Chapter 355
Chapter 355: Guardian of Eternal Night
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
Little Red wouldn’t have recognized him if she wasn’t so familiar with him.
He was wearing a bright red suit of armor, which appeared to be constructed out of many minute scales and parts. Armlets, knee and leg guards, and so on decorated the armor, while dragonscale plating covered all critical locations. Yet there was not a single trace of an artificial connection—it as if this suit of dragonscale armor was constructed naturally.
This sort of full-body armor matched the fashion style of the dragons. A roaring scarlet head of a dragon was carved into the armor’s left shoulder, while on the right shoulder was a dragon’s claw clutching a pearl. The helmet was adorned with a dragon’s head, which possessed naught but a pair of shining eyes that gleamed through a pitch-black abyss.
The armor appeared to be a material similar to ice, albeit a color as bright red as blood. Faint swirls roamed through the armor while the dragon’s eyes inlaid into the suit glowed with a brilliant shine. The dragon’s emblems that covered the entire armor lit up as well, making it seem like a living, breathing creature.
It was designed like a roaring demon dragon and even possessed its own draconic might. Simply looking at it would make people feel uncomfortable.
The vainest part of this already ridiculous armor was that it was specially outfitted with an equally brilliant scarlet cape.
[Full-body Dragonscale Ice Armor: Guardian of Eternal Night [1] 1 . System Evaluation: Legend rank, capable of growing in power.]
[This armor is constructed out of a combination of Immemorial Red Dragon blood and the eternal ice of your Frigidwinter Earth. Special runes are inscribed upon it, and Erebella acts as its vessel. This armor can only be used by you and you alone.]
[Enchanted Titan’s Thunder Metal: This armor possesses Legend-level damage reduction properties. All weapons that aren’t at the level of God Equipment will have their damage reduced by 30 against this armor. System Notification: It’s ridiculous how you managed to come up with the idea of embedding that Thunder Titan Giant’s broken shield pieces into your armor to strengthen its defense.]
[Living Armor: This armor is alive. She’s capable of self-repair. She’s even capable of using Dragon Bloodline abilities on your behalf. But if you accidentally anger her… do you recall that fairy tale about the pitiful girl who was unable to take off her enchanted magic shoes and danced to her death? Actually, if Erebella wants to make you suffer, she doesn’t need to go to such a degree. All she needs to do is to make it so that you can’t take off your armor to go to the bathroom…
[Ein Mezus’s Protection: Her Dragon’s Bloodline is coursing through this armor. She’s protecting the wearer of this armor, which is bad news for any attacker. Her protection will automatically absorb 100 points of damage every day before the wearer can be damaged. This ability will recover after a period of twenty-four hours.]
[Dragon Bloodline User: I find it incredibly difficult to believe how it’s even possible for an armor to have such properties, but you’ve indeed succeeded in making this happen. The wearer is able to use various Dragon Bloodline abilities while wearing this armor.]
[Yongye’s Authority: Due to the special nature of the material used to construct this armor, no ice damage will be able to lower this armor’s temperature to below zero degrees. This means it’s almost immune to all ice damage. And thanks to the Immemorial Red Dragon Bloodline contained within this armor, all fire damage taken is reduced by half, then reduced by another additional 30 points.]
[Blood Armor’s Curse: If this armor is worn by anyone other than Roland, it will internally shoot bloodsucking needles that will kill the wearer and suck them dry of blood.]
Yep, this armor was the product of my evolution. When it was time for me to evolve my bloodline, I had cast my gaze upon Harloys and Erebella.
From a certain standpoint, as Erebella was my contracted Frozen Nightmare, she was half of my soul. But recently she had been unable to be of much use.
This wasn’t because Frigid Nightmares were weak. All Aurora Knights would be at the minimum Gold and forever the pride of the Northlands. The monstrous Frigid Nightmares in the great snow mountain wouldn’t be any weaker than Immemorial Dragons. But she was limited in power level due to her soul contract with me, and there was the fact that my battles were far too dangerous, indeed making it hard for her to do anything.
