AN: ---

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This time, the charged lead marble didn't explode on impact, but after penetrating deep into the body of the dragon. Several muffled explosions were heard. The dragon tried to roar in pain, but instead groaned while vomiting a large amount of blood. It died a few seconds later. Marc finally released a sight of relief.

He went in front of the dead dragon and observed it a bit more. Its total length from the head to the tail was around 30m, and it had a wing span of around 50m. The scales were a dull brown, the eyes were golden, and slightly glowing.

“... An impressive creature. I hope there isn't one more impressive in the area... I guess not since it roared like a lord before coming here. Now, if I want to harvest anything, it will be more convinient in front of the garage, but how am I going to move him there? I know I've gotten stronger, but I doubt I can...”

Marc though again about what happened. Even though he didn't realise at that time, he knew that his shotgun wouldn't be powerfull enough to deal with the dragon. He wanted more firepower. And what happened? He charged his weapon with mana, increasing the overall power. The first time it was instinctif, but the second time it was deliberate.

Marc went around the dragon, grabbed its tail and pulled. At first he couldn't move it, then wished for the mana to strenghten his body enough to drag the dragon. He suddenly gasped. For the first time since he came to this world, he could finally feel the mana. He felt it entering his body, infusing itself in this bones and muscles. He felt like he was full of energy. He was thus able to drag the body in front of the garage.

He rushed into his house and gathered as many empty and clean bottles as he could and recovered some dragon blood. He extracted the eyes, tongue, some teeth, the claws, the heart, the core, some meat, and removed the scaled skin. Thanks to the magic reinforcement, it only took an hour. There was an unused chest freezer in the garage, and all the parts of the dragon except for the scales, bones and left-over meat, were put inside. The bones were left next to the garage, and the left-over meat and organs buried 200m away from the house. It was past 4am when he finished.

“It turned out to be more tiring than I expected” he said while massaging his head. “Now I've got a massive headache... Damn, it's irritating.”

He went back in his house, securely locked all doors and windows, and settled on the sofa in the living room. At first he wanted to go into the basement because it was safer, but he wouldn't be able to hear any intruder coming in. He didn't want anything in his house to be stolen or destroyed. Besides, he believed he had the power to deal with any intruders. He fell asleep within a few minutes.

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Knock knock knock... “Your majesty, are you awake?” … Knock knock knock

“... What is it” responded the king. “Why did you wake me up?”

“I'm sorry my king, but sir Alfred wish to speak to you. He says it's important” answered the knight from beyond the door.

“Tell him I'll meet him in my office soon.”

“Yes my lord.”

The king grumbled for a bit, then got himself dressed in simple clothes and left his room. A few minutes later, he entered his office. Inside, an old man with grey hairs and beard was sitting waiting for him. He immediately stood up and bowed.

“My king. I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep, but something unsettling happened not long ago.”

“Explain.”

“As you know, us mages become very sensitive to magic once we reach the advanced rank. Around half an hour ago, I was myself woken up by a serie of quick magic pulses of incredible power. And it came from the direction of the Darkmoon Forest as far as I could tell... My king, Darkmoon forest is a lon distance away from here, yet I was able to sense the magic pulse. I'm sure even an expert mage could have sensed it if he was awake. Something happened there, my king.”

“If it's really as you say, then it must have been something incredible. And the advanced mages from the Kynareth Republic and Elcros Kingdom are probably aware of it as well, right?”

“It's as you say. I think we must send someone to investigate it as soon as possible. What caused that magic pulse must be very, very powerful. Probably an artifact from the ancien era. No living creature could have done this. That, I'm certain.”

“... I will send Wannour there.”

“Sir, your daughter? Sir, as her teacher I'm well aware of how strong and talented she is, being an expert mage at such a young age. But it's Darkmoon Forest we're talking about. A place that no other country dared to claim as their own, just because of how dangerous it is. We need the join collaboration of 3 countries and the adventurer guild to keep the monster population to a manageable level. It's too dangerous to send a child of royal blood there for a scouting mission.”

“I know it will be a dangerous mission. But we won't be the only ones to send someone there. I want a royal there to deter the rivals we will more likely encounter there. They would think twice or more before trying to raise their hands at royalty. Besides, I think it will be a good experience for her, I hope it will calm her temper her a bit.”

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“You're finally here” said the middle aged elven man in an arrogant voice.

“You've called for me sir?” answered the young elven woman in a neutral tone.

“Yes. Master Yivanah, our master healer, as well as Councilor Bratok, one of our advanced mages, have sensed a disturbance in the Darkmoon Forest. They believe it must be investigated as soon as possible. They are putting up a team. I want you to make a small team of your own and tail them. Find out the origin of the disturbance, and if it's an artifact, do try to steal it. If you can't, do not let others have it. Now go.”

“Understood” said the woman before disappearing from the dark room.

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Marc slowly woke up. He lazily looked around. He was in his living room, on his sofa. He could tell that the sun was already high in the sky through the curtains. He still had the shotgun in hand, and he felt the berreta under his pillow. The weird mist, which he decided to call mana, was ever present in the air.

“... So it really was not a dream eh...”

As he stood up, his stomach growled, and he was made aware of how hungry he was. After his evening run, he didn't get to it. After being transported to this world, he had to fight a dragon, harvested whatever he could from it and had to get rid of the useless parts.

“... I must have overused my magic at that time. That headache I got must have been the backlash of such prolonged use of magic. I mean, I used it for nearly 2 hours straight... Well, now that I'm well rested, I'd better take a good shower, then eat. I stink! And I'll have to clean the sofa, fuck.”

Marc slowly went to the first floor of his house and entered the bathroom. He was thinking about how he would enjoy a nice and long shower when he remembered he was cut of from his usual water supply. He doubted that the underground water source was teleported with the house. So he just poured hot water in a bucket and washed himself with just that and his soap. In the end he had to fill the bucket once more but he didn't really care.

Afterward, he went to the kitchen and made himself a salad with an omlet and some bread. He washed it with some fruit juice, and stayed on his chair for nearly half an hour without doing anything.

“... I should check my supplies of whatever I have, from food to toilet paper, and fuel for the generator.”

Thus, Marc spent an hour to take note of any and all consummable he had in his house. Food for 2 weeks, cleaning products for a month, toilet paper for around a month and half, cosmetics for 3 weeks, 5 days of fuel for the generator, disinfectant for a dozen uses, medecine that would last 2 more month, and 2 full tanks of gas for the 4 doors pick-up that belonged to his uncle.

“I have nothing to fear for the time being. Also, the solar panels on the roof seem to be working fine. Once the generator runs out of fuel I can just use the old hot-bulb engine in the basement. For now, let's see what I can do with magic!! It's fucking magic after all!!”

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