“Alan…Peccator.”
His voice was different, sounding more robotic. The artifact that allowed him to speak must have done this, without a doubt. Alan’s mouth was still in tatters.
“Peccator? That’s a word of Latin origin… Sinner?”
The man, clearly well-versed in the languages of Earth and quickly derived the meaning of the word Peccator.
“So you are from Earth…but why do you have such a name? The modern era doesn’t even have Latin as a language anymore, it’s basically extinct… Perhaps the dragons found it amusing?”
He still thought that Alan was a dragon from birth, and this led him to the conclusion:
“Aha! Probably your parents named you something like that, they took an ordinary name and then combined it with a word from Latin, it should have some meaning if such beings did it… Were they sinners? Criminals? Did they betray the dragons? Or is it something related to you? I did read that they did divination…so perhaps that is the reason for your name.”
“Anyway, Beside your name, what affiliation are you of? Tell me about the current affairs of Earth.”
The power of the artifact compelled him to speak. Alan was helpless against it. Soon, his voice, propagated by the artifact, rang out.
“I belong to the Twilight guild, and Wellington family. Earth is at war with the demons…who have taken a continent as theirs…the humans…”
He continued to speak, but there were irregular stops during his sentences, clearly the power of the artifact was weakening as Alan continued to resist its effects. The man was quick on the uptake and waved the dandelion in front of Alan again.
That caused his mana to calm down once more, and go unresponsive. Earlier, he was trying to awaken some of his mana, but that attempt was shot down by that dastardly plant!
“Do you know what this is? This plant was cultivated by the ancient Terra giants specifically for fighting the dragon race. Unfortunately, the radiation caused by the fire devil dragon made it go through unstable mutations as well. Now, it’s only a fraction of its former prowess… Hehe…”
A cold laugh ensued, and the man looked at Alan like he was looking at something pathetic.
“Even this…pathetic version is enough for you.”
He continued, not giving Alan any time to become angry.
“The plant is enough for you…you should be a young, very young dragon. A baby among them. Otherwise, the giants wouldn’t have been able to catch you. I heard you were having a standoff against the Night lady.”
The man grabbed Alan’s chin and raised his head forcefully.
“But you were going to die to the night lady…TSK TSK.”
He clicked his tongue, the mockery in his eyes visible. Alan was burning deep inside, but he knew he could not do anything.
That fact alone caused the flames of rage within him to surge.
“Seems you are a disgrace to your race, A dragon only at the level of B+, pathetic. Even the young ones are S-rank.”
In actuality, he wasn’t even born a dragon. He was born a human and became like this. If the man knew that, he wouldn’t have said such words.
The irony within them was large, if other dragons heard it they would cringe, especially the ones of old.
… They were the ones who knew…no dragon was to be underestimated like that, even if they were not a dragon from birth.
It was precisely a dragon like that that brought their entire empire…to ruin. 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮
And the man, was provoking the vessel of that dragon.
“Come on! Fight!”
He kicked Alan in the face, and slapped him continuously. He relished in the ability to cause one of these creatures pain! A pain that was derived from their pathetic state.
“I read about you all so much in these archives! But look at you now! So weak!”
He had been influenced by the giants here, and had grown such sentiments. He looked at Alan with a hateful gaze, but calmed himself down soon.
“Calm down… Do you know of a man called David Umber back on Earth?”
He asked Alan, after having calmed down. Even though he hated the man, he was unable to resist the power of the artifact and answered.
“No…”
He didn’t even know most people in his guild or school, how would he know?
“So they erased me from history, huh…” He seemed to be recalling a memory that was both sweet and bitter, sighing to himself and looking like a philosopher, he looked at Alan once more.
“Don’t worry, you will die soon, the moment I figure out a way to extract mana from your dragon heart.”
Alan had a look of confusion on his face as he heard the man’s words. The man didn’t miss this and asked him.
“No way…you don’t know?”