A Gold Frigid Pegasus or Frigid Dragon could only be nothing more than a transportation tool on a battlefield where SemiGods and Myth ranks were abound. If I rode her while charging at my enemies, it was highly likely I’d die in midair. Not to mention, I myself possessed the power of flight along with other flying transportation tools, so I had minimal need for a flying mount.
Most of the time, Erebella’s greatest assistance to me was in helping me to control my ice magic and acting as my assistant magical core rather than entering combat herself.
Erebella understood this situation. This was why she almost never complained despite the fact that she hardly ever got to battle. Frigid Nightmares had the ability to become ice swords or ice armor for their masters, but I hardly ever used those abilities of Erebella’s, either, due to the fact that I had Harloys’ Ice Calamity magic sword and my Absolute Zero Ice Armor.
And as she was half of my soul, my chance at evolution was doubtlessly a chance for her as well. But even if she was strengthened, she would be limited to only Gold until I reached the rank of Legends myself. At most, her potential would improve, and she would gain a few Dragon Bloodline abilities… which would actually be quite useless.
But then I looked at Harloys and thought about how her Ice Calamity magic sword gave me a huge increase to my combat strength. This gave me an idea.
“Indeed, one of the basic fundamental natural laws of the mortal plane is that contracted magical pets, mounts, and other such creatures are unable to surpass their master in power level. However, weapons and equipment are counted separately and have no such restriction. Erebella is originally the transformation of an Ice Dragon, so if she obtains a true Dragon Bloodline, she could just control it all by herself. And it should definitely be possible for her to transform herself into equipment, no matter if we look at Erebella’s original power to transform into an ice weapon or Harloys’ speculations.”
Of course, many things would be possible in theory but ridiculously difficult to pull off in reality. Something like changing the internal structure of a living creature was already at the Creator Goddess’s level. It definitely would be impossible for me to manipulate things to such a degree. My current level was limited to crafting with non-living objects such as my “Coldest Ice.” Or, at most I could imitate the processes of living creatures in creating non-living contraptions with artificial life.
“…Although I can’t do it, my System can!”
That’s right. Wasn’t my System capable of modifying my physical body with just some dragon’s blood and Fate Points, giving me this body with endless potential? In that case, modifying and giving Erebella a physical body should be possible as well.
Alright then, you readers should have figured out the rest by now. Of course the System was capable of doing so. But, the end result was that I had to pay her 150,000 in combined Fate and Justice Points. And I had to owe a significant debt that left my wallet empty.
Roland Mist: 34 (+10) Strength, 24 Dexterity, 25 Constitution, 32 Intelligence, 22 Will, 20 Charisma. Racial talents: War Angel Form, Original Sin Demon Form, Titan’s Bones, Stare of the Hell God. Basic job classes: Level 60 Order Knight, Level 60 Chaos Lich King, Level 10 Four Elemental Swordcaster. Advanced job classes: Level 6 Lord of Frigidwinter. Overall level: Cannot be calculated. Magic pet: Harloys. Mount/Armor: Erebella.]
Just as I had expected, my base stats were only improved by a minor amount. Strength had increased by 2 points, Dexterity by 2 points, Constitution by 3 points, Intelligence by 2 points, Will by 2 points, and Charisma by 1 point. While this may not look like much, my stats had already been at quite the high level, and it get even more difficult for every additional point of growth. Obtaining so many base stats at once was quite an excellent harvest.
My only stat that had broken through to the next tier was the most useless one of all, Charisma, which, in fact, quite worried me. I really hoped I wouldn’t awaken to some sort of strange power. But considering my System’s typical behavior, there was no way she would let me get off free. I could only do my best not to think about this topic.
As for my racial talents, I originally had eight very powerful racial talents, but now there were only four, which seemed much weaker overall. But, in actuality, I had greatly increased my strength.
