Soul of Searing Steel

An Ancient Dragon, the Smelting Black Dragon Dire Miralis was a creature of legends. It was a dragon comparable to the legend of the dragon gods. During the ancient era, Dire Miralis was the myth of the Miran Goydos coastal plains by the West Mountains. It was a monster which came from the sea, bringing in disaster using its heaven’s flame and meteorite. It was known as the God of Disaster.

Based on legends, it went into a deep slumber before civilization began. The days when this mysterious dragon wreaked havoc was about a few thousand years back in the Far Ancient era. Only some old archives had successfully recorded some of its activity.

The Ancient Dragon Dire Miralis had a body similar to the Sea Dragon species. The difference would be its wings which had cannon-like chutes. Its golden-red body was filled with a magma-like substance. Terrifying dense magic could be felt surging throughout its body. Although it lived under the sea most of the time, it had the capability to travel on land without problems. It was a unique ancient dragon itself without any other traits resembling any common race and life-form.

Within the recorded legends, the appearance of the Black Smelting Dragon would bring forth eruptions from the volcanoes under the sea. The sea would then turn red and other phenomena such as fire rain would occur. The extinct mermaid race had a very close relationship with the Black Smelting Dragon. It had caused terrible destruction to the sea. Islands sank from its natural attacks. According to history, it had also changed the islands during that era into an archipelago.

During the pre-existence on Starfall Year 853, it was the Year of Legends. The second invasion from the Dark Abyss had caused grave damage to the Mycroft Continent. The drastic changes to the environment had awoken numerous destructive Ancient Dragons. The Dire Miralis which was slumbering within the Miran Abyss was awoken by the Great Western Sea Tsunami. It ferocious power was able to defeat the invasion from the Western Sea Demons and was even able to force a Demon Lord back to its dimensional gate.

During that period of time, fire energies and meteorites were released by the ancient dragon. All the lives which were taken away by those crazy attacks gave birth to Primitive Chaos.

After the great battle, this Ancient Dragon was infected by Chaos and succumbed to a frenzy. It attacked every living being without any control. It continued releasing high-temperature lava across the land, destroying about one-third of the western Mycroft Continent. It was finally able to be stopped by the effort of all kingdoms of the West.

It was a large-scale crusade comparable to the war during doomsday. Numerous legendary warriors banded to stop this Black Smelting Dragon, forcing it back to the depths of the Miran Abyss. After being cool down by the cold sea water, the activity of fire energies slowed down and finally led the ancient dragon back into a deep slumber.

Joshua did not participate in the battle against the Black Smelting Dragon during that time. However, he did study some information about that ancient dragon. Being a rare sea-flame dragon, the information of the Black Smelting Dragon was very specific knowledge to gather and know about.

Although humans had successfully traveled across space and contacted with numerous other worlds, they still lack the knowledge to understand everything about their ocean. Although humans could travel and battle with the other worlds, they still lacked the knowledge about the depths of the sea.

Looking at the dragon bloodline warhorse playing happily in the pool, Joshua’s expression turned calm.

The ancient dragon’s bloodline was not inherited through reproduction. The ancient dragon bloodline was the origin of all bloodlines in the world. They existed in the bloodline of beast ancestry. Any type of magic beast could have a chance to awaken the ancient dragon’s bloodline sleeping within their DNA, albeit it was a slim chance. Black and Joshua were the lucky duo in this case.

Although it was quite surprising that Black had awoken his Black Smelting Dragon bloodline, it was still a bloodline inheritance only. It does not mean that Black could evolve up to the legendary status for sure. To ensure that his bloodline was strong enough to be passed down to its heirs, it would cost quite a fortune in terms of preparing valuable material and supplements. Luckily he had obtained some Ancient Dragon’s blood in the past which was the essential foundation material.

Although an ancient dragon’s body was large and they had a huge amount of blood flowing through its body, the true blood that was useful for triggering and awakening the bloodline was rare in the first place. In addition to the fact that ancient dragons had been ‘extinct’ for a few hundred years with only minimal information of large-sized ancient dragon activity in the Gleaming Desert, any items related to them had become very rare and valuable in the market.

Based on my calculations, my funds are not really sufficient. Winter Fort Academy is still being established and the runic factory is being set up. I still need to grant a group of knights their titles.  There are too many things that I would need to spend money on.

Joshua slightly frowned while thinking of all these issues ahead of time. Do I really need to slow down the development of the runic factory? However, both task to produce future knights and new technologies should not be delayed.

Joshua chose to stop thinking about these issues for the moment.

Joshua focused on the water pool which was gradually turning red and increasing in temperature. In the backyard, the maids who wished to retrieve from water from the pool were anxiously gathered around the vicinity. They were curiously observing Black who was deep diving in the pool. All of them were very curious and started to chat among themselves softly.

The northern inhabitants had few opportunities to see the big ocean. It was even rarer to see a large beast which swims during their lifetime. Now, they were looking at a horse which could swim. Inevitably, this had become a fun topic for them to discuss among themselves. This had a very great potential to become gossip within their own community.

Joshua sighed and guided Black out of the pool. When Black exited the pool, high heat was released from the warhorse, turning every water droplet on its body into steam which covered the whole backyard.

When the steam had dissipated, Black was quite reluctant to leave the pond. The scales on its body trembled slightly. Due to the bloodline awakening, Black liked to swim. He enjoyed the moment in the water. As Black shook its body, Joshua examined its movement and confirmed that Black’s current movement resembled the behavior of a sea dragon while it is in the water.

Looks like Black was bound to be evolving towards the path of a sea dragon. Even though Joshua tried to turn Black toward the evolution path he desired, he wasn’t able to do so. Joshua’s was too young, too naïve.

The young warrior could only sigh. “Looks like my dream to ride a dragon on other people’s faces ¹ , traversing through the vast sky is now completely shattered.”

He thought of manufacturing a saddle specifically for a flying dragon. Due to the current circumstances, it was no longer viable. Joshua was not really disappointed in any way. After all, Black Smelting Dragon bloodline was still an ancient dragon’s inheritance. It had way higher potential than normal bloodline of a flying dragon. He was very satisfied with this outcome. Human should be grateful for the things they had gained.

“Master, do you still need these materials?”

Ying who was still beside Joshua asked the question, “So, should we return it to the secret vault?”

“Sure. Thanks… Just leave the Ancient Dragon’s blood behind.”

Joshua suddenly thought of something and said to the silver-haired girl and black-haired boy, “After you have placed everything in the vault, take out the Fruit of Life from the runic box. The one that I did not finish previously.”

“Yes, Master.”

Joshua gazed at his Divine Armaments that were carrying all the items back, then turned his attention back towards the Ancient Dragon’s blood in his hand. He then slowly opened the bottle with a smile.

“Although the materials were not really sufficient, I have a very valuable one to act as a replacement. At least, with this item here, you could solidify your bloodline.”

Joshua’s eyes were void of emotion. He looked at his system menu showing all the precious materials and replacement items for Black’s bloodline improvement.

“Rejoice, Black. Your master here has spent quite a fortune for you.

“Do not disappoint me.”