Soul of Searing Steel

Joshua stood right in front of Black, which was laying lazily on the ground without moving at all. While staring into its large black eyes, Joshua heard the brisk voices of the young boy and girl behind him.

“Master, here are the materials you asked for!”

“That’s right, we’ve brought them all here.”

When he heard the voices of his own weapons, Joshua could not help but nod. He smiled as he turned around and said, “They’re all here? Good work.”

He looked at Ying and Ling and noticed that they were carrying many unusual parts in their hands. Some were the seeds of some sort of plants, some beetles in cages, many pieces of meat and some other messy items.

In the meantime, Ling slightly turned his head to the side while he was handling the raw materials over to Joshua. He fixed his eyes on Black, which looked as if it was in the state of hibernation. Then the black-haired boy spoke to his master with interest, “Master, can I help?”

Meanwhile, Ying nodded in agreement and said, “Yea, this looks interesting.”

“You’re free to join.”

After receiving the materials, Joshua put these scattered things on the ground. Right after that, he squatted down with a serious look on his face. Then he picked up a cage containing a beetle and shook it in front of the Black’s eyes.

The beetle’s shell was tenacious and it had a tougher degree than the toughness of any ordinary sword. If there were no task or mission that required people to gather raw materials, no hunter would ever go hunting these creatures. It was too easy for their weapons to be damaged for attempting to cut their shells.

However, there was one kind of living being that loved hunting for these creatures with such tough shells on them. So, even if Black was a hybrid, it should reach it nonetheless.

However, it was obvious that Black did not have any interest in the beetle. It only snorted, not showing any reaction towards it at all.

“Very well, it seems that it’s not a Yian Kut-ku ¹ .”

Upon nodding his head, Joshua did not show any sign that he felt disappointed over it—in fact, he was relieved to find out that Black did not inherit the bloodline of the Yian Kut-ku. Although the Yian Kut-ku were one of the dragon species, they were on the bottom of the food chain compared to other large dragon species. Even though Black was just his warhorse, Joshua would not want anything to do with it.

After that, Joshua took the few pieces of mammoth and Rhenoplos ² meat, and also the meat of wild boars that were seasoned by Ying’s hands. Then he shook the meat in front of Black one after another.

These meat had been seasoned with special spices and magic potions. They became unimaginable attractive to any carnivorous dragons. As a horse, Black had shown a clear omnivorous tendency after its bloodline was awakened. That had proven that it should be possible that Black had inherited the bloodline of a carnivorous dragon species.

Black did react this time. It opened its eyes when it smelled the meat, seemingly interested.

However, it eventually made a loud snort before turning its head, moving its attention away from the meat.

“Now this is strange…”

Putting those meat aside, Joshua contemplated—in the face of this specially seasoned meat, for ordinary flying dragons, if even they knew that the meat was poisoned, they would definitely not be able to refuse the temptation that was presented to them. Black had shown little interest toward the meat at first. However, it turned away afterward… and it seemed that it could not breathe fire as well. Hence, it could be deduced that Black’s bloodline was neither theAgnaktor ³ , the Fire Dragon, nor the Gravios ⁴ species.

It could be said that half of Black was transformed into the state of the dragon because its bloodline had been awakened. However, it had yet to develop an anchor mouth, a pair of flying wings and poisonous claws. Hence, it was unlikely that Black would belong to the Agnaktor or the Fire Dragon species. On the other hand, Black did not show any sense of rejection in the snow and ice in winter before during the winter. It seemed that Black could not have inherited the bloodline of the  Lavasioth ⁵ species.

“What’s the matter, Master?”

Ling was shaking all sorts of things in front of Black while he was standing next to Joshua. For instance, Ling had shown the seed of Fire Crystal Flower and also the crushed slag of Blazing Sun Iron Mine to Black. However, after looking at one thing after another, Black did not show any special interest towards any of the thing it was shown with. Instead, looking at the young male Divine Armament showing Black the items as if the young boy was having a great time, Ying who was standing by the side was very eager to try doing it as well.

“It’s nothing.”

