Chapter 69: Z
Zeke's brows furrowed when he saw the mana core vanish into the chest. He didn't even see the chest open as the mana core just disappeared like it was absorbed by the chest itself.
Just as Zeke was pondering whether it was a good thing or not, the whole room's stifling atmosphere came to a halt, replaced by serenity and calmness, which greatly shocked Zeke. Just earlier, he could sense that the whole place was teeming with evil aura but now it all vanished in just a split second.
A loud noise could be heard as the big chest near the middle of the room suddenly opened. The chest itself looked very normal albeit very big while it also didn't emanate any sort of aura.
Zeke didn't dare lower his vigilance even when approaching the chest because he didn't know if the chest is really safe or if it's some sort of scheme or trick designed as a last resort. He strengthened his bones with mana as well as put up a faint barrier of mana around his body while he was checking the chest with his [Divine Sense]. After seeing no abnormalities and even no fluctuation of mana, Zeke decided to quicken his steps without withdrawing his defenses.
As he looked inside the chest, there was only a single ring along with 2 rolled-papers. Zeke knew it was a spatial ring while the letter should be the will of someone.
He was in no hurry to check the contents of the ring so he unfurled one of the letters first.
The contents of the letter were not that long. It mentioned the person buried in the place Zeke was in as well as some of his past.
This whole place that Zeke stumbled in was actually an underground resting place for 'heretics'. The leader and the one who wrote the letter was someone called Z. According to his letter, he was a descendant of the Insane Dragon who sought peace and to repair their connection to the Dragon Empire. He didn't like that his bloodline was being oppressed and prejudiced against. Instead of persuading the empire by talking, Z decided to take it upon himself and earn his kin's freedom by earning enough merit to pardon them of their punishment. He scoured the whole Dragon Continent for troublemakers and completed a lot of quests issued by the Empire but in the end, it still wasn't enough. Eventually, he found a Greater Demon (a Demon comparable to a Tier 5) meditating in a remote mountain range. After a bloody battle, he managed to kill the demon at the cost of one of his eye and serious injuries. He planned on presenting it to the Dragon Empire but he was intercepted by a noble from Shallow Cloud Range with the surname Valt. He only figured this out when he glanced at his attacker's pendant, which had the word 'Valt' engraved.
Although he managed to escape, he knew he won't last long so he decided to pass it off to someone in the future. He and his loyal subordinates created this big mausoleum to serve as Z's final resting place. He only hoped that the person who gets it is a Dragonborn and will tell the Emperor about Z's contributions as well as his wish to liberate his kin. To further ensure that his hopes would come true, Z, with his measly knowledge regarding formations, made a simple formation in his room. This formation utilizes the sturdy walls and floor to form a golem that possesses the might of a Tier 5. Under normal circumstances, this would've been deadly for Zeke if it weren't for Z's special tampering. He made it so that when the golem senses a living being that possesses Dragon Force, the golem's own mana core and prowess would drop down to Tier 3, giving some room for weaker Dragonborns. If it weren't for this, Zeke knew he would have no chance injuring much less killing the golem earlier.
In the second letter, there were two different handwritings. The first half had the same handwriting as the first letter while the second half was different. Strange enough, both handwritings describe the contents of the spatial ring.
Zeke then reached out for the spatial ring inside the chest. After a few seconds of establishing connection with it, Zeke took out a pile of books.
These books were the comprehensions, battle experiences, and some dragon skills that Z and his subordinates had in the past. Zeke realized that the second handwriting must've been one of the subordinates who remained here to guard their leader's inheritance.
Then, as if a light bulb lit inside Zeke's head, he couldn't help but admire Z's subordinates for a bit.
'The skeletons in the previous rooms should be that Z's subordinates. Even in death, they continued to protect him, huh.'
Zeke concluded that Z's subordinates must've cast some sort of formation in the previous rooms, making it so their bodies would still continue to act upon its instincts even after death, technically making their corpse serve as guards as well.
Zeke skimmed through the titles of the books. A small part of it were the subordinate's comprehensions and experiences, while most of it were Z's past experiences and battle skills. Out of all the books, there were three that specifically required the bloodline of the Insane Dragon's descendant.
'I almost forgot. Isn't my bloodline a descendant of Insane Dragon? Wouldn't it mean I'm a wretched one too?'
Zeke couldn't help but feel a slight headache after thinking about it. He felt like it'd cause him problems if news of his Mad Dragon Bloodline gets out. He then set the matter aside. He decided he needed to understand the situation first before thinking about solutions.