Originally, my Angel and Demon forms were both “transformations” with time limits so that my technically infant body wouldn’t be overburdened. But now, I could transform into either form with just a single thought, and my transformation time had greatly increased. This was a gigantic boost to my fighting potential.
Since I was worried about my Original Sin Demon Form being a demon, I only used the War Angel Form while I was in human lands. But now, I had full-body armor, so as long as I wore a mask, I would be able to use either form as I pleased.
I had discarded my Feet of Ethereal Shadow and Sword of Order abilities, so no more mention of them shall be necessary. However, my useful three abilities—Titan’s Body, Divine Child, and Chaos Barrier—had all disappeared as well. They had been combined into a new ability which had the ordinary sounding name of Titan’s Bones.
My two major defensive racial talents were amazingly useful to me in the past.
[Titan’s Body, Diamond Racial Talent: Your physical body possesses the original power of Titan Giants, and your skin becomes more like a Titan Giant’s every day. All damage and negative effects reduced by 30. All damage reduced by an additional 5.]
[Chaos Barrier, Gold Racial Talent: Protect your mind and soul from the effects of the suppression of Divine Kingdoms and Soul Worlds. Reduce the effectiveness of all Will-affecting and hallucinatory spells and abilities.]
And now it appeared that my new racial talent was a combination of these two.
[Titan’s Bones: You possess the blood, bones, and skin of original Titan Giants. Your bones and skin are becoming more and more like pure Titan Giants every day. All damage and negative effects against you are now reduced by 50. You are immune to all mind control and other psychological magic at the SemiGod level and below. As a battle continues, as long as you’re standing on the ground, your Constitution and Strength will increase, your health will steadily regenerate, and your injuries will heal.]
Actually, when I first saw this new natural talent of mine, I really wanted make a comment—just where did my System grab the Titan Giant bones for my body? But then, I thought about how that Thunder Titan Giant’s broken teeth had gone missing after the battle, and instantly decided that for some things, it was better not to ask. If my System really did tell me that the source of my upgraded power was from that Titan Giant’s broken teeth, I would be unable to eat for several days.
As for my missing Divine Child racial talent, I asked my System about it. Her answer was that, after my physical body evolved to this extent, I could now easily handle a God’s Descent even without this racial talent to assist me.
[System Evaluation: As you wished, you’re on the path to evolve into a perfect tank. Since you’ve given your Dragon Bloodline evolution over to Erebella, this means your body still has the potential to evolve. Of course, I bet that the biggest reason you’re so happy right now isn’t because of this…]
That’s right, I wasn’t that concerned about my increase in power. What I was happiest about was the fact that I had finally grown… by about three years in age.
My originally infant-stage Arbiter Bloodline made my physical appearance seem less than ten years old, no matter how you looked at me. But now, I seemed to be in my youth—I resembled an eleven or twelve year old boy. Although I still required my ring to adjust my physical characteristics, I at least looked like a brat who was capable of a few things rather than some snotty kid who was weak and powerless.
And so, I proudly undid my armor in front of Little Red who came over to greet me, revealed my true body, and did some comparing. Although I was still a bit shorter than she was, at least it wasn’t by as much as before. Yep, I was now only half a meter shorter than her.
“Roland, weren’t you supposed to be performing a Dragon Bloodline evolution? Why has the Dragon Bloodline disappeared? Why do I sense that you’re currently so weak!”
She sensed that I was weak? From a certain standpoint, that was indeed the case. Erebella didn’t originally have a physical body, and the System wasn’t capable of creating something from nothing. The energy used to give Erebella the power of a Bloodline Evolution was taken right from me, and all the essence I lost would take time for me to recover. Although my base statistics technically went up, I would likely have to recuperate for quite a while.
“Dragon Bloodline? I gave it to Erebella, and it’s now become this armor. Heh heh, you have no idea how much use your blood was to me this time. It must have been quite difficult for you to go without alcohol for all these days. Let’s go, drinks are on me. Oh, right, my body’s not mature yet and still needs a few decades, so I can’t drink… forget it, I don’t care! Let’s go drinking!”
