Chapter 443: The Source of the Dragon Race: The Ferry
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Black Dragon King?
This was a new term. Link looked at the dragon elders around him. Seeing all their grave and secretive expressions, he could tell it wasn't a good term.
Link glanced at Gretel and asked, "How do I turn back into a human?" He could feel that he could do it, but he had no clue how to.
"Take a deep breath, hold it, put it into your stomach… Right, now you're back into a human."
Link felt his body's inner structure clearly and could easily do what the queen said. When he was done, he felt his body squeeze. The extended Dragon Power quickly retracted and his body shrunk at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Three seconds later, he was a human again.
After that, his clothes automatically jumped out of the dimensional storage gear and seamlessly returned to his body. Link looked down at his hands. They were normal, without any dragon scales or crystal thorns.
The only difference was that his skin was much smoother. The calluses and scars had all disappeared.
After transforming into a dragon, Link finally understood its profundity. He realized that a dragon's body was a very powerful magic armor in nature… No, it wasn't armor. It was more like an extremely intricate living machine!
The magic was intricate to the max and contained endless wisdom, including knowledge that Link had never even thought of before. He could say that this magic was practically a giant library!
Now, Link just wanted to find a quiet place and put all his effort into studying it!
Whoosh! The Red Dragon Queen unfurled her wings and flew down from the podium. When she reached Link, she collapsed her wings and looked at him seriously, her eyes troubled.
The mood was a bit heavy. After a while, Link asked, "Can I transform certain parts like you?"
"Yes, but you need more practice."
This was good news, and Link was satisfied. This way, he could give himself a layer of scales during battles for sudden extra armor.
At this time, the elders who had fallen earlier pulled themselves up. Elder Pettalong walked over and said, "Your Majesty, I think you should consider your plan seriously. Do not let history repeat itself—"
He already treated Link as part of the dragon race now, so he didn't keep it from Link. However, the Red Dragon Queen rudely cut him off. "Alright, speak carefully. Link will not participate in our matters. He is a human lord and history will definitely not repeat itself!"
"Yes, I understand." Pettalong glanced at Link. His eyes were also troubled—there was regret and also fear.
Gretel looked at Link with exhaustion written all over. "Okay, I've already fulfilled my promise. You are only an average member of our race and cannot stay here. Go to the Dragon Temple and prepare to attend the Emerald Circle meeting."
Her attitude was a bit strange. She had been respectful first but now was acting cold. Link guessed that his dragon shape was something taboo. However, this suited him. He wasn't an idiot and could see from their attitudes that the dragons had high expectations for him. If he really had a dragon shape that fit their expectations, they would become even more entangled.
This was just right.
Thinking of this, Link said, "Then I'll leave now. Oh, I heard that you have a library. Can I go there?"
"Of course. There are only some historical books though. Feel free to read whatever you wish."
"No problem."
Link bowed slightly to Gretel and then walked out of the Ancestor Altar. After he left, Pettalong said, "Can this be a sign from the ancestors?"
Gretel fell silent. She looked up at the dragon statue wrapped around the altar and sighed. "I don't know either, but it has already happened. The black dragon symbolizes destruction, but we pursue balance. He's already out of consideration. Don't think about it."
"Yes," all the elders replied.
On the other hand, Link didn't know about this at all. He had already arrived at the library in the Dragon Temple.
It was not very big. It was a circular room around 150 square feet big and only contained around 5000 books.
The librarian was a benevolent old dragon. He wasn't too strong, only at Level-7, and had a dying aura. He didn't seem to have many days left to live.
When Link arrived, he was writing something at a table. Seeing Link, he looked up and said, "Young man, you can read but don't damage my books."
"I'll be careful." Link nodded.
Just as Link was walking towards a bookshelf, the elder spoke again. "From your looks, I'm sure you want to know about our history. Go read the 37th book from the left on the top of the third bookshelf."
"Okay, thank you."
Link was very interested in dragonification right now. When activating the spell earlier, he seemed to feel a familiar spell-casting technique. Of course, it was just a guess. He needed to verify it now.
Following the elder's guidance, Link found the book and took it out. It was called Firuman Chronicles.
The book was very old, and it felt like it would fall apart in Links' hands. He held it carefully and walked over to sit down in a chair. He realized that there were very little people in the library. There were only a dozen scattered throughout.
