章 34: Man In The Shadows

"Devi, that was great. I saw so many beasts with people to help with the quests. Then there were materials I have never even read about. We have a serious advantage compared to what we have before." Clark was very impressed with what he had learned. On top of that, it was just starting to change over in to the next day. The moon was setting again.

There were too many potentials that Clark had realized during his outings. He had potions and had seen how to control his own energy better. He had managed to pick up a package for Alexander while being gifted black throwing needles that could return to him after being thrown. And to finish it all off, he had new material for Crim to get stronger.

'Quest- Auction mysteries (Completed)

Requirements: Join the Raven family auction and use the system to show the Raven family what has been hidden from them.

Reward: one gotcha ticket, Slime dragon growth notes.'

'The drawing of the gotcha is in process…

Grave lily- uncommon

The grave lily is a plant that grows in dark dim places. It can survive better when it has soil with rotting meats surrounding it. The grave lily is loved by undead or highly spiritual beasts. There is little else to do with it other than use it as feed for these kinds of beasts. Recommended that it is grown within a controlled space.'

"Hmm, I wonder what I can use this for?" Clark felt a small bulb for the grave lily appear within his spatial ring. He wanted to grow it but wasn't sure that he had anywhere he could. "This might be better to hold on to for later. It could make my taming space a little better for you." Clark was thinking only of Devi. Since Crim had a new material, then Devi deserved one later too.

The idea went over swimmingly with Devi who could only cackle softly in joy. It could feel the slightly spiritual energy from Clark's spatial ring. It was the same as smelling candy or a favorite dessert baking.

"I also have the growth notes for Crim." Clark pulled out the journal that had appeared within his spatial ring after completing the quest. It was a ragged brown journal that had clearly been used for many years. "This will be tough to read."

Quickly skimming the pages while he walked, Clark found that he was struggling a little to make sense of it. Other than the dim light of the moon to read, the words were written without order. Most of the notes seemed to be hastily scribbled phrases. "Found a strange egg today. Maybe I can hatch it the same way as the dragons in the area do."

Clark caught that sentence and realized this was someone in an area of dragons. Therefore, the person had seen dragons dropping their blood on to their eggs to cause them to hatch. It was a simple way that the dragons passed on more of their bloodline energy to their offspring. But most people only knew this from books.

"The strangest creature emerged from the egg today. Slime, but also dragon. I believe the shell that dissolved within it was bone and the white clay nest to be old dragon bones. This is similar to an undead beast birth."

"I returned with the hatchling to the nest and it consumed the bone shards that were not degraded too far. It gained tougher scales after that but lacks some intelligence."

Reading this was harder than before because a few pages had some faded rusty drops on them. Cark could tell it was blood but there was nothing written about what had happened. Later in the notes, he found a page completely left blank. The only inkling that something had once been written there was that the edges had small gray spots from pencil being erased.

"I believe that it has been proven by now that consuming a living dragon of the same age is the best way to improve the slime dragon. It is better able to absorb weak essence than a full grown dragon's essence. The elder dragon's essence overpowers the weaker essence causing a berserk state."

"Devi, this is a gold mine. We have exactly what we need here to keep Crim safe and sound. We will only give him small pieces of the dragon wing bones." Clark was going to keep whispering to Devi softly when he saw a familiar face.

"Young man, You managed to gain a certain item I was bidding on tonight. Madame Raven allowed it so I will not go against her. However, if you are after dragon materials, please come by my humble antique store. For the right price, I may sell you something from my collection."

This was the older man that had bid against Calrk at first for the dragon wing bones. He walked up and handed a business card to him. "I'm glad to have met someone of similar taste as myself." Have a nice night." The card had the symbols of a dragon skull on it.

"Devi, I didn't even notice him show up until he wanted me to. He is stronger than he looks. But, the dragon antique shop may be worth visiting when Crim needs materials again." Clark watched the man disappear in to the night. It was a strange occurrence but one that he did not hate. He had not felt a single bit of hostility. Instead, he had felt curiosity from the man.

Clark fell back in to his focus while reading more small notes about the slime dragon. He found that Crim could actually make a full body of a dragon while still being a slime. The body would just be materials he gathered to create a false dragon body. The slime Crim was made of would reside within it keeping it alive. This was a simple way that the slime dragon would appear to be a zombie dragon. Something feared by many in the world since they were incredibly hard to deal with.

The sound of Devi beginning to cackle next to Clark brought his attention back to reality. Devi had been careful to remain on alert since the man had shown up so silently. It made him feel that he was a bad defender since someone had managed to get by his senses.

"Good job Devi, those are just the people we have been waiting to deal with." The two boys that Calrk had overheard on the way out of the academy were near the patch of trees that Clark had changed outfits in before. They were clearly waiting for something. And that something was going to be their own punishment for following the orders of the Cain family.

"We can make it simple for them. Lead them in to the trees then cause a little bit of incentive not to mess with anyone. Maybe that will help them learn a good lesson." Clark had no intention to go easy on them. However, that did not mean that he was going to brutally murder them. Clark knew he was better than that. These were just pawns used to abuse power. Defeating them would cause nothing to change in the higher rankings of his enemies.