Chương 174: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 174 - Undercurrents Stirring

Once, there had been over ten thousand gold coins right in front of Rolls-Royce. He hadn't cherished them. It was only after losing every last one that the regret came crashing down. There is no greater pain in this mortal world. If the heavens gave him one more chance, he would guard his gold coins with his life. But none of that mattered now. Words were useless. The Black Dragon before him only understood gold coins.

Rolls-Royce still couldn't quite figure out how it had happened, one moment he was a ten-thousand-gold household, and the next he was flat broke and five hundred gold coins in debt.

"I understand, Master. I will leave the Dragon's Nest, follow in your footsteps, and repay what I owe." Rolls-Royce lowered his head, the fight gone out of him. He knew. He was probably going to have to say goodbye to sunbathing for a while. Su Nian snorted, blew a lazy smoke ring, and felt thoroughly pleased with himself. With Rolls-Royce along, seizing the players' Starter Villages was practically guaranteed. He and Anna might not even need to get their hands dirty.

"Good. Half an hour to prepare. We leave the moment that's up."

"My time is valuable. Don't drag your feet."... Word spread through the lair that the Brass Dragon was leaving his territory. His followers gathered around him in a somber cluster, each one coming to say goodbye. The Black Dragon refused to let any of them tag along. They were too weak. Rolls-Royce agreed, humans were far too dangerous for little sandworms and owls to be wandering near.

"Goodbye, Rosie. Take care of yourself. Don't get eaten by a bird... I mean — don't wake up too early in the morning..."

"Goodbye, Little Pero. Eat less. When we meet again, I hope you've lost the weight, not died from stuffing yourself."

"Goodbye, Hermès. You worry me the most, but there's plenty of food left in the Dragon's Nest. It should last you quite a while..." Then, quieter, almost to himself: "And if it really comes down to it, you can always eat Rosie."... After bidding farewell to dozens of monsters, it was finally the adventurer Tal's turn. Tal was practically vibrating with excitement. He could go home. He was finally going home. The Brass Dragon was leaving to follow the Black Dragon, surely he wouldn't drag Tal along too, right?

"Oh! Tal, my human friend!" Rolls-Royce's eyes carried a faint melancholy, like winter sunlight that had lost its warmth.

"What a shame. I wanted to talk with you so much more. We still have so many topics between us..." As he spoke, Rolls-Royce reached between his scales and produced a long scroll, covered top to bottom in dense Draconic script.

"As you can see, topics. Though I suppose these were only temporary. Now that we're parting, they'll go unused." Tal stared at the scroll, jaw slack. Every instinct he had screamed at him to run from this dragon as fast as his legs could carry him. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. But he couldn't exactly say,"Oh, you're finally leaving? Best news I've had all year!" He had to calm the Brass Dragon down. Keep him from getting angry.

With that thought, Tal dug up a strained smile from somewhere deep inside himself.

"Esteemed Brass Dragon, my time with you has been... truly wonderful. But all good things must come to an end. Perhaps this parting is fate's design, yet I'm sure our paths will cross again someday."

"You were happy here? With me?" Rolls-Royce's eyes lit up. It was like the summer sun rising in the dead of winter, ice cracking, snow melting, a brilliance so sudden it was almost painful to look at. Tal felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. But the arrow had left the bow. There was no calling it back. He braced himself and nodded.

"Yes... yes, quite happy. Still, this parting is perhaps what fate intended. Goodbye, my friend—""Screw fate and its undead walls! I don't believe in fate! My destiny is mine, not heaven's!" Rolls-Royce roared, cutting Tal off mid-sentence.

"Friend, you enjoy my company. Then it's settled. I'll petition the Black Dragon Master personally. I'm bringing you along. After all, we still have topics." He turned and went off to find the Black Dragon, leaving Tal standing in place, face drained of all color, as still and pale as a statue carved from chalk.... Half an hour later, the Black Dragon's monster army moved out. The Brass Dragon Rolls-Royce had paid five thousand gold coins to convince the Black Dragon to allow one human friend to travel with them.

Rolls-Royce's total debt now stood at five thousand five hundred gold coins. And yet he was happy. Genuinely, completely happy, because now he had a real person willing to talk to him. Someone who didn't even charge for the privilege. What a stroke of luck. Worth every coin.... At the same time, outside the Moriqan Desert, Freyja's group trudged along looking thoroughly exhausted. With too many people and not enough horses, most of them were on foot.

No one was about to spend Invasion Points exchanging for gold just to buy a mount, especially not in Anlius, a country so small that even its knights weren't properly equipped with warhorses. There was nowhere to buy one even if they wanted to. Medraco had assembled roughly a thousand players, all of them interested in dragon-slaying, all from the same Starter Village and familiar with each other. That familiarity only made Freyja and her companions feel more like outsiders.

The three native humans had quietly drifted to the very back of the procession, half-listening to the noise drifting back from the blond-haired, blue-eyed crowd ahead.

"Mike, have you noticed? Our metal alloy success rates are completely off the charts. Even accounting for magic buffs, it shouldn't be this easy."

"Noticed it ages ago." The player named Mike, one of the Beautiful Country contingent, shrugged and fished a kukri out of his backpack. He turned it over in his palm, tapping the flat of the blade. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"As you can see. Kukri. I synthesize the metal myself, hand it to that old bastard Fred, and he hammers one out in minutes flat."

"I did some digging with the Sakura players earlier, got them talking. They don't have anything like this kind of advantage in equipment crafting."

"Hahaha! Maybe it's a gift from God, exclusive to the Beautiful Country. Even in another world, we really are on top." Another player laughed and pulled out a shield. Its design was a near-perfect replica of the adamantium alloy shield from the movie Captain Beautiful Country.

"With an edge like this, dragon-slaying or world conquest, either way it's a walk in the park."

"Seriously. Those Tianchao players are probably still playing pretend back in their starter zones..."...

"The desert starts just ahead. Do we cut straight through?" Medraco rode up alongside Freyja, flicking his horsewhip lightly. Freyja's face was flushed deep red, her clothes nearly soaked through. The Frost Shields she'd been stacking on herself all afternoon weren't helping much, if anything, they were just making her wetter faster as the ice melted against the heat. This pampered princess had never marched this far in her life. And certainly not under a sun like this one.

The suggestion of crossing the desert made her expression sour further. This entire journey had been miserable, boring terrain, conversation she couldn't follow about alchemy she didn't care about, and only the occasional amusement of needling Kaiyar to break the tedium. Though even that she'd kept restrained. It was still daytime. She had a reputation to consider.

"No. We go around. We can hunt monsters along the way, build up our strength, and sell the materials for coin. There probably aren't many monsters in the desert anyway, and we'd burn through our food and water before we made it across." Medraco nodded without argument. Freyja was the one driving this dragon-slaying venture, her call was final. Besides, the map they had showed nothing useful about the interior of the Moriqan Desert.

The direct route was shorter on paper, but getting lost in there would cost them far more time than going around.

"Everyone halt! We're going around — stop where you are!" His voice rolled out across the empty grassland, carrying far into the open air.... Tianchao No. 1 Starter Town.

"Li Chen. How are you feeling?" The older man had a square, weathered face and hair gone mostly white, but his eyes were sharp and clear as he studied the young man before him, composed, fine-featured, unhurried. This was Li Chen: the highest-level player in the Tianchao region, and the highest-level player in the entire world. ➤ Next: World BOSS Appears