"I could be wrong, but I think this Pyramid of Light has something to do with it."
"You guys too?" Agnis spoke, surprised. "Wow, this is news to me. I mean, how could a game help in increasing your ability? It's just like Zero said. It's a bit strange. I just never thought about it till you brought it up."
"I had the same thought as well. Right now, from my calculations, we only have twenty-one seeded players in this group. The second group doesn't have a single one so I couldn't get more information than that."
"Wait, twenty-one of us are Seeded players here?" Agnis's jaws dropped from shock. "I thought I felt familiar around a couple of the players, but I wasn't so sure they were so many."
"Who are they?" Zero asked. "Wait, you're not going to recruit them, are you?" He disliked the thought of people being kidnapped.
"Why would I do that? Even though I'm the school doctor, I have absolutely no obligation to recruit them. I'd rather they found out for themselves."
"Oh." Zero let out a long-winded relief. "I'm glad you are one of the few adults with a human consciousness."
"Human consciousness…." Zeraph's words faded away, lost in thought.
"So can you tell us who?" Agnis asked, a bit excited.
"Well, you already know them. Turnip, Terry, Baku, Quill, Kai, Leona, Val, Ponza, Bee, Tanmint, Valiant, Reed, Seka, Leaf, Den, Elfon, Elron, Titi, Agnis, you, and me."
"That's like all the upper-level dragons, excluding Titi. So how was she able to become a seeded player? I mean, Elron is her partner, but did she find a unique job here?"
"If I understood correctly, it was Speaker for the Dead."
"Speaker for the Dead? Hah?" Agnis's eyebrows furrowed, confused. "That sounds a bit….scary."
"Really? I think it's quite fascinating. She gets to hear the stories of the dead spirits and even take on a quest that we have never seen before." Seraph's eyes glinted with a hint of mischief. "Why are you scared of ghosts?"
"N-no." Agnis shook her head furiously.
"You don't sound so confident."
"I am." Agnis pouted. Her cheeks became puffy. Zero couldn't help but find her pouting face adorable. It reminded him of a chipmunk that stuffed its cheeks with food.
"Captain~" Valiant called out with enthusiasm. "I got all the wounded."
Zero handed each person a few bottles of medicine that he had concocted. "Take one every thirty minutes. When everyone takes the third pill, we'll be going in to take on the fourth boss."
"Thanks, captain." An elf took the pill that Zero had made.
"Captain, you're the best." A girl that seemed more like a child took the next.
"Captain, you're a lifesaver. I thought I was going to die."
"Captain! You're so dreamy~."
"Captain! Captain!"
Whenever someone called him Captain, he could feel his blood vessels constricting, giving him a headache. Unfortunately, valiant had started the trend of calling him Captain, and it got to the point where everyone was now calling him that. He couldn't do anything but quietly accept. They wouldn't listen to him, even though he repeatedly asked them not to say that.
"Give up, Captain." Zeraph chuckled. "You're fighting against the current, and you'll lose."
"But this Captain thing is getting ridiculous." Zero protested, but his voice was not heard from the wild chatter of the other excited players. Instead, they were all relieved that they were able to recover.
"Captain~" Valiant happily replied. He would only show this ridiculous side near his friends and Zero. Besides that, he would have a dominating glare that would scare off anyone. Honestly, the Race Black Dragon was not just for show. Anyone could tell Valiant would grow into a very intimidating, vicious, and powerful dragon.
Zero eyed him coldly. Valiant's happy attitude was silenced in an instant.
"That attitude doesn't fit your image. You should drop it." Seka walked over with her head held up high.
Compared to the gold dragon Seka, they were like light and day. Seka would draw in the crowds with her angelic appearance, causing people to drop down their guards and worship her. The beauty of the Gold Dragon was as if she was born as an angelic dragon with her feathered golden skin and ears. Just by staying next to her, one's spirit could be invigorated with life. An ethereal light energy is also drawn to her unconsciously, creating a halo-like effect. If there were such a thing as a greater being, she was close to becoming one without knowing.
"My image?" Valiant stood up and became stone cold. "I don't have an image I need to upkeep." He scowled, bearing his teeth. His fork tongue slithered out, and a huff of green smoke escaped his lips. "Your image does not fit you at all." He punctuated his words.
"My image? I think I'm doing fairly well."
"You should've been born a black dragon. Not Gold. You taint the name of all Gold Dragons with your behaviors lately."
"Hardly." Sekka shook her head, letting the feathers shimmer with sparkling light.
"Stop! You're hurting my eyes. Are you some sparkly vampire?" Valiant squinted and exaggeratedly called out.
"Ha?" Sekka stopped and eyed him funny. Even Zero's lips twitched from the strange comedic scene before them.
It was a perfect scene of good and evil playing out in front of him. Every time they goaded each other, Zero noticed that the air around them started to become stifled with magical energy. One side of the large room was becoming dark and evil, while the other was becoming bright and vibrant.
The jarring contrast of magical energy was fluctuating in front of him, and Zero couldn't help but cover his eyes. He wondered how this dragon's mother and father ever got along. From just watching the two in front of him, they were like fire and ice constantly at each other's throats.
A spark of energy from their words escalated the elemental energy into a combative mode. Not even a second later, the colorful dragons were each siding towards one or the other. On Seka's side were the white, silver, and bronze dragons, while on the Valiant side were the red, blue, and green that naturally formed into a pack.
"Does this normally happen?" Zero gave out a long sigh and pointed toward them. Reed, who was next to him, nodded.
"Yea, always. They have a natural lure that you don't often see, but having two alphas in the same room gets pretty intense. So I'm glad someone like you could stop them with a finger snap."
"What are you talking about? I'm not some magician, you know."
"No, but you're our captain."
"Damn Valiant and his words." Zero furrowed. He felt the weight of a leader heavily on his shoulder.