by Karl, and the attack effects were quite a bit stronger than [Ice Blade]âs because of the defense ignoration. It was indeed goodâ¦but just a bit expensive!
I looked in my bag; I still had 400+ gold coins. It was enough, so I would learn it. With good skills you could win anything!
Whoosh!
After spending 300 gold coins and 3 charm, [Fierce Ice Blade] appeared in my skill window. It even consumed charm⦠Which meant that whoever didnât have charm wouldnât be able to learn this skill.
My sword trembled, and I silently cast [Fierce Ice Blade]. Instantly, ice started gushing out of my sword, and I stabbed out. A simple attack but it had plenty of killing power. A level 10 [Fierce Ice Blade] would raise my attack damage by 20%, and ignore 10% defense, so it shouldnât be too far from the level 10 [Wind Blade] which increased damage by 30%. With this, I had two attacking skills, nice!
â¦â¦
I wanted to chat a bit more with Karl, but he said no more and went back into his small house on his wheelchair. Damn, this instructor was so cold!
Whatever, I would find some monsters, and raise [Fierce Ice Blade] to level 4 first!
Outside of Ba Huang City, Vampire Bats fell one after another under my attack, it seemed like with [Fierce Ice Blade], I could instantly kill themâ¦The skill bar slowly filled, because it had a 6 second cooldown. I had plenty of patience, and I would slowly grindâ¦