I was indescribably delighted. And typically, Little Red should have been delighted, too, to hear an invitation to go drinking. She should have been dragging me behind her, running all the way to the bar.
But, for some strange reason, this time, the more I talked, the more complex Little Red’s expression got. Any Red Dragon whose face kept getting redder and redder meant that she was getting either excited or furious. While I was busy being confused at what was wrong with her, a sudden large fist appeared before me.
“You number one idiot in the universe! Let me see what color your brain is!”
Although she unexpectedly ambushed me, how could this possibly pose a challenge for me who had just finished evolving? The current me was completely… defeatable! Whoa there, I almost set a death flag for myself!
*Boom!*
My reactions weren’t slow at all. My mystical armor instantly formed on my arm and successfully blocked her heavy blow. I only had to back up half a step after blocking Little Red’s Strength which was at minimum 35 points—the best explanation of the improvement in my defenses. The current me was probably comparable to a weaker, younger Titan Giant.
“Ha, you wanted to test my current strength? You’re always so raring to go! Come, let’s have a good fight! I’ll make sure to satisfy you!”
Although Little Red was currently in her human form, I was still quite pleased with myself for successfully being able to block an Immemorial Dragon’s brute force attack. I was intending on summoning blades of ice and using practical combat to test out my current level, but…
“The hell, Little Red, why are you changing into your Dragon Form? Why are you gathering fire in your mouth? Dragonbreath? You’re actually being serious! I only wanted to have a practice fight with your human form!”
“You massive idiot! My… my plans have all gone up in smoke! It was so difficult for me to come to a decision! I already decided to go all out, yet you dared to embarrass me and made me say such embarrassing things… ! You—you—are you even a man!? If you’re a man, then let me bite you and breath fire on you!”
“What? I’ll die for sure if you bite me.”
I felt indignant and shocked at Little Red’s mysterious anger. Yet, this seemed to only enrage her even further.
Well, if only Little Red had recalled that Roland currently possessed an extremely young body, and that powerful bloodlines like the Dragon Bloodline would only have the power of reproduction after reaching adult age, perhaps she would have realized that her plan was destined for failure right from the very beginning.
Maybe if she had tried to learn from a certain “Mad Dog” from Town Security, and had been more patient by using a Hikaru Genji plan, she might have received a harvest in the end. But, right now, Little Red was on a rampage in a clash of embarrassment and anger. She recalled the words she had just said in front of Molly and went completely and unstoppably berserk.
“A triple combination dragonbreath attack? Dragon-only brass knuckles? You really are being serious. Fine then, let me show you my pride, War Angel… Ahh, you’re cheating! How could you attack me in the middle of my transformation? At least let me finish my transformation … I really hate this feeling…”
Roland was still in the middle of his pose, about to take flight, when a certain furious dragon knocked him into the air, transforming him into a flying meteor. Once Little Red discovered that Roland was sturdy enough to withstand her beating, she began to activate a female specialty: venting on others.
“Boom!”
More dragonbreath transformed the meteor Roland into fireworks. But judging from how he energetically shouted “…I’ll be back!”, his armor was truly outstanding in defense. Finally, Little Red, who was breathing hard from the exertion, glanced around her.
The remnants of her dragonbreath had scorched the land, while the steps from her gigantic body had caused the nearby buildings to collapse. Currently, there was a large group of people far looking on in fear at this angry Red Dragon. It would seem that with this rampage, Little Red would be unable to wash away her reputation as an evil dragon.
Meanwhile, in the corner of her eye, she noticed someone else she could vent her anger on: Molly, who was currently restrained all over and attempting to crawl away like a caterpillar. And that was when Little Red let out a crazed laugh.
Alright then. The rest was just a repeat of recent days: eating, sleeping, and beating up Molly.
Note:
[1] ED/N: Remember, Yongye is Eternal Night