Very soon, Zeke skimmed through all the titles of the books. He felt like it was already a great harvest for him to learn of some of the seniors' battle experiences. Since Z traveled and battled many people back then, wouldn't it mean that his battle experiences are very rich? This was already a great boon for Zeke who only lacked experiences and battle knowledge to fully utilize his strength.
Zeke then pulled out a small bottle. According to the letter, this bottle contains the compressed form of the Formless Poison. It was in the form of a clear liquid and if one were to look closer, they would find countless small wriggling organisms inside. These organisms weren't really living organisms, but rather the true form of the condensed Formless Poison. Also, according to the letter, one would only need a drop or two of the Formless Poison inside to envelop a radius of a hundred meters. With the bottle containing a liter of it, Zeke could basically envelop thousands of meters or even kilometers if all of it is used.
*Zeke, do you remember about the siphoning ability of the Mad Dragon?*
'Hm? Yes, why?'
*You can use its siphoning ability to that bottle and integrate the Formless Poison to your Virulent Plague Dragon's poison arsenal.*
Zeke was shocked. Even this is possible?
*No, Zeke. What I said was merely one of the two ways of integrating that Formless Poison to your Virulent Plague's poison arsenal. Based on the information about the Virulent Plague, it's one of the top-ranking poison amongst the poison of dragons. Not only is it powerful, but it was also dominant. With that being said, you can integrate any poison weaker than the virulent plague into your body, making it a reservoir of lower-ranked poison. This trait is also present on the other two dragons of the top three most deadly poisonous dragons. It's just that with their pride as one of the carriers of the deadliest poisons, they disdain any sort of poison under theirs. However, with your current strength, the Formless Poison would indeed help you a lot considering your Virulent Plague isn't that powerful and mature yet. The method I recommend is by using the Mad Dragon's siphoning technique instead of manually refining it and integrating it to your Dragon Force.*
Zeke nodded. Indeed, he knew that although the poison he had right now is powerful, it could, at most, kill people a tier above him. If he encountered Tier 4 Magicians, they could definitely resist his poison with ease.
Zeke didn't hesitate anymore as he immediately chanted the incantation. A few seconds later, a strand of Formless Poison kept pouring out of the bottle and into Zeke's forehead. When the poison went inside him, he immediately guided it towards the faint dragon head around his mana core. When it entered the faint dragon head, it immediately got sucked in and mixed with the greenish part of the dragon head. It then swam along with the green liquid obediently like a meek lamb.
*Congratulations, Zeke. You now have another good poison to use in the future. Although it's limited, it should help you deal with some dangers.*
Zeke agreed. Indeed, the Formless Poison was now one of his countless trump cards.
Zeke then pulled out another jade bottle. This one was slightly larger than the bottle of Formless Poison and it also surged with energy the moment Zeke took it out. When Zeke felt the overwhelming energy, his eyes narrowed as his expression was filled with shock.
'Blood Essence!' Zeke also felt a sense of familiarity lingering within the bottle.
*Zeke, this blood essence is particularly beneficial to you. Did you sense it?*
Zeke nodded.
'This should be the blood essence of a descendant of the Insane Dragon, just like me. No wonder I sense some sort of familiarity when I took it out. Perhaps this is that Z's blood essence? He's the only one who was mentioned as a descendant, right?'
Zeke sank in his thoughts. He knew it would be hard to siphon and absorb this blood essence as it was just teeming with vitality and power. It was countless times stronger than the current him so refining it would take a very long time. Zeke decided to set it aside as he planned on absorbing it in the future.
Zeke then pulled out the remaining item besides some gold coins. It was an ordinary coffin that was twice as big as Zeke. It towered in front of Zeke as an evil presence seeped out of the coffin. The presence was so powerful that even the coffin couldn't prevent all of it from leaking. Zeke didn't dare underestimate the content of the coffin as even its evil presence is already powerful. He immediately coated himself with thick mana as he slowly opened the lid. For safety precautions, he even cast [Divine Sense] to watch out for mana fluctuations while in the process of opening.
The evil presence immediately became even more powerful. It became thrice as powerful as when it was closed that even Zeke found difficulties in breathing. He thickened his [Mana Skin] as he mustered up the courage to look inside. There, he was deeply shocked when he saw two compartments inside the big coffin, with each of them having a corpse lying down. The corpse on the left was still intact and Zeke discerned that the oozing presence solely came from this corpse. This corpse had torn white clothes that were stained with dried blood along with two big red horns as big and thick as half of Zeke's arms. The big humanoid corpse itself was very pale, and aside from the evil presence, it also gave off a faint murderous aura. The other one was a smaller and slightly dried up corpse. This dried up corpse wore a simple red robe with a Mask that had glowing eyes along with a red line that stretched from its left ear up to the right, forming a blood-red line that passes through both of the eye sockets.
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