'Scanning… These appear to be two Golden Apples, very rare Magic Herbs that form through a dense condensation of the laws of the universe.' Ausra replied, her voice cool.

'Okay, well, what do they do? What's special about them?' He asked, looking at the two small delicacies. He picked the pair up carefully, his large claws moving slowly to avoid stabbing them. A faint trail of light emerged from the fruits as they moved, leaving an intangible trail.

'Golden Apples can be used in a variety of artifacts or medicines, greatly boosting their efficiency. The condensation of the laws of the universe in these fruits is vastly higher than regular objects. Eating one of these fruits would cause a baptism of the laws of the universe on your soul, aspected to whatever element the fruit holds.' Ausra replied.

'Oooh.' Dorian's eyes shined. A baptism of the laws of the universe! That was what happened to Wizards when they studied one element or another for a long enough period of time, increasing the strength of their Soul Spell Matrix and allowing them to use more powerful spells!

'Are there any restrictions on using them?' He asked another question.

'It would be unwise to experience multiple baptisms of the laws of the universe at once, and therefore one fruit should not be consumed within 24 hours of the other, to allow for a complete settlement of the soul.'

Dorian nodded. It made sense. He then looked from fruit to fruit, his eyes shining.

'Ausra, what elements do these fruits hold?'

'The red contains traces of the Element of Fire, while the pale green one contains traces of the Element of Life.'

'Fire' Dorian understood, but he paused at hearing about the 'Life' element.

'What is the Life Element?'

'The element that is focused around life energy. Common fields of study that derive from the Life element include White Magic, some parts of Light Magic, and Necromantic Magic.'

'Oooh!' He mentally exclaimed. He liked the sound of that.

Without a second more of hesitation, Dorian tapped into the Storage Ring he'd looped near one of his claws, securing it earlier, and stored the Fire Element Golden Apple.

He then tossed the Life Element Golden Apple into his mouth, devouring it instantly.

Immediately a rush of warm energy filled Dorian's body. Green light suffused his scales, enriching them and imbuing them with power. He felt the organs in his body, the tendons in his arms, the muscles in his wings, every part of him become richer and more full of energy and life. It was a near euphoric feeling, the raw energy flowing through him.

As he absorbed the fruit, feeling refreshing waves of light soak into him, he pulled up a mental image of his growth status.

–

-Giant Myyr Dragon – Growth Stage: (4/4) Elder Giant Myyr Dragon –

Growth Progress – 72,193/0

–

"72,000 more units of energy?!" He sputtered out loud in astonishment, his eyes opening wide. This was a fantastic find! And, even better, he had another Golden Apple still!

"Mmm! What a great appetizer!" He smacked his lips, feeling the delightful taste still on his tongue.

Not only were natural treasures unique and powerful finds, they also contained a massive amount of energy. For most people, almost all of this energy was wasted and would dissipate from the fruit upon using it, leaving only the natural laws imbued within it.

Dorian's body was unique in that it let him trap the energy, making full use of it.

The cool, comfortable energy remained within him, continuing to refresh his body over and over. He stretched out his scales, his arms and legs shivering. It was such an incredibly pleasant experience.

Just as he was in the midst of this enjoyment, he noticed a group of motley figures approaching in the distance…

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

"It should be right around he- Is that a dragon?!" Aina's voice rang out, full of a mix of shock and surprise. There was also an eager undertone of anticipation. The female vampire warrior kept her voice relatively low as she spoke, not wanting to alert the beast before them.

Rathven and the rest of his Hunters had immediately set out following the trail of the energy resonance after he broke the crystal. They had raced through the Overbal Canyon, not running into any other beasts or creatures thankfully. The Golden Apple had been set only a few thousand meters away, closer than expected.

As the group arrived, however, they saw a hulking almost 7 meters tall green scaled monstrosity, currently standing exactly where the resonating feeling had arisen from. They came to an abrupt halt roughly a hundred meters away, not daring to advance.

"Oh Shattered Heavens above. Is it a Draconic Tribe member?" Rathven's face went pale before he shook his head and swore, tossing the thought. The Draconic Tribes were very self-contained within their own territory. Further, the Aurelius Family territory was located on nearly the opposite side of the universe when compared to the many worlds controlled by the Draconic Tribes.

"Harmen…" His eyes spat daggers as he turned to stare at the Fate Wizard among the troop.

Harmen's body shook as he held his hands up, stepping backwards.

"I don't- I don't know what it is, Sir Rathven. I checked Fate, it said there were no wild beasts or humanoids at the Master Class or stronger." Sweat dripped down the man's face as he spoke, a trace of fear in his voice.

Rathven took a deep breath and then steeled himself, clenching his fists.

"We need to take it out if we want to get the natural treasure. Its standing right on top of it." Aina whispered to Rathven, her voice shaking with excitement.

He glared at her askance. Aina had always wanted to fight a dragon, having grown up reading tales of powerful vampire queens slaying dragons with a wave of their hands.

"It's a dragon, Aina. A DRAGON." He frowned, feeling a headache coming on. Aina was usually the careful one of the two of them.

Aina ignored him, turning to the shaking Fate Wizard,

"Harmen, you're good at calculating, right? If we go in now, what are our chances against it? It's clearly not Lord Class." Her voice carried an almost obsessive edge. Dragons were a very uncommon sight on Taprisha, or any of the nearby planets, apart from some types of Ground Dragons.