He smiled, and his hand proceeded towards Alan’s chest. His shoulder was in front of Alan’s face, but he could not feel the touch of the man’s hand.
The man smiled…and snickered.
“You…truly don’t know.”
Shockingly, he felt the hand of the man on his…upper back?
How?! His shoulder was in front of Alan, and the other arm was in its place…how did he feel the hand on his back? Was the man a master of spatial magic? Had he opened a portal?
The man had a menacing look on his face as he finally realized.
“You…you are not a born dragon! You became one! TELL ME!”
There was a look of fervor as he asked, he poured his mana into the artifact, anxious for an answer.
“I…was blessed by dragons…and they…made me into…one…”
Alan found out that he was able to manipulate what he spoke. Although the power of the artifact compelled him to tell the truth… He could choose how ‘vague’ he told the truth. However, it was limited.
“More…give me more details.”
And it’s very weakness was this.
“I was blessed by the dragon supremes of chaos and frost… And they evolved me into a dragon.
A hint of fear appeared in the eyes of the man as he heard those words.
“…wait. Say that again.”
Alan repeated his sentence, and his words cause the man to jump back, away from Alan. His entire face was plastered with fear.
“Supremes?! Fuck!”
He cursed, hitting his head with his hands like a madman.
“The previous dragon that caused the destruction of this world was a supreme! And now two?! The things here aren’t even a fraction of what they were then! We can’t fight back!”
But, he started to laugh soon enough.
“Hahaha!”
His maniacal laughter filled the room, and Alan’s body trembled. The man was strong, he had to give him that. The mere act of laughing sent mana fluctuations throughout the air.
“Ha… They shouldn’t be able to sense you here… And even if they did, they wouldn’t care. Supremes wouldn’t mind weak ones like you. They probably turned you into one because they were bored.
If he knew how much Suleras and Lanesha dotted on Alan, he would die from shock. Literally. But he was ignorant.
He pulled out a mirror, and turned it towards Alan, it was a big mirror, and Alan could see his chest with its help.
His eyes widened into horror, and the man laughed.
“See?”
Now he knew how he felt the man’s hand on his back. There…there was a large hole in his chest!
“The fact that you are alive is surprising, you know? Probably because you are a dragon! I can’t imagine what kind of power I will have when I get your bloodline.”
He was wrong in this aspect, the reason Alan survived was because of his Phoenix bloodline. The wound, however…was suspicious. Straining his eyes, Alan managed to catch something within the wound.
“Finally caught sight of it?”
However, he couldn’t see it clearly even with the help of the mirror. The man snorted and held a plate in front of him. The plate had a gruesome piece of flesh on it.
“This is your heart.”
Alan paused, not believing the man’s words. If it really was his heart, then even the bloodline of the Phoenix would not be able to save him! It was simply preposterous.
This is actually your heart, the arrow destroyed it completely, and I was only able to collect this mess. The reason you are alive right now is…”
The man snorted once more, and lowered the mirror. Alan could see what he noticed back then, now, more clearly. It was a small blue crystal, the size of one’s palm. The crystal was seemingly floating in the cavity in his chest.
“That thing destroyed the arrow that pierced into you, there was a palm sized hole in the thing! It’s unbreakable!”
The man enjoyed the shock on Alan’s face, and he continued.
“That’s the very reason you are alive, despite your heart having been turned to mesh. It’s because of that very dragon heart!”
The man touched the crystal, but the mana it unleashed burned the skin off his hand. He cursed, but he had expected this to occur. He simply enjoyed the pain.
The mana that the crystal released went into him, and he was able to benefit from it somewhat. It was pure mana, the purest there could be, and it was very useful to him. Throughout the duration Alan was unconscious, he had touched it numerous times to benefit from the pure mana.
“Soon…that will be mine. And with the near infinite mana within it, I will be the king of this city, and this planet! And soon the universe!”
The man laughed like a mad genius, and he stared at Alan like he was his key…to a strength unseen!
Updated from 𝑖𝘳.𝒸ℴ𝑚