Second World

After close to three hours, Jack finally unraveled three-quarters of the rune diagrams. Wilted Tree was amazed by Jackʼs tenacity. Even she had already gotten bored before sitting down and chatting with Peniel, Jack was still fully focused on the task. They did it a distance away though, as to not disturb Jackʼs concentration.

Syndrillis said, ”Thatʼs enough. These remaining diagrams are not strong enough to hold me. Even with my current weakened condition.”

”But wouldnʼt that cause a backlash?” Jack asked.

”It will, but it wonʼt be enough to cause me any serious trouble,” the dragon replied.

Wilted Tree who heard it, hurriedly came by and said, ”Please donʼt do that! If you do that, Iʼm sure there will be an alarm going off. Everyone will come here by then.”

”This stone walls wonʼt hold me. I will be long gone by the time they arrive.”

”But they will find us here,” Wilted Tree said.

”I can carry you. Although itʼs disdainful for me to carry lesser beings on my back, I will make an exception since you have saved me.”

”Well, thatʼs okay as well,” Wilted Tree said.

”Wait! Thatʼs not okay. We still need to save Leavemealone!” Jack uttered.

”Itʼs not wise. We might end up getting captured,” Wilted Tree said.

”Well then. How about this, you give us some time to go up, then you force yourself free. With that commotion, everyone should hurry down here. At that time, we can free Leavemealone when they come down here.”

”Everyone might come, but Master will still be up there. He needed to stay with Leavemealone when the process is ongoing.”

”That tool that you said you can use to bring us to a safe place. Can you use it during combat?” Jack asked Wilted Tree.

”Yes, it can. Why?”

”If it is only to distract Master long enough. I think we can manage as long as he is alone. I will keep him busy while you release Leavemealone and activate that escape tool.”

Wilted Tree seemed to ponder Jackʼs suggestion. It was true that she preferred to not let Master acquire Leavemealoneʼs Divine treasure, but was it worth the risk of another divine treasure falling back to Masterʼs hand? Should she risk Jack being captured again in the hope of saving both Jack and Leavemealone?

But after seeing Jackʼs determined face, she realized that she had no choice. Jack would still insist to help Leavemealone even if she objected. She could only comply.

After getting Wilted Treeʼs approval, Jack then described his plan to the dragon. He asked her to give them fifteen minutes to go up the tower before Syndrillis freed herself from the remaining rune diagrams. Afterward, he asked her to not immediately flee but to wreak some havoc to draw everyone within the tower to her.

Syndrillis expressed her worry if these people would have the same tool that weakened her again. If they did, she would have a problem fleeing. She still had a lingering weakening effect at this moment but when the tool was first used, the amount she was weakened was even greater. She stressed though, that it was not a fear of the tool. She simply didnʼt want the hassle to exert too much energy after being freed from this shackle. A dragon would never fear anything, she said.

Wilted Tree assured her that Master no longer had the same tool. That one was a Legendary consumable tool that was extremely difficult to obtain. Master only knew of a sure way to obtain one, the next one would be completely random, very unlikely for Master to get his hands on another one again at this stage.

Even so, Wilted Tree warned her to not linger too long. Syndrillis was not at her top shape and although Wilted Tree had confirmed none of the cultʼs heavy hitters were in this tower, it didnʼt mean that they were far away. There was also the possibility that they could just teleport to this tower.

Syndrillis, as haughty as a dragon could be, said that she knew what to do and there was no need for a lowly elf to tell her that. The dragon then turned to Jack, ”go take that vial from that device.”

Jack looked back. There was only one device, the one with many cords coming out of it, where the five players had been doing some sort of a ritual before. Jack headed over and found there was indeed a vial at the center of the device. There was red liquid inside the vial.

However, the shining pearl that used to float above this device was no more. Weird, he thought, he remembered the Time Pearl was still here when he attacked the five World Maker people. He turned to Wilted Tree and saw the shining pearl was in her hand already, before it disappeared into her bag. So, she had taken it.

Jack decided to ignore it. If she wanted it so much, let her have it. He was not going to be ungentlemanlike and fight her over the possession of that item, no matter how incredible it was. Jack took the vial from the platform. When he did, the five muffled something from their stuffed mouth. Jack made a detour towards them and gave each of them a kick before walking back to Syndrillis.