Harmen clasped his hands together, white light glowing from his eyes.

Before he could respond, however, Rathven interjected,

"If we do go in, I will go in first and draw its attention with my Hell Lance. Then the Blood Wizards are to send out screening fire to keep it distracted, while Aina will go in to connect with its jaw for the kill. Everyone else will spread out and approach the beast, not getting too close." He came up with a plan in an instant, his long years of experience as a Hunter showing their worth.

The various Hunters in the group nodded, several of them drawing their swords or various weapons as they looked towards the beast. They needed to secure the natural treasure, and it seemed the only way to it was through this dragon.

"Harmen, what do you have?" Rathven turned his attention to the Fate Wizard.

"…Fate casts an interesting tale. I'm coming up with only a bit more than 30% chances of success with this plan."

Rathven frowned and then turned to look at the giant, towering behemoth.

"It's a lot better odds than I expected. Aina what do you-"

"ALRIGHT! LET'S DO THIS! AIIIINNNNAAAAAAA SILLLLLVERROOCK!" Aina's yell burst through the air as she charged at the dragon, her stone hammers shimmering as she dashed forward. A brave, heroic aura surrounded her, making her seem like a warrior from legend.

Rathven's draw dropped,

"Oh my god. She just ran in." His eyes widened, and he dashed forward, yelling out commands,

"Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan!"

"Blood Wizards, cast your spells! Warriors spread out! Move! Move!"

..

Dorian watched the small female vampire charge at him, her body blurring forward with each step. Small cracks appeared on the ground as she blasted towards him, reminding him of that Titan that he had absorbed.

'Looks like I did take the treasure they were looking for.' He thought, shrugging guiltily.

'Well, first come, first serve, right?' He didn't let the thought bother him. No treasure belonged to anyone unless it was already in their hands.

'A Grandmaster Class Vampire, proficient in some type of mystic martial art. Not a Wizard.' Ausra identified the vampire as she charged at him. A light glow began to appear around the small stone hammers the scarred vampire wielded, looking vaguely threatening.

Dorian blinked. His eyes were easily able to follow the vampire despite her movements.

As she charged, Dorian saw several piercing collections of red light shoot towards him from several figures in the distance, aiming for his chest and wings. He snorted fiercely as he saw this, ducking his massive body low in one quick dodge. He felt more than saw the concentrated energy sear the air above him, the attacks missing him by a meter or two at most.

Just as the charging vampire warrior came within ten meters of him, Dorian made his move.

In his Giant Myyr Dragon form, Dorian's tail had grown, extending to be roughly 10 meters long, ending in a small, bulbous spike that must weigh at least a hundred pounds. The entirety of his tail was covered in scales and minute spikes, giving it a rough and sharp appearance.

As soon as the attacker came within range, Doran whipped his tail forward. Due to its small size, it moved at an extremely fast speed, slamming into the vampire warrior in a split second.

Despite the surprise nature of his attack, the woman managed to raise her stone hammers up and stop the tail from slamming directly into her body.

Unfortunately for her, that made little difference.

CRACK

BOOM

The sounds of a powerful collision rang out as the female vampire was lifted off of the ground and sent flying into the air, her body slamming backwards at an extremely fast speed.

Dorian watched the woman sail through the sky, landing nearly 40 meters away from where he was standing. A web of cracks spread into the ground as the rocks she landed on broke, unable to bear the impact.

Dorian gave her an admiring nod as she struggled to her feet, covered in dozens of small injuries. The female warrior stood up wobbly, as if she was about to fall.

She must've broken dozens of bones in that impact alone, he thought, glancing at her. Vampires had very powerful regenerative properties, but for her to be alive after that… these mystic martial arts seemed like they would be quite useful. He decided he'd look into them later.

From the direction the female vampire had charged at him, he saw several other people running towards him and stumbling to a halt. A few of them broke off, running to check on the vampire he had knocked away. The rest simply stared at him, not daring to move forward.

The Wizards that had sent out those searing blasts stopped, their hands trembling as they began to pull back.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

"Damn it! Aina!" Rathven swore as he ran over to her, motioning for the Hunters to retreat.

"Everyone, it's gotta be Pseudo-Lord Class! FALL BACK NOW!" He scooped up the tottering Aina in his grasp, mentally berating himself.

Between the Grandmaster Class and the Pseudo-Lord was a very significant wall of sheer physical strength and energy. This was a bad miscalculation on his part. Even if they had stuck to his plan, they still would've failed.

He'd thought the only Pseudo-Lord Class beast in the local area was that Solar Rock Lizard. For another one to appear randomly… he cursed his luck.

As this thought was running through his head, a loud, echoing roar shook the center of the canyon, carrying a heavy, deathly undertone.

*ROOOOOOAAAAAAR*

Rathven closed his eyes for a brief second, marveling at the sheer unfairness and black luck he had.

He recognized the sound of that roar.

It seemed the world truly wanted him to die today.

"Everyone, fall back as fast as possible! We drew the attention of the Solar Rock Lizard!"

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Dorian turned his head away from the crew of humanoids, his eyes alighting on a huge, scaled lizard that was standing on top of one of the large stone pillars, about a thousand meters away.

He smiled.

The main course had arrived.

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