When they saw him, they all looked up and then went back to their books. It was great that no one would disturb him. He opened the book and started reading attentively.
He was already shocked at the first page.
It said, In ancient times, the mountains collapsed, and the world cracked. Floods crashed against the sky and nowhere in Firuman was safe. Seventy-two of our sages gathered in a temple and used three years and 96 days to successfully construct a magic ferry to survive the catastrophe. This was the beginning of the dragon race.
There was a picture on the first page of the magic ferry. It looked vaguely looked like a dragon!
Link had read the Aragu Annals that recorded the Araguan history. It said that the world had cracked apart and sage Moses split the realms, thus creating Aragu.
Both mentioned a disaster in the prehistoric times but came up with different solutions. Moses had split the realms while the dragon sages chose to construct a ship.
They were legends and sounded unbelievable. But if legends from two different realms were so similar and even the High Elves recorded a similar history, it was enough to prove that something catastrophic had truly happened to Firuman in ancient times.
Stunned, Link kept reading. The second page described how the sages used the magic ferry to survive the catastrophe.
Steering the magic ferry, we entered the endless sea and floated for countless months before the world finally calmed. Mountains reappeared, and life began again. The magic ferry helped us through the disaster.
There was a picture here too. It depicted a group of dragons flying out of a giant bubble.
Link stared at it and then was overjoyed. The dragon's body is the magic ferry. Is the sea actually the Sea of Void? Does that mean I can enter the void safely with a dragon's body?
Gretel had always said that dragonification was the ultimate treasure of the dragon race, but Link never saw it. He had killed Isendilan and didn't find his dragon body that scary. Now, Link finally understood its value.
It's a ferry for the Void!
He continued reading. The book told of how the sages steered the magic ferry back to the peaceful Firuman. The stories started becoming more ordinary. The sages returned to Firuman, developed down their own paths, and started differentiating.
Those who had directly controlled the magic ferry learned from the lesson and believed in equilibrium. They steered the large magic ferry and lived in isolation. The others developed all over the world.
After countless years, they started reproducing, prospering, and fighting each other. During their wars, they lost their history and power, becoming mortals.
Here, the epic used an image to show the clear timeline of the history.
In ancient times, the sages of Firuman escaped into the Sea of Void. Then they came back and started diversifying. A small minority of elites possessed boundless wisdom. They felt that the magic ferry was very reliable so they continuously improved on it, finally becoming modern dragons.
The most evolved and became the modern humans of Firuman.
However, this book only contained the basics. It didn't describe any specific figures or details. Link didn't see anything about the Black Dragon King either. He wasn't interested in that though so he didn't search for it.
This book also recorded the evolutions of the other races.
The Yabbas were a branch of the dwarves; High Elves and Dark Elves were from the same family. As for the Beastmen, they were a foreign race that entered after a human Magician opened a realm portal.
The book vaguely mentioned the source of the God of Light too. The words were very unclear and only contained a few sentences. The most important was: The God of Light has a close connection to the ancient catastrophe.
That was it. Link felt anxious after reading it, but he couldn't find the answer anywhere. He could only sigh.
It took him three hours to read this book. After that, he let out a long breath. No wonder humans could prosper even without talent or heritage. We've had such a glorious era in ancient times! The Aragu Empire, countless sages, and incredible magic are so impressive.
Link was now even more interested in dragonification magic.
He carefully put the ancient book back to the bookshelf and returned to the elder. "I want to study the dragonification techniques," he said. "Is there any book that can help me?"
"No." The elder shook his head briskly and looked at Link with rheumy eyes. "The magic ferry is already perfected. What need is there to improve it?"
"There are no perfect spells in the world." Link shook his head.
The elder was silent for a while and then sighed. "You're right. Dragons are perfect but are still greedy. The three dukes are lost, the Void crack reappeared, it's hard to live in isolation again… Take this book."
He took out a black leather magic book. There was only one word on it: Dragon.
Link pressed down his excitement and flipped it open. Seeing the first page, his heart was already pounding. "Can I copy it?" he asked.
The elder chuckled wryly. "For more than 2000 years, countless youths entered this library. Number 269 asked me a similar question, and I would give them this book every time. Only you can see its value. Take it, young man. It is yours."