He gave the vial to the dragon. Now that only a few rune diagrams were left to hold her down, she could move easier than before. She picked it up using her massive claws. Jack was worried that the vial would break getting held by those sharp claws. Or perhaps that was the dragonʼs intention? Maybe she wanted to destroy whatever this vial Master was trying to produce. But the vial was intact as it was brought to Syndrillisʼ face.

”This thing is incomplete and not usable, but the essence inside is still valuable if someone knows of a way to utilize it. I canʼt take this essence back, I will prefer to just destroy it rather than let it fall to the man who has imprisoned me here.”

Syndrillis then looked at Jack. ”However, since you have saved me. I will give this to you as a reward. It is not usable in this state but with my blessing, it should serve as a second-rate copy of what it was meant to be.”

The dragon blew at the vial. Some wisp of golden dust came out from the dragonʼs mouth and swirled around the tiny vial on her claws, before merging with the liquid inside the vial. The red liquid now had specks of golden bling within it. Syndrillis gave the vial back to Jack.

Wilted Treeʼs mouth was wide open watching Jack receiving the vial. ”You… are very lucky,” she uttered.

ʼIs it that good?ʼ Jack wondered and used Inspect on the vial in his hands.

Gold Dragon Bloodline (unique consumable)

Grant user the power of a Gold Dragon

”A Bloodline?” Jack exclaimed.

”Not any bloodline, it is the bloodline of a dragon. Bloodline of any dragon is highly fought for,” Peniel explained.

”Unique grade, wow… Hey, such a valuable thing is called a second-rate copy?”

”If Master finished the process, he would have gotten a Divine Gold Dragon Bloodline, a legendary grade,” Wilted Tree explained.

”Legendary Bloodline. Hot damn! That Master fellow is not playing around,” Jack said and then to Syndrillis, ”Thank you very much, Oʼ great dragon, for this boon!”

Syndrillis simply grunted a reply.

”Does it take long for me to use this bloodline? If it can increase my strength, it will boost our success chance further,” Jack was looking back and forth between Wilted Tree and Peniel when he asked.

Peniel was the one who answered, ”You can use it now. It will take only roughly two minutes for it to blend with your body.”

”Ok, how do I do it?”

”There is a button at the top, press it,” Wilted Tree was the one replying this time.

Jack did, a long needle protruded from the other end.

”Donʼt tell me I have to stab this into myself…” Jack said.

Both Peniel and Wilted Tree just nodded. The five bound players had been continuing making muffle noises as they watched. Jack didnʼt bother to go over to bully them this time.

”Sigh, fine,” Jack then aimed the vial with the needle to one of his thighs, before stabbing it in. The red liquid was sucked into his body once he did.

Jack felt raging fire coursing from his leg to his entire body. He felt like he was being burnt from inside out. It was different from when he underwent the trial of fire from Runestone of Enhancement. The fire at that time burned his body from outside. This one felt like his organs were being cooked inside. He clenched his teeth preventing a scream from going out.

ʼWhat the f*ck! Why didnʼt they warn me about the pain? I almost scream like a baby in front of three ladies,ʼ Jack complained in his mind, all the while struggling very hard to keep his dignity by not screaming. He did close his eyes trying to think about happy thoughts. He couldnʼt imagine what his expression looked like from the outside.

Luckily, this one didnʼt last as long as the runestoneʼs trial, albeit more intense. The pain soon subsided. He opened his eyes and gasped for breath. He figured he must have unintentionally held his breath throughout the ordeal. He felt cold sweat on him.

He looked down at his body. He felt as if there was something inside him. A great power waiting to be tapped.

”Check your status window,” Peniel said.

Jack did so. He searched the description for this bloodline and found it underneath his inherent skills list.

Gold Dragon Bloodline, level 1/10 (unique bloodline)

Passive skill 1: +10% to attribute, HP, Stamina, MP

Active skill 1: Gold scale armor: Cover userʼs skin with gold scale, reducing all damage received by 50%, immune to all negative status effects and knockback effect during activation, all healing and recovery on the user are increased by 100%. Duration: 3 minutes.

Draconic Essence: 0/1000

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