Meanwhile, when Joshua saw the two of them were having fun, he frowned and muttered to himself. “That’s all of the ordinary Fire Dragon species I know of. Could it be possible that there are more Fire Dragons with a much more superior bloodline existing somewhere in this world then?”

Truth to be told, the Agnaktor species, the Fire Dragon species, and the Gravios species were considered as top-tier monsters. Even when Joshua was still Gold tier in his pre-existence, he was still hunting those dragon species. Furthermore, he would even get heavily wounded by these giant monsters even if he only showed the slightest negligence.

However, hypothetically speaking, if Black had really inherited a bloodline that was even more superior, that bloodline would be far too superior to be compared to all of the dragon species mentioned earlier on—the Golden or Silver Rathalos ⁶ were still deemed to be rooted to the bloodline of the Fire Dragon species. They merely grew more powerful as they grew older along with time. Meanwhile, the others which could control the power of flame… would basically be the most superior species, the Ancient Dragons.

There were quite a few existing Ancient Dragons in the world. For instance, the Lava Overlord  Akantor ⁷ , the God of Volcano Fatalis ⁸ , and also the Blazing Black Dragon Alatreon which caused the eruption of the Great Ajax Volcano which destabilized the dimensional space 400 years ago, and many more.

These monsters that had something to do with lava and flames were unquestionably the most superior monsters among their own species. Their power level should be enough to create a calamity in the world, causing immeasurable destruction to cities, or even overthrow an entire kingdom.

Could it be possible that Black had inherited one of those bloodlines then?

The end of summer was already upon them, even though the weather in the North was very warm and comfortable. However, after staring at the lazy look of his warhorse, Joshua could not help but to question his own assumptions.

Regardless of anything, I should just try it out before giving any further judgment then.

As he was recalling back on the characteristics of all sorts of Ancient Dragons, Joshua called Ying and Ling over to his front and instructed them with a few words.

“Bring all of these over here.”

“Alright, Master!”

“Yes, Master!”

At the request of the warrior, the silver-haired girl took the initiative to nod her head. Meanwhile, Ling nodded and asked again, “Master, these things are very precious. Do you really want to use them all?”

“Yes, I do. We’re not going to use them anyway. Instead of just keeping them, I think it’s better for us to use and try things out.”

Joshua nodded with a smile and said, “Go now. Don’t keep me waiting.”

“Yes!”

Shortly afterward, the two Divine Armaments returned with the materials he requested.

Some of them were bottles and jars. Also, some were many sorts of bones.

Meanwhile, Black which was originally lying on the ground looking lazy suddenly reacted differently. It lifted its head and glared towards the direction where Ying and Ling were standing. Then it fixed its eyes on the materials that both of them were holding in their hands.

It seems that I’ve guessed it right! This creature has actually inherited a trace of the bloodline of an Ancient Dragon!

With a chuckle, Joshua took the objects from the hands of the two Divine Armaments. After that, he opened up the lid of the crystal bottle that was tightly closed. Instantly, a thick scent of blood spread throughout the stable. The scent had an ancient presence that could give a chill up a person’s spine. That scent could really heighten a person’s vigilance.

The blood of an Ancient Dragon.

The Corrupted Black Dragon that was killed during the Dark Tide was in fact an offspring of an Ancient Dragon. The raw materials obtained from its corpse were rare and extremely valuable. The parts of the dragon body were traded with Vale Dani after the Dark Tide. That countess needed its bones to forge a new magic scepter. Meanwhile, in return, the countess had exchanged quite a number of rare and valuable raw materials.

One of those raw materials would be this bottle of Ancient Dragon blood.

The existence of the Ancient Dragons was in fact the origin of all daemons across the Mycroft Continent today. Although their bloodlines were very different from each other, they did not differ too much in regards to power level. That was because all of them originated from the bloodline of Steel Strength. Therefore, any of the Ancient Dragon’s blood could fuse and react very easily.

Currently, Black had responded towards the presence of the Ancient Dragon’s blood. That evidential occurrence was enough to prove that Black did not inherit some low-grade bloodline that was forsaken by the gods. Instead, it was incredibly lucky that it had inherited some of the power of an Ancient Dragon. Even though it was not much, it was already a surprise for Joshua.

However, even though the warrior had managed to determine that Black had inherited the bloodline of an Ancient Dragon, he could not determine which Ancient Dragon the bloodline belonged to. Hence, Joshua could not focus specifically in aiding Black in awakening its bloodline. Now that they had reached this point, the warrior became even more vigilant than ever. After all, it would be extremely difficult to come across a warhorse, which possessed such a rare bloodline. According to rumors, the mount that the current emperor had was, in fact, a drake which had awoken its Black Dragon bloodline of the Pentashade race. After training it with care and love, its strength had even surpassed the strength of any ordinary Black Dragon across the entire continent.

Black gasped heavily. The hard shells and thorns across its body began to expand as they slightly propped open. White smoke was seen gushing out from the gaps all across its body. A wave of heat flowed towards the warrior’s face all of a sudden.

Under the temptation of this bottle of Ancient Dragon blood in the hands of Joshua, the creature no longer looked lazy and sloppy. It actually stood up on its feet now.

Meanwhile, the warrior sneered and kept the bottle of the blood away from the sight of the warhorse.

This creature was behaving so aloof earlier… I’ve tried so many things for half a day and it did not even respond. Yet now it actually desires the blood of the Ancient Dragon so much?

Alright, as long as you are willing to beg, I would still consider giving it to you!

However, the situation went beyond Joshua’s expectation after that. Seeing that its master had kept the bottle of Ancient Dragon blood, Black actually took a step forward shamelessly and licked Joshua’s hand affectionately then hissed. After seeing Joshua not responding to its efforts, it seemed to have made up its mind on doing something else. Then it stretched out its own tongue that was a little barbed.

So when did this creature become so clever?!

“Stop licking me! Tsk! You’re disobedient. You don’t listen to my words anymore.”

Quickly pushing way the head of the sly dragon-blood horse, Joshua took another few pieces of dragon scales from Ying who was currently trying hold back from laughing out loud. Then the warrior used his Combat Aura to charge the dragon-scales. Then, these dragon-scales that were almost shattered started to unleash the power that they contained in them. Then, strange powers emitted out from the scales one wave after another.

Instantly, the stable was filled with fire elementals. Right beside Black, there were even layers of orange radiance that were visible to naked eye. That would be the ultimate form of the fire elementals being gathered together. Currently, a slight touch would have caused a huge explosion that could easily level down the entire stable.

Even so, Black did not respond to that. Instead, it kept wrapped itself around Joshua’s side. It was still attempting to find the battle of Ancient Dragon blood that it saw earlier on.

“So it isn’t the Teostra ⁹ , huh…”

After keeping the dragon-scales of a Flame King Dragon, the warrior was no longer in a frustrated mood. Now that he had already narrowed the scope down to only the Ancient Dragons, all he had to do next was to test out all of the dragon’s raw materials that were related to the Ancient Dragons on Black.

“So, next, let’s test with the gigantic shard of the Akantor’s teeth. Well, rumors have it that these shards were obtained from the teeth left behind by an Akantor when it was growing new teeth.”

*****

After a long time.

“Why is it not the one yet? Are you saying that everything here is ineffective?!”

Slamming the pillars of the stable with rage, the entire stable trembled violently in an instant. With the soft voices of Ying and Ling calling out to their master, Joshua widened his eyes as he glared at the warhorse that was obediently sitting on the ground waiting for its master to calm down first. It began to wonder what it did wrong there.

Prior to that, Joshua had tested many raw materials obtained from numerous Ancient Dragons and some other powerful dragon species upon Black in order to determine the origin of its bloodline. However, as frustrating as it was, none of the raw materials had the slightest effect.

Normally, there was only one possibility that this situation would arise. That would be the purity of the materials was not enough. They were not enough to cause a resonance with the bloodline.

However, this was already the most precious and rare materials Joshua could gather—raw materials of Ancient Dragons were extremely rare. Firstly, Ancient Dragons were legendary grade monsters which were terrifying. Meanwhile, all of them had already stayed hidden as they were hibernating. Even if one would have the courage and the will to hunt one down, there were no clues or evidence for one to follow and track down the whereabouts of an Ancient Dragon.

Those materials were materials that were collected from places where the Ancient Dragons had been before. Basically, they were materials that were left behind by the Ancient Dragons after they left the place. The materials were not obtained from killing one. So the effectiveness of the materials would naturally be lower than those that were obtained straight from killing an Ancient Dragon.

“You’re actually pretending to be so calm now… It seems that I can only use the last resort.”

Having impatiently walking back and forth in the stable for a moment, Joshua suddenly revealed a glimmer of cold light in his eyes. “I did not want to do it at first—You should be glad, Black. It’s not winter now.”

“Hiss hiss?”

Upon hearing their master’s words that carried along an intimidating sense, even Ying hugged her own legs. Meanwhile, even Ling was leaning at the side trembling in fear. So how would Black react when he was facing the full pressure coming from that dragon slayer then? Instantly, the dragon-blood warhorse felt drained as it sat on the ground knowing that its life was no longer in its own hands now.

Grabbing the neck of Black with one hand and dragged it all the way out from the stable, Joshua brought the dragon-blooded horse all the way to the backyard of the liege’s mansion.

While in the backyard of the liege’s residence, there was a pool filled with water. That was the pool where they gathered water from, which was crystal clear. Meanwhile, there was also a machine operating to keep the clear water pumping from underground. Once in a while, the liege’s mansion would even activate a purification circle to purify the water in the pool of any impurities that might dirty the water.

Suddenly, the warrior shoved his horse straight into the pool of water. After hearing the shocked voices of his female servants and the two Divine Armaments, he unscrupulously pressed the horse into the water.

“Do not struggle!”

After putting a threat on the horse, Black which wanted to struggle had tightened every single part of its body as it stopped struggling. Instead, it just stayed obediently in the water, blowing out quite a number of water bubbles from beneath the surface of the water.

Joshua had his reason for doing that of course. According to the experience he had from the previous life, the power of bloodline was actually the power of one’s basic instinct. It was also known to be the power to prolong life. That power would only erupt at the most critical moment.

Meanwhile, when would a Fire Dragon feel that its life was being threatened? Would it die if it does not unleash all its power?

It was unquestionably underwater!

A Fire Dragon would definitely be forced to reveal the origin of its power that came from its most basic instinct when it was being forcefully put underwater. In this case, Joshua should be able to clearly identify which Ancient Dragon bloodline Black inherited.

Upon sensing that Black was behaving a little unusual than it normally did through his palm, Joshua sneered. After that, he pressed Black deeper into the water even harder.

The pool was connected to the underground water, so the water was so cold that the chill could get straight into one’s bones. Furthermore, the pool was very deep. It was deep enough for Black to feel the horror of not being able to reach the surface of the water for air and not being able to reach the bottom of the pool for its legs to touch the ground. The cold water could also suppress the fire elemental energy surging around its body. Meanwhile, Black could only do one thing under that circumstance. It could only focus on connecting with the power of its bloodline that was embedded deep within its body.

Slowly waiting on as the time passed by, Joshua’s arm remained as tough as the toughest hammer there was in the entire world, pressing firmly on Black to keep it underneath the surface of the pool.

However, because the time of it staying under the water had been too long, even Joshua felt that something was off. He even suspected if Black had drowned under the water and died.

However, that was not the truth.

Splash!

Upon noticing the grip and strength in Joshua’s arm was going away little by little, Black did a twist with its body and gotten itself loosen from the grip of its master, and then…

It then began to swim in the water?! Also, Black seemed very comfortable while it was swimming in the pool. It did not show even the slightest sign of struggle!

No wonder it no longer struggled ever since Joshua threatened it not to. So it seemed that it did not feel uncomfortable at all! Joshua looked shocked as he was looking at Black swimming around in the pool. A sudden burst of enlightenment occurred deep in his heart.

That’s right. Creatures with wings were not necessarily dragons—and who said that one could not fly without wings?!

This creature… seemed to have inherited the bloodline of an Ancient Dragon that the warrior had overlooked—The overlord of the sea, the active volcano, the bloodline of the Smelting Black Dragon Dire Miralis!

In other words, Black was, in fact, a wingless Sea